From our home to yours

Merry CHRISTmas!!! I hope you have a wonderful time celebrating the holiday season with your friends and family.

Elf on the Shelf highjinks

I know . . . I’ve been missing in action. I haven’t been lazy, hibernating, sleeping or baking! Don’t ask. I hope to do better in the near future. In the meantime, I wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and leave you with a few pics that show Jingles our Elf, in action. He's been here helping us celebrate the CHRISTmas season and I gotta say, he's one cool and crazy guy!

                          Here he is the first day he arrived. Chillin' in a stocking tat was hung on the tree.

Caught red handed with his hands in the candy jar!

He was taking footage of the kids. Gonna show Santa proof of weather they were naughty or nice.

Yep. Fishing in the fish bowl. Poor Goldfish.

He brought us donuts one morning. They were super good. 

He had his own to eat. Said his favorite were the powdered ones!

Well, we should have a few more days with Jingles and knowing him, he has a few more things p his sleeve. Now if he could just help me wrap gifts that would be fantastic!

Trying new things

So as you know, I'm a major fan of Pinterest and love to stay up late and pin stuff I would love to craft if I ever had the time and money and talent to do so. Well, there are a few things from the beauty section I have given a try.

First was the coconut milk for your hair as a conditioner. That was actually kinda fun. I was able to sit and watch TV with my hair in this white stuff for an hour. When it washed out and finally was dry, it was soft and shiny. In my book, that's a plus. I will be doing that one again. Esp. since one can gives me about 3 applications. The can cost less than $3 so just figure $1 for a deep conditioning treatment. Heck yeah!! That's thrifty!

Second was the pore strip recipe. 1 tbsp powdered gelatin and 1.5-2 tbsp milk. Mix and apply as it drys fast. Well no poop! That stuff sets up faster than a black Friday line outside Best Buy! I put the stuff on and sat for 15 to let it "cure" and then spent, oh, I don't know, 30 trying to feel it off!!! Talk about a mess. It stunk and in my haste to apply it my layer wasn't even so I had globs here and there. When you do get a piece you can peel off it hurts! Like, ripping my face off hurts. It not only cleans your pores but it removes any hair you  may have on your face. OMG I must have had a mustache and sideburns not to mention a beard! I had hair pulling off alll over my face. Can you imagine if you're from Checz decent? Good gracious! I washed my face with warm water and my face soap and then applied my favorite moisturizer.

I dig this stuff. Anyway, my face is on fire. It's bright red and burns but hey, the pinner was right. Your face is smooth. Can you see how red my face is? The globs of gunk I couldn't remove are on there too. This was a mess. Will I do this one again? Umm, let me think for a sec. NO! I'll spend the $8 for the grocery store brand and keep my hair face thank you!

Next up is the hair ideas I have done.

First was the sock bun and the sock bun curls. This works! It was easy and non damaging to my hair and made me look like I had full, luscious hair. Who doesn't want that? The curls were awesome too the next morning. I found it super simple to execute and sleeping in the bun was easy peasy as it was on the top of my head and didn't get in the way. A definite PLUS and one I have done a few times since the first try.

I learned how to do a fishtail braid (which I love and find romantic) and I have also done a few styles for Little Miss such as the Topsy turvy and waterfall braid.

So all in all I find that Pinterst is teaching me new tricks and I can't wait to try a few more. What have you pinned and tried? Did it work or was it a fail?

Wow. 2 days.

Thanksgiving is in 2 days. My part of the menu has been decided and I'm anxious to get to it. We have a new tradition this year. Well, it actually started last year. We will get up and go to Auntie's for breakfast. IN OUR PJ'S! It was fun. All in all there is about 13-15 of us. It's a great way to start a day of food and reflexion. After breakfast is over and we have had fellowship, we all go back home to sleep (as in my 2 Little's and the Hubs) while Mom (umm, that be me) cooks her share of the menu. Then it's off to the In-laws for the turkey feast.

I love the Holiday season and I loathe it too. You know, that whole love/hate thing. I love the movies, the food, warm blankets and fires. But I hate that I miss my family back in NC and CO. That every year is another year we can't spend the season together and my Little's don't know their Southern roots. Yes, they have met my family and they love them. I think they like their accents too. But it's not the same. It's funny how you can spend years and years (I'm talking 15) away from your family and hometown and then all of a sudden miss it like crazy. Well, that's it. I'm going home next year. All of us. Me, the Hubs and both Little's. I'm making an executive decision and will start planning right away. Hmm, I wonder if I should wait o tell my man AFTER the holidays when he's not looking at the bills and freaking out over the $30 spent on craft supplies or the $200 grocery bill this month. Ugh. Yea, I'll wait til January to let him in on the master plan.

