Our Royal Family

Our Royal Family

My Boy

My Boy
Age 14

The Countessa

The Countessa
Age 14

The Duchess

The Duchess
Age 13

The Princess

The Princess
Age 11

The Pooch

The Pooch
age 6

Miss Pooch

Miss Pooch
age 2

Friday, April 30, 2010

It's baseball season


We are half way through our 2010 baseball season and my son has been loving it!

He is ready to go to a game an hour before he actually has to be and can't wait to get to the field.

His favorite position to play is Catcher.  This is his first year getting to play that position regularly and he get's so excited.  After each game he always say's "Mom did you see me catch that really fast one!?"

This is is 4th year playing baseball and Hubby and I are amazed by his continual interest in the game and how much his skills have improved.

This weekend we look forward to taking him to a REAL baseball.  We do this once every baseball season, but this is the first year it will just be Hubby, My Boy and I.  The Girlies have a birthday party to attend.

Be sure to check back in on Monday to hear all about our Ball Field adventure and for
my very first GIVEAWAY here at This, That & Everything!!

Thursday, April 29, 2010

What was I thinking!!

I woke-up this morning with a ton of energy and motivated to get my laundry room cleaned out and organized.  For the last hour I have been kicking myself and repeatedly saying
"WHAT WAS I THINKING!!!!!!!!!!

Currently, this is what my dining room looks like!

All this stuff needs to find a home back in the laudry room. 
But my laundry room looks so nice!!!!!!

uhhh, what was I thinking!

Wednesday, April 28, 2010

A Dog's Life

On Monday I came home from the grocery store and after being home about 20 minutes I discovered this...................


Now, my first thought was ..."Is he alive!?"
Then I saw his chest rising.  He was just SOUND asleep!

This dog cracks me up!  He is the only dog I have every owned that sleeps all spread out.  He never sleeps curled up.

I guess I should take this as he's extremely comfortable in his environment!!

Please excuse the dirty window.  I do have 4 kids!!

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

FMM--5 Things I Love!

Join in the fun and participate in FMM at The Silver Lining
This weeks topic

Five Things I love

In addition to my Husband and my kiddies I love............

This speaks for itself!


This too speaks for itself!

And these too.  These are my weakness, my love!

Hydrangeas!

Vintage photos!
These are my Mother-In-Laws ancestors.  We are currently on the hunt to find out "who" they are.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Fun in the Sun

This last weekend we had nice enough weather to break-out our slip & slide.  The kids had been asking for weeks, ever since the Easter Bunny brought the slip & slide actually, to play on it.  We've had such unsettled, wet, cold, windy weather lately we couldn't do it.  But on Saturday we had 70degree weather and not a cloud in the sky!  It was beautiful!

Even Daddy joined in the fun.  Although he came away convinced slip & slides are not meant for anyone over the age of 10!  He was a bit sore the next day!


It looks like we may be able to bring it out again this weekend, inspite of 2 days of pouring rain once again!

Sunday, April 18, 2010

Tracing Your Genealogy-- Step 2

Now that you have written out a pedigree chart, started Individual Information Sheets for each member on your pedigree chart and hopefully spoken to other family members it's time to start  a Family Group Record Sheets for each family.  These will help to keep families together and help to aid in your searches.  Sometimes when you can't locate information on your direct ancestor, you can often find information on one or more of their siblings, but to do that you need to keep the family members grouped together.

Before you begin an online search at any of the genealogy sites or go to a genealogy library you should set research goals.  A Individual Research Goal sheet will help in setting goals for your ancestor search; what information are you looking for, where should you look.

Now you are ready to start your search.  Ancestry.com is a great site with lots of records to search, however there is a membership fee to view records.  You can use the message boards freely and often request help with a search or viewing a document if you choose not to become a member.  I am a member and am happy to help if I can.  You can email me at thisthateverything@comcast.net

Don't forget to check for local genealgy societies in the areas you are searching.  Many states and counties have such societies and they can be extremely helpful in locating local documents.

During your search be sure to write out a Research Log.  This is were you can quickly jot down information you gather during your search and keep track of the outcome.  This will help in avoiding a duplicate search.

