The past couple of weeks I have been frantically searching the internet for perfect gift ideas for all of my loves.  One of my friends told me how she went on Amazon.com and put all of the things she wanted to get into her "shopping cart" and was just waiting to press the button.  So.... that's exactly what I did.  I researched all of my gifts, thought long and hard about them and then tonite I finally "pressed" the button.  It felt GREAT!!!  I am now almost finished with Christmas.  I plan to do a lot of homemade gifts for people.  I love to scrapbook, etch glass, and paint.  Hopefully they will turn out nicely.  The only problem I have encountered is what to get my wonderful hubby!!  He deserves so much and I want to get the perfect gift for him.  I know something will pop up and he will love it.  Now that most of my Christmas shopping is done, I need to start concentrating on the meaning of the Season, Jesus Christ!!!  I plan to share and do many activities with my boys to teach them more about our wonderful Savior.  I will be posting some pictures and ideas along the way.  I hope that you enjoy them and that you have a wonderful Christmas!!!

Crazy, Crafty, Besties!

Ok, so here lately I have become increasingly addicted to Pintrest.  I go on there, look at the DIY/ Crafts and think to myself, "I can do that!!"  So, I convinced my Bestie, April, to get involved too.  We went and got several old pallets from my work and oh how we had such dreams for these pallets!!  Well, let me just say that working with power tools while watching 4 kids 4 and under is quite a job.  I went and dug in our shop and came out with 2 hammers, a skill saw, spray paint, and determination!!!  Let me just say that if I was a fly on the wall, I would have died laughing!!  The first thing April and I did was to try and dismantle the pallets.  That in itself was a WORKOUT!!  We took turns prying with one hammer and beating the other  end of the hammer with a sledge hammer.  Sweat was pouring off of our faces and we were breathing like we had just ran a marathon.  After getting a few boards off I realized it would be ALOT easier if we would use the power tools.  Hello!!! That would be so much fun!!  If I could help build this house then I could cut a few pallets apart.  So after plugging in the skill saw, I went to work cutting the pallets apart a lot quicker and with much less sweat than before.  All the while April is trying to corral all of these children.  Finally after about an hour of dismantling we were ready to decorate!!!  Let me just say that I love, Love, LOVE to paint.  It relaxes me.  I am not the most creative person in the world but it is sooooo much fun!!  We made several Christmas signs, LSU/ Saints signs, and just decorator signs.  I was very pleased with our outcome.  All in all it was a wonderful day because I got to spend it with my bestie, laughing at our crazy selves!  I will post some pics later!! 

Fall is Here!!!

I can't tell you how much I love Fall!!  It is one of my most favorite times of the year.  I love that it has finally cooled off (Louisiana summers are torture) and the leaves start changing colors.  It is one of God's most beautiful happenings.  It just amazes me at how intricate and detailed nature can be.  And to think God thought it all up!  He thought up how to make the flowers so beautiful, the leaves change, the sky change colors, everything that I adore about nature.  This past weekend we went to the Angola Prison Rodeo with the specific intention of buying porch furniture for our house.  Yes, we have been our house for a little over a year and haven't been able to fully enjoy the large front and back porches.  When we arrived there our main objective was to find the perfect furniture for our porch.  Our dream was to have 2 rocking chairs, a glider and a swing.  Well, we were in luck!!  We found the most beautiful hand crafted cedar furniture!!  With a little bargaining power by my hubby, we finally purchased it.  Although,  my poor hubby was very ill with the dreaded stomach virus.  He tried very hard to hang in there so that Cody could see the rodeo and visit all of the hobby craft area.  However, about 3/4 of the way into the rodeo he couldn't take it anymore and we had to leave.  That meant I had to drive home pulling a trailer!!!  Yes, I did!!!  It was a little scary but after numerous stops for the hubby we made it home safely.  All I could think about when I got home, besides my sick husband, is how much I wanted to enjoy our new furniture.  I so wanted to unload it and sit on our porches admiring the beautiful country surroundings that God provided for us.  I wanted a fresh cup of coffee and to sit on the swing holding hands with Jason and watch our two precious boys playing in the yard.  Although it didn't happen that night I am looking forward to this evening when Jason gets home from work to sit there with him and enjoy the Fall!!  Thank you Lord for our many blessings!!  Especially the beauty of nature!!!

Blush and Bashful!!!

I haven't posted in a while and it's not because I didn't want to, it's because as usual my life has been CRAZY busy!!!  A very special person in our life married last weekend.  My younger cousin Peyton.  She has always been more like a little sister, than a cousin.  So for the past couple of weeks we have been preparing for up coming nuptials.  Cody and I were both part of the wedding party.  I had the wonderful honor of being her "Matron of Honor" and Cody of course was her ring bearer.  The wedding couldn't have been any more beautiful!  You see Peyton's favorite movie has always been Steel Magnolias, and we always picked on her that when she married her colors would be the same as Shelby's in the movie, "Blush and Bashful", two beautiful shades of pink.  I had so much fun helping Peyton prepare for her wedding.  We got to spend so much time together, remembering our younger days, and talking about the future.  I am so proud of the woman that Peyton has become and I was so excited to welcome her hubby, Barry, to our family.  All of this wedding stuff made me reflect on my wedding day.  It seems like yesterday, but in reality it was 8 years ago.  I walked down the aisle to wed the man God molded for me.  I look back at how much love for Jason I had on that day and I see now how much our love has grown for each other.  We have had two adorable boys, and have built a good life for ourselves.  I am soooooo very thankful EVERYDAY how God has blessed me!  Thank you Lord for that!  Hopefully our lives will slow down just a little and I can resume my regular postings, since my BF has been picking on me.  LOL!!  I love you April, this one is for you!!!  Until next time........God Bless!!!

