Summer Adventure: Day 3

Today we: 

Learned how to walk on our heads...

Played at a beach in Prince Frederick, MD...

Went to a party where a tractor served duel purpose as a beer cooler...

Hung out with cousins, this is the first kid I've ever met that runs from me :( ...

Went out on paddle boats, Mimi's boat was the winner...

... had a whale of a time!

<3, Tabi :D

Summer Adventure: Day #2

Today, my kids climbed a mountain.

Okay, so maybe it was just a hill. But to my Florida children, it's something new and different and amazing. You see, Florida is a very flat state, so to them... a hill is a mountain just like to me (someone who hasn't experienced the Great Lakes) a pond is a lake...

After 16 + hours in a minivan with 4 children, we finally arrived at our destination! Wooohooo!!! And I must say that my worries about driving 16+ hours in a minivan with 4 children were totally unwarranted. These kids were on their very best behavior and I couldn't have asked for a better behaved bunch.

Yesterday, I failed as a memory keeper and ended up not snapping 1 photo. But we did get to have a relaxing night with some good friends I haven't seen in 10+ years (!!!) and were received with such warm welcome, I know we won't soon forget.

I plan on posting every day or so (or every few days) with a picture and a little update. We are so excited about our plans and all the new things to see and all the friends to visit with.

Can you believe my kids have never caught fireflies before?

<3, Tabi :D

A Song about The Dark Side

Yesterday morning, Roxy wrote a little song about The Dark Side. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. <3

<3, Tabi :D

Eat Your Veggies, Children

Note: NOT a sponsored post.

About a week ago, I was trying to pick up an easy dinner option at my local SuperTarget. And there, right next to the Quorn chik'n nuggets were a bunch of Dr. Praeger's items I've never seen before. And, something I wasn't expecting were these cute little SpongeBob Veggie Littles. There are plenty of frozen meat/fake meat items available marketed towards children, but these were veggies! I was intrigued.

I scooped them up to try. My kids will eat their veggies at dinnertime, but it is a bit of a struggle sometimes. Perhaps these cuties will make the struggle a bit easier?

Well, my kids (not Zoie, though) were excited. It's not often at all that Mama (me) succumbs to buying food with cartoon characters on them. I try my hardest to steer clear of all that processed junk, but these are different. The veggie Littles ingredients are: Carrots, Onions, String Beans, Zucchini, Spinach, Expeller Pressed Canola Oil, Broccoli, Red Peppers, Corn Meal, Corn Starch, Potato Flakes, Arrowroot, Salt, Garlic, Rice Starch, Parsley.
All real stuff. All pronounceable stuff.

Fast forward to Cameron weekend. Cameron is my 10 year old stepson who is the pickiest person I've met. His approved list of foods are: nuggets, cheeseburgers, pizza and mac and cheese. Pretty much a typical kid in the US... but that doesn't fly in my house. On Cameron weekends, however, I do try to compromise as much as possible and I have found some things that we can agree on without much of an upturned nose. On Friday, I cooked up the rare French Fries and Chik'n Nuggets meal. Usually I add on a side of broccoli, carrots or green beans, but Friday we had SpongeBob veggie Littles.

To my SURPRISE, Cameron ate his veggies first, before anyone else, and without any hesitation!!!!

If you know this kid... the kid who crumbled on the floor (fetal position) in tears when I told him we had become vegetarians because he thought it meant all we would eat are vegetables, you'd be blown away too.

So, kudos to Dr. Praeger for creating these little gems. If you have a picky kid in your life who refuses vegetables too, I totally recommend trying these out. I can't find the SpongeBob versions on their site for some reason, but it seems they have more generic, kid friendly shapes available too. Click here to see for yourself.

What other tricks have you found (besides hiding the veggies) to get your kids to eat their green stuff?

<3, Tabi :D

 

Five Things That Make Me Happy Friday...

Did anyone else notice the crazy negative vibe echoing throughout the day? It started with that awful theater shooting in Colorado and sent waves throughout all my Facebook and Twitter feeds. Luckily, the people I were around all day IRL (my kids) were upbeat and chipper.

All the negative vibes made it a little tough for me to focus... but I powered through and here are five things that are making me happy today.

