Move-in excitement
2 weeks ago
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Splish Splash I was taking a bath swim
We've been enjoying time out on our deck in our splash pools this summer.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Fun With Family
A couple of weeks ago we went to Breckenridge with my family. It was a ton of fun! Here is our trip in pictures:
When we got there it was Kingdom Days which is Breck's celebration of their heritage. We got these fun old time pictures of everyone but Zarik. Zarik unfortunately had to work, so he wasn't with us for the first 3 days.
Mom and Jon played a little plastic horseshoes.....
While Mika played in the sand.
Shanna and Bobby were lookin' cute...
As was Brittany who was playing with Sophie.
Oh, and did I mention we watched Outhouse Races? But we never found out who won because we had to leave early due to rain.
We waited out the rain at (where else?) Starbucks, where Mika got a chocolate rush.
Back at our condo, we discovered a family of foxes lived under one of the decks!
A couple days later, Shanna and Bobby had to leave us, and I had to come back for a meeting, so Jon and Brittany joined us and we went to the Zoo! Jon had fun rockclimbing...
As did Bobby.
Brittany fed the giraffes...
As did Jon.
Near the end of the week we drove through Rocky Mountain National Forest. Jon and Zarik pose at the highest point in the road.
Wow! Zarik and I got a good picture of the two of us!
This is what Mika thought of all the driving this day...
But Urijah was cool about it all.
And we got to enjoy some wildlife along with the view!
When we got there it was Kingdom Days which is Breck's celebration of their heritage. We got these fun old time pictures of everyone but Zarik. Zarik unfortunately had to work, so he wasn't with us for the first 3 days.
Mom and Jon played a little plastic horseshoes.....
While Mika played in the sand.
Shanna and Bobby were lookin' cute...
As was Brittany who was playing with Sophie.
Oh, and did I mention we watched Outhouse Races? But we never found out who won because we had to leave early due to rain.
We waited out the rain at (where else?) Starbucks, where Mika got a chocolate rush.
Back at our condo, we discovered a family of foxes lived under one of the decks!
A couple days later, Shanna and Bobby had to leave us, and I had to come back for a meeting, so Jon and Brittany joined us and we went to the Zoo! Jon had fun rockclimbing...
As did Bobby.
Brittany fed the giraffes...
As did Jon.
Near the end of the week we drove through Rocky Mountain National Forest. Jon and Zarik pose at the highest point in the road.
Wow! Zarik and I got a good picture of the two of us!
This is what Mika thought of all the driving this day...
But Urijah was cool about it all.
And we got to enjoy some wildlife along with the view!
Saturday, June 13, 2009
My Dave Ramsey Stroller
The deeper I get into Mommyhood, the more I am amazed by all the baby "stuff". As a mom, everywhere I go "stuff" is shoved in my face and I am told that I "have to have" this or that or I risk not being a good mom, or at the very least, not a very cool one. And at times I buy into it. I decide I really should get something so I can be "cool". Then I look at the price tag.
ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!
You want how much for that?! My kid's happy with rocks and sticks, for crying out loud!
When Mika was first born, Zarik and I took a class called Financial Peace University taught by Dave Ramsey. It's an awesome class that really shows you what you need to do to take control of your money and your life. It was a complete blessing for Zarik and I as he had just gone from working pretty much the max hours he could as a First Officer, to being a Captain on reserve. If we hadn't sat down to look at what we made vs. what we spent, we would have gone from only having car debt and student loans to adding a LOT of credit card debt to our lives. It was definately a God thing that Dave came into our lives at that time.
Since that time we've been trecking along on our Debt Snowball. We had lost sight for a bit, and were eating steak and lobster rather than rice and beans, but once I told Zarik he could NOT have a big screen TV until we'd paid off his dad (our last debt besides the house), we got gazelle intense again!
Just like Zarik and his TV, I get tempted too. Zarik has been encouraging me to work out with my stroller workout group. The only problem: I now need a double jogging stroller. So I started researching. It was hard, man.
Think of it in terms of cars:
This is what I dream of:
This we could afford with a reasonable car loan:
However, this is what we actually own - our "Dave Ramsey" Car we bought for $3000:
I quickly realized that it was much the same with strollers.
This is what I dream about:
This is what I found that we could technically afford:
But after doing the budget for the month and thinking about "WWDD" (What Would Dave Do), this is what I bought today for $30:
I've gotta say, I'm feeling pretty proud of my stroller and can't wait for people to give it weird looks so I can tell them it's my "Dave Ramsey Stroller"!
ARE YOU FREAKING KIDDING ME?!?!?!?!
You want how much for that?! My kid's happy with rocks and sticks, for crying out loud!
When Mika was first born, Zarik and I took a class called Financial Peace University taught by Dave Ramsey. It's an awesome class that really shows you what you need to do to take control of your money and your life. It was a complete blessing for Zarik and I as he had just gone from working pretty much the max hours he could as a First Officer, to being a Captain on reserve. If we hadn't sat down to look at what we made vs. what we spent, we would have gone from only having car debt and student loans to adding a LOT of credit card debt to our lives. It was definately a God thing that Dave came into our lives at that time.
