Homebody

For anyone who knows me, or our little family, you KNOW we like to be on the GO!! :) We ran around ALL summer long going to different pools, going to SDC and having a variety of play dates here, there and EVERYWHERE!! :) We had the BEST time!! :) But, as we are settling into a school rhythm this fall, I have realized that I LOVE being at HOME with my kiddo's!! Does that sound CRAZY!?! Not at home, like I never realized that I like being a stay at home mommy, I have always enjoyed that, but I have also really enjoying having places to GO!!

   Two weeks ago our sweet little girl started "school!" She goes to school on Monday's and Wednesday's and then I home school her on Tuesday's and Thursday's!! It is going SO well, we both are enjoying having such special time together!! She is my little mini-me so we are the best of friends! :) Today, we made a book of "A's"! We got all crafty creating this little 6 paged book, and as we completed her book, she gave me a huge hug and told me that she LOVES being crafty with me!! It was pure BLISS and made my heart so happy!!! I enjoy SO much having leisurely morning's with her and Zack! We usually start her homework around 9:00 a.m., and we are usually done by 10:30 a.m. or so! Then, we have the whole rest of the day for FUN!! Although we could get out and GO, often we have decided that we would rather stay at home!! I have gotten SO much cleaning done and the kiddos have re-found their favorite toys! We have gotten some extra snuggle time in, and Maddie is leaning to READ! :) When you are on the GO, we often forget about all of the fun we can have at home! We have just had the BEST few weeks!!

  Starting school for Maddie and for Zack and I has been a little bit of an adjustment, but I am SO thankful for the way this year has worked out! I love being at the same school as my daughter and my son...it is a wonderful blessing!! God has His hand in our lives, and it is apparent in SO many ways, but I feel extra blessed by the way He has worked out school for us!

  So, these days I am a homebody!! You are welcome to come over, we LOVE to have company! I will bake for you, and we will have a nice chat!! (I have started making a new Pinterest recipe every week! Some weeks it is a dessert, and sometimes it is dinner!! I will post about this later...but it has been a TON of FUN! I have really gotten out of my cooking routines! My husband is SO pleased!!:))

JOY!

  I have been VERY blessed by a variety of friendships during my lifetime!! Several friendships have come and gone...they have moved, or their season of life has changed!! Many friendships don't stay around forever, but I am thankful for the time I had with these friends!! :)  Although I really dis-liked it when my parents told me that "we can learn from EVERY situation" I totally agree with it!! I have learned SO much about grace and forgiveness from these people! However, some of these friendships are lifelong...I might not get to see these friends all the time, a few of them don't even live in this country, but I know as soon as we see each other, or get to chat, NO time has lapsed between our friendship!! These friends mean the WORLD to me and I am forever thankful for their investment of time in me!!

  I got to spend time with one of my dearest friends just yesterday, and I am so refreshed by the time we got to spend together!!!! My friend Sarah and I have been friends for almost 10 years and our friendship has always been a blessing to me!! We are very much alike, but also very different, and it is in those differences that I am refined and challenged!! Sarah is not afraid to challenge me, in anything that I do or say!! She is always very loving in her words, but she is not afraid to stand up to me, knowing that I usually know better!! She loves Jesus and she loves her husband and I admire her SO much!! We got married within 6 months of each other and our husbands have the same career, so it has been fun over the years to chat with her about life, as we know it (as accountant wives!:)) She was there the days my babies were born and she came to help me on several different occasions, just because she knew I needed it!! Sarah helped me get the nanny job that I had for almost 8 years, and it too was a HUGE blessing to me! :) She has shared in so many JOY's and heartaches!! She is just a dear,dear friend and I cherish the friendship we share!! :)

  A lot of people ask me about friendships, and I don't really know why!!?? I, like many others have had friendships FAIL miserably, and of course they aren't just the other person's fault!! We are ALL messes, sinners saved by grace!! :) BUT...my BEST advice  is always this!! "In order to HAVE good friends, you must BE a good friend!!" Truly!! If you want to have good friends, you must take the initiative to BE a good friend!!! We are ALL busy and caught up in our own lives, but we have to make time for each other...even if it is a phone conversations once a month, or a late night "date" out together!!

 Soooooo, all of that to say... today, I am feeling overwhelming JOY and gratitude for the wonderful and Godly ladies that God has placed in my life!!!

