It's Been Oh So Long!

i can hardly believe it's been over a month since i last blogged.  where in the world has the time gone?!  i'm not sure how i go so behind.  it could have been the taking care of 3 little children.  it could have been the crafting.  it could have been the laundry that never seems to go away.  it could have been the trouble i've had downloading pictures recently.  it could have been all the thinking and wondering going on inside my head.  probably it was a bit of everything.  regardless, i'll try to give you a brief update here today.

~ there have definitely been lots of smiles going on around here.  lots of funny things said by the girls, lots of giggling, and lots of time together.

~ i've been doing a Bible study with a sweet lady from church.  it's been very interesting and has been opening my eyes/heart up to the Bible in a way they never have been before.  God's Word really is so amazing.  it never changes and it is full of SO MUCH truth!  sometimes it almost seems overwhelming, but really it's just so exciting to still be learning amazing things all these years later.  perhaps i'll share more in another post.

~ i've definitely had a lot of thoughts and questions swirling around in my head regarding our current job/financial situation.  it seems like we're always going through something in this area, and i'm ready to stop worrying about it.  it seems like every time a good opportunity presents it's self, it falls through.  it's very disheartening.  it's definitely an area i've been learning to daily place at the feet of our Lord and trust that He does have a plan for us. 

~ to go along with the above thought, there's the thought of possibly having to leave michigan yet again.  i love michigan.  and i don't want to move away from my family and friends yet again.  this is the 3rd time we've tried living in michigan, and it just never seems to work out.  maybe God is trying to tell me something?  it's a struggle for me.  there is a possible job opportunity for jonathan out of state right now...he's done the preliminary testing.  he passed everything but one part and now they are trying to figure out how he can redo the one part (they came to michigan to do the testing the first time).  so, be praying for us, dear family & friends.  pray that our hearts will be open to God's guidance no matter if it means staying here or moving away again (with this possible job, or any others). 

~ nadia took two tiny steps on her own yesterday!!  i couldn't believe my eyes.  i think she still has a ways to go before she really starts walking as she is still fairly wobbly (which this mama doesn't mind!!).

~ we had a nice thanksgiving.  we had my sister & her family, my mom & kevin, and my dad over and had a good time visiting and eating yummy food. 

~ today the girls and i are planning to put up a little tree and a few winter decorations.

~ we thought we came up with a great plan to encourage libbs to poop on the potty, but it only worked for the first day.  i guess the good part was that now we know she CAN poop on the potty...she just WON'T.  it's very frustrating...but i guess we have to wait it out.  we've tried seemingly everything else. 

~ daddy and libbs went on a daddy-daughter date this week.  always a good time for the girls.  i think jonathan is taking leila out today.

~ we got 100 photo christmas cards for a mere $6.38!!  we only had to pay shipping by using some coupon codes online.  i was really excited about this deal (i posted about it on my facebook page, but the deal has expired now).

~ i've was introduced to a new fiction author a while back by a friend, and this author's books are fabulous!!  his name is charles martin, and i've read all of his books now. seriously, they are sooo good!

~ i finally finished knitting jonathan's socks (i started them right before nadia was born).  i ran out of the yarn i was using and had to improvise, but they are still  comfy and warm :)

~ i made my first dress.  thanks to my gram for helping me through it!  this one is for liberty.  i'm planning on making matching ones for leila and nadia (it's just hard to find the time with 3 kiddos running around!).

~ that's all i can think of right now.  obviously more has gone on since over a month has gone by...i'll try to keep up on updating from now on.

~ and here are some pictures from the past month (although i haven't uploaded any thanksgiving or later pics).

Twelve Smile Tuesday

1.  christmas in october.  my grandpa & grandma w. have their christmas in october because the leave for florida in early november.  it was fun to see lots of family.  there are so many little kids running around again.  unfortunately i only took 2 pictures...can you believe it?!

2.  all dressed up.  my girlies all dressed up for the party.  and yes, leila and nadia are on the coffee table.  it's the perfect place to take a picture sometimes b/c they will actually cooperate if only for the incentive of being on something that they aren't supposed to be!

