So you have made friends with the coolest kid on the block....

Now what?

Are you at that awkward point in the relationship where you don't know each other well enough yet to know what to talk about... a lot of awkward pauses filling your conversations?

I have an idea... Why not offer to take pictures of something they are interested in? Then you will WOW them with your kindness and generosity. And it will give them a chance to tell you about themselves. Who doesn't like to talk about themselves. Do they have kids? Beloved Pets? A prize winning Garden? A myspace page that needs "pimped out" with a few updated super cool pics?

What is that you say? No Camera?

That is not a problem. Head on over to Ni Hao Y'all(<--- look here.. click on me. )

THE "CAMERA GIVEAWAY/DONATION/ KINDA LIKE A RAFFLE BUT NOT REALLY -THINGY"
is back on BABY!!!

I am here for you peeps... No problem... You can thank me by making a donation to help bring Shepherd home.

It's a WIN-WIN. Don't ya just love that?

I know you need to go now... camera give-aways to enter.. donations to make to bring "Mr. Sweet Cheeks" home, and all.... we can chat later.

:)
Amie

Or whatever animal sleeps sitting up. A "cow nap" maybe?

:)
Amie

Why, oh why, would you want to take pictures of the coolest kid on the block?

That sounds kinda' stalkerish. Don't cha' think? Might get yourself in a little bit of trouble. How about going up and saying hello? Introduce yourself. Find something you have in common. Initiate stimulating conversation on an interesting topic. Things might work out better long-term for your budding relationship than if you took pictures of the coolest kid on the block from afar.

Okay. Now that we have established that you really don't need a new camera... and now that you have all that extra time on your hands that you were using to:

1. Chart the coolest kid on the block's daily activities

2. Draw out a plan of action as to where you could get the best photo ops.

3. Hide behind bushes to get the best photos

4. Spend countless hours on your computer choosing your favorite photos of your "friend"

5. Develop your top pics in your dark room

You now have time to do something more constructive with your time...something that might make a difference in the world.

Like... helping one of the coolest families EVAH' help bring their adorable son Shepherd home. How COOL would that be? You can play a part in getting "Mr. Sweet Cheeks" home.

And you will feel so good about yourself when you do it.

Don't we all need a feel good moment?

So RUN, don't walk, on over to Ni Hao Y'all and make a donation to help bring Shepherd home.

I promise it will make you smile.

:D (see.. super big smiley)

Amie

p.s. To those who have already made a donation towards the camera raffle.. ix-nay on the amera-cay. Change of plans. Story is here. You can still choose to donate your contribution to their cause. You already passed on the #1 value meal, so why not. Check out his sweet little smile. If that doesn't get cha' nothin' will. :)

p.s.s. Might have figured out the link feature on Blogger. Feeling cool and very linky.

and so that all of you (who don't already know), will finally get to see the extent of my DORKINESS!

So I am praying the other day... and when I pray, I sometimes(ALWAYS) have trouble with getting distracted. I always get on tangents. I don't yet know how to pray quick and to the point. I tend to ramble on and on and on. And this causes me to lose focus and hop of on tangents with God. And also, I definitly do not know how to PRAY COOL, as my SIL and I say.

The other day though, man was I on a roll. I was asking God to help me know his will for a certain THANG I was praying about. I was telling him that I only want what he wants but that I need help dicserning what he is trying to tell me. I was feeling good. I was feeling like I was really connecting. I was quick and to the point. I was ON, B.A.B.Y. At least, I thought so.

And then I close with...

"God... I hope I catch what your throwin' down."

huh?
Did I just use street slang with God?
And did I even use the proper saying?
Where did that even come from?
Was I channeling Vanilla Ice?
Would Vanilla Ice even say something like that?
Why Vanilla Ice? (Because I don't even have a current reference for someone cool enough to use street slang. Had to dip back into the early 90's. )

see.. told ya', TANGENTS.

Thought this would make you smile K and P.

:)
Amie

Do you do me like that?

Do any of my Bloggy friends know why Blogger puts so many spaces in-between my paragraphs. My posts are coming out funky. I take out the spaces, save, and post, but they are still there?

WHY? WHY?

:)
Amie

So the other night the kids voted to have breakfast for dinner. So Katie volunteered to make the pancakes for everyone. I was in charge of eggs and bacon, and when I finished mine early, Jeff took over making the Gluten-Free pancakes for the boys while I finished up some laundry and straightened up a few things.

I came back into the kitchen to find out that Jeff had challenged Katie to a ...



Pancake THROW DOWN. I kid you not.
(Have any of you seen Bobbie Flay's show on Food Network?)

Jeff was working with a lopsided burner which caused his griddle to fall over often, and he was sure to point that out many times throughout the "COMPETITION" . We all felt that this was fair given that Katie was working with a non-stick griddle which seemed to have lost it's non-stickiness.

Katie's "Super Delicious" Pancakes

Jeff's "Throw Down Cakes"


After the pancakes were made, the eating and judging began.

