2010.... a LOT to be thankful for!

I'm extremely GRATEFUL to God for the wonderful blessings He gave us this year and how many prayers He answered. Of course Blogger doesn't always like me and it decided NOT to load all my pictures. So here is some lists and some pictures!

January - SNOW SNOW SNOW!!! I love the first few major snowfalls. After those few, then I'm soo DONE with snow. But the first several are gorgeous! We had fun, played a lot and well, my husband almost sled his butt of. Really, he did. 2nd...I threw the Man a suprise birthday party. It was a lot of fun and we actually surprised him!

February - We announced that we were in the process to become Foster/Adopt parents! : ) This was an exciting and extremely anxious time for us. It's crazy all God has done since then.

The cold evenings drove me to much crafting and baking!

March - Our family/friends threw us a Suprise Baby Shower to get us prepared for what we thought would be a quick process and placement. The process was MUCH slower than we thought, but we were definitely prepared after everyone's kindness.

April - My sweet friends took us to their family lake house down at Land Between the Lakes. We ate at Patti's, played games and relaxed. I'm so thankful for Jess and so many of my other friends!

May - I had my FIRST Mother's Day with a sweet little guy who stayed with us all weekend! It was to say the least memorable and treasured!

June - FAMILY vacation!!! We all (my entire family = 8 adults and 4 children) drove to Ocean Isle Beach, NC. It was such a blast!!! I cannot tell you how much I love this group of people. We definitely have our differences every now and then like other families, but we STICK TOGETHER through thick and thin!!! They are such a gift to me!

a few of the MANY pictures we all took together!

JULY - Went to Gatlinburg for a GIRLS ONLY weekend for Glo's Bachelorette weekend. It was a lot of fun and super nice to get away with just girls. We also got our FIRST OFFICIAL placement = Our KIDDOS!!!!

Everyone who reads this blog can tell how much I longed and prayed for children for most of my life. It has been challenging, tough and downright exhausting. But I'd NEVER change a thing. These are our blessings, our babies for right now and MAYBE forever!

Here are a few more pictures my friend and fellow photographer, Jess took of our family of FOUR! Oh, yeah that is another huge thing that to be thankful for this year. Jess and I started our photography business: www.thousandhillsphoto.com

We are so thankful for all of the families, bride/grooms and seniors who let us capture the big moments and everyday joys!

Hope you all can look back on this year to see God's hand and the blessings He has given you!

Round 5....Toys to Cherish and RE USE

You know I'm a big lover of old things, sentimental items, and reusing whatever I can.

So it seemed only PERFECT when my Moma lent me our family playskool barn and house. My brother was the first to enjoy the barn, then Johnah & I were given the house, and finally Pat's kids have been enjoying the set for the past 10 yrs. or so. My sis-in-law said their youngest had stopped playing with it as much and Moma said it could be our turn.

It's fun to watch L and N enjoy the toys just as we did when we were children.

This has seriously become the go to toys and most popular items in our home. It's even started a few fights, but all in all we are so thankful for passed down toys.

Thanks Nana!

Pumpkin Day Re Cap

The weekend before Halloween, our friends had their Annual Halloween Party. It is always so much fun. This year it was a little harder to take pictures while trying to keep up with two toddlers. : ) She decorates her whole house just adorable, makes yummy, festive food, and has games for the kids.

Her honey cuts fire wood for a smores and warmth : )

He also carves something like 20 pumpkins. They look so cool all lined up!

I couldn't get enough of the full moon this night. It was just gorgeous.

Our God is AMAZING to create such beauty!

A few nights later was our turn to go Trick-or-treating. We had all been under the weather with the stomach bug so we only went to like 5 or 6 houses. But it was still fun!

such memories. I remember going trick or treating when I was little and then landing at my Nanny's to help pass out candy. I should find all the old picture of us dressed up! Johnah, I'm sure you'd love me doing this! : )

My little Lady Bug...so sweet.

And our BIG dinosaur. They looked so cute and it was a fun first Pumpkin Day for our recently extended family.

baby FYNN is ONE!!!

My gorgeous sister and one of the BEST mommies I know!

3 of the most important and influential men in Fynn's life. I think he's going to have a lot to look up to. Praise God!

