And Just Where Have You Been?!?!?!....

Well I have to say that this has been a YEAR!

 

I know this has been a long lost blog for some time now and I have to say GOD HAVE I MISSED IT!

 

 

Last August I started working overnight back in the real working world and though for the most part I LOVED what I did and mot days LOVED the people I worked with the overnight life as a mom, wife, business owner and human needless to say SUCKS ASS!

 

Your days consists of work and sleep, then repeat. Even if you were like me and only got 2-4 hours of sleep a day it still seemed like that is all you do.

 

I recently took some time off of work to be home with my kids.

My oldest D as you know is a sever case of ADHD along with some other diagnostics and needless to say we have had a rough transition to Junior High with meds and thanks to her GT (Gifted and Talented) Teacher this year she has brought to my attention that she may not even be ADHD!

So we took her off ALL her meds and now we are waiting to have her retested.

If you don't know much about the ADHD meds let me tell you. It is basically legalized crack in a pill we shove down our kids throats to make their brain waves keep up...

 

When your child is 13 and has been on this "crack" since she was 5 she is going to have some with drawls.... hints why mommy is home to help her and us cope with the changes she is and will be going through.

 

 

I hope that this process will not take as long as it has for us to learn and educate ourselves as it has with the ADHD, Insomnia, Anxiety, Mood Disorder and who can forget the ODD that we deal with on a daily basis with her and on top of that the ADHD with our 8 year old...

 

So many changes in so little time for them...

 

 

In the mean time I thought I would take this opportunity to finish organizing and un-packing the house that we have lived in for over a year now (don't judge me).

Work on building my photography business so one day I can open my studio and maybe look for a day job to I can leave the overnight world, but I will be back to my overnight position if these things don't pan out by the time we have our oldest back on the right path!

 

 

 I will also be spending this time caching you all up with what has been happening here!

 

Let's just say you are in for some HUGE things!

Its amazing what a year can bring!

 

Here is a sneak peek of what's to come!

 

 

 



Where Has The Time Gone...

As I sit here and try to sleep I can't help but think that today is the day we go and line out classes for my oldest for JUNIOR HIGH!!! 

Hard to believe that Monday she turned 13!!!

That's right folks I am officially a parent of a TEEN! 

Jeesh! 

Seems like yesterday I was in labor with my first kid! 

Now we are registering her to go into the 8th grade in the fall!

I can not begin to explain the amazement I feel that we have survived already gone through these 13 years! 

D is a very special girl and I am beyond honored to be her mamma! 

This last weekend we celebrated her birthday with a HUGE party (16 kids included!) 

I will share more details on the blog tomorrow on her party...

If iI thought the last 13 years went quick then this last month flew even faster!!! 

One month ago today my 5th god baby was born! 

I was given the honor of being chosen to be the god mother to my youngest brother in  laws  lil girl. 

Unfortunatly I was not able to be there when she came to join us in the world but I did get TONS of pics! 

Newborn

One month!

I can not wait to spend the whole summer with this girl!!!  

Tatted Tuesday: Keeping Family Alive

One of my childhood friends sent me such a sweet meaning of  some ink I HAD to share!

 

Her mother in law wrote out her last name in Chinese Calligraphy for her one day and she immediately went and made it into something she would never loose or could ever replace and of course that would be ink!

See the lil "Samurai" character? Well not only does it stand for Wong (her now last name) but it is also in the penmanship of her mother in law!

How awesome is that!

 

Location of ink: Inner elbow

Pain Scale 1-10: 2

Artist: Cathy Hennessy

Location of Studio: Riverside, California

 

 

Thank you girlie for sharing your ink with us!

 

 

If you have some ink you'd like to have featured send us a message on our NEW Facebook page!



Tips N Tricks Tuesday (Wednesday): Intoducing Social Media for Kids

Let's face it we now live in a world consumed by social media, we are always connected now days no matter the distance between us.
First the cell phone then the obsession to texting...
Now we are in an era where we not only have one social media account but several...
and if you just happen to meet someone not in the social media circle your first thought... what is wrong with you?!
(My hubby is one of those people!)


Social media has a lot of wonderful things that we can benefit from but there are also come major issues...


With my kids generation it is not uncommon for them to already have accounts for 1 or more social media outlets and as of the Christmas holiday this last year my girls were allowed their
"Social Media Privileges"

The first thing I did was decide on who was going to have which social media and which ones we would leave off.

Once I was done I set up all of their accounts and printed off the logos for each kid with their user names and passwords written on the back.

All three now have an Instagram

The older two are hooked up with Yahoo emails

the youngest is enjoying gmail

The older two are loving Pinterst  and of course...

All three are enjoying the world of faces :)

With these I typed up a special note for them to accompany them...

Here is what it said...

Social Media Privileges

Welcome to the world of social media.

Social media is a privilege and such things should NOT be taken lightly.

You have been awarded the social media but remember there are rules and guidelines to follow.

If you do not choose to follow these rules then you choose not to continue to possess the privileges granted to you.

Here are your rules:

You are not allowed to have your profile picture set as a picture of you.

All friend requests WILL be APPROVED by mom

You will NEVER give out your phone number or address to anyone on social media without talking to mom first. 

Be respectful: You will not say things on there that you would not say at home.

You WILL NOT BULLY!

You may not send a friend request without permission.

Your accounts ARE monitored!

