Our First Day

Yesterday we decorated the tree. This year it has been a process. In the past we've just been able to put the tree together all in one day. It's taken us 4 days to actually complete the tree this year. But...sigh.....it's up and ready now!




Below is the picture of the completed tree. I plan to have the kids make construction paper garland and maybe a couple of ornaments to add to it.

Today was our first day home together!! It was definitely scary for me. I sat down last night and prayed that everything would go well and that God would give me the confidence in myself that I CAN do this. The thing that has been worrying me the most is naptime. We never really have enforced naptime when the kids are here....so on weekends - unless we take a trip in the car - they go without naps. It's not because we don't try with them - we HAVE. But everything we seem to do never works. Dimming lights, naptime mats, blankets, milk, etc. We have just gotten to the point of being discouraged and not even wanting to try. Today - I CONQUERED naptime. :) They both went to sleep for an hour and a half - together! Now that I know it's possible, I have a lot more confidence in myself to do this everyday. The trick for them is running them and exercising them until they've used all that energy up and they're tired. After that I fed them lunch and got their bellies full and they were more than ready to rest.

But as for the rest of the day - it was great. I had put together a lesson plan last night of different things we could do today - to encourage learning but also be fun. We sang (and somewhat learned) two different Christmas songs and a Bible verse. We made a snowman door hanger for Izzy's door and watched "The Grinch" movie. And we played and played and played. I'm so appreciative to have this time with them. It's such a gift.

Daily Blessings

Oh my goodness, so much for which I am thankful!! It was a fabulous Thanksgiving weekend. It all happened so fast. It seems like we always wait weeks and weeks and then cook for hours upon hours and then the meal seems to last minutes and then it's gone. :(

I'm going to highlight some of the intriguing moments from this weekend....

These are ridiculously awesome "Sweet Potato Dumplings" that I made. You can find the recipe here: YUMMMM. I actually used real cooked sweet potato though - I'm not too big on the frozen yam patties. And I only cooked them for 20 to 25 minutes and the recipe calls for longer. This is a definite do-over :).

Loved getting to spend time with my family. Especially my brother, Eyan who I never see anymore and his girlfriend Kristi. That's why I love the holidays so much - not because of food (although it is always amazing), or presents. But because I always get to spend quality time with the ones I love. And this year was especially amazing because we got to spend Thanksgiving at Chris' parent's cabin in Tennessee where it's impossible not to step back from reality and really take in God's beautiful creations.

We picked out our Christmas tree today on our way home. Actually Izzy picked it out. Chris and i agreed that it might be fun to let her decide. I was afraid that we would end up with a Charlie Brown tree - and we slightly did because it's not as full and perfect as our past selections, but she did pretty well.

Hey Mommy and Daddy - we found it!!!

We spent the rest of the day doing Black Friday shopping with my mom for her 50th Birthday. Found an amazing deal on the one item that I was really hoping to get Izzy for Christmas - so YAY and Thank you Lord for that!!

After dropping my mom off we started home and then into the garage and heard a loud crunching sound as we entered the garage. Chris stopped immediately and started backing up. I just knew we had ran over our cat and we were going to see him laying there after putting the car in reverse. For a few brief moments we had no idea what we had hit. Oh yeah....

The tree was still on top of our car.

Lets just say, thank you AGAIN Lord for looking out for us, because there was no damage to our garage - AND no damage to the tree.

Pre-Thanksgiving Weekend

Saturday morning we got to sleep in - 7:00 a.m. :) Got up, made breakfast and by 9:00 a.m. we were bored. We never really stop - we have to be doing something all the time. We decided we wanted to do something educational with the kids but didn't know what. Chris suggested Barnes and Noble for storytime - perfect! Well not really. We didn't decide until 9:00 a.m. that we were going to go - after showers, dressing all 4 of us and packing the neverending "day" bag, we didn't get out the door until 10:00 a.m. and storytime started at 10:30 - we crossed our fingers that we would make it. We got to the doorstep at 10:45, storytime was WAY over. But we made the best of it, let the kids run around, play with the cool Thomas the Train setup they have and take a million books off the shelf that we had to run around behind them and put back. Izzy's finally at the age though where she will sit still long enough to read through an entire book.

Braeden not so much....

hahaha.

