As a new chapter in my life begins, I am nostalgic about the past.  I am missing old family and friends, whom I would love to chat with about the new things to come.  It seems unreal sometimes that I am here, and going on to that next step in life, while they are gone and not a part of it.  I sometimes think through the conversations I would have with them and what their advice and encouragement would be.  I am so grateful for those that God has chosen to leave with me.  Through Him they help, comfort, support, and even put me in my place when it's needed.

God allowed us to go to Oklahoma over Labor Day weekend, for Levi and Amber Martins wedding. It was beautiful and I was so thankful to be able to see the "boys" (now men).  Samantha's birthday was Sunday so we had a little celebration.

It's Birthday time!!!

Since the girls are 13 months apart, it means that we have more of a birthday MONTH than simply a birthDAY around here.  This year it all started the day before Samantha's birthday. Andy convinced her that she shouldn't have to wait until the evening of her birthday, when dad would be home, to open her gifts, but instead open them the night before so that she could ENJOY them on her birthday.

So she opened them a day early. Then on her birthday, it was all about her, of course.  

Samantha is a very girly girl, so she had a hard time getting all comfy laying in the grass.

 Especially, when this guy and his buddies are jumping beside her.

Of course a goofy pic is a must... 

My beautiful little lady 

We planned a shared birthday party between the girls' birthdays, which is unusual, since we don't normally do birthday parties.  Samantha agreed on a sea theme, since that is Ella's passion and she wouldn't dream of choosing anything else.  Samantha informed me that she loves mermaids too, not just Ella.  Although we don't normally have birthday parties, I do make the girls a themed cake of their choice, and this means Ella has now chosen a sea theme 4 years in a row: 3, 4, 5, and now 6.  Let's just say she was excited to have a sea party.  Sadly, after all the planning and effort, darkness fell and the few pictures I took didn't do justice to how nice it all turned out. 

We had a sandbox where they dug for sea shells, a dolphin toss, mini buckets with shovels and party treats in our treasure chest, fishing in the swimming pool that was filled with balloons for water, lots of candy, gum balls, cupcakes and sea snacks.  The weather decided to be quite chilly that night, but other than that, I think the party was a success!

A week after the party, we met with the girls' biological great grandmother to, once again, celebrate birthdays.

Then came the day before Ella's birthday and guess who had to open her presents?  "But Mom, Sissy opened hers a day early..."

When she got an awesome book about sea animals, she had to stop in the middle of opening presents and check out every page in the book.  Did I mention that Ella LOVES the sea?

And FINALLY....it was Ella's birthday...Even though it was raining, we had to do a mini photo shoot.

 Silly Sue     

I'm in love with this smile.    

Whew, that was a little too much fun.   Maybe now we can rest up for the holidays??

After Dale leaves in the morning, I normally  like to stay up and get some power cleaning done before the kiddos wake up.  This morning, I was exhausted and thought it would be better to face the day after a little more rest.

I went back to sleep and had one of those crazy, super stressful dreams that went on and on for hours, but when when I finally woke from it, only  30 minutes had passed.

I was just about to get up, when I accidentally fell back asleep and dreamed that my newly remodeled basement was falling down around me, in a big way, and I couldn't get Dale's attention.

Well, I got a little sleep this morning, but I don't really feel too rested.  lol

The morning schoolwork is done.  Kids playing out on this beautiful 70 degree day.  Laundry and dishes are going. I am planning for our camping trip this weekend to who knows where yet, but hopefuly it will be a blast.

We got a new love seat for our den in the basement. We had limited space, and we made sure to measure so it would fit. Unfortunately, we forgot to measure our stairs, so it absolutely would Not go down, and believe me we tried HARD.

Thankfully, I am married to a smart talented guy, which I already knew, but this takes the cake. He removed the fabric off of one end, 10,000,000 staples and all seriously! Then he pulled out a multi master tool and began to saw the arm off of my new couch... I will admit I was more than a bit nervous about this.

We were then able to fit it down the stairs. Dale reattached the arm and the fabric, 10,000,000 staples and all. Both arms look exactly the same. He is amazing!!

