Tuesday, December 28, 2010
Finalization Day!
Today is our finalization of Xiomara's adoption! I'm pretty sure we aren't the only ones excited about it! :)
Monday, December 27, 2010
I have a little girl...
Who is now 19 months old
With big expressive blue eyes
Wild and crazy hair
Wearing piggytails for the first time today
She makes us laugh with her little nods and grunts
She said her first sentence to me today with her little head cocked to the side: "I don't know"
She still loves to nurse much to my surprise
And I'm still very much in love with this babe who now proudly declares she is one!
With big expressive blue eyes
Wild and crazy hair
Wearing piggytails for the first time today
She makes us laugh with her little nods and grunts
She said her first sentence to me today with her little head cocked to the side: "I don't know"
She still loves to nurse much to my surprise
And I'm still very much in love with this babe who now proudly declares she is one!
Friday, December 24, 2010
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas from our home to yours. May you feel the love of God and others on this day.
May you take the time to relax, snuggle, and celebrate life as that is what Christmas is all about!
Merry Christmas!
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Monday, December 20, 2010
Charlie's Soap Review & Giveaway
Years ago when I first started cloth diapering and was researching how to wash my cloth diapers, I kept running into this detergent called Charlie's Soap over and over again in the cloth diaper community. At the time, I decided not to purchase any of it as what I was using was working. Since then, I've learned that their detergent isn't just for cloth diapers. Instead it can be used for clothes or diapers, and they also have an all purpose cleaner!
Since I was feeling pretty satisfied with my cloth diaper detergent still, I decided to use this instead on my clothes. Now if you remember, I have used and still use a natural cleaner on my clothes. However, my one problem was still having stains. When Charlie's Soap sent along a stain remover, I decided to put it to the test on some of the girl's stained shirts. Oh how I wish I would have taken before and after pictures. I had stains that had been on there for quite sometime that never had come out with even Era, yet the Charlie's Soap took it out in the first wash. My only wish is that it didn't smell like Windex. It is chemical free, but somehow has a bit of a Windex smell to it.
The detergent itself on our clothes worked wonderfully and I can definitely see myself in the future buying more! I love that it is safe, non toxic, and biodegradable.
Buy It!
If you are looking for an all natural laundry soap for your clothes or your diapers, I would definitely suggest looking into Charlie's Soap
Win It!
Charlie's Soap has generously offered one of my readers a grocery tote, a 17 ounce bottle of all purpose, and some laundry powder. Please note the picture above may or may not be an accurate representation of what you will receive.
Mandatory Entry:
Visit Charlie's Soap and tell me something that you learned. Please do me the favor of making sure you leave your e-mail address in the comment if it is not visible on your profile. (1 entry) U.S. only-sorry. :(
Extra Entries:
1. Follow me on google friend connect and leave a comment telling me you are. (1 entry)
2. Follow me on Twitter and leave a comment telling me you are along with your Twitter ID. (1 entry)
3. Follow Charlie's Soap on Twitter and leave a comment telling me you are along with your Twitter ID. (1 entry)
4. Tweet about this contest making sure you include @jewelsntreasure and @charliesoap3 along with a link to this contest somewhere in your Tweet (1 tweet/entry per day)
5. Become a fan/like of Jewels & Treasures on facebook and leave me a comment telling me you are along with your first name and last initial. (1 entry)
6. Become a fan/like of Charlie's Soap on facebook and leave me a comment telling me you are along with your first name and last initial. (1 entry)
That's It!
Winner will be chosen at random from random.org. Winner has 24 hours from being contacted to respond, or else a new winner will be chosen.
Contest ends Tuesday, December 28, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. CST
Congrats to #35-Shanda
Congrats to #35-Shanda
*The featured product(s) in this post were provided to me free of charge by the manufacturer or pr company representing the company. All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by anyone.
Sunday, December 19, 2010
The one in which I chose joy!
Have you ever had one of those moments as a parent in which you were proud? But rather than being proud of your child, you were proud of yourself?
Today I had one of those moments.
This morning Chris and I took the girls to church like normal, and then on the way home from church two of the girls fell asleep. Rather then wake them up to go home we spontaneously decided to drive about an hour away to go shopping. We had some returns to do and I wanted to get a few things at a some different stores before Christmas.
Considering I don't do spontaneous, it went awesome. I honestly could not have asked for a better day. We went out to eat, we did the returns, and lots of shopping. Most of all, it was time spent together, having fun. I loved it.
But then Chris dropped Zoelle, Meridian, and I off at Target and my day could have changed.
You see Zoelle was extremely tired (she was the girl who didn't nap) and while walking in I reminded her to stay holding on to my hand until we could find a cart.
Zoelle had other plans and took off running. People were everywhere and there were actually no carts. I promptly got down on Z's eye level and told her she was going to have to hold my hand as there were no carts. Zoelle in a fit of wanting her own way started screaming.
