8 months old

Today I am thankful for this sweet guy, and the last 8 months.



Asher, you are a bright light in this beautiful world.

This month you have started army crawling, and just today crawled a bit the "right way"

You've learned to clap your hands, wave bye bye, and shake your head yes.

We've finally graduated full time  to size 2 diapers. You are wearing 6 month clothes and some 6-9 and an occasional 9-12 if it runs small.

You discovered balloons recently and you LOVE them.

You love to eat whatever we are eating, but you still like baby food as well.

You also learned to drink from a straw and you love your straw cups.

You are such a happy baby and you are such a joy.

And instead...

Boy did that fail quickly?

I have attempted to blog my "thankful" posts from my new phone. Apparently they aren't going through. OOPS.

So quick recap:

I'm thankful for a sweet little man who's learning to crawl, and for huge tubs of army men that entertain my boys for hours.

I'm thankful for a wonderful Church family and an amazing thanksgiving dinner we had this weekend.

I'm thankful for a successful surgery for my daddy last week, and that he's healing nicely. PRAISE THE LORD!

I'm thankful for my mom and how hard she works to provide for their family.

I'm thankful for silly kids who like to do silly things and make me laugh.

I'm thankful for THE WORD.

I'm thankful for a new cell phone that hopefully I can figure out how to blog from and it actually show up.

I'm thankful for my sweet girl who is so super excited about her fall dance recital tonight.


I could go on and on, but I think I'll leave it at that. 

We are spending our day getting ready for recital tonight. Kyley is stoked. I'm hoping to post pictures from that on the blog later tonight or tomorrow.

Little boys and chocolate pie.

Today I am thankful for little boys and chocolate pie. And learning to blog from my phone

Old Navy Active Wear (Product Review)

WOW.  

Recently, I was afforded the opportunity to try out and review some Old Navy Active Wear thanks to Crowdtap. 

Ya'll this stuff is amazing.

I fell in love with it before I even left the store. 

I love the lines in it, it makes me feel like I look slimmer.

The colors are stylish, and there are a TON of options.

The material keeps you dry and cool no matter what you are doing. I really love that. I didn't feel like I was sweltering even though I was wearing a long sleeve shirt. 

A few if the features I LOVE :

The thumb holes in the sleeves.   Where have these been my entire life??? 

Small pocket on the back of the pants for a key or whatever you wish to put there I guess. It's not a big pocket so you can't put more than one thing in there really, but at least it's a place to store your car key or something of the sort while you are working out. 

There is also a slightly larger zipper pocket on the side of the shirt, which is slightly bigger than your debit/ID card so that would be a great place to put something like that if you needed it.

Overall, I just love this line.  The support it gives is great, and it makes me feel good about myself when I'm wearing it, instead of frumpy sweats.  

The compression pants are amazing. I can't explain WHY they feel so great, but they just do. The way they conform to your body and don't sag but at the same time aren't tight and showing all the "rolls", is just simply amazing.  

Overall, I just love how these give a freedom of movement without constricting and being unflattering. I Love that!  Thank you Old Navy for such a great product!

*DISCLAIMER*  These products were given to me for the purpose of review by Old Navy through Crowdtap and the Old Navy Style Council.  I was not compensated in any other form, and all opinions and thoughts in this post are my own.

well some things changed.

Originally, I had planned to write a post full of pictures and fun stuff for yesterday's post. Then life got in the way.

And I'm reminded of something beautiful.

I've already touched on this, but I feel it needs to be said again.


I am thankful for my marriage.

For one that is founded on God's grace.

I'm thankful that we work together and respect each other.

I'm thankful that life isn't full of ups and downs that we feel like we are fighting by ourselves.

I'm thankful to have him by my side.


oh how I am thankful that he just loves me. for me.    wow.

another 2 for 1

Today will be another 2 for 1 day. This time in two different posts though :)  Hopefully now that the weekend is over, I'll get myself on a good schedule for writing these things on time!

If this had been posted yesterday, it would've went something like this:

Today, I am thankful for an amazing pastor and his wife.

