Getting Ready a little early..

Today (Fri) while the babies were napping - Nora and I got a head start on her Valentines. One of the little girls in her class named Carley passed out her Valentines last week??? I'm not sure why so early?? but that got Nora in the mood to begin making her own too.

First we cut out a heart template and then traced it all about on the poster board. Nora even helped on this part which took lots of concentration on her part ;) I wish I had taken photos of us in progress... but at the time I didn't think of it.
I bought a 5 pack of glitter pens, which didn't go far... but we did the best we could with them. It was Nora's idea to add the buttons to the glitter paint while they were wet. I'm hoping they stick.

No one can truly appreciate these homemade hearts as much as I can... these are her **treasured buttons** ... the same buttons she has been playing with, cooking with, counting and sorting for over 2 years now as I worked on my quilting projects... First upstairs in the sewing/guest bedroom and recently in the dining room where I've moved my sewing machine to.

In the guest room, she'd carefully carry them over on a platter to the night stand and have me stop what I was working on to come open her oven doors for her... ;)

I only cut around about half of them - I'll save the rest for her to work on later. I know she's gonna be mad at me for even cutting on some of them as she is so independent... ;) We'll have to go shopping to find the perfect heart suckers to tape to the back of each valentine..

I only wish now we had cut them out first and she'd signed her name on the back of each heart. It will be hard for her to do that now with the buttons glued on. *sigh* Hind sight is 20/20.

Monday she will take shoebox to school to decorate as her mailbox for Valentine's Day. I don't recall ever making one of my own as a kid - but do remember other kids having them with them on the school bus. I always thought the shiny ones were the prettiest. (aluminum foil)

what's mine is mine and what's Yours is mine

Paul Thomas has loved shoes for several months but only within the past week or so he has laid claim to Nora's Cinderella slippers!

We're talking EVERY waking moment of EVERY waking day... doesn't' matter if he has on footed PJs or not - he is gonna be wearing these shoes! uham, I mean "heals" that I call clickers..

b/c despite the tile floors downstairs.. he has never fallen or slipped... he just click, click, clicks all around and man is he fast!

In the photo - all of his favorites... his "clickers", a ball, the step ladder, and that baby doll carrier... he HAS to have it on his arm just as bad as he HAS to have those Cinderella slippers on his feet! *sigh*

So far, David is playing cool... holding his breath hoping this is just a phase.. but you can bet Daddy would have a fit if after work he came home to "polished piggies" LOL :P

Maybe for valentines... ?

Goodbye AT&T - HELLO SPRINT ;)

I don't remember if I posted when I lost my cell phone just after Christmas or not... what an expensive trip to Target that day turned out to be... I wish I had never went the first Saturday of the new year to look at clearance items...much less bought that new CHI shampoo! Every time I shower and use those bottles I get sick to my stomach.

Not know the story? Let me give you the summary aka long story short - which I'm not so short on most times. LOL

I was at the Christmas stuff in Target 1st Saturday of the new year...David called me to tell me he and twins were headed to check out.

I say OK, Nora and I are on the way, hang up and put phone in pocket. walk up to front, stop at the shampoo bend down to read a bottle, stand up, walk to check out see over 35+ carts between David and me, go to call him, and I HAVE NO PHONE

ANYWHERE - not in pocket, purse, or shopping cart!^?$%*#

yes, I looked, and looked, backtracked all my steps 7 or 8 times, asked employees, customer service...even scanned all phones being held by everyone and anyone in the store that day... a week later check again, 2 weeks, on and on... whoever found it never turned it in so I consider it stolen. :/

Anyway -on to trying to get another phone.. after all I'm still being billed for service, so I need a new phone right? right.

For the past 4 weekends we have visited the AT&T store every Saturday - the day of to suspend service.. next week to see if we could get a replacement phone.. and have even called them and Tech support at least twice every week...

Nothing but the run around!

Can you believe that they told me there was NO PROMOTION I could receive b/c I had signed a new 2 year contract this past summer.. when I bought my (stolen) phone.. and that their cheapest phone in house would cost me $189.00!!!!!!!!!!!! I looked at it and it was a cheapO flip phone that didn't even have a color screen or camera... ummm NO THANK YOU! I need a phone to use with my laptop! no way I'm paying that much money for a junker!

Well this week David harassed them once more with a phone call and wasn't so nice on the phone with them.. after it was all said and done.. they were gonna give us 4 choices of phones for reduced rate of $299... Backberry curve, pearl or two others..I forget... but all compatible to use with my laptop.. still not a great deal - but a reduced cost..

