merry Christmas!

OMG i am so excited. let me give you a bit of background... this Christmas, finances were especially tough. themr and i decided that we would not buy for one another and would use all the money we had for our loved ones. not a big deal, just a necessity this year. now if i were to make a wish list, the item at the very top would be the keurig one cup coffee maker. i have wanted this for months. i love coffee but only if it's fresh. i cannot tell you how many times a day i pour out the coffee and make a new pot. i've tried carafes of every kind to keep it hot and fresh and none of them cut it. as soon as i saw this product i began coveting it. then i saw how much they cost. i then resigned myself to the fact that most likely i'd never get ) and two new starbucks mugs. i am in heaven! i know, it's a little absurd to be this excited about a coffee maker, but i am!!! i can't wait to wake up tomorrow and make myself some coffee!!

p.s. tomorrow i promise i'll talk about my kids christmas and post some pics:) i'm just too excited right now!

25 days of Christmas

i've saved the very best for last, my wonderful husband, themr. words could never truly describe to you what kind of man he is but i'll do my best. the top ten reasons i love this man!

10. he is so funny. sometimes we can sit and laugh for hours. we have total opposite senses of humor but we keep each other smiling.

9. he takes good care of me. whether it's bringing me home my favorite candy bar or getting up with the kids and letting me sleep in, he's always taking care of me. when your days consist of caring for small children, you need someone who will take care of you. he does a good job of that.

8. he's so much fun. he takes the kids for long walks, wrestles with them, takes them to the park and lets them eat cheezits for breakfast. i'm sure when they are grown they'll remember many stories of all the fun things their dad did with them.

7. he can fix anything. even if it's something he's never worked with, he can figure it out. he's probably saved us thousands over the years in repairs.

6. he works so hard to support us. for most of our eleven years together he's had to work two jobs to keep the bills paid and he never complains. he wants me to be able to stay home and he works hard to make sure that happens. i know many women who wish their husbands would work one job, i am blessed to have a husband who works so hard for our family.

5. he's really hot. i mean really hot. the older he gets, the better looking. he works hard to take care of his body and it pays off:) there's not an inch of fat on his body. he's all muscle and tattoo and hotness. i am quite lucky. no wonder i ended up with four kids:)

4. he's an awesome dad. he's fun and attentive and loving. he is an excellent model to our kids of all that a husband and father should be.

3. he loves me unconditionally. even when i'm at my worst with raging PMS and acting like a certifiable crazy person, he still loves me. he thinks i'm sexy even if i haven't shaved my legs in weeks or managed to get dressed all week. no matter how many babies i have or how stretched out this body becomes, he's still attracted to me. some days i don't know why he would want to put up with me but he does and i'm grateful.

2. he loves the Lord with all of his heart. he is the spiritual head of this family and he always puts our best first. he desires to continue to become a better man and become more like Christ every day. he has a gift for understanding the Word and teaching it that i admire greatly. he is an example to me.

1. he is kind, loving, sweet, handsome, funny, compassionate, forgiving, intelligent, diligent, loyal, hardworking, devoted and awesome! how i ended up with a man like him i'll never know but i am so thankful i did. i love you!

25 days of Christmas

i'm down to the last (but certainly not least:) child! what can i say about the baby? he's mommy's boy so i'm a little partial. there is something precious about your youngest. i find myself babying him and letting him get away with things i know i shouldn't, but he's so darn cute! so these are the top ten reasons i love the baby!

10. let's get the obvious out of the way first, he is the cutest guy ever. he loves to give hugs and kisses. he is the only child that will still cuddle with me all the time. he's so adorable:)

9. he's so adventurous, which is a good thing and sometimes a tiring one! he has no fear and will climb anything he can. he's always looking for something to get in to or dismantle. although it completely wears me out and makes it very difficult to get anything done, i know those qualities will serve him well when he's grown.

8. hes such an entertainer. he knows he funny and loves to be the center of attention. he'll have us laughing so hard at the dinner table that none of us can manage to chew a bite of food. he makes the funniest facial expressions!

7. he has me wrapped around his little finger. whenever he wants something, he does the sign for "please" and says "peeeaaase?"he knows i can't turn him down :)

6. he loves other kids, especially babies. even if they are his age, he thinks they're babies. he bring them his toys and pats their head like a dog. he shares his cup and hugs them, whether they want him to or not!

