Sharing My Jennarocity

DIY Valentine Crayon Hearts

2012-02-13T07:06:00.000-06:00

Who loves Pinterest, raise your hands???

My daughter's babysitter is having a Valentine's party tomorrow, so I am sending over some treat bags for the kids and for Jenn. I saw this on Pinterest and knew I wanted to do it. I found a rubber heart mold at the dollar store. The kids have tons of crayons, so I was ready to go!

You can cut the crayons up with a knife, but we just started breaking them (which is easier). Any piece that was too big we cut in half so it would fit in the mold. I decided to make girl and boy colors. I would find all sorts of pink and red colors for the girls and then all sorts of blue for the boys. After seeing the crayons melted, I probably would have overflowed the crayons in the tin because the end products were thinner than I thought they would be, but they were really just fine.

I put them in an oven at 230 degrees for about 12 minutes. I looked in on them after ten minutes and realized they needed another couple of minutes.

Voila!

Don't expect to be able to use your tin again. The crayons definitely ruined it, but it's a dollar, so I am fine throwing it away!

They do look like candy and they actually do color! Such a cute, easy and cheap gift!!

R.I.P. Whitney Houston

2012-02-12T13:11:00.000-06:00

I was very sad to see this when I checked the news today. It's just very unfortunate how someone can be so talented, yet addiction and bad choices can end your life. Whitney Houston was probably one of the most talented vocalists of our lifetime, and now she leaves a daughter to pick up the pieces.

I saw this again and is one my favorite renditions of the National Anthem I've ever heard. People try so hard, put extra notes and struggle to sing this song, even talented vocalists. Yet when she sings it, it's beautiful completely on its own. She makes singing it look and sound so completely effortless. Amazing.

My 23rd Birthday

2012-02-12T08:01:00.000-06:00

I am not telling you how old I am today. No, I am not 23. But I will give you some hints:

The Steelers won the Superbowl (beat the Rams 31-19) the year I was born.

George Bush senior was elected President the year I turned 8.

"The Sign" by Ace of Base was the number one song of the year when I was a freshman in 1994.

"Lord of the Rings, Return of the King" was the top grossing movie the year I actually turned 23.

If you can't get my age from these clues, then I guess you don't deserve to know how hold I am.

Anyway, we had a low key night to celebrate my birthday. My parents came over for dinner, then some friends of mine, Kate, Phillip, Robyn, and Jasmine came all the way down from McKinney to hang out with me!!! It was so nice to get to hang out. We stayed up talking until about 1 am, and Avery woke us up around 5:45. Needless to say, I've spent my actual birthday today quite tired. I have a feeling when Avery goes to bed in a few hours, we will be too.

Today, Avery learned some new tricks. First, she started saying "mote" (for remote). Then, she started saying "no, uh-uh." Cause that's what we tell her. Then, she started posing. She would turn her back to us, then throw us a model look over her shoulder and smile. So we would say, "Can you pose?" And now, she's posing! It's so cute.

SUYL - Working Moms

2012-02-10T10:42:00.001-06:00

Kelly's Korner is currently doing a SUYL (Show Us Your Life) for working moms. I think this is a great opportunity to talk about what it's like to be a working mom, who works outside of our home.

I am currently an administrative assistant for an engineering company. The job I do is normally 8 - 5, with occasional late nights and early mornings. The job I do is very mentally challenging; I really enjoy it and the people I work with. I enjoy getting that adult time every day and feeling like I am doing something of value. We currently work with clients who need permitting and monitoring of their facilities to keep them in line with government standards for air quality. Even though I am not an engineer, I have alot of say in the final products of the reports we do and I like that. It's different than any other job I've had.

With that said, I do struggle sometimes with my life as a mother and as an employee. I feel like I don't see my daughter enough, and at times, it breaks my heart. I wish I could have a better balance, where I still got my "working" needs and my "mother" needs taken care of, where I could work less and be at home with Avery more. I also wish I could find more time to do things I wanted to do without feeling like every waking second of my life is going to other things besides me. It's hard. But at this point, I like my job and honestly, we could not afford for me to stay at home anyway.

For example, today and yesterday, Avery's been at home with my parents while she's had pink eye. I hate that I can't be home with her. I feel guilty not being at work because I don't want to do anything that might cause me to lose my job. But I would much rather be taking care of my baby. I feel like I am not always close enough to her, emotionally, because other people are taking care of her more often than me. And I sometimes let other people make me feel like it's "OK" that she is staying with other people, and sometimes, it's just not OK with me. But, at this point, it's not a choice I have to make. It just is what it is.

So, I think parenting is just a question of finding the right balance and sometimes that just takes time. I am sure working stay at home mommies have various feelings and concerns that are different than mine, so I don't think any woman really feels 100% like they have it all figured out. But, who knows what is around the corner!!!

***I have added my "My First Week At Work" post. Makes me sad to read that again!***

Avery's Bad Day and Sophia's Funny Story

2012-02-09T21:59:00.000-06:00

So, my daughter who normally sleeps all night long, woke us up at 1:30 and stayed awake until 3:45. At 6, when Jason got her up and I looked at her eye, it was crusty, along with her nose. I said, "I think this is pink eye." Sho' nuff, it was.

Man. All I feel like I have been doing lately is taking her to the doctor. And she doesn't like going to the doctor, at all. Luckily, I have the two most wonderful parents who let me go to work the last half of the day and they kept her in the afternoon. By the time I got home, Jason had picked up Avery and I walked through the door to find her face completely red, her eyes watering, her nose running, and she was cranky and running a 101 fever. She was not having a good day. So, we put more eye drops in, fed her, gave her some Tylenol and a bath to wash all of those crusties from the day off. I also noticed she was scratching, so we gave her some Benadryl. By about 7:15, she was in a much better mood. Hopefully, the medicine will help her get some relief and get a good night's sleep! I couldn't bare to take a picture of her when she was so upset, so I just went in there to snap a shot.

What is it with babies and sleeping in this position? And why can't they ever get through the night with BOTH socks on their feet?

I just found this picture from Sunday and completely forgot to post about it. It made us laugh. so. hard. This is just SUCH a Sophia story and one of the reasons I love that girl more than life itself!! I told you we got the fire pit. So, on Saturday, we went outside to enjoy the fire and I told her she needed to go get a sweatshirt on. I told her it was on her bed. Keep in mind, she is a 6/7 size right now. She came outside and I look over at her about 5 minutes later, realizing that her sweatshirt was too short. Then, I saw her sleeves were really short. And then I said, "Sophia, do you have Avery's sweatshirt on?" (They both have similiar shirts like this). This is a 24 month sweatshirt. How she got it on, I will never know. But she wasn't complaining, just enjoying herself!

On a different morning, I had asked Sophia to change her panties before we left the house. Later on in the day, I took her to the bathroom, and noticed she had two panties on. "Sophia, why are you wearing two panties?" "Oh," she giggled, "I guess I forgot to take the first pair off."

That girl is such a trip!

Brooke, Are You Reading This??

2012-02-07T19:33:00.002-06:00

I want you to do this.

That is all. By the way, it was inconclusive at the Brooke's doctor's visit to find out if I am having a niece or a nephew. Little peanut said, "no, no." Not the first time that will happen!!!

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Update: Avery's Skin

2012-02-07T19:09:00.001-06:00

We were able to get some medicine and I am happy to report that Avery's skin is back to being clear!

Before:

After!!

Her daddy can really make her laugh, especially after her bath. It's so funny to watch!

Nothing better than a laughing baby! Have a good night!

Struggling

2012-02-07T14:08:00.000-06:00

I have been struggling for a while now with some things in my life. Namely, finding a balance with weight control, exercising, eating healthy and time for myself. Ultimately, what I've decided it comes down to is just being lazy. I mean, lazy with no self-discipline or self-control and no plan.

When I watch shows like "my 600 pound life" or "The Biggest Loser" I always think, those people came to a fork in the road at some point in their lives where they could have gone one way with their lifestyle or another. I feel as though I am at that fork in my life.

I weigh 185 pounds. I am 15 pounds away from being 200 pounds. And I have no idea why I've let myself stay this way for so long. I've never been a person who has been OK being heavy. I always thought that I would never let myself get heavy. Maybe 185 is not that heavy to some people, but to me, it's the heaviest non-pregnant weight I've ever been and I am terrified about it. I have always been someone who can find the answers to problems and deal with it, but I am having alot of trouble finding the answers to a balance in my life with being a mom, being a wife, and being me.

As it goes, I have about 5 hours each day that does not include work. We get up at about 5:30, go to work by 7:30 (unless I take Avery, in which case I leave at about 6:45 each morning). I work from 8 - 5. Lunch time lately has consisted of running home and throwing dinner in the crock pot while catching lunch, I get home from work at about 5:30, unless I get Avery from daycare, which puts me home about 6:15. We have to get Avery fed, spend a small amount of time with her, bathe her and then she goes to sleep around 7:30. Doing all of this is a tag team effort from both Jason and myself, as one of us can't do all of this every single night. This leaves me from 7:30 to about 10:00 to do anything and everything else, which includes laundry, cleaning, dishes, time to relax, or any other activity I choose to throw in there. Two and a half hours each weekday. This does not include Thursdays, which is even more hectic because we have the kids or Fridays when we have the kids. We have the kids every other weekend, so date nights on those weekends are usually out, considering Jason wants to spend time with them. Our weekends consist of church, grocery shopping, catching up on cleaning, activities with the kids, which lately has increased with birthday parties and will start back up with basketball games for Jordan. I am not going to lie, it's not easy finding a balance when life is this busy all the time.

Throwing in exercising, when I already have trouble finding motivation to do much else than the required to maintain our family and home, seems completely impossible to me. There is something that will be sacrificed along the way for me to be able to do this. I look at working out as a sacrifice in my life, which is problem number one. Working out and being active are essential. I can feel my body just big and heavy, my joints and back hurt all the time. But, I just have no idea how I am going to find a routine and keep it going. Nothing about going to a track appeals to me. Doing stuff at my own house won't happen. I need to be held accountable and be a part of a group that I enjoy or else I won't do it. At least, not at first. What I need is to get into a habit and have a plan for my week.

Sometimes, I get so annoyed having plans for anything and everything in my life. Recently, Jason and I started budgeting and I feel like every dollar we have has a plan, which is good but it's also annoying. I hate having to have a plan for every minute of my life. Sometimes, I would just like to be able to come home and just sit and relax. I remember those times when I was single. Ah, the days of no responsibility.

So, no pictures today, just a rant of my life. Fun huh??

Yep, I'm still here

2012-02-06T09:29:00.000-06:00

I think this is the longest I've gone without blogging in a year! Just been busy, I guess.

Well, Avery went to the dermatologist on Friday and she does have bad eczema. She got a cream (topical steroid) that will help her. Fortunately, the doctor thinks she will grow out of it at some point! She also got the all-clear from the dentist.

We had a garage sale on Saturday, which I would deem a success! I sold my SGP student council jersey from freshman year. A random 40 year old man of the Mexican persuasion (who I am not too sure knew what it was) bought it.

We did Valentine's for the kids this morning because we won't see them next weekend before the actual Valentine's Day! We gave them some candy and their cards and mom and dad got them some goodies too. Avery will get hers on Valentine's Day.

Avery's new spot is with the dog's in their "doggie corner." She will just go and sit with them. It's pretty cute, actually!

Also, my dad got a new toy for his birthday and I WANT it. It's a camera that is simply awesome. It has a USB port connected to it and you can take pictures while filming a video, then plug the camera into the computer and upload them in no time. Best part, no blur!!! I am blown away. It's kind of pricey, but I am thinking it's worth it. I took these pictures while simultaneously videoing.

Pretty good quality, no blur! And yes. On occasion, as a treat, I feed my daughter chocolate milk. So sue me.

Have a good week!

