FB Friday

April 27, 2013 ~ Mixing lotion. Love my KitchenAid.

April 28, 2013 ~ Guess what today is the 7 month anniversary of????

Nathan - "Maya K, please behave in the car."
Maya K - "Yes, Daddy. I will behave."
......Long Pause......
Maya K - "Daddy, what is 'behave' mean????"

Since we had an afternoon service at church today, we decided to eat an early dinner and go to the park. It was a BEAUTIFUL day!!!!! I kept thinking about where we were just seven months ago and praising the Lord for His goodness!!! My family is very special to me and I want to savor evenings like this together!!!

Rollerblading around the pond with Daddy.

Maya K absolutely LOVES rollerblading with her Daddy!!!

Coming down the slide :-).

I can't believe she has been home for SEVEN months!!!

Maya K and Daddy

She's definitely got a little "attitude" sometimes!!!

Pretty girl!!!!

Maya K and Mommy

I "heart" this girl!!!!

April 30, 2013 ~ What a beautiful morning spent at the zoo!!! Maya K, her friend "K", and I had a lot of fun feeding the goats and fish, playing on the playground, watching the fish, and imitating the monkeys :-).

"Mommy???"
"Yes, Maya K?"
.....long pause.....
"Ummmmmmm.......I lost my question."
THAT doesn't happen very often!!!!

May 1, 2013 ~ My version of a busy day has changed in the past 7 months. Today's busyness that is stressing me out consists of getting Maya K moving, fixing and eating pancakes before "K" arrives, a bath for Maya K, getting us both dressed and ready for the day before it's time to leave for a craft at the library, rushing home to get lunch on the table and the girls down for quiet time (which is MUCH needed for Maya K since she was up 2 1/2 hours past her bedtime last night), trying to get school done with the girls and maybe a trip to Aldi for groceries, and dinner on the table early because then we leave for Maya K's gymnastics tonight. Somehow it seems to all revolve around Maya K and "K" :-). I also need to get some laundry done, dishes washed, and a bathroom cleaned. Oh the stresses of a SAHM :-). I do truly love them!!!!

May 2, 2013 ~ Maya K and "K" are watching "Eloise at the Plaza".
Maya K: (pointing at the TV) "Is this Bible? Is this true? This really true? Really happen???"
Me: "No, Honey. This is not a story from the Bible."
Maya K: "Just pretend story? Not for real."

May 3, 2013 ~ We bought Maya K a mini trampoline last night. She is in love!!!!

"God, snow going to stop later? In Jesus Name, Amen." ~ Maya K

Christmas Decorating

Watching the tree be "unwrapped"

Fascinated with the feel of the branches and the look of the lights

Hanging her very first ornament

LOVING all the snowmen!!!!

Daddy is having fun :-)

Putting the star on the top of the tree

Siblings ~ Then & Now

Pam ~ Because I'm home on a SNOW DAY from school, I'm being lazy and having a little fun :-).

Here are some THEN and NOW sibling photos :-).

THEN (Easter Sunday 1992)

Pam, Tim, Kristi, Debbi

 THEN (Fall of 1996)

Tim, Debbi, Kristi, Pam

NOW (May 2010)

Tim, Pam, Kristi, Debbi

Quilts & Christmas Ornaments

We have two new fund-raisers!!!

Faith and Grace Quilts ~ I have a good friend from my college days {we worked with the babies at a local daycare ~ good memories!!} who wants to help us bring our babies home!!!  She has planned out an adorable fund-raiser and tells all about it on her blog ~ "27 Penguin Place."  Please take a minute to go read the info.  Karen is going to orchestrate the entire thing {Thank You, Karen!!}, collect the money, send out thank you cards with pictures, and make our babies some warm and loving quilts.  I can't wait to wrap my babies in their special quilts and tell them all about the wonderful people who worked so hard to help us bring them home!!!  {My eyes are filling with tears as I type this!!!}

Christmas Ornaments ~ It's almost time to put up your Christmas trees and start decorating them.  Growing up, decorating the Christmas tree was a family tradition and I have wonderful memories of spending time with my family.  I can't wait until we have our children with us to decorate our family tree {maybe next Christmas????}.

My mom loves to cross-stitch and she does some amazing work.  She called me recently and asked if she could make some cross-stitched Christmas ornaments for us to sell as a fund-raiser.  Here are some examples of the types of ornaments she can make {many of them can be personalized to what you would like}.