3.  this picture.  one morning when jonathan was getting ready for work, libbs and leila came in our room wanting to sleep with me.  since it would be time to get up soon anyway, i let them.  when i woke up again, this is how they were sleeping.  isn't it precious?  and actually, they were holding hands before i grabbed the camera.  love it!

4.  pumpkin bread.  yum...i just love pumpkin!  i made the pumpkin bread for the christmas party.  this week i'm planning to make a black bean & pumpkin chili (thanks to my sis-in-law sarah for the recipe!). 

5.  ephesians 4:32.  a verse that has been speaking to me this week. 

6.  candy land.  liberty got a candy land game for her first christmas from jonathan's sister bekah & family.  we finally pulled it out to teach liberty to play.  she's slowly getting the hang out of, but she doesn't have a lot of patience for getting to castle!

7.  dinner with friends.  we had dinner with tj & angela last week and had a really nice time.  angela and i have been friends since 2nd grade...crazy, eh?  they have 3 cutie kids...arianna-5, santino-2 1/2, and isabella-7 months.  they made delicious homemade pizza, and we made a chocolate chip pumpkin cake (see the pumpkin again?  yummy!).

8.  leila's slow progress to sleeping better at night.  it's very slow, but it does seem to be getting better.  the first half of the night is fairly rough, but lately the second half of the night is much better.

9.  liberty's memory.  seriously, this girl can remember the craziest things.  like cars.  if she sees the type of car we have when we're out and about, she'll point it out and let us know that it's a car like ours but it's somebody else's.  just the other day we were leaving target and parked next to our car was a red toyota corolla.  well jonathan's parents have a red toyota camry.  liberty immediately pointed to the car and said, "look daddy.  a car like you mama's in california."  and when i was telling her about the family christmas party the day before, she was asking which grandparents i was talking about.  i told her it was my grandpa and memaw's daddy.  she immediately said, "yeah, grandpa & grandma w.'s" (even though i hadn't used their last name in weeks).  she amazes us all the time!

10.  teeth.  nadia's two bottom teeth are starting to come through now.  well, one has broken through, and the other is starting to.  no pictures b/c you can't see them real well yet, but i thought this picture i got of her looking through my cookbooks was too cute to pass up :). 

11.  leila vacuuming.  the other day she kept pointing out the tiniest things on the floor wanting me to clean them up.  finally i told her to just vacuum the floor.  the silly girl actually got the vacuum out and unwound the cord!  i plugged it in and she said, "i do it myself." (her new favorite phrase).  i did help her out some.  this girl loves helping me do anything around the house...cleaning, cooking, laundry...whatever it is, she's my little helper, and apparently the one who points out anything i still need to do!  (please note that i did dress her that day...she stripped herself!)

 

12.  my hubby (who just loves when i take surprise photos of him, i'm sure!).  he's wonderful and i love him.  pray for him, for he has a lot in his mind and on his shoulders.  pray for us, really.  we're just trying to figure out exactly what God wants us to be doing.  and pray for us to continue to trust that God will provide for us and take care of us. 

Ten Smile Wednesday

here i am late again.  i thought i better get this posted before i get too far behind.  not a lot of pictures of liberty this week...a few times she told me not to take her picture.  what's up with that?!  anywho...it was a good week. 

1.  nadia is starting to stand on her own for at least 30 or more seconds.  she'll get to playing with a toy (or in the case of one of these pictures, memaw's dog), and just let go of what she's using to stand.  i can't believe how fast it is happening.  i tried to get some good shots for photographic evidence...these were the best i could get.

2.  a mops harvest party/playdate.  it was fun hanging out with all the mamas and kiddos eating yummy food and doing crafts with the kids.  we have a very small mops group...about 6 of us usually.

3.  pumpkin cookies.  i found this recipe and the girls and i made them for our mops party.  they are delicious!! 

