New Year's Resolution

WOW!! 2011 sure did fly by fast! It was a good year for me! I got a nephew, found out I was going to have another little girl, and graduated from college! But as this new year started to role around, I began thinking about what I wanted my resolution to be.

I've made resolutions every year since I can remember. Sometimes I just make one resolution so I can focus on it and try hard not to break it. (I probably lasted a few weeks at the most) I've made lists, put my resolutions in colorful writing on my bedroom wall, etc. But I NEVER keep my resolutions.

I guess my resolutions are never a big deal to keep either which is why I can't seem to keep them. I want to lose weight, work out more, do daily devotionals, actually try to put effort in school, keep up with my journal, not hit the snooze button in the morning, etc. All these seem like good resolutions, but they also have something in common...they focus on ME...that and I can never keep them.

Last night I was praying about this new year and how I was excited to see what God had in store. In the back of my mind I realized I still needed to make my resolution. That's when God spoke to me! Not audibly, which might have given me a heart attack, but I heard in my heart "why do you keep focusing on things such as resolutions, why don't you try focusing on me instead?" WOW!

That's when this years "resolution" came to my mind. Instead of focusing on pointless resolutions and my ability not to keep them, I am going to focus on God. After hearing God speak to me, my mind immediatly went to Colossians 3:2 which says: "Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth."

Colossians 3:2 is my "new year's resolution." I want to set my mind on God and grow in His wisdom. I want to learn everything He has to say to me. I want to show Brooklyn and Addison what a true relationship with God looks like and what a parent who has that kind of relationship looks like. I want the world to see a difference in me and know that it could only come from God.

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What do you choose?

Lately I feel so whiny!! And that is not the kind of person I like to be. To most people I'm not, but to those I feel are close enough to listen (Luke and my mom) I can sure whine about things.

I had a VERY easy pregnacy with Brooklyn!!...but this one has turned out not to be so easy. I spent the first 13 weeks naucious (I never once got this way the first time, and I don't throw up unless I'm super sick!). I tried crackers and even getting medicine from my doctor but even those made me naucious. I already have indegestion (I'm so sorry for all the people who suffer this all the time!) and it made me walk hunched over like an old man! My back hurts all the time, I've had a lot of pain in my stomach, and I. AM. SO. TIRED!!!!!!! I can't get enough sleep. And the more sleep I get, the more tired I am!

After listening to me whine, I'm sure you're wondering when I'm going to get to the point...Well here it is: I. Am. Blessed. Beyond. Belief!!!

*I am able to get pregnant!
*Both of my children are healthy (though one does have a double ear infection right now and the other is just now forming ears)
*I have a husband who loves me, supports me, and takes care of me
*My daughter thinks I'm the greatest person alive!
*I've had no complications during this pregnancy

After having a miscarriage earlier this year, I feel as though I am blessed beyond belief to have this new baby! I can remember praying that if God lets me have another child I wouldn't care how sick I was or how much I hurt because I would give Him all the glory for blessing me with another child.

So, that is what I am going to do! When I'm too tired to stay up and do homework, when I just have to sit down to teach because I'm too dizzy to stand up, when I have to make frequent trips to the bathroom, I am going to praise God! I can choose to let the devil cripple me or I can choose to live for God, allow myself to be blessed by Him, and praise Him constantly for all that He has given me. I choose the latter! What do you choose?

It's Been FOREVER!

Lately I've been so busy! I worked full time at the bank this summer...but last Friday was my last day. It was very bitter-sweet! I've worked there for 3 1/2 years. These people (my work family) have seen me through so much: going to college, dating Luke, getting married to Luke, having Brooklyn, ...pretty much everything in the last 3 1/2 years! I will definatly miss them!

I thought I would start going to my school to get ready for student teaching this week, but luckily I got a break and don't start until next week. A whole week off! Just me and Brooklyn! You would think I could have gotten SO. MUCH. DONE! Wrong!!! All I've done is slept!! haha and that is so not like me! I've taken a nap every day (except today because I am refusing one!) and then gone to bed by 9! I don't like being lazy. I prefer to be doing something. But I can only clean my house for so long without getting absolutly. bored. out. of. my. mind!

I did get one thing done this week! I finally scrapbooked!!! I've been wanting to print all the pictures I've taken of Brooklyn to make a cute scrapbook out of it! I wanted to get it all done before the new baby comes...we'll see if I can manage enough creativity by then. I've done 40+ pages and have only really captured the last year of Brooklyn's life. I've got quite a bit more to do but I have to take another break since school is starting...and I have to be in the mood to get anything accomplished.

