Happy Halloween! 2012

Orange shirt day     Nov 1, 2102   Why is it so hard to get a picture of all 3 boys!?!



Oct 31, 2012
Can't stop laughing!! I always call Andrew "Boo Boo Bear" ... and I just accidentally said, "Let's go, Poo Poo Pear!" {So hysterical! These boys are totally rubbing off on me! Since when did I laugh so much at poo poo & fart jokes!?!} BTW, feeling so thankful for the friends I have made in SC, I really feel blessed & surrounded by such a wonderful group of girls. God is so good to me! Have a great fun & festive day today!

God is Good!!!!

Two things that made me smile (and cry like a baby) today:

THIS long-awaited post by my sweet friend. Woo Hoo!!!!! {{Ash, we are rejoicing with you! Wishing you endless sweet moments with your little family back together again! xo}}

and THIS sweet note (letter to self in 1987 by Shannon at Rocks In My Dryer)

Fun at the Zoo

Unexpected Inspiration

I got a lovely gift in the mail yesterday!!!!

I won a giveaway on my friend's blog (dream create share)-- and for my 'prize', I chose a handmade piece of jewelry. The other choices were a handmade journal or a paper pack.

Well, not only did my package include these absolutely beautiful earrings...

{{(love them, love them!) Umm, LOVE THEM!!!! I don't know what else to say. But I do want to wear them every day. Today I chose my outfit simply so it would match the earrings.}}

...But there was MORE!

She included this gorgeous journal

and a paper pack full of fun papers and trims.

I can't wait to use them. My heart feels full! I want to just sit alone with these goodies and create! And pour myself into it! I haven't done that in so long, and I didn't think it was necessary- but having this in front of me-- this open, empty book-- a blank canvas and lots of media to create with --- it's drawing me.

This is who I am and what I've been doing my whole life, but it was one of the first things to go when my life got fuller. (Journaling & creating.)

Dede- thank you for the amazing gifts, and also for the inspiration that you have given me! I CAN.NOT. wait to spend some time with my journal. I absolutely treasure it. And the earrings, they are my favorite. Absolutely perfect! You are such a beautiful person and an inspiration in more way than one. Keep on loving life and living your passion in that contagious way that you do! Thank you again, sweet friend!

Playdates & Mommydates

Jake and his sweet friend, Julia, playing at the park. They are both so cute and at such a fun age!




Jake was giggling so much, all scrunched up in the swing

And Austin, just chillin'

Julia and Jake had so much fun playing at his new sand & water table. Jake could sit there playing for hours on end- what a cool toy.

What's NOT pictured are the two mommies relaxing outside, camera's ready, enjoying some time catching up and just hanging out. It was so good to hang out with my friend, Bri, who is a wonderful mommy & person. It's amazing to think that we met probably over ten years ago, at one of my first 'real' jobs (I was ~18). {{P.S. Bri, was the lastname Dean?}}

(Here we are last February at storytime)

Tomorrow my sister is having an International Party, where everybody brings a dish from another country. I'm still unsure what I'm bringing, but if it's any good I'll post the recipe. I made Tabouli Salad the other night and it didn't turn out great. Although now I have a new challenge... NOW I have to find a recipe that uses ingredients that I already have on-hand because we are finally home from a long day & I can't take the kids out again, I just can't!

I'm pooped!!!

Maybe one of these days I'll think of something worthwhile to write! Until then, I'm just going to post random pictures. They make me happy.

Austin's 2nd tooth is coming in. He got his 1st one about a week ago. Lastnight we were *all* feeling his pain.

THIS...
made me cry like a baby yesterday!!!!

Jake is transitioning out of the crib. It's been anticipated since I got pregnant with Austin. I knew it was coming, and wasn't the slightest bit emotional about it. I set up his toddler bed on Wednesday with excitement. But yesterday he took his 2nd nap in it. I left his room feeling so proud of him. But the moment I sat down at my computer desk, I just started crying!

My baby isn't a baby anymore! It is going WAY too fast!!! I simply can't get enough but these babies, they keep growing and changing and each stage ends just as quickly as it begins. Ahh, I love them! I just want a little more time being right here. Can't we just slow this thing down!?!

(P.S. those pics from camera phone, sorry poor quality)



So while we're on the subject of babies and the way they make time travel at warp-speed... Austin is SIX MONTHS OLD today!!!! I can. not. believe it. It's truely impossible. He has been getting a bit hysterical lately, he thinks his brother is hi.larious, and I *love* it! I have a thing for baby laughter. (Don't we all?!?) And especially when it comes from my own babies!

Here are a few pics from a recent girl day at the Carlsbad Flower Fields. We had so much fun, relishing in all the photo ops this beautiful place provided. (Oh, but did I mention that I FORGOT my camera!?!) Thanks to my sweet friend Liz, who took some pics for me with her camera!

And one last brother picture-- this was at about 6:00 am this morning. Isn't is wonderful how wide awake they are? Look at the energy and finesse that my son is radiating. I wish my face looked like that at six o'clock in the morning! I'm a night owl who has always wanted to be a morning person. I try! I try every day! I work early, my kids wake early... but I just am not a morning person. I hope they remain morning people though. It'll help them a lot in life!

