Our Five Ring Circus: November 2012

Thursday, November 29, 2012

Dylan at 8 Years Old

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AGE: 8
HEIGHT:  4'3"
WEIGHT: 51 lbs

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1. FAVORITE COLOR? Blue
2. FAVORITE TOY? Halo
3. FAVORITE CHARACTER? Master Chief from Halo
4.FAVORITE SUPERHERO?  BATMAN!
5. FAVORITE FRUIT? Pear
6. FAVORITE VEGETABLE?  Broccoli
7. FAVORITE BREAKFAST?  Nutella Sandwich
8. FAVORITE CEREAL? Lucky Charms
9. FAVORITE LUNCH?  Nutella Sandwich
10. FAVORITE DINNER?  TACOS!
11. FAVORITE DRINK? That has to be milk!
12. FAVORITE SNACK?  Fruit Snacks
13. FAVORITE RESTAURANT? Long John Silver's
14. FAVORITE TV SHOW? Beyblades
15. FAVORITE MOVIE?  The Mummy
16. FAVORITE ACTOR?  The guy who plays Annakin Skywalker
17. FAVORITE SONG?  Knights of Cydonia by Muse
18. FAVORITE SINGER/BAND?  Queen
19. FAVORITE BOOKS?  Books about animals
20. FAVORITE BOOK SERIES? Magic Tree House
21. FAVORITE OUTFIT? My skull shirt
22. FAVORITE GAME?  Battleship
23. FAVORITE SPORT?  Baseball.  Everyone knows that!
24. FAVORITE ANIMAL?  Frog
25. FAVORITE PLACE TO GO? The beach!!!
26. FAVORITE THINGS TO DO? Play with my friends and family
27. FAVORITE SUBJECT?  Math
28. FAVORITE STUFFED ANIMAL?  Snowball, my stuffed animal bear
29. FAVORITE DAY OF THE WEEK?  Friday
30. FAVORITE MONTH?  November
31. FAVORITE SEASON?  Summer
32. FAVORITE HOLIDAY?  Christmas
33. WHO IS YOUR BEST FRIEND? Jack
34. WHO DO YOU LIKE TO PLAY WITH?   My cousins and friends
35. WHAT MAKES YOU HAPPY?  Being with my family
36. WHAT SCARES YOU?  Nothing!
37. WHAT MAKES YOU SAD?  When family or friends go away
38. WHAT DO YOU WISH FOR?  All of the Lego sets in the world!
39. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE MEMORY?  Spending time with PapPap
40. WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP?   A US Marine
41.  DISLIKES?  Blueberries!

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Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Shutterfly Holiday Cards and a GIVEAWAY!

GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! The winner is melia57.  Congratulations!

It is no secret that I adore Shutterfly.  They have the BEST Holiday Cards!

I used Shutterfly for my Holiday Cards the past two years, and I plan on using them again this year!  I was thrilled with my cards.  The quality was excellent and the images were crisp. I received so many compliments on them!

Two years ago, we announced our third pregnancy with this card from Shutterfly:

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That card will always be special to me.  I have one tucked away in Lily's baby book!

Last year, that sweet baby joined her two older siblings for a Christmas photo shoot.  I loved last year's card just as much as the one before!

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I can't wait to take Christmas pictures this year and pick out the perfect card from Shutterfly! 

Shutterfly has endless options to customize your card.  You can choose 1 photo or include several photos!  They have various card sizes, plus you can choose a flat or a folded card. Many of the styles also have multiple background color options to choose from.  I always have so much fun creating my Holiday card!

This year it's going to be difficult to choose. There are so many styles I love!!!








I can't wait to share my Christmas card with you!

You can connect with Shutterfly in many ways:

•             Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/shutterfly
•             Twitter: http://twitter.com/Shutterfly
•             Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/shutterfly/
•             Instagram: http://instagram.com/shutterfly
•             Google +: https://plus.google.com/+shutterfly
•             Blog: http://blog.shutterfly.com/

Also, check out their special offers page:  
http://www.shutterfly.com/special-offers
 

GIVEAWAY!!!

