A New Years Blessing!

May the new year bring
The warmth of home and hearth to you.
The cheer and goodwill of friends to you,
The hope of a childlike heart to you.
The joy of a thousand angels to you,
The love of the Son and God's peace to you!

Have a wonderful New Year!

Fashion By Hannah

Who says two year olds have no fashion sense?!?!?! Hannah is currently rocking her daddy's stocking cap, her mommy's tank top, and her own coat...on backwards of course :) You go girl!

Heartbeat

I got to hear the babies heartbeat for the first time today. What a precious sound! It was 174...:)

Christmas at Home

Yesterday we had a wonderful and relaxing Christmas at our house. Hannah slept in until almost 10:)) (it was amazing!!!) so Nick and I got to sleep in too :) When she got up she opened her gifts and we ate breakfast. Later in the day my parents and youngest sister came over and we ate...way to much...and watched the movie Prince Caspian. Great movie, even though it didn't exactly follow the order of the story in the book. Hannah was so much fun to watch open things!! Every time she opened a gift she wanted to play with it and forget about the others. Her favorites were the doll she got, and the matching PJ's and robe I made for her and the doll. Here are just a few of the many pictures I took yesterday :)

She just woke up!! Good Morning Sunshine :)

Opening the doll!

Twins!!

I hope that everyone elses Christmas was as peaceful and relaxing as ours was!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!
Hoping that you have a wonderfully blessed day!

A "Little" Announcement!

I have been dying to share this bit of news for the past eight or so weeks, but wanted to wait until I hit the twelve week mark. In case you haven't figured it out already....I am pregnant!! We are really really excited, and can't wait to meet the newest addition to our little family :) I am due July 6th, in case you are wondering :)

The Poop Soap

Completely disgusting right?! It is cappuccino scented soap, that looks like dogg poo. YUCK!!

Believe it or not, I actually have a story to go with this lovely picture. Every year we have a Christmas party with my old friends from college. At the party we do a steal-a-gift exchange, with a $5 limit on the gifts. As I am sure you can imagine, people get pretty creative :) Well two years ago, my hubby received this lovely gift. We brought it back last year and re-gifted it, because we thought we were being funny. And can you seriously imagine washing yourself with that?! Again...YUCK!!! Well wouldn't you know it, this year Nick got the poop soap again. And of course no one wants to steal the poop soap. So we are stuck with it for another year :) But you can bet it will be back again next year...muhahaha!!! :)

Just in case you are curious, they actually have a website...www.nopeitssoap.com. It is very...ummmmmm...interesting?

18 Children!

I was checking the news on the computer last night (we don't have TV) and I came across this article. Duggar Family Welcomes 18th Child! That is a lot of kids! When people ask how many kids Nick and I want to have and I say between 4 and 6 they look at me like we are nutty. :) I can't imagine what it would be like to have 18 kids. The amount of laundry alone would be staggering. But you would also have 18 times the love and sweet moments. What do you think?

Eating an apple...Hannah style:)

I love two year old creativity :)

Wordless Wednesday (Sort of :))

The Crime Scene:
The Evidence:

The Guilty Party:

A First...

Last week was a big first for Hannah. Ok, in reality it probably was that big of a first, but it was a big deal for Hannah's mommy. Drumroll please....................Hannah got her first haircut! I really had a hard time deciding if it was time or not. Mostly because I did NOT want to cut of her curls. I love her curls, and I have secretly always wished for curly hair. It had gotten to a point though, where it was becoming a pretty serious mullet, and something needed to be done. :) Here is a look at Hannah's first haircut in pictures :)

Before...no actual cutting had been done yet.

During...I was seriously impressed with how well she sat still. I had packed my purse with several forms of bribery, but didn't need to use any of them :)

After...looking pretty cute :) (and the curls are still there!!)

Lights!

One of the highlights of our trip to visit my sister was taking Hannah to see the Christmas light display at Hershey. She LOVED it!! Toward the end she was a little ticked because she wanted to get out of the car and walk...hahaha! It was really quite impressive though...I can't imagine the amount of time it would have taken to set up all the displays. Here are some picture of our favorites! (And a big thank you to my little sister Krissy for taking the pictures so that I could focus on driving :))

Did I mention that Hannah was quite impressed?

God Bless the USA!

It is kind of hard to tell what this one is, but it is all of the reindeer.

The twelve days of Christmas!
This was Hannah's favorite! My girl loves cows!

Road Trip!!

In about ten minutes Hannah and I will be heading out the door to spend the weekend with my older sister!! We will be picking up my little sister along the way and are planning on a super fun girls weekend :) Lots of pictures when we get back! Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Christmas Pictures!

