Looking Back

I definitely did not blog as much in 2013 as I have in previous years, and I have no expectations for this year either...but even so\, I thought it would be fun to  look back at what our family's 2013 looked like!

2013 Review: 
(click the links to take you to the original post!)

We started off our January with Carson turning SIX. We took him out for some family fun, and had a small party at our home.  

I wrote a post in late January explaining a bit about Grant's eyes. It has brought in hundreds of views and emails from people around the world wanting to talk to me, as their own child has a similar condition. 

In early February, God answered a HUGE prayer of ours...tests revealed that the vascular malformation in Harp's thigh had NOT grown!

In late February, our sweet baby Grant turned ONE! We celebrated at our home with our family.

In early March, Kane and I snuck away for the weekend to Richmond to see his brother get married! It was my first time leaving Grant, but we all survived and had a great time! :)

I also wrote a quick post in March updating what was going on in our home such as Carson taking the training wheels off his bicycle, Harp having two loose teeth, and what Grant is like at 13 months.

We started off April with Harper turning FIVE! We had a fun Spidey Bash to celebrate his big day!

I wrote a post in April expressing my concerns with Grant's eyes and what challenges we were (are) facing.

At exactly 14 months old in late April, Grant took his first steps! He also got his first "real" haircut!

May brought us Mothers Day, lots of sickness, and a big 15 month old!

June started off with our little guy (finally) getting an RX for glasses!

And the boys were finally out of school for the summer! Thank goodness for no more germs! :)

Harp kicked off the summer with having his tonsils and adenoids removed. Not a fun recovery, but it needed to be done.

In mid June, we celebrated Father's Day! A few days later, Grant's glasses came in!

THE most important thing that happened all year (and in all of his life!), happened at the end of June: Carson asked Jesus into his heart!

In July, I blogged about our summer up to that point, which included celebrating 6 years of marriage (on June 30), and fun beach days.

 In mid July, we had the privilege of witnessing our oldest babe getting baptized. 

August was all about lazy summer days...followed by more lazy summer days! Grant also turned 18 months!

In September, I finally got around to blogging about the boys first day of kindergarten and first grade!

Harper also lost his first tooth in September!

I wrote a Day in the Life post in September, which was fun...I hope to do another one this year!

The end of September we had Grant's annual Craniofacial appointment.

October means Grant turned another month old, and of course Halloween fun!

I hardly blogged at all in November, but I did manage to throw a quick picture post together!

December is such a busy time for us, but I did do a quick update as well as a Christmas post!

I made this very short (15 sec) video from some of my pics on Instagram...It is our 2013 in a nutshell!

2013 was definitely a year of growth for our family...growth in our faith in Christ, as well as in our relationships. I really think and feel with all my being that 2014 will be a year of stepping out of our comfort zone, stepping out in faith. 

We are so grateful for this past year, and are looking forward to what 2014 has in store for our family!

We wish you all a blessed New Year!

thredUP reviews & recommendations

**I never do these kind of blog posts-I usually just stick to journaling my kids' lives-but I really couldn't find any non-sponsored reviews/recommendations about thredUP online, so I thought I would do one! :) **

**i am in no way affiliated with this company...just a customer!**

if you don't know already....

thredUP is an online consignment shop. they sell second-hand AND new clothes for women (regular, maternity, petite, and plus sizes), as well as children's clothing (12months-size 20). They have not broken into the men's scene yet. 

I've ordered several items from them over the past several weeks and have been overall very pleased! They have a HUGE selection (which can be overwhelming), but have awesome filter options that can help narrow the selection down.

You can choose from (among other things) sizes, brand, category of clothing, price, and new with tags. I cannot stress enough  for you to use the filters! I like to stick with brands that I know just because I know how different brands fit me. (for example: I know how Target brands, Old Navy (which includes Banana Republic and Gap), etc. fit me, so I usually just filter those brands when browsing to keep it safe, since this is the web and there are no dressing rooms :)

The prices are great and the shipping is reasonable (2.99 for first item, .99 for every item after that).

And now...the downside...:)

-The number one complaint I see about them (but have NOT experienced) is trying to sell TO them...apparently, you don't get a lot of $$ for your items, and the processing time is long. I have not and will not sell to them, so can't speak personally here...just something I see constantly on their facebook.

