Nehemiah

This past week has been quite the week! Last Thursday we came home and at about 5:30 we had a pipe burst and flood our finished basement! It was absolutely horrible and very scary. Poor Chad couldn't figure out how to turn the water off and we had water pouring in our home for about 35 minutes. I rushed the boys upstairs right away and started dragging whatever I could upstairs. We have our media room, playoom, office, bathroom, and bar downstairs and as you can imagine I was in shock that this was all happening. I have to tell you though through this whole experience God has truly taught me so much! The plumber we finally got ahold of to come to our home drove 30 minutes to our home to help. Even though he doesn't normally do emergency calls he said he couldn't not help. God was there! I spoke with our homeowner's insurance company that night and they stated as long as the pipe was frozen they would cover everything. I was thankful but nervous they would fight us on where or not the pipe actually froze. I know I should have faith and be calm, but i'm wasn't and being the control freak that I often am I was a wreck. So much so that I hardly slept much all weekend and thought I was going to get sick on numerous occasions yesterday morning before the adjuster came. Well he came around 10:30 and spent 1 hour and a half assesing everything and then went to his car to write up the estimate. What was supposed to take 20 minutes took and hour...and of course I was a mess the whole time wondering if it was going to turn out ok or now. And while I was sitting on my couch praying the Holy Spirit led me to Nehemiah chapter 1 and I was blessed by it!!! Specifically the last part of the chapter, "Give your servant succes today by granting him favor in the presence on this man" and you know what He did. The adjuster came in and gave me a three page report itemizing what they were going to cover and a check for everything including all repairs...and we were blessed. I know for a fact that we will spend less than half what they gave us to repair everything completely and I was brought to me knees once again by God's faithfulness and my lack of trust. The amazing part if God knows my weaknesses and still loves me unconditionally and continues to teach me through all things. I stand in awe once again at the God we serve. So that was Thurs- Today. My birthday was yesterday and turned out to be ok. Chad knew I needed to get out of the house and took me to a movie/dinner and we had a wonderful time. I am so blessed to be married to my best friend...truly I couldn't even begin to imagine my life without him.

So now i'm sitting at my computer and know I need to get up in 3 three hours to get ready to go into the office early and of course am wide awake. It's been nice though in that I got some extra studying done for my last final, paid some bills, and got caught up with some friends. Now i'm just praying that sleep will come and I can rest a bit before my busy day begins. We have also been pounded with a ton of snow and below zero temps..not fun! Well i'm glad tomorrow (today) is my last day of work before Christmas. I'm so looking forward to the time off with family/friends! It will be so fun to experience Christmas with the boys this year. I'll make sure to post pics. Have a great morning! I've been craving the sugar free blueberry muffins and a decaf latter from the coffee shop that I love and will be making a pit stop there before work today for sure! :)

A hair cut and seven dozen cookies...

Well my insomnia finally caught up with me. :) Today was a good day overall. My friend Amy came over with her two kids after work and her oldest and my two boys played in their playroom and had a ball! Her youngest is 5 months and napped a big part of the time they were here. And after dinner Amy cut/colored my hair! PTL...I was so overdue for a cut/color, that I was starting to look scary with all of my gray coming out. And now I feel so much better,except my hair is thick and takes forever to do. They left at 8:30 and I still had 7 dozen cookies to make for tomorrow's cookie exchange. Yep I'm exhausted and barely keeping my eyes open as I type but excited with all that was accomplished today. Now i'm off to crash! Night:)

Insomnia

So I have been blesses with the gift of insomnia for a couple of years now and honestly most days I am blessed by it. Today I woke up at 4:00, cleaned up the mess I made in the kitchen last night, had breakfast, spent some time in the Word, and am not catching up on some blog time all before I "normally" wake up, not to mention I can enjoy the quiet time talking with God. I just love it. Now i'm sure I will not be saying the same thing at 2:00 this afternoon when I feel like taking a nap in my office...lol. Today we are having a Christmas potluck at my office and I am so looking forward to it. I made lemon bars and a bugle dip to go with bugles which I love!!! I definately need to get a work out in tomorrow. This afternoon my dear friend Amy and her two kids are coming over for a playdate and I'm really looking forward to some girl time. She's also going to do my hair yeah! The grays are showing and I start to look like Cruella de Vil when they come out. So much so that my boss commented on my gray hair in the middle of a meeting with him the other day. Gotta love people sometime! :) Well Chad's alarm went off which means I need to start getting ready for work. We got quite a bit of snow yesterday so it will be interesting to see how the roads are today.