Now go start searching.  I'll post next week on how to keep this all organized and keep names and families from getting too confusing and overwhelming.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Allergy Season is upon us.


My Boy has severe hayfever and every spring we go through more allergy medication than you could possibly imagine.  This past week was no exception.

Hubby took the kids for a hike and about half an hour after they left, Hubby called and said "Get eye drops  and get the shower ready for The Boy!...Hurry, we'll be home in less than 5 minutes!."

I opened the front door and My Boy's eyes were more swollen they I have ever seen them.  I imediately put drops in his eyes, gave him Benadryl and had him get in the shower.  It took a full 24 hours for the swelling to go down.

This after only hiking for 10 minutes!  My poor Boy!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Getting to know you.

Another fun Blog Carnival.  Visit
Mann Land 5 to play along.

1. What color do you wear the most? Black


2. Would you rather have $10,000 dollars or a dream vacation? Today I would take the $10,000 to pay taxes, now if I had read this yesterday before tax bill arrived, I would have sayed dream vacation!

3. Do you have a weird, quirky or unusual habit? I talk  to myself..........outloud.  I'm taking complete conversations.

4. I really need to start..........? to make more money!

5. What was the first blog you ever read? The Pigbear about 3 years ago

6. Do you collect anything? Oh my, over the years I have collected soooo many things!  Barbies, Mary Moos, sea shells, books, stickers.......currently I'm not activily collecting anything...shocking!

7. How old were you when you had your first kiss? LOL!!! 16.  I was too afraid to before that!

8. Do you text/twitter while driving? I don't text or twitter ever.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Who Do you Think You Are?

If you have not seen the new NBC show Who Do You Think You Are? You are missing out.  This has become by far my new favorite show.  Each week it follows a celebraty as they journey back in history to discover their family roots.  Sara Jessica Parker discovered she had a ancestor who was put on trial for being a witch during the Salem Witch Trials, Lisa Kudrow discovered an ancestor alive that had been presumed dead, Mathew Brodrick discovered he had an ancestor that died fighting in the Cival War.  The show airs Friday nights on NBC and Susan Saradon will be the next celebraty to discover her ancestry.

My passion for genealogy began nearly twenty years ago while I was in college. I was taking a Cultural Diversity course and the class was given an assignment to put together a family tree project. In starting that project I discovered how little I really knew about my heritage. I decided then to discover all I possibly could to learn more about my ancestors; who they were, where they were from.

I began by sitting down with my Maternal Grandfather to discover what information he had. He started by writing out a pedigree chart starting with myself and working backwards. I was amazed by the abundance of information my Grandfather was able to provide me with. He was able to provide not only names, but dates and professions as well as locations for each of my ancestors. That day I walked away with a pedigree chart going back four generations on both his side of my tree and my Grandmothers. I was fascinated.

In the nearly 20 years since that warm June afternoon, I have been able to trace several branches of my family tree, some as far back as the 1500’s. I have been able to solve long time family mysteries and accurately document many stories that originated from family folklore. I get such a rush from discovering another ancestor and being able to step one step further into my family history. I have learned on my journey that everyone has a story and I have made it my responsibility to record my family’s story for future generations.

I am by no means a professional genealogist, but I have learned a lot in the last twenty years and I would like to share my journey with others interested in tracing their family history. I will be putting together a series of post to add you in your quest, take what information works for you and adapt the information I provide to help your self discover your ancestors. So let’s get started…………..

Getting Started:

The very first step in the genealogy process is to start with what you know. The best way to do this is to start a pedigree chart beginning with yourself and working backwards from you. I have included a blank Pedigree Chart for you.

Once you have filled in as many names as you can from knowledge you already have, start an Individual Record Sheet for each member on your Pedigree Chart. Individual Record Sheets will be used to record all information you discover about that ancestor as you make your way back through history. I have provided a blank record sheet for you.

Your next step will be to talk to other family members and see what additional information they can provide. This is when your Individual Record Sheets will come in handy. You will know exactly what information is missing and will be able to gear discussions to fill in as many blanks as you can.

