Wife hat, Mom hat.

Space Bound

2012-01-23T23:19:00.000-06:00

Ask any mom—Indoor playplaces are like goldmines, especially during these yucky cold months. My kids have so much energy, like, all of the time I am desperate to find a place for them, as Jackson would say, ‘get all their energies out’ other than running laps around the house and climbing on chairs, kitchen cabinets, etc. We love Monkey Bizness but they are so far away that we don’t get to go often. All of this to say, is that we have our own indoor inflatable play place, Space Bound, that just opened up here in Belton and I am beyond ecstatic.

The basics:

Cost is $7 for ages 3+, $5 for 2 and under {or free with paid sibling}, and parents are FREE.
There are four inflatables and a baby/toddler corner.
There are comfy/reclining type seats, as well as tables and chairs.
FREE wi-fi.
A few snacks and drinks are available for purchase, no outside food allowed. {water bottles and sippy cups allowed.}
If you’ve paid a full price admission, you are allowed to leave {eat lunch, let the kids nap, do whatever} and then come back in for FREE.
There are early bird specials—check the website for more information!
Birthday parties are available and start at $50

We have been to play three times in two weeks. It’s really fun for all sorts of ages. Jackson loves it and he plays hard and fast. There were several elementary aged kids running around having just as much fun. Space Bound really put in some thought and even though Belle loves the inflatables, she also has so much fun in the baby/toddler section! It’s fun for ~~bigger kids~~ parents too! Derek ran around with Jackson for about an hour. He was exhausted, but he had fun!

So, here's a tour: This is the view from the front door.

The Castle.

It has a large bounce area, but also a climbing wall and a slide. Jackson normally spends most of his time in this one!

Next is obstacle course inflatable, number one

It's made with two lanes so you can race!

It starts with a tunnel and ends with a slide with lots of fun in the middle! Belle obviously can't make it through the whole thing yet, but she likes the poles she can knock over. In the bottom right picture you can see that it's a close race between Derek and Jackson!

Next, the big slide

This is pretty basic, but it's a definite favorite and it's fun for all ages!

Obstacle Course number two

This one is the largest inflatable! Jackson loves to race.

Lastly is the baby/toddler area!

Look at all these fun toys to keep these guys occupied! Belle loves the inflatables, but it's nice to have things for her to play with on solid ground when there are lots of big kids around {or when I am ready to just sit down and relax for a minute}

Speaking of relaxing, check out the nice chairs. Super comfy, they bounce and lean back. Perfect for enjoying the free wi-fi. This may seriously be my favorite part. We love other area play places, but I have to sit on a hard bench or the floor. This is fabulous.

Surely you've picked up on my enthusiasm for having Space Bound here in town! If you plan on visiting lots and lots {like us} you should get one of their punch cards for $60. It's good for 12 admissions, which breaks down to $5 a visit and saves $24 overall.

I spent one afternoon sitting and visiting with the owners and they are a super sweet family. They have three kiddos-- the lucky lads! Can you imagine growing up getting to jump and play all the time? They were coloring when I visited, so I guess the awesome-ness might lose it's charm for some. But not my kid. He bounces on my couch day and night, which goes to further explain why I am in love with this place.

Want to check it out? Please invite us! We want to go and it's really better for me if Jackson has a friend to play with. That prevents me from climbing through the obstacle courses with baby in tow while racing him. It's perfect for a group of moms meeting {unlike our local McDonalds that only has three tables in the play area!}.

Okay, enough about me going on and on. Are you still reading!? Just go check it out. Be sure to "like" the Space Bound facebook page to keep up with the latest offers and extended hours!

Disclaimer: I was compensated in a form of a pass to visit Space Bound and to write this review. All opinions are my true own and were not influenced by my compensation! I wouldn't tell you I loved something if I truly didn't love it!

Eleven Months

2012-01-19T22:19:00.001-06:00

Eleven months. Holy Moley! Next month we’ll be having her birthday party and I just quite believe it! It’s been a fun month and of course, we just love our little sweetie to the moon and back.

Dear Belle,

Wow! You’re eleven months old now! You have four teeth and you’ve started taking steps! Pretty soon you’ll be begging to get your license! Ha. Maybe not, but it all feels like you’re just growing so fast. You are still just the happiest little baby. I love when people say, “is she this happy all the time?” and I get to say, “Yes, she really is!”

You are super ticklish, especially on your neck. You can’t control your deep belly laugh when you’re getting tickled and it is so cute!!! You always giggle when I give you lots of kisses. I love it!

Watching your reaction when Daddy comes home is one of my favorite parts of my day—his too. You will stop anything that you were previously focused on and crawl at the speed of light when you see him. You will push any toy out of the way and you will crawl over any obstacle; nothing will break your determination. It is *so* cute to see how much you love Daddy. It really makes him feel special and I hope you continue to give your daddy hugs all of your life. Dads need that.

Jackson is still one of your favorite people. He can make you laugh at the silliest little things. You two love to play together and I really enjoy watching. When we go to a friend’s house or even in the doctor’s office waiting room, you two gravitate to each other. I hope you guys continue to stay close! Don’t get offended when he doesn’t want to play all the time. He’s just a boy and he’s also older. But one day when he calls you old, you can just turn around and say, “well, you’re older!” {I had to do this to Uncle Phil last week!}

You started taking steps just last week!!!! You’ve been cruising around furniture for months and then it was just like one day you decided, “hey, I can take some steps!” I feel that the term ‘walking’ is ambitious, but you’re almost there. The thing that is most successful at getting you to walk—holding a stuffed animal. It’s amazing, you *love* stuffed animals. You always sleep with one. Whenever you first pick up a stuffed animal, you always squeeze it and cuddle close. Some of your Christmas presents were animals and you gave them kisses first thing! You’re already a loving, compassionate little person.

Practicing some steps while in line at Oklahoma Joe’s—
now if that’s not enough reason to walk, I don’t know what is!!

This month you celebrated your first Christmas. You actually spent most of Christmas morning cranky, but we took you all out of your element, so it was kind of our fault. Wrapping paper was your favorite. And you looked super cute in the tutu I made you!

We took you in for allergy testing this month. It is pretty early for this kind of testing, but your brother has some severe allergies and I just wanted to see if we needed to be taking special precautions with you. And the best news—no allergies! Well, no food allergies. But maybe you’ve lucked out and gotten my immune system. :) The not as good news is that you lactose intolerant. Crummy news, but it explains why you have always had the most catastrophic poops I have ever seen. I know it’s not very ladylike to mention it and I won’t announce it during your senior slideshow or anything, but it was seriously bad. Things are finally “normal” now that you’re off milk formula. It could be something you outgrow, but it’s not life threatening and easy to work with so I won’t complain. Sorry that it took us so long to figure out what was going on, but you’re such a happy baby we weren’t really sure if anything was actually wrong!

Let’s talk about hair. I am so, so glad that you have lots of hair. It is super, duper straight. Not a bit of curl, which really isn’t like anyone in our family. You’ll love it when you’re older! But right now, it just looks a little awkward most of the time. It’s really long at your side burns and the middle of your head, but not so much anywhere else. Bows are a hit and miss with you. When I blow dry your hair right after a shower or bath, it does look fluffy and cute, but that just doesn’t happen all of the time. And check out this bedhead—once it happens, there isn’t anything you can do about it without fully submerging your head in water. It’s way bad.

But I did get actually manage to get you in pigtails yesterday!! They are kind of like little horns, but at least it looks like I actually tried. And it beats the above hairstyle. You weren’t much of a fan, but I’m hoping you get used to it because I truly believe that little girls are made for pigtails.

Two words: Daddy’s girl. You sat like this for several minutes {which is like eternity in Belle cuddle time!}. You really have become more cuddly this month in general. Maybe you’ve figured out that it’s okay to relax every once in awhile and not always be on the move. Whatever it is, both Daddy and I love it.

You look so cute all bundled up in your fluffy coat. You aren’t really a fan, but I’m not either. It is a pain to get on you and then buckle you in the carseat. Let’s just hope for a continuation of the super nice winter and that we won’t need it much longer!

This is your favorite spot. If I am in the kitchen, you are here. You love this cabinet and cookie cutter drawer. You would actually prefer to play under the sink, but I won’t let you. Go ahead and sign me up for the mean mommy award.

And lastly, girl, you love to climb. Anything and everything. Sometimes I see you holding on to something just trying to get your foot up high enough to climb higher. You can’t stop your feet from climbing! Of course, stairs are your favorite. Climbing up Jackson’s slide is your second favorite. You are quick and quiet. I was making Jackson’s bed and I didn’t even know you were capable of climbing until you just appeared on the bed! About gave me a heart attack.

Jackson got this little chair for Christmas and you like to stand in it more than he gets to sit in it!

And just the other night as I was getting you a bottle at some ungodly hour as you were screaming {no, you’re not consistently sleeping through the night. not cool} and as I was about to your room and I heard a giant thud and MORE screaming. Yes, you climbed out of your crib and fell. When I picked you up, you were still basically asleep—wouldn’t even open your eyes. I didn’t really sleep much more than night because I was so worried. We are going to figure out a way to move your mattress down even lower this weekend.

Daddy cannot stand for you to even get a tiny boo-boo. If you keep this fearless attitude, you might near drive him crazy. We love your outgoing, active, independent, determined little personality. As parents we will do our best to foster those traits and help you grow to become exactly who God made you to be. We love you so very much, but always remember that Jesus loves you even more!

Back to School

2012-01-18T23:18:00.001-06:00

I went to my first class of the semester tonight. Remember just a few months ago when I wrote a super heartfelt post about totally embracing being “just a mom”!? Well, at some point in the mere weeks after that post, I was overcome by the finishing-grad-school itch. This January marks the fourth year of classes… obviously not full time. But classes here and there. A break after each kid was born, a summer off when we bought and remodeled our home.

Also in attendance was my faithful purple backpack that was purchased for my freshman year at undergrad. Oh my goodness, she’ll turn 10 years old this year! That totally just dawned on me! I love this backpack. It has spongy straps that make carrying books less annoying plus, it’s decorated with a keychain a friend got for me in high school.

I am 27 hours into the 60 hours required to graduate with my Master’s in Counseling Psychology. It’s this giant task at which I haven’t finished, and until I finish, I feel like I’m a failure. I just want to get it over with. {That sounds as if I don’t enjoy school, and I mean, I don’t love all the work, but I do actually enjoy it. I just don’t like it hanging over my head: You still have XX hours left. You still have to apply for candidacy. You still need to find an internship.}

So, I enrolled in classes. Three of them. We took a round-about process that will better suit our family schedule and our finances, which is awesome. But regardless, that is still nine hours of grad school in one semester. The most I’ve done was six and that was a very hard time! But I can do this {or so my husband keeps telling me!}.

We’ve gotten pretty organized in the process of planning for the semester. Failing to plan is planning to fail, right? I will be staying with my parents on Monday evenings and Mom will have the kids when I’m at class all day on Tuesdays {classes eight hours in one day!? Not sure I can survive this}. They live much closer to my Tuesday school. I have another class on Wednesday evenings. It’s a hybrid class, so we only meet for an hour and a half, but that also means I have to find additional hours of time in the week to watch the lectures and take notes.

Which, is why we have decided to employ a super sweet gal to come watch the kids one or two afternoons a week. This allows a dedicated time for school work and so I’m not trying to squeeze it all in after bedtime. We’ve been meal planning according to schedule and I have several frozen meals in place. Meals picked out for when I’m in class on Tuesdays and for when I’m gone in the afternoons doing school work. I still have my mornings open for MOPS, play dates, library time, and housework. Our babysitting agreement also includes one night a month to plan for a date night. I swear, if it’s not scheduled, it’s just not happening!

Good grief. I’m stressed out just writing that all down. Actually, I was stressed before that. I had my first class tonight and it was the first time it dawned on me that this is going to be a lot of hard work. Starting a little stressed has snowballed into all out ridiculousness.

I’m stressed about:

school work/tests/papers in general
diagnosing mental disorders—it’s is my least favorite thing to do in grad school and I have a whole class attributed to just that. Ugh.
being the very first presenter in my diagnosis class!? Stupid last initial. Not that my maiden one was any better.
am I even smart enough for this!?

I feel guilty about:

not having a job to earn money
costing money to pay for school
costing more money for childcare
not being there to provide the childcare for my kids
not having super lavish birthday parties for my kids like I see on some blogs because we spend money for me to go to school instead of renting out Gymboree, hiring a decorator, and having Dora show up.

Okay seriously, those are all things floating in my head. And honestly, I am super worried about gaining a bazillion pounds. I eat when I’m stressed {a habit I am diligently trying to change}! We have been working hard at adopting a healthier lifestyle-think trips to the gym, healthier foods—and it’s really hard to commit to change in the midst of chaos.

I feel a little ridiculous getting that all out, but I needed to have it in writing. At this point, I have to trust the Lord to guide me through it all. I need to know where I started so when I come out alive on the other end, I can look back and see how the Lord brought us through.

And because I refuse to let my overwhelming thoughts get the best of me, so I made sure to make a list of blessings to give me perspective!

Blessings

successful permission to enroll at cheaper school
having a schedule that allows for sufficient family time
people I love and trust to provide childcare
great supportive husband {and family}
opportunity to study something I’m passionate about!

Whew! This was a long post. Belle turned 11 months today! I will post with her pictures and updates tomorrow!

Helping Hungry Families—a birthday celebration

2012-01-17T23:11:00.001-06:00

The other day I told you about volunteering at Harvester’s with my Sunday School class. Today I’m going to share how we celebrated my mom’s birthday this year.
Mom turned 27-again {and again} this year on December 23rd. It’s hard when people have birthdays so close to Christmas because their celebrations often get thrown into the existing holiday festivities. This year, we made sure to give Mom her very own party—a volunteer party at Harvester’s!

Did you know you could have a volunteer party?!? How cool is that. You can have it for children as young as six {with lots of adult supervisors} up until age 56 27 or even older. You can book a party during any of Harvester’s normal volunteer hours with a minimum of two-hour blocks. Harvester’s provides a party room and even a cake!

