{I couldn't resist}

There really is no signifigance to this post, just wanted to show off some recent pictures :) forgive me!

Here is Norah sporting some of her new clips from Ricci! We LOVE them! I am very close to having one for every outfit! She is so affordable too! To check out whats available, you can go here, oh yes, and Ricci, if you're reading this, I picked up 3 more rolls of ribbon the other day, I'll give them to you on Sunday!

And here is Jacob transforming from Emeril into "Mr. Rockstar" he became more interested in using my tools as musical instruments rather than helping me make cookies, oh well...at least it made for some cute pictures :)

Enjoy!

{cheese!}

{Mom, seriously, Im getting really tired of your camera!}

{Just Kidding!}

{My little "Cover Girl" striking a pose...}

{He loves my oven mitts}

{getting the cookies out of the oven}

{but the drums are much more fun!}

{pounding away}

{Tag:: 8 things}

Ok, here goes it's all about the CRAZY 8's!

~8 favorite tv shows~
Biggest Loser
Survivor
Real World
Intervention
Top Chef
Amazing Race
Project Runway
Americas Next Top Model

~8 things I did yesterday~
Got a cricut at Joanns
Deep cleaned the house
Made Steven a Pioneer Woman dinner
Blogged
Scrapbooked
Went to the bank
Chatted with a few friends
Took pictures

~8 things I look forward to~
Paying off all of our credit cards
Building a house
Finishing the house we have now
my Beth Moore Bible study
Jacob potty training
Norah walking
LAS VEGAS
mini vacations throughout the year

~8 favorite restaurants~
Sakuras
Black Angus
Red Robin
The Rock
Anthonys Home Port
The Rainforest Cafe
Cheesecake Factory
ESPN Zone

~8 things on my wishlist~
A raise for Steven
to remodel the backyard and get Jacob a playset
A scrapbooking/craft room
Debt free
New truck for the hubby :)
Take care of my parents
My children to grow up with a stong relationship with God and to marry fellow believers
To learn how to bbq

~People I tag~
Amy
Angela
Jessica
Mandi
Susan
Sarah
Amberlyn
Suzie
Christia

{and anyone else that would like to do it!}

-Thanks Michelle :)

{7 Months}

Well my little "snickerdoodle" as we so affectionatley call her, has reached the 7 month mark, it is somewhat bittersweet. She's growing less and less out of the "baby" stage and more and more into the curious, active, babbling "bigger baby" stage.

She can now say "mama" and "dada", and let me clarify, she did say "mama" first :) she loves to hear her voice so when she's not asleep, shes usually making some funny noises to enertain us. Her and Jacob have started to interact so much more and it's been so fun watching the two of them play together. Jacob wants to feed her at every meal.. it's really cute but we have to watch him closely...otherwise she gets really big bites and the spoon nearly goes down her throat! Thankfully, she doesnt mind :)

The new thing that Jacob will do is say "boo!" to Norah (usually in the backseat of the car) for some reason she thinks thats the funniest thing ever, she's start laughing hysterically which makes Jacob laugh and they are both cracking up, most of the time its belly laughs...its music to my ears :)



She's crawling all over the place now which keeps Jacob entertained. Right now, she is on all fours and Jacob is jumping over her, its quite funny! Hes always on the lookout for her and where she's going, its so sweet to see he's already established the "big brother" role. Its not all sugar and spice though, he doesnt have a problem telling me when Norah has a toy of his, thankfully, we have taught him if she takes one of his toys, he can have it back if he brings her a new toy to play with. This has worked very well.

So without further a do, here are a couple of pictures I took last week....

{chubby cheeks!}

{Birthdays and Babies}

On Sunday, we celebrated our niece, Serenas, 5th birthday at Chuck e Cheese in Olympia (much much cleaner than the one in Tacoma) so Im prettysure we came out disease free! It was a lot of fun and Jacob had a blast. He had no interest in eating his pizza or cupcake but wanted to play the entire time...I couldnt blame him, I think I had just as much fun playing the games as the rest of the kids! We even got him to go up to "chuck" himself.

After we got home, all the kids (including Steven) took a nap while I got ready for Morgans baby shower for her soon to be daughter, Ava! Our good friend Renee held the shower at her house for all the girls in our mom and baby group. It was a blast and there were some amazing desserts to be had! We are all looking forward to meeting this new little baby on March 11th (if not before) Congratulations Morgan, here's to a wonderful labor and healthy baby!

Here are a few pictures of our day...

{Hugs to her cousin Kalena}



{Kisses from mommy!}

{I was shocked he went over to him!}

{high fives for "Chuck"}

{riding a horse}


{challenging Dad to a game of air hockey}

{riding with "Bob"}

{weeeee....}

{hello everyone!}

{riding the big rocking horse}

{Tag::7 of 7}

I was tagged by my friend, Angela to post the 7th picture that was in my 7th picture folder so this is it...
It's a picture of me the morning in went in for my induction with Norah on July 22, 2008... yup I look like a whale...that's one big belly but wouldnt trade it for anything :) 8lbs and 14oz later, I got a beautiful little girl out of it so it was totally worth it..plus, it was all done through a vbac!
Whoo-hoo!

I tag anyone else that would like to do this also!

