my kind of random.

this is my past week in pictures.

I got my review copy of Jem and The Holograms!  Seriously.  Be jealous.  Van and I had a moment, and I sang along to all the songs...just like the good ol' days.  Does it feel like EVERYTHING has now made it come back?  I mean Carebears, Smurf's, Rainbow Brite, My Little Pony...what else!? There can't be anything left.

In our quest to find new places to eat we found this little delightful thing...although I am not a huge fan of Mo' Bettah Steaks food, the shaved ice is TOP NOTCH.

My chub rub finally got the better of these pants, and I promptly went on a diet the next day...

I am trying to find new ways to entertain little Hulk {his newest nickname} during the day while Van is away.  We have started doing story time at Barnes and Noble, gone to the Dino Museum, and with our new playgrounds in our neighborhood going in...we are excited to start going there a lot.

One night I told Van she could stay up past her early bedtime...10 minutes later, I found this...

 It is that time of year that I really look forward to...all things orange and black!

Van's BIG news this week, she lost her other front tooth. She is darn proud of it!

I have decided that we need to soak up all the rays of sun we can before Winter sets in.  Of course we do this while drinking a Mickey D's Coke.

This is the kind of thing that happens when I have a huge migraine, but they had loads of fun!  Hulk can even play a mean game of Connect Four. :)

Happy Monday!

18 months.

Still can't believe that the DEVINator is 18 months old.  I decided to share a few fun facts about him, because well...it's my blog, and I don't want to forget.

So on with the show...

Our Vin is the BIGGEST Momma's boy on the planet.  Which can make things a bit interesting.  He will sit outside the bathroom door while I do my business, occassionally knocking to make sure I am still in there.  It is like Christmas when I finally come back out.

Our Vin loves anything and everything that comes out of Vannah's room.  He can be found wearing bracelets, carrying a purse, wearing Momma's shoes, and begging for lip gloss 99% of the time.

Vin is shy.  He warms up quick, and becomes the entertainer that our little family knows and loves.

Vin is our dare devil, and likes to push the limits.  When he gets hurt he recovers quickly...thank goodness.

Vin can spot a balloon from miles away, and point and yells for everyone to notice.  He is a lover of balls, clothes, and dancing.

Vin has been a blast getting to know, and although he likes to test our patience...we sure do love him.

fiber one bars.

I promised Paul that I wouldn't talk about poop on my blog after these funny stories I shared.  After much debate, I made him compromise for this post.

You see, I said I wanted to review Fiber One bars...it was a huge mistake.   Not because they don't taste good, because I really like them.  I just don't like what they do to me, or my children, or anyone that is around me for that matter.

Maybe they work a little too well...if you catch my drift.

I have now made it my mission to find someone that doesn't get explosive diarrhea or gas that can clear a room from these things!

Speak up my fellow friends...what do Fiber One bars do to you?

Disclosure: My Blog Spark sent me a box of Fiber One bars to give my honest opinion about said product.  After this post they may never let me review another thing...

Back to School Party!

Van is always begging to have parties, and I am always trying to talk her out of them.  Yep, I am the party pooper Mom.  If I am being 100% honest, it gives me anxiety.  I don't know why, but every time I think of a party at our house the next things that come to my mind are...

Will people show up?
Will they have fun?
What if, what if, what if?!

So a month or so ago Cheerios sent me an email asking if we would have a breakfast bash at our house and invite people!  I still don't know how I even got talked into saying yes, but I did. 

With Cheerios on my mind, and back to school...we came up with this theme...

Bumble Bee Back to School Backyard Brunch!



So here are the details...

Where: Our backyard.

When: On a Saturday morning when everyone could come to breakfast!

Who: Our friends that were ready to party!

Everyone was told to wear bumble bee colors, and Cheerios provided antennas!  It was so exciting to watch all of our guests arrive all decked out!

We played games like musical chairs, Bumble Bee-Bumble Bee-Cheerio!, and pin the bee on the nose.

