My New Favorite Thing!

On Black Friday, Leo bought me a sewing machine for $50, which was suppose to be my Christmas gift. But Friday night while he was at work ,I got into because I just couldn't wait! I have never sewed before but I felt the need to teach myself. I will say now that I am OBSESSED! I have been sewing all weekend. I am fighting the urge right now because Leo is watching the Ravens game and I know if I interrupt while the game is on he will likely kill me!

Friday night I made a blanket, which turned out pretty well, considering I have never used a sewing machine. Last night I made a poncho for Alanna to wear in the car. Tonight I am going to make a baby sling for Alanna and/or Lexy and a coat for Molly. I know, I sound crazy for making a coat for my dog but poor Molly freezes and shakes when she goes outside! And at some point this week  am going to make Maddie and Caden Poncho's. I have also decided i am making everyone's gift this year, but I wont tell you what that is in case anyone reads this that is getting one! :)

 

The Blanket I made

Alanna's poncho

And My New Wreath I Just Bought (just adding it in here for fun)

Turkey Day!

It was so nice to get away, even if we had to come home today. We left about 2am to head to PA and we got there about 6am. It wasn't a bad drive, because of the time we didn't hit any traffic. I was really impressed with how well the dog did on the ride, since she has never been on a long ride, and generally tends to get sick when we are in the car. But she was a trooper! She was even pretty well behaved at the house which I am sooo happy about!

When we woke up it was snowing!! It was beautiful too. I was really excited since it was the first snow fall this year AND it was on Thanksgiving! It was really a day I wanted to last forever... I sat by the fire with Leo while the food was cooking, the snow was falling, and the kids were playing. At that moment I truly felt blessed and wished I could stay in that moment forever. It's times like those where you just sit and take it all in. I couldn't have asked for a better day. The food was great, we were with family relaxing and spending time together, and it was wonderful. We finished off the evening with everyone sitting around playing poker and eating desert. We ended up sleeping on an air mattress the first night which when we woke up it was deflated... whoops. SO the next night we slept on the other air mattress and guess what....we deflated that one too. ah well. I'm gonna go out on  a limb and say it's probably not a great idea for us to sleep on them anymore.

Around midnight, we went to Wal-mart for the Black Friday sale and it was insane but not as bad as last year. This year we were able to get the things we needed and get out of there without camping out. It was so much easier. I ended up getting the kids bikes for $35 each, a vacuum for $8, pj's for the kids for $4 and a sewing machine for $50. I am the most excited about that. I have really been wanting to learn to sew, so if anyone wants to volunteer to teach me, then please let me know :)

Now we are home and I am exhausted!

I am so thankful for my wonderful husband who has turned my whole world upside down. Each one of my babies whom I am so lucky to be called mommy. I am also thankful for those little moments where you realize that your life is complete and life couldn't get any better then this. And last but not least, I am so thankful that  we were able to be surrounded by family for Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving Eve

On the eve of Thanksgiving, most people are baking pies, and preparing for tomorrow's big feast. I, on the other hand am cleaning, packing and chasing kids back to their beds! Oh, and I made some brownies which didn't turn out quite how I wanted them but that's alright. In just a few short hours we are heading to PA to visit my mother in law. And I am really excited about it. There is just something about spending the day with a lot family that makes Thanksgiving.

I thought with my parents out of town, my sister working and Leo's mom being in PA, I would be stuck here attempting to cook a bird for just us. Thank God that we decided to go visit his mom. I have never prepared a turkey or anything that goes along with it, and frankly, I wasn't looking forward to it. If we didn't have kids we probably would have went out to dinner. I just recently have branched out into the cooking world and I am not quite ready to tackle something that big. My mother in law of course had 8 kids so she is good at making a ton of food.

Unfortunately Leo had to work tonight so we can't leave until 3am when he gets off. Not something I am looking forward too..driving 4 hours with a packed car and a dog in the middle of the night. Not ideal but it will work out. And the worst part is we have to come back Friday because Leo couldn't get off Friday night. Sucks I know. I am just thankful that we will get to get away even for just a few days and have a nice weekend with family.

"Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever." Psalm 106:1


Happy Thanksgiving!

God's Sense of Humor...

