Chad, Danette, Carly and Sam

some thoughts....

2012-01-31T12:28:00.004-05:00

Here's my baby belly at 25 weeks.

Facts:

*I have been feeling extremely well the past little while. It's been kind of weird. I'm actually enjoying being pregnant! Maybe it's a blessing because of the fact we had to wait for this little one to arrive. That's what I like to think. Other than minor issues like being tired all day or random bouts of nausea I have no complaints!

*I feel baby girl move all the time!! I love it! Except for the random moments when she kicks, or punches or head butts my bladder.

*Still haven't chosen a name yet. I was stressed about it for a while but than I realized we didn't have a name chosen for Sam till about a month before he was born. We have a couple we are deciding on, we might just wait till we see her to actually decide.

*I still have weird random moments where I don't think I'm having a girl. I know it's very possible that ultrasounds can be wrong. Our ultrasound lady was almost 100% it was a girl. And even I could see and tell it was a girl. But I still get random feelings (thoughts, fears...however you want to put it) that it's a little boy in there.

*I would be totally fine, happy and thrilled if it's a boy. I have just been preparing for a girl. All my projects would be in vain if this little one came out as a boy!

*I still don't really crave any one certain food. I have however become obsessed with crocheting! Can you crave crafts??

*I have been getting really exciting for this little one to arrive. I've started getting Carly's old clothes out and it gets me even more excited!

Here is a picture of what will become our little baby nook. It used to be where I had the kids coloring table and book and puzzles. However, the fact is. We won't have our addition done before this baby arrives and probably well after that so, we've had to improvise and really come to grips that we'll have three kids in a two bedroom house for probably (realistically) another year.

I admit. I was a little freaked. When we moved into this house we had been trying for a year to get pregnant. We knew we could deal with the two bedrooms with just Carly and Sam and we figured we'll just start saving for an addition (as soon as we bought the house) We did. We met our goal in savings but the addition plans we finally came to are going to be more than what we have saved. Plus, we were really surprised when we got pregnant which put us in a pickle. (although we were still hoping to get pregnant, I think after two years we kinda thought or felt it wasn't going to happen for a while)

Anywho....back to being freaked out. I've finally realized that it won't be so bad. The door in the right of the picture (by the lovely rock art piece on the wall...previous owners idea) is our bedroom. All we need to do is put a door in our kitchen doorway (which is behind me in the picture) and we'll have our own separate master/baby nook room.

It's not my ideal way of doing things but we could be way worse off and I needed to remind myself to be grateful.

My prayers were answered.

We got pregnant.

How could I be complaining about something so trivial, when in 1 or 2 years from now it won't even be an issue.

It will take some adjusting. I'm sure I'll get frustrated at times. But life is about changes and unexpected situations. You just have to learn to roll with it.

I absolutely LOVE where I live. I love our house (despite all it's weird features) I love our property. I wouldn't change it! So, if dealing with Chad and I and three kids squished in a two bedroom house for a while is what I have to do. Then I'll do it!

SEVEN!

2012-01-22T10:40:00.002-05:00

So, this is not the best picture but A. We don't have many pictures of just us together and B. all our old pictures are on our old laptop which has a virus :(

Today marks the day of our marriage. Seven years have gone by! Even though we aren't together today to celebrate together I am still grateful for Chad and the fact that he is my best friend and husband!

I am extremely grateful for him and for ALL that he does for me and our family.

I am so glad that our paths crossed in life and that we were able to even meet, better yet we will be able to be with each other FOREVER!!

an update.

2012-01-20T19:33:00.003-05:00

We haven't been up to much around here lately. We have been enjoying the nice weather we've been having. It's been so perfect! It's hard to believe that it's January. I'm sure we'll have another cold front come through, but for now, we are loving it!

The kids decided to "plant" sticks in the yard. And of course, Dolly was right along side them!

I finally decided to stop being a slacker and help my son know his alphabet. I attempted a little ABC time with him months ago, but then I got pregnant and sick and lazy.

He's been so excited to learn how to write the letters.

Dolly, she has definitely molded into our family real well. She's such a goofy, fun, good dog. She really is so well-behaved. Not sure how, because we didn't take much time to teach her obedience. oh well! She's become a sweet part of our family for sure!!

Guesthouse, Sunbeams and 21 weeks!

2012-01-06T14:24:00.004-05:00

My Christmas present from Chad was getting our guesthouse painted. He didn't tell me till Christmas day. So, when we got back home from our trip we came home to a much nicer, newer looking guesthouse!

The before picture is the bottom picture, just in case you couldn't tell.:)

(p.s. The couch was only on the porch for a couple hours)

Now all that is needed is a new porch and steps....

Sam's first day in PRIMARY!! I can't believe it! I really don't know when he got so old. He was super excited to go. I am the secretary in primary so it was fun for me to watch him and see how he did. He did awesome. He sat the whole time, sang the songs, and waved to me a couple times. He is one cute little Sunbeam!

21 Weeks

Facts:

*I am SOOOO tired! I think you can tell just looking at my face. I don't know if it's catch up from the Holidays or what but I could seriously sleep all day. It's quite annoying to be tired constantly. I suppose this is just the beginning though.

*I have been feeling Baby move like crazy!

*I'm still not used to calling "Baby" a girl. I thought for sure we were having another boy.

*Still thinking of girl names. We have a list, now we just need to narrow it down to one.

*I have been feeling pretty great, other than the whole tired crap :)

*I am super excited for a girl. I find myself browsing Etsy for all the cute girl things out there to buy.

*I am even more excited to be able to pull out Carly's old clothes to use again!

*I am so glad that Carly is going to have a sister! I love my sister's so I'm glad she is going to have one!

*I don't have any cravings, other than when it's time to eat, then I feel like I could eat a whole cow!

*It still seems unreal that I'm pregnant and that in a short matter of months we'll have a new little one on our hands but I am so excited!!

New Year!!

2012-01-04T20:50:00.005-05:00

For New Years Eve we invited some friends over for some tinfoil dinner, smores and fireworks. It was so much fun (although I was dead tired by the end of the night!) The kids (mostly the big boys) had fun with the fireworks. It was a fun way to end a fun year!

( My third attempt at getting the photos the right direction, I give up!)

On the 29th we found out we are having another little girl. I must say I was surprised. I thought for sure I had another little guy floating around inside of me. I am super excited for another girl though. I can't wait to meet her! (since she wouldn't let us peek at her face!)

This year will be a good one! I am so grateful to be going into this new year knowing that we are adding one more crazy to our little family!!

Christmas in Utah!

2011-12-30T21:51:00.004-05:00

We were lucky enough to surprise my parents this year for Christmas. We decided (almost last minute) to head up to Utah. My parents had no clue we were coming! It was so great, I have always wanted to do that and I finally got my chance to surprise them. My whole family was able to be together for a couple days which is always awesome! The kids had a blast playing the entire week we were there!

Making gingerbread houses. As always they were COVERED with candy.

Random pictures: Eating out at one of our favorite places in St. George. Playing at Jumping Jacks and Sam and Haiven.

Christmas Eve. The kids were so excited and could hardly wait to open some presents.

Christmas morning: Carly and Sam were so different in the way they reacted. Carly couldn't open things fast enough and Sam took his time opening and looking at each gift. Santa Clause left a note with a picture of Bicycles that he left at our house in Texas. They were pretty excited about that!

Carly and I on Christmas day.

We snapped this picture after Church. It's nice going to church on Christmas. It helps me at least keep the true meaning of Christmas on my mind.

Mark and Desirae and family came down Christmas day, so that night we did the Nativity, it was pretty funny.

Christmas Morning

Random pictures: Chad playing horse, sleepover with some girl cousins and Carly and Haiven.

small Christmas Tree

2011-12-14T10:34:00.004-05:00

We finally got our Christmas tree up. Funny thing: I just had Chad pick one up from the grocery store this year (I really wasn't up for the overpriced-cut down your own- Christmas tree this year) Well, he walked in the back door with it and the second Carly saw it she said "It's okay that it's small Daddy." It was pretty funny. Last year we had like a 9ft. tree. This year it seems about half that! The kids still had fun decorating it!

I was also crazy enough to make sugar cookies this year. I must admit, they are far better than the one's I made last year. I ended up with 5 1/2 dozen. 3 dozen of those were for a cookie exchange party. The rest we had to pawn off to people because I was sick of looking at them!

Happy 28!

2011-11-30T14:42:00.003-05:00

Chad's birthday was on Sunday.

28 years old!

Obviously we didn't do much since his birthday was on Sunday but we did have dinner (which was not so yummy) and I made Chad's favorite cake.

-boxed yellow cake with store bought chocolate frosting-

I must say, I didn't complain, it was an easy cake to make :)

Carly and I decorated the living room after church while Sam and Chad watched a movie and napped in the bedroom. Carly was so excited to be decorating for Daddy's birthday.

I think he had a great birthday and I'm sure glad that he was born!

***

Baby news

-I've been feeling much better recently. Still have moments of yuckiness but mostly just tired.

-I think I've been feeling baby move. It's been four years since I was last pregnant but I'm pretty sure it's the baby and not just gas :)

-Now that I think I've been feeling the baby move I've been obsessed with it. I find myself concentrating so hard sometimes to see if I can feel it.

-found out I probably won't have to take blood thinners (the dreaded shots) this pregnancy. We'll just keep an eye open for any issues. I'll most likely take blood thinners after delivery though.
-Probably won't find out what gender the baby is till January. I've toyed with the idea of not finding out at all but that probably won't happen.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-25T20:53:00.002-05:00

Just a few pictures from Thanksgiving this year, thanks to Sharise because I forgot to grab my camera.

