Living in the moments

Legoland and Best Friends

2012-01-05T18:29:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I lied. I thought the next post would be Christmas but while going through all my pics I came across our pics from Legoland.

My cousin Heather is a school teacher and her school was going on a field trip there. As are all the schools in Florida this year! But since we homeschool we weren't going to get the awesome price of 5.00 per child to get in! So when she called and invited us to go with her school we jumped at the chance.

I have to be honest, I didn't have much of an expectation of Legoland. Being that we live in Orlando and have Disney World, Universal Studios, Seaworld and lots more theme parks right in our back yard. But was still looking forward to taking Andon who is a major Lego fan. And I have to say that I was totally surprised. There was so much to do there!! So many rides that we didn't get to ride them all. Fun rides for the kids as well as the adults. Even Adelyn was able to ride a couple. They had great little areas for her to play and not feel overwhelmed by big kids and of course TONS for the big guys to do.

There were amazing sculptures made out of Legos. Full cities!! I think that was my favorite part. Walking through Las Vegas, New York City, Miami and lots more all made of LEGOS. So neat! Must have taken forever to build. There was even a full size SUV built out of Legos.

Andon brought along his best buddy Jordan who is also homeschooled. These two seriously crack me up. They were pretending to be brothers all day. They really are the best of friends who get along so well and have a lot of fun together.

We did everything we possibly could before they closed at 6pm but didn't get to do it all. So eventually i'm sure we'll be making a trip back! :)

Happy New Year {but we gotta go back}

2012-01-03T16:09:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! We are 3 days into the new year and you can feel the excitement of the potential of what is to come! I left my little blog back in November :( so I have much to catch up on. I can't just skip right to where we are now!!

Last year (had to do it :) Jared and Andon were training to run their first race. They worked hard and were ready to run the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning. It really is such a fun way to start Thanksgiving Day! Well, the day before the race, Jared was unloading the dishwasher and literally fell to the floor! I was just standing there asking if there was something I should or could do!?! He threw out his back!! He laid there until he could manage to move to the couch and that is where he pretty much stayed all day. He kept saying I still might be able to run but by evening time it was obvious he wasn't going to be able to. He called Andon in and said he wasn't gonna be able to run so Mommy would have to run it with him. Andon's reply... "ok." Not the brokenhearted answer we were both looking for. :) No big, he's 8 and was just ready to run baby. With or without either one of us!

These pics are from before the race. We were very serious about stretching out and thankfully Jared was able to come and watch along with Adelyn and Papa.

These are all iphone pics - insert New Year's resolution - use my darn camera's more! I have two great Nikon cameras and this year I am gonna learn all that I can about them and start using them. It's just been so easy to whip out my phone and take pics (especially since Instragram, i LOVE it) but I am really gonna start to take more and better photos this year! :)

After we stretched out and said goodbye, Andon and I headed to the start line. It was such a precious time standing there with my son waiting to run a race together. He seemed a little nervous but i'm pretty sure he was just ready to get this whole thing done because all of his cousins were coming to the house for Thanksgiving dinner.

Once the gun shot we slowly started to move. After about 3-4 minutes we got going on our pace. We talked the whole time about breathing, staying focused, some of the crazy people wearing turkey costumes (among other things) where Daddy and Adelyn were going to be when we were done and lots more. I was beaming with joy running with my boy. He is the most precious little guy. He has changed our lives in so many ways and we are continually thankful for the gift God has given us in Andon.

Just after we passed the 2 and 1/2 mile mark we were both pumped. Ready to see the finish line! Once it was in site I was looking everywhere for Jared and sure enough right before we crossed at 36 minutes and 4 seconds there they were. Screaming "GO ANDON, GOOOOO!!" As we crossed the finish line Andon screams out "I was born this way!" Trust me it was all very exciting and kind of emotional at the same time. Andon then looked and me and said "Daddy is so proud of me" and he was. When we got to him the tears were running down his face. Jared was beyond proud of the accomplishment for Andon and Andon had a permanent smile the whole way home.

Once we got home and showered all of our guests started arriving. Thankfully my father in law and I did most of the prep work the night before because there was still much to be done. This was only my 3rd time holding a dinner for that many people (we had 17 this year!) Whew!!

And that's it for Thanksgiving pics because Mama was in the kitchen ALL day! But loving every minute of it. :)

Next up - Christmas 2010!!

Jordan and Briana

2011-11-02T10:41:00.000-07:00

My sweet niece and nephew. They came along with Jodie and her family last weekend. So of course I took pictures of them too! I usually like to take pics of all the kids at the end of each year. But the day before we took these pics Andon took a nasty spill on the driveway and scratched the front of his face up pretty good. So, we're planning on getting them all together again for take 2.

Cody, Kylie and Cayden

2011-11-02T10:06:00.000-07:00

I love these sweet little ones. Last weekend we did a mini photo shoot with both of my sister's kids. These are just a couple of the pics of Jodie's kids.

Cody and Cayden.

Cody and Ky, with a sassy look on her face.

And just for fun.

Pirates and Pumpkins

2011-11-01T12:38:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, my sister and her family came to visit. She has three kids, Cody, Kylie and Cayden and she also brought along my other sister's kids, Jordan and Briana. We packed as much as we could into 2 and 1/2 days and had so much fun doing it!

Kylie getting ready to carve a pumpkin.

Andon checking out the face that Daddy drew before he starts to carve.

Here are two of the finished products.

We also made caramel apples, rode bikes, scooters and tricycles all day. Went for wagon rides around the neighborhood, played at the playground, played football, basketball, wii and hide and go seek.

Another fun thing we did was photo sessions for both of my sister's kids. I wouldn't call myself a photographer but some of the pictures came out great. I'll do another post this week with some of the finished products.

And last night was Halloween. We had so much fun taking the kids trick-or-treating in a near by neighborhood. Lucky for Andon, Jared is all about Halloween. They really get into the costumes and what Andon is going to be each year. This year he was a Skeleton Pirate.

Jared was an Army Ranger.

And Adelyn was just a precious girl wearing Halloween colors! Haha! Maybe next year i'll get her a costume.

Here she is trick or treating for her first time. It was so cute hearing her say it! At least we all thought it was, the guy handing out the candy was a little, i don't know. Just funny. He didn't see the big deal in our sweet little one saying "trick or treat" for the first time. :) But we certainly ate it up!

Today is November 1st, looking forward to spending the month focusing on Thankfulness. And also, celebrating my boy turning 8!!

Pumpkin Patch 2010 - 2011

2011-10-25T11:48:00.000-07:00

2010

2011

It's amazing how much they change in a year!

Froggy Books and Cowboy Boots

2011-09-10T10:17:00.000-07:00

We're still trying to get into a rhythm of what our school day should look like around here! Adelyn is switching from two naps at 10 o'clock and two o'clock to now one nap at 12:30. I like to start school at nine but this year haven't been able to start until she goes down for her nap and it's messing up my stilo!!

I had a few days where i'd gotten all flustered about not being on a good schedule. But this week I decided to just go with the flow and see where that takes me. We were still able to get all of our schoolwork done and have lots of fun in the mean time.

So for now our mornings are full of play time, art projects and crafts, book reading, dress up, walks to the park and dancing. (My kids are major music lovers!)

These Froggy books are some of Andon's favorite "fun" books to read. He has all these and more that I couldn't find when I took the pic.

And little miss is a serious lover of shoes!! I got her these cowboy boots when she was a lot smaller. We've tried them on a few times and now they finally fit!

As soon as she wakes up in the morning she starts saying "shoes".

We're enjoying the weekend with Papa over. Taking it easy and not worrying about a schedule! And come Monday i'll continue to work on getting in the groove of this new school year!

Skeletons in the Closet

2011-08-31T18:38:00.000-07:00

No, this is not the post where I start telling of a bunch of crazy secrets i've been hiding!

It's about my 2 skeletons playing in the toy closet today. Andon had these jammies from last year and today we were walking through the store and saw this pink pair. He insisted that Sis have them too.

I've got to admit. When I was pregnant with Adelyn, I wondered how well a 7 year old and a 1 year old would play together. Up until now they haven't really played together at all. Just recently he's been sitting on the floor with her and getting a bunch of toys out. Mostly her's because he doesn't really want her touching his. But he has always been so sweet and gentle with her. Watching them play today was great. They were taking x-rays of the bear and taking turns treating the bears medical needs. :)

Adelyn adores her big bro. Her new thing is giving kisses and we all LOVE it. Here she is laying one on Andon. After this she immediately came to give me one. Then Daddy heard they were being handed out and came out of his office to get one too. We've got to make sure nobody is being left out!

Not too soon after all the happy brother and sister play, Adelyn spotted a ring pop sitting on the kitchen table all by it's lonesome. So, like any smart woman she took matters into her own hands and climbed up there and got it.

But it wasn't long before Andon spotted her licking all over his ring pop and took it back. Sorry girl, one day you'll get your very own ring pop!

Her Preference

2011-08-30T08:24:00.001-07:00

If I let her, she'd stay this way all day.

Little girl will not keep a diaper on! Andon was the same way at this age. Only difference is that he didn't have any older siblings around so it felt totally appropriate.

So poor Addie doesn't get to run around in all her sweet glory that often. :)

Yes, she is holding two blocks of play-doh in the last pic and wearing her favorite blue beaded necklace. She keeps me on my toes!

Lizard Catching

2011-08-29T12:07:00.000-07:00

This morning the kids and I set off on a lizard hunt. Our neighborhood has lizards everywhere!! When you walk down the sidewalk they scatter in every direction. So, we thought it would be fun to try and catch some.

Every time Adelyn would see one she would scream and point and brother would run to try and catch it.

I had so much fun following them around, yelling "there's another one, go get it" and watching them both take off!

They made sure to wear matching lizard catching clothes to make it official.

We didn't end up catching any lizards. They are fast little jokers!

But we did get a few pics of Adelyn's new poses.

Happy Monday, friends!

Vacation Recap

2011-08-28T18:12:00.000-07:00

I love the weekends, actually we all do around here. Andon loves it so much he calls it vacation.

When we're talking about the upcoming weekend during the week he'll ask what are we going to do on vacation? At first I was a little confused now I know that he doesn't think we're headed off on some vaca, just looking forward to the weekend!

We love it because Daddy is home. Yes, he is working from home now but he's still working during the week. We get all of him on Saturday's and Sunday's.

We love it because we get to relax. The schoolwork is out the door and the normal schedule we stick to Monday through Friday go with it.

We love it because of Sunday dessert night. We don't have dessert around here every night so it's fun to go all out one night of the week.

We love it because if we wanted to we could stay in our p.j's all day. We usually don't but we could. Andon usually stay's in his swimming trunks!

We love it because the meals seem so much better. Maybe that's just me. I pretty much do all the cooking around here and on the weekends we almost always grill something. And guess who man's the grill... Not me! :) MMMMmmmm.. I love grilled food.

I love it for early morning long runs with friends. I love getting up really early (5:30) and going for a long run and getting home just as the rest of my family is getting up! I already feel so accomplished and the day is just getting started.

We love it for night time swims in the pool. As i'm typing this Jared just told Andon to hurry and get his trunks on so they could go for a quick dip!

Here's a quick photo recap from this week's end vacation.

We challenged Andon to read 100 books this summer and he did!! (thanks for the great idea Brit!) I think Jared and I had just as much fun (maybe more!!) as him doing this challenge. At every 10 books we celebrated. The prizes ranged from anything from the dollar stop at Target for 10 books to go to the movies for 40 books any restaurant of your choice for 90 books and the last prize was the big one. We told Andon he could pick out anything from the store! We knew it wouldn't be a flat screen t.v or anything so we felt safe throwing that out there. And here is what he chose... He still loves all these Imaginext toys and I love that he does. He's getting so big and I just want him to stay my little guy forever! :)

Our vaca has come to an end. :)

We are heading into our second week of 2nd grade this week. Last week was spent trying to figure out our schedule with Adelyn being older now and SO busy. And waiting on some curriculum to still be shipped to us. So here's to hoping that the coming week goes a bit more smooth and organized!

Gone for a Month

2011-08-24T18:33:00.000-07:00

It seems as though i've been pretty quiet lately. But really life has been extraordinarily busy and full of change for us.

To name a few...

My husband has made a huge change in his career. He has been the Creative Director for a great company for the last 12+ years. Over the past year we all have been feeling like the season in our lives call for us to spend more time together, focused on the important things. To say we are excited is an understatement. He will continue to work for them but on a part time basis and from HOME! He also started his own design business a few years ago and is going full force with it. I am so happy for him and so proud of him. It is a lot of hard work and stress for him right now but I know the payoff will be great!

We are so happy to have him home with us. He's in his office A LOT but that doesn't stop us from visits throughout the day and family lunch together.

The next thing is that we moved...again. When Jared's company moved us to Tennessee a couple of years ago we rented out our house. When we moved back her lease was still in effect. So some sweet friends of ours rented us a house that they owned. After lots of thought and prayer added with the job change and our tenants lease coming to an end we decided to move back and put our house on the market. So when this house finally sells we will be looking to rent a small cottage style house with a fenced in yard for the kids to play in. We are in the process of simplifying our lives. Focusing on what is important to us.

Some other news.. Andon started 2nd grade this week!! We are very excited about this school year. With Daddy working from home he is going to be able to be a little more involved in school. He is going to be covering Science and of course, Art. His office looks half way like a school room too with Bones of the Body posters and books and posters of the solar system. (Sorry no pics tonight.)

And our sweet Adelyn is literally running around the house all day just a talking up a storm. She attempts her ABC's and 123's! She loves to say "Mom" "Mama" "Ma" over and over. But my favorite thing she say's right now is "I LOVE YOU"... Oh my, it's adorable.

