Legoland!

 Saturday, we got to go to Legoland to celebrate Josiah's birthday. We were given annual passes as Christmas gifts from my parents and I can tell you we will definitely be using them like crazy! Josiah LOVED legoland. There were so many things that were geared to his age, and they had firetruck and train rides. It was love at first sight. Hope you enjoy the pictures! -Joy

Josiah turns THREE!

This was our little guy three years ago.
And here he is today...

Happy 3rd birthday to our Squirmy Worm! We love you, Josiah!!!

Grills and Chores

 Many thanks to my Aunt and Uncle for giving us a propane tank for our grill! It works wonderfully! Michael had a huge smile on his face last night as he got to use it for the first time!

 Little man got to sit and watch Daddy as he grilled.

Yesterday while browsing the meat section at Publix looking for clearanced meat, I came across a pack of Beef Tenderloin Steaks for $3.50! There was a regular pack right beside them that was $11! I snatched them up so fast and couldn't wait to tell Michael he'd be grilling that night. The steaks were so incredibly tender and went along very well with my homemade twice baked potatoes and a doctored up can of cream corn. I figured it up that this yummy meal cost just under $5 but it tasted like we spent $20 on it. :)

 Something I am starting today is teaching Josiah another aspect of personal responsibility. If he spills something liquid we don't have to tell him to clean it up, he just automatically finds a towel and cleans it up as best as he can. My goal is for him to be this way when he drops crumbs on the floor.

 So I introduced him today to "His Broom". It is going to take a few weeks for him to learn how to use it properly... lets just say his coordination with two objects at the same time need help.

All in all, I think it is going to be wonderful once he learns to coordinate both arms at the same time and once he can remember to check for a mess and then clean it up without being told. Another wonderful thing is that this will become one chore that I will no longer have to constantly do on my own. The bittersweet part is that my little Squirmy Worm is growing up so fast!

I found a great idea this morning on one of my blogs! I am so excited to try this!!! It is Homemade Oatmeal Packets. Josiah is an oatmeal eater if I ever saw one. We can get him to eat something different for breakfast every once in a while but this kids asks for oatmeal every morning! He is also getting to where he wants more than just one packet. We buy both the flavored stuff and the plain stuff and he scarfs it all down so as soon as I can go buy the quick cooking oats (because I'm an Old Fashioned oats kind of girl) I am going to give this a try and see how he likes it. :)

This morning I woke up thinking that I was having a relapse of that cold but after medicine and going back to bed until lunch time I am doing much better. I am going to continue to rest the remainder of the day, and ignore the dishes and laundry. I really don't want to find myself completely sick again. My best friend is only here for another week and Josiah's birthday is this next Saturday. I MUST stay well!!! :)

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
Joy

Decorating Has Begun!

 My hubby was busy during most of his time off getting caught up on some of the things that needed to be done around the house. I was so excited when he started hanging some of our picture frames and I wanted to show off my husbands awesomeness. ;)

I got the vinyl lettering last year and that was the first thing to go up. The picture frame was a birthday gift and I will eventually get real pictures in them... The plan is to get two matching black frames with pictures of the kiddos to go on either side of the phrase... one day.

 I plan on spray painting this frame completely black... one day.

 The last two picture frames are on either side of my french doors.

 This is one of my favorite wall picture design thingys. It is on the opposite wall of the vinyl lettering. I think it needs something on the sides to balance it on the wall... maybe sconces, I'm not sure. I'm not really a decorator so if someone has an idea let me know.

 One of the beauties that we unpacked a few weeks back. This is hand made and was given to us as a wedding gift. We have had it packed away the last 5 1/2 years since we didn't have room for it. And I just have to say that it is extremely heavy. Right now its home is the back of the couch but I'd love to have a quilt rack that I can hang it up on the wall and display it... one day.

 I have been keeping an eye out on my blogs for any household tips and the like and I got this idea for a bookshelf for Josiah. I explained it to Michael and he loved the idea and searched his man cave to see if he could create something without spending money.

He put something together but when we were going through boxes in the garage he saw what I used as my spice rack at the old apartment that I am no longer using. He stared at it and then said to me what if we cut it and use this as his book shelf.... My Husband is a GENIUS! I love how it turned out! There is one more shelf, but Michael's leatherman was giving out with all the sawing it was doing. He needs real tools in his man cave... one day.

Michael hung it behind Josiah's door as another way to conserve space. I love it that that little corner isn't wasted space anymore. Josiah is doing a great job keeping his books on his shelves now.

 Josiah and I also had a wonderful visit from my dearest friend and her sweet baby girl yesterday! Josiah 'helped' Sami feed and burp Ailey. It was so sweet.

I loved getting to hold Ailey! Tadpole kicked like crazy when I did. Sami was saying that the girls will grow up best friends just like us and then changed her mind and said with our luck they'll hate each other. lol

I was thankful for time spent with a good friend even though we didn't 'DO' anything. My energy level still isn't great so it was nice to just visit for a while. Oh, did I mention Sami bought pizza... the baby LOVES pizza right now! :)

Lovin' this cold weather!
Joy

Better Late Than Never...

We had a rather unusual Christmas this year. At least it was for me having been sick and not having hardly any energy. Despite all that it was a good day. We woke Josiah up a little earlier than planned so I could eat breakfast since I already took my medicine. I tried a new recipe... fail. I didn't like it and it was too sweet so I ended up eating a hot pocket. lol

Josiah opened his presents and played with Michael with a few of them. Then we got ready for church. My purse was stocked with cough drops and toilet paper. Nice, huh? We had a great morning in Church, and there was a great turn out of kids in our Jr. Church!

