These are a few of my favorite things....

Crocs - yes, some of them are ugly, but if you wear a pair, you will for sure change your mind. They are the most comfy shoes I own. If I could have a pair in every style & color... I would.

Shopping cart covers - for the nasty buggies/high chairs that you have to sit your kids in.

I'm not sure what the offical name brand/name is, but their are some bibs you can buy at Wal-Mart. They are a plastic type material on the front & cloth in the back. They have 2 snaps to make a pocket for food to fall into when you put them on baby. They wash great & last forever!

Loungewear - whoever came up with this name is a genius. Yes, they are really PJ's, but look a bit nicer. I love them in the winter especially. At least I'm still not in my gown all day.

Clorox Anywhere hard surface spray - this is the best stuff ever. I feel like whatever I'm spraying it on actually get's clean and it has a pleasant smell. It's not harsh like the stuff with bleach. I also keep a travel one in my diaper bag for when we go to restaurants.

Clorox Ready Mop - why did I ever clean with a regular mop???? I'm sure the Swiffer brand is just as good, but I happen to have the Clorox one. I will never go back. My bucket is only used for washing cars now & I finally threw away my mop that has been hanging in my laundry room unused for years.

Swivel Sweeper - I swear that every Mom should own one of these things. I've had 2 of the Shark versions & the Dirt Devil version & this one is by far my favorite!!! I use it everyday, multiple times. Kids make messes, especially eating. It's great to clean up a quick mess without having to pull out the vaccum cleaner or broom every time.

Cherry Cordials are one of my favorite candies. Everyone loves a Hershey Kiss. Then... they put the 2 together. Heaven! I LOVE this candy & the even came out with a dark chocolate version which makes it even better.

God Made Me videos - they are along the same line of Baby Einstein, except they are set to Christian music and biblical teachings. Kensley LOVES them, therefore, I love them.

Digital Scrapbooking - I love to scrapbook, but lack of time & a lot of kids has not allowed me to keep it up like I want to. I'm far behind with a lot of pictures to develop. Creative memories has a free program to download to make a book and most other photo websites have photo albums as well. You plug your pictures, type in your journaling, click "order" and they ship it to you. How easy is that!

A fresh new look

Finally I've acheived a more "colorful" look on my blog than the plain ole color choices I've had for a while now. My friend Janet linked this website http://cutestblogontheblock.blogspot.com/ on her blog. You'll have to check it out.

Corby took the boys on Friday night to the Monster Truck Jam in Charlotte. He got a perk from the Y that if he drove the YMCA bus for a group that was going from a couple of the Y's, he would get tickets for the family. I knew that was something Kensley would not really enjoy at her age, so the had a boys night. They had a great time.

Happy Valentine's Day

Love wishes to everyone today. Tis in the air... floating around... sweetness & lots of candy! I woke up this morning & walked into the kitchen to find a rose on the counter placed there by my wonderful hubby. Thanks babe! My kids came home today with a box full of candy & valentines from their classmates. Chandler thought it was gross that some of the girls gave him "lovey" notes. I tried to explain that's what you do on Valentines Day, it doesn't necessarily mean they like him or are in love with him. He didn't buy it. I tried to get a picture of the kids today with their treats but Kensley was more interested in what they had in their hands than looking at the camera.

Wasting time

In all truth, I should be going to bed right now. Instead, I've been surfing the net for the past hour looking at junk. Well, mostly junk. I started out looking for the track to a song I'm planning on singing at church & that just led to other non productive stuff. In passing through worthless websites on stuff that doesn't matter, I was reminded of something that excited me. I'm admitting my age and "cheesyness"... is that a word?.... anyway. I was a HUGE fan of New Kids On the Block growing up. I owned everything that I could have possible purchased & went to every concert within driving distance...don't know how I convinced my Mom of that. Me & my BFF Julie were NKOTB freaks! I even got front row tickets once to a concert. Although he wasn't my favorite, Donnie touched my hand at that concert & I don't think I washed it for a week. (I know... gross!) Anyhoooo... they are getting back together!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I get so excited just typing that. They have a website that 's up & running & they've been posting updates about once a week. The first was a bunch of fuzzy pictures of them from back in the early 90's on a TV screen. The next was those same pictures only in color and you could hear them singing a new song... something about getting back together & never leaving again...and . The latest update is a bunch of blimps of newcasts announcing of them getting back together. I can't wait until they show something recent. I will so be there when they tour. I may even have to travel, but I'm going. Just think of how many 30 something's will be at that concert screaming like teenagers.
I'm going to bed now.