Thanks to anyone who hangs with us here on this blog. I certainly love having a place to update and talk about our life (just not the most consistent blogger out there!! :))

The only pics I have tonight are a couple of Adelyn I snapped before she went to bed. I haven't even used my camera in the last month. But don't get me started on Instagram! Love it! So those will probably the majority of pics I post for a bit! :)

To anyone who's interested. Here's the link to my hubby's website!

First Big One

2011-07-14T06:55:00.000-07:00

It's weird because I sort of new it would happen soon. She is so active and loves to climb everything. Stairs, chairs, large toys, dresser drawers, really anything she can. Yesterday was the day. She fell off a chair and hit her mouth while going down. By the time I got to her her mouth had already filled with blood. (The mouth bleeds a ton by the way.) I should be better at this stuff but I got panicky and scared. I had Andon running around getting my phone and wet towels.

It was pretty impossible to see inside her mouth because she was crying so much and fighting me away. She already doesn't let me see in there without having a booboo.

Aren't mouth wounds the worst! Well they probably aren't but to me they are. I have been through so many mouth surgeries with Andon. I should be the expert but they just scare me. I feel so helpless because I can't really see it and I feel like I can't take care of it like I need to.

I called her Dr's office and explained what I was seeing. The piece of skin that attaches the lip to the gums (it's called the frenum) was seperated. They said to just give her a popsicle because it would be like icing it and some pain medicine. And that the mouth heals pretty quickly which I know to be true.

I still have a little anxious feeling in me about it though. But she's not in pain anymore, it's not bleeding anymore and she really seems fine. So I just have to wait a week or so a hopefully it will be good as new!

I'm Missin Them

2011-07-12T04:36:00.000-07:00

My niece and nephew were here last week for 5 days. We packed as much into those days as we possibly could.

Briana always as a few requests.

First, that we go to Starbucks for hot chocolate. When we lived in Tennessee my sister (their Mother) lived with us. The kids came up for the whole summer and that's when I introduced Briana to Starbucks. She likes to get her hot chocolate and then save the cups and use them at home for her drinks all day. :)

The next thing is that we do a "makeover" as she calls it. She likes to paint our toes and put on blush and lip gloss. Really, she'd put on a ton of make up if I let her but i don't. I tell her it looks way prettier to just wear a little and plus she doesn't need a bit of it.

And the last thing she always asks for is to go to the Mall for some girl time. Which is my favorite time with her. My sister has been in jail for 2 years now and the kids haven't seen her once. They have talked to her on the phone but that's it. It breaks my heart for her and them.

It was so great when the weekend came so we could all hang with U. Jared. We took the kids to the M&M store.

Had lots of Nerf Wars!

And hit up the ice cream truck.

I'm missin them already. Looking forward to our next visit!!

Baked Chicken

2011-06-30T16:28:00.000-07:00

Or chicken with the skin as Andon calls it. Seriously, this is Jared and Andon's favorite thing to have for dinner. They have requested this chicken for their birthday dinners for the last two years and that's saying a lot because for birthday's we get to choose wherever we want to go. Mama always wants to go out! But I have no problem making this for them.

I know there are so many ways to bake a chicken..

So many different seasonings you could use either oil or butter or both but that's the beauty of it. You can just use what you have. So when I went to make it yesterday these are the seasonings I decided to use. I always use Lawry's seasoning and garlic salts. Also, cracked black pepper. I like to use an Italian seasoning or Thyme but I didn't have any so I used a peppercorn and garlic rub that I had.

I usually use Olive oil to rub my chicken with but was out of that too! So I went with this which worked just as well.

Go ahead and preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

The next thing you want to do is wash your chicken off, pat it dry and place it on a baking sheet.

Then I put my hand in a sandwich bag, pour a little oil on the chicken and just rub it all in. Make sure to get the wings and legs and all.

Now it's time to season her up.

Then just put it in the oven for 2 hours. That's all!!

After about 30 minutes I usually put some potatoes in the oven to bake and right before that's all ready i'll make some corn on the cob or another easy vegetable.

And here she is, ready to be served. So yummy!

As soon as Jared walks in from work he knows what's for dinner. Your house will be smelling so good! Enjoy.

Funny story... My Mom told me how to make this about 7 years ago when I finally wanted to start cooking. Before I had kids I just really didn't care to. Well, the first time I made it I was so happy and proud of myself. The house was smelling great and I was so excited for Jared to get home so we could eat this great meal that I had made! We get everything on the table and sit down to eat. Jared goes to cut into the chicken and it's not cooked all the way! Not only that, I had left that bag of nasty stuff inside ( the neck and something else.) I don't even buy them with that in them anymore! Needless to say, I couldn't eat it. Jared was trying to put it back in the oven and saying it wasn't a big deal but I was so bummed. Thank goodness I have gotten a lot better at my cooking skillz since then! :)

So Busted!

2011-06-28T10:38:00.001-07:00

We've quickly learned that you can't leave the pantry doors open around here.

This little stinker will go right in and help herself.

I have been so busy cleaning every corner of this house today to get ready for company for the next five days that I wasn't paying attention.

So, she went in and got herself a box of cheerios. And I caught her red-handed!

No, she didn't eat the whole bag. It was mostly empty to begin with.

But that didn't stop her from finishing it off.

The Most Simple yet Delicious Guacamole!

2011-06-27T11:27:00.000-07:00

Wanna know how to make the most simple yet the most delicious guacamole ever?!? It really is so easy to make.

All you need is this sweet little package... Plus two avocados.

And these two beauties... Yes, there are plenty more things you could add but you don't have to.

Take your avocados and cut them in half.

Then just take your knife and pop the seeds out.

Next, take your knife and slice the inside of each half of the avocado both ways. It just makes it easier to get it all out.

Take a spoon and scrape all the avocado out of the skin.

Now take the back of a fork and mash the avocados to the consistency you like. I like it somewhat chunky but not too much.

Now you can add the seasoning packet and the diced red onion. I only added a little onion because we were going to a friend's house whose hubby doesn't like them.

And the last thing I add is the tomatoes. I try to get most of the seeds out because I don't want it to water down my guacamole.

And there you have it! This guacamole is so so so so so good!!! Eat it with your favorite chips preferably the really really thin ones! Mmmmm... Enjoy! :)

Our Week in iPhone Pics

2011-06-19T16:17:00.000-07:00

I just haven't had it in me lately to pull out my camera every time one of my kids is doing something photo worthy. Sometimes I feel like I am missing out on what's going on when I am so pre-occupied with taking pictures. But don't get me wrong I love taking pics of my kids. So it's been easy just pulling my phone out whenever I feel like snapping a quick photo here and there. Here's some fun ones from the past week.

There's a lot of reading going on around here this summer and everyone's benefiting. Adelyn loves sitting in her chair listening to Andon's stories.

A light saber and a bottle. What more could a girl ask for?

Mama's new hair color. Had to get rid of those grey's!

We had fun making cupcakes and celebrating Andon's friend Jakob's 7th Birthday.

Sleepover night!

Adelyn's favorite shoes! Seriously, she wants to put them on as soon as she wakes up in the morning.

Her first visit to Chuck E. Cheese and if i'm lucky her last. :) Not 15 minutes after we were there kids came in my the busloads!

Meeting my cousin Heather's new baby, Audrey. Andon wanted to hold her the whole time she was awake but so did I! I thought it was so sweet that he was wanting to love on her. So I gave up some of my baby holding time for him.

It's been a busy few weeks around here. Jared is in the middle of a major job change and we are getting ready to move again. We are daily praying for direction, peace and strength through this time of transition in our life. It has been hard but good if that makes any sense at all. Thanks so much for walking it with us...

Jen

Beach Days

2011-06-02T18:42:00.000-07:00

Last weekend our little family headed to the beach for the day. The kids and I have actually gone quite a few times this year already with our friends. But it's so nice to be able to go with Daddy. And not just because he can help haul all that stuff down there!

He loves to play in the water with the kids and make sand castles and buy ice cream from the ice cream truck that drives by with the obnoxious music. I never buy it but Daddy, he always buys it.

There is always a moment for me while sitting there listening to the ocean, feeling the breeze and just relaxing in the sun that I think... this is perfect. I love going to the beach and lucky for me so do my kids. They aren't the ones who don't want to get in the water (except this last weekend when I thought I felt something on my foot and started freaking out and Andon was watching me the whole time and starts running like a wild banchee out of the water. :)) But we recovered when I told him that I think it was some shell or something. Really, i'll never know what it was but it was weird feeling.

I never really like to take my camera to the beach because I don't want to get sand in it but I decided to take it with us this time.

I can only get pictures of the back of her because once she sees the water, she's gone!

And he lives for boogie boarding now. He will do it the whole time we're there. Come home with a rash all over his belly from the board and the salt water.

Playing with daddy in the water.

And just for fun here are a couple pics from our beach trip last year on Memorial Day.

What a difference a year makes!

We are getting into the swing of summer around here. Since we homeschool we don't take the full summer off but we do chill out on the daily grind of keeping to the schedule and getting our work done. Let's just say we're pretty relaxed about it during the summer and it feels so nice!

Me and Mine

2011-05-23T16:28:00.000-07:00

On Mother's Day 2011...

Easter Egg Hunt

2011-05-18T18:27:00.001-07:00

This year, the Friday before Easter we were eating out at a little restaurant near our house and saw a bunch of signs for an Easter Egg hunt at a local park. Perfect because we hadn't had any plans so I was so excited to take the kids.

The signs said from 9-11 so of course we have to go and get there at 8:45 a.m. Once there the signs say ages 2-4 egg hunt at 10:15 and ages 5 and up 10:45. Oh my, I seriously wanted to get out of dodge but Jared said let's let them play and wait.

While we waited I took lots and lots of pics of the kids playing on the playground.

And eating mulch..

And eating more mulch...

We stood behind the tape checking out all those eggs.

It really was so fun to think that this sweet one was born last Easter.

And this year she was carrying around a basket as big as her.

She was able to join the youngest age group to collect eggs. It was so fun watching her try to figure out what was going on. She did manage to get and keep 3 eggs and a few pieces of mulch and leaves. :)

Next, it was big bro's turn. I kept trying to show him places where to go that no one else would think of but he wouldn't have it.

Kind of looks like he didn't need my help anyway.

The kids had so much fun and on the way out we ran into this guy. Adelyn wasn't afraid at all, she was actually wanting to stay there with him!

This is not the way/reason we celebrate Easter by any means but it is a fun tradition to do with the kids.

Along with coloring eggs!! We love doing that every year. And this year we had our sweet Adelyn added to the mix. She didn't care to color the eggs just tried to eat one and once that was a bust well, she busted it.

And some of our finished products!

Remnants from the party

2011-05-12T11:49:00.000-07:00

Adelyn's 1st Birthday Party was April 9th and there are still sweet little reminders left through the house. I L-O-V-E-D planning her party and celebrating my girl turning 1!

I hung these pom poms over the tables at the party now a few of them are hanging over her crib and they look so cute in there! This lone one is still hanging in my living room! Haha...

These were the party favors I made for all who came to the party. And lucky me I scored a couple for myself. :)

I made this chalkboard with a cheap frame from Wal-Mart and some chalkboard paint for her party and now it sits on my kitchen counter so I can write daily messages to my family.

Adelyn is already 13 and 1/2 months and weighs 20 lbs. She is such a happy and healthy girl. She has grown and changed so much since I wrote her 10 month post. That was an exciting one though because that's when she started walking. Now she is all out tryin to run! She loves loves loves to eat. Seriously, any new food we have given her she likes and say's "more!" She now say's Dada, Mama, ANDON (she always yells it :)) diaper, thank you, and brother. She is actually saying a lot more this is just what we can understand! She is a very busy girl with lots and lots of energy and we LOVE her!! :))

Morning Walks

2011-05-12T04:53:00.000-07:00

We go on a morning walk a few times a week. It just feels like the perfect way to start the day to me. I have plenty of pics that I snapped from our walk the other day.

It's pretty typical for her to still be in her jammies.

Re-tying his shoes. I think he's due for a pair of running shoes. He loves to run and all he's got are a bunch of Converse and flip-flops.

Andon LOVES dogs so we have to pay a visit to each and every one we see!

We usually stop off at the neighborhood playground.

It is such a fun and relaxing way to start the day. By the time we come back Adelyn is ready for her 1st nap and it's School time for Andon and I.

I have lots of fun pics to post from Easter and Mother's Day soon. Life has just been a little crazy around here. On Easter Sunday my brother was in a dirt biking accident and has been in a hospital in Tampa ever since. He has gone through 3 surgeries to try to save as much of his foot as possible and today will be having another. They have amputated his 2nd toe and 1/2 of the 3rd toe and placed rods through his foot. Today they are taking him into the operating room to clean it all out and make sure that what they left is still looking good and not infecting the rest of his foot. Because if it's not then they will have to remove all of his toes and the front half of his foot. Please pray for him and my family today.

Thanks so much, Jen

Family Pics

2011-04-18T11:43:00.000-07:00

Right before Adelyn's first birthday we had our sweet friend/photographer Paula Herko take some pics of our family. We're always taking pics around here but we hardly have any of the four of us. The pic in my new header is my favorite of all the the family ones. Here are a few of my other fav's.

I sure do yub him... :))

Change is Good!

2011-04-17T18:10:00.000-07:00

I have to tell myself that because it's always happening! But really, I believe it.

As you can see, I have once again changed the title to this old blog o'mine. :) I started this blog in 2008 when we moved to Tennessee and called it "The Road Ahead." Once we were there and settled it felt like a strange blog title to have so I renamed my blog "The Three Of Us... living in the moments". Loved that title but then we had Adelyn so it wasn't the three of us anymore! So I renamed it "Today is All We Have" to write about living right here and right now. I loved that name too but it just wasn't feeling right. So I was laying in bed one night and the simple but meaningful statement of "Living, in the moments" came to my mind. I thought it was just perfect!!

