This one is for you, Amy!

Because you're right if you can I can! Today I am feeling so grateful for this life I have. I have two healthy beautiful little girls who light up my life constantly, a husband who works hard, loves the Lord, and loves us to pieces. Most importantly though a God who knows me better than anyone and STILL loves me as flawed as I am. He is a loving Father and friend who always knows the way to my heart... and has given me so much, much more than I could even have imagined for myself...
* can't for the life of me figure out how to rotate these photos, so if you do could you please clue me in! :)

Poor Naomi loved her kunkins until we carved them! As you can see they made her a little nervous, I think here she is double checking to make sure they didn't make any sudden moves.

THIS IS A NEW POST...

No, your eyes do not deceive you, and we are all still alive! Here are my little punki-doos all dressed up and itching to get to our church "trunk or treat." We did have a night full of family fun and the biggest treat was Josh getting off of work early this year!
*so i have other super cute photos i would like to post but this is all blogger would allow... maybe later. :)

A day of firsts...

Peanut got her first haircut and hated it! She would not sit still and even with a bribe she would not comply. Not sure if it was the lady that she didn't like or that a perfect stranger kept coming at her with a pair of shears!? Who knows, but she looks darling and this super short style highlights her chubby cheeks, which means they get pinched three times as much! (Doesn't she look thrilled)

Kindergarten...

The day finally came, my sweet girl at her first day of school! Of course she loved it and has been so ready all summer for this day, the only thing she said she wasn't sure about were all the kindergarten rules... uh oh :)

The Business...

That is what this girl has been giving me lately! I think it's that one day she woke up and decided she would be thirteen instead of five, and she knew EVERYTHING and I knew absolutely nothing. She is normally such a compliant sweet girl, and of course strong-willed but never really defiant. It seems like a day wouldn't go by without some argument or meltdown, and at the end of the day I was exhausted. After she would go to sleep I would go curl up next to her wishing we wouldn't have ended the day the way we did. Until I remembered this parenting CD that was given to me a few months back called, Love and Logic, "When Kids Drain Your Energy." by Jim Fay. I had a few hours the other day on the drive home from Tahoe to listen to it again and I'm so glad I did. I was dying laughing over the 8 different scenarios they gave for instance, What to do about begging in the store, and their Love and Logic one-liners are some of the best I've heard. For me I really wanted to be able to parent and discipline with a sense of humor, and at bedtime have energy and patience left over to feel good about the day. I'm still in a trial run with these techniques but am having good results so far, and thought I would share with all the other moms' out there who might be feeling a bit frustrated! Check it out here

* I actually went to their site yesterday and signed up for their newsletter, and have already started receiving great parenting tips!

my baby...

I know it's been ages since i've been on here, but I have a couple of good excuses...shortly after my last post our hard drive crashed and we lost EVERYTHING! A year's worth of photos, all of our itunes, every document saved disappeared just like that. After that I think I just got out of the habit, and we've been a bit busy around here.
In May Josh and I took a trip to Maui...ALONE. The week leading up to the trip and the first night were very hard for me, but just knowing that my babies were safe and happy with our parents, and that God is in control eventually put me at ease. Trusting God with my family, especially my children has been my major lesson of faith lately.
Anyways, here are some photos of my baby Nomi. Hard to believe this one will be two years old in 10 days!!! She is such a gift to our family, and we are so grateful for her little life.

Nomibug...

This is one of Naomi's MANY nicknames, and I honestly am surprised both of my girls even know what their real names are. They'll answer to most anything and that's the way we like it.
Lately this little toodles personality has been coming out like crazy, she's a bit of a pill, and quite entertaining...Last night after dinner I let them play in the backyard for awhile. When it was bathtime I took Naomi inside to change her diaper and turned around to start the bath, well when I turned back around to put her in she was gone. Now Naomi without a diaper on around the house is dangerous, so needless to say I was flying around the house looking for the kid. I didn't think to look outside, but when I did this is what I saw...bugs in her birthday suit. Good Lord! I just loooove that belly!

Beautiful, loving, sweet, generous, amazing sister!!!

Happy Birthday to you my sweet talented sister, I love you and hope your day was fun and relaxing! You definetely deserve the very best because your the BAMB! Click "sister" on my link list to wish her a Happy Birthday!!!!

New do, and then some...

So, today me and emma went on a date for haircuts. We were both in desperate shape being that it was 10 months ago when I last had my hair done and for Emma, who knows how long? We had so much fun together, the pair of us. I just love her and am so glad she is mine.
I always tell her about how before she was born, I prayed and talked to God about what I would like my little girl to be like. I definetely wanted a cuddly baby, sweet spirited and sensitive, smart, compassionate, and yes strong-willed. She is all of these things and my delight...an answer to my prayers and I am most thankful that God chose to entrust her to me. Can you tell that I adore the kid?

Things I'm looking forward to...

1. Our 7 year anniversay coming up on February 17th!!! I am quite grateful to our Lord for seeing us through the first seven years. It hasn't been easy, but we've come so far, and I love this man with all my heart!!

2. Our 18 month plan to become debt free!! It won't be easy, that's a fact, but I just know it will be sooo worth it :)

3. SPRING! Warm weather, sunshine, longer days, sunshine, warm weather!

4. My new family photo wall! I don't have it completed yet, still waiting for more of sister's fabulous prints from the printer!
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5. FINALLY...my sewing lessons which begin on March 6th! 2 hours a week to myself, without interruption, it's BEYOND my wildest dreams! (So, Andrea get some too, and we'll start our own children's clothing line in Hawaii!)

So...what are you looking forward to?

Hawaiian memories...

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So since my camera battery is dead I decided to post some oldies, but to be honest Maui is where my head has been lately anyway. I can't help it, especially since its been raining and cold here everyday for what seems like the last two weeks! I really am not complaining, I just prefer tropical paradise, warm weather and the ocean. (but who doesn't?)
Here in the first photos Emma had a hula lesson at our hotel and was a total natural. It was so cute to watch especially when Naomi tried to join in with her and the other girls. These last ones here are of the girls playing in the grass in front of our hotel room. We had the perfect room on the bottom floor with tons of space for the kids to run around. I was just praying throughout the week there wouldn't be a TSUNAMI! Cause we would've been hosed...literally!