the new crew

LOVED having my mama here (and niece too) after the birth of gracelin kayt...my mom is an amazeballs photographer. when gracie was 6 days old, we went out to one of our favorite spots to grap some pics of the new crew...

I swear, I have a valid excuse!

i hate when i visit a blog and it says, so sorry, i've been away from blogland...yadda yadda (i'm guilty too) but this time, i have a really good excuse... july 23rd @ 3:30 p.m. we met our sweet baby girl, gracelin kayt...weighing in at 6 lbs 14 oz...she's a perfect little bonus baby...our cherry on top!!! after two weeks of false labor...umm...OF THE DEVIL...she finally arrived, even without her dr there, (but thankfully her nana and cousin were). here are a few pictures of the big day...trust me, it's only a few...compared to the thousands we have taken of this sweet little nugget...who is now 3 mos old and weighs over 15 lbs!!! (pictures to come of the months since she was born at a later date)

GOODBYE TUMMY

HELLO MUMMY

BIG SISSY ADORES HER

BIG BRO IS BESIDE HIMSELF WITH EXCITEMENT

OUR BEAUTIFUL LITTLE NUGGET...GRACELIN KAYT so thankful for all that GOD has done for us...can't believe that 5 years ago we were without kiddos and now, here we are, utterly amazed by all that HE has done.

T.M.I.

so, we have just about 2 weeks until our scheduled c-section for gracelin kayt, and even though we have a little ways to go, we are still on pins and needles. i've been experiencing WAY more braxton hicks contractions with this pregnancy and yesterday was no exception. last night i was up until well after 2:30 with my sweet little gaven keith who was having nightmares as well as major growing pains...poor little man is gonna be a biggun just like his daddy! i finally got him to fall asleep in his room and climbed into my bed and entered "coma mode." i woke up with a start at 4:10 am to find myself soaked from the waste down...i woke up paul saying, "babe, get up, my water broke!" he, of course, flew out of bed and turned on the light just as i was getting up to walk to the bathroom and realized that, while i was quite damp, something just felt a little "off." i looked at the bed and started laughing, because it wasn't my water that broke, but rather the three year old's who was sacked out in my bed!!! apparently gaven woke up during my "coma mode" and entered his own coma...in my bed...with a very full bladder!!! ugh! never a dull moment!!! needless to say, we will be having naps all around and the washer and dryer are getting quite a workout today! so gross, but you've gotta love the joys of parenting!!! poor gaven keeps coming up and hugging me and saying, 'sorry i did pee in your bed mama, but i do love you' like i could EVER be mad at that!!! he's so stinking...emphasis on the stink...adorable!!!

fun with room make-overs

the past couple weeks i've been putting my extra nesting skills to work and whipping up a bedroom makeover for capri's room and now gaven and gracelin's room. we had to completely switch rooms and it's been quite an undertaking, but it's been so fun and the rewards are worth it. in capri's bedroom, we painted the blue walls brown ($35), installed carpeting ($100), made curtains (got the fabric from a shower curtain on clearance at target for 1.99), and purchased a rug ($0.80 target clearance), pillow ($2 target), and her blanket we purchased at target on clearance for 2.97...for a makeover total of $142.76...here's the pics, (kinda blurry, since i just had my droid with me)

in gaven and gracelin's room, i've been resourcing out the wazzu trying to find the perfect mix of boy and girl...gaven has always had a sports theme, with memorabilia from his daddy's collection...while i love his room, gracelin will be a little on the foo foo girly side, i hope, so i want to have some feminine touches, so we went for a vintage look. here are just a few pics, as we are still adding some finishing touches...more pics to come in the future. (financial breakdown...paint $12, fabric $9, new changing table $50, milk crates for changing table $16...for a grand total of $87...everything else, we've had around the house...or garage (shutters)

(i took some extra fabric and glued it to the bottom of the crib)

(this is the corner to appease daddy...he loved jordan growing up, so we had to incorporate him somewhere.)

who you callin' porkchop!?!

i don't handle surprises well. and i really hate waiting to find out the gender of our baby...seriously, when you pee on the stick at the beginning, it should say...it's a __________________ and you're gonna have him/her on ____________@ ____________o'clock....i'm just sayin' life would be TONS easier. so, you can imagine my disappointment when we went for our sonogram 6 weeks ago, only to be told, well, baby doesn't want to show us the goods...ugh...(cue pregnancy hormone breakdown)!

so, we rescheduled...6 LONG weeks later! but, we finally got to see our sweet little acrobat, who decided to really show off and touch her shin to her nose everytime the technician tried to get a profile picture...that's right...it's a girl!!!

after hearing the news, gaven looked at the tech and said, "um, can you do it again, but this time, make it a boy!?!" needless to say, we are all...gaven included...ecstatic!

