My new love...minty and tingly!

Last week while waiting for my inhaler refills, I did some looking around in the health and wellness section of Hy-Vee and found this....

I love lip balm, so for $2.36 I thought it was a steal of a deal and bought some. Doesn't it look festive? I even think the name is clever too. I quickly drove off and applied this new lip gloss and WOW! It was not only a minty smell, but gave my lips a new tingly sensation. I believe this now is my favorite lip balm. It use to be C.O. Bigelow's Mentha Lip Shine from Bath and Body Works, but now that's a close second.

Since I just love the new Bah Hum Zum lip balm so well, I decided to give this a try....

It's has the same Peppermint flavor as the lip balm, but in a soap version. This is not only a very cute soap that doubles as a tree ornament, but it's an all over body wash. I thought the lip balm was good, but this leaves all of your body parts minty and tingly....all of your body parts. I won't go into details about this experience, however, I'd recommend it to anyone. Really...who doesn't want to have an all over minty fresh feeling? If you don't have a Hy-Vee near by, visit their website. It's very cute and they have a great sense of humor too. Go to www.indigowild.com and sign up for their mailing. That gave me a good laugh in itself.

And Santa, if you are reading this, please bring me some more Zum products! I've been very good this year!

Days 326-330

Thursday, November 19th - Madison's Brownie Troop went to an UNL Girls Gymnastics event for a couple hours. It was a free event and a great experience for the girls to watch.
Friday, November 20th - Madison is at Emmie's 9th Birthday party, which is also a sleepover. Bless Emmie's mom, Missy, for hosting a large group of girls for an overnighter! Missy is one incredible mom!
Saturday, November 21st - Our nephew Xander turned one today! Yay! Here he is enjoying his first birthday cake.
Sunday, November 22nd - My co-worker, Sherri, treated me to the New Moon movie at East Park Theatres today. It was great and I am looking forward to seeing it again. I took this photo while sitting in front of my computer. I wasn't quite sure how else to get my POTD.
Monday, November 23rd - We have a teenager at our house! YIKES! We had a surprise birthday party for Tyler and a few of his friends at our home. We ordered Cici's Pizza and served Tyler's favorite...pumpkin pie.

Days 321-325

Saturday, November 14th - Madison went to Olyvia's Peace and Pedicure Birthday Party. Madison was told to come in 60's wear and I think I went a little overboard on the theme. I thought she looked darn cute though!
Sunday, November 15th - All I can say..."Like father, like son". Grant will love this photo when he's older. I am sure of it!
Monday, November 16th - Brrr! It's a cold day for playground duty!
Tuesday, November 17th - Madison was roller skating tonight, so I took the boys to the mall for some socks and underwear shopping. Very exciting! Can you tell by the look on their faces?!
Wednesday, November 18th - It's time for the kids to clean the dog kennel. I refuse since they told me...."Mom, if we get a dog. I'll do everything like feed him, bathe him, walk him, etc." Funny thing....I didn't forget!

My Thanksgiving Heritage

Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours tomorrow! I thought it would be super neat to share with you my family's genealogy that dates back to the Mayflower. Okay...maybe not so much for you, but humor me anyway.

My late and dear Grandmother was very good at keeping her family history and, of course, very proud too. So, with a little help from the internet and from late Grandmother's records, I was able to complete all the missing links to this small branch on my family tree.

Captain Myles Standish Genealogy

Captain Myles Standish

Born in Chorley, Lancashire, England in 1584

Married (1^st) Rose who died in 1621

Married (2^nd) in 1623 to Barbara (they had 7 children together)

Died October 3, 1656 in Duxbury, Plymouth Colony

Josiah Standish (1^st Gen.)

Born in 1633 in Duxbury or Plymouth

Married Sarah Allen in 1655

Died March 19, 1690

Samuel Standish (2^nd Gen.)

Born in 1680 in Duxbury

Married Deborah Gates in 1709

Died August 4, 1753 in Preston, CT

Thomas Standish (3^rd Gen.)

Born May 12, 1724

Married Sarah Williams on December 22, 1757

Died March 3, 1799

Lydia Standish (4^th Gen.)

Born April 21, 1761 in Norwich, CT

Married October 15, 1778 to Abraham Meacham in Williamstown, Mass.

Died September 15, 1844

Daniel Meacham (5^th Gen.)

Born January 5, 1784

Married November 30, 1806 to Esther Brownson, at Pawlet, Vermont

Died April 1, 1839 at Chicago, Illinois

Milo Fitch Meacham (6th Gen.)

Born April 11, 1817 at Brandon, Vermont

Married February 9, 1841 to Rhodilla Eugenia Dodge, at Milton, Illinois

Died September 21, 1862 at Corinth, Mississippi

Arabella Meacham Cook (7th Gen.)

Born July 10, 1851 in Danby, Illinois

Married September 2, 1874 to Dr. Henry Cook

Died sometime in 1913 from a fire

Ella Cook Patrick (8th Gen.)