I, like so many other's am watching life fly by and my children grow before my eyes!! Jared and I are always saying to each other "life is good right now, our children are little, we are in a good place." And it is so good. No, not perfect. We have our fair share of hard times too but we really do enjoy life right where we are wherever we are.

Speaking of that, we are going to be moving again!! Still here in Orlando but somewhere else. We're gypsies I tell ya! Not looking forward to moving but looking forward to having a back yard for my kids to play in and maybe for me to grow a garden in. :))

We have so much more going on in our lives that we'll talk about later. :) For now I'll leave you with pics of my sweet ones.

Jen

Her Sweet and Shabby Party

2011-04-13T18:17:00.000-07:00

I had been planning Adelyn's party in my head for weeks!! Finally, about 4 weeks before the actual day I started making purchases and putting my ideas together.

She was born on Easter Sunday last year so I knew I wanted a slight tie into that. But mostly I just wanted it to be a dessert and treats party with a shabby chic/spring feel.

I don't think it could have turned out any better. It was just a beautiful little party for my sweet one turning one!! :))

Some pics of the cakes and cupcakes...

I love this pic of her opening gifts! :)

And she LOVES her new baby stroller that Nana T. got her!

Watching us sing "Happy Birthday" to her. :)

This wasn't her first time with the cake so she new exactly what to do!

Happy 1st Birthday sweet girl!! We love you so much and look forward to many more!!

Royal Icing Cupcake Toppers

2011-04-13T16:49:00.000-07:00

I mentioned in my last post about having to practice making some of the desserts I was making for Adelyn's Birthday party.

Well.... Another great idea I found on the site ~ I Am Mommy ~ were these royal icing cupcake toppers!! I searched everywhere trying to find something just right to use for my cupcakes and when I came across these I knew I had to try.

So I printed off a pic of what they were supposed to look like, the recipe on how to make royal icing and a bunch of sheets of the roses to pipe.

I taped the sheets with the roses to the counter and then taped a sheet of parchment paper over them.

Then I made the frosting according to the directions found on the Wilton website, separated it and then added a drop of pink to one bowl and a drop of green to the other. And when I say a drop I mean it! That's all it needed. Unless, of course, you want hot pink roses which I did not. :)

After that, I just filled my two bags and piped out the roses... :)

I just let them dry overnight and the next morning.... Wallah!!

Here's how they looked on the cupcakes the day of her party!! Can you see them in the center of the table?!? So cute!!

p.s. I can not say enough great things about the site ~ I Am Mommy ~ She doesn't know me and has never even heard of me. I am just telling you this because I just LOVE her site and all her creative desserts!! :))

p.p.s If you decide to attempt to make these just know that they are VERY fragile. Handle with care!! Luckily I made plenty because the afternoon of the party when I was putting out all the cupcakes and sticking them into them I was just breaking them one after the other and freaking out just a little bit.. :))

She's One!!!

2011-04-13T15:46:00.000-07:00

Last Monday, April 4th, Adelyn turned 1! We celebrated as a family that night and last Saturday she had her party. Can't wait to post pics!!

I made some fun new desserts for her party but had to do a few practice runs to make sure I even knew how to do them! So the night of her birthday we cut into the beautiful rose cake I made. I found this cake on Amanda's website called I am mommy. It is just amazing what she can do with cakes!! She makes everything look so easy and gives great tutorials to walk you through. I was pretty happy with how my first Rose cake turned out.

I think Adelyn was too!! She LOVED her very first piece of cake! :))

I can't believe how fast the last year with her has gone! I was going through lots of pics that I printed to hang around the house for her party and just loved seeing her at every month. The slight changes in her little face each month, more and more hair on her head, hands a feet getting bigger. I love love love that sweet girl of ours!! :))

And so does he, oh my!

Happy 1st Birthday Adelyn!! You have been the sweetest gift to our family! We love you so much honey girl and couldn't be more thankful for you!!

p.s. party pics to come... woot woot!!! :))

Party Preppin' and Lots of New Foods

2011-03-17T05:49:00.000-07:00

Our sweet Adelyn will be 1 year old in just a few short weeks!! I am having so much fun planning and shopping for her party!! My sweet friend will be taking pics that day so I will have LOTS to post!! Can't wait. :)

In the last couple of weeks Adelyn has tried so many new foods and the only thing she didn't really love was... Broccoli. That is one of Andon's favorite veggies. But Andon doesn't like too many fruits which is a bummer to me because I love them all. And I think my daughter will too! :)

Here she is gettin down in some strawberries!

Asking for "more."

Needless to say she LOVED them and the next day we tried watermelon.. I didn't get any pics but I did get the same reaction. I've got a fruit lovin girl on my hands.. :)

We Ran With It

2011-03-09T18:14:00.000-08:00

It was 7:00 and I was driving home from a (6 mile run!!!!) yesterday morning and the thought to head over to my parent's house crossed my mind.

So, two things....

I love running and have done it for years but haven't been doing it as consistently lately. I really love running in the mornings and I really love running with someone. So when a friend of mine recently asked if i'd like to join her for a run I happily obliged! I told her I haven't been on a long run in a while so she'd have to take it easy on me!! As we're running she says "do you want to do 5 or 7?!?!" When I took more than 20 seconds to answer she went ahead and said "7 it is!" But really it wasn't bad at all. That's why I love running with someone because you talk to whole time and you lose track of everything else. I had to throw all that in here because I am so excited to be lacing the shoes up again!!!

The other thing is, my parent's live a couple of hours away from me. I usually plan ahead of time when I go and have my stuff all packed up the night before. But something just came over me this particular morning. I knew the weather was going to be beautiful. And when we go to my parent's we spend the day doing things like this...

Relaxing in the hammock under a shade tree while the wind blows.

And Andon LOVES doing things like this!! :)

Of course he had to get off while U. Rogie did this.

We get to hang with cousins... Here's my sweet niece Kylie.

And my nephew Cayden.

And get lots of loves from Papa and Nana. :)

It was such a fun day relaxing, playing, hanging outside and bar-b-cueing. So glad the idea crossed my mind and I actually just ran with it!!

Better Late Than Never 10 Months Post!!

2011-03-02T17:31:00.000-08:00

In 2 more days Adelyn will be 11 Months Old but I couldn't not write a 10 Months post! This is the month she started walking!!! It is the cutest thing watching her little self piddle paddle around the house. Jared says she looks like E.T and Andon says she looks like an old lady the way she walks. I say it is too stinkin cute!! :)

I finally got a picture of her smiling. ~see above~ She does this thing where she smiles really big and snorts her nose at the same time. :) She has 6 teeth now, 4 on top and 2 on bottom. I have been using one of those finger brushes to brush her teeth but today we bought her her first toothbrush and she loves it!

She has a very healthy appetite! She loves to taste any new food and so far the only thing she hasn't liked is green beans. Funny thing, Andon doesn't like them either.

I will be writing another post on our sweet girl in a few more days. I am already starting to prepare for her first birthday!! I really can't believe that she'll be 1 in less than 6 weeks!! Oh Me Oh My how time flies. :)

Crayon Hearts!!

2011-02-17T10:51:00.001-08:00

This year I wanted to do something fun and different with Andon for Valentine's Day. I came across these adorable crayon hearts that you make out of the random/broken crayons around your house. Here's my thing, when they brake I throw them out... But, we buy so many boxes of crayons (we are a homeschooling family :)) so it seems that I always find stray crayons around the house. And for the past year every time I would find them I would just toss them in a ziploc.

So here's what you need....

A bunch of random/broken crayons or if you wanted to get crazy you could just buy a box of new ones?!?

And a baking pan with whatever shape you want your crayons to be. We used hearts for Valentine's but i'm sure there are so many options and even just circles would be great!

That's all besides, of course, the little ones to peel all the wrappers off those darn things. That's the worst part and it's not that bad. :)

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Once all the crayons are peeled and broken you fill the baking pan. I only filled half way because I didn't want them to be too thick.

Bake them for 15 minutes or so. You want to make sure they are fully melted. Once you can see that they are melted just pull them out and set them in the counter to cool for about 30 - 45 minutes. After that they should just pop out.. Mine did but I have heard from some friends who tried them that there's didn't. I think the difference was the non-stick pan.

Hope this helps for anyone who wants to make them. They really were super easy and so fun to hand out for Valentine's Day.. :)

And here's some pics of my sweet little Valentine's...

Adelyn gave me the sweetest gift for Valentine's Day... She FINALLY said Mama!! Music to my ears. It really is the cutest thing she says. ;)

Another Homeschooling Post!

2011-01-19T17:15:00.000-08:00

Andon and I are relaxing on the couch and watching one of his favorite shows (American Idol!) I wrote in the last post that I had already written a homeschooling post but had realized that I never did.

Well.......

I was just going through photos while watching TV and found a bunch of pics that I had taken for that post! So, this will be a photo heavy post of pics of my sweet boy and our awesome homeschool classroom! :)
These are from the week we learned about Johnny Appleseed. That was so fun!!

One of the great things about homeschooling ~ school work doesn't have to be done at home!! We had an appointment at the car dealership that day so our work went along.

Andon teaching Adelyn some Animals.

Andon with his buddies Addison and Bryce at the Rep Theater to see the play Pipi Longstocking. We have gone a few times but this play was my favorite!

Here we are at our friends Bradley and Anna's house for a first day of Fall party.

At Book Club ~ We read the book Flat Stanley and all the kids made little flat people to send around to family members. Our Flat Andon is currently held up at Nana and Papa's house. :)

Music with Granny is one of our FAVORITE things to do. We go every other week and learn to play the piano and sing songs. The kids also play lots of other instruments while marching along to Granny's music. It is so much fun! :)

Really, I could just post a ton more pics!! And I could write a whole post about what our days are filled with. We love having the opportunity to educate our children at home. I know that is not a possibility for everyone or even a desire but I do not take a minute of it for granted!

I'll leave you with two more pics of the sweet kiddos that we do most of our school with. :)

A Day In The Life {School Day}

2011-01-12T13:34:00.000-08:00

I think I may do a post each week titled this. Just for fun and to look back on when my sweet ones were little. Our life is pretty laid back around here but also on a very consistent schedule.

I wake up around 7:00 every day and very soon after, both Andon and Adelyn do too. I usually take Adelyn to my room to feed her while Andon plays in his room. After that we all head downstairs for Andon and I to eat breakfast.

After breakfast I pick up the house a little while Andon makes his bed and cleans his room. Before we know it, it's 9:00 and Adelyn is going back to sleep for her first nap. This is when Andon and I head to the school room to do our school for the day.

We usually do school until 11:00 which is right around the time that Adelyn is waking up. Now we all get to play and hang out together. After lunch Addie goes down for her second nap and Andon and I get back to school until around 1:30 or 2:00 (just depends on when Adelyn wakes back up.)

From here on it's whatever we want to do... Riding bikes, going for walks, running errands, meeting up with friends, snuggling and watching movies, etc. (This is my favorite time of day besides awaiting the arrival of my honey from work around 5:30! :))

Of course, there are the exceptions when we have plans and are away from the house the whole day and school goes with. We also have lots of recreational homeschool stuff we do like ~ P.E and Music Class and Book Club and Field Trips. :)

With all that said... I took some pics while doing school last week. I thought that I had already written a post on our classroom but looked back on the blog and didn't see it.

So, I guess I wrote it in my head. :)

We learn a new Bible verse each week. And Andon usually decorates the marker and chalk boards to his liking. As you can see, Hulk and Iron Man are singing praise to God!! :)

One thing we love to do is read a story together and then either paint or draw a picture about the story.

This is his picture from the story "Bugs in Our Backyard"

I LOVED his little Bee!

And after he's done doing the artwork I want him to do he likes to do what he wants.

This is a picture of "The Joker throwing gray bottles with poison inside at the scarecrow. And Venom broke Spidermans legs!!" Those were Andon's interpretations. :)

So there you have it, a fun day school day in the Mirabile household! :)

9 Months

2011-01-05T19:09:00.000-08:00

Adelyn turned 9 Months old yesterday!! My goodness, she's gonna be 1 in no time.

Well, the last month has been so busy. Adelyn has been cruising all over the place. She still loves just standing around. She will pull herself to stand anywhere and let her hands go. As soon as she falls to her bottom she pulls back up! She just loves to stand! :)

She says - DaDa and Brother! Seriously, she says Brother!! She doesn't love to sign for more food she just wants it! She has a great appetite and loves pretty much any new food we have introduced.

She is such a happy girl who will pretty much go to anyone. I know this is the time when separation anxiety starts and we have yet to deal with it. Andon never went through it. I would take him to a friend's house and he would tell me bye and shut the door!! It made me happy and sad all at the same time.

Here's a couple pics of our sweet one.

We love you so much sweet girl! Now, start saying Mama!! :)

Cousins

2011-01-05T18:51:00.000-08:00

Last week we went and spent a few days with our family to celebrate Christmas. First, was a stop to my parent's house to eat a yummy ham dinner and let all the kids open gifts.

My sister had asked me to bring my camera because she hadn't taken any pics of her kids in a bit so I did just that. Here are just a couple pics of Cody, Kylie and Cayden.

My niece Briana and nephew Jordan were there also but I didn't get a chance to take any pics!! All's well though because they'll be here at our house this weekend.
The next morning we headed to my Mother In Law's house to celebrate with them. Our sweet nieces Illiana and Mikayla were there too.

This little turkey girl LOVES having her picture taken! It was adorable. :)

Andon and Adelyn had so much fun hanging with their cousins for the holiday. Now we just need to make sure we get to see them more often! :)

Christmas Morning

2011-01-05T18:41:00.000-08:00

I'm a little late in posting but I can't not do it!! Christmas morning was so much fun around here!! I can't believe it was our first time ever waking up on Christmas morning alone. We really have loved being with family all these years but this year just topped them all!!

