My babies... Drea

Alexandrea Carmella

Drea just turned 8 in January and she amazes me on a regular basis.

She is beautiful...truly beautiful. When she smiles or laughs, it is infectious. She lights up a room!

She is so smart! She reads on a level usually two grades above her current grade. One of my hopes for her was that she would love to read so much that she could lay in her bed at night and read until she fell asleep. It filled my heart with joy when that start happening this year.

You can tell she is an 8 year old right now. She has a constant annoyance with her little sister and she thinks she knows everything... and she absolutely knows whats cool and whats not. I have always struggled with treating her the actual age she is because she usually acts older and has alway been way smarter than her age so I have to remind myself of her actual age...or she helps me remember when she starts whining. :) I especially have to remind myself of this when I have unrealistic expectations of an 8 year old.

She is an extreme thinker. There isn't anything that she doesn't put a lot of thought into. Whether it's what she is going to wear to school, what toothbrush she's going to use or how she can spend her Toys R Us gift card, she could take days to decide. Ironically, sometimes it's because she knows what she wants but she can't have it or it's not available.

Drea's love language is quality time. (...in my opinion.) She thrives on one-on-one time and truly can't get enough.

Some other awesome things about Drea:

• She loves art! Any type of art, craft, etc. You've never seen her so focused as when she is doing anything artistic, even just coloring.
• Drea is very athletic. In the summer she loves to be outside...riding her bike, playing basketball, jumping rope, swimming. She has even really gotten into sled riding with her Dad this winter...and she used to hate getting cold outside. And if she isn't getting plenty of exercise outside, you can usually find her dancing...anywhere and everywhere. She could play outside at the playground all day and night during the summer. She would prefer to be outside all the time in the summer....she even loves camping with her Dad. Recently, she has enjoyed going to CrossFit with me and doing her own workouts. She is built very athletic too. People are always commenting on her muscles. She has abs like she does a couple hundred crunches a day! She looks like she has spent years doing gymnastics.
• She already has a clothes and shoe fetish. She is a regular little fashionista! Loves shopping and trying clothes on. Justice is her favorite store. And luckily Papaw and Grandma's neighbor passign her lots of hand-me-downs from Justice since it's not the cheapest store ever.
• Both of my girls love yard sale-ing and visiting the Goodwill. I hope they will always like this since it makes for finding cool things way cheaper. And good finds for the start of awesome DIY projects!
• Drea is a huge creature of habit! Once she does something once when she's with you or at your house, she will want to do that every time. For instance, we played a guessing game at my Mom and Bob's during dinner one night. Now she requests to play that game every time we eat dinner at their house.
• That probably helps my next note: she has a brilliant memory! And a very visual memory. If she doesn't know one of her spelling words for the week she can write it down once and she will absolutely get it correct on the test.
• She loves playing board games, crafting (she loves making doll furniture and clothes out of recylced materials), drawing, painting, reading, playing dolls with her sister, coloring,
• At the age of eight, she...likes taking showers (finally)....hasn't lost any teeth yet (she has strong, healthy ones!)...has won the spelling bee in her class the past couple years...loves helping me plan birthday parties....absolutely adores her cousins and spending as much time with them as she can...thinks she's old enough to start babysitting Theo...  AND has stolen every bit of my heart!!

I love this little girl so much. I only pray that I can help her know and feel that all that time because she is one awesome kid and beautiful little lady!!

~God, please help me to show her my unconditional love and always teach her that your love goes way beyond mine and will never disappoint her even when we humans fail her. Thank you God for being my strength when I am weak. Thank you for always being there for us! Amen.

   Drea, 7yr old, Summer '13

 

Waiting...

