Pictures from Seth's 7th Birthday Party(I'm a bit behind)

Seth turned 7 in January=0) How crazy it is that kids grow up so quickly! It is so special to be able to live near my nephews and niece and be able to watch them grow up!
Jennifer's creative cake=O)
Wondering what it is he got.
A lego starwars ship from Auntie Dani=o)
A scrabble game from Grams and Papa
And even Ethan got a little something. Some skittles from Uncle Jay and Auntie Katie. He was a pretty happy kid;o)
The next 11 pictures are ones Ethan took;o) He LOVES to take pictures!
Silly Papa;o)


Crazy Uncle Jay

Ethan still needs a bit of work
Beautiful Auntie Sue
A nice picture of Uncle Jay
Pucker up;o)
Jamie the goat! Too funny!
And of course we can't leave little miss Chloe out!
Focusing and talking to Papa
Getting very sleepy!
It was a great nite and we all had fun! I helped Seth put together his lego starwars. He went off to bed after 1/2hr and I proceeded to finish building it until it was done. Altogether it took me 2 hours to finish! And the whole time I was on my stomach on the carpet and I ended up with rug burn on my elbows! What we do for our nephews, eh?
Love you Seth and I pray you will have many more birthdays! And that I can share many more special moments with you!

My Parents=O)

My beloved caterpillar slippers=o)
Aren't they fabulous?
There is a story behind these slippers.
When I still lived at home years ago, I remember one Christmas I saw these slippers in some store. I LOVED them! I really, really wanted them and so I put them on my list. My ma and pop were shopping the one nite and saw them. My Pop came home and said they were the stupidest, ugliest things he's ever seen and would never buy me suck things! I was pretty disappointed. But come Christmas, here were the slippers given to me specifically by my Pop. I will treasure these always! Just knowing it was something my Pop was against and then it was just him who bought them for me meant and still means a lot to me!
So thanks again for the slippers Pop=o) I do still wear them at times.

My Pop
He is such a wonderful, godly man! Even tho him and I don't always get along, he is always the first one I go to when I need to talk. I know that he will be caring and supportive and Biblically sound! He will offer advice if needed and just offer love and support if he knows I'm not ready to hear what he has to say. I know I can be extremely frustrating at times and I am thankful that my Pop still just patiently waits to hear what I have to stay and patiently stays quiet when he knows I won't listen to what he has to say. He may be really frustrated and disappointed inside, but he doesn't show it and that I really appreciate!
My Pop is always level headed and is very quick to offer Scripture verses or passages to help me out or to remind me of something. He is always quick to give me a hug and just let me cry. He has seen me at my worst and still loves me and always at the end of a talk, he offers to pray for me.
Pop, you have been such a godly example to me and I appreciate the man that you are and that God created you to be MY dad!
I love you very much Pop!

My Ma
She is an awesome, fierce, godly woman! My ma and I have had many struggles over the years, especially being very different from each other and trying to relate to one another at times. But thru the years, she has made a huge effort to try to understand where I'm coming from and what it is exactly that I need from her. Whether it's just to talk, a hug, or even just to sit with her quietly while she's reading a book, not having to talk, but just to know I'm not alone. I appreciate the efforts she has made to understand me with my depression and to really work at asking what she can do and not just assume she knows what it is I need or want. I still remember a time when I lived at home, when I was first diagnosed with depression. She was in her room, laying on her bed, reading a book. I came in and just laid beside her as she read. A minute or so later, she put the book down and asked me what I wanted to talk about. I told her nothing. She didn't believe me. She didn't understand that I didn't want or need to talk, I just needed to be with another human being. So over the years, she still remembers that and is not so quick to ask me if I need to talk. And she knows if I say I'm not in the mood to talk, she backs off and we'll sit quietly or just talk about everyday things.
My ma also loves me with a fierce, mother bear kind of love. I really thot of it this way a couple weeks ago. I wanted to talk to my Pop privately. I felt kind of bad because I didn't want my ma there. Not that I didn't want her to know since I told my pop to tell her later, but because I knew what her reaction would be. She would have been angry and fired up over what I needed to talk about. And I didn't want to upset her and also because I wanted my Pop's calm, quiet manner this time. Also because I knew she wouldn't like what I had to say and knew she would state her opinion, I knew I wasn't ready to hear it. And when I told my pop the reason I talked to him privately without ma, he told me her reaction is only because she loves me so much and hates to see me hurting. I have already seen this and know this is true and have really seen my family's love and support more now than ever before since stuff happened in the summer. It is a real eye opener and I'm thankful for them! So when I thot of it later, the only term I could come up with was that my ma was like a mother bear, who would do anything to protect her cub. What an awesome love!
So Ma, I thank you for all your love, concern and support! And for the Bible verses or passage reminders when I need them! And for always being willing to listen to me when I'm ready, for not pushing me when I'm not and for praying with me and praying for me always! I am thankful for you and your effort you put towards getting to know me better! And I'm thankful God chose YOU to be MY mother!
I love you very much Ma!

Winter Storm!

We had such a beautiful snow storm here on Saturday! I absolutely loved it!!! And I even had to work all weekend and drive in it and I still loved it=o)
I am always amazed during and after a storm to see how wondrous God is! To have the power to make it snow and to look so clean, pure and beautiful is just awesome!


This was taken while I was at work during the storm
My house
Squeakers=o)
He was having a blast digging and rubbing his face in the snow!

