The Last Six Months

I can't believe that it's been six months since I last posted on my blog. I'm such a slacker. I think that I have about three or four post that I started but never finished. So, I guess it's time for an update.

It was HOT in Louisiana over the summer. Thankfully, most of the parks around here have splash pads. It was a very nice way to get out of the house and stay cool over the summer. And I must admit that I enjoyed playing in the water as much as Abigail! My parents visited us for the 4th of July. We had a great week together. We went to the beach in Waveland, MS, took Abigail to see her first movie in theaters, Toy Story 3, did some shopping and some eating, and had a nice cookout with some friends on the 4th. There are too many pics over the last six months to post, so friends please visit my Facebook page and look through the latest albums, if you haven't already. :) My brother and his family visited in August. We took the girls to the Louisiana Children's Museum in NOLA, frequented the splash pad, shopped, ate, laughed, and just had a great time all around. It's so nice when my family gets to visit and stay awhile, especially since we don't live close by.

In September, Abigail and I visited my family in Graceville. Uncle Rudy, Aunt Jamie, and GG came for the weekend. It was nice to have extended family there as well. My brother, the chef (well not technically but he loves to cook and he's good at it), made milkshakes and blended iced mocha's several time. I think I gained 5 pounds, at least, that weekend. We did some more shopping and more eating! Dad made sushi! He just keeps getting better and better at it! My mom was able to take most of the week off so we enjoyed spending more time with her since she usually has to work while we are there. I finally was able to use my spa gift card from last Christmas and let me just say, a one hour deep tissue massage is just NOT long enough! You think it would be, but it wasn't. Oh and my brother smoked a Boston butt and we made Pulled Pork Parfaits! Let me just say, YUMMY! Take a tall clear glass, put some BBQ sauce in the bottom, a layer of pulled pork, then a layer of mashed potatoes, repeat, and drizzle top layer of mashed potatoes with BBQ sauce. It looks pretty and taste great! Ryan also received a promotion in September. It was much needed answer to prayer. He is now a Club Level Concierge. He really likes it and the raise wasn't too shabby either.

October passed in a blur. I can't really say anything extraordinary happened in October, well except the lessons God taught me especially in October. Without going into detail, we experienced some financial distress in the last couple months but the LORD provided as he always does. I feel like I learned a lot and grew a lot in the past months. While trying to stretch our money as much as we could, I began to realize how much we actually waste and how ungrateful we are for what we actually have. There have been many times that I haven't felt like cooking dinner or didn't want to eat what we had in the house and we went out and spent money on food we didn't need. The hamburger might have been tasty but were we being good stewards of what God had given us? Not that there is anything wrong with eating out but we were blowing a lot of money on something we didn't really need. It was also during this time that I started really paying attention to Freebies4Mom on Facebook. I had added this lady to my friends list several months ago and just ignored her post. She has a website dedicated to helping others find free samples, coupons, and sweepstakes with great prizes. Check out www.freebiesformom.com Anyway, I started frequenting her site daily and signing up for the free samples. Sometimes they aren't things that I necessarily need but hey it's free and if it's something I think I can use, then I sign up. Well, after realizing how much I waste, I had been squeezing the life out of my tube of toothpaste. I was finally at the point where no more was going to come out and I went to check the mail. The first sample that I had ever requested was for toothpaste and I had forgotten about it completely. When I checked the mail on this particular day,there was a mysterious box in the mailbox. When I opened it, it was a tube of toothpaste! Woohoo! It came at the exact time that I needed a new tube of toothpaste! Isn't the LORD, amazing!!! At the end of the month I started keeping a 8 week old baby boy named Dustin. It has been an adjustment for me as well as Abigail but we are enjoying it. He is just too cute and the pay check is sweet too!

I can't believe that November is almost over already. In six days my baby girl is going to turn three. It feels like yesterday that I was being induced, anxious to meet her. She is an indescribable blessing in my life. She is a constant source of laughter and joy in our house. I am amazed every day at how smart she is. When it comes to personality and behavior, she is definitely my child. There are times I am grateful for that and times I wish she wasn't so much like me. You want your child to have your so-called good traits but no one wants their child to have their bad ones! She has an equal mix of both, I believe. :) If I can remember, I'll put a birthday party post up after her Fancy Nancy Soiree on Saturday. Until then, here is a picture of my little cutie.