Weekend Wrap-Up

Last night my sweet husband made yummy chicken wings and tater tots for dinner! I couldn't care less about football but we've kind of made a tradition of having wings and junk food on Super Bowl Sunday. 

 After dinner we had Rocky Road and cupcakes that J and C made. 

Saturday we went to look at another house (we've decided to stay out here in NC instead of moving back to TX and we've been looking at houses the past week or two.) Afterwards we had Chinese food for lunch. The kids had fun trying to eat with chopsticks!

L was super sick with the flu all last week. By Friday evening she was feeling a lot better after a bath. I thought these pics were really cute of her and her daddy. 

Three weeks ago we brought home a new little puppy for J! Roxie was only about 4 weeks old when we picked her up. She was so tiny when we got her.. less than 2.5 lbs. 

Several random pics of the new puppy! My husband trying to feed her a bottle was the cutest thing ever haha! She was already eating puppy food when we got her but then she was sick for a few days and the vet suggested puppy formula. She wouldn't take the bottle but loved the formula in her bowl or in a medicine dropper. Her she is at the vet, having her first bath, being cuddled. She's all better now and just the cutest little thing! Our 2 year old Beagle is getting used to her and I think he enjoys having another puppy around. 

S turned SIX in mid-January! We had a cake and she opened gifts after dinner and already had her pajamas on! 

I wasn't able to eat lunch with her on her actual birthday but the L and I took Chik-Fil-A up to school and ate with her a few days later. We're so sad that our Chik-Fil-A took chicken strips (our favorite!) off the menu. They're trying out spicy chicken strips in their place but we were perfectly happy with the regular strips. I hope they'll bring them back soon! 

J turned ELEVEN near the end of January! She has grown up so fast!! She looks like a teenager.

I didn't quite meet my walking goal in January. My goal was 33 miles but L was super sick the last few days of January and I was getting constant migraines so I changed my goal to 25 (and met that goal!) I have no idea if I'll get my bracelet or not.. kind of hoping I will but whatever. I feel like I cheated by changing my goal right at the end and I'm not sure if that disqualifies me or not. My goal for February is 35 miles! I'm still fighting migraines and flu like symptoms now so I'm not sure when I'll actually start walking this month but hopefully in the next day or two. L is getting better but isn't quite 100%. J and S have been sick but may be able to go to school tomorrow. Hoping we all get better soon and no one else comes down with anything. I would love ONE good snow this winter but other than that I am more than ready for Spring!! 



Linking up with Hello Monday today.

Catching Up

We've had so much going on lately and I've been feeling completely overwhelmed! 



We've had a lot of not so fun stuff going on but a lot of fun stuff too!! 

We went on our first family camping trip a few weekends ago! 

The next weekend we went to a fall festival which is always fun! 

And L got to ride a horse for the first time!! 

Last weekend we went up to the mountains for a few hours on L's 4th birthday!! 

I plan to post about all that next week! 

She opened a few presents here at home before we headed up to the mountains.

We have a lot of fun stuff coming up too! Of course today is Halloween! With storms in the forecast for this evening it sounds like a lot of the community may postpone trick or treating until tomorrow though. We have friends coming over this evening and If it does storm we plan stay inside, eat candy, make a fun s'more dish, watch a Halloween movie and maybe play board games!! I can't wait to share the kids' costumes... especially J's! I'm making that one myself and can't wait to see the finished product! 



We have L's birthday party coming up on Saturday! This is the first birthday party she will remember having so that's really exciting for her!! 



And our first Disney trip is coming up in just over two weeks!! So exciting!!! 



I'm going to try hard to get back on track with blogging next week! Lots to blog about!  

Hello Monday

I'm so excited that all the trees are blooming! It's starting to look a lot like spring! I love seeing this tree right outside the window above the front door. It's been raining a lot and it's pretty cold today but we've had a few sunny and warmish days so it's starting to look and feel more like spring! 

L had a really rough week a couple weeks ago when we started potty training but she did so much better last week! I think it's safe to she's fully potty trained now.. although we're still using diapers or pull-ups at night to be on the safe side. She's staying dry at night though so we may not be using them much longer! After an unsuccessful trip to the dentist a couple Fridays ago she did much better last Thursday! There were some tears and screaming but they were able to clean and check her teeth (no cavities!) and she settled down pretty quickly afterwards. She wanted to take her doll with her and wanted to match her doll.. so cute! I don't know why she's making this face here... maybe it was too bright.

Her hip check-up went great last Tuesday too! They don't need to see her again for another year! Great news! 

L has been full of surprises lately! J put together the girls new bunkbed Thursday evening and L just had to sleep in it! I ended up laying down next to her until she fell asleep but she stayed in her bed until 5 o'clock the next morning and then did the same thing Saturday night. She has slept in our bed since birth so I didn't really expect her to adjust so quickly to her own bed. S meanwhile has yet to sleep on the top bunk even though she insisted she was going to love it. :/ 

I love S's face here ha! 