Our New-To-Us Toy

2012-01-30T21:08:00.002-06:00

We got some new FREE stuff on Craigslist Sunday....New Patio Furniture! Nice patio furniture, too.

Here is what Jason loves the most...

I think all of us are going to be forced to eat outside alot more now. Whether we like it or not. :-)

Dumbest Things I've Seen In A While

2012-01-30T13:15:00.001-06:00

What the poo is this? Drop crotch jeans? I DO NOT THINK SO. Of course, half the kids in high school wear their jeans like this anyway. We never dressed like that when I was in school. Kids today have gotten so sloppy. "Back in my day..." (That's for my family...you know what I'm talkin' bout)

Oh, the similiarities.

More Avery's First Birthday Pictures

2012-01-30T08:26:00.000-06:00

I finally checked Jason's phone and realized that he had LOTS of pictures on there I'd never seen. I will start with Avery's birthday!

A full shot of Avery's outfit...

Playing Pin the Nose On Elmo

Opening presents....

More eating cake...

Avery's New Words

2012-01-29T10:28:00.000-06:00

Avery's got some new words and some new interests! She is in this phase where she loves balls. Basketballs, tennis balls, footballs. She will point at one and say "bawl" and just carry it around. Yesterday, she got up in the couch and wanted every ball she saw up there with her. She would point to one and I would put it up there with her and she would just smile.

Shari said that is how Jason was when he was a kid and he turned out to be a great ahtlete. I think that Jason is hoping that this is an indication of how much she will like sports.

She also loves her "babies." She will wake up in the morning and say "Babies!" and point to her babies. She always has one in her hands. It's so cute. She is also saying "Ups!" That means she wants us to pick her up or put her up on something. It's so cute! It's so funny when they reach the age when they can communicate back with language.

She is also saying "Bewwa" (Bella), "Bubby" or "Bubba" for Jordan, Pops, she says "Pippa," which is a dog at her daycare. She is really smart and picks up on things crazy fast.

It's so fun to watch kids grow!!

Poor Avery

2012-01-28T09:35:00.000-06:00

I told you a while back that Avery had some skin problems. We think it's exzema, but we are going to the dermatologist on Friday for a visit and the doctor wants us to stop treating her skin so he can see what it is and know the best way to treat it. She scratches her skin in her sleep and during the day, sometimes so bad it bleeds. It's mainly on her back and neck and shoulders, so where she can reach, it looks like a cat took to her and just scratched away on her skin.

A couple of weeks ago, Avery had a bad outbreak. We put lotion on her skin and she started screaming bloody murder and crying because it burned her skin so badly. We finally used some stuff that worked and had it 100% gone (a wash, lotion, and cream) and then, we had to stop using it for the dermatologist. Her skin broke out within a day and she started scratching and we decided we couldn't make her suffer for that long so we would wait until next Wednesday to stop using the stuff again. Well, we put lotion on her skin the other night and she screamed again. "Momma, momma" and she was shaking. I felt so helpless! Every time I would blow on her skin she would scream harder. Broke my heart.

Here is her left shoulder...

Here is her back...

Here is another picture of her back.

I hope he can give us some stuff to help. I think the stuff we were using was doing just fine but usually, that stuff doesn't work forever. Poor Avery.

Interesting and No So Interesting News Stories Of The Week

2012-01-27T09:17:00.000-06:00

Here are some stories I read on the internet this week. Can you tell I don't have alot of stuff going on? Avery was sick yesterday and is staying with my parents today, so I didn't get any good pictures of her the last few days. So I will just post some of this!

"Actress stuns in a plunging lace dress"

Please tell me chokers are not coming back into style!! And I am not "stunned."

It's like they literally took a picture of her, without her knowing, in a hallway somewhere. Weird.

"Reese Witherspoon debuts new do"

Ok, I love Reese, I really do. But can someone please tell me what is different about this hair style? She has bangs? And how is this "daring," as the article puts it? I don't think it's different at all, in fact. It looks like at the Golden Globes, she had hair extensions. Hmm....

But then they have sweet stories, like this letter that a little 7 year old boy wrote to 49ers receiver Kyle Williams...

"Hillary Clinton says she’s done with ‘high wire of American politics.’" And another one, a good one, bites the dust.

And then there is this, that broke my heart....Heidi Klum and Seal to Divorce. Really, the last couple I would have thought of. Apparently he had anger issues. But still, divorce?

And then there is this story. I used to love Ashton and now, I have no respect for the guy, at all. I mean, Demi might be a mess, I am sure she is, but give me a break. You were a stepdad to her kids and you just run off and party with supermodels in Brazil while she is having a nervous breakdown? Not your best moment. Although, I am not sure what she was expecting, marrying him in the first place. But still.

Is anyone going to listen to this? Just curious.

I guess that's all for now. Wish I was more interesting!

Run For Your Life! It's The Blur!!!

2012-01-25T21:57:00.000-06:00

Just once, I would love to get a picture of my daughter, with her smiling, without her or a part of her body being a gigantic blur.

It was so great, when she was younger, and she just sat so, um, STILL. And she couldn't move around or climb on things. And I could take her picture so easily.

I realize I don't take as many pictures of her any more because, well, my camera phone is terrible and because I have to take 20 just to get a good one.

I just had to get a picture in her chair because she matched it today. But, alas, she was too busy to sit for Mommy. Daddy tried to make her laugh and succeeded.

Not clear, but laughing.

This is the clearest shot I got all night. She loves to stand right by the dishwasher and try and climb on it. Any of your kids like that? Silly little girl.

And that's my tale of The Blur. Have a good night!

Coffee Filter Wreath - Finally!

2012-01-25T06:22:00.000-06:00

My mom was nice enough to let me borrow her glue gun so I could finish my project!

So last night, I was all ready to go!

This project did take almost the entire coffee filter bag to finish, but it only took three small glue sticks. I know it's hard to tell, but the wreath I am using is not that big. You can really glue the filters on in any design you'd like. You can make the filters tight or not tight. I chose to do mine like this...

And I placed them very close together. Just put glue at the eraser end, and voila! It actually went along faster than I thought. I started around 8 and was finished by about 10. And here is the finished product!

Oh my gosh, it's so pretty. I had a place I thought I wanted it to go, but now, I've changed my mind. I will do one more and put it in my dining room, so stay tuned for that redo!

Kitchen Aid Fiasco of '10

2012-01-23T12:00:00.002-06:00

I was pretty aggravated on Saturday night. To tell the story, I must tell you that my husband and I have a "difference of opinion" in regards to cleaning.

He is the type that can't stand clutter. But he is also the type who doesn't put things away where they go, either. For example, if he sees a pile of mail on the counter that is in disarray, he will either A) Straighten it into a nice, neat pile or B) Simply throw all of the papers in the trash. He is not the type to go through all of the papers and organize them. Same holds true for pretty much everything in our house. If I leave something around and he gets annoyed enough with it, he will either stuff it somewhere it DOESN'T go, just so he doesn't have to keep looking at it, or he will toss it in the trash. Now, me, on the other hand, a pile of clutter does bother me, but in my mind, I can't just put it somewhere. I need to go through it and properly clean up and organize. I am very big on things having a place, but I am not always the best about cleaning as I go, putting things away where they need to be. I am also a pretty bad prostrastinator. So, the result is that things don't always get cleaned when I am the one who is supposed to do it. As a result of Jason, we end up losing things in a random place or not finding the thing, at all.

For example, do you and your significant other have that one fight that just sticks in your crawl and when one mentions it to the other, it's like, "HOW MANY TIMES ARE YOU GOING TO KEEP BRINGING IT UP???" Well, I will call this the great Kitchen Aid Fiasco of '10. When we moved, it was just a mess. I can't just shove stuff in boxes, I have to organize, but as a result of this trait (and my procrastination/laziness) I will end up packing right up until the last minute. BUT when I do get to my new place, I can almost always find where my stuff is. Jason's philosophy is to do it quickly, not necessarily in an organized fashion. So when we went to unpack, I found bathroom stuff with kitchen stuff, etc. BUT we were packed on time. So, which is better? I don't know. Well, when we finally got to the new house, a collection of my Kitchen Aid, red, beautiful pots went missing. We still can't find those dad gum pots. And every time we lose anything anymore, I refer back to those pots and how much I hate that they are just gone forever and, well, it doesn't end nicely.

So, I have a list of projects to do and one of them is a coffee filter wreath. I am not going to lie, I am dreading this. I know it's going to take forever and I just can't get up the motivation. But on Saturday night, when the kids were watching a movie, I said, "I am going to get that wreath done." I have a craft box in my garage where my craft supplies are supposed to go. I looked in there and my glue gun, glue sticks, and styrofoam wreath were no where to be found. I asked Jason and he said he had no glue where any of it was, so I started looking. I found the wreath first, in a drawer under our television. I knew Jason had put it there because I would have never put that in that drawer because I would have known I wouldn't be able to remember again, as it was so random. I got mad about that. Of course, his response is, "If you'd have put it away from the beginning, it would have never ended up in that drawer!" Yes, true. But we could go round and round and why the other was wrong and to blame for that wreath in that drawer. I found my glue sticks in a tupperware bin in the garage. But that glue gun? The glue gun has yet to be found. We were both so aggravated looking for that glue gun. I could just scream at both of us, me for not putting it away in the first place and Jason for finding it and tossing it somewhere that we may never see it again. I said, "THIS IS JUST LIKE THOSE POTS!!" And he about lost it. That's when we realized it was best to stop looking and let this night go down without another word about it.

And that is the story of how none of my craft projects got done this weekend. Was that the story I was meaning to tell? Anyway. Enjoy some pictures of my sweet baby!

Oh yeah, It's Sunday

2012-01-22T13:38:00.002-06:00

Oh yeah, it's Sunday morning. Too early.

Introducing.....The Invasion of The Toys

2012-01-19T09:54:00.000-06:00

So, I was at home last night thinking that I wouldn't even know what I would be doing right now, living in that small apartment, with all of the toys that Avery, Soph and Jordan (but mainly Avery) got for birthdays and Christmas this year. As it stands, the girls closet is chocked full of toys, Jordan's room is full (although his is the only room in the house that is reasonably organized and maintained), and the top of our entry way closet is full to the top of board games.

I have a basket of books that you can see in the right hand side of the picture below, that now permanently resides under my redone entry way table.

As you can see above, the right hand side of this picture is a mess. There were just toys, everywhere, that were never cleaned up and didn't have a space. So, I moved things around a bit and gave Avery her own shelf in the front of the house (which is more of a playroom than an entry way, at this point.) Now, it looks like this.

It's organized (not in this picture, Avery hadn't gone to bed yet!) but I just feel like I don't have a room in my house strictly designated as a "playroom." And even if we did, Avery would still be out in the living room with us anyway, and would still drag toys in there anyway. So, at this point, I am just curious where you keep your toys in your house, especially when you have no playroom?

Wordless Wednesday, Avery is at Gigi and Pops!

2012-01-18T10:07:00.000-06:00

Avery and Her Carseat (In Pictures)

2012-01-17T08:50:00.000-06:00

I have always taken pictures of Avery in her carseat. I took one this morning and was curious how much she has changed.

And this was this morning....SMILE AVERY! And she smiled so big, her eyes were closed! She is wearing her Elmo shirt and when she looked at it this morning, she said, "Melmo?" So cute.

Avery and Minnie

2012-01-16T22:05:00.000-06:00

I really haven't taken alot of pictures of Avery sleeping, so I had to go steal a shot tonight. I can't get over how much hair she has in the back now! This is her Minnie that her Aunt Leslie brought her from Disneyworld. So sweet! Good night blogland!

Some Sweet Pictures

2012-01-16T10:13:00.000-06:00

I thought I would send out some happy pictures of the little munchkin today and celebrate how good my God can be (thought I would do some new effects with the pics this time!)...

This is one of Avery's new poses. One day, she is going to roll over the other side and surprise herself!!

Bella doesn't look too impressed, does she?