I just re-read this post and it sounds so punchy and choppy. I don't care. What mom of two babies has time to edit! I barely have time to write anything, as you may have noticed. So there you have it, my un-edited train of thoughts. Kinda funny, not ha ha funny, but awkward funny-- but that's okay. This might be the norm around here. Have a great day & weekend!

I've been enjoying reading these blogs- written by three amazing & Godly women, whom I'm very thankful for! Ashleigh at Heart & Home (who expressed similar maternal sentiments as her baby turned 6 months yesterday!), Kimberly at A Planting of the Lord, and Jess at Mourning into Dancing. These girls rock! :) haha I'm not sure if I've ever said that before, but it's true anyway.

My Sister & "Bestest in the Westest"!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHICKA!!!!!



Lastnight was my sissy's birthday party... I spent 4 1/2 amazing child-free hours with my friends!!!!!! (AMAZING!) We had such a wonderful time! I LOVE being with my babies, but it is so refreshing to just have a few hours of fun with adults who actually have more than a 20-word vocabulary! Currently, my only child-free time is the 1-2 days per week that I spend at work, so I don't think that counts as "me-time." I'm not complaining, but I AM rejoicing in the time I had lastnight!!!

Anyways, my sister is one of my best friends on this planet! I LOVE her sooo much and had so much fun just being with her and celebrating HER. She is beautiful, strong, soooo giving and loving, and inspiring... I could go on and on. Most of all, she's always been my hero. We've been connected at the hip from the time I was born... best friends, partners in crime, bobsy twins. I love you 'sisser' ... HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

Jake Walked!!!
I was working & Kevin had court, so he was with Grandma yesterday and she video taped it for me... so cute!!! I loved getting all the excited calls and text messages throughout my day at work, I was telling *everybody*!!! He took his first steps a few months ago, but this was the first time that he "took off" and walked almost across the room. Woo Hoo! My baby is getting so big!!!!


Jake and his buddies! Above is Jake and his cousin Robby (4-mo) with Kevin's parents. And below is Jake and his friend, Will (8.5-mo)... {son of my friend, Julie}. Jake had so much fun playing with all of Will's cool toys! :) We need to continue socializing with other babies so we can continue to teach him about sharing! He was easy to redirect and 'teach' about sharing, but he still tried to take toys out of Wills hands a few times.

And below is a picture I took today. Jake and Kevin were cracking me up, they were having so much fun & laughing together- so cute! He loves his daddy so much!!!


Here's a little blurb about sugar... a little informational post, so please skip it if it's going to be boring for you! I do a lot of "research" on things- random stuff... since I have a blog and nothing interesting to say most of the time, I thought I'd share it once in a while in case anybody is interested.
So I have a major sweet tooth lately, but try to avoid artificial sweeteners. Sugar isn't great for our bodies, but my feeling is that if I'm going to eat it, I'd rather eat the real stuff as opposed to the chemicals. During my 'refresher' meeting today with the doula, we reviewed all the material from last years full-course. We ran across some information that made an impact on me last time I read it (1st pregnancy), when I stopped eating artificial sweeteners. Here are a few little tidbits from my reading.

Sodas- though I don't drink soda (once in a blue moon), but it's shocking- it has 12-16 tsp of sugar in it!! UGH! And diet sodas are completely OFF LIMITS because they're loaded with artificial sweeteners!

Sugar substitutes
NutraSweet (Aspartame)- converts in the body to formaldehyde & formic acid - both poisons! (a neurotoxin & class A carcinogen) For more info: http://www.icnr.com/nutrasw.html
In pregnancy the effects of aspartame can be passed directly to the fetus even in very small doses. It's one of the 'illegal' foods during pregnancy. 80% of all complaints to the FDA about foods/additives are about aspartame!

NutraSweet/Equal/Spoonful are all toxins, & even present in kids medications, toothpaste, & vitamins. Oooh! Need to check those labels!

Splenda (sucralose) - it does start as a sugar molecule, but they add 3 chlorine molecules to it (see the 5-step chemical process to making splenda here), which causes it to be transformed to a different chemical all-together. There have been 6 human trials, the longest of which lasted only 3 months. I just don't trust it!

Okay, that's my health blurb for the day! P.S. I'm not that healthy! In fact, quite the opposite lately! I avoid the unnatural sugar substitutes, but eat a lot of regular sugar these days! I was sooo good during the 1st pregnancy, but this time I'm almost out of control! Eating some sort of sugar-food almost every day! It's terrible!!! My poor baby is probably bouncing off the walls in there!

P.S. Some info is from www.mercola.com as well

Happy 4th Birthday Daisy! (8/26)

(You might recognize this pic... it's from 3 months ago... I'll get a more recent one later!)

Last weekend I went to LA for a friend's baby shower- it was so much fun reconnecting with old friends! These are a bunch of girls I used to work with at Cedars-Sinai 4 years ago. As much as we have wanted to over the years, we hadn't seen eachother since I left!