I received another 'anonymous' comment (I actually receive these fairly often, but this one made me laugh out loud literally!) on my blog post regarding Israel. Now usually, I don't make time to read anonymous comments once I figure out that they're not from family or friends, but this one was short enough and started off funny enough, that I made an exception before I deleted it.

It asked if I had several tin hats that I wore and said I was one scary person. It was a cute comment that I suppose was meant to be derogatory but I found it amusing and it actually made my day, and gave me a new blog topic!

Actually I am the perfect conspiracy-theorist! But I don't believe in aliens, the Easter Bunny or man-made global warming. I do believe that Obama is networking with countries that have provided aid to terrorists or the actual terrorists themselves; and that Michelle Obama is actually more dangerous than her husband. I do believe that the government wants to control every aspect of our lives (banning trans fat anyone? They can't even trust us to know what to eat!) or at least, the more liberal side of the government wants to control our lives.

But am I really the scary one? *I'm* not making these things happen. I'm merely pointing out what *IS* happening in the world today. I do think it's much scarier to simply blindly follow what the media reports. I do think it's much scarier to not use your own mind. I think it's even MORE scary to refuse to follow the law of God AND to keep your head buried in the sand, when all around you life is changing..for the worse. And the scariest of all? Refusing to teach our children God's laws.

I am proud to be numbered among conservative men and women. Prouder still that my words reach people, granted probably not many, but they are reaching SOME people and maybe that's helping them to think about the future, what it holds and what they believe. Now whether they choose to let my words anger them, or they choose to use them as a thought provoking message, well I guess that's up to them.

Tomorrow is a new year. A year in which I've made a lot of promises to myself. This past year was difficult for me. I was very vocal about my beliefs and as such, caused myself a lot of personal pain. I have been called many names. I've been told I'm mentally ill for my beliefs. I've been told that I shouldn't raise a child. I've been told that my child is going to suffer tremendously for the way I am raising her. Those things did bother me, but in the last few weeks I've found a peace and I'm hoping that continues in the next year. I am happy and am going to continue to have happiness in my life, regardless of people that are so unhappy they feel the need to spread it around.

I know what my beliefs are, and I will continue to stand for them, because that does make me happy. It also makes me happy to continue to raise my child in such a way that her life will be pleasing to God, no matter how unpleasing it may be to those who refute His Word.

So, as we go into the New Year, I encourage my conservative friends and readers to stand tall for what you believe. God did not promise it would be easy. In fact, we are shown example after example of how UNeasy it will be to believe in and stand up for His Word. You will be persecuted, you will be called names. But this earth is only our home for a little while. So stand tall, continue to teach your children God's word, continue to be vocal about what you believe. And God bless you and your family in the new year!

New Reagan Stories!

Wanted to share a few sweet and funny Reagan stories!

Christmas morning, Reagan woke up all excited and exclaimed "Presents for Reagan! Presents for Reagan!" Then she became very solemn and said "Baby Jesus birthday." Yes, little one, and how very lucky we are to be able to celebrate it!

Reagan is now counting to ten! And she just turned two! Way to go baby!!

We went to visit Josh's parents the other day and Reagan was letting her teddy bear use the bathroom. She put him on the toilet seat and then made the (inevitable) pooting sounds. I nearly died from laughing so hard!!

Oh, and soon, one day, I will catch her singing her compilation of songs she loves..the "Baby Jesus song" (aka Away in a Manger) and Jingle Bells.

More to come soon I'm sure!

Israel is truly alone. At least...they will be when Obama is inaugurated. I listen to the reports from Gaza. I see the newstories. And I can't help but wonder..what would I do if I were in Israel's position? No one will stand with them. They are truly alone.

And then I wonder what punishment we will receive? Maybe Russia's prediction that we will fall will come true? It seems every single day we edge closer and closer to our fall...and it's our fault.

So wicked, so immoral. Men with men. Women with women. Killing helpless defenseless babies. What is wrong with us????? And women, we are the worst of all. Excusing everything in the name of progress..when we have the right and obligation to teach our children a better way, to teach them God's word. But we don't. Instead, they're being brought up to think THIS is the way life should be..entitlement, self indulgence, the death of responsibility and morality.

