S Club Mama

Happy Halloween   from the S Club!! The S Club Daddy also wishes you happy trails on your trick-or-treating adventures;  stay tuned for his costume & pictures from our night on the town.

Normally, I don't do reviews in two parts; however, I wanted to add one more thing to my review from yesterday. The infinity scarves from Boubo Boutique are also  very useful accessories for  15-month-old boys. please excuse my streaky mirror; I really need a full-length one.

I had the opportunity to try out an Infinity scarf from Boubo Boutique . This is another cute Etsy shop - fairly new (beginning of October) but has only positive feedback on her store.  Gigi was really fabulous and sent me this red scarf with silver accent lines. It was a very fast turn around time to get the scarf (which I'm glad because I was excited to try it out).  Gigi's Infinity Scarves are so beautiful and I love hand made things. They just seem cozier. I especially like how versatile this scarf is - it's one piece so I don't have to worry about how to wrap it. I just put it on and can leave it as one loop, loop it again to wear in a more traditional "scarf" style, or drape it over my shoulders as more of a wrap. I would wear this with my little black dress, this plain green tee, or even a dressier shirt. Of course, the red is what caught my eye (Go Big Red!) - this specific scarf also comes in purple (for you K-State or LA Laker fans). My scarf came...

Shutterfly . You've all heard of it. Many of you have used it to get prints of your favorite photos. Guess what? They can help you with Christmas, too! That's right, not only do they have really beautiful Christmas photo cards , but they have the address labels to send them to grandmother's house (or to your child's favorite teacher, your in-laws, or perhaps up to the North Pole to St. Nick himself)! Let me show you my favorite(s):   Maybe the sweet baby makes this among my favorites... I love the simple "believe" on here - believe in Jesus, believe in the spirit of St. Nick, believe in family.   Perhaps this is a big Miss America but don't we all wish for world peace around Christmas time?  Or maybe your family is like mine and you just wish for family peace through the holiday chaos!?  Moose loves trains. And Rudolph.  I also like how it looks like a story book picture.  One thing you may not know about me is: I LOVE Christmas carol...

Lindsey at the Pleated Poppy hosts this wonderful little blog prompt What I Wore Wednesday where other bloggers can show off their style. I got started reading this through my friend Erin , but am interested in looking at more pictures so I can raise my style knowledge. I have never been a stylish person, but would very much like to learn (it's never too late, right?). So here goes my pictures from the past week (or so?). I don't entirely remember when I wore these outfits; just some time in the past week (I'll try to be better at categorizing these things and take pictures daily instead of sporadically). Shirt: Hand-me-down Jeans: Vanity (hand-me-down)   Ring: Samuel's (my wedding ring - always my favorite accessory) Socks: gift from a friend  (it has been SO cold in my house lately; I just hate to turn on the heater already).   Dress: Walmart Tights: Hand-me-down (see a pattern here?)      Dress: guess? Hand-me-down (but my new LBD) Shoes: C...

I have been thinking long and hard about running in the Lincoln Marathon in May. It's a fairly flat course and ...I just can't stop thinking about running a full marathon. I almost feel like God has placed it on my heart to run - is that silly? Would He place a marathon on my heart? I don't know. Since the thoughts won't leave my head (I dreamed about running last night a lot), I started to think about training plans. The one thing that scares me about running a full marathon (besides the 26.2 consecutive miles) is the training. It's such a time commitment; I know others who have much busier lives than I do that have trained, but I really like being with my husband and my kids. It's the 16, 18, 20 mile runs that are daunting - those are precious hours of my family time. How do you give that up? Something I've toyed with but am unsure if it would work is to sort of train every other week. On the "off" weeks do cross training and weight lifting...

I went to a Mom Panel at a local MOPS group last week. It was a chance for us newer moms to ask questions of more experienced moms. I took really two things away from that night: 1. Give grace. Too often, I'm hollering (ok, yelling) at my kids over this and that, especially if it's a repeated offense. However, how often do I sin the same sins over and over? God doesn't yell at me. He gives me grace. I want to share that same grace with my boys. 2. Watch this YouTube video of "The Invisible Woman" by Nicole Johnson. I guess she shares it at Women of Faith conferences, but one of the more experienced moms shared it with us. It reminded me a lot of my friend, Laura, who is a foster mom. I know that being a foster mom is HARD work and I pray she knows the work that is being done in those boys' lives through her. This is also a great tribute to my other mom friends - your work does not go unnoticed. I promise.

Although we were dancing to the Walk the Line soundtrack (so the Tyler Hilton version of this song), I'll let you listen to some Elvis.

I LOVE planners and organizers and calendars. Right now, I have one planner/organizer and 3 calendars on my wall. I am meticulous about my family's schedule because I hate to overschedule or double-book. I also really dislike being late (although I am a lot of times anyway). I have a hard time when the new year comes around because I want the perfect organizer and calendar. I hadn't found what I was looking for until I came across the Amy Knapp's Family Organizer. Amy Knapp generously allowed me to review her Christian Family Organizer and Big Grid Family Wall Organizer . I was going to review the Homeschooling Organizer but decided against it because we're not actually doing preschool this year (maybe next year). Please read more about Amy and her story here on her website.  The Christian Family Organizer is awesome! It runs from July 2010 - December 2011 so I don't have to search this year for another planner (phew, one New Year's Resolution checked o...

