The Honest Company

I have something I just have to rave about. I signed up for a trial period with The Honest Company. I just signed up for the samples, I didn't have to write a review. But I like it so much, I want everyone to know about it, try it, and love it for themselves, their family, and the Earth. They sent me a sample package of diapers, wipes, laundry detergent, face and body lotion, healing balm, and hand soap. First of all, the packaging is adorable. As soon as I opened the diapers and held them, I knew they were going to be awesome. I was right!

They're light, they fit perfectly, and don't leak. That's the only things you really need in a diaper, right?? WRONG! What about style?? Have you ever had someone say, "O that's the cutest diaper!"? NO? I HAVE!! I went to a party over the weekend and got more compliments on his diaper than I did on my cute outfit! Everyone was asking where I got the diapers, and I was proud to send them to honest.com so they could find their own design, because not only are these diapers the cutest things on earth (besides the babies we put them on, of course!), they're GREEN! That's right! They're Eco-friendly, "honestly free" of: alcohol, chlorine, perfume, AZO-pigments/dyes, phthalates, parabens, lotions, opitcal brighteners, PVC, heavy metals, organotins (MBT, DBT, TBT), formaldehyde, SLS & SLES, and lanolin. That's a lot of stuff that are in other diapers. Other diaper companies need to have a branch of their product that is eco-friendly. With Honest, you don't have to pay extra to be natural. That's something everyone can benefit from.
So, I mentioned above that they also sent some other things. They offer shampoo, bodywash, conditioner, healing balm, sunscreen, face and body lotion, hand sanitizer, bubble bath, body oil, hand soap, multi-surface cleaner, dish soap, dishwasher gel and laundry detergent (and coming up with more products every day!). I got a package of detergent, lotion, balm and hand soap. Everything is free and clear of dyes and scent except the hand soap. The hand soap is "organic lemongrass", and it's yummy!
The lotion isn't greasy at all. One of my number one complaints about lotions is the grease trail I can leave on my phone, doorknobs, computer keyboard, ect... With this lotion, I don't worry about giving away the secret that I use lotion to make my hands soft and lush! :)

I haven't had a chance to use the healing balm on the baby yet. I don't want to waste it by putting in him if he doesn't have a rash, because as soon as I run out will be the day he gets a rash. But he's teething right now, and usually he gets a rash during cutting. I have put it on the back of my hand, just to feel it. It's smooth and not too thick. I always worry about using zinc oxide creams because I tend to get it everywhere, and it's hard to clean up if you get it on the changing pad, diaper box, wipe box, changing table, in your hair if you forgot and scratched your head... This balm is soft and easy to wipe up, but when you wipe it off, the softness stays. It's amazing!
I also got some laundry detergent. I usually make my own laundry detergent. I use this recipe. I'm going to really double and triple check my prices on making it vs. buying Honest detergent. We drain our washing machine into the flower "garden", so using something natural would be great. I like that the detergent is fragrance and dye free. Sometimes my son breaks out, and I think it's the chemicals or something in the detergent I make. If I use more detergent than usual (for really dirty clothes), he tends to break out. I can't wait to see if this helps!

But now, we get to the really good stuff. I told you already how great the products are. Now let me tell you a bit about the company. Satisfaction is guaranteed. Of course they're Earth-friendly in everything they do, not just the products themselves. They're obsessed with designing functional, effective, durable, beautful, fun and fresh products. Obsessed! Making the world a better place for their children was the reason they founded the company. Oh yes, you may know and love the "Mommy" of this company already. Jessica Alba. She was so frustrated during her search for something non-toxic for her family, that she (along with husband Christopher Gavigan) decided to do something about the lack of a truly green and sustainable product for our children and their future.
The Honest company is a monthly subscription plan. Affordable and convenient, since you buy online, and they send you monthly supplies of what you need. Right to your doorstep. No more waiting in line at WalMart while your child leaks out of his/her diaper because you forgot to grab some last time you went, and babysitter didn't tell you she used the last one before bed last night! (If it hasn't happened, be grateful!) If you need to tweak your purchase month to month, that's perfectly fine with the company! Just update online what you used more of the previous month. Simple. Perfect.
Are you in love with The Honest Company yet? Let me push you closer, just one more step... Social greatness... not only are they green, Earth friendly, and recyclable, biodegradable and chemical free,  they donates product, time and money to nonprofit partners that will change yearly. This year, Baby2Baby is benefiting from every purchase you and I make from The Honest Company.

