Monday, March 31, 2014

Last day of March!!

It's early here and we have tree trimmers coming to trim the limbs over the house and cut a few small trees at the very back of our property!!! This means after today we can start a big dream come true project! I'll be sure to share along the way and I plan to do a post on it soon!! 

I also wanted to remind those that emailed me about the March special that it ends today!! A free Lifetime membership and free product is a great deal!!

The last few days have been busy busy! I've been working on a dresser redo. When I was pregnant my husband painted it Navy for me but after he finished it I HATED it! I didn't want to tell him though because we were running around trying to get ready for twins and then we moved it into another room anyway. So over nap times the last few days I painted that baby and now I LOVE it!!! It's amazing what new paint and new knobs can do!! I forgot to take a before shot other than half way through! Oh well!! This gives you an idea of the color and knobs. 

Finished!!! I used Valspar paint and I ordered glass knobs on Amazon (8 for around $13). 



One last thing before I scoot for the day...... I debated sharing this now but decided it would be fun to share along the way! Can you believe the twinlets will be ONE year in two months?? Birthday plans are underway!! I'll leave you with this picture... Can't wait to show you what I've been working on. Stay tuned!!

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Twin Post

I thought I would stop real fast and do a quick twin post! I'm in a race against time this morning. Babies just finished their morning bottles and are playing at my feet. As soon as their food digests a little we will work on sitting up and playing with blocks and stacking rings. After that I will put them in their exersaucers to play near me while I paint a dresser! They LOVE their exersaucers!!! Then it will be lunch time and naptime. During their naptime I will run around here doing a few daily chores. What are your daily chores? Since I have two older boys I make sure and wipe down our bathrooms every single day. Makes real bathroom cleaning simple and easy!! I also take my small stickvac to the bathrooms for easy fuzzy and hair removal! Speaking of bathrooms I wanted to share this new toilet seat I bought for my kids bathroom. Our bathroom needed a new toilet seat because it's seen three kids potty training. Those toddler potty seats that sit on the toilet are a beating to painted wood seats because my kids would slam it down on top rubbing the paint off. With two little boys potty training in the future I knew I must have it!! I love it because the toddler seat is built into the lid. Also, it's no slam so no little fingers will get pinched. The best feature is the back has unlock and lock mechanisms that allow you to unlock and pop the seat right off to truly clean the back of the toilet!!! I also LOVE it because right now we don't need the toddler seat so I haven't put it on yet! Best invention EVER!! You can purchase it HERE
Anyway, I got super excited about a toilet seat that I got distracted.....

The twins! Oh my gosh those little boys are just amazing! I might be a little biased but they bring so much fun and joy to our home. Right now they are weighing a little under 16 pounds. They LOVE to eat! Last night I pureed fresh kale and spinach for them to go with their chicken plus a side of applesauce. They gobbled that up and started signing and screaming for more food. So I heated up some acorn squash. They gobbled that. Barrett was still hungry so I gave him some yobaby yogurt. Finally he was satisfied! They must be going through a growth spurt! I went to Carters last week during an amazing sale and got them the cutest spring and summer wardrobe! Riley says, "Honey aren't baby dolls." Sure they are, wink wink!

Ok, I'm out of time but I will leave you with some pictures!! When I am cooking I will give them fruit or avocado into the mesh feeders. Keeps them busy!! Messy but that's what soap/Shaklee Laundry soap is for, right?? lol! Barrett prefers to use his as a drum but Brennen goes to town.