I cringe whenever I hear 'liberal speak', saying that a woman has the right to choose! 'A woman has the right to choose!' Well sure, she does have the right to choose. She has the right to choose to have sex or to not have sex. If you choose sex, you choose all the responsibility that comes along with it. You create a life...you are NOT entitled to choose death for that life. And if you do, you are a murderer. A MURDERER. I hate that we've put a softer word like 'abortion' in place for something that is blatantly horrid and black and filled with death. It is MURDER.

I hate the liberal speak that is thrown out that conservatives are hypocrites because they don't believe in abortion but they do believe in the death penalty. The last time I checked, babies were innocent, helpless. When someone has committed a crime that deserves the death penalty, they have forfeited their innocence.

Our country has been so blessed and we have thrown it right back in God's face.

Merry (belated) Christmas!

I haven't posted in the last week because, well, as you can imagine, it's been quite hectic around here with Christmas! We had a great Christmas, in case you were wondering, despite a few minor mishaps (like Amazon's major goof on Reagan's kitchen). However, it all turned out well in the end, as another present arrived to take the kitchen's place, just in (literally) the nick of time.

Santa delivered the Rose Petal Cottage and then a couple of days later, the Cherry Blossom market arrived. By the way, they are absolutely the cutest little girl toys ever and I highly recommend them to any mom! I even wanted to spend the day holed up in the comfy little nursery that came with the cottage!

Nothing else too noteworthy has been happening, save the freak weather..one day it's negative something or another, the next day it's 60 degrees...who knows, maybe tomorrow we'll have a tsunami (and we're land-locked!)

I made my first bread pudding ever..and I must say, it turned out pretty well! I was pleasantly surprised! It made enough for two loaf pans and I've frozen them for some cold wintry day in January when I can't get up the urge to cook :) I'm sure that'll be sometime soon! Here's a link to the recipe! (And in case you were wondering, this is not in anyway an endorsement of that website, since I've only read the recipe..and that came from googling, but if that recipe is any indication, it's a site I'm going to frequent!!)

Sharing some new photos!

I can't believe I forgot to post Reagan's birthday party pictures! So here are a few (late!) and also, a few of her second birthday portraits!

Reagan loving on her balloon and enjoying herself before the party...


She then realizes there's a party next door with OLDER kids...and of course she wanted to join (here she is peeking in on them!)


I had to get a shot of a two year old actually eating broccoli! (ok, ok, so she was really licking the ranch!)


Reagan blowing out her pooh cake!


Reagan opening up the hit of the party...a growling tiger flashlight! Mostly she just looked ticked that we kept interrupting her cake and ice cream eating session to bring her gifts! Her little friends did enjoy helping her, but shockingly..all Reagan was interested in was food (that NEVER happens!!!)


Reagan and daddy on the choochoo train at the spray ground!


Reagan trying to drink the water!


Notice the expression on both their faces!?!


Reagan and daddy swimmin'... (guess where mommy was? behind the camera...AS USUAL!)


Reagan having a complete and total blast!!


Reagan's second birthday portraits..the little ham!!

Breakfast with Santa & the 2nd Annual Toy Drive

I'm finally getting around to posting about Breakfast with Santa and our Toy Drive. First, Breakfast with Santa was a blast this year! Even more fun than last year..although, I'll never quite be able to get over how cute Reagan was that first year!

We ate blueberry pancakes on a stick, did lots of crafts (most of which are still in the car from Reagan playing with them that day!) and Reagan got to see Santa. Later that day, we headed into town to see Santa again, visit the indoor conservatory and attend a gingerbread house exhibit..you wouldn't believe some of the gingerbread houses!!! Below are some pictures from our fun day, and of course, my beautiful baby!

And unfortunately, no, I didn't get any pictures of the gingerbread houses, although they were beautiful (one was a Church..stained glass, WITH A FULL WEDDING WITH GUESTS made of fondant, inside!!!)..our camera's battery was dying. We did manage to get one of us..but of course, as luck would have it, my eyes were closed..blah!







