Summer Recap 2016

Weekly dinner at Cilantro's!

I know, I know, this is SUPER late, I mean it's almost summer again!! (How did that happen???) But I don't want miss out on creating a little digital scrapbook on here even if it's just for myself because we had such a fabulous summer last year!

They LOVE to swim together. :)

There were a few things that made summer 2016 eventful! The first thing was that the company my mom and I worked at went bankrupt. So we were both out of a job. This could have been seen as a bad thing, but even though it might have been a little stressful at times, we turned it into a blessing. God led me straight to a new job which I can't thank Him enough about. My mom had a retention bonus that allowed her to take the summer off. So we got to enjoy having her available to play with us and use her gorgeous pool so often! As a result Jane made huge strides in learning to swim! Atlas is a water baby for sure (Since he was born in the water I'm not suprised!). He really enjoyed his Otteroo float. I really enjoyed getting to swim and hang out with my best friend, (other than my hubby of course) my mom.

I wonder what he'll think this year!

Jane learned to swim underwater!!

He was so bald! ;)

Atlas fell asleep while we were swimming! :)

Cleaning the pool with Pappaw

Swimming with Kokoo!

Sandra, Charlie and Joseph were living in Kingwood during 2016 while they looked for steady jobs and a house. That means we got to hang out with them too and do some fun things together during the summer. I also enjoyed getting the left overs from Sandra's farmers market sometimes! Yum! We went to the Zoo for my birthday, but that was technically in fall so we'll save that for another post. ;)

Look Uncle Joseph!

So much better than store bought!

Jane really enjoyed going blueberry picking! She may have picked a few green and red ones, but overall she did great. She loved getting to eat them right off the bush. We went twice! Fresh picked blueberries make amazing smoothies, breakfast cake, muffins, etc!

Is this one good Marmee?

Atlas slept most of the time.

She asked to go back SOO many times.

Some of my closest friends are three girls that I met when my brother was playing high school baseball. We call ourselves the Sisterhoodies! Three of us were pregnant at the same time in 2015/2016 and our due dates were just a few weeks apart. So it was extra special to get together with all of our kiddos in the summer of 2016.

Only a few weeks separate these three babies Birthdays!

It's so fun to have been friends for 12+ years and now we all get to go through motherhood together. I love sharing wife and mom stories with these lovely ladies. I am always so encouraged by them.

4 years ago when we ALL got together! (minus Liz who was in China) Love y'all!

I had two get togethers with some of my best friends/former bridesmaids within a couple weeks of each other! I am so grateful that I get to keep up with these wonderful people! 

Kae and Esther are my friends from Camp Tejas. We were covenant partners with each other and have stayed close friends for about 8 years now. Kae and I have little girls 4 months apart in age. Although a good amount of Jane and Rose's play time ended in tears, 😅 they did have some really sweet and fun moments together during out visit. Esther also brought her then boyfriend now husband(!!!), Andrew, to the beginning of our get together so that we could meet him! Esther had to take him to the airport so he could fly back to Ohio so we only had a short time to chat, but Kae and I both had enough time to say we approved of her choice. 😉 It was an special visit, partly because it was the last time we were all together before Esther's Wedding. Now she is living happily with her hubby in Ohio. I can't wait for our first reunion being all married women!  Love you sweet friends!!

Such good times with wonderful friends

I can't say enough how blessed I am with these friends of mine. It's been amazing to keep in contact through the years and share our praises and our struggles and pray for each other. God is good. Oh and I just realized Atlas didn't make it in any of the pictures of that last visit. He was there! 😄

Jane loves to take pictures!

There was one more thing about the summer of 2016 that made our summer memorable. During a routine well woman's check up, my mom was informed she had an ovarian cyst that was big enough to be a concern. (don't skip those check ups ladies!) She was advised to have a hysterectomy to ensure that it was not cancer and to prevent any other cysts from forming in the future. She had to wait weeks for her surgery and we were all ready to know what we were facing, if anything! She handled this waiting period with grace and strength. She trusted God and she said she learned to relax more through the experience and make sure she was making the most of her time. 

Marmee snuggles!

The day of surgery finally came. They were able to complete the surgery laparoscopically without any complication! That was the first answered prayer. They did the biopsy during surgery and they were able to determine the cyst was not cancerous! Hallelujah! It was such a relief to get that text from my dad. She had 6 weeks of recovery and she did indeed make a full recovery and was back to normal after just a couple of months. Jane had a hard time understanding why Marmee couldn't pick her up for a while. Once she did understand that Marmee had an owie she asked to pray for Marmee's owie to get better every night! So sweet! 

It was an amazing summer and we can't wait to get back to swimming this year!

Philippians 4:6-7

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.

Atlas is One!

How is Atlas a year old already?? Life with him is a joy. His personality is really starting to shine and it makes my heart soar! And yes, he really is a little Sam. I love it.

Here are some stats from his first year.

A couple of hours old

Weight

Born: 8 lbs 7 oz

1 Year Old: 22 lbs

He seems like such a deep thinker

I love watching him grow and to see how different he is from his sister. We are all such individuals from birth! It's been eye opening to experience love for two children and to feel love grow as there becomes more for me to love. It's so cool to see how my love for Atlas and Jane is different and unique to each of them but somehow I also love them equally! It's hard to explain but it gives me a glimpse into how God loves each of us equally for who we are and how He created us.

He was never very small. ;)

Height

Born: 21 1/2"

One Year Old: 29"

He loves the lawnmower!

He has stayed near the middle of all the percentiles most of his check ups. He is a chunk though! I call him my little Tank!

