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brain spit up {and “beg” for sponsors}

February 18, 2012 in blogging, our life with 13 Comments

Ok, I need to sit and write. I always feel a little better when I get my words out, a little brain spit up if you will. And it helps to put things into perspective. I’ve talked about it some, but we as a family are in a bit of a tough place. We recently had to put a hold on our adoption, and that hurt my heart bad. God has put us in this place for a reason, and I know that there is an incredible plan for us.

I’ve been battling with whether or not to get a job for a few weeks. I have a hard time not helping financially support my family. My husband assures me that I do MORE than enough for our family. But we are stretched right now. And it’s REALLY hard for me to admit that.

What gets me through? My husband is happier than I’ve seen him in a long time. I’m overjoyed that he loves his job and new career. I pray that this will be an awesome thing for him, whether it’s long term or short term. I also pray that they move him up quickly so we don’t have to worry about this money junk anymore!

I’ve been trying to figure out how to make some extra cash to help out by working from home. I have a few ideas of things I might be able to sell, but other than that I’m not sure what else to do. Basically it comes down to the fact that my passion is my girls. Being a mom is my dream job. I love spending my days with these tiny humans, and the thought of even being away from them a couple of days a week makes me break down in tears. I would rather cut back and be as frugal as possible and get this precious time with them. I know they will grow up so fast, and I selfishly want every second with them.

Anyone have any great ideas for making money from home?

Um, with that being said….interested in sponsoring us for March??
Handmade shops can get an ad spot for as low as $8 a month!
Email me for more info if you’re interested! If you want to do a 3-6 month spot, I offer discounts as well! Can’t wait to chat with you!

thoughts

February 9, 2012 in our adoption, our life with 12 Comments

A lot of you have been asking how I’m doing after my recent announcement that our adoption has gotten pushed back. (We were planning to start paperwork last month and got rejected due to income). Well, I’m doing better than I expected.

I have a peace. I know that God has a plan for us. A bigger plan than I can imagine. Want to know something CRAZY? I think we have about decided to have another little one of our own before adopting.

I KNOW.

When I was pregnant with Zoey, we had decided we were done. But have you seen our babies? How can we possibly stop at 2 when we make such amazing and perfect children? I’m addicted to making cute kids. We don’t have a timeline yet for when we might try for #3…I’m still figuring out #1 & #2. Let’s get Zoey sleeping through the night before we even think about that!

Yes, I’m a little disappointed that the timeline didn’t work out the way I had in my brain. But I’m thrilled for what is ahead. I know we will adopt someday, just now isn’t our time. We just started over, and with hubby starting a new career we have to wait it out a bit.

But you know what? We are blessed beyond anything I could have ever imagined. Maybe we aren’t making millions, but we have so much more. We have a nice home (which is *ahem*….free…yeah talk about blessings), we have two cars so the kids and I aren’t stuck at home all day. We have a full pantry and fridge. We are blessed. God provides every month, and He will continue to provide.

I appreciate your prayers and support as we learn to walk through some interesting financial times, and being able to provide the very best for our kiddos. (2 in diapers and 1 on formula. Expensive junk.)

I wish I could hug you all!

one word 2012: STAY

January 27, 2012 in our life with 6 Comments

Have you heard of One Word? A pretty cool concept. You choose a word to focus on for the year. The last few weeks I’ve really been praying through what this year hold for our family and the best way to lead our children. Praying God would give me a verse or two to focus on and some direction.

The word “Stay” kept coming to my mind. But not in the way you usually think of the word stay. I don’t plan to stay the same. I want to grow and learn. But I feel like God is calling me to stay in a different way. To stay the course. To endure. To persevere.

We aren’t in an ideal place right now in our life, but God has called us here and placed us here for a purpose. So I will be still. I will wait. I will endure.

What are you focusing on this year?

advent 2011

January 6, 2012 in our life with 0 Comments

Our Advent Calendar for 2011
This was a huge hit with my kiddos, and we had a blast learning about Christmas. It was a perfect way to introduce Christmas to the little ones, and my toddler loved learning different things about the season and what Christmas is all about.

Day One: Deck the Halls! We got window stickers & Jessi loved decorating!
Day Two: Make ornaments. Our hand print ornaments were a bust, so we made snowmen too.

Day Three: Watch The Little Drummer Boy! Jessi loves this Veggie Tales Movie, even Zoey joined us!
Day Four: Visit a live nativity! It was so fun to see the story of Jesus come to life.

