HAPPY BIRTHDAY GRAMS!

Can I just say OH. MY. GOSH! This past weekend I flew home to Ohio to be at my Grandma's 80th surprise birthday party. And boy was it a surprise! She cried, I cried it was all a tear-y filled event! I also brought a DVD I made to play at the party starting with her baby pictures through today. It went along with some great 50's tunes and she absolutely loved it.

Isn't she the most beautiful Grandma EVER? I think so!

Not only did I get to see all my family but we also played in some snow and froze in the -2 degree temperatures.

Sugar kept saying, "Mama, I c-ooooold!" While Daddy and Sissy enjoyed a Daddy-daughter bonding weekend in Disneyland.

It all went by SO fast but we had an awesome time. Below are some pictures of our COLD weekend and Grams blowing out her candles. :-)

The next best thing...

...in Arizona besides the mountains and 70 degree weather in January is McCormick-Stillman Railroad Park!

A while back when my dad and sister visited we stumbled upon this great train park in Scottsdale. Needless to say, it has been our favorite place to go with the family ever since then. They have actual trains that you can ride on, a carousel, a lookout tower, a huge playground, shops and a museum. The best part is that it is FREE to get in and the trains rides only cost a $1.00 a ticket!

Below is a picture of the larger train and Sissy riding inside one of the freight cars. And, of course Sugar riding on the Carousel with Daddy. I think we are going to have Sugar's Birthday party here since she is such a train lover right now.
Hmmm, I wonder why? :-)

For those of you who haven't done it

...this is one more call to bloggityville to help donate for Kelli and her family. If you don't know what's been going on around here in the blogosphere then go here.

Don't worry it's not too late, you can you can still donate.

Lastly, a BIG thanks to BooMama (and God) for 'Lovin' on Kelli'!

It DOES get cold in the desert

Last night we had a low of 31 degrees and two straight days of overcast. I do believe this is the coldest it has been since we moved here. And, in spite of all of the chilly-ness Sissy and Sugar STILL wanted to go outside and play.

Did I ever tell you Sugar is hot in nature? No matter what the temperature is inside and out? She sleeps in nothing and if she goes to bed with something on you can guarantee it's off by morning. Well today was nothing unusual except for the fact she did not want to go upstairs to get clothes on to play outside.

So below was her solution to getting dressed. Mind you it was in the mid-40's when she was wearing this fine attire.


I guess kitchen towels and Dad's shoes have more uses than we thought.

New Year's Meditations

I love this idea that Laurel is hosting over at Laurel Wreath. She would like for us to share our "New Year's Mediations" instead of our "New Year's Resolutions". Isn't she smart? I think it sounds so much better too. Especially since every. single. year. I blow off every resolution I make say mid-February. :-)

Anyhoo, since I haven't blogged in like forever, I thought this would be a good thing to start the new year with. (Wow, my English teacher would be proud of that sentence!)

Unlike previous year's, I'm not setting the usual goal to lose weight, eat better, read more, blah, blah, blah but rather...Trust God More With His Plan For My Life.

It seems like such a simple thing to do but yet, this past year it has been one of the hardest things for me to do. Then to start the new year with our house still on the market and myself facing more health issues it seems even harder.

So, for my 2007 New Year's Mediation I'm going to be meditating on these two verses:

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowldge him, and he will make your paths straight."
Proverbs 3:5-6

And the one that got me through my last surgery...

"For I know I have plans for you,'declares the Lord', 'plans to prosper you
not harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.'"
Jeremiah 29:11

I know this isn't a nice long organized list of goals for 2007 but the truth be known, this is all I can and need to focus on right now.

If you would like to read other folks meditations for 2007 head on over to Laurel Wreath.

Happy New Year!

I figure this tour is good until the New Year begins right?

Due to the brilliance of Boomama's bloggity brain, I bring you "The Locastro Casa" bloggity tour at Christmas time and of course a little late.

First we have a 'half' shot of the front of the house. I have lights on the gargage too but I couldn't get it all in one BIG shot. The little reindeer move their heads and everytime we back out of the drive Sugar yells, "bye, bye wanedeer"!


And when you walk in the house we have this lighted wreath. This was given to me by some good friends of ours who moved to Australia so I look forward every year to putting it up.
Since we don't have a fireplace this year, the stockings were hung on the stairway with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas can find them there. :-)
This is our Christmas tree in the front living area. The angel on top was given to me by my mom and it's was used to go on our tree when I was young. I just love it!

