::nifty & thrifty::

Well, this is my first 'nifty & thrifty' post! In this little series I will be highlighting what made my heart go pitter patter while walking the aisles of some of the finest thrift stores. It is safe to say I am an addict. Here we go.

These are from my most recent venture to Goodwill last week.

Let's dissect.

These are probably my favorite find from this visit to Goodwill. Not entirely sure what I'll use these for, but I love the color! And for a buck ninety nine? Heck yes! I'll take you delightful springy bowls home with me.

Next up, we have some salad tosser thingies. I'm sure I'll use these at some point in my life. Most likely for entertaining.

Holla! What's that? A North Face fleece jacket in seemingly perfect condition? Awesome! I grabbed this one for my little brother.

And finally some shirts for the littlest Barton. These are Baby Gap and Children's Place. They'll fit V in the fall. Super excited!

Grand Total here, folks: $16.22

Nice.

five years, easter, and baby fever

Yeah, you read that right. I have baby fevah! Ha! Only because I have many friends who have just had or are due with babies in the near future and it automatically gives me an itch. But don't worry, it will be a while(ish) before number three joins our family.

Switching gears...

Jeff and I celebrated our five year anniversary on April twenty-second. Hot dang! Five years is kinda of a milestone in this day and age. I am such a blessed lady to have him as mine. Oh how I love him! He works so hard, is an amazing father, and lets face it, he's hot. ;)  This Friday he has something planned for us, and I'm so excited because I love surprises and he won't tell me what it is we'll be doing. Woot for creativity!

Told ya...h.o.t.

Easter was great this year! Isn't it every year?! Our Savior kicked the crap out of death. Sucka! We win! We went to church Sunday morning and spent the afternoon at Papa's house in Indianola. We enjoyed chili, cornbread and lemon bars. The weather was pleasant and Roman had a ton of fun searching for eggs. He really gets it this year. Well, he really gets the egg-hunting-and-opening-to-find-tiny-treasures part. Viggo, on the other hand, did not like sitting in the grass. Hilarious.

On a (really amazing) side note, Roman asked Jesus to live in his heart on Friday (the 22nd...our anniversary!). I was at a rehearsal dinner for a wedding I was in this past weekend when Jeff texted me the news. They were having dinner and Roman wanted Jeff to talk about Jesus and God. So he did. And somehow it lead up to Roman accepting Christ. HOW AMAZING! I'm so excited to see how it all plays out and if this is for real. What a sweet sound in our Savior's ear's to hear His sweet little two year old invite him to live in his heart. Sigh.

Hope you all had a blessed Easter!!

winning!

there is no synonym for 'bad ass'

Hello, you. Please don't be upset with me for my lack of blogging. Let's be honest, I've been busy lazy. Instead of trying to catch you all up, I'm just going to talk about whats happening right now.

A glass of wine, well, a finished glass of wine, and eyes that are slowly getting heavier and heavier. Sleeping babies, sleeping husband...why am I not sleeping? Toys are still all over the floor, I think there's even some corn left on the table from dinner (don't judge me), laundry is piled up. In fact, I was finishing up what was downstairs and felt pretty good about the fact that I had done all the clothes and towels and such until I came upstairs, looked in my bathroom and saw the TWO baskets full of dirty clothes. Oh, it just never ends.

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I've been thinking the last couple of days that I've needed to shake things up a bit with myself. I pulled out my "towanda" and stuck it to the man. Just kidding, I don't even know what that means.

Yesterday Jeff and I, and the boys, went to Heroic Ink where I got a lip ring. Not a hoop, just a stud. And I love it. Makes me feel a little more...bad ass. {And for the record, there is no other word for 'bad ass' on thesaurus.com otherwise I wouldn't have used a 'swear' word.} However the meaning of said word is this:

1. (of a person) difficult to deal with; mean-tempered; touchy
2. distinctively tough of powerful; so exceptional as to be intimidating
3. a mean-tempered troublemaker

Yep. Totally defines me. Especially the 'exceptional as to be intimidating' part. :)  I'll put up a photo as soon as the swelling goes down and I don't look like I got all jacked up on one side of my lip.

Sometimes I forget that I like tattoos and piercings (within reason). So in case you're wondering where this came from, or worried I'm going through a mid quarter life crisis, I'm not. Just letting my awesome-r side out for a bit.

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Been gettin' my craft on lately. LOVING it. A friend comes over every week and we try to get some sort of craft accomplished. Whether it be an Easter basket, or leg warmers. The first two weeks were a fail. My sewing machine didn't work plus we were doing dinner for all of us and trying to finish up some sort of creative-ness before kids' bedtime. Don't try that. It doesn't work.

I'm so proud of what I've made so far, though! I'm going to add a link and make it 'official.' Pictures to come.

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I think we may have gotten Roman addicted to sleeping in our bed. Woops. Have I ever mentioned I dread bedtime? And that I wish the boys could have their own rooms, at least until they're both sleeping all night long. So sometime last week Roman was having an ever-so-common-these-days melt down before bed. I'm pretty sure I was tired and grumpy, not wanting to fight it, and especially not wanting Viggo to wake up, so I tossed him in our bed, closed the door and he fell asleep pretty fast....after he finished wiggin' out. Ever since, that's just what we've been doing. Because it's easy. And once or twice I just let him sleep with us all night, but wont again because, man, that boy is a PILLOW.HOG! He really likes to snuggle. Like, really likes to snuggle. He's like a blanket. Right up in your personal space leaving a mear inch for you to rest your weary head on the pillow that he has his body sprawled across. And he can't have his own pillow. No. You must share yours with him. He gets quite bent out of shape if you try to move him or yourself to a more comfortable sleeping arrangement regarding pillows.

