Happy New Year!

For the second year in a row we are spending New Year's with sick babies.

My baby and my oldest son have the stomach flu.

Sweet things.

Our party broke up around 8:13pm. I'm most worried about the baby. If he doesn't have a urine diaper in the next 2 hours we have to go to the ER for fluids. My quiet time this morning was on letting God be my peace so I keep reminding myself of that tonight. His peace and our deep needs are a perfect match.

I have been doing laundry like a mad woman. As soon as someone gets sick I get on it. Even if it is lots of medium sized loads. I just think it has to be in tip top shape in case Shane or I catch it.

We've had a cracked window to keep some air circulating and PTL I just bought a huge tub of Clorox wipes because I'm wiping things down and Lysoling like a mad woman as well.

Kevin & Page brought BBQ for the party. Grant & Nicole left us Season 3 of Jon & Kate Plus 8. THANK YOU!!! Nearly 30 episodes!!! Nicole got it for Christmas and hasn't even watched it yet. That is LOVE! We'll resume our New Year's Party with them next week. Kevin's even recording the ball drop so we can enjoy it again! And Amy brought over the best dang cupcakes I have ever put in my mouth and I'm on my second one.

(that middle boy of mine just grabbed my foot and said, "Mommy, I Like you!" Awww!!! Sweetness!!)
Happy New Year's bloggy friends!! I'm off to check on my sweet, sick, cuddly baby boys.

(update: we made it through the night and the babies are better this morning. mama is off to hopefully catch a little snooze since i camped out on my living room floor and actually loved every minute of taking care of those little stinkers. oh the cuddles that come with not feeling well. nothin' better.)

Checking the Mail

I love to watch people slowly drive by their mail box, reverse to move closer to the curb, then scooch forward a bit, check the mail, back up a little to swing er' around and pull back into the driveway.

Our culture rocks!

Seriously.

Quality entertainment at it's best.

Organic-Butter Lettuce

We are making moves toward going more organic with our eating.

We're going granola baby!

No more showers, soap, nothin'. OK, that's a joke, but we have been eating healthier.

My new find today- BUTTER LETTUCE. It's electric. I mean, it's still alive when you buy it. The root is attached to the bottom. It was G-O-O-D. So fresh tasting.

The water drinking is going very well. At first I did not want to drink any water. It tasted gross to me and I still wanted my good old sweet tea. Now I am craving the water all the time.

I was wandering if anyone reading this buys organic and if so what you like. I've been told dairy and meat is the best place to start. Thoughts?

3-2-1

On the 3rd day of Christmas my second born gave to me, a Chick-a-lay gift card and date lunch.

On the 2nd day of Christmas my first born gave to me, a Chick-a-lay gift card and a date lunch.

On the 1st day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a PF Chang's gift card and a date night!

We had a lovely Christmas with lots of time with family. The boys got lots of games and it's been a blast. Today we hit after Christmas sales and I got a few fabric tablecloths at 70% off thank you very much.

At our community group Christmas Party, the table caught on fire and burned a charger and my new cloth table cloth. Sniff Sniff. Decorating is dangerous stuff I tell you. Tonight we are sifting through the mounds of new toys and clothes. We are so blessed.

Love, Bugs & Sunshine

The South Pole

Only in the south can you stop at a trailer on wheels and buy a personalized airbrush license plate, a confederate flag and a bag of shelled pecans. Oh the wonder.

The Christmas cookies and candies are exceptionally good this year. We are enjoying ourselves. If you are reading this and needing a gift idea for me, just make it a gift card to Lane Giant because my buttons are popping off right and left.

My man bought me Jillian's work out tape. Still not sure how I feel about that, but I think it's sweet?

We made it through the quarterly hair cutting extravaganza for the boys this morning without any tears from anyone. First time ever.

Mr. Matt is the coolest barber ever. He has tats, boxes, jumps out of airplanes, has the patience of Job as he works with the boys, and introduced us to the wonderful world of hair glue.

On the 4th day of Christmas...

my true love gave to me, accessories for my video camera thingy!

5th & 6th Day of Christmas...

another gift card to Classic Touch & a set of 4 Martha Stewart Orange Juice tumblers. YIPPEE!!!

On the 7th Day of Christmas...

Shuh-hay-ayne gave to me, a gift card to Classic Touch.
**********************************************************************
On a different note a monumental thing occured today that you will rest easier knowing.

After 8 years of grocery shopping I finally remembered to buy a box of toothpicks for the kitchen.

She can be taught.

Pardon my french, but I need help.

Please excuse the language in my last post, but I need your help.

We got the game Monopoly. At first it was really sweet. Family Game Night. Help the kids learn counting, numbers, money, etc.

