I've been waiting for this all my life...

One year ago today, I met someone I waited for so long to meet.  And never in my life could I have imagined what she would be like.  

For the third time, our lives were forever changed in seeing the miracle of life.  For the third time, I carried a child nine months.  For the third time, I had cravings, and sleepless nights, and lots of weight gain!  For the third time, I labored in the hospital awaiting a bundle of joy.  For the third time, we got to see God work through the birth of our child.  For the third time, I got to hold another eight pound brand new baby in my arms and just cry.  

BUT, for the very first time, that baby was a girl!  Oh, how I love my boys very deeply and in their own way, yet equally.  And oh, how I love my girl just the same!  For the first time, there was no circumcision.  For the first time, the baby wore pink.  For the first time, the baby wore a bow.  For the first time, we heard these strange high pitched squeals and cries.  For the first time, she seemed very delicate and sensitive to pain, and had a way of whining and whimpering through it.  For the first time, we had a pink nursery.  For the first time, I wasn't the only girl in our family anymore.  

Here is our girl last year...

With absolute joy we celebrate Haleigh's first birthday!  We have a weekend full of fun for her, but today, I'm just treasuring these things in my heart.  There is no way to describe what she means to me or how she has changed our family.  I am so grateful that the Lord has blessed us so and do not take for granted what we have been given.  After all, it is the "grace upon grace" from John 1:16.  Thank you Lord for this sweet little girl! 

"Teach me Your way, O LORD, 

that I may walk in Your Truth;

Unite my heart to fear Your Name. 

I give thanks to You, O Lord my God, with my whole heart, 

and I will glorify Your Name forever."  (Psalm 86:11-12)

Haleigh's life verse

Punks!

In our family, pumpkins are punks, as Caleb calls them!  So cute!  We headed to the pumpkin patch last Friday before we went to our retreat.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day!  And confession, the only reason we went was so I could get pictures of my Haleigh in her pumpkin shirt I made!  Yeah, we walked away with a pumpkin, yes one, and some good pics of the boys too!  Mister tractor driver was a little astonished that he would drive just our family to the patch with no one else around and sit there and wait for us to have a photo shoot, only for us to return with one little punk.  He asked Caleb where his pumpkin was...not helping...sshh!

Anyway, here's the pics...had to get this out before the big day tomorrow!

Happy 'Ween!

We had a great Halloween this year!  On Thursday, our whole small group went to a retirement home and marched our kids around in their costumes kind of like a parade.  Some of the dear old ladies absolutely LOVED seeing the kids in their costumes!  Caleb, who we are realizing has such a compassionate heart, was always the last one in each room we went to.  He loved just seeing the people and showing them his Buzz costume!

Then Sunday, was a crazy day because we were gone all weekend on a church retreat.  But we came home, had dinner with the Martins, and then went out in their neighborhood.  They have a great neighborhood for trick or treating.  So many families out walking from house to house, and if they didn't have kids then there were parties at the houses literally waiting for the kids to come by.  So not sure about your view of Halloween, but as a Christian, how could you not take the opportunity to either walk the streets to talk to your neighbors or let them come to you and give out candy?  We really wished that we did it in our neighborhood for that very reason.  I think next year it is too important to not go in our own neighborhood. 

Here's some pics of the cutest Spiderman, Buzz, and fairy you will ever see!

Micah's Spiderman face

Caleb loved getting candy and he would say Happy 'Ween to every person!  How cute!

Loved the muscles!

No words!  I LOVE Her!

An Apple Picking We Will Go!

We bundled up this morning, got our boots on, packed a lunch, and headed towards the mountains this weekend to go to the apple orchard.  We met my parents there for a day full of picking, and eating lots of apples!  I feel like my husband and the boys go more for the eating at the orchard than the bringing them home. $40 later and way too many apples, we headed home!  Guess I'll be baking some pies!

Baby Girl all bundled up!

LOVE HIM!

How cute is Caleb's outfit!

That is my mom climbing a tree!!  Priceless!  Just to get an apple for her grandkids!

Picking an apple on Daddy's shoulders

Micah climbing up to the top of the tree to get an apple...and then we got called out by the apple police!

