School Time!

I am a stay at home mom. I think, really, I just now can say that. Last year I stayed home, but I was always "just taking the year off." Who would have thought being home with two very lively and busy kiddos would be so much fun? I can say that I truly know that I am in the right place at the right time and living out my life that has been set before me. I am happier than I have ever been and blessed beyond measure.
So, to catch you up ... I'm a stay at home mom! :-) Yay for me. The best part is that August 1st rolls around and I don't even notice it or sense it in the least. I drive by school and see all the people there and think, "how on earth would I survive?" The funny thing is that I loved teaching. I loved my classroom and I loved my groups of kiddos, and dog gone, I was good at it. I have surprised myself that I am not missing it and that I love not being there (for the moment) so much!
So -- fast forward.  I think I am okay not being in the classroom because technically I still am in the classroom. I teach pre-k at our church school two days a week on Tuesday and Thursday. I have 9 kiddos and I co-teach with my sweet friend who I love dearly.  We teach these kids whole heartedly every day that they show up. We give it all we have and everyone is better for it, I think. On that same note, I take Samuel and Madison with me every T/Th. They love it. They love school. They love their teachers and they love their friends. They sing and learn about how much God loves them and I love that. So, I actually started this blog to talk about them- hmmmm... lets change gears. I obviously need more adult interaction in my life by the signs of my ramblings...
School started after Labor Day. So the weeks before us starting our pre-school everyone I knew was posting darling photos on-line of their children's first day of school photos. I mean darling. Total cuteness. The kind, where I had to Pintrest, which I never do, because I too was going to have one of those cute photos. I mean,  I am expected to do that right? I am a stay at home mom now after all! So I found the picture. I had it in my brain. I knew what I needed from Hobby Lobby. Then school started and I hadn't lifted a pair of scissors or a bottle of glue.  School started anyway.
At the end of the day, I caught two ladies that I work with walking down the hall. One had a frame, the other had a camera. I used both. I grabbed my kids and begged them to cooperate while sweet Lindsey took photos and e-mailed them to me that day (what?!) Madison was crying to stay and color, Samuel was crying to go home and in the middle of it, she captured this:

Really this photo is so perfect. The way it all happened is real life. Let's go with it, right?

I wish, but instead I "faked" the first day on the second day and was able to get Madison on her

 "first day"

In all reality, Madison is the only one I needed. Madison is the only one I find myself stressed out about as I feel "real" school sneaking up on us. Don't think that I am totally crazy, because yes, I know that I have two years ahead of us, but time flies for sure. I see kids in high school that I taught yesterday in kindergarten. I read all these blogs about parenting and sending your kid off and then as if my anxiety wasn't high enough already, I read excerpt from Rob Lowe's book about sending his kid off to college and I cried so hard I couldn't breath.

http://www.slate.com/articles/life/family/2014/05/rob_lowe_on_sending_his_son_off_to_college_an_excerpt_from_love_life.3.html

I have hugged more crying parents on the first day of kindergarten than I have crying kids. Honest. I always assured them on their way out that a great day was in store. I knew that. I knew I would love their child. I knew I would show them all the magic kindergarten had to offer. What I didn't know until now is what that deep ache in the parents heart felt like when they had to walk out and leave their child in my care and know that it had started. The walking away part had started. Their child would find their own way to my room, we'd play and laugh and learn and have fabulous days.  The parent had to walk away and know that their days home with their child were numbered and the time just ran out. I feel that now. I feel that already. I panic. But here is also what I do. I sit with Madison and I fully engage in our conversations. I twirl her around in that blue Elsa dress that she loves so much. I take her to gymnastics and watch her jump and play with true kid excitement. I listen to children's music all day every day. No, really every day. We write her name with chalk and swing so high we try to touch he clouds. I tickle her so much that she begs for me to stop through her laughter. Then I look in her eyes and tell her how much her mommy, her daddy, her brother, and Jesus love her. I hug her a little extra long and sneak in a few extra kisses, because my time to walk away has not arrived. Not yet.

Happy Birthday Chloe Dog!

Our eight year old dog had her very first birthday today. Her Actual birthday would be in October, but don't tell Madison that. At lunch today Madison said she need to tell her daddy a secret. She leaned over and put her lips to his ear, cuffed her little hands around her mouth and whispered, "Today is Chloe's birthday and we are going to have a party."  So, we had a birthday party today for our dog that our three and half year old was in charge of and it was beyond precious.

