America at Home...

You have got to check out iMommies post today. I won the Week 2 photo contest themed "Summer Vacations."

If you want to enter a photo in Week 3 photo contest themed "Back to School," please head on over to this post on iMommies and follow the directions and enter as many photos as you want!

I entered 14 photos and this one won:

So, what did I win? Let me tell you as described directly from iMommy:

“America at Home” is an amazing book of photographs that allows readers to take a peek into the homes and lives of…you guessed it…Americans! First, let me tell you a little about the book: It’s a large, hardcover collection of some truly extraordinary photos of families from all backgrounds, captured by both leading photojournalists and amateurs. It’s that ONE book for everyone on your shopping list…your closest family and friends, and those with whom you’re less familiar. With literary contributions from writers such as Matt Groening and Amy Tan, America at Home paints a personal portrait of home life in America in an artistically professional style. America at Home has offered to give away FOUR of these books, including custom covers, to iMommies readers! For the next four weeks, we’ll hold a themed weekly photo contest, and a winning photo will be drawn at the end of each week. The owner of the submitted winning photo will receive a free copy of America at Home, including a free custom cover.

Here is what the cover of my book will look like:

iMommies requested the real story behind this photo. Well, here it is:

Lil'D is Grandpa's 8th grandchild. Grandpa has been collecting and "playing" with trains for as long as I can remember. (long before Lil'D) It just so happens that Lil'D absolutely loves trains! He spends hours playing with his growing Thomas collection. Grandpa is the talk of their neighborhood and really wanted Lil'D to come over and play with his trains. It was a summer evening and Grandpa had the fountain running and the engine ready to go. All he needed was a little blonde boy who simply adored trains. As soon as we got out of the car Lil'D yelled "Train!" Him and Grandpa ran the train around and round. The train would derail and Grandpa would have to stop the engine and clean the track. When Grandpa would start the engine again, Lil'D had started cleaning the track just like Grandpa. As the sun was setting I captured this photo (along with 186 others) of Lil'D and Grandpa enjoying their evening of trains. Now everytime we go to Grandma & Grandpa's house it's "train, Grandpa, train!"

♥ Elliemae

Elliemae's Top Ten blog reads...

Last, but definitely not least...my best friend from college, Julie. She blogs about her twin daughters at Two Peas In A Pod. Julie and I have been friends for over 16 years. We met at Twirl-O-Jack tryouts in 1992. That was the year of Pagliacci. Oh my heck, that was a tough routine! We twirled together only 1 year, she transferred to another college, but we stayed in touch. Our friendship continues even though we only stay in touch by email. That's what happens with true friends, when you talk to each other it's as if there had never been time in between. Julie is a true friend and I am so glad she blogs about her beautiful girls! I feel like I know them as if we lived a couple of miles away, rather than a couple thousand.

Ok...Here is my final list:

The OFFICIAL Top Ten Blog reads from the desktop of Elliemae:

1. Mique at 30 days
2. Jenny at Daily Dose of Motherhood
3. Barb at A Chelsea Morning
4. AndreAnna at Diary of a Modern Matriarch
5. Kristin at Grace Violet
6. Candy at Keeping The Home
7. Shara at Monkeybox
8. Melissa at PinkPaperPeppermints
9. Kim at Today's Creative Blog
10. Julie at Two Peas In A Pod

Next week I am going to be doing the NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) again. The theme for October is VOTE. If you know me well, I absolutely dislike politics ALOT!! So, I might touch on politics a tad itty bit, but that is all. I will be having voting polls on other subjects!!

♥ Elliemae

Go Aztecs...

We had the best time last night!! Lil'D was completely enthralled. He sat in Daddy's lap for the 1st and 2nd quarter! During halftime he sat in my lap, I showed him the twirler and told him that Mommy used to do that. I know he didn't understand, but it sure was fun to say it to him! Lil'D was all about the drums in the band!! Every time that San Diego State scored a canon would go off and a few simple fireworks. Having his cousins and his Auntie E there made it all the better! He even got to stay up late. We left the game at 8:30pm, he got to bed at around 9:30pm. Late night for Lil'D. HE SLEPT IN TILL 10AM! Wa-hoo, I got all my zzz's last night! Of course, I went to bed at 11am instead of my usual 1 or 2am on the weekend.

