Issues With My Hair

I dyed my hair a dark brown/auburn color about three weeks ago. I know, I know. I have had blonde hair my whole life and here I was going to the other extreme. I just thought that it might give my hair a rest. I have been highlighting my hair for about 4 years and it had gotten really unhealthy, SO I went dark to give it a break. Well, when my hair lady did it, she did red highlights and the bottom dark brown. It really looked like just my roots were red though, so I have not been liking that about it since the beginning.
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SO last night I bought some dark Medium Mahogany Brown Loreal hair color and colored it myself. It was fine until I washed it out and the roots were even MORE red and the bottom was still really dark brown.
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I have debated whether to just go this week and get my hair lady to fix it back blonde (which I will do eventually anyway). Glen told me today that he wasn't ready to see the dark go. SO - I went and got some just regular dark brown to see if I can get it all the same color. All I want is my roots and the rest of my hair to be the same. Is that too much to ask? If this doesn't work, I WILL go get it back to blonde this week.
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I posted a picture of myself with this dark hair color and took it off in the same night because I thought I looked like a man with a wig. If I can get a good one where it looks like me, I'll post it. Don't get your hopes up though. You will probably be disappointed in the way it looks anyway. My whole family (mom, dad, brother, kids) HATE it. So you would be with the majority if you didn't like it.

HELP!!!

OK. I need all the help I can get. All my blogger friends - Come to my rescue PLEASE!! I don't know if it is just me, but my blog is messing up. I have tried to fix it twice and even written Blogger about it to no avail. SO...... here is the issue:
My picture keeps disappearing from my blog. It isn't on my profile, it isn't on my comments. It works one day and not the next. Does anyone have any ideas of how to fix this? My husband even got on yesterday and republished the photo to a different size and it worked for the day. THEN I get up this morning and it isn't working again. ANY ideas would be helpful !!
HELP!!! HELP!!! HELP!!!

Yee-Haw Christmas!!

We had a wonderful Christmas. We went to my brother Bradley's house in Lubbock, which is always decorated PERFECTLY. So it was nice to be in a festive house with my parents and Bradley, Debbie, and my niece Ainsley. We opened gifts from the family on Christmas Eve. We all got some awesome gifts. The hit of the night was Jude getting a cowboy hat and a stick horse from my parents. I got him some cowboy boots, but they fell short of the excitement of the other cowboy attire. The funny thing is he knew EXACTLY what to do with the stick horse. He's never been around one as far as I know, but he stuck it between his legs and started galloping around. SO CUTE!!!!

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He later pooped out with his cowboy stuff on. You can imagine all the adults coming over to watch him sleeping in his cowboy stuff. I'm not sure why we do that, but we did.

Passing Out Christmas Cards

Is there etiquette to sending Christmas cards? What I mean is, Is it BAD etiquette to hand deliver your Christmas cards? I ordered 100 cards, and sent the majority out, BUT I have been passing out SOME cards.
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Here was my dilemma. For 2 separate groups (our church small group, and my Mother's Day Out Co-Teachers) I didn't have EVERYONE's address. So I thought, "Hey, I'll just take so and so their card and not worry about finding out their address". Which sounds all good and fine except I also thought (can you tell I OVER think things?)," Well, if I give so and so their card, and friend-o-mine sees it, will friend-o-mine think that she is not getting a card, even though her's is in the mail?" I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. THUS - I hand delivered ALL of them. Small group AND Co-Teachers. Is that wrong?
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A BAD THING: When you think that you have written EVERYONE's name down that you work with, and you get to work and realize you have forgotten one somebody. One card short!!! Yeah - that was me today.
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HOPE FOR THE DAY: That one somebody didn't see that everyone else had a Christmas card from me today. And then when I give her one on Thursday, she will feel like she was the only one to get one AND she will feel like a princess. OK!!! Maybe that was a little much. But maybe it will make her feel special. You never know!!

O Holy Night

This is SO not me. BUT, my husband Glen wanted me to post this song on here to let everyone know what this song is REALLY suppose to sound like. OH MY WORD PEOPLE!!!!
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To listen to this holiday classic click the link, when the page comes up scroll down a little till you see the little triangle player button. Click play and make sure the volume is up. The longer you listen the more you'll laugh! Merry Christmas to everyone that makes it through this!