This is the only page the new baby has yet (I'm getting a jump start on him/her):

Here's Brooklyn's stack:

While I was being creative, I thought I'd get ready for school. Here's my binder for student teaching:


Brooklyn was the only kid to come to our AOL back in July, so she got to eat cookies and got all the attention:

She loves Mommy's glasses! They make her so smart!

She's pretending to be scared of the flash! She's such a ham!

Brooklyn Stories

* The other day, Brooklyn wanted a brownie. I'm trying to teach her to use her manners and say please. So I said "say please and you can have a brownie." She said "brownie" and then pushed me! Yes! My sweet little angel didn't get her way so she resorted to pushing! What did I do? Spank her! She had this awful look on her face like I hurt her feelings, she pouted around the floor for like 5 minutes, then she came up to me and said "brownie please." I of course gave her a brownie then. We may have a little temper to tame!

*While I had to work one day, Aunt Mush and Bepah kept Brooklyn. Brooklyn loves her little cousin Dylan. She got to play with him all day. At lunch I got a message from Mush saying "B just got her pretend phone and held it up to Dylan and said 'cheese'! lol think shes had a few pics taken of her?" I thought this was so funny!

*Today, Luke was changing Brooklyn's clothes. He would pick out a shirt and Brooklyn would say "I don't like it" (i yount yike it). She did this for EVERY shirt he picked out! In the end, he had to hold her down while she cried to put on a shirt she didn't "like". She's already a drama queen!


I have so many other funny stories to tell about Brooklyn, but these are all recent so I had to share before I forgot them.

Branson Vacation

This year for vacation, we went to Branson. Usually we go to the beach, but an 8 hour drive to Florida would not be fun with a 22 month old and a 2 month old. So we opted-out this year and went to Branson instead. I definatly missed the beach! But I enjoyed shopping and swimming in the pool.

I didn't take many pictures on vacation. All the ones I did take are of Brooklyn (of course!). Here are some that I actually snapped...

My child is a fish!! She absolutly LOVES the water (or "dader" as she would say)

These floaties only stayed on the first day. After that she became a "big girl" and refused to wear them.

Nana let Brooklyn build-a-bear. Tinker-Bear to be exact. Brooklyn didn't like the guy who helped us out. He tried to tell her a story about the heart for the bear, but she just threw the heart at him and ran off. She know who/what she likes and doesn't like.

What she did like was giving the bear a bath! She thought it was a lot of fun!

Here's her with Tinker-Bear. It was hot! She hadn't had a nap! She was forced to go shopping with her family. She. was. not. happy.

I know this looks random, but this fox hung out with us all week. He lived somewhere close to our cabin, and we'd see him catching squirrels, or begging us to feed him popcorn. He was pretty friendly for a fox.

This child is fearless! She would jump into the water without a seconds thought. It takes several people to watch her. She likes to try to escape your arms to swim on her own. Let's just say I tire out A LOT faster than she does.

The place where we stayed had a little playground next to the pool. She saw the slide and insisted she go to play. She's very persistent when she wants something!

How cute is this?! Wearing "Bepah's" hat

Here are those floaties she refused to wear. They became pom poms. She liked to cheer with them which is funny because I don't think she's every seen cheerleaders before. At least not since last fall during Football season.

We had a great time relaxing in Branson. Great food. Good shows. Transformers 3D! I got to actually read a little! (4 whole books!) It was a very nice week!

High Heeled Shoes

My mom and I were at Wal-Mart the other day when a pair of shoes caught my mom's eyes. She pointed them out to me and I noticed they were little high heeled shoes Brooklyn's size. I couldn't believe my eyes! Not because they were the cutest shoes in the world, but because the world is wanted my child, my not-even-two-year-old child to grow up! She's growing up fast enough as it is!!

My mom told me that these shoes were now very in-style all because of Tom Cruise and Katie Holme's daughter Suri. She's been wearing mini high heels ever since she could walk. I'm sorry people, but that's a little rediculous! What ever happened to the Full House days when Stephanie Tanner got her very first pair of "high heels" when she graduated 5th grade? (And the little kid shoes I saw were much higher than the ones Stephanie got!)

