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Tuesday, January 21, 2014

Hello, My Name is Stacy...

Welcome to my crazy life!

Some days I get a lot done.

Sometimes the floor beneath the table looks like a nuclear test area.

Sometimes we craft, or color, or trace, or play with play-doh.

Sometimes we park our butts on the couch and watch Cars for the 5,000,000th time.

Sometimes I actually have a chance to sit down and crochet...or read...or paint my nails. But more often than not, I spend my "down time" trying to clear my mind from the previous chaos.

We're getting close to the busy time of year now. My birthday is next month, the girls' birthdays are in March, Easter in April, our anniversary in May, Michael's birthday in June, Justin's birthday in July...then maybe it will slow down a little bit more. Despite this crazy time of year, I have decided to start a new business. I am beyond excited about it! It's called Wildtree, and everything they have is de.li.cious! Here's hoping my sanity doesn't take a severe hit. ;-)

Every day I am thankful that I have these three beautiful lives to care for. And every day I am thankful that I am able to be home with them. I will be the first to say that I have days that I would give my left arm for a part time job, though! :-)

God bless!
~Stacy

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Year in Review - 2013

Well, this year brought on many, many changes for us. Hopefully I can remember all of the "big" things for the year!

January:
- I got a new lens for my camera (35mm 1.8), and fell in LOVE with it! I got one of the cutest pictures of Justin to that point with it, and haven't turned back since.


- We put our house up for sale, and I was able to get my then six month pregnant self and two toddlers out of the house a record number of times (12 or 13?!?) for showings in the first 4 days!

February:
- Best. Month. Ever. You know, because it's my birthday month! Haha!
- Julia got her ears pierced for her third birthday! She handled it like a champ, and only cried until she saw the sucker she was going to get. She still looks totally adorable with her little earrings.


- I crocheted a legwarmer/headband combo for a photographer friend, and it was featured in one of her sessions! Check out Sweetlilpics by Ashley to see it in action!


- This was the month of the "run-in" at my church. It taught me a lot, and it helped open my eyes significantly to the ignorance and lack of acceptance by some people. I have grown since this happened!

March:
- Julia turned THREE!!! I don't know about the other mommies out there, but I question every day how she gets older.


- The crocheted Hooter's bikini project began :-)
- We welcomed our third baby...another girl! We were on TV as well talking to Deena Centofani and the First Lady of Michigan for a "safe sleep" seminar that was held at the hospital Alaina was born at.


- We sold our house!!! After a slight snafu with the inspector, it was all said and done, offers were accepted, and it became a done deal.

April:
- We bought a house and moved into it! All with two toddlers and a newborn. Alaina was just one week old at the closing, and she was just under a month old when we moved!
- My surro-niece-twins celebrated their first birthday!
- Justin had his first emergency room visit. He split his head open on the big front windows window sill the day after we moved into the new house. He got one staple in his head, and a grape popsicle!

May:
- I got a treadmill and started a C25K journey! I did have to stop kind of early on because I thought it was affecting my milk supply, but I started back up and finished it.
- I finished the Hooter's bikini.


- Michael and I celebrated our four year wedding anniversary. Hard to believe that we've known each other for 6 years, been married for four, and have three kiddos already!
- We started updates on the house! Not much, just pulled some wallpaper and old heavy drapes down, but I still felt pretty accomplished!

June:
- Michael turned 33! Yikes! (lol)
- We attempted a toddler bed with Justin for the first time. It was unsuccessful.
- I finally got some hummingbird pictures!!! Not a huge thing to most, but man I love those little birds!


- Alaina was baptized! I sniffed her head for weeks after that. :-)


- I met some nice ladies that I've been talking to for nearly four years through babycenter.com.

July:
- Our little boy turned TWO! And once again, I questioned how they grow so fast so quick...sigh...


- The deer were in full force. We were seeing multiple deer in the yard on a daily basis. Some days just one or two, other days...four, or eight! We even saw some fawns!


- The shrubs. came. OUT!!!!!!! It looks terrible and wonderful at the same time!

August:
- Julia had her first dentist appointment and handled it like a champ! Cleaning, xrays, and flouride!


- I registered for my first 5K! The Color Vibe in Flint. I was nervous, but was already half way through the C25K program so I did it. One of my sisters and one of my nieces registered as well!

September:
- We took all three kids to the Kinde Polka Fest. They got a kick out of it! Julia and Justin STILL walk around saying things about "the Polkas".
- I finished my C25K and ran my first race! It was tons of fun, and finished in just over 30 minutes. Not too shabby for someone that hadn't run since 1999.


- My other sister and I did the Cupcake Crusades at the Michigan Renaissance Festival. It was fun, but we were both pretty disappointed that she didn't make it past the first round...


October:
- We finally got the storage out of my side of the garage so that I can actually back in and still get Julia out of the car. For those that don't know, she's in the 3rd row, and I have to go through the hatch back to get her out. I couldn't open the back of the car up if I was all the way in the garage with the door closed. Now, I can!
- Julia got her first real hair cut. It was adorable! (Still is...)


- Halloween!!! Justin was Yoda, Julia was a princess, and Alaina was a pumpkin! That pumpkin costume has gotten a lot of use!


November:
- I participated in the "30 days of thanks" again this year! It's so nice to remind yourself of positive things in your life!
- Michael booked our 5 year anniversary trip!!!!!!!!! He wanted to keep it a secret...but he failed miserably. ;-)
- The kids and I started getting crafty! I finally got brave enough to take all three of them outside by myself, and we started with some cool leaf art. It was fun!



- I got a KitchenAid from my sister and brother-in-law!!!!!!!!! Need I say more???


- I made the difficult decision to close up my crochet shop for a while. It's not going to be permanent, but it's going to be for a while. I'm kind of bummed but relieved at the same time. I really enjoy it, and hope to get back to it soon!
I made my first full blown Thanksgiving dinner!!! It turned out fabulously, if I do say so myself. ;-)


December:
- We finally got Justin's fan installed in his bedroom. We also discovered some more severely wonky wiring in the process.
- I got to share a day of baking with both of my sisters! It was lots of fun even though I didn't actually do much baking AND forgot my lemon loaf when I left! lol
- We fell victim to the great ice storm, and lost power for 5 1/2 long days. Our estimated restoration was "11:30 pm" every. single. night. the entire time. There were even a couple of times that we were told our power would be back on within the hour...it was extremely frustrating, and there was practically no sympathy from our electric company.




- Christmas, need I say more? :-)


How was your 2013?

God bless!
~Stacy