Baptism!!!

The Twins have been baptized!!!!

So happy, for my sweet little angels!!!

I've been gone from blogging for what seems like forever! I miss it!

We've been slam busy with new business ventures and our house falling apart!

Our A/C broke yesterday!!! Hello?? Not sure about everyone else, but Richmond, Virginia is experiencing one hell of a heat wave, So no A/C is a big freaking deal! It got up to 85 degrees in the house! Needless to say, we had to pack everyone up and head to my parents house.

Thank the lord, one of my best girlfriends came through...her dad works in the heating and air industry, and saved the day by filling up our freon and replacing a capacitor...hello cool air!!!!!!

On the other hand, we still have the looming problem of our leaky bathroom. Our Master Bath is upstairs directly over our den. We discovered the ceiling in our den was leaking, so we opened up the ceiling and sure enough, the drain from the Master Bath Shower was cracked and leaking water....NOT GOOD!!!

The verdict is the builder of the house did not install the drain properly, and what's worse, isthe home inspector let him fly!

So frustrating, apparently our story is not at all unique. Once you have something like this happen in your home, you immediately hear stories from other people who had similar issues!

So, it looks like we may be renovating our master bath...one more thing on my plate...never a break!

I wanted to share some pictures with you all from the Baptism, it was such a beautiful day, and I'm so, so blessed to have such sweet children (all 3 of them) however you won't see any pictures of the Big Girl, because she was not so cooperative on the day of the baptism.

When I say not so cooperative, I mean running away and screaming every time we'd try and get a picture with her in it! Ahhhhh, the terrible two's...we have arrived!

The Spread!

Gabrielle Marie, being baptized!

Annabelle Grace being baptized!

All of us, with the girls godparents and Father Adrian!

My sweet little angels!

Stella & Dot

I am officially a Stylist for Stella & Dot jewelry!!!

I am beyond excited about this new venture! I've known about Stella & Dot for some time now, but never thought it was a possibility for me to work for such an amazing company.

Well, I'm happy to say I'm open for business!

So what's my job as a Stylist?

To Style you!

I'm the go-to person to help you find jewelry for that special occasion, or even to help you begin to build your jewelry wardrobe.

"Have Jewelry, Will Travel" is my motto!

I literally will bring tons of sample jewelry pieces to you! You can hold a fabulous trunk show for all of your friends, and everyone gets to try on this fabulous jewelry! As a hostess/host, you also get the opportunity to get FREE jewelry! Who doesn't love that!?!?!

To learn more about this amazing company, you can go here.

To browse our collection (which is fabulous) and purchase pieces, you can go here.

Whether you're local to my area or not, I can still help you find that perfect piece or explain some of our best-selling collections, if you are local to Richmond, Virginia, I would love to do a trunk show for you! You can e-mail me directly through my site, here.

Also, follow me on Twitter, to learn about our latest sales, specials, and debut's.

Our Fall 2011 line debut's later this week, it's already getting buzz from Vogue, In Style, and Lucky!

Stay tuned to check out the new pieces!

Happy Stylin'

Mysterious?

Not really mysterious, just working on something fun!

I haven't posted in a while (and I hate that)!

But...I've been working on something fun! I'll fill you guys in soon, just wanted to check-in so no one thought I skipped out on my little ole blog!

Stay tuned...

Growing Up

The twins are growing up so fast!

Their 9 mo. check up was today...9 months!

I seriously can not believe it!

We are shopping for new car seats because our girls are big and fat and barely fit into their infant carriers anymore, I'm planning their baptism, and their 1 year birthday is right around the corner.

5 weeks early? NICU stay?

You'd never know it, to look at my girls now. They have come so far, they amaze me every single day.

Although I'm thrilled my children are thriving, I can't help but wonder...

Where did these little girls go?

It's amazing how in the early days, when you aren't getting any sleep, you're juggling feedings every 2.5 hours, worrying about weight gain (your baby's, that is) and not remembering the last time you showered...you feel like those days will last forever. When will it get easier? When will things even out? Those early days, freshly home from the hospital, it seemed like time stood still.

Now, I'm wondering where has the time gone?

I know, this will only get worse as the kids grow. One day they will be graduating high school, then college, walking down the aisle, and then bringing their own children into the world. I know I'll be thinking to myself, weren't they just babies? Where did the time go?

So, for now, I'm just enjoying my sweet babies, while they are still babies. And I'm going to do my best, not to blink :)

Happy Vacay

I'd love to report that our vacation was filled with easy-going beach vibes, relaxation, good summer reads, and easy-listening music...

BUT we were on vacation with 3 kids.
In all seriousness though, it was not as bad as I was expecting it to be. The kids did amazing on the 3 hour car trip down to the beach. The twins were so overwhelmed by the change of scenery and the amount of "new" people (a lot of my aunts and uncles were staying in the same house), that they were exhausted and literally slept like, well, babies, at night and during their naps!

I was actually able to lay out in the sun enough to come home burned...not to worry though, it's set- in to a nice looking tan by now :) We were actually able to get some beach time as well. I was worried the Big Girl was going to be a handful with all the "new-ness" around. But she was SO GOOD, she wanted to experience it all, so she was on her best behavior!



