Happy Birthday Mommy

Today is my birthday!

Before meeting my husband, I enjoyed birthdays, but they were far from my favorite holiday; in fact, I was usually glad when it was over. My husband's family though, goes ALL OUT on birthdays, and I have to say, it has rubbed off on me.

And since my birthday this year falls on a Monday (today!) I got to enjoy a weekend of celebration by going shopping with my super awesome mother in law. 3 hours in a mall? Oh YES!

But you know what? This is by far my favorite birthday and not because of the awesome shopping spree with Patty, or the awesome cake Bill and Ed got me, but because of this little guy singing to me last night as a way to avoid bedtime:



Oh geeze, can anything be cuter? And now I have every year to look forward to him singing to me again!

Christmas Morning

**Disclaimer: I can't get the video to work and I'm getting annoyed with it. I'll be trying to figure out what is wrong with it after dinner. Or maybe tomorrow. Or maybe tomorrow I'll just post something different and pretend this post didn't happen....**

So I am finally getting some of the videos off my Flip camera (which I love, by the way) and I have this cute one of Christmas morning at our house. I know you guys have been dying to see what the Miche looks like first thing in the morning. This is even after I had some coffee, so prepare to be amazed with the awesome camera skills and rambling amazing commentary:



And just think, if I find some more gems on the camera, I might just share them with you guys. I know you know you're scared lucky.

Mom Mixing and Cleaning

Let me start with the Logitech Mom Mixer-It was pretty neat, but not quite as fun as I had thought. I am SO thankful to Logitech for the fun webcam and the chance to meet up with other moms and do some market research; however, my partner and I had the worst connection ever.

And I don't know if it was the webcam, the speakers, the Internet connection, or even my old computer, but the video feed for the webcam was WAY slower than the sound feed, AND on top of it, the microphone was picking up EVERYTHING, including all the other conversations going on around us. My partner seemed to be a soft spoken, sweet woman, which didn't help with trying to do the question/answer Logitech survey we were supposed to do. Actually, after the third question, we gave up-it took us a half hour just to get through those because I couldn't hear Kelly (my Mom Mixer partner who was at the event in Dallas) through the other conversations. We even had someone try to help us, but there wasn't much we could do.

Oh well, maybe next time I can be present, if they do one in NC again (I missed the NC one since we were still in AL at the time).

Logitech connection was pretty cool though-and I think the video/sound would work fine if you didn't have 50 other people around laughing and talking at the same time-but you simply create an account with Logitech, use your friend's emails, and connect for free. Nice!

OK, now on to other stuff.

I have been crazy busy with work, and I am planning on purging my office tonight; finally getting rid of old papers, notes, notebooks, books, and general clutter I don't need. What prompted the cleaning? I couldn't find my glue gun and needed it to make JR's First Birthday Frame. I finally found it in a random drawer, so I realized I needed to organize better.

I also saw the tv show "Hoarders" and it has made me want to get rid of everything I own and don't use. Have any of you seen that show? My sweet hubby told me about it, so we watched it together one night (him in AL and me here in NC). We were both shocked at the hoarding. Wow. So now I have been joking to him he is going to come back to an empty house tomorrow.

Actually, it is mostly just my office and our workshop room that are semi-cluttered, but not for long; Miche is on a mission to de-clutter!


And, Happy Friday!

I'm Not Wearing Shoes To A Mom Mixer

I am so glad I am a mom now. Not just because I really enjoy "mom stuff", but there are SO many ways to find other moms, mix, mingle, and learn tips, all without having to travel.

Yea, the Internet is quite amazing. Gosh, I blog and have a whole set of mom friends I have never met, but all of whom are special to me for the friendships we have.

I have no idea how my mom stayed sane as a stay at home mom to three girls out in the middle of no where. We grew up deep in the mountains of NC, and we had the outdoors to entertain us-mom didn't do playdates, craft dates, or mom meet ups, mostly because it took almost half an hour just to get down the mountain, let alone get to someone else's house.

I honestly don't think I would be as good of a mom if I didn't get to leave the house and go to playdates and meet ups with other moms.

And on that note, I am SUPER excited to be part of the Logitech Mom Mixer going on in Dallas today. And no, I am not in Dallas, I will be here, at my kitchen table, with my laptop and webcam. Getting to mix and mingle with all kinds of other great moms and the amazing Maria Baily, of Mom Select, Newbaby.com and Mom.tv, who put together the event-all while I feed my kids lunch.

How cool is that? Hopefully the kids will be happy with their lunches and let me participate without too many interruptions. But if not? That's OK, because after all, I'm Mom first, and being a mom is the whole reason I got invited.

I'll give you guys the scoop on the mixer, and if you'll also be a part of it, let me know so we can "mingle"!

99 Balloons

So Oprah is a show I love watching and I do actually try to get the kids occupied with activities so I can watch-yes, I love Oprah.

A few weeks ago, I watched the Miracle Children and Celine show and learned about little Elliot.

Elliot's parents were told he would not survive past birth, and so they celebrated the 99 days of his life with letters and photos, which they turned into the video below. Inspiring, amazing, and a true testament to celebrating life.



I hope that no matter what happens in life, I'm always able to find a way to celebrate and find the joys.

