Our Crazy Blissful Life

Eisley's First Birthday!

2014-10-23T08:36:00.001-07:00

Today is my baby girl's 1st Birthday! How did that get here so quickly?! This year has seriously flown by faster than than my son's first year. I was sad to discover that (for me) it's true what they say about your second baby- you won't to do all the scrapbooking or writing down dates for all the first milestones like you do with your first. My son has his own scrapbook of his first year, along with countless pages in another scrapbook, several photo albums on Facebook and tangible ones filling our photo album cabinet along with a journal with all his first milestones written down and dated. All my baby girl has is ONE little photo album filled with mostly birth photos and a few from her 6th month. However, she did hi-jack my Instagram account where I was able to jot down a few of her milestones each month when posting her monthly photo. Either way I guess it's just a good thing I at least have some documentation for her. Maybe someday I will get her a scrapbook started.

So, maybe I don't have a lot of tangible documentation of my baby girl's first year, but I have a lot things in my heart that I have been holding in and today they are gushing out. I am pretty sentimental like that (does anyone else get a little emotional on their kids' birthdays??). It's just that this little girl has taught me so much about myself this past year and has revealed parts of me that I didn't know existed. When I had my son 5 1/2 years ago, then "the mom side" of me opened up. I learned a lot about myself and this new side of me back then and throughout these last 5 years. For 4 1/2 years I had been the mom of a little boy and my heart was so full and bursting at the seams. Then this little girl comes into our life and my heart is exploding. No worries, I'm sure there still plenty of room for more bursting and exploding should more children come along.

Among some of the things that my daughter has taught me is how strong and brave I actually am. Not sure if many of you know my birth story with Elisha, but it was rough. Not ideal at all. Birth trauma and breastfeeding failure. I let fear and the unkown of birth get the best of me and my birth plan went out the window. Anyway, with Eisley I was determined to educate myself more and trust my body more. I had a way healthier pregnancy with her which helped me lose all the pregnancy weight and then some after having her (YAY!). I also learned proper body mechanics so she would be born in the proper position which would reduce risk of birth trauma or needing a c-section. I learned about red raspberry leaf tea and it's benefits during pregnancy and labor/delivery (if you don't know about this stuff and are expecting, drop everything now and go look it up and get some of this tea!!). Her birth was perfect. I was brave and strong. I had the delivery I wanted with no pain meds or interventions. In Eisley's birth I discovered a new strength I didn't know I possessed. This strength and bravery has carried over into other areas of my life. I have stepped out of my comfort zone quite a bit and joined leadership positions in my church and MOPS and confronted difficult situations as well. I have learned that the result of strength and bravery is peace. When you face things that scare you with God's strength you will experience God's peace.

So far we have had a successful year of breastfeeding -which also taught me how frugal I can be. Between breastfeeding and cloth diapering (and cloth wipes) we saved SO MUCH money! We only buy clothes on sale or at thrift stores and have been blessed by one of Matt's co-workers with hand-me-downs! Plus, we discovered Baby Led Weaning, so no baby food for us! At 6 months she just started eating whatever we were eating (along with nursing).

I was afraid how I was going to balance raising 2 children. I had been the mama of one boy for 4 1/2 years, I didn't know any other way. I have learned that I am a master multitask-er! Not only do I raise 2 kids now along with being a wife, I homeschool, Direct AWANA, I'm on a MOPS Steering team and keeper of the home. I am tired most of the time, but I get stuff done! But along with being a multitask-er and juggling all these things I've also become more flexible while maintaining a sense of consistency and structure (if that makes sense).

Thank you Eisley for all that you have taught your mama in just your first year! I look forward to learning more from each other in the years to come! Happy 1st Birthday, Pumpkin! I love you!

Eisely at 1 year:

Has two teeth on the bottom and two top ones currently coming in
Started taking steps on Oct. 21
Has the cutest pig tails around
Favorite food: all of it
Favorite toy: She likes blocks and occasionally I see her playing with her baby dolls
Favorite song: I'm a Little Teapot or You are My Sunshine
Likes playing with big brother
Thinks daddy is super funny
Loves to dance to music
Likes having books read to her
Likes Mama's hugs and snuggles

Bikes, Blues and BBQ (and Apples Too).

2014-10-03T13:07:00.001-07:00

Last weekend we spent a few days in Arkansas with some of our favorite people! In the last week of September every year, tons of Bikes rally in Fayetteville, Arkansas for Bikes, Blues and BBQ. Our friends work at a preschool where they held their own version of BB&BBQ. The kids brought their bikes, ate popcicles, got fake tattoos, got to wash their trikes and watch some policemen ride around on their bikes (as well as let kids climb on their bikes and check them out.) We packed up Elisha's bike so he could participate in these festivities.

I think he is ready for a bigger bike. And to learn to ride without training wheels. ;)


Silly, fake mustache tattoo.

Matt and Elisha especially enjoyed themselves while looking at all the different bikes. It was really cool watching hundreds of bikes cruising around town every night. The BBQ was pretty good too ;).


One of my favorite parts of BB&BQ

In other news, for the last week we or so we have been doing a unit on Apples! I really like all things fall: apples, pumpkins, crisp air, pumpkin patches, apple pie, jeans and hoodie weather, pumpkin spice coffee etc. We have a friend with an apple tree and she let us come over and pick some apples. It was really cool. I just wish it hadn't been such a rainy and gloomy day. Elisha enjoyed it nonetheless. Since it was also Johnny Appleseed's Birthday last week, we had the same theme going on at the library, so that tied in really well with what we were doing at home!

Elisha got to hear a story about Johnny Appleseed and make a hat at the library.


We made some very yummy applesauce from our fresh picked apples!

We took some of our apples that we picked to Arkansas and made an apple pie with our friends. When we got home, Elisha and I made some very delicious applesauce together. I peeled them and I let him use the apple slicer to slice them and I supervised as he diced them. I let him throw them in the pot and add cinnamon and mash them after they cooked down. He did an awesome job and loved helping make it and eat it! We also used apples to make apple decorations and apple dippers. We dipped our apple dippers in salted caramel sauce, chocolate coconut sauce, and nutella. Then per Elisha's request covered them in sprinkles.

