Last weekend...

Last weekend we celebrated our wedding anniversary.  Our anniversary was on the 24th, but we had a weekend long celebration.  On saturday the inlaws came over and babysat while we tried a new restaurant in our side of town.  It's very rare for me to find my favorite Italian dish on a menu, so when I find it, I order it.  So hubby got lasagna and I got Gnocchi.  It was yummy. :)  It is my favorite Italian dish.

We then ended the night at Target b/c why not!? :)

On our actual anniversary, hubby worked late.  I made a simple, but yummy dinner and we just ate and relaxed at home after the girls went to bed.

It's neat to reflect on our 7 years of marriage and see how God has blessed and and opened the right doors, closed the wrong ones, He has provided for us in so many ways.  I'm so thankful for our life together, and thankful that God has always been in the center of our marriage. :)

BIG milestone!

Baby sister is 13 1/2 months old.  She has been pulling herself up for a while now, and walks like a champ as long as she's holding onto her walker or furniture.  For the past 2 weeks or so she's been taking 2-4 unassisted steps.  She giggles herself silly when she stands on her own, then throws herself on the floor.  It's super cute!

SO on Tuesday night this week, I went out w/ a good friend for a much needed girls night.  Daddy texted me to say "we have a walker".  When I got home baby was already sleeping and daddy showed me the video of her first steps.  It was so bittersweet.  I'm sad to have missed it, I mean, I've seen her take steps here and there.  BUT this was her actually walking from point A to point B.

The next morning she was walking all over the place and has been ever since. :)  She is so proud of herself and whenever she reaches her destination is all smiles and giggles. When her destination is mommy, she gives me a big smile and hug.  I love it!

Wordless Wednesday

Loving math

Cherries everywhere

When I was close to having my first daughter, I quit my job, and I knew I'd want to pick up a hobby since I was going to be home all the time... So hubby bought me a sewing machine.  I started making simple pillowcase dresses for them.  I always had my more experienced friends show me how to make things.  In almost 4 years, I've only ever made 2 different dress patterns, but I've made a lot of them. lol

For the past 2 years or so, my machine gave me a hard time whenever I used it.  It was SO bad, it made sewing miserable for me.  So I quit.  Then this past spring, I picked it up again, after a LONG time.  The machine was even worse.  I cried the last time I used it, it took FOREVER to finish a dress.  I vowed never to use it again.  Hubby then told me to buy a new machine.  I was so excited, spent a week looking, researching and found my new toy :)  It's a singer and I LOVE it!  At first, I was overwhelmed by it.  It has all the bells and whistles.  My friend came over and set it up for me.  Showed me a few things and I was "good" to go.  I made 2 skirts for the girls w/ it and didn't touch it again.  This past week, thanks to pinterest, I found a new pattern for a dress I wanted to try to make.  I was nervous for 2 reasons, #1 I have NEVER tried a new pattern on my own, I always have friends "teach" me how to do it.  #2 I was terrified of my new machine w/ all the buttons. lol

BUT the sewing bug got me bad, and after reading the tutorial 30 something times (not even lying) I decided that I could in fact do it!  And I did, times 2 :)
Here's what I made:

My set up

 My girls with their new dresses and bows, all made by mommy :)

Our wedding

September 24th 2005- Our forever begins.  So thankful for my prince charming. :)

The day of our wedding seemed like the longest day EVER!  That morning I spent getting my hair and make up done, packing and more.  I missed M so much that day.  I couldn't wait to see my prince charming and finally be his wife!

Here comes the bride...

 So excited to finally be walking down the aisle...

My groom awaits for me.

I do! 

We're married! Yay!!! 

Happiest day ever!  I can't believe it was 7 years ago!

Our lovely wedding party-Minus my BFF who was in a horrible car wreck 2 weeks before my wedding.  So thankful God protected her and that she's fine now.  :)

Husband and wife

So thankful for the husband God blessed me with.  I don't know what I did to deserve him, but he is just amazing!