My parents joined us at the house for lunch, and Josiah told them the Christmas story (which was really cute), I completely lost my voice to which my husband actually said "Praise the Lord"... I told him he had kitchen duty. lol Then we all took naps. I ended up staying home from Church that night because I was so sick.

So it was nothing overly special since I just didn't have any energy but Michael was such a HUGE help and tried to make it special for Josiah. Thankfully I am on the uphill climb of this cold... its hanging on for dear life. We have enjoyed Michael's time off from work so much. He has gotten so much house stuff done that I will have to do another post just to show the progress we are making on the house.

On a side note... Christmas cards went out late for obvious reasons... plus we had no stamps for the family who live in the Northern Regions... So yeah, Merry Christmas & Happy New year a few weeks late. :) Which is another reason this post is named "better late than never"...

Have a great day!
Joy

Pictures and a Quick Update

 These first few pictures were taken at our Hill Family Christmas party last weekend.

 My brother's oldest son played the piano a little bit while the other boys played the bells and Josiah was on the tambourine while the rest of us tried to sing a couple carols. :)

 I seriously think Josiah is going to play the piano when he gets older. He loves music and he adores playing the piano.

 My little guy during nap time.

 Yesterday we made Christmas cookies!

 He was a mess!!!

Josiah showing off his nativity scene that he and Daddy put together during Bible Time. He has been learning about the Christmas story and memorizing Isaiah 9:6. I hope to get a video of him quoting it soon.

The Lord has given us so many blessings recently. Michael was given an extra side job this week. Which was a financial blessing with the doctor bills that we are trying to do as Dave Ramsey says and RUN! BABY! RUN! With Gazelle Intensity! lol I just had to throw that in there for all you Dave Fans. :)

But seriously, We have seen God provide several little side jobs to help out with our 'baby expenses' as well as several wonderful financial department people who encourage us and one who actually told us not to worry because God will provide! (How cool is that!)

Another big blessing is that we have had two meals provided for us. Two different families just being completely huge blessings to us. Blessings, not just because I didn't have to cook dinner but that Michael didn't have to cook dinner (since I'm sick). Since there are no more frozen pizzas in the house it could have been scary. One of those meals was a smoked ham. Praise Jesus! It was delish! Sometimes I feel so spoiled! The Lord has definitely been good.

That's all for now!
Joy

Life In General

It is incredibly hard for my brain to comprehend that Thanksgiving was two weeks ago. Seriously Y'all, the month of December is flying by and its only the 8th! Tis the Season!

 We have been blessed with so many clothes for Josiah over the last year. It has been such an answer to prayer that we haven't had to buy much of anything as far as clothing goes for our little man. This is a suit that was given to us and I am telling you Josiah looked like he grew two inches in between taking his spiderman pajamas off and putting on that suit coat.

He kept telling us that he looked like a preacher man. It was so cute! Then right before we walked out the door to head to church he panicked and was afraid that he would have to preach that morning. He is such a nut!! He does pretend he preaches sometimes at home which is so precious to watch, he basically just says his memory verses and then says Amen!

We also went to a birthday party at the park at some point in time. Josiah goes for the cupcake. End of story.

The next big thing we did was put up our Christmas decorations. Well, that is after we cleaned the garage. Going through boxes is NOT fun, but we were able to get so much accomplished while Josiah took a nap. I was in what I call the "Purge Mood". I was trying to get rid of stuff that we no longer needed and we ended up making a nice yard sale pile which I hope to have a yard sale in January.

When Josiah woke up we started putting the ornaments on the tree. Little man loved it but I was kinda frantic because he kept grabbing my pretty breakable ornaments. Shockingly I only found two ornaments that had broken sometime between being stored last year and our move over the summer.

He calls everything Christmas now. Stuffed animals... My Christmas! A present... My Christmas! The tree... It's Christmas. BUT if he sees a house with lights on the outside it's... A Present!

Josiah having a blast with his trains that we pulled out of storage. Nothing like old toys that he hasn't seen in 6 months...

Ah, yes then it was the College Winter Banquet. We had a nice night but I was so tired by the end of the night.

We were at Sonny's for Sunday lunch and my Grandparents came in to eat with my Uncle for his birthday. Josiah finagled his way to their table after we ate and sat between them. Josiah is a blessed little guy to know two sets of Great Grandparents!

Then this Wednesday we found out that our new little one is a girl! We are so happy!!! :) She currently weighs 10 ounces and her heartbeat was 149.

As some of you know we gave Josiah a nickname after we had his ultrasound. He was dubbed "Squirmy Worm". And we still call him that from time to time. Well after our appointment was over yesterday Michael also came up with her new nickname... She will be our Little Tadpole! :)



We are so excited! The Lord has been so good to us. I am looking forward to meeting our little girl and watching Michael become mush when he holds her for the first time!

To finish this crazy week off we have a pre-admission appt. at the hospital tomorrow followed by the school Christmas play, and Sunday is the Church Cantata. Then my in-laws fly back to Alaska, my best friend in Alaska will fly here to Florida and Saturday is a family Christmas party. I just might find myself coming when I should be going or vice versa. lol

Peace Out. I'm going to go turn my brain off for a few minutes.