5 Years Together

My grandparents, sister, niece, brother and parents
 helped my husband and I become husband  and wife
 in the backyard of my childhood home. 

Five years ago today, my family members gathered in my parent's backyard and I got married. I was "out-to-here" pregnant with my daughter, and none of his family attended. But it was perfect because it was ours. My husband and I met when I was working as a short-line cook at a bowling alley, and he was the porter (like a lane hop and janitor) at the same bowling alley. That's right. We were co-workers. But only in the sense that we got our checks signed by the same person; we never really worked "together", although after we started getting serious he would get into trouble for hanging out too long at the snack bar. It wasn't long before I quit that job because it was a part time "fun" job on top of my job that was full-time and exhausting. I couldn't keep the two jobs up when I got pregnant. Long story short, it's been almost six years since I met my husband, and we've been married for five years. It was rocky. Heartbreaking. I have cried tears of sadness, tears of happiness, and tears of mere pain. It's been such an emotional five years. My husband and I have been through a LOT of crap together. We have "broken up" three times, once while dating, and twice more in the last 5 years. I could never bring myself to actually go through with a divorce from him, and he claims to feel the same about me (obviously, he must, since we're still married). Between the break ups, the getting back together, other people we dated when we were separated, not to mention an unplanned pregnancy during said separation, I thought, at times, that I would be signing papers

separating us permanently by now. But we both agreed the last time we got back together that we are married, never to be divorced. We are married, never to part. Unless the parting means him driving a truck all over the nation for five or six weeks at a time. Sometimes the break is good for us. But when we opt to make it closer to seven weeks between home time visits, we both get antsy and emotional, and then we start bickering.  He's missed my birthday, Mother's Day, and our anniversary. He'll be home for the kid's birthday party, though, which is why we planned him coming home later than scheduled. Since we planned it, I can't complain, but it's still sad. And I still feel lonely on my 5 year anniversary, because I'm in Texas while he's in Tennessee. But we still look forward for the home time visit, and I pray that he will be here this week!

So, happy anniversary to my dear husband. Five years is all it took for us to realize we're in love and meant to be together. Here's to a lifetime of us.

Baking the Blues Away

Last weekend, I went to my grandfather's house and crashed his kitchen. My grandmother has just about every kitchen electronic that I can think of, and I needed to get the kids off the farm, even if it meant just going 30 minutes away for a few days to be cooped up in another house. It was a change of scenery, and that's what the kids needed. I needed it, too! It was really nice getting out and being secluded elsewhere. But I took the kitchen over, and was hit with the realization that I had never baked in that kitchen without my grandmother. She is still very present in the house, a year after her death, despite my grandfather's attempts to pack her up and box away her memories in order to avoid misery. It smells like her as soon as you open the door. And the kitchen, with all of her gadgets stored away, screams for her. When I finally located all the materials I'd need to use, I had to take a break. It's not that I am still grieving so much as it was hard to find things. I had to think like her. "If I was Nell, where would I have put...?" It hits hard that she's not there when I need to know something from her, something that only she would know. But I knew her really well, and could actually hear her telling me where things belong in her kitchen. I never really baked in her kitchen, because she was diabetic and most of my recipes require sugar, and she was always sneaking foods that she shouldn't have been eating. So, I baked bread for the first time. It's not hard. I'm not going to try to open a bakery or anything, but bread is easier than I thought. It is very meticulous and time consuming, but frankly, I'm so pent up on details on most everything that I do, it's always a bit time consuming. So, we have: Honey Raisin Yogurt Loaf (low fat, and amazing), Whole Wheat (very flavorful, but a little hard when not heated) and Cinnamon Raisin. I also made a Chocolate Poppy-seed Braid, and left it for my grandfather in exchange for the use of the kitchen. The Honey Raisin was my favorite, and the easiest to make. I thought it was going to be complicated, but it turned out as hard as having to time and raise the other bread dough.