Andon and Adelyn both woke up around 6:30 that morning. So after I was finished feeding Adelyn we all headed downstairs together. Even though Andon had already taken a quick peek down there. ;) When he came into our room he said "Santa came and he's really real because he used blue wrapping paper!!"

We got the monkey bread started and then started tearing into some presents. It was such a fun time together, Andon kept saying this was his best Christmas ever!!

Here's a couple pics of my sweet ones playing the mess.

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-24T17:44:00.000-08:00

We are so excited for Christmas around here!! This is the first year we have been alone as a family in our own home!! We have loved getting to spend Christmas morning with our family all these years (either at their homes or ours) but are looking forward to it just being us in the morning. :)

I have monkey bread sitting in the fridge and ready to be popped in the oven as soon as we wake up.

Today was such a fun and relaxing day. We had no last minute shopping to do so we had the whole day to just be together. I have been wanting to snap a few pics of the kids with their Christmas clothes on so today we did just that.

Does she not look like such a big girl in these pics!?!?

That was just a few of the fun pics we got today. Unfortunately we weren't able to get any with us all together because we couldn't find anywhere to set our camera down. Boo...
But, i've already asked a sweet friend (who is a great photographer :)) to take some family pics after the holidays. So looking forward to that!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas!! I've gotta go snuggle with Santa. :)

The Week of Christmas

2010-12-23T10:14:00.000-08:00

We have spent the majority of the last week chillin around the house in our jammies. Watching lots of movies, baking and eating lots of sweets, snuggling, and playing.

After being sick with colds and sinus infections for the last few weeks Andon goes and gets the darn flu! Poor guy got really sick for 2 days then felt somewhat better for a couple of days and then threw up in the middle of the night and then felt better again. I think he's in the clear now. Fortunately Jared, Adelyn and I never got it!

We'll be spending Christmas morning here at home as a family then heading over to where our parent's live to spend the next couple of days with them.

I absolutely love this time of year!!!

But one mistake I made this year was to "bake" some Christmas gifts. I've only done it once, years ago before Jared and I got married and it wasn't the best idea then. Not that the stuff is just plain nasty. I just get really stressed about the whole thing. I feel like I have to deliver the stuff within an hour of it coming out of the oven and the longer I wait to give it the more stressed I get!! And not to mention the fact that I chose to make things that I have never made before. (Truffles and Toffee) Not a good idea people. Even though, oddly enough, the things I made that I never made before people have been loving and the other things that I usually make I haven't heard anything about. ;)

Anyways, I like the whole baking at Christmastime. It reminds me of when I was little. The smell, the tastes and just being in the kitchen together making all of it. Just not so sure about the gifting of the baked goods idea.

Andon and I did the gingerbread house this year. Daddy wasn't able to help but I think it turned out great anyway. :)

Addie in her jammies.... We haven't had any problems with her trying to mess with the Christmas tree. I think because we have a train going around it she doesn't want to cross the tracks! :)

My Sis

2010-12-18T08:19:00.000-08:00

I'm just missing her so much. It has been a year and four months since I last had my arms around my sister. We were only supposed to be driving to Florida to bring her kids back to their Dad.

But she had other plans.

I've gone to visit her in the jail she's in but it wasn't what I had expected. They make you visit through TV monitors, she was in a totally separate building. I could see the place where she was which made it so much harder knowing that she was right there.

Unfortunately we took Andon to see her and that was very confusing to him. He has asked to see her again but we're not taking him. I put him on the phone when she calls and they write letters back and forth.

Her birthday is December 28th and I have an appointment to visit her again. I really am looking forward to seeing her face and finally introducing her to Adelyn.

Jamie was there with me through the hardest part of the infertility. She and I would cry together while I was aching for another child. She truly hurt for me and with me.

And that story is nothing short of amazing! When I returned home to Tennessee without her (we lived there at the time, have since moved back to Florida) I found out that I was pregnant! After 3 and 1/2 years of trying to conceive!

We had had Jamie living with us for over a year and that was her third time living with us. But this time was different, she had made tremendous progress. She held a job for the first time in years, she got her GED!!!!! for goodness sakes! We were SO proud of that accomplishment for her! She was attending regular NA and AA meetings. She was growing and changing and it was awesome to see.

But her addictions ended up winning in the end. She is still awaiting trial for the crimes she committed. When that day comes I will be there to take a stand for her and be a witness to the person that I know she is.

8 Months Old

2010-12-13T17:46:00.000-08:00

Adelyn has changed SO much since the last post I wrote about her. She was 6 months old and we were just starting to try to get her on a sleep schedule.

Well, it was only a couple of weeks later and she started taking 2 - 2 hour naps a day and sleeping through the night!! It seemed like such a hard thing but once I was able to stick to my guns and not go get her as soon as she whined, we were good to go. She goes to bed at 7pm every night and is up at 7am every morning.

She loves to stand! She will pull on on anything and just stand there, if she falls, she gets right back up. She has stood all on her own a few times but it is still easier to pull up on something. She cruises along the furniture a little and for some reason her crawling has changed. Instead of the typical crawl on all fours she crawls with one knee and one foot on the floor! It is very funny!

I still breastfeed her as well as give her baby food. She pretty much likes anything we've given her so far. She also loves snacking on Cheerios and those little puffy stars. She is now sitting in a high chair at the dinner table. For the last few months we had her in a Bumbo seat on the table but once she could pretty much just get right out of it, it was time to change!

She has signed "food" and "more food" a few times. We're still working on those but it is so fun to be able to communicate like that with her.

I love these fun pics that Jared snapped of her and I last Sunday after church...

She is just the happiest little baby! I couldn't be more thankful than I am for her. Just not possible! :)

Pics with Santa 2010

2010-12-07T11:51:00.000-08:00

This morning I took my littles to see Santa Clause at the mall. Almost every year we have gone to the Millennia Mall because the Santa there is awesome. But this year I just didn't feel like it. (We have been sick around here for the last week and still feel pretty crummy.) We were there a week ago and the line was about an hour long. Last year, like crazies, we waited in line for 3 hours to see him! So this morning Andon asked "are we going to the long or the short one!?" haha! :)

Here they are waiting for Santa...

Andon has been so interested in Santa this year. Asking lots of questions and wanting to know whether he is real or not. All I ever say is "what do you think?" So when Santa came walking out this morning I saw him inspecting and watching, trying to decide what he thinks.

To my surprise, Santa came right over to Andon. He asked his name and invited him and Adelyn over to talk.

He was so very sweet and kind to my kids. It was adorable! He asked Andon what he would like for Christmas this year and Andon tell's him The Joker Castle. Well, he told me last week that he was going to ask Santa for Lego World Racers!! So that is what Santa already got! Guess we'll be going to the store again. :)

I was able to take my own pics and as many as I wanted to. Love that! After Andon had a chance to talk with him we put Adelyn on his lap too. She didn't have a problem with it at all! She was very interested in him and what this was all about.

These are my favorites... :)

When we are all done, Santa asked Andon if he could have a big hug. He told Andon that it made his day to meet him today and that he was a very special boy. It was so sweet!

And the verdict is in... As we were walking away he say's "oh yeah, he's real Mom and he made my day too!" :)

Time

2010-12-03T12:11:00.001-08:00

It has gotten away from us this week. We have all been so sick around here all week! It started with Adelyn and then quickly struck the rest of us.

It's ok though because I have gotten lots of snuggles from both of my busy little ones. Andon seems to think he's too old for that stuff now and Adelyn is just not much of a snuggler. Boo.

Somehow Andon and I were able to get 2 weeks of school done this week!! Woo Hoo! We brought the school work out of the classroom and did a lot of it on the couch and living room floor. It's nice to have a change of scenery sometimes.

And see these test scores he got today! (i know the handwriting's a bit messy but sometimes that happens when he's done a lot of writing all at once. :))

And speaking of time flying, Adelyn turns 8 months old tomorrow! I wasn't able to write a 7 month old post because we were in the hospital for Andons's last surgery. So I have a lot to catch up on here about her sweet self.

Looking forward to relaxing this weekend with my little family. I think we may go out and get our Christmas tree, if we're all feeling up for it. I know i'd love to have it set up for us all to look at and lay under and smell already!! So hopefully, we'll see. :)

My Goodness

2010-12-01T18:20:00.000-08:00

I hate it when weeks go by without me writing a single post! I am not sure who reads this blog other than a friend or two and my Mom whenever she can. But, I absolutely love looking back on the last couple of years with my sweet ones here.

So......

I am really gonna commit to posting at least 2 to 3 times a week. Even if it's only photos of Andon and Adelyn. They are growing and changing right before my eyes!! Please make it stop! I ask Andon all the time to stay the age he's at. When he was younger he would ask if that was possible, now he say's "no way, I want to be a teenager!" Great. This post is gonna be all over the place but I have a few things to catch up on!

Andon had a major reconstructive surgery a month ago. They took bone off of his skull to build his cheekbones where they were deficient. This was a surgery that has been somewhat planned and talked about since his birth. It always felt so far away and all of a sudden we found ourselves here. I was and wasn't ready for it. I knew it was going to somewhat change the way he looked and that was what I struggled with. He is my baby and I think perfect just the way he is. But Jared and I have to make decisions for Andon's life and this was one of those decisions. This surgery would give his face some more symmetry and lift his eyes where they were somewhat slanted due to the lack of bone. Trust me though, those eyes were then and still are just precious. Oh I love my boy!! So now we are a month away from this surgery and he is doing wonderful. He is still slightly swollen in places and we can expect changes in him through the next coming months. Just this week he is able to resume normal physical activity which has probably been the hardest thing! He is an active little boy!

I have one picture I want to post. Andon had to be cut from ear to ear so they had to shave is head from ear to ear. Well, Daddy gave himself the same haircut so him and Andon would be the same. Trust me when I say if he could have been cut too he would have! We feel honored that God chose us to be Andon's parents. That He trusts us enough with His precious gift. I never feel that more than when Andon has a surgery. The whole time he is away from me I am in constant prayer and thanking God for Andon and telling Him that he is your's Lord before he is mine, I trust you in this situation. We are SO Thankful for our boy and all that God has done in and through him!

Now here's the picture of the awesome haircuts being sported around here!

Thanksgiving was last week and we had my family over. We pretty much go back and forth each year between the families. But this year my Father in Law joined us as well. My sister and her kids came over the night before so we could do some prep cooking and my Mama got here a little early that day so she could help with the things I had no clue about (stuffing and giblet gravy!) Which by the way is very good but this year I bit into something (i think liver, ahhhhhh) and i'm not sure i'll ever eat it again. But who knows, i'll probably forget all about that scary taste by next Thanksgiving. Either way, I only snapped a few pics that day but here are two of my faves.

My sweet Addie girl on her first Thanksgiving...

And her with my niece Briana.

I know these photos look totally different but I am teaching myself how to use photoshop and trying out all sorts of new things on pictures. :)

Hmmm, now what. Well, we find ourselves in the month of December!! We have started the Christmas decorating process but aren't finished yet. We like to buy real trees and didn't want to have a dead tree on Christmas morning so we will be getting that this Friday. But Andon's tree is up in his room and we have a few decorations around the house. I will post pics when we finish. One fun thing we like to do is get new Christmas p.j's to wear while we decorate with the smell of cookies in the background. (yeah, about that.... we have been making cookies so much lately that I have just been making batches of dough and leaving it in the fridge for when we want to just bake a few! This could lead to some serious trouble!)

Anyways, here's some pics of me and my girl in our jams. Jared and Andon just got pants because they get really hot at night. :)

(please excuse the squirelly look in my eyes in these pics. i foolishly decided to stay awake all night with some friends for black friday shopping this year and this was the day after! not sure if i'll ever do that again.)

And last but not least.. I told you this post would be all over the place!

Here's my sweet guy and his Jedi sword. He drew a bunch of Jedi swords and cut them out to fight me with. The kid loves Star Wars! He is constantly talking about it and asking questions and I have NO CLUE what he is talking about. But that's ok, I can hold my own with the sword! :)

Getting Out!

2010-11-14T08:29:00.000-08:00

The kids and I have been couped up in our house since Andon had his surgery a week and a half ago. Except for the day we went back to Tampa for a post op appointment. Which by the way went very well. Andon had to have some stitches taken out and the Dr. said everything looked great! We will write a whole other post regarding Andon and this last surgery. This was his 13th surgery or so and he did so great (as he usually does.) We are so proud of our boy and so glad that he doesn't have any more until his early teens.

So yesterday we decided to go on a family bike ride around the neighborhood. Adelyn is now big enough to ride on the bike seat on my bike!! I am so happy about that. I loved riding around with Andon in there and now I get to have her there too. So fun! I snapped a couple pics of my peeps before we headed out on our 20 min excursion. haha Really though, the weather is so beautiful right now. We enjoyed our little bike ride so much that we later loaded the kids up in the wagon and went around again! :)

As you can see we finally gave the blog a new look!! We had the title "The Three of Us" and that just doesn't work anymore! :) So yesterday Jared and I (I didn't really do much besides pick out the stuff I like for it) made the new header. I still have things I want to do but it all takes so much time so i'll get it done when I can. Hope you like what we've done so far! :)

Pumpkin Patch

2010-10-27T17:58:00.000-07:00

Today I took the kids to a little pumpkin patch down the road. I had been planning on going for the past few weeks and time just got away from me! No biggie though because today was the the perfect day for us to go. I wasn't really planning on buying any pumpkins since Andon is having surgery next week and they would just go bad anyways. (I just wanted to get the kids pics taken with all the beautiful pumpkins!) But Andon had some birthday money in his pocket from his Papa and he insisted on buying one for him and one for Adelyn. So sweet!

So we walked through all the aisles looking for the perfect ones. He spotted one for her right away. He took quite a bit longer looking for his. The patch was pretty raked over but still plenty of good choices. :)

Every time I would put Adelyn down with the pumpkins she would pick one up and start biting it! Little thing puts everything in her mouth!