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Viggo is all about everything now. It's hilarious. He's getting to be quite the chatty Kathy too. 'Nah nah nah's' and 'Dah dah dah's' are flying outta that boys mouth. He never wants a 'baby' toy. Too good for those. He prefers to jump ahead a couple years and play with Roman's dinosaurs, cars, drumsticks...pretty much whatever Roman has in his hands, Viggo wants. Already he's becoming that annoying little brother and I love it!
One thing that Viggo is not all about, however, is snoozing all night. All of a sudden it's like he's a newborn again and gets up every couple hours at night wanting to nurse. And not necessarily just to eat. He's a comfort nurser as well. Part of me hates it, but part of me loves it because it's really the only time he snuggles with me. He's not a snuggler. It's sad. So, torn I am, about deciding when to let him put himself back to sleep. I probably won't do anything about it, just so you know. ;)

Oh, and sorry, no photos on this one. Next time. Promise.

enjoying the small things

Let's jump right in

a home.
That's right. We are living independently again. A gigantic thank you is in order to my amazing in-laws who let us invade their home for over a YEAR. They are so kind and selfless and generous and I am so, so, so grateful to them.
I am loving having my own home again! With fresh paint everywhere, new furniture, and new decorating ideas, I'm in a happy place. We have the house on the market and are still trying to sell it, but we are definitely not desperate by any means to move quickly. There have been many showings and even an offer, but God doesn't want it to sell just yet so we are enjoying our time here as much as we can.

the boys.
Jeffrey. This man is amazing. He works so hard for me to be able to stay home with our boys. I'm constantly amazed with him. God has blessed him and his business and February was a record month for Surefire Fitness. In his 'spare' time he's investing in me and our boys. He's such a servant and I'm so proud to be his wife. Sigh.

Viggo. This boy is, as my mom says, squishy. He's a whopping 24 pounds, and wears anywhere from 9 month to 18 month clothing, depending on the brand. He and Roman are sharing a size four diaper (which makes it awesome as far as buying goes) and a bedroom. He's been army crawling for a couple months now and is getting really fast. He loves hanging in the bathroom, specifically next to the toilet. Gross. And loves anything that has a cord attached to it. If there is a cord on the floor, you better believe he'll be after it. Some other favorites include paper, wooden puzzles, kicking his feet (a personal favorite), hair, his dad and Roman. It's so adorable to see Roman interact with him and see both of them cracking up at each other. Roman loves to make Viggo laugh.

(Most times he has this look on his face...there is obviously much to be concerned about)

We're starting to give V some baby food now. I really don't feel a big urge to start him on it seeing how he's obviously starving getting along fine without it. I was wanting to do the Baby Led Weaning route, and still might, but in the meantime going with Ella's Kitchen and Earth's Best. Viggo loves it so far. It's so cute how before I can even get another bite on the spoon he's leaning forward with his mouth wide open. He's doing really well with it! I can't believe he's almost seven months old. He's much more of a go-getter than Roman ever was at this age. Heck, Roman didn't even start crawling until 10.5 months.

Roman. My adorable little two year old is constantly pushing his boundaries. When he doesn't get his way the waterworks start. It drives me crazy but I often have to remind myself he's only two and it's up to me to curb this behavior.

He says the funniest things now and his personality is really shining. I was reading a book to him out loud (just one of my books) and he picked up the phrase 'godly man.' I asked him if he was a godly man and he said 'No! I Roman!' I said, 'Yes, you are Roman, but are you a godly man too?' his answer...'No! I Roman!' I tried explaining to him that he can be a godly man too, but we just went back and forth. I guess he thought I was trying to change his identity.  A few seconds later he asked me where the godly man went. Oh I love it. For another hilarious conversations between he and I, click here. You just never know what he's going to say.

pajama tuesday.
I've started watching my niece, Sophia, on Tuesday's. It's really fun, and a lot easier than I thought it would be. She and Viggo are pretty much on the same nap schedule since they're only six weeks apart. I set up Sophia in the pack 'n play in my room and V naps upstairs while Roman and I hang out in the morning. And come afternoon, Roman and Sophia nap in my room together and Viggo upstairs. If Roman is upstairs with Viggo he won't sleep being that his toys are up there.

this one's here just cause Roman looks ridiculous...

 When she comes, I've been having fun doing some cousin "photo shoots" as well as some individual pictures too. Girls are fun to photograph since you can doll them all up with accessories!

coffee.
New favorite is theflyingbean.com. My dad's girlfriend got me hooked on it. For Christmas I got a pound of whole beans to go with my Cuisinart grind and brew coffee maker and when I run out and have to drink Folgers, I cringe. I've become a snob when it comes to coffee. ;) There are hundreds of different kinds of coffee. Espresso, flavored, organic, decaf, whole bean, ground. You name it, they have it. Delish.

the butterfly garden.
Okay, so I don't really enjoy insects flying around me to begin with, so this one took a little adjusting to. We took the boys to Reiman Gardens recently. It took Roman a little time to not jump every time a butterfly flew close to him, but he soon loved it. Viggo was tired and just stared at them. No flinching from him. Probably didn't even really care.

 yeah...he got a haircut the next day

Happy Wednesday!