Christmas 2010

My family and I had a great trip to Canyon lake over Christmas...enjoy :)

This is crazy to me that this is in TX and only a few hours away from Houston...who knew :)

This was picture attempt number five, they just kept laughing.

Mom and Dad

The only one of us kind of looking

Sitting outside of the candy store

After bribing them with gummy worms

Love my Noah

My favorite pic of my dad with Hudson

Blaine shaved a different piece off of his beard every day, I think this was day two :)

Going for a walk

7 am trying to get the boys out of the house, we found this really cool dam. It was FREEZING!

The beautiful lake behind us and the boys being goofy.

Entertaining themselves at the house.

Walking around the property.

Homemade :)

This was yummy pumpkin bread that I made, but I used wheat flour and half the sugar and it was still delicious! Just goes to show that healthy can be good!

These were homemade marshmallows that I made for Noah's teachers at school. I got the recipe from somedaycrafts.blogspot.com.

I got this recipe from someday crafts as well...it is sugar scrub and get this, only TWO ingredients...sugar and hand renewal dawn, and it works awesome, great gift.

I made this for my sister-in-law Aimee. She is going back to school, so I thought she might need something to read on. I bought this at target on clearance awhile back, and then added the chalkboard paint, flowers, and paint.

This is was for my mom, just a silver tray from the dollar tree sprayed with chalkboard paint and then I glued a ribbon to the back.

Here are a few things I made over Christmas!

Merry Christmas Early

Two yummy new recipes :)

We had a Christmas party tonight, and I made two new recipes. It was easy because both had similar ingredients so I could chop once and use them twice. They were both insanely good, enjoy :)

Mexican Shrimp Cocktail from Allrecipes.com

• 1 pound cooked medium shrimp, chilled
• 1/2 large cucumber, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1/2 large tomato, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 8 green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 ounce fresh cilantro, finely chopped
• 1 serrano pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 (8 ounce) can tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons white vinegar
• 1 lime
• Mix and and let sit for an hour.
• 
  

The next is a cranberry salsa recipe that I got off of imlovinyourblog. Let's just say it is amazing!

A Catch Up of Life :)

Well, let's just say I have been stinking at blogging lately. I always have these grand ideas to, and then just forget. A lot has happened over the last few months, and I am missing tons, but here are a few.

My precious grandmother "Mom" passed away, and it was a bittersweet time for us to all get together and share about the legacy that she left. Here is a picture of what a Godly woman left behind :)

We did two trips to the pumpkin patch and I am pretty sure this is the only one where they are not crying and somewhat looking at the camera. Lot's of letting go of control as a parent!

These are spider shirts I made the boys for Halloween.

This is the actually Halloween event...if you cannot tell, Hudson was a dragon and Noah was a bat :)

Hudson really loved his costume...

Random silliness. We have definitely dubbed this kid as the ham of the family. He is trying to make us laugh constantly :)

Blaine and I celebrated our five year anniversary in November. Golly, it seems like a lot has happened in just five years!

Noah is pretty silly too, but he is more the creative one. He came up with this saying he was a sad reindeer. I was going to through the antlers out because they were broken and he still found a way to play with them.

This was Thanksgiving Day, which we spent just the four of us. It was nice to not stress about it all and just be together, although I did miss me some pie :P

Found these Halloween costumes for next year for cheap, but Noah needed to try them out first!

Here are three of about 100 attempts at trying to make a Christmas card. We did not have anyone to hold the camera and I wanted them done soon, so I set up the chalkboard and set the camera there. Wow, let's just say I used a lot of sour-patch kids for bribery and still not sure we got a great one. The top one was the only somewhat of a taker :)

Again, pure silly.

We got rid of Titan. Gave him to a family. They returned him the next day saying that their dog was not ready for a playmate. This was Hudson's reaction to having him back. I guess it is safe to say that Titan is staying put :)

Oh and well lastly, I do not have any pics, but since 99% of you already know...yes, I am pregnant. After the miscarriage, we were blessed to find out that we were pregnant again. I am almost 19 weeks, due in May. You will have to wait to know the sex a few more weeks, and as for bump pics...all I have going right now is left overs from the the two boys. I will get back to you when it is actually from this third kid :)

Ummm, wow...

In case you were wondering (the three readers that I have)...yes, we are still alive over here :)

Had a rough week

So not sure if this is even appropriate to some to be sharing, but I am learning that it is important for me to be honest, vulnerable, and real. I know that scares some people, and maybe even offends others, but I would rather that be the case to a few, and it minister and encourage the rest.