These are bowls with the ingredients. It said to mix dry separately. I usually skip that part, but since it was my first time making bread, I figured I should follow instructions. I used a whisk to blend the wet ingredients together. It was nice and fluffy and looked pretty neat. The dry, I just kind of stirred around until I was pretty sure the baking soda, powder and salt were mixed in the flour pretty evenly. So then I mixed them and folded them together. I added more honey during this step, just because it looked like it needed it. So much for sticking to the recipe, huh? I had the oven preheated, and it only takes 20 minutes to bake! It was a super easy recipe for a wonderful loaf of bread. Isn't it pretty? 

Next, I used the electric bread maker to make up a loaf of Cinnamon Raisin bread. Sounds scrumptious, doesn't it? It was easy, too! Who knew bread makers were so easy to use? It does all the work! You throw the ingredients in together like it says, set a timer, and in a few hours, you have a loaf of bread! The only thing I didn't like about the bread maker is the hole in the bottom of the loaf where the kneader is in the pan. But, what can you do? I didn't get a picture of the finished loaf because we had coffee and dessert with my great aunt, uncle, and cousin. They come over just about every night to visit with my grandfather, and even though he was out of town, they came over after dinner anyway. I think they forgot, but it was okay, because my kids adore them, and they're a pretty neat family. 

The Chocolate Poppyseed Braid was fun. It was very complicated. And I don't think the dough did just like it was supposed to, but it looked (and tasted) good enough for me. Daughter seemed to like it, and my grandfather will never complain if it's chocolate filled. I did have to talk Daughter into eating the first bite; she didn't like the look of the filling. Of course, all it took was one word that starts with a "C" and she bit right in.
The picture is before it was baked, with the egg glaze on.

The whole wheat bread wasn't really any different than the cinnamon  raisin. The crust was harder than I wanted, but the inside was amazing. I gave the wheat bread and three little loaves of the honey raisin to a family friend who lost her brother last week. I went to the funeral on Monday, and reconnected with my "best aunt", Bonnie. I call her "best aunt" because she was my grandmother's best friend. She was the one who had to approve of my grandfather before they could date. She was the one who grandma told first that she was in love, she was there when my father was born. She was there every summer in my memory, and she's the reason for love of Precious Moments coloring books. When my grandmother, Nell, passed away a little over a year ago, my father held it together until the moment he realized he had to call Bonnie. She couldn't make it to the funeral because of her own failing health, and said she cried the entire day because she was stuck 13 hours away. But she was there, because everything that had to do with Nell involved Bonnie. This trip was the first ever that Bonnie has made to her hometown in which she didn't see Nell. On top of that, she came to say goodbye to her own brother. I wish I had been able to be there more, spend more time, tell more tales, and color a book with her while talking about summers spent and raising kids. I'm going to see her this summer. As soon as I get a truck of my own, that's the first place I'm headed.
For the funeral, I wore the same dress that I wore to my grandmother's funeral. I hadn't worn it but that one time. I got compliments on the dress from everyone! I felt pretty, which is rare for me. I also wore heels. I don't do that often anymore, either, and my daughter informed me of the fact that Son hasn't seen Mommy wearing those shoes before. And she's correct. I hadn't worn those since my grandmother's funeral, either, and that was months before he was born. So I feel like the first thing I'm going to do when my husband comes home this time is book a babysitter and make my husband groom himself enough for a night out. I haven't dressed up to go out in over a year. It's about time!

Sharing Cook'n

I have been using the Cook’n Recipe Organizer Version 10 all weekend. This is such a neat program! One book came with initial program, “The DVO.com cookbook”. It includes every category from appetizers to desserts, from breakfast to after dinner drinks. It contains simple to follow recipes with easy to obtain ingredients that all sound like wonderful meals.

In addition to the DVO.com cookbook that comes in the program, you can buy add-ons. This will add to your cookbook collection in your “shelves”. I bought “30 Minute Main Dishes”. It’s right up my alley! I gained more easy recipes, from entrees to simple sauces. You can find a list of all the available cookbooks here. 

