Bloggy Carnival

It is that time of year again and Melanie is hosting her quarterly Bloggy Giveaway. I would love for one of you to win a monogrammed notepad! I can make it any color you would like. Just leave a comment and a way to get in touch with you (if your not a blogger) I will pick a winner on Saturday. This is for US residents only. If you would like an extra entry just click the follow me button on my sidebar. Good Luck. You can find more of my J Design items on my J Design Blog or just order from my Etsy store.

Holy Cow!

I was clicking around the blogosphere and stopped by one of my favorite blogs. An Island Life. Kailani was one of the first blogs I started reading three years ago. She is like the rock star of bloggers and has tons of giveaways and is responsible for the Aloha Fridays that I participate in.

So imagine my surprise that she had posted about little ol me on her blog. I am her commenter of the month. Thanks so much Kailani!

giveaway

Don't you love giveaways? My friend Jen is giving away a $25.00 Lowe's gift card. Head over there and sign up! You will have something to start that home project you have been wanting to do.

Inauguration

Today is the 56th Inauguration ceremony. Four years ago today our family was at President George Bush's Inauguration. It was such a wonderful experience for our family. I highly recommend attending one if you are able. I did not have a blog back then so never documented it. I have scanned in our Tickets and invitations so that I can have a digital reminder of what a great time we had.

We left Birmingham Alabama very early Tuesday January 18, 2005. We were very surprised that Senator Shelby was on our flight. When we got off the plane we waited for him to exit and asked to get a photo with him. His wife was nice enough to snap the picture. It wasn't till later that I realized she had cropped part of his head off. haha A day later we were at a reception for Senator Shelby. The invitation was so thick and embossed. I love great stationery! Did I mention I wore long johns under my dress and snow boots to the reception. I changed in the bathroom at the Reception into high heels. It was just so cold riding the metro and all of the snow on the sidewalks would have been miserable in my high heels.(Leaving for Senator Shelby's reception)

My wonderful in laws met us at BWI with two cars. We were a family of six so two cars were needed. One car had the kids and one car dropped Busy Dad and I at a metro station so we could get to the reception for out Governor Bob Riley. I had a disposable camera with me and someone from his staff snapped a photo of us.

The day before the Inauguration we had to take the Metro into DC to pick up our tickets at Senator Shelby's office. They were very nice looking invitations. Thick card stock with gold printing around the edges and the seal at the top. After looking at the map on the back we realized we were in the nose bleed section. haha behind the Reflection Pool on the Mall. We didn't care we were just thrilled to be apart of history. Busy Dad had a distant cousin that working in Kay Bailey Hutchinsons office so we decided to head to her office to see if he was there. We caught him just in time as he was heading to lunch. He showed us around the office and gave us some KBH totebags to hold all of our touristy things. He asked where we were sitting for the inauguration and we showed him our tickets and he said I think I can do better than that and came out with five tickets that had us standing on the Capitol Grounds. The tickets were small and not as impressive as the earlier ones but boy were they fantastic. (Busy Dad with his cousin David in Kay Bailey Hutchinsons office)

We left 17 month old Abigale home with Grandfather. We had read all of the warnings and things that we could take into the ceremony and strollers were one of the banned items. We bundled up the kids in snow pants and parkas and I packed snacks and juice boxes. We hoped on the Metro in Rockville, MD and headed to the Inauguration. When we hopped out of the Metro and came up from underground....we could not believe the lines. They were wrapped around buildings and went on for miles. Well, it seemed that way. They had eight entry points to get into the Inauguration. We found ours close the the Capitol building and waited in line. Busy Dad noticed that another line was opening up and told us to hurry that way. I gave each child their ticket and pushed them forward. Our bags were searched and we were in!! If we had stayed where we were we never would have made it in in time to see everything. We were so lucky!!

We had a great place to watch...We put the kids on the rock wall so they could see the stage and the giant TV's that were there. We were near a speaker so we could hear everything.

After the inauguration we headed over to the parade route to see all the bands and the President and First Lady in the motorcade. We did not have tickets but somehow I found a gate that was being watched by a nice guard and he saw the kids and let us in. We sat in the bleachers and watched the whole thing! ( Laura Bush waved at us from the motorcade. Well, I think it was us)

The day was beautiful. Sunny, cold (but warmed up throughout the day) and just a fantastic memory for us and our children.

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

Today is my parents 40th wedding anniversary. I wish we lived closer so I could be there to celebrate. I put together a slideshow to help celebrate. Turn your sound on and click on full screen to enjoy!

I love you Mom and Dad!!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Facebook is the new Obsession

I joined Facebook late last year and went to it every so often. Then one day a friend from High School found me and we became "Friends" . Then her HS Friends became my friends and so on and so on. Then one of my sorority sisters (I was a ZTA) found me and then that opened the floodgates of all my sorority sisters on FB. I went from just a few friends to now having over 140 friends. I can see what they are doing when they write on their "Wall" and I can update my Wall from my cell phone. If you have not tried it you don't know what you are missing. Want to be my friend? Just sign up and type in Jennifer Amidon Wilson . Write me a note so I know that you are a blogger and don't ignore you on accident.

There are a few bloggers that I am friends with on FB. Annie is one of them and she wrote something the other day on her wall " FB is going to be the death of my blog" I can see that happening to me too. haha. I am on my phone more than I am on my home computer now!!

Do you have a Facebook account?

Thank you..Thank you very much!

Thank you..Thank you very much! ( you must say this with your lip turned up and with your best Elvis impersonation)


It was such a great feeling yesterday to head into the post office and drop off all of our Christmas Thank you notes. I think sending a hand written thank you note is a lost cause in today's society. I can remember as a child sitting at the table a few days after Christmas writing out my thank you notes. Thanks Mom!! I now have my children send thank you notes after Birthday's and Christmas.

This year I walked into the kitchen on Christmas Day and Katherine and Rebecca were sitting there writing out their thank you notes. I was thrilled and surprised that they did this unprompted by me! Hayden finished his up on Sunday and Sweet little Abigale was not to be outdone by her siblings. Usually I write out the note and she signs her name. This year she got Tinkerbell notecards in her stocking and she wanted to do it herself!

She wrote out in her best hand "Dear Mimi and Papa, Thank You! Love Abigale. The recipient is going to have to remember what they gave her. haha!

I came across this blog today and she had a great idea about sending thank you notes from children. Go check it out!

Need some help writing a note? Go here.

Do you send out Thank you notes? Do your children? What do you think about writing thank you notes?

Happy New Year!

It has been awhile since I posted... with all four kids home it has been a little crazy here at the Wilson house. I had a wonderful Christmas! My favorite gift would have to be my new RED BLACKBERRY CURVE! They should have a group for people to attend because it is so addicting. ....Hello my name is Jennifer and it has been a week since I started using my Blackberry curve!!!!! I am able to read emails, check Facebook out and text my children without it taking me 15 minutes for one line. haha

What was your favorite gift this year?

Are you in your charitable giving mode yet? January 2, 2009??? I know its only two days into this new year but I wanted you to read about my cousin Michael. He is racing all over the country to raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. He had his first race New Years Day and will run several this year. You can read about his quest here in his local paper the Brattleboro Reformer. If you would like to donate please go here. You can pledge any amount. How about $5.00?? That's the cost of a Starbucks. I am sure you could go one week without a Starbucks when you know that your money is going for a good cause! If you donate let me know I would love to say thanks and come visit your blog! If you want to go cheer him on you can leave a comment on his blog. He just started one today and will update it along the way.