From our Front Porch Looking In

insta-friday {valentine's edition}

2012-02-17T22:33:00.003-06:00

I am so so so in love with the camera on my phone. Not just that it takes super pictures for a phone, but also that it's just THERE, easy and accessible and I take way more pictures of our normal everyday than ever before.

Here's a peak back at our Valentine's week via my phone.

We started the week out with a family date night.

Shopping for new shoes for Daddy

And then dinner at Olive Garden.

My girl knows how to order - chicken alfredo is both our fav!

It was Mr. Gavin's first family date night - and I think he loved it.

We also took the kids to Walmart to spend their gift cards from Uncle Jason and Aunt Stacy.

Mason spotted something he really hopes to get for his birthday. He took this picture so that no one would forget about it. Daddy was proud. We need some OU stuff around here I guess.

Here's the only picture I got of Taylor's Valentines for preschool. On the back we put Matthew 5:16, "let your light shine before men..."

Thanks Pinterest! But no thanks to Walmart and the 2 packages of glowsticks that we bought with all the glowsticks glowing already when we opened the package. I realize that 10:30pm runs to the store to pick up forgotten school supplies will be inevitable down the road - but really, for preschool? Man, that's starting way too soon.

For lunch on V-day we met Daddy at Arby's.

And thanks to a fussy little baby, Mason and I got to finish lunch alone while the rest of the fam went to the car.

I told Mason it was our "date". So we decided to take some pictures.

Daddy came home with guns and roses for all of us.

Well, a gun for the boy, and roses for his girls.

And we had a heart shaped pizza for dinner. Half sausage for mom and dad, and half pineapple for the kids.

Now we have a birthday party to prepare for in a few weeks. And if a certain little boy can stop changing his mind on what kind of party he wants every other day - maybe I'll have more than 2 days to plan and get things done for it.

gymnastics

2012-02-13T16:59:00.000-06:00

The few times we've caught gymnastics on TV, Taylor has loved it! She runs and puts on her American flag swimsuit and comes out to the living room to do gymnastics too. A few times Daddy has made her a temporary balance beam in the garage, promising that one day he will make her a real one.

She begs us to help her do cartwheels and flips. We try to talk her into just doing somersaults. We're not really sure how to help her do a flip - in a safe way.

She's been begging to start gymnastics class, so we finally got her enrolled in one.

Saturday was her first class.

Thanks so cousin Sydney, she already knew how to do a bridge!

This little guy has to wait his turn for Tae-kwon-do in March.

So for now, he just sits and watches patiently and perfectly.

Haha, who am I kidding. Luckily there are some fun things to keep him busy.

Her teacher is absolutely wonderful with the kids! It was so fun to watch.

She was very serious the whole time. Not many smiles.

But we are learning that that is her personality in new places with new people.

But we could still tell she was loving it. And she was definitely all smiles afterwards.

our "big" kids

2012-02-10T12:57:00.000-06:00

Seems like posts these days are filled with the cuteness of a sweet little baby.

But I don't want to forget about capturing these 2 little ones. Or shall I say our "big" kids.
They definitely took advantage of the unbelievable and strange winter weather we had for weeks.

Yes, in shorts and bare feet.
A few mornings last week Mason spent 2 or more hours outside playing. It was lovely.

Taylor is getting to the age that she really really wants to help me with any thing Premier related.

I showed her where to put the labels on my new catalogs and she labeled several packages for me and did such a good job.

Mason is into Legos these days. It is SO fun to watch him get so excited and so proud about his little creations.

We've also been adding some fun decorations around the house.

Daddy keeps coming home to find more prettiness around him.

The kids begged me to build a fire this day. Building them isn't the hard part.

It's the keeping them going that's hard. You know, with the distraction of 3 kids. It's hard to stay attentive to what the fire needs too.

But I was so glad I did. It was SOOOO cozy and we had such a wonderful time hanging out in the living room all together.

Are you getting ready for Valentine's Day? We are celebrating tonight with a family date night. Then we are putting Taylor's valentines together this weekend and making a mailbox for her first ever Valentine's party. And yes, we are doing something from Pinterest! Isn't everybody?

Paper Valentines from Walmart may be discontinued in the near future with all the Pinterest ideas I'm seeing everyone doing this year!

gavin goes to rally

2012-02-05T20:41:00.000-06:00

Being only 6 weeks old, means that you get to stay really close to Mom and Dad most of the time.

Even for Mommy's business trips (Reginal Rally). Let me tell you, it was way better than 2009 when I went to Des Moines and left my almost 3 month old at home. I pumped the whole weekend. And the 6 hour car ride home turned into a 10 hour ride because of a snow storm (ultimately meaning I had to also pump in the CAR!). So not fun!

We were up before the sun and off to Kansas City in a convoy of what started out to be 4 cars and became 9 later down the road.

I asked Dave months ago if he'd join me on this trip and hang out at the hotel with Gavin, so that he could be there for me to feed. The hotel is less than a block from the convention center, so I knew either I could walk back and forth at feeding time, or Dave could bring Gavin over to me.

I am so thankful that he went with such a willing heart. I kept thinking it was an ideal weekend situation for him. Stuck in a hotel with nothing to do but veg out, watch tv, nap, oh and watch a tiny baby.

But I realized it wasn't as ideal in his book. He wasn't dreading it, but definitely was worried about being cooped up and bored for a day and a half.

We had a huge suite (even though my reservation was just for a normal king bed room) and a lovely view of the Power and Light District.

But just a hello from our window is all we could give.

We didn't get to enjoy any of it like we did last year.

I know that some day Gavin will really appreciate the fact that he was present for the revealing of the Spring 2012 line of Premier Designs Jewelry.

Dave ended up bringing Gavin over to the convention center in his stroller for a lot of the time.

It was a win-win for both of us. I didn't have to walk back and forth in the cold, and he didn't have to be cooped up in the hotel. Not that the convention center was entertaining. But at least he could do a lot more people-watching.

And I loved getting to spend a little more time with both of then when I wasn't in a session.

My breaks from sessions worked so perfectly with still being able to feed him on schedule, but I think a combination of just being away from home and having mommy feeding him in strange places, and all the commotion from people, caused him to be pretty out of sorts.

We couldn't get him to go to sleep for the longest time that night. I think we finally got him down at 1am. After trying for a few hours. We didn't bring the pack 'n play because he's never slept in it anyway, and we figured he was young enough to not know if he was just sleeping on a little pallet on the floor.

But he didn't seem to like that very much.

So we tried this instead.

And he slept for 5 1/2 hours!

I remembered my mom telling me that they put me in a drawer at a hotel one time too.

What a fun memory!

The next morning when we opened up the blinds, I couldn't help by grab my camera. I was suppossed to be showering and getting out to my first session, but the natural light and big white bed was too perfect not to have a little photo shoot.

He was a great little traveling buddy. Even if Mommy did have a hard time keeping her eyes open during the sessions.

dedication

2012-02-03T16:38:00.000-06:00

On January 22, we dedicated our sweet little Gavin to the Lord.

In stripes.

Yes, I realize that you can't really tell where I end and Gavin begins. I just didn't have time that morning to do anything about it once I did realize.

What I didn't realize was that Mason was in stripes also. Until someone pointed it out to us after we were on stage.

It was such a neat thing to stand on stage with so many great friends that morning.

Having friends with the same intentions for their kiddos as we do is so important.

They help hold us accountable and keep us surrounded by love and support.

They give us a sense of community. The kind of community that so many don't have. And that we are so very thankful for.

This was the first time to dedicate one of our babies since our dear friends' sweet Cora went to heaven.

And to be completely honest and open, this dedication hit us harder and deeper than with either of our other babies.

During worship that morning, as we sang the words

"He gives and takes away...my heart will choose to say, Lord, blessed be your name."

my eyes filled with tears (as usual with this song).

But this particular morning, it was so fitting for what we were about to do.

God gave us Gavin, as he has given each of our other children. They are His.

And we are blessed, honored, thankful and completely undeserving to be able to be the parents He chose for them.

He has a good and perfect plan for each of them. Every moment of their lives were written in His book while they were still being knit in the womb.

He loves them more than Dave and I can even comprehend.

And we must trust him completely with them.

Raising children in the instruction of the Lord is not easy.

But not teaching them the ways of the Lord is like not teaching them how to eat, how to read, how to not touch the hot stove, or how to not run into the street in front of cars.

We teach them these skills to keep them safe and to help them be successful in this world.

And when we truly understand and accept the fact that they were created soley for God's own glory (as we all are)...we realize that our daily instruction and guidance needs to take on a completely different focus than what the world around us leads us to believe.

It's not easy. And really, it doesn't come natural. It's a daily commitment. Sometimes an hourly commitment on the rough days. And I mess up all the time.

But they are our gift. And as much as I want to believe that I know what's best for them, and that I can keep them safe and that I can teach them all they need to know to get through this life...

I have to remember that they are His. And by helping my children to know Him intimately, will be the single most important thing I can ever do in their little lives.

We are thankful for the gift that sweet Gavin is to our family.

And we pray that we can guide his little feet, eyes and heart to follow Jesus in all he does.

gavin {two months}

2012-01-30T23:56:00.005-06:00

On Saturday you were 2 months old.

We went to Nana and Papa's house for your monthly quilt picture, because their living room has better natural light than ours. This time, instead of Jeremy and Sydney there to entertain you and get you to look towards the camera, Papa and Nana did the job. We tried so hard to get you to smile, but you wouldn't have it. Of course, just a few minutes after I put my camera away, you gave a great big one!

We realized we have a quilt that shouldn't belong to us. We found this note pinned on the underneath side after we got all of the quilts home after Christmas.

(Francis & Jacquie for there oldest girl Nov 23 - 1967)

Francis and Jacquie are Dave's parents - and Dave is obviously not the oldest girl.

But wow, this quilt is 45 years old!

In your 2nd month, Mommy started reading up on some sleep training methods - in hopes to get you sleeping through the night much sooner than your big brother and sister (pretty sure it took near 6 months or more to get them sleeping through the night). You have done better than both of them from the first night home from the hospital, so we're hoping you can get this all night thing down soon! I guess Mommy and Daddy are feeling a bit older this time around and sleep is much more necessary.

In your 2nd month, you found your hands! You love to suck on your fists and sometimes try to stick your entire fist in your mouth.

(poor little guy was turning blue just in the few minutes I had his clothes off him for pictures, but he was still happy! I guess every other house you're in feels cold after being used to the warmth of our house - thanks to Daddy and his love for fires in the stove every. single. day. from October through April.)

In your 2nd month, you have just begun to coo at us. You get your little legs kicking like crazy when you're excited. You love to lay under your cow and watch it move. I'm pretty sure you'll be grabbing at the toys very soon!