I am most definitely NOT a great photographer! I enjoy taking pictures of Hannah and every now and then I come up with one I really like. This year I decided to see if I could take her Christmas pictures, and see if I could come up with something fun for our Christmas card. My motto is that if I take enough pictures at least a couple will turn out ok. :) These are my favorites!


Let me know what you think! And be honest!!! And if you have any brilliant tips to share...I would love to learn! Thanks!!!!

Cupcakes!

YUMMY!

Adventures in Mommy-ing

*Before I tell this story, I feel that it is important to make a disclaimer. This is a story that involves poop. The main theme of this story is in fact poop. So now you have been warned and may proceed at your own discretion.*

Today I went to "town" with my sister for a Dr.'s appt. Whenever we go to this particular city we always go out to eat at Chickfila. Hannah loves it, and I really like it, so when we are in the vicinity we treat ourselves to some nuggets, fries, and chocolate milk (sweet tea for me :)). We usually go about once a month, so it is a fun change of pace. Well before we had gone to eat, we dropped my sister off at her appt. and the plan was for us to go eat and then she would call when she was done and we would head back and pick her up.

So Hannah and I had finished our lunch and my sister was not finished at her appt., so I told Hannah she could go play in the kids play area. It was later in the afternoon and it was not busy at all, so I thought why not. She could play and I could sit in there and watch her while relaxing and drinking my sweet tea.

So we were in the play area for about 10 minutes, and Hannah comes running over and says, "Mommy, I poopy in my undies." My first thought was that she prolly just tooted, so I would check to be sure. And let me just say, Hannah has been day time potty trained for a couple of months. And the few accidents she has had have been pee, not poo. In fact prior to this she has only had one other poo accident.

But I digress... I decided to check and see if she had in fact pooped. I must mention that she was wearing a onesie because the outfit still fits her and I hate to waste a perfectly good outfit and she is really good (usually :)) about telling me when she needs to go, so I don't really worry about it. Well, I you have ever checked your childs undies/diaper while they are wearing a onesie, you know how you have to kind of put your finger in the side and pull out to see if there is anything going on. Haha, big mistake!! Two of my fingers are now covered up to the middle knuckle in poop. Runny, stinky, diarrhea poop. And do you think I have a single wipe in my bag? Nope! So what does any desperate mom do? I wiped it on her bib (it was in my bag not on her) of course. It was all I had and my only other option was to wipe it on my jeans. And there was no way I was doing that!

My next panicked thought was, how am I going to get her to the bathroom without this making a huge mess. At this point there was no poo on the floor and I really wanted to avoid that if I could. I didn't really want to pick her up, because I knew that if I did it would squish the poop out of its somewhat contained space in the undies and onesie. So we VERY CAREFULLY made our way back to the bathroom, which luckily was not too far off, and I stripped Hannah down and sat her on the potty while I tried to salvage some of her clothing. The undies were pitched in the diaper disposer, because there was no way I was going to try and clean up that mess, and the onesie and socks were wipeable, so those were wrapped in paper towels and and put in a platic bag. And in case you are wondering I have no idea why I had a platic bag, but no wipes in my purse. :)

After several damp paper towels and purell towelttes (thank goodness they had those in the bathroom!) Hannah was clean and no longer smelled like poo. I dressed her in her pants (no poo on those), shoes without socks, and her coat with no shirt underneath. We made it out the door with no one at Chickfila any the wiser and with my sense of humor still intact. :)

My sister and I had a good laugh over it when I picked her up from her appt., and I learned two valuable lessons today.
1. If the kid tells you she pooped, she probably did. :)
2. ALWAYS make sure you have plenty of wipes in your bag. You can make do, but it probably won't be pretty :)

Not Me Monday!

I am really loving this "Not Me Monday!" blog fest. :) It makes the craziness that I call everyday life seem a little more normal. And as McKMamma advertises...it is great therapy and its free!

This past week I did witness my daughter grab hold of the top of my mother-in-laws sweater and attempt to pull the collar out and stuff her doll down grandma's shirt. That would have been REALLY embarassing!!

I did not forget to take pictures when my sister came to visit this weekend, and then totally blame it on being so excited to see her. :)

I did not buy funfetti cake mix and icing to make my treat for the nurses at work this week, because after all the cooking that was done for Thanksgiving, just the thought of making something homemade made me feel tired!

I also did not buy a bag of mini marshmellows while grocery shopping, even though they weren't on my list, because I thought they would be really good with hot chocolate.

And finally, I did not get all of my Christmas shopping done this past weekend...oh wait...I did! :)

Have a wonderful Monday everyone!!