I truly believe that God has a sense of humor. Do you ever feel like you just can't take one more thing, and bam you get hit again? That seems to be my life these past three days. After being sick in bed for two days, I was not ready to go full force back into mommyhood on my first day out of bed. But sure as it was, Leo had to go back to work last night and of course the kids got sick. My house was in disarray, kids are exploding everywhere, and the only thing I wanted to do was run back to bed.

Alanna started by exploding through her clothes...not twice...but three times! I had to change her 7 times through out the night. Caden started projectile vomiting while I was in the process of changing Alanna for bed. Of course he made it all over my hallway carpet  and bathroom floor, but missed the toilet by a mile. :) Gotta love 3 yr olds. So I had to lay Alanna down, give Caden a bath and clean up the mess, all while keeping the dog away from it. Let me just tell you, you don't appreciate the ability of multi-tasking until you become a mom. So I think OK, he is cleaned, Alanna is in bed. If i can just get him to sleep we will be OK. But nope, here is where God's sense of humor kicks in....I put all of the kids to bed and think once they are sleeping they will be fine....nope wrong again! Caden wakes up and gets sick in his bed, So I am gathering sheets to throw them in the wash, finding a little trash can and trying to get him down stairs to the couch. I figure it would be easier to "catch" him if I'm within arms length. Finally after a few more sick spells he is out. So I am thinking, this is good, he will sleep in, if i got to sleep now I will get a good five hours of sleep before I have to get Maddie up for school....wrong again.

Here is where i start to become overwhelmed...

I start to carry him upstairs to his clean sheets and he is soaked...though his clothes, through my new couch, and now me. Awesome! I finally got him changed and in bed and I am still counting, OK so I get 4 1/2 hours of sleep I can do this! So as soon as I hit the pillow I hear MOMMY!.... Awesome! Madison is up....and she is sick. At least she made it to the toilet,right? Well by now I am crying, exhausted and still not feeling well. So of course I called Leo at work and cried to him. No sooner did I say "I can't take anymore..." Madison says "Mommy, it's in my bed!" See God's sense of humor...I guess i should be more careful of what I say huh?

Cue breakdown...

So needless to say, it was a loooonng night! I finally got to sleep about 5:30. Thankfully the kids slept until 11, so I was able to get a little rest before I had to get up and be nurse mommy again. I spent my whole day not only cleaning up the mess from two days of being in bed, but sanitizing, washing bedding, washing clothes, and cooking dinner. We had homemade chicken and rice. yummm!

So it has been one heck of a week so far, I am praying things calm down for the next few days at least! They definitely don't put this kind of stuff in the What To Expect books. I think I need a vacation!


"He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak." Isaiah 40:29 (NIV)

Sick , sick and sicker

The past few days have been less then lovely! Yesterday I came down with some type of nasty stomach bug. I spent most of my day and evening in bed or the bathroom. It sucked to say the least. My wonderful husband stayed home from work to take care me and the kids. Thank goodness, I'm so glad he did otherwise I 'd have no idea how I would have made it through the night. It was awful! I spent most of today in bed also but I am feeling better and I am able to finally eat!

Of course about 3pm Leo started complaining of his stomach hurting, but he had to go into work anyway since he stayed home last night for me. Then about 7:30 Caden started crying with a belly ache and fell asleep out on the couch. In the meantime Alanna exploded so while I am cleaning her up Caden projectile vomits all over my hallway and bathroom floor....just missing the toilet by a mile! Needless to say I am not feeling 100% and having to clean up severe baby poop and puke is not my idea of a good night. I wish Leo was able to get off early tonight, I have a feeling it is going to be a long night. I guess it's what you would call another day being mom. Oh how wonderful!

On a much better note, Congrats to my cousin Terry who's wife had a baby today. Almost 2 years ago this spring they lost their precious little girl to SIDS, and now they have been blessed again with a little boy. Congrats!

Happy Veteran's Day

In honor of Veteran's Day, I'd like to make this post about my dad. My father was born November 21,1923. He was the youngest of 5. And he only went to school until the 3rd grade because they were so poor he couldn't afford to go. He grew up in West Virgina and moved to Baltimore in his 20's for work. Here he taught himself to read and write. My dad learned as much as he could by reading anything and everything. He started to work at Bethlehem Steel building ships, where later he worked his way up to be a supervisor until he retired when I was born.

During WWII he met a woman who he planned to marry, at that time he was drafted into the war and sent over seas. Only to return to find out she was pregnant with his son but already married to another man. Just like a movie right? I know. Although he stayed in contact with them, he respected her wishes and didn't tell him that he was his father. A few years later my dad met his first wife and together they had my brother, Ivan Jr.

