The Hope Soap Project

Bring good news to the poor, repair the broken hearted, set free the captives,

 fill them with joy and exuberant hope!

I recently discovered The Hope Soap Project. They make the most wonderful smelling natural and organic soap and sell with a mission; to bring love and hope to the survivors of human trafficking all around the world. You can read more about what they do here

I have been lucky enough to sample some of their soaps and each smells as good as the last.. Sandalwood Vanilla, Aloe Calendula Restoration, Oats n Honey, Black Lace and my personal favorite Rosemary Mint just to name a few. Plant the wrapper and watch wild flowers grow.

Over 27,000,000 current estimate of slaves worldwide. 

Average age of trafficking victims 12.

What they ask of you is simple.. buy soap. give hope. 

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Command Center

We almost always use our garage as our point of entry to the house. On entering through the garage door we have a tiny landing strip with doors leading to the laundry room and such and a few steps to one side leading to the main floor.. up the steps and just before you enter the kitchen is yet another landing strip of sorts..

It's a small space between our kitchen and dinning room.. and what we decided would be the perfect place to store our shoes.. we were taking them off and tripping over them there anyway.. and also a place for a calendar, things to help us stay organized.

This set of skinny shoes organizers fit perfectly.. and store plenty of shoes.. we have a no shoe policy in the house

and on the opposite wall I found a large dry erase calendar decal.. this way we all know what's happening when..

underneath we hung this cute little photo display we got as a house warming gift to display all of D's artwork.. not a fan of the refrigerator displays.. 

I am now currently on the hunt for a small key holder/ mail holder currently everything sort of piles up on our dining table.. I found a cute one at Target the other day but it was so flimsy and plasticy.. so still looking.. let me know if you happen to spot one.

What do you do to help stay organized?

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Great Wolf Lodge

The past few months, weeks, days have been crazy.. so much has been happening that we've had almost no time to relax and have fun. We've snuck in a dinner here and a movie there.. some fun in the snow but for the most part we're just exhausted..

This last weekend was my dad's one and only weekend in town and April get's super crazy at work for M so we thought.. ESCAPE! And what can be better than a warm indoor water park in this cold wet what is supposed to be spring.. we are still wearing our bubble jackets.

While we were hoping the weekend was going to be great.. I was still prepared for it to fail. The last time we went to an indoor water park it was cold indoors and D was afraid of most of it. Thank God but we had a blast!

even H got in on the water fun! 

There were seven awesome slides.. three of them especially awesome.. and thanks to my parents being there.. they played with the kids while M and I squeezed in some much needed us time.. we chatted during the long long lines and all the slides required tubes so M and I got to go down them all together..

D got in in on some of the slide action.. there were five child friendly slides.. and he could not get enough!

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Still Raining

While rain can be soothing and cleansing.. provide the perfect backdrop for curling up with a warm cup of something and read..

Droplets available in a variety of sizes.. ready to frame and hang.

When you are going on day three of what seems like a never ending downpour I say enough is enough!

Praying, hoping and wishing for some sun and warmth soon.. 

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lately

it's been busy around here..

TV has been mounted on the brick wall.. harder than it seems.

Curtain's have been found, bought and hung.. i promise pictures will come soon.. we've been so busy doing that I haven't found the time to take pictures.. and I usually have to hide all the baby toys and laundry lying around before I take any pictures.. I shall continue to live in the denial that I have a tidy house : )

We have a space near the garage and laundry room area that is sort of in limbo.. so we built some shoe organizers and a giant calender.. we'll call it command central.. again pictures to come soon I promise!

The boys are getting along wonderfully.. THANK GOD!

We have glorious weather one day and then it becomes frigid the next two.. I do not like this.. I need spring..

Over the weekend we decided to venture into the attic.. the door is in the ceiling of D's closet. A ladder was bought so that M could climb up and we were surprised by what we found up there..

There's a glimpse of just a few of the treasures and a whole lot of trash we found up there.. more on that in another post..

D has decided on the theme of his birthday.. so while it is a few months away.. I have started to brainstorm and make lists.

Now coming to the best part of today.. my dad is flying in.. my mom obviously couldn't be happier.. :D
He is here for a week.. and then they are both gone.. : (

This is going to be another busy week and we have big plans for the weekend so I may not post next Monday.. but then I am back.. so have a happy sunshine filled week even if the weather man said to expect snow tomorrow.. and a fun and relaxing weekend..

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GIVEAWAY: Milestone Memories

I was recently contacted by Amy of Milestone Memory about doing a giveaway. When I saw her shop I was immediately in love with her creations. And as a mommy I was already envisioning the ones I could create of D and H. As a fellow mom Amy loves to create for families a keepsake they can look back upon and cherish for years to come. First Birthday's, First Day of School or any other milestone worth celebrating; Milestone Memory has got something for everyone, customized to meet your needs.

Milestone Memories is giving away a digital file to one lucky reader.. to remember your little ones next milestone forever.

To Enter:

- Visit Milestone Memories adorable shop and tell me which poster you want and leave your email address so I can contact you when you win :)

- Visit Milestone Memories Etsy Shop favorite it by clicking on the little heart.

- Follow my blog via Bloglovin'

It's as simple as that!

Extra Entry

- Get an Extra Entry by Tweeting about this Giveaway and leave a separate comment telling me you did it

You have until March 23rd to enter. Giveaway open to everyone.

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D Behind the Lens

D has been obsessed with taking pictures and he likes to use my phone to do it. He has already broken the screen twice and I would end up with hundreds of pictures of his foot or a red blurry blob on my phone. And not to mention having to fight with him to get my phone back! Instead we decided he needed a camera.. and after much researching and review reading we went with the Playskool Showcam

It is toddler proof.. he has already dropped it a few times. It has big buttons for easy usage.. and comes with a view finder meaning he gets to shoot like mommy :) It has a few other gimmicks I don't care about like noises and you can put a pirate hat on your pictures and things like that.. but the best one is the camera becomes a projector. With the flip of a button D can view all the pictures he just took standing inside our dark pantry his choice of location not mine.

Here are some of D's pictures..  

The resolution, not so great.. but after the gazillions of reviews I read of dozens of kid friendly cameras none of them had great resolution.

The camera allows D to be creative, see the world through another perspective and we get a better look at how he sees things..

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