Out with the old...

and on with the new...
Well Happy New Year! I welcome 2012 like NO other! 2011 was a hard one for me and my little family. A lot of trials that I wish we didn't have to learn from. But I do know that during all of it we have had some pure God moments.
I thought I would do a little recap of 2011 and a little preview of what we "expect" in 2012.
January - Kids growing, Rick learning his medical stuff, me trying to be a good wife, mommy among other things

 

February - Dedicated Aspen at our church, Z started doing Early Access at our house to help with his speaking and learning, Rick still learning and I'm still doing my thing

 

 March - Rick had a medical conference in Colorado Springs so we went there with him, got to go to the zoo, see Garden of the Gods, go to the aquarium, see Grandpa Tom and Grandma Jean along with Great Grandma Bobbi (we also lost our second vehicle there. :( all well, we are a one car family yet again)

 

 

 April - kids growing and learning, Rick learning and me doing my thing...also had a wonderful Easter celebration at our church.

 May - BASEBALL season is well underway and we loved going to the Iowa Cubs (triple A team for the Chicago Cubs)

 June - Rick went to Alaska for 2 weeks (on a medical rotation) and the kids and I went to Florida

 

 

 

 

 July - Celebrated the 4th of July with friends, Celebrated my birthday as a family (me and the kids above), enjoyed the free "splash pads around Des Moines to stay cool, I learned how to be a "solo" mom while Rick was on rotations, going to the zoo, talking on the phone and doing skype calls with Rick, amongst other things

 

 

 August - Rick had a rotation out in Colorado, so the kids and I drove out there to spend Z's birthday there and a week there too.

 

 

 

 

 September - Rick is doing his last OMM Fellowship Block, Z started school after Labor Day (4 days a week for a little over 3 hours during that time) One last trip to the Iowa Cubs for the season

 

 

 October - Enjoyed a Sunday afternoon and a couple different Iowa Farms enjoying the WONDERFUL weather! Grandpa Tom & Grandma Jean came to celebrate Aspen's 1st Birthday, Got our family pictures done, moved to another house and spend the end of the month and the beginning of November in Florida

 

 

 

 November - In Florida we went to the beach, the fair to see the animals (only in Florida will you see sharks at a fair), saw some manatees, Rick had a conference as well as an interview. Back in Iowa, we got used to new home (it's a HUGE blessing!), got back into the routine of school, Rick went to Wisconsin for an interview and then down to North Carolina for 2 interviews, spent Thanksgiving with our DMU family, as well as enjoyed the nice warmer weather while we could.

 

 

 

 December - Z and I made his teacher's Christmas gifts (pics above), got to go to an Iowa Energy game, Rick finished off his OMM Fellowship Block, Z helped me bake some this season, drove down to Florida via North Carolina (so I could see where could live later in 2012) got a really awesome present this year a new niece!!! also got to spend some great time with the family.

 

 

 

 

Hope you liked my year in review, next post are what to come in 2012, what's Rick up to next, maybe a crafting one...who knows...

Thursday Thankfulness!

Right now I'm SO very thankful for a 3 things (well actually MORE than that) BUT that is all I'm going to blog about on this Thursday evening.
(In NO particular order)
~~I'm thankful for Z having a GREAT day at preschool today. He goes to school in the morning for 3 hours and 15 minutes. He's in a class with 6 other students and 3 teachers. Here's some pictures from his first of day!

 They gave me this sheet...I LOVE to know what he did! It's already in folder, so we can look back and see how much he has changed, learned and grown. :)
~~I am thankful for photography and God's creation!!! As well as SOS (Significant Other's Support) at Des Moines University. I'm the "leader" for the photography club for SOS...so I planned a trip to Rose Garden Here are pics I took from that! All of these are SOOC (Straight Out Of Camera)

 ~~I'm thankful for the ability to create (knitting to be exact!)...I like creating with FIBER AKA yarn. And I like creating with GOOD yarn. :) The picture below is Aspen's hat. This yarn is from Baby Llama and Merino Wool.

 I'm currently working on a hat for Z...with the same fiber. :) It's SO SOFT!!! I really like it! I actually made a hat with the green for my dear friend (who is pregnant and having their son in November) it has a little brown pom-pom on top. It's really cute...if I do have to say so myself.

Thankful Thursday!