We wrapped up our unit on apples today by reading "How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World" (such a cute book!) and baking another apple pie!

The weather is cloudy, windy and cool today- perfect weather to curl up with some hot cocoa, a blanket and a book-- and that's what I'm going to do! :)

Community Helpers Field Trip

2014-09-21T14:51:00.000-07:00

Friday we took a field trip to the Trenton Airport to learn about our community helpers. We got to see a life light helicopter, firetruck, police car and ambulance. The preschool and Parents As Teachers had sent me a letter a couple weeks ago notifying me of this field trip and I knew it was going to be something that Elisha was really going to enjoy. Of course he already knew all there was to know about firetrucks.

Got to take a look inside the ambulance.

Waiting patiently in line to get a turn to sit inside the helicopter.


He thought it was pretty cool to sit inside the helicopter.

Elisha loved the cop car! He got to run the sirens and speak over the vehicular public address system.


Firetruck!

I thought this field trip was very informative not only for the kids but for the parents as well. My favorite part was the car seat checks that our community Health Department performed on site as well. I was happy to know that our car seats were properly installed and they were able to tighten Eisley's seat more for me since I had done all I could and it actually required a section of a foam pool noodle wedged under her seat to do the trick.

Also this week, we started our unit on leaves! We are learning what leaves do, how they do it and why they turn colors. I even noticed a few leaves changing color on some of our neighbor's trees. We visited Crowder Park to collect some leaves of various size, shape and color for some of our activities for this unit. We sorted them, counted them, did leaf rubbings, and started making a leaf book that we will finish up this week. Our Biblical concept that goes with this unit is living and growing in Jesus. :)

Our next unit starts Wednesday and it will be on apples! I'm loving the fall themes! :)

September Bustle

2014-09-15T16:10:00.000-07:00

Today we are only half way through September (which has gone super fast by the way!) and I feel like we have been going non-stop!

We kicked off September by going to the Renaissance Festival in KC over Labor Day Weekend. We had never been before and my sweet friends Micah and Maerissa invited us to go for my birthday! It was pretty neat and Elisha loved every bit of it: the swords, the jousting, the pirates, the swords, the Children's Realm, the swords. Seriously, we could not leave until he had a sword of his very own.

It was a pirate themed weekend at Ren Fest and so Elisha had to wear his pirate hat.

Elisha on the "Throne of Swords"

I couldn't resist, I had to put Matt in the stocks.

The day after Ren Fest, we remembered the The Great Pershing Balloon Derby was going on that weekend. Elisha and I had gone 4 years ago, but Matt had never gone so we decided to go. It was beautiful day, however the wind made it very dangerous for the hot air balloons to actually go up. They cold inflated a few but none of them actually went up. It wasn't all a waste though, Elisha's name got drawn to go play in one of those bouncy houses for free for 20 min and we got to eat walking tacos. When it got kind of dark out they did light up the baskets without the balloons on them so we could see that. And then the kids got some fun glow in dark stuff and we had fun running into people we haven't seen in awhile along with hanging out with great friends.

I spent my birthday with family and friends. Elisha made me the cutest card. Matt brought home wild flowers, cheesecake and got me the movie, "Mom's Nigh Out". It was a good day with sweet people.

We are a whole month into are homeschool-ing, which is going great. Elisha is learning to read, which is really cool to watch. So far we have learned about the 7 days of creation, we have done a unit study on the sun and we are getting to wrap up a unit study on the moon tomorrow. Then we will start on leaves- which I think will be fun considering Fall has decided to show up a little early around here as far as the temps go (now if the leaves will get the memo and start changing colors that would be great!).

Speaking of Fall, its that time of year when things are starting back up again - school, AWANA, MOPS, etc (I know there are others like t.v. shows, football, blah, blah, blah, but when do you have time for such things when there is school, AWANA and MOPS???) Anyway, I'm so excited about MOPS starting back up! I have made a lot of good mama friends through this program and its a great ministry too! Our theme this year is Be You Bravely and I have found it to be a very challenging and inspiring theme as I seek out ways to be brave as a mom, a wife and a friend.

This Fall I am also taking on the role as Commander of our church's AWANA program. I guess you can say this is one of my "brave challenges". I'm still learning the ropes and hopefully will be able to get the rhythm of things over the next few weeks. Elisha is a Sparky this year and is very excited about this.

With all this busy-ness going on it has been a priority for our family to set aside times each week just for our family. Helping out with ministries at our church is great and important, having fellowship with other mamas is also important to me, but time with JUST our family is so precious. Time is fleeting, there is never enough time. Even as a stay at home mom, time flies. I remember being my son's age and the afternoons seemed to be never ending (having very little concept of time helps with that I suppose). I wish I could get lost in long afternoons with my kids, but housework and responsibilities pile up. I have been working on this though. It means I get up early and go to bed sort of late, but it helps tackle the to-do list. I get up at 5 am to make breakfast for my husband and we do devotions together before he leaves for work. I also get started on my laundry (with this system I usually only need to do one load a day to stay caught up, except Mondays- I usually have 2-3 depending on how busy the weekend was). I try to get everything done before my kids wake up and then it's time for them- breakfast, getting dressed, brushing teeth, Bible and school work with Elisha. I still have a few things to do through out the day and try to use Eisley's nap time to do something for myself (which usually ends up being snuggling up with Elisha and a reading a book together or taking a nap with Eisley). I can't help it, sometimes, time for me ends up being just more time with my kids. I love it when our family time ideas come from my husband and both of the last two have been all his ideas! We did a picnic dinner last week as well as a pizza night where we all pitched in to help make the pizza- so fun! No interruptions, no to-dos, just us having fun and spending time together.

Eisley has kind of ensured that I slow down a little this week, poor girl just hasn't been feeling well :(

One last thing: Look at how handsome my boy is! We go his "Kindergarten" Pictures taken (Murphy's Studio in Chillicothe) and they turned out SO cute!!

