Sittin' on GO!

We are T minus 13 days until we leave for DISNEY WORLD {jump up and cheer} with our great friends Timmy, Tara and Piper. We are taking Jack and Piper for their birthdays - Piper will be 3 in March and Jack will be 4 in April. Piper and her family have been twice before so I pretty much let Tara plan the whole trip and she has us ready to do some seriously FUN STUFF!! We plan to let both kids do their own thing and we will meet up with each other to eat each day.

Well, it has worked out so well (for me - hasn't helped Bethany a bit:) that Bethany and her family over at Vermillion Rules are leaving soon for Disney Land so I have been able to steal all her REALLY COOL ideas about getting ready for at trip to Disney like this great Disneyland Countdown and these super cute Disney t-shirts. She also has some great ideas on how to do Disney on a budget over at her blog. Anyway, most of these ideas are totally stolen from her, but here are my versions of her ideas AND how we are spending our time getting ready for the big trip!

Disney World countdown:

I made Jack and Piper one of these and they have the cutest ideas on them. So far, we have picked out our 4 favorite rides and decided that we most want to see Mickey and Goofy. Tomorrow, we are going to practice our roller coaster scream:) One day, we get to wear Disney pajamas to bed and another day we get to eat Mickey Mouse pancakes - so FUN! Jack is LOVING this - the only problem is that he doesn't like only doing one per day!!

I made these t-shirts for Piper and Jack. I had to sew mine by hand (cause there would be NO reason for me to own a sewing machine since I wouldn't have a clue what to do with it:) but it was still pretty quick work. They may not last very long but they'll be cute for at least one day! :)

And we've (of course) changed our Write It plate to help us countdown the days!!

So, we are Mickey Mouse crazy right now!! We got our free Disney Maps in the mail the other day and Jack found a Mickey Mouse water tower - oh, excited just doesn't describe it!! I just don't know if Disney is ready for Jack B... :)

Also, my friend Karen from Reflective Reasonings guessed correctly (as I knew she would if nobody got it before her) that the book the blog is named after is "At Home in Mitford" by Jan Karon. Congrats Karen - I'll get your goodie in the mail next week!

What's In a Name?

For a while, I've realized that our blog needed a name other than The Foreman Family, but it was just something I never got around to changing. Finally, I have decided to rename our blog. My blog is basically centered around our family, our home, and the every day things going on in our lives - you know, just parenting, what we do every day, the wanderings in my head...

{I'm kind of surprised you guys read it honestly :D}

...and a few other things from time to time - like my walk with Christ, parenting a child with asperger's syndrome, and (extremely cute, if a do say so myself) pictures of Jack B.

So, I decided to name our blog after one of my favorite books. I'm a book girl and this book is the first in a series that I've read several times. Every time I read it, I think, that's somewhere I would love to be - somewhere I would love to live - people I would love to know. And that's what I think of when I think of my home too - I love to be there, I love to live there, and I sure love the people there.

In conclusion, The Foreman Family blog is now "At Home on Brooklyn" (that's our road name by the way). And, I'll send the first person to guess the book the blog is named after a little goodie in the mail!! Happy guessing!!

ORANGE You Glad You're My Valentine?

Jack gave plates of fruit to his teachers from church for Valentine's Day. Everyone got a different fruit. He gave the oranges to my friend Shonna (his Mission Friends teacher) because she's a BIG Auburn fan. You know how much Jack loves her if he's willing to give her ORANGE for Auburn, right?? :-) It was really interesting how certain he was about which teacher got which fruit. I'm not sure of his choosing methods for his other three church teachers but he knew what he wanted. I got this neat idea from Bethany at Make Along and I got the download for the stickers from the original source: Twig and Thistle. I thought they were a really cute idea. And just call us the healthiest Valentines ever - I mean, first water and now fruit... People are just going to LOVE us and anxiously await our gifts every year, right?? :D We did put a little candy in for the teachers - I mean, they do teach Jack... They need a little pick me up every now and then:)

The apples were for Mrs. Beverly ..."You're the Apple of my eye!"... (Jack's Sunday School teacher); Mrs. April ..."I love you Berry, Berry much!"... (Discipleship Training teacher); Mrs. Laura ..."We make the perfect Pear!"... (Preschooler Praise teacher); and Mrs. Shonna ..."Orange you glad you're my Valentine?"... (MF teacher). I feel so very blessed to have these wonderful women love on my child with the love of Christ every week! And Jack loves them too!

