Happy Mommy Box + Crafts + More

 I am so excited to have gotten my first Happy Mommy Box in the mail yesterday! I do not order a lot of stuff online because I usually do not get to do a lot of surfing on the internet but I have followed The Busy Budgeting Mama for a long time and since opening her business, I have wanted to purchase a box for myself for a while now. Well, last month I decided to gift myself one for my birthday and let's just say, I was not disappointed! :) 

I have already gotten use of my headband, necklace, mason jar, lid and straws within one day!

I have not been too crazy about my new short do but after putting on my new headband (made by Pink Lemonade), I am beginning to warm up to it even more. I am also loving my necklace made by  KOCOandVIKING. It says "choose joy" on it and she also makes some other beautiful necklaces so go check her out!

I go to enjoy my sweet tea today in my new mason jar made by More Sprinkled Joy.

The adorable mason jar set came from Val Marie Paper. 

I also got my printable hung up in my "mud-room" area which I will be posting on in the next few days. I have one more project to finish and it will finally be complete! Yay!

I look forward to trying the rub pouch by Spiceologist hopefully later this week when we grill out and I am sure my little ones will be getting a lot of use out of the crayon rocks. 

I already cannot wait for the surprises in next month's box! Thanks ladies at Happy Mommy Box!

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Yesterday, Nana took Trinity off for a few hours for some girl time so Asher stayed home with Daddy while Gabriel and I went out to run some errands and do some shopping at Kohl's. 

(took sissy's ipad so Mommy can try on some clothes)

I have had a hard time finding jeans that fit me right and let's just say last night I finally found me a pair that I liked. I decided to go with a jegging instead of an actual jean but I wanted something casual but something I could also dress up if I wanted to. I will say these Lauren Conrad jeggings do not disappoint at only $30! It actually came out to be a little cheaper as I had a 15% coupon and then used my $15 off coupon also. I ended up scoring a couple of other cute items including the shirt I have on for only $4. 

Today at school we worked on the letter O. We traced and colored the letter and then did an octopus craft to go along with it.

I also made a Santa sleigh with reindeer using the kid's hands and feet. I got my original idea for this here.

Nana came and got the boys this afternoon so I invited a friend over for Trinity to play with. 

(being silly playing with playdoh)

RJ had gone to the gym so the house was so quiet. I ended up getting some chores done around the house. It was nice getting caught up and the boys had a blast playing with Nana and Trinity with her buddy. All around, we had an awesome day and I hope you all have too! Now that the kids are snoozing, I believe I will go snooze some too! Have a blessed night!!

How we aught to react to when the devil gets to us.

My notes from the sermon last night:

How we aught to react to when the devil gets to us:

1. We have to react positively. If we react negative, it will produce a negative result. God has to allow it to happen but HE will always bring us through it! God is bigger than any problem that we have. Just look at the story of Job: "Job is presented as a good and prosperous family man who is beset with horrendous disasters that take away all that he holds dear, including his offspring, his health, and his property. He struggles to understand his situation and begins a search for the answers to his difficulties. God rewards Job's obedience during his travails and restores his health and doubles his original riches. He sires seven later sons and three daughters;^[2] however, his previous children remain dead."

2. We have to react pleasingly. "Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience." -Job1:3 It pleases God when we get in this thing for the long haul and we need to have problems as to appreciate the good times more. 

3. We have to react patiently. "But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing." -Job 1:4 We may not be able to see the end result but we need to trust in God and be patient. 

 The natural response to troubles is to escape them but God uses them to mature His people. 

4. We need to react prayerful. "If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God" -Job 1:5 "This verse is not a blanket promise of wisdom for any situation. In the context of life's trials, it probably speaks of the believer being granted (1) wisdom as to the reason for his trials and (2) wisdom to endure them."

5. We need to react purposefully. "A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." -Job 1:8 The way we react to things in life (either it be problems at work, home, etc.), they will carry over into other parts of our lives so we need to react to these issues with a purpose in mind. 

