Tis the Season'

Well Christmas came, and we all had much to be thankful for. It's great having family here; Jake's parents and sister are down from WI this week. It wasn't feeling too much like Christmas till they arrived. What with palm trees and no snow its hard to adjust to the 'Christmas feeling.' Anywhoodles, the last few days have been a blast. We have been busy showing the family this sunny side of the state and enjoying some great Mexican food. Delish!
Isabelle got to many presents to count, so much so we had round 2 and 3 during Christmas day. We don't do the whole Santa thing; so we started Christmas Eve!
Her hit toys are her tickle me Elmo from Auntie Sara and her tree like tent that she demand we play in all the time. She gets so excited and in your face saying 'tent, tent, yea?' What a cutie...Jake got this awesome saw. So he will be busy making and creating some cool things for the casa.I will post pics later.

On a not so good note, my grandpa is in the hospital. As I type I have to fight back tears. Please pray for him and my family. His birthday is days away and we are hoping he can come home soon...he's a tough old man, and we want him here much much longer.

Sunday Night

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excuse the messy house, hence relaxing Sunday :)



What a relaxing day. We were able to Skype with my sister n law and her hubs; Isabelle's God parents. Then off to church, where Isabelle held the bulletin and 'sang' along with us. It was so cute, however I thought it inappropriate to take my camera out and take a picture. So I did not, now that I know she likes to sing along, well I can catch her. After church we finally went to Target where we picked up Isabelle's toy and book organizer. I got rid of her other toy organizer, it just wasn't doing the job any more and I was tired of seeing all her toys out, I like them hiding.
Isabelle's room is 75 % finished. For her birthday she is getting a toddler bed, so her day bed will be put up for later use...
We still need to put together her shelves in her closet, and with the help of my father n law, a tree with an owl will be painted on her wall! So stay tuned ya'll. It's going to be off the hook.

The Packer game is on and Jake is all ready yelling, I love it.
Isabelle is about to go to sleep and I am going to read my blogs.
Happy Sunday, enjoy your week.

5 more days till Christmas!!!

P.S. Santa came early and I gots me a camera! oh Snap! Mine broke back in August, so THANK YOU baby.

10 days and counting!

Well we are getting excited down here, Jake's parents and sister will be here in a week for Christmas! Wohooo! Christmas is just around the corner and we are together as a family. Oh snap, no deployments, no nada.
Last night after Isabelle was showing signs of recovery she got to do a little art project. Followed by eating a piece of toast and apple sauce. This is what she thought of mom telling her to sit, and not get up until she had finished.
I am off to Christmas shop in a bit. Happy Wednesday.

Look at these snazzy colors :)

Soo, kitchen is done! Wells painting wise..still trying to figure out how to use my counter space and have on lonely box left to unpack...so I'm almost there.

Jake and I are in LOVE with the colors I picked. Kitchen is awesome! Now we just need to finish Isabelle's room...:)

Thankful Lady over here!!!

So, I just want to start by saying Good Morning Vietnam! Haha, NOT really, I just can't get that line out of my head. Really though, it's a good day today. So I would like to start out by saying Thank you to my Heavenly Father. I am so happy to be a SAHM. (Stay at home mom.)
Saturday night into Sunday morning Isabelle and I were puking; gross, nasty, awful, just the flu rearing it's ugly head. We are totally healed as of today. But along with the flu comes other things, like the poopies! Uhm yes, I am blogging about Isabelle's diaper. I am not kidding when I say I changed her 'sharted' diaper 9 times between 7-4 yesterday! It was n-a-a-a-s-t-y! And by the 4th time all I could do was laugh at the sounds that were coming out of my beautiful little girl! I mean come on, at that point I just had to say okay God, this is a little funny. It was that moment that I just was so happy to be able to take care of my sick little girl. Now I do miss getting ready and going to work,my adorable heels and wedges that get dusty in the closet. Though none of it is worth me being a mom to my daughter. She is learning and talking so much, she is growing taller, and just plain silly. How could I even think right now of dropping her off with someone else? So in the midst of poopy diapers, laundry, dishes, and still taking care of me...well Praise God for allowing me to do it. When Isabelle looks up at me with her big green eyes and says 'hi mom' it melts me every time. When she wakes up from her nap with her blanket and comes to snuggle, I couldn't be more thankful. (Well sometimes I am in the middle of something, but who cares!) When she falls down and scrapes her knee, it's Mommy she wants.
I see so many of my friends working, dropping their kid(s) off, or being stay at home moms but complaining all the time. Always on face book putting the negativie up, who cares people. Get over it! So you're having a bad day...get over it!
Find the good in your job. You might not be getting a pay check but it's a darn good job you have, and your child or children look up to you every morning. You are their hero, our kids minds are so innocent and so full of life. So soak it up mommies, because we know how fast time flies. For my mommy friends who are busy dropping kids off and trying to stay on top of household duties, well I hope you can find time to enjoy yourself and your kids. Because again, it goes by too fast.

