:: La Fresh ::

I am kinda weird about my environment and my World.  I am trying to be the best recycler but I need improvement.  I am all about doing what is good for the Earth.  I am such an animal person that I probably should be vegan and do the no eating meat part.  But I don't so I need improvement but the one part I am doing good at is trying to be Paraben-free!  Yes, I still buy product that isn't but I would say I am 80% better about being Paraben free in my lotions and whatever I put on my body.  Why?  Well cause Paraben's are banned in Europe and if they are banned there they should be banned in the USA.  They are one of the leading causes of cancer and I am trying my best to not put it on my body and on my whomps.  So yes I still have Victoria Secret and Bath and Body works lotions but I am trying to use them up (save money you know) and I haven't bought any of their product for over a year just trying to use up what I have alot of my fav's that I can't get anymore.  Tough, but really need to do!  So DeOna said that Grace's skin is dry and needed to have lotion on it so of course Grace heard that and now we put lotion on her after her shower!  My girl is taking showers now!  After Dr. B told her she needed to stop taking baths cause it was causing yeast down yonder and of course she hates getting her face wet so after thinking about it for a day she tried showers and now loves them.  Thank goodness!  I started having Hunter take showers that day to and now no more baths we are shower's!  This is a huge transition for me!  No more babies we got big kids standing in the shower and taking less time to shower then bath.  Anyways back to my original post!  So now I have to use lotion on Grace so we are using up my last Pear Glaze V.S. and I know I shouldn't put it on her but she is excited to use my lotion and it is almost gone then she can have her own safe Paraben free kind! 

Introducing my new favorite organic company....Blissmo!  I buy a box of organic product once a month that comes to my door once a month I choose what kind I would like and I can also decided to not have one come that month and I love that.  Here is there website http://www.blissmo.com/ I have been doing there boxes for over a year and I love it!  I get new paraben free and animal cruelty free product from them.  My favorite boxes are the beauty, animal, and cleaning one!  My last box I got had lots of fun beauty supplies in it and my favorite so far out of the box is from La Fresh!  The La Fresh product I got was an Oil Free Face Cleanser and it comes in a small baby wipes container and it is actual wipes!  I love it and have been using it on my face and it works great!  I missed a couple of nights of cleaning my face and my face let me know it! 

Here is the link to them...http://lafreshgroup.com/oil-free-face-cleanser-fragrance-free-30ct.html
 
I have gotten a lot of cool things from Blissmo that I had to say no don't send me on this next month because I am trying to use up what I have gotten in the mail first!  You can do month to month or do a year's subscription. 

:: there was a time ::

I will not lie I love musicals.  Do I go to them...no.  But I have been to a couple when I was in my 20's.  Fun, but now I just like to listen to the soundtracks.  So I will have to Netflix Les Miserables!

:: took a leap ::

I just took a leap and decided to not post pictures or write what I am doing on Facebook!  Crazy, I know!  But I seem to realize that people don't text me or call or ask about me and my kids cause I keep posting what we are doing on Facebook.  So, I am gonna post on my blog.  Silly I know but when you raise your kiddos by yourself 3 weeks out of the month you get lonely and you just want to have some adult time and mine was Facebook but I realized I don't need that anymore.  So blogging is where I will communicate my best!  Or you can call me or text me! I talked to Larry tonight and vented about stuff and realized that I wanted him to get angry with me about stuff and stand up for me but you know what he can't he isn't here and I have to do it on my own so my first step is if you  want to know how my kids are or how I am then you are going to have to ask me and if you don't want to communicate with me then just check out my blog. 

And hopefully soon I can post pictures and for some reason my lovely background isn't working, this is so not cool!!

