Spring is in the air!!!

Can you smell it?!?!  Oh wait...don't breathe in too much- you might get sick...I am so thankful that the really sick bug hasn't hit our house- we've just had ear infections (which are a pain, of course), but I'd rather deal with those than worry with the flu or pink eye that seems to be making it's way around to everyone!!!  ***fingers crossed that it won't hit our house***  

Now...I'm going to take a minute to get on my {safer home} soapbox...so get ready...=)

• Did you know that of the approximately 100,000 chemicals on the global market, less than 10 percent have been tested for health effects?  That means that the products you buy at the grocery store/target/wherever are filled with chemicals that effect YOUR allergies and skin?  

• The companies that sell the products on the shelves aren't concerned about providing you with safer products for your home (even the *green* ones); they are concerned with their shareholders.  End of story.

• Did you know that there is a better way to shop for the products you need in your home?  We "switched stores" almost 2 years ago and I can't tell you how much money I have saved the hubs by testing out this or that new product or even just the impulse shopping I do when I peruse the aisles!  I'm sure you've seen that cartoon on pinterest!!

I have 100% confidence that my kids aren't being exposed to harsh or harmful chemicals by using safer products in our home.  I'm 100% confident that I am not being exposed to them either when I clean the house!  

I'll have a *real* moment with you--- Owen is into e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g.  He climbs on everything and thinks the world is his jungle gym- especially my kitchen counters.  He recently got a hold of the kitchen cleaner spray bottle that was on top of my bar counter.  (He has a fascination with spray bottles now that his fingers are strong enough to pull the trigger- we have a water spray bottle we spray the boys' hair down with in the mornings)  Anyway-  he of course got trigger happy with the spray bottle- except it was pointing towards his chest!!  He got the cleaner all over him!!  If that had been a bottle of cleaner I bought at the store with chlorine or bleach in it, we would have immediately had to take him to the hospital or call poison control!!  Of course I carefully watched his skin over the course of the next few days, and you know what- he didn't have one bit of aggravated skin from it!  

Here's a brief video that shows how awesome the EcoSense line is we use in our home!  

  

Of course I'd love to share this info with you!  Let me know when a good time would be for you to swing by my house to see the products for yourself or if you'd like to invite a few friends over for me to share with all of you how you can convert your home to safer, more eco-friendly products!!  ***and fyi- I don't sell these products- you would do your own shopping directly from them- I have just found that I am passionate about safer homes and getting other people to love it, too!!  I can share all the ins and outs with you if you like!***

Okay- so now that I'm off my soapbox----

Do you have any big plans for spring time?!  I'd love love love to plant some things with the boys this spring- some easy things- flowers and maybe even some fruits...I saw something on pinterest (of course) about how to do strawberries in a pot.  Maybe blackberries, too??  I don't know--- any suggestions?!  

Here's a few pics of my cuties~~~

precious

how cute is she?!  she has started rolling over...when I put her down...which is hardly ever.  =)

I don't have a good one of Miles right now--- my next post will be about Owen's CONSTRUCTION birthday party!!!  It was great!!  

What a Week!!!

Whew...mid-week--- I didn't know that we would make it to the weekend!!!  Even a sweet friend looked my way Wednesday night at church and asked if I was tired and going to make it!  HA!

The week started out pretty normal--- except Jared was home from work most of the day, which was nice!  Then Tuesday we took an uneventful trip to the park to meet some friends.  Audrey has two little girls, so it's fun to be around and watch little girls play and see what I have to look forward to with Miles!  We go to church together and her youngest and Miles are in the same preschool class.  We love going to one of the parks here because it's mostly enclosed (one way in one way out) so I was able to let Owen just kinda wander about on his own which was fun to watch and observe!

Then Wednesday came...

(lots of this is details about our day--- 

you don't have to read it- I'm writing most of it for 

myself because I do plan to do the blog book one day =)

Started out fine...but different from our normal routine.  I am doing the James study by Beth Moore right now and usually attend on Thursday nights, but knew I couldn't go this week, so I went to the Wednesday morning session.  So that meant Owen going to childcare- no big deal- right?  We enter the church- he automatically thinks we're there for supper because we came in at the gym like we do on Wednesday nights for supper.  We walk back to nursery- he thinks we need to play hide and seek.  So he hides in the (dark) bathroom behind the door.  Finally get him to his room- he cries like I've left him to play with alligators.  We finish up, race back to pick Miles up from preschool- of course Owen falls asleep.  We get home and I try my hardest to transition him from car to bed- pretty successfully.  However, Miles is like the loudest bathroom-goer in the history of the world---- singing, opening drawers, slamming toilet seat down, having conversations with whoever will listen- and Owen's room is right next to bathroom.  So both kiddos are up from quiet times by about 2-ish.  Which makes for an extremely long afternoon around these parts!

