DIY Fail ~ Cold ~ WINNER

Maybe you could tell by my Friday post that I was expecting unicorns and rainbows this past weekend. Well, for the most part it wasn't too bad, but I had a couple stingers bring it down.

First of all...today's post was going to be a break down of my April DIY project - bubble magnets. It's not that I didn't complete said project, it's just that they didn't turn out quite how I had hoped.



Regardless, I am proud of myself for giving it a go, but super bummed that I can't share that little project with you at this time. I will be giving it another try this weekend (tweaking some things) and will have them down to a perfect, and easier, art. :-)

Secondly, our furnace broke. We had 80 degree weather last week so no prob, right? WRONG. It dropped down to nearly freezing the last couple of nights so our house has been COLD. And I am NOT a fan of the cold.

Okay, enough whining. Other than those two setbacks, every thing was fab! Here are some happy weekend pics...

The tulips in our back yard bloomed!


Mmmmmm, carrots.


"I'm gonna get you Landon!"


And he's down.


Ha Ha! Those last two kill me.

More happy news? Congrats to the winner of the Jungle Roo Cloth Diaper Giveaway ~ TRACY! If your name is Tracy, check your email girl. :-)

Want some more random tid-bits? Well, you're getting them:

1. My little Lando gets his helmet today. I'm nervous. I hope he takes to it well. I will share pics soon. (Check my FB & Twitter tonight for sure.)

2. I have another giveaway coming your way in the next couple days. I'm just putting that out there because I know some people get irritated with giveaways and I want ya to know that I have no plans of becoming a blogger who gives something away every day or even every week. This will be the last one I have planned until something super cool comes my way.

Hope you all had a stupendous weekend & wishing you a wondrous week ahead! {Rainbows + Sunshine + Unicorns}

High Five for FRIDAY!

What a GREAT week this has been! I just lurrrrvvve FRIDAY!

Highlights of my week...

1.  Spring cleaning day with my Hubby! Yesterday, Andy & I played hooky...we dropped the kids off at daycare, skipped out on work, and spent the day DOMINATING our house. Cleaned the basement, got caught up on laundry (aren't you excited, you won't have to hear me whine about it for at least another week!), organized the pantry, & took a crap load of goods to Goodwill. A huge weight has lifted off my shoulders.

2. Reconnecting with my Hubby. With Andy & I both working full time & him having to work the weekends lately, we haven't gotten any quality one-on-one time for a while. Yesterday, after the cleaning was done and before we picked up the kiddos, we had a super yummy lunch date at a beautiful restaurant, followed by some shopping - just the two of us! I love that my hubby loves to shop, too!



3. SUNSHINE! I've said it before, the sunshine makes me SUPER happy! It has been the icing on the cake this week (even though yesterday was rainy... which actually worked out well for being inside and cleaning all day).

4. My first blog giveaway. I never thought I'd get into doing giveaways here, but it has been fun for me to see new visitors coming to my little ole blog. 2 more days to enter if you haven't yet!



5. A new baby! Two of my high school friends had their first baby together on Wednesday - Easton Michael (don't ya love the name?)! It was super exciting because they didn't know if they were having a boy or a girl. I can't wait to meet him! Hopefully him and Landon will grow up being close friends - they're only 6 months apart!

I hope you all have a fabulous Friday and an amazing weekend! I will be getting my craft on for my April DIY project (meant to do it this week, but I'm a procrastinator), taking Leila to gymnastics, going to a 2 year olds b-day party, and just trying to keep my sanity juggling the 2 kiddos while my Hubby works.

Linking up with Lauren today!

Malibu Mojito Recipe

So, ya know how I talked about making mojitos in my last post? Well, I totally forgot to mention that I changed things up a bit this time and used Malibu Coconut Rum instead of the plain ole stuff. It ROCKED my world! Thought I'd share with you how I make a quick single serve mojito. Warning: I don't believe in measuring things.



