More shirts finished

My sister came up Friday night, and we were able to knock out a few more shirts. We got her Deathly Hallows/Mickey shirt and Snow White finished, the Castle and Loki for Aimee, and a "MINE! MINE!" seagulls from Nemo for Maddie. I still have to do Lego Princess Leia, Merida and Belle for Cadence, a Jr Woodchuck for Sarah, Robin Hood and Peter Pan for Aimee, and if I get everything else done, Mickey ears for me and Aristocats and Extract of Llama for Amelia. Not sure that I'll get everything finished, but we're going to try. 28 days to go!

Deathly Hallows


Snow White


Castle


Loki


MINE! Seagulls


and being modeled by the cutest 14 month old around!

Best. Momma. EVER!

This whole trip started because my mom mentioned that she spends tons of money on us for Christmas each year, and she would love to just give us the money and us use it for a family vacation instead. I was over the moon to hear that, then decided to use some money from leaving my old job and pay the entire thing off since we decided to go in September instead of waiting until October like originally planned. She had mentioned that she may make me a "travel kit" for my birthday/christmas instead, and also mentioned clothes. Then, a few days ago she offered to pay for the non-disney hotel we're staying in the first night (which is now booked and will be awesome!), then called today and said she had stuff for us and wanted to bring it up. She showed up with a gift card to Applebee's (the hotel has one attached where kids eat free, and we were already planning to have at least one meal there. The gift card should cover the entire thing), money for the "resort fee" the hotel will charge, an Old Navy gift card for me to get clothes before we go (all my clothes are too big since having Maddie), and a $25 Disney gift card for each girl (we were only planning on giving them $50 each for spending money, so this is half of that!!) We are so incredibly blessed, and I'm so so thankful.

Mike also took me shopping the other day (again, the whole "lost all the baby weight" thing), and I got two new pair of jeans, a pair of capris, crocs ballet flats, and some other "unmentionables" that I needed. I'm loving all my new stuff, and the best part was that all my jeans were the same size I bought before I was pregnant with Cadence! I also used the gift card tonight (yes, I had it a total of 3ish hours before it was spent!) and got two new pairs of shorts and a cute Mickey shirt for the trip. Mike rolled his eyes when I showed him the shirt, but whatever. I don't care. I love it and can't wait for it to arrive!

And I think I'm going to start counting down with the girls tomorrow. I saw this blog that had ideas on how to countdown to Disney in an "Elf on the Shelf" way, only they used Minnie Mouse. We have the same Minnie in red and the black and white version, and since tomorrow makes 35 days out, I thought I'd start then. I don't know that I'll be able to do it every day (and am in awe that she kept it up for 100 days!), but I'm definitely going to try! I'll try to get a picture every day that I remember!

Disney Arts and Crafts

We have been doing a lot of Disney related crafts recently, and I have to share them! This post is all clothes, but I'll do another with the autograph pillowcases and the bottles as soon as I have them finished. But for now, CLOTHES!

The thing I've had the most fun with is tshirts. I used the same freezer paper tutorial I used on the Jeep shirt, but made sure to have matte paint this time. They are working out beautifully, and I've gotten carried away making them.

Here are the ones that are finished so far:


Hitchhiking Ghosts (mine)



The Tightrope Walker from the Haunted Mansion (mine)
I'm planning on putting some kind of frame around this one



Aurora and Maleficent (mine)



Nemo (Amelia)



Beauty and the Beast Rose (Amelia)



Perry Fedora (Cadence)



Max as Powerline from A Goofy Movie (my sister)
In cast you need more:




Tom Selleck from Meet the Robinsons (my sister)
Again, more:



And here are the clothes that my AMAZING friend Jamie made for the little ones:


Mary Poppins Jolly Holiday Dress


Snow White Tunic (it will have yellow leggings under it)

  
Minnie Mouse Pillowcase Dresses


And last, the other clothes:


The new nightgown Aunt Sarah bought. It's "Roar-Ra!!" and she is VERY excited to have it!