And last, but not least, the toy drive. This is our second year for Reagan's Christmas Toy Drive for Hospitalized Children. The first year, was actually very small and consisted of us, along with Josh's parents, donating goodie baskets to the parents of the NICU babies and coloring books and crayons to the pediatric and PICU patients. This year, along with the help of my local Mom's group and Reagan's grandparents again and several friends and family members, we were able to donate a huge amount of books and toys, as well as some amazing cookies, cooked by myself, Josh's mom and several of my friends. Additionally, a good friend of mine asked her mom to knit small caps and sweaters for the NICU babies. So, she did, along with her Church group. They were absolutely beautiful and the most delicate tiny things you have ever seen! I wish I had gotten a picture before we dropped them off!

A HUGE THANK YOU TO EVERYONE THAT CONTRIBUTED!!!!!

Just to give a quick background on the toy drive, Reagan was born exactly one week before Christmas, in 2006. We, of course, spent the holidays in the hospital. It's never a place you want to be with your child, but it feels even more isolated and lonely on Christmas. So we wanted to give back and make sure that every child enjoys a little present on Christmas...after all, what parent is worrying about shopping when you have a sick child?

Anyway, I hope you enjoy these photos! The first is of Reagan in her santa hat on the way to deliver the gifts. The second is of a L&D nurse that helped us deliver the gifts all over the hospital (and yes, Reagan has her finger in her nose!!) And the last picture is really special, because this is one of Reagan's PICU nurses..in fact, this nurse was the first person to ever give Reagan a bath.

Again, THANK YOU to all who made this year's Toy Drive a success! God Bless!

Now we know who's REALLY in charge...

Reagan insists that we all go to bed at the same time (we co-sleep). We were walking back to the bedroom and Josh said, "just so you know, Reagan, you don't rule the house." Reagan looked up, kept marching down the hall and said "I RULE THE HOUSE!" Wow.

Happy Birthday my beautiful baby!

I cannot believe you are two. You've grown so much and are such a beautiful, smart and incredible child. Every day my heart grows a little bigger when I wake up to see your (usually) smiling (but sometimes grumpy ;) ) face!

I am so proud of the little girl you are becoming and so thankful that you're still my baby for a little while longer. You are the most precious thing in our lives and we are so lucky to be your parents.

We wish so much happiness for you; health, humor and love. Happy Birthday Reagan!







Here is Reagan's birth story.

Christmas Tour! Welcome to our house!

Welcome to our home!

Notice the magic key hanging on the wreath? It's a special key to enter our home, that only Santa can use!


Ah, and here's our resident Snowman to greet you now! He and Reagan are great friends and they have tons of fun running (or being dragged!) around the house and playing with his buttons!


Since you're in our reading room, sit down and enjoy the tree and take in some of my favorite Christmas items--a small "USA" Santa ornament that my mom purchased for me in 8th grade (I was really patriotic at a VERY young age!), my favorite buttered rum candle bought at one of my favorite places in the world..a small Amish town that I visit every year, and a woodland Santa portrait I purchased at a yard sale for an astounding $1!


This tree is mostly red and white, with small white and silver churches that look almost exactly like the one that Josh and I were married in . Also on the tree is the silver heart ornament from the first year we dated (hmm, what guy wouldn't love getting a Christmas ornament from his girlfriend of three months!?), red tin birds (which Reagan loves to hold up and say 'tweet, tweet!'), and homemade applesauce-cinnamon ornaments with barn red homespun, that I crafted the first year we lived in our home.


Next stop, the bathroom, hallway and bedrooms. Here are some snippets from each!

In the bathroom, is another of our little snowman friends. I bought this one at a friend's shop one year during her Christmas sale...his carrot nose had me at hello! I fell in love with the snowman picture, which I just happened to find on clearance last year! Red looks so good with this color, I decided to go simple and just use red and white towels...it reminds me of a candy cane!




