Saturday, December 17th, 2011

Got the most amazing 1950's coat as a gift from my mommy! I'm sooo in love!!

Friday, December 16th, 2011

Had our bible study last night. It'll be our last night one for a while.

Thursday, December 15th, 2011

Went out to dinner with the fam. Paid for it with gift cards. :)

Wednesday, December 14th, 2011

Had lunch with my mommy at the church! Thanks for the tasty treat, mom!!

Tuesday, December 13th, 2011

Attended the Christmas play at the school. Evy made me laugh with all her funny faces.

Monday, December 12th, 2011

Trip to QT and a drive to the end of Broadway and back with the fam. The kids watched Pocoyo while Gabe and I talked about Education.

Sunday, December 11th, 2011

Played in make-up with the little princess! :)

Saturday, December 10th, 2011

Watched Elf with Antonio, Reyna and Mama Reyna.

Friday, December 9, 2011

Today we celebrated Auntie Kristine and Papa Dan's Birthday at Pinnacle Peak!!

Things are a-changing

So, I've decided to take this blog in a little different direction. Every day I'm going to post ONE thing that we did that day and possibly put a picture or a video that went along with the thing we did. I want to be able to look back and see what we did on a particular day. I think it'll be kind of fun and in a few years, (if I keep this going) it'll be really neat for the kids to see what our days consisted of. :) I'm so excited about it!! :)))))

Singing in the Rain

I had the most lovely weekend! Gabe had a three day weekend and it couldn't have been more perfect! It was cloudy and rainy all weekend, which made every day feel like Christmas.

We danced to Christmas music on the record player
We drank pumpkin spice lattes and hot tea
We opened all the doors and windows and listened to the rain
We wore sweaters and slippers
We made chicken soup
We watched football
We wrote songs on the guitar
We slept in (as much as you can sleep in with two babies in the house) and took naps
We watched movies
We took walks
We looked for the moon
We ate too many chips and salsa
We had friends and family visit

I took long showers
I went to the store without the kids
I didn't have to make breakfast, lunch or dinner
I had time to make my hair pretty

It was a fabulous weekend. God has truly bless us with everything we could ever want and need. I love the family he has given me, the friends he's allowed to come into our lives, the opportunities he's given to share His love with others. Enjoy each day the Lord has given you here on this earth and keep Christ at the center of everything you do. He will bless those who truly seek after Him.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas

The night I got the new Coldplay album on vinyl, I played side one on the record player. As I laid on the floor listening to the first song, Evy came and laid on my chest listening as well and Jack rocked back and forth on the hands and knees next to the speaker. I thought this moment would be over in a minute or two but to my surprise the kids stayed in the same position the entire first side of the record (which is about 30 minutes). That was probably one of my favorite moments with my kids. I will never forget it.


I am falling in love with these kids more every day! They're at the best age and I wish I could freeze time just so they could stay this way forever. :) Why do kids have to grow up?? Evy's favorite thing to do right now is take any toy Jack happens to be playing with and throw it in the trash. HAHA. Don't know what that's about. Jack is a bit food obsessed. He never liked baby food. He eats everything we eat with no problems. But he does drive me crazy when he sees any kind of food at any time, even if he's just eaten, and he starts whining because he wants it. I'm surprised this kid isn't bigger than he is. He eats twice as much as Evy eats right now. Which is pretty crazy cause that girl can eat too!

Well, I'm getting super excited for Christmas. I just ordered Perry Como, Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole's Christmas albums on Vinyl. I cannot wait til those come in. We're also getting a real tree this year! I've never had a real tree growing up so this will be the first and I'm really excited about it. Who knows, I may end up hating it and going back to an artificial tree next year but I'll never know til I try it. When I was pregnant with Evy over Christmas one year, I had a vision of Evy running around in her boots and hat while we were at a Christmas tree lot picking out a real Christmas tree. My vision will be coming true this year. :))) YAY!

Hope you all have a fabulous chilly day today! Drink hot chocolate and snuggle up under a blanket! :)

You Remind Me of Home

We got this amazing 1963 new-to-me vintage stereo console with a turntable this past weekend and I am in LOVE! Our mornings now consist of listening to records such as Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, Nancy Sinatra's "These Boot Are Made For Walking," the West Side Story Soundtrack, while I make breakfast for the kiddos and some instant coffee for me. It's been fun. I am anxiously awaiting the new Coldplay album on Vinyl to show up at my door very very soon. I cannot wait!



