Sunday, March 31, 2013

Celebrate the day!



Kids fancied up.


Decor is up.



Egg hunt finished.



Treats made and eaten!

Browsing Pinterest while bored is as dangerous as grocery shopping while hungry.



And guess what?



I'm twenty weeks along!!!! 
HALF WAY!!!!!

Happy Easter everyone :)

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Friday, March 29, 2013

Insta-Friday #31 - Two more weeks of Spring break. I'm exhausted.

First things first. No, I don't know the gender of the baby yet. It wasn't visible at the ultrasound this week. Hopefully next month. Going crazy! I've never had to wait this long. I'll be half way through the pregnancy on Monday!

But on to better things:

We had two more weeks of Spring Break!
You can see the first week of our break here

Lydia is in a year round school, so we get a Fall and Spring track break of 3 weeks and then 7 weeks of summer.  Personally I love it.

Though it's a lot of work to keep us occupied.

There are a lot of photos here. Just be warned.


While Shane was camping in Moab for the week, the kids and I headed down to SLC for some cousin time. Don't you just love their Tutor home in historical Salt Lake? 

Thanks for your suggestions for things to do in Utah. We had a great time.


We hit Ruth's Diner in the canyon for some serious breakfast.


Then off to the Hogle Zoo.




Then back home for some mud play.


Which Collin found over-rated. 


Aunt Sara had lots of yummy meals planned. 
Make your own pizza night!



Visited the SLC library. Very cool.



Woke up to two inches of snow!


We kept ourselves busy inside.

Collin discovered Aunt Sara's "Super Hero" mask. He was quite excited.


We made easter crafts.



Not as enthralling as stolen iPhone time.



We got the kids out of the house for some jump house fun.


And ice-cream. And gelato. And girl scout cookies.



I got to spend a Girls Night with Kristi, one of my best friends from Tennessee who happened to be in town!


Shane finally got home from his guys adventure. 

We spent a snowy family breakfast all together before we headed back to Boise.


After a week of perfect weather, Shane and his BIL weren't happy to see the snow.

(They tell me no damage was done to the car in their off roading experience.)


We got back to Boise just in time for me to meet up with friends for a little girl pampering time.
I'm the one with the boring pink toes. 

I just don't do designs.


This week the kids finally did enough extra chores to earn a trip to Build-A-Bear.

Lydia looks homeless. Mostly because she really does prefer the hobo look.


Yesterday we had a muffin morning. Which means I made muffins the night before hoping it would keep the kids from waking me up for breakfast. 
It didn't, but they didn't wake up until 8:45am, so I wasn't too sad about it.
They asked me to read "If You Give A Moose A Muffin." They laughed and laughed.


We then spent the day with friends at their country home.

The kids can't wait for next month when this epic tree house will be done.


Picnics in the field.


We even explored the old barn. It smelled like horses and hay. 
Smells from my childhood with my "cowboy" family.



Whew!!!! That was quite a Spring Break! I'm tired. And now I have Easter to plan! I'm thinking I may make it a grill outside day and let Shane take the reigns. I need a serious nap.

Besides that 4 hour one I took last Sunday.

Hope everyone had a great Spring break!!!!


By the way, over on Instagram, I'm giving away three pairs of homemade sea glass inspired earrings to one winner and two of their friends. Head over to @natssentiments on Instagram, scroll down until you see this pic and enter to win! I'll announce the winner on Monday.

WINNERS!

The winner of the Insta-Friday earring giveaway is Zoglady.

The winner of the Healthy Surprise Giveaway is Shanny.

Congrats ladies! Email me and I will get you your prizes.

Follow me on Instagram @natssentiments

Friday, March 22, 2013

Insta-Friday #30 - While yesterday was great


I'm still on my Spring break trip to SLC, so I'll have to recap all those fun happenings next week when I have time to really sit down with my computer. But, just to stay consistent on my Insta-Fridays, here's what happened yesterday.


Shane and my brother in law got back from their boys trip to Moab.
I'm dieing at their photos. Look at that! So beautiful!


They spent the last two nights in Vegas.

They swear it was all good wholesome fun.



While in Sin City they bought all the kids enormous lollypops. 
And woopie cushions.


And Shane surprised me with this.

How did I get so lucky to marry a man who understands the power of a leather Kate Spade?

YAY! Happy day for me.

Oh! And look at that. It's insta-friday #30. Which means I owe one reader a pair of handmade earrings. Comment below and I'll pick a winner next week. 

Enjoy your weekend! I'm off to enjoy my new bag. 
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Friday, March 15, 2013

InstaFriday #29 - Spring Break Starts and winner!

Oops! First of all, I realized that when I posted Monday's What to Read list I totally forgot the wonderful book I had just finished the night before!

The Story of Beautiful Girl

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
My review:
Such a gorgeous story. Beautifully wound and complex. Incredible to see the shaping of a half a century attitude towards a forgotten group of people. I feel like I will miss the characters I watched grow through a lifetime of grief, trial and yet hope. Powerful and masterfully written.


Feel free to "friend" me on Goodreads. I LOVE seeing what blogger friends are reading.




Second, I found this little treasure on my phone. Enjoy 25 seconds of awesome.


Man they are cute! I can't wait to see what the next one looks like.
(Two weeks until I find out the sex. Any guesses?)


