this post brought to you by shaun white.

shaun white is pretty much the best thing that ever happened to target. in my humble opinion:)

never mind the fact that my boys now match other boys in their classes. i don't care. the quality of the shaun white line is awesome. especially their super skinnies. i could eat them right up. the texture is practically perfect in every way.

did you know they now carry "big-boy" shaun white goodies in baby/toddler sizes? i know!

ok, maybe they have been carrying 'baby' shaun white for a while now. i'm a little slow on the news. i rarely need to shop for tweeds since he has lots of hand-me-downs.


who am i kidding? i love shopping for tweeds.

when john was a kid, he refused to wear hand-me-downs. which is hilarious if you know how practical my husband is.

twain is wearing the shaun white(SW) grey skinnies and the (SW)button-up shirt. his star wars shirt is def a hand-me-down from his brothers.


this SW blue shirt is a little "grown-up" and edgy for me. but i thought it was fun for a change.


"i bought you a new shirt twain! you are gonna look so cute!', i told him.

his reply? no...i look 'tool'{cool}.

today twain informed me "some beards are coming out of my chin on me".

so my grown baby is ready to shave.

not to worry. he is still as squishy as they come. the many faces of twain.

my neighbor thinks that twain looks JUST like me.

i'm like "really?"

seriously. i don't see it. at ALL. do you think he looks like me?


when twain saunters into my room at night, i often marvel that he belongs to us. i don't think he looks like me or john. who is this strange round-faced boy? lately i've been affectionately calling him my round-faced boy. love his chubby cheeks.




last year, i refused to put twain in jeans. he wore soft looking organics all the time, because mama couldn't handle him growing up so fast. but now mama has turned a corner and lets him wear jeans at least 2 or 3 times a week. i'm wild, i know.

do you like jeans on your baby(0-12 months)?

i put finn and ollie in jeans all the time when they were infants. it suited their style(my model A's).

calvin and twain were hippies and wore soft pants only(my model B's).

and i really ought to throw twain in a onesie or some footsie pi's tonight, before he grows any more whiskers.

around the house

1. We don't have a Christmas tree yet...we almost decided to decorate the huge cat tower instead of a tree, so that we needn't worry about kitties knocking a tree over. We even voted 5-1 in favor of decorating the cat tower. I mean, we could even stack presents on the shelves. Turns out...we are just not that funny. So a traditional tree it will be!

2. Speaking of kitties. Blue thinks she's human. Just sitting at the table. "Hi mom. Just one of the kids. Don't mind me."

She arranges herself artistically every where she goes. With proper posture and her tail curled around her body. Always so picturesque.


And then you have Moo, the complete opposite, sprawled out all over the floor. My big boy with his huge clumsy paws.

I think these kitties are lowering my stress levels. It's impossible to remain uptight when I see Moo jumping up and down wildly over a spot on the wall. I feel like I'm 5 again when I play with them. Don't worry. We are all still crazy about Peachy girl too.

3. My rugs came lickety split. The little rug is just perfect. It lays so nicely and provides great cushioning underfoot whilst rinsing dishes and the like. John likes it too.




The other rug, completely puzzles me. It's too thin, like a canvas blanket or something. It rumples and blumps whenever anybody sits on it. Such a pity, since the pattern is SO CUTE. And I don't even think a rug pad will help. So unless YOU give me a magic solution, it's most likely going back:( I was so bummed at first. Then in Precepts we were studying worldliness and I was reminded that all of our earthly possessions are gonna burn...so no sense getting too emo over the whole situation.

Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. 1 John 2:15

The word for love here, is "agape love"= unconditional love
{note: the verse did NOT use the word "phileo love"= fond affection. It did not say 'Do not have a fond affection for this world'.}

So peeps, it's not ok to love the world or the rugs in this world unconditionally.

Does this mean I can't enjoy the things of this world? No.

What I think it means is....it's ok to have a "fond affection" for some worldly items as long as I don't hold onto them too tightly or idolize them. I always know when I cross the line because I get all impatient and angsty.

I'm trying to enter this Christmas season with that in mind!

