Pinterest Addiction

Pinterest pin-ter-est. 

(n) A virtual pinboard.  2. An inspiration board comprised of collections of favorite inspiration in the form o photos and imagery. 3. A place to waste a lot of time. 4. Everything you never knew you always wanted to know about anything.

(v) pin, pinning, pinned



This is VERY true!  I have found that when I find even a few minutes of spare time (which is hard to come by really), I find that I login to Pinterest.  And before I know what's happened, I've pinned so many things and have forgotten what it was I really should be doing.

It's not all bad, it is quite good for me too!  I'm still a mom, working from home, slowly sipping on my one Dr. Pepper allowed for the day... and of course, pinning.  I can think of far worse things mothers can do and pinning doesn't seem all that terrible.  After all, I am working on making memories and decorating my home.  I use the term "working" loosely, since really I spend most of my time pinning things I'll never have the money to do or the time to create but sometimes I come across that perfect craft that I know, with a little help and inspiration from friends, I can actually create.

Which brings me to my Valentine's Day crafts!  I've had so much fun doing these! 

I've already bought the supplies for my St. Patrick's Day wreath and have made the card stock insert for my picture frame (above).  I've even managed to make a few other things around the house too.

Those are all my recipes on scrapbook paper and in a ring together.  Easy to hang too!  And the bottom pic is magnetic stripping in my bathroom drawer to hold all our bobby pins.  Genius!  I wish I could take credit for it, but then I'd be lying if I did.

I thought I had done alot of other things but apparently not.  Pinterest has a funny way of making me THINK I've accomplished some of those pins!

Morning Appearances

This morning I dropped the kids off in my pj's - I had my robe on with my fuzzy green frog slippers, hair pulled up and tousled from the night before, no makeup and my teeth not brushed.  We're talkin' full WT.

Sad part was, not one of my children seemed to care about my fine morning appearance. 

I've got to crank up my methods of embarrassing them!

A Good Day

Today, I didn't have a Dr. Pepper.  No withdrawals, no headaches, and no yelling from Mom. 

Except when my youngest child lied to me right before bedtime.  Then, I lost my cool.

Still, no caffeine and only one incident where I wished I had that big swig of caffeine to take the edge off?  Not bad!  He lied to me, he needed to be reprimanded, and he went to bed.  Still a good day!

Until next time...

Butts, Giraffes and Violins

Courtnie: "Mom has a BIG butt."
Jason: "Yes she does."
Courtnie: "Mom also has a really, really long neck.  She took all the neck, Aunt B doesn't have one cause Mom took it all.  Her neck is like a human giraffe."
Jason: [laughs]
Brandie: [yells from the other room] "Look in the mirror and check out the size of your butt!"
Jason: "She's right, you do have your mother's butt."
Courtnie: "Yeah."

That's right, no shame, I told my daughter her butt was big!

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Courtnie: [whining about nothing]
Me: "Do I need to get my violin out and play a song for you?"
Courtnie: "You don't know even have a violin!"
Colton: "You don't know how to play one either!"

Where's the love here?

Itchy, Itchy

Here are pictures of Cameron's more extensive allergy test.  These were the outdoor allergens and he was allergic to them all.  We spent 3 hours at the office that day.  Poor kid sat there that long as they poked him and injected irritants in his skin.  I did the phantom scratching, he was the trooper.



Alf the Elf

We had an elf visit us this year, Alf.  He was a bit crazy and mischievous.  The kids loved him!  Not sure if he'll visit us again, probably so, but thinking of something "rotten" for him to do and not too messy was kinda stressing me out.  There were times that we weren't home and he would appear at the places were our family spent most of the day.   That was neat too!

a marshmallow fight

hiding in the Christmas tree

reading a Christmas story

he took Courtnie's lunchbox for a swing on the kitchen light

he took Colton's blanket in the middle of the night to warm up

making snow angels

hangin around in the stockings

hiding and eating candy, shame Alf!

he started a fire and was caught roasting marshmallows

he appeared at Nanie's and was playing in her manger scene

playing on top of the kitchen cabinets

Some other things Alf did this year.... Colton forgot to put his laundry away one night and we found Alf wearing ALL of Colton's clothes, he pulled down our Advent calendar, unwrapped presents, played in our manger scene, and pulled all of the kids' movies off the shelf.

It was fun for the kids!  But I won't lie, it was like adding another kid, a bad one at that, to my household.  Not so cool with that.

Happy 7th Birthday, Colton!

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby boy, Colton! I cannot believe my YOUNGEST child is 7 yrs old. You have such a mind of your own (have since conception), your spirit is contagious and your smile and laughter is a daily reminder to enjoy the life God gave us when he gave us you. So blessed to have been chosen to be YOUR mommy! I love you sweet boy :)

Lousiville Slugger

We woke up one morning and were told to check Louisville Slugger Facebook page, that they were giving away 10 bats in the DFW area.  We watched and they would give a clue at a time (3 clue max for each bat) and the first person to that location, got the bat for free.  This bat was $400!  Being the competitive family we are, we loaded up the car and just started driving.  It was so much fun!!  The first bat was in Mansfield, second in Arlington and the third one was in Rockwall.  The clues for that bat were - I see lots of walls but very little rocks; The water tower has a nice sailboat, and having fun at the local sports center.  We walked in and Cameron mentioned he was there for a giveaway and they gave him the bat right then.  How awesome was that?!

