Maddie, 10 months

She's such a sweetheart, can't believe she's already 10 months old! In not too much longer, we will be celebrating her first birthday. She wasn't feeling well today when we took these photos, but I didn't want more time to slip away. I love the photo in the bottom right with the cheerio on her chin. Much love!  

Merry Christmas!!!

Tonight was a treat! We went on a limo ride to see the Christmas lights. We even exchanged gifts with Jenn & Peyt and opened in the limo. Was a great night!

Merry Christmas... only 2 more days!  

Christmas Bucket List

I wanted to post what we are doing for our Christmas Countdown this year, even though we are already 11 days in.

For the past several years, I've created an Advent Calendar, giving us a window to open with something to do each day. But in a season where there are many requests on our time and energy, that sort of defeated the purpose of the season. So this year instead, we created a Christmas Bucket List. That way, when we feel like doing something extra, we will pick something.

Our list is below. Just a few of them have specific dates, but for the most part, we just wanted to be free to enjoy the season.

Here's our list:

• Dec 6: Bakersfield Christmas Parade 
• Dec 6: St Nicholas Day (Fills Boots with gifts, plus St. Nicholas: the story of Joyful Giving) 
• Dec 7: Take a sleigh ride 
• Dec 21: First Day of Winter Fun
• Dec 24: Homemade Pizza (A DH family tradition)
• Dec 25: Kneophla Soup (DW family tradition)

• Write a letter to Santa 
• Meet Santa 
• Deck the halls, Christmas tree & Yard 
• Popcorn Garland 
• Gift-making workshop (making home-made gifts for the ones we love)
• Christmas Cookies (If you make it, you gotta eat it!)
• Holiday Lights at CALM (If you live in Bakersfield and haven't checked this out, definitely do!)
• Family Game Night 
• Annual Christmas Lights Drive (Haggin Oaks all the way!)
• Create Ornaments (Salt Dough & Otherwise) 
• Gingerbread Creations 
• Christmas Carol 
• Bless another Family- (we are excited to sponsor family with Bakersfield Homeless Center for year 2.) 
• Attend a local Christmas Tree Lighting 
• Make a nativity scene
• Do something nice for a neighbor 
• Read Christmas Books at the Bookstore 
• ELF 
• Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer 
• The Very First Noel 
• Charlie Brown Christmas 
• It’s a Wonderful Life

Maddie speaks!

See, proof!!!

She is nearly 10 months old. So sweet.

LOVE it!

9 months Maddie

... and busy as a bee!

 

Things I plan to own before 2214

I've been in dreaming mode lately... it's a good mode!

When I have the chance to splurge $20 here or there, I buy some of my favorite things (fabric or candles or photo accessories).

But lately, i was dreaming and thinking what would i do if I had a little more to blow (yeah, right).

Kitchenaid Mixer... LOVE! I am currently trying to win one of these on some blog. Maybe I'll win!

Silhouette Cameo ... this thing is my crafting dream.  The Cameo is a digitally-drive cutting device. You can load designs and fonts and it cuts it all for you. It cuts vinyl, fabric, paper... and more. ONE day!!

Random other things...

A shop vac 

An awning for our backyard

a playset for the girls

Some area rugs.

Okay... end of day dream! 

Hope you are having a fantastic beginning of November with happy dreary skies and warm drinks! Much love! 

Maddie in a GIANT Pumpkin

Happy Halloween!! 

Here's a cute baby in a giant pumpkin. 

Now go have yourself a good day. 

Weekend Plans

What do you have planned?? We are excited to go see this...

Zoe's Blog

Zoe's taken an interest in blogging. http://zoemaep.blogspot.com/

Check it out. It was her own cute idea to write how-tos. :)

Maddie's Pumpkin

This is Maddie. Behind her is a giant pumpkin.

We found the biggest pumpkin at the patch. We plan to clean it out and put her in it! 

To be continued! 

Preparing for Pumpkins 2012

We made it to the pumpkin patch today. 

We have a bunch of cuties. And I'm really loving the clown costumes. (I had a hat for Maddie, too, but it's gone missing. Not sure if it would actually stick in her hair, though).

Funny, we don't usually buy any pumpkins at the patch. Usually we buy them at Walmart or something where the money stretches further. This time we actually did because we had a specific pumpkin project in mind. 

I've been collecting ideas on how we can decorate our pumpkins this year (see the options i collected below). After showing the girls some different ideas, Sophia wanted to melt some crayons on hers, then drill holes in it... Zoe wanted to paint hers and then do a diorama inside it. Funny how quickly Sophia forgot her plan, though... I was grabbing her crayons and before I could she had started painting. Real fun, though. Their pumpkins are both painted cutely. Zoe still plans to do a diorama in her's. 

