Pretty Things and Happy Thoughts!

Helloooo dear friends!

I just wanted to say THANKS to all those who left me encouraging and supportive comments on my last post about "Unleashing the Beast". Its heart warming to know that you all care ♥

We've gotten some more spring-like days here in Northern Indiana this week:)

But brrrr... is it COLD in the mornings still!

23 degrees the other morning!

On a nice sunny day, I was able to get outside and put out some Easter decor.

Here are a few pics...

Some cute yard signs in the area where soon some daffodils will be blooming and where I will plant LOTS more pretties in a couple months...

Hehe, love this one!

April 4th, the bunny WILL stop at our home:)

I can't believe Easter is a month away!!

Isn't this chickie flag cute?

Miss Bunny for the front porch...

some reason she won't light up anymore:( 

Even changed the bulb and nothing!

My favorite wooden watering can!

I replaced the ribbon on it with some cute Easter ribbon that Holly sent me last year for the Easter Basket swap that she and I did.

I even added these pretty pink daisy to the bow for more color.

Spring... yeahhhhh!

A shot of the super bright sun shining through my bare maple tree!!

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It was so nice that day and warm in the house so I let the boys pick their new favorite shorts and shirts for summer and let them wear 'em around the house...

Mr. Gavin posing in his new plaid shorts and his Diary of a Wimpy Kid t-shirt:)

And... lil Mr. Gage coming down the stairs modeling his FAVE dinosaur shirt and plaid shorts!

They were thrilled to air out in their shorts!!

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At CVS the other day, I saw they had some Valentine stuff left over for 90% off and I snagged this cute little rose wreath for $0.49!!!! Yahooo!

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Today is the start of my SPRING BREAK!!

Soooo happy!

Its a lay-low weekend for us around here,

not much going on.

I am waitressing for my hubby tomorrow night at the restaurant he manages, 

time to make some $$!

Next weekend is our trip to Chicago...

CANNOT WAIT to get away!!!

We are hoping for nice weather on Sunday so we can hit up

 one of their zoo's before we head back home!

WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR THIS WEEKEND?

HOPE YOU HAVE A GREAT ONE!!

Love,

Noelle ♥

Its time... to unleash the BEAST!

Dear dear girls...

Do YOU ever have a week where things just ANNOY the day-lights out of you?

Well that is MY week!

And PMS does not help matters any either!

This post is the "beast" that I have held within my own mind and heart for the past couple months. Its things that I needed to say to people, but feel as if its not worth the breath that comes out of my mouth to say it. Please don't be scared... lol! NONE of this has to do with any of my sweet blog friends.

Its things in my life that I bottle up at times then my tops blows.

I try to be a nice person, I was NOT a nice person for many years in the past.

When I became a mom, that all changed because I wanted to be a better person for myself and for my children.

I've tried to "let things go" over the years; to not hold grudges.

In dealing with my grandma and dad's deaths in the past 5 years, I've realized that life is too short... to live each day to the fullest.

With my dads passing in December, I became irate.

Irate with the doctors that failed him,

irate with the doctors that failed myself and my family with their lack of communication,

irate with people in my life who want to be there for me but don't know how?

Or would rather SAY that they would be there for me?

Does saying "Let me know if you need ANYTHING" make it all better for the person that is grieving?

For the people in my life that have never lost a parent or grandparent, have never lost a child, suffered miscarriages, found out that you have a bounty of health problems that make life really hard to deal with sometimes, for the people who have never had to struggle financially- almost lose your home, not be able to pay bills, etc.... How can you pretend to know how I feel? Or what I need? Or try to understand what is wrong with me?

Walk in those shoes for a day and feel the pain, sadness, bitterness and loneliness!

Tell me that I'm not a true friend because I am dealing with so much $hit that makes it really hard for me to be a PEACH all the time!

The ONE thing I will do NO Longer in my life is PRETEND I'm OK when I'm NOT!

Thats not me, I'm a tell it like it is kinda girl.

Most people admire that trait, some are offended by it.

Those that are offended by it, often don't have the "balls" to stand up for themselves- thats why it ticks them off.

All I've wanted since Dec.13, 2009- the day my dad died...

is for the people NEAR me (at home, in my family, etc) to let me cry, lend me a shoulder to cry on, let me be a Debby-Downer for once 'cause thats what I need! 

Grieving is a long hard drawn out process!

I've withdrawn myself from the people around me because I don't feel like I can turn to them.

I don't want to hear "It will be ok" cause NO its not.

I miss my dad, my kids miss their grandpa... life is different now.

I'm different now!

And if thats not up to par for some people, then OH FREAKIN WELL!

