Praises of a Wife and Mommy

  I had really difficult time trying to get some good pictures so please forgive me on my blurry pictures.  I did not get any good pictures of my 4 year old dancing but trust me she enjoyed this! I should invest in some photography classes and save for a better camera.  :) :)  Again the Dollar Tree had the two items needed for this activity.  1. Balloons and 2. Glow Sticks  Then turn the music up and turn the lights off!  Have fun!   We did pop a couple balloons but then we created another game.  Use the Glow stick to bat the balloon and keep it in the air.  Fun and challenging for a 4 year old. 

Just a friendly reminder that Google is  cancelling Google Friend Connect  for all blogs that aren’t hosted on Blogger starting tomorrow. Why does this matter? If you followed my blog by clicking on the Google Friend Connect (GFC) widget I used to have, it subscribed you to my blog and allowed you to receive post updates to your RSS feed. So if you still wish to follow and receive regular updates, you will need to subscribe by some other method. My direct RSS and email subscription links are in the right hand side of my blog, along with buttons to follow me on twitter, Facebook, and Google Plus. PLEASE make sure you find a way to stay up to date.  :)

Have you spent some time with our Heavenly Daddy? 

I had way too much baby cereal so I decided to use it as a way to hide little foam alphabet letters.  This allowed my daughter to dig and play but then find letters, identify the letter, give me the sound, and then place the piece in the correct place in the puzzle.   It worked great!  Lots of learning and lots of fun!  :)  We will be doing this again.

Guest post written by my buddy Keith Kramer I have been working so much lately, that I don’t have time for anything. I estimate that I have been working about 80 hours a week, and it has been terrible. When I get home all I have energy to do is turn on my  direct tv  and fall asleep. I used to love my job, but working so much has made me start hating it. I knew that becoming a doctor would be a huge commitment, but I hardly ever get to see my friends, and I am not getting enough sleep. I worry that my lack of energy will affect the quality of my work, and that is unacceptable when you are dealing with people’s lives. I am also starting to worry that my health will suffer if I keep on running myself ragged like this. I know the hospital needs me, but I think I am getting to the point where if I don’t take a day off, I won’t be able to go on for much longer. I have to figure out a better work life balance before I end up miserable.

The day finally arrived for Selah and I to go on our date together.  I bought Pinkalicious play tickets back in December so it seemed to take forever for the day to arrive.  We started out with lunch with her choice of McDonalds, big surprise, NOT!  :)  When we arrived I was excited because I knew I had purchased front row seats.  Then all of a sudden my daughter was acting scared so we walked to the bathroom and came back just as they were about to start and her fear erased and we had a fun date.  :) Selah and I in our seats right before the play started.  I was trying to calm her fears by using my phone as a distraction.  So glad she did not cry and did enjoy it!   Selah with some of the cast after the play!  :)  Her fear was all gone she  was excited to get her picture taken.   To top off the date we got to eat a Pinkalicious Cupcake!!  :)  ("But only one so we don't turn pink," Selah's words.)  

Ask me how excited I am about moving to our house and getting out of our apartment!!!  :)  SUPER EXCITED!!  So you want a sneak peak at some pictures before we move into our new place... My daughter's future room, that closet is huge, but wait till we paint it just for her!  :)  Living room!   Nice Kitchen!  :) Nice oak cabinets.  :) Finished basement, awesome! This will be a playroom!  One of the bathrooms!  (We have 2.5 bathrooms, one on each floor = Awesomeness! Garage Don't worry I will show new pictures once we make it our own.  :)  Just waiting for all the inspections, and appraisals to go through.  We are expecting to move in April!:)

I had a fantastic date on Friday night with my amazing man!  :)  We had a Valentines Banquet at our church with yummy food catered in.  They had some really fun games and I truly enjoyed the evening out without the children.  :) I had so many awesome laughs that evening, including a big one due to the fact that our little teddy bear that they were giving out as a fun surprise exercise to keep doing.  Well our bear had 3 EARS... LOL!!  I guess it is a good reminder for Anthony and myself to always listen first before talking!  LOVE!!!  :) I also wanted to give a quick update on my weight loss goals. I have lost 10 pounds and it  feels amazing!  :) I am really proud of the hard work and I love seeing the results.  I still have some firming up to do in the belly but all my pants are huge in the butt and back of the legs.  :)  I also wanted to see more toned arms but little by little I will continue to see results.  :)  HOW AWESOME!!!  :) 

It is so sad that it is almost near that 1st birthday time.  Titus is growing so quickly and he is such a big blessing to our family.  :) He is a fast crawler and has even morphed into a bear crawl sometimes which has created many giggles in the family.  He still has the 2 bottom teeth but I think he is working on some for the top.  We are still breast feeding but have introduced a little bit of whole milk too.  He loves it!  We are still having issues with sleeping, he seems to wake up too often at night and mommy is exhausted but praying it through and I know this to shall pass!  It is only a short season when our babies are babies.   Enjoy the photos, he is quick so it is very difficult to get a good picture.  Our 11 month sign is made out of a paper plate and is suppose to be a hat.  I will share another post later and share more of these hats!  :) 

So the 2 winners of the Purex Ultra Packs coupons for free product are... drum roll please.... Elisabeth and Carole Carlson Emails have been sent, please respond   with your mailing address.    Thank-you to all who entered!

I am doing this leadership class with some of our leaders at our church through Bethel church in California.  I read this acronym for Intern and loved it.  It would be nice to have an intern for a mom like me!  :)  Agree??? A TEACHING ACRONYM USING THE WORD INTERNS (these are truths that will relate to any person under your leadership): I- Include them N-Need them T-Train E-Empower them R-Reproduce them N-Notice them S-Set them up for success It would be fun!  I think it would be great to have an intern and teach a female how to me a mother!  :) 

The hubby and I have been in our apartment for almost 3 years and it's tough now with a family of 4 in a 2 bedroom apartment.  We have looked at a couple of houses in the past but remained patient and felt it was not the right time.  After much prayer we came to the conclusion that  now is the time to buy and we are going to be in this area for at least a few more years.  I say that because well, we just never know when God is going to lead us to a new ministry somewhere else.  I think one day my hubby will change from a youth pastor to a Senior pastor and we might even plant a church somewhere, but for now God has us in this town and we are going to buy and live in a house just right for our little family of 4. So have you made a list of things that you need and want in a house??  I made my list and I am so excited to go look at more houses tomorrow.  We did go on Monday and found 1 we liked but want to keep looking! So here is my list for NEED: 3 bedroom 2 bathroom big kit

The $40 paypal cash giveaway has ended and a winner has been chosen!  And the winner is... Janna L.  CONGRATULATIONS  Thanks to all who entered!  

I have 2 giveaways going on right now.   One will be ending later tonight so get your entries in!!  The one ending tonight is the $40 paypal cash giveaway!  Go enter now:   http://praisesofawifeandmommy.blogspot.com/p/40-cash-giveaway.html The other giveaway will help with laundry and with laundry being never ending it is perfect!  This one has very low entries and there are 2 prizes!  Go enter  http://praisesofawifeandmommy.blogspot.com/p/purex-ultra-packs-review-and-giveaway.html

Go PRINT THEM!!