It's a.......BOY!

Well friends, I think that I finally went off the deep end. I am not sure how this happened, but it did. The other morning we went into Petco to look at fish, birds, and hamsters and left with the cutest little puppy. I mean two kids under two isn't enough, right? Surely we needed to add a three month old puppy into the mix.

I really love our precious new pup and we have been wanting a dog for a really long time. Moses absolutely adores dogs and we knew it would be really fun for him. Once we saw his face and heard his story my heart belonged to him and I knew that we had to adopt him. At a young age he had been abandoned. When the lady found him (and his five other siblings) they were dehydrated, you could see their ribs, their stomaches were bloated, and they were filthy. Since they were abandoned, we are not entirely sure what type of dog it is but the best guess is a shepherd-terrier mix. He is quite the little cuddle bug, likes to play, and is pretty mellow for a three month old puppy. We have only heard him bark twice, but figure once he gets more comfortable he will probably be more vocal. The lady had started crate training him, so he is actually pretty good with the bathroom. He only poops outside and almost always waits to pee outside too. (We have had two accidents per day). He sleeps in his crate through the night and wakes up about the same time as the kids. Meet Hurley, the newest member of our family.

Family+Fro Yo=Fun

My expectations of today vs. what actually happened were two completely different things. Usually this drives me crazy and throws me off, but today I embraced it for what it was and tried hard to have a good attitude. I wanted to go to the beach today with the kids but instead Jarrell and I deep cleaned our house and car and filed nanny-tax papers. Thrilling right? I do feel very accomplished though.

We decided that we needed to get out of the house for a little while so we had a nice dinner at a local restaurant. Let me say this--> when you are trying to watch what you eat, it is uber frustrating to go out to eat. There really aren't a lot of healthy options out there. Since I did so well (and worked really hard today) we decided to get some frozen yogurt from my favorite place Nubi. I got an amazing non-fat, no-sugar added Pecan Praline yogurt with some yummy fresh fruit. Isn't the purple spoon fun? There is a little outside seating area that has several waterfalls and Moses ran around splashing in the water and dancing to the music. I love the small, perfect moments like those. What type of moments make your heart smile?

My Not so Secret, Secret

I can't believe that I haven't posted in over two weeks! I had a secret New Year's goal (which is no longer secret) to post more but I feel like there is so much going on in my life. The original reason that I started to blog though was because I don't have scrapbooks for my children and I wanted to remember specific stuff about them.

Emery:

*She will be eight months old in two days

*She has two teeth (both on the bottom)

*She scoots around super fast and is basically crawling

*She claps and says mama

*Emery loves food and overall is a super content baby and loves being close to her mama

Moses:

*He is such a bundle of energy and is constantly keeping us on our toes

*He has a great sense of humor and is always smiling and trying to make you laugh

*He can say Moses Peak with little coaching along with crazy other phrases that make me shake my head in amazement. I told him to do something today and he said, "No way." I have no idea where he learned that. Instead of saying yes he says, "Cha" (I think that one came from Turtle Talk with Crush)

*With help he can count to four, say the alphabet through E (he isn't fond of the letter F), knows every part of his body, and the colors red, blue, green, and yellow.

My kids bring so much joy to my life and everything that I do, I do for them. I can't even imagine my life without them and the richness that I experience by being their parent. The best days of my life are the ones spent alongside them and Jarrell. We may not have the best of everything that this life has to offer, but I wouldn't trade in anything that I have because there is no amount of money, material items, or experiences that could ever compare to the life I have with them.

Since the last couple of weeks have been really busy I thought that I would give the highlights below:

#1-I met up with a girlfriend from college and her husband at Downtown Disney. We enjoyed a nice dinner at the House of Blues and just walked around. I have actually been thinking about Jill and I's friendship a lot lately because it has taught me a huge lesson that I never want to repeat. Jill and I weren't friends in college, in fact I judged her, a lot. Through different situations (I would like to think more the work of God) we became friends through her blog and emailing back and forth. I can't believe how genuine, encouraging, and positive Jill is. I missed out on this awesome friendship earlier in life because I let my perception of her get in the way. If you want to read an inspiring blog check out Just Jill or the Being True Webazine

#2-I live in a beautiful place where I can experience the beauty of God's creation at any given moment. Sunday morning I decided to take my babies for a hike and it was so peaceful and rejuvenating. Unfortunately I forgot my camera but got some cute pictures on my phone so you'll have to check them out on Facebook.

#3-We spent a day at Disneyland together as a family and had such a fun time. Moses gets super excited to go see Mickey Mouse and each time I see how he gets more and more out of the experience.

#4-Jarrell and I cut out of work early one day and had a little date afternoon that included The Fighter (amazing acting), Qdoba, and some Fro-Yo.

#5- Jill and I found this cute little store call Little Miss Matched in Downtown Disney that sells speciality socks and other accessories. We picked up the cutest arm warmers for our daughters. This store will become a problem for me :)

#6-Last but not least I finally started my post-back-to-back-pregnancy weight-loss journey! My goal is to lose 45 pounds, which seems like a daunting task but I want to healthy and in shape. The best part of the whole thing is Jarrell did my work out with me one day and we had a blast :) I will give updates on this frequently.

I want to leave you with something to think about --> Life gets tough, overwhelming, and hard but in the midst of everything look for the beauty and remember to be thankful for all the good things in your life. What are some of those things?

Christmas Fun

Just a warning--->This post is going to be all over the place and long because there is so much I want to talk about.

