Ear Piercing Tip

After we got our girls' ears pierced, some of you wrote me and said you were thinking of getting your girls' ears pierced too! For those of you who did, I have a great tip for you once the initial 6 weeks is over. My friend Shara told me about this. After you clean the ear and the earring with alcohol, dip the post of the earring in Neosporin. Then put it in the ear. This helps guard against infection and makes it much easier to get the earring in and out. My girls comments were "Wow - it didn't hurt that time Mommy!" No more tears and shouts "ow, ow, ow!" I would highly recommend trying this.

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Saving Money!

So many of you know that we are trying to save $$ for a house! Now that the girls are going to school, I hope to have more free time! I've decided to give myself a part-time job at home. How? By clipping coupons, planning meals around sales, and doing whatever else I can to save money. Saving money on things we would normally spend money on is as good as earning money!

Another neat and easy way I just heard about to earn money is through Adsense on Google. I just signed up for them to place an ad on my blog and I get paid for every time someone clicks on an ad. It just takes a second, so please click when you stop by! Thanks!

Ouch!

Alright, so I finally did something I had planned to for years. As superficial as it sounds, I went tanning! I really had never gone before. But I'm getting tired of all my tan lines and we are going to the beach next week for vacation. So Garr kept pushing me to go try it. (I do love having a husband who doesn't mind (actually likes!) if I do things for me!) The lady gave me a tour and offered me a free session today since I've never tanned before. She put me in the lightest (read: cheapest) tanning bed and only set it for 10 min. It was a bit scary to pull the top of the bed down and "shut" myself in there. But after about 6 minutes, I started to relax and enjoy myself. I even sang along a little with "Pretty Woman" on the radio. Well, I'm not enjoying myself tonight! I'm burned!! The price we pay to be beautiful! Ouch!

First Day of School Pictures!

The girls each had a great first day of school! (Mom did too!) Here are some pictures from this morning.

End of Summer Party at the Park and Sleepover!

We had an end of summer party at the park with a bunch of friends and then a sleepover that night also. It was a lot of fun for the girls. I thought I would share some of the photos we took. Many of them, Abby took! She has a great eye!

Homeschool vs Public School

This has been our dilemma for the past 6 months. Which one is really better for the girls? Well, the decision has been made and revised and made again at least 6 times. Today, there is a final decision. The girls are going to public school.

When we took Olivia in to meet her teacher, Eme and Abby started asking me if they could go also. My worry is that they will start and after the newness (I don't think that is a word!) wears off, they will start complaining and want to stay home. And I was really looking forward to the extra time I was going to get with each of them at home.

At the same time, public school offers a lot. Fun field trips, friends, etc. I didn't want the girls to miss out on that either. Plus, I stressed about whether I could adequately cover everything with them. (although I know I can, I just worry!)

Garr woke up at just the right moment (he worked last night). As I was sitting on the couch in tears with the girls around me, getting ready to discuss the school issue for the final time, he appeared. His response? "If they want to go, send them!" But, but, but, I worried! We finally decided to go ahead after some serious words with the girls about sticking to it! I took Abby to the school to enroll her. It was a great experience - they were so kind! I also was able to get her into the class that I had hoped for. She has an awesome teacher.

The girls were so sweet. Eme talked to Garr when I was gone, and told him that if I really wanted to homeschool her, she would. She didn't want me to be sad. And Abby told me she was sorry, she just really wanted to go to school. That warmed my heart. My girls care about others more than themselves.

Honestly, I'm feeling excited now that a decision has been made! The girls are going to do great this year. And I will get some free time! Yay! =]

Summer is coming to an end...

Our summer sped by. It feels like we are spending this week trying to make up for all we missed due to mom and dad's accident. This week we have been to Killen's Pond, Lake Como, Xbos, the park, and are having a sleepover tonight (7 little girls!).

School starts on Monday. Olivia will be going into kindergarten at the local public school as she got a really excellent teacher. She also learned how to ride her two-wheeler this summer! She is such a proud girl! She goes out to ride all the time now and she constantly wants us to come out and watch her. =] It was so great to be able to have mom and dad right here to see her ride. She celebrated her 5th birthday in July. We had a little party at the local park and then had her family party at camp. She loved all her "cool" gifts! Her babysitter, Sami, made the awesome princess cake for her!

Eme and Abby will be starting 3rd and 2nd grades. They haven't gotten used to the school here, and have asked to homeschool. We'll see how that goes! Eme was in a drama production at the local Opera House. She attended drama camp every day for two weeks before they put on their production. She did great and had a lot of fun.
Abby has become our resident photographer! She took the picture of my dad throwing his head back, laughing. She took some other pictures at our local park that I will share in my next post. She's quite talented!

My parents are getting better all the time. My mom is still on bed rest, but she is allowed to get up and do light chores and go places if she feels like it. My dad is gradually able to use his arm more and more. He has gone back to work, and preached for the first time a week ago. He said it felt great!

Garr is really starting to settle into his job. I think he is leading his dept in DUIs so I am proud of him! He is getting ready to test for his first couple of stripes in jiu-jitsu. He is working towards a blue belt. I'm just busy with the kids and starting an Awana program at our church. We had a yard sale with some friends last week and that was a success!

Daniel deserves a paragraph all his own. He is 8 months old now - almost 9. He has 6teeth and doesn't mind you knowing it ~ Don't let him stick your finger in his mouth! =] He has perfected his army crawl and gets around really fast. He gets up on his hands and knees to rock, but back on his belly to crawl. He says "da, da" and "ba, ba," but it's rare to hear him say "ma." (which stinks for me!) I'm afraid he may be a picky eater. He likes the basic baby food, but when you start mixing them ('corn and sweet potatoes' or 'apples and bananas', for instance), he refuses to eat them! He loves Gerber Graduates Puffs and he does such a good job picking them up and getting them into his mouth. He had a rough month healthwise. When we went to family camp, he had an ear infection and a virus and a rash! And he was cutting two teeth! Poor kid! When we came home, we found out his other ear was infected. He seems to be getting better now. It was the first time he had been sick and apparently he was going to do it all at once! He is a very happy, mostly content baby. We feel very blessed!

I'm am going to post lots of pictures from the past month. I'm having trouble with making notes next to the pictures - but I'm sure most are self-explanatory! Enjoy!