Week 1: Kindergarten

2014-08-25T18:07:00.002-07:00

We started our home-school journey one week ago! Elisha started Kindergarten! I've known we would home-school since before we had children. It was something Matt and I both agreed on. Although, last summer when I was pregnant with Eisely we realized we had a year before Elisha would be Kindergarten bound, and we started to consider public school. I thought I would be too overwhelmed, I had lot of self doubt and honestly I was starting to chicken out. I had one year to make up my mind and the decision was was making me ill. I didn't want to make the wrong choice and ruin my kid. I know it's just Kindergarten, but I kind of want us to stick with whatever decision we make and not have our kids weaving in and out of public school and homeschool. I realize some families face that situation and it works for them, but I wanted to avoid it as much as possible. I prayed about it and I consulted family and friends to gain some insight and wisdom on what to do. Finally I decided we would send him to public school...but I had no peace with the decision! So, my husband works with a man who home-schools his children with his wife. They invited us over to talk and look at their curriculum. That really helped me to reconsider our decision. When I changed my mind to home-school again the peace was there again. I let doubting myself and fear of the unknown influence my decision! Little did I know at the time that bravery would be a huge theme in my life this year (more on that later). Anyway, I'm really glad we made this decision!

We use My Father's World for Kindergarten. It's a Biblical based curriculum with Charlotte Mason philosophies on education. LOTS of nature study. We supplement with other materials if I feel that Elisha needs more of a challenge. So far, I have supplemented the Language Arts with a program called Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. So far it's going well. Just the right amount of challenge that Elisha needed and I'm confident he will be a good reader in just a few months!

Our lessons that come with the curriculum only take us a little over an hour to complete and I add in a few other activities. But we still have a lot of the day left to play and explore other things. I also make sure that screen time is very limited so he must play with toys, blocks, board games/card games, go outside or read together for entertainment. Sometimes a few of our education resources are on the iPad and I don't usually count that against his recreational screen time.

On our first day of lessons we finished up our work in time for me to work a MOPS booth at the Organizational Fair at the college in town. This firetruck was parked right in front of our booth so and the friendly firemen gladly let Elisha take a tour and try on different gear. Elisha was intrigued. Then on Wednesday while visiting Matt at work a firetruck was parked out front because of a fire safety class taking place that morning. A fireman saw Elisha and asked if he wanted to take a ride in the firetruck and of course Elisha agreed. I really thinking that things like this will be one of my favorite parts of homeschooling- all of the spontaneous learning moments and explorations that can come about because we aren't stuck in a classroom and we are learning while living our daily lives.

Eisley is pretty good about entertaining herself for the most part while Elisha and I go over his lessons. I make sure she has plenty of board books, puzzles and of course things that are not toys like broken remotes and wooden spoons.

Elisha is getting SO good at using scissors! I didn't realize how much progress he was making with scissors until this week. Earlier this year he was still using the scissor as a way to rip the paper, he couldn't quite get it to cut right. I did have him practice with play doh scissors and play doh to help build those fine motor skills/muscles, but had no idea I would being seeing this kind of progress right now. This week we started going over the beginning of Creation. This theme is incorporated into our math, reading/ language arts, science, art/music and of course Bible study. After the 7 days of creation we will move on to other themes that will be incorporated into all of our subjects and it will always have a Bible lesson to go along with it as well. Getting to learn more about Christ along with his educational studies is just another perk to home-schooling!

We made a parking garage out of old boxes. He loved it!

One of my favorite things about homeschooling is watching Elisha learn things and see a new concept click. If we had put Elisha in public school I knew I would get so jealous of his teachers being the ones to watch the initial turning of the gears and the pride he would feel when he finally mastered something. I didn't want to hear about it second hand, I wanted to be a part of his experience. I also like that I am with him all day. Don't get me wrong sometimes I would like a little break, but I always think about how I only have these little people in my home for a short while, then they will be grown and my break will come sooner than I'm ready for. I know there is a stigma with homeschooling and socialization, but I'm not at all concerned about it. Elisha is extremely social!

In fact, between MOPS, church/AWANA and the library Elisha has made quite a few friends with whom we take a few times each week to play with whether it be in a church class, a play date, MOPS meetings or story hour. We also joined a local home school group, which I'm SO excited about! It's up there on my list of happy places which includes MOPS. Last week was also our first home school group play date in the park. Elisha saw old friends and made new ones. He had a lot of fun and didn't even care that it was 90 degrees outside.

And for the record I have no problem with public school in general or people that send their kids to public school. There are some things that have changed since I was in school that I don't necessarily agree with. I do appreciate people in the education field so much, I have several friends that are excellent teachers. It's a thankless job and can be very stressful. Families have to make these decisions based on what works for their family, and I really do not think one way is better than another, however I think this is best for US. I think our town has good public schools, but this was just a personal choice for our family. After weighing the pros and cons, shadowing home-school families, researching and accepting the huge commitment of it we made this decision and it wasn't made lightly. Anyway, I just thought I would throw that out there just in case my enthusiasm for our home-school journey is mistaken for educational snobby-ness ;)

Well, that pretty much wraps up our first week of Kindergarten! :)

So, What's New?

2014-08-10T14:31:00.002-07:00

It's been a while. Like, well over a year since I have posted anything. I mean, I was still growing a tiny human inside me the last time I posted. That tiny human is now a 19 lb, 9 month old! The reason for the unintentional hiatus started out by being busy getting everything ready for the new baby. And then she was here! And man, no one prepared me for how difficult it would be to adjust to having two kids. There is 4.5 years between my kids, but I hadn't had a baby in the house in 4 years and I was used to taking care of ONE child, whom at this point is pretty independent. I got a touch of the baby blues and my spare time was spent nursing and napping. I'm not sure exactly why I was having a hard time adjusting. Eisley's birth was absolutely perfect and natural (unlike the terrifying experience of her big bro's birth). She had no problem getting the breastfeeding thing down. When we brought her home she only woke up 2 times max in the night to eat; I was easily getting 4 consecutive hours of sleep between feedings (most moms are lucky to get 2 hours!). The "catch" was she would scream every night between 9pm and 1am. She was inconsolable. I would usually end up crying as well. That all finally ended when she was about 4 months old. I kind of feel like I'm getting the hang of it all now.

