Mandy's Kentucky Derby Bridal shower!

On June 11, 2011, which is exactly 25 days and 619 hours away (aah!) my best friend is getting married! Sometimes i still can't believe it, we were just in high school together!

I am her matron of Honor and i cannot wait to be standing beside her on her wedding day! As usual we have to have a couple parties to celebrate this happy time so i threw Mandy a bridal shower. May 7 was the date of her shower as well as the date of the Kentucky Derby, and since Mandy is in love with anything Kentucky (since her family lives there) it turned out perfect.

I made a couple fun things for the party, and had a blast preparing for it, and decorating the club house.
When the guests began to arrive i had them each take a photo with Mandy wearing a Derby hat, and holding a big yellow sun umbrella. The photos were taken with a Polaroid camera that i borrowed from a friend, (thank you Leslie!) The Polaroids were sent back on the cover of Thank You cards that i had made for each of the guests.

We then played a couple games, ladies won some prizes, we ate some Very yummy food, and watched Mandy open all her lovely gifts. It was a wonderful afternoon, and it felt so good to be able to bless the beautiful Bride To Be in that way. Enjoy the pics of the shower!

Greeters Table

The banner read "Mandys Run for the Altar"

The amazing Derby Pies, SO good!

 

The "brides" with The Bride.

opening her gifts!

Mom, and Mom to Be

beautiful Kara, one of the other Bridesmaids!

I love you Mandy!!

 I can't wait for the big day!!!  ♥♥♥

Infections and Impatience.

This past week has been a bit rough for me.... not to mention Isaiah.
Last Wednesday Isaiah started wheezing and coughing so bad that i had to take him into the doctor. He had been up most of the night before and had coughed so hard that he threw up twice. Both my older brother and i have struggled with asthma, so i didn't want to take a chance with Isaiah. He was really struggling to breath Thursday morning and i was starting to get nervous. Luckily, we were able to see his regular doctor. Isaiah hates the doctors office. As soon as they called us back and wanted to weigh him he began to cry and cried the entire office visit until we left... which made him loose his voice. The doctor said he was extremely congested and seemed to be suffering from allergies of some sort which was flaring up the asthma. Sadly, he can't be tested for allergies until he is 3 or 4.
As soon as we got home his eyes started looking a bit different: more red, watery, and swollen than usual. By Saturday his eyes were so bad that i was almost certain he had pink eye. Both Friday and Saturday he had woken up unable to open his eyes from "drainage".
(sorry if this post grosses anyone out)
Saturday afternoon i had to take him BACK to the on-call doctor. She said he seemed to be suffering from a Viral Infection which could be causing the eye drainage, but since he has been recently exposed to pink eye she prescribed him some eye gel to clear up any bacteria. Now any one who knows me knows that i am not one to take an offer of Antibiotics. I don't even take pain meds. I truly believe in the bodies ability to heal itself, and chemicals put into the body seem to be more of a disruptor of that process that anything. I am nothing close to a doctor, but i believe God knew exactly what he was doing when he created us and our immune systems. Isaiah may seem to get sick often (at least he does to me) But he always seems to get over his colds/Flues very fast, which has always given me confidence in his immune system. Call me a "Crazy Crunchy Mama" and i'll wear the title proudly. :-D
Anyways, it has been almost a week now and Isaiah's eyes have been slowly clearing up and his cough seems more loose than it was. He still is coughing pretty hard, which Dan and i think popped a blood vessel in one eye. The other afternoon he also bumped his OTHER eye on our coffee table which left him with a nasty bruise ..... so as of now he pretty much looks like he was recently beat up... my poor baby boy!!
It has felt like a very long week, which has left me feeling very impatient. I feel like lately i have been constantly asking God for more peace, patience and grace when it comes to parenting. There have been some days where i feel so inadequate to be a Mama and i know that is exactly what satan wants me to believe. He wants me to raise my voice, roll my eyes, and speak a condescending word. He wants me to fail and lead Isaiah down a crooked path... he wants all my worst fears to come true. That is so not the case with God who is cheering for me every single day, all day long. The days that i feel the most impatient are the days that i have failed to go to God with all my needs. I can't expect myself to be a perfect parent but if i humble myself and consistently lay my broken heart before God i know that He will give me what i need, when i need it, He always has! Parenting was one thing that i never wanted to mess up, because i know how much it can hurt a child's heart. I need to also remind myself that i am a sinner and even if i mess things up God has the power to heal what I have broken.
So these are just a couple things that i have been thinking about, praying about, and dealing with. If your a Mama, i am sure you know exactly how i feel, and on those days that you tend to lose your patience you can think of me and remember that your not alone either. :-D