Now for one of my favorites! I found the train we use to have when I was younger on Ebay and got one for my girls this year. It's considered a vintage now...isn't that funny? Anyways, it runs perfectly, smokes and has a light. The girls absolutely love it and we play with every day.

This was another great vintage find this year and I just adore it. It sits on the back of my stove.


This is the girl's Christmas tree in the media room. You can't see from the picture but it has bubble lights, popcorn garland and their Christmas link chain we made.
This Santa hangs on the girl's bathroom door downstairs next to their playroom. It was made for me about 10 years ago from a friend and the face is made of all yarn.
This is the last picture I took, I bought this Christmas hanging for dirt cheap a few years back and I just love it. I added the door swag over top this year since I had no where else to hang it.

Well that's all for our Christmas decor...head on over to Boomama's to see more!

Happy New Year!

Twas the night...

Twas the Night... for Moms

The Night Before Christmas for Moms
Author Unknown

Twas the night before Christmas, when all thru the abode, only one creature was stirring, and she was cleaning the commode. The children were finally sleeping, all snug in their beds, while visions of Nintendo and Barbie flipped through their heads.

The dad was snoring in front of the TV, with a half-constructed bicycle sitting on his knee. So only the mom heard the reindeer hooves clatter, which made her sigh, "Now what's the matter?"

With toilet bowl brush still clutched in her hand, she descended the stairs, and saw the old man. He was covered with ashes and soot, which feel with a shrug. "Oh great," muttered the mom, "Now I have to clean the rug."

"Ho-ho-ho!" cried Santa, "I'm glad you're awake. Your gift was especially difficult to make." Thanks, Santa, but all I want is some time alone." "Exactly!" He chuckled, "I've made you a clone."

"A clone?" she asked, "What good is that? Run along Santa, I've no time for a chat." The mother's twin, same hair, same eyes, same double chin. "She'll cook, she'll dust, and she'll mop every mess. You relax, take it easy, and get some real rest."

"Fantastic!" the mom cheered. "My dream come true! I'll shop. I'll read. I'll sleep a whole night through!"

From the room above, the youngest began to fret. "Mommy?! I'm scared… and I'm wet." The clone replied, "I'm coming sweetheart." "Hey", the mom smiled, "She knows her part."

The clone changed the small one, and hummed a tune, as she bundled the child, in a blanket cocoon. "You're the best mommy ever. I really love you." The clone smiled and sighed, "I love you, too."

The mom frowned and said, "Sorry, Santa, no deal! That's my child's love she's trying to steal." Smiling wisely Santa said, "To me it is clear. Only one loving mother is needed here."

The mom kissed her child, and tucked her into bed. "Thank you, Santa, for clearing my head. I sometimes forget, it won't be very long, when they'll be too old for my cradle-song."

The clock on the mantle began to chime. Santa whispered to the clone, "It works every time." With the clone by his side Santa said, "Goodnight. Merry Christmas Mom, you'll be alright."

* I got this via email several times from some other mommies and thought it was cute. Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Hello to all my dear friends that read, lurk and comment,

Well tomorrow morning, the girls and I are off to see some family in a much colder climate. I actually had to buy us some winter clothes since we haven't needed any in oh. about. two. years!

Maybe, just maybe we'll see some snow. Because you know it's fun to see it for about a day or two this time of year and then I've had enough. :-)

Since I'll be without the Internet for a good chunk of time (I know I'm twitching already), I probably won't post again until after Christmas. So until then, I hope all my bloggity friends have a blessed Christmas and may we remember the reason for the season!

In Him,

T-Lo

Our Jesse Tree

Last night we finally purchased our Jesse Tree to start a new family tradition. I have learned lots about this topic over the past few months here in bloggityville. And I must say it's and excellent idea! I learned first about this tradition from here. Since then, I have been collecting more and more information to create our own.

Like so many of you, this year I am doing the paper ornaments for each Bible story. Plus, Sissy LOVES to color so this is a good time to let her make them. Also, we attached them to colored construction paper like they did here and they look great. (Thanks Ad for the tip!)

Below is a snapshot of our first four ornaments. I do believe next year's ornaments will be a little more creative but this will have to do for now. You can get more information about this idea and see more samples of others here and here.