4. Have I mentioned that I love to read? I could just disappear off the planet for days in a good book. Finn brought home Chronicles of Narnia books 4 and 6. So clearly I'm reading book 4, Prince Caspian.

My parents read us the books growing up but I'm a bit rusty.

And I WILL name my next son Shasta(Narnia book 5). I defy anyone telling me it's a girl's name. Because C.S. Lewis says it's a boy's name. Besides, when I was a {high school}teacher for one fat year, my fav student's name was Shasta. And he was a boy.

5. Another cactus bites the dust at the hands of yours truly. Time to make another run to Lowes!


6. Held a contest between the Brita Filter and the Zero-Water Filter. Though the fight wasn't quite fair because my Brita filter was a tad used. Whatevs. Don't ruin my fun with things like uncontrolled variables, k?


My new Zero-Water Filter came with a nifty tester. High numbers are bad.

And the results?

Clearly the Zero-Water  beat the pants off the Brita. No contest. When I tested our tap water it was 120 ppm, so the Brita is practically pointless.

I then ran over to my neighbor Patty's house and tested the filtered water coming from her fridge door: 97ppm. I'm sold on the Zero-Water filter folks! $34.99 at Target.

I'm on my way over to your house with my blue tester, look out!

7. Metallic Gold Sharpie. Be still my heart. I feel so fancy now.

I used a Michael's coupon so it was super affordable. I usually don't buy such fun little items because I'm too thrifty.

SO fun, esp on dark paper. And it will make all my Christmas tags look more festive than a black ball point, no?


8. And finally. Finn's latest weapon of mass destruction: the Marshmallow Blaster.


Yep, those are mini-marshmallows.


Finn is still working out the kinks in this gun. It has many. Like... it doesn't work. LOL.


But hey. It's still a HUGE improvement over last weeks weapon: he rigged his nerf gun to shoot mommy's sewing needles. Isn't that just quaint?

Yes, we will take blasted marshmallows over needles any day of the week. 

winner and my deep thoughts on rugs...

Hi-iiiii. It's monday morning and I'm here like I said I would be. Sleepy eyes and all.

Guess who won the arrow servers?

It's Care! From Days Like Never Before. She's really cute. Yay Care! I'm so happy for you.

Wish you could all have won. I wish I was Oprah and could give a set to everyone...

So Care, please email me at davirebecca(at)gmail(dot).com and send me your address!

xxxxxxxxxx

Let's chat about rugs.

When we first got our new hard floors last spring, people advised me "You'll want to get some rugs to sit on".

The thrifty part of me thought "pffft, nah...why do I need to cover my new CLEAN floors? They are fine without rugs".

Because rugs can be ridiculously expensive.

And I'd rather save for something else. Like a couch for my family room.

Fast forward a few months.

Little twinsies are visiting, and mom says we need something soft on the floor, for the babies to roll on.

So I scrounged around the boys' room and came back with their old striped rug.

After  twinsies left for the day, we left the rug out.

The boys liked sitting and playing on it. In fact, they were drawn to it like a magnet.

And to my surprise, I liked how it "warmed" the place up a bit.

Last time Loriloo was over she commented, "your house looks a little bit...stark...without all that carpet engulfing it"...

And I'm like, "Well yah, that's because my house IS stark, lol". I had been in one of my rampages, taking things down, etc. I mean, I AM a fan of the minimalists. I do admire their ways.

Anyhow, the last couple of weeks, we've been dragging the boys' striped rug back and forth between the family room and record player room, depending on where we want to park our bums for the moment.

I have to admit. I was wrong.

Rugs are awesome.

This weekend, Urban Outfitters was having a sale. So I made a purchase (or two).

I ordered this rug(5x7) for the family room , on sale for $59, free shipping, free returns. Not too bad, eh? I'm hoping it holds up. (photos from site of U.O.)

It was not the first rug I was instantly drawn to on their site. In fact, I did not notice it at all, until Ellie pointed it out to me. She has a MUCH more artsy eye for things like this. I am excited to try something new and different.

And I also ordered this lil rug(2'x3'), $24, for the kitchen. John had been asking me to get a small rug for our kitchen. (photos from site of U.O.)