-I (like many others), like immediate gratification....meaning, when I order something, I like to get it quickly. The turn around time for this company kind of stinks...it averages 8-10 days before I get my order...(NOTE: I live on the East Coast and TU is based out of Cali.) Obviously, where you live in the country makes a huge difference delivery-wise, but even so, it usually takes 3-4 days for them to even ship my items.

-Their customer service is incredibly nice...IF you can get ahold of them...which is VERY hard to do.

****

If you can get past those things, it really is a great online consignment company to shop at!

Another great tip to share: there are always coupons available for FIRST time customers. The first time I ordered, I used a coupon for free shipping plus 35% off [THRED35].....I have no idea if that coupon is still available, but it's worth a try. If not there are ALWAYS coupons available online.

Also...I LOVE their refer-a-friend credit...if you share your given link, new customers receive $10 off their first order.

My personal share link is:

http://www.thredup.com/r/KWA0DX  

Any new customers who use that link will immediately receive $10 off their order. I'm not sure if it can be combined with another coupon? Worth a shot! :)

Also, if you download their mobile app, you can receive 20% your order too. (note: this coupon is the currently available coupon that can be used for returning customers!)

Here are a few things I have ordered:

The windbreaker, cardigan, and shorts (all for me) were all brand new. The shorts were $3 & cardigan was $5 and the windbreaker was $8. The two shirts on the far right I bought for my sons, and were each $2.99.

Anyways, I know this was kind of long, but just wanted to pass along a customer review and a few recommendations in case someone in the cyber-world comes across this post!

Happy shopping! 

Our Year In Review

**you can click the links to take you to the original post**

**you can check out 2011's year-in-review by clicking here**

One word that would describe 2012 for our family would be change. 

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In a nutshell, our year looked something like this:

-2012 started off with our oldest son turning 5. 

-Followed by the birth of our sweet baby Grant.

-Soon after, we let our family and friends know about some health concerns surrounding baby boy.

-Harper turned four in April!

-Grant was officially diagnosed with Goldenhar Syndrome.

-Grant had surgery to remove his skin tags & we were so excited to see what he looked like post-op!

-When prompted by God, our family ventured out to a new church. 

-In June, Kane and I celebrated 5 years of marriage!

-Carson lost his first tooth! Such an exciting milestone for him! Right after that, he lost another!

-In August, Carson started Kindergarten!

-Then the following week, Harp started Pre-school!

-We saw a team of Craniofacial doctors who evaluated Grant.

-I wrote a post-which I eventually took down (not even going to get into why)-that was really the start of our transition out of "old church" into "new church." New church has been so wonderfully refreshing & renewing for our family-specifically for Kane and me. As much as we have/will miss the wonderful people of RCBC, we know that new church is where we need to be right now.

-The last few months have been consumed with sick babies, classroom activities, and more sicklings.

-We celebrated Christmas!

Our lives have changed so much this year. We have stepped out of our safe zone, and have been allowing God to lead us to the faith zone. It is there that growth will happen. So much change can be unsettling, but we are learning to cling to our Father. 

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a glimpse at 2012:

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As 2013 is upon us, I expect this new year to be one of growth for our family. Join us in praying for just that.

But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen. 2 Peter 3:18

the waiting game

we are officially in what is known as the waiting game.

with around 10 days left until my due date (my OB office will induce you at 40 weeks) we know that labor is imminent. at my last OB appointment, i was 3cm dilated and 70% effaced. i had carson at 39+5 weeks gestation and harper at 38+4 weeks gestation so i do expect to have this little guy within a week. or not ;) he could be stubborn. this past weekend i've been having inconsistent contractions and lower back pain...actually, in the wee hours of saturday morning, i awoke to pretty strong (and consistent) contractions. i told kane around 8 am that we might have a baby that day, but after i got breakfast going for the boys, the contractions disappeared. they were far and few between for the rest of the day, and have been on and off all day sunday as well. because i never had any "false" labor before with the boys' pregnancies, this one could prove to be stubborn!

otherwise, there really isn't anything else going on. i've been busy keeping the house clean and making sure i stay on top of the laundry. i need to make one more "stock up on everything" trip this week, too. 

i cannot believe i'm posting this picture. it is SO bad of me. its crazy to see how much weight i have gained, but hopefully it will inspire me to lose it all post-delivery!