1. New No Doubt!! Have you seen the video? Ska in full effect. They've been around a while, but they are still hella cool. <3
   
   
2. It is T Minus 6 days until we leave for our Great Summer Adventure! The kids and I are ecstatic, they even have a countdown on their calendar going (that they started all on their own).
3. Riley J. Bear...

This kid kept me laughing all week with his dress up surprises.
(Am I going to get in trouble for posting a picture of my boy in a tutu when he gets older?)

4. My Roxy and 5. My Zoie 

 Need I say more?

I love that my kids can put a smile on my face each and every day. 

What's making you happy today?

<3, Tabi :D

 

 

Vegan Pizza

For me, the hardest thing about Vegan dinners is nixing the cheese. Kids love pizza, and for pizza cheese is a necessity.

We tried the pizzas with Daiya Mozzarella cheese. meh. It's definitely lacking... and wowza that "cheese" is pricey!

A while back, I experimented with making a pizza using The Sexy Vegan's Not-zarella Sauce recipe. We were hooked. This stuff is simple to make, a heck of a lot cheaper and more importantly... a way more tasty alternative to a Daiya pizza.

Here we go with my version of Vegan Pizza...

There are 4 parts to a pizza: (1) The crust (2) the pizza sauce (3) the 'cheese' and (4) the toppings.

The crust. I pick up a ready made pizza dough from my Publix bakery, it's just easier than making my own, but if you feel like making your own, or just buying your favorite pizza shell from your grocery store... either way, you end up with a pizza crust. (Don't forget to preheat your oven according to your dough's instructions.)

The pizza sauce. I like to make my own pizza sauce, it's super easy and cheapy cheap. I start with a small 8 oz. can of tomato sauce, add in some basil pesto and garlic powder to taste (we love our garlic around here). Mix it together with a spoon in a small bowl and set aside.

The 'cheese'. Not-zzarella Sauce!
(makes 3 1/2 cups)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole raw cashews
• One 12-ounce package soft silken tofu
• 1/4 teaspoon mustard powder
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/2 teaspoon yellow miso (this is optional, in my humble opinion)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 2 tablespoons nooch (aka nutritional yeast)
• 2/3 cup water

In a small pot, cover the cashews with water, and boil for about 8 minutes to soften them up. Drain and let cool. In a food processor or blender, process the cashews until they're finely ground.  Add the tofu, mustard powder, garlic powder, onion powder, miso, salt, oil, basil, nooch and water. Puree until the sauce is smooth.

Excerpted with permission from
The Sexy Vegan Cookbook: Extraordinary Food from an Ordinary Dude ©2012 by Brian Patton. 
Published with permission of New World Library http://www.newworldlibrary.com

This recipe makes plenty of enough sauce for 2 large pizzas. I usually put half in an airtight container, refrigerate and use it later. It's a good thing to have on hand. I'm thinking about whipping up some version of baked ziti and lathering my leftover Not-zzarella Sauce on top. Mmmmm.

The toppings. I like to keep it healthy, so I slather on the broccoli. For tonight's pizza we used broccoli, diced green peppers, diced onion, Bac-Os, and some Tofurky Pepperoni Slices.
Remember when I said we love our garlic? I like to marinate my veggies in a drizzle of olive oil and some garlic salt. I put them in a large ziploc bag and shake it up to make sure all those little veggies are nice and covered.

Set your toppings aside and prepare your dough.

Now it's time to put it all together. Gather the pizza sauce, your Not-zzarella and your toppings and build your pizza. Tonight, we made two. Since my kiddos aren't keen on the large amount of broccoli I like on my pizza, we just put a little bit of veggies on theirs. As you can see, I like to put my veggies under the Not-zzarella Sauce, but you can build yours however your heart desires. Once your pizza(s) are built, pop it in the oven and cook according to the dough's instructions.

Ta Da!!!

Slice it up and serve with a tall glass of icy lemonade... or whatever you like to drink at dinner. :)

There are bunches of yummy recipes in The Sexy Vegan Cookbook. It's one I totally recommend checking out at your library, downloading to your iPad or buying the book. Book recommendations don't come lightly from me... this is the first book I checked out from my library after going 'Veganish' and I ended up buying it because the library wanted it back.