{happy birthday mama!}

Ok, so as promised, I am posting what we got my mom for her birthday...
unfortunatley for 99% of you, you're aren't going to be nearly as excited about it as I was, hehe. We usually give gifts without putting too much thought into them and because presents aren't what make a birthday, they've never been a huge priority. But this birthday was a little more special. It was my moms 60th...what a milestone!!

We met up for dinner at The Harmon in Tacoma...

the first thing Jacob saw was this...

go figure, instantly he had found his new favorite restraunt.




Steven ordered what he called "the best burger ever!"


here is the lovely couple :)


and here is the gift....
you're probably wondering whats inside
scroll down just a little more...


They had to open the boxes in order, top to bottom...

The first box had this envelope in it...
It was some cash for parking

The second box had this envelope...
It was some cash for dinner

The 3rd and final box had this envelope
It had 2 tickets to Lion King on broadway at the Paramount!!!
I tried to make the tags as close to the "Lion King" theme as possible

So there you go...
that was my little surprise for her :)
They were thrilled and are anxiously awaiting their show date on the 10th. My good friend Christy recently saw this with her mom and sisters and raved about it. That is what pretty much sealed the deal in me getting these for them. I had been hearing from people how much they enjoyed the show and since my parents go to musicals at least once a month, I thought it'd be right up their alley!
Jacob also brought her some flowers on Sunday at church and we made sure she got embarrassed by Pastor Ryan in front of everyone, hehe, that's my job!!

I must say, I laughed so hard at those of you who were emailing me with your guesses on what I had gotten...most of you guessed it was going to be a pregnancy test, sorry guys not this year!

Happy BiRtHdaY Mama
Thank you for everything you've done for us, you've taught us so much and are so thankful to have you in our lives...you're the best!
We love you so so so much!

Stay tuned for upcoming pictures of some adorable little babies and toddlers!!
We're still working on the bathroom, haha. We ran out of flooring and still havent picked out a vanity but we're ever so close :)

{a day in the big city}

*My laptop broke last week and I just got it back today...boy, do I have a lot to post!
Apologies for the long break..

On Thursday night, my cousin Mackenzie flew up from San Francisco with her good friend Michelle (who is due in June!). They wanted to play tourist and stay downtown because Michelle had never been to Seattle before, as much as I would have loved to have had them at our house, I couldnt blame them, who would want to stay in Orting when you have the Grand Hyatt! I was so excited to see her as we are just a few years apart and have become very close! We wanted to get together as much as we could so we met up for lunch at Anthonys on the pier with the kiddos and my parents. It was so much fun and the food was amazing! It was such a beautiful day and I jokingly said "I ordered up the sun for her this weekend!"
After lunch we let the girls go check out Seattle while my parents and I strolled along the waterfront. That night, Steven and I met back up with them and a few other friends and ate at The Pink Door restruant, located by the Pike Place Market. It was so yummy and now I can't wait to go there with my friends!

We were sad to see her go and we secretly hope she will take a job up here (she works for Hyatt) when the economy gets better, but if not, Steven and I plan on visiting her very soon!

Here are a few pictures of our afternoon...

{Mackenzie and Norah}

{So kissable}

{Walking the tracks}

{watching the sailors on the boats}

{Jacob and Papa}

{he saw a big ship}

stay tuned...tomorrow I will post, in detail, about my moms birthday present!!

{mmm...mmm...good}

I hope everyone had a wonderful Valentines Day. It has always been one of my favorite holidays because I love any excuse to treat Steven to a special day! This year was no different. We got our tax return on Friday. (Great timing, IRS) needless to say, the kids and I went a little crazy...well not so much the kids, I guess I'll take the blame on this one.

Steven had been talking about how much he'd like to get the newest edition of Guitar Hero and so I got that for him. He was so suprised and we couldnt wait to open the box! I couldnt forget about the kids either so we went and bought every ingredient under the sun to make sugar cookies, I'll post pictures later (we havent baked them yet!) They will be our post-valentine treats!

Our church put on a wonderful evening for all married/engaged couples Saturday night. We wanted to go not only because our friends were also going to be there but because we were supporting the teens involved in the youth ministries...honestly, we were just thrilled that childcare was included :) We sat with 2 of our good friends (3 couples per table) and had a great time and some very interesting conversations. We participated in "The Newlywed Game" , checked out a silent auction, and laughed at a comedy sketch given by our youth pastor David.

The best part had to have been the food. This wasnt your ordinary youth sponsored event. The kids were not the ones cooking. This time, they were servers (very good if I may add!) and all of the food was prepared by one of the men at our church who used to be a chef...the food was amazing!!! If you know me, you know Im pretty much a steak and chicken type of girl. Well Im now sold on pork tenderloin...yumm!! Check out these pictures and you can see what I mean. I really hope this becomes a yearly tradition at our church and if so, sign me up for next year now!

Afterwards we loaded up the kids and took Guitar Hero to Chris and Angelas and rocked out until after midnight....it was so much fun!

Stay tuned...I am VERY eager to show you the 2 remodeled bathrooms that are 99% done!! Should be able to post this week....

For now, I leave you with this...
(I apologize if you havent eaten dinner yet...)

{On stage playing "The Newlywed Game"}

{Ben and Heather}

{Me and Steven}

{Chris and Angela}

{David being funny}

{Our awesome table}

{Thank You Steven, I lOVE you so much}