The girl loves reading, what can I say?

She also loves climbing in her chair.

Sometimes, she does get stuck and can't figure out how to get down.

I know, Bella. She tuckers me out too!

Tripp

2012-01-16T09:24:00.000-06:00

I really don't know why this mother has struck such an emotional cord with me. But I have been looking at her blog several times a day since the last post to see any updates on her little boy. This morning, I got the update.

My precious angel received his wings today.

I have had many nightmares about having to write this post.

He was exactly 2 years and 8 months old.

It happened within minutes of me picking him up out of bed and rocking him.

He took his last peaceful breaths in my arms, in his most favorite spot.

My heart literally hurts more than I ever thought was possible.

I'm completely lost without him and don't know where to go or what to do when my feet hit the floor.

I miss him so much it physically hurts.

Please don't forget to thank God for the PEACE we prayed to him for.

And please bear with me as I try to pull myself together.

I will let everyone know as soon as I decide on the details of his services.

Thank you all from the bottom of my heart for the support through this unbearable time.

I know he's flying high, pain free, and talking Jesus' ear off...

But that doesn't take away this selfish feeling of wanting him back in my arms.

I love you, Bubby.

Mommy misses you more than I promised I would...

I hope Jesus loves your drumming as much as we all did.

I just couldn't stop reading these last two posts. I spoke to some of you who were hardly able to read what I wrote and couldn't bring yourself to read what she wrote herself. I don't know why I couldn't stop. I told my friend this weekend that maybe I felt like it wasn't fair to Tripp's mom, who actually was going through this horrible situation, to not read and experience even the slightest bit of her pain. Like, if I stopped and didn't cry for her and feel her pain that I was sparing myself when this mother couldn't.

This weekend wasn't the best weekend for me or Jason. Not that anything bad happened per se, but there are some things going on that are out of our control and I find myself a little depressed and sad about life sometimes, especially how people can be towards one another. I try not to talk about the divorce or the unfairness of custody but I still expect some good out of some people and are still somewhat surprised at the ugliness. I guess that's all I can say about that, but when you look at a situation such as this one it's just hard to imagine why people make their lives so much harder than it has to be, why they are mean for no reason, and why they just can't realize that life on it's own is hard enough and we don't need to keep making it harder on ourselves and those around us. But, as my preacher said on Sunday, we don't always know God's plan. We just have to accept that we don't know, but God does. It's not always easy to do.

If you'll notice, I highlighted a part of this post in red, where she asks us to thank God for the peace we prayed for. Those words are just beyond me. She lost her son in a horrible way and instead of being mad at God, which I am sure a part of her is, she asks us to thank God for the peace he provided towards the end. Sometimes are prayers aren't always answered. And sometimes they are answered in a way that is more than we could have hoped. I guess when you have accepted God's plan, you just ask God for a little bit of comfort in the process. "A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down." If she was going to lose her little boy, she is glad God gave him peace. I am floored by this woman and her strength. Especially that during this process she was able to write about it. She knew that this was a part of EB and that was the whole point of her blog, to bring awareness of this disease and death is a part of that. Floored.

I know my posts have been so sad these last few days but I guess that's how I've been feeling. Just blue. I think we all go through that from time to time in life, don't we? But, we have to know that God has reasons for everything and this is all part of the journey. I am praying for Tripp's mommy. But I am joyful that Tripp is with Jesus and pain free and happy. Hopefully, Jesus will allow Tripp to look after his mommy as she's looked after him.

There Are No Words....

2012-01-13T17:00:00.000-06:00

Tears are streaming down my face as I read this post.

http://randycourtneytripproth.blogspot.com/2012/01/strongest-boy-ill-ever-know.html

Some of you may be following this blog. I saw it in passing today and had to read her story. This sweet little boy is in the last phases of his life. He has a condition known as EB. For more information about EB, click here. But for a very brief description:

Junctional Herlitz EB is a very severe form of EB. These infants often die during infancy due to overwhelming infection (sepsis), malnutrition, dehydration, electrolyte imbalance or complications resulting from blistering in the respiratory, gastrointestinal or genitourinary tract.

All I could think of when I read this post is sadness for the pain this boy is going through, but more sadness for his mother who has to watch him suffer. Now that I have a daughter, I can feel in my heart the pain of watching your child suffer. Watch him or her only be with you for a short time. It's just heartbreaking. The emotions that would run through me would be more than I think I could bear. What I do know is that soon, this little miracle will be running with Jesus, no more pain, no more restrictions. Just Joy With Jesus.

I can honestly say that I never, ever, EVER take for granted the time I get with my daughter. I never take for granted that she's healthy. And beautiful. And smart. Not even one minute. I don't get frustrated with her hardly ever because any of these women would give their life to be up with their child at 3 am because they are cranky or cold or hungry as opposed to watching their child not be able to sleep because they are in pain and swollen until they are completely unrecognizable. They would love to be frustrated with their children because they are climbing all over everything and running too fast as opposed to being bedridden and restriction. They would love to be able to hug their child as HARD as they could and kiss their child as much as they could without the fear of causing them pain. I kiss my daughter constantly. She is just going to have to deal with it, because any time I pick her up, her cheek is mine. Or her lips, or forhead, or hand. Or anything else I can get my hands on. Sometimes her dad and I squeeze her so hard I am sure she can't breathe. But I don't care. And I don't question why God gave me a beautiful, healthy baby and other people weren't as lucky. Because God has a plan. I just appreciate every moment because it can be taken away from you at any moment.

On that note, every time I watch the St. Jude commercials, I feel compelled to give something because I have a healthy child and these parents don't. I don't know how much money I can donate, but something that's been on my heart for years (since Bella has been about one) is to train Bella to be a therapy dog. I think Bella has the best disposition and I've always thought she would do well visiting kids in a hospital. I think it's worth giving it a try. A guy at my office adopted two retired full time therapy dogs (meaning they were only one owner, full time). One dog is still a part time therapy dog. They travel to Baylor hospitals and visit the children's area a couple of times a month. I've already been in contact with the person there and intend on following this process forward. I feel it's a way of giving back something to these children who are hurting. If Bella and I can bring them happiness in their times of sorrow, it's our duty and calling from God to do it.

I hope Bella ends up making a good candidate. It takes a special kind of dog. They say therapy dogs are born, not trained. Bella has always been a dog who is calm (once she is done wagging her powerful tail at you). She will lay down at your feet and let you pet her. She loves being around people, not off by herself. She loves kids. She follows direction. She needs some obediance training (she is not great on a leash) but that is it. I saw Avery the other day grab Bella by her lip and pull as hard as she could, to the point where Bella yelped, and Bella just stood up and moved. That is a test that the hospital will put her through. I really hope this works out because like I said, it's been on my heart for a long time now.

Pray for Tripp and his mother. I know I will.

Opinion - Subway Art

2012-01-12T10:15:00.000-06:00

I have been getting ready to do some subway art for my house and was back and forth on what I wanted it to say. I decided I can do a couple pieces. One will go in my room and another in my entrance foyer. I don't know about what I will put on my foyer, but I decided I wanted to put the lyrics for the song we danced to at our wedding in our room.

It's hard to put lyrics on a subway art sign without making it look WAY too busy. So, I decided to only put the chorus once, to keep word count to a minimum. I also separated each verse with different fonts, to hopefully help the words flow. Honestly, I am the only one who will ever read this, so as long as I know how the song goes, it doesn't really matter.

This is an absolutely beautiful and simple song. We both just love it. It's called "Stay with You" by John Legend. If you haven't heard it, I have added it here.

Here is the subway art print I hope to use. What do you think?

Oranges and Dancing

2012-01-12T08:36:00.000-06:00

I got a mouthful of orange, oh yeah, oh yeah...

I was just messing around with photo editting (Photobucket, not Photoshop). I wish I could fix her eyes, but oh well. We were dancing last night. To Moves Like Jagger. Does that make me a terrible mother?

Bored

2012-01-11T13:37:00.000-06:00

Do you ever just find yourself bored? Not like, unhappy bored, just like a "nothing really out of the ordinary or interesting has happened lately" bored. Or a "I need to find something to pour my creativity into" bored.

I keep trying to figure out a way to incorporate working out into something fun I can do besides just thinking about it as exercise. It's really not the easiest thing to do.

I would really like to go somewhere. It's been such a long time since I've taken an actual vacation. I suppose you could call Seattle a "vacation" but I am talking about without children, just me and my husband. Do you know we've never been on a vacation together? Now that's just sad. I am keeping my eyes peeled for ultra good deals on hotels and flights, so we will see where that leads us.

I feel bad because I haven't posted in a few days and I haven't taken a picture of Avery since Saturday. So, if I am not posting about Avery or a picture of her, I guess I just don't post at all? That's sad too. So, here is my "wish list" post of projects I have on my brain to do and places I wish Jason and I could go on a trip.

PROJECTS:

Paint my wall in my bedroom

Get new curtains (for several areas of the house)

Subway art in our living room with the words to "Stay With You" by John Legend (what we danced to at our wedding)

Redo dresser in bedroom

Redo Table in kitchen

Make a patio table from scratch

Finish word art for dining room

Finish paintings for bedroom

Paint mirror black for bedroom

I am tired already!

PLACES TO VISIT:

Jason's uncle and aunt live in Hawaii and they came over to have dinner with us last night. Their son is going to DBU this semester so they came to drop him off. They told us we need to hurry and visit just in case they are called somewhere else! Um, ok!

My friend April just moved to a large townhome in New Jersey but it's still a real close trip to Manhattan. She has a one year old too and insisted Jason and I fly out to visit her and her husband. Um. ok!

My friend Nikki lives in Tennessee and we were talking about meeting up somewhere to have another girls' weekend. Where? Who knows and who cares!!!

Jason and I want to take the kids to stay in a cabin in Brokenbow, OK this year. No kidding, they ALL look like this one!

Man, I better get busy!

New Addition to The Pecor Fam!

2012-01-09T13:06:00.000-06:00

Since my sister announced to the social media world, I can do it too!

My brother in law Dave and my sister Brooke are expecting their first baby in July! We are all so excited and I just can't wait to get my arms around that baby!

I think this peanut and Avery are going to make quite the pair!

Big Girl Ponytails.

2012-01-07T11:51:00.000-06:00

Is she seriously big enough to have ponytails? Oh my gosh, time flies so fast when it comes to kids.

She and her doll are reading her Sesame Street sing along book. (This is our amputee doll that she carried around by the leg so long that the leg finally fell off. I think the doll deserves some R&R.)

She loves to read the books and turn the pages. I am glad about that!

Happy Birthday Gigi!!

2012-01-05T08:39:00.000-06:00

Gigi is one of Avery's biggest fans....

Shas has been there for every major (and not so major) event of Avery's life...

She loves Avery more than life itself.

I always knew my mother would make a wonderfully fantastic, off the charts. loving, kissing grandmother...

Gigi has searched and found all of Avery's cutest outfits, from this...

To this...

She has always loved to rock her to sleep...

She thinks Avery is the most beautiful thing...

She loves to watch Avery experience new things...

And to teach her new things...

And to just love on her as much as possible.

Mom, Avery has the best Gigi in the whole wide world. She loves you so much, lights up when she sees you, follows you around the room, loves to give you kisses, loves to have you read her books, and just loves you all the way around. Thank you for being such a great Gigi and we love you. Happy Birthday!

Christmas Tree Might Be Gone but....

2012-01-04T20:31:00.000-06:00

Our Christmas Tree is gone. But before I kicked it to the curb (literally), I decided I wanted to keep a few of those pretty limbs.

So, I just kind of, put them places.

Here...

Here....

And here.

Just a little something for the winter season!

Locked Out!

2012-01-04T08:45:00.000-06:00

So, I got a new car this last year. Oh, I didn't tell you? It's a Chevy HHR (burnt orange. awesome!) I pretty much love it. It drives really nicely, really sporty but with lots of room. It's a good crossover. We already had an SUV so we didn't want another car with not great gas mileage. But my two door cavalier just wasn't cutting it anymore. Even if it was paid off. I don't think I have a picture, though. Sorry!