A few rules

Have you ever noticed that when you look at a wed site showing you Thanksgiving recipes that right beside it on the right is a weight loss site? Why do they do that? What's the point in saying "Here, check out this delicious pecan pie recipe" and then "But don't eat your weight in food so you don't blow up 5 dress sizes". Talk about frustrating! So for curiosity sake, I clicked one. Oh boy. Wanna hear some tips they gave for helping you not overeat this holiday season?

Tip #1: Smell peppermint extract. It helps to make you feel less hungry.

Umm, OK if I did that all it would do is make me want a peppermint mocha latte from Starbucks. I don't think that's what they had in mind.

Tip #2: Put a mirror in front of you while you eat.

Are they serious? First of all, if I had a small mirror to put on the table to watch myself eat that would be a miracle in itself. And second, it would only show me that I'm probably more of a messy eater than my children!

Tip #3: Use blue plates. The color blue helps people FEEL full.

hahahahaha OK, if I had a piece of pumpkin pie on a small blue plate all I would think is "cute plate" and eat the pie before anyone could say "whip cream for the top?"

I had to laugh at the "tips". I mean, really? Who are they kidding? I appreciate the fact they are giving advice but in all honesty I don't think they would help much. Wanna hear my 3 tips for staying on track and not over eating this holiday season?

Tip #1: Make smart choices. Stay away from the appetizers and anything wrapped in bacon!

Tip #2: Try to drink water with your meal and not alcohol. Trust me. The food tastes better since it's not competing with the booze and it helps keep you flushed too!

and last but not least, Tip #3: Have fun. Enjoy your family and friends and IF you play games, take them outside. Tag football, soccer or even Red Rover can be thrilling and help with getting you off the couch and on your feet!

Back in the day

When you were little did you ever see those cool Halloween cereals in late September/early October and think "Man I wish my Mom would get those"? Well, I did and most of the time we kept right on walking and Boo Berry, Count Chocula and Franken Berry never made it into the buggy. I was a deprived child. I missed out on all of the sugar infested cereal and gummy snacks. I had to eat Chex and apples. BOO!

So imagine my surprise when I saw these at my local grocery!

You can bet your bottom dollar those bad boys were greeted with a squeal and then a toss in my cart! OH YEA! I'm an adult. I buy my own groceries now so yes. They will be coming with me.

They even have their own adventure on the back now!?!?! How awesome!

I was so excited I got these that as soon as I got home and put all my groceries away I had to have a bowl. Hmm, which one would be first? I chose Boo Berry. He was good. I ate all the blue bits first and savored the marshmallows for last. Yum-o!

I was ecstatic to share in my delight with my kiddos. They, however, didn't get all my joy and didn't really love the cereal. Sigh. Oh well, some memories are best savored alone. At night. In the kitchen when everyone else is in bed asleep.

* please note this has been hanging out in my list of posts for over a month. I saw it today when I paid enough attention. So since it's a true story I wanted to go ahead and post it today. Get it out there so you know in a week when I still hope to be on my healthy kick I didn't fall off the wagon thanks to the temptatious manners of those guys!

No WHEY!

OK I'll admit it, I have let myself go and I have gained some weight. About 5 pounds to be exact and I take full blame. No one held a gun to my head while I devoured Halloween candy or chocolate cake. No one said I was being a horrible person if I didn't finish all the food on my plate includeing the collard greens made in bacon grease and the soda's (yes sodas) I had too while my Mom was here. I did those things. Me. All alone while no one said "Put that down" or "a minute on the lips is a lifetime on the hips". Ugh, so, here I go. Get back on my diet. TRY and I mean REALLY TRY to work out somehow. So I made a plan.

1. Check out inspiration pics on Pinterest and get motivated.



CHECK!



2. Find recipies that are healthy.




CHECK!

3. Work out



CHECK!


OK that's not really me running but I did do that today. Around my block and then almost passed out! We can pretend I look that cool/good when I run. I probably look more like this.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSkXnyuYNJQ

OK, getting back to my morning.......