As always, there was loads of food and lots of family and friends.

There was even an amazing race set up for the kiddos which they LOVED!

Facts.

2011-11-15T11:53:00.006-05:00

*This is a terrible picture. It's the best I could do with self-timer.

*I have really bad posture apparently.

*I wear sweat pants probably every day.
* I hit 14 weeks as of yesterday. (wishing I was 40 weeks)
* I should not clean out the fridge while 14 weeks pregnant. Way too many nasty smells for my nose to handle.
*I'm showing mostly because I'm bloated, unfortunately. TMI?
*You know I'm having a "good" day when I took the time to shower AND dry my hair.
* I wish I could sleep ALL THE TIME. The truth, I probably could sleep ALL THE TIME.
* The thought of cooking dinner about kills me every day.
*I almost puke every time I brush my teeth.
* I complain too much.
* I am excited for this baby!

"I didn't want to loose it!"

2011-11-12T21:32:00.005-04:00

November 12, 2011

Tonight was the night. Miss Carly's tooth had been loose for quite some time. Today while I was gone, Daddy had fun playing around with it, loosening it up. We told her tonight was the night, it had to come out. We probably shouldn't have said that because I think she worried a little too much about it all day! We got home from dinner and began the process. It took a while but with some floss and some surprise hard tugs on it, it finally came free.

Her reaction wasn't quite what we thought it would be. I'm glad we got it on video, although it was kind of sad. She was really upset that it was gone. I think she was worried about how she would look. She seriously cried for probably 1/2 hour. She didn't even want to look at her tooth.

After we brushed her teeth and got ready for bed she took some time looking in the mirror, studying it out and I think she's come to terms with it.

Although, she just told me she's worried her new tooth will come in and be bigger than the rest and then she'll look funny.

(when do I tell her that is most likely what will happen?)

Anyway, as of now she seems to be okay with it and is excited to show people at church tomorrow.

p.s. Don't mind out nasty paint colors in our bedroom. Unlike the way carly feels about her tooth, I can't wait to loose those paint colors ;)

Halloween

2011-11-02T21:29:00.004-04:00

Halloween was really fun this year. We went to Chad's cousins' house this year. Their subdivision gets really into Halloween. Seriously, I've never seen so many kids, decorations, costumes.....it really was amazing!!

We enjoyed good food, family, lots of Candy and some dancing in between.

The kids had a blast trick or treating, although Carly got quite a scare from a man dressed in a wolf costume. Sad, but funny.

Sam had fun dancing but every time I'd start to video him he'd stop.

I wasn't planning on dressing up but I made a last minute stop to wal-mart and picked up some things for Chad and I. They didn't last long though, that wig was annoying.

It's time I suppose...

2011-10-29T19:03:00.004-04:00

I guess it's time for an update. Between feeling nauseous ALL DAY LONG and one round of tonsillitis (or something of that nature) I haven't felt like doing much at all.
We did manage to make it to our ward Fall Carnival/Trunk or Treat. It really was a lot of fun. The kids enjoyed it but were mostly excited for the Trunk or treat part of the night.
There were snacks and a couple carnival games set up in the gym, a maze, a beauty boutique and and obstacle course.

Sam and Chad doing the cupcake walk.

Carly playing the Mummy Game

Cupcake Walk again.

Carly got a unicorn painted on her face. She was so excited when she saw this picture.

Earlier in the month we went to the Catfish Festival. Yes, I said Catfish Festival.

Carly's dance class was performing. I laugh when I look at these pictures for a couple reasons:

*Carly is the only one in Jean shorts

*Carly is the only one with no make-up, no glitter

*Carly is the only one with a Mom who had no idea what these things were like.

She still had fun though but I don't see many more of these in our future.

Sadly we didn't even get a video of the cute little dance, we had the video camera, it just didn't want to record. :(

Big news......

2011-10-10T17:00:00.005-04:00

Rain!

It rained for most the day on last Sunday. Chad got creative and attatched our big umberella to the kids "4 wheeler." The kids had so much fun driving around in the rain but not getting wet.

My Offspring

.
and

Can you believe it?! I sure can't! Two years of trying and waiting it finally happened. Our third little McLane is finally on his/her way! I'm not sure if I can say it was planned or unexpected. It was a little bit of both.

*I was anxious to visit the doctor. After two years of trying I was convinced something was wrong (I think every pregnant woman has those feelings though)

*As of today I am 9 weeks along. Baby looked great and the heartbeat sounded awesome. I've seen the little "gummy Bear" but it still doesn't feel real. Although, the sickness is making it feel all too real.

*I am so excited. (a little in shock)
*Coming May 14th (roughly) Which puts it right smack in the middle of our other two May babies.

*Next step, adding onto our house.....

Cow Branding

2011-10-09T16:47:00.003-04:00

These were just part of the kids that were there. Playing with cousins always equals FUN!

before the branding started Mimi took the kids for a ride on her horse. They LOVED it as always!

With the help from chad's mom we had a brand made to brand our cows with. It kind of turned into a big deal when everyone kept saying they wanted to come. It was so much fun! They started by rounding the cows up (actually trying to) Cows are pretty stubborn animals and I think they knew what was coming. It was a lot harder to get them gathered in the corral. We ended up only getting three cows done before we were all starving. So, we took a break for some yummy food that everyone brought. It was great to have everyone there, the kids loved it and the adults loved it too! I think the cows were the only one's that didn't enjoy the day!

(p.s. Some of these pictures were taken by my sis. Sharise)

October really?

2011-10-01T19:59:00.008-04:00

It's really October? When did that happen, does that mean I have to start thinking about Halloween costumes and Thanksgiving and Christmas!? I was really enjoying my lazy days of summer :( I guess we can't stop time so we must move forward.
I can't believe I only posted twice in September. I guess that just goes to show how really of a boring month it was for us. Here are some random pictures from the end of the month that I thought I could share.

Dolly and Nanny found a nice spot for a nap in front of our storage shed.

Thanks to an early Christmas present (a brand new septic system) we now have a front yard that is mostly dirt. It didn't help that it was already mostly dirt from the lack of rain, but now it's a sand pile! At least the kids found joy in it. They had fun one afternoon playing in the dirt (and making mud) I admit, they got really dirty but it was nice to have them occupied for quite a while.

Carly was proud of how dirty she got. Sam, on the other hand, can't stand to be dirty. Something is not right here ;)

Fishing

2011-09-13T15:00:00.004-04:00

Chad loves to fish and has been dying to catch a fish in the river (stream, pond whatever you want to call it) behind our house. He found a spot that was loaded with carp and was determined to catch one. He brought this up to the house the other night and we had a little fun with it. I don't think he (or she) thought it was fun though.

Sam wasn't too fond of it, this is as close as he would get to it.

Not sure what Carly was thinking of in this picture.

It took some coaxing (and maybe a little bribery) to get her to do this!

Thanking our lucky stars!

2011-09-06T12:44:00.004-04:00

I never thought I'd have to worry about wildfires living in southeast Texas. This fire started yesterday (labor day) afternoon. We had family over and some of them noticed a huge pillar of smoke, and it just kept getting bigger and darker. I have to say, I was pretty worried. I think the fire started only 3 miles away from us. Luckily (for us) the wind was blowing it away from us, but a lot of people have been affected by it and I am so sad! It could have easily been us that had to evacuate and I am so thankful that our house was protected. I know it sounds silly but even this little close call puts things in perspective. If I had less than 30 min. to evacuate what would I grab? How would I react? I hope I'm never faced with the reality of having to do something like that and I pray for those who were affected by this!

Below are some recent pictures that Carly has drawn. She is quite the artist with quite the imagination.

This one is a picture of one of our cats "Smudge"

This is a drawing of Dolly our dog, complete with a cut that she had on her head.

This one is my personal favorite. This is Nanny our goat.

Kindergarten!

2011-08-24T11:28:00.003-04:00

August 22, 2011

Carly went to kindergarten for the first time! She was so excited. She has been asking about school since she was....well.....at least since she turned 3. She has been so ready for so long that it was no problem. She woke up excited, got dressed, ate breakfast and we were off. She sang and talked the whole way to school. She could not contain the excitement she was feeling. We had gone to "Meet the teacher" night the previous week so she knew right where her seat was. She sat down and got right to work coloring her picture. She only mentioned once that she didn't want me to go but then quickly got engrossed in coloring her picture again and said nothing more.

When I picked her up that afternoon she was so happy! She had so much to tell me. I am so happy that she had a great first day. Today is her third day and she is still just as excited. She still has a hard time saying her teachers name. Mrs. Bon Jorno.

One funny thing, at the end of the day I have to wait in a car rider line to pick her up. The first day was pretty packed so she had to wait for quite a while (30 min. to her, that is an eternity!) Yesterday, she was so worried because she said she "got so bored waiting for me" She kept talking about it, so I let her take a book in her backpack so she wouldn't get bored. I swear, this girl gets bored if she's not doing something for 3 minutes.
I still can't believe it. My days are pretty quiet. Sam actually entertains himself (where Carly did not) So, it's still sinking in on how much free time I have during the day.

Carly and Nanny

2011-08-19T11:59:00.002-04:00

changes.....