  
Snow White and Cinderella from MamMaw

I have more tshirts coming, plus Ariel Rompers and an adorable Alice dress! I can't wait, and will have those pictures up soon. 39 days to go!!

Heartbroken

Yesterday we found out that my boss didn't make it, and they couldn't find brain activity. They are talking about a possible visitation tonight and funeral tomorrow, but I haven't heard for certain. I also am pretty sure the front door of my work is going to become a shrine before long. I'm just in shock at the moment, and in a daze. Things aren't going to be the same without him.

The offers are rolling in!

Happy birthday to me!! A few years ago I signed up on a bunch of sites for my birthday, because I love freebies. For the last two weeks the special birthday deals have been coming in, so here's this year's list of what I got in my email box!

Food:
Sonic - Free medium tots, 14oz cream slush or medium soft drink
Baskin Robbins - Free scoop or swirl
Ruby Tuesday - Free birthday dessert
Back Yard Burgers - Free cobbler with purchase
O'Charley's - $5 off a $20 purchase
Arby's - Free 12oz shake with purchase
IHOP - Free Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity
McAlister's - $5 off next purchase
Schlotzsky's - Free small sandwich or pizza
Newks - Free Entree and drink

Other:
Macy's - Free shipping on my next purchase
Disney Movie Rewards - 100 bonus points
Brooks Running - Free technical running shirt and free shipping with $75 purchase
Swag Bucks - 50 Swag Bucks
Charm It - 15% off


And since I signed up right around my birthday, a lot of these places are also sending me Anniversary offers. Here are those!

Dairy Queen - BOGO medium blizzard
Marble Slab - BOGO Shake
Arby's - Free Classic Roast Beef Sandwich
Schlotzsky's - Free 32oz drink
Disney Movie Rewards - 50 bonus points

Overall a pretty good haul! I won't be able to use all of them, but I've enjoyed trying!

I just can't help myself

I think it's impossible for me to go longer than a few weeks without some kind of project. Usually it's something cake/cupcake related, but I'll admit that I LOVE craft projects. I mean, almost live and breathe them. Since we're counting down to Disney, I've been trying to decide on outfits for the girls. I found these awesome shirts through my wonderful friend, Pinterest, and that page had a link to this tutorial (which I already had pinned...) I decided this would be the perfect way to get Cadence some cute shirts (and me, too!), especially since I can get shirts really cheap through work. Mike and I are headed out in the Jeep this weekend, so I'm experimenting with a shirt for that before I order a ton of other shirts for Disney - just in case it doesn't work.


In progress...

Some things I've learned:
• The tutorial says to make sure you use the matte paint. MAKE SURE TO USE MATTE PAINT. I got the slick paint because it's all they had at Walmart when I ran in there on my lunch break. IT SUCKS! I've done a bazillion coats, and while I think it will be cute, I have no idea if it will hold up. So, listen to them. USE MATTE PAINT!!
• Have a really sharp exacto knife! Some of the little tiny areas were hard to get out because my knife wasn't as sharp as it could have been. When I do the next ones, I'm buying some new blades.
• This isn't a quick project. It's not hard, but you do a lot of waiting for paint to dry, and cutting the image out of the paper is pretty time consuming. Don't start it if you don't have time leave it out for awhile.

I think I will order a few shirts and try again with the matte paint, because I can definitely see the potential. But I'm not sure how this one will work once it actually dries. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it works!

A heavy heart, but hopeful...

Yesterday was a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. When I arrived at work, I found out that my boss, Dwayne, had fallen while on vacation in Florida, and was in ICU in an orlando hospital. At that point we didn't know much, just that it was bad. We knew that he had a skull fracture, brain swelling, and was not responsive. We also knew that he was barely clinging to life. Later in the day we also found out that his son had been arrested in connection to the fall, and all kinds of rumors were spreading like wildfire. By last night he wasn't any better, and I went to bed last night praying that it was all a bad dream.