Luckily it was a beautiful day and unseasonably warm out, so we load up in the wagon.  Now...I say that like it's a simple task.  Getting shoes on two rowdy boys- one who didn't get his nap out and the other who acts like he has had 10 red bulls when he doesn't get a nap (figure that one out)- is quite a feat.  Then getting them into the wagon at the same time with balls and buckets to collect rocks, then throwing the balls out because there's not enough room, then needing water (because you know they're thirsty when they ask for water- not juice), then realizing the baby (who is already in the baby front-carrier) needs socks on...needless to say- just a simple wagon ride is an adventure...

Then off we go.  But Miles is very particular about just which rocks we can collect.  So he navigates us around.  Then we run into a new neighbor and her puppy.  Owen has an ever-living fit because the sweet puppy looked at him.  (again...didn't get nap out!)  So I try to have a pleasant conversation with new neighbor above the crying!  We finish up talking and head up into our cove (uphill--- in high-heel boots- because by the time I realized I had on regular-people-shoes, boys were already loaded up and baby was in position- can't change shoes).  I decided it would be a good time to go meet another new neighbor!  To our luck, she has a little boy the same age as Owen!!  So much fun!  She kindly welcomes us in and the boys are able to play!  It will be fun to have a sweet little friend right down the street for Owen!  It's then time for us to head home, so I let the boys run down to the house and our new friend follows suit!  New neighbor and I stood in my driveway and talked for a little bit while boys are picking up the balls that had previously been thrown out of the wagon.  I looked up to get a location on each one--- Owen isn't on my radar!!!

He had gone down the hill to get one of the balls.  When I looked down over the hill, I realized he had fallen into the ditch that was full of standing water and was under water!!  (remember I still have baby in front carrier and have my boots on...)  {panic attack start...now.}  New sweet neighbor (who is also a nurse, praise the Lord) rushes down and gets to him for me!  Bless him- wet to the bone, nasty green stuff all over him!  And now her tennis shoes and pants are wet from going in after him!  It definitely scared him, but not enough to keep him from getting in the bath to clean up!  (not before tee-tee-ing all over my kitchen floor, though after I sent him in from getting all his wet yucky clothes off in the garage!)  And I need to see to fussy, hungry baby who somewhere in the mix got taken inside.  And get Miles off his bike riding around the driveway singing "Owen went swimming...the "Juice" went swimming" (new nickname I'm not particularly fond of...Owen James...OJ...Juice).

But dad-gum-it- I'm gonna make it to church because that was our dinner waiting on us!  A good, wholesome meal that we weren't going to get otherwise that day!

Whew...we finally made it and at the end of the day, we were all alive.  I had successfully kept all of our children alive that day-- but that was the first day one had truly challenged that task!

So seriously- if you start seeing gray hairs on me- you will know why.  Just give me a few bucks and offer to keep my kids while I go get it done  =)

Updates on Life!

No...baby girl has no name yet...

With Miles and Owen- we just knew.  Their names fit.  We didn't really have any complications with them!  Sweet little girl though...and we can't think of anything really that we are just crazy about!  I know it will come...but a good friend told me of someone she knew who actually was allowed to bring their baby home from the hospital without a name!  I can't imagine!  I'm a lover of all things monogrammed- especially on little girls, and especially little bloomer diaper covers!

So I'm certain she will have a name...soon.

I've even tried to pass the task off to Miles, hoping that whatever he says will stick...but apparently Miles has learned Arabic somewhere in his daily living of life...and speaks in it when I ask him questions throughout the day.  (at the end of saying the blessing...you know that sweet little one "God our Father, God our Father, once again, once again"...well at the end, instead of saying "A-men" {long a}, he says "allah-men, allah-men". I had never thought anything of it until my dad said something after the blessing and snickering at our Father's day dinner!)

Speaking of Father's day--- how did you celebrate??  I wish, oh I wish, I had been better about taking pics that day!  Oh wait...it was our end of VBS program, Miles had an ultimate throwdown at church because he wasn't getting to go to VBS that day, Jared's stepmom went to hospital because of a stroke (she's doing much better and is home now, thankfully)...hmmm...and I don't exactly know where my camera is right now. But we still managed to have a good meal that evening- a man's meal-- wings, chips, beans...and we got to celebrate with my dad and Jared's stepdad- so it really did end up being a good day!  For gifts, each dad (including Jared) got a tape measure (cause what dad doesn't like a tape measure??) that had a tag on it:  "You really measure up!"  I thought it was cute!!!  Jared also got an apple TV- anyone else out there have one of those???  He hasn't shown me everything it can do yet- so I'm still waiting to be impressed!  HA!  We had a lovely date night Saturday night- complete with BBQ and ice cream!!  What could be better??