2011-08-17T11:42:00.004-04:00

Some changes are coming our way, well...one change really. This little girl is starting kindergarten on Monday! People keep asking me if I'm sad and my answer is no. Does that make me a bad mom? I don't feel like it does. Carly is SO ready for school. She was ready 6 months ago! At this point she gets so bored at home. I am constantly needing to entertain or find things to entertain her (which isn't always bad, but can be very overwhelming!) She has such a different personality than me that we also tend to clash very easily.
I think Kindergarten is just what we need at this point in time. Don't get me wrong, I am sad that my baby girl is growing up (way to fast!) I'm sure I will miss her, I know I will miss her. But, I am excited for her, she is going to love school! She has been walking around our house copying words she sees in her little notebook.

I still panic sometimes when I think that this is the beginning of a new stage in life. I worry about what she come home saying and the questions she might have. I'm not sure how many members of the church are in her school so I worry if we've prepared her enough to face the world. But, then I breath and realize it's just kindergarten. We had a nice rain storm pass through Sunday so we let the kids go at it! They were so excited to play in the rain and mud (the mud that used to be grass until our grass dies because of the lack of rain!)

With Carly starting school it will be just me and this little man at home. Life has a funny way of throwing you for a loop. I didn't think I'd be down to one child at home so quickly. I thought I'd have another baby by the time Carly started school, but....obviously there are different plans for us right now. In a way I'm excited. Sam and I can have the one on one time that Carly and I had before Sam. It will be weird for sure, but I'm looking forward to it! (let's just hope and pray that there is another child here by the time Sam starts school. I'm not prepared to have all my kids in school before I'm 30!)

I had to throw in another picture of Nanny. She found a new place to hang out, mostly because I think she likes to get away from Dolly (our dog). We also got another baby calf yesterday! Adorable!!

just more pictures of animals....and kids.....

2011-08-09T22:13:00.002-04:00

So, we now have to baby calves. This is the older of the two. He's getting pretty spunky.

The other day Carly and Sam decided to take Nanny for a ride in their little car, it was pretty hilarious!

stuff

2011-08-02T21:04:00.007-04:00

Carly's World part 3

We let Carly use our old camera. She loves it! She also learned how to delete pictures so I didn't have much to choose from. Chad had no idea she took this picture below.

We got a new pygmy goat. She is adorable. She was smaller than we thought, but she has been so fun. She is pretty much like a dog. She will follow you when you are outside and she'll cry for a bit when we go in the house. She has tried to get in the house a few times but sad for her, she will never be an indoor pet. We named her Nanny, but everyone keep calling her Nana.

This is our newest little animal. We were surprised to find out one of the cows was giving birth this morning. It's a little guy so he won't be staying at our farm for too long. We don't want any bulls around here. He sure is cute though!

Hawaii

2011-07-22T23:21:00.008-04:00

Chad and I had a blast in Hawaii! We spent our days riding around the island of Oahu on our rented moped, eating and lounging in the sun. It was a dream for sure. I had mixed feeling about going and I thought for sure my anxiety over leaving my children would ruin the fun but once I got there I was able to relax and just enjoy! We saw so many things that it is hard to remember. There is a 5 hour time difference between Texas and Hawaii so our schedules were pretty mixed up. We were out the door by 6:00 a.m. every morning. We only had three full days there so we wanted to be able to see as much as we could.

This is called "China Man's hat" it was one of the views we saw while driving to the temple Tuesday morning.

The two pictures above were taken at the International Market place. Basically a big outdoor flea market with tons of touristy junk that I was convinced I had to have. I am such a sucker for things like this. It was located pretty close to Waikiki Beach (which was way too crowded for my liking)

These are all outdoor views from our hotel. (not our room though) They had dolphins that people could swim with which was pretty cool to watch everyday. The beach was my best friend, I didn't nearly spend as much time there as I wanted.

This wall of flowers was basically right off of the lobby of the hotel. It was so pretty. I wish I could have a wall of flowers in my house!

These were taken at Hanauma Bay and a scenic view just past Hanauma bay. We only snorkeled for about 20-30 minutes. The water was kind of chilly and I am not a huge fan of snorkeling. But we did see some pretty cool fish!

This was at a botanical garden we stopped at before Hanauma bay. There wasn't as many flowers as what I thought, but it was still pretty. The snail that is pictures was almost stepped on by Chad. I'm glad he didn't because it was huge and probably would've made a loud crunch!

The two collages were taken on the hike to Manoa Falls. It was really fun! We didn't really know what to expect but we read it was a simple hike and that is what we were looking for (we were on vacation, no strenuous hikes for us!) There were tons of cool trees and plants. The waterfall was pretty but not as big as I thought it would be.

These were all taken on our many adventures on the moped. We rented it for three days and had so much fun driving around at our own pace. We drove up to the north shore one morning. We planned to go to the temple and just sight see. We left at 6:00 in the morning, it was a little chilly but so gorgeous as the sun was rising. It was very convenient that I could snap pictures from the back of the moped.

Here we are at the temple. We were able to do some sealings.

This was at one of the restaurants at our hotel.

This is a view looking at the hotel. We stayed in the tall tower in the back.

This is looking opposite of where Chad was sitting.

Chad was being a goof.

This was our last day :( It was so much fun, I can't wait to go back. Maybe next time we'll take the kids :)

2011-07-11T17:42:00.001-04:00

Billy and Phil

cute pictures

2011-07-02T11:46:00.001-04:00

Vacation Time!!

2011-06-30T21:10:00.006-04:00

We just got back a couple days ago from our vacation in Southern Utah. We had so much fun. I am so glad I was able to spend a whole week with my family (which is definitely not enough) We had a lot of fun and kept busy. I didn't take many pictures (I'm sad now) but it was nice not to have my camera out the whole time.
The drive up was pretty good, the kids did great, the driving was great and it really went by fast! The drive home on the other hand felt like forever, we were glad to pull up to our house the end of the second day. The kids were beyond excited to be home (or out of the car, or both)

The pictures below were taken at (a place, I'm drawing a blank on the name) but it was basically a huge room with trampolines and blow up thingys. The kids all had a blast, and I think the adults did too!

(my camera was on the wrong setting or something for the next too, I'm sad that we were blurry)

We towed our boat with us all the way from Texas so we could enjoy some time at the lake by my parents. There were some short trips to the lake throughout the week and then on Friday we spent the majority of the day there with everyone. We also rented a waverunner (my personal favorite) I think everyone had a blast and went away tired, happy and not too sunburned.

Chad and Sam

Cousins!!

Carly and I

Sharise and I

Friday morning before heading to the lake we took the opportunity to snap some family photos. Below is me and my newest niece Haiven. I was so so so happy to finally be able to meet her on this trip! She is adorable!

Last year for my niece's birthdays' I made them each a skirt. So I thought I'd take the opportunity to take a picture with my cute nieces and my hard work. The only one without a skirt is baby Haiven.

I LOVE my family!!

The last night we were all together the girls decided to take the opportunity for a girls night out. We ate yummy food (I stuffed myself), did a little shopping and some pictures. I'm so grateful for these women in my life and that I can call them my sisters and Mom. We always have so much fun and I miss their faces when we aren't together.

The End.

so excited!!!

2011-06-14T23:34:00.003-04:00

Thursday we'll start our journey across the country to visit my favorite people in Utah! I am so excited! I have been excited since we decided to go and I am so glad it's finally here! It feels like it's been forever since I've been to Utah, even though I was there last September. I'm not, however, excited about the two day car ride with my children and one dog (yes, we're bringing Dolly. I think we might be a little crazy!) But, I know that two days of craziness in the car will be so worth it. And seeing scenery like this along the way isn't so bad.

The faces I can't wait to see!

Plus one little face that I haven't met in person yet. It's been killing me but soon I'll be able to love on my newest little neice and I CANNOT WAIT!!!

hmmm...can't think of a post title......

2011-06-03T23:16:00.002-04:00

We haven't been up to much lately. Now that we have the birthday's done for another year we've just been hanging out, trying to stay cool in this ridiculously HOT and unusually DRY Texas weather. Unfortunately the dryness has done a toll on my garden and my intolerance for heat makes it to where I physically can't stand outside and water my garden for three hours a day. So, I do the best I can and I continue to pray for rain.
So, I picked these pumpkins the other day. Mostly because the vines they were growing on were quickly dying from a cause unknown. I baked them and pureed them and now they are sitting in my freezer just waiting to be used.
Now, about the dying vines. I realized that my pumpkins are being overrun by Squash Bugs! I was out watering today and noticed almost hundreds (you think I'm exaggerating) of squash bugs big and little pile out from my pumpkin plants. I'm so sad. I've already lost two plants. And I'm pretty sure we're going to loose the rest :( I'm not quite sure I can get the bugs under control. Stinkin' bugs anyway.

My Zucchini Brownies (more like cake) It's funny. I'm growing all these veggies and all I can think of doing is make desserts with them.

I planted so many flowers earlier this year. They all started by seed. I was growing very impatient waiting for them to do something. Finally these past couple weeks they are slowly starting to bloom. I just noticed the other day my sunflowers are starting to bloom. I think next year I will control myself better and only pick a couple of flowers to grow instead of 15 different kinds. I kind of got carried away.

And of course, we can always count on some sort of wildlife to keep my kids busy for a couple hours.

Birthdays

2011-06-03T22:54:00.003-04:00

I realized I never posted pictures from Carly and Sam's birthdays. I put some on facebook so for those of you who are on facebook you've seen these already. :)

This was the morning of Carly's actual birthday.

Below are pictures from the birthday party. We combined it with Ayden McLane (Chad's cousin's son) Their birthday's are a day apart so we thought it would be fun to celebrate all together since we invite all the same people anyway!