Barrett on the left and Brennen on the right

Brennen is a strawberry face

Working on fine motor skills. They LOVE to pick up the puffs but won't eat them. Barrett left, Brennen right

Monday, March 24, 2014

My Little Ponies : Hot Mess Hair

Do your children have a favorite toy that is always in their hand? My son Ben LOVES My Little Pony. I was noticing that his ponies were what I would call, "Grubby". His beloved Ponies sleep with him, go on car rides, show in tell at school, to restaurants, watch cartoons with him, he plays school with them and the ponies have seen many a Lego car or Match Box car ride, lol!! I'm not really even sure how they became his favorite toy other than big sister and him love to watch the cartoon and act out the scenes. His favorite pony is Apple Jack. Once we had gone to the eye doctor and the doctor had to put the dreaded dilating drops in his eyes. He had a pony in his hand and I told him, "Benny if you be a good boy and let the doctor look in your eyes I will take you to Target and let you pick out a new pony." Those sweet little blue eyes looked back at me and said, "Mommy, can I get Apple Jack?" I panicked a little because I had no idea if Target would have Apple Jack. SO I said, "If they don't have Apple Jack I bet they have another pony you want." They did have Apple Jack and he was one happy boy. He was four then, sniff sniff, time goes way to fast! I miss my little four year old going to Target with me! 

Here below is the picture I took after we bought the pony (ignore the big blue stain on his shirt, we had an icy accident at the store lol). Can you see the purple pony in his hand? Oh my, this picture takes me back to that day. I just adore him!



















Anyway, his ponies needed a good scrubbing. So I scrubbed and disinfected them with Basic G! Their hair was a hot mess so I thought maybe I would groom them a little. 

Have you ever had to groom doll hair before? To groom doll hair you need a few things.... a spray bottle, some fabric softener, water and a GOLD golf ball brush (I bought the brush at Walmart for a few dollars). This is the same kind of tool they use at the American Doll Store on the dolls. Brit and I use this same technique on her American Girl and Barbies.

I mixed up a little bit of water and my favorite Shaklee Fabric Softner in a spray bottle. I love this product because it's non-toxic, biodegradable, and has no phosphates (equals safe for my kids skin!)


 First you want to spray the hair until damp and then comb with the GOLD end of the brush. This is before combing. Take it section by section.
Once you're done you will have smooth pony hair again!! 


I had one happy happy boy when he got home and saw his ponies all clean!!! I feel better because they aren't a germy mess! :))



Sunday, March 23, 2014

Frozen: Family Movie Night

A few weeks ago Amazon had a great pre-order deal on the movie Frozen. With having new babies it's hard to take the kids to the movies so when I saw this deal I immediately started planning a movie night! The kids had no idea I purchased the movie nor when it came in the mail. On Saturday mid morning I told them tonight is Family Movie night and they anxiously waited all day to find out the feature film. I asked them what they wanted for dinner and they all wanted pizza. Since Brit and I needed to go pick up her new glasses we picked up all the indrediants for homemade pizza!! Brit got a lesson in yeast and kneading dough! When we make pizza we use these awesome restaurant grade pizza screens I bought at the restaurant supply store! They are the best ever to cook pizza on!! It really grabs the dough and the bottoms come out perfect, not soggy! Also, a large rectangle baking stone helps make the crust perfect (I bake loaves of bread on it too!!). The baking stone was around $50 but I've used it for YEARS! Should be a staple in any kitchen that wants to bake artisan breads and such!
I have found some great kitchen must haves at the Restaurant Suppy! Have you ever shopped at Restaurant Suppy for kitchen items?  
(Pics from Ace Restarurant Supply)
Here is our pizza before going in the oven

After baking!! Yum!!!! 

We sat down to a wonderful pizza feast!! While they were all off playing I set up a "candy bar" and popped some popcorn!! 

They were all so surprised it was Frozen! I love movie nights because the kids bring their bedding into our den and cuddle up on the floor. The babies were right in the mix of it! 
Do you have movie nights at your house? 
Have you see the movie Frozen? It's super cute!!! 
-Kriss :))


