At the risk of repeating myself...

...I LOVE Bailey's Little Bites!! Seriously! This stuff is just so darn cute! Tara has a new product I discovered today and I am tempted to buy it just because it's so adorable! Chinese food! She has a Beef Stir Fry Dinner now. Look at this!

Crab rangoon? Fortune cookie? Egg roll too? Awesome!! The creativity and detail here is amazing!

And I'd like to just share that Julie, the winner of my first ever giveaway ($10 to Bailey's Little Bites Etsy Store) chose and has now received her Cupcake and mini Cupcake!

I also wanted to share with you what Julie had to say after receiving her felt cupcakes:

"I have received my prize-honest to Pete-they are adorable..thanks so much."

After responding to make sure it was OK to quote her on that, she replied:

"I think her products are so cute and reasonably priced."

I just thought it was important that you saw what someone else was saying about these cool felt foods.

So, feel free to check out Bailey's Little Bites at Etsy, on Twitter, or on Facebook!

My Dirty Hair Days - Update #3

If you are just tuning in, these posts may help you catch up with My Dirty Hair Days experiment, though it isn't REQUIRED READING. I'm almost halfway through the experiment now!

In the beginning...they didn't wash their hair (not the real title of the post but it's true...)

My Dirty Hair Days - Update #1

My Dirty Hair Days - Update #2

I told Kris last night that I thought my hair was actually getting softer. He said "It is. It's also getting bigger." Ha! It is though! I've always had really thick hair. I used to have people all the time tell me they envied my hair, I assume because it was always so thick and full. That sounds WAY more arrogant than I intended. If this fullness continues though, pretty soon I'll look a bit ridiculous!

Well, these days instead of growing longer (though I am sure it is little by little) it is growing...um...wider! It's just so much fuller now right after I dry it. I actually have to brush my hair in layers now too. I switched over to one of those boar's hair brushes and because I just don't think it gets through all the hair in one stroke, I am having to divide my hair into four sections and brush each one separately to make sure all the tangles are out and it is all lying/laying (?) smooth. I took a few more pictures tonight, though I am pretty sure the pictures don't really show any difference at all. The fullness is probably the biggest difference I can see and feel right now with having switched from shampoo to baking soda/water. It has now been 20 days since I last shampooed my hair in the traditional sense! Almost 3 weeks in means that I am halfway to my committed time of 6 weeks!

I think that I am finally starting to notice a difference...besides the fact that I haven't had to buy shampoo and conditioner in a while! As I mentioned above, it finally feels softer and it is most definitely fuller. I am able to go 3, instead of 2, days in between washing with baking soda/water now before my hair starts to look and feel like it needs to be washed. Oh and at our local grocery store here (Schnucks) I found a plastic bottle of baking soda with a lid! This is great because it means not only can I leave that in the shower at home to just add to a cup of warm water, I can also keep one in my gym bag so that I don't have to get my Ziploc bog of mysterious white powder out and have someone call the cops thinking I have some weird drug habit in the locker room at the YMCA!!!

Here are a couple of pictures! And if you haven't already, don't forget to enter my giveaway for some of my homemade, all natural lotion!

Please forgive to goofy look on my face. It was late and I was tired! And apparently I don't really know how to smile at 11pm. At least the picture is small, so as not to frighten anyone more than necessary.

Let's celebrate...with a GIVEAWAY!

The just made up 3 hours ago much sought-after, long-anticipated GIVEAWAY is here! It's FINALLY here. I know you have all just been sitting there with eyes glued to the screen, mouses (mice?) ready, eagerly awaiting my second ever giveaway. And now that the kiddos are taped down in beds with duct tape snuggly tucked into bed and the husband is nowhere in sight! down in the basement working on a devotion, I'm staying true to my word and preparing the quickly thrown together most random and cheap best giveaway ever for you! Yes YOU. Because I now have 102 followers and that is reason to celebrate. Shoot...5 followers is reason to celebrate!

So if you are just joining in because someone you know and love directed you to this giveaway, don't get too excited, but don't leave just yet! My review of this product is totally biased. Besides myself, my kids and a couple of friends who "ooh"-d and "ahh"-ed (but didn't ask me to make them any either because they didn't like it and were being polite or they're jerks--just kidding friends!), no one else has tried this homemade lotion of mine. Sure other people out there SOMEWHERE have tried it, because I got the recipe online...but you know what I mean. Basically, you just have to take my word for it that it's a good product!

