In the New Year I will be doing more of this...

Organizing my home

Reading!  My Christmas present from my sweet/handsome hubby!

Spending time with this cute bunch

What else?  I guess you will just have to wait and see...


HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

New Year's Resolution+Accountability=?

I stumbled across this blog awhile back and saw that she was doing a 21-day challenge for organizing your home.  Now if any of you really know me you know that I am a wanna be organizer! :)  I try, succeed, fail, fall off the wagon, and procrastinate. OOPS!  So I am hoping this challenge will motivate this mama.

 I ALWAYS tell Brian, "I think we get better and better with our household duties/organizing every year!"  He just looks at me like I am crazy.  I think my husband has heard me say these words every year since we have been married! Ha

I have only been successful at one other New Year's resolution and that was 3 years ago.  Brian and I decided that we would not drink soda for an entire year.  We also stiffened the resolution by making a harsh punishment for the one who quit early!!  The punishment would be to make the other spouse breakfast in bed every morning for a week.  Well their was NO WAY I was going to lose I already cook every meal as is.  That resolution was a success and I am hoping that this one will be too.

So friends/bloggers: CALL, EMAIL, COMMENT, BUG, BUG, BUG, ME IF YOU DON'T SEE A POST!  I need accountability and that my friends is where you come in!  So have I convinced you to jump on the bandwagon with me?

Boys will be boys...

We were just giving the frogs a drink...

That was what they told me when I saw this!  Enjoy the giggle.

Elmer's Christmas Ornaments

This is one of the easiest and fun Christmas crafts!   My boys loved mixing the glue, applesauce, and cinnamon together.  Miles will be taking these to school so his classmates can decorate them for the Christmas party.  These also make great family gifts and cute tags for jars and presents!

Directions:

Take 1 cup of applesauce, 1/3 cup of glue, and 1 1/2 cups of cinnamon and mix together in a bowl.  I sprinkled some cinnamon on the counter instead of flour and rolled the dough out (next time I would roll out a little thicker) and used my favorite cookie cutters to create fun shapes.  We have a Christmas light, stocking, and mitten. Then take a straw and poke a hole.  Bake at 200 degrees for 1 hour and cool on cooling rack.  The house smells wonderful and so will your hands :) 

I purchased glitter, pom poms, bells, puff paint, and yarn to decorate.  Have fun!

Bath Baby

Lila loves her bath time and starts clapping when she sees the water.  Look at all that hair!  It is sooo cute. Today Lila is in the kitchen sink getting a bath.  Normally the boys convince me to let them all take a bath together and they teach her how to make a mess but for now this is easy and quick for me.  I love all her facial expressions and hair designs.  Miles was right beside me making her giggle and smile. 

Super AW-esome gift

I now have 2 boys in school which means lots of Christmas parties, gifts, treat bags, etc. In Owen's class of 15 there is a set of twins, 2 sets of cousins, and only 3 girls so those helpers/teacher have their HANDS FULL!  We are very thankful that they volunteer their time to help all the students! THANK YOU LADIES!

I chose a 2 liter bottle of AW soda, a bag of chocolate, and a Pizza Hut gift card. This idea is from eighteen25 and I tweaked it a bit.

I am featured on...

MOM AND LOVING IT!! 


You can find the blog with Owen's story here!

This book is so incredible I have done 2 bible studies regarding this book!  I have never found a book that is inspiring and so true to reality!!  Every time I read this book I get more out of it than the last.  I highly recommend it!  They also have a CD and another book too.

So thank you gals for featuring my story!

Oh so true...

This is hilarious!  Have you seen this? HAHA
Oh and by the way I have my parents, in laws, and yes even MY GRANDPARENTS on facebook!!
Love you all :)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vn44fjWss68

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day

Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day is today!

This week is a significant time for MANY families all around the world!

Here is a moving song called Glory Baby by Watermark. Grab a tissue this is very powerful.

Today, October 15Th, is Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness Day. It's a day for people to acknowledge, remember, cherish & think of the little souls that were born sleeping, miscarried or taken too soon in their young lives!

Miscarriage/stillborn has always been a touchy subject and sadly it's the moms that are left to pick up, move on, let go of what has happened to them. It is a gut wrenching feeling to know you won't be holding that baby you so badly wanted. I remember feeling bad for those that had lost babies early in their pregnancies and not really acknowledging their pain. My heart would be sad for them but I wouldn't know what to say so I didn't say anything. I look back on my behavior and my heart aches for them deeply. I wish I would have reached out and listened to them while they grieved.