The thing I love the most about the program is the ability to add your own cookbooks. I have recipes printed out from places, 5 or 6 cookbooks that I use, and those little cards from the grocery store that you grab for free when you’re really hungry and everything looks so great. I’m scattered all over the place! So I added a new cookbook, called it “Mine” and added chapters and threw the recipes in there.  If you don’t have enough recipes lying around, check out the facebook page where other users exchange recipes. They also host giveaways on the fan page, so you can add to your library without having to spend a bundle. 

Another wonderful thing about it is that you can capture a recipe if you’re surfing the web (I’m always on AllRecipes.com), and it will grab just the recipe (not the adds, the comments and the extra four pages of words you never need when you print it out!), and put it in the program for you.

I can’t wait to see how easy it is to store those Pinned recipes. Check out my recipe board on Pinterest. I have so many recipes stored online that I want to try, that I have forgot where they are. We also tend to lose our internet out on the farm that I live on when I want to cook. If what I want is online, I can’t get to it. Cook’n cookbook doesn't require internet access if the recipe is stored on the program! 

Cook’n has a nutritional database, also. If I you have a recipe open, simply click on the heart icon in the navigation bar and it looks up the nutritional value of the recipe! How neat is that? You can also add the entire ingredient list to your shopping list with the click of another button. It even prices the ingredient list for you! When you go over your shopping list before you leave the house, you can click “have it” so that you don’t end up with extra overflow in your pantry or freezer. 

Do you menu plan? This makes it amazingly simple! There are tags that you can add to your menu to remind you of weeks and days. I’m not much of a planner; I usually make one and end up changing it all because I’m not wanting what I planned for that particular meal. So I didn't play with it that much, but it seems easy and quick enough to plan a weekly/monthly menu. 

In short, I love Cook'n. Do you want a copy? Below is the entry form. I can't wait to give one of these out! Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Shaklee Review

I was fortunate enough that Renee, a mom and an independent distributor for Shaklee, asked me to do a review for Shaklee's products. I had heard of Shaklee before, but I knew next to nothing about them. After a very pleasant phone call with Renee, she taught me that Shaklee was the first company out there to offer environmentally friendly products. At the end of the call I could not wait to try out the products she was sending me!

Renee sent me 16 oz. bottle of Basic H2, a 3 pack of Get Clean Spray Bottles, 9 oz. jar of Scour Off Paste, and 16 oz. of Dish Washing Liquid Concentrate, along with a packet of information.

I want to first share some information on each product with you. Basic H2:

• Safe: Nontoxic, no toxic fumes, no hazardous chemicals, fragrance free, mild on your hands, pH balanced, and no chlorine.
• Here's the household uses for Basic H2: General cleaning, windows, mirrors, glass, pots & pans, floors, dusting, fruits & vegetables, handwashing woolens, nylons and all fine fabric, spot remover, aquariums, removing fish odors, removing boat algae, reducing odors in diaper pails (I use Basic H2 for this the most), wallpaper, frying vats, and many more.
• Personal uses include: Hands, Bathing, removing gum from skin, carpet or clothes, painting and dyeing, cleaning shoes, and cleaning eye glasses (another one I use frequently).
• You can use it for automotive uses, such as washing your car, cleaning the engine (will not affect paint, gaskets or insulating material!), cleaning the battery terminals, and helps get tires off easier when you're changing them.
• There's many other miscellaneous uses as well! The list just goes on and on!

Dish Wash Liquid Concentrate:

• Completely safe (non-toxic, hypoallergenic, does not contain chlorine, is mild on your hands, is pH balanced, and has no hazardous chemicals)!
• Very powerful (tough on grease, has long-lasting suds, and can use very little and it goes a very long way (one of the best parts).
• The second best part is that it is green; has natural ingredients, is biodegradable, has no phosphates or dyes, comes in recyclable packaging and is safe for septic-systems and graywater.
• Can also use for grout & tile, pans & stained dishes, pots, pans and PYREX, oven cleaner, mineral deposits in toilet bowl, and tough stains in sink.