My sister did a great job with the cowboy theme. Doesn't he just look adorable. Donna (Johnah's neice by marriage and our friend) makes amazing things like this bib!

Nina our sister (i need to write a post about how God brought us this sister) made these adorable cupcakes and center cake.

Super cute decorations.

soo fun!!!

He was really excited to eat his cake. That cute hat cake and the ones below are more of Nina's creations!

yum yum!

Gitty up partners, Fynn is one!

(photo credit: this last one was taken by Aunt Nina)

Happy Birthday, Baby Boy. We are so excited you are ONE and growing up to be such a fun boy. Our family is also praising God for creating you to be in our family!!! Love you.

I {HEART} Sundays!

THANK YOU for your sweet comments and welcoming me back so sweetly.

I have a whole other post about how motherhood has completely changed my life. But long story short, it's taken me a while to really feel out who I was and balancing that with who I am needed to be now. Believe me when I say I haven't found that perfect balance yet. But I'm at least trying and loving where I'm at right now.

I'm going to try to resist the urge to skip blogging because I don't have any fun new craft to show, or my pictures of our clean/put together home (because it's not) or something else I used to blog about that I no longer have the time or energy to blog about.

I'm a photographer, so I've obviously not stopped taking pictures. I have some CUTE subjects now too! However, I wish I could show you all their cuteness. Because we've got dimples and grins for miles, gorgeous eyes and the sweetest little noses. I decided to just blog our normal pics with the hearts over their faces because we are not allowed to publish their faces on the internet. I learned this trick from a dear sister over at Immeasurably More blog. Thanks Mandy! Anyways, here is my first new, real life post.

Why I love Sundays:

* I don't have a picture of how my husband let's me sleep in on Sundays and wake up to already changed children with breakfast waiting on me. I also didn't take a picture of us going to worship. That's a whole other story, but we are in the process of finding a new church home. I'm not sure I've ever longed so much for a church family that fits my husband and I and now our children. Anyways, I don't have pictures, but they are two of the many reasons I love Sundays.

#3 reason:I get to dress these cuties in the most wonderful clothes...Thanks to wonderful family and friends. Also it is extremely interesting and a blessing to hear/see what they think of church.

#4 reason: the LONGEST nap of the week. The only time that we all get to rest together at the same time. I sometimes sleep, and sometimes just enjoy some much needed alone time.

BTW, I'm loving how the kids have found their own afghans from Scott's sweet grandma. We have 5. "L" is using the one Scott used when he was younger. They are the best things (next to quilts) to wrap up on these chilly fall Sunday afternoons.

#5 reason: We always eat good on Sundays. Scott cooks breakfast, we sometimes go out to eat (Mexican this day, but forgot to take pic), and yummy snacks after long naps. This is pumpkin cinnamon chip bread from none other than Great Harvest. LOVE THIS BREAD!

#6 reason...Playing and enjoying the afternoons. I figured we should try and soak up the last of the warmth we can outdoors so we headed to the park this afternoon.

I worked on a hat for "L" and finishing up one for "N" while they ran and played.

For proof I and Scruffs were there (Scott was working on school stuff), "L" took this picture. Pretty good for a 3 yr. old. Maybe he has photography in his future.

I love this picture...so many of my favorite things: homemade blankets, books, crocheting and in the background our two blessings!

They LOVE to read books. We were given a lot thank goodness because we'd get tired of reading the same twenty books (even though we have our favorites).

We also "played in the woods" as "L" said to Scott when we got home. It makes me sad that we didn't use the park more while it was warm. I guess we'll just have to bundle up and enjoy them now! Well, there is our Sunday and why it's my favorite day of the week!

Especially, now that I know on Sunday nights when I go to bed, I get to wake up to stay home with these wonderful children!

I'm BACK!!!!!

I've been gone for a LONG time! And it's because our family has grown double! We've had our two foster children for about four months, and it has FLOWN by!!!

But I promise to be more faithful to posting because I NEED it. Seriously, blogging has been a way to release everything and keep a good perspective. And with having two kids (and all the drama that goes into having kids in the foster system) I REALLY NEED to blog. So I'm back. I'll do a catch up post this weekend! Oh and I have some invitations to do and show off for a baby shower coming up for one of my best friends!