Enjoy!

<3, Tabi :D

This Girl.

 I thought I'd do a Currently type post about my littlest, who seems to be going through a transition right now.

Currently, this girl is...

... getting picky and pickier about what she eats. And she's very decisive about what she likes and doesn't like. If she fancies it, she makes a vibrant "Nom nom nom".  If it's something she doesn't like, then the noise is a very adamant "Blech ptoo ptoo". It's funny, she used to be so good about eating her vegetables... what happened in six months that now they are the most disgusting thing on the planet to her??

Likes: cookies!, Pirate's Booty (still), French fries, egg drop soup, pancakes, Cheerios, square cheese, cheese omelets, smoothies and crackers.

... growing out of naps. She still takes them once in a while, but more often than not lately she skips her afternoon nap. I'm wondering if this will change once we get back into the school year and if her pick up line naps will resume? With all the summer activity, it surprises me sometimes that (1) she skips her nap, and (2) that it doesn't make a grumpy toddler.

... sleeping longer into the night (probably this is a by product of the no daily naps). In her little life so far, she has never slept in her crib all night long. It's okay, though. Generally, she will fall asleep around 8:30, we lay her in her crib all tucked in, and around 12:30 she wakes up and cries out for Daddy to come and scoop her up. She snuggles right in bed with us and goes back to sleep promptly. On nights when she is extra toss-and-turny, it's kind of an issue and Mom and Dad get a crappy nights sleep, but really I've had a kid in my bed for so long, it's mostly a non issue. But the past few nights, she has slept well past the 12:30 mark and well into the early morning range. I'd like to say it is improving my sleep, but I'm not there yet. I wake up worried because she's not next to me.

... talking more and more each and every day. For some reason, Roxy is something she rarely says and these past few days, she has resorted to calling her "Sissy" (which Roxy rather likes). She still calls most animals "Goggy", but when I tell her what it is, she does repeat the word and most of the time her clarity amazes me.

... is so helpful!! She cleans up her own messes and even helps me out with my chores without asking. She insists on bringing drinks and snacks to her brother and Sissy and will even bring empty dishes to drop off in the kitchen sink.

... is such a happy child. She laughs, giggles, dances and jumps up and down (and sometimes yells, "Yah Yah Yah!") when I say it's time to do something she is excited about (i.e. POOL!!, going to the Play Center, or going outside to play). When Daddy comes home, she hears the garage door shut, yells "DADDY!!!" and runs to greet him. I think it might be his favorite part of the day. :)

... loves animals. She lights up when she sees an animal out the window or on TV and gives our own doggies lots of love. The other two like animals just fine, but I can tell that she has a more special bond with them than the other two and even me. She takes after her Daddy in this way.

She is transitioning into a full blown toddler.

Bittersweet? A little. But mostly, I'm loving every minute of it. She is so much happier as a toddler than she was as a baby, I can tell she was just itching to grow into her bigger and stronger body so she can declare her physical independence and learn how to communicate with the world.

<3, Tabi :D

This Weekend...

... we checked out a new playground at our mall. There was a sign that said something to the effect of "You must be shorter than this sign to play in this playground" and my Roxy was taller than the sign!

dun. dun. dun. After seeing that my girl was too big to play in the kiddie playground at the mall, I started noticing some more that these kids are growing. I keep telling them to cut that out, they don't listen. And it seems they are especially growing like little weeds this summer. Their pajamas are getting too small, Roxy's and Zoie's dresses are inching closer and closer to their booties. They are reaching spots on the counter where cookies used to be safe. Sigh. I guess it was going to happen sooner or later.

... we went to an awesome Jump Zone birthday party for our little friend Addie who turned 4 on Saturday and all of us had a blast. This party was at one of those places with a humungous room full of all kinds of neat-O fun inflatables to play on.  Even though my Zoie is only one year old (okay, almost two... but she's still 1), believe me when I tell you that she held her own with the big kids at that party. My little girl is a monkey. A brave, fearless monkey. She insisted on going down those huge inflatable slides on her own and even climbed up the steep steps on most of the slides without assistance.  She amazes me with her physical abilities, I mean gosh... she's ONE!!