I am thankful for a supportive church family.

I am thankful for friends & fellowship.

I am thankful for the joy in my husband's heart when he got to "shop" for my christmas present yesterday.

God has certainly blessed our lives, and there are so many things to be thankful for!

Day 4 and 5 mixed in.

So, I tried to post last night before I went to bed. And my firefox crashed and I lost what I was working on.   I tried to post again this morning to make up for it, and I again failed. So tonight, I play catch up.

Yesterday's post would've went something like this :


Today I am thankful for surprise lunch dates with my husband, and paid time off.

I'm thankful for target clearance, and great friends.

Oh and I'm thankful for awesome food at San Marcos.



And today, there are so many more.

Today I am thankful for a relaxing day with family.

I'm thankful for great food, great company, and football that filled our evening.

I'm also thankful that football doesn't get me all worked up like it does a few of our "guests"  (that would be my mom and brother)

So what if it's after midnight.

Yall, today has been a LONG, but fun day.

Today I'm thankful for the little things. 

Like throwing caution to the wind and feeding my kids what they refer to as "hodge podge" for lunch.

Chips & Salsa, Popcorn, Chex Mix, and M&Ms, washed down with a big jug of water. We threw whatever we wanted on the plate pretty much and just enjoyed it.

Having a picnic on the back porch.

Playing in the backyard for hours.

Still playing in the backyard for hours even when it starts to rain.

The joy on my kids faces when they realized I wasn't calling them inside despite the rain and their newly healthy bodies, just recovering from colds.


Awesome friends who we got to share a meal and fellowship with tonight.

Kids who have awesome friends to play with.

And other awesome friends who are willing to wait until after bedtime to come hang out since we had other company already planned to come over.

Accountability.

The Word.

Fellowship.

Late nights.

The end.

This guy.

   




Isn't he handsome? 

Today I am thankful for my amazing husband.

I've been known to do some STUPID stuff. And he loves me anyway.

I gained weight after having kids. And he loves me anyway.





He also likes to take pictures of himself , which typically results in shots like this. :)

His funny, quirky ways are another quality I love about him.  He always has a way of making people smile, even if it's at his own expense, and he loves every minute of it.

He takes joy in making others happy.



I am so thankful for the love and support he gives me.  His desire to be a man of God, of upright stature & righteousness is unmistakably one of my favorite qualities in him.

His role as husband isn't always easy, but he does what he has to do to provide for and protect me, and our beautiful family.




I couldn't have asked for a better person to spend my life with. My soul mate. My best friend.  

I love you Derky and I thank God everyday for YOU.

November.

Thanks.


Giving.

In honor of this fun holiday, I wanted to write a little about both this month.

Please don't be disappointed if I let you down, but I am going to try to post daily about things I'm thankful for.

Today, I'm thankful for God's grace.

I am such a no good, sinner, but He loves me for who HE created me to be, not who this world says I am.

This world tries to tell us we are no good, rotten, scoundrels, but God sees us through a different pair of glasses.

He sees us as pure, blameless, and holy.     

Let's be real, yall.

I've often thought of my self as worthless and a failure.

I don't always have my act together.

Sometimes my house is a mess and school work barely gets done.

I am horrible at sticking to routines.

I don't always have the patience my kids deserve.

I don't always joyfully submit to my husband even though I know I should.

I don't read His word enough.

I don't pray enough.

I don't prioritize things the way I often think I should.



Have you ever felt that way?

I know I can't be alone here!

But something amazing happens when God looks at us. If we have asked Jesus to be Lord of our lives, and have pleaded His blood for our sin, God sees us as holy. righteous. pure. 

Thank you Lord for your grace.

If you haven't experienced that grace in your own life, PLEASE. Contact me. I'd love to share more about it with you.

HI bubby!

The pirate slays the monster

 I could come up with many clever stories to accompany this post, but the pictures say enough :) enjoy.



   

7 months.

Yikes I'm late writing this, and I actually sat down to do it the day he turned 7 months.  I put it aside because I hadn't taken a picture yet and he was grumpy that day and never got one, and here I am a week later and finally getting to it.