We bought a giant pumpkin we plan to decorate (method still TBD) and then put Maddie inside it for some more fun pics. Fall seems so easy to be creative with. 

Pumpkin Decorating Methods

Go Oldschool & Carve (Do it if you like a TRADITION & Getting MESSY)

• Freehand- this is how we did it when i was a kid and it was creative, messy & fun. You can't go wrong. Unless you want to skip the mess. 
• Stencil
• Diorama

Drilling (Do it if you like SIMPLE & FUN- great stress reliever, too ;)

• Design, drill, add lights
• Drill & use as vase for flowers

Painting- (Do it if you like SAFE & CREATIVE) 

• Freestyle or with stencils (can use a carving stencil)
• Painters Tape
• Paint, then Etch- I have got to try this
• Chalkboard paint- I love this little guy, but this doesn't seem practical at all
• Permanent Marker-- not technically paint, but close enough. Great way to make faces in a safe way! 

Embellish (Do it if you like CLEAN & FAST)

• Do it up easy with either Pins or Hardware Crazy Faces
• Crayon Melt- this looks pretty, but messy
• Modpodge (Paper, leaves or GLITTER)
• Add pumpkin faces or head/ feet kits

Why I Go to the Park

I know I'm a big weirdo, but I hate the park.



But, it's easy to do it for them.  Look how much they love it. It's intentional play & exploration, it's pure joy.

Each Monday, we'll be there. It's Sophia & Maddie's park day! This is their time. 

Maddie: 8 months

8 months and constantly on the move! There's so much to investigate. :) She is still rolling, but having a great time doing so.  

My Boo-tiful Family

 

If your name is _________, make some noise!

I had the BEST day today.

I think it was that-- for once, it was absent of noise. One of our kids was away for the day. And because of that, there was no whining and no fighting. (When you take away one, the other doesn't want to whine on their own.)

I'd like to try to find some ways to cut the noise down. We have an "if-then" chart (which states what behavior will have which consequence).

• If, Unattentiveness (Specifically to parents): Then, Loses a Media Ticket
• If, Unloving (Like Fighting): Then, Loses a Possesion
• If, Rude (Like Yelling in the House): Then, Time Alone

But the consequences alone don't seem to prevent any of these noisy things. Oh. I want a peaceful home.  One with helping, listening, loving attitudes and no whining or complaining. Is that just a pipe dream or can it happen? I'm game to try to see how we can have less noise. I'll be searching Amazon for books on the topic (but recommend 'em if know a good one), and seeking out others to see what has worked in their home (has anything worked in yours?).

Now, make some noisssssssssssssssse!

Cute Face-planting Giggler

Maddie is 7 months

She is such a joy! I love her smiles. She is at that age now where she rolls over every time she is laying down. She can't get enough :) She is almost sitting. And she is just over all a very sweet and precious little girl!

Budget Meeting

I finally readjusted our budget.

It is good to have a mini budget meeting every month just to evaluate how you've been doing. We haven't had one in a long, time... maybe a year.

We've been practicing budgets for almost 2 years. What an awesome life change it has been. We've never been bad with money, but in the past we would intuitively feel out that we've spent too much. Now having a budget brings so much comfort as we know what is going where.

We have some new expenses this fall which means some things also had to be reduced or dropped. One of those things that was dropped was babysitters. DRAT! We will need to get creative this year so have that time to connect. I dream of a weekly time! A few other things got dropped, but mostly our budget makes more sense going into this new season.

I love proactive thinking & readjusting. It's GOOD!!

How are you ready for this new season?

10th Anniversary Throwback

The 1st decade of our marriage!

10th Anniversary Celebration

Ten year ago this happened...

This morning, I overheard Sophia recounting this last weekend. "First we go to the castle, then we eat supper..."

Our girls were princesses this weekend! We rented out Eagle Castle in Paso Robles, CA to celebrate our 10-year anniversary.

We feel SO blessed by it all. We planned and saved, and everything came together SO sweetly.

The pasta bar by PM Custom Catering was amazing, our bike theme turned out super fun including epic cookies from The Cookie Jar, our throwback video was sweet, the concert by our all-time favorite artist Manchild made the night rock.

For those that celebrated with us that night, it means more than you will ever know. Your presence was a great gift to us. Thanks! WE had a wheelie good time!

1st Day of 2nd Grade

Zoe started 2nd grade today. The girls are growing up!

We did some fun things with our pictures this year. First-- we printed a photo of Zoe starting 1st grade and she held it up to herself so we could see how much she's grown. Truly, lots of changes in one year!!

The other relates to the book The Kissing Hand. If you haven't heard of it, I highly recommend it for those with kids starting schools. (thanks Kristy for getting it for us!) We wrote "I love you" on her hands with permanent marker, then pressed it into ours. Mom & Dad both did it-- this way Zoe has a reminder all day for her first day that we love her! It was fun!

