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July 10, 2012

Books from my childhood

 


I've always loved to read, ever since I can remember. And this week, I've been working with my daughter to help her read. Yes, she will be 4 on Wednesday, but ya'll....the girl is genius. I'm not just saying that because she's mine. She is so smart and I am so proud of her! She sounds out her words so well. And she has memorized "The House That Jack Built". She loves reading as much as I did, and I pray she keeps on loving it:) And I hope Tucker loves to read, too! He will make one girl very happy one day if he does:)

I've already started a stash of books for her for when she's a little older (like middle school age or so). Most of them were mine, but I've been buying a few for cheap here and there.

Here are some books that I remember just LOVING when I was younger and I can't wait to share them with Kenzie. Most of them, I want to read again!

*The Cam Jansen Mysteries by David A. Adler*                                             
The Mystery of the Dinosaur Bones (Cam Jansen Mysteries, #3)The Mystery of the UFO (Cam Jansen Mysteries, #2)The Mystery of the Stolen Diamonds (Cam Jansen Mysteries, #1)
These are just a few of the titles from Adler. But I'm pretty sure I read all of them.
"Click". ;)

*The Giver by Lois Lowry*

 The Giver (The Giver, #1)
 I think I read this book in 5th or 6th grade. I want to read it again because I've forgotten a lot of the story line, but I do remember it made me think, "Wow....". It is a great book and if you have never read it, I highly recommend it. Right now. 

*Nancy Drew Series by Carolyn Keene* 
 The Hidden Staircase (Nancy Drew, #2)

 Dude. These books were just awesome and if you never read them, you are missing out! Go solve some mysteries! :)

*The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe by C.S Lewis*
The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia, #2)
I remember picking up this book in middle school from the school library. I don't remember why I picked this one to read, but I sure was glad I did. I love fantasy books. I love how they take you into another world. And I almost cried when I found out they made it into a movie....when I was 17 haha!

*Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine*
Ella Enchanted 
This book. I loved this book! My aunt gave it to me when I was about 12 or 13. I still have it and can't wait to let Kenzie read it!

*The American Girls Series*
Samantha: An American Girl (The American Girls Collection/Boxed Set)Felicity: An American Girl (The American Girls Collection)
Molly: An American Girl : 1944 (The American Girls Collection) 
Samantha was my favorite:) American Girl dolls were all the rage when I was young. And the books were pretty cool, too! 

*The BFG by Ronald Dahl*

*Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume*
Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret 
Oh, this book....My mom gave it to me when I was 11. She told me I could ask her anything about it after I was done reading it. And I was SO embarrassed haha! Boobs, periods, and boys. Why in the WORLD would I want to talk to my mother about that?! ;) I was so shy lol. But I'm sure I will give this book to Kenzie, and she will feel the same way. Or maybe, she will be more comfortable with talking to me about things. I hope for the latter.

 Any of these look familiar to you?

July 9, 2012

Spongebob Party! [Photo dump]

The kids' birthday party was this past Saturday. Since their birthdays are exactly one week apart, we just let them have joint parties. And hey, it's totes easier on this Momma haha!

This year's theme was Spongebob! Who doesn't love Spongebob, right?

And the best part? This whole party was less than $150 including their gifts!! I'm very frugal when it comes to party planning :)


 

I made rainbow cupcakes and they were super easy to make!

And this punch...Oh my gosh. It was SO good! I got the recipe here.

More food...
 This was an old coffee tin I had kept forever. I knew it would come in handy one day:) I just spray painted it and had the bestie print out the Spongebob face!
This was seriously the most expensive DIY I did. And I already had the vase and spray paint! The styrofoam ball was $4 and I had to buy two bags of Dum-Dums which were $4.50 a bag.
This dip was to die for. Go HERE for the recipe I used.


 Let me explain the "other" decorations.....