Ingredients:

• Malibu Coconut Rum
• Club Soda
• Lime
• Some mint leaves
• Sugar
• A straw (to avoid drinking the mint leaves)

What ya do:

• Cut your lime up in slices and squeeze them into a fancy glass (I swear it tastes better if it is in a pretty cup). For the glass pictured above, I used 1/2 a lime. Drop the squeezed out slices into the glass.
• Tear up a bunch of mint leaves (as many as you see fit) and drop those in the glass, too.
• Sprinkle some sugar on top. Just sprinkle a little bit - you can always add more at the end if it isn't sweet enough for you. I prefer a less sugary mojito, but you can make yours as sweet as you'd like.
• Now the fun part! Mash it all together! We own a bad ass tool that is made specifically for muddling (it was a stocking stuffer for my hubby - you can buy it on amazon HERE for $9!), but you can easily use a spoon or fork, or the handle of a spatula, or your own fingers.
• Pour in the Malibu Rum. Again, no measuring here for me. I just eye it. It will depend on the size of your glass/how strong you want your drink.
• Muddle it all together one more time.
• Add ice.
• Fill the rest of your glass with club soda.
• Try your drink & tweak as needed. Not sweet enough? Add more sugar. Too strong? Add more club soda. You get the idea.
• ENJOY! Preferably with your feet kicked up and the sun hitting your face.

You can also enjoy a virgin mojito if you aren't a drinker! When I was preggo, I would just use 7-up or Sprite and add lime and mint. Super refreshing!

There's just something about sunshine.

It never ceases to amaze me how a little change in the weather can bring about such a huge change in my outlook on life. The glass is always half full when the first tastes of summer hit my hometown. This past weekend we had some freakishly warm-for-April weather. A few more pairs of flip flops came out of hiding, I got to show off my Vegas tan a little, I opted for iced coffee over hot, and my little Landon Drew got his hands on some lush, green grass for the very first time.



I love me some sunshine! Sunshine = Happiness. There are really on 2 things that I don't like about it... 1) skin cancer, 2) it draws me outside and away from the piles of laundry that still haunt my house. Oh yeah, haven't touched any of it in days. But, the glass is half full baby! I know it'll get done eventually (I'll be forced to do something when my kiddos are rocking their birthday suits because there's nothing clean to wear).





Yesterday I had a mid-day presentation outside of the office. On the way back, my co-worker and I made a detour at the liquor store (shhhhh...don't tell our boss). Now, I'm not really much of a drinker, but there's just something about 80 degree weather that screams for a mojito. So, last night I got to enjoy a refreshing beverage on our back porch while the hubby BBQ'd and the kiddos rolled around in the grass. Heaven, I say.







Is Summer approaching where you are? What's your fave thing about the sun?

Jungle Roo Cloth Diapers Review + Giveaway

My little (big) Landon is 6 months old now and I've been cloth diapering him for about 5 months. I NEVER thought I would be up for the challenge of using cloth diapers, but it turns out that it really isn't very challenging and I actually love it! For us it is a win-win-win situation because we are reducing waste, preventing diaper rash and blowouts (we NEVER have blowouts with them), and they are friggin' adorable!

When the kind folks at Jungle Roo Cloth Diapers contacted me about doing a review, I seriously did a happy dance. All of you cloth diapering mommas out there know how exciting fluffy mail can be. :-) And when I got their Giraffe Roo Minky diaper in the mail, it was hard not to put it on Landon straight out of the package without washing it. This thing is seriously so stinkin' cute and ridiculously soft!



My little stud muffin, rocking his new dipe...




This Jungle Roo cloth diaper has a baby-blanket-soft minky leak proof exterior with suede cloth lining. It is a pocket diaper and the insert that comes with it is 3-layers of microfiber - I find it to be super absorbent. In terms of size, I am absolutely loving this dipe for my big boy. It will fit babies from 9-30 lbs, but in terms of overall size it seems to be slightly larger which is great for bigger babies. I layed it down next to a BumGenius 4.0 and a Sunbaby  - the Jungle Roo is slightly larger than the BumGenius in terms of length and about the same in terms of width (which is quite a bit larger than the Sunbaby). Loving it! As for the snaps, this baby ROCKS! It has three rows of rise adjustment snaps, hip snaps, and waist tab overlap snaps for newborn fit. I will be getting plenty of use out of this bad boy!