Day Five: Drink Hot Chocolate! Jessi loved it!! She kept saying “CHOCK-IT! CHOCK-IT!!!”
Day Six: Let it snow! We learned about snow & made some for our windows.

Day Seven: Buy our 2011 ornaments. Jessi was more interested in pulling them all off the shelf.
Day Eight: Christmas crafts! She loved getting into the paint and we made a wreath!

Day Nine: Christmas card pictures! Oh man they are cute!
Day Ten: Christmas pancakes!! We made snowmen…the snow was her favorite part:)

Day Eleven – Make grandparent gifts! We did a fun picture of the girls!
Day Twelve - Sing a Christmas Carol. We went to Target and she sang Jingle Bells to everyone.

Day Thirteen – A trip to the library. We love storytime and picking out books!
Day Fourteen – Meet Santa! Zoey didn’t mind…Jessi was not a fan.

Day Fifteen – Watch a Christmas Movie. We watched Elf and had popcorn!
Day Sixteen – Decorate cookies. Oh, the apron cuteness.

Day Seventeen – Take cookies to the neighbors. We made little bags and Jessi loved handing them out!
Day Eighteen – Go see Christmas lights. She was a huge fan of the lights!

Day Nineteen – Build a fort. Such a fun family activity! We loved it!
Day Twenty – Wrap presents. I think we wrapped and unwrapped that one about 5 times.

Day Twenty One – Watch a Charlie Brown Christmas. Zoey was not so interested.
Day Twenty Two – Read the Christmas Story. I got her a little story book with pictures and she loved it.

Day Twenty Three – Make cookies for Santa
Day Twenty Four – Make a birthday cake for Jesus. Cutest little baker!

Merry Christmas!

a year in review – 2011

January 1, 2012 in my family is cooler than your family, our life with 0 Comments

This year was definitely tough, but so incredible at the same time. We were blessed to add to our family, and are a happy family of 4 now!

Here are a few highlights:
-Puked, and puked and puked some more. Wow that was a rough pregnancy.
-Survived the hottest summer on record. Pregnant.
-Traveled all over with daddy while he lead worship. Fun!
-Found out we were having another girl on Jessi’s 1st birthday.
-Daddy took a job at Apple!
-Gave birth to the most perfect, easy baby ever!
-Fell head over heels for our girls, they are just amazing.

A few things we are looking forward to doing this year:
-Celebrating a 1st & 2nd birthday
-Learning a bible verse a month
-Fun family date nights!
-Working on adoption paperwork like crazy!
-Losing baby weight…from both babies! No pregnancy for me this year!

Excited for what 2012 will hold for us!

oh december, you were fun.

December 29, 2011 in our life with 1 Comment

Well, hello there! It’s been over a week since I even looked at my blog! Kinda a nice, unplanned break. We’ve had Christmas, family busting at the seams…and then we all got sick. Attacked by a nasty virus, all 4 of us have been a little under the weather. The girls handled it much better than mom and dad (except Zoey hasn’t been sleeping at night). So basically, we are all exhausted.

Christmas was awesome though. We got to enjoy an early Christmas with my family and it was so fun to have Brook’s family in town from Houston & Anchorage. We ate entirely too much, and had loads of fun. More to come on our Christmas later.

For now, here’s a few fun pictures of what December has held for us!

A Christmas parade! Jessi is a BIG fan of parades, even though that face doesn’t seem like it.
She talked about the parade non-stop for weeks.

Making snowman ornaments and kisses for mama!

Cute little artist!

Snowman pancakes are so fun!

Sweet little bath baby!

My precious angel. I’m over the moon for her.

Remember that time a guy stole a truck, ran it into our mailbox and then was chased
by the police through our backyard? Yeah, that was fun.

Tea parties with sweet little friends.

Lots and lots of baking with this girl!!

We had a great month. Zoey has been growing like crazy, and is just so much fun. Jessi is a stinking blast and it’s a joy being her mama and spending time with her. I’ll share more from our awesome month soon! Hope your December was as good as ours!

a home for the holidays

December 20, 2011 in our life with 6 Comments

I’m so excited about the opportunity we have this Christmas to make a difference. We are thrilled to be a part of the program offered by DHS to welcome a foster child into our home to celebrate Christmas with us. We get to love on a kiddo without a home, and show them what a family is all about. I pray that we can bless this sweet child and open their heart to family.

Even though my kids are too young to really understand what this will mean, I hope that it still makes an impact even on us as their parents. It’s such a great reminder of what Christmas is really about. I want to really start a tradition to do something great for children who are in need. I want my kids to look forward to giving back every year and Christmas being more than Santa, presents and selfishness.