Carly's Ariel cake to match her Ariel bow

Below: These are pictures from Sam's birthday. He loved having his special day and he LOVED his Lightening McQueen cake.

Sam woke up to balloons everywhere on his birthday!

I still can't believe my babies are five and three years old. :(

Carly Girl turns FIVE!!

2011-05-21T11:29:00.003-04:00

Her birthday isn't until tomorrow but I figured I'd do a little shout out to her today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MISS CARLY!

3 yrs.

2 yrs.

I think I post this picture every year but I just love it!

5 yrs.

Some things about Carly:

*She is so excited for school. She talks about it at least once a day.

*She knows no stranger. She'll talk to anyone and everyone! Going to the grocery store is quite a task with her and takes twice as long. Everyone is her friend.

*She sleeps when it's dark and is awake when the sun is out and can't understand why i would want to sleep during the day.

*She's always been so active and still is. It's no wonder that she sleeps so good at night.

*She is a lover of all things outdoors. She is constantly finding grasshoppers and will keep them in her backpacks.

*She loves to tease her brother.

*She has an amazing memory (but only when it's something she wants to remember)

*She loves to sing and will sing herself to sleep almost everynight. She is also a shower singer.

*She loves to draw and color. She loves to copy words that she sees.
*She would eat all day if she could.

*Her hair gets so tangled and she screams everytime I try to brush it.

*She gets excited over everything!

*Her teenage attitude is appearing too early and I'm afraid we'll have some rough storms ahead of us. But.....I'm glad she is strong willed, I just hope I can help her use that for the right reasons.

*She still thrives on a schedule. If something is out of place in our bedtime routine she can really freak out.

*She always wants to have a party.
*She loves to collect things in backpacks, bags, or buckets.

*She likes to pick out her clothes. (not so sure I like that)

I sure love her. I know most days I don't appreciate all the good things about her but she is so special and I'm so glad she is mine. She has challenged me in so many ways but I have learned so much about myself and life since I became a mother and she was the one that gave me that gift! I hope she always knows how much I love her!

Looking through all our old pictures I found this gem. It's amazing what you do for entertainment with your first child (and first dog)

slip n' slide

2011-05-18T10:40:00.004-04:00

I have a feeling this is how we'll make it through the summer here.

(Sam was being grumpy for this picture)

I promise, my child does eat. Infact, he eats more than I do sometimes.

puzzled

2011-05-13T13:08:00.001-04:00

Not sure why my last post of Sam's Birthday just up and disappeared. :(

gardening

2011-05-11T11:25:00.002-04:00

Our garden is coming along pretty well. It's been pretty exciting to see some things pop up. We now have watermelon, pumkins and our potato plants are showing their faces.

painting project!

2011-05-04T23:26:00.003-04:00

UPDATE

*I can't take all the credit for the painting. Chad came home on Saturday and helped me finish the job!

I got motivated while Chad was out of town to start a painting project. It gave me something to keep me busy at nights, although it took a lot longer than I thought. The pictures speak for themselves!

While Chad was out of town he won this big whale in a drawing. The kids love it! Carly named it Sarah and Sam insists it's a boy whale.

an update.

2011-05-02T17:59:00.002-04:00

We got another addition to our family. Not exactly the kind I'm wishing for but it'll do for now. We're just hoping that Dolly doesn't think this little cutie is a snack. Yes, this has happened to us in the past, twice. These kittens (along with another litter) didn't make it to a week old thanks to our previous dogs. (and no, we didn't get rid of those dogs because of that incident.)

Yes, Dolly is a mess, she insists on laying underneath chad's car which is why she is covered in grease.

Good old Tom. He doesn't like the new kitten too much either.

Smudge

I couldn't resist taking this picture when I saw her like this. She loves her stuffed animals!

My baby is not a baby :(

2011-04-16T08:19:00.002-04:00

Las night Sam fell asleep while I was holding him. This rarely (actually never) happens. It was a rare occasion when he was a baby too (he was not a cuddler) I just held him for a little and it really hit me that he is not a baby anymore. He's almost three! Where did the time go? I have to admit, it made me even more baby hungry (but what doesn't these days?) When Sam was a baby I always secretly thought " I can't wait till he's older" Mostly because I was overwhelmed with the fact that I had a two year old and a newborn, man I would love to have those days back sometimes! Now, I find myself regreting even thinking that! I wish he would just stay little. The closer he gets to three the more I realize how fast time is flying and he is getting too big and too smart for me to handle! At least he's kind enough to stay in diapers for me right? ;) Anyway, this post really doesn't have a point to it, I guess I just need to remind myself to not regret things I may have thought in the past and to enjoy the stage I'm in now because before I know it my baby will be a teenager and then I really won't know what to do!

sunshine!

2011-04-11T09:45:00.003-04:00

The kids looking for a ladybug they found.

The sun is shining! Not to rub it in to you northern folk, okay, I'm rubbing it in just a tad but that's only so I can get you to come visit!

This was the sunset the other day. Of course the camera doesn't do it justice. It was so pretty!

We went to the lake again last weekend. We were there for most the day. The kids (and I) loved it!

Hooray for spring!

2011-04-06T09:59:00.010-04:00

Our garden is coming along quite well. It's exciting to see everything popping up and growing everyday! It still amazes me how easy it is to grow things! I love spending time out there, watering, weeding, planting. It's peaceful and it's rewarding. We are going to have an abundance (I hope) of most of the things we planted. I can't wait till harvest time!

Our lettuce and Spinach is really growing nicely. It's so great to have fresh lettuce everyday!

These two pictures are of all the flowers I'm starting. Some of them I won't start till the end of summer. I'm so excited. Growing things is so much fun!!

Mimi brought her horses yesterday to ride around on our property. It was a lot of fun. Carly loved to ride Coco, she would've sat on him for ever!

Carly has been into fancying herself up lately. She has a bunch of old clip on earring and jewelry from Chad's mom. She loves it!

Grateful for Family

2011-03-29T20:27:00.003-04:00

This past week we were able to spend with my grandparents. They came down to visit us and my Uncle. It was so fun/nice to have them stay with us. Carly and Sam loved going out to the guesthouse everyday to spend time with them. I'm not going to lie, I LOVED having all the free time! We put my grandpa to work while he was here. He hooked up a new water heater to the guesthouse so they were able to have hot water, he fixed the shower in the guesthouse and some pipes. He fixed the railing on our back porch and some siding on our house. He was ready to do more but they ran out of time!

It's been great. Thanks to my Dad (who came in February) and Grandpa we've had a lot of projects get done within the past couple months. We are so grateful for all of the help.

f.y.i. This doesn't mean we put everyone to work who comes to visit. :)

This was the night before they left. We enjoyed one more round of smores and a fire.

All of the pictures below were taken on the property behind our house. We found a "Beber" Dam. (that's what the kids call it) It's pretty fun to go exploring, we've been finding a lot of cool things around our place.

backyard adventures....

2011-03-25T21:34:00.002-04:00

We went for a ride down in the woods behind our house and I was surprised at how pretty it is! I had to pull my camera out snap a few (a ton!) of pictures.

As I was taking pictures Chad noticed this big guy floating in the river. We quickly rounded dolly up from the shoreline so we wouldn't have to watch our dog be attacked by the alligator.

Thursday we were able to take the afternoon and go for a ride on the boat. We let the kids out to play on the beach and they loved it!

2011-03-19T20:22:00.003-05:00

So, downloading pictures from my camera, I realized we really haven't been doing much around here lately. Nothing. Other than enjoying our warm weather and being outside. I'm not joking when I say my kids are outside ALL DAY! I can't believe it. I am loving it. When they aren't outside they found a new love for blocks. They actually play with them TOGETHER. That's right, I said TOGETHER. They build and build and build. Knock it down and then build again. It makes me want to go out and buy more blocks!

The other day the sky looked so amazing. The picture just doesn't do it justice.

The kids enjoying a boat ride.

I'm sad this picture is blurry. He fell asleep watching "fast cars" He gets so worn out playing outside all day (with no nap)

yesterday....

2011-03-04T10:52:00.003-05:00

Carly thought her puppy needed to eat.

My kids are either fighting with eachother or getting and along and making a mess. I really think I'll take a mess over the fighting.

(not sure what was up with Carly's face)

I'm getting really excited to see everything start to pop up in the garden. I just hope they continue to keep growing so well!

day dreaming.....

2011-03-02T21:22:00.006-05:00

(I wish the above pictures were of my garden.

someday.....)

Lately I've been day dreaming alot! Maybe because of the gorgeous weather we've been having. I get to sit on my front porch and stare at my garden while my kids play. I know, exciting right? It's funny because I really couldn't be happier. Anyway.....as I'm sitting on my porch looking out across my yard I day dream of having this beautiful garden not only filled with fruits and veggies but decorated with pretty flowers. I have been having such a strong urge to grow flowers! I really think it's just because it's spring and I'm having so much fun watching my garden grow, but it's so much fun to think about. I have some seed catalogs and websites that I frequent a lot and I've been looking into all different types of flowers. There are so many I want to grow them all! I picture in my head my garden being a quiet little sanctuary that I can sit in and enjoy while nature grows all around me. (I know, I surprise myself sometimes with the thoughts I'm having) I know it'll take time to get it just the way I want and I probably won't start any flowers until late summer but it's fun to think about. Here are just a few that I've looked at so far!

enjoying the weather....finally!!

2011-02-22T21:18:00.004-05:00

After almost an eternity (ok, so not even two weeks) of freezing weather we were finally blessed with some great weather here, it feels like spring and I LOVE it!

