Shut Down

Sorry to say that my computer has decided to go all rebel on me and not work.  It won't let me upload any pics, and continues to shut down on it's own every few minutes.

Soooo, no posting for at least a few days while I try to get it fixed :(

Have a great week, and I hope to blog at you soon!

{HUGS}

The Official Summer Weekly Plan

So my friend, Amy, had blogged about getting a plan together for her kids for the summer, and it inspired me to do one of my own. 

As I said in an earlier post, my kids do best when there is some sort of routine schedule involved, so I approached my plan with that in mind.

And I must say, I am QUITE happy with the outcome!

Each day of the week, we will have a different theme, (except weekends...those are always just go with the flow).

And I am pretty sure this summer is going to fly by!

So here is the new plan:

Sun day Mondays:  All day at the pool!

Trippin' Tuesdays:  It's field trip day!  Movies, bowling, museum, zoo....lots of trips to do!

Wander the Park Wednesdays:  Picnic at the Park day!

Thrifty Thursdays:  Garage Sales and Thrift Stores

Friendly Fridays:  The girls get to invite friends over to play

Of course we will be incorporating the pool into more than just Mondays, (everyone who knows me knows that I cannot go more than a few days without being in the sun!), but these are basically what will be the highlight of each day, and after these are done, THEN we can head over to the pool if we want. 

Plus, as I said before, this gives the girls an idea of what to expect and they won't be asking me everyday, "what are we going to do tomorrow?", (which is the question they begin to ask EVERY.  SINGLE.  DAY. at dinner time).

So do you have a summer plan?  I would love to hear what you'll be up to!  Go ahead and comment and share...maybe you will inspire us!

Winner of The Etsy Giveaway

And the winner is......

CARRIE! 

Congratulations Carrie!  Please email me your information to thefamilyfunmom@yahoo.com and I will get you set up with Christine for your personalized towel!

And if you didn't win, but still want your own towel, be sure to check out Purse-O-Nals Etsy store and order yours today!

So I'm taking a break from Mix it Up Monday today to enjoy the day with my family, but I *will* be posting in the What I Wore Wednesday post and linking up with The Pleated Poppy, so be sure to look for that!

Happy Memorial Day everyone!  Have fun and be safe!

Love a Loooong Weekend!

This has been pretty close to a perfect weekend so far, (knock on wood, don't want to mess it up now!)

Friday started off finding out that our pool opening was being pushed back to Saturday due to storm damage, and I was pretty bummed because even if we couldn't swim, was (high only 68 that day!), I was looking forward to getting together to see all our friends.

BUT- the night was saved when my in-laws, (who happen to be the world's greatest!), said they would have the girls spend the night and my husband and I got an unexpected date night!  WOO-HOO!

Dinner at one of my favorite places, shopping, milkshakes, and a movie at home in our jammies...AKA, my perfect night!

On Saturday, we slept in and then picked up the girls from my in-laws and hung around the house for the first part of the afternoon.  THEN, we headed to Kings Island, a local Amusement Park, and spent a great evening with friends. 

The kids have so much fun there, especially when they have buddies that they get to ride the rides with.  AND, Addy even rode her first grown-up roller coaster, (The Racers)!  I was soooo proud of her, even if she did say that she never wanted to do that again :)  We even stayed late and let the kids watch the fireworks at the end of the night and they were exhausted by the time we got home and went right to sleep.

We skipped church this morning because the girls were sleeping in, (and Yes- sleeping until 8:30am IS sleeping in for my girls!), and the husband was able to mow the lawn.  (Okay, not exactly fun times, but with all the rain we've had, it was beginning to look like you could get your hunting gear out and trek through our yard for an adventure!)

This afternoon we are going to do some of the Memorial Day activities I blogged about, and then we are headed to The Heritage Festival. Tomorrow we will finally make it to the pool to hang with friends and I can't wait!

I hope you all are having a GREAT Memorial Day Weekend too, and I would LOVE to hear about some of your Loooong weekend plans!

And DON"T FORGET that today is The LAST DAY to enter for the GIVEAWAY!  Check out the post and comment for a a chance to win!!!  Winner will be announced tomorrow!  GOOD LUCK!

{GIVEAWAY}

HURRY!  You only have today and tomorrow to enter for the GIVEAWAY from the Purse-O-Nals Etsy store! 

You DON"T want to miss out on the opportunity to get one of these Awesome, personalized towels for you or your kids. 

So ENTER TODAY!  Here's How: (Don't forget to leave your comments on the ORIGINAL post!)


-Sign Up to follow my blog, (leave a comment letting me know you did!)

-Visit Christine's Purse-o-nals Etsy Shop, take a look around and come back here and leave a comment about your favorite item.

-Make a purchase from Christine's Purse-o-nals shop and leave a comment here telling me what you got!

-Link this Giveaway to Your Facebook Page, (leave a comment here letting me know!)

-Link this Giveaway on Your Twitter Page, (leave a comment letting me know you did!)

-Link this Giveaway on your blog, (leave a comment letting me know you did!)

