A Winner!

Thanks to everyone that entered my cleaning contest! It seems like the bathroom is almost everyone's least favorite place to clean.  So I chose the right cleaner to give away :D

Our big winner (chosen by random.org) is:
Number 7: Jennifer@ The Middleton Family
(If you don't know Jenn, you should check out her blog.  She has two adorable, and quite humorous, kids and they are in the process of adopting a child from China).

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

7

Timestamp: 2010-05-03 15:50:08 UTC

How appropriate that:

Jennifer said...

Great giveaway Heather! I hate cleaning the bathrooms!!!! Ugh!

APRIL 29, 2010 5:21 PM 

Jennifer, I have your email, so I will email you to get your address.

That was fun! I might have to do another one soon! Jenn, I'd love to hear what you think of the cleaner!!

The sun is shining today and we are cleaning a bit before heading outside to enjoy it.
Have a blessed day!

A Clean Giveaway

I've teased you long enough; the giveaway is here!!

It's hard to believe it's been over a year since I joined the blogging world.  I still remember my first comment from Amy.  (If you don't follow Amy, you should. She's crazy talented and inspirational.  I also happen to know her IRL so you can believe me when I say she's awesome.)  This past year has been one of major change for us, that included some valleys, but mostly a year of amazing growth for our whole family.  Thank you for sharing in our journey and I hope you'll stick around to see how God continues to work in our lives.  

To commemorate our blogiversary (and writing more than 100 posts), I'm giving away an amazing product to one of you.

Since we all love to clean...

What? you don't love cleaning? 

That's ok, you can still enter to win.  In fact, you may even find you enjoy it with this product!

A little history:

When Skylar was one month old (to the day), she had an allergic reaction to the chemicals in dryer sheets and actually stopped breathing.  Scariest moment of my life.  After that I started researching all the chemicals in the house and I was shocked by what I found.  Majority of popular cleaners contain carcinogens.  Also, one of the most caustic of all cleaners is laundry soap! If a child drinks laundry detergent, he/she will have 3rd degree burns within a matter of minutes.  I grimace to think that I used CLR with my kids in the house! (the fumes alone from that one can cause respiratory damage).  So we started using "greener" products and homemade concoctions.  The green products were expensive, but worth it.  The homemade concoctions just didn't work all that well.  (Peroxide just couldn't remove all the hard water stains on my shower doors).

Just recently I was introduced to a company called Melaleuca that is non-toxic, and affordable!

Rest assured I was skeptical because I thought it was just another Amway type of thing.  Now that I have used their products for 4 months, I can honestly say it's not.  I have been amazed by all of their products and I love that I can have the girls "help" me clean without worrying about the chemicals in the cleaners. I'm not interested in making it a "business" and getting folks to sign up.  I am, however, interested in showing folks a good alternative.

So- I decided to give away one of my favorite cleaners.  It's called "Tub n Tile".  It cleans our bathrooms like nothing I have ever used! The main ingredient is Citric acid so it smells like oranges. :) One person will get the Tub n Tile cleaner and spray bottle.  It's concentrated (just add water) so you are actually getting SIX bottles of cleaner!

How to enter-each item gets one entry:
1. Leave a comment telling me the thing you most dislike cleaning.
2. Follow our blog (or let me know you already do!).
3. Tweet about the giveaway.

Be sure to leave a comment for each one that you do.
Good luck!
I will choose a winner at random on Monday, May 3rd.

I am not being compensated by Melaleuca for this review and giveaway.

out of the mouths of babes

The last few days have been spent tending to a very feverish 2 year old.  She was exposed to hand, foot, mouth disease so I'm pretty much waiting to see if this high fever turns into it.  Praying it doesn't.  I need to grocery shop and clean but she's clingy and wants a lot of mommy's attention so I'm perfecting my snuggling.  But that doesn't mean I can't blog :)

Here are a few fun things heard around our house lately:

Skylar: Mommy, you forgot to get me a straw.
Me: No, I didn't forget. I just haven't got to it yet.  I'm goin as fast as I can sweetheart.
Skylar: (pauses for moment) If you had roller skates on, I bet you could go faster.
(how do you argue with that logic???)

Bailey: (while staring out the sliding glass door) Mommy! Look!
Me: What is it baby?
Bailey: Jesus! He coming!
Me: (a little panicked and running to the door) I don't see anyone out there love.
Bailey: No see Jesus?
Me: No,  I don't see him.
Bailey: (looking outside again)...ooooh, no Jesus.  Jest a waget ("wagon" in Bailey-speak).

At the breakfast table:
Skylar: I had a bad dream last night and I was scared.
Me: Oh, I'm sorry.  But remember that we don't have to be afraid because God is always with us and He takes away all our fears.
Reagan: Yah Skylar.  Fear is sin.  You just need to pray and it will go away.
(Seriously...from the mouth of a 6 year old.)

While Bailey was resting on the couch next to me, I turned on Dancing with the Stars.  She perked up and said "Dancing uh Stars!" and then proceeded to dance around in front of the television while taking her clothes off.  Uh oh!

