Free Is Good

My husband is the king of stopping on the side of the road and taking someone elses 'junk'. And recently, we've had some good finds.

One day, he came home with a door. The glass was broken but the door was in decent shape. Well, my husband didn't see an "old broken door". He saw a beautiful, sanded and stained, mahogany door. That is, when he's done with it.

Then Saturday, my parents called us and said the neighbors just put a basketball goal out by the road. Well, lo and behold, he doesn't only come home with an incredible basketball goal, but a couple of baseball contraptions as well. You know the ones where you can throw the ball at and it comes back to you?? Anyway, we enjoyed this awesome weather all weekend and we, yes, I included, "shot hoops" with my hubby all weekend. (I was NOT the athletic type when I was younger - actually, I've never played in any organized sport!) It was fun, I wasn't too shabby, it was a decent workout I may say. I was a little sore the next day. :-) I love soreness...seriously.

Leave it up to someone else's junk to turn into an AWESOME family day on the few days of 70 degree weather we got recently!

First Thank You Note

Now that Olivia can write all of her ABC's, I thought it would be the perfect time to teach her about writing thank you notes. She received a couple of birthday presents the other day from my dear aunt! :-) So.....I thought this was the perfect time to teach her about thankfulness and the art of writing thank you notes. Growing up, my parents were pretty adamant about us writing thank you notes when appropriate. I hate to admit that I have slacked off a bit, but I still want to instill that quality in my kids.

So, I wrote out a basic note for Olivia to copy. I was teaching her about commas, and spacing you words. Also basic sentence structure and punctuation. It was fun! She was eager to learn it and I was eager to teach her. Then we got to go over how to address an envelope - where the stamp goes, what an address and return address means. Then we sealed it up....of course she had a few drawings to add to the back of the letter!

Then I made her put it in the mail box and put the flag up! How fun!

She was so proud of herself - I just hope my Aunt can read it! She wrote about 3 more too! I guess she was practicing! I love that she loves to learn.

I hope I can teach my kids about being grateful like my parents taught me!

Lemme Introduce Myself

My name is Lillian. I'm 8 months old right now. Though, I'm pretty small so I think I may look young for my age. I was born into a pretty crazy family. Apparently, these are my parents.


Like I said, CRAZY family!

But it's really fun. There is always someone to play with. My sister and brother have TONS of toys that I like to try and eat. I like it when they play with me. They pretend I'm their baby and put me in really funny places sometimes. I've been crawling for a while now. But I just figured out that it takes me places. My favorite thing to do is crawl up the one little stair that is in our den. Then I make my way to the bathroom where I like to pull over the trash can and pull up on the stool. I also like to crawl into the kitchen. There is always this bowl of water sitting on the ground in the corner. I love to splash in it but every time I make my way over there, my mom puts it on the table. Though every once in a while I manage to get a few splashes in.

Lately, I find myself standing all by myself. Then, when I realize I'm not holding on, I panic and sit down. Who knows. Everyone seems to look at me and get real excited when I do that. ?!?!?!


I can also clap and wave. I say 'ma ma' and the other day decided to give in to Dad and say 'da da'. I think it made his day.

Right now I sleep all over the house. It's not too bad. But I think my mom really wants me to sleep with my big sister. Though the last 2 mornings, I've woken up with one of them in my bed. It okay, they sing to me. But I'm not sure how happy mommy is when they do that. Especially since it's before she's had her coffee.

It's kinda funny being the baby of the family. Although I don't really know any different. Sometimes it's hard to get somebody's attention. I think my dad called me "pint size but louder than a tornado siren" the other day. Well, if they'd just listen to me the first time, I wouldn't have to go up that many octaves. I guess the world doesn't revolve around me.

My mommy's milk is still my favorite. But I also really like sweet potatoes and applesauce. Ritz crackers and graham crackers aren't too shabby either. I'm kinda tired of cheerios. But hey, I still have no teeth so I think my options are limited.

I've been enjoying church lately. My favorite is to crawl around, take the other babies' name tags off, and eat them. Then I take a cat nap in the swing. I love swinging. Especially outside.


Anyway, I just wanted to stop in and say hey! Tell all my baby friends hello!! :-)

Gotta Share This With You

This is really out of context for my blog but I just have to share this cool product I've found! I love the little powder packets out there that you can mix into your water bottle. There are 2 that I'm especially in love with.

They are the Kellogs K2O protein water and the Vita Splash Fiber Infusion powder packets. I love to eat. But I want to be healthy. And after having three kids and my weight being all over the place for the past five years, I'm constantly trying to find something to help me with my eating habits. I want to maintain my weight healthfully.

With that being said, protein and fiber both help you stay fuller longer. They also help to to curb "over eating desires" - at least they do for me! :-) Anyway, I throw these babies into my water everyday. Sometime I even put one of each into my water bottle. They are low calorie and I have to say that they really do make a difference in the way you feel! I LOVE these and will continue to purchase them.



Oh, and they taste really good too.

Mommy Moment

I confess. I have "those days" where my kids drive me up the wall. I love them with all my heart, but sometimes they make me loopy! Well, today was one of those days. Every little thing they did drove me insane. Luckily there weren't any meltdowns or I might have lost it.

BUT, when you have a moment like I had towards the end of the day, all those annoying things instantly melt away!

I pulled out some pots and pans for Lillian to play with while I prepared dinner. Well, she was shortly joined by her brother and sister. Before long, they were playing "drums" on all my bowls. I wish you could hear the ear piercing noise it was making. But they were happy, so I let them.

All the sudden, I hear, "Oh no, Mommy will you forgive me? I broke one of your spoons." (btw that's how LOUD they were playing them).



Wow, I hadn't even gotten seen the broken spoon or gotten upset and she was already asking my forgiveness. I told her yes and thanked her for acknowledging her mistake.

Then out of the blue Olivia said, "I just listened to God. He told me to ask you to forgive me. And I did!" :: heart melting ::

God knew I needed some encouragement today! Just to hear my sweet baby talk about listening to her Heavenly Father makes it all worth it. I love it when I have those "mommy moments". It really makes all the hard days or long nights insignificant. There's a bigger place out there for all of us one day!