She started by announcing that she had to go to her closet to get her dress up clothes and get fancy for the party. We kind of shrugged this off and said, "Sure, yes you should be fancy for a party." I don't think we were really under the understanding that we were about to have a full fledged birthday party at out house on this particular Saturday afternoon.

~~~

I told Madison that I would help with whatever she needed when I came down from putting her brother down for a nap. When I returned she had literally cleaned out the silverware drawer to "set the table" for the party. No, really... I am using literally in the correct sense:

She has taken everything out of this drawer, added a little bit of her tea set to it, along with some cooking utensils and "set the table" so there would be enough for everyone and all the friends that were coming to the party.  This mess is actually a very fine tuned plan to where everyone had "something" for the party. There was a single spoon sitting in Samuel's highchair, just waiting for the big surprise!

She had asked Jason if he could get her some hats for the party. She fell apart in tears when he told her no. It just so happens that I have all this "stuff" in bins that I wasn't sure what to do with when I cleaned out my classroom, but saved for her crafting purposes. She was able to dig through the bins in the garage to find party hats, party blowers and balloons. She knew exactly what she wanted.

And really, what's a party without cake and ice cream? Luckily we were able to get her to believe that puppy dogs don't like real cake and they don't like it hot in the oven, so she came up with a bean burrito (her favorite) dog cake. She carefully spread the beans over a tortilla with a butter knife, then asked if I'd cut it for her. I cut it into four pieces and then she carefully laid one dog treat on each piece. It was the cutest thing ever. So much thought and love went into this.

Then we put on our party hats, Madison held the cake while we sang Happy Birthday to Chloe and then she joyfully with a belly full of giggles presented Chloe with the most delicious cake that she as an 8 year old dog, had ever tasted.

 

Of course, the party isn't a party if the party host doesn't get to share in the sweet treats, so Madison also made everyone bowls full of ice cream. When daddy asked her if she was going to share the ice cream with Chloe, Madison quickly replied with, "No!"

This day was fabulous. The party was precious and the events throughout the day planning this party were hilarious.

Madison recently got a night light that displays hearts on her wall. When we pick out our favorite hearts at night, Jason always tells Madison that his favorite heart is hers. She has the biggest heart, full of love for other people. She truly is thoughtful and caring and wants to be kind to others. She indeed has a loving, kind spirit, that shines through on days like today.

Today was Chloe's pretend birthday.

Today was a day that we were proud of Madison's heart.

I am pretty sure that the laughs we shared today will last a lifetime.

Thank you Madison.

Happy Birthday Chloe.

 

 

Let Freedom Ring!

Happy 4th of July!

~~~

Home of the Free because of the Brave!

America the Beautiful. I like to think that I am a person who consciously knows everyday how lucky we are to live in a free country. Seeing the flags fly high no matter the day of the year makes me excited. It makes me happy. I love the red, white, and blue. I am a patriot. I love America. May not a day go by that we do not stop and pray to God for the richness that we live in, the leadership of our country and the brave men and women who have gone before us to make sure that America remains the great land of the free.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There is something exciting about the 4th of July. I never can quite put my finger on it, but it's happy. It's not stressful. As a parent you're not trying to buy stuff or make magic for your kids or stress out because of things to do and schedules. The 4th of the July is just a holiday that you get to enjoy start to finish with no big fuss. This year was just that. It was fun from the start to the finish, with not one fuss from either kiddo! We were able to be in East Texas with my parents and older brother's family. Hannah is 13 and Ty is 10 and they have to be hands down the neatest, nicest kids that I am pretty sure I have ever met. I mean when they both play with Madison and Samuel for hours on end with no complaints, how can you just not love on them? Madison adores her cousins. She is perfectly sincere when she says they are her favorites and she loves them more than the others! Not rude by the definition of a three and a half year old, but when dress up, hide and go seek, pool time, and golf cart rides are involved, how can you blame her?

This year we participated in the first ever golf cart parade in my parents community. It was cute, it was funny, and it was just fun. Hannah and Ty decorated the golf cart. Next year we'll know that this is a real competition and we'll step it up a notch! But we all rode shouting "Happy 4th of July" to every single person watching the parade. Sweet little Madison yelled the loudest and waved the hardest! Our theme was "Let Freedom Ring" and we rang our cow bells the whole ride. Ty was certain to point out that ringing the bells the whole way was very annoying! Madison found which side of the road the kids were on and Hannah and Ty had to throw the candy. We were towards the end of the 50 cart parade line. When it ended everyone gathered together and chatted like we all knew each other. It was friendly and fabulous. The kids ran around and enjoyed the festivities with excitement. What a great country we live in that we can gather together with strangers for the sole purpose to celebrate our Freedom!

