February 28

So yesterday when I was shopping with my Mom, I had an idea for the plates for the missionary luncheon. I have seen it done somewhere else but I can't for the life of me remember where. You just take a plain plate and go around the edges with these flat backed marbles. I used E-6000 glue to adhere the marble pieces to the plate. It was so simple! It only took about 5 minutes to do the whole plate. This is definitely the kind of craftiness I could really get into :) So tell me what you think of the grouping, and try to picture it with my centerpiece from yesterday's post.

Okay I know the color stinks here, but you get the idea anyway :) Do you like the little zebra teacup, too? That was another Ross find. It was the last one too, and it only came as a set of four. I still need four more so I am going to be checking back this week. Praying I get very lucky!!!

February 27

My tooth was still bothering me today so I skipped out on church. I know, sorry excuse, especially since I did end up shopping with my mom this afternoon. Maybe I can justify it with my Lortab hangover :) haha! Just kidding! God knows my heart - stop judging me!

So you wanna see what we got?

I completely love it! I have been eyeing it for quite a while and knowing that I am decorating a table for our church's upcoming missionary luncheon gave me the extra push I needed :) Do you love it, too? Well, sorry to say they are probably sold out! I got the last and only ones at Ross. I love that store!

February 26

I had to have a tooth pulled today so unless you want a picture of my prescription for Lortab and me laid out like a drunk, because that's how Lortab makes me feel, I'll update tomorrow :)

Good news on the dieting front: Down 2.5 more pounds - most likely due to my avoiding food for the last two days because of said removed tooth :(

Hope you all had a better Saturday than me!

February 25

I love the Olive Garden soups :) All of them, except the Minestrone, probably because I've never tried it.
My husband's cousin, April, posted a recipe on her blog here, for a copycat of their Zuppe Toscana, which is my absolute favorite!!!! We were hosting small group tonight so I thought I would finally get to try this out. This is her picture since I forgot to take one. Oops! I am starting to make forgetting to take pictures a habit....

Well, what are you waiting for? Go get the recipe and make some for your family! They'll love it! 

February 24

My mom and I were talking last weekend, (when I was having one of my aforementioned mommy meltdowns) she told me that I needed a schedule. That's how the Duggars do it, she told me. In all honesty, I discovered that the real problem here is that it is completely and totally impossible for me to accomplish in a single day what needs to be done in my own strength. I really need to depend on God, and seek His wisdom and power to make it through the day. That's the real reason why the Duggar mom is so successful. You can tell she's trusting God, and not herself. So, I am committing to working on that schedule and making that schedule work :) Finishing my daily schedule was exciting. I never thought I could fit it all in, but on paper, it works out :)  Yay! Now if only I can actually use it. I made time for me to spend time with God, work on the blog, exercise, do real office work (instead of sitting in front of my computer pretending to really work! haha) lesson time with the kids, make three meals a day and clean them up, two loads of laundry and even watch my DVR shows :) Sounds like a very orderly life, huh? Yeah, that's what I am hoping for :) Hopefully my extreme dislike of most authority and lack of current routine will not hinder that from happening! Haha!

So if this is the only way to do it - have 5 kids and NOT go insane, here's my last ditch effort!

Favorite Time of the Day: Naptime :) You must know me better than I thought.

February 23

Pucker up! Claire has learned to pucker her lips. She's so stinking cute!!!!!

February 22

So yesterday when Jonathan got home we went shopping for shoes for all the kids and some clothes for the babies. We have been having warmer weather finally and they were in desperate need of some springy clothes! I got them so much stuff, and since they are both walking, shoes were a must-have item :) Three pairs each, actually. Thier chubby little toes look so cute :) I love to watch them hobble around and learn to walk in their shoes. What do you think?



We got these shoes at Target, in brown and white :) The name of the shoes: Amber. Love it!



February 21

Crystal Wilkerson, one of my favorite digital designers, gave away this free planner on her blog. I loved the idea, and that it was free, but I thought, I'll never print that. Until I did today :) Twice. Because I messed up the first copies. That's what I get for being cheap. haha! Go check it out here if you want it. It's beautifully designed and full of inspiratonal quotes and thought provoking messages, plus it's packed with organizational tools for balancing everything important in your life. I will post a picture of my planner when I finish putting it all together.

Crystal Wilkerson's 2011 Planner

February 20

So the hubby left me home alone tonight :( Last night too, technically, if you count leaving at 1:30 a.m :) He went to the races with my dad and I am here by myself GASP! with the twins. I had arranged a sleepover buddy but then it didn't work out. So what's a scared momma supposed to do? Get the butcher knife (because I can't find the baseball bat and because I don't allow guns in my house), push the babies into my room(who are not afraid and sleeping soundly in their cribs!), get my six year old to come sleep with me, bring Gabby and her kennel upstairs, make sure I had plenty of drinks and snacks so I didn't have to go downstairs in the dark by myself and finally turn on all the lights downstairs, check every window and door lock and lock my bedroom door behind me. Yeah, Gulf Power loves us :) All that and I still  had a hard time falling asleep, imagining all the bad things that could happen to us while I was here by myself. Everytime I heard a dog bark, or any kind of siren, or any sound of the house settling or the wind blowing, every speck of skin on me was covered with goosebumps. I was on pins and needles until I realized that all I needed to do was claim the victory over fear and pray myself to sleep under God's protection. That only took until 2:00 a.m. :) And guess what time my girls woke up? 5:11 a.m. --when it was still dark, Go figure!

My pic of the day probably won't have any significance to you, but my little girls pushed these mixing bowls around the house for a solid hour and a half, chasing one another, giggling and laughing and squealing. It was so adorable and I never want to forget how much they enjoyed playing with them!

February 19

I love Saturdays! When my husband's not working. But since he is, I was determined to make the best of it anyway. My three big kids were begging to get out of the house and those two precious little babies love being outside anytime, anywhere. The weather we've been having this week is just perfect for taking the kids to the park. So the plan was to make some soup for Brandy, who is still sick with the flu, since Tuesday, go to the bank, get Tyler, give Brandy the soup, and take a Mickey D's picnic to the park and spend the afternoon taking amazing pictures of all the kiddos at the park. Sounds like a great plan, eh? Well it was, and it went fabulously as planned, until we came home and I realized that every single one of the 200+ pictures I took were horrible. I forgot to change my settings back from aperture priority, which I apparently know nothing about, to the auto setting. Grrrrr! The pictures are either completely blown out, or so dark you can't see anything. How does that even happen? Frustration, I tell ya! That causes major frustration.  There were so many pictures that would have been perfect! Absolutely perfect. Oh well, it's a lesson learned. I can't bring myself to delete them. Surely something can be done! If you have any suggestions for how to fix them I am all ears :) Please share!

When I brought this one into PSE, and did a levels adjustment, this is the best I could get for Claire, but the background is still awful. I took them in JPEG format. Is there any hope?

Before

After