I have experienced both a stillborn (38 weeks) and a miscarriage (20 weeks) and for me personally the miscarriage shook me to the core. I felt blessed to hold Graycee, love her, see her, have answers etc. However with my miscarriage it was different their was no answers, no holding my sweet baby, no closure. That closure is a powerful tool in recovery and to not have that was paralyzing.

I have found hope in books, friends, and just talking to others who have experienced the same pain of losing a child. Thank you!

So if you will be participating in the WAVE OF LIGHT, by lighting a candle tonight please link up and bring awareness and share your stories to help others. I will be praying for all those babies and their hurting families!

B-O-O I'm back...

WOW! I have been busy, tired, busy, tired, okay so maybe a little lazy with my blog lately, sooorrry. I will try to do better now that we have school routines down, schedules revised, and meals in the freezer :)

My boys LOVE doing crafts so when I saw these on Family Fun I knew we had to start saving milk jugs and we did just that. The boys had soo much fun creating the faces and I think they turned out spooktacular! Look close we have a ghost, scary faces, an alien, and one with loooong feet. When it gets closer to Halloween I will set these outside with lights and take a pic.

I LOVE SEEING MY CHILDREN'S IMAGINATIONS AT WORK!!

CRAYOLA CONFUSION!!!

Okay so most of you have already purchased your school supplies as I did for my family, right!! Okay so how many of you actually purchased the Crayola markers?

Well are you in for an awful surprise. Crayola eco-evolution is here!! Huh!? For those of you that didn't catch this here is the scoop...

Black is now green! Yes the barrels are BLACK!! Now I am all for going green and being environmentally friendly. Remember this post! But boy did Crayola miss the boat on this one.

Okay so you have to try to match the tips of the marker with the correct lid sounds easy right!? WRONG! The blues, purples, reds/pinks are almost IDENTICAL. Hey look on the bright side the yellow is very obvious 1 down 9 to go! Good Luck!

So teachers/parents grab a piece of scrap paper and get ready to doodle to find the correct lid!! Oh I feel soooo bad for all the FRUSTRATED teachers!


I sent them an email regarding this so we will follow-up soon!

Owen's 1st Day of KINDERGARTEN

We have been preparing all summer for Owen to start kindergarten and today was the DAY! Last night before bed we read The Kissing Hand by Audrey Penn and gave him a watch that matches his backpack. We kept telling the boys to shut off the light and get to sleep but I think they were too excited for school to start!

Owen is wearing a red/blue polo, skull/crossbones jeans, and his light up puma's. He looks soo handsome.






I loved this pic of Owen running to me! That has to be one of the best feelings in the world!







So we get into the van and I asked Owen the following questions...

1. How was your day? Owen says, It was GREAT!
2. What did you think of your teacher? Owen says, Oh she is pretty! (Oh jeez)
3. Did you have fun playing in the flour? Owen says, YES we all got really dirty and got in the shower and put our clothes in the dryer!

4. What did you say? (As I turn the volume to the radio to OFF!) We took showers as our dirty clothes were drying!

5. What about the other kids/girls in your class? Owen says, Mom we took turns nobody saw me naked!

So I get home and call a friend who has a son in the same class and her son says, We dusted off outside

I call the school and ask for the teacher and proceed to tell her what Owen says as she is BUSTING A GUT!!! She said that has to be one the FUNNIEST stories but NO it is NOT TRUE!!

I confront Owen and he says, Mom I made up a funny story so you would laugh and you were laughing on the phone!!!

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS NEXT!!?? Can you believe this is how the 1st day of kindergarten went!!!!!???? What is next?

Our sweet Graycee

Today we celebrate our daughter Graycee's 7th birthday. Our precious angel was born August 13, 2003 at 2:59pm. She weighed 5 lbs. 8 oz. and was 19 inches long. As I look back I am in awe at how we overcame all the obstacles at such a young age and newlyweds none the less. I am thankful that our spiritual connection with god was sooo strong and he guided us through this life changing experience.

I was looking at my calendar to see what/when were some firsts for our new family:

January 28th-1st sonogram
March 15th-Our Wedding
June 5th-Lamaze classes
June 14th and 20th-Baby showers
June 25th-1st time feeling hiccups
July 25th-Last day of work (Pawnee Mental Health)
July 30th-First day in Ferguson Missouri
August 5th-Met Dr. Durer our new OB Dr. (Baby not breech, No C-section)
August 12th-Called Dr. Durer
August 13th-Delivered Graycee
August 14th-Dismissed from hospital
August 16th-Memorial service at 10am
August 18th-Brian started first day of Optometry school

One special book that I look at every year is from our families. As we were giving birth to Graycee our families were writing special notes to us. I cherish those words from each one of them and hold them close. We are so thankful for our family and friends that have supported and loved us. THANK YOU ALL!