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone!

Patsy Always Delivers

Those were Ben's words after seeing these pictures... "Patsy always delivers!" and he is so right! My fantastic and wonderful friend, Patsy Brown of Patsy Brown Photography a.k.a. A Thousand Words Photography took some pictures of us for our Christmas cards this year (as she does every year). They are FANTASTIC because she is so FANTASTIC and SUPER-TALENTED!!! Thanks Patsy, my sweet friend!

This one just captures Jack's personality so well :-)

He's faking that sweet and innocent something fierce here!

This is Jack's stimming behavior (or the most prominent one anyway). For some reason, I just love that she captured this - I can't really explain why??? I guess it's just such a huge part of who he is and what he does right now.

He looks so carefree here (which is NOT his personality most of the time) - Funny!

I always cherish our time with Patsy and I really cherish the memories she gives us!! Thanks again sister!

"Will You Please" Be Mine?

This title is a tribute to my son, who for the first time in his short life has shown at least a little desire to use good manners. YAY!! I've always tried very hard to teach Jack good manners, but with the exception of "thank you" (which he's always used a lot), he has just had NO TIME to be bothered with it. But somehow, someway, lately, everything is "Will you please...?" and it's really nice. Granted, sometimes is sounds like "WILL YOU PLEASE....?" but still... :-)

So, Jack only attends school part time now (Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday) which has been a heavenly change for us all. We took his class their Valentines today since he won't be back again until after Valentine's Day.

I got the idea from a guest post over at Tatertots and Jello by Kalleen over At Second Street. I really hate to even link it up b/c hers are so much cuter than ours, but gotta give credit where credit is due:) I just hate to get all that candy and small toys at my house and Jack LOVES these Hawaiian punch pouches so I thought this was a cute idea. Yep, we gave kids water for Valentine's Day - who thinks our Valentines are gonna be the favorites???? ha ha ha

I stole an idea from another blog for our teacher gifts, but we didn't get around to them last night. We'll make them for our church teachers. Sweet Ms. Katrina and Ms. Candy got a piece of chocolate pound cake instead, but they shouldn't complain. I mean, with us, it could've been water... :-)

"Gotta Be Buzz" Giveaway Winner

My first giveaway has been such fun!! I used the very advanced random selection method of my child picking a name out of a hat... :)

And the winner is.....

The Drama Mama @ The Scoop on Poop!

Congrats!! I'll be emailing you for contact info today! Thanks for entering everyone. I think having the giveaway is more fun than entering so I'll be doing this on a more regular basis!

"Gotta Be Buzz" Giveaway

In honor of Valentine's Day, I'm hosting my first blog giveaway!! I'm not a huge fan of Valentine's Day. I don't like candy; I'm not a fan of flowers; I have more stuffed animals in my house currently than one family will ever need; and I don't wear a lot of jewelry. So, I decided to go another way. For those parents out there that don't have a babysitter for a night together next week, I'm giving away one of our BEST store bought babysitters....

V Tech Toy Story 3 - Buzz Lightyear Learn and Go

Jack LOVES this game and will play it FOREVER!! Plus, it's a great educational toy. And I mean, really, didn't my first giveaway just have to be Buzz:) So, if you have a child or a friend has a child or if you have a niece or nephew or if you just want to give it away to kid you like (or a kid you don't like to get them to leave you alone:), just leave me a comment below and tell me what your plans are for Valentine's Day. You can enter through midnight Wednesday night and I'll randomly pick a winner. Be sure and leave your email address where I can contact you if you win.

I'm going to go watch Jack play with his Buzz - have a great night!!!

The Best of Intentions

I haven't posted in several days but I fully intended to attempt these adorable cupcakes I saw at Relatively Reagan for Groundhog Day.

I also intended to do a few crafts I had tagged over at Make Along. I was going to post about all these things. But y'all, I don't know what I was thinking... It's National Signing Day. Yep, and Alabama is in the race for the #1 class again this year. I don't know what made me think I could get anything else done. It's a miracle I made it to work today!!

I was telling my husband about my plans and he said, "Stick with what you know, baby." Probably good advice... I'll keep you all updated on Bama football and you all keep posting your adorable cupcakes, crafts, and other art:) I do so love to "pretend" I'm going to try it out.

Well, a five star who's brother plays for Bama has comitted to Auburn, but he hasn't signed his letter of intent yet... It's madness, I tell you! Gotta go check twitter.... :)