If I see something I do not approve of you will be spoken with…

I see it again and you have LOST your privilege.

Do NOT change your passwords and or your user names.

DO NOT change account settings.

I am trusting you girls to use these correctly to keep in touch with friends and family members. These again are privileges and I have control over all of them.

Rules are subject to change as I see fit,

I hope you enjoy and you make wise choices.




These bad boys were boxed and wrapped...

Much to my surprise the most excited one has been my middle child!
They have all done really well with this and I am pleasantly surprised...

What are your social media rules or guidelines for your kids?

We would love to hear them!
 

Our Lives in a Nutshell

To say that so much has happened in the last few weeks since my last post is a HUGE understatement!

 

We have been CRAZY busy with this roller coaster we call life that my ability to get everything done is well lacking to say the least...

 

 

Though we have had a BUSY BUSY BUSY few weeks we have lots of things to catch up on...

 

 

On the 10th my dad went in for yet another surgery on his neck... He is a retired USAF Firefighter and has had to have several surgeries to fuse his disks in his back and neck over the years. Luckily this is the last for his neck and we are so very blessed that my grandmother from Cali fly out to go ol' Oklahoma to help the old man manage things.

 

The last surgery me and my girls were able to getaway from reality here in Arkansas to help them both out but since I am back in the working world I was denied this luxury but was kept up to date thanks to my grams who is a rock star and texted me updates.

 

A lot of people are not blessed to have an amazing family like I do and my dad always says he's "cool" and "hip"...

Well he proved it with his own Facebook status on the 12th when he was waiting to be released from the hospital...

 

Good ol dad posted a selfie!

 

I couldn't help but think of that annoying song...But first lets take a selfie...

he defiantly needs a few photog lessons but I was happy to see he was in great spirits after being stuck in a hospital...

 

 

 

 

On the 12th when dad was released to go home and Grams fun REALLY began in Oklahoma something exciting was happening in Alabama...

 

My brother in law and his future wife were at the hospital too but this was because my future sister in law was being induced to give birth to our niece! I LOVE babies and love all my nieces and nephews but I was extra excited about this one because she is also my 5th god child!!!

 

I hated that we could not be there for her birth but again thanks to the wonderful world of technology I was kept up to date with the process!

They went in at 5 am and our lil girl made her appearance that afternoon and she was BEAUTIFUL!

Not that I am bias or anything of course :)

 

 

2/12/2015

1:11pm

8 pounds 4 ounces

and

21 inches long

 

Needless to say I got NO sleep that day but it was WELL worth it with her making her appearance and dad being safe and sound at home.

 

 

As for here in Arkansas we have been very busy with school, work for us adults, party planning for our birthday folks this spring, appointments for the kids and so much more!

 

These last two weeks we have had winter finally show up here in the natural state and let me tell you what... Mother Nature is ON IT!

 

 

Last week we were 1 in 4 out from school and this week we are batting 0-3...

 

 

Maybe this will give me the chance to catch you all up on my other posts!

 

We have had another phase to Operation Brace Face, New Geek Gear, Date Nights, Ink and more!

 

Stay tuned guys they are all coming soon!

 

 

 

 

 

 



DYI: Outdoor Furniture Part One

With the new home in our lives and the ability to have some creative freedom my mind has gone 90 to nothing on decor ideas...

One of thproofingsed areas in our home especially during the warmer months is our yard. With this in mind we have a HUGE idea for a corner of our lot. 

Though I will not giveaway what we want it to be I will tell you that it will be epic and so fun for our family and friends! 

In this unmentioned area we are in desperate need of outside furniture...

I don't know about you but as a mom of 3 outside furniture is EXPENSIVE!!! 

So I thought it would be a fun project for me and the hubby to DIY some...

I have not fully decided on how I'm going to do the seating but let me tell you I have the tables 80% planned out.

Since my man man is an electricsion we are lucky enough to have some access to some HUGE wire spools... Which when my hubby brought two small ones home last year I planned on using them as photo props but what they ended up being was tables for our wine nights but the fire... When it hit me... PERFECT!

So last week he brought me home two of these as a surprise!

Our plans for these are to make them into tables for our side and with a coat or two of pain, some custom cuttex glass and some weather proofing to help preserve them. 

Now what I can't decide on is colors BUT I have already requested at least two more so  I am excited...

Here are a few color schemes iI'm liking right now...

Which one would use choose? 

Tattoo Tuesday: Friends Forever

I had asked via Facebook a while back for friends and family to share with me some of their ink and the stories.

 

 

Many moons ago I met this guy we all know as Cheeze Burger...

 

 

Cheeze has always been himself and so fun to be around! If you know him and become his friend it is a life long friendship for sure. His musical talents are amazing to boot and he is an ink addict too!

 

Location on body inner left arm

Location of shop redlands ca

Time in chair 6hrs

Price free

Pain level 9

Artist bobby

Age 28 when I got it

  Shop name empire tattoo

This is Vanity she was the first dog Cheeze got when he moved out on his own.

She was a true roll dog and lived a lot of life with him and was his best friend for years.

She had a litter of 10 puppies and he kept one and gave the rest to friends who all still have them to this day.

Sadly Vanity passed with no warning do to a heart murmur ..but still lives in his heart and protects him to this day.

 

 

 

Thank you Cheeze for sharing your story of Vanity...

 

If you are interested in having your ink featured here feel free to email us with the subject: Tattoo!