My husband

****DISCLAIMER!!  This is kind of a mushy post, so if you don't like mush, STOP reading this!!!!****

He he! :)

I don't know about you, but I have the BEST conversations with my husband!! There is actually no one I would rather talk to, than him!! He is so loving and understanding, but he also makes me laugh and just "gets" me!! :) Wyatt and I could talk for hours about pretty much anything!! I appreciate that SO much about him!! We just "get" each other!! :) Wyatt never ceases to amaze me!! He is such a hard worker, he sacrifices SO much each day for our family!! God has blessed him with a job that he LOVES, which has made all the difference in our family!! :)

  A few weeks ago, Wyatt was offered a CFO (Chief Financial Operator) position at a bank here in town!! :) I was pretty excited for him!! :):) What an honor it is to have someone call, and ask YOU to be the CFO of their company!! :) However, after a LOT of prayer, and the Godly counsel of dear friends, he decided to turn it down!! I couldn't believe it...it sounded like an AMAZING job, one that my husband has worked VERY hard for!!! But, he told me that he felt like it would be a huge sacrifice for our family, especially at this season of life!! He felt like God has something different in store for him!! WOW!! I am SO unbelievably proud of my man!! He is so diligent and disciplined! He takes his job and our family very seriously and I cannot even believe how loved it makes me feel!! And you know, when I was younger I never thought that diligence and being intentional would make me feel so loved!! We all think that love is a fairy tale... so easy and FUN! And love can be all of those things, but love is also sacrificial and tough. It means following God, even when it is hard!! I am blessed by a husband who desires to follow God, in every area of our lives!! :)

  As we talk through our days and weeks...our activities, our friendships, etc I am very, very thankful that my husband is the head of our household! I am so thankful that he takes his role very seriously!! We are certainly a couple that makes decisions together, but he ultimately make the final decisions on many things!!  I feel entirely blessed that God saw it fit for me to be Wyatt's wife!! :) Thank you God for your unconditional love, shown to me through my husband!! :)

Thankful

As I think about our summer together, I can't help but be SO thankful for all that God has provided for us!! We have gotten to have so many fun adventures together!! We have made so many wonderful memories...it has been amazing and I am SO thankful!! :):) Since this blog is kind of like my own personal diary, I just want to remind myself WHY I am so thankful during this season of our lives!! :)

*Time together, totally un-interrupted!! :)
*Date nights!!!! :):) WHOO-HOO!! :)
*Our 8 year anniversary!! :) WOW!! :)
*3 of the MOST important birthday's in my life!! Wyatt's on June 21st! Maddie's on July 23rd, and my sweet little Zack's birthday is coming up on August 11th!!!
*Time with dear friends!!
*LATE night spades games! :)
*Family time, just our little family of 4, AND time with our families!
*Silver Dollar City
*VBS!
*Date nights out with both my son and daughter!
*Homemade milkshakes
*Rides in the Jeep! :)
*A movie at the Palace!
*NO school for 3 months!!
*Teaching Maddie and Zack to read!
*Teaching M and Z all about chores and earning an allowance!

I feel so blessed by all of these things and SO many more!! Wyatt and I both feel that God has places some very specific friends in our lives for His purpose and we are SO thankful!!

  THANKS God for your many blessings!! The 4 J's are SO THANKFUL!!! :):)

Birthday!

I know I have been REALLY MIA this summer with my blog and I am so sorry!!! :) We are ENJOYING our summer SO much!! We have been so busy with all of the summer time activities we had planned for ourselves!! We have enjoyed a variety of friends, lots of family time, a few short vacations, camp and SO many other things!! We have been SO blessed by this summer!!

  Today, however, has been a day that I have been thinking of ALL summer long!! It is my precious daughters 5th birthday!! :) If you have kiddos, you KNOW what a HUGE day this is for kiddos and their parents!! Maddie has been looking forward to this BIG birthday for an entire year!! And, since today is HER special day, she has gotten to choose everything we have done!! :) Soooooo, today we have enjoyed breakfast at Panera, a couple of hours at Jump Mania and lunch at Pizza Inn!! We are now back at home for naps, and will head out again here in a few hours to celebrate Maddie for the entire evening!! I can't WAIT! :)

 I can't help but think back to 5 years ago when we were waiting for Miss Maddie to come!!! Of course Wyatt stood by my side the entire day, and my family spent the day at the hospital and... and my two best friends were in and out all day!! We were ALL, SO EXCITED about the arrival of Maddie Joy!!! Finally, she made her grand debut weighing at 9 pounds and 5 ounces!! She is beautiful!!! From the very first moment I saw her, I could only imagine what amazing plans God has for her life!! She was send to us for a specific purpose and I am SO THANKFUL that God saw us fit to be her parents!! :) WOW!! What a blessing!!

   I knew that becoming a mommy would change my life, but I never could have imagined how MUCH it would change me!! Being a mommy, has made me a better woman, a better daughter, a better friend!!! Life is no longer about ME!!! It is all about my family and how I can serve them the BEST...and with a happy heart!!!  I'm not going to lie and say that I am completely selfless, I am working on it on a daily basis, and God's graciousness continues to work on my heart, refining me!!! But I do know that God has brought me a long way, and for His faithfulness I am so thankful!! God has blessed our family SO much in these past 5 years!! We have a beautiful home, two cars that work so well, food on our table, clothes to wear and 4 people who LOVE God, and who love each other SO much!!!

" The Lord had done GREAT THINGS for us, and WE are FILLED with JOY!!!!!" Psalm 126:3
 

 

Silver Dollar City

We feel so blessed to have Silver Dollar City passes!! We get them every year for Christmas, and we enjoy them ALL year long!! This summer is the PERFECT summer for SDC and we have already used our passes several times!! We went a few weeks ago with my dad before he left the county for a missions trip!! We actually got there just a few hours before it closed and we had the entire park, ALL to ourselves!!  We went on rides and enjoyed SDC Frozen lemonade...it was FABULOUS!!