Thursday, March 20, 2014

Skin Care

Several of my friends have messaged me asking about my skin care regime so I thought I would also share it with you! Do you have a skin care regime? Back in my twenty's I didn't follow any one thing and if I could go back and change anything it would be taking better care of my skin. Having Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome meant my hormones were severely out of wack for most of my twenty's and my skin took the brunt of that. Plus stress and not drinking enough water didn't help it either. I also wasn't real concerned about sunscreen. Then one day I was reading an article in a magazine and it said that one night of going to bed without washing the makeup off your face ages your skin 7 years. Yikes! I didn't make it a habit of not washing my makeup off so that wasn't really an issue BUT it did make me stop and think about skin care. I don't even know if the above statement is true but I'm sure it's not good for your pores and if your pillow case doesn't get washed afterwards then....ewwwww!! My mother-in-law worked for a dermatologist for ten years (she retired in 2007) and she was always bringing me home samples to try of professional grade cleansers, pore refiners and anti-aging lotions. I found them to be mostly drying and expensive for full size bottles. I've bought Clinque, Elizabeth Arden, Philosophy, Dermalogica, Dr Brandt, Murad, Obagi, La Roche, M.D Forte, Origins as well as all your drugstore brands and MaryKay over the years. When I gave Shaklee Enfuselle a try I figured it would be no different than anything else I ever tried. Now that I'm about to be 38 years old skin care is so important to me as well is sunscreen! I've been using Enfuselle exclusively now for 18 months and I absolutely LOVE it!! This is the first winter that my face didn't feel like it was about to crack and fall off! I also LOVE that sunscreen is built into the AM lotion and in the Texas sun that is so important!! The only product I use that isn't Shaklee on my face is good old Witch-hazel. Enfuselle has a toner but I still use the Witch-hazel (under $4 at Walmart or Walgreens and comes in a huge bottle).

This is what I use every single day....

Shaklee has two types of face cleansers but I use the Hydrating Cleansing Lotion. I love how it smells and I love how it removes my makeup as well as my heavy liquid eyeliner I use everyday. If you prefer a gel Shaklee also has Enfuselle Purifying Cleansing Gel that is soap free and pH balanced.

This is my routine:
AM
PM
It's that simple and takes maybe 5 minutes from start to finish!! Don't forget when you start any NEW skin care regimen the skin will bring all the impurities to the surface. It usually takes 2-3 weeks for the skin to adjust to a new routine.The best part of this routine is the product lasts a long time because it doesn't take much and the entire cost for ALL the products was around $150. Dr Brandt eye cream alone is $60- $90 depending on the formulation you chose.

So there you go, that is my routine. It's simple, cost effective, lasts a long time and WORKS! My skin is firmer, brighter, softer and I could swear the one line I had around my left eye has diminished! :)
PS... Don't forget to drink lots of water AND keep your pillow cases washed. Oils from your face transfer to the pillow case and can cause breakouts!! :)
Follow JOURNEY TO HAPPY on Facebook today!

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Shaklee Babies

I've had lots of private emails/messages and friends ask me for a link regarding what I did to get pregnant after such a long infertility period (nearly 15 years). So I decided to give IT, it's very own entry in my blog. It is a little long (like my journey) so grab a snack before you settle in.