So yesterday we drive over to Pt. Aurthur to the same AT&T store.. get in there wait our turn.. explain what Customer Service has promised us.. they look it up - AND NO DEAL! no notes anywhere to verify what we told them customer service had told us... urgh!

AT&T rep. tells me her hands are tied, she can't do anything unless they put in in the account notes so David uses his cell to immediately start calling customer service and tell them off and to get it verified and put on the computer b/c dang it we want to buy a phone today! It's been 3 weeks already we are not driving over here agian for a phone!

While David is on hold - he uses a computer on display at the AT&T store and looks up Sprint's phone number and tells me to call that number and just ask if they have any current promotions...
I stand there in the middle of the AT&T store and call SPRINT! on their display phone!

Tonya, who answered, told me that the same phone we are looking at (Blackberry Curve) is ON SALE for $149 and also will have a $100 mail in rebate - total cost to me for the new phone will be $49. I ask for info on rate plans.. and directions to their store in Beaumont..

sounds GOOD TO ME! Let's leave!

I tell David Sprint's deal -loud enough the person on the other end can hear.. he tells them we are leaving they say HOLD on.. so he does all the while we are loading up kids and stroller in the van..

He is still on with ATT customer service... and they begin to pannic - yet giving him the hold on a minuite.. I guess typing it all up .. but bottom line they WON'T match the deal!

So we drive over to Beaumont to Sprint.

Breaking my contract will cost us $174 with AT&T... but I rather do that then pay them another $299 for a phone! yeah I really dislike AT&T now - Especially after today! I'm so glad we dropped their a$$ and went with Sprint.

We've never switched carries in almost 10 years... and they could care less about keeping us.
AT&T jerked us around 3 Saturdays in a row and were doing NOTHING to help us get another phone! nothing!

So worth it to pay the $174 to break our contract.. and go with Sprint's deal.. only $49 after rebate for same phone!!! we came out $76 ahead!

Not only did we get a GREAT deal on an awesome phone... it gets better -

I got to keep my same phone number! and the icing on the cake? Sprint participates with Upromise so now we get $50 towards Nora's college for the new service!!!

Best choice for us by far!!!

Still stinks that I lost my other phone...and all the contact info... but at least we got a GREAT deal on this one!

I'm so glad we didn't skip the tree this year

I la,la,LOVE our Christmas tree! But I have to confess... I came very close to skipping it all together this year. Especially after seeing how hard it was to be on guard every waking hour with the twins while we were visiting my dad's home at Thanksgiving (and there were 4 of us adults watching them!)

The whole drive back from KY, I kept thinking how in the world are we gonna keep the babies from tearing down our tree!??

Finally I came to a conclusion - instead of putting it up in the den -this year we'd put it in the front room and add yet another gate to our "gated community" and just simply keep the babies outta there for the next few weeks.

and although we didn't get out all of our special ornaments this year.. and we didn't even put on the red ribbon that I love...we did put up several of our old memories as well as a few new ones that Nora made this year. ;)

This first one is my favorite new one from this year b/c of what it means.. Learning to use scissors was a HUGE ACCOMPLISHMENT for Nora this year in preschool. I still remember her huge proud smile when I picked her up from school and she showed me this candy cane she made all by HERSELF. :Da star that Nora brought home from School this year. She also made a flower pot bell at Vacation Bible School this summer and I saved it for the tree - but forgot to take a photo of it.

and speaking of made "by myself" - this Noel wreath will always be special - my mom and I went through a huge crafting stage in the 80's - we had an awesome room in the basement set up with all our paints and made lots of stuff. She let me make this wreath all by myself! ;) I still wonder why I didn't give the letter "L" a design... maybe I ran out of ideas?

This cross is one I made at Vacation Bible School one year.

and this glass ball was made by a friend in Georgia.. in our BC life (before children) we gathered with about a dozen other BC couples every week for Friday Night Steaks... and that year one of the wives made these for each of the couples. Wasn't that sweet? I wonder where everyone is living these days since Augusta... Only one of those couples do we still keep in touch with now almost 12 years later..

and the bear in the stocking is another I painted at home with mom.... and the candle below was the one she made that year.. I'm so grateful to have an ornament made by my mother.

I'm looking forward to making ornaments with Nora, Olivia and Paul Thomas in the years to come...