SO when I got up today I had my cup of joe. Black to save on the calories. I love creamer and they have all fall flavors out now!! Well, I did black. Then I had a bowl of Rasin Bran in fat free milk. Good but would have been better with some sugar added. I didn't though. I kept thinking "Do it right Aleigh" so I did. When I dropped Little Miss off at school, the litttle man in my life and I headed to the grocery! I got a few things to make dinners for the week as well as stuff to make some smoothies. I plan on doing the smoothies as a meal replacement type thing. Thanks to Pinterest and the link to Lacey in love I got a wild hair and did my own version.
I got a bunch of banana's (5 in the bunch), 4 kiwi, a tub of lite Lucerin vanilla yogurt and 3 bags of frozen mixed berries. When I got home, I cut up 3 of the bananas and 2 of the kiwi into bite sized pieces and then popped it in the freezer on a lined cookie sheet. I also took the yogurt and filled up a cupcake tin and popped THAT in the freezer as well. After about an hour, I took about a cup to a cup and a half of the fruit (both the ones I cut up and the frozen bag of mixed berries) and 2 yogurt cubes and put it into a bag. I was able to make 5 baggies of the fruit and yogurt. Now all I have to do on busy mornings is take out a baggie, add a scoop of whey protien and a cup of fat free milk. Blend all together and viola! A fruit smootie! When I took all my ingredients and broke down the prices of it all it came out uber cheap. Here's the breakdown:

$2.39 for the yogurt

$3.00 for the frozen berries (I say 3 since I got 3 packs and only used one)

$0.70 for the bananas since I only used 3

$1.00 for the kiwi since I only used 2

Now, I already had this. I had bought it for my eldest child but he didn't use it. It's banana and I thought I had gotten vanilla so that's why he didn't use it. I figure I will so...it cost me $20.00. Now, the tub says 1 scoop is a serving and there are 23 servings in this tub. SOOOOO, each scoop is $0.87. 5 scoops will be used for the 5 smoothies so that makes this total of whey $4.35.

Breaking it down more, a smoothie with no protien costs me $1.40. A smoothie WITH protein is $2.30!

BEAT THAT ORANGE JULIUS!!!!

*I rounded off just in case you were wondering.

I have to be honest, I feel awesome! I worked out, ate good thus far today and now have a smoothie fix for 5 days. I'll let ya know how it tastes. I may try it with OJ one day too just to see if I like it better but in the meantime, as it is right now, a smoothie will be around 200 calories. Not too shabby!

I just hope all in all I don't do great and then hit that spot where this happens.

I always try to be

thankful for my days. I mean, where in the world does the time go? I try and reflect. Try to take deep breaths and breath in the day but when I blink, it's dinner and bedtime stories. Kisses to the Hubs goodnight and me on the other side of the bed reading a book or watching a show I DVR'ed two weeks ago.

Friday October the 28Th was the fall festival and literary parade at Little Miss' school. She went as Raggedy Ann and took her book of stories too!

Yea, she was the cutest one there. I gotta be honest! hehehe I stayed a few hours and helped volunteer and did games and prizes and set ups. Man, after 3 hours I was spent. I just wanted lunch and a nap. Whew!

Halloween was great. My Mom flew in from NC and she was here to craft and trick-or-treat with me and the Littles. Little Miss was a "Pirate Princess" and Mr Little was Evel Kenevil. I even made a helmet for him and he rocked it! Well, I thought he did anyway.

How adorable are these two?

 The Littles in action!

Mom and I even had some fun. I was a 1950's housewife complete with white gloves and kitten heels.

 

Mama was a good witch with a purple poof witch hat and black velvet dress!

GOOD TIMES!!! Next thing I know 10 days have raced by and I had to take Mama to the airport. Not a good day for me and the Little's. Although, the silver lining on this cloud is she was here. We made memories, cakes, wreaths and cider.

Thanks mamaw Barbara. We love and miss you!


I hope to be able to post my newest cider recipe with y'all and some pics of the crafts Mom and I did. She helped me with a wreath for my front door and picked out a birdie for my scarecrow's hat. Till then...count to 10, pause and soak in the sceanery. It all passes and changes too quick. Blink, and you've missed it.

 

Halloween stuff

I love Halloween. I love the costumes, the cider, the cooler weather and the ghost stories you can watch on TV at night. Well, I had to LEARN to like ghost stories. When I was little I wouldn't go in the living room when one was on and I would always freak myself out thinking I heard a noise or saw something. NO THANK YOU. Now, though, however I adore them. Makes me remember my Mom laughing at me and my jitters and how she would sit on the one end of the couch, legs tucked up under her and watch with bright eyes. Ah, good memories.