That's what has been going over. Along with decorating and trying to complete our house. Our front room has a 60's vibe to it and I can't wait to put the finishing touches on it. I'm thinking some owl decorations and colorful art is in order. :) I'll post some pictures on the finished product soon!!

Well, I gotta get these kids down for naps right now. They love their naps. They beg me for them. HAHA. It's pretty awesome!! Hopefully I'll remember that I have a blog and will post more. :)

RAMBLINGS

"Whenever the sounds of the world die out in the soul, or sink low, then we hear the whisperings of God." - F.W. Faber

So, I pretty much forgot I had a blog. HAHA. A lot has been going on over here. I was out of town last weekend, we are moving in a few weeks and it has been crazy trying to make and take phone calls, and gathering paperwork, and to top it all off we are ALL sick! It's like the never-ending cold for all of us. There has been little to no sleep going on here. So, while the kids are napping I try my hardest to take a nap as well, but that hasn't gone over well because either Jack will only take a 30 minute nap or he won't fall asleep until Evy is about to wake up. So it has been loads of fun. :) The house is such a mess! Gabe has been busy with work, worship, and recording his new album. So I haven't really gotten to see him much this week which makes me sad. I can't wait for September to be over. Busiest month to date. If I sound a little irritated, my lack of sleep is to blame. I've been in a pretty terrible mood and my kids get the brunt of it and I hate hate hate it. Sometimes I yell at them for no reason and I feel horrible about it. I've started having bible studies with them in the morning to start our day out right. That has helped tremendously. Why do we put so many worldly things in our lives before we come before the Lord? I don't know. I just don't know. Why are the things of the world so appealing but talking to our God, the person who created us and loves us more than we could even dream, seem so insignificant? But when we do come before the Lord we feel so refreshed and renewed. Our worries fade, and our anger subsides. Yet, we still want worldiness in our lives. Ugh! I cannot wait to be in heaven with our Father. I cannot wait until the world can no longer distract us from worshipping our Creator.

LOVERLY DAY

Had such a lovely day today. Absolutely loved the weather today! It felt a little like Fall!! Yay! Got my first Pumpkin Spice Latte of the season (thanks mom) and had some Culver's Custard (thanks sis). This morning we took a walk around the neighborhood and played at the park for a bit.


Aren't they the cutest? I think so.

Gabe was in the studio all day recording Leigh the Messenger's first album!! How exciting. I cannot wait to hear how it comes out!! We're aiming for it to be out in November, so stayed tuned. And please pray for us in this process. Our prayer is that God would be glorified through it all.

Anyway, just thought I'd share with you a little of our day. Hope your day was fabulous as well.

XO

Bring on the Fall!

Okay, summer was fun but I am soooo OVER IT!!! When is it going to end?!?!? Summers in Tucson are loooooooooong and hooooooooot! I'm excited for all the Fall-ish things we can do.

1. Drink Pumpkin Spiced Lattes
2. Visit Apple Annie's Orchard
3. Wear slippers
4. Light vanilla scented candles around the house
5. Bake
6. Take a walk outside and not sweat
7. Drive with the windows down
8. Watch the new season of tv shows (Fringe, Walking Dead, The Office, Parks and Rec, Grey's Anatomy, Parenthood, etc)
9. Watch Football
10. Eat pumpkin pie, pumpkin bread, pumpkin muffins, pumpkin rolls
11. Wear light sweaters in earthy tones
12. Celebrate Thanksgiving
13. Have a Pie Exchange at the park
14. Play a Turkey Bowl tournament the night before Thanksgiving
15. Eat Caramel Apples!

There are so many things I love about Fall!!!!

What are your favorite things about fall???

So, we've decided to Home School. This decision did not come lightly and I fought against it for quite some time. But after much prayer, I know that this is what God has called me to do. I am nervous but excited. I've found some really helpful websites and blogs that I've been reading. I'm anxious to get started but I know my kids are still too young. But I did find this website where they give you ideas to do with your toddler to get them ready for school that I'm going to start doing. I'm planning on going to the Library tomorrow to get the book Crunch Munch tomorrow. I haven't been to the Library with Evy yet so we'll see how it goes. I really want the bible to be the core of home schooling because in the end it is the most important thing to study. I found this website called ABC Jesus Loves Me that is a free Preschool Curriculum that gives a solid foundation of the bible as well as education. So, I'm going to look more into that.