One lucky winner will receive their choice of an 8 oz. bottle of all natural, dye and chemical free body lotion, in either a Cool Ivy scent (my favorite) or Lavender Woods. If you have sensitive skin or eczema, I'd go for the Lavender Woods, as it is made strictly with essential oils, which are completely safe for the skin. My daughter with bad eczema has been using this new lotion and hasn't had softer, smoother, healthier skin in 6 years! I tend to exaggerate...but in this I do not. I cannot believe how good her skin is looking and feeling after years of it feeling like sandpaper.

Oh and by the way, this will probably be the most unorganized, haphazard giveaway you have ever seen! But enter anyway. Because it's free. And because you want me to have more than one person enter my second giveaway, don't you? Can I get some pity entries please? :-) You'll have a month's worth of great lotion (give or take a few days/months depending on how often you actually use lotion) without spending $10.50 or more at Bath & Body Works!

Everyone else has a mandatory entry so I decided that I would too. Because it's the "thing" to do, right? Alright...here we go.

Be sure to leave your email address in a form you are comfortable with in the comment and leave a separate comment for each entry (i.e. 2 entries = 2 comments)

Mandatory entry: Tell me in the comments which scent you'd prefer.

Cool Ivy

a blend of Cool Water for Women oil and Ivy oil

OR

Lavender Woods

a blend of Lavender (known for calming/soothing) and Cedarwood

EXTRA ENTRIES:

Follow Little Bishop Chronicles through Google Friend (+1 entry)

Leave a relevant comment on any of my other posts, (+1 entry for each. Unlimited)

"Like" Little Bishop Chronicles on Facebook (+2 entries)

Follow Little Bishop Chronicles on Twitter (+2 entries)

Subscribe to my blog in a reader (+2 entries)

Grab my button and put it on your blog, letting me know where I can find it (+5 entries)

Post a link to this giveaway on your Facebook page or in your status, tagging Little Bishop Chronicles (+5 entries)

Blog about this giveaway and provide a link to your post (+10 entries)

Giveaway will end on June 1, 2010 and the winner will be notified via email; winner will have 48 hours to get back in touch with me or I will choose another winner.

***No one is compensating me at all for this giveaway. In fact, I bought all of my own ingredients. I may actually lose money on this giveaway. ;-) All opinions are my own!!***

Two Milestones!!!!

As of my previous post, I hit 300 blog posts (on this blog anyway!). Also after that post I came home from working and found that I have now hit 100 followers. That didn't take long. I'm a bit confused though because the last person to "follow" was showing up yesterday. So I suppose I already had 100 followers and it just hadn't updated? Did anyone read my last post and join and you just aren't showing up? I want to give credit where credit is due. I *think* my 100th follower is Mommy Gator over at Table for 3...Actually make that 4!. If you 'followed' my blog today, you're going to have to tell me because from everything I can see, she was my most recent follower, joining us as of yesterday. Unless I hear anything different from you, I am going to assume that Mommy Gator is indeed my 100th follower and winner of 8oz of my homemade lotion! Speak up if it was really you and you joined this blog today.

So do you know what else that means? It means that someone else is going to also get an 8oz bottle of lotion!!! I said in my previous post that I was going to giveaway my favorite "Cool Ivy" lotion. However...I started thinking about it in terms of my girls with eczema and so I am going to give the winners a choice between "Cool Ivy" or "Lavender Woods". That's my super creative new name for my combination of Lavender and Cedarwood essential oil. If you have sensitive skin and want to keep it 100% all natural, you can choose that scent instead.

Stay tuned...the giveaway will be posted soon!! I'm super excited!!!!

100th follower

I have made a decision.

I am ONE follower away from 100 followers! How cool is that?!? It's a milestone I never thought about before, much less believed I would achieve! I have contemplated (anyone else love that word?) whether or not I should do something "special" to commemorate this achievement. I was going to just let it pass me by, but then I started thinking that while I don't have cool product reviews I get to do and giveaways handed to me, I can make lotion! Wonderful, chemical-free lotion!

So, once I hit 100 followers, which should *hopefully* be soon, I am going to have a giveaway. I am going to make up a batch of my favorite lotion (Cool Ivy scented) and give it to not one, but TWO readers. My 100th follower will receive one 8oz. bottle and then I will hold a giveaway for the other 8oz. bottle. Sure, it's not much, and costs me little, but my husband wouldn't be too happy if I gave away an extravagant $50 Pampered Chef gift certificate! Someday my friends...some sweet day...

I don't expect the giveaway to attract too much attention outside of YOU, my wonderful readers, and I'm OK with that. It's not a 'big' deal but surely some of you will want to participate because #1. Your chances will be really good and #2. Why the heck not?!? #3. It's a great way to see if I was lying about how great this homemade lotion is, because after all, sometimes I lie apparently.

