More thoughts on the season

Precious Friends,


Thank you so much for so many words of encouragement about my thoughts on Christmas post. It always feels good to know that you aren't alone and I was amazed at how many other Mommas are struggling with finding balance when celebrating the holidays.

Since I got so much feedback, I thought that I would share my thoughts thus far...
  • I don't remember where I first heard the idea but we are keeping all of our Christmas cards this year. We are going to keep them in a small bucket in Blythe's room and use them to pray with Blythe. She LOVES pictures and we thought it would be a great way to introduce praying for others.
  • My sister-in-law, Megan, shared this post. I love this idea! Blythe may need to be a little bigger but I love the concept.
  • I have seen this Advent Book idea on several sites. I'll be collecting books this year to do with Blythe next year.
  • Ashley posted this idea which I also plan on using. (Her blog is worth reading in general. You always leave being encouraged and challenged!)
I realize that we will probably take pieces of all of these ideas to fit our families needs. I'm already looking forward to next year as we celebrate the season with 2 little ones! We are making great memories this season and hope that you too are enjoying time spent with your families!


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Ramblings


12/7/11

If I ever figure out how to telepathically send blogs you will be blown away but how many times I post a day! :) I write what feels like millions of blog posts in my head but getting them written out seems to happen less frequently.

Here are a few of the crazy things rolling around in my head....

Are you currently involved in a Bible Study? If the answer is no, please look into BSF. I've just finished my lesson from this week and I love it. A hot cup of coffee, God's word and a sleeping Peanut! I really should begin every day like this.

I started BSF 5 years ago and took a year off when I was working foster care. My mom has done BSF most of my life and I totally understand why she loves it. I am challenged, I grow, I meet new friends and get to spend every week with other women studying God's word. It's such a blessing! And Peanut gets to come too. She hears scripture, spends time with other kids and learns songs about God. It brings joy to my heart to hear her sweet voice singing!

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I can not believe that Amarillo has now had snow TWICE!!! We've yet to have any and I'm ready to experience snow. Please remind me of this when it's mid February and the snow has been around for a month! I'm hoping that we have snow by Christmas. Always makes the holidays feel more festive.

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Since we are all friends here, I'm going to admit that I'm really struggling with how to celebrate Christmas well with Blythe. She still doesn't really "get" Christmas but I know that next year will be here before I know it. I was really encouraged and challenged by this post. I found some ideas to keep and others that weren't a fit for us. I know that what we decide for our family won't be for all families and I love that.

We are spending a lot of time in prayer and just talking through how we want to celebrate as a family. It's a new season of life. I long for Blythe to know and understand the true meaning of Christmas but I also grew up with great celebrations and traditions that I want to continue as well. I know that we will find a way to incorporate it all and I look forward to growing as a parent.

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I loaded tons of pictures from our Thanksgiving trip to Texas onto Facebook. We are trying to be much more intentional with our picture taking while with family. Already, we are so glad that we challenged ourselves! We have loved looking back at our most recent trips and Peanut loves to look at pictures of herself. :) The child has very healthy self esteem!

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Because no post is complete without a picture...


Blythe was an adorable flower girl. We were thrilled that she walked down the isle! My brillant mom had an Amarillo girl who is at Baylor watch Blythe during the actual ceremony so we could enjoy the wedding. Blythe stayed at the reception dancing until the Bride and Groom Left at 10. She enjoyed herself! And all the cupcakes that she snagged my flashing that smile.

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Blythe and I went to the doctor today and got to hear Baby's heartbeat. I hope to do a post soon about our gender reveal party! Baby is growing and is healthy with a storng heartbeat. We are so grateful for a healthy baby!

Hope that you are all doing well on this Wednesday! Enjoy the rest of your week and the joy of this holiday season!

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Hello Blog land!

11/7/11

Greetings Blog land! Clearly we've been missing from the blogoshpere but hope to get back on track. Here's some random snippets of life lately!

Lots has been going on but first off, I'd like to introduce you to Blandford Baby #2!


This is at 18 weeks. It was taken after a wedding rehearsal and I was tired! :) But we had yet to get a belly shot and felt it was necessary. I was horrible at taking regular pictures with Blythe and believe I'll be even worse this time around!

It's been a very different pregnancy than I had with Blythe. I've been much sicker and my sickness lasted several weeks longer. We are thankful that everything is going smoothly at this point and thrilled that we will soon be finding out the gender of this baby. We are at the half way point with this pregnancy and can't believe how fast the time is flying by! Baby is due at the end of March and we could not be more thrilled to be expanding our little family!

