The Mama Files

I can't get enough of this song! 

We dealt with a stomach bug that attacked all the girls last weekend, then it was smooth sailing, until...

...it struck again this morning!!!

Poor Marc is down for the count! 

If it's anything like last weekend the last 2 won't be far behind.

Good thing we didn't have any grand plans for this weekend!

My house is in shambles. 

So.Many.Dishes.

The weather has been down right AMAZING! 

Eighties during the day and sixties in the night.

I wish it would stay like this forever!

I can't believe its already summer, that IS what Memorial Day means, right?! :-)

I'm so thankful for "The Proud and the Brave".

Especially one of our friends, John. Who is willing to leave his lovely wife and sweet newborn to help keep us safe and free! 

We've been reading in History about how the United States became free. 

The determination of the early Americans is impressive! 

I wonder if that drive is still in us?!

I'd like to think that it is, but...I can' really think of any recent instances.  

I wonder what will be written about this generation in future History books?

Have a great weekend!

This Crazy Life

We've been spending a lot of time on the baseball field lately. I've gotta say, it's a whole lot more enjoyable when I'm not carting all these kids from field to field by myself! I love having Marc home!

We're trying REALLY hard to finish school up (I think we have about a month left *boo!*). AND Marc started online classes at BBC last Monday. Does the fact that I'm now married to a college sophomore make me a cougar?! :-) 

I received this watch for Mother's Day! It's has GPS!

Apparently keeping up with me is exhausting, because I keep finding my children sleeping in odd places! :-D

Gaius' new favorite napping spot.

Evil TV

We recently did a TV use diary for a survey company (they sent me $30 to do it!)

and I was pleasantly surprised by the results.

We had to log in this little manual all of the stations and TV shows we watched everyday for a week.

It turns out we watched barely any! There were full days where the TV set was never even turned on, or else only turned on for a couple hours after the kids where in bed.

It helps that we've been super busy with t-ball, baseball, softball, and life! 

But it was still nice to see that our we're not always stuck in front of the "tube". 

There wasn't a spot to record when we were watching Netflix, so the survey was slightly skewed

but it was still very encouraging.

If you're curious these are the rules my family uses:

Monday-Thursday- none, don't even ask because the answer will be no! 

The exceptions being: At my parents family dinners on Monday nights, and the 2 littles get to watch Sesame Street some days so I can work on dishes or school work with the older two.

Friday- either a family movie or they each get to pick a half hour show

Saturday- Kind of free game, thankfully we're usually busy that day so it doesn't turn out to be that much.

Sunday- Football season- none, the rest of the year MAYBE one show if their rooms are clean and chores done.

I'm sure all the kids out there are cringing at the thought that I'm that restrictive with the TV. Just let me tell you- life is a whole lot better when you take part in it and don't try to live it through a TV character! 

So get out there and pretend and use you're imagination! 

Locks of Love

Like Mother, Like Son

My new facebook profile picture!

Half of my family thinks I'm weird.

The other half, thinks I'm AWESOME!

It's... Tutorial Time!

Here's how I printed some canvases this weekend:

First I painted the canvas the color I wanted the background to be.

 I left if kind of streaky because I wanted it to look a little aged

Then I used a stencil and wrote my message in pencil (I was able to erase any mistakes without a problem)

 Last I painted over what I stenciled with acrylic craft paint (it took 2 coats)

I love it, and I had everything I needed on hand!

It was a fun way to spend a quiet Saturday.

P.S. The other 2 canvases are going to be gifts.

At least one will be a slightly different technique- pictures to come.

Never Look an Onion In the Eye

"Don't look at an onion it will make you cry!!!!"

My kids always yell this whenever they see me chopping onions, or whenever we even see a bag of onions at the store. Who knew a root veggie could have such an effect?!

I think perhaps we should get some of these:

But then I'd have to walk through the supermarket with 4 little goggled chicks trailing me, maybe not. :-)