Marty's Party...

I am unable to move the pictures around, so this is how it's going to be I guess! I started this post a LONG time ago. I had trouble getting the pictures up. So here is goes...







We had a full house here for Marty's birthday party on Saturday evening!! We had about 20 adults and about 20 kids. And all the kids were 6 and under:)

The kids spent most of the time downstairs in the playroom and they had fun playing together. There were people everywhere in our house...it was busy, but fun!!

We had a race car party theme for Marty's party. He absolutely loves cars and trucks and pretty much anything with wheels right now. I made a race car banner and some flags for decorations. We had hot dogs and smokies for dinner, along with some appies and of course, birthday cake for dessert!

Marty was thrilled with his birthday cake. I made a race car for him! When I was decorating the cake the morning of the party, some of the icing started to run, so it didn't turn out as well as I had hoped...but it still tasted good!

Marty absolutely loves it when we sing happy birthday to him. So, when we sang to him at his party, he lit up and was all smiles. It was SO cute!!

He also loved opening his presents and was so excited when he got some new trucks!! We are blessed with incredible friends and family who came and celebrated with us. We are so thankful:)

Jeff had started to feel a little sick on the day of Marty's party and then a few days later all the kids got it and yesterday it hit me:( I feel like we have been endlessly sick for months now...I'm so ready for Spring and to be healthy for awhile. Megan missed school yesterday because she had a fever and was so tired. She pretty much laid on the couch and watched TV all day. We were all pretty lazy yesterday, but today we are feeling a bit better. The fevers are gone, we just have runny noses now and a bit of coughing.

The last two nights I've gone to bed at 8pm because I've been so tired and the kids have been waking up at night. Last night, Marty and Gabby slept through the entire night, but Megan was up wanting water, to go pee, etc.

The girls missed swimming lessons yesterday because of their sickness. But, they are doing so great with their lessons. Every week we they are getting better and better and more comfortable in the water. They have a great teacher and they are learning so much. Megan will happily put her whole head under the water now!!

Happy Happy Birthday Marty!!

Happy Birthday to the sweetest little boy we know!!

I am amazed that 2 years ago we welcomed this beautiful little boy to our family. He is such an incredible joy and blessing to us. As many of you know, Marty was a little surprise baby for us...and we are beyond thankful that we had him. God knew exactly what he was doing when he created Marty for our family!!

I still remember the day of his birth like it was yesterday. It is also Jeff's dad's birthday today...so a big happy birthday to him as well!! The day Marty was born, we were supposed to go to Jeff's parents for a birthday dinner. I had had my membranes stripped in the morning and did lots of walking that day. I started having contractions while I was watching Oprah! They weren't painful, but within about 1/2 hour they were getting worse. I called Jeff's mom and asked if she could bring the dinner over here, as I wasn't feeling quite right. They came over right away and by the time they came over, we needed to leave for the hospital because the contractions were really painful and close together. And just 2 hours later, we were holding our beautiful baby boy in our arms!! My love for him is so deep...a special bond as he is my only boy and my baby:)

Marty, we love you SOOOO much!!

You melt my heart...

when you say "I wuv you"

when you give kisses and

when you call for your sissies in the mornings,

when you wake up so happy and always with a smile on you face,

when you say "book" and sit on our laps so we read to you

when you snuggle your blankie and puppy at bedtime

when you stand on the coffee table and sing into the plastic bowling pin and sing Jesus!

when you lift your arms out and say "carry" so we pick you up

when you call daddy "my buddy"

when you get so excited when you see a horse and say "orsey, orsey!!"

when you scrunch up your nose and say "meow"

when you chase your sissies around the house and squeal in delight

when you want a snack and say "cookie" in your deep, raspy voice

...my list could go on and on!!

I love you sweet boy, more than words can say!!

We will be officially celebrating his birthday with a party on Saturday with some friends and family. We are having a "Race Car" party for him. I will post pictures of his party after the weekend!!

Do It Yourself

So, I'm in this "do it yourself" crafty mood lately! I saw a wooden sign on the internet somewhere and thought to myself...I could do that! We have left over wood window trim, so I painted the ends which had never been painted. Then painted on the word "Bath" and antiqued the edges with brown paint and attached a pretty ribbon. We now have it hanging in our main bathroom. It's not perfect, but I quite like it!

I also found a couple of "chunky" candleholders at Value Village last week. They were silver and I was really looking for something either dark brown or black. Then I thought, I could just spray paint these...so that's just what I did. I bought a bottle of spray paint from Walmart for $3 and the candleholders were $3/each and I think they turned out great, I'm really happy with them! And they go perfectly in the spot I wanted them for...

Now, I'm always on the hunt for little treasures, that I can paint!! I went to MCC and Value Village again this week and came home with a little table from MCC for $3.50!! I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it yet, but I'll come up with something. I've been loving reading other people's crafty blogs lately too. Here is one of my new favorites craftomaniac.blogspot.com

Another great find...a clock that I had been eyeing for awhile and it was finally on sale...