At your 2nd month doctor appointment you weigh 12 lbs. 7oz. and you're 24 inches long. We hung out together for 2 hours in the exam room. You weren't a very happy baby for a good portion of it. I guess you must have known you were about to get your shots.

In your 2nd month you began smiling! We aren't seeing tons of smiles, but definitely a few times a day.

In your 2nd month you are doing pretty good with your naps. You're still sleeping after every feeding, so 4 times a day. Morning, around noon, 2-4 while your brother and sister sleep too, and then an evening nap. Most days you do awesome and get yourself to sleep after mommy lays you down.

In your 2nd month Mommy moved her ipod and speakers into your room so you could have white noise while you slept. It's really hard for an almost 4 and 5 year old to be super quiet while you are sleeping. Especially when their room is right next to yours. You may be having to move downstairs to the basement for your naps.

In your 2nd month you still love to be swaddled up when you sleep. And we've pretty much given up on the pacifier. Which is okay, brother and sister didn't like it either. We just tried a bit harder with you, in hopes it would help you during your fussy times. But more times than not, we make your more angry when we try to give it to you.

In your 2nd month, you got to take a little trip to Kansas City all by yourself with Mommy and Daddy. Mommy had a Premier conference, and Daddy went along so that he could hang out with you and take you back and forth to Mommy for your feedings. You were a perfect little traveler, but being away from home and in strange places caused you to be a little out of sorts. We finally got you to fall asleep and we put you to bed for the night in a dresser drawer in our hotel room. What a fun memory! Once we finally got you to sleep, you slept that night longer than you ever had before, 5 hours! One other time since then, you've made it 6.

(more pictures of our weekend to come)

In your 2nd month, Mommy and Daddy have both realized even more how much we love having a sweet baby in our house again. Your bring us such joy.

We love you Gavin Russell.

cutest little subject ever

2012-01-24T13:00:00.000-06:00

I was looking back at pictures of Gavin in his first 2 weeks.

These first 2 pictures were on our first full day home from the hospital, at 3 days old.

I remember pulling the blinds in our room to let the natural light in, something we hardly do since our window faces the street and it's totally weird to me to have people be able to drive by and see in our bedroom. I grabbed my camera and even though I was still in quite a bit of pain from my c-section, I battled through some pretty painful positions to try to capture my sweet little boy who was finally opening his eyes and waking up a bit more than he had been since birth.

And then I was looking at pictures from the last 2 weeks and couldn't believe how much he's changed already. Mostly in the cute baby chubs category.

I sure hope there's no photography critics out there who are cringing at issues with my pictures. (that's not the point of my blog anyway) I just love to take pictures of my kids. I love having a place to post those pictures and the stories that go with them to be forever remembered. I have grown to love photography more than ever over the last few years. And I love learning about photography. I love the challenge it brings me - with such sweet rewards of having moments in time frozen forever. And even when I know my picture has technical issues, I still look at the picture and see the face or the moment I just captured. I don't want to hold back from posting and printing pictures just because I know the exposure is wrong, or the lighting is bad, or they are too grainy.

I've been trying to shoot in manual for a few months now. Some of my pictures probably show that I have a lot to learn. But I'm having fun, and I'm noticing what a huge difference manual can make sometimes.

A sweet friend got me this book for my birthday, and I am really really loving it!

It's helped me get a good grasp on all the basics (plus some help with manual) and get more comfortable with my camera.

I wasn't so into photography when Taylor and Mason were babies.

And I didn't have a dslr then either. So I sure am having a blast with this cute little subject. He gives me a great reason to learn to take good pictures!

And I'm really hoping he won't get sick of a camera in his face, because at this rate, I may burn him out by the time he's 6 months old.

He's changed a lot already. So I guess that's more of a reason to keep snapping away with my camera.

I don't want to miss a thing.

a new normal

2012-01-23T01:21:00.002-06:00

I got kind of annoyed with all of our Christmas pictures dating in the middle of January,

and that really messes my blog book up.

So instead of continuing to post everything by current date, I just stuck them all back in December.

So for those of you who really like to stay caught up with us, you can click on these posts - Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and Taylor's preschool program.

And that way I don't bore you all.

******************************************************
I've gotten a bit behind on posting lately. I guess I have a good reason.
And he's a pretty cute reason too.

January meant back to the real world for us. And by that, I mostly mean that our calendar has begun to fill up again. Preschool, Awana, bible study and small group have all started back, and so have my jewelry shows.

After about 6 weeks of not a whole lot of anything besides family stuff.

So we are trying to get into a good routine, we've been in desperate need of one. I'm trying to be patient and realistic about the fact that our routine will be different than it used to. I can't expect the same things when it was just 4 of us. We now have a precious little boy that is causing us all to let go of the "normal" that we were used to. (but at the same time, he's come along with such ease, that in one way, he seems to just fit right into our days).

By no means am I complaining about being thrown off of our norm. I love love love having a baby again! And to be completely honest, I think I love it the most this time. Not that I didn't love having our other babies and I obviously didn't love any one of them more. But I am enjoying the "baby experience" quite possibly more with baby #3.
Maybe because with baby #1 we had no idea what we were doing.
And then with baby #2 we had a 16 month old running around the house too.
(ultimately being a much harder transition than adding a third child has been).

This time I feel like I can actually sit back and enjoy this little bundle of joy and savor some of the moments that seemed to be clouded with other obstacles and distractions before.

It's hard to believe Gavin is approaching 2 months old. I am already not dealing well with this time going so fast. If it weren't for the middle of the night feedings and the lack of sleep, I would love to keep this little guy a baby forever - or at least for a very long time!

So slowly but surely we are getting used to our new "normal". You know, things like realizing we can't wake up at 8:30am and expect to have Taylor to preschool at 9. (or maybe we can, because we did it!) And things like trying to learn to use quiet voices and quiet feet when baby brother is sleeping (kind of impossible most of the time), and realizing that a 2 hour nap time is much easier controlled/demanded for big kids, and not so much a baby.

Most days I feel like nap time is a game called "try to get everyone asleep at the same time, then run fast and try to accomplish something before either A. I have to intervene with the big kids and the poor choices they are making when they are supposed to be going to sleep or B. someone starts crying or C. the dog barks or D. the baby wakes up after a 10 minute nap."

Ever watched Marley and Me? I think they stole my life script and made it into a movie. And unfortunately decided that Jennifer Anniston would make a much more attractive version of myself.

To be honest - the afternoon hours are the hardest for me. From 2-4.

I think I just need to LET GO and give up all expectations. I'd do much better not hoping to get anything done, or not hoping to get a nap in myself. But that is so much harder said than done when the exhaustion sets in some days.

But all in all, we are making it. And doing quite well, most days.

It took 7 weeks for my first meltdown- that's pretty good, right? (disclaimer - okay, okay, this is probably in huge part due to the fact that is was almost 6 weeks before I really even had all 3 kids on my own for full days at a time)

I'm almost certain that by 7 weeks after Mason was born, I had already had too many meltdowns to even count.

And even Daddy is handling 3 kiddos just fine by himself when I leave for jewelry shows.

He's definitely a keeper!

our thursday

2012-01-05T22:46:00.000-06:00

It's hard to throw out routine sometimes and just live in the moment.

Sometimes I get so caught up in keeping up with our schedule, keeping up with the mess around me and controlling as much of our day as possible, and my own selfish desires, that I forget that sponataneity can bring such joy to a 3 and 5 year old.

Especially when it involves getting to miss naptime.

Can you believe it was in the 60's today? Maybe even closer to 70, I'm not sure.

So we lived it up. We threw out routine. And I ignored the fact that I had 2 kids neeping a nap, and 1 kid needing to eat.

I chose to ignore the clock and just live in the moment. Something that I'd like to try to do so much more often.

We headed to the park, when we should have been headed to nap. The kids were ecstatic!

We chose a park we thought no one else would be at. One that I could pull up super close to the playground, so I could sit in the car to take care of a hungry baby before joining the kids outside. So much better than the alternative of feeding him at home while I argued with my children about getting down to nap.

I realized on our way home that we are NEVER out during Sonic happy hour. 2-4 is our naptime, so I can't even remember the last time we could make a Sonic run.

So today was the day.

As much as I love winter and love snow, today's weather was such a treat! It was absolutely beautiful!

And dare I say it was even worth the complete meltdowns we had this evening because of no naps.

Just like most, the new year always gets me in a reflective mood. I have spent the last few days thinking about goals and priorities. I have thought a lot about the way I spend my days and what I spend my time doing. And as I enter 2012, my hope is that we can have more days like this. Days when I throw out our routine and all the things around me that need to be done - and just live in the moment with these 3 awesome kids God has blessed me with!

The to-do list will always be there. Schedules are helpful, but not memory-making.

My kids are growing up all too fast. I want to truly LIVE in the day that God has given me.

gavin's newborn pics

2012-01-03T21:42:00.000-06:00

We took Gavin to Andover at 5 days old for his newborn session with Sally Cavanaugh Photography. Sally was absolutely fabulous! She was so sweet and was so patient as I tried so hard to get Gavin into a deep sleep - which only happened for a short period of time.

She had such fun props (some of them didn't end up working too well since we couldn't get Gavin to sleep - he was too squirmy), and the cutest hats! And she was so good with our bigger kids. She's the only one in awhile that's gotten THE BEST smiles out of Mason. And she made Taylor's YEAR by letting her pose for several shots all by herself!

So here they are, our sweet baby boy, and big brother and sister...

(all photos by Sally Cavanaugh Photography)

Thanks so much Sally! These pictures are so precious to us.

year in review

2011-12-31T22:53:00.001-06:00

Bring on 2012 - we can't wait to see the journey God has for us this year!

Happy New Year!

my first instafriday

2011-12-30T23:45:00.002-06:00

There's only 15 minutes left of Friday,

perfect timing for my first InstaFriday post.

Mostly because I don't feel like sorting through Christmas pictures yet.

So here's a random collection of things we've been up to, instagram style.

1. Ugly Christmas Sweater Party with our small group - thanks mom for the sweaters!

2. Christmas baking - It took me a LONG time, and I wasn't sure much baking would happen this year at all, but at the last minute I finally got the motivation to do some .And then the dog ate 2 loaves of strawberry bread from the counter (wrapped in tin foil and tied with ribbon and all).

1. The kids are loving their "ipads" they got for Christmas. They are really V-tech Innotabs - but somehow "ipads" stuck as the easy thing to call them.

2. Gavin being adored by all 5 of his cousins. This picture was taken about 30 seconds after walking in the door. And this attention didn't really stop all 3 days we were together.

It's tough being the two youngest who are required to take naps during family get-togethers.