I haven't posted since before Christmas so I wanted to back up a little and cover the past couple of weeks. I was a little sad because we weren't going to be around either of our families for Christmas, but this turned out to be one of the best Christmases I've had. We are still trying to figure out how we are going to celebrate Christmas as our kids get older but there are a few traditions that we started this year.

I wanted to decorate our tree themed and pretty but Jarrell had something different in mind. He wanted all the ornaments on ourtree to have meaning and purpose.

We decided that we would get picture ornaments and each year put pictures of each of the kids at Christmas and one of us. I was a little hesitant at first, but after I saw the picture of Moses from last year compared to this year, I was sold. We also decided that we will always open our Christmas presents on Christmas night, so that we can spend Christmas day focusing on the true meaning of Christmas and spending quality time together as a family. (This may have to change if we decide to throw a little Santa in the mix) We were excited to get Moses a big boy bed and he LOVED IT.

It was so fun celebrating Emery's first Christmas and being together as our own little family. Moses was extremely helpful in "teaching" Emery how to open her presents. Here is a picture of them in front of our tree. *Side note- I HATE fake trees but this year I was conned into buying one, so don't

judge our sad looking tree.

Emery opened her first present and was really excited about her tea set. (Much to Jarrell's dismay Moses enjoys this present as much, if not more, than Emery)

On Christmas Day we decided to take a family trip to the San Diego Zoo and we had such a blast. Moses loves animals and it is so fun to listen to him imitate them. The highlights of the trip were the Sea Lion Show, the Elephants, the chimp that tried to attack Moses through the glass, and Jarrell trying to take pictures of Emery that looked like she was eating theanimals.

The pictures directly below are examples of Jarrell trying to make Emery look like she was eating the camel. First Emery slowly approaches the camel looking all innocent, then out of nowhere she eats off his head :)

Moses hanging out with the "dirty" elephants

Brother and Sister Photo Op (you can tell Moses was less the thrilled about this)

The week after Christmas our nanny Kelly was gone, so Jarrell and I rotated working from home and at the office, which made for quite the hectic week, but we survived. There was a snow storm in the middle of the week, so it was fun to take the kids outside to play in it. It was nice to stay at home and do fun activities with the kids and it really made me miss being a stay at home mom (especially when Irealized how fast Emery is growing up, look at her stand up)

Moses showing off his cooking decorating skills

My little pink marshmellow

Run Run As Fast As You Can...

I have never really been a fan of the Holiday Season because of all the craziness involved. I appreciate the meaning behind Christmas, but it has been lost by most. With all that being said, this Christmas has been different. I think it is because we have kids.

Yesterday a co-worker had Trader Joe's Really Big GingerBread Man Kits in her office. As soon as I saw them, I knew that I wanted to do one with Moses, not matter the cost. Earlier today I went to TJ's and much to my surprise they were only 99 cents each! I also picked up a Sugar Cookie Workshop kit for 99 cents too. It includes the cookie mix, two packages of frosting, four packages of decorations, and three cookie cutters. The best part is all the ingredients are natural including the dyes in the decorations (they are made of beets and spinach). I left an extremely happy customer :)

Here are some pictures of the fun we had:

The happy 7 Month Old Princess

They are both excited for the decorating

Our work in progress...

Moses loving his new friend

All Done

Our lovely Ginger People

Frosting Toes

This has been the craziest week ever! Tonight we went to Christmas party #3 for the week and have two more to go. Highlights for the week are below:

#1- Taking Moses and Emery to Disneyland. It was so beautifully decorated and snow fell on Main Street and Moses

was so excited. It even smelled like Gingerbread after it melted :) Also, our friend April was here from Michigan and it was so good to be able to spend time with her and Carly at the happiest place on earth!

#2-Emery is now mobile! She isn't crawling yet but she is scooting around like crazy. I can't believe she will be 7 months old in a couple of days.

#3-Frosting sugar cookies with Moses and Liz. Moses went crazy with the frosting and sprinkles. He didn't taste it until the end and then it was over. He was eating spoonfuls of frosting and somehow got it all over his feet, so then he was eating it off his toes.

#4-Christmas shopping for Jarrell and the kids. We got Moses a Toy Story toddler bed and I am so excited to see his little face light up when he sees it.

#5-Moses dancing/playing the drums to Rock Band. We were at Christmas Party and Moses was so happy dancing and playing the drums. It may have been the cutest thing I have ever seen him do.

#6- (This one hasn't actually happened yet, but I

am super excited for it and will post pictures) Moses and Emery are going to be in their first little Christmas play at church tomorrow. Moses is going to be a sheep and Emery is baby Jesus. (She is the youngest in the church)

With Christmas just around the corner, I can't help but reflect on all the wonderful things that

are in my life and be thankful and humbled.

I am so thankful that God sent His Son to

redeem the world.

Imperfectly Perfect

I want to start this post out by saying I am not perfect and I don't need to be (This probably doesn't shock most of you). I am mainly stating that fact for myself, because it is something that I struggle to accept. There have been a lot of things that have happened in my life that have caused me to think maybe if I was better at blank then blank wouldn't have happened. I am starting to realize that this way of thinking is an illusion, a lie that has caused me to be over controlling, anxious, judgmental, angry, fearful, and to have a lot of stress.

My friend Jill (and her family) pick words every New Year to be their word of the year. I really like the concept of this so I myself have decided to adopt a word this year, which is going to be GRACE. I desire the following four outcomes for this word:

*To learn how to better accept the grace given to me through the sacrifice of Jesus

*To learn how to extend MYSELF grace when I make mistakes

*To learn how to freely give grace to others for their mistakes and shortcomings

*To accept the fact that I am imperfect, but that I am imperfectly perfect and that there is beauty and strength in that