Scour Off:

• You can use scour off on baked enamel, chrome, ceramic tiles, stainless steel, glass, porcelain, and most hard metal surfaces. (Do not use on gold, brass, copper, sterling silver, corian, or surrel.)
• There are many uses for the kitchen, bathroom, outdoors, and vehicles!
• Scour off is biodegradable, pH balanced, certified Kosher, and has no toxic fumes, no alkalis, and has a pleasant scent.

I used the Basic H2 on my kitchen stove. Here is a before picture: How gross, right? We had had a party the night before, so that would be why it's so nasty. I figured what better time than now to see if Basic H2 actually worked! All you need are one of the spray bottles, the Basic H2 and I used a rag. You just fill the spray bottle with water, then put a 1/4 teaspoon of Basic H2. Then you just spray and wipe away! I let a couple of the spots soak because it was pretty stuck on, and it wiped away so easily! Here is the after picture: What a huge difference! Another great thing about the Basic H2 is that there are absolutely no fumes! I can't even begin to tell you how much I hate cleaning because of the fumes almost all cleaning solutions put off. It's so nice not having to deal with it anymore! Next, I used the Dish Wash Liquid Concentrate. I didn't take any pictures of the process because, well, who wants to look at dirty dishes? I didn't want to subject my readers to that! Haha! But let me tell you - I will not be using any other dish washing liquid! It got off grease and dried on spots on all the dishes, and I hardly had to use any of it! I swear, you can barely tell I used any of the stuff! This bottle will last me a long time! The Scour Off I used on the rims of our tires. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of the before and after because our camera started acting up, but they have never been so clean! It was so easy to use, and although there is a slight scent to the paste, it was actually a pleasant one! Thank you so much for reading my review on Shaklee products! I can't wait to try some more of Shaklee's wonderful products! Thanks to Renee, I'm able to offer my readers a giveaway! I'm giving away a free membership to Shaklee, a bottle of Basic H2 and 3 spray bottles. This giveaway starts at 12:01am on 5/18 and ends at 12:01am on 5/26. The winner will then be selected and have 24 hours from the timestamp on the email I send to claim their prize. If the winner does not reply by 24 hours, then the next winner will be chosen and contacted. a Rafflecopter giveaway Disclaimer: I received one or more products for free. All opinions are strictly mine.

Mother's Day Printables Review

I had a chance to review Mother's day printables! It would have been amazing, but my printer was low on a few colors, and so they looked a little funky. Then, I couldn't find my camera to show off, so you're just going to have to take my word for it instead of seeing it yourself. Sorry! I looked all day for my camera on Saturday, and couldn't find it. I found it this morning in my backpack, in the truck, under the backseat. Anyway, the kit was cute, but I used only what I thought I could tweek with my own coloring to make it look correct since my printer was jickey. I swear that next time, I'll make sure my printer is all good to go before I do a review on printables! Anyway, my mom was impressed with the activities and games "I" came up with on Sunday. We had a good time as a family, and nothing felt chaotic like every other family gathering. I give the product an 8 on a scale of 1-10. I take a point for having to print it, because for me, it was a little inconvenient, and I'm not sure that everyone has a printer that has enough ink 100% of the time. I take another because it's a printable that you buy, and then have to spend more money printing. Personally, I'd prefer to just receive a package of the papers, stickers, and printouts already printed up in the mail instead of having to do it myself. I'm also a very impatient person, and hate having to wait to download and print my things. I hadn't ever done a printable like this before, so, now I know. And so do you.
Would I recommend you to click here and look for a pack you'd use? YES. Will I use Python Printable Party packs again, for future gatherings and parties? YES. I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Data

This morning, I got a text from Verizon telling me I have used 75% of my Data allowed on my plan. I don't restart the billing cycle until the 22nd. Ack! So I changed my bill up some and now I hope that with a few tweaks of my plan, I can pull my bill down to even lower than it was, with 2 more Gigs of Data. I hope it works, 'cause that's $20 extra that I can use elsewhere. 

I'm looking forward to library time today! Every Tuesday, at 4 PM, the man that works at the library reads the kids a story and then they have snacks. I can't wait! Taylor's never been to something like this, and I'm really needing some friends in the area. And I may even get a few job prospects if I talk to a few adults in the area! I could really use a job. I'm not only going stir crazy, I'm going broke. 

