So much to share, yet only one hand to type with...

Santa Baby...

Ian at age 3 months (above)
Owen at age 5 months (below)

Merry Christmas...

from our family to yours!

Pinkitzel...

Last night I went to a fun new cupcake place in OKC. It is called Pinkitzel. It is so fun and so girly! I really think I could just hang out there for hours, just because of the atmosphere. And the employee that was there the night I went was super nice and totally didn't make fun of my constant picture taking (at least not to my face) :) The cupcakes were good (I am told by my friend who went with me that there are better cupcakes, but they may have less icing) and came with a tower of icing! I love me some icing. I broke out of my usual chocolate on chocolate and got an eggnog flavored cupcake. I liked it, but I will have to say that when Justin pulled out his chocolate truffle cupcake to eat (I brought him home a cupcake) I took a small bite of the icing and YUMMY! Next time I go I will stick to the chocolate! Here are a few (ok, a few thousand) pictures for your enjoyment. I would highly recommend going here for a girls night or date night. Totally fun!

You will be missed...

Our sweet friend passed away this Sunday morning. It was a very sad story but one that God's glory was fully seen all through out.

He and his wife are so sweet and I just love them as if they were part of our family. It has been neat to see how many lives he impacted. During the last few weeks people have been posting on his facebook page just how much he was used in their life. If I am only half as useful in the Kingdom of God as he was, well I don't know how to finish that statement. Let's just say this man was a true man of faith. He was happy and cheerful even though he knew his time on earth was coming to a close.

I ache for his sweet wife. I could not imagine all that she has been through and will continue to go through. I hope that you will join me in praying for her and her kids.

We will miss you David, but I know you are not reading this in heaven because you are singing praises to our Savior! Sing a song for me and I will see you when I get there.

David was the minister who married Justin and I. I feel so blessed to have had him as part of our special event!

5K and some cookies...

Justin and I did a 5K today! It was so stinking cold at the beginning, but warmed up towards the end. I finished last place with the guy in this picture. He was really sweet and last year at this time he was in the hospital about to die. Now he did a 5K, how awesome is that?!? Justin did it with me and was a good sport about finishing so late. He is my strongest supporter and I love him SO much!

I decided to show you the cookies I decorated. The top picture are only a few of the bad looking ones. The bottom row of the bottom picture are my three favorite. I do hope to master cookies some day, but for now I can at least say they tasted good. I used the royal icing recipe from iambaker. Be warned that by clicking on her blog you may very well spend the rest of your day looking at all her fun recipes and pictures! Here is a link to her blog and here is a link to her icing recipe.

My little helper and more...

Ian has always been such a good little helper. Even before Owen was born he would want to help us do things. He especially loves picking up trash (or things he thinks is trash but isn't) and throwing it away. Since Owen was born he is really good at helping us throw away diapers! Well today Owen was crying and crying and I couldn't figure out what was going on with him. I changed him, I tried feeding him. Nothing was working. When I went to throw away his diaper Ian picked up the bottle and started feeding him. Instantly Owen started to eat and stopped crying! I would even try to help Ian out and he would say "no, no", he wanted to do it all by himself! I took some pictures. Ian doesn't look too thrilled, but he really was. He was concentrating so hard on feeding and watch Mickey Mouse Clubhouse.

Yesterday we had our friend Lindsey over for dinner. Her husband works out on an oil rig so he is home for a week or two then off at work for a week or two. I don't know why I hadn't thought of this sooner. Anyways, she came over for pizza and then I went to her house and helped her with some cookies. I told her several times that cookies are not my thing, but she still trusted me enough to roll the cookie dough and cut shapes with the cutters. It was fun doing that and made me want to bake some! I told Justin that and he said something to the effect of "oh so you took a day off from wanting to bake?" He was being silly, but of course it is true. I want to bake everyday. I just love it! Lindsey and I decided it is therapeutic. I also enjoy making people happy when I give it to them. So today at Target I got some Pillsbury sugar cookies with the pictures in the middle (Christmas tree and reindeer) and made them. My friend Misti is planning on coming over and we are going to try to outline the pictures in the middle with icing. Hoping it goes well, if not who cares, they taste yummy! I will post some pictures if they turn out good. :)

This weekend Justin and I are participating in a 5K in downtown OKC! I am excited. It has got both of us walking on the treadmill this week in preparation. I will let you know how that goes too.