Our hallway is filled with pictures of our family and this year we added a small bookshelf for some of Reagan's books and puzzles. On top of the bookshelf, is a nativity from my mom. Reagan loves to abscond with the cow, but I always make her put it back. I worry about things such as lead poisoning....yes, I am OCD. The small tree is decorated with all of our personalized ornaments...several for Reagan, and some for the cats and Josh and I! Oh, and the S'more mom with her baby at the foot of the tree? Yep ;) that's me and Reagan! Usually Reagan's puzzle pieces are in a regular old basket, but since it's Christmas...everything went into this adorable (clearance find!) snowman basket! I love Christmas and clearance and those two together, well, it makes me happier than a clam at high tide. (yes, corny ;) )




And last but not least, there's Pooh. Pooh is a recent addition to our family this year. Reagan is slightly (um, yeah) obsessed with Pooh and I found him just sitting and waiting for us to take him home from a garage sale! He lights up and moves around. Needless to say, this is the high point of Christmas decorating this year!


On to Reagan's big girl room....but wait, it's snowing! Continuing with last year's theme, we have snowflakes falling from the sky! The smile on Reagan's face when she saw these were worth nearly breaking my neck on her stepstool.


Ah.....and the Pooh tree. I used snowflakes from last years tree, Reagan's new Pooh ornament and of course, yellow (for honey) bow and tree skirt. The crowning ornaments here are the Tigger and Pooh heart shaped wooden ornaments! Coupled with the Tigger and Pooh stocking holder, and you have one happy Pooh-lovin' girl! (And yes, in case you were wondering...the Pooh and Tigger ornaments were garage sale finds at ten cents each! And the stocking holder??? Brand new garage sale find at $3.00!!)


Next stop, our bedroom! I always try to put something on each door, this year was snowflakes and red ribbons! Our room is always blue and white, so I just spiced it up with red pillows, a red throw, red wreaths and berries! Wa-lah, a little Christmas happiness here too!


The kitchen isn't too overly decorated (well, ok it is, but that's normal!) I have a few Christmas items out..a large Santa cookie jar, a Christmas rug, various Christmas bric-a-brac (including a favorite snowman piece, pictured below) and of course my tree! I love this little tree! Reagan loves it too since she's obsessed with apple trees!



And lastly, the family room (I won't show you any pictures outside because, well, frankly, it's freezing!!). The family room used to be my pride and joy, completely done in patriotic red white and blue..it is now filled to the brim with nearly every toy you can possibly purchase! Here is our first tree together..a Charlie Brown twig tree. The applesauce ornaments, and rag garland are handmade.


The reindeer family that sits underneath the tree were handmade by my husband's grandfather to represent Josh, his mom, and his dad. Now they represent our little family! Reagan adores them and they're one of our favorite Christmas decorations.


This is my prize friendship tree! It's up year round with white lights, but it gets decorated every now and then for holidays. To celebrate Christmas, it's wearing a jolly red Santa cap! And I can't post a picture without telling you the awesome deal I got on it...orginally $170.00 (drum roll please)...I got it for $10 at a garage sale!


This is our mantle..which I'm still looking for a great way to arrange..oh well...


Well, that's our home. I hope you enjoyed visiting and seeing some of my favorite Christmas decorations and hearing about my great finds! Merry Christmas!!!

Some more Reaganisms for you!

The other day I was singing (loudly and off key as usual) and Reagan came up to me, put a hand on each of my cheeks, squished my mouth together and said "hush, mommy, hush". Nice. I get no respect.

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One evening we were trying to figure out what movie we wanted to watch. Josh had the drawer with the DVDs open and Reagan was looking over his shoulder. She suddenly got all excited and started pointing at one DVD and saying "watch Bobbi! watch Bobbi!" It was King of the Hill! We hadn't watched it in several weeks but clearly the show had made a big impact on her! LOL! Anyway, we did end up watching it and there was a scene in which Bobbi had done something particularly sweet. I said 'aww, that's nice', and Reagan said "awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww Bobbi" very dreamily! LOL!