The LORD is my strength and my song; He has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise Him. ~ Ex.15:2

A few pics of Isaiah looking a bit under the weather....

He found a robins egg in our yard.

2 weeks...

I recently spent 2 weeks at my moms while she was gone on vacation. It was nice to be in Grand Rapids for that long, but i was ready to go home by the time she got back. Isaiah did well and stayed busy in such a large house. There seems to be very few quiet moments at her house which i have realized is very comfortable to me. I love always having someone around to talk to. I guess i could blame it on growing up in a larger family. Isaiah has only known the 3 of us... and for the majority of the time it is just the 2 of us... so he definitely needed his down time.
He loved having people around to constantly play with him though. Every time someone had to leave he would run to the front window to watch them drive away. It was so cute! I was always finding him just sitting on the window crank watching the cars drive by. haha!
I have been working on a few projects lately that are turning out very nicely, and i cannot wait to finish them!... (more info and pics will come later)  But of course while i was staying at my moms i decided that i might as well work on something that she needs done around the house. She has a front sitting room that is SO dated! It had awful wallpaper that was put up by the previous owners, and it needed to come down!
So Again between my brother Seth and a little help from my sister Heather we flipped the room. It looks amazing, and unlike before, people are now actually sitting in the room. I have taken 'before' pictures, but not 'after' photos yet, so i can't post anything yet.
I have to say it was a pretty exhausting job though. By the end of every day i was falling asleep with Isaiah.

Being in Grand Rapids makes it so much easier to run errands and spend time with the ones i love most, it really is wonderful, and it made me look forward to the day that we can move closer.

Here's a few photos of my time there.... ok, maybe a lot haha!

I grew up with this piano and my sentimental heart cried when its new owners came to pick it up :-(

We made some yummy Martinis to celebrate and had some lovely girl time.

The first thing he did one morning was pull out all the pans. I love how he hung the lids on the doors haha!

Going for a Wagon Ride.

♥

I put a little makeup on them because i'm there Aunt and i get to spoil them! :-D

I ♥ Organic Chocolate Almond milk

My first french braid...

Winter Update!

This winter has felt never ending at times. I have had craving after craving of some summer sun, laundry lines, tan lines, and feeling the grass between my toes.Yes, it sounds marvelous, but the snow just keeps on coming... so until then, this is my Winter Update since my lazy fingers haven't blogged in forever!

Where to begin...?

I enjoyed a lovely day out with my mom in January. We visited the Princess Diana Exhibit, and i left with a heart filled with admiration for who she was. Diana did so much with her short life, and worked hard to change the stigmas of the sick and needy. It was inspiring to say the least and recommend taking the time to check it out. We followed the event with dinner at Olive Garden... it was delicious! It's not too often that i get to eat out and spend some quality one on one time with my Mom.

 

My beautiful mom, and our "feel good" drinks!

What else?...
My Birthday! The first thing i did after i put Isaiah down for a nap was dig out my car after that huge Blizzard we had! Then i ran off for a much needed coffee date with my Mandy!! She gave me some very sweet presents, but most of all it was just great to see her face! :-D
I spent the rest of the day at my moms with most of my siblings, and Dan met me there after he got out of work. He showed up with 2 very fattening cakes, a beautiful bouquet of flowers and the most recent Nicholas Sparks book "Safe Haven".  He was so thoughtful! He knows how much i like Spark books, and i hadn't even heard about his latest book yet... so it felt good that Dan knew what i wanted before I even knew what i wanted. All in all, it was a good day! (....besides the fact that i'm getting older haha.)