Proverbs 31 woman posts...

I am proud to tell you that I have been doing pretty good with my goal of waking up and making my husband lunch every week day. However, there have been a few days that I have not done it. It is usually because I don't feel good or didn't get a good nights sleep. I hope that some day I won't let that get in the way. Perhaps I can find some things that I can have him take that don't require making (like lunch-able type things, only for grown ups?). Something I am making sure I don't do is allow myself to get down and out because I "failed" at my task. If I do that then it would bring me down and then I really won't be the Proverbs 31 women that I so desire to be.

So any suggestions on what I can have ready for Justin's lunch on days that I am sick or don't sleep well? He doesn't like to take things that have to be heated up. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

What have you been doing to be a Proverbs 31 women? Stay tuned because soon I am going to have a guest post from one of my good friends, telling us how she is doing at being a Proverbs 31 women. If you would be interested in doing a guest post let me know I would love to post it or link up to your page so people can read about it.

banana...

You don't own me...

I love my husband and the way he encourages me with my weight watchers. Just last night I was ready to quit and just go back to my old ways. Well he encouraged me to keep going and to make sure to weigh in today (I usually weigh in on Thursdays, but because of Thanksgiving they were closed this week). So I woke up at 8, jumped in the shower and headed over to my weigh in and meeting.

I honestly though I would gain seeing how I went over my points limit a couple of times this week. But I am so glad that I went because (drum roll please) I lost! 1.6 pounds to be exact. This brings my total weight loss to 13.6 pounds!

I thought it only fitting that I heard this song on my way home. The part that says "I was yours but I'm not yours anymore. You don't own me" Just really hit home because that is what I wanted to say to my weight!

So thankful...*picture added*

Wow I can remember it like it was yesterday. In reality it was last year, exactly a year ago today to be exact. Earlier in the week I had told Justin that I wanted to take a pregnancy test and he asked if I could wait till Thursday, so I said okay. Of course first thing in the morning I woke up and took the test! It was clearly positive. What a wonderful way to start out our Thanksgiving day! We decided that we would go around the table at lunch and make people say what they are thankful for and then we would go last and announce the big news. It was so hard to not say anything during the morning. In fact at one point I had to throw up and so that I wouldn't give it away I did it in the front yard. Yuck, I know, but hey nobody even noticed, so I was in the clear! (I hope my mom isn't reading this) :)

Yes I totally took a picture of our positive pregnancy test. Wouldn't you?

Now this year we can celebrate with our two little boys. I am so very thankful for them and for my wonderful husband that God has giving me. I hate to even imagine where I would be in my life if I didn't have Justin.

Psalm 100:4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!

(pictures done by Life Captured By Katy, click here to see her facebook page and become a fan! And contact her now to book a session!)

No girls allowed! (except Mommy)..

I'm pretty sure it doesn't get any cuter than this, well unless you add Justin to the picture!

It's a girl...

Oh my goodness how I love to shop for girl clothes! There are so many options that boys just don't have. I am pretty sure that my boys would have major issues if I put them in a tutu.

I love that I have friends with little girls. This gives me a reason to shop in the girl section of stores.

For now it is just me and my boys! I even got them shirts today that said "no girls allowed, except mommy". I love it! I am so blessed to have my boys, but maybe some day we will be blessed with a little girl of our own. Here is hoping it isn't anytime soon though. ;)

ugh, blah and again ugh...

Today has been one of those days. One of those days where I just want to stay in bed and sleep all day. I hate days like today. I want to be happy, I want to be inspired to get things done and to help others. But that is not how today has played out. Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

$500...I know right?

I am not one to ever turn down a chance to win $500. I mean really would you? So here we go, all you have to do is go over here to i am mommy and enter a comment! It is that simple and you should also look at her other blog i am baker. I spent the entire evening last night looking at all her wonderful pictures of cakes and cookies that she has made. They are amazing. Now tonight I get to spend the evening looking at her blog i am mommy! I can't wait! You can also earn more entries if you do things like blog about it and tweet about it. Since I don't do twitter I thought I would blog about it!

Speaking of speaking love languages...

Have you ever read the book 5 Love Languages? It is really a must if you are married or even if you are single. There is even a 5 Love Languages for kids to help you understand your children's love language!