NCircle Entertainment supplied us with a copy of Kitten Party for review. I jumped at the offer to review this DVD because my boys loved Puppy Party . In Kitten Party, kids meet Whiskers who takes them around to meet "all of his kitten friends as they throw a fun filled Kitten Party!" (from DVD case). So it may sound silly to you (and me) but honestly, my boys love cats so this was purr-fect for them (I had to throw in the pun). This is not an animated show, but it uses real kittens from real breeds to teach kids about the different types of cats. There are over 50 kittens in the video, so a lot of variety. Kittens are just so cuddly and cute to watch, not to mention funny! You can't tell me you've never sat around on YouTube watching cat videos - this is just better than that! There are even three kitten sing-along songs; Moose didn't care much for the songs but Squirt had a good ol' time dancing around to them. We bought the boys a DVD player for our v...

Biggest Loser Season 10 is very much under way - lots of people have already been sent home, new challenges have been done, mid-week weigh-ins have made their appearance. There's always some new twist each season, of course. BL is such an inspiring show for so many, me included. The staggering amount of weight lost in a relatively short amount of time, the commitment to be away from family and obligations for months, the stories of overcoming adversities - it all takes a toll on the audience. However, many of us don't take that inspiration beyond saying "oh wow" while eating a bowl of ice cream on our couch. In this past year, I got tired of being that person watching BL while stuffing myself full of crap. I got tired of feeling like I was on the path straight to being on this reality show for obese people. I was obese, unhappy with myself (not unhappy with life), and tired. Tired of feeling tired. Tired of fighting with my clothes when I had to get out of my sw...

Bible Study: I've been reading through Genesis in a kids' Bible and the grown-up Bible. I do need to find a good study though but really would love to do something as a group. Memory Verse: I need to get back into this. Galatians 6:9 is definitely holding true though. If you follow me on Twitter, you know I tweaked it a bit for potty training. Husband Encouragement: I would like to set up a date night for us. Not sure when, though. Maybe Friday night depending on when my mom gets here for the weekend. I also need to make an awesome supper tomorrow to make up for overcooking (and thus killing) tonight's meal. LOL I felt so bad. Train 'Em Up: Moose has gone 3 days without an accident on the potty! I'm so proud of him! I just want to keep that up and get him more comfortable going #2 on the potty. Squirt has probably been off my radar this past week with potty training, so I need to just focus on him. Reading him books, spending time specifically with him...

Borders is partnering with my friend Dee from Two of a Kind, Working on a Full House to give away FIVE Rewards Plus Memberships and ONE reader a Kobo eReader . I want the eReader - bad! But I'm sure many of you do, too, so I'm being nice and sharing this info (it only helps that I get extra entries for doing so). It's simple to enter so go to Dee's blog and enter. And if you win and don't want it, give it to me for Christmas or just because.

BookSneeze sent me this beautiful copy of " The Treasure of God's Word: Celebrating 400 Years of the King James Bible ." Being an English major, this specific Bible had a profound impact on my education. We read parts of the work in class and there was always mention of the impact the KJV had on the English language. I got to go more in depth during my History of the English Language class (PS my favorite class ever) so this book was right along my lines. The book is divided between the history of the King James Bible and passages from said text. It is a beautiful book - if you were judge a book by its cover, this is a good cover choice. There are eight chapters of history (very small, easy reading) that I only wish were longer. I wanted to know more about the translation process; I wanted to delve further into the process and the committee behind it. However, I think I probably would have to take a class on that for more information. The passages brought together be...

Now I just need one my size!

One of the Hot Topics on The View on October 7 was whether it is appropriate for a dad to kiss his daughter on the lips. The topic flowed to whether it was appropriate for parents to bathe with their children. I'm curious as to your reactions. Personally, once in awhile, my dad will still kiss me on the lips. I'll admit, my first reaction is "that's weird" but then it's not. It's my dad, not some other middle-aged man. If it were one of my uncles kissing me on the lips - weird. Very. I don't remember a lot of small things like that about my childhood, whether my parents lip kissed me or not. I'm sure we did because I vaguely remember them lip kissing my younger sister. I think it's always appropriate for a parent to kiss their children on the lips (as long as it's not a tongue kiss or otherwise inappropriately long kiss). We kiss both of our sons on the lips. Right now, we sort of kiss the inside of Squirt's mouth but he doesn't...

We had a play date last week with my SIL, her twins & nephew, Big A's cousin & her baby.  The boys had a great time; only a few tantrums were thrown (by my older).  Good food was had at lunch and it seemed that all ate fairly well.  And I got to just spend time with my cutie pie niece Sophia & nephew Wesley.  Aren't they precious with their rolly baby-ness?!