Our Little Christmas

My friend over at HaddyGrace Designs posted this entry on her blog HERE! It was inspiration for me to blog about our Christmas.

I know many people who dislike Christmas for what it's become. A buying fest that get out of control. It really is about Jesus being born to save us from our inequities and give eternal life. He was born to die. It seems sads, esp when you think about it that way but God had it all planned out and Jesus knew all that. He obeyed willingly because of His GREAT love for His Father and for us!

That being said, we instill that into our kids. We talk about what Jesus did for us and how special it was that God choose Mary to have Jesus and the whole story. Even my 2 year old knows about Jesus and I love her curiosity and her love for the story. We try not to focus on the gifts so much and also being a practical mom, I am always looking at the things they need(shoes, clothes, books) and not the wants. I also love practical gifts as well! My sweet hubby got me a NEW vacuum. Never in my life have I had a NEW vacuum! Always been hand me down vacuums and the last one I had was one I got free from a yard sale-6 years ago. It completely broke, never to be fixed again. Most women probably wouldn't like a vacuum for Christmas but I do!!!
Now onto the kids: Books, clothing, shoes, blocks, cooking toys and magic rocks. Remember those? Fun for an older kid and a little science-y. 

Now some photos of our week! :)

Baby Boy Loves looking at his educational mobile-Educational toys are a big hit around here!

Building a Castle all together with Kenzi's blocks  

Baby Boy got a Sophie-So Cute...He smiled the first time he saw her!

My oldest daughter is in vollyball and so we got here some althletic wear-she loved it! 

My youngest daughter got a sling to wear her baby dolls in just like mommy and baby!

My oldest loves history and this is a sure fire way to get him reading :) 

The girls and I made cookies for the AHG Christmas party

"Helping"

Our Recipe

Gotcha!!!

Ready to Bake

Ready to go!

Looking at Christmas lights in town was super fun!

He is going to be such a handsome man! Makes me wan to cry my eyes out that he is almost a teen...

This was so fun!

Pretty1

My favorite by far!

It was one of the best Christmas's ever! I believe it was because we celebrate Jesus Christ's Birth and we are with family and we know the real reason for the season :) Thanks for reading!

As of lately...

 Hello! My friend here inspired me to post about Christmas stuff and just stuff in general :)

So the weather has been really mild here. Yesterday was very foggy and unseasonably warm. I got a few pics of the fog by the river and some Canadian geese.

We had my hubby's mom and step-dad come for a visit and that was really nice. Good to see family and share Thanksgiving with them. They gave us our Christmas gift early(it made sense because they were here!) It is a Canon Rebal 3t! I was speechless! So I have been taking a lot more pics, some good and some not-so-good. But that's the fun part! (I kinda like figuring things out and playing with buttons and setting to see what it does...)

Little man has been getting bigger and bigger. Smiling and giggling, cooing and gentle little squeals, he melts my heart and I love him so much!

 And there's my big girl and she just loves him so much!

 Our tree this year! I took some in daylight and some at night just to see what it would do :)

Like this one better :)

Amen!!

Special Ornaments

Aaron 1st Grade

Lily Pre-K

Jesus is the reason for the Season!

Love

Kenzi showing me her bracelet

Little Man with his smile on

Lily by the tree

Playing with lighting, didn't expect this to happen! Totally un-edited...

Our Usborne Nativity Scene-you can find it here!

The Oldest & Youngest hangin'

Love this one!

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving is Here!!!

Wow its the end of November already! Whew what a month! Jackson is getting bigger and bigger. He is in the 10 percentile for babies his age so not too bad. Staying awake more and more. His daddy got him to smile for the first time!  I think he just looks at me with awe and  I'm his food source ;) Kenzi is almost potty trained   but some days are better than others. I choose to focus on the good days :) She counts pretty good and talks really good....sometimes too good! Just Kidding! I've been busy this week getting ready for our little feast and awaiting our guests. My hubby's mom and step-dad will be here in about a week! Everyone is super excited! Its been along time since we've had company from out west. We are looking forward to visiting and for them to meet the baby. That's all for now!

A Mini Celebration

This month I celebrate 7 years of being saved and sober. I give all the glory to God because He is the only one who could have made me change. No intervention or jail-time would have gripped me the way Jesus did! I would have died or I fear worse....Lets not focus on that..

So seven years ago My life changed and it was very sudden. One day I packed up my car and my kids and left my home state and moved 1800 miles away. Crazy right? I know but once you hear that still, small voice you can't forget what it said. So we left in search of a new life and I think we did. God is in control of all of this! And He has been good to us!

Life With Kids

My 2 1/2 year old LOVES to open our junk mail!

A little a lot of happiness!

This is very exciting for her and it blesses my heart!

New Beginnings

We are in the stages of beginning a new normal. That is a very good thing. We have almost a normal life except for the fact that our new baby has to be away from large crowds, gatherings and places like groceries stores. Kinda hard for me because I have awesome friends that I love to see often and I need to stay out of the way for now. People might say that it would be hard-yes and no-because this is only temporary. Eventually we will be able to go out as a family again. We did all go to our friend's harvest party and ate wonderful food and enjoyed good conversations! Our first family outing and it was glorious! I am enjoying this stage of our life and feel very loved and blessed. Many good friends have done great things for us. My friend Alissa organized meals for us and is doing that for all families with new babies. My friend Rachel had her baby one week after I did and so I had someone to visit with in the hospital. My friend Ruth Ann took my toddler and gave me rides to the hospital (30 miles away!) My friend Amanda gave me a ride home from the hospital and offered rides as well. My friends Christy, Meghan, and Dixie  and their husbands  came to visit us. Many others did countless other kind things. So with that we have such great beginnings ahead of us! 