As soon as I get that 100th follower (via Google Friend), I'll get the giveaway set up and posted. It'll be a good way for me to jump in to trying another giveaway, after my somewhat flawed initial one, without having too much expense or stress on my shoulders. I'm sorry it can't be 'more' than just an 8oz. bottle of lotion for the two winners but it's something, right? And those of you who read this blog don't read it for giveaways anyway, so ADDED BONUS! :-)

Friday Funnies - Week 3

What do you think of my new button?

I think it's much more stylish!

This is my third week hosting my Friday Funnies...all by my lonesome. But that's OK! I have cool kids and I like to write about them. So, while the list is short (the kids didn't give me much material this week), I do have a couple of funny stories/conversations.

This one is from a couple of weeks ago that I forgot to post then. There is this woman at school that is called Pitsa. I'm not sure if I spelled it write and I am not sure where she is from. I just know that is her name, and it is I guess pronounced "pizza". So we somehow got to talking about her and actual pizza and Livvy proclaims "And then I'm gonna eat her all up!" We got a good laugh out of it, until Kaleb started to get upset and tell us that it was gossip. I questioned this and asked him what he meant. He informed me that it was gossip because I was talking about her name!

I mentioned previously that my mother-in-law and I went to Victoria's Secret on Mother's Day and left with some "intimates".

When I got home, Abbey asked me:

"What's in your bag?"

I replied:

"Bras and panties."

She walked away shaking her head saying:

"You don't expect that every day!"

**you know, like "you don't see that every day!"**

This next one isn't funny so much as cute and melts the heart...my heart anyway. The kids were playing in the van and Abbey & Livvy were trying to get me to participate in "knock knock" jokes with them. I refused. Livvy decided that she would play with Abbey instead. Here is the joke that I heard.

Abbey:

Knock Knock

Livvy:

Who's there?

Abbey:

God

Livvy:

God who?

Abbey:

God the Holy Spirit

Livvy:

Oooh, that's a good one! That's a serious one.

If there is anyone out there who wants to participate, link up. If not, well, hopefully you'll enjoy my funny kids!

Also, I thought this was a cool idea. You can check it out if you'd like. It's a little less overwhelming than some of the other Friday following memes out there.

96 and counting...

Never in a million years would I have thought I'd be pushing 100 followers. WOW. That's crazy! And it makes me insanely happy! If you read this blog because you like this blog, please leave a comment and let me know. I'm trying to gauge how many of my followers actually like me. :-)

I wish that I was super popular AND had this incredible giveaway to celebrate hitting 100 followers, which I imagine will happen sooner or later...at least the follower part. Not sure about the giveaway. I'm so intrigued by all of the bloggers out there who are always getting products, reviewing them and then giving them away. How fun would it be to have people just send you stuff??? Granted, you agree to test the product and write about it, but don't all of us bloggers love to write anyway???? I'll test anything that is free! OK, well maybe not ANYTHING. If you offer me crack, I'm not going to test it just because it's free...

Overall, I don't really wish I was super popular. See how I just lie left and right? I do want people to like me though. I guess that it will be harder to like a liar huh?

Braley Mama...this is for you! *I just couldn't resist. I've been meaning to do it for a while and kept forgetting!

I'm going to rave about muffins

I'm not one to eat something low-fat or 'healthy' based off of some hippie freak telling me that it tastes good, or that it doesn't taste like dirt. Those hippie freaks are liars. OK, not really...but if you eat dirt or grass for so long, I suppose it would start to taste GOOD. But for those of us with sensitive palates who aren't used to eating tree bark, tree bark is NOT going to just immediately taste good.

Fakes will not do it for me. If it doesn't closely resemble (in look AND taste) the original fat and sugar-filled treat, I will not eat it. I love desserts, but I have my standards! If it doesn't taste good, I simply will not eat it. If only most everything I cook didn't taste good!!! ;)

I say all of that because the "muffins" I made last night during my attempt to get off my tail and do something for once! highly acclaimed (by me) Willpower Wednesday were even better for breakfast! While they are called Cinnamon Bun Muffins, to me they taste like a really rich and incredibly moist spice cake or carrot cake, both of which I happen to love. I covered them in a delicious cream cheese icing, stuck them in the fridge, and then served them for breakfast. My kids were longing for more. I kid you not. L.O.N.G.I.N.G. They LOVED these.

Have you ever given your kids a treat or a gift and their eyes have just lit up? Their faces beamed with delight? They get so excited and they just want MORE? That's what every single one of mine (my "big" kid a.k.a husband included) did! They wanted more. But the recipe only made 9.

