Summer Projects

This summer there are several things I want to accomplish. I thought I'd share what my main ones are because hopefully I will be blogging about them throughout the summer.

1. Blog more often: even if I only do 1 post a month it will be more than I've been doing. Hopefully I'll do more than 1 post :) I really want to blog about different books I've read so maybe I will get a chance to do that.

2. Pinterest notebook: I saw this idea when substituting one day. The teacher had a to-do list on her desk and one of the things said "Pinterest notebook." I don't know what she meant by that, but I thought it would be a good idea to organize different things I've found on Pinterest. (If you don't know what Pinterest is, check it out at www.pinterest.com) One of the main reasons I want it is for my classroom. I see so many cute ideas on Pinterest that I want to incorporate in my classroom so I thought I'd organize them in one place to make it easier on me during the school year.

3. Organize my grandparents shed: My grandparents have lived in Conway for about 12 years. They brought so much "junk" that they thought they'd need and haven't used and they've also accumulated so much more "junk." Most of it they don't use but it has taken over their shed, behind their shed, their attic, and their garage. So, since they do so much for me, I'm going to help my granddad get his stuff organized. You might have noticed how I said they have stuff taking over many different parts of their house. Each part is such a big task in and of itself that I'm not committing to all this summer. I'm only starting with one and will work til its done and then start on another part. I can't wait to see the ending results. (Have I mentioned just how much I LOVE ORGANIZING!!!!)

4. Potty Train Brooklyn

5. Cook more often (and learn to cook smaller amounts so we don't have so much leftovers, because Luke won't eat leftovers and I get tired of the same stuff for days)

6. Spend less money when grocery shopping: I love lists! But when I'm grocery shopping I never seem to make a thorough enough list and I never stick to my list. I want to do better at sticking to my lists AND use coupons better. Hopefully I can save us some money.

7. Clean/Organize my garage: let's just say, it's about to explode with all the stuff it has in it.


There are other misc. projects I will have throughout the summer. I'm not one to do nothing and just "relax." Spending time with Luke and the girls is me "relaxing." I can't wait for all the fun stuff we are going to do this summer!

Let the summer begin!!!

Wye Mountain

The girls at Wye Mountain
It's such a beautiful place

The best I could get of Addison by herself.

Brooklyn wanted to take a picture with the tree.

The girls and I went to Wye Mtn one day while Luke was at work. We had a lot of fun and even got some daffodils to plant at our house. It was hard to take pictures with it just being me but at least I got a couple. This is going to be a yearly tradition.

Our Family of Four

My two girls are just perfect! God has blessed us so much by letting these two be in our lives! It is defintely been an adjustment going from a family of 3 to a family of 4. Though it was very easy adjusting to having a newborn in our house, my time is now divided been my 2 1/2 year old and my 4 week old.

Brooklyn is a very easy child! She has her routine and doesn't require constant attention. Her terrible two's have finally hit and she tells us "no" all the time and doesn't obey as well as she use to. But even with that, she is the sweetest, most loving little girl ever! And she loves Addison so much!! When she first wakes up in the morning she always says "where's Addy?" And if Addison cries then she says "it's okay Addison, don't cry." It blesses my heart!

Addison is such a great little baby. She is totally a momma's girl already! She doesn't sleep through the night so I don't sleep much, but she is so great to cuddle with! And she's grown so much already. She can't wear any newborn clothes anymore and makes the funniest faces. I love her so much!

Luke and I are so happy with our little family! God has blessed us more than words can say!

Addison Michelle

Boy, have our lives changed in the last 4 weeks. Yes, it's already been 4 weeks since Miss. Addison was born. I can't believe how time has flown!

It all started Wednesday, February 22 at around 5:00pm. I began having contractions every 8 minutes apart. We had already had several "false alarms" where I had contractions for a couple hours and then they just stopped. So we decided to wait for a while before heading up to the hospital. I had already cleaned the house and done all the laundry earlier that day, but I decided to make sure I had everything ready in our bags. Around 7:30 we decided to take Brooklyn to my grandparents and head on up to the hospital. We called both our moms to let them know we were going but not to come up yet. It's a good thing they waited...

