going MIA.

today start's 'girls plus dustin' weekend. woo hoo.

so i'll be MIA until at least monday. :0)

pray for great weather and great fun. and that i don't miss shaun too much. ;0)

see you when i get back. :0)

enough :0) already.....lol.

win a free oil!!

yep. another giveaway!! this time it's over at malissa's blog. you get to pick out your very own favorite flavor of wildtree grapeseed oil. from of course, yours truly!! :0) so head on over and enter that!!

i love the grapeseed oil! my favorite is the butter oil by far. i use it for/in almost everything. did you know grapeseed oil is the healthiest oil you can cook with? and it has the highest flashpoint of 419 degrees!!

as long as i am on the wildtree tangent. i wanted to be sure to also let you know that you pay 7.00 for a jar of taco seasoning....BUT it is for way more than ONE meal of tacos!! you only use five tablespoons (more or less depending on YOUR taste) of a THREE OUNCE jar. when you make the tacos. it actually works out to be about .34 cents per serving. did you know that is EXACTALLY the same amount per serving of the stuff you buy in the store. BUT it's healthier for you. because unlike the stuff in the store wildtree has NO preservatives.

i also want to let you know that ALL of wildtree's products are peanut free. the products are also made in a facility where NO PEANUTS OR TREE NUTS are allowed. so if you have or know someone who has a peanut allergy...ALL of our prodcuts are safe for that!

i just think this is great. we also have a ton of gluten free products. there are products with little sodium and no sodium as well as little sugar and no sugar. it's so nice to have the opportunity to offer such great products to my friends and family!!

i'm also excited to tell you all that there are new fall products being released on august 15th. i'm SO stoked about them!! three of them are skillet meal seasonings. ((mexican, cheese & herb, and stroganoff)) i'm 'thinking' they're like hamburger helper-ish...but without all the preservatives and yuck. i for one. LOVE hamburger helper. shaun...not so much. so we never have it. i'm hoping this stuff is super yummy and we can eat it!! i will be getting my new fall mini-catalogs and new fall sampler products hopefully this week sometime!! so PLEASE consider inviting over a few friends and myself...then i can share them all with you. of course travel is a bit of an issue if you're way outside my area. but i can and will send you some books and samples to make. so you can still have some friends over...i just don't get to come. :0( unless i can write it off as a business expense...hmmmm....

i have a wildtree party tonight. last night i went to an arbonne party my friend had. and i booked a wildtree party there too!! actually the girl is going to do an arbonne and wildtree party together. so her friends get to soak their feet and eat!! doesn't that sound fun? i think so. i also think it was so cool to have booked a party when i wasn't even 'trying' to. i also got to share my business card with another girl there. so fun!!

i think that's enough of the wildtree huh? sorry to overwhelm you. i'm just SO excited.

i'm also excited. because tomorrow i get to go to the eye doctor. i have been out of contacts for awhile now. but since this weekend is girls weekend and we'll go swimming, i wanted some contacts. i'm pretty much blind without my glasses. no joke! so i'm excited to go to the eye doctor and be able to have the option of contacts again. i have been getting used to my glasses and feel okay in them. i used to feel like i looked like a slob when i wore them. mainly because i dressed like a 'slob' on the days i did wear them. funny how that coincides huh?

i watched my friends' two girls yesterday as well. it was crazy fun for a few hours at our house! I had SIX kids under FOUR all here. my sister came for the last half hour or so. they all had a lot of fun. and it helped that caitlyn slept for most of the time. it also makes me realize...i could easily have more kiddos...i know it's not easy all the time. but i just love the 'controlled chaos'. i really do. and i also think that not everyone feels that way. i think we're all our own bit of 'crazy'. and my 'crazy' is just wanting lots of little kiddos. i'll take it. :0)

so i suppose. i gave you lots of info on wildtree but not much else. sorry. but dustin wants his bottle and nap. and then it's off to play with amelya.

on a quick side note though...i was playing outside with the kiddos this morning and we got to see a really cool 'air show' EAA is going on this week, across the lake from us. and planes have always flown over in the past. but never three of them practicing a routine. it was SO neat. and FREE! even better right?

have a super fantastically great day!

a giveaway...

well. not on my blog. but on sneaky momma's blog she's giving away a wildtree hearty spaghetti sauce blend. which is really being given away by me. she reviewed it for me. and LOVED it. so go over there for your chance to win. all you have to do is comment!! so it's easy. and yummy. so perfect. go enter. now.

i really don't have much. i could tell you about our weekend. there isn't much to tell.

saturday we went grocery shopping. exciting. ooooooooooooooooooo aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. it was nice though because we travelled to appleton to go to woodman's. they have like twenty different kinds of one item. i was a bit irritated at my hubby when he told me i'm being brainwashed by organic stuff. i told him i was just looking. i'm not 'oh it has to be organic or i'll die'. i'm going to die either way. i just like some of the varieties the organic selection has. i found these really yummy blue corn/flax seed organic chips at target. and some super yummy flax seed cracker things at woodman's. they're good. and good for you. and i try to get breigh to eat them to help with her pooping issues. shaun apologized for the organic brainwashing comment and we went on our merry way. at the checkout we always try to guess the total. i won. i was ten dollars UNDER. he was FIFTY dollars OVER!

sunday we went to church. and we went to the park to play. to walmart to buy a few things that we didn't get at woodman's. and then we came home. not our original plans for the day at all. but it's what we did. and it's all i feel like getting into right now.