While my parents were here visiting we put my dad to work. Chad helped my Dad put the fence around my garden so Miss Dolly would stop running through my garden boxes. I'm loving it!

I am so excited for our garden this time. So far I've planted carrots, tomatoes, jalapenos, tomatillos, broccoli, cauliflower, green peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, peas, cilantro, basil, oregano, parsley, two different kinds of lettuce, spinich and blackberries. We are still going to plant corn, watermelon and pumpkins. I am so excited to see how much we actually get from all this planting. Little green sprouts are starting to come up and I love it. It really amazes me how easy it can be that even I can grow stuff!

Give my kids a pile of dirt covered with a tarp and you have two HAPPY kids!

The whole garden. I love how I can look out into the pasture while I'm out there. It's so peaceful. I never dreamed I'd love it so much!

It's too bad that within a couple months these pretty purple flowers will turn into nasty little thorns!

We have been LOVING this weather. It's probably not too long before it gets too HOT here!

One of the many chew toys that Dolly has found around our place. We're not sure what kind of animal it came from. (hopefully not another dog)

In no particular order......

2011-02-10T21:23:00.005-05:00

Pictures from the past month or so.....

Chad found this monstrosity in the water trough. It was pretty docile because it was so cold. He's kinda cute! My kids however didn't think so, which surprised me because Carly is usually all over stuff like this!

(Yes, I'm holding the frog in my living room)

Carly, desperately trying to eat the snow off of her mitten.

Below are all the pictures of the guesthouse.

Miss Dolly

My first crochet project. It took forever but it was a great learning experience!

2011-02-06T20:53:00.002-05:00

I haven't blogged much recently for two reasons;

1- I haven't really had much to blog about

2- Our laptop got a virus (so we think) so I've been stuck using our old computer that thinks it needs to restart itself ever 1 1/2 hours. Plus, I don't want to upload new pictures to our old computer. (thus the reason for the old, goofy picture of Carly)

January was pretty much full of nothing. I think after the holiday's and not feeling well I just didn't have motivation to do much. Plus, I'm a baby and I hate any weather that is below 45 degrees. (I would probably go insane if I lived in a cold climate)

Like previously blogged we've almost finished the guesthouse.

We've started on our newer version of a garden. I'm going with garden boxes now for most everything. I am really excited. We had so really good dirt delivered to fill the boxes so Hopefully I can start planting within the next week or so. Along with the veggies were going to grow some watermelon, pumpkins and some corn. We'll see how it turns out!

My parents are coming to visit this Wednesday and I'm so excited. I haven't mentioned it to Carly or Sam so it'll be a big surprise for them. Hopefully our weather is decent for them!

Anyway, that is pretty much it. I still can't believe it's already February but I am glad. I am so ready for spring to come!

curing boredom.....

2011-01-25T19:55:00.002-05:00

guest house pictures

2011-01-21T09:40:00.003-05:00

This one is out of order. This is an after shot. The walls are all painted and were moving furniture back in.

Before

my mom just e-mailed me this picture she took when she visited.

After
It just lookes cleaner and fresher. We still need to do something to the floors in the kitchen and living area. For now, there is just primer on the floor.

2011-01-20T09:15:00.004-05:00

This kid makes me laugh. He always sleeps in the weirdest positions.

We haven't been up to much around here. (reason for all the pictures of us in our house)
It's been cold (at least for me, I know I'm a baby when it comes to cold weather, in fear of embarrassment I'm not going to say how "cold" it's been because most of you would probably laugh in my face.) Anyway, it's been to cold for me to want to do any projects outside. Hopefully soon, I will get the motivation to start work on our garden again. Our last garden gave us some radishes, carrots, lettuce and spinach. We sort of gave up on it and destroyed it. We're going to start fresh. We bought some wood to make about 6 planter boxes and then we'll plant watermelon, pumpkins, and some corn in the ground. I still have no idea what I'm doing and I know we'll make mistakes this time around too but hopefully we'll have learned from our last mistakes and move on!
We have been working on our guesthouse. Chad mostly. We had carpet put in the bedrooms on Tuesday. It's exciting to see the progress. I am still mad I didn't get a before picture of the whole thing. But I will get pictures soon.

Carly's world part 2

2011-01-18T10:24:00.011-05:00

The pictures below are pictures from my phone

not much going on.....

2011-01-13T15:00:00.003-05:00

Love this!

Seriously? Where did they come from?
I love how they both picked out what they wanted to wear today and they both picked green.

Work on our guesthouse has begun. It began a couple weeks ago when Chad and Andy primed pretty much every square inch of the place. There was a nasty smell so we figured the primer would hide the smell. Unfortunately, the smell still lingered. We then found out that there was a small gas leak which was the cause. We had it fixed and now it just smells like paint. We have painted the trim and all the walls.

Next on our list is the floors.

It still needs a lot of little things done with it but at least with the paint and floors done it will be livable and "craftable" (one of the bedrooms is going to be my craft room.)

For now, there is no water heater and the shower is pretty nasty...but....the toilet works and there is running water.

It's not much but it's nice to have the extra space for people to stay.

(next month to be exact when my parents come to visit! Hooray!)

hmmmm....maybe this is why I haven't made or done a single thing in the crafty world recently.

Seriously?

How does it get this bad?

I'm too busy to put things away, I have no space to put all this stuff.

(sad part, there is a huge table in our big shed that is just as messy and cluttered as this one!)

In reality, this happened because I'm too lazy to put anything away,

Soon though, like mentioned above, as soon as the guesthouse has carpet all this crap will be out of our bedroom for good.

I think Chad is more happy about it than I am. (no, I am pretty darn excited to have my own crafty room. I'm making no guarantees that that room will stay clean.)

*p.s. I can't wait to paint our bedroom too, I've had about enough of the red walls! All in good time though.

Mommy talk....

2011-01-09T19:14:00.005-05:00

I'm not pregnant.

I just thought I'd get that out there since EVERYONE around me seems to be. No, I'm not bitter (okay, maybe just a tad) I guess the more proper word to describe the feeling is sad (okay and maybe a little jealous ,I'm trying to be honest here.) Don't get me wrong. I am so happy for all these people around me that are having babies. I really am!
I always thought I had a plan. We planned on Carly and I planned that three years later we'd try for a second.
Oops....15 months later we found out about Sam. I embraced the fact that things didn't go according to plan. We had Sam. We love him. We (or maybe just I) thought two years apart isn't bad. So, we tried again when Sam was 15 months old.

Not pregnant.

Not pregnant again.

and again.

Now, Sam will be three in May. THREE!

Still NOT pregnant.

I'm not sure how to embrace it this time. The fact that I'm not in control. It's quite exhausting! I don't know how people do it, when they don't already have kids. I love my kids, they are happy, healthy, active and they love me. But nothing is quite as bad as wanting another child and not being able to get it. I thought for a while "Do I really want another child, or just another baby? " We all know that babies grow up to be 2 year olds, and so on and so on. The answer came back that I wanted another Child. I want another spirit in this family to raise up on this earth, to love and laugh with, to cry with (and sometimes even cry because of it)
Every month it's the same. I start off thinking it's okay. I'm okay with two kids (although deep, but not too deep, down inside I'm really thinking the opposite)
Then the next phase of the month comes where I really think I've come to terms with it. I really feel happy and okay with the two I've been blessed with.
Then phase three. I find myself hoping that phase four doesn't happen.
Then phase four comes. I'm officially not pregnant. Honestly, my heart breaks every time.

I have learned some things from this little experience we are going through...
*I am not in control. (okay, I still might be working on this one) But, i have a better understanding of who is really in control.
*Patience (okay, I'm still working on this one too)
*Appreciating Carly and Sam. Without them I wouldn't be a mother. I've really been able to focus on the fact that they are truly children of God. They are just on loan to me to raise on this earth. They truly are blessings and I can never and should never take them for granted.
*Dealing with my emotions. (okay, this one is on my list of things to do. I still don't do this one very well)
*I should pray to have peace of mind and the ability to handle certain situations rather than just praying that I get pregnant.
*Things really do happen for a reason. If we'd had a baby when we originally planned. I would have a 7 or 8 month old. We may have never bought this house because it has only two bedrooms. (and honestly, I love this house and our land!) Maybe subconsciously my body is not allowing itself to get pregnant until we add more bedrooms??? (okay, it probably doesn't work that way but trust me, I've thought of every scenario as to why it hasn't happened)

So, all in all, I guess what I'm trying to say is.....well, I'm not really sure. I just need to get things off my chest. Out in the open. I will probably still hope and pray for another. I will also hope and pray that I will be okay if this is all that is in store for our little family. Life will go on. I HAVE been blessed to be a mother and I am grateful for that!!

It's a new year.....

2011-01-07T22:08:00.002-05:00

and I'm already behind.

2011. It sounds weird to say. Wasn't it just the year 2000 like 3 years ago?

I made resolutions this year. I always do. Do I keep those resolutions? Probably not. I need to make a resolution to keep my resolutions.

I didn't make many, mostly because If I make too many I'm bound to keep none of them. That is just how I roll. If I get too overwhelmed I shut down. I'm glad I finally learned that about myself. I keep a journal. That is usually where I write my resolutions and goals. Considering the fact that no one reads my journal (I think, I hope) it gives me zero motivation to keep my resolutions. I have nothing holding me to it. Just the thought of someone knowing my goals is enough for me to actually try and stick to them. Here goes:

*spend more time with my kids and ENJOY it.

*read the scriptures EVERY DAY!

