Christmas 2012

     I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.  Our little family ended up having a nice, uneventful Christmas after getting off to a rough start.  Our holiday season started Thanksgiving day with an unusually fussy baby.  Sarah rarely ever fusses so we knew immediately something was wrong.  Sure enough, the day after Thanksgiving I took her to our pediatrician's afterhours clinic and she had her first ear infection.  Things seemed to spiral from there (I actually even considered writing my own version of the 12 days of Christmas song).  Here's the Thanksgiving to Christmas rundown....ear infection (Sarah), stomach virus (Eli), fever virus (Sarah), a full 6 days of high fever & flu (Eli), another 5 days of fever (Clint), double stomach virus (Sarah AND Eli on the same night).  Whew!!  Aren't you jealous you weren't at our house the past few weeks?  Ha!  Thankfully, my prayers were answered and I have been spared (knock on wood). 
     Anyway, everyone was happy and fever/virus/flu/stomach bug free for Christmas!  We had a great time with our families celebrating the wonderful gift of Jesus.  Here are some pictures from our Christmas.  (Disclaimer, most of these are from my cell phone so they are obviously not great quality)

 We have been blessed beyond measure in 2012 with our beautiful healthy children and I can't wait to see what 2013 holds.  Happy New Year!!

My Cute Little Pumpkins

     Last weekend my sister-in-law and I took pumpkin pictures with all of the kiddos.  I took Eli's pictures in a pumpkin when he was a baby, so I wanted to do the same thing with Sarah.  We had so much fun and actually got several pictures with all 4 kids looking in the general direction of the camera.  Score!  I love these little pumpkins!

By the way, this is the cute little monogrammed onesie that I had to get pumpkin stains out of...Success!

Grandma's Secret Spot Remover = AWESOME!

     For all of you out there who have children, or messy husbands, or are just a generally messy person I MUST tell you about a secret I found recently.  Grandma's Secret Spot Remover is seriously the best stain remover I have ever tried, and I've tried almost all of them!  I bought this on a whim when I was checking out at the fabric store a few weeks ago because the sales lady said it would get dried in honey mustard out of Eli's brand new white shirt.  I figured what the heck, it wouldn't be the first $4 I have ever wasted so I got it.  I am SO glad I did because it is amazing!  This stuff not only got out the dried in honey mustard, but it has also gotten out dried in daycare chili, orange pumpkin stains off a brand new monogrammed onesie (that's a story for another post) & dried in baby food spit up stains off all of my mom's shirts!  We tried this on all of the stains that our other stain removers had left behind, hence all the "dried in" stains we treated.  I am officially hooked.  Here's a picture of the bottle...it's very small, but very awesome.  Go Get Some!!  (I'm not being paid at all to write this post, I promise...I just love this stuff and wanted to share!)

A Countdown of My Week

So, this week has not been one of my best weeks.  I probably deserve an award for the worst mom or something like that.  Maybe staying home so much is getting to me or something...or perhaps it's the lack of good sleep.  I don't know.  But, here's a countdown of my week.

* 5 * The number of minutes it takes me to lose my patience this week

* 4 * The number of weeks sweet Sarah has been here (this is my good point for the week!)

* 3 * The number of times Eli threw up in my car on the way home from the dentist yesterday

* 2 * The number of weeks our washing machine has been broken 

(you would think the repair people would have pushed us to the front of the line after the number of times I've called! But, HOLY COW we generate a LOT of laundry!)

* 1 * The number of uninterrupted hours of sleep I'm getting at night

(This is without a doubt the source of my frustration for the week I'm sure)

* 10 Million * The number of times I remind myself that this tiring stage is temporary and count my blessings for my sweet babies because I know I'm very blessed!

How can I not smile when I look at these sweet little faces!?

Happy 11th Anniversary to us!

     Today is our 11th anniversary!  I can't believe how fast another year has gone by!  This past year was definitely very eventful.  We moved into our new house, welcomed our new baby girl, and celebrated our sweet boy turning 3.  I'm so thankful to celebrate another year together!  I love watching the number grow higher and higher every year.  It proves that 2 imperfect people can still stay married and keep a promise we made to each other with God's help.  So, Happy Anniversary to us!!

(Please excuse the very bad picture!  It is the only picture I have of our family of 4 so far!  It was the day we brought Sarah home, so I'm still VERY puffy!!)

Sweet Sarah

     I have to say that I think we were blessed with the sweetest baby ever born.  Of course I could be a little biased, but I'm sticking with my opinion.  Seriously, this baby is so easy!  She doesn't fuss very often, she sleeps through all the Eli noise, and she is super cuddly....We couldn't ask for a better baby!  I am so thankful for such a sweet healthy baby girl.  I am also SO thankful that Eli has fallen in love with her.  He has been so sweet to her!  He kisses her and always wants to check on her when she is sleeping.  I love it!  God is so faithful to answer a worried momma's prayers about healthy babies, sweet big brothers, and a great husband that takes up my slack at work (and at home) while I adjust to this new addition.  Now, on to the fun part....pictures!!  Here is my sweet girl and her silly brother (he was ready to go play instead of taking pictures) and their handsome Daddy!

Stationery card

Keeping Tabs Girl Birth Announcement

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