 

   



Gulf Shores 2014

So we loaded the car and drove to the beach. We actually loaded the car, drove to a hotel, then woke up and drove some more. To be exact, we drove 15 hours to get to Gulf Shoes. We thought 11 hours, 12 hours max. Nope, 15 hours. Whew. But we made it. I cant say that it was relaxing at all to pack and repack and keep up with a one year old and a three and half year old for 7 days at the beach, but we did it. We survived. The kids had a great time. We made memories and by the end of the week, the kids actually wanted to venture out into the ocean.
We went with Jason's whole family, so Madison really enjoyed all the people there, as she is one who adores people and lots of busyness!

Amazing photo of everyone looking and smiling? Even more amazing -- this photo was taken at 6 a.m. in the morning. Yes that was an A.M. Amazing.

If nothing else, we have fabulous photos from this trip!

Madison and Samuel really did love the sand. I was surprised that Samuel didn't eat more sand than what he did... They were both incredibly happy even after staying up late every night and waking up early every morning. The one thing that I am so proud to see every day no matter where we are is how much my kids love each other. The beach was no exception. That makes my heart happy.

Jason's sister had this brilliant idea to put a baby pool under the sun shade and the kids played in the ocean water in the splash pool for hours on end!

~~~~~~~

We stayed on Fort Morgan in Gulf Shores. Fort Morgan is named after the actual "Fort Morgan" that is still standing from the 1800's. It survived many wars and the intelligence to build this structure, that still stands in usable condition is mind boggling. It was amazing to see.  We were there for more than 3 hours and Samuel was content and Madison was amazed. She kept asking to go in the tunnels where the weather was nice and cool. We ran and ran until the guided tour did a reenactment of the gun firing and we all but hit the ground in duck and cover. Madison was pretty shaken up after that. Needless to say, we didn't see that coming and we started our retreat to the car, but not before these photos were taken:

 

 

Madison really was quite the explorer and was excited to see what was around the next, sometimes very dark and creepy corner!

It wore them out. Samuel decided to take a break. Madison let him as she just played in the sand beside her. I love this sweet girls big heart and I love the way her brother loves her so much.

 

 

If you make your way to Gulf Shores, you have to go to Fort Morgan. It was our favorite spot of the whole trip!  Here's to making family memories.  What lucky parents we are!

Plexus, people. Yes people... Plexus

For the past four years this blog has been just for me to keep my memories of having us venture into parenthood. It been about our big adventures and a place to mark down our memories. I had to really think it out if I was going to use this blog for my PLEXUS adventure and then I decided, yes I would because this too is part of the voyage! :-)

So, I am not in sales nor retail. I have never sold a product in my life. All my jobs have been service jobs. I was approached about a month and a half ago to try a product and then if I like it, maybe see about selling this product as an ambassador. Hmmm... I don't know.
Here is how I became a promoter of Plexus and am now encouraging others to help be a healthier you...

I caught a stomach bug and was very sick. After 7 days I still couldn't gain my strength back. The doctor told me that I needed a probiotic to get me back in balance. Actually, come to find out everyone should be on a probiotic everyday. In talking with friends and doing a little research I found that Shannon, a girl I knew from log ago sold Plexus probiotic. I talked with her started on the product and it helped me with many things including fatigue and "brain fog." Then looking into Plexus a bit more I gave myself a 30 day challenge of the pink drink and accelerator to help lose weight and really just be a healthier me. I am a new stay at home mom of 2 kids and I was tired and unscheduled and would grab whatever I could to eat whenever,  and I was just wore down. I had a 2 cup of coffee a day habit and on most days I may have thrown in an extra caffeine drink just because my caffeine crash was so bad. Within 3 days drinking Plexus I was down to one cup of coffee in the mornings and I was still full of energy and feeling great in the afternoons, no caffeine needed. Within 5 days I was caffeine fee, sleeping great and not having crazy sweet cravings. I was no longer starving during the day so I drastically cut down on my binge eating. I feel so good. I have great energy and the fall out I was experiencing in the afternoons that made me cranky with my kiddos has disappeared.
