Happiness

Hello all.  You're going to have to bear with me on this one, but today I would like to talk about one of my simple, happy things in life: cleaning supplies.  I love the days when I peer into my cabinet and realize that I am out of everything at about the same time...that means that I get to go shopping and try out some new products!  I'm always on the search for something that has a better smell than the one before.  For instance, I was so happy when windex came out with the rain scent instead of just boring, old windex...stuff like that.  

Even better, a BRAND NEW TARGET recently opened up by our house.  That's right, LESS THAN 5 MILES AWAY!!  *Side note:  this has the potential to be quite dangerous for me.  (Back to the story)... I was actually going to Target to pick up some new sheets for Ava today (when I was changing hers this morning, I realized that they had a giant hole in them), they were super on sale, by the way (**BONUS**).  While I was there, I remembered that I needed laundry and dish detergent.  While I was looking for that, I also remembered that I was out of most everything else as well.  Oh happy day to remember this while I was at Target instead of Walmart because I have always wanted to try their METHOD brand.  There is something about it:  I'm not sure if it is the sleek look or all of the fabulous smells, but it always makes me happy.  I actually can't believe that I haven't tried it until now.  Rest assured, if it works well, it is what I will be using from now on... with a Target this close to my house, there is no reason to not use it. 

So there you go,  I choose to be happy by the simple things in life, and today that is my brand new cleaning supplies.  

If you must know, there are also things I am not so happy about...like trying to use my brand new cleaning supplies with a house full of kids (mine, plus two others) and a wienie dog (because it is hotter than the sun's very core today).  So, let's just say that the cleaning is not going quite as smoothly as usual, but I am quite enjoying all of my new scents.  :)  

~Crystal

Seriously Cute

This is what I found the other day when I walked by Ava's room.  She always has all of her little friends on her bed...this is nothing new...what I loved here was how she had them all grouped together.  All of her dolls and animals had a doll or animal of their own.  I have always appreciated her ability to make her own bed (and quite well, I might add) at a very young age, but she just gets more creative with it as she goes along.  

My other favorite thing Ava does is dress all of her animals.  You would think she would love build-a-bear with her affinity for animal clothes, but she really prefers to find random clothes from around her room that used to belong to dolls, etc.  She has recently added bows to her animal's ears (which I also think is adorable.)  She usually spends more time figuring what bows will look best for her bears than she does with her own hair.  They are very well-loved.

In case you were wondering, this is not only a morning routine, she has a strict night-time routine as well.  Even if it's just a matter of shuffling everyone's clothes around, (ie- one bear gets the elephant's shirt, etc.) all of her beloved animals must change clothes at LEAST twice a day.  (Sometimes more if there is a special occasion.)

I just wanted to share these pictures with you.  I thought they were too cute. :)

 

~Crystal

My Newest Addiction

I know I'm probably super late to the game. Let's face it, I'm rarely cutting edge. In case there is anyone out there that is like me, I wanted to introduce to you it, too. What is it, you ask?!? Pinterest.  Basically, it is a website where you can take any image you find on the web and "pin" the image to a peg board on your personal page.  It doesn't sound like much when you say it like that, but I assure you that it is completely addictive.  My own personal black hole.  Even worse, there is an app for my phone.  AAAHHH.  I should have never discovered this website!

For those such as myself who don't consider themselves to be proficient web surfers, every time someone "pins" something, it goes to a main page that you can scroll through and you can "repin" other's images.  Even better, it it's a do-it-yourself project or a recipe, it takes you directly to the website so you can see how to make it yourself.  Brilliant.  I can't even tell you how many great ideas I've gotten in the last few days.  (Which I suppose is a good thing considering that I haven't gotten much else done since I've discovered it...lol).  

Things I've tried in the last week...a new hairstyle for Ava, glitter toenail polish, blue jello in a fishbowl with gummy fish (the kids LOVED this one)...I've also gotten lots of inspiration for my house.  Still aren't sold?  Look at this very cute lunch idea I plan on making for my kids very soon... 

Source: google.com via Crystal on Pinterest

I mean, come on, how cute is that?  Ava is very excited about eating this little friend for lunch... (and I'm excited about THAT because the girl only eats peanut butter and jelly)!  If you haven't given this a try yet, hop on over.  Just do it when you have some free time on your hands, because next thing you know, two hours of your life will have passed and your children may be buried under a pile of laundry somewhere.  (What?? No!  That has NOT happened to me!)   If you want to check out my boards, you can do that here. 

*Side note:  For those of you who discovered this months ago, please don't laugh at me. :)

~Crystal

Ava Conquers Her Fear

Ugh!  I've been trying to pull myself away from pinterest for the last hour(more on that later) to work on my blog post.  I've got entirely too many things to distract myself on the computer lately (including this blog). Okay...moving on to distraction #2...