Here are the photos from last night:

Watchin' the game!

Watchin' halftime.

Look at those L-O-N-G eyelashes! He definitely got those from Daddy...

Lil'D l-o-v-e-s Nate & Z!!

His cousin Andy.

So much to watch.

State won 45-17 over the Idaho Vandals. This is the first win for State this year. Tells you how good they are this season. I am definitely not a big football fan, but I'm in it for Lil'D and Jeremy. I'm more of a people, cheerleader, halftime watcher!! When I was a twirler in highschool and college, it was all about halftime for me. I knew whether we won or lost the game, couldn't ever tell you the score and could rarely tell you who we were playing. I loved to twirl, it was my life back then. I was really dedicated to it. I even taught private lessons to young girls for $25/hour.

Chargers are playing the Raiders today, my husband will be watching and I will be in the same room...doing something else.

♥ Elliemae

Letters to Lil'D...

My sweetest Lil'D,

I have been saying this alot lately...I can't believe how fast you are growing up. You are talking so incredibly well for your age. Your words are becoming sentences. You even have some new fun words and phrases that really make everyone laugh:

"Coffee!"

"Take your time."

"Watch your fingers."

"Momma, scare me."

"Daddy, wake up!"

"Mama, hold the door for you?"

"Do it myself?"

"Get you!"

You are really into vehicles! Cars, Motorcycles, Buses, Scoops, and especially trains! Daddy just bought you Thomas and Friends Trackmaster Thomas Action Canyon with his birthday money. And maybe a little for himself too. You have been playing non-stop with this all week. I don't think I have seen you so immersed in anything like this. It has kept your attention for hours!

You have been saying the word "Mine!" alot lately and you have been getting lots of timeouts at daycare for this. Like I told Pam, it's the circle of life. The older kids said it to him, now it's your turn to tell all the younger kids this.

You are really into helping momma and doing things yourself. Here is a list of things that you are helping with:

• Putting clothes in the washer
• Putting clothes in the dryer
• Taking clothes out of the dryer to the couch
• Getting a glass of ice water

Here are the things you are wanting to do yourself:

• Holding the door
• Opening the car door
• Getting into the car and into your seat

You are also listening and obeying very well. When I tell you to stop doing something you are usually pretty good about stopping. I am still working on getting you to do something the 1st time. You're two, I think 2nd or 3rd time is actually pretty good, considering you have the attention span of a gnat!! :)

You have so much energy all of the time and are almost always in a terrific mood. I enjoy every minute with you!

Love you with all my heart,

♥ Elliemae

Let's get this weekend started...

We went to a birthday at 11am this morning.

Happy 1st birthday sweet Lizzie!

Lil'D and Jeremy napped from 1:30 to 3:15. Jeremy is still asleep. Lil'D is playing with his trains quietly. Who would have thought? Miracles do happen!!

We will be leaving at 4:15 to head to Qualcomm Stadium. We are going to the San Diego State Aztec football game tonight. Kick off is at 5pm. I'm really hoping there are twirlers during halftime!! This will also be Lil'Ds first football game! (he went to a Chargers game when he was about 4-5 months old, this will be different!) I'm really excited about it. Jeremy won 8 tickets from a radio station! That radio station really likes him!! We are taking Auntie E, Uncle RD and their kids: Andy(17), Z(13) and Nate(10). We are all going for free!!! Who-hoo. If we would pay to go tonight the bill would be: $136.00 plus tax. I love F-R-E-E!! I'll have highlights tomorrow or sometime next week. Just depends on my time...