My heart melted seeing my two boys napping together.

Girls shopping day - headed to Justice with cousins, aunts and grandmas!

1. The girls all got gift cards to Justice for Christmas and Aunt Stef planned a shopping day for them while Sydney was still here. It was Taylor's first time in a store other than Target/Walmart where she got to pick clothes out herself and try things on. I guess I've deprived her (but I prefer shopping alone and just bringing clothes home to her)

2. Shopping is over and now on to get their nails done!

1. The kids played so well together this morning. I found them both wearing dress-up dresses, playing in their ~~room~~ disaster area.

2. Gavin and Daddy dressed in OU, and everyone ready to cheer on the Sooners! (a certain small boy was also ready to cheer - but was banned from the picture - one picture in a dress today was enough)

And I'm sticking this picture in just for fun. The weather was beautiful today. The kids played outside and we all got to take this little cutie out on his first family walk this evening.

So there's a random little catch up from us. Have a SUPER DUPER New Year's Weekend!!

I'm linking up with Life Rearranged.

christmas day

2011-12-29T19:38:00.000-06:00

Christmas morning starts with stockings,

followed by our traditional pancake breakfast and birthday celebration for Jesus,

(whoah, horrible picture)

and then presents,

And the rest of the day is spent relaxing with family and playing with new toys.

Taylor got a guitar for her birthday in October and for Christmas she got a toddler guitar book.

And she got her first guitar lessons from Papa.

She's learned 3 chords already and loves loves loves to play and sing!

And can you believe that Christmas came and went without us remembering to get a family picture.

Bummer. Our first Christmas as a family of five, and no picture.

At least we got a picture of the 3 kids (and Buzz).

gavin {one month}

2011-12-28T23:01:00.000-06:00

Wow, the holidays flew by.

In fact this whole past month has flown by. It's so hard to believe our baby is one month old already.

This first month was nothing like I would have imagined it to be. And really, nothing like our first month with Taylor and Mason.

It has been as smooth of a transition as I could imagine. It's been a month with not much on our calendar, no where to go, and we've had Daddy home A LOT. Just a lot of playing, relaxing and family time.

January may be a reality check for me.

I have seen such cute ideas out there - mostly through Pinterest - for taking baby's month milestone pictures. And Jess has started the cutest idea with her sweet boy. I loved the quilt idea (just don't compare our photog skills), but seeing as I had no quilts, pulling that one off was not gonna happen. Until last night!

Dave's parents got out trunk fulls of quilts and let Dave and his siblings take turns picking quilts to take home. Quilts that date 70 and more years back, made by grandmas and great grandmas on Dave's side of the family.
My mind quickly went back to this idea for Gavin's month pictures.

We didn't get 12 of them, but we did get 6 I think. And surely I can use some of the ones that Dave's sister took home too. For Gavin's one month picture today, I used one of the quilts that Dave's brother is taking home to Michigan (before it escaped).

Not only will we capture our little guy each month, but it will be a great way to photograph these wonderful keepsakes that have been passed down in Dave's family. If only the grandmas who made these could see their great grandson posing on them so many years later!

So here we go...month 1.

What a fun memory to have his Michigan cousins here for his one month picture.

The rest of Gavin's day included a quick doctor's appointment to check on a heart murmur. The doctor heard nothing this time - what a relief and answer to prayers!

At one month, he weighs 10lbs. 7oz. He's gained 36 ounces over the last 2 weeks, and the doctor said that 16 ounces is what is expected and needed. I guess we have an over-achiever on our hands.

We spent more time at Nana and Papa's today too. Tomorrow, our Michigan family goes home. Can't believe our time with them is over already. For the last 3 days, Gavin has been passed around and around to all his cousins, the adults hardly even got a turn. He's been one popular guy. But I'm pretty sure that Jeremy is the one that enjoyed holding his cousin the most. He was SOOO good at it, and didn't even want to give him up when he fussed. He seemed to have the magic touch.

What special memories for Gavin to look back on in pictures and see how much his cousins loved holding him.

And to celebrate being one month old we took him to his first movie. Ha! Just kidding. The movie was for the big kids, and Gavin got to tag along. He was such a good, quiet little boy the entire time.

Sweet Gavin, here are a few things I want to remember about you at one month old:

*you eat every 3 hours - pretty much on the dot. You've been this way since the day you were born.

*at night you go 3-4 hours between feedings - so you definitely haven't been too hard on your momma.

*you have put yourself on such a good schedule - taking hardly any work on our part

*you fall asleep on your own almost all the time

*you are so easy to calm

*you are starting to focus on us and stare at our faces a lot more - we love to stare into your dark blue eyes

*you love baths - we haven't heard a squeak from you at all

*you are just so content - other things that freaked our other babies out - like laying naked on the scale at the doctor's office - don't bother you one bit

*you love to hang out on your tummy and many times even fall asleep when you're supposed to be having "tummy time"

*we love to hold you! If it wasn't for other things needing done and 2 other kiddos to give my attention too, I'm pretty sure I could sit and hold you all day long.

Happy ONE MONTH little guy! You were the most perfect Christmas gift ever.

mason and santa

2011-12-27T20:17:00.000-06:00

We always start Christmas Eve morning off with a trip to Drubers for free donuts and to see Santa.

Santa is a good family friend so he knows all the kids' names. But no matter what Santa said, Mason wasn't a fan. He would get close, but not on his lap.

We all tried to coax him.

And then Taylor decided to take matters into her own hands.

(sorry for the awful pictures - the sunlight is so harsh at this window every year, and I don't have much time to change settings when I'm trying to capture moments like these!)

I'm pretty sure I then had to set my camera down to intervene.

He never actually made it on his lap.

And then, wouldn't ya know, when it was time to go, he got half way out the door to leave, and to all of our surprise, he ran back in, straight to Santa, hugged his leg and then ran out.

THE.CUTEST.THING.EVER.

christmas eve

2011-12-26T22:57:00.000-06:00

Christmas Eve is always spent with Dave's side of the family.

And this year was WAY better than last because our Michigan family got to be here!

(last year they missed Christmas with us because of Sydney's recent leukemia diagnosis)

Here's our Christmas Eve in pictures...

Mason, can we take a picture without Buzz?

Please Mas, just one?

Mason, we'd love to see your face and not Buzz's.

merry christmas

2011-12-25T19:35:00.000-06:00

Hope you are enjoying this joyous holiday celebrating the birth of our Savior!

some christmas pinterest

2011-12-22T16:00:00.032-06:00

Definitely doing this...

Source: ashleyannphotography.com via Amanda on Pinterest

I love Ashley's blog - it's one of the very few that I stay caught up on pretty regularly. The other day I thought she was a genius when she posted about taking pictures of all your friends from their Christmas cards to use as their contact picture in your phone. In no time at all her fabulous idea showed up on Pinterest!

And tonight, we did this...

Source: confessionsofahomeschooler.com via Amanda on Pinterest

Here's the explanation that goes with it: All Aboard The Minivan Express! Ready to start a Christmas tradition that the whole family will enjoy? I know you’ve all seen The Polar Express, well, this is our own version of that fun adventure! Each year we hide the “Golden Tickets” in our kids’ beds. My husband starts the bedtime routine as usual, while I prepare little bags of popcorn and hot chocolate drinks and place them in the car, oh and don’t forget to have Christmas music playing in the car too! When the kids go to climb into bed, they will find the ticket hidden under their covers, get ready for lots of giggles and screams as they all find their tickets! The kids are then instructed to grab their slippers and head for the car. Upon entrance to The Minivan Express, we hole punch the ticket (you know for effect and all.) Next, we travel around the city looking at all the beautiful lights. We may even stop somewhere for a fun snack on the way home. Now the kids look forward to this each year and look forward to getting “those special tickets”!

The gold tickets are a free download and the source will explain all the details. If you don't have a minivan like us, there is another version of the tickets that just say "Christmas Express".

Our kids love Polar Express, it's one movie we watch multiple times at Christmas every year, along with "Buddy the Elf".

So tonight we put the kids to bed a bit earlier, and watched as they crawled into bed and found a gold ticket under their covers. They ran to Gavin's bassinet to see if he had one too- sure enough he did!! Dad punched their tickets with a hole punch just like in the movie and I handed them a bag of caramel corn and their very own small bottle of pepsi. That's how we roll in our house. Pepsi beats hot chocolate any day!
Daddy quoted lines from the movie...
"All ABOOOOOOAAAAARD!!!"
Where are we going?
"Why, to the north pole, of course!"

Their eyes were as big as I've ever seen them before. "For real? We're really going somewhere?" "Is this a real Christmas Express?" "You guys are the most fun!" "I think we are the only kids out after bedtime!" The comments and excitement went on and on and on. They were so talkative and full of life in the car as we drove around to look at lights. It was so fun for us to see them so full of joy over the simplest thing.
Taylor asked if we can do this EVERY time at Christmas - so I think we found a new tradition.

Hope you're enjoying lots of fun Christmas traditions - new and old!

a few christmas crafts

2011-12-21T21:06:00.001-06:00

We're trying to find things to keep our two big kids busy lately. Dave and I are sneaking in a few more naps than usual (okay, maybe not more than usual for me). Our energy level this Christmas season is a bit lower than usual. We haven't done much baking or treat making - yet. We'll get to the that at the last minute I'm sure. But we have made a few fun crafts.

I saw this coffee filter christmas tree on I Can Teach My Child.

You just need 2 coffee filters, green markers, a spray bottle with water, scissors, a glue stick, and blue, yellow and white construction paper, plus we added decorations - beads, gems, buttons, whatever you have.

The kids colored the filters green and then sprayed them with water (don't soak them), and let them dry completely.

We got some blue construction paper and added some white for snow.

Fold one filter in half.

Cut the other filter into thirds.

With one of the thirds, fold it in half.

Then layer the filters and glue the tops of them down onto the construction paper.

Use scissors to cut slits into the bottom edge for texture.

Add a star and decorations if you have some.

Our second craft was something I bought supplies for last year and never got to.

You just need sugar cubes, hot glue gun, and gems or those silver candy balls used for cake and cookie decorating.

Glue the cubes into a pyramid shape with either 5 or 6 on the bottom row.

For the base of the tree, center 2 cubes under the bottom row.

A low temperature glue gun is ideal - preschoolers and hot glue aren't the best combination.

Luckily my mom was here and helping us on this craft, so she ran the glue gun and the kids were just ready with their cubes and stuck it each place she put glue.

Then add some bling! The kids did this easily with bottles of Elmer's glue.

They look adorable on the kitchen window sill.

Happy Christmas crafting!

the first of many programs

2011-12-20T23:23:00.001-06:00

The school programs have started.