* Pray every day. Not just for the sake of praying, but actually praying and communicating with the one who is in charge of my life and all that is in it!

* be honest (not like I'm a liar or anything but more just being honest with myself and about my feelings. If that makes any sense. It does to me.)

* ENJOY my calling in church. Sunbeams teacher. (I may need reminders with that one.)

*Focus on what is going on at the moment and not what I did or didn't do in the past.

There. I said it. It's done.

Happy New Year!

Yes, a firework went off a little too early. Scared the crap out of me but it made a cool picture!

2010-12-23T20:23:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas!

videos

2010-12-15T12:07:00.002-05:00

We went to a place called Santa's Wonderland. It's a drive through light show, the kids LOVED it! They also have a place there they call Santa's Village (or something like that) They have the music, shops, places to eat and most important....the kids got to visit with Santa. Carly ran up to him and hugged him, Sam did the same (mostly because he does EVERYTHING that Carly does)

Christmas fun!

2010-12-10T11:05:00.002-05:00

Don't mind the chocolate in her teeth!

Target ran out of white garland....oh well!

Cutting down our tree.

Now on the agenda....making lots and lots of yummy Christmas treats and then gaining five pounds by eating them all!!

2010-12-03T08:53:00.004-05:00

Probably the only snowflakes we'll see at our house this winter.

Our Thankful tree we did in November.
some of the things we were Thankful For
Carly: Annie Movie, my puppy, that Skipper will be alive someday, the 4-wheeler, computer game and Rain.
Sam: My Dad ( he said that everynight), My Jesus, apples, rain, toys
Me: good weather, girls day!, medicine, computer/internet, families
Chad: The cows, rain, Big yellow bananas, Thanksgiving, Food

The Sneeze

The aftermath of the sneeze

She loves animals way too much.

(except for when she traps Dolly in the doghouse and throws a ladybug in the trash)

Jack the donkey and crafts galore!

2010-11-21T00:12:00.004-05:00

We had a little visitor this morning. We were in the kitchen clearing up the kitchen (not sure why this is underlined!) Nelly started barking like crazy and this is what we found out back. It's our neighbors donkey named Jack and obviously the kids just love him!

I have had so much motivation this past week and when motivation hits I take full advantage because I never know how long it's going to last before it vanishes.

Below- I have wanted to make THIS pillow for the longest time so I thought i'd give it a go. I'm somewhat pleased. The stuffing I used is pretty lumpy. They'll probably only last till after the holidays and then I'll find a new place for them and replace them with some pillows with color. I'm tired of looking at brown and beige in my living room!

While in Utah my sister cut me some vinyl letters. It's the first verse in "Home can be a Heaven on Earth." I just love that song. I was originally wanting it above our bay window area but the wall was too textured so I had to put it in our entry. I think it works well and now I just need to find a little table or something extra to add to the room.

Today we had a girls craft day! It was so fun and I can't wait to do it again! For the craft day we made the blocks with the vinyl words on them and then I made the turkey's tonight while Chad went to a movie. I just loved THIS turkey when I saw it I knew I had to make one. It made it even more appealing when I realized I already had everything I needed to make them!

2010-11-07T08:57:00.003-05:00

One of the many creatures we find around our house.
Last night we had some family come over. We made tinfoil dinner and did smores over the fire. It was a lot of fun and the weather turned out to be perfect!

Sam enjoying the lizard we found.

Carly, of course, wanted to keep it.

This little girl loves puzzles. She been working on a 100 piece puzzle at Naw Naw's house. I decided to kick it up a notch and get a 150 piece. She did pretty darn good with it. She probably did 80% all by herself. I'm glad I found something that will actually keep her occupied for longer than 10 minutes!

2010-11-04T12:45:00.001-05:00

I'm sick of looking at my last post. Since we haven't really done anything worth blogging about here's a funny commercial. I don't know why I think THIS is so funny.

today

2010-10-29T20:34:00.001-04:00

Made THIS today with the kids. It's actually pretty cute!

Also, made THIS tonight for dinner. I thought it was really yummy(,not sure about what Chad thought.....but most of you know he's a tad on the picky side!)

Just thought I would share....

p.s. Love you Chad!

Halloween costumes!

2010-10-22T17:12:00.007-04:00

I know it's not halloween yet but I just loved these costumes to much to have them wear it only one day. So they've been playing in them most the day and are loving it!! I couldn't resist snapping some pictures either. :)

So, between moving into a new house and traveling and having family over there was NO WAY I was going to try to make costumes. When I found these two cotumes on sale I couldn't resist. It was just a bonus that Carly actually wanted to be a witch for Halloween too! (with no persuading on my end)

I'm not a woman of many words.....

2010-10-18T11:21:00.006-04:00

so here are a bunch of pictures.....

Trip to Utah!

2010-10-07T21:31:00.006-04:00

These pictures are not in order because frankly I really don't care :) They're lucky to even be posted at this point!

Carly and Ellie

Playing with the ducks at Wheeler Farm

The Oquirrah Mountain Temple

My Grandma Holt went through the temple for her first time, she was also sealed to my Grandpa who passed away a year ago in July. My mom was then sealed to her parents. It was a great day and I'm so glad I was able to be there!

The Hogle Zoo

We had a great time while we were there, as we always do! It's always great to spend time with my family and I'm blessed to be able to visit so often.

Having fun!

2010-09-16T21:09:00.006-04:00

With my Sis being in town we've actually been getting out and doing stuff. We've done plenty of shopping and the kids have done plenty of playing!

This was the play area at the Houston Galleria. Always a great place to shop and not so scary to get to! (I'm not too fond of driving downtown Houston)

Below are pictures from The Health Museum. I've never heard of it until we looked online last night for stuff to do. It is a really cute place, it's small but the kids loved it and I actually enjoyed it as well!

While my sister and her friend shopped at the Galleria I took my kiddoes to eat. I figured the Rainforest Cafe would be the best place because the animals would do the entertaining and I would be off the hook. I was pretty much right, Carly played with the elephant pretty much the whole time and Sam just stared.

Another playplace at a different mall. My kids have never had so much mall playtime in one week!

I bought some cheap make-up at Forever 21 and thought Carly would love playing with it! I was right! She loved the green and the purple. Awesome.

(BTW I feel somewhat ashamed of my mess in the background with clean laundry piled on my bed and a pile of clothes on our floor because we don't have a dresser yet, it makes for a messy bedroom!)

more pictures.....

2010-09-08T18:49:00.005-04:00

I'm a bit obsessed with taking pictures at the moment, not only because I'm LOVING our new home but I got a new camera. So bear with me on all the pictures to come!

2010-09-04T22:17:00.005-04:00

New haircut today! Carly kept calling him "Handsome man."

Skipper's in critter heaven.

She's probably explaining to Sam why the cows don't like her.

2010-09-02T16:20:00.010-04:00

Watching for the train.

Chad's new toy (it came with the house)

I think we've gone Hillbilly by the looks of her!

catching grasshoppers

New place

2010-08-28T23:35:00.007-04:00

Side of the house and front of the guest house

The tin barn. Chad's favorite part. (not mine) Looking out towards the pasture.

Front of the house. (needs some landscaping)

Looking out towards the driveway and pasture

more of the woods

behind the house where the train goes by (by the big trees)

no, it's not that loud.

stay tuned....

2010-08-27T23:57:00.001-04:00

we're in.

we're unpacking.

we LOVE it!

(Stay tuned for pictures!)

2010-08-24T20:14:00.002-04:00

2010-08-16T14:18:00.002-04:00

calling heaven??

2010-08-10T17:24:00.002-04:00

Just so I don't forget:

(Carly plays with one of our old cell phones)

She was upstairs and said....

C: "Hey mom....pretend I'm Jejus and you need help."

Me: "Okay" (she throws me the phone)

C: "ok...now you can call me...because I'm jejus...and you need help."

Me: "ok, ring, ring, ring...."

C: "Hello?"

Me: "Hi, I need help, I'm lost..."

C: (Comes downstairs, turns the chair that I'm sitting on) "There, now you're home."

Me: Thanks

around the house....

2010-08-06T10:38:00.007-04:00

Well, we haven't been up to much but here are some things we have been doing around here....

playing with toy animals

"eraff and bebra"

sticking a Giraffe up our nose

singing and dancing

pretending to sleep....

Selling furniture

We got rid of our couch. I had a love/hate relationship with that thing and since it won't really fit in the new house (let's hope we actually get the house) I figured we could sell it. The kids would pull the cushions off everyday! bleh....

Naming Sam's army guys

(I love the dollar store!)

homeless?

2010-08-04T20:02:00.002-04:00

SO.......I'm really hoping that this house we've been working on getting goes through or else we might be homeless at the end of the month. We already gave our notice and signed a contract to leave the rental house by the end of August. This was done thinking our closing date would be August 10th. (because of certain issues that closing date will most likely be pushed back) No problem right? I'm sure it'll all work out fine, things might just get pushed to the very last second! So....here's to hoping that we won't end up without a place to live! :)

not much going on....

2010-07-31T10:32:00.003-04:00

We haven't been doing much, it's much to hot to play outside, yesterday morning Carly wanted to go on a "pirate treasure hunt in the woods" so we went out and walked around in the woods behind our house. Luckily it didn't last long because it was just too hot. I do however love the clovers that are growing behind our house. They attract all the deer. Don't be deceived though, it may be pretty but underneath are jagged stumps of little trees and bushes. Our backyard is not a very friendly place to play. If this wasn't a rental I would have more motivation to do something about it....

