The Deines Family

We've Moved!

2009-08-09T21:29:00.000-07:00

The Deines Family blog has a new home!

http://thedeinesfamily.wordpress.com/

Black Thumb

2009-08-04T15:15:00.000-07:00

The Deines Home: Where plants go to die.

Just keepin' it real.

Summer Sprinkler Fun

2009-07-29T22:17:00.001-07:00

Genius

2009-07-27T19:28:00.000-07:00

Play That Funky Music White Boy

2009-07-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

Poll

2009-07-19T15:50:00.000-07:00

Our carpentry job, which we were originally told would only take 1 day, has now turned into a 4 day job. So I don't have any pictures of completed work yet. Let's just say that some of the work was not done correctly, and they are coming back to redo it. Thanks, Daddy, for pointing out all of their mistakes!

Now, on to my first poll. We're going to get laminate flooring in our living room, hallways, dining room, and study. We can't decide if we should also get it in our 3 bedrooms. (Or maybe just the master bedroom?) We have a large dog, 2 cats, and a toddler. The carpet in our bedrooms will need to be replaced soon if we don't get laminate flooring in those rooms.

George and I have never had anything other than carpet in our bedrooms, so we don't know if we'd like laminate. What do you think?

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

Comments are welcome too.

Changes

2009-07-16T05:57:00.000-07:00

Something very exciting is happening to the Deines home today! This morning 2 carpenters will come to remove the eyesore that is our living room wetbar. I don't know what people were thinking in the '80s. I can understand the need for a wetbar if your home is 4,000 square feet and you have to walk a mile to the kitchen. But our kitchen sink is literally 10 steps from the wetbar, so there's really no need for a sink in the living room.

Before

The carpenters will also remove all of the outside wood siding that Rudy ate when he was a puppy, and will replace it with durable Hardie board. Hopefully he won't be able to eat it, but we've learned to never say never with that dog.

Getting rid of the ugly wetbar is the first of some other big changes to our house. You know the saying that you can't change anything in your home without it leading to several other changes? It's true. We've wanted to get laminate flooring for a long time, but our living room already has wood paneling. In order to avoid complete wood overload, we need to get the paneling painted before we get the laminate installed. And before we can get the paneling painted, we have to get the wetbar sink removed, so it can be painted to match the paneling.

That's why it's taken us 7 years to get all of this work done. That coupled with my fear of making an irreversible change to the house that I might end up hating. Plus, all of these changes are pretty costly.

The wetbar and outside job will take 2 days, so I'll post after pics when it's all done. Can't wait to see it!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-07-15T13:32:00.000-07:00

Real Simple Bargain

2009-07-12T20:24:00.000-07:00

Deal alert: Amazon is selling 1-year subscriptions for Real Simple magazine for $5.00! That's only $0.42 per issue. What a bargain!

Flashback Friday

2009-07-10T13:09:00.001-07:00

UNT friends:
Kevin, George, Tim, and Steve
I see Elsie the dog in there too!
Not sure what Kevin and Steve are doing,
though it looks like typical behavior.
This was taken November 9, 2007, which I believe was
the night we told our friends we were pregnant.

It's a Date

2009-07-09T08:48:00.001-07:00

Last week our friend, Matt Blackmon, was in town teaching a class at DTS. We had dinner with him while he was here, and I guess he sensed that we needed to go on a date, because he offered to keep Reese for us one night. We took him up on his gracious offer, after we realized it had been 8 months since we'd been out alone.

This is a picture of us with the Blackmons in