2016 Reading Challenge revisited......

I posted this in January and tried to take the challenge. while i have read more than 12 books this year there are some categories that are listed that i didn't hit. 

listed below are the books that i did read that went along with the catagory.

a book published this year The Crown by Kiera Cass
a book you can finish in a day The Siren by Kiera Cass
a book you've been meaning to read Surprised by Motherhood by Lisa Jo Baker
a book you should have read in school The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton
a book published before you were born Watership Down by Richard Adams
a book you previously abandoned Bossypants by Tina Fey
a book that intimidates you Voice in the Wind by Francine Rivers
a book you're already read at least once Bamboo and Lace by Lori Wick (i posted this link because i wanted to see the actual cover of the one that i read not the new cover)

Christmas Through the Years

Here are our Christmas Cards since becoming a family of four but we have them back as far as the year we got married. I love looking back at all of these. they are so much fun.

2010

2011

2012

                                         

2013

2014

                                         

2015

2016

Besties

This Girl!
Man, how i love her

she is everything that i am not and yet we are so much alike too

I am so thankful that she came up to me (the new, shy girl) at church 28 years ago.

i don't get to see her face nearly as much as i would like to but am so thankful that i got to see her not only once, but twice during Christmas break. 

she knows me and loves me anyway

she gets me the past and the present

our daughters got to meet for the first time this Christmas

we talked about how they can be pen pals and stay in touch.

Merry Christmas......

....from our family to yours. Hope you season is merry and bright and full of wonder and joy.

Focus

Been feeling a little absent minded today. I've been thinking about a lot of people I know who have been hurting. I am having trouble focusing but maybe, just maybe I am focusing on the wrong thing. Maybe my absent mind is because I need to call out to Him for all that is weighing down my heart. Lots of people I know who are hurting. It makes my head and heart all jumbled but He untangles it when I cry out to Him.

Snapshots

Every wanted to learn how to get your camera from the auto mode to manual?

this is the best course for you.

Ashley Ann of Under the Sycamore created this course for you to get to know you camera better

She has a DSLR course and a Phone course

there are also a ton of other courses by her and others on fabulous ways to use your camera.

Check out her course site here and sign up

Decor

My kids love to decorate for any holiday.

It is so sweet.

They will make banners and decor out of any type of paper they can find.

A few years ago we decorated the front door to look like a monster.

This year I was going to do that same thing but after needing and new scare crow, my husband and son came home with a door hanging sign as well as a scare crow.

I've had this pin pinned for a few years now but have never done it before.

when they came home with the sign for the door i knew i needed to do the bats to add to the brick on the front porch

I came across this pin yesterday and there was a template on how to make the bats.

I printed out the template and went home to cut out bats.

We hung the ones outside and had more to put some inside as well. 

i loved that there was a bat on the sign for the door too.

glad to add some Halloween decor around the house and do something simple to make the kids happy.

Our new scare crow doesn't look to bad either. 

Hopefully it can last as long as our last one.

What I learned in August.....

I have linked up with Emily P Freeman for a few months now posting What I learned in.......

here is my August one

1. back to school time is bitter sweet
i feel like it am so ready for them to get back to school and then i find that i miss them a ton. either way they are both doing great in school, my son has new found love for school and we could not be more pleased with the teachers that they each got this year. Thankful for it all.

2. ice cream is cheaper than therapy
i have really struggled with a few things this past month and i happen to come across this shirt. I need it in my life. I searched for something similar on my favorite tshirt site Look Human. i was surprised to find how much is cheaper than therapy. just check out this list of tshirts that have things listed that are cheaper than therapy. WHY KNEW?!?!?

3. i love supporting friends on the mission field
We have college friends that are missionaries in Papua New Guiena. I love that we can partner with them and support them while they are away from home. Here is a link to their Booster page, with one day left to help support them and celebrate with them on two years there.

4. finding beauty in my days
just sitting in carline and this beauty landed on my van. the beauty in the mundane.

5. reading books that challenge and push me.
I finished Rising Strong by Brene' Brown and really loved every second of it.

