Mother's Day

These 2 beautiful girls are what makes me a mother today. I am SO very grateful that God blessed me with these precious, healthy, ever changing and growing bundles of joy. Today on this Mother's Day I can't help but feel God's gifts all around me. I look at my girls every day and wonder what I did to deserve such amazing treasures. They love me for who I am and never judge. They think it's the coolest thing ever when I dance around like a crazy woman in their bedrooms making up songs to make them laugh. When one of them falls and scrapes their knee or bumps their head, I'm the one who was chosen to kiss their pain and their tears away. I am the one who gets to sit in the front row of Macie's dance recital's every year crying like a school girl that my 'baby' is growing up and there is nothing I can to do stop it, but I still know I am blessed to walk this road of life with her. I am the one that gets to pick Addaline up every day from daycare to have her leap into my arms and hug and kiss me like she hasn't seen me for an eternity. Me... I am the lucky one who is the PROUD mother to 2 girls who mean more to me than life itself!

Gerrad took Macie shopping to pick out whatever she wanted to get me for Mother's Day and I must say that kid knows my taste and bought me some AWESOME gifts. I know you don't read this Macie but Thank You honey, I LOVE YOU! She picked the watch and the necklace out for me and I couldn't be happier. I ordered my bracelet from a jewelry party a few weeks back and my sneaky husband schemed to get it from the host of the party and had it engraved with each one of the girls names on each side. I was so blown away that he would take the time to do something so sweet for me, Gerrad I LOVE YOU too! (I know HE reads this)

These are the things that the girls did for me for Mother's Day at school/daycare. Addaline made such a wonderful little card for me and also helped paint the planter that my beautiful flower is in. The roses came from Church this morning and I thought that was sweet as well. Macie planted a flower for me at school and brought it home one night this week, I already transplanted it in a pot outside and it's bloomin' away.

I can't leave out my own Mother on this day, as she is the woman who helped make me who I am today... She has truly become my best friend, I can go to her with anything and she will not ridicule or be quick to speak, she listens and gives me advice (when solicited). She loves me and my family more than words can say and I can just tell every time she lays eyes on my daughters. She is a fabulous Grandmother and both of my girls adore her more than anything. The girls and I took my mom to a pottery place in town Friday night and picked something out for her and Macie and myself to design. We settled on a large square plate with both the girls hand prints on them and a sweet saying that reads 'A Garden of Love Grows in a Grandma's Heart' and she painted some flowers around the girls' hand prints. It turned out fabulous! Thank you Mom for being who you are! I LOVE YOU!

This Mother's Day brought another special meaning to our family as well... Addaline was dedicated at Church this morning. It was a very nice presentation and she received a small pink bible with her name engraved on it which I'm sure she'll love when she gets a little older and is able to appreciate it.

From this mommy to you, I hope if you are a mom already or are trying to become a mom that you feel as blessed as I do on this day, and every day!

Swimming Suit Season-Oh How I Loathe Thee!!

She wore an 'Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny Yellow Pink Polka Dot Bikini'... Isn't this just the cutest thing ever? I got this for Addaline today at Target for $6.88, what a deal! I thought it was too adorable and just had to show it off before I move on to the 'Big Girls' swimming suit topic (Sigh)!

So I have come to the conclusion that it is probably best for the residents at the local pool this summer and the residents of Jamaica, where we are going in 3 weeks, if I no longer don a 2 piece bathing suit. Having 2 kids is not flattering on the 'ol tummy so goodbye 2 piece, hello 1 piece (tear). This first purple one I found at Target today and I thought it was super cute but didn't try it on after I looked at the price tag, it is $35 which in my opinion is a little pricey... after all we are still in a recession here people. I'm going to wear the thing occasionally on the weekends and I am NOT willing to pay that much for a suit. IF I get desperate in the next 3 weeks and can't find anything for the trip I MIGHT go back and see if it's on sale yet. That's typically the trend at Target, I buy something there, and the next week it's on sale and I'm TICKED!

This black suit is from Old Navy (my all time favorite store). I think it's really cute and very stylish... the best part about it, this bad boy is currently on sale for $12.50, WHOO HOO!!

I also like this one from Old Navy as well but I'm not sure if the little charms dangling off the hoop are for me, maybe if I tried it on and liked it I could have Gerrad take them off with some pliers or something?! This one is also on sale for $12.50. Oh how I love when Old Navy has sales!

So which one is your favorite? I'll take a poll before I go and try these on this weekend!

