Coming Along...

Can someone please let me know what in the world possessed me to make decorated sugar cookies for a bake sale? Geesh! I should have just stuck with Rice Krispy Treats or something. Well after a VERY late night last night I am about halfway done decorating these silly little things. And yes there are Christmas cookies AND Dinosaur cookies. I thought they dinos would be fun for kids and YES I do know that Dinos weren't alive when Jesus was born. :) Hope you all have a great day. Someone stop me if I have frosting stuck to my face or something!

Whew!

Sorry I haven't posted anything in a short little while! I've been super busy. With what Iam not quite sure. This weekend was my Birthday and I just want to climb on our roof and shout a huge "thank you!" to everyone who made it awesome. Every little thing made it wonderful. Nicholas pampered me to no end, the girls at work made me wear a tiara to be a princess, my BIL called me and left a sweet message, my MIL spoilng me rotten, my Aunt Jan sent me a little somthin' somethin', and everyone else...all of which was so appreciated and so surprising and wonderful! Hooray for all of you!

I volunteered to make cookies for the bake sale for Emma's school. Its Saturday which I thought, yeah, Saturday's still way out there...except I just realized I have to send them to school with her on Friday meaning I have to have those silly cookies ready THURSDAY NIGHT...Yikes! This is my first bake sale EVER and in my Bree Van de Camp style that I always annoyingly gravitate to, I want everything to be perfect. Errrr I hate that about me. So anyway I have been googling and researching most popular bake sale cookies and figuring out how to properly decorate those puppies.

All of this coming down to me telling you that I probably will not be blogging much this week. Or sleeping. Or eating anything but leftover frosting. Yikes again.

What's on your nightstand right now? There seriously are about 10 books on my nightstand, ranging from Apraxia, to the history of setting a table, which yes Marcy you can tell me later what a dork I am...I'm expecting it. :) And yes Aunt Jan I will totally write down the title of the book so you can read it too. And yes Jaime you can laugh at me and tell me how I'm being dumb...cute but dumb. Teehee, there's my shout out to some of the people I know who read this. Love you all!

So anyway I will try to write more starting next week. I think I might need a vacation sometime soon to reclaim my sanity!

The Boys and the Girls

Thought you might enjoy a couple of pictures from our Christmas Card Photo Shoot...we had so much fun, can you tell? Thank to Aunt Maime for taking the pictures...she's always ready and able when we ask for something. I love that Nick's throwing Calvin around and I'm tickling Emma to pieces...pretty much how our days are every day...just kidding!

First Crush!

Well I think Emma has her first crush. Isn't that just adorable? The little boy she's interested in is named Nicholas. Hmmm what a coincidence! Anyway her and I were driving to Hobby Lobby, girl time as she calls it, and we were chatting away. I told her Nicholas seemed nice because I had just gone on a fieldtrip with the class. She said "yeah but I can't talk around him."
"Why not?"
"I just get all jumpy when I'm near him and I can't talk."
"What do you mean jumpy?"
"I don't know I just feel like I need to jump, jump, jump, and I can't talk or anything."
Isn't that the most precious thing you've ever heard? I know that's how MY Nicholas makes me feel too so I can totally relate. She is just so precious. And if this is starting already we DEFINITELY are going to have our hands full!

