Winter, doggie hats, and lots of errands!

It is cold out there! And...my little Izzy has lost his hat. It was a little doggie one that he looked absolutely adorable in, as you can imagine. Today I decided that I needed to just get out and start looking for another one. I thought that I would for sure find one at Target, so that is the first place I went....nothing. Then I went to Old Navy...nothing, only girl ones, and a few boy ones, but the selection was scarce and some were on sale...in January. By the end of today I had been to 4 stores with a toddler! He was so good though. He would follow me around and play right near me (which usually doesn't happen). The last store I finally found one, but had to pay an arm and a leg for it. My last resort is Gap...tomorrow, and we will see if they deliver. I thought about getting a cute one from someone on Etsy, but I don't want to spend that much. I am pretty shocked that stores are already replacing their winter garb for spring and summer. It is JANUARY PEOPLE!!!!! If you know of any good places that might still have their winter merchandise...especially hats, let me know.

Petunia perfection

I love bags! They are my weakness. Bags/purses/shoes, those are the things that I could make any excuse to buy, or at least try very hard to find an excuse. I am very picky about my bags. They have to be perfect, and easy to get into, and just the right size for just the right thing, and I HATE it when the lining is not attached very well, so that it moves around and you can't find anything! Last year I got my Vera Bradely purse and I love it. No lining to deal with, lots of pockets, and it slung over my shoulder for easy carrying with a new born. Then I got my Vera Bradely "diaper bag". It wasn't the official diaper bag that Vera Bradley makes but it worked beautifully for me. Again, lots of pockets and no lining, and big enough for everything that I needed to tote around with me. Plus...it looked cute! Well, as Israel has gotten older, I have not needed as much space so the hunt for another perfect bag began. I searched for another Vera Bradley, but couldn't settle on one, and couldn't afford another one at the time. So I made one. It has worked fine, but I gained a high respect for Vera Bradley while making it, and understood why hers were so dang expensive! They are HARD to make! Well, at least for me, and hers have all the pockets, and the different fabrics and...well...wow. But I have been using this other one for a few weeks now, until I went into Gap Body yesterday. I was looking around and looked up to behold some of the most adorable diaper bag in the world. It was a Petunia Pickle Bottom bag, and the more I looked it over I saw that it was Petunia Perfect for me! It was the right size, it still had several pockets, even a mommy pocket where I could keep my cell phone and wallet, a key clip, changing mat and wipe box. AND it was 45% off!!! I called Joel and told him that I knew where we could spend our credit card reward money...to which he laughed, and told me to get it and we would talk about it later. We did talk about it, and he had different ideas of where that money could go (imagine that!) and so I was told to hang onto it until the end of this month and then we would reconsider. But I wasn't holding my breath. Then my mom was over and told me that my sister hadn't found a Christmas present for me, and that she could go in on this with me so I could keep it. My sister was a little bummed that she hadn't thought of it, and that I was telling her exactly what I wanted, and that I would know what I was getting, but she came around. Am I silly???? I don't know. I love my bags, and I use a diaper bag almost like a purse too, so why wouldn't I want something cute and adorable? I would even use this after I was done having kids just for a little bag. Anyway. I figure Christmas presents are for getting something you wouldn't get yourself...and this is a splurge for me anyway, so why not!

Fall

A new season is here, and with it new things. We got a new table!

Kendra and Shawn, my sister and her husband told us awhile back that they wanted our table and if we saw something else that we like that they would buy it from us. So we saw the table pictured above, and it was exactly what I wanted, and it was going to be the same price as what my sister was offering, so we got it!
But....the table will not be in for maybe six weeks, so right now we have a card table in our dinning room as our makeshift dinning table. We can't wait to get it!!!

Give me a break!