Anyway, the Littles and I love to craft and we have made a few. Our $3 welcome sign.

We plan on decorating our pumpkin tonight and then we will carve them closer to Halloween when my Mama gets here. She flies in on the 27Th and I can not wait! It's been close to 2 years since I've seen her and to have her here this holiday will be amazing. She and I will craft things with the kids and watch those scary stories (booger movies as my Mama calls them) and be silly. We'll also trick-or-treat with friends and dress up and be crazy. It's gonna be so fun.

Tonight the children and I are gonna try to make ghosts and maybe some Halloween lights. Wish me luck. I have a plan but who knows if it will work or not.

We're here!

FINALLY! After 2 weeks of sickness and moving, we are finally settled in our new house. It's an old burnt adobe style built in the late 60's with saltillo tile and a few other AZ finishes. It's nestled in a nice, older neighborhood with trees and sidewalks and we even had a great first meeting too! The Neighbors straight across the street came over and introduced themselves. Did I mention they brought a chocolate chip bread loaf with them? OH. My. STARS!!!

The two Littles seem to be in their groove already and to tell ya the truth, once this flu gets outta here, I know I will be too. Little Miss has her school 10 minutes up the road and next year when she starts Kindergarten, her school is only 2 minutes up the road! It will be the same one her Daddy, aka The Hubbs, went to. He's pretty excited about that little tidbit. I find it adorable he's so proud of that. Mr. Little on the other hand would be happy in a box with a dirt patch so as long as he has his bike and his race car bed, he's all for it!

I really like this house. I feel like we will be here a few years and not have to worry about moving right away. I can't wait til our mountain house sells and we can buy our own. I have such visions of paint on the walls and pictures hung with actual hangers and not thumb tacks. In the meantime, I know we will make great memories and leave this house one day with good energy and friends all around us. One's that bake. Really good stuff!

When Forest Gump said,

                                                                        "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get." I just thought it was a clever little line in a great movie. Well, now I realize it's true. Between the roller coaster of life with children and marriage, the ups and downs never end. I know that's what makes it exciting and fun, but at this moment, this one right here, I want a flat line. Just for a week. OK maybe more like two.

What's going on to put me in this funk you ask? Well, we have to move. AGAIN. The home we are renting while ours is up for sale, still, has now gone into a trustee sale. Meaning, it  goes up for auction and well, we need to move. We found a nice house not too far away. It knocks off 15 minutes of commute for the Hubs and about 10 for me when I take Little Miss to school. The home is actually larger but it's older and a bit...dated. The yard is small but it's large enough to play and has grass and flowers. The Littles were very excited about that. Me to actually. I grew up in the South. Grass is very much a part of me. Running in the wet grass in the morning from dew all barefooted and free. Not to mention rolling in it or sliding and getting knarley grass stains on your knees.

Sigh. I'm happy. I am. It's a larger place for less money but I just hate moving. I don't know one single person who likes it. Do you? Send them my way. I have a job for them. I've been packing up a box here and there that I was able to score from the local Grocery. My plan is to get all the little things and things not used on a daily basis ( think linen closet and under the sink cleaning stuff) packed so on the 7th (official move in date) all we have to do is load the Uhaul and take off.

So there it is. The reason I've been MIA for the last week. Life is on it's down right now. Though I do know for a fact, God has the up right around the corner.

                                                                          And I can't wait.

Meet and Greet with,

                                                                            The Sea Princess.

She is from Oceania (pronounced (O-she-ann-uh for those of us who don't speak sea creature)  and she lives in a castle under the sea. Her favorite thing is to sing like Ariel and swim. She said her native  tongue is hard to understand but she will teach me later. BIG SMILES!

                                          Now on to how we came to create this masterpiece this morning.

Step 1:  I took an empty toilet paper roll, cut it in half and taped it to make it slimmer. I trimmed off a bit from the end to make it shorter and then rolled it in her hair at the crown. That was our first wave. Next, I took the sides, teased them out a bit, and wrapped them around the edges of the wave and pinned them.

For the back, I teased a section of hair and tucked it under the roll and then pinned it too. Then I added 4 small braids for a "waterfall" as per Little Miss.

