Happy New Year!!!

Happy New Year from our (growing) family to yours! 

It's a....

Grayson is so excited to announce 

that we are having a..... 

March

I'm going to try to catch up on everything that I missed blogging about this year.  So here goes the back tracking!

A local baseball team was selling strawberries as a fundraiser and I could not resist!  They were so beautiful (for them to be so early) that I bought quite a few.  I put several pounds in the freezer because Gray LOVES frozen strawberries.  The rest I made into freezer jam!  I found a new recipe that only calls for 1 1/2 cups of sugar and it made the jam SO DELICIOUS.  I put up 8 jars and we only have 2 jars left....since March haha!

Oh this boy has my heart.  Good grief.  

In March we celebrated Grayson's adoption day.  It is such a special day for us and I love celebrating it every year.

This was the first year we dyed Easter eggs with Grayson.  He was a MESS but it was so worth it!

 

I might have made some as well.  

 A pretty little East vignette.  

We practiced hiding and finding Easter eggs 100 times a day before Easter. 

A love to change out this chalkboard for the different holidays and seasons. 

I will do a separate Easter post but that pretty much takes us through March!  

A Grand Night For Singing

*Backtracking*

This past February I performed in a Rodgers and Hammerstein musical review called "A Grand Night For Singing".  I love performing.  Artie tells me that I was born to be on stage.  This cast was so wonderful! My time performing is coming to a close and so I cherish every moment onstage.

Here are some pictures from the show.

How we found out....

I seriously had no idea that I was pregnant and to be honest I had NO plans on testing.   Every test for 5 1/2 years has been negative.   The day before I found out, I had a promo commercial to shoot for the theater.  I was changing clothes and Artie noticed some things going on with my body.  Laughing, I told him he was silly and headed out the door (fully dressed of course).

Click here to watch the promo

 As I am filming, Artie keeps texting me that I should take a test. No. Life was super busy at the time and I did not have time to be sad.

The next morning, while Artie was at work, I tested.  I will never forget that moment as long as I live.  It was unsurmountable joy.  Elation.  It didn't matter to me at the moment how the pregnancy turned out because my prayer had been answered.  It was a feeling I had felt before, the day we were chosen to be Grayson's parents.  I couldn't believe it.  I was pregnant.....

This is the second after it said positive! 

Of course I wanted to call Artie right away but told myself no.  The moment was big and needed to be announced in a big way.  I also wanted to go out and get a few more tests to take because I wanted to make sure.  I only had +/- tests and felt like I needed something to say PREGNANT.

I read and re-read the box to make sure I was not crazy!

As Grayson and I are getting dressed to leave, he falls on his face.  Hard.  He stands up screaming and there is blood everywhere.  It was probably the scariest moment of his little life so far.  I cleaned up what I could of the blood and decided to head on in to the doctor.  It looked awful and I couldn't really see his teeth.  Once I got Gray in the car I called Artie to have him meet us there.  The doctor cleaned little man up and told us that he had bitten his lips pretty badly but it should be fine in a week.  (Thankfully!)  Artie noticed during the doctor visit that I was acting a little weird but I told him it was all the blood.

Grayson, of course, wanted what I had promised him before the commotion...DONUTS! (It was Friday after all) Artie took Grayson to get donuts after the doctor and I ran to the store "to pick up popsicles and soft food" for the baby.  Decoy to get more pregnancy tests!  Once everyone got home, it was time for a nap.  Artie decided to take a nap while G slept because he was exhausted...he never does this.  During nap time, I tested and re-tested!

I could not wait for Artie to wake up...it was the longest 2 hours of my life!  I tied the tests together and put them in a bag for Artie to open.  Once he woke up I told him I had a present for him.

  When he opened it the only thing he could say is "Are you serious?"!  We cried and cried.  It was seriously a day I will never forget.

The details

Thank you so much for all the love yesterday!  We could not be more excited.

First and foremost.  We are still praying for all of those waiting for their miracle. It is a very surreal situation to wake up one day and be on the other side of infertility.  I have been praying everyday for the people I know who are still struggling with this.  I know how I reacted to pregnancy announcements in the past... not very gracefully.


