Monday, December 31, 2012

New Years


2012 is over. That seems so hard to believe, this past year as come and gone leaving so many memories behind. I'd have to say this was one of the most eventful years of my life, it contained a lot of good and a lot of not so good. I'm excited for 2013, though also a little scared. The wonderful thing about life is that it goes on. This past year may not have been the best but I can't wait to start this new year with y'all! What are some of y'alls new year resolutions? Mine are;
  • Get in shape
    • I'm skinny, I can say that but I am no where in shape. Having a toddler and working with children everyday is exhausting! And it would help so much to be in shape, also who doesn't want a toned body? And also yoga is a blast!
  • Get (and stay) organized
    • I love organization, just getting it started is the hard part!
  • Keep up with at home preschool
    • I had started preschool with Melody and it was a blast! Sadly we got busy and just took a never ending break but I'm excited to get it started again!
  • Keep up with my blog, become a better blogger
    • Pretty self explanatory here... It's a nice "mommy time" thing and I would like to get "better" with keeping up with it and with the quality.
  • Become a better photographer
    • I absolutely love photography but school kind of ruined it for me so I'm hoping to get back into it and get my ideas into an image.
  • Have good time management
    • THIS! Without time management I won't be able to get anything done! I will gladly take tips, also if you use a management binder please share how you set it up!
  • Be more crafty
  • Learn how to knit
  • Be the person I want to be

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Christmas!!

Christmas day is here at last! Melody woke up excited and not too early! I went to get her from her crib, said Merry Christmas and told her that Santa came. Her first question was "Did Santa eat my cookie??" Baby girl was excited to see if he ate her cookie or not, she didn't even care about the presents. She just ran into the kitchen and reached up to grab the plate off the table to see. Since Santa has to eat a lot of cookies he gets a little full, so he just ate the feet off of the gingerbread man and she thought it was the most hilarious thing! She had to go wake up Grandma and Grandpa and show them her feetless gingerbread man, she was so excited though. She then had to eat her own Gingerbread man.

Present opening was a challange, Lovebug got quite a bit of gifts and sitting there unwrapping them all was pure torture! She got through three presents before deciding she was done and just wanted to play with what she had already opened, one of which was a Cinderella night dress. She had to put that on right away and wore it the whole day! Pretty sure she had a wonderful day, even though it took her a fe hours to finally get everything opened, and this mama is worn out!










Mommy also got lots of fun things; such as awesome mustache earrings!

Santa Cookies

Nothing better than making cookies for Santa!







Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Oh my Zambia

It's been a pretty long time since I've talked about my soon to be trip to Zambia. Roughly 19% of children under the age of 18 are orphans due to AIDS, life as an orphan is not easy. Orphans are considered a burden to most people in Zambia, most families make about $1 a day so no one likes having an extra mouth to feed. These children are regularly beaten, raped, and abused. No child anywhere deserves what these children go through.

Their hearts become hard, they become angry, and the cycle of abuse just continues on. They have to be shown that there is hope, that they are loved, that even though their earthly family are terrible there is a God that loves them and has a wonderful future planned out for them. While it is sadly impossible to keep all of them fed and safe we can at least show them hope. And show them that God is bigger than the evils that surround them.

That is what I want to do this summer. Sadly the trip is kind of expensive, plane tickets are not cheap. So I would just like to ask for a small donation just $5 or $10, anything helps. If you don't want to donate if you could just say a small prayer for the children, me, or anyone else that is called to go to these children.

For more information on the organization I'm going with click here.

Monday, December 17, 2012

No words

I've been trying to avoid hearing about or talking about the shooting. It just breaks my heart so much and I can not even begin to imagine what life must be like for those families, or even that community. There's just no words. Also Melody will start school in about 3 years. She'll be in elementary school. And I don't want to think that that could happen to her. We're not called to live in fear.

I've thought about these families though, especially in this Christmas season. They probably already have a few presents wrapped under the tree, which might stay there a little while longer. Their lives have completely stopped while the rest of the world keeps moving on. And that's the sad thing. Life goes on. Of course everyone's going to remember this event years from now but it's just going to be something that had happened, everyone's going to continue on with their lives. While, for these families it will be almost impossible. How do you continue to live when your life is gone?

All I can do is send prayers their way and hope they feel the comforting hand of God. And that they know one day their families will be whole again.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Reading Plan

So my goal for a little while to read the bible daily, I could definitely use some more Jesus in life. Not saying my faith is dwindling but it's just kind of there, not doing much. I've tried doing reading plans on the Bible app but some days I just forget and then I get so behind that I get a little frustrated and stop caring. I would love to try again though!

Are there any reading plans that have worked well for you or is there a certain way you motivate yourself?

Monday, December 3, 2012

Moosing around

We found this lovely little moose at Michaels for just a dollar! It came with black and silver permanent markers, but really what fun is that? So of course we had to bust out the glitter, makers, stickers, and paint. I hope you all know that Melody LOVES to paint. She wont even touch crayons anymore and rarely glances at markers, paint is where its at.

This lovely little moose kept her occupied for 20 minutes and he's just the cutest thing!





Sunday, December 2, 2012

A new tradition

Friday I went shopping for our Elf on a shelf! Of course I had forgotten about it until the day before December... And since this year the girl came out I just had to get it for Mel. And thus our elf adventure began.

We went to our nearby Target to get her and low and behold they only had four elves, all boys. So we ventured off to the next target and of course they had none. We went home and took a nap and went back to the first target, doesn't hurt to ask. They were supposed to have gotten some of the girls but weren't able to find them. The other target was supposed to have 41 elves total (according to the scanner) and one of those should be a girl, right? So off we went to the second target, we get there and ask and of course they really are sold out. The scanner was "wrong" and they had no elves at all. Getting rather tired of driving around we decided to make a quick stop to Barnes & Noble and what was sitting at the front of the store? Elves! With a girl sitting right on top.

It is safe to say Melody has been loving her. We're not good with the no touching, she always has to pick her up as soon as she finds her but always puts her right back. I can't wait to keep this tradition going!

Where are your elf's favorite hiding places? Ours was last seen in the toy kitchen.