I love being a mom. I really do. It was my dream as a child, and now I am living it. But some days I would rather not live again. Some weekends I am glad to say have past. Some weeks, yes a whole week, are better left not thought about or else you will get depressed and not enjoy motherhood. This week has been one of them. Yes there have been the precious moments when Izzy has cuddled up with me and fell asleep in an oh so cute position. Oh, but I failed to mention that that happened AFTER he had slept for an hour only to wake up and refuse to go back to sleep even though he was dog tired! Every afternoon this week as been a cross-your-fingers-and-hope-that-he-sleeps kind of week. And has he? NO! We are worn out. Because, not only has he not slept much, if at all in the afternoon, he has had trouble at night too. Teething? Possibly, but we haven't had this kind of behavior since we got the teething necklace. Cold? He has a sniffle, but he has had worse and has still slept. So we are puzzled parents, and tired ones at that. Today, he took a cat nap while we were walking, and after playing hard this morning, and being at the park, he lays in bed from 1:00-3:00 talking, playing, and crying, until finally he falls asleep. It is now 3:24, I just sent my husband a victory text, and now I  hear him crying. A very tired cry. Lord give me strength, because I am out of it!

Productivity

Ask me what I did today...Okay I will tell you, because I am very proud of myself...well proud of us. Today I got up, exercised, took Izzy to play group, stopped on the way to take Joel to work and before that, ran an errand. I Stopped by Gap to see that the blazer I had my eye one was 100.00 out of my budget, and then suffered through seeing, and smelling a Starbucks right next to the play place without begin able to taste it. I managed to keep Izzy awake on the way home, and within the 30 minutes before laying him down, I got pizza dough cooking, and made chicken noodle soup. I got an hour nap, finished making the pizza for tonight's supper, got some bread baking, cleaned up the kitchen made some phone calls, all before Izzy woke up. Oh and while all this is going on, Jim is putting the finishing touches on our new front door! After we picked up Joel, we went to Lowe's came home, ate dinner, and then we FINALLY put up the valaces in Izzy's room, and put the finger pulls on the closet door! Just those two things made me so happy because for the past two year we have needed to finish the closet doors.

Izzy's room now has new windows, new blinds, and the valaces up. Now I just need to finishe painting the trip around the windows!!!

A lot was accomplished, and yes, I am very proud of myself. That is okay right?

As I laid my 14th month old down for a 30 min morning snooze I was faced with two choices: 1. Make my bed and 2. Blog. As you can see I chose to blog. I have to sneak time to do this and I figured that I could make my bed when he was up and then I could see him flop down on the pillows ans squeal with delight.

Anyway...Life has thrown some curve balls our way lately and I for one and a little tired. For some reason the Lord has seen fit to take away some of my piano students...most of them...instead of answering our prayer for more. I got mad. I hate to admit it, but I did. I got mad and couldn't understand why, when we weren't asking for something bad, did He choose to do something completely opposite of what we asked. Then He surprised us by allowing Joel to recieve a big bonus!!! We were thrilled, thanked Him for His provision, and then our car broke down and the cost to fix it was 3.00 more than the bonus. Obviously the Lord has provided the money for the car, for which we were thankful, but a little bummed at the same time. We just can't seem to get ahead. There have been other puzzleing things the last few months, of which I am not free to share at this moment, but as I look back over this month and see that we have not only survived but have been able to splurge on other people, I see God's faithfullness and His provision. It wasn't easy, and Joel had to do some extra work outside of his regular job, but God doesn't promise that it will be easy. He just promises that He will provide. And He did. When I start to worry about next month, I remember this past one, and am calmed by the peace that He gives that He indeed loves me and everything He does is good. If He witholds something from me He has something even better waiting for me, even if that something better is not of this earth, but a closer relationship with Him.

This has nothing to do with what I wrote above, but it made me smile and I hope it will make you smile too. Israel is saying so many things and we are having so much fun watching and listening to him. One thing that he does that makes up beam is pray. He will bow his head, mumble some Izzy words, and then lift his head and say "Amen" then he laughs or clasps for himself. One of his new words is "Bible". So today he saw Joel's Bible on the table. I wasn't watching at this point and I heard him say "Bible". I didn't know that this is what he was saying because it sounds a lot like his other new word..."Bubble". But when I turned around and saw what he was playing with I new immidately what he had said. I walked over to him and watched him as he opened it, bowed his head, mumbled some words, and then said "Amen!" It was soooooo cute!!!! It made me so happy that he has picked this up. Yes we pray a lot because we need God's grace and guidance everyday, but to see that he had noticed this just warms my heart.