I froze three of them for future eating so I would have something in a pinch, plus I wanted to see how they did without icing. Anyone think they would freeze OK with icing? I didn't try that because I wasn't sure. Kris and I both had one last night. That left 4. I gave Katherine a whole one to try this morning. Kat loved it and without evening wanting to know what it was or tasted like, Kaleb asked for a whole one. You have to understand...this kid does NOT do that! But I told him that they were good and he could see how much Kat was enjoying hers so he just knew he was going to love it. I actually HAD to make the younger girls share one so that I could enjoy one for breakfast myself. Selfish mother that I am! I really wished I had more to give them...they would have kept eating them.

Why am I gushing on and on about muffins? Because they are THAT good! And because I get so excited when I find a recipe for YEAST-FREE (meaning gluten AND sugar-free) food that tastes the same, if not BETTER, than the original! These are *those* muffins!

Take it from someone who won't eat food that is pretending to be the 'real' thing but actually tastes horrible. MAKE THESE MUFFINS. I'm actually hoping to make a double-batch tonight and bring them in to work tomorrow to see if anyone can even tell the difference. I'll be surprised if they can!

I love my feet!

Before I forget, check out my Willpower Wednesday! Cinnamon Bun Muffins and Creamy Cream Cheese Frosting = YUM!

It's no secret that I love my feet. I think (and have been told on numerous occasions) that I have cute feet. And of the handful of features people seem to think are 'good' about me, I will agree on my feet. Don't judge me...I have a lot of self-esteem issues to work through still-one body part at a time! Those of you aware of my 'issues', you'll be glad to know that I now have 2 physical features I can tolerate, even (dare I say it!) like. My feet are one (or two) of them. One I cannot mention here and don't go around bragging about. My hair (is that a part really though?) used to be one until baby #4. Hopefully with my no shampoo experiment it will become a favorite again.

That being said, I used to get pedicures all the time. OK, not all the time. Don't you love the way I just lie to you sometimes? Let me back up and say that I used to get pedicures regularly. Yes, that is much more truthful. For a while, especially during flip flop season (and we all know flip flop season is pretty much all year round unless there is snow on the ground), I loved nothing more than to have my beautiful feet pampered. After all, it was much cheaper than a Swedish massage and easier for me to sneak into the budget more affordable. One of my favorite things in the world is having my feet massaged. My feet and my head. I know that some people can't stand to have other people look at, let alone touch their feet, but again...I have cute feet. So I'm OK with it. :-)

For Mother's Day, I was going to treat my mother-in-law to a pedicure. Cindy, please understand I love you and would have done this anyway...but my toes were in need of some serious attention and so I suggested to our wonderful Kris that it would be a great Mother's Day gift for YOU. ;-) I just happened to benefit from it as well.

Well, Cindy and I got so carried away between free Hydro-massages and our trip to Victoria's Secret to look at overpriced bras and panties (which we both walked away with) that by the time we went to get pedicures, all the places we checked were closed. I hadn't thought that one through very well. Next time I'll remember that EVERYTHING closes early on Sunday, especially on holidays! And my dear husband, as your mom told you tonight, there WILL be a next time. Yeah yeah yeah...I know...I'd better get a Pampered Chef show on the calendar!

Forgoing the pedicure was NEVER an option. That would be absurd! We just took a rain check. Fast forward to tonight. We got the promised pedicures. Believe it or not, this was the first time my mother-in-law had experienced a pedicure. Can you believe that? I think she is now 'hooked'! I'm pretty sure she offered to pay for next month's, right Cindy?

And now that I have this blog most of my followers follow because they want me to follow them back ever-so-popular (to me and a few friends & family) blog, I want to take pictures all the time, so of course, I snapped a couple of pictures of our lovely toes! Feet haters, close your eyes. It'll be over soon. Oh and in case I offended anyone with my strike-through comment above...those of you who read this blog because you love me, I adore you and appreciate every single one of you. I truly do! Even if we've never met! Tylaine, Braley Mama...I'm talking to you, among others! It means the world to me. The rest of you, (those I was referring to who may never click on my link again) well, you aren't reading this anyway now, are you?

I have a little challenge for you. If you get the answer right, you'll get 100 points. Maybe some day you can rack up Bishop Bucks to redeem for cool things. You know, like Swag Bucks. Or not. My points are like those points when there is a cat in the road (sounded more humane than person) and someone says "5 points if you hit it!" No one ever takes that challenge, thus those points (that are really worth nothing anyway) never actually get awarded. So, for fun...here is the question. First person to get it right wins absolutely NOTHING!

WHICH FEET ARE THAT OF THE 29 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER-IN-LAW AND WHICH FEET ARE THAT OF THE 49 YEAR OLD MOTHER-IN-LAW?

Off topic, if someone were to forbid me from using parentheses, I think I may have to go postal and kill someone. It's so unnatural for me not to use parentheses (anywhere I'd like!).