Show Us Where You Live Friday-Living Room Edition

So this week brings another edition of 'Show Us Where You Live Friday' over at Kelly's Korner. This week is the living room edition so I'll cut to the chase and show you my living room. This is considered our 'formal living room', we never use it and it pretty much just collects dust because we spend all of our time in our family room, hopefully Kelly does a family room edition. Our living room leaves a lot to be desired but like I said we're never in there so I kind of forget about it.

My favorite sign, you see it as you walk in the front door

This is a home made art project that my husband and I made out of fabric, he built the frames and we just cut the fabric to shape and stapled it to the back of the frames. Simple and cheap-my two favorite things!

My wedding bouquet that we had dried and framed, I LOVE it!

Our walls are pretty bland as I haven't felt like painting the room, I'm sure with some color it would look a lot better.

Thanks for checking in on my living room, hope you'll come back for the next room edition!

THIS is American Idol

SO... as promised here is my weekly recap/opinion of American Idol. How many times in Ryan Seacrest's A.I. life do you think he has said the famous words 'THIS is American Idol'? Probably WAY too many to count. I digress... So this week was 'Rock' week which turned out to be pretty good (once again, just my opinion folks). We'll start with my LEASE favorite contestant, Adam sang Led Zeppelin's 'Whole Lotta Love'. My husband was nearly thrown out of the house to sleep on the patio because he said Adam "nailed it"... whatever Gerrad you wouldn't know a well sung rock song if it slapped you in the face (j/k honey if you're reading this, he really does, I'm just giving him a hard time). As much as I dislike Adam, sometimes I like watching the show just to see what kind of antics he’ll bring with every performance, the spandex pants this week, a HUGE NO-NO, seriously what goes through that guys head as he picks out his wardrobe? What I dislike the most about Adam is the judges trying to cram him down everyone’s throat and falling all over themselves like he’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. He isn’t. At least not to me.

Moving on... Danny Gokey sang "Dream On"... I thought he did fairly well until he hit the high note at the end, WHAO, let me be the first to say that was NOT a good idea. Allison Iraheta sang "Cry Baby" by Janice Joplin, I thought she did really well but she is still not one of my favorites so I really don't care either way. Kris Allen sang "Come Together" by the Beatles and I thought he did GREAT, he is my favorite so I think anything he sings is good, plus I really like the Beatles and that song in particular so I loved it! I also LOVED the duet with Danny and Kris, their harmonies were AWESOME (again just my opinion). Adam and Allison, yeah OK whatever!

So as we all know by now Allison went home and I was not in the least bit surprised. I'm super pumped to get to the finals and see who is still remaining.

Did anyone else think Paula Abdul's performance was a JOKE? It was like a bad dream that I was really hoping would end before it even started, WOWZA! She needs to retire and hang up her microphone.

So long Allison, best of luck...

Wordful Wednesday (Again)

Macie Rene: August 20, 2002

So this wordful Wednesday I decided I felt like taking a trip down memory lane after reading a post by my friend Caroline about her sweet son I felt like copying off her a little and doing the same to tell the momentous birth stories of my daughters with all the bloody details without getting into too much detail.

Macie is my first born daughter who is full of energy and life. She is very tender hearted like her momma and takes everything literally. During the 1st trimester (and most into the 2nd) I was sicker than a dog with her and had to take medicine to keep any sort of food down. She definitely made up for it though later on with her fast as lightening for a first time mom, birth. My water broke at 4:30am with her, I sat up in bed and this gush came (sorry if that's TMI). I waited around at home as long as possible but knew I needed to get ready to head to the hospital. We finally made our way there around 6:30-7:00am, when we arrived I was already 5 cm dilated and QUICKLY got an epidural (I'm no fool, good for you if you did it naturally, nothankyouverymuch). Macie Rene made her way into this world at 10:25am after pushing for a short while and weighed in at 7 lbs 15 oz and was 20.5" long. She was the perfect baby from birth, slept through the night at 6 weeks; never cried unless she was hungry; was an all around pleasant and SUPER easy first baby. She definitely spoiled Gerrad and I. Here are a few pictures of Macie after she was born and a few others...

Our first pictures with Macie after she was born

Macie at 2 weeks old, Macie at 1 yr, 2 yrs and 3 yrs old

She is definitely my laid back girl (minus the attitude flare ups) and I thank my lucky stars for her every day!