I am crazy about this little rug and wished it came in bigger sizes. Seriously if it came in 5x7 or 8x10, I would have been ALL over it.

I am very curious about my orders and hope they work out. Well, that was my excitement for the weekend.

So. What are your deep and pressing thoughts about rugs?

early merry christmas

I recently found my favorite arrow servers on CLEARANCE at Target. So naturally, I thought of ya'll.


They could be yours.


Apparently this lil creeper wants to snatch them up...

Just leave a comment below if you want them too!

Winner will be selected at random. Winner announced Monday morning.

Early Merry Christmas!

This giveaway in now closed. Winner has been selected. 

Brace yourself for some randomness

I think Kleenex has come a long way. Don't you?

Too bad about Hostess though. RIP orange cupcakes, RIP. I didn't even get to say goodbye.
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At the reading program, one of the volunteers was doing a devotional and asked the kids what they wanted for Christmas. Finn blurted out "A BB gun!". To which I shot him down with, "YOU ARE NEVER GETTING A BB GUN KID. YOU'LL SHOOT YOUR EYE OUT". Poor kid. His crazy mother was raging.

So we improvise. This is a plastic toy gun, lovingly wrapped in camo duct tape.


He rigged this camo gun to shoot out some used BBs that he collected off our neighbor's lawn.

At least the kid is resourceful. I'll give him that.

From the safety of my couch I embroidered my favorite deer.


Have you ever wondered what I look like embroidering? Not me. No thanks.


Sewing some fabric paper by machine. I got this nifty idea from Loriloo a while back.

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Painted the tops of some mason lids a yummy shade of aqua. 

They were used as prizes for a baby shower for one of my dearest friends, Megan.  Mmmm...Dewars peanut butter chews. My fav.

I think I'm gonna make something similar for Christmas presents for the kids' teachers. Except I'll do something Christmasy on the tag.

Megan's baby shower theme was nests and birds and I got to help with the centerpieces.

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Calvin came home from church with some drawings on a Chinese box. It's Achan, stealing some of the "devoted things".


And I think here, Achan is getting stoned.


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A major highlight was having sister Lindsay, twinsies + mom come up for a visit!

Lindsay walked in the door holding Savannah out like a hot potato. She had completely blown out her diaper on the drive up. And it was in that moment, it hit me: I am truly out of the baby phase. I did not know if I should be happy or sad. Because I do not miss the poop! I think it helps having little twinsies to smooch.

Auntie Lindsay is a kid magnet.


Lindsay made the most amazing paninis known to mankind, while I snuggled babies.

I did help with one part: I hand sliced a big ole hunk of fresh bread, from trader joes. And it had some meat, which I had trouble pronouncing...pros-key-yoot-oh. Or "Prosciutto". Same diff. And melted mozzarella, with fresh tomatoes and sun dried tomatoes and fresh basil.

They were gobbled.

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Remember how I am practicing the music box this month?
I tried playing for my little neighbor Libby but I was too s-l-o-w to make the song recognizable. So I asked John to play it, so she could hear it played proper-like. And after playing Music Box, John busted into Eminem. And I danced and threw some gangsta signs, just for Lindsey (of Lyrics of Life). John and I shall perform a Slim Shady Music Box medley, so stay tuned, k?
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Getting ready to trap mama cat, to get her spayed.  As I mentioned on fb, I would not survive the hunger games.
Mama kitty was too smart and so our first attempt failed. The canons shot into the night air, as tribute davi crashed and burned.
And mama cat laughed at my haulogram in the night sky...according to a fb friend.
And henceforth, sister Lindsay named the mama cat, "Katniss" because she is so elusive.

Then, at 2 a.m. that same night, we caught a raccoon. John heard the crying from the cage, as I dozed away. I dreamt in and out of real life that John's finger was bleeding from a rabid raccoon bite. But not to fear. John is in one piece and has no need for a parachute gift of healing cream from his sponsor.
We have been practicing feeding mama cat in the cage with the trap part tied up. So that when she's fully accustomed to freely roaming in and out, then BAM! We can catch Katniss by surprise! The games continue...