Wordless Wednesday: Little Explorer

For more WW, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

Wordless Wednesday: Sweet Baby Kissies

{These are rare occasions that I am in pix with Benjamin so soak it up!}





For more WW, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

Wordless Wednesday: Welcome Summer!

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Wordless Wednesday: Sweet Cheeks

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Before and After

This is my first time joining in on Pixel Perfect's Before & After Blog Hop. Benjamin is napping and we're not hungry enough for dinner yet, so here I am! I'm going to share two shots from our vacation at my parents' house. Simple edits, but I think they look nice.

SOOC:


Edited in Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta:


SOOC:


Edited in Adobe Lightroom 3 Beta:


Ta-da!

Friday Fails: I can't believe I'm sharing this...

This may seem odd, but ever since Myra has started this Meme over at her blog, I have desperately wanted to join in. But everytime Friday came around, it was either the case that I couldn't think of anything good enough to blog about, or I was much too embarrassed to do so.

Today, I am stepping out of my blogging comfort zone, especially with my first Fail. I took these pictures when the incident happened {which I also count as a fail - you'll understand in a minute}, and that night I told myself I would definitely not post these pictures to my blog in any way {I am not}. I told myself I wouldn't even mention the incident.

And here we are.

My mom was folding our laundry {she is so sweet!} and we looked up to find Benjamin walking around, sporting a new vest. That vest being, erm, my underwear. Thankfully they were clean, or you could be sure I would have skipped the pictures and snatched the underwear from him. This time, we allowed him to have his fun while we {my mom and I} took pictures on my camera and her cell phone.

Fail.

And the face he made when I took the underwear from him?



Fail number two made me feel really bad. We went to Goodwill on Monday and we found this totally adorable Vintage outfit for Benjamin. I wanted him to wear it to Bible class, so after his bath I wrestled him into it.

We all piled into my grandma's van to go to church and Benjamin immediately began to tear at his legs. They had exploded in a rash that was extremely red and apparently equally itchy. Poor baby. I hadn't brought any extra clothes for him {fail} so the poor thing wore the itchy outfit for an hour. Thankfully he found other things to do at the church building that took his mind off of his itchy legs.



Cute outfit, right? Totally not worth it.

Fail number three, I'm not too embarrassed about. It wasn't a big deal so I have no trouble sharing it. In fact, I'll just let the picture speak for itself.



'Nuff Said.

I have also failed to show you more pictures of our week, which I apologize for, but you can imagine how busy I am acting as a mommy and a daddy for busy Benjamin. It's hard! I could never be a single parent! Here are a couple photos that I took earlier this week. I am sad that today is our last day here, but boy am I ready to be back with hubby!




Anyway, I hope you'll head on over to Myra's blog to join in on the Friday Fail embarrassment Fun.

Wordless Wednesday: Yelling at the Neighbors

For more WW, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

Show Us Your Life: My Typical Day

This week's "Show Us Your Life" is "What's your typical day like?" I chuckled when I read the theme because with a 13 month old, it's hard to have a real typical day. When you watch TWO 13 month olds a few days out of the week, it's really hard to have a typical day! I'll break it down in my most typical of days.

Sunday
We get up around 8AM on Sundays. Usually I hop in the shower first, and then I take Benjamin down to have his breakfast while I get my clothes ready for church. Hubby is usually up and showered quickly as well.
9AM Benjamin is dressed and sometimes takes a quick nap before we go to church at 9:30.
10AM Bible class starts. Usually it's just Benjamin and myself. We do class until 11, then Worship starts. That goes on till 12, and then there is a 15 minute break, and then another service. We get home between 1 and 1:30. Depending on how many snacks Benjamin had during church, he either eats a quick lunch, or goes down for a nap.
After Hubby and I eat, I usually nap till about 4:30. Then we go visiting at another congregation for their evening worship, and hang out with friends afterward. Then we go home, and it's bedtime.

Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays
Sometime between 8 and 8:15, I get up and get Benjamin up and give him breakfast. I usually turn on the Wiggles for him while I clean dishes or something in the kitchen and wait for Mariah to come over. She is usually here between 8:30 and 9.
After Mariah gets here, she eats her breakfast and then she and Benjamin play together for a while. If I'm able to do laundry or do kitchen stuff, I do. If not, I play with them.
Usually around 10 or 10:30, the babies get tired and are ready for naptime. I usually take this time to shower and then read blogs and that sort of thing and study some.
Usually they sleep around 2 hours, sometimes longer. Whenever they get up, they get their lunch. Usually this is one before the other. Then we play for a while longer. A second nap is usually called for around 3, and between 4 and 4:30, Mariah's daddy comes to get her.
Between 6 and 7 we have dinner, and then it's bathtime/bedtime for Benjamin. Hubby and I usually either work out {which sadly hasn't happened recently, boo!}, or just watch a bit of tv while we do our own thing on our laptops. I usually blog or edit photos.
I go to bed around 12:30-1AM - which is AWFUL!

The only exception is Wednesday - we go to Bible Study on Wednesday evenings.