:: grace kat's stat's ::

For some crazy reason I still can't download pictures to my blog!  Frustrating.  Maybe this weekend I will try to figure out why but for now it is all words.  My dad had a heart attack either on Christmas eve or last weekend so he had 2 stents put in his heart and now he is all better.  So the day that all happened I was at the hospital for most of the day and missed work but I had my big girls well child check for the evening with her doctor (my boss) so I kept it and brought her in after I knew and saw my dad get out of recovery.  It was such a long day and to sit in a room at a doctor's office that I work at just me and my girl playing I spy something....was a very relaxful time.  She was awesome for Dr. Bridgeman and is such a big girl and I just let her talk through the whole thing and told DeOna to just talk to her if she was a big person and she did.  So I give shots pretty much every day to kids and I see how mom's and dad's have to deal with their kids and siblings getting shots.  Some are great some kick and scream.  My kids do pretty awesome.  The reason why I think it is because I don't tell them they are getting them and I don't have them get their shots together. At Grace's appointment I still hadn't given my kids the flu shot.  Why?  I don't know for some reason I ? the flu shot and it is hard to get my kids to come to the clinic without asking for help.  So since flu is getting bad I thought why not.  My mom helped and I took Hunter back first and he talked to Molly and she gave him a shot.  He didn't like it but he was a trooper and didn't fight or scream just was sad cause he got hurt and it was over in a few seconds and I told him to not tell his sister yet and he didn't!  Then it was Grace's turn.  She was awesome she got 3 shots and she didn't kick or scream and didn't like it at all but cried and was sad and said she didn't want to go to the clinic again.  Super sad, but I think she will be ok I told her she didn't get shots everytime she was seen.  I was so proud of my kiddos cause they listened and did what I told them.  Yes, shots hurt and tears were shed by both but they ended up saying thank you and got a sucker.  So on to Grace Kathryn's 4 year old stat's!  Which totally suprised me!  She hasn't gained any weight in a year!  This girl eats all the time and asks for a snack every 30 minutes it seems like.  I guess she is just a picky eater and doesn't eat everything.  So home girl is going to get more growing food!

Weight          31 lbs...17 %, same weight a year ago :(  and at her 3 year check she was 35 %)
Height           40 inches...57 % she was 37 inches at her 3 year :)

DeOna says she needs to eat more but looks like she will be my body shape type.  So I shouldn't be worried I just was suprised at her %.

So there you go!  My tall, skinny 4 year old!

:: grace turns 4 ::

My Grace turned 4 today!  I can't believe how fast time has flown and my baby is 4!  My mouse is growing up so much!  I have called her mouse since she was born cause she was so tiny!  6 lbs and 5 oz and 19 inches long and so little compared to her brother who was 8 lbs and 1 oz and 21.5 inches tall, so she became my mouse.  She is so clever and so creative.  She is way to smart for words.  She talks UP a storm and knows her ABC's and can write them pretty good.  She can count to 100 but misses a number here and there.  She can draw so good when she wants to.  She loves to draw cats, dogs, and hearts.  She loves to swim even though she isn't doing what she is supposed to in her lessons but she is having fun and is super excited to go!  She loves her brother to death but he can also get on her nerves in a heartbeat!  She loves anything he does and if he accomplishes something she is there to congratulate him and give him a high five!  She is stubborn and loving at the same time.  She loves Preschool and still doesn't talk to the boys much.  Sigh.  Not sure how to fix that one.  For some reason the last week I can't download any pictures so I am using an old one.  Also, Misha turned 7 last week and I tried to post about it with a picture of her but it wouldn't download!  My girls are getting older and time is flying by!  Next week I will have her stats and homegirl isn't going to like her shots at all!  I mentioned the word and she was not happy with it at all so I am keeping that all on the downlow!  This is the only time I don't have to give kids shots at the clinic is when my kids come in!  Thank goodness.  :)  Happy Birthday my big girl momma loves you more then life!

:: crunch time ::

Crunch time is a time that I call when I need to just stop and slow down on spending money and use what I have/got.  So I am in a crunch time right now.  This happens now that I am more self aware of our money and how we spend and how to keep us from over spending.  Christmas is past and Grace's birthday party is past (even thought her birthday is Tuesday).  2 big fun times in our life that we spend money on so now back to reality and realizing that I gotta cut back and not spend money.  So, I have only one credit card debt left!  It was my KIA car loan that I paid off and had my title of my car for a few months and Larry and I worked out our drama and I helped him with his credit card debt and since I had better credit I took 2 of his debts and gave the title back to the bank and put Larry's debt on it.  Larry last month paid off the other debt I had of his.  Whoo Hoo!  So now I am down to one!  And I am on the goal of getting it paid of in 6 months or less.  Yes, we did buy the van and it is under Larry and I know that is a debt but I am still working on credit card debt first and let me tell you we have paid off a ton when I am done with this last credit card debt I will share how much give or take we paid off.  It is amazing and embarrassing at the same time but in the end it will have taken us 3+ years to pay it off if the next 6 months go OK financially for us. :)

Back to crunch time what this means is (and I wrote myself a note on my fridge to remind me) is this week and for one week (and maybe longer if all goes well).