A Big Day

Today was my first OB appt since we found out we are expecting again. Let me start off with saying that I didn't get any sleep last night! I think I was up almost every 30 minutes and was up at 5:00 busy cl eaning the kitchen and doing laundry just to keep my mind off of my appt. I know that our baby's life is in God's hand but it's the unknown that is always hard to deal with. Well I finally made it to my appt at 8:30 and the appt began. I absolutely love my ob and told her right off the bat that I wanted to be induced again and asked what her vacation looked like for the summer...:) Finally at the end of my appt I had an ultrasound and there was our baby. So beautiful! I could see the baby's heart beating and it was moving it's little arms around. I am measuring 91/2 weeks which is almost two weeks farther along than I calculated, but the baby looks great. My due date is July 16th and I'm so looking forward to having the summer off with the kids. Now if I can just get past the nausea stage I will be happy. We haven't told anyone yet and I can't wait to tell our family at Christmas. I am going to get a frame for each of our parents which three picture spot and put one of Noah, one of Ky, and a copy of the ultrasound in the last spot.... I can't wait to see their reactions. Ann Taylor Loft has been one of my favorite places to ordeor maternity clothes. I have received awesome coupons from them and today received another box of clothes... 2 pairs of pants that were originally $74 for $17...can't beat that and I love the quality!! I also got this adorable shirt.

Besides baby...things are going great! I have one final down and one more to go. I'm going to Schaumberg on Friday with one of my girlfriends and can't wait. I love the Cheesecake Factory and can't wait to have a slice. This weekend Noah is singing in his first Christmas program, Kylan's godfather is coming up from IL to bring the boys' Christmas gifts and say hi, Sunday's my birthday and Chad and I are going out for dinner to one of my favorite restaurants. OH and my sister in law is coming home on Sat. from the Dominican Republic where she is a missionary. I can't believe that next week is Christmas! I can't believe how quick it has come up and I will be sad when it is over. It's been exciting to share the story of Jesus's birth with our boys and I love talking to them about Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. It is my desire that our sons grow up to love Jesus and accept Him as their savior. I pray for them and their walk with Him daily and look forward to watching them grow. I feel blessed to be a mother.

Christmas is Coming!

My mom, Michelle, My sister Jess, and I

The boys and I making hershey kiss cookies:)...Noah had a case of bedhead..love it!:)

Smiling for mom before church. He's getting so big!

Mr. Man

My little men

I just love Christmas and all that comes with it. I love making memories with family and carrying on traditions that I did with my mom when we were little. One of my favorites is making Christmas cookies and icing them. This weekend we did just that. I invited my friend Michelle, my mom, and one of my sisters Jess over to make cookies with the boys and I. Chad is content just eating them:) We spent a good five hours making cookies and had a wonderful time. The boys enjoyed sampling everything.

We have had a lot of snow today! Winter is definately here and in full swing. Chad just finished shoveling and I'm waiting my meatballs to cook and will be starting the sauce and noodles shortly. That's right it's another spaghetti and meatball night but this time I have a whole box of spaghetti! I've been craving crescents which goes so well with spaghetti and meatballs:)

Please pray for me. I have my genetics exam on Thursday and am so nervous. I just don't feel very confident about this subject and really hope to do decent on the exam to pull up my final grade in this class. I keep praying that God will help me retain information as i'm studying. I'm also praying for energy as i'm so drained by the time I get home from work and get dinner done that I can barely stay awake for anything more than two hours and my friends I need to get at least a good three hours in tonight so that tomorrow evening is spent just reviewing.

I went to the hospital yesterday and gave my first round of blood for the tests they run for your initial OB appt. My first appt is next Tuesday and I keep praying that it goes alright. Well that's all for now... oh and here are a few pics I thought you would enjoy. God Bless!

Making Lefse

The company I work gives each worker a volunteer day to use every year. Today I am using mine to make lefse at a local church and all of the proceeds to Echo. I'm so excited!!! Several co-workers and I are going to meet at the church at 8:00 and start the day. I've never made lefse before but i'm really excited. It's also been nice to be able to get up and putz around this morning before getting ready to go. Well i'm off and will update you all my experience this afternoon!