My goal is to start a Home School Co-op. I think it would be really cool to get other moms who want to home school together for support and encouragement. I'm not sure how to go about it yet. I would like to set it up kind of like a real school and each mom would teach a subject or something. Not too sure yet how  it will work out but I'm getting pretty excited about that. I'm already thinking of ideas on how to set up the front room in our new house as a school room.

If anyone has any advice or ideas about home schooling or any curriculum you could recommend, please let me know.

Well, I'll leave you with a few pictures of the best kids in the world!

HAVING FUN!

I know I must say this a lot, but I do have the best kids in the world.

Evy has been learning so much. I almost think she has a photographic memory. She remembers everything she sees. She knows what's coming next in a show we've only watched once before, she uses her words to tell me anything she wants, she's always wanting to learn. She points at everything wanting to know it's name. She knows most of her body parts and knows almost all of the animals and the noises they make. For an almost 17 month year old, I think that pretty impressive. She's obsessed with Elmo now. She will finally sit though one Elmo's World. I try to get a lot done in those 20 minutes she gives me. For the most part we spend a lot of time outside...even in this heat! We take lots and lots of walks around the neighborhood, we color on the porch with chalk, we pick flowers, and inspect bugs (we like to step on the ants), we check or pretend to check the mail (she loves to put the key in the hole), we lay on the grass and look at the clouds, we dance in the rain. Sooooo much fun!

Jack is such a ham. I love that boy so much. I call him my boyfriend. He's always smiling. Even when he's so tired or hungry he still manages to give me a smile. Or if he wakes in the middle of the night he smiles at me with his eyes still closed while I'm changing his diaper. Such a silly boy. He rolls all over the floor now. He sees something he wants, he'll roll til he gets it. He's getting pretty fast at it now too. He's not crawling yet but he might as well be. He's not as big of an eater as his sister was. He's not too interested in solids, but we still try. I just love this age.

So, that's what has been going on with us. We miss daddy, but we are making it okay without him.

XO

PRETTY THINGS - CLOTHES ADDITION

So, I have started to become majorly addicted to clothes!! So, I thought I'd share with you a few of my favorite dresses, shoes, and accessories with you.

Now introducing Pretty Things - Clothes Addition


1. Pretty white dress

2. Pretty black dress

3. Pretty ring - love the color

4. Pretty skirt

5. Pretty colors

6. Pretty hair pieces

7. Pretty outfit for Evy

8. Pretty cute bracelet

9. Pretty beautiful

10. Pretty little shoes

All clothes and accessories are courtesy of Shabby Apple. My new favorite online store right now. Cannot take my eyes off it. 

Have a great week!

RANDOM FACTS

1. Really like eating fish right now

2. Becoming majorly addicted to couponing

3. So many ideas running through my head about starting a Home School Co-op

4. The smell of Jackie's spit up is on me right now and I'm LOVING it!

5. Cannot wait to move into our new house

6. Pinterest is my new favorite website of all time

7. Mad Men is my new favorite show ever!! I want to dress like them!

8. Had some Frosted Mini Wheats in the middle of the night because I couldn't sleep

9. Once the kids are down for their naps and the house is straightened, I love just hanging out in my room, on my bed, watching Friends, and searching the web.

10. Playing tonight at a worship event and I'm really nervous!

July Cuteness

Just wanted to share a video of my cute kids. :)

STRESS FACTOR

The transition from having extra hands with the kids to having only my hands has been a little difficult. I will admit that I got pretty stressed out nearly everyday this week, but I am trying to stay optimistic. I know it'll get easier. I just need to get back into a good routine, but I just haven't quite figured it out yet. I think the stairs in my house just really throw everything off. I cannot wait to move. I daydream about what it is like to live in a one-story. I imagine all the things the kids and I will do when we live in one story. Not that I can't do those thing now, but having a two-story makes things a whole lot harder with two kids under the age of two. It's just a fact. Since Jack isn't holding his bottle quite yet and needs to be fed and rocked to sleep in his room for naps, I have to leave poor Evy downstairs all 16 months of her by herself and the whole time these crazy thoughts run through my head!