My poor baby (Olivia) is having a rough time this week. Between her stupid allergy (soy bean-see I wrote it like that just so I could use parentheses again, in case you didn't realize how often I use parentheses) and her asthma, the can't-decide-if-it-wants-to-be-hot-or-cold-or-humid-or-rainy-just-to-annoy-me ever-changing weather has not been kind to her. She has that same old telling cough. The one that signifies an asthma attack is fast approaching. We started treating her with Albuterol and Orapred two days ago, throwing a little Benadryl in there too, for good measure, unsure of what kind of soy bean exposure she's had over the last week. It's so hard to keep her from everything with soy in it and who knows if she's allergic to something else on top of it! It's pretty funny when your four year old LOVES Whole Foods and always asks you to get her food from there! Here are a couple of shots I got tonight while doing a much needed rescue treatment. We never know, when she gets like this, if we will wind up in the ER. We're praying that we can keep it under control here at home though.

I'm a winner!

So, I've mentioned before that I didn't know anything much about giveaways and blog prizes, etc...

This past week, not even knowing that I had a chance to win something (I'm sure it pays to read the instructions in their entirety!), I wrote a post about my "whoopsie" moment, (when my kids were all home and I was at work because I didn't know they had a half day) as part of Mother's Day Mania. I liked the topic and had a good story to tell, and so I participated. So imagine my surprise when I saw this at My Little Life:

I WON SOMETHING!!

How cool is that?!?

I'm going to give you a brief (YES I do know how to keep something brief!) update on my hair. It's not an official update so it doesn't get its own post. I was able to go 3 days this time between washing my hair. I had two normal (not to mention decent) hair days, then was able to put my hair in a pony tail today without it looking oily or greasy!!! The reason I say this is because usually the day after washing my hair, there is no hope except for it to go up in the pony tail. But I washed it last on Sunday morning (w/just baking soda & water). I dried/straightened it, and had a pretty good hair day yesterday. I was able to wear it down all day too which was HUGE. Normally I can't stand the way it feels down on the second day. But I last ALL day without the urge to pull it back once. To me, this is an indicator that it is indeed getting healthier. I made it through today with my hair up and then washed it at the Y, as you will see expounded upon below.

We went back to the Y tonight. We haven't gone in at least 3 weeks I believe. I was planning to tackle the evil elliptical tonight but they were all taken, so I took that as a sign that I should just take it easy and stick to the bike!!! I lasted 25 minutes. My chiropractor nixed all the upper body weights until he gives me the go ahead and all of the leg machines were taken so I went down to the showers. I tell you this because this was the first time I've been to Y since I stopped using shampoo on my heart. Yes, that says heart. Everyone loves a good laugh at someone else's expense, so I am leaving my typo. I have NO idea what I was thinking when I typed that except that I was clearly out of it!!! I meant my HAIR!! I have not, nor will I ever attempt to use shampoo on my heart!! So I had to come up with some way to transport my baking soda mixture. It wasn't easy. I found that unlike the vinegar mixture, if I make it up ahead of time and store it in a container, it just doesn't work as well. So taking it already mixed up just wasn't an option. My little travel shampoo bottle was wet and so I didn't want to put baking soda directly in there. I wound up pouring some baking soda into a plastic (ziploc) baggie. Let's just hope that my gym bag never gets searched. I imagine I'd be in a bit of trouble for that until they test it and find out that it actually is NOT cocaine! I can see it now...

Tonight I discovered Chefs vs. City.

It's like Amazing Race...but centered around food!!! How great it that?!? I get bored with The Amazing Race, though I do enjoy it from time to time. However, I really like Chef vs. City on The Food Network. Why can't Food Network shows come on Hulu???

Yeah...I'm doing the post its again this week. I'm doubling up today (see Follow Me Back Tuesday below).

And now....

I LOVE this picture!

If you're interested, you can find out more about Follow Me Back Tuesday here. I look forward to meeting more bloggers out there!

Mommy and Me Monday

Hosted by Krystyn
Today is a GREAT day to participate in this (though any MONDAY is a good excuse to finally get into some of the pictures!). I had a wonderful Mother's Day and made sure that I took plenty of pictures, to preserve the great memories, as well as participate in Mommy and Me Monday! ;) Without further ado:

Bad Reputation

I'm so giddy right now!

I'm watching Glee from Tuesday night-"Bad Reputation". First of all...the murder mystery music all throughout is awesome! Mr. Schuester is now interrogating everyone. Kurt just cornered him and told him he'd been watching too many reruns of Law & Order.

