My very first award ever! Thanks Amy!

I have ALWAYS wondered how those fancy schmancy Blog Awards worked.  Who gives them, who makes them, and how do they work?

Well I got one and I now I know!  Thanks so much to my new pal Amy over at The Cheap and Choosy for giving the Versatile Blogger Award to me.  I feel special now.  :)

Now what?

Here are the rules for receiving the award.

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you this award.

2. Share seven things about yourself. 

• I am  a fireman's wife and have three kids, two of which are identical twins.
• I am an only child.
• I never liked babysitting and never imagined that I would ever become a stay-at-home mom.
• I own my own business, Earth Angels Diaper Company.
• I consider myself an introvert and believe I have social anxiety disorder.  But online I come across as very outgoing and extroverted.
• I love tattoos and have many.
• I would love to go back to school and get a degree in graphic art & web design.

3. Pass this award along to fifteen bloggers who you have recently discovered and who you think are fantastic for whatever reason!

My 15 recommended blogs are as follows…

1. Granola Mom 4 God
2. Torrential Raines
3. Just another cloth diapering mama
4. Waterwaif
5. A Smaller Footprint
6. Without a Net
7. One Bored Mommy
8. My Four Monkeys
9. Outside My Kitchen Window
10. Bringing Up Benjamin
11. Happily Domestic
12. Full Nest
13. Our Life Upstate
14. View from the Shoe
15. Valley Girl Has Baby, Goes Crunchy

4. Contact the bloggers you’ve picked and let them know about the award. 

2 a.m. and I heard a weird noise...

The funniest thing happened the other night. I was sound asleep, well as sound as you can sleep when you're a mom... Well I hear this noise in the kitchen, a banging noise, but I'm too tired to get up. So I wait and I don't hear it again. Then I hear another sound, a weird but familiar sound.

I get up and go into the kitchen and Spencer, one of my 3.5 yr old twin sons, is laying on the carpet in the kitchen trying to put his own diaper back on! He's got it all laid out and he's trying to sit on it and fasten the aplix back up but he can't get it right!

It was the cutest thing. Apparently he got up to use the potty in the kitchen and just thought he'd put his diaper back on himself and go back to bed. Too cute!

First Girl Scout camping trip!

Aside from family members our daughter, who will be 7 next month, has never spent the night anywhere but with a couple different family members. This weekend her Daisy Scout troop was invited to their first Camporee. Not far from our home but still away all day and over night. So many questions came to mind like how many people will be there, who will be in the tent, how many chaperones, how old are all the kids, what are the activities planned, what will they feed her..and on and on.

As expected she had no questions! "Camping trip! Yippee!" and then she dances excitedly all around the house. She's into it and raring to go and has no idea if we're sending her for a week across the country or just a night across town. She's a little dare devil and always down for something adventurous. Go now and ask questions later, that's her philosophy.

Anyhow, the house feels quiet without her and I wonder what she's up to. Probably some arts and crafts, hiking around in the bushes and driving the adults crazy! Hey better them than me!

ETA: They called us at 10:15pm and she said she was homesick and wanted to come home so we went and picked her up!

MISSION: Potty training twins! Almost complete.

Phew! It literally feels like I began potty training my twin sons a bajillion years ago! I told myself when we started that I wasn't going to stress out because there's nothing more frustrating than trying to potty train little ones who aren't ready. Little by little they showed signs of readiness like taking their diapers off right after they peed, wanting to be changed immediately after pooping, and they showed a lot of interest in peeing outdoors in the grass and such whenever they were diaper-less! (I guess that's a boy thing!)

So we got a small potty. I tried it in the bathroom but that didn't work because I keep the bathroom door closed so they won't go in there all day and mess around. So we put the potty in the kitchen where it was more visible and accessible to them and they began to use it much more.

We finally got to the point where they were in underwear all the time at home. So I took the plunge and started putting them in underwear for short car rides. Well, they weren't ready for that. Every time they would just pee in the car seat, regardless of whether they had just peed or not. So we went back to diapers when we were out.

Eventually we tried underwear in the car again recently and they have really taken to it. I do remind them constantly "don't pee in your underwear" and they have really seemed to get it this time.

Now our last and hardest phase is getting them to not pee during the night. Mason has been waking up dry every morning and even wakes up at night to use the potty if he needs to. Spencer on the other hand pees throughout the night and if I don't wake him before his morning pee then he leaks all over the sheets and wakes up because of it.