There are many, many people that are experiencing a drastic weight loss with Plexus. I am not that person. However, I am losing inches. Those summer shorts that I have held on to until they fit again, do indeed fit now after 35 days of Plexus. I am not focusing on the scales because I can honestly say that I feel so good and honestly, I cant say the last time I have felt this "normal." Probably even better than my usual "normal."
Plexus is designed to:

Help regulate blood sugars

Help maintain healthy blood pressure

Promote beneficial cholesterol and lipid levels

It was originally designed for diabetics and people who were pre-diabetic to help regulate and balance out your blood sugar. When your blood sugar is aligned, then the rest of your body can line up too. They have obviously branched out from there, but it's still all designed with overall wellness in mind. Plexus just launched new products. They have a wide variety of products that could work for you. I am drinking Plexus Slim in the morning. Taking an accelerator after breakfast. I take the ProX  multivitamin in the afternoon and  probiotic in the evenings before bed. I believe in this product. The company is known for great kick back for it's ambassadors and that is a huge push for me. I have loved being a stay at home mom this year and I am hoping that the opportunities that Plexus gives me to feel my best and be my best while introducing others to their product, will let me stay home another year.
If you are interested in looking at plexus for yourself please start here:
 http://katievaughan.myplexusopportunity.com/
If you want to ask me questions, like how to get your Plexus products at wholesale cost, please e-mail me: katieblack77@yahoo.com
or send me a message of Facebook. https://www.facebook.com/kbvaughan

Thanks for taking the time to read this!
Let me know when you are ready to "drink the pink!"

~Katie

Oh my ... LOVE

Have you met Samuel?
Trust me, you'd fall in love with this boy at first hello as he'd laugh and squeal in your presence just because that is what he does. He loves people. He's so full of life and energy and I just want to cuddle and kiss on him all day. That's probably why he isn't waking yet. Guess I need to not cuddle so much. Ahh, who am I kidding. He can walk later.
Here he is...

 

and then he laughs full belly cackles and really makes you believe you are so very, very funny. He is silly and he loves silliness.

Little Man is the big O-N-E if I can even bring myself to say it. Really, one? How did hat go so fast? Where did that time ago. I'll never regret this year that I took off to be at home and just be a mom to Samuel and big sister. What a wonderful year of just living life it has been. We are so greatly blessed. I am blessed every day by the fact that we were hand picked by God to be the parents of two super special, wonderful kiddos.

Happy, Happy Birthday Samuel.

May the world continue to light up and be a better place in your presence. We love you more than we ever knew we could. Our love did not divide. It simply multiplied. Here's to completing our family of four!

 

 

10 months

Yes, that's right... TEN months! Do you realize how close that is to one year? Oh. MY. Goodness. What a fast, furious, fabulous ten months it has been.
Honestly, I could take photos of Samuel all day. He's so happy. He's so cooperative.
At 10 months, he continues to be VERY picky with what he eats. It's now becoming annoying just to be honest. I mean really, eat that piece of pear with your fingers. Do I really have to mush it in the food processor EVERY time. Yes is that answer. Yes I do!
At ten months Samuel can:
Crawl like a champ. Man he's fast.
He cruises everywhere, but hasn't stepped away to make any real steps of his own.
He waves and says, "hi" and "bye."
He says, dada, mama, sister which is more like "tisder."
His favorite game is to have the big people fetch! He loves to drop and throw things and say "uh-oh" as someone brings it back to him!
He loves himself in the mirror and reading lift the flap peek-a-boo books.
He has 8 teeth, 4 on the top and 4 on the bottom. His bottom molars have started to push through. He's been constantly teething since 5 months. Poor kid. He chews on everything and I do mean everything. Oh the slobber... So much slobber! :-)
Here is little Mr. Samuel

 

 

 

Happy Easter

"But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed." Isaiah 53:5.

I am truly overwhelmed by the cross and the love of my Savior.

~~~~~

This Easter was more emotional that any Easter before. Our church had a wonderful Good Friday service and communion that was very intimate and really focused on the cross and the sacrifice that Jesus made for me. Jesus' love was so strong on my heart with the blessings that he has poured out on our family in the last year, that I basically spent the service in tears of emotion.

His promise is truth. His grace is sufficient. His love is real.