*** I cannot spend any money other then for essentials for the kids like milk and stuff they are used to eating and drinking.  All else I have to try to use what is in my fridge, pantry, and cupboards.

***No shopping for stuff for me or the kids.  We have enough.  No Internet shopping for me and saying no to the kids when they see something at the store.

***Make lunches for me no going out to lunch.  I didn't even give myself my usual $20 allowance a week.  What I have in my wallet is what I have to spend this week.

***Try not to drive everywhere and just stay home and do fun things around the house and play with all our new stuff.

There you have it.  Pretty basic but really hard to do sometimes.  But I started this on Thursday and we have done really well.  The kids and I vegged all day today in the house.  We didn't even go outside.  We should have to get some fresh air and run around but they played with Lego's for 3 hours together and apart that I didn't want to bug them.  We didn't go anywhere in the van.  :)  By doing this crunch time I save almost $100 a week it is crazy!  It is sad to say but I can do this better when Larry isn't home cause I am in charge and in better control of what we do but knowing he is saving money on his end being in the middle of nowhere makes me feel like we can do it here too.  So hello to crunch time!

:: the word of the year for 2013 ::

My word of the year is going to be FLOWERS!  I am going to have more in my house and try to have more outside my house this summer and try to give out more flowers to people.  This is also my New Years resolution.  Why give yourself a hard resolution when you can have a fun one that you can actually really do!  Flowers just do something for me.  It makes me feel better when I am down.  It makes me wanna clean my house when I don't feel like it just to make the vase of flowers look prettier.  Flowers just put a smile on my face.  Tulips used to be my all time fav now it is changed to Daffodils.  Love them and they are yellow my favorite color!  I got some flowers at Costco for Grace's birthday party (which I still need to blog about) and I bought one bundle and took it apart to make 2 seperate flower arrangements in my house.  Saved some mula and used what I had.  So the word of this year is flowers and I can't wait to see how it goes.

:: christmas ::

Christmas went by way to fast!  I can't believe tomorrow is the weekend and then New Year's!  We had a great Christmas!  We went to the parent's on Christmas eve and stayed home all day on Christmas day!  Larry got me some brown boots that we picked out together 2 weeks ago and he suprised me with diamond earrings (to replace the old ones I lost) that he and Grace picked out!  My kiddos got a ton of toys and I am still trying to find a place to put them all and Goodwill ones we do not need!  For my kids I got them a used item and spent money on their gifts from there.  Crazy I know but this is how it worked.  I was given a free easel earlier in the year and kept in my works basement and took it to my mom's house to have her put Grace's name on it and to cover up the marker prints from the kiddo before her.  In the pics it doesn't show it but the stuff my mom did is on the other side. Super cute with her name.  A couple weeks ago she said she didn't want to be clown anymore and wanted to be an artist so I was already ahead of her!  I got a ton of new markers and paints for her and a bag (the one pictured) to put them in.  Her nana has a bag like it so she was excited!

Here she is the next day after Christmas!  Coloring away on her easel :)  I didn't have to spend much cause Crayola products were buy one get one free and I used coupons and saw sales! :)

  

My Buddy loves one of the daycare kids DS and I know that the new thing is the Nintendo 3DS but it was over $150 and came with the mario game.  I so was not going to spend that much on my kiddo I know I should but I was trying to keep cost down.  So I asked my mom if she was using her DS and she said no and let me have her's for free to give to Buddy!  Thanks mom!  So I went to town and got him the Mario game which was the most expensive and got him a case and 5 other games I knew he would love that were all under $10 cause I was watching for sales and Amazon!  He loves it and is super excited about it.  I do feel bad I gave him something used but now he has 6 games instead of just one and I would have turned off the 3D part of the new style DS anyways for his eyes.