5. he's the only child in our house not intimidated by the dog! the other kids hide and scream when the dog is hyper but he just tries to wrestle with him, even though the dog is twice his size!

4. he loves to help mommy. whether i'm unloading the dishwasher, cleaning up toys or cooking he wants to help. you can hand him any piece of trash and he gets so excited to put it in the trash for you. i used to have such a hard time cleaning and keeping him out of trouble at the same time, now i give him jobs and he loves it!

3. he can entertain himself for long periods of time. he loves to throw all the toys out of his toybox and climb inside. he'll sit in there and watch blues clues long enough for me to make dinner :)

2. he wants us to clap for him every time he does something he thinks is good. whether it's using his fork or throwing away a piece of trash, we always have to clap when he's done. it's really cute!

1. he's funny, smart, sweet, happy, headstrong, loving and utterly adorable. i cannot imagine my life without that little guy. i'm so lucky to have him!

25 days of Christmas

well, i'm down to my last three! i've made it (although not on the schedule i planned:) today i will tell you all about my sweet little princess... and pricess she truly is (self appointed) when i was pregnant with her, i was praying fervently for another girl. i was pretty sure i couldn't live through another boy. turns out, she's much more like her brother than her sister~ who would've guessed! so the top ten reasons i love her are:
10. she is a perfect mix of brother and her sister. she's all girl as far as loving anything pink or doll related. but she's soo much like her brother in that she is a dirt magnet and loves to play rough and wrestle. you never what you're gonna get with her. most days you'll find her dressed in a tutu with princess heals on with peanut butter in her hair and playing in the mud. she's alot like me in that way, maybe that's why i find it so endearing!

9. she's super funny. her sense of humor is a riot. frequently, she doesn't even know she's being funny, which is even funnier. she loves to do impressions of our family members, which are always interesting from a four year old perspective.

8. she's a born performer. whether she's standing on the kitchen table singing at the top of her lungs or making us all be her customers at her "restaurant", she's destined for the spotlight.

7. she has the cutest speech impediment. now that she's four (or as she would say "fowa") we're trying to really work with her on it. it's really hard to do since they way she says things is so cute! she's always said her L sounds as W. her little BFF, James, also has a speech impediment only he says his L's as Y's. every time we leave their house he says "i yuv you yiyah" and she says "i wuv you james". it's so adorable:)

6. she is such a lover. she always wants to get her blankie and cuddle up on the couch with anyone she can get to sit with her. she'll give you all the hugs and kisses you desire, except for her dad. as soon as he walks in the door she tackles him, ready to wrestle!

5. she's a deep thinker. the other day, out of the blue, she looked and me and exclaimed that Mary must be God's wife. i told her that was not the case and she informed me that if she's Jesus' mother and God is his Father then she must be God's wife. a little hard to argue with that isn't it?

4. she loves all things princess and began informing us around two that she is one. she wants to wear her princess gowns everywhere! she will also inform you that princesses don't do things like brush their teeth or clean their rooms. nice try!

3. she is such a good girl. although she can be sneaky if there is any kind of chocolate in the house, she is generally well behaved and sweet. she can fight with her brother like it's WW3 but i usually know i can leave the room to get things done and trust her to follow the rules.

2. she is a giver. she's always coloring pictures for her friends or trying to make presents for them. this past summer, a good friend of mine went on a mission trip to the phillipines. they were taking small toys to give to the children that live on the dump. i asked my kids to pick out some toys that they would be willing to give away for the kids who don't have any. the princess brought me her very favorite polly pocket, the one she takes everywhere (even sleeps with it). i explained to her that this was permanent and she wouldn't be able to get it back. she wanted a little girl who didn't have toys to have her best polly pocket. it warmed my heart!

1. she's adorable, funny, beautiful, smart, compassionate, generous, loving and so much fun! i can't wait to see the woman she becomes! i love her so much!

25 days of christmas

today's post is about my first born son, zaza! when i was pregnant with him, i wanted a boy so much. when i found out i was having one i was so excited! the entire pregnancy he moved around like he was breakdancing in my belly which i should have taken as a sign of how he was going to be! so anyway, the top ten reasons why i love zaza!

10. he is so full of energy it makes me tired just looking at him! he is ready to go from the minute his eyes open in the morning to the minute he falls asleep (usually in the middle of playing). when i get up each morning, no matter how early, he is already up and in a wonderful mood. he is usually completely dressed, hat, gloves and all.

