Crochet!

I learned to crochet this past year thanks to a good friend at work!  I LOVE it! I took on a lot of projects for Christmas but I'm happy the way most of them turned out :) these were all gifts, but we had to try a lot of them on to be sure they were cute! I'm glad to be through with Christmas so I can make things at a leisurely pace. :) 

Toddler hat and baby doll hat! 

Anna

Elsa... One of my firsts. 

Table runner

Let's try this again!

I am hoping to start documenting again here if only so my pumpkins will have it later on in life. So a fast recap of the last 7 months.... 

We went to the beach, Ben had his appendix out... At the beach 👎. N turned 3! I started my 5th year as a school counselor. We went to Frozen on Ice, the North Pole Express and had an amazing Christmas Season! 

I only beat myself up a little because I didn't finish presents on time, hoped to do a lot more "meaningful" Christmas traditions, and it took me 5 days to get my head back in order after Christmas and a trip to Tallahassee. Then God reminds me to calm down and enjoy - no matter the mess or imperfections... Because there's A LOT of that. So here are some of my favorite pictures of the last little while to get us kicked off into the New Year and enjoying each other!

Praying 🙏

Things three year olds say

Posted Jan. 2, 2015

This age is HILARIOUS!!!

Things N tells me: (I started this last summer... Now is a good time to finish :))

Two years old: When he gets in a hot car he immediately starts groaning/whining, wrinkling his nose and tells me "The sun is in my nose!!!"

My favorite, "I need to hold you mama."

Three years old:

"Daddy, will you wipe the hair off your face so I can kiss you good night?"

"Oh no! A flew almost went in my ear!"(fly)

His slang word is "Taco Bell". Literally. He's never been there yet for 6 months he'll call you a Taco Bell if he doesn't like something. "Aw, Taco Bell!!!" 

Ben: noa h, I'm going to count to three...

Noa h: Taco Bell!

"La yl a Be ss is being a Taco Bell...." 

Kids crack me up!

One year with LB

I'm at month late, but we have had a wonderful year with our sweet girl. She's feisty, yet sweet and snuggly. Well, mostly she's feisty about being snuggly.  Girl LOVES to be held... And eat. 😋

We celebrated her first birthday at Nana's house with a small party but lots of fun. Here are her stats: 

She didn't like her hands dirty. 

LB cracks us up and brings us so much joy. She's a great sleeper and will play independently as long as someone's close so she can get a hug in every little bit. She yells a lot at daycare because they don't comply with her demands (quiet and dark for sleeping, feeding her every single time anyone else in the room eats, holding her every time she needs a hug). When she yells/screams at home I typically put her to bed because I know it means she's tired, but it's not that simple at school. 

She loves her purse or any bag on her arm. 

Getting sprayed by the hose!!

I love that she still loves to be held. N was way too wiggly to snuggle at this age. 

Christmas 2013

I am so behind in posting, but we had such a wonderful Christmas that I do not want to forget it! We put our tree up the week before Thanksgiving because I was in major need of some Christmas cheer. I enjoyed every minute the tree was up, but have since taken everything down to the dismay of my 2-year-old. I am glad to have the space back, but look forward to next year already!

 We had great friends come and visit. Aaron reading N 'Brown Bear, Brown Bear'.

 Alabama weather is CRAZY! I saw an e-card today that said "A place where you can get sunburned one day and frostbit the next." This picture above was a few days before Christmas and we were making sure our 'tornado helmets' fit as we prepared for the bad weather. Thankfully it was just a loud windy storm for us.

 Getting ready to go to Christmas Eve Service.

 After Santa came! 

 We did DIY stockings this year. Maybe one day we'll have the cute matching monogrammed ones :), but in the meantime these were great. LB LOVED this bell. It was huge so it wasn't a choking hazard.

 

Some Christmas decorations that Ben's mom gave to us this year so we could decorate for the 2 Christmas celebrations I signed us up to host. Lol! Ben thought I was crazy, but it is easier to host it so I can put LB to bed instead of trying to visit with people with an 8-month old WAAAY past her bedtime.  I loved this DIY printable next the the angel. Just search Christmas Printable on Pinterest. There are a ton!

 

But this one is my FAVORITE!!! I think Elf is my favorite movie year round. 