Prayer, the NICU & Blessings

We are home now. I didn't know it was gonna be that way. I didn't know he would have stay there or that his lungs would be so immature. I knew I loved him and we prayed for him. For his delivery and his health. We didn't know we were praying for the awesome nurses and doctors at our local hospital. They were amazing in his coordinated care. They were kind and empathetic and loving. That is blessing #1. 

The next blessing would be our church family. They prayed non stop and I could feel their prayers. I now know they are more than people we go to church with they are family to us! Our friends turned family helped with meals, prayers and gifts from his baby shower that I had while he was still in the hospital. It really helped carry me thru till he came home. God was carrying us the whole way by the people he surrounded us with.

Blessing #3 would be our family who lives far away from us. They also prayed and sent things and cash gifts so we could drive as much as we did(50+ miles round trip).

I think this is one of the hardest trials we've had to go thru. I am so glad I had my Jesus, my  faith, my friends, my family. Without God I absolutely do not know how we would have made it! I truly believe that with all my heart! One verse that I thought of alot was 'Greater is He that is in me than he who is in the world.' and I just gave all my worries and fears to Jesus. I will continue to do that in the many months & years to come. 

His lungs are better now and we still have to be careful of the flu, colds, and RSV. 

So I will pray! 

September is the Best Month Ever!

Our baby Jackson was born! Photo Contest {HERE!!!}

                                     

Jackson is here!

Jackson was born today! At 1:16 pm and he is doing well...the only thing is his lung development. They want to make sure he can breath so he is in the NICU until that is established. Then they will focus on getting him to eat and keep it down and the on to  nursing, So if you can.....pray for us and we will be super appreciative of all the support and prayers! :) We are happily expecting great things for this precious little boy! We thank God for him. 

Jackson Joel
September 12, 2011
1:16pm
6 pounds 5.2 oz.

First Day of School 2011-2012

Today was the start of the new school year. We were all happy and excited! Ready to start a new year at the school we love. The kids were ready to go and I thought I was too! I got back home from dropping them off and the silence was deafening. My toddler climber up in my lap to snuggle me. Kissing my arm as she clung to it and I checking my emails. Some tiny tears falling and realizing just how fast these moments pass us by! Our summer was a wonderful one. Lots of pool time and time with friends, time watering the container garden and watching it grow and produce little yummy goodies! 

Sad to see it dwindling to an end and yet excited for new seasons coming!

Fall, Corn Mazes, a New Baby and Pumpkin patches! 

Good times!!!

Mommy Time

My friend Rachel had an idea to get some moms together and 'float' on tubes around our local lake. One rule: No Kids! It was perfect! We take our kids to the pool and chase them or to the lake and chase them. Don't get me wrong here-I love my kids! But sometimes you need to do something alone! And we did! So fun! The water was warm and we laughed about all sorts of stuff! Mostly about our lack of control for our watercraft as one friend put it! I haven't done anything like that in a long time! It was the best night ever!!! 

Giving up

Lately things seems hard.

Hard to be joyful. 

Hard to be the one who encourages. 

But then God uses my wonderful friends 

to show me joy and encouragement and many other things. 

Today I was reminder not to give up!

 What sweet words they were to my soul! 

That I can come running to the Father and hide in His hands and He will protect me. 

There is someone who wants me to give up and just lay down everything I have given to Jesus. 

It is a battle of a spiritual nature not of flesh and blood.

And I will not. I refuse. Flat out!

My family and future generations are worth

fighting for!!!

So let's not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don't give up. Gal.6:9

When the world comes crashing in
And chaos rules my mind,
I turn my heart to you, Lord,
And pure, sweet peace I find.


You lift me out of trouble
You comfort me in pain;
You nourish, heal and cleanse me,
Like cool, refreshing rain.


In times of joy and bliss,
When things are going right,
You lift me even higher,
And fill me with delight.

This girl is not giving up anytime soon!

The Patio Garden

As I sit here and munch on a PB and Vanilla creme sandwich...Wait what is that??? Well you can check it out here! So divine! A little special something for mommy when the days are extra tough ;)
Anyway back to the post! I wanted to share my patio garden with ya! This is much bigger than we have ever done but not bigger than our first(and only) garden in 2006. Sadly we haven't lived anywhere that has been suitable for a real-in-ground garden. So here it is and I'm in love with it. It's the little things ya know? 

Some of the tomatoes.

The jalapeno 

A Whitney Pepper plant

More tomatoes-we have 6 in all :)

The Cucumber!!!

Sweet Basil and Boxwood Basil 

Roma tomatoes

Bell Pepper

Thyme 

A bunch of different Lettuces 

Then we have Rosemary, Cilantro, Sage and Chives. My little girl loves the Rosemary and every time we water she picks little pieces off to eat. So funny!  I wanted to upload that pic but it is not wanting to-SAD!