 SDC is very special for me... for a variety of reasons!! My dad and my Grandpa both preach at the little Wilderness church there at the park, so my sister and I have grown up going to the park!! We can barely even believe how MUCH it has grown!! :):) When we were little, we would go down early on a Sunday morning to hear my dad preach and then we got to ENJOY the park for the rest of the year!! And, since it is SO close, we would always take a sack lunch and play ALL day!! We know all of the in's and out's of SDC and it is SO fun to go there together!! I LOVE getting to show my kiddos some of my favorite things about the park!!

  Last week we went with a group of our friends, and once again had a BLAST!!!! We got there around 11 and rode the tram to the park!! One we got the gate, we realized that it was Kids Fest!! :) WHOO-HOO!! We started riding all of the rides, but soon realized that we could ride the "big kids" rides!!!! Now, up until this point, we had really only taken our kiddos on the little rides, but WOW!! They were ready for the tea cups and the pirate ship and the roller coaster!! :):) We even went on the Lost River!! WHOO-HOO!!!! We laughed and laughed!!! Such precious memories in the making!! And, it was so fun to do with some of our dearest friends!! We took a break and enjoyed our lunch (that we had brought into the park) and then rode more rides and laughed even more!! We didn't end up heading home until 5:00 p.m.!!!!! It was the PERFECT day! I LOVE sharing part of my childhood with my kiddos, it just makes life SO sweet!! :):):)

SUMMER!!

It is summer and we are SO EXCITED!! :):) Several weeks ago Maddie and Zack and I sat down and made a list of fun activities that they wanted to do this summer!! We have two column's, one for Maddie and one for Zack!! In the past week (since we have been out of school) we have crossed off two items!!! It has been SO much fun!!! This weekend we will cross off another activity!! My dad leaves for his big missions trip of the summer on Monday, so we are all headed to Silver Dollar City as a family on Friday!! We will spend the day at the park, and then have dinner together and ride go-carts that evening!! We CAN'T WAIT!!!!!!! :):) I am especially excited for this summer, because my kiddos are at such FUN ages!! I can hardly wait to see what "trouble" we can get into together!! :) WHOO-HOO!! We praise God for His seasons of refreshing!!! :):)

I love...

I love SO many things that my kiddos are doing right now!! I hope I NEVER forget them!! Here are a few of my *favorites!*


** The way Zack's little hand fits into mine when he needs a little reassuring! :)
** The way Maddie smiles me from across the room at school! She is always so excited to tell me all about her day, and her smile can always tell me what kind of a day it has been!
** The way Zack LOVES to play with his trains!! Sometimes I "lose" him in our house, but as I get close to the play room or his bedroom , I can hear him making car or train sounds and I know exactly where he is!!
** The way Maddie dances when she is excited about something!!
** I LOVE that both Maddie and Zack are snugglers! They both come and snuggle in bed with me early each morning! I am usually awake when they come in, but I jump back in bed so they will sweetly snuggle with me!! LOVE this one so much!!!
** I love hearing their sweet prayers!! Zack closes his eyes so tightly, I love to hear what is on his sweet little heart!! He holds my hand and squeezes it when he is done!!
** Maddie's heart for her family!! She is so sweet and sensitive! She wants to take care of us all, and gets so concerned when there is something that she doesn't feel like she can help with! I LOVE my daughter! 
** The way my kiddos L-O-V-E their daddy!! :)
** The way Zack calls a seat belt a "belt seat!" :) My son is the CUTEST!!!!
** The way Maddie sings her "Bear Hunt" song and the "Every Move I Make" song (Na na na na neeeeeeeee na!!:))
** The way my son and daughter love my parents!! It is the most amazing gift!! :)
** The way my daughter smiles when we talk about school, she is so JOY-filled to go to GDA next year!!
** My sweet son's knowledge about the movie Car's! :)
** The way our family is growing and learning together!! :)


Feeling SO {BLESSED} tonight!!! :):)

Baking Bread

Today is Wednesday, and our "normal" routine for Wednesday is... bible study at our fabulous church, and then lunch out with some dear friends from study!! Well, today is the first day we haven't had our fun, Wednesday routine! Last week was the conclusion of our bible study until this coming fall!! Instead of heading out to Northside, we spent the day at "school!" I had been asked to teach another class today, and after chatting with my husband and kiddos about it, we decided that I could fill in!! What was extra special about today, was that Maddie AND Zack got to be in my class!! Many people would think that this was a a bad idea, but my kiddos are the BEST of friends, AND, this isn't their normal class, so they hung out with each other and played together ALL morning!! It was so precious!!! I feel SO blessed to be able to go to school with my kiddos! They know I am there, so I think {hope} that brings them a level of comfort, I know their teachers and the other students in their classrooms...and we get to do everything together! It has been a true blessing! :)