6. We need to react productively. Our trials will always produce something in the end and God will use us and bless us through it. 

7. We need to react perfectly. Not be perfect...God is perfecting (maturing) us and most of us have been through problems in the past and we have made it through them just fine. Trials cannot be avoided so we are encouraged to endure them and mature as a result.                                                                       

How we react to when the devil gets to us proves what we really are. These situations are like reality checks that will get you back in line with God and where we aught to be. 

My preacher quoted this last night as he began his sermon and it has stuck in my head since. I am a "worry wart." I worry about everything. It doesn't matter what it may be, I will worry about it. I worry about trials that I am currently facing, ones that may or may not happen and even trials of others but I just need to lean on God and know that in the end, through HIM, all will be just fine!! 

Hope everyone has had a blessed Monday! Good night and God bless! 

*If you would like to watch the live sermon of this message, just click here.

Current Projects & Life Lately

Life stays crazy around this house and the only reason I am actually getting to post is because I forgot to turn off my alarm that I use for the workweek and when it started blaring at 5:30, there was no going back to sleep. After tossing and turning for a good 30 minutes, I gave up, fixed me a huge cup of joe and here I am. My main reason for posting most of the time is so that my little ones maybe can look back one day and see how much fun we had and the memories we made together. So, this post is little mod-podge of memories and a little bit of crafts thrown in there. 

Last weekend was jammed packed with fun. Trinity had a buddy spend the night Friday night. I think she expects to have friends over anytime there is no school/work because we are always doing something with someone. LOL So as soon as we were leaving work Friday, that was her first question, "Can I have someone spend the night?!?!" :) 

Saturday morning the hubs messaged me letting me know Michelin was having their Christmas party at the skating rink so of course I wanted to take them so sadly we had to cut the sleepover fun short. :( The kiddos had a blast at the party and luckily one of my good friends was there to help me wrangle my kids. :) Life saver!!! Both of our girls also had a birthday party to go to (at the skating rink again lol) later that day so she was so kind to let Trinity ride along with them to the party. 

The boys got in a nap and then we ran errands the rest of the day after picking up the Princess. I really needed to go grocery shopping but by the time we were leaving Hobby Lobby and I had to wrangle all 3 (Gabriel threw himself on the ground & Trinity was crying because they wanted their Christmas ornaments I got them) to the car, I was pooped. So off to home we went and bedtime came a little earlier than usual. 

Sunday was my 30th birthday but was spent like any other usual day. I spent the day with the kids playing and doing crafts and Nana was nice enough to come watch them while I went grocery shopping. Another life saver!! :) I got caught up on housework, did a little crafting and had a fun day with the little ones. All around it was a great day!

(finally getting to paint their ornaments I got them)

Monday it was back to work but I was super pumped that the hubs was off and we enjoyed the evening together outside roasting smokes, grilling and playing with the kids. Great way to start off the week! 

Tuesday was crazy busy like any other. After work, I had an appointment to get my hair cut. I decided to chop it all off in hopes of having easier mornings. So far it is definitely easier but I kind of feel like  I look sort of like a boy so don't know if I am crazy about it. I know I will let it grow back out again at some point but I believe the ease of it may win the vote for right now in this stage of my life. 

I took Trinity to gymnastics after getting my hair done and then it was home for supper, baths and a back massage for Mommy courtesy of the kids. LOL

Wednesday, Trinity went on her field trip to the Children's museum with her school and her teacher was sweet enough to send me a few pictures of her. She seemed to have had a blast. :) I also surprised her by inviting home her best buddy to play afterwards. They always have so much fun together!

I got a long lunch break from work so I came home to work on our "command center" and get a little organizing done. 

Here is a little preview of my projects hung up. Not quite finished but hope to be soon. 

Thursday was a half day at work for me so after picking up the Princess from school, we went to a friend's house for some playtime. 

Next thing I knew, it was 7:30 and we had to rush home for baths and studying (Trinity had 2 tests the next day). Luckily they had already eaten supper with their buddies. 

