Sweet Dreams...

I thought I would share some goofy SK stories, while I remember them.  So when Sk wakes up in the morning she likes to as she puts it "snuggle on the couch".  I love it.  Love love love it.  And I ask her if she slept good, if she stayed under her covers and warm, and the best question lately has been did you have sweet dreams?  To which she replies yes and I ask what they were about.  Some of her dreams lately incude:
--"I dreamed about yogrit pie!"  --yogrit equals yogurt, but that is how she says it :)
--"I dreamed about apples..."
She dreams, or at least says she dreams a lot about food :)
Then, this morning I asked her what she dreamed about and she said that she dreamed about going to Alabama to see her "grandpas", which she then corrected herself and said, "I mean, grandparents!"  It was cute.  So Nana, and Papa, and Mimi--she dreamed about coming to see you guys last night :)
Thought yall might like this story :)
On another note, Michael has been a bit sleep deprived lately.  He has lots of papers and such coming due soon, and therefore stays up late to work on them.  One morning last week he woke up and discovered his socks under his head.  At some point while sleeping, he must have taken his socks off and put them on his pillow.  He might kill me for telling this story...hehe.  I can't not share though.  It was too funny :)  And he loves me too much to kill me :)  Right, Babe?!?
Hope everyone else is having sweet dreams too :)

Christmas decorating!

On Friday morning (after sleeping in a little) we started decorating.  This was the first year that I did not go black Friday shopping.  For years and years my mom and I have always shopped the day after Thanksgiving sales, but seeing that I was in St. Louis, that didn't get to happen this year.  So instead of waking up before the sun and going out with all the craziness, we had a family morning at home decorating.  It was a fun change, even though I did miss doing that tradition with my mom.  SK was so excited this year.  She remembered that she had her very own tree that Nana and Papa got her last year, so that had to be the first thing we got up.  She was all into the decorating and helping. 

Let's decorate!

Putting the star on herself :)



Final Product :)

We got her tree up then decided to venture out to the mall just for fun to see what deals were happening.  We walked around the mall for a bit and left with a bag of m&m's.  That was our only purchase that day.  Yep.  That afternoon, SK and I took a nap in her bed, well...actually I took the nap and she ended up playing.  Then we had leftovers and put up our tree in the living room.  It was a fun family day!

And this is our wreath this year!  I didn't get a great pic, but it was a pinterest idea and I think it turned out really cute.



Thanksgiving 2011

We had a great Thanksgiving with friends this year.  We missed not being with our family, but were thankful to get to spend the day with a great group of friends.  I didn't get many good pictures, but I got a few.  We started out the day at the house that I nanny at where they were having brunch with friends and family.  Then all the ladies came over to my place and we got to work on dinner preparations.  I was in charge of the turkey (first time ever to cook a turkey!) and dressing and gravy.  I must say they turned out pretty good for a first timer :)  We had lots of yummy food and fun.  There were a total of 5 girls, so SK had a blast with all of her friends over. 
Sk helped make the place marker "turkeys" a couple days prior and all the girls worked together to make the "thankful tree" and write down things they were thankful for.  Well..."write" down I mean.  Aka scribble and tell us what they were writing.  We ended up putting the girls to bed and continuing to hang out till about 11:00.  We really had so much fun :)

SK riding on Daddy back from Molly's house.  She wore her Turkey outfit I had made her!

The Turkey! (Already started to cut it when I remembered to take a pic!)

 The girls working on their Thankful tree

 Dinner time!

 Casey playing with all the kids! 

 Dessert please :)

 Tee-Pee's SK and I made :)

 Turkeys!

Thankful tree final product!

We hope everyone else had a good thanksgiving as well.  God has blessed us so much and it was a funn day to reflect on all that the Lord has blessed us with.  We are so thankful for these friends that the Lord has blessed us with to share special days like this together and to be each other's "family" when we can't be with our blood family on days like this.  More posting to come soon hopefully.  Michael is gonna do a post (hopefully) about going to the Rams game and then we can do a blog on our Christmas decorating!

I never thought.....