I'm getting ready to rent a house. I've been trying to decide between two houses this landlord has. They said I could have another look to decide after they finished the work that needed done to them. Before the bad weather here in our area, they thought the places would be done by Feb 1st. I called a couple times to check on progress because I'm anxious to move forward with this part of my life. I'm excited! I love the thought of moving in somewhere and doing it up my way. Anyway, I avoided calming to check on it Friday and i made myself wait yesterday too because I really don't want to drive them crazy. This morning on the way to work I was thinking that I would just call them and check. Then I started praying and told God if he just wants me to have a God lesson in patience and trusting his timing, I will surrender to that. So I've been listening for God's voice today and trusting in Him.

Then I opened up my daily devotion:
Philippians 4:6-7 NKJV

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Thanks Lord...I hear you. :)

Normal?

My life has changed so much over the past few years that I'm not even sure what normal looks like...

Something missing....

You may look at my blog and think there is something missing. I haven't posted many pictures of my kids or stories about them. Don't worry, I'm not excluding my kids...they will be a part of it shortly...  I have mainly started just blogging random thoughts and feelings. I will soon post some good kid stories and pictures so stay tuned.  :-)  Maybe they will even begin adding some blogs. I bet Drea would love to write some herself!

~ Stac



Here's a pic of my babies (from a couple summers ago but I love this pic!)

Pinterest fun!

I have been having a lot of fun doing projects I find on Pinterest lately. I thought I would post some of them...probably more for my memory than to show off my work because they aren't my ideas so I don't deserve any credit.

 

Mostly I enjoy this blog because I love a site/app that is useful! I get tired of things that just take up my time but I don't get any good use out of them. I used a lot of my pinned ideas for at Christmas time to do some creative gift giving and not spend as much money. And now I am enjoying the ideas I've been putting to use while getting ready to move into my new rental house. Anway, the pictures are below. (Not pictured are the recipes I have tried which always end up being delicious!) I'm sure I will post more as I collect more creations! I am having so much fun with it!

 

 

Christmas gift the girsl and I made for Andy. 

It's the girls thumbprints made into hearts for a keepsake.

 

 

This is was a Christmas gift I did for my mom.

It's a "family tree" with the grandkid's handprints as the leaves. I made one for my Dad and Beth too.

 

 

These are headband holders! I love them.

They will be for the new house and will assist in my attempt to organize our stuff!!

 

 

This is a dresser that my mom and Bob let me have for my new house. I painted it a color that will compliment my bedspread. Below is a picture of what it looked like before I painted it.

 

"Women Who Do Too Much"

Jacquie left a Christmas present on my desk while I was out of the office on Christmas break. It's a daily desk calendar. Sometimes these are stressful to me because I hate it when I don't keep up with them and I get behind. The one I had last year had scriptures on it...I'm throwing it away right now to put out my new one and the current day it was left on is November 15th. LOL!

The new calendar is called 365 Meditations and Reflections for 2014 for Women Who Do Too Much.

If that isn't like..."Enough said."

The holidays are here...

This is the making of Papaw & Grandma's 2013 Christmas cards.

Best things ever: 1st edition

I have some favorites and if I'm not documenting them for someone else to benefit from (you know, I'm all about grilling others out! Lol!) In certainly documenting then on my blog for myself because eventually I'm just going to be old and forgetful. (At least I don't consider myself old now...at 34!)
Well, I'm naming this the 1st edition because I'm positive this won't be the only post of this kind.

Couple of the best things ever:

Peanut butter and bacon milkshake from Sonic
I'm a peanut butter freak. I'm a bacon freak. Put them together...it's a match made in heaven!
The combination doesn't appeal to some. And if you are one of those crazy people, my second favorite milkshake from there is the Peanut Butter Cookie.

Cheez Waffies by Wise
I'm weird...I know. I haven't met many people who like these which is probably why you can only by them in a couple random stores anymore but I think they are Delicious! Yes, any item that spells cheese with a "z" on its package just has to be authentic and made with some of the best ingredients in the world but that's not the important part... they are a great snack! They don't have to be nutritious or made with real cheese for me! lol! I remember Andy always liked them too and Drea actually thinks they are good as well....every one else turns their nose up and looks at me like I'm crazy when I offer them some. Well, I don't want to share anyway! Hahaha!