A Milestone and an Achievement

Yesterday was somewhat of a big day in our house.

Just a few weeks before Elliana turns 3 years old, she finally got her first haircut. Pam, a friend from our church cuts hair out of her customer's own homes. It's one of her many jobs. So, after exchanging a few messages on fb, we set up an appointment for yesterday afternoon.

Poor Ellie has been short on sleep lately due to our crazy schedule. She was taking a nap and was in a deep sleep when Pam arrived. Since Ellie was still very tired I wasn't able to get any pictures of her showing her typical huge grin during the haircut. :(



Don't mistake that face for being scared or annoyed, she was just sleepy.



All in all, the haircut went pretty well. Ellie was way more cooperative than I feared she'd be. Pam only took a couple of inches off the bottom of her hair. Now her hair looks SO much more healthy.





Although it was just a hairut, it made me a little sad. It was just another reminder that Ellie is becoming more like a little girl and less like a toddler/ baby every day. :(


In other news, after stepping on the scale yesterday, I can now say that I have officially and FINALLY lost every single pound gained from my pregnancy. :) That's 40 pounds total, 17 since I started working out last May. Woohoo!! Overall, I just feel a lot better about myself now.


This is not my stomach. I wish. Maybe someday... :)

It hasn't been easy losing the weight this time around, but I've never been so determined or dedicated. I'm going to continue working out at the gym 4-5 days a week and I hope to lose a lot more (I'm not quite ready to say exactly how much just yet).
I've really noticed a difference in myself in the way that I enjoy working out now (I used to hate it).



In fact, this Thursday, before getting together with family to enjoy our Thanksgiving feast, my sister Courtney and I are going to be walking/ jogging/ running in the Turkey Trot. It's a 5K race that the nearby town puts on every year.



I am NOT a runner, and I've never done a race before. I'm very realistic and I know I won't be running the whole time, but I'm excited to see how I do. Then, hopefully I can improve every year.

And on a completely unrelated subject, I've been trying out some new recipes lately. I've been on a lucky streak because I've liked everything I've tried. I put a couple of favorites on our cooking blog if you're interested in checking them out.

I don't know if I'll have time to blog between now and Thursday. I'm hoping to do another post on all of the things that I'm thankful for. There are SO many. I'm even thankful for blogs and for people that take the time to read my posts and stay caught up on our lives.

Either way, whether I'm able to get that post up or not, I hope you all have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Giving Thanks

I recently commented on good ol' facebook that it seems a lot of people are getting into the Christmas spirit early this year. I've already seen many commercials, people talking about listening to Christmas music since November 1st, people decorating already, and even a little Christmas baking has begun.

I'm not judging or complaining, and I'm definitely not trying to be a scrooge. I LOVE Christmas just as much as the next person. But I haven't felt that "deck the halls" itch just yet.


Teehee. I saw this cartoon and couldn't resist putting it on here.

Well, maybe I wouldn't mind listening to a Christmas song or two. Seriously, one month a year is just not long enough to listen to some of the most classic, beautiful songs ever written. Oh yeah, and I guess my Christmas design has been up for some time too. Okay, so I guess I have my feet wet but I just haven't gone swimming.

Since we're still 10 days away from Thanksgiving, I thought I would give that holiday some love. :)

I wanted to list just a few of the many things I'm thankful for.

1. First and foremost, I'm thankful for a loving God and for my savior Jesus Christ. I don't even like to think about where I would be in this world without him. I'm thankful for his grace and his mercies that are new every morning.



2. I'm thankful for loving parents that raised me in a Christian home. I'm also thankful that they showed me that God truly is faithful and you can overcome every hardship with God's help. I'm thankful that they've stayed committed to each other in "the good times and bad, in sickness and in health".



3. I'm thankful for my three lovely, beautiful sisters that are my best friends. I'm thankful that we can hold each other accountable and also be each other's biggest fans. I'm thankful for all that we've been through together and that I can call any one of them if I'm in need of anything.







4. I'm thankful for my husband. For my loving, patient, BEST best friend, sexy husband. We've been through so much together and he is still the first person I want to talk to when anything happens. I'm thankful for the almost 9 years we've been together. He has become even more amazing as I've watched him in his role of "Daddy".









5. I'm thankful for my miracle babies. I'm thankful for Elliana and the crazy, full of life, full of joy and energy little girl that she is. Yes, I'm even thankful for her strong will because I know God will use that too. I'm thankful for Ethan and the sweet, laid back, happy baby boy that he is. I'm thankful that as he gets older I'll get to know him more. Mostly I'm just thankful that God gave me the greatest gift in fulfilling my dream of becoming a mom, especially when I once thought it wouldn't be possible.







6. I'm thankful for all of my extended family. Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Nieces, and nephews. I always have SOOOO much fun when we're all together. Don't know what I'd do without them.