The hubs was off again on Friday so we had a lazy evening at home with a pizza picnic on the floor and watched the Santa Clause movie. Well, the movie really  didn't get watched because a wrestling match happened that ended up with me and a bloody nose. LOL My son has a hard head. :) Fun times!

Yesterday morning we got a lot done at the house and after naps, we headed out into the Chaos to START our Christmas shopping. Yup, we are behind. LOL Trinity got invited to spend the night at her bestie's house so she was super excited about that. 

Cutie pies!

After being exhausted from shopping, the boys and I went home to have another picnic on the floor (eating Chilli's YUM) and ended up with all of us falling asleep in the living room. LOL

Such fun memories! 

Hope you all have a blessed Sunday before the chaos of the work week begins again!

Lots of Love-

Snow Crafts/Life Lately

The theme for the week in my class at daycare is snow so we have been talking about it's color, how it feels, what we like to do in the snow and if the kids can't wait till it snows again. Snow down here is always an occasion and since it only happens once or twice a year, school is canceled and we get to stay home to enjoy it. I LOVE it when it snows and we live on a steep hill so last year we took kinder mats (old leftover ones from daycare), slid down the hill and the kids had a blast! We cannot wait till the next snow hits our area! 

Anyway, here are some crafts I did with my class. I also included a few other ideas from Pinterest that I have not gotten the chance to do yet. 

Snowman snow globe 

Snowstorm...used chalk, quick and easy craft. 

Melted snowman.

Snow Crafts roundup

(I also had this M paper for them to do also. You can find a similar one here or here.)

Some other cute crafts are this snowman footprint (started this one today with all 3 of my kids but didnot get to finish), this paper plate snowman and I even like the idea of making this snow dough for the kids to play with.

Each week I will make a handprint/footprint ornament for their Christmas tree. I got the inspiration for this one from here. 

We are also going over the letter M this week so we worked on tracing the letter and decorated a mitten with tissue paper. 

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RJ had to take Asher to get blood drawn yesterday to test him for diabetes. We had gotten his results from the endocrinologist in the mail last week and it said his glucose level was 120 (supposed to be in the 70-100 range) so they wanted us to test him again to be certain. Praying he will not have it and then we can go a while without having to visit a doctor. 

Today after work, RJ let me take off for a bit to do whatever I wanted. So, I decided to head over to Books-A-Million, buy me a magazine, peppermint mocha coffee, caramel Lindor and have some quiet time. I had planned on getting some retail therapy in also but not long after I finished some reading, RJ called me asking me to come get him and the kids because they were being a handful and I had taken the van with the car seats. Well, after rescuing him, we headed out to find somewhere to eat. We went to a couple of places but RJ kept mentioning going to Cracker Barrel. I love Cracker Barrel and it had been a long time since I had eaten there so we finally agreed on it. So, I went in and put our name and we started looking around the store. Well, all of a sudden we run into RJ's mom, Grandma and brother. I was shocked to see them there but just assumed that Adam had come into town and they were there having supper together. We were talking when I suddenly saw my friend Rachael and her daughter. I assumed the were having a daugther/mommy night out until 2 more of my friends walked up and it hit me, they were there for me. 

So, I feel stupid it took me a while to realize it but RJ had gotten everyone together to surprise me for my 30th birthday. Well, my life is so crazy that I seriously had not really thought about it or celebrating it. I think I am in denial I am turning 30 and am just trying to ignore it so maybe it will not happen. LOL Needless to say, I was surprised and am very thankful for my sweet husband for planning all of it and family and friends for celebrating with me. I love you all and am very thankful for each person I have been blessed to meet since moving up here to Anderson. Moving to someplace where you know no one is difficult but I now have another family and set of friends that I have blessed with and am so very thankful. 

So, hope you all were blessed with a happy Thursday like me. Here is to tomorrow being Friday!

Baby after Premie/Happy BDay Gabriel!