One of my readers is going to win an extra $50 off an order of $50 or more (excluding tax and shipping & cannot be combined with any other promos (expire 12/14/2012 – no extensions).

To Enter:

*Mandatory:  Visit Shutterfly and leave a comment telling me what your favorite card is!

For additional entries:
*Follow my blog via GFC and leave a comment telling me that you do.
*Follow me on twitter and leave a comment telling me that you do.
*Like Lexie Loo, Lily Boo & Dylan Too on Facebook and leave a comment telling me that you do.

Please leave a separate comment for each entry and be sure to include an email address if it isn't linked to your profile.  Giveaway will end on Sunday, December 2nd, at 11:59 PM EST.  Winner will be chosen by random.org and the winner will be notified the following day.

My sweet friend, Steph (also with a Lily!),  is hosting the same giveaway on her blog!  Go check it out for more chances to win!!!


 

*This is a sponsored post. 

Tuesday, November 27, 2012

Tuesday Tidbits

Tuesday is my day to remember all the cute and funny things my kids say and do!

-Lexie was looking at a treasure box she made for me. She told me, "I made that...with a lot of love!"

-Lexie and Dylan were playing.  Out of the blue, Lexie asked, "Dylan?  Are we still best friends?"  To which Dylan replied with an enthusiastic "Yes!"

-We were driving somewhere, listening to Christmas music on the radio.  During the commercial break, Lexie started complaining.  "Shut up, commercials, and put the songs back on!"

-Dylan walked through the living room while Grant was watching a football game.  Just as he was walking back through, Grant yelled at the screen, "Run you A-hole, run!!!"  Dylan looked back and said, "Oh.  Sorry." 

-While driving home from school, Lexie asked me how the Thanksgiving feast was at Dylan's school.  I told her what we ate, which included turkey. She said, "Eww, yuck!  If something is killed, I WON'T EAT IT!  If something is dead, I WON'T EAT IT!" 

-All last week and this week, Lexie's class has been working on writing their full names.  First, middle, and last.  Lexie kept bringing home papers with the name Rachel under her name.  She brought home another paper that said Alexandria Rachel.  Rachel is NOT her middle name! She finally told me that her teacher had Rachel written as her middle name, so she just wrote that name instead of telling him her real middle name!

-Dylan is such a sweet boy.  At the Thanksgiving Feast, he came over to where I was sitting, gave me a hug, and asked if he could get me more food. 

-We went to Long John Silver's for Dylan's birthday dinner.  It was his choice.  Lexie wanted hush puppies.  She asked, "Where are my chicken balls?"  A few minutes later, Dylan asked, "Are you ordering those mini-balls?"  Grant corrected him and told him they were hush puppies.  Dylan said, "Oh, yeah, horse puppies!"

-Lexie found my hand sanitizer on the floor.  She ran into the living room, and asked, "Whose hanitizer is this?!?" 

-I had the remainder of Dylan's birthday cake stored on the kitchen counter.  I walked out to find Lily standing on a chair, on her tiptoes, digging her finger into the icing, and eating it.  Later, the second cake was placed on the opposite side of the counter.  I found her standing on the chair with a finger in each cake!!!  Needless to say, the cakes were moved!

-Lily is obsessed with vaseline.  She likes to eat it...and even better, style her hair with it.  No matter where I move the container, she finds it!!!

Monday, November 26, 2012

An Extra Special Thanksgiving

Every few years, Dylan shares his birthday with Thanksgiving!  This year was one of those years.

I'm sure it's difficult to share a birthday with a big holiday, so we try our hardest to make the day special for him.  Thanksgiving week is always special to me now, because Dylan was born that week.

Dylan was born early, so we had to stay a few extra days in the hospital.  We brought him home the night before Thanksgiving.  I vividly remember waking up at dawn to feed him.  The sky was just beginning to brighten and it was snowing.  I remember how it felt as I hugged him tight against me. I felt as if my heart was going to explode with love for him.  The snow seemed so magical and the world seemed more beautiful now that he was in my arms.

