Friday Photo Flashback - Grandparents

Today I'm sharing a photo of my Mom's parents. I have no idea when it was taken. I know for sure it was before 1980. My Grandfather died before my sister was born, and my Grandmother passed away right after my sister was born (which was in 1980, sorry for tellin' your age, Marie!!!). I would have loved to have met them, I think my Grandmother would have been just like my Mom. Very sweet, soft-spoken, and caring.

I'm linking to Alicia's Friday Photo Flashback!

Build A Bear

Two weeks ago, I won Sandra's $25 giftcard giveaway to Build A Bear. I was excited not only because I knew how happy Kyle would be, but because I had never been to a Build A Bear workshop before. Brandon didn't share my excitement about it because he thinks the place is over-priced. If you think about it, for a stuffed animal it IS a little pricey, but the experience is fun! It's definitely a special occasion type of thing, for us at least. Saturday we decided to take Kyle out to a mall and let him build his own stuffed friend. I had so much fun building his little bear with him. When we were getting ready to check-out, Kyle took my hand and brought me back to the starting line. He told me we had to get Leah a unicorn because he couldn't share his bear!! What a sweet, thoughtful, big brother! ;)Waiting in line to stuff his bear..

He's so shy!!

Washing his new friend!

Getting Tommy (name of his bear) all dressed up.

Kyle tried two different outfits out on his bear. He put a Batman costume on his bear first, but then decided on a Batman pajama set! It's so cute! Too bad I forgot to take a picture of his finished bear! Whoops! =)

Wordless Wednesday - 1st fish ever caught!

I'm participating in Wordless Wednesday hosted by 5minutesformom.com.

creative mood strikes

Recently, I have been reading way too many craft/decorating blogs!!! I've been in a mood to do something...anything creative. This afternoon I found this old picture frame. The back part of it wasn't even there.. just the frame and the glass. I set the frame aside because I knew I could do something to it. Well, I just happened to be bored this evening and had an idea!

What'cha think?? Me? I really, really like it. =)

All I did was add two magnetic strips to the back of the frame, glue on some scrapbook paper and add a scrapbook embellishment (blessing) to the paper! Ta-da~! Super cheap, super fun, and super cute!


1.)Please ignore the rest of the stuff on my fridge. Right now it's super messy and needs to be cleaned off.
2.)I took the pictures a little off on purpose. On top of our freezer it says "Mr. and Mrs. Last Name". I'm not too comfortable (yet) sharing our last name, so I cut it off.
3.)That's Kyle's ultrasound picture. My sister bought us the picture frame.. isn't it cute?!
4.)That recipe on the freezer? It's yummy. I just found it not too long ago and I've already made it twice. It's one of those recipes you cook when you are STARVING (super fast to cook up), but are too BROKE to eat out, LOL.

havin' fun with the timer option

I love Leah's expression in this one. They were being very loud trying to out-yell each other. I told them to "shh" once, but once they started laughing, I had to laugh, too!
I guess Leah didn't want in on this picture.. she started to take off! LOL

I never got a "decent" picture. Some are too blurry, too high up, too far away, but that's okay. We had fun doing it and we're making memories!

Friday Photo Flashback

I love seeing pictures of myself as a kid, because I don't have very many. I was about 6years old in this picture. That's my sister's poodle I'm holding. Gray (our dog's name) lived FOREVER. Seriously. We ended up having to put her down because she was blind, could hardly walk, and then got worms in her stomach. It was a sad day, since Gray-chan had been in our lives for, I think it was for over 13years!

Oh, see that vanity I'm sitting in front of?? I took it with me when I got married and moved out of my Mama's house. When we moved from Japan to Idaho, the screws got lost. Hopefully, I can get the husband to find some that fit, so I can have it back together!

Go here to link up to Friday Photo Flashback!!

We all hear it, right? Never leave your kids alone when they are in the water. Never leave their side. Watch them at all times. Yet, somehow, this past weekend, my little boy almost drowned.

I debated back and forth on whether I should even post this. Mainly because I don't like thinking about it and would rather forget about it. But, then, if I forget about this past weekend, it could happen again, right?

We celebrated 4th of July, by going out on our friend's boat. There were quite a few people who we know that came out, too. We all parked the boats up next to the sand, where we hung out the entire afternoon. Kyle (who was wearing his life jacket the entire time) would go back and forth between staying with us and staying with friends in the water. Brandon came up to me and told me that Kyle had pooped in his swimming trunks. So, I took Kyle into the water to clean his shorts out. In order to do that, I had to take his life jacket off. We go towards the back of the boat, get him and his shorts cleaned out and come back to the sand. We walk back up to the sand and I was standing in the shallow part of the water and started talking to my friend. It wasn't even a minute (probably not even 30secs) before we heard something and my friend gasped. We both ran into the water, and she picked Kyle up who was grabbing at the boat trying to stay up. I guess, Kyle thought he had his life jacket on (I got distracted and forgot to put it back on) and was walking around in the water. He got to the part where it started to drop off and freaked out. We asked him a hundred times if he got any water in his nose or in his mouth, and he said no. We don't think he inhaled any water, since he said it just went in his ears. He calmed down right away and wanted to get right back in the water. It was a terrifying experience that I never want to relive again. Our afternoon could have ended worse if we had never heard him gasping for breath.

I know it's summer and our kids are constantly in the water. Please learn from my mistake and never take your eyes off of your children. I think even if a child can swim, if they are in water that has waves or any type of current..they need a life jacket on.

I am so thankful that the Lord watches over my kids at all times!

Frugal Friday - Unclaimed Money

I recently came across unclaimed.org. It is a national website to look for unclaimed money in states where you may have resided. There could be funds from unclosed bank accounts, safe deposit boxes, company refunds, utility deposits, etc. that you may have unknowingly left behind when you moved. I didn't believe it at first, but when I searched my hubby's name it said we had around $100.00 that belonged to us! I had Brandon print and fill out the paperwork and we mailed it in. We started to think maybe we weren't owed any money, that it was wrong, and we weren't getting anything. What do you think showed up in our mailbox on Saturday?? Yep, a check for almost $150! It only takes a minute to find your state, and to put in your name. Go search and make sure you don't have any missing money!

To see how other people are saving money, go on over to Life As Mom.

Things I love Thursday - Pizza Chips

I'm not much of a chip person. I'd rather eat cookies and cake. But, hand me a bag of Japanese chips and I'll eat the entire bag! Sadly, I have never seen these pizza chips in the States. Whenever my Mom sends me package from Japan, she always includes several bags of these delicious chips. They seriously taste better than any pizza I have ever eaten. The best part of these chips is the chunks of goodness on each chip. If you take a closer look at the bag, they even show you a close-up. *drool*

Check out what other people are lovin' at thediaperdiaries!