Out With the Old in With the New

    Spent the day shopping with Mom but had to cut short our day out due to these awful allergies. At first I thought it was a cold but I started sneezing like crazy as soon as we walked into Bath and Body Works. All of the different scents sent them into overdrive...then followed watery eyes and lots of nose blowing. But, on the positive side I spent the day shopping for new clothes (and shoes...I can't shop without buying shoes, haha). I am doing away with all of my frumpy, post pregnancy clothes, which hid my chubby belly. Trust me...no one wants to see that; complete with lots of stretch marks and white as chalk as it hasn't seen the sunshine in well over two years. I got a TON of new stylish clothes so all those Mom jeans are going out the window just as fast as my arms can toss them. *big grin*  I'm loving the out with the old in with the new attitude I've taken on. 
     I've decided that I'm not making the resolution to lose weight this year as I always seem to lose motivation after a couple of months. Instead, I'm going to continue to eat healthy, exercise, and have fun chasing around these two beautiful babies of mine. I trust that the weight will come off, slowly and steady, but I'm not going to worry about it too much. I'm only ten pounds away from my goal weight and when I started my weight loss journey I was 45 pounds from it. I'm proud of what I've accomplished in the past nine months but it wouldn't have been possible without the Lord. All of the times I've wanted to give up and give in to nibbling on those sweet treats, I've turned to God. He gives me the strength I need to persevere. And speaking of the Lord, I've grown so close to Him this past year. I pray that I will continue to grow in my relationship with Him in 2012....that's my only resolution for this year. Because with God, I can do ALL things! Happy New Year!

Caring for Colds

     What a week it's been. Both the kids started feeling bad on Monday night...coughing, runny noses, clinging to Mommy etc. I at first thought it was allergies, but now am pretty convinced it's a cold. Noah is starting to feel better after many doses of Mom's warm honey mixture and Tylenol, but poor Miss Haleigh is still all snotty. Let's just say I'm rocking the clothes with the caked on boogers...:-). And, my babies LOVE to share everything, which normally I would say is a wonderful thing, but not when it comes to spreading their lovely little germs around. Yesterday morning Caleb woke up with, guess what? Sniffles, coughing, and all the symptoms the kids had which alerted me that this was a head cold. LOVELY! Praising the Lord throughout the day that He kept me from the illness, I set about to taking care of my puny little family; complete with lots of cuddling and sugars. Probably a bad idea on my part as I woke up this morning with, yep, you guessed it!  Through the sneezing, coughing and excessive amount of nose blowing, I have still managed to take care of the babies. Which has been quite a miracle considering how bad I feel and how bad Bop still feels today. I am praising God with my whole heart though because He kept me well through the worst part of this week. Off of here now to relax for a bit before getting the kids up from their rest time. Since Bug no longer takes a nap during the day, I've made it a rule that he has to sit in his room and rest for a while each day. During that time he can do quiet/relaxing activities such a reading a book, playing with his cars, coloring...etc. It works out well because I can rest during that time or get a few things done around the house. :-)

Christmas Fun

     I have decided to post one picture for each house we visited for Christmas this year. The only place I didn't take photos were the last two stops (my granny and papa Spitzer's/uncle Sammy and aunt Nancy's) and that's because I was exhausted. I barely had the energy to lift my fork to my mouth for dinner that night. :-)  I can't begin to explain the LOVE that our family has...or the generosity that surrounds them all. God is so good to us. 

Christmas Blessings

    What an amazing Christmas! The kids got showered with a ton of LOVE and presents today...as did we. *smile* When I think back on the past few days and the amazing network of family and friends we have I can't thank God enough. Our family is truly blessed. I would write more but I can barely keep these sleepy eyes open for much longer. Will try to update with pictures soon but tomorrow is SHOPPING and TOY ORGANIZATION (hip hip hooray!). Hope everyone's Christmas was filled with many blessings. 


And above all, thank you God for giving us the gift of salvation through your Son, Jesus! Amen. 

On my Heart

With each day that passes, I become more aware of the Lord's many blessings. Today I noticed it in the sweet smile of our baby girl, in the giggle of our little boy, and in the warmness that comes with being around family. God is good. His miracles are many. But His gifts are the greatest...I love you Jesus! Happy Birthday!


