Life lately

I've never really been a consist blogger. I do really well for a few months and then just stop making time for it. It is something that I really do enjoy. I love reading other people's blogs (all types: mom blogs, nutrition, fitness, crafting, etc.) and I like looking back on what I actually do have on mine as well. I don't keep a personal journal so this kind of acts as that sometimes. Who knows if I will ever do anything with these posts, but it is therapeutic for me to type it out at the time, so I guess that counts for something. Once again, a lot has changed in our lives! I am going to type everything out in bullets because that is the easiest way for my brain to sort everything I want to type out.

-- We moved to a new house a the beginning of February and I absolutely adore this new house. I love it, and really think we will stay here for a while. It marks off many of my "must-have's", but lacks a few things. They are little things, and I don't really feel like are necessary at this point in my life anyway. I am so content there. It finally feels like a home to me and not just another house.

--Nora got tubes right after we moved into the new house (we were actually still staying at my parents at the time). She started sleeping through the night since we moved. I think it is a combination of her crib not being in our room where if she wakes she see's me and wants me and that she finally doesn't have fluid on her ears for the first time since she was 3 months old. She turned one March 24th, started walking at 11 months, just like her sister! She is still nursing 3x a day (morning, when I get home from work, and bedtime). I really don't know how to transition her off of those feedings without going cold turkey. Half of the reason is because I am lazy, and do NOT want to be engorged or pump, but I also enjoy our little time together. She's my girl! I'm sure it will happen when we are both ready...

--Zetta is really starting to take a liking to school now that she only has a month left! :) Her vocabulary surprises me every single day. Some of my favorite phrases are "Oh, sure, I would love too.", "I love you so much", If she asks us something and we say no, she always, always says "Oh, well I thought you wanted too" or "well I thought you wanted some" until we finally take whatever she is trying to give us, "Oh, sure", "I forgot about that" and many more I cannot think of right now. She still does not really like any meat. She prefers yogurt, cheese, black beans, ANY fruit, green beans, corn on the cob. She will eat ham or bacon, but that is about it.
She did have a little accident swinging right when we moved into our house and they are almost positive she had a stress fracture. She didn't walk on it for two weeks. We ended up getting two X-rays and seeing a orthopedist, but they didn't want to expose her to more radiation just to tell us it was indeed a fracture. I am just happy that she is better. It was so so sad to see her limping and crawling around.

--I got a new job! I am now the office manager of Cultural Exchange Network! It was a huge change going from a job that was EXTREMELY flexible with hours to working 9-5 everyday. I thrive more off of a routine, so it is going better that I thought, for me and the girls. They will be starting a little daycare in June, so then I think we will all have our schedule and know what we are doing everyday. I will always be grateful for my job at Orange Monkey and the flexibility it allowed while my girls were still in there baby stages, but I really feel like this is where we are suppose to be. I am so excited to see how it all turns out, but I can finally see over the mountain that we have been climbing for the past year. To be totally honest, last year was a hard, hard year for me personally. I was a sleep deprived mom of two kids under two, trying to work a full time job without full time childcare, move houses, and who knows what else. Like I said I loved my job, but I am not cut out for management of a small company with a bunch of high school employees. Maybe when my kids are a little older, but right now I couldn't commit the time and effort it took to get the job done, so that was extremely stressful for me. I just always felt like I was letting someone down. If it wasn't my work, it was my husband, kids, family, or friends. I was just trying to juggle so much and it finally broke me. I am excited to be working a 9-5 where I can mentally check out at 5 pm and only worry about taking care of my family until I go back to work in the morning. Some people can leave work at work, but I am not one of those people. I really cared (and still do) for the family I worked for at Orange Monkey, so I just wanted to always do my best for them and really treated it as if it were my business, and I just couldn't get it off my mind when I knew I was suppose to be focusing on my children. Anyways, that was really deep, and all to say that I cannot say enough how relieved I feel everyday when I leave work. It was a much needed change for me (and my sanity)!

--Pete is staying busy as usual! He currently owns 7 properties (2 for sale, 4 rentals, and our house), and the biggest news is that he recently purchased Orange Monkey! HA! After ready my section above I am sure you are rolling your eyes and thinking he is crazy! But, in all honesty, I am excited. That place has so much potential and it just needs someone to run it (without getting a paycheck), and someone who knows more about running a business and has true business schooling. He will be taking over everything because I do not have the time at all. I get excited when I envision the future and we stop by on a Saturday and the girls run and play. Zetta loves it there, and I would have hated to see it close. Cape needs kids entertainment, so I hope that we can provide something that encourages family fun, for us, and our community!
I could not survived without him this past year. He stepped up when I couldn't do things, and never once said a bad word or lost his patience. He has SO MUCH on his plate, but can always stay cool, calm, and collected. I admire that trait more than anything! He is the best dad to the girls, helps with baths, dishes, dinner, does all our laundry, goes to the store, and so many other things that I haven't mentioned. I am so blessed that God chose Pete to be my husband. We are polar opposites, but that is why we work, I guess. He keeps me grounded, sets me straight when I loose focus on what's really important (ie- my family, not the dishes, messy floors, voice mails, or the other 100x that I struggle looking past). He deserves a huge gold star and more.

