29 week bump.

okay, first things first...the winner of our sponsor give-a-way is:

Jessica Gardner

congrats jessica!  email me and i'll get you hooked up with your loot.

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moving on--i am 29 weeks pregnant.

29 weeks?

this baby will be here so soon...which freaks me out somewhat because i'm starting to realize that whether i like it or are ready for it, somehow this baby is gonna have to come out of me.

i gave birth to kohen, au natural.

i remember saying right afterwards "phew...that was incredibly amazing...but i will NEVER do it again!"

and here i am, about to do it again.

lord have mercy.



so yah, 29 weeks.

i live in velour jogging pants because they are most comfy on my hiney.

when i go out, i do put some decent pants on, but then when i'm home, it's right back in the goods.

speaking of goods.

isn't my shirt awesome?

melissa sent me one of her shirts from her newly launched company,

the terra collection.

here's a bit of info on their sweet company:

The Terra Collection is a southern California based organic T-shirt company with a global mission. With the purchase of each Terra Collection Tee, a donation will be made to one of several charities dedicated to improving our quality of life on this planet - from cleaning up the air and water to protecting the animals and the earth.
With designs inspired by California’s pristine lakes, forests and miles of coastline, each t-shirt is designed to make a statement and feel like your long-time favorite. With a hint of retro and a nod to sophisticated artist design, Terra Collection Tees will be your go-to fashion statement tee for a night out, a hike in the woods or over your bathing suit when headed to the beach.
The product of two mothers, and longtime friends, the Terra Collection was created by Jennifer Capaci and Melissa Bailey as an extension of their commitment to leaving a living legacy for their kids and future generations. The debut collection, known as the Terra Tee Project, features four t-shirt designs in styles for women, one for earth, air, water and life.  Buyers can choose which charity they would like to donate to or can let the Terra Collection decide.

TerraCollection.com now features several other organic, natural, reused/re purposed and/or recycled products. Our goal was to create an affordable place to shop for yourself or for gifts and still feel great about giving back to this earth. Shop our selection of totes, candles, accessories, home goods and more!

check out the terra collection for some fun, organic tees and products.

{website, facebook, blog}

enjoy the weekend!



embrace the camera: sept. 29

it's seriously the last september embrace.  where does the time go?

this week, my little buddy needed a haircut...like, bad.

see for yourself:

i told you so.  he's like nacho libre in that picture.

i got the clippers out and went to town.

now he's looking much more put together:

our embrace picture this week...he wanted to steal the spotlight.

 and his reward for sitting so patiently while i clipped his hair...time on the i-pad to play his favorite matching game.

here's the nitty gritty on embrace the camera---PLEASE READ:

-if these guidelines aren't followed then your link will be deleted---ETC is not about promoting ourselves or our blogs so please don't use our link tool to do such a thing.-

1. take a picture of YOU with your kids, spouse, friends, etc. the point of embrace the camera is to get in front of the camera and to document a bit of yourself.

2. link up your POST, not your blog. 

3. link back to our blog by a text link or using our button.

4. and lastly, have fun and visit each other!

leave each other lots of love---it's not easy to get in front of the camera---bravo to all of you who join us every week!   your family will thank you for it one day :)

sponsor give-a-way day: september

welcome to sponsor give-a-way day!

3 lovely shops are joining us today---read through to see how you can win all of the loot.

and if you'd like to be one of our sponsors, then check out our sponsorship page and send us an email.

we'd love to have you!

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Liz Eaton Custom Jewelry

My name is Liz Eaton, I am a mother to 3 little boys, 3 and under. I am a wife to my best friend, David. I love making jewelry, but especially custom handmade silver jewelry. I love anything artsy or crafty & me & my boys spend most of our day in our home studio playing & making stuff. I wouldn't change a thing. Please visit my blog to hear more about our family & studio life, or visit my etsy shop to find some custom handmade jewelry.

Liz is giving away this "Remember" necklace!

For an extra entry, visit her shop and let me know your favorite piece of jewelry.

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A Perfect Treasure

Karen has been hand stitching sweet gear for little ones and selling in boutique stores for nearly 7 years. She has recently started listing on etsy and has onesies, tees, dresses, pants and burp cloths to choose from. Fun birthday, Halloween and Christmas designs were just recently added for fall!

Karen is giving away a $20.00 shop credit!

Use the coupon code "emily10" for 10% off your purchase through October.

For extra entries, become a follower of Karen's blog, and/or like A Perfect Treasure on facebook.

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Noonday Collection, Ambassador Mary Barker

The Noonday Collection is founded on it's commitment to the artisans who, by the sales of our products, are able to create sustainability in their lives and communities. We also work to provide forever homes for adopting families. The reason that I became involved with Noonday was to satisfy my calling to help the oppressed around the world- specifically the women who are often marginalized for just that- being a woman. With Noonday, your purchases are, with out a doubt, going to give the gift of hope to someone somewhere. I love the beauty of that! My heart skips a beat to think that making such differences can be as simple as buying a stylish Noonday scarf.