I went out with my good friend on Saturday. We went to one of our favorite stores and just looked around and then we wandered around HomeSense for awhile(we both LOVE that store!) and then went to Moxie's and had a little dinner! It was so nice to get our without our kids and she even left her 8 week baby at home...so, it was really a night out for her:)

At HomeSense I found this super cute Monkey stool for Marty's room. I'm going to be doing his big boy room in a Monkey theme...I'm pretty excited about it! Although, I'm in no rush to put him in a big boy bed, he's still my baby:)

We had parent/teacher interviews for Megan last Friday. Jeff and I were able to both go(thanks to Mom V. for watching the kiddos for us!). Her teacher said that she is doing awesome and is one of the more advanced students in the class, so she is going to be challenging her and few other students a little more. We are so incredibly proud of her! Her teacher showed us a chart that Megan had done that had her write her number up to 100, with a few of the numbers filled in by her teacher. Megan did it perfectly and her teacher said none of the other kids had done it as well or a neatly as Megan had...my heart soared! Ok, enough bragging about her:)

Megan was in desperate need of a haircut, I think it had been a year since she had one. It was getting really tangling and long and hard to manage. She was excited to get a haircut and so we went on Friday to do just that. Gabby insisted on coming along too, she just wanted to watch! Megan's hair is just below her shoulders now and it's SO much easier to do and I think she looks pretty darn cute!!

Megan attended a birthday party on Sunday at the bowling alley. She has been bowling a couple of times and she just loves it! She was the only girl at this birthday party...I think it was 8 boys and her, but she didn't seem to mind. And she had one of the highest scores in bowling!!
Our almost 2 year old...

Sunday afternoon/evening we went to some friends house to watch the Super Bowl. We are not big football fans, but we go for the socializing. Well, actually Jeff got right into the game and he watched pretty much the whole thing. The ladies stayed upstairs and we just ate and visited. The kids entertained themselves and played with their friends! It was a fun time:)

The girls started swimming lessons again today. They were a little nervous at first and wanted the same teacher they had last time. I didn't know if it would be the same teacher or not. Well, we got to the pool and it was a different teacher...and she is awesome! The kids loved her. She was so good with them and the girls did great. I can definitely tell that they have improved. Megan even put her eyes in the water today. We bought the girls googles for Christmas and they seemed to be more comfortable putting them head in with the googles on...so, whatever works! I want them to be comfortable in the water for when we go to Palm Springs, since there is a pool in the backyard of the house we are staying at.

I started this post several days ago...so, I'm adding a little bit more now! We made and decorated Valentine's cookies for Megan's class. She was so excited to help and she did a great job!! Blogger doesn't seem to be letting me upload anymore pictures right now:(

So...I think that's all for today!!

Life...

Ohhhh....I know it's been awhile since I've blogged:( I've been really bad at taking pictures. And sometimes there's just nothing exciting going on in our lives that I feel like maybe people don't want to read about our "boring" day to day life!

I get into "decorating mode" with our house sometimes...these last few weeks I've been in that kind of a mode! I really love metal stars and I already had a few in our house, but I found a new store that I love, so I bought a few more. I also bought some new frames for our kitchen eating area and I want to fill them with black and white photos of the kids(I just need to get some good pics of the kids first!)

We also recently bought a new sectional couch for our downstairs TV room. We bought is used through the internet and it was listed at $350, but we offered them $300 and they took it! And even better is...we sold our old sectional for $250!! So the newer sectional only cost us $50. I was so excited!! For those of you that know me, know that I LOVE a good deal:)
The new sectional is smaller and fits our TV room so much better, and it's more comfortable and looks more modern.


The school Megan goes to had a fire in it yesterday. I didn't hear about it until after she got home from school. I guess one of the kids in the other kindergarten classroom plugged in a hot plate and then some plastic toys feel on the the hot hot plate. The whole school was evacuated and the kids were out in the cold for about 1/2 an hour. The were only able to grab their coats before leaving the school. Megan was pretty excited because she said they saw fire trucks, ambulances and police men!! No one was injured and there was not a lot of damage to the school.

We joined Twongo last week. I'm always very unsure about websites like this, but my friend told me she used it and it was legit, so we gave it a go. They had a deal for gymnastics for 53% off the regular price. I bought one for each of the girls. The regular cost was $152 for 9 weeks of classes and we got it for $68...again, I love a good deal:)

The girls start swimming lessons again next week. I got an email from the instructor and she wasn't sure the class was going to run because it wasn't full, but she now said it's a go! I'm happy about that because I really wanted the girls to be in swimming lessons from now until we go to Palm Springs, so they will be comfortable in the water!

In a few short weeks, it's going to be Marty's 2nd birthday!! I still can not believe that he will be 2 years old. I am LOVING this age so much. It's so fun watching him learn so much and talk so much. He melts my heart:)

Gabby is slowing decreasing her naps now:( Actually, I'm totally okay with it. She goes to bed so nice on the days she doesn't nap, but she still needs a nap in the day every 3rd day or so! She is at an age right now where she wants to be doing school work too...just like Meggie. I bought her a preschool work book and she loves to learn. She can spell her name and do the alphabet and count to twelve!!

I've started attending another women's bible study at church. It just started up again for a 6 week session. It's another Beth Moore study and I love her! She's so real, and funny and has a real heart for women. I would highly recommend doing a study by her if you ever get the chance.

Jeff's mom came back from her cruise last week and we saw her beautiful pictures. It look like such a nice vacation!! And now my parents have left for their cruise. So now I'm starting to look forward to our vacation in about a month and a half!!

Sorry, this post is so random and I'm hoping there are still a few of you out there that read this:)