Our Little Stonis Fam

First Day of 1st Grade!

2011-09-05T22:07:00.000-04:00

We started school on September 2 and to my wonderful delight, Victoria was ecstatic!!! Yeah! To be honest, I was equally excited! Yeah! :)

We started a tradition last year of Mark taking Victoria out to breakfast at Chick-fil-a on her first day of school. She was so excited this year, but also insisted that Kaleigh join them...it kind of made my heart melt... :)

First Day Pictures!!!

Something new we are trying this year, a Morning Board--so far she loves it!

Trying to keep Kaleigh occupied, that will be the challenge this year!

Off to The Little Gym for a Back to School Party and some exercise!

Ending the day with ice cream!

By the look on her face, I think her first day was a success!

Victoria's Kindergarten Graduation

2011-07-10T20:54:00.000-04:00

Obviously from the lack of posts, things got a little crazy in the Stonis home over the last couple of months! One of the great events of the last month was Victoria's Kindergarten Graduation! Yes, I know, I have become one of those corny moms that makes a big deal out of these things--but my children are only small for such a short time, that I am determined to enjoy this time with them and make these days as memorable as I can! So...we planned a little ceremony and celebration party for our little graduate. She was soooo excited and talked about it for so long, she couldn't wait to graduate! Unfortunately for her, she woke up on Saturday morning not feeling well :( But she was a trooper and she says she loved everything about her party :) Here is a little video...enjoy!

***Don't forget to turn off the blog music***

A Girl and Her Horse...

2011-07-02T01:18:00.000-04:00

I captured these pictures of Victoria and one of her horses, her new love...

Project: Simplify #2--Paper Clutter

2011-03-26T23:42:00.003-04:00

The second hot spot on Simple Mom's Project: Simplify was paper clutter. This is something that I try to keep up with regularly, so you wouldn't think it would have taken me soooo long to accomplish. My problem was that I got started on cleaning out the paper and that led to the desk (not the paper on the desk, the WHOLE desk configuration, which led to the bookshelves, to the guest room closet, to the hall closet, to my coupon system, and eventually I found myself digging out the pantry! Yes, the PANTRY! Not an ounce of paper clutter in my pantry, so I am not sure how I ended up there, but alas that is usually what happens to me :) Anyway, back to the paper clutter :)...Here are the before pics:

I gathered all the paper into one place to work through it all.

I had already filled a trash bag when I remembered to snap a picture.

Coupons

Here is the gist of what I did with the paper clutter:

Pulled out the files and took out all the bills--I do this every January so there wasn't much there.
Signed up for as many Billpay payments as I could to cut down on paper coming into my home.
Went through my warranty and misc. file box and cleaned out all the warranties for things we no longer own.
Purged the receipts
Cleaned out the expired coupons.
Threw out old fliers.
Re-organized/changed my coupon system

This is what it looked like after I was done, I won't show you the rest of the house that I tore through in the process :)

The file drawer--I'm loving the extra space!

Warranty and Misc. File box

New coupon system

Part of the new coupon system

***

And my favorite part of decluttering paper...

"The Burning of the Bills"

Aahhhh.... :)

Garden Advice...Anyone????

2011-03-26T09:51:00.000-04:00

I am pondering starting a small garden this summer and I need some advice, desperately!!! I know absolutely NOTHING about gardening and pretty much have a black thumb! :) Here are some of my thoughts, obstacles, and/or reasons for wanting to tackle this project:

We are trying to eat more healthy and organically, so I would love to eat a lot more salads this summer.
Speaking of salad, the kind of vegetables we enjoy the most are tomatoes, lettuce, spinach, peppers, cucumbers. Are any of these easy to plant and grow?
I am thinking of either container gardening or a raised bed--pros and cons to either???
We have very limited funds to get this started, any frugal tips?
Are any seeds better than others? Can you buy the seeds at the dollar store or is it better to buy more expensive seeds?
I would like to also use this as a school project for Victoria.
I have no idea what I need to get started, how much to expect it to cost, how many plants to plant--advice???

Well, that is all I can think of at the moment--if you have any advice would you be willing to share it with me? Any websites that explain all of this in simple, gardening-for-dummies terms?

Project Simplify #1--The Master Closet

2011-03-24T22:27:00.001-04:00

For the last few weeks I have been working on decluttering, which I confess is one of my favorite things to do!  I was excited to discover Simple Mom's, "Project: Simplify."  This has been a great way to keep me from going on the warpath throughout the whole house, which is usually what happens when I get the urge to declutter :)  She is taking 5 weeks and focussing on one hot-spot a week.  

  
The first hot spot was the master closet--this happens to be the worst place in my home.  It seems that everything gets thrown in there.  The problem is compounded by the fact that all of our closets are also are storage areas and we don't have a dresser in our room.

So, here are my "before" pictures--I am physically cringing as I reveal this...


 

 

I know it's bad--ugh!!!


So anyway, I was standing there staring at all of this stuff, trying to figure out what needed to be in my closet and what would be better in the other closets in the house, and my mind was getting all frazzled...so, I made a little chart to help me sort it all out...This actually helped me quite a bit! :)

Then I went through all of our clothes to see if there was anything that we are not wearing and can get rid of--I was fortunate that the weather is already changing and winter is pretty much over so anything we didn't wear this winter didn't make the cut :)

Here are the end results:


We each have one shelf for our jeans and pants.  Mark's dress pants are also hanging next to his dress shirts on the right.  The hanging shoe bad contains the "out of season shoes" and the regularly worn shoes hang on the door rack. Yes, my husband does have more shoes than me! :)

The other shelves contain: sewing supplies and jewelry, baby gifts (we have A LOT of babies being born in our church :), and other gifts we find and pick up along the way.

 

All of our shirts are hanging:  white hangers for me, black for Mark :)

 
Maternity and my Fat clothes--Ha ha :)


We each have one box of clothes that contain the next season and the Misc. box contains gifts we pick up for the girls--shhh... :)

I know it's not all pretty and coordinated, like I would loooove, but it is organized.  I will work on "prettying" it up slowly, as the budget allows :)

100th Day!!

2011-03-24T19:29:00.000-04:00

Victoria has completed her first 100 days of school! And I guess I have too, as a teacher :) That is cause for a celebration of course! :) She has been looking forward to this day since she first started her little chart, writing the number of each day. It is amazing to think that 100 days ago she couldn't count to 100 or count by tens and now she can do both so quickly--it has been such a great process watching her learn and grow these past 100 days. I am so happy to discover how much I enjoy teaching her; I remember so clearly how terrified I was to begin this journey. So, anyway, back to our celebration...

We started off the day with 100 kisses, and of course Kaleigh wanted to join in too :) Here are some of our other activities:

Decorating a 100 sign using 100 stickers
Worksheet counting by tens to 100
Making a snack mix with 10 sets of 10 different items, we used cashews, almonds, raisins, Kashi hearts, marshmallows, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, granola clusters, cheerios, and chocolate fish.
Writing 100 words that she can read and write--I was amazed at how well she did this!
100 exercises: 10 sets of 10 pushups, situps, jumping jacks, long jumps, stair jumps, slides, one-foot hopping, hand stands, ronds de jambe's, and scissor kicks.
Eating pancakes shaped like 100
Making a necklace with 100 fruiti-os in a pattern
Watching a book on dvd about Emily's First 100 Days of School
Started a food drive, collecting 100 cans to donate to the Food Bank--we were not able to complete this one, but we are just going to keep it going until we collect all 100.
Reading books about the 100th day of school:

I ended the day by giving her a small gift for all her hard work this far: A Strawberry Shortcake 100th day of school sticker book :)

Congratulations Victoria!

We are so proud of you!

Insect Unit

2011-03-22T10:01:00.001-04:00

"I am a wise child, so I work hard."

This unit was one that held much anticipation for Victoria :) She was so excited to send away for her ants weeks earlier and then wait for them to arrive. They came right on time and have been quite fascinating for all of us, believe it or not :) They have taken up residence in the middle of our dining room table, and I admit that it did strike me as "funny" the other night as we all sat down to dinner around the ants :)

We actually spent 2 weeks on this unit because Victoria was so interested in it. We focused on 3 insects: the ant, ladybug, and bee. Even though spiders are not insects, we did spend some time studying them as well.

Opening up the package...

The Ants!!!

Preparing their new home

Here is a video of Victoria...I mean me... adding the ants to their new home...Feel free to laugh--Yes, I know I am quite pathetic!!

Here are some interesting ant facts for your reading pleasure :)

All worker ants are female
Male ants don't do much at all :)
Only the males and the queen has wings
Once the queen mates, she loses her wings
As soon as ants are born they go right to work building tunnels
They bury their dead--at least in the ant farm they do :)

Reading: Victoria has really taken off with her reading--she is always telling me how much she loves it :) We are using Hooked on Phonics K to supplement. I have been really pleased with this program--the pace has worked really well for her.

Handwriting: We ended putting the cursive writing on hold for now because it goes at a much slower pace for a four year old and was interfering with her reading. Victoria was also getting very frustrated with her inability to write it perfectly and was starting to hate handwriting. So we started printing and will try to start up the cursive in the summer. Hopefully she will have more confidence by then.

Some of our activities:

Special snacks: Ants on a log, ladybug apples, honey balls
Counting insects using fingerprints
Making an ant and a spider and labeling their parts
Books, books, books--too many to list!

St. Patrick's Day

2011-03-20T18:33:00.000-04:00

We spent the day...

wearing green
eating green foods: Cascadian Farms Organic Fruitful O's Cereal (our new favorite cereal) with green milk, green smoothies, green whipped cream on our pie :)
studying Ireland
learning about Patrick and his passion to teach the Irish about salvation
painting a shamrock: Patrick's way to explain the Trinity
making Irish soda bread and corned beef
listening to Irish music
watching clips of Riverdance
practicing our Irish dancing :)
giggling!

all in all we learned a lot and had lots of fun in the process!

Kaleigh is walking!!!

2011-03-14T11:23:00.000-04:00

So, yes, I may seem a little too excited about this, but it has been a long time in the making--19 months to be exact :) Sorry about the lack of clothing on my poor girl, honestly this girl is never in just a diaper, but of course the one time she is, that's the time she decides to show off! :) One of my favorite parts is how she giggles at herself :)

Water Unit

2011-02-17T22:54:00.001-05:00

"Jesus gives my spirit living water to drink."