A Spaghetti Tuesday

I'm struggling with morning sickness all day these days and the nausea is driving me crazy, but at the same time a blessing. I lost my second baby (in between Noah and Kylan) and since then I'm always very nervous about getting through the first trimester and thankful every day that I have symptoms that I'm pregnant. My first OB appt is on the 16 and she will do an ultrasound then which will make me feel so much better! I had class tonight and then was going to go right to the gym for spinning with my friend Jill but just couldn't handle it. So I went home and decided on making spaghetti with turkey meatballs. I still can't handle the smell of chicken and am seeking as many new recipes as possible that involve ground turkey or pasta as that is all I can really handle right now. I feel really bad for Chad and the boys because they all love chicken, but seriously just smelling it makes me sick right now. I truly hope I'll get over it soon as up until now I love chicken and cook with it weekly. Anyhow I put my meatballs in the oven and went to boil my noodles when I realized I only had a quarter box of spaghetti noodles...so I ended up adding penne and rigatoni noodles to the mix as well. It still turned out good but the hodge podge mixture of noodles gave my husband a good laugh. Oh well... I'm not sitting with the boys while they are watching The Land Before Time for the hundredth time:) We were all going to venture out to Target (one of my favorite places) to get Noah snow pants...but decided against it as I am so pooped! Otherwise it has been a wonderful day! The week is flying and I am taking a volunteer day on Thursday to make lefse at a local church where the proceeds go to Echo. I've never made lefse before but am really looking forward to it!! Friday I am going to see a hockey game between University of Alaska Anchorage (my home team) and the Wisconsin Badgers (where I currently live) and can't wait. Did I mention I need to continue to cram for my genetics final next week? Pray for me please!!!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

This four day weekend has been wonderful! We haven't done a whole lot of anything besides relax. Friday we put up our Christmas decorations which was a lot of fun! The boys are really starting to ask alot of questions about Christmas and once we were done putting the tree up they asked if Christmas was ready...lol. So the last few days I've tried my best at explaining to a 2 and 4 year old that it won't be here until for a couple of more weeks. I have a feeling we will be doing a lot more explaining until then.:) Yesterday we took the boys to the library which is always a lot of fun. They go straight for the dinosaur section and start filling up the basket with books. They recently have enjoyed watching Charlie Brown movies so I was on the hunt for a couple of them, but they didn't have a big selection to choose from. Today we are going to church and then over to Chad's grandparent's house for lunch. We called yesterday to remind his grandmother that we would eat before we came, but of course she had already bought a ham and hamburger for the boys. She is the sweetest person and just loves to make a huge meal when they have guests. Unfortunately I don't like ham and always try and eat a little something before going over there, but it's always wonderful to spend time with them. His grandparents have been married for over 60 years and act like they are still in their 20s...it so awesome! Chad and I hope we are just like them when we get older. Other than that I'll be studying for my genetics final when we get home. Oh I can't wait for classes to be done and for a little break!! Here are a few pics from Thanksgiving and Friday...

Thanksgiving

I'm so excited to be spending Thanksgiving with family! My mom, and three of my 5 siblings will be coming over to our home for Thanksgiving day. This will be the first Thanksgiving that all of my siblings haven't been here. My brother Mike and sister Nikki now live in Florida and won't be back until Christmas. We are having all of our Thanksgiving favorites and I can't wait to have my mom's Apple pie!! The chex mix is cooking in the oven as I type...oh how I love the smells of the holidays. I'll make sure to post pictures! We plan on just hanging out at home this evening and if I'm up to it, I'll start to bring my Christmas decor upstairs and start decorating. I'm sad to take my Fall decor down as Fall is my favorite season, but I love Christmas just as much. As Isit here and think about Thanksgiving and all that I am thankful for, I am humbled. I am thankful that I live in a country where I am free to worship God openly, where I can walk down the street safely, and my family has food to eat every day. I'm thankful for the men and women of our country who have fought to keep our country safe and free. My father was in the military for 26 years and I know what it is like for the families of our service men and women. The sacrifices these families make are profound and I am thankful for their courage! I am thankful for my mother, for all she does for our family. She has been a single mother for years and even though it can be unbearable at times, she is a woman of Faith and God's role in her life and heart is evident in all that she does. She has a strength that comes from God alone and I'm so thankful for her love and support. I'm thankful for my husband!!! He is truly my best friend and has a gentle heart. He loves me and our children unconditionally and I wake up daily thankful that God has brought him into my life. He knows what to say or not to say and is so patient!!! I can't imagine my life without him. I'm blessed to be his wife! There are so many other things I'm thankful for: my beloved sons, my baby in heaven, my siblings, my girlfriends, my job, our home, and so much more. Most of all though, I am thankful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I am humbled to my knees daily and thankful that he died on the cross for my sins and for the sins of everyone else. I can't imagine what my life would be like if I didn't know him. I am thankful for his unconditional love and forgiveness of all of my sins. I am so impefect and deserve hell, but by His grace and life I am saved and will one day see him. Today I will enjoy the time with family, laughter, and memories that come with these special holidays. Creating traditions with my family is something I get excited about and look forward to another special day.

