A Couple of Cuties.

I originally began our blog (and make some sort of attempt at maintaining it) to stay connected with family and friends with our day-to-day life. I love it for that since we're out of town to EVERYONE, but I've loved it as a journal of sorts for myself too. Since I'm sure that paper won't even exist in the future it's nice to have some "permanent" memory-keeping right here:) SOOO all that said, I've just realized it's been a while since I posted some pics of the boys who just so happen to BE my day-to-day life! The two biggest sweeties I've ever met I may add;)

I'm so amazed and so very thankful at how well Trey has loved his brother!

And Hunter is just in love with his big brother. He wants to be everywhere he is, and his little eyes just follow him all over. It's adorable:)

Ahhh, a special moment from God (and Daddy) allowing Mommy to recharge her batteries:D

Just like Papi's!

Being thoroughly entertained by the Kindle Fire.

Trey has finally learned how to chew gum without swallowing it! I wish I thought it was as much of a treat as he does, I'd be down to my goal weight in no time;)

Birthday Zoo Fun.

We have a fantastic Natural Science Center down here in Greensboro, and the best part about it is the little zoo! I say little, but I personally think it's pretty big, just small in comparison to national zoos. I think it will be quite some time before this one is no longer entertaining for our family: ) Anyway, for "one" of my birthday weekend events I just really wanted to spend a family day at the zoo. It had been a long time since we'd gone the first time, so I was so excited to see how into it Trey would be. Well, he didn't disappoint for sure. The fact that we had to tear him away crying after 2 hours is a good sign that he had a great time!

The pics are in random order, but the story is still the same--a great time was had by all:)

One of my favorite things about my first born doll baby is that he makes friends everywhere he goes. Every group of kids he'd see, he just wanted to tag along and jump into the fun they were having. This is in the tunnel looking into the meerkat "manor";) They thought it was hilarious that they kept slipping around the plastic walls. It was really cute.

Inside they have a dinosaur exhibit, and this one will roar when you roar at it, so Trey kept giving his very best T-Rex interpretation.

"I got him, Mommy!"

Look at these two! What a pair!

Animal cookie break:)

The tigers were walking incredibly close to the viewing area that day. Amazing! God was so creative when designing all of these animals. This guy was getting ready to lie down and let out this huge roar/yawning sound--IT WAS CRAZY! The sound shook the air around us.

What a powerful animal!

The petting zoo area was fun. Lots of goats and sheep and llamas. They had a brush in there that Trey used to groom all the different animals. It was so funny, because he brushed every single one of them, and when he was done he just left the brush on the back of one of the sheep:) May have had to have been there, but I thought it was a hoot.

Yikes! This is the crazy turkey "Tom" that just roams about, but when he'd get all puffed up and start shaking his big ol' tail feathers at us...well, let's just say I wasn't a fan. Zio had a bad experience with a turkey as a child, and that's one more turkey attack than I'd care to be a part of!

I think that Trey could have played on these fun froggies for hours!

'Til next time...

Gotta Love My Man.

Last night over dinner:

(Me) "How's your dinner, Babe?" (Shaun) "Great. Nobody does fish sticks like my Boops."

I can't stop laughing long enough be even write this post;) He's a funny one, he is.

The Eve of My 29th.

I've always been a pretty huge fan of my birthday. I like to spread it out all month long, often shouting inside out home, "It's Mommy's birthday month! Woohoo!" Every fun little activity gets to be "in honor of" my coming (or just past) birthday. It's just fun, and a brand new start! How I love a brand new start!

I was thinking about it, and all of a sudden it dawns on me, all those things that I had wanted to do before turning 30...well, it's now or never, baby! I wanted to get a jump on my "official" list today, so that Day 1 (or 365, if we're doing a count down...yikes, I don't know how I feel about that) wasn't wasted on brainstorming. Though I do love a good brainstorm. Shaun and I often schedule "Dream Sessions", little more specific than a brainstorm, but super fun nonetheless.

So, here goes the list...drum roll please (I'm actually a little nervous typing right now, because I feel like writing this down holds me more accountable, but isn't that the point, Brett? ) ok, so here we go again....drum roll, please...

1. Total God-fidence-- may have to post on this another time, but essentially this means that I no longer think of myself in relation to anyone but myself and who God created ME to be! I want to live excellently so that HE is glorified, and the only way I can live excellently is by living up to who He made Brett to be, not anyone else. How incredibly freeing this will be!

2. Be able to lay my head on the pillow at night knowing that I gave my Father, my marriage, and my babies 100%.

3. See the Aurora Borealis. (haha, just kidding) Although, I'm hoping that God will treat us with a light show like that in Heaven. Gorgeous!

4. Become a more knowledgeable gardener.--vegetable, and new this year, flowers and other landscape enhancers:)

5. Run my household like a fine-tuned machine.--I believe it just takes having some serious organization and prepping systems in place, and the crazy that is our life can be greatly minimized (key word--"minimized". a little bit of crazy is part of the fun;) )

6. Embrace each moment with these two precious boys.--I get teary every time I step back and think about how fast this time goes.

7. Become a Car-Driving, Mary Kay Sales Director.--the Big Goal is to check this bad boy off the list by June 30, so that I can pick up my bonus check in Dallas mid-July!

8. Have a fresh and clean approach to eating.--one that I can get excited about, and more importantly that I can get excited about getting in the kitchen to fix.

9. Reach my goal weight/size.--125 (I'm not even sure that's possible, haha) Size 6 pants. I say size 6 only because I think that is what size my length naturally fits (although, I usually can't get a 6 past my knee caps, so I'm not really sure), so if anyone reading this is like me and DESPISES trying on pants, well, then yeah, you feel my disgust (and let's not even get started on the lighting that they use in dressing rooms! what the world! This seems like retail 101 to me.)

Maybe I'll add more later, once I have time to ponder it some more...or maybe not:)

Have any ReUSE Ideas?

Enfamil baby formula now comes in these great plastic tubs with a snapping lid. I've now collected about 6 of them because I'm convinced that I can find some fantastic uses for them. They just seem too functional to be thrown directly into the recycle bin. So far I've used one to collect Trey's stray crayons...Any other ideas?

On the same "baby-supply recycling" wavelength, one of my favorite reuses lately is my diaper boxes (and Mary Kay boxes:D). There seems to be an overabundance of "little things" that need some corralling, but I'm just not willing to pay $100 to get all of the cute bins and storage containers that I would need to tame it all. Sooo, I bought a $5 roll of pretty contact paper at Target, and have covered tons of these boxes. They would certainly do the trick on their own, but the paper just adds a little style and a little more uniformity, so these storage spaces don't look so junkie.

What are some of your favorite Reduce, Reuse, Recycle ideas?