4.  while at the mops party i was looking around to check on my 3 girls and found leila under this kitchen cart "nursing" her baby doll.  so cute!  i love how maternal little girls are...especially knowing God made them to be just that way at such a young age. 

5.  another leila smile...this girl loves to dress up!  and i love that in the first picture she is wearing a boot that was her daddy's when he was a little boy.  and in the second pic she is wearing mama's shoes...way too big, but so much fun.

6.  a smiley nadia.

7.  this baby picture my mom found of me.  she is always going on about how much nadia looks like me (especially certain facial expressions).  she says sometimes she wants to call nadia "rebecca" instead.  i couldn't find a good squinty faced photo of nadia to compare, so this will have to do.

8.  this pic of leila and i that she begged me to take.

9.  baby legwarmers.  i've seen these online quite a bit and finally whipped some up for nadia.  i think they are so cute and her legs stay warm when i put dresses on her.

10.  a pic of libbs because i just can't leave her out.

11.  and last, but certainly not least...a girls overnighter.  some of my dear college friends and i got together for a night.  there were 6 of us that were able to make it.  we spent some time walking around frankenmuth, ate at the bavarian inn, enjoyed the hotel's hot tub, and walked around the birch run outlets.  all in all, it was a wonderful time!  i miss those ladies!

Smiles in Pictures

i just realized that it's already wednesday and i haven't even thought about my smiles blog.  i think i'll just share some pictures and maybe a few captions this week.  nadia has been sick with a fever all day...so of course she's either been sleeping or being held.  poor baby.  she's in the baby wrap as a type...what a life saver!!  anyhow...most of the pictures i took were actually from yesterday when we had a picnic at the park for dinner.

a little crafting.  isn't this fleece print so adorable?!  i made this for a baby shower my mom went to.

leila and her baby doll...she's such a good little mama.

dancing to some music with their babies.

hello, everyone.  i'm 8 months old now!

puny chose to eat all the way at the end of the benches...away from us.  i guess she's showing a little independence?

10 Smiles & Leila's Birthday

1.  nadia and chunky foods.  the other day i found her with a chunk of freeze pop, and then later one when i was cooking dinner she was sitting on the floor gnawing on a hunk of green pepper.  she also loves to eat ritz crackers.  she's not so interested in runny baby food :).

  

2.  libbs and daddy.  aren't these pictures precious?!  i happen to think they are!

3.  colorful chicken 'n' squash soup.  yum!  soups and cold days just go hand-in-hand!

4.  leila's strange sleeping spots.  this girl does fall asleep in the most random places.  i think this laundry basket beats all (and yes, she did really fall asleep in there)!

5.  turkey roll-ups.  we recently stopped eating pork...and i remembered that one of our favorite football/get together/whateverexcusewefind snacks was ham roll-ups...so of course i had to find something to replace the ham.  turkey!  (this is turkey lunch meat spread with cream cheese and then rolled up around a green onion...not sure where this came from, but i always remember having the ham roll-ups at family gatherings when i was growing up).

6.  mops.  oh how i love these meetings and the lovely ladies that make them!  and this month i made yummy mini spinach/artichoke quiche....soooo good!

7.  selling our gmc jimmy.  while it stinks that we don't have 2 vehicles, we had never really been able to enjoy having 2 because the jimmy had issues we couldn't afford to fix.  we needed the extra money and were able to sell it this week.

8.  yarn and cold weather.  i knit any time of the year, but there's just something about curling up to knit when it's cold outside.

9.  libbs and nadia.

10.  last, but certainly not least, leila's birthday!!  i can hardly believe our sweet girl is 2 already.  a little about her at age 2...she talks quite a bit.  sometimes we can't understand what she is saying because she is so soft spoken.  she emulates everything big sister liberty does.  she adores her baby sister nadia.  she loves baby dolls.  and dresses.  she slept great as a baby...as a toddler, not so much.  she's likes to cuddle.  she will eat almost anything you put in front of her, which means she'll try all the recipes i use.  she loves mickey & minnie mouse (hence the minnie cake i made).  she's very sweet natured, but there is a temper under that sweetness.  she loves sabbath school.  and  books.  and kisses.  anyway, we had a little party for her last night.  she did pretty good.  if you know her, you know she's almost painfully shy around almost everyone...so a gathering with lots of attention focused on her was interesting.  she ended up having a good time, though.  i made her a teddy bear, but it got ditched for a little doll my gram got her.  she LOVES that doll and will hardly put it down now. 