Birthday Blues

My sweet Baby Beau turned "1" this weekend.  It was bittersweet for me.  I look at him and think of how much I prayed for him and now he is now a year old.  He is an energetic, always smiling, sweet baby boy.  He has my heart.  It just makes me so sad that my boys are growing up.  This week has been really hard for me because not only did Beau turn 1, Cody will be starting preschool.  I have decided to home-school along with sending him two days a week to a MDO program.  I actually had the pleasure of co-teaching his Sunday School class yesterday and I realized he is a "big boy" now.  Pretty soon he will be reading, writing, and wanting to do stuff on his own. This weekend was hard for him as well.  Cody has always been the center of attention.  He is the one always getting presents from us and others.  Well this weekend was Beau's weekend and he didn't take it too well.  My sweet Cody man turned into a temper tantrum  throwing, pouting, selfish, boy.  I can't even count how many times he broke down in tears over the smallest thing.  It took us two hours Saturday night just to get him to get in his own bed.  He kept insisting to "snuggle" in our bed with us.  It was a very trying time, we diciplined, we loved, we even took the T.V. away for two days.  Finally at 11:30 he gave in and went to sleep in his bed.  However, sometime in the middle of the night he, in a very stealthlike manner, ended up in our bed.  I know it is just a little jealously on his part and I have tried to show him some extra love as well, but there comes a time when dicipline is more important or his tantrums will lead to something worse.  So, this morning we had some "snuggle" time by ourselves, I read him 2 bible stories instead of one last night, and have been praising him for anything good that he does.  Like the title suggests, it was just a case of the "Birthday Blues" for both Cody and I.  

All in a Day's Work

     I just want to start off by saying that I admire the full time working mother.  I really do not see how it can all get done in one day with a full time job on top of it.  My husband and I have chosen for me to be primarily a stay at home mother, that works approx 15 hours a week.  I usually go into the office 1 day a week and "try" to do the rest from home.  Wednesday's are usually my favorite day because my two sons go to Mothers Day Out and I can get all kinds of stuff done.  I actually went into the office today, balanced our check book, washed 2 loads of clothes, sewed on a patch for Cody's Cubbies vest, and straightened the house.  Whew, I am tired now, but my day isn't over we still have to make it to church for 5:30 to eat supper and go to Awana's.  We probably won't get home until 8:00.  Back to my admiration of mothers who work, I just don't see how they do it.  All I can say is that you must have some sort of super power to be able to cook, clean, spend quality time with kids and husband, perform all other household duties, and hold down a full time job.  It's day's like these that help me to appreciate my mother more.  She was a single mother who worked tirelessly everyday to make sure we had all that we needed.  Thank you Mom for giving of yourself for us.  However, I do feel blessed that I am able to stay at home with my little ones.  Sometimes the house may be untidy, clothes unwashed, no supper, but I know that I have done the most important work of all and that is to spend quality time with my little ones.  I have to remind myself that this is what God wants me to do.  Even though I graduated from college my work at home is so much more important than work outside of the house.  And so I end with this, no matter if we as women work outside the home or inside the home, it is all in a day's work.

Where Does the Time Go?

Where does the time go?  This has been an amazing year.  As I look back at all of the changes we have had, I think WOW, God is AMAZING!!  He is so wonderful and blesses us immensely even when we don't deserve it.  This past year we have moved into our new home that took three grueling years to build.  We actually moved into the home exactly three weeks before Beau was born.  Yes, we were cutting it close!  We have had some ups and some downs during this past year, but we have overcome all of it stronger than before.  The one thing that gets me is that my sweet, precious, baby Beau will be turning "1" on Saturday.  It seems like he was just born and now he is getting into everything.  I feel like I was just in the hospital admiring how much hair he was born with and how "wonderfully made" he is.  How can one year pass so fast?  I wish I could stop time and play back the year in slow motion.  I wish that I could memorize every wonderful moment that was made with my children.  I just don't want to forget a single thing that involves their childhood.  I want to remember every laugh, cry, "mama", "dada", smile, and yes even the little surprises that our children give us daily.  I want to remember the look in their eyes when it was just "Mommy and baby" time.   What a precious "Mommy and baby" time that was.  I could just sit in a rocking chair forever, staying lost in those precious eyes.  Knowing that no one on earth will ever love me as much as my children do.  I went through our boys clothes tonite trying to get rid of those cluttering the drawers and I almost wanted to cry.  All of Cody's things will be put in storage for Beau to wear one day.  Beau's stuff however, will most likely be given to Goodwill.  That makes me so sad!  It only means that my precious babies are getting bigger and growing up.  Pretty soon they will be old enough to not want to "snuggle" with their mommy and daddy, as Cody  and Beau do every morning.  It is the highlight of my day to "snuggle" with my two  boys.  I know I'm probably being a little too sappy and sentimental, but I adore my boys and can only hope that they won't grow up too fast.  When they do grow up I pray that they will remember all of the wonderful times we have spent together.  Until then I will try to capture in my mind all of those precious moments that will forever stay with me because time unfortunately goes......too quickly.    Happy 1st Birthday to my sweet Baby Beau!!