For some reason, the keyless entry has been giving us problems. I need to take it in to get it fixed. But anyway, I have gotten into the habit of locking the car manually when I get out of it. This morning, I went out around 6:45 to start my car and apparently, locked it. At 7, when it was time to take Avery to Jenn's, I couldn't get in. It was locked. And running. Luckily, after a few phone calls, I found Chevy roadside assitance and they came and opened my car door for me. And my dad came and picked up Avery so I wouldn't be too late for work.

I normally freak out over stuff like this, but all's well that end's well, right?

Here is a picture of my beautiful daughter in a Christmas outfit she got from her Gigi.

Have a good Wednesday!

Happy New Year!

2012-01-02T14:00:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year to you all! Jason, Avery and I spent a quiet evening at home on New Year's Eve. I am still not feeling 100%, and that night, I pretty much felt awful. So, I was in bed by 10:30 or so. It was nice, though. I don't think Jason and I have ever gone out for New Year's Eve since we've been together, so maybe when the kids get older, we can actually have a party or something.

Everyone keeps talking about "words" for the New Year. I guess you pick a word and that is your theme for the year. I don't usually do that, but I was reading another friend's blog about picking her word and one word came to my mind about our year. Focus. Jason and I have big plans for 2012. We finally feel like we are stable, we have good jobs and we have a home that we are getting a good deal on. We have some previous financial obligations that we need to pay, we have two cars we want to pay off, student loans to pay off, and a few things here and there. Our goal is to get all of these paid off at least by the end of 2013. But, as I read stories of people who paid off large amounts of debts (ours, with cars and student loans and past debts is pretty substantial but not as much as most I've read, since we have no credit card debt or mortgage) it takes alot of focus. Focus and discipline.

But as I continue to go forward in this life, as both of us continue, we realize how we do and don't want to live. Neither of us wants to be a slave to our debt. To get trapped in the materialism that might hamper us from being where we want to be. Jason and I want to feel free. We want to feel like we are not trapped and locked into a financial burden constantly. I feel like in life, God gives you chances and opportunities and it's up to you to take advantage of it. Right now, we are making good money without alot of bills. We have an opportunity to either fall into old financial habits and not make things better, or to actually try and make a dent in our future goals. We want to buy a house before it's time for Avery to go to school, which gives us about 3 years. This can be done. With a little focus and determination! Keep us in mind when you pray, that Jason and I can stay focused on our goals.

I leave you with a picture of my beautiful daughter!

Avery and The Trampoline

2012-01-01T19:44:00.000-06:00

Avery really loves the trampoline. She will get on it and walk around. She loves it when she falls down and when you jump her up and down! She will just laugh and laugh. She especially likes it when you do tricks.

She really is such a fun kid. Always willing to try new things, love to play, just has a great disposition. So fun!

New Favorite Picture and The Paci Goes Bye Bye

2011-12-30T09:19:00.000-06:00

I don't know what it is about my daughter, but when she's done with a phase, she just moves on without much coersion from us. Solids, from breastfeeding to bottle to sippy cup, now the paci. I told myself she would be done with that thing around 12 months, but honestly, she used it to sleep and I was just never ready to deal with the nights of crying, so I let her have it. Well, she was teething this week and more gnawing on her paci than sucking. She ended up gnawing a whole right in her paci. We got her replacements ones, but she just wasn't interested in them after that. So as of yesterday, we said good-bye to the paci. We tried to give it to her at her nap, but she just threw it away and refused to put it in her mouth. Last night, she went down for bed without it and was fine. Kind of sad. No more baby, it's slipping away little by little each day.

This is my new favorite picture (although, they seem to get replaced with great pictures every day!) This was taken with Poppi's camera of the girls in Avery's rocking chair. I think Avery looks so old in this picture!

Happy Friday everyone - I am still battling being sick, so our plans for Friday are kind of going bye-bye. Isn't it sad as a parent that you would rather have a good night's rest without your child than go out? Man, how my life has changed.

Favorite Pics and Projects of 2011

2011-12-28T09:01:00.001-06:00

Just thought I would recap this year...

Favorite Pics

I love this pic. Mainly because I didn't realize it, but she was flipping off the camera. And the look of disdain is priceless.

I love this picture of me and my baby.

She is smiling so big!

Sisters...

Love the face.

First night away from home...

Please excuse the large woman in the bathing suit...

After her first trip to the dentist...

Dad's Girls...

One my all time faves...

Avery's Fan Club...

Blue Bell Ice Cream Face

I really could go on and on, so I will stop for now.

Favorite Projects

Chalkboard Table, Before:

After!

Foyer Table, Before:

After!

Cookie Jar Redo, Before:

After!

Christmas Wreath, Before:

After!

I could go on and on with this as well.

What are your faves on your blog?

Sparklers

2011-12-28T08:24:00.000-06:00

My brother in law has the bright idea every year to bring us fireworks, things we can never use, but he brings them anyway. Yeah, Scotty, I am talking to you, buddy! I came across said firework bag and found some sparklers. Since the kids go back to their mom's today, I decided those would be OK to do in the backyard.

Surprisingly, they kind of scared Sophia at first. But then she warmed up to them.

Have I mentioned lately how much I love having a yard?

I think I am getting sick, which is no bueno. Jason and I are supposed to have a date night this Friday.

Christmas Quiz

2011-12-27T13:36:00.000-06:00

It might be two days after Christmas, but I found this Christmas quiz on another blog and thought I would answer some questions:

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Hot chocolate

2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? He just sets them out by the tree.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White on the tree. I was always against colored lights, but we put them on our house this year and they looked pretty awesome! Whichever color they are, as long as the bulbs are facing the same way, they should look good.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? Never have.
5. When do you put your decorations up? Thanksgiving weekend or whenever I get a free moment. I believe I was still putting up Christmas decorations last weekend :-)
6. What is your favorite holiday dish? Hmmmm...sweet potatoe casserole and my Aunt Angie's stuffing. And my mom's homeade cinnamon rolls.
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? Christmas Eve! I loved when my grandparents and aunt would come, we would open our pjs and watch Christmas movies, eat junk, and my mom would deliver rolls to everyone.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? What truth about Santa? As long as I believe, he still brings me presents. I don't really know when I really found out, to be honest.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes, it's always been and forever will be pjs.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? This year, just lights, ornaments we've had over the years, and some Dollar Tree red balls.
11. Snow! Love it or dread it? Love it!
12. Can you ice skate? yes

13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Yes - a pair of Girbeau jeans. It was the year I opened my presents early (sshh, don't tell my parents) and I had to fake surprise that morning. I couldn't wait to wear those jeans!
14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? Spending time with family
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Depends on the mood I am in! Anything with my mom's homeade whipped cream.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Hhmmm....having a lit Christmas tree in my living room. It makes the house so full!
17. What tops your tree? Nothing this year. They all looked too cheesy to put on the tree.
18. Which do you prefer: giving or receiving? Giving, without a doubt!

19. Candy canes: yuck or yummy? Yucky. I've never liked those things.
20. Favorite Christmas show? National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, which reminds me, I didn't see that this year. That's a problem.
21. Saddest Christmas song? There was this song I heard called Christmas Shoes?
22. What is your favorite Christmas song? Do you hear what I hear, O Holy Night, White Christmas, but only Bing's version.

Emotional Rollercoaster

2011-12-27T09:47:00.000-06:00

I saw two movies the last two nights that sent me over the emotional edge.

First, it was The Help.

The second was War Horse.

Ok, I will start by saying I don't usually cry in movies. But both of these had me blubbering like a baby. I was hesitant to see The Help as I don't usually like movies about the Civil Rights Movement. They make me way to angry about things that went on. It's ridiculous what we did to people in this country leading up to and during this time in our history. But so many people said it was good, and my mother in law insisted that we rent it. It was good. It was really good. But it made me angry also. I just find it appalling that these people allowed African American women to raise their children but not use their bathroom. But at least it ended good with the bad person getting her come-uppance!

War Horse was one I knew nothing about. I should have guessed it was sad. But I wasn't prepared for the level of emotions this movie was about to subject me to. I had to get up a couple of times I leave because I couldn't take it. I told Shari that she was no longer allowed to pick movies and that we would be watching nothing but happy kids movies for the next few days. War Horse was good though. Very good. Just hard to watch. I don't think since Passion for the Christ have I cried as hard during a movie. But I will tell you, movies about animals like this get me every time. This isn't a movie about animal mistreatment at all, just a movie about war and what was required of horses during the first World War. And this horse was spectacular. They called it the Miraculous Horse and he was. It has a good ending, just in case you were wondering.

This little stinker is getting teeth numbers 15 and 16, the top two sharp teeth. (I think they are called canines.) This has been the worst of all 16 of them. She is cranky, isn't getting much sleep, and inconsolable lately! I feel so bad for her because I know she isn't feeling well. We tried teething tablets, which work OK, but last night I gave her a little Tylenol which seemed to help. She actually slept through the night, which is good. But I will say she is getting more willful now! She knows what "no" means and will sometimes just look at you with these eyes when you tell her "no no" and do whatever it is anyway. Little stinker. She also doesn't want to go down at night as easily because now she knows she is missing out.

We took her to Christmas Eve service and during the whole sermon, she wanted to walk around. I took her behind the worship center into some hallways with lots of stairs. That little stinker climbed up two flights of steps several times! This was the first I've seen her climb steps. Scary!! She seemed to be pretty proud of herself.

This was the first month I haven't done "month" pictures. I just don't feel the need to keep doing 13 months, 14 months, etc. I will do 18 months and two years and some informal in between. She is getting too big too fast!!!

I love this little munchkin!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning

2011-12-26T22:08:00.000-06:00

We've had Jason's parents and grandmother staying with us this week and it's been really nice! I still have one more day off, which will make 5 in a row. It's been so nice! We went to my mom and dad's for a little while on Christmas Eve. This was the first Christmas I've spent away from my family, which was a little hard to get used to. But we did manage to get together on Christmas Eve, even for a few hours.

This year was also the first year I made almost all my Christmas presents!! Here are the ones I made...

This one was for my mother in law. It's a favorite verse for her.

This one was for my sister. She travels alot and just moved into a new apartment, so I asked her what states she's been to so we could make some art for her apartment. There is one flaw in this picture that I didn't notice until later, can you find it?

These two things turned out so good. It was my first time to use Modge Podge (made my own for 74 cents!) and it was alot of fun. I will do one for my house and give a tutorial!

This one was for my parents. I just love it. The clothes pins are to hold pictures of kids as they get older.

I really enjoyed doing these! I think it's a trend I will continue!!

I didn't do a great job of taking pictures on my phone. But between Jason and me, we got some good ones. These are the ones I got on my phone.

This is the best one we could get of Avery in this peppermint box!

Here are some of Christmas Eve night of Nawnie and the kids.

And Jason's Grandma Brown and the kids.

And here is Christmas Morning! Jason and Poppie stayed up until about midnight putting together a trampoline in the back for the kids. I stayed up helping Santa with some presents as well. Surprisingly, the kids didn't wake up until about 7:00 or so. Actually, I believe they might have woken up at 4 or so, but Nawnie told them to go back to bed (thankfully).

Santa brought Jordan a Harry Potter wand (that is actually pretty cool!)

He brought Sophie a Spongebob air hockey table, that plugs in and has air flow and everything. Santa must have found this on sale somewhere. :-)

Santa brought Avery a new pull toy because she loves to drag things around. We didn't buy Avery a whole lot of toys this year because we honestly didn't think she'd play with them. And we were right. Every chance she got to play with her brother and sister's toys, she took it. Or a sock on the ground. Or any old thing besides the toys she got.