I think if we ever move, the couch is staying. lol

I was gone for 20 minutes the other night and left the girls with Dale. When I got back, Samantha had taught Ella how to ride her bike with no training wheels. Oh, the joys of having 2 this time around.  

Now, if she would just teach her how to tie her shoes. lol

It is a mazing how many times I have written a post mentally, here of late.  One of these days, they will probably have the technology that allows us to do that.  That seems a little scary really, but it would be convenient if I could give a mental command while I'm in the middle of washing dishes or driving down the road, for the computer to write my post.  Ha ha.

Anyhow, the downstairs is coming along and I hope to post photos one day soon.  The girls love their new room, and so do I.  Carpet is in, we just need to finish up a little painting, base, and punch list items and it will be all done.  :)))

Work on the house, finally!!

Whew!  We worked hard today.  My brother-in-law will be here in 3 days to finish our basement and we had a lot to do before he can get started.  We moved everything out of the girls' upstairs bedroom and moved them to the living room.  Then we moved the "boys" from the basement to the upstairs bedroom.  We also had 3 big closets to clean out and move to storage, along with bookshelves, beds and toys.  Dale got some electrical work started that he's been dreading.  Just listening to him drill through the concrete for an hour made me feel very sorry for him.  No fun.  I made sushi for dinner.  All in all a very productive day!

As I was laying on my bed resting, I heard Ella coming my way.  I closed my eyes and pretended to be sleeping, but she wasn't phased at all.  "Momma, Momma!"  I opened my eyes and somewhat sternly said, "Ella, you shouldn't wake me up when I'm sleeping."  She excitedly went on, "Momma, did you know that na and pa rhyme?!"

I couldn't hold it in, I just laughed.  Hard.  She thought that it was so awesome that na and pa rhyme that she should wake me and tell me.  She is so confident in my love for her that obviously I would want to know how smart she is that she knows her rhyming.  I did not disappoint her.  I think she is top notch and I'm sure she won't hesitate to wake me the next time she needs me to know how smart she is.   

I woke up this morning with a nice plan for my day.  First, sneak in a movie, alone while the kids are all sleeping.  Then get them "up and at em" for the day, with chores and schoolwork.  Maybe run into Walmart and Costco quickly before heading down to the pool (one of the warmest indoor pools I've ever been to:).  What a nice little plan, don't you think?

Well, I got on the computer, movie in hand, and of coarse I had to just take a peak on facebook to see what my friends are up to this morning.  As usual I was totally distracted from my original plan, but that's not always a bad thing.  One of my friends had posted some links to freezer crockpot meals which I have long wanted to get into.  I spent all of my "movie time" making two lists:  1 of things to make and 1 of things to buy.  I am super excited to make these tomorrow after I collect all of the ingredients today.  Amazingly, I really don't have to buy to much.  Most of the ingredients I already keep on hand.

Some of the recipes I am going to do are:
BBQ Cranberry Chicken
Honey bourbon Chicken
Carnitas
Chicken chili
Chicken and dumplins
Asian Honey Garlic Chicken
Tortilla soup

Super excited, just not sure if we will make it to the pool now, but this is way better. Don't ask the kids' opinion though :)

 http://whoneedsacape.com/2012/11/crockpot-freezer-cooking/
This is one of the sites I used.  Happy cooking!

Christmas 2013

A few tidbits about our special Christmas:

Dale, the kids and I were all here together

Everyone pitched in to get ready for dinner :)

There is glitter all over the floor, couches, chairs and even the car from new princess dresses because they are only little once

I love my sons boisterous laugh that always reminds me of my dad

The little ways that each one of them showed me they thought of me:

     Dale was very helpful with all that had to be done and even though he had precious little time this year, because of work, he really hit the mark on my Christmas. 

     

     Andy got me the Nicholas Sparks movie Safe Haven.  I love it and it has a special meaning for me, even though I bawl my eyes out every time I watch it.  Christmas is not about gifts, but knowing he put the thought into getting me something I would love is what feels good.