I have found our local MOPS group to be a major help. When Eisley was 3 weeks old I started attending MOPS. It took me a few meetings to make new mom friends, and once I did I really started looking forward to our meetings and being able to get out of the house and chat with other moms. This summer I ended up joining the MOPS leadership, helping with publicity- so on that note, if your a mom of preschool age kids or pregnant, I want to invite you to MOPS of Green Hills (if you're in our neck of the woods, if not, try to find a group near you-you'll love it!). I will include some more info on that below that you can click on. :)

Let's see...what else is new? Oh, in February I signed up with Young Living Essential Oils. If you know me, I am excited about this stuff. I'm always looking for healthy and natural alternatives for health. It's been another good outlet for me also. Not only do I love using the oils and have a lot of success with using them, I also have enjoyed working the business aspect as well.

So, between MOPS, Young Living, trying to keep our house in order, enjoying my babies, and getting ready to home school our 5 year old son this year, I've been keeping pretty busy-- and it's not about to slow down. AWANA will be starting up at our church soon and I'm looking forward to helping out with that. Hopefully, I will be able to keep up with posting on here as well... :)

It's a...

2013-07-01T16:42:00.000-07:00

Our 25 week check up was today and they ended up doing another anatomy scan since they didn't get all the info they wanted the first time a month ago. Our little GIRL finally decided to reveal her gender to us! She was curled up in a little ball with her hands and feet covering her face most of the time. When we told Elisha we were having a girl, he asked, "does that mean it's a sister?!" He is very proud to be the big brother to a little sister and Matt and I are thrilled to add a daughter to our family! :)

A Busy May and Our Gender Reveal!

2013-06-03T16:58:00.000-07:00

I know I always say this, but I really am NOT the best as keeping up with my blog. I post so much on my Instagram that I just forget to document anything here. Well, this post is a playing- catch -up -type of post from May. It didn't feel like May was too busy until I started going through some of my Instagram photos- I almost forgot about all the stuff we did!

First of all, May 1st my little man turned 4! Time has just flown! I can't believe my little boy is growing so fast! We had a nice little party with close family and friends. It was a combo Mario and Lego theme- two of his fave things right now!

The weekend following his birthday, we took Elisha to Legoland! It was really cool and Elisha had a blast! Of course we met up with my cousin and her family and they came with us!

We got to watch a cool 4D Lego show. We actually got sprayed with water during water scenes and could feel fans blowing on us during windy scenes. The kiddos LOVED it!

Matty had a great time too!

Lego replica of KC-really neat!

Lego Wizard of Oz was awesome!

Of course you can't leave Crown Center without stopping at Sheridan's for some yummy custard:)

Later that evening after Legoland we attended a Royals game! I love going to baseball games and the Royals actually won!!

It was a bit chilly, but a super good time!


The kids loved hanging with Slugger:)


Our friends Maerissa and Micah paid us a visit one weekend too!

Last week my cousin's kids came to stay for the week! They are some of Elisha's most favorite people on earth. He just loves playing with these kids, so he was ecstatic to have them stay over for a few days!

So May was pretty busy and fun for us, except for all the rain. I could have done without so much of that. And the one day it snowed-that was weird. It's June now! I'm looking forward to warmth and sunshine!
Also, I just recently reached my 20th week of pregnancy with baby Arthaud #2! Half way mark! I'm starting to feel little kicks and flutters--my absolute favorite part of pregnancy! I'm glad that the morning sickness and most of the fatigue has subsided. I'm thankful for another normal and healthy pregnancy thus far. I am just so excited about our growing family. I just feel so blessed and overjoyed to have another little person to love on.

Today was my 20 week check up plus our anatomy scan ultrasound! So, this was the scan where they can tell us what gender our baby is. Matt and I had decided that we wanted to know what we were having. We had found out with Elisha too. We decided that if it was a girl this time, then maybe we won't mind being surprised with our third child (Lord willing we have a third) since we will have a stash of boy stuff and girl stuff by then. Well, here is what we found out!:

We still don't know!!! The little person had it's legs crossed. Even after the ultrasound tech was finished we gave it about half and hour, drank some sweet tea and had my OB take a look and the baby was even more pretzled up with the umbilical cord between it's legs! SO, we have decided that if we happen to find out next month, then we find out, and if we don't, we don't! In fact the surprise thing is kind of sounding more and more appealing. I think I am just going to pull out a few of the newborn things Elisha had that were more gender neutral and just be ready to go shopping if we need to after our little bundle arrives. I know I am going to be super thrilled with whatever the Lord gives us anyway!

Spring Is FINALLY Here!

2013-04-09T12:19:00.001-07:00

I am so glad that winter FINALLY seems to be over and Spring is here! I actually am a fan of all the seasons, except winter. I can only tolerate it about a week and half. It's fun and festive around Christmas and New Year's, but After January 2, I'm pretty much over it.

I tend to get the winter blues, which is why I really kick up my work out routine during that time to keep the endorphins flowing so I can ward off depression. This year, we found out we were expecting around the first week of Februrary and so I cut out caffeine (another mood booster of mine) and then it was not long and the morning sickness set in and my working out came to a halt. So other than being ecstatic about the pregnancy, I realized that the mixture of feeling sick/fatigued, no caffeine, no exercise and the extra long winter was really dragging me down. There is just something about the sunshine, warm breezes through open windows, blossoming flowers, grilling out on the deck, yard work and kids playing outside that is so therapeutic. I absolutely love it.

This past week as been AWESOME! I have even enjoyed waking up to thunder and rain in the middle of the night. I can tell my mood as improved dramatically. It does help that my morning sickness has ceased. And even though my fatigue has stuck around, it's nothing a nice afternoon nap in the warm sun can't fix. I've spent as much time as I possibly can just being outside. It took me until today to actually do something productive though (I had just been sitting out on the deck, enjoying the warm breeze and watching Elisha play).

Today Elisha and I worked on cleaning up the landscaping in the front of our house. He helped me rake up all the leaves and dead stuff we had pulled.

