300

This marks my 300th post........ and thats all I have to say about the title "300"

Now the title has changed to "A few of my favorite things"

I often find things and I think to myself, I need to tell the world about this... so now here I am. Gonna tell you about it.

I saw a commercial for this stuff and I knew I had try it!

I don't know about you, but when I clean I hate having to take 14 different cleaners for 14 different surfaces. I HATE it. So I'm all about this multi surface business. We have a completely all stainless steel fridge and anything I have cleaned it with streaks it like crazy. So today, all with this 1 bottle of cleaner, I cleaned: Stainless steel fridge (left no streaks YEA!!) cleaned all the windows, front door and back door, wiped finger prints/hand prints off walls, cleaned the TV's, and dusted the whole house! I'm also, I guess maybe a little picky about dusting sprays. To me, some are too heavy... if that makes sense, and some just plain 'ol don't do the job like I would like them to. This was just perfect to me.. not to heavy, and it did the job! All in all, very satisfied with this product... and to top it off it smells wonderful!

Another thing that has recently come into, and changed my life is this book:

Karen Kingsbury was at the Women of Joy conference I went to a couple weeks ago.. and she happened to read her children's book to us... and all I'm gonna say is BUY IT! It talks about looking for the "lasts" in your children's lives.... and grab a box of Kleenexes before you read. If your a mom, if you know a mom, this will make a fantastic Mothers day gift, or baby shower gift. I bought this book and it has saved me on a few bad days. I just needed to stop, sit down and read it, and like that, my whole attitude towards my kids changed and our day did a 360. Its not magical, it was all up to me to change our day around and this book reminded me to stop, and simply enjoy.

Another favorite (soon to be mine) thing is... my new camera!

I have a little thing inside me for photography. I always have. I could sit and look at photography websites all day if I could! In case you couldn't tell, I love to take pictures, not saying that I'm good at it by any means, but I have this great desire to dig deep and learn... so I've waited awhile till we could pay a few things off and my mothers day gift to myself is a camera to start learning, and capturing all these memories that are flying by way to fast. I'm really really excited and can't wait to get it.

and my absolute 3 most favorite things on the face of this earth are these guys:

Payton- Our little lover girl. Loves to be naked and takes her diaper off all the time.... and she is talking A LOT more!

Madelynn- The feisty girl. Wants to "sweep (sleep) neked" every single night. (naked being in her panties) (not sure what it is about my kids and being naked???) Such an awesome big sister... and has an attitude of a 16 year old.

Stetson- Thinks he is so cool, and is so proud of himself when he stands up and holds on with 1 hand. He ate his first "real" food meal today! He ate 1 chicken nugget, 2 strawberries and 2 handfuls of puffs! He scarfed it down. I could barely watch as he stuffed, stuffed and kept stuffing handfuls into his mouth. He had to stop and take a breather every few minutes. It was hilarious to watch. Needless to say he enjoyed it... and I think I finally have a child who will eat!!!!

Anyways... Thanks for readin along and making it to my 300th post. Here's to 300 more!

Family reunion.

I was blessed and fortunate enough to marry into a fantastically wonderful family! So fantastically wonderful, in fact, that we hopped in the truck and drove us, and our 3 small children 8 (EIGHT) {8} hours to Austin for a reunion. Quite possibly not something that we will do all to often. Our kids are AWESOME travelers and it is not very often that you'll hear them complain. A little peep here, and a little peep there... but they're pretty good when it comes to being in the car.

After a horrendous first night in the hotel... I officially made it a FACT that our dear sweet son is a home body and that if we dare take him to another bed thats not his... we will pay for it.

cue picture of our dear sweet son and his first night sleeping in bed with mama and daddy:

Our girls roomed with their nana and pawpaw so they were fortunate enough to have a good nights sleep.

Apart from the sleep deprivation, we had really fun weekend. We kicked off the reunion with a boat ride. Fortunately, the girls stayed back with the other kids and a sitter... which turned out to be a good thing cuz I don't think I would have trusted them on that boat. I did get a little motion sick... which if that was any insight to what our cruise will be like, I'll be popping the motion sickness pills a lot.

me with my boys.

Little man after his night of non stop partying. Can you tell he's a tad tired??

I always say... It takes a real man to wear a moby.. and I got one! Nat really is such a great daddy, and all 3 of our babies are so fortunate to call him daddy.

After we picked up the girls, we headed back to the hotel for a nap... which turned into swim time! Inside I was a little excited 2 out of the 3 chitlens wouldn't sleep cuz I really wanted to go swimming! We went back and forth with Madelynn about trying to swim without holding onto Nat or I... to which she said no to every time. Over time, you could see her little brain ticking. She eventually asked to put her floaties back on and said she wanted to try to swim. We were soooooo proud of her because just as soon as she asked, she did it. She let go and we taught her what to do and she did it like it was nothin! She jumped in from the side and swam all the way to the other side.... and I got a great video of it... and somehow the video mysteriously disappeared off my camera... and I'm not happy about it so I'm gonna stop there.