This past week or so has been one of the hardest I have ever known. If you would have asked me a week ago if I would be typing this, I would not believe you. Blaine and I found out a few weeks ago that we were expecting our third baby. I was beyond excited (once I got over the shock of a crazy house :P) and already started making plans. I was convinced it was a girl for some reason, and already had a pink baby hat picked out and set aside for her. I was going to be due the end of March.

I say this all in past tense because about a week later we lost the baby (over this past weekend). It is an avalanche of emotions all at once, and some I never thought I would have. I have always heard that this is really common and happens to a lot of women, but I just assumed like most that I would avoid it. I got really attached really quickly, and then had to let go so soon. I feel like I knew something was wrong from the beginning, but I did find myself trying to pretend like I thought everything was going to be ok. In a sense, of course it is ok, but not in the sense that I was hoping.

I would by lying to you if I said that I have not mourned this loss, but in so many ways, I have found joy as well. God has been showing me so much of Himself, and allowing me to have sweet times with Him just loving me. This has DRAMATICALLY altered my perception and sensitivity to a lot of things. I would give anything to be nauseated, and tired right now, and yet I complained through both my last pregnancies every day. Now I realize that every moment that I felt sick was really a time to cherish. Also, I get frustrated as a mom so much at my boys. It makes me see that even those times when Hudson is sitting on the kitchen table eating all the brownies, or Noah is getting up in the middle of the night every night wanting to crawl into bed with us, that I should be grateful. They are a gift.

I have friends that have tried to get pregnant and cannot, friends that have lost babies early on, as well as later, friends that have lost loved ones very close to them. I have never had these happen to me. Now I feel a new understanding (although different) of that pain, and it allows me to see things in a new way. The strength that these people show is humbling to say the least and convicts me to have strength when things are hard with anything in life.

I would say that is the greatest thing I am learning, that He really does come through. Not that I ever really truly doubted it before, but it is such a confirmation that He is here and constant, That His GRACE is sufficient. That He is still in control when things are hard, bad, confusing, chaotic. He DOES NOT CHANGE! Romans 8:38,39 "For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

I am grateful for this and really am at the place that I can praise Him. It has altered me forever. Although, I cannot guarantee that when I see cute little pink hats I won't get a little teary :) But I hope to always remember and so I would not change it, it keeps me needy and I want to live my life that way always. On my knees...

Ummm, wow I am speechless!

If you have ever wanted to coupon, or do a little research and save some money, but thought that it really did not matter, listen up! If you will take a little time and read blogs, and cut a few coupons, and do some research, you will find that we are spending WAY too much money on things. Just tonight here are the two things that I got.

The first was that at the end of July most Target stores will mark down a lot of their toys for 75% off (one of mine by my house was picked over, the other had TONS!) and I found this tip at Passion for Savings and Couponing101. I spent 96$ and get this SAVED 227.29$!!!!!!!! Meaning, had I paid full price for all the toys I bought, i would have spent over 300 hundred dollars. Now I have toys for the boys for Christmas, the next birthday, and all of their friends birthdays (if you look closely in the pic, you might see your kids next gift :P)

Next I found a coupon for layering tanks at Old Navy for 2$ a piece, when they are usually 8.50$. Found this tip at I Still Hate Pickles, thanks Kirsten!

All this to say, take the time to look into it, I would say, saving money is a bit easier than I had ever thought :)

:)

Still kicking

I am still cleaning things, just at a bit slower pace...more pics to come soon :) Have a great Monday!

Let's just say I had better intentions than what actually happened, but if you know me at all, ANYTHING is progress. So here is one section of my kitchen that I tackled today. This has been my catch-all counter for a few months and it was making me crazy, borderline hoarder I even think. I am really proud of myself :) Hopefully on to more tomorrow!

Let's just say I had better intentions than what actually happened, but if you know me at all, ANYTHING is progress. So here is one section of my kitchen that I tackled today. This has been my catch-all counter for a few months and it was making me crazy, borderline hoarder I even think. I am really proud of myself :) Hopefully on to more tomorrow!

Before and After: Kitchen

I am working on the kitchen right now, as I was out of town yesterday, and missed it on Monday, so pics will be coming later :)

Before and After: Living Areas

Ok, so here is the real deal...and keep in mind, I am one of the messiest people alive, so I do now that my clean might be someone else's dirty, but I know that I am a work in progress :)

These first two are my back family room that is supposed to be no kid's stuff, so it started out a little cleaner.

These next three are the entry room/playroom/catch-all of the whole house

The boys were really enjoying mom getting everything out :P

And of course the boys had to get in on the action in the living room!

Ok, here is the entry room, and as you can see, I moved some furniture by myself, oops :P

Tomorrow is the master bedroom :) I will be gone most the day, so it won't happen until late tomorrow night, but anything is better than nothing, please join me in this quest if you would like :)