today is a super busy day! we have mom's group this morning and then dustin has his 9 month check up. i still am in disbelief that he is nine months old. his second tooth is coming in. i hope. he's been up early again the past two days. and fussy and chewing on his finger. he is by far the 'worst' teether. as in...he gets the fussiest and has taken the looooooooooooooooongest to pop out the tooth. but he's still manageable. so that's good. lol.

i have a lot on my mind today. i can't really put it all into words right now. so please just keep it in prayer if you feel so led. it's personal stuff, family stuff, just stuff stuff. thanks.

this week is super busy as well. tomorrow a friend is having an arbonne party that i'm going to. on wednesday i have a wildtree party to do. thursday i have to close a wildtree party. and friday we're going to my mom's camper for girls weekend. my mom's sisters and my sister and my four kiddos go. so this year it's girls and dustin weekend. :0) i figure next year if shaun isn't working dustin could stay home with him. this year shaun works. actually he always ends up working girls weekend. which is kind of nice. because then i know he's busy and i don't miss him as much. but i always end up missing him a lot. but i also think that's good. i don't want to be excited to be away from my husband for an entire weekend. that's a LONG time!! i haven't decided if i'm coming home saturday night or early sunday morning for church. we'll have to see what works out. i hate driving at night. so i'm thinking it'll be early sunday morning. which will mean more of a pain and work for me. but oh well.

my wildtree party on friday night went well. i was excited because it was in town so not too far to drive. she had two people book. one for september and one for later on. so that's good. but i didn't get the bookings i wanted for august. lol. it was my goal to book a party for august. failed that one. but at least i got some bookings. my business has been doing very well. i'm on track to hit around 1500 for the month. whoo hoo. if anyone is interested in doing a show for august let me know! i'd love to help you earn FREE food!! if you don't live around here...i'll send you some books and samples to do a book party. you still earn the food you just don't get my rambling along with it. :0) seriously though. let me know.

okay. enough. i have to go get ready for the day. dustin seemed to think before seven was a fine time to wake up. so it was an early day at our house.

you want proof?!?

i'm baaaack. ;0) let me tell you though. today is a day you want me back. i had a blog post all written in my head for the other day. but you wouldn't have like reading it. in fact i didn't put it all out because it was just too...i don't know. crummy. not that you can't see me in a crummy mood. i just didn't want to be miss negative nelly. who was way just negative nelly. i'll share a bit of it. but also the proof that god can see you through it all.

the past few weeks have been crazy. i've been an emotional mess. i yelled at my kids way too much, for things they didn't need to be yelled at for. i snapped at shaun. i didn't like myself too much. and i probably seemed pretty distant to a lot of people who i shouldn't. even you guys.

usually i am a FANTASTIC!! pretender. i can smile when i feel like bawling and you may not even know. i can be 'happy' but not really be happy. that is the one thing i truly dislike about myself. sometimes i don't even realize i'm doing it but i am. grrr.

so the past two weeks have been an emotional ride. crying. hiding. crying. smiling. because i did smile too. there were ups and downs. but a lot of downs. i was in a way too dark of place. this weekend was the darkest of all. sunday was my breaking point. i had children's church. and that went well. we actually made 'god's mailbox'. i was a bit bummed because the one little boy who asked me about it, wasn't able to be at church this week. we decorated it all together and i explained to them that god sees everything. but sometimes we want to have something special for god that we don't want others to see. and now we have a mailbox to put it in for him. they all loved making it! after church we fellowshipped. it was in the midst of all the fellowship that my emotions really came to surface. and i left church feeling like a bad sister, a bad wife and a bad friend. my sweet friend could read it though. and she knew i just needed to get out for a bit. so she had something to give me in her car and we walked up front to the cars. i needed that, basically because i needed the cry. and even more so the hug. so thanks chantae.

after church shaun and i got to talk a bit too. and i told him how i was feeling about stuff. we didn't argue at all. there was nothing to argue about. but we talked and i felt a bit better. and i got to share with him some other stuff i had been holding in and couldn't. much less SHOULD'NT!

i'm not saying that miraculously helped me. in fact monday was about the same. but i did something on monday that i should've done a few months ago.

for those of you who don't know my sister is pregnant. she is due about two weeks before i was to be due. as she's starting to pop out her belly it's been hitting me how hard it really is to lose a baby and have someone so close in your family having one. i tried to hide it. mainly because i do not want her to feel like she has to hide anything either. it's not anyone's fault that she gets to have her baby and i did not. (well at least in the way i was expecting) it wasn't that i wanted to feel that way. i didn't. but i couldn't bring myself to ask her anything either. i didn't mind knowing things, but it was hard for me to open up some conversation. on monday amy invited me to her ultrasound for tuesday. and shared with me how she knew that i may not come because it'd be too hard or sad. but that she would love it if i did come, and understood if i could not.

so i was able to email her back and share my heart with her too. i choose to not go to the ultrasound. partly because i didn't know if i could do it. and mainly because i didn't want to have to haul all four kids along in the small room either. the ultrasound went pretty good for them. except the stubborn little baby wouldn't show it's face for anything. they did not find out what they were having.

monday i took the kiddos to the mall. it was time for my 'jewelry check-up' at zales. so we ran our errands first and then they get to play. at target i was so blessed by the lady checking me out. she said the sweetest things to me. how i was doing such a great job! and how well behaved my kids were. it is SO nice to hear sweet things.