Sam has been really great in his toddler bed. Although he feels the need to sleep with his toys. (Usually he has more toys in bed with him) Carly does this same thing, she'll collect toys throughout the day in buckets or toy bins and then insists on sleeping with those buckets in her bed. What happened to just sleeping with a stuffed animal??

This little beauty happened on the 24th. We were at a Ward breakfast and Carly and another little girl were playing around and Carly feel backwards and hit her head on their limestone gravel driveway. It was not a pretty sight. I hate blood, especially when it's gushing from my daughters' head. Luckily we have people in the ward who know what to do in situations like that and they took care of her.

These two....

2010-07-21T12:54:00.006-04:00

Crack me up!

(in the hospital after Carly was born.)

Carly and Adam are 6 weeks apart. They have pretty much grown up together! They both insist they are are "Best friends."

Carly tells me almost every day... "Mom? Adam's my best friend."

Chad taught their primary class last Sunday (yes, they are in the same class, I feel bad for anyone that tries to teach these two when they're together!) They were having a discussion on temples and how they get married in temples. Chad asked one little boy who he'd marry and the little boy replied "a girl." Then Chad asked Carly who she'd marry and she said "a boy." Then, Chad asked Adam who he's going to marry and Adam said "Carly."

They both then insisted that they would marry each other. (and no, this wasn't the first declaration of their future marriage.) There have been many times when Adam has said he's going to marry Carly. hmm....when should we burst their bubble and tell then that ain't gonna happen!?

They are so funny to listen to when they play. If one of them does something that the other doesn't like, then they are told that "they aren't best friends anymore." Or, if one wants the other one to do something they'll say "I'll be your best friend if...." It's hilarious! I always wonder what the future will bring since they are opposite genders but for now I will enjoy listening to them play and hope that they can stay "best friends" for a long time!!

swimming

2010-07-18T22:49:00.003-04:00

We made it to our subdivision swimming pool over the weekend (have I mentioned how much I miss our pool! We got so spoiled having a pool in our backyard!) Anyway...the kids LOVED it! Carly went right in and took off. Sam isn't so confident in the water yet since he didn't have much experience at our old house, but this time for some reason it kinda clicked and he was able to float around with arm floaties. He loved it so much and had so much fun! I am so thankful to have access to a pool in this hot, humid, yucky weather!

2010-07-15T10:25:00.003-04:00

Just so I don't forget....

Yesterday, as I was doing Carly's hair....

C: "Mom, I just can't wait to live with Jejus." (That is how she says "Jesus")

Me: "Someday you will."

C: "If I live with Jejus that means I'll be dead."

Me "Well, yes, but it doesn't have to be soon."

C: "Ya."

Me: "You have to be nice and then you'll be able to live with Jesus."

C: "Ya, be nice...not mean. I'm a nice girl."

Me: "Yes, you're a nice girl."

Movie Time

2010-07-14T17:02:00.002-04:00

Last week I got to take Carly to see Toy Story 3. We had a movie pass for two free tickets and a free large popcorn. I can't resist anything that is free plus, if it turned out to be a disaster I wouldn't have cared because it was free! She did great! (Our last movie experience before this was not so great, so I was a bit hesitant to take her.) I am definitely looking forward to another movie trip with this little girl!

On the way to the theatre. She was so excited!

I think this girl takes after her Grandpa and Father. She LOVED her gummie bears!

4th of July!

2010-07-05T19:51:00.007-04:00

Happy 4th of July! I attempted taking some pictures but this was the best I got. Carly insists on smiling like a goof and Sam had just woken up from a nap.

They are still cute kiddos!

What's the 4th of July without a little burn on a finger??

This wasn't on the 4th, this was actually the 2nd but Chad couldn't wait to do some fireworks. The kids had a lot of fun with the sparklers!

On the 3rd we drove out to our friends' house. We had some yummy food and did some fireworks with only a few minor scares. Too bad they live so far away, we wanted to stay and play longer!

This was the actual day. We decided to take the kids to watch the big fireworks. We found a great spot, we parked at our church and walked to the school parking lot next door. The kids had a whole parking lot and tennis court to run around. Some member of our ward also had the same idea so the kids got to play together while we waited. It was pretty much the first time we'd taken them to watch big fireworks and they both LOVED them!

place your bets.....

2010-07-01T23:01:00.002-04:00

Rain

2010-06-28T17:18:00.004-04:00

blueberries!

2010-06-22T16:26:00.003-04:00

Last night we drove an hour to a blueberry farm to pick some berries. We didn't get home till 10:00 but it was so worth it! We picked 9 lbs of blueberries. Carly LOVED it! She was so quiet and concentrated the whole time on picking only the blue ones! She kept saying "Mom! We're on a berry hunt!" Sam loved it, although he got stung by something on his finger. He mostly just had fun carrying the bucket around. I'm not normally a fan of blueberries but they are so good picked right from the bush!!

fast asleep.

2010-06-13T23:13:00.000-04:00

Carly's World

2010-06-10T22:25:00.006-04:00

We got new phones earlier this year so we gave our old phones to the kids. Carly LOVES them because she figured out how to use the camera on it. I don't know why but some of these are HILARIOUS to me! I love seeing the world from her perspective.

(Her gingerbread toy, Carly's eye, Skipper, more of the gingerbread man, and Mr. Sam)
(Her princess cup on the table, her new cabbage pack doll, her bucket of the day, her stuffed animal pile, and playing with Troll dolls)

(Daddy, sitting at the table, her side table next to her bed, her noisemaker, and Mommy)

(mommy, the ceiling fan in our living room, her basket of food, a fly on the window, magnets on the fridge, Carly's feet)

*

These below are pictures from my phone. They are a couple months old, most of them were taken while Carly was at pre-school.

videos

2010-06-06T15:00:00.004-04:00

Videos for your viewing pleasure. Nothing special, just the kids being the kids!

(The middle and last are the best in my opinion)

New Braunfels!!

2010-05-28T22:17:00.011-04:00

We spent most of this week in New Braunfels, TX. It's such a fun place and now that my baby is not really a baby anymore we were able to do a lot and have a lot of fun! We rented a house and shared it with Chad's sister and bro-in-law. Chad's parents had driven up there the day before we arrived. The two pictures below were taken in Gruene (green) TX. We spent most our days there playing in the river (although the water was freezing) Sam LOVED it, Carly liked staying close to shore looking for fish and seashells.

All the pictures below were from playing in the river. It was so relaxing and fun! I can't wait to go back!

We also went to the drive through zoo. The kids had so much fun! Sam wasn't so sure about getting close to them but Carly of course loved it!

We had so many funny videos to choose from. I tried to put them in order but I don't think they are. The one of Sam crying was after he got scared by the ostrich and he was telling Chad about it! The one with the Zebra is awesome, we couldn't have planned it any better!

2010-05-24T20:38:00.002-04:00

Here are some videos from Carly's birthday. The last one cracks me up! Carly and Adam love each other so much! It is so great now that they actually play nice together! It is so fun to hear the things that they say to each other. ( don't mind the background conversation!)

"I'm not free anymore i'm fo-or!" -Carly

2010-05-24T13:22:00.008-04:00

Funny Faces!
Carly and her butterfly cake
(she did want an alligator, eating a balloon, under a rainbow cake. I'm glad she changed her mind to a butterfly)

We had a pinata. The kids always have fun bashing it open!

Here is another little dress I made. Her black shirt had a hole in it so I cut it short and added material for the skirt. I got the idea from here.

Happy Birthday Carly!!

2010-05-22T00:11:00.018-04:00

Well, we made it to 4! I can't believe I have a four year old. That seems so old to me! Carly has definitely kept us on our toes and has baffled us many times but we are so glad she is in our family! Here are some fun things we love about her...

*She loves to dance and sing and will perform for ANYONE! Especially if it's over the webcam to my family!

* She loves to tease Sam and make him scream.

*She is playing pretend more.

*She talks NON-STOP. Especially in the car. I don't know where she gets that from.

*She prays for courage almost every night so she won't get scared.

*She gets excited when she has new clothes to wear.

*She has two "best friends" at school. Sophia and Meredith. And her teachers.

*Her two favorite pretend names are "Carlia and Carlay"

*She not afraid of much except the dark and being alone.

*she'll pick up almost any bug except for ants.

*She is terrible to shop with.

*She LOVES pre-school

*Loves her cousin Adam. They are best friends.

*Always asks to go to "Grandma's and Rae Rae's and Brittany's house, but they're to far away" (she asks this almost every day)

*Has a Texas accent.

says "Drank" for Drink

*Loves the color green

*Loves to color

*loves to help feed the pets

*Loves to go on walks.

*Can learn a song after only hearing it a couple times.

*Loves our little 4-wheeler and is great at driving it!

*She loves to go fast and always asks why my car doesn't go fast.

*Still talks about our "old blue house"

*Tells me my car is old and we need a new one.

*Will talk to ANYONE! She strikes up a conversation with people at the grocery store. Sam is watching and learning.

*She is so smart it scares me.

*She loves to collect toys in a bucket and carry it around the house for the day.

*she wants to read so bad!

* She recognizes every letter in the alphabet, can spell her name and almost write every letter in the alphabet.

*She loves a routine.

*She loves to help clean when I let her.

I am so happy that I get to be her mother and I am grateful for all that she is teaching me about myself! We love her!

Couple hours old

couple days old

four or five months old

1st Birthday!

August 2007

April 2008

May 2008

Big Sister!

July 2008

Oct. 2008

February 2009

July 2009

January 2010

April 2010

(Carly and Esther)

Las Vegas!