Yesterday we had painted a plant pot for a fun little spring art project:

Today we planted some flower seeds in the planter pot:

Then of course, we had a great time just playing and enjoying the warm weather:

This week have been reading The Very Hungry Caterpillar almost every night at Elisha's request, so I decided to turn it into a sort of theme for the week. We read the book outside this afternoon. Then I had Elisha find 4 rocks and then we painted them the colors of the caterpillar in the story. I hot glued them and fashioned them into a caterpillar pet rock complete with googly eyes. Elisha loved it! I also had him paint a butterfly on some paper since the caterpillar turns into a beautiful butterfly. When we were playing with chalk a little later he decided he wanted to draw the Hungry Caterpillar.

It has seriously been one of the best days. Plus the yard work provided me with a pretty good workout for the day! I'm looking forward to tackling more projects on my list this spring and summer including cleaning out the garage, organizing it, pulling out some of Elisha's old baby stuff and getting the nursery set up!

Speaking of nursery, here is the latest ultrasound photo of our new little one!:


Baby is growing strong and healthy at 12 weeks! The top photo is a great side profile and the bottom one is one that looks like the baby is praying-it actually had the hiccups and kept hitting its head with its hands every time it hiccuped!

Happy Spring!

9 Years and Growing

2013-03-12T17:03:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time in January of 2004 my best friend, Jenny and I were looking for a drummer for our band. Little did I know that the guy that would fill the position in our band would also play such a huge part in my life. I didn't realize that when we were praying for our drummer that I was also praying for my future husband.

Matt joined our band that January in 2004. We spent a lot of time together playing music and hanging out. It didn't take him too long to steal my heart. His heart for God was apparent from the start and he was funny and smart. I had never met a guy like him before. I remember getting so excited to see his screen name pop up on MSN messenger and getting to chat with him after school on days that we didn't have band practice. We began to hang out more outside of band stuff and on March 13, 2004 he asked me to be his girlfriend. 9 years ago from tomorrow. It's so crazy to think that was 9 years ago!


9 years ago. Matt couldn't take a serious picture then either.

I am writing this post because I was just thinking about how much my life has changed in the last 9 years. Normal changes like growing up, getting married and having a family. And to think that this journey started 9 years ago when I met my love at the age of 17. It's all I've ever really wanted; to be happily married and have a family.


Matt and I were engaged later that summer in Aug. 2004.


We were married a year later on June 11, 2005. We were 18 years old and had just graduated high school.

After we got married in 2005 we spent a few years just enjoying the married life and working on our educations (Matt still continues doing school stuff).


In July of 2008 Matt got his LPN. He is now currently a Wound Nurse, Licensed Massage therapist and is working on a B.S. in Pshycology and is also working on getting his RN as well.

Soon after Matt graduated from LPN school we got the exciting news that we were expecting our first child! We were super thrilled! If there was anything that I wanted more than being married, it was to be a mama.


We found out we were pregnant Sept. 1, 2008 and our sweet little boy was born exactly 8 months later on May 1, 2009.

We have so enjoyed our little family. Over the last few years we have moved a couple of times and saw a few minor job changes.

Last summer we were super blessed with the opportunity to buy our first home. We have had a lot of fun making the house our home and adding our own personal touches.

Our home:)

A current photo of our family taken in November 2012.

I just feel super blessed looking back on the last 9 years. God has brought me major joy in the man he gave me to be my husband 9 years ago and the growing family he has given us...

Baby Arthaud #2!:)

The awesome announcement photos are courtesy of my sister, Sarah Johnston (Sarie's Photography)!

Basement Makeover!

2013-03-06T13:31:00.000-08:00

I didn't post anything on here last month, however it was a pretty busy month. For one, I wasn't feeling so great the last few weeks and still feel a bit icky- just couldn't muster the energy to sit and look at a screen and type. Nonetheless, I did manage to finish our basement makeover!

When we bought our house last summer, a friend and myself painted the whole upstairs in 2 days. Up until earlier last month I couldn't even think about painting anymore of this house. Painting is such a chore and hassle. But, I got sick of looking at the buttercream-yellow on the basement walls and wanted a more cozy feel for the basement.

Here is what the basement looked like when we first bought our house:

We started by painting the walls Earl Grey, adding this cute vinyl quote and moving in a couch my sis gave me.

Then I decided to paint the foyer a different color. I had left the "foyer type area" the yellowish and at first decided a cool orange would go well with the earl grey: WRONG! Epic fail. The orange looked so different in that lighting than what i thought t would. So then I pulled out some dry sage green that the previous owners left in the garage and it looks SOOO MUCH better!!

After the painting was finished we moved Matt's drum set to the office to make more space since we ended up getting rid of the leather sofa and getting a sectional (second hand deal!) The space is SO cozy now and a great place to relax or entertain. :D

Sight Words

2013-01-10T12:29:00.004-08:00

Elisha and I have started working on the basics of reading. We have started with working on sight words. We really like using starfall.com for the different activities on the site. I knew he was ready to go from the computer activities to sight word books when one night he began to help me read his bedtime story. He loves the book Good Night, Pillow Fight by Sally Cook and he does a great job with recognizing the sight words.

I was able to catch him helping me read one of his fave books:

This week I decided we were ready to start the BOB Books. I really like the BOB Books and I am super pleased with how well Elisha is doing with learning the sight words. The first day I read the book to him. The second day I read it to him again, but I also asked him to see if he could read any of the words --he got several of them. The rest of the week we went through the book together a couple times during our reading time. By today, he was able to read the entire book to me with only a little help. The BOB Book we started with is Mat. I think this was exciting for him since his daddy's name is Matt. He always trips up on the "Matt sat on Sam" sentence, but other than that he did super well.

It's so cool to watch Elisha read even if they are sight words. I'm excited to see him grow into an enthusiastic reader!

Christmas Activities

2012-12-21T00:00:00.000-08:00

Last year, I feel like Elisha and I did a whole lot more crafts and handmade gifts than we did this year. We didn't make handmade ornaments this year. Time has just really gotten away from me. Here we are just a few days away from Christmas --already! I feel like it was just Christmas 2011! This year has just flown by so fast not to mention just the last few weeks! So for the last several days I have been trying to do at least few festive activities and crafts.

Since the 1st of December we have done an advent activity everyday. This consists of a simple chain made of 24 red and green construction paper links and 1 yellow link for Christmas day. We tear one off everyday. We also have 25 small books that share a tidbit of the story of Christ's birth and we read one of those everyday as well. Our family lets the Santa "thing" be a "thing". We teach Elisha that Christmas is Jesus' Birthday Party. We teach him that Santa is the nickname for a man named Saint Nicholas and that he was a good man that served Christ and gave gifts to others.