Taylor had her first ever Christmas program as a preschooler.

(she was dressed as the star)

They actually performed 2 different times.

Once at the "big" school as part of the Christmas program put on by the whole school.

This was just one week after Gavin was born, and unfortuneately Mommy was not doing well, and had to miss this night. This was a HUGE deal, sooooo not easy for me.

Pretty devestating. For me and for her.

When Dave told her that I wasn't going to make it, she and I both burst into tears.

But thank goodness for my new phone and the awesome video it takes, and my hubby who was willing to stand up close to the stage to take it.

And to my surprise, we found out her class would be performing the same program again during preschool.

I made it that time. And it was so so precious.

Our little girl sang her heart out! It was so fun to even be able to hear her voice above the others and see how confident she was on stage - not what I would have expected.

meeting gavin

2011-12-18T15:31:00.000-06:00

I asked a friend to come take pictures for us at the hospital when Taylor and Mason came in to see their new brother for the first time. I didn't want to have to think about a camera or worry about Dave having to capture the memories either. I wanted us to be able to just enjoy the moment with our family of 5, knowing someone else was snapping away for us.

I know that we don't have to have all of our memories captured in pictures for them to be meaningful, but it's still so nice to be able to look back at these. Especially after realizing how out of it I really was after surgery - these pictures meant that much more.

This was the first birth that Dave and the baby stayed in the surgery room with me and we all came out together. With Taylor and Mason, Dave and the baby always left and went next door to the nurse's station where they weighed the baby and did all that other stuff they do. I laid on the operating table alone while I could hear my sweet baby crying. And our family was always taking a peak of the baby through the window.

Things have changed over the last almost 4 years, and they told us that Dave and the baby wouldn't leave at all. I was so happy about that. Dave was able to stand and hold the baby by me much longer that he ever got to before.

And the best part was coming out of the operating room together and being able to announce to our family who was waiting on the other side that we had a precious baby boy!

It was such a priceless moment, and I tried so hard to hold the tears in so I wouldn't freak my kids out.

Recovery time took SOOO much longer than I ever remember before. Dave and I were both so anxious to get the kids in to see their baby brother - but we had to wait till the nurses said it was okay.

I feel like it took forever, knowing all of our family was on the other side of the door.

When we finally got the okay, Dave went out to get the kids.

They were SO excited they got to be the first ones in the room to meet baby Gavin.

Mason was barely inside the room before he was already opening the gift they brought for Gavin - he was SO proud!

Taylor was a bit more timid at first.

our first picture as a family of 5

We were so blessed to have most of our family there to help welcome Gavin,

and then dear friends who came later in the day.

He is a loved little guy.

The kids came to the hospital once or twice each day we were there. It definitely made our stay much easier with them able to come so often. If only Daddy hadn't had to carry both of them out kicking and screaming each time. That was tough.

Until we bribed them. Then they finally left in control of themselves.

Tomorrow our sweet baby is 3 weeks old already.

He's getting bigger, changing in looks and still a VERY VERY good baby!

Can't wait to show you his newborn session!

the name

2011-12-14T16:29:00.003-06:00

I'm backing up a bit (it's a little bit crazy how fast 2 weeks can go by, I feel like this news is now ancient, but still want to get the memories recorded).

Boy or Girl...

Dave was convinced we were having a girl. And I was leaning much more towards feelings of girl too - but still being cautious because I have NEVER been right before - I don't have those feelings that some mom's get I guess. Why did we think girl?

*Well surely SOMEONE has to have a girl. After 4 friends having boys in Sept, Oct, and November, we kept thinking that we'd be the ones to have the girl.

*I was quite a bit smaller in the end of my pregnancy than I was with Mason

*I was going for more sweets than salts - which was one of the main things that differed between Taylor and Mason.

So, when Dave caught that first glimpse, and announced we had a boy, I think we were both somewhat surprised.

I laid there thinking - wow, we really just added to this mass of boys being born!

The name...

Choosing a name for our third child was much harder than ever before. With Taylor and Mason we found out the sex of the baby at our 18 week sonogram, so picking a name seemed easier I guess. We always had them picked way in advance and had time to process it, get used to it, hear it being used, etc. This time we were down to the final days, and even hours, before we would be meeting our little one who was still nameless.

Our girl name...

We have loved a name for a long time and thought we were set on using it. Until about a month before. We were watching TV one night and fell quickly in love with a name that we heard. So we changed our girl name. And we loved it! And because we were both convinced we were having a girl - there was a small part of us that wanted to take the chance and just go in with a girl name only - seeing as the boy name was proving to be much harder for us. But the planner in me just couldn't do that.

Our boy name...

We had a list with ten or so names on it. And 3 or 4 that we talked about more consistently. But none that we were just completely in love with. Dave kept saying we needed more options and I kept wondering where to get more options from, I thought I had already spent so much time searching around and looking at ideas. We slowly began to talk about one name over the others and we chose a middle name to go with it. But every time we talked about it more, we both acted like we just still weren't sure. 2 nights before the baby was coming when I asked Dave if we were sure on this name, he responded with "I guess."

I was not completely okay with settling on a name with "I guess".

One of my posts before the baby, I asked for name suggestions (just for fun, but also wondering if something new would come to us). Someone left a comment with the suggestion of Gavin. Gavin was on our list - just not one of the 3 or 4 we mentioned more than the others. But for some reason when I was reading the comments to Dave and we came across this suggestion - it all of a sudden stuck with both of us more than it ever had before. 2 days before the baby, we changed the name to Gavin.

But now our middle name needed to be changed too.

My dad's middle name is Russell, and we liked the way it sounded with Gavin. On Monday before we left for the hospital we settled for sure on the middle name.

Gavin Russell

Whew! Nothing like the last minute.

It took awhile for the name to really sink in (it kind of still is). We had no time to process it, to get used to it, or anything. So needless to say, we drew a blank many times when we looked at him. And when the nurses asked how to spell Russell, we weren't even sure (I had to check with my dad on whether it was 2 l's or not). And multiple times we called him by the names of the other babies that had been born to friends lately and had been coming out of our mouths for the last month or two.

Regardless of how long it took to find name and how last minute we were - we love it! And are so glad we changed it. It fits him, and us, perfectly!

We had fun little cards for some of our family and friends to fill out before Gavin was born.

(Mason's guesses) (Lily's guesses)

(Aunt Stef's guesses) (Aunt Rebekah's guesses)

Aunt Stefanie came the closest by being one of the very few to guess a boy, and then also guessed his middle name (which at the point she guessed it, we hadn't even chosen that as the middle name for sure).

Aunt Rebekah was right on for the weight and a 1/2 inch off for the length.

One person guessed our girl name (she may or may not have had an unfair advantage), and another person guessed our girl's middle name.

It was so fun seeing everyone's guesses - especially the kids' :-)

I have some more pictures from the hospital I'm hoping I can get to soon.

sweet baby

2011-12-07T21:16:00.000-06:00

I remember this time of year after Taylor was born.

There's just something about having a newborn around the holidays that is so very special.

He laid here for over 30 minutes, eyes wide open staring at the tree.

He is absolutely precious and perfect in every way.

gavin {one week}

2011-12-05T22:00:00.000-06:00

All day today I wanted to remember to take some pictures of Gavin at one week old.

The day got away from me and I almost just decided to skip the pictures. But rather than worrying about getting the best pictures I can, in the best lighting (which is hard in my house anyway), in the perfect outfit, I am just going to focus on capturing the memories regardless of all the silly details.

I'd rather have pictures in poor lighting (just makes me appreciate my 50mm lens that much more), outfits that are half off, and even pictures from my phone, than none at all.

So today at one week old,

here's how I want to remember our little guy...

And more from his first week...

I found him in his swing with Lightning McQueen.

First bath, it was a family affair and probably could have gone much smoother without so many hands trying to help.

And this little miss is soooo in love and is so loving and motherly to her baby brother.

She knows when to give him a little jiggle to settle him down, when he needs his paci, and she insists on holding him upright like mom and dad do.

She could sit and hold him for hours.

Sweet Gavin,

You are so loved by your mommy and daddy and big sister and brother already. You have come into our family with such ease. Kind of like you were the missing piece and now we feel so complete. Your first week of life has been such a joy for all of us. Taylor and Mason beam when they see you and talk about you, they are so so proud to be your big brother and sister. Mom and Dad have used the words "easy" and "perfect" many, many times to describe you this week. You have hardly cried. And you take no effort at all to comfort. And you have eaten like a rockstar from your very first feeding. Of course you've mostly slept this week, 3 hours at a time during the day, with only an hour here or there awake. And you are definitely spoiling Mom and Dad at night. We were expecting a wake up call every 2-3 hours, but instead, when we put you down around 11, you wake up in the 4:00 hour and then again in the 7:00 hour. THANK YOU SWEET BABY! (although I know this may not always be, we are thankful for the nights that have been like this so far). You are our first baby to like a pacifier. Mom was happy to give you one, it was Dad who was more hesitant. He says, as long as you don't still have it when you're 2. I spent lots of time prayer in the past few weeks that God would give us a smooth transition into a family of 5. And so far, he has answered those prayers more than I could have even imagined!

And even if week 2 gets harder - we will be thankful for week one, and take whatever comes our way, because you are definitely worth it.

We love you Baby Gavin.

Love, Mommy

and just because baby hiccups are the cutest...

a little bit from last week

2011-12-04T17:37:00.001-06:00

a little bit of last week via my phone...

1. Aunt Rebekah flew in Saturday night and we met my family at Sumos for a yummy dinner - one of our favorite places, and a perfect big meal before heading to the hospital.

Back in July when we saw each other in Texas, we thought that would be the only time we'd get a picture of the two of us pregnant together, but things worked out for her to come for Gavin's birth, so we got another - I'm an obvious 39 weeks, and she's 28 weeks.

2. Headed to the hospital bright and early for a 7am c-section.

3. one last belly picture (even though I didn't get many others)

4. anxiously awaiting to meet our new baby!

5. ready for surgery

6. Mommy and Gavin - minutes after birth

7. something that I don't ever want to forget.

Dave went home to shower and Mason sent this package back to the hospital with him,

a gift for Mommy, packaged up with his name written on it.

I opened it to find 2 of his hot wheels. One of which was a purple Cuda just like Daddy's that he got the night before. His favorite car of all of them.

My little boy just melts my heart.

And now I have 2 boys to melt it over and over again.

so in love

2011-11-30T09:43:00.000-06:00

We are so so in love with the newest member of our family.

Gavin Russell

Monday, November 28 at 7:39am

7lbs. 4 oz and 20 inches long

We have never seen so much pride and love on the faces of these two...

He is such a perfect little baby. We've barely heard a peep out of him.