You can learn more about Jungle Roo Cloth Diapers here:

• Jungle Roo Website
• Jungle Roo on Facebook
• Jungle Roo on Twitter

Jungle Roo pocket diaper + insert...


I love me a fluffy butt!


So, today I am super excited to be hosting my very first giveaway!

One of you is going to WIN your very own Jungle Roo Cloth Diaper!

Don't use cloth? Enter anyway and maybe you can give it a try! There are SIX possible ways for you to enter via the widget below. A winner will be randomly selected one week from today.

Good Luck!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

"Multicolored" Photo Challenge

I just can't resist linking up with The Paper Mama's "Multicolored" Photo Challenge today. When I saw the topic, I instantly thought of this pic I took of Leila almost exactly one year ago in front of our neighbor's house. It's about that time for the poppies to bloom again and I can't wait!

6 Months

My little boy is 6 months old today - that's 1/2 a year already! Craziness, I say.





Landon Drew at 6 months...

• Weight...we'll find out at his 6 month appt. next week. Around 20 lbs is my guess.
• He's wearing 12 month clothing the most comfortably. We still have some 6 & 9 month things that we put him in, though.
• Starting to eat food! He's tried avocado, sweet potato, rice cereal, squash, pears, & a Ritz cracker. :-)
• NOT sleeping through the night. Boo hoo.
• Landon is the HAPPIEST baby on the block. He seriously smiles pretty much non-stop and his smile just lights up the room. That's why it is super hard to be angry with him at 3am when he's just smiling his head off at you.
• Sits up all by himself unassisted. Started that a couple weeks ago.
• Still just barely rolling over. The kids got a lot of weight/girth to manage!
• Sissy is still his favorite person ever.
• He gets more and more vocal every day. A lot of cooing and squealing going on around here.
• Loves his toys (especially Sophie the Giraffe - the most over-priced toy out there, but worth it for us because we're on kid #2 with it!). He seriously will sit in his high chair or on the floor and be totally content playing with something for up to a half an hour!
• Landon still has the most beautiful baby blue eyes! I have a feeling they're sticking around.

Gosh, I just love this kid soooo much it hurts! I cannot even imagine our life without him in it.

Sissy got in on the photo-taking action, too...




Hope your weekend is off to a fabulous start! Stay tuned for my very first giveaway on Monday and my April DIY project later in the week. Yay!

It was too good to be true.

Last night I finally got the opportunity to tackle the piles of clean laundry cluttering our bedrooms. Leila was watching an episode of Dora in the living room, so Landon and I headed upstairs to get to work. He sat on the floor of the bedroom cooing and smiling and just being too dang cute while I worked as fast as I could folding and hanging the clean clothes (now a little too wrinkled from laying in heaps for so long). Bursts of happiness ran through me - it just felt so good to be productive and to have both of my kiddos happily doing their own thing.

I successfully got all of the kiddos' laundry put away and realized that Leila's episode of Dora should have been over a while ago. I expected her to come interrupt my hard work right after it was over, requesting a snack (even though she just had dinner) or another show or a piggy-back ride. When I realized she hadn't came up and bugged me yet, I called down to her. No answer. So, I went downstairs and found this:

My sleeping beauty...


A huge smile spread across my face and I ran out of the room to find the camera. My girl falling asleep on the couch may not seem like a huge deal, but this girl NEVER falls asleep anywhere besides her bed or occasionally her car seat. And she just looked SO darn cute!



So basically, the feelings of happiness that were bursting inside me earlier now multiplied. I had my extra-smiley baby boy clinging to me and my beautiful princess asleep on the couch. I just felt SO blessed for these two AWESOME gifts I had been given.



I let her sleep for a couple more minutes and then decided to wake her so she wouldn't be up all night. I put Landon down and then gathered Leila up in my arms. As I maneuvered my arm under her behind I felt wetness. I looked down on the couch to find a HUGE wet spot. At that point I just had to laugh it off.

