"Way Back Wednesday"

Happy Birthday to my sweet baby girl! Addison Rose turns two today and I can't believe how quickly the time has gone. The last two years have been filled with so much happiness, amazement, laughter and tears. She is truly such a blessing in our lives, this world would just not be the same without her. She is our little miracle who we will cherish forever and ever.

Here are two poems that I wrote for Addison. The first was written before she was born and the second after.

"A Mother to Be"

A lifetime of waiting, now a mother to be.

Our loving family of two is soon to be three.

As young girls so early we begin to prepare,

First with baby dolls, carefully brushing their hair.

Next come the awkward teenage babysitting years,

Then caring for nephews as my motherhood nears.

Now I'm ready, eager to meet my own baby.

Who will she look like mommy, daddy or both maybe?

So many emotions, scared to death and ecstatic,

Praying that motherly instincts are automatic.

The waiting is done, finally a mother I'll be,

A sweet little miracle coming to daddy and me.

"Baby Steps"

Two baby feet so perfect and small.

Ten tiny toes, I just love them all.

I think of all the things these feet will do,

They'll carry you places your whole life through.

Small baby steps so wobbly and scared,

Then will come running and tackling stairs.

You'll skip off to school and walk into a job,

Then fall into love while mommy just sobs.

It seems like you'll always be walking away,

But deep in my mind fond memories will stay.

You'll take such great steps, all will be treasured.

A mother's love for baby can never be measured.

Of all baby's steps so precious and sweet

It's baby's very first that can never be beat.

These are the steps that I'll always adore

Stepping into my heart and remaining forever more.

Happy Birthday Rosebud, We Love You!!!

These are pictures from your one year photo shoot with Aunt Heather. They are sooo cute, I love them!

Kids' Bathroom

WOO-HOO! I am finally finished with the bathroom...well almost. I still need to add just a few finishing touches like a strip of molding above the wayne's coating and some cute towel hooks.

I am so excited, I think it turned out really cute!
I am still contemplating adding a few more smaller sized circles. It's
probably kind
of hard to tell from the pictures, but let me know if you think it needs them or if they'd be too much. The purple unit with the baskets in it is what I hung above the toilet instead of a
cabinet. I just put all of Addi's hair stuff and bath things in there since there aren't any drawers in this bathroom. All right, well just wanted to show everyone the finished project since I had mentioned it before.

Best Book Ever!

I just finished reading this book and I LOVED it! I am so glad Heather recommended it to me. I think every mom in the world should read it. The inspiration that comes from this book came at a particularly great time for me. I've been having difficulty lately trying to figure out just the best way to handle Addison's new found independent and ornery stage. While this book does not give tips on parenting (other than love, love, love) it reminds us that we're never alone and the work we're doing as mothers is truly a blessing from our Heavenly Father. I know I'll have more days when I'll feel like I've done absolutely nothing right as a mother, but hopefully I'll be able to pull some of the valuable words from this book, take a deep breath, say a prayer and continue doing the best I can.

ARGHHH!!!

I just had to get on here and vent for a second. I am SO MAD at my mom and Heather. Why couldn't you guys leave me just an ounce of the creative craftiness you possess? You guys are so selfish, hoarding it all for yourselves. I'm not asking for much, seriously just a tiny bit will do. What's with the sudden rant you ask? Well I was up until one in the morning (I started at about 8:00) making these silly birthday invitations for Addison's party and I am extremely unhappy with them. Five hours later and they look like this!!! That's it, I give up. I try to pretend like I'm somewhat crafty, but it's just not so. It would have saved me so much time and money to just buy the dumb invitations at the store. Now I know to look at them they're not terrible, but it's just not at all what I had in my head. It's too late to start over though, I've got to get them out. So here's a picture, I made 3 variations. Her party is going to have a puppy theme, that's why there are dogs on them. Anyways, just had to get this off my chest. To little miss Martha and Martha Jr. (aka Mom & Heather) you know I love you and I'm not really mad, just extremely JEALOUS!!!

I've been tagged!!!

I've been tagged with these fun questions, so here you go:

1. What did you want to be when you "grew up?" Are you there yet?
From what I remember I always wanted to be a pediatric physical therapist or journalist/editor. I'm halfway along the path to becoming a physical therapist. I'll finish some day once the kiddos are in school. As for journalist/editor, my passion has turned towards writing children's books which I am in the middle of writing my first one. (I've been in the middle of it for about a year, hopefully I'll gain the confidence to finish it soon.)I also always wanted to be a wife & mom and have been extremely blessed to be fulfilling these dreams!
2. What is your favorite song to dance to while no one is looking? (you know you do it............in the car, while your cleaning.........)
Why I would never participate in such...okay, okay if you must know it's probably "Let's get retarded (it started) in here" by the Black-Eyed Peas.
3. You wake up to find that you have a whole day to yourself, to do whatever you want, what do you do?
Hmmm, this is a toughy! Read, scrapbook and go shopping.
4. What is your favorite "guilty pleasure?"
Oh gosh, I love stupid teeny bopper shows that I should no longer be watching. If I happen to pass a Saved By The Bell, Full House or Fresh Prince episode I can't pass it up. Also newer ones on Nickelodeon like Drake & Josh and the Suite Life of Zach & Cody. Now I've seen very few of these, but they are quite entertaining. Funny story, Jared came home unexpectedly early once while I was watching one of my guilty pleasure shows and he walks into the room, looks at the t.v. then looks all around the house. I'm like "what are you looking for?" and he said "well I assumed that some of the kids (meaning nieces & nephews) were over here since this is on, I didn't figure you'd be watching it by yourself". I felt pretty lame, he still makes fun of me. =)
5. What is your least favorite chore?
I'd have to say vacuuming. Lately it just takes everything out of me. Our vacuum works really well, but it's hard to push, so by the time I'm finished I am POOPED! Actually, speaking of poop I'd like to change my answer, my least favorite chore would definitely have to be picking up dog poop. YUCK!!! Well, you asked!