Have fun discovering your ancestry and be sure to check back for additioanl steps and tips for continuing your journey into the past.

Friday, April 9, 2010

How about a Five Question Friday post............



You can join too!  Go to My Little Life to play along!

Today's 5 Questions:

1. Who would you want to play you in a movie of your life?

   Without a doubt Reese Witherspoon.  I think she is just the cutiest thing, and I love all her movies!

2. Did you ever go to summer camp?
   Nope.  #1 because I never had any desire too and #2 my family could not afford it.
3. What sends you running and screaming in the other direction?
  Spiders, creepy crawlies, snakes, mice, kids with dirty hands or runny noises....that sort of thing.

4. What is something you do that drives your spouse nuts?
  Oh gosh there are many........tunning out the kids, eating sunflower seeds, spending hours, yes HOURS, reading a good book.  I'm sure there are other's, but these are what have come up this week. LOL!

5. What is currently your favorite song?
  Name the song....gosh I have no idea!  I am currently liking the Carrie Underwood song, I think it's called Temporary Home.  It makes me thinkn about my Grandpa and the day he died surrounded by family.  It makes me cry everytime I hear it, but I love it!

Ultimate Blog Party 2010

Ultimate Blog Party 2010


I'm participating in the Ultimate Blog Party 2010 hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom.
Here's what 5 Minutes for Mom has to say about the Ultimate Blog Party 2010:


The Ultimate Blog Party is a virtual party celebrating online friendships.
Join the party and find new blogging friends, connect with longtime blogging buddies and maybe even win a prize

To participate visit 5 minutes for Mom for the complete details, write a post on your own blog introducing yourself, then link up to 5 minutes for Mom.


So who is The Queen and what is This, That & Everything?


I am Hillary, aka "The Queen" and I've been happily married to my high school sweetie for nearly 13 years (we've been together for over 20yrs!)
We have four amazing kids!

First we have our 8yr old twins.
"My Boy" & "The Countessa"

Next we have our 7yr old daughter
"The Duchess"

Then we have our 5yr old daughter
"The Princess"

And our family would not be complete without our 2yr old Black Lab
"The Pooch" and frequently "The Wild Beast"


This, That & Everything was born out of my desire to connect with other Mom Bloggers and to share how I functional on a daily basis in a busy household of 6 + A dog.

Here you will find reviews of products & toys our family loves. Reviews of books I enjoy and sites I love to visit.  You will also read about our daily lives and those wonderful "mommy moments"...you know those moments when you think to yourself..."Who are these kids, and what has happened to my life??"

I also like to share my organizational ideas and things that help me get through the day in a somewhat organized fashion.

This, That & Everything is exactly that.........it's about a hodge-podge of ideas, thoughts and randomness.  I love getting comments and love getting new followers!!

The top three Blog Party Prizes I would love to win are:
#32 A $25 Target Gift Certificate
#73 A $30 Amazon Gift Certificate
#37 A $20 Visa Gift Card

If those aren't available I would love any of these prizes; 20, 31, 41, 48, 52, 61, 63, 84 or anything for kids ages 5-8 or something just for mom.

Happy Blogging!!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Super Stretchy ABC's


The Easter BUnny brought this fun game for The Princess to help her with letter recognition.  I have to say this is the funnest game our family has played in a very long time!  Not only does it help The Princess with her letter recognition, but she loves trying her hardest to get all the correct body parts where they need to be.

This game is very similar to Twister, but instead of colors your chiild has to put her foot, hand or ear on certain letters or pictures.  For each body part she is able to correctly place and hold, she gets those tokens to go in a litttle toy box.

At the end of the game, when all the foot print tokens are filled in, the "secret letter" is revealed.  The player with that token is the winner, if no player has that token the game goes to Thing 1 and Thing 2.

We have played it EVERY night since Easter and we have had a ton of laughs!  I highly recommend this game to families with preschool and school age kids!!

Thursday, April 1, 2010

Under Construction!

I'm in the process of making some changes around here.  Please stay tuned.......