Zoe is such a relaxed kid; she thought nothing of the first day. And she was good to remind us that it was no big deal :) I love that she is calm as a cucumber and I'm also a sentimental mess. :)  I can't imagine when they are all in school!

Ten Years

Celebrating 10 years this month!!

 

Happy 6 months Maddie!!

 

The Lonely Years

I'm just going to go ahead and be honest-- The last 5 years have been a tough season, the loneliest years of my life! Obviously there are a lot of different factors. For one, 5 years ago we started fresh by moving across the country. Being away from family and established relationships requires you to start over.

In addition to starting over, the progress is slowed a bit more in the season of parenting young children. If you socialize with your kids along, there are many interruptions, so it is difficult to have deep conversations. After awhile, you do learn to put your conversation on hold to some extent while tending to your kids. But a simple conversation takes a lot more work.

For many parents, too, it's harder to get away- even for just a few hours. For us, we prioritize giving the other freedom to have some time to go out with friends or go chill somewhere. But many times alternating schedules, we have to do a lot of coordinating with each other just to be able to get away a bit, not to mention coordinating with those we are trying to connect with.

I hate the feeling of being surrounded by people, yet being lonely. Sometimes, I am just feeling empty (like I got nothing left in me) when it's time to try to connect with someone so it's hard to pour out. Other times, I have worked my tail off all day that at the end of the day when others are ready to socialize, I'm so tired that my brain and heart and no longer operable.

To top it off, I'm also an introvert. When it works to get out, see past interruptions, and energy to socialize... I have to then warm up to a person, which takes a little longer for us introverts. Sometimes after you've spent some time getting to know someone, turns out they just aren't a match for you and it's time to start again. :)

Now that I've brought you up to speed, here's the truth...

Parenting young kids is a season. There won't always be interruptions and long hours. Even though it's been a tough season, I am doing a good job keeping my focus and knowing my job right now is an important one. My peace, my focus, who I am made to be right now in this season... is found in keeping my heart at home.  I am thankful for the grace others have on me during this season of not always having it together. And if they don't understand, I have grace on them.

And no matter how crazy the season you are in in, it's so important to make community a priority in your life. Relationship-building takes intention. I'm a firm believer in that we need people in our lives... to know our joys, our saddnesses, to know us. Right now, I'm organizing my fall, looking at groups I can be a part of so I have that as an element in my life on a weekly basis.  I know at different times in our lives finding time to connect with others can be hard, but having people in our circle is so important, so be intentional.

Rikacation

Erika's visit is just a faint memory in our mind.

Oh I kid. The photo just didn't get deleted and it was cracking me up.
We've had a sweet summer. What a joy it was to get a visit from Matt's sister, Erika!

I'd share all the adventures we had, but it there's nothing too exciting to share... just hanging out bumming around a bit and enjoying each other's company.

Bye Rika! We miss you already!



Halfway through Swim Lessons

The girls are doing great in swim lessons!

They finished their first session on Friday. They have both had very different experiences and attitudes, but we are loving seeing them grow into better swimmers before our eyes.

Zoe has had this sweet confidence to her at these swim lessons. She's like-- oh don't you worry, i know what I'm doing :) Her teacher always had great things to say about her.

 

Sophia had some anxiety about swimming. The very first day she really melted down and didn't want to swim. Each day she was more and more calm, but she never quite got excited. Still, she was willing to go in despite being a bit afraid. She got a certificate of participation for round one. We think swimming is going to be super good for her.

 

 Both girls have gotten new teachers for round two. We are loving watching them in their lessons. It is relaxing and neat to see your children gain a new skill while you don't have to actively participate but can sit back.

Somehow swim lessons make Matt's daddy heart melt. Here is the blog he wrote about swimming. Somehow things like this really frame life for us, help us see the beauty that lies before us. I love those moments. I love swimming.

Foster Home for Cats

It has been almost a year since we have worked toward being a foster home for cats.

The girls love trips to the petstore. And of course each time we are there, they want to take home a kitten. Well, last fall when we were there, we were told about the foster program they have. You host the kitties in your home, bring 'em back to the store on the weekend, and then if they are not adopted you bring them back to your home.

We thought it was the best of both worlds. You get to play with lots of kittens, yet you don't have the commitment of keep them long term.

(Side story: we had to get our cat spayed first. It wasn't a financial priority to us, so Zoe raised the money by having a lemonade stand. It took us almost the full year just for this. Then when we got her in the vet called and she was already spayed. DANG! :) It was so silly.)

After we got it all lined up, we were finally able to bring home our first kitties. Two male and one female. The girls are doing a great job helping to tame them. Two are siblings, the other was the one striped cat in an all white litter.



We are having fun. Sophia is learning not to pick cats up by the throat :) Zoe is wanting to spend all day with them. Chart isn't sure what she thinks, but she did relax pretty quickly. SWEET!