     Samantha offered me her seat when there was no room for me at the table.  I did not ask her to and I hadn't even made it to the table yet.  She just noticed that there was no space for me and said, "Here Momma, you can have my seat."  She willingly ate Christmas Eve dinner on the floor alone so that I could sit down.  I was very touched.

   Ella's is a little different.  She has always been a "momma's girl," but here lately she has really kicked it up a notch and I am feeling very loved. 

Ryan, Blake and Taylor were able to be here a few days and it was so nice to spend some time with them.

Danae came over for lunch on Christmas day, even though most of the young people went somewhere else.  It was a joy to have her here!!  We played games and had a blast.

 "I have so much to thank Him for!!" That song just keeps playing over and over in my head.  Feeling truly blessed.

Yesterday was the 2 year anniversary of the adoption of our beautiful girls.  I am so thankful that God saw fit to allow us to have them in our lives.

Yesterday was a very good day for our family in other ways too.  We will always celebrate these milestones.  Feeling truly blessed!!!!

Dread

Some days just feel life changing.  Sigh.  One foot in front of the other.  God is knows all about it.

I've been having a sense of dread for several days now, and today it all reared its ugly head. Thankful to be able to pray.  Now if I could just leave it.  Stand still and let God move.  That's what I'm going to try to do.

Organizing girls' outfits

I just did some shopping and decided try to take pictures of outfits so my girls can pick what to wear. I gathered some pieces we already had to complete some of the outfits.  They were VERY cooperative and are excited to start using the system I created. In fact, even now as I am trying to post, Samantha is begging to go to iphoto and pick out her outfit for the day. Here are some of their new looks:


First we have the bronze boot with the turquoise knee socks with the outfit, or we can choose the black shimmer flats with black lace trim leggings below.





Pictures can't do justice to this adorable outfit.  These jean leggings have brown stitching which totally matches the leopard print, and the  shimmery lace flats are super cute or could be switched for the bronze boots.


I love this little skirt!  Again, pictures can't do justice to it.


We recently picked up these red boots and skirt at different 2nd hand stores.  A true score, and now I can pair them with these adorable striped tights and turquoise ruffle shirt.



These navy polka dot flats make me very happy.



This turned out to be one of my very favorite of all of the outfits.



We had a leopard attack during the middle of our "fashion shoot"!


This trench coat was another gem we found a few months back that looks darling with the new outfit.


Again, the red boots totally make the outfit.  I'm not as confident about the turquoise print socks here, she is so I'm sure she can pull it off!




Miss Ella is always full of confidence, but I will may have her wear cream tights with this instead.


I love these little tights, although they are 2 sizes to big.  Thank goodness there's a little extra room in these boots.  And here again we have a jean skirt we got a while back that she loves.


My beautiful girls.


Here is miss Ella in her sisters old tights and shirt, and boots from a friend.  All hand me downs, except her new $4.00 skirt. Love it and I will have her wear her jean jacket with this.  Super cute!


Here she is with her navy Mary Jane's.

I have tagged each piece in iphoto. So, if one of the girls wants to wear red boots, we just go into iphoto and look up red boots and it shows every outfit we have to wear them with.

As I was working on this today, a few things I had ordered online came in the mail and I was able to get started with this on my own outfits too.  This was time consuming today, but it will save me loads of time later.  It can easily take me 30 minutes on Sunday morning to figure out what we are wearing. Yes, I should plan it ahead and I manage to do that occasionally, but for the most part unless I think about it 3-4 days in advance, it just gets too busy around here on the weekend.

Another great application for this plan is packing for a trip.  It takes me FOREVER!  I'm always trying things on and making a mess.  I also have my girls try things on so I can see just what I want to take for them.  I'm a little obsessed, I admit it.  But now, we will have all of the outfits pictured and just have to round them up.

This has been a time consuming process and I've only just begun.  I have pulled almost all of the girls' clothes out to be thorough and have a complete photo gallery of their wardrobe.  I am very excited!  It will be like looking through a catalog, but then just walking into the next room to pick up your stuff.