9. he has the most active imagination. when he was three, we removed all his toys from his room because we couldn't get him to sleep at night. we heard him in there the first night laughing and talking. when i went to check on him, he had a stick and several small rocks. he was pretending they were people and cars and was happily playing. we realized then that he just doesn't need much sleep!

8. he wants to be just like his dad. he loves to help fix anything, although i'm not sure he's all that helpful:) he follows his dad around every weekend with his "work boots" and hard hat on just waiting for something to break!

7. he loves to play outside. when the weather is nice (and many times when it isn't) he wants to be outside from morning to night. i have to make him come in for food. i don't know what he does to occupy himself out there but he just loves it.

6. he's a good student. we had many concerns before he started kindergarten how it would go due to his extremely high energy level. but he has flourished at school. he loves his teachers and he tries so hard to please them. he's made friends so easily and loves to go. he asks to go to school on the weekends:)

5. he has such a tender heart. if you haven't spent much time with him, you may not see that. but he is so sensitive. most days of the week he comes home with a "treasure" for me in his pocket. it can be anything from a rock that is shaped like a tree to a plastic gem he found on the ground. anything he finds cool or pretty he brings home for mom.

4. he's almost always smiling and has been since he was born. he's such a happy kid. we can go on a routine trip to the grocery store and he finds the excitement in it. i wish i had more of that in myself.

3. he watches out for his sisters. even though they fight endlessly, when one of them is being bullied by someone else he is right there to protect them. when he was three or four, we were at a cookout with several other families. i overheard some older girls (nine years old or so) picking on the bean. before i could intervene, za went over and pushed the biggest girl and said "you're not gonna talk to my sister that way! come on bean, lets go play with nice kids". it never occured to him that those girls were three times their age. he just wanted to defend his big sister.

2. he can climb anything and has no fear. i really mean anything. he learned how to scale our doorways to the ceiling at two. he climbed out of his crib at 8mths. his life will never be dictated by fear. i admire that.

1. he is sweet, funny, smart, adventurous, talented, vivacious and full of life. i cannot wait to see the man he will become. i am blessed to be called his mother.

25 days of christmas

i'm on a roll... two posts, one day! hopefully i can get this done while my kids are happily playing together with playdoh. most likely i have about three minutes before they start fighting....

today's person i love is my oldest daughter, the bean! there will always be something special about my firstborn. she is so precious to me, i'd have to post the top one hundred reasons to come close to describing her. i'll do my best to keep it at ten!

10. she's so funny! she is quite witty for a nine year old! one day, a few years ago, she watched Lord of the Rings with her dad. that evening she came to the living room hiding something behind her back. when we asked what it was she pulled out a little debbie and cradled it near her face saying "my precious". we rolled. she is so funny!

9. she's extremely smart. too smart really... she excels at all things academic with little effort. we're a little worried that by fourth grade she'll be smarter than us!

8. she's very compassionate. her teachers tell me she's always concerned for others and that her classmates come to her when they're upset. she's so loving.

7. she takes good care of her siblings even though they drive her crazy. if she thinks one is being mean to another she always jumps to their defense. she loves to carry her little brother around and care for him. she even changes diapers!

6. she has a wonderful artistic side. she loves to scrapbook, write on her blog and make crafts. i love those things too so it's really fun to have a child to share that with.

5. she thinks the sun rises and sets in her daddy. she loves him so much! it warms my heart that some day she will have to search far and wide to find a husband who measures up to her daddy.

4. she is a big helper. she is always looking for ways to help me, whether it's making lunch for her brothers and sisters or watching the baby so i can take a shower. i know she is the same way at school. her helpfulness is really what keeps me sane some days!

3. She loves the Lord. she has an understanding of the Word that is far beyond her years. she understands concepts that she should never "get" at her age. i am so excited to see what the Lord has for her future.

2. in some ways, she saved me. when i became pregnant with her, my life was truly a mess. i was struggling through college and very irresponsible. i realized that i was going to be responsible for another life and i had to get it together. she was the reason i changed. i became a better person because of her.

1. she is beautiful, insightful, kind, loving, considerate, smart, funny and wonderful. i look at her and always wonder how i ended up with such a great kid. i wish i could take credit, but it is just who she is. what a blessing to have the honor of raising her!