Might as well continue my Top Ten Blog read list :

1. Mique at 30 days
2. Jenny at Daily Dose of Motherhood
3. Barb at A Chelsea Morning
4. AndreAnna at Diary of a Modern Matriarch
5. Kristin at Grace Violet
6. Candy at Keeping The Home
7. Shara at Monkeybox
8. Melissa at PinkPaperPeppermints
9. Kim at Today's Creative Blog

Today's Creative Blog is piled with tons and tons of creative blogs!! I just can't get enough. I have to restrain myself from putting all these blogs in my favorites! Ok, maybe that is what happened to my reader before and why I have over 1000 posts still waiting to be read in my old google reader. I hope to one day have the time to do all the crafty stuff in my head and post it to my blog and to be featured on Today's Creative Blog one day. One day! I can dream big, you know.

♥ Elliemae

Yeah, It's Friday...

Melissa at PinkPaperPeppermints is so much fun! I participated in her Crafty Flowers in 31 days. You can see my flowers here.

I love her creativity and I love that she puts a verse at the end of every post. I love all her pink too! She has been silent for over a month, so I am not sure what could be going on with her, but I know we all go through our blog breaks.

Elliemae's Top Ten blog reads so far:

1. Mique at 30 days


2. Jenny at Daily Dose of Motherhood


3. Barb at A Chelsea Morning


4. AndreAnna at Diary of a Modern Matriarch


5. Kristin at Grace Violet


6. Candy at Keeping The Home


7. Shara at Monkeybox


8. Melissa at PinkPaperPeppermints
   

To be continued tomorrow!!!

♥ Elliemae

I love monkeybox...

Everybody needs a monkeybox. What is a monkeybox you ask? Well, let Shara tell you in her own words:

"My Dad was in the produce business. And we had a pet monkey. At the end of the day he would bring home the culls - pithy oranges, moldy strawberries, mushy cucumbers - garbage. My Mom would pare it, trim it and cut it up and make it into a beautiful fruit platter, thus proving the old "Trash to Treasure" theory. And, that's what I do. Turn trash into treasure. Some of it I sell, some of it I keep, some of it I give away and the rest I swap for other stuff. "

And stuff she has! This is Shara and her son The Bean:

She finds the best stuff for the best deals. I have been reading her blog Monkeybox since March. I love seeing what she finds everyday! She calls her husband, The Husband and her son, The Bean. The Bean even has his own collection of stuff. I find this Shara's life interesting and entertaining. Not only does she find the stuff, but she re-purposes and re-finishes alot of it. She has taken us through her new refrigerator purchase, her trip to Van Buren and Fort Smith (my guess would be to Arkansas), shopping trips to Walgreen's and Target, replacement of her air-conditioning, and all her thrifty junking trips!!!! Here are a few photos of her stuff (including her cat):

I have found a new love for vintage things that I didn't have before I came across Monkeybox.

Elliemae's Top Ten blog reads so far:

1. Mique at 30 days


2. Jenny at Daily Dose of Motherhood


3. Barb at A Chelsea Morning


4. AndreAnna at Diary of a Modern Matriarch


5. Kristin at Grace Violet


6. Candy at Keeping The Home


7. Shara at Monkeybox

To be continued tomorrow!!!

♥ Elliemae

Wordless Wednesday...

Summer Memories...

Go to WordlessWednesday.com or 5minute for Mom for lots more photo fun!!

I know this post is "supposed" to be wordless, but I want to add to my Top Ten Blog reads:

Candy, at Keeping The Home, was the very first blog I came upon in 2003. I was looking up organization. I came across her again in 2005 and decided to give this blog thing a try. Candy has mastered the Home Management Binder, homeschools all 4 of her kiddos and prepares meals from scratch. She is VERY conservative and wears dresses only. She also keeps a very clean, simple and organized house. I don't agree with everything she does or says, but I like to check in on her and see what she is up to. I'm pretty much only a stalker at her site, but something draws me to her.

Ok, let's do a recap:

1. Mique at 30 days
2. Jenny at Daily Dose of Motherhood
3. Barb at A Chelsea Morning
4. AndreAnna at Diary of a Modern Matriarch
5. Kristin at Grace Violet
6. Candy at Keeping The Home

To be continued tomorrow!!!

♥ Elliemae

I want more time to be crafty...