Mom and Ruth’s Mom
{kinda embarrassing, but that’s the only way I know her by!}

Hanging out—waiting for cake! This is only about half of the people who came. Several people brought their families!

When having your party at Harvester’s, you invite the guests to bring 10 cans {10 pounds} of food as their gift! I was stocking up like crazy getting items to ensure that Mom was able to receive her special party shirt that is reserved for birthday honorees whose guest collect an average of 10 pounds per person. Of course, Mom’s friends are awesome and brought a lot of food—330 pounds {which equates to 260 meals!} from 23 people!

Mom got her special shirt! “My party made a difference at Harvesters!”

And then we volunteered! Can I say that our task for the evening sounds incredibly weird and boring, but everyone had a great time! Lots of sorting, lots of bagging, but mostly lots of conversation and laughter!
Before I explain our actual task I will explain a little information to put it into perspective. Harvester’s gets donations in a variety of ways including monetary and food donations. Some money is received from government agencies and others through individual giving. Food is collected through food drives, restaurant donations, and by companies {and don’t forget birthday parties!}.
We spent the evening sorting carrots that were donated from a grocery store chain in Canada. I hesitate to call what we worked with carrots as they did not look like any carrot I had *ever* seen. They were more like tiny orange logs.

See—I’m totally not kidding. Can you imagine the size a snowman
would have to be to support this as a nose!?

But the ginormous size and sometimes awkward shape were the exact reason the carrots were donated. If a grocery store would put these carrots in their produce section, people would pick all around them and they would eventually go bad. Basically, no one will buy these {not when the pretty, thin carrots are available} and these bulky carrots would waste shelf space and potentially cost the store money to have these displayed. Donating them offers a special tax break and also helps feed others who desperately need it!

The carrots were shipped to Harvester’s in 50 pound bags stacked high on several palates.

It was our job to divide the carrots into smaller {5 pound-ish} bags that could be distributed to a family or even local soup kitchens. Because really, what single person has a need for 50 pounds of carrots!?

We had three tables {work stations}.

And we were able tackle about two full palates between us all {I don’t want to brag or anything, but our table cleared our entire palate} and we were able to fill three large containers of carrots to be distributed.

See, if I didn’t explain a little at the beginning, it would have sounded weird to say we un-bagged ugly carrots to bag them into smaller bags. And really, when dealing with fresh produce it is critical to get the work done quickly so that it doesn’t spoil by the time it gets distributed!

We make carrots look good!!

Laura—she’s the weird one. I’m telling you, these carrots could be used
as a deadly weapon—Death by carrot {haven’t seen that on CSI yet!}

After our volunteer shift, we had a nice tour through Harvester’s huge facility! I had even been on a tour before and I was still fascinated. The operation is huge and it helps so many people through several programs. Our guide was super sweet and answered all of our many questions.

One person asked about one of the greatest needs of Harvester’s Food Network. The one thing that our super-sweet guide mentioned was that donations and volunteers are abundant in the holiday and winter months. However, once the nice weather and summer/spring seasons come around, the donations dwindle and the need for volunteers goes down as well. Yet people go hungry all year round. This is true for food banks, soup kitchens, and homeless shelters across the country. I just wanted to plant that in your head and maybe you can brainstorm a way to make a different and find some ways to donate this spring and summer!
Be sure to check out Harvester’s volunteer page and plan a time to come spend a few hours making a difference. Regardless of the season, your work will impact the community in a positive way!!

Helping Hungry Kids

2012-01-14T14:42:00.001-06:00

Last night Belle started walking!! She took about 12 steps in a row, several different times! This is exactly the same age that her brother started walking too. We were visiting my Uncle Joel and there was a house full of people and three very large {and very loud} dogs so we didn’t capture a video. But, that is on my to-do list today or tomorrow {or whenever she decides she wants to walk again!}.

Back to what I was really intending to blog about today.

During the holiday season, I took part in several non-convetional celebrations—volunteering! Instead of a Christmas party, our Sunday school class volunteered together and we also celebrated Mom’s birthday doing the same! With these two groups, we went to Harvesters- Kansas City’s largest food bank. Our family also volunteered at a homeless shelter downtown!

The Sunday school party was first. When you sign up to volunteer {it’s way super easy!} you just sign up for a time slot. Then when you show up, you’re just assigned to do a job that needs to be done that day. Our task for the evening was to package the bags for the Back Snack program.

Basically, it’s a back pack of food given to low income elementary kids to supply them with food to last the weekend. These kids will get their breakfast and lunch at school during the week and often go hungry on the weekend. Isn’t that devastating?! We packed food in plastic bags that will be placed inside the backpack the kids will receive. On Friday afternoon the teachers hand them to the students discretely so that other’s don’t have to know they are getting food and then the students return the backpack on Monday morning. All items can be opened by the kids and are safe to eat at room temperature: canned pasta, granola, cereal, shelf stable milk, easy mac, canned veggies among other things.

Assembly line: section 1—the packers. {who occasionally stop for a photo op}

Assembly line: section 2—the inspectors, making sure all items are included!

Assembly line: section 3—My work station! We were the sealers. I have a love/hate relationship with this appliance.

Assembly line: section 4—Boxing it up. The boys had to assemble the boxes and put five sack into each box.

On paper {online} this might seem kinda boring, but we all had a really fun time. In my opinion, I think the boys actually had too much fun of a time—they were rather rambunctious. In a little over an hour, we were able to pack, seal, and box up nearly two palates full of food for hungry kids in our area. How cool!

So, this was a little wordier than I had imagined and to prevent this from being the longest post ever—I will write about my other volunteer opportunities later this week!

In the meantime, check out Harvester’s volunteer page. Set up a time for you and some friends

What are ways you like to volunteer in your area?

From Shorts to Snow boots

2012-01-12T16:22:00.002-06:00

So yesterday Jackson was outside playing in shorts! Okay, it was kinda chilly, but it was *really* nice for January in the midwest! Well, anyway, today he wore his snow boots.

They say, if you don't like the weather in Missouri-- just wait five minutes! But seriously, I'm ready for yesterday's weather again. Brrrr! It's cold outside. I'm not a fan.

January Sunshine

2012-01-11T13:24:00.001-06:00

I don’t want to be lame and talk about weather, but seriously… it has been SO nice lately! The past two winters here have been cold, snowy, and overcast. And so far this year, we’ve had mild coldness, one light dusting of snow, and lots of sunshine! Temps were up near the 60s on Christmas day {kinda weird, but I won’t complain}.

We’ve totally been taking advantage of the sunshine and nice weather. Goodness knows, we might have a snow storm tonight! I snapped some pictures while we played today.

Swinging is definitely the favorite activity of both my kids

This is a happy face, I promise!

Check out the crazy hair!

Belle is always watching Jackson. He has a special way of making her laugh. I love watching them interact together!

All week, Jackson has gone out “driving” to go “pick up some ketchup”. Apparently he thinks we are running low, but thankfully he is keeping up fully stocked. At the time I snapped the picture, he was looking at the smoke line that a rocket ship {airplane} left in the sky.

It’s so crazy to think about Belle being old enough to actually play outside and that Jackson has such a wild imagination. Watching my kids grow and learn is such a blessing! I love ~~most~~ every minute of it!

WW: Aunt Ashley

2012-01-04T10:06:00.003-06:00

Aunt Ashley is still enjoying her Christmas break. I miss those good ol' college days with a month long break between semesters. Ashley has stayed the night a couple of times and is great at entertaining Jackson {and I am entertained hearing her try to explain the logic behind putting the puzzle together to a three year old}.

Isn't Aunt Ashley lots of fun?

2011 in numbers

2012-01-02T20:45:00.001-06:00

I had so much fun doing my number post last year that I just had to do it again!

In 2011...

We welcomed 1 precious baby girl

there were 2 family graduations {Julie from High School, Derek from AIT}
{Jackson boasted about being 2 1/2 for several months of the year}

He turned 3 in October and we had a train party

There were many sleepless nights cramming 4 people our bed

We took the 5 minute walk to the pool several times a week this summer
We cheered for the Mavericks during 6 periods of ice hockey {two games}

I spent 7 days at summer camp in Arizona

I found an 8 gigabyte SD card in my cheeseburger from McDonalds

Derek was officially home for 9 months of this year

There were 10 footprints in the calendar we made as Christmas presents

{along with 23 hand prints and 136 thumbprints!}

A few more...

I spent 49 days pregnant

Derek spent a total of 14 weeks on Army duty {plus 8 weekends}

Derek was awarded as the Distinguished Honor Graduate for his 96.21% gpa

I posted 135 blog posts and 1,450 tweets

What a great year we had. There were times when it felt like time was creeping by {those middle of the night feedings and counting the days for Derek to come home} and then there were times that just flew by {pretty much all the other moments}. We've grown a lot as a family- not just in numbers, but by getting into a groove and enjoying the crazy life that accompanies multiple young children. Bring on 2012!

Christmas Recap

2011-12-31T09:46:00.001-06:00

We had a great Christmas this year. We broke tradition and did things a little differently so it was very special! Busy, but really good!

The kids opened stockings on the 23rd right before we headed out the door to travel to Trenton.

We had a birthday cake for Mom that night at Grandma’s House. {we had an awesome party earlier in the week I will have to post about soon!}

We stayed up in Trenton for a few days and we got to hang out with our family from Chicago! We practically only see them in passing, so it was nice to have days to hang out. Jackson was found of Jeff {or his ipad at least!}

Jackson enjoyed the candlelight service next to Grammy

This is Grandma and the four generations of Brummitt-girls.

After the Christmas-Eve service, we ate dinner back at Grandma’s and then we opened her stockings.

Belle’s shirt says, “Whatever Santa doesn’t bring me, Grandma will!” She had to wear it on Christmas eve to make sure her expectations were known.

Belle and Aunt Ashley

Belle giving Uncle Phil some kissy-faces

And being pestered by Papa.

Christmas Morning: Aunt Wawa, Wake up! It’s time to open presents!

All I want for Christmas is my Auntie!

Look! She got one!

Jackson got his markers, the one and only request of Santa.

He opened the rest of his presents, mostly as different super heroes.

After breakfast, we had brunch. It was delish. Then, we had our own little church service in the family room. {which beats getting kids dressed and ready and out the door on this busy morning!}

We went to visit another Grandma next. Those pictures are on my sisters camera. Hopefully she posts them on facebook soon.

And then we traveled back down to the city to have Christmas with Derek’s family. Jackson helped Papa Forrest read the Bible story from him Hey Diddle Diddle Book.

Belle got to hang out with Aunt Dixie

And, of course, there were more presents. And a nice big Christmas dinner. Yum! We played some games, watched a movie, and just enjoyed hanging out! We even spent the night. There are pictures of these events, but my camera died, so I have to be annoying and get them from other people.

It was nice for Derek to have Monday off as we recovered from the craziness of the days before. We’ve had some time to just relax with our own little family, but have been doing fun stuff with more family throughout this week!

DIY Handprint Calendar

2011-12-26T10:01:00.000-06:00

I have been dying to post about the handprint calendar that the kids and I put together for a few Christmas gifts! Of course, I had to wait until they opened their presents so I wouldn’t ruin the surprise. But I wanted to share it as soon as I could—there is still time for you to make one for the new year!!

I have always liked the idea of personalizing a calendar, but with kids—they grow so fast—that is seems weird to make one. Like, for next December Belle will be almost two {weird thought}, a walking, babbling toddler so pictures from her little baby self will be so… outdated! After seeing different handprint activities on pinterest, it dawned on me to make a calendar and so I scoured the interwebs high and low to find calendar ideas and my favorite handprint/footprint pictures!

Without further ado… I introduce the calendar!

{verse source}

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

{I don’t have sources for each of this month as I gathered ideas from several places and compiled them into “scenes” I liked most and I even came up with a few by myself.}

How I made my calendar

First, I ordered a calendar {three actually} from Snapfish and I used their seasons template. I’m not a fan of the look of most homemade projects and so I wanted a real looking calendar {not one printed at home and bound together, which would have been fine, just not what I like}. I created an all white image {Microsoft Publisher"} that was the size of a typical 4x6 and I inserted it into each page of the calendar where most people would be including actual pictures of people. This is how I got the border, but also a blank white space.

I made a list of each month and the handprint idea so once my calendars arrived we got started! I used acrylic paint that I picked up from Wal-mart craft section and then I just started doing one {technically three} at at time. I painted the kids hands/feet instead of having them dip into a plate of paint. This got easier with practice. Well, for Jackson. Belle, not so much.

Planning was the tricky. We couldn’t just take a morning and knock these all out. Because we were working with calendars that were already assembled, we could only do one page at a time—allow it to dry, and then move to the next one. I started at the end of November, so I had plenty of time. From start to finish, it took about two weeks… but could easily be done in a shorter period of time if you were diligent about getting a new page done as soon as the previous one dried.

The biggest challenge was accepting the imperfections that occur when doing art projects with little ones. In my head, I have visions of perfect, un-smudged prints with no accidental paint splotches on the page. Well, that didn’t happen. After having Jackson shut the calendars while February was still drying—leaving pink paint all over the actual calendar grid and the chaotic experience of dealing with a painted, squirmy nine-month old, I had to come to the conclusion that smudges and blotches are okay. The calendars may not be perfect, but they are homemade.

Reflections

I love that we did the hand/footprints on an actual real-looking calendar and that it doesn’t look like something I put together in my basement. I also like the borders each month. I planned my picture so they’d kind of match! However, there was no grace when it came to a mess-up. All attempts were final. I still think I’d take the same route with the premade calendar if I were to do this again.

Glitter—I’m not a fan of how it turned out, which is why it only got used in the February and July. I would buy glittery paint and/or do a handprint in glue and then add the glitter.

Making three at a time was a challenge. Like when I needed four handprints for the clover in March—that was 12 handprints! But honestly I wish I had twice as many to hand out as gifts. I’ve considered maybe doing one and then getting a good photo and then adding the photo to a calendar. This would help with the paint smudges, but I think it’d take away of the cute, homemade project feel.