Date Night

Last night was date night and like so many times, we headed out without a plan. We had tried to google an Indian restaurant in the area, but no such luck. So we drove around aimlessly, trying to decide what to do, letting our 2 hours and 45 minutes start to tick away. We finally spotted a cantonese restaurant much like the one we used to go to when we were dating.

When we opened the door to go in, we both experienced a flood of memories with the fabulous and familiar aromas from 20 years ago. Even the decor inside took us back in time. It was fun to step back for a moment and remember when it was just about Dale and I. Our conversation was light and cheerful. We ordered some of our usuals from days past; subgum chicken chow mein and fried shrimp, but skipping the sweet and sour pork since we now try to avoid too much fried food and pork. It did not disappoint! We now have a new favorite restaurant, so next month when it's date night and we don't know where to go, we'll know where to go.

Then to top it all off, my honey let me go shopping for clothes, KID FREE, afterward. Did I mention KID FREE?!! I was actually able to find a few things too. Love him!!

So then we headed to the grocery store for dessert and picked up a bavarian filled eclair. Oh my, that was sooo tasty. It's a good thing we avoided some calories and fat grams at dinner, so we could pick them up for dessert.

Then, it was time to go get the kiddos and just like every month at this time, they were on a sugar high but also tired, since it was over an hour past their bedtime. After we finally wrangled them to the car and started the 40 minute drive home, they start whining about being hungry. We had already made it past McDonalds, their ritual spot to grab a small cheeseburger after date night. So, when we spotted a 7-11 we pulled in to get them a hot dog. Dale was tired so he stayed in the car, I wish I could pull that one. Sometime. Ever. He did let me go shopping kid free on date night though, so I let it slide.

When we got inside, my beautiful girls turned into maniacs, begging for donuts and chips. They must have forgotten that they had just confessed to eating cupcakes and junk 5 minutes earlier. Not that a hot dog isn't junk food, but it's the best choice in the situation. Anyways, back to the hoodlums. They had different agendas and loudly expressed them to me, when suddenly Ella's eyes widened, she grabbed herself and yelled, "Potttttyyyyyy!!!!" Off to the bathroom we all went. Once that was all done, I was a determined woman on a mission. Hot dogs. It was 9:30 at night in a 7-11 so this should have been a quick process, but we got behind some people who must have just won the lottery and decided to spend it all on more lottery tickets. Sigh.

"Mommy, I really want a donut!" Sigh. Finally, we got our turn and bought 2 hot dogs. We had spent about 15 minutes buying 2 hot dogs.

Did I mention how thankful I am that I got to go shopping KID FREE.

We ran out to the car and I started to explain why we took so long because I was sure Dale was irritated. He said, "Oh wow, I fell asleep. It seemed like just a minute." Oh wow is right. lol

I love my family, my kids, my hubby and this wonderful night out was a real treat.

I had a great idea this morning. "I will make the girls some Halloween bows before they wake up. They will be so excited!" This simple innocent thought seemed harmless and full of potential. Well something that should have taken me about 20 minutes turned into 2 hours. Everything that could go wrong, did. From not being able to find the glue gun (so much for getting all organized here lately), to having my sewing machine turn into a fabric eating machine! Whew! Scary stuff!! But, on the positive side, I have 2 adorable halloween bows for my little sweethearts :)

Sometimes there is no remedy for a heartache. You just have to pray your way through it. I have been REALLY missing Trina and my dad the last few days. Today at church one of the messages was about how we will all face death at some point. We will not escape our crossing. It got me to thinking about what it might be like in my last few moments. I pictured seeing my dad and Trina coming towards me and even holding my hand to help me make that final crossing. How beautiful. It was such a comfort to me. I do not know what my end will be, but I do know that God will be with me and He will hold my hand and be my comfort and stay in that time.