Asher, You are 7 months old (and one week!)



You are rolling all over the place and trying so hard to crawl.

You push yourself forward with your feet but you haven't figured out the coordination yet to get your hands and feet moving together.





You love to eat.  You will go nuts over anything we eat if we don't share with you.

Sweet potatoes and Bananas (baby food) are your favorites, which comes as no surprise since it was both Kyley and Elijah's favorites as well.





You sit up so well now, most of the day when you're not in a sling or sleeping you are sitting on the floor playing with Kyley and Elijah and you love it.







You love your cups but we're still working on getting you to drink out of them on a regular basis, though I'm in no hurry, you just like to have a drink when you eat.


You love to be outside.  Even when you are at your grumpiest, taking you outside usually makes you happy.






Kyley and Elijah are still your favorite things, you love to play with them and their toys.

You also LOVE the jumperoo. You make that thing dance and bounce and will be so happy in there for long periods of time while mommy cleans something or gets the kids lunch, etc.
 

Another one bites the dust.

Last night, Kyley lost her first top tooth!





She has wanted it out for a while but wouldn't pull it, even though it's been ready for a while as well.   Last night she finally decided she wanted it out, and out it came!!

Bedtime Routines

So this week we have implemented a new bed time routine.

We are the kind of family, that specific schedules typically don't work for us, because we're busy, on the go, and we're never doing the same thing at the same time from day to day.

So my kids have never had a "set" bedtime.
Nor have they had a bedtime "routine"

This has worked for us for the last 6 years, however now that my 6 year old has her own opinion about bedtime, and my 3 year old who is WAY more feisty than she ever was about going to bed, we NEEDED some structure.

So yesterday Derek and I talked through our plan for the evening and had a great idea of what we wanted bedtime to look like. 

We sat the kids down, and told them how it would happen.

8:15-8:30   Final clean up of rooms (we've now added getting dressed for bed to this time period as well)

8:30-8:45   Fun time with mommy and daddy, this could be reading a story, or playing a quick board game, etc.

8:45-9:00 Bible story, prayer requests, prayer.

9:00 sharp, kids in bed, lights out.


Fast forward to about 7:45...   Elijah falls asleep on the couch. *THIS CAN'T BODE WELL FOR OUR FIRST NIGHT OF OUR BEDTIME ROUTINE*

Then, the alarm Derek set to go off at 8:15 to alert us that it was time to start the routine (we'll eventually grow out of needing this, but right now it's necessity)  failed to go off.  So far bedtime:0  everything else: 2

So about 8:20 we realize the alarm didn't go off, and we get Kyley started on the routine. 15 min cleaning went well, followed by 15 min of playing 2 rounds of dominoes. 15 minutes of prayer/bible story and last minute convos about our day.  This went pretty smoothly for her, with a few hiccups because well, she likes to stall and she thought that this was the perfect opportunity to test the waters on what she could get away with.  Once she realized we meant business, she got in her bed and was pretty quiet.

Derek moved Elijah from the couch, still sleeping to his bed. This was great until about oh... 9:40ish.  Guess who woke up.  

In the mean time, Kyley had been good in the bed, but not asleep, so as soon as Elijah woke up she thought that meant free reign of whatever she wanted.   WRONG.  

We finally got her to sleep, but it took much much longer to get Elijah back to sleep because he thought he'd had a nap and was ready to go for a bit.

Overall, considering what went on, not a bad experience, and we were pleased.

SO, tonight, 8:15 the alarm goes off.

The kids cleaned their room, and then we played UNO for 15 minutes (3 games worth if you were wondering, and Elijah won 2!) We prayed together and talked about a Zacchaeus and about our favorite parts of the day. (I love this part!)   And we sent the kids to bed.   They did pretty well tonight, they didn't go to sleep right away but for the most part we didn't have to say anything to them. After Kyley fell asleep Elijah wanted to come out and play a little but we nipped that quickly and he is fast asleep.    Not bad for a 2nd day of a routine. I pray they get better and better at this!