then i took the kiddos to the bathroom. the cleaning lady was waiting for me to get out of the bathroom so she could clean it. as i got them all situated in the 'waiting' area she was 'resting' on the couch watching me. and then asked:

cl: what are they two sets of twins?

m: no. (with a smile) they're just all about a year apart.

cl: you're kidding me.

m: nope. (again smiling!)

cl: (as i continued to get ready. and all the kids were behaving) well i sure hope you think you're done!

m: ( i looked at her, so taken aback! i couldn't believe what i had just heard) no. i don't think so.

cl: what? are you expecting again?

m: no, but we're trying. we actually just miscarried a baby in may. so we're trying again. (trying to smile the best i could!)

cl: you're even crazier than i am. (and she went on her merry way to clean the bathrooms)

i was appalled. and hurt. so hurt. i took the kids to the play land and held it together the best i could. tears fell. and i just could not believe it. maybe she didn't mean it to be rude and hurtful. but it so was.

so when i left the mall. we came home. i got the mail.

this is where the proof comes in. proof prayer works. first off i've been praying to just 'get over' this rollercoaster ride. and at church my mother in law said she'd pray over my wildtree business for online orders.

so i opened the mail box. and i had the sweetest most beautiful message in a card from the most sweetest most beautiful friend. in her card this is what she wrote. :just because we weather through our storms with God by our side. all.the.time!: sweet. simple and to the point. and it spoke straight to my heart. in the card there was also a little metal charm with a cool saying on it. and then this poem on a piece of paper:

The Tiny Rosebud
The Master Gardener from Heaven above
Planted a seed in the garden of love
And from it gew a rosebud small
That never had time to open at all
For God in His perfect and all wise way
Chose this rose for His heavenly bouquet
So think of your darling with the angels above
Secure and contented and surrounded by love
And remember that God blessed and enriched your lives too
For in dying, your darling brought Heaven closer to you.
~authour unknown~

i bawled. when i read this. but it fit so perfect. my little angel babies are in heaven. they're with their savior. they beat me home. and this little note brought me so much peace. in fact when i read this i don't cry anymore, but smile. knowing it's so very true!

when i got home i checked out my wildtree site too. do you know that i had an order!! from another blogging friend. an online order the day after someone said they'd pray for it! ahhh. how awesome how god works.

so you see. prayer does work. i had a ton of proof in just ONE day. prayer doesn't always work in one day. it all works in god's timing. but god timely chose my one day to answer a ton of prayers.

since monday the light has gotten brighter. because even though i was going through a DARK time. there was always a glimpse of the light. the light of my savior guiding me through it and to him. he doesn't ever leave me or fail me. i kept plunging through the darkness and found the full bright light of my savior once again. being in a dark place is not fun. but i also think it's a growing time. i've grown and changed. and am thankful for the rollercoaster ride i've been on. god is good. doesn't matter. all the time.

so i keep on keeping on. in this somehow new found peace i have. it's a peace that i do not understand. and that's how i know it's from the lord.

in other news...dustin was nine months old yesterday!! i took some pictures, but haven't gotten them on the computer yet. seriously NINE months already. ahhh. he has also decided to start sleeping til six. well for at least the past two mornings. which makes this tired mommy...HAPPY! i'm praying for repeat performances. he's also eating all table foods. he hasn't eaten a jar of baby food in months. he LOVES chicken. and mum-mum rice rusks. and pretty much anything. he can feed himself really well too. so next up. sippy cup. and no more bottles. well i guess i have three months to get rid of the bottle. which should be no problem. the girls all transistioned to a sippy cup well before their first birthday.

amelya. well she's almost four and a half. well not almost. in september. but that's almost to me. i can't believe it!! we'll start a more structured school time this fall too. ahhhhhhhh it's becoming real. my baby is growing up.

caitlyn. she's been 'popp'ing right out of her shell. her personality is coming through every day. and her words. seriously. i can't get over how much she talks. yesterday she said french fries. not that we were eating any....lol.

breigh. went poopy on the toilet yesterday!! yay!! and then later she went in her diaper...ohh. but it's a start. i need to buckle down on the potty training thing. but when i'm not spending money buying diapers after diapers...i don't have as much incentive. i guess that could be a downside to cloth diapering...for me.

shaun. well he washed and dried his cell phone the other day. so i went to sprint to get him a new one yesterday. he's been doing well. working way too much. he got a paycheck this week. with 143 hours on it. for two weeks. that's just crazy! but this weekend he has off!! yay!! we don't really have any plans, but it's nice to have the weekend off!!

me. i'm doing good. and i mean that. i had a show this week. it went well. yay! i'll have over 1000 in sales for the month!! woo hoo!! and i have to close a few more shows.

wildtree. speaking of that. i'm also looking to book a few more shows for august! let me know if you're interested. by booking a show, as a thank you gift from me, when you have a show...you get to pick out your favorite oil for free!!

i think i've covered it. i've got a crabby toddler to tend to right now. so i'm off the computer. i may be back later, we're going to see a children's singer at the library today. so hopefully after that naps are involved.

and did you watch the video in my post below? if not i encourage you to. it's a worship song from church this week. :0)

all i have.

this is all i have for today. this video is from our church. it's a song of worship. one of my favorites. enjoy!

visit with a friend.

yay! yesterday was the 'big day' i got to meet jessica and her family. we went to the cutest little park. with the cutest little water fountain.

of course the two of us are pretty cute too. well at least our husbands would say so!

