a ginormous giveaway...

No, I'm not giving anything away, but Natalie is. Okay, so I don't actually know Natalie, but I ran across this giveaway through my cousin Hannah's site, and had to enter for a chance to win some amazing prizes. I know you want to enter too! So go check out Natalie's Sentiments. You won't believe all the amazing things she has to offer! I personally would love some of the personalized items, the tooth tissues, or the teething bling. I mean, I'd like to have it all, but those are my top picks! Okay, quit hanging out here and head over to Natalie's already!

back to the land of the living

I feel like I've been out of the real world for the past week or so. Last Monday I had my hernia surgery. The wait was long, the surgery was short, and the pain was bearable. I'm still sore, but at least I can move without wincing. It's still somewhat difficult to feed Ronan simply because he lays right on my stomach as I'm nursing him, but we're working around the pain. I don't go back for my follow up until the 6th, so until then I'm lifting as little as possible. Ronan is about my limit, and occasionally I break the rules and lift my Collin. The poor baby has been missing mommy loves and has gotten a little feisty.

Last week we also got our window well installed in the basement. They weren't supposed to be here till the end of August but had an opening and got it done sooner. Yay! Now tomorrow I have a couple coming over to interview me for daycare. Yikes! I'm a little nervous, but aside from our wall not being complete, the house is ready. Once I get the basement finished I can get the official paperwork, but until then it's hard to pass an inspection. However, it will be done before school starts up again.

(above: before)

(below: after - the wall and ceiling are not done. We still have taping, mudding, sanding, priming, painting)My etsy site is up and running. You may have noticed the pictures at the top. I received and e-mail today from a lady who is in charge of her church's craft fair inviting my to have a booth in October. Maybe. I think I'm gonna shoot for doing the Maize Fall Festival in October though. We attend anyway so maybe I can at least sell enough to pay for the we'll have there!

With me staying home, not teaching, no longer receiving free health insurance, and starting a daycare, money is going to be tight this fall. We're going to have to cut back on some of our luxuries such as cable, but I have every confidence that my daycare will be a success and we won't go bankrupt. After all, the Good Lord is on my side with this one.
My Ronan is now 5 months old and ready to crawl. He gets up and in position and just rocks back and forth. The poor baby gets so mad when he doesn't make it anywhere. Soon enough he'll be chasing Collin around. He also got to eat cereal for the first time on Sunday. Such a big boy!Collin will be 2 in a about 3 weeks. I have made a total of 2 invitations for his party, and I have about 15 to go.... What was I thinking when I decided to hand make ALL of the invitations?

Not My Child! Monday

So this week, I'm confessing the things that my children did not do. Isn't MckMama so creative?

So it's actually Tuesday... I was a little preoccupied with surgery to post yesterday!
There is no way that my sweet baby Ronan woke up at 2:30 the other night, ate, and was not asleep. I did not wake his father to rock him back to sleep so that I could go back to sleep. At 3:50 my beautiful baby was not awake again. I did not feed him because he wasn't hungry, and then realize that he was still awake. I did not have to take him downstairs as rocking was not working. My sweet baby boy was not all smiles and ready to play. Not my baby! He sleeps through the night (I wish). I did not put him in the swing, turn the lights out, check my e-mail and such, and then attempt to fall asleep myself while he lay wideeyedandbushytailed in the swing.

He did not follow a similar pattern a few nights later.



On Thursday morning I did not hear my almost 2 year old count to 4 completely on his own. We have been counting with him a lot for various activities and he has basically mastered counting to 3. But 4? That's crazy!



My sweet 4 1/2 month old has not recently decided that he wants to crawl...really bad. He does not get up on all fours and then get really angry when he slips and has made it nowhere. I do not think this is kind of funny.

Not Me! Monday

Time for another Not Me, Monday! In this post, I'll be confessing all of the things I did not do this week. Along with some of the things that my family did not do as well. If you'd like to play along, just check out MckMama's for the official rules. (I don't know why I can't get the logo to copy, but you can find it in my sidebar.)

To start off with, I did not spend time at the zoo with my 2sc, my parents and my Uncle Terry. While not at the zoo, Terry did not wait somewhat impatiently to see the snakes. And after not seeing the snakes did not proclaim that the only thing he wanted to see were the elephants. And after not seeing the elephants did not mention that all he wanted to see were the lions. And after not seeing the lions on our way out, he did not announce that all he wanted to see was the bears. He was not a little dissappointed that the bears weren't one of our stops.

My children and I were not totally exhausted after 2 hours at the zoo.


Last week I did not meet with the surgeon about my hernia. I do not have surger scheduled for next Monday. I am not totally dreading it because of the fact that I can't eat or drink ANYTHING after 5am and my surgery is not until 4:00pm. I was also not ticked when they called me today to schedule for me to come in this Wednesday to have pre-op labs done. Don't you think maybe they should have mentioned this at the initial visit when we scheduled the surgery? Not to mention I have to be at the hospital 2 and a half hours prior to my surgery. I do not have better things to do with my time.

Last week I did not follow my toddler around with a camera to capture him and his best friend on camera so that I could blog about him. That seems rather silly doesn't it?

My husband has not decided that he will not be running in the previously announced half marathon. His knees are not so bad that chasing our toddler across the yard caused him to complain for 2 days. Her is not extremely bummed about this.

And lastly, I did not make 3 super cute scarfs this week to sell in my etsy store (which is not yet, but will soon be up and running). I did not decide that this would be a much easier way to sell things. My wise cousin, Hannah, had nothing to do with this decision. At this point I do not plan to continue posting photos of my work on my crochet blog as well.

meet Manny

"People let me tell you 'bout my best friend."


Or rather Collin's best friend. Handy Manny.
Manny joined our family back in April, and he and Collin have been inseperable ever since. Manny goes almost everywhere Collin goes. Almost. We don't generally let Manny leave the house.
Here are some pictures of things you might see Manny doing around our house.

You might also see Manny taking naps with Collin. Sitting at the breakfast table. Jumping in Ronan's jumper. And wathing cartoons.

Yes indeed. Best friends.

3 years

Today marks 3 years since I married my best friend. What an amazing 3 years it's been. I feel like I have known Dan my entire life, but in reality it's only been a little more than 5 years. To think in that short time, we met, fell in love, got married, and had 2 children. Where in the world does the time go? I feel so blessed to have such an amazing husband who is willing to do anything for his family. Dan is nothing like what I pictured the man I would marry to be. He's so much more. Never in my wildest dreams could I have ever imagined a man this kind, honest, sincere and loving.

Thank you, my love, for all the good times we've had, and all the wonderful things that are yet to be.

Okay... enough of the mooshy stuff. So since it's our 3rd year the traditional gift is leather. My mom came up with several fun things I could buy my husband made of leather, I however chose a more practical route. Dan likes to wear his sandals everywhere. Even in the winter. Since he also likes to wear them to church, I chose to buy him a nice pair of leather sandals. Comfy, casual and practical. Nothing like the whips my mom suggested.

Dan also chose to go with a more practical route. He bought me a nice leather journal.

I'm not quite sure what I'm going to put in my journal yet, but I will find something. Maybe I'll start writing poetry again. I used to write it all the time but quit when Dan and I started dating. Not because he doesn't inspire me. Because I was really good at writing about heartache, and not so much good at writing about true love. I could write about the dream of true love. But when it actually hit me I couldn't put it into words. So maybe I'll try again in my nice, new leather journal.