Mary is giving away The Organic Lacey Earring set ($25)

 (hand-crafted by a fair trade group of artisans in India)

For extra entries, become a follower of Mary's blog and/or like her facebook page.

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To enter, simply leave me one comment on this post.

For any extra entries, follow the rules above.

Winner will be announced Friday morning, 9/29.

Good luck!

daryl downer.

so, i realize milo was a total ham in his 4 year old pictures, but if you know him in real life, you know that he is a frowner.

i can usually get him to crack a smile for the camera these days (it's all about promising him either chocolate or carbs) but when he is around other people, and they are trying to talk to him, he will do pretty much everything BUT flip you off.  and i'm pretty sure he's thinking about flipping you the bird.

he is painfully shy around others, which means he acts a bit rude.

i like to call him daryl downer (not really, i just made that up---but it's kind of hilarious, so i think i'll start).

it's only fitting that he came home with a pasta portrait and it looked like this:

do you see his pasta portrait frowning?

oh.  this is CLASSIC milo.

i love that he put his macaroni piece facing down, so that it would look like this.

just one of the many reasons to love this kid.

that cute, little daryl downer.

the shoe corral, also known as a morning time saver.

in an effort to stay sane, i like to keep things organized.

now, our bedroom apparently doesn't fall into this category, because i was just asked by caedmon the other day "why do we have to clean our room, but you and daddy don't clean your room?"

yah, you weren't supposed to notice that caedmon, mkay?

that's when i like to say things like "because we're grownups, okay?"

(i can say things like that now that i'm 30.)

which he then usually says "oh, so when i'm a grownup, i don't have to clean my room?  basically i can do anything i want?"

yes caedmon.  anything you want.

moving on.

this is what you see when you first walk into our house:

it's our shoe storage system, or the shoe corral.  whatever you'd like to call it is fine.

we used to have an old dresser here, and everybody threw their shoes into one drawer.  it made for a very stinky drawer, and also major cries and fits in the morning when you couldn't find the shoe you were looking for cause there were so many dang shoes in that drawer.

so, i went to IKEA one day and bought 2 of these.

6 bins?  perfect.

everybody puts their shoes in their OWN bin (glorious)...no more scrapping in the mornings when we're all trying to get our shoes on.  they each have their own space, and best of all, it's small enough for little people to sit on if they need help from mommy and daddy to put shoes on.

the top drawer houses their library books they check out (when they aren't using them) and also school folders, etc.

when the kids are home, their backpacks sit right on top of this thing, in their own space.

once it gets colder (oh you know, in like 4 months or so) i'd like to hang hooks up so they can hang their coats and winter garb on.  it's all about a system, people.

i also stamped each kids name in their color to label their bins.

so, no lie, this system has made my life easier.

i say that about every organization tip, but tis true.

organization = sane mama.

and just for fun, this is what's on the other side of the room:

this is our playroom--and yes, the first room you see when you walk into the house.

(our art walls are empty cause i take all the old crafts down at the beginning of the school year...in order to fill them right back up again!)

this room is used for a dining room in other homes, but we don't have a lot of space in our crib, so we need to utilize every room to the best of our ability.

plus, who needs 2 different rooms to eat in?  i don't get it.

our playroom used to be yellow...check it out here.

the yellow made me want to puke.  no lie.  i hated it.  one day i got mad at mr. anderson and i thought "what is one thing i could do that would really irritate him?"

paint. 

paint a room that's already painted?  even better.

he thinks painting is the worst thing ever invented, so i got my paint and went to work.

i like it better white anyways, so thanks for making me mad, mr. anderson.

this table i got for free at a garage sale---they were finishing up when i came by and told me to take whatever i'd like.  holla.

for now, it's a beat up and used table in the playroom.

one day it will be white and beautiful in my living room.

milo and elsa playing "dora matching":

i love to share little tidbits on how we make things work in this house.

and i also love to hear from y'all---how do you make things work with 1, 2, 10 kids?

do tell.

happy monday, y'all.

the million dollar question: boy or girl?

as we prepare for baby #6 (and by prepare, i mean hyperventilate at the thought of having 6 kids), i've not been able to get my mind off of the gender of this baby.

we didn't find out, which is what we usually do...but this time around, i'm itchin' to know what it is.

maybe it's because we've given away ALL of our baby clothes and i feel the need to somewhat prepare?

maybe it's because i want to think about what the dynamic of our family will look like?

boys are so very different from girls.

someone recently told me to prepare for lots of drama if this baby is a girl.

while i know girls can be dramatic, i must say that my 3 boys hold the dramatic title in this house.  fo' sure.

these boys know how to whine and scream like they are attempting to win an olympic title for it.

but don't get me wrong, hadley knows drama as well (elsa, on the other hand, just goes with the flow...for now).

so, if this baby is a girl:

-we would go from having 1 little lady, to 3 little ladies in less than a year.  can someone say crazy?