We had all 14 of Jason's family over for lunch. We bought a 22 pound turkey and got a smoker and smoked it for the occasion. This was Jason's job and BOY did he do a good job! That turkey was amazing! He brined it for 24 hours beforehand then we cooked it at a low temperature in the oven the night before. It smoked for about 4 hours to perfection! Here is our feast. I finally get to cross off another thing from my list of making a holiday meal for my family. We made it all from scratch, except for the rolls!

Here are some pictures of the kids...

Here are the kids against the trampoline..

What a great holiday - I am very sad to see it over. And I don't want to work tomorrow!

Christmas Cards

2011-12-23T23:55:00.000-06:00

I wasn't going to do Christmas cards this year, but I've said every year since I've been with Jason that we will do them and every year, I haven't. It's not the easiest thing to plan, when we only see the kids every other weekend. But I went and got some new PJs and we had a little photo shoot by the tree. It's in our true style - imperfect, real, and last minute. :-)

Jordan has finally gotten to the point where he is smiling with teeth in pictures, I think he looks so handsome!

This child can't take a bad picture. She is one of the most photogenic girls I've ever seen!

Avery looks like such a little girl!!! I love her face in this picture.

Merry Christmas! Tomorrow is Christmas Eve and the kids are so excited. Jordan told us that he slept in this morning and is sleeping in tomorrow so he can be up good and early Christmas day. Sophia has counted out the gifts about 6 times already!!!

I was telling a Christmas memory of when we were kids. My sisters and I used to think Christmas Eve was excruciatingly long so we would make schedules for the whole day to make the day pass by longer. Like, "12-1, play Monopoly. 1-2, ride bikes." That's pretty funny when I think about it! But as an adult like just blows on by and for kids, it can't come fast enough!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Everything I Learned In Life I Learned From Friends

2011-12-21T21:01:00.002-06:00

Avery pics

2011-12-20T23:11:00.000-06:00

My in laws are coming tomorrow to stay with us for a little while, so we have been busy, busy little bees for the last week trying to get things ready. I've made all of my Christmas gifts this year (but of course, I can't show them to you, don't want wondering eyes to see.) Well, I've made them all except the kids. I must say, I have surprised myself with what I can do. I have a few projects that I've done for others that I'd like to do for myself!

I haven't posted Avery pictures in a few days so I thought I would show you my big girl.

In the mornings, we move the highchair into our room while we get ready so Avery can eat some breakfast and watch some TV. Lately it's been the Wiggles, but I don't think she is that attached to it yet. Have I told you all how much I love having wood floors? And dogs that will come back behind food thrown on the floor?

My daughter is just a delight. She really is a joy every day. She is the light of my life and I love, love, love watching her and observing all of the things she can do. To watch her walk now, you'd think she's been doing it forever. But she still has that toddler, bow legged thing going on, that makes us laugh sometimes. Especially when she gets to walking really fast.

Her new words she can say are "night night," "ewww," and "go go go" (Jason has taught her that for when they are driving).

Her hair is long enough for pig tails, but it's in that weird, sticking up like horns thing and I don't have a set of matching small bows. So lately, it's just been a ponytail.

If you'll notice in the picture above, she has her dolly by the leg, carrying it around. That little leg is about to come off! She can't carry a doll or animal unless it's by the leg, which is odd, but that's what she does. She's not really interested in toys much, just books and stuffed animals. And stuff she's not supposed to have. We actually decided that this year, she would only get three small toys from us and a couple from Santa. I've seen a ton of stuff, but I just know it will sit on the ground and she won't play with it. I got her one of those pull string toys, which I think she will really like. She likes to drag things around.

Jason says she looks like me and I think I would agree! But she is much more beautiful than I am - my husband and I made one good looking baby, I think!!

One more working day until I am off for five days! Yeah!

Highly Impressed...

2011-12-19T12:16:00.000-06:00

We are giving out Jason's homeade bread as gifts to our co-workers this year. We had a few loaves leftover and Jason decided to take them to a few clients he is trying to woo. Without my help, he found the red yarn and some labels and this is what he sent me...

I am actually quite impressed!! I just got a response that said, "See, I can do stuff. You usually think I can't and just do stuff yourself." Point taken, hubby. Be careful what you wish for!

Rake-Rake-Raking The Leaves

2011-12-19T09:22:00.000-06:00

Jason and I have always wanted to live in an established neighborhood. We have talked about when we buy a house, we'd like to buy one in a neighborhood that's existed for a while. In Collin County, where we lived for a while, there are many neighborhoods that are brand new. The lots aren't very big (in some cases, they had no backyards at all.) and there was NO trees in any yard. We have always like streets where you drive down and see big, pretty trees covering the houses. Well, the neighborhood we live in now is just like that!

Unfortunately, with big trees comes big leaves. And our yard is pretty big and it's been COVERED in leaves! We had no rake so this weekend, we ended up getting two (because the kids will be doing most of this raking - I knew kids came in handy!) This weekend, they started raking.

As I watched Jordan raking and Sophia playing in the big pile of leaves, it brough back memories of raking up my grandparents yard when I was a kid. We would go out and rake up leaves (we didn't do it very well, I think we just raked to get a pile to play in). I had so many fond memories of my grandparent's house and this was definitely one of them.

Can you believe Christmas is on Sunday? I can't. It's just insane how fast it came this year!

DIY Stocking Letters

2011-12-18T01:30:00.000-06:00

So, this year, we are having 8 people for Christmas morning, which means I needed stockings for everyone. I looked into getting stockings personalized, but even at a good price, like $15, I couldn't bring myself to pay for it. So, I opted for some cheap stockings from Walmart and thought I would get some cute letters to identify what stocking goes with which person. But, as I looked around, at several stores, I couldn't find one design that had enough letters for all 8 of us. And I started looking the second stores put out Christmas stuff. And the ones I could find with enough letters were expensive (which is probably while they hadn't been purchased by anyone yet.)

I had a thought of using paper cutouts, but then at Hobby Lobby today, the answer stared me in my face.

I found these wooden letters, $1.00 for four.

Since I needed 3 J's, I thought, that's a good deal! $6 for all 8 of us to have personalized stockings! All I needed was a little bottle of acrylic paint and I was good to go.

I had some red yarn that has come in really handy. Just a little glue gun and some yarn.....

And Voila!

I like them! Very cute if you ask me.

Personalized Santa Video

2011-12-16T14:08:00.000-06:00

For all of you with kids, this is really, really cute. Click on this link and you will see Santa sent Avery a video!

He can send your kiddos a video too if you go to http://www.portablenorthpole.tv/home.

This is a really cute, free idea!!

Our New Addition

2011-12-16T08:07:00.001-06:00

I would like for you to meet the newest addition to our home.

Isn't she pretty? She was given to me by the same WONDERFUL woman who gave Avery this rocking chair...

And these onesies....

The girls room in the new house isn't quite ready for a reveal, but here is just the wall with our newest addition...

Love. Love. Love.

We got to go hang out with Kristen last night at her house, which is SSSOOOOOOO cute by the way. She is so creative and I can just see her blog filled with all of her wonderful ideas and cute crafts. We are going to work on that in the next couple of weeks, aren't we Kristen? I know you are reading. Avery loved Kristen's elves. She had two plush elves that Avery just carried around her house (by their legs, of course). Why didn't I get any pictures, you ask? Because my phone was almost dead. I didn't charge it like I should have. She also made this wonderful dinner of Mexican food, it was YUMMY!!!

You might notice a box beside Avery's crib. Well, I found this idea on pinterest one day...

And I just thought that is such a cute idea! (I didn't even notice that this room has a rocking chair too, just like ours!) I don't think we have room in their room for this, though. Well, I also read a blog about a woman who poked holes in the top of a box and inserted Christmas lights (kind of like stars) and I loved that too. Avery crawled inside of this box one day in the living room and I thought, I bet I could paint this and do some stuff with it to make it a little spot where she could go. Well, the box fit and there have been a couple of times we've looked for Avery and found her hiding in her box, so I think over the Christmas vacation, that will be a project of mine. I mean, it's not like I don't have anything else going on, right?

You'll also notice our brown sheets are back on the windows. The black curtains we had didn't fit the new windows, but they did fit in Jordan's room and the brown curtains I had underneath (which you can see from this post) actually went up in my foyer. So, now, I have about three rooms worth of curtains to get. We will see if I can get that done this weekend. It's a need we have, definitely.

Have a great Friday!

The Weekend

2011-12-12T21:25:00.000-06:00

So, this weekend was kind of a busy one. We had my company Christmas party and a wedding! It started on Saturday - Avery and I hung out and ran errands while Jason went and played golf Saturday morning.

Mom and I took her to Chick-Fil-A, where the cow was there, dressed up as an elf! Avery didn't quite know what to do when she saw her.

She just kind of, stared at it....

And then look at us for reassurance.

"Hey, where did that thing go?"

Some friends of ours got married and had a Christmas wedding! Since we went to my holiday party first, we ended up coming at the reception. Mom had got Avery this ADORABLE outfit for the occasion. Here she is dancing with her daddy...

We never realized how big Avery was until this night - this little girl is one month OLDER than Avery. Look how much taller she is!!

And because my sister insists on taking pictures with her camera, and I always ask her to send them to me, and she NEVER does, I am forced to steal pictures from her blog. Yes, Brooke, I am talking to you!!

Before and Afters - Foyer Edition

2011-12-11T22:33:00.000-06:00

Well, I finally finished the foyer, or at least, finished it as much as it's getting finished before the end of the year. I have to say, for what I've done so far, I am pretty happy with it!

I was going to photoshop it up for you but honestly, I don't care about these pictures enough right now to do that. It's too late and I am too tired! But here are some good befores and afters...

Here is the foyer, when we first moved in...

And here it is now!

Close up of the window, seating area...

I had this Target computer desk I had bought in the year 2003. It was the last time I really spent money on decorating, except I had tons of expendable income and just went shopping at Target and bought a bunch of stuff. This was one of those things. This desk has also moved with me to several apartments. It cost me $100 at the time and after almost 9 years, I'd say I got my money's worth. But as you can tell, it's suffered in the long moves. Some of these cracks and knicks were so deep that no amount of primer or paint could fix it. This was my first piece of furntiture I actually had to sand. For $2, I would say the sanding block was a fantastic investment.

And here it is now! As you can see, black works much better. This is the SAME black paint I got for $7 for the gallon of Oops! paint at Home Depot. Once again, I'd say I got my money's worth. After I sanded, I primed, then put two coats of the paint, then sprayed it with my Valspar coating spray. I would say that I won't ever use this again as coating spray. You can totally see if you are not consistantly spraying this on a surface, almost like the areas that get more coverage look wet? And that's how it looks, dry. But you really couldn't tell unless I pointed it out.

Recognize those lamps and shades?

If we could all remember the lamp shade paint fail of '11....

First it was this:

Then it was this:

Now it's this!

Mu-uu-uu-ch better. I will never again use spray paint to paint a lamp shade. This is two coats of acrylic paint. Yep, 97 cent acrylic paint, applied with a sponge brush. It went on so easily and as you can see, coats so well!!! No light is getting through where it shouldn't be.

I have many more ideas for this table area, but as I said, I have other projects that need to be completed right now, so it's just going to have to wait.

Here is another shot of our tree. I probably should photoshop this one because this picture doesn't do the lights justice.

Here is one of the projects I was mentioning before.

My parents were nice enough to offer us their old dining room table. This table has been around for as long as I can remember! It's at least 25 years old and I was so grateful when my mom had mentioned that she was looking to get rid of it, and would we want it? Of course, I said sure!

Obviously, the dining area has not been this bad since we moved in, but here is was the night we moved:

And here is the current after (although I still have some work to do!)

I moved those lamps in there on a hunch they might fit. I love the light in there! I love lamps in general, to be honest, I love lamp light much more than I love ceiling light! Those lamps will be undergoing a makeover soon.