This morning was a little better, and we found out that he was stable when we got to work, but there still wasn't brain activity. Later we heard that he reacted to some reflex tests, and swelling was going down. We were all thrilled, and knew that gagging and coughing meant brain activity. By 4pm or so, we found out that they had been able to get the son out of jail (even though he's not allowed to see his dad at the hospital, and he has to have someone with him 24/7), and best of all, Dwayne moved a toe - twice! I told Mike I never thought I'd be so excited to hear that someone moved their toe. When we left work he was still on a ventilator, but signs of brain activity are showing up and swelling is decreasing. We've also heard that they don't think there is any spinal cord injury, which is amazing.

Things seem to be looking up slightly, and I'm just praying it continues. Please, God, let it continue.

Business cards? Maybe...

I did the cake for my friend's son's birthday party that was today, and was told while I was there that I should have brought business cards to hand out. My grandmother always made cakes when I was growing up (and is still doing them now!), and it seems she's rubbed off. I absolutely love doing cupcakes, but have recently discovered fondant, and may have found my new passion! It's so fun, and fondant is way more forgiving than regular icing is. I have another cake to do this coming weekend, and I've been asked to do two more in August. Maybe I'll be like Nana soon and have a way to support myself and come home.

Alyssa's 2nd birthday cake:


Dominic's 5th Minion birthday


And my favorite...
Maddie's 1st Alice in Wonderland birthday

P72 - Day 5: This sucks

This isn't going well at all. Day 1 I did it, and it was good. Day 2 I was dying from Day 1, but decided to try Ab Blaster and Cardio. I made it half way before I couldn't take Mike's comments and looks and I gave up. Day 3 and Day 4, I didn't even try. That's right. I totally skipped them.

So we've made it to Day 5. It's supposed to be sculpting day, and I'm about to start it. I have brownies in the oven, and have decided that will be my reward when I'm finished. Mike is gone for a while, and I've figured out I do much better without him around. I guess this means I'm back to getting up at the crack of dawn to do this - yay (sarcasm). I'm just going to keep reminding myself about Disney. I want to be in shape for Disney.

P90: Weigh in, Measurements, and Day 1

I know I won't be able to get all 90 days in before we go to Disney since our trip is in 72 days, but I'm hoping to get as much as possible. So from here on out, it will be P72 instead. ;)

Starting information:
Weight: 157 lbs
Left Arm: 13 in
Right Arm: 13 in
Left Thigh: 24 in
Right Thigh: 25 in
Chest: 41 in
Waist: 36.5 in
Hips: 43 in

Day 1 was resistance and sculpting, and actually wasn't that bad. I was able to do all but the dips (where you put your hands on a chair behind you and dip down), and those almost killed me. And even though I was able to do it today, that doesn't mean that after cardio and abs tomorrow that I'll be able to do it on Sunday! I'm going to try not to take measurements again until Day 36 (halfway), and then before we go to Disney (I'll probably end it here.) I'm excited to see what the next 71 days bring.

*hangs head in shame*

Hi there. Again. I'm here, and starting to get a little bit of sleep, and we have so much going on. I'll try to make this short and sweet! (who am I kidding!)

• IT'S SUMMER!
Cadence is loving being home, and the only issue the little ones are having is that the sun is still up when they head to bed. We don't have any major trips planned, but it's been nice to throw them in shorts, tshirts and flip flops (or barefoot for the two little ones) and not have to worry about it. Cadence will start school first week of August, so next week summer vacation will be half over. I don't think I'll mention that to her any time soon. ;)

• I'm trying to get hot!
Tonight starts day one of me starting P90. I don't know if I'll be able to make it, or if it will kick my butt, but I'm excited to try! I don't really want to lose weight, but just tone up a little. Let's hope it doesn't kill me too much. And I'll try not to drive you crazy with P90 updates.