Ok, I want SOME time to be crafty!!! Continuing with my Top Ten Blog read list. I want to share Grace Violet with you:

Kristen is a "Christian; Wife and mother; Crafter, sewer, decorator, scrapbooker, organizer, butcher, baker, candle-stick maker" as she quotes on her blog profile! I know she has two girls, one in pre-school, the other is 5. Kristen is SUPER crafty. I want to make everything she has featured on her site. She has tutorials for everything. I also absolutely love her pink desk!

Because of her I put a desk in my bedroom that will be completely dedicated to crafty stuff. (mine is not pink though and not quite this awesome...yet!) So, if you are in need of a tutorial for some cool stuff. Head on over to Grace Violet. I know you will love it just like I do!!

Ok, let's do a recap:

1. Mique at 30 days
2. Jenny at Daily Dose of Motherhood
3. Barb at A Chelsea Morning
4. AndreAnna at Diary of a Modern Matriarch
5. Kristin at Grace Violet
   

To be continued!!!

♥ Elliemae

One of my guilty pleasures...

I love to read about AndreAnna's life at Diary of a Modern Matriarch. She is hilarious!! I mean like, I just took a sip of coffee and I'm going to spray it all over the screen, funny!!! Read this, you will see why. WARNING, she uses profanity, but I still love her!!

She has a 2yr old daughter, Charlotte and a 10 week old son, Sawyer. She is THE super mom. Just read this post and you will understand why I say this. She lives in New Jersey and you can hear this accent on her videos.

So here is the recap for Elliemae's Top Ten blogs to read:

1. Mique at 30 days
2. Jenny at Daily Dose of Motherhood
3. Barb at A Chelsea Morning
4. AndreAnna at Diary of a Modern Matriarch
   

To be continued!!!

♥ Elliemae

The weekend in a nutshell...

Happy Birthday my sweet Jeremy! I hope you had a nice relaxing weekend! You are my world!

We had a weekend of roller coasters, trains and trolleys:

Friday night we went down to the Boardwalk. Lil'D was fascinated with the roller coaster. We watched it go until it got dark!

Saturday, we drove out to Campo and rode the train. Lil'D was in heaven!! We had dinner at Barrett Junction Cafe. It was really good, especially the hushpuppies.

Today, we took a round trip on the trolley. Every time we stopped to pick up/drop off passengers Lil'D would say, "Again, again." On the return trip, he kept saying, "pick up the people, bye-bye people."

We ended the day at Grandma & Pee Paw Ham's house. Lil'D has got to where he calls grandpa, pee paw. We had pizza, salad and birthday cake. Lil'D sang happy birthday along with us to Daddy. I was so impressed that he knew the words! He also helped Daddy blow out the candles. He kept everyone entertained and laughing. He definitely fits in with the Ham family...literally! Lil'D is such the ham already!! Daddy asked him to speak whale, and when he did, everybody laughed and he said, "Again!" His new phrase is "take your time." Everybody thought that was funny too, "Again," Lil'D would say!! The weekend was a really good one!!!

Here are the photos:

On to my Top 10 list:
Let me introduce you to Barb at A Chelsea Morning:

She is quite the lady! Super wife, super housekeeper, super cook, super crafty, super blogger, super mom, super grandma and I would imagine a super friend!! I really enjoy keeping up with Barb's life. She has a grandson, Cameron, who is 3. He has juvenile diabetes, and handles it incredibly well. She has a granddaughter, Avery, who is 6 months and is such a good baby. Barb keeps her everyday of the week and only has Cameron on Fridays. She just opened up a little shoppe a couple of months ago. She makes burp cloths, bibs, sock monkeys and santa stars.
She shares wonderful recipes and just enough of her life that makes you want to visit her everyday!

So here is the recap list of Elliemae's Top 10 blog reads: (in no particular order)

1. Mique at 30 days
2. Jenny at Daily Dose of Motherhood
3. Barb at A Chelsea Morning
   

♥ Elliemae

BFF..

This is my highschool best friend, Nette.