These are some frames I received as a hand me down that are also in line for a makeover. I call it "progress" when I move things from a stack or heap in the middle of a room to the room they are supposed to be in, so these pictures are one step closer to their new look.

Well, I hope you enjoyed this edition of before and after!

Jordan's Choir Recital!!!

2011-12-08T21:50:00.000-06:00

I was SO excited when Jordan told me he had joined choir.....I finally had something in common with their extracurricular activities! When Jason first watched him play soccer, he teared up because he could remember when he was a young kid playing soccer. I felt the same way - I remembered being in choir in elementary school. I remember a specific holiday recital myself, one where we sang "Rockin Around The Christmas Tree" and fun little ditties. I watched his teacher directing them and I remember my wonderful director when I was younger. It was great fun!

Do you see him? That's him on the far right....

Avery looked so cute I just had to get some pictures of her before we left.

I am so diggin the hat/bow combo these days.

Check out that belly.

It is so hard to get a clear picture of her. She moves too fast and doesn't like posing for me! But I catch a decent one every so often...

Did I mention we have two new teeth? That's a grand total of 14. I noticed that she has had a rash "down there" for about a week now, but I read today that it can happen when they are teething. Has anyone else experienced that?

New House To Do List

2011-12-06T22:16:00.001-06:00

So, I have alot of ideas for our new house. It's been one day at a time since we moved in, but since we have visitors coming for Christmas, the timeline on some of these things has been moved up a bit.

Here are some of the things we've already checked off our list for the holiday redo...

New Living Room Furniture

Christmas Decorations

Now, here is the rest of the to do list.

Redo Desk for Foyer

Finish foyer updating

Redo furniture for bedroom

Finish girls room

Redo kitchen table

Decorate dining area

I think I have to get busy!!

Here is a sneak peak of the foyer decorating.

Before and After Wreath

2011-12-06T18:45:00.001-06:00

Remember this hanger that I showed you?

Well, here is it NOW...

All I did was take dollar store ornaments and put them on the hanger one after another. I did nothing else. They laid just like that, all over the wreath. I would say there are about 50 or so? Then, I bought $1 ribbon from Walmart and made a bow. $4 later, I have a wreath! The top of the hanger even functions a hook to hang the wreath on.

Remember my wish list for my house? When I said I wanted this?

One down!!

Yay!

What Christmas Is All About

2011-12-04T20:29:00.000-06:00

It makes me sad that we live in the society we live in sometimes. Because I feel like movies and TV shows shy away from messages from a Christian perspective.

It makes me feel good they still show this on TV. Because it is what Christmas is all about.

Avery, Bella, Crackers, and Elmo

2011-12-04T20:18:00.001-06:00

Have you ever had an experience like this as a mother?

You know you've purchased something from the grocery store. A goodie perhaps. You have your mouth all set for it. You go to the pantry. And the goodie has already been eaten by your husband and children.

That happened to me today.

Isn't that frustrating?

Well, nonetheless, it was a productive weekend. I thought I would have a before and after to show you today, but alas, I didn't have the proper materials, even though I thought I did.

So, we still put our tree up...yay! It's my first grown up, real tree, as an adult. We went back and forth on whether to have a real or fake tree and decided to go with a real tree. Since Jason's family is visiting this Christmas, we thought it was worth it. And it smells awesome. And we sprang for the good tree, so the only needle we've had on the floor is when we put the light on and rustled it around a bit. I didn't think I'd have enough ornaments, but when I started putting them on there, I realized less is more because the tree is gorgous on its own.

No, we are not watching a Nazi film. That would be Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade.

Avery has discovered how to open doors. I mean, not turn the knob, but she can get to one room from the next if the door is semi-closed. Oh, and she has discovered the dog food. Before I could blink, she had eaten a piece. Oh my goodness.

Tonight, we had crackers out on the coffee table and she pulled some out. She calls them cookies. Yes. Yes they are. I just let her take some out, to try and get some pictures. Just watch Bella as she takes them out...

Nom, Nom, Nom...

Bella is wondering where the crackers have gone...

Bella is following her around the coffee table...

I can only picture the talking in Bella's head..."Please, sir, I want some more...."

"Mom, these are so. good."

Bella: "I know if I am patient, she will give me some."

I am going to call my mom out here for a second. My mom has introduced Avery to the computer. So when I pull mine out, she is sure it is for her.

Here is her hand wanting to see what's on the screen...

Normally, I wouldn't let her touch the keys. But for documentation purposes, I did....

And this is what she thinks we are always looking at, because my mom has introduced it to her...

And what she REALLY wants to see...

"La la la la, La la la la, Elmo's World..." It would be annoying if Elmo wasn't so darn cute. Which he really is. And if I didn't see the joy in Avery's face every time he comes on the screen or anywhere else for that matter.

After we were done with that, it's a little crawling over Bella, who doesn't seem to care one iota.

I seriously couldn't imagine these dogs not in our lives.

Her new favorite song is "If you're happen and you know it, clap your hands..."

Such a cutie girl..

And she really hasn't bothered the tree much, but there is this one shiny green one she seems to like...

Well that's our weekend. Has was yours?

New Era

2011-12-01T09:10:00.000-06:00

If any of you would like to know what an "era" is, I refer back to Friends....

Monica: An era is defined by a significant period of time!

Well, this past year has certainly been an era. And we are on the verge of another one!

My daughter has changed. She turned one last week, and I swear, this girl, has gone from easy going, chill, relaxed, to OP-INION-ATED! It's kind of weird, actually, you go to bed with one child and wake up with another. Don't get me wrong, she is still as sweet as can be, but she is just, well, one year old now. She can get around on her own. she is very independant, she wants what she wants when she wants it. She is starting this thing where when I take her hand to lead her somewhere else, she will start throwing her arms back and forth and whine because she doesn't want to do what I am trying to get her to do. She is also becoming a picky eater! Before, I could feed her anything. Now, all she wants to eat is bread for dinner. And barely any, I might add. She is becoming harder to please.

I think we are going to have to start some Supernanny tactics. I don't mean discipline, I mean, get down on their level, ask for things you need. I also like Michelle Duggar's take on raising kids. She tells her kids that you need to be obediant, but she says it in a calm, rational voice. I like that. So I try to talk to Avery like that, as much as I can.

For example, she likes to whine for stuff she wants. Especially if I am not getting it fast enough for her. So this morning, we had her morning milk on the counter and she started whining. I got down and said, "Avery, say "milk please." I know she can't say milk or please, but she can say something. I said, "Say momma, please." Every time I asked her to say it, just got frustrated and would grunt and whine for it. I stayed calm and tried to get some effort on her part to ask for what she wanted and she finally did. I have a feeling it's going to be like this, starting now.

It's really hard when you hit this age because they still seem like babies and the stuff they do is still cute, even if they are not acting so nice, so you don't want to discipline them or expect more than you think they can do. Like, trying to get her to ask for things. But in that moment, all I could think is, she is going to learn patience and manners, if I stay on this path.

She is also at this phase where she wants to be picked up all the time. Well, neither Jason nor I want to pick her up all the time. So, that's something we are working on right now.

Don't get me wrong - I love the age she is now. She is alert and smart, she can communicate with you, she can play. She loves books so much, she already has some of them memorized. She has books with flaps, where you lift the flap to see the animal or picture. The second you start to read that book, she knows the flap goes up and she will do it for you. She turns the pages when you ask. She can follow directions, which I love, so when you say, "clap your hands!" or "point to your nose!" she can do it (we have a book that has her do all of that stuff.)

She loves to dance, and she knows when music comes on, it's time! She also has this thing her Gigi taught her. You say, "Go crazy!" and she will start waving her hands in the air and smiling with delight.

I tried very hard to get a picture of her in her carseat this morning, but of course none of them turned out right.

She kept trying to lick her coat, and I am not really sure why...

Such a cutie girl!

Need Your Help!

2011-11-30T09:14:00.002-06:00

Good Wednesday Morning Everyone!

I wanted to ask your help today - if you live in the Arlington/Fort Worth/Grand Prairie area (or know people who do), NightOutArlington.com is hosting a toy drive on Wednesday, December 14th and would love for you to share the news with any of your family and friends! Please see the flyer below and if you have any questions, let me know!

Thank you, and God Bless!

New Picture Wall

2011-11-27T18:22:00.000-06:00

I opted to go a different route with our pictures in the new house.

This is what we had in the old house...

It's not bad, but I still wasn't ever completely in love with it.

This is what I decided to do at the new house.

I think I like it better.

What do you think? The picture quality is pretty terrible.

New Couches Are Here!

2011-11-26T15:28:00.000-06:00

Our new couches are here!

One Happy Husband...

Better, yes?

We still have some decorating to do, but it's going to look good. Like, a grown up house.

This is the first new living room set I've ever had in my whole life, of my very own. This is a big deal for us!

Before (sorry for the shots of my husband, too)

After! (Sorry for me in the reflection)

R.I.P. Couch

2011-11-25T19:50:00.001-06:00

Our couch officially died today. It's been dying a slow, painful death for a while now, but today, it died. Jason looked at me and said, "well, I can feel the rod when I sit on the couch now." We would sit on it and hear pops and creaks. Our loveseat's leg used to turn around in circles all the time, so it was really only a matter of time.

So, we went shopping on Black Friday and just happened upon a good deal for a new living room set. We were planning on getting a new set early next year anyway, and I guess it's good timing, seeing as how we are having visitors for Christmas.

Our couch has served us well.

Our next door neighbor, Nancy, has lived in this neighborhood for a long time and works at her church. We felt kind of guilty throwing the couches away without at least asking if she knew anyone who might need them. I mean, they were of no use to us anymore but you never know in life who might just need the very thing you don't need anymore, even if it's not in perfect condition. Within two hours, we had her friend's son over to pick them up. He lived in a bachelor pad with his roommates who said they were in good condition compared to the one he already has. (That's scary.). Our new stuff is getting delivered tomorrow. We were so surprised the discount we got this stuff at. They were on clearance for some reason, so in our mind it was perfect timing.

So until tomorrow, this is what our living room looks like...

Yep. Bare bones.

I am very excited about our new stuff. I told my husband to consider this my Christmas present. (And Birthday present. And Valentine's present...)

Thanksgiving 2011

2011-11-24T18:20:00.000-06:00

I am thankful that I get four days off in a row at work.

I am thankful that I get to spend those days with my family.

I am thankful that my mom makes our entire Thanksgiving meal from scratch.

I am thankful that I got a two hour nap today.

I am thankful that my family loves my daughter.

I am thankful that Walmart has a trampoline on sale for 60% off the regular price.

It's a good day.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Avery's One Year Pictures

2011-11-23T21:19:00.000-06:00

Avery is one year old today. I still can't believe that it's been a year already. It feels like it's gone by so fast, but it's been such a great year.

Whenever I look at Avery, all I can think is "God's Grace." With all I've done in my life, I didn't deserve such a great blessing in her. But God blessed me anyway and trusted me with the greatest daughter in the world. She is such a huge joy in my life. So beautiful, so smart. I am such a lucky woman to have her in my life.

Avery, you are so smart. You started walking about three weeks ago and haven't looked back since! Your favorite thing to do is pick up something in both hands and just carry it around the house. You also love to take things out of other things - like folded clothes in drawers, toys in boxes - or take things off other things - like remotes off coffee tables, or anything else you can get ahold of.

You can say alot of words now and love to copy us. If we tell you to say something, you almost always try to say it, even if it's not perfect. You can say puppy, doggy, poppy, mommy, daddy, cookie, one, OK, uh oh, and many other words. I would say that know what all of these words mean now, too. You can point to your nose, your head and yourself. You can tell us what a monkey says (ooo-ooo) and a bee says.

You will pick out books and walk to us to read to you, especially your Gigi and Pops.

You ~~love~~ LOVE Elmo. You are starting to also love Mickey Mouse.

You will still eat anything we give you, except your babysitter says you hate mandorin oranges. I do too, which is probably why I've never had you try them. Bad mommy!

