Valentine's Day fun

On Monday, Kate and Jack got lots of Valentine's cards in the mail. You would've thought it was Christmas if you saw how excited Kate was. She opened one and said "Ooohhh, money! Who is dis fwom?" She opened another, "OOOOh, Taco Bell! Dis from Mamaw?" She was so excited. And, yes, she got a gift card to Taco Bell in a Valentine's card. That's my kid! She walked around all day telling me who got her each of her cards. She had a total of four!

Kraig and I did most of our celebrating on Saturday night, but we did have a special evening last night. We had a special home made dinner of Texas Roadhouse style smothered chicken and rice. We don't usually do too much for Valentine's Day, but Kraig brought me a giant Toblerone in the shape of a rose (I just ate the last of my Toblerone from Christmas), a pack of Snickers ice cream bars for dessert, and season one of Parenthood. I made him a box full of encouraging notes, special memories and affirming scriptures to take to work. It has enough in it for him to open one every day when he's in the office for the rest of the year. I was pretty excited about it.

In other news, Jack slept MUCH better last night. For the first time in months, he slept for more than 2-3 hours at a time. His first stretch of sleep was 5 hours, second was 3, then I got up and he slept more. A little sleep makes such a difference! Hoping he keeps it up!

Hope you all had a fabulous Valentine's Day, too:)

I have a big announcement...

No, we're not having a baby:) I skipped church this morning.

It wasn't by choice. I thought about staying home because it's frigid outside. Cold doesn't even describe it. I decided to go, however, and showered and got the kids ready. When I went out to warm up the van, it wouldn't start. Tried again a few minutes later and it still wouldn't start. Tried to jump it with the battery jumper thing (after a few phone calls to Kraig), but the jumper thing is also apparently dead. Guess we should charge it. And get a new battery. Good fun. So bummed. Kate sobbed. She said, "I NEED to go to church. We can walk there." Heartbreaking. I love that she wants to go, though. But we're sitting at home.

I was super excited to hear Kraig's sermon this morning. We're on week 4 of our Girls and Boys series with the teens. It's based off of the Doug Fields "The Power of Sex" series. It's about sex and relationships. So far, it's been very well responded to and attendance has been great. It's such an important topic. I actually had to teach the second sermon, called "What a Girl Wants." For some reason, Kraig didn't think it was meant for him to teach:) It was originally by a girl, though, and I think having a new voice speaking to them was probably a nice change of pace. Our involvement minister is teaching the lesson boundaries next week. It's really been a great series. We're praying that it at least makes them think. And hopefully it will really help the middle school kids to not make some of the mistakes that some of the high schoolers already have. It really is possible to have healthy relationships and to still be a virgin when you get married. Anyhow, we're doing our best and praying that God will really work in their hearts.

Last night, Kraig and I actually had a date night. We very rarely go anywhere without at least one kid, but last night we left them both with our sitter. She had her hands full, but she survived four whole hours with them. And we got to enjoy our night out. We had gift cards to Olive Garden from Christmas that we were able to use, so dinner was free. Then we did a little shopping. It's nice to be able to hold hands with my husband for a change:) We had a great time!

Alright, time to be productive!

Six months old, really?!

Jack turned six months old on Wednesday. I know I've said it before (and who hasn't) but the time goes so fast. He's a crazy kid. He makes us laugh all the time. He cracks up at the mere sight of his sister. He's very close to crawling (something Kate never did). He's enjoying solid foods occasionally. He loves playing with Puffs and he's pretty good at getting them in his mouth. He loves to chew on his own feet. He loves music. We don't have an appointment for another month, but based on weighing him at home, he weighs about 18 pounds. He's super strong. We're getting ready to move him to a big kid car seat, because he's almost too long for his infant carrier. He still loves Sophie the Giraffe. Most of the time, he's too distracted to eat well if we're not in a quiet room at home or laying down. He's still nursing, though. No bottles. Very little solids. So proud that we've made it to six months! He has the best smile. We're still in love. Oh...in honor of turning six months old, Jack peed during a diaper change for the first time. Can't believe it took so long!

I can't believe it's been six months. I can't believe I weigh 42 pounds less than I did when we got pregnant with him. It's pretty crazy. I'm down 4 pant sizes.

Kate-kate's doing well. Yes, we call her that half the time. She's a big helper and she loves playing with her brother. She loves baking with mommy, so we try to do that at least once a week. This week we made homemade biscuits and chocolate chip cookies. It won't be long and she'll be doing it herself. This morning, she apparently woke up before we did. When we got up, she was downstairs in the living room, sitting on the couch, looking at a booklet full of the state quarters, watching tv. How she got it on a channel that had cartoons on it, I'll never know. Pretty crazy. Guess we should keep locking the baby gate at the top of the stairs...

In other news, the Playdate Crashers are doing another giveaway! Check it out here.

Guest blogging!

I love the Playdate Crashers. If you haven't checked them out, you should! It's a great site for parenting information, product reviews, real life stories and other fun stuff. I wrote a product review for them a while back, and today they've posted a guest blog from me. I love having the opportunity to do it. Today, I wrote an article about my struggles as a mommy. It's called "Let's Get Real." Hopefully the honesty and transparency in it will be helpful to someone else in my shoes. Here's a link to the article. Check out the rest of the site while you're at it!

