Crochet Cover-up

I have had this crochet cover up from Victoria's Secret for years. I originally bought it for my pregnancy pictures a couple years ago and I have worn it only 3 times! I am trying to clean my closet out and didn't have the heart to get rid of this. So I figured I would use it as a cover up. I tied a colorful fringe scarf around my waist and I think it came out pretty cute! I have been wearing it like crazy. Now I feel like I have got my money's worth! Do you have clothing in your closet that hasn't been worn or been worn only once? I have a ton and it drives me crazy ;)

Here are some pictures of the crochet cover-up. You might have seen some of these on my instagram already @mermaidsblog. Link is on the right of my page.

Laugh and Love

Christine

Linking up with Pig and Dac, Fitness Blondie

Raising Children RIGHT!

I know there are many controversies about how parents should raise their children. There are books written by doctors with WOW doctorate degrees and mothers who have had children who think they have been there done that so they know exactly how to raise the perfect child. Do I listen to them? Yes, I do but most of the time I don't agree with them and that's ok. It is not that they are wrong or I'm right but they have a different opinion then me or do things differently. Maybe just maybe both ways of raising a child might work out. I kind of look at it like cooking. You can make an amazing dish with chicken but how many different ways can you make it, boiled, bbq, fried, stir fried, etc etc and the list can go on. All of them will turn absolutely wonderful but in amazingly different ways. That is how I look at raising my own children.

I did things my way with my kids. Why because I am their mother and I go by my motherly instincts. It took me a few years after I had my first child to realize that I don't have to do what people told me to do second guessing myself (their is a big difference in being told what to do and having a loving suggestion). I hated that feeling when people told me how to raise my kids, I still don't like it, I just zone people like that out now. There are many things I did that are supposedly not good for my kids.
I breastfeed all my babies to sleep. Big NO, right?! Well I did and they loved it. My motherly instinct told me to do it, why, because they were babies and I felt I needed to baby them, hug them and hold them. So I did.
I never let them cry to sleep. I tried once with my first and a few times with my second but hated it. It felt wrong. So I stopped. Isn't it ridiculous how I second guessed my motherly instinct and even went on to my second child trying to do what the books and people told me. I'll never again make that choice. I rocked every single one of my babies to bed...... and I am so glad I did. It's a memory that makes my heart feel warm and big. I have no regrets, none at all.

I just felt like writing today. These are just a couple things I have done differently with my children. I have been thinking about my children alot. Raising them RIGHT. They are all growing up so fast. I have no more babies in the house. I am now raising young boys to be young men to be good men. I wanted to reflect back on how I felt I raised them right and how I am going to in the future. It's a tough decision deciding on what ways you want to dicipline your kids because everyone has their own way. I feel every person/child is different and only the parents really know how to handle their children. We are with them every day of their life not just someone giving their opinion looking in through a window.

Some pictures of my life.

The boys and I

Akai 4 months old

3 years old

7 years old

Mykah three days old

1 month old

2 years old

Boomer first week home

1 year old

2 years old

THE BOYS

Mykah and Daddy

At our first home in CA

NC vacation before we moved here. I was pregnant with Boomer

Laugh and Love

Christine

My Garden Renovation

A few weeks ago we started clearing out our back yard for my vegetable and fruit garden. My garden is my favorite hobby to do out of anything. I not only like it for the organic food but because I absolutely love flowers and plants. My passion for flowers begin when I took floral design in high school. I ended up interning at a flower shop and landed a job. I ended up be a floral designer for about 5 years and I have never loved a job as much, we'll besides be a mom.
Since I am a mother of three gardening is a great way for me to teach my kids about taking care of their own food and maintaining a home. It is also something we can do together and have fun. My kids love picking fruits and vegetables. It also teaches them about photosynthesis right in heir backyard. I also am a little old school. If it were up to me I would have a farm and make everything from scratch so I wouldn't have to go to a market and buy processed foods but I know that is a little extreme.
This year we started out with seeds. We normally buy small plants but I wanted to go all out this year with tons of plants and that can get pricey if they are already grown. I bought containers at lowes, (pictures below) and planted my seeds inside my house next to a window. Within a week they started sprouting. Two more weeks til the last frost and I will be transplanting them outside!
I also put below what I want to do with the rest of my yard. It looks so small in a picture but when your down there chopping all the brush down it feels like forrreevvveer! Our lot size is 1.5 acres and we are planning to clear out a little less then acre. I can't wait til it's all done and let's hope it doesn't take all summer!

 A trip to the local Nursery

 

Feb 7th when we first started clearing out the yard

 

 Feb 17th, hard to tell the difference because we cleared more in the back. We still have the whole right side to do.

 

 Here is my plan.The patio I want in the back because there is a nice view and it is next to the water so we can watch the kids. For the play set I want to put mulch down in a circle so it is nice and soft. My husband wants to put up a fence but I don't want to because I love how open and natural it looks. We still have to burn all the wood and brush!

 

 

Here is me getting some man work done :)

I posted this picture because I wanted to show how beautifully green it gets here :)

  Here are the seeds we planted, we are planning on planting anything we eat so our garden will be HUGE! I want to freeze what I have for the winter. I really recommend this little greenhouse containers for keeping the moisture consistent.

  

Can you guess what these are?

 

Are you all planting anything this year?

Laugh and Love

 Christine  

White Ice

We got some snow! Well it was more like ice but we made the best out of it. Although we couldn't make a snowman the kids got to sled and play around in the cold. Being from California it sure was cold for me. If any of you didn't know, we moved from California last year and the weather is quite a change. A change I love, though. Being in North Carolina is doesn't really snow. Last year we had no snows so this snow is pretty rare from what I've been told.

Myself, Akai and Boomer (nickname)

Sledding in our homemade sled made of a boogie board and trash bag, lol!

Akai fell trying to surf!

Snow fight!

Myself looking like an eskimo

Sitting by the fire after a hard days play

More sledding

Laugh and Love

Christine