Another fun lesson with lots of experiments! We learned about the different states of water: solid, liquid, and gas; and we talked about the importance of water for all living things. We also talked about our spirits needing the living water that only Jesus can provide.

Add caption

Working on her 100 chart

States of matter chart

Reading and Writing

Water experiment

Doing so well in her reading!

Books we read:

Make Way for Ducklings by Robert McCloskey
The Story About Ping by Marjorie Flack and Kurt Wiese
Various others science books about water :)

Victoria's Mid-Year Show

2011-01-29T22:21:00.001-05:00

*** Don't forget to turn off the music at the bottom of the page :) ***

Frugal Friday Tip

2011-01-29T09:48:00.000-05:00

#5 Cut baby wipes in half

When Victoria was born, we noticed that we didn't really need a whole wipe when she was just wet, so we started tearing them in half--it worked great and our wipes lasted so much longer. Obviously this is only for when they are wet, if they are more than wet you will definitely need a whole one. :) We also found that Huggies brand wipes work the best for easily tearing in half, Pampers do not work very well for tearing. We just tear the wipe in half and then stick the other half back in the container (we don't cut the whole package in half), that way next time we need one, we can easily move the half-wipe out of the way if a whole one is needed.

Frugal Friday Tip

2011-01-21T16:24:00.001-05:00

Back by popular demand!!! A.K.A Julie :)

I thought I would share two of my favorite sites for trading books and dvd's.

1. Paperbackswap : Basically, you list books that you would like to get rid of and when someone wants your book you send it to them. You pay for the postage--usually around $2.23, but when you request a book, you pay nothing, the sender will pay the postage. You receive 1 credit for each book you send to someone and most books cost only 1 credit. When you sign up and list 10 books, you automatically get 2 free credits as a "welcome gift"--so you get 2 free books just for signing up and listing 10 of yours to swap!

2. Swapadvd : This is the same way as with the books. You list your dvd's that you no longer want and receive credits when someone requests them, that you in turn use to choose dvd's that you would like. Dvd's usually cost about $1.90 to ship. You will receive 1 free gift credit for listing 10 dvd's when you sign up.

These two sites have saved me a lot of money on books and dvd's. Plus it allows me to get rid of clutter--something I love to do!!! Now, you are probably not going to find "just released" books or dvd's on these sites, but you can find some books or dvd's that are a little harder to find elsewhere :)

Helpful tips:
* You do not need to use special bubble mailers to mail the books and dvd's--you can just wrap them in saran wrap or a plastic bag and then cover it with the paper that you print out with the requestor's address on it.
* You can also purchase your postage online add they will add it right to the label if that is easier for you--there is a small fee for that though.
* You can make a wish list and they will notify you or even automatically request a particular book for you as soon as someone lists it.

Happy Swapping!

Octopus Unit

2011-01-11T19:12:00.001-05:00

"Even the octopus praises the Lord"

In this unit we learned about the octopus, the ocean, and other creatures that live in the ocean. It was truly amazing to learn about all these creatures God has made. We watched "Disney Oceans" to finish off our week, which was really interesting, but not quite as good as "Disney Earth."

Bible: Psalm 104:24-25, Psalm 69:34, Psalm 148:7

Books:

"A House for Hermit crab" by Eric Carle
"Is This a House for Hermit Crab?" by Megan McDonald
"Octopus (A Day in the Life: Sea Animals)" by Louise Spilsbury
"Octopus Opposites" by Stella Blackstone
Many others :)

Victoria's creation :)

Cuisenaire Rods

"Octopus" dinner

Victoria asked if we could have this every night for dinner! Aaahh! Definitely not :)

Dinosaur Unit

2011-01-11T18:46:00.001-05:00

"Big and small, God made them all."

Victoria was really looking forward to this unit because she has had "dinosaur fever" ever since we took a trip to Canada when she was 2 :) I also found this unit very interesting, there were so many things I never knew or had even thought about dinosaurs.

Cuisenaire rods

Dinosaur game

Making patterns

Kaleigh enjoying lesson time

Math worksheets

Counting by 5's

Victoria's first time coloring by letter

Thanksgiving Unit

2011-01-11T17:59:00.001-05:00

Catch up time...

We took a break from our curriculum so that we could spend some time learning about Thanksgiving. I found some great online resources, including a virtual field trip to Plimoth (yes, that is the correct spelling :). We also read a lot of books regarding the first Thanksgiving and the Separatists. It was a great time of learning and really made us thankful for all the blessings and conveniences God has given us. Unfortunately, I only got 2 pictures of our week :(

Favorite resources:

Thanksgiving worksheets

Our Turkey family :)

Us Unit

2010-11-29T23:44:00.000-05:00

God made us wonderful!

We had a fun 2 weeks learning about our 5 senses and the human body. We did a lot of experiments with our senses and learned how important they are for our daily living.

I was able to find a lot of great printable worksheets on each of the 5 senses here and here.

Sense of Touch

Guess that object

Guess that object with a little impairment...

Sense of Hearing

Playing along with the music

Sense of Sight

Which one is missing?

Drawing Daddy blindfolded

Sense of Smell

Guess that smell...

Sense of Taste

Guess that taste...

We ended our unit by making a clay handprint of Victoria. I made one when I was about Victoria's age and I remember always taking it out to see how much I had grown. Hopefully hers will be just as special.

I am so thankful for the wonderful way that God made my sweet, spunky Victoria!

Frugal Friday Tip

2010-11-12T22:57:00.001-05:00

#3 Use hair conditioner for shaving instead of buying shaving cream.

So, obviously, if you use salon conditioner this would not be very frugal, but if you are able to find conditioner for free or cheap then it works out well! (Hint: you can often get conditioner for free at Rite Aid and CVS) I know it might seem strange, but I actually prefer it over shaving cream because it makes for a very smooth shave and soft skin--it is kind of like using those fancy in-shower body lotions. :)

Frugal Friday Tip

2010-11-06T01:19:00.001-04:00

#2 Buy whole milk and water it down 50/50 when cooking and baking.

I know it might sound gross, but unless you are a foodie, you probably will never taste the difference. We also do this with our cereal, but that may be a little harder for some. Though we really don't taste any difference. For cereal Mark probably uses less water in the ratio, since he does like the taste of milk, whereas I use even more water, since I don't love the taste.

Turtle Unit

2010-11-04T17:16:00.001-04:00

"I don't quit; I persevere."

We studied the letter Tt and turtles :) We also studied Galations 6:9 and how we are not to quit when things become difficult, but instead we are to persevere. Often throughout the week, Victoria would say, "This is really hard, but I am not going to quit, I am going to keep going and _______ (eat this sandwich, play with this toy, look at this book--it was rather humorous what she came up with :)

Practicing the letter Tt

She made a turtle out of cardboard and an empty green soda bottle--it actually ended up being a great toy that I have a feeling will be around for awhile :)

Practicing the letter Tt by making pumpkin pancakes :)

This was a game we played with her flash cards. She put them all on the floor and then found the animal whose name began with that letter. These animals are her favorite toys, so it was fun for her to give them all their special place :)

Working on math

These pattern blocks are another fun activity to help reinforce math concepts.

Some books we read:

The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper
Mike Mulligan and his Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton
The Name of the Tree by Celia Barker Lottridge
"The Hare and the Tortoise" fable--we acted out this story using her little turtle that she made; she got a big kick out of watching me be the hare :)

Nest Unit

2010-11-04T16:42:00.001-04:00

"God takes good care of me"

In this unit, we studied nests and animal homes along with the letter Nn. We learned that God takes care of us just like He does the birds of the air. We acted out Psalm 91:1-4 by making a nest with our floor pillows, Victoria curled up like a baby bird in the center, and I came over and covered her with my arms to show her how God protects us and cares for us just like the mother bird cares for her babies.

We studied animal homes and played a matching game, matching each animal to its home.

Cuisenaire Rods

We also made edible nests out of my granola bar recipe and added Jelly Belly's for eggs.

Books we read:

A House Is a House for Me by Mary Ann Hoberman
Are You My Mother? by P. D. Eastman --This one was definitely a favorite for Victoria--she even ended up memorizing it :)

We also looked up various articles online and watched baby birds hatching--another hit with Victoria :)

Operation Christmas Child

2010-11-04T09:39:00.001-04:00

Last year we packed a shoebox for Operation Christmas Child and we have been planning on doing it again this year. When I would go school supply shopping for Victoria we would pick up triple of most things to add to our boxes--Victoria loved picking out different colors and designs that she thought the children would like :) Recently, I came across this video about a woman that received a box as a little girl and the impact it had on her--I was brought to tears...something so small can really mean SO much!

If you would like more information, check out this link.

Frugal Friday Tip

2010-10-30T00:36:00.001-04:00

I thought I would try to start sharing a new frugal tip every Friday--most of them will probably seem basic to a lot of you, but hopefully they will be helpful to someone.

So, my first tip is actually something I have been doing for a long time and didn't even realize that it was a food stretcher! It is so basic, you are going to laugh...

#1 When making homemade, baked mac and cheese, cook the pasta in water before adding it to the casserole dish with the cheese sauce mixture.

Okay, I know what you are thinking..."Duh!" But every recipe I have looked at calls for 8 oz. of pasta uncooked--well, by cooking the pasta beforehand you can add 1lb (the whole box) instead. Now, I have to credit my Mom for this tip (Thanks Mom!) because that is the way she always made mac and cheese when I was growing up; I honestly didn't know any different until I was looking in my cookbooks and noticing that the ingredients were so similar to my Mom's recipe, but they all called for 8 oz of uncooked pasta, whereas my mom's called for 16 oz. of cooked pasta. Ding Ding! And the light bulb went on! :)

First trip to the Dentist

2010-10-29T23:04:00.001-04:00

Victoria had her first trip to the dentist and did great! She actually loved it!

We were so proud of her!

Getting started...

X-Rays

Kaleigh practicing for her turn :)

Cool Shades!

Yeah for prizes!

Apple Unit

2010-10-24T21:34:00.001-04:00

"If I stay in Jesus I will have much fruit"

I was really looking forward to our Apple Unit because their are so many fun things to do that are "apple" related! :) I was really hoping to go apple picking, but after spending countless hours searching, I could not find a place that was less than 3 hours away :( But, despite that we still had a lot of fun!

