entry #14 - #15

1. the movie 'once'

2. monster cookie night

3. mushbeards
my daughter's word for facial stubble

4. getting to sleep in this morning
thanks to my wonderful hubby

5. my sparkly wedding ring
had it cleaned for the first time in 5ish years
_______________________________________

1. having every intention to nap with my daughter
but then staying awake with her talking and laughing
i can't believe she's almost 4!

2. my husband helping with the dishes

3. my son pointing to his nose when we ask him
where his nose is

4. how my husband is a mush
he secretly loves mushy stuff more then i do

5. reading a book at bedtime with both my babies

entry #12 - #13

1. play dates

2. being completely humbled by God's love

3. good conversations with my friend jessica
she's our pastor's wife but that sounds weird

4. the feeling of knowing i'm right where i'm supposed to be

5. instant messaging when i need to just talk to my hubby

____________________________________________

1. having my sister close-by to watch our kids for dates

2. my slouche hat for rushed mornings
$2 on clearance at target :)

3. my metabolism even if it is getting a tad slower

4. real conversations

5. my new skinny-legged jeans so i can stop wearing my maternity ones
15$ at pac sun!
i have a $40 pair from H&M - MOM BUTT big time! i HATE them.
my old navy maternity $7 jeans were the best ever.
obviously. my son is 15mo. and i was still wearing them.

entry #11

1. my wonderful hubby staying up with stinkerboo until 1:30am

2. 30 minutes to think

3. my robe on chilly mornings- like today

4. pear budget

5. realizing that complaining isn't heartfelt
but a way to make conversation
and being determined to change that

entry #10

1. going to tuesday night bible study

2. getting out of the house to let the kids play on
an indoor playground while daddy played soccer

3. watching my son walking around in his sister's
old vest with a fur rim on the hood and floral interior
and being thankful that he's a cute boy cause he'd
make a not-so-cute girl.

4. the fact that our room is warmer cause i had the
amazing idea to CLOSE THE STORM WINDOWS!

5. this list because it has made me truly even more
grateful for what i have

entry #8 - #9

1. watching my son devour chocolate and cookies
that's my boy!

2. finding random toys in our bed from our daughter's naps

3. my son's new words
'pop pop' for popcorn and 'do' for shoe

4. how my daughter uses my ab lounge as her
personal chair for watching tv

5. having complete alone time and not knowing what to do
ended up 'accidentally' waking my sick hubby to watch jay leno with me
_________________________________________________________

1. my daughter's hair
gorgeous!

2. snow falling
it's so peaceful

3. laughing at myself cause i'm feeling a bit like brick in anchorman
i love lamp

4. watching old shows with my hubby
mork and mindy

5. my children making a table out of my laundry basket

love...

i cannot explain how much i LOVE this idea.

it is so dear to my heart that my children
enjoy their childhood. when
we have a bigger yard, an ice skating rink
we will build and it will
be our family tradition ea. winter
to make our winters a bit more bearable.

{via: soule mama (a great blog to subscribe to)}

entry #5 - #7

1. sundays

2. dinner with family

3. inside jokes with my sister

4. inside jokes with my hubby

5. my quiet time every day during nap time

__________________________________

1. netflix

2. turbo tax

3. having two more baby names picked out for
future children

4. kisses through stinkerboo's crib rails

5. being as crazy as i want and my kids thinking
that i'm hilarious

______________________________________

1. wearing my husband's sweatshirts cause
it feels like he's hugging me

2. cardinals singing in the morning out our bedroom window

3. cooking

4. throwing fun parties (specifically for the ladies)

5. learning more about your family then you need
to know and having a good laugh over it....

party party!

i'm loving these!

this baby shower

this kite birthday party

this snowman birthday party

this pirate birthday party

and this matryoshka doll birthday party

entry #4

1. the sunshine that came through our living room window today

2. quiet moments with either of my kids when the other is sleeping

3. my husband can sing just about every song from
any musical or disney movie
he does the 'if i were a rich man' song from
fiddler on the roof the best

4. my new shower head
it was only $30 but it makes me feel like a queen

5. wearing pj's all day if i want to
being a mom is the best job EVER

entry #3

1. making out with my hubby

2. having two children at my young age
(on purpose)

3. realizing that wanting more children isn't being irresponsible.
it's loving the ones we already have so much
that more would be blissful.

4. the fact that my husband and i never graduated
from college but both have great jobs.

i was just talking to my hubby about that last night.
i find it truly a blessing that he taught himself
all he knows and never graduated with a degree of
any kind. he has a wonderful career at his young age.
and NO school debt! and i have been blessed to be a
stay-at-home mommy to two beautiful kids.
something i always wanted. i have it all. i really do.
and to think if we were like 'normal' people we'd just be
graduating with 60k+ in school debt and parties under our belts
and possibly not ea. other.
and here we are - married, in love (still), parents,
financially stable, and doing just fine.

wow.