Needless to say he loves it!  For Larry I got him some traveling stuff and Battleship to play with Hunter!  So far they are 1-1 they have played everyday since Larry opened it except for today. :)  I think it was a good idea of this mama cause both boys love games and this one is a good strategy kind and they both are good at that!

Me and my girl watching the Fox and the Hound.  I taught Grace to call it the Fox and the Hoooooound! You make the Hound part sound like a hound dog saying it. :)

My girl got another stuffed animal she got about 4 at Christmas but this is Boo she really likes him.  :)

And she took great pictures with him. 
I have only got 1 out the 5 goals done of my Christmas break goals!  But I hope to power through the other ones soon!  Larry and I watched the Hobbit last night so that was nice and it wasn't even one of my goals.  It is amazing how cleaning and cooking and playing with your kids makes you not get your goals done but they will in good time.  I got 2 more days! Merry (late) Christmas everyone!!!

The next big thing is my girl's birthday's!  Misha turns 7 on the 4th (I think) and Grace turns 4 on the 8th and her party is on the 1st so her Papa will be here for her birthday!  This will be a first he was here for her birth but has worked in Canada during the winter term for all her birthday's.  This should be fun!!!


:: vacation ::

I am offically on my Christmas vacation!!!

What does that mean exactly?  It means that I can be a mom with my kiddos for a week!  I don't have to go to work until New Year's!  Whoo Hoo!  And it means my whomps are out of school too so we have no plans whatsoever other then celebrate Christmas!  Larry came home tonight and he is home until after the first, too!  Double whoo hoo!  I already have my Christmas Break goals written out.  I got only 5 goals on it so will see how I do!  I am such a happy mommy right now cause my man is home my kids are asleep and all is well (expect my laundry room is a mess but it is on my list of things to do!) and I am just happy that we are all together and longer then a week! Whoo hoo!We have no skating or swimming lessons this week and we are so open for whatever and that is the cool part! So hello Christmas vacation please go slow and be full of fun and alot of sleeping! :) 

:: cancer bites ::

I deal with cancer ever day at work.  We check for it, look for it, diagnosis it, see patients with it, and watch patients die with it.  Usually I am ok with it but if it is a child or someone I know I get twittered about it.  My side of the family has been blessed without getting it, but my Grandma Betty on my dad's side died of a brain tumor a year or so ago.  My father-in-law has cancer and he is doing awesome. My past co-worker who got ovarian cancer 7 years ago is not doing well and now she has 6 months or less to live and is in the hospital and might not get out and if she does she will be on hospice and it just bums me out and makes me mad.  I am not a fan of cancer but when it hits home likes this makes me wish a cure could come soon!  The bummer part for my friend is she has tried so many different types of chemo treatments in the past that were new and experimental and wasn't sure the outcome but the way I see it is she made the decision for her life to prolong it to see if she could live and see if they did work that she has expanded so many other peoples lives that haven't even been diagnosed with cancer just cause of her trying.  Do I make sense?  She paved the way for her kids future if heaven forbid her kids get her type of cancer or I get it in my future or any of my family and friends because she tried fight her cancer with all these crappy new chemo's that will maybe one day cure cancer.  I wish that we could find a cure cause cancer bites and my heart goes out to this family.  The kids already lost their dad to cancer and now their mom is dying.  Sucks.

:: 12-13-12::

I think this date will be a memory to me just like 9-11.  20 innocent Kindergartener's and teacher's and a Principal was killed by a young adult.  I don't watch the news and there is a reason for it.  But this is too much for me.  I still haven't turned on the news to watch any of it cause I can't.  It hits to close to home.  My buddy is a Kindergartener and if anyone did this to him and my family I would go crazy, not going to lie.  I have been reading some on Facebook and when I open up my email on MSN but today I had to stop reading it because they listed the names and ages of the kids.  This is too much for me.  It is hard enough to understand why it happened but I don't need to know their names and how young they died.  I already think of the kids thinking they were in a safe place to learn in school cause we their parents want them to go to learn to get to first grade and I just hope that their families and friends can come to peace sometime in their lives and for the police, parametics, and fireman that had to deal with what they saw and the after math of the whole ordeal.  I will never forget this day and I am sad for so many innocent children and I just hug my kiddos more now because of it.

