by jcastles | Aug 30, 2012 | Uncategorized
So ya apparently I took some of the summer off from doing everything! Actually I spent a lot of time with the kids. And I actually got sick of swimming. I NEVER thought that would be possible!
We went swimming, bowling, bounce houses, a city scavenger hunt (yah, we bailed on that in the 100+ Texas heat), parks, yogurt shops, a Blue’s Clue’s Play at our local theatre, lego camp, a Lamborghini track drive for the hubbs, and we got a dog…I think that’s all, lol.
Here are a few pics of our summer fun!
We have a membership to a local rec center and they have a really cool pool so we were there quite a bit, especially on the free nights so our friends and family could meet us to play since they don’t have a membership. Then we went to a water park called Hawaiian Falls for Champions Day (it’s for families with special needs). OMG OMG that was so much fun! We’re definitely getting season passes there next summer. We love the champion day so much that we went the very next weekend! Then we went on their 2nd champion day and then again the week after that (like you care how many times we went….but we went several times!!).
The last time we went was when I was given some free kids tickets and I had a bogo coupon so I decided to take a very good friend and her kids. For us 2 adults and 4 kids it only cost me $26 to get in the door. We stayed about 7 hours….they had a blast…we had a blast…and we were so sore and tired the next day!!
Here are a few pics of our outting with friends.
I’ll say we had a fantastic summer!!!.
by jcastles | Jul 19, 2012 | Family, Uncategorized
So today was a very odd day! First off it was the 6 year anniversary of my mom’s passing so this morning started off with tears. After I took the little one to school the middle kiddo and I headed to the cemetery. I explained to him that we needed to go put flowers on my Mom’s grave and the first thing he asked was what her favorite flowers were. She loved yellow roses so I knew we had to find some! Luckily the Kroger that I go to near the cemetery had a rainbow assortment of roses and the package just so happened to have 3 yellow roses in it.
We arrived and visited all the family that we knew the location of….so much sadness.
After we put a rose on all the family plots we went to the actual funeral home to visit my Aunt Mary…..she works there. It was such a nice quick visit…..I can’t wait to spend more time with her. We’re just all so busy….that’s the downside to growing up I guess.
Now to the strange part of my day. On March 19th I heard there was a food park coming to the city I live in. Which I thought was AWESOME and couldn’t wait! I followed the Keller Food Park on twitter constantly awaiting the date. It was finally announced that we’d see it in July 2012. I couldn’t wait! So as soon as July hit I started asking when when when! Then last night I heard the city council voted against the food park 4-3!! I was devastated. I know that sounds stupid but I really was devastated. So I did the only thing I knew I could do….I spread the word to everyone I know about a food truck that just so happened to be coming to Keller the next day. I literally spent most of my day reading, tweeting, retweeting, and researching…..then the time came. It was 5pm and So-Cal Tacos was in Keller!! I loaded up the kids and met my husband there for dinner. He grabbed the kids a pizza from CiCi’s and we ate THE BEST Taco’s EVER!!!! We like to travel for our family time, lol.
I got to meet one of the Keller City Councilman John Hoffmann tonight along with the Keller Food Park owner Trey, and Scott the So-Cal Tacos owner. I felt like a mini celebrity….John and Trey knew exactly who I was just because of Facebook and Twitter.
Here’s the owner of So-Cal Tacos (Scott), his truck (Woody), and a glimpse of his wonderful food (Delmar Tacos (chicken) and Sopapilla Fries (honey and chocolate)!
So after a super busy day I get home and I have boxes on my doorstep!! Some towels and rugs for the boys bathroom and the best thing to end my day. My Keurig!!! So now I’m off to clean it up and wash some towels.
It was a strangely good day! Miss my momma but glad I kinda kept my mind away from the sadness a little..
by jcastles | Jul 17, 2012 | Family, Uncategorized
My mother Carolyn Sue Pitts (aka-Sookie) was born on September 6, 1955 and passed away at the age of 50 on July 19, 2006.
A few days from now it will be the 6th anniversary of my mom’s passing. She was 50 years young and the best mom/friend anyone could ask for. Six years ago I was 26 yrs old, married, had a 13 yr old stepson and a 2 yr old son. The day before my mom passed (July 18th) I remember getting a call from my uncle telling me I needed to get to the hospital right away that they’d been there for a while and wondered where I was (the hospital did NOT call me like they were suppose to so I had no idea it was “time”). I left work immediately and made sure my husband could get off work early and get the little one from daycare along with all the other things that needed to be taken care of that night.
