Stella is Two!!!

     It has been forever since I have written a blog post and I was just telling Ben how excited I was to write one for Stella's  second birthday. This girl. I tell you what. I'm a bit obsessed with her and who she is becoming. Her personality is starting to show more and more each day. She is all sorts of quirky. She is our "family clown." She does certain things that make us all laugh so hard and it only encourages her to do more.
     In some ways I can't believe Stella is two now. In other ways I feel like she has been in our family forever. Well, let's be honest...I did pretty much have her when Ruby was an infant. Ok, ok, Ruby was 15 months old when Stella was born. Stella has been a dream. Seriously. I can say that now because Ruby was much more difficult as an infant and toddler and she still is. I'm hoping that Stella keeps being an "easy" child and that baby number three follows in her footsteps. Let me brag on Stella a little bit. She eats pretty much whatever I put in front of her. This includes one of Ben and I's favorite meal of spicy sirracha shrimp noodles. She loves them. She says spicy and then asks for more. She doesn't really care for sweets, which I guess is just strange to me. I thought about taking her to get donuts tomorrow and then I thought, oh wait, that is just me who wants them. ha! If you ask her what she wants for her birthday, she will promptly tell you that she wants treats. I think this is something that Ruby told her she wanted. Argh. Stella goes with the flow. She sleeps great. In the morning and after her nap she will lay there talking to herself until we go in and pick her up. Seriously, we could leave her there for 30 minutes and she would be perfectly content. Stella also LOVES babies. I hope this is still true in four months. Wherever we go, she must say hi to all the babies and she will let us know that there is a baby.

Now I will just upload a bunch of pictures of this sweet girl. She is so much fun and I can't wait to see what the future holds for her!

This is her first birthday. 

I LOVE how much Stella loves Ruby and how much Ruby loves Stella. I pray their relationship will continue to grow into the best friendship! 

Remember when I said she didn't care for sweets? She will eat ice cream! 

She loves reading right now and she alway loves Daddy! 

Dairy Queen for the win! 

We had a blast going to the Como Zoo with my mom the other day! 

Oh sweet Stella Louise. We love you so much! I'm so thankful that God chose me to be your mom. You were fearfully and wonderfully made!  I hope you have the best day and that you have the best year as a two year old! 

Logging Out

Hey Everyone,

I hope you all had a great Halloween. This year was pretty fun for us. Last year Ruby couldn't say trick or treat or thank you. She would just go along with what her cousins did. This year she had her game face on. She quickly learned that if she said Trick or treat, she would get candy. It was cold, but she wanted to go to all the houses. She is a tough one. Stella also did really well. I was surprised with how quickly she caught on. We went down to Ben's parents house. Ben's dad does something big every year and this year was no different. We had a lot of fun!

Now, for the title of this post. Logging out. For the month of November I'm going to stay off of Facebook and Instagram. I will still have my email and text, but that's it. I've just realized that I'm on my phone way too much during the day and when I am staring at my phone I easily get upset with my girls for doing stuff that could have easily been prevented had I paid attention to them. I also hate how "addicted" to it I've become. I don't know how to be bored anymore because I can just check into Facebook or Instagram and have instant gratification. I don't want to model that behavior for my girls. So, I'm going to give it up for November because it's the month of thankfulness...right? I'm SO thankful for my family and friends and I want them to have my full attention. Not just my online attention. I have never given up Facebook or Instagram before and I'm ashamed to say that I think I will be lost without it. I'm looking forward to this month. SO, after publishing this post, I will be logging off for a month. Please feel free to email me or call/text me! :)

I don't really have much else to report on us. We keep on doing our thing! :)

They love running across our alley to this barn that has been fixed up. They sit on the doorstep like this and giggle. It's pretty cute. 

Ben loves explaining things to these girls and they soak it all up. #teacherkids

We were SO excited about the first snow fall. 

Moose has been pretty clingy lately. He has come with us to the gym (he stays in the car) and to ECFE because he will jump in the car and not come out. Poor thing. We love our Moose! 

I love when I can catch naps with this one. 

Coffee in the morning, wine in the afternoon...I mean evening. ;) 

Mom life has it's perks. Drinking coffee with both girls on my lap. 

My father in law on Halloween.

Ruby was Lamb-Chops and Stella was a Flamingo. 

Cutest Flamingo I have ever seen! 

Today was one of those days where the girls were in tornado mode. I would pick something up in the living room, meanwhile they were destroying Ruby's room. Anyway, I was about to throw in the towel when I walked in on sweet Stella reading stories in Ruby's room. Thankful for moments like this in my day. 

JOY

Hey Everyone,

We live in a dark dark world, right? Or so it seems? I also see a lot of joy. I see a lot of beauty in the ashes. It is really hard for me to watch the news. In fact, I don't. I do read a little email called The Skimm every day that kind of gives me a recap of what is going on. I hate that I can't turn on the tv to anything besides PBS. We were in Wal-Mart today and Ruby was on this motorcycle ride thing just for fun and I noticed the character was a female who was only wearing a sports bra type thing and her boobs were huge. At that point I pulled Ruby off. The ride said that it was fit for all ages. I hate that this is the world my girls are growing up in. It makes Ben and I"s job just the more important of teaching them about the Lord and that HE is good all of the time. This world is not. But, we can cling onto the hope of Jesus. And that is praise worthy. I thank God that this is only our temporary home. Hey...that reminds me...Carrie Underwood sang a song called Temporary Home. It's a great one. Ok, end of my little rant. Please know that I love ALL people and am praying for this world on a daily basis. If there is ever a time you need a specific prayer. Please reach out. I love you.