As I look at the picture of us smiling with tears in our eyes I can honestly tell you that I feel blessed to have been able to hold her, love her, and spend time with her.

I will end with this scripture:

We can rejoice too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us-they help us learn to endure. And endurance develops strength of character in us, and character strengthens our confident expectation of salvation. And this expectation will not disappoint us. For we know how dearly god loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.

-Romans 5:3-5

That's a rap

I saw this on another gals blog and had to share the message with you! What a great message in a unique way!




I am posting this as Owen is singing, "Following Jesus, hey, hey, hey" a song from VBS. Soooo cute!

Computer problems

Okay I know you are all sick and tired of looking at that birthday wreath and I have SOOOOOOO much to blog about but my computer has crashed. Window vista has locked us out and we are taking the computer in to have it fixed. I promise as soon as it is back I will be back to blogging regularly. Here are some highlight from the month:

1. Vacation Bible School
2. Summer Reading program at Library
3. T-ball games
4. Lila is rolling :)
5. Fireworks in Hanover with great-grandparents and Nana
6. OWEN'S 6TH BIRTHDAY!!!!!!

So look forward to many pics in the coming weeks!

Birthday balloon Wreath

I was doing some blog surfing and found this adorable wreath on several of the blogs. So I had to case it (copy and share everything)! I found all the products at Walmart and Hobby Lobby. The total cost of this project was $22.06 and took me approx. an hour and half. I am very excited to hang it on my door for birthdays! How cute would this be for a baby shower/welcome new baby using It's a girl/boy balloons or school colors for game days!!!


To create this you will follow these directions:

1. A 14-inch straw wreath and be sure to leave the plastic wrapped around it.

2. Balloons- I used approx. 200 balloons that were 12-inch size

3. Floral needles- You will put the balloon inside the needle and push into the wreath.

Owen's birthday is in July and he is getting anxious for the big day! As he was playing on Lego.com yesterday he clicked on the shop now and started copying the words on the page of the toys he wanted. How cute is that list!

Enjoy your weekend!

Memorial Day...My version

So I am going to stick my neck out and talk to you about my thoughts on Memorial weekend. In doing so I am just voicing my opinion and hope that everyone can appreciate, respect, and most of all not be offended. So here goes...

I remember getting soo exciting about Memorial weekend when I was younger. It meant that we were going to have an extra long weekend at the lake house sitting in the sun. We had sooo much fun! We would play sand volleyball, go boating, and drive around golf carts. Let me just say our "lake house" meant a trailer with golf carts, air conditioner, and most of all phone and cable. It was the life!

However all that changed for me when I lost our daughter, Graycee. We now spend it by driving to Manhattan to visit our daughter. We stop by Hobby Lobby and pick out some flowers to replace the winter ones, grab some baby wipes to clean up her head stone, and I sit, cry, and think. My thoughts are always the same; how old she would be, what she would look like, talk like, and how beautiful she was.

Memorial day is for remembering the fallen heroes of our country and I haven't forgotten why we celebrate this holiday! This is just my version of the holiday now. I use this time to reflect on the past and focus on my future with my family. Memorial day is full of raw emotions for me as I feel sad, happy, scared, and thankful all at the same time.

This is Graycee's beautiful headstone that Brian and I created. I remember telling Brian I wanted the sparkly pink vase and him giving me that are you serious look. WE however love the pink vase and he comments on how fitting it is every year! The picture is of our hands. This photo makes me smile! Brian and Graycee have the exact same line pattern on the palm of their hands.

How do you celebrate/remember Memorial weekend?

Dandelions=Allergic Conjunctivitis/Chemosis

Oh my cute little boys decided to bring in a handful each of these "beautiful flowers" for their mommy! I was soo excited and thought how sweet are my boys!

I rinsed a vegetable can and placed them inside and 5 minutes later this is what my eye looked like!! I noticed that my eye was blurry and my nose was dripping and so I thought oh just my allergies until I looked in the mirror. I ran to the cell phone and called Brian and said my eye is swelling so much I can't close it! I was getting anxious b/c in 3 hours I was headed to my cousin's graduation and we were hours from home. Thankfully Brian was able to get a prescription of Lotemax.
I did Lotemax every 15 minutes until the swelling was gone! As you can tell I LOVE MY OPTOMETRIST!