And a bonus for the day.   Asher fell asleep during the game/prayer/bible time and has been asleep since their bedtime as well. SCORE:    Mommy: 3   Bedtime:0     I like that one.

New Journeys, New Beginnings.

Don't forget to join us for our fundraiser to Bring Baby Hugs Home!! Don't forget when you click on Cheryl's link to go to the party titled Baby Hugs Fundraiser and click BUY next to that!!! 

So as many of you know, Derek &  I have taken on the role of Children's Pastors at Lakewood Christian Centre.  We have been there since June and we are loving it! God is blessing the ministry and using our calling and talents to reach kids, which is our desire!   So, I thought I'd show you guys around and tell you a little bit about who we are as a ministry.  

Welcome to Lakewood Kids.   Derek and I,  with the help of a handful of volunteers,  transformed this room from solid black walls, to everything you see here.  We are so blessed by the help we had, we couldn't have done it near as quickly on our own.

   


It is our desire to ensure that every child knows Jesus as their personal Savior and Lord. Beyond that, we are dedicated to teaching children the truth in God’s word, what it means to live a life of worship and prayer, and how to share compassion through God’s love toward others.


We based our entire theme off of this Scripture:   Jeremiah 24:7  Then I will give them a heart to know Me, that I am the LORD; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God, for they shall return to Me with their whole heart.

We are so excited about what God is doing, and if you'd like to check out what is going on you can join us by clicking any of the links below. 

Blog 

Facebook 

Twitter

We would be thrilled if you'd follow us at any of those three locations and keep up with what the kids are up to!

Random Facebook Status Updates

Kyley yesterday, " I'm sorry mommy, I miss under heard you" LOL

 

I just said to Elijah "what a big boy you are!" and he looked at me and said "I'm not a big boy, I'm a man." OH MY.

 

LOL Kyley went to the bathroom and picked up a book from her room. It was Tikki Tikki Tembo. Anyways, I asked her if she could pick out any words in it that she could read, and she looked at me dead serious and said, NO THEY'RE ALL IN CHINESE! um no dear, that'd be English :)

 

Random quote from prayer time with the kids last night: "My sisser not weird, she a girl!" - Spoken so eloquently by the great Elijah :)

 

Elijah keeps coming to me today and saying... Mommy I weally sowwy, I no be grounded no more! :) I love that kid, but sorry kiddo, still grounded :)

 

 

Kyley while describing Elijah. "He's thinking. With his eyes he's saying blink. blink. blink. blink."

 

 

so earlier, we were stitting at the table having dinner with Savannah Barber & Peden Kraft Barber. Before that Elijah couldn't find peden in the video game. He gets up from dinner and next thing we hear is gunshots (yeah I know...) and peden's face drops... yeah, he found him. He's 3.

 

Kyley to me: Mommy I can't be a little kid anymore, because I'm growing up! Then she says, and you're a big teenager, wait, pretty much you're just a human being! LOL why yes Kyley I am a human being! : )

 

I just said to Derek, this room needs a little TLC. Kyley responds with..."I know what that spells...painting!!"

 

 

Elijah: "Mommy, I want a cookie!" Me: "Elijah I just gave you a cookie" Elijah: "You give me more please, it's not in my mouth it's in my belly!"

 

 

lol Elijah just brought his baby doll to me and said.."mommy I need to take my shirt of so him can have some num nums " lol silly boy

 

Only my son would want to go out wearing elmo christmas pj's a tie, and his elmo backpack... LOL silly boy :) off to get wic!

 

Elijah is carrying his baby doll around on his shoulder patting its back saying 'sh my baby bleeping' (sleeping)

 

Kyley: One day I want to go to Tennesse, it seems awesome there, like with cowgirls and stuff

 

Elijah to me: mommy, my daddy handsome. I handsome. we both handsome. Derek John Jordan, then he runs in the other room and says Kyley! Guess what?!?! I'm HANDSOME! :) love that kid.

