Hello Alabama

Goodbye beautiful Northwest.

I'm off for the weekend kiddo free to go see Doug in Alabama.

It was a much needed weekend. He was on his 4th week of being gone and at first I was doing fine being a mom 24 hours a day then after the 3rd week and the kiddos being sick for 2 of those weeks I was starting to loose my mind. I'm not sure how single moms,  moms who's husbands travel or husband that work more the X amount of hours do it? Doug has 3 day weekends and is home in the afternoon during his work week. I'm a totally spoiled brat I know.
What I am trying to say is that I needed a break after 4 weeks of Doug being gone and after my vacation he will be home in 2 weeks

My first day in Huntsville we drove out to the Cathedral caverns. They are amazing!! If you live out here and haven't gone you HAVE too!!

This was one of my favorites. The bottom half is water and reflecting the top. So perfect. 

This is beginning of one of the stalagmite forest.

Two very relaxed parents

Heading back out.

On Sunday we went to space Camp...kinda

Every part of this museum was amazing. Not only is everything about 1000 times bigger then I thought it would be it was also 1000 times cooler.

Amazing!

The weather was beautiful the whole time I was here...until the morning I was suppose to leave and return to my Little's.

This happened.

Thunderstorm warnings, tornado warnings, rain, wind, hale and some more rain and wind.

My flights were canceled and here I sit typing on my computer for 8 hours, watching movies, the OWN network, eating snacks Doug had stashed in his room and drinking beer.

It was a perfect day!

Thank you mom for hanging with the kiddos an extra day and Thank you Jen for helping with the kiddos.

 and

THANK YOU Alabama for your freaky weather patterns and granting me my

 perfect do NOTHING day wish.

Happy 2nd birthday sweet Molly!

The last couple of weeks Molly has really become independent. She also wants to be with Colin a lot.

Even if that means climbing up on the table to watch something on you tube with him.

Or sitting patiently while he builds something really cool with  his LEGO's

Today has finally arrived and she really is 2. For months people have assumed she was 2 because she is a tall little girl. But today she really is.

Good Morning sweet little birthday girl

This old cradle was one of her gifts and she loves it.

This little green dress was made by my amazing friend Sam when Molly was born. I love it so much!

 I keep it on a hanger so Molly can keep wearing because in a perfect world it would keep stretching out toward the floor because wool is awesome like that.

She was amazed by the snow this morning.

And I'm amazed to see her taller then Max. I remember just last year Max helped her learn how to walk by being her support

special birthday breakfast

For lunch we headed out to Red Robin because every kiddo has their birthday lunch there. We can be in and out in 23 minutes, get a free balloon and have left overs for dinner....perfect.

This was the only time this little pink dress was clean today.

Check out that concentration!

We headed home and found some snow

Don't worry shortly after this photo was taken I rescued the flag and brought it inside.

Like I said, I can't believe she is 2

I love how different they all are. especially their hair color

When I took this picture it was exactly 5:18 pm. The same time I first met Molly 2 years earlier.

And 5:19

 Even though Doug has been gone 3 weeks and is way over in Alabama he was able to sing happy birthday with us!

Another one of Molly's birthday presents was that she now has a roommate. For months Emilie has asked to bunk up with Molly. But I've always said no. Mostly because I thought Colin would be sad to see his room mate go.  I guess he was ready to see her go next door because he all but moved all of her stuff out for her.

Cross your fingers that everything goes ok. the night is still young.

Love you to the moon and back Molly. Happy, Happy Birthday.

And the Winners are....

#15 Pyjammy Pam

and

#2 Emily Weaver Brown

That's right! Two winners.

You were all so awesome to come over and leave a comment that I just had to giveaway two kits.

Thank you again, and again for stopping by.

Please ladies e-mail me where you would like your kits sent and I will get them to you ASAP

gardendana at comcast dot net

Glob It On! ****Giveaway***** Winners!

And the winners are....That's right TWO winners!!

Everyone was so awesome to come over and leave a comment I just had to giveaway two paint kits.

Both were generated over at random.org

#15 Pyjammy Pam

and

#2 Emily Weaver Brown

Thank you Ladies and I can't wait to get these to you!

Please e-mail me the address you want them sent to

gardendana at comcast dot net

A crazy thing happened this week.

 I fell in love... with paint..

My poor kids never get to paint.

I hate the mess, the smell and did I mention the mess?

and they love to paint.

This last week I was the lucky lady who got introduced to

Glob paints

They are amazing! And the smells.....

ah... the sweet the smells

I am in love!

Each paint color truly smells like the fruit, vegetable, flower or spice on the packet. My favorite is lemon verbena.

Yummy!

