the creative living center

the creative living center

This is what's been going on with us!!!

Adjusting to all of this, unpacking and starting to forever clean ;)

"Real"ization

I was noticing today, I am obsessed overwhelmed with skin care/ hair care products. Here is a pic of the sink I use:

That's not all! I have things in my purse, and in the bathroom Upstairs!!

I have to say, skin care and hair care is one of my weaknesses for sure.

I now work for a Mary Kay lady and she's been sharing with me some product! (sweet!)

I also realized that I live only 20 minutes from LUSH cosmetics!!!! (omg!)

I'm discovering another local store only minutes from my house called Lavender Moon, and she makes all her own soap, cosmetics, lotions, etc!! I find myself wasting my precious pennies in there too!

wow, I never realized I had such an obsession.  Now mind you, it's not make-up, just lotions, cleansers, and what not....I think I'm a bit skin obsessed, and I just might be ok with that! :)

Cara-box-August

This past month was the Cara-box! The theme was "Seasons of life" so you would get to know your assigned partner and create a box of goodies for whatever stage of life they are in.  I enjoyed this one because i feel like this one was worth it!  i've been able to get to know several ladies far away from me and i enjoy getting emails from them...i feel thought of! :)

 I received this package from my new friend Tanya.

 I love the travel mug, it's very appropriate in my life: on the go, coffee in hand!! and of course, a reminder to stay calm :)

 lovely lotion!

 a lovely hand-written letter with 3 amazing recipes she gave to me---i was super impressed and am eager to try them out!

VERY colorful, and i love them!!

my daughters and i had a "nail spa" time and i wanted them to put both colors on my feet!

love it.

 cute journal! always can use one of these, for sure!!

 YES!

my favorite!! I've already worn them several times....

Thank You Tanya!!!

i also forgot to show pics of the measuring cups she sent, they Immediately went into use!! :)

wishes

happy tuesday!

  Here's my happy boy! i had him try to pose for these pictures...

he's so silly.

 Say Cheese!

 Ivory is getting really good at gymnastics! she is not afraid of falling or getting hurt! 

she is pretty amazing.

new york

a little photo update on the kids while we live here in NY!

 Brighten is obsessed with spider man. 

it's a long day when he can't wear his spidey suit.

 Olivia got her first hair cut--bangs!

 Grandpa takes the kids walking, who knows where they will go?

out to ice cream of course!

Here's the girls waiting for the school bus! 

They love riding the bus!

Sand box fun!

11 random questions/answers!

1.  What is the scariest thing you've ever done?--jumping off of Rexley bridge in Vermont with my siblings...don't remember how old i was,(9-12?) but it was definitely a parent approved thing! my mom sat by and took pics! the next scariest thing would be confronting anyone! :)


2.  If you could be a character on a TV show, which show would you be on?
i still want to be on an episode of MacGyver...:) one where he saves me!
3.  What are your three favorite colors of fingernail polish?
Merlot, nude, pink


4.  Who are your celebrity crushes? --Richard Dean Anderson, (childhood), Christian Slater, Johnny Depp, Matthew Mcconaughey (his voice)


5.  What are you really, really good at? making popcorn on the stove, making coffee, laughing loud, listening.


6.  A place you'd like to live? anywhere near beloved friends! but i would love to visit europe, maybe live in ireland/scotland for a bit.


7.  What do you really wish your name was? ?? never thought about it!


8.  The silliest mistake you've ever made? goodness! where to i start? mommy-brain!!! forgetting people's names...not understanding a joke...misplacing important items? sheesh..no end!


9.  If you could be any type of (real or imagined) animal, what would you be, and why?
probably a bird, i've always wanted to fly!
10.  What part of yourself do you like the most? my compassionate heart towards people. i LOVE that i LOVE people!! i guess it's His heart, and i really love that He lets me feel it :) i also like my hair :)


11.  What is your most absolutely favorite thing to eat? popcorn! then ice cream....yum! oh,... but then there's pudding....!

silly kids

the kids are quoting a line from the movie "Despicable Me"

--great movie!

"Can we have stuffed crust?"

"ooh stuffed crust!"

"i'll stuff you in the crust!"

fun day!

