Flashback Friday

This is one of my all time favorite pictures of Caleb. We were at the Butterfly Garden at Nathaniel Greene Park in 2012. He was simply fascinated with the caterpillars! I snapped this really quickly and moved on, not realizing how precious this moment would become to me...all innocence and curiosity wrapped up in those beautiful green eyes.

A TOS Review: Enlivenze LLC

Have you ever heard the saying, "Busy hands make happy hands!"? Well, for my busy boys, it is very true. And in the summer months, there are times when I just need them to keep busy - to preserve my sanity! We love giving them time to explore, be outside, play video games, and just be kids. But finding things that keep them busy for even 10 minutes can be a challenge some days. That's why I was excited to see what Enlivenze LLC had in store for us. We received a FlipStir puzzle of the Statue of Liberty in the mail, and the boys' competitive natures took off!


FlipStir puzzles is what they call "Puzzle fun all in one" - meaning, it is a puzzle, contained. Ever get nearly finished with a puzzle only to find there are missing pieces? Well, that won't be happening with FlipStir! The puzzles are contained inside a clear plastic casing, and you use a handy stir stick to put the pieces in the correct order. All you do is shake the pieces up, or use the stick to stir the pieces around, then start reassembling. Easy? Not really!

I admit when I saw it, I figured it would be really simple. Well...I DID finish it, but it wasn't nearly as quickly as I thought I'd be able to do it! The boys started timing each other to see who could do it fastest. There were some pretty fierce races a few times! We all were able to do it in about 5 minutes or less after several tries.

While we loved the puzzle, I did have one concern. After several times playing with it, the claw at the bottom of the stir stick popped off. Luckily, it wasn't broken - it had just slipped off of the metal handle. We had to dig around a bit, but were thankfully able to push it back into place. I think it may have happened more than once, but was able to be put back together each time.

Overall, I think the FlipStir puzzles are great fun. I hope to pick up a few more in the coming months. To have a new one on hand and just say to one of the kids, "Here ya go! Busy hands are happy hands!"

To see what other great puzzles Enlivenze LLC has, follow them on social media at these links:

• Facebook
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To see what other Reviewers thought of the products, go to their blogs here:

Stranger Danger! Harder to teach than you'd think...

We took this video of Castle a little over a year ago after we'd seen a mama working with her little girl on stranger danger. You think it's easy to teach them these things, but you'd be wrong...but doggone, it's cute while they are learning!

Castle's No, Go away!

Here is the original little girl's video, too - both too cute for words!

Boom's Big Birthday!

Happy Birthday late to my special guy. We had to put off his party because of having extras here for the summer, but I think he agreed it was worth the wait! He got to have some of his friends over for the day and a sleepover. They were full of energy and orneriness, but it was a lot of fun!

Canon makes life so much more fascinating - his perspective on everything always makes me stop and take things in more fully. His discerning spirit and individuality will take him far in life. I have no concerns of him ever being a follower - he will never march to anyone's drumbeat other than his own...and I'm so proud of him for that. I pray for him every day, that God will protect his soft spirit and loving manners. He is so young and innocent and childlike, but still so intelligent and a deep thinker. He is sensitive to things most boys don't even pay attention to, and I worry that his hurts run deeper than most people's do. It is an exciting and exhausting thing to think about where God will take him, how God will use his unique personality for His good. It has been and is going to continue to be a wild ride, but I am so thankful God chose me to be his mama.

Summer lovin'...

Well, this has been a summer for the books! I tell ya, it has just been like no other. We have had some great experiences, some awesome downtime, and did I mention houseguests for a month??? Yes, that's right, we added 2 teenagers to the mix for a month, then two adults and a black lab for the last 2 weeks of that! Luckily it was my cousin and best friend, April, so it was pretty smooth sailing. We were all saying goodbye and I miss yous with smiles, but still genuinely meaning it! :) I am thankful for family we can share life with!