Liebster Award!

Wow, I feel so honored to be given a blog award of ANY kind!  Thank you CARRIE!  I feel so special!  Carrie and I worked together at Continental Airlines many moons ago, and she truly is an amazing woman, full of strength, integrity and compassion.  She is mommy to two beautiful boys and an awesome wife to her sweetheart Mark...I mean, this woman keeps her house clean, works, takes care of her kiddos, AND is a fabulous cook.  I am jealous of her cooking abilities!  Anyway...

Considering the fact that I am quite a sporadic blogger and don't really have any FOCUS for my blog...it truly is a mish-mash of posts...I don't really feel deserving!  However, I happily accept it and even more happily share it with a few other bloggers that I follow!

Here are the rules for the Liebster award, and the list of bloggers I'm sharing it with:

1) Accept it, write a post about it and display it.
2) Pass it on to 3-5 fabulous but unknown blogs (not ones with large amounts of followers) and tell them they have been awarded the love blog award.
3) Link back to the person who awarded it to you.

The aim is to bring great, but not well known, blogs to light.

So, I am sharing this award with:

1) HEATHER over at The Coterie Blog who is also a talented designer - see her etsy shop here:  Kantan Designs and her photography here:  HM Photography    I found her blog by clicking on a comment from Natalie Norton's blog a LONG time ago...they are sisters-in-law.  :)

2)  LAUREL over at Just Around This Corner.  Laurel writes the most inspiring posts...she has some serious story-telling skills and has a magical way of reaching right into your chest and grabbing onto your heart...  I always go to her blog for reminders of WHO I AM, WHY I'M HERE, and to be reminded that I AM OF WORTH!  ♥ ya laurel!

3)  HILDA over at Hilda Grahnat (formerly "Forever Is Today").  Hilda knows how to ROCK her camera and produces beautiful images.  I love her sense of style and composition, and adore her book clocks (see them here in her SHOP)  I appreciate her English translations on the blog...but honestly, her images speak for themselves!  She truly is a source of creative inspiration for me...and I secretly feel a connection to her since she is Swedish...and well, I have some Swedish roots too!  :)  ha ha  I bet she has a TON of followers already, but not sure if any of MY friends have heard of her!  Enjoy...

Happy 100th Day of School!

Today was my boys' 100th day of school! The kinders made special hats with 100 items glued on, and had a parade to celebrate. Joshy chose to glue "warm fuzzies" onto one of the sombreros we inherited from my grampa...and I must say, it turned out quite cute! It is definitely not ruined, and adds to the festive nature of the sombrero! I can't believe kindergarten will be over in a few months...this year has FLOWN by! Here are a few pics of the parade and Joshy's class.

He's now 100 days smarter than he was when school started! :)

love notes

These love notes crack me up! Both Jakob and Joshy hid in the bathroom while we read them...because they were embarrassed! LOL In preschool last week we made cute little frames by gluing puzzle pieces to a makeshift frame (using craft sticks glued together) and then the kids painted the frames, and then I took a picture of each kid holding this heart that says "I love you to pieces!" They turned out so cute...I wish I had taken a picture of the finished product! Brad has Drew's frame at the office, but here is his sweet picture!

Happy Valentine's Day! I hope you all feel loved!

a happy dance

Brad and I decided to share the news with our boys during family prayers yesterday morning.  It was Joshy's turn to pray, and so he said his usual few things and then paused, waiting for help...so Brad started helping him and said a few things and then said, "And please bless the baby in mommy's tummy" and Joshy repeated that and then it was like everyone was holding their breath for a second while it sunk in.  Immediately after the prayer, Joshy looked and me and screamed, "YOU HAVE A BABY IN YOUR TUMMY???????"  and Jakob had a cute little smirk on his face and said, "You're PREGNANT?  Why didn't you tell me?!"  Then Joshy said, "I hope it's a girl cuz we don't have any girls in our family!" and then he proceeded to do a "happy dance" making his brothers and Brad and I crack up laughing!  It was such a happy moment, and I'm so excited that they are so excited...it will all seem more real (and Drew will probably understand better) when I start to get a belly and they can feel the baby kicking...