Since the only people who read my blog have already been tagged, I suppose I will not pass this along.

"Way Back Wednesday"

For today's "way back Wednesday" I tried to re-create a picture of myself when I was little. I used Addison as my model and our poor kitty as her subject. I did her hair the same, kept her pant-less and used an almost identical cat (ours just happens to be about the same size as our daughter). The picture didn't quite turn out though for a couple of reasons. First, the kitty was being very uncooperative. Second, our camera is a piece of junk that doesn't take pictures until what seems like five minutes after I push the button, so I miss the shot and they're usually blurry at that! Third, Addison got a little over zealous while holding the kitty and put her arm right over her face to try to hold her down. I only got two shots and believe it or not this is the better of the two. I didn't want to keep going because by this point the cat had ENOUGH and I was afraid Addison was going to get hurt. Although it was funny because Addison wasn't quite ready to give up. She kept chasing the cat around the house saying "ah mere kitty kitty, ah mere" (come here kitty kitty, come here) trying to pick her up. Oh well, you'll get the gist. They're still cute pictures to look at.

I CAN'T BELIEVE I DID THAT!!!

I seriously wonder how I make it through the day sometimes. I did the dumbest thing yesterday, I am still so mad about it! I had two doctors appointments yesterday morning so I was gone most of the day. Well by the time I was on my way home I was barely functioning. I just didn't feel well for some reason. I was hungry and weak and felt like I was going to pass out. Plus, I had my glucose test and we all know how wonderful that yucky, orange, syrupy stuff is that we have to drink. So anyway, as I was pulling up to my house I was just so excited to get inside and eat and relax that I wasn't thinking about anything else. I opened the garage door and just pulled right in. No big deal right? WRONG!!! What I haven't mentioned yet is that I've been painting some wayne's coating that's going up in the kids' bathroom and it was laying on the garage floor to dry. I drove right over the top of it and didn't even realize it until I got out of the car and saw the sheet it was laying on sticking out from underneath the tire. I was still confused as to what happened though. I thought to myself "why is there a sheet on the garage floor?". Then suddenly it clicked. OH CRAP!!! I jumped back into the car and backed out only to find dark black tire marks all over my freshly painted project. Luckily I didn't crack the wayne's coating (try to find the silver lining right?) I just need to re-paint it. The worst part is that I kept reminding Jared not to park in the garage. I must've told him 4 or 5 times, then what do I do? I AM SUCH A MORON! I was so upset that I wanted to cry, but I was too weak and I don't think tears would've come out anyway because I felt dehydrated. Oh well, what do you do? It's really not that big of a deal, I just hate when I do stupid things like that. So I guess we all know what I'll be doing this weekend...that's right, PAINTING! Or perhaps I'll just change the theme of the bathroom from frogs to off-road racing, then the tire marks will fit right in. =) Once I get the bathroom done I'll post pictures for everyone to see.

Grandma Martin

How cute is this woman?!

I just made grilled cheese sandwiches for lunch, which I haven't had in FOREVER, and it totally reminded me of my Grandma Martin. I love my grandma so much! There are so many things that I will always associate with her and they are so special to me. Here's a list of a few of those things:

grilled cheese sandwiches

oatmeal

macaroni & cheese

chicken patties

mixed veggies

ANYTHING CHOCOLATE

orange rolls

letters on canned food labels (my favorite thing in the world)

fun stories

silly jokes

old songs

great thrift store/estate sale finds

atv rides

crisp dollar bills

and so much more.

Mostly I just think about how much she loves and supports each and every one of her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. We used to love spending the night at her house, eating her yummy food, taking a bath in her big tub and giving her crazy hair-do's. I always say that I wish every kid in the world could know what it's like to have a grandma & grandpa like my Grandma & Grandpa Martin. They've always been so involved in our lives and we have always known that we are loved by them and special to them in our own way. I wish I lived closer to my grandma, I miss seeing her more often. It was so great to get to visit with her a couple of weekends ago. I need to make more of an effort to keep in touch with her. It's just silly little things like grilled cheese sandwiches that bring back great childhood memories. I love being able to tell Jared & Addison that "such & such always reminds me of Grandma Martin because back when I was a kid she always yada, yada, yada". It helps to keep her close to me even though we don't live by eachother and helps them get to know her a little better and feel closer to her. I love you grandma!

"Way Back Wednesday"

I had mentioned in one of Heather's blog posts that I thought I looked a bit like a giant in one of the pictures. This reminded me of my prom pictures. If ever I looked like a giant this picture proves it! I didn't particularly want to go to prom in the first place. I didn't dance and there wasn't anybody I wanted to go with. I NEVER dated in high school, so I just wasn't that comfortable with the whole situation. Well, there was this guy in one of my classes who asked me, and since I was way to nice to say no I ended up going with him. My prom date was considerably shorter than me, but not as much as this picture makes it seem. I look HUGE compared to him. It makes me laugh every time I see it. I don't know why I keep posting these pictures that embarrass myself. Oh well, I guess I should just embrace my lameness! The funny thing is I swore I would never date anyone shorter than me after this, but for some reason that's all that would ever ask me out...short guys. I ended up marrying someone shorter than me (not by much) and I couldn't be happier. All works out in the end. ;-)