Giving in

Okay, so my last post was raving about the extra time we had in the evenings since we were on a tv fast for this week. Well tonight we are giving in. We were craving some down time with each other, time where we didn't have to run down our voices reading out loud, time where we could just cuddle up and veg. I know it sounds pittiful, that we can't even make it a week, but here is the deal. Last week, I left town Monday and didn't get back till Saturday night, and during that time there was no tv, except for a little bit on Friday afternoon. So there was already a week of fasting. Joel and I have fun with our little shows and we have come away from this knowing and wanting some nights where the tv stays off. Anyway...we gave it a shot, and really this is the only night that we are cheeting. Tomorrow night we are busy, Friday night is company, and then the week will be over. We needed this, it was good, but we are looking forward to cuddling up, eating popcorn and oreos and milk, and having some laughs.

Weddings are exciting things. Especially when you first get ingaged. Romance is in the air. People are congratulating you, and offering to help with the wedding, you and your fiance are communicating well, and you can't imagine EVER having an arguement. The start of planning even goes well, and you enjoy picking out your flowers and finding THE dress. But then the week before the wedding arrives and everything changes. That is where we are right now with my sister-in-laws wedding. Thankfully she came to town last weekend and we found out how frazzled she was and that she could really use the extra help. Amazingly enough I was able to find a place for Izzy so that I could leave with Juls on Monday to help be her brain. We have gotten a lot done, and we just finished moving them into their new house...but it has been the last week of the wedding if you know what I mean. Emotions are hight, things are tense, and if you say "call the minister" one more time, she might bite your head off!!!

We look forward to all the hustle and bustle that starts tomorrow as guest start coming in, and flowers are picked up and the party begins!!

Garage Sale Day 2

Up again at 6:30 and out to set up ANOTHER set of signs since someone decided to round up all the other ones on Friday. Needless to say, I was not a very happy person. Shockinly, Saturday was NOT a productive day. I thought that that day would be the money maker, but acutally tons of people came Friday, and only a handful on Saturday. So we ended it around noon because it was not worth sitting out in super hot sun. We loaded everything up and took it Goodwill so as not to clutter the garage again. But I ended the weekend with making a wopping 177.00!! I was very pleased. But the thing that I had in my mind that I wanted to get with this money..faux wood plantation blinds for Izzy's room, has not yet been made a reality. I thought it would be a simple as going and picking it up, but not so. We still haven't found the right size and it looks like to be able to, I am going to have to spend twice as much. Bummer!

This week is over, and another is beginning. I am exhausted mentally and physically and feeling just a little blue about some things. But thankfully we had a good garage sale, and I can move on.

Garage Sale Day 1

6: 15 am: Stumble out of bed

6:30 am: Baby wakes up

7:00 am: Baby and daddy go put garage sale signs around the neighborhood while mommy gets dressed and gets breakfast ready

7:30 am people are already out and stopping by just as we are pulling things out of the garage. We had a full morning, and before it was done, I had earned almost 100.00! I was so pleased. The day slowed down quite a bit after lunch, but we still managed to make some sales. I was very pleased with all that was sold, and all that was earned in the first day. We still have tons to sell, and I am hoping to sell my dishes tomorrow as well. Thank you Lord for sending so many people!!! I have earned enough to buy the blinds that I would like to buy for our rooms!

Izzy is cutting another tooth and so he was clingy and whinny. Not a good day to be like that.

Looking forward to another day in the supper hot sun!

"Whew!"

The past two weeks have been SO busy! I have been helping a dear friend of mine declutter her home for the past 2 weeks, still stay on top of mine, take care of Izzy and Joel, try to get ready for a garage sale (4 families) and take care of piano business as well. Yesterday I had a melt down. Joel was so sweet, and took us out to dinner so that there was one less thing I had to worry about. Today I was so looking forward to Fifth Night at Utica Square and a relaxing dinner with our little family. We got there, found a perfect spot unloaded and I began to feed Izzy. Joel had gone to the bathroom so when he returned I left to go get something at Pottery Barn and left my half of sandwhich on a plate and next to it a couple bites let of Izzy's sandwhich. I said to Joel as I left "those are Izzy's bites." As I walked away the thought entered my mind that I should tell him that the other half was mine, but I didn't and just hoped that he would think about it. Well he didn't, because when I returned it was gone! He had fed almost the entire sandwhich...my dinner...to Israel! I couldn't believe it. Once he found out he went to Wendy's and got me a salad and chicken nuggets. He got back and exclaimed "all better!" I thought it was until I started unloading the food and realized that I was going to have to eat my salad with my fingers because he had forgotten the fork! Oh well, all silly mistakes and none that were worth ruining the evening. Plus a yummy cold Starbucks drink made it all better! Thanks Babe!

