And we are moving.

I'm not even sure how to start this blog...we have so many things going on...juggling so many balls in the air that I feel a little scattered.
Let me start by saying how thankful and blessed I feel to have things to juggle. I am grateful for this house and for the new one. Grateful for people who are working for us to make this move happen. I am thankful for people who care about us, friends who invite us along to do fun things, for a church that helps us grow. We are abundantly blessed.
Selling our house has been bumpy to say the least. Without really going into it lets just say that we've had several unexpected things thrown our way. We are dealing with them and seriously THANK YOU LORD for putting people in our life that makes it easier and less worrisome to deal with. I told Josh today that we have so many balls in the air that I feel like we should be in a circus or something juggling them all. His response? "Yea, but we have a really big bat. We are knocking them out." Optimism. Another reason  I love him so.
So we are 11 days from closing. The great news is the inspection and everything went well at the new house. There are just a few minor things and we should be good to go.
Almost everyday Josh and I drive by the house. As much as we wanted to build a house, we feel lucky to have found this one and feel that it will be a good move for our family. We are excited to make it "home".
 So if we can survive the next 11 days hopefully we will be less stressed out. Shew!
Happy, nervous, excited, stressed, busy. Yep, that's sums up right now. 

30 years

Thirty years ago today my husband was born. Let me just take a minute to say how grateful I am that he was created! He makes everything in my life better. I can't thank or be grateful enough to his Mama and Daddy for raising him how they did, for teaching him to be the man, husband and dad that he is. I'm so thankful to God for his life, for his heart, for allowing me to share my life with him.

Thirty is special too because it means that half our lives we've been together. We were just two 15 year old high school kids who thought we loved each other then. Looking back, though, we were crazy about each other, not really even knowing what it felt like to love somebody. We had no idea what was in store for us. God has been so faithful to us in our marriage and we are so incredibly blessed to share everyday together as a family.

Happy happy happy 30th babe! We love you so much and are incredibly grateful for you. You are the hardest working, most loving, selfless man I know and the fact that I get to hang with you in this life is humbling and pretty awesome!

We love you.

hey hey hey

Again, MIA! Seriously, time is just a mean ole stinky thief.

It's March...nearly the middle and I feel like I just put my Christmas tree up. I didn't...but it feels like it was a minute ago.

Lots going on in the King Casa...
Selling the house
Keeping said house clean
Keeping Major busy
Work
T-ball
Projects
Training for a race...ahem, failing to train for a race

Life

Everything is just crazy busy.
We've finished up our projects since last month's post and they are AWESOME! Like I'm crazy in love with them awesome.  I agreed on some baskets finally. I didn't love them originally, but they are great now and work perfectly.
Bad news on the bench/basket project is that the people who are buying our house thought it/they were pretty awesome too and asked that we leave them in the offer...I was like no way kids! Husband overruled. Big ole BOO! He promised to make a new-even-better-than-the-original-one.

He's gonna hate me bc I am going to have him on project overload. Ha!
I haven't slept in like 4 days bc I can't turn my brain off. It's insane. I haven't told him about this madness though bc he's been at school/work I don't want him to divorce me before we get in the new house! Ha! Kidding!

Anyway, I want to remember to post pics of our projects here before we leave them for the new house. We have lots of projects and painting to do at the new house too so I will post before and afters probably over the next few months.

And dude is playing ball this spring. He's on the pirates and is kinda excited to play. Ha. Bless. He wants to play football so bad. We'll get there.

Busy Busy Busy!!! I doubt anyone reads this but thanks if you do!

Well hello there

Well hello there friends!
 I went MIA apparently.
What's been going on...well...Christmas. I'll post that later...hopefully before summer.

Our house: We are selling our home.
Bittersweet I tell ya. We love this house. I kinda wish it were like we didn't love it. It'd be easier to leave. And our yard. Oh the yard. I will miss it so much. We will definitely sacrifice the yard when we move.