Born November 4, 1880

Married June 16, 1910 to Karl Patrick

Died December 1969

Mira Meacham Patrick (9th Gen.)

Born March 7, 1911

Married September 19, 1931 to H. Leslie Vest

Died December 23, 1992

Douglas L. Vest (10th Gen.)

Born March 6, 19??

Married August 16, 19?? to Elizabeth

Still Living

Amy E. Vest (11th Gen.)

Born October 25, 19??

Married April 8, 1995 to Andrew

Still Living

Note Passing in 3rd Grade

I was cleaning Madison's bedroom today and found a darling handwritten note on her floor from one of her friends. Apparently note passing starts early, I thought it was a Jr. High thing. I guess that's changed now with text messaging and all. Well, here it goes. I have no idea if it's from Aleni, Clare, Jessi, Olyvia, Kate or someone else. Whoever it is...spells better than Madison with exception for the last line, which is the cutest!

Dear Madison,

Madison you are a true friend. You don't talk behind my back or say mean things to me! Madison, I like that I can come to you when I am sad and you will make me happy. I just want to take this time to say thank you! Madison you are a great, so great of a friend. You are so nice and sweat!

(No signature)

Days 316-320

Time is getting away from me again!

Monday, November 9th - I met my teaching idol, Dr. Jean Feldman, who is the creator of "Tooty-Ta". This was a terrific workshop that gave me more bounce to my teaching style and such valuable ideas and songs to implement. What a fabulous day!
Tuesday, November 10th - Tyler and Madison brought their report cards home and both had exceptional grades. I am very proud of them! Keep it up!

Wednesday, November 11th - It's just an average day in kindergarten. The kids are having their "work" time, which comes after lunch and several kiddos are playing with Safari Gears.

Thursday, November 12th - I think it's so cute when Grant wants to play video games with his big brother. Grant still hasn't figured out that Tyler is the only one playing and that the control is set for one player. Tyler thinks this is awesome!

Friday, November 13th - It's Friday the 13th, but it wasn't a bad day at all. I went after work to Omaha with my scrapping friends Amy, Kandy and Angie to Archiver's. We spent almost 2 hours in the store before heading over to Cheeseburgers in Paradise for dinner. This picture is of Angie and I trying out the cool chairs at the restaurant. It was a fun night!

Days 311-315

I'm having a hard time coming up with things to take pictures of. I am trying not to have any repeats. That's tough to do!

Wednesday, November 4th - The kids are watching Nickelodeon. They usually don't sit this close to the television, but I requested a picture, so they all had to sit on the floor and close together.
Thursday, November 5th - Our first Parent-Teacher Conference night and we always go out to eat as a team afterwards. The gals decided to give me an exhausted look, which we were after a full day of teaching and three hours of conferencing. I, myself, had ten conferences tonight and all of them showed! Yay!
Friday, November 6th - The weather has been unseasonably beautiful! Andy is showing Tyler how to replace the pull cord on the lawn mover. Tomorrow it's time to do some yard work!
Saturday, November 7th - Beautiful weather continues, but Madison is wearing extreme summer clothing and it wasn't that warm! Funny kid! Grant and Madison are racking the leaves away from the fence, so Andy and Tyler could mow it up. I was the only one not doing yard work, my work was laundry instead.
Sunday, November 8th - Grant wanted to see one of his new favorite people...Grandma Betty. He's taken quite the fondness for her after his week's stay last month. Grant asked Grandma to visit and she couldn't resist, so both Grandma and Grandpa came for the day and got to see one of Madison's volleyball games.

My New Favorite Candy

This is my new favorite junk food....M & M's that are strawberried peanut butter. Have you tried them yet? It's incredible and I could eat the entire bag by myself, but here's the "kicker", it's only temporary. They labeled the bag with the words "Special Edition" and I know what that means. It means that my new favorite candy will soon be gone and never return.

This is what happened to one of my childhood favorites called the Marathon bar. Do you remember it's red wrapper with the ruler on the back and the caramel braid that was dipped in chocolate? It was discontinued in 1981. How about the Bar None candy bar by Hershey's (in the late 80's) that was chocolate wafer like with nuts? Or just recently the discontinued original Peanut Butter Twix candy bar? I almost could cry! Now they have a new dark chocolate cookie center version and it's awful. Have you tried it? I'd say don't bother.

So, to help me keep my new favorite candy around, I have a plan. If you and everyone you know buys a bag or two of this awesome candy then maybe, just maybe, the M & M people will keep it around?! It's just a thought... so go out and buy some. Of course, if you don't love it as much as me, I'd be happy to take it off your hands! :)

Homemade Advent Calendar

While shopping at Archiver's last night with my SBFF's (Scrapbooking Best Friends Forever), I saw these darling Advent Calendars by Karen Foster. The little boxes pull out and will hold a couple pieces of candy. I copied the design that they had at Archiver's by using six of the double sided papers from Making Memories' Mistletoe line, which I obtained from trips to three scrapbooking stores. It must be popular paper since it was sold out at two of the stores. My version is not exactly like the one at Archiver's, but it's really not hard to make look cute with this darling paper. I also used a brown stamp pad to darken the edges for a nice finish. There's plenty of paper left, so I should probably just make another one, just need to get another box. Anyone in need of an Advent calendar?