... I let myself actually play with the kids. I'd love to say this happens more, but it really doesn't. This weekend, I played Hide and Go Seek, we had some Jam Sessions, we played 'house' where Roxy was Mommy and Riley was Daddy and actual Mommy and Daddy were the kids, and we did headstands. It was fun!

It's tough for me, sometimes a lot of times, to be able to relax enough to just PLAY and actually ENJOY it. This weekend, I did. I am so happy I did. And I vow on this blog post to do it more often.

... I've been more tired than usual. What's up with that? 

<3, Tabi :D

Five Things that Freak Me Out Friday the 13th

Switching it up today!

In honor of the phenomenon that is Friday the 13th,  instead of talking about Five Things That Make Me Happy today, my list will reveal Five Things that Freak Me Out. Because, it's fun to play along with the freakiness that comes along with superstitions sometimes.

Don't worry, my dear blog readers, it's not too freaky. And I promise to come back next Friday with my usual Happy list for you. ;)

Five things that Freak Me Out... to the core:

1. The Dark. I have ALWAYS been afraid of the dark. It ain't no thing to admit it, go ahead... make fun of the grown woman afraid of the dark. For my birthday a few years ago, my husband surprise installed the best nightlight ever. I have lights that surround my bed so I sleep soundly in a glowing cocoon of light and comfort.
   What about the dark is it that freaks me out so bad? I honestly can't pinpoint it. I suppose it's generally the fear of the unknown. When something is questionable, I always picture the worst case scenario... and in the dark that scenario is perfectly plausible since, after all, you can't see what's going on to bust your freaky theory.
2. Styrofoam. I get chills even thinking about Styrofoam. The sound of it rubbing against anything and making that awful squealie sound, the texture of it.. the thought of cutting through it with a dull object is the worst! Blech!!
3. Snakes. You would think living in Florida for the past 13 years has desensitized me, but heck no! Even little baby ones send me running and screaming like a 3 year old. If there is a snake on TV, I will be the one on the couch covering my eyes and asking if it's over yet. I have awful nightmares about snakes. Awful nightmares! Dude, some snakes can swallow people! Slithery freaky, evil looking little things. I almost didn't make it through Kung Fu Panda because of the animated girl snake.
4. Venturing outside of civilization. You know... rural places. Places where in the dark, it's dark. Where there is little to no cell phone signal. Places where if you get stranded somehow, you are just screwed. I have seen way too many scary movies to trust rural America. Even somewhat rural freaks me out, I immediately think of Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Put me in a scary ghetto or abandoned insane asylum in the middle of the city any day before you will catch me chillaxing it up in a place with no cell signal.
5. Guns. I trust no one with a gun. Not the army. Not the cops. Not even someone I know and trust otherwise. Guns = Death. Accidents happen all the time, and gun accidents are about as safe for any human as an encounter with a hungry Great White Shark.

So, I spilled my guts. What freaks you out?
Play along in the spirit of this superstitious day and share with the blogosphere what it is that gives you the willies.

<3, Tabi :D

Star Wars Fashion Show

A long time ago,
in a galaxy far, far away...

It was another rainy day around here, and the natives were getting restless. 

So in order to appease my young Padawans, I proposed a fashion show...

One squeal of excitement.

So I said, let's make it a Star Wars Fashion Show!
Three complete squeals of excitement. As it should be.

Here are some of the shots from the show. Enjoy.

Oh, man! If only I had a hangar around here with maybe the Millenium Falcon parked in it (ooh... or my favorite, an Imperial Lambda-Class Shuttle <so sexy>), I think these shots would have been a bit more awesome. But I suppose our living room will do for now.

Ha! My little Bear makes a super cute mini Emperor, doncha think?

Fashion show was cleaned up promptly (thanks to our new rock system) and snacks followed.

Success! And now I have Mommy chores and dinner to cook... If only I had some droids to help out around here, my life would be complete.

<3, Tabi :D

It's Time for an Adventure.