I'm kind of boring today. But I just woke up, haven't had my coffee, and my allergies are so bad I can't breath. 

I'll post more later, maybe. :) 

Until then, y'all have a great day. 

Try; try again.

I am getting restless. I need a job. I need to have something to do. I can't seem to fill my time well enough; or I'm so tired of having to drive so long to just have something to do. I found a house that I think my husband and I are going to try to buy. But it's not far from the farm, and I'll have the same problem out there as I do here. I feel secluded. Husband and I want the small town feel, but I need some neighbors! I will continue to search for a house. I never really wanted to go ahead and start looking at houses, because of our credit being so horrible. But we decided to go ahead and give it a try. There's nothing else you can do besides try, right? If we fail, we'll just move on and try something else. That's what life is all about, anyway, right?
Till next time, friends...

Relay for Life

I am so tired today. Last night, I went and walked with friends at Relay for Life. I had fun, but it would have been better if the kids had stayed home. Daughter didn't want to walk, so we ended up passing Son around and pushing Daughter in his stroller. Frankly, I think it's easier to carry Daughter and push Son, and she did get a piggy back ride out of me, which is probably what's wrong with my back today. I'm pretty sore. I got there about 8, and left close to 11, and didn't get home until midnight. The kids fell asleep about 11:30, so I thought I'd get to sleep in some today... But Son was up right before 8. Daughter just now woke up (11:00), but of course I just put the baby down to nap, so I guess I'll not be getting one. O well. Anyway, a lot of money was raised last night for cancer research. It was a very emotional experience last night. My friend said she just wanted to hug someone who was crying; but you never know if you'll cross a line. We were all there for the same reason last night, but I still didn't grab someone crying and hug them. Next year, I'm going to. I didn't cry, but teared up a few times. The biggest impact is when I saw an older man who was standing in front of us drying his eyes with his forearms. Something about men crying always makes me emotional. Maybe 'cause I was raised around men who were too manly to cry. Either way, it hits me harder than most. 

There was a Team from the community that I live nearest. I don't know anyone in the community yet, because there's nothing there at all but a school and a post office. Daughter will start school next year, though, and I'm pretty sure I'll be part of the Team for Relay for Life because the coordinator for the team is her kindergarten teacher. She's a survivor, taking preventative treatments every few months to keep her cancer away. I can't wait to officially meet her. She seems like a wonderful, strong person. What kind of better person to teach Daughter in her first year of school? 

Birthdays and Relays

Today I have a plan. It's an organizing plan. Actually, there's not really a plan yet. I'm just going to go in and see what I can do with what I have. I guess I should start with a diagram of what I'm looking for. Maybe I'm too lazy to do that. Not really too lazy. I just know it's going to be a longer process than it should be, since Son is going to have a tooth cut any minute now. He's really cranky, needy, snotty, whiny... well, basically he's 11 months old. So he's just a little Mamma's Boy who doesn't feel too hot right now.

I am really excited because tonight, the kids and I are going to go to Relay for Life. I have never participated before, and have always wanted to, but never had the night off for a Relay. I hope I get a T-Shirt! Daughter is excited, too, 'cause she gets to hang out with her Best Friend Forever. If the girls go about a day without seeing each other, she's all I hear about until the next time they get a play date. We live out of the town where they live, but we make sure they see each other as much as we can. I'm hoping to move to town, but Husband and I haven't really decided where we will move to when we move out of my parent's house. All I care about is that it is soon, and close to at least a good friend of mine, if not family. But, close friends are pretty hard to come by for me these days. Maybe it's part of growing up, but I remember a time when I had a phone that wouldn't shut up from the friends wanting to get together. Now, I get shocked when I get a text from someone other than Husband. Granted, most of the time, I'm so busy that I don't have a lot of time to just sit around and text my friends like a teenager, but the point is that my friends and I have gone in different directions over the last few years, and I need to find a few new ones. In town. In the other town that's close. Maybe even the next one over. But I need them closer than Facebook. Maybe I'm just lonely since Husband is gone. Whatever. I'm just really excited to get out tonight and meet some people! 