If you know anyone who wants to move to our little home, HERE is the link. I pray that it goes to a family who wants to be here for a long time. Who has kids and who can make memories here like we did. I want it to be loved like we love it. Is that dumb? Yea. Josh says who cares, but this house is sentimental for me. It's our first house as a married couple, it's the house we brought Major home in. All his firsts happened here. His little fingerprints are on certain places on the walls. Duke is here.

But it's time. Time to move on and to make new memories. Time to make a new house our home.

It's all for the greater good.

In the meantime we are working on some projects...mostly up in the playroom. That space is a constant battle of toys, pieces, organization, and marrying grown up and kid space.
Fear not: The things we are doing will be things that are able to move to the new house with us. 

My amazing handy-hubby built a 10 ft long bench/storage/organization thing for me. We bought foam, chose fabric and made us a fancy little cushion for the top. IN LOVE. I am in search of some baskets for it though....I am tempted to go with those fabric ones from target bc 1)they are cheap and I need 8 and 2) they are easily accessible. I don't love love them though. I don't feel like they will hold up super great over time.

I really want some awesome woven ones like this:

houzz.com

I love the little chalkboard detail. I love the handles. I love that it is square and would fit in my space. But they cost too much.

I also wouldn't mind these babies:

 houzz.com

I mean who wouldn't right? Love! But Im pretty sure I'd have to sell half my crap to afford 8 of these. Sigh.

I found THE PERFECT ONES at JoAnnes. I mean like an OCD girls dream bc they have compartments within compartments. But at 50% off they were still $20 each. Holy baskets batman. I'm not paying that times 8.

So I am on the hunt for some super awesome basket, storage, somethings that will finish off this storage bench.

We are also refinishing an old dresser that belonged to my nanny to house our tv, blankets, toys and other things that need to be tucked away.  I CAN NOT WAIT til that is done. It's in the garage, sanded down and in progress.

Perhaps the most exciting part of all this is that I am getting a trip to IKEA out of the deal!!! Whoop! Yes sir ree. I am on the hunt for this:

 projectnursery.com

Well, actually, just the bottom part and the green buckets. Major's art supplies and discovery boxes will find a new home in these bins. This will be such a fabulous solution for us bc now half of his stuff is in the laundry room and the other half is in the craft room.

Once I get back from IKEA and have all that put together, the new dresser painted and moved in (which hopefully will be PRE-IKEA) I am putting Daddy on this project:

shanty2chic.com

These plans are for a 6 ft table but since we have just one little we are gonna scale it down to 4 ft and have 2 little seats on either side. I also want holes in the middle of the table so I can drop in some small buckets for pencils, crayons and markers. The little seats will be the exact same as these in design, but different colors. The fabric on our new bench has several colors so we will choose 4 and paint those babies up.

Next up will be the really fun stuff which is details. I am trying to decide if I will just hold off on those til we get to our new house...probably. 

The key to all this is making it kid friendly, functional, usable, but still making it work in a space that grown ups use too. I think it will be a good combo of the two. I hope so anyway. For all I know I could be totally ruining the space :) 

Ill post some pics of the space later. We aren't going all crazy bc we are trying to sell. I wish I could rip everything out and start over but I can't...soon. But not at this house! 

So that plus a 5 year old wild, energetic, busy boy are keeping us on our toes! Till next time friends.

Christmas like a Child.

In this family, we love Christmas. All that love comes from some pretty great experiences and traditions that we had a children.

Josh grew up all Clark W. Griswald at his house. Christmas literally was everywhere you turned. Countless tress. Christmas figurines. Dishes. Hand towels. Presents everywhere...even on the porch. Little sleighs filled with Christmas stuffed animals. Outside could be seen from space. Gifts. Stories. Love. He believed in Santa til I broke the news to him....when he was 20. Bless. He really had an ideal childhood and along the way gathered some traditions that we celebrate as a family now. 