Two lessons I learned from this:

1. Don't put it past God to humble you when you least expect it.
2. If you're gonna buy a ridiculously expensive velvet couch when you have kids...1) you're probably an idiot like me & 2) put something down on it before your kiddo sits down.

Happy Friday! Here's to a fabulous weekend ahead for all of us!

The Last Thing

A fun little Thursday post for ya. The last thing I...

ATE: Chocolate covered raisins. Those are healthy, right?

LAUGHED AT: What my co-worker did with the fruit on my desk. See for yourself...



PONDERED: What the heck am I going to create for my Monthly DIY project? & why do I always wait until the end of the month to figure this out? I guess I will be taking a little trip to Joanne's on my lunch break today.

WAS PROUD OF: How Landon behaved at his helmet appointment yesterday. He was such a happy little trouper! And the stocking thing they put over his head to take the scans and measurements cracked me up! We should be getting his helmet in a couple of weeks.



CRIED OVER: Our laundry situation. Dead serious. It wasn't like full on tears streaming down my face, I just got a little teary-eyed. Pathetic, huh? We are just SO. BACKED. UP. and there are piles of dirty and clean clothes taking over our house. Boo-hoo.

CRAVED: Chocolate covered gummy bears. My BFF has gotten me OBSESSED with these things. I seriously ate like a pound of them the other week. And I want MORE.

GOT EXCITED ABOUT: My first blog giveaway! I never really thought I would get involved in the blog giveaway world, but I've been getting approached by some sweet companies and I finally decided to say yes to a couple. A little sneak peak at what will be up for grabs next week...



HAPPY THURSDAY PEOPLE!

Wise Words Wednesday: Pride

"Through pride we are ever deceiving ourselves. But deep down below the surface of the average conscience a still, small voice says to us, something is out of tune." - Carl Gustav Jung

Sometimes ya just have to swallow your pride...

You may remember last month when I posted Landon's 5 month photos and mentioned how he has plagiocephaly/brachycephaly and that we were leaning towards getting him a helmet. Well, we are taking him in for a head scan in a couple of hours so that they can make one for him. It hasn't been an easy decision for Andy and I to make. Our pride has been getting in the way of thinking logically about the whole situation. Our baby in a helmet? Yeah, right. He's perfect! He doesn't need anything like that. Oh wait, maybe he does. But what will people say? Is this our fault?

When you have a baby, your world revolves around their health and happiness. I thank God every day for how perfect Landon is. He is so happy and easy going and generally very healthy (besides the almost constant daycare cold). When this flat head issue started becoming more and more prevalent, at first I just ignored it. Maybe I felt a little bit ashamed - like it was somehow my fault. Maybe I should have ignored the SIDS warnings and put him to sleep on his belly. Maybe I should have strapped him in the ergo more often when he napped. Maybe, maybe, maybe. What if, what if, what if. And then the thought of my baby needing to wear an ugly, expensive helmet sent me into panic mode. Especially if it was somehow our fault!

But ya know what? I'm over it. I won't be ashamed of my decision to get him the helmet. And I've talked myself out of feeling any more guilt over his misshapen head. The doc says it's much more common in big, fast-growing babies like Landon. After all, for most babies the goal is to triple birth weight by 1 year - Landon has done that in less than 6 months!

So you may be wondering, does he really need the helmet? Nope. He could live a perfectly happy life with a not-perfectly-round head. But the world is a cruel place. And if I have a shot at taking even a tiny bit of unhappiness out of my kiddo's life, I'm gonna do it. Even if he has to look funny for a few months. Even though we are losing our trip to Hawaii.

I'm trusting that it will be worth it in the end.

Viva Las Vegas!

I'm back! I would love to say I'm feeling refreshed and rejuvenated after my little mini-vacation, but I'm just utterly exhausted right now. AND, super happy to be back with my little loves! I'm taking today off from work to make up for lost time with them.

