Summer Chinese Program

If anyone is interested I am in charge of finding host families for a Chinese Exchange Program this summer. I have had success in finding families who have adopted children from China, but I will need a few more families. The dates of the program are July 13th - August 2nd and some of you are already hosting. The students will be going to a school daily from 8-5 or so... So, you will be responsible for the students on evenings and weekends. If you can't do the entire time you can host for a week at the beginning or 2 weeks at the end or some combination like that and I will find another host family to do the rest of the time. We will have a welcome party when we bring students in and a good bye party to see them off. It does not matter if you are single, if you don't have any children at home, if your children are older or younger-- you can be a great host parent! The only thing that we ask is that they have their own bed-- same sex children can room together if you have children in your home. Having been a foreign exchange student in Spain and France this is a wonderful opportunity for everyone involved. Let me know if you are interested and have a great day!!

My Riley

I have been super busy the last little while with the girls, a new baby, shopping deals and my job, so I haven't posted much. BUT, Riley said the cutest thing the other day and I had to share. She makes a huge mess when she eats, so sometimes I just take off her clothes and let her eat naked. On one such day I put her in her seat and gave her the yogurt and let her go at it. Hannah, Ellie and I were in the other room when we hear Riley scream in horror,"I got it on my boobies!" (She got the yogurt on her chest.) I didn't know she even knew what boobies were. We all got a good laugh. She then went on to point out where my boobies were-- I did need a little guidance finding them. ;0) LOL

Cute pictures

Riley playing guitar hero... I love that face!

This is one of the funky outfits I posted about a couple of posts

ago--tights over a leotard! That is fashion!

I love Easter dresses. I got a little resistance

from Hannah for every reason she could come

up with, but I only ask them to wear what I

want them to wear once a year... Soooo sweet!

We had an Easter Egg Hunt in our

long unmowed grass... I thought this

was cute of them inspecting their eggs

together.

You know you're cheap when...

A friend complimented Hannah on her skirt today. After saying thank you she smiled and said, "yard sale, $1!" She is definitely my kid.

My new blog

I like posting what deals are going on, but I wanted this blog to be more personal. So, I have decided to start a blog that details current deals and some of the websites for finding deals. This way if you are looking for a bargain it will be easier to find what you are looking for. I am not going to connect my personal blog to my bargain blog because I do have personal information on this blog and I don't want to have to make this a private blog.

I hope you enjoy the deals that I find. I hope at this point to update my deal blog about 2-4 times a week, but time will be a major factor in what I am able to do. I also hope that you will all share your deals with me, because I am cheap and love buying things cheap and can't find every deal. So, check it out at http://shannonsdeals.blogspot.com/.

Letting Go

I am learning as a parent that there is a lot that you just have to let go. That for me is really hard, because I like to be in control of a situation and I like my little girls to look pretty-- matching, hair done and all that. I have recently had to bite my tongue quite a bit and just let it go... Case in point-- yesterday Hannah decided I was no longer needed to help put her hair in a ponytail. I wish I had a picture of the different dos that she did, but I didn't have the camera and was feeding the baby. She finally did a small ponytail in the front like I do with her hair, but bumpy, uneven and frayed. The "natural mom" (or controlling, it has to be perfect mom) wanted to take it out re-brush the hair and make it look pretty, but I bit my tongue and let it be. Maybe if we were going to church I would have done it myself, but we were going to ride horses, so who cares--right?! The other thing that I have had to let go of with my girls is what they wear. I make sure even though they are young that they are dressed modestly (there is nothing worse than a little girl dressed like she was going to the Strip at Myrtle Beach around midnight during the summer), but most days (unless we are going somewhere special) I just let them wear what they want. Sometimes it is so funky, but I am learning that they are learning-- learning what looks good to them, what they like, learning independence and that they make good choices--even in clothing. And though it can sometimes be frustrating-- like when Ellie wants to wear a ratty old t-shirt to church and I have to veto it--I get better at saying, "that looks nice" through gritted teeth. But, I am finding that when they have confidence in their choices and that they are GOOD choices even in something as simple as what to wear, they make good (and better) choices in other aspects of their lives--But, still it sometimes makes me nuts to see what they wear! Maybe I can get some good pictures of some of their ensembles to post in the future...

Twilight-- the movie

As many of you know I am a Twilight fan (not so much a Breaking Dawn fan-- but that for another day), but did not want to see the movie. I did not want the Hollywood crowd to change my perception of Edward or of the love story that is Twilight in general. Ashley also read the books and kind of wanted to see the movie (although he will say it was only for my benefit), but I was pretty adamant in my refusal to see what others have deemed an awful flick. So, on Saturday evening he asked again if I wanted him to rent Twilight-- my response, "no." He goes to take Bolt back (girls LOVED it-- Riley cried for Bolt-- soooo cute) and comes back with Twilight trying to coerce me into watching it. I was kind of irked about him renting it even though I told him I didn't want to see it. And I am REALLY CHEAP, so spending a dollar to rent a movie we weren't going to watch really bothered me. AND, I caved and we watched Twilight. After all the reviews (from friends) we really didn't have very high expectations for the movie and when you go in with such low expectations it is not a horrible movie--not a good movie either-- but not horrible. The acting was not awful either... After watching the movie the bad part was when they combined the music and weird cinematography to make the movie seem like some kind of bad MTV music video within the movie. I guess, as Ashley pointed out, you have to consider the audience. When they just had normal acting and a normal storyline going on it was much better. The weird MTV scenes were just that-- weird MTV scenes. Edward (Robert Pattinson) did okay. He was brooding like Edward, but he never smiled and though Edward is a brooder he does have a sense of humor. I like Kristen Stewart's interpretation of Bella-- not so whiny! But, I hate that they messed up the meadow scene!! That is one of the best scenes in the book and it was a mess... Will I see it again? Nope! But, I will read the books again just like I read Harry Potter again and again, because it is always nice to curl up with some old friends. And my imagination always does a better recreation than Hollywood can. Your thoughts? I have many more(thoughts that is), but I really have to clean my house, get a nap and be a mom!