Praising Him through the Doozies

Yesterday was a real doozie of a day:
I went out to my car to go to work and the hard working battery was dead…thanks for 6 years of effort little battery. So I cruised off in the family vehicle. No problem.
I came home to a glum Nicholas. He didn’t get the job he really wanted. He was sad. Crushed. Kisses and hugs, prayers and consolations. How I love that man. It pains my little heart to see him not in good spirits.
As we were getting ready to leave our house our refrigerator started making a really funky noise. I mean a Funky Winkerbean kind of noise. A call to Nicholas’ child hood neighbor gave us some suggestions of what to do. And lo and behold it was fixed!
We are trying to praise God in all things. ALL things. The crappy unexpected things where your heart is crushed and you feel like you can’t breathe. Or the sudden things that could ruin your day. I will praise God in all of those things. I am determined.
I must tell you when Nick was first laid off I was TERRIFIED. To be honest, we only had a few hundred dollars in our savings account. Yikes. You can’t survive for very long on that much. But that money has grown. Seriously it has, I'm not just bad at math. Money doesn’t just grow on its own you know? God has made that money grow. There is no doubt in my mind. Now in all honesty we don’t have money just oozing out around us. But we are okay for now.
God has provided in ways we had never thought possible:
Monetarily we have been blessed by friends and family over the past months. We’ve found money left in trash cans for us, checks slid over the table at casual lunches, and a simple gift of cash just given without being expected. We weren’t looking for such gifts but God has pulled on these people’s heartstrings to give, and they obeyed.
We’ve also had an abundance of bills that were lower than expected. Credits showing up that make no sense and things that we know God was behind.
In other ways of being blessed our friends and family have been working overtime to make sure we are refreshed and provided for. Watching the kids so Nick can job hunt or study has been such an enormous blessing. Babysitters so Nick and I can go and window shop or get a cup of coffee, just the two of us, has meant more than you’ll ever know. Seriously, Nick and I are strong but umemployment kind of just sucks the life out of a marriage. Its times like those that help us to stay strong and puts wind in our sails to fight together and not one another. Chicago Bears tickets, paying for meals, taking us out to dinner, bringing a bottle of wine for a night of cards, gifts for the children…all of those things bring tears to my eyes that we have been blessed with all of you.
And we now have fairies. We have a diaper fairy, a chicken fairy, a meat fairy, a wipes fairy, a Christmas shoes fairy. Most of these fairies are Nick’s mom who without I don’t think we would make it at all. But to know we have people in our lives we can call and they will help makes us feel as though we are going to be okay. It reminds us of God’s love because we see it in these people.
I don’t tell you all of this for you to think “geesh they are down and out” or “I need to help more”. Please don’t think that way at all. Rather I want this time to be a testimony to God’s power.
All of these things remind us and encourage us that God is in control and provides for us…constantly. So when I have a doozie of a day I can take solace in knowing God will pull us through. Just look at what he has done this far. And when thinking of all the ways he has helped us doesn’t perk me up I simply lift my eyes. I look at the hottie of a husband I have and the two amazing children. God has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams. I can look higher up and see the sky: the vastness of God’s power and beauty. And I know, I KNOW, he holds the future.

Gloomy Gus

Please be praying for Nick right now. One of the jobs he REALLY wanted was one of two that would allow us to stay in the area and not have to be uprooted. He found out today he wasn't being considered for an interview. I know this isn't life threatening or anything but I can just tell by looking at him that he is a broken man. I am sure he feels that he has failed us somehow or that it is somehow because of him. My heart just breaks to see him like this, he is always my upbeat guy. Please lift him up in prayer now. Thanks!

Happy Halloween!

I kind of lost control of the crowd...

Here we are...aren't we so cute?

I hope everyone had a great time on this All Hallow's Eve. We had a nice time. Yesterday though the children both came down with something. Calvin was running about 102 fever with Motrin and Emma was just sick but with no fever. Seriously Calvin was looking about near death yesterday and I was starting to get scared. We laid hands on him and prayed, prayed, prayed. Within an hour his temperature was below 100 and he was up playing. Before we prayed he wasn't even opening his eyes...see? That's what prayer can do. Praise God!


Today we were still under the weather but by Trick or Treat time our fevers were gone and we had perked up a bit. So we went out for a bit of trick or treating. Last weekend we went to a zoo Halloween event in our area so we have had enough trick or treating to last us a while. I've posted a couple of pictures. Hope you had a great time too

It's the Little Things

Yesterday I was getting my hair cut about half an hour after I got off of work. The children were having fun with Auntie Bean and Grandma Peggy so Nicholas was kid free. He met me yesterday at Jimmy John's close to my salon to have a 25 minute lunch with me before my appointment. Isn't that just so sweet? Then he walked with me to the salon even though he parked in the opposite direction. Ah, young-we've-known-one-another for 9 years-love!

As you can see its the little things now a days that get my goat. An $8.00 lunch at a sandwich shop and an arm to be on when walking through the City still gets my heart all aflutter. I love that man so much. I love that he thinks of me and thinks of how to make me happy. I love that he loves me.