What if I left the toilet seat up?
What if she sticks something in the outlet that I still haven't gotten around to plugging up?
What if she's jumping on the couch? She could fall and break a bone!
What if she gets into the cabinet with all the cleaning products?
What if she gets onto my computer and deletes everything?
What if she has my phone? She could totally break it...or drop it in the toilet!!
What if she MAKES A HUGE MESS!!!


Yeah, stuff like that. It's a big stress factor. Those things would probably be running through my head even if we had a one-story though. So, maybe that's a bad reason to hate a two-story. But here are a few more reason I hate it.

We hardly ever play in Evy's room. It's really sad. And I tell myself "today will be the day that we will go upstairs and play in Evy's room." But it NEVER happens. And I'm totally to blame for that. I want it to be a natural thing. I want her to be able to access her room whenever she wants. And right now she can't because of the big gate in front of the stairs.

Carrying two kids up and down the stairs. Now, I hardly ever carry both of them up and down the stairs but there are those times when I just don't want to make 2 trips...it's terrible...I know.

Forgetting something either upstairs or downstairs. This one sucks. I hate when we've gotten settled upstairs and then I remember that I forgot something very important downstairs. Then I have to take Evy back down with me because I can't risk her falling down the stairs.

We have to buy double of everything. We have 2 changing stations, two diaper genies, we have one potty for Evy but we really need two if we're going to potty train her, we have two tv's, we had two microwaves when Jack was a newborn to warm up his bottles...you get the point

Having to go downstairs in the middle of the night to get Jack a bottle if he wakes. WORST. THING. EVER.

See, those are just a few examples of why living in a two-story sucks and why not having those extra hands during the day especially in a two-story is stressful. So, I'll be happy in October when we can move into our new one-story.

That is all.

SADNESS

Well the handsome hus is back to work tomorrow. :((( SAD DAY!!!

There are so many many things I'm going to miss...

*Not having to change every single poopy diaper
*Cuddling under the blankies with daddy every morning
*Not having to carry two kids up and down the stairs
*Not having to make breakfast every morning
*Having an extra hand at those times it gets a little too crazy
*Being able to have some alone time every once in a while
*The easiness of grocery shopping with 2 kids
*Getting out of the house more
*Swimming everyday

I simply cannot wait until next summer. Please come quickly.

XO

VACATION

Currently I am sitting in my resort hotel bed, watching movies, blogging, studying proverbs, napping. It is so wonderful. Gabe and I ended up getting a little vacation in Lake Arrowhead, CA. He is here for a Teachers Conference while I get to lounge by the pool, shop in the lake front village center, and basically do ANYTHING I want. I'm gonna head out here in a bit to grab a bite to eat at the little cafe down the street. This is the life. It is seriously gorgeous up here. I wouldn't mind living here one day. But I'm sure it'll never happen.

This morning for breakfast we went to a Belgian Waffle House that had a beautiful view of the lake. Man, was it tasty.

I'm missing my babies. I'm hoping to Skype with them later. I cannot wait to get back to them and give them a million kisses and cuddles.

This is what I've been missing



Well, I'm off to lunch. Hope your week has been fabulous!

THINGS I LOVE ABOUT SUMMER

I used to HATE the summers here in Tucson. If you live here you know exactly why summers in Tucson are awful. But this year I was determined to find something I could enjoy about summer. And it worked!!! I have fallen in love with summer!! I made a list in my journal of the many things I LOVE about summer. And I thought I'd share them with you. :)



1. Sundresses

Source: tadacreations.blogspot.com via Miranda on Pinterest

2. Summer Thunderstorms


3. The long, lingering daylight hours


4. Watermelon


5. The smell of sunscreen on kids

6. Farmers Markets

7. Picnics

8. Iced Coffee

9. Swimming

10. Cherries

11. Drippy Ice Cream Cones

12. Kids playing in the sprinkler or hose


13. Pretty Sandals

14. Blowing Bubbles

15. Staying inside when you've had too much sun, blasting the ac, and watching movies

16. Cute swimsuits

17. Sitting in the shade on a hot day

18. Flip flops

19. June bugs hissing in the trees

20. Feeding the ducks at the park

21. Not having to wear socks

22. Cold showers before bed

23. Sun tanning

24. Ice Cream Trucks

25. Gabe being off work


26. Drinking ice cold Diet Cokes everyday



What are your favorite things about summer?????