Overall, this was definitely one of my favorite gifts we gave this year! If you make one {or any handprint activity} be sure to let me know so I can check it out!

Our Christmas Tree Tells a Story

2011-12-21T22:29:00.001-06:00

Decorating the Christmas tree has always been one of my very favorite things about the holiday! I love the lights and the star up top, but the best part is unpacking each ornament and placing it on the tree!

Growing up, Mom got us an ornament every year. I would look forward to the {Hallmark} ornament catalog each fall so I could pick the ones I liked! It was fun when I was younger going through the big box of ornaments and then picking out the ones that were mine. And then for our first married Christmas, Mom gave me a box of all my ornaments so we would have some to put on our tree. I love having a tree with lots of ornaments and even more so when I know all the ornaments are special memories from years past!

My first Christmas ornament- 1984

My second Christmas

There are several ornaments in between these—but I didn’t want to bore you with photos of all 27 ornaments! This one is from 1992 when I became a second-time big sister.

My fourth grade ornament. Though I’m not certain, I am sure this was the ornament for the year because I really enjoyed my art classes!

I started playing the cello in 5th grade, so this was my ornament for the
Christmas of 1994.

I got this {non-hallmark} ornament during high school in honor of my Kirstin American doll that I had when I was younger.

From the junior year—what girl doesn’t like shopping!?

And my favorite ornaments from high school are my Mickey Mouse marching band ornaments—from Daisy as the drum major to Pluto playing the triangle with his tail! A new ornament came out each year, so this collection actually extended into my college years, which is appropriate considering I still played in the marching band in college. {keep your dumb band jokes to yourself. Marching band *IS* awesome and especially *my* high school band. We have more first place trophies than your dumb sport...}

Of course, there are several ornaments from the years from Beauty and the Beast.

We’ve continued this tradition ever since we’ve gotten married too! Some have been gifts and we’ve picked a few ourselves. And no worries, we added several Derek-friendly ornaments too—Spiderman, Donatello, a poker table.

Our official First Christmas ornament

Our fun First Christmas ornament

Our 2007 ornament—the year we got our kitty, Mia. This cat even looks like her!

Our ornament after becoming first time parents in 2008—after we experienced first hand all the demands babies have around the clock!

Our First Home ornament- when we bought our first home in 2009

Our ornament from 2010 that I picked up at the NASA visitor center when we visited Texas. I also have the ornament from Denmark that Julie got me, but I put it in a special place so I wouldn’t lose it—and I’ve done exactly that… it’s around here somewhere!

I just love this tradition SO much that I’ve started collecting pictures for the kids too! This is Jackson holding his ornament from his first Christmas. Wouldn't it be neat if I could get a picture of him holding it each year?! Hopefully I remember to do that!

I let Jackson put all of his ornaments on the tree and they all ended up in this tiny area. They, of course, no longer reside there thanks to a certain little sister who likes to ~~eat~~ play with them.

This is Jackson’s ornament from this year. I just couldn’t resist the red helmet! It reminds me of the Chiefs helmet Jackson loves to wear all the time.

And Belle’s. Of course, it will actually be her picture inside once I get a few! The little tag says, “so much cute in one little package!” It’s like they knew my daughter when they designed it! :)

Does your Christmas tree tell a story? What are your favorite ornaments?

Ten Months

2011-12-20T00:49:00.001-06:00

It’s that time again. Belle turned ten months yesterday. Before I know it, she’ll be turning one, starting kindergarten, and going to prom. Okay, maybe I’m getting a little ahead of myself, but this is all just going to fast {most of it anyway- the sick days, those seem to go soooooooo slooooooow, but you allow me to cuddle you, so I won’t complain.}

Dear Baby Girl,

You are such a sweetie—you’re a smiley, happy, energetic little thing. As always, you catch the attention of strangers every time we go out. When we do go out, it often has to be a quick trip through the store, as you are like Houdini squirming out of the seatbelt strap in the cart. Your personality is totally shining through in everything that you do! You’re so expressive and since you’re happy most of the time, you are just so fun to be around! You’re determined and you work to get your hands on whatever is catching your eye and the times when you’re having trouble figuring something out or can’t quite reach something—you definitely let us know. You’re a social little person and prefer to “play” only when someone is right there with you.

This spot in the kitchen has become “your” spot! You love any sort of box/drawer/bucket you can take things out of and put back in!

You had your first Thanksgiving, your first vacation/roadtrip too, this month. Probably you’re last roadtrip for quite awhile too. On your behalf, you were sick. But, you hardly slept. At all. And you just weren’t your happy little self so I took you to the doctor as soon as we got back, but as I expected, it was just a little bug. You got over it after another day or two and finally went back to your normal 11 hour night, and 3ish hours of naps during the day.

You’re still sporting around two teeth. We expected you to have a few more by now—you have been gnawing on things for weeks. But unfortunately, they are taking a while to break through. Even without many teeth, you still like to chomp your food as if you had teeth and it’s pretty cute to watch.

Gnawing on anything/everything. Right now it’s the strainer. But a few minutes from this pic, I found you chewing on the wooden drawer itself.

Speaking of food, you’re still adamant about feeding yourself. I have a cabinet full of unused baby food because you just won’t eat anything I try to feed you. You are eating all of the food we eat plus a four or five bottles a day. You love to find Jackson’s sippy cups and try to drink from them, so I have purchased ones for you. But you’re not very interested. You’re getting a different kind for Christmas, so hopefully you’ll give them a try!

You’re still wearing size 3 diapers and your clothes are anywhere from 6-12 month is size. You’re wearing a size 3 shoe and you look like such a big girl with them on!

You have become a more confident all-fours crawler. And you are fast. Especially when you hear Daddy coming in the door after work. No matter where you are in the house, you will make your way to him within seconds. You love it when Jackson plays crawling games with you—at home or even at the doctor’s office. You have been pulling yourself up for several weeks now and you’ve recently started cruising around the furniture. You can actually stand by yourself for a few seconds… until you realize you are standing by yourself and then you plop right down on the floor. When we try to get you to take a few steps, you often get heavy-bottom-syndrome as you would just rather sit down and then crawl to your destination.

As with most babies your age, you’ve begun experiencing separation anxiety this month. It hit practically overnight when just one day out of the blue you woke up screaming bloody murder, several times back to back. It took about three days to realize that it was simply your awareness that you were alone and that you weren’t dying. You really had me worried—boy can you scream! After a few {short} cry-it-out sessions, you were back to your normal sleeping/waking up routine. However, you often like to play the I’m-perfectly-happy-in-your-arms-but-I-will-scream-once-my-feet-touch-the-ground game, which goes along with the I-want-you-to-hold-me-but-I-cannot-hold-still-so-you-will-just-be-my-playground game. That is truly exhausting, but you’re slowly starting to chill out a little about me not holding you.

You mimic lots of our sounds. You can say Mama, Dada {also, hi dad}, and uh oh. You like to click your tongue and give kisses. Ohmigoodness, I just love me some of your kisses. There are a few different ones. First, there is the leaning of your forehead to my lips—you want me to kiss you. Second, you will make the muah sound while leaning in to kiss my cheek. And lastly, and this started just the other day and it is SO cute—you pucker up your little lips when I say, “can I have some kisses”. Sometimes you’re close and will lean in, but if you’re playing, you just look at me and give me a long-distance-kiss and then go back to your toys. Even just seeing this picture on my computer makes me want to lean in and give her a kiss!! I just can’t get enough.

{every time she does this, I think of the kid, Duck-Face, from Full House!}

You are just loved to bits and pieces baby girl!!! Every single day is just so much fun with your smiles and giggles! Love Mommy and Daddy!

To Infinity and Beyond

2011-12-13T21:41:00.001-06:00

So, I was able to get a video of Jackson as Buzz Lightyear. He was distracted by the camera and didn’t ~~jump~~ fly as much as normal, but it captures how much he really gets into the role… and how much this kid talks!!

So in case you didn’t follow along… this is how the casting goes.

First, Derek is Jessie. But then Jackson changes his mind and I become Jessie.

Then Derek becomes “not anything”, but Jackson decides Derek is the big dinosaur.

Belle is the pig {she’s normally the dinosaur, so this is new!}

And then I get switched to being “tato-head”

Being short on people, Jackson casts the chair as Woody.

And of course, Jackson is Buzz. He’s always Buzz through out most of every day.
{all images are from http://pixar.wikia.com}

He insists that his blanket be tied around his neck and he jumps from couch to ottoman to other couch and so forth for many, many times through out the day. One day Jackson is going to realize and be pretty disappointed that Buzz doesn’t actually have a cape. Oh, and Buzz never wears a shirt. Just the camp.

I am super glad I already picked up a Buzz costume that Jackson will get as a Christmas present. Something tells me that it will get a lot of use! I hope my couches and upholstered-coffee-table-turned-ottoman can survive the countless Buzz Lightyear flying attempts.

Jackson dug out this old motorcycle helmet we have lying around {which is up for grabs if anyone wants it!} and insisted on wearing it around. He loves the helmet and it surprisingly, well not too surprisingly—he has a big head, it fits him rather snug. He loves to flip the shield up and down. But one thing is for sure… it’s not very conducive to picking your nose.

And I of course had to take a picture before I told him to stop. Priorities!

Welcome home camera

2011-12-12T21:26:00.000-06:00

I finally have my camera back after having it sent off to be fixed {thanks to accident protection plan from Best Buy}. Anyway, in honor of this celebration {because I've been incomplete without it this past month!} you get a peek into what we did tonight! So glad we actually did something other than grocery shop or clean.

We played hide and seek- Jackson gets all of the good places because he's small. But he's an incredibly bad hider as he likes to say where he is hiding the moment some says "ready or not, here I come!"

Jackson and Belle played with the nativity set.

Well, Belle was more concerned with eating the camel, really.

We put ornaments up on the tree!

I tried to get Belle to wear the Santa hat, but she wasn't having it.

We went out side for the unveiling of the Chistmas lights that Derek and Forrest put up this weekend...

...only to have some of them work!!! So Derek spent several minutes on the roof trying to figure out the problem.

I don't have a picture of Jackson being Buzz Lightyear {that was before I remembered where my battery and SD card were}. I will have to document that because it's quite humorous. Daddy was Woody, me Jessie, and Belle was the dinosaur {all at Jackson's request}.

Eventually I won't be so enthusiastic about having my camera back, but until I do, expect lots of posts!

Family Pictures

2011-12-08T23:01:00.001-06:00

I have been meaning to do family pictures ever since Belle joined our family in February.... so it only makes sense that we just got some taken at the end of November, right!? Oh well, it's perfect timing for Christmas cards! I contacted one of Julie's friends from Delleguardia Photography and we went over to main street to take a few pictures. Take a peek:

{this photo was actually Jackson's idea-- "Get on the tire, Mom!", "Get on the other tire, Dad!"}

I love these shots of Derek and the kids!

Our rambunctous & energetic, sweet & cuddly little guy!

Our precious little girl!

{Yes, this is the only face he would make for the camera at this point... thanks kid!}

I really wanted to get a decent picture of both of the kids together with the Christmas lights, but after an hour of photos {during naptime} wasn't really condusive towards that idea. Oh well. These are still cute individually!

This is our family-- November 2011!

Our Texas Thanksgiving

2011-11-30T20:54:00.001-06:00

To celebrate Thanksgiving this year, we traveled down to Texas to visit some friends who moved down south this summer. We drove down with Brad and HanNah after the guys got off work on Wednesday and drove until the wee hours of the morning.

We finally entered TX around 1am.

We ate our Thanksgiving dinner at Cracker Barrel. Eating out on Thanksgiving was a first for me. It wasn't bad, but I'd much prefer to eat home cooked turkey next year {as long as I'm not the one cooking it!}. But most importantly, it was fun to be with our friends and what a treat that no one had to cook or clean up!

We skipped Black Friday shopping this year and visited some places around Fort Worth instead. We had breakfast at some cool pancake place. Delicious! And then we headed over to the stock yards {where the real cowboys come out to play}.

Jackson enjoyed looking at the long-horn steers, but he wasn't so thrilled about me taking a step back to take his picture.

Jackson was so thrilled to be hanging out with his BFF, Carter. He was attached to him practically the entire weekend.

Texas is clearly the Dr. Pepper mecca {and we've even been to the Dr. Pepper museum in Waco}. Derek has had the jelly beans before, but Dr. Pepper jerky-- GAG!

I love me some boys in cowboy hats!!!!

And check out our cute little cowgirl! She's waving for the camera.

We went to this awesome ice cream place. You pick out a flavor of ice cream and two cookies and they smash it together to make your custom ice cream sandwich! Ah.may.zing.

We don't have many {or any pictures} from Friday afternoon on-- mainly because, well, sickness invaded our living space. We had nine people in a cozy two bedroom apartment, three who got sick at exactly the same moment. It was way weird. Lots of vomit. All night long. Lots of sleeping and recovering filled the following days. Thankfully, our family dodged that bullet. I did get the naseau bug on Saturday night, but fortunately, I was able to hold down my meal, but I was thought I was dying for a couple of hours for sure.

And then, Derek and I were stuck with a little baby that WOULD NOT SLEEP! Oh my goodness. We had to drive Belle around at every moment we needed her to nap-- morning, afternoon, and bedtime! She had a high fever and was so cranky. She hardly ate anything and my word was she difficult! Did I mention how much time we spent in the car just to get her to sleep? We drove all the way to Texas so we could drive around and sit in the McDonalds parking lot so we could use their wi-fi because some little cranky-pants would wake up the moment the car engine went off. She has already been told that all the gas money we spent getting her to sleep will be deducted from her college fund.

It's really kind of comical to look back upon. Pathetic really. We were so careful to plan to make sure that our Texas trip wouldn't turn into a disaster {after our last trip ended up costing nearly $1,000 more than planned} and this bug just came and invaded our plan. I can't help but chuckle at how the whole thing panned out. But, we wouldn't have traded our visit for anything. I really miss Brooke {and Trey and Carter too} and it was just super great to hang out with her again.

