Happy Chick

That's me, Happy Chick! Well, actually that's the name of the new background I just put up for Easter, but for everyone that knows me personally, you know that "chick" is what my mom calls me. (And my brother is "monkey" haha- don't worry Zach- none of your friends read this) ;)

Well, today it is 87 degrees outside and sunny! Yea! Does this mean we will get a snowstorm tomorrow??? I hope not! I have been online shopping for spring and summer clothes yesterday and today and I might actually have to make an order soon! Last year I ordered my entire summer wardrobe in March and didn't get to wear even one thing until May when we went to the beach on vacation, and then had to come home and put it back up until the middle of JUNE!

We are having a nice day at home with the windows open and fans on- I just love days like that! I am attempting to do some spring cleaning, but with frequent interruptions, I have kinda started to lose my MOJO. I still have about an hour left of nap time and if I get to it, I bet I could get lots accomplished---BUT I'll have to get off this computer first I suppose!

Ok, well a post is not complete without a few pictures for Granny, because let's face it, she doesn't care what I have to say, she only wants the pictures, so these are for you mom!

Look who is learning to use a cup!

Ezra is an entertainer for sure, but if you ask him to do something he gets embarrassed, so I never can get a picture of him "performing" but I heard him singing in the car (which is the sweetest thing EVER) and sneakily shot a picture in the fold down mirror ;)

Better go get to work!

Happy Chick

Check out this blog!

My friend Grace is doing a really fun and creative giveaway on her blog:

http://wheelsoffun.blogspot.com/2010/03/giveaway-extravaganza-featuring-wahms.html

Go check it out and sign up to win one of her super cute prizes!

Too good NOT to post!

Disclaimer: We do not necessarily agree with or condone the views expressed by this character and have no control over them. :) ( Just wanted to make sure before you read further)

Okay, SO...

Surely you know who Dog the Bounty Hunter is...yes? Well, he has a show on A&E that is very, um....entertaining? Anyways, apparently he has written a book and is now on a book signing tour which happened to be in our neck of the woods. So we drove by Borders and saw THIS:

Well what do you do when you are driving by a place that has an enormous DOG THE BOUNTY HUNTER bus parked there??? You turn around and go back of course! I know curiosity killed the cat, but seriously...I COULD.NOT.RESIST.!

So we parked and debated, I mean REALLY debated whether or not we should give this one a peek. Maybe I'm weak, but could you resist??? We could not. This was too good!

So we did.

I'm ashamed, but I like to keep it real, so enjoy at my expense and I'll understand if you never read my blog again. (Although I hope you do.)

We kept our distance and played it cool. We didn't want people to think we were there for the same reason as all the other weirdos. ( Notice I said "other")

Sorry, all we had were camera phones- we didn't come prepared...

This was a picture from Caleb's phone. I guess he wasn't playing it cool enough, because Dog looked at him and gave him a perfect pose! lol, BUSTED!

And then he was off to the bus...apparently we almost missed it!

Well, we got a kick out of this and I'm sad to say we maybe even enjoyed it (a little).

We know how to relax...

This is how I found Ezra watching Thomas today...He set this one up all by himself, and was enjoying his hard work. :)

...and when he noticed he was getting a picture taken...

Weekend Whirlwind

This weekend has been quite, um...quite "stretching" for our family. I never thought I would say this, but if we don't follow closely to our normal routine, we really start to struggle. I NEVER thought I would be a routine follower, and I used to just fly by the seat of my pants and I liked it that way, but I guess kids will change that-and I'm raising some little creatures of comfort.

The chaos started on Thursday when my husband had to work late, then Friday when he had to go in early and work really late, it just compounded. Then Saturday morning he had to go in again, which doesn't happen often thank goodness, but this weekend it did. Bedtime schedules were thrown off because it is our rule that daddy tucks the kids in and that if at all possible we wait for him so that we can all eat dinner together. The lack of amount of "daddy time" was starting to lead to some acting out for attention and all together we were just thrown out of whack. On top of all that, add on an hour time change for daylight savings and we were all just about wiped out.

I'm still reeling from it all and wondering where exactly the weekend went, but luckily I did snap a few pictures, so I know for sure that whirlwind or not, one DID in fact exist.

Have you been to Carl's Jr. lately? Well, I haven't. But as we were trying to hurry running our errands and buying groceries for the week, we were running into dinner time and out of cooking time so we went there. Not really my first choice, but it was right next to the grocery store and like I said, time crunch...Anyways...

THIS is the new way to order.

I'm not even kidding. There is no person to take your order---these have been placed in front of the registers where you would normally stand to talk to a , umm what's it called...human being. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but is that too much to ask for? My husband thought it was pretty cool, but I can see how the novelty could wear off pretty darn fast.

Luckily they still have a playground, so Ezra got to enjoy that after he finished his dinner.

 Here he is waiting excitedly.

Usually he is too small to do all of the things by himself, but this one was pretty large so Caleb got in and helped. (Other dads were doing it too, while the wives sat and watched.) It was pretty funny to see my son and husband waving and saying "Hi Mommy!" from the tube above. LOL

So what do you do when there's no time for a "real" date? We were pretty tired, but hadn't really seen each other much for the last several days, so we decided to grab some snacks and have an impromptu date night at home after the kids went to bed. Caleb ran to the store and we watched an Andy Griffith marathon and snacked on chips and spinach artichoke dip. YUM!