In other news, today is May 4th. I'm not sure when it happened, but some one started "Star Wars Day" today, because the date sounds like "May the force (...be with you)". I think it's funny. I have friends who waiting for 12:01AM to role around so they could post May 4th propaganda on Facebook. I have geeky friends. I just wish some of them were here in order to help me learn computery, geeky, nerd things. I'm not a nerdy, geeky, computery kind of girl. I type. I know how to work in various Microsoft programs. I can Google something, and sometimes find what I'm looking for. But usually, that's the extent of my computery talent. I have said it before, and this wont be the last time, either, I'm sure, but I need lessons!

May 4th is also a great friend's birthday. I've been close to Birthday Boy for years, since I was in college (the first time), and we were in Symphonic Winds together. He was my "section leader". For those of you not "band", that means he was the best player of my instrument, and was responsible for making sure we had our stuff together and sounded good when we played. He is an amazing person, whom I still love dearly, and have nothing but admiration for. When he plays the horn, I just melt. Neither one of us play anymore, and he never finished school. It makes me mad and sad, because he only has 3 semesters left, and then he could teach his wonderful talents. Maybe he will. And then someday, my daughter will meet some handsome horn player who was taught by my friend, and fall in love with him the way I fell for the man who taught him. Fell? Yes. I was (still am, perhaps) so deeply in love with him that I always think about him, about what he's doing. Is he thinking of me? It's a school girl crush that I may never get over. But it's like a girl crush, fed by admiration and music. Anyway, Happy Birthday to my Star Wars Man. I pray that some year soon, we can celebrate our birthdays together again. 

 My birthday was on the 1st. We went to the Science Spectrum so I could hang out with the kids. It was so much fun! I didn't take as many pictures as I thought I would; I was having too much fun teaching Daughter what everything was, and listening to Dad read posters, and just trying to figure everything out! But here are a few I did take while we were exploring:

Daughter looking in the aquarium bench portholes.

 Son got a little freaked out at the big fish hanging next to him!

 He wanted out of the stroller...but doesn't he have the biggest eyes!? :) 

 Blue Bass; couldn't get it to tell us how much it weighed or where it was caught, but it was taller than Daughter.

 Brushing teeth!! I was really proud of her skills. I think she's almost ready to do it without my help now. I never would have known...

 Rock climbing in her boots. Other kids were around and had on their tennis shoes and were getting really high up, so Daughter thought she'd try their technique. It didn't work as well as planned...

 Dad and Son waving "Goodbye" to the hot hair balloon they just sent up to the third floor! Son really enjoyed this activity.

 Sara skeleton!

 Carbon Atoms. Husband was elated to know the kids were playing with molecule models. Daughter spent a long time here building, while Son just wanted to eat them.

 She was so happy when I told her she could get in and drive this car!

 Always my favorite part of the Museum...You step on the bar under the instrument you want to play, and it plays. You can walk up and down the bar to hear different instruments playing the same song. When there are more than one person, you get the full quartet.

 BUBBLES!

(no more caption needed, but I think I need one of these tables in the backyard!)

 This table is one of her favorites, also. It's a spinning piece of metal in the middle of the table, and you have weights, balls, and other things to set on the spinner and see where they spin off, how fast, and all that great stuff. Plaque next to it explain velocity and all that scientific goodness.

 This one, just because she looks pretty.

But I'm not biased or anything.

 "Hello!Copters!"

 I wish I had captured the moment she realized she was on TV. He face was amazing. She gave a great production, telling stories about the things that showed up on the TV. Maybe she'll be a news anchor?

So, we had a lot of fun and even saw another Omnimax movie. "The Last Reef" was about coral reefs and the need to protect and preserve them. I learned that there is a species of jellyfish in a lake on San Paolo that have no predators, so they quit producing the stinging venom on their tentacles. You can swim with jellyfish! I have added it to my bucket list. 

It's so cute!

Well, that's about all that I can blab about for today. Don't forget to enter the giveaways on my previous posts. 

And, as always, Have a wonderful day!