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I had mentioned to Reagan about something being very special (I can't remember what it was) and she turned, looked at me, pointed to herself and said "Reagan, I speshul". Yes, you are baby. Yes, you are.

Sadly, this might indicate more about me than Reagan....

The other day I was craving red meat (if you're anemic and a girl, you know what that's like!) As we were out looking at Christmas lights, Josh pulled up to a drive-thru to order a burger for me. All of the sudden, from the back, we hear Reagan's wee little voice saying, 'Mcfies and uh, coke, pease." Needless to say we just about died from laughter.

What was even funnier.....we were at Burger King! ;)

Warning: Shameless bragging to follow!

Reagan has poopied on the potty and is potty training herself! And today, in the store, while shopping, out of the blue, with no help from mommy, no number line, nothing...she counted to six!!!! I AM IN SHOCK. I have one of the smartest little girls in the entire world. Yes. I do. She's not even two years old yet. Wow. She's incredible!

"Oh God"

Isn't it interesting that when you hurt yourself sometimes, the only thing you can think to say is "Oh God" repeatedly? I'm pretty sure I broke my baby toe today (yes, Reagan, your mommy IS the clutziest person in the world) and I think I must have said "Oh God" about 35 times while hopping on one leg, cluthing my toe. And yes, this did freak Reagan out, but at the time, my primary concern was the fact that I was sure my baby toe was about to fall off.

Now, I'm not sure if "Oh God" is in response to the pain or a plea to the Almighty to deliver me from the torture I was experiencing. All I know is that God had many petitions before His Throne this morning....and a majority of them had to do with my baby toe. I'm not sure what that says exactly about my priorities........

My mail man is on the take

I talked with our adoption specialist (fancy word for social worker I think) about our adoption packet. It was sent out on the 19th of November. Never showed here. My package from Gymboree...hasn't arrived. A box of toys my family mailed out...hasn't arrived. A package from my mom...gee, hasn't arrived.

What gives? Is my mail man the Grinch??

Helpful household hints regarding lipstick and dryers

Per my title, today I am going to share with you some wisdom regarding cleaning lipstick out of dryers, which, for you, I have tested first hand.

Now, my first tip is to CHECK YOUR POCKETS. REMOVE ALL ITEMS. If you're reading this, I assume that you either, one, want a good laugh at my expense, or two, you are one of those poor unfortunate forgetful souls such as myself. If you are indeed one of those souls, here are some more tips that may come in handy to you.

Run the dryer with an old light colored towel, slightly dampened. Guess what? It'll actually attract some of that yucky lipstick mess!

And second, for what your towel doesn't attract, take a baby wipe and clean up! Easy peasy!

Here's an extra, no charge. If you are forgetful like me, you may want to switch to a lighter lipstick. Mulberry doesn't like to come out of clothing well.

Baby Esus

Reagan loves "Baby Jesus" and spends a lot of time staring at the ornaments and books with Baby Jesus, that are up and around the house. I normally don't mind, but she's taken to playing with a beautiful Waterford crystal nativity that Josh's parents gave us for our first Christmas.

I've been warning her away from it, telling her she can touch and look but to not pick up...that all stopped when I saw her picking up baby Jesus, loving on him and then having Mary and Joseph each stoop down to kiss him. .....Wow....amazing what our children can teach us.

Huge lingerie sale!

Take advantage and get yourself some nice undies for Christmas! Figleaves.com has 90% off on a HUGE portion of their inventory! Go girls! Go!!

One of THOSE weeks....

I am feeling swamped and decidely out of my mind. This week I've made over 30 dozen cookies, delivered batches of goodies and presents, fought my daughter to get her to sleep every night, spent nearly every red cent in our account on adding to Reagan's Little People empire, wiped up enough paint to turn the Mississippi into a rainbow, and am just generally exhausted.

This weekend we have three craft shows to attend--wait, FOUR!, two bake sales and roughly 12 homes to visit on the Christmas walk. The next day is Reagan's birthday party, making more cookies and preparing for Grandma to leave to go back to Texas.

I may spend the next week lying on my bed in a pool of drool. If I don't blog for a few days, send in the guys in white coats.