25 days of christmas

holy moly i am behind! i has saved my immediate family and my parents for last... and now it's five days till christmas! four kids, one husband, two parents.... doesn't add up! i'm going to try to do two a day to catch up.. wish me luck!

today i honor my mom and dad! this is an easy one, cause i have really great parents. my mom and biological dad divorced when i was a baby and my mom remarried when i was five. my biological dad's involvement in my life was sketchy, so i really think of my stepdad as my dad. he was there for me for all the things a little girl needs a daddy for so he has earned that title alot more than the man who technically made me. without further ado, the top ten reasons i love my parents!

10. they're super fun. i know alot of people don't exactly look forward to hanging out with their parents, but we have a blast! we play cards together (which can get very heated:) we eat good food, and we just laugh!

9. they raised us all to be responsible, compassionate, God-loving people. that to me is priceless. i can only atribute my sucesses as a woman to the way i was raised.

8. they are always helping someone. when i was growing up, we were the family that frequently had some other kid living with us who needed help. my mom was surrogate mom to many others. they were foster parents (to teenage girls none the less) and also spent several years with both sets of my grandparents living with them. that is true love. if i tried to write all the ways they've cared for others we'd be here all day :)

7. they love each other deeply. they've had their ups and downs over twenty five years, but they've modeled for us how to persevere and stay together when marriage gets tough. even in the hard times, we never doubted they loved one another. early in my own marriage, i tried to leave my husband. i packed my suitcase and went to their house. i walked in the door and my mom said "you better put that back in your car. you can stay here long enough to cool off but then you're going home. you vowed before God and your family that you would be married for life and you will not run home when things get tough." if she hadn't taken that stand (which infuriated me at the time :) i may not be married today.

6. they face life's challenges with quiet faith. the last several years have been really trying for them, from medical issues to financial ones. the thing that sticks out to me the most is that through it all, their faith has shone through. no matter what life hands them, they know they will be ok. i need more of that in my own life.

5. they're awesome grandparents. as soon as we enter the door, my kids rush my dad ready to wrestle. they know that grandpa will get on the floor and play with them. each year for each kid's birthday they take that chlld out for dinner and then to the toy store to pick out their present. with four kids, that means so much to them. many times my kids look forward to that more than their party!

4. they've supported myself and my brothers no matter how many bad choices we've made (and we've made alot!) when i was a 20 year old, unmarried, college student i had to tell my parents i was pregnant. i expected fireworks! my mom calmly looked at me and said "we'll make it work". they embraced eli (even though he was not what they probably had in mind) and supported us emotionally as i had a baby, finished college and eventually got married. the funny thing is that eli turned out to be an awesome man and my mom could see his potential long before anyone else did. she's always said he was a "diamond in the rough" and she was right!

3. i always go to them first for parenting advice. they raised five kids who have all turned out to be great people, so who better to ask? they taught me how to discipline, how to love, how to say you're sorry to your kids when you're wrong!

2. they are friends with their kids. now that most of us are grown, we have a developed a close friendship with our parents. i can only hope that when my kids are grown we'll have the closeness i have with my parents. my mom is my best friend!

1. they love the Lord with all of their hearts. they serve Him, they honor Him with their lives, they are examples of His redemption. their lives are their testimonies. they inspire me, they love me, they are the reason i turned out ok:) i love you mom and dad!

ode to my sick kids.....

twas the week before Christmas,
when all through the house
children were vomiting out of their mouths.
Papaw was at his job,
while i hold the fort
these are the days it'd be easier to work.
fevers keep climbing
children are whining
haven't eaten all day there's no time for dining.
sheets in the washer,
cartoons all day,
who'd have thought i could miss all that rambunctious play.
one silver lining
there has to be one
with seven days until Christmas we soon shall be done.

Hope your week before Christmas is going better than mine!

merry christmas from the kids!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

a different kind of top ten

i'm vearing away from my normal 25 days of Christmas post today. last weekend, our pastor announced that he will be giving away 3 ipods this weekend to people who can tell him why they deserve it. of course i think i am a deserved recipient. so these are the top ten reasons why Grant should give me the ipod!

10. i am a true music lover. i love all kinds of music (other than country:). i listen to music from the time i get up to the time i go to sleep. .. sometimes i dream about music!

9. i live with four kids. that means i sometimes need a way to drown out the craziness!

8. i always sit in the front row at church, don't i get some kind of bonus points for that?

7. i have four kids that will eventually grow up and be tithers (is that a word?)