While we keep ourselves plenty busy over here with trips to the YMCA, play time in the pool, reading, drawing, creating, blah blah blah... this is stuff that we can and actually do pretty much all year round. Roxy will be starting 1st grade soon (which is like real school now) and Riley will be just beginning his school journey with Pre-K. I really want this summer to be memorable for my kids, and not just a break from the hectic school year.

It's time for an adventure.

Creating adventures is definitely a much harder thing to accomplish when funds are lacking, but I am sure going to give it my best.

You may or may not know this, but every year us Deneweth's make a long trek up to the Outer Banks, NC all squished in our silver minivan (it's a 14 hour drive NOT including potty breaks, stretch your legs breaks, gas stops and stopping for grub) to spend a week long vacation with my parents, my sisters, my brother in law, my nephews and Sunshine. This is usually the conclusion to our summer as school starts immediately after we return.

This year, I'm going to put a little boogie in it and be a brave Mama. My plan is to drive up (without the help of my better half) with 4 children (still squished in the silver minivan) two weeks early to my old stomping grounds... good ole Southern Maryland. I need to spend some time with people I don't usually get to see, I need to show my children a land that isn't Florida, a place that wasn't created for tourists and hopefully squeeze in some big adventure days in DC museums, the zoo and such.

After the 2 weeks, I'll drive down to the OBX for our annual family vacay and reunite with my better half while he makes his trek up via Greyhound. We are both in for a little adventure.

I moved to Florida 13 years ago. I haven't been home in forever, it seems and I am feeling the urge to reconnect. I have so many family members who don't know my children (except for the pictures I post on Facebook), I have best friends who I rarely ever get to see (and best friend's kids who are my kids' ages that I've never met). But most of all, in a strange way, I kind of want my kids to experience the place where Mommy grew up. They always ask about Maryland, like it's some exotic place where lucky children who live there get to play with snow in the winter. While there obviously won't be any snow on our trip, I hope they get a chance to experience this exotic place called Maryland and file it away in their brains as this summer's adventure.

So... I've got 2 and a half weeks to prepare myself mentally, to pack and to plan out how to squeeze the whole experience I've envisioned in two short weeks.

Am I crazy? I guess we will find out in T minus 17 days.

<3, Tabi :D

We are Hooked

photo via Pinterest

Maybe this post is totally unrelated to my blog. Maybe I shouldn't hit publish. Maybe I am just typing this out for the sake of getting this stuff out of my head. 

Warning :: SPOILER ALERT

Ugh. Lately my life has been revolving around True Blood. My thoughts have been invaded by vampires, werewolves, fairies, shapeshifters and witches.

Currently, we've watched from Season One through All episodes of Season Four except for the finale, which we will watch tonight, I'm sure. We've watched 1 or 2 or 3 episodes pretty much every night since the middle of June. So, in about one months time, we will be caught up with the rest of you True Blood peeps. Cramming it all in has caused us to be prisoners to the TV after the children go to sleep. Christopher has even said, "Once we get caught up, we can have our lives back."

So, I have a few thoughts I wanted to share:

• Vampire boyfriends, despite the baggage they seem to come with, do have advantages: they probably don't have gross bodily eruptions (i.e. flatulence), you probably won't find yourself waiting on them to finish up in the bathroom all the time, and you don't even have to cook them dinner! Plus the whole, they-save-you-when-you're-in-trouble and can-bring-you-back-from-the-brink-of-death-with-their-blood thing. That's pretty cool, too.
• I am a fan of true love and will root for Sookie and Bill till the end.
• However, Vampire Eric is a hottie. His height is what gets me, he's 6' 4"! Did you know he is Swedish (the actor, not the vampire)? How did the Swedes and Norwegians get all the attractive genes in this world? Have you ever seen an ugly Nordic person? I didn't think so.
• Also, I wasn't a fan of retard Eric. (Sorry for the non p.c. term, but you know what I mean, right?)
• I've wondered from the beginning of this show... do towns like this exist? I mean, minus all the supernatural creatures. The small town, everyone knows everyone vibe, the stupid cops that can't seem to solve any crimes, where people go to the same restaurant/bar every single night... While, it would be nice to have such a feeling of community, the ruralness of it all does freak me out a little, even without the monsters.
• I've been catching myself trying to be a bit more Sookie-ish. With my demeanor, some of my clothes, acting a bit more self confident... if only I could read minds.
• With all the super crazy stuff that happens on the show, I somehow see it in my head that any of it/all of it could actually happen in this world. Because... why not? 
• This werewolf guy that is crushing on Sookie just needs to get out. He is rather annoying and bores me.
• POST EDIT: Maybe I am figuring out the HBO dram formula here?? As compares to Sex and the City: If Sookie is Carrie, then Bill is Big and Eric is Aiden. If I'm right, Sookie WILL end up with Bill. I hope I'm right...