I'm normally not a Rose fan, but i love the way they are mixed with the other flowers! Good job Hubby!

♥ Valentines Day!! ♥
Dan and i had a lovely date on Valentines Day. He arranged for Grandma Julie and Aunt Christy to watch Isaiah, and we headed out to Grand Rapids. He had plans to take me to Little Africa, our favorite restaurant... but when we showed up the lights were off. They looked completely empty, like they were permanently closed! It made us very sad for about 15 minutes, but then we decided to drive in search of a new favorite restaurant. After about an hour and a half of driving ALL around Grand Rapids we ended up in Cascade at the Mediterranean Grill. By that time we were starved and i thought my stomach was slowly caving in! The wind swept us from our car to the front door and we walked inside the little family owned Lebanese restaurant. The sweet owner/cook helped us order what we thought we wanted since i had no idea how to pronounce anything in the menu. haha.
The food was AMAZING! We were raving about it all night long... and still are! We have been dying to go back ever since that night! I don't know if it was just because we were so hungry or if it was really good food... i am thinking it was the latter.
Anyways, it wasn't the food, or the fact that it was V-Day, or the pretty pink dress i was wearing that made the night so wonderful. It was spending some much needed date time with my husband. He is the one person in my life that i am so incredibly goofy around. We were laughing pretty much the whole time we were out and it felt sooo good! He fills my heart in a way that no one else ever has and knows exactly how to handle my delicate-ness and also my goofy-ness. He is my Heart Mate.

My good lookin man!

i was putting on my coat... that's why i look kinda weird. haha

February 23...
...marked one whole year since my gallbladder surgery. I can't believe it has been that long already! It may seem like a silly thing to mention, but it felt like such a big deal to me. I remember being so nervous leading up to that day and going back and forth between choosing to go through with surgery or remaining on a Fat Free diet for the rest of my life. After 7 months of hardly being able to eat anything and feeling so tired and weak i decided that surgery would be the best answer. It was nerve wrecking to have to leave Isaiah for an entire day and not be able to be there for him if he needed me. It helped that i wasn't able to remember those long hours. :-)
God blessed me with a wonderful surgeon and a team of specialists who all made me feel so comfortable... but i'm glad its done and over with!

Nursing Isaiah for the last time that day.... :-(

He kept me smiling until he had to leave.

So that's it for now! I definitely have more to say... but this has been a long post. Check back for more soon! Have a lovely day!

Christmas update.

Christmas was good, busy but good.
We started off on Christmas Eve going to Dan's Aunt Gina's house, later headed out to Muskegon to my Grandparents house. That night we went to the Midnight Service at our Church. The next morning we had Christmas breakfast at Dan's Moms house and opened a lot of gifts. Afterwards we stopped by my sister Heathers new house to finally get a tour. Then we headed to my Mom's house to celebrate the remainder of Christmas with my family. Sadly, Sunday we turned down driving out to Lansing to visit my dad's side of the family... we were pretty much exhausted! Although it seemed busy, i wouldn't trade it for the world. I love that i have a large family, and married into one!

The other thing, besides Isaiah, that has kept me busy this holiday season was all the baking i have done. I was able to spend some quality time making some unique yummies with my Mom. Its always more fun to bake with a friend.
I also spent an evening making gingerbread cookies with my niece Leah, and another evening decorating them all with all of my nieces and nephews. I love making memories with them!

