sweet little tomato

When I saw my first red tomato, I thought it was Christmas. It made me want to get this tomato a baby book and record all of it's milestones. I know.... I'm crazy!

pretty twine

Hot damn! Now another thing I need to add to my list. Look at the lovely twine from The Twinery. I heart!



I think I will start with the Sampler Pack for $14.95. Did I mention it is 100% cotton, eco-friendly and made in the USA. Lovely!

sign up

I took the kids to Jump 'n Jammin a few days ago and it was a great use of an hour and a half for all of us. But this post isn't about Jump 'n Jammin (although they are great), it's about signing up on e-clubs for your favorite places. I hate giving my email to everyone, but this summer I am realizing that in a lot of instances it's in your best interest to sign up and receive their special offers. Case in point, I signed up for Jump 'n Jammin and they sent me an email coupon for buy one, get one free. That means I saved $12 (a general admission price) a few days ago. That's rad! I think I am going to start signing up online for more newsletters and promotions if they are giving discounts and offers.

You should too!

pretty things

you/me/we

Do you ever feel like you aren't reaching your potential? But, at the same time like you couldn't possibly do it even if you wanted to? I have been feeling like that a lot lately and it makes me feel a little lost (okay a lot lost). My devotional today was basically saying that you/me/we are good enough! We need to have confidence in ourselves and know that God says we are capable. That brings me a little more strength and a little more determination to move forward and believe in myself.

piggy paint

My sweet girl is the oldest two-year old I know. I think it's because she tries so hard to keep up with her older brother. She has been getting left out a lot lately because she's not old enough, tall enough, etc. So when her brother was on his way to the skatepark and she was crying because she had to stay home, I thought it was time to pull out something special. My beautiful friend Eva bought Piper some Piggy Paint Nail Polish and I have been waiting to use it. Who doesn't want to give their daughter her first pedicure? So tonight I did and she was sooooo proud. Why is Piggy Paint awesome? Let me list the reasons:

* Non-toxic
* Low odor
* Water-based formula
* Hypoallergenic
* Fun, vibrant colors
* Dries to a hard, durable finish
* Cruelty-free
* Safe during pregnancy

Piper sucks her fingers and I can't imagine being worried about real nailpolish... this makes me breathe a sigh of relief. It's not cheap, they run $8.99 each.... but it should last a long time with little fingers and toes and isn't it totally worth it? I'm a fan and I can't wait to get more of their cute colors.

update

Our baby boy is already almost 8 months old.... and we JUST finished his side of the room. Well it helps that I actually did move the crib out of our room this weekend and into the room that he shares with his sister (like I said I would in a previous post.... that's the update part). It was heart breaking and it took 3 nights to do because I couldn't let go.

His side of the room is super simple, I will post pics of his sister's side in the next few weeks. Do you like the quilt we hung behind his crib? I bet you didn't know that my mother is a professional quilter and her quilts have been featured in many magazines. Lucky me right? We just got Madden's special quilt a few weeks back and I love it on the wall. I am not a huge theme person when it comes to decorating....so Madden gets simple colors, stripes, etc.

I love it!

it was awesome

This picture is of Madden and myself at the Renegade Craft Fair in Los Angeles this weekend. It was AWESOME...just like stepping into etsy. My hubby loved it too. We are thinking of going to the holiday one in San Francisco and make a date trip out of it! They also have fairs in Brooklyn, Chicago and Austin!

Here is all of the loot we purchased......the dollhouse pillow is from cakies...you already know she has one of my favorite blogs! I have been wanting to get my hands on one of these for awhile. We honestly could have bought 50 more things, but we had to try and refrain from spending our grocery money!

I'm thinking that there is a good chance Creative Nest Designs just might have a booth at the fair next year. Fun right?!

blah

I'm having a hard time letting go. This sweetie pie is my last baby...not because I don't want more, I think I would have a 4th (hubby thinks he would not), but because it would not be ideal for me to have any more c-sections. So, I am having a hard time letting go of all the baby milestones....a really hard time. I can literally feel my body clinging to him and wanting to hold him all the time like a newborn. I want him to sleep on me constantly and need me all the time (which isn't necessarily true because I do like a little freedom in my day). This weekend will mark baby hitting a new milestone....crib out of our room and into his room. We should have done this months ago but I love having him close to me. My heart is sad, I REALLY don't want to move him out of our room, but I know it's time. I'm sad. But my sleeping self will be happy.

Happy Friday! Hope you have a wonderful summer weekend. Do something fun, even if it's making smores on your stove at home.

delicious

I browse allrecipes.com quite often for new dinner ideas. I came across a homemade applesauce recipe and read all of the reviews. One of the reviewers made her applesauce in the crockpot and I knew I wanted to do that too, so that's why my house smells delicious right now! Normally, I would do this in the Fall....but hey applesauce is great anytime! Now, my applesauce did not come out perfect and needs to be tweaked but I will explain that after the recipe below.

Slow Cooker Applesauce

8 apples - peeled, cored and chopped

1 cup water

1/2 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Directions:

Combine ingredients in slow cooker, cook on high for 4 hours.

Notice that I mashed my applesauce when it was done. Part of the reason why I did this is because my applesauce was very watery, next time I will use only 3/4 cup water. I also think I let it cook a bit longer than the 4 hours and it was overcooked. Next time I will continually test it between the 3 -4 hours to get the right consistency. It's pretty hard to screw up homemade applesauce, it's good no matter what! I hope to perfect this before Fall comes around

i'm sick

My sister lead me to this wedding featured on The Wedding Chicks. This wedding literally makes me sick, sick to my stomach because I can't stand how rad, beautiful and perfect it is. To see more images and read the inspiration behind the wedding go here.

winner winner

The winners of the Kids Bop Cd giveaway are:

The Shafts and Poladian Clan!