Here are some of the crafts or activities that we have worked on:


Baby Jesus craft.


Playing with play doh and Christmas cookie cutters.


Got to visit Santa.


Made lots of Christmas goodies:)

First Snow!

2012-12-20T16:06:00.001-08:00

Today we enjoyed our "first snow" day around here! I had to get up super early to help shovel the driveway so my hubby could get out for work. The power went out for about 15 minutes. It took him about 20 minutes to get to work-- on a normal day that would take about 5 minutes. He said there were quite a few accidents and cars in ditches. I was supposed to go run errands today, but opted to stay home and play in the snow, hang out with family that are staying with us and catch up on some nap time:).


We got a few inches of snow and powerful winds caused some fairly deep snow drifts in some places.


Elisha and I had fun in the snow:)


Elisha and Uncle Nate make snowballs and wait for Aunt Rachel to come out so they can get her with them!


I love how our tree looks when it's covered in snow:)

After playing in the snow we warmed up with some grilled cheese and tomato soup.

We enjoyed some indoor activities as well such as playing Hi-Ho Cherry-O and Toy Story 3 Matching Game. Elisha spent a good portion of the day hanging out with his Uncle Nate--they played with blocks, had a pillow fight and played Mario.

My Sweet, Silly Boy

2012-12-19T07:25:00.000-08:00

Spending time with my son is one of my most favorite things in life. Since the day he entered this world my life has become brighter, more challenging and more interesting. I'm definitely guaranteed a smile and a chuckle pretty much every day that he is around. I just wanted to share some (more) of the sweet and silly things that this little guy says and does that makes my life more interesting and joyful.

*Yesterday Elisha was full of silliness and mischief. At one point we are just sitting doing an activity and he looks up at me and says, "Mom, I just wanna hold you like a little baby." I just looked at him and chuckled and thought that was a weird thing to say, but also really sweet at the same time. He probably said it two more times that afternoon. I'm not sure what made him say it, but it was sweet.

*Last night it happened. You know that one thing that happens to all parents of small children. I was naive enough to think it wouldn't happen to me. We've had the talk about this, we have stressed how naughty it is, we have prepared him enough that he should know NOT to do this thing. But he did it anyway. He cut his own hair. You know what I'm talking about, that "v" cut right in the middle of bangs. Matt had the scissors and clippers out and was giving himself a haircut. He left the stuff out because we were planning on giving Elisha a trim. When Matt wasn't looking, Elisha made his move. Afterwards, we told him how disappointed we were that he would do that even though he knew it was naughty. He said he was sorry. Matt fixed his hair and cut it shorter than what we wanted initially. When Matt was done Elisha said, "look, now I'm handsome like you, except I don't have a beard." Matt chuckled and replied, "yeah, but mama is not gonna like that we had to cut it so short." with that Elisha yells upstairs (where I am) "Mom!!! I'm handsome like daddy now, but I don't have a beard!!" It was just so cute, I couldn't possibly stay upset. His hair turned out fine and he won't need a trim for awhile.

*A couple of days ago Elisha was over at his Auntie Sarie and Uncle Luke's while I was out running errands. His Uncle Luke asked him, jokingly, "Elisha, when are you going to settle down and get married?" Elisha replied, "I don't know." Luke then asked, "well do you have a girlfriend?" Elisha replied, "Well, I have my mommy." What a sweetie!

*Just about everyday Elisha will randomly tell me, "I love you, mom." It's always completely random. I never know when he will say it because I'm not usually actively doing anything for him. He will be coloring, playing a game or eating and he will surprise me with those sweet words.


Helping mama make grilled cheese for dinner. He likes to put the cheese on for me.

Holiday Happenings

2012-11-25T15:45:00.001-08:00

So, I've been meaning to post new stuff for awhile, but I have been SUPER busy so this will be a sort of another photo dump along with updates on what we have been up to!

For the last few weeks I have been helping a friend do some interior decorating projects: stripping tables so we can paint them, planning color schemes, working on sewing pretty things, etc. I'm pretty excited to see how things look when it's all done. It's been really fun helping this sweet person get organized and decorate her space.:)

Last week I hosted Thanksgiving. Twice. Two days In a row. --I'm still recuperating from all the busy-ness. It was fun baking new things though! The shopping and prepping began on Monday and the cooking and baking and more prepping started Tuesday and didn't end until Thursday afternoon. On Wednesday my parents and siblings came over and on Thursday my husband's family came over. We enjoyed the traditional turkey, hot rolls, mashed potatoes, stuffing and pumpkin pie. We also enjoyed new twists on old traditions on Wednesday with my mom's sweet potato souflee-yum! On Thursday we enjoyed a new, unexpected dish for Thanksgiving-nachos! My Sis in law's boyfriend brought nachos--super good idea!

I had fun with a few new things as well. I made a braided homemade loaf of bread--deelish and pretty:)

I also made a festive veggie tray that looked like a Turkey-thanks to Pinterest for the idea:)

On Friday I worked on cleaning house and putting away Fall decor and breaking out the Christmas decor.

On Saturday we took Elisha to see Rise of the Gaurdians. He really liked it. It was kind of cute. He thinks Jack Frost is pretty cool. Then Saturday night we baked and ate cookies, drank egg nog and watched Arthur Christmas while decorating the Christmas tree. Elisha LOVES putting ornaments on the tree--he had such a great time.

Now, it's Sunday evening and I've been enjoying an afternoon of rest since coming home from church this morning.
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and good times with family and friends. I know I did and I have SOOO much to be thankful for!:)

Fall Fun!

2012-10-27T07:37:00.000-07:00

Here is kind of photo dump of all the fun Fall activities Elisha and I have been doing the last couple of weeks. :)

Counted out pumpkin seeds and glued them on our pumpkins. (math and fine motor)

We painted pumpkins. (art)

We collected leaves, sticks and acorns for a nature collage. (science)

Working on the nature collage.

