Happy everything

I've just realized lately that there have been a lot of unexpected small and wonderful miracles happening every time I'm at the store. In doing my Christmas shopping. I have found that pretty much everything I need has been on sale or discounted or that particular style of the item I want happens to be cheaper than the others. Like who knew... because I wanted the red... and it was cheaper. Craziness. Or like how at HEB, I knew that I probably wouldn't get any of their great deals because it was like 11:00. The kids needed to get out, but I was NOT braving the crowds with them. So we took our time. They were angels. Everything black-friday-ish was gone. But there was a lady there who said she'd been walking around for a couple of hours trying to decide which things she wanted to buy for the kids that come for a meal every three weeks at her church and put back on the shelf the very two things I wanted for my children. Not only was she an inspiration of love an...

We had a great Halloween. We missed out a little on our pumpkin patch experience. Had a little crazier schedule this month that we never got out to do it as a family. But Aria picked the cutest tall and skinny pumpkin from the grocery store. We got lots of comments on it. :) All of our family pictures were.... let's just say.... less than perfect... but so... us.  These pictures kind of tell the story. Jeff hated his costume at the beginning of the month, but by the end he had no problem wearing it and would even hoot on command. He looked darling. Don't you think? I used a combination of inspiration and martha stewart. Check out my board on pinterest. or Martha's tutorial here. I used this tutorial for the cap. by Sweet pea. It's DARLING! Definitely on my list to make for future baby showers. I enlarged it a little to help out with my sun's gigantic head. I used fabric that I had lying around and a t-shirt from goodwill. Should be abl...

So we have some new besties... officially. Now don't get me wrong, we have lots of besties, but these are the ones we tend to do a lot with. I've found a new walking buddy in Miss Shauna. She has made my life definitely more normal. She's understanding and compassionate and just plain old fun. She makes resident life just a little more bearable. I get my grown-up time. And Jeff gets his Josh time. These two kiddos are two weeks apart. They love seeing each other. Jeff's even started saying his name whenever we pull into their neighborhood. haha. They like to mellow-ly explore together. Joshy is just as cute as can be. And I think they look quite a bit alike. I just love Jeff's expression in this one. Shauna helped us get some tickets to the children's museum via groupon and we LOVE going there. It's really great to just let the kids explore and we went on a perfect afternoon. The biggest hit, is probably the automated grocery store. Jeff likes to throw t...

I got one of the cutest things I've ever seen from my Grandpa the other day in the mail. He's always so thoughtful and complimentary. I'll be set for life if I can be anything like him. He's amazing. I'm grateful for him in my life. This is what he sent: a polaroid from my birth. Talk about beauty. I cry almost every time I look at it.

Haha. 4 years of work, thousands of dollars and all we get is this a little piece of paper, a brain full of information and hands full of skills. Was it worth it? Yes. Why, yes it was.

Name: Aria Grade: Pre-K Favorite Subject: activities Favorite thing to do for fun: playing games Least favorite thing to do: smelling Jeff's poo when he was sleeping What I want to be when I grow up: mommy What I would do next week if I could do anything in the world: have a party Favorite Movie: Peter Pan ( I think it's actually Tangled) she really likes to watch Curious George, Superwhy and Dora Favorite Book: The Jungle Book (I think it's really reading any book that she like most.) sight words: the and to of for from love be it up upon you Jesus lord god people will all with that their there came come pass so he she judgement I me we Aria Jeff my say day unto into as ye land, not off on have his end thy also did now (can you tell what we practice reading with?) She can sound out any word that uses short sounds for a,e,I,o,and u. Thank you Miss Tina! Favorite Game: Candy Land Where I would like to travel to: the jungle My favorite things about you: You...

Just got his canines. He was obsessed with this book about stars. Totally age inappropriate, but I'd read him some of it and sing twinkle twinkle little star and he wanted to read it over and over and over again. Other favorite books include: Words: Momma, Daddy, Aria, Hot, Whoa, cheese and shoes ( which sound surprisingly similar) more, milk, crackers, cookies, doggy, teeth, amen, Jesus ( which actually sounds a lot like cheese and shoes) What's that?, Here you go., Yay!, uh-oh, No, Yes, Yep (Sounds more like Des, Dap) two, three, boo, peek-a-boo, please, thank-you Sounds: Fishy smacks, Cow Moos, Dog ruffs, Frog ribbits, Duck quacks, Cat meows. He loves to go places. He's constantly trying to get me to put his shoes on. If I go out to the garage just to get something, he gets mad that we weren't going anywhere.  He just started nursery. Walked in kind of dazed and didn't cry a peep. I think it probably helped that Daddy took him. Loves to play the p...

Did I mention yet that I love my family? I really do. And I really miss them. Especially when I don't know when we'll get to see them again. We recently had banana cake. It's pretty much the most amazing thing on the planet. Jeff thinks so too. Recipe here.   Then my parents, sister and brother came with her adorable isaac!  We spent most of that day recovering from their 3 day trip and 42 inch pizza. But we were able to adore this little guy and go to the art museum on free day. I think my sister is jealous of our access to it for FREE! Yep it pretty much rocks. My sister used to make this face all the time. It's crazy to see it on a boy. :) Aria had some much needed bonding time with her unc. They adore each other. I LOVE it, because I adore both of them. He's actually closer in age to Aria than he is to me. I had some fun doing some fun pictures with Aria and Jeff. It's cool enough to go outside in the evenings so we'll often spend time out here w...