Can you believe it!! Makenna is one. She isn’t walking yet like the other 2 were by their first birthday so I feel like she shouldn’t be one yet. I am not complaining though. She is getting super close. She will take 4 or 5 steps and stand in one spot for quiet a while. I think she is just smarter than the others and realized she can get places faster when she crawls there.

I made cinnamon rolls for her birthday. Not that she is sold enough to appreciate it but Preston and Naomi are getting older and I thought that would be a fun treat. She got a cinnamon roll for her birthday breakfast and seemed to love it.

We had a little party for her with all of her Aunts, Uncles, cousins and grandparents. It was a nice time. She dove into the cake! She wasn’t shy. I wonder if it is because I gave her a smaller easier to grab piece of cake. She gobbled it up.
We had most of the family stay to watch the KU/KSU basketball game which was a good one. KSU lost in overtime but it was a great game to watch. Uncle Matt smoked some ribs and everyone else brought sides to enjoy. Makenna loved the ribs. It was so funny. I gave her little pieces on her tray and she ate quiet a bit of the ribs and sides. I think she was having a growth spurt.

All to say, we are so thankful for our little Makenna. She is such a joy!!! I love the way she smiles from ear to ear at you. For the most part, she is pretty content. She is starting to get a little attitude when something doesn’t go her way but that is to be expected with a 1 year old right. She loves to play peek a boo, mimic what you are saying and then laugh about it. She loves putting things into things and is even starting to climb onto things. I really have to watch her. Her favorite thing to do when we are in the basement right now is to go up the stairs. If you are not careful to keep an eye on her she will be half way up the stairs before you realize she is gone. .. .. . but she doesn’t know how to go down the stairs yet so it is scary. She also like to climb and stand on things that are higher up…so let the adventures begin!!

We are blessed by her and we love her so much! Preston and Naomi look forward to getting to see her after her naps and love playing with her. Preston loves standing a few feet away from her and having her walk to him. I can tell he gets such joy out of teaching and helping her.

Happy Birthday Munchkin #3. That is what Preston likes to call her…ha ha. And Naomi loves to call her Nenna.

We love you!

I bought a new little deal to cook an egg in the microwave. I thought I would try it out. I tried it out today and actually liked it. It makes a scrambled type in in less than 1 minute. I made an egg today. Naomi wanted to try one bite…she barely put it in her mouth and said “I don’t like that” (Those are classic words coming from her mouth.) Then of course she wanted more and more. So, I gave her one more bite and this time she decided she liked it. She said “It smells like apple juice.” I don’t know what it is about apple juice but she always says things smell like apple juice…even if it is as far away from apple juice as can be like an egg. Ha. She cracks me up amidst all her little quirks of challenging me.

This is what I bought at walmart for $3-4.

This is seriously the snowiest season we have had in over 5 years. On Christmas eve it started sleeting then snowing. I just knew that Josh would get called out to go plow on Christmas morning. I was so thankful when he got the call at 10 pm on Christmas eve that said they were waiting for it to stop snowing before they were going to start and it would probably be in the afternoon on Christmas.

We had Chris and his family and my mom over on Christmas eve for lunch and presents. It was a nice visit. They had to leave a bit early because the weather was moving in. The kids love playing together and have such a fun time.
Then at nighttime, we weren’t able to go to church because of the weather. When we put the kids to bed Josh told P and N that they needed to be quiet and go to sleep so that Santa would come and not pass over our house. This is Preston’s first year being curious about Santa. He kept telling Naomi to be quiet in bed and that she needed to go to sleep or Santa would pass over our house. She kept being herself and going on and on to get to him. A few minutes later, Preston is crying. Truly crying. He was so concerned that Santa was going to pass over our house because Naomi would not be quiet.

Santa did come. The kids woke up and we had them walk out to the living room together. They were so excited about the tree, lights, snow and presents. We opened all of our gifts and then had cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs. They were entertained and played with their new things.

Josh went into snow plow from noon that day until 4 the next morning. Then, we were able to make it to Topeka for Josh’s family Christmas.

Guess, why I am blogging so much tonight….because Josh is plowing again. We have had 2 other snows since the Christmas snow. It is so deep right now and so COLD that they kids can’t even go out and play in it. It has been between 0-10 degrees for a week or 2 now and it doesn’t seem to get any better. I am wishing for a warm day so we can go enjoy the snow without getting frost bite.

I am so, so thankful for our heater and our home to keep us warm….and as much as it stinks to have Josh gone plowing often these days, we are doing fine and God is providing in that way for our family.

oics of christmas and snow to come

It was amazing!!! I tried one time and she threw a fit everytime she had to go to the toilet so I decided to wait another month. One afternoon I thought, her diaper is always dry I should put underwear on her. We did and she hasn’t gone back. It is bizarre. I guess I just had to wait until she was ready. She has that personality. Everything is “I’ll do it myself” with her…well that is most of the time. Other times she is whiny and helpless but you get what I am saying. When she wants to be she wants to make the calls.