It's Friday!

I'm so thankful the weekend is hear! I'm completely exhausted from work, school, and morning sickness. While I haven't had as much nausea issues as I did with Noah and Ky, I'm just constantly tired. God is good though and have given me the strength to get through the week. Kylan's sleep schedule hasn't adjusted since the time change so he is constantly getting up by 5:30, which isn't too big of a deal since i'm normally up at 5:00, but I truly enjoy my quiet time in the morning. He cracks me up though because he will walk into the bathroom and start to get changed out of his pjs right away. And can I tell that he is stubborn just like his mama and likes to do everything all by himself!! :) Tonight we had pizza for dinner and the boys are currently checking out a new computer they got at the library today with Grammy and Papa. I'm praying for enough energy to scrap for a little bit before crashing. I did my grocery shopping last night after I spinned with Jill so i'm thankful I don't have to get up early and go out tomorrow. Typically I get up every other Sat at 4:30 and head to the grocery store with my menu list in hand. Ever since I had Noah I love to go early on Sat. mornings and have the grocery store to myself. I get too overwhelmed with all of the people and their carts during normal hours. I beginning to enjoy my sleep though and am looking forward to sleeping in until 7:00. I'm spinning tomorrow morning at 8:30 and then it's family time with the boys. Chad and is going out with the buys tomorrow for dinner and I'm taking the boys to church. Our church is having a family fun night after church and are showing the movie Walle. I'm so excited to take the boys to it. We wanted to take them to the theaters to see it when it came out but are really nervous about taking Noah to a theater. He had many ear infections as a toddler and because of that has extremely sensitive ears now...EXTREMLEY! So tomorrow will be a good opportunity to see how he does with the noise level. My mom is taking my little sister to it so it should be a good time. Other than that we will do our normal Sam's club run on Sunday and I have a lot of homework to complete before Monday. I'm so excited though because next week is a three day work week for us. Year after year Chad and I have always worked the day after Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year we decided to take them off and enjoy time with our family. He asked if we would go out and partake in black friday...personally i'm thinking no, but we'll see. I do need to make a trip to the scrapbook store and pick up a calendar set that I am going to use to make my mother-in-law a calendar for Christmas. She has everything and I thought she would enjoy a calendar with pics of the boys. I need to get started on it though if i'm ever going to get it done before Christmas. I can't believe Christmas is a little over a month away. I just love the holidays and time spent with family and making memories.

Tower Tuesday

Today flew by so fast! I walked into work planning on attacking some issues that came up yesterday and was successful, yet they took longer than planned. I had a couple of meetings this afternoon and then it was off to class. I was unsure of what to make for dinner tonight but settled for mesquite chicken with potatoes and corn. It's always quite entertaining having dinner with the boys. I'm not a picky eater by any means nor is Chad, but our boys are..... Kylan, my youngest, only ever wants Peanut Butter and crackers..yep that's what he asks for at breakfast, lunch, and dinner...tonight was no exception. He cracks me up! While I always give him a little of what I make hoping that he will try it...he normally just says "I don't like it" and then good ol Skippy comes out of the pantry. Noah on the other hand decided he would mix his potatoes and corn and paint around his plate with them tonight while I ran to the bathroom. Of course Chad was sitting there the whole time and somehow missed it...lol. The boys and I decided to build a tower with their foam blocks and correlating garages for each of them. It was quite comical watching them put the "tower" together and how serious they took our little project. Now they are off to bed and it's quite time for mom!!! Yeah:) I think i'm going to attempt to make a few cards for some friends who could use a pick me up.

