8 years of bliss

9-24-2005 hubby and I got married.  We went to Orlando for our honeymoon, Epcot.  8 years later, we were walking in that same park, to celebrate our anniversary.  We had 2 little cuties in tow, and I wouldn't have it any other way!  It was neat to walk around the park and think back to 8 years ago.  We were young, newlyweds and had all these plans for our future.  We were also super skinny, can you see? lol

These 8 years have been a lot different than I imagined they'd be.  But I wouldn't trade them for the world.  God has taught us so much and blessed us in so many ways.  I'm so thankful for my wonderful husband and my 2 beauties!  God is so good to us!

Our family vacation...

Last week we went on our long awaited and planned for family vacation.  7 days in our favorite place, Disney! :)  We arrived on the 21st, Saturday and stayed through the 28th.  Our hotel was beautiful, and the week was great.  It rained for 3 days, but we didn't let that stop us!  I was very sad to leave, the week went by way too fast!!!!

On Saturday we set up our room, and hung out at the pool.  Sunday we did some grocery shopping, pool and dinner at the T-Rex in Downtown Disney.  My inlaws joined us on Sunday afternoon, and then we all went to Magic Kingdom on Monday.  We got there about 10ish and the rain started around 1.  By 6 p.m we were soaked and over it, so we went back to the hotel and relaxed.  I gave both girls a bath, and when I went to take big sis out of the tub, I slipped on wet floor and she flew out of my arms and went head first into the door :(  It was so heartbreaking to hear her cry.
Thankfully we were both ok.

Downtown Disney is one of our favorite spots! 

Wearing the latest outfits I made them.  I think they look so cute :)

They were not excited about stopping for pictures lol Magic Kingdom on Monday! 

 My princess! 

I think this is my favorite picture from the entire week :)  Why?  Just look at baby sister!  She LOVED the carousel.  Pictures of her laughing (in public) is rare because she's so shy and reserved...

See, this is usually the look she has around people. lol

After we saw Buzz we went home.  Love how big sis is holding his hand.  She still loves her Buzz :)

I'll post pictures of the rest of the week later.  I took almost 500 pictures, so I don't want to post all of them at once :)

8 years!

9-24-2005 was the day I married my prince charming.  I can hardly believe it's been 8 years!!!  I still remember that day as if it were yesterday.  I was so anxious to finally be married!  Actually I was more anxious to finally see my hubby.  We had gone all day w/out seeing each other and it was killing me! 

I'm so thankful for the gift of marriage.  I look back now and can't believe how young we were.  We had just both turned 23, at the time I felt so "old", looking back now I'm thinking "man we were so stupid and naive". lol  We had both just graduated college, started new jobs all within 2-3 months before marriage.  Crazy!  Obviously it all worked out.  I'm so thankful God blessed us with marriage at a young age.  I've love "growing up"with my hubby! 

Finally ready to walk down the aisle! 

I love this picture of me and my daddy.  He looks so happy :) 

My groom awaits me.

Saying our vows.

 exchange of rings 

Because we got married outside, I decided to do a "unity sand" instead of candles.  I still have this vase with the sand.  I love it! 

Husband and wife!!!  So happy! 

I love this man! So thankful this is the man God has for me!  He is truly the best! 

Happy 8 years honey!  So thankful we get to experience this crazy life together!  God has blessed us so much and I'm so thankful for His kindness.  Thankful for a wonderful godly man, thankful for our marriage, and thankful for our 2 princesses!

Free time...

I've been enjoying sewing for a while, and now that I have an embroidery machine, I enjoy it even more.  I absolutely love making my girls clothes.  I enjoy sewing, and I love how excited the girls get to try on the clothes.  I let them pick out designs and such and they get so excited to see it come to life.  I feel truly blessed to be able to sew like this. :)

People have asked me how I find the time.  I steal minutes here and there.. Or while the girls are playing, or mainly during naptime and after they go to bed is when I sew.  We are late owls in this house, so I can get a lot done after they go to bed...  I actually find that I am much more productive when I want to craft.  It forces me to do the housework, or school or whatever, first and then I get to have fun with my sewing machine.

I've been working on a few things for them, getting ready for fall.  Here is the latest, I am so excited about these!

I cut the fabric and then set it up in the embroidery machine.  One spider in the making.

The applique is all done and the dress is ready to be sewn!