2010-05-17T12:54:00.014-04:00

In no particular order....

The two pictures above are of the hotel. We stayed at The Vdara. It just opened last winter. We weren't really sure what to expect but it turned out to be way nice! The Vdara has no casino so when you walk in you don't have all the people, noise and smoke smell. It was great! The architecture of the new City Center was awesome! I didn't get pictures so I stole these two from the Internet.

These two pictures were at the Bellagio. We ate dinner there the first night and this was a cool flower garden they had. It smelled so great and the flowers were amazing. The giant ants and snail were also pretty cool!

I took this because I thought the canoe sculpture thing was cool. Right after I snapped this picture a limo pulled up with a girl hanging out the winder with puke all down the outside of the limo. It was pretty disgusting and funny at the same time. Gotta love Vegas.

These flowers were made of chocolate!

A chocolate fountain. Pretty cool!

My parents and brother and sis-in-law drove down on Saturday to spend the day with us. I am so glad they came, it was a lot of fun!

Another picture inside the flower garden.

The view from our room. We had the perfect view to watch the fountains at the Bellagio. It was so cool and we were so mesmerized by it every time. Not sure why it was so mesmerizing but it was! We also had a great view of Donny and Marie. Don't be jealous.

We walked the whole time we were there. I don't even know how much we walked but we got enough exercise to last us for a while. Our feet and legs hurt. I felt like I was 80 years old. We went to The Bodies exhibit on Friday (which always amazes me to look and learn about the human body) On Saturday night after my parents left we had tickets to go see a Cirqu Du Soleil show. It was at Treasure Island. It was a late show so I was dead tired but it was a really great show. The people in it are amazing at what they do!

We missed the kids like crazy and we were glad to get home but we had so much fun!

Happy Birthday Sambo Man!

2010-05-11T11:34:00.015-04:00

Sam turns TWO!!

May 12, 2008

I still can't believe that my baby is two! Time has definitely gone by way too fast the second time around. I don't like it but I suppose that is what life is all about. Sam has definitely brought loads of joy into our home (and maybe some deafness in my left ear) We love his sweet, playful, stubborn personality! Now, some fun facts about Sambo Man....

*He loves to play fight, he is definitely all boy!

*He has to be the one to shut any kind of door.

*He likes to throw things, especially from the top of the stairs

*He calls guns "boom booms" and cars "vroom vrooms"

*When we want to kiss him good-bye he makes us kiss the back of both hands and then we get to kiss his mouth. Not sure where that came from?

* He is so so so addicted to his binky.

*He is fascinated with anything with a motor, just like his dad.

*He loves to pretend to drive our car.

*He loves the cats and skipper

*He screams like a girl. I'm not joking.

*He copies everything Carly does and says. Word for word.

*At dinner one night Chad jokingly told Sam he needs to eat more meat because he's scrawny. Well, Sam climbed down from his chair went over to Chad, hit Chad and then climbed back on his chair, like he knew that Chad just insulted him.

*He is a good eater, most days.

*He throws a major fit if I give him water instead of juice.

*Loves to sing and dance.

*Loves quiet time in his room. He's always been that way. He'll play in there for a good while without wanting to come out. I think he gets that from me.

*Found out I keep the marshmellows in a low cupboard. For a while he would sneak in there and grab as many marshmellows as he could.

*He hated nursery at church, but all of a sudden one week he decided that it wasn't too bad.

*Always falls asleep in front of his door at night, so every night we have to pick him up and put him in his bed.

*LOVES to be outside, riding his tricycle.

There you have it....I am so glad Sam chose to be a part of this family. He has been and will continue to be a bright spot in my life. I hope he knows how much I love him and I am so grateful for all that he teaches me (the good and the bad!)

Still baking....

A couple hours old

Sam's blessing day

A couple days old

2 months old

Five months old

Eight Months old

May 2009

Sam's First Birthday!

November 2009

February 2010

April 2010

A fun day!

2010-05-09T22:21:00.007-04:00

We celebrated Sam's birthday today along with Mother's Day. Although, both Carly and Sam came down with Conjunctivitis (in other words their eyes were full of goop and red and puffy) We decided to celebrate anyway (I'm praying that we disinfected their hands enough that they didn't pass it along to anyone else) We had a great Mother's day lunch followed by birthday cake and presents! Sam didn't really know what was going on other than he got to eat cake and open presents. I saw this idea of a cake in a magazine and thought it would be so fun to make! I am so glad Sam decided to surprise our family, he definitely adds so much personality and fun! We sure love him!

lots O pictures....

2010-05-08T16:41:00.007-04:00

D-I-S-G-U-S-T-I-N-G!!!

2010-05-05T19:51:00.002-04:00

This is the underneath of the spider. The picture of the top of him didn't turn out that great.

Today, I was enjoying my time outside while my kids played in a little kiddie pool, when out of the corner of my eye I saw something move (it was about 6 feet away) I walked a little closer because I was curious about what it was. To my absolute HORROR I saw this creature. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. Now, I have seen big spiders before. Tarantula's. It's been years and tarantula's are suppose to be big so you are somewhat prepared, but this...this was just a normal looking spider only HUGE!! If you know me, you know I HATE spiders of any kind. I can't even kill small spiders without having an anxiety attack. I have no clue where this fear came from. I've never been bitten. Anyway....I sort of froze. I didn't let my kids out of the pool until I thought of some way to get rid of this thing. I then remembered we had wasp spray in our laundry room. The can says it can spray from up to 16 feet away. It was the perfect solution. I ran inside (all the while I was telling the kids to stay in the pool). I grabbed the can and started to spray. It started running for it's life but I was not going to let him get free just so he could come back and get revenge! I spray him the whole 10 feet he ran. I sprayed until he eventually stopped and then died. I do not feel bad about killing this thing. The world is now with one less spider and I couldn't be happier (I'm not looking forward to my dreams tonight) but I am happier he is now passed on.

p.s. I about threw up when chad decided to pick up the dead thing just so we could get a picture.

Inspired

2010-05-05T14:55:00.002-04:00

This is so inspiring and makes me want to be a better mother.

early morning thoughts....

2010-05-01T07:01:00.004-04:00

Just some thoughts maily for myself but wanted to share......for any who's interested. :)

Recently I have been reminded of the importance of keeping the spirit with me throughout the day (all day) I had been struggling with loosing my patience with the kids (don't we all) getting frustrated, being tired and basically being idle. My sister-in-law was here for a couple weeks awaiting the birth of her new baby and we had the chance to chat a few times. She really reminded me and is a great example to me and keeping the spirit with you through out your day and finding time to bring it into your life. For a while, a long while I was lazy about the gospel. I had young babies and I used them as an excuse. Now, my baby is almost two. I no longer have the excuse that a baby is taking all my time. The older my kids are getting, especially Carly who is now almost 4, the more I realize that this is the time to really teach them and help them understand the basic principles of the gospel. You would think that after being raised in the church it would be a natural thing to know that, but like I said before I forgot or didn't want to face that my kids are getting older and to a point where they can understand. I was being lazy (which I think is my biggest weakness, there's a confession for ya!)
One of my new years resolutions this year was the read the scriptures daily. I did great at first but then started to slack off until a couple weeks ago when I realized that why would the Lord bless me with the desires of my heart when I am not willing to give of my time to him and the gospel?? Maybe that's the wrong way to look at it because I know the Lord loves me and wouldn't punish me but if that thought is what changed my attitude about reading the scriptures then I'll take it! I was reading yesterday and came upon a scripture in Mosiah 23:21 it says "The lord seeth fit to chasten his people: yea, he trieth their patience and their faith." I never really thought of that, I knew the Lord gave us trials to make us stronger but it hit me when it said he "trieth their patience and their faith" That is one of my biggest struggles. Patience. I am not a patient person, when I want something I want it now. Much like all of society today. It hit me big time. Certain things in life don't come when you want it. You need patience, your faith needs to be tested. I look back at my marriage. We have never really struggled with much, physically or temporally. I am grateful for this, everyday I am grateful for that! (we basically had our needs met and beyond temporally and physically but I was lacking spiritually) I kept wondering, why am I so blessed when I am so apathetic towards the gospel and living the gospel. Why would the Lord reward me for doing nothing?? I then realized that maybe that was my challenge. To be grateful for what I have. A lot of times when things are going great we forget that Lord has his hands in things. Maybe my challenge was to show the Lord that I am aware of his work in my life and to show my gratitude for all of the many little things and big things that I have been blessed with. Show him by actually doing what I am suppose to be doing, reading the scriptures, praying daily (all day sometimes!) full filling my calling, teaching my children the gospel, attending the temple. I needed to be doing all those things to show him that I am grateful!! What an eye opener! I have now made a few new goals and hoping that the adversary doesn't get the better of me. One thing that is small but can really make a huge difference is music. I love music, call me silly but my favorite part of General Conference is when the choir sings. It brings me to tears almost every time they sing. It's so powerful and uplifting ( and I'll be honest, it reminds me of Utah, they always show views of temple square during the song) I then thought, if it affects me so much during conference why not bring that spirit to my home any day of the week. I have recently just started having music playing during the day. When I feel my nerves coming to end end I'll pop in some primary songs, or piano music or some other church music and it totally helps. Plus, the fact that Carly loves to sing a long to the songs she knows. It really has been a great help in bringing the spirit into my home, which is the ultimate goal right??
Anyway....I have gone all over the place with this post but really, I wrote it for me. So I can be reminded of what I need to do. (plus it's 6:00 in the morning and I can't sleep so I figured now is a good time to jot this down)