Anywhooooooo, Vegas was swell! 12 girls + 2 nights in Vegas = FUN FUN FUN! That's all I will say. Here is my trip in a few pics (not too many because after all, what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas)...



Bear with me this week as I re-enter reality. My house is a disaster (hubby had his hands very full with the 2 kiddos solo this weekend) and I'm surviving off very little sleep right now. It may take me a few days to get back in the swing of things.

Hope your weekend was even half as exciting as mine!

High five for Friday! Vegas style!

I am giving Friday a big ole high five today... from Las Vegas! Okay, maybe I'm not there quite yet, but I'm heading that way for 3 luxurious days and 2 crazy nights. Girl time!

Here's what made my week special...

• The anticipation of Vegas got me through this week. And who doesn't love a 4 day work week? Holla!
• My new fave thing? Shellac nail polish! My BFF bought all the goods to do shellac at home and I gave it a go for the first time last night. I'm in love! Not only is it instantly hard and dry after sticking your nails under the UV light - it lasts up to 2 weeks! & I just feel so pretty. I haven't painted my nails in FOREVER because it is just tough to deal with painting and having it chip off the next day when I'm managing 2 kiddos.

Sparkles!

• I practically OD'd on starburst jellybeans all week. OMG. Heaven in my mouth.
• The weather this past week? A-stinkin-MAZING! I can smell Summer right around the corner...
• The anticipation of Vegas. Oh wait, did I already say that? Well, that pretty much consumed my brain the whole week through.

OK, time to hop on a jet plane now.  I will be back on Monday with plenty of stories to tell... or maybe not. What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, right?

HAPPY FRIDAY!

I'm linking up with Lauren at From My Grey Desk today. 

Wise Words Wednesday: Working Mom Morning

"When you are a mother, you are never really alone in your thoughts. A mother always has to think twice, once for herself and once for her child." – Sophia Loren

In my opinion, the most crucial part of the day in the life of a working-outside-the-home-mom is the weekday morning. How the morning goes can make or break your entire day. When I first went back to work with Leila, it took me a few good months to get my morning routine down and flawless. And even when the routine was flawless, there were always circumstances I couldn't control...a messy diaper blowout, a tantrum, spilled milk (which I have, indeed, cried over).

Since Landon was born, I've had to re-establish the morning routine. And it hasn't been easy. Seriously, if it weren't for my hubby I don't think I'd make it out the door some mornings. Last summer I wrote a post about my morning routine with Leila (back when there was only 1 kiddo to wrangle in the AM). I thought it would be fun for me to analyze my routine these days. Oh how my life has changed...

• 6:01am - Alarm goes off... if I'm lucky enough that Landon is still asleep. Some mornings his little crow calls wake me up closer to 5:30am. If he's still asleep I jump in the shower in a zombie-like state. If he's awake, I bring him into the bathroom with me and pop him in the bouncer while I shower. 
• 6:20ish - After slathering myself with lotion and combing through my hair, I throw on some sweats, grab my littlest beast, change his diaper, and head downstairs. This is where I multi-task... I usually will sit on the chaise lounge in our living room and put Landon on the boob while I attempt to do my make-up. Talent!
• 6:45ish - Leila usually saunters downstairs around this time and promptly requests milk and Dora. Landon is usually still on the boob and I'm still attempting to do my make-up. I start to sweat a little. Landon finishes up, I put him in the excercauser/bouncer, turn on Dora for Leila and get her some milk. If I need to finish my make-up, I do it... fast.
• 7am - I grab Landon and head upstairs to wake up the hubby. Usually laying Lando in bed next to him does the trick. While he's waking up I get dressed and blow dry/style my hair.
• 7:20-30ish - This is where it all turns to chaos. I usually end up barking orders at Leila and Andy. Andy gets Landon dressed while I take on Leila. This time in our morning involves a variety of exciting activities like frantically tearing apart a closet looking for a matching shoe, throwing a banana and trail mix in my purse for breakfast, grabbing a change of clothes for Landon (he seriously has a blow-out every day at daycare), brushing teeth, combing Leila's rat's nest hair, etc.
• 7:35ish - Our chaos culminates with both kiddos in their car seats. Usually at this point Leila freaks out because she forgot her baby or her special bear blankie and I have to run back upstairs scouring the house for it. Once that's taken care of, we can safely back out of the garage and head off to daycare for Leila & Landon and work for me. There is always a big sigh of relief once we are on our way.