The rest of the days...
The rest of the days are pretty typical with the Mon-Wed-Fri, except take out babysitting Mariah. On Tuesdays we have LOST night, and usually go visiting members as well.

And those are our Typical days!

Wordless Wednesday: My Daredevil

Benjamin loves to stand on everything now. He's getting to be a little daredevil.

For more WW, visit 5 Minutes for Mom.

I'm SO Lost...

There are few things in the entertainment world that can make me get excited. I get excited over Doctor Who, Harry Potter (woah, did your Nerdar go off? Mine did.), Psych, Eureka, House, Pirates of the Caribbean, Star Wars (There it goes again...), and ....



It's true. I'm a Lostie. You can thank my husband for that. Though, I am not nearly as "Lost" as he is. Believe me. Usually when we watch the episodes as they are new, he is a) chatting with a friend who is equally as "Lost", and b) participating in a live forum where the waaaay "Lost" folks are discussing things as they happen. And that's just the tip of the ice berg...

People even claim that we named Benjamin after a character on Lost: Benjamin Linus. Forget the fact that Benjamin Linus is my favorite character... We have decided to neither confirm, nor deny this.

Just kidding. We named him after Benjamin in the Bible.

Tomorrow is the Season Premier of the FINAL season of Lost. We are getting pretty riled up over here! However, if you can recall, we don't have cable. Luckily our friends Chris and Kayla also watch Lost, so they have invited us over on Tuesday nights to partake in Lostness with them in front of their big ole honkin tv! Benjamin and Mariah are welcome to play [quietly!] on the floor while we become absorbed.

Anyway, today I ventured over to Robin's blog and found out that she, too, is a Lostie. She even started a Lost Meme. And I have no self control. I have to.

1. If you were on the island, which group would you be in? Survivors, Others, Dharma
I'd be with the Others. They're awesome. They move through the Jungle pretty much unnoticed and then tear you up.
2. If you were stranded on an island, which character would you want to be stranded with?
Funny you mention it, we were just discussing this last night (because we are total nerds). Last night I originally said Benjamin Linus. But now that I think of it, I never actually saw him hunt anything. So perhaps for that reason alone, I'd say... Mr. Eko.

He can kill animals, he can build... And I know that John Locke can do these things too, but I reaaaallly dislike Locke. Along with Jack and Kate. My three least favorite main characters.
3. Which backstory was your favorite?

Daniel Faraday.
4. Are there any mysteries you really hope will be solved in this last season?
1- Where is Vincent?
2- Will Sun ever get to Jin?!
3- Will Jin ever meet his baby?!
4- Where is Claire?!
5- Is Jacob REALLY dead?!
6- Who IS Jacob??
7- Who was that guy with Jacob in the last episode of Season 5?! - I have some theories.
8- Two Lockes --- WHAT!?

And I have others, I just can't think of them.

If you're a Lostie too, don't be ashamed! Join in the fun!

Not Me! Monday

Ah, a new week... Actually, a new month! January seemed to have lasted a year for me! I guess because of all the exciting things that happened. And I gotta say, I am just thrilled to be moving on to February. Not only because we don't have any parties to plan or big vacations to take, and not only because Lost starts up again tomorrow... but Valentine's Day is coming up and I just love Valentine's Day! Call me a sap or mushy or gooshy - whatever! I want to make it special this year because Benjamin is older and can enjoy a special day with us!

Check out Benjamin from last year early February:



He's a little bigger now, don't you think?



ANYWAY: It's also a New Not Me! Monday! Get excited!



I certainly did not spend a good half hour on my hands and knees with a magic eraser scrubbing my kitchen floors this morning. Why in the world would I need a [heavy duty] magic eraser to clean my kitchen floor? A mop and bucket with some pinesol works just fine. There is no need to scrub so hard that my hand cramps up and my knees ache. Especially not when I'm feeling sick anyway. You know me, my kitchen is always clean... perfectly spotless!



On a different note, I did not forget diapers yesterday while heading out the door for church (which lasts 3 hours in the morning). I was absolutely surprised when Benjamin pooped a massive pooped. I mean, he never poops in the morning! It's not like I had any reason to prepare for such an event. I did not go into a brief panic mode until I remembered the rogue diaper left in the backseat of the car (clean, mind you). Oh, and I didn't forget wipes, either. I didn't use Boogie Wipes on my son's bottom. Nope, not me!

I'm also not still cleaning up from Benjamin's birthday party which was 2 Saturdays ago. I am so on top of things.

So, ahem, what didn't you do lately? Head over to MckMama's blog to grab your Not Me! Monday stuff!

Give Me Your Best Shot - I take too many pictures...

It is really hard for me to choose favorites from this week. I took so many pictures - really, I can't even believe how many I ended up taking! - and so many of them were good! But I am going to try to narrow it down! Here are the highlights:

1. Benjamin Ate Bananas
And I mean, a lot of Bananas!





2. We were goofy with Mariah





3. I didn't edit pictures.






4. Ben almost ate a leaf.





5. Benjamin and Mariah drank juice together, and it was cute.




6. Ben wore his sunnies.






And I'm going to stop there. I think it is safe to say I have some sort of camera obsession. Is there a 12-step program for that?