Two peas in a pod.

Matching outfits that they wore to the church Christmas program. I love my sweet girls!


Causing a major mess in Kyndall's room! Unfortunately we are still working on learning about clean-up! :)


Kyndall reading Claire a bedtime story after bathtime the other night.


So sweet to see them standing side by side.


Kisses before bedtime, from big sissy!


Lately, I have been enjoying the relationship that has formed between Claire and Kyndall. To put it lightly they are inseparable. Where one is the other wants to be, no matter what. Being an only child, I was not really sure what type of bonds my kids would form and when. I sure didn't think being buddies would happen at this early of an age. But these two girls really seem to enjoy each other. Claire likes to be in the middle of any action, and Lord knows Kyndall is ALL about ACTION!!! Kyndall likes that she can give and take toys at her will and Claire never really seems to fuss. She loves her bubby and sissy equally, but if Claire isn't by her side, Kyndall is usually asking where she is. I am hoping that this companionship lasts them long after I am gone. I think having a sister is a blessing and I am so glad that my girls have each other.

Some of you may worry that Keaton will feel left out in all this, but I really don't think that is gonna be a problem. He is content when the girls are off together. That means more mommy time for him and also that his sisters are leaving him alone! He prefers his space more than Claire so Kyndall is more of an irritant than an attraction to him right now. I know that will probably change the more mobile he becomes. But for now, as a momma I am just fine that he still likes to be concerned with me and what I am doing. There are never enough hours in the day for us to sit and cuddle! He is afterall, his momma's boy! :)

Who wouldn't love that sweet face and chubby cheeks for kissin'??? Such a sweetie.

Well happy Tuesday everyone. I am off to start and hopefully finish my to-do list! Hurray! TTFN!

A new endeavor!

So last night I took one of the first major steps towards becoming a healthier me in 2009, I attended my very first meeting of my new weight loss group. I had done my research and weighed my options and I narrowed it down between "Weight Watchers" and "First Place". They each had their pro's and a few con's, but overall I felt "First Place" was a better fit for me for many reasons. First of all it is Christ centered. It helps us to understand that putting God first in our lives will help lots of things improve, not just our physical health. It allows me to follow a meal-plan, which was important to me, yet have flexibility to prepare my own meals. We work around food exchanges which is similiar to WW points. It focuses our eating around the food pyramid, so we aren't on some crazy carb restriction or extreme reduced calorie plan. To me that seems more doable in the long term spectrum. The meetings are going to be held each Sunday night at my church. That is super convenient for me since we go to church that evening anyway for Kyndall to go to AWANA and for us to attend service. So really choosing to be involved with First Place was easy. It kind of took all my excuses away. And I have to admit that spending an hour without my husband and kids, getting to talk to other adults was pretty nice! :)

I have come to a very big realization that I have to do this for myself. This time I want to succeed. Every time I cheat and give in to food temptation, I am only hurting myself. I want to learn to live a life that isn't about food deprivation, but better choices each time I put something into my mouth. I know personally that food for me is an emotional thing. I have eaten for a long time to supress feelings. If I just eat when a bad emotion or hurt from the past comes up, then I can drown it in the food. Problem Solved? Not really!! I am hoping through this process and being involved in F.P. that I will get to the bottom of why I really eat. It is a great chance to connect with other Christian women on a physical and emotional level and get to the bottom of things. I know this won't be easy. I don't expect every day to be perfect. I know I will mess up. But I want to live each day with a bigger awareness. A new appreciation for myself. And in the end I want to be proud that I was able to face this challenge head on!

Matthew 4:4 "It is written: 'Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.' "

So I plan for the next twelve weeks to spend a lot less time living on bread and a lot more time eating up the words of God, enjoying every bite of my devotional time, relishing in my bible study and learning to be a better, healthier, skinnier, more prayful me!