With c-sections our hospital stay is longer - but we are loving this time that we get to spend with just him, getting to know him and cuddling him as much as we can before we go home and have to share him with 2 other people who are very much in love with him too.

39 weeks and 2 days

2011-11-26T14:00:00.002-06:00

We are so excited to meet our new little blessing...

(pictures by Andrea Siebert Photography)

(Thanksgiving Day marked 39 weeks, but this picture is from 37 weeks, sorry I haven't taken a more recent one)

We have TRULY enjoyed the excitement this little baby has brought to our house,

before it's even born.

Taylor was only 16 months old when we brought Mason home - she pretty much didn't have a clue what was going on and didn't seem to care too much.

This time, it is so fun having kids old enough to

count down the days,

to give us name suggestions,

to ask constantly after each of our friends have had their baby "is it our turn yet?",

to cuddle against my tummy every morning wondering if the baby is awake yet,

to sing "Jesus Loves Me" and "Twinkle Twinkle" in sweet little voices by my tummy,

to be THRILLED to be told they get to be the first ones in the room to see the baby.

For fun, leave us your guesses - boy/girl and name!

(especially since we haven't decided on a boy name yet - maybe your suggestions will help us!)

thanksgiving day

2011-11-24T17:13:00.001-06:00

Our Thanksgiving Day has been a bit different than ever before.

It's the first year ever that we haven't been with other family eating a big feast.

Instead, we'll be with Dave's family tomorrow, and my family the rest of the weekend before this baby comes.

So, today we did something new...

Our first ever fresh cut Christmas tree!

We'll see if this tree lasts till Christmas. Last year we wanted to throw ours out before Christmas even got here. And then we did end up putting it on the curb Christmas afternoon while the kids were napping.

And this evening , Papa and Nana are joing us for a tradition we started last year, our own family THANKS dinner...

mixed match dinnerware

napkins and placemats from the garage sale bin

a center piece made by the kids and Nana

but nevertheless - FANCY and memorable

and set up to surprise the kids when they wake up from nap.

Last year I went pretty fancy on the food too - some yummy steak and potatoes from Pioneer Woman cookbook.

This year we almost did prime rib, then we realized it was $50 for a rib roast.

So we got a brisket out of the freezer instead. Cheesy potatoes, rolls, salad and pie.

I love this tradition. I don't think it will matter if we have fancy food or just spaghetti - I hope this will always be a tradition for our family!

So today we are thankful for this sweet time together, as a family of 4.

Before we become 5.

our family

2011-11-17T23:24:00.001-06:00

These pictures will be outdated VERY soon, so I figured I should share them now.

I drug and drug my feet for months about whether to get family pictures taken.

I've never been that into having my picture taken when I'm pregnant, but I also kept thinking that I would maybe regret not capturing this season of our life in pictures.

And then I was super nervous about waiting till I was 38 weeks to do them.

So hoping I didn't look like the rhino that a lady back in July predicted I'd look like by the end.

I was so thankful that Andrea could get us in for a family session.

She did such an amazing job!

(Dave had no clue what he was suppossed to be doing with his hands, we kept telling him to make a heart. I kind of laughed when i saw this one, but it's still cute!)

I am so thankful for these pictures, and can't believe we will be a family of 5 so very soon!

2011-11-16T00:03:00.000-06:00

If you don't know about Pinterest - that could be a good thing or a bad thing.

When I first started Pinterest I spent more time on it, but it's slowed down a bit. I check it when I'm bored, sitting in front of the tv while my hubby watches House Hunters or other random shows on Discovery or History channel.

But I what I like the most about Pinterest is actually DOING some of the things I've pinned.

Even just simple ones.

Like creating a snack shelf with preportioned snacks that the kids can grab on their own.

I did one in the cupboard and made one of the bins in the fridge into a snack bin for them too.

It doesn't look all organized and nice - but it is, really. And besides, what's the point - it's for the kids, it wouldn't stay that way anyway.

Pretty sure this is going to be a great thing once this baby comes. Sometimes Mason gets the unhappiest when I'm not able to get him a snack when he wants it.

On my to-do list before the baby was to reorganize my office and get rid of lots of stuff.

I pinned this on pinterest (it's really for a sewing room), but I thought it would be great in my office as a work table.

Mine is definitely not as pretty with all the fabric, but it is so great for all my business stuff, and some of the kids' craft stuff too.

I've added more bins since this picture.

The hour or so after naps and before dinner can sometimes be the toughest part of our day. The kids tend to need something more creative to do. So one evening while I cooked, I quickly showed Dave this picture I had pinned...

So Dave created his version of it, and it definitely kept our little guy's attention.

I ran across this idea for Taylor's birthday party...

But decided to make it non-seasonal so it could be used anytime.

And my favorite pinterest project so far is inspired by these frames...

You can purchase them at Organic Bloom or Orange Blossom on Etsy - but I really didn't want to spend that much on a frame. So my hubby attempted to come up with something for me after pinning this on Pinterest.

I made my pattern by only drawing 1/4 of the design and then folding and cutting so it was symmetrical, and then traced it on the wood. I tried to keep the shape pretty simple to make Dave's job easier, I wasn't really sure what he could and couldn't do with that saw.

Dave did the cutting and sanding, and then I added paint.

(sorry for the awful lighting)

This frame is going in the nursery, possibly over the crib.

I just need the perfect picture for it.

I think our next project is going to be something else for the nursery -

Book shelves made from gutters.

You can check out my Pinterest boards here.

Happy pinning!

counting down the days

2011-11-12T22:02:00.003-06:00

Man, I guess I've been busy around here lately.
We are counting down the days till Baby Balzer.
And I don't have anything to post other than some randomness,
so here you go...

I have been in need of a new phone for months.

So the search was on, well actually the REsearch was on...

Droid Bionic (which is 4g and Newton is suppossed to get gettign 4g in the next few months), or the Iphone 4s.

I realized quickly I couldn't really ask opinions from others - I had to do the research myself.
I either was talking to an Apple lover that would never consider another product, or I was talking to someone who tried everything they could to never buy anything Apple. It was kind of frustrating. I just wanted to know what phone was BEST!
Even going into the store and asking questions didn't get me very far - I could tell very quickly that the sales rep had a strong dislike for one over the other. When all I wanted was facts.
In the end - it really came to a draw for me (and in lots of articles as well) as far as quality of the phone, comparing specifics, etc.
Where one phone beat in one area, another beat in another.
Both have the awesome pixel camera and HD video that I'm super excited about! Especially when I don't have my big heavy camera with me.
I came to the conclusion that either pick I'd be happy with.
So I made my final decision on price - the Iphone was quite a bit cheaper

So my first day with an Iphone was nothing like in my dreams.
I mean, from what I heard from others, this thing would rock my world and leave me to desire no other phone.
Instead, it spazzed out while we were still in the store buying it. Then continued to be pretty crazy all night.
Day 2 - started working better so I began to give it the benefit of the doubt.

Ooops. Completely froze, turned off and on by itself randomly over the course of several hours and then never came back on again.

Phone calls to Verizon, to Apple, visits into our local Verizon dealer (not Verizon store I'm told!),

total frustration, everyone telling me different things.
In the end a Verizon advisor with Apple told me I needed to walk into my local store and demand them to give me a new phone and that I couldn't be nice about it.
Well, let's just say I didn't get a new phone that day. Maybe I should have taken my hubby.
But hopefully we finally got somewhere and I'll get a new one next week.
Then I'll really let you know what it's like in the Apple World.

************************************

Today is my last day with anything big on my calendar - YAY!
Now it's just some cleaning and organizing and getting ready for baby - 2 weeks to go!

I have been feeling really great lately - not even close to miserable.
And then I got sick - dumb sinus infection

Now I'm pretty miserable, and mad too. And scared of getting bronchitis again. Not how I wanted to spend my last 2 weeks before this baby.

I'm hoping it goes away fast!

***************************************

Baby Balzer still doesn't have a name.

We had one girl name pretty settled on - and then we added a 2nd out of no where.
And our boy list really hasn't progressed any.
I'm thinking at this point I'm going to have to just write it in on the calendar and make sure we sit down and do this!
My sister, who is having a girl in Feb., freaked out about us choosing their name, so she had to give us the first initial of their girl name so we could make sure it wasn't the same.
We're safe - I think.

***************************************

Speaking of my sis. I got an early Christmas present for her.
A new diaper bag!

I picked out this one from JJ Cole - doesn't it look yellow and gray to you?
It's not. It's orange.
I still love it - but when you open it up expecting one color and get a total different color, it's kind of shocking. I could exchange for one with red and gray instead, but I think I'm lazy and I like it enough to keep it.

*************************************

I've been a little worried lately I'm going to forget what to do with a newborn.
I've been told it will all come back.
But oh man, it feels like it's been forever. Hard to believe almost 4 years.
I can't wait though! We are so excited to meet our little one, to find out if it will be a boy or a girl, and to see Taylor and Mason with their new sibling!

**************************************

Through some of our big organization projects over the last few months, my office got a new look, and our spare room in the basement where we keep a bed for our visitors and lots of junk did too. I organized my sewing stuff and made a place to have my sewing machine out all the time. I surprisinggly have been down there quite a bit! In fact I finished making burp rags that I bought fabric and cloth for 3 years ago and never actually did. I made myself use all that fabric before moving on to my new stuff I just ordered.
Here's just some of what I've done...

lots of burp clothes, and some receiving blankets...these were some of my favorite gifts to get with Taylor and Mason!

I decided with all these new babies all around me, plus a handful of others that are far away, it will be nice to have some gifts on hand.

I did a crib skirt too - but I'll hopefully post some pictures of the nursery (the little that is done), soon.

*******************************************

I'm almost completely done with Christmas shopping! It's been on my list of things to do and I've been slowly knocking things off. Mostly online. I even think I got the kids' stocking stuffers done!

And then I remembered I needed another stocking.

********************************************

It's crazy how back and forth the pregnant comments have been lately.

In the same week, I heard "you're due THIS month, wow, you're not big at all"

and I heard

"oh honey, you STILL have 2 weeks to go, I feel so bad for you, are you sure you're not having twins?"

Maybe it's a matter how how often these people get out.

But it's definitely confusing to me.

********************************************

Okay, I'll stop there.

There's good chances you haven't made it this far.

I think I'll have some fun pinterest projects to post coming up soon.

And hopefully some of the nursery.

halloween 2011

2011-11-01T22:49:00.000-05:00

Halloween started off with a little fall program at Taylor's PreK. They got to wear costumes and sing a handful of songs for the moms and dads. She told me later she was embarrassed during the program because we were there. But she decided we could still come back to the next one.