(This is her and Lil'D in April 2007.)

This is my college best friend, Julie.

(She blogs at Two Peas in a Pod.)

This is my san diego best friend, Chica

This is my best blogger friend, Jenny.

I really enjoy reading Jenny's Daily Dose of Motherhood blog. I really enjoy all of her photographs. She has a beautiful house that could possibly be my dreamhouse, she has 2 beautiful kids and she has her own business making candles. We haven't "known" each other long, but she is my first regular visitor that is not a family member or friend. She always leaves such nice comments and sends me such supportive emails.

I just cut my google subscriptions from 65 to 10. Jenny is, of course, one of my 10 subscriptions that I just can't live without!!!

Elliemae's Top 10 blogs to read:

1. Mique at 30 days


2. Jenny at Daily Dose of Motherhood
   

♥ Elliemae

30days giveaway...

I have narrowed my google reader down to 10 subscriptions. I want to share one of them with you.

Mique (pronounced like Mickey) has lists of upon lists and links of crafts for all categories!! She has birthday party ideas, back to school ideas, and oodles and oodles of crafty lists, just to name a few. She is starting a new feature called:

Manic Mondays

She will have announce a different giveaway every Monday!! Yeah, I love giveaways!! I can totally handle a giveaway a week! This week she is giving away a $50.00 gift certificate to beau coup. They have the most scrumptious party favors ever! I want one of everything!! Please go and visit Mique at 30 days and leave her a comment and maybe you could win that gift certificate too. If any of you win, you have to share it with me!! heehee, just kidding!

♥ Elliemae

Update:

Just a little note to let all you faithful readers...like all 3 or 4 of you...know that I am just taking a break.

I have been dealing with depression and anxiety a lot in the past month or so. I have been seeing a therapist once a week for three weeks and it seems to be helping. She is really helping me to think in a different way than I am so used to.

The past 5 days have been the best I have had in a long time. I confided in my small group and begged for prayer from them and I know that this has helped! I feel better and I know it is from their prayers! I have also been very dedicated to reading the bible. Most of the "me" time I have been taking has me feeling guilty because I should have been doing something else more productive first. (laundry, cleaning bathrooms, etc) You just can't ever say or think that reading the bible is a waste of time. Being in the Word of God has really comforted me and helped me through this.

Another thing that has changed is I haven't looked at my google reader in over a week. Just this simple thing has made a huge difference. I know there are a 1000 plus posts waiting for me, but I'm not going to let them control MY time. I know now that I don't need that silly pressure from google reader of all things. I am going to shorten my subscriptions to only my few favorites! Why does that feel so hard? It is really crazy what simple, silly pressures we put on ourselves and we don't really see what we are doing to ourselves. Of course, google reader is not the only pressure I have, but it's a simple one that I have recognized and know that I can control it.

Just wanted to let you all know what is going on with me.

My full-time working mom and wife hat just needs to be adjusted. I am working on changing my way of thinkin'! It seems to be working!

♥ Elliemae

90 day Challenge...

I am back from vacation and I have a lot of catching up to do. It is really rough to have 2 weeks off of work, do whatever you want, not have to answer to anyone and then slam yourself back into the work grind. It's not a bad thing, I just have to get used to it. I have a huge time management problem that I am constantly trying to fix, but just can't seem to keep up with. I think I'm a little too tough on myself and want to do too much and feel like a failure if I don't get it done. Then, I don't do anything and it gets all messed up. It is a constant circle for me. So, yesterday I started something that has been really, really important to me. I am going to try to read the entire bible in 90 days:

The entire readings per day is located on The Bible in 90 Days with Charles Morris. They even have a chart in pdf so you can keep up with your progress if you don't have access to the internet. I really like that it is just a click away. It makes it really easy to just have it up on my screen at work and when I take a short break, I read a little here and there. I almost completed yesterday's reading, but need to manage my time a little better (really?).

I just thought I would share what is on my mind right now. I hope to get caught up this weekend and then be better prepared next week to start blogging regularly again.

Have a wonderful weekend!!!!

♥ Elliemae