I get to the hospital and the entire family is there…..except for my brother and those that lived far (not many). So obviously the time was coming. My brother arrived that evening and he and I sat there for hours. About midnight I decided to go home and get some rest. I’d been up at the hospital just about every day so I was exhausted. Since we didn’t know how soon she’d pass I wouldn’t go up there until around 8 so I could put the little on in bed.
The next morning (July 19th) I get up early and send the little one off to daycare with his daddy and I call the hospital to check on my mom. My brother answered so we chatted for a minute and I told him I’d get some work done, shower, and be there within 2-3 hours. I hung the phone up and as soon as I went to put it on my desk it rang….it was my brother. He was screaming where are you!?!?!?! Where are you!?!?!?! I said I just told you….then it hit me…she was gone!!! My mom was no longer with us. I literally flew to the hospital….my younger brother was there all alone!! I called the family friend and told her to get there asap since she lived and worked so close.
I arrived at the hospital in like 15 min…usually a 30-40 min drive. I don’t speed but that day I did….alot. And for some reason there was no traffic…it was like I said earlier…like I literally flew! I parked the car and ran so fast to my brother and we just hugged. I was finally able to go in and see her…that was so hard!
She passed away from lung cancer. We all knew the day was coming so it wasn’t a surprise but it still hurts just as much. That was her second time to have lung cancer too. The first time I was 16/17 yrs old and she had surgery to have the lower left lobe of her left lung removed….she recovered wonderfully but kept smoking. So we weren’t surprised it came back but not much you can do about that.
My Mom was definitely the BEST Mom you could ask for. She never got to meet Jayson….but I know she’s there with him…he was born 1 day before her birthday….so they’ll always share their birthday!
Here are some of my favorite pics of my mom…I hope you enjoy.
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by jcastles | Jul 6, 2012 | Family, Uncategorized
Some of you know that I’m a clean freak and very organized and if you didn’t you know now, hehe! If I’m not organized or do not have a plan I seriously can not function. That’s just how I was raised….I definitely followed my momma in that department.
So…there are a few rules I have about laundry. And I’d like to share them with you all.
1) I DO NOT EVER check pockets! If I find it I throw it away or I keep whatever it may be….ya know like money, I keep money!! (I found a $50 in a pocket once…that was awesome!)
2) If it’s inside out you get it back…on your floor. I don’t have time to fix the clothes.
The main reason I have these rules is because there are 5 people in the house. Most of the time I do laundry Wednesday’s and Sunday’s if I checked pockets it’d take me forever. Same thing with turning clothes right side out.
Not only does this benefit me it helps the kids gain responsibility. If they treasure what’s in their pockets they’ll check them.
Something else you should know….I’ve NEVER lost a sock. I may have freaked out not being able to find one a time or two….but I found it in the end.
There….that’s my laundry rant..
by jcastles | Jun 29, 2012 | Uncategorized
This past year my boys have gotten real close with their great grandma. We knew she was getting up there in age and have spent the last several holidays at her house so she wouldn’t have to travel. She loved my boys so very much. She was always hugging on them, talking about them, and just loved them so very much.
Well this past Saturday June 23, 2012 we lost Grandma Mary. She went into surgery to have 7 bypasses and she just didn’t recover. Grandma Mary was a kind woman and treated me like one of her own grandchildren. She will be missed!
Below is a picture that was taken Christmas 2011. Grandma Mary and her 7 great grandchildren.
As my in-laws were rummaging through a few of Grandma Mary’s things they came across this paper tucked away in her bible. My father in-law read it at the funeral and it touched me so much I scanned it so I could keep it. It was something she gave her mother years ago and reminded me of my mother who passed away 6 years ago next month.
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by jcastles | Jun 22, 2012 | Uncategorized
I’ve been using a little mason jar for my youngest son’s “piggy bank” for a while. There are two problems with that. One, I have to handle it anytime he puts change in it because it’s breakable. Two, It was ugly! Sure I could have cutened (yes that’s a word, lol) it up a bit but why for such a short term thing (well it was suppose to be short term).
I decided it was time! So with my container, scrapbook paper, letter stickers, and mod podge in hand I went to work. This project took me all of 10 minutes! It’s cute and my 3 yr old can hold it when he puts his own money in now!
