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!

 

 



An Angel In Heaven...

Sunday morning the girls' great grandmother lost her 4 year battle with cancer.

 

 

I met her when I was 16 and from the moment I met her she earned a special place in my heart. She was always patient, loving, welcoming to be honest the best way to describe her was she IS the definition of southern womanly charm.

 

Her home was always welcoming, always organized and cleaned and there was not a holiday that was not held at her home.

 

 

The feeling is so unreal at this point as they laid her to rest yesterday in her home town of Mobile Alabama.

 

To the family our prayers and thoughts are with you at this time.

 

 



Dating Your Spouse

The hubby and I have been togetherfor almost 11 years. It is so hard to believe some days. Then others it seems like forever which I think is true for all relationships no matter how much time as been sent together. 

To be honest we have been very (coughs) spoiled in our 10 years together. 

The majority of the time (like 99.99%) we have been able to spend every night together. There has been VERY few nights where we were separated or didn't get to see each other. We never had to really "fit" each other in our schedules.

Back in August I went back to the working world after three years of being a stat at home mom. Though going back to work was a HUGE change not only for us but for our kids we decided I would work overnight... This has been an even MORE change for us because now mom is on a different planet.. 

I have a different schedule than every living soul in our house.

I sleep during the day and they are at work or school, my days are thier nights, etc. 

This has taken a HUGE toll on not only family time (more about "dating" your family later) but also on time me and the hubby has together. 

With 2015 among us I thought it would be a great idea to start "dating" my hubby again.

Now I will be real with you. With 3 kids, schooling for us all, work schedules, school functions, house to do's and life in general having a REAL out of the house date for us is like winning the lottery... Literally!!! 

I hit Pinterest hard with at home date night ideas and we kicked it off this week...

Here is the plan:

We each swap weeks to plan date nights. 

There is not a set night so its flexible with all of the other life happenings. 

Only rule is that there are NO CELL PHONES allowed (only exception is a text or call from one of our kids) 

The hubby claimed the first week to kick off and let me tell you. I was pleasently surprised! 

Monday night our "date" consisted a candle lite bubble bath... It was a great way to start off my weekend (since Monday nights are my Friday's) and it was so nice to have that alone time to be able to chat about things.

We originally made the goal for one night a week but we were lucky enough to squeeze in two!
Wednesday night while the kids went to church with the neighbor girl. We snuck in another date night.

We decided we would "beat" each other up on the xbox aka I got my ass kicked and like all are loosers do I had some wine ;)

  

I will be sharing a few at home date night with you all next week.

What's your favorite way to share time with your spouse? 

Pinterest for the WIN!

There are two VERY huge trends right now that I am a sucker for...

Pintrest and Chalkboards

I got this amazing chalkboard for my 30th from my best is in Cali and I LOVE it and use it ALL the time. Down fall it NEVER came clean... 

So... 

I got on a mission through Pintrest to find out how to clean it to where it looked brand new every time I erased it...

I did not want to have to go buy a special product either so when I saw several pins stare to use coke I was a little skeptical. I mean who thinks of these things?! Really?! 

Yesterday while on my cleaning spree I decided why not. What could it really hurt? So I got the coke I didn't finish the day before and hasn't thrown away yet and tried it...

My results? 

Short of amazing right? 

I was amazed the Chalkboard was like it was brand bew!!! 

I even kept what was left of the coke and added it to my cleaning cabniet. 

Is there a pintrest win that you have found?