I would do this.  I was the mom this morning, that went to the bathroom to hide the fact that I was eating a Christmas tree cake for breakfast.  I hid from SK.  Yep.
I remember as a kid finding my mom hiding in her bedroom, behind her Sunday School lesson, eating chocolate.  Now I find myself doing the same thing.
Michael teased that he was going to rat me out.  He didn't.  And it was yummy.  It was for her best, right? :)
We were going to early service at church this morning and we were in a hurry.  I had to.  Really.  I had no choice.  It was that or go hungry.  Well...ok, maybe I could have eaten something where it didn't require me hiding from my daughter....
Moving on.
Our reason for early church:  Michael got invited to the Rams (pro-football team in town).  He and 2 friends are at the game now.  He needed a day off, and I am glad he is getting it. 
He has lots of papers due soon and plenty of school work to get done in the next few weeks.

We have had a busy but good (for the most part) weekend.  We had class together Friday night and all day Sat.   It was titled "Gospel Centered Marriage" taught by Bryan and Kathy Chapell.  It was really good.  It was refreshing to have this time with my husband and learn together.  I was pooped by the time we were done yesterday.  I was in bed at 8:00 p.m.  Yep.  I was asleep before SK.

On a last side note.  I won't be having a second job, like I talked about in a previous post.  Not the Lord's plan I guess.  What does this mean for everything?  I have no clue.  I wish I did. 
Off to dance to Christmas music with SK :)  We are enjoying our day together getting some presents wrapped and our crafting on.

Monkey update

Thought I might take a few moments to do a SK post.  I am horrible at writing down things about her and I want to be able to look back and remember some of these fun things she was up to at this age.
She is at such a fun age.  I can't believe how big she is getting.  It is so funny to me that she asks to call her grandparents or random friends and also wants to send text messages.  She loves to send messages on my phone.  I have to limit her :) 
Last night at church, we were talking in her class of things we were thankful for and she said she was thankful for Mountains and Ladybugs.   Cute kid!
She loves painting these days too.  And playing house.  And "writing notes" or scribbling :)
She is still loving books.  She could read all day, well, that and watch movies.  We have to mix it up more than that though, so we paint a lot lately and she loves to help me in the kitchen too.  It is fun that she is really getting to the age where she can help and do more.  I love having a little helper.
The girl would pick out a dress or skirt to wear every day if it was up to her.  She runs to her room every morning when I say it is time to get dressed and yells "I want to pick a dress!  That's a good idea!"
Going along with that, she plays dress up just about every day.  There have been many days where I leave her in her room (in her bed) for nap and when I check on her later she has snuck out of her bed and ended up back in her bed asleep with her ballet dress or princess dress on.
She did that one night when Mimi was here.  She got out of her jammies and into her leotard without us hearing any of it.  Goofy kid.  You never know what she will end up wearing by the end of her nap.
She loves to sing.  It is so so precious to be a teacher in her Wed. night class and here her sing all of her songs.  I love it.  She goes to bed singing her favorites.  Melts my heart.
She is quite the cuddler, and I love that.  There are many days where I am busy doing something in the kitchen or around the apt. and she says, "Momma, do you want to snuggle with me on the couch?"  Um, yes.  I refuse to ever be too busy to say no to that.  I don't want to miss any chance to snuggle with my girl.  The laundry and dishes will be there later.
Ok, so there's an update.

The is the only picture I have taken lately.  See SK?  Not a good pic, I know, but this was from her singing with all of the Kirk Kids at church on Sunday morning.  She was so cute, at least I think so :) 

It's a good day...

This has been a good day.  I have not had an alarm in 5 days.  So. Very. Nice.  If I haven't shared/grumbled about my 5 a.m. alarm before, that is my normal wake up time on the weekdays at least.  Well, I have had off since last Friday and it has been lovely and refreshing.  Today, I felt like cooking.  SO, SK and I headed to Trader Joe's this morning and got some things including our turkey for next week (woohoo for Thanksgiving!).  We had some friends come over and hang out while we cooked up some fun things.  Originally we planned to just make some homemade cheezits, which were pretty stinkin awesome!  But, I also wanted to make some apple chips, but failed to set the timer for them, and completely burnt them.  Sad, I know.  Then for lunch we decided to make some Zucchini boats and tomato soup.  I am feeling quite healthy :)
I love how the Lord puts people into your lives that we can walk through this journey of life together with.  I am such a relationship kind of person.  I need time with girlfriends, and cherish times like this morning.  They are refreshing.  It is fun to rejoice together over exciting things and encourage each other and just hang out. 
Last week was crazy and it's not over.  I don't know where the Lord is taking us, but I want to submit to His Sovereignty and trust His plan for our lives.  I am just too much of a planner and want to know what things will look like.  I like control like that.  Don't lie...you do too, right? :)  The Lord has brought us to this place thought where we have nothing else to do but just trust and rely on him.  We don't have control.  Clomid doesn't give me control.  Nothing gives me control.  It's not mine.  God is driving this roller coaster and it is going to be a beautiful ending....I know it is.

