Five Things That Make Me Happy Friday

A long overdue installment of Five Things That Makes Me Happy Friday...
something that I usually do every Friday. 

1. That I can take pictures all day long of mundane things, make a collage playing around on PicMonkey and share them with the world. Why? Because I like my life, and I like collages of ordinary candids and PicMonkey is fun. I share them with you... why? Because this is my space! (Not MySpace, but... you know... my blog/space.)
2. That my Zoie is doing extraordinarily well at the early stages of Potty Training and she's not even TWO! 
3. I am psyched up for Fat Mum Slim's September Photo A Day challenge. I've slacked off major for a few months, but I am feeling snappy with my shutter finger lately. Do you Instagram? I do! Check me out, I love finding new fellow creative Instagrammers.
4. I am ecstatic about the new GFC, Twitter and Facebook followers I gained this week. :)
   I love to talk and it feels nice when I have new people to talk to. It makes me feel like someone may be actually listening. Ha ha. If you aren't a follower, click on the hearts to the right of this post. They link to my pages.
5.  THAT THE RNC IS FINALLY OUT OF TAMPA!!

What is making you happy today?

<3, Tabi :D

Thursday Confessions.

I haven't done this in a while, but I have a few to get off my chest today...

Here are my Thursday Confessions:

• Blog Hops make me feel kind of dirty.
• I use the exclamation point waaay too much.
• I'm in love with Honest Toddler tweets.
• I splurged a little and bought Method dish soap and Method hand soaps for our bathrooms, only because the packaging was so cute.
• I just recently started up a Facebook Fan Page, and it's giving me a little fear-of-rejection anxiety.
• I'm having negative feelings towards my beloved Target, lately.
• Zoie's birthday party is in one week and one day and I have done ZERO planning.
• I sort of dig that my Mom doesn't like my husband's beard. It makes me feel like a teenage rebel. (A little bit.)
• Politics are putting me in a very snarky mood.
• My Mommy kryptonite is: Bedtime.

If you've already seen me talk about some of these on Facebook or Twitter... Oops, sorry for the repeats.  

...

Do you have a Thursday Confession? Go ahead and type the guilt away in my Comments. 

<3, Tabi :D 

 

Homework Time.

This is what made me happy today... their thirst for knowledge. 

Their eagerness and patience had me in awe.

  

Shhhh... we are concentrating.
Roxy is practicing her numbers, Riley is working on his shape drawing and coloring skills.

Even Zoie got in some good scribble practice time.

<3, Tabi :D

Summer Adventure: Cramming in a Little Education

Token group tourist photo in front of the Washington Monument.

This summer I embarked on a 3-1/2 week adventure with 4 kids in tow. Our adventure took us to MD, VA, DC and finally the Outer Banks of NC. I am attempting to journal our adventures in hindsight after learning that living out of a minivan with 4 kids was a wee bit more than I anticipated.

Sometimes finding happiness means stepping outside of your normal comfort zones. Sometimes it means feeding your curiosity and seeking out information. And sometimes happiness shows up when you experience things that are simply different and not routine.

And sometimes it means finding a new friend.

The second Wednesday of our Summer Adventure, my clan plus my Mom and little sister met up with my middle sister and her mini clan and my friend Lissa and her Lily to Metro into DC and visit a Smithsonian or two.

Growing up in the DC metropolitan area, these were the museums I was used to: big, fancy, chock full of great and ever evolving exhibits and FREE!
(Later in life, I was absolutely shocked at some of the museums that you actually had to pay exorbitant prices to get into were not half as amazing.)

On this day, we visited the Natural History Museum and then the American History Museum. But first... the METRO!

The metro in itself was an adventure. It was a first for all my kiddos. It was fast, it had tunnels, there were NO SEATBELTS!! Living on the edge, we were.

It was a good day! We saw dinosaur bones, Titanoboa (ew), Kermit the Frog, some really cool butterflies, a cave man that my Mom thought resembled Christopher, lots of other things I can't recall (because I spent a good portion of the day doing head counts) and a few of the DC sights.

The boys were happy, the babies were happy and my Roxy found a new friend in my good friend Lissa's girl, Lily.

After leaving the city, we stopped at Red Robin for dinner and I had an amazing Veggie Burger with Swiss Cheese and Guacamole. Mmmm. I should've taken a picture. Damn.

Educational Leg of Summer Adventure: Check.

<3, Tabi :D

Wanna read more about our Summer Adventure? Click Here.