-we would get to finally use a name that i've been dying to use for like 4 years now.

-we would get to have that much more dress up clothes and barbie dolls in the house.

-we would get to pay for 3 weddings in the distant future.

-we would get to harass many more boys as they come knocking on our door to take our little ladies out.

-we would get to teach 1 more little lady that she is beautiful, no matter what anyone says.

-and best of all, i would get to watch mr. anderson interact with 1 more daughter.  he is so good to them.

----------------------------------------------

but oh, the joys of boys.

i love being the mom of boys.

they are dirty and loud and messy and hilarious and disgusting.

and while most of that drives me crazy, i couldn't imagine our life any other way.

my favorite part about my boys?

they love their mama.

i couldn't imagine not being needed by these little men.  not being asked to "hold me, mama".

not being flashed the "i love you" sign in sign language, by milo (every 10 minutes the kid does this).

those boys have my heart (so do my girls, but it's different with boys).

so, if we had another boy:

-we would get to explain to even more people that "no, he doesn't have to go to the bathroom.  he's just grabbing his wenis."

-we would get to step on even more legos.  and watch even more lego cities be built.

-we would learn even more secret moves in super mario brothers.

-we would get to watch even more nacho libre movie scenes being reenacted.

-we would get to teach 1 more little dude the importance of being a godly man.

-we would get to wipe even more pee up around the toilet (oh joy!)

-we would get to see even 1 more son, love a woman and make her his wife.  i can't imagine a greater joy than seeing your boys loving and respecting a woman.

i am fine with either a boy or a girl. 

both present very different challenges and joys that i am equally excited and nervous about.

i just can't wait to find out!

so, what will this next little anderson be?

besides being the caboose to this train (or so we hope)...will it be a boy or a girl?

tell me what you think...or are hoping it is :)

{photos taken by the lovely parsons}



embrace the camera: sept. 22nd

first off, the winner from our featured sponsor post is:

megan

if your name is megan and that is you, then congrats! 

please email me and i'll get you hooked up with miss casey.

secondly, embrace the camera is all about mr. anderson and i.

we got to sneak away for a date night this past weekend.

date nights are like glorious nuggets sent from heaven...i'm convinced.

thank you mr. anderson, for the crazy face in that middle picture there.

it helps me to look super cute when you make those faces.

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here's the nitty gritty on embrace the camera---PLEASE READ:

1.  take a picture of YOU with your kids, spouse, friends, etc.  the point of embrace the camera is to get in front of the camera and to document a bit of yourself.

2.  link up your POST, not your blog. 

3.  link back to our blog by a text link or using our button.

-if these guidelines aren't followed then your link will be deleted---ETC is not about promoting ourselves or our blogs so please don't use our link tool to do such a thing.-

and lastly, have fun and visit each other!

leave each other lots of love---it's not easy to get in front of the camera---bravo to all of you who join us every week!  your family will thank you for it one day :)

you are my sunshine.

little kohen is going to be turning 2 soon.

if you know me, you know that i like to do things on the cheap.

even with parties, i love for things to be beautiful and thought out, but i hate spending money.

remember kohen's party from last year?

i utilized many things that i already owned and ended up spending about $30 on the party (not including food which was pizza).  and it turned out so cute and fun!

this year, i wanted to have another sweet and simple little party for his birthday---so i decided on a "you are my sunshine" theme.

i love yellow...it's so bright and fun.

and let's face it---i'm not going to be able to pick the themes of my kids bday parties for much longer.

maybe i can get away with one more year with kohen--and of course, this new baby.

but that's it.

so, i've been pinning some "sunshine" painted boards on my pinterest account.

i liked them, but none of them were exactly what i was hoping for.

so, i used them more as inspiration, and decided to paint my own.

i took pictures of the process, so you could have a somewhat tutorial, but let's face it---it's pretty easy.

get a board, paint it, voila.

but first, you definitely need a helper if ones available:

i found my board sitting in my garage--it had lots of texture on it, which was what i wanted.

after you paint the board white, let it dry.

while drying, take a lunch break.

painting is hard work.

i free handed the letters, but you could stamp, or trace.

and then you're done.

and you have a lovely sign.  (mine is about 2feet x 2feet)

after we use this at the birthday party, i plan on hanging it in mr. anderson and i's room.

this took me about 45 minutes to do (not including our lunch break).

and i had all supplies on hand, so it cost me nothing.

that's a win.

happy sign making :)



milo and his 4 year old pictures.

milo turned 4 at the end of july and i finally got around to taking his pics this weekend.

the light was scrumptious.

the setting (my backyard) was scrumptious.

and of course, my main little man---mr. milo---was scrumptious too.

enjoy.

oh, and if you want to check out his pics from last year, then go HERE.

                         

                  
you all know his love for joey logano, so we had to snap a pic with his favorite car.

and because he still has a major love for his matchbox cars, i had to re-create my favorite picture ever of him.

here was last year:

geesh.

i love that little man.