6. i always laugh at the sermon illustrations, even if they're not particularly funny.... i mean they are really funny, but i'd laugh anyway just to be nice :)

5. i dislike cats

4. i'd fill it with worship music

3. i download songs from itunes, which is helping the economy, right? that's very christian isn't it?

2. i posted my reasons on my blog, which averages about 200 readers a week, instead of just emailing it. that's advertising for the church! fellowshipchristian.org

1. i actually have a music player cell phone, so i'd give the ipod away. there is a wonderful person in my life would love to have it so much, but would never be able to afford to buy one. it would feel so good to give that person this gift simply because i love them!

Grant, are you convinced yet?

25 days of christmas

i know, i know.... i'm way behind. this is going to go way past Christmas! who knew the busy season wouldn't be conducive to vowing to blog every day? anyway, today's people are easy, because i love them sooo much..... My in laws, Mark & Marla! when i married my wonderful husband, i not only inherited a great set of in laws but an entire extended family who are equally awesome. their family is huge and they are fantastic. but i digress... today is in honor of mark and marla!
so the top ten reasons i love them are...

10. they're very stylish. she always looks fantastic. i can only hope that when i'm in my fifties i'll look half as good as she does and my husband will dress well!

9. they're great cooks and taught me most of what i know. when we got married, i knew nothing about cooking. so naturally, i found the person who made the best food and watched her like a hawk! she'll tell us she doesn't have any food in the house and then manage to "throw together" an awesome meal, while mark is grilling the best meat you've ever had. if she had a superpower that would be it. seriously, it's that good.

8. they're great grandparents. they take my kids and always finds some fun activity to do with them and they just flourish under the attention. all of my kids were enamored with grandpa mark from a very young age. i realized one day that it was because he was one of the only people in their lives who would drop everything and give them undivided attention. if he's out fixing a car, you can bet one of my kids is out there "helping". his patience is unmatched. she thinks they're the greatest kids, faults and all, which makes me love her even more.

7. she's the queen of bargains and gift giving. it's always fun to shop with her because she will find the best deals and usually will have a coupon in her purse to go along with it. if you met her, you'd think she must spend a fortune to look that good, when in reality she finds all the good deals! mark happily goes along with her, never complaining (like many husbands). i think the secret is that marla lets mark pick the restaurant when they're out shopping:)

6. she's a wonderful mother and he's an awesome father. their devotion to the family and the love they pour out on them is unmatched. they would do anything in the world for their kids and they all grew up to be amazing people because of it. thankfully, my husband has learned how to be a great dad by simply emulating his own.

5. they're very funny! she has a great sense of humor and always makes me laugh. he has this wit that comes out of nowhere and cracks me up!

4. they love each other. they have been married now for 30 something years and they are still so in love. they way they look at each other, take care of one another and make each other laugh is an inspiration. their three children have a perfect model of marriage in their parents.

3. they're just good people. whether you need help fixing something (which we always seem to) or an ear to listen, they're there. they have supported us through good and bad, thick and thin, and we always know we can count on them and i hope they know the same about us!

2. they never lecture or nag. they can give excellent advice (hey, they've been there!) while not nagging. that is priceless!

1. they are an example to us all of patience, love, compassion, loyalty, respect... just how to live life and treat others. i am so thankful for them!

why i can't blog every day

while i was writing that last post, my two year old climbed up on the counter. he poured out a whole bag of sugar, a full container of cream of tartar and some lotion. he then preceeded to rub it all round on the countertop, the coffeemaker and the roll of paper towels. all in the four minutes i was not with him. today may be the day i lose my mind....

25 days of christmas

before i begin, i just have to state that i'm not very good at posting every day! i know, i know.... i have four kids, a husband, several babysitting jobs and a house that never stays clean. i didn't anticipate that i would have such a hard time keeping up! all that to say, sorry i've been a little inconsistant! without further ado...

today's person that i LOVE is my brother's wife, ashley. it's not hard to love ashley. she's just so sweet! not in that fake, ungenuine way... she really is just sweet! so these are the top ten reasons i love ashley.

10. she's really fun! she's always smiling, laughing, enjoying life. she makes those around her enjoy life too.

9. she's intensely loyal. she loves those around her deeply and will truly do anything in the world for them.

8. she's trustworthy. you can tell her anything and know that she will keep it private. i know i can call her with my "secrets" and she'll keep them secret.

7. she loves my brother, faults and all. they really compliment one another and bring out each other's best. she's made him a better man.