Victoria really enjoyed our apple experiment: we compared 4 different apples and then charted them on color, smell, and taste--the Golden Delicious were her favorite! :)

We cut them sideways so that we could see the star :)

Not only did we study apples, but we studied fruit in general. We also talked about Galations 5:22-23 and what God means when He talks about us bearing fruit. In order to illustrate it, we made our own "Fruit of the Spirit" basket. When Victoria showed a "fruit of the spirit" she would get to add that particular "fruit" to her basket--she really loved this :)

When I was gone at my grandmother's funeral, Mark and Victoria went to the beach and made sand apples :)

* * * * *

Painting a spring day while listening to Vivaldi's "Spring"--her first time painting with water colors and she really enjoyed it!

Cuisenaire Rods

Bobbing for Apples!

SHE GOT IT!

I am in love...

2010-10-19T22:49:00.005-04:00

with my new chore planner!!!

I know. I am crazy. But I really love this thing!

I heard about the Motivated Moms Chore Planner on MoneySavingMom. At first, I thought, "well, I can make up my own for free, so why should I pay for one?" But then I realized that it would take me a whole lot of time to come up with one as detailed as this one. So, I thought I would try out the clearanced version (since that's how I roll :) for the 3 months that it is good for and see how it works out.

The clearance version is $2 for October-December, but with the coupon code LLNOE it comes to only $1.00!!! I figured I could not go wrong for $1!

So, anyway, I printed out the half-page version that shows you the whole week's list on one page and I just LOVE it! I will admit that I didn't think it would work for me at first because I like to have the whole house cleaned for Small Group on Wednesday, but then God reminded me of how I stress myself out on Wednesdays trying to clean the whole house, and homeschool, and be a pleasant mom :) I think a little dust on the furniture because I dusted on Monday instead of Wednesday will be worth putting up with if it means a happier, cleaner, smoother running home (and mom :).

One of my favorite things about this planner is that it doesn't just list regular, weekly chores--it adds in the things that often get overlooked, like "cleaning the cupboards," "sweeping the front porch," clipping the children's nails (hee hee--I love this one, because I loathe long nails on my children :)"

Okay, I know that I sound like an infomercial, so I will stop now :) Just thought I would pass along my new amazing find!

Happy Cleaning!

Oh, and just so that there isn't any confusion...
I am also madly in love with these three...

Leaf Unit

2010-10-18T17:34:00.001-04:00

"I will live and grow in Jesus"

Our Leaf Unit turned out to be quite disappointing--we were not able to do any of our fun activities because it rained every. single. day! It rained so much our street actually flooded on Thursday!

We wanted to collect leaves and arrange them by size, go on a nature walk, make leaf rubbings, and make placemats out of pressed leaves; but, instead we hid indoors and talked about leaves, looked at pictures, and read lots of books--not quite as much fun, but we learned, none the less :)

We did enjoy our study of plants. We learned how plants grow, how they reproduce, and their importance to our environment. We discussed how we are like leaves on God's plant and how we need to stay on the plant in order to grow in Him. We also looked at what happens to the leaves when they come off the plant...

All in all, it was still a great unit, just not as much fun as we had hoped :)

Moon Unit

2010-10-16T23:03:00.001-04:00

"I am the light of the world"

I am waaayyy behind in my posting--ugh! I will do my best to catch up...

The week that we studied the letter Mm, we also studied the moon. We learned that the moon does not produce its own light, but instead it reflects the light of the sun. This concept is a good reminder to us that in and of ourselves we do not have any light, but instead as we draw near to God we reflect His light to others.

Tracking how the moon looked each night.

We went for a "moon walk" each night to observe the moon--its shape, size, color. This was a really special time for Victoria as most nights she would wait for daddy to come home and they would go together. She would share with him all that she was learning about the moon during their walk.

Some of the books we read...

Cuisenaire rods--this is a really fun activity that helps solidify math concepts.

Sun Unit

2010-09-23T09:48:00.001-04:00

Jesus is the light of the world

Last week we studied the sun along with the letter "Ss." We read a lot of books about the sun and learned about its importance for our planet. We also learned how Jesus is a light to the world. John 8:12 "I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life."

We also made a sundial. Every hour we went out and marked the shadow(when we remembered :) It was fun to see the shadow line up the next day at the same time--it actually works! :)

We were hoping to make a sun oven, but ran out of time--maybe we can squeeze it in with another lesson :)

Our big experiment was watching the sun turn grapes into raisins. Every morning Victoria puts her grapes outside in the sun and then brings them in the house when it gets dark. We have actually been working on this one for a week, and we still have a little bit more time to go, but we can definitely see the progression!

Kaleigh's One Year Pics--just figured out how to post them!

2010-09-19T00:28:00.001-04:00

Well, it took me a little while to figure out how to make these pictures big enough that you can actually see what they are (Thank you Sarah!), so that is why I am a month late in posting them.

Here are the many faces of Kaleigh...

Creation Unit

2010-09-13T00:04:00.001-04:00

Victoria finished her first Kindergarten unit!

Yeah! We survived! She actually learned something! Wahoo!

Can you tell we are a little excited and relieved? :)

Each day we studied a new day of creation. Victoria made a poster of the seven days of creation, along with a creation book for her to read and look through.

We started each day with a Bible lesson. We are using the book, "Leading Little Ones to God."

Of course, Baby Rose needed to join us :)

ABC chart review--MFW suggests singing the ABC song to the tune of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" in order to avoid the slurring of LMNOP, which I thought was a great idea!

Handwriting practice--I really think this is going to be her most challenging area, but we are not in a rush and will just take it slowly.

Each day in her last workbox I added a special snack as a reminder to the day of creation that we had studied. Honestly, I just did this because I thought it would be fun for her, but I was really surprised at home much it helped her to remember--I know, I know most people already know how important visuals are for children, but it was a revelation to me that they could make that much of a difference! :)
Here is our snack list:
Day 1: Oreo's--representing light and dark
Day 2: Water--representing um, water :)
Day 3: Dirt cups (crushed oreo's and pudding)--representing the dry land, etc.
Day 4: Cheese--Victoria said this reminded her of the sun--maybe because we used colby :)
Day 5: Fish crackers--representing the sea creatures
Day 6: Animal crackers--representing animals
Day 7: Sundaes!!--representing God resting :) We added the oreo's, crushed oreo's, fish crackers (graham version), and animals crackers to our ice cream and served it with water and cheese to remind us of the whole creation study--we also waited until Daddy got home from work so we could share our celebration with him! :)

We ended our unit by reviewing and then watching Disney Earth--this was a special surprise for Victoria, we rented this last year (and loved it!) and she has been wanting to watch it again ever since. I thought it would make a great wrap-up for our study on all that God has created. It was so sweet listening to her exclaim, "Look, Mom, God created that! That is awesome!" over and over again.

Battle of the Walker

2010-09-11T09:14:00.002-04:00

Kaleigh has had quite the time trying to figure out this whole walker contraption--it appears the walker may be winning this battle... (Don't forget to adjust the volume, if needed :)

Victoria's 1st Day of Kindergarten!

2010-09-01T23:47:00.001-04:00

Victoria began her first day by going out to breakfast with Daddy. This was a really special time for them that we hope to make a tradition--she is already talking about how fun it will be when Kaleigh starts school and can go out to breakfast too :)

Then the "Little Blue Bus" dropped her off at "school"--she was loving every minute of it!

Picture Time!!!

School Day

We then began our school day. The workboxes worked great and kept us on track--she loved going to the next box to see what we were going to do. Her curriculum starts off light for the first 10 days to get her adjusted to the idea of school--I really liked this because it was good for new teachers too, like me! :) We covered Bible, Genesis 1:1-5--First day of creation, the number 1, reviewed upper and lowercase letters, singing, and practiced writing cursive letter "i". We ended our day with a snack of oreo's and milk to remind us of what God created on day 1--darkness and light :)

Cutting the number 1

Kaleigh--snacking :)

Finding the number 1 in everyday things

Cursive letter "i"

Oreo's and milk--illustrating light and darkness :)

We had a great first day! She begged for more school all day--if only that would last...sigh...

Kaleigh's First Birthday!

2010-08-20T10:07:00.002-04:00

I can't believe our little girl is ONE! We had a fun, cupcake party for our little birthday girl--and I actually enjoyed stretching my creative abilities to their max--ha ha! :)

Birthday Girl!!! Here she is sporting her new cupcake bow made by Shyla at Brown Eyed Girlies --can I just say that I LOVE the grippy things she put on the clip! No bow should ever be made without them!!! :)

Cake Time!!!

Looking kind of skeptical...

I think she spies something...

And it is gone in a flash! She totally inhaled it!

Getting the rest off the fingers...

"More Please!"

Scraping the plate--trying not to leave anything behind!

"Let's just lick this--that would be easier"

Present Time!!!

Reading her card...

"Thank you very much for this tasty bag!"

Happy 1st Birthday Kaleigh Joy Anne! We have been so blessed by you this year--you have brought us so much joy! These are some of the special memories that I will always remember from your first year...

* I will never forget the way you started smiling at me at two weeks old and would give me one smile everyday, almost like you knew what your mama needed.

* How I would rock you every day from 3pm-4pm and you would nap on me, while your sister was sleeping. I would hug you close and cry and pray--I just couldn't bear to put you down.

* How you preferred that I hold you almost all day until you were about 11 months old :)

* The way you would squirm and fuss if you even heard my voice while someone else was holding you :)

* The way you would flop your arms to the side and fall right asleep on Daddy's chest every night.

* The way Victoria could make you smile and giggle when no one else could.

We love you!

How I love two...

2010-08-11T10:23:00.003-04:00

It is so hard to believe that one year ago today, I was headed to a doctor's appointment, not realizing I would be coming home with a baby in my arms just 24 hours later! For more on that story you can read my post here. I also had no idea it was possible to have as much love for my second as I do for my firstborn. I couldn't really picture what life would be like with another little one around--I loved my years with Victoria, but watching the girls interact with each other fills my heart with joy--it is such a precious sight! Here are some of my "loves" with two from the past year...

* I love that Victoria has never showed an ounce of jealousy toward her sister! She loves her just as much now as she did the first moment she saw her!

