School Picture Link Up

To me, this is the world's best linkup! I love pictures, and I love seeing what everyone looked like when they were little! I couldn't pass it up! Luckily, I have one of those Moms who keeps everything! I am one of those moms too :) This was easy for me to do because my mom literally has a school book labeled by year with all of my school pics, and about 1000 additional albums of just me. Yes, I'm an only child, lol.

I had to cut myself off, I wanted to post every picture in the book because they crack me up....but I stuck with the most embarrassing ones! haha.

One year I was Pippy Longstocking for Halloween. Those are wire hangers in my hair!

 

My Mom was all about the ribbons and bows! I don't recall a time that my hair wasn't in a bow or a ribbon, until I started doing my own hair! I hated it. I always cried when she brushed it, that stuff gets tangled up like woah!

On the left is my Preschool picture.....I guess I didn't want to show any teeth. It was probably because I was wondering why in the hell I borrowed a dress from an amish girl....on the right, my first day of Kindergarten. I was thrilled, in case you couldn't tell. I can't help but notice the giant scrunchie on my head, with like one strand of hair pulled through it. Way to go, Mom!

Oh yeah, you're right. That's a sweatshirt with "Nelson" on it. I was lookin good in my Star of the Month picture that hung in the hallway at school for EVERYONE to see. Yikes! I think the yellow turtleneck adds a nice touch. Apparently, I missed the memo on the correct way to wear a hat. You'd think that crazy Mrs. Armbruster (school secretary) would have helped me out with that before taking this awful picture! And then there's the school pic. All I can say is that my Mom and I BOTH obviously forgot it was picture day, and I apparently had started getting ready by myself at this point. I should have smacked her for letting me out of the house like this! She was probably running late too!

I guess, when I was in elementary school, I thought band was cool. I also thought  the clairnet was the coolest instrument since poptarts. I had a crush on a boy in my neighborhood who was in 9th grade, I was in 5th at this point. He played on the HS soccer team, hence the ADIDAS soccer shirt. I thought this would make him love me for sure!  Remember when silk shirts were cool? Yeah, me either. They were probably only cool if you had a silk bow to match it perfectly. Oh, and don't forget to button that thing up till you can't button no more! I think those are skeleton earrings in my ears. Again, where was my mother?!?! :)

This was when the "Rachel" from friends haircut was popular. I had to have it. And, honestly I think it looked pretty cute! I'm not complaining about this pic too much.....except for yet another turtleneck...but this time, it's short sleeved, I think that might actually be worse! Ahhhh....my 9th grade school pic. Enter braces. Yikes. I have never once worn my hair behind one ear like that, and I remember when the stupid photographer did that for me, I was thinking WTH....yeah should have went with my gut on that one. ugh. I hope you are all taking note, at the bangs that have shown up in every picture.

I skipped ahead a couple years. Two of my senior pics. Again with the bangs, AND a turtleneck! Hey, at least I was consistant right?

And finally on to College Graduation. The bangs are GONE, and I'm not wearing a turtleneck! Maybe I did learn something in college!

This was the most fun linkup! I want more like this! Ready....GO! PS.....Yes I blamed my Mom for a lot of my wardrobe problems! I'm not even kidding when I say she now buys MY KIDS turtlenecks too!!! AHH. She must be stopped!! :)

My First Trip to Ulta

The highlight of my weekend was that I FINALLY went to the new Ulta store that opened about 15 minutes away from my house! This could be dangerous!!!!! I did good, this time though. I went with a specific purpose, and I left with what I set out for. Good job me for not buying the WHOLE STORE.

I went to Ulta looking for foundation. I've had it with drugstore foundation. I've tried Cover Girl, Loreal, Revlon, Nutragena, and even NYC (because it was cheap, and I was sick of spending money)nothing lasts. 5 hours later it looks like I didn't even put makeup on. I even tried two types of Loreal. I tried the mousse first. I liked it for the first 2 days, then the third day I started noticing bumps on my face. I thought it was odd, because I usually have pretty good skin. I don't normally break out. So what do you do when you are questioning something? Google it! I found a bunch of reviews of women reporting the same thing....bumps on their face after about 2 days. Well, I was done with that. Then I saw that Mama L was using Loreal True Match. I thought "wow if Mama L is using it, it has to be good right?" WRONG. Either I didn't have the right color, or I just can't use loreal foundation. I didn't have bumps....but that stuff would not blend on my face. I had streaks everywhere, that I couldn't correct.

