Hello All

     It has been a very long time since I have been able to sit down and blog. We have had a crazy couple of months. Patrick's waivers all passed for the Marines, so he handed in his letter of resignation at Carroll Community Schools. Then we had to start packing up all our belongs to move south. During the past months I was also working as a full time long term substitute grading, planning, and teaching from the last week in September until the day we left Iowa on December 16. Add in a 3 year old and an infant into the mix and you have your hands full.
    The kids and I will be either with my parents or Patrick's parents while he is in boot camp from roughly January 5 until mid May.We would appreciate all your prayers for our family. Some specific prayer requests: Our family being separated during this time and for Patrick to be healthy and strong with no injuries from now throughout his training.
     We are extremely happy about this new adventure and being closer to family. Know that we will miss all the great friendships we made while in Carroll. We hope each of you will keep in touch and up to date on the going ons of your family.
    I plan on keeping this blog more up to date in the coming year. I want to keep a journal of such while Patrick is in training and away. I think it will therapeutic for me in the long weeks ahead.

Pumpkin Patch

We enjoyed our annual trip to the pumpkin patch. Enjoy pictures of our little adventure.

August in Review

I can barely believe that August is almost over. It has been an extremely busy and fun month. Charles turned 3 years old on the 10th. It is hard to believe my little guy is so big. He is doing a great job potty training. We started the training in July and it has been trying at times, but we are proud of how he is doing.He is growing and learning something new each day.
 We traveled to Georgia after Patrick finished band camp on August 2, and visited family and a few friends the week of August 3rd-10th. Charles got to have a small family birthday party at each set of grandparents' house. Thomas themed of course. He is train mad and can tell you all the Thomas the Train characters. Meredith enjoyed her time in Georgia but hated the car ride, and boy did she ever let us know how she felt! She graduated to a bigger car seat and enjoys it a little more. Meredith also experienced a half birthday. My baby girl is now 6 months old.  She is babbling, grabbing toys, and trying to sit up. Her smile brightens our days.
Patrick is now back at school, but I need to brag on him he has been working out and eating well. He has dropped over 35 pounds and looks GREAT!!!
We are also very happy for our friends Matt and Erika they also became parents to a beautiful baby girl on August 5th! We have been praying for this precious sweet blessing for over 4 years!

1st things

These past few weeks have held a few firsts for my little ones.
1. Meredith went to the pool for the first time ever and really liked it. She really enjoyed kicking her little feet in the water.(7/13/14)
2. Charles got his first buzz cut. He keeps saying my hair is just like Daddy's. I must say I love it too because it is so much easier to control.(7/18/14)
3. We took Charles to his first movie at the theater this past Sunday. We went to see Planes Fire & Rescue. He loved it!!! When the screen came on for the first time he said WOW! He sat quietly for the whole movie and just took it all in, and I must say it was a priceless experience for me to get to see the movie with him. (7/20/14)
4. Meredith had her first ever rice cereal on Sunday too. She liked it so much better than Charles ever did, and yesterday when it was all gone she fussed for more!(7/20/14)

Peanut Peanut Butter

Charles had his first ever peanut butter sandwich last night for supper.In all my mommy wisdom I thought just make him a half sandwich to see if he likes it. Who was I kidding. The kid loved it and refused to eat anything else except another half of peanut butter sandwich. The second half we added banana and he was one of the happiest kids ever. 

We also made it a special meal by making it be a picnic supper. Charles gave the meal a thumbs up reward.

Beat the Heat with a Good Book

It is hot out and nothing is better than a good book to curl up with inside to beat the heat, or to enjoy by the ocean or pool. Here is a list of books I have enjoyed reading so far this year:

Christian Fiction Books:
 Lynette Eason book 3 A Killer Among Us (Present Day)
 Mary Connealy Books I would recommend reading in this order: (books are post civil war)
1. Montana Rose
2. The Husband Tree
3. Wildflower Bride
4. Petticoat Ranch
5. Calico Canyon
6. Gingham Mountain
7. Doctor in Petticoats
8. Wrangler in Petticoats
9. Sharpshooter in Petticoats    *The books all tie together but are 3 different series.
New Series same author: (post civil war)
1. Swept Away
2. Fired Up
3. Stuck Together ( I am about to start this one.)
Kristen Heitzmann book 1 Secrets. I need to find the rest of this series!!! The first book is great and is free on Kindle. (present day)
Novella: A Match Made in Texas authors Mary Connealy, Karen Whitemeyer, Carol Cox, & Regina Jennings (historical fiction)
Janice Thompson
Book # 3 Dream Dress (Weddings by Design Series) *present day setting/all her books are great
***book 4 Bouquet of Love is coming out in August!!!