As we were leaving they asked Andon if he also wanted to take a white pumpkin. They said they aren't great for carving so he could take it home and paint it or color it with markers. Unfortunately I don't have any pic of the final product. Andon colored a face on it then gave it arms and legs and wrote on it's forehead ~ Andon's friend. He named it scarer! It is very funny and he wanted it to watch a movie with him during his quiet time today! The thing is huge so I said scarer had to stay in the school room. :)

Here's a few more pics from the pumpkin patch. I couldn't really get Adelyn to look at me. Every time she did it was so bright that she would quickly look back down. But I am happy with the pics I did get and I'm SO happy we were able to make it to the patch this year!!!

Happy Fall Everyone!

Superhero Birthday Bash

2010-10-24T14:17:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we had Andon's 7th birthday party! His birthday is actually November 4th but he will be having surgery on November 2nd so we decided to celebrate early this year. It was SO much fun!! He invited 7 of his little buddies over for a superhero themed birthday party. He decided this year that he wanted it "boy's only" but at last minute was having a little change of heart about one of his sweet girl friends. :)

One by one the superheros started showing up. When everyone was here we started the games. The first game we played was Pin the S on the Superman cape.

After that all the Superheros went out onto our balcony and took turns throwing water balloons at the villain (Jared) down below. I think they really liked that game! :)

Then we headed out to the garage to take turns beating up the Batman pinata.

Next it was time to come in and sing "Happy Birthday" to Andon. Once we started singing he sat there watching everyone with the biggest grin. It was so cute watching him just soak it up. I wish I had a picture of it but I was too busy watching him to take any. I have the picture in my head though and i'll never forget it. I sure do love my boy! :)

After that we decided to take the superheros out to take a picture of each one of them doing their best pose. That was one of my favorite parts of the party! The boys were so cute!! Here's Hulk striking his most scariest pose.

If you want to see them all you can click on my facebook link on the left sidebar. I put a birthday photo album on my profile. :)

And here's the whole gang!

The party was a blast and afterwards he had a couple of his friends sleepover. It was the perfect way to celebrate Andon turning 7!

Andon,

You are the most unique and fun little boy I know. You make me laugh daily with the things you come up with! Daddy and I are so thankful for the gift of you. Having you has taught me so much about the important things in life. My perspective continues to change and I am grateful. I look forward to watching you grow in the coming years. I look forward to what God has for you! I love you so much sweet boy!

Love, Mama

6 Months

2010-10-06T18:33:00.001-07:00

Adelyn turned 6 Months old this week!! Oh and how she has changed! All within the last week or so she has started sitting up, crawling, pulling up to stand and saying "Dada!!" Well, she has been babbling Dada but she does it when you ask her to so we think she is saying it. Andon's first word was Mama so at least I got one of them. :) She also has two new teeth and has started to eat solid foods and LOVES them. So far she has eaten bananas, apples, mangos, and butternut squash.

At her 6 month check up this week she weighed 17 lbs. and was 26 and 1/2 in. Staying around the 95% for height and weight. That's my healthy girl!

We're still working on her sleep schedule around here. Little Miss just wants to hang out. She takes a nap around 9 a.m. for 2 hours and then takes another nap around 1 p.m. (This is something we have just gotten figured out within the last 2 weeks and doesn't work every day but we're working on it.) She goes to bed around 7:30 at night and sometimes wakes up around 11:00 to be fed and then always wakes up around 3:00 a.m to be fed again.

We are truly enjoying every moment with our baby girl. I was just talking to Jared the other night about her. Telling him I am just in awe of God's timing with giving her to us. We went 3 and 1/2 years trying to have a baby. When I honestly believed that we couldn't have any more children and was absolutely OK with that I found out I was pregnant. 9 months later He blessed us with this precious little girl. And of any day in the whole year, He chose to bring her on Easter Sunday. The day that we celebrate His resurrection! Sometimes I still can't believe it. She has been the perfect addition to our family!

Adelyn, we love you so much!! You are the most precious little girl and Mommy is so thankful that you are ours!!

Afternoon Date

2010-10-05T18:24:00.000-07:00

Last week it became very apparent that Andon and I needed some special time. We have been so busy around here with our homeschooling and not to mention our sweet little sissy that takes up lots of my time now. :)

So I asked him if he wanted to go on an afternoon date Sunday after church. Our first stop was Steak n Shake for some yummy steakburgers and milkshakes. mmmmmm, We love that place! We took our food to Crane's Roost Park. It was such a beautiful day to be outside!! We sat and ate and then just walked the lake and talked. We talked about all kinds of important things like... his upcoming birthday party, superheros, dogs (he stopped to pet every single one he seen!! he LOVES dogs. :)) daddy, sissy, nana papa and roger, sharks, all of his friends and all of his cousins and just how much i love him.

It was such a nice time relaxing and hanging with my boy!

We stopped to feed the birds some leftover fry's.

And once he was all out... He chased all the birds away, of course. :)

Stopping for a drink.

The time away was just what we needed. I love you so much sweet Andon!!

Daydreaming

2010-10-05T17:26:00.000-07:00

I walked into her room when nap time was up to find her just staring out the window. She was so peaceful. Just watching the trees blow in the breeze. It was the first day that it's been cool enough to open the windows and I think someone really enjoyed it. :)

Sparkly Blues

2010-10-01T15:12:00.000-07:00

A sweet friend of ours needed to take some pics of babies for school. When she asked, I happily obliged. Adelyn is almost 6 months now so she was able to sit up for some of the pictures!! I love all of them but this is one just makes me smile. I adore this little girl and her sparkly blue eyes.

Here's another cute one...

I'll be using some more for her 6 month post on Monday. :)

And She's Off

2010-09-28T17:26:00.000-07:00

This week Adelyn has started crawling! She has been rocking back and forth on all fours for a few weeks now but hasn't gone anywhere. Then, in the last couple of days she had started crawling backwards and now she's going forward.

She still takes a moment to get going. She'll put her right foot on the ground and not really go anywhere.

Then she'll put her left foot on the floor...

And then she starts to go. It is so cute!! She is also sitting up but I haven't got any pictures of that yet.

Lot's and lot's of things going on around here. My little ones are growing and changing every day. I am just trying to keep up with it all and enjoy every minute of it. :)

I have yet to post about our schooling. So be expecting some fun posts about all that we have been up to and LOTS of fun pics of my boy in first grade.

Using His Eagle Powers

2010-09-27T17:23:00.000-07:00

Andon and I were looking through some pictures from last year and came across this one. He said, "I am using my eagle powers!"
(We love Nacho Libre around here. :))

This photo was taken at Crosspoint Church's Fall festival in Nashville, TN. He climbed to the top of this huge hay stack and Jared told him to jump. Of course, without skipping a beat he was off!

Enjoying the View...

2010-09-27T17:19:00.000-07:00

We prayed long and hard for this little one.

She was so worth the wait!

Pierced Ears

2010-09-08T18:54:00.000-07:00

The day Adelyn turned 5 months old we got her ears pierced!! They look adorable! It wasn't planned or anything, well not that day at least. I had been saying I wanted to have it done between 5 and 6 months. I am not a person who wears a lot of jewelry or make up. I like to keep it pretty simple and natural. But I always have a pair of earrings on. The same pair every day. They are the gift that Jared bought me for having Andon and I love them.

Well we just happen to be in the mall and walked past the store that does it and said let's go in. Once we were in there and asked if they could do it I got a little scared. The girl gave me some papers to sign and initial that I was her parent and that she informed me on how to properly clean and take care of her pierced ears. But as I was signing them I was wanting to back out. I don't like surprises or unexpected things they make me very uncomfortable and nervous. But I got myself together and hopped up in the chair with her on my lap.

Really it was like getting a shot. She cried for about a minute or two and then she was fine. Even Andon cried for a minute or two, precious boy. She hasn't grabbed at them or tried to mess with them at all. They don't even look like new piercings not that I know what new piercings look like. But I would assume a little red or pink and her don't appear that way at all.

Here we are cleaning them for the first time. We have to clean and turn them three times a day for 2 months.

And here they are. :)

5 Months

2010-09-04T19:44:00.000-07:00

Our sweet Adelyn is 5 months old today! She is growing and changing so fast! I'm not sure of how much she weighs but I am certain she has gained since last month! :) In the last month she has started to roll over LOTS! She also gets on her hands and knees and rocks back and forth. Little thing is ready to crawl! I remember when Andon used to rock back and forth like that, it was so cute.

She wears 3-6 months clothes and size 3 diapers. Still breastfed only, except for the bananas I gave her twice. I put a piece in a little mesh fruit holder and she sucked it all out! She loved it! I'm going to start giving her rice cereal and some more fruits and veggies this week. Still eats every 3-4 hours during the day and every 4-5 during the night. I am hoping and praying for a longer stretch of sleep at night here soon because this mama is tired!

Everything that is in her hands goes straight in the mouth!! She is drooling quite a bit but I don't see or feel and teeth yet. She just adores her big brother, they are very cute together. He loves to put on shows for her and she just cracks up at him.

We love you so much Adelyn!! You are the most precious little girl and we are so thankful you are ours!

I have a whole other post to write about the fun thing we did today for her 5 month birthday.. So excited to share!! :)

Girl Time!

2010-09-04T05:48:00.001-07:00

A couple of weeks ago my niece Briana came over for a visit. I love to have my niece and nephews over for a week or so during the summer. I took lots of pics when my nephew Cody came because it was his first time and I took a few when Briana came but I am so bummed I didn't take any when Jordan came. We did have lots of fun when he came including a little pool party with a few friends for his birthday. Love that sweet boy!

When Bri came this time it was a little challenging. She is the daughter of my sister who is in jail. (She and her brother live with their father.) I think she is really starting to feel the effects of that. She is a precious girl with a tough side to her. So this time around we had a few obedience problems. I decided it best to take her out for some girl time to just talk and have fun. She loved it!

We went to the mall and I let her pick a store to get something special. She chose Build-A-Bear! :) She picked a Hello Kitty and named her Hannah. Here are a few fun pics.

Giving her a bath.

Adelyn saying I want to do this too!! :)

My precious girls.

Afterwards we headed over to the food court for some pizza and time to talk. I love her so much. I always get sad when she has to go home but look forward to our next visit. :)

Star Wars Celebration

2010-08-28T16:38:00.000-07:00

My guys LOVE Star Wars! This year they had the Star Wars Celebration here in Orlando at the Convention Center. It was one of the fun things Jared and Andon did while we were on vacation. Adelyn and I decided to sit this one out. :) Jared took lots of pics on his phone for me so here are a few of my fav's.
Andon with a Lego C3PO and R2D2.

Him and Chewy.

Andon (with glowing eyes) and the REAL Darth Vader. At least that's what he thought. :)

I am so glad Jared took him. This is something Andon will never forget!!

Family Vacation

2010-08-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

2 Weeks ago we went on a family vacation!! It was such a nice time relaxing and hanging out together. We decided to stay close to home being that we do live in Orlando! :) The hotel was so nice and had the greatest pool, lazy river and water slide.
These pics were taken from our room.

Daddy and Andon floating down the lazy river.

This is pretty much all Andon wanted to do. Every time we went down the lazy river Andon met a new friend! The first day it was a boy named Sam from England the next day another boy named Nick and the next day a girl from Canada named Juwanie. She was in her early teens and just adorable! My little social guy can make friends anywhere. :)
Here's my little bathing beauty. She was such a good girl on vacation!

One thing I realized, you have to take A LOT of stuff when vacationing with a baby! It's been a few years since i've had to do that and totally forgot how much you need!

One of the days we drove to Deleon Springs and ate at the Old Spanish Sugarmill Restaurant. It is a really fun restaurant where you cook your own pancakes and eggs on your table. But while your waiting for a table to open you can swim in the springs. It was so fun!! Here are some pics from our day at the springs.

This little "staycation" was just what we needed before getting back in to the swing of things. I have SO much more to blog about and so many more fun pics to post. But one will have to do for tonight. :)

4 Months

2010-08-04T12:28:00.000-07:00

Today our sweet one is 4 months old. Where has the time gone!? Wow, it truly is amazing how fast time goes by. She has changed so much already!

Here's the new stuff...
She LOVES her play mat on the floor! Now she can reach all those fun hanging toys. I have it in her room which is viewable from the laundry room. So whenever I am doing laundry (which feels like every day now) I lay her there to play for a while. So cute!

She rolls from her front to her back pretty easily and has only rolled from her back to her front once. That's ok with mama, we'll keep her still for a little longer!

We think she is teething for a couple of reasons.
~ she drools all over every outfit we put her in
~ she puts everything in her mouth

~ she was rubbing her ears for a few days so I took her to the Dr. to see if she had an ear infection and everything was just fine. the Dr. said it could just be referred pain from teething. we'll see. :)

She weighs 15.3 pounds now and is 24 and 1/2 inches long! She is one healthy little girl and we LOVE it! I looked back at Andon's baby book and at this age he was exactly 1 pound lighter and 1 inch longer.

She eats every 3 to 4 hours during the day and every 5 to 6 hours during the night. Hasn't slept through the night yet but I have a feeling it's gonna be soon.

Here she is with her big bear.

Adelyn, you are growing so quickly. I am not taking a minute of it for granted. I love you so much precious girl.

Cody's Visit

2010-07-17T17:23:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago my little nephew Cody came to visit. It was his first time sleeping over our house so we wanted to make it really fun for him. It may have been his first sleepover ever. I'm not sure I just know he's a boy that likes to be close to home. :)

We got him on a Saturday and weren't sure how long he'd stay. Jared happen to be off on Monday (it was the day after the 4th.) And that night he say's "i'm pretty sure i'm ready to go home tomorrow. I need to ride some dirtbikes.) So cute! So the next morning when Jared went to work me and the kiddos loaded up and took him home.

Here are a couple of pics from his stay. We decided to take them to Downtown Disney. There is so much to see there without spending any money! We did eat at the T Rex restaurant which was SO neat. The boys LOVED it!