yesterday, paul and i (FINALLY) came up with baby boo's name...here is the conversation that followed when i told the kiddos..."hey guys, mama and daddy came up with a name for your baby sister" capri: "oh, what is it mama?" me: "we are going to name her gracelin kayt" capri: "oh, that's so pretty, i love it" gaven: (with droopy shoulders) "but, i don't want to call her gracelin, i want to call her 'porkchop.' me: "gaven, you can't call your sister 'porkchop.'" gaven: "nana said she's a porkchop and i want to call her 'porkchop.'" (mental note...nana's on the list!!!) me: "tell you what gaven, maybe 'porkchop' can be your special name for gracelin that only you call her." without missing a beat, he says, "then can i call her pickle head too!?!" I'VE GOT MY HANDS FULL WITH THIS LITTLE MAN!!!

can't believe how fast this pregnancy is going...and all that needs to be done before gracelin gets here, but for now, i'm enjoying my one pink and one blue and all of the entertaining things that they both come up with daily.

the joys of homeschooling

i've been feeling quite encouraged since my last post. things are going great with capri "re-doing" some of her phonics lessons. i've noticed her enjoying it more as well, which makes me one happy mama!

last week, we went off the lesson plan...just a smidge...we were wrapping up our south america study on the amazon rainforest and it was a beautiful day...my wonderful hubby called and said, "hey, it's so nice out, why don't you take the kids to the zoo to the rainforest there." (he's handsome and a smarty too). so we packed up and off we went. the kids had SOOOOO much fun...and i did too! we walked through the rainforest, looking at all of the birds flying around and the beautiful and lush green landscape. capri was super curious about the piranhas since she learned about them in class and got to see one in person...a little scared at first, but once she realized they couldn't nibble on her, she was fine. after that we headed over and walked through wichita zoo's "south america" exhibit. it was such a wonderful learning experience. and a great change of pace to our usually planned out day.

we've decided to go again in a couple weeks when we start our study on austrailia...fun huh!?!

ho hum

i love reading all of the blogs the world has to offer on homeschool, but i've kinda been sick lately at the thought of all of the "picture perfect" ones. as a homeschoolin' mama, i know that days are far from perfect. i know that there are those mornings when my head is in my hands and i'm literally begging GOD to help me teach these little hooligans (which i adore by the way). there are days when disrespect is high and patience is low. days when i question, "am i doing the right thing?" everytime i ask that question, GOD shows me that yes, this is the right path, albeit a difficult one.

lately capri has been struggling with phonics...she knows her stuff, but she wants to fly through it, and since phonics requires her to slow down and sound things out, she gets really frustrated at herself, and has been taking it out on me. being pregnant, i'm definitely feeling more emotional and being bullied by a six year old...yeah, i've had my fair share of tears over the past few weeks. (can you imagine why our BIBLE study has been on respect!?!)

last weekend, my wonderful husband knew i had had a rough week, so he took me and the kiddos on a last minute trip to kansas city...it was so needed and necessary to get out of the classroom and just be a family. it also gave us a chance to talk and me a chance to seek out GOD's will with my phonics phobia (cute huh!?!)

i've been going back and forth on whether or not we should do school through the summer. it's been something that i've researched but hadn't really prayed about. so, i started seeking what HE has planned for our homeschool. i feel led to do school our regular 5 days a week through the end of may, then beginning in june, we will cut down to 3 days a week. we will also be going backwards...crazy huh? we will be reviewing some of the more difficult phonics lessons from the past weeks. capri thrives on repetition, and hopefully this will give her the confidence she needs to get it even more. isn't GOD amazing!?! i seriously don't know how anyone can live without HIM in their life. HE gives me so much peace, even in the chaos of homeschooling.

looking at school over the next few weeks, i'm excited not scared of what we will see happen...it may not be perfect, and i may question my sanity at times, but ultimately i know that i'm doing what HE wants for my kiddos.

eat your heart out martha stewart!!!

so, i've been a very busy girl this weekend...friday night we purchased this table for $25 on craigslist (yes, i talked him down from $30...let's pretend the floor looks clean)
it's a much smaller table than what we currently have in the dining/classroom, but with my short arms and the kiddo's even shorter arms, we were always stretching like mad to hand things to each other...this just makes life easier for all parties involved.

i painted the legs white and top with CHALKBOARD paint!!!! saw this idea on pinterest (the site is of the devil...it consumes my downtime during naptime)
AiN't iT pUrDy!?!
(am i allowed to say that "legally" as a homeschooler? oh well...what's done is done!)

the classroom has now been "sorta" converted from a burgundy/gold/traditional boring dining room to a classy black/white/turquoise "almost" classroom.



i still need to paint the bookshelf and cover the back with a funky scrapbook paper and paint the dresser as well, but this preggo mama ran outta steam.
here is the semi-finished product (check out the bench i reupholstered with an old sheet too...i'm on a roll)

This is my world

this video was taken a few months ago, but it's one of my favorites of capri showing off her mad geography skills...the girl can memorize just about anything if you put it to song...we've sang our way through europe and asia and started africa this past week and she LOVES it! so proud of the progress she's making with school.

the secret's out

alright, the secret is out after my husband so eloquently posted on facebook "Just wanted to let you all know that my lady friend will be delivering my love child this summer." seriously, his love child!?! oh my cow, it's a good thing he's cute!!!