First I washed the canister and let it air dry. Then I cut my scrapbook paper to size, used mod podge to adhere it to the canister (elmers works too–used it before for a project like this), stuck my stickers, cut my hole (big enough for a quarter to fit), and it’s now on display in my son’s room (up high of course–I don’t need him choking on a quarter!).
Easy, cute, and it works!.
by jcastles | Jun 21, 2012 | Birthday Parties, Holiday Crafts, Uncategorized
So school is out and summer is here! We definitely know that summer is here in this house….our air conditioning has been out for a week!!! Luckily for most of the week it’s been out we had a little rain that cooled the temperature off a bit. So mostly we’ve been in the low 80’s but we’re quickly climbing back into the mid 90’s! We do have 2 window ac units and a stand alone unit that we’ve hooked up so the living room and bedrooms are cool at night and tolerable during the day.
So back to the popsicle parties! Since my youngest son is 3 and most of his classmates are young I scheduled his popsicle party for the morning. And I had a genius idea to schedule my middle son’s popsicle party for the same day but in the afternoon. Maybe it was the heat since we had no air or the outside temp being in the 90’s since 10am that day but yah….I don’t think i’ll ever do them the same day agian!
Here is a pic of a generic popsicle invitation. I created the invite in photoshop (just learning how to use it). Anyway, I used a popsicle coloring page template, added my text, hot glued a popsicle stick on the back and used a 1.5 inch scallop craft punch to make the bite look. For my real invitations I used some super cute cardstock from Michaels. It was a pale yellow, seafoam green, and a blue…they had embossed polka dots on them too. But this was my test paper…paper I already had at home that I just don’t use.
To get the template email me at messijessimail.com (i’ll post the template when I figure out how to get a psd uploaded!)
Here are pictures from Jayson’s (youngest son) party!
And this is my middle son’s popsicle party!
Overall everyone had tons of fun! I loved the smiles on my boys faces!
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by jcastles | Jun 20, 2012 | Uncategorized
This hopper landed on my windshield as I was pulling in my drive way yesterday. I only noticed that it looked like it was on my house when I posted to facebook. I did not edit the hopper onto my house…I did add a filter and border from Instagram!
Totally awesome!
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by jcastles | Jun 20, 2012 | Family, Uncategorized
My nephew graduated high school the other day. I wanted to give him a cash gift but didn’t want to do a gift card or just a card with the money in it. So I got to thinking and this is what I came up with.
The small print says:
To get this free printable (8×10):
Happy Graduation.
by jcastles | Jun 19, 2012 | Family, Uncategorized
Last year for Father’s Day I made one kick butt card for the hubbs and knew I had to out do it this year. So of course I hit up Pinterest! I found several great ideas but with the air conditioning being out I didn’t have much time to do anything.
First we gave Dad some money. My middle son had been wanting to get him tools so I thought this was the best way but didn’t want to put cash in a card….how lame is that! So I went to my local Dollar Tree to browse the isles for ideas and decided to go with a mason jar.
So I put my $20 bill in the jar, added some basket shred, put my top back on, and hot glued a flower (in daddish colors) I made to the seal of the mason jar. I also added some letters that spelled DAD on the jar. They came from regular ole alphabet scrapbook paper and I attached them with my tape runner.
Next I made a document in Photoshop (yah…i was impressed with myself, lol!). I put questions in that all 3 kids could answer no matter how silly or real it was. It was real funny seeing the difference in them all.
Want this doc?
Download here: All About Dad.
Next up was a shirt i’d seen on Pinterest. I had my very artistic 19 yr old stepson do all the work. He decided to draw it with sharpie markers and he incorporated the first letter of each kiddo in the track (D,K,J). I think he did a FANTASTIC job! And Dad really loves this shirt!!
My last project I wanted to make was a handprint gift. I got a document frame from the Dollar Tree and used scrapbook paper and cardstock I had on hand. Traced the kiddies hands on scrapbook paper in coordinating blue’s and taped them to my cardstock using my tape gun. Before I taped them to the cardstock I created a paper in photoshop that said “We ♡ Dad” at the top and at the bottom it had the boys names and the year. He liked it so much he took it to work with him!
I hope all the Father’s out there had a great Father’s Day…I’m pretty sure ours did!.
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