Hope everyone else had a good Monday! TTFN!

two peas challenge

So, one of the windows that is pretty much always open on my computer is the website Two Peas in a Bucket I go there for scrappin' inspiration, to buy supplies, to look at other scrappers work, and to chat on the message boards. Okay, so mostly I do the latter! LOL! But it does keep me connected to other scrappers and other bloggers as well. On the general scrappin' board, DolphinDesigns comes up with challenges to help all the bloggers have something to write about! :) I can always use a little inspiration from time to time and yesterday she challenged us all to blog about five ways we have changed in the past five years! I thought with it being a new year and all that sounded like a great idea. So although I am a day late (the story of my life) here is my answer to that challenge!


1. The most major of things that has changed in my life is that I am now a mom.....to THREE kids!! There are days when I can hardly believe it. Days when I stay up late thinking, am I really ready for motherhood and then realize ready or not I am knee-deep in it! It is the most awesome, exciting, tiring, scarey, meaningful job that I have ever had in my life! The crazy thing is that I always just knew in my bones that I wanted to be a mom to lots of kids. I never had true real career goals that I was passionate about. I mean I wanted to go to college and I had ideas about what I wanted to do for a job. Just nothing that I was 100% decided to pursue. As far back as highschool I remember thinking a job would be nice, but what I really wanted was a family of my own. So I guess you could say in an exhausting, messy, fun, crazy way my dreams have come true! I love my kiddos and as hard as it can be at times I know that I wouldn't want my life any other way!

2. I am fatter... :( I still have a closet full of size 2's and 4's from highschool, but the truth of the matter is those days are gone! Maybe one day my girls will want to wear them, afterall things do seem to be coming back into style from my day! :) Ha, ha, ha. But on the bright side, there is more of me to love!

3. So the ironic thing is that even with #2 being stated, I am still happier! I am settled into a life I love. I have a great home, a wonderful church, and a family that loves me. All my relationships are ones that I have because they fullfill me not because I am trying to make someone else happy. I am my own person and although five years ago I was on my way, I wasn't in the same place as I am today.

4. I am finally letting some of my true hair color shine through! I know you are thinking big deal. But for me it is. My hair was ready for a break. I realized the last year that I had colored it continuously for over ten years. That is a lot of bleach and highlights! So for the first time in ten years I let my natural color grow out and kept it that way for quite some time. I got the color itch a few months ago, but still only have highlights on the top. I am so happy to have my natural color back and more importantly remember what that natural color even was!

5. Lastly but most certainly most importantly I am married. Jordan and I will celebrate our fifth wedding anniversary this year! We started dating in 2001 and were married in 2004, where does the time go. It seems crazy to think that we already have three kids. But I guess when you have them two at a time, your family number increases with a quickness! The crazy thing is we even waited a year and a half after getting married before I was preggo with Kyndall! So being married is another change, but one that I wouldn't change for anything. I love my husband and he is one of the best things to ever happen to me. Not to mention a fabulous father to our kids. My family always tells me that if they had hand-picked my husband they couldn't have found better then him. I secretly think they like him more than me, but that is to be expected he is a lot nicer! :)


So there ya have it, five changes in the past five years. Crazy to look at all in one place. Where does the time go? Time to start looking forward to the next five I guess!

TGIF!!! Have a fun and safe weekend!

My theme song, here lately!!

Songwriters: Leslie Winn Satcher & Rebecca Lynn Howard


I work all day in a breakneck run
Just to come home to another pile of work to be done
And all I wanna do is flop on the couch and die
Baby comes in he's give out too
I say "It's pizza or nothing. And Trixie's all outta dog food"
I could just break right down and cry

I need a vacation from my life
Me and my husband we need a wife
Somebody who's sole ambition is laundry
I wanna fall asleep on "MY" patio swing
While somebody else does the dishes and cleans
Mariachi's could stroll through the yard and play softly
Wouldn't even have to leave 2523 General George Patton Drive
And I need a vacation from my life

Don't even get me started on Saturday's
All I do is rearrange the clutter
Hey, I invented shabby chic
Who wants to mow when it's so dang hot
Me and baby got a theory about our little half acre lot
If it blooms, it's not a weed

"OH" I need a vacation from my life
Me and my husband we need a wife
Somebody who's sole ambition is laundry
I wanna fall asleep on "MY" patio swing
While somebody else does the dishes and cleans
Mariachi's could stroll through the yard and play softly
Wouldn't even have to leave 2523 General George Patton Drive