Days 306-310

I am getting behind again on my postings. What's new! I am also trying to decide if I want to do this again next year with the same concept, but called Project Life. What do you think? Anyone want to join me? Scrapbooking made simple!

Friday, October 30th - We get home to meet Grant with Grandma and Grandpa and then head out to Aunt Jalaine's 60th Birthday party. Grant is tickled to get some Disney toys and still has no idea where we went. He thinks he was on vacation at Grandma and Grandpa's house!
Saturday, October 31st - Grant and Madison meet up with Jessi and Jordan the cute neighbor girls while out Trick or Treating.
Sunday, November 1st - It's time to put up the new calendar in my room. Can it be possible, November already???
Monday, November 2nd - I look down at Tyler's feet to see that he desperately needs new shoes. What does he do to them? It doesn't seem to bother him either. Ugh!
Tuesday, November 3rd - It's GNO time and we are all eating out at Grisanti's. It's one of my favorite places to eat. I love, love, love their White Pizza. Their bread and salad is equally as tasty!

Grant's Birthday or Devin's

Happy 3 year and one month Birthday, Grant! I feel bad about not blogging about it earlier, but October was a busy, busy month. Since I didn't do it in a timely manner, I decided to just wait until November 12th instead.

Here's Grant with his birthday cake and of course, it's Thomas the Train. You might be wondering why it doesn't say "Grant" on it. It's our tradition to get a cake for Grant that says another name on it since the mishap on his first birthday. For his first birthday, we specifically wanted an Elmo cake, but when we went to pick it up, the only cake with his name on it was a Spiderman cake. I really needed the Elmo cake since I'm all about "theme" birthdays, so I told them it was okay that way. I even laughed about it. The cake said "Happy Birthday Bryan" on it and it wasn't possible to remove red frosting on white cake. They also offered to make another in a couple hours, but I declined. The cake lady at Sam's felt bad, so we got the cake for free. I so loved that! Now it has become our crazy tradition to deliberately order it with another name. I just hope this doesn't give Grant some kind of complex that requires therapy when he's older! LOL

Grant is getting his sister's help with the birthday card. He's giving her the look of why are we stopping for a piece of paper when there's a gift to be opened.
Grant had a terrific and yet simple birthday on Sunday, October 11th with family. We just can't believe he's already three!

Madison's Writing

I just can't write a blog without including a picture. This one is one of my favorites from our trip. This was taken at a Character Dinner and Madison is with Drucella (the wicked step-sister of Cinderella's). The characters are a hoot since they stay in character the entire time you visit with them.

Anyway, I thought I would share a writing assessment of Madison that her teacher gave to me (actually a copy since it's in her file). I just love it and I'm giving it to you the exact way it's written...spelling errors and all. I must tell you that Madison is a far better math student than a writer, but I still found it quite adorable. The topic is to write a description and include many details. This is a third grade, quarter one hand written descriptive paragraph that she did in one sitting.

Madison's writing....

My bedroom is very prity like a rose. It's green, white and torkoist. The window was open just a crack. The two windows were rectangled and one was like a rainbow with sun cuming throw. My name was sown on my polow (pillow) with turkoist on the white and green polow. It (her name) was also painted with white on my wall. Thare are two shelfs white and light brown in two opist corners at the top and at the bodom. My bulletin board has pickchers of me and my cusen Kati, school pickchers and soccer game pickchers. I even have a dralling of my dog Ranger. I have a closet rite beside my dore. I love my room. It's my favrite place to be!

My Happy Place

This is my happy place.

Yes, it's a store and it's located in Omaha. However, it's more than a store...it's really a state of mind. This place allows my creative spirit to soar, gives me inner peace and freedom from children. Don't get me wrong, I enjoy children just not 24/7. This place gives me that Calgon "take me away" feeling. Ah, I so love this place!

Today I got to visit this store after my wonderful, uplifting Dr. Jean seminar in Council Bluffs, Iowa. I had a fantastic day and ended it with a quick stop here. Just look at all those scrapping supplies calling my name...."Amy, adhesive. Amy, pattern paper." Can you hear it?
This is one of the Archiver's scrapping rooms. Andy, all I want for Christmas is to scrap for endless hours in that back purple chair. Nothing more. Okay, I am lying, I'd love to have a Gypsy too, but I'd easily settle for some scrappin' time!
Look at all those Disney papers and stickers! I have literally thousands of photos to put on those papers!
Oh, Halloween papers and embellishments! Oooo, aaahhh!

So now I've shared my happy place! What's yours?