  After school today, we headed to Sam's for lunch (DON'T JUDGE!! :) We can all eat there for $6.00!!:)) Then we decided to surprise Wyatt with a picnic tonight, so we did our shopping and got our bread and Ham and a few other items (along with a few samples:)) and were on our way!!! As soon as we got home we read some books and settled down for naps!! Often, I am very busy around nap time, there are always a million things to do! But, a few days ago a dear friend gave me a friendship bread start, and I have been working with it for several days! TODAY, is the day I  get to bake it and I am so excited!! So I started mixing everything together and now I have freshly baked bread baking in my oven!! I feel so accomplished!! Isn't that crazy!?! I've got laundry going and bread in the oven! I feel like I am exactly where I need to be!! :):) God is working on my heart SO much and I am so thankful!! :):)

  My prayer for this summer, is that we will be able to really slow down and ENJOY the time we have together!! We are SO BUSY during this season of life!! We are having fun, but we want to be sure we really enjoy the time we have with our two kiddos!! Life is always changing and moving in different directions, but we want our kiddos to know that we are always here for them, and that we love them SO much!! We have been going through our kiddos' bible books each evening, and that has been a HUGE blessing for our family!! We just love time together!! :):)

 Ahhhh, who knew that baking bread would be a blessing in the middle of a Wednesday afternoon!?! :):)

*Hugs and Kisses*

My Maddie and Zack are growing and changing so much!! It is hard to believe that they will turn 4 and 5 this year!! :) I Love them SO much, getting to be their mommy is the GREATEST blessing of my life!!! There are SO many things that I hope never change... their laughter, their friendship, their little personalities, the JOY they spread to Wyatt and I and SO many others!!!! I just LOVE every every little part of them! But, what I hope NEVER changes are their sweet hugs and kisses!! They melt my heart and make me desire to be a more loving mom!! I feel SO LOVED whenever they stop just to love on ME!! :) What an incredible and humbling blessing!! Today was Mom's Day at school, and it was a BLAST!!! :)When we got into the beautifully decorated gym, Zack walked right up to me, took my hand and said, "Mommy let's sit over here!!" in his perfect little voice! Then as we sat down, he leaned over and gave me a sweet little kiss and hugged me right around the neck!! Oh MAN, this mommy was a puddle oft he floor!! He has become such a LOVEY little boy!! It is amazing!! :):) Later, Maddie gave me a sweet card and gave me a BIG hug and kiss on the cheek!! PRICELESS!!!!! Thank you God for my beautiful little blessings!! :)

Spring Break Bullet Points

We have been on spring break this past week and it has been an AMAZING week!! :):) We did SO much, I just wanted to remember each day!! So here we go!!

**Last Saturday--We spent the ENTIRE day as a little family of 4! We shopped in Branson, ate a fun, leisurely and yummy lunch together at Freddy's, took a long walk...AHHHH it was PURE bliss!! :)

**Last Sunday--We spent the morning at church together!! (Have I mentioned how much we LOVE our church!?!:)) Then, we had lunch with some NEW friends which was a BLAST!! :) Then we spent the day cleaning and getting ready for the week ahead! We even went grocery shopping together!! :) It was fabulous!! :)

**Monday--We had lunch with our "Aunt" Paige!! I LOVE that she lives here now and we can see her pretty much ANY time we want!! AND, she is expecting her first child in June...a beautiful little girl!! I LOVE chatting with her about being a mommy and hearing her questions! She and her husband were two of the first people we told when we found out we were pregnant with our little Maddie!! They are our very dear friends and I love that we are going to get to see baby Kahlen grow up!! Monday evening we had dinner with our friends the Wessley family!! They have 3 sweet kiddos and are pregnant with their 4th!! Becca has been an amazing friend to me throughout the ytears! She is a very strong and Godly woman, and I cherish the friendship we share!! Our families also get along really well, so that is a blessing also!!!!

**Tuesday--We invited some friends over for a playdate and they stayed all day! :):) My friend Greta just had her second baby boy and we enjoyed hours of endless chatting while our kiddos played together!! I got my baby fix and we had a fabulous day together!! On Tuesday night, I had a super fun jewelry show with my friend Paige!! We had the BEST time together!!

**Wednesday--It was a VERY rainy day, so we headed out to Chick-Fil-A to meet some friends for a breakfast playdate!! We were blessed by breakfast (it is SO YUMMY at Chick-fil-a:)) and while the kiddos played, us girls had some time to CHAT!! It. was! AWESOME!! :) After CFA...we all loaded up and headed to Target! After a very successful trip shopping, my friend Mandy and our kiddos headed off to lunch at Q'doba!! :) It was another fun day of good and challenging chats! I am very thankful for my group of girlfriends...they aren't afraid to ask the hard questions and we always have really good discussions!! {BLESSED!!}