Oh yes and by the way...my haircut totally rocks!

Autumn Loveliness

photo courtesy of vrwd.com

Today is Wednesday and it is beautiful. Don't you just love Autumn? There is something so rejuvenating about the season. There are leaves to rake of course but there are also mugs of Apple Cider to sip and lots of cuddling to do. I love when you step outside and it just SMELLS like Autumn. In our little corner of the world is has been terribly cold. I thought perhaps we would never see a real Autumn. But I am very thankful that God brought the warmer weather back and it has been here for the past week. Ah, Fall and I can resume our love affair! I hope you all are enjoying today wherever you may be. Step outside and take a deep gulp of God's lovely Autumn air!

100 Acre Wood

This past Sunday we attended a Halloween event at our local zoo. Emma was Eeyore and Calvin was Piglet. Yes I know he is in pink but in case you were wondering Piglet was a male pig so there! They had so much fun and everyone loved their costumes. I am having a hard time grasping the idea that in a few days November is going to be here. How did this happen? My babies are just getting too big as the time goes by faster and faster.

Another thing the kids loved were their new Trick or Treat buckets. Uncle Marcy sent them and they arrived on Saturday. The children just love them soooo much and everyone comments on how awesome they are. I hope you have a great week and don't forget...Happy Halloween!

Birthday Wish

Next Friday is my Birthday! Hey, hey! I am going to be 28 years old! Wow, how blessed I am to have the greatest family and just be loving life at this age! God has truly blessed us, no matter what the circumstances of our lives may be right now.
For my Birthday I have a wish. I am not telling you exactly what it is but I will tell you it has to do with Nick getting a job (the most pinacle thing on my mind right now). Decisions are being made this week and I just hope they are good news for us. Please be praying. Pray, pray, pray!
So that's what's going on right now. I am cleaving to the fact that I KNOW God is for us. Plans to bring us good and not harm. I know something is coming. I know. I just have to somehow learn to be patient and rely on God moving things in His timing, not mine. :)

Miss Kazoo

This is our little Emma. Sometimes I cannot believe she is Three years old. This will probably sound really stupid but I am beginning to not be able to remember her as a baby. Is this normal? She's just so grown up and mature that it is hard for me to remember that adorable Emma that fell asleep on my chest for all of her naps.
Emma has blossomed into such a neat kid. She is hilarious and unpredictable. She sometimes is such a tough guy and other times she has such a tender heart she is crying uncontrollably. Those are the times that break my heart. She also is so spontaneous. Most of the times she is so shy. And then there are those times like tonight when we walked by the neighbors and she yells at the man on the porch "I'm Emma and that's Calvin". Well okay.
She has also become so independent that it often times breaks my heart. Iwant to be able to scoop her up and cuddle with her but most of the time she just isn't having it.
Emma also has quite the vocabulary. You can hear her scolding Cal often times with sayings such as "this is completely unneccessary" or "this is totally uncalled for". So silly.
That's my big girl. She is so quick to tell me she is going to be 4. To me she is already grown up I just don't know where the time is going.

Pumpkin Carving

Dr. Evil or Nicholas?

This past week we FINALLY carved that silly old pumpkin. We had so much fun! I made a cake to celebrate the event (yes I know I am a HUGE dork!). Then we went on a walk around our neighborhood and had a pumpkin hunt, counting all of the pumpkins we could see on our neighbor's porches. So fun! When we got back home we designed how we wanted the pumpkin to look and then dined on cake while Daddy got to work carving. We had a great night. These memories are the things I hope they remember. Yes Nicholas is unemployed life kind of sucks blah, blah. But moments like this make time stand still. I hope they remember these moments and not bad ones. I hope this is engrained in their little memories as much as it is mine.

Happy Weekend!

I hope you all have a great weekend! It is pretty dreary here today which makes me so thankful I have one fine man for a husband to curl up with on the couch. We have a standing date every day at 3 to watch the Dick VanDyke Show...Ah how I love our life. Nothing too spectacular planned here this weekend, which is A-ok with me. Have a great one!