We went super simple on costumes this year. As in, I had them pick something from the dress up baskets, and we didn't get things out and actually finalize much till the night before.

Taylor was going to be a princess (go figure), until Nana came home with this poodle skirt outfit from a garage sale.

I had a feeling this little guy was going to be disagreeable when it came time to put the costume on.

I was right. He went back and forth all day saying he was and wasn't going to wear his knight costume.

Luckily, in the end, we got it on and out the door.

Our friends hostessed a Trunk or Treat, so we met lots of friends there. It was way better than having to walk door to door, and so fun getting to see lots of our friends' kiddos.

Nothing like spinning kids like crazy after they've consumed lots of candy already.

I was just waiting for someone to puke.

After an hour of trunk or treat and our 3 family/friend stops that usually takes 1-2 hours in themselves, we were done.

Now to make all this candy disappear quickly, with no memories of it left behind.

cousins and the pumpkin patch

2011-10-27T22:23:00.001-05:00

While Dave's sister and her hubby were in Detroit for the half marathon for Team Sydney,

we got to watch the cousins for part of the weekend.

We took them all to the pumpkin patch.

Ages 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, and plus that one in my tummy.

We definitely got some odd looks and even some comments as people scanned our clan of kids and then looked at my stomach.

I would like to say it's because we look so young and fabulous that there is NO WAY we could have that many kids. I'll just let myself believe that.

yes, definitely a little shocked I got them all looking and smiling at the same time - that doesn't usually happen.

And since I didn't make it out of there without the "are you trying to steal a pumpkin under there" comment...we thought this was a fitting picture.

We love Papa's Pumpkin Patch - it's free and there's so much to do!

We just had to draw the line at paying $3 each to take this many kids into the corn maze.

We let them all pick a small pumpkin instead.

a country fair birthday party

2011-10-25T23:40:00.000-05:00

Being 8 months pregnant, I was trying to think of an easy birthday theme that I could talk Taylor into for her party. But yet at the same time, a fun and memorable party that is a bit bigger of a deal than usual - since 5 is kind of a big deal! Normally she's really into something or a theme is kind of obvious, but I bet that will be harder as she gets older. And really, maybe we won't always need a theme.

After our Country Fair Adoption Fundraiser and all the cute details that went into it, I thought it would make for a super cute birthday theme! I found some great ideas online for it too.

She totally went for it - especially after attending the Country Fair we helped put on, and seeing how much fun it was.

Except one day she tried to change it to K-State theme.

I tried to explain we already did that theme for Mason - and wouldn't she rather have something he didn't do? But she wasn't going for it at first. I just gave her some more time to think and reminded her of the carnival games we could play - and she was back on track for the country fair.

I borrowed TONS of stuff we used for the fundraiser - making my job super easy and making the party look really great!

Jingles, the preschool class pet made it into lots of the pictures! We get to add pictures to the "Jingles notebook" to show what she and Jingles got to do together while he was home with her.

I'm pretty sure Jingles had quite the time.

Taylor has such sweet friends and we were so glad to have so many of them helping us celebrate her birthday!

This is the first time we've done back to back parties - friends and then family.

Which really just meant lots more barrel train rides!

These poor girls were absolutely miserable by the end of the party, no smiles, barely moving, and just laying on the couch. They both felt awful.

There was another birthday party in the neighborhood at some friends' house - so the kids at that party got to ride the barrel train too. And then Sunday after church all the neighborhood kids rode again.

I saw online that one country fair party had little mini cherry pies and I so wished I was a pie maker, but have actually never made a pie in my life.

But then I found a recipe for pies in jars!!! With 2 ingredients - already made pie dough and cherry pie filling. Easy enough! I had some smaller jars and some bigger ones - all which were supposedly half pint jars - but the smaller ones cooked much better. I probably needed to leave the bigger ones in for over double the time the recipe gave. But they were still pretty yummy.

She got such fun gifts and fortunately not an abundance of toys- God knows we don't need those.

A SUPER SUPER cute hat from Aunt Stefanie, Uncle Steve, and the cousins,

a diaper bag for her Bitty Baby from Papa and Nana - complete with cloth diapers, box of wipes and a changing pad.

She's absolutely in love with it and it came at the perfect time for mommy to start carrying a diaper bag too.

And a guitar from Papa and Mema. We are amazed at how much she has been sitting around strumming on this thing. Yesterday, Dave and Mason left for the store and she sat in the garage the whole time they were gone playing her guitar.

And boring things like new shoes and a booster seat from Mom and Dad.

I am so thankful for all the things I was able to borrow for this party - thanks to all the girls I got stuff from!

So our little girl is 5.

So hard to believe.

And now I think we're ready for another BIRTHday!!

Okay - not quite ready - we'd still like to get a few more things crossed off our to-do list,

but ready or not - our new little one will be here in about a month!

the birthday girl

2011-10-23T22:44:00.001-05:00

Our little girl is 5! She's been counting down all month.

Daddy made her this calendar and she was very religious about crossing it off each day.

On her actual birthday, she woke up not feeling great. As far as I knew, it was just the headache she complained about.

Although, I should have guessed something was up with the 2-3 nights before her waking us up 5,6, 7 times a night (guess we were getting our training before this new baby gets here).

She knew it was her birthday but I think she was confused about what day she actually turned 5, because she knew she still had 2 days till her party.

She tried to tell me she didn't really feel like going to Drubers and she was moving pretty slow after getting up. But then in conversation I mentioned that she was now 5 and her eyes lit up!

She said "NOW? I'm 5 right now?"

And we were off to Drubers with a little more bounce in her step!

We met Papa and Nana there and she was showered with cards and a fun birthday balloon.

The rest of the day went downhill.

I asked her what she wanted for lunch - told her she could pick anything.

She chose Dillons salad bar. She's definitely my daughter!

But then she didn't even feel well enough to eat it.

The afternoon was spent wanting to lay on mommy, hold mommy's hand, and stay in the same room as mommy. Poor thing ran a fever and cried because of her headache.

Her fever broke just before dinner time and she acted fine, so she begged to still go for her birthday dinner at Applebees.

At dinner we gave her a special 5th birthday present.

A personalized charm necklace that I found here and LOVE!

And she loves it just as much too!

It has her name on one charm and "Big Sister" on another.

We thought her 5th birthday was a memorable one for a "big sister" necklace since she's about to become the BIG big sister very soon.

So far she takes SUCH good care of it - we had to explain this is a REAL necklace, not one of her play necklaces. She takes it off at home and just wears it when she goes places. She knows the "jewelry rules".

Then the rest of the night went downhill again.

She missed preschool the next day, missed taking cupcakes for her birthday and getting to bring Jingles, the class pet home for the weekend.

But thanks to good neighbor friends - Ollie brought Jingles home to her on Friday!

I'm not sure that anything made her day like that did.

We PRAYED she'd be well for her party on Saturday and no more fever so we wouldn't have to worry about cancelling.

Thankfully our prayers were answered - she was fine all day Saturday and so excited for her party!

five

2011-10-20T08:00:00.007-05:00

Today our first born turns 5.

When they are babies, five seems so far off.

But now to think of the next five years going as fast as this past five years went - she'll be 10 before we know it.

A little scary.

(1 year old)

Taylor brings so much joy to our house. Every single day.

She is so sensitive, has such a big heart and is very affectionate.

When someone is sick, or hurt, at our house - she loves to help take care of them. She will bring bowls to throw up in, washcloths, medicine, water, snacks, blankies, whatever she can think of that may be needed.

She seems so mature in so many of our conversations.

(2 years old)

She is loving preschool and learning so much.

We are amazed at her writing and letter recognition and sounds.

She loves to draw and write words.

She asks to listen to worship music all the time.

(3 years old)

She loves to play house and lately has been playing school with her brother a lot.

She changes her clothes multiple times a day, and has to be in comfy clothes when she's home.

She is so independent and good about taking care of her responsibilities.

She orders water at restaurants because "it's healthy for you".

Who's child is this?

(4 years old)

She agrees to allow her brother to have the happy meal toy when mom says we are only ordering one happy meal - because when one child drinks water and neither finish their fries, there is no reason to order 2.

She's a good eater - and again, is always wondering what is good for you and what's not.

She looks taller lately, and is really starting to look like the "bigger" girls now.

She is growing up so fast.

(our new 5 year old! poor thing woke up not feeling well at all, first headache she's ever had)

Happy Birthday sweet girl!

We love you so much and are so proud of the person that God is growing you into.

some details about blurb

2011-10-19T12:07:00.000-05:00

I've had several questions about my book and I realized I didn't even specify what Blurb is.

I get my book done through blurb.com. There is a free software called Booksmart that you download from their website. When you first begin, you can choose whatever kind of book you are wanting to design. There are lots of options, including just a picture book.

By choosing "blog to book", it will connect to blogger (or a few other blogging sites if you use something different) and it will "slurp" (just the strange word they use) your blog posts and pictures into the software.

You can choose to have it fill your pages automatically, or you can choose to place your own posts and pictures in each page and change the layouts. If you have it fill your pages automatically, I think it pretty much uses one layout for the whole book. Quite boring, and you don't get any of the pages with bigger pictures on them.

I actually go ahead and have it place them on pages for me, but then I start at the beginning and change my layouts for each page. I just look at the pictures I have for each post, decide if I want any of them big, or if they'll all fit into one page layout, etc. The software isn't hard but there are a few things about it that cause it to be time consuming.

I've also found that when it "slurps" your photos from blogger, they are a very low resolution picture. But if you pull the pictures from your computer straight into the software, they are better quality for those larger photo pages, especially the full page pictures. So although my pictures are automatically uploaded into the software when I "slurp" it, I still have to go find them again and replace them with the original version. This really adds extra time. Have any of you other blurb users found this to be true?

Now, if you really wanted to make a fast book and didn't really care about the layouts - you just wanted your posts and pictures on your pages - then you could probably just be fine with the automatic layouts that the software does for you. And you could possibly spend way less time than I do.

The pricing is awesome. I paid $75ish for almost 150 pages I think. It will do books with pages up to 400 or something around that. I loved an idea I read about over at Under the Sycamore, where Ashley purchases 2 books each time she makes one. One for that little hands to be all over and enjoy paging through, reliving memories, so you don't have to freak out about pages ripping or dirty hands making smudge marks. And then one to have on a shelf or storage somewhere and be kept nice for years to come.

If only I was good at staying on top of things and slurping one month at a time into my software and working gradually on it. That would be ideal. But really, I'm kind of okay with being 3 years behind. If I was trying to scrapbook our family memories, I can't imagine where I'd be. I love that my blog gives me a purpose for my pictures and stories and to record all the things I want to remember....and then they can be saved forever in a book that will hopefully become treasures to all of us down the road. If it wasn't for my blog and these books - I'll I would have is folders and folders full of digital pictures and nothing being done with them.

