it's "dog"-gone hot here!

So I'm staying inside and working on a few projects. Any guesses on what I'm gonna convert this sweet little stool into? Well, I'll throw you a "bone"...

whew.

It finally hit. And it's 6 p.m.!

6 weeks.

That's how long it's been since my kids have seen their daddy. Every day they are asking more and more about when daddy is coming home or telling me that they love and miss their daddy. I thought it would get easier as more time went on, but it's getting harder.

I made sure that I taped a lot of videos of him with the kids before he left. That way I could show them and they would remember what a fun-loving and caring daddy he is to them. I think it also is a good tool for me to remind them that he will be coming home soon.

This is one of my favorites that I made on my phone. It's just a simple moment of what a special person and playmate he is to the three of them.

I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened so you may know what is the hope of His calling.~Ephesians 1:18

blackmail.

I promised Brooklyn that one day, when she's a teenager, I will use this photo to my advantage....lol! ; )

No one looks cuter picking her nose while covered in spaghetti!

1.5 years of pure bliss.

While we were on vacation, Brookie Page turned 18 months. That's a year and a half. Yep. I can count. 

Isn't she just beautiful?

Today I took her for her 18-month well-check. 

Here's her stats:

Height - 33 1/4 inches

Weight - 24 lbs. 8.5 oz.

Eating - everything in sight! She loves fruits, veggies, meats, basically anything you put in front of her!

Bottles - NO MORE! I didn't bring them on vacation with us and haven't given her (or Reagan) a bottle for almost two weeks now. They both still beg for one at night, but I am holding out. 

Paci - loves them! Not sure how I'll figure out how to take these away from her AND Reagan.

Screams for - chocolate icecream. We gave it to her several times on vacation and she would scream if I took her icecream cone away to lick the drips. Watch out!

Says - all kinds of things. She's starting to put two word phrases together... Thank you. Morning Mommy. Give me. Bless you. Pizza please. 

Gets into - EVERYTHING! AND she's a climber...something I never dealt with for Easton and Reagan.

Melts my heart - when she comes over and gives me a hug or a kiss out of the blue, when she seems genuinely excited to see me when I get home, and when she knows she's doing something mischievious but turns to look at me with that "I-know-you-know-I-am-up-to-something" grin.

She follows - usually no one. She's her own little independent self, but she sure does love her big sis!

Happy year and a half Brookie Page! It's been pure bliss to have you as our wonderfully made daughter.

You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.~Song of Solomon 4:7

"brace"s for impact!

Don't laugh. At 30, I am getting BRACES! Yes, I said that right. Braces! I should've gotten them at 16, but almost 15 years later, I have finally given in.

I know my teeth aren't that crooked, but I feel like I should take care of it now because as I get older, my teeth will just get more crooked. Kapish?

So in a few short weeks, my teeth will look something like this...

Obviously that's not my mouth or face, but you get the point, right?

the beach!

I haven't posted in over a week because we've been on vacation! At the beach! Amelia Island! Fernandina! Yea!

I'll let this video do all the talking for what a fun time we had! Minus Johnathan. :  (

Enjoy!


Put your face in the sunlight...the LORD will shine over you.~Isaiah 60:1-2

toes.

I painted mine and Reagan's toes today; Brooklyn wouldn't sit still enough for me to do hers.

Don't the colors suit us? They're our favorites!

Rea Rea.

I posted this video on Facebook, but wanted to post it here too for all my family and friends not on Facebook... I seriously don't blame you for not. 

Introducing, the next Hip-Hop sensation... Rea Rea... and her "special song!" (aptly named because she says "special song" over and over.)

She's got some good moves huh?! She gets those from me. ;  )


Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body. ~Proverbs 16:24

blueberries.

I picked blueberries today. In the rain might I add. There weren't too many to pick because the birds beat me to them.

The girls and I enjoyed eating them, and Easton just kept saying "ewww gross." He's not much of a fruit eater...just more for the girls and I.

I love enjoying the simple pleasures in life. Happy Sunday.

we've got game!

I'm at the Braves game today. We are tailgating and having a blast. Gooo Braves!

operation "toy reduction."

It's underway. I'm commencing operation "toy reduction." The toys are taking over our house!

I know some would say, "well, that just
means you're blessed with lots of children who play with the toys." While that is very true, what is very false about it is thinking you need lots of stuff to feel blessed.

It's to the point in our house that the kids don't play with certain toys because a) they don't even realize what they have and b) they can't even get to them because there are so many.

One bag down, many to go!

attempt #2.

Tonight was my attempt #2 of taking the kids somewhere by myself.

We decided on the Waffle House for dinner to surprise my wonderful father-in-law/the kids Daddy-O, who cooked us a yummy meal of bacon, cheese eggs, toast, hash browns and a grilled cheese.

The kids did great and minded me too!

What should I try for attempt #3?

fore!!!

Or should I say, "four," - the number of balls I actually hit more than 10 feet away. ; )

Got to spend my lunch break hitting a bucket of balls with my bestie Amanda. It was a great stress reliever because we talked and joked and laughed the entire time!