I'm sure we'll go visit again, but Derek has already made it clear that the kids will be kenneled the next time we venture out of our city. Yes, kenneled-- his words.

Happy Thanksgiving

2011-11-24T17:16:00.001-06:00

Happy Thanksgiving from our cute, little turkey!

We have so many things to be thankful for this year, but more than anything I am thankful that we get to spend the holiday together, as a family this year!

Three

2011-11-21T22:12:00.001-06:00

Jackson has been three now for almost a month. I'm so glad I finally got around to doing an interview. This was so much fun to do. I am a few weeks late on getting this done, but I’m pretty sure the answers would have been the same. The actual interview process was interesting. I opened a package of smarties and gave him one piece for every answer he gave me, but it was still quite challenging!
Aren’t some of his answers just so sweet!? When I asked him what made him happy and he said, “You make me happy, Mommy” he actually leaned over and patted my leg. Swoon! Then when he answered that he loves that I hug him, he gave me a big hug too. And then all the answers about his daddy, those are just so sweet! I hope he grows up like his daddy, too!
*The what makes you sad question took a couple of tries. This is the answer I got when I first asked: “My toes don’t make me sad. They are stuck! It’s hard to take my toes off!” all said while he is pulling on his toes actually trying to take them off. Where/how he comes up with stuff is soooo beyond me.
I am really looking forward to keeping up with this each year!

Here are a few pictures of our favorite little fella.
{Source}

{source}

We sure do the little guy. He definitely keeps us busy, but he always makes us laugh! Here are a few more Jackson-isms:

He introduces himself, “I’m dude, babe, and Jackson and I’m 3” but he says it so fast no one has any idea what he’s said. Dude, Babe, and Jackson are the three nickname he deems acceptable.
He pronounces the “k” sound like “ch” as in ‘ch-itchen’ and ‘ch-etsup’ and he does it with the K in his name so it still sounds like “Jackshon”.
He uses adjectives to differentiate things in humorous ways. “can you pass the tooty-mustard” {because sometimes it makes that sound when you first try to use it}. “Are we going to the bumpy church” {the church where we attend MOPS has a speed bump in the parking lot.
He will NOT let you get away with calling our van a car. As Derek and I simply cannot grasp this idea, we often say things like “I think his jacket is in the car” and Jackson will interrupt, “It’s not a car, it’s a VA-AA-N!”. It was pretty bad when Jackson had to correct us three times the other morning as we were loading up for church. Why can’t we learn?
He will say “open” to the automatic doors at Target when we leave. And he say's “thank you” when we pass by. Ohmigoodnes, it’s hilarious. Especially when sometimes he stands in front of the non-automatic door shouting, “OPEN!!!” and it doesn’t' work.
He pronounces ‘hamburger’ as ‘hang-a-ber’. It’s the only word besides “Santa” that he has ever outright mispronounced consistently, regardless of correction. It’s kind of cute.

Thee year old stats:

38 pounds-- 94 percentile
37 3/4 inches-- 59 percentile

Nine months

2011-11-18T10:12:00.001-06:00

Belle turned nine months yesterday!! She just gets more and more fun as time goes by and I just love her to pieces!!

Dearest Belle,
You're nine months old!! You're such a big girl and SO full of personality. You are just the happiest little thing. You are way determined and don't give into my distractions very well. I think it's safe to say that you are strong willed and opinionated, but it suits you. I love watching you grow and getting to know you better each and every day.

You are wearing 6-9 month clothes, but I did unpack your 12 month clothes just because I wanted to switch up your wardrobe a little bit. The outfits are a little big, but just oh-so-cute. I just know there will be a day when I get no say in the clothing that you wear and so I am determined to play dress up with you as much as I want while I can. You started wearing size 3 diapers this month too.

Things that you like to do: crawl everywhere, stand {holding on whatever you can find to support you}, stick out your tongue, squeal, put everything in your mouth, and anything Jackson is doing.

Jackson is your favorite person. It is so much fun to watch you two play together! You get so excited when he comes in with me to get you out of your crib and you just love when you get to play on Jackson's bed after he wakes up from nap. You love to ~~destroy his train tracks~~ play trains with Jackson and any toy that he might be interested in at the moment. {I foresee the moment when we're on vacation and I want you to get a pretty little pick umbrella with your name on it as your souvenir, but you insist on getting a coon-skin hat and a cap gun. It happened to some other little girl I know and it drove her mother crazy. I wouldn't recommend it. Don't ask Grammy about it, K? And PS, this why I'm taking advantage to dressing you up now.}

You've been saying Dada for the longest time now and this month, you've started to say Mama and it is SO CUTE! Your little mouth is just so cute when you move your lips. I am a bit disappointed that Dada is your happy sound and Mama is often used when you're fussy. That's not cool.

Did I mention that you're a little strong willed? Well, this month you've decided that you no longer need to eat any food that comes from a utensil that I may be using to feed you. Nope, you only want to eat food that you can pick up and put in your mouth yourself. And you go totally out of your way to make sure the spoon doesn't get shoved in-- you close your mouth so tight and you squirm in your highchair and hid your face in the corner by the tray so there is no even trying. You turkey. What am I supposed to do with the cabinet full of baby food that you won't eat!? And you're appetite is just about half of what it was last month. Totally stressed me out for awhile, but you're cheeks are still chubby so I guess you're just fine.

Sleeping hasn't gone super well this month. This month was kind of a long month, really. With teething, flu shots, stomach bugs, the time change-- sleeping just wasn't as smooth as it has been in the past. Waking up multiple times a night, fighting naps... it's been rough, but we're back in a groove and you're back to sleeping better. You go to bed around 8-8:30 and generally you get up around 6am, but if I give you a bottle, you'll play and go back to sleep until around 8am.

You spent a decent amount of time being sick this month and you weren't your typical easy-going, always happy little self. But really, it made me realize what a great baby you are most all of the time! I knew you felt crummy and that made me sad for you, but I enjoyed the cuddling, because that is just something you never really do!! You even fell asleep while I held you for the FIRST time. I didn't want to ever put you down, but eventually I did. However, when you fell asleep on Daddy, he just held you so still for two hours. You've kinda got a hold on him. And me. And Grandma, Grandpa, Grammy, Papa... you're just so sweet that everyone just loves you so much.

Some pictures from this month:

{I may or may not have bribed you with an oreo so you'd be continent sitting in your high chair for longer so I could clean!}

Finally captured the classic pose- you lay like this often. It's only cute because you're a baby-- not when you're older.

I can't believe I don't have a picture of you standing up! You love to stand up on anything you can, even if it's the chair that some other patron is using in the doctor's office waiting room! The good news {for me} is that you haven't shown a big interest in walking yet. I'm totally okay if you want to wait awhile!

You're our little princess, Belle! We love you lots and lots.

Love, Mommy and Daddy

Nine month stats:

weight: 18.9 pounds (40%)
height: 27.5 inches (47%)
head circumference: 18 inches (91%)

Photo dump

2011-11-17T22:41:00.001-06:00

I haven't blogged this week because I have been without a camera! No one likes to read posts without pictures-- especially when my last post was so long! I happened to be playing with Derek's phone tonight {because mine has totally gone ballistic after getting a little Dr. Pepper spilled on it} and I stumbled across a ton of pictures I forgot I used his camera to take and even some pictures I haven't even seen before. So, I thought I'd share.

Jackson and his birthday ice cream at Yogurtini

Again, out for Jackson's birthday {which I haven't blogged about because I until now I'd forgotten we had any pictures from the evening- expect one soon!}I love the look Jackson is giving Derek!

Blurry-- but aren't these kids cute!?

Belle is super happy to be eating Oklahoma Joe's-- the best KC BBQ!

Ha- this poop fiasco happened while I was out{thank goodness!} and Derek took a picture to make sure I know what he had to deal with! I found the seat out in the backyard when I got home....

Driving cars at the Home Depot

Chacey came to visit {in May}!

Jackson and Papa worked on building an airplane

Where'd this sweet and innocent looking kid come from!?

Smiley little girl!!!

Jackson getting off the train with Grandma {coming home from St. Louis!}

Jackson and Daddy watching some baseball at the Royals game

At the Maverick's game on my birthday

Cutie pie.

I love seeing Derek all dressed up in his Class A's, so he took this and sent it to me back when he was still in Georgia.

The day Belle was born-- with Aunt Ashley!

11.11.11

2011-11-11T10:21:00.001-06:00

Today is Veteran’s Day! Let’s celebrate, honor, support, and pray for our soldiers today {and every day!}.

To all the Veterans who’ve served—thank you for all of your sacrifice. To the men and women serving today—I pray for your safety every day. To all the military families—from one to another, let’s stand together and support our heroes. I happen to live with an American hero—what a lucky girl am I.

As a country, we have really stepped up to the plate in terms of supporting our troops {after the disaster of Vietnam-era wake up call}. Many send care packages, others support families of deployed soldiers. We thank soldiers in uniform. And on a day like today, we remember those who’ve given the ultimate sacrifice.

And now for a soapbox if you will. We are dropping the ball at really, *really* taking care of our veterans. All politics aside, it is undeniable. I am a student of Counseling Psychology, and with a newly appointed military psychology focus. {Just ask Derek who has had to repeatedly listen to my plan about moving to Chicago so I can join the Doctoral Clinical Psych, Military track program at Adler School of Professional Psychology}.

My research into the military psychology is heartbreaking. And I know that I am just a very empathic, passionate person and being that I have chosen to focus my education and my career in this, I of course am more vested in this than most. {Again, just ask Derek who has to listen as I vent, I cry, I anguish into the wee hours of the night about the psychological distress that is evident in a war movie/tv show we watched, i.e. The Hurt Locker, Battle Los Angeles}. But even for the rest of you, this should matter to you.

This is a tiny portion of what Adler Professional School of Psychology has to say about today’s veterans:

Collectively they suffer above-average rates of psychological problems, substance abuse, suicide, and chronic homelessness. Veterans… often experience challenges with reintegration into society, preparing for additional deployment, recovering from a traumatic injury, trying to further their education, and trying to manage all of the above while attempting to seek treatment for mental health or substance abuse problems.

Did you read that!? And these are the soldiers who have been returned to us alive. These aren’t just the ones who’ve lost limbs and/or have other medical issues. These are the “normal” guys! Yet, these guys {and gals} are struggling to stay sober, to find a place to live, to stay alive in our own country. It’s not only the ones who have made the ultimate sacrifice that are our heroes—our heroes include every single man and women who make their way back onto free soil and attempt to live a “normal” life that will never, ever compare to our civilian normalcy.

It turns out that the National Guard and Reserve soldiers have suicide rates that are higher than active duty. The military community in our area consist of mainly of guardsmen and reservists, so this hits home. These guys are caught between two worlds—the military world and the civilian world the rest of us live in. While the active duty guys like to poke fun at the guardsmen and reservists because of the “easy” life they are granted— only dealing with army stuff {PT, army BS, so on and so forth} once a month. And it’s true—they only have to do those things once a month, but it also means that they only experience the camaraderie and support once a month. They are not surrounded by people who “get it”, who have “been there”, or with whom they can share an unspoken bond. They have been more affected by the economic downturn. Many are unable to find employment, unable to pay for housing, which are primary benefits of enlisting full time. Many are falling through the cracks and we need to make sure we are reaching out to our civilian warriors. They may seem so much like us—going about their daily lives, working at a normal job, but you can’t take the warrior out of a veteran. It is still there, whether you can see it or not.
But guardsmen or reservist or active duty, whether serving in Army, Marines, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force— they all suffer. In fact, another article states:

Although only 1 percent of Americans have served in the military, former service members represent 20 percent of suicides in the United States.

Holy cow. We are losing just as many {if not more} soldier here on our turf than overseas.
One of life’s questions that I will never understand is why those who’ve made the commitment to fight for others, why must they carry such heavy burdens for their remaining existence? Shouldn’t they be free from mental warfare for volunteering to go into physical warfare!? Physical warfare for you and for me. It’s just not fair.

Many of our veterans are fighting still today— fighting to maintain mental stability, fighting to keep their marriages together, fighting to find a purpose in life, fighting to become what they used to be before the scars of war were etched in their souls.

Please read sentence over, and over, and over again. Let is sink in to the depths of your toes. May your gratitude, thankfulness, respect amplify ten-fold. The sacrifice our soldier have, and are, making is not simply to lay their life on the line if duty calls… but to sacrifice what is often considered “normal” mental health. Marriages are failing, drug and alcohol rates are sky-rocketing, and we’ve already taken a look at the suicide rates. Our soldiers have sacrifice continues for a lifetime and we civilians need not to forget it.

What are you doing to help, support, encourage the veterans near you?

We all need to be doing something. Something bigger than what we may already be doing. Something more than a simple facebook status on this holiday, more than forwarding a sentimental email. Go out and actually *do* something. Find a group that supports our veterans; create one if you can’t find one. Shake hands of vets. Teach your kids. Send care packages. Adopt a veteran. The opportunities are endless. The important thing to remember here is to continue to support, encourage, and pray for those soldiers who’ve already made it home. They still have a battle to fight.

Consider sending a card to a veteran, courtesy of Tiny Prints. Just like them on facebook follow the directions. I’ve done it—it’s super simple and it doesn’t cost a thing. They have even teamed up with an organization to determine where to send the cards!

We met up with great grandpa for our annual visit to the Hy-Vee breakfast. Derek had the day off, so he was able to join us! We love our vets—especially Daddy and Great-Grandpa!

Happy Veteran’s Day! Enjoy it! And make a wish—it’s 11.11.11, a once in a lifetime occurrence {for most of us anyway}. God Bless!

Be kind, Please rewind!

2011-11-10T16:56:00.001-06:00

Though we normally view most of Jackson's movies on Netflix, there has been a major flashback at our house... videotapes! I happened to come across several at a garage sale awhile back and at 50 cents a piece, I couldn't pass it up! It's cheaper than renting, way cheaper than buying the DVD {whenever Disney decides to release them from the vault, which if you ask me is a dumb concept anyway}, and as long as our VCR works-- we're in business!