we also have eight very super cute children. just don't mind caitlyn. who was very unhappy about having to sit and look super cute. :0) btw these are eight cute children all under the age of 4 years and 364 days. ((jessica's son turned five today!))

we played on the swings. and had lots of fun.

we took a nice walk around the park and pond type thing. that's breigh pushing dustin. and on the other side of the bridge let the stroller go and he almost tipped on over. but thankfully jessica and amelya were there to stop him.

there was a fun little water fall thingy that the kids loved playing in!

even my caitlyn played in it. which i was surprised. she doesn't like being dirty!

jason and samuel watched on.

amelya and lela pose for a picture!

rose checks out the sand. and carried it in her skirt of course.

the girls all playing together.

the dads pushed the swings. and chatted.

dustin got some teething tricks and crawling/pulling up tricks from his new friend samuel.

awww. daddy and dustin bonded too.

we had such a nice time. and the time went by way too fast. it was like we had known each other our whole life. we talked and nothing was awkward. i was so thankful for that. shaun and jason talked A LOT! i was so blessed to see shaun talking to someone and having a nice conversation.

i feel bad sometimes for shaun because he doesn't have a lot of guy friends. so it was just so cool to see them chatting. shaun even said he had fun!! :0) now what do i need to do to get ya'll to move up to wisconsin?!?! it may take a lot. since jason thinks 62 degrees is COLD!! lol.

in other news. dustin is army crawling his way all over our house. and yesterday woke up with a TOOTH!! after literally MONTHS of teething. now if the other ones on the brink of breaking through would just come through!

my sister's wildtree party turned out super great! it ended up being over 600. yay!!

i got my hair cut today. my super sweet friend did it for me. and we even threw some hi-lights in. i'll have to have shaun take a picture of me later and show you all. shaun has his ten year class reunion this weekend, and i was hoping to look half way nice so it was way super nice to have a hair cut and some hi lights!!

tomorrow i get to go hang out with another blogging friend.

i just love all you new friends i've made! god has so richly blessed me!!

have a super greatly riched blessed day friends!!

bum genius review.

a few weeks ago i was blessed to be sent a super cute butternut colored bum genius diaper. i just get to review it for you all.

in one word. LOVE. as in love the diaper!!

i tried it out on all three kiddos. and only used the microfiber inserts that came with the diaper. i was so impressed!! they worked. no leaks. on all three kids. from dustin at eight months. caitlyn almost two and breigh at three. it fit them all perfectly!! and it absorbed perfectly.

i know now why my friend loves these diapers SO much!!

i also SO love that the buttons of the 'one size' fit are the color of the diaper. they blend in better and do not scream ONE SIZE DIAPER HERE!! plus there is a great selection of colors of diapers. so that's super great too!! if i wouldn't have a boy sharing the diapers, i so would've went with one of the pink ones!! if we have another baby and it's a she...i may have to break down and get her one. :0) but we all know i'm hoping for another 'he' baby. ;0)

the only 'downer' i see to this diaper is the velcro. at eight months dustin was pulling at it and could get it open. so i have to make sure the velcro is covered at all times. it also sticks to the carpet if he is not wearing any pants...which also can lead to a poo filled diaper being opened on the floor!! ahh! :0) i can handle this down side though and just don't use the diaper when i know dustin is going to be going 'pantless'.

over all i love these diapers. and am going to be saving up some money to buy a few more! i highly encourage YOU to try the diapers too!! :0)

thanks to margaret from bum genius for the great diaper and allen's naturally sample of soap. we love that soap!! :0)

what are you 'in'?

i know i know. super bad blogger. AGAIN. i guess it's my trend lately. :0) and it's okay. i'll continue to apologize for lacking in commenting. but know that i've been doing my best to keep up. :0)

we've been super busy. and it's been good. shaun's been working way too much as well. i know that i am very grateful that he HAS a job. i just wish he didn't have to work so much. on friday he worked his normal 12 hour day. then got called in at 11 at night because something broke. he didn't get home until 10 saturday morning. so it kind of shot our saturday. he slept most of the afternoon. which is good. sunday he made it home in time for church. but had to go in again after that. only for about an hour or so. but still. grrr. i guess what frustrates me the most is that he doesn't get paid overtime. because he works in 'agriculture' he doesn't have to be paid overtime. so it seems sometimes that it's a waste to work so much. you know? like take his last pay check. for TWO weeks of work: 136.75 hours. that's almost 69 hours per week. with no overtime pay. that kind of stinks. but oh well. like i said. i'm happy he HAS a job. and should learn to not complain. so i'm sorry.

at church on sunday i grabbed a couple CD sets of bob coy. he is a calvary chapel pastor in fort lauderdale. he's also very good. god totally spoke through him to me yesterday.

do you know how fast the fastest person can run? about 27 mph.
how fast can I go? well IN my car, even though i've never been THAT fast, i can go 120 mph.

how well can I fly? not very.
how well can I fly? well IN an airplane. i'd say pretty well.

how well can I go deep sea fishing? not very
how well can I go deep sea fishing? well IN a boat. i'd say pretty decent.

do you see a trend? it all matters what i am IN that makes me be able to do things.

how well of a mom am i? i'd say okay.
how well of a mom am i? well IN CHRIST i'm a great mom.

how well of a wife am i? okay.
how well of a wife am i? well IN CHRIST i'm a great wife.

how well of a friend am i? okay.
how well of a friend am i? well IN CHRIST i'm a great friend.