• Mike and I both have new jobs!
Both of our jobs were driving us insane and were very unhealthy for us (I lost 15 lbs in 3 weeks, wasn't eating, wasn't sleeping, and was being super cranky mom to the girls), and so on March 26 (yes, the Tuesday before Easter) I walked out. Mike left CarMax the next day (he at least gave 2 weeks.) I had another job waiting which is closer to home, smaller, less stress and I'm making more money. Mike is working with a friend of his doing windshield repair, and he's even happier than I am. I didn't realize how stressed and awful things for both of us were until we weren't dealing with it anymore. Things are MUCH MUCH better.

• WE'RE GOING TO DISNEY WORLD!!!!
This is the one I'm most excited about!! We will be there from Sept 8-13, and we're staying at Cornado Springs. It's for Amelia and Cadence's birthday, and our trip with overlap with Sarah's!! We are trying to do this as economically as possible, so I have tons of ideas that we're going to try and get finished in the next 72 days. And I'll apologize now that this is about to become Disney Craft Central! :) I'm beyond excited about getting to go!!!!

I'm not going to promise to update more often, but I'll try. But I say that a lot, so we'll see!

Yeah, so I suck at this

It's amazing how little time I have now with three little ones around. We've mostly settled into a routine at night, but by the time they are all out, it's then time for me to clean up and get myself to bed, and usually one of the little ones is back awake again! Anyway, I'm here. For now, at least!

We're all doing ok, and trying to get over the funk. Maddie is on antibiotics for a double ear infection, I'm on them for a sinus infection, and I was told today that Amelia has been pulling and digging in her ear. I foresee another doctor's appointment in my future.

So, tonight the girls and I were at Target looking for a baby gift for my cousin, Jennifer. She's about to have her second baby - a sweetsie little boy who will be the first on that side of the in years!! I wanted to get her something that she probably wouldn't get from anyone else, would be useful, and something that she probably wouldn't buy herself. One of my favorite gifts from Amelia's shower was this awesome drying rack by Boon. It has been so helpful, and since I was nursing and wouldn't really need bottles except at the sitter, I could also use it for medicine droppers, pump parts, and sippy cup straws. I'm hoping that Jennifer loves it as much as I do, because we got her one, too. I also got her the Twig, and came VERY close to picking it up for myself. I'm glad I didn't, because I saw the Stem when I got on their site when I got home. It's a purple flower!! A cute purple flower to go with my awesome drying rack that looks like grass! If I can find it at Target, I'm definitely getting it!

I'm also on the lookout for baby shower cupcake ideas. I'm taking some for a shower at work next week, and I want them to be perfect! I haven't decided what I'm going to do yet, but the girl they are for has assured me that she adores cupcakes - any kind - so she will be thrilled with whatever I bring. Right now I'm leaning toward marshmallow flowers on top, but with blue sugar. I'll try to remember to post pictures when I decide!

I think I hear the little one up (again!), so I'll try to remember to come back before 3 months has passed!

Wow, three months...

I knew it had been awhile, but didn't realize it had been this long. The past month or so has been super crazy getting ready for Birthdaypalooza 2012, and now we've started "A Very Pinterest Christmas." I'll post quick updates on the girls and us, and I promise to be back with the good and not so good Pinterest ideas we've tried!

Cadence:
She's doing ok. We have an appointment on December 4 with a psychiatrist to see if she has ADHD, impulse control issues, a processing disorder or something else altogether. I'm not opposed to medication if the doctor thinks that is what she needs, but I also won't object at all if they suggest behavior therapy or something else. I love her to pieces, but she's still having outburst over very tiny things, *can not* sit still AT ALL, and has started pulling her hair out resulting in bald spots. She's so bright and funny and creative, and it breaks my heart to see her so angry and frustrated all the time. I'm really hoping this will help and give us some answers.