Jackson likes to look and make sure the video is still in each case. And when he stacked all four on his lap… he said, “whew, these are heavy.” Haha. {maybe it’s time to start lifting weights buddy!?}

A few weeks ago, my aunt and uncle were in town and so they stopped by one evening. Jackson had just finished a movie so we had turned off the tv, but started the rewind right as they walked through the door. My uncle sits on the couch and looks around, perplexed, and asks, “What’s that sound?… Is that… Is that a VCR???” Ha. It’s definitely a distinct sound! I remember my best friend in elementary school had a VCR rewinder and I thought she was living the life of luxury!!

While it’s annoying that our remote isn’t compatible with the VCR and we have to stand and wait {and wait and wait} for it to rewind or to fast forward through the previews… it’s nice that we can actually fast forward through the previews. No anti-piracy ads that you can’t skip and no annoying menu screen playing the same song clip over and over {and over and over} until you hit play.
And truthfully, these movies are better than the ones coming out these days anyway. And waaay better songs!
Hanukah Matah!

For this child, I have prayed

2011-11-07T22:22:00.001-06:00

Several years ago, I attended the Focus on the Family Institute {which has since been renamed Focus Leadership} out in Colorado Springs, CO. It was an amazing summer and one of the best parts was getting assigned to live with one of the sweetest {happiest, bubbliest} people I have ever met.

At Family Dinner- Kate's in green, I'm in blue

{back when I wore glasses and had blonde highlights}

Seriously, you cannot be around Kate without a smile. She even makes me grin when her status updates show up in my newsfeed on Facebook. Kate has been blessed with an amazing talent of writing. I always love reading what's going on in her mind and it's always so insightful. Even little pieces that reflect on Prince Charmings and Facebook etiquette {please read this... it's great!}-- can really get your mind turning and give you spiritual insight.

Unfortunately, Kate has dealt with unfortunate loss in the past couple of years. First, her father was killed in an automobile accident just mere weeks after her wedding. Kate was so open and transparent about the grief in her life, yet at the same time, she was able to reflect and give God the Glory at the same time. Read this piece and share it with anyone who's suffering loss. I promise you won't regret it.

And just this very week, Kate suffered a miscarriage. Even though I've never had to endure that crisis, I have watched as several friends- near and far, "in real life" and bloggy friends alike, suffer through that emotional turmoil. This was Kate's facebook status just yesterday:

It's funny...we say this verse "I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him," when we get pregnant and it makes our hearts happy and thankful. But the end of that verse is this..."So now I give him to the LORD. For his whole life he will be given over to the LORD." Hannah didn't get to keep her baby very long either. (1 Samuel 1:27-28)

I reread this status over and over again. And I realized that I, too, needed to hear this! I wish I would've known these words as I dealt with my postpartum depression after having Jackson. In fact, I could have used it after first finding out we were pregnant with him. I sobbed for a week unable to accept that things might actually be okay: I was certain something catastrophic was going to happen. I just knew! And then after he was born, I struggled just to let myself love him so much because I was devastated at the thought that I might actually lose him someday.

I was terrified my entire pregnancy with Belle of going into the same darkness after giving birth and even though I was medicated it still hit-- just not nearly as deep or hard. I didn't sleep a wink the first night she was home because I knew the minute I wasn't watching, something could happen to her.

Two things kept me grounded: Philippians 4 along with this little phrase I learned from a mentor in high school. She would tuck her kids in each night and say, "I love you. But Jesus loves you more." And at every moment that I would begin to worry, I reminded myself that God feels the same way about my little babies a million times more than I do. And he feels that way for each and every one of us too.

People sometimes say that the reason Christians believe in God is so that they have something to get through the hard times; to make life easier. But, I have to say-- sometimes it's harder. Because I have to trust His plan over mine. Even when it doesn't make sense and even {especially} when it hurts. Because it ultimately comes down to being God's "fault" and that isn't easy to deal with. But that's when I have to pray for God to give me that peace that passes understanding.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: Kate, you're strength and insight during difficult times NEVER ceases to amaze. You, my dear, are amazing. How you do it-- I don't even know. God's given you an amazing gift. I am so blessed to have you in my life.

Kate is having her procedure tomorrow. Please pray for her. Let us all pray for all of the families who've suffered through miscarriage. Pray that we can see God's hand and provisions even in the toughest times.

NFL Apron giveaway

2011-11-05T00:20:00.000-05:00

So I have another awesome giveaway for y’all! This is from Judy over at Judy Whitney Creations. She jumped right on board to join our birthday celebration/ military appreciation event! Judy is from California and she mentioned two of her friends are preparing for a one year deployment with the Navy. Despite being all the way over on the west coast {while I’m here just chillin’ in the midwest} is that we have one thing in common: we have friends and loved ones fighting for our country.

Well, I guess it’s two things. We both have an appreciation for some good football too! Judy’s shop is full of all sorts of sewing goodies, but the coolest ones are her NFL aprons!

As you should know by now, we are loyal Kansas City Chiefs fans. Through thick and thin {and thinner and thinner}. So, I of course think this is the best apron in her shop.

Each apron has an pocket on the chest in coordinating fabric.

And then four larger pockets that rest at the top of your legs!

The best part about the aprons is that they are a fun gift for the football loving man or woman in your life! Or, it could even be shared! If you had a divided house, it’d be super fun for each of you to sport your own apron when it comes time to watch the big game. And with Christmas coming up, this would be a great gift!

All of the items sold at Judy Whitney Creations are handcrafted in her smoke-free home. Judy’s shop has received a perfect positive rating from over 300 customers. Wow, she must be good!

She’s just *so* good that she is offering a credit towards her store good for the NFL apron of your choice! Enter to win for yourself or enter to win it as a Christmas gift! Use the entry form below!

And a big congratulations to Laura, the winner of the recycled soda can magnets from APMemory! I will get you in touch with Stacy so you can pick out your magnet!

Dashboard Confessional

2011-11-01T15:40:00.001-05:00

There are two things that you don't want to see only days after buying a new van:

The service engine soon light and the error light were both present on our van just two days after driving off the lot. How nerve wrecking, but it's part of getting a used vehicle I guess. The good news is that we have a 90 day warranty. The better news is that after I called our dealer guy, he told us just to bring it back and they'd look at it and get it taken care of without even having to use the warranty. Isn't that great customer service!? And the guy sent me home in a different van they had on the lot until ours gets fixed!

But did you notice that the dashboard also says it's 68 degrees outside?! What great weather for November 1st!! We, of course took advantage and played in the leaves for a little bit this morning.

{notice our non-Nissan sitting in the driveway? It's a 1998 Chrysler. It comes with a tape deck and everything if you're interested!}

Belle really wasn't having too much fun in the leaves....

But she did in the swing! And check if you look closely-- you'll see our little girl now has TWO teeth! :)

Happy November!

Happy Halloween & Go Chiefs

2011-10-31T21:23:00.003-05:00

The timing of the Chiefs' Monday Night Football game was perfect for our costumes!! Let's pretend I planned it that way!

Here's our football player!

And the cutest little cheerleader ever!

{check out these moves-- she's a total natural!}

We went to the Fall Festival at our church! Here's a few pictures of our fun evening!

The bounce house

{do you notice Belle cheering as Jackson shoots?}

We wrapped Daddy up like a mummy

{only Jackson kept saying "like a Christmas present}

Haha. If you lick a marshmallow, it will stick to your forehead. I never knew...

Look at that good aim!

Daddy and Belle

{after Derek said "She's too cute to be in the stroller!"}

We had a fun night. Jackson is so excited about all of his candy {mommy and daddy too}. It was a beautiful evening outside and we would have taken Jackson out trick-or-treating but he wasn't feeling to well {read: he was super cranky and uncooperative} so we just stayed in to watch the football game. Go Chiefs!

I love looking at kids in their costumes! Leave a comment with a link to your blog post of your kiddos all dressed up and I will go check it out!

Cocoa Mint Winner!

2011-10-27T20:58:00.000-05:00

Ladies and Gentlemen* we have a winner for the Cocoa Mint store credit!

And the winner is....

Congrats Heidi! I will email you with information about how to get in touch with Terri! I hope to see what you get with your credit!! Thanks for entering and be sure to check out the other giveaway that's going on-- $10 towards AP Memory's etsy shop, which sellsmagnets from recycled soda cans. They're super cute!

*are there any men, aside from the guys in my family who do so out of obligation, that read this blog!? If so, you're totally awesome. :)

Hello, Minivan!

2011-10-26T16:04:00.001-05:00

We have said our good-byes to our faithful Ford Escape in order to better equip our family outings. We have upgraded to our very own Swagger Wagon {please watch the video, it won't disappoint}. Ever since Julie was forced to ~~sit~~ squeeze between two car seats once Belle was born, we were itching for a new van and it we finally saved up to make it happen! Introducing our new 2005 Nissan Quest:

I was going to post this as a Wordless Wednesday post, but then I realized I had stuff to say about it. So this has become a Not-So-Wordless-Wednesday post!

Seriously, buying a van {or any car, I presume} is stressful business. First of all, I really thought minivans were so much more popular than they really are. Turns out, in *my* world, I see them everywhere! Like I pull into the parking lot for MOPS and it's practically a used minivan lot! But it turns out, minivans take up only a few spots on any car lots. I still felt that we had a good selection and I love the one we chose, but they weren't overflowing.

Second, comparing used cars is like comparing apples with oranges and picking between them was kinda tricky. You pick from what's available and you have to decide what matters most. Mileage and year were our top factors. I guess this wouldn't be an issue if you were buying pricier vehicles.

And then there is the task of figuring out the "real" numbers. My gosh, used car lots are confusing. On paper, our sales guy bought our car for more than it would sell in private sale so that when he added our cash, it looked like he sold the van for more. That made it confusing when trying to look at other vans to compare and it took awhile to figure out why the other vans in the same price range were newer and lower mileage-- it's because we didn't really pay that much for the car. If we look at what others would have paid, then subtract the difference from the van, then our van actually stands out as a much better vehicle than it's "real" price range. Confused? Yeah, me too. But it comes down to this: we paid the same amount in cash, no matter what he wrote on the sales slip. And we are satisfied with the deal after shopping around. No regrets.

Lastly, is the talking numbers. I do feel as if this is a strong suit for me. I'm not too shy and I don't mind playing the game. I wasn't afraid to ask straight out what we wanted and to be persistent, but making sure I did so with respect so he'd take me seriously. I sure am glad to be done with it though. It's tough always have a game face!

So here's a list of my favorite things about the van, in no particular order:

Keyless Entry {my escape was equipped for it, but since it didn't come with a remote and it's super expensive to replace, we never got it. My car was unlocked about 99.99% of the time because it was such a hassle to lock/unlock with kids in tow and that drove my husband CRAZY!}
Automatic back hatch open/close {Derek should be happy too as it will prevent me from hitting him in the head when I close the back hatch-- it's only happened twice but I will never stop hearing about it}
Oil change {and other maintenance} reminders- the non-husband, non-father kind.
The Look-- the body style doesn't seem so van-ish and we love the color {it's a sparkly navy blue}.
THE SPACE!
Digital display. I don't have to choose between radio station or clock display. It's got the temperature and the MPG and all sorts of gadgets.

And the very best thing-- we got this van Dave Ramsey style: trade-in and cash. No payments {despite CarMax guy promising me a *million* reasons why having a car payment and getting a much more expensive van is better and safer}. It was tempting, not the CarMax guy, but a different van. But we are satisfied with ours. It's used so sure there are marks here, signs of use here... but it runs good {we have a warranty for awhile}, it's clean, it's what we need, and we can afford it! Now, I just want to go drive it!

The things you learn at Grandma's

2011-10-23T22:47:00.000-05:00

This week's lesson is Biology 101. Our conversation at dinner tonight:

Me: Jackson, you really need to focus and eat your dinner
Jackson: Why?
Me: Because food makes our bodies healthy. We need to eat for our bodies to work.
Jackson: Our food goes in our tummies?
Me: Yes, it goes to our tummies.
Jackson: I put it in my mouth to get to my tummy.
Me: Yes.
Jackson: It goes through the big hole in the back {and proceeds to stick his finger as far down his throat as he can before I quickly intervene. Which, by the way I have determined that curiousity is what caused the I-can-make-myself-vomit-if-I-stick-my-finger-far-enough-down-my-throat revelation that occurred this week. No joke}.Me: Yes, it is back there. But you can't stick your finger back there.
Jackson: It goes down like a sli-i-i-i-ide!!!
Me: {humored} why yes, it does.
Jackson: And then it goes into my tummy. {takes bite to demonstrate}
Me: Mmhhmm
Jackson: And then it goes from my tummy to poop that comes out my bottom.
Me: {Quick glance to Derek. Work hard to not bust out laughing. Gain composure} Well, yes, I guess you are right.
Jackson: Yeah, it comes out of my bottom.
Me: Where did you learn this stuff? Who taught you this stuff?
Jackson: With Grandma... Grandma Linda!

At this point, we just laugh. You never know what this kid is going to say next. We did verify with Grandma Linda {but seriously, how could he just make that up} and she did say that they had that conversation once awhile back. What made him bring it up today? How did he remember it all from that long ago? No idea. At least he got the information right and didn't come up with something crazy absurd. And to be honest, it's nice that I don't have to explain where poop comes from-- because I am sure that's a question that Jackson could/would come up with!

Next on the agenda is Appropriate Dinner Topics. Soon to be addressed is How to Greet New Friends {this is after we met some people at lunch last week and his opening line was "God gave me a penis. Did he give you one?}. A friend once told me that Jackson needed his own reality tv show. If I didn't fear the Gosselin-family-outcome, I might even consider it. I seriously couldn't make this stuff up!

A Photographic Memory Review and Giveaway

2011-10-22T22:17:00.001-05:00

I happened to stumble across APMemory’s Etsy page whilst browsing Pinterest once upon a time. Cute magnets from recycled pop cans.{yes, that’s right. *pop* cans. All you soda people can just… ya know.} I actually emailed a friend the site because I knew they’d buy one as a Christmas gift.