So after doing my homework on the Ulta website, I found out that the Ulta brand foundation is the same price as drugstore foundation, and 1. They have testers for the right color, and 2. you can return it! SOLD. Off I went to Ulta with both kids in tow. Taking a 4 year old boy, and a 1 year old boy into a cosmetics wonderland was a little scary. I bribed Cole with a DQ blizzard after, if he promised not to touch anything in the store. We were in an out in about 15 minutes. Mission successful. I cannot wait to go back alone though! I have a whole list of other things I want now!

$12.50! So far, I'm loving it. I can already see that this new Ulta love may be a problem! Can't wait to go back!

Since it's Monday, that means Dallas is on tonight! My obsession. Right up there with Duck Dynasty. I put my kids to bed 20 minutes early on Mondays so that I can get ready to watch Dallas! I'm not ashamed, lol. I look forward every week to that little piece of "me time" Just me, the tv, and John Ross. If only the TV didn't stand between my John Ross, and I  :) I have a few friends that I facebook with during the show.....It takes me back to my highschool, and early college days when my friends and I used to talk on the phone, and Instant message through Gilmore Girls, and One Tree Hill! haha. those were the days!

See you tonight....yum!

I'll be getting my school pics together tonight for the linkup tomorrow! Holla!

Crazy Baby

Well a late blog post is better than no blog post right? Things have gotten ever crazier here at the Porter House. You didn't think it was possible did you? Drew still ISN'T walking! Cole walked at 10 months, so the fact that Drew turned 1 on March 17, and is still not walking is making me crazy! I've heard it many times from others...."you don't want them to walk, then they're into everything" Well....let me tell you I couldn't wait till Cole walked, and I can't wait till Drew walks! Drew has hit that stage of wanting down all the time, but depending where we are, a lot of times that can't happen. Why? because he CAN'T WALK! For example, last weekend we Randy cleaned out the garage. Cole was running around playing, and Drew wanted to join in on the fun. But, I didn't want to let him down on the garage floor. After about an hour of trying to get his attention turned to other things, and being completely unsuccessful, I decided to just suck it up, and let him down. He was filthy, and I cringed everytime I saw his little hands hit the garage floor to crawl to another location. I hated every second of it!

It seems that Drew is turning out to be quite the opposite of big brother Cole. As Cole got older, things got much easier with him. He wasn't "into" as much because he could get around on his own and he was completely happy with that! With Drew? Not so much. Things seem to be getting more, eh..umm...difficult? as he gets older. We use the term "ornery" a lot, but really the kid is a hellian! He was a late bloomer in that sense. A much easier "baby" than Cole....but now he's become crazy! He is constantly climbing on our fireplace hearth, and then standing up! He is great at getting the gate away from the steps. Our stairs are weird. They go out at the bottom, and on one side there are wood spindles, so you can't attach a gate at all. We have one of those giant outdoor gates rigged around the bottom, tied to the spindles on one side and we thought we had the other side blocked to where he can't move it. WRONG! He just moves that gate right out of the way, and heads up the stairs. By 10 am the kid had me worn out!

It's so funny to me how two siblings can be so different! I love it. They keep me on my toes, and keep me exhausted, that's for sure! That's pretty much what's going on with us for now!

Purse Party Linkup

Today I'm linking up for the Purse Party! I love purses. I have about 5 favorites that I go back and fourth with. I don't own any really expensive purses. Sadly, I don't even have any coach purses. My personal faves are "Kathy VanZealand" I have 5 of those.

The purse I'm using right now isn't designer. It's actually from Sam's Club! I thought the color was "springy" and my hubs surprised me by buying it when I wasn't looking :) Can't beat that!

At the beginning of the week I cleaned out my purse. That's probably a good thing or else I would have been very embarrassed when I showed you what I was carrying around! It consisted of about 30 pounds in change, 3000 receipts, and a ton of wrappers! I'm kind of a hoarder when it comes to junk in my purse! My purses are known to weigh about 10 pounds, lol. Now, I feel like I'm carrying nothing!

The purse breakdown: Fruit and Veggie melts, for Drew, a 31 wallet that is absolutely empty (thought it was a change purse when I bought it, huge waste of money) My wallet, (also Kathy Vanzeland btw :) 4 highlighters, an excavator, a plane, a truck, a pen, and some teddy grahams. Pretty boring! An odd combo! Anyone else have the bad habit of using your debit card, and then just throwing it back in your purse? I never put it back where it goes, then when it's time to use it, I panic and frantically throw everything out at the store! It's kind of a nightmare, and my heart stops for a minute that I don't have my card with me! lol.