With every great story there is a beginning. Have you seen the sign that says, "Out of every love story, I love ours best"? I would have to say that is my favorite sign. So if you are new to my story or blog it's prob best to go back and read HERE first. It outlines how we made our family and how we got to this leg of our journey. The second part of the story involves Shaklee. That islong a story too. I used to read a blogger by the name of Mckmama and if truth be told I had visited a site that was calling her out on some possible untruths. On this site I somehow landed on another blogger that also had adopted children and I commented on her blog. Long story short, we connected online and come to find out she lives a mile from my childhood home, went to the same church, and knew some of my old friends. WHOA!!! Is that not crazy? We became friends on facebook and one day I noticed her talking about Shaklee. She was going on and on about how great it was and how it was green, safe, non toxic, etc. At this time in my own house my poor son Ben had struggled with bad eczema and I had tried everything under the sun to help him. It was so bad that the insides of his elbows and backs of his legs had no skin left from being clawed at. We had done allergy testing. We had done creams, lotions and potions (you get the point). We had tried a pedi & dermatologist suggested diet of no dairy, no eggs, no peanuts. Let me just say that was a miserable diet...for him and for me!!! I had also switched laundry soaps to free and clear with still no relief. He was also taking two allergy medications a day, plus a steroid and a steroid cream. These medications only kept him from itching but his skin was still a hot mess. So one night I saw her post on Facebook again about how great Shaklee was. I pulled up her site and said, "I've tried everything else in the last three years so what's another $100." So I placed an order and eagerly waited for my shipment to arrive. When it arrived I kid you not it was like Christmas. I tore into that package so quickly and I cleaned every single inch of my house with Basic H and washed everything in his closet and drawers in the Shaklee laundry soap. My first thought was, "Wow Basic H has NO scent." I couldn't believe how well a 1/4 of a tsp into 16oz of water worked. I started reading about chemicals compounding our bodies and talking to my chemist husband about the ingredients in Shaklee (they use corn and coconut surfactants). It was then that I said it was all or nothing and threw out every single cleaner and laundry soap in the house but Shaklee. I prob threw out $200 worth of cleaners but it felt amazing!! The best part though was in the course of two weeks my son's skin was healing!! WHAT?? I had tried everything under the sun and a $12 bottle of cleaner was helping? This was in July 2012 and by August 2012 for the first time in three years my son was not on daily allergy medications and creams. Fast forward to 2014 and he only takes Zyrtec now when mountain cedar is up and that's just to keep him from sneezing.

Still with me?? I'm getting to the good part......
I was SO impressed with Shaklee that I decided that I needed to tell other people about it and I decided to become a partner with Project Dream International. If you KNOW me in real life you know that I'm not into gimmicky things and if I put my name on it, then it's the real deal. I've never sold anything other than craft items in my life so I was defiantly stepping out of my comfort zone but I wanted to get Basic H into other homes, because I read about kids having bad eczema every single day on Facebook. Having Shaklee in my life made me realize several things. Our bodies are so compounded with chemicals daily. Our food, our water, our cleaners, our makeup, our lotions, etc. I started doing some research on some other products Shaklee sells and I came across an article explaining about the benefits of Resveratrol (which is the main component of Vivix). In this article it said that it in lab tests it had helped insulin resistant lab mice ovulate. WHOA!!  Having Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome and Insulin Resistance that made me take a second look. I didn't even ovulate when I was taking Bravelle and Follistem during infertility treatments. I also took a look at Shaklee's Vitalizer Vitamins. One thing that impressed me were the YouTube videos I found on absorption/break down of the vitamin. What good did it do to take a vitamin that was not going to breakdown properly in my stomach and I would later just eliminate (fancy word for poop, lol) without getting all the GOOD the vitamin is supposed to provide? This was so eye opening!  The other thing that impressed me were all the things the Vitalizer offered in a vitamin there was no way I could eat in one given day if I tried. So what if I remove a major chemical compounds from my daily life (aka toxic cleaners), take a product that is designed to rebuild DNA as well as shown to help ovarian function (aka Vivix) and take a vitamin that is guaranteed to build the gap in my diet as well as break down as it should??? To be honest pregnancy was the furthest thing from my mind. I just wanted to be healthy for my husband and kids. The Vivix did intrique me though and I even posted it on my business facebook wall sometime around September with the link to the article.  I started the Vivix and Vitalizer at the beginning of August 2012. I started my period on September 15, 2012 and on October 13, 2012 I was heading out the door to my best friends for our annual Girls Night Sleepover party. I ran to the bathroom before leaving and noticed I was spotting. So I thought great I'm starting and threw a box of Tampax in my bag just in case. Except my period never came but I didn't think two things about it. Then on Oct 27, 2012 my hubby wanted fajitas so I ran up to the Mexican market to get fajita meat. As I was getting out of the car I had this intense pain on my left side that made me stop and pause for a minute. I honestly though maybe I had a small cyst rupture or something because the pain went away when I started walking. I bought stuff for dinner and I kid you not stopped at Red Box and rented The Odd Life of Timothy Green. Not only did I cry like a baby during the beginning of this movie I got up a million times to pee during it. I was clueless as to what was going on and didn't think anything about it. The next day my SIL came over and helped me pack for my boys camping birthday party. I kept having to excuse myself to go pee while she was over. The next day, October 29, 2012, I drove Ben to school and as soon as I dropped him off I cried like a baby dropping my baby off at school.  To this day I still do not know what made me buy the pregnancy test but I did and it was the shocker of a life time. My very FIRST positive pregnancy test ever. You can read more about that story HERE. The next week I found out it was twins!! I carried my babies for 34 weeks and 1 day!! They were born May 22, 2013 and my life will never ever be the same again. My journey to happy had another beautiful story attached to it! I believe with all my heart that God lead me to find my blogger friend Melissa, she led me to Shaklee and Shaklee led me to my Shaklee Twins (lol!! :)
A picture is worth a thousands words...
Brennen and Barrett March 2014
Barrett & Brennen February 2014