This picture is so funny. Can you see Andon's hook?

Lego Woody! He was so cool.

And the T Rex restaurant. What little (or big) boy wouldn't love it!

It was such a fun couple of days with him here. Now we have my nephew Jordan here and in two weeks my niece Briana will be coming. Love these kiddos. :)

Celebrating the Fourth

2010-07-05T19:07:00.001-07:00

This weekend we went to my parent's house to celebrate the 4th of July. We had such a fun day eating lots of yummy food, swimming in the pool, hanging with cousins and shooting off our own fireworks.

Here's a pic of Briana, Jordan, Cody and Andon. I think they stayed in the pool ALL day! Only came out to eat and then when it was time for the fireworks.

Here's Andon and Cody. They are such good buddies. Cody actually came home to Orlando with us for a few days. We have been having lots of fun.

Here's my sweet little niece Kylie.

My nephew Cayden. He is 6 months old and such a sweet baby.

My little Adelyn. She was a busy girl that day. She only took 30 minute cat naps throughout the day then fell asleep and missed the fireworks.

And here are two sweet pics of Adelyn and my Dad. She is gonna be such a Papa's girl. He is so cute with her. One of the naps she took was in his arms that day and as soon as he put her down she was up.

As soon as it got dark we set up a bunch of chairs and Jared, Roger and my Dad lit the fireworks. We have bought some in the past but never this good! They were awesome! It was such a fun day celebrating the fourth and hanging with my family!

3 Months

2010-07-04T19:02:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July! We have had the best weekend celebrating with family. I have a whole other post to write about that.

Today my sweet Adelyn turned 3 months old and wow, is she growing!! She seems to change every day. We still can't figure out who she looks like. I can look at her and think she looks like Jared and an hour later think she totally looks like me. Either way, she is such a precious girl.

In the last month she has started to enjoy her swing more, which is nice. She sits in her Bumbo seat every day for a little bit. She likes to sit up and see everything! She rolls from her front to her back and from her back to her side. She LOVES to have her hands in her mouth! And i'm talking about the whole thing! So cute! :) She weighs 13 pounds and is 23 and 1/2 inches long. Everybody who sees her asks how old she is and when I say how old they say "wow she is a big baby." We think she is just perfect!

She is still eating every three hours during the day and every four to five hours during the night. She still sleeps in her little bed in my room. :) Maybe in the next month or so she'll go in her own room. She loves to talk and be talked to. I think she is gonna be a social one just like her brother.

She loves her big brother and he adores her as well. Every time we get in the car he sits right next to her to take care of her and sing songs to her. Today I actually sat in the back seat with them and watched him while he sang. She was smiling so big and just staring at him! It was adorable!

I am just loving having a girl! We already have the sweetest relationship and I look forward to so many things with her. Here are a couple of pics of my sweet girl in her 4th of July outfit.

And a pic with her handsome Daddy. :)

Hope everyone has had a fabulous 4th! I am listening to the fireworks out my window as I type!

All Sorts of New Things

2010-07-02T06:04:00.000-07:00

Since Adelyn was a couple months old Andon has been asking if he could feed her a bottle. I have gone back and forth about whether or not I would pump. I actually bought one and after two months went by without using it I took it back. Well, a couple of weeks ago my friend, Kristen, who also just had a baby happen to have 2 double electric pumps and offered one to me. I figured it would be nice to pump a bottle here and there to be able to go out with friends and stuff. So I pumped my first bottle and let Andon feed her.

I wasn't even worried about her not taking it and thankfully she didn't have any problems. This sweet girl is not gonna miss a meal! :) It was so sweet watching Andon feed her. She was just staring at him probably wondering what is going on! :) Here are some pics of my boy feeding my girl.

And like I wrote a couple of posts back we are letting her try her swing and different seats around the house. I have been trying to put her in her Bumbo seat for a couple of weeks and she hated it. Now when I put her in it she'll sit comfortably for about 20 minutes or so. It is so cute seeing her sit up like a big girl. Kind of sad too. Here she is in her big seat being all important. ;)

My girl is growing and changing so fast, she'll be 3 months old this weekend!!! It is so fun watching all of the changes but I get sad because I don't think we are having anymore babies so I want to soak it all up. Here's one more pic of that sweet face.

Hope everyone has a great 4th of July weekend!!

Some Other Fav's

2010-06-26T17:03:00.001-07:00

Here are some more of my favorite pics... I LOVE my kiddos.:)

Sorry for making you wait Sun! :)

My Girl

2010-06-21T17:17:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite pics that Paula took. It is just a natural, beautiful shot. I love it!

I Just Adore These Two

2010-06-18T18:02:00.000-07:00

Does it get any better than this? I just adore these two. This is one of the many beautiful pictures we had taken last week by a wonderful photographer, Paula Herko.

I can't wait to start framing and hanging some of these adorable pics of my babies. :)

More pics to come...

Just A Swinging

2010-06-17T16:57:00.000-07:00

Adelyn is finally liking to sit in her swing. It's great to have a place to put her that she enjoy's. She will sometimes take naps in it and when i'm cooking dinner I put her in it and put it right next to the kitchen so she can see me.

She has the cutest little play mat to lay on but just isn't interested in that yet either. I remember when Andon was a baby, he LOVED his swing and then after the swing he LOVED his exersaucer. I haven't got one of those for her yet but i'm sure we will.

Here she is just a swinging away. :)

Sleepovers

2010-06-16T11:15:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago Andon had his buddy Jordan stay over. Andon is getting to the age where he is wanting to have sleepovers (mostly have kids sleep over our house). But last weekend he went and stayed over at Sunday's house with Jakob and Jordan for Jakob's 6th birthday. I told her the next one was at our house!

It is so fun to have the kids over and plan a bunch of fun things for them to do. When Jordan was here we made sure to get McDonald's happy meals because they only get them for birthdays. :) Then the next night we ordered pizza because what kid doesn't like that. The boys played with play-doh, played the wii, rode bikes and skooters and stayed up way too late!

I took a few pics of these boys in action...

Andon's room was turned upside down multiple times. :)

Best Buddies! :)

How They Grow So Fast

2010-06-10T14:14:00.000-07:00

I LOVE looking back at photos of Andon as he has grown. It is so fun to see him change through the years. Today I was looking through photos of Adelyn in the last 2 months and she has changed so much already. Here are a few of my favorites. :)

1 Day Old

1 Week Old

4 Weeks Old

6 Weeks Old

9 Weeks Old

She is growing and changing so much!! Before I know it she will be crawling and then walking all around the house!! I haven't taken a minute of these last couple of months for granted.

Nana and Papa

2010-06-10T13:10:00.000-07:00

Last weekend my parent's drove over to pick up my brother. They have only seen Adelyn a couple of times since she's been born so it was nice to have them here loving on her. She really seemed to like all the attention from them! :)

Here she is smiling at Nana.

And loving her Papa!

I had her in the cutest little dress that day for church. Here's a pic we took that morning. She looks really big in this pic!! :)

This is the second post i've posted today but I have so many photos and posts that I wanted to do and no time. Today just seems like the time to catch up. We have been relaxing around the house and some friends came over with lunch (thanks jess). So I just may post a few more, we'll see how her afternoon nap goes!! :)

Beach Trip

2010-06-10T08:46:00.001-07:00

Over Memorial Weekend we decided to be brave and take a trip to the beach. We figured so would everyone else in the state of Florida!! We left around 8:30 in the morning, it takes about an hour to get there. The weather was beautiful!!! We got there and set up under and umbrella and the boys went to playing. My brother was in town that weekend. It was such a fun day playing in the waves and making sand castles.

This was Adelyn's 2nd trip to the beach. I took her when she was 2 or 3 weeks with some friends. She did great both times!!

We left around 2:00 when everyone was piling in. When we left the traffic to get there was backed up for miles!! We couldn't have planned it any better. :)

Here are a few pics from our day...

My brother was here for 2 weeks and just went home last Sunday. We had such a fun time with him here and can't wait until he comes back!

2 Months

2010-06-05T15:44:00.001-07:00

Yesterday our sweet Adelyn turned 2 months old. It's amazing how fast time flies! She has changed a lot in the past month. She now watches us as we walk around the room. And she smiles all the time, SO CUTE! She loves to carry on conversations with us. When she's fussing and Daddy starts to talk to her real slowly she just closes her eyes and goes to sleep!! That deep voice just lulls her away. :) She LOVES her big brother, anytime he comes over to her she lights up and just stares at him. She is still eating every three hours during the day and every three to five at night. She has gone eight hours twice but she fell asleep around seven so I missed out on sleeping some of those hours. Bummer! :) She has a really sweet little personality and we are just loving her up around here.

I took some pics of her yesterday, she did way better than her 1st month pics! Here she is in her adorable crib that she still has yet to sleep in.

And a pic with her huge bear.

And with big brother. :)

I have so many pics to post and things I could be blogging about. I'm just in the middle of trying to finish up Andon's school year and we've had my brother over for the last 2 weeks. We've just been living life and having fun. I do hope to catch up on some posts here soon though. :)

864 Meals in 20 Minutes

2010-05-23T16:18:00.000-07:00

The largest part of our decision to move back home was the opportunity I had to be part of an amazing ministry. The company I work for is a full service design and imprint company dedicated to serving the youth ministry market. The difference between us and every other t-shirt company is the fact that every product we sell we devote a portion of the proceeds to purchasing the ingredients for, and packing meals for starving kids all over the world. We are a satellite packaging facility for Kids Against Hunger. In addition we have also set up our own non profit called Change This World. Not only do we coordinate packaging events all over Florida but recently the Nation and soon the world (going to Africa in October). Each morning we also gather as a staff and package meals together. It is a reminder of why we do what we do and for who (the least of these!).

I recently felt it was time to involve Andon in not only the packaging of meals but why it is important. The best way I could find to connect Andon to what is actually happening in the world was to share with him a video that completely impacted me SAM AND ESTER. After seeing the video it leaves you with a sense of despair and hopelessness. This has always motivated me to action but for some it paralyzes. I wanted to model for Andon that while their is a scary reality to life we CAN and SHOULD do something about it. Approximately 28,000 children die each day due to starvation and preventable diseases! This is not ok with our family.

We always start out with prayer. After, we all find a station to serve. Andon and I decided to jump in at the Soy station. Their are four components to the meals. 1. Rice, 2. Soy, 3. Dehydrated vegetables and 4. Vitamin and mineral powder. The food actually assists in reversing the effects of starvation. First goes the vitamins then the veggies, next the soy and last the rice. It only takes about twenty minutes and twelve people to package 864 meals! The company and non profit have packaged over 2 million meals in just six months.

After packaging I decided to bring one of the meals home for all of us to experience what some eat every day (It's actually good). While we ate I explained to Andon that most children in the world do not have options like he does. No grocery store, no home with a pantry full of choices and in some cases no meals at all. I explained that the food we often throw away would be a blessing to them. My intention is to educate and involve him. My hope is that he not only understands what is going on in the world but realizes even one person getting involved can make a difference.

On a side note, both Sam and Ester are doing well and Laurie regularly receives meals from our efforts!

Adelyn and I met PW

2010-05-20T10:41:00.000-07:00

Last week Ree Drummond also known as The Pioneer Woman was in town doing a cookbook signing at Barnes and Noble. I have loved reading her blog for the couple of years so I was so excited to get to meet her!

The book signing started at 6pm so I thought I would be smart and arrive around 5:30 to beat the crowds. Well, not only was I near the end of the line but I had to wait 4 hours to meet her! People started getting there at 2pm that day to start lining up. I didn't know everyone else around here knew about her! :)

Jared, Andon and Adelyn toured the bookstore for a while then went to Chick-Fil-a to pick up some dinner then came back and read some books for a while and then drove around the parking lot while Adelyn screamed then toured the bookstore for a while more.

Thankfully the sweet girls in line with me offered to hold my place while I went and fed Adelyn, twice. :) The first time was in the bathroom, standing in one of the stalls (that was bad). The second time was out in the car, not so bad. But sweet little Adelyn was just not happy afterwards so I left the line again to go get her and have her wait to meet Ree with me.

Besides knowing my baby was screaming in the car and stressing my hubby out the wait wasn't that bad. I got to meet some really sweet girls from different parts of Florida. We talked about baby slings, breastfeeding, pizza throwing, yoyo contests, food, one of the girls friends who stood her up :) and all kinds of stuff. I love hanging out with a bunch of women, we can talk about just anything and instantly become friends.

So after four hours of waiting Adelyn and I got to meet sweet Ree and have her sign my cookbook. Here is a pic from my iphone because I forgot my camera. :)

She was so sweet, I really don't know what I said to her because I was pretty frazzled hoping Adelyn wouldn't start screaming. I do remember her asking if she could smell Adelyn's head though! I thought that was so funny because I love the smell of baby's heads too! :)

Mother's Day

2010-05-09T18:29:00.000-07:00

I had such a great Mother's Day today with my family. I am so thankful for my sweet husband for making day's like today so special for me and I am so thankful for my sweet children. That's right I said children!! I love saying that! :)

We just adore our Andon Chase. He is such a unique and special little guy. He is so creative and imaginative just like his Daddy. He loves to be funny!! If he tells a joke and realizes it made me laugh he will continue to tell it a few more times. We have had to tell him a joke isn't funny when you keep telling it. :) He has such a servant's heart, he is so precious with his sister. He takes care of her all on his own, I love that I don't even need to ask. Him and his Daddy are best friends and have the sweetest relationship. I have loved watching their relationship grow over the last 6 years.

And our sweet Adelyn Christine. She is such precious little girl. Only 5 weeks old and we couldn't be more in love. We prayed for another child for 3 and 1/2 years and she is that blessing. She LOVES to be held and snuggled and momma LOVES to hold her but we're trying to get her to like her swing and things. :) She has been the sweetest addition to our family and we couldn't be more thankful for her.