To be honest, I am a bit scared of being a mother of 4.  I finally felt like i was doing pretty good with 3...and now here we have another one on the way!  But, since there is a longer gap between kids this time, (almost 4 years) it should be a bit easier.  Only 1 kid in diapers, Jakob and Joshy at school all day, every day, and Drew in preschool 1/2 day every day will give me plenty of time to bond with my new little one and not feel completely overwhelmed.

So, there have been several comments about "secretly praying/wishing for a girl" from some of you, and to be honest, yes, it would be wonderful to have a little girl.  BUT, that said, I do TRULY with ALL OF MY HEART, absolutely LOVE my boys and would be THRILLED to have another one.  So...we thank you for "thinking pink" or "thinking blue" and will be happy to make the announcement when we find out.

I always imagined myself as a mother of all boys...not sure why...but it just seemed natural to me.  There are plenty of times where I wish I had a girl, to balance things out a bit...but then again I get PLENTY of girl time with my girlfriends...and so I do feel balanced.  I do however, wish I had someone on my side when it comes down to watching MY movies...you know, the Jane Austen-ish movies...the ones that Brad hates!  But, that's a trivial thing.  Not super important.

So, thank you all for your congratulations and well wishes, we are so happy to share this good news with you all and I for one can't wait to get beyond the "icky" phase of gagging and being starving all the time.  Another month and I should be good to go!

Happy Weekend!

something fun...

What do these things have in common????????

Well...if you haven't been able to figure it out...let me spell it out for you!  I ate Chipotle tortilla chips for breakfast this morning, because well, these days, I'll pretty much eat anything I can get my hands on (and then 5 minutes after I eat it, I want to barf...)

Yes folks...I am 8 weeks PREGNANT!

Our baby is about the size of a KIDNEY BEAN!   

This is baby #4!!!

 And he or she will arrive on or around:

We were going to try to wait longer to make the big announcement, but well, I just didn't want to wait anymore!  And I want to give props to Brad for not spilling the beans sooner!!!!!!!!!!!!  If you know Brad, then you know it's TORTURE trying to hold in a secret this big!!!!!!

Our kiddos don't know yet...so if you see them PLEASE don't ruin the surprise...we will be telling them in the next few days!

xoxo, Shari

this says it all

a bittersweet memory

just uploaded a bunch of old videos yesterday...they were so fun to watch! Drew was so surprised to see himself as a baby...and I was so surprised to see myself without a double chin! LOL I am thankful for these types of things, to remind us of those little moments that mean so much... (scroll down and pause my playlist before watching the video)

plates on a wall

A long time ago, like probably over a year ago, I came across this image:

And have wanted to create a similar design of my own...however, i'm a bit short on plates.  Here is what my wall currently looks like:

So...I'm asking all of you, dear readers - family and friends...if you have any random plates you'd like to donate to my wall, it would be much appreciated!  Any size, any color, any design.  There is no rhyme or reason to it...that's part of the beauty of it! 

a boy, 1 year, fruit salad and a new BFF

A year ago I posted these pics of Drew helping me make cookies for Valentine's day.  I can't help but drop my jaw at what a cute little baby he was -- at 2 years old he was "so grown up" but now that I see him at 3 years old and look back at him at 2 years old, I realize how "grown up" he really is now.  It's amazing how much changes in one year. 

Yesterday I took some pictures of him eating some yummy fruit salad.  I love watching my kids grow up, but I also wish I could freeze time and keep them as my babies forever.  That is one reason why I love pictures...because they transport me back to those times when my big boys were my babies...and quicker than I know it they will be men.

Drew has a new BFF named Piper...such a cutie!  We just started doing a swap where I watch her one day, and then Drew goes to Piper's house another day.  They are adorable together, and it makes me so happy to see him enjoying a friend so much.  Someday they will look back at this picture and laugh at how little they were...but seriously, look how precious they are!