I think that is about all that is going on in our lives! Who knows when I'll post again, but it's always fun to check in even if it is only every 6 months!

Going to the chapel...

My bestest friend, Janice, is getting married!! I could not be happier for her and Gabe! Janice is one of my three friend's that I made in college and has turned out to be one of my very closets friends! She is so caring, loving, and protective of her friends! Some of my best memories are with this girl! I cannot wait for her big day!! Her sister's threw her an engagement party a few weeks ago and it was amazing! We were a little late (had to do bedtime first:)) so I didn't get a picture of the table or decor, but it all looked amazing! Love ya, Janice! You deserve nothing but the best!! xoxo

All of the wedding party that was there!

Pumpkin Carving with Eesie!

My mom asked us to come over for dinner and pumpkin carving a few Monday's ago, and we obviously said YES! I love this tradition. We usually carve with my sister's family at Sam A. Baker, but since we went so early this year we didn't get to. We went over after nap time so that I could clean out the inside's of the pumpkin's so they would be ready to carve right after dinner! Sissy is usually ready for bed pretty quick after we eat, but I wanted to make sure Zetta still had time to carve! She was a huge fan, and loved every second! 

Discovery Playhouse with our BFF's

I have been soaking in my day's off with the girls lately. I know that is my day to catch up around the house, but lately I haven't done much of anything except hang out with them! We met Ashley and her girl's at Discovery Playhouse one day when she got off of school. I didn't get any pictures of the little girl's (fail.). I am really going to try to be better about that! Poor kids!

Classic toddler picture..seriously

This girl cannot STAND the sun to be in her eyes, so she started wearing my glasses. #diva

Friday Favorite's..Advent links!

I am linking up today with Erika and sharing some of my favorite's! I have been searching pinterest for the perfect ideas for an advent calendar for this Christmas season. It is hard to find things that are appropriate for a toddler. I want some of them to be strictly for fun, but I also want some days to be Christ centered and geared towards giving to others. It is hard to explain to a two year old that she needs to pick out a bunch of new toys, but they are for someone else. I just don't think she is old enough to grasp the concept yet, so I am going to keep it very simple this year and do more next year when she understands better. Anyway, here are the top five links that I found and liked for different reasons!

-ONE-

LINK 

I liked this site because it was just a basic list of Christmas activities. I could have probably thought of most of these on my own, but it was nice to have a list to reference. 

-TWO-

LINK

I liked this site a lot, also. It was a little bit deeper than I am planning on doing, but still had some great ideas. As a working mom, I simply do not have time in some of our days to do a bunch of small things each day, but I still loved this concept! 

-THREE-

LINK

I liked this link because it was simple and easy! I liked that they got to draw a new stick out of the jar everyday instead of opening a gift. I don't know if this will really work for my family because I want to be able to choose which activities go on which days. For example, baking cookies needs to be on my off day from work and a coloring page or stickers could be on a day that I work because it is short and something Zetta can do while I am cooking dinner.

-FOUR-

LINK

I LOVED this link! Simple acts of kindness for young kiddos! We will have many of these on our list!!

-FIVE-

LINK

This was a good list as well and had some new ideas on it that I didn't really see anywhere else. Playing with red and green balloons, making a Christmas lunch, and many more!

I hope that someone else get's some use out of these links! It was fun to research and look at everyone's ideas and I can't wait to get started! 

Pumpkin Patch!

After church one Sunday we stopped at a little pumpkin patch on the way to our house. Zetta had the best time, so I knew I wanted to take her to the "big" farm in Jackson. I ended up randomly going one afternoon and my mom came with us! We met our friends Ashley and Mila there, too. These pictures are all out of order, but those girls are the BEST of friend's! It is fun watch their friendship grow as they get older!!

These two..they stole my phone and were taking selfie's!

Is this not one of the cutest picture's you've ever seen?!!

Yes, Nora has a hat (as you'll see below), it looked kind of goofy so I took it off for a picture.

Sam A. Baker

Back in September my family went on our annual camping trip to Sam A. Baker state park! As we get older it gets better and better. The little's start having more fun and us "big" cousin's really start enjoying the time away from the world and catching up! Our youngest cousin is in college this year, so this is the first year where I think we all really felt connected on more of a social level. It was fun just to hang out around the fire after the "adults" went to bed and laugh about anything and everything! That weekend is one of my most favorite weekend's of the year, and I hope the tradition carries out for years to come!