Andon and Adelyn, I love you both more than you will ever know. I am so thankful for the two of you and I am so happy and proud to be your Momma. :)

My Daughter

2010-05-06T05:38:00.001-07:00

I love having a daughter, that's all. :)

She's Already 1 Month Old

2010-05-04T10:22:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast time flies! Today Adelyn turns 1 month old. I tried taking some pics of her but it seems like every time I pull the camera out she turns into a little stink weed. :) I did manage to get a few though.

Here's my girl sitting in her sweet little crib that she has yet to sleep in. She sleeps in a bassinet next to my bed for now. I'm not sure when she'll move into her room. Hopefully sooner than we moved Andon into his (he was 8 months old)!! :)

And here she is sitting with her big bear. She was not happy AT ALL about this. Jared gave this bear to me when we were dating and I love that it is in her room.

At one month she is still sleeping quite a bit. She eats every two to three hours during the day and every three to four hours at night. We have gotten a few smiles and laughs out of her which are just adorable! She loves car rides and taking walks in her stroller. And she absolutely LOVES being held. This sweet girl is a snuggle bug and just loves to cuddle and be warm. I love that, except when I am trying to get some things done so right now a lot of things are not getting done. :)

Andon is such a helpful and loving big brother to her. I'll hear her fussing in the back seat or downstairs and I don't even have to ask him and he's right there giving her her paci and taking care of her. I am so proud of him and so thankful for his help.

Mommy, Daddy and Andon love you so much sweet Adelyn. We are so thankful for you and have loved every minute of this last month with you.

Going to Daddy's Work

2010-05-02T11:59:00.000-07:00

This week I took Adelyn up to Daddy's work to meet everyone. First we went to the Dr. for her 3 week check up and to have a physical done for Andon. Everything was great for both of them and Adelyn weighed 10 pounds!! My sweet girl likes to eat just like her momma. :)

Here are some pics of my girl going to visit her Daddy. I seem to have a lot of pics of her in her car seat. I realized that's when I have her all dressed and buckled up so it feels like a good time to pull out the camera. :) And the gloves are on her hands because she was scratching her face up. I was afraid to clip her nails because when Andon was a baby I accidentally clipped some of his skin off!! But I started biting her nails and she doesn't have to wear the cute little gloves anymore. :)

We are having so much fun with our little girl. She is 4 weeks old today and we are all feeling more and more adjusted to this new life.

Family of Four

2010-04-27T18:37:00.000-07:00

The moment I had Adelyn I was completely overjoyed but had this feeling like something was missing. I said to Jared I wish Andon were here and he said he was thinking the exact same thing! Not to witness the birth or anything like that just to be there when his sister arrived. :) We are such a close little family and we were certainly missing our boy.

So needless to say when Brittani and Terri brought him to the hospital to meet Adelyn I was so excited. He came walking in the room with flowers for me and a sweet little lamb stuffed animal for her. He seemed like such a big boy. Here are a bunch of sweet pictures that Brittani took of our visit.

I loved introducing her to him and seeing the look on his face. He was so sweet with her, just petting and kissing her head.

I just love this pic. Two of my favorite people. :)

She loved her little lamb from her big brother. :)

Daddy sure loves his girl...

And momma sure loves her boy...

We are now a family of four and feel so complete.

So Thankful

2010-04-18T17:51:00.000-07:00

I still can't believe He chose to bless us with her. We are so in love with this precious little girl. All three of us just adore her and are so thankful for her.

We have spent the last two weeks together adjusting to our new addition. Tomorrow Jared goes back to work. I am sad that he has to go back but ready to get into a more normal routine around here.

Here are a couple of pics we took this week of our little ones. More pics to come.

"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."
James 1:17

Getting Ready for Her

2010-04-15T10:11:00.000-07:00

During the last month of my pregnancy the boy's made over some furniture for Adelyn. Jared had never done this before so I was unsure how they would turn out but both pieces are so nice!

The first was a dresser that my sweet friend Abby gave me. It was a pale yellow color with really basic drawer pulls. We wanted it to be white to match her crib. So Jared and Andon went to town sanding the whole thing then wiping it down and then painting it. Then it had to be sealed and some new handles on the drawers and we have a beautiful new dresser. Sounds so simple but it was a lot of work.

Here are some pics of the boys hard and work and then the finished result. :)

And the next is a little picnic table that I found one day while on a walk. It was sitting in a pile of stuff where the people had foreclosed on the house and had moved out a year ago. I guess whoever took over the home threw everything out. Anyways, I asked the guy who lived next door if he know what would happen to all the stuff and he said is was going to the dump so I took this little pink picnic table. I know, funny story. I have never done anything like that but I figured if it was going to the dump we could fix it up for Adelyn. :) So here are the before and afters of the little table.

And here they are with their girl. They both just ADORE her! Well, we all do. :)

Our Easter Morning

2010-04-09T11:00:00.000-07:00

APRIL 4, 2010: Jen says "Jared... I'm having contractions" at around 2:00 a.m. I simply reply "ok" and lean over to grab my phone. I'm not a reactionary person by nature and this is no exception. In addition Jen has been having contractions for about 3 weeks so I figure this is probably just another false alarm. I open the phone and begin timing her contractions. First two are about 8 minutes apart but the third drops down to 7 minutes. After about 10 contractions we are steady at 7 minutes apart so I place my feet on the floor and say "I think this is it". Jen looks over at me and says "well I'm going to get in the shower"..... I say nothing and begin to activate the drill sargeant inside my head. As I figure it we are going in to battle and I have to get the troops organized and ready here. The entire time Jen is in the shower she calls out when the next contraction starts, I told her before she went in "I NEED TO KNOW when you have a contraction so DO NOT FORGET to call them out". I am in the bedroom going down the list of everything we need, thinking of Andon, the ride, when we should call our friends to drop Andon off etc when Andon just walks in the room and says "Is it morning yet"? (reason he is asking is he knows morning brings his present and Easter basket) I say "Yes but, the baby is coming so we need to go to the hospital". Immediately Andon shoots back "WHAT ABOUT EASTER?" and begins the face transition from sleepy to melt down! I jump in quick and say "Basket is downstairs and you can have it right now" Off he goes and I think one less thing to take care of on my list. This entire time Jen has been calling off contractions and all I need to do is hit a button on the phone. I decide now is a good time to look at the history to see where we are at... EVERY 4 MINUTES NOW! I walk straight in to the bathroom and say "Let's go now, we are every 4 minutes... NOW JEN". Jen spends the next 20 minutes getting out, getting dressed and calling off contractions. I am now downstairs waiting on her.

We're in the car and heading towards Mat and Brittani's house, Andon wide awake and showing me his candy and new toys (I'm sure he ate some candy due to the rate of words per minute flowing from his mouth) and Jen contracting. We pull up and Jen gets out to say goodbye. In my mind this is a drop and go situation, I even had the random thought of slowing down enough and having Andon just jump out! Jen on the other hand is in a conversation with Brittani when I look down at the history and see we are now EVERY 2 TO 3 MINUTES!" As I said, I'm not a reactionary person by nature but my mind is calculating the time it will take to get to the hospital vs her contraction time and reminds me that I have ZERO medical background so... "JEN, NOW" is all I get out.

We are now driving towards the hospital and Jen says "Left" so I do it but then she says "Left again, the movies Jared" and I remember we have rented movies in the car we need to drop off at the Red Box! I jump out in the quick mart parking lot, movies in hand and run towards the machine. Now if anyone has returned movies at the Red Box you also know that it's not the fastest process in the world. So I hit RETURN and slam the first one in the slot. The machine takes the movie BUT... Flashes a message across the screen "Experiencing some difficulty please stand by" Immediately my mind responds "Throw the other movie at the cashier and scream for him to return it WE GOTTA GO MAN!" but I take a deep breath and wait. Just a minute later the screen returns to normal, I slap the movie in and run back to the car.

Now we are REALLY heading towards the hospital and the contractions are EVERY 2 MINUTES STEADY. The ride is a blur, I vaguely remember some red lights I ran, some groans from Jen about the pain and mostly my inner voice running down lists! We arrive at the hospital and realize that the parking lot is a bit off the hospital. We park on the third floor and the second we are out Jen has a contraction. I prop up the suitcase and pillows so she can lean on them and focus. Contraction over I say "LETS MOVE" and begin walking towards the hospital. 2 Minutes later I hear a voice in the distance behind me "Jared I'm having one" and as I turn around I realize that I have walked about 15 yards ahead of Jen! OOOOPS. I run back, prop up the suitcase and pillow and hunker down with Jen. This routine happens three more times before we even hit the hospital doors.

In the hospital, checked in and changed I have made my calls and begin the process to devote every part of me to Jen. Our last experience was filled with surprises and I know the only thing that will offer Jen stability is my full attention. The nurse comes in checks Jen and says "7, almost 8 centimeters, this should be fast" We are then carted off to "the room" and Jen is hooked up to all the machines. A flurry of nurses are in and out and while I am staying in tune with Jen I can also hear several of the nurses conversations. One in particular catches my attention and basically boils down to that Jen's 8 centimeters vs the doctors distance from the hospital might result in no doctor. At this point I could care less and look at Jen and say "GREAT JOB, I'M SO PROUD OF YOU".

Jen's labor lasted approximately 4 hours. Their were times I felt completely connected to her. I love this opportunity and time (I loved it last time) It is such an opportunity to have a deeper understanding and intimacy with Jen. The entire time she was in labor she looked in to my eyes and I would carry her away and through the contraction. Jen and I used to run with each other and we had one hill at the end of the run that was a killer. After running for a while Jen changed our perception of the hill by telling me to run faster and attack the hill and it worked. I returned the favor and said to Jen at one of her hardest contractions "Remember the hill when we used to run, we are there now. BREATHE deep and lets take the hill. We are at the beginning but keep going Jen, soon we will be up" and as I looked at her we both left that room and found ourselves on the hill, I felt her leave with me. It was an amazing experience.

SNAP BACK TO REALITY and the Doctor walks in. Gets in position and calls for the push. 4 sets of pushing and Adelyn Christine Mirabile enters the world at 7:27 on April 4th 2010 at 8 pounds 10 ounces. Jen says "Go see her" and my mind flashes back to when I left her alone right after Andon was born and I simply look at Jen and say "I'm not leaving you this time, she's fine".

Unlike last time we were able to have our newborn with us right after birth. Andon was unfortunately raced off to the NICU but Adelyn was able to stay for hours. It really gave Jen and I the opportunity to reflect. The last three years of our lives has been filled with "hill top" moments and the valleys. As we sat their we could not help but to know His power, plan and hand on every moment. Adelyn is the hope and faith realized after years of service. This birth is so unlike the last we almost feel like it's the first. We are so thankful for both experiences, both perspectives and both children.

I could spend the next few hours writing about the hospital stay, coming home and being home with a new baby but all in all we are blessed and fulfilled. Momma is sleeping as I type along with Adelyn. Andon is being a 6 year old and Dad could not be more happy about his family!

39 Weeks!

2010-03-30T15:36:00.000-07:00

I was thinking today that I haven't taken any pics of my belly in a couple of weeks so I asked Jared to take a few because I won't have it much longer. I am 39 weeks and when I went to the Dr. today I was 4 cm dilated and 70 percent effaced. This girl will be here before we know it!

I just wanted to do a quick update. I will be taking some pics of her nursery to post here soon just haven't gotten to it. :) I am so tired!

Andon's Surgery

2010-03-02T13:15:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday Andon went in for his 10th, 11th or 12th surgery?? I can't even remember now but it has been quite a few for this sweet little 6 year old. This surgery was a little more involved than the ones in the past but he went through it like a champ. :)

We left the house at 4am and headed to St. Joseph's Hospital in Tampa. After getting admitted and meeting with all the Dr's he went back around 8am. They told us it was going to be about 3 hours but around 9am they call us and tell us "we are just getting started and so far everything is going good!" I was a little shocked that they had had him back there and hadn't even started. My emotions were getting the best of me at times during the next three hours. Just thinking about my boy being back there and what they were doing to him. Jared and I took a few walks around the hospital and watched a bunch of shows on HGTV in the waiting room to keep occupied.

Once they were finished the Dr. came and told us everything went great and that she got to do everything she wanted to do. Which was take bone from his right hip and graft it into the roof of his mouth and front gumline. Also, she did some scar revision on his nose and lip from previous surgeries. She was very pleased with the outcome and said we could go see him. Jared and I were totally expecting to turn the corner and hear a wild screaming child because every other surgery has gone that way. But this time he was still sleeping. He was pretty swollen which was hard for me to see. Once he started waking up we were able to start talking to him and telling him how great he did and how proud we were of him. He never even cried!! Still hasn't. I am just amazed at the strength of this child. Soon after they took us to our room where we would be staying for the night. On the way there Andon was trying to be funny and cracking jokes!! He kept saying "I have a mustache" because he had some tape on his top lip. :)

I was pretty worried about this surgery because Andon is a little older now and can talk about things and understand more. But that has proven to make this time around a little better. Instead of crying a lot about everything he can talk about it with us. We explained everything to him from the beginning. No it wasn't easy but easier. One thing that made it easier for Andon was knowing when he came out of surgery he would have a HUGE GIFT waiting on him. He looked forward to that gift for a month! And within an hour or so he was ripping into it. We had got him the Batcave toy he had been eyeing for a while. He was so excited he said "this is the best day of my life!!!" Amazing what a good gift can do. :)

Anyways, we have been home now for a few days and he is doing so great. He is on an all liquid diet until we go back to the Dr. on Friday for post-op. Hopefully then we can move up to soft foods. It has been very funny listening to him talk about food because Andon could really care less about it unless it's cake or ice cream, that's a different story. :) He is not supposed to be moving around too much so his hip can heal and that is starting to get a little hard. We have 3 floors in our house so before Jared goes to work we have to wake Andon up around 6:30 to clean his mouth out and brush his teeth with this prescription mouthwash. Then Jared carries him downstairs and that's where we stay until he gets back around 6. (I am 35 weeks pregnant so I can't carry him right now.:)) Yes, I am starting to go a little stir crazy! :)

Thank you all so much for praying for Andon through this surgery. Please continue to pray for healing on his mouth and hip. Hopefully within a couple of weeks he'll be all healed and back to some normalcy before our little girl arrives!!