On another note. I have truly been enjoying my girls. There was a time a few months ago where I was just stressed out. It seemed like Ruby was just crabby a lot and that Stella was starting to climb all the things and they weren't getting along the best. I was trying to run a business and nobody was getting the best me. I stopped my business because I knew I needed to focus on my family more. Oh yeah, we also listed our house on the market! Nothing has happened yet, and I'm pretty sure I found the house I want in Buffalo. Unfortunately we can't do anything until our house sells. So, if you know of anyone who is looking...let me know! Anyway, things have kind of slowed down, and I'm truly enjoying my girls. Do we still have hard days...absolutely. I have been much more relaxed though and I feel like God has helped me with peaceful parenting. I joined the gym in Buffalo. I was just telling Ben today that it is the best thing that has happened. I'm able to take the girls to the childcare area at the gym and go do my workout. I even am able to shower afterwards. It is AMAZING! I get a little break from the girls. They get some social interaction without me there. It really is a win win. It has been an absolute Godsend.

Ruby is talking up a storm, singing songs, and making us laugh constantly. She loves her sister, but can be pretty rough with her at times. We are working on that. She was introduced to the movie Frozen and LOVES it. I think there is some kind of drug that comes from that movie. I think she watched it every.single.day. for a week. I taught Kindergarten when this movie came out, so you can see why I waited 2.5 years to introduce it to Ruby. :) Ruby is fully potty trained...thanks to her. We tried over Christmas last year and she was not having it. I let it be completely up to her and it made it SO easy. She sleeps in a toddler bed. To be honest, she has been needing one of us to lay down with her at night and during naps until she fell asleep. Tonight we put the ka bosh to that. She got out of her bed three times. Once to go potty and then on the third time I just told her as she was whimpering that I would be just outside and she said ok and stuck that little thumb in her mouth. She is such a sweet girl! I told her tonight that I pray for her to always be kind and compassionate. 

Stella is seriously so sweet! She is chill, she goes with the flow and hardly fusses. She can hold her ground when it comes to Ruby and she is getting into all the things just like Ruby did. Maybe even more so. Stella is just about 18 months. Holy smokes. It's crazy how fast that has gone. She has hair that starts in the back of her head and comes straight forward. I don't want to cut her hair, so the only solutions right now is a pony on the top of her head. It is pretty cute actually. She is a peanut and is still mostly in 12-18 month clothes. She loves following Ruby around and doing what she is doing, but also loves just reading books. She will eat pretty much anything. Except roasted broccoli. That is not her jam. She sleeps really well at night. She takes a paci. I usually put about 4 in her crib so she can always find one. haha. She only really has a paci at night time and nap time. She is taking one nap, which is REALLY nice because both her and Ruby take naps at the same time! Stella is SO much fun. Her personality shows more and more each day and we love it!

Ben has been enjoying school for the most part. He of course has hard days. He works with a different group of kids who have really hard home lives and just deal with a lot on a day to day basis. Ben LOVES those kids and I can see his heart and passion for them as individuals, but trying to teach them can be difficult. He was telling me today that there are a couple of students that he doesn't get along with and that the only thing they connect with on is G2 Pens. People who know G2 Pens will get this. haha. He said we might not always like each other, but when we get to talking about our love of G2 pens...all is well. Ha, I love that he tries to find little things like pens to connect with his students. He is also the most amazing Dad. The girls adore him. Everything at home is just better when he is here. Ruby asked to go work on one of the cars with Ben and his eyes just lit up and I asked him if he was in heaven and he had the biggest smile on his face. Ben has been going to a mens small group on Thursday nights and they have been talking about the importance of a father figure in the home. He is doing such a great job at being present, loving the girls and me, and just being AWESOME! I don't know what I would do without him.

I have started MOPS again. We had our kickoff last Tuesday. It's so nice having a place for other moms to come. We drop our kids off with amazing childcare volunteers. We eat a (hot) breakfast and we just get to be in community with other moms. It's such a blessing. I also am involved in a new ministry called Propel at our church. I'm super excited for that. It is one Thursday a month. I've been going to the gym like I mentioned before and have just been finding my groove as Ben is back at school and navigating motherhood. The funny thing about motherhood is that it always changes. It is never the same and no kid is ever the same. Anyway, that is all for us. If you think of it, please pray for our house to sell! There is a house that I would love in Buffalo! :) With that said, I do know that God's timing is the best timing, so just being patient! :)

Thanks for reading!

Love her! Yes, those are Ruby's undies on her head! (Clean of course) 

I'm jealous of my daughters hair! 

Listening to the crickets. (Way past their bed time) 

Our trees have been dropping leaves, but not changing colors. So strange. 

Did I mention he is the best?