Today was a big day. I got an i pod touch, Joel is getting an iphone, and we are going on a spontaneous road trip to Colorado July 30th to see a favorite bad of Joel's!

I have had several planners to help me stay organized. My favorite one was one I got from Franklin Covey, but it was pretty big and bulky. Once I had a baby, and I was carrying a diaper bag, my purse and...a baby, It was a little too much to carry a clunky planner. So I got creative and tired some smaller ones that could fit in my purse, but nothing as worked out. So Joel suggested an ipod touch. I was a little hesitant because I like the feel of paper and checking things off with a realy pencil, but once I saw and touch an ipod touch, I was sold. So until today it has just been a wish and a convience that I wasn't sure would ever happen. But today it became a reality. Then for Joel...his work is buying his phone!

As for the rode trip? Well, one of Joel's favorite bands are doing a reunion tour and for years Joel has been saying that if they ever got back together we were going to take a road trip to go see them. The closest place they are playing is Colorado on July 31st. So...Colorado here we come!

Highlights

I started writing this in may with the intention of mentioning some wonderful red shoe days of May. But I am a mom and a wife, and I was unable to finish the post and now it is June 5th. But I feel like there has been so much going on that I must document, even if it is just for my sake.

May 9th Izzy started signing "more"! We have been doing it for him for months, and I was overjoyed to see him finally catch on! It has made meal time a lot better (less screaming)

Mother's Day was a special day, and Joel made it very special. He made me a nice breakfast, and gave me some 8x10 pics of Izzy, once of which Izzy had colored the matt for it! Precious


We went to the Renaissance Fair this year with some dear friends, and despite the awkwardness of it all and how it totally freaked Joel out, we were able to make some really good memories.

We had several graduations this year that made life really busy, but it also called for a lot of partying! It was fun to acknowledge Abbie's college degree, and Sam's Highschool degree!

Weddings happened and along with it car trouble. Those were not red shoe days, but they were reality, so I guess I should mention them too. 

Birthdays followed and were very special as well. We had a big family party and everyone got really good gifts! I share a birthday month with Joel and two siblings, so we always have one big joint b-day party. We had the traditional strawberry shortcake for dessert and just had a all around good time.

Utica Square Summer Fifth Night started! We will enjoy every Thursday evening that we can out at our happy place listening to some cool music with a picnic and friend. Israel has started dancing and clapping when he hears music, so it is so fun to watch him.

Even though May caused us to almost pull our hair out with business. It was a good business, so we loved it. I love being busy with parties and such, so it will be kind of a let down in July when we don't have any more of those. What will I do with myself....Swim!!!!!

Have a wonderful Red Shoe day

Birthdays!

This month is full of birthdays for my family. Not only my small family, but my big family. May has always been a very busy, but fun month. Joel's birthday was the 19th, and it was so fun to celebrate with Izzy this year. We made him a banner that said "Happy Birthday Daddy" and Izzy colored each letter (well, he held the crayon, and I moved his hand). Today (the 23rd) is my birthday. Birthdays are important days in our household. The birthday girl or boy gets to have a special breakfast and eat off the "you are special" plate. Mom still takes us out to lunch, and then we get the dinner of our choice. Today, Joel went and got my favorite pastries from Starbucks, and we had a lovely breakfast together. My dear friend brought me a starbucks drink (my favorite) to church which I thought was so sweet! This afternoon was nap time for Izzy and I while Joel fixed our car. Tonight though, was perfect. I decided that I wanted Panera sandwhiches and dinner at the park. The weather was perfect, the atmosphere delightful, and the company sublime. Oh, and to top it off we got a snow cone on the way home! We are now home, Izzy in bed and watching one of my faves...27 dresses!