I firmly believe that this book saved my marriage. Now, when we read it we had only been married for about 4 or 5 months, so it is not like our marriage was bad. We were still in that "honeymoon" phase. I do believe, however, that by reading this book we avoided a lot of arguments and disappointments.

You see my love language is gifts and words of affirmation. Which means when showing someone that I care for/love them I often get gifts. I love shopping for gifts. I think it is one of my favorite things to do! To find that perfect gift for someone you love...ahh, it is just great.

Ok, now my husbands love language is acts of service and quality time. So when I built up what I thought was going to be the best Christmas gift ever, our first Christmas together, I was pretty disappointed with his reaction. Not to say he wasn't thankful for all of the effort and thought I put into his gift because I believe he was, but to him it was just a gift, it didn't say I LOVE YOU, like it did to me.

I would like to say that since my husband and I know each others love language that we always speak it and are constantly reminded of how much we love each other. Let's just say we are human. We make mistakes. We get tired, lazy, selfish, depressed and just plan worn out. So one way that my husband and I keep each other speaking our language is by asking if our "love tank" is full. Sometimes it is hard for me to realize that is what is wrong with me, other times I think I know right away.

Today I thought it was time to stop thinking of myself and speak to my husband. Now I know that he reads my blog (love you baby), but I will go ahead and share what all I have done today! I cleaned the kitchen (finished unloading the dishwasher and loaded it), washed bottles, and I have picked up a lot of the stuff that we had laying around in our dinning room, oh and started another load of laundry. I just hope I can finish it!

I love my husband so much and I never want him to forget that. Which is why sometimes we, as wives, have to get up off our lazy, needing a nap butts and show them that we care.

If you know your husbands love language have you spoke it lately? If you don't, let me know encourage you to go to the website 5lovelanguages.com and take the test to see what your love languages are or even better yet, get the book and read about how much it can help your marriage!

Proverbs 31 update...

Usually when I aim for something like waking up at 6:30 in the morning to make my husband lunch I fail. I am just being honest. I need my sleep! However, the last week I have been up at 6:30 every weekday and all but one day I have made him a sandwich! The one day that I didn't was because he ate out that day.

I am still working on the whole making money for our family idea, but I know that God is in control and will provide something for me to do in his time.

I am making some frames for Christmas gifts and baby gifts! I think that this saves money so we don't have to spend so much on gifts. Plus I love doing it. I think I get better with each one. ;) If you would be interested in knowing how to do this I would be happy to teach you. I will post some pictures of them (once they are given as gifts, I don't want the recipients to see them before they get them).

How have you been doing with being a Proverbs 31 women?

My friends Tigger and Pooh...

We spotted Tigger and Pooh at the park yesterday! ;) I never knew they were so cute!

Family pictures...

We had our family pictures done a few weeks ago! These are my favorite ones. We had them done by Life Captured by Katy. I think she did an amazing job!

Depression and Anxiety...

It takes a special person to be married to a person who suffers from depression and anxiety. I happen to be married to that kind of person.

I am pretty sure it is a known fact that I suffer from depression and anxiety. Justin is so wonderful in helping me through those times. Like tonight, I was feeling pretty overwhelmed with laundry building up, the living room was a mess, I had a headache and to top it off I didn't have anything planned for dinner. This in turn resulted in a mild anxiety attack. Justin just sat down and said "Ok, lets figure out what we need to get done, first we need to eat so do you want to get us dinner while I stay with the kids or do you want me to take the kids and get us something?" Notice that both options gave me a break from the kids. He is so good! We also had Ian put his toys up and when I got home the living room looked SO much better. Now all I have is laundry (and I am sure a million other things that I will think of while in bed) to do.

I love my husband so much and I know that God brought us together. He is so patient and loving when I get in one of my "moods" and knows exactly how to handle it.

Here is the song that we had sung at our wedding. I am pretty sure it so defines our story...The greatest story ever told!

worth sharing...

A carrot, an egg, and a cup of coffee...
You will never look at a cup of coffee the same way again.

A young woman went to her mother and told her about her life and how things were so hard for her. She did not know how she was going to make it and wanted to give up; She was tired of fighting and struggling. It seemed as one problem was solved, a new one arose.

