Matt took his 2nd week of maternity leave this week since I went back to work. So here is some pictures of "Mornings with Daddy"...

Wanting to be like Daddy...

Even though it was rainy today...we decided to act like it was a sunshiny day. Here are my cool kiddos with their cool shades.

Story of the Night...

Matt let John get a hold of the coffee beans tonight.

Once John had the container open...coffee beans all over the floor.

It started out being a good little game of putting the coffee beans back in the container.

(notice the coffee beans are in a pretty good pile)

John decided to spice up the game.

He thought it would be more fun to throw coffee beans across the room.

Matt kept saying "no" and singing the clean up song.

John thought is game was more fun.

My favorite quote from Matt. "Do you understand the words coming out of my mouth?"

After a few tears, the coffee beans finally got cleaned up. Oh...fun times with Daddy.

1st day back at school and I have to say it went well. It was good to get back and see everyone. My kids at school have GROWN. They are taller than I am! They had the room decorated with balloons. I had teachers leaving candy on my desk, in my mailboxes and a Starbucks delivered to my room. Not only all that, but I had so many words of encouragement throughout the day. My team was amazing today and helped to make my 1st day back fabulous! It is such a blessing to work in a place where there are wonderful people working. I am so blessed to have a job that I enjoy and people that I enjoy working with. It allowed me to know that I am in the right place...right where God wants me to be.

I will say that I was exhausted by the time I got home...I landed smack on the couch with my two little ones.

The kiddos stayed home with Daddy today. Sophia gives a little grin to her day...

Let's hope she sleeps tonight!

6 weeks ago...I brought this little girl home. Can you believe that? Tomorrow it is back to work. I have mixed feelings. So sad to not be home with my little ones, but glad to see my co workers and my students.

My prayer...

God,

Tomorrow is the start of a different day. We get back into routine and schedules. I pray that routine and schedules won't take over our lives. I pray that I would continue to be intentional with my time as I spend it with my children. I pray that I don't get so caught up in "life" that I forget to spend time with God. I also pray that when I start to feel stressed, that I stop and calm down. I pray that I don't try to do this on my own, but that I lean on You. I pray that I don't get proud, but stay humbled to ask when I need help. I pray for Sophia as she goes to Jewell's house. I know she will be loved there. I also pray for John...yet another change. Let him be proud of his sister at Jewell's and not want her to go back home.

Lord...give me strength and let me slow down when I need to.

In Jesus Name,

Amen

We are trying to be more "smart" about our money, especially since we now have 2 kiddos and the economy isn't great. We are slowly paying off debt and we thought one way we could cut back was to try to do some smart shopping. I had a friend tell me about this website (if you click on the picture above it will take you there). You pay $5 a month and the store you shop at...and TADA...it gives you your dinner meals for the week, the recipes, your shopping list, and how much it is going to cost. It is great! It cut our shopping budget from $120 to $80. Pretty amazing! It only does dinner, so you still have to buy breakfast, lunch and snacks. If I would have only bought dinner it would have cost me $43.04. Now...one thing that I did do was make my own changes to the recipes. Example: Sausage Fajitas was our meal tonight...I changed it Chicken Fajitas because I already had chicken. It called for cooking it on the stove...I grilled it. I had fajitas seasoning...so I added it. So what I am saying is that they do the hard part, you get to do the fun part of being creative if you want to be.

Check it out and give it a trial run!

Weekends and Pops and Nannee's House!

(Lots of pictures)

Checking out new truck Pop's got him...

figured out he wasn't suppose to sit on it (it popped back on)!

Lovin' on his sister

KISSES!

Relaxing on the deck

REALLY relaxed on the deck!

John was on a hunger strike one day and I had to give him allergy medicine. Nannee and I finally gave into chocolate pudding for breakfast.

Pop's had 1 baseball game plus a tournament to coach while we were down in Houston. So we spent A LOT of time at the field. John LOVED it. He played and played. Above is a picture of his new friend. This new friend is in LOVE with baseball. I will tell more stories about him at a later post. My favorite comment from this new friend was "I am gonna have to teach him (john) how to play baseball!" Such a sweet kid!

Watching the game (notice ball in hand)

Nannee and Sophia before church...lookin' pretty!

Being a helper...(lotion was later found EVERYWHERE!)

Lookin' so big!

Favorite place to sleep...

So as you can tell, we spent the weekend in Houston. It was great. We were there from Thursday to Monday morning. I have to say that John LOVES when we are in Houston. He spends the whole time outside, playing hard. Tonight he fell asleep at 7:00. I think it was because of the big weekend.

Houston is a small town. It is where I grew up. It was funny how when I lived in a small town, I wanted to get out so badly. Now that I am out, when I go back, I realize that I do miss it so much. It was so fun seeing John running on the baseball field and hanging out with the players. They would all say hi to him. It was fun going to the alumni basketball game and knowing almost everyone in the gym. It is a slower pace down there, not that we weren't going somewhere all the time, but it was mainly to see people. To talk and hang out with friends and family. Sometimes, especially when I am in Houston, I feel sad that my kids probably won't grow up in a small town. I know that bigger places have more opportunities and believe me I know that small towns can be a pain. But I did have a great childhood and I have so many memories. Okay...so now I am rambling but these were my thoughts tonight.