Friday evening the kids and I went to a birthday party for the little boy across the street. They're from a country near Russia (formly part of the Soviet Union, I think?) and all the other guests were Russian too. It was cool to hear all the Russian but of course we couldn't understand a word. Most of the adults didn't speak a lot of English but the kids all communicated just fine. My grandmother was Russian/Ukrainian and grew up speaking the language. I wish she had taught all of us!

S loves the door handles at Dunkin Donuts! Her expression cracks me up here and even though I just bought her a new pack of ankle socks she insists on wearing tall mismatched socks instead. Haha! 

On Saturday I took S out for donuts and we went to a few stores afterwards. I rediscovered a thrift store. The first time I went I wasn't that impressed but when we went Saturday I realized how clean and organized it is! We'll definitely be going back. I got a few cute pieces of clothing for L. I offered them to S first since they wear about the same size but she turned up her nose at all of them ha! You never know what she's going to like but it's usually not the girly girly stuff. She was excited to find a couple Ninja Turtle things though!

We walked over to the Tractor Supply store afterwards and she was so excited to see baby chicks! She begged to bring one home lol. 

We got our Disney Magic Bands in the mail Saturday afternoon! 

We went out to Cracker Barrel for dinner Saturday evening. We wanted Red Robin but could tell there was a long wait when we drove by so we went to Cracker Barrel instead. Cracker Barrel was packed too but by the time we got out of the car and walked in we just decided to stay and wait for a table. Of course the kids loved looking at all the toys. J and the older kids played a couple games of checkers while we waited. And the older kids were taking pics with my phone ha! J and I both had the chicken fried chicken for dinner. It was sooo good! 


After dinner we got icecream at a place called Brusters. This was our first time there. The icecream is good but they don't have a place to eat inside. It will be fun to go in the summer and sit outside! 


Sunday morning J and I volunteered in C's second grade class at church. We had picked up pizza for lunch then went to life group at four o'clock. J made yummy orange chicken for life group! It was delicious!! 

Afterwards we all went to Wal-Mart for a few things. I'm loving my new Wal-Mart wreath and porch mat! I love Wal-Mart ha!! 


I stopped by Dollar General for the first time in forever this weekend. I was surprised that they have so many cute things! I got a few pieces of décor for half off. I think I'll be going back again. I honestly had no idea they had cute stuff. I'm more of a Dollar Tree person since everything is actually only one dollar ha but looks like Dollar General may have some good deals too! 


It has taken me ALL day to get this post up. I need to work on focusing a little better. Since I started writing at 9 this morning I've done laundry, loaded/unloaded/loaded the dishwasher, updated my planner and calendar on my phone, worked on piecing together my husband's family tree (he's just connecting with his father's HUGE family on social media and we're trying to figure out who's who), made breakfasts and lunches, taken the dog out and brought him back in a few times, worked on cleaning the house, taken L potty several times, gotten her down for a nap, picked C up from school and more! This is the reason I don't blog more regularly. I can't focus ha! 


Anyway, hope everyone's having a great Monday!!! 

Weekend Wrap-Up

I'm linking up with Hello Monday today.



We've been busy as always lately!







J and JG went to the Daddy & Daughter dance a couple Fridays ago. This dance was through American Heritage Girls. Next year S will be joining them!

Poor C has been having headaches almost 24/7 the past few weeks. We took him to the eye doctor last Tuesday and his vision has gotten slightly worse since he was seen last summer. He got a prescription and picked out a pair of Nike glasses. The glasses should be in sometime this week. He'll only need to wear them for reading, classroom work and while he's on the tablet or computer. We're really hoping the glasses take the headaches away for good! My husband needed glasses at the same age due to headaches but only needed to wear them for a year or two. Hopefully that'll be the case for C too. I hope he doesn't have to wear them from here on out.

C is super sick right now with the flu. Poor kid can't catch a break. :( We just went to the doctor this afternoon and will get him started on a prescription. The doctor wants him home all week. Really praying the rest of us don't get it!

The sunset was gorgeous one evening last week! Of course my photo doesn't do it justice but this was the best I could get. There are deer that live in the woods behind our house. I had never seen one until one morning last week I finally saw three! Then I saw three again a couple days later. Our neighbors put food out for them every evening so we know there always around but usually it's well after dark or before dawn.

Saturday evening S decided she wanted her long hair (it was past her waist) cut a lot shorter. Her long hair was beautiful when it was actually brushed but she only likes to wear it loose and it was always getting really tangled. Anyway, I cut it the best I could. Her hair is pretty straight which makes it hard to get the ends looking all even. I think it looks "okay" from the back but from the front it looks kind of rough ha! I think I'll probably end up taking her to a professional to get the ends evened up a little better. It's much easier for me to trim Mar (Gabby) and Indie's hair since their curls are much more forgiving. Indie's hair has been getting pretty long and I could tell her curls were starting to fall out so I trimmed her hair as well. Her curls are much more bouncy now and the shorter hair keeps her looking a little younger. I'm having a hard time with my baby being three. I want her to stay little a while longer. I forgot to get a before pic of S and the pics I took of L didn't really turn out. 



