Flat Stanley Comes to Visit!!

Stanley's Adventure:

We had a great time with Stanley!  We welcomed him by taking him for some BBQ.  Turns out he is quite fond of pork ribs!  Later in the week we took him to learn a little Texas history.
He learned that Abilene,TX was founded in 1881 and named after Abilene, KS.
He learned that the became more heavily populated because of  the freight line that came through the town boosting the local economy.

Stanley also learned that the Indians that used to roam the area were "Jumanos".  They were nomadic Indians that hunted buffalo.
He also learned about hunting and ranching.
We had to opportunity to brush up on our cattle roping techniques.

Later we were able to visit and old school.  Oddly enough it was named "Cottonwood FLAT School".  '
He then went on to learn about the printing press that the area's first newspaper was made with.
Then he was able to play judge in an old courthouse and later got himself thrown in an old jail.  hehe

When he finally got out of jail he found himself playing in a cactus!!  Later he even played in an old civil war cannon.  After that he went out and tried selling train tickets at the (no longer existing) train station.  We even caught him trying to leave with a suitcase packed!

He learned so much about our great state that the next day we took him shopping for new clothes at the local western wear store.  What do you think about his outfit?

We later taught him how to cook some of our favorite local cuisine!  Tex-Mex!  He helped us make our morning breakfast burritos!  They were delish!!

We ended his visit by taking him to the local news station to meet our favorite weatherman and learn about Texas weather.  He learned that it can be 71 degrees one day and 41 degrees the next.

Our family is really going to Miss Flat Stanley!  Thank you Mrs. Lugge's class for letting him visit us and learn about our great state!  Oh, before I forget, we also took Stanley shopping and he picked out a few things for your classroom.  A big state map, a Texas state flag, some Bluebonnet seeds, (the state flower of Teas), a few packs of western stickers, and some old west looking mints!  ENJOY!

All of our love and a BIG howdy from Texas,

Heath, Tia, Shane, Hunter, and Adeline

Valentine's Bow Giveaway!!

Are Y'all ready for another giveaway?  How about another bow giveaway?  This time it is by the fabulous Jennifer's Bows!!

Let me introduce you to Jennifer. She has been married for 9 years, and is the mother to two wonderful
children.  A sweet little 3 year old boy, Jack and a beautiful 6 year old young lady, Sydney.  She and her family live in Montgomery, TX where she works as a Stay at home Mom, and a part time preschool teacher. Which she totally LOVES by the way!

If you are or have ever been a SAHM, you know it can be a challenge at times. I know this first hand, myself.  Sometimes you have to find other things to occupy yourself besides mundane television shows, and hitting the restart button on the dryer. I ease my boredom by blogging, but Jennifer does it a little more creatively!  She makes head art!  Beautiful bows!   It started out as something to do for her daughter after she was bon, but quickly turned into a home based business!  I'm sure you will see why she made a business out of it after you see the pictures I am going to post!

Now Jennifer sells her bows all over, Facebook, craft fairs, and to her family and friends.  Hopefully, after you see her work she will be selling them to you too!  Now scroll down to see the Valentine's Day Bow she wants to give one lucky person!!

The Giveaway Bow

How cute are these bottlecap necklaces?!  She makes these too!!

Okay, aren't they all beautiful??  I knew you'd love her work!  hehe  Now go on, enter the giveaway!  If you can't wait to see if you win, you can jump right to ordering by doing the following:: 

First head over an "like" her Facebook Page by clicking here.  Then browse through the bows and pick one you like.  Or you can email her with a custom order.  After that do the following::

To order bows please email me at driscolljennifer@yahoo.com. I will need the following 

information:

1. Name of bow

2. How many

3. Name and address

4. Paypal email address for your invoice

If you do not have a paypal account message me for other ways to pay.

or you may call me at 281-914-7621.

***To receive 25% off of 10 or more bows you must order 10 of the SAME style. Ex:10 

Butterflies, 10 Ladybugs***

  

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Two Years of Moving On...