Feel pain and sorrow, then tell me how to feel!

**I think of my blog as my "diary". I share my thoughts, feelings- happy and sad ones. I share my good days, my bad! I share what I love to do and what I hate... its just ME!

TRUE friends stick with you through all those UGLY days, they suck it up when you aren't your best and get a lil snippy... it happens!**

I love my 2 sons, I love my husband, my mom, my brothers, my 98 blog followers who FOLLOW my life and let ME be ME. I love my SMALL number of real friends, who still call and text... I think its a total of 3 at this point, kinda sad.

My BLOG is also my HAPPY place where I can show my crafts, photos, etc.

95% of the time its a HAPPY blog; today its full of emotion, that I vent much better in writing.

Maybe its ME not having the BALLS to say it out loud today, but like I said...

its not worth wasting my breath anymore.

Life goes on, new and wonderful people come into your lives and bless you with amazing friendships, they go out of your way to make you smile:) I thank God for these amazing people each day!

~~~ Thank YOU For letting ME be ME today~~~

And please come back tomorrow for HAPPINESS now that the BEAST in unleashed and almost gone!

Lots of Love,

Noelle ♥

♥ Tuesday Things I'm LOVIN' ♥

Morning!

The birds are chirping, the sun is shining... is Spring on its way?

Yesterday was 40 degrees and sunny!

Got the truck washed and was able to drive with the window down some:)

Yipppeeee!

Here are some things I am lovin' today...

Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper... yum!

Doesn't taste like Diet at all!!

Zumba!!

Have you heard of it?

Its a salsa type dance/fitness class with a bit of hip-hop to it!!

I've gone to 2 classes in the past month and looooove it!

Its full of booty shakin' fun and movements that get your whole body workin'!

Plus you burn like 1100 calories in an hour!!

The thoughts of planning a BABY GIRL SHOWER!!

My BFF is having a baby in August and she finds out the sex in 17 days...

we are pulling for a GIRL!!

She hinted she'd like a butterfly themed shower and OH MY, have I found some cute things!!

My daffodils are starting to bloom!!

Just the stems are popping through the bit of snow and leaves left over from fall but I am SO excited!

SPRING BREAK...

My Spring Break is NEXT week... Woo-Hoo!

Tutoring will be done, no classes!

Time to SPRING CLEAN with hubby, kids will be gone!

Easter is coming!!!!

Easter is my 2nd fave holiday for the kids!

I love to watch them hunt for eggs at my in-laws, love to decorate eggs with them, love to take them to see the Easter Bunny and LOVE finding sweet lil goodies for their Easter Baskets!

My sweet lil muffin is turning 3 next month! 

Sniff, sniff:(

I'm not TOTALLY lovin' the fact that my baby is growing up but he's such a fun lil guy:)

We have a Wonder Pets Birthday in the works!

My dashing oldest son is making his First Communion in May... 

sniff, sniff... time is going by way to fast with him too!

**What are YOU especially LOVING today?**

Noelle ♥

Oooops! Here's my REAL post!!

Oh duhhhhh!

Problem solved as to why my tool bar was minimized before...

I needed to click on the COMPOST button!! LOL

What can I say... its MONDAY!!!!!!!

How was your weekend?

Mine was... to say the least, eventful as always!

I took the boys to our Healthworks! Museum on Saturday...

which was INTERESTING because my youngest LOVED it but wouldn't stay in one spot for very long and my oldest seemed to wander, appearing BORED as if he didn't want to be there. Mind you, he was SO STOKED to go!! I cannot figure him out sometimes!!

Anyways here are some cute pics from the museum...

Gage was very attached to the slide!

He was mesmorized by these giant eyeballs!!

My lil' thinker!

"I stuck!"

The molecule man wearing the big ball was a HIT!

The kids were running into him and falling to the floor, it was hysterical!

As you can see Gavin was having a blast here:)

"Yeaaaaaaaaaaaaa!"

The grocery store play area was a huge hit!

Gage loved that darn shopping cart:)

Weighing his veggies...

Gavin seeing how tall he is...

You had to try to see how long you could hang on this bar... its tough!

Gage climbing the intestine wall...

I would say it was a nice time,

just a lot of work for one person to keep an eye on 2 kids with 2 totally different interests!

My hubby was working so I was flying solo on this day:(

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Here's a sneak peek of my swap package for Jessica,

for the Mamarazzi's Fave Things Swap!

This was sooo fun!!

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Here's a couple sneak peeks of something cute and Spring-y that I've been working on for someone sweet...

Cute!!

Yessss... SPRING!

I sure hope its here soon!!

Ugh, Monday...

the day of the week that I want to sleep in the MOST!!