Red Fish, Blue Fish

Save the Last Dance For Me

I have a little dancer:


We went to The Shed Barbecue and Blues Joint in Ocean Springs, Mississippi a few weekends ago and it was so fun. I loved the live band and a REALLY loved watching JR groove to the music. He danced the whole time we were there!

Little Dude was content the whole time with his food and playing in the dirt ( I never realized just how dirty little boys can be) and it was fun to listen to his imaginative play.

The Shed was pretty awesome-amazing food-and everything there looked like it had been pulled from the garbage. Seriously, there were chairs with desk tops that looked like they had come out of a school, and there were roles of paper towels to use for clean up. It was the perfect place to take two little boys to eat!

If you happen to be down this way, I would suggest going to The Shed for dinner, but be sure to go later in the day when it is cool so you can sit outside and enjoy the band.

I Got You, Babe

Little Dude's first bike ride! With a little help from me and my Aunt, Little Dude got going on his first bike ride and for the rest of the day (and every day since, really) he has talked about his "motorcycle" and how awesome it is. Oh my.

Almost Famous

Newbaby.com and Wisk has a couple of internet commercials going about HE washers, and I got to be in one of them! Whoo hoo!
I'm in this one, along with some of my favorite mom bloggers:

And some of my other favorite mom bloggers are in this one:


And I have to say now that I am just drooling for an HE Washer and Dryer. Esp. since mine are dying. The Drying is taking 2 cycles, at least, to dry, and the Washer gets unbalanced all the time, and is starting to make a weird noise.....

Make A Bird Feeder

I love hands on activities for kids, and I was so lucky to work in a fabulous day care where we did all kinds of creative, fun, learning activities with the children. So, I have been excited to start doing a lot of the ones I especially enjoyed with my own children. This one is easy, simple, and environment AND budget friendly since everything is edible or out of the yard. Without further ado, here is how to make a bird feeder with your little ones:




Now that spring is here, I hope you guys have lots of fun with this activity; it can be done outside or inside and has minimal mess involved. Also, find a great place near some of your windows, if possible, to hang the feeder, then you can enjoy watching the birds with your child! This activity can also be a more involved learning activity for older kids, as you point out different kinds of birds, their colors, what kinds of homes they make-you can take this as far as your child shows interest and even make a great homeschooling lesson on birds out of it. Super fun, super easy, and that is what Works For Me Wednesday! Check out We Are THAT Family for more great tips!!

A New Puppy

It seems I have a new puppy in my life. He is super cute, cuddly, loves water, and gives me puppy kisses. And did I mention he is adorable?

Fat Tuesday

Happy Mardi Gras, everyone!!!


Well, we had so much fun experiencing the Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) celebrations down here in Alabama! The moonpies, the beads, the parades, purple yellow and green everywhere; I will miss all that when we move back home.

I found a cute Mardi Gras Fleur de Lis ornament that we will be adding to our Christmas Tree next year-figured that was the one time I could get away with a glittering Mardi Gras item fitting in around my home back in NC.

My Valentines

Happy Valentine's Day!

Imagine the Potential

I got into an argument once over the potential of life. The person I argued with actual said that a poor quality of life is not what a child should be brought into and that it was better for the child to be aborted. Well, that enraged me, considering Oprah Winfrey, Geoffrey Canada, Karol Józef Wojtyła aka Pope John Paul II and any number of other successful people, had what some might call "a poor quality of life" growing up; including this guy:


I'm all for people being responsible and trying to plan children, but I am always amazed at how adoption options get overlooked. Why is abortion the answer? Just think of what the world would be missing if your mom had decided that you would have had a poor quality of life full of pain and hardships and decided to spare you from it.



Thank you, Nell at Casual Friday Everyday for sharing this video.

Mom's Night Out

My sweet husband gave me a mom's night out. Oh and it was much needed and greatly appreciated. I went to Barnes and Noble, I drank coffe, I read stories, I shopped, and I got a fabulous pair of shoes, and, most importantly, I got recharged. Oh it was heavenly. And what was going on while I was out? Bill had a fantastic time playing with the boys, and caught this little gem of fun:



Oh yea, he has a fireman hat as his football helmet, a beer coozie as a watch, his football, and some sunglasses he got as a goodie at his friend James' birthday party last weekend.

Isn't he just the cutest? I know, I am biased, but really, he is pretty cute in this getup.

Vlogging the First Crawl

Well, JR is starting to do the very awesome and cute army crawl. I think this is my favorite crawl. Working at a daycare, I saw babies crawl in all sorts of ways, but I just LOVE it when they go through the army crawl stage.

So, my little JR has started this phase, and we will see how long it lasts. I got a little bit of him moving on video Sat. and wanted to share, but now as I am sitting here he is full speed ahead and entirely mobile (and quick, too!)

So without further ado, here is a video of my sweet baby, starting to become mobile:

JR Babble!

I finally caught JR doing some super cute babbling on video, so I wanted to share it with everyone. My other son, Little Dude, also shows off some cuteness. I'm so blessed I get to share my days (even the hard ones) with these mostly sweet little people. Enjoy!

My Boys

While trying to catch JR on video babbling, I ended up getting this great gem. And yes, you will learn my boys' real names; however, you'll just have to pretend you didn't. This video was too cute to not share with out of town family and everyone else....

My Take on Cloth Diapers

Parents® Critter Conga

My son is in love with the new Parents® drum and so am I! I made a couple of videos for you to enjoy:




and you can read the rest of my review here:

Enjoy!