They clean up nicely...

...Every once in a while!
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Cutest TJ ever!

Here is Isaac as Thomas Jefferson, our 3rd president. He has discovered that he has a lot in common with Jefferson, such as the fact that they were both born in Virginia in April. They both share a love for hiking in the woods, reading, and collecting things.
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Land Ho!

Ian and Isaac are busy working on presentations for their History Alive program on Saturday. Ian has chosen to appear as Christopher Columbus. We're learning a lot of interesting facts about him--including that he was taken back to Spain as a prisoner at one point for his mistreatment of the Indians. He went to his grave believing he had simply found a west-ward passage to the Indies. In reality, he found a whole new world!
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Morning Glory (winter style)

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...And then this one came in my house!

This was his "smile" for the camera. I think his face is so frozen that this is the best he can do!
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I found the cutest little snowman in my front yard!....

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...And then this one came in my house!

This was his "smile" for the camera. I think his face is so frozen that this is the best he can do!
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There's no business like SNOW business!

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Good Quote

“Our anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, but only empties today of its strength” -Spurgeon

Betcha didn't know there was a zipline at Grammy's!

Ian has spent the afternoon dreaming up this lego zipline. Looks like fun! Can I try?!?
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Random thoughts and recommendations

Product recommendations:
1. Butter Pecan cake mix (by Betty Crocker)
2. Butter cream icing, for #1
3. Caramel Bugles. The perfect sweet and salty combination. Enough said.

Sometimes Isaac is too smart for MY own good. Tonight I let the boys fill up little bags of Jelly Belly's at the store. When we got home, I of course planned to sequester them up nice and high where it would take parental permission to obtain. Isaac, foreseeing this tragedy, cleverly removed some of the jelly beans from his bag, put them in a ziploc bag, and hid them in a lower cupboard. He wisely left some in the bag so I wouldn't notice his bag missing. Unfortunately for him, I found them in the cake pans while baking #1.

Maybe I should hide the cake from myself!

Bunk Buddies

When we moved to Ohio, the boys' bunk beds moved to Aunt Susan's to help house all the boys when they spend the night there. Today Ian and Isaac got their long promised replacements! They're sure to have sweet dreams under their new down comforters--on clearance for $15 at Target!!! Now let's see if Isaac will actually be able to fall asleep without his brother snuggled next to him. They had a twin over full before and usually slept together on the bottom...
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Breathtaking Beauty

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Out with the old...

The mudroom turned out so nicely, I thought I'd sweep the bathroom.

Just kidding!

Thought the boys better start the new year with a little less hair!
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Too much Sake!

They're running around the house with spatulas and knives. So far I've lost one egg. That's what I get for literally just turning my back for a moment!
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We've been doing a lot of house decorating this week!

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My "quiet place"

This quilt was made for me by a friend in Greenville and is signed on the back by all of my precious Calvary Chapel of Greenville "family". It's a precious reminder of their love and prayers for us. Deborah simply asked me what colors I had in my bedroom and somehow the fabrics she chose match my tones of my bedding perfectly! What a treasure!
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My "happy place"

There's an odd mix on my dining room table tonight--the cordless DeWalt, drill bits, tealight candles, and scraps of grossgrain ribbons. But don't you agree with me that the mess is worth this end result?!? It turned out just perfectly! Girly doo-dads on my walls. Yeah!
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This is another one of those "perfection" shots...

I guess I should sweep the mudroom more often! This pile's closest competitor lies a few feet away in the dining room. Ok, back to cleaning now!
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Isaac's new toy

Seems to fit his personality just right! Wish they made one in my size--it looks like super cool, 360 degree fun!!!
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All in a day's work...

...Much to the neglect of my housework. But it's way more fun to build Legos with my two favorite guys!
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Two gifts that brought tears to my eyes

How I will treasure these always! My mom helped my boys create these for me. Ian learned to cross stitch and worked on this bookmark so diligently while staying at my parents' last week. Then Isaac used plastic canvas to create his cross bookmark this week. They did an amazing job and really surprised me! Thank you, sons! I'm proud to be your mama! I love you more than you'll ever know, Ian and Isaac.
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Some kind of nasty bug's got us down...

But hopefully not for long!

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Perfection nonsense

Is it just me? Am I the only person not living a perfectly choreographed, painstakingly organized, poshly decorated, and professionally photographed existence?

Ok, I'll confess, I have a few favorite blogs I enjoy reading. It's my "adult conversation" in this empty house after the boys are in bed. But after a week of my internet being down and then feeling like I needed to "catch up" on all my "friends", I felt like I overdosed on blogs a bit. After peeking in on the pretty parts of people's lives (let's face it, that's what we put out there for everyone to see), I had to chuckle when I opened my fridge to see this mess!

It instantly took my mind to two bloggers' recent refrigerator posts--one in which the author was given an amazing new state-of-the-art fridge and another in which a different author was extolling the virtues of her fridge organizing skills--everything neatly tucked into sleek tupperware storage beauties.

Let's just say, that is SO not my life right now! Here you'll find two week old chicken leftovers, groceries still in the bags hastily tossed in to stay cold between grocery shopping and a quick trip to the library, and containers of creamer balancing sideways.

Enjoy!

And for all of you who used to think I was a perfectionist--NOT!
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