My family didn't decorate near as much, but we did put lights on the house and always had a beautiful tree filled with ornaments that my brother and I made. Stockings in my house were and still are a big deal. Way bigger than gifts. We couldn't wait to open those before anything else. 

When you have children Christmas changes. Creating new memories with them and mixing new and old traditions are so special. Seeing and experiencing Christmas through my child's eyes is so magical. I love to watch him. Sure things are crazy, busy, chaotic, and loud, but his anticipation and energy, the look in his eyes....just pure love from this Mama. 

Some of my favorite things we do with him are: 

Elf on the shelf obviously. I love it this year though because we can play with him and tell him about kindness, love and Jesus. 

We play Christmas music almost 24/7. HERE is my favorite favorite Christmas song.

We have a basket of Christmas only books, I LOVE when he grabs those and asks to read them. 

This year he really understands Jesus' birth story. We talk about it everyday, mostly because I love to hear him say what Jesus' gifts were...Frankenstein, change and murrh (it was a bird) ha! 

We know the true reason we celebrate is because of Jesus. He is our primary focus and we put all the glory and emphasis on Him, even Santa. Lots of people go about all that differently and that's ok, but for us seeing Major truly believe in something is really special. I think there is a very small window of time between understanding Santa and not believing anymore. This is the first year Major has understood, anticipated and truly been excited about the big guy. We went to Bass Pro and Major sat in his lap and proudly asked for 3 things because "Jesus got 3 gifts". He also told Santa he has been telling Transformer about Jesus and about kindness. The smile on his face was so precious, honest, and real. 

In this big ole mean and ugly world I take comfort in his innocence for now. I love how pure hearted little kids are. I love the true look of excitement and happiness. I am so grateful that I can shelter and protect him and his little heart. That Josh and I were entrusted with that job. 

There are so many things in this world ripping the innocence from our little ones, exposing them to things that even grown ups shouldn't have to experience. I want to just wrap him up and protect him. I want him to have a childhood full of laughter and fun and love. I don't want him to know about bad things yet. I don't want his heart to ache or him to be hurt. I just want him to be little. I want him to believe in Santa. I want his heart to grow with the love of Jesus. I want him to share that with others. I want him to be a little boy whose only concern right now is trying his best everyday. 

I guess with all the bad news in the world, I just feel overwhelmingly humbled by his innocence and excitement right now. 

His sweet face and laugh make me want to make this world so much better than it is. 

Merry Christmas sweet friends. I hope it's filled with so much happiness, joy and love. 

Prayers

You know those moments when your kids unexpectedly steal your heart?

Those moments when you realize all the talking and praying for actually sank in a little....not like I think it sank in...but it really did this time? Those moments?

We've been talking to Major, I mean Mr. Me about giving to people who don't have as much as we do or who aren't blessed like we are. He's 5. He's very rotten and very sheltered in the way of knowing what privilege is.

Anyway, we've been talking to him about that and today at the store we decided to choose an angel from the angel tree to sponsor. We chose a boy who is close in age to Major so that he could understand a little more about the mission. We asked him if he'd like to get presents for this child and also to pray for him. He reluctantly agreed.

So tonight during prayer he asked to pray first. In 5 years the order has been the same...me first, then Josh, then Major.
He prays first and these precious words came from his heart:
"Dear God, Thank you for this day and our family. Thank you for letting daddy make a lot of money. Please help Zach and Heather to have happy hearts and to be happy. Please help the kids who don't have presents and money. Help me to be good at school and to get a good report and to remember to be kind. In your name I pray. Amen"

My heart filled with pride and joy because compassion and thoughtfulness were laid on his heart. For some kids that comes so naturally but for Major, well, it's not his first instinct. I pray for that a lot for him.  I feel very grateful that he is beginning to understand compassion and that we can bless others.
His prayer made my heart happy. :)

Transformer Ninja

This week has been crazy to put it mildly....everything is upside down right now, but it is still the holiday season and we have a 5 year old little boy who was more than excited for his Elf to come back from the North Pole for a visit.

