I'M BACK!!!

I know it has been awhile since I have had a chance to post. I spent last weekend scrapbooking! Then I spent the next few days catching up on sleep!! I had such a good weekend. The last 2 times I have had a scrapbooking weekend Seth has had a MAJOR dental emergency. The first time he had an emergency removal of his wisdom teeth the day before I left.

(Seth is going to kill me for posting this picture, but hey I have worse ones I could have posted)

The next time I scheduled the first day I was there he sends me a text telling me that he is having an emergency triple root canal!! (sorry no pictures...) I was scared when I planned this one. I had my phone with me the entire time scared of what dental emergency he could possibly call me with... Well we made it. No dental problems this time!

I started working on Abby's baby album. I am loving it so far. I didn't get done as much as I would have liked because I had to take care of Abby all weekend, but I am happy with what I did get done. It was a great weekend of hanging out with good friends and family. Abby seemed to enjoy helping Aunt Shawna with Trevor's scrapbook!

Abby 5 Months old

Surprise #2!!!

Today this is what I saw when my husband walked through the garage door :)





Sure loved my Caramel Macchiato!

Surprise!!!

So my husband came home from work this morning and walked in the front door. This was the first clue that he was up to something, he NEVER comes in the front door. He walks in and says "I brought home a surprise for you!" This was the second clue that he was up to something, he NEVER brings home surprises. He tells me it is in the back yard and to come look. As I am walking to the back door our dog goes to the door and starts barking. Clue number 3, Aura NEVER barks. I timidly look in the back yard and don't see anything, so I open the door and lean out and over by the back gate this is what I see...






















I guess one of his buddies found the dog this morning and they couldn't take it to the shelter at the time. So, my husband who used to bring home coffee from work, now apparently has moved on to bringing home dogs!!

The dog is a great dog. He got along great with Aura. They had fun playing together. Here is a short video of them playing.




He has a new collar (no tags though) and is well taken care of, so we are hoping that his family is looking for him. We took him down to the Animal shelter and got his information so we can call and check up on him and make sure someone comes to pick him up. We would love to keep him if nobody claims him, but I don't think I could handle another dog in my life. I guess we both have a weakness for being dog rescuers. (We got Aura when her previous owner joined the Army and since he couldn't take her to boot camp, He had to find someone to take her. She would have made a great soldier don't you think). So if nobody claims him we will work hard to find someone to adopt him because if we can't I might go crazy...

Thanks for the surprise babe, maybe next time you could bring me home a nice tall decaf Caramel Macchiato stirred!

Atempt #1

I don't know how I did it, but somehow I turned off my coment link for my blog. Since I don't know how I turned it off I am not sure how to turn it back on... Since I LOVE to get coments I decided I needeed figure it out. So here is my first attempt.

I am so Lucky!

Tonight I was reminded of one of the reasons I love my husband so much. He is an amazing father! The past couple of days Abby has started putting up a fight before her evening nap. Seth was sleeping but it was time for him to get up anyway so I took her in to see him and told him she wouldn't let me put her to bed. He got up took her in her room and she stopped crying. I went to see what his secret was and he was in there with her music playing and just swaying side to side with her and she went right to sleep. It was so precious! Fast forward to the end of that nap and I was fixing dinner for us so I asked him to go wake her up and bring her down. She was still swaddled and he brought her down and sat on the couch and just cuddled with her. I just love to see him spend time with her and just loving her. She is such a blessing in our life. Tonight I had to hold back the tears as I thought about the special relationship they will have as she grows up. There will always be a special place in Daddy's heart for his "Little Girl."

Free Haircuts!!

After 8 years in the military Seth has come to love his Marine style "high and tight" haircut. This is a haircut that requires a weekly trip to the barber. Well paying for the haircut and leaving a tip every week really adds up. We decided approximately 6 months ago that we needed to save some money and I would learn how to cut and fade his hair myself. This was a very brave move on my husbands part considering, as most of you know, I can't draw a straight line with a ruler. Well more than 6 months later we don't cut it every week like we should, but we do usually get it done every other week, and I have to say it's not that bad. It was a pretty scary learning curve, there were days that I had to remind him how much he loves me, and how they are after all FREE :) but we have come a long way and I am proud of myself. If I get any better I am going to have to start charging him!!

New Leaf

This week I am turning over a new leaf... I have decided that I need to be a better wife, so I have been working on my meal providing skills. After all I am a stay at home mom now. I can't use work as my excuse... So I am turning over a new leaf.

Since Seth started his new schedule I have been making his lunches for him. For about a year now he has had the same lunch everyday, ham and turkey sandwiches. There were a few exceptions when he was able to take leftovers, but that is not an option right now, so it was back to the usual... I have to say I am proud of him, he really didn't complain about it very much. His buddies would all go out for lunch and he would just bring in his sandwiches and eat them. The guys would sometimes make fun of him and his daily sandwiches, but he just ate them and never complained. Well this week I decided it was time to venture out. I really don't have many options since he really can't take anything that needs to be heated up, so I decided to just spice up what I can do. I started making him wraps. For the first time he had guys jealous of his lunch!! The extra added bonus is that they are so much healthier for him too! I want to venture out with more options, but I am not sure what else I can come up with so for now it is different types of wraps.