 These are jellyfish. Can you tell? LOL! Most people who knew Spongebob knew what they were, even though they still called them sad pink ghosts. :(
ps- they were totes the hubby's idea.
LOL just kidding!! It was a team effort. Big emphasis on EFFORT.
And these were the sad centerpieces. And yes. That is a spray painted spaghetti sauce jar. 
In my defense, I was supposed to attach balloons to the jars but I forgot helium. So they were sad, lonely, painted jars. 
Oh well. I will use them as vases/decor around the house now :P

Aren't these the CUTEST frames? My bestie gave them to me to use. She's awesome:)

 And my beautiful birthday kiddos!! 

Tucker is 2 and Kenzie will be 4 on Wednesday!

July 5, 2012

Happy Birthday Tucker! ...and America ;)

Yesterday was this little boy's 2nd birthday.

I can't believe my BABY is two. TWO!!!!

It feels like just yesterday that I was informing my hubby that my water just broke, watched him freak out, rode with my Mother in Law who drove 5493204328 mph to get me to the hospital on time, sitting on the toilet because that was the only position that was comfortable to me and being scared I was going to give birth in it, getting my epidural then shaking like a crack head because I was so cold, and then cracking up when they put my new bundle of joy on the scale and it said 10 pounds.


Oh, how he has grown!

Yesterday we celebrated America's birthday with family at their cabin on the Kentucky Lake. We had a BLAST! 

My children are water bugs. 




















I'm not sure how many 2 and 4 year old kids have been water tubing, but mine have! And they loved it! 

I hope everyone had a safe and fun 4th of July!


July 3, 2012

June Flashback

Well, June was probably the most boring month so far this year. I didn't go anywhere other than the movie theater, grocery shopping, or WalMart. 
Don't be jelly of my fabulously amazing not-boring life.

Here are June's top 3 posts:



Hopefully July will be a little more eventful. 

I know it will be. We have the 4th, both of my babies' birthdays, birthday parties, and who knows what else!! 

Oh, and I am SO determined to participate every day in the Photo a Day JULY challenge!




Find me on Instagram: @laurenklolo

Happy July everyone! :D

July 2, 2012

Weekend Recap

How was your weekend?

Mine was pretty normal. You know...for being superheroes and all..



Hubby and I actually went on a DATE! It was nice. Just me and him.

First we went to Lowe's. (Yes, this officially makes me old)

Hubby decided that whenever we buy/build a house, our bathtub has to be "Doug sized". So he tried a few out...

He looks pretty content, huh?

Then we ate Mexican. YUMMMMM. I don't know what I would do without chips & salsa and sweet tea from the Mexi restaurants around here.

We saw Madea's Witness Protection. It was hilarious! I love Madea and finally made Doug watch some Tyler Perry movies with me and he's hooked now.


Oh, and I don't know about your kids, but my kids can fly.

Peter Pan style.


June 28, 2012

Stupid small town.

You know how some people just love the small town feel?

Well, I don't.
Not anymore.



You know, I made a lot of horrible mistakes growing up. And I regret every single one of them. 

But you know what? I am a DIFFERENT PERSON. I am NOT the same girl in high school. I am a MOTHER and a WIFE. 

But it's a little bit hard to keep my head held high, even though I know who I am, when everyone I run into gives me "looks" or most of the time won't even acknowledge me. I'm not stupid. I know what you think of me.

It's hard to forget about the past when the past is all around you.

I am so ready to move. To where no one knows me and I can start over...again.


I'm thinking Germantown-Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, or Knoxville. 
If it were up to the hubby, it would be Orlando, Florida. 

But I prefer not to live near zombies.

I just feel like there HAS to be more out there for me than this.

June 27, 2012

Oh, How Pinteresting!



Linking up with The Vintage Apple to show off some of my awesome Pinterest finds this week!
And I decided to do a "theme" to this one....
You guessed it:
Superheros!!! :D Mostly Marvel. Because they are just more amazingly awesome in my opinion. :)






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                      Also, Michelle is giving away a $30 Amazon Gift Card! Go enter to win!!