And here they are, all sewn and ready for 2 little girls to wear them!!! :)  

Potty boot camp!

Last Monday (9th) on a whim, I decided to potty train baby sister.  Her doctor urged me to start as to get rid of her horrible diaper rash (she's had a constant rash for over a year).  I had no expectations but decide to try.  I decided to do a different approach with her than I did with her sister.  Big sister was 2.5 years and trained in 1 day.

Being that baby sister just turned 2, I decided the leaving her naked and take her every 20 minutes.  The first day went ok, she sat and thought it was funny.  She had 5 accidents, but we kept going.  The days that followed we had a couple accidents, but the funniest part is how she'd scream as if she were being tortured any time I put her on the potty.  But when daddy took her, she'd smile and pee for him.  I told him he needed to call in sick from work and stay home to potty train. lol
By the weekend, whenever daddy would take her, she'd pee.  And we had no accidents.  On Saturday she actually came to me and said "potty mommy" and went just fine and actually went #1 and #2 :) Mommy was SO proud!!!!!

Monday came, and I left her in panties and she told me when she had to go, we didn't have any accidents.  And today same thing, she has been telling me when she has to go and goes happily.

She's naps and sleeps in diapers still.  I am not gonna push her too much on this.  I'm just so proud of how well she's doing!

It's amazing when you become a parent, the things that make you so proud and happy.  I never imagined I'd be excited and blogging about potty success. lol

New Ride

For months we've been talking, praying, and looking for a new family car.  Our "family" car was hubby's old kia from when we got married.  It worked, but a bit tight for us.  I've been praying for a van for years, and the past month or so I've been deep into searching for our van.  I found it on Wednesday night.  It was silver and pretty and in our budget.  It had a moonroof, cd player, dvd player and more.  The dealership also had another van, pretty much the same kind, except that it was a year newer and black.  For whatever reason, I fell in love with the silver one.  It was "MY" van.  We decided not to wait till the weekend to go look at it, so thursday night nona came to watch the girls and off we went.  We pulled up to the dealer and there was a family pulling away in MY van.  I was heartbroken.  I couldn't believe it.  We went inside and asked about it, it had just sold earlier.  He said we could see the black one, to which I agreed, even though I wasn't sure how I felt about it.  So we sat in it, played with the buttons and drove it.  We fell in love.  We knew that it was the deal of a lifetime and just knew it was our van.  It is a 2006 Honda Odyssey.  It has a moonroof, DVD player, 6 disc cd player, 8 seats.  It is more than we ever wanted.  

We didn't get home till almost 9 and then the girls sat in it.  They were so excited.  So this morning we moved the carseats over and went to a store, to get gas and we drove for a few minutes to enjoy the ride. lol  We are loving our new car and are so thankful to finally have our van!  We waited a LONG time for this! 

I decided to name the van Dorothy, Dot for short.  Dorothy means Gift of God :)  

My 2 favorite authors

As many of you know, hubby is a wonderful artist and writer.  He's been working on his very own graphic novel for a couple years.  For a few months he sat with our oldest, writing a book together.  She'd tell him stories and he'd draw it out.  So together they wrote a few short stories, and made a book of short stories.  They raised the money and had it printed.  The plan is to give the books away to children at children's hospitals.  I'm so proud of them! 

Opening the box

My talented writers :)

autographing the books 

Time for School!!!!

Last week we finally started school (Wed 9/4).  We postponed it because we wanted to wait until we had settled in the new house.
Now, in the old house, we just did school on the couch.  There was no school room.  This house, the front is the formal living and dining rooms.  Well, we turned the living room into the playroom and dining room into the school room.  So the whole front of the house is devoted to the girls.  I debated for a while on if I wanted to keep the dining room "just" a dining room or make it a multi purpose room.  I decided we'd get more use out of it being multi purpose.  So it's dining/school/mommy's craft room ;)
I decorated 1 wall for school, I'll prob do more later, but for now it works for us.  I'm loving the space and we've had a great first week.

I spent the night before preparing and looking over our lesson.  After getting everything ready I realized that I needed to pray for our school year.  I am so thankful and excited for homeschooling this year!
Big sis has been asking for school for months, so she was so excited to start.  As per our back to school tradition (I got the idea from a good friend/mentor) I bought the girls a new back to school outfit they helped pick out.  I decided to get one for baby sis too b/c, well, why not. lol  She loves being a part of it all. I also got the girls new supplies, which is kept hidden until the morning of school.  I set everything up the night before and when big sis woke up she was so excited with her new school stuff.