Step 2:  was going outside. I covered her clothes and sprayed the blue into her hair. We used Jerome Russell in Bengal Blue from the B Wild collection. She loved that part and loved the vibrant color. I do too. SO cool!

Step 3: we added the crown and the seagulls and there she is. All done. She dressed in all blue to represent the sea. I told her that her white shoes could be the sea caps. Side note, do not try and explain sea caps to a 4 year old. It's almost impossible.


                                                        

For asoceries, we added a blue sequin bracelet and then I made her a necklace using the whale from the first batch of sea creatures we bought. She chose the whale since it was blue. And VIOLA'! A very beautiful sea Princess if I do say so myself.


We did Mr. Little as well. He didn't want ot be left out! Funny thing is, that's his normal hair in the morning so really all I did was sray the front blue. He felt like such a big boy when we took his big sister to school and he fit right in.

Little Miss said she had the best hair at school and her Teacher, Mrs. Peterson, agreed saying that little girl was a hit.

Little Miss said she loved her hair the best. That...made me smile.

It's called chalking for hair

It should be called "the biggest headache ever"! I swear it didn't work for us. I got instructions from here. I soaked the chalk for almost an hour. The water looked like this.

Umm, I thought it was supposed to be tinted but mine still looked clear. Oh boy. Reading on, the next step was to color on her hair. So I did. A small section since this was our test. Oh brother. Not too vibrant is it?

Once it was dry it got even worse. Her hair looked like this. Not so much color. It reminds me of those old ladies with the blue tint in their grey hair. Not so cool for a little girl wanting to go as the sea. I think it's safe to say we will be passing on the chalking for tomorrow.

OH! And the first round of sea creatures didn't want to stay. They were plastic and soft and not one ounce of texture so the glue wouldn't grab onto anything. So I went to the Dollar store AGAIN and got the first pack we found. The ones I liked better anyway. So I glued those on in a pattern and also added some doves, aka seagulls, to fill in. They were on sale for 50 cent so I splurged.

Not too shabby huh?

I made a few bobby pins too just to add encase we need them. Seagulls and a starfish.

I have to be honest. What was to be a simple and easy project turned into a nightmare. I had to go get new glue since the first sticks weren't low temp and wouldn't melt. Then the dang things fell off so we had to get new ones. PLUS, I had to get blue hairspray so her hair can be blue since chalk didn't work. UGH! Oh well, she's gonna rock it tomorrow.

OH and by the way, if you chalk your hair, I want to give you some advice. Take the chalk after it's soaked and scrap it and make a paste. Works better. AND once your hair is dyed and dry use hairspray to help set the color on your hair. It poufs off if you don't. Think, shutting an old book and dust flinging off. That's what your hair will do. Also, it shows better on lighter colored hair.

So there ya go. A bot random in my writing tonight but I'm exhausted and I have to get up a bit earlier than normal tomorrow to get all Little Miss's school stuff packed and ready before I wake her up and attempt a fab hairdo. WISH ME LUCK!

Oh. My. Gosh. Becky! Look at her....

                                                                  

                                         HAIR!!



So Monday is Crazy hair day at Little Miss' school and we just HAD to go all out. I gave her 2 choices.

Choice #1: A pair of cupcakes. Complete with cupcake wrapper, pink icing and cherries on top. She would wear a pink shirt with a cupcake on it to match and some fun shorts.

or

Choice #2: A sea theme with blue hair teased and sprayed all kinds of crazy with a mermaid and some fish. She would wear a blue tunnic style shirt dress with capri pants.

She chose 2.


Well, I got to work thinking on how to execute this look and headed to the Dollar Store with both Littles in tow. Little Miss picked from 2 bags of sea animals and then between a few hairbands. She went with a light blue that you can bend the sides out so you don't get that nasty headache from wearing it all day. I had to agree with her on that one. The sea animals she picked were not my choice but hey, this is her hairdo and she's sporting it so she gets the choice. Here they are. Her "friends". I don't know about those fish. The yellow has some crazy eyes that makes me think he's on something and then he green one looks like he got his lips stuck inside a vaccum cleaner.

 

ANYWAY, when we got home we dug out an old mermaid she had in her toybox. I glued that little blonde haired beauty in on the left. Little girl said left so left it was.

After she was stuck on there we added the sea creatures. I put it on her head and stood back to admire our creation. Not too shabby.