It's crazy how my mornings have changed with 2 kids. No more breakfast for me (not until I get to the office anyway). No more snuggles with Leila on the couch while she watches her show. 15-45 minutes less of sleep. Lots of anxiety. But, it could always be worse. Here are some things that help make my mornings easier...

• I get the diaper bag ready and pick out the kiddos clothing the night before. One less thing to worry about in the morning.
• The kiddos daycare serves breakfast. Hallelujah! If I had to worry about feeding Leila, she just wouldn't get to eat. ;-)
• Hubby. An extra set of hands. Enough said.
• TV. I know it's bad, but Dora seriously makes my mornings so much easier! Leila is content while I can get myself ready and Andy can wake up and deal with Landon.

By the time I get to work each morning I feel a huge sense of accomplishment - and technically my day hasn't even started yet! Oh the simple joys of being a working mom.

Any of you working mommas have tips/tricks that help get your days off to a great start?

I am enough.

A friend of mine posted a great article on facebook today and it totally raised my spirits and got me thinking. If you're interested, you can read it HERE.



With pinterest, twitter, facebook, the entire blogosphere, it is SO easy to compare yourself to others. Even if you try your hardest NOT to. I don't know about you, but I can't go a day without seeing a really cool craft I wish I had the patience to learn how to do, a style post with clothing I wish I could afford, hair tutorials that I would love to try if my hair wasn't so thin and flat, toddler dinner ideas with cute shapes and designs that I would never have time to create. And the list could go on and on. How can you not wonder how people do it all? Especially the moms out there. How can you not compare yourself to some of them, wondering how they seem to do it all when you can barely keep your head on straight?

That's how I find myself feeling sometimes. And sometimes I wonder if people see my blog and get the impression that maybe I'm one of those people who does it all - one of those "super moms" (which I am TOTALLY not... my bedroom looks like a tornado struck and my toddler eats a cheese quesadilla for dinner EVERY night - no joke). It's SO easy to make assumptions about everything and everyone you see online.

The truth is that most of us are in the same boat. Sometimes we feel like we aren't good enough. We aren't the perfect parent. Or the perfect employee. Or the perfect blogger. But, ya know what? To our kids we are. And THAT is what truly matters.

Today I am choosing to believe that I AM ENOUGH. Exactly as I am. To my hubby & kids, I am THE BOMB and that's all that matters. There isn't another opinion out there that means even a fraction as much to me. If I have their approval, I'm doing all right.

April Perry, the author of "Your Children Want YOU!", posted the following question and a challenge at the end of her essay:

QUESTION: How do you keep the right perspective on your importance to your family–in the midst of so many ideas and temptations to compare yourself with others?


CHALLENGE: Recognize any tendencies you might have to get wrapped up in discouragement, and set up a regular way to remind yourself that your children want you.

Wanna know how I'm handling that challenge? I literally just set up a little weekly reminder on my phone that says, "I am enough." Every time that bad boy pops up in my face I'll remember to stop stressing and just be who I am - be all that I can for my kiddos. That's the hope anyway.

Easter Sunday Funday

Here is our family Easter in pics. It was a most fantabulous day!

Dying eggs on Easter Eve...




Easter bunny loot...


Landon liked the fake grass best...


This pic flat out cracks. me. up...




Okay, here are our attempts at getting a decent family photo...






And this was the best one. Had to crop the heck outta it due to my wandering nephew & there's a hair in my face, but it's ok at least...

He sits up now! So precious...


Egg hunt!


He he he...


My Lando & I soaking up the sun - it felt sooooo good!


This one had the BEST day ever. No nap & she was still a little angel.


I hope you had a wonderful Easter, surrounded by your favorite people!