 (Ignore that CRAZY wallpaper-we are in the middle of a kitchen renovation and that wallpaper's days are getting very limited)

I'm already ready for next weekend when we can actually relax! Luckily we don't have much planned for this week and I'm hoping we can just take it easy and catch up. Plus I should be receiving my second order of cloth diapers really soon and I'm hoping that will help. I don't have anywhere near enough and I have been having to wash and dry the six I have over and over on a continued rotation. This time I'm trying prefolds with a Snappi. I'd like to have a bit of a varied stash and I'm still trying to find out what I like and don't like. I'm only ordering in pieces at a time so that I can keep trying different things and don't spend a fortune on something I decide I hate. If you've got any favorite combos or products to recommend- please send suggestions my way! THANKS! :)

The FLIP is plum Bum genius!

This my first post ever about cloth diapers, and it has been much anticipated for a LONG time! It's actually been about two years in the making. When my son was nearing one I began my search on the subject. I was very pleased to find that cloth diapers had come a looooong way from what you think of when you hear the words, "cloth diapering." But just as that was a good thing, it also complicated things quite a bit. You see, there were many options, MANY MANY MANY options and I kept getting overwhelmed. Plus there was this whole new language to learn...snappies, indian/ chinese prefolds, capris, AIO's....the list was endless and I had to make notes to keep it all straight. I knew that I had to make a good choice because if I didn't like what I chose to begin with, I would give up and never look back. But I reallllly wanted to cloth diaper. I didn't know ANYONE that cloth diapered and most people will look at you cross-eyed if you mention it. Why in the world would you want to do that!?!? I knew there HAD to be people cloth diapering because all these companies on the internet would not be in existence if I were the only one (and had yet to make a purchase.) But then guess what??? I found out that TONS of you are cloth diapering out there! Especially the ones of you that have or are planning to have a large family as we are. I was so comforted to find out that there are many families out there just like us---we don't meet them often. So... FINALLY after hours (and probably days if you added it all together) of research, and with the ever so patient help of Grace - I made an order!

I chose the FLIP by Bumgenius. They seemed to have great reviews and met my criteria. So yesterday I got them in the mail and I could NOT wait to get them on the bum's in this house! Of course you have to pre-wash them which I'm pretty sure was the LONGEST wash and dry cycle EVER! Luckily with Flips you only have to do it ONE time before use.

I really don't like spending money up front on something that I'm not sure of, so we bought just enough to give us a sample. Ezra is wearing pull-ups during the day and only uses diapers overnight or when we go out.

Here is what we got: 2 covers (Zinnia and Grasshopper)

And 6 inserts: We chose the Stay Dry, but there is also the option of organic (and disposable inserts, but we would probably just use a disposable diaper in that case)

It's super easy! To change a diaper you just pull out the dirty insert and replace it with a clean one. Usually you can reuse the cover a couple of times. And I LOVE the one sizing with the snaps! Even though Ezra and Poppy weigh about 15 lbs. different, they can both use the same covers. ( Although I wouldn't put Ezra in pink :)  ) But this will be great when I order more gender neutral colors.

So we were ready to go! We were getting ready to leave for church so I was really hoping they worked well! (I brought them both a change of clothes just in case) We made it all the way through church and back home with no leaks! I was amazed!!! I changed them both and was so happy to find everything very well contained. I also used them last night and they worked great! It says you can use 2 inserts for heavy wetters for overnight, but I only used one and we were fine.

(Please excuse the mess- this picture session was taken at the end of play time :)  )

So, there it is! If you are considering buying these, I would highly recommend them. I am already planning my next order!

Picture hodge podge

We really haven't been up to much lately. Plus I need to get new batteries for our camera, so all we have at the moment are cell phone pics-and unfortunately they are NOT great quality :( However, it's been many moons since I last posted and I figured the grandparents might like a little update.THIS is what Poppy's hair has been up to... I took her bow out the other night and EGADS! She looked like a baby shark swimming around when we put her in the bath! LOL I'm blurred in the picture because I was laughing hysterically :)

Last week at church, during the last few minutes Caleb took Poppy to the lobby because she was starting to fuss and this is what he found. Ezra's class had let out a few minutes early and they asked them all to sit in the lobby and wait. He took a picture because this is the kind of thing I LOVE! Isn't he so sweet sitting there and waiting so nicely??? Caleb said he and Emily were carrying on a conversation. I'd REALLY like to know what it was about! His teacher told us that he is the quiet one in class...I can't even hardly imagine that! (OH and you may have noticed he got a haircut...I can't wait until we can give him something other than a "buzz" but until he can get over his intense fear of haircuts, this is what it shall "bee.") Ha Ha! Yes, I know I'm the only one laughing :)

 

He found out this week that he thinks the library is pretty cool. Caleb took him on a "boys only" trip there the other night when Poppy and I were sick and he loved it! He's been telling me about it every day since!

  

Today we just HAD to get out of the house! For the most part we have been in all week because of the colds we had, but it was lovely today and the sunshine was calling our name! We tried a new park that we always pass on the way to church because they have a train that Ezra mentions EVERY SINGLE TIME we go by. It was pretty crowded, but he had so much fun.

  

He is becoming quite the dare devil on the slides and we have to watch him closely to keep him from trying to go down head first!

  

This was the first year that he really enjoyed the swings, but boy did he enjoy it this time! He was getting so tickled!

  

Look at this precious face! I wish this picture had sound because I just love hearing his little voice giggle! (And check out those pants-with every swing they just got a little shorter and shorter)

  

Daddy and I took turns relaxing with Pop Pop. She liked just watching the kids and commotion.

  

UNTIL... she decided to get in on the action!

 

We had a GREAT Saturday!!! Spring is coming and I just can't wait!