 

so in response to something we heard from Chuck Glasscock, Derek asked Kyley if when she sinned she heard something in her head tell her it wasn't right. Kyley's response was "I only hear you in my head daddy" LOL And then he turns to Krissy (Cheryl Ritter Menees) and asks the same. Krissy says "I hear you in my head too" LOL these kids crack me up.

 

LOL Kyley just told me Elijah was doing something he shouldn't be... so I said I guess I'm going to have to go spank his tail. Kyley turned to me and matter of factly said "He doesn't have a tail" haha she cracks me up

 

 

Elijah just went potty and as he got down I asked him to wash his hands. His reply to me was "my hands all cwean mommy, they pewfect, now i watch tv" and ran to the living room. lol

 

Kyley and Elijah are in the tub, Kyley said "LiLi now it's time to SWIM!" and I replied, no let's not make a mess (they like to splash water) and she replied "But we're just going to lay down, because that's how me and LiLi roll!"

 

listenin to Kyley and Asher laying in the window watching the rain and he's cooing and smiling at her and she's talking in baby talk back to him ♥ melt my heart ♥

 

 

I asked Elijah if he was my baby. His response was... NO Asher's me baby!

 

 

Left Asher asleep while I went outside to fix the AC that the workers broke AGAIN. Came back and Elijah was trying to shove oatmeal creme pie in Asher's mouth. yay.

 

 

 

 

 

Sippy Cup

Don't forget to join us for our fundraiser to Bring Baby Hugs Home!! Don't forget when you click on Cheryl's link to go to the party titled Baby Hugs Fundraiser and click BUY next to that!!! 

Guess who loves his sippy? :) 






    

Six months/ 3 1/2 year stats!

So, I want to document this so I remember :)

Today Asher weighed in at 14 lb 7 oz, and 25 1/2 inches tall!

Elijah is 36 lbs even, and 38 1/2 inches tall !

My boys are growing so quickly (and my girl too!!!)

On another note, WOW do you get a lot of baby food if you breastfeed from WIC.
Asher gets 64 fruits and veggies, and 31 meats a month. I hope he's hungry! :)

And a HUGE thank you to any of you who have checked out the Scentsy Fundraiser for Malerie and Kevin!  And if you haven't yet...

Don't forget to join us for our fundraiser to Bring Baby Hugs Home!!

Don't forget when you click on Cheryl's link to go to the party titled Baby Hugs Fundraiser and click BUY next to that!!! 

Last night's dinner.

Don't forget to join us for our fundraiser to Bring Baby Hugs Home!! Don't forget when you click on Cheryl's link to go to the party titled Baby Hugs Fundraiser and click BUY next to that!!! 

Ok, So I've been in a rut and I felt like I was making the same thing every week for dinner.  So last night I tried something new.   A friend sent me the link and it sounded great so I thought, hey why not, let's try it and it was mostly things I already had on hand. 

So. We tried it.     Garlicky Pasta with Tomatoes and Basil

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons extravirgin olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 5 cups chopped plum tomatoes (about 2 pounds)
• 6 cups hot cooked campanella (about 12 ounces uncooked pasta)
• 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated fresh Parmesan cheese
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Preparation

• Heat olive oil in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add minced garlic; sauté 30 seconds. Add chopped tomatoes; cook for 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring occasionally. Add pasta, basil, cheese, salt, and pepper, tossing gently to combine.

David Bonom, Cooking Light
APRIL 2004

I made this almost like the recipe, but not totally. 

I used Penne pasta instead of the campanella (what is that?I couldn't find it at my store and I already had penne on hand)

With my minced garlic I added in a little minced onion, so small that you couldn't even see it though. 

I served this with a tomato & cucumber salad.  

I diced up fresh roma tomatoes and some cucumbers and marinated them in Garlic Expressions.

To finish it off I made some garlic bread, and some lemon pepper chicken (for my husband in case he didn't like the pasta dish). In reality we could've done without the bread or the chicken. The pasta and salad were perfect together and needed nothing else.

Photo courtesy of my husband and his android phone.