You are wearing anywhere between 18-24 month clothes and a size 4 diaper. You also wear a size 4 shoe. I would guess you are about 24-25 pounds. You are very tall, even your babysitter says so. This is not a surprise to any of us.

You still have 12 teeth, which includes all of your 2 year old molars. You can pretty much eat anything!

You are always on the move and you always get up when you fall down, which I love about you. You never even cry most of the time.

You have the best daddy who loves you so, so much. He loves to play with you and teach you new things. He tries to either teach you something new every day or get you to try something new everyday. You are so lucky to have such an amazing dad. And I know because I have a pretty great one myself.

Your Gigi and Pops love you so much. They see you every morning and love every minute they get to spend with you. Your Gigi has had new clothes for you ever since before you were born and that hasn't stopped to this day. Your Pops is itching to get you to the convenient store to buy you candy, just like my Pappaw used to do with me. He even sneaks you a couple swigs of soda now and again. Which is fine, as long as I don't see it. Your Gigi loves to take your picture in cute bows and frilly tutus. And she loves to show you off.

Your Aunt Leslie and Aunt Brooke love you so, so much. They get to see you alot more now that we've moved closer to them. Every chance they get, they come and see you. One of these days very soon, I have a feeling you will be spending more time with them. They both want to take you for a day and hang out with the coolest little girl!

I am so happy to have watched you turn 1.

Here you are when you were first born...

One Month...

Two Months...

Three Months...

Four Months...

Five Months...

Six Months...

Seven Months...

Eight Months...

Nine Months...

Ten Months...

Eleven Months...

One Year...

I love you, Avery Grace, and I am looking forward to the next chapter and watching you grow!

From Gigi's Camera

2011-11-23T20:34:00.000-06:00

My mom took some pictures and I just had to post them....

They just had to take Avery out for her birthday!

Daddy painted her toenails....

Mom took these pictures for Avery. Isn't it adorable?

Such a cutie pie.

One More Time....

2011-11-22T23:10:00.000-06:00

noun

steady persistence in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc., especially in spite of difficulties, obstacles, or discouragement.

Theology . continuance in a state of grace to the end, leading to eternal salvation.

I have done posts about perseverance before, I think. I don't know why but for some reason tonight, I felt the need to write about it again.

One of my favorite things to watch on TV is biographies. My very favorite ones are where people struggle for a long time and finally make it. I am not a fan of the people who just found themselves famous one day. Like, if they were to do a bio on Snooki I would not watch it. I watch these bios, on Tom Hanks, Valeri Bertonelli, and tonight it was Jeff Dunham (you know, the guy with the puppets?) and I just can't help but realize the secret of life. Of course, God is the secret of life. But I mean, the OTHER secret of life.

Life is hard. For most people. I don't think life is hard for everyone. I believe that life is hard for most people. For some, life is absolutely impossible. But for most people, life is just hard. For Jason and I, life has been hard. I am not saying it's hard because of horrible things that always happen to you. Life is hard most of the time because of choices we make. Sometimes, we make bad choices, sometimes we don't know we are making bad choices, sometimes, bad choices find us. But either way, life is hard. The hardest part is not the STUFF that happens. It's getting PAST the stuff that happens.

This is called perserverance. And I think perserverance is the secret of life. When things look dire, when life seems lost, when things seem impossible, it's finding a way to keep on going.

The reason I love watching bios of successful people, especially in show business, is because I think they are the definition of perserverance. If you look at the above definition, it says, "steady persistance in a course of action, a purpose, a state, etc." When I watch Tom Hanks' bio, he knew that he wanted to be a successful actor. He followed his dream. It was hard, it wasn't always good, but years (and years) later he made it. In a BIG way. In a way he never even dreamed of. Because he followed his heart. I love these stories. It gives me hope that if I just get up, if I just keep going, if I just keep following my heart, things will work out.

I am not in a bad place at all right now. In fact, for the first time in a very long time, I feel like we are finally making headway and positioning ourselves in careers that will fulfill our hearts. But that doesn't mean it's easy. And what we know better now that I don't think we knew three years ago, or even a year ago, is that life is never easy. You never truly "make it." There will always be another obstacle after the one you just made it through. I think God does that on purpose. It's those times of tribulation, times of struggle, that truly define who we are and help make us into the person we are supposed to be.

I think perserverance is the most important trait one can have. Without a doubt. Not sure if you were going through something and this post helped you, which I certainly hope it did. Just "never never never give up,"

A Toddler's Rules of Possession

2011-11-22T08:38:00.002-06:00

So true.

Just Some Pictures...

2011-11-21T19:38:00.000-06:00

Avery got some new pjs. They were Elmo pjs. When we put them on her the first time, she wouldn't stop looking at her legs. It was very cute.

Watching the Mickey Mouse club...

I have a feeling some before and afters are going to enter our lives soon.

Can't wait to show you what I did with this for Christmas..

Have a good Tuesday!!

Avery's First Birthday Party, Part One

2011-11-19T19:03:00.002-06:00

I am naming this part one because I know there are going to be many more pictures sent my way from the party. Every time Avery did ANYTHING there was a camera in her face!!

Avery's party was so much fun. I decided to do it as a small gathering. It's a bummer that Jason's family lives further away and can't come to stuff like this. I really wish they could have come. But it was me and Jason, my mom and dad, Brooke and Dave, Kate, Reagen, and Aunt Angie. Leslie is at an opening and couldn't make it. She was very sad, but she will get to spend her actual birthday with her, which is coming up on Wednesday.

I went with a Sesame Street (really it was an Elmo) theme because Avery loves Sesame Street. It turned out so cute!! I took the pictures below before we had put all of the food out, but you can get the idea. My mom has alot more pictures of this table.

Jason and I were up until about midnight cutting all of this stuff and putting it together. But it was well worth it, it was really cute.

If you are interested in this stuff I found it on Etsy. The cake topper Elmo with the number one is from the Trendy Cupcake Shop and all of the other printables on the table, the banner, everything came from Simone Peterson.

Isn't Avery's outfit the cutest?

She LOVED Kate. Kate made her laugh and laugh! I know it doesn't seem like from this picture, but she did.

Her Gigi loves her so much.

All of my pictures come out so blurry! Boo!

I am so happy Reagen got to come! Yay!

We played Sesame Street games - I have such a great family and friends who are such good sports. We played Pin the Nose on Elmo, Sesame Street Charades, Guess The Number of Cookies in Cookie Monster's Jar, and How Many Words Can You Write That Start With "A?" There are pictures - I will attach those later! We did presents (Thank goodness for all of her new clothes!)

Then, it was time for cake. Oh man. Of course, this was the funniest thing.

Dad made her a little trash bag jacket and she got her Elmo bib on....

The candles are on every other camera BUT mine since we were doing the song. But once we got that cake....

She didn't quite know what to do with it....

She slowly started to figure it out...

Then her Uncle Dave just held her cake up directly to her face. She went after it!

Even her Pops got in on the icing action.

It really was such a great party. I am so happy it went well. But more than anything, I am happy that people who love her so much and got to spend her birthday with her. She started getting to be a real ham towards the end. She really is her mother's daughter.

I will write some more about her first birthday milestones on her real first birthday - but what a great day today was!

Birthday Shopping

2011-11-15T21:38:00.000-06:00

We just came from shopping for Avery's first birthday party! I waited a bit too long to order her a birthday outfit (I had a great one picked out on Etsy) so I was really disappointed when I realized I wasn't going to be able to get it in time for her birthday.

My mom suggested Kid to Kid in Arlington and MAN do they have some good stuff! Lots of tutus and shirts. I had picked out this completely over the top, adorable pink frilly tutu dress and matching Happy Birthday hat (she looked like a cupcake, I swear) when they woman said, "We can custom make a tutu, shirt and bow for her birthday by Saturday, easily!" When I looked in their catalog, I found almost exactly the same outfit I had picked out on Etsy! I was so excited! The outfit at Kid to Kid was a little more expensive (I will not be spending this much on one of Avery's outfits for a long, long time) but she only turns one once, and I am keeping this outfit for her in a hope chest. I am not having an over the top birthday party, so I told myself I would go over the top with her outfit.

I can't wait to pick it up!

When I got home from work, as we were leaving to go shop, Avery had found a leaves on this branch in the backyard. I told you she likes to pick random things up. She just carried it around, waving it everywhere. It was pretty cute so I just had to take a picture!

"Mom, surisly. (Said with a teenager accent) Stop with the pictures already."

We went to Toys R Us to get some ideas for Christmas gifts as well. We passed by the Rockin' Elmo thing and that girl LOVES her some Elmo. The second I turned it on, she just danced and danced! She could point out Elmo on every aisle we went down! What is it with Elmo, anyway? I mean, I get it, but he is the most popular character on Sesame Street. Is it his voice? That he's red? Or that he refers to himself in the third person?

At Toys R Us, we just had to let her ride the fire engine with Bert and Ernie!

Well, at about 3 pm my allergies had me down for the count. I mean, all of the sudden, I was DYING! So, I took a Benadryl and it's time for bed!!

Goodnight!

This time, last year...

2011-11-14T22:41:00.000-06:00

I still cannot believe that my daughter is going to be one. It feels like yesterday that I was at the hospital! So I decided to check my blog to see what I had going on at this time last year...

Avery Update

Well, I started having contractions this last weekend. They were very few and far between, but they started. On Monday at work, they started coming more often and closer together. After a few hours, they just stopped. Today they started again. This time, they were stronger and closer together. About 4, they were 3 to 5 minutes apart. On the way home, we decided to go to the hospital. On the way, the contractions got farther apart until they just went away. So, we just stayed home. This childbirth stuff is really annoying, I must say. I will keep you all updated!!

For all of you moms who have little babies or the moms who are pregnant, or the ones who are thinking about getting pregnant, here are my words of advice from what I've learned over the last year.

1. Even though it might not always be in their best interest, rock them as much as you can. There will come a time, very quickly, that they won't let you rock them anymore. I am so glad that every time I had an opportunity to rock Avery, I took it. Well, not every time, because she wouldn't be able to fall asleep on her own now. But as many times as I could, I did.

2. Take pictures, as much as you can. That first year, you will be amazed at how much they grow. And all of those pictures will start to mean so much to you.

3. Don't try to make them grow up too fast. Don't be one of those mothers who always says, "My daughter/son did this already!" I tried not to do that because every baby grows in their own way, at their own time.

4. Never forget, even when you are tired and wished that you could have a moment to yourself, that this too shall pass and you will actually miss those times that your baby needed you.

5. You will never get these moments back so take advantage of them as much as you can.

What thoughts do you have to share?

Yep, Stole These Pictures RIGHT Off My Sister's Blog

2011-11-14T12:34:00.000-06:00

Thank you Brooke for lending me these pictures. I just had to put them on here from the tea because they are so darn cute!

Cindy Tamplin Memorial Tea

2011-11-13T09:19:00.000-06:00

My mom had the 12th Annual Cindy Tamplin Memorial Tea yesterday. Of course, I brought Avery and she was all over the place! She fell asleep at about 7 pm because she was so tired from running around.

Here was the table I set:

It was my wedding China. I literally got it out of its' boxes for the first time for this event. In almost two years of marriage, I've only used it this one time. :-)

My mom has done this tea every year for her dear friend, Cindy Tamplin. Cindy passed away unexpectedly and this is what my mom did to honor her. All of the proceeds go to Brighter Tomorrows in Grand Prairie.

Such a good time - everyone got to see Avery and they just loved her! I can't believe in less than a weeek, we will be celebrating her one year birthday. Man, time flies.

The Shoes Were Made For Walkin'

2011-11-11T08:34:00.000-06:00

So, I told you Avery is walking. Everywhere. All the time. She just wants to go, go, go!