Well you know that I'm a wicked guy

And I was born with a jealous mind

And I can't spend my whole life

Trying just to make you toe the line

You better run for your life if you can, little girl

Hide your head in the sand little girl

Catch you with another man 

That's the end'a little girl

Let this be a sermon

I mean everything I've said

Baby, I'm determined

And I'd rather see you dead

This is a portion of the song, Run for Your Life.  Written by John Lennon and sang by the band as a whole.  Why am I posting these disgusting lyrics?  It is because it is the 2 year anniversary of my Aunts murder.  These exact lyrics happened to my Aunt in real life.  She was murdered by her ex-husband because he abused her and she finally left him, got a divorce and met someone new.  Her ex-husband killed her, her boyfriend and then turned the gun on himself because he was too much of a coward to face what he had done.  I am not going to tell the whole story again as there is no point in reliving it in words when it is still just as vivid in my head as the day I received the phone call.  As for those of you who don't know what happened you can click here to read the news story.  I haven't looked at it in a year and that was hard to see again.  

I actually started this blog due to the overwhelming emotional toll this took on me.  I have a difficult time expressing feeling verbally.  So, I just opened up the computer and created a Blogger account.  My very first post in this blog was because of this life changing event.  You can read the post here.  You can also go back and read my 1 year anniversary post here.  

It truly has been painful reliving some of my past posts.  It takes me back to a bad place.  I'm not sure how any of us managed.  I just remember seeing my family walking around lost and like zombies.  It was sad.  It was heartbreaking.  It was unnatural.  It was painful.  It still is at times.  I am proud to say though, that most of my family has picked up and pushed forward.  Life for us has gone on.  We can't stop the sun from rising each morning so, we learn how to adapt.  

I can't speak for everyone but, I can see happiness returning to the sad eyes.  The hugs we gave to each other at Christmas weren't hugs meant for comforting each other.  The hugs this year were "I'm glad you're here, it's great to see you.  We've missed you" hugs.  It felt good to not have to hand out sad, pity, pain easing hugs.  It felt better than good, it felt great!  

My family is slowly returning to it's crazy self.  Will we ever be the same?  No.  We CAN adapt and move forward.  We can hand out forgiveness.  We can do something special in memory of a lost loved one.  We can help another family in need.  We can tell our story.  We can offer support to others.  We can do random and kind things just because, well, because people still need to believe there is good in the world.  Because there is.  It is hard to come by but, it IS there.  YOU are the good, or you can be, at least.  Try it.  Be the good.  In this world full of anger and rage BE.THE.GOOD.  

One last thing, learn to forgive.  You MUST learn how to do this in order to be happy.  I have forgiven the man who did this.  I refuse to be his victim by letting rage eat my life away.  When I learned forgiveness, my life changed.  I feel free.  It is freeing.  When I forgive someone I can breathe again.  I feel lighter and more at peace.  No matter what someone has done, I will learn to forgive.  I will also be praying for his family.   They suffered a loss too.  This man was a son, a brother, and a father.  While he was a very bad man and did very bad things to my family these people are suffering too.  I hope this anniversary is as peaceful as possible for everyone involved.

  

May you continue to rest peacefully Julie Ann Bock.  

Purple is the Domestic Violence Awareness Color

To learn more about Domestic Violence and fine their hotline number click HERE.  If you are in trouble, DON'T WAIT!!  PLEASE!!!!

TGIF Blog Hop!! NEW & IMPROVED!!

Welcome to the very first TGIF Blog Hop of 2013! 
Brought to you by
Overworked Supermom 
and
Funny Postpartum Lady 

 We are so excited to see what this year brings to the Blog Hop and all the new Blogs that will join. Last year we had over 100 different bloggers link up and hope to double and triple that this year! We've even created a new button! (see very bottom of post)

TGIF Blog Hop is a great way to gain new 

followers and bring more traffic to your blog.

It's also a great way to meet other bloggers and 

get great tips, ideas, and read cool blog posts.

There are just a few simple rules for our Blog Hop. 

•  Follow the Hosts: Overworked Supermom and Funny Postpartum Lady 
•  Follow our CoHost(s): Story of a Girl
•  Add the TGIF Blog Hop button to your blog.
•  Visit as many blogs on the list as you can and leave a comment. Let them know if you've followed them so they can return the favor. Also, if someone from the blog hop follows you, you should return the favor! 

Each week we will post a new linky! Contact me at Funnypregnantlady@aol.com if you're interesting in cohosting a Blog Hop! 

Grab our Button!

; Copy the code below:

<a href="http://funnypregnantlady.blogspot.com">; <img src="http://akaywebdesign.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/button_edited-1.png"; width="100%" /></a>