Three weeks of Spring break started on Monday! Yay! (I think)

Spring break day 1. 

Wreck It Ralph 3D. Totally cute movie. We were the only ones in the theater. Lydia wanted money for the next day's trip to the mall so she's attempting to get a loose tooth out. Apparently that's better than washing windows.



Spring break day #2.

Took Lydia out for breakfast at Starbucks, then to the mall to get some shoes. Then watched Collin's music class "concert" and then a picnic at the park. We're in the 60's now!!!!


Spring Break Day #3

What sweetheart? You're not coming home until late again tonight? That's fine. But I'm done parenting starting now. Kids and i are hitting Burger King to let someone else cook and let the play area babysit. Spring break day 3. 17 to go. 


Spring Break Day #4

Craft day!  Our favorite was coloring paper on tops and watching them spin. 
We used Kiwi Crates (LOVE!)
 I'll talk about those in a week or so.




Cool huh?


Just about 18 weeks now. There is officially no hiding this baby bump.



I still have over a week until I find out the sex of the baby, but let's be honest. I'm guessing there's a yellow nursery happening either way. Thinking of buying these Spotty knobs for my babies dresser. My baby! Yay!

Speaking of yellow.....

WINNER!

The randomly selected winner of the Yellow Blogiversay Giveaway is EMH. Congrats!!!! Email me and I will send you your fabulous prize! 

Didn't win? No worries, more giveaways right around the corner!


Follow me on instagram @natssentiments

Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Earning Video Game Time

I had a little discussion over on my blog's facebook page about video game limits. I don't like video games, but the kids really like the game Temple Run on the iPad, so I wanted some advice on setting limits. You can check out some reader's thoughts over on my page.

My favorite advice was to have the kids "earn" their video game play time. This seemed like something we could do. In case you missed my facebook update:

"Shane and I got together and decided that 15 minutes of Temple Run was a good amount of time per day. Each kid has a very easy list of things I want them to do every morning anyway, but usually they are dragging their feet. Today they were running around the house, getting their mini chores done so they could play their 15 minutes. It was kind of great."


Yes, Collin does have to be reminded to wear underwear. He likes underwear. Or pants. But not both.

Do you let your kids play video/phone/iPad games? How to keep it in check?

Any educational games you recommend?


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Don't forget to enter to win my blogiversary giveaway! Ends Thursday at midnight.

Monday, March 11, 2013

What to read!

I've read some really wonderful books in the last couple months. Feeling pretty crappy for the first couple months of pregnancy lead to a lot of nights curled up with a book.
 I'm always looking for a great new read, so I thought you might be too.

I don't like to give away the plots on book reviews, but here are some of my thoughts. If you want to know more details on the storyline, click the link to send you over to Goodreads. 

I'm on Goodreads here.


These Is My Words by Nancy E. Turner

Spectacular. I was amazed at how much I related with a woman whose life was pretty much as far in situation from me as possible. The sweetest descriptions of true martial intimacy I've ever read.
 Loved it from cover to cover.





Divergent by Veronica Roth

Wow! Unbelievably entertaining. Riveting and smart.
If you like the Hunger Games, this one is for you. And finally a YA heroine that isn't described as willowy or hauntingly beautiful. Yea. We've all heard that enough.

I'm in the middle of the next book Insurgent. It's so good! 

Other Dystopian novels I read recently: (Click to read my reviews)
Matched and Crossed Ally Condie





I really enjoy this series. The old Charleston homes, the creepy (but not scary) supernatural element. The romance is a little drawn out, and everyone seems to raise their eyebrows. A lot. But it's a fun read. Makes me want to move back South. Or at least visit in the Spring.

This is the third in the series, so make sure to get the first one, The House on Tradd Street


The Homemade Pantry by Alana Chernila

Very informative and entertaining. Helps me have some idea how to actually use my food storage!
Mostly it makes me want friends who cook this way and invite me over.
What's fun about it, is the author has written the book like a novel, so it's really fun to read cover to cover.




The Kitchen House by Kathleen Grissom

The story of a white girl forced into servitude and raised with the slaves of a Southern plantation. 
Wonderful and haunting. You'll think about it for weeks afterwards. 
Not a cheerful read, just a warning.

AND MY NUMBER ONE TOP BOOK RECOMMENDATION.....



A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron

If I could give this book 6 stars I would.

I'm not a Dog lover and reading Marley and Me was really hard. I kept thinking, "Just take the dog to the pound already!" So I was worried I really wouldn't "get" this book. But it had such good reviews, I thought I'd give it a chance.

I started it at noon and didn't put it down for 5 hours until I was finished. I laughed throughout the book, cried twice and was gripped with suspense at times. Wonderful wonderful wonderful read. Kind of want to read it again tomorrow.

What am I reading next......






"The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't stop talking".

Can't wait to read this one! I'm starting it as soon as I'm done with Insurgent. I've heard great things about it. I'll put my review on good reads as soon as I'm done.



The True Story of the Original Tom Sawyer and of the Mysterious Fires that Baptized Gold Rush-Era San Francisco 

Just sounds so interesting. I never knew that there was an original Tom Sawyer. I like reading these kind of books. They make for very fun conversation.


So there are my recommendations. Return the favor! What have you read lately?

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