I'm looking forward to doing more devotionals and watching Sissy learn. Sugar is still a little young to understand but we always show her what we made when she wakes up from nap. :-)

Below is the passage where the idea of the Jesse Tree all began...

1 A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.

2 The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of power,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD -

Isaiah 11:1-2

I swear, I don't starve my children

This past month or so I started doing projects again with Sissy during Sugar's nap time. We have made turkeys, Thanksgiving sugar cookies, PB brownie cups, Christmas pine cones, bells, stockings, a gingerbread house (our first time) and the most famous of all...

Popcorn garland! Which by the way takes f.o.r.e.v.e.r. to make. It's a good thing it's makes for a tasty snack too.


Anyways, Sugar woke up from nap yesterday and I forgot to lock the door to the media room which is where the girl's tree resides. I walked in to find this...



Then followed Smokey the dog...















Once Sissy came in the room and saw first-hand what was going on, we had a very upset preschooler crying, "it's ruined, the whole tree is ruined!"

I think this is the part where I was supposed to stop laughing... :)

Holy cuteness and fun!

Woke up at 4:00am to do my annual "day after Thanksgiving" shopping and I'm all. done.

Yes. I'm. all. done.

I just love all the craziness and fun things that go on that day. Not to mention picking up a few things for myself while I'm at it. You see ladies, if you get up early enough to go, you can actually try. on. clothes. with. no. kids. And eat uninterrupted. And go to the bathroom alone. And browse every aisle. And carry just a purse. Oh yes... the day after Thanksgiving shopping is always a good day.

And I think that is the first time I ever arrived at Starbucks BEFORE they opened. :-)

Now onto holy cuteness! I got the girls "Christmas dresses" this past week. So Saturday while hubby was out doing his fun day of shopping I got the girls dressed to take a picture for our Christmas cards.
I first tried indoors but the pictures kept coming out all blurry. So then I thought since this will probably be our last Christmas in Arizona, I would take it in front of a Saguro cactus.

No such luck.

All the cactuses were too far and the sun was WAY to bright. Plus the girls kept squinting their eyes in every picture. But, I did have some fun playing with iphoto and I perfected the art of 'cropping' some pictures. Below is a glimpse at a couple of my faves.




















In addition to a lovely turkey dinner and my shopping, the girls and I spent the day before making our Christmas chain and wrote 25 things we were thankful for on each link. I love to see how much Sissy (especially) has grown over the past year. We moved from thanking our toys to thanking people.

I love this time of year!

The Big Weekend, Part 2

The moment you all have been waiting for...the dyed/highlighted hair. Let's just say I haven't seen my sistor in over a year and when we get any time together it's usually...

lots of talking, giggling, late nighters, chocolote eatin' sistor-time!

So in the moment of all sistorhood she says.... "hey, let's dye our hair." And, of course with all sistorhood worthyness I agree.

Oh did I agree. I haven't had my roots touched up since my last bloggity trip to Savannah - oh did I just admit that? So without further ado, we headed to our local Walgreens to pick out just the right color! LOL!

Sistor recommended that I use the platinum color to lighten my roots and she chose the caramel color kit. So, the adventure started at 9:00pm and ened after midnight.

RESULTS: I had orange roots and she had orange/blonde hair. There was no "caramel" color anywhere to be seen. Of course the problem was with the hair highlighting kit and not with the person who was applying it, right? :-)

So here are the said color results! The picture was taken around 12:30am so the lighting was not very good.
However when it came to the toes we left it up to the professionals. And as you can see we have the prettiest toes in AZ!


As for the hair...sistor called and said she is all brown now. She actually got up the nerve to fix it herself. I on the other hand had an appointment first thing Saturday morning for what they sytlists call a 'Color Correction'. Well, let's just say 4 1/2 hours later I came home looking somewhat normal! :-)

*The word sister is misspelled intentionally because this what call each other sis-tor!

Thinking out loud

I just hung some Christmas lights on my garage this afternoon...oh my!

Ya'll... is this way too early?

The Big Weekend, Part 1

Well Part 1 will have to start on Thursday when my Dad and sister arrived. The girls and I picked them up from the airport. They arrived an hour early, can you believe it? We finally met up in luggage and the first stop was at In and Out Burger.

Yes ma'am the best burgers EVER.

Once we arrived back home, my Dad and I busted out my most recent Ebay purchase. Oh yes, the train that we had going around the Christmas when I was younger will now be parading around our tree this year. CHOO CHOO!