He still hasn't had any teeth pop through yet! It seems to match his personality. He's not in a big hurry to do much. Except when the fridge opens! (Definitely Sam's child ;)

Firsts

Smile - 3 1/2 weeks

Laugh - 3 Months

First time in the Pool - 3 Months

Rolling Over - 4 Months

Sitting Up - 4 1/2 Months

First time in a swing! - 5 Months

Solids! - 6 Months

Standing -7 1/2 Months

Kisses! - 8 Months 

Crawling - 9 Months

Climbing - 10 Months

Throwing - 11 MonthsPointing - 11 Months

Walking - To be Continued!

Favorites

Atlas loves exploring outside, listening to music, almost anything involving water, crawling EVERWHERE, climbing EVERYTHING, playing with and watching sister, the refrigerator, buttons/remotes/keyboards, throwing balls, cuddling with mom(YES!), and getting dirty!! He is all boy.

He eats pretty well for not having any teeth! He doesn't turn down much. He seems to really enjoy eating. Some of his favorites are fruit and veggie pouches, yogurt, fried rice, salami, sausage, strawberries, jello and fajita beef.

Such a happy boy

He likes and focuses on toys more than Jane ever has. His favorites are the popping dinosaur, Jane's toy house, blue flashing ball and the activity cube. Newest favorites are the Cozy Coup and tent and tunnels.

He says Rawr Rawr when he sees this page

He didn't really care for books at all until just a couple of months ago. Now his favorite books are 5 Little Ladybugs, 10 Crunching Caterpillars, Slide and See Zoo, That's not my Fox and Animal Hide and Seek.

His favorite activities are climbing at the playground, swinging, trying to do everything Jane does, being pushed in the Cozy Coup and going for walks.

It's interesting to see the similarities and differences between Atlas and Jane. If you'd like to see how they are different and yet the same, check out Jane's First Year.

A for Atlas! or Captain America ;)

I just LOVE watching Atlas's personality develop! He has always been an easy going guy. He can entertain himself really well. He'll crawl around the whole house on his own exploring and finding things that interest him. Nothing upsets him for long, sure, he'll be really mad for a minute when you take the remote away or something, but he gets over it fast! He is very determined, when he decides to do something he will keep trying until he accomplishes his goal. He is very sweet but at the same time very tough. Not only did he inherit his dad's looks, he also inherited some of his personality too. He is still so very unique. I look forward watching him grow up and to seeing the man Atlas Gabriel Daniels turns out to be.

Cake Beard!

Happy Birthday buddy! We love you so much.

1 Timothy 6:6-12

Now godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. But having food and clothing, with these we shall be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and harmful lusts which drown men in destruction and perdition. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, for which some have strayed from the faith in their greediness, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.

But you, O man of God, flee these things and pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, patience, gentleness. Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.

James 1:17

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

Goodbye 2016, Hello 2017!

Wow... I can't believe it's 2017 already! When I became an Usborne consultant I started struggling to keep up and time was racing by faster than ever. I didn't like it. So I decided to step back from the book business and slow down. I still adore the books and always want more even though we have books coming out of our ears and I need another bookshelf!! Not a bad problem to have really, but too much time was being taken away from my family because of it. If I didn't already have a part time accounting job it probably would have been perfect. :)

My family is my God given priority! Titus 2:4

It's been a month since I stepped back and I feel much better. Time still went by stunningly fast because of the holiday season, but now that 2017 has begun, things have started to feel normal again. I feel like I can breathe! Because of that I'm able to enjoy my kids more and spend time with my hubby. Even spoil myself with some me time, like blogging right now! I will still happily do a Usborne party for a friend and if anyone wants a book recommendation I am willing and ready with a suggestion, but that's all for me for now. Maybe one day I'll try again when my kiddos are older. :)

They are growing up so fast!!

Now Usborne and the busy holidays aren't the only reasons I haven't blogged recently. My laptop has been having major internet connectivity issues. I haven't been able to keep a steady enough connection to be able to blog. I'm on my work computer now and I only have a few pictures on this computer. And to me, what's a mom blog without pictures?? And because I've mostly been using this has been a digital family scrapbook, pictures are a must!! I fully intend to go back and do a few posts about our fun adventures in the second half of 2016 and hopefully that will actually happen. Before I can do that I have to get my laptop fixed. Until then, this short post with a few pictures will have to do!

My happy boy!

We had a wonderful holiday season. We hope you did too!

My family asked each other a few questions about the year behind and the year ahead and I wanted to share them with you.

1. What are you grateful for in 2016
2. What was your favorite moment in 2016
3. What are you looking forward to in 2017

Here are my top answers:
1. I am grateful that as soon as my job with Argent ended God gave me another wonderful job with a great boss that I love.
2. This one isn't really fair... the day Atlas was born is in the top 3 moments of my life not just in 2016. So second place goes to Scott and Anna telling us they were pregnant. :D
3. I am looking forward to meeting my first niece!!
I'm also hoping Atlas and Jane learn to play together this year instead of having to say, "Get off your brother!!" 50 times a day. Haha!

Tell me your answers!

Looking forward to the adventures we'll have this year!

Titus 2:1-8

But as for you, speak the things which are proper for sound doctrine: that the older men be sober, reverent, temperate, sound in faith, in love, in patience; the older women likewise, that they be reverent in behavior, not slanderers, not given to much wine, teachers of good things- that they would admonish the young women to love their husbands, to love their children, to be discreet, chaste, homemakers, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God my not be blasphemed.

Likewise, exhort the young men to be sober-minded, in all things showing yourself to be a pattern of good works; in doctrine showing integrity, reverence, incorruptibility, sound speech that cannot be condemned, that one who is an opponent may be ashamed, having nothing evil to say of you.