* I love how Kaleigh's face lights up as soon as she sees or hears Victoria.

* I love how Victoria can't wait until she hears Kaleigh stirring from her nap so she can go in and play with her.

* I love hearing Victoria climb into Kaleigh's crib so she can read books to her.

* I love watching Victoria carry Kaleigh to me when she needs something.

* I love how Victoria is always thinking about Kaleigh and always wants to be around her, even when Kaleigh squirms for her own space.

* I love the sound of Kaleigh giggling at Victoria.

* I love how protective Victoria is over Kaleigh.

* I love how since the day we brought Kaleigh home, Victoria has always wanted to "match" whatever she is wearing.

* I love having two girls!!!

Cherishing these Moments...

2010-07-31T11:19:00.008-04:00

As Victoria's first day of Kindergarten quickly approaches, I am reminded again at how fast the years go by...I remember holding her as a newborn and thinking that 5 years old was a long ways away...and now. here. we. are. My baby has grown up and is starting school! In my research into all things school related I came across this poem--over at My Blessed Home, it comes from a book by Karen Kingsbury, titled, "Let Me Hold You Longer." I want to remember all these moments with my children--not wish away the ones I don't prefer--but cherish each day that I am privileged to be their mommy (Yes, I know the pictures are of Mark and Victoria, but the memories of watching my husband with our sweet little girls are just as special.) This was a good reminder for me...

Long ago you came to me,
a miracle of firsts,
First smiles and teeth and baby steps,
a sunbeam on the burst.

But one day you will move away
and leave to me your past
And I will be left thinking of
a lifetime of your lasts…

The last time that I held a bottle
to your baby lips
The last time that I lifted you
and held you on my hip.

The last night when you woke up crying,
needing to be walked,
When last you crawled up with your blanket,
wanting to be rocked.

The last time when you ran to me,
still small enough to hold.
The last time that you said you’d marry
me when you grew old.

Precious, simple moments and
bright flashes from your past-
Would I have held on longer if
I’d known they were your last?

Our last adventure to the park,
your final midday nap,
The last time when you wore your favorite
faded baseball cap.

Your last few hours of kindergarten,
those last few days of first grade,
Your last at bat in Little League,
last colored picture made.

I never said good-bye to all
your yesterdays long passed.
So what about tomorrow-
will I recognize your lasts?

The last time that you catch a frog
in that old backyard pond.
The last time that you run barefoot
across our fresh-cut lawn.

Silly, scattered images
will represent your past.
I keep on taking pictures,
never quite sure of your lasts…

The last time that I comb your hair
or stop a pillow fight.
The last time that I pray with you
and tuck you in at night.

The last time when we cuddle
with a book, just me and you
The last time you jump in our bed
and sleep between us two.

The last piano lesson,
last vacation to the lake.
Your last few weeks of middle school,
last soccer goal you make.

I look ahead and dream of days
that haven’t come to pass.
But as I do, I sometimes miss
today’s sweet, precious lasts…

The last time that I help you with
a math or spelling test.
The last time when I shout that yes,
your room is still a mess.

The last time that you need me for
a ride from here to there.
The last time that you spend the night
with your old tattered bear.

My life keeps moving faster,
stealing precious days that pass,
I want to hold on longer-
want to recognize your lasts…

The last time that you need my help
with details of a dance.
The last time that you ask me for
advice about romance.

The last time that you talk to me
about your hopes and dreams.
The last time that you wear a jersey
for your high school team.

I’ve watched you grow and barely noticed
seasons as they pass.
If I could freeze the hands of time,
I’d hold on to your lasts.

For come some bright fall morning,
you’ll be going far away.
College life will beckon
in a brilliant sort of way.

One last hug, one last good-bye,
one quick and hurried kiss.
One last time to understand
just how much you’ll be missed.

I’ll watch you leave and think how fast
our time together passed.
Let me hold on longer, God,

to every precious last.

(Thanks Michelle!)

Well, thank you, Kaleigh for reading my blog...

2010-07-29T01:23:00.003-04:00

We met with the GI specialist a couple weeks ago to try to discover why Kaleigh has not been gaining weight. I was a little nervous about this appointment because I was told she would be having 3 hours of testing--I could not imagine what that would entail on an 11 month old.

The first thing they did was check her weight. They told me I could leave her diaper on (seemed unusual, but if it adds a few extra ounces, I am all for that :) I was optimistic that she had gained "something," but I still looked at the scale and held my breath... 5.67 ...Huh?!

"Something is definitely wrong with this scale!"

I think the nurse noticed my bulging eyes, because she quickly informed me that they use kilo's to measure--oh, okay...translation please?...around 12.47 lbs. Yeah!!! I was sooo excited to hear something other than "11. _ _" as we have been hearing for the past 9 months!

Then we met with the doctor--he talked, we talked, he listened...

What??? He listened???
Amazing!

He said Kaleigh's growth chart was "negatively impressive" -- basically he said he is quite concerned that she has not gained any weight since she was 2 months old, but because her blood work came back fine and she doesn't have any other negative symptoms, there isn't much more we can do right now, except to try to add more calories to her diet. He then studied Victoria's growth chart that I had brought with me (Victoria only gained 1 lb from 6 months-12 months--not quite as small as Kaleigh, but still small). He said it did make him feel better that Victoria had slow-growth also, and he thought genetics might be playing a part.

So, we go back in a month to see if the calorie/fat powder he gave us is making a difference and then we will go from there...more waiting, but this time we are optimistic. It was such a relief to hear that her blood tests came back fine and it was a HUGE blessing to have such a great doctor to work with--he was compassionate, intelligent, and, best of all--calm. He knew how to express his concern without adding undue stress or panic--2 things a mother does NOT need! For the first time in 9 months I walked out of a doctor's office with hope--that my baby might just be okay, and that maybe, just maybe, I am not failing her miserably.

A Letter to Kaleigh...

2010-06-11T12:28:00.003-04:00

My dear, sweet Kaleigh,

I want you to know that my heart is overwhelmed with love and concern for you. You and your sister mean the world to me and I really am trying to take good care of you both. Your failure to gain weight weighs heavily on my mind, but your constant smile works to calm my anxious heart. Despite what others may say, I am trying to do right by you. I have avoided all the tests hoping you would catch up on your own the way Victoria did, but unfortunately you still seem to be struggling. My heart is fearful that maybe I chose wrongly, please know that it is not arrogance that kept me from the specialists, I just fully believed you were okay. If I made the wrong decision, I am so sorry. I am praying earnestly for wisdom and that God would look after your little body as we wait for your appointment. I confess that I pray that you will be perfectly healthy, my selfishness for you makes it hard to pray any other way. I love you with all my heart! Please grow sweet one!

Blanket Buddies!

2010-05-13T10:38:00.002-04:00

So, I was inspired by Kelly's post here on blanket time and thought I would try it out on my girls :)

Okay, well actually I put Kaleigh on the blanket, more as a way to give Kaleigh some space because Victoria loves her sooo much that she has a tendency to smother her...well, Victoria tried to bring her toys over and play on it too, so I told her she needed to go get her own blanket (sort of half joking) since there was obviously not enough room for 2 on Kaleigh's. So, she brings down this very large blanket... but she still had to scoot to the very edge so that she could be next to Kaleigh while she was playing :)

***It actually did work well to give Victoria a visual boundary and allowed Kaleigh to play "unassisted" :) So, thank you Kelly for the great reminder!

***And, yes that is my sweet Kaleigh sitting up all by herself! She also gave me a wonderful Mother's day present by crawling!!!! It was an army crawl, but I am quite pleased with her nonetheless. And lest you think I am really dumb and don't realize that most babies have become experts at these 2 activities by 9 months, let me assure you that I am not. I don't know if she has just been "lazy", or if her small size has kept her from trying out these activities (she is still less than 11lbs. and the size of most 3 month olds), but we are happy to see her showing some interest in moving--of course she does have the BIGGEST cheerleader in Victoria! :)

Pondering Motherhood...

2010-05-03T12:25:00.001-04:00

As Mother's Day approaches I have been thinking a lot about the kind of mother I want to be in practical terms. Obviously, I want to be a godly mother that loves the Lord and honors Him with the words that I speak and the actions I perform, but to be honest, I want to be more than that. Does that sound terrible? Should I just be satisfied with pursuing that goal?

Maybe. I am not sure. Probably.

Why does my heart yearn to be more?

Can I be a godly mother, but still not have the kind of relationship that I desire with my daughters?

Can I please the Lord, but still leave my girls wishing for more?

These are the things I am pondering...What will my girls wish I had done or been when they are grown?

So, I would like to ask you, readers (the 2 or 3 that I have :), to share with me one thing about your mothers that has impacted the relationship you have with them today, either positively or negatively. I am asking because I want to learn...I don't want to wait until my daughter's are grown and then wonder if I should have done something differently...I don't want to just be a mother because I have offspring, I want to BE a mother...I want to pursue Christ in my mothering, but I think that means more than just reading my Bible and praying everyday...

Why, oh why am I excited about this????

2010-05-01T19:09:00.002-04:00

That is the question I keep asking myself, as I feel excitement start building inside me.

What could be causing this excitement, you ask?

Homeschooling!!!

Am I insane??? That is another question I keep asking...

To be honest, it is only this past week that I have been able to stir up any excitement to overshadow the Fear. Dread. Panic. Horror that consumed me whenever I thought about this topic!

So, what has caused the change? There are 2 things:

1) I have decided on curriculum--that is half the battle! The curriculum itself seems exciting, which is a definite plus! And it is not outrageously priced--Yeah!

2) This is the big thing that has me excited...I found this thing called "Sue Patrick's Workbox System"--to this organizational brain of mine, this is paradise! Now at first when I started reading about this system I was not thrilled that it needed a metal shoe rack and 12 plastic shoe boxes to implement--I mean talk about an eye-sore, space-hogger! Yuck! So I kept reading and reading and found that some people had tweaked it to make it suit their space, but their ideas didn't thrill me either. But then...and I am pretty proud of myself for coming up with this idea all on my own :)...I thought of using magazine holders!

This is good for me for a few reasons:

1) They are cheap!

2) They come in various widths--if that is needed.

3) They will look nice and uncluttered on a bookshelf!

4) They do not take up much space!

5) If I decide to get really crazy, I can decorate them or something--ha!

