blog makeover suggestions

So I have this blog makeover that I get to do. I am excited, but not sure what to do. I was thinking that I need a different title for my blog, but I am not sure where to start. So I am asking my blog and IRL friends for suggestions.

Here is one idea - Since Kaleb is a monkey and Kenzie is a princess at heart, how about "Monkeys and Crowns, One Enchanted Life" She could do the theme with pinks and blues and browns.

Or - Princes and Pop Stars, One Enchanted Life - I know I used the enchanted life on the last one, but Kaleb also loves that movie and pretends to be Prince Edward. Kenzie thinks that pop stars such as Hannah Montana and Jonas are wonderful. Definitely pink and blue theme with this one. but what about accessories? You know buttons and stuff?

So that is where I am. Keep in mind that I really want this to be a year round theme and that I love pink. So if you have suggestions, let me know.

Have a great week!

I won, I won!!!......but I am scared.

I am so excited! I won Rhonda Thompson Photography's free blog make-over. This is truly something that I would never purchase for myself.

Now for the scary part. Making all those decisions. I have no idea what to tell Adori Graphics that I want to have for my blog. Hopefully she will have some great ideas. Excited, but not hyperventilating about the choices ahead of me..........yet.

Thank you Rhonda!!! If I see you and I start to turn blue from lack of oxygen, well.... you'll know that you had something to do with that!! As short as I am, at least I might look like Smurfette if I am blue.

Pumpkin Patch time…..

Every year, I take the McKs to the Oakes Farm Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch.  Last year we went with her paternal cousins.  This year, I thought it would be nice to go with my cousins and their children.  We have never had an activity where all the great grandchildren went, so when everyone was able to come, it was quite an adventure.  The kids ranged in age from 3 to 13 years old.  The oldest being Megan and the youngest being Kaleb.

The kids seemed to have a great time together playing, and picking out their pumpkins.  Of the 7 kids that went, only 6 got pumpkins.  Here is the line up…..

from left to right

Layla (4, Aaron’s daughter), Kelly (7, Amy’s youngest), Sarah (12, Amy’s 2nd child), Katie (9, Amy’s third), McKenzie (6), McKaleb (3).

I also grabbed another pumpkin patch attender to get her to take a family photo of everyone who was there.  Thanks to the anonymous photographer.

Below are a few of my favorites….

Since we had so much fun, I am trying to plan another activity for December.  It must be cheap, since there are so many of us, and provide great photo opportunities.  Any suggestions?

Fight for Wyatt

Below is a little bit about Wyatt, the little man that had 2 minutes on earth, that God is going to allow to change hearts.

"We picked out the name Wyatt because we liked it's meaning... It means "Little Warrior". Little did we know at the time, but we picked a VERY appropriate name for our youngest son. Wyatt was diagnosed with a fatal condition just 18 weeks into our pregnancy with him. We were told there was little to no chance of seeing our son alive... We waited to meet him in love knowing the pregnancy was all we would get with him. Wyatt fought his way into the world against all odds, and breathed the same air as we did for 2 minutes. We are so proud of Wyatt, our little warrior... We love and miss him dearly. To read from the beginning of our journey, simply click here"

Here is the problem. Wyatt's parents called to get his birth certificate. The state of TN does not recognize his 2 minutes of life as a live birth. The Finchum family has started a petition to get the law changed so that no one else has to be told that there is not a birth certificate for their child, just a death certificate. Please click on the link on my sidebar to take you to their petition. It explains a much better what the language would need to be for a birth certificate to be issued for someone like Wyatt.

The family needs at least 1000 signatures to get this legislation change started. Signatures must be from Tennessee Residents. Please pass along the information to every resident you know so that they can decide to sign the petition for this change.

You can get more information on Wyatt's story and the progress towards the legislation change at http://wyattnathaniel.blogspot.com/.

Responsibility

Responsibility is such a hard thing to learn and teach.  I am working on teaching my little ones how to be responsible for their actions and that every thing that they do has a consequence, good or bad.  I am not sure how as a society we can teach our children responsibility when as a society we do not want to take responsibility for our actions. 

This thought comes to me as I have been trying to help someone at work.  I did not create the program that the person is in, nor did I create the problem, but I am trying to help this person to the best of my ability.  The person who created the program and who is the logical choice to make sure the people in this program are taken care of feels no responsibility in this area.  This person has created a burdensome program that does not fit the typical criteria and has left the customer dangling in the breeze to try and fend for themselves and maneuver through the bureaucratic red tape of many departments to achieve the desired result.  Now I am faced with trying to muddle through the mess she created and try to help the student (s) achieve their goals. 