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Blythe is a BLAST! She's at such a fun age. She talks all the time, loves to sing and enjoys spending time with other kids (as long as Mommy isn't holding another kid!) She often points to my belly and her belly and says "Baby!" She is in for quite the shock when there's actually a baby at home! Initially she would say that the new baby was a girl not a boy. Now when asked she says that Mommy is not having a baby. :)

Here's a picture of her from Halloween.


She was so adorable as Elmo!

She didn't really understand the whole concept of Halloween. We enjoyed being in Amarillo to celebrate this year and our families enjoyed showing off their little Elmo as well.

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We are loving our new house and are finally starting to feel settled. We are slowly working on the house and if we ever get a room finished I'll get some pictures up. We had no idea how slow of a process it would be but we are really enjoying this new journey!

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I have started another job working at a local hospital in the ER. It's only a couple of shifts a month but it keeps the social work part of my brain engaged. It's a great place to work and I'm thrilled with the opportunity to use my social work skills. And it doesn't take me way from my family to do it. It's a win win situation!



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29 by 29 Update

As with most lists that I make, I'm always great at checking things off the list in the beginning. That's already the case with my 29 by 29 list. This month we had a new friend over for dinner (check one) and made homemade ice-cream for dessert (check 2). The ice cream was HORRIBLE, as in, I didn't even eat it, bad. I'm reworking the recipe and if I get a good solution I'll pass it on to you. It has SO much potential so I'm hoping i can salvage it.

The biggest thing checked off my list was a concert in Chicago. Currey is a great gift giver! He listens to random things I say and always gives me thoughtful and fun gifts. I knew that my parents were coming to town so I just got on Ticketmaster to see what might be happening when they were here. I was thrilled when I saw Matisyahu would be in town. Matisyahu is one of Currey's favorites so I gave him tickets for Father's Day.



I am not as big of him as Currey is but it was a fantastic show! Since my parents were here we got to stay the night in the city. It was a great get away as we were celebrating our anniversary a couple of days later. I'll leave you with a little Matisyahu....


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Dancing Queen

7/18/11

My parents were here this weekend. Their trip was planned so that they could come and help us get settled in our new house. None of us ever dreamed we wouldn't be in a house yet!

Thankfully, we were able to get a showing so they got to see our house. I don't think that they minded getting extra time with Miss Blythe. Unfortunately I had to work on Saturday but Currey, Blythe and my parents made a trip to the pool. Blythe loves music and dancing. Apparently she was entertaining the masses with her moves at the pool. I can't stop watching this video as it makes me giggle every time! She's one funny Peanut.


2:59 PM | | 1 Comments  

Dressing Up

7-9-11

Blythe loves to wear our clothes. Most mornings while I get ready she follows me around putting anything around her neck that she can find. Shorts, t-shirts, jewelry and shoes she loves to put on all our things!

These are some pictures I snapped of her when she had put on one of my camisoles. She kept putting this necklace around her neck so I tied it on for her.

Yes...she is that cute!!
Love her sweet smiles!

She is always so proud of herself when she "gets dressed"


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29 by 29

7-2-11


I recently celebrated a birthday and I have been waiting to do this for several months! Several of the blogs I read have a these lists and I love the idea. So I made my own list. 29 things to do before my 29th birthday. I hope to update you all along the way. It should be fun!

So...here's my list.

1. Take a sewing class

2. Read a book a month

3. Write a recipe a month

4. Host a swap party

5. Have a new friend or a family over once a month for dinner

6. Send one piece of “snail mail” a month

7. Plant a garden

8. Make a bow board for all of Blythe’s hair bows

9. Take Blythe to the Zoo

10. Go away for an entire weekend with just Currey (and Youth Retreats Don’t Count!)

11. Take a cooking class with Currey

12. Update my blog weekly

13. Have dinner at Meson Sebeka

14. Take cookies to a neighbor

15. Purge my cookbook collection

16. Put pictures in the frame that I got for all of Blythe’s first year photo sessions

17. Cook a recipe out of every cookbook I own

18. Take Blythe to pick fruit/vegetables at a farm

19. See a concert in Chicago

20. Make cloth napkins

21. Cook a meal for friend just because

22. Go to the Kane County Flea Market

23. Make Tiramisu

24. Take Blythe to the Children’s Museum

25. Spend a Girls afternoon in Downtown Geneva

26. Learn to Grill

27. Use my ice cream maker at least 6 times

28. Spend intentional time with 1 life giving friend monthly

29. Upload all of our pictures to a storage site/organize our pictures


Happy Long Weekend!

8:58 PM | Labels: | 1 Comments  

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