Because sometimes....

You HAVE to watch t.v. with your football helmet on!

It's what boys do!

A Spontaneous Surprise!

I JUST LOVE MY HUBBY!!!  Hmmm, let me count the ways!!!!  There's a million or more reasons, but one really COOOOOOL thing about Darren is he's FUN!  ME, on the other hand, I am NOT.  Haha.  Out of the blue, at about 11 am today, he sends me a text that reads, "Let's go to Kings Dominion."  My reply, "Ok!"  LOL!  Is it really that simple to get out of town?

We are leaving either late tonight or EARLY tomorrow and taking the kids to Kings Dominion.  I may even allow Ty to think that this is part of his 8th birthday present. I'm thankful for Darren's spontaneity, although not often.  Knowing me, I would have spent the day, tomorrow, cleaning, but now, we will be riding roller coasters instead.  YIKES!

I'm Watching YOU Too!!!

Recently, I stumbled across a feature that blogger offers, has always offered actually, and never really played around with it.  Blogger provides each blogger with the statistics of who views their blogs and how often aka "audience", where the searches originate from aka "traffic sources", the keywords being searched in order to locate my blog on line, the most popular/most viewed posts aka "posts" AND the amount of visitors your blog receives daily.  I can see exactly where YOU view my blog from too (pinterest, facebook, other people's blogs, your google account etc).

It's been a real eye opener.  It's been a blessing having access to all of the above information.  I had plain view of  disturbing keyword searches that some sickos WERE using to view my children in their underwear.  I got my FBI agent, brother, on that one.  Since then, ALL photos relating to that nature have been removed. Pictures once innocently posted, sadly, left me with no choice but to delete them because people took advantage of using it for their gain. This has led me to be entirely more discerning when posting any photos of my children. This is a SAD world who preys on the innocent (children and elderly).  

I am also excited to see that my dear friends and family members are actually visiting our family blog and staying up to date with what's going on in our lives.  I am beyond surprised at how many "strangers" and extended family members visit our blog as well.  Our blog receives over 100 views a day!   By the way, we LOVE to receive comments!  So don't always withdraw from our blog, deposit a little something along the way too.  :)

SO.... You may be watching us, but NOW we are watching you too!!!  Don't feel violated.  Know that I love seeing when you visit and read our blog.  This is a great form of protection for our family.  Being a public blog has it's definite PLUSES, but exposing yourself and your family to EVERYONE has it's definite minuses too.  I'm glad I have access to YOU viewing my blog :)

ALL OR NOTHING!!!

LAUNDRY is the ONE area in my house that I am "ALL or nothing" with it.  This week, I'm obviously NOTHING with it.  This stems from serving others.  When you are serving someone else or multiple people, your own responsibilities get left undone!!!  Honestly, it felt much better serving others than myself, so I am good with the way this room looks..... but TODAY, after lunch with my dear friend Dawn, IT WILL BE TACKLED.

I love how the, "Do all things unto the Lord......including the laundry", photo is still visible though :)  

Sadly, I do love to clean, but LAUNDRY... uh - NO!

"Ready or NOT, Here I Come!"

Lilah and Jax played hide and seek. Lilah was the counter. Jax was the hider.

The photo is not very good. I ran as fast I could and grabbed the closest camera. This was my iphone's camera. Anyway, I just thought it was hysterical that Jax hid his entire body, behind the curtains, in our master bedroom, but failed to hide his feet.

Talk about a DEAD GIVE AWAY!

Before & After - "Everything BUT the Kitchen - Sink - FUN!

I love "before and after" on the wheel of fortune, so I thought I'd do one of my own.  

Everyday last week I picked a few kitchen cabinets, a day, to pull everything out, wipe down, and reorganize.  On Friday, the twins were home when I decided to do the lazy susan cabinet and the spice cabinet.  In my spice cabinet, I have "everything but the kitchen sink" (before).  AND while cleaning/organizing it, I let the kids have some "sink fun" (after)

It's a BRILLIANT idea.  I came up with it all on my own (well without the use of the internet, pinterest, a friend's suggestion, a book etc...)  It's a no brainer too.  Fill the sink with soapy water.  Give your child mounds of kitchen tools and allow them to play in the water.  It's my version of an outdoor water table, only indoors.  My kids played in our double sink for almost 45 minutes - - - that's a world record for independent playtime in our home.  

Lilah and Jaxon had a blast playing with the soapy water.

AHHHH!  I LOVE ORGANIZATION!  I always say, "Don't agonize, ORGANIZE!"

Lazy Susan may be lazy, but she's got a great friend to organize her!!!

And the results of water sink fun are this...  Of course, nothing really looks different.  It's just clean from spice residue and dust.   

One Word Wednesday!

Huh?

Friday Randoms!

I wouldn't normally document my children playing with playdough. I'm bad, but not that bad (right Nathan Carroll?). The reason for me doing so is that Darren bought me a few new camera lenses for Christmas. I am SOOOOOO thankful for them. I spent the early morning, with the twins, testing the lenses out, capturing random shots, while they played. I am NO Shannon Maggi, but I am a little excited about some of the results. I'm not sure I could ever give up my Cannon Rebel. NOW... I just need to invest in PRINTING some of what I capture. I am notorious for taking loads of pictures, BUT, never printing them.

I couldn't resist capturing these little feet. Jax was sitting in really weird positions as he intently worked with playdough.

The above photo was captured with my FAVORITE lens. I LOVE how the lens captured my "subject" but kept EVERYTHING in the background BLURRY!

I love his little tongue sticking out here...