The songs SO FAR are amazing. "Ice Ice Baby" and "Can't Touch This". Molly Shannon is on this episode. A friend just told me that Arnie is going to sing "Total Eclipse of the Heart" at the end too! Can't wait!!!

So, I'm writing while I am watching and just completely "Gleeking" out. Oh and when Sue said "I might buy a small diaper for your chin, because it looks like a baby's ***" I just couldn't stop laughing.

I am SOOO glad I resisted the urge to watch this earlier this week. What a great end to Mother's Day!!!

HydroMassage-a LOCAL giveaway-ENDS TOMORROW NIGHT

OK, technically it isn't a giveaway...it's a FREE massage...but it is ending soon and I think you should benefit from it if you can.

Earlier this week I read about a promotion going on where mothers could get a free HydroMassage. I had never heard of this before so being a good Google addict, I "Googled" it! Sounded like a cool concept and I like free.

I have NEVER had a 'real' massage before. NEVER.EVER. Even though I have wanted one. For about 10 years. Since my neck has gotten so bad due to 2 degenerated discs, I have gone from WANTING a massage to NEEDING a massage. When I saw "FREE", I didn't care if it was only going to be 10-15 minutes and if a REAL person wasn't giving it to me. FREE IS FREE right?

I printed a coupon for myself and my mother-in-law and off we went today. Well, back up...I called the closest location to me to make sure that they were participating in the offer. The location I went to wasn't necessarily honoring the coupons through the 15th. It is up to each individual location how long they want to offer it, and even if they want to participate.

In my area, MassageLuxe in Brentwood, MO is participating in the Mother's Day free HydroMassage. It was WONDERFUL!!! You can control the intensity and speed, as well as what areas it massages. It is 90 degree water that shoots up (probably not the official term) underneath and provides a very relaxing, low-medium intensity massage. You can remain completely clothed as well and you are in a room all by yourself. It was a really great experience.

I was so impressed and so in need of a massage that when I heard about the great promotion they are running right now, I committed almost all of my monthly spending money to join. For $48.88/month (w/o membership it's $74) not only do I get one 60-min Swedish/Deep Tissue massage/month; I will also get UNLIMITED access to the HydroMassage. I can literally go EVERY DAY for 15 minutes for a little neck relief!!! THIS was really the selling point for me. There are days that my neck is so bad I am just dying for even a few minutes of relief. And this particular location is on my way home from work. But if I am out in a different area, I can actually use the HydroMassage at any of the FOUR St. Louis area locations!

To top it all off, I get my first massage for FREE!!! It's scheduled for Thursday night. Having never had one of these before, I am really, REALLY excited. I can't wait to experience it, and then write about it. After my HydroMassage today, I told the employees that I was definitely going to write about this on my blog! They liked this and said that if I was serious, while they were only offering the free HydroMassage today, they would extend it to tomorrow if anyone goes to THEIR location tonight or tomorrow and mentions MY NAME and/or MY BLOG!!! HOW COOL IS THAT??

SO...here it is. If you are in the Saint Louis area and have a chance, go to MassageLuxe tonight (before 8pm-HURRY) or tomorrow between 8am-10pm. You have to go to the one in Brentwood. The address is 1409 South Hanley Rd. You may want to call ahead and mention my name and make sure that it is OK for men or non-mothers to benefit from this special. It was originally for mothers but my understanding from talking to them is that it will apply to anyone who reads my blog. If you want to call, the number is 314-594-5893.

ALSO...if you are in the area and want a great deal on a one hour massage, please contact me. I have coupons for a $38 massage for all new customers. You DO NOT have to become a member to benefit from this $38 massage. There are no strings attached. You just have to get the coupon from me that has my name on it. I believe in this so much and I haven't even gone for my one hour massage yet. Having looked into prices lately, and knowing my chiropractor's office charges $60 for a one hour massage, this is a great deal! Can't wait to share my experience with you.

By the way, I had a great, relaxing Mother's Day. We're finishing it off by catching up on LOST with my mother-in-law. After getting home, we're going to catch up on my favorites: GLEE (duh!) and Chuck.

Let me know if you are interested in one of the massage coupons for $38!

What else can I say but Happy Mother's Day!

It's Mother's Day. For some people this is a very difficult day. Some have lost their mothers and some women unfortunately struggle with the reality of infertility or have experienced the painful loss of a child. If you fall into one of those categories, know that my prayers for strength and comfort are with you today.

After my grandma died, I remember my mom telling me that it doesn't matter what kind of relationship you have with your mother. Once she is gone, you will always miss her.