Thank you Lord for today. 

I want be content, I do.  I have so much to be thanful for.  I am so incredibly blessed.  SO much.  Beyond anything I deserve.  I deserve death and hell.  BUT, through Jesus Christ, I instead get life and heaven.  Wow.  What else can I do, but stand in awe of God and his grace and love for his children.

Oh my.

I don't really know where to start.  Life has been crazy for me this week.  I feel like I can't even process everything well.  I feel like the rollercoaster I am on just got added on to with all new twists and flips.  I am confused.  I am bummed.  I am hopeful.  I struggle with unbelief.  I am angry.  I am excited.
Yep.  Welcome to my last few days.
Not sure how much to share now. 
Just a glimpse for yall.  We decided last month after talking with our doctor (remember that posts?)  to go forward with clomid.  I was not ovulating and this seemed like a road that the Lord was opening up for us.  I am not very hopeful at this point that it worked or will work this month. 
Add on to that that I have decided to take another job, on top of my full time nannying and caring for SK.  Just part time.  I am excited about it, but it is crazy.  Really crazy.
I am seeing the Lord work through this, but I struggle with my unbelief.
Could this be that the Lord is openning doors for us to be able to begin looking towards adoption while here in seminary?  Can we handle this?  Where on earth will the funds come from?  I wish money wasn't an issue.  I really just don't like money.  I know if the Lord is calling us to this, He will give us everything we need including the finances, the time, the sanity...
Today.  I feel like crying.  I want to trust the Lord, but I don't know if I even know how to in the midst of this craziness.

Halloween 2011

I am attempting to catch up with my blogging.  Not to say I will stay caught up, but I am trying at least, right?   On Monday, we had a fun evening of parading around in costumes and trick or treating.   SK requested to be Rapunzel this year.  This was the first year she got a vote in what she wanted to be.  She already had the costume (received for her birthday from Nana and Papa) so all we did was make some fun Rapunzel hair.  SK picked the brightest yellow yarn she could find and we went to work figuring out how to make long hair (braided with flowers of course, just like Rapunzel). 
We started out the night eating a quick bite with friends at our place then headed out to the basketball  court with all of the other kids on campus for a parade of costumes.  All the kiddos were so excited and cute.  After the parade the kids scattered to the apartments to go trick or treating.  SK really got into it.  After finishing up with the apartments here on campus, we headed with some friends to a neighborhood closeby and did a little more trick or treating. 
It was a fun night that wasn't too cold to begin with at least.  By the end of the night it was getting a bit chilly though. 
Now we have a big ole bowl of candy that keeps tempting me (and SK too).  It makes for good motivation to finish her meals though :)

SK with her buddy Joanna!

All the kiddos getting instructions before heading to trick or treat!

Trick or treating with Daddy!





All smiles at the end of the night with her buddies Kara and Sophia!

Cardinal's Celebration

So on Sunday we were able to go to Busch Stadium downtown with lots and lots of other fans and celebrate the Cards winning the world series.  It was so much fun.  They sold tickets the day before for $5 each (SK sat in our lap) and they sold out in less than an hour I think.  We rode the metro downtown (with lots and lots of other fans....) and went right into the stadium.  Our seats were in the outfield right under the scoreboard thingy.  It was a fun perspective to sit out there and we were only 9 rows up so we got to see everything pretty good.  They paraded in the clysdales first then all of the players and managers and such.  The night ended with a fireworks show.  SK had fun waving at the players and horses.  Then we rode the metro back home with lots and lots of fans.  Other than the metro being slammed with people it was lots of fun!

(During the fireworks SK covered her ears :))