Now, I realize this all seems pretty boring and insignificant. I know that homeschooling is not for everybody, trust me, I am not convinced it is for me either. I have actually been feeling very inadequate and scared about the task that is before me, but I know this is what I am to do for right now--hopefully, hopefully, not forever! --so, these small things have been a huge encouragement to me! I also know that probably after the first day, I will be back to feeling Fear. Dread. Panic. Horror, so I will enjoy the "excitement" while it lasts!

Victoria-isms...

2010-04-30T20:34:00.001-04:00

Okay, so this may be a tad inappropriate, so stop reading if you are sensitive in nature...

So Victoria is jumping away on the trampoline while I am sitting on the couch watching her, when all of a sudden she says, "When I have babies I am going to push them right out of me...(pause)...and pee will go everywhere!" Then she stops jumping, cocks her head, and with a very serious face says, "Does that happen sometimes?"

What's a mom to say???!!!

Oh, this girl keeps me laughing--she is sooo good for this serious-minded momma!

Organizational Advice Anyone?????

2010-04-27T19:49:00.002-04:00

It is a real possibility that we will be starting homeschooling in the fall, crazy I know! I am racking my brain trying to figure out the best way to organize the "school stuff" without having it overtake my home. I would love some tips, ideas, and links that you may have on the subject. Even if you don't homeschool, but have some great organizational ideas for school stuff, I would love to hear them!
Here are some of the things that are creating a few hang-ups for me:

1) I have limited space
2) I do not have an office
3) I hate clutter
4) I am thinking we will be using the dining table as our workspace--so I am trying to think of mobility.
5) I don't want my home to look like a kindergarten classroom! Though, I guess if I just painted some dolphins on the wall our church small group would feel right at home on Wednesdays! :)

So, please hit me with your best ideas!

**And, No, that is not a picture of my house, in case some of you were wondering :) **

Similarities...

2010-03-13T09:52:00.001-05:00

I see so many similarities between my girls, that I thought I would pull out some pictures to compare. I remember the first thing I said when I looked at her was, "She looks like Victoria." For some reason I really expected her to look totally different :)

One of the major differences in their looks is their hair. Victoria was born with lots of dark hair--like me, and Kaleigh was born with light, spiky hair--like Mark :)

Here they are at 6 months...

It will be interesting to see what happens as the grow...

Victoria Update!

2010-03-12T19:34:00.001-05:00

Victoria turns 4!

Wow, four years have gone by since we welcomed our little Victoria into the world! My baby is no longer a toddler, but is blossoming into a little lady-- that is hard to swallow...one day I told her I was sad that she was no longer my baby, and she said, "I'll always be your baby, Momma!" Aaaahhh, that is good for this mother's heart to hear...

Unlike Kaleigh, Victoria has been growing like a weed this year! It has been difficult to keep up with her, which is also a new experience for me :) Hopefully, this growth spurt will begin to slow down a little bit...wishful thinking anyway...

Victoria loves babies, dinosaurs, Strawberry Shortcake, and apparently cows--I know, it is a strange mixture, but I love that about her! She has even been known to put a diaper on her dinosaurs :) Baby Rose is still her prized possession.

She loves, loves, loves being a big sister! She is so helpful! She changes Kaleigh's diaper (many times without being asked--which means it wasn't really in need of a change :), she feeds her yogurt, she has even put her to bed "because she was whiny and tired"--we did have to talk about that one :) She just loves to be with her and make her laugh!

She also enjoys reading. I have started her on Hooked On Phonics and she loves it! She gets so excited when she is able to read another book. She also loves puzzles and games!

Probably the most exciting thing for her about turning 4 is being able to go into the 'big kid" class at church, she has talked of nothing else the last couple of months!

We love our big girl! Her rambunctious spirit keeps us on our toes. Her smile and laughter are contagious. Her helpful spirit is such a blessing. Our lives our unmistakenly better since the day she entered them.

Kaleigh Update!

2010-03-12T18:00:00.001-05:00

I figured that I needed to give a picture update for those who do not have facebook, i.e. Mark's parents :)

Kaleigh is 7 months now--wow, time is flying!

She weighs 11 lbs 12 oz and 23 in long --it is so hard for me to believe that she is smaller than Victoria was at her age.

She loves her sister--Victoria can get her laughing just by talking to her! We just love watching them together!

She is a mama's girl, which is a new experience for me because Victoria has always been a Daddy's girl.

She is not crawling, or sitting up, or even rolling from back to front--but she really has no need because Victoria is more than happy to carry her or push her around in her doll stroller :)
She really just loves to be held, and since I know how fast that fades, I am more than happy to oblige...most of the time :)

Oh, one more thing...she is also quite attached to her thumb, much to her mother's chagrin! :)

We really cannot even imagine our family without her--she is such a blessing. I will admit that I did wonder sometimes what it would be like after having just Victoria for so long (well, 3 1/2 years), but she has brought only joy to our home--we love her so much!

O God, you are my God...

2010-03-09T18:05:00.001-05:00

Wow, it has been awhile since my last post! Thank you for your prayers and kind words of encouragement--it really meant a lot! I am not exactly sure what to say, except to say that I am well! Praise be to God! I will let His words say what is on my heart...

Psalm 63

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you;

my soul thirsts for you;

my flesh faints for you,

as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary,

beholding your power and glory.

3 Because your steadfast love is better than life,

my lips will praise you.

4 So I will bless you as long as I live;

in your name I will lift up my hands.

5 My soul will be satisfied as with fat and rich food,

and my mouth will praise you with joyful lips,

6 when I remember you upon my bed,

and meditate on you in the watches of the night;

7 for you have been my help,

and in the shadow of your wings I will sing for joy.

8 My soul clings to you;

your right hand upholds me.

Psalm 73

Truly God is good to Israel,

to those who are pure in heart.

2 But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled,

my steps had nearly slipped...

23 Nevertheless, I am continually with you;

you hold my right hand.

24 You guide me with your counsel,

and afterward you will receive me to glory.

25 Whom have I in heaven but you?

And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.

26 My flesh and my heart may fail,

but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

28 ...it is good to be near God;

I have made the Lord God my refuge,

that I may tell of all your works.

My Battle with PPD

2009-11-25T13:09:00.001-05:00

My Battle with PPD

(this is me being "REAL")

I have debated sharing this post for many weeks--mostly because I know the judgment that I am bound to receive from those you cannot possibly understand what it is like to not have control of the thoughts and feelings that come crashing into your mind and the uncontrollable guilt that accompanies them. But...then I remember the incredible lonliness that I felt and the shame that kept me from getting help sooner and I don't want any other woman to feel that way. So, I am sharing this for them--whoever they are--that might someday experience the pain of postpartum depression; and I am sharing this for those who might have a friend or a loved one that is struggling, hopefully this will give you a glimpse of what they might be dealing with and hopefully you will be able to be there for them without judgment.

Too be honest, I don't even really know where to begin or what to share. The past 3 months have been some of the most difficult days I have ever experienced. I have felt like I have literally been in a fight for my life. Does that sound dramatic? Maybe, but it is the truth. I am not exaggerating when I say that I have felt so close to death, like it was closing in on me, waiting to overtake me. Many times I hoped it would. I have begged God to take my life more times than I can count--I have felt rejected by Him when He wouldn't. On the other hand, I have begged Him to help me to make it through, to give me the strength to keep fighting the overwhelming darkness. None of my thoughts have made any sense the past 3 months--they have gone from one extreme to another.

Maybe I should just start at the basics. What does PPD look like? It is sadness, despair, anger, lethargy, confusion, loneliness, hopelessness. How is it possible to feel like this when you have a wonderful family--a vivacious three year old, a sweet newborn, and a loving husband? I have. no. idea! It. just. is. I have felt uncontrollable sadness, often unable to stop the tears--but usually I haven't a clue as to why I am crying. Some days I have felt tears in my eyes the entire day, just waiting to fall--keeping them back has been exhausting. I have seen myself get angry over nothing and just feel mad at everything and everyone. Simple tasks have seemed incredibly difficult. Cooking nearly impossible. I could literally stare in my pantry and see pasta and sauce--but not be able to figure out what I was suppossed to do with it. My mind has been in a constant fog. Socializing has been impossible at times. I have wanted to be around people, because I felt safe around them, but it was sooo much work to try to formulate conversation.

And the thoughts that have come flying into my mind without warning...I could not ever have imagined that it was possible to actually think things that I have thought. I will not give the specifics of those thoughts, but suffice it to say that they have blown me away. Thoughts of death and dying have consumed me--no matter how much I wanted them to go away they were always there. I would wake up every day hoping today was the day that I died. I hated the thoughts. I would literally run around the house trying to shake them. I would hold my head and scream at my mind to "Shut Up!" There are certain phrases and words that have screamed at me...FAILURE. HORRIBLE MOTHER. WEAK. WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME?. I AM NOT CUTOUT FOR MOTHERHOOD. WHY CAN'T I DO THIS?. I AM RUINING MY CHILDREN. GUILT. GUILT. GUILT. MY CHILDREN WOULD BE BETTER OFF WITHOUT ME.

I was so afraid to tell anyone what was going on in my head because of the guilt and shame. I tried to hide my crying from Mark--I didn't want him to know that I was failing our children. I didn't know what was wrong with me. I didn't want anyone to know that I was failing as a mother, that I was overwhelmed, scared, confused, and despairing. I just wanted to be normal again. I begged God to take away the thoughts racing through my mind--I tried so hard to pray my way out. My midwife wanted me to go on medication, but I refused--I felt like I was failing if I could not get better on my own. I researched, and read articles on PPD trying to find a way to get better. I tried vitamins, fish oil, exercise, prayer--but I just continued to get worse. I lost my appetite completely--the thought of food made me sick. The thoughts of death turned to actions. I lost my will to live. It seemed so much easier to just give in...

Eventually, I broke down and said "yes" to help and to medication. It was so humbling to admit that I needed help from others, that I couldn't fix it on my own. But, I am so glad that I did--that was a good day. The day I said, "yes" to medication was one of the hardest days--I felt like I was admitting defeat. I felt like I had failed. I had a panic attack that night--I lost control--my heart raced, my mind raced, I kept saying, "I'm going to die. I'm going to die." over and over again. Mark almost brought me to the ER, but I eventually fell asleep. It has been a slow process, but it is working. Little by little my mind and body are returning to normal. I don't know how it works, but I can honestly say that it does. It is not a miracle pill, but in combination with getting help and counseling and support--it is working. Lest you think that I don't know the side affects and the dangers of medication, let me assure you that I do. I spent hours upon hours researching it. But...I also know the dangers of not taking it...and that is all I can say.

