You might be a redneck...

If your husband brings home a truck that was meant for the salvage yard and uses it to create a dirt track out of the soybean field next to your house... you might be a redneck.

Or at least your HUSBAND is certainly a redneck! :)

Welcome to my life, People.

Below you will find pics of my dear husband and his new "toy." Complete with the tree branch hanging off of the truck... this is what happens when you don't quite make Turn 2 and end up skimming the tree line next to said soybean field turned dirt track.

Yes, sometimes I wake up and ask "How did I get HERE???"

Just a Couple of Adorable Kids!!

The Da Vinci Code

A discussion topic was posted on my Mom's Forum the other day about this seemingly controversial book... so, of course I had to rush out and buy it. Then, I devoured it in two sittings (had to force myself to get a few hours of sleep in between, although I easily could've continued reading until I reached the end... it was that good!).

I loved the book. This is the third book I've read by Dan Brown... and every time I finish one of his novels, I sit back and think "WOW! How does someone write something like that???" I'm so in awe of that kind of talent.

I know that the book has been in the limelight recently, especially with the new movie due out soon... but since I hadn't read it, I had no clue WHAT the big "controversy" surrounding it was. After I finished it today, I did a little research online...

The controversy didn't really "strike" me because, honestly, I'm not a religious being with a set faith to begin with. So, his notion of Jesus being a man and the Catholic Church covering up this whole notion really didn't stir up a lot of emotion in me. In fact, I was kind of relieved by that whole idea. It was tangible and something I could almost wrap my brain around... if that makes sense.

I spent the afternoon reading a lot online about the Christian/Catholic response to the novel. And, I'll admit, they make a lot of valid points about "untruths" that are presented in the book. But now I'm asking myself: Does it really matter??? Almost every Web site I visited today just HAD to point out the fact that there are NOT 666 panes of glass in the Pyramid structure at the Louvre, as Brown reports in his story. OH NO, say it isn't so!!! Well then, certainly THAT proves it.... his whole story is CRAP. I'm convinced. :) [yes, it's mega-sarcasm... good eye!]

Somehow, I don't think the panes of glass were THAT significant. It seems to me that if the Catholic Church wants to dispute the claims that Brown makes in his work of FICTION, they might want to concentrate more on the "important stuff."

I could ramble on incessantly about the book and its details... but, my bottom line is this: It was a fantastic novel. I don't KNOW if it was fact or fiction, and really don't care. The brief time that I spent devouring the book was quite enjoyable, and at the end of the day, isn't THAT why we buy and read books?? Yeah, I thought so.

Just for the record: Dan Brown is my new hero. Not because he may believe that Jesus was a man, and not because it just might be Mary Magdalene seated next to him in The Last Supper, but because he writes a helluva good book.

Dying Eggs

For some reason, Blogger wouldn't let me add these pics to my last post, so here's another one!

Here are the kids dying eggs with Grandma yesterday:

Happy Easter!

I have lots of Easter pics of the kids to share with their fans!

These are from the egg hunt that we had with our local Mom's Group last Tuesday. My friend Melissa hosted it at her house and we had a huge turn-out for the event! The Easter Bunny (aka, Melissa's husband looking smashing in his bunny suit!) even showed up! Damon refused to have his picture taken with the Bunny, and Avery looks less than thrilled, but at least she DID sit on his lap! :)

So Pretty!!!

Yep, that's my kid.

The other day, she went digging around in the bathroom, found my mascara, and came out looking like this:

I said, "Avery, what did you do??"

Her response: "Mommy, I sooooo pretty!"

Oh yeah, pretty. That's it!

So, I immediately escorted her to the bathtub and applied my eye make-up remover to her face, with success! YAY!

Then, I was trying to take some "after" pics of her, actually looking pretty... and this is what I got instead:
It's hopeless, I've decided. She's a dirtball, make-up wearing noseminer (her Grampy will be so proud of this one! LOL).







But, apparently, all of this was really funny to her... I finally managed to remove her finger from her nose and got this picture of her laughing hysterically...


All in a day's work around here!!

Cybercrop Time!

It's not as perverse as it sounds, I promise!

Scrapforums is hosting an awesome online crop that started this weekend... all sorts of fun challenges and games are going on over there, and of course, being the "Scrapforums Superstar" that I am, I'm participating.

Tonight, I completed my first challenge... weeeee! It was a scraplift challenge... meaning you find someone else's layout that you like, and you copy it. I had to "lift" from Princesslala. I found this adorable layout in her gallery, and this is what I did with it:

(Kit is Love This Guy from Jessica Bolton; brads are from DSP; and tag alphas are from ???)

I haven't digi scrapped in ages, so it was especially fun for me.

I'm looking forward to completing some more challenges this week. If any scrappers out there are interested, the crop runs until this Thursday, so there's still time to come on over and play!

Boo Hoo!

So, yesterday I returned home from what SHOULD have been a fabulous weekend with the girls, scrapbooking my little heart out. Something I've been looking forward to for MONTHS!!!

Well, the weekend started out great.... but, halfway through, I came down with Damon's stomach virus that he had before I left. So, I spent the second half of the weekend either in the bathroom or in bed. I ended up leaving hours early on Sunday because it was clear that I wouldn't be doing anything halfway productive, anyway, and they kicked me out of the hotel room at 11am. It was the most miserable 3.5-hour drive home... I was just praying that I'd make it home without having to pull off the road and get sick. BLECH!

When I finally got home, I broke down into tears upon seeing the miserable little faces staring back at me... Damon and Avery were both feeling dreadful, too... they'd spent the whole weekend sick as well (thanks Amber, AJ, Grandma Chris, and of course, DADDY, for taking such good care of them while I was gone!). So, now we're all lying around feeling equally rotten and fighting each other for the bathroom.