So, when I was looking for sponsors for this giveaway event, I just knew these magnets would be super fun. I wrote a quick email and Stacy jumped on board right away! How awesome is she? She offered to send a magnet to be included in the care package and offer a $5 credit to my readers. She ended up sending THREE magnets and so I decided to pitch in an additional $5 so up for grabs is a $10 credit to APMemory for a magnet {or two or three}!

I really had no idea what type of magnet she was going to send and when I opened the package I was so excited. Not only were the designs perfect for the occasion, but the colors were awesome too!! Here’s the picture from the site:

And here’s a picture I took… and it’s so much cuter in real life, I promise. The back is lined with foam, so it’s thicker {and safer} than just the aluminum. There aren’t any sharp edges either!

So, you have $10 to APMemory’s store. What should you get?

If you’re a train-loving almost three year old, then this train magnet is perfect!

If you’re a Dr. Pepper-aholic {like the hubs} then this heart lock/key magnet set is a MUST. Seriously, if you x-rayed Derek’s chest, I am *certain* this is what his heart looks like.
And I, of course, have the key {which was obtained after taking him on a road trip
to the Dr. Pepper museum for his birthday the year we started dating.}

You could pick out one of the cool 3D magnet designs, like the flower or ladybugs!

And you can even get a necklace and earring set!

The best part is that not only are these items super fun, but they're “green!” I love her tagline: Reuse the Past, Save the Future!

Seriously, with the holiday coming up—this is a perfect place to get some fun items for stocking stuffers or for the friend/relative that already has everything! You can request different cans to be used for certain designs and so it’s a personalized gift too! And out of her 280+ items in her shop, all but two are $10 and under so it’s affordable. {and that means that if you win, you'll be able to take home multiple items!}

So, how do you get the $10 credit? Use the entry form below! Good luck! And be sure to stick around to for upcoming giveaways-- including an NFL apron and vinyl wall art for your home!

Train Party Glimpse

2011-10-21T23:28:00.001-05:00

Jackson's train party was tonight and it was so much fun. I am waaaay too pooped to go into detail, but here's a little glimpse of our evening!

{this last picture... Jackson made us put the sheet over his train set so his trains could go to sleep while he was sleeping too. The only thing that got that boy to sleep tonight was knowing he could wake up and play}

Eight Months

2011-10-19T22:06:00.001-05:00

Ohmigoodness... when did my little girl get so big?! She's mobile and quick. She is has a happy, energetic personality, and she's got her first tooth!!

My happy baby! The bottom right picture is a silly face to put in the collage,
but that's what she's up to these days, so I had to include it! Click on the picture
to make it larger to check out those baby blue eyes. Adorable!

Dear Belle,

Your smile is the highlight of each day. People *always* comment about you being such a happy baby and it is so true. A big smile awaits anyone who glance your way-- even if just for a quick moment. You've even been known to stop people in their tracks as they walk through the grocery store. I have a feeling you are going to give your father a bit of grief when you grow up to be such a pretty girl. How about you just stay a daddy's girl forever?!?

This month you've gotten a tooth, started pulling up, and started crawling on all fours a little bit. Oh, and you've got your first "trick"!! You can wave. And it is SO cute. It's a whole arm wave and it makes your whole body wiggle. And you make the happiest face when you do it-- see the middle picture above. You were in the middle of a two arm wave.

Sleeping has been a bit off this month. After your shots and then spending a week traveling about the state, your schedule got messed up-- and you didn't sleep through the night for two weeks. Up multiple times a night. Hear me out... that is not cool. I ended up having to let you cry it out one night. It didn't last long and you were back in your routine the next day. Until just the other day. You can stand up in your bed now. So, instead of falling asleep, you stand up and cry. Just because you can stand up, doesn't mean you need to at every moment. K?

You are still much more interested in eating real {baby} food than having a bottle. And you're much more interested in eating finger foods than being spoon fed. A little particular, maybe!? You will drink about 18-20 ounces a day and will have two bowls of baby food and cereal. You have started to eat some finger foods like cheerios and green beans. You also love to crawl around and find any crumb on the floor. Your favorite is paper. {I even used some paper to get you to cooperate in your little photo shoot}. You are wearing mostly 6-9 months clothing, though you are still wearing a few 6 month pieces. You're pretty short for you age {okay, a lot short} so some of the smaller stuff still fits.

Watching you and Jackson play is my absolute favorite thing. You absolutely adore him. And he is so fond of you. Sometimes Daddy and I just sit in the front room watching you two do your thing. Jackson will put his face really close to yours and you will giggle-- He has a special face that he only uses on that occasion! Jackson will crawl and you will chase after him. The only problem is that you think that all babies/toddlers are yours to crawl after and climb. You just love to play with people. Oh, and I don't have a picture, but I swear that your BFF is the little girl in the mirror. You are so funny to watch when you see yourself. It can keep you entertained for nearly an hour at times!!

You are just a great little girl. We wouldn't know what to do with ourselves with you, sweet Belle!! Love, Mommy and Daddy!

You've outgrown some of your toys and have started to utilize them in different ways-- like crawling through and playing underneath your exersaucer.

Jackson was the first person to "catch" you standing up all by yourself! He is such a proud big brother... and look at you, you're so big!

You've started to get your own free cookie from Walmart to ~~share~~ enjoy. You really like the paper better, but I won't let you eat it.

This is your favorite spot. You love that extension cord. I can put you anywhere in the house and you always find your way back here.

And seriously, you love for your feet to be up. They are always up.

even when you are SLEEPING!!! Both legs up in the air. How do you do it???

We love you princess!

Wordless Wednesday: Greats

2011-10-18T23:23:00.000-05:00

One proud Great Grandpa!

{source}

Grandpa Duff with his great grandkids!

{source}

Great Grandma Duff

{source}

Gram Gram

Great Grandma Trickel along with Great Great Aunt Margie

Great Grandma Dryer

Great Grandma Creason

I know Jackson and Belle will grow to treasure these pictures. How blessed are my kiddos to be able to have so many "greats" from this generation in their lives!

She's back!

2011-10-16T20:34:00.000-05:00

Our favorite Dane is back!! According to Jackson, Julie is back from Capenhogen. Ha, it's close, right?

Jackson has been especially hyper ever since we picked her up from the airport Friday night. He just can't get enough of her and he is glad he can finally have his birthday {we've told him all along that he will have his birthday party while she is here visiting}.

We went up to Trenton for the Missouri Days festival on Saturday. Julie was Jackson's partner in collecting candy {and other goodies} from the parade!

Jackson is so impressed that people actually throw candy {though not quite like last year-- please rewatch that video. So funny}. And he kept checking inventory of his loot.

And of course, Julie was excited to see Belle, who has grown so much in the past four months!

{In case that wasn't clear, it is Belle that has grown so much. Not Julie. She actually shrank a little.}

And we happened to run into Chacey too! Chacey has major Julie withdrawal and apparently asks about her a lot. How cute are they?

Julie has used the phrase "our house" or "our home" a few times and that really, really makes me happy! We're going to have a great week- a busy week, but it will be good!

{be sure to check out the giveaway going on for party invitations and decorations!}

Cocoa Mint Review and Giveaway

2011-10-14T15:15:00.000-05:00

To kick off our birthday celebration & military appreciation event, we have a giveaway today from Terri over at Cocoa Mint!

I was browsing around for invitations for Jackson's birthday party and I loved her design! I contacted her about purchasing the design and if she'd be interested in doing a giveaway. She was happy offer a credit to one of my lucky readers and then she even offered the template for me at no cost. And then-- she even went over to Kids Link to make a donation to support the kiddos who have deployed parents. Isn't she amazing?

Cocoa Mint offers all sorts of graphics and digital goodies! I was interested in her train invitation template.

She emailed me the pdf file and then I added the words and party details.

I uploaded the file to Walmart.com, had it printed and went and picked it up! Easy Peasy. Walmart offers stationary paper too, so the invitation isn't a glossy photo. It's on nice card stock and comes with a nice envelope!

There are invitations for any occasion and are good for all ages!

Cocoa Mint offers matching party printables, like these cupcake toppers and digital scrapbook pages too!

There is also a page full of freebies for you to enjoy just because she's awesome. Be sure to check those out!!

I just checked out her site right before posting and stumbled on a super fun surprise for y'all! There is a huge sale going on-- 30% off! Go ahead and stock up for the events you have coming up this year- birthdays, baby announcements, wedding/baby showers! {It says it's a Fall Weekend sale-- so you might want to do your shopping before the weekend is over!}

I'm thinking I might just have to plan a pirate party for Jackson next year because the design is just too cute to pass up. In fact, I might plan ALL of their birthdays around these invitations-- cowboys, princesses, ladybugs, baseball! But for one lucky reader, a $10 credit to the store is up for grabs!! The entry form is below. Good luck!!

Starting Tomorrow

2011-10-13T15:38:00.000-05:00

Okay folks, we have some exciting stuff going on here and it's all starting tomorrow! First of all, Derek has the day off. Woo hoo! Secondly, Julie is flying in to visit for a week and we are SUPER excited to see her! But that's probably more exciting for us than it is for you. Last, but certainly not least, tomorrow is the start of a super fabulous giveaway event... right here! The best part is that it will last until November with giveaways each week!

Jackson's birthday is this month- I can't believe he is turning three! We wanted to do a party, but I feel weird about having our friends feel obligated to purchase a gift and we certainly do not need any toys. {Don't worry, we're doing family gifts, so he isn't completely missing out on the joy of a birthday!} So instead of gifts for Jackson, we've asked guests bring items to include in a care package to send to deployed soldiers. These items have been specifically been requested by the soldiers, so it is all sure to get good use. Here is the back of the invitation we sent out:

{ You'll get to see the front of the invitation tomorrow... it's part of the first giveaway! }

The awesome part about it all is that these giveaways is that beyond offering a giveaway here to you guys, they have also contributed items to our care package and/or made a monetary donation to Kids Link. Some of the people I've been working with chose just to donate extra to the care package rather than bring attention to themselves for a giveaway. So get excited friends! And keep these shops in mind when it comes time to think Christmas gifts!

If you or someone you know would be interested in contributing to the care package and being a part of this giveaway event-- please contact me. I'd love to fit as much in as possible!

Pray and Play

2011-10-12T14:19:00.000-05:00

The kids and I spent our time a friends house for part of this morning to be a part of the Pray and Play group. Our MOPS group started meeting again last month and I'm excited to be able to join in the pray and play time this year!

It is precisely what it sounds like. The kiddos play and the mommies pray. We pray over the prayer requests submitted at the MOPS meeting the week prior and for our kiddos and husbands.

This was by far the most chaotic praying experience ever. There was an abundance of banging going on in the basement, a loud fussy baby {mine} along with fairy princesses joining us!

I have got to figure out the book the Katherine brought today-- it's about how and what to pray for our children. I always try to pray for them, but I don't always know what to pray for exactly. Anyway, this book was a prayer guide about characteristics backed by scripture to pray for your kids. I can just remember two off the top of my head-- kindness and obedience-- but there were many, many more.

One of the mentor moms also had such a great tip that I thought I'd pass along. Being always on the go {and the times when I do get the chance to sit and relax, I generally just fall asleep}, finding a big chunk of time to pray is tough. But Debbie mentioned that she would pray for her children as she was picking up the house. Like, if I'm putting away Belle's laundry, I'd take that time to pray for her and if I'm picking up Jackson's toys that would be the time to pray specifically for him. What a neat way to be diligent about praying for our children! {And as one mom pointed out, this would be a guaranteed way to pray without ceasing!}

I didn't want to keep this tip all to myself, so I just had to share! Do you have a special way or handy tip that you use to pray for your children? Your spouse?

Pumpkin Patching

2011-10-11T16:07:00.000-05:00

Derek had the day off yesterday so we ventured out in the perfect weather to visit the pumpkin patch! It was super fun!

We enjoyed...

Feeding Goats

Riding "tractors"

Swinging on tire horses

Lasso-ing

{oops, he lassoed himself!}

Maze Navigating

{looks like Jackson won this race!}

pumpkin photo-shooting

Hay Riding

Pumpkin Exploring

{this one is too little}

{this one is too big}

{but this one is JUST RIGHT!}

We had so much fun! We bought the just-right pumpkin to carve and we got a smaller pumpkin to cook with. Let's just hope that's not a complete disaster. The best part is that we have a season pass {thanks Groupon!} and so we're sure to go back again!

One Year

2011-10-07T17:43:00.000-05:00

It was one year ago. After two and a half months of anxiously awaiting, communicating only by snail mail, and making the decisions about what to pack and what to wear when I first got to see Derek... it all led up to this moment:

Amazing.

Here's a recap of our visit at Fort Benning:

We visited the post for Family Day activities in the morning.

A make-shift birthday party for Jackson in the hotel lobby

We found out we were going to have a precious baby GIRL!!

We watched Derek's graduation ceremony, which was really, very cool. If you didn't read it last year, you should definitely click here to check it out!

Family Time after the graduation!

Next, we traveled to Fort Gordon, got Derek checked in to his AIT location.

This is where we were supposed to say good-bye-- after a short two and a half day visit. But I was ELATED {understatement} when he ended up having two extra days to spend to us. THANK YOU COLUMBUS DAY!

We visited the National Infantry Museum {which was really cool, read about it here}

Visited the Atlanta Zoo

and Chuck-E-Cheese

and the highly recommended Varsity burger joint.

It was such a great weekend. And Derek managed to get Monday off work {Columbus Day again!} and so we're excited for a three day weekend this year!

Today's soundtrack

2011-10-06T12:54:00.000-05:00

This, my friends, is the soundtrack from our car ride earlier today.

{yes I was driving. BUT I had set up the video function before I took off and all I did was hit record and hold the phone, which is why you only get to view the dashboard and not the kids themselves, even though I would love to have it on tape for blackmail use someday}.