Transformer Ninja came back to us Tuesday morning by bringing Major presents and breakfast. He was so so so excited!

Insert Picture that won't upload

The traditional story of the elf is that he comes from the north pole, gets into mischief, watches the kiddo, reports to Santa on said kiddo's behavior and the most important rule....YOU CAN'T TOUCH HIM, or it will take the Christmas magic. 

WELL....

We spent the better part of last season writing apology notes to the Elf and to Santa for touching him. Major just couldn't resist. That plus the focus of naughty/nice lists and less focus on Jesus was enough to make us rethink this whole thing. 

I saw a link on pinterest of a parent who wrote a note to her kids about the elf and loved it. I took some of her ideas, and some of mine and came up with a letter that explained new rules to Major. 

Josh and I decided these rules suited Major's personality much better than 'challenging' him not to touch the dang elf everyday.  He LOVES to be the boss and be in charge and be a leader so here's what we came up with: 

Dear Major,

Merry Christmas!

You have been one of my favorite little children to watch this year. First off, I have to tell you that I think you are very special. You are filled with love for your Mom and Dad, your friends and family, but most importantly, you are filled with love for Jesus and I know that he lives in your heart. He lives in my heart too, so that makes us both especially special!

I have to let you know something really special. You know that whole naughty and nice list you hear people talking about? Well, the thing is, that’s more about grace. See, I know Jesus and I know about his grace. Grace is about love, about getting another chance, and about getting things we don’t deserve. Like when you make a bad choice, Jesus gives you grace and loves you still! And sometimes I know your Mom and Dad give you grace too, like when you deserve to be disciplined but you get another chance.

I know that you are not perfect, but I know that Jesus loves you ALL THE TIME and so do I! You don’t have to worry about being on the naughty or nice list, but you do have to believe in the magic of Christmas. Since it is December, the month we celebrate Jesus, our Rescuer, I am sending a special friend to your house to help you remember about grace and about how much Jesus loves you. 

Remember Transformer? He became your special elf last year.

He is a dear friend of mine but he sometimes chooses to be naughty. I have explained grace to him many, many times when he chooses to sin and to be a stinker. I have told him that’s why Jesus had to come, to rescue him from the sin and bad choices in his heart. He is beginning to learn, but I thought if he came to stay with you for the Christmas season you could teach him some more about grace and about how much Jesus loves us. I know that you are learning that you get to obey and love God because he first loved you.  You are learning about Jesus living in your heart and how he can help you make good choices. I am hoping you can teach Transformer that too.

There’s something special you need to know about Transformer. He is an Elf. Elves aren’t exactly like people. You see, Transformer stays still during the day and comes alive at night. You can talk to him, play with him….kinda like George and Rico, they are not alive like you but they can hear you, play with you and love you. Transformer is quiet during the day but will play at night and sometimes he will be naughty. When you find him in the mornings, that’s when you can talk to him about grace and making good choices.

When I told Transformer he was coming back to stay with you, he jumped up and down with excitement! He loves to play Ninja Turtles so make sure he gets to do that while he’s at your house. Thank you for taking care of him and for teaching him about Jesus.

I’ll be back to pick him up the night before Christmas and I will leave you some special surprises.

I love you so very, very much.  

Santa

 Insert picture that won't upload

I know...it's long.... but he totally gets it. When transformer makes a naughty choice, Major tells him about making better choices in his heart. We've heard him talking to Transformer about Jesus and that Jesus is who he needs to make happy. 

Major does say that he is Transformers boss. Well, he thinks he is always the boss of everyone, but he is really proud to be Transformer's boss. I'm ok with that as long as it brings kindness, compassion and love for Jesus to his heart. 

Anyway, that's our take on the Elf for now. :) 

The picture situation on here....frustrating....apparently I need to start paying to upload pics. Whatever. That's fine. Insert my card #...Can't be processed. FOR THE LOVE! If you want me to pay for them then have your little software working when I try. Um k. So I will try again later gator.