We got to the hospital and they got me all set up on monitors in the triage in labory & delivery. By this time, my contractions were roughly every 2-3 minutes. Sounds like I was trucking along, right? No. Though I had dilated to a 2, I wasn't dilating any more. I wasn't 39 weeks just yet, so the OBGYN on call wouldn't admit me because if he had to break my water he would technically be "inducing" me. They didn't want to send me home because I would just be right back up there. So we waited... We walked the hospital a couple of times. I did some squats. They just needed any progress to admit me.

Finally, right after midnight they could admit me. (I was 39 weeks exactly according to them) They started my IV and I just about passed out. You'd think after having one child, I wouldn't get weak just by getting an IV...but no. I didn't have to wait long too long to get my epidural. I started out doing really good while she was giving it to me. I felt everything, but I was calm and it really didn't hurt all that bad...but as soon as she had got it done, and before she put the medicine in, my blood pressure dropped to 60/30 and I just about passed out again. They gave me some oxygen and I quickly got to feeling better.

Shortly after, my mom got there and I don't remember very much after that. They gave me a concoction of drugs for nausea, itching, patocin, and just the normal fluids. I literally slept for hours. I would wake up when visitors came or when the nurses tried to talk to me but I was just too exhausted to remember much. Around 2:20 I knew something had changed and I just barely mentioned it to my mom before falling back asleep. She went to get the nurse to check me and it was go time!

Addison was pushing herself out without my help. They usually have you push before the doctor gets there so all they have to do is catch the baby...but the nurse said not to push at all because she was already coming out on her own. My doctor got there quickly and with only 6 pushes, for a total of 4 minutes, Addison was here! 8 lbs. 2 oz 19 1/2 inches

Here are just a couple pictures from her birth:

Luke and Matthew have been best friends for a very long time. Matthew and Bethany had Jett 3 weeks before Addison was born. We were excited to get a picture of them together as baby's. They're going to grow up being good friends.

This was when we were going home.

She looks so much like Brooklyn right here that I'm sure one day I won't know which daughter this is.

Homemade Laundry Detergent

I don't know about you but I've gotten tired of buying laundry detergent and paying those high prices! I haven't gotten good at couponing so I don't get it free or half-off or even for a lower price. So I've decided to make my own laundry detergent and try it out for a while.

A couple years ago, my supervisor at work gave me a recipe and told me how she made her own laundry detergent, it lasted her a year at least, and only cost $13. I wanted to try it then, but was scared and didn't really have a reason to since my mom still bought everything. I've lost the recipe she gave me, so I turned to Pinterest (of course) to find a similiar recipe to use. Her's was liquid and I chose to do a powdered kind, but the ingredients were very similiar:

1 cup borax

1 cup Arm & Hammer washing soda

1 bar of Fels-Naptha (soap)

You start out by grating the bar of soap just like you would cheese. It's the same color too so other than the smell it looks exactly like cheese.

Then you add the Borax and washing soda (1 cup each). Mix as best you can.

You can leave it in th same container you made it in, but I found a large mason jar around the house to put it in. Then I used my Cricut to label it with the correct measurement for use. (1 tbsp)

And there you have it! Homemade laundry detergent. I spent less than $10 and still have enough Borax and washing soda to make at least 5 more batches. The soap is less than a dollar too. All you do is use 1 tbsp of the mix per load of laundry so it lasts a long time!

I tried it out on a load of laundry (without fabric softner) and it doesn't really leave much of a smell. It has a faint hint of the soap, but it doesn't smell like all the fancy detergent we pay $$ for. Hopefully it won't let me down...I'm going to try it with fabric softner to see if that will make my clothes smell good. Let me know what you think if you've tried this before!

The Hunger Games

Everyone has recently been talking about The Hunger Games. They've made a movie that is going to come out in March, so this trilogy of books has quickly become very popular. I love reading and needed a good book, so I decided to take everyone's advice and read The Hunger Games.

I was not disappointed! It captured me from the very beginning. It's a pretty easy book to read as well. I don't recommend it for younger kids or even young teenagers because the concept of th Hunger Games is pretty barbaric. Kids killing other kids for "entertainment" of those in the capitol. Thankfully we don't live in that kind of world. The main characters fight against this barbaric-ism the entire trilogy which is what makes the books so good and captivating.

I always seem to analyze the books I read (thank you world lit!) but I'll save anyone reading this the pain of what I feel the author could be suggesting about our governement. I definitely think this is going to be a good movie and I cannot wait to see it! (Liam Hiemsworth is in it ;)

So if you're looking for a good book(s) to read, I recommend The Hunger Games trilogy.

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.