Thanksgiving...Take One

Yesterday we got together with my husbands family for Thanksgiving. There was plenty of food, fun and family :) Hannah had a great time playing with all her cousins and second cousins, and mommy and daddy ate WAY too much turkey!!
The men have a tradition of shooting trap (clay pigeons) after dinner every Thanksgiving. Here is Nick taking his turn.The brothers. From left to right...Dustin (in the tan hat, he is the youngest), Nick (blue hat, he is the hubby) and Mike (gray hat, he is Nick's twin brother).
My adorable nephew Connor!!
Hannah "helping" the cousins play Apples to Apples :)
Playing under the kitchen table. Because we all know that kitchen tables are perfect for playing under :)

We are getting together with my family on Saturday and I can't wait. My pregnant sister is coming and since she lives 6 hours away it has been over a month since I have seen her. Can't wait to see that belly!! My brother and his wife can't come up this year, but we really miss them and love them, and are excited for the next time we do get to see them!!

Wordless Wednesday

Bathing Beauty

Big Girl Bed!!

We moved Hannah to her big girl bed this past weekend!! She thinks she is pretty much the coolest kid on the block! So far the transition has been really smooth (crossing my fingers that I didn't just jinx that) and she has slept all night each night since Saturday in her bed. She looks so tiny in the big bed, it is so cute! Ahhh...my little girl is growing up :(

Not Me Monday!

I thought this looked like fun, so I am giving it a try :) For more "Not Me Monday" check out McMamma at My Charming Kids.

This week I most certainly did not let my daughter progressively undress herself throughout the day until she was just running in her undies by the time it was bedtime.

I definitely did not laugh when my daughter went #2 on the potty and had a little hanging off her hiney when she ran out to tell me and as she ran that little bit of extra fell on the floor. And my dog definitley did not run over and eat that bit of #2 before I could get it cleaned up, because that would just be really gross!

I also did not go through the dive through at McDonalds and order a Sprite, because I had for gotten to bring a quarter for my cart at the grocery store. (At our grocery store the carts are chained together and you have to put a quarter in to get one.)

Furthermore, I am not really excited about the possiblity of going shopping on Friday morning, because only a crazy person would think that was fun!

And lastly, I am not going to go take a nap now that this post is finished!!

Thankful Thursday

I am thankful for so many things today, but most of all, I am thankful for my family, and the gracious God who has blessed me with them!

I love this face!

I love the look on her face. I love her beautiful brown eyes, her perfect little nose, and her sweet little mouth. I love that she loves me! And I love her oh so very much!

Random Thoughts...

Dyson™ DC14 All Floors Vacuum

Ok, this may be my newest favorite cleaning tool. Nick and I have been tossing around the idea of a Dyson for a couple of months now, because our old sweeper has been slowly dying. With a dog and a toddler in the house we thought it made sense to purchase a more quality sweeper. But the price was just so high that we couldn't justify the expense. Well....last week I got a Kohls add in the mail, and the Dyson's were on sale. And then when I peeled off the sticker it was one of the extra 30% off ones!! So we talked about it again, and decided to take the plunge. And let me say it was well worth it! While I was kind of grossed out at what it picked up when I used it for the first time, it was also oddly satisfying. I know, that is really weird :)

On a completely unrelated note, there is something that I have been mulling over, and I am still not sure what I think about it, so I thought I would put it out there to see what opinions others may have to offer. So here it goes. Nick and I go to a Mennonite Church. It is not a conservative Mennonite church, and I have often said that if you didn't see the sign outside the door you wouldn't necessicarily know that it is a Mennonite church just by looking at the congregation. That being said, there is one pretty big part of Mennonite beliefs that I very heartily disagree with. That would be the pacifism. I am not going to go into a whole theological discussion about it, I am just going to say that I don't agree with it. Both of my grandfathers and my brother have served in the military. It makes me angry that the Mennonite church as a whole does not recognize or honor the people that have fought and died so that they can enjoy the religious freedoms that they do. That being said, we like our church, we are involved in our church, and we have a lot of friends at our chuch. So how do I reconcile my disagreement over this issue with my choice of church? Is it really that big of a deal? Or am I being a complete hypocrite on this issue? And what do I tell my daughter when she is older and wants to know why her uncle was in the army, but her preacher says that war in wrong? I don't know. Maybe you do?

Happy Birthday to......

KRISSY!!!!!!

Today is my little sister Krissy's birthday! Just wanted to say Happy Birthday Krissy...we love you so much and are so proud of you!

And now here are some fun pictures of my goofy little sister!

You know you are the parent of a two year old when....

You stumble out to get some orange juice in the morning, and you open up the fridge, and this is what you find!! Yes, those are my make-up sponges :)

Have a great weekend everyone!