Oh, I need a vacation from my life
Me and my husband we need a wife
Somebody who's sole ambition is laundry
I wanna fall asleep on my patio swing
While somebody else does the dishes and cleans
Mariachi's could stroll through the yard and play softly
Wouldn't even have to leave (MidState), Tennessee 2523 General George Patton Drive
I need a vacation from my life
"Oh i need a vacation from my life"
"Thats Right"


I have loved this song by Rebecca Lynn Howard ever since it made it's debut a few years ago. But after becoming a SAHM I have realized that the lyrics run through my head more often than I would like for them to! :)

Happy Thursday everyone. My day can really only go one way....and that is up....hopefully!

Wordless Wednesday

I am so honored to have been given this award by two of my local blogger gals! They both are busy moms just like me. Paige whose blog is Mommy to a Charli girl , is such a cool girl! She is also an inspiration to me. As a single mom she is doing an awesome job with her little girl and pursuing her own career goals. She has really got it all together!

I also got the award from Samantha whose blog is called The highs, the lows and the in-betweens . She is a great example of someone with the determination to reach her goals, even while being a momma. She recently graduated college and is going to be a teacher. I just know that she is gonna be a great one and I can't wait until she gets a teaching position here in Allen County!

So here are the rules I am following to pass on this awesome award:

Find the beautiful ladies that you follow and give them this award. Hopefully, it will truly mean something to each and every one of you. Don't be shy...give it to the same person and don't forget to tell the recipients!

So here are the BEAUTIFUL women that I am honoring with this award!

Chris @ What's in Sissy's Head? She is a fellow Nebraskan and beyond that she always has fun posts to read. As a mom of two boys I know that she is super busy, but she always finds the time to comment on my posts which I love! Thanks for being such a neat gal!

The Rambler whose blog is called what else.....The Rambler :) Each time I read her blog I usually leave laughing. She keeps a great sense of humor despite the fact that she has some serious situations that she deals with on a daily basis. Her youngest child has Cerebral Palsy and I can't imagine how challenging it must be for her to do all she does with other kids, and a home to run! So for her to even have the time to blog, or joke, or even sit down is amazing! My hat goes off to her!!!!

So those are the gals getting the award from me. Thanks again Paige and Samantha for the award! It really does mean a lot! :) Happy Tuesday everyone!!

It's that time of year again......

Yup, you got it. Time to start sticking to those New Year's resolutions! But lets be honest, we all seem to like to come up with these big out of reach goals, which would be impossible for superwoman! So this year I am taking a different approach. Don't get me wrong I still have a list of resolutions, I just plan on attacking each with baby steps. So here are some of my goals for 2009:

1. Work on becoming a more healthy me. I would like to incorporate more exercise into my life now that the kiddos are all getting a little bigger. Right now I am researching my options. I am not sure if I want to invest in a piece of equipment for the house, re-join the Y, or just try to pick a few nights to walk. I am trying to decide what I could do most consistently regardless of Jordan's schedule, and what will work best with three kids. Either way something is going to change. I am done with the excuses!

2. I am going to work on my organization in my scrapbook studio. I would like to be able to be as efficient as possible during what little time I do get to create. So I think having an organized and functional workspace would help me to achieve that goal. The less time I spend hunting for a certain stamp or tool means more completed pages for me! And that is a goal I have all the time!

3. Since I was generously given a fabulous new camera for Christmas I want to learn all I can about it. It is important to me to be able to make the most of it and all its great features. So not only do I vow to completely read the manual cover to cover, I also plan on reading up all I can online about becoming a great photographer....Shutter speed, lighting, etc. I plan to be a photography know-it-all come this time next year! :)

4. Lastly but certainly not least I want to take time every day to be grateful. I think there have been many days this past year when I have been so overwhelmed with life and caring for Kyndall and then adding the twins, that I forgot to just breathe and thank the Lord for all he has done for me. I need to remember that time on this earth is not promised to us. Each second is a gift from God. I want to spend less time focusing on what's next and more time living in the now. I want to take the time to say thank you to my husband, friends and family for all they do to help me out. I need to thank my children for showing me unconditional love and bringing a smile to my face. So this year I plan to do just that. I realize that I might not always have the words to say out loud what I am thankful for, but I plan to utilize a journal to help me with that hurdle. I resolve to start a gratitude journal and write down daily things in my life and world that I am grateful for, even if it is just the grass in the yard and the kids playing in my living room floor! :)

Now I have shared my resolutions with you all, please let me know what you plan to resolve to do in 2009.