Here is a pic I took with my phone as we were headed home. He was so excited to get to ride in this huge wheelchair. He kept asking me to push him really fast and then let go! Wild boy. :)

Only 8 weeks left!

2010-02-12T08:42:00.000-08:00

I am now 32 weeks pregnant and feel SO swollen! :) My tummy feels so much bigger this time around. I have a hard time getting out of bed and getting up off the couch after laying down. It is so funny!

I am still working on getting her nursery put together. My sweet friend Abby gave me a dresser that she had. It needs a new paint job but it is adorable! I think i'm gonna post some before and after pics of it.

Andon has been talking so much about Adelyn and what it will be like when she gets here. The other day while talking he asks "What color will she be? Yellow or Black?" I just smiled and said i'm sure she'll be the same color as you. :) He says she will be sleeping in his room and he'll show her how to climb the ladder on his bed!! That makes me nervous. :) He say's he's gonna do everything for her except change her diapers. So cute. I know he is gonna be the sweetest big brother!

Here is a pic we took a couple days ago of my swollen self.

We have quite a bit going on before she gets here. Andon will be having that surgery that got canceled in December. The reason it was canceled was due to insurance and now we have a new policy. So, as soon as the new cards come in we will be scheduling.

Also, mine and Jared's 8 year wedding anniversary is March 9th. I want to do something really special. I'd love to go away for the weekend or something. I'd better get the plan put together for that because it's my year to do so. We take turns planning what we're gonna do for our anniversary. It makes it so fun to surprise each other! I always get nervous when it's my year because Jared is so good at planning these and I want mine to be as good. :)

Other than that we have lots of school to stay on top of before she gets here. I know it will be an adjustment when she arrives so I want to be ahead of that if we have to take a little time off. Speaking of school we went on another homeschool field trip. We went to the RDV Sportsplex to learn about ice skating and then got to go ice skating. It was Andon's first time and he loved it. He did pretty good for his first time! I was bummed to not be able to be on the ice with him but quickly realized that even if would have been able to he wouldn't have wanted my help anyways. I did take a ton of pics that day and then somehow deleted ALL the pics on my memory card!! There were other pics on there too that I hadn't downloaded to my computer. What a bummer! Here is a pic of my boy in his skates after we were all done. I really only had like 6 pics on my card and this was one of the best ones. :)

I went to the playground with him...

2010-02-01T04:41:00.000-08:00

We were meeting a friend at the playground last week and Andon comes downstairs and says "this is what i'm wearing". I said "are you sure you want to wear that". He had nothing on underneath it so there was no going back once we left. He said "yeah mom, I look cool in this." Then I thought, you sure do.

Andon is 6 years old and just now starting to talk about looking "cool". Jared and I have already had a few conversations with him about it. He has been wanting to wear his hat backwards because he thinks it makes him look cool. What we say to him is "do you think it's cool? yes? then it is. That is ALL that matters. Being cool is not worrying what anyone thinks of you." It has been pretty interesting talking to a little 6 year old about this. We want Andon to be in this world but not of this world. We love talking about how God makes everyone so different and that that is AWESOME!

I can't believe my sweet little boy is growing up. I see him so little but I just know once that baby is here I won't see him so little anymore. I have adored our time alone together. God knew what He was doing giving us 6 years alone with Andon. He has been such a precious gift to Jared and I.

Here are a couple more pics of my "Cool Little Wolverine" posing before we left the house. :)

And you better believe after each and every shot he would run over and say "let me see". He'd come check it and then run back and do a new pose!! He is so funny! :)

28 and 1/2 Weeks!!

2010-01-18T04:53:00.000-08:00

I am now 28 and 1/2 weeks pregnant! We are starting to get so excited around here to meet our newest addition. I keep thinking that I only have a little more time alone with Andon so I am really wanting to enjoy every minute of it. I just adore my sweet little guy and love that he is still my baby but know that when I am looking at a 7 or so pound little girl he is not gonna be the baby any more! :)

We finally went out last weekend and picked up a few things for her. I was really wanting to find her "coming home" outfit but nothing stood out for that. We did find a few other things being that the Gap had 40% off all of their sale items! We got some great deals and it was so fun. Jared was just adorable holding out these little dresses and telling me which ones he liked. :)

Here are a couple pics of me and my belly.

In just a short couple of months we'll be holding our sweet little girl!! And as soon as I have the nursery complete I will post some pics here. :)

Happy Birthday Jared!

2010-01-02T17:14:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is my sweet husbands birthday. One of the things we do for birthdays is let the person who's birthday it is pick what they want for dinner whether at a restaurant or at home. Jared has asked for my baked chicken and for dessert a chocolate cream pie. Funny thing, this is what Andon asked for his birthday the year before last. :) I think that is so cute that they love this meal so much.

I love this picture of my sweet boys. Andon wants nothing more than to be exactly like his Daddy. They have such a great relationship and I know it will only grow with time.

I am so thankful for my precious husband. Thankful for the Daddy he is to Andon and the Daddy he will be to Adelyn. Thankful that I am able to stay home with Andon because he works so hard for our family. Thankful for the friend that I have in him. He is so fun! ;) Thankful for his leadership in our family. Thankful for all the sacrifices he makes for us seen and unseen. Thankful for all the late night conversations. Thankful for his thoughtfulness. (He gets so aggravated if I mention a gift around my birthday or holidays because he takes pride in listening to me and knowing what I like. It is very funny!) Thankful for his gentleness. Especially with my up and down emotions lately he has been so sweet and understanding. We have been together almost eleven years. I can honestly say that our relationship is so much stronger and better than it has ever been.

Happy Birthday Jared, I love you so much and look forward to being that couple that we saw in Target today one day!! ;)

24 Weeks

2009-12-16T05:08:00.000-08:00

I am 24 weeks pregnant now and feeling so good. Finally no more sickness and the placental tear that I had must have healed because I haven't had any complications with that either. I am now getting heartburn every couple of days and lots of cramping in my legs at night. I am not complaining just saying what I am going through. :)

This pregnancy has been so interesting. I think if there is a symptom to be had I have either had it already or will in the next couple of months! :) And I will gladly go through them all to have our little girl.

I just wanted to post a picture of my belly because it has changed quite a bit since the last picture that we took.

What a difference a month makes!!! Just a few more and our sweet Addy girl will be here!

In Transition

2009-12-09T17:47:00.000-08:00

Wow, we have been pretty busy since moving from Tennessee back to Florida. We spent the last week or so at our friends Jon and Christie's. We are so thankful for them and for the time they allowed us to stay at there home. We felt so comfortable and enjoyed every minute of it! Now we are staying with our friends Larry and Terri until the house we are renting becomes available which could be the week of Christmas. It is so fun getting to stay with your friends but I am ready to have our own home. :)

I am now 23 weeks pregnant and showing quite a bit. I still can't get over how fast I started to show with this little girl. She is one active little thing, actually kicking as I write. I will post a new pic soon. I am still having a hard time sleeping. The combination of pregnancy and getting up with Andon every night a few times a night is starting to wear me out. In the last week he has started having a lot of nightmares about strangers. I am sure it has to do with all the moving around and getting reacquainted with old friends. So we have him sleeping on a mattress on the floor where we are until we move into our house. Sweet little thing.

We went to see our families for Thanksgiving and took a couple of pics before heading out. We are in desperate need of some family photos but I figure we will just wait until Adelyn comes. Here are a couple pics of my handsome boys and one of me and Andon.

Andon goes in for surgery on December 29th to have (hopefully) his final palate surgery. This will be the big one where they take bone from his hip to fill in his palate and gum line. We have been talking to him about it to prepare him as much as we can. That has been the hardest part about this surgery. In all the surgeries he has had (10) he has always been so small. Now he is old enough to talk about it and have some sort of understanding. We were taking a walk one day and he said "Mom, when will I be be able to stop having surgeries?" It was so interesting to be talking to him and explaining this to him. He is such a precious boy. I couldn't be more thankful for him and the experiences that his life have brought to mine. We would be so appreciative of prayer for him on that day and the week following. Recovery will be quite a bit harder than in the past because not only will he have a lot of mouth pain but also hip pain and trouble walking.

Other than all of that, Andon and I have been having so much fun hanging out with all of our friends again! We actually had a beach day last week and I think we are going again next week. Bummer I didn't take any pics, I was just relaxing and enjoying the scenery way too much. :)

20 Weeks

2009-11-14T05:02:00.000-08:00

It's early on Saturday morning and I am having the hardest time sleeping. Last weekend I woke up at 5:30 on Saturday and 6:00 on Sunday. I think because I have a lot on my mind with the move it is affecting my sleep. And the fact that I can't sleep on my right side because my ear falls asleep and when I wake up it kills!! Or the fact that I can't sleep on my tummy because someone else is sleeping there. :) I don't know.

Today we are finishing up packing the apartment. We leave out of here this Friday around 5 am. This last week here in Tennessee will be pretty busy between Dr. visits, last minute packing, picking up records from our Dr.'s here and so much more. I am a definite list maker. I've had one going for two weeks now. Some things get crossed off and more added but I don't think anything will be forgotten.

I just wanted to quickly update on where we were and what we are up to. I am 20 weeks pregnant now and if you aren't friends with me on facebook then you don't know that we found out that we are having a GIRL!!!! We are so excited around here! I haven't gone a bought anything yet but I have been SO tempted! :) Jared took a picture of me yesterday so I could post here. Not the greatest pic but at least you can see my belly.

Last week we went and had dinner with our friends Jeff, Elizabeth, Peggy and Ian. We had so much fun hanging and letting the kids all run around. We took some pics and I said I wouldn't use them anywhere but I lied. I just love these girls and am gonna miss them both so much.

It has been a great year here in Tennessee. I am looking forward to moving back to Florida to be close to our family and friends but will really miss it here. It is a beautiful place to live and raise a family and who knows we may be back. :)

Where the Wild Things Are

2009-11-08T14:45:00.000-08:00

The boys love going to the movies together so today after church they went to see "Where the Wild Things Are". Andon loved it and as soon as they got home he asked Daddy to make him a crown like Max's.

Trying it on for size.

He loves it and hasn't taken it off yet. :)

I got a comment on my last post about giving a recap of all that is going on here. I absolutely will! Just give me a day or so and I will catch you all up to speed on our crazy lives and post some pics of this belly of mine. :)

Andon turned 6 today!

2009-11-04T18:19:00.000-08:00

At 8:15 a.m. 6 years ago today my sweet little Andon Chase came into this world. I can't believe he is 6 years old!! I was talking to my Dad tonight and he said it feels like we were just at the hospital. I have loved and am thankful for every up and down of the last 6 years with this sweet boy!

We don't really have many birthday traditions around here yet but this year we started a few. Since he was born in the morning we thought it would be so fun to do his cake in the morning. He LOVED that idea as well! If you know Andon you know that he has a major sweet tooth! :) Here are some fun pics of our morning.

After breakfast Jared headed to work and Andon and I headed out to the trails. We have these great walking trails near our house with a fun playground. The weather was just beautiful today, high 60's, sunny and lightly breezy. We had so much fun we were gone for a couple of hours and didn't even realize it. Then we came home and got showered and went to lunch with our friends Elizabeth, Lukas and Avery. Thanks again for lunch E! After lunch we came home and relaxed until Daddy got home from work. Another tradition we want to do is let the birthday person pick where they want to go for dinner. So we let him decide and he chose.... McDonald's. Not my first choice but not my birthday. :) We had fun playing in the playground and meeting new friends there. There was this little girl that was following Andon around the whole time he was trying to play. So Jared told him to introduce himself and he did. Once he did that the flood gates opened and she told him all about herself. When it was time to go Andon said goodbye to Anna and she put her hands over her face and said NOOOO, I don't want him to go!! It was so cute! I told him he had a girlfriend and he just rolled his eyes at me. :) We had such a fun and relaxing day celebrating our boy!!

I think this weekend we may go to Dollywood in Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg. There are a few things we still want to do here in Tennessee before moving back to Florida. Oh yeah have I not mentioned that yet? We are moving back in a couple of weeks! More on that later. :)

Fun Fall Festival

2009-10-28T10:37:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago we took the kids to the Crosspoint Church County Fair. It was held at a local farm with all kinds of fun things to do. The kids all had a blast! Of course I took some pics of our time there.
This picture just makes me laugh. Andon loved this little donkey and it seemed to really like him too. He stayed there petting that thing the whole time we were waiting to ride the hay ride. So cute. :)

Uncle Jared and Kylie. We miss having her stinky self around.

The boys leading us through the corn maze. They loved taking turns leading us around. A couple of times one of them would lead us close to the end and then the other would get a turn and turn us back around. :)

The kids at the end of the corn maze.

My dare devil boys. :)

And he found another animal friend...

It was such a fun day at the farm. The weather was perfect and there really was so much to do. Just a week before we went there we took the boys to pick out pumpkins. They both got to pick out a face and help Jared carve it out. Their pumpkins turned out so neat and I did take a bunch of pictures but I somehow erased them of my card!! I was so bummed but at least it was just that!

My sister and her kids are now back home in FL. We are enjoying having a quiet house for the time being. :) We really do have so much going on that I can't wait to talk about. We were supposed to be headed home this weekend for Andon to have surgery next week but I am rescheduling it for December for a couple of reasons. I think we will be headed that way the week of Thanksgiving. Can't wait to see everyone! :)