He actually does pretty well - I think at this point though he was ready to sleep.

We decided to meet one of my really good friends, Sarah for lunch at Dos Amigos. Izzy calls her, "Tia Sarah". And Braeden officially has a crush on her.

Thank you to Dos Amigos for cleaning up after our hour and a half stay there. While we were busy chatting - Izzy and Braeden found ways of amusing themselves.

Izzy made pie.

And yes, this is her shoe and some splenda packets. At least we know she's creative.

A New Night Out

It's so funny how much your life changes after having children. No one really tells you how much it's going to change. It's like everyone keeps it a secret so that you will have kids too, so that they're not the only ones that have kids. Nights of relaxing watching t.v. turn into "mommy read me a book, daddy play with me," and followed by that is bath and bedtime and by that time - mommy and daddy's bedtime because it's too late and we're too tired to even think about doing anything else.
The Friday night dates with your sweetie are LONG gone unless you have prearranged a babysitter. Like tonight - instead of candlelight dinner for two - we did McDonalds and Bouncin' Kids in Morganton. For those who do not know what this is - it's an indoor arena of all of the blow-up inflatable jumpy things that kids LOVE. And I have to admit, after tonight, adults LOVE too. :) Having younger children, we can't really just let them run wild and free in that place. We have to follow them and also help them up the ladders to be able to slide. Izzy does great on her own these days. But is still very likely to get trampled by an older, much bigger child. So - needless to say, we follow them everywhere on their heels the whole time. Embarassing, but pretty funny - here's the kids and I in the belly of a dragon.




Now for those of you who know Chris and I, you are probably thinking, whatever - they would be there without the kids anyways. Yeah, probably true! ;) But we cherish these moments and wouldn't trade them for anything - even a candlelit dinner for two.

The Little Things

For those of you who are wondering - my official last day at work will be December 21st. My last full time day is actually next Wednesday, but I'm going to do four weeks of 10 hours a week training my replacement. It's so bittersweet these past few days. I keep going from packing things out of my desk to sorting through emails that I have saved for 3 years. One of the saddest I found today was a video of Izzy's first steps. Wow that seems like yesterday, it breaks my heart. More evidence though that I'm making the right decision.

After work today Chris and I decided to go to Quest4Life to work out. He usually goes about 3 times a week, but I really only like to go when they have Zumba. Tonight was Zumba night, so we packed the kids in the car after a 20 minute rushed dinner. I always feel guilty for taking that time for myself, but I think God gave me a little "it's ok, pat on the shoulder kind of thing" tonight. The kids came home with a fingerpaint-Turkey hand that they each had made while in the child care there.

How cool is it that the daycare providers took the time (and had the patience) to put fingerpaint on them, draw the rest of the turkey and then help them get cleaned up. And how BRAVE they are for doing that with Braeden who is only 16 months - haha. It makes me feel better to know that they have something fun to do and aren't just sitting in there lonely and bored.

The Journey Home

Currently I am a full time employee for an awesome non-profit organization. I've been here for about three and a half years now, LEARNING everyday! I love my job and it's taken me a lot to get to where I am. AND - I have a family. I have a daughter, Izzy who will be 3 in January and a son, Braeden who will be 16 months sooner than I would like. Oh my goodness how much I love them! No one can really describe how much you will love your children until they are conceived, born and then you hold them for the first time. Its just a completely unfathomable LOVE. I also have an amazingly wonderful, supportive husband, Chris.
Needless to say, I am BLESSED.
I have battled for these 3 years whether to stay at home with my children. It's kind-of been an impossible goal, since Chris and I both have a mortgage, college loans and of course - credit card debt. So, finances have really just stood in our way of me even "thinking' about staying at home.
After an amazing bible study this summer of a book, "Lies Women Believe, and the Truth that Sets Them Free," I have struggled on and off with the decision to stay at home. I miss my children, but is this the right thing for them? Do I really think I can handle being at home ALL the time? What about money?!?! But listening to God, and really trusting him, has lead me to this decision - that we can do it. HE will make a way for us and HE will provide what we need. The line from this book that keeps me trusting that this is the right decision, is "there is no greater servitude from a woman, than to serve your family at home". I believe this is true and hope to live this each day.
I am scared, nervous and worried but also excited and joyous to take this Leap of Faith.....