 Not a great pic, but this is our tree and presents (after Ben's mom came and delivered her items under our tree too).

 LB found herself a present Christmas morning! (I have no idea what that spot is on her head.)

 Going after the presents! I don't do Christmas chaos... we take turns open presents and make it last. It took us over an hour to open presents and I loved every second.

 This one cracks me up because LB grabbed those puffs and flipped it upside down before I could even realize it, but it was caught on camera which made it all okay... plus entertained her and our dog the rest of the present opening. 

 LB and Ben's mom's fiance. Papa Raymond

 N still thinks both Scout and Violet are his. 

 We traveled to Florida to visit family the day after Christmas and had a WONDERFUL visit.

 LB and her pop-pop (my dad)

It was an amazing Christmas season! We were able to celebrate Jesus' birthday, N sang Happy Birthday to Jesus at least 200 times. I loved every minute of it. I am so thankful to be able to spend it with so much family and have 2 weeks off to be able to travel to see everyone.

In a valley

It's been over a month since my last post. I love reading your blogs and miss it when some of you go MIA. I wish I kept up more.  I am in a valley this week and strangely thought it a good time to post. We have been fighting illness for months. I have officially taken on too much at work (with ever looming more standards and requirements to meet) and honestly I work with a few pretty mean adults that truly suck the joy out of me. Every few weeks they get to me and I struggle to continue to overcome them. I have prayed about that situation for 4 years now... It's rough. I work with LOTS of amazing people, but 3 bad apples really have do me in sometimes.

LB is almost 8 months old. It's unreal. I feel like I have baby fever all the time because she's growing up so fast, I want her to stay little! But she's amazing! She's been crawling for awhile now, pulls up on a lot, nearly ready to walk if she could get her little legs to cooperate. She still nurses throughout the day, but LOVES her food. Howevever she has had the most stubborn cold for a month. It may just be a daycare/winter cold, but I surely hope it doesn't last until springtime. She graciously shared it with Ben and I so we've both been trying to fight it off for 2 weeks. What kind of cold is this?

N is 2.5 years old. He talks every moment of his day, lol! Seriously the kid can talk. A LOT. I try to remind myself how much of a blessing this is, but some days when I drop him off at daycare I drive to work in silence and let my ears recover :). When I have enough energy to keep up with his conversations he cracks me up. He notices everything and asks about everything he sees, but mostly repeats EVERYTHING he hears... everything!

Most of our conversations go like this:

N, "what dis mama?"
Me: "what do you think it is n?"
N: "yeah!.......mama.... What dis?"
Me: "a candy cane n."
N: "oohhhhh, a candy cane? Mama, is dis a candy cane?"
Me: "............"
N: "mama, dis a candy cane? Mama..... Mama.....?"
Me: "yes... A candy cane"
N: "candy cane.... Wook mama! A candy cane!!!!"

Lol! This goes on and on. I hope this means he will still talk to me this much when he gets older. I try really hard to continue to talk and tell him things even when I've had a really long day at work and just want peace and quiet. One day I'll miss his sweet innocent questions and curiosity.

N has been coughing for over 4 months. I ignored it for a couple months but when he got a virus I called and mentioned it as a side not, but the doctor was more concerned about the coughing than anything else. We'll it kept getting worse and worse. So mucus so that I couldn't remember the last time either of us slept though the night. His coughing fits would last for over 45 minutes, until we could get Benadryl in his system (the ONLY thing that made a difference) A few doctor visit is and meds later our doctor said N has a reactive airway.... Even google couldn't quiet clear it up for me, but he started breathing treatments yesterday that he'll continue for 6 months to hopefully clear this up. And guess what, he finally slept through the night last night with only 1 dose of Benadryl! Woooo!

I'm also struggling with coming to grips with finances. I get so overwhelmed some time with how expensive things are and trying to make all the ends meet. I've never had much of a hard time with "wants" but lately it's eating me up. I want everything I don't have...fancy clothes, all those perfect kids clothes, nice furniture, new shoes.... Worldly STUFF!! God has ALWAYS provided everything we need, EVERYTHING. I don't know why I am letting myself struggle with it. Valleys are where growth happens and I am asking and calling out His name that he help me overcome this.

A few pictures to add to my dreary post! :)

Sick LB

 N made a choo-choo... LB tagging along.

N better get ready... LB is after his train table!