Check it out...Dad got er' up and running, uncoupling and smoking!
This is a vintage Marx Big Rail Work Train.
A little later in the afternoon I decided to go out and get our mail. Below is what I saw in our front yard on the way out!
YES, that is a giant pile of busy bees trying to make a hive. I'm sure the queen is under there somewhere.

Note to readers: If you live where I live, this is how to take care of the bees: :)

1. Call animal control because it will ring the police department.
2. The police department will tell you the "Fire Department takes care of bees".
3. They will give you the fire dept. number and the operator will say it's out of service.
4. Next, call the animal control services back - read 'police department' to get a new number.
5. They will rudely question your intelligence and then try the number themselves.
6. Then, they will sound like they're sorry and give you a new number.
7. You will finally reach the fire department and they will tell you they don't handle the bees...unless they are hostile and stinging people. They will tell you that the bees are very transient and he "guarantees" said bees will be gone in a few days.
8. You will share your concerns regarding littles one in the house and kids being dropped off at the school bus stop near your home in 45 minutes.
9. The fire department will THEN tell you, "unfortunately they don't know kids are allergic to bees until they start dying on us".
10. Said fire department will "suggest" you patrol the area while the kids are walking home to be sure none of them bother the bees. OR, call a bee keeper and pay several hundred dollars to have them removed.

Here is what WE did:

1. Waited almost three days for bees to leave.
2. They were still there (surprise!) so we called our friendly neighbor Jim who owns a Pest Control company.
3. Said neighbor comes over to check out bees that evening.
4. The next day he was out there spraying them.
5. We paid him $20 bucks and the all the bees were dead in about three hours.

Luckily, no one got hurt/stung but Dad did say that he saw Jim running down the street because the bees started to chase him. Yikes!

Hubby paid him $30 bucks instead... :-)

Stay tuned for more adventures and pictures of "The Big Weekend..."

My Big Weekend

I had such an awesome weekend that I'm still trying to absorb it all.

In a nutshell, my dad and older sister came in town to visit. And, boy did we have a blast. There are so many stories to share I guess I'll have to post in parts. We climbed mountains, dyed (read tried) our hair, pampered our toes, road some trains, chased away some bees...oh the fun.

But for starters, at the request of my sister I am posting pictures for her and all her friends at work of Sissy and Sugars playroom. It's kind of hard to get pictures of the ceiling and the floor in the same shot so I took a few of each area.

"Hi gals, here you go...don't work too hard!" Enjoy! (Claire is waving Hi Aunt Nese!)

Thank you Coffee-mate

Oh yes...it's that time of year again where my all. time. favorite. coffee creamer is available. I swear, if I could get them to send me an email to a product review their sales would blow through the roof! But seeming how they didn't respond to my email I sent to them at this time last year, I don't think I'll be seeing anything in my inbox anytime soon.

Anyhoo, if you haven't tried it yet you have got to get the Coffee-mate Peppermint Mocha creamer. And, I emphasize this...

while supplies last!

Because I'll tell you what, I'll find it at Wal-Mart one time and then they never have it in stock again.

So this year I got smart.

I knew it was going to come out around November 1st, so I headed to my local Wally World and bought myself EIGHT bottles! Yes, you read that right. There were only nine left and I felt bad buying them ALL, so I left one in the case for the next lucky soul.

I know this sounds extreme, but trust me...once their gone they're GONE. Now Coffee-mate will come out with three other seasonal flavors, Pumpkin Spice, Gingerbread and Eggnog. But none of them will compare to the Peppermint Mocha!

If you haven't tried it all ready...Go Get Some Right Now! You'll love it!

And if you don't...send it to me I'll drink it. :-)

My blogiversary

Late as usual...but just over two weeks ago I had my one-year anniversary in bloggityville! Wow, it's hard to believe it's been a year since hubby hounded me to start my own blog.

I can't say I've become a better person or that blogging has made me a better mother but there are a few things I can say...

I've made more friends then I could ever imagine. I've mirled some of the best women in the entire blogosphere. I've learned some great SAHM tips, acquired some great recipes and received prayer and support from so many I can't count. And, if those aren't good enough reasons to blog then I don't know what is.

