Anna is 1!!!

Wow the last year has flown by! One year ago today we were blessed with our first and last :-) little girl. She makes our lives so wonderful and she has been the best baby since she came home.

To read my birth story click HERE

I tried to savor every moment of the past year but even now as I look back I wish I could have slowed down time and made it go even slower.

The boys are still as much in love with her as the day I had her. Every time they see her they start smiling and run over to her and smother her with hugs and kisses..... and she smiles as soon as she sees any of them coming close to her....

I still remember the day we came home and told Joseph and Samuel we were having a girl...



All 4 of our boys were walking by 11 months but I think Anna wants her own month because she is refusing to walk.... she is a princess and she is just proving it to everyone... :-)

This is another favorite video.... just a normal mommy and daddy trying to get their little one to crawl... with an unexpected ending :-)



She claps and smiles all the time, she says dad and mom and some other sounds but  we aren't quite sure what she means by them yet. She loves to bop her head to music. She got her first princess castle thanks to Grandpa and Grandma giving us the gift card and her Daddy who just couldn't wait to get it for her :-)




Sadly 2 years ago we moved 6 hours away from all of our family and her big brother Michael, and I'm so excited that a few of them including Michael are making the trip to see us this weekend to celebrate her birthday, so I will post again after her party with party pics. She is one blessed little girl!

Here are 2 collages that showcase her first year. There were tons more I could have added, but I had to choose just a few. :-) I'm such a blessed mommy!!




Anna with each of her brothers

Happy Birthday Sweet girl! You have added so much to our lives!



Mother and Daughter :-)

Family Pictures.... what to do...

A few weeks ago I was thinking about how all our previous family photos were just sitting in my closet and I didn't like that at all. So I decided to get them all out and do something with them. I asked some advice on facebook and came up with this. This way I get to see how my children have changed (as well as my husband and I) and all the money we paid for these wonderful photos doesn't go to waste. Not only do I enjoy looking at them but my children get a kick out of seeing all of us at different stages of our lives. Now this was a picture I took of them laying on my carpet, but I did put it on the wall very similar to this picture, just a little more spread out. :-)



I also did a "children's picture" wall. I have done this since my kids were little. Each year when they get their school picture, or if they aren't in school I have their picture taken, and I keep their "current" pic on the wall and then one of my favorites from them when they were younger on the bookcase below. :-)



Just a few ideas for any of you out there contemplating some of the same things!!! :-)

What Valentines day means to me...

Over the years Valentines day has meant many different things. As a teenager it was about BOYS and hoping that someone would send me something. As a young adult... same.... :-) Once I was married though it was about pleasing my spouse and making him feel special. After having children it started to change for me, but not completely until I came across a status update on facebook that got me thinking.

A friend posted how she hated the holiday and another friend of mine posted that Valentines day meant something different to her. Here's her response "Well, I'm 33 and don't think I've been single on Valentine's Day since 6th grade or so...but I can count on one hand the amount of times I received flowers from a guy who was not my dad. My dad always sent me flowers, from about the age of 13 through college. So I guess I've never viewed this day the way most do. I think my mom even sent me something once. I know I can't understand your feelings, but I'm just not a hater of the day. I like to use it to show my kids love and teach them how to love others, too. They send cards to grandparents, aunts/uncles. Tell someone you love them...even if it's your best friend and not some guy!"

Now my parents did not do this as I was growing up and I'm ok with that, but it did make me want to make sure that for my family that I made Valentines day mean something other than just a romantic love day. So even though since our kids were little we have always gotten something for them (even though until this year I didn't really get why) this year I was completely into it. I made a pink heart shaped cake with strawberry icing, we got them each a little gift, nothing extravagent, just a new t-shirt for each of them, and we just made it a really happy day. I'm hoping as they grow older that if they find themselves single on Valentines Day they won't hate the holiday but also choose to make it a day to show a little extra love to those in their lives :-) And if you are out there and do hate the holiday.. it's ok :-) :-)

It helped also that this was Anna's First Valentines day!!! She was born Feb 27th so she just missed it last year :-)


Here are some pictures from that day with their school things and at home.

Goodbye WW and Hello My Fitness Pal! :-)

Now first let me say I LOVE Weight Watchers however with my love of my smartphone and wanting to log what I eat into a mobile app, the WW let me down. I could hardly ever find the food that I was trying to and My Fitness Pal has so much more to offer, so I am just doing My Fitness Pal. Weight Watchers is still incredible and does work so if you find yourself at a meeting that's AWESOME!

If you don't know what My Fitness Pal is click HERE

Wanted to share a little tip I learned from the ladies in my Made to Crave bible study: They don't enter in exercise because it just adds the calories you burned back on. So even though I exercise I've decided in order to reach my goal a little quicker I just don't put it in, so my calorie number stays the same. :-)

Anyway just wanted to share this website with you all! I have lost 12.8 so far... still have a long way to go but I know I will get there!!

God Bless!!

A reminder....

Im learning in the bible study I'm doing at my church "Made to Crave" that we women are hard on ourselves.... we see ourselves alot of times nothing like God sees us or even how others see us.

A few weeks ago, when I was having one of those days..... when I looked in the mirror nothing looked like I thought it should.. I went on facebook and one of my facebook friends had this posted.... it brought tears to my eyes and encouraged me so much.... I wanted to share it with whoever comes across this blog.....

I hope this encourages you as it did me!

God bless!