And we get to have another one this weekend!!  Our anniversary is Saturday- 6 blissful years!  We are celebrating on Friday night- headed to the B&B we went to on our wedding night!  I can't wait to just spend some "us" time together!  Life has slowed down this week from the craziness of soccer tryouts (I won't get started on that...and parents who think their kids are allstars...remind me of this when my kids are playing...no really)  but we are in desperate need of some time away from the house- even if it is just a little ways down the road!

This is the best pic that has both of us smiling in it that I have saved on the computer!

  It's amazing to think about all of the major life changes that have happened in the last 10 years!  Lord-willing- I pray that these ten years have seen the most changes that I will see in life!  Think about it- everyone goes through these:

living at home- under mom and dad's rules, cheering at football games, dreaming about what is to come over the next few years, then graduate from high school, go to college (in my case- move off, go to school with NO ONE you know) live with complete strangers who will become some of your dearest friends in life- no matter what, fall in love (in my case- with a blast from the past), make life-altering decisions (because let's face it- to get married or not to get married is a life-altering decision no matter who you are!  of course mine was a no-brainer!), graduate from college, get married, move away from mom and dad ("leave and cleave"- which I feel like we did really well!), become completely dependent on your polar opposite (paula abdul comes to mind), get a real job- that actually gets a paycheck and deposits money into a retirement account ("i thought I was only 22??"), buy our first house, decide that it's time for a baby (whaaaat??), move back home (literally for us- moved in with my parents for a year while waiting for our house in AL to sell), start a competitive soccer club (who knew?), buy our second home, decide it's time for a second baby, live life...oops-- we're pregnant again?! (Yes, Jared's boss told him he needed a hobby).

I mean...I'm seriously hoping that the next ten years aren't filled with that much change!  Don't get me wrong--- there's nothing I would change!  It all lead to this point in life!  And I love it!  But...I'm ready for some rhythm.  

family pic from last fall

Anyone with me??

**sorry for lack of pics on this one-- like I mentioned-- don't exactly know where the camera is--and I'm not too tech-savvy just yet on my Iphone.   I know it's easy-- just not there yet!

I'm Ba-aack!!

Sorry folks, for the blogging hiatus!

We had a bit of a situation back in February that caused me to go "WHOOOOAAAA- whaaaat?!"- but I'm good now!

baby darby #3 at 9 weeks 4 days, March 21

Yes, people- that is the situation!

Little Darby numero tres will be here in October- but this little mama found out on baby numero dos' first birthday.  I was a little shocked.  I mean- I don't need to go through the birds and bees here- I know where they come from and how they're made- and I'm very thankful of the Lord's reminding me through such gentle voices and Scripture that He knows the plans for my life- and that He indeed knows them better than I!!

But it was still a shocker...=)

I've also had other issues on my heart that I've started to blog about- but then decided to hold off on...but felt like I couldn't blog about anything else until I got that off my heart--- but then decided it can wait...and it also would target a different audience than who usually reads...so I've held off for a little while...still feeling that one out.

So back to the fam--

Owen's Lumberjack party went off wonderfully!  Here are a few pics from the day:

party favors- swiss cake rolls drizzled with chocolate to look like logs
"I spent a lot of time cutting down these logs for you!  Enjoy!"

sadly, this was the best shot we got of him all day in his cute little flannel shirt!  don't you love all the logs my sweet hubby and his dad went and chopped for me?!

needless to say, he enjoyed the cake!

So not much else to report for now...other than I will get back into a better blogging habit.  I want to- not for your sake- but for my family's sake.  And for mine.  I'm so bad about journaling and wish I did it more- I go through spurts of it.  So this is it.  I must do a better job!

music confession

I've got an appreciation for ALL types of music...except for anything that involves the lead "singer" screaming into the microphone throughout the entire song, or music that is labeled "Christian" but is screaming...can't handle that...{{yes, that was a shot Clif}}

ANYWAY.

Have you used pandora?  I mean...I know that it's been around for a while- but I've recently started using it on our home computer.  I'm not really a CD person--- I'd rather have a variety playing- so I'm big on listening to the radio.  So that being said...go ahead and go to pandora.com - and plug in "wilson phillips".  Thank me later.

We're talking old school Madonna, Bryan Adams, Tiffany (yes that's right...I said Tiffany).  Now I'm not really a child of the 80s...I was born in the early 80s, but I don't have older brothers or sisters, so I would call myself more of a child of the 90s I guess.  But I can appreciate some good late 80s, early 90s music.  Makes me wish they still did the mall tours I used to see about on I love the 80s and I love the 90s (once I was older of course, because I wasn't allowed to watch VH1 or MTV...and with good reason, mom =)



So this is what I decided to blog about today...instead of doing the dishes while listening to wilson phillips radio on pandora.

Snow pictures coming soon.  We got a good 5 inches yesterday...and so much of it is almost melted!!  Boo!!