it's when i am 'out' of christ i'm not so good at things. that things seem harder. not as well accomplished. IN CHRIST. i can do ALL things. i can accomplish ALL things.

i just have to strive to stay IN him. it's a daily struggle for each one of us. we have the world temting and prodding us to do things 'their' way. it's a choice we have to follow and be IN christ.

so i ask you. what are you IN? i know it's a question i've been asking myself ALL day. and it's changed my attitude and my heart A LOT. and i've only been awake four hours!! (god totally blessed me with a late sleeping breigh today!!)

i have to keep this short, for me, today. i have a lot to get ready for my sister's wildtree party tonight!! she has for sure like EIGHT people coming. i'm totally stoked! if you're in our area and would like to come check it out just let me know and i can give you some directions. :0)

and i get to meet another blogger tomorrow!! i'm so excited!! jessica and her family have been on a road trip all summer (like 7000 miles round trip, road trip!!). well they just so happen to be coming through wisconsin tomorrow. so we're driving a few hours to meet up and play. i'm so stoked!!

and if anyone is interested in placing a wildtree order, you have til tomorrow to get FIVE DOLLARS OFF your order. just let me know through email. thanks much!!

have a great day guys. and i promise to try and comment during any free time i have this afternoon!! :0) love you guys!!

wildly fun...WINNER!!

hey. have i really not blogged since MONDAY!?!? crazy! but good. for me. maybe you're going through some sort of amanda withdrawal. don't worry here's your fix. :0) and because i haven't blogged since monday it's bound to be a doozy.

before i announce the winner, i want to address an issue. not really anything serious. but i have to be honest and say i've barely been on the computer blog reading this week. and if i have read your blog, i've most likely NOT commented. so i'm sorry for being a bad blogging buddy. but i will also say it's been nice to be away from the computer awhile. sometimes i seriously stress about commenting on your blogs too. i want to return the 'love'. i love getting comments from you. and i feel bad when i don't have the time to comment on yours. so i'm sorry. and i'm sure once winter comes i'll be much better!! please forgive me. please?

so to the winner. and then i will blab and ramble about the rest of the stuff. so when i picked the winner i used random.org. i got number 21. i always get so excited to see who that is. this time it was ~stephanie~!! so miss stephanie is having a great week. because i already sent her some oil for being the one who came up with the name to my blog!! so stephanie, you are now the proud owner of some 'beer' bread and red bell pepper and garlic blend. AND because you live so close i could totally deliver it in person. ;0) for those of you who haven't been blessed to meet stephanie in real life...she's totally fun. and abby is so cute. pheobe was in school so we didn't get to meet her. and stephanie is even thinking about doing a wildtree party for me. isn't that so nice?

i'll get my wildtree stuff out of the way first. first off: you can receive five dollars off any order you place until JULY 15TH. just let me know what you'd like!! ((i'd also like to let you know: spend 50 and receive a LEMON LIME CHEESECAKE BLEND for FREE OR spend 75 and receive a bottle of each of the EUROPEAN DIPPING OILS:: ONE GARLIC and ONE TUSCAN.)) those are great deals the company offers. and the free item changes each month. this is the first time there have been two different levels. so it's fun!! and also for any of you who may be thinking about a party if you have a 500 dollar party you get a free 64OZ BOTTLE OF NATURAL GRAPESEED OIL that's a 50 dollar value!! we actually started deep frying with the grapeseed oil and it's really nice. remember you could totally do a book party for me if you live far away. i'll send you some samples you can share them with your friends. and then get some orders and voila...you'll get some great products for FREE!! as a hostess you get 20 PERCENT of your show in free products. i'm also working on some great things to give my hostesses for having parties for me. i haven't squared it all away in my head yet.

so let me know if you're interested in any of the products or hosting your own party. i'd really appreciate the business. and i've been trying to get out of my circle of family and friends. because a circle is just that...keeps going round and round. if i stay in the circle pretty soon i'll be having food thrown at me. okay not that bad. but i don't want people to get all wild-ed out. so let me into your circle. :0) plus wouldn't it be fun to hang out with me?!? :0) lol. maybe you shouldn't answer that.

one more wildly fun thing. i wanted to share because a lot of YOU helped me reach my goals for my first 35 days of business. my goal was to get 1200 in sales, and you all helped me reach a little over 1800 in sales. the fruit of that labor is this huge rolling wildtree tote. i can fit all my products for my parties in it. and i don't have carry a barbie hot pink suitcase around. THANK YOU!!! truly thank you. i couldn't have done it without a lot of you guys. i hope you're enjoying your products and that i can help serve you more in the future.

AND if any of you are interested in doing a review and giveaway of a product let me know. i'd be happy to send you something to review and then sponsor a giveaway as well. and because i'm sponsoring it...means i'll pay for the product too! :0) so let me know.

okay. to the non-wildtree stuff. :0) i hope that i don't seem pushy with it though. sometimes i know i talk a lot about it. but it's truly something i love and want to share it with you. so i'm sorry if i come across pushy. but you know. it's no different then me sharing jesus with you either. he's something i love and talk a lot about too. and it's funny because i don't feel pushy about that. so i won't feel pushy about wildtree either. i love jesus. and i love wildtree. the end.