True Riches

Here is Zoe explaining what true riches are. 

I love VBS. and so does she. It really gives her faith a jump each summer. It is also really really fun. Saint Johns is just down the street from our house and they do a great job. And I love when something sweetly sinks in! 

Hope she always knows what true riches are! 

Swim Lessons

It's the moment we've been waiting for all summer: Swim Lessons. They started tonight!  

Zoe did great. She had a confidence to her and did great.  

This is what Sophia thought of the lesson. :) She was a little bit of a wreck. But I know this'll so be good for her!! When the lesson was over, she ran crying as quickly to mommy as she could.

Here are my girls, one relieved, one proud.

I'm proud, too! I made those towels for them today. They have velcro to wrap around them and we sewed on polka dots.

The Cause of Summer Success

This has been a sweet summer for all of us.

Past summers, I have really struggled. (Because of the heat, it feels like you can't be outside & do summer like it's meant to be done.) And this summer, no outside changes have taken place to make it a good summer. We still live next to the desert in the same house, same jobs, have the same friends, same church...

What I think has changed is us. I think we know ourselves way better... as people, as parents, as a family. We have learned, proactive thinking and planning makes all the difference. 

I plan and am proactive, not because I am automatically a fun mom, but because I struggle to be one. When there is nothing urgent or important, my instinct is to be a bum. But at the end of the day, I feel unfulfilled and the kids are stir crazy. I learned that I need to work against this instinct. 

When I plan, when I fill my cup with ideas and resources, when I give myself margin, that's when we succeed. I so so so love planning and thinking ahead. It's one of my greatest allies. 

Nearly always when I get into a day, I just want to do "what i feel like." And that usually has me being a bum! But when I have a purpose (when I've been proactive and thought ahead to what we need), I keep moving forward.

Anyways, that's why I think this summer has been so sweet. We thought ahead and have Our Summer Bucket List going-- and some other big fun things as well. And we just keep attacking, keep adventuring. And when we have a purpose in what we do, it's easy to keep our joy... because we've accomplished what we've set out to do.

5 Sweet Blessings (from this last year)

I'm enjoying a night of reflecting and decompressing. Oooooh, it's so good. I am an internal processor, so I am at my best when  I have my quiet alone time.

We've had a good year! Was looking at my pictures and many blessings quickly flowed into my mind. We've added some great blessings to our life this last year!!


1) Having my nephew & sister here!

It has been such a privilege to make many memories with them this last year. It was a gift to have them live with us for awhile!! It was so valuable to share space with them, share meals with them, share memories and laughter. I loved what I learned in the spans of their time living with us... to be organized in my cleaning and cooking. It was a good season!

Pictured to the right is Peyton & Zoe in 2007. I am in awe of how much they grow and change in such a short period of time. It makes me want to savor each day more and more and know what a gift it is to love on my kids-- and am thankful to love on my nephew as well!

2) Our mini van!

Seriously, how did we ever manage with one car? With our growing family, we would've had to have found a bigger vehicle. We didn't have the financials for a new car, so we thank God when one fell out of the sky. The timing was perfect that Matt's parents no longer needed their van. We are so humbled (still) by their generosity. It's been a year and it's one of the greatest gifts in our life right now. It's becoming our home-on-the-go equipped with snacks, activities, first aid, maps and more. I am enjoying and owning the mini van life! Love our van!

3) Ariana

My soul sister Ariana and her family moved to Bakersfield this fall. It was a short season in Bakersfield, but it was such a gift!! She was a great friend when we lived in Minneapolis. And even though their season was short in Bakersfield, I treasured the handful of times we spent together!! Until we meet again.

4) Winter Garden

Somehow playing in the dirt makes me really happy. Proactive thinking also makes me happy. So the combination of those two things made this winter garden a very happy thing. Only about 1/3 of our plants actually survived, but it was a wonderful family project. I am already excited to plot and plan next year's garden. Gardening in CA is a totally different world, so it's taken a few years to get the hang of it. but the best time to grow here is the winter. I have some great tools under my belt so I think next year's garden will be even better. 

5) Change

Change is good, though it doesn't always feel like it. Life is mixey-- wonderful too. This year, we had much change. We added Maddie to our family and she is already 5 months. Sophia is communicating well but has been eternally potty training. Zoe lost 3 teeth (2 to oreos), graduated 1st grade and is on to 2nd.. We celebrate 10 years of marriage this summer. We will have been in Bakersfield 5 years next month. Relationships change-- some grow distant, others deepen. Change is constant and imminent. Our lives are sweet, but they are also hard. We choose to face each day with a smile. We choose to face each day with love. We choose peace, hope and faith. Every day changes. Every day has it's challenges. Every day is a choice, but every day is good. 

Enjoy the journey!