I hope your week is going well.

I heart this smiling face

This week's challenge over at "I heart Faces" is simply "smiles."  My girls offer lots of smiles, but this one is my recent favorites, so i had to share.  I posted one similar to it on here last weekend, but this is the picture I took right after.  This is her "ok I'll smile for the camera, but this is as good as my smile is going to get mommy" look.  :D

Head on over to iheartfaces and see other "smiling faces"

Sunshine

I love the rain, but only because I get to see this after it passes:

Thursday Tidbits

We went to the dentist today and all three girls did SO well! The hygienist said they were the best patients all week!  And there were no cavities so it was a successful visit.

We are starting to plan Reagan's birthday party.  She wants to have it at the same place we had Skylar and Bailey's party last month so it makes the planning easy.  She wants to invite her entire class so we are working with her on dwindling the list. It's hard to believe she's going to be seven.

This week Reagan brought home a sheet of paper with "tips to keep up with learning through the summer." Seven more weeks!! Come on Summer!!

You wouldn't know Summer is on it's way by the weather we have had lately though.  It's been FREEZING (yes, I understand I'm a Californian and "freezing" might mean something different for you, but "freezing" for me is mid-60's and lower).  We've had a few days of rain and I would be lying if I said I wasn't enjoying it.  I know the Summers here are dry and hot so I'm soaking in the rain (pun intended) as much as I can.  There's just something about the sound of rain that soothes me.  Don't get me wrong though...I couldn't live in the NW.  I enjoy the sunshine after the rain even more.

Bailey has started talking in her sleep. It's seriously funny to watch! Last night she sang almost the entire ABC song!! Wish I had videotaped it.  She's pretty cute singing it without being asleep so maybe I will record that instead.

Our garden is growing!!! We are official farmers! (I know, those of you that actually live on a farm or near one are laughing right now).  This whole "growing" process is fascinating for the girls (and me too!).  I accidentally decapitated one of our pea sprouts the other morning so Brian has officially declared that I should just "leave the gardening to him." :D  Gladly.

I have a giveaway coming but I need to wait until closer to the end of April. But I promise it's coming.

Tomorrow is Friday and I'm so excited! This week has been a whirlwind and I'm ready for a weekend to recoup!

I hope your week has been blessed!!

a little perspective

Let's face it.  Not every day as a mom is sunshine and roses.

My kids make messes.  Lots of them.  They also change their clothes frequently, cover their bathroom with toothpaste, forget to flush, forget to share, ask for snacks all too often....(I'm sure you get the idea).  There are days where it can feel overwhelming and I feel underappreciated.  Not that we do anything for our families out of a desire for appreciation, but sometimes it's nice to hear that our hard work is recognized.

The last few days I was ready to hand out hats to anyone willing to join me at my pity party.  Bailey has discovered how to scream.  Loudly.  Whenever someone (Skylar) tries to take a toy from her hands.  She's also figured out how to whimper like a puppy when she is told 'no.'  It's lovely.  Really.  Skylar has decided that picking up toys is "too hard" so she cries every time she is asked to clean up the playroom (and has almost completely given up naps).  Reagan keeps "forgetting" things.  Like brushing her teeth and putting her shoes away (among other things).

Even though there are times when I feel like crawling under my bed, it's in those moments when God sends a little perspective my way.

A friend of mine posted on facebook this week: "Complaining is literally fuel for the devil's fire."

Then, another friend gave a sermon about complaining and tweeted about "choosing to find the joy in your day."  (This is the same friend that also reminded me of a great quote regarding raising children: "The days are long but the years pass so quickly.")

I got to be part of another friend's journey toward helping a cause close to my heart (literally and figuratively). :D

A relative of mine has been dealing with a chemical addiction and this week she started to break free from it.

The world is bigger than the walls in my house.  And I'm blessed.  So even though today was not all sunshine and roses, and the girls went through nine outfits combined (5 of those were Skylar), I didn't get all the laundry done that I wanted to, nor have I showered, and it basically took a hazmat team to get the girls' bathroom clean, I choose joy.  I choose to focus on the fact that my girls are incredibly healthy and creative (see the "water" slide below).  I choose to find joy in the fact that my almost 7 year old picked out her own bathing suit while shopping today and picked one with Minnie Mouse on it (she's still a little girl, yay!).  I suppose I can also find joy in the fact that she somehow convinced me to buy a second bathing suit for when the "first one is drying or dirty."  Gotta love those bargaining skills.  I found joy in my girls playing together so nicely (until Reagan dumped the watering can full of water on her sister "on accident").  I find joy in their silliness of just being little girls. I found joy in the little things (like my husband bringing me an afternoon cup of coffee).

Today, I chose to thank God for the sunshine.  And the roses.

Probably my new favorite picture of Skylar.  I see this expression multiple times a day!

Roses from our yard

I hope today you found joy.  If not, stay tuned because I'm going to have a giveaway soon and who doesn't love THAT?!