My new niece

This is Eden Marie. Look how cute she is. She came into the world at a whopping 9 lbs. 6 oz and was 23 1/2 inches long. How nice that she's nearly grown. And I'm so glad my sister doesn't have to endure that pregnancy any longer--it seems it was plenty long. Congratulations Joni and Daren. Another Haws is born.

Sledding

We went sledding a few days ago. It was great. There is this sled hill that was planned and built into a nearby subdivision. In the summer it's just a big grassy hill, but in the winter it is this perfect sled hill. Kids are even skiing and snowboarding down it. And they really have to because there are no other options. Come to think of it, this hill is the biggest hill I've seen since we got here. There just isn't much in the way of mountains or even hills. It's so pathetic to watch the little skiers and snowboarders zooming down the sled hill. Oh, now I'm getting sad. JK--it's perfect for us and we had a blast.

Gala #2

This is our 2nd annual Naperville Gala event. It's fun because we don't get many chances to go to a fancy dress ball. Emma took this sweet picture. What do you think? Sepia or not? I'm actually thinking of printing this one. I don't do that much anymore.

Okay, here is one in color. Opinions please. Full length/cropped, sepia/color.

5 bucks

The little girls got a $5 gift card from Walmart for Christmas in their stockings. They were so excited to spend it and would NOT wait until we were there. So, just to get it over with I took them to Walmart and let them choose something. I was sorta impressed with Ellie's pick. She loves going to Color Me Mine to paint ceramics, but we don't go very often because it's kinda, ummm, pricey for us. So she found a set of 6 paintbrushes for $3 and this little set of ponies for $2.50. I already have tons of tempra paint so she was set. She came home and painted these little guys and had the greatest time. I thought it was $5 well spent.
Lauren did a pretty good job too. She found a clearance Barbie Mariposa for $7 (I spotted the extra). I was only slightly less thrilled with this choice because we already own an estimated 50 Barbies. And so it goes.

Thank you, Grandma Myrna

Lauren and Ellie got these beautiful homemade Barbie dresses from Grandma Myrna complete with hand stitched beadwork and fancy slips. The details on these is pretty amazing. I thought I'd better take a picture now before they become less beautiful. The girls thought it was pretty cool to have wedding dresses for their Barbies just like the real ones Grandma Myrna makes. They are lucky girls.

Thank you Chalkboard Inc.

I really hate to do it, but I'm going to have to rip on Kinkos for a minute here.
Here's the situation. This week I made a new family job chart and matching FHE chart. (Ahhhh. . .How nice) New year=new motivation=new charts. I did them on poster board and for lasting durablity I wanted to get them laminated. I had recently been to The Chalkboard store and saw that they advertised laminating for .75/foot.

But there is a Kinkos about 2 blocks away from my house, so I thought I'd save the longer trip (about 5 miles) and just do it there. When I got my project in, they measured and fiddled and showed me how they were going to do it. They charge by the sq. ft. and it's $5/sq. ft. On top of that I was trying to show them how they could lay some of the cards in an order that would save space on the laminating, but they refused to do it that way, insisting that I would need the 3 inch space in order to cut them out. When they got it all figured out the total came to $30.00!!!! Are you kidding? I could have hired someone to make a fancy wooden chart for that. I admit I'm frugal to a fault sometimes, but this just didn't make any sense at all and I had to leave. Thanks, but no thanks Kinkos.


So I drove the 5 miles to the teacher store and dropped it off. I didn't really care what they charged, I knew it would be less than Kinkos. They did a fantastic job, spaced the cards in a way that made sense (I didn't even have to show them), and it came to $2.25. Now that's what I'm talking about.
The moral of the story is teachers (usually retired teachers or students work at the Chalkboard store, I've found) are just naturally smarter than your average Kinko's worker. AND you should never shop Kinkos for lamination. That's all. I'm just trying to make the world a better place by spreading consumer spending tips when I can.

It's Business Time

I found this on Suzette's blog. If you haven't seen it take a look. I've always dreamed of writing a song this incredible. It's amazing. . .amazingly funny that is.

Mom of the Month

This is just a post to brag about my friend Laura, who is featured as the Family Fun Mom of the Month. She is an amazing woman whom I am so fortunate to have crossed paths with. Way to go, Laura. Here is the article, just in case you don't subscribe to Family Fun Mag.