Five Favorites and a Pregnancy Announcement

1. Book It!

Wow - does this bring back memories! Just signed Matthew up for his first experience of Book It! I'm excited about this. I loved reading, so this didn't cause me to love reading, but it was still a lot of fun to get my personal pan pizza and sticker on my pin. I'm hoping that's how the game goes this time around too.

2. SO Delicious Coconut Kefir

I am lactose-intolerant, except when I drink raw milk, but I'm not a huge fan of the taste of kefir in general anyway. Problem solved with coconut kefir! This is a daily drink for me right now and I love that I can get my probiotics in a non-pill form.

3. BABIES

One of my close girlfriends just had her 3rd baby last night - a little boy and I can't wait to meet him! And another one of my close friends is due in two weeks! And I have three cousins expecting, although I will probably not meet one of the babies ever, one of the babies for a while after, but one of the babies fairly soon after, I hope! And of course, we announced on Facebook, that we, too, are expecting our own bundle of joy with this picture:

4. Vending machines

At work, I have no car generally because Mr. ADM and I share a vehicle and he's now officially working AND being a student full-time. That's fine except these cravings have begun and I'm having major food aversions as well. So, eating is not easy. I tried to gag down some eggs and bacon this morning and it was HARD. So, I've been utilizing the vending machine, although even then, sometimes it just doesn't do it for me. However, it has helped a little.

5. Amazon Instant

I just signed up for a free trial and tried it out last night. It comes with Amazon Prime/Mom which we're thinking about signing up for, so when I saw the free trial, I thought I'd test it out. Last night was a doozy for my morning sickness, so my wonderful husband told me to take it easy and he handled all the work of dinner and getting the kids to bed. AND then he had to sit down and do homework, so I took it upon myself to watch some good ol' TV. I love it!

7 Quick Takes - Puppy Party and Some Randomness

1. Miriam turned TWO last week! I can hardly believe time has flown by so quickly! I look at her every day in amazement that she's no longer a baby. We threw her a birthday party at a park with lots of friends and family. She had a blast! More pictures to come in a later post...

Taking her puppies for a walk with her new double stroller.

2. Our summer has been full of busyness and my family is no exception to that as well. My dad has been contracting all over the US for the last year and a half and so we see him on weekends only most of the time, and even then, they don't seem often enough. Along with that, one of my brothers is finishing up his last semester in college, 8 hours away, this fall, so he's been MIA for a good portion of the summer too. My sister who works for Disney hasn't been up here for a good year and a half too, and we miss her terribly! A couple weeks ago, Mark told us he wished she lived close by. With that and hobbies and travelling and jobs, we rarely seem to get together as a family, so I took the opportunity, even though we were missing 2 of my siblings here, to take a family picture. This used to be a typical Sunday evening where we'd go eat at my parents' house and I'm looking forward to the day when this becomes the norm once again. Maybe down the road, there might even be cousins ;)! None of my siblings are married yet, but I know it's bound to happen eventually as they grow up! Plus, our little family wants to expand too :).

 Special treat - story time with Papa!

3. So, yesterday, Mr. ADM was off from work and decided to get some cleaning done because we have this random spot in our carpeting (think size of a plum) that is stained - like burn a hole in your rug kind of stained - and since we're renting, the managers kindly offered to send in a professional carpet cleaning team to attempt to remove it so we wouldn't get charged down the road. That set Mr. ADM, who is the organized one in our marriage, in a whirlwind of cleaning frenzy. Not only did he clean up and move the furniture out of our dining room where they'll be doing the main cleaning, but he also cleaned our bedroom AND our closet! That's a feat I've been attempting to think about doing for months now! And he did it in ONE day. Not even. ONE afternoon! As well as taking care of the kids - they took a wagon ride/walk, played dominoes, and who knows what other kind of fun - he also washed, dried and FOLDED almost all of the laundry...which brings me to my point for #4.

