5 years

It has been 5 years since I last heard my friend Rachel's voice.  She called me on my way home from work and we chatted briefly as I was headed out to pass out candy at a friend's house.  I hardly remember what we talked about but I know we laughed and said I love you as we always did.  So lucky to have had a girlfriend who was more like a sister...(and thankful to have many others like that too, so blessed).  The next day, I got the worst call ever that she was gone.  And now here it is, 5 years later.  Seems like just yesterday and forever ago all at the same time.

I always think about Rachel, not a day goes by without some little thought.  But today on my way home from work, I passed a funeral procession...and cried.  I miss my friend so very much.

So tomorrow on All Saint's Day, I will remember as I always do....my funny, loving, amazing sisterfriend, Rachel.  And praying peace and comfort for her parents, who undoubtably miss her in a million different ways than I do.  I am thankful for faith that I know Rachel is in Heaven, but it will forever be one of things that I will never understand why it had to happen.

serious cuteness

it definitely was not the most easy photo session and i wish there were some more family pics...but the pics of just the boys on their own.....oh.my.stars!  SO ADORABLE!

Just precious.  I have already forgotten how stressful the session was.......

almost ;-)

I think he liked his cupcake....

Thanks to everyone who came and shared in our little guy's birthday.  It was a small and simple gathering...and I think we all enjoyed it!  Hope you all had a good weekend too! :)

My little Markey

Two years ago today....in the same fashion that we found out I was pregnant, Markey came flying into this world!  It is definitely a night I will never forget.  Finally left our house about 10:30pm on a Saturday night (thanks to my mother's insistence to go to the hospital), checked in about 11:30pm, and Mark was born less than 45 minutes later!  No drugs, no doctors there, just me, Matt, and the nurses!  What a whirlwind.  And then there he was, this precious baby boy with his dark brown hair.  Another man in my life that stole my heart!

Mark is truly just such a sweet little fella.  Whereas Zachary takes after his daddy's personality, I would say Markey favors me more.  Go with the flow....until you REALLY tick him off ;-)

He amazes me daily with the things he says and does.  I know every parent says it, but he is very bright!  He has already been recognizing letters and numbers and been talking in sentences forever.  He always has fun playing with his brother, but he is also just as happy to sit and play with his cars on his own!

He LOVES any type of vehicle...cars, trucks, trains, airplanes!  He loves his loveys.  His best friends are for sure his big brother and his Popsie (or Poppie as he calls him).  But he still loves his momma best!  I love that he still wants to sit and snuggle and cuddle with me.

Yet he is a daredevil too!  You don't have to ask him twice to try anything, he will go for it.  A lot of times even before his big brother!

Sweet Markey, I love you so much and am so proud to be your mommy.  Your daddy and I are beyond blessed to have been chosen to be your parents.  Two years has gone by too fast already...I can't wait to see what else you will do in this next year and many years to come!  You make every day better for our family and we love you oh so very much.  Happy birthday, son!  We love you!

trick or treat?

I think Halloween costume shopping is just as bad or worse than bathing suit shopping...definitely a TRICK and not a TREAT!

we went Friday night after dinner to get costumes while the boys were at Kids Night Out at church...figuring it would be the ONLY time we would have to go and look without the boys with us.

Oh.My.Goodness.  First off, I would day 85% of the costumes for women look like something someone dancing on a pole would wear...just sayin ;-)  Some of them are very cute still, like this one pirate outfit I tried on.  The top was good, but the skirt BARELY covered my tush!  And as a 30-something mother of two...I am just not comfortable enough to go with that look, no matter how good I looked! (kidding...)

Anyway, I ended up finding a roman dress and it looks nice enough for the halloween bash! We won't be winning any creativity awards but they will do. Anyone else feel like halloween costume shopping is a similar h.e.double hockeysticks experience as swimsuit shopping or is it just me??

BOO'd!

My little helper and I got busy during nap time on Monday.  I had seen this "game" out in the blogosphere before and always thought it was cute so Z and I decided to get a chain started!  It  is kinda like May flower baskets as my mom reminded me.  Basically, you drop and a little goodie bag off at your friend/neighbors, ring the bell...and RUN!  Then those people continue the game on! :)

I found my printable here for the cute window sign and poem.

Next Zach and I baked up some yummy slice and bake cookies and some candy corn bark!  Then we packaged it all up in a cute little container and bag!

Then we loaded up the car and headed out.  Z LOVED ringin the doorbells and running...Mark did not care for sitting in the car.  AND, it is hard to try to run away when you have to buckle a passenger back in their car seat! ;-)

Have you ever been BOO'd before or done the Booing?!?  It was neat little activity and I hope my friends have fun passing along the Booing to others too! :)

breaking through

see that little ticker on the right??  ----------------->

I finally busted through the plateau and now have less than 10lbs to go before my big goal weight.  I truly cannot believe it!  I set my "goal weight" at the highest end of my height's healthy range according to ww but I wouldn't mind losing another 15 lbs after that.  But hey, if all I lose is my goal...losing 50lbs ain't too shabby.

In the last month or so, I would say people definitely started noticing the weight loss more.  Some co-workers I don't see on a regular basis even have told me that they hardly recognize me. It is still strange to me, because although I was overweight, I never thought of myself as "fat".  And looking at myself today, even several sizes smaller, I still think I look me!  Weird, I know?  Perhaps at goal weight I will take some pics to compare from start to goal!

In an effort to celebrate me finally reaching the 40lb mark....here are a couple of every day items that weigh 40lbs:
1) Zachary.  Dang, he is heavy these days to carry around.  That has definitely given me perspective to think I was carrying around that much extra weight on my body!

2) a 5-gallon bottle of water 

3) According the American Kennel Society, a Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier!

4) And speaking of dogs....a big old 40lb bag of dog food!

5) Two Tires

So there you have it.  Losing 4.4lbs this week gave me the push and encouragement I needed...I WILL REACH MY GOAL! :)

Diaper Box turned storage box

While perusing the bloggy world a couple weeks ago....I saw this.  Turning diaper boxes into cute storage boxes!  I have often used diaper boxes as storage, just never thought about cutesy-ing it up into something more permanent or using fabric.

Both boys decided to fall asleep today so I used that time to cover a diaper box!  (Great use of time, right?  All the cleaning was done already...)  I had some fat quarters that needed to be used to I went digging through that.  We have a little children's table cluttered with stuff on it in our living room and I thought it would be a great place for a cute box to keep all the boys crayons and paper in.

Enter your supplies: diaper box, fabric, mod podge, brush, and scissors.

I am not a precise/measuring type of girl...so I just went for it.  Mod Podge one side of your box.  

 Lay your fabric on top and stretch and smooth out any wrinkles. Cut slightly larger than your box so you have some excess fabric to fold into and under the box.

Repeat on all 4 sides.  I did my 2 long sides first, and then the short sides.  On the short sides, I "hemmed" the fabric so it would it would appear cleaner.  Then I took a strip and lined the inside top few inches...and mod podged that down too.

It was looking a little naked to me, so I decided to hot glue some ribbon around the outside, as well as to the bottom of the strip inside the box to cover up the edge of the fabric.

Pretty cute if I do say so myself, and much better than the stack of stuff on the desk before....

We will see how it holds up.  But for $0 and about 30 minutes of time...not too shabby! What a great scrap buster project too!  What do you think?