The kids have been begging for a YouTube channel for months now. I'm finally giving in although YouTube is kind of outside my comfort zone. We've been making practice videos for YouTube and I'm looking for a good editing program. I haven't found anything for free (what I was hoping for) so I'm guessing I'll need to get a subscription for a program. If anyone has any great suggestions (the cheaper the better!) please let me know! My laptop has some kind of built in basic video editing program but I couldn't figure out how to piece clips together. Any tips on that would be great too!



Hope everyone is having a great Monday and hope you'll come back tomorrow for a review and my first giveaway!!

New Year's Resolutions!

I'm about a month late on this one but oh well! I'm not really a New Year's Resolution kind of person but here are a few things I'd like to focus on this year.






1) Blog regularly and figure out what I want out of this blog. Then make it happen!



2) Keep up with all social media connected to my blog (Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, etc)



3) Learn all I can about photography! I ordered a little add on kit for my camera with a gift card I got for Christmas. I'm still trying to figure all this stuff out. I'd love to take a photography class!



4) Start writing! I'd love to take a writing class too!



5) Budget, save and pay off some bills.....



6) Read the Bible.. at least keep up with what our life group is studying



7) Lose weight, keep it off! Exercise and get fit! (I've been saying this forever...)



8) Come up with a great cleaning schedule and stick to it.



9) Meal prep regularly



10) Come up with, and stick to, a great homeschool schedule for Gabby



What are your goals for the new year?

January happenings

I'm so behind on the blog! I still need to write about our trip to Texas and Christmas! I prefer to watermark all my photos but it can be pretty time consuming.. which puts me even further behind. I did find out that the program I use (BeFunky) just came out with a watermark program. Once I figure out how to use it that will really help a lot!



We got home from Texas on New Year's Eve and picked up our sweet puppy from the kennel. Poor thing had a bit of kennel cough and needed a couple prescriptions. Thankfully it wasn't too bad and he got over it pretty quickly!

S begged for a blonde, blue eyed Wellie Wisher for months last year. I asked her several times if she was sure she wanted a blonde instead of one that looked like her. She insisted she wanted the blonde. Well, she opened it on Christmas morning and set it aside. The next day she said she wanted to give the Wellie Wisher to one of her blonde cousins ha! We decided to sell it once we got home and I started looking for a secondhand, brunette American Girl doll. S turned up her nose at every single one I found on eBay or Facebook marketplace but ultimately decided this $24 doll from Wal-Mart was exactly what she wanted lol! She's hilarious! One of S's middle names is Isabela so she named her doll "Ella Isabela". :D

This little crazy is not interested in potty training. She turned 3 in October. We've bribed her with sweets, new toys and more. She'll be interested for a day or so and then want to go back in diapers. I told her yesterday that she'll have to stay in the baby (toddler) class at church and can't move into the 3 year old class until she's potty trained. It didn't phase her. She just grinned and said "Ok!" Ha! I asked if she wanted to be wearing diapers in kindergarten and she was like "Yeah." I don't know what to do with this child. The older three were trained the week they turned 3 and never looked back but Indie just does things her own way..



All our spring programs are just starting up again! S used to hate dance and begged to quit for months! I told her she had to try the older class before she could quit. She's gone to the older class (5 to 7 yr olds) for three weeks now and LOVES it! She was the one begging to go to dance this week ha! I knew the pre-k class was too boring for her. She does better around older kids (more of a challenge) than younger kids.

JG and I did a Girls On The Run 5K a few weeks ago. I walked the entire time but it was still fun! It was such a beautiful, spring like day! 

Both older girls had birthdays this month! S turned 5 last week and JG turned 10 this week! My mom flew out to surprise S for her birthday and stayed through JG's birthday!

S got another doll (Our Generation) for her birthday! She named this one "Honey Isabela" :D



Of course she had a to have a Ninja Turtle cake too!

JG turned 10 this week! I can't believe I have a ten year old! Her big gift was having her room redecorated. She got a dresser, desk, curtains and several accessories. I need to get a pic of her room. It's still a work in progress but looking pretty cute! She decided one a teal and coral theme.

The guys went camping with Trail Life last weekend so my mom and I took the girls to eat at Macaroni Grill and then over to the American Girl doll store. This was the first time the little girls have been since they were babies and our first time to the Charlotte store. This store is much smaller than the one we've gone to in Dallas but has a play area that I don't remember the one in Dallas having. The little girls had the best time playing with all the Bitty Babies for over an hour! Poor L missed her nap and was in meltdown mode by the time we left but they had so much fun while we were there!

With all this doll shopping/window shopping we've done lately we haven't seen a doll that really matches Indie very well until we happened to see this one at Target a few days ago! The curly, dark blonde hair, brown eyes and light olive skin are perfect for Indie! We've told her she can get this doll as soon as she's potty trained but even this bribe doesn't seem to be working right now. :/

The girls and I took my mom to airport Friday morning. It was really nice having her out here for just over a week!