Us through the years. lol

Flashback thoughts...

On Monday we will celebrate 7 years of marriage.  I can't believe it's been 7 years.  God has blessed us so much.
Words cannot begin to describe how thankful I am for my husband, thankful that God brought him to me.  I don't know what I did to deserve to him, he is just so amazingly awesome!  We are so blessed w/ our 2 precious girls.  I am just so thankful and feel like the luckiest person alive. :)  God is so good!

In 7 years we've gone through 7 jobs (in b/t the both of us), buying our first home, dealing with septic tank issues, figuring out health issues, waiting for the "right" time to have a first baby, getting pregnant, waiting 9 long months to meet our firstborn, becoming parents, working on getting hubby's book published, lots of Disney trips,  wanting to give S a little sibling, waiting and waiting... Getting pregnant, some pregnancy scares, welcoming baby sis into our family, more Disney trips, and so many more adventures...And there are so many adventures that will soon be coming :)

LONG engagement

M proposed to me on July 26th 2004, we had been dating almost 10 months.  I always wanted a fall wedding, so we set the wedding date for September 2005.  Yep, 14 months away.. I used to want a 6 month engagement, obviously that didn't happen. Why a long engagement?
Well, I was set to graduate (remember I was 500 miles away) May 2005, M would graduate August 2005.  SO we set the wedding date for September, hoping we'd both have jobs and an apartment by then...

Anyways, a long engagement was the WORST!!!! And of course it didn't help that we were 500 miles apart.  Our entire relationship was long distance.   14 months of wedding planning was exhausting. I bought my dress right after our engagement and having to wait SO long to wear it, to have our wedding, to be married, was an emotional roller coaster.

The plus side of a long engagement?  There was NONE for me. hahaha

When I graduated the last week of May and moved back home, Mike and I had 4 full months of "normal" dating before we got married.  It was weird at first to be in the same town all the time.  But at the same time it was so good to just be together...We continued wedding planning, job hunting and preparing for marriage.  We had tons of wedding showers and we were so blessed by our friends.

us- taken in May right before our wedding

Stay tuned for wedding pictures! :)  

Daddy's girls

M and I have been together for almost 9 years.  And every day I fall more and more in love with him.
He is an amazing father!  He comes home and barely has time to walk in the door before he's trampled by our girls.  They love him so much!!!
Even baby J, she is such a mama's girl, no one tops mama EVER!  Alas, she's turning into a daddy's girl.  She crawls at the speed of light when she hears daddy's home just a grinning away. :)
It's just the sweetest thing.  Big sis has always been a big daddy's girl and now she has competition.
I love watching my man with his girls.  He gets on the floor and plays tea parties, dollies, blocks, puzzles coloring and more...  He is the best!

Aren't they the cutest?

Crafty

I have been on pinterest for a while, but it's been just collecting stuff I like and wasting time on the internet.  But I was able to get on pinterest and get ideas for my baby's 1st bday in August... And I've been collecting ideas for my big girl's upcoming November birthday.  She is helping me find stuff and is so excited.  She picked out the theme and everything... I've also been able to get a ton of crafting ideas for decorating my house and now I'm actually doing some of the projects. :)
Here's my little fall decoration.  I got the idea from pinterest.

From Pinterest 

My project 

I bought 3 wine glasses, the back one is bigger than the other 2.  Then bought little gourds for the inside.  Candles on top.  I added a bow and feathers for my own special touch.  The best part is, the 3 glasses came from $1 tree, so did the gourds.  I had ribbon and feathers at home already.  So it was a very inexpensive project.  I have it on my mantel and will post pictures of the whole thing when I finish it :)  I thought it came out super cute.

Flashback- We're engaged!

M and I had been dating for 9 months when we got engaged.  Like I said in the earlier post, when we started dating, we both knew that this was it.  We knew we had to graduate college before we got married b/c we were 500 miles apart and neither of us had any intentions of switching schools.  We started dating Oct 2003 and I would graduate May 2005.  I knew I didn't want a long engagement, so I told M that I didn't want a proposal until late 2004/early 2005.  Then I eventually told him that I trusted that he would do what the Lord would have him do and to propose when he saw fit.  