This was on my heart and I wanted to share. :-)

Morals

     Currently in the middle of I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist. I am LOVING this book. I don't really want to comment on it too much until I have finished it, just because I like to read something in it's entirety until I feel comfortable discussing it. I will say this;  Geisler and Turek's discussion of morals truly fascinates me. They basically make the argument that if you claim to be an atheist then there is really no reason for morals, but even so, most atheists claim they have them. In other words, if we truly lived in a universe that wasn't created by a God, no one would have morals...because there would be no reason for them. With death, life ceases to exist. There is no higher standard to live for. But because there is an infinite God (our dear Savior in Heaven) there are morals. Every person across the globe knows it's wrong to hurt or torture babies. Yes, some people DO commit horrendous acts of violence, but they KNOW it's wrong.  Take this interview with Jeffrey Dahmer for instance...



     The part that I am mainly talking about starts around 2:45 seconds.  In regards to evolution "...the whole theory cheapens life". So very true. I'm not claiming to know that Dahmer has truly accepted Jesus, as the only ones who know that are him and God. I do believe his statement that the theory of evolution cheapens life because if this is all there is...what is there to really live for? As we approach Christmas, I personally will be focusing on my love of God and my thankfulness for showing me the Truth...that He sent his Son to die for my sins and because I have accepted Jesus into my heart, I will live ETERNALLY in Heaven with Him. Merry Christmas!

Winter Fun

     Tonight we decorated a gingerbread train. We were going to get a house but Noah Bug is obsessed with "choos" so we went for this instead. Let's just say it was a lot more complicated than a gingerbread house, but we had so much fun. Halfway through we sort of gave up and just started eating icing, candy, and of course lots and lots of gingerbread!!!   Here are a few pictures of our new family tradition. There is also a picture of the homemade foot scrub I made.

Update

    Wanted to update about my homemade laundry detergent. I LOVE IT!!! Let's just say it works way better than my Gain ever did...got stains out, smells so fresh and clean, and is way cheaper than store bought detergent. Currently I'm getting ready to fold the massive pile of laundry sitting in my floor. I got a bit behind over the weekend...it's clean, but I need to fold it and put it all away. Put Rudolph and Frosty on for Noah Bug to watch while I get my morning chores finished. Then it's off to the library after Bop wakes up. 

Penny Pinching Mom

    I've finally crossed the threshold from money saving mom to frugalista. I have spent the last week shopping for supplies for homemade gift making...and have made some pretty neat presents. First, I made a busy board which doubles as a picture frame which I'm not totally in love with, but it's super cute. I'm just a perfectionist so if even one little thing is out of place, it drives me insane. The second thing I made was peppermint foot scrub which turned out so amazing that I made a second batch of citrus foot scrub. I even sampled a little bit myself (because what kind of a woman would I be if presented someone with a homemade gift that I hadn't tried out first, lol). I let hubby give me a pedicure and let me just say this...is was AWESOME...the foot scrub AND the pedicure, hee hee hee.  
     Well, today, I decided to go to Wal*Mart to get the supplies needed for my own homemade laundry detergent. For my formula, I used

1 cup Borax
1 cup Washing Soda
1 bar Ivory soap
1 ounce essential oil (citrus)


     I currently have a load in the wash right now so I am really excited to see how it turns out. I will definitely update with the results as soon as I get a chance. All I can say is that it smells super yummy and as long as it works well, I will be thrilled. I normally pay $12 for a large box of Gain, which normally lasts our family about three months. The supplies I bought tonight totaled just under $12 and will make the equivalent of ten boxes of Gain. So, yeah...that's like a TON of money saved. The next thing on my agenda is to make homemade cleaning supplies including window cleaner, bathroom cleaner, and dish soap. I am so excited about making my own homemade stuff because I know exactly what is going into them...not to mention it's way cheaper than purchasing pre-made items from the store. 
     I will try out a bunch of new recipes and post my favorites online sometime after Christmas...which is probably the first moment I will have a chance to try any of them out. We've got a very busy week coming up. And as Christmas approaches, I am doing my best to remember the true reason for the season and praising God for sending his Son to Earth...as a tiny bundle of joy born into the most humble abode...a lowly manger. God bless each of you this week and incase I don't get a chance to blog again, Merry Christmas!