TTFN!!!!

p.s. I thought about resolving to work on my excited overuse of the exclamation mark but then I just knew that would be out the window by the time I finished this post. So I guess you all are just stuck with a whole bunch of these !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! for another year!

Just a few reasons why......

#1


#2


#3


#4


#5


I have been a bad blogger lately! But it seems life has just been really hectic with Christmas coming and going and all! From the photos above I guess that is just a little piece of what I have been up to, so you all wouldn't think I fell off the face of the earth!

Photo 1: Our house late Christmas Eve after Santa had made his visit and left some great loot for the kids. Note the empty milk glass and cookie plate on the coffee table and the note he left the Clay Kiddos! They are soooo spoiled! :)

Photo 2: Keaton and I at the Lee's we had a great night with them before Christmas. We ate at our favorite restaurant and then went back to their house to exchange gifts and eat some yummy pumpkin pie!

Photo 3: Kyndall had her first Christmas program at Church. This is the best photo that I got of her and one of the few times she was still. Luckily the program involved the parents so Jordan was able to sit with her up near the stage! :)

Photo 4: We took the kids to see Santa at my old work (South Central Bank) and of course Kyndall ran off screaming and crying even though she had talked really excitedly about seeing him all day long. The twins did better, but we just couldn't get any great shots of both of them at the same time! Imagine that.

Photo 5: Christmas Eve and the kiddos opened up their Christmas P.J.'s to wear to bed that night. I never realized how long it would take three kids to open up all of their gifts! Totally a new experience for this momma! :)

Anyways, that is just a little glimpse of our lives this past week and a half. There will be more to come soon, when things settle down a bit. Jordan is off all of this week too, so we will get to spend more time together as a family. Super excited to have him home with for awhile longer!

I will post again soon! TTFN! Hope everyone had a joyful Christmas and is gearing up for a fabulous 2009!!!

HO, HO, HO!!!

Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Hope everyone has a holiday full of fun, family, friends, laughter, good food, heart felt gifts and lots of memories to last throughout 2009!!!!!!

I never thought this day would come.....

But tonight Kyndall is out of her crib and into the toddler bed. She absolutely adores it. From the moment Jordan brought it through the front door she has sat on it and talked about it and layed in it. As soon as we put it in her room she asked for a blanket, her silky bear and her paci! She was ready to go to bed.....fully dressed! The girl is a nut and me, well I am an emotional mess!!!!! I have cried all night over it! I feel like she is so grown up. It is breaking my heart. But I will get over it. It's not like I don't have two babies in cribs in the room right across the hall. Still Kyndall is my first baby. The one that I made all my first time mom mistakes on. The one that broke me in. The one that gave me lots of new experiences. The one that was little just the other day. So here I sit typing and crying. Resisting the urge to go into her room and set up camp for the night next to her bed. I guess a little part of me wishes that she didn't like it so much. That she didn't move from babyhood to the big-girl world with such ease. It took no effort on my part to convince her the bed was the place to be. She just knew it was the next step and she was ready to roll with it! I wish that maybe she would want to stay little just a little while longer. To make her old momma feel more happy, and a little less like she is losing her baby. But we all know that kids grow up. This is the first of so many "firsts" and so I need to put on my big girl panties and accept the change. But going in for one last goodnight kiss and extra pat of the head won't hurt so I'm off to do just that. But I am going to blow my nose first! :)

Take a minute to love your little ones while you can. And remember to remember the small things they do that make you love them so very much!!!! TTFN!