A Fabulously Flawed Life

I'm in serious need of some Father's Day ideas!! If you have any, please let me know. As a swap here are my ideas. 1. Print off this Father's Day Coupon Book and let your kiddo fill it in. It's simple and something they can do on their own. Print it out here . 2. Also, you can print off this cute tie, color it, cut it out, and tie it onto Dad's favorite soda. "Pop, Pop, Fizz, Fizz, Oh what a great Dad you is! Print it out here . 3. Here's a Father's Day Card with a beautiful poem about Daddy's Footprints. Daddy’s Footsteps “Walk a little slower, Daddy”, Said a little child so small. I’m following in your footsteps, And I don’t want to fall. Sometimes your steps are very fast, Sometimes they’re hard to see; So walk a little slower, Daddy, For you are leading me. Someday when I’m all grown up, You’re what I want to be; Then I will have a little child Who’ll want to follow me. And I would want to lead just right, And know that I was true; So, walk a li...

Here's such a simple yet heart-felt gift idea! Simply order the vinyl lettering and stick onto a tile. Easy!

For the boys "graduation" present this year I took them to the Build-a-Bear Workshop. They are still really into stuffed animals so it was a perfect present for them! Fungus (Dylan's dog) and Nay Nay (Davis' horse) are the two lastest additions to the family. I think this has been the best end of year gift I've given them to date.

I finished my 2003 Shutterfly photobook today and there was this picture. Davis was 5 and Dylan was 3 years old at the time. When I took it we were on a beautiful old fashioned boat at Moody Gardens in Galveston, Texas. We were in such a fun place and the boys were being stinkers! Seeing it again reminded me of what Katri posted on her blog the other day about her "flawed yet happy family". For some reason that really spoke to me and I've been thinking about it ever since. I think this picture represents my "flawed yet happy family". ;-)

So, I'm still laughing about "Sangina" and wouldn't you know Blake was on Regis and Kelly this morning (which I never watch). So I'm all excited and of course... a severe weather warning interrupted the show and I missed his perfomance. Did any of you see it? What did you think?

So after two weeks of re-finishing this bookshelf, I'm finally done. Jason carries it upstairs, the boys and I lug all the books upstairs (from my once-messy closet), it takes me over an hour to get the books and shelves in the right place, I show it to Julie, and... I wish I had painted it black. Ahhh! I wanted it to have an authentic wood finish - but in the room it would look so much better if it was black. Bummer! What do you think, should I take the time to refinish it again?

May was such a busy month with both the boys in baseball that I let a lot of things go around the house - mainly my closet. It got to the point that I couldn't keep anything organized in it. So, I gave it a makeover. Before Jason's Side: Before Laurie's Side: Before After Jason's Side: After Laurie's Side: After Tip: Large Decor Baskets are really pricy, so I made my own. I bought cardboard boxes and hot glued fabric onto them. The fabric coordinated with my bed and bath decor. The green bins are actually plastic (although they look like tin) and I got them from Wal-Mart for $4. What made this make over so easy was that the boxes were bigger than the baskets I would have purchased so EVERYTHING I needed to store fit inside. Yeah! What do you think?

So, yesterday when we came home from the lake, we were all frantically showering and getting ready to go over to Wendy's house. Davis came in my room and stopped before he came into my bathroom. He yelled, "Mom am I going to see your butt?" I told him I was dressed. He then said, "What about your Sanjina?" I held in my laughter and ran to tell Jason what he had said. We laughed and laughed until I was crying. I didn't realize how much Sanjaya from American Idol had influenced our lives. LOL!

The holiday weekend started off badly with a lot of rain and on Friday I got food poisoning to boot. Luckily, I was feeling much better by the evening and we kept our babysitter. We ended up doing some shopping for the house and then ending the evening at Chili's. We ran into our friend Wendy at Home Depot and then ran into the Thompson's at Chili's. (We ended up eating with them - FUN!) Saturday night we met with our dinner club at the Cheesecake Factory and watched Pirates III afterward. Good food and great friends - it was the perfect evening. What did ya'll think about Pirates!?! Personally I didn't like the ending... Well, after owning our SeaDoos for over 2 months - we finally took them out on Monday! YEAH! It was still sprinkling and the sun wasn't out but we put on our wetsuits and made a couple hours of it anyway. What a BLAST! I'm looking forward to more family picnics and adventures at the lake. We ended the evening at Wendy's house (from Home...

I am so excited to add more amazing products to the store. I met Lindsey, who owns Bumblebeebaby Boutique, at a community event here in Keller. We connected instantly! She sells these amazing diaper cakes (with stuffed animals, toys, binki's, etc in them), I spy bags, burpees and tag blankets. Give me a day or two to add all her products!

Everyone has a story and a reason for why they make big commitments in life. This is my story of why I created Executive Homemaker . I’ve owned the domain name for almost 5 years. After a year of searching for the right “look and feel”, another year and a half of constant design, and a chunk of money, I officially launched Executive Homemaker (EH) in February 2007. There are many reasons I wanted to do this but the main two are 1) I wanted to help women earn an income and 2) I feel like if you have a great tip or idea you should share it! My mom is extremely talented. She can do anything from sewing a wedding dress, to painting a mural, or creating a flower arrangement. However, growing up we really struggled financially. As many talents as she had, she didn’t know how to charge people for her products and certainly didn’t know how to market herself and her product. So basically, I wanted to build a community where women can easily buy and sell their products and services. (I’m still d...

With a new home comes lots of fun projects! We've been in our house for a little over a year and I've had the best time making it a home that reflects our family. Davis' Rocket Room Dylan & Drake's Sports Room "Boys will be Boys" up the stairs

Jason and I have been married for over 11 years! It seems like yesterday we had our first child and were discovering the challenges of parenthood. He's so amazingly talented at so many things and has recently decided to get his MBA. Even though this will make me a "single-mom" for the next 2 years I'm bursting with pride. I feel like we've grown so much the past 11 years and sky's the limit with what we can accomplish together. (I know, gag me! Too much mush for a new blog.)

I love to let my hair down and get crazy with my friends. I'll admit it takes me about 30 minutes of driving fast with loud music to transition me from "structured mom" to "fun friend". I feel so grateful to have such amazing women in my life. I am truly blessed. Girls trip to Oklahoma! Rochelle's and my slumber birthday party! Who wraped the house!?! Melissa C, Me, and my sister Lisa in NYC. We're recreating the "Friends" fountain pose! I'm with Diana on the balcony of our cruise ship to the Caribbean. Shoot Yeah! My farewell party with my peeps! I miss you guys so much!

Here are my three boys: Davis, Dylan, and Drake. They are beautiful, loving, crazy, strong-willed, and energetic. They've made me laugh, cry, shout, giggle, frown, threaten, snort, kick the wall, smile and love. Most of all - they've made me become a better person.