6. she's a great mother to my adorable nephew! she loves him and takes such good care of him. i could never have been such a good mom at her age.

5. she knows how to make every curveball life throws her be something positive. i know things haven't always gone the way she may have thought, but she's turned all their circumstances into a good life for herself and my brother.

4. she's a good homemaker. she takes pride in making her home nice and does a really good job of making it a home with whatever resources she has.

3. she's a woman of God. she loves the Lord and tries to be more like Him each and every day. the depth of her faith astounds me. i can only imagine where i would be if i loved the Lord as much as she does at 20.

2. she's a good friend. she's by nature a giver. she always has an encouraging word and a smile. i need that in my life!

1. she's beautiful, smart, funny, sweet, compassionate, loving, devoted and passionate. she's the perfect addition to our family!

25 days of christmas

today's post is for my cousin, Emily. Em and i were the only girls in our family. we were born four days apart. we grew up together managing to get into lots of trouble along the way! you'd think being the only girls in a family we'd be the easy ones, but we sure did find trouble any chance we could. i spent alot of time at their farm growing up and i have so many good memories there. my life as a young child could be somewhat insecure, mostly due to my relationship with my biological dad. those weekends at the farm were so normal. from swimming in the trough to sneaking downstairs after bed for a snack, i cherish those memories. so these are the top ten reasons i love emily!

10. she's the total opposite of me, in a good way! where i'm loud and outspoken, she's quiet and thoughtful. where i'm short and roundish (is that a word?) with unruly curly dark hair... she's tall and willowy and blond. we're total opposites but that's what makes us so interesting:)

9. she has this adorable, charming baby girl. i love that baby!

8. she's an awesome photographer. she has probably saved me thousands over the years in pictures. all the professional pics you see on this blog were taken by her. you can see her work at emilysphotography.com (shameless advertising? why yes!)

7. she's comfortable in her own skin. she knows who she is and she's at peace with herself. i admire that greatly.

6. she's adventurous. she's always off on a trip whether it's europe or mexico. having a baby hasn't slowed that spirit at all. she just packs that baby up and takes her with her! which brings me to number 5....

5. she's a great mom. motherhood has just come naturally to her. where most women take several months (at least) with their first to really get into the groove of motherhood, emily just seemed like she'd always been doing it! she's patient and calm and loving. i have no doubt her daughter will turn out to be an awesome woman because of it.

4. she's funny, in a laid back, unassuming way. if you don't know her, you'd think her very shy. but in reality, she's very personable and quite witty.

3. she has a well hidden "ornery" side. i'll never forget when we were kids and we came up with a great way to scare people at a family christmas gathering. we were all at our grandma's house. em and i went into the basement with a broom and one of grandma's wigs. whenever someone would go to the bathroom, we would put the wig on the end of the broomstick and push it up through the laundry shoot in the bathroom closet. to the person on the toilet, it looked like a head was coming out of the closet. we got in a lot of trouble for that one but we thought it was hilarious!

2. she's a good granddaughter. our grandmother is now in a nursing home and her health has been failing considerably for several years. she is technically dying of heart failure. unfortunately, she's not a sweet little old lady, she tends to be a bit abrasive and judgemental. emily goes to visit her weekly and takes her things like pictures and treats. as a mom, business owner and wife, i know it requires alot of planning on her part to do so.

1. she's kind, compassionate, talented, witty, smart, gentle, beautiful and full of life! i love her!

25 days of christmas

today's person of honor is my oldest brother, adam. adam was born when i was almost ten years old, my first sibling. i was so excited to finally have sibling that i carried him around everywhere i went as if he was my own baby. he was the happiest infant. he just smiled and laughed all the time. that sweet baby is now a grown man with a wife and a sweet baby of his own. our relationship has really transformed in the last few years as he's gotten married and had his first child. i'd always been so much older so its pretty cool that now we're both in similar places in our lives. so these are the top ten reasons i love adam!

10. he was my first brother. we had a bond of being the only children. when he was little he would cry for me instead of my mom.

9. he has a very dry, sarcastic sense of humor. he really makes me laugh. people that don't know him well tend to think he's very quiet, but spend a little time with him and he'll have you rolling.

8. he gave me my first nephew. i could not love that baby any more if he was my own.