In my heart I always knew I wanted more children after Trinity but after a scary delivery and weeks in the NICU, I did not know if it was in the cards for us. After much prayer and talking with our doctor, we felt confident that the next pregnancy would go smoother so we began trying for Carter #2. Well, being fertile like I am, it was not even 2 months later that I got a positive pregnancy test. We were so excited but nervous at the same time! All was going great and around 20 weeks we found out we were going to have a boy. Trinity wanted a sister so she was not as excited as us. LOL

My blood pressure did start going up around 30 weeks so my doctor suggested me going out of work to relieve some stress. My awesome mother-in-law paid for Trinity to continue going to the daycare in the mornings so I had a lot more time to rest and prepare for baby boy. I went to the doctor every week and before I knew it, we were scheduling my c-section. Eeekkk!!! 

Knowing when you are going to have your baby is a little nerve wrecking but I did like being able to be more prepared. The week before I went in, we pit up our Christmas tree, decorations, wrapped all the presents, and I spent some extra one-on-one time with Trinity. The night before, Trinity spent the night off and RJ was working 3rd. He worked only half a shift but I am sure he was tired but pumped on adrenaline. It was nice to have a little alone time before and I got to enjoy stuffing my face (only till midnight though), taking a nice relaxing bath (had to scrub down in sanitizing body wash) and got a night full of rest (yeah right). I stayed up restless until RJ got home around 4. After the hubs got ready, we headed towards the hospital around 5. I was admitted, prepped and around 7:30am, wheeled to the OR. 

(being prepped)

(my sweet doctor took a pic of us while we were waiting on the OR room)

RJ got to be with me almost the entire time (not while getting my spinal) so that was nice. The spinal was difficult to get in but my doctor was very comforting and tried to preoccupy me while they were doing it. It was probably the worst spinal I have had (I have had 3) but having my doctor with me to calm my nerves helped. It was nice having my OB with me through the entire experience this time instead of a stranger like my last pregnancy. My OB is so funny and kept me entertained and before I knew it, they said that I would start feeling pressure. Now, with Trinity (she was 3lbs) I felt nothing but when they were trying to get Gabriel out, it felt like there was a ton of bricks on me and I could barely catch my breath. It was was because Gabriel was so wedged in the womb that they were having a hard time getting him out! Finally at 8:03am, Gabriel Lawrence Carter came into the world looking like a rolly faced bull dog. LOL He looked so big and he face was all smushed! I couldn't help but laugh and was in shock by how big he was!

(my chunky baby and daddy)

(loving my baby boy)

After spending some time with my boys, they took Gabriel to the nursery to weigh him and give him a bath. I remember them asking how much I thought he weighed and I said 9lbs. and sure enough, he was 9lbs. 1oz. And I had him a week early!! LOL They did have to give him some sugar water afterwards and I kind of wonder know if I may have had gestational diabetes. I had it with my third so now looking back, I kind of think I possibly could have had it with him. Anyway, after spending sometime in recovery and getting back to my room, I was reunited with my family. Patsy brought Trinity into the room and it was so funny because she couldn't quite get over how big he brother was and was a little scared. 

She would not hold him but I also think seeing me in the hospital bed hooked up to stuff and with those leg cuffs (keep blood flow going), she was nervous. She did finally warm up to him after we got home and gave him his first bath. She does love being a little helper! 

Well, I cannot believe it has now been 3 years since my big boy came into the world! He is a bundle of energy with so much personality. I get a little sad knowing that he is getting out of the baby/toddler stage but love seeing him learn and developing into the silly boy I know he is going to be. I love you Gabriel Lawrence Carter and I thank God every day he blessed me with you!

 A little bit about my boy:

 He is super silly!

He loves to play!

He is a Mama's boy!

He loves all things Spiderman & Cars!

He is stubborn!

He loves to try to new things!

He is a little helper!

He is a mess! (getting his hair cut here)

He sucks his thumb and rubs his nose when he is trying to go to sleep.

He sure is handsome!

He loves with his whole heart!

He loves his brother and sister!

He is always curious!

He LOVES his friends!

He is all boy!

He is one of a kind!