Where has God been during these dark days? To be honest, He has seemed so far away. I have never felt so far from Him. I have wanted to reach out and touch Him, but have felt like I cannot even glimpse Him. Many times I just wanted Him to reach down and put His arms around me. I have often felt forsaken. But...and this is a big "but"...I know in my heart that He has been here, beside me. Even though I could not feel Him here, even though I often doubted--I know that He has never left me. It is by His grace that I am still here, I believe that with all my heart. Psalm 42 has echoed my prayers. During the times when I could not glimpse Him, He showed Himself to me through people--through family, friends, and even strangers who loved me and supported me, cared for me, prayed for me and with me, all without judgment. I do not desire to live any day without Him. He truly is my all in all.

In closing I want to make this clear...Postpartum Depression is real. It is not something that women make up because they feel sorry for themselves or because they just don't want to deal with responsibilities. It is not a sin problem. There is no "cause." It just happens. It is mental and it is physical. I was not an unhappy person when it hit me. On the contrary, I was immensly happy. I had just had a healthy baby, I was enjoying the time having my husband home, Victoria loved her little sister--I could not have been happier--and it all changed within a day. My mind started spiraling downward and all my efforts to stop it failed. If you haven't experienced it, then I know it sounds crazy and unreal--trust me, I understand, I have been on that side too. In my research, I came across an article that explains exactly how it feels when you try to explain PPD to someone who doesn't understand. I hope you will take the time to read it. It is titled, "Postpartum Depression and the Glint of Judgment." Here is an excerpt from this article,

"...We're suffering from an illness that cannot be seen. We don't have a fever, swelling, vomiting or diarrhea. No rash, cramping or stiffness. No open wounds that will not heal -- at least not the kind you can see with the naked eye. So many wonder if we're really sick at all.

And guess what? So do we. We wonder whether we're really just defective people who are unworthy of being mothers. We understand the glint of judgment precisely because we've had it ourselves. Before we got sick, we looked at others and thought "I would never think that", "I would never do that", and "I would never be like that". Until we did and until we were, and now we don't have that glint anymore.

We can see what you're thinking, and we understand. But it still hurts. A lot."

Well, there you have it. I have put myself out there hoping it helps someone, even just one and it will be worth it. I have wanted to wait until I was completely well to post this, but to be honest, I am afraid I will lose my nerve. I have many regrets over the past 3 months: I regret that I have missed the first 3 months of Kaleigh's life, that Victoria "lost" her mother for 3 months, that I waited so long to get help, that my pride kept me from taking medication sooner. These are days that I will never get back. Please don't let my regrets become your own--if you are struggling, please seek help. There are those of us out there who understand, who will not judge you, who want to help. It is possible to be "normal" again--I didn't believe it at first, but, praise the Lord, I am on my way there, and boy, does it feel good!!!

My Hope in the Darkness

2009-09-29T21:58:00.005-04:00

I made this video for myself to remind me to keep fighting the darkness, but I thought I would share it here as well. I am clinging to the words in this song, knowing in my heart that they are true, and hoping that the truth reaches my mind.

You are my strength when I am weak
You are the treasure that I seek
You are my all in all

Seeking you as a precious jewel
Lord, to give up I'd be a fool
You are my all in all

Taking my sin, my cross, my shame
Rising again I bless your name
You are my all in all

When I fall down, you pick me up
When I am dry, you fill my cup
You are my all in all

Jesus, Lamb of God
Worthy is your name!

One of our summer projects--A Loft Bed for Victoria

2009-08-31T19:51:00.008-04:00

When we found out we were expecting, my mind immediately tried to figure how to organize everything, especially sleeping space. Victoria's bedroom was small and it is also used for a nursery for Wednesday night Bible study, so I knew that I couldn't fill every square inch with furniture. My solution was for Mark to build a loft bed so that we could put the crib underneath to save space. We spent the month of June researching and designing it together--we really wanted it to be safe and sturdy. Then Mark spent the month of July building it in our little garage with tools he borrowed from friends from church. He was up until 1 or 2 am almost every night--I am so proud of him! He worked so hard and he did an excellent job, in my opinion :) Victoria absolutely loves it--it was so fun to see how excited she was to climb up into her new bed! :) It has been a great space saver--it is better than I even imagined!

Kaleigh's Birth Story

2009-08-21T12:21:00.010-04:00

Kaleigh's Birth Story

(if you don't want to know the details, do not continue reading!)

First off, a confession...for those of you who have wondered how you missed I was even pregnant...you missed it because I never announced it! Mark and I were waiting until his family reunion to announce it to his family (Week 38 for me), so we had to keep it a secret from facebook too. We wanted to be able to tell his family in person, since we were not able to do that with Victoria--it just so happened to be quite late in my pregnancy :) I had plans to announce to the facebook world when we got back from the reunion on Tuesday, August 11...but...we all know how that worked out :)

So anyway...On Monday, August 10 (our 7th anniversary) we left the reunion and headed home at around 7pm, by 8 pm I started having regular, consistent contractions about 15 minutes apart--I was not concerned because I had been having contractions off and on for 3 weeks, and more so the last 3 days--though these definately felt different because they were accompanied by the back and leg pain that I had with my labor with Victoria. They lasted all night, but they were not so bad that I couldn't sleep through them. I woke up at 2 am and started throwing up, and never really slept after that--this was not that unusual either for this pregnancy.

I had an appt. with my midwife that morning at 10:30 because of a cancellation the week before. On the way to my appt. the contractions became more intense and each one came faster than the one before. We dropped Victoria off at our friends and by the time I was in the waiting room at the doctors office they were 4 minutes apart. I had a few receptionists ask if I was okay and if I was in labor, to which I responded, "Who knows" because of my experience with Victoria--whose labor lasted for 21 hours with contractions beginning at 5 minutes apart.

When the nurse checked my blood pressure she exclaimed that it was sky high and my midwife came in quickly thereafter and immediately checked me, she then told me that she hoped I was ready to go right to the hospital. To which I replied that I was not, I had all my bags still at home--she said that she did not think it was a good idea for me to go home first--I really thought she was exaggerating and thought I had plenty of time, again because of my experience with Victoria. She then wanted to do a quick ultrasound to check the baby and we discovered that she was posterior, just like Victoria was--this was not good news to me at all! She told me if she could get me in a hot shower that she might be able to get the baby to turn--this made up my mind to go right to the hospital--I did not want another posterior labor and birth!

We still felt we had to drop off Victoria's carseat at our friends and Mark asked Sarah if she could quickly throw together some things for me to bring to the hospital as well as a camera just in case. After laboring in their house for a little bit ( how embarrasing!) I made it back to the car and the contractions were now 1-1.5 minutes apart and we still had a 15 minute drive to the hospital for which we had to take all back roads because the highway was blocked--Mark was passing cars on double yellow lines while I climbed the the walls of the car feeling like I was going insane strapped to the seat with intense back and leg pain. Of course this whole time I am still thinking that I have 20 more hours of this and that I am never going to make it!

By the time we got to the hospital I felt the incredible urge to go to the bathroom, I managed to get out of the car that Mark parked right in front of the hospital :) but as soon as I made it into the lobby I felt like I could not move another step so I collapsed on all fours and just cried and so forth--everyone was staring at me and walking slowly by me while Mark ran to get a wheelchair. Somehow he managed to get me into the wheelchair and raced to the elevator, when he got to the delivery floor I spotted a bathroom and darted into it because I still wanted to go so badly--Mark convinced me to come out and then a nurse came and tried to get me back in the wheelchair to which I refused and tried to run to the bathroom again--she told me I was not allowed in the bathroom and grabbed my arm trying to get me in the wheelchair, but there was NO way I could sit, so I got in backwards on my hands and knees and Mark raced me to the room with the nurse directing him.

By the time we made it to the room there were at least 5 nurses running with us and shouting instructions to each other. Once in the room a nurse held up a gown in front of me and I asked her what she wanted me to do with that, she told me I was to undress and put it on to which I replied that I was NOT taking my clothes off, but one second later I told her that I needed my pants off of me NOW and I quickly pulled them off and got on the bed--she told me to lean back so she could check me and my water burst and Kaleigh's head came with it! She was quite shocked and told me not to push, but there was no way I was not pushing, and she finally said, "Okay, push if you want, do whatever you want!" Kaleigh was born at 12:06 pm. I was in complete shock after her birth--there was no time to process anything while it was happening. My midwife never made it to the birth--but I am still so thankful for her and for the urgency she tried to convey to us, or else we would have had a very different birth story to share--one involving the car and the highway!

Now I must try to forget about all the people who saw me acting like a complete crazy woman--my midwife told me I had everyone in her waiting room completely freaked out--and to think, that was mild compared to the scene at the hospital! For someone who does not like to draw attention to herself, I completely failed in that area!

2009-07-10T17:28:00.002-04:00

Please Vote for Our Little Cow!

Chick-fil-a is having a contest and we have entered Victoria to win Free Chick-fil-a for a year! Yum! We would really appreciate it if you would take a moment and go vote for her here--she is listed under "Victoria". Thanks!

2009-06-06T19:52:00.002-04:00

Chick-fil-a

Anyone who knows us well, knows that Chick-fil-a is our favorite fast food place--so when I came across this video on GirlTalk I couldn't help but laugh...Enjoy!

2009-04-07T10:49:00.002-04:00

Victoria and I are very excited to be participating in the Walk for Life on May 2nd, 2009. We have created our own fundraising page here. We would love for you to view our page and let us know what you think. If you are in the Tidewater area and would like to walk with us, please let me know! We will keep you posted on our progress! :)

2009-04-04T11:28:00.000-04:00

Victoria's 3 Year Pictures--Continued...

2009-04-04T11:12:00.003-04:00

Victoria's 3 Year Pictures

2009-03-21T09:44:00.002-04:00

Swagbucks Update!

