The Medusa Look

This is apparently how you get "curly" hair when you are 8 years old

Neeley is blessed with the most beautiful hair that has a bit of a natural wave to it. I LOVE it and am jealous of it admittedly. LOL

But.........this is all the rage right now with about 15 little girls here. They all do this to their hair, wash it at night, leave it wet, and sleep in braids at night, to wake up the next morning to the crimped look. I forgot to take an after picture of Neeley, but because of the natural body her hair has, she gets a nice bouffant look to her. She's learning her own style and I'm good with that as long as it is a healthy choice and not anything that is dangerous. :)

I just had to show this. This picture was Wednesday night to wear curly to school on Thursday and it stayed full and curly for a few days. She has no idea what good hair she has. LOL

P.S. - I cannot wait to tell you and show you all that we got to do yesterday on our day off. Neeley's school is out this week for teacher work days and Parent Teacher Conferences and we have been thankful to have some days off with Ronnie. Tune in for more info at a later date... :)

FINALLY!

This finally arrived at our house this week......

This is the love seat that we ordered along with all of our other new furniture on August 1st. And yes, we are just getting it from the states. What? :(

"Someone"-not going to mention any names or places...ahem.... (HELLO, RB FURNITURE SHOP!!!!!!!!!!!! ) somehow "misplaced" our phone number so there was no way for them to let us know that it had been sitting on the shelf in the warehouse for several weeks without us knowing it. And I'm sorry but we went by there no less than 4,297 times asking about it with no answers. I'm surprised it even looks this good!

Big thank you to our downstairs neighbor for helping us get it here, since they wouldn't even deliver it. We will never shop from there again, believe me! What a mess!

Btw, have I mentioned that our new downstairs neighbors are from Little Rock!?! How cool is that?

Disappointment, In A Picturesque Sort Of Way

I am disappointed. Yes, I am. And down right frustrated. And annoyed. See, Neeley had her school pictures made last week. And all of us proud RBEMS mommies were so excited because FINALLY they hired a photographer who took great, not your ordinary sit there and pretend to smile pictures. The kiddos were invited to bring their own props and have some good ol' fun with their individual shoots.

Yeah, well...they all turned out TERRIBLE! I thought maybe my kid just had a bad day when you view them all online you can see the entire school (isn't that against the law or something?) and I'm sorry to say I didn't think any of them were good at all!

Is it bad to not order any of the pictures? Sorry grandparents, but I'm serious. I am sure I will end up getting some of them just because. But for the first time ever, I really don't want any of them. I feel bad thinking so but oh.my.goodness! I am so not a photographer but I think I could do better than that. And to just know that we were all so looking forward to getting them back. Man...

You may not think this is a dilemma but we sure do. :) I was excited about new pictures at a new school. And this particular photographer allows them to pick from different backgrounds once the shots are posted, and several of the backgrounds are historical things that are here in Germany.

Hence the excitement... humph!

Ok, now I'm done with this topic. But what to do, what to do...

Tune in next week to find out. :)

Recap on Fine Dining...

Hey all! Remember this post, Fine Dining ? I'm not quite sure why I have to explain myself here but here goes...

Apparently some of you (you know who you are!!!) were upset or had some issues with something that was said in that post. Let me attempt to explain something. Neeley and I were simply playing in her room. She was cutting foods out of construction paper, and she made up this fun menu and did all sorts of creative stuff. Now, just between you mommas of little ones and I, would you keep that mess after you have played with it? I'm so sorry if some of you have sour words to say about me because she threw it all away. She really didn't want me to take pictures of it for the blog, and THAT'S ALL! She has been a bit shy lately and gets embarrassed at little tiny things. It had nothing to do with me and I didn't throw it away. We simply played with it and then once the fun was over, there was no reason to keep it all.

That's all! Promise! It was no big deal. We play things like that all the time and then we sometimes trash them. If you would like for me to send the mess to your house afterwards, I will. I have better things to do in life than sit around and wonder if throwing away something will irritate you.

