back to reality....

I'm on my way, rested and ready to see my babes!

Until then... use these last few minutes to enter the briar.claire contest!! I will update with a winner later and a new post about where I have been hiding the last few days!

hurry.... this cute clip could be on it's way to you later this week!! leave a comment here!

briar.claire contest is extended!!!

I'm too tired tonight to even go through it all, so I will draw my winner after my anniversary with super dad on Tuesday afternoon! So scroll down, leave a comment and enter to win! And tell your friends to enter to win too! Oh and don't forget, for each thing you do, leave a separate comment, so each will count as an individual entry..... ready. set. go!!!

we love you super dad!

This weekend we aren't only celebrating Father's Day for Super Dad, but also it will be 7 years ago that I married this super guy! So what makes Super Dad so super??? Lots of things actually!!

This sweet guy swept me off my feet just 8 years ago... yup that's right... we were only dating about 6 months before we were engaged!! We were then engaged for 10 months and then had the wedding of my dreams! It was so fun! I always say that if I could redo a day just to experience it again, my wedding would be at the top of the list. We had a blast!

Just over 2 years later Bubbie was born and my sweet hubby became a dad. I can't tell you what a great husband and dad he is. I have never met a guy more concerned or in love with his kids. His first thought is always for them and I love that about him. He works so hard so I can stay home and raise our children. He loves the Lord and is instilling his love for Jesus in our children. He changes diapers (even cloth ones!), fixes meals, gives baths and reads bedtime stories! He's quick to tell me "you go rest, I'll take care of them". He's super fun and adventurous and loves to play with his kids!

We are different in our ways, that's for sure. I'm social and always on the go. He would rather stay home and just play with the kids. He loves sports, tennis and mountain biking to be specific. He is super strong. He loves running and working out. He sets such a good example to our kids of what healthy living should look like. He is anything but sedentary!

It's been so fun to watch him grow as a dad. Motherhood was a natural transition for me. I grew up playing with babies, baby sitting, then started teaching school. Having kids to me was like breathing, of course it was the next step after marriage. But he's a guy! I don't think he had ever changed a diaper until Bubbie was born. But you would never know that now! He knows all about car seats and cloth diapers, and pureeing baby food! He can even put hair bows in! He builds legos and plays dolls. He jumped right in and figured it out and is super involved in our kids lives.... this is such a blessing to me!

So this weekend I'm thankful. I'm thankful that the Lord blessed me with a loving and caring husband. I'm thank that the Lord has made him a father soon to be three times over. I'm thankful that we are a priority in his life and that he loves us so much!

Super Dad we love you!! Happy Father's Day and Happy Anniversary!!

friday favorite - the brita pitcher

If your kids are anything like mine, they love juice! I do dilute juice a lot when I give it to my kids, but it is by far the beverage of choice. It's also so easy when we are going somewhere to just throw a few juice boxes in my bag and be on our way, but I know it's not the best thing for my kids and I need to get them to drink more water. I too could use more water intake but I never really cared for the taste of it. I grew up drinking Kool Aid and Hawaiian Punch, so drinking water with a meal was just not the norm for me.

In order to cut back on bottle water usage and the drinking of too many sugary drinks, we invested in a Brita Pitcher a few weeks ago. I have instantly fallen in love. The water tastes so much better! I think it tastes even better than bottle water which has a little bit of a plastic taste to it.

We have also invested in some good BPA free water bottles for the family. I bought both kiddos their own Nalgene bottle which they love, one in pink and one in blue of course! I love them because they are like a sippy with a spill proof valve inside!
Super dad is a fan of the Camelbak bottles, like this one:

But I really like the look of the new stainless steel Camelbaks..... because even drinking water can be cute right?!

Since switching to our Brita water system we are all drinking so much more water!! At first I got a little pull back from the kids, but they have quickly adapted and now are requesting water instead of juice! We fill our water bottles every morning and just take them with us.

The other huge benefit to using a system like Brita is the money savings. Water bottles were costing us a fortune every month and we wasted so much by throwing half bottles away. Plus all the plastic that was being used is such a waste. The Brita pitcher cost us about $25. Filters are about $25 for 4 but each one last you 3 months.... this comes to about $50 for this year and then $25 a year after that... we would spend that much in just a few months on bottled water. We did invest in BPA free water bottles, so that adds to our cost for this year, but you don't have to buy water bottles if you just drink water at home.

This is an easy and inexpensive little change that has big impact environmentally, financially and for your own personal health!

wordless wednesday

suntans
sand pails
salty kisses
sweet memories
summer

donate your cloth diapers

Cloth diapering is a great experience and while it will save you a lot of money in the long run, the initial investment can be steep to put up all at once. Miracle Diapers is a great non profit that has been set up to provide cloth diapers to mamas who want to diaper in a greener way but can't afford to.

If you are at all like me, in your stash you either have diapers that just never get pulled or don't fit just right or are now too small. Miracle Diapers is a great organization to donate those diapers to! Miracle Diapers is also looking to start chapters all of the country so you might be interested in helping to get a chapter started in your town!

I highly recommend you check out this site and pass it on to anyone you know who cloth diapers or who might be in need of cloth diapers!

having a great time in NYC

I flew up to NY with my mom on Friday for my cousin's bridal shower. We are having a blast on on girls getaway weekend, but I'm completely exhausted! We have been so busy. Here are some pics from our first day here.

My cousin has a beautiful apartment which she graciously gave up to us to use while we are here this weekend. This is the view from her balcony. Absolutely breathtaking!

One thing I really wanted to do while we were here was go downtown and see the 9-11 site. Unfortunately so much of it is tarped up due to construction I couldn't see much, but the experience of riding buses and subways around the city still was tons of fun!

Across the street from 9-11 is St. Paul's cathedral. Miraculously through the destruction that took place, not a single window in this church blew out. It was locked up for the day but I was able to snap a few pics through the gate.

Here is the view facing where the towers use to be standing in front of St. Paul's. It's just a big empty gap now, which is so strange to see amongst the massive amounts of buildings down there.

I peeked in any where I could to try and grasp the enormity of the place. It looks like a giant city under construction right now. There was still something solemn about it though. It was nice to stand on the platform peaking in and just taking a few moments to pray for all the souls that were lost there on that day.

After hitting 9-11 we went to visit my cousin Evan who works for an amazing photographer, Peter Lik. I have never seen photos like these before. They absolutely glow, yet there is no light behind them and he shoots with film. His talent is amazing. You should totally check out his site but I don't know if anything can do justice to what I saw in person.

We then headed to dinner and back on the subway and some how ended up just a few blocks from Times Square, so of course despite being up for a million hours at this point, I had to go see it all lit up at night. They have closed the main street in front of Times Square now, so you can walk all around. It was so cool and amazing how many people are out walking around the city so late at night. Now I know why they say it's the city that never sleeps!