Here is Brian's diagnosis:

Allergic Conjunctivitis with grade 4 Chemosis

I had extensive swelling of the conjunctiva (clear membrane that covers the white part of the eye). The bubbled part is the swollen membrane.

Moral of the story is I won't be touching dandelions ever again! :)

Lila-3 months (yesterday!)

Lila's stats:

Weight: 10 pounds 15 ounces
Height: 23 inches

I think it is darling how you can see her personality in these photos. Doesn't she look like a princess in this outfit, thank you Shellie! Oh my little princess LOVES to talk! Every time we put her in the swing she looks at her mobile with the sea animals and just babbles on and on.

Lila sleeps from 9pm until 4:30 then nurses and goes back to bed until Miles comes in at 8am. It has been so fun to watch her personality develop. Lila is such a happy content little gal and I feel soooo lucky to have her in our lives!

New Things Lila can do: talk, talk, talk, and somehow she manages to find herself sideways in the crib each morning.

Favorite things: SMILE! she smiles sooo much, also hearing her mamas voice

Places Lila went: Topeka, Stockton, and Phillipsburg

Special Events: We attended a Mother's Day celebration in honor of Alice Carpenter (great-grandmother) It was a bittersweet celebration as she loved entertaining family but we all celebrated in memory of her. I had a special relationship with her and miss her! We also traveled to Stockton Kansas for Amanda French's(cousin) high school graduation. We stayed at Great grandpa Joe and great grandma Darla's house and then on to Phillipsburg to see Grandpa Terry, Grandma Cheri, Aunt Stephanie, and cousin Hunter. In Stockton we also had a BBQ with my biological family and the boys had so much fun playing with everyone.

My birthday breakfast!

This morning Owen asked me to stay in my room until he called me. He said he was going to make me something. Owen knocked on my door and told me breakfast was served! :) Owen called it peanut butter oreo sandwich. It was 2 pieces of wheat toast smothered with peanut butter on both slices with 4 double stuffed oreo's inside. YUMMY! Like any good mother I tasted it and LOVED it! ha I hear another knock and here comes Miles with a plate in his hand. He created a sandwich too for me! It was a slice of wheat toast with a blob of strawberry jam with fruity marshmallows on top with 3 double stuffed oreo's stacked on that.

I am pretty lucky to have such creative chefs around here! They were sooo proud! They got the idea for breakfast in bed when daddy served me on Mother's Day. How sweet are my guys! I love my boys.

The winner is....

Tiffany

Congratulations!

Tiffany won the cd No Changin' Us by Point of Grace. I know that she will enjoy this CD! I just happen to be visiting her next week! I can't wait to have some girl time with her, it's always soo fun!

Thank you to all who entered and left kind words. You are all so sweet!

Bring the rain+Don't forget giveaway ends...

I LOVE, LOVE storms you know the ones that don't do damage but make your grass grow! There is just something about rain that makes the grass grow. So bring on the rain! We just seeded our HUGE yard a couple of weeks ago and we are starting to see our tiny little babies sprout. It has been really fun but WAY TOO MUCH WORK! We have to water 3 times a day which means I have to use 4 sprinklers and move them 7 times to reach all the areas. Of course this has become MY chore b/c I am at home, ugh. I know I won't be complaining about it once my kids can play in it.

Here are some pics of our grass and some night pics of some of the storms we have had. Enjoy the pics.


DON'T FORGET THE CD GIVEAWAY ENDS TOMORROW!!! See post below.

25,000 HITS! Let's celebrate!

I can't believe it has been a year and a half since I have started this blog and I have reached 25,000 hits!!

Thank you all for supporting me during my good times and my sad times! I have some amazing blog friends and I can't thank each of you enough. The support I have received is inspiring and that is why I continue to write! I also LOVE, LOVE, the comments!

So now it's time to CELEBRATE WITH SOME BLOG CANDY!!


One winner will receive a newly released cd of Point of Grace the album is called
No Changin' Us. These gals have great voices and also inspire me! One of my favorite songs on this album is called Love and Laundry.

You can be entered into the drawing 3 ways! If you do all 3 then you get your name in 3 times! Best of luck!

1. Leave a comment on this blog entry.
2. Add yourself to my google friend.
3. Put my button on your blog and leave a comment saying you did so-I will check :)

*The winner will be chosen on May 12th and is open to all US residents!

Happy May Day!