Spinning Saturday!

It has been a great day so far and it's only noon!! I got up bright and early with Kylan this morning..he decided at 5:30 that is was time for peanut butter and crackers (his favorite)! So we sat and the table and he had some with a glass of milk and downstairs to the playroom we went. I went to my spinning class with Jill at 8:15 and had a great workout!! I'm still a little sore from my workout yesterday and can only imagine how I am going to feel tomorrow, but it feels so great to get those workouts in. I might be prego now but i'm all about doing it healthy this time! I don't want to pack on all of the weight i've worked so hard to get off. Now i'm back at home sipping on a warm cup of cranberry apple zinger tea with a little bit of honey!! Yum. The boys are outside with Chad running around while he rakes the leaves. I'm getting ready to finish up my project for my genetics class that I have been working on for a while. I'll be so glad to be done with it!!! That's about it for my day thus far. I'm going to go get the boys lunch. I'm sure they are getting hungry.

First order....

So I just placed my first order for maternity clothes! :) I gave away the majority of my maternity clothes this summer and don't have much to work with....especially for work clothes. I know I won't be needing maternity clothes for awhile but wanted to start looking at sales right away and try and find some good deals and boy did I ever. I received a friends and family coupon for Old Navy, Gap, and Banana Republic where you save 30% off your total purchase so online I went. I found four adorable tops and with shipping and the promo code I only paid $39. Can't beat that!!! I'm stoked. I just hope they look as cute on as they did on the web. Today was an ok day....I have been soo incredibly tired this week and today was no exception. The day flew by though which helped but I took a nap right after dinner tonight and am now wide awake. Tomorrow I'm taking a spinning class with my friend Jill at the Y and am looking forward to that! I have a DNA extraction project I have to finish for my genetics class and then of course there is laundry and chores that we'll need to attack as well. My girlfriend Amy, and her two kids, Ava and Quinn, came over for a playdate tonight and it was a lot of fun to hang out and catch up. We've known each other since we were 18 and she is one of my dear friends. It's actually kind of funny because I met her when I first moved to Wisconsin and was going to college and working at Sears. She was working there at the time too. Her boyfriend at the time, Nick, who is now her husband, has been best friends with my husband Chad since they were 3. At the time I didn't know Chad and while Amy and I were friends for 3 years before I ever met Chad I always heard about Nick's friend Chad. Well then I met Chad's sister through the church I was going too a year after I moved to WI. We were good friends for 2 years and I heard more about Chad but never met him. Then one summer I started a young adult Bible study and a group of about 20 of us hung out all summer and got together multiple times during the week to hang out. And that is where I met Chad. We became friends and after a year started dating, then got married. So now Amy and I are dear friends and our husbands have been best friends forever! Isn't it funny how God works things out. Anyhow Nick is in the Army and is overseas and has been for 14 months. He was able to come home in July for 18 days when Amy had Ava. He should be home for Christmas if all goes according to plan. I don't know how Amy does it with a 2 year old and 4 month old all by herself, but I'm glad she was able to move back home while he is away. My boys and Quinn have a blast together and Amy and I were able to catch up a bit which was nice. She is my scrapbook partner in crime and normally we get together on Friday nights after the kids go to bed. I drag my stuff over to her house and we take over her dining room table and scrap for a couple of hours. So that's my evening in a nutshell. I have a feeling i'll be up for awhile puttzing around on the web. I'm in seach of a cute baby sling.

Be still.....