Someday I may catch up to the current year, but even being behind still gives me a sense of accomplishment each time I finish one. And already I see how much my kids love these books - it makes the time and money completely worth it.

2008 Blurb book

2011-10-18T09:05:00.000-05:00

I have been getting lots of fun things in the mail lately.
Of course mostly things I have bought for myself - crib sheet, fabric, party supplies, etc.
But I was most excited about this little treasure.

One of the things on my "to-do before the baby" list was to finish our 2008 blog book. Yeah, I know 2008 was a long time ago. I worked hard on it last December at our craft retreat - but then never came home and finished up just the few things that needed completed. It's one of those things that is rarely on my mind. But I finally got it done and it showed up on our porch this past week!

It is so fun looking back through our year...almost 4 years ago.

whoah, we have a yard!!!

Some memories were hard to look back at, like this one.

Cora, Mason and Braden were around 7 months old I think.

But yet, I'm so glad that sweet Cora is a part of our book, and our memories.

There are definitely a few mistakes in the book. Mostly my fault. I was so ready to just be done with it and get it ordered, that I left a handful of pictures that still had the little symbol warning me about picture quality. I knew these pictures were on my old camera - not that greatest of pictures anyway. And it was going to take me so much longer to back through and fix them, so I just decided to leave them, knowing they wouldn't be the best resolution.

I also missed a few pages where my text was too close to the page's edge - so a few of the last letters of my text are cut off. Still readable - so oh well.

The point of the book is for us to have something to look back at as a family, something for my kids to thumb through and remember these years. And this book gives me such a purpose in taking pictures of my kiddos and all the little and big things we do.

So low resolution pictures and some cut-off text isn't going to change that.

Each book I do gets better - so I'll just be a little more careful on the next one.

With the energy and motivation I've had lately to get things done - maybe I can knock out 2009!

a necklace for sydney

2011-10-15T20:01:00.001-05:00

As I write this, the rest of Dave's family are together in Michigan.

They are together, along with lots of their friends for the Detroit Half Marathon tomorrow, with LLS (the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society).

At the beginning of the year, Stacy, Sydney's mom, told us they wanted to form a team - TEAM SYDNEY - to raise money for Leukemia research and run this race in honor of Sydney (our 7 year old niece who was diagnosed with Leukemia a little over a year ago).

The time came to actually register and we had just found out I was pregnant.

Early enough that we hadn't even told family yet.

Until this point, I had "told" everyone I would plan on running. I really really wanted to. I had been wanting to do a half marathon anyway, and it would have meant so much more to run for our sweet niece. But we eventually had to tell everyone I wouldn't be participating because I'd be 8 months pregnant at the time of the race.

So tomorrow is the race.

Tonight is an inspiration dinner, where Stacy is a guest speaker.

And Sydney was suppossed to be an honorary guest.

Thursday night Sydney was admitted to the hospital because of a fever, which means (as far as we've been told), she would not be able to attend tonight's dinner.

Such a disappointment.

But the team is gathered, and I can't imagine the emotions they are all facing tonight.

It saddens us so much that we aren't there with the rest of our family.

Instead, we are babysitting our nephews and niece and enjoying a house FULL of noise and cheers for K-State football!

5 kids sure can make a lot of noise.

We struggled and struggled with trying to figure out a way we could do something special, without being able to be there for the dinner and race tomorrow.

13.1 T-shirts, stickers, race day care packages, etc.

Lots of ideas, but nothing that we were super excited about.

It was just so hard to try to think of something - when nothing really has the same affect as just being able to be there with everyone.

Then, thanks to Pinterest, I ran across a marathon necklace. So I began to look into getting a necklace designed.

And quickly fell in love with this idea.

I work at the last minute - pretty much always.

So I had to find a seller who could get them to me in a week, enough for the whole team of 13, and still be possible financially for us to be able to get that many.

I found Crafty Creations on Etsy and Melissa was SO easy and flexible to work with.

And most importantly said she could definitely have them to me in time for me to get them on the plane with the rest of the family.

I love the necklace she designed and tonight each member of Team Sydney will open their necklace and little note from us, and hopefully it will be our way to be a part of the weekend while still being thousands of miles away.

We picked an orange stone because orange is the color for Leukemia awareness, as a reminder of all the money that was raised by the team and what a difference it will make.

13 people and over $29,000 - wow!

We put the reference to one of our favorite verses on the back of the necklace, in hopes it will bring encouragement, hope, strength and perseverance to each one who wears it.

Not only for the race, but every day after that.

(before I found Crafty Creations, I had Beki at The Rusted Chain design this necklace for Sydney's mom. It is fabulous also but I forgot to take pictures)

As we wrote up the note that we sent along with each necklace, we really struggled in how to share our heart and bring special meaning to this necklace. We wanted it to be worn as a memory of the race, the work and training and money raised to get there, and we wanted it to be a reminder to continue to pray for Sydney, and her mom, dad and brother, but we also wanted it to stand for something more.

And for us...this is what kept coming to mind...

In Genesis 50:20, Joseph says...

"You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done..."

Because we serve a GOOD God, no matter what.

No matter what we have to go through, no matter what our emotions tell us.

He is good and he works out his good and perfect plan in each of us.

We are praying that Sydney gets to join her "team" tomorrow to watch the race, instead of being stuck in a hospital room the entire weekend when all these events are for her. But no matter what, we know He is watching out for her and is working out every detail.

the baby's room

2011-10-08T14:39:00.000-05:00

We are moving slowly along with the nursery.

The walls are painted and we'll start painting the crib soon.

The walls are pretty much the exact color below.

My inspiration picture.

No more pink and green.

I did a lot of playing around with colors.

They overwhelm me a lot and I always 2nd guess my decisions and rarely ever feel like I got the exact color I was wanting.

But I think the colors are pretty much final.

So now I've moved on to fabrics.

I'm in love with the florals - but obviously can't use them unless we have a girl.

So some of the room's details may have to wait till after the baby is here.

I'm going to do a collage of frames on one of the walls. Some will have pictures in them, and some will have fabric. I found a few frames at garage sales over the last few months, am reusing several from Taylor's room, and the small white ones were something that came with us from our first house, so I've had them for almost 7 years. I don't remember what they came from, but I know Dave told me I should throw them away, but I was convinced one day I'd find a use for them. And now I am! They are working perfectly in my collage.

So there's your sneak peak - I'm highly doubting you'll get to see much more before the baby gets here.

Who knows what's actually going to get done.

Along with the baby's room we are reorganizing and arranging our basement, my office is getting complely overhauled, which will lead to the "junk"/guest room probably getting organized too. Our bathroom got lots of work today and a few kitchen junk drawers is our next target.

Lots going on here. Maybe too much.
My to-do list is kind of a dream. But thanks to my wonderful hubby, we're making a pretty good dent so far.

7 months

2011-10-06T07:00:00.003-05:00

I had all intentions of taking better pictures throughout this pregnancy.

I LOVED how Jess always captured her growing tummy each month.

But it didn't happen.

I took a few at the beginning - but never posted them.

And then I finally just now took another.

Today I'm 32 weeks.

I have to look at a calendar and refigure how far along I am multiple times a week.

The plus side to always forgetting is that sometimes weeks pass by quicker!

I've had comments that I look like I'm due any day now.

And comments that I don't look very big at all.

So I'm a little confused.

My only hope is to NOT look like a hippo by the end like a random lady predicted back in July.

The to-do list is a mile long.

The 2 week bronchitis visit definitely slowed me down a bit.

But I'm finally feeling better and getting my energy back.

I have a sono to check baby's growth next week.

The same day my sister has a sono to find out what she's having.

Can't wait!

country fair {recap}

2011-10-02T20:56:00.005-05:00

Not to us, LORD, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness.

Psalm 115:1

The Lord blessed us with beautiful weather,

overwhelming attendance (wish we could have gotten a head count, but the guess is 200-300),

overwhelming positive comments and reactions to the event,

many hands that came together to make this happen,

tons of donations that we were BLESSED with,

the opportunity to bless our friends,

and the opportunity to share His passion for adoption with our community...

To Him we give all the glory.

Pictures from the Country Fair Adoption Fundraiser...

Andrea's photography booth was a huge hit, she was busy non-stop most of the day!

I had NO idea the food was going to be so good!

It was definitely my favorite part.

The guys that did all the cooking could most definitely be hired at Silver Dollar City, they rocked it with their dutch ovens and skillets.

Breakfast skillet, harvest skillet, and peach and cherry cobbler - it was seriously SOOOO good!

I think one of the things we all loved the most was to see how much fun EVERYONE was having, but especially the tons and tons of kids everywhere that were in heaven...

And while the food was maybe the hit for the adults, this was definitely the hit for the kids...

We had such wonderful guys driving the hay rack ride and a golf cart to take you wherever on the property you needed to go. They met people out on the road and brought them up the drive.

Taylor and Mason were lucky to get 2 times to play out at the "farm", once the night before while Daddy helped set up, and then for hours on Saturday when Papa and Nana brought them out.

It was super hard to get them to leave.

We had paintball, water balloon launch, and a fun haybail maze.

It was probably the most perfect day and outcome we could have asked for.

Such neat stories from strangers who just found our location, wondered if we were the "barn sale", and donated without even coming past the welcome table.

Another family from Salina who was looking for something fun to do with their family somehow came across our event on the internet. They absolutely LOVED it and were so happy to be a part of something so special.

It was so neat to see everyone having such a good time, and not even so much focused on the "fundraiser" part. That was just the blessing above and beyond all the rest.

So now the question that seems to be coming up quite a bit is will we ever do it again?

Lots of requests to make it annual.

Lots of kids wondering when they can go back.

I'd love to see what God has in store...

maybe another couple adopting could benefit from it next year.

Despite the MANY pregnant mamas waddling around all over the place, and the extreme exhaustion we ALL had when it was over,

It was really too fun to never do again.

Thank you to EVERYONE who supported our event.

Follow Ryan and Christy's adoption story here.

a little more country fair

2011-09-28T14:26:00.000-05:00

A few more fun details for our Country Fair...

Come Hungry...

walking tacos

those yummy skillet dinners - like Silver Dollar City - succatash, i think!

hot dogs

baked goods

IBC root beer

cotton candy and snowcones

lots of baked goods!

Come ready for the kids to have fun...
(most of this is free!)

facepainting

paintball

water balloon launch

bounce house

carnival games and prizes

hay bail maze

hay rack ride
oh yeah, and a petting zoo
and

Ryan's dad made this awesome barrel train ride!