Caleb ate SO many apples!  And ate each one to the core.

I personally love this pic, so this is just more for me!  But yes, this is my man, in his element!

My Daddy with Haleigh girl...they spent a lot of time together.

First time eating an apple whole...and she LOVED it!

So incredibly thankful for this girl!!

Yes, folks, those are apples on her outfit!  Did you think I could take my girl to the apple orchard without an apple outfit?!  The only problem was I didn't realize she didn't have her bow on until we were on the mountain!  That's what happens when Daddy gets her out of the car! 

Great Pic...if only, Caleb were looking!

I love my parents!  I'm so glad they came to meet us!  Their grandbabies LOVE them!

Meal Planning

Some of you may have already mastered the meal planning mountain or maybe you just fly by the seat of your pants like a lot of us.  Maybe you eat out every night or maybe you just eat whatever's in the pantry.  I feel like we've been through phases of all of those.  So recently I made an attempt to make my meal planning a little bit easier and faster.  I absolutely hate sifting through my recipes trying to find things to make just so I can go to the grocery store.  It always seems to take so long, and I never know what to decide on.  

So I created themes for each night.  Every night has a theme that is repeated weekly or on a rotation.  For example Sundays are my crock pot days, so I just go to my "Fix It and Forget It" cookbook and pick something to make!  It makes things easier for me to just pick a dinner and make my grocery list.  Here is a list of our themes...notice Ed decided to name a few!

• Mama Mia - ravioli, spaghetti, lasagna, calzones, tortellini, stuffed shells, chicken parmesan, penne pasta
• Rice Bowl - beans and rice, stir-fry, veggies over couscous, chicken over rice
• Rotisserie Chicken - serve as is with sides like rice or potatoes and salad, or use any recipes calling for cooked chicken:  chicken and cheese quesadilla, chicken tacos, wraps, bbq chicken sandwich, chicken pizza, any chicken casserole
• Build It Yourself - tacos, burritos, baked potatoes, burgers, pizza, salad
• One Pot Wonder - chilis, soups, any other crock pot meal
• Fast or Frozen - leftovers, fast food, mac and cheese, sandwiches, cereal, anything in freezer like chicken nuggets and french fries
• Sandwich - grilled cheese, french dip, subs, pbj, blt, wraps
• Casserole - chicken, mexican, breakfast, italian
• Traditional Meat 'N Potatoes - pork chops, steak, tenderloin, ham, pot roast, turkey

Try planning out your more involved recipes on nights that you are home and don't have to be anywhere later.  And your quicker meals, should be on busy nights.  Fast and Frozen is our Wed night since Ed is usually not home and we are running around trying to get to church, etc.  The important thing is to make it work for your family!  
 

Wordless Wednesday

I LOVE THEM!

Learning As We Go

Well now that we are in our sixth week of school, and things seem to be more "normal" (whatever that is!), I thought I'd share a little bit about our school year.  Micah doesn't start Kindergarten for another year, but we decided this year to keep him at home and test the waters of homeschooling.  We are praying through what to do next year and have not really made up our minds either way.  We decided this year not to send him to preschool for several reasons, but one being I wanted to "try out" the homeschooling thing.  So we are using a curriculum I found for preschoolers that I was actually looking at for next year if we do decide to homeschool.  The Sonlight curriculum is literature-based and this year is called "Exploring God's World".  I'm also tacking on the Kindergarten language arts and reading program because Micah was ready for it. 

It's been fun so far!  I enjoy it most days.  Every week I can honestly say I am looking forward to starting school again on Monday.  I definitely do have those days though when it just doesn't seem to work.  Sometimes I wonder if it is the best learning environment for Micah with what seems like constant interruptions from Caleb.  Sometimes I feel like I'm completely neglecting Caleb and I'm not able to "teach" him.  I realize that I'm very new to it, and I have a lot more figuring out to go before we decide if it's right for our family or not.  Some days I'm sold, and some days I'm not.  But that's all a part of our journey. 

Here's some pics of school so far...

Water Play

Practicing writing his name

Counting with beans