Ten Smile Tuesday

it's tuesday again...i probably say this a lot, but time sure does fly by! not a real eventful week for us...just trying to keep up with the girls and with the housework. there's always some smiles to be found, however!

1. baby wraps. i think i'm in love...or at least serious like! you probably know i've tried out a few different baby carriers since having nadia (and really, i did try a couple different ones with leila as well). well, i have found my very favorite, and it's a wrap! i've seen them before, but i always thought they looked complicated and wasn't sure how secure baby would be. i recently ordered a wrap and i REALLY like it! once i practiced a few times with it, it wasn't nearly as complicated as it looked. it holds nadia nice and secure. it's very comfortable (it barely feels like i'm carrying her), and nadia is very content snuggled up to to me. anyway...isn't it fun?! i've used it several times in the whole one week i've had it.

2. scissors. and really, this is a smile and a frown, lol! i picked up some kid scissors recently because liberty has been begging me to use scissors, and i figure it's a good fine motor skills activity and all. she was doing pretty good with them...until i turned my back for 5 seconds and she cut out a small chunk of hair! it was probably a good 6 inch long hunk of hair from the back. it's not too noticeable because some of her hair falls over the area she cut.

3. these cute bean bag letters (actually, i used rice to fill them). i whipped them up for a friend's daughter's birthday. as you can see, i just did the letters of her name. they are really cute, but a bit time consuming!

4. my little diaper "helper" (or should i say troublemaker!). she was so proud of herself!

5. libbs and puny watching cartoons on the hide-a-bed...using the quilt my gram made for me when i graduated from high school. gotta' love it!

6. knitting. the other day when leila and nadia were napping i sat in my chair and knit while liberty was playing. she wanted to help me knit so bad, so i got her some extra yarn and a pair of needles so she could pretend to knit. she had a lot of fun with that...although eventually she gave up trying and used her needles and drumsticks.

7. this is two smiles in one, i guess. the first is pockets...is it just me, or is it one of the cutest thing ever when small children walking around with their hands in their pockets?! the second is leila wearing a sweater that was knit for me when i was a little girl (gram, did you knit this? mom thinks it was you). i love passing on that homemade love!

8. liberty. she says the funniest things every day. and wouldn't you know i can't think of anything right now...but just know she makes us smile and laugh with something she says every day (which is a good thing, since it counteracts the major attitude problem she's had of late!). oh, here's something...

liberty woke up one night when leila woke up...jonathan went in to take care of them.

daddy: go back to sleep libby. i love you.

libbs: thank you for loving me daddy. you can go now.

9. jonathan, my love. i'm so proud of him. he's growing so much in the Lord and it is so evident in the changes i've seen in him. and he's working so hard to take care of our family...i love him and the life we have together (the mountains AND the valleys!).

10. Lamentations 3:22-25 "The Lord's lovingkindnesses indeed never cease, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness. 'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul. 'Therefore I have hope in Him.' The Lord is good to those who wait for Him, to the person who seeks Him."


**please keep praying for the pollak family. their precious katelyn passed away...my heart is so heavy for them. landon, brennan and brooklyn still need all the prayers they can get...they have a long road ahead of them. nich & jennie also have a 3-yr-old daughter named hailey. i know they appreciate all the prayers and support.

Please Pray...

...for my friends nich & jennie.  jennie just gave birth to quadruplets today at 23 1/2 weeks.  from what i heard, she went into labor and they were unable to stop it so she had an emergency c-section.  the doctors were surprised at how well the babies were doing so far.  i am sure nich & jennie would appreciate your prayers!