CupcakeMAG Giveaway

CupcakeMAG is having a giveaway on their blog for Gussy Sews and I absolutely Gussy Sews products so I had to write a post about it and try to get and extra entry into their giveaway. Here are a few of the adorable things that Gussy Sews sells in her online shop.

Snow!!

Out my front door

My house & car

We finally got that snow that the news has been talking about for the last week. We got about 2.5 to 3 inches so I took Zane out in it for the first time and he didn't like it all that much. I don't think he liked how cold it was. He enjoyed playing in it and tasting it for a few minutes and then he tried to crawl in it and then started crying... so we went inside! But here are a few pictures of him before he started crying!

Trying to crawl in the snow

Checking things out

Love that little face

We came inside and played for awhile then he went down and took a nap... then his poppa & Uncle Tommy came over to bring us some more formula because we were running out and I don't drive in the snow because I have an invisible sign that only HORRIBLE drivers can read that says, "HIT ME"! So I avoid the road when it snows... especially now that I have a baby in my car. Not going to take that risk! So I made my brother & dad some lunch while they played with Zane. They ate and then had to go back to work. Now we're just hanging out here at home, but Zane has been very fussy today so he's down again for another nap (I think he's growing plus he's got teeth coming in.) And all the snow is already gone... that's how fast it comes and goes here! But the news says it's supposed to snow again tonight but I hope that it doesn't because my mom & I have plans to meet at the mall tomorrow morning around 11 so that I can go to the Bare Minerals shop there and have them help me get started using that make-up! James told me that I could change over to it... SO excited since I know it's going to help me with my skin problems. Thank goodness! So happy to get this done tomorrow. 

9 months

1st Samuel 1:27 

For this child I prayed; and the LORD hath given me my petition which I asked of him.

Zane you are 9 months old today! I really can't believe that 9 months ago you were born. It seems like just yesterday we were leaving for the hospital to have you. Time is flying by... it is extremely bittersweet! I love watching you grow & learn but at the same time I want you to stay a baby longer. I know, I know you're going to grow up but oh how I wish he would stay his mommy's baby forever. Well you always will be my baby that's for sure and this reminds of the book Love You Forever.

I'll love you forever
I'll like you for always
As long as I'm living
my baby you'll be

I cannot imagine my life without my sweet baby boy! He has drastically changed my life but I couldn't be happier. I am now a stay at home mom so I don't have to go to work every day. Instead my job never ends... but that is the best part about it. I never miss anything! I have watched him learn every single new thing throughout his few months on this earth and it has been like I am learning all those things over again. It's amazing to see the joy in his face when he has learned to do something new. I love him more than words can describe. No matter how upset or mad I am if I look at him he always makes me smile! He is the light of my life and my sunshine and I tell him this everyday by singing the song, You are my Sunshine.

You are my sunshine
my only sunshine
you make me happy
when skies are gray
you'll never know dear
how much I love you
so please don't
take my sunshine
away!

Zane -

You are the love of my life. I would do anything for you no matter what it is. I want you to know that you can come to me for anything and I will be there for you. Ever since you were born my life has changed so much but it has been the best 9 months of my entire life. You are amazing! So smart and sweet and loving. I love to watch you play and because as you play you are learning so that makes it even more fun to watch you. Everything to you is new and to you it is amazing even the smallest things. As an adult we might think it's nothing but to you it's just so cool and even funny and I love that about you. You make everything fun again no matter what it is. I can't wait to watch you continue to grow and learn and become a toddler, then a little boy, then a big boy, then a teenager, then a young man and finally a handsome man and all I can do is hope that you will be a God loving man who will love his parents even when they are old and gray. I love you so much honey and I will always be your mommy no matter how old you are! I want everything for you! I want you to be a football player or an architect or a pilot or a police officer like your daddy, whatever you choose I will be there by your side cheering you on! Because you can do whatever you want to if you just work for it! Mommy got what she wanted and that was you. All I have ever wanted in my whole life was to be a mommy and now that I am my life is fully complete. I don't ever have to do anything else and I would be a happy woman because I have you!