I know that God has placed us in Blue Springs for a reason. He has surrounded us with wonderful friends and family. I don't want people to think I am unhappy here...just missing my small town roots.

Dark Cherry Mocha

This is Starbuck's new drink and it is YUMMY! I am not a cherry lover, but I LOVE this drink. If you haven't tried it...you should (or shouldn't so you don't get hooked).

Sophia seems to be feeling better. She isn't nearly as fussy as she was. John is fighting allergies. I am fighting an abscessed tooth. It is quite a household. But we are getting through it!

John is the greatest big brother. He makes sure Sophia has her blanket, pacifier and that she gets lots of kisses. He gets right up in her face and says "hello" and then lays a big, juicy kiss on her head. She usually has snot in her hair because of John's runny nose. He truly loves his sister. I asked him tonight, "John, can Sophia go to Jewell's house with you?" and he sat for a second thinking. Then he said a big "YES!". We'll see how it goes...

John calls Sophia "fella" and he always is saying "old er" (hold her). He holds his arms and hands out with the action of "come here" until we put her in his arms. Here are some photos of the two of them...

"old er"

John will smile at the camera if you ask him...love it!

Sophia doesn't always like brother holding her...but most of the time she is okay with it.

Pretty girl is GROWING like a weed!

Below are pics of Sophia's room. It has been girl-i-fied!

A picture I forgot to take was her ribbon that is filled with bows. I will get that picture posted at a later date. She has quite a few and I LOVE it!

Have a good night!

Sorry...no pictures today. I am in the middle of writing a paper that is due TOMORROW, I have a tooth ache, and Sophia has an ear infection. Hopefully tomorrow I can show you some pictures of the little ones and of Sophia's room (it is complete!).

Here is a tidbit of information;

Sophia went to the doctor today and she weighs 11 lbs 2 oz!! She did still have her clothes on but come on...how much can baby clothes really weigh?

Another thing...today I got to spend time with my dear friend Sarah and it was absolutely fantastic. It was so good to talk with her and spend time with her. Our conversations always seem to be about our faith and I always walk away being challenged.

I love that lady!

Have a good night and I will try to get pictures up tomorrow.

My SWEET babies...

A neat story...

This morning I was jealous of my husband. This sounds crazy because I was jealous that he was going to mow in the inner city and I was staying home. After bathing my two kiddos, as well as myself, feeding everyone and getting them down for morning naps...I decided my attitude needed to change. I reached for my coffee cup, headed out to the deck to get some sunshine and started spending some time with God. Don't get me wrong...I love my children and I love being a mom. I also love missions. I love feeling that I am helping to spread Jesus' love. I love being Jesus' hands and feet. As I sat praying and trying to listen to God...I finally said, "Lord, if my mission is suppose to be being a mom and a teacher, then let me have a peace about it." A song that fit perfectly at that moment came into my mind. The funny thing about that is that I don't remember what the song was at this moment, but it was perfect for that moment.

Fast forward about 5 hours...

My family was sitting at our friends table. We were chatting and laughing. We started talking about church and then it came up...a missions opportunity. Matt and I were asked to be on a leadership committee that would be dealing with missions in the church! The best part is that it is a family thing...so my kids can join in and we don't have to find a sitter for these activities and meetings. Isn't God an amazing God?

Today was a BUSY day!

Our first stop was the Wildlife Reserve at Lake Jacomo. We saw and fed the buffalo and the elk...and it is FREE!

Then we were off to Deanna Rose Children's Farmstead. If you haven't been to this place and you have kids...you MUST go. It is great and it is FREE Mon -Thurs. and costs $2 Fri. and Sat. We had a blast and will make plans to go back. Here are few pictures from today...

(This is what Sophia did the whole day...SLEEP.)

Our baby girl is 1 month old! She is holding up her head and pushing with her feet when she is on her belly. She has gotten to long for Newborn clothes, especially outfits that have feet in them. Yet, her tiny waist is to little for 0-3 months...what a predicament for a girl! On her month birthday, she wore her first pair of jeans...so cute! They really swallowed her but they were still cute with the ruffles on the bottom and pink stitching.

I think these books will be my next book purchase...

What is Green?

Who Hoo Are You?

Here are a few other cute books:

-Charlie Harper’s ABCs and 123s
-Alison Jay’s board books
-Mathew Porter’s ABC and Count the Birdies
-Susan Goldman Rubin’s collection of artist-themed board books — Andy Warhol’s Colors, Matisse Dance with Joy, Magritte’s Imagination and Counting with Wayne Thiebaud

We got Sophia's newborn pictures back...and they are AWESOME. Brandon Schultz did them them. Check out the whole gallery HERE. You can check out Brandon's website if you are interested HERE.

Enjoy!

Our Easter...