I survived my mid-term and quite honestly I'm pretty sure I aced it! I'm so excited and pleased with how well it went. I ended up taking the afternoon off of work to spend more time studying and am so glad that I did. I finished my mid-term and met my two favorite boys at home. I took them to Mocha Moments to meet my sweet friend Jill, from work, who is going to be watching them on Sunday while Chad and I go to the Bears/Packer game. They have never met her before and I wanted them to be able to interact with her a bit so they wouldn't be worried when they were dropped off on Sunday. She is so sweet and has a huge heart! We have gotten to know each other over the past year and now take a spinning class together at the Y! Until last week she was also my Weight Watcher's partner in crime, but now that I'm expecting I will have to stop seeking to lose weight, although I have every intention of continuing to eat healthy and workout as I have been. So, tonight at dinner Chad told me he thought it would be neat if I was pregnant with twin girls, and you know what...I think it would be also! We have three sets of twins in my family and I'll always said it would be so neat if I got pregnant with twins during my third pregnancy. For some reason I just have this feeling that we are going to have a boy, which don't get me wrong would be wonderful! I know whatever God blesses us with will be welcomed into our family and surrounded by love!!! I desperately want to have at least one girl but we will see what God has in store for our family. His plan is perfect and in that I rest. I've learned so much these past few months about being still and listening to Him, and I mean really being still. There are many nights when I wake up out of a dead sleep and just sit and pray and pour out my heart to him in the middle of the night...and then I wait and be still. It's amazing to me How he uses other people to speak to us. There have been times when I am in prayer about something and then I will be talking with someone and out of knowhere they will start talking about what I'm praying about and I know that is God speaking through them and oh how wonderful it is to have Him as my Savior and be molded by Him! How I long to have a heart like His and to Love like Him....I have SO far to go, but am excited about the journey and all that He is teaching me. I can't imagine not having Him in my life.....My heart breaks for my dear friends and family who do not know Him.

Decaf Latte w/Whip

So I just got home from Mocha Moments and had a fabulous carmel latte! It was so yum! I went there after work to study for my mid-term on Thursday. I will be so glad to get my last mid-term completed! I'm taking a half day tomorrow so I can study in quiet...it can often be near impossible to study at home with the boys around....:) Plus I would much rather play dinosaurs with them then study... I'm so excited to pick them up after I'm done studying and have some momma time with them. Chad has to run errands after work so the boys and I will have dinner and hang out. This past weekend was a lot of fun. This coming weekend Chad and I are going to a Bears/Packers game in Greenbay and I can't wait. I'm a huge Bears fan and have never been to one of their games. One of my vendors invited us to come and we were thrilled to accept the invite. They have an amazing tailgate party at a house that is right behind Lambeau field and are tickets are right behind the Bears' bench. Of course I will probaly be one of the only Bears fans but that's ok. Chad will make sure to be decked our in Packer gear so we don't get egged...lol

And I saved the best for last....we found out on Saturday that I am expecting. We were quite surprised, but I'm excited to meet this little person that God is bringing into our lives. Chad and I had a good laugh because not even three months ago I sold most of my baby items in a garage sale because we weren't planning on having any more kids for another three years. I guess I should have waited a little longer to get rid of things, but luckily I didn't get rid of all of my maternity clothes... Regardless it's hard to believe that in less than 8 months we'll have another little baby in our home. I've already started making my lists of things that will need to be done...and am in search of boy names. I've had my girl name picked out since we became pregnant with Noah, but haven't had the opportunity to use it yet..:) And we spent months coming up with Kylan's name...so now the search begins again..oh and I should mention that my kids each have two middle names and I plan on carrying that over to our newest addition. Sorry for the rambling post I think the decaf coffee is getting to me.

Enjoying Fall!

I can't believe Tuesday is almost over! This week is just flying by for me. We had an awesome weekend! Friday, Chad and I took Noah and Kylan out for Halloween. I found these awesome T-Rex costumes that were 75% off (I love sales) and they looked so adorable. My boys are 19 months apart and often times it's like having twins...they want what the other has. Many a times I dress them in the same clothes just to keep the peace...this year they wore the same costume and boy did they look cute!! :) I will post pics soon. I'm still trying to figure out how to add a pic below my blog. Please let me know how to do this if you know. Anyhow we took the boys to both of our parents' houses and then to several friends' houses to take pics and load their candy bags. Overall it was just a great family experience for us. I grew up not celebrating Halloween, but would go to Fall Festivals at our church. After having our boys Chad and I were undecided on if we wanted to take them out trick or treating or not. We decided to take them out this year to a couple of our neighbors, and family and friends and are so glad we did. Saturday we spent four hours raking leaves and the boys "helped" and jumped in them. It was a blast and the perfect fall day to be outside. Sunday we had Noah's soccer awards ceremony and that was really cute, until he got his finger stuck in the trohpy on the way home!! Talk about panic. Here we are on the I about 15 minutes from home and he starts screaming that his finger is stuck. PTL I was able to manuever it out without hurting him. And so the week has continued. Kylan also decided to paint our bathroom with my mascara and then the boys painted the carpet in their playroom with Crayola paint while I was out yesterday. Boys will be boys and oh can they be funny! Overall it's been nice to have part of my life back after this last acquistion and i'm enjoying spending my evenings at home with my family and not at home working.... God is so good! Well I just put homemade mac and cheese in the oven and can't wait to try it as it is a new recipe. I love to cook!!! I hope you all have a blessed day! :)