38+ weeks:

note to self: non-maternity shirts are SO unflattering this late in the game. 

next time i update my family blog, there just may be a picture of our newest son! or...another "waiting game" post! :)

yet again.

yet again, i have grown tired of my blog design. 

so i'm working on something new.

what i have now is not something that will stay, but it will have to do for now! 

bear with me.

Looking ahead

**you can click on the blue links to take you to the original blog post**

2011 was such an important, monumental year for us...

in a nutshell:

-we started the year off with carson turning 4,

-followed immediately by moving into a new home after living at our previous home for 4 years. 

{it was such a welcomed and blessed move.} 

-shortly thereafter, our harper turned three...which also means potty-trained!-for the first time in 4 years, we were no longer changing diapers! 

-but as we all know, that was short-lived ;) because in June, we found out we were expecting baby #3! 

-we celebrated four years of marriage (which is no small feat!).

-we also had a huge scare with harper. there was a period of frantic concern that he may have cancer after finding a large mass in his leg. 

-soon after harp had surgery (and we found out that it was NOT cancer!), 

-carson started school. (read: field trips and class parties, galore.)

-we found out we would be welcoming our third baby boy into our family.

-and after a couple of years of hard work, i finally obtained my associates in both general education and pre-social work.

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2011 went by in a flash.

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and as the new year starts, we know our lives will be changing once again. this year will start off with our oldest baby turning 5 (in less than 2 weeks!), the arrival of our newest baby sometime in February, our middle baby turning a whopping 4, celebrating 5 years of marriage, and another son starting school.

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so from our family to yours...

the week ahead

our week ahead is going to be super busy.

{one}: we have vbs every evening this week-the boys are super excited!

{source}

{two}: we have harp's appointment scheduled for early wednesday morning-because we live almost 3 hours away from chapel hill (with traffic), harp and i will probably head out that way tuesday night and stay at the ronald mcdonald house. please continue to keep harp in your prayers.

{source}

{three}: this thursday marks four years of marriage for kane and me! because of vbs, we won't be able to do anything until later this weekend sometime (hopefully!)

{four}: last year my laptop crashed so we bought a desktop. call me crazy, but i actually prefer a desktop... because of the hours of internet classes i take, a flatscreen monitor is much easier (and more comfortable) to do schoolwork on then a laptop. however, the obvious problem with desktops is portability. because i know there will be multiple appointments away from home with harp, we decided to get a netbook....you know those mini-laptops with 10in screens? ;) i actually like it a lot and it will certainly serve it's purpose of getting some schoolwork done when i'm away from home!

{source}

and now that i have a webcam,  i'm going to google how to skype people (i know, i know...i'm a bit behind). and once i have that figured out,  i'm totally going to get up with bethany@oursimplelife. so there's your warning, bethany! ;)

hope everyone has a great week!

family

impromptu picture of kane's side of the family from Easter weekend.

(we are missing kane's other brother, his wife and two kids).

love it.

still so much to share, yet still so much school work to do first!

talk to you soon.

around here

when life slows down a bit (hopefully next week!) i hopefully can do a proper update on whats been going on with our family!

right now i'm finishing up another semester of college, which basically translates into writing essays, tests, and writing more essays.

then there was all of the Easter festivities.

family visiting.

friends visiting.

so until i can blog about all the fun we've had lately, i'll leave you with a few pictures:



oh, and did i mention that i didn't get one picture of the boys on Easter? oops.

she's crafty

I was browsing through danielle's new shop and fell in love with her yarn wreaths. i wanted one, but didn't want to pay the $$. so i read her tutorial and decided to give it a try. let me make something clear-i am not a crafty person. at all. but somehow i did manage to put one together (this project is very forgiving:) best part?? i bought all of the supplies i needed to make two wreaths for only $10. so go check out danielle's tutorial and make a few for yourself. you and your walls will be so happy you did.

new favorites...

i'm not a huge jewelry person, but i bought two pieces recently that i just had to give a shout-out to.

first up are these pendants from Created by Kasey. I went to highschool with KC and she just recently opened up an etsy shop. i seriously fell in love with these necklaces and ended up buying one! KC is ridiculously talented, isn't she?!