Barrett

Brennen


I know everyone has a story to tell and road to travel but I hope my story gives you HOPE if you have lost it. I hope my story helps you down your very own road and I also hope if you haven't given Shaklee a chance that you will try it! Not only has it changed my son's life for better but it's changed mine in more ways than just my twins. I get to help families every day get healthier!! I would LOVE to help you! So if you have any questions feel free to write me!!!
Here are the links to the products if you would like to look at them!
Vivix
Vitalizer
Basic H
Laundry Soap



Saturday, March 15, 2014

Family of 7

The picture isn't real clear because I had to crop an entire wedding party and the guests out of it but never the less we are ALL TOGETHER in this picture, lol. It's so hard to get a picture of all of us, especially with Ben in it. That sweetness hates being in pictures as much as I do. LOL. (Riley is holding Brennen and I'm holding Barrett)


Hope your having a great weekend!! I can't believe springbreak is almost over! We have had a great time relaxing, enjoying Riley at home, going out to eat and a few family fun events. Riley and I have also had a blast making some big plans for our house (that will happen in the next few weeks) so that next spring we can FINALLY finish the kitchen and knock out a wall! Aunt Kelle came and watched the kids for us 6 hours so we could run to Home Depot and some other places. Then when we got back we treated her to the goodness of Chicken n Waffles, lol.

Ok, I'm off to make some dinner before these hungry children famish. They have already told me they are soooo hungry they might wither away. They must all be on a growth spurt because I can't keep them full.

Friday, March 7, 2014

Target Diapers

Target Diapers (when I'm not clothing) are my favorite diapers!! Need diapers? Target has a sale going on the BULK PACK PLUS (box must say this!) buy 2 get a $15- gift card. Also text Target at 827-438 the word UpandUp. They will send you a $15off text coupon if you spend $40 in Up and Up items! Plus cartwheel 5% plus use your Target Red Card! Can you say savings?!?!?! Enjoy!! 

Thursday, March 6, 2014

Be a business owner!

If you ever wanted to be a business owner my director is offering this special in March too.... Wanted to pass this on... 

Tomorrow is my 16th wedding anniversary!! Riley took off and we have a day of fun scheduled! Last night I looked up on my tv armoire and saw a James Avery bag! I can't wait to see what special charm he picked out for my bracelet!! It's weird to look back and see all the avenues we went to get the amazing life we have today! We both never saw us having five children (we thoughts we'd be lucky to have one). I can honestly say that I married my best friend and the love I feel for him is 10 times greater than when I said, "I Do!" :) 

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

February Shaklee Special Extended!!!

wanted to pop in real fast before I take Ben to speech and let you all know that the Shaklee February special was so HUGE Shaklee extended it through March!!! Woohoo!!! This is great news because FREE membership and a FREE protein powder is hard to pass up!!!! 


I also want to take a moment and thank all my clients, friends and partners!!! Love getting emails that show I was a top earner!!! Shaklee is paying for my daughters $$$ ballet and our precious family fun activities !! Yay!!! If you want to know more about joining my team message me!! 

Also love getting sweet reviews from friends!! 

I'll leave you with a sweet picture! Have a great day!! Remember to live your dreams! Make them happen!!