At the top of her lungs. Did I mention there were people everywhere? Yeah.
Six months ago, I would have been completely embarrassed by her and hid behind my shame by ignoring her. A year ago I would have threatened her and raised my voice with her.
I could have let her control me. I could have let her dictate my joy. But instead, I swallowed my pride, smiled at those giving us "the look" and spoke calmly with Zoelle. It took about 15 minutes, but we were able to move on, and both of us learned from it.
Praise God for the little steps!
Today I had one of those moments.
This morning Chris and I took the girls to church like normal, and then on the way home from church two of the girls fell asleep. Rather then wake them up to go home we spontaneously decided to drive about an hour away to go shopping. We had some returns to do and I wanted to get a few things at a some different stores before Christmas.
Considering I don't do spontaneous, it went awesome. I honestly could not have asked for a better day. We went out to eat, we did the returns, and lots of shopping. Most of all, it was time spent together, having fun. I loved it.
But then Chris dropped Zoelle, Meridian, and I off at Target and my day could have changed.
You see Zoelle was extremely tired (she was the girl who didn't nap) and while walking in I reminded her to stay holding on to my hand until we could find a cart.
Zoelle had other plans and took off running. People were everywhere and there were actually no carts. I promptly got down on Z's eye level and told her she was going to have to hold my hand as there were no carts. Zoelle in a fit of wanting her own way started screaming.
At the top of her lungs. Did I mention there were people everywhere? Yeah.
Six months ago, I would have been completely embarrassed by her and hid behind my shame by ignoring her. A year ago I would have threatened her and raised my voice with her.
Today I made a choice not to let her steal my joy and I'm glad. I'm proud.
It could have been different.
Praise God for the little steps!
Friday, December 17, 2010
Random Updates!
So I figure it's time for a little updating in different random areas of my life. So instead of doing a whole bunch of separate posts, I thought I would put it altogether in one post titled random updates!
No, no further update on our kitchen renovation that we started back in, uh hum, August. I just asked Chris about it last night and he told me to tell all of you that as soon as he shoots a big buck, he will finish it. Oh, and that he does have everything he needs to finish it too, but again, deer hunting takes precendent! Thank goodness December 31st is coming soon!
Confession: I ran my 5K almost a month ago and besides a few things here or there, I haven't really exercised. Like my sister, I keep coming up with too many excuses or push it aside in lieu of doing something else. Unlike my sister, I do not have my dad's metabolism and breastfeeding makes me hang onto those last 10 lbs. that I am so desperate to lose. Grr!! I had every intention of starting Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred last week, I even posted that I was on facebook, but something came up and I never did. Maybe tonight I will? I figure if I blog it, you all have to hold me accountable. Remember the tootsie roll addiction? It's no more thanks to getting it out in the open! Just don't ask me about my new love of Annie's Cheddar Bunnies, ok?
I think that's it, and I must go because while I typically blog at night when all the girls are asleep , today I decided to blog during the girls naptime, except Xiomara isn't napping, she is sitting in the swing next to me and just started fussing! And in the time it took me to finish editing this and post it, I got Xiomara down. Meridian is now eating a cookie sitting on my lap pointing to the picture of the Cheddar Bunnies and asking for some. Oh and look at that, Zoelle is up! Now I remember why I never blog during the day. Besides the fact that it would take time away from them, I'd never get anything accomplished seeing it took me practically the whole nap time to type this up.
Tchau!
No, no further update on our kitchen renovation that we started back in, uh hum, August. I just asked Chris about it last night and he told me to tell all of you that as soon as he shoots a big buck, he will finish it. Oh, and that he does have everything he needs to finish it too, but again, deer hunting takes precendent! Thank goodness December 31st is coming soon!
Confession: I ran my 5K almost a month ago and besides a few things here or there, I haven't really exercised. Like my sister, I keep coming up with too many excuses or push it aside in lieu of doing something else. Unlike my sister, I do not have my dad's metabolism and breastfeeding makes me hang onto those last 10 lbs. that I am so desperate to lose. Grr!! I had every intention of starting Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred last week, I even posted that I was on facebook, but something came up and I never did. Maybe tonight I will? I figure if I blog it, you all have to hold me accountable. Remember the tootsie roll addiction? It's no more thanks to getting it out in the open! Just don't ask me about my new love of Annie's Cheddar Bunnies, ok?
I think that's it, and I must go because while I typically blog at night when all the girls are asleep , today I decided to blog during the girls naptime, except Xiomara isn't napping, she is sitting in the swing next to me and just started fussing! And in the time it took me to finish editing this and post it, I got Xiomara down. Meridian is now eating a cookie sitting on my lap pointing to the picture of the Cheddar Bunnies and asking for some. Oh and look at that, Zoelle is up! Now I remember why I never blog during the day. Besides the fact that it would take time away from them, I'd never get anything accomplished seeing it took me practically the whole nap time to type this up.
Tchau!
