Say Hello to our new pet?!

'POCCUM'

HA HA HA!

At dinner my son Hayden turns to me and says, "Mommy what is that"?!

I say, "Its probably our cat outside Hayden"!

He says, "Ahh No Mom its something else out there"!

Soo to satisfy my sons curiosity I turn the back deck light on KNOWING

it would be our outside cat~ 'Outlaw' in the darkness.

Ummm it wasnt our cat! ha ha

It was our new friend ~ "POCCUM"

Soo both my kids and the hubby all stare outside the

back deck window at our new guest who we name~ POCCUM

until our lil friend decides he has seen enough and goes back

where he came from.

The story behind the name POCCUM is from Lyza Jane actually.

She has had this stuffed opossum her grandmother bought her at

Cracker Barrel last year on a lunch date.

Well ever since then our little PRINCESS has to sleep with her

opossum in bed at night...funny I know!

She couldnt say OPOSSUM though when she first got it...

so she said 'POCCUM' instead!

Soooo her stuffed love has been named 'POCCUM' to this day.

(Well she was ever soo excited to see a REAL POCCUM on

the back deck tonight)
hee hee ;-)

Somer Jane

Letter Q~

Q is for QUARTER

Hayden made letter Q tracings with crayon from these Quarters~

Hayden learned about a quarter and its value in money~

we also tried an activity with the quarters to see which

line had more than the other line...he counted both lines and

then would tell me which had more~

Haydens worksheet on the letter Q

'Lyza reading about things that start with the letter Q

Our ?Question Mark? letter Q's

the art craft we created~
'Lyza Janes:

Haydens:

Somer Jane

Angels among us~

This blog post is just a cheery note that I had to share with the world!

Everyone should really learn from this and always remember to

"Pay it Forward"!

Meaning no matter how busy you are or caught up with your

own problems in life dont forget to make someone elses day a

little better, it will most likely make your day better by

making someone else smile!

Well, today at the grocery store someone made me smile!!

A very nice bagger (Mr. Jimmy that bags the grocerys)

made my day with his kindness.

Mr Jimmy always greets us (the kids and I) and always asks us

how we are doing and if we havent been to the store in awhile

he asks us what weve been up too lately.

He is a very nice man and hes always smiling and calling the kids ~

"Hey Lil Buddies~ how are you?"

Mr Jimmy has a disability though. He really only has use

of one of his arms... Im not sure the name of his condition but he has one arm and one leg that are slightly paralyzed which makes it

hard for him to walk straight or use both hands.

Regardless of his set back he was dealt with in life he is always smiling when we see him and he always asks if I need help out to my car with

the grocerys which I think is amazing he even asks!

(of course I always say No thank-you, but thanks anyway)

Well on this particular day the kids were acting their usual 'MAD' crazy selfs

and mommy was just trying to get out of the store and HOME!

Im sure anyone could see my stress as I was ripping candy and chapsticks

from my sons octopus hands at the checkout that he

was trying to get mommy to purchase... crazy I know! ha ha

Well the next thing I know Mr Jimmy was handing me a beautiful

bouquet of spring flowers!!

I was shocked and said, 'Ahhhh what are these?"

And Mr Jimmy just said "because"

I could only say THANK-YOU and WOW how sweet this gesture was!

But among all the cashiers looking and my crazy children acting up~

it meant alot more to me and it made me smile...

it also made me remember how life is full of special people

(ANGELS among Us)

they do care and SEE when we need a pick-me-up!

These flowers did just that on that day and I felt I had to share this

token of kindness with the world!

Maybe we all need to be more like the "Mr Jimmys" of this Universe

and spread smiles to others that are in need of a little SMILE!

Soooo go spread a smile today!

Somer Jane

The Letter V~

We ate some yummmmy vegetable soup this week!

Hayden loved the letter V sandwiches with vegetables & dip~

One of our crafts this week was painting the HIDDEN letter V's on
white paper...(I drew letter V's all over with a white crayon on the paper)

The kids had fun painting the paper to find the HIDDEN letter Vs
on their white piece of paper

But any excuse to paint at my house is fine by them~

One of the finished HIDDEN letter V artwork they painted

Hayden made a letter V all by himself with his M&Ms

I found these Velvet stickers at the Dollar store

and the kids had fun coloring them~

They felt the VELVET first and then enjoyed coloring the soft stickers.

'Lyza colored her ballerina VELVET sticker~

Another yummy letter V lunch:

V peanut butter & jelly sandwiches with VANILLA pudding

We learned that VITAMINS start with the letter V!

Remember to take your daily vitamin to grow big & strong~

Somer Jane

Letter V is for VOLCANO~

We learned about a cool word that starts with 'V' this week~

VOLCANO

We watched a real volcano erupt online and then we

made this cool volcano of our own~

To create your own volcano you will need some vinegar, baking soda,

a measuring cup, a cup or tube, a cake pan and some alum foil!