We did leaf rubbing with our leaves that we collected. (art and science)

We made thumbprint leaves (my thumbprint, his brush strokes--he doesn't like getting paint on his hands). (art)

Finishing up painting leaves on our tree.

Office Desk--Repurposed Closet Door!

2012-10-26T21:53:00.001-07:00

Ever since I moved in to my new house and set up my office I have not been content with how it looked until NOW! I just felt like it was unorganized, cluttered, and my desk space just was not very functional.


Before: Very cluttered and lacking space to actually work.

I started brainstorming the other day about what I could use that I already had to make a new desk/workspace. I started by looking for boards, but didn't really have any. Then I remembered the closet doors we took off of our closet in our room when we moved in so that I could move my dresser into our closet. Since I have two small white shelves in the office and the door is white I thought it might be the perfect fit--and it TOTALLY was!


After: the closet door makes an awesome desktop, it goes great with the white shelves that are holding it up.

I am just SO happy with how my new desk turned out! I have so much space to do art stuff, smashbook, pay bills, write lesson plans and organize everything! My office has such a nice clean look to it now too! I had a lot of pics of how cute the rest of the office looked, but I am having a hard time retrieving them from my phone:/. I will update this post with those pics once I get that worked out :).

I moved my old desk out in to the open space in our basement in a little corner. I put some of my hubby's fave stuff on it and hung up some of his certificates on the wall. I think he will enjoy this little homework/study space. :)

Hello, Autumn :)

2012-10-16T15:00:00.001-07:00

I think everyone says this, but fall is my FAVORITE! I also enjoy all the others seasons except for winter. Winter is only fun during Christmas, then I'm so over it.

Anyway, I wanted to make over this weird shelf thing on my living room wall. I think at one point maybe an air condition -window unit used to reside here, and then this shelf thing replaced it. It is kind of cool. I just started thinking about a post from my K*Duds blog last year about mantle alternatives and how I used my piano for holiday/seasonal decor. Now, my piano is in my basement so I decided to utilize this space as an alternative for a mantle:

My first attempt at decorating this space was not successful. I felt I could do better. So, with my sudden burst of creative energy and various craft supplies I got to work.

First, I covered some cardboard with different kinds of scrapbook paper and glued it down with rubber cement:

After I made my background, I worked on making my "FALL" banner:

I also covered the mason jars that have pumpkin faces painted on them with scrapbook paper and twine. I set up the background, hung the banner and re-arranged the knick knacky things and pumpkins. I am super pleased with how it turned out. Elisha even noticed the arrangement and told me it was beautiful. :)

Homemade Pumpkin Pie or Cake- Um, Pake?

2012-10-10T14:20:00.000-07:00

This week we went out and bought some pumpkins (we haven't made it out to the pumpkin patch yet). We got three big ones shown above to have out side (I'm going do something with them, just haven't decided what just yet). I let Elisha pick out a little pie pumpkin so he can paint it. Well, even after warning him that his pumpkin is not a ball and that it should be tossed or rolled, my warnings were ignored and he ended up with a cracked open pumpkin. He was pretty devastated, but I told him that we would use it to make a pumpkin pie--that perked him up a little.

I have NEVER made a pumpkin pie from SCRATCH before, but now that I have a decent amount of kitchen counter space and a dishwasher I felt ready to try it out.

Here is my process and outcome:

First, we scooped out all of the seeds and "guts". We saved the seeds for roasting, planting, and craft projects.

Next, after scooping out the "guts", the quickest and easiest way that I have found to cook down the pumpkin is to stick the pumpkin halves in in a microwave safe dish with a couple inches of water, cover and cook for about 15 min.

After the pumpkin is done cooking in the microwave it is hot and soft. Just scoop out the pumpkin "lining" and put it in a bowl. The outside can be disposed of after scooping it out.

Scooping out the pumpkin.

blend the pumpkin that you scooped out to make a puree. From here you can make all kinds of yummy pumpkin things.

Pumpkin Pie Filling:

1 cup sugar. Instead of sugar, you could use
honey (use 1.25 cups),
natural sugar (1 cup),
agave (1 cup),
brown sugar (1 cup),
Stevia (1/3 cup) (I used Truvia for baking: 1/2 cup)
1.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice
one half teaspoon ground ginger
one half teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
3 cups pumpkin puree (from your pumpkin)
1.5 cans (12oz each) of evaporated milk
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
I also added in a little flour to thicken it up because it was very watery, just add until you like the consistency.


And of course I made my own crust from scratch as well. I used a recipe that is easy and doesn't call for shortening: 1 1/4 cups unbleached, all purpose flour 1/4 t. sea salt 1/3 cup cold butter or firm coconut oil 4-6 Tablespoons cold water

Cutting in the cold butter.

The pies are ready to bake!


Pies are done and smell really good! (I think adding the flour caused it to form a sort of skin on top of the pie).

I made this mini, deep dish pumpkin pie for a taste tester. Who better to taste test than my brother in law and my sister in law's boyfriend? ( Matt will get to taste test later after he gets home from work). The consensus: Because I added flour to thicken up my filling it turned out more like a "pake" (pie-cake). It could have been a tad more sweeter, but a side a of ice cream and whipped topping can remedy this. Also we taste tested within minutes of oven removal (so anxious). Maybe tasting at a chilled state would change the texture? It was kind of like a bread pudding texture. The crust was really good. Overall, not bad, maybe a new pumpkin dessert creation? Maybe I can come up with a sweet glaze to top it with? I will look into this further when it comes close to time to get them out of the freezer for Thanksgiving. :)

Rocketships and Soup

2012-10-10T09:04:00.001-07:00

Rocketships and soup are pretty much the highlights of last week for us. My husband's massage chair came a couple weeks ago and it arrived it a ginormous box. So, naturally we turned that ginormous box into a rocket ship!

Another fun thing for Elisha last week was getting to use his snack crackers for his math activities. We were working on rote counting and some simple, introductory addition and subtraction. Of course, his favorite was the subtraction--he got to eat some crackers. :)

Last week I made my own chicken enchilada soup for the first time--it was AMAZING and so simple to make!

-boneless, skinless chicken breasts- cooked in the slow cooker all day.