If you're looking for more real, candid writing about life, check out this site: ineachcircumstance.com. It's a neat little site from a friend I've made through the blogging world. Check out her sweet, honest, Christian perspective on life. It's refreshing!

Happy Friday!

I really am happy that it's Friday. All in all, we've had a decent week. It could've been worse, especially with the water heater situation, but it wasn't. Praise the Lord. I've had a very productive week and, since we hosted life group last night, the house is clean. I'm enjoying the fact that I don't need to rush off to clean something!

I still have a lot to do, though. Kraig started his "Girls and Boys" sermon series (aka the big sex and dating series) on Sunday. It's based off a series that someone else did and the second sermon was called, "What a Girl Wants." This girl gets to teach that. I'm seriously excited about it, but I'm not ready yet. I need a couple good hours to finish writing and get it ready to present. Who has time with little kids running around? Kraig's gonna get to play with them all by himself tonight while I finish up. I can't wait. I love what I have so far, and I can't wait to see where it ends. I'm praying that it will be helpful to someone. Oh, and the original sermon manuscript, the girl that spoke said the words, "penis and vagina" multiple times. I edited that out. I didn't find it necessary. We all know the words, right? No thanks. If you will, pray that it goes well. Not sure that public speaking is my forte and it's been FOREVER since I've done anything. If it wasn't such an important topic, I wouldn't have agreed to do it. Anyhow...

In other news, I'm doing a guest blog for the Playdate Crashers again! Should post soon. I'll send a link when it's available. Happy Friday!

I'm so behind!

It's been a decent, productive week thus far. Some of it by choice, some not so much.

I've been on an organization streak and Kraig's motivated to paint, so we're getting some things done. Sunday night and Monday, Kraig painted the basement bathroom and did a few odds and ends. I cleaned out and organized the spice cabinet, cleaned the microwave, taught piano lessons, cooked dinner.

Yesterday, I ran downstairs to start some laundry and realized that the pile (or MOUNTAIN) of laundry in front of the washer was wet. Not good. I moved it around and realized that the floor was wet and there was water all over the floor and under the washer and dryer. Not good. I quickly figured out that the hot water tank was leaking all over the floor. Who knows how long it had been that way. I called Kraig and he came home to check it out. Not long after he got home, I called my dad. Thankfully, he'd been rained out of work, so he could help. I described what was going on and he immediately knew the problem. After a trip to the hardware store, Kraig went back to work. He was able to fix the problem after work in like 15 minutes for about $10. What a relief! As first time home owners who live far, far away from our parents, we're learning a lot! So thankful for my husband!

I made delicious Olive Garden style zuppa toscana for dinner. It was fairly simple and very delicious! It was even better today for lunch. We also had a loaf of artisan bread that I made. My mom turned me onto a recipe for a quick, no knead artisan bread that is delicious. We've thoroughly enjoyed having fresh bread with our meals. You can find the recipe here. Seriously, so easy that Kate could probably do it. The perfect recipe for a crazy, busy mommy!

Today, we've done about five loads of laundry and I'm trying to find some decorating inspiration for the house. We're trying to pick paint colors and it's sooooooo hard!

Hope you're all doing well:)

Update on the kiddos

Jack turned five months old on Sunday. It's hard to believe that he's that old, but he is growing like a weed and learning so many new things. So what's Jack up to these days? Here's a run-down:

-Weighed in at 16lbs 11oz today (90th percentile). 26 1/2inches long(90th). Head circumference of 45 cm(95th).
-He got an exersaucer for Christmas and he loves it. He loves being able to stand up and he's figured out how to get each of the attached toys in his mouth.
-He's still breastfeeding exclusively (though not for long!)
-He has great hand-eye coordination and loves playing with toys.
-He cries when I leave the room and stops when I return (cute, but not fun).
-When laying on his belly, he can scoot himself forward and backwards.
-He can sit up. Obviously, I still put pillows around him for safety reasons, but he loves sitting up. He has a tendency to dive at toys when they get a little to far away, but he doesn't seem to mind.
-Anytime he's on his back and isn't wearing socks, his toes are in his mouth. Gross.
-He's still much fussier than Kate was and isn't sleeping so well, but the doctor has given me a few suggestions to try. Hopefully they work! Momma needs some sleep!

Kate is ornery. She has the vocabulary of a teenager and the attitude of a teenager. Can you tell Daddy's a youth minister? She's potty trained, but traveling seemed to bring out the accidents. All in all, though, she's doing very well. She's a pro at puzzles, even ones that I think should be too difficult. She's going to bed earlier now that she used to, which hasn't seemed to affect her waking time or her napping. She's currently staring at me, eating a pop tart that seems to have appeared out of thin air. She's very strong-willed and a challenge at times, but she's also a sweetie and a great big sister. She continues to amaze us with her ability to learn lyrics so quickly. She knows so many songs that it's scary. She's got a great little voice and occasionally she'll start singing the harmony parts that she hears us sing. It's pretty amazing. Can't wait to see how her talents develop!

That's what's up! Kraig and I are doing well. I'm in organization mode, finally. So many things have gone undone since we moved and I'm ready to get them done. Can't wait til everything is finally where it really should go!