4. Mr. ADM kindly asked me if I wouldn't mind throwing one last pile of laundry in the washing machine last night as he was heading out for a fun hangout/board game night with some friends. Once I wrangled the kids into bed and got myself moving again, I walked in to the laundry room. I started the machine up and took the top two towels out of the laundry bin we have for dirty laundry (it divides into 3, so towels are one section). That's when it hit me. This TERRIBLE smell. I looked down into the bin and sure enough. MOLD. Lots of it. Half a load's worth of towels were covered in mold because we had a bunch of wet towels at the bottom. I threw everything in the washing machine with half a gallon of vinegar (we were out of bleach!) but it still smells terrible. I have never had this happen before. I threw out a reusable snack bag, but I'm hoping to be able to salvage at least a few of the towels. We shall see...

5. Which brings me to another laundry quick take. I also set to working on my kids' clothing. We live in a tiny apartment with a small amount of storage, but certainly not enough for 5 people to store a lot. I started a system last spring where I bought one plastic bin for each person in the family. In each bin are all the clothes we are not currently using. If it doesn't fit, I have to throw something out. This is great except that I'm realizing it's not going to work for much longer. I shop second-hand most of the time, so tossing clothes out of our residence doesn't generally bother me but there are a handful of outfits I am sentimental about or I REALLY want future children to wear. So, I just spent the last couple of weekends shopping resales for the kids' fall/winter clothes and now that they had all been washed, I was ready to put them in the bins til the real cold weather hit (as opposed to this high of 70 schtuff we've been experiencing here lately). I thought I had done a great job until I looked at the piles and saw the following:

Matthew: Shirts - 4, Pants - 5 (if they still fit)/1 (if he's grown into the next size up)

Mark: Shirts - 25, Pants - 15

WHAT HAPPENED? Guess who's NOT going to get anything else? And guess who's going to have to run around naked if it gets cold before mid-September and I don't have time to do laundry every other day???

6. Mr. ADM GOT INTO GRAD SCHOOL!!!! We are beyond excited! My husband is officially a full-time student. Prayers would be appreciated that we can make everything work!

7. Mr. ADM also taught the boys how to play Dominoes (for real and like the picture below). This is their new favorite toy/game.

Happy Friday all!

For more 7 Quick Takes, visit Jen@ConversionDiary!

7 Quick Takes

1.    1.   I’m slowly getting myself back on the wagon of losing weight. After spending 4 months on the GAPS diet and losing a whopping 15 pounds, we (my whole family) stopped doing GAPS and I fell off the wagon. Majorly. I gained back 10 of those 15 pounds and have been sitting in that same position ever since. It’s a depressing day when 2/3 of your wardrobe no longer fits/looks good on you. So, I’m working on eating healthier and cutting back my carbs, which is my kryptonite. I know I can do this. I just need to look at the short-term. So, my goal for this weekend? Do NOT pig out. Discipline. Moderation.

2.       

      2.     We spent this past weekend in Ohio, visiting my in-laws. It was a good time and we got to see some wonderful friends and family who we had not seen in a year. But let me tell ya, the mosquitoes were a’plenty and for the second time this summer, I got chewed up! Mr. ADM and I were discussing this on our way home and I reminded him that they spray for mosquitoes where we live, so our reality is really not reality at all. Any good recommendations for a natural bug spray? I may have to test a few out, esp. on the kids.

Cousins all together for the first time

Visiting the Great-grandparents!

Miss 'Tude

Birthday Celebration with the Ohio family. Lovin' on her cake.

Pool where we first encountered aka "got mauled" by the mosquitoes. Yes, Miriam is wearing her brother's underwear. We do have a swimsuit for her...she just grew out of it before summer hit. So, after this, my sister-in-law and I went to the great land of Target and found her a more gender-appropriate suit. 

Cousins enjoying the zoo.

3.  