The Big Sleepover

I learned several new things on Friday night at the sleepover I had for my now 10 year old Avery.
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First of all, 10 year olds are WILD!!! Avery had a sleepover last year for her birthday, and let me just say that one year makes quite a bit of difference in how these kids behave. A friend had already warned me that "that age of kids are crazy!!". I kind of blew them off. How bad can it be? 6 little GIRLS that are the same age playing. That's it. Not so bad. WELL!!!!!!!! About 30 minutes into the party, I was ready for it to be over. AND all the girls weren't even there yet. They were screaming, running around in the house (a big no-no in my household) BTW - Have you ever noticed that when your kids have friends over all the "house rules" go out the window? HMMM. I quickly ushered the kids outside to the trampoline that we had lit up with Christmas lights. (A life saver) The quietest that they ever got was during the frame decorating. They each got a picture of all the girls at the party to put into their newly designed frame. They turned out cute and the quiet was much appreciated!! I was so glad when Saturday morning rolled around and they all went home. Don't get me wrong - it turned out great AND the girls had a blast. Let's just say that the hormones are coming!!!
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Secondly, FRIENDS ARE AWESOME!!! My friend Cindy came over to help me with all the chaos. She was a ton of help. Glen had to work through the night, so she was the only other adult there. I think I would've pulled my hair out if she wasn't there to talk to me about everything.
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Thirdly, Puppies are like toddlers!! Our puppy Harley was in the middle of everything at the party. One girl didn't want to get off of the see-saw OR the trampoline because she didn't want Harley to "bite" her. (Harley could care less where this girl was). It was like every other word was "NO" to Harley. Again, this is where Cindy helped. Screaming girls AND a crazy puppy were TOO much for me that night.
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Lastly, Not all girls are as naive as my little Avery. The words and comments that came out of some of their mouths were shocking. I had to nip some of the language in the bud. Literally saying, "Don't say that." It makes me wonder what MY kids say when they are away from me and at someone else's house. PLEASE tell me they aren't like THAT!!!! Only 2 of the girls were like this though. The others were little angels like my Avery. Ha!!!

Christmas This Year

Christmas this year is throwing me for a loop. I feel that God is trying to humble me, and maybe it's working. I'm not sure. I love Christmas time because it seems like everyone is in a cheery mood (OK, not EVERYONE!!). I LOVE buying gifts for people, but I am having trouble this year. There have been past years when I've heard people grumbling at Mother's Day Out when they have to bring a snack for the Christmas party. I remember thinking, "WOW, PEOPLE!! It's not THAT bad!! " THIS year, I am the one feeling grumbly because it seems everywhere we go, we are suppose to bring a gift, a snack, a party favor, a food item. It is about to wear me out. I WANT to bring those things and most likely will. BUT!!!! When it comes to buying a party favor OR a Christmas gift for my kids, parents, grandparents........ I'm choosing the gifts. I just feel that this time of year we expect EVERYONE to be able to afford something for everyone. Where do we draw the line? I would LOVE to give a gift to every person that loves my children and that has a connection with them, but I CAN'T. Even making pumpkin/banana bread costs money. Ya know?
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I guess my point is that my eyes have been opened this year to the feeling a child's mom in my class one year had. (I thought she was being SO dramatic at the time) I had a sign up sheet out for the Christmas party. She took one look at me and said, "If I have to sign up to bring one more thing, I am going to drop dead right here." Funny thing is - THAT is how I feel this year. I think we ALL need to be aware that this season is hard for some people. It might be hard emotionally for some, but for others, it is hard financially. I think people don't talk about it because they are embarrassed about it. I am sure there are people right now that cannot believe that I have written THIS. How embarrassing!!! Not really. Just sharing my thoughts people, just sharing my thoughts.

Happy 10th Birthday Avery!

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Ten years ago today I was getting up for the first time in two weeks. You see my little Avery tried to come 5 weeks early, so Dr. Norton put me on bed rest for 2 weeks. I was so happy to get out of bed and get out of the house. Glen and I went to the mall (I was SO READY for the mall!!!) and walked around until about 10 minutes into it I started having contractions. We went into a store called Service Merchandise, found the recliners and started timing the contractions. They were at 5 minutes apart already, so we went ahead and went the hospital. She was born 3 hours later.

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Avery has been everything a mom could want in a little girl. She is SO thoughtful and caring. She loves to laugh. She is the BEST big sister. I cannot tell you what a help she is to me with the kids, especially Jude. She loves him like he is her son. So many blessings have come about because of Avery. She blesses our family beyond words.

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I was laying in bed last night thinking about her turning 10 today and I got very sad. See-I am one of those moms that cried when she was little because she was growing too fast. I cried up until the day Bailey was born because I didn't want another baby, I wanted another AVERY!! Of course that all changed when Bailey came out, but that is just how much I loved Avery. I realized last night that in 10 MORE years, she will be 20. I am bawling right now thinking about it. I love her so much it hurts.

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Happy Birthday my Precious Avery!!

