Saturday, November 28, 2009

I'm Back...At least for a couple of days!

We have been so busy lately! We left for Mena Tuesday morning after a crazy busy weekend! We had Thanksgiving dinner with Brent's family on Saturday. Tons of people: tons of fun! It was nice to see everyone and it's the first time to have everyone together in several years! I don't have any pictures, but there were about 25 of us together!

This week we headed to Mena to celebrate with my family. Brent had to stay behind b/c of work, but the rest of us loaded up and headed out! I baked all day Tuesday and all day Wednesday. Then on Thursday, Paxton woke up with a stomach bug and I didn't have to do anything! Except hold a sickly baby. He was pretty much over it by the time "lunch" came around, but even tonight he's having yucky diapers so he's still not 100% over it yet. My mom and I went shopping for Black Friday, but honestly we were pretty put out by the whole thing. The deals weren't that great, the people weren't that great, and there were just WAY too many of those not so great people. We'll probably fore go the Black Friday Shopping from now on.

Now we're home. It's been a long and crazy week. Just so that I remember certain things I'm especially thankful for this year:
My salvation. I've learned a lot over the past year about just how grateful I am that I have a savior that loves me and is always there for me.
I'm so thankful this year that all my babies were home with me. Last year was tough b/c Paxton was halfway across the world from us. His first Thanksgiving was spent in his mismatched pj's b/c of the clothes changes from being sick. He looked pitiful all day, but I'm so thankful that he was there with me.
I'm so thankful for my patient husband. I know that he likes to gripe about how many pairs of shoes I own, but deep down he knows that I "need" them! He's patiend with me and the kids and I love him for it.

I hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Another Give Away

go to Kelly's Korner and check out this giveaway!!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

The Truth Be Told Tuesday

I've been wanting to steal this for awhile, so today I am!

The truth be told.....we probably watch way too much tv and have way too much computer time at our house! Paxton already knows that the remote can do magical things and can find Elmo no matter what part of Sesame Street is on. He knows I can completely change the channel to something else if he doesn't want to watch Dinosaur Train on PBS! Xavier could work the remote from a young 3 years old and could get up in the mornings without waking us up (remind you that at the time it was still just him) and get the tv to channel 2 to watch cartoons with no assistance! Naia is just now learning this task! She really doesn't watch too much tv. She's much more interested in coloring!

And it isn't just the kids. I know that I'm way worse than Brent! I'm the only one that actually gets out a schedule and goes through all the new shows coming on every year and see which ones I can watch if they don't interfere with anything that I already watch! I plan then set my DVR...how did I ever live without a DVR?!
And I'm on the computer a lot during the day. Although I have gotten better about this lately. Brent however, does love the computer. It's what he does while I watch all those DVR'd shows!

So that's the truth!

Monday, November 16, 2009

Cool Giveaway

There's a kid's craft giveaway over at www.goodhappenings.com

Check them out!

Busy Bees

Do you ever worry about pleasing people other than yourself? Even change your mind to make others "happy" instead of doing something to make yourself happy? I know to an extent we should do this, put others ahead of ourselves, but not necessarily all of the time. I've not always been a people pleaser. I used to just do what I wanted, and didn't really care about what others thought. What a difference "growing up" makes in this area of my life. For my ministry in our church, I often sacrifice things that I would rather do, in order to please the most people. In my preschool department I make certain allowances to keep the peace not only with kids, but with parents as well! In the women's ministry, I find myself doing this more often, and I honestly don't mind it. I don't mind pleasing people. I love to serve. I've been told several times by a friend of mine that she's sometimes overwhelmed by the amount of time that I spend serving my God through our church. BUT I know this is my spiritual gift. I love nothing more than helping out a friend or those less fortunate than me. In a nutshell, I feel I was put here to serve others. On this blog however, I write for me. I write things that I feel, that I think, that I like, that I dislike. If you don't like it, please don't feel like you have to keep reading. Find another blog that fits you better to keep reading. To those of you that know me in real life and that just lurk or stalk and never comment and just talk about things that I write here to others, keep it to yourself. No one is asking you to read this or to blog stalk me.


That being said....I want you to know something "personal" about me! On Mondays, I clean. Before Paxton came, I cleaned my entire house from top to bottom every Monday before lunch time! Now, it's taking me all day, BUT it is getting done. I want to share with you guys a couple of products that I use that I love, and have no endorsements or anything like that with, I just really like them! AND then I want you to share with me products or cleaning items that you love and that make cleaning easier!

1. The Shark Euro Pro


I love this b/c I can use it on carpet, tile, and hardwood floors. It does a great job, instead of sweeping, I use this and it gets dust as well. One drawback is that the battery doesn't last very long. Mabe 30-45 minutes or so. But it is much easier than sweeping!

2. Swiffer Wet Jet

I love this too! It's much easier than a mop and mop water! It too can be used on tile and hardwood floors, just make sure you get the correct cleaner! It's easy to get out for spills and easy cleanups, or for major mopping like was done at my house today!

So tell me, what products do you clean with? Anything that works better than these two things?!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Happy Veterans Day


To the two "Army" Men in our lives! Who just happen to be best friends as well!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Ignorance was bliss....

You know how people can say too much information is a bad thing? Well I think that is so true. Especially in the adoption world. Too much medical information in a referral can make you decline a child who would eventually have no problems or issues. Too much information about quotas and cutoff dates, can also be a horrible thing. Our agency and other agencies around the US are getting hit by Eastern, the adoption agency in Korea, and their quotas. Last year apparently the same thing happened. Brent and I received our referral in October, so we really never planned to travel until January or Feburary. Not that we didn't want to travel earlier, BUT when they said a 3-6 month wait, we planned for the 6 months. We didn't want to get our hopes up that we could travel any sooner than that. Right now so many people in our agency that have had referrals since this summer have apparently been hit by the quota and won't be able to travel to pick up their kids until next year. Brent and I were completely obliviously to this quota. I had no idea that it even exsisted until this all started happening a couple of months ago through the Dillon forum. Our ignorance was blissful. We didn't have this extra worry. We didn't have to worry about it being spring before we travled, b/c that's what we had expected from the beginning. I hate that people from our agency and others are having to deal with this. I pray for you all each time I visit the forum or your websites. I know that I would have been right there along with you had this been us last year had we known about the quota. I'm so thankful that God provided in ways that we unimaginable for us to bring Paxton home so quickly. As I look at him watching Elmo in the living room, I know that I would have climbed through heaven and earth to have him home with me. Prayers for all of you still waiting for your babies to come home.