I thank God every single day for Him giving you to me because without you my life would be nothing. You have made me what I was always meant to be, a mommy. And you are all that I ever dreamed of and more. I never could have imagined that God would give me such an amazing son! You truly are my soulmate (besides your daddy of course!). I love you so much my love. I have so many hopes and dreams for you and the most important is that you become a man like your father because he is truly an amazing man and he loves us both more than anything else in this entire world. That is what I really want is for you to be a good man, a God loving man who loves his mother more than any other woman besides his wife who he treats like a queen. Thank you for coming into my life! I love you my sweet little baby boy! Happy 9 months!
Love,
Mommy

Ephisians 3:20
God is able to do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine. 

Crawling

So my sweet, sweet boy finally crawled for the first time on Wednesday night! I was so excited... we have been watching him get so close for about 3 months now but he just couldn't get there. But on Wednesday he just up and started crawling! I got a few seconds on video on my iPhone to send to James down in Salem so sorry for the poor quality video but here he is crawling!

I cannot believe how fast they grow up! He is going to be 9 months on Monday and I am kind of sad because it means he just that much closer to being out of the zeros and into his ones... but I am also so excited because he is becoming so much more interactive and I love it. It's just so amazing to watch them grow, change, and learn as they get older!

Momma's little man

I love this little man more than life! He is my favorite person in the entire world... besides my husband of course! I cannot imagine my life without him anymore! He makes my days so much better and he is definitely the sunshine in my life... just like the song says!

Zephaniah 3:17

"The LORD your God is with you, 
   the Mighty Warrior who saves. 
He will take great delight in you; 
   in his love he will no longer rebuke you, 
   but will rejoice over you with singing."

Show Us Your Life - Alma Mater - WPC

I am linking up to Kelly's Korner for Show Us Your Life - Alma Mater today.

I actually went to 3 Colleges (4 if you count the 1 class I took at Portland State). I went to Oregon State University for my freshman year in college from 2001 - 2002 and I decided that it was too big of a school for me... I grew up going to private school so I was used to small schools. But I had no idea where I wanted to go so I just came home to live with my parents and go to Portland Community College which was 5 minutes total from my parents house. I took all my basic classes there and some for my degree is Education but for the most part just basics. I did receive my Associates of Science there. Finally I decided I wanted to go to a small Christian college so my parents helped me look. We found Warner Pacific College and that is where I ended up. I started there in 2006 and graduated in 2008. I took the long road. I also changed my major my last semester of school from Education to Human Development. It was the right decision for me.

I am so happy I made the decision to go to WPC. I loved it there. The professors were all amazing and I made some good friends. I didn't live there so it was harder for me but since I was in my Jr./Sr. year it was easier to make friends since it's the same people in all the classes together! I enjoyed my time there. But I am glad to be done!

My Hubby & me on graduation day

Hubby, Grams, Tommy, Mom & Dad

Tiffany my best friend

Even though I graduated from Warner Pacific College. I will always be an Oregon State University Beaver. They are my team that I root for in all sports and always will! Love them!

21 Days - Day 2 Fridge & Valentine's Date

I got day 2 done of the 21 Day Challenge from A Bowl Full of Lemons. I am WAY behind but I am working on it. I don't have many before pictures because my hubs started cleaning the fridge out before I could take pictures. So here are the two before pictures I did get.

Yes my fridge is EMPTY! We needed to go shopping, but with James being gone we and Zane and me staying at my parents house for most of the week we haven't really needed to have many groceries. But we did go today and got a few more things. But they're not pictured in the after pictures because these were all taken yesterday right after it was cleaned out and put back.

Here are the after pictures of my empty fridge.

I bought a lazy-susan to put all our smaller condiments on and took out one of the top shelves so that it would fit in. I still need to get another just one tier lazy-susan for the top shelf so you can access everything up there easily. I just need to make a trip to Bed, Bath & Beyond to get the really large one that they have there. Our son is just learning how to use a sippy cup and drink juice and water and not just formula so that is why we have all those sippy cups in our fridge. We bought some juice canisters so that they fit better into the door. All the salad dressing is in the one door because it is a VERY small shelf and then on the other side we have the butter, juice, & the larger condiments. The two smaller drawers hold the fruits & Veggies and then the bottom big drawer holds all our cheese, lunch meat, & tortilla's. So now our fridge is much neater and everything is much easier to access.