Along with his lunches, I knew I needed to step it up with our dinners. This week so far we have tried two new recipes and they have been a huge success!! Last night I needed something quick and easy because I didn't have all the ingredients for the meal I planned to make so I got on a blog my sister in law found with cool recipes and we had Black Bean Quesadillas. One word... YUM-MY!! They were so easy and I almost always have all the ingredients on hand. Tonight I made my first ever attempt at lasagna. I got the basic recipe from a friend in our small group then I did something I NEVER do... I changed the recipe!! Yep, you read that right, I changed a recipe. I am usually the one who is yelling at Seth because he wants to change EVERY recipe and I always say that there is a reason it is the way it is, they found this to be the best way to make it, so just follow the instructions... Well apparently my lasagna rocks!!!! Seth's buddy Rhett was over for dinner and told me that it was the best lasagna he had ever had. Wow, that was a compliment. I have always been too scared to take on lasagna, but hey it is this new leaf. I have an entire week of new recipes to tackle. Some are easy, some are a little scary for me, Seth is either going to love this week, or he will smile and keep eating and say "no honey it is good, really."

Daddy's Idea of helping...

Today I was fixing Seth's lunch to take to work. Abby woke up from her nap and was crying. I asked Seth to please get her and bring her down so as soon as I was done I could feed her. I was busy so I wasn't paying attention to what Seth was doing when he came downstairs with her. I heard him say "Daddy knows what you want..." I looked up from what I was doing in the kitchen and this is what I saw...

In case you can't tell, yes that is Les Miles, the LSU football coach! The scary thing is she cried during the commercial and stopped when the game came back on! Don't worry, she loves ASU just as much! :)

Still Swaddling????

Sometimes I think I need a support group. I feel like I should stand up somewhere and say "Hi my name is Lisa, and yes my 4 month old still needs to be swaddled..." Seth and I have tried to stop, but Abby just won't give it up! I have been blessed with a child who has never had trouble sleeping through the night, but the few times we have tried to let her not be swaddled, or the times when she pulls her Houdini act to get out of her swaddling blanket that has Velcro tabs, she wakes up in the middle of the night and won't go back to sleep easily. Seth laughs at me, but I keep telling him that we need to start weening her off being swaddled or she is going to be in college still needing to be swaddled! All my mom friends can't believe we still swaddle her, but hey, it is the only way she will go to sleep or stay asleep! Well tonight just for fun I decided to try to put her down without it for her final nap of the day, and so far so good!! I think I will try to keep her unswaddled (is that a word??) for her naps if she will let me, and eventually maybe she will be ready for an entire night!! Meanwhile if anyone knows of a swaddling support group let me know :)

How Big is your God???

You have to love the adorable things kids say, and the lessons they can teach you. Here are two recent conversations I had to post...

Situation #1:
A few weeks ago when we were in Kansas Seth, Abby and I had the chance to hang out with our good friends Rich & Allison. They have 3 very cute children. We got to spend time with their oldest 2 before we moved, but Camryn was born after we were gone. It was so fun to see how cute she is. She is full of personality and says the cutest things.

Conversation 1:

Camryn: "I am small right now"
Seth: "Yeah but you are going to be big"
Camryn: "Yeah, right now I am this little" (holding her finger & thumb approx 1/2 in. apart)
Lisa: "oh"
Camryn: "Yeah but I am going to get bigger and bigger until I am as big as God"

HOW CUTE!

Situation #2
I think I have the cutest nephew in the whole world. He loves his uncle Seth. He wants to grow up to be just like him. A couple of weeks ago his grandma (my mom) was watching him and that is when this next conversation happened.

Conversation 2:

Trevor: "Grandma, You know God is bigger than the tree."
Grandma: "Yes, Trevor God is bigger than the tree."
Trevor: "and Grandma, God is bigger than the airplane."
Grandma: "Yes, Trevor, God is bigger than the airplane."
Trevor: "And Grandma, God is bigger than the sky."
Grandma: "Yes, Trevor, God is bigger than the sky."
Trevor: "But Grandma, God's not bigger than Uncle Seth."
Grandma: "Uh... no Trevor, God IS bigger than Uncle Seth."
Trevor: "Oh… Grandma, God is bigger than Uncle Seth."

(I just love that apparently in my nephews eyes Uncle Seth is bigger than a tree, airplane and the sky!!)

I laugh every time I think about these two stories, but last night it really hit me. How big is my God? I don't usually post my "deep thoughts," but right now Seth and I have a few friends going through some really tough times. They are all going through very different challenges, but they all are in a place where they have to ask themselves that question. Is God really bigger than what they are facing. It breaks my heart to hear about their struggles, but as I pray for each of them daily, my prayer is that they will see that God IS bigger than what they are going through.

Whether it is problems in your marriage, your job, your health or a struggle with your children, lucky for us, God is bigger than Camryn is ever going to be, and yes believe it or not He is even bigger than uncle Seth! I just love when God uses two 3 year olds to teach such a big lesson.