So far we've tried everything. The latest is keeping him in an overstuffed Duo Diaper and making sure to wake him before he wakes up on his own. I also think I need to cut back on how much liquids I give him the evening before. They both literally drink ALL day long.

Anyhow, it's been a long road but I think we're almost there. They will be 4yrs old in October and by then I am sure they'll be fully trained. (knock on wood)

How's it going for you all? Any advice? I've always heard it's harder to potty train boys than girls and I think that's proving to be true for us.

Cake Decorating in Oklahoma City!

Anyone live in OKC? My friend Iisha, who recently relocated there from Florida, has begun teaching cake decorating at the local Michaels Craft Store!

Anyone local please check out her FaceBook Fan Page Iisha's Sweet Expressions for more info and to sign up!

We're headed on our first official family vacation!

I am so excited to be finally taking our first official vacation with the kids. I feel like a grown up! In the past we would have just jumped in the car and set off for the mountains. Often we'd just drive around until dark and then try to find a campground or hotel. Sometimes they were full or too expensive and we'd have to keep looking. We'd always say "next time we're going to plan better."

Well this time, since there is a good likelihood that it will be snowing, camping is out of the question. Luckily since it's sort of the off season, small mountain cabin rentals are pretty much the same as the hotels. So we've lucked out and found a cute little cabin to stay at.

I am thrilled to be able to share the mountains, and hopefully snow, with our kids who have never been out of Florida. I can't wait to see the look on their faces when we stop at some of the most breathtaking scenic overlooks. I know they're just going to love it!

I think I'm obsessed with the Dog Whisperer...

We got a new puppy for Christmas, her name is Lucy and she was 12weeks old when we got her. My husband and I have had dogs before, we treated them like spoiled babies and in exchange they ate our furniture, our shoes, clothes and at the very least nibbled on pretty much anything and everything we owned.


It's sort of like when a family suffers a fire and loses their photos and keepsakes. We suffered through having three dogs and lost a lot of valuable things we would have kept for life.


Since having gone through that we've decided this time we're going to do it right, we're going to crate train her and teach her obedience and routine and hope that this time we end up with the dog of our dreams.


This leads me to the topic of this post, The Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan. He's got his own show and boy is he awesome. I can't get enough of the show and feel like I've learned and continue to learn so much. It's just unreal how he's so intuitive and connected with the dogs he trains and helps. Everything he does is like an "aha moment!" So simple yet you'd have never thought of it on your own.


Anyhow, Lucy's a great pup so far and we look forward to many years together.


Any other Dog Whisperer fans out there?

Crock Pot Ziti! Yumm-o-la

So I am trying to turn over a new leaf this year. One of my resolutions is to cook more than I do. My husband loves to cook, which is convenient for me since I am not a great cook. It's not that I can't cook but I don't have a whole lot of experience and so my cooking comes out plain and boring.

A friend turned me on to a Blog, A Year of Slowcooking, and it has really inspired me to try a lot of the recipes. I love the convenience of the CrockPot and since 4-5pm is such a busy time for me already it's fabulous that I can start dinner earlier and it will be ready at dinner time.

The Blog is run by the author of the book Make it Fast, Cook it Slow which you can buy on Amazon or at your local bookseller.

Last night I attempted the CrockPot Ziti Recipe found here. After having read her recipe and all the readers comments I decided to tweak her original recipe.

I used

• 1 box Penne/Ziti pasta
• 3 sliced boneless skinless chicken breasts, pre-cooked about half way before use
• 1 cup shredded fresh mozzarella
• 1 large jar garlic tomato sauce
• 1/2 jar alfredo sauce
• 1 cup of water
• diced onions & sliced tomato
• parmesan cheese

Instead of allowing it to cook in layers like she recommended I stirred it every 30-40 minutes to ensure that all the noodles were cooked and none got dried out.
It ended up taking 3 hours on low as opposed to 4 hours. If I had left them to cook any longer the noodles would have been way overdone.

Overall it was very tasty. My husband commented that the slow cooking seemed to give it a unique flavor.

This is a must try recipe if you love pasta and have a crockpot!

Trying to get this show back on the road!

Wow! It has been so long since I spent any time on this, my personal Blog. Since trying to focus more on my business and it's new Blog Diaper Discussions I have spent all my time there. The problem is that after getting into blogging and starting to keep up with all the cool blogs that I follow I have really began to long for a place to blog about personal things, not just cloth diapers.

So I came here, dusted off this old dusty blog, and here I sit. Hopefully with a new name and layout it will feel and look much better. I look forward to getting back on track with both my blogs and connecting with new blogs and followers.

:) Julie