And this is just a funny picture.  He wasn't trying to by funny or cute, just chillin really.  I couldn't get over how uncomfortable this was having his back on the hard plastic.  He rode that cart that way for most of the trip surprisingly.

Thankfulness in 2011

To honor this year, I'm going to post 11 things I'm thankful for in 2011.



1. We were able to pay off our AmExp that we maxed out with Colton's sensory therapy. Credit card bills stress me out and we've been paying on this for almost 5 years.

2. Speaking of credit cards... my poor Honda Odyssey is on it's last few legs.  We have, once again, near maxed out a credit card with auto bills.  The Odyssey left us stranded and has since had so much work done on it.  However, the total doesn't amount to the cost of a new car or even a monthly car payment.  Grateful for those credit cards in emergency situations.

3. I found a new job.  I'm working from home on my time.  Hallelujah!

4. I'm thankful that we had a savings account that lasted us for 16 months before I found work.  It wasn't easy.  But every month, God provided.  One month we received a reimbursement check for over payment when we closed on our house (which was 16 months ago!).

5. I'm so so very thankful I was out of work when my Mom needed me the most.  I truly enjoyed my time with her so so many weeks.  It was hard and trying for us all, but I would do it again in a heartbeat.  How many daughters get to say they spent hours upon ours taking care of and loving on their mother and would do it again?  I wouldn't have had that time with her if I were working elsewhere.  So blessed for that time with her!

6. Courtnie accepted Jesus Christ as her Savior!  Not many blessings can top that of your child becoming a follower of Jesus Christ.

7. I'm so very thankful for my Kitchenaide!!

8. We have found a Life Group at church.  I have prayed for years for us to find and get involved with a small group of people within our church.  God certainly led us to the right people!

9. I started selling Thirty-One over the summer. It has definitely been fun and a true blessing for our family.

10. I'm thankful for my new wedding ring :)  I had gone over to Mom's to clean her house after her surgery and had put all my things in a bag.  When I was done cleaning and had showered, I went to put my jewelry on and my wedding band was all sorts of bent out of shape.  I was devastated.  The cost to fix it and resize it (I'm just a mite bigger now than I was when we got married).  We opted to replace it with a new solid silver wedding band.  Fits me perfectly!  Thank you my love!

11. I'm also thankful for friends.  God has given me discernment at just the right times and has allowed me to let some friends go and sent me new friends in return.  Thnakful for those friendships!


This next year, I'm going to be more intentional about thanking God for all of my blessings. 

December Recap

December has been adventuresome to say the least.  I'll try and do a little recap....

I found a job working online, and from home, working for a marketing company.  I'm doing online research and writing various reviews.  I love to write and really enjoy the work!  I haven't had any income in 16 months and miraculously our savings kept us alive for awhile.  These last few months were stressful (I'd be lying if I said they weren't worry free).  But God knew just what I needed and what would be best for our family. 

Breanne arrived home from Africa!  I screamed in the airport when I saw her.  It was a really loud shrill for about 2 seconds before I caught myself.  Unfortunately it was long and loud enough for people to stare at us.  But we didn't care, we had our B home!

Cameron had a quick blood test for allergies and it came back severe.  We received a referral for an allergist to do further testing.  Before his appointment I eliminated all of the foods he was "severely" allergic to - dairy, wheat/grain, fish, pork, corn, soy, eggs and nuts.  This is an impossible diet and I do not suggest it for anyone.  At his appointment they did further testing to see what all he was allergic to and just how bad the reaction would be.  They originally were going to split the tests in two different weeks for fear that he would have a severe reaction and need emergency attention.  (Just what every mother wants to hear!)  Luckily, he came through the first part well and they attempted the second part slowly.  To sum up the appointment, he is only NOT allergic to two things.  I can't say them and have no idea what they are!  He is severely allergic to EVERY outdoor allergen and is moderate to severe for every indoor allergen.  Basically, we can put him in a bubble and let him live alone or we can start weekly allergy shots for the next 3-5 years which we opted for. We've replaced his mattress, pillows, bedding, bought him his own personal air purifier and covers for the pillows and mattress.  I didn't take the time to calculate these expenses for fear I'd pass out.  But God is so good and knew we would need the extra income and because of this we were able to buy these things with cash.

Breanne had surgery on both of her feet.  The last year or so she's had these bunions forming on her feet.  The 4 months walking in Africa didn't help them at all.  While in surgery they confirmed it was congenital and she definitely needed surgery.  They shaved the sides of her feet and broke her big toes and reset them with pins.  Her toes were growing out, which created the bones to shape awkwardly and grow out as well.  Poor girl, they were bad.  They normally only do one foot at a time but Mom had already met their deductible and all out of pocket expenses so they went ahead and did both feet.  They paid nothing for B's surgery!  How awesome is our God?!  Now that B is back home and not able to walk, and Mom still can't use her arm fully or lift things, I'm back to using my new found nursing skills.  I spend my days helping the girls at their home and working from there and back home with my family at night.  We've even left Courtnie overnight so she can take care of B and help Nanie with everything else.  She's definitely grown a servant's heart during this time.  I've been so proud of her!

And of course we celebrated the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ.  What a wonderful day it was!  It was a different kind of Christmas for the Gautreaux's since I was without a job for so long.  But again, God miraculously provides as he says he will.  Simply Amazing.  God is so good, all the time. 

Happy New Year!  I look forward to seeing what God has planned for the Gautreaux's in 2012!