Then it was impressive. After 10+ years of not playing, Shane still had every single detail of the game M-E-M-O-R-I-Z-E-D PEOPLE, and I'm not exaggerating.

Now it is just plain annoying. You roll the dice and he automatically starts smirking. Not good. I have to count out the spaces I need to go. He automatically knows as soon as you roll where you need to be. And he sucks you dry of any cash/property you own.

I need help. If you have any strategy will you send it my way? This is not pretty people. Fax me, email me, call me, whatever. Name your price, I'm desperate to win!

Let's just keep this between us and not let Shane know I'm getting "outside help", K?

On the 8th day of Christmas...

my true love gave to me, another Starbucks gift card and a butt-whippin' in Monopoly.

On the 9th day of Christmas...

my true love gave to me, a Starbucks gift card and an afternoon kid free.

On the 10th day of Christmas

my true love gave to me, a set of 12 clear Martha Stewart dessert plates and a partridge in a pear tree.

12 Days of Christmas

Shane and the boys kicked off the 12 days of Christmas yesterday.

They are giving me a present everyday until Christmas.

Yesterday's gift was a hand held video camera and it is awesome!

Today's gift was a game tin filled with GO FISH and a Nemo game. How much fun, I love it.

Wha???

Are you kidding me?

I drug my sick self to Wal-Mart to get some meds and got a call saying, "Come home now, it is sleeting."

Yup, it's an icy mess outside.

The exciting news is I got a Tomato/Cheese Freschetta pizza, and Pepperoni for the boys.

We are on a popcorn/M&M's kick so that is also on the agenda for today.

Also on the agenda, a long nap for me because my head is killing me. Jibs is a little under the weather so I bought him some Tylenol. Over $7 for his bottle. Yikes. He's worth it though, being all cute and everything. I can't tell if he's getting a cold or if it's the #7 & 8 teeth coming in that's causing him trouble.

This morning he was coughing in his crib, and said, "Ma-Ma." Yesterday when I left him with a sitter he said, "Ma-Ma" as I was leaving. He loves his mama. Little tater tot! And he's crawling everywhere. The floor Nazi is having to kick it up a little because he finds everything. He's like a Roomba only cuter.

Big Sexy Hair. Not.

This morning was a Bad Hair Morning. I mean I Velcro rolled my hair. I curled it with a curling iron. I teased. I sprayed. I prayed.

And in the end I ended up with a badly done low pony tail. Oh the horror.

Then I went to church and got my praise on with my unTexas hair.

And now I'm about to get my nap on. Just needed to share. Nighty Night.

Favorite Make-Up Products

As I was getting ready today I was thinking about some of my make-up products that I just love. Here they are.

#1 VOLUMINOUS MASCARA BY LOREAL-You know that email you get asking "if you were stranded on a desert island blah, blah, blah" Well, this would be it. This stuff is the best. I've been using this brand for 15 years or so. They are making a "fancier version" of this stuff with bells and whistles but you gotta stick to the original in this tube. AND DON'T GET WATERPROOF OR YOU WILL HATE ME.

#2 Touch Base for eyes-Clinique. OK. This stuff revolutionized my eye shadow wearing. You put it on with your ring finger and your eye shadow goes on very smoothly and stays on.

#3 Mac Eyeshadow. (Color:NYLON) Can we just take a moment to pause...I go through this stuff like crazy. Nylon is a pale gold with an icy metallic shimmer and it is to die for. Really. I could bath in this stuff but I try to keep it just to my eyes. It is highly pigmented and makes the next 2 colors you add P-O-P!

#4-Brush on creme eye liner (Color:Black). The Clinique man swore to me I would love this stuff. I turned to the dark side and decided to try it. It took a good 2 weeks before I fell in love with the stuff. Here is what is so great about creme eye liner. You can go with a thin line or a super thick line. Regardless of what you do, IT STAYS ON ALL DAY. Unless of course you watch a really sad movie in which case all bets are off.
#5 Merle Norman Make Up Brushes. These make all the difference in applying your eyeshadow.

#6 The good old-fashioned Q-Tip. If it's good enough for the Clinique man it's good enough for me. I like to apply Nylon with the Merle Norman brush, a lighter brownish color with a Merle Norman brush, then the Darkest color with a Q-Tip.
These are just a couple of my favorites! Do you have a product that you love? I'd be interested to know about it!

Lovin' a smokey eye,
Bugs & Sunshine

Lights, Camera, Action!

My ol' buddy Nester is linking up garlands today on her bloggy blog blog. She taught us how to make The Most Wonderful Christmas Garland ever. Here are my garlands. If you are wanting to make one and need more inspiration hop on over to her blog for some fun.