The next day. So much snow and so clean=o)

Some cell phone pics

My beautiful flower arrangement from my little sister, Susie=0)

Isn't it beautiful? Thanks so much Susie! Your thoughtfulness was very much appreciated! I have really enjoyed them! They are still going strong to this day=0)
This is Squeakers on Christmas day. He loves opening presents!
This is how my little boy loves to sleep on me during the day;o) He is not allowed to sleep with me at nite, but only during the day when I've worked nites. He likes to get as close as he possibly can. Now that he got a haircut, he likes to crawl under the covers because he's cold.
Seth being silly on the way just before going to Grandma and Papa's on New Year's Day.
Ethan didn't want to miss out on the fun either;o)
I love that my new phone can take pictures of us where we can see ourselves so that we can take a decent picture
Silly faces=0)
Chloe joining in on the silly faces too;o)



Such a happy gal! I tried to get her to sit up, but she started falling over just as I was taking the picture. *Don't worry, she wasn't injured in the process. Her mommy was there to grab her*
Jennifer has put the new pillow I bought Chloe on her change table, so she is comfortable when she's getting changed!
The new headband Chloe got from her Mommy and Daddy for Christmas
It's still a little big for her head, but she will grow in to it=o) I do love the colors!
So smiley
I just LOVE this picture! You can see the sparkle in her eyes and a little bit of mischief in her smile=o)
And here she is sporting the new hat that I bought her for Christmas! She is sooooo priceless!!!

Happy New Year!

Well, another year has gone by and a new one has begun. It is so amazing how quickly time goes by! And I know when I was younger and people older than me would tell me that time goes by even quicker when you're older. I thot they were crazy because life seemed to take forever. Now I am one of those older people saying the same thing! Time goes by quicker each year.
Last year, Seth started Grade 1. Ethan finally is potty trained and my little niece Chloe was born! How awesome it is to see my nephews and niece growing up=0) This year already, Seth had his 7th birthday on the 6th. Ethan is going to a JK drop in day at Seth's school and Chloe is 4 months and so happy!
Last year, 2010 ended and 2011 has started a whole lot differently than I had hoped or planned! I'm struggling with God's plan and His timing. He has been ever faithful to me for which I am thankful for! I certainly don't deserve His love, mercy, grace and forgiveness. I am having to relearn to be content and patient with God and His timing. Do I like the fact that things haven't gone the way I would've liked them too? Absolutely not! Do I understand it? Nope! Do I want things my own way? You bet! Do I know deep in my heart that I am exactly where I should be in my life rite now? Very close to getting there, but not quite. Do I know God has a plan for me and that He wants the best for me? YES! Do I wish that God's plans matched my own? Most of the time. Am I grateful that God has revealed a lot of things to me in the past half year? Definitely! Am I thankful that even tho things haven't gone my way, I can rest assured that God will ALWAYS be there for me and never fail me? FOR SURE!
I've been pondering a lot on God's love and faithfulness lately. Even when I get angry because things don't go my way or I wonder why I have to go thru difficult trials, I know deep in my heart that it's not God that has made me go thru those times. It's me and the choices I have made. I sometimes get frustrated that I seem to always learn things the hard way! A terrible habit I have had since I was a little kid! And when things don't go as I planned, I want to blame God because ultimately I think He should be the one to stop these 'bad' things from happening. But I do know that God allows us to make our own choices even when they go against Him and His will. I at time wish He wouldn't let me, but I will admit that I learn so much when I go thru hard times. I learn so much about God, myself and my relationship with Him! And as hard as it is and as much as it sucks at the time, I know that when I work thru it, I will be that much closer to God and I will have changed to become more like Him. Is that something I regret? Never, ever! At the time, I hurt and struggle, but even in those toughest, darkest moments, I am thankful that I can think and know in my heart that this is worth it. That God is teaching me things that I need to be taught. And I know that when I've worked thru something difficult, I can look back at those times and be amazed at the love, support, strength, patience, grace, and kindness God has for me. I can look back and know I was blessed even in those tough times!
What an amazing God we have!

Now, here are a few pictures of the way I spent New Year's Eve. The nite before New Years, I got a call from my previous hairdresser, who knew I did a lot of babysitting. She asked me if I would watch her youngest son on New Year's Eve. I told her as long as she doesn't mind him coming with me to the places I was planning to go, I was all for it. We also decided it would just be easier on everyone if he slept over that nite, came to church the next morning and then I brought him home. I had an absolute blast with this little guy! His name is Carter and he's almost 2. My brother and sister in law have had him overnite a number of times and have always said how amazingly well behaved and easy going he is. That is one of the reasons I didn't mind having him.
I picked Carter up shortly before church New Year's Eve. My friend Danielle came over too. After church we went to my friend Mel's for a couple hours. There were 2 other couples there as well as my friend(the hostess) and her husband, and their many children;O) We had a lot of fun! Thanks for having us Mel!
After Mel's, Danielle, Carter and I went to my parent's place to hang out with Susie, Sandra and Bernadette. Considering I used to babysit both Sandra and Bernadette, I felt quite old, but it was still fun! This is how I found Carter when we got to my parent's. Sound asleep, holding his toothbrush;o)
I rite away put him pj's on and put him in Susie's bed. He went to sleep rite away.
Cheese=o)

Does he not have such a sweet, beautiful smile? And those eyes are just gorgeous! I would totally take this little guy again. And considering he doesn't really know me, he did fabulous!

Here's a few pictures from our time at my ma and pop's...




I hope you all had a fabulous Christmas and New Year's and that you have a blessed year in 2011!