two things.

Two things I am loving right now. 

As stupid as it might sound, they have both made my little life so much happier. 

So just in case they might make others happy...

Lemishine:

This stuff has seriously saved my dishes. 

We've had Fiesta Ware since our wedding and some of our plates and bowls were so stained with hard water/soap spots. I had tried all kinds of different things and could not get rid of them. One navy blue plate was so bad I really thought I was going to have to just throw it away. 

Now? I can't even tell which plate that was. 

Sparkly. Shiny. Looking like new. 

Love this stuff. 

Coffee-Mate liquid creamer, Honey Vanilla Creme': 

(since I'm a coffee drinker now!)

Corey first bought this kind.
Did not sound good to me at all.
But I tried it one day after I left my French Vanilla sitting out on the counter all day (again) and loved it!
I've tried 7 different flavors and this one is my favorite.
I buy 3-4 at a time.
(But I'm worried because I just looked at their website to find a picture and there were lots of reviews on this one saying how horrible it is! Guess I'm still not your typical coffee drinker!)


Little things.
Silly things.
But they make my life happier.

color wonder.

Somedays it seems like this little miss is in to EVERYTHING! 

Corey said the other day that he didn't remember the other two getting in this much stuff. 

But I reminded him... we didn't have as much stuff then. 

And most of the things that we did have were age appropriate. 

We didn't have jars of markers sitting around when Sophie and Lawson were 17 months old. 

Since Gretchie loves markers so much, I finally got her some of her own... 

Love these Color Wonder markers. They aren't cheap, but they sure are nice for 17 month olds.

My furniture should be safe again. For now. 

One of the many things on my To-Do-List for this weekend? 

Wash the off-white couch slipcover and hope the orange marker washes out.  

It already came off the refrigerator. 

34 things.

Following in the footsteps of two of my favorite people... 34 things for my 34th birthday:

1. Corey: We started dating when I was 17 years old... which means I've been with him for half my life. I could say that it's been all sparkles and sunshine, but that would be lying. When we started dating, we thought we had so much in common. Now we can't remember what all those things were. But, differences aside, we are committed to each other and he is just the guy for me. We will be together until I am a gray haired little old lady. I'm sure of it.

2. Sophie: You changed my life when you made me a mommy. You can make me crazy one minute and then smother me with hugs the next minute. You are creative and artistic and smart and sweet. You are becoming more and more confident all the time. While I miss the sweet little toddler that you used to be, I love seeing the precious young girl that you are becoming.

3. Lawson: You stole my heart the minute I saw you. I never knew how much I wanted a little boy until you came along. You are funny and snuggly and cuddly and I hope you never get too old to give your momma a hug.

4. Gretchen: You filled a spot in my heart that I didn't even know was there. Every stage you have gone through has been my favorite. I adore everything about you. And I think you may be called Gretchie Bug forever. 

5. I'm not sure what my favorite color is. Really. I love color. Lots of colors. But I don't know that I really have a favorite. My closet has lots of green. And my friend, Dianna told me one time that she thinks of me anytime she sees pink and green together. Green, red, blue, pink and yellow are probably my most favorites.

6. We will be moving to a farm right in the middle of our two hometowns someday. We're just trying to figure out a timeline and hoping that all the house/job stuff will work out when it's supposed to. It's always been Corey's dream to build a house on his grandpa's farm and I'm trying to be a submissive wife.

7. I'm not a very good submissive wife.

8. I group the clothes in my closet by color. And I have a lot of colorful clothes. It's like a happy rainbow in my closet.

9. I love lists. I love making lists. I love crossing things off lists. I have a special notebook full of lists. I'll show pictures of it someday. I love it.

10. I have naturally very (crazy) curly hair. And right now I have about 1/2 as much as I used to. I used my InStyler on too high of a temp for too long and my hair got all weak after all the pregnancy/new baby hormones got out of my system. The result? I fried some of my hair and it is really, really thin in some spots. It's just hair, but I'm very sad about it.

11. I've never been a bridesmaid, but I've been a maid/matron of honor 4 times.

12. I thought about playing volleyball in college. I talked to a couple coaches and if I would have gone to a smaller college, I would have decided to play. I miss playing and I really miss being in the shape that I was in then. 

13. I had a dislocated hip when I was born. They didn't discover it until I was 11 months old and wasn't walking yet. I had surgery, was in traction for awhile and then a body cast and later a brace. I learned to talk early because I couldn't walk. 

14. I have bone that pops out of my leg. The ligament that is supposed to attach it to my knee is missing. It doesn't really bother me anymore, and it only caused a few problems when I ran hurdles in high school.


15. I've never been drunk. Not even close. It's just not my thing.

16. I love my house. Really love it. But the thought of a new house... even a new farm house, makes me happy. I have lots of ideas and the thought of decorating makes me happy.

17. This print is going to hang in my bright happy farm house someday. I've already ordered it. It was just too perfect. And true.

18. I love to scrapbook. I am years behind, but I love to do it and I love to look through the albums and I love how much the kids love to look through their albums. I made a sweet little Halloween album over spring break. It's very happy.

19. I love to take pictures. I always have. Going digital has saved me a lot of money on film and developing. I started downloading photos to my Mac on Dec. 20, 2009. I now have 12,648 photos in iPhoto. And thanks to Beki who taught me how to shoot in manual, I can now take pictures in our dining room (where the kids do the majority of their fun stuff) with no weird yellow tint! Yay! Thank you, Beki! 

20. I took 1/3 of the photos in our high school yearbook my senior year. We rolled and developed our own film and printed our own pictures in the darkroom. Digital is way faster and easier, but I loved that experience.

21. I miss my red plaid couch. I know white couches are popular and the washable slipcover makes sense, but it's just not me. Red plaid is more me.