We do not have a fireplace so I decorated the tops of my armoires. On this first picture, I intertwined white lights into grapevine and put in large Christmas balls.
This one just has lots of glittery stuff in it, and some white bally things which I loved. They were little wreaths from the Dollar Tree I cut in half. I got the glittery stuff and the balls from a nice shop in town after Christmas. The last 3 or 4 years, I've just asked Shane for $$$ to shop the sales after Christmas.

Fun Fact: Our first year of marriage I decorated our garland and our Christmas tree with citrus fruit slices. Lemons, Limes, & Oranges tied with Raffia. I wanted to top the tree with a Pineapple but couldn't make it sit still without my help.

Everyday Unwrapped

Chatting at the sky talked about celebrating everyday moments so I thought I'd join in on the fun. This is going to be a fun post for me because I love to notice the little joyful things throughout my day and was already thanking God in my heart for the things you are about to see. The first picture is the tree Mamaw and Aunt Linda just brought the boys for their room. How Sweet!
Complete with Santa hats they are napping with right now!

Little red-headed boys that suck their thumbs and sleep with blanky's.

A cracked window on a winter day. I love the straw color of the grass, the wood limbs on trees with no leaves, and a blue sky with white clouds. Today is beautiful outside and it smells good out there! On the window seal is a lemon and my Scripture I'm memorizing Isaiah 9:6-7

A cleaned out fridge!

Letting go of my perfection and letting the boys decorate the tree. 5 ornaments on 1 limb, the fancy mixed with the casual. Love it!

Funsies

Is that really a word?

Well, it is now.

This has been one of those fun weekends you just want to bottle up and repeat. What? Oh, you want to know about what we did. OK, I'll tell ya then.

Friday Shane let me sleep in and I woke up to him getting Operation Christmas Cleaning kicked off. OH YES you heard me. You know I was in hog heaven. We did bathrooms, fans, baseboards, dusted, windexed, laundry, cleaned out the fridge. A clean house makes me just about as giddy as anything I can think of.

That night we went to my parents for nacho night and I decorated their fireplace mantel. It's big. They told me tonight they are having to watch T.V. over the jungle. Do they hate my masterpiece? Ha!

Saturday we ran errands and went to church for movie night. We watched Elf and had pizza. How much fun is that? Pretty dang fun that's right.

Today I went to a cookie swap and scored some fun cookies. Snickerdoodles is my trademark Christmas cookie. Last night I told Shane I realize it's a Christmas tradition for me to make Snickerdoodles this time of year. They are the bizzy baby. (i hope i didn't just cuss in code and don't know it...) Bizzy baby is just fun to say.

Tonight we trimmed trees to festoon the tables for a dinner we are having this week. Oh, it was so Martha and you know that makes me giddy too!!!

We just finished chili dogs and are watching a little football. I'm wearing my pink fuzzy pj's and allready have my face washed. I love putting on my yellow Clinique lotion and black Chapstick every night...that means it's almost time for a little beauty rest. Ahhhhhh.......

Ministry, Feet, Fire

These are pictures of a wreck that I drove upon minutes after it happened this week. A gas truck wrecked and exploded. I could see the black, dark cloud in the sky as I drove down the interstate, but could not tell what was happening. Then, I rounded a corner and saw these huge flames shooting into the sky. I was scared. Driving toward this scene and toward the fire was one of the scariest things I have ever seen.

This week we studied Exodus 24 in Bible Study. In this passage Moses gets a glimpse of the glory of God. To Moses the glory of God looked like a "pavement made of sapphire, clear as the sky itself." To the Israelites at the bottom of the mountain it looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.

Here's the interesting part to me. God did not show Moses all of what he looked like. Moses got a glimpse, and it was a glimpse of the bottom of his feet. The glory and magnificence was brilliant. To some it looked like sparkling sapphires and to some it looked like a consuming fire.

Sunday at church our pastor asked us what our ministry in the church is right now. My main role in life right now is serving. I was telling Shane I don't feel very valuable these days. Then God showed me that feet, which are usually covered and generally speaking one of the ugliest, dirty parts on a person could be valuable and beautiful.

Water?

So, does anyone else want to join me in trying to drink 8 glasses of water a day?

Random I know. I'm wanting to try to take some baby steps to being a little healthier, and water always seems like the most manageable way to begin. Let me know if you're interested.

Does anyone want to start running 5 miles a day? Yeah, me neither.

We had a great Thanksgiving. We spent it with Shane's side of the family. 7 kids, only 1 girl in the bunch and she did awesome hanging with her wild cousins. We piled into Shane's parents house and had a ball. I gained 4 pounds. Please Lord let it be water weight.

Last night was one of those warm cozy nights at home. It was COLD outside and we had laundry going, beef stew simmering on the stove, and all the Christmas lights on in the house. It was a great, restful Sunday night. Hope ya'll have a nice Cyber Monday. (is this new, where have I been because I never remember hearing about Cyber Monday?!)