I've always wanted a coach purse. My birthday is in July. The big 3-0! Maybe my hubs should buy me one! Hint hint ! ;)

I feel this way on a daily basis. I have random thoughts that I text my hubs about...and then later I forget what I even told him! My mind is always going, and I think my hubs should be able to keep up! He disagrees, lol. But, one thing I won't forget, is that I want a coach purse for my birthday!! :)

WW: The Reese's Rabbit Incident

Weigh-in Wednesday!! Yikes!!! All I can say is that Easter candy, and pop are NOT my friends!!! Really regretting those choices now! Up 3 pounds!! Noooo!!!! I guess that gives me the motivation to quit the bad habits today!

I'm not surprised that I've gained. I guess when you eat an entire Reese's rabbit in one sitting , you're gonna gain! What makes it worse, the rabbit didn't even belong to me!! Lol. I stole it from my hubs baskets while he was at work :)

I have to get back in a workout routine, like yesterday! Burn some calories!!! Hopefully the Reese's rabbit incident is enough for me to start moving again!

I'm a stress eater, and within the past two weeks my world has turned upside down. Lots of changes, and my eating habits are paying the price! Gotta kick that bad habit now!!! Old habits are the HARDEST habits to break!!!

Misery loves company, so I'm anxious to see if anyone else has gorged themselves with Easter candy?!? :)

Drew's 1st Birthday Party

I'm a little late, but here are the pictures of Drew's party! It was on March 16. Wow that seems so long ago now! He ended up having an ear infection that we didn't know about until the next day, and his very intelligent mommy scheduled his party right during naptime! I always do that....not sure why I haven't learned yet! So needless to say, Drew wasn't a very happy camper! Luckily, his big brother was there to help him open all of his presents, and to play with all his new toys when we got home too! That's what older siblings are for, right?

Since Drew's actual birthday is on St. Patrick's Day, we of course had to theme his first birthday in honor of that! I figured this may be the only year I have that chance. Next year he'll probably want some character that I will loathe, but I'll do it anyway. For example, Cole will be 4 in April. He's having his first "friend" bowling party. Not much decorating to do, but he's requested Batman invitations, plates, and cups. Yay......in my most sarcastic tone. But I have already gotten his Batman invitations, and we'll bowl it up Batman style, just for my most favorite 4 year old! The things we do for our kids right? haha :)

Kids goody bags

Gift table, but before there were any gifts

Grammy and Drew

Cake table

Ready to party!

Eating pizza

Drew's smash cake

 

During this party, I realized yet again that it's really hard to be the photographer, videographer, Mom of the birthday boy, and the hostess! I'm relying on my family memebers to have hopefully gotten better pictures that I did, and most of it is on video, like opening the gifts, and that kind of thing. But you get the idea. It was a shamrock kinda day!!

Easter Weekend

Hope everyone had a wonderful and blessed Easter! We did for sure. Spent the day with our family. We laughed so much, my cheeks hurt when we left. I love days like that. We all had so much fun. My cousin and his wife have a 3 month old daughter, my other cousin has a 7 year old daughter, and then of course my boys, almost 4, and 1. It's so great seeing them all together. Warms my heart. I can't wait for this summer when we all spend lots of time together at my parents lake house.I apologize now for all the photos. Wait, no I don't, I love pics!! :)

I'm still sick with this sinus mess after 8 days! I'm looking rough in this picture! But, I usually stay away from the camera as much as possible. I'm just proud of myself for being in one of the pictures for once! haha.
I think my boys had an excellent Easter. They are worn out after a weekend full of fun! Beautiful weather on Saturday. We spent it at our neighborhood egg hunt, and then riding bikes outside. A great day, and excited my hubs got to enjoy it with us. Been missing him a lot lately. He's working a lot, but I love him for it. :)

I have mentioned a few times this past week, that I've been going through some things. Days like yesterday (Easter) remind me of what's really important. It reminded me to let all my worries go. Give them all to God, and he will lead me where I need to go. Sometimes it's hard to do, to just let go.....but there are also times when that's all we can do.So that's what I intend to do. I just have to let go for now, and see what happens. Thank you to all of you who have offered support, it means a lot :)