A few of my favorite things.....

my husband and i recently went on our very first all-inclusive vacation. i made a photo book from that vacation and on the back i listed some of my favorite things from that trip. here they are:

snorkeling

the rustling of the thatched roofs in the wind

the sound of the ocean waves

the sand between my toes

saltwater on my skin

beach hats

the smell of tanning lotion (not mine because I used straight up sunscreen)

a book in hand

eating lunch on the beach

water dripping

time, just us

quiet

making that list reminded me of a time on the blog that i made a list of a few of my favorite things. i went back to find the post. here it is. i thought i would add to that list here......

the smell of flowers right after it rains

kissing my kids sweet cheeks

seeing my kids right before the wake up

What I learned in July....

i  have only done this for the past few months but it has been fun. Check out more about the What i learned posts on Emily's blog and link up there.

1. how much i love all-inclusive vacations and can't believe it has taken me this long to go on one.
My hubby and I went to Cancun this month to celebrate our 14 years of being married. (yeah, we are weird like that, we celebrate strange years)

2. celebrating my sons birthday with a camping trip was fabulous and so much fun
the past few years we have been doing combined birthday parties for the kids but this year since we did a paint party for little girl we asked golden boy what he wanted to do. he said camping. he wanted us to rent a camper but we took my nephew and two nieces and we just weren't all going to fit in a pop up camper. (which was the only thing that our van could have pulled) it was a quick weekend but I think that the kids had a fantastic time.

3. i have good genes or so we have been told. I posted this picture on my dads 60th birthday and it was commented two or three time how they want whatever my parents are taking. this picture is straight off of my phone.  no editing. my parents don't look even close to 60.

here is a picture of the originals.
My little sister, mom, me and my dad
we got to spend some time together, just the four of us, the last weekend of the month. it was my dads 60th birthday

here are my other links:

June

May

March

First Day

I can't believe that it is already the first day of school.

The summer went way to quickly.

The kids were excited to go back though and see all of their friends and to meet some new ones.

Here's to 1st and 3rd grade.

Beachin' it with the Boys

Back in June, after we picked up Golden Boy from away, summer camp, (I wrote a bit about it here) we took him to the beach (just the three of us)

we just stayed one night but it was so much fun. We stayed at Camp Gulf. it was a little camp ground with cabins and trailer parking.

here was our cabin for the night. it was like staying in a tiny house (but I am sure a bit bigger than those but still pretty tiny)

I was very impressed with all they had inside. there was a full kitchen with all of the things you would need for cooking. they provided you a bag of ice in the freezer and things like small dish soap, dish detergent, bath supplies, towels. it was fantastic. it would have been so fun to stay more than one night.

of course Golden boy was thrilled with the loft. it was very roomy too. multiple children could sleep up there.

I convinced him to snap a few picture with me on the beach. it wasn't that hard to convince him. I think he was pretty excited to see us and getting to hang out with just us. also, see the shirt he is wearing......it is one of his faves that he didn't bring to camp so I brought it with us on the trip. she he was thrilled about that too.

What I learned in June........

1. my daughter can now count her age on two hands

 this was her last night as a five year old

here she is the morning of her 6th birthday. she wasn't feeling well. it was sad.

where did the time go

2. planning and preparing parties are fun for me but not so much for my hubby. it ended up being a hit though. see the party post here.

3. vbs is near and dear to my heart......especially when you find out that this is the last year our church will be participating in a traditional vbs. they are moving to an all day type camp. (good for dual income families and single parents) i love their heart

4. vbs is exhausting. it was a great week. the specific job that i do stretches me and pushes me out of my comfort zone. i met new people and had to speak on a microphone. aaaaakkkkkk. also it kept me busy, which was good because it distracted me from thinking continually about the fact that golden boy was at away summer camp. that he is even old enough to do that amazes me. that he was brave enough to want to go without knowing anyone impresses me. he is one incredible kid.

5. spending alone time with just one kid is so great. i love my little family of four. i love when we are all together. but for my hubby and i to get to spend time with just one kiddo is a lot of fun. here i am with little girl, we took her out to a fancy dinner and got dessert too

she asked if we could pose. I complied.

and here i am with golden boy, after we picked him up from camp we took him to the florida coast where we spent one night. we had a lot of fun with him. check out this post for that adventure.