so as i was typing up the winner of my giveaway i checked my email. and found out I WON!! jennifer over at the toy box years emailed me and said i won her giveaway for some scrapbooking paper and supplies!! woot woot. and actually the other week i won a thirsties AIO diaper from samantha's blog mama notes i just got that diaper in the mail this week. so fun. and the giveaway at samantha's was sponsored by mama momo who has a great online store. and nice handwriting. i love getting real life mail and seeing your handwriting. lol. it's weird. but i've gotten stuff from mimi, veronica, heidi, martha and michelle. it's so fun to see your handwriting. because the typing all looks the same. and like i said, i'm weird!

so we've had a busy week. i got a little less 'pea-ed' about the pea situation as the week went on. which is good. but i've also had a bad attitude week. i really have no idea why i felt/feel so crabby. but trust me. you don't want to have me blogging all crabby. it's not a person I like being much less sharing with people. so i prayed a lot for god to help me. and he's helping me. but of course the enemy LOVES me crabby and starts whispering awful lies in my ears trying to get me away from feeling so good again. so i've been struggling hearing bad yucky lies from the enemy and staying on track. add to that girls. lol. my girls have become sisters.

okay i KNOW they're sisters. but over the past two weeks they've become sisters who fight. all.the.day.long. well actually only when we're home. if we're out and about they behave perfectly. pull into the driveway and it's like a switch. it's amelya and breigh fighting. so then i am yelling. and yelling more/louder than i should. then i cry. because i feel bad for yelling. i apolgized to them the other day for it. just because they're fighting and yelling gives me NO right to do the same. heck...that's teaching them it's okay to scream and fight. so i'm working on it. because then of course the enemy is back at it. making me feel like a bad mom and wondering why i ever had kids.

that is not a good place to be at! and i feel like i can be honest. heck most of the time i'm an open book on my blog. why should now be different. i think it's different because it's such a 'bad' thing for me to be feeling and i'm ashamed to admit that i've felt that way. but the past two weeks have been rough on me as a 'mom'. i feel like i yell too much. i feel like i plop my butt at the computer too much. i feel like a bad housekeeper too much. i feel like a failure too much. then i realize i can change those things. i can not yell too much. i can not sit so much. i can be a better housekeep too much. i can not feel like a failure too much.

god gave me these children. god gave me my house. god made me a mommy. god does not make failures. god is perfect. and we're made in HIS image. so yes. i'm perfect too. god made me perfectly. now i just have to trust and believe that. i can most days. when i'm feeling pretty. but most days i don't. and then i realize god doesn't 'care' if i look pretty. he just wants my HEART to be pretty. so that's what i'll work on. my heart's apperance. my heart's attitude. because what comes out of my mouth is the condition of my heart.

not to mention i have two other kiddos to be taking care of. dustin is teething. he has been for over a month. he has crying fits during the day. where nothing helps him except to be held. unfortunetly i can not hold him all the time when he wants to be. it's always at supper making time and it's impossible to hold a baby and try to make supper. and by that time of the day, if it's been a long day...i'm about to burst a grey hair. so i'll be honest most of the time i put him in his bed and let him cry. he's safe. and i know that i hate listening to him cry. but i have to. i did buy an ERGO baby carrier last week. i had a coupon, and used my bonus from wildtree to buy it. so i've been putting him in that more as well. i can even do it while making supper because he can be on my back and safer from food splattering. i bought it last week and have used it every day since then. my friend kelli borrowed it for the weekend though. they're going somewhere, wear they can't have strollers and she asked if she could borrow it. i told her of course!! i have a moby and a sling yet too. so if i need something i have it. i will say though, the ERGO is now at the top of my list. and i've considered selling my peanut shell sling. so we'll see.

caitlyn has grown up SO much the past few weeks. she's turning more into a grown up toddler. :0( talking more and more. and of course throwing grown up toddler tantrums. she has a cry like a fire engine siren. and i'm not exaggerating. i should tape it some time. lol. usually i just walk away from her fit. she realizes she's not getting attention and quits. so it's all good. i'm not going to feed into the tantrum. nope. i refuse to. so even though i may have to listen to her deafening cry...she doesn't win. i do. because I am the mom. and I am in charge.

sorry to seem like a negative nelly. i don't mean to be. but i also feel it's important to be 'real'. and that's what i'm being. real. you get me and noone else here. it's me and that's that.

i bought a camera bag this week. i had my reward zone gift certificates to use. so i finally got a nice bag for my camera. i love my camera. for those of you who don't know i have the nikon d90. it's a super nice camera, and deserves it's own little bag of protection. so now it has one. i've been thinking about taking a photography class this fall. i would LOVE to become a semi-professional-ish photographer. i love to take pictures. and it'd be fun to do.

yesterday morning i got to meet up with stephanie (a different one) and her sweet pea daughter for a picnic. we had a nice time at the lake and then played at the park right by it. and then last night i had an arbonne party. we did these fun foot soak things. actually it is a detox soak. and at the end of it we all had 'yuckies' floating in the water. the stuff pulls out the yuck out of your body and it's left floating. i dumped out the tubs. to be a nice helper. and to see the stuff floating lol. me and stephanie and the most stuff floating in our tubs. lol. my mom's was the cleanest.