Her mother took her to the kitchen. She filled three pots with water and placed each on a high fire. Soon the pots came to boil. In the first she placed carrots, in the second she placed eggs, and in the last she placed ground coffee beans. She let them sit and boil; without saying a word.

In about twenty minutes she turned off the burners. She fished the carrots out and placed them in a bowl. She pulled the eggs out and placed them in a bowl. Then she ladled the coffee out and placed it in a bowl. Turning to her daughter, she asked, ' Tell me what you see.'

'Carrots, eggs, and coffee,' she replied.

Her mother brought her closer and asked her to feel the carrots. She did and noted that they were soft. The mother then asked the daughter to take an egg and break it. After pulling off the shell, she observed the hard boiled egg.

Finally, the mother asked the daughter to sip the coffee. The daughter smiled as she tasted its rich aroma. The daughter then asked, 'What does it mean, mother?'

Her mother explained that each of these objects had faced the same adversity: boiling water. Each reacted differently. The carrot went in strong, hard, and unrelenting. However, after being subjected to the boiling water, it softened and became weak. The egg had been fragile. Its thin outer shell had protected its liquid interior, but after sitting through the boiling water, its inside became hardened. The ground coffee beans were unique, however. After they were in the boiling water, they had changed the water.

'Which are you?' she asked her daughter. 'When adversity knocks on your door, how do you respond? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

Think of this: Which am I? Am I the carrot that seems strong, but with pain and adversity do I wilt and become soft and lose my strength?

Am I the egg that starts with a malleable heart, but changes with the heat? Did I have a fluid spirit, but after a death, a breakup, a financial hardship or some other trial, have I become hardened and stiff? Does my shell look the same, but on the inside am I bitter and tough with a stiff spirit and hardened heart?

Or am I like the coffee bean? The bean actually changes the hot water, the very circumstance that brings the pain. When the water gets hot, it releases the fragrance and flavor. If you are like the bean, when things are at their worst, you get better and change the situation around you. When the hour is the darkest and trials are their greatest do you elevate yourself to another level? How do you handle adversity? Are you a carrot, an egg or a coffee bean?

May you have enough happiness to make you sweet, enough trials to make you strong, enough sorrow to keep you human and enough hope to make you happy..

The happiest of people don't necessarily have the best of everything; they just make the most of everything that comes along their way.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything. - James 1:2-4

ebay...

It is official...I am on ebay! In fact I am pretty sure you need this and should go place a bid right now!

http://cgi.ebay.com/Shannon-Crystal-acorn-covered-box-/260681226427?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item3cb1cfd8bb

Proverbs 31 woman...

I want to be a Proverbs 31 woman! I mean really who doesn't want this to be said about her? "Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.”

I am learning as I read Proverbs 31 that this woman is not a lazy woman! She rises while it is still dark and provides food for her household (verse 15)! I am not a morning person at all. In fact waking up is the worst part of my day! When Justin and I were dating I told him that I would make him his lunches everyday once we were married. Do you know how many times I have done that? I am ashamed to say that I maybe did it once or twice in the almost 4 years we have been married.

I want to change that! It isn't hard to make a PB&J sandwich. I mean really, I could stop and do it right now if I wanted to. ;) Only then Ian would get into everything he is not supposed to get into. Maybe he could help? What do you think?

"She perceives that her merchandise is profitable." (verse 18) I want to make some money for our family. I know I am not currently called to work full time or even part time (outside of the home). But perhaps there is something I could do to help out with the finances. (I should mention that in NO way has Justin ever asked me to do this, this is just a new desire of my heart).

What are some things that you do that you would think a Proverbs 31 woman would do? I would love to hear some ideas! Join me in my quest to be a better wife and mother! Let's pray for our husband and our kids. Lets be an example of Christ to them and to those outside our family!

I want to be the sort of women that when her feet hit the floor in the morning Satan says "crap she is up!"

*Update* I just made Justin's lunch for tomorrow!

Take that 5K...

I did it! I finished my first official 5K (3.1 miles). I participated in the Race For The Cure this past weekend. It was so much fun. I think I might be addicted to it. My next goal is to run/walk a 5K then after that I will run a 5K and after that who knows. Maybe a half marathon? I know I can do it with all of my family and friends that give me encouragement. My husband has to be my biggest encouragement. He believed in me the whole time! And is still encouraging me to keep doing them.