Addaline Grace: September 27, 2007

Addaline is our 2nd born daughter and also a gift from God. Gerrad and I tried to get pregnant with Addaline for a while, after a miscarriage our hearts were broken and our dream of having another child was being questioned... We decided to give it one more try and whatever was to be would be. As you can see we ended up with another beautiful daughter. I was blessed with the morning sickness curse again (did I really just say blessed and morning sickness in the same sentence?) but thankfully not as bad as it was with Macie. I made it through the 1st trimester very carefully and did everything by the books in hopes of carrying this baby through this time, it worked! Being pregnant is definitely not my forte and I remembered why towards the end when we were remodeling our house in the 100+ degree weather and my ankles were the size of my thighs of my non-pregnant ankles. I tried EVERYTHING to put myself into labor with Addaline starting at 37 weeks, but NOTHING worked and I ended up having to be induced on Sept. 27 just 3 days shy of my due date. I'm STILL willing to kiss the ground my OB/Gyn walks on for getting me out of 3 more days in the body of a beached whale bikini goddess. After 8 hours of the easiest labor ever and an epidural of course, Addaline Grace entered the world at a whopping 8 lbs 13 oz (say it with me people O.U.C.H) and 21 1/4" long. She was born hungry and stayed that way for a suckling 12 months (who am I kidding she is still a little piglet). She slept and nursed like a champ the first month or two and then decided she needed to wake every 3 hours during the night after I went back to work to get her comfort feedings. She is still a mommas girl and I have a feeling she'll always be; although if you give any inkling that you'll give her food she'll ditch me and be your BFF lickety split! Here are a few pictures of Addaline after she was born and a few others as well...

Me at 33 weeks pregnant with Addaline

Macie (the BEST big sister EVER) and Addaline as a newly teamed up duo

The new trio of girls, sorry Gerrad you're WAY out numbered now

Our first picture as a family of 4

Addaline's hospital picture... I am a KU Jayhawk fan but I let Gerrad pick her 'going home' outfit and he is a die hard Texas Longhorns fan

So those are the stories of 2 of the happiest days of my life... Hope you enjoyed them!

Not Me Monday (or should I say not me Tuesday)

Welcome to Not Me! Monday! This blog carnival was created by MckMama. You can head over to her blog to read what she and everyone else have not been doing this week. After a 5 week hiatus MckMama is back for the Not Me Monday's, and Stellan is home doing wonderfully!

This weekend started off great... the ending? Not so great, here's why...

Friday night my hubby and I did NOT have a fabulous time seeing Jeff Dunham in concert. We did NOT laugh our tails off and have a great time with friends and I certainly would NOT recommend seeing Jeff Dunham live.


Saturday morning we did NOT wake up early to finish draining the pool so it would be gone forever from our lives. I would certainly NEVER been that excited to get a pool out of my back yard, who doesn't love swimming? I do, however I do NOT love the electricity bills and time/maintenance it took to own a pool. We did NOT move our trampoline over to the old pool location so that Gerrad doesn't to move it every time he mows, we would NEVER be that creative and since we weren't, here is a picture of what we did NOT do with the former pools home...

Macie did NOT start running a fever Friday night right after we left for Jeff Dunham and did NOT continue to run one the WHOLE weekend. I did NOT have to end up taking her to the ER yesterday because our Dr's office didn't have any available appointments and her fever was NOT 103 for the 3rd consecutive day. I did NOT proceed to spend 5 hours in the hospital surrounded by everyone in the greater Topeka area who all thought they were there dying of the 'Swine Flu', seriously people, get over it! Macie did NOT end up having a UTI and is NOT still running a fever as of today, hopefully we are on the tail end of this thing!

I almost forgot another funny part... I did NOT walk in to the backyard a little bit ago to find that my youngest offspring had NOT dumped an entire zip lock bag of Captain Crunch by the neighbors fence to share her cereal with the dogs, she loves to share, what can I say?!

So what have you NOT been doing this past week? It's fun and painless, give it a try!

Show Us Where You Live Friday-Kitchen Edition (Updated 5/2)

*UPDATE* I was SO inspired by looking at all the other beautiful kitchens that I went out this morning and got the things I think really put the finishing touches on the kitchen... see what you think!


So over at one of my favorite bloggers sites, Kelly is hosting a home tour, she's calling it 'Show Us Where You Live Friday'. I have already done a post about my kitchen but that is the room that they are touring this week over on Kelly's site so I'm just going to edit my post a little bit real quick, bear with me regular readers! Here is my 'Kitchen Edition'... Head over to Kelly's site to check out everyone else's kitchen's for fun ideas if you're feeling a little creative.

This is the view from the entry way as you walk through the front door

View as you walk in through the garage, I added a wine rack today, made a picture of the girls in black and white, hung the simplify sign and the cranberry strand

View as you walk into the kitchen from the basement. The sign above the microwave says 'The Most Important Things in Life Aren't Things'

I made the 'Kitchen' sign with scrapbook paper and stick on letters. Today I added the cranberry strand

Home made fabric pictures that I also made with 2 pieces of quilting fabric

I really enjoyed looking at everyone else's kitchens, gave me some really great ideas. Thanks ladies =)