they look so grown up!

a little bit of halloween

Can you believe that Halloween is just a little over a week away?

This year I am looking forward to a low key time with my boys and friends. 

Plus, this year it is going to be a little hard with it being my dad's birthday and my dads favorite holiday so I am just wanting to relax with the people that I love. I am hoping that they will help take my mind off the fact that he is not here with us this year. 

But one thing I did do this year that I have never done is decorate my front walkway! 

I know, it is pretty exciting right? I thought so too!

easter inspiration

I can't believe that Easter is in two weeks! 

Can you?

This year has flown by so much faster than I have realized so I am a little sad today. Spring will be here in like two days and then everything is going to just start rolling. Easter, Mothers Day, Fathers Day and so on. I'm not ready! I am still trying to get all my winter stuff put up and things ready for all this warmer weather we have been having.

Since I have done nothing Easter related all month I thought that I would post some Easter inspiration that I found this morning on Pinterest :)

(all images from Pinterest)

happy valentine's day love bug

This year for the boys class Valentine's I knew I didn't want to buy the usual boxed Valentine's. As I was cruising around Etsy I came across some cute love bug Valentine's, but I was not paying $2.50 a piece for them! I needed 34 so that just was not an option. So I decided to get creative. 

I know that they are not as pretty and that they are handwritten, but my boys think I am pretty cool for making these. Best of all... all 34 cost me less than $10 to make! 

And here is how they looked after we packaged them up...

christmas pinspiration

Howdy y'all!

I am sitting here going on day 5 of being at home with sicklies. And the only thing that has kept me sane is Pinterest. So today I thought I would post some of my favorite Christmas pins to start getting in the holiday mood. 

happy turkey day

From our family to yours...

surviving the holidays with sick kids

Thanksgiving is fast approaching and sadly both of my boys are down with the flu. I am sad that we will not be spending this Thanksgiving with family, but I am happy that we can spend time together as a family while everyone recovers. I am praying that Mike and I don't get it, well at least me so I can stay well enough to take care of my boys.  

I thought I would share my top 3 tips on surviving the holidays with sick kiddos.

1. Make sure that you have a couple cans of soup, some crackers and gatorade on hand. 

It's almost guaranteed that if you cook your sick child will not want to eat whatever it is. I always try to have chicken & stars or chicken noodle on hand so they can opt for that. Crackers come in handy for upset tummies or to eat before they take medicines that require food before taking. The gatorade I think is really important. My kids HATE drinking water when they are sick. I try to keep some gatorade around because high fevers will dehydrate kids really fast. Plus, when you have more than one sick kid you can give them each a different color so they don't get drinks mixed up and pass even more germs around.

2. Have the essential medicines on hand and updated.

Tylenol, Advil, Benadryl, Delsym (or some other cough medicine approved by your pediatrician), Vitamin C (for the parents) and Saline Swabs for little noses. And you can't forget the measuring cups and syringes! These are the most common medications used when you have a sick little one. I try go through my medicine basket every couple of months and replace anything that has expired. There is nothing worse than having a child with a 104* fever at 2 am and expired Tylenol. (Another thing I try to keep on hand is Nature's Way Sambucus Black Elderberry Syrup. It is a great natural immune boosting, virus fighting berry syrup that is safe for kids over 2 and adults.)

3. Let your TV babysit.

I will be the first person to tell you that I do not like my kids to lay round all day watching TV. But in some cases it is ok. When you have two sick kids, who's bodies hurt the last thing I need to do is make them play just because I don't want them watching cartoons. To be honest, it makes my life a little easier. They are not as whiney as long as something good is on and it is a lot easier for me to get stuff done around the house (or rest if I am feeling sickly).

4. A MUST: Clorox Wipes, Lysol Spray and Hand Sanitizer.
These are a must for any household with sick people. Normally I go the natural cleaner route, but when someone gets sick I crack out the tuff stuff. I try to spray all the rooms with Lysol at least a few times a day. Especially where the kids have been laying around and coughing all day. I always spray the door knobs, remotes, chairs, etc. And I have strategically placed bottles of hand sanitizer all around the house. I may seem like overkill, but you will be thankful for it later :)

Also...  if you don't already have these, I highly recommend them:

Braun ThermoScan Ear Thermometer 

I have used every kind of thermometer on the market and I absolutely love this one! It is super easy to use, it is ready as soon as you turn it on and it only takes seconds to give you accurate results. Plus, I can even take their temp while they are sleeping without waking them.

Netflix or a Couple of DVD's

I know that not everybody has Netflix on demand, and that is okay. Dvd's work wonderfully too! The kids love watching movies when they are sick. They have a bunch of great kids holiday movies out this year!

Simply Saline Nasal Swabs

I found these the other day at the store. My oldest was having problems with his nose going between runny and super dry. When it would get super dry he would have these horrible nose bleeds. These have worked wonders! For little ones, I think they work better than the spray. 

halloween 2012

Here are pictures from this last weeks Halloween festivities.

Hope you all had a happy and safe Halloween!

freedom isn’t free

Have a blessed Memorial Day!

easter weekend

Hope you all had an incredibly blessed Easter weekend!

We started off our weekend by taking a day trip to see some relatives on Michael’s side of the family that we don’t get to see very often. There were aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents of all sorts. The boys had a blast and it was wonderful to see everyone.

His aunt and uncle live outside the city and have this amazing front porch swing that is perfect for sitting and just enjoying all the things that God has made.

 

On our way there we were stuck on the highway for about 20 minutes while the police cleared the scene of a rollover accident. So while we were stopped I took some pictures of the pretty weeds on the side of the road.

Once we got there the boys went straight to the sunroom to play darts with their cousins.

There were Easter eggs hidden everywhere!
And for some they would be lucky enough to find the ones with money in them :)

I fell in love with this bird house hanging from one of the trees in the backyard.

One of the eggs that was filled with money.

Time to hunt eggs!!!

The twins!

Yes, my husband caught a baby lamb for me just so I could hold it :)
Is that love or what?
Now I have decided that we are going to have sheep when we move to the country... and I can NEVER eat lamb chops again!

Tyler thought we needed a pet lamb too :)

The joys of my life!

We were ready to head home when this bad severe line of storms developed. With these storms there were three tornadoes that touched down and LOTS of rain.
Thank you Jesus for the rain!

I wish I would have been able to get a family picture on Easter Sunday,
but these are good enough for me:)