**Thursday--We relaxed at home, played games, watched a movie and just CHILLED! :) It was the perfectly relaxing morning! Then, we spontaneously called Wyatt to see if he wanted to meet us for lunch!! Whoo-hoo!! :) We enjoyed some daddy time right in the middle of the day!! Then that night we had a movie night at the Palace, complete with popcorn and Sprite! :) We saw "We Bought a Zoo" and everyone LOVED it!! :)

**Friday--Wyatt took the day off and we headed to SDC!! Oh, we had the BEST time!! :)

**Saturday--I got to hang out with some dear friends and enjoy a morning of crafting, then we all took a nap and headed out to meet my parents as they returned from AZ!! :)

It was such a fun week!! I didn't realize how much we needed a week "off" until we were right, smack in the middle of it!! :) I feel so blessed to be able to enjoy making SO many special memories with my sweet kiddos!! Now, we all feel refreshed and ready for the rest of the school year!! :) BRING IT ON!! :) WHOO-HOO!!!! :)

Quality Time

A few weeks ago some of my girlfriends and I got together for our monthly girls night out!! One of the girls had a GREAT idea and asked each of us to go to the 5 Love Languages web site and take the survey to find out what our love languages are!! Well, Wyatt and I took this test before we got married so I thought I had a good idea as to what my top 3 would be! Oh boy, was I WRONG! Time has surely changed my heart!! :) So I really enjoyed taking this test and re-evaluating!! :)

My TOP love language is Quality Time!! As first I thought this was surely wrong, but then it HIT me!! I LOVE to spend time with Wyatt... and with my Maddie and Zack!! I am a talker and a listener, I like CONVERSATION, of COURSE I need quality time!! If you asked me what my perfect night would be, I would totally answer that it would be an evening with my family...just being US!! And, if I think a little harder... in the days and weeks that I am feeling like I am having an off week, it is because I haven't gotten much quality time with my sweet little family!! :) I just need to spend time with them, talking and bonding and simply being together!!!The same is true for my extended family and my friends!! It is SO hard to feel connected to people that you haven't seen or chatted with in {days} or weeks! This was a really good wake up call for me!!

I am SO looking forward to this week and spending some much needed time with my sweet family of 4!! I realize that I get to see them every day, but the past few weeks have been really busy for us, and this week we have very few plans on purpose!! And NEXT week is spring break for us, so we are very excited about Wyatt taking off a few days for us to have some family "quality time" fun!!!! :)

GDA

Today my sweet little Maddie went in for her Kindergarten screening!! She was SO confident and calm, I am constantly amazed that she is my daughter!! :) I am such a {blessed} mommy!! She went right in with the director and after about 30 minutes they came out!! Maddie was BEAMING and SO excited to tell us all about it!! The director gave us the "thumbs UP" so... our daughter is now officially enrolled for Kindergarten next year!! The director said that she totally rocked the evaluation!! She was quite impressed!! Now, every parent knows that their child is smart, but we are especially proud! :):) We will be sending her to Gloria Deo Academy!! It is a part time/homeschooling school!! (Confusing...right!?:)) She will go to school 2 days a week!! Then 2 days I will homeschool her with the lessons that her teacher sends home!! I taught at GDA about 5 years ago and I loved it, so I am really excited to send my kiddos there!! I am the MOST excited about getting to spend one-on-one time with her completing her homework together!! I pray a LOT about being mommy and teacher!! But I am confident that it will be a smooth transition!! I can hardly believe that my first born is ready for school, but I am REALLY excited for her to learn more and be challenged!! I am SO PROUD of my sweet, sweet girl!! :):)

Weekend

I LOVE Friday for SO many reasons!! WHOO-HOO!! :) I am especially excited about today because we have a rockin' weekend planned!! :) Our weekends usually get busy pretty quickly, so we have had to make some sacrifices in order to insure that our little family has some time together!! :) There is NOTHING better than family time!! :):) Here is our weekend of planned events!

**Tonight we are going out on a double date with our friends the Colvette's!! We LOVE this couple SO much!! They are so sweet, genuine and wonderfully Godly!! And... we have a lot of the same interests!! :) I also appreciate that John and Wyatt are good friends!! Many of you know how hard it is for guys to find good friends, but we are SO thankful to have found a good, balanced friendship with this couple! :) They have 3 kiddos, two of which are almost exactly our kiddos' ages! And their 2 oldest just happen to be some of my Maddie and Zack's best friends!! We are so excited to get to go out with them tonight, JUST as COUPLES!! :) WHOO-HOO!! I have a whole list of things I am excited to talk to Joy about! :) So, as you can see, I am QUITE excited!!