So here are a couple bible verses that I like"

Proverbs 17:22
A merry heart doeth good like a medicine: but a broken spirit drieth the bones.

Proverbs 22:6
Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old they will not turn from it.

Wohoooo, we are in our first home! Finally!
It has been one long, emotionally, and exhausting week. After many delays(all due to Wells Fargo) we finally closed on our home Thursday afternoon. The bank manager did a very poor job taking care of our closing paperwork. Needless to say we should have closed day after Thanksgiving. We were homeless for two nights, and it wasn't a nice feeling. Christmas shopping money being wasted on hotel stay, fast food, and a rental truck was too depressing when thought about. BUT, the optimistic women that I am, all I can say is 'who cares!' God took care of us and we are now in our home.
It just feels good to be in our home now, and enjoying putting up Christmas deco and watching Isabelle run around the house. She loves her new found space as well as Jake n I. A brand new house...Ahhhhh...so happy are we.

So here are a few pics of the house...more will come next week. Our goal is to have our bedrooms and kitchen painted by Sunday evening.

FYI, I am loving my stainless steel appliances n double door fridge! Yep, I am bragging. :) Thank you Lord for a wonderful husband that has provided all of this for Isabelle and I!

Turkey comin' out my ears.

Woah Nelly! Talk about left overs...so I will be putting my turkey to use and making lots of turkey dinners over the next week, along with the oh so delicious cold turkey samich! :)

Well, Thanksgiving night I ventured out to Wal-Mart and got Isabelle more Christmas presents, that was fun. It was actually quiet, the calm before the storm. I didn't find the kitchen set I wanted for her so when I came home I purchased it at midnight and got a great deal. Can't wait for her to be 'cooking' along side me in our new house. We will be closing next week, as we sadly didn't this week. With the holidays our paperwork just didn't get done in time. Oh well, we have all next week.

Today, Jake decided we should go on a road trip, so off to Ruidoso, NM we went. Uhm yea, that turned out interesting. One, there was nada once we got to our destination and secondly we took a very interesting detour on our way to Cloudcroft, NM. Our GPS had as going along a gravel road for about 30 minutes! Up a mountain side...I was panicking, Jake telling me to calm down. Seriously, it was a little too much. BUT, we ended up on the backside of Cloudcroft...the plus during this 5 hour adventure was the beautiful scenery. Big green pine trees everywhere, pretty horses, and actually enjoying trees that change colors.
Cloudcroft is a cute little town in Lincoln State Forrest, NM. At the top we are 9,000 feet above sea level.It's cool and quaint. It has a homemade soap shop as well as homemade potpourri. I purchased a scopp of apple something or other and I am smelling its sweet smell right now. Along with some jewelry and antique shops it also has a little book store and pottery shops. We stopped at a coffee shop-Peppermint Mocha for me (delicious), Jake of course got a caramel latte, and Isabelle got her own hot chocolate with whipped cream! It was about 40, and the sun was going down, our warm drinks were just the right touch.
So we're home now, enjoying this chilly Saturday evening. I am going to play a little house with miss Isabelle while Jake watches some boob tube.

Oh, besides amazing shopping deals, a great Thanksgiving feast, Jake not being deployed, and just enjoying God's everyday blessings, we have free Shotime this whole weekend! Hahah boo yah, that's right. That meant finally watching Season 6 of WEEDS. We are addicted, anywho, the finally wasn't that great but it was still WEEDS, and I love me some Nancy sipping on her diet coke n ice coffee.

Last but not least, I am taken with our new PX at Ft. Bliss. White tinkling Christmas lights are on all the trees, the outside fireplace is dandy, Jake and I played a little Foosball outside, and the HUMANGO Christmas tree is fun to just stare at. Of course Isabelle enjoyed the cool bugs she can climb on and all the sparkling lights above her while playing. She piratically looks up to say 'wow.'