:: instagrams ::

 

I love my Instagram app! It makes my pictures so darn good. The bad part is I don't bring out my good camera and keep using the camera on my phone. My best subjects with my Instagram are my girls...Grace, Lucy, and Misha. They are troopers when it comes to me taking pictures of them! Here are some I have taken this month and last! You gotta get the Instagram app!

:: whomps DVD's ::

I love, love, love to organize!  My house is 50/50 organized.  I am behind on so many projects that I want organized that I finally finished one I have wanted to do for MONTHS!  I got this from a blog I love...iheartorganizing!   Project Whomps DVD's is finished!  They are horrible about putting their DVD's back in their cases and it just makes me crazy.  And it got so bad that my hidden bins that housed their DVD's looked like this!...

You can understand why I have wanted to do this project!  The bins are horribly out of control!  No organizing at all.  The blog said to get DVD/CD holders that are 2 sided and put them in order of kids, adults, and so on.  I just did all the kids videos.  No rhyme or reason to the colors I just tried to put them in some type of order.  I haven't done it yet cause Grace was not happy with me but the cases for the DVD's are going in the shed in a bin she didn't like that idea but it will happen under her nose. 

 Don't the discs look so pretty and organized?!  And yes Grace already took one and and put it back in the slip so it is kid proof!  I used an old bin that I got at Hunter' baby shower that I reused for this project. 

Then I found a home for the DVD's where both whomps can get them.  Under the Wii controllers and if they make a mess Grace who loves to organize and put things in colors I am pretty sure will keep it looking good.  Win win situation.  I love it when a project gets done!  No more DVD sleeves on my desk glaring at me to do this project!  Now I have 2 free bins to put stuff in after doing this.  Score! :)

:: just hatched ::

I just finished Grace's birthday party invites and it just amazes me that my kids will be a year older in the next couple of months!  Grace turns 4 in January and Hunter will be 6 in March!  So I went to the archives of our pictures and we put all the pictures of the day they were born in a folder called " Just Hatched" .  It is truly amazing how they both look so much alike at birth and so different now. They looked so much alike with their head covered but without the hat a whole different story!  Hunter had very fine light brown hair and Grace had black hair with side burns past her ears!  Hunter was bigger and longer and Grace was petite and smaller.  But you can't tell in these pictures.  :)

 

Here is Hunter's Just Hatched pictures...

And here is Grace's Just Hatched pictures...



• 

:: music ::

Music is my help mate.  I never really understood music until I was at my lowest and went to counseling.  I learned and my counselor taught me to find something that helped me and got me through whatever was my issue.  So I learned to turn on music.  And listen to the words, and the actual melody, sing, and dance to it.  I love all kinds of music but my fav would have to be country and Celtic.  I am starting to actually sing again too.  I don't feel embarrassed about it anymore.  I sang in grade school and high school but I think it was more of a pressure to sing and they needed kids to sing to make it to convention and competitions.  So I did it.  But now it isn't forced.  And I dance to music.  I dance crazy with my kids or just dance with my kiddos in my arms showing them how to dance. I posted another song that I am loving right now!  I gotta get myself a Kenny Chesney album cause I love all his music but Pandora is my ultimate friend and I can listen to him on that!



My next new find is finding Christmas music that I love!  My past favorite Christmas artist is Amy Grant.  I love her 2 old Christmas albums.  I haven't found them yet for this season but hopefully will get the right bin out next week!  My fav, fav, fav from the last couple of years is this one...



Faith Hill!  Love this song!  I could sing it at the top of my lungs. :) 

This last week I have been overwhelmed and it happens every time Larry is gone every month and I am not sure why.  I think it is because I want my family to be like so many out there all together and not have to be apart.  But mine isn't like that and I hope someday it is but I get overwhelmed with life, kids, house, work, and being the one in charge.  So I have to take out my music and sit back and let it work its way into me and either listen, sing, or dance to it.