i also cut out another one of dustin's feedings this week. NOT PLANNED. a few days before we miscarried the baby i had cut out dustin's night time feeding. i have always been nursing and pregnant and always got so exhausted so i started weaning him. then a few weeks ago i was going to be gone from him for his before supper nursing time. so i just cut that one out too. my plan was then to nurse him the three times during the day until i felt like stopping. then on tuesday i went to nurse him after lunch. and i wouldn't work. or 'they' wouldn't work. i tried for ten minutes. dustin would try to eat. then stop because nothing was coming. i tried squeezing out some. and nothing would come. so then i switched sides thinking that would maybe help. nope. nothing. so i guess 'they' decided to cut out that feeding. so now i feed him around five AM every morning and then at ten. and that's it. i'm kind of sad. i've never really been 'sad' about weaning before. probably because i've already been pregnant so i knew i was having another baby soon.

this time it isn't like that. maybe that's why i'm struggling with it more. who knows. i've been thinking a lot about that baby these past few weeks too. why is it that EVERYONE you see is pregnant when you go somewhere. and they're all due right around when you were too? if i didn't have god to trust in, i'd think it was some sort of cruel joke. but it's not a joke. it's just life. and god's plan. his plan did not include that baby here. it included that baby in heaven. so now i continue to pray for god's plan and know that it's all good. another baby or not. it's all good. and i have to remember that. it's all good. all the time.

today is an at home day. i think i may tackle the play room. it's beyond disaterous messy. i didn't clean it for yesterday, mainly because i was lazy. and i had a book i wanted to finish. lol. but i know that when it's clean and organized that the kiddos play better in it. now if i could only KEEP it that way. along with my house. it's so nice and clean and organized. i'm praying god can help me have the ambition to KEEP it that way. instead of lasting a day or two and then riverting to old habits.

so i'm done rambling. before your eyes start bleeding with boredom. it's nine twenty. dustin is happily (praise the lord) scooting around in the living room. ((oh yea...he started army crawling this week)) and amelya is watching martha speaks. breigh and caitlyn. are still in bed!! it's normally a feat to get breigh to sleep past seven. but she didn't really nap yesterday. so she must be making up for it. caitlyn normally sleeps til nine. so nothing new there. okay. like i said i'm done. and i will try my hardest to be a better blogging friend next week. i won't promise today because i know i want to clean the play room during nap. IF the girls still take one!! have a great weekend my friends!!

a littled 'pea'-ed

are you ready for this post? grrr. i'm ready to write it all out, and then i think i'll feel better about it all. i'm not even sure who all reads this blog, besides you faithful commenters and followers, maybe. but i have to let this out before i burst. well i probably won't burst. but i need to just write it all out. and if the off chance family reads this that should be...well maybe next time you'll ask.

okay to the point.

for those of you who don't know we run about 100-ish acres of farm land. this year we have field corn, hay and peas. we have about 30 acres of peas. yesterday the pea pickers came to pick them. which is all good. and an allllllll day process. they cannot drive very fast.

so after church we drove up the hay field by the pea field to show the girls. and saw that shaun's cousins decided that they could come and pick some peas too. we were both irritated. they drove their car, and one a bike. up to our field. to pick OUR peas. without asking. the issue really isn't that they were picking peas, the issue is that they didn't ASK to pick our peas. in my mind. they're stealing. i do not care one single bit that they're family. as we were driving up to them i told shaun he needs to tell them he is upset and that they should ask.

for those of you who do not know my husband, he does not like confrontation. or being mr. mean guy. i told him to get out of the van and go talk to them. he decides not to. and opens his window and says jokingly 'don't pick them all.' okay what?!?! that is not telling them to stop. that's telling them it's totally fine to keep picking. grr. he talked with his cousin for a bit and then drove up the field. i asked him what he did? he said i dunno. then i just said i'm highly disappointed in you. we had two pails for peas so we drove up the field and back into the field. right past his pea picking cousins and also pulled back into the field behind a truck who we had no idea who it was. i told shaun you need to tell them to stop. so he opens his window again. and again. jokes with them and said to leave some for the pea pickers...or something like that. they said 'we will'. finally because i was SO mad i said. no, how about you're done. you didn't even ask. i think they sensed my voice was a little not so nice. they kind of laughed like they couldn't believe it and they left.

oh wait it gets better. so we pull up to the tractor, that has the wagon with the picked peas in it. the truck that had pulled into our field was there as well. with two people. who we really don't even know. getting out their five gallon buckets and huge bowls. shaun got out and told them that he would've appreciated them asking him first. ((btw he's much nicer than me. i told him to tell them to dump the peas back in the wagon!))

get this. the guy said he had the farmer's permission!! NO. he didn't. shaun said no. i am the farmer. the guy then told him that he thought it was "H's" farmland and that one of the "H's" had told him he could come and get some peas.

yep. you read that right. one of shaun's uncles told this guy that he could come take some of OUR peas. what?!? seriously. why does anyone think that it is okay to do that?!?!

we told the pea picker guy to not give out any more peas to anyone else. we left for the day so i'm not sure if it really happened or not. grrr.

so shaun did call his uncle. he asked him why he was telling people that they could come take our peas. his uncle said, i told him he could go take a handful. i guess he got greedy.

shaun left it at that. i told shaun that he really did not get his point across to his uncle though. that it isn't okay to tell ANYONE to come take OUR peas. he said. yea i suppose so. so we will see if it comes up again and i'm sure that shaun will be sure to get his point across.

i understand not wanting to be a meanie or something. BUT they are OUR peas. really our money. we'll get paid per pound or something like that. so if ten people each take a pound. that's ten pounds. and that's x amount of dollars per pound. how fair is that to us?

so my point of this ranting. JUST ASK. that's all we wanted. just to ask if you could take some peas. we would say yes. after all there is 30 acres of peas. TAKING peas all on your own is not okay.