I pray that the truth of the empty tomb is remembered in my life every day, not just on Easter.

~~~~~

Our Eater weekend was super busy. We had egg hunts at pre-school on Thursday. Good Friday service on Friday, Church egg hunt on Saturday, and Easter on Sunday.

Madison and Samuel together were beyond precious. She was excited, he was happy and they both had eggs full of goodies to eat.

Really, these pictures are way cuter than my words, so here you go...

We started with matchy matchy outfits made by my friend Brandy, that were so stinkin' cute!

We had a great time hunting eggs at our church in Denton, Gracepointe.

Samuel is not quite walking yet, so we had to place him close enough to the eggs that he could get there without being trampled. He had no problem breaking those plastic eggs open!

Plus, we saw friends.. Can you ell that all they wanted to do was to get their candy out of their buckets? Really mom? Another photo?!

I really was impressed at how happy both kids were all weekend. No whines, no complaints, just fun.

Then we headed to Jason's parents house for the egg hunt from the Easter bunny and baskets from Mamma and Pappa. Jason's sister has a little girl, two months older than Samuel, so cousins are pretty fun right now!

It was Samuel's first Easter and I really have to say we enjoyed all 4 days of festivities. Looking back I don't know if we could have asked for a more perfect holiday with our family.

 

When it was time to pray, I asked Madison what Easter was all about and she proudly said, "Jesus."

I continue to marvel in God's love for us. What an amazing thing that Jesus would die on the cross for us. The tomb is empty... HE has risen indeed!

Happy Easter

Look at Me! I am three!

Oh. My. Goodness.

Madison is Three.

Three. 3. Three.

Wow.

I am a person who continues to realize every day how blessed I am the mother of  sweet, fun-loving kiddos, and even more blessed that I get to be home with them to enjoy it every day.

So, our little girl, our oldest, our big sister is three. Three is really a "kid." No baby, no toddler, just a little kid, who in our case continues to call herself a "big girl." She can do everything and I do mean everything all by herself because she is a "big girl." Usually she's right, sometimes we "help" with out letting her realize that we are helping. I will say this... Two's were terrific. The three's are another story. Madison has been three for 3 months. The fits are bigger, badder, and braver than those every witnessed in previous days. She's testing the limits for sure. However, she does comply with time-out, so we're still okay there. She does kick, scream, and cry while she's there, but at least she stays in the spot while I catch my breath and wipe my sweat away and usually chase baby brother away from something dangerous!

So, to make it easier on myself I have decided that whatever Madison is interested for the time, she will be that for both Halloween and then for her Birthday. I want her to choose her interest. I sometimes sway her away from things (shhhh.....) but I try not to sway towards other things.  I do want to genuinely let her decide what she likes, so she can be like Madison and not like me. It' s important for her to make decisions, be her own person, learn along the way, etc. This year she really liked fire trucks. The firemen, were a hit and miss but the fire trucks were always a hit. She was a firefighter for Halloween and then we had a fire truck birthday party, mostly so we could wear this outfit again and again! It was girly enough and then we had a fire truck bounce house that she stayed in literally until the people came to take it away. It was really lots of fun for her.  

My goal in all of this three business was to just get ONE photo of her in this firefighter outfit, looking at the camera, and smiling a genuine smile.

This is her genuine smile:  

However, poor Madison has had WAY too many photos taken of her in three years. I'm so sorry for that, I suppose... Maybe. Maybe not. (What a world we are living in where EVERY moment of life is recorded... That's a whole different subject.) When she was around 18 months she did this adorable, hilarious "cheese" for the camera. We all laughed. We all said "cheese" 3,000 more times and now we are stuck with that "cheese" face, so getting a photo for the big #3 did not prove to be easy. I tried three different days. These are the results:

Attempt #1  - Birthday Party Day - A bounce house was waiting, What was I thinking?

 

Attempt #2 - little brother napped, a little windy, but maybe it should have worked.

The looking /smiling combo proves be very difficult at three.

Oh well. We are happy so let's eat a popsicle, climb the fence, and be a scientist. 

 

Attempt #3.  Took a week break. No matter what I was quitting after this try. I had Jason move the fire hydrant out for us. It was the last go- I watched the "how to" DVD for my camera, gave it all I had, was very patient, and the pictures are pretty darn cute even though, looking at the camera is still only optional! Plus, we had a haircut in between tries...

LOOK AT ME! I AM THREE!

~~~

So we ended with a flower picking adventure, which was better than all the rest!

 

So, here's to being three. Here's to being able to light up a room and make even the hardest hearts laugh and giggle. Here's to huge gigantic hugs and big ole kisses. Here's to being able to swing on the swing set, literally for hours. Here's to wanting to eat a bagel for breakfast every single day. Here's to wanting to read our bible and memorize memory verses. Here's to loving our baby brother and always being a kind, helpful assistant! Here's to picking flowers, digging in the dirt, climbing fences, laughing louder than anyone else, giving high fives, using great manners, and knowing how to "sike!"

Here's to big "cheese" and not looking at the camera.

Here's to the one and only.... Madison Juliette.