At the beginning of December she started wearing underwear. A few weeks later she is wearing underwear even over night. We created a little reward system where she would get 1 little marshmellow when she peed and 1 when she pooped. She loved getting them so would go sometimes just to get 2 marshmellows. Ha. Now, she doesn’t get anything and she is doing so good.

She loved it when Grandma came to babysit because she got 2 BIG marshmellows with her and kept asking for over a week for BIG marshmellows with me. Mean mom only gave her the little ones though.

I have been putting off writing about my grandma and think it is time to do so. She passed away the morning of my 30th birthday. I had such guilt come over me when I received the phone call. She had yet to meet Makenna and we hadn’t been able to make it down to Arkansas to visit due to our house selling, moving and everything that happened so fast this fall. We had plans to go visit two weeks after she had passed. She had waited and waited for us to come visit in August and then September came then October and we still hadn’t made it down there. She said she understood but I still felt this guilt. I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to her or anything. I keep reminding myself that she gets to see the kids every day now and is much happier but it is still hard.

We traveled down to Arkansas with our family on that Saturday October 24 to be able to go to her funeral that was on Sunday. I kept praying that God would provide someone to watch the kids because I didn’t want them to have to be stuck at the funeral home all day. God is so good. He answered my prayers above and beyond. One of my dad’s friends wife, Faye, said that she would sit with Makenna and watch her while she napped in her car seat and then would sit out with her if she was too noisy during the service. That was a first answer. She seemed to be fine with it and I was so thankful. Then, after the kids had been at the funeral home for a few hours they began to get a bit antsy. One of my dad’s other friends wife, Sandra, asked if I wanted her to take them to her house to play until it was over. I couldn’t believe how gracious they were. The kids went to their house and had a blast!!! They got to swing and race cars and have a snack, which is a winner for my kids. I was so blessed that God provided for us in that way so that I could just be with our family and get the closure needed at the service without worry about our kids.

Grandma had knee surgery and never was able to recover from it. Her passing was unexpected but the bizzare thing was she had asked our old pastor a few weeks before if he wanted to be the pastor that lead her funeral when she passed when she saw him at Wal-Mart. He did a wonderful job. He spoke of her just how she was. She was so loving and caring but would tell you her mind too. You learned to appreciate her honesty.

She was constantly thinking about me and my brother and our kids. She had such a giving heart even if it was things that we didn’t necessarily want or need, she still wanted us to have them and she thought of us when she saw them. You know, the grandma things, like hand towels, shirts we may not choose our selves, cup coasters, all the little things. I still have lots of things that she gave me but we would always laugh about what Grandma Mary sent up for us this time. I will miss that though.

The most meaningful thing ever is that she had already gathered all the Christmas presents for my family and Chris’s family. It was really hard for me to set them out on Christmas knowing that she had already wrapped them, wrote the cards out and everything and that this will be the last year for us to be able to get them from her. She was so thoughtful and was always thinking of us. She even had Makenna’s 1st birthday present and card ready for us for when we were to visit so that she could have it on her birthday which is in 20 days, at the end of January. One other thing I found was my birthday card. It was written out and had a stamp on it but she hadn’t mailed it yet because she didn’t have our new address yet, but I did get it. She always would send me a check and would tell me in the card that it is meant to be spent only on ME and nothing else. It was the same this year. Her card said the same thing but she hadn’t put the check in yet but that didn’t matter. It was still nice to know that she was thinking of me.

I love her and miss her now!!! I cry at times when things remind me of her and I know she is not around anymore. I feel sad for my Paw Paw who lived with her for so long and now doesn’t have her. He seems to be doing good but it still must be so strange and lonely for him. He told me once that he tells her he misses her and he loves her every night before he goes to sleep. I am thankful that she is in heaven and that she gets to see the kids now all the time, looking down on us.

We will miss you Grandma. Thank you for always thinking about us, loving us and being happy for us.

Here is a picture of the Christmas presents she had prepared for us that we were able to enjoy this Christmas.

will post soon

It seems that is what I am always trying to do. I am not very good at it but I just have to say that it is good enough.

Anyhow, I was looking at my list of things I still needed to blog about and though it is 2 months past I thought I should write about Preston’s 4th birthday for memories sake.
This was the first year he thought he needed a real party and invite friends. We didn’t want to make it a huge deal since he was only turning 4 so we still did our normal family party on a Saturday with a Transformer cake and spaghetti. Josh had convinced he wanted a Transformer party although he has never seen the show or really played with them…so Transformers cake it was. We have nearly 15 kids with just family so it doesn’t leave much room for friends too. He has a nice celebration was very excited about it being his birthday.