Peppermint Monday

Today has been an awesome day!!! Today was our "Go live" date for our newest company we acquired back in July and it was a success!! All of the planning, preparing, and crazy hours paid off. Praise the Lord! I was so thankful that we able to address everything as it came up today and there weren't too many huge fires to put out. I know that more will come up as time progresses but i'm just so thankful for how smoothly the transition process started. Tonight is the first night in months I haven't brought work home with me and i'm thrilled! I'm planning on reading a fiction book after the boys go to bed and just relax. One of my co-works gave me a bottle of an apple cider wine she got up in Northern Wisconsin over the weekend and i'm thrilled to try it.

This weekend was truly wonderful! The boys and I had a wonderful time playing with playdough on Saturday and then went out and played with the leaves. It was a gorgeous crisp fall day! Saturday we did our bi monthly trip to Sam's club which is always fun and then went to Target and Kohls (two of my other favorite stores). I did get to have some mommy time and went over to our scrapbook store and looked around at all of the new holiday paper and stamps. It makes me want to scrap! I'm hoping to get back to doing it this Friday. One of my girlfriends, Amy, and I get together after our kids go to bed and scrap unitl the wee hours and have a blast just catching up. It's been a couple of months since we have done a scrap night and i'm looking forward to some girl time!

Does anyone know how to install the blogger/visit counters on your blog? I married an I.T. guy but am a little slow myself at figuring these things out. I also tried to copy the Not Me Monday button from MckMamma's sight but haven't had any luck. I'm sure it's a simple click here and there and i'm just missing something. Speaking of Not Me Mondays:)....

I did not stop my husband mid sentence after I got home to run and put my bottle of wine in the fridge.
I did not have seconds at M&M's after dinner for a chocolate fix.
I did not beg my husband to run across town to pick up the dog food that I forgot to get at the store.
I did not put my phone on mute so I can enjoy the sound of quiet tonight.

Have a great Monday everyone! We serve an awesome loving God!

Oh and I almost forget to tell you how excited I was when I went grocery shopping and found that my favorite peppermint coffee that is seasonal is now in stock!!! There is nothing like a warm cup of peppermint coffee in the morning. I'm so excited!

Held in His hand

This week has been extremely draingin...mentally, emotionally, and physically. I am blessed to have an amazing job, but often it requires more hours than I'd like to spend away from home, my babies. I'm also in school part time...working towards completing my Masters and while completion seems so far away, I know in my heart this is where God wants me right now. I have an amazing husband, Chad. He works for the same company I do and is in the I.T. dept. His job is a blessing because while he works at the office 40 hours a week he can also log into from home and work there in the evenings if needed. We have two amazing boys, Noah(4) and Kylan(2 1/2). Chad is an amazing father, husband, and friend. He is extremely patient, and willing to pitch in and pick up where I can't during the week/weekend so that when i am home I can spend my time with our boys and him. For that I am so thankful. Normally my evenings consist of playing with the boys for an hour...making something for dinner and then Chad takes over and does baths and bedtime, while I start studying. There are weeks like this week though where the hours/days all run together and my head literally starts to hurt from being so tired and unable to retain all that I need to. The amazing thing is though is that I can feel God's hand guiding me and holding me through it all. I can hear his whisper in my ear and gentle voice encouraging me one day/hour/often minute at a time. It is during these special moments that I just stop and pray and am reminded of just how blessed I truly am. I am blessed to have a heavenly Father who knows everything about me...things I may never share, and he loves me all the same. That humbles me to my knees! I am not perfect...not even close. I would love to say that I am a patient person, but i'm not...i'm far from it. But He's teaching me and i'm being stretched and for me it's in that time when i'm being stretched that I feel even closer to Him. Well i'm off to review a couple of chapters before crashing. Have a blessed evening!