I went home for the summer.  M planned a special date in my favorite city, 40 minutes from our hometown.  I had a feeling that he'd propose, b/c he "forbid" me from going to the city before out big date. lol  So we went.  And had a huge dinner.  I then thought, there was no way he'd propose b/c if he were nervous he wouldn't have eaten as much as he did. lol  Plus it was getting late.  After dinner, we

were headed home.. M stopped at the beach and said he wanted to go on a walk.. I complied.  While walking he stopped b/c he wanted to show me something.

What he showed me was the spot where he first prayed for me and felt God telling him that I would be his wife.  :)  He got on one knee and asked me to marry him.  The ring was gorgeous! He then told me the story of how he got my ring.  Some people would hate this, but I LOVED it.  So here it goes.

M's parents own a restaurant in town.  He worked as a waiter.  He had regular customers who knew he was saving for a ring.  These customers brought some friends to dinner one night and met M and found out he was saving for a ring.  The wife then took off one of her many rings and told him he could have it if he wanted.  Which he happily took.  What he got is a beautiful set of engagement ring and wedding band.  It's an antique in a beautiful setting.  I love it.  And it's always a reminder of how God takes care of everything, even little things like a ring. :)

ballerina

My sweet baby girl started ballet last week. She was so precious and so excited.  She asks me everyday when she can go back.  They meet once a week and it's so exciting to see her sweet little smile when she talks about ballet.

Too much preciousness! :)

 Here she is modeling a little ballerina bow I made for her

Flashback of Us

September 24th is our wedding anniversary.  Hard to believe we'll be celebrating 7 years!!!  It has been such an amazing 7 years, filled with fun, tears, trials, blessings and so much more! 

Taken Oct 2003 the weekend we started dating

We started dating Oct 3rd 2003.  I had recently moved away from our hometown, 500 miles, to go finish my degree.  I was so excited to start a new adventure.  I had recently turned 21 and out on my own.  I had no interest in dating anyone, I was focused.  I intended on finishing my degree and then going for my Master's.  I was friends w/ M, and we talked daily.  I started to like him, but was nervous b/c we were 500 miles apart... In Oct he came to visit some mutual friends, who were actually my neighbors.. Little did I know that he was actually coming to see me.   I was so excited to see him.  We went on a walk at Duke Garden, it is such a beautiful place!  There he told me that he had spoken to my parents and asked their permission to pursue me.  In a previous conversation, we had both agreed that the only person we would ever date is our future spouses, so when he started talking about starting a relationship with me, we both knew that this was for the long haul.  

So began our relationship, long distance, for 2 years!  We talked everyday, emailed, sent letters... It was hard.  BUT it was, of course, what God had for us. I know it brought us closer together and made me much better at communicating.  

M was the first man I had ever dated.  We were both 21, I waited a long time for God's man for me :)  And it was SO worth the wait!  

Stay tuned for a flashback of our engagement :)

My 2nd love

When our first daughter was born, I quickly realized that I loved hairbows. :)  There were so many cute ones.. I quickly decided that I wanted to try to make her bows, and immediately fell in love with ribbons... :)  More like obsessed!  I made more and more and decided to open my own bow shop on etsy.  If you haven't seen it, it's BOWquet.  It's been almost 4 years of bow making and I have learned so much and have thoroughly enjoyed coming up with new designs.
It's hard to pick a favorite design.  I love making the yoyo flowers out of fabrics, rosettes, sculpted bows and more.  It's so much fun!
Here are some cute holiday ones that I've made :)

Cute little ghost.  I love this one! :)

 I took the ghost to the next step and made a fun headband.  I LOVE how this came out.  

 I dreamt all night long one night about this headband.  I was so excited that it came out exactly how I imagined it. 