Amelia:
She's two. And definitely acts like a two year old! I hear a lot of "No, Mommy! Mine! You a mean mommy! No Sissy! No touch! DON'T!!!" and my favorites, "go bed, Mommy!" and "EAT SOUP, MOMMY!!!" She is absolutely hilarious most of the time, and is much much much better with Maddie. She loves to hold her, kiss her, and thinks it's so funny when she makes faces or talks and Maddie laughs at her. She loves "meme mouf", "Jake Ho Ho" and "Sissy YaYa" (Minnie Mouse, Jake and the Neverland Pirates and Cinderella for those of you that can't speak toddler), and gets so excited whenever a Disney World commercial comes on. I can't wait utnil we can take her. She's a handful, but she's MY handful, and I wouldn't change her for anything.

Maddie:
She'll be six months old next week! She's still very tiny - in 0-3 month clothes still - and I'm going to talk to them next week about her weight in relation to how much she eats (a ton!) and spits up (also a ton!) She is rolling over, and has figured out how to roll/scoot/wiggle herself pretty much wherever she wants. She's still not quite sitting up on her own, but wants to so bad! I'm really excited about Thanksgiving tomorrow, because she's now eating whatever mushy things we are, and I know she's going to lose it with all the food we'll have tomorrow. She's usually happy (unless I put her down or pass her off), and smiles all the time. She's also set a bedtime for herself. She goes to bed about 8 or 8:30 every night, and will sleep until 4ish the next morning. I had one 10 hour night, but it was the exception. Usually she sleeps about 8 hours or so straight, and it's so nice. She's such a good baby, an we've been so lucky.

Mike and me:
Well, we're both still at jobs we're not completely thrilled with, and still not making quite enough for me to be at home full time. However, there are some things in the works, so maybe something will change for one or both of us soon.

It's been crazy having three little ones around the house, and even though Maddie has been here six months, I think we're all still adjusting to everything. It's so weird to look around and see 5 stockings on the mantle (yes, I've already decorated for Christmas!), and have three kids crammed in the back of my Jeep, and have three to check up on before I go to sleep. And I've ran into another problem I didn't have with Cadence and Amelia: I'm getting Amelia and Maddie's babyhoods mixed up! Cadence and Amelia were so far apart that it hasn't been that hard to remember which of them did what. But with Amelia and Maddie only being 19 months apart, it's all becoming a babyhood blur. And of course it doesn't help that my children all look alike!

I have tons of pictures from the mega Birthdaypalooza 2012, and of all the Christmas gifts and holiday foods we've been making. I'll definitely be back shortly to upload some of those!

In case I don't get back tomorrow, I hope everyone has a happy Thanksgiving!

Praying it passes soon

I'm not sure if it's lack of sleep, stress, or hormones, but the dreams, anxiety and panics have started again. It doesn't happen often, but every once in awhile I have nights where I can't sleep and I keep imagining all the awful things that could happen to us. The most common is fire. I'm absolutely terrified that we're going to have a house fire in the middle of the night and I'm not going to be able to get all three of the girls out. And for the last few days, I've also been having crazy dreams, and will start getting panicky for no reason at all. I walked in a minute ago to calm Amelia and almost started crying when she looked up at me and said momma.

I know that these feelings will pass soon, but I absolutely hate feeling this way. I  KNOW it's irrational. I KNOW that I'm overreacting. I KNOW that I'm being a hormonal mommy. But when it's midnight or so and I can't sleep, and all I keep thinking about is crazy house fires or car wrecks or who knows what else, it's hard to remember that I'm being irrational and overreacting. Very very hard.

Birthday Freebies are coming in!!

Last year I decided to sign up for a lot of freebie things for my birthday, and was so happy when a week ago they started coming in again for this year. I also received some freebie things from the companies for signing up, and this past week I started getting "anniversary deals" in my email box as well. Here's this year's list of freebies!

