Our Little Boy is 1!

1st birthday parties make me sad. I know it sounds silly but the transformation that happens in the first year is just so intense. They go from this tiny helpless little creature to a walking babbling little person. It just amazes me the change that happens in that first year and I feel like first birthday parties are like telling your baby goodbye! This year is a little extra sad for me because Todd and I are hoping to adopt from this point on in our lives so this may be the last 1st birthday party we ever have. Anyway, I say all that "mushy" stuff to really blog about celebrating our son and his FIRST BIRTHDAY! We had a great party filled with friends and family. I love throwing a party and Owen's first party was a LEGO themed party. Owen loves legos and so this was a perfect party theme for him. We had lots of fun, ate lots of cake, and celebrated the little man Owen is growing to be! Hope you enjoy the pictures of our special day and special celebration!

Owen's Lego Cake

Since the weather wasn't so great we had to move our party inside. So we tried to transform our garage into a party room :)

Owen didn't hesitate on the cake

Wasn't so sure about opening all the presents! But had a sister that was more then glad to help.

It was a great day of celebrating and tomorrow at 3:45 Owen will officially be One Year Old!!!

Prayers and Blessings - Dawn

Oh How Things Change

Recently I was thinking about how much things have changed in the last 10 years of my life.

So just for fun (mostly my fun) I'm going to show the changes in the last 10 years of life

Life Today:

 6am - debating whether to get up and run and be "super mom" or sleep another hour

 8am - feeding and dressing children and taking Eliana to Montessori

 10am - doing domestic chores such as laundry, cleaning, dishes, etc.. while Owen takes his morning nap

 12pm - fixing everyone lunch, doing more dishes, picking up random mushed food off the floor followed by intensive play and learning time with kiddos :)

 2pm - laying kids down for nap and debating on what to do : work on a church project, blog, pay bills, answer emails, do laundry, scrub the bathroom floor, watch a show from last nights dvr, and fit as much in as I can before the kids wake up

 4pm - feeding kids snacks, possibly playing outside, picking up the house before the hubs comes home and preparing dinner

 6pm -sitting down as a family for dinner, praying, and talking about our day - often followed with bath time

 8pm - either at a bible study, band practice, church meeting, or tucking my kids into bed

 10pm -making a one last effort to - pay bills, answer emails, work on a church project, blog, etc..

 12am - hopefully sleeping snuggled in with the hubs

Life 5 years ago  (Junior in College) :

6am - SLEEPING

 8am - Probably still sleeping!

 10am - Dragging myself to school even though I really don't want to

 12pm - Depending on how good my tips were from work either eating lunch out with friends or eating Ramen Noodles

 2pm - Making the tough daily decision of 9 holes of golf or 18 today (and if the weather was really bad, probably a nap)

 4pm - Do some homework and get ready for work

 6pm - Work as a waitress were I talk and wait on people for money

 8pm - Still working :)

 10pm - Probably still working

 12am - Debating on sleep or hanging out with friends and no matter what a late not call to the "future hubs"

Life 10 years ago (Sophomore in High School):

6am - Debating weather to get up early and look decent for school or not

 8am - Sitting in class watching the morning announcements about to start my day

 10am - "learning" and socializing in school

 12pm - deciding between mystery meat, salad, or pb&j

 2pm - counting the minutes until school is out

 4pm - at practice either - golf, basketball, or track

 6pm - At home helping with dinner and the kiddos, possibly at a play practice, choir concert, school musical, track meet, golf match, basketball game, etc..

 8pm - Watching tv and chatting with friends

 10pm - telling myself I should do my homework but still watching tv and chatting with friends

 12am -  starting my homework!

Isn't it funny how life changes! I found this amusing now you should do this and see how life has changed for you in the last 10 years!

Prayers and Blessings - Dawn

Busy Week

I have been wanting to blog all week and every time I sit down to blog there are SOOO many other things that take priority! So I will sum up our fun/crazy last week for everyone interested!

Since my last blog in chronological order... LOL

1st - last weekend we went to a West Africa Mission Conference (we being- Todd, myself, and some other great members from our church) It was a great conference where we were able to gather with others that have a passion for this mission work and also have experience in the field and this culture that we can learn from.  We were able to share stories, pray for each other, and gain wisdom. Overall it gave us some great ideas and direction for our work at FBC, strengthened the passion in our heart for West Africa, and was a great time of fellowship. If you would like more information about our Mission Work in West Africa - message me and I will add you to our newsletter!