I received some very generous gifts this year that i appreciate so much! I do have to brag a little about what Dan got me though................ A new Camera! What a thoughtful guy! He knew that i had been frustrated with our old cameras. Mine has broken twice on me, and his is just going bizzurks. I have been taking a lot of pictures with my camera phone and internally complaining about it.
Being able to take good photos of our family and Isaiah is HUGE to me! He is growing so fast and i want to have nice pictures of him. So big brownie points go to my husband this year! :-) 

In return i bought him a Brewing Kit for Beer. He has also been wanting one for a long time. He is going to have some fun with that! I'll be posting some pictures of is future creations with my new camera! :-)

Isaiah had fun as well this year. He got quite a few gifts from all his aunts and uncles and grandparents, and he loves playing with all of them! It was so fun to watch him unwrap his presents this year, he seemed to know just what to do. He is getting so big, and i couldn't help get a bit emotional thinking of how he was only 5 months old last Christmas. My little baby is growing up so fast! I know that is such a common thing to say, and i swore i never would say it... but it's true.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas this year, and that your love didn't get lost in the busyness of the season.

Leah and Kayla

Joey

Up to something....

 
 

Our little Christmas

Dan got him little TOMS, they are so cute!

Happy New Year!

Mom's Surprise

Isaiah's sleeping through the night lasted a total of 3 days... oh well. Not that i have ever tried keeping to a schedule of some sort, but this past month has been quite crazy. He began going to bed super late, and has been just all over the place as far as that goes. It hasn't helped that it has been the holiday season, which i am sure has encouraged him.

He may have continued sleeping through the night, but that same weekend i ended up spending a few nights at my mom's so that she was able to get away for a couple days. My mom's birthday landed on Thanksgiving this year and was pretty much forgotten in the busyness of the holiday. About a month before, my siblings and i all decided we wanted to do something special for her this year, just because.
She has wanted her bedroom painted for way too long and so we decided we would start with that and see what other rooms we could accomplish with our remaining time.

My grandparents, (who were in on the scheme) picked her up and whisked her away to Detroit to visit my uncle and family (her brother). That Thursday evening, after she had left, we set to work.
We chose some colors for her bedroom, her bathroom, and the guest bathroom. It was a long couple of nights full of steaming the ugly borders, scraping, sanding, tapping, and prepping. It was a good time for all of us, and we had some much needed bonding time. Coming from a large family, who has had our share of difficulties along the way it is hard to stay connected and make memories with each other. To say the least, i appreciated the time with my older sisters and brother. Sadly, my other brothers were far away. 

After it was all painted and dry we did our best at agreeing on how the rooms should all be arranged. I had some pictures printed from my brothers trip to Porto Rico and bought some new frames for the guest bathroom. We diligently worked until the moment my mom arrived home. Everyone ran into her bedroom with all my nieces and nephews, and Isaiah and shut the door on me! I grabbed my bottle of water and began slowly walking by the hallway as she opened the front door. I innocently and calmly said, "oh...hey." As if surprised to see her home. 
She made her way to her room with my grandparents and i closely following behind her. I could tell that she had NO idea what had gone on while she was away.
She opened the door to her room and all the kids jumped up yelling, "Surprise!" She was totally taken back. She couldn't believe it! After she had checked out her bathroom i told her that we had one more surprise. She got a little scared and i took her hand and brought her to the guest bathroom. She loved it, she loved it all! It was so much fun to give her such a big gift! We all felt pretty proud... and pretty tired! She gives so much to others, and (i feel) gets so little in return. She has worked so hard to provide for her family as a single Mom for the last 8 years and has done such an amazing job at it! We are all so indebted to her.
I love you Mom, you have been one of the greatest gifts on earth to me. You have been the best friend any one could ever ask for. You have loved me despite my ugly heart, and given me encouragement whenever i have needed it. You have been such an inspiration and role model to me, and i have always aspired to be like you. I am glad you love your rooms, and have felt a bit of relief from the accomplishments. I love you Mom!

Sadly, i don't have any pics of the finished project.. but i can post some later. Here are some of us working though :-)

Heather

Seth

Her bathroom

Sarah

Looking pretty tired..

My attempt at an artistic photo  :-)