If you haven't joined swagbucks yet, you are missing out on free giftcards!! I now have 560 swagbucks--I am trying to earn 800 by June because I would like to get Mark a guitar for his birthday and 800 gets you a free guitar!! Doesn't get any better than that! (He doesn't read my blog, so don't tell him my surprise :) So if you would like to help me and help yourself earn some free gift cards or gifts sign up here!

If you have already signed up, but you would like to boost your numbers then invite some of your friends to sign up under you--you will earn what they earn, up to 100 for each person--who couldn't use some free giftcards? :)

2008-11-17T15:28:00.002-05:00

Earn Free Gift Cards for Searching Online

Have you heard of Swagbucks? Well, I signed up three weeks ago and have been really just using it to search for my email and other sites that I visit on a daily basis and I have already earned 32 points or swagbucks! Now, I know that might not seem like much but at 50 points I can earn a $5 Starbucks gift card--that is a free drink just for doing what I do every day! Now, it gets even better if you refer other people because when they earn a swagbuck, you get one too--think about how that could multiply...sweet! You can make it your homepage and add the tookbar to make so easy to earn a few points a day. Happy Searching!!

2008-09-16T13:40:00.002-04:00

2 Free Movies

If you go to http://www.familytv.com/freedvd.aspx you can sign up to receive 2 free movies from Feature Films for Families. They will then call you and ask the ages of your children to send you age appropriate films. It was very simple and they came very quickly.

2008-08-14T18:47:00.001-04:00

Fun with the Camera

2008-08-14T18:35:00.000-04:00

Visit with Peter and Caity

2008-07-11T15:02:00.004-04:00

The Stonis Cow Family

We had a great time dressing like cows and getting free food! Victoria is the cutest cow I have ever seen, but then I am biased :) Victoria loved the big cow! She kept waving to him and saying hello--she didn't want to leave his side!

2008-05-16T09:52:00.002-04:00

Victoria's 1st Accident

Well on Tuesday evening the inevitable happened...Victoria had her first accident that I was not able to fix! She was sitting in her little chair in the kitchen while I was doing dishes and she fell backward hitting the back of her head on the edge of the wall. I didn't think she got hurt that badly until I picked her up and saw blood everywhere. I quickly started taking her clothes off trying to find where the blood was coming from, until I realized it was coming from her head. She has so much hair that the blood was just pooling in it. I called Mark at that point and told him he needed to start heading home, because she was probably going to need more help than I could give her. By the time he got home I had the bleeding under control and I was trying to keep her still while I talked to a nurse on the phone. After she asked me about 500 questions, she said that Victoria was going to need stitches and her head examined, but I was to call my pediatrician and have him refer me to the hospital--I was quite annoyed, but I called and was told that he would be paged and would call me back. I waited 30-40 min. and then called again and was told that he just called in to get his messages and would be calling me soon--Ugh! After waiting another hour, he finally called me and told me to bring her to the hospital--I was so frustrated! So, we brought to the ER and they put 2 staples in her head to close the wound. I seriously think that Victoria has the highest pain tolerance I have ever seen--she didn't even cry, she just stuck out her lip and said, "Go Home." I was so happy that they didn't need to shave her head--only a woman can appreciate that! She has so much hair that you cannot even see the staples. So, that was our first accident--I am sure there will be more!

2008-04-26T08:53:00.003-04:00

Super Savings Saturday!

This is my jackpot from my shopping trip on Thursday! The total of all this with sale prices would have been $104.41 without tax! My total after all my coupons and rebates was -$10.00! That's right, I made $10.00 after buying all of this! This was an exciting day for me! I know there are people that can do even better than this, but for me this was a good start!

2008-04-10T13:06:00.002-04:00

Our Vacation to Alberta, Canada!

We were able to go to Edmonton, Alberta for a vacation this April--our first one since our honeymoon! We have great friends, Tim and Leah Nissly, who are missionaries up there. It was so exciting to see their ministry. They are planting their church in just 5 weeks, but had not found a building to meet in--on our last day there, they were approved to meet in a school. It was so exciting to witness this answer to prayer! We were amazed to learn of the challenges they face--I have always thought of Canadians as similar to Americans, but they really do think quite differently than we do (I mean no offense to any Canadians reading this :) We feel that we are better able to pray for them, having seen their ministry and the difficulties they face. It was such a wonderful week--though, it went by way too fast! We both felt so spiritually challenged--it was just what we needed! Of course, Tim and Leah spoiled us rotten as well :) Leah prepared such great meals, it was a real treat! They also took us out to eat at the fanciest restaurant we have ever been too, for which they had been saving their gift card to use with us. We went to the Biggest Mall in the World--which I was very excited about--I didn't buy anything, but it was just fun to see. There was a kiddie amusement park inside, which we were able to bring the kids to--they had a great time, even though, Victoria was too short to ride most things--but that is her lot in life :)

Tim and Leah have two boys, Micah (3) and Marcus (22 months). Victoria had a blast playing with them. Of course, her dolls were tossed aside and replaced with imaginary guns in order to shoot at dinosaurs in the laundry room! :) I was quite surprised at how she just took right to playing with all things "boy"...i.e...dino's, tool sets, cars, trains. She followed Micah around everywhere, he could hardly go to the bathroom without her barging in on him! One funny story that just about mortified me...One night we were all sitting at the table drinking coffee, and the kids were all on the couch playing with trains. All of a sudden we look up to find Micah holding Victoria's face in his hands and kissing her! Of course Victoria thought this was great because she is always trying to kiss her friends at church, but they are not so interested. Well, we just laughed it off until we look over again and Victoria is just about pinning Micah down in order to kiss him! This time I jumped up from the table and took Victoria to another room where we had a lengthy discussion about kissing--I could not believe I was having this discussion already! Of course in her mind it was all very innocent, but still very embarrassing for me.

While we were there Mark and Tim were able to finish a song they started writing 6 years ago--it is not at all serious, seeing the subject matter is Baked Beans! But it is quite funny! I was able to video tape it, though they are laughing most of the way through! We laughed a lot during the week! We were up till about 1:30 am almost every night--things tend to get funnier at that time :)

Victoria did well on the long plane trip. On our way there, we left our house at noon, so she missed her nap--I thought she would make it up on the plane--but no, that was not her plan! She slept for 30 min. during our layover and that was it! Our plane was delayed so we didn't get to Canada until 2am--with Victoria wide awake the whole time! I would not have thought that was possible! Our way home was the same way, except not as long.

Well, this has turned into a very long post, I am sure most of you have stopped reading by now :) In short, we had an awesome time, spiritually and physically!

2008-02-05T17:25:00.000-05:00

January

Our January began with a fun New Year's Eve get together--the calm before the storm :) Then, that Thursday I decided that I would start potty training Victoria. So, we threw out the rest of her diapers (well, we ceremoniously tossed them in the garage to be given away.) I knew that at least the first three days would be rough, but I was determined, with God's help, to stay positive and encouraging :) Well, the next day Mark went in to get her up because we heard her stirring, the next thing I hear is "Hon...?!"--not a good sound :) I run upstairs to find Victoria covered in what I thought was her mess--I immediately start reprimanding her that we do not play with our messes...Mark gets her up and starts undressing her, only to notice that her underwear are completely clean and dry. What we thought was her mess, was actually vomit--I immediately feel horrible, my poor child has been sleeping in her own vomit and the first thing she hears from her mother is a reprimand--needless to say, I spent a lot of time pouring on the love that day!

Unfortunately, the vomiting was not a one time occurance--Victoria has been vomiting nearly everyday since the beginning of January. She has vomited every different type of food, even water. Many times she vomits something that was eaten 8-12 hours earlier. When she does vomit or have diarrhea, she will usually become very lethargic and will not speak for 2-3 hours. We have experimented and tried to find so many solutions, but we have not found anything to work. She actually had 2 good days this past Friday and Saturday, and I got quite excited; only for it to begin again on Sunday night.

She had an appointment yesterday and the doctor wants to experiment some more--he wants to give her a medication that the stomach does not like, in an effort to make her stomach try to get rid of it by pushing it into the intestines along with whatever food she has in her stomach. I am not too crazy about this experiment, but I am also at whits end. When I mentioned to him that she also has diarrhea, he told me that, "he does not concern himself with children's bowels"--Huh?! I was a bit stunned, but I tried to explain to him that I felt it was related to the vomiting, so he wrote out a prescription for that too--I tried not to roll my eyes, not exactly what I was looking for, I want to find the cause, not just treat the symptom.

If I had known all this was going to happen I would have put off the potty training, but she has done great--I am so proud of her--she has been a trooper through all this--she never cries or whines when she has an episode, she just wants me to hold her. So, that is where we are now--I will try to post updates as we get them. Thank you to all who have prayed--we really appreciate it.

Sorry for the really long, "too much information" post. I apologize for any trauma I have caused those reading it :)

Happy New Year!

2008-01-18T15:02:00.001-05:00

Christmas in South Carolina

2008-01-18T14:43:00.001-05:00

2007-12-14T13:58:00.000-05:00

My Favorite Deals!

I love to find great deals and I know there are others who do too, so I thought I would just post a few of my favorites:

1. Free Wawa coffee everyday 4-7 pm--Any size, no purchase required! This is only for a limited time, but they haven't said when it will end--so get it while you can! :)

2. Redbox movie rentals $1 a night, but if you sign up for their emails they will send you a code for a free night--plus since I have signed up, I have received 2 more free night codes. So, in the past month we have rented 3 movies for free--all new releases! If you go to their website and type in your zip it will show the closest locations to you.

3. Lynnhaven Mall Carousel Birthday Club--if you sign up your child, you will receive a free coupon for your child and 10 of their friends to ride the carousel during the month of their birthday! I can't wait to get a picture of Victoria and all her little friends on the carousel :)

4. Riteaid Single Check Rebates--Almost every week in the Riteaid flyer they have at least one item that is free after rebate, sometimes they have up to 10 items! The rebates are so easy too! You just save your receipt and log into Riteaid.com and type in some info from your receipt and it automatically knows the items that have rebates and it adds them to your account--wait until the end of the month (because you can only request one check a month) when you have added all your receipts and then request your check. I have received for free: toothpaste, toothbrushes, mouthwash, surge protector power strips, super glue, packing tape, tea, cold medicine, band aids, extension cords, hair products--too much to keep going!