These are pics of us in our "official" golf stance. Don't we look so cute?

We plan to do it once a week. I hope she holds me to that plan!

Back to work now!

my "pics" for editing pics!

I have recently discovered a couple of online photo editing tools/software that are perfect for all my photo editing needs! ;  ) I wanted to share them with you too, because they are FREE! And, so easy to use.

The first is http://www.pixlr.com/. It's similar to PhotoShop with all it's functionalities and capabilities, but to me it's easier to figure out. The coolest feature to me is that it can create a color pallette for you from every color in your photo. If you want to know how, just send me a message.

The second one is http://www.picmonkey.com/. This one is free also, and is very much like the former http://www.picnic.com/ that Google decided to cease from existence. It's SUPER easy and has really neat features like giving your subjects a spray tan, lip tint, mascara, etc. and it also has pre-set effects like giving your photo a vintage feel or adding a texture to it. So many neat things you can do with your photos on this software.

Be sure to check them out, and let me know how well/easy they work for you!

 

oh SNAP!

Look at these lovelies in my garden. Beautiful sugar snap peas on the vine.

But they soon made their way into my stomach from this yummy stir fry we made for dinner last night.

I love gardening!

wanting to love laundry.

Next up on my project list to keep my mind off my crazy life...the laundry room.

It's currently in an awful state right now. We have this beautiful front-loader washer/dryer pair that I waited in line for one Black Friday when I was NINE months preggers (yes, I am crazy like that), but they are getting hidden by our ever-growing population of stuff, junk, neccessities, whatever you want to call it. We basically just don't have good storage in our 40 year old home.

I want to post a photo of it, but it really is like the WWIII of laundry rooms. It's a complete disaster.

So, anyway.

Here's what my DREAM laundry room would look like. Our space it not layed out like this and we are working around a water heater, but this is just gorgeous to me and I am using it for the ultimate inspiration. Things I DO love most are the counter tops, the upper cabinets and that lovely sink.

For lighting, I would love to do a DIY like this by Young House Love...a clothespin chandelier!

I am thinking about adding a little dedicated area in there for our laptop and printer. Right now, our laptop sits in the living room, propped up on the tv cabinet, and our printer is upstairs in the guest bedroom. Not a very condusive setup for coupon printing or anything for that matter. This little space would work great!

I love the colors in this photo. If any of you know me, you know I love my turquoise. I already have a rug exactly like this one, so this is a great jumping point for color inspiration!

I am also thinking about doing the upper cabinets white, and the lowers in a turquoise like these. Wouldn't that be so pretty. It's just a laundry room. I need to be motivated and happy to do laundry, and I think these cabinets would give me those feelings...aaaahhhh. I already feel like I want to do 10 loads of laundry just looking at this. Seriously. I am not kidding. Okay. Maybe not 10. 5? ;  )

Well, I hope to show you some pics really soon. My dad has already started ripping off the old 70s paneling and I hope to help in some sort of way soon too. Until then!

Soak me in your laundry and I'll come out clean, scrub me and I'll have a snow-white life. ~Psalm 51:7

 

home before too long.

Update on Johnathan: I went by today to reserve my time slot to see him. And 15 minutes later of me standing there, spelling his name 20 times while they looked it up, they finally saw a note on his file that he left for the boot camp in Blairsville this morning! So now we know that he'll be home before too long. Thanks again for all your prayers!

Put your hope in the Lord, for with the Lord is unfailing love and with him is full redemption. ~Psalm 130:7

summer haircut.

It had to be done. His hair was getting too long and a little mullet was forming. ; )

Good thing Johnathan trained me on the process of the little boy haircut. It involves the back porch, trains-formers on YouTube and a fully charged set of clippers with #2, 3 and 4 guards.

Now he's already for the hot summer!

a first.

I did it! I took all three to the grocery store by MYSELF! With only one meltdown in the beginning (fighting over the seating arrangement), I would call that a successful trip!

mommy time.

Tonight I got to enjoy myself, sans kids, with some of my friends from work. We had great food and even better conversation!

I will definitely do that more often. Taking mommy-ALONE-time to relax and reconnect with MYSELF helps me, I know, to be a better mommy in the end.

Until next time.

Reagan-isms.

Reagan says some of the funniest things sometimes. I just had to share a few of what I call her Reagan-isms. (Please note: the pics don't go with the sayings. I just wanted to throw in come cute pics of her!)

As we drive down the road, sometimes, all of the sudden, she'll shout out, "Watch out for dog POOP!!!"

She's a hoarder of her stuff, but I won't let her take it all to bed with her at night, so she'll ask me, "Nobody gonna touch my stuff?" and I'll have to reassure her that I'll protect it while she's asleep. ;  )

Some of the sweetest things she says is, when I do something that she notices is good or "extra" she'll say, "I so PROUD of you mommy!"

The other night it brought a tear to my eye when she asked, "Is daddy your best friend," and I said, "Yes." Then she replied with, "I your best friend too."

I love all those sweet Reagan-isms! Don't you?!

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up...~1 Thessalonians 5:11