Tis the Season!

Gobble Gobble!

1. Thank you God for a wonderful year with my husband and daughter.
2. Thank you God for the purchase and find of our first home.
3. Thank you God for loving me unconditionally!
4. and Thank you God for Chocolate!



Well, Thanksgiving is tomorrow! Yeaaaa, mmm my favorite holiday.
I am cooking a 13 pound bird, oh snap. Isabelle and I just got done making our chex mix, and later after our final house inspection is finished, a homemade Pumpkin cream pie I am making from scratch. More wonderfull goodness.
Aimee, my savior down here and bf, is watching Isabelle so we can do our final walk through and then we are going shopping at Ashley's! Picking out Isabelle's new bedroom set and all.
What a fun day it is. Let me also rub in that it is a wonderful 61 degrees outside, perfet weather. We have a couple of single soldier's coming over tomorrow to share Thanksgiving with. I must repeat again, how insanly wonderful it is that Jacob is home. Isbelle and I are obsessed with him and the idea that he's not leaving yet for another tour...NOPE, he's not going anywhere for a long time! (Well Isabelle just understands that daddy's 'makin money' when he's at work.)
My homemade Thanksgiving cards are coming l-a-t-e to our family and friends seeing as my mommy brain forgot to mail them until yesterday, sorry folks!

Love to all our family and close friends, Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Let the countdown begin...

The waiting game has begun, we are hoping to close on our home by the 23rd or 25th of this month. We are praying it happens! The paint samples have been picked out and we have a lot to do between now and the 5th of December. That being the day we have to be completly moved out of our apartment. Blaa, apartment...can't wait to be home owners!

I am completley ready for Thanksgiving, minus a couple of ingrediants. Jake has a few Army boy's coming over, so that'll be fun. Football and Turkey; SCORE! There is a delicious twist on French's green bean caserole recipe that I am making. So it's really all from scratch. Also instead of a regular Pumpkin pie, I have found a Pumpkin cream pie. Delicious.

Yesterday we did a lot of shopping for furniture in the new casa...today we'll stop at another store. We are getting Isabelle a brand new bedroom set. Her dresser broke in our move here, so she has had all her clothes in the closet and a tub for the last 5 months :(. We are going to go with a white or cream bedroom set! I can't wait till she sees it. Our little girl is getting so big. Now that she is in her day bed the twin is the next size up. Her crib will be temporarily put away until baby number 2 arrives.
We also finally got to see the new PX (military shopping center on Ft Bliss.) The Christmas lights are up, there is a colorful waterfall, and a cute kids play area. Did I mention there is an outdoor fireplace as well? Isabelle loved the waterful wth changing colors and we couldn't pull her away for the longest.

P.S. I have yet to catch Isabelle's mean face. Her eyebrows twist up, and she gives you this look like 'are you high mom (dad).' It's histarical, but at the same time makes us sad. How can such a sweet face give mommy n daddy a look like that? Well probably becuase she's got my personality and her father's saracasm...this morning Jake said 'ok Hannah' to her when she gave him that look! hahaa...

Let this fun weekend continue...Happy Sunday!

Christmas shopping and Crafts

Oh how I love the winter months, well not so winter here but ya'll know what I mean.
I started my Christmas shopping and we are almost done with Isabelle! Just a few more toys on the list and it's go time.
I still haven't started on my man, but she's easy. He is not a picky man at all, so he's fun to shop for. But I do have to say that Harley clothes are expensive, oh boy!
This year we will be concentrating on us 3. We are buying our first home!!! Yea I can say it!!! A very cute 3 bedroom 2 car garage here in El Paso; just a mile down the road from where we live now. Moving will be a breeze. But with new home means a cut in presents this year, that's okay; it's not what the Christmas is about.
This year has been such a blast with Jake home, especially knowing he'll be home next year too is such a stress reliever. When he's home I feel like every holiday has to be perfect...but it doesn't. Sigh of relief.

Anywhoodles, I found a Goodwill type store called 'Savers' and its the bomb. Yup, I love it. I found a red butter dish that reminds me of my mother n law and my grandma. That was the highlight of today. :)A Ball jar for 99 cents, green cookie dish, picture frame for 2.99, tray (I redid with some spray paint, modge podge, and scrap book paper for 99 cents, and a Bearenstiene Bears book for 69 cents. Ohh and a cute basket for 1.99.

Here are 2 projects I created today!