A place to call your own...

We finally have one!

We unpacked the P.O.D. yesterday and spent our first night in our new home! As for now, we'll be out of Internet for about a week, so I'll post lots of details (and lots of pics) once we get it back up and running!

Nice...

Sadly enough, Joe-Z would think he'd died and gone to heaven, lol!

Little children as comedic relief...

There are so many things I love about having children! Tonight, I'm especially grateful for the comedic relief that can come from the mouth of such a little child!

I had just bathed John Morgan and I was getting him into his pajamas for bed. He's got a terrible diaper rash (his first one...boo!), and so we're having to use diaper cream and gauze pads smothered in vaseline. Needless to say, it can be quite messy. In my frustration, while orchestrating this whole diapering mess, I exclaimed "This is a joke!"

(Cue Levi) "Joke. Joke. Joke! This joke! Joke, joke, joke." And so on and so forth. He totally broke the tension of the moment! It no longer mattered that there was diaper cream all over me, the baby, the bed, and everything else, or that I my hands (and hair at this point) were layered in vaseline, and that by now we needed a new diaper. John Morgan's crying turned into excited giggling at his big bro.

Levi, with his cute little smile, his disheveled hair, his dinner-covered Sunday outfit, and his precious baby-trying-to-be-a-little-boy voice made it all better!


What a little blessing he is to us and our family!

The Little Reminders

Today I am grateful for the little things in life that serve as reminders to us.

Yesterday I heard this song on the radio and it really hit home for me. We've just been so busy lately trying to fit back into life and this was a nice little reminder to slow down and enjoy the ride.


"You're Gonna Miss This"
by Trace Adkins

She was staring out the window of their SUV
Complaining, saying "I can't wait to turn 18"
She said "I'll make my own money, and I'll make my own rules"
Mamma put the car in park out there in front of the school
Then she kissed her head and said "I was just like you"

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Before she knows it she's a brand new bride
In a one-bedroom apartment, and her daddy stops by
He tells her "It's a nice place"
She says "It'll do for now"
Starts talking about babies and buying a house
Daddy shakes his head and says "Baby, just slow down"

Cause you're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this

Five years later there's a plumber workin' on the water heater
Dog's barkin', phone's ringin'
One kid's cryin', one kid's screamin'
And she keeps apologizin'
He says "They don't bother me.
I've got 2 babies of my own.
One's 36, one's 23.
Huh, it's hard to believe, but...

You're gonna miss this
You're gonna want this back
You're gonna wish these days hadn't gone by so fast
These are some good times
So take a good look around
You may not know it now
But you're gonna miss this"

(If you've never heard it before, I added it to my playlist at the bottom of this page)

My "Get Rich Quick" Scheme...

Just kidding.

I have no intentions of getting rich quick...more like supplementing our income a little, lol.

When we lived here before, there was a sister in the ward that sold vinyl lettering. I just loved it! So much so, that when we moved to Minnesota I decided to sell it there. Low and behold, the very first friend I made there had her own vinyl lettering business! Go figure.

But, now we're back! And the sister that used to sell it here has moved away, and I feel that Tallahassee has so needlessly been without the wonderful art of vinyl lettering for far too long! So look out Tallahassee-ians (or however you would say and spell that, lol) here I come, ready to fill up your walls, tables, counters, bookshelves, pianos, (and wherever else might need some sprucing up), with the many wonders of vinyl lettering!

Yay!

Introducing:

The new love of my life.

I've never been a huge fan of M&M's at all...'till now. Don't know why.
Just love 'em.

We're back...

and SURPRISE*...we're in Florida!

I've been missing lately in the blogging world, but for good reason! We've moved!

Joe-Z has always wanted to work for the Church Educational System. We thought he could get the training he would need anywhere we went, but later on found out that most people are too busy to do any type of training on a one-on-one basis. Getting into this position is very competitive, so we figured that we'd need all the help we could get, which included training, so we decided to go to the place we knew it was available...back to Tallahassee! Yay! We love Brother Bowcutt and Joe-Z is very excited for the opportunity to learn from the best!

The day we found out that this would be an option, we were going through a random box of papers (left over from a previous move, lol) and we found Joe-Z's acceptance letter to Flagler from last year and thought we'd call to see if they'd still take him this year. Sure enough, after a couple of signatures here and there, they said..."Welcome back...school starts on the 25th!" That gave us just 10 days to be there!

So, we found all that out Thursday about noon and we had packed and left by the next Friday afternoon. We drove down that weekend and Joe-Z made it to school by 5 o'clock Monday night! It's was a wild ride and we could not have done it alone! We are SO grateful for all of the help we received...it is no doubt to us that the Lord works everyday miracles through the good brothers and sisters we see every Sunday, that will come together in a pinch to help out.

Thanks friends!

So, here we are now...in good ol' Tallahassee! We really miss our new found-old friends in Minnesota, we're very excited to be back in town and have the wonderful opportunities in front of us! Joe-Z is loving his new job with the State so far and school is going well, and we'll be moving into our place at the end of the month!

Sorry no pictures yet...our USB cable got packed on the P.O.D., but once we move in...you'll get pictures galore! I can give you a couple of updates of the kids though:

John Morgan is getting so big, and is enjoying meals of oatmeal and peas...yum yum! He's about ready to crawl...we're thinking within the next month (but now that we've said that...it'll probably take twice that long, lol).

and Levi...there's just so much to tell here...but here's my newest fave...he's learned how to climb out of the pack-an-play! YAY...not. Now there's no stopping him...he climbs out, throws his arms in the air, and screams "Woo-hoo!" I'm just hoping that when we get into our place, he won't try the same stunt from within his crib...that could be disastrous!

Anyway...hope you all are doing well, we're (mostly I'm) glad to be back to the blogging realm!


*If you're a Burtoft reading this (or anyone down south for that matter)...don't tell anyone else in the fam...this is still supposed to be a surprise for you guys!