Eventually they ended in divorce and he met my mom. My mom was quite a bit younger....30 yrs to be exact. They were married in 1980 and are still happily married to this day. Eventually my eldest brother did find out that my father was also his father but died a few years after in an accident.

My dad is getting ready to celebrate his 87th birthday and he is my hero. When you're a small child you always think your parents know everything, and then as a teen you think they know nothing. And now as an adult I am always calling him for advice or to ask him about this or that. My dad with no formal education is the smartest man I know. And I am really lucky to call him daddy!

(in)courage.me

I came across this website while I was blog reading. It's such a great for women to connect and share. It's called  (in)courage.me. Of course I got it from Bring the Rain . :) So I (in)courage you to check it out.

I feel like Martha Stewart lately. I have been cooking, and cleaning, and making crafts. now if i could just learn to sew then I would be set! I am really proud of myself for actually making real meals now. I am so sick of the same ol' junk over and over again. Monday I made chicken and rice soup, yesterday was chicken pockets, and today we are having pot roast! mmmmm I started it this morning and it smells sooooo good! I'm ready to eat it now.

I am so thankful that God answers prayers! Things have been quite stressful spiritually for for me lately. I asked on a previous post that if anyone reads my blog to keep me in your prayers while I deal with these trials. Of course I knew it was because I was actively seeking the Lord.

Sunday night was a tough night, I had a huge weight sitting on me which brought up a lot of emotions that I thought I had got over. Leo went to sleep and all I could do was cry. I sat in the hallway and cried and prayed and cried and prayed and finally pulled myself together to read my bible....then prayed some more. It was a long night. And well without going into details, yesterday was wonderful! Everything had changed and the weight was removed. And I believe the Lord used the song Lead Me by Sanctus Real,  speak to hearts. I really believe he is changing me day by day, and I am sooo grateful for that!

ETA: Today I am thankful for the time I get to spend with my loves!

And if you haven't heard the song Lead Me


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLr6G8Xy5uc

Well Hello!

Wow , I just had 3 paragraphs and bam, they're gone! AWESOME!

Anyway, It's been a few weeks since I have caught up on my blog. Not that I have many readers, if any. lol Not to much has been happening on the home front, other then Alanna is finally walking! She started about a week ago and has been on the go ever since! It's bittersweet for me, I am happy that my almost 17 mth old is finally walking but I am sad because she is my last and I wanted her to stay a baby for as long as possible. This is just one more step (literally) to being a toddler! :(

We decided to go to PA to visit my mother-in-law for Thanksgiving. I am actually really excited about it. It will be nice to see her (she is about 3 1/2 to 4 hours from us) and it will be nice to spend the holiday with family. My parents decided to go to WV for the holiday. I'm not so thrilled about it since they are packing up my child hood home (one that my dad has owned for 60 yrs) and moving 3 hours away from us. I am really upset about it if you couldn't tell. (insert temper tantrum here!)

I digress

Any who, the Lord has been moving dramatically in me and my family for the past week. I'm not saying God isn't always here but I have really felt his presence lately. More so then ever. I feel like he is calling me for something and I am not sure what yet.

It really when God lead me to this blog.... Angie's Blog. She has been such an incredible light for me and I have found myself longing for a relationship with the Lord like she has. I have started reading and doing a devotional, and boy has things really started to change. I will say I cry a lot more now (I have always cried a lot, but even more so now) I think God had just given me such a compassion for people. Of course, those of you who are believers you also know that with this renewal comes trials and man is it coming on right now. So I am asking if anyone out there reads my blog if you could just keep my family an I in your prayers that would be awesome! I am soo soo soo excited for what is what God has in store for my family.

I feel so thankful, maybe it has to do with Thanksgiving but whatever it is I feel amazing! I have made it a point to post on facebook everyday something I am thankful for. Someone mentioned how great it was to see me so thankful recently lol. But I just feel so blessed, for even just the small things.

Today I am thankful that I have such an amazing husband, who works so hard so that I can stay home with my 3 awesomely rotten kids. :)

And I leave you with this:

"For everything we know about God's word is summed up in a single sentence: Love others as you love yourself. That's an act of true freedom." Galatians 5:14 (MSG)

-Michelle