Mom, to you I say Happy Mother's Day and I love you! I'm sorry I can't be there to celebrate with you but I know that Dad will take good care of you. I hope that you have a great day and want you to know that I am thinking about you and am thankful that God placed me into your care. I have learned a lot about being a mother and am grateful for your Godly example. While I struggle to implement it into my own life, what I remember most about growing up is you singing hymns and reading your Bible and praying every single morning. I do not remember a day that this didn't happen. Even if there were days, there couldn't have been many. Because this memory has always stood out clearly in my mind and it is something that I will never forget.

Cindy, my dear mother-in-law, thank you for being my friend and for raising your son to be a Godly man. Thank you for teaching him how to love a woman. He couldn't have had a better mother. I am thankful every day for the man of God you trained him up to be and for our friendship. I look forward to eating Chinese and watching LOST, as we celebrate in style!

Now, let's talk about ME! ;-)

Olivia has been hiding some sort of present in my closet for 2 days. I still don't know what it is. I just know that it's there, it's a surprise, and I can't look. I accidentally glanced in there earlier today-either it's a coloring page, or there was an old bottle of my lotion rolled up in said coloring page. Guess I will find out soon enough.

Abbey worked fervently yesterday to finish a gift for me they started at school. I could hear her back there and she was so excited about it. I have already seen part of her present, which I will share with you in just a moment.

Katherine made a plate or something similar (I've only seen its outline and heard someone say the word "plate" thus far) in Girl Scouts. Can't wait to see that too!

Kaleb. Well...he's an enigma. He is a great boy, you know! I'm so thankful to have him in my life. Every year at GCA the students participate in Dierbergs' "I LOVE My Mom Because..." contest. I should note that Livvy's class either doesn't do this or it didn't get sent home and Kat said that she thought hers may have been chosen for the contest because she didn't get it back. Back to Kaleb. Have I mentioned that I LOVE this boy?? Kaleb is very smart and creative...and so you may notice the pattern in his. He wrote some reasons why he loves me, but he made sure that it was also an acrostic for the word LOVE.

"I love my mom because...

My Mom...

[is] Loveable

[she] Obeys God

[she] loVes to play with me, and

Expects me to love her back!

Love from,

Kaleb"

EXPECTS ME TO LOVE HER BACK??? When he first told me about it I just laughed. I thought it was AWESOME! Come to find out, he didn't mean it quite the way I thought he had. He meant it in a good way, though initially I thought "Oh how DARE I expect him to love me back!!" He didn't like that I was laughing, which communicated quickly to me that I had misunderstood his intention. He makes me smile.

Can we take some time to talk (yet again) about Abbey? That kid has this God-given ability to just fill you up with joy and laughter. I know I have said that many times before. She just proves it to me OVER AND OVER AGAIN. Her entry for the "I LOVE my mom because..." was long and downright funny!!! You ready for it??

"She's Good. She's my favorite mom ever. God made her. She made me too. My mom is pretty and she love me like I do too. She love's God and the king of Kings. She love to sing like me. She's just like me too. She keep a promise and I can too. She love to read the Bible. She nice. She likes some of her Brother toy's too. Now she has four kids and we love her. She will be my best mom ever and if I had a didn't have this mom I will say could I have that mom! If she said no I will ask my mom is she could babysit me. She will be my mom every day. I'm going to be a good mom like my mom. I love to do hug and kiss's with my mom. I'm nice like my mom too. I like art like my mom too.

Love from,

Abigail R. Bishop"

Don't hold her to grammatical perfection! I typed it like it was on the paper, which of course makes it cuter. And I really think that when she said "She made me too" she is indeed referring to me and not God. I don't believe she is calling God a SHE. I had to ask her what she meant by "She likes some of her Brother toy's too." She was basing this off of me telling her I used to play with GI Joe's with my brother!! She was so funny when she was explaining to me that if she had a different mom and she saw me on the street she would ask her mom if I could be her mom. If her mom said no, she'd still want me to be a part of her life!!! What a funny girl! Oh yeah...and I'm not really an artist, nor do I pretend to be one in real life. In fact, I don't draw or color with the kids. But hey...I'm not going to argue with her.

These are memories I will cherish forever. I can only hope and pray that my kids get to experience the same joy that they have brought to my life. Being a mother is by far the hardest, yet the most fulfilling, amazing thing I have ever done. I would not trade a minute of it for ANYTHING.

Katherine Grace, Kaleb Lee, Abbey Rose and Livvy Morgan...

Mommy loves you more than you will ever know!!!

I am not a videographer

So I WAS going to post videos from the school program, but after looking at them and editing them, they still didn't really show you what we got to see, so I am not uploading them straight to my blog.

Note to self: Locate the video camera you actually own and start taking that places instead of thinking the video on your digital camera will actually do what you want it to do.

This post is going to center around Kaleb and Olivia. I'll try to keep it...short...ish.