{Jessica, Jerilee, ME, and Vanessa}

Guess what? People showed up, it was fun, and we all survived! I realized I am still not completely cut out for all this party stuff, but I will let down my guard every now and again...and let Van have a party!

AND this could be the start of a really fun back to school tradition!

Disclosure: Cheerios gave me party supplies, a gift card, and a huge supply of cereal...but guess what?  All the cute friends are ours, and they didn't tell me I even had to blog about it, I did that all on my own.

no better place.

This morning Vin decided to throw a wrench into our morning schedule by waking up about 2 hours too early.  About the same time I had managed to snuggle him back to sleep, the alarm named Daddy woke us up. 

Paul usually misses the whole morning routine, and after this morning...I don't think he feels like he misses much.  It was a lot of Vin crying, Van taking her sweet time to get dressed and ready, and did I mention Vin crying A LOT!?  Yeah it was a rocky Friday morning...but I am here to tell about it.

After things had calmed down Paul said to me..."So, do you like this staying home stuff?"

I did not even hesitate when I said I would not want to be any other place...and I really mean it.

operation snail mail

Who doesn't love getting a little something in the mail that isn't a bill!? Van especially loves getting anything in the mail, even when it is just junk mail.

At the beginning of Summer, Van was sad about getting no mail...complaining "why Momma does nobody send me anything in the mail?"  I told her she had to mail things out to get something in return, you can't just expect it.  That was where the beginning of "Operation Snail Mail" began.

We started sending mail to Alice in Wonderland, Grandparents, our Missionary, and all the people close to us.  I had decided we would start with a goal of 5 letters/packages a week.  After a couple of weeks, Van was wanting to send stuff to more people...not just the same people over and over.

I updated my status on Facebook that the first 25 people to comment would get something in the mail from us.  The response was awesome.  We got A.LOT. more than 25 people wanting to be apart of our operation snail mail.

We have been doing this for a few months now.  I still try to keep our goal of 5 letters/packages a week.  We have yet to get through all the people that have sent us their address...but we are still working on it, and I hope that we will always have new friends to mail a surprise to.

It has been such a fun project for us to do. Every day I think about a certain package I mailed out hoping it arrives and makes someone's day...because that is what Operation Snail Mail is all about.

You can find me tweeting with the hashtag #lostinservice...lovingly created by my friend Lindsey, because one night I got lost trying to deliver a little something to her house. :)

What fun service projects have you done?  Do you want to be added to our list...send me an email sellpartyof {at} gmail.

zhuzhu babies {review and giveaway}

Remember a couple of years ago at Christmas time the Zhuzhu pets were all the rage?  They were flying off the shelves, and people were going from store to store just to see if they could get their hands on some.

Zhuzhu pets in our house have been popular ever since.  Maybe it has something to do with Van having an slight obsession with rodents, but Vin loves them just as much.  When those little pets take off on the tile, Vin does a little jig with excitement...and should I tell you what happens when Van tries to take them away from Vin?  It isn't pretty, I will leave it at that.
When we heard about Zhuzhu babies we knew we had to get some for our house.  Van is my child with the endless imagination, and loves to create families with her "pets".  She has been known to go in her room and not come out for hours, because she is so caught up playing pretend.  I love this about her, and wish I could bottle it up.

After getting our fun box of Zhuzhu stuff it was clear why Van would would love these little babies...

They sell clothes for Zhuzhu babies!!!  Oh man, give Van accessories and she will love it forever. 

I think it is pretty clear how we feel about Zhuzhu pets and babies.  Van definitely gives this her stamp of approval.  I am excited that it is her birthday coming up, because I already know that we will be adding to her collection of babies and accessories.

Want a Zhuzhu baby of your very own?  I am giving one away, and I think you might just score brownie points with your kid if you win.

Comment on this post, and that is all folks.

Giveaway will end September 20th...Midnight.

Full disclosure:  I was given a Zhuzhu stuff to review, but we were already big fans...making this the easiest review to write!

my relationship with the internet.

Do you ever feel like the internet has ruined relationships just as much as it has helped them?