**Tomorrow we get to have a family day...just the 4 of us!! We need to run a few errands, but we get to run errands all TOGETHER!!!! I am looking forward to making pancakes in the morning (our Saturday morning tradition:)) and then just getting to be together!! I LOVE my precious little family, and time with them is so priceless!! :)

**Tomorrow evening we are headed over to our friends, the Grider's house for dinner and games!! They came over last week and we had a BLAST!! Our normal "end time" to our evenings together tends to be about 4 a.m.!! NO JOKE!! Last Friday they spent the whole day with us at our house, and they STILL stayed until 4 a.m.!! It! was! a! BLAST!! :):) I do think we have put a time limit on our evening together this time around, we told them we had to be home by 1:00 a.m.! We shall see!! :) We don't normally stay out SO late, but it is such fun once and a while and we are thankful for dear friendships!! (It also helps that our kiddos are AWESOME sleepers, so they go right to bed while we are there! :))

**Sunday is church!!** YAY!! We LOVE our church and look forward to hearing the message each week!! :)

**Sunday evening I get to hang out with my little guy Griffin!! I started as his nanny when he was just 2 weeks old! He is now 8 years old and an awesome little guy!! :) He is moving to Texas this summer, so I am trying to spend all the time I can with him!!! I am looking forward to time with him, and his time with my family! He is just part of our family and we all love him so much!!

Can you see why I LOVE Friday's!?! This Friday especially!?!?! Enjoy your weekends friends!!!!

Downstairs

My little Miss Maddie went downstairs today for church for the very first time!! Yes, she has been promoted to the BIG class, and her mommy can hardly believe it! :) I KNOW my baby girl is growing up and I am so thankful for her sweet little life and for exactly where she is...but I must admit it is a little hard for me!! :) In my eyes, she is still little, but I am so proud of her for how big, beautiful and smart she is!! :) She has such a sweet, calm little spirit, she gave me a BIG hug and kiss and said, "See you soon Mommy!!" She was SO excited!! :):) Thankfully there was a dear friend next to me that took my hand and led me out of her room, otherwise, I might have stayed and just watched her!! :) I am so proud of the little lady God is making her into!! She has Him in her heart, and it is evident in her attitude and in her sweetness!! I am SUCH a proud mommy!!

Coupons!!

Do you guys sign up for coupons for your birthday!?! Well if you don't, you SHOULD!! :) Here are ALL Of the birthday coupons I got for the weeks before and after my birthday! We are enjoying using each of these!! :) (Because, if you are like me, you have a birthday MONTH, not just a day!!:))

**$5.00 off at McAllistar's!

**Buy one, get one FREE at Q'doba!

**Buy one, get one FREE at Cold Stone Creamery!

**One FREE meal at Zio's!

**One FREE meal at Famous Dave's!

**FREE appetizer at Colton's!

**FREE appetizer at Logan's Roadhouse!

**FREE dessert at Chili's!

**FREE dessert at Applebee's!

**FREE dessert at TGIFriday's!

**FREE dessert at Macaroni Grill!

**FREE cupcake at "The Cup!"

**10% off at Old Navy!

**$25 off any $75 purchase at Fashion Bug

Can you BELIEVE all of these great discounts!?! Of course, we cannot possibly use ALL of them, but we have been enjoying quite a few of them!! :):) I LOVE getting all of these "Happy Birthday" e-mails the week before my birthday and I LOVE getting to celebrate with a discount!! :) WHOO-HOO for a birthday MONTH!! :):)

February

I LOVE the month of February!! I LOVE that it usually snows in February, and that it really feels like winter in February!! I love that it is my BIRTHDAY MONTH and other dear friends of mine birthday month as well!! I LOVE to celebrate Valetntine's Day and all of the LOVE that comes with the month!! I just LOVE February!!

My birthday was this past weekend, and I must say...it was FABULOUS! :) My husband is absolutely amazing at planning and making special occasions, special!! He has really realized over the past several years that birthdays and other holidays are really important to me, so he has worked extra hard to make them memorable! :) This year was no different!! We celebrated as a family on Friday night!! The kiddos were SO excited to give me their cards and gifts! Then, Wyatt had stopped to get "The Cup" cupcakes, and we were ALL totally thrilled!! :):) We snuggled in as a family and enjoyed our evening together! :) Then, the next day we got up early and took our kiddos to my parents house and had the rest of the weekend, ALL to ourselves!! We shopped and talked, and ate and talked and laughed and dreamed!! It. was. AWESOME! :) I LOVE being with Wyatt, he is my best friend and my most trusted confidant! :) We just have the best time together!! We really enjoyed some special couple time!! :) On Sunday, I got to out with some of my favorite girlfriends!! We went to dinner and just enjoyed good conversation and then we enjoyed ice cream!!! :) YUM-O!! :):) We finally headed back to get our kiddos about 9:30p.m. on Sunday night! They were SO EXCITED to see us! When we dropped them off they were like "SEE YA!!!" But they were totally excited to see us a few days later! :):) It was the BEST weekend!!! :):) Thanks babe! :)

Zack Quotes

Oh my little man cracks me up!! I LOVE his little phrases!! He is hilarious!! Here are a few of my FAVORITE recent Zack quotes:

* "Mommy, you don't have your belt-seat on!" (instead of seat belt:))

* "Mommy, where are your birthday balloons?" (He thinks that everyone should get balloons on their birthday!!:))

* "Mommy, I want to tell you a secret!!" He scoots right up next to me, gently pulls back my hair and whispers something so quietly into my ear, I have to ask him to repeat it a million times! :)

* His prayers are precious! This is my favorite one! :) "Lord, "fank you" for my fam-i-ly, and for my Fweinds! "Fank you" for this food and our day at "sck-oooool!" Pwease hewp mommy to feewl better swoon!! AMEN!!!!" I LOVE this prayer for many reasons! Mostly because I think my son is the cutest guy EVER!!! :) Secondly I love it because he prayers for food and school at EVERY meal, whether we are eating or have been at school..or not! And thirdly because I have felt much better for weeks!! :) He just LOVES his mommy!! :)

* "Dad, I am going to call you "dad" but I call my mommy, "MOMMY!!"