Looking back, this little blog has gone from "Thoughts with Theresa" to "Bullfrogs and Butterflies". It's gone from posting pictures just for family to sharing them with the world. It's gone from sharing silly stories to asking for advice. It's gone from 3 readers to over 500.

It's gone from fun to fascinating.

Overall, this little blog that I thought only my close family and friends would read has become a true support network for me. And, I know those of you who don't blog (but read) truly do not understand that last statement. All I can say is that I am blessed to be a Blogger and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Blog-O-Lantern results are in...

Wow! This was a lot harder than I thought it was going to be. Hubby and I have been looking at pumpkins for the last hour. I thought it was only fair that I have a unbiased judge help with the winner. So after numerous debates the winner is...


WINNER: Jack Benny
by Jules over at Everyday Mommy.

(Jules make sure you send me your address so I can send you your prize!)



It was so hard to pick just one, so I wanted to give you a few honorable mentions...

1st Honorable Mention: Curious George
by Stacy over at Just Me and the Guys (y'all she did this WITHOUT a pattern!)




2nd Honorable Mention: Spider
by Jennifer over at The Wilson Six (hubby really liked that spider!)



Thanks to everyone who participated. This was a whole lot of fun and I enjoyed looking at all the pumpkin carvings. So if I'm still around bloggityville next year, plan on this contest repeating...and if you didn't participate this year make sure you start getting your ideas going for next year.

May the best Blog-O-Lantern win!

Product Review...huh?

Okay I'll bite... about a week or so ago I got an email from the lovely folks at Clorox. Yes, the bleach one. As if there were someone else with that name? They kindly asked if I would accept a free sample of their new Clorox UltimateCare Premium Bleach and then post my review on my blog. So of course they twisted my arm and I said yes. And, yes, this type of coercion does happen through email. *smile*

Did I mention it was free?

Anyhoo, I read through all the papers and ads to see what was so special about this new bleach. See being OCD and all, we do these kinds of things even though we know what bleach is for. But for your information, I DO use the regular Clorox bleach so I needed to see why I must switch to THEE premium bleach.

So off to the laundry room I went with a day old onesie outfit covered in chocolate ice cream. After reading through the materials it seemed to me the selling point of this new bleach was that you can pour it directly on the fabric.

So that's what I did.

I covered all the soiled chocolate areas and tossed it in the wash with my other whites. For some reason I was a little distracted by a toddler pulling at my leg and I may have poured a little more than I should have. :-)

Nonetheless, we were going to see if this stuffed really worked!

So last night I'm pulling out my load of whites from the dryer and they did look pretty bright and white. Oh, and the little areas on the onesie outfit that I covered (read drowned) in bleach was, drum roll please...

CLEAN! There was not one chocolate stain left of the entire outfit! Sold!

So after using (read abusing) the premimum bleach, I will definitely buy it. Quite frankly my friends, it does work and here is what I liked most about it:

1. You can pour it directly on the fabric (if you don't have said toddler pulling on your leg)
2. It's thicker than true liquid bleach so it's easier to pour (if you're paying attention) :-)
3. I love that fact that when I touched the bleach directly with my fingers, they did not smell like bleach all. day. long. Now that's a bonus!

Finally, I believe a product review is not worthy without seeing proof. So, since I knew I was going to do a review about this product I took before and after shots...

Because truly seeing is believing!

Here are the results...L@@k at the top left sleeve, middle, and bottom left - awesome eh?


*The first pic is a little yellow because I took it in the laundry room.

Thanks Clorox!

* Note to readers: What you can't see in the picture was that I obviously poured WAY too much bleach directly on the fabric and it slightly faded the colors in some spots. Now I'm talking it was very minimal fading and I was surprised it didn't come out completely white! This obviously wouldn't of happened if the product was "used as directed".

In my eyes, that's a plus for Clorox, because even a goof like me couldn't ruin an outfit! :-) I just wanted to be honest.

Halloween Open House

I know this is a day late, but I told Chilihead I would share my pictures...at least the few that we have. I kept it super conservative this year since we have the house on the market.

With that being said, here are my little touches of fall around the house. I also included of picture of hubby's haunted garage but I couldn't capture the full effect on camera. Let's just say there were lots of strobe lights, fog machines, scary music and some good old scary costumes and kiddos! :-)
Alright, either blogger is being stubborn or our connection is on a frenzy because it would not let me load any more pictures - Arrrr! Anyhoo, there's a couple to look at...I'll try again later.