I am always having this inner conflict with the internet.  There are so many reasons to love it, and just as many for me to hate it.

The other night I made my blog private, invites were sent and everything.  {sidenote: my Sista instantly called to ask me what was wrong, and I love her for that!} I once deleted my Facebook.  Then there is Twitter, I can take that or leave it anyday.

What ever happened to "catching up" with someone via the telephone or actually stopping by in person to see someone?  I feel like we don't think of this often enough, because maybe we read a friends Twitter stream, Facebook updates, and a few blog posts...and well, you know what is going on with them. 

I feel like my life is much more than what I put on the internet.  I also know that some of my friends are hurting, and guess what...they aren't putting that stuff on the internet.  They are quietly suffering by themselves, and maybe even hoping someone reaches out to them.

This post has been circling around the internet, and I feel like everyone needs to read it.  It was life changing for me.

Every day I think of what my sign would say...most days it would say...

I am feeling left out.

What would your sign say?

today is wednesday.

Yesterday I was confused.

Yesterday I thought it was Wednesday.

Turns out today is Wednesday.

I sent not 1, but 2 messages to Vanessa wishing her little Kindergartener good luck...because ya know she started school on Wednesday.

I sent a text to Paul telling him it was my late night at work...because Wednesday I work late.

I wore my grubby clothes to work, because on Wednesday I work in the warehouse.

Can I tell you I was slightly drugged from some dental work?!  Still am, maybe I shouldn't be blogging.

Why does it feel like I am reliving Wednesday today...oh, maybe because today actually is Wednesday.

Happy Wednesday friends.

all things vintage and thrifted.

It appears if you have something vintage or thrifted, you are now in the "cool kid club".  In an effort to figure out why this is so cool, I went and tried my hand in thrifting.

I went in with an open mind, my camera in case of funnies, and a good friend to laugh with.

I was determined to buy something just so when I did this blog post, I could type a little caption below a picture that says "glass cup: thrifted" or when someone asks me where I got it...I can say "oh, that piece...it's thrifted!"  Then I will be in the "cool kid club" for sure. Right?

The color scheme in my house actually goes pretty well with all that old 70's garbage or what the cool kids are calling vintage...so it was easy to find lots that wouldn't look out of place in my house.

I had this idea that I could buy some little bowls/cups for my nightstand, or dresser. Then at night I can just throw my bobby pins, rings, or whatever in it.

My friend and I instantly fell in love with this little gem...

{glass cup: thrifted.  place of purchase is being withheld}

It was 50 cents, how could I go wrong.   I mean a soda where I work is more than that.

When we went over to what this store was calling the "collectible" case, I saw this same cup for $20.  I decided I either just really scored something special, or someone is trying to seriously screw people over by making them think it is worth $20 by putting in a special "collectible" case.  We will never know.

So what do I think about thrifting? I can honestly say I am okay with not being in the thrifting club. I never felt comfortable being in the "in crowd" anyway.  I am perfectly content to buy new.  At least I can say I tried, and it just isn't my thing.

My next adventure is to paint something turquoise.  What? Everybody is doing it...

ooozing with happiness.

Not only did Van get a new schedule, we all did.

We wake up to alarms, we eat breakfast before the sun comes up, and we are out the door to greet our neighbor Billy Bob while most of us are still in our pj's.  Paul has been working endless hours, while I stay home and tend to our children...it almost feels like we are the model Mormon family. {insert eye roll here!}

It feels oh so good.  Paul mentioned to me yesterday that I seem really happy...because I am.  This is my perfection.

While I still work, it is so little I feel slightly guilty.  I had forgotten what it feels like to have alone time while a baby naps...man, you can really get stuff done.

Our house has never been cleaner, and yes I did have a little help from Ecomaids to start me off on the right foot...but laundry baskets are empty, things are not finger printed with little baby hands, and our beds get made!

AND can you believe I have been able to take Van to Tae Kwon Do twice just this week...that has never happened.

So from here on out, you can find me on Cloud 9...where I will be playing happily.