Oh, he sracks me up every day! I am so blessed to have my little Zack!! :) I LOVE MY SON!!! :):)

Blessings

God has showered so many blessings on us in the past few months, I wanted to share with you all some of my favorites!! The blessings I would like to share, mostly have to do with our little family and we just feel SO blessed!!!!

**We are SO THANKFUL for Wyatt's *new* job!! It isn't SO new anymore, but the freedom and flexibility that it provides our family is a continual blessing!!! I have had some health issues for the past few weeks and Wyatt has been able to be at home with us many, many days!! I am SO THANKFUL for his new job and the time off it offers!! We are SO happy!! BLESSED!!

**I am SO THANKFUL for Wyatt's promotion and raise!! God has been so faithful with our finances this past year! You never plan to take a pay cut, but God BLESSED us so much last year, we can't help but see His Hand in the entire year!! BLESSED!! :)

**We are SO THANKFUL for our beautiful warm home!! We have slowed down for this current season and have really enjoyed spending time at HOME together!!! :) We LOVE our house!! It is warm, and comfortable, our kiddos love their rooms and their playroom! Wyatt and I so enjoy spending time together in our cozy living room with the fire on just dreaming of all that is to come! :) BLESSED!!

**Wyatt and I have been married almost 8 years!! WOW!! :) I love my husband more today, that I could have ever possibly imagined!!! He is priceless to me and I am so in love with him!! Throughout this past year we have grown even closer, which has just been amazing!! :) We are closer as a married couple, we are closer spouses and we are closer best friends! I feel SO blessed that God chose me for Wyatt and Wyatt for me!! I am looking forward to improving our marriage even more this year!! BLESSED!!

**We feel so blessed that God provided Kids Korner for our kiddos this year! We L-O-V-E going to school together!! It has bonded Maddie, Zack and I SO much!! We LOVE the teachers and the program...it is just AWESOME!! We are also feeling blessed about school for next year!! Maddie is going to attend kindergarten at a private school called Gloria Deo Academy!! She will go to school 2 days a week and we will homeschool her two days a week!! For our family, it is PERFECT and I can't wait!! :) However, we are not willing to commit ourselves and our kiddos to GDA forever!! We are going to pray about it, and make the decision every year! If God decided to move us, we will totally be depending on Him!! We feel such PEACE about this decision!! It has been weighing on us so much, but we now feel total peace! BLESSED!! :)

**We are so blessed by the new and old friends that God has places in our hearts!! WOW!! Life is so sweet sharing it with good friends!! We are so thankful!! BLESSED! :)

**We feel unconditionally blessed by my mom and dad!! WOW! :) It brings me to tears! :) Their constant love and support is immeasurable!! :) We love spending time with them each week and LOVE the bond that they have with our Maddie and Zack!! We love that they are pouring themselves into our kiddos!! BLESSED!!

For all of these things are SO MANY MORE, we are BLESSED!! :):) Thank you Father for your amazing blessings! :)

Language

Do you know how much our language affects our kiddos?! It is CRAZY to me how much they pick up on, even at the young ages of 3 and 4!! Wyatt and I don't use bad words at all, they just aren't in our vocabulary, so we watch what we say, but mostly we are cautious about the tones in our voice and the sarcasm that we use!!!! Unfortunately that is NOT the case for many other people!! I often cringe when we walk past young teenagers, or a couple that is arguing...even commercials on tv! WOW!! Don't these people that my precious, innocent young kiddos are present, AND, listening, AND soaking in every words they are hearing to "try on" mommy and daddy later!?! ! Even when we are watching Dancing with the Stars... some of the language is absolutely unacceptable!!! Do we even realize that they words that come out of our mouths are a direct reflection of what our hearts looks like!? Now, I will be the first to say that sometimes my words aren't as gentle as they should be, BUT, I don't speak harshly or meanly or profanely!! We want our words to directly reflect Christ!! Lord, hear our prayers! Please help us to be so focused on you, that every thing that we do and say reflect YOU!! Please dwell in Maddie and Zack's hearts as well, so they may turn their eyes and minds on you!

"May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer." Psalm 19:14

Being Consistent!