Another Mocha Tuesday

Today has been a great day! A busy day...but a great one! I'm sitting at my favorite coffee shop (Mocha Moments) sipping on a cup of coffee and enjoying some quiet time. There is just something so relaxing about sipping a nice warm cup of coffee that I find relaxing. Chad and Kylan are recovering from the flu so it is still bland food at our house. I've been planning on making homemade calzone since Sunday but that got shelved with the flu bug attacking our house...hopefully tomorrow. Well I'm off to study for my mid-term on Friday and log into work for a minute and catch up on emails.

Monday Monday...

Well my Monday started off at 2:30 this morning when Kylan woke up crying for "My Thomas"... Yep he loves Thomas the train and last night he misplaced him and we couldn't find him before it was time for bed. He went down for bed just find but apparently woke up in the middle of the night and remembered he didn't have him. Did I mention he got the flu on Friday and is just recovering or that my husband Chad got the flu last night also? Yep...so needless to say I have been a Clorox wipe freak and have been wiping down every countertop/door nob possible! Luckily Noah (our oldest) hasn't shown any signs of getting it, but i'm not going to hold my breath. I started feeling gross today at work and keep praying that I won't get it. This week is the worst week possible for me to get it, as we are integrating the new company that my company bought back in July this week and it's meeting central. I also have a mid-term on Friday so I need to be able to focus when reviewing. So please pray for me/my family that everyone will get healthy quickly. Really though it's been a good day overall. I made some chocolate chip scones last night and shared them with some girlfriends this morning. Work was non stop until 4:30 when I was able to log into my email for the first time all day...talk about scary! :) Now i'm home and thought i'd post before I attempt my accounting homework I have to do. I'm sitting in my family room looking out at the amazing fall colors outside!! I just love fall and everything about it. I'm hoping to get outside sometime this week and take some good fall pics! Now if I could just make some time to scrapbook or make cards i'd be happy. :) I've been dying to go to Archivers and pick up some fall pages but keep telling myself I need to use my paper I got last year and never used..lol. Have I mentioned that I love to scrapbook? I don't think I have, but I absolutely do!!! Well I'm off to play with the boys and then attempt my homework. Oh and before I forget.... it's "Not me Monday"..which I picked up from MckMamma's blog!


I did not go to Mocha Moments at 5am this morning because I ran out of coffee beans and needed my Mocha!

I did not procrastinate at studying for my mid-term on Friday.

I did not turn the TV on in order to tune out of reality for a minute.

I did not go into my boys' room after we tucked them in to give them kisses one more time before they fall asleep.

I most certainly did not add Not Me Monday to my blog today after already posting because I just love the idea!

Soccer Saturday

Our oldest son is 4 and "plays" soccer on Saturdays. Our church has a recreation league and it's hilarious! There are 8 four year old teams and they take turns playing each other. Today Noah's game is at 9:00 which is perfect because then we have the rest of the day to hang out together. Chad and the boys are actually going up North to spend time with his parents and I am hanging out with my family, since my sister is home from college for the weekend. It never ceases to amaze me just how fast the weekends fly by. I was driving home last night thinking about all that had to get done this weekend and already my brain is back to Monday. Oh well I think it's just part of where our family is right now. I'm looking forward to having a slow day tomorrow. I don't think we are going anywhere but church so that will be nice. I'm hoping to take some more pictures of the boys this weekend in the leaves as I love fall pictures!!

Friday....

I'm so tired... I should be glad it's Friday but in my head i'm already back to Monday! Between work, school, the kids, and everything that needs to happen to keep things going..i'm just exhausted. I'm so thankful for the job, husband, and kids that I have, but there are moments when I wish things would slow down just a bit. Today was one of those days. I let myself sleep in today and went into work at 7:00. My day consumed of many meetings and I finally left at 6:00. Went to the gym and worked out then home to see the boys and put them to bed. Chad and I watched a show together and now it's down time until bed. Tomorrow Noah has a soccer game at 9:00 and then I'm supposed to hang out with my sister Nik whose home from Florida for the weekend. If only there were more hours in the day.

Mocha Tuesday

Well I just finished typing my first blog and went to save it and it vanished. So here's to my first post being shorter than planned:) I would re type it all but and exhausted and ready to crash for the evening. I will try and repost tomorrow. Good night!