I realize that there have been way too many pool posts lately, but I guess that's just to be expected when one has a season pass to the pool.  I swore that I would not post anymore about the pool this season (I mean, seriously, haven't we ALL heard enough?), but then, silly Ava had to go off and do something cool and now I have to blog about it.  More pool.  So sorry.  Feel free to skip it, but if you do, you're going to miss out on hearing all about Ava jumping off the HIGH DIVE!  That's right, can you believe it?!?  I mean, come on, the kid is only five years old.  I think she is kind of a rock star. :)

Of course, it wasn't necessarily all that easy.  I would never even encourage her to do this.  What mother really wants to watch her child dangling perilously 20 feet in the air crying that she made a mistake and then have to tell small child that it's too late...she HAS to jump?  I wasn't really looking forward to that little scenario, so I've been begging Ava NOT to jump for two weeks now, but it's like she just had this little magnet attached to her...pulling her towards the high dive, and we were all powerless to stop it.  I pretty much captured how the whole thing went down in a series (don't be scared) of about four videos, so, I'm just going to let those speak for me.  

Video #1...Bear with me, this is the longest (don't worry, that's just a little over a minute).  I would like a couple things to be noted here:  I encouraged her NOT to go and she was WARNED it was going to be high... At this point, I still think we have dodged the bullet and she will talk herself out of it completely

Video #2...I know I'm in trouble when she is sizing up the ladder as Chance does his dive.  Hmmm..I think she is really going to do it.  Note her little sigh as she walks by me.  That cracks me up every time. 

Video #3...Yep, she's gonna do it.  My worst fear is coming true.  She is going to be that kid that gets to the top of the diving board and has to be forced to jump.  Ugh!  I realized as all of this was going through my head, I should probably stop taping because that makes me look like an even WORSE mother.  I'm "making" my kid jump, she's crying AND I'm taping it. 

Oh, how I really wish you could have seen what happened AFTER this video.  I turned it off when she was crying up the ladder (just helping you remember).  She continued to cry as she walked across the board and stood on the edge of the board and cried some more.  (I was quite thankful there were only five people at the pool at the time or else I would have felt like an EVEN WORSE mother.)  Then, a calm came over her and a strange look of determination and it was then that I knew everything would be okay.  She jumped...and when she came up, she was laughing hysterically.  I guess it was a success?!?  ;)  I just wish I would have ignored the crying and continued filming the whole process.  It was hilarious.  

Video #4...I wanted to include another video of her jumping and having fun so that there is documentation that she really DOES like it now.  Yay, Ava! I'm so proud of you for knowing what you want and GOING FOR IT!

 


~Crystal

They Wanna Do What??

Well, it's official.  I must be boring because when the kids found out Brian was going to work this morning, (what?!?  He doesn't do that everyday?!?) they practically fell over trying to get out the door to go with him.  Yeah right, I didn't really figure THAT was going to happen today, anyway...so imagine my surprise when Brian said he was up for it.  

I can definitely go for a little of that action, because I have all of my extra kids today, which means I won't be leaving the house entirely too much anyway...and let's face it, that makes us ALL a little crazy.  The way I see it, it's a win-win: the kids get out of the house via a far-away trip to the student center and THIS mommy gets a little R&R when visiting kids ONE and TWO go down for their afternoon nap.  (We won't talk about how the plan will go a little south when MY kids decide they are bored and want to come home right in the middle of said nap time.)

One of the visiting kids was down for his nap for an entire hour before the second little visitor arrived, so I even got a bonus hour to myself this morning.  *Just a tasty little preview of my life when school starts when BOTH of my kids will be in school all say for the first time EVER and I am down to watching only ONE kid three days a week.  I have two entirely free days TWO WHOLE DAYS A WEEK.  DO YOU HEAR ME?!?!  It's gonna be incredible!!  (*sorry, my post got a little off track, can you tell I'm excited?)

Well, I'm off to Sonic...I'm pretty sure a vanilla diet coke is calling my name (and while I'm at it, I should probably put on something that's not my pajamas...it's almost noon!  SHEESH!)

~Crystal

High Dive Video

I finally figured out how to get my video on you tube. Turns out, I was using the wrong user name. I have the same user name for most things, but apparently I got creative with my you tube account. Good to know, especially when I haven't even looked at it in over a year. How am I even supposed to have a fighting chance?? Oh well, it's better now.

The other problem I discovered, is that I didn't film in landscape mode, so I have giant black boxes on either side of the video. I'll have to fix that in the future, but it will have to work for now.

The first video is one I took without Chance knowing I was filming. The let out a little scream on the way down, and when he found out was on video, he told me I had to erase it and do another "non-screaming" video. I told him, of course I would. Okay, how about a compromise? I put BOTH videos up instead?? Yeah, that sounds better. Sorry, Chance. :)



And here is the "Chance-approved" video:



Now, if I can just remember to film things the right way...

~Crystal

Flashback to Memorial Day...

This is completely random...pictures from the beginning of summer, but I couldn't help but put them on here.  A friend of mine took them at a cookout and just gave them to me the other day.  I thought they were so good.  Enjoy.