We had a fun day on sunday!

it was like a fair at our church!

petting zoo,

2 bounce houses,

country line dancing lessons,

free food--cotton candy and popcorn!

games, firing range- paint ball,

face painting..etc.

lots of fun things to do with families.

 did i mention bobbing for apples?

only brighten wanted to get in!

and throw the apples over and over in the 

water. silly boy!

 ivory with a my-little-pony on her face!

 hands down, this was the girls favorite spot.

the petting zoo.

we camped out here after awhile.

too fun!

 olivia just chilled in the stroller,

she is so amazing!

such a happy little girl!

so that was our fun family outing.

we aren't prone to that cuz there is so many of us.

it was a blessing to be amongst friends and church family!

recommendations

i just watched this movie Moulin Rouge for the first time!

sheesh! it came out in 2002...what was i doing then?

graduating college, heading to Wisconsin.

yeah, no time to watch movies.

i was in college-land. 

but this movie is amazing people!

i was so shocked that it was a believable musical.

a love story,

tragedy,

so. well. done.

i loved all the music,

all the actors/actresses sing awesome!

especially the modern music tied into it!

(elton john, sound of music, madonna)

made it so enjoyable!!

one catch to the movie...it is truly an adult movie.

lots of sexual references, since it does take place in a brothel.

ah well, 

another thing i can highly recommend is 

reading the Help!

oh.my.goodness.

such a good read!

i am about half-way through it, and yes,

i did see the movie already...which is only helping the book for me!

ok! there's my recommendations for you all!!

have a great week!

i am loving this new season that i'm in right now,

it's not just Fall here, but in my heart something has changed,

i feel at HOME.

so FULL

of love, comfort, peace

i feel my real, full, self.

i know that probably doesn't make sense, 

 it is so good!!!

happy monday !!

life made lovely monday

i don't know how i did it.

i really don't.

but i did it!!

survived a whole entire week without my husband!

all alone with the 5 children! 

yes, many people get dizzy just thinking of my job,

my life, my plate :)

i get dizzy too sometimes!

here is one of my secrets to my success

i am addicted to coffee/hot beverages.

i thank God for them daily.

 another secret:

these kids are so darn cute and squeezable,

that makes this job a bit more bearable!

especially when they give me kisses!!

makes my life very much more lovely!!

so feel free to have your children pay you in kisses and hugs!

i do! :)

makes life more lovely, i think!

and school begins!!

here's ember's class!

she looks soooo happy, and happy she is!! she loves school and her class,

and we are all thrilled!

 while school was in session, we took the little ones to the Dairy Barn, they loved it!

 Especially the water!

it's a new season of life here, unchartered waters.

it's good,

it's unknown!

all the more reason to lean on Him!

blessings on your season!

i heart movies!

one of my favorite websites i gravitate to every day, sometimes multiple times a day is the pioneer woman. have you checked her out yet? she's hilarious!!

and she gives away some cool stuff, at least every week!

but alas, she is so popular the chances of winning anything (at least 50,000 view/comment on her blog!)

crazy! she's that good!

i got introduced to her when my mom bought me her cookbook--which is awesome!! my husband was very happy when i started making all of her recipes! there's some great ones!!

so, anyways she has a new section on her website- entertainment! that's right up my alley!  i love a good movie to watch, and the way she talks about them makes me want to watch all of them! yikes!

so recently i watched Chariots of Fire--directly because she raved about it so!

i realized some things about myself in watching this movie:

1. i don't really like watching movies alone. makes me feel sneaky. sometimes i like to feel sneaky, but most times not so when watching for entertainment and trying to wind down from being around youngin's all day.

2. british movies and me, don't really mix. i need an interpreter! seriously! i don't know why i cannot follow the plot, at least 2 scenes go by and i'm asking...what just happened?  why can't i get it?

 so yeah! there's my rant on movies! 

got any glorious ones to recommend me?

hurray for summer!

 here is livi's latest trick! she had such a blast showing us that she was "all done!"

she continues to flail her arms up after each bite to watch us congratulate her on all done!!

super cute!

 She is growing into such a beautiful girl! i love her so much!

she is super sweet, almost the whole time!

 Ember is growing into such a helper!

not only does she serve her sister's their breakfast every morning,

she reads them books at bedtime too!

she was a great help to me while ryan was gone.

she would even put on brighten's shoes for him!

what  sweetie!

 this is a picture she wanted me to take and send to daddy.

she missed him so.

 livi loves the water!!

Adia,

i love her in purple!

she is pretty amazing

and almost always skins her knee when we go for a walk.

she is resilient!