Chrismas Pictures

Bailey(7), Avery(9-turning 10 tomorrow), Jude(2), Parker(5)

I know that I am a little late in getting my Christmas pictures taken, but this is actually kind of early for me. I am a wait till the last minuter. So yesterday my Mother-In-Law said that she had done her tree different this year (in white and silver only). I thought that it would be a great background for our Christmas card picture. Especially since this year WE don't have a tree. (Our prelit tree decided not to light up this year - and YEP I'm lazy!!!) So we got the kids dressed up and headed over to the in-laws for the photo op. I ALWAYS get stressed out about getting all 4 to do the "right" thing for the picture. You know what I mean. Someone is looking at Daddy instead of Mommy, one is staring off into space, one is slouching, one is looking at the bother/sister that we are all calling their name so that they will look at the camara. It can be the biggest disaster.

Well, This year I literally took 2 pictures and this was the first one. SO, this is the picture on our Christmas card this year. I don't think that I could have taken a better one if I had taken 100. They did AWESOME!! Aren't they cute???

Our New Puppy

After our Parvo (if you don't already know the story, don't ask! It is FOREVER long!!) experience with the puppy we got from the Humane Society, we decided to get a puppy from a breeder. We have never had a dog, just a cat. I knew the time would come when we would get one and I knew THIS was the time. I was wanting to get a puppy that was going to be little and STAY little. Ya know the kind - a Yorkie, Shih Tzu, a MALTESE!!! Well, Glen has ALWAYS wanted a BIG dog. I had ALWAYS said no. But after seeing my "boss's" (She hates that word) Golden Retriever and heard what GREAT family pets they were, that is the direction we headed.

We got her a week and a half ago and she has already grown ALOT! We named her HARLEY. According to my dad Harley is a boy's name, but we don't care. All of our girls (children) have "boy" names, so we thought, "Why stop with the kids?" All of the kids are really doing well with her. Jude, our 2 and a half year old, has already learned to tell her ,"DOWN!" if she jumps, which is a HUGE improvement from the freaking out he usually does with any kind of dog. So this is our official introduction of the newest member of out family. Here's HARLEY!!!

A Mysterious Phone Call

As I was laying in bed last night, my phone rang. It was 10:45 and I was in bed - EARLY for me. So I was a little irritated that someone would call so late. MY phone was downstairs and it was a ring that is for only people that I don't have programmed into my phone, so I didn't jump up to get it. I layed there and let it finish ringing and it beeped that meant that they had left a message. I casually went down stairs still a little miffed that someone would call so late on a week night. When I listened to the message, this is what I heard a young man that I DIDN'T know say - ,"Hi, I was told to call you and tell you to look on your back porch, Merry Christmas." Well, at this point I am a little freaked out. I am thinking that someone is trying to get in the back door or something shady. (Am I paranoid or what?) So I wake Glen up and let him hear the message about the same time we hear knocking on the back door. Now I was REALLY freaking out. It is getting close to 11:00 and I did NOT want Glen to go answer it. (OK, maybe scaredy cat is a better description) As I throw my sweatshirt on and yell down to NOT open it, he yells," It is cleaning supplies!" I am thinking that someone thinks my house is so dirty that they bought us something to clean with. We open the door to about 14 FULL bags of groceries. Noone was standing there, but I knew my mom (Who lives 2 and a half hours away) was behind it. I had just told her earlier that JUST buying groceries was going to be a struggle this week. So I am trying to think who she called to go get us some groceries. I am barefoot - but I walk out towards the front of the house when I hear footsteps running down the street. I see this person crouch down so that I "wouldn't see them". So I call out," Who are you?" As I get closer I see the outline of my MOM'S head. YES!!!!!! MY MOM drove 2 and a half hours ON A SCHOOL night (she's a teacher - so she is going tohave to get up and go to school) to buy us some groceries. WHO DOES THAT????? She stayed (I made her) for about 20 minutes, but then had to get back in the car to get home. She got home a little after 2:00AM. I just love her. I could not and would not have asked her to do anything like that, but she goes above and beyond what THE BEST moms would do. I am SO blessed to have her as one of my best friends! She is AMAZING! I want to be like her in SO many ways. SO!! If you hear the phone ring late at night, know that it might not be bad news or a prank call. It might just be a bigger blessing that you can imagine. Did I mention that 2 things of OREO's were in the sacks? YEAH!!!!!!

I'm back!!!

Hey Guys!! I haven't written in a long time, but a friend asked me today if I was done with blogging and so I decided that it might be a good time to come back to the whole blogging scene. It's going to be different this time. I am NOT going to get so obsessive about it all. AND not all of my blogs are going to be perfect (Not that they were last time, but I tried my hardest for them to be). I'm just going to lay some stuff out there. Whether it is interesting to anyone else is not going to be my focus. See what I am is a perfectionist. It's a problem. I've been working on it for a while now, so this is going to be a BIG test. I'm going to do it though. It is going to be fun, right? So if you're reading this after my long blogging vacation, welcome back! If you have never been here before, WELCOME!! We are going to have fun!!!