There were three judging criteria:

1. Taste

2. Presentation

3. Over-all enthusiasm of those while eating the pancakes.



Votes are in:



1.Taste: Goes to Katie(might have been flaws in the voting given Jeff had only two people eating his pancakes and Katie had 5 )

2.Presentation: Jeff's Throw Down cakes.

3. Over-all enthusiasm of eaters: Katie Pancakes by a landslide

And the Throw Down goes to....



KATIE!!!



As we finished cleaning up after dinner, I heard Jeff challenge Katie to a Grilled Cheese THROW DOWN next weekend.


Yes. We are just that mature around here..LOL


:)
Amie

Just wanted to share an exerpt with you from an e-mail my sister sent to me this weekend.

A little background on the story... Katie had a spelling Bee this past weekend, On Saturday Morning. EARLY. Patti stepped up and came over to hang with all of our kiddos so that Jeff and I could both be there to cheer Katie on. David was not even there to help, and he is a huge help, because he was away on a church retreat. So it was Patti up against 6 under 6!

We needed to leave at 8:00. So Patti loaded up her two kiddos, trucked on over to our house and came bearing donuts for the whole gang, a Pick-me-up snack for Katie after the Spelling Bee, and a smile, all by 7:45.

Here is a little bit of the e-mail she sent me at the end of the day on Saturday. Am I bragging on my sister? ABSOLUTELY. You would too.. she is just that cool.

"I was so stinkin' overwhelmed that 6 little voices were talking to me at exactly the same time at exactly 8AM in the morning. What made it the coolest thing ever was realizing we live in the same town and get to hear all those voices at one time...lots of aunts/sisters/mommies don't live close enough to get this gift. Also, how cool is it that they actually wanted to talk to me??!! "

I know. She ROCKS!

:)
Amie

So I served up a little spaghetti-ish casserole thingy tonight for dinner and on the side were some pears, grapes, bananas and a spring salad mix.I had run out of the lettuce that I usually make the kids salad with, Romaine, so I had to dip into what the kids call my "FUNKY" lettuce.


Allie was a bit aprehensive about trying her lettuce but decided she would give it a go to see if she approved.
Needless to say, NOT SO MUCH.


She then proceeded to ask permission to take a pass on the FUNKY lettuce for tonight. In its place she offered to eat more fruit.


When I told her she needed to eat her salad, as it has all kinds of nutrients.. blah blah blah...
She did a little sigh, shrugged her shoulders and said...

"Okay. Just so you know. This is going to bring out My BIG TEARS tonight."

Brother...

:)

I had some time to go through some old photos today, and I got such a kick out of them, I thought I would post a few every now and then.

This series is called:

"The Popeye Phase"
starring: MATTHEW

You need my help again?
This isn't about that missing vanilla cupcake, with vanilla frosting that was SUPPOSEDLY full of yummy deliciousness again, is it? NO. Good.
























Hang on.. let me clean up a bit. Be with you in a sec.























So you are telling me Daddy's chocolate covered chocolate cake donut is missing? And someone mentioned to someone that I might have had something to do with it. Am I understanding you correctly?


























I don't even know what to say! I throw up my hands. Sheesh!!! What is it with you people. Blame it on the littlest one. The littlest one won't know the differnce. It's not right, I tell you. It's just not right!

What's that you say? Oh, on my hand?

























Fine. You caught me. What can I say,other than, have you seen how many people there are in this family? It is every man for himself, I say.

Thought I would give you a shout-out here so as not to disturb you on your va-ca.

What better way to be celebrating your birthday than being on your "honeymoon" with your hubby!

Have your cabana-boy friend bring you an extra drink today!

Happy Day!

:)

Are we there yet?



















We took this photo at the beginning so that we could reference it at the end to make sure we still had everyone.



















Here is my brother, better known to many as Super DAD, with Baby Gabe on the front of him in a papoose, Maddie on his shoulders and pushing Abigail and Lauren in the stroller. Too cool and too funny not to get a photo of.
























Listen, if these two strong girls can't get it out.. there was no use in any of us trying.



















Two Cool Cats... Who did not complain the whole day that they did not get to ride one "big kid" ride. Thankfully, at the end of the night we were able to fit in a ride on Space Mountain.




















Best buds!



















Still 10 Kids? Carry on.


















Our First Merry Go Round.. What Fun!!



















Or, Not.




















The only ride we could really take pics on.... okay, the only ride I remembered to pull my camera out on... Dagnabit.

Cousin Lauren striking a pose..
























Abigail, always quick with a smile.
























Again, a Good Sport.
























Does this thing go any faster?

























YEE-HAW!!

























Bless her heart for wearing her seat belt so the little kids would think it was cool!
























Katie and Abigail. Abigail waving to her adoring fans.



















Kristen and Lauren. Possible Bribe Material? Or just evidence of a really Cool Mommy.