This afternoon the boys made our neighbors May day baskets! They colored, put stickers on them, and filled them with candy. The guy who installed our door couldn't believe that this is still being done! He thought it was cute to see how excited the boys were about knocking and hiding! haha

Do you do May day baskets with your children and if you do leave a comment so we can check out your baskets!

Today we had our storm door installed and a soft water system. We are just waiting on the fenced in back yard!! I can't wait to have a backyard this summer. Oh and the grass is barely poking through the ground but it is one step closer!

Enjoy your weekend! I don't know about you but my May weekends are FULL already! Busy times ahead.

Throw away the toys?! It's tempting...

This is what my boys do most of the days when we are stuck inside. They dump ALL their organized bins into one mass pile and just play with the buckets!

So here is Miles shooting baskets with his homemade basketball goal! SWOOSH, in it goes! Owen says, "You really are the king of basketball!" and Miles replies by saying, "Oh yeah BABY!"

Can I just say I LOVE MY JOB!!!

*The picture is bad b/c of the lighting but their are 6 buckets on top of one another!

Be GREEN and color with me!

Today celebrates the 40Th anniversary of celebrating Earth Day so we decided to do a GREEN kid-friendly project! Who doesn't have a bunch of crayons in small pieces? Well I have oodles and was saving this project for this special day. Oh and it kept my boys busy for over an hour peeling paper! I am sure most of you have seen this but for those that haven't here ya go!

So take your small used up crayons and take the paper off and put them in an oven safe container. I used this metal pan that was given to me and greased it up. Then you put it in the oven at 200 degrees and wait 30 min or until melted through. That's it! How easy!


We are also taking the boys to the Manhattan Zoo on Sunday for their Earth Day activities! You can find the info here. Hope to see you there!

P.S. Notice the freshly painted GREEN kitchen wall!

Little Lila at 2 months

Lila is now 2 months old today! Oh and yes she is a Carpenter baby! Oh and yes she does look EXACTLY like her brothers! How cute is that!

Lila is such a good baby! This little gal is calm and is always looking around and following her brothers with her blue eyes! In the evenings Brian and I cuddle up with her in bed and she just smiles and talks to us! The other day Owen said, " Wow mom, Lila is doing really good with her letters it is a miracle she just said aaaaaaa the letter A" I thought that was super cute.

Here are her 2 month measurements:

Height: 22 inches (39%)
Weight: 9 pounds 6 1/4 ounces(18%)
Head Circ: 38 centimeters (30%)


New Things I Can Do: smile (she loves to smile!) giggle (2x), Oh and she tries sooo hard to make sounds with her mouth moving but is starting to say aaaa, ooo

Favorite Things: sleeping, watching her mobile

Places I went: We went for a tiny hike and saw Alcove Springs (I love my moby)
Our first LLL meeting,

Special Events: Saw friends in CC, Had a BBQ with grandparents, and Cadorets are visiting tomorrow!

We are looking forward to spending time with my grandparents. We will be grilling outside, playing Mexican train, talking, and of course getting spoiled! I can't wait!

We're Going on a Bear Hunt...

The boys and I read a book called, "We're Going on a Bear Hunt" by Michael Rosen this week and really wanted to look for bears. As you can see the boys were super excited and started packing a lunch. I did some research and found a place outside of Marysville called Alcove Springs. Alcove Springs is so beautiful! We walked along the trail and could hear the waterfall before we saw it. It was a beautiful day with just a slight breeze and and as you can see from the pics it was breathtaking. I am looking forward to going back this winter and seeing the view.

Choc. cupcakes/blue frosting-APRIL FOOLS

This afternoon I told the boys I was going to whip up some chocolate cupcakes with blue frosting. All day long they kept asking me if they were done yet. I said since they didn't get them for snack they could have dessert first then supper. They were SUPER EXCITED!!! Instead I made meatloaf and mashed potatoes and colored the potatoes. What was funny was Miles just kept eating and not saying a word and just giggled. Owen on the other hand stormed off and said that was mean he really wanted a cupcake. I knew that would be the reaction of not having dessert so I made brownies too :) Enjoy the laugh!! APRIL FOOLS BOYS!!

Mmmm, she smells sooo good

One of my favorite smells is the after bath lotion. That is one smell that everybody loves and it screams BABY! Lila enjoys bath time and especially enjoys the lotion massages after :) She stretches her little legs straight out and will leave them in the air for a period of time! It is sooo cute. I should get a video of her doing that sometime. Here are some newborn pics of her in the tub and some from tonight. My heart melts when she is all warm and content and she sleeps so sound and peaceful! I just can't get enough of her!