{ Update of the Week }

We discovered Naomi taking a nap like this one afternoon! 

 Eric and I had hot chocolate, popcorn, and played UNO last Sunday night. I 

love my cute Santa mug!

Having devotions with my fun Fox mug to drink out of is pretty awesome!

Fun activities this week:   We celebrated Noami's 2nd birthday on Saturday (post to come!) 

 We also visited my midwife in Lexington, and got in a Target trip while there too! I did some birthday shopping for Naomi there, and had a great time just looking at all the pretty stuff! I was actually practically crying in the gift bag/wrap aisle, because everything was just SO pretty! New baby seems to be doing well, and I feel her move a lot!

Projects accomplished:  We finally got our Christmas tree taken down, and most of our decorations moved downstairs! 

How is our health doing? My Thieves and Lemon oils from Young Living came in this week, and I am so excited! I've been making my husband put a drop on his hands of Thieves everyday before school, in an effort to keep germs away! I started drinking Red Raspberry tea this week (once), for my pregnancy. I drunk a good bit my last pregnancy, and had a great labor, so it can't hurt! We've also been super good about taking our Vitamins. I want to cut out way more sugar in my diet this coming week though! 

How did preschool go?  It went great! On Friday (review day), Samuel wrote 3 of his letters quite well. I definitely see an improvement in his control of writing, and understanding of it! What an encouragement! I also added in reading an animal book to them for Science, and a Bible story every day. We only do school time for like 45 minutes though. 

How did housework go? I think I got around to cleaning all main areas of the house at least once this week. I'm working on teaching Samuel to help me make his bed. We try to tidy his room once or twice a day too (morning and evening). Friday the house was a mess, because I was SUPER tired! 

What I am reading: "Baby Catcher" by Peggy Vincent. It is a midwife's story. I'm enjoying it! 

What I watched: "Driving Miss Daisy' Here is the trailer. I just realized today, that it went along well with Martin  Luther King Day being today! Good movie! I happened to read about it this week in an old "Southern Living" magazine, and decided to watch it. 

{ Update of the Week }

 Samuel and Naomi having a little outside time 

 Samuel and Naomi having a tea party with Naomi's new tea set from Christmas 

 Naomi getting all gussied up in her new dress-up stuff!

Putting on the fancy shoes!

How did I do with housework this week? - Well, I kept the house pretty tidy most of the time, and got the car unpacked and most stuff put away and dealt with from our vacation!

How am I doing keeping the kids healthy? - I ordered my first essential oils from Young Living this week. I am getting Thieves and Peppermint to start out! I'm pretty excited, and am going to try to put a drop of the Thieves on their hands before we go anywhere, to keep germs away. They took vitamins pretty much every day, and had some healthy snacks. Friday night, Samuel threw up though, and he had a low fever the next couple of days, and a low appetite. He seems to be better today though! 

What am I reading? I'm still reading Ann Voskamp's book, "One Thousand Gifts". I'm almost done, and it has been so GOOD! Highly recommend! Also reading the book of Matthew in the Bible.

How am I doing with preschool? We had a great week of preschool. Samuel seems to do well learning letters by making them with play doh, pretending to drive trucks around a big version of them, and making them with straws. It's interesting to learn what helps him learn! I'm also doing better with writing down every day what we did! 

How am I doing being a Mom? A dear friend brought to my attention this week that I need to do a better job teaching my kids how to act in public. So I had several talks with Samuel about how to better act in the dining hall. Church will be next. We did family devotions a couple of days this week, so hopefully that will be a training ground for Church. This will definitely be a work in progress! 

How did everyone else's week go? Any updates? Hope this week is amazing for you!

{ New Year! }

from here

 

Some Goals from now till June

 

1. Get our Storage areas organized.

2. Have fun with preschool with the kids.

3. Go through baby girl clothes

4. Be more organized with my housework

5. Organize our school closet

6. Drink lots of healthy liquids, and eat healthily through remainder of pregnancy.

7. Have a great Home birth.

8. Get ready for baby.

8. Do some light exercising.

9. Read 2 books per month.

10. Start using essential oils

11. Keep kids healthier naturally

12. Start our herb garden and box garden.

 

 

 

 

{ A Life-Changing must-read book }

So, if you are looking to read a new book this year, and need a place to start, I highly recommend
"One Thousand Gifts" by Ann Voskamp. My women's encouragement group has been going through it on Wednesday nights, and it is really life-changing. It is all about giving Thanks in EVERYTHING. It is about accepting each moment as a Gift from God, and living with open hands, accepting everything He gives (fun and not-so-fun), and giving Thanks. It is about keeping a list of the Gifts God gives each day. I have started keeping a list since October...not every day...but as I can...and it has been such an Amazing life-changing thing. There is just not a way for discontment to stay very long when you are doing that! So, if you are looking for a new book to read this year...go for it!

{ Christmas in Michigan }

A few days before Christmas, we took off for Michigan, where my husband's family live. We brought tons of snow gear, but it has hardly snowed! Eric and I had to go do our Christmas shopping just a few days before Christmas. That was interesting! One day we went to the very busy mall with the kids. They got pretty done pretty quick! We rode on the carousel, and ate Taco Bell though, to take the edge off, and have some fun! One of my favorite stores to browse was Barnes and Noble! They had some really cool kid's toys, believe it or not! Eric also took the kids to play in the kids play area at the mall, but it was REALLY crowded!

 The children sleeping as we traveled to Michigan

 

 

 Eric driving.

 

 

 The amazing book I read for a lot of the trip

 

 

 Enjoying some Taco Bell at the mall.

 

 

 Samuel on the carousel at the mall while Christmas shopping

 

 

 My Mother-in-law making yummy peanut butter cookies for Christmas

 

 

 The tree with all the presents on Christmas morning

 

 

 Eric helping Naomi open her first present

 

 

 Naomi playing a duet with her Aunt Jessica

 

 

 The pretty veggie tray I arranged.

 

 



 The adorable "Little People" Nativity Scene Naomi's Grandma gave her for Christmas

 

 

 Yummy rolls rising for Christmas dinner

 

 

 Naomi wearing her pretty new tutu dress

 

 

 Pies my Mother-in-law made.

 

 

 Naomi's Aunt Ashley feeding her Christmas dinner

 

 

 Naomi all dressed up in her new heels beads and purse she got for Christmas

 

 

Naomi all Dolled Up 

{ Christmas Banquet }

The college we work at had a fun "Charlie Brown" themed Christmas banquet this year. They had yummy food, and gave gifts to the children too. After the meal, they had an open dorm time, where we could see everyone's Christmasy decorated rooms. After that, we had some fun activities. For one of them, different teams had to come up with hand motions for "The 12 Days of Christmas". Our table had "Birds a Calling." It was so hilarious!

 Samuel and Naomi at the banquet

 

 

 Opening their presents.

 

 

Our sweet friend Amber with Samuel and Naomi 

{ Family Pictures and Exciting News! }

We have some exciting news to share! We are expecting a new baby girl! I am due probably around the last part of April. I am finally getting over most of the nausea phase. We've seen two ultrasounds of her! Our sweet friend Amber took these pictures of us.

 Us

 

 

 Eric and I

 

 Sweet little Naomi

 

 

 Father and Son

 

 

 Samuel and a neighbor dog.

 

 

 Mother and Son

 

 

 cute little smile

 

 

kind of a funky picture of us.