For those of you who have little kiddos, you KNOW that consistency is key!!!! Consistency in disciplining, consistency with teaching manners, consistency with staying in bed, consistency with you-name-it-you-must-be-consistent-with-it!!! I have never really thought about having consistency with anything other than my kiddos!! (Isn't that funny!?!:)) But as usual, God is teaching me that I need to be consistent in EVERYTHING that I am doing!! :) Here are a few lessons that I am learning!! :)

**God wants me to have consistency with Him! He wants my time every morning! He wants to hear my voice as I pray to Him each time!! He loves when I spend time with Him, just He and I! I DO spend time with Him each day, but it isn't consistently!!!! Now I don't think that God is taking score, but I KNOW in my heart that He wants more of my time, which I am happy to spend with Him!! Consistency!!

**I need to be consistent in my relationship with my amazing husband!! We have a pretty amazing relationship, and I am SO thankful for it!! He "gets" me in every way and I "get" him in every way!! We can pretty much tell exactly what the other is thinking...about 99% of the time!! What an incredible BLESSING our marriage is to me!! :) I guess what I mean is, that I need to be consistently thinking about ways to encourage and love on Wyatt!! I am so thankful that he is exactly who he is and knowing that his love languages are different than mine, I need to be consistent in making sure I am loving on him the way HE needs to be taken care of!! Consistency!

**I need to continually be consistent with my precious kiddos!! Never could I have imagined how MUCH I would love them!! :):) They truly are the JOY of my life!! And, they are really good kiddos, but with them being the ages that they are...consistency is KEY!! I want to be a mommy that they can count on and I want to have rules that they can count on!! :) Consistency!!

**I want to be consistent with my friends!! I am so thankful for the dear friends that God has placed in my life and I want to be consistent with the friendships that we share!! This means I need to get better about calling to check in...sending cards, and just getting good one-on-one time!! Friendships are so precious and I want to be a consistent...all-the-time friend!! Consistency!!

I am so thankful that God is consistent with me!! I am learning and growing and being challenged every day and I KNOW it is because of His love and grace!! Thank you Father for your consistency with me!!!!!

Pregnant...nope, not ME!!!! :):)

So... three of my dearest friends are pregnant right now, and I couldn't be ANY more excited for them!! :):) I cried when all three of these precious ladies told me with HUGE smiles on their faces that they were expecting!! What an incredible JOY to be able to share!!! These three couples have all been married for a long time (7 years, 8 1/2 years and 11 1/2 years:)) and now God's perfect timing has come for them each to welcome a baby into their little family!! :) WHOO-HOO!! :) It is SO special to watch dear friends experience pregnancy and the early moments of becoming parents!! It is such a JOY and God's timing is AMAZING!! Of course as I watch these new mommy's and daddy's get excited about expanding their families, I can't help but reflect on our precious little bundle's of joy! :) They were both totally in God's perfect timing and now we absolutely cannot imagine life ANY different!!!!!

Our daughter was born shortly after our 3rd anniversary and our sweet son came after our 4th anniversary!! Our kiddos are only 12 1/2 months a part which was VERY hard at the beginning but it is a HUGE blessing now!! They are the BEST of friends...they have never known life without the other!!! They have an amazing bond that I pray they keep for the rest of their lives!! We often get asked the BIG question, "Will you have any more babies!?!" We always smile and say "If God blesses us!!" :) We really don't know if we will have more, that is totally up to God, but we are SO Thankful for the perfect two that we have!! :)

I am SO looking forward to planning and throwing baby showers for these amazing ladies!! I can't WAIT to hear what sex their babies are and enjoy showering my dear friends with excitement and encouragement!! :):) WHOO-HOO!! :):)

Excited!

I am SO excited and JOY-filled for this NEW year!! There are so many things that I want to do with our kiddos this year! They are at such FUN ages and I LOVE to see their minds at work!! I am SO blessed to be able to stay at home with them, AND, be at school with them!! I get to see into their every day lives, and it is amazing!! Wyatt had gotten to have the past 14 days off with us and our family bonding time together was absolutely priceless!!! Our time off didn't exactly go as we had planned, but I think in the end, it was far better than we could have even hoped for!!! We got a LOT Of snuggle, reading, snuggling, laughing face time together with our kiddos!! Our fall was nothing short if INSANE, so we welcomed this break!!!! Now in all honesty, I do have to mention that I was very, very sick during this time...thus we weren't able to do as much as we wanted, BUT, our down time was so priceless!! Now that I am feeling MUCH better, we have so much to look forward to!!

Every January, Wyatt and I sit down and talk through goals that we would both like to achieve throughout the new year! Some of our goals are for our family, others are for us as a couple, and some of our goals are individual goals!! It is SO fun to think about ways we can better ourselves as a married couple, as parents and as individual people! :) I LOVE having these conversations with Wyatt!! There is NO ONE BETTER to hold me accountable than my amazing husband!! He is so good for me and I rarely feel like he is attacking me when he holds me accountable for something that I said I wanted to do!! We decided this year to only share our goals with each other, just to be sure we weren't trying to be showy or extreme!! (I love the way my husbands mind works!! He is so humble and Godly!! :) I am a proud woman!! :)) SO, all I will say is be watching for some good change in the Jenkins household this year!! I am SO EXCITED about what this year will bring!! :):)

"He will yet fill your mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of JOY." Job 8:21