                                                                                    Left

                                                                                    Right

                                                                                       Back

Now all I need to do is dye her hair. I found a chalk "recipe" to dye hair in a non toxic, easy to wash out way. I bought a big pack of chalk from the Dollar store today too so I plan on doing a dry run for the color. AFTER church of course. Cross your fingers! I'll post later on how it goes.

Happy Birthday Bud!

Just a few short years ago my Newphew Christian was born. He is now 14 today and though he's not lived in the same town as me for a long time, I still see him as that little chubby boy he was, once upon a time.


He's grown into a tall boy. Dark hair and very pretty blue eyes like his Mom. They live in Colorado and I get the pleasure of seeing them in February 2012. Christian is a very loving child. He always wants to please and if he isn't giving you random hugs or driveby kisses he has his face inside his Nintendo DS defeating rogue aliens or something of the sort.


This year when my Sis sent me the email that contained his birthday wishlist I wasn't too surprised to see about 6-7 games on it. What I was surprised to see was the last entry. A pocket watch. One with a chain and if it has a hunter theme on it then he would be set. Hmm, a pocket watch? Really? For a 14 yr old? I talked to Christian about his list and asked why the watch. He just stated he liked them. Has for years and thinks they are cool. Well, how coluld I argue with that? My Grandfather had a pocket watch and I hear stories of how he was a wonderful guy, salt of the earth and would literally give you the shirt off his back. SO, my mind was set. Gotta find a pocket watch. Now, since the boy is on ly 14 I knew it wouldn't be uber expensive or crazy so I went to Amazon and found one without too much of a fuss.

It's got the chain and the theme and it comes in a wooden box. The price was perfect and so I ordered it and sent it on it's way. I'm excited for him to get it and I can't wait to hear what he thinks. Sis says it's perfect and he'll love it and Christian being Christian he will. He loves anything people give him. That's him. It's just his way.

The more and more I think about this whole pocket watch thing I get emotional. I feel like it ties him to our Grandfather Charlie. Something they can have in common. I hope one day Christian grows old and celebrates his life with his Wife and children by his side. I hope he walks his Daughter down the isle and gives his son that watch on a special occasion. Say, the birth of his Grandson. How wonderful of a tradition to pass along.



                                      Hmmm, Maybe I should I have gone with the $100 watch.

Gadanke

I know you looked at that and said it in your mind a few times thinking "How do you say that" and to be honest, I'm not sure. What I am sure of though is this:

#1 They are totally cool and their products are very, very sweet
#2 The owner, Katie, is darling
#3 I gained too much weight in the past 2 weeks

Ok, granted #3 is a sad thing to share but it's true so it really is something I'm sure of.

Anyway, I learned about this awesome site from Centsational Girl. She is a blogger that I have read for quite some time now and she was hosting a fab giveaway featuring Gadanke. I entered, crossed my fingers and toes and low and behold I won the sucker! So me and 2 other very happy, lucky people were able to go to the website, pick out a journal and get it for FREE! Well, I knew right away that I wanted the lilac fields Saving Grace journal. I loved so many of her products but that one spoke to me on a personal level so I asked for it and not 3 days later got it in the mail! EEK! I was so happy to have something other than bills and junk mail in my box.

I rushed in, tore open the package and this is what I saw!

Oh. My. Dasies!

And if that wasn't enough to make you keel over and die right there I flipped it open and...

Did you die? Are you with me? Pick yourself up and listen to this! This adorable journal is made with 100% recycled, graphing and Italian papers and pockets. IT'S HANDMADE!!!! I love anything handmade and the fact that this guy is gonna be so personal as well is just, well, touching.

Check out the tag she has her tag line on. Your story matters. That hit me like a ton of bricks. I'm not a journal-er. I kept a diary for about 3 months when I was 14 and then that sucker bit the dust so you can only go "What the hay bells" when I said I was uber happy to get this journal. I plan on doing it every. single. day.

I hope I can look back on it and read things I wrote and prayed about/for. I also hope that when this one is full, I can get a new one in a new color and keep this up from here on out. How awesome would it be to have these for my kiddos one day to read? To go "wow, Mom was nuts." or maybe "Wow. Mom was right about sooo much".

Do me a favor. Go check out Katie and see what she's about. After touring her site and chatting with her via email, I think she has tons to offer and I think anyone can find a journal for themselves or maybe someone else they know. You won't be disappointed.

And tell her Aleigh sent ya!