I am almost tempted to request to be the point person in my office for these students and guide them through the process so that we do not have further snafus due to the vacancy of responsibility by the creator of the program.  Should I or should I not?  How responsible do I feel?  Is it even my problem?  Isn’t it my job to help the customer?  Isn’t it the program creator's job to help her customer?  All these thoughts are running through my head when I talked with the program creator.  I was told that if the student didn’t do things correctly, it wasn’t the problem of the program creator – never mind that there are no clear steps to follow.  So here I am trying to help my customer, who my job depends on, satisfy their wants, while muddling through the lack of structure myself.  Granted the program creator is probably getting the big bucks for the idea that once created is abandoned to let someone else figure out the details of how to pay to achieve the goal.  What to do, what to do?

And is it even my responsibility?  What do you think?  What would you do?

Twilight

Hearing that most of the population has read the Twilight series, I have decided to see what all the fuss was about. I found Twilight at the library and checked it out. I started in on a Sunday afternoon. I was amazed. I could not put it down. I finished it on Monday and proceeded to order the others from the library. I was counting the days until the others were available. I read New Moon on Friday and Eclipse on Saturday. Now I am chewing my nails waiting for Breaking Dawn to be ready. I was going to wait until it was available from the library, but once my cousin told me that she had it…..I am thinking that I might need to make a mid week run to her house to get it.

FYI – If you liked the series, I noticed that www.thecutestblogontheblock.com has a Breaking Dawn 3 column background template for free! Maybe I will update the blog with a Twilight theme next.

My friend Meghann has graciously offered to let me borrow her copy of the movie. After reading the first 3 books, I am not sure how I am going to like the movie. I am especially concerned because the people that they have chosen to cast the roles of the Cullen family do not bear any resemblance to the character descriptions in the book. Emmett is supposed to be at least 6 inches taller than Edward and muscular like a grizzly bear. The guy I have seen in the red carpet photos is the same height. One of the other student’s in my office assures me that I will like it and it will be ok, but she did admit that she didn’t read the book first. Her friend that did read the book first was not satisfied with cast selection either. Oh well! I will wait to see the movie before I make my final decision, but I am not hopeful at this point. I am going to watch it this weekend and hopefully the special effects team will come through.

What have we been up to?

We have been so busy and things are getting busier. This weekend I actually pulled my camera out and took some pictures of our activities. I love sunny days as it is easier to take good pictures on those days.

On Friday night, I had reserved 2 of the Jonas Brother dogs at the Jonas Build-a-bear party. The kids each got a dog with a necklace and an exclusive Jonas shout out, a Jonas 8x10 and a Jonas wristband to signify that they were part of the party.




Kenzie cheesing it up for the event. She looked to see if Kevin, Nick and Joe were there.




Family photo op. Kenz is not happy. Maybe she realized that the Jo Bros were not there.



A rare photo of Papaw and Nanny. Especially rare since they both are smiling with their eyes opened.



Pump up the dog.



Little man, you have to step on it a little harder than that!



Lets give these dogs strong hearts!




Clean that dirty dog, sis!



A boy taking his work seriously. He scrubbed every part of that dog!



Swimming in the tub.



Check out my mad computer skills!


Saturday we visited home improvement stores with my dad. I think the kids were bored, but I had fun. Darlene did a good job entertaining them on that rainy day. We went to the mall for lunch and when we left, there was a river running right by the driver's side door of my Escape. I stood on my tiptoes (in flip flops) and still got 4 inches of my jeans wet. We stopped by mom's to dry those.

Sunday was off to church and to Pee Paws. Below are a few pics of the gang that showed up. We had a great time. All the great-grandkids were there and they really enjoyed playing with each other.



Sarah - taking time to pose for the camera.




Meanness just shining through with these two. How she got him to wait on her hand and foot, I'll never know. I can't get him to do that. Maybe I'll get some pointers from her.



Megan giving a smile. I meant to get one of her and her boyfriend John. He avoided the camera though.



Katie giving a beautiful smile. She photographs well.



Look at the joy on Kenzie's face as she swings her cousin/sister. They have such a great time together.

After that it was off for some shopping before Awana. Fortunately, I didn't find what I was looking for at the store, so I was spared from spending too much money. Can't seem to find the right pair of boots. Oh well. Guess I'll have to keep looking.

Hope you have a great day and maybe I'll update again soon!