We’re still anxiously waiting for our assignment, and then I’m rushing off to Christmas shop for our foster child. Nothing beats shopping at the last minute huh?

Please if you would, say a prayer for the child that we are placed with. That his/her heart will be open and they will be blessed by spending the day with us.

Can’t wait to share more with you about this amazing opportunity we’ve been given!!

my minivan can beat up your suv

December 17, 2011 in joys of motherhood, our life with 5 Comments

You know those things you say you would NEVER do? Wear brown & black. Bungee jump. Watch cartoons when your kids aren’t around. Owning a minivan was at the top of my list. I’m pretty sure it was even in my wedding vows somewhere. I was just very passionately against it.

Well, here I stand with my very own minivan. Good grief, kids change you don’t they??

But this isn’t just ANY minivan. It’s “The Black Pearl” as we’ve affectionately named her. You are not allowed to refer to it as “the van”. We are cool parents, afterall. But seriously, after sinking into the incredibly comfortable seats, and the fact that a button OPENS MY DOORS…I was a convert. Seriously, this piece of awesomeness on four wheels is stinking amazing.

It’s funny because we went to look at a toyota sienna…you know, the swagger wagon, but ended up liking this one more. I was a bit disappointment I can’t say I drive a swagger wagon, but hello heated seats. The butt warmth helped me get over that very quickly.

I’ll think I’ll get an eye patch for her to make her that much more awesome.

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In other news,

Congrats to Heather Udell for winning the Bluum Baby giveaway!!!
You’re going to LOVE your Bluum products!!!!!

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Advent: Days 1-10

December 12, 2011 in our life with 1 Comment

We are having a great December! I’m so glad I went ahead and did an Advent Calendar for Jessi even thought she doesn’t really understand Christmas. She’s having a blast learning about it all, and I’m having a blast teaching her!

Here’s a little update of what we were up to days 1-10!

Day One: Deck the Halls! We got window stickers & Jessi loved decorating!
Day Two: Make ornaments. Our hand print ornaments were a bust, so we made snowmen too.

Day Three: Watch The Little Drummer Boy! Jessi loves this Veggie Tales Movie, even Zoey joined us!
Day Four: Visit a live nativity! It was so fun to see the story of Jesus come to life.

Day Five: Drink Hot Chocolate! Jessi loved it!! She kept saying “CHOCK-IT! CHOCK-IT!!!”
Day Six: Let it snow! We learned about snow & made some for our windows.

Day Seven: Buy our 2011 ornaments. Jessi was more interested in pulling them all off the shelf.
Day Eight: Christmas crafts! She loved getting into the paint and we made a wreath!

Day Nine: Christmas card pictures! Oh man they are cute!
Day Ten: Christmas pancakes!! We made snowmen…the snow was her favorite part:)

Having a BLAST! More to a come!

25 days of christmas

November 29, 2011 in our life with 1 Comment

Is it really almost December? So crazy. The last few months have flown by, as they do with a new baby in the house. I’m kinda obsessed with Christmas, and so thrilled that I can really celebrate with the toddler this year. She’s learning about Baby Jesus from her nativity set, and thinks Santa is awesome (uh, we’ll see how she really feels when we visit him). She gets excited to see “Alf” our Elf (on the shelf) every morning and we are having a blast teaching her about Christmas!

We are doing our own little twist to advent, and I planned out the month of December for us. Each day we will do a fun activity, learn more about Christmas and count down to the birth of Jesus!

- 25 DAYS OF CHRISTMAS -

1 – Decorate our windows for Christmas
2 – Make ornaments
3 – Watch The Little Drummer Boy
4 – Visit a live nativity
5 – Take Christmas pictures
6 – Make snowflakes
7 – Buy ornaments
8 – Make thumbprint lights craft
9 – Have hot chocolate
10 – Christmas pancakes for breakfast
11 – Make gifts for grandparents
12 – Sing a Christmas Carol
13 – Story time at the library
14 – Meet Santa!
15 – Watch Elf
16 – Decorate cookies
17 – Take cookies to our neighbors
18 – Go see Christmas lights
19 – Build a fort!
20 – Wrap presents
21 – Watch a Charlie Brown Christmas
22 – Read the Christmas story
23 – Make cookies for Santa
24 – Make Jesus a birthday cake
25 – CHRISTMAS DAY!

I’m thrilled to start this tradition with my kiddos and can’t wait to watch it change and grow as they do. I so look forward to all these fun activities with my girlies and teaching them about this wonderful season.

What fun traditions and activities do you have planned??