Counting My Blessings

I've been quite the slacker lately posting blogs.  No big excuses really...just keeping busy with the girls and everyday life.  We have a lot going on!  Anyway...on to some smiles of life...

1.  Sunny, warm weather!  I'm loving the nicer days (even if the last couple days have been cooler).  It's nice to be able to take the girls outside to play.  Liberty loves to go "side pay." 

2.  The park.  It's fun, and it wears the kids out.  What more could you ask for?!

3.  Four more pairs of baby shoes finished.  I made two of the regular pattern size...one for Leila and one for a baby shower gift.  Then I enlarged the pattern a bit and made a couple larger pair.  One for my nephew (a late baby gift) and another for a girl in MOPS.  Oh how I love crafting...what a great outlet for the stress of life!

4.  Leila has started to army crawl!  It's so cute.  She's also become quite the grabby girl.  She grabs at everything in site!  I wish I knew how to put a video on this blog!  

5.  Passion.  Amanda wrote about this subject not too long ago...a topic brought up by someone on her blog list.  It has inspired me to really look at my life and what I am passionate about and want I want to be passionate about.  And not only that, but what others see I am passionate about.  It's eye-opening!  I most definitely want to be more passionate about JESUS!!  I know my passion has dwindled.

6.  We are finally all pretty much recovered from the nasty flu bug that hit us (yes, all 4 of us had it!).  You can tell Liberty was sick in this picture...she laid herself down on the floor for a rest!

7.  A visit with one of my best friends, Angela.  She stopped by on Saturday on the way home from her class.  It was so nice to see her and just relax and catch up in person.  We always have a good time, no matter what we do!  Thanks for coming, Angela!  

8.  An afternoon with my sister.  

9.  Pigtails.  I had to fight Liberty to get them in her hair, but I did it!  And the end result was soooo cute!  

10.  Homemade bread.  I found a yummy recipe for white bread...it was a hit here at our house!  This weekend I want to try another one, and a wheat bread recipe.  Jonathan isn't a fan of wheat bread, but I enjoy it and cannot wait to try the recipe Amanda has posted on her site.  Yum!

11.  Leila had a great 6 month check up last week.  She's happy and healthy and doing great!  She weighs 12lbs 10oz and is 25 1/2 inches long.  She's so tiny!

12.  A great talk with my hubby last night.  It's so nice to be able to talk about the deeper things of life...to learn and grow together.  Oh how I love him!!

13.  A few more pics...

Lastly, I would like to ask for prayers for a good friend from college.  Her name is Amber and she has been having some health problems.  This last week she had a growth removed from her pulmonary artery and half of one her lungs removed.  Please pray for healing and comfort.  Thank you!

Now Please Vote for Me!

I decided to try my hand at designing a reusable Kroger grocery bag.  Please vote for my design by clicking on the link below or click on the icon on the side of my page.  Thanks!

http://www.designagreenbag.com/vote-for-designs/bag.aspx?BagId=28100

Vote for Amanda's Bag Design

Hey, Everyone!  My friend Amanda at Blessings All Mine designed a reusable shopping bag for a contest.  If you have a chance this weekend (voting ends at the end of the weekend), go here to vote.  This is what her design looks like:

Thanks for helping a friend win!!

And the bear is finished...

I made this bear for Liberty's birthday.  I know, the nose looks crazy and it's crooked (that part was the worst for me!)....but let's just say it makes the bear more loveable :). 

I'm due to post another blog soon...and I will...just keeping busy with my family right now.  I hope everyone is having a blessed weekend!

A Great Day for the Park!

My sister and I took our kids to the park on Wednesday.  Liberty & Daniel and a blast playing together.  It's amazing all the things Liberty will do at the park now as compared to last year!  She went up and down the slides on her own (the first time she just dove right in head first!), sat on the swing by herself, and had fun climbing through the playscape.  And she and Daniel actually played together almost the entire time.  It was cute.  On the way into the park Ashlee (my sis) and I asked Libbs and Daniel to hold hands, and they did all the way into the park.  See the picture below to see HOW they held hands.  Too precious!  So...here are a bunch of pictures from our park trip (I know, there's a lot, but I just can't help but post them all!).

Randomness

**One of Liberty's new favorite things is to ride in the big part of the cart at the store.  Of course we are constantly having to tell her to sit down throughout the shopping trip.  This evening Liberty was playing on the porch with a laundry basket and a couple of baby dolls.  Jonathan was peaking in on her and heard her sternly telling her babies, "sit down, sit down!"  TOO CUTE!

**Has anyone ever actually read the small print on the packages of disposable diapers?  It actually says to empty the waste of the diaper into a toilet before disposing of the diaper.  Seriously! 

**Leila has decided that it's fun to NOT sleep well at night.  It's hard putting her to bed now, and she wakes up every two hours or less and then stays awake for a bit before deciding to sleep again.  This equals not much sleep for Mama!

**Today we had to take my camera back to Target because the flash broke.  So we go to the service desk and drop off my camera and go get someone to bring us up a replacement.  The girl does whatever she has to do for the exchange and says, "did you know this camera costs less now?"  I'm thinking to myself, "yeah, bummer for me, huh?"  Then she asks if I want the difference back on my debit card or in cash.  WOW!  I take my camera in for an exchange and get some money back in the process!  We were able to buy new spark plugs for our car with the money, and I picked up some knitting needles for a new project.  Yea!

**Jonathan and I are going to learn how to replace the spark plugs in our car this week.  Go us!!

Counting My Blessings

1.  My matching girls.  I just love to put matching clothes on the girls.  They only have a few matching items, so I hope to get more eventually. 

2.  Our sleeping beauty.  Let me tell you, Leila can fall asleep just about anywhere!  This week she has fallen asleep on the floor several times while playing.  If you leave her alone, she'll sleep there for an hour or two! 

3.  A few days of nice weather...it was great to let the girls play outside for a bit.  I'm so ready for those sunny, warm summer days!

4.  Daddy's little helper.  Jonathan was doing the dishes the other night and Liberty decided to pull up a chair and "help."  She made more of a mess than anything, but she sure had fun "helping" her Daddy! In the second photo, she was saying "picture" as I took the picture.

5.  A good check up for me this week.

6.  Lunch with my dad this week. 

7.  Getting quite a bit done on Liberty's bear this week.  I'm sure I can get it done in time for her birthday (which, by the way, is a mere 2 1/2 weeks away!).

8.  My Gram & Gramps are back from Arizona (where they were for the winter) safely.  I can't wait to go up to Frankenmuth for a visit with them!

9.  Starting the "Redemption" series by Karen Kingsbury.  I've been wanting to read these books for a long time, so I'm super excited Jonathan's parents sent them to me for my birthday...THANKS AGAIN!

10.  Psalm 73:26  "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

11.  Leila is feeling better.  Last week and into the beginning of the week she had a persistent high fever.  It just would not go away no matter what we did.  Thankfully it was nothing serious and she is finally back to her normal self again.

  

A few other photos from the week...