In the future, if you have something negative to say about what I have to say, I have two solutions for you:

* Tell me to my face instead of emailing others about it
* Don't read my blog

Thank you to you mommas who totally get this. Apparently not everyone does. Good day!

Looking for Inspiration and Motivation?

Sometimes I happen upon sites that I love. Those that help to inspire and motivate me are those I need the most at times. :)

This is from Blog Carnival. They have some GREAT information there all contributed by bloggers like us. Everything from DIY stories to articles to family life to just showing off pics, etc. Wow!

Check it out!

Fine Dining

Tonight we decided to try out a new restaurant that has opened nearby. We have heard nothing but raving reviews about it so we just HAD to have dinner there.

Introducing Creme el dente . . .

Neeley's vivid imagination is oftentimes interesting at best. :) I'm not sure what got in to her tonight but she had her room all set up like a real restaurant when she asked me to come play with her. No, we did not really feast on "spaggetti" and spinach rolls for dinner. This was before our usual dinner time. But she had cut out all kinds of foods from construction paper and made plates and the whole bit.

I've Recently Decided . . .

that it's okay if it's minus five hundred degrees here every day and foggy until 7:30 a.m. and again at 5 p.m. as long as I can look out my back door and see this for a while longer . . .

The trees here are just now turning. Isn't that crazy? And they are doing it all at once and very quickly. Interesting . . .

I didn't sub yesterday and had some down time so I enjoyed a few minutes just walking around post and looking at all the trees and all of the construction. Have I told you about our new construction? All new playgrounds, new sidewalks, new speed bumps, a new bus stop, school renovations, and um...let's see...what else!?! Construction everywhere! Gets kind of hairy at times but we all manage to get through it and we cannot wait until it is all finished. We've also heard we are getting a big commissary, another restaurant, and a swimming pool, and that's just here on RB. Sweet!

Yummy Recipes

This time of year makes me want to cook and eat. :) That is about the only good thing coming from this cold weather. LOL Last night I made this recipe and oh my! It was delicious! A perfect quick meal before soccer practice.

What are your favorite recipes for fall/winter cooking?

Fearless by Max Lucado

This book gets an A+ from me...

We have always loved Max Lucado's books. And I so needed this dose of inspiration today. Fear...what a topic! I love the many examples of fear featured in this book. Being a mother and wife myself, those examples involving family or children really touched me the most.

Fear can lead to sin, as stated in the book, but with God's forgiveness, we are not abandoned. I LOVE how the main focus was to focus on today and let God be enough. Such strong words!

Faith equals feeling at peace, feed your faith and your fears will starve. What fears cripple you? Money? Death? Relationships? Economy? Jobs? Why live life always expecting the worst? Wow! I am such a worry-wart and I really needed this lesson today.

One example in the book said "Order life like coffee...tall, extra-hot cup of adventure, cut the dangers, with two shots of good health." I also love the analogy to battle fear with Peacefulness... P=pray, first; E=easy, now; A=act on it; C=compile a worry list; E=evaluate your worry categories; F=focus on today; U=unleash a worry army; L=let God be enough!

Imagine your life without fear...believe in yourself, don't let your worries and fears live your life for you. Life is too short for that!

Buy it here: http://www.thomasnelson.com/consumer/product_detail.asp?sku=0849921392&dept_id=0&TopLevel_id=110000&title=Fearless&author=Max_Lucado

This is a Thomas Nelson book review... :)

Are You Wearing Your PJ'S?

Yesterday was PJ Day for Red Ribbon Week.

Even though I was subbing I was not about to wear my pj's. And I never really understand pj day because the kids have to be reasonable. Neeley usually wears shorts & a tshirt, but well it's winter here. These are pj pants and a tshirt. And of course you can't walk to school in slippers if you want your feet to stay warm so she had to wear her cool tennies.

But we at least made our variation on the day and out the door she went. All she asked for was a mug of hot chocolate and a pop tart to enjoy on her way to school. :)