Check out the silent auction items...

lots of baby items

dresser and nightstand

scentsy warmer

rainbow hoodie from the Whatever shop

2 oil change certificates to Harms Auto Repair
and...

this just in....

a one night stay for 4 people at this log cabin retreat near Concordia, KS ($350 value)!!!!

plus don't forget the raffle for KSU football tickets - $10/ticket

and the Date Night Package - king suite stay and Olive Garden certificate - $5/ticket

(raffle tickets can be purchased without attendance, just email or comment).

And come ready to SMILE...

Wichita Photobooth Company will be there for some party pics!

and

Andrea Siebert Photography will be there to capture your fall family pictures for $25!

Driving on K-15 - look for the big sign on the highway that will lead you our way!!!
And then don't forget the Hesston Barn Sale just a few miles down the road!

Check out Christy's blog for some more details and pictures.

See you Saturday!

country fair {silent auction and raffle}

2011-09-25T20:33:00.005-05:00

We are getting ready for the Country Fair adoption fundraiser on Saturday!!!

Kids carnival games...

and fun decorations...

I found these old tv trays in the garage, they belonged to Dave's grandma and he gave me permission to reporpose them.

So we made them into chalkboards and will hang them with twine or ribbon.

I found this fun frame at a garage sale.

I'm pretty sure when we are done with it I may be using it in the nursery!

lots and lots of bunting...

and so much more!

If you're local, I hope you are planning to come out to our Country Fair THIS Saturday (Oct. 1)!

Our community life group is putting this event on for our friends Ryan and Christy Vogt - who are adopting from Russia.

And we would LOVE to have you out for some fun for all!

And don't forget - if you need some updated family pictures, dress according, and stop by for a 15 minute session with Andrea Siebert Photography. Later, you'll get a cd of 8-10 edited images - perfect to fill some frames and have a 2011 Christmas card!! For only $25!! All proceeds are going to the Vogts!

We have been so excited and so impressed with the people and businesses who have donated to this cause, even without knowing the Vogts.

We have some awesome silent auction items, I just wanted to share a few that came to my mailbox this week...

baby set including a blanket, burp cloth, onesie, and diaper/wipe case

Sunni case, coin purse, and headband set--all in purple!!!

You can check out Pretty Posie Creations here or here to see all their cute stuff!

I am in love with Kristina's hats and had to explain to my kiddos why we wouldn't be keeping them.

Sassy B Creations is on Etsy, go check it out!!

Plus we have so many other items that will be a part of silent auction too!

AND, we have 2 awesome raffles...

2 tickets to the KSU vs. Tx A&M game on Nov. 12.

Section 23, Row 34 - $10 per raffle ticket

and

A Night-Away package - one night stay in a king suite at Homewood Suites in Wichita and gift certificate to Olive Garden - $5 per raffle ticket

If any of you would like to enter either raffle without attending, you can!!

Just leave me a comment or email me at amandabalzer@cox.net. You can send a check and I'll fill out a ticket(s) for you.

We are pumped for Saturday and praying for good weather!

Hope to see lots of you at our Country Fair!

You can visit Ryan and Christy's blog here and follow their adoption story.

bluegrass 2011

2011-09-18T14:33:00.001-05:00

Our Winfield story was quite a bit different than usual.

Definitely a memorable year.

Here's our story...

(pictures were very limited this year...not sure why...maybe it was the weather, or just being preggo and being a bit more lazy than usual)

We got there Wednesday evening, a day earlier than we've ever been able to make it before. (in the end, I'm super glad for this extra time there!)

We got camp set up and then sat down for a campfire and smores.

It just baffles me that for months we have been SO worried about how hot it might be.

And when it got here - we were more on the cold side than the hot side.

Actually, it was pretty close to perfect, especially with some extra layers of clothes.

It was just the drizzling rain (pretty non-stop for 2 days) that made it not so perfect. But even with that, it was light enough that we could still be out in it for the most part.

We definitely were not letting it put a damper on the weekend, and were still having such a great time.

Pancakes and bacon on our first morning.

I made sure to pack some activities and games for the kids, which came in handy more than once.

Our first afternoon they had fun collecting rocks and sticks and painting them.

Another thing that was a lifesaver was the portable dvd player. I thought it would help wind them down at nap time and bed times, little did I know that it would also be a way to pass time one morning we were stuck in our camper for over 3 hours because of a storm.

They couldn't agree on where the movie would sit so they could both see it, so Daddy came up with this lovely set up that did the trick.

We really had a great time Thursday and Friday, yummy meals on the campfire, hit some of our favorites shows and favorite concessions.

The cooler scooter was a hit, especially with a certain cute little boy driving his pregnant momma around on it.

Really, he got SOOO good. He kept it at the right speed and kept it going straight along the campground roads.

It took me a little while to actually want to ride it - I didn't so much like the attention it got. But my body was definitely feeling it after lots of walking and getting out of breath so easily. So I made use of it off and on, with my little chaufer. (man, I wish we would have gotten pictures of that).

I've been pregnant at Bluegrass before - actually 8 months along with Taylor.

But that was 5 years ago, and my first pregancy. Things were not quite as easy this time around.

I was very thankful for a very helpful hubby that took good care of me.

The kids slept great each night.

I wish I could say the same. Last year when we borrowed our friends' camper I remember thinking that bed was so comfy. But being big and pregnant made a little difference this year. We added some extra padding the next nights and it was much better.

So then Saturday came. My birthday.

We woke up at 7am to thunder, lightning and rain. The kids slept through an hour and a half of it, so really, that in itself was not bad at all.

But the storm went on and on. Again, not terrible. When the kids got up we all cuddled in our bed for awhile, ate breakfast, played games and watched movies.

The terrible part was having to go the bathroom so bad, but not wanting to get soaked to make it there.

That was pretty awful.

But then it got worse when the winds picked up and we started to hear things around our camp being knocked over.
We opened our door to find this mess.

Our canopy (Dave's father's day gift last year) was broken enough we had to trash it.
Our nicely set-up and organized camp kind of looked like a bear had come through.

When the rain finally stopped, we cleaned up camp and waited for the sun and 75 degrees that was suppossed to hit that day.

And it did! Sun for the first time in 2 1/2 days.

We had been in town to take showers at a friends 2 days before and stopped at a few garage sales.

One sale had a big 12x20 screened in canopy just like we had been wanting for a few years. But we passed it by that day, thinking we'd maybe head back on Saturday to see if it was still there.

Since we lost our canopy in the storm, we headed back and got it for a sweet deal!

We debated actually setting it up, since we only had one day left. But of course after all that cool weather, now we found ourselves a little warm roasting in the sun with no shade. So up it went (it took a whole camp effort!).

It was up for maybe an hour before the sky started clouding up again and we were hearing reports of a bad storm headed our way. In fact, a text we got said "batton down the hatches".

So down it went.

Radar was not looking good. We were in a tornado watch, and security told us that there were 2 systems headed our way, that involved hail. They advised us if we were in a tent to go to a motel, and if we were in a camper to hold on tight.

Our wonderful smoked-rib dinner turned into a "stuff-your-face-as-fast-as-you-can-and-then-pack-up-camp" dinner.

It was hard to know what to do. Just pack things up that would blow around? Wait it out in the camper? Pack the camper down to keep it safe? Head to our friend's house in town and wait out the storm and then continue the night and Sunday morning as usual?

Dave decided we needed to get the camper down in the final minutes before the storm was suppossed to hit. Which is hard to do when there is tons of stuff all over in it.

We got it down and everything in camp packed up into trucks.

The lightning was getting SUPER scary and close.

At this point, even when the storm passed, the work that would go back into setting the camper back up, getting beds made, and all that jazz to spend our last night there seemed a little pointless.

So for the first time ever, we packed up and headed home early. The kids were bummed, we were bummed, and all I kept thinking (in my own selfishness and not my concern for the thousands of people at the festival) was how dissappointing it would be if all of it was for no reason and the storm didn't even hit.

But it was obvious as we fought the traffic lines out of the fairgrounds, that lots of others were making the same choice.

Better to be safe than sorry.

I think the storm really didn't end up hitting like it was suppossed to, from what we saw on radar. Winfield ended up being right on the edge.

But we did hear that lighting hit a camp (no injuries that I heard of), and it was felt quite strongly by those around.

So Bluegrass 2011, and my 30th birthday ended with a shower, a piece of yummy zuchinni birthday cake from my mom, a pepsi, the couch, and the season premier of Survivor with my hubby.

And then my comfy bed that I had definitely been missing.

Despite the craziness and earlier departure,

the kids are already asking how much longer till next year.

a country fair {adoption fundraiser}

2011-09-16T07:00:00.002-05:00

This is for you locals.

Get your calendars out and mark Saturday, Oct. 1 for a FUN-filled family day at our

COUNTRY FAIR!!

Ryan and Christy are part of our community life group and together, our group, along with some of their family will be hosting this event to help them raise the funds for the adoption from Russia.

We are SOOOO pumped about this day and hope you'll come out!

The event itself is free - the kiddos will love the carnival games!!

There will be tons of yummy food, baked goods, and various activities.

But what you might find MOST beneficial is that for $25 you can get your fall family pictures taken by Andrea Siebert Photography! Are you needing an updated picture for Christmas cards? Do you just need to get an updated one of the kids? For $25 you'll get a 10-15 minute sessions, and later will receive a CD with full printing rights, of 8-10 edited photos.

The location is perfect - country, fields, barns, etc! All profits are being donated directly to Ryan and Christy's adoption! We are so fortunate that Andrea is willingly giving her service - that will not only benefit YOU - but also this adoption!

So dress accordingly, come out for pictures and then relax, eat some grub and have fun!!

Spread the word...

See you at the Fair!

some firsts and some other things

2011-09-14T15:00:00.002-05:00

This obviously isn't a first, but it had been a long time since this little guys last hair cut.

He's been going to the barber with Daddy,

but this time Daddy decided to do it himself.

It started off with all smiles...

and ended with tears.

Sometimes, with a 2nd child it's easy to miss the things they are learning to do.

Those things you are so eagerly watching for with your first.

And sometimes I am surprised and didn't even realize what he's been up to.

For example, I guess I haven't been paying attention to his writing/drawing.

Because this particular night I caught a glimpse of his board while he was drawing on the couch, and was quite shocked at what is developing...

I love the stages of drawing when you begin to actually see people (heads, legs and eyes, nose and mouth).

He's getting quite good at spiders too!

Taylor had her first visit to the dentist and she did fabulous!

Mason didn't really want anything to do with it, besides just watching.

He definitely would NOT let her look into his mouth.

Last week was a big week for us...

Taylor's first dentist visit

and her first day or preschool

and Mason's first day of Cubbies!

Man, who told these kids they could get so big?