Avery is becoming a stubborn little stinker! She is harder and harder to control as she gets older. She wants what she wants when she wants it! She knows "no," but it doesn't always mean she listens to us. Luckily, we both mean "no" when we say it and know that now is a very important time when it comes to her understanding that we mean business so we stick to our guns!

She is very determined. She doesn't quit if she falls down or if something doesn't work the first time. She keeps on trying! That is a good trait. Obviously, she was doing everything earlier than we thought she would so she is a kid who really wanted to get around and get in the mix.

I think her appetite is changing. Apparently, at 12 months, their growth starts to slow down, as does their appetite. I've noticed the last couple of days that she's refused food. She will eat some, but when she's done, she's done. I've also read not to force them to eat if they aren't hungry, so I am not too concerned. She has also been waking up in the middle of the night again. Some of it might have to do with a new house, but I think it more has to do with the fact she is walking. I have read that their minds are always going once they are walking. I've also heard that around this age, they start to think more (in a different way), dream more, and they don't want to miss ANYTHING so they will wake up more often. It's just changing we are getting used to.

She loves to talk. She can say "mama" and "dada" and use it in the right context, she can say "baby," "bubba," "uh oh," "ouch," and "hi." She waves when it's time to wave. We will say, "Where's Avery?" and she will pat her belly. She loves to read books, she loves to play with toys. Now, when she walks, she will carry her favorite toys with her. And heaven forbid you take them away! Her favorites are Jordan's transformer, a Barbie, and her baby dolls. She will pick up random objects too, like hangers, spoons, things like that.

She is so fun! I love that she is starting to really understand and play back. Such a fun time in her life!

I Heart Pinterest

2011-11-10T06:59:00.000-06:00

Sock Bun...Pinterest

New Way to Tie A Scarf...Pinterest

How to Tuck Non-Skinny Jeans Into Boots Without the Puffy Top...Pinterest

Pinterest, Pinterest, Pinterest!!!

Love

2011-11-06T19:46:00.001-06:00

It's an odd dynamic in our house. Sometimes, it feels like Avery is an only child. Just because so many days of the month, her sister and brother aren't here.

But when they are, she is just the third born, like in any other family with three kids.

I got so lucky that her brother and sister love her because I've seen where it's not like that in blended families. But they do. They absolutely love her. And she loves them.

Avery started walking this week. Like, really walking. She walks everywhere. She can walk for quite a ways by herself. And she's gotten really good at getting back up after she's falling down. I love watching her determination. Today, she walked over to her rocking chair. There was stuff in it, so she took it off, and Jason and I sat there and watched her try and figure out how to get it in. She likes things. She tries to get things she wants. It's like she's becoming a little girl overnight.

Her new favorite thing to do is hold on to her sister's hands and walk. And Soph will walk her everywhere. It's so sweet. Soph will just say, "Come on, honey! Let's go to the kitchen. Come on honey, let's go to your momma!" It's so sweet. Today, everyone was out playing in the backyard so I took Avery out in the grass. Soph was just walking around with Avery and I just had to get a picutre.

When she falls down, Soph will say, "Are you OK honey?" It's the sweetest thing.

Such happy girls.

Jordan and Jason must've played 4 games of soccer. The kids love having a yard. It's wonderful. I can't tell you what a difference it's made in our family, having space.

The dogs especially love it. Bella just played with them as much as she could.

It was a good weekend. I even got to spend time with my sisters and go to a wedding shower. This is what I love about living so close.

New Hair for ME!

2011-11-06T14:40:00.000-06:00

I love that my sister does hair now. She text me earlier in the week and said, "We are trying a new color on you!" I am pretty much game for anything, so I said, "OK!"

After we washed my hair, I could tell my hair was going to be dark. Darker than I've ever had it before.

And here it is!

What do we think?

I love it! It was time. My hair just needed a change.

Avery and her new trick...

2011-11-02T22:06:00.000-05:00

Avery is slowly getting better with her new babysitter. She is such a nice woman and wants this to work out so much and I think it's going to be good. She's cried when my dad has dropped her off, and cried when Jason's picked her up. Except for today...so that's a good sign! And her babysitter said she played and danced today and even said "puppy!" I haven't even heard her say that.

She is walking around everywhere now. She can run a lap around a coffee table like no one's business. She even started walking full long steps today! We were so surprised. We were in the kitchen and she was standing at the backdoor and suddenly, she just started walking through the kitchen like she owned the place! We were blown away!

If you hold on to her with only one hand, she will walk and walk and walk. Everywhere!

From one couch...

To another....

And back to the coffee table. Sorry for the blurs, I am telling you, that girl is fast!

It's the living room olympics and she does it over and over and over.

Oh man, not ready for this phase!

Some Progress

2011-11-02T21:57:00.000-05:00

So, when we moved in to the new house, there was a pink room. Like, Pepto pink. I probably could have made it work if it would have been the girls' room, but we decided the room was better suited for Jordan's room. So, I went to Home Depot's Oops paint section and found a grey for $5.

Before, and these pictures don't do the pink justice.....

And after...

Better, no? I promise I will put up the full "after" after the room is finished.

However, they painted EVERYTHING pink. The base boards, window sills, even the electrical outlets.

I thought I would just paint it all grey, but it looked awful. So I will be painting all of the trim white.

I mean, seriously, who paints the electrical outlets?

So, that's what we've been doing these last couple days. It's getting there. Eventually.

Halloween - My Little Angel

2011-10-31T21:09:00.000-05:00

This was Avery's first Halloween. It's her last-first holiday of her life. After this, she won't be in her first year anymore. Sigh.

Today was Avery's first day of her new daycare too. It went well, I just think it's going to time some time for everyone to adjust. Her new sitter really is so nice and likes her being there, I just think Avery has alot of change going on in her life right now.

Avery was an angel this year. Isn't she beautiful? The prettiest little angel I ever saw.

She thinks she is pretty too.

We took Avery to a little street Halloween fair in Grand Prairie. She didn't trick or treat, but we walked around and enjoyed ourselves.

Boy, do I need a tan or what?

She didn't quite want to look at the camera.

I am so tired, it's been a long few days!!!

Backyard At The New House

2011-10-31T11:18:00.000-05:00

I promised I would post some pictures of the dogs out in their new backyard...

They LOVE it. Seriously. It's huge, with lots of trees. The chase squirrels, we play fetch. It's great fun.

And Avery just loves to stand at the door and look outside.

Oh, and she loves to help us unpack, too.

At least we are done moving and are moved out of the other apartment! One thing down, 75 to go!

Last Night in Plano and Moving Day

2011-10-29T21:04:00.001-05:00

So, yesterday was Avery's last day with Miss Pam. I cried. She cried. It was a sad day.

Last night, we watched the Rangers. I won't even get into that one.

Today we moved. And it was not a great experience with the movers we hired. We ended up having to do much of it ourselves because the customer service person who set up our move didn't seem to know how to communicate. So they showed up with a trailer half the size it should have been. Whatever.

We still have some more to do tomorrow, but tonight is the first night in a new house. I haven't lived in a house in so long, it's going to take me a little while to get used to it. Dogs barking, shadows of trees in the window at night. I always get a little depressed in a new house, just not feeling like it's home, missing my old place. And it's no different at this one. It took Avery a little while to fall asleep tonight, and she is sleeping in our room with us. I think it's just going to take a little while to get settled in.

The house we moved into is older. It's got hardwood floors throughout and alot of the original fixtures. There are some things we are going to do, like paint, but probably nothing else. I do have some great decorating ideas, though.

Here are some pictures of how the house looks tonight...

The kitchen

What will be the dining room, after all of the stuff is moved

This is my favorite area, so far. It's the entrance/foyer...I have some great ideas for that little seating area

The living room, with my handsome husband

The other half of the living room

Our first major house purchase

As happy as I am about moving, and as glad as I am to be here, I am still a little sad about spending the night somewhere new. I find myself missing my apartment and I don't really know why, except that it's just familier. Do any of you ever feel that way when sleeping in a new home? Maybe I am just weird. Tomorrow, I will take pictures of the ginormous backyard that the dogs are loving. Have a good night!

Sad. :-(

2011-10-26T09:41:00.002-05:00

I don't know if tomorrow or Friday will be Avery's last day at Pam's, but either way, Pam is very sad. You can just tell. Normally, when I drop her off in the mornings, Pam will arrange the kids that can't walk in swings during the first 30 minutes of the day while the parents are dropping kids off. So, Avery will go into a swing when I bring her. The last few days, Pam has just taken her and sat on the big chair with Avery in her lap and is just hugging on her. It makes me sad to think that Avery will never remember Pam, but I've been so blessed having her. I am making her a little gift and here is what I will print and put in a frame.

My House Wish List

2011-10-25T09:45:00.000-05:00

So, as I think I've mentioned before, I haven't lived in a house with a yard in over 10 years. I have always thought of having a house as a "grown up" thing, I guess. But I've always had this "list" of things I would want if I ever moved back into a house of my own. So, here it is....

-At Christmas, I want a wreath on every window of the front of the house.

-I want "grown up" brand new living room furniture. Every piece of living room furniture I've ever had has been a mismatch hand-me-down. Don't get me wrong, I am grateful. I just want a new, grown up couch.

Something like this would be nice.

-I want to have a dinner party outside. Imagine the scene in the movie "Catch and Release."

And this table wouldn't be bad either.

-I want a white plate wall.

-I want a flower garden.

-I want pumpkins to decorate my front door in the fall.

-I want a sewing machine and a saw so I can make DIY projects, and now that I have a garage for storage, I think I can make that happen.

-I want a holiday spent at my house, where I can cook for my family.

That's my list so far...

What is your home wish list?

Sharing My Jennarocity

DIY Valentine Crayon Hearts

R.I.P. Whitney Houston

My 23rd Birthday

SUYL - Working Moms

Avery's Bad Day and Sophia's Funny Story

Brooke, Are You Reading This??

Update: Avery's Skin

Struggling

Yep, I'm still here

Our New-To-Us Toy

Dumbest Things I've Seen In A While

More Avery's First Birthday Pictures

Avery's New Words

Poor Avery

Interesting and No So Interesting News Stories Of The Week

Run For Your Life! It's The Blur!!!

Coffee Filter Wreath - Finally!

Kitchen Aid Fiasco of '10

Oh yeah, It's Sunday

Introducing.....The Invasion of The Toys

Wordless Wednesday, Avery is at Gigi and Pops!

Avery and Her Carseat (In Pictures)

Avery and Minnie

Some Sweet Pictures

Tripp

There Are No Words....

Opinion - Subway Art

Oranges and Dancing

Bored

New Addition to The Pecor Fam!

Big Girl Ponytails.

Happy Birthday Gigi!!

Christmas Tree Might Be Gone but....

Locked Out!

Happy New Year!

Avery and The Trampoline

New Favorite Picture and The Paci Goes Bye Bye

Favorite Pics and Projects of 2011

Sparklers

Christmas Quiz

Emotional Rollercoaster

Christmas Eve and Christmas Morning

Christmas Cards

Everything I Learned In Life I Learned From Friends

Avery pics

Highly Impressed...

Rake-Rake-Raking The Leaves

DIY Stocking Letters

Personalized Santa Video

Our New Addition

The Weekend

Before and Afters - Foyer Edition

Jordan's Choir Recital!!!

New House To Do List

Before and After Wreath

What Christmas Is All About

Avery, Bella, Crackers, and Elmo

New Era

Need Your Help!

New Picture Wall

New Couches Are Here!

R.I.P. Couch

Thanksgiving 2011

Avery's One Year Pictures

From Gigi's Camera

One More Time....

per·se·ver·ance

A Toddler's Rules of Possession

Just Some Pictures...

Avery's First Birthday Party, Part One

Birthday Shopping

This time, last year...

Yep, Stole These Pictures RIGHT Off My Sister's Blog

Cindy Tamplin Memorial Tea

The Shoes Were Made For Walkin'

I Heart Pinterest

Love

New Hair for ME!

Avery and her new trick...