The kids had a day off from school yesterday and it was my turn to try to work from home while they ran loose in the house. I had a lot of claims that HAD to be dispatched and thus I couldn't just give the kids my full attention like we ALL wanted! The morning progressed rather well and we managed to avoid extreme meltdowns.

I guess I should go back and say that this post will be unlike most of my other posts that talk about my son. If you've been with me for more than a year or so (those of you that have THANK YOU for your continued support!), you know that when I have something to write about my son it is usually because there is some sort of 'issue'. However, today is all about the GOOD that I have seen in Kaleb over the last couple of days. Most days there really is a struggle in every little thing. Yesterday I was worried the day would take that turn when Kaleb was being rude and disrespectful to one of his sisters. Quite shocking to me though, before I had a chance to address it, he promptly APOLOGIZED!! My friends, this is RARE. Immediately I thanked him for recognizing what he had done and saying he was sorry. Inside I was jumping for joy over this seemingly small accomplishment. Believe me! This was huge and I made sure that Kaleb knew that I was proud of him. I want to encourage THIS behavior and not some of the other things we have dealt with.

Later, in the afternoon, I was again busy trying to set up some claims. I had taken a two hour break to clean and get some laundry done, as well as order Chinese slave for hours in the kitchen in order to feed the kids lunch. When Kaleb gets bored though, Kaleb gets restless. He becomes silly, and then it escalates to varying degrees of making me want to pull my hair out; and then he usually winds up hurting one of his sisters or pushing my buttons until he can get me yelling. Which sadly he does all too often. I had calmly (not sure how I managed this!) talked to him about his behavior, letting him know that I just needed two hours to get some more work done. I was about ready to lose it when he suddenly decided to go into the bathroom. I heard him saying how dirty the sink was and could he clean it. Well, do you think I was about to tell him NO???

So, I need to just stop here for a moment and tell you that it pays to have a kid with a tendency towards OCD. My son discovered Clorox Wipes yesterday!! And now there is NO going back! He cleaned the sink alright. I told him to be sure that he cleaned the faucet. A few minutes later he asked if he could clean the drain (stopper) too. It was funny that he was asking me about that, like he needed my permission. He didn't stop there either. He emptied the trash can and replaced the bag in the trash can. He cleaned the TOILET. He even got mad at me because I wouldn't let him clean the mirror with the wipes. I'll have to introduce him to Windex and paper towel for that one. Once he was done, he was ready to see what other damage he could do with Clorox wipes! It was so funny and cute to watch him. He then, needing more to clean, put dishes into the dishwasher that were cluttering the table. He straightened up the papers and put away anything that didn't belong there. BECAUSE HE WANTED TO WASH THE TABLE. With Clorox wipes of course!!! He then put the Roomba to work in all the areas that needed it.

What a GOOD boy!!!

So today I took him out to celebrate. After praising him up and down yesterday for his efforts and bragging to Daddy about it, we went to the library and Kaleb picked out the movie for movie night tonight. Then we went to the gas station to celebrate. It may not seem like much to you...but it's our thing. The kids LOVE going places one on one with me. I ALWAYS take them to the gas station and let them get a soda (which Daddy never does!). So it's a big deal! We had a good time and I told him once again how proud I was of him. He got a slushy and a pack of gum and was thrilled with the attention and the goodies. It was a GOOD day for us both!

On to Olivia...that girl! That girl is INSANE! And I love her. She's funny and so very weird. And adorable. She's the complete package really. If you've got a little boy, train him up well...she's a KEEPER!

Livvy got into my closet this afternoon...

She's wearing my Pampered Chef hat, a pair of my black shoes, one flip flop on one hand and a slipper on another...

Hamming it up...

She made sure to lift her foot so I could get a good shot of her feet...

Later in the day, she got a coloring book out. She proudly showed me her picture. The goal, as you will see, is to unscramble the words. The result was partly because she can't spell yet, but mostly because she is just...well...she's Livvy!

She asked me what the words spelled. I just laughed and showed the others who also got a big kick out of Livvy's interpretation of the instructions. She then started giggling, and said "It says Olivia, Olivia, Olivia, Olivia, Olivia, Olivia!"

500 points that are worth absolutely nothing to the first person who unscrambles all the words and leaves the answers in the comments! ;-) Wait, I just realized that sounded like an admission that I don't know the answers. Let me assure you that I am great with words and I know all of these answers. I'm just desperate to feel some love!

And now, THIS is the future P90X and Jillian Michael's 30 Day Shred. It's a workout program for your BODY and your HEART! THIS is a workout video that I can get behind. You follow this 30-second workout and I can guarantee you'll be feeling...um...something...