I started that first day with zero expectations, and the day went great!  Baby sis sat w/ us the entire time and wanted to do work as well.  The other 2 days she sat with us for some of the time, then got up to play.  The only hard part with that is that big sis wants to play too, but all in all it's been great.   I am blessed to be able to be their teacher and can't wait for all God has to show us this year.

Daddy always draws on the chalkboard for us.  Last year he drew a school shark, so he's keeping up with tradition. 

All ready to start!  See the left corner?  That's baby sister's books and crayons :)  She loves having her own! 

 I kept trying to get a pic of big sis and baby sis insisted on being in all of them. lol  My 2 big girls ready for school in their new back to school outfits! 

Welcome to Kindergarten sweet girl!  

 Sweet 2 year old is learning too :) 

 I bought her a kumon workbook to work on colors.  She has a love/hate relationship with it.  She does love to color her letters though :)

 I went school supply shopping with my friend and she suggested this paint with water book.  BEST purchase for this little one.  It keeps her busy while I work with sissy. 

When we started PreK last year, I wanted to do a survey every year, I couldn't find the same one this year, but this one was cute.  I am keeping a school scrapbook for her.

I really am super thankful for the opportunity to be their teacher.  I know it's a blessing and I consider it a ministry to my children.  I pray that I am doing a good job and that I can teach them both well.  So far we're all enjoying it.  

Happy birthday Hubby!

Tuesday Sept 3rd was hubby's birthday.  He couldn't get the day off so we spent all weekend celebrating.  Tuesday while he was at work I took the girls to Target and we bought his some presents and supplies for dinner.  

The girls were so excited to celebrate daddy's birthday.  My oldest wanted to buy him everything in the store. lol

Waiting for daddy to come home.

He's been asking me to make this for years, so I finally surprised him with it,  Chicken Alfredo pizza. 

They were so anxious for daddy to open his gifts.

 Daddy and his girls :) 

TMNT legos :)  Big sis really wanted to get daddy some Little Mermaid legos but we didn't find any.  She was excited to find ninja turtles.

We've had a ton of cakes/cupcakes this month, so I went with a Hershey's pie for daddy's birthday :)

Daddy's birthday gifts- TMNT legos, Wedding singer movie, gum, reese's chocolate and a Star War tumbler cup.  So thankful to be able to bless my honey! :)

Party time!

Baby sister turned 2 on Aug 3rd.  Because of us moving, we decided to postpone her party till things had settled down.  So we had some family over and did her party on the 31st.  We always do just family the first few years because it's simpler and easier.  I am thankful we kept it simple because baby sister did NOT enjoy herself at all.  Poor thing.  She doesn't like people, she doesn't like crowded places and she's terrified of 2 of our family members. :(  All the combined in her house, equalled a very shy and sad baby.  I was broken hearted for her b/c it was supposed to be her party.  Instead I feel like I  forced her into something she wasn't ready for.  Her shyness around new people has gotten worse and worse over the months.  Even at church, she has me carry her, she refuses to even walk out of fear...

Anyways, all in all we had fun. Papa came from out of town to visit, and by the end (when some people had left) she was more herself.
We had papa Ron and Nancy, Papa Sam (my mom is so sick she couldn't make it), Both aunts and uncles came along with our cousin and the girls 6 cousins.  It was good to see everyone.

I had the food set up in the kitchen.. This was before the food was added of course. 

Cupcake tower (cupcakes were in fridge) along with her happy birthday banner! 

 I made French Vanilla cupcakes and a sweet friend came and helped me do the cute frosting!  I loved our cupcakes and they were SO good! 

 Where she spent 90% of the time.  See her "I'm no amused" look :)

 So thankful for my family!  God is good to us! 

 Thankful to be blessed with another year with my special girl :)

 She wouldn't touch her cupcake, I tried to put some frosting on her lips, see the pout?  Thankfully Papa's gf was able to get her to loosen up a bit after this pic was taken. 

 Once most of the guests left, she really let loose. lol 

So thankful to celebrate another year with my baby girl.  I can hardly believe she's 2 now!  She is so fun and I'm loving every minute of this stage with her!