Random

     I am currently about ready to begin the book, I Don't Have Enough Faith to be an Atheist. Caleb has raved about it for a couple of years and I feel bad that this is the first time I will begin reading it. I am very excited to finally be able to share in an in depth conversation about this book with Caleb. I always feel so left out when a book illicits so much excitement and conversation, and I can't join in on the discussion. 
     I took the kids out to the park this morning since it was close to 60 degrees. It would have been perfect weather except that it was extremely windy and that made it feel quite cold outside.  Even so, I think getting the kids out of the house into the fresh air was just what they needed to wear them out. When we got back home Haleigh went right to sleep and Noah went down for a nap shortly afterwards. I really hope he sleeps for more than 30 minutes today since that's been about the usual length this week. I am so thankful to the Lord that today is Friday because I am definitely looking forward to an entire weekend with my husband and kids. 
     Tonight, we are heading over to my Mom's to eat dinner and then driving around Craig to look at Christmas lights...which has become Noah's new favorite pastime. He gets so excited and asks us if we can look at LIGHTS and TREES! *smile*  These children bring so much joy to my life. I can't imagine what I ever did before them, lol. 

Moments to Warm the Heart

     Went to Wal*Mart today to finish up some last minute Christmas shopping and ran into the sweetest little old lady. She was raving about how adorable Noah and Haleigh are and asking what types of toys were their favorites. Well, we had a little chat about how Bug loves anything that resembles a ball and that his favorite book is Where the Wild Things Are. She was quite upset that Wal*Mart didn't have a copy of that at the store. I forgot to mention we were standing in the Photo Center waiting on pictures to be printed off and she asked to see the Christmas pictures I had taken of the kids. She kept oohing and aaahing and saying what good pictures they were and how cute my kids are. As she thumbed through them she got the sweetest smile on her face and said that the reason she had asked about their favorite toys was because just recently she had become a grandmother and wanted to know a good gift to buy for her brand new grand baby. It really brought a smile to my face and I thanked God for that moment. It's the little things in life that mean the most. 

Christmas Story in Music

    Officially my new favorite version of the song, "Mary's Boy Child"  Has an awesome beat and captures the Christmas story perfectly. God bless!!

Birthday Bash

    Yesterday was hubby's 25th birthday. We started the day off with gifts and balloons for Dada...complete with lots of hugs and kisses. Spent the day relaxing and enjoying time with our family. Last night, we invited over a group of our friends to celebrate with us. Put the kids to bed around 7:30ish (although Bug was the life of the party before we tucked him in, lol...making everyone laugh). We stayed up until midnight playing Apples to Apples, I've Never and chatting the night away. I seriously laughed more than I've had in a while...so much that my cheeks hurt when I woke up this morning. What a nice problem to have, though! 

Homemade Gifts

    Decided to give homemade gifts to a lot of our family this year. We decided on photos taken at home and are going to pick out some pretty frames to put them in. We had a fun time but Noah Bug was NOT in the mood for having his picture taken today. In the end, we ended up with a lot of adorable shots. 

     

Living for the Lord

     I have really slacked off in my blogging recently. Oops, lol. *grin*  I now spend my days playing referee to my little ones and learning the tricks to being a Mom of two. Life has been going extremely well these days and I know it's because I am working continually on strengthening my walk with the Lord. Not only has my parenting improved but also has my marriage. Instead of focusing on proving my point and always having to be right (and yes, I struggled with this...still do, occasionally) I now gear my energy towards best serving my spouse. I still feel angry with his ability to fill up the laundry basket as soon as I empty it, leave toothpaste in the sink, and other pet peeves. But instead of acting on that anger, I remind myself that this is what comes with having a spouse and children. It means that I am blessed. All those dirty dishes, piles of laundry, and messes are daily reminders that God has blessed me beyond belief. I've learned to channel my frustration into a happy countenance...one which would make the Lord pleased with me. I sometimes fail in my efforts and let anger and frustration get the best of me, but I was born into sin, so I can't be "perfect" this side of Heaven. 
     But just remember, if you are having a rough day, or are irritated with your spouse, children, friends etc. all of these situations which we view as negative are really the Lord's reminders that you are blessed. You have a warm home, friends, family, children...all of God's blessings. When you feel the devil trying to get to you, put a smile on your face and be filled with the holy spirit...doing everything for Him. Nothing should be easy enough that we don't have to depend on our Savior each and every day. God bless you all!

Craig County Christmas Parade

My brother Andy on the Mick or Mack float.