Her first reaction to seeing the beach, couldn't have been better.....

She was seriously screaming with excitement!

The pool was a hit also. Although my parents have a pool in their backyard and she got to experience it last summer, she was only a year old, and wasn't all that "in" to it.

I'm happy to report though, my daughter is definitely part fish :)

There were lots of "firsts" this trip, such as,

Me, feeling comfortable enough to be photographed in a swimsuit (never mind the child is hiding most of my body, accident? hmmm..)

Kisses on the beach...

Babies playing in plastic tubs (It's all about containment folks) did I mention, both babies figured out how to get on their knees and shuffle while at the beach?? I repeat, It's all about containment!

Finally, feeling brave enough to throw all 3 kids in the tub at the same time! Much more economical, and they all actually enjoy it!

Gabrielle's first adventure in the pool!

As, I said above, realizing my daughter is part-fish...

Annabelle's first time in the pool!

A trip to the lighthouse

And a family pictures...nothing better :)

Happy.

Can anything run smoothly?

Is it too much to ask for a day or two of peace and smooth-sailing?

The answer is yes, yes it is.

We are headed out to Nags Head, NC tomorrow morning for a family vacay ( I know, I am one brave woman).

Although I know it's not going to be much of a "vacation" with 3 kids 2 and under, I'm hopeful I will at least get to see the beach through the windows in our house :)

Anyways, I've been packing all week (and yes it takes all week to pack for a family of 5).

It's a process.

It would not be so bad if I weren't dealing with the unpredictable moods of teething twins, the "babysitter" for our dogs falling through (it's been worked out now), my incredibly depressing search for a bathing suit (I eventually found one at Macy's), a toddler who decided TODAY was the perfect day to start climbing out of her crib and wandering around the house when she woke up this morning (and when she woke up from her nap), and a husband who had to make an emergency room visit for a possible torn hernia, thanks to a blow from a softball during one of his weekly games (thankfully all turned out to be ok).

Whew.

But really, really?

What gives?

I'm either getting all the craziness out of the way before our vacation OR it's a preview of the madness that is to come.

I'm hoping it's the first part.

FLYing high

Ever heard of FLY lady??

My aunt swears by her, and honestly, my aunt's house is SPOTLESS.

She also has 3 kids, granted her's are MUCH more spaced out than mine (her oldest is 16 and youngest is 5) but still, her house is SPOTLESS.

Did I mention her house is always SPOTLESS?

So, I've been doing Fly Lady's techniques on and off since the twins were born. Some weeks I was a crazed follower, and other weeks I did nothing at all to contribute to the cleanliness of my house.

Well, I'm just in one of those," I can't stand the clutter any longer" types of moods.

I've been doing a purge.

I've gone through all the girls clothes and figured which ones I want to keep and which ones I can donate, I've done the same with my clothes as well.

All those clothes I've been holding on to because maybe, possibly, some day I'll be able to fit in them...right.

They're gone! I've come to terms with reality, and I've donated them all.

I have to say, I'm not as depressed about it as I thought I would be, it actually feels good to get all the extra un-needed stuff out.

The clothes-purging has inspired a purging of all things clutter in my house!

I went in our office yesterday and took out all the bins of junk that were stored in the office closet. Literally, these bins have been in this closet since we moved in over a year ago! And in over a year, we have never opened one of those bins!

So, obviously there must not be anything too important in them!

Don't worry I looked through them before I tossed them! I found more clothes (shocker) to add to the donate pile, but 90% of that crap was plain old toss in a garbage bag, trash.

It's unbelievable to me that I have had that much crap taking up space in my house for this long!

Now, I'm tackling the storage closets in my bedroom which have inevitably become an easy place to throw stuff when I'm trying to clean up really quick because we have company coming over!

I'm not proud of it, but it's reality.

At least I'm trying to fix it now, points for trying right?

I really like the concept behind fly lady. She recommends setting a timer for 15 mins. and de-clutter. Once the time is up, you stop. It helps you from getting overwhelmed. I also try to set one goal for myself a day. For example, yesterday my goal was the office closet -accomplished :)

Today's goal, is to get the clothes in the twins room organized by what they can wear now, and organize their hand-me-down clothes in their closet.

I think the "slow and steady wins the race" strategy is a good one, and it works for me. I can get my goals done during nap time and at the end of the day I don't feel like such a slacker.

Winning!

Fly Lady's zones are really great too! Each week there is a zone. This week is the Master Bedroom, so even though you still need to do light pick-up cleaning throughout the other rooms in your house as well (darn) you do all the deep-cleaning stuff in the master bedroom.

It works, because eventually you have a set schedule down for cleaning your house, so you're not running around wondering what needs to be cleaned, or just realizing you've never dusted your baseboards, and company is coming over in 15 min.!

Who hasn't been there?

So, hopefully in a year from now (sarcasm) my house will be totally de-cluttered and self-cleaning!

A girl can dream!

Did I mention, I'm doing all of this while trying to pack for our week-long vacay to the Nags Head, NC.??

What can I say, I'm one of those weird people that like their house to be spotless, when they leave for vacation!

Oh, well, happy cleaning everyone!