Since that time we've been trecking along on our Debt Snowball. We had lost sight for a bit, and were eating steak and lobster rather than rice and beans, but once I told Zarik he could NOT have a big screen TV until we'd paid off his dad (our last debt besides the house), we got gazelle intense again!
Just like Zarik and his TV, I get tempted too. Zarik has been encouraging me to work out with my stroller workout group. The only problem: I now need a double jogging stroller. So I started researching. It was hard, man.
Think of it in terms of cars:
This is what I dream of:
This we could afford with a reasonable car loan:
However, this is what we actually own - our "Dave Ramsey" Car we bought for $3000:
I quickly realized that it was much the same with strollers.
This is what I dream about:
This is what I found that we could technically afford:
But after doing the budget for the month and thinking about "WWDD" (What Would Dave Do), this is what I bought today for $30:
I've gotta say, I'm feeling pretty proud of my stroller and can't wait for people to give it weird looks so I can tell them it's my "Dave Ramsey Stroller"!
Monday, June 8, 2009
WWYD?
Since becoming pregnant with Mika, I have been trying to find more natural ways to clean my house. Cheap natural ways to clean my house. For example, I bought a big jug of Simple Green something like two years ago, and it's still half full. (Now, as a disclaimer, I don't use it for everything around the house, and probably don't clean near as often as I should, so it probably won't last you something like 3-4 years)
As the hospitality director of my MOPS group, I have been given the task of taking the white tablecloths home and bleaching them. Well, I don't like bleach. I really don't want it around my family. Especially since my family (specifically Zarik and Urijah) have sensitive respiratory systems and Chlorine Bleach is a respiratory irritant. So now what? I start googling bleach alternatives, of course. (I love google, don't you? Even googled sycamore tree after watching Pocahontas and neither Zarik or I knew exactly what a sycamore tree actually was)
Anyways.
Now I have already washed the tablecloths with 1/2 cup of vinegar, and most of the coffee stains came out! Now I have just a little juice stain and stubborn coffee stain left. Now I come to a crossroads. Passionate Homemaking has some GREAT ideas, and after googling "homemade oxyclean" (again - I ♥ google!) I now have to decide to use the homemade oxyclean, or lemon juice and cream of tarter.
Decisions, decisions. I'll let you know what I decide.
As the hospitality director of my MOPS group, I have been given the task of taking the white tablecloths home and bleaching them. Well, I don't like bleach. I really don't want it around my family. Especially since my family (specifically Zarik and Urijah) have sensitive respiratory systems and Chlorine Bleach is a respiratory irritant. So now what? I start googling bleach alternatives, of course. (I love google, don't you? Even googled sycamore tree after watching Pocahontas and neither Zarik or I knew exactly what a sycamore tree actually was)
Anyways.
Now I have already washed the tablecloths with 1/2 cup of vinegar, and most of the coffee stains came out! Now I have just a little juice stain and stubborn coffee stain left. Now I come to a crossroads. Passionate Homemaking has some GREAT ideas, and after googling "homemade oxyclean" (again - I ♥ google!) I now have to decide to use the homemade oxyclean, or lemon juice and cream of tarter.
Decisions, decisions. I'll let you know what I decide.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Night Night, Baby, Night Night
Zarik's li'l Mini-Me is getting so big!! He's officially 7 months old now!
I still carry him in his sling and beco most of the time, but when Mika decides to walk, sometimes I'll give myself a break and pop him into the stroller.
As much as we like to get out and walk, we haven't been able to much lately. Urijah had another bout of bronchiolitis. The pediatrician we saw when I took him back in echoed our normal pediatrician that this is probably caused by RSV. She said that unfortunately because of that, most likely every time in the next year or so that Urijah gets sick he'll relapse into the hacking, wheezing baby boy we've come to know. We have his (late) 6 month appointment in two weeks here, so I'm going to talk to the pediatrician about what we can do to prevent it from getting too bad.
Urijah's been sleeping a lot because of being sick. Twice in the last 3 days I've set him down to play only to find him like this 10 minutes later:
Rest well, baby boy!
I still carry him in his sling and beco most of the time, but when Mika decides to walk, sometimes I'll give myself a break and pop him into the stroller.
As much as we like to get out and walk, we haven't been able to much lately. Urijah had another bout of bronchiolitis. The pediatrician we saw when I took him back in echoed our normal pediatrician that this is probably caused by RSV. She said that unfortunately because of that, most likely every time in the next year or so that Urijah gets sick he'll relapse into the hacking, wheezing baby boy we've come to know. We have his (late) 6 month appointment in two weeks here, so I'm going to talk to the pediatrician about what we can do to prevent it from getting too bad.
Urijah's been sleeping a lot because of being sick. Twice in the last 3 days I've set him down to play only to find him like this 10 minutes later:
Rest well, baby boy!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
I Can Do All Things Through Christ Who Strenthens Me
Right now Philippians 4:13 is kinda my mantra. "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." Zarik and I agree that right now we are in a season of our lives where God is calling us into action. For me in particular, God really spoke of me creating a ministry with my life of being able to help women to turn ashes into beauty in their lives (see this song by Crystal Lewis) There are three big things that God has specifically called me into right now that deal with this. When each of these were presented to me, Zarik and I prayed over them and agreed they were a part of this call to action.