      3.     For the first time in our short lives as parents, we’ve hired someone to babysit our children who we’ve never met before! SCARY! Just kidding. She’s a friend of a friend of my sister’s, so we kind of know her. Plus, she attended our alma mater which right there means absolutely nothing probably, but for us, it means we trust her character a lot more. I’m sure the kids are having a blast as I’m typing this. They love babysitters. Sometimes more than us.

4.   

      4.    I was going to attempt to do the 7 Posts in 7 Days and royally failed. What can I say? Cleaning our apartment so the babysitter didn’t assume we were hoarders was a priority. Because we’re not hoarders. Really.

5.   

      5.    I have to admit something. Some of you may strongly dislike me after this. I do NOT like Finding Nemo. Dori and Nemo’s father just get on my nerves the entire time. They did from the first time I watched it. Yes, I put myself through multiples viewings of this movie, because my kids got their father’s taste in movies apparently and love it. Go figure. I’ll take Toy Story, Bolt or even Monsters Inc (which is more on the “eh” of my likeable scale) over Nemo any day.

6.   

      6.   Craft fair! My dear partner-in-crime, Heidi, and I did our 2nd ever craft fair - first time as both being under AlmostDomesticMama! It was a great day and we had a lot of fun minus getting gnawed on by some really mean flies. Heidi's husband rescued us with bug spray and the rest of the day went smoothly!

This was only half our booth. The other half was filled to the brim with backpacks, aprons, more flag garland, blankets and bibs!

7.  

      7.    This weekend kicks of resale season! I’m SO pumped! Resales are one of my favorite ways to shop – I can buy higher-end clothing for my children that I normally would not be able to afford. I don’t mind second-hand, esp. when it comes in excellent condition for a price I can afford. My husband shakes his head at me because the delight I get from these things is like a foreign language to him. Not resales in general – he’s right there with me when it comes to toys and books and fun stuff like that. But clothes = momentary happiness just doesn’t make sense to him. 

      

     I will be attempting to link-up later, but in the meantime, go to Conversion Diary for more great Quick Takes!

Crafty Mama - Mickey Mouse

A couple weekends ago, we celebrated Mr.3-yo's 3rd birthday with his friends. It was a blast and I have a couple pictures of the things I did homemade, minus the food :).


Invitations


Mickey Mouse costume minus the gloves, which Mr. 3-yo STILL asks for :).


Mickey Mouse(ish) pinata

We had Mickey Mouse/Minnie Mouse ears for all the kids and the kids played mostly with balloons that we had scattered all over the livingroom. We went outside for a few minutes to break the pinata which was fun to watch. I realize now that 3 year olds are a bit young still to break one, but it was enteraining to watch them try. My teenage sister ended up breaking it for them and they all loved gathering the candy. Mr. H decorated the cupcakes and we enjoyed a lot of good food (I <3 Tastefully Simple!). All in all it was a hit and Mr. 3-yo was definitely very happy (mostly to wear his costume and see his friends).

Happy April! (pictures, pictures!)

A very belated Happy and Blessed Easter! It's been a busy month and I've not had time to post lately, but am back on the wagon again!

I thought today I'd post a couple of things that kept me busy up to Easter...a couple craft projects:

The first project was a toddler backpack from Made by Rae . Now, I have to say first that I am a very novice sewer. I never took formal lessons, so I did have a couple mess-ups with this project. However, I am very proud of it. I made it for a friend of Mr. 3 yo (formerly Mr. 2 yo who celebrated a birthday this past week!) and he LOVED it! :)




Second project on my list was making matching ties for the boys and Daddy for Easter. I was bound and determined to do this, so I took patterns from a blog I love (The Purl Bee) and made all 3 of my boys their matching ties. I didn't get a close up of them, but here's a picture of us at Easter to show them off :).




Mr. 3 yo also celebrated his 3rd birthday and enjoyed every moment of it. Here's a picture with his cake that he picked out himself :).



Hope you all enjoy and I hope to be back more often writing again!