Thanks Babe for making this day wonderful!

My Terrible, Horrible, No good, Very bad day

Yesterday I woke up and it all started. Actually it started the night before when I found out that my meeting over lunch actually started an hour earlier than I had told my mom, who had agreed to watch Israel. It was already complicated: I was supposed to bring Izzy to the church and leave him in the nursery for mom to pick up, she would take him to Megan's and then after I was finished meet me at this school where she was headed to watch a play! Whew! But then, when I found out that my meeting was a whole hour earlier, I tried calling her only to have the phone ring continually and no one answer. So I left that problem to deal with in the morning. Well, moring came and the problem just didn't work out like I had hoped. I still couldn't get a hold of mom, and this time it was for a different reason. Israel had a runny nose and I couldn't put him in the nursery (turns out I could have afterall). So I started to get frustrated. Joel wanted to call his mom, but his mom had babysat the day before and I felt bad having the only times we called them be for a favor so I wouldn't let him. After trying to make it work, I finally realized that it wasn't a big enough deal to go to a whole bunch of trouble and running around. Then I started snowballing and getting overwhelmed by all the responsibilities in my life and feeling like I can never get anything done around the house, or errands run, or even my hair cut, and still have Izzy home to take his naps. It just doesn't work! This morning, I decided to forgo his morning nap and take Joel to work and run to the fabric store so I could try to make his curtains. This is where the next disaster comes in. While at Walmart I saw the blinds that I wanted for his room. Well, my stupid overloaded mind didn't connect two and two and inform me that I only needed blinds OR curtains. No, it just let me look at those blinds, and say to myself "Oh good, those are cheaper here than at the other store." Then it let me continue onto the fabric store spend 15.00 only to get home and destore the curtains! Okay, maybe not destroy, but at the moment they were unsalvageable. But before that I went ahead and went to the lunch part of my meeting WITH Israel. He did great, but I guess I had talked myself into thinking I was important enough to have to be there when really I wasn't and so spending the 7.50 on chicken fingers just made me mad.  Back home, and an hour later I was on the phone with Joel, telling him about the curtains and my mixed up mind, and the needless spending of 15.00. Of course he was gracious...about that. But then he dropped the next bomb. Throughout the events of this day, I was so looking forward to going over to my mother-in-law's for dinner because I had no desire to cook. But Joel told me that they actually had something going on, and so Julianne (Joel's sister) was coming over to our house! Oh boy, that started the tears flowing. I got off the phone with him, crawled into my bed and cried. Then my mom called, came over and gave words of encouragement. I got to spend some time with my family, Izzy woke up, we took a walk (which was super hard with the strong winds) and on the way back my brother-in-law pulled up with a vase of flowers..."to make my day better" he said! So little by little I picked myself up, straightened up my house, and was ready to sit down with a glass of wine with my hubby when he got home.

So even thought the day started and went not the way I wanted it to, God was still faithful and gave me little things to smile about.

One too many times

I am deathly afraid of knives. Everytime I picture or think about cutting something with a kitchen knife I shudder because I have cut myself one too many times. I have some pretty tales that will make you shiver and wish you had never heard it. Last night is one of them. I was so excited because I was making a fruit pizza for our company. I LOVE these! But I foolishly cooked it on my stone and I have never before had much success with cooking things on this thing. But I did it anyway, and I sprayed it first, like the recipe told me to. But much to my dismay, the cookie would not come off! It was really embarrasing to have my cute little darling friend (who I am sure never makes mistakes like this) watching over my shoulder as I used all of my might to try to scrape the delicious stuff off! I was using a pie server witha knife like edge on one side. But it is NOT very sharp. Well I was pushing with all my might, the server slipped and sliced my finger. I calmly dropped it, and stepped over to the sink and kept my composer as I ran my bloody finger under cold water trying to see how deep the cut really was. Once dessert was out, the husband of the couple, who is a doctor declared it would be okay and in need of only a band-aid. We got a good laugh, and a silly picture and a very sorry sore finger from all of it and even though we had a great eveing, I would not like to repeat that part of it ever again!