7. even though i'm technically the oldest, since there is such a big age difference he's somewhat the oldest also. (after him were three more boys every two years) we share a lot of similarities in our experiences with our parents. although he will tell you that he couldn't get away with anything because our parents had learned all the "tricks" from me:)

6. he married an awesome girl. having four brothers, i realized several years ago that i really hoped my brothers would marry girls i like. adam definitely did that. ashley is the perfect addition to our family and the perfect wife for adam.

5. he's a great husband. he adores ashley, you can see it in the way he looks at her. he truly loves her and i have no doubt they have a long, happy future together.

4. he has awesome taste in music. you'd think being nearly ten years apart we'd have very different taste in music. but he's very wise for his years when it comes to music :)

3. he's a wonderful father. you can see in his eyes that the sun rises and sets in that chubby little baby. he plays with him, wrestles with him and generally just has fun with him. jonah will be fortunate to grow up with a dad that wants to spend so much time with him.

2. he's alot like our dad, in a good way (don't get mad adam!) he has all our dad's good qualities, none of the bad ones. he may be too young still to admit that:)

1. he loves the Lord and strives every day to be a better man. there is nothing more endearing to me than his desire to keep growing. i have so much hope for his future, his marriage, his children, his life. i am blessed to be a part of it!

25 days of christmas

today's person i love is my sister in law, marcie. before i give you all the reasons i love her, i need to give a little background. i have four brothers, four! every time my mom announced she was pregnant (which seemed like all the time) i prayed for a sister. obviously i never got one. so fastforward to eleven years ago when i met my husband. he had a sister who was sixteen at the time. she was funny, sweet and very mature for her age. we hit it off immediately. over the years, she has truly become the sister i never had. she is the only girl in her family so she never had a sister either. i've had the honor of helping plan her wedding and seeing her first baby born. we were always close, but going through those things together has brought us even closer. i truly love her as though she were my blood sister. so these are the top ten reaons i love marcie!

10. she's wickedly funny. her wit is unmatched. we have some of the stupidest (is that a word?) inside jokes but to us they are hilarious. MCGRUBER!

9. she's absolutely gorgeous, but she's totally unaware of it. it makes her even more beautiful.

8. she feels things deeply. she is compassionate to a fault. i love her tender heart.

7. she married an awesome guy who is just like her dad. (who is one of my very favorite people in the world) he fits perfectly in our family and my husband thinks of him as a brother. i have many friends with strained in law relationships and we are all truly one big happy family!

6. she makes super cute babies. olive rae makes me smile just thinking about her :)

5. she's always up to try something new. she just has a zeal for life. i love that about her!

4. she's extremely loyal. she's this tiny little woman, but don't mess with someone she loves! i always know she has my back

3. she's a good daughter. she loves her parents so much and is always finding ways to help them out. even as she's become a wife and mother, she never neglects those around her.

2. i can tell her whatever is on my mind, anything at all. i can be real with her and she with me.

1. she's sweet, smart, funny, interesting, affectionate, confident, sassy and lovely all around! i am so thankful that i married her brother and she was part of the package!

25 days of christmas

well, i was supposed to start my 25 days of christmas posts on the 1st! but.... i got sick this weekend and have been totally out of commission. i'm still sick, but geez it's the third i have to get on this! so without further ado, day 23.....
THERESA! this girl has been my BFF since we were 16. for all intents and purposes we have really grown up together. we've seen each other through boyfriends and breakups, moves and homecomings, skater boys and graffiti artists, marriages and babies... with lots of dancing along the way. so these are the top ten things i LOVE about theresa....

10. she's just cool. we love the same music, we love to dance, we love to laugh at all our inside jokes.
9. she has one of the cutest babies ever. seriously, that guy is so cute.
8. no matter what state we live in, no matter how long since we've talked, it never feels like we've been apart.
7. she's beautiful and she doesn't even know it. imagine the offspring of a caucasian man and a korean woman. she's just gorgeous, inside and out.
6. she has awesome taste! (i mean she's friends with me, right?)
5. she never forgets a birthday, ever. she'll make you a card and always remember to call.
4. she's a really good mom. motherhood has just come naturally to her. you can tell she does a great job by how great her kid is!
3. we have been through so many things together, it's awesome to have a friend who knows your history. we made our histories together.
2. she is so encouraging. i'll be having the worst day and then i'll get some random text from her telling me what a good friend i am. it's always when i most need to hear it.
1. she is fun, spontaneous, smart, classy, beautiful, sensitive and a blast to be around! i love you T!