Church Nursery
We've been going to New Covenant Christian Fellowship for about 3 years now. There have been a lot of changes within our fellowship lately, and one of those was the nursery coordinator stepping down. I found out threw roundabout means and prayed about taking it over. God said yes, so now I am in charge of coordinating the volunteers for our nursery. I really see this as a way of blessing the parents, mothers in particular, in our fellowship so that they can havefive bloody minutes time to focus fully on worshiping our Lord and thinking on Him.
Pampered Chef
I LOVE The Pampered Chef. Almost my entire kitchen is Pampered Chef products. I have actually attempted to sell Pampered Chef before. However, this time the Lord's had is really in it. I'm still not entirely sure how this is going to unfold in what the Lord has given me to do, but I know that it is a way for me to be in contact with a lot of women.
MOPS
I have mentioned MOPS before. It stands for Mothers Of PreSchoolers. It is an awesome mom's group where you can go two times a month, eat, fellowship, learn something, and have a little time away from the kids and with other adult women. I have been a part of one of my local groups since Mika was about 5 months old. As this last semester (we go off the school year calendar) was winding down and the steering team was looking at what positions were going to need to be filled for the 2009/2010 year, I was approached about taking a position. Zarik and I spent a weekend talking and praying about it and decided this, too was in God's plan for us right now. This one will take a lot of commitment on both my and Zarik's part as there are going to be a lot more times I'm going to need him to watch the kids, or times I'm going to be saying "sorry honey, you're on your own for dinner". My position will be Hospitality, which means I need to get to the church early on our meeting day to make sure everything is set up, coffee made, food set out, and the tables have everything they need on them. I will also be welcoming new moms and babies, giving out birthday gifts, and doing our on-time drawing, which means I need to look out for cute, cheap, gift ideas (got any for me??;-D). The Munchkin Market that I mentioned helping out with last week is the largest kids stuff yard-sale-like sale in our county, and a few counties near us, twice a year. We have about 80 or so people who sell their unused kid stuff and we make thousands of dollars! It is crazy and awesome! But it also requires a TON of work. For the one in the fall, I've already decided I'm flying my mom out. (Got that Mom?)
I am really excited about everything God is doing at this time in my life, but I also covet your prayer. If you know me, you know that Ilike need a lot of sleep and when I get stressed it brings me back to when I struggled with depression. These are two things are are almost a certainty in this coming season, aside from God's provision and help. In the same chapter of Philippians, verse 6 it says "Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God;". So that is what I am doing now, knowing that HE is the one who is bringing us into this time of action and that HE is the one who will bring me though it.
Church Nursery
We've been going to New Covenant Christian Fellowship for about 3 years now. There have been a lot of changes within our fellowship lately, and one of those was the nursery coordinator stepping down. I found out threw roundabout means and prayed about taking it over. God said yes, so now I am in charge of coordinating the volunteers for our nursery. I really see this as a way of blessing the parents, mothers in particular, in our fellowship so that they can have
Pampered Chef
I LOVE The Pampered Chef. Almost my entire kitchen is Pampered Chef products. I have actually attempted to sell Pampered Chef before. However, this time the Lord's had is really in it. I'm still not entirely sure how this is going to unfold in what the Lord has given me to do, but I know that it is a way for me to be in contact with a lot of women.
MOPS
I have mentioned MOPS before. It stands for Mothers Of PreSchoolers. It is an awesome mom's group where you can go two times a month, eat, fellowship, learn something, and have a little time away from the kids and with other adult women. I have been a part of one of my local groups since Mika was about 5 months old. As this last semester (we go off the school year calendar) was winding down and the steering team was looking at what positions were going to need to be filled for the 2009/2010 year, I was approached about taking a position. Zarik and I spent a weekend talking and praying about it and decided this, too was in God's plan for us right now. This one will take a lot of commitment on both my and Zarik's part as there are going to be a lot more times I'm going to need him to watch the kids, or times I'm going to be saying "sorry honey, you're on your own for dinner". My position will be Hospitality, which means I need to get to the church early on our meeting day to make sure everything is set up, coffee made, food set out, and the tables have everything they need on them. I will also be welcoming new moms and babies, giving out birthday gifts, and doing our on-time drawing, which means I need to look out for cute, cheap, gift ideas (got any for me??;-D). The Munchkin Market that I mentioned helping out with last week is the largest kids stuff yard-sale-like sale in our county, and a few counties near us, twice a year. We have about 80 or so people who sell their unused kid stuff and we make thousands of dollars! It is crazy and awesome! But it also requires a TON of work. For the one in the fall, I've already decided I'm flying my mom out. (Got that Mom?)
I am really excited about everything God is doing at this time in my life, but I also covet your prayer. If you know me, you know that I
Saturday, May 23, 2009
Professional Pictures
While my Mom was here she offered to have some professional pictures done of the kids. Despite Mika having a mini-meltdown, we did get some cute shots. Enjoy!
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