 {photo source}

Best part? All pendants are $15 and under, AND you get free shipping! So go to Kasey's etsy shop and buy one for yourself! You'll be helping a graduate student pay for school! :)

On the absolute flipside, I also purchased a rosette necklace from Lauren.

{photo source}

I have been reading Lauren's blog for such a long time and have been following her journey through adopting a baby boy from Ethiopia (who finally came home in February!). Right at this moment, you have to stop reading my blog and CLICK HERE to see a picture of her beautiful baby boy. seriously. be prepared to have your heart melted.

anyways, after checking out kc's shop, you have to head on over to laurens'

she just added tons of new spring items to her shop, AND half of the profits go to the Ladd's adoption.

happy browsing!

Be Back Soon...

We are moving this weekend!

{source}

This week I have been preparing our new house, packing & cleaning our current home, and completing mounds of schoolwork. Have mercy, I am e.x.h.a.u.s.t.e.d. There is simply not enough coffee in the world.

be back soon! (hopefully next week?!)



The Life (We) Deserve

Because of the impending move, loads of schoolwork and you know, raising my kids, blogging has fallen to the backburner.

This also means I have kept the blogs I read on a daily basis to a minimum.

As in like 4 blogs and thats it.

One of my favorite bloggers is Jessica from The Making of M.O.M.

She is Real. Authentic. and Hilarious.

She has six children all ages 6 and under (that includes a set of twins and two that are adopted).

She and her husband have felt God stir in their lives in a big way and have recently announced they are relocating their family to Africa to minister.

She wrote a post today about the life that (we) deserve as Christians.

And it really resonated deep with me.

So I thought I'd share the link with anyone who has a few minutes to spare.

You can read her post by clicking here:

The Life I Deserve

Enjoy! 

Overwhelmed.

To say I have been overwhelmed lately is an understatement.

I started school again this week and I will most certainly have my work cut out for me.

I have four courses (plus a lab) for a total of five classes.

All of these are on the interent.

On top of that, one of the classes that I'm taking is Spanish. I know this may seem a bit ironic (since I am half Mexican) but I really just do not understand Spanish. I have never been able to comprehend it. And it just so happens my professor (from what I can tell thus far) is incredibly strict and not very friendly.

And then there is the impending move. I have less than a month to pack our lives neatly into boxes. And my hope is that I am able to get all of the painting done at our new house before moving in. Ambitious, much?

Oh, and have I mentioned lately that my baby is turning four a week from today? Yup. And I haven't even began to prepare for his party. We aren't actually having a party where his friends come, it will just be for family. Even so, there is still much planning involved.

I will most likely be blogging less as there is just not enough time in the day.

And now we are off to Walmart.

Which is overwhelming in itself. :)

 

around here...

I have neglected my blog a bit lately so here is the incredibly intriguing scoop:

Last week marked another semester down of college! I'm happy to report that I got all A's. And let me tell you, I am soo excited for this month off from school!

Sometime this next week, the boys will "officially" start learning Spanish! My mom (who is Mexican American) will be teaching them-I'm just hoping to pick up a thing or two! ha!

The boys' preschool class opened up the Children's Christmas Play at Church Sunday night and it was (as you could imagine) very cute. Except for the fact that while all of the preschoolers sang, my two were off to the side playing with the mics. Go figure.

I took a bunch of pictures of the boys at the play but not one of them turned out good...so I'll be checking Facebook frequently to see if anyone else got a few!

We are soo excited about something going on right now, but I think I should wait before "announcing" anything until we know everything is certain...

With that being said, No, I'm not pregnant! ;)

I hope everyone has a good week!

i've got the fever...

i've got the blog design fever.

again.

so please excuse this mess.

because as it is now, i don't like it.

and probably will revert it back to how it was.

or not...

have mercy.

UPDATE: i reverted back. so much for "blog design fever" :)

Blog Swap!!!

My real-life friend Bethany suggested we do a "blog swap." I've never done one before, so someone kindly inform me if I am (or not...) doing this correctly! ;)

Okay...So lets get to it.

This is Bethany

And this is her family

I met Bethany and Brock (7ish) years ago when they moved to the area. They were young, newly married and living on love and cents.