Sore

About a month ago my family got on this Jilian Michael's kick and got one of her videos. It is KICK BUTT HARD! I had made it back down to my prebaby weight, but wanted to get to pre wedding weight so I decided to try it. I still can't do more than 2 rounds without collapsing. But I never really felt sore, which is an indication to me that I have worked. I felt worked, but...I don't know. I did feel my motabolism speed up (I thought I was pregnant because I was hungry more) and that was great because then I could still have my oreos!!! But just the other day I decided to do a different video because I like to switch things up, and found this one called...I can't remember, but it has 3 levels all at the same time (three different people doing a different a level of the same exercise) and it incorporated a LOT of the same things Jilian Michaels does, but at a faster pace. I felt like it worked my whole body better and....I am stinkin sore! But I feel a six pack coming on, so watch out world! Oh and I made it down to pre-wedding weight WooHoo!!!

I hate being in a hurry. I feel like I don't have things under control when I am in a hurry. But lately everytime we leave the house, I feel like we are in a hurry that spills over into driving, where I am always trying to find the fastest way to wherever I am going. But today was not like that. I took Joel to TU for a class that his job is sending him to and he had to be there by 8:30. The next place I had to be was Walmart, and then Bible study at 9:30. Thankfully I only needed 2 things at Walmart, and Walmart is 5 min. or less from church. Israel had fallen asleep so I purposely took the long way to Walmart from TU. It was lovely!!! I sat at red lights, and didn't rush, and was so relaxed. I love drives like that! Israel woke up right when we got to Walmart and so it was perfect!

moment worth recording

My dear husband, bless his heart, was getting breakfast this morning while I was feeding Izzy. He was making us both toast with carmel apple jam. All of a sudden I heard: "This doesn't look like the jam....it is BBQ sauce!" He had put BBQ sauce on his toast! Anyway...I thought it funny enough to share with you. Hope you got a laugh out of it!

Tid Bits

It is 10:30 at night, Joel is snoring beside me, and I should be asleep also, but just HAD to write before I forgot what I wanted to write about. I just had some little things that I wanted to record that I am going through at this time in my life. Really important stuff (just kidding). So here goes.

1. I am LOVIN' me some oreos!!! I am on an oreo kick. I love a double stuffed oreo and a little glass of milk at night to end my day. It is the perfect blend of sweetness and creamy smoothness. I love it! I didn't always love oreos, and infact I used to just eat the white stuff, but since I got pregnant with Izzy, I haven't liked icecream that much, and we had some oreos laying around the house, it sounded good, and I have been hooked every since! But I just been introduced to the third love of my life (first being Joel and then Izzy). It is the oreo pizza from Mazzio's. Oh. My. Goodness. Heaven in my mouth!!! Thank you Chris for bringing that to dinner tonight!

2. For some reason I love falling asleep all cuddled up with Joel on the couch while we are watching a movie, or tv. There is something so comforting about it. Of course if it is a movie that we have never seen and it is exciting enough to keep this mama awake, then I stay awake, but otherwise I love the drowsy feeling I get and the warmth of the blanket and Joel's big arms around me, and the feeling that nothing in the world could go wrong and difting off into dream land. The Olympics were on the past two weeks and we would stay up till midnight, watching...let me rephrase that...Joel would watch, I would drift in and out. But I LOVED it! I looked forward to it each night.

3. Lately I have been food processing everything I can think of that Izzy might like to eat. Last night I blended up tuna with an egg...he wasn't too fond of that. But he ate it a little better when I put some quacamoli in it :), and I even blended up some salad! He didn't like it, so I ate it. It was still crunchy because it had croutons. But tonight was a hit. I had cooked a corn beef brisquet in the crockpot all day and made some mashed pot. and some green beans. So I threw a little bit of all of that in the food processor and it came out perfectly blended and the perfect texture. HE DEVOURED IT! Just like his dad. I am playing a guessing game here trying to figure out what he will eat and trying to have them be as healthy as possible. If anyone has some good suggestions on what to feed a 9 month old who refuses to eat baby food, but is still not too crazy about some textures, tell me!