7. I'm thankful for amazing in-laws. Both my parents-in-law and siblings-in-law. My parents-in-law have been so good to us and I know they would and have come running anytime we've ever needed anything. I'm also thankful for all of my siblings-in-law. It's so fun to have more brothers and sisters now. :)





8. I'm thankful for my church. For the life lessons I've learned from that church, and for the friendships that have come out of that church, new and old.



9. I'm thankful for my health and the health of my loved ones.

10. I'm thankful for Caleb's job and for all that it provides. I'm thankful that Caleb loves what he does for a living, and that he gets to impact the lives of high schoolers. I'm thankful that every once in a while, I get to be a part of that too.



More to come later... God is so faithful!

Smile!

I mentioned in an earlier post that we had some family photos taken early last week by our friend Becky. She is an amazingly talented photographer.

I think family photos are going to have to be an annual tradition now. Especially since the kids change so much when they're young.

Nothing makes me smile like hearing my children giggle together, or just seeing them smile from ear to ear.

I have to be honest, (because my sisters would hold me accountable for not being honest) my initial reaction to seeing these photos was to beat myself up. Don't get me wrong, Becky is incredibly talented and she did a FANTASTIC job photographing our family. My issue was with myself. Although I've lost a considerable amount of weight since having Ethan last March, all I could see was that I still have some serious work to do in the weight loss department.

Then I got over myself and had an attitude adjustment.

These photos are beautiful! They truly are. It doesn't matter that I still have some weight to lose. When I look at these photos I see how blessed I am. I have a loving, HOT husband :), two happy, healthy, wonderful children (I once thought I'd never get to have children-let alone TWO), and we find so much joy in our little family of 4. Like I said, SO incredibly blessed!! Who cares about a few extra pounds when you have these adorable littles to show for it?!

I love my family more than words can say and I love that these photos reflect that! Most of all, I love, love, LOVE the way Becky was able to capture Ellie and Ethan's smiles.

Sorry I put SO many photos on here, I just love pretty much all of them.

























Thank you Becky for sharing your talent with us and for these photos. They make me smile. :)

So Much To Say!

Where do I even begin? Forgive me, this post is going to be quite long and random.

First of all, due to Caleb's volleyball schedule, our lives have been CRAZY the last several months and even more so the last week.

I'll get back to volleyball, but due to the craziness I haven't had time to give an update on Ethan at 7 months. So, I decided I would just give a brief update of what was new for Ethan this month.

Ethan,
This past month you seem to have grown up a lot. This is what was new for you at 7 months;

You began sitting up TOTALLY on your own. Now you enjoy sitting on your own to play.



You are trying to crawl. You're not there yet, but you'll lay on your stomach, grab the carpet and scooch as far as you can. When you get frustrated with this, you'll go back to rolling all over the room. :)

You are getting better at eating solids.

You can hold your own bottle now. If I get the bottle even close to your face you'll often times grab it from me and want to feed yourself. This makes me a little sad.



You now LOVE to take baths! You'll often times splash in the water and just laugh the whole time.

You started babbling and Mommy loves it. I LOVE to hear your voice! Most of the time you'll just say "ba ba ba" over and over.

We love you so much Ethan! You are such a joy to us. When you smile you almost always bring a smile to someone else. We're so blessed to be your family.

Okay, back to volleyball. It's playoff time again. Caleb's team swept their way through Districts last Friday and they took home the District Championship trophy. Caleb was so proud of them. Actually, I was too. They have Regionals this Friday. They'll play 3 more teams. The top 2 teams will get to go on to State. I so hope they make State this year. Last year was the first year they didn't make it and it really felt like the season ended all too quickly. So, I'll be cheering hard for them Friday. GO COUGARS!!

Yesterday was Halloween and it was quite a day!

Elliana was Tinkerbell and Ethan was a monkey. Ethan was too young and of course did NOT enjoy wearing his costume. Ellie on the other hand seemed to be quite proud of hers. :)







Other than looking cute, the only thing that seemed to be on Ellie's mind was "get more candy!" Ha!

We spent the afternoon going to my mom's job and my old job to show off the kids. Then it was off to my sister Jenn's house for dinner and trick or treating with the cousins. All the littles looked SO good this year and I think they really enjoyed trick or treating with each other.






(Poor Ethan fell asleep. I guess we'll try again next year for him.) :)







All in all, I'd say the day was a success. I don't know who was more tired at the end of the day though. Me, Caleb, or the kids.


I think I look SO tired here. Probably because I WAS!

Today I woke up and I could NOT believe it was November 1st! Is it just me, or are the months going by faster and faster? Since it's the first of November, that means the Holidays are upon us. YAY!





I never allow myself to even think about Christmas until Thanksgiving is over. But when Jenn showed me the Christmas design she created for my blog, I fell in love with it. I wanted the design to stay up for a while so I could really enjoy it. Thanks for another great design Jenn!

Life should slow down in a couple of weeks when volleyball season is over. Then we'll have time to enjoy the Holidays and just being together.

I hope you all had a safe and fun Halloween and that you're able to enjoy this coming Holiday season too!