Birthday:

• Marble Slab - free small cone
• Dairy Queen - BOGO Free Blizzard
• Sonic - free medium Tots, a regular CreamSlush^® Treat, or medium Soft Drink
• Baskin Robbins - Free scoop
• Backyard Burgers - Free Cobbler
• Ruby Tuesday - Free Burger
• Schlotzsky's Deli - Free small sandwich or pizza
• McAlister's Deli - $5 off next purchase
• Arby's - Free small shake
• Chili's - Free Brownie Sundae 
• IHOP - Free Rooty Tooty Fresh and Fruity
• Disney Movie Rewards - 100 points

e-club Anniversary:

• Cheddar's - Free chips and queso
• Dairy Queen - BOGO Free Blizzard
• Marble Slab - BOGO Free Shake
• Arby - Free Roast Beef Sandwich
• Chili's - Free Appetizer

Books 17-19 of 24

This should catch me up with the ones I've read, and I'm only 5 away from my goal! Not bad since I still have over 5 months to go.

17) First Bite: The Wicked Queen's Tale by Laura Briggs & Sarah Steinbrenner

I enjoyed this book, but it took a little while to get into it. The book starts out explaining a lot of back story, so it took a little while to piece it all together. But once the story got going, it was excellent. I really enjoy reading different variations of the most popular fairy tales, and this was a great twist on Snow White. I also started reading it while I was watching Once Upon A Time, and there are similarities. I was impressed with this one, and have started the second book in the series which is about Hansel and Gretel. There is also a third about the Fairy Godmother. I'm eager to see the twists that they put on these as well.

I gave this 4 books

18) The Priest's Graveyard by Ted Dekker

This was a really dark Christian fiction book about a guy who sees his mom and sisters raped and murdered while living in Bosnia, and he then kills their killer. He comes to the US as a priest, but does more than just help in church. He also tracks down the scum of the earth and takes them out. It was more graphic than what one would usually expect from Christian fiction, but I really enjoyed it. It went into some dark topics, and did a great job covering them and making a completely believable story from them. I've missed having new Ted Dekker, and have two more sitting in my "to read" pile. I really hope they are as good as this one was.

I gave this 4 books

19) The Film Club by David Gilmour

Somewhat depressing, but so so so good. It's a story of a guy who has a son that is getting in trouble in school, and he lets him drop out on the promise that he'll watch at least 3 movies a week with his dad. It covers the movies they watched, what was going on in their lives during this time (the good and the bad), and was a great parent/child story. A lot of things his son said and did reminded me of Cadence, and I just hope to be as understanding and loving if (or when) we face hard teenage years. It was excellent, and I'm so glad that I picked it up on a whim at the library the other day.

I gave this one 5 books.

Busy week next week

Next week will be crazy, but will be a great test run in getting the girls up and out the door on time every day. Cadence is going to Girl Scout camp, and has to be there at 8am every morning. I also have my six week check up next Wednesday, and then on Thursday I have to take Jonathan to the airport and am going to see Singin' In The Rain with Sarah that night. In the last six weeks I haven't had more than a day at a time that I needed to be somewhere at a specific time, so next week will definitely be a challenge. 

I think Cadence has everything ready for camp, and she's really excited. I hope she enjoys it as much as I think she will, and I really hope it's the start of many years of great Girl Scout memories.

Books 8-16 of 24

I realized that even though I haven't been reading like a crazy woman (like I hoped I would during maternity leave), I'm still ahead of my "2 books a month" goal. Problem is, I haven't talked about the last 12 I've read. So, here I go, but it may take a few posts.

8-9) Catching Fire and Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

I will admit, I didn't love these two as much as the first one, and by the end of Mockingjay, I was reading just to finish the series. I liked the story (as much as one could, considering the plot), but my main thought was that somewhere along the way, Suzanne Collins replaced Katniss "Girl on Fire" with Bella Swan "Girl who Whines Too Much and Can't Make Decisions On Her Own." By the end, I was actually hoping she wouldn't come out alive, and I really really didn't like the "tied in a neat little bow" ending. They weren't awful, but Hunger Games was definitely the best of the three.

I give them both 3 books, but only because they helped complete the series.