it's true, miracle #3 (as i prefer to call him/her) will be arriving in july...it's gonna be a H-O-T summer, but a fun one. it's so amazing to me that after nearly 10 years of trying to have children GOD not only blessed us with one, or two, but now three miracles.

we truly thought we were finished after gaven came into the world, not that we didn't want 20 more just like him, but we felt like we had one boy, one girl, one adopted, and one biological, what more could we ask for!?! don't ask...unless you want GOD to answer! and answer HE did. we found out on thanksgiving weekend that we were expecting again. DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO KEEP THIS A SECRET DURING THANKSGIVING!?! you're sorrounded by family and food (that frankly made me horribly nauseated)...and can't tell a soul! but we kept it hush until one of the kids blabbed at daycare that "mom had to go the hospital because she was puking all over and then we heard a heartbeat in her belly!" so, since daycare found out, we decided to tell our family and then the world once i was 12 weeks just to be safe.

so, there you have it...2012 will bring us to full-time homeschooling, mama not working, and miracle #3!!! EEEEEKKKK!!! it's so exciting. alright, this mama has to go take a nap...this little one is tuckering me out!

i did it!

after months of prayer and being amazed at GOD's provision, i did something that was very difficult, but will be oh so rewarding...i quit my job so i can be a full time mama!!!

we have been so blessed by my job at riverpoint church, but with homeschooling comes many late nights of preparation and a very wonky schedule for my kiddos. we're in the final stretch now, i have until the end of january and then we will be able to really conquer this homeschool thing! capri is so excited, i really noticed how much she wants me home this past week after being off for the christmas holiday. tuesday morning, when we were on our way to daycare and i was on my way to a LONG day at work, capri was being really difficult and disobedient, she'd been really good the past week so i asked her what was wrong, through tears she let me know she wanted to be at home and having school. this was the perfect time for me to share with her that we are almost there, that i won't have to work soon. this helped her and she quickly changed her attitude, now each day, she comes in and asks if today is the day that i'm done.

it's so exciting to see what GOD has planned, we've already been amazed by HIS provision...i know that there will be difficult days, but i also know that this is what they need right now, they are both excelling so much in school and have such excitement to get started each day, i hope i can keep you all posted on their accomplishments...and mine too, cuz we all know this is a learning experience for me too.


my beautiful capri linay


my handsome gaven keith

can't wait to soak up these little miracles

classroom re-do

since we're still new to this homeschool thing i've been spending a lot of time researching homeschool rooms online. the kids both get distracted easily, so i know i want to keep it relativly calm in the diningroom/classroom. here's what we have so far, but it's still a BIG work in progress...sorry the picture's not the best quality, i snapped it with my phone.

are you smarter than a kindergartner?

so, homeschooling has been beyond fun (challenging at times, but fun). not to toot my own horn or anything but i consider myself a relatively smart person and didn't see myself having any issues teaching kindergarten (5th grade, perhaps, but not kindergarten)...enter geography...seriously? she's in kindergarten. yesterday, we were continuing our study on europe and i had to look up on google maps where germany was...hello...is it too much to ask for a teacher's manual!?!

capri in all her sweetness looked at me and said, "mama, if you don't know where it is, how will i?" here i thought i was poker facing it rather well...apparently not. but at least i'm educating not only a 2 & 5 year old, but this old broad as well. fingers crossed, i'll pass.

we've come a LONG way baby!

upon reviewing our pictures from our recent family vacation to denver, co...i couldn't help but be in awe of what i was seeing. let me back up a few years. when capri came to live with us, she had been through quite a bit, to say the least. for some reason she was terrified of swings. she wouldn't even go near them. so we started praying about this phobia and trying to work with her through her fears. once we could finally get her on a playground, my husband would get on the swing to show her that if daddy did it, so could she. she has gradually moved closer and closer to swings but took years to get on one, and even then, she never smiled or enjoyed it...it was more like she was on them to appease us.

while visiting boulder, we stopped off at a playground for the kids to get some wiggles out while we visited with our friend. i looked over and to my amazement, this is what i found



yep...that's my sweet baby girl, swinging and if this were a video you'd hear...GIGGLING! she had so much fun on that swing.

it's so amazing to me that GOD blesses us, even in the little things.

unchartered waters

we're preparing to take a HUGE leap of faith, like, boldly going where we've never gone before. it's scary, but it's also a chance for us to really let go and let GOD. HE has this, whether we keep taking it back from HIM or not, it's completely HIS.

whenever we take these steps, it's a chance for a deeper understanding of who HE really is. it's also a chance for our family to grow closer together and us to teach our kids what faith is all about.

we can't help but feel anxious about what's ahead, but we're reminded of Philippians 4:6, "do not be anxious about anything; but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to GOD."

so here we are...presenting our requests to GOD..."FATHER, open the doors wide if it's YOUR will, if not, slam them in our face so we know without a shadow of a doubt, that this is not the way."

the journey has only begun...