Now before I share with you the next picture, I would like to first provide you with a few details...

1. We had just spent the weekend skiing.

2. We didn't have make-up on.

3. It was early 2004.

4. We didn't have make-up on.

5. We were about to make the long drive back home (hence the stylish attire)

6. We had no make-up on.

7. This just may be the worst picture ever taken of me. Seriously.

Side Note: Bethany please don't de-friend me :) I tried my best to "fix" the picture, but there wasn't anything I could do. Really...there wasn't anything I could do. hahahaha ;)

Okay, so enough of that. I asked Bethany 5 questions for the Blog Swap and here are her responses:

1. What have you learned throughout the years about marriage?


Bethany: One big lesson that was hard for me was that eventually that 'puppy love' fades away. I remember when this happen for me - I was devastated, but then I realized it was because my love & commitment to Brock was {is} much deeper & larger than 'just a feeling.'

More recently I've learned that little gestures make a huge difference! A sweet text during the day, doing things around the house that no one asked for, etc. I get excited when Brock brings me home a cold Diet Dr. Pepper. :) It just reminds the other that you were thinking about them, even during the busyness of their day.



2. How do you entertain Deacon while homeschooling the girls?

Bethany:  ha. . . I don't :) - I'm actually currently working on that one. He usually sits with us for the first 45 mins or so writing his 'letters' and such. He will also do puzzles & color for a bit too. The girls do their reading lessons at separate times so usually one can play with him while I'm doing lessons with the other.

3. Do you feel as though you are stereotyped (or judged) because you are a pastor's wife?

Bethany: Yes - but for opposite reasons than I think most ministry families are judge/stereotyped {that being that they seem to have it all together}. I have often said that 'I like to think I break the pastor's wife mold.' {Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is still up for debate} I'm not outgoing. I'm very shy. I'm often very unaware of what is going on around me. I'm opinionated {and sometimes voice it when I shouldn't} I enjoy fashion & loud music & tattoos - I think that if others are judging me it's because I am not what they think I should be. God has brought about much freedom to me in this area of my life in recent months. It has been very liberating for me to realize that all I have to be is . . me. As long as He is pleased with me, I really don't care what others might think.

4. What do you struggle with the most as a Christian?

Bethany: I don't think I have ever fully grasped the magnitude of God's love. I think because I grew up in the church, I was very aware of all the 'rules'- I was very concerned with making sure that I was pleasing God {trying to make sure that He wasn't going to be disappointed in me} that I never really got that He loved me - no. matter. what.

I also have a hard time embracing the freedom that Jesus offers. I think that we, as the church, do a really poor job of teaching this.

5. Do you have any household/child rearing tips that you would like to share?

Bethany: ummm . . . I feel really unqualified to answer that question {considering I have at least one meltdown a day!} but I guess I would say . . relax. It's okay to have a bad day or even a bad week. Think about the bigger picture. As for household stuff, the best advice I can give is to always straighten up your home before you go to bed. It makes for such a better morning!

You can read more from bethany@our{simple}life here:

www.thetharpesblog.com/

To check out my questions/answers you can click here!

Have a great weekend everyone!

good reads...

I've read two really good blog posts today that I thought I'd share on here (mainly so that I can look at them again soon!)

Storing Up Treasures: What does it look like?

and

Bring the Rain: Lamb

Both will only take a few minutes to read...Enjoy!

Just In Case You Were Wondering...

I do realize that I've changed edited my blog probably around 153465 times in the past month or so. Believe me, I know. You see, I'm not creative in the least. Seriously. So this whole "blog designing" is way over my head. I cannot for the life of me create a header that I actually like. At All. So thats why I keep re-doing everything. And then right when I think I've got it all figured out, Blogger goes and adds all these new designs. I almost cried today when I noticed. Seriously. So what you see right now is what you get. I may tweak things here and there, but other than that I"M DONE!!!
[i do have a feeling i'll be regretting those last words here soon...like next week...] 

to all my family out there...

if your reading this, or happened to stumble across this blog, then listen up:

Storing Up Treasures is having a fundraiser, 10K in 20 days. They are raising money for 26 families across America that wish to adopt. If you could donate $5, $10 (or any amount) to this cause, then you can help give children safe and loving homes.

to read more or donate, please check out the site.

thanks!