ok..figured it was time for an update

miss gracie lou will be one at the end of this month and i just can NOT believe it. i am in total denial.
the past month has brought many joys and hurts and i am learning to be thankful for both. i have reconnected with some friends from long ago and was able to get out of the house and actually sit through a movie and go out to eat afterwards. imagine that....no movie interruptions and HOURS of talking afterwards. it was nice and it has been amazing how God places people back in our lives JUST when we need them....which leads me to my hurts. i went to the ER with major abdominal pain and bleeding and found out there that i had just experienced a miscarriage...i can't even write what went through my mind, but i can tell you that i was pretty angry and upset. i then found out that if derek and i want to have any more kids we should try within the next 6 months because they want to take everything out. are you kidding me???!! we have THOUGHT about one more...just at the off chance we have a boy and i can have my Jakob Ryder and he can have a boy, but we certainly did not want one right now. the Lord has taken me to many places the past week and i can finally say that i am emerging all right. i am stronger and i look at life a lot differently....especially when it comes to my precious kids ;)
back to the brighter side of things...gracie lou will be one at the end of the month and we are soooo excited to get her a wooden kitchen and play food and pots and pans and everything to go with. she LOVES to be in the kitchen and i am sure she won't play with it once, because she will be following around derek or i as we cook. lol.
we are not doing anything big...just a small family afternoon with cake ;)
another side note. i am attempting to cook something different every day of the week except weekends and i will let you know how it goes. this week i loved our italian burgers and pasta and next week there holds great new things also. its a great feeling cooking for your family(not to say i just love it all the time...it is a chore for me..i am the baker in the family, but i am doing this because derek is just soooo tired when he comes home from work that he doesn't need to be adding cooking and dishes to his agenda). in my notes section of my facebook i will be posting recipes. i am going to try and post them all.. bare with me, as i have a million things going on, but i will do my best. ;) love to all.

So..Here goes.

I thought with the new year coming up, I would blog and at the end of next year, I would make them into some kind of memorable album or some kind of memorable book. We will see with all the things I already have to do. Let me start by saying that I am sure this will bore the socks off most people, but I think this is a way I am going to be able to release some of the SAHM issues and feelings I have day to day. I am sure my grammar and puncuation is going to be wrong, but I am not here for that. I am here to log my days and log my kiddos as they grow, because MAN DOES IT FLY BY!
Miss Ava Renee is now 6. Mr. Lio Michael is 3. and let's not forget our Diva Princess Miss Gracie Lou is 10 months. Gage is 11 and is now going to be living with his mom and coming to see us on the weekends and hopefully holidays. We don't have all that ironed out just yet. Also, we have 3 dogs...Ben who is our weiner dog who is grumpy and old, Katie who is our lab mix and is scared of everything and is a snuggle bug and Lucas who is our hound dog that is taller than me when he stands on his hind legs.
Derek is now working at Dibon contracting out with 7-Eleven and he loves who he works with. He is sooo glad to just be back to work after being out for 6 months. Man, did we have a hard time this year, but the Lord really has spoken to me and revealed many things and brought amazing people into my life, that I would have NEVER imagined would have been possible.
I will get into that another time. I just wanted to take a moment to tell about us and in my next blog I will go on about the many blessings and hardships we had this past year.
I am staying home with Lio and Gracie as Ava is in Kindergarten at Hughes Elementary and she LOVES it. Lio misses her during the day and loves to watch as the bus drops her off in the afternoons. I have my days where I wish I was working outside of the home, but all in all...I would not change a thing. This is what I always wanted to do. In the future, I am sure you will hear about the many crazy things that happen day to day. Thanks for reading and I hope to update somehow at least once a week. We will see how that goes. I also hope to figure out how to snaz up my blog and make it pretty. ;)
Love to all...