 Little spider clip

 This little guy is my best seller in the fall time.   Isn't it just so cute!?

I love getting to make these and feel so blessed when I sell them.  

vacation

The last week of August we spent the week at Disney. :)  We didn't go to parks everyday, most days we sat poolside.  2 of those days I slept ALL day.  I got a stomach bug and fever and slept all day while daddy took care of the girls. lol
Here are some pictures from our trip. There were over 400 pictures of the week, so I had to choose a few..

Big sis was so excited for our vacation, we created a countdown...

Our first morning there I surprised the girls with small gifts.  Big sis had been wanting a Princess backpack for school, so we gave her that along w/ coloring books, crayons and other treats.

Little sis got her very own crayons, pencil bag to hold crayons, books and coloring books. She really enjoys coloring. 

Looking at her gift.. Slinky was also a surprise for her, she's been wanting him for forever! lol

so excited with her new books!

our pool!  It was SO hard to leave this behind.

Me and my girls at Disney

Baby sis is practicing her new skills...

Our last day we went to epcot

My beautiful family :)

I these 3!

The bees were all over Epcot and I thought they were beautiful!

playing at Downtown Disney

Me and my little beauties 

Bye Disney... Hope to see you soon!!! 

homeschooling

Ever since I can remember hubby and I knew we were going to homeschool.  After big sis was born, I couldn't wait to get started! :)  When she turned 1 we started working on ABC's.  She learned them super quick, and by 18 months knew her entire alphabet and could count to 20 w/ a few mistakes.  After that the learning just kept going.  She LOVES school and loves to learn.  I bought any and every work book I could find.  She loves it and everyday would ask "mommy teach me something".

SO then came the decision.  Do we start PreK 4 this year, BEFORE her 4th birthday.  Or wait till next year when she's technically supposed to start in the school system.  Her 4th birthday is in November.  Would I really wait an entire year just b/c her birthday is 2 months after the cutoff date?  She is READY for school.

The beauty of homeschooling is, we dont' have to wait.  The choice is ours, and I chose to start this year.  We've had 2 days of school and when we're done she wants more.  I'm having a blast teaching again and coming up with lesson plans.  I am obsessed w/ coming up w/ fun crafts, she LOVES coloring, painting and anything artistic. :)  I'm so thankful for google and pintrest that helps me come up w/ the creative part of teaching.

I will say that the hardest part of homeschooling, is entertaining the 1 year old sister :)  Our first day she did great playing on her own in the playroom.  Today I decided to try something different, I put on The letter Factory for her to watch, but she was not interested and got cranky super quick.  She is more of hands on playtime girl instead of tv watching.  Which is good. :)  Her sister is the opposite. lol

Anyways, those are just my random ramblings about our first few days of homeschooling.  I am loving it, and she is loving it.  And daddy loves hearing all about it when he comes home from work. :)  So thankful for a hardworking hubby and for the opportunity to stay home and bless my husband and girls.

Pool baby

She is just the cutest little thing!! :)

All ready for a day at the pool at Nona's house! 

1st day of PreK

Years ago, before we even had kids, we decided we'd homeschool.  For so many reasons I don't want to get into, we knew homeschooling would be the way our children would learn.
When my daughter was born, I couldn't wait to start school! lol  After searching and praying and talking to friends who are more experienced in the area, we chose Sonlight for our homeschool curriculum.
My oldest daughter is a November baby.  So I had a choice to make, either have her wait an entire year to start PreK 4, or start now, 2 months before her 4th birthday.  And being that she's SO ready for school, we started now, today actually :)
She LOVED it and kept asking for more.  I also enjoyed myself and can't wait till tomorrow. :)

I had the table all set up the night before.  Daddy wrote and drew on her chalkboard.

I made a name plate for her "desk", she has her books, pencil box and that pink binder (with her name blurred) is my lesson plan for the year.  

 All ready for school! 

 Posing with her new "back to school" outfit she picked out herself

 Showing her new backpack

 completing one of her assignments