Oh yes, be very jealous.

We were on our way home from a friends house. Now, maybe you think that Jackson is upset because he had to leave his friend. However, we actually left because Jackson started his crying, screaming fit while we were there and so we had no choice but to ~~evacuate~~ leave and come home.

And because he was crying/screaming in the car, it upset Belle who joined in on the fun. Both kids are now in bed, asleep. In fact, today is the very first time that Jackson got sent to nap without any lunch. I feel mean and awful. I talked to him kindly saying that I can't wait to play with him when he takes a nap and wakes up happy. {He will wake up happy, won't he!?}

I seriously have no idea where this fit came from and I am definitely hoping it never happens again. It's so unlike him! At least we weren't in the grocery store. Speaking of which, I needed to stop on the way home but decided it wouldn't really be a great idea. But now I don't have hamburger buns for dinner. Anyone want to pick some up for me??

I'm off to enjoy the quiet. And maybe catch up on this week's episode of Glee.

Edit: Jackson woke up in a great mood. A completely different kid. We're gonna have a good afternoon.

DIY t-shirt pillows

2011-09-30T16:30:00.002-05:00

This year, all my sister got for her birthday this year was a bunch of old t-shirts! Practically devastating for a girl who starts counting down her birthday from 364 days away.

Never fear, I know better than to let her down on her day! I got so excited about this project months ahead of time and look how cute they look after being re-purposed into pillows!

There's one pillow for each of her schools-- high school, freshman year of college, and the school she just transferred to {which happens to be *my* college and how this whole idea came into play!}. In a major closet cleaning I realized I needed to part with a well loved shirt from my college days, but instead of tossing it, I decided it'd be fun to transform it and give it Laura when she moved down to Springfield. And then I came upon the other shirts and knew I needed to make a trio.

I'm new to crafting and sewing, so I googled ways to make pillows and I decided I wanted to try out a few different methods so each pillow will have a different look. I'll explain a little about how I made them-- I promise it is *so* easy because if I can do it, you can too!

First, the no-sew method. I watched this video for a general idea. Basically, you just need to make two boxes. One that will be the actual pillow perimeter and the next is a larger rectangle {about an inch bigger on each side}. Cut around the the larger rectangle and then cut strips stopping at the inner rectangle. The lady in the video used 2 inch strips, but I used about half-inch strips just because it was a small pillow and I liked the look better.

Lastly, just tie all but a few knots. Stuff and finish tying and you're ready to go! It took me about an hour or so total. I could have used the same grey shirt for the back, but I thought purple backing would be cute {and it is} and it was around $1 at JoAnn's. I did use some hot glue some of the seams where stuffing was poking out, but you can't tell. Tip: the longer the strips, the easier it is to tie. You can always go back and trim them down.

This is a t-shirt that was Julie's. Super cute shirt, but it had a hole in the back. It was destined to be a pillow! This was actually a very thin shirt, so before I did anything with it, I sprayed it {inside out} with starch spray a million times, or like six or seven. Made a huge difference. This pillow is just a basic pillow. I cut around the design, had it sewn inside out {I outsourced this job to Mom due to my lack of sewing machine}, turned it right side out, stuff, and then finished sewing it together. I did a pretty miserable job doing the closing stitching... but it's a cute pillow nonetheless!

Lastly, my labor of love pillow. This was a charcoal grey t-shirt, size small {from ya know, back when I actually wore size small t-shirts}. The trouble with small shirts is that the design goes right up to the sleeve, which didn't leave any room for the seam. And the location of the Missouri State and the bear would have made for such an awkward shaped pillow. So with this pillow, I cut out the design and hand-stitched it to a black fabric and then, with inspiration from this blog {a baby bib tutorial, no less!}, I decided to cut little slits along the outline so that it would make frayed edge. I did the lettering first.

As I started to do the bear, I decided I wanted to add a layer of the maroon behind it to add to the fraying part. I wish I would have done it to the lettering as well, but like I mentioned I hand-stitched and it took forever. I couldn't undo all that work only to do it again!

And then lastly, this pillow was sewn together right side out so that I could make the edges frayed. The key with getting the edges frayed after cutting the slits is to wash it. Also, make sure to purchase flannel material- it frays the best. I picked out a fleece material because it was soft, not thinking how it would fray and it turns out-- it doesn't fray at all. I did add strips of the original shirt to give an extra fluff to the edge.

So anyway, this was a super fun project and the pillows look cool in her apartment. I spent about $5 on fabric, but that's because I chose for the backs to be a different color. I easily could have used the back of the shirt. The black I used for the front of the Missouri State pillow is left over from what I bought for the back of the Mizzou pillow. I cut up one of our old {flat and frumpy} pillows and used it as the filling and it fit the three pillows perfectly.

I'm NEVER playing again!

2011-09-29T19:42:00.001-05:00

A Sonic frisbee made itself into our yard this week-- the kind that's worth a free Route 44 drink and 10% off your order. Cool, eh? Before we trade our frisbee in for the goodies, we had lots of fun tossing it back and forth in the backyard.

Derek showed Jackson how to throw it and we all took turns throwing it to each other. Of course, when Jackson threw, it didn't get very far, but we were always saying "good throw" and other sentiments because he was doing a pretty good job for being two.

But apparently, Jackson was just getting frustrated that he couldn't throw it as far as we were. One time, after tossing the frisbee just a short distance, he stomped his feet and did the Johne-Chapman-grunt and screamed "I AM NEVER PLAYING AGAIN!" and he stormed off. I tried to tell him it was a good throw and he continued shouted back, "It was NOT a good throw and I'm NOT playing again!"

Derek and I totally cracked up {in the quiet way as to not hurt his feelings}. But seriously, it was hilarious.

He really didn't play with it again and he actually got mad that Derek and I continued to play. Temper much?

Wordless Wednesday: Royalty

2011-09-28T09:47:00.001-05:00

Today's Trip to Target

2011-09-26T14:44:00.000-05:00

Today we went to Target. This is Jackson's outfit of choice-- tiny shorts, cowboy boots, and a helmet.

His new favorite thing is to watch himself on the security cameras. He squirms all around just to make sure it's him on the screen.

The alternate way of using the little kid part on the cart-- and she can feed herself this way. Why didn't I ever think of this before?

Jackson's new way of riding around on the cart... and I'm totally cool with it because it means he's not climbing on shelves or running the aisles.

Belle tried on a headband and it was so cute, we just had to buy it!

We splurged and got a snack on our way out. Eating pizza is kind of tricky when you have the facemask and chin guard in your way.

Belle enjoyed a little bit of a breadstick!

and of course, this happened....

We did actually go to Target for purposes other than taking pictures and creating blog posts. I saw a rug awhile back and I wanted to check it out for Jackson's room. The greatest part-- it was on clearance! It's the kind with the road on it so he can drive his cars around. Super excited about it! I also got a blanket for his bed {he only has sheets right now} for only $10 from the college clearance. Successful trip I must say!

Wordless Wednesday: Jackson, make the face that makes Belle smile

2011-09-21T13:56:00.002-05:00

... and it works every time!

Operation Keep-Busy-While-Derek's-Gone

2011-09-20T23:42:00.000-05:00

When I planned to keep busy while Derek spent his two weeks at annual training {National Guard}, I didn't imagine myself being so pooped! Today we got home after being out and around the state for seven days. Whew!

First stop: I went down to visit my sister who transferred to Missouri State in Springfield, which is also where Derek and I went to school {*cough* nine years ago.} Mom and Dad kept the kids for a few days and it was super fun hanging out with Laura and totally nostalgic to be back on campus and around town: eating at the student union, Thursday night ministries, late night at the coffee house.... parking tickets. Totally a flashback college experience. I also got to catch up with several college friends-- shopping, Starbucks, McAllisters {yum!}. It was super fun.

Second stop: I drove up from Springfield to stop by and see my other sister who is at Mizzou. My parents met up with us there and Ashley walked us all around campus and showed us around. It was fun because she was just so excited about it all. It was a definite reminder of how much walking I did in college. Geez. But I guess I wasn't carrying around a whiney, napless two year old then either. But at least we got to eat some Shakespheare Pizza. Delish.

Third stop: I spent a few days up with my parents next. Mom cooked fried chicken on Sunday {more yum!}, we took the kiddos to see The Lion King, which was cool in 3D. I taught Dad how to use Craigslist {again}. Jackson and I also made applesauce!

Pit stop: I drove the kids over to Derek's hotel {fancy army training, right!?} so that we could see him for a quick minute after he got back from the post, Fort Leavenworth. Derek's been working 12 hour days for nearly a week and he has over a week left-- no weekend! He's even more pooped than me and seeing the kids for a little bit really boosted his spirit!

Fourth stop: Mom, the kids, and I traveled up to Trenton to visit my Grandma's on Monday. Both grandma's were happy to see the kids {me and mom too, I think} and Grandma Trickel made homemade noodles for lunch today {even MORE yum!}. The kids and I did make a quick pit stop to visit a high school friend and her kiddos.

We made it home from Trenton at 3:30 this afternoon-- just in time for me to change and get ready to head to YoungLives club at 4ish and then off to book club at Panera {need I mention another yum?!}. Tomorrow morning is MOPS, which I'm super excited about. And tomorrow evening we have the Wednesday night meal and church. Thursday is Belle's 6 month doctor visit {yes, she just turned seven months... we're a little behind, okay?!} and then Friday we are headed to get Jackson's allergy shots and possibly meeting my mother-in-law for lunch.

Operation Keep-Busy-While-Derek's-Gone complete. Maybe a little overboard, but I've had a great time catching up with SO many friends and family even if we have spent way too many hours in the car this week!

Seven Months

2011-09-18T22:58:00.000-05:00

Wowzers... it's that time again! Belle is seven months old today! I was so caught up on her being six months that this one really crept up on me! With every passing month, we just love her more and more! She's a keeper.

{click the picture to make it larger-- worth it!}

Dear Belle,

As always, you are just so darn cute... and you know it too. Of course, I love it that people think you are just oh-so-adorable, but it really makes my outings take longer. Sometimes it seems that every single person we come across has to ooh and aah over you! I guess it's just the price I pay for procreating cute babies.

You have got a *ton* of personality these days. You like to play with toys, crawl around the house, and play with Jackson. You are capable of expressing your mood, and you do- whether its a delightful squeals or I'm-just-not-happy-about-this cries. When you do make your super upset cry, you make the most pitiful little face and it's hard not to chuckle.

You're still sleeping through the nights most of the time. We really appreciate that! You sleep on your stomach and always with a stuffed animal {two major no no's, but we do it anyway}. You have a definite preference to sleeping in your crib. When we are at home, you'll take three naps a day. If not, you just take several short cat naps and you're kind of cranky.

You're wearing size 2 diapers these days and mostly 6 months clothes, but really, it's basically whatever we have that fits the temperature outside. You wear a little Mizzou onesie that's a three month size and since it's been cold, you've been wearing nine month clothes. Whatever it is though, you always look cute.

You can be kind of finicky with eating. Some days, you won't hardly eat anything and other days you can't stop eating. Sometimes you want only baby food and nothing to do with the bottle and other days you refuse to eat baby food. I am the only person who can really get you to eat baby food-- you're kind of a pickle when other people try to feed you! You make it very obvious when you don't want to eat-- you wait until the spoon is at your face and then you spit. And it leaves me covered in green beans, mango, or whatever. Not cool. You like to eat the little biter biscuits and it's so cool to see your little hands pick it up and get it in your mouth!

You've become an expert crawler. You get yourself through the entire house. It's still an army crawl, but that's not slowing you down at all. You've started to get up on all fours, but when you try to move your legs, it sends your face right to the ground. Kinda funny. You can almost get yourself to the sitting position from being on the ground. And your favorite position is what we call the playboy pose {but that is in NO way, shape, or form approving of a similar future}. You like to pause in the midst of rolling from front to back, and you just chill out, leaning back on one elbow. I tried to get a picture today, but was unsuccessful. Clearly it's something you only like to do when it's your idea. I will capture that shot soon.

I really think that Jackson is your favorite toy. You just love it when he will pay attention to you. It's been really fun watching you two "play" together. He will crawl really slow and you will take off after him and he likes to get down and make funny faces at you while you squeal happily. Jackson likes to hold you and when you wave your arms every-which-way, he thinks you're "getting" him and he cracks up. I can't wait for you guys to grow up and be great friends. No fighting. Ever. Mkay?

You've got that daddy guy wrapped around you're little chubby fingers. He loves coming home to your happy welcome and you get all excited to see him come home! Daddy is an expert at getting you to laugh and it's the sweetest sound ever. We are just so thrilled to have you {even your super wiggly, eager to move tenancies!} and we love you bunches and bunches. Love, Mommy and Daddy.

You started playing on the big kid tunnels at the park. Notice that little tongue sticking out-- it is *always* out.

Aunt Laura gave you a little pedicure this month. You loved it! Pink toes are the best.

And here are some outtakes-- these monthly pictures are getting harder and harder to take! She's wiggly, she's crawling, and she's tired because I have to take so many stinkin' pictures becuase she just WON'T HOLD STILL!

When you turn eight months next month, Julie will be here to visit and she is hardly going believe how much you've grown!

Daddy Fun

2011-09-13T22:50:00.000-05:00

My kids are so blessed to have such a good daddy! Derek is so good about playing with the kids when he gets home- like gets down on the floor and rolls around and gets all silly, even though he's put in a long day at work. Jackson will say, "You came back for me!?" when Derek walks in the door at night and Belle gets all happy when she sees him too {which, if I am holding her, it means she gets wiggly and flails her arms about and I am collateral damage}. It's all just so sweet.

Derek is off for his two weeks of annual training, but he got in some good Daddy Fun before heading out.

Belle was cracking up at Derek making some sort of silly noise at dinner tonight. I love me some baby giggles!

Lately, Derek has been so good at getting down and playing all sorts of silly games with Jackson. Like, I will leave for just a little bit and when I come home, the two have some sort of play secrets. It includes watching Spiderman cartoons and wrestling/running/throwing on the couch. Super cute.