Have a great day!

Noelle ♥

HELP!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ooooh k... So I get on here to post and my tool bar for posting is missing a bunch of buttons!! I can't upload any pics either!!!! Ahhhh HELP!! What could be going wrong? All I have are the bold button, the italics, link, quote and strikethrough!!!!

Has this happened to any of you?

Noelle~!

Hellloooooo!!

Hey all!

Its been a busy past couple days... 

and I've missed blogging!

My oldest came down with a second bout of STREP throat in 3 weeks:(

My lil one is getting the sniffles now too.

And brrrrrrr... its COLD here!!

We haven't gotten too much snow in Northern Indiana the past week but its been very chilly and windy!

Making me yearn for Spring even more!

Some exciting news...

1. Well this one was EXCITING for me...

I tend to be a procrastinator when it comes to writing papers for school:(

I had an essay due yesterday for my Art History class on the topic of 

"Gender Roles in Ancient Greek Art".

I wrote it out AND typed it on THURSDAY... a WHOLE DAY before it was do, lol!!

That is a HUGE accomplishment for me:)

2. This coming week is my last week of tutoring with the boy I've been working with since December.

We then have a couple weeks off till our new tutoring session begins.

I've decided to NOT return as a tutor!

I just NEED to cut back on all the crazy running around that I do and focus more time on my family and my school work.

I will continue to work 2 mornings a week at the home daycare but am considering NOT doing that this summer either.

Which leads me to my #3...

3. I told my hubby that I would really like to "Stay Home" this next school year and NOT work; I want to take classes full time to graduate in Spring. Then I would transfer in the Fall to another college to finish the last 2 years of my teaching degree. I am like 95% sure he is ON BOARD!! Woo-hoo!

I told him that we will need to possibly cut back on some things but that I think we can make it work!!

4. 2 weeks from today we are heading to Chicago for the weekend to see this...

Oooh, I can't wait!

Our little one is turning 3 in April so this Nick Jr. Storytime Live show is part of his birthday present!!

He will be so THRILLED to see all his favorite characters in action!

We found a really great priced NICE hotel to stay at with a pool!!

And we plan to get some yummmmy Chicago pizza while we are there too!

Its been a rough past couple months with the death of my dad and having to put our kitty to sleep so we thought it would be so nice to take a short trip and get away!

Back to the idea of a HOTEL POOL and well the thoughts of summer...

Give me a show of hands as to WHO HATES shopping for a SWIMSUIT??

I do! I do!

I've tried to go the cheap route and settle for a suit thats so-so... NO LUCK!

So this year I told hubby since I lost weight and my old swimsuits are too BIG now,

I am splurging a little on a suit that FITS!!

I found this one...

I love this top!!

Whats even better is that the boob part is made LIKE a bra!

And... you order it in YOUR bra size so that the "GIRLS" have SUPPORT!! 

Amen!!!

My middle section is similar to this gals; I carry my belly weight in the very front due to my Insulin Resistance issue. So I am HOPING and PRAYING that it looks HALF as nice on me as it does on this chic!! 

I opted to try BOY SHORTS for a bottom this year...

My tummy is NOT that flat but I like the boy short fit, so we'll see how that goes...;)

The nice thing with the bottoms is that you order them according to your hip measurement, so you know you are getting a good fit!

* I won't lie... the suit was pricey... but with a 25% discount, I only ended up spending $60 on it! *

To me, its worth it for a proper fit that I'm not gonna feel uncomfortable in:)

Have you had good luck finding a swimsuit, or do you dread shopping for one??

Hope you have a great weekend!

I'm taking the boys today to a fun museum we have here in town, we got a 

free pass from the library! Then I'm letting them choose where we have dinner:)

Today is THEIR day since I've been so busy lately!

Hugs,

Noelle ♥

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday

Hey there!

Welcome to WW!

This lil doll shown above is my youngest son Gage!

He's lucky to be so cute cuz...

last night at 4 am he WOKE me up to tell me that his "suit" (pajamas) were feeling "so dorky"!! LOL

His words, I promise you!

They were "so dorky" because @ 4 am he decided to wake up, and unzip them!

He was WIDE awake and started talking about how daddy "shave, shave, shaves his head..." and was laughing hysterically!!

I don't know about you, but at 4 am... I DON'T FIND too many things FUNNY!

I laugh now cause he is such a stinker and one of the loves of my life but seriously, son...

SLEEP ALL NIGHT!!

Check out Wee Shenanigans for more WW posts!

Hugs,

Noelle ♥