I wanted this birthday to be a special one for him, especially since he had lost his PapPap weeks before.  I stayed up late putting up decorations, wrapping his gifts, writing his birthday card message, and filling his room with balloons.

He was the first to wake.  He spotted his decorations and presents and woke us up, begging to open his gifts!

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He immediately set to work building his Halo sets and playing his new Xbox game.  We put on the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade to watch as he built.  Lily and Lexie were mesmerized by the parade!

Our first stop of the day was at Grant's Grandma's house for an early Thanksgiving dinner.  We sat at the kids table, as usual.  We had a nice visit with Grant's family, and the kids had a great time playing with their cousins!

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After we left, we went to my sister's house to visit with my family for a while.

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My mom baked a cake for Dylan, so we sang to him while we were there!

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Our final stop of the day was at Grant's Nannie's house to visit and have dessert.  Dylan got a present from MawNaw and we got to visit with some out of town relatives.

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It was a busy day, but we managed to celebrate Thanksgiving and our special boy!  He had to share his birthday, but he said it was the best birthday ever!




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Sunday, November 25, 2012

Week In Review {Week 47:365 Project}

It was a very busy week for us, filled with Thanksgiving and Dylan's birthday festivities.  I'm going to sleep well tonight!

WEEK 47

NOVEMBER 18th

Dylan and I spent half the night in the ER and didn't get home until 4 AM.  We had a forced stay-at-home-all-day kind of day because of that. 
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NOVEMBER 19th

Back to school for the big kids.  At least it was just a 3-day week! I picked Lexie and my friend's son up from Kindergarten, then stopped by her house on the way home.  We ended up eating lunch with them before stopping at the grocery store.  The rest of the day was spent at home.

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NOVEMBER 20th

That morning, after the big kids went to school, I went to Dylan's school to have a Thanksgiving Feast with Dylan and his class.  It was a really fun event, and I loved spending time with my boy.  After picking Lexie up from school, we went to the library, then met my best friend and her boys at the park to play for a bit.  The rest of the evening was spent at home.

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NOVEMBER 21st

After Lexie got home from school, we had lunch and I took her to gymnastics.  When Dylan got home from school, we took him out to eat for his early birthday dinner.  He chose Long John Silver's.  After eating dinner, we stopped by Target, then went to a friend's house to hang out because the kids were off school the next day. While we were there, we had cupcakes and sang to Dylan. We came home late, and stayed up even later, wrapping Dylan's gifts, blowing up balloons, and putting up birthday decorations. 

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NOVEMBER 22nd

Happy 8th Birthday to my sweet boy!!!  He woke up bright and early, ready to open his presents.  He was thrilled with all his gifts!  That morning, we watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade while I helped Dylan build one of his birthday gifts.  We went to an early dinner at Grant's Grandma's house, then stopped by my sister's house for a bit to see my family, and ended the evening at Grant's Nannie's house for dessert.  It was a busy day!  I was feeling so sentimental over the fact that my boy is now 8! It was a special day:  Thanksgiving and celebrating the little man I love the most, all in one day!

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NOVEMBER 23rd


The kids and I went to my parent's house for the afternoon to visit with them.  That evening, my mom, Lexie, and I went shopping. I had to get all the party supplies for Dylan's birthday party AND grocery shop.  When we came out of the store, the temperature had dropped 30 degrees and it was snowing!  After having dinner with my parents, we returned home and spent the evening preparing food and supplies for Dylan's birthday party, and loading up the SUV.


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NOVEMBER 24th


Party Day!  We got to the party location at noon and worked quickly to set up.  Dylan had a great party, despite half the guest list not being able to make it at the last minutes.  He got awesome gifts and had so much fun!  We quickly cleaned up after the party, and took everything home.  Some of the party guests returned to our house later that evening.  We ended up having an unplanned slumber party.  Originally, my great niece was supposed to spend the night with Lexie and Dylan's friend was supposed to spend the night with him.  In addition to my 3 kids, we ended up with 4 extra kids spending the night.  It was noisy and fun...and they were up SUPER late.  Exactly what a slumber party is all about.  I'm so glad my kids are building these wonderful memories!

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