I thought Jackson was just climbing on for a typical horsey ride...

... but apparently, it includes Derek running around the house with Jackson giggling hysterically the entire time. And Jackson insists that he say, "ye ha" while running.

Not only is Derek Super-fun Dad, but he pulled out his great husband card the other night when he watched both kids while I went out for a girls' night and he cleaned the entire house after the kids went to bed.

Yes, be jealous.

We will never forget

2011-09-11T14:28:00.001-05:00

While we were eating dinner at church last Wednesday night, I overheard a friend talking with her third-grade daughter about her school day.

Mom: What did you learn in school today?
Daughter: We talked about when two planes crashed into twin towers.
Mom: Oh yeah? What did you learn about it?
Daughter: We learned that 3,000 people died and another plane crashed in a field.

The conversation when continues, but it hit me like a ton of bricks-- Realizing that to Katie {and her generation and every generation that follows} the attacks on 9/11 will merely be something they learn about in textbooks at school. And it really just hit me like a ton of bricks.

Now my sisters are quite a bit younger than me. They were in elementary school in 2001 {and Laura was actually celebrating her 10th birthday the day of the terrorist attacks!} and while they were too young to really know what happened, they can both express how things were different that day. They knew *something* happened.

But when Katie mentioned learning about the planes crashing into the towers, it reminded me of the times when my mom would ask me about my day at school. Like, when Kennedy was shot, when Pearl Harbor was bombed, when Nazi Germany surrendered and people celebrated Victory across the word. The subjects I learned about in History class.

History.

I can imagine this is just how the people of generations of that time feel about me. I am sure that when December 7th passes by each year, that they remember that very day when Pearl Harbor was bombed-- where they were, how they felt, how the world changed.

I still remember that day in September.

I was a senior in high school, sitting in first hour when Mr. Ockenfels came in the room and said, "remember what you're doing right now. You will remember it for the rest of your life." The news websites were down from all of the traffic, so we listened to the news events of that day by radio. It was so confusing. What happened?! Why?? Another plane. Why?? After school, I waited in a line that went all the way down the street just to fill up with gasoline. I watched the news all night that evening after our scheduled volleyball game was cancelled.

But the thing that really matters, is that the next day- life went on. I went to school, my parents went to work. As did the rest of the world. We weren't going to let this horrific tragedy keep us down. Our nation joined together to pray for more people to be found, for the safety of the rescue workers, for our armed forces. Teams from all over the country went to the city to help piece back together the disaster area the terrorists left for us. We overcame. We stood united.

Life went on. I graduated, went to college. I married my college sweetheart. And now we have two children. Ten years has passed, but I will never forget.

We will never forget.

I write this now. I want my children to know what it was like to celebrate this unfortunate anniversary. I want them to understand why we honor the lives lost on this day. I want them to be so proud of that pilot who crashed his plane into the field, the first responders who lost their lives helping others, the young men and women who lined up to enlist in the service. I want them to understand what happened that day- that it wasn't an accident, but planned and intentional.

Not to scare them or to taint their childlike view of our world, but to teach them that we have something worth fighting for. To teach them of our great freedoms in this country and what it means to do the right thing. To stick up for people. To understand that freedom comes at a cost and it is our responsibility to stick together and support each other. And lastly, to understand why Daddy decided to enlist to serve our country- that sometimes we must serve a greater purpose than our own. And even though it means that sometimes he has to be gone, it is because he is doing his part to keep us safe. To keep us all safe.

I love what Lara at Less Cake {More Frosting} created as a FREE printable. Just check out her site and read her touching posts as well.

{Lastly, happy 20th birthday Laura!}

Are you ready for some football??

2011-09-10T10:50:00.000-05:00

We sure are!

Not only has Jackson been socializing with the Chiefs cheerleaders, he's been practicing his skills with daddy in the backyard. He loves to throw the football around. And he really wants a helmet, but I fear that once he gets one, he'll never take it off and he'll end up wearing it to bed {kind of like his Daddy Boots}.

Derek is super excited about football too as he is determined to make up for missing the season last year while being at army training. And I can't deny that I enjoy it too. We had Derek's parents over the other night to watch the season opener-- good game! My fantasy team is up and ready to go and I am going to dominate over my father-in-law this week.

I only wish that we could go to a game this season, but tickets are expensive and parking alone costs more than going out to dinner. At least at home, I can watch on a comfy couch and take a nap.

LOL Pictures

2011-09-08T15:55:00.000-05:00

Whenever I upload photos from my camera to my computer, I like to take an inventory and decide what ones are keepers and which ones to use for blog posts. These pictures all made my keepers, but they haven't found a space on my blog until now. The only thing they all have in common is that they make me chuckle. And I hope you get a smile out of it too!

When my friend came to stay, I found Caleb "shaving" his legs with sunscreen and a house key. Hilarious.

Geez Mom, get that camera OUT OF MY FACE.

Me: Jackson, what ARE you doing?!?

Jackson: I'm just licking my knee, Mom.

Me: Oh, okay. That's normal.

Why do you make me wear these dumb bows anyway?

"No one feeds me anything yummy in this house. I guess I'll eat my toes."

And my favorite:

DIY Sunburst Mirror

2011-09-06T22:09:00.000-05:00

Sometime over the course of the past several months, I was bit by the crafty bug. This is a phase that normally hits me when I'm pregnant, so it's weird having a crafty itch that isn't baby themed. But I'm loving my new hobby. I can't even share about my favorite project that I've been working on because it's a birthday gift for my sister! At least her birthday is soon.

But, this is the project that started it all. This just caught my attention somewhere out there in cyberspace and it seemed simple enough- and I had been looking FOREVER for something to go in the big space above our bed. And seriously, the cost of this guy was a whooping $15 and just a couple of hours.

This guy here has a regular price of $239, but that's ridiculous. Thank goodness that it's on sale for $198! Did I mention that I made mine for under $20?!?

This was my inspiration piece from JandJ Home. She left the wood on hers unfinished. I like that look, but it would totally clash with our bedroom. I just used some extra spray paint I already had and it looks great in our space.

She explains the steps well and I followed her instructions right on, so I'm not going to post them again. I really suggest that you do! I really want to make one for my sister's college apartment-- it would look great above their couch, but there isn't anyway to hang it because they can't put holes in the wall.

My thoughts on the project.

Purchase the 2 Wooden rings (on the back) and mirror are from Michaels-- one at a time, use a 40% off each time. These coupons are everywhere and you generally get one on your receipt to use towards a future purchase.

This uses A TON of glue sticks. I had a little almost a half a bag, but I ended up running out. I hate having to stop on a project for something like that. {I did mess up, so I had to tear off the first layer and start over, which didn't help my glue stick supply situation.}

I've seen projects like this where people have used paint sticks or rulers, but I'm convinced that using wooden shims are the way to go because of it's wedge properties. The middle, where you glue and hang your mirror, isn't as bulky as the outer edges because the sticks get wider as they go out. It just lays better and looks better. And wood shims are super cheap {especially when your dad has buckets of them lying around his work shed}.

Make sure to use wood glue to attach the mirror to the sunburst. Hot glue will not do the trick.

Here are some more pictures.

The great thing about this project, aside from it being super cheap to make such a large piece, is that it isn't a pristine finished product. It looks best when you use all of the shims in a package, even if one isn't as pretty as the rest. It adds to the natural aspect of the project-- plus, it offers a little grace while putting it together!

Have questions?? Be sure to ask!

Doctor Jackson

2011-09-02T23:03:00.001-05:00

What do you need to play doctor? If you're two (and a half), all you need is a hanger and some stuffed animals (or a Grandma).

See him listening with his "stethoscope"?

And look at his long line of patients!

It was so cute to sit and watch him play doctor tonight. It's like a peek at how he views the world. He was listening to them and also looking in their ears and saying, "nope, not in there!"-- which is what the doctor said to him this week! She said she needed to see if the frog jumped in his ear and he sat so still for her to look! Jackson was also giving out lots of pokes, but band-aids too. Poor guy. That's all he thinks doctors do since we go every week.

But seriously, I'm so impressed with his imagination in using a hanger for a stethoscope/ear-checker-flashlight-thing/band-aid holder. (take that you nurse who thought he was behind on his pretend play!). I've never seen him play quite like that before. So cute.

Just a Mommy

2011-09-01T22:25:00.000-05:00

I read a blog post a few weeks ago about never describing yourself as "just" anything. Like when people say, "I'm just a stay at home mom" as a way of admitting that it's a lazy job or something. But right now, I am totally embracing being "just a mommy".

This past year was just CRAZY! Foreign exchange student, attending grad school, "single" mom to a toddler, full time childcare provider-- all while being pregnant with an active duty husband. It totally didn't seem to crazy busy at the time. It was just life, but just thinking about it in hindsight wears me! I loved (still do) every aspect of that chaotic time and I wouldn't go back to change a single thing!! I love my grad school studies, Julie became a permanent part of our family, and can't imagine Belle becoming a part of our family at any other time.

Life right now is different. I am "just a mommy." And I love it that way. It's back-to-school time everywhere around me, but not for me. There are foreign exchange students who need homes. I've thought about finding a job to bring in extra money, but now just isn't the time. I will have the rest of my life to fill full with a jam-packed schedule, but this is the time for my family. This is the time for my kids.

I am enjoying days with my kids, evenings with my family. I am enjoying my efforts to become a better housewife. I have time in most of my days to just breathe. I have found a new hobby with crafty stuff and I am making all sorts of fun things for around the house! My kitchen is clean at the end of most night. Derek and I typically watch a show together and we have time to have conversations before bed. I have the time to become more involved in YoungLives and I am working hard on being intentional about finding opportunities to serve others. Instead of being strung out across so many different "hats" I am able to wear a select few a little more deeply.

And it feels good.

It feels right. Just like last year felt right; I knew that is what God had in store for me during that season. But I am really enjoying this season too. I will eventually get around to finishing my grad school. I will eventually work outside the home. And I will eventually start saying "yes" to being involved in other activities and projects. But for now we're keeping our life simple, enjoying our little family for what it is right now. Life is good.

While my blog has been, and will continue to be predominantly my "scrapbook" for our family memories, I am eager to share new things in this space. I have DIY projects to share, recipes, and home organizing tips that have really helped me develop in my "just a mommy" stage of life!

My Quotable Kid

2011-08-30T16:11:00.002-05:00

I would love this little book to write down all of the things Jackson says. Unfortunately for me (a good thing for our checkbook) this guy is out of stock so this virtual space of mine will just have to do! I really didn't know motherhood would make me laugh so much. I love it!!

Here are some of Jackson's recent notable quotes:

If you ask Jackson his name, he will say "I'm Jackson (pronounced Jackshon) and I'm two and a half!" In all actuality, a stranger is more likely to know he is two and a half than to know his name.
When I say, "Do you understand me?" he replies by saying "Yes Man."
He uses the word "shark" interchangeably with "sharp". Is that too shark for me?
In Jackson's world you pay for something and you get whatever you want. One night when we couldn't see the moon, he asked if I could pay for the moon so he could look at it from his window. He also asked for money the other day so that he could buy cookies for Daddy.
Jackson is exploring using emotion words and he doesn't always get it right. Sitting at Dairy Queen a few weeks ago, he is delighting in his ice cream and proclaims, "I'm upset" in the most matter of fact sort of tone. He was convinced he was upset, but we were convinced otherwise. This morning, Jackson was talking to Derek on the phone and he proclaimed, "but you just made me mad!" in the sweetest little voice. Ha. No idea.
Also speaking to Daddy-- the other day, the two were wrestling around when Jackson stops and gets so serious. He gives Derek a big hug and says, "I'm so glad you're here" in the sweetest, affectionate voice. He really meant it!
I have convinced Jackson that because I am the mommy I can kiss him whenever I want (and I do). He loves to run while I tackle him to give some kisses. But when he doesn't want a kiss, he say's "You're not my mommy" because he knows he can't say, "don't kiss me/you can't kiss me".
We drove by the an amusement park the other day and he says, pointing to a roller coaster, "I want to ride that so I can go AHHHHHH!!" I told him that needs to get taller before he can ride a roller coaster and he has asked me every day if he is tall enough yet. Once, he sat up higher in his chair and asked if that made him tall enough.

Sometimes Derek and I just lay in bed and laugh about all of the funny things that Jackson comes up with. We love this kid. Derek keeps asking when Belle is going to talk. I definitely look forward to hearing her interpretations of the world around her, but once she starts talking too my ears are never ever going to get a break!!

Two Super Grovers

2011-08-25T23:18:00.000-05:00

Our cute friend Chacey came to play today! We sure do miss her! It took a little while for the kiddos to get back in their grove-- Chacey doesn't feel as much ownership of this space as she once did and Jackson, not having to share his toys much anymore, has lost interest in sharing them ever. But after jumping on the bed, sliding, and playing in the fort- they got back in a grove. And then they became Super Grover.

Super Grover = blankets tied as capes and running laps around the house as if you were Grover from Sesame Street. Derek was just happy to have a break and to not have to be the second superhero tonight!

(It wasn't just Chacey over. I feel as if my readers might think Chacey just is motherless and just never appears, but her mom, Elizabeth, and I are friends! Even though I sort of think she uses me so she can hang out with Belle.

Anyway, we got to chat and hang out whilest our husbands were out doing more fun things than watching kids... but it was good.)

Fort Jackson

2011-08-24T21:46:00.000-05:00

Not the army post located in South Carolina. We're talking Fort Jackson right here in our very house here in Kansas City.

Jackson has a new (to us) bed! It's a loft bed with a slide. Add some curtains to the bottom and he has a nifty little fort! Of course, he loves it. And of course it's added a challenge to bedtime, but it's getting better as the newness wears off. It really is super fun and Derek is a bit jealous that he ~~doesn't~~ didn't have one.

Here's a video of Jackson enjoying his new bed!

Quite a bit of fun for a hand-me-down bed! And Great-Grandpa picked up some race car sheets at a garage sale that make the bed even cooler! Jackson is in little boy heaven!