#1                                  #2

#3                                     #4

                     #5                                   #6 {specify color}

#7                                #8

#9                                 #10

                   #11                              #12 {specify names}

#13                                  #14

                               #15                           #16 {no longer available}

If you are interested in purchasing one of these ornaments, please e-mail me {hearts1982@gmail.com} with the number {listed below the pictures} of the ornament(s) you would like.  My mom can add a name, date, "Baby's first Christmas," "First Christmas Together," etc. to most of the ornaments.  We are asking for a minimum donation of $10 per ornament.

Happy Tree Decorating!!!

Cutest Little Beggars

Pam ~ The town where we live does what they call "Beggar's Night" on October 30th, the night before Halloween.  We only had two "little beggars" stop by, but they were the cutest little beggars ever!!!

Meet Curious George and The Man In the Yellow Hat

{otherwise known as our nephews ~ Ben & Joseph}.

"Okay, Aunt Pam.  Picture time is over and we need to attack Uncle Nate!!!"

"You could use the STOVE"

Pam ~ Do you ever have those moments when you feel very silly and it's a four-year-old child who has taken you there?  I had one of those moments at lunch yesterday.

I was babysitting my three nieces and went to reheat some leftover macaroni & cheese with hot dogs that they had in the refrigerator.  I took the cover off the container, opened the microwave, and pushed the buttons to start it.  The light inside came on and the numbers started counting down, but the microwave was not running.  As I played around with the buttons, my 4-yr-old niece, Jenna, came over to see what was going on.  Here is how our conversation went.

Jenna ~ "What's wrong?"

Aunt Pam ~ "The microwave isn't working."

Jenna ~ "Did you push 'Start'?  You have to push 'Start' or it won't work."

Aunt Pam ~ "Yes, Jenna.  I pushed the 'Start' button, but it still isn't working.  I think your microwave is broken."

Jenna ~ "Yes, it is broken and won't work anymore."

Aunt Pam ~ "I think we might be having cold mac & cheese for lunch today."

Jenna ~ "But I don't want cold maccaroni."

Aunt Pam ~ "Jenna, if the microwave isn't working, I can't heat it up for you to eat."

Jenna ~ "You could use the STOVE, Aunt Pam."

Leave it to a 4-year-old to teach her 28-year-old aunt that you CAN reheat things on the stove if the microwave is broken!!! 

Jenna, 4-yrs-old

Chloe, 2-yrs-old

Esther, 6-yrs-old

Labor Day Weekend

Pam ~ My brother and sister-in-law, Tim & Mandie, came to visit!!!  They are working for Camfel Productions, and happened to be driving through the area this weekend.  It was special treat for all four of us siblings to be together {along with our spouses}, and for us to spend some time playing games and laughing.

Saturday night we played the game of "Things" {if you have never played this game, it's GREAT!!!} and laughed so hard we cried!!!  Tim and Mandie, and my sister Kristi, joined Nathan and I for lunch on Sunday and then enjoyed a Wii Tournament at our church after the evening service.

Today {Monday} was a great day for sleeping in, and then gathering together at my sister Debbi's house for grilling and fellowship.  We had so much fun and I am very grateful for my wonderful family!!!!

Joseph & Uncle Nate

My sister Kristi cuddling with Benjamin

My brother Tim & My sister-in-law Mandie

Ben was a big "helper" and helped me carry soda cans to my car.

Good helping, Ben!!!

Ben wanted to help "lock" my trunk!!

And Joseph had to have a turn too :-).

Somersault Fun with Ben & Joe

Pam ~ I just love my nephews!!!!! We are celebrating their 2nd Bday tonight {their actual Bday was Aug. 2) so I got to babysit them for a couple hours while their mom, my sister, got some things prepared for the party. My parents are in town visiting, and my grandparents are coming down for the Bday party too, so there will be lots of family fun tonight!!!

We went for a walk to the bank to deposit our "Tootsie Roll" soda can money, and to pick something up at the convenience store. We saw lots of fire hydrants which Joseph clearly pointed out to me over and over again, and we even got to stop quickly at a garage sale. {Although I didn't buy them the Elmo book that they fell in love with. I know, I'm a horrible aunt. But the book was for little babies and it wasn't very clean or in good shape. They'll live.}

We came home to cool drinks and a little "Chitty Chitty, Bang Bang." They sat still for 30 minutes watching that movie!!!!! Their Uncle Nate will be thrilled {note sarcasm}.

We also enjoyed some somersault fun on the sofa. Enjoy!!!!