 If you made it to the end of this post... tell me, what are your thoughts on True Blood?

<3, Tabi :D 

Parent Tip #112

Lately, we've been having issues with children having a case of selective hearing. Repeating my requests got pretty old, really fast. It's no fun for me to bark out orders repeatedly, no fun for the kids and apparently, no fun for my husband, either.

SO...

My inventive husband thunk up this little game all by himself. We are trying it out, the system was implemented on Wednesday and the results so far are positive!

The Rules...

• Each kid gets 50 rocks and a jar (that they got to decorate themselves).
• Good behavior gets rocks added to the jar as determined by parent in charge.
• Bad behavior results in rocks taken from their jar and added back into the bag as determined by parent in charge.
• When all rocks are in the jar, a prize is won!! (In our case, they chose a shiny new Beyblade.) Then the game resets.

Beds have been made without even being asked, vegetables have been eaten much more easily, and I have extra helpers on my chores as well!

My hubby definitely gets genius points for this one.

<3, Tabi :D

Five Things That Make Me Happy Friday...

I am back from my two day hiatus. Did you miss me?

These past few days, we have been taking it slow, spending quality time with each other and relaxing a bit. Today, I'm reviewing 5 things that have made me happy about this past week:

1. My patriotic family! I went ahead and put together this gif (are gifs my new obsession? It's too early to make the obsession call on that, I think) for your enjoyment. We all looked too cute to not get an impromptu photo session in our backyard before we headed out to the July Fourth Parade.

2. Speaking of my cute patriotic family... I am soooo happy I found this tutorial and was able to make each of them (and me) cute matching shirts/dresses for under $4. Add those adorable red/white/and blue sunnies and they are styling for $5 (yep, I scooped those up from the Target dollar section).
(for the record, Christopher didn't want to match us...)

3. As much as I love going to the gym, I'm pretty happy I decided to take a week off from it. I feel like absence is making my heart grow fonder and my kids will also be happy to go back on Monday to the play center. They were starting to complain the last few times we went. With the few extra hours this week, we've played, relaxed and I am just letting the kids do what they want. Unstructured play is fun for a week, but I think they'll be happy to get back to getting back into our summer 'routine' next week.

4. This made me laugh so hard I had tears! A few days ago, there was a local news story about a wild bear spotted near USF and they tracked it to a tree outside the gates of Busch Gardens. I was telling the kids about it and they asked to see a picture of the bear. I found a news video on my phone and we watched it together.

Riley said, "Wow! She is hot!!" talking about this lady --> I took a screen shot and was pretty proud of the face I happened to seize on. :)

He has never said anyone has looked 'hot' before, he has told me I'm beautiful or look cool on occasion, but those words 'she's hot', I've never heard from this boy's mouth before, so it shocked me a little. I said, "You think she's hot, Bear?"
He replied, "Yep! It's because she's outside."

This is when I couldn't control my tears. He's so cute. It is hot outside and she is wearing long sleeves and all...

5. Reminiscing through old photos. Reliving memories. Strolling down memory lane. I have a TON of old photos. Here's one I wanted to post for Mrs. Melissa Baker's Flashback Friday. That is me and one of my besties Nicole circa 2002? We were definitely cuties. I love that I still am friends with all the best people in my old pictures. THAT makes me super happy! :)

What is making you happy today?

<3, Tabi :D

 

Blergh

The following is an exact re-enactment of what happened to me today...

via Pinterest

Stupid menstruation fairy...

<3, Tabi :D

It happened a year ago today...

It happened a year ago today...

... a terrible accident occurred, that could have been prevented.  In a split second, the lives of so many were effected and left to deal with a tragic loss. Lilly left us July 2nd, 2011.