when i get hungry for some strawberries i don't find someone's strawberry garden and park in their yard and start filling my pail. it's the same thing. our field is part of our yard and our land is just one big garden. so ask before you start thinking it's okay to just park your car and start picking away.

shaun has decided that we will never plant peas down at the corner again. when we had peas a few years ago we had them planted by the house and no one just came and took any. that i know of i guess. but it was harder anyways.

i guess i'm just frustrated at the audacity of some people. i'm sure they thought, oh shaun won't care. maybe that's true. BUT why can't you ask first?

so okay. that's that. i'm sorry to go on and on and on about it. i was and still kind of am.

we were busy all weekend. and hardly home. here's a link to see some of the pictures from this weekend. i'm off to play with the kiddos. the girls just got up from nap. at five twenty. that's a good nap day at our house. :0) hopefully shaun will be home soon and we'll eat some yummy supper. a 'mentor mom' came to mom's group today and showed us how to make a yummy mean. and we all got to eat some lunch and bring some yummy leftovers home. AND that 'mentor mom' wants to possibly have a wildtree party for me!! woo hoo. AND i had someone who saw my book at a hair salon call me and place a 76 dollar order?! how fun is that! god is SO good.

just a reminder to enter my giveaway if you want (ends july 9th) and if you're interested in placing a wildtree order you get five dollars off if you place your order before july 15th. just email me and let me know what you'd like!!

breigh sings.

hey. have you entered my giveaway yet!?!? be sure to do that. all you have to do is comment on the post below and voilia...you're entered...

i tried to embed the video from facebook again. i hope it works. if not...i'll maybe just try and load it here. it works so much easier to load it only ONE time.

so we have a busy weekend. i just wanted to tell you that. i'm off now to take shower before the kiddos all wake up. have a super fourth of july. and heck a fifth, sixth, seventh....ect. too. :0)

wildly fun! {giveaway}

hey. do you like my new look? i was bored today and decided it was time for change. that, and a ton of other people have changed their blogs. so i thought i would join on in!!

so. wildly fun. has to do with something fun right? yep. i've decided to host another wildly fun giveaway. with a fun product from wildtree. actually TWO products.

the first is the red bell pepper and garlic blend. this is my absolute FAVORITE!! from wildtree. i mix it with some cream cheese and use it on wheat thins. BUT you can do so much more with it. i've mixed it with some oil and garlic and herb blend, brushed it on my pizza dough...and oh my was it yummy!! so so yummy. :0) you can also mix it in with your cheese quesadilla. or stuff some shells with the mixture of cheese and the blend. i also think that for those of you who like stuffed peppers, this may add some yummy flavor to it.

the second is the flax seed beer bread. you can use beer if you choose, or 12 ounces of your favorite carbonated beverage. we don't drink, so we don't have beer in the house. i usually use sprite. you can eat the bread plain. and it's yummy to do. or add the cream cheese blend from above on it for some zing. the bread is very good. and moist. and this one has flax seed in it, so it's even better for you!! :0) each slice has 100% daily value of omega three!!

i've been so blessed to find this great company to work for and feel so blessed to share the products with you guys!! if you're interested in purchasing products please feel free to check out my site. i would also like to bless any of you all who decide to purchase. anyone purchasing products between today and july 15th will get FIVE DOLLARS off their order!! ((so...go check out my site and email me with your order and i'll figure it all out for you with your shipping and five dollars off...that will be the easiest way to do it. :0) ))

wanna know what you have to do to win?!?

here it goes:: JUST COMMENT ON THIS POST. yep that's it. no site hopping necessary. just comment. and you can comment about anything not even wildtree. i just want you to have the chance to win.

BUT...you can get THREE extra entries if you decide to purchase something!!

the giveaway will end JULY 9th at MIDNIGHT CST.

i hope you all will enter. :0) because as i did for my last winner, i'm bound to throw in some extra samples....:0) ((and as always, i'd love if you spread the giveaway around. wildly...lol))

okay enough about my wildtree stuff.

did you see i got a new name?!? when we first announced our fifth pregnancy i decided i also needed a new blog name. after miscarrying the baby i put it on the back burner, but still felt the need to change the name. i went back in my comments and re-read them all. one that stuck out to me then, still stuck out to me now and it was stephanie's over at life is a miracle of 'popp'ing out one letter at a time. it's a play on our last name. and i just thought it was so cute. ((but admit it: you've read it as POOPing...i know you have...well maybe not...but even I did)) i've been blessed to meet stephanie in real life as well. and instead of getting royalties every time someone clicks over on my blog i've just mentioned you a bagillion times. :0) and linked to you four times. ANNNNNNNNNNND because i know you love the butter oil SO much...you have one coming. :0)

i can't believe it's been over a month since we said good bye to our baby. somedays it feels like yesterday, and other days it seems like so long ago. either way...i still miss that baby. a lot. god sees me through it, and i know he's holding on tight to my precious baby til i get there. we're still going to 'try' for another baby. after all it is the fourth of july this weekend. ;0) fireworks. oh nevermind. lol.

i'm tired. and have to wake shaun up so he can go sleep in bed for a few hours. keep him in your prayers...he's had to work early all week (at five AM) and put it a minimum of 12 hours each day...and tomorrow he has to go in at THREE THIRTY AM!! that's way too early and like in five hours from now!!! i'm so blessed to have such a hard working husband.

so nighty night!!