Here is a little blip from the Glob site:

A vast color source for GLOB's blends comes from anthocyanins, which range from bright red to blue in hundreds of fruits and vegetables from grapes, elderberries, black currants, purple carrots, sweet potato, red radish and red cabbage. These pigments have been used to color food since historical times. In flowers, bright reds and purples are adaptive for attracting pollinators.
Perhaps the most obvious natural color comes from beets. Beetroot cells easily 'leak', leaving a stain. Beets create a brilliant scarlet to purple color.
GLOB also uses carotenoid (or beta-carotene) color pigments found in oranges, tomatoes, carrots and marigolds.
Another orange source is the annatto seed, a natural herb that has been used for centuries by indigenous tribes and can be traced as far back as the ancient Mayans. Annatto seed's deep orange color is used today in cosmetics and to color cheddar cheese!
Other color sources include the sticky orange pulp of the gardenia fruit and chlorophyll, which is extracted from alfalfa to make a grassy-green.

I even let Molly paint.

And that little lady was in heaven!

She usually only gets a few light colored crayons.

This was such a big deal to her, she took it very serious.

 some more info from the site:
GLOB botanically crafted colors are made from fruits, vegetables, flowers and spices with natural food-grade ingredients and organic extracts.

These water-soluble pigments become paint just by adding water. Similar to watercolors, GLOB paints can also be used for a variety of arts and crafts activities.
The vibrant pigments in GLOB™ have been used by different cultures throughout the ages in food, artists' paints and body products.
GLOB™ paints are unmatched in quality and environmental synergy. Created with a focus on sustainability, GLOB pigments are all natural and biodegradable.
From the garden to the studio, GLOB handcrafted paints naturally inspire. Go ahead, GLOB it on™.
GLOB partners with the California Autism Foundation Work Activity Program for assembly and packaging services, which provides vocational skills and experience to people with autism and other developmental disabilities.
GLOB also donates paints to the art program at the California Autism Foundation's Better Chance School.

These little containers are perfect for mixing the right amount of paint.
And clean up was super easy.

for our little craft adventure we only used a quarter of each packet and it was the perfect amount.

Because I love this paint so much I want to share one of Glob's awesome paint kits with someone.

In the kit:

2 bamboo brushes

6 compostable jars with lids (not the metal one's in my picture, these ones are clear)

6 color paint packets (each makes between 1-3 oz of paint)

colors: pomegranate, lemon verbena, berry blue, plum purple, tangerine, and basil green.

All you have to do it leave a comment. Super easy!!

I'm going to let it run until Sunday because I need to get the word out as much as I can about this awesome company.

If you want more info on Glob check out their website where you can order the paints and also find a store near you to buy your own paints.

You can also like them on Facebook under Glob.

So go for it! Leave a comment, let your friends know and as they say over at Glob

Glob it on!

****Comments are closed*****

***All of this is my own opinion and nothing was given to my by glob. I am doing this all on my own, because you guessed it, I really like these paints.***

Happy Love Day

This is just some of the left over crafting that has been going on in our little kitchen

It was fun seeing the kiddos share their cut out hearts with each other and me.

Seeing Emilie figure out how to cut out a heart from a folded in half piece of paper made me wonder when was the first time I did that?

They probably went through 4 rolls of tape, 100 pieces of paper and a bazillion stickers.

Starting off the morning right with pink eggs, heart shaped toast and fresh juiced apples. yummy

After all of that crafting this is what they gave their friends.

Love, love these stickers and Envelope.

I need to find the info on the gal that made them. She was super fast and they were really affordable.

Happy Valentines day!

The best medicine is the sun!

I woke up this morning feeling like a giant pile of poop. The left side of my head feels like it was hit with a 2 by four and my jaw feels like it is being jabbed over and over. Awesome.

But, when we pulled back the curtains we found tons of beautiful sunshine pouring in and there was no way we were going to waste another day hanging around the house.

In the car we tumbled and away we went to the zoo.

Anyone who knows me knows that I hate crowds. And on this sunny morning at the zoo there was NO ONE THERE!! HURRAY for me!!

We had a great time. I even found 15 bucks in the parking lot which payed for our carousel ride, twice.

We even got to UN-stroller the Molly.

The kiddos were really good about always holding her hand

Love her little top knot

Colin looks so old in this picture

I love how this picture shows each of their personalities

I'm always amazed at the great views the pacific northwest has to offer

carousel iPhone pictures

After we got home I was in need of some liquid sunshine. I feel like I have been sick for so long... or at least since September and I need to start making even more changes.

I've always loved juicing anything and everything but I need to start doing it everyday until I get through this cold/flu season.

Even the kiddos tried them.

carrot/spinach

Blueberry

Emilie favorite!

apple

cheers to all of you and your health!!