Young Adult Fiction:
Veronica Roth
1. Divergent
2. Insurgent
3. Allegiant

** Books on deck:
1. Stuck Together book 3 by Mary Connealy (starting it tonight).
2. Full Steam Ahead by Karen Witemeyer (this book just came out).
3. When the Smoke Clears by Lynette Eason

I would recommend all of these authors/books. If you have questions let me know.

Meredith's Baby Dedication

Meredith you are a precious gift from God. We are so happy God decided to place you in our care. You have great things in store for you little one. We look forward to watching you grow and change. Our prayer is that through our example that you will desire a relationship with Jesus, that you follow your dreams, and work hard at all you do. May all your family, church, and friends lead you in the direction you need  to go.  

Today we dedicated Meredith. This was not a baptism. It was an outward expression of how we would like to raise our daughter, and we ask that you all help us in this very important venture for it is the most important job ever. 

Bad Blogger

I keep thinking hey I need to blog, but then I look at the pile of laundry or dishes and think no I have too much to do. Then I am needed to be mommy to two precious babies and I think the blog is not as important as they are. I love them more than I can put into words, and they will only be little once. Although I do love to look back and see what all our family has done or been through, so I will continue to blog but I will choose to take breaks and not beat myself up for not keeping it updated. Bear with me as I get used to being a mommy to two. You will notice when I get better at juggling everything because I will post more often.

Updates on us:

Patrick- Is finishing up the school year and is extremely busy getting everything done.
Me- Adjusting to life as a mommy of two.
Charles- He amazes me with how creative he is. I love listening to him play with his toys. He is a little social butterfly and loves people. He enjoys church and is probably the youngest greeter ever. He has a special ability to make people feel special and I love watching as that special gift grows within him.
Meredith- Is growing so fast. I can't believe she will be 3 months on the 24th. It seem like yesterday that I should be posting about her at 2 months. She loves being held and talked too. She will coo and smile when talked to. She is beginning to learn how to hold on to things like her paci and rattle. She found her thumb, but we are encouraging the paci as much as we can. She does not like tummy time at all.

Creative Lunch

As we all know Charles is really into trains, so today I decided to get creative with his lunch. We have a train cut out, but as you can see when you use it they look more like steam boats. So, today I tried to make them look like steam engines with banana wheels, and strawberries and raisins for steam. The best part is that this lunch is mostly healthy!
Meal: Grilled Cheese (whole wheat bread, slice of cheese) Unhealthy part the butter.
Fruit: Strawberries, raisins, and banana.
Drink: Milk
How long it took me: less than 10 minutes
Charles reaction: Very happy and excited! The plus is that he cleaned his plate!!!

Recent Readings

I know I am late on reading this wonderful series, but I am so glad I decided to give them a chance. They are great and kept my attention the whole way through. Divergent is by far my favorite of the series, but the other two were very good. I wish the Allegiant would have ended a little differently. 

Book 1

Book 2

Book 3

To find out which faction you would most likely belong to take the quiz.

A Shower of Blessings

The ladies at our church put together a precious shower for Meredith. All the decorations were just adorable, and the food was delicious. We are so blessed and thankful.

So thankful that my BF was here for the shower. We so enjoyed her visit from Saturday until Tuesday!

One Month

Look who's 1 month already!

Nickname: Little Lady

Interests: Sleeping, Eating, and Being Held

Charles picked out her outfit today. He loves being included and will get his step stool out and watch her being changed. He says, " Did she poop? Stinky booty." He will hand me things to help out too. He loves his baby sister. This past Sunday he got sick and we didn't know if he was contagious or not and had to move him away from her several times. He cried every single time. Even explaining to him didn't help. He wanted to hug and kiss his sister. I am so glad that the doctor told us he had an ear infection and a fever rash, and that he wasn't contagious. I don't know how long I could take him feeling bad and his pitiful cry from not getting to love on his Eredith. (he can't say Meredith).

Picture time begins.

Really Mommy I am so not into this.

Big Brother is so funny.

Alright I will give a half smile so we can be finished already.

And we are done!

Welcoming Baby Meredith

Please forgive me for taking so long to put this into words on the blog. It has been a crazy two week journey. Meredith decided she wanted to pick her birthday and came two days before her scheduled c-section. It threw me for a major loop, and apparently my body too. I had major health issues after delivery. I not only puzzled my OB-GYN but specialists also. I was a special case. Without going into the all the details of what happened just know that I had to have 2 units of blood and 2 units of frozen plasma. Meredith Estelle Box came into the world on February 24th at 10:46 pm weighing 8 pounds and 6 ounces and was 20 1/2 inches long. We didn't get to go home until the 28th.  I am happy to say she is beautiful and healthy as can be.

First Mommy and daughter photo.

One proud Daddy. This is the first girl in his direct line for 117 years!

First bath ever.

Charles meets his sister for the first time.

One proud big brother.

Kisses

Smiles

Her sweet coming home outfit.

First home bath. Her towel is an elephant.