Boys... siblings... help!

I've got lots of new ideas for posts, but I can't do them all at one time because that's no fun (and be way too long). So, I'm trying to remember everything when I think of it. I've already lost several thoughts because I didn't write them down on my trusty little fridge dry erase board... which doesn't always help.

Thought #1- I have boys. They are close in age. They fight. About everything. I guess because I grew up an only child & wasn't around boys much, I just don't get it... meaning the whole sibling rivalry thing. They also piddle... FOREVER... when it comes to getting ready or doing something in a timely manner. I enforced a new rule today that if I have to tell you more than 2 times to do something, you get a spanking with a longer wooden spoon than I normally use. It's worked so far today. Well, sort of. This afternoon I asked several times for them to be quite because Kensley was sleeping. After two times of friendly reminders I invited them to the kitchen (while I was preparing supper) to meet the new spoon. I made them turn around, touch their toes, reach to the celing, touch their toes again and the new spoon kissed their bottoms. They laughed. It's not gonna be funny when they get the real thing. Anyway, I guess because they are getting older that I expect more out of them, especially Chandler. Does anyone have any suggestions on how to deal with "the piddles" or "the fighters"? I've got 3 kids, one of whom requires a lot more attention than the other 2. I don't have the resources to be in 3 places at one time or deal with 3 different things at the same time. My brain will explode. I'm great at multi-tasking, but not that good. I would love to hear some ideas or suggestions of what you do with your kids to get them to listen & behave.

Catching up with old friends

I have good intentions, but I don't always get a chance to follow through in calling or emailing friends, especially those who don't live in my town. It does make me feel good to talk to a friend I haven't heard from in a while. I keep up with most of my college girlfriends and we try & get together at least once a year (if you are one of them & reading this, we are OVERdue!). Recently I've also got on Facebook and found a lot of friends, mostly from college & a few from high school too. It's so fun to see who they married, if they have any kids, where are they living, etc.... you know the drill. My first college roomate found me on facebook recently & we reconnected after almost 11 years! I got a chance to talk to her on the phone today. I said I would never do the Myspace thing. Then I did. Then I said I would never do the Facebook thing because I was already blogging & doing Myspace... then I did. I'm glad though. Otherwise I would never have had the chance to catch up with so many friends.

Naps: Friend or Foe?

I love Sunday. First because I get to go worship in a great church & sing with a great bunch on our praise team which is lead by a wonderful worship pastor. I also love Sunday because of naps. We get home from church, eat, change clothes (usually back into my pj's), put Kensley to bed, Corby turns on the TV & I either claim a couch or just go to my bed. I don't nap, I sleep... like several hours of sleep. Today, I slept from 1:30 to a little after 4 when Kensley woke me up. However, there is a problem with naps. I usually wake up ill or still tired because someone has woken me & I didn't get up on my own free will... or internal clock... whatever. It takes me an hour or so to get back into the groove. Also, I normally wake up with a headache. I guess because I've slept so long. Then, we have the problem that I am experiencing now. It's 12:46 am & I'm still not sleepy. Well, no wonder! I slept all afternoon. So, I'm in a dilema. If I don't get my Sunday nap, it literally affects the rest of my week...I'm so sluggish and sleepy. But, if I do get my nap, it affects my Monday mornings (I have a hard time getting out of bed), sometimes I will take another nap when Kensley goes down for her morning nap, which affects my week as well because it makes me feel like I need a nap everyday. Can I really win on this one?

PS... is anyone having trouble using their spell check when composing a post? I've not been able to get it to work for several days.