Wore out from swimming!

bubba had his first swim... which he enjoyed very much! He splash, splash, splashed and kept putting his face in the water.

Stetson and uncle Karl

After our swim, we headed over to a family BBQ and an Easter egg hunt.

(in no particular order)

Nat playing horseshoes with the guys.

Ashley and Stetson.

Ashley took Stetson and took care of him pretty much the whole time. It was nice to not have to worry bout him.

Our kids are so loved.

later that night, we found the girls in someone else's eggs... devouring the candy.

And just as I married into an awesome family, I was fortunate enough to be born into a great family. The kids and I stayed at my parents house Sunday night that way we could split up the 8 hour drive into 2 days. We had a fantastic family dinner. It was sooo good to see everyone. I've missed my family sooooooo much. Oh and did I mention... there is just NOTHING like my mom's home cooking. Every time I step into my parents house, and eat that home cooked meal it just takes me back to a place that I love to be. After dinner, we had another egg hunt.

My beautiful girls

Cash and Madelynn

Thats Payton for ya. Stole someone's sucker.

My beautiful Payton

all 5 kids + the in-laws + the boyfriend.

big-ern boy loooves to eat dirt and "outside" stuff.

The closest thing to a brother Stetson will have.

Cousins, cousins everywhere! Oh I missed them soooo much!! Can't wait to meet baby Owen.

See Jedd (light blue shirt) and Payton? They're 2 months apart. Hard to believe. He is on the Far end of the growth chart, and she is at the opposite end.

We had such a good time with both sides of our families... but we were all so happy to be back home. Especially my dear sweet son.

I left!

Its true, I did. I left all 4 of my babies behind and I went to get refueled. I went with my girl-in-laws to a Woman of Joy conference in OK city. It was pretty much NOT easy for me to walk out the door. I've left the kids, and had Nat there with me, and I've left Nat and had the kids with me... but leaving all 4 of them was a whole nother ball park and a first for me. When I walked outta the bathroom, ready to leave and the 4 of them were sitting on the floor holding hands ready to pray for me as I left, I lost it. I tried my best to hold it together but when I walked out to that It pretty much did me in. I'm a big baby when it comes to those 4.

I survived... and so did they! Everyone was pretty shocked that Nat took them for 4 days but he is a trooper... and it was pretty much nothing for him. Deep down inside I really wanted him to need me to come back because he just couldn't handle it anymore..

Ok... that possibly sounded rude and mean.... lemme back up a bit, you may remember this post long ago about how I married a "perfect" guy. So, I thought this will be the opportunity that he will need me and I will come to the rescue for the FIRST time in our 5 years of being together.... and we would live happily ever after. WRONG. I came back and if he did feel overwhelmed and needing me.. he sure didn't show it or tell me. So, he continues his streak of being Mr. Perfect.

He did, however, tell me he was gonna put pictures up on Facebook so I can see what they've been doing.... and that he never did. Matter of fact, these are the only 2 pictures he took.

It was so good to come home! I got home around 1 am and Madelynn woke up and her face just lit up and she ran to me and wrapped her arms around my neck and held on tight for probably about 3 minutes. Not even kidding. It was pretty heart warming. Payton came in our room that next morning and kinda did a double take when she saw me and her smile just got real big and she ran to me and said MAMA!! It was sweet. Little man was excited to see me too. They had a lot of trouble sleeping while I was away so poor Nat was pretty tired! They have since got back to their normal sleeping routine. I know they were all just so thrown off that I was gone.

It was great for me to get away. Have some "Girl time" with my awesome In-laws. Eat some yummy food that I didn't cook. Have someone clean and make my bed for me. Do a little shopping... and more than anything it was nice to be ministered to by some awesome people of God. We heard Sarah Palin speak. Kay Arthur brought the house down and spoke some truth. Karen Kinsbury... whew, that lady. That's another post for another day. Great, great weekend!

8 months x 3

I used to do this more often... and then I realized I haven't done it in forever! Here's the 3 kids at 8 months! I can't believe how none of them look alike at all! People tell me all the time the girls look alike... but I honestly just think its because they think they're twins because they're the same size.

Madelynn- 8 months

Payton - 8 months

Stetson-8 months

... and still 8 months. :)

To me, the only thing that remotely looks similar in them is that Payton and Stetson have round heads... What do you think?? Think any of them look alike?

ok... just a few more. :)

Where does the time go??

Lil' flirt.

Oh, my little man.. what am I gonna do with him? Its like he already knows about the female type and he flirts with them! Not even kidding. He bats his little lashes and flashes that little 2 toothed grin..... and its kills me, and anyone else who is fortunate enough to catch a glimpse. Nat was watching the kids the other day and got these pictures. It just kills me.

"ya, I'm cute."

he is totally and completely going in for a kiss! Little man gives the best open mouth slobbery kisses a mama could ask for!

more kisses...

Uh-oh... daddy caught me.