This evening as I got on Facebook, one of the first posts was one Trina made a few years ago. At first, I was caught off guard, but then comforted to feel a connection with my dear friend. I know my heartache is somewhat selfish because they have gained their crowns and no longer have the pain that we begged God to take from them. I am very thankful for that, but from time to time I must give a sigh, and even shed a tear for my loss. Then pick back up and carry on to make my own heavenly goal.

Take a peek at what we've been up to...

There are several things I have thought about posting lately, so I decided to cram them all into one BIG post! Dont't say I didn't warn you...

1. Pinterest. Love it! I have heard complaints lately even on the radio about how pinterest is just a bunch of people collecting pictures of things they will never make or try. I totally disagree! I haven't tried everything I've found, but I have found some good stuff like:

new hair doos for my girls

O.K., I know these didn't turn out perfectly, but with practice I think they will be adorable.

Bird feeder


Maybe this is a no brainer, but my little girlies had a blast decorating (markers washed off in the rain oops) and making this bird feeder. They check it several times a day and we have enjoyed watching birds and chipmunks eat the food.

Hair bows and accessories

The colors didn't turn out so well in this photo. The ribbon isn't near as shiny as it looks but I will probably go for no shine next time. I also made some hair pins for myself a while back that were inspired by a picture on pinterest but hot glue doesn't hold well when gluing to a bobby pin.

Fun birthday cake ideas


Obviously I am a novice cake maker, but my girls loved searching on pinterest for days for their perfect birthday cake. It was very exciting!

I could go on and on about the many recipes I've tried, and yes there are still lots of pins I have left to try but I am very excited about those and have found pinterest to be a HUGE motivator for me.

2. We have all been working very hard on our yard and garden.

Most of our neighbors have IMMACULATE yards so I'm sure they will be pleased with our efforts, even if it is only for a week or so out of the last 4 1/2 years. LOL


We totally revamped our garden this year. Whew was that a lot of work! I'm sure it will be worth it and maybe it will even be cost effective (in 10 years or so :))


We got our seeds planted Saturday and last night we had radishes coming up. I took this picture this morning and they are really going for it! Radishes are a must to boost moral in any garden. 3 1/2 days and they were sprouting!!


I found my lettuce sprouting this morning too! I am a happy girl :)

We have several tomato and pepper plants. We also have okra, beans, peas, cucs, zucs, spinach, carrots, and...


Rhubarb, basil and lastly asparagus, which is in its first year so it won't produce till next year.

3. Samantha is in Kindergarten this year and so we have spent a lot of time with her doing lessons. Ella on the other hand just misses the deadline by having her birthday 9 days too late,so she won't start kindergarten until fall 2014. She loves to do "school" probably because she has had no pressure to perform. I got a new phonics program for her and Samantha do do in the fall at different levels, of coarse. The program is still in the box, though we have looked at it a bit. Yesterday, I got it out to look over and see if there was something that Ella would have fun with now. She totally loved HER new little reading book and proceeded to read 57 pages with very little help. Yes, I said FIFTY-SEVEN!!!!!!!! She is slow but again, she has mostly learned through watching her sister so I was stunned when she picked up the book and started reading. Today she didn't do quite as well but close. This video is about 10 minutes so don't feel pressured to finish, but in these 10 minutes, she read only 13 pages. That tells you how dedicated she was to read 57 pages at one time! Then she picked up the book again last night to read to her daddy. Yesterday she told me,"I am going to read to daddy and he will be so proud of me!"(Sorry, having trouble loading the video)

4. My hubby had a great idea several months back and I am loving it. We searched and searched for something big enough to cover an ugly eye sore on the wall on our landing. It is about 3 1/2 feet tall by 2 1/2 feet wide. We have our breaker box and internet router and modem mess here, but now it is cleverly hidden. He's so smart, I think I'll keep him!



5. We have started another remodel. We started off stacking the washer and dryer and we are getting a smaller freezer to fit in the cubby under the stairs (by where the white step ladder is), all to make the best use of the space. These pictures are not pretty but it will be when we get the laundry room framed in, flooring , down, sheetrock, ect..


Well that about covers it for my recent thoughts. Hopefully I didn't lose you anywhere up there.