Here is the tube (an empty bubble wand container) we used

for the volcanos tube chamber.
We covered the green tube with alum foil to make the mountain
look of the volcano and set it back in the foil cake pan~
We then put some teaspoons of baking soda inside the
volcanos tube along with some red food coloring drops.
Next Hayden and Elyza took turns pouring the vinegar into the
tube and "BAM"....a volcano ERUPTION!!!
They kept wanting to make more and more volcano eruptions!

SUPER COOL VOLCANO, EH!

Have to admit it was a cool learning activity about

Volcanos and the letter V!

The kiddos enjoyed it~

Somer Jane

Ready for Spring~

Is it just US or are you ready for SPRING too?!!

We had a nice day and took advantage of it

at grandma My-Hopes house.

First she treated us all out to lunch at Cumberland Grill

which is a locally owned restaurant here in Clarksville~

Its pretty good food with great chicken salad croissants!

After lunch we came back to My-Hopes and the kids

rode bikes and ran around her big yard.

It was a fun day and made us LONG for SPRING even more!!!

Somer Jane

"Mr. Mans Birthday" & Valentines~

Soo this was Valentines Weekend and

Presidents Day ~ 3 day weekend!!

And it was a great one in my neck of the woods

First off my hubby gave me the best present money could buy

and it cant be bought...

He treated me to the whole day of FREEDOM!! ha ha

Your wondering what that means I'm sure...

in my house it means mommy (myself) got a free pass out of the

Looney Bin here at 'Casa CRaZy'!

He watched the kids all day while I left the premises!! ;-)

(yeah for me)

I spent the precious time visiting with my grandmother and my mom

bringing them both boxes of chocolates since this is the first time my

beloved grandpa wasnt here to buy them this year himself!

(that was his tradition ya see)

But I felt it was special to spread some love to my women role models whom

I love soo dearly in my life and it was a great Valentines!

THEN...

Brad and I got to celebrate today without KIDS on a double celebration

event in Nashville at the CHEESECAKE FACTORY!!

It was Brads Dads big 60th birthday and so we all met up to eat and celebrate~

But for Brad and myself it was our once in a BLUE MOON

date with each other/Valentines dinner too! hee

This was the first time for both of us to eat at The Cheesecake Factory

and it was expensive but a fun time with pretty good food~

(I wish I had a picture of the mouth watering chocolate mountain~

aka "CHOCOLATE TOWER TRUFFLE CAKE"

I ordered this and took it home....three words~ TO DIE FOR!!!)

That was worth the trip to this place for another visit for sure!

Anywho, I have to admit my Valentines weekend was pretty great

and better than I expected...maybe this means Im gonna have a good year!!

I sure look forward to that~ Wink wink! ;-)

Brad and his Dad aka 'Mr. Man" at Cheesecake Factory~

The free dessert from the restaurant for his BIG 60th birthday~

Happy Valentines Day to US!!



Somer Jane

Just a few of my favorite VALENTINE things~

I have the bestest girly-girl friend named HEATHER!

She really spoiled me for Valentines with all

kinds of special treats that she created herself~

Above in the picture are a few of my favorites that she gave me:

(click on the pic above to enlarge and see in detail)

~ First (top right) is a set of Valentine Stone Magnets (arent they cute)

~She makes the cutest crocheted items for me and this

super soft heart scarf is my new favorite of them all

~The HEART bath fizzies were scruptiously smelling and made my candlelit bath I treated myself to oh-so nice!

~My new ultra trendy & chic button bracelet is all the rage this season and I have to admit it looks fabulow-so on my arm~ hee

Isnt my friend the most creative lil person ever...she really did hand make ever single thing above! I'm so lucky to have someone love me soo~

Thank-you God for giving me my friend Heather!!

HUGS out to You my girl!

Somer Jane

Valentine Door Hangers~

I found these door hangers on clearance back in January at Hobby Lobby

and figured the kids and I could create something with them

for Valentines in February and here is what we created:

Both kids had a fun time decorating their

own Valentine Door Hanger
Elyza Jane with her Valentine hanger~
I thought the KNOCK-KNOCK jokes were
funny being on a door and all!
Hayden putting it on his bedroom door

The FRONT SIDE

The BACK SIDE

Just another quick and easy Valentine project to pass the time!

Somer Jane

Pancakes & Pudding~ Valentine style!

Tonight for dinner pancakes were requested!

I figured I would throw the Valentine spirit into them

and for dessert whip up a Valentine pudding~ Mmmm

The pics didnt turn out too clear but I made stacks of

Heart pancakes drizzled in syrup...

and for dessert I made a strawberry creme pudding-

garnished with marshmallows & a maraschino cherry!

YUMMY!!


Ohhh and YES we like SUGAR at my house...
and NO we dont usually eat 75% sugar induced meals~
It was a special night...
I do try to include vegeys every once in awhile! ha ha


Pancakes and Pudding night was a success though!!
Yumm


Somer Jane