10) Zombie Cinderella by Kevin Richey

Yeah, I like zombie stories, and love fairy tales, but wasn't that impressed with this one. The Snow White zombie book I read earlier was really good - gory, but not too gory, funny but not stupid, and very readable. This one, however, was gory just for the sake of gore. I don't watch horror movies that are excessively gory, and this would definitely be in that category if someone made it into a movie. The storyline is decent, but there were parts that were just gross.

For that reason, 2 books.

11) Wildflowers of Terezin by Robert Elmer

So, so good! It's about two people during WWII, one a Jewish lady and the other a Lutheran pastor, who's lives get intertwined because of the Germans deporting Danish Jews. It's a great story that shows the struggles of the normal people during that time - the ones that knew what was going on was wrong, but were scared, worried, and just downright terrified of getting involved and getting themselves in trouble, too. It does a good job of showing some of the horrors of concentration camps without getting extremely graphic, and I loved the ending. It was a great book, and one that I had problems putting down.

I gave this one 5 books.

12) Michal: A Novel (The Wives of David) by Jill Eileen Smith

I really enjoyed this one as well. I've read lots of Christian based fiction, and some of my favorites are the ones about women in the bible. This one is about Michal, one of the wives of David, and talks about her life before and after they were married. Jill Eileen Smith did a great job of making me connect with her, and there were a few times that I was on the verge of tears or laughing out loud. Michal became a real person, and it was a great story. I believe that there are a few more that Smith has written, and I'm eager to read them as well.

I gave this one 5 books.

13) The Big Read Button by Bob McClain

This is from the same guy that wrote "Snow White and the Seven Deadly Dwarves," and it was short and sweet. It was a great little suspense/horror story, and reminded me of some of the Stephen King short stories I've read. It wasn't extremely gory, and left some things to the imagination. I really liked it.

I gave this 4 books

14-16) Fifty Shades of Grey, Fifty Shades Darker and Fifty Shades Freed by EL James

Wow. I will admit that I didn't have a clue what these books were about before I started them, and read Fifty Shades of Grey on the recommendation of a friend. By halfway through the first book I was laughing hysterically at all the sex scenes. By the second book I was skipping them altogether. There is just so much in those scenes that is so completely improbable, and it made them SO funny to me. I also noticed by the end of the first book that there were A LOT of similarities between it and Twilight - Overbearing, controlling boyfriend, same area of the country, family size is similar, Mary Sue girl and super hot guy - the list goes on. The only difference is where Twilight didn't have any sex at all (until they were married, that is), this had so much it became a joke. I will say, the story in the later two was better than in the first, but I still didn't get the lust rush that is seems the majority of American women seemed to get.

I gave all of these 2 books. Only because of the comedic value. 

I have 3 left to go before I'm caught up with the ones I've read, and I'm currently sitting on my couch with 5 more books that I checked out today and 3 or 4 on my kindle. I'm not sure if I'll get them all read, but I'm going to have fun trying!

Want ALL the crayons!

The girls and I spent about 2 hours wandering around Target today, and I found the coolest things. Crayola now has a set out that is exclusive to Target called "Pick Your Pack." You choose a box to hold your crayons that you can decorate yourself, and then you pick and choose from 8 count packs that have different themes. Some of the options are "Cupcake My Day," "Glitterati," "Sports Fan," and "Pirate Treasure." I will admit, I want them all. And I won't even pretend they are for the girls. They would totally be all for me.

Images are from Target.com

Going by too fast

My tiny little baby is now almost a month old. I can't believe that my maternity leave is half over, and in about a month I'll be back at work. So far I've loved every second of it - taking Amelia to Baby Bookworms on Tuesdays, lounging around the house with Maddie and watching her sleep, watching crap tv, and of course the cat naps during the day. I've heard that there are some... things... going on at work, so it should be very interesting when I go back in August. But honestly? I'd rather be here. I know that we wouldn't be able to live anywhere like we do now if I quit, but man, I'd love to be at home. Especially since I'll be shelling out so much for daycare. If only the side projects would pan out, or Mike could get moved at his job so he'd be happier. If only, if only...