Last night James took me to dinner for Valentine's Day since he's going to be leaving again tonight about 7:00 and won't be here for tomorrow night. His mom came over to watch Zane and we went to The Oswego Lake House.

The food was amazing and the atmosphere was so pleasant and relaxing. We had a very enjoyable dinner. I had the 8oz Filet Mignon and James had the Fresh Fish of the day which was Halibut and they both were amazing. We also had crab cakes as an appetizer and for sides we got the shoestring french fries and steamed broccoli and for dessert we had the lava cake! Oh yummy! It was so nice to have some time away from the little guy and just have adult time.

Valentine's Day for CCA & Beauty Products

First off... yesterday and this morning until 10:00am, 1051 The Buzz here in Portland always does a 28 hour radio broadcast for the Children's Cancer Association. They call it Valentine's Day for CCA and they raise money for them.

So many different companies donate lots of money but they also are asking people in our community to donate money to help those children who are so sick that they spend most their life in the hospital. So James & I donated the $105 so we became 105ers and we will be paying it over the next year in payments of $8.75 a month. So easy to do and so rewarding! Also during their broadcast they have families who have lost children to cancer and also kids who have beat it or are still fighting to beat it come into the studio and have them tell their stories. So if you're listening to 1051 the Buzz that day you definitely need a HUGE box of tissues with you at all times! You will definitely be balling your eyes out... but these families are so strong even after being through so much and now that I have a baby it hits me so much harder then it has in the past! Zane and I have been staying with my parents again and Papa Murphy's was doing a deal for every pizza you bought they donate a dollar to the CCA! So we were not going to be passing up that opportunity to donate more money. So we had pizza for dinner, which is always fine with me because I LOVE pizza! To donate to such an amazing cause makes you feel so good... you shouldn't need to be rewarded to help others. It's so important to give and help others as much as you can.

Now onto more insignificant matters but it's still fun! I am linking up to Kelly's Korner for her Show us your life - beauty secrets.

I am not huge into the whole beauty routine but I do have a few things that I do on a regular basis.

Face/Skin: I use Dermalogica Cleansing Gel to wash my face every morning in the shower because I have REALLY sensitive skin! Everything makes me breakout and/or get really bad itchy bumps that you can't see but I can sure feel them. So I tried using the Cleansing Gel and it has been amazing! It keeps me from getting breakouts and it makes my skin feel so clean afterward.

I also use Dermalogica Skin Smoothing Cream everyday as my moisturizer and it is amazing also. It makes my face feel so smooth and helps my make-up stay on all day.

And finally at night to remove my make-up I use No7 Quick Thinking 4 in 1 wipes and they are so gentle and they are scent free which always helps with my sensitive skin. I love how nice they make my skin feel and even when I wake up my skin still feels clean.

Hair: To wash my hair I don't use anything special just whatever is cheap that day. But I use a Chi to just smooth out my hair because it is really frizzy but yet not curly at all! Also I use Big Sexy Hair Hairspray to keep my hair in place throughout the day and I really like it because I hate that crunchy feeling that you get when you use hairspray and this stuff doesn't do that at all.

Body: I use Dove GoFresh with Nutrium Moisture and it really helps keep my skin moisturized throughout the day.

And for my lotion I use Olay Quench Body Lotion because it truly keeps me moisturized all day!

So that is about it for my beauty routine if you can even call it a routine. But I am also really contemplating starting to use the Bare Minerals because my skin is so sensitive and I think it would help my skin not to always feel weighed down by my make-up. I just need to convince my husband that it's really worth the money for me to invest in the start-up kit! We'll see how that goes. But for now I will continue to use my MAC make-up.

I WON!!

I entered a TON of giveaways on Monday on Gussy Sews and never in a million years thought that I was going to win anything. But I did! I won a $50.00 credit to the Etsy store Studio Jewel. I am so excited! I have already decided what I am going to be ordering from her. It is amazing what she does and I cannot wait to get mine in the mail!

Here is my gorgeous necklace that I am choosing:

But I am going to have Zane's name punched on it. I know it's a baptism necklace but I don't care... I want it to signify my sweet baby boy and my faith in one necklace and this is perfect. Plus the pearl adds that sweet girlie touch that I love so much! I really cannot wait to get it and put it on. I don't think I'm ever going to take it off!



"For I know the plans I have for you." - Jeremiah 29:11