Since we went to the conference we have been going "gang busters" on our West Africa Mission stuff. We ordered t shirts which feature the GO logo on top, we are working on our BIG fundraising banquet coming up in a few weeks, and working out plans for the summer mission trip! The Conference really gave us a great boost to get to work on our.. well work! We have a great church family that is working hard with us and we can't wait for whats to come in the next few months. I am so giddy about it that I will be sure to keep you all updated!


This week I also worked on some recipes. I am trying to perfect my Chicken and Rice recipe for our banquet, and made some of my favorite chocolate raspberry cupcakes for my mom. I will be posting the recipes under my recipe page soon but here is a little preview...

Another big thing on my TO DO list is finishing the plans for Owen's 1st birthday! I can not believe he is going to be ONE :( He is turning into such a little man. We are planning a LEGO party for him and have lots of fun things on the agenda for his party. Crossing our fingers for nice weather and lots of LEGO fun!!! (I will post lots of pics of the party adventures)

As we ended our week with a busy weekend we accomplished a lot and got to have a lot of fun! We marked off the carpet cleaning from our Spring Cleaning list, added even MORE mulch to our landscaping, and did a lot of laundry. On a fun note we got to see everyone dressed up for prom - 

It was like Owen was wondering "Aaron is that you?"

 Then to end our weekend we celebrated April Birthday's with Todd's family and even more special Todd's Nanny turning 90!

It has been a great week/weekend and will have many busy ones ahead! Really hoping I will get to blog and keep you updated on our adventures during the craziness to come!

Prayers and Blessings - Dawn

Spring Cleaning

So last week when my brother and sister were down for spring break I decided that I would tackle some Spring cleaning projects. I haven't completed all my projects but wanted to share my progress and a few tips I have for being a fellow "clean freak".  My spring cleaning list features stuff I really don't want to do on a regular basis but really needs to be done. My list last week looked like this:

Eliana's Closet

Owen't Closet

Our Closet

Eliana Toys sorted through

Owen's toy's sorted through

Linen closet organized

Coat closet organized

Clean under beds

Organize garage sale items

Wash blinds

Front of house landscaping

re-do basement dresser

Eliana picture frame updated

Basement toys sorted through

Mop floors by hand

Clean and disinfect toys

Shampoo living room carpet

Sounds like fun huh?? Well I must admit that I really LOVE to mark things off my list, it gives me this sense of accomplishment that I have finished something on my "list", and here is what my list looks like now:



Eliana's Closet

Owen't Closet

Our Closet

Eliana Toys sorted through

Owen's toy's sorted through

Linen closet organized

Coat closet organized

Clean under beds

Organize garage sale items

Wash blinds

Front of house landscaping

re-do basement dresser

Eliana picture frame updated

Basement toys sorted through

Mop floors by hand

Clean and disinfect toys

Shampoo living room carpet

Needless to say I still have some really FUN stuff to mark off my list! But besides spring cleaning I wanted to share a few tips that have helped me and my family keep our home organized and clean (for the most part)

1. Mom's - quit your job and be at home so you actually have time to clean.. LOL I only make this joke because I really don't think I would be able to keep as clean and organized of a house if I had a full time job. So props to all of you doing the work world and the domestic world!
2. My biggest tip and what I would preach would be - THROW THINGS AWAY! If you want your house to be organized and not cluttered than you are going to have to THROW THE CLUTTER AWAY. I really think this is the only way to keep a house from getting over run by stuff. Also donating items or giving them away that are reusable like toys, clothes, etc.. is always a good idea.
3. Give yourself a schedule and do things daily and weekly and make it a priority. Really it only takes a few minutes if you do things consistently. Things I do daily: Dishes, a load of laundry (usually), wipe down the bathroom, make beds, and vacuum (every other day) Things I do weekly: dust, sweep and mop, deep clean the bathroom, clean out the food in the fridge, and do a little reorganizing to toys, junk spots, etc..

If I were to give 3 tips these would be them. I'm not a domestic master but I really enjoy keeping a tidy home and feel like our home is more enjoyable for our family when its tidy and organized!

So as spring approaches I want to wish everyone Good Luck with your spring cleaning projects and hope to read or hear about them from all of you!

Blessings and Prayers - Dawn