Can't believe I'm going to post this!

I love reading the blog/website MoneySavingMom.  She always has good deals, coupons, and home management tips. She is currently doing a series on organizing, cleaning, and purging your home. Crystal has posted an assignment every day and then at the end of the day, she posts her pictures of her clean-up process.

I finally decided to join in on today's assignment, complete with pictures.  I plan to go back and do all the other assignments as well. She started this series right after I came home from the hospital with Jacob, so I was on light duty for a while due to my c-section. Now that I'm feeling back to normal, I hope to do more of these tasks...and post my pictures for motivation/accountability!

So today's assignment was to clean out closets. With a newborn on an every-two-hours-chow-fest, I only got one closet done, but I'm motivated to do the rest.

I cannot believe I'm going to post this, but here goes.

This is my coat closet by the front door. As you can see, it tends to accumulate shoes and coats.

I started out with the coats. I left some in the closet, but pulled others to go in the back closet because they aren't worn as often, or to put in our closet because that's their proper spot.  Then I pulled everything out of the bottom of the closet.  There were 15 pairs of shoes in the bottom of the closet!  Also plenty of dirt, dust, etc and a bunch of hangers.

I put the shoes into pairs so I could easily see what was in there. I found a pair of flip flops and sandals I had been looking for, as well as a little pair belonging to my son. I also found shoes I thought I had gotten rid of a long time ago...not so much, as they were on the bottom of the pile.

MoneySavingMom also asks that you find at least 7 things to get rid of. So here's picture proof! I got rid of all the wire hangers, a few plastic ones that had broken, a mesh bag of some sort, the two pair of shoes I thought were already gone, and 3 pairs of steel toe boots that we used to use at the fire station. (For those of you who don't know, Buddy and I volunteer at our local station!)  When Buddy got home from work, he also purged 2 more pairs of boots, but those didn't make it into my picture. 

Finally, I swept out the closet. Then I got down on my hands and knees with some cleanser and hand-mopped the closet floor. Then I hung up the coats so all the hangers were facing the same way (pet peeve) and put the shoes we were keeping back into our closet where they belong.  And the closet has become the new home of our vacuum, rather than keeping it in the garage.

Much Better!

Hunting Eggs at Home

We missed out on the annual Easter Egg hunt with our Sunday School class this year. It was held the day after I brought Jacob home from the hospital. With my pain and discomfort, as well as all the grandparents visiting that day, we opted to stay home.  But on Easter Sunday, while Quinn napped, we hid eggs for him to find in our front yard. Wasn't as much fun as it always is with our church group, but it will do for this year. And next year, both boys will get to hunt eggs!

Geocaching With Quinn

With all the newness of baby Jacob over the past few weeks, we decided to do something fun with Quinn for the day.  He loved it a few months ago when we went Geocaching after our church had a big adventure. But those times he stayed in the car while Buddy and I searched parking lots for the "treasure". When we found them we brought them to the car for Quinn to see.

This time, we wanted Quinn to have part of the adventure too.

Buddy has downloaded the Geocache app to his phone, so he can always tell when one is nearby. He had noticed that a local park had several, so we went there one nice Sunday afternoon.  After a short hike through the woods (and yes, Jacob was there too...riding in high style in the Baby Bjorn), we found the treasure!  Quinn was convinced that Captain Hook had hidden the treasure and we needed to find the gold doubloons. He's a fan of Jake and the Neverland Pirates on Disney, can ya tell?

We had a great time, went on a nice hike, and actually saw 4 deer as we were hiking out!  Can't wait to go on another adventure with my 3 boys!!

But the biggest kick I ever got, was this thing called Crocodile Rock!

We were shopping the other day and Quinn asked to try on some sunglasses. Buddy and I weren't paying attention to what he picked out, but told him he could. He came around the corner, and you can see why we had to take a picture.

Channeling his inner Elton John?

Or is it because I've been watching "The Voice" on NBC and he saw the glasses and thought of Cee Lo Green?

Either way, he keeps us laughing!!

(Thanks Google Images!!)

Welcome Baby Jacob!

On March 27th, we welcomed our newest son into our lives. Jacob was born at exactly 10am and was my "sumo wrestler" baby, weighing in at over 8 pounds. Considering Quinn was in the 7 pound range and then lost ten percent in the hospital, Jacob seemed so much chunkier!

And before we could even leave the hospital, Jacob was sporting his first Clemson shirt.  This shirt was actually sent to me by a blog "friend", who I've never met in real life, but grew up not far from Clemson. This onesie belonged to her son, and she mailed it to me for Jacob to use.  Thanks so much, Megan, aka Fried Okra!!

It was so precious to see my boys meeting each other for the first time.  Quinn has been calling the baby "My little Jacob", and already seems so protective of him. When Jacob cries, Quinn lets me know.  He even suggests "solutions" to the crying....Jacob needs a new diaper, Jacob needs milk, Can I sing a song to Jacob?  It is very special to watch these brothers bond.

I am so glad to have two precious, healthy boys and so glad that God chose me to be their Mommy!  I am so blessed....my heart is overflowing.  I confess, I wondered how I would be able to love two children. My heart was so full with love for Quinn. I even joked with my doctor, if he would mind inserting an extra heart so I wouldn't have to share my one heart with both boys.  But somehow, it feels like my heart has grown!  No two boys were ever loved more!

Welcome to the world Baby Jacob!

Getting Ready for Baby Jacob

A couple of weeks ago, we started getting the nursery ready for Baby Jacob's arrival.  I saved almost EVERYTHING from when Quinn was a baby, so most of what we had to do involved going into the attic and getting things down.

I decided to use the same bedding ensemble, which eliminated the need to repaint the room.

The only new thing we had to do was put Jacob's name on the wall.  I painted the letters the same color I used for Quinn's name.  Buddy and I were in the midst of getting them hung on the wall when we heard Quinn ask what we were doing. We told him and he said "I'll be right back." He ran out and came back with his toy hammer because he wanted to do this:

Quinn couldn't quite figure out why his plastic hammer wasn't getting the nails hammered in, but the idea that he wanted to help us was so sweet!  He is going to be one amazing big brother!  I cannot wait to see what he thinks of Baby Jacob, who will be here in about 3-4 weeks!!!

He's a Top Shot

Buddy loves to watch the show Top Shot on the History Channel.  It's a reality-TV/game show/shooting competition.  This is one of his shows that I don't mind watching at all. The host of the show is Super Cute Colby who was on several seasons of Survivor (another of our favorite shows).  It combines my favorites...reality TV and game show....with Buddy's favorite...guns and lots of explosions.

Quinn has become a fan of the show himself!  He loves to watch "Shot Shot".  We got him some toy guns for his 3rd birthday...fake revolvers with a holster and a fake shot gun. When the show comes on, he goes and gets his guns. He watches to see which type of gun they are using that week on the show, and then he picks one of his guns to use too. If they lay down to shoot, he lays down to shoot. If they stand up, he stands up.  He totally mimics whatever the players are doing. And if they hit the target, he thinks his "shooting" made the target explode!

I caught him playing Shot Shot the other day!

And then the next week, he asked his daddy to play with him....Buddy is a good sport!

I love these boys, and if watching a gun show will bring us closer, then so be it!