5. recently realizing that being me is ok.

i don't care, at this moment, if i stand out.
i'm happy to stand out and say i'm 24, married to a 23 yr old,
married for almost 5 years, and the mother to an almost
4 yr old and a 15 mo. old.
being me is just fine. i'm truly happy.

entry #2

1. when my son 'sings' with me

2. when communication got easier with my son with nods of 'yes' and 'no'

3. when my kids hug eachother

4. getting an hour, kinda to myself, this morning to read a chapter
of Joseph Prince's 'Destined to Reign' courtesy of my friend, Jessica

5. graham crackers and frosting




grace in small things

365

i've been loving minismith's posts on 5 things a day
that grace her life.
i was already thinking about doing this, realizing
that my world can sometimes be surrounded by unhappy people
that are always looking for that next step up.
then all of the sudden things lose their value and better things are
wanted. when really, i have everything i need.

1. watching 'who's line is it anyway' with my hubby on his iphone
at 1am with headphones

2. chai lattes even if they do make me gain weight

3. breakfast with my kids even if it takes 1.5 hours

4. getting to know people you've known for a while

5. my makeshift bedroom curtains

more info here

crushin'

on being a superhero everyday and wearing tutu's with jeans!

and these bold bedrooms!

mom brain

eh. i don't have anything profound to blog at the moment.

i've gotta bad case of mom brain.
we were out of our house for a few days cause our
heat quit working. that was fun!
luckily my sis and her hubby took us in.
now we're back and stuff is just ick.
i have to clean. i'm just procrastinating and enjoying
just being home. with heat.
tomorrow i will clean, i have told myself.
sometimes i have to psych myself up for that. a little pep talk.
some motivation. right now my motivation is that we're running
out of clean clothes and dishes and you can't really
see the living room floor.
eh.
the kids are more important.
a friend and i talked about that today.
if you're cleaning it takes ALL of your time it seems like
which is time away from your kids so it's ok to let the house
go some! i usually allow myself 3 days (sat. sun. mon.)
where i just let it go. then the rest of the week i make an
effort to tidy up something ea. day. or just all on one day
to get it over with. which is what i'll be doing tomorrow.

i heard a little girl in the video store tonight asking
her mom to watch the movie with her and her
mom started rattling all the things she had to get
done and how she wouldn't be able to and it
made me sad. and made me realize how true
my conversation with my friend was.

some things that have made my life SO much easier as a mom are:
organizing - i bought little plastic basket tub things from
the dollar store and now keep everything from
bottles to deodorant in them
getting rid of toys - i try and bag up un-used toys and
put them in the basement for when they get sick
of the others or we move to a bigger house
cause it gets TOO cluttered with toys and my kids
don't play as much
crock pot meals - i find great recipes here and
make them my own
google reader - for all 103+ blogs i read

today i was watching the snow in the bright daylight
and i saw it sparkling and it made me happy.

bride wars!

last night my sis and i and our bff saw this. 

it was hilarious!

we loved it and already wrote the sequel for them.

Birth Wars! 

where they fight over the best doctor, hospital, and birthing suite 

oh and the same baby name! 

we spent a lovely evening together. just the three of us. 

we haven't done that in a LONG time. 

we're gonna try and make it a habit. 

holy matrimony!

so, i'm signing up for this challenge.
not that we need much help...
ha ha ha
(that was just for you mom!)
it's always good to re-focus

life.

when you're feeling down
the best medicine is...

long stringy carrots,

fries,

and a tomoato melt of course!

not to mention the company of an amazing husband and kids!

(now i have to go round everything up to go somewhere warm. our heat is broken!)

dinner is served...

tonight i made this. well, really all day cause it
was made in my crock pot. it was excellent
and a big hit with our 3 yr old that can
be picky at dinner time.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings


4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
2 tablespoons butter
2 (10.75 ounce) cans condensed cream of chicken soup
1 onion, finely diced
2 (10 ounce) packages refrigerated biscuit dough, torn into pieces

put your chicken, butter, soup, and onion
in the crock pot for about 5 hours.
30 mins. before you serve, add the dough on top

it's THAT easy!!!

*it got an 8 out of 10 from my husband

i found the recipe here and the photo here

hello monday

i'm sad to see the end of these past two weeks...

rock banding...

a sporadic trip to the park...

bowling...

starbucks trips...

i cut my hubby's hair to look like this...


i got my hair cut like this...


had my first wedding of the year...


and a random craving for spotted cow in pj's...


and a date night with dinner, ice skating, and sitting under the stars...
all of which i forced my husband to do with me.
his idea of romance was staying warm and chatting in starbucks...
which we did do for a time... but i got him!

oh and our car pooped out the day after christmas
and cost another couple hundred buckaroos!
but was caught before more damage happened. thank you Lord!

tomorrow starts the hum-drum of normality...
we've enjoyed these two weeks with my hubby home
and will miss him GREATLY!
we love you baby!!!