And don't forget, the more times you enter, the better your chances to win!  But hurry, the winner will be drawn on Sunday, May 29th and announced on the blog on Monday May 30th!

Good Luck!

Time for Transparency

So for the last two weeks, I have been doing the Mix it Up Monday posts, in which I post a picture of myself in a new(ish) outfit I am trying out.  I have gotten a lot of good feedback, (and I'm thankful for it!), so I will keep doing it.  But let me tell you, it has been sort of terrifying.

First let me say, I am not at all comfortable with my body.  You see, I have struggled with my weight for my entire life.  There isn't a time I can look back to and say, "oh, that's when I gained all my weight".  No, for me, I have always been overweight.

And while I have always strived to never let that hold me back, it kind of always has.

Because I can't help but think of the things I would do if I weren't so insecure about it.  And because the weight itself limits you in so much of life.

But I try to never let people see that.

I am outgoing.  I am fun.  I am confident.  I am strong.  I am a leader.  I am wise.  I am brave.  These are the things I want people to see.  This is what I want people to think of me. 

But in truth, I am scared.  I am frustrated.  I am overwhelmed.  I am constantly wondering what people think of me.  I am a people pleaser.  I am tired.  And I feel like a failure.

And I want to change.  Really, I do.  But every time I start to do well, I quit.  I don't know why, I just do.  And that makes me feel even worse.

So you can see that putting pictures of myself on the internet every week is kind of like my worst nightmare.  Because when I look at those pictures, I don't like what I see.  I want to look like all the other beautiful women I see.  But the deep, scared, insecure part of me feels like that will never happen.

And if that isn't going to happen, then I want to just like the me I see in the mirror.  But I don't know how to do that when I have never liked what I have seen in the mirror.  That body I see doesn't match with the person I want to be. 

Which is part of why I am actually doing these posts.  I want to learn to be able to look at myself, and like the girl in the mirror.  I want to try and love my body just as it is, all while trying to change it into the body I want it to be.  I want to put on pretty clothes, and take a picture and say, "I like the way I look.". 

I want to be honest with myself and happy with myself all at the same time.  I'm not there yet, but I'm on my way. 

Thanks for taking the ride with me.

My Eventful Night

Lat night I went out to celebrate a friend's birthday and it turned out to be quite a memorable evening.

There were Severe Thunderstorm Warnings for our entire area, which we were okay with because we were inside.  But just as dinner was being served at the restaurant, (which was AWESOME BTW!), we found out that there was also a Tornado Warning. 

Normally I wouldn't be freaked out, but with all the Tornado activity in the country this past week, I was more than a little concerned.  Especially since I wasn't able to be home with my husband and girls while this was all going on.

Thank The Good Lord for Cell Phones!!! (And I-Pad's, Tablets etc.!)

I was able to talk to my husband and know that they were all fine, and thanks to my good friend, we were able to stay on top of where the storm was headed, and knew when we were suppose to take shelter.

Which we did.

In the Restaurant Bathroom.

Good Times.

Us waiting in the bathroom...

But it all passed over, and we were fine.  The worst of it seemed to be a bunch of hail damage from the baseball size hail, but no one was hurt, so that was a relief!

Baseball size hail that totally screwed up my friend's house and car...

So AFTER our eventful dinner, another friend and I stopped into this store that I have been hearing about, but hadn't had the chance to get to yet...Charming Charlie.

Okay, to quote Rachel Zoe,  "I.  DIE."

This place is beyond anything I could have imagined!  I walked in and thought to myself, "I have reached the Mother Ship!".  Seriously, I think that this might just be God's Grace lavished upon me.

I mean, accessories GALORE!  And it's all organized by color, and Super Affordable!  They have jewelry, shoes, scarves, clothes...everything a girl could ever need!  You just have to see it to believe it, (I CANNOT believe I didn't take a picture while I was there...then again, I was in shock).

Anyhow, I started to look around, and then a beautiful glow from the back of the store caught my eye.  It was as if The Angels were beckoning, and then I saw it.

75% OFF the ALREADY discounted price.

I will give you a moment of silence before I continue....




Okay, ready?

So my friend and I took a deep breath and began to dive in.  This is serious business, so we knew we had to divide and conquer.  There were two girls there already who had started to survey the territory, so we had to be careful to let them know that we were all on the same team here.  Because we all know that when you are in a situation like this, it can go two ways. 

First, the other ladies can get defensive and just start to grab things so that they stake the claim.  But you want to avoid that at all cost!  So the best way is to befriend the opposition, so that they want to share what they find with you.  And that is what we did.

Before you knew it, they were on the lookout for what I wanted and finding it for me.  Best. Possible. Outcome.

And in the end, I ended up getting 12 items for $20!!!!!!!!!!!  I know.  Ba.  Na.  Nas!  (What can I say...I love Rachel Zoe!)

So, from now on, if you want to know what to get me, (ahem...hope my dear husband is reading this!),  it's a Charming Charlie gift card!  Seriously my new favorite place!

And here are the pics of all my new items...can't wait to wear them!