Hello readers...I'm sure I could come up with a better blog title...however this is just easy.

First off -- I'm Thankful (I'll explain more about that later)
Secondly -- It's Thursday!

Reasons I am THANKFUL! (these are in NO particular order)

~ Today I'm celebrating a special day with my husband! 4 years ago today we stood in tree groove in the Rocky Mountain National Park and said our vows to love and cherish each other for ever. We only had 7 people there total; Rick's parents (Tom & Jean), My parents (Keith & Susie) and Matt (the photographer). One of my dreams growing up was to have my father not only give me away but marry me. Which that happened...I was so thrilled!On our Wedding Day!!!

~ Another person in my life that I'm thankful for is my son! He will be 2 years old in 15 days! He's no longer my baby! He's learning new words everyday. He's sleeping in a big boy bed and goes there with ease for his naps and for bedtime. He LOVES cars, trucks, planes, trains & balls!"Z" Playing with an airplane on daddy's legs.

~ I'm also Thankful for the Baby Girl that is growing inside of me (I know not every woman has the ability to do this...so I count it as a blessing!) I'm thankful for a the ability to get a go ahead on going to Colorado in less than 4 weeks FOR 4 weeks. I have passed the glucose test...YEAH! Right now I'm 28 weeks...The little girl has been moving and grooving inside of me (which is by far my favorite!) and she had a strong heart beat in the 150s yesterday at the doctors office. According to the baby center website...she weighs 2 and quarter pounds and measuring around 14.8 inches, her eyesight is developing as well as developing billions of neurons in her brain, and she is packing on the fat to help her for life on the outside world.A Chinese Cabbage (about the size of the Baby Girl)

~ I'm thankful for my family...parents, in-laws, sisters, brothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins...I'm thankful for all the love, prayers and support that you have given to me and my family!
~ I'm also thankful for my blogland friends...friends that I don't think I'll ever meet in real life...but I'm so glad I have you in my life. To read your blogs with your insight or to have you leave comments on my blogs it really is a blessing in my life!
~ I'm also SO thankful for my God who sent his Son, Jesus down to die for my sins; and he STILL loves me through my past mistakes, my present struggles and my future trials that I know I will go through.

Headache update: I thought I would do an update on my health...I have been still having headaches but they have gone done quite a lot during the week. Instead of me suffering like 5 days a week...I'm suffering like 3 days of the week, and now with the proper medicine I can get it before it gets horrible. I'm so thankful. I have been able to make sure I get plenty of sleep and plenty of water during the day...and that seems to help along with the ability of finding my "triggers" And I also found out that heat helps take the pain down.

So thanks for reading...I hope that you have a great Thursday...if you have time could you please at least list something that you are Thankful for this Thursday!

SO Glad!!!

There are a couple things that that I am SO GLAD about...I'm just going to use this post to tell you some things that are going on...
#1 - I'm SO glad that I don't have to choose whether I'm having a boy or a girl. Because I can see the greatest addition with either adding a girl or a boy to the family. Adding a little boy because my current little "Z-Man" and him would be a little over 2 years apart and they could be best buds (they could also get into a lot of trouble together too!) Adding a little girl because then I would have 1 of each. Plus I think my husband would like a little princess. But I do know that I will love the precious one with all that I am...#2 - I'm SO glad about the transition the little "Z-Man" has done in sleeping in a big boy bed. Well he is doing a good job of sleeping in there at night...naps are a little on the "tougher" side...I think it's because it's light outside and he just wants to play.
#3 - I'm SO glad that we got a good report from the ultrasound yesterday. The baby is measuring fine, everything is looking good, the baby's heartbeat is wonderful to listen too, I have only gained 1 pound since the whole time, and "Z-Man" did SO well he actually slept the entire time!!!#4 - I'm SO glad that I have been able to feel the baby move inside of me, we have got a little mover in there (the baby was NON-STOP moving during the ultrasound too!) although I did find out that I have an anterior placenta...MEANING that it goes my skin, the placenta and then the baby. So it might be a lot further along before Rick is able the baby move (which is his favorite part)
#5 - I'm SO glad that I we have almost found a church to call home. We have it narrowed down between two. But I'm also so glad that I have a God that loves me and wants to show his love to me everyday!
#6 - I'm SO glad that I have a blog that I can put my feelings and what is going on in my life and that you actually read about it...