I decided to plan a trip to the cider mill and since he wanted a party I told him it was his party. We hadn’t gone there yet this fall so it worked out perfect. I let some of the moms and dad know that we were planning it and calling it his party for his sake and that I would get cider doughnuts for everyone. To our surprise, his friends blessed him with some cards and some gifts so he was super excited. I think he may have the love language of gifts….not real sure but he is constantly wanting to make special pictures for everyone and take them special treats. Anyhow, we all made it to the cider mill, watched a huge dump truck dump a ton of apples, watched them go up the “elevator” and get smooshed into cider. The kids loved going there and it was a perfect day weather wise. We then had doughnuts and I was so excited that they had the still very yummy but day old doughnuts for $3 a dozen. That was a super bonus. So, I bought 2 dozen and let them chow down. Preston would have ate lots but I cute him off at 3 I think. It was his birthday afterall.

Well, it is almost a month and a half since my big 30th birthday. Man, I am feeling older…ha ha. All to say to say my 30th birthday was not what I expected it to be in many ways.

I woke up at 7:10 Friday October 23 to a voicemail from my dad. I was thinking he was calling to wish me a “Happy Birthday” but it was the opposite. His voicemail said that my grandma Mary had passed away in the night and my Pa Paw had found her at about 6 that morning. That was a shock to my body. I was very upset! It was sudden and not expected. I had a sense of guilt overcome me because we had plans to go visit them in Arkansas since August and never made it down there due to our house selling, moving out, moving in, etc….life, it gets so busy! She had never met Makenna and she was looking forward to it so much. I felt like I disappointed her by not going there to let her share in the joy of meeting Makenna. I still to this day have to remind myself that she is able to look down and see the kids everyday now and she doesn’t have to wait to see them. The thing is we had plans to go there in 2 weeks after she passed but we never made it there in time. All to say, this day was a hard one. I was upset mot of the day but trying to be thankful for what I did have and trusting that God’s timing is perfect even when we don’t understand it.

The day continued. Josh was able to come home a bit early. I was blessed with a Kitchen Aid mixer on the counter top which was a huge surprise!! I had always wanted one but didn’t think I needed one so this was a fun gift for me.
We went out to Chili’s for dinner with the family. That was nice to be together but I didn’t have much of an appetite from the day. Quite a bummer to not really feel like eating on your birthday!!

Josh had got me a few other gifts also that were very thoughtful. he did a perfect job of making me feel special on my 30th birthday. I got gifts throughout the day when he was home and then when we got back from Chili’s we had to start packing to make the trip to Arkansas on Saturday morning. I was in the kids closet getting their clothes laid out and Josh says “Go get comfortable, I will do it.” That was nice of him but then the doorbell rang. I went to answer the door and standing there was about 10 of my friend singing Happy Birthday to me. WOW. I was surprised, I started crying after such the emotional day. Josh had planned such a special night for me.

He remembered friends from lots of different areas of my life. He later said he had to get into my email to get people’s emails and that he couldn’t find everyones info but he did a good job of including as many as he could find. He set up a secret email account… staci30… for people to correspond with him. I went into the basement and there was a banner hanging that said “Happy 30th Birthday Staci…throwback to the 90’s Spa Night” He had arranged for others to bring their High School yearbooks and pictures for us all to look through and reminise. There was a ton of candles big and small lit. 90’s music playing. Food, food galore….another bummer for not having much of an appetite but I still ate. Spa stuff, paraffin hand, foot bath, etc. It was so thoughtful. He had organized for some of the girls to bring some different things, make up questions about high school to answer, set up etc.

Thank you to my dear husband for making me feel special and loved!!! I know it took a lot of planning and was so impressed and appreciative of all the planning that went into it. Thank you to my dear friends for helping him and making it a special time for us all. I felt loved admist the disappointment of losing Grandma that day.

Preston is just so sweet. He has that spirit. Every once in a while he gets that rebellious, seflish boy in him but for the most part he is very thoughtful. Today it was so precious. We were at church for a mops meeting that I had and I was going to get them from their classroom. Naomi automatically wanted me to “hold her” that is what she is saying the last few days instead of “bup” (up). I always tell them I am not an ocotpus and that I can’t carry them all or do more than one thing at a time. Anyhow, she wanted me to carry her but I had my purse, Makenna’s bag and Makenna to carry. Preston went over to Naomi and said “I will hold you Naomi. Come here.” He tried to lift her to carry her. I just thought that was too cute. He was taking care of his little sister and did it to help me out too. Now, the practicality of it is that it didn’t last long. She isn’t the lightest thing for a 4 year old to carry and she didn’t really want him to carry her so it didn’t last long but it was too cute.

I have avoiding blogging because there is so much stuff I want to write about but want to do it in order so I just havent been doing it. I guess that is not a very way to go about it huh. So, I am going to write a list of things I want to share and hope to eventually get to them. maybe the winter will allow me too…if it ever gets to be winter.
Our New house

Grandma Mary
Makenna Crawling
Preston is 4 cider mill and party

Read through and check out the pics below on the few posts. We have done a lot since I last put pics up so I wanted to update. Enjoy. Preston is in Awanas this year. He is a Cubbie. He is loving it and does a wonderful job learning his bible verse each week. This was my attempt at getting a pic at his earning his first patch.