3 months has gone by fast!

I can't believe our little Owen is 3 months old today! I was looking at his one month picture and he doesn't even look like the same baby! He is so stinking cute though! I just love him so much!

Owen at 1 month (above)
Owen at 3 months (below)

my husband the hero...

My husband is my hero! This weekend must have been the weekend of big spiders, because we found 3 huge spiders right outside our house! My wonderful husband killed them all. I don't know what I would do with out him.

Thanks baby for saving us from the attack of the giant spiders this weekend!

I am pretty sure this was the smallest of the 3 horrible spiders that were attacking our house this weekend.

Bitter sweet moment...

My sweet friend Liesl and her husband have moved away. :( I am so happy for them and this new chapter in their life, yet so sad that she won't just be a hope skip and a jump away. We will miss you on our girls nights Liesl! But we will for sure be making a trip to see you...Girls weekend anyone? So glad we got to go visit at All About Cha. Love you friend!

This was our very first official girls night. We had breakfast for dinner! It was so much fun getting these ladies together.

All About Cha. Love that place! Had a sweet potato latte. It was SO good! Thanks for joining us ladies!

Yeah, I am covering myself. I didn't want to be flashing everyone. :)

chunky monkey...

LOVE THIS KID!!!

Peace...

I just love this boy.

PEACE!

getting help...

My sweet two year old really knows how to put things away in an organized fashion. ;) But at least he is learning to help, right?

Elmo cupcakes!

We celebrated Ian's 2 year birthday on Saturday the 18th! It went great. We had a blast and Ian was super tired and went to bed early. ;)

I made Elmo cupcakes. They were so fun to make and really once I got started they didn't take long at all. I did sort of an assembly line...icing, sprinkles, eyes, nose mouth, icing, sprinkles, eyes, nose, mouth. Once I got that down I really started popping them out!

I made chocolate cupcakes (boxed mix) and added dark chocolate chips to the mix. Yummy! Then I made a white chocolate butter cream frosting. This was easy to make, but because of the white chocolate it made it hard to work with. Also, I used candy melts instead, to get the red color, so that probably didn't help with that problem. If I make this again I will probably use another recipe or actual white chocolate. The eyes are marshmallows cut in to thirds (I tried doing 1/2 a marshmallow but it looked too big so I did the thirds and that seemed to work out good), the pupil is a chocolate covered marshmallow (you can buy these at the store!) cut in half. The nose is a pretzel M&M and the mouth is 1/2 an Oreo (I figured out that instead of just cutting them in half you really need to do more of a sawing action with a butter knife otherwise you will have pieces of oreo all over the place and won't be happy with the mouth). Oh and I also used red sprinkles to get the fur effect. Over all I think these turned out well!

Dear Mr. President...

Pictured is a young physician by the name of Dr. Roger Starner Jones. His short two-paragraph letter to the White House accurately puts the blame on a "Culture Crisis" instead of a "Health Care Crisis"..

It's worth a quick read:


Dear Mr. President:
During my shift in the Emergency Room last night, I had the pleasure of evaluating a patient whose smile revealed an expensive shiny gold tooth, whose body was adorned with a wide assortment of elaborate and costly tattoos, who wore a very expensive brand of tennis shoes and who chatted on a new cellular telephone equipped with a popular R&B ring tone.


While glancing over her patient chart, I happened to notice that her payer status was listed as "Medicaid"! During my examination of her, the patient informed me that she smokes more than one pack of cigarettes every day, eats only at fast-food take-outs, and somehow still has money to buy pretzels and beer. And, you and our Congress expect me to pay for this woman's health care? I contend that our nation's "health care crisis" is not the result of a shortage of quality hospitals, doctors or nurses. Rather, it is the result of a "crisis of culture" a culture in which it is perfectly acceptable to spend money on luxuries and vices while refusing to take care of one's self or, heaven forbid, purchase health insurance. It is a culture based in the irresponsible credo that "I can do whatever I want to because someone else will always take care of me". Once you fix this "culture crisis" that rewards irresponsibility and dependency, you'll be amazed at how quickly our nation's health care difficulties will disappear.

Respectfully,
ROGER STARNER JONES, MD
If you agree...pass it on.