It really got me thinking about being a child and the kind of childhood I want Brooklyn to have. When I was younger, I would much rather have been outside "chasing tornados" or climbing on top of the building in our backyard or riding the four-wheeler than playing with Barbies. I would much rather read books than watch tv. I loved using my imagination! When I got older, I became more girly and would pretend I was marrying Jonathan Taylor Thomas (remember him??) or dressing up like Mary-Kate and Ashley. I grew up on my own time, not anyone else's. My mom would have loved for me to be her girly-girl and dress up or fix my hair, but I was fine in my t-shirt and pony tail. She never forced me to wear make-up or high heels when I was only a toddler. And I don't plan on forcing Brooklyn either. I don't want to get her ears pierced yet. She has a very long time to make that decision on her own. She won't be wearing make-up (except chap stick) or high heels. She loves being girly: painting her nails, wearing jewlrey, having shoes on, wearing dresses...but that's as grown up as she's going to get until she gets older.

She will be my big girl on her own time. Right now I'm going to enjoy her as my little girl (she's hardly a baby anymore). When she grows up I will want these days back, so I'm going to enjoy them while they last.

Big Girl Bed & Birthday Party

Memorial Day weekend, we decided to change Brooklyn's room from her crib daybed to a full size bed. I know it sounds like it would be HUGE for such a little girl, but the way she sleeps, she has plenty of room to stretch. She was too crowded in the crib and kept waking herself up from hitting the bars when she would move. She is such an active sleeper!

I've debated for months on whether to do her room in TinkerBell or not. I haven't wanted to because I know the moment I do, she will stop being so interested in TinkerBell and want something else. I decided to paint her walls pink and go with pink and green since she already had a bunch of pink and green things to decorate with. After searching FOREVER to find the perfect comforter, I finally found one I loved at Bed Bath & Beyond in LR. It's not what I had in mind, I'm not a flowery kind of girl, but it matched my colors and after finding out its reversible I fell in love with it! It's really perfect for my little girly girl! I let Brooke have TinkerBell sheets (which she LOVES!!) to make up for not doing her room in TinkerBell.

Here's her big girl bed!! (yes that is a little potty beside it :/ I'm using it as a step stool until I find her one I like)

This is her little play corner. The stickers came with the bed!

She has so much more room to play in her bedroom now.

One of the guys I work with had a daughter that just turned 4. We were invited to her birthday party at CiCi's this past weekend. Brooklyn was by far the youngest there, and there was mostly boys, but she Had. A. Blast!

She loved sitting at the big girl table with all the kids.

They had balloons and she went crazy over them! One balloon kept her laughing for at least an hour! We ended up having to take it home with us! (We know what to do for entertainment at her b-day party :D)

21 Months!

So my baby is 21 months! For all of you who hate when us mom's go by months..that's almost 2!! My how time has flown! I miss her being my little baby but I'm totally loving this stage in her life! Every single day is new!! She learns so much and I get to experience watching her grow! Truly God's greatest gift! (aside from Christ)

Here are some 21 month facts about Brooklyn...

• She has too many teeth for me to count!...not that I can't count that high, haha but everytime I open her mouth to try to count them, she bites down on my fingers! And man do those little teeth hurt!! They haven't been dulled down by lots of meat yet!


• She still LOVES to brush her teeth! or as she says "brusha teef"


• If she's awake when I'm getting ready in the morning, she has to sit on the counter and put on "mate-up" aka make-up


• I've had to buy hard plastic sippy cups because she is biting holes in all the soft plastic ones :/ More teeth coming in I asume


• She still LOVES "bieberbell" (Tinkerbell) and now loves "Awiel" (Ariel) and "Beast" (Beauty and the Beast) as well as Micky and Minnie :)


• She can make all kinds of animal sounds and point them out in books


• She talks CONSTANTLY!! And actually uses real words!


• True story: We were driving the other morning and we passed a school bus. She said "thool bus" when she saw it! I had never showed her one or said that to her before! I don't know where she learned it, but she amazes me with her intellect!


• Another true story: At lunch today, I was finishing eating when she clasps her hands together, mumbles some jibberish, and says "amen." I was in shock! We pray with her all the time; before we eat, before bed, etc but she has never really joined in. I love seeing her notice that we pray. It makes it even more important for me to include her in prayer and going to church as well as talk about Jesus and salvation, just so she knows.