I have a lump in my throat typing this up.

One year ago today, I learned so much. I learned that life is precious. I learned that we are not, in fact, invincible and that bad things do happen to good people sometimes. 

Life is beautiful, but not fair.

I learned that no matter how hard we try to protect our children, their safety is not always in our hands. We have a lot less control than we think we do.

I learned to focus on what's important: the people I love and care about. The rest... the rest is just stuff.

I learned that I can learn a lot from a 5 year old. My own daughter has proved to me that there is something more. I saw tiny miracles happen and I will never forget them.

I learned that a years' time doesn't lessen the pain.

I learned that there is magic in this world. I know that rainbows, dragonflies, butterflies and even frogs are all in on it.

Please keep Lilly's family in your prayers today. To try and imagine that pain is too much for me to bear, prayers do help. The universe is listening.

<3, Tabi :D

 

Currently.

I have to admit, every time I see a Sometimes Sweet Currently post, I feel a strong urge to do one myself. I'm so happy that she openly invites other bloggers to copy her inspiration, or else I'm sure I'd feel just dirty being an uninvited copycat.

So. Curently...

Roxy has lost her second tooth, widening her gappy smile and she gets cuter and cuter every day. The tooth fairy came and left her fairy dust all over the 2 $1 bills she left in place of her tooth. I sure hope Target doesn't mind.

On weekends, we let the two older kids have their 'sleepover'. This weekend, it took place in Riley's bed and Christopher is a genius and fashioned the iPad into an awesome built in TV. He is so craft, that husband of mine.

In an attempt to ramp up our social life, I invited some good friends over on Saturday to come and hang out with us. For us, since having children, our own social life has completely gone down the drain, and these particular friends had never actually been to our house, even though we've known them forever. It was such a wonderful visit, I'm so happy they came over and I really hope we get to visit a lot more often. However, I also volunteered to watch another good friend's two boys that night (which I'm happy to do, anytime*) and think I might have overbooked our Saturday, because at the end of the day, Christopher and I were extremely exhausted.

*We have 3 (sometimes 4) kids ourselves, and I've found adding a few more to the mix, usually doesn't involve much more energy on a parent's part. Am I right? or am I alone in this POV? Plus, it gives me warm fuzzies to be able to help out a friend whenever I can.

I'm feeling guilty. I had this June Word challenge I concocted and went through with every day... except for yesterday - THE LAST DAY! I'm a naughty blogger and I apologize to anyone who missed it. I would like to thank everyone who participated. For me, it was a good exercise in creativity, and I sort of liked that it made me accountable to blog every day. I also enjoyed reading the ways other people worked the words into their own posts. Especially Kizzie Cat, who was my very loyal player during this challenge. :)

I am anxious about making this summer memorable. I want to do some sort of grand gesture, so my kids can think back to this summer and remember this one awesome thing we did. I've had a few ideas: a trip up to MD for visits with my friends and family in my old stomping grounds, some kind of learning adventure involving something we've never delved into before: religion, daily bicycle trips to different places, crafts/sewing projects. Yet, I haven't committed to any of these things yet. I need to get on this and decide what it will be. Because, before I know it, summer will be over and the school grind will be in full effect again.

Listening to Johnny Cash Radio on Pandora an awful lot lately. Usually Mr. Cash is a 1-2 day craving for me every month or so, but he's been played every day for about 2 weeks now. I can't get enough of it. It's a feel good thing. And I'm not a country fan, either. ... things that make you go hmmm.

Gathering up the courage to take a trip to Walmart today. If you know me, then you know that Walmart is definitely out of my comfort zone. But I have this idea in my head that we have to have cute family red/white and blue clothes for the upcoming Independence Day. Target wasn't much help and Old Navy is far far away and kind of dangerous for me to go when my budget is so tight. Wish me luck on this, I need it.

Also, currently... my kids are wanting smoothies made, so I'd better get off here and do that, huh?
Until later, blogosphere. hugs and kisses.

<3, Tabi :D

p.s. DUDE! I totally missed my one year anniversary of this blog!! June 14th, Tabi Happy turned 1!!! Happy Birthday, Tabi Happy. <3