-2 cans of chicken broth

-1can of enchilada sauce

-1 can of condensed milk (optional--I just wanted it to be thick and creamy)

- 1 can of mild Rotel tomato and chillies

-1 can of Rotel tomato and cilantro lime

-1 medium chopped onion

- (optional for thickness, creaminess, cheesiness and added zest) I added a whole jar of Tostitos Monterey Jack Cheese queso --YUM!

After chicken is done in the slow cooker, it will shred up easily. Add all ingredients into a big pot and stir and simmer on the stove top. Top off with sour cream and your favorite tortilla chips crushed up.

This turned out SO well, and it's very zesty and flavorful. We happily ate leftovers the next day!:)

**Side note: I also added the Rotel Tomato and Cilantro Lime to my Chili the other day--AWESOME!

Elisha-isms

2012-09-27T13:50:00.002-07:00

My three year old son is such a hoot. He is always making us laugh--definitely his father's son.:)

I just had to share some of his funny little Elisha-isms:

* Elisha has been known to refer to thrift stores as "Trash Can Wal-Marts". "Aunt Sarie look at this toy I got at the Trash Can Walmart!"

*I've heard Elisha call the keyboard on computers "letter taps".

* E: "I'm going to be Batman and you can be Batman too!"

Me: "I'm a girl, so can I be Batgirl?"

E: "Oh! You can be Batman girl!"

*After Elisha finished his dinner one evening we noticed him beginning to sort of grunt. We asked him what he was doing. He replied, "I'm growing something". We asked him what he was growing. He answered, "I'm growing a baby sister".

*Elisha is convinced that there are eggs and seeds inside of him that makes him capable of growing a baby.

*Elisha is kind of scared of the vacuum (a recent development) because one day I threatened to suck up his toys with the vacuum if he didn't clean them up. I sucked up one, little toy and now he FREAKS OUT almost every time I get the vacuum out- even if there are no toys on the floor.

*Elisha thinks that the courthouse in town is a castle.

*Elisha is the worst backseat driver. He tells me where he wants me to go, to speed up, slow down, stop and go.

Creation Part 2, Adam and Eve and Cubbies

2012-09-21T14:25:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to share a little recap of our past couple of weeks!

Part 2 of Creation: We wrapped up our study of creation last week. We focused on days 5, 6 and 7.


I found these animal things that grow when you stick them in cold water. Elisha enjoyed that project.

Elisha's worksheets for days 6 and 7.

The rest of the week we focused on Adam and Eve, the letter A and the number 2.

We have been using this DVD as resource for learning about the beginning of Creation and the beginning of the Bible as well. It is made by the same people that made Veggie Tales. Some of the topics are a little over Elisha's head for now, but eventually I think he will start to grasp some more of the concepts.

We glued aluminum to the letter A for one of our letter activities.

This week was supposed to be a review week, but we spent most of the week doing free play and working on sight words and letter sounds instead. I watched Elisha put together a few three-letter words like MOP, FAN, MAN, TAP and a few others by helping him sound out the letters to figure out how to make the words. It was really cool to see my three year old be able to do that! Starfall.com has become a staple in our daily lessons!

Also, this week Elisha started AWANA and is in Cubbies! So far he loves it and is doing pretty good at memorizing his verses. I am really thankful for this program--for the spiritual aspect as well as the social!

Library Days

2012-09-12T13:49:00.001-07:00

We've started going to the library at least twice a week. We go on Mondays to pick out our books of the week. Then we go on Wednesdays for Story Time in the morning. Even though this was our first week for Story time on Wednesday, we have been going on Mondays for the last few weeks. During this time the library has had a place where your kid can enter into a drawing for Finding Nemo in 3D movie theater tickets for the child and one adult as well as a Finding Nemo book. You get to enter your kid's name every time you visit the library. This morning before Story Time, the children's librarian called to inform me that Elisha had won the drawing!

Today, was our first Story Time at the library. The librarian read

Little Pony. After the story was read, the kids got to do a craft

project that ties in to the story.

Elisha gluing pony faces to his paper and coloring it.

Elisha loves visiting the library! I'm fortunate to have a kid that loves books. I think his favorite part about visiting the library though is getting to pick a prize out of the treasure chest after we check out our books. :)

CRAZY Week!

2012-09-07T09:44:00.004-07:00

This week was a little bit more CRAZY than usual.

But, first some bliss: I kicked this week off by turning 26 on Monday. We had friends over all weekend to help celebrate. It was really nice seeing friends I haven't seen in a long time!

Elisha baked me TWO cakes this weekend! On Saturday night, he helped our friend Maerissa bake me a cake. It was SOOOO delicious! NOT kidding--and Elisha did most of the work, Maerissa just guided him! (Matt put on the sprinkles). :)

On Monday night, my actual birthday, my hubby and Elisha baked me ANOTHER cake. It was equally delicious! :) I had a nice birthday. I didn't sleep in or even go out to do anything, really. In fact I got up early and went to help a friend clean a house she was moving out of for a few hours. Then I said goodbye to our friends who were in town all weekend who were going back home. Then we ate nachos and birthday cake for dinner with fam and friends and watched a movie. It was a nice and simple day. :)


We had a lot of fun just laying around taking these pics on Monday afternoon. Elisha makes the same silly faces as his daddy!

Now for the crazy: Elisha has been having a rough time following directions this week. Not to mention he is hungry ALL the time which means ANOTHER growth spurt more than likely AND I think he is coming down with a cold, so he has been very emotional and grumpy. I had to spend most of yesterday cleaning up the house and catching up on housework, laundry, etc. Our lessons have been very choppy. But, I still find him singing our songs and talking about some of our lessons. He is all about pointing out letters and numbers that he finds on signs, buildings, etc. I have to constantly remind myself that homeschooling is not exactly following a schedule. Sometimes I need to be flexible and give him opportunities to learn through other activities rather than our lesson plans.

Today has been our most "normal" day (so far) this week. We went for our walk, read our stories, sang our songs, played our computer games. And we still have a whole afternoon ahead of us for playing, painting, worksheets or whatever we want. Even though spontaneity can be a lot of fun, I still like days like this--where we have sort of a routine. :)

Elisha played his Reading Eggs game this morning.