22. I could wear a long sleeve solid color t-shirt every day. I have lots and I wear them with everything... slacks, skirts, capris. My favorite is outfit right now is my gray or black knit skirt with leggings and ballet flats.

23. I wear a cami tank top almost every day. The "skinny tank tops" are one of my new favorite things.

24. Daisies, tulips and daffodils. I love them all. I've never wanted Corey to get me roses. Ever. Give me daisies or tulips. I love daffodils because they make me think of my sweet birthday twin, Meagan. (Happy birthday, Meggers!)

25. I make my students give me a hug on Fridays before they can leave. I always have. I learned it from the 3rd grade teacher I worked with during my student teaching. I started doing it on the first Friday my first year of teaching and I've done it every Friday since then. Lots of the kids will remind me that it's a Friday and they have to hug me. Usually the boys that are too cool to hug me on the other days. They give me the biggest hugs on Fridays.

26. I think I'm an official coffee drinker now. I look forward to it in the mornings. I had a drink of Corey's Dr. Pepper the other day and it didn't even taste that good to me.

27. I have a napkin in my lap anytime I eat. I don't know why. I'm not messy. I just feel a compulsive need to have one in my lap. It must be my amazing manners and politeness. :) 

28. I use happy faces all the time when I write or type. I think I always have. I love the new font on my blog, but it makes my smiley faces look funny. :) See? But happily I just figured out a better way that makes them look more smiley! Yay! =)

29. I don't sort my laundry. I wash everything on cold. Everyone's laundry stays separate, except for Corey and I's whites... we put those together. I'll do a load of just Sophie's clothes, just Lawson's or Gretchen's or mine. (Corey washes all his own clothes.) It makes sorting and putting things away much easier and I haven't ruined anything yet.

30. If I could only shop at 3 stores for the rest of my life I would pick Target, Eddie Bauer and Michaels. I'm pretty sure I could get along fine with just those 3.

31. I have some amazing friends. I don't know that I've ever had a BEST friend and sometimes I get sad when other people talk about their best friends. I've been hurt a by a few friends recently, and I hate that, but I have lots of close and very dear friends. I would rather have all of them than just one best friend. My friend, Danielle uses the phrase "doing life together." I love that. And I love my friends that I "do life with." 

32. My primary love language is not physical touch. Corey's is. (But I am a huge hugger and love hugs. Corey does not hug people outside of our little family.) And that makes it hard when the kids are in bed and he's sitting right beside me on the couch and trying to hold my hand or lay his head on my shoulder . I find myself just wanting space. I think it's because I spend so many hours of the day surrounded by little people who are constantly inches away from me. I need alone time to recharge. But I need to do a better job of speaking his love language, too. 

33. I have the best parents ever. They are amazing parents and even more amazing grandparents. I want to be just like my mom and my Aunt Aletha someday. 

34. Jesus. He's given me so much and all too often I forget how blessed I am. My favorite verse since college has been Jeremiah 29:11 "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. Plans to prosper you and not to harm you. Plans to give you hope and a future." I am a planner and I struggle with not knowing His plans for me and my future. But I trust in Him and I trust in His perfect plan. (Even if it puts me on a farm...) 

frog party.

We decided to start a party tradition with our little family last year. We'll do friend parties every other year. This year... it was just family parties. Grandma and Grandpa, Grandma Jones, Uncle Casey and Aunt Heather and Uncle Brian. A perfect little party group. The only thing that could make it better is if our Houston cousins could join us! 

Lawson had requested a frog party this year. He was very specific... everyone needed to wear green or gray (because apparently he and Ezzie saw 2 gray frogs one day when they were walking home from 1/2 day kindergarten. And they weren't dead, because they threw rocks at them and they moved.) 

He also wanted everyone to wear frog hats. Thank you, Jody for helping me figure out how to make them! They were adorable! (and all but 2 grown ups made and wore them. How did I not get a picture?!) 

Someone is really, really happy to have her Grandma back from Houston...

Grandma Jones just got back from a fun trip to Germany with her friend. She brought us all back special gifts. Look how cool Lawson's is... he adores his bear aviator hat! (He's sleeping in it right now... because his head turns freezing cold at night.)

So many fun gifts, but this one from Mommy and Daddy was his favorite...

It's quite a bit bigger than the one he's used to, so Grandma and Grandpa got him a new helmet, just in case. (Do you have your kids wear helmets all the time? Honestly... we're bad about it. They haven't had helmets that fit for awhile. We need to do better about having them wear them.) 

It didn't take this little guy long to get the hang of it, though...

Uncle Brian is such a good sport. Look at him proudly wearing his frog hat! Can you guess the two adults that didn't wear them?!

Gretchie toddled all around the driveway and Grandma managed to keep her from getting run over. 

Perfect cupcakes for this little guy's frog party...

And his favorite green ice cream... (lime sherbet)

Before bed that night, Lawson listed off all his favorite parts of the evening:

* with Uncle Brian: playing video games on his phone

* with Aunt Heather: sitting next to her at supper

* with Grandma Jones: when she gave him his bear hat

* with Grandpa: making frog hats

* with Grandma: sitting on her lap

* with Mommy and Daddy: when we gave him his bike

* with Uncle Casey: "when he finally talked to me" 

Sorry, Casey... that last one was just too funny. :) 

nike house.

All Zhu Zhu pets should be lucky enough to live in a Nike box house. They have food, water, a bed... everything a little Zhu Zhu pet could ever want. 

Good job, Lawson.

wal-mart parking lot.

I think I would have taken the bumper sticker off before I advertised my daycare on the back of my van... 

But that's just me. 

jars.

Apparently I have a thing for jars...