Congrats! The cds will be on their way!

yay...can't wait...yay

I'm going one day this weekend and I can't wait...no really, I literally cannot wait. I hope I find lots of stuff! And of course get lots of inspiration for future endeavors. Get more info here.

my sanity

My favorite word to use with having 3 kids (one still a baby and one a 2 year old) is ridiculous. I use it all the time. I use it the most when I attempt to work. This is what I do if you don't know. Now, as ridiculous as it is, we don't have the money to hire a nanny to help out (I wish we did). So this summer I hired a Mother's Helper. For two hours a week, I have a wonderful 15 year old who comes over and entertains my two oldest like you wouldn't believe. I plan it at nap time for the baby, so she really can play with the other two. And they play and play and play. And I get more work done in those two hours than I get in the whole week. It is amazing. If you can make it fly and you need some uninterrupted time during the week, hire one! You can only do it in the summer because a Mother's Helper has to go back to school in the Fall.

problem solved

Mark and I have been tortured over one small thing. That thing is how to store the kids' art supplies. Something so small, but we couldn't come to an agreement. We tried the tackle box approach, the super organized Crayola divided box approach and the throw in a big box approach .... but none of it worked for us. Finally, finally, finally we figured it out. We bought this Snapware Snap 'N Stack at Target. There are 3 layers and we store crayons in one, markers in another and colored pencils in yet another. Perfection! If the kids can't keep these organized, than nothing will work!

By the way, we have paints, glue and scissors in a whole other bin that they can't get to (in case you were wondering).

me like

I came across Diablo Cody's Red Band Trailer, which it really cute! She interviews celebrities in an Airstream Trailer. So far she has had two interviews with two people I happen to love. Adam Brody and Chelsea Handler. Adam's interview is below.



You can check out the YouTube page for Red Band Trailer here. I plan on checking in and seeing who she interviews next. I love the internet!

Go Seth Cohen!

sweet boy

Brody had AYSO UK soccer camp all week (he loved it so much). Today is the last day and although I am sad for him, I feel happy for this little guy in the picture above. I hated waking him from his only normal nap of the day to go pick Brody up. It's not easy being baby #3... your life revolves around everyone else. I promised him that his Monday morning nap can be as long as he wants. I love my little baby boy, he never cries about it and never complains.

part 2

1. The Heart Mender by Andy Andrews

2. Addition by Adoption by Kevin Hendricks

3. Sh*t My Dad Says by Justin Halpern

Did I tell you how much I love to read?

summer reading

I have across some books I am excited to read! Here is my list of my summer reading books. You should know that I am a huge non fiction fan.

1. Unbound by Dean King

2. Getting the Pretty Back by Molly Ringwald

3. Facebook Fairytales by Emily Liebert

4. Delivering Happiness by Tony Hsieh

5. You're Not the Boss of Me by Besty Brown Braun

giveaway!

The nice people at Kidz Bop sent me a few of the brand new Kidz Bop 18 cds, they are not even released yet (July 20th)! The cd is really good and your kids will love it (even my hubby liked it - a lot). Here is the list of songs:

1. Telephone
2. Baby
3. California Girls
4. Hey, Soul Sister
5. Do You Remember
6. Naturally
7. Whataya Want From Me
8. Nothin' On You
9. Break Your Heart
10. All The Right Moves
11. Two Is Better Than One
12. Evacuate The Dancefloor
13. Billionaire
14. Alejandro
15. Breakeven
16. Single Ladies

This cd is PERFECT for summertime with your kids!

I am giving away 2 cds, just go ahead and leave a comment and I will pick the winners using a random generator. You have until July 20th to enter. Winners will be announced on the 21st.

to watch

This video makes me wish I had a reason to wear a bow-tie... or repaint my house. So cute! You have to watch this short film on tying a bow-tie!

what to do

Here are two things I have purchased to get us through the summer. No matter how much stuff I try to plan, I need to have things to keep the kids busy at home. It gets expensive to go to places all the time, so I invested in these.

Step2 Arctic Splash Water Table

Play-Doh Magic Swirl Ice Cream Shoppe

So far the water table has been a hit with the 2 year old....it provides endless entertainment, especially with some extra bath toys and a small watering can. There are a lot of water tables out there, but this was the least expensive.

We have not broken out the Play-Doh yet (I hate Play-Doh by the way and so does Mark). I am waiting for the right really-bored-moment to get it out. My five year old asks me every day, but we aren't there yet. I must be desperate for them to have fun activities to buy this, but I'm thinking that it will be a hit!

a fav

Did you know that this roll of paper raffia is one of my favorite things? I buy a roll of it at Michael's a few times a year and use it for everything. I make decorations with it, wrap gifts with it, hang cards in my office with it, etc. I love giving a present wrapped in tissue paper with it. I love sending my card orders to people wrapped in it. It never gets old and always is classic. I buy it in this color (kraft) and white. It reminds me of a bird's nest and being close to nature.

i'm a mom

It's 12:28am right now. I'm up because my sweet baby is crying...I'm letting him cry it out. We need to transition past this waking up every few hours (after all he's 7 months old now). He loves to wake up somewhere between 11:30pm and 12:30am every night, which is usually fine because I'm up working....but I'm tired right now and he's still crying. I'm blogging to keep my mind away from his cries. So all I have to say is, it's tough being a mom. Our job never ends, it's continuous, even when we are sleeping and they are sleeping. I am a mom with every breath I take ready to take care of their every need. Because, even though I am not fulfilling his need right now, I am watching his every move on his monitor, listening to his every cry, making sure that he is okay. And even though it's tough being a mom, really, is there anything else that could ever compare? No...there is nothing.

i'm excited about

Email me at elhajs@aol.com if you are interested!