5. Home Depot OOps Paint--Home Depot sells paint that they mixed for a customer and the person didn't want it for $1/pint or $5/gallon--definitely hit or miss--but it changes daily and is worth a look.

Well, that is all I can think of right now, but I will try to keep posting my deals--if anyone finds this helpful. I would love to hear of some of your deals too!

2007-11-28T10:32:00.000-05:00

Midnight Madness

Okay, here is a story for you...On Thanksgiving we had some friends over for pie in the evening. Sarah Joungblood mentioned that the outlet mall in Williamsburg was opening at Midnight with some great sales and she wanted to go, but her husband did not--go figure :)--then I said that I wanted to go too, but Mark was like, "Yeah right!" I then told Sarah that we should go together, half joking, half serious--but Alex wasn't too keen on the idea, he was seeing dollar signs, I think :) So, then our friend Tad arrives and hears Sarah and I talking and he says that he thinks it is a great idea and that his wife, Michelle, should go with us--our mouths drop open at this point--did we really hear him correctly? So, anyway at 11 pm Sarah and I head out to pick up Michelle and head up to Williamsburg, all the while our husbands are shaking their heads thinking we are crazy, and we probably were :) Side note here...as I pass Victoria's closed bedroom door I whisper "goodnight sweetie," my heartstrings tugging, for this is the first time I have gone out and left her at home with her dad...So anyway, when we get close to the outlets the traffic is stop and go, we turn in at a Food Lion and the parking lot is jammed full, cars on the grass, and not a spot anywhere, so we head to the outlet parking lot (are we naive or what), there are police officers blocking the entrances to the parking lot, there are big neon signs saying that the lot is full--you are not even allowed to enter it! We ask a police officer where we can park and he says 1 1/2 miles down the road at a high school, he tells us there is a shuttle that will then bring us to the outlets; well, the traffic is stop and go and it is already 1:30 am and we are not even close to making it into the outlets, so what do we do? We keep going and get back on the highway heading home--so much for our midnight shopping spree! On the way home we stop at a Walmart and walk around, just so that we can feel like we actually went shopping :) We arrive home at 3:30 am to sleepy husbands still shaking their heads thinking we are crazy...but how did we feel?...We felt great, we felt young and crazy, like we did before the days of responsibilities. We were two moms and a schoolteacher, but for just a few hours we were three young and crazy women on a midnight adventure!

Check out my Slide Show!

2007-11-14T11:14:00.001-05:00

2007-10-17T13:36:00.001-04:00

Being the ever-present helper, Victoria decided to help me paint one evening when I received a phone call. Though I was only on the phone a few minutes, she had managed to dump a good part of the gallon of paint onto the carpet--dipping her Little People in and out of the paint can and grinding the paint into the carpet. I immediately placed her in the kitchen and began trying to sop up the paint--though, I thought it was hopeless, I had to at least try. I called Mark and asked him to rent a Rug Doctor machine on his way home from work. After probably at least 10 hours worth of work I was able to get the carpet back to its original condition, almost. I am sure there is still paint left in it, but to the naked eye it is undetectable.

2nd Home Improvement Project

2007-10-17T13:21:00.001-04:00

Our first home improvement project!

2007-10-16T09:05:00.001-04:00

Check out my Slide Show!

2007-09-11T15:20:00.001-04:00

2007-08-20T15:42:00.000-04:00

Victoria's 1st Luau

These pictures are for Grampy and Grandy! :)

2007-08-20T15:02:00.001-04:00

Photoshoot with Uncle Jon

When we were in KY, Jon set up up his photo studio and took some practice shots of Victoria. He did a great job, especially since she was not in the greatest mood.

2007-08-20T14:29:00.001-04:00

Summer Visitors!

We had the privilege this summer to have several of our friends come and visit! Joel and Ashley Maart came in June--they are expecting their first baby--it was so nice to see them again; Wang Hao and Jenny came in August--they are also expecting their first baby--we had a lot of fun visiting with them as well; then Naomi Hall came in August too--she was able to spend 5 days with us, so we were able to do a lot--We had such a great time and we hope they will all be able to come again soon!

2007-07-18T17:36:00.001-04:00

Trip to Kentucky

On July 4, Victoria and I had the unexpected opportunity to visit family in KY! The teens from our church were taking a mission trip to KY and they allowed us to ride along with them. I called Jon and Christy at 2pm July 3 and asked them if we could come for a visit the next day, they graciously said "Yes!" I quickly packed, made meals for Mark, and left the next morning--it was a whirlwind, but it was so much fun! We were able to spend 5 days with them--we had a blast! The kids were so much fun and a great help with Victoria...Ashley did a great job taking care of her, Jonathan kept her laughing and entertained, and Rachel made sure I knew when she was in need of a diaper change! :) Thank you for the good meals, Jon! Thank you for all the great talks, Christy! Thank you for your wonderful hospitality!

2007-06-20T13:08:00.001-04:00

Father's Day

2007-06-14T11:58:00.000-04:00

Trying to copy Daddy

2007-06-14T11:49:00.000-04:00

Fun at the Beach

A couple weeks ago we went to the beach. Beth and Silas joined us, which was a lot of fun. Victoria and Silas had a great time playing in the sand--it was really fun to watch them.

2007-06-09T13:44:00.001-04:00

Victoria Playing

2007-06-09T13:23:00.001-04:00

Vacation to NH--May 2007

We had a great visit to NH in May--though, it did go by way too fast! Victoria loved playing with Grandpa and Grandma and her cousins, Caleb and Isaiah! Grandpa gave her treats and Grandma made her big breakfasts every morning :) She loved touching Uncle Stephen's deer head--why? I have no idea! She also got to meet her Great Grammy and her Auntie Kim and cousins, Jacob, Jared, Jordon, and Daniel--she really liked the little car she could drive! We cannot wait until we can go back and visit, especially since Victoria will have 3 new cousins by August!

2007-04-27T12:45:00.000-04:00

I don't have a picture to go along with this story--so you will have to picture it in your head...Victoria loves bananas...One day after returning from a trip to the outlet malls, I was putting stuff away while Victoria was playing in the hallway, or so I thought. A few minutes went by and then Victoria came to find me in the living room holding only the stem of a banana--I immediately ran to the hallway to discover that Victoria had taken a banana out of a bag and had eaten the whole thing, skin and all--I am sure she had all intentions of eating the stem, as well, after she showed it to me. I still have no idea how she chewed through all of that skin or how she even thought it tasted good--but, at least she is not a picky eater! :)

2007-04-21T18:25:00.000-04:00

Victoria's 1 Year photo

2007-04-18T12:55:00.000-04:00

Lately, whenever Victoria gets out of the bath she wants to be swaddled like this--I think it is because she is cold, but it just makes me laugh!

2007-04-18T12:37:00.000-04:00

In March, Mark sold a car to Troy Brouwer of the Norfolk Admirals hockey team and he gave Mark two tickets to one of the games. Because it was last minute we did not have a chance to get a babysitter so we just took Victoria with us. We did not know how she would do having to sit for 4 hours, but we thought since the tickets were free we wouldn't feel bad if we had to leave early, but she did great! She was mesmerized by the lights, the noise, the action, and the man carrying the cotton candy! :) We all had a wonderful time.

2007-04-18T12:30:00.000-04:00

We took Victoria to the beach for the first time this spring--at first she did not like the sand at all, but she eventually got used to it--she still does not like walking in it though.

2007-04-18T12:04:00.000-04:00

Victoria in her Easter dress!

2007-03-09T13:08:00.000-05:00

Victoria's 1st Birthday Party

2007-02-28T13:47:00.000-05:00

Happy 1st Birthday Victoria!

Victoria turns one today! I am amazed at how fast the time has gone. We cannot imagine our lives without her--she is so precious to us! I have been asked what my favorite age has been so far, and I really could not give an answer--I can honestly say that every stage has been wonderful. Now, I am not saying that every moment of every day has been the greatest; but we have really enjoyed each stage of her development. We love you, Victoria!

2007-02-15T11:02:00.000-05:00

Victoria's First Valentine's Day!

2007-02-07T12:51:00.000-05:00

Mark and I went on our first date in almost a year last Friday! I was very apprehensive to leave Victoria with a babysitter because I was not sure how she would handle it. We were going to go to a hockey game with Kristin and Russell and we would be gone for 4 hours. Fortunately, our friends Kevin and Beth Busch were willing to be our guinea pig babysitters :) When we dropped her off, we sat her at Beth's piano--she loves the piano--and left the house. When we got in the car I started to tear up and remembered that I had not even kissed her goodbye--I felt so sad to be away from my little girl for the first time. I know some of you are thinking..."Goodnight lady--get over it already!" Well, I have no idea why this was so hard for me, but it was--anyway, back to my story...After 30 minutes, I called Beth to see how she was doing and Beth said she was doing great--she did not even cry when we left! I felt so relieved! It was then that I felt I could relax and enjoy the evening--it was a really good game and it felt good to be on a date, especially knowing that Victoria was in good hands. We had a good time with Kristin and Russell--thanks for coming with us and for sharing your food :) Towards the end of the game I started to get antsy because the players kept getting into fights with each other, prolonging the game--I kept thinking..."Don't they know I have a baby to get home to--let's get on with the game!" Anyway, the game finally ended, and we went to pick up Victoria. When she saw us, Kevin was holding her and she just waved to us from Kevin's arms, seeming very content. Kevin and Beth said that she did very well--which made me so happy! Thank you Kevin and Beth for taking good care of Victoria and for putting up with a paranoid Mom! Thank you Kristin and Russell, as well, for putting up with my constant "Mom chatter."

2007-01-30T11:34:00.000-05:00

Victoria at 11 Months!

Victoria has learned many new things this month--her newest accomplishment is that she took her first steps on Sunday! It was so exciting, for us anyway :) We were actually quite suprised to see her do this because she has never shown any interest in even trying to walk, but on Sunday she just went for it amidst praise and clapping from her beaming parents! She has also learned how to wave, how to climb down the stairs--she is now up and down constantly--no wonder I can't get her to gain weight!--Mark has even taught her how to blow her nose--this still needs some perfecting, but it is a good start anyway. She still eats anything I give her--what a huge blesssing! She also gives lots of hugs--which is my favorite part of motherhood!

2007-01-23T13:30:00.000-05:00

Victoria says, "Happy Birthday Silas!"