• We have a great routine going for bed time: take a bath, brush her teeth, put on lotion, powder and jammies, pick up all toys and put toothbrush away, pick a book (usually "Go Dog. Go!" or a Tinkerbell book) to read, climb up in her big girl bed, cover up, pray then turn out the lights. She loves having a routine and it makes it so much easier on me.


• Speaking of picking up toys...she. loves. it! She will sing "clean up..do your share" and put her toys where they go. Tonight she even put her toothbrush in the drawer without being asked.


• She sits in a booster seat at home now! It's a little more messy than the highchair, but it doesn't take up so much room (plastic bibs with pockets help tons! Just a hint to the moms out there!)


• She LOVES to dance!!

There is so much more she is doing but I couldn't possibly list everything.

Fun Crafting

I've seen so many cute hair bows and pillowcase dresses but I've refused to buy any because I think they are easily make-able. So, since school has been out, I've decided to be crafty and figure out how to make them. Here are my first shots:

This hairbow is really red, and one of the ribbons has footballs on it. It's for Razorback football season! :)

Pillowcase Dress with matching hairbow (attached to dress). It turned out just how I wanted! I can't wait for Brooklyn to wear it!

I can't wait to do more crafting!

Memphis Children's Museum

We went to Southhaven, Mississippi this weekend for Luke's cousin Amber's wedding. I'm such a great cousin that I only took pictures of the cake...I took pictures on Molly's camera...mostly of Brooklyn..but here's the only one on my camera:

Nana and Gigi did such a great job on it!!

We stayed the night there to go to the Memphis Zoo on Sunday morning. It was pooring down outside so we decided to go to the Children's Museum of Memphis instead. It was a great choice! Not only did Brooklyn have so much fun! But the "adults" did too!!

They had a fake "Mississippi River" and B just had to go fishin! She had a blast! We had to drag her away to go see other parts of the museum! :)


They had an old cockpit from a FedEx plane on display. You could actually sit in the drivers seat and push all the buttons and pretend you were flying. I waited for some little boys to finally finish their fantasy trip, and then I hopped on board! B didn't like it but I had a blast!

This had to be the CUTEST thing ever! A mini Kroger!!! Brooklyn had her own little shopping cart and got to pick what she wanted off the shelves..

Then she got to check herself out!

It was too precious! She's such a big help when we go shopping and she LOVED doing it on her own!

She. Loves. To. Color! Enough said! She threw a hissy fit when I carried her out of the room!

We had fun in the dental room too!

Driving in Style!

My child is going to be a performer! She loved the microphones!!! She tried to carry them out with her! haha

The green screen was so cool because you could see yourself actually performing on TV...

"Yes, my child is now a famous movie star!"

We had such a BLAST hanging out at the museum! I want to take her back there again! Another trip to Memphis is definatly in store for the future!

Fishin'

Uncle Matthew is big into fishing and so we decided to all go to the pond at BCMS to do a little fishin'...

So excited to be going fishin with "tatoo" (Brooklyn's version of Matthew...haha)

Brooklyn fishin...

She liked hitting the water more than holding the pole.

Fishing with Daddy

Uncle Matthew caught a traffic cone!! It was so funny! He was the only one who caught anything the whole evening. He ended up catching 3 little fishys. But it was still fun to relax, be lazy, and enjoy the outdoors!

Randoms

Here are a few random pictures from our lives over the past few days...

Here is just a few of the clipboards I made for my senior girls. I made 12! We had so many faithful senior girls this year! It was wonderful to look on stage and honestly say that they all came to Sunday School very often. They didn't just show up for Senior Sunday.

Brooklyn just watched and watched as her cousins fished. She's too girly to actually touch the fish though.

Instead of fishing with her pole, she decided to hit the water with a stick! The other fishermen didn't like it so much. And she kept repeating "fishy in dader (water)" over and over again!!

These are a couple of chairs my mom has had for a very long time. She gave them to me, so I had to change their look a little. They were orignally the light tan color on the left. I spray painted them a metallic grey and made a red cover for the cushions...

This is one of the finished chairs! It turned out just how I imagined!

Dylan was born last week and we took Brooklyn up to see him the night he was born. She was in love!!

She's such a proud big cousin! And she will definatly show Dylan the ropes!

We love it outside! Even when its windy, playing outside is the best!

It's finally time to pull out the pool. We decided to go ahead and fill it up to let it warm up.

I have the cutest little girl EVER!!!

Daddy was teaching her how to play baseball.

She thought it was so funny...BTW how cute is her little bathing suit! She has a couple this year and they are so precious!!