The details:

I am 14 weeks along and due February 3.

I am sick!  Haha.  I mean seriously.  I prayed to God that I would puke everyday if it meant that I could be pregnant.  He listened... The weirdest things make me sick.  The sound of a soda can opening and the feel of wet dishes (clean or dirty) sends me running to toilet.

My energy is starting to come back which has been nice! Artie laughed at me because for a few weeks I would just sleep all the time.  Ten hours at night was not enough!

We are dealing with a small problem with my u.terus but as of now everything looks ok.  Nothing to be super concerned with until the baby gets a little bigger.

I have gained 2 pounds which is pretty good since I am so sick.  I can still wear most of my clothes.

We will be finding out if it is a boy or girl in a few weeks and CAN NOT WAIT!

This whole thing is a crazy miracle.  I will make a whole post about how I found out and how I told Artie because it is a long story.  We are just so thankful for this sweet baby.

Thank you again for all the messages and prayers!  I will start doing pregnancy posts every week to keep you updated!

A Big Surprise

3rd Birthday Party!

On the 27th of July Grayson turned 3 years old!  The past 3 years have flown by.  The day he was born feels like it was just a few days ago.  I know I will be saying this the rest of his life!

This year Grayson wanted a pirate party (kinda).   Three weeks before his party he told me he wanted an airplane party...sorry Bud but the invites had already been printed haha!  The next three weeks I tried to amp him up about the party being of the pirate nature.  I knew once he was at the party he would not care one bit.  PRESENTS! CAKE!  UNDIVIDED ATTENTION!

I wanted the party to be scaled back a bit from previous years because we are doing something extra special in September.


The morning of his birthday started out with cinnamon rolls and special decorations.  This is a fun little tradition we started last year!

During Gray's nap time I went to my mother in law's to set up for the party.  Easy was the name of the game :)  Cupcakes from Ingles, a treasure chest and giant balloons.  

I found the cute little cupcake toppers on Etsy and they were perfect!  

Giant balloons tied with pirate ribbon. 

I also made a pirate wreath for the front door and I loved how it turned out!  This picture is from my phone...of course I forgot to take a picture during the party.  

I knew there were going to be a few kids at the party, so I made some little pirate kits.  It had everything one would need to be a pirate.  A bandana, eyepatch, mustaches, compass, chocolate coins and a treasure map.  

Of course my stubborn child had nothing to do with his pirate kit haha! 

 I was running around like crazy and forgot to take a picture of the rest of the food but this is "Sea Water" being guarded by Tick Tock Croc.  We served Zaxby's chicken tenders, fruit, vegis, chips and dip.  I did not want to cook this year!  

Excited about cupcakes! 

Grayson was so sweet when he was opening his presents.  He would go hug everyone after he opened one haha! 

 I'm sad that we didn't get a family picture this year but such is life.  Grayson was a busy boy and could not be bothered.  Artie was really proud that I kept things to a minimum this year.  I tend to go overboard!  Grayson had such a great time running around with his cousins and slept until 9:45 the next morning!!!

Happy Birthday Little Buddy!!!

Sweet boy

Well our sweet boy had his 3rd birthday on Saturday and I am still in shock!  I will post his 3 year pictures and party pics soon.  I had a small panic attack today when I pulled them from my camera...my computer started acting like a fruit cake and would not load them!  Ah!  But all is well and they are now safely on my computer.   I have have lots of fun things to catch you up on but for now I will leave you with this picture of my boy at the beach!

Goodbye Google Reader

Hello my long lost friends!  I promise to come back and update more frequently but until then....make sure to sign up for Bloglovin!  It is super easy to do and it is very similar to Google Reader.   Go there, Sign up and hopefully next week I can catch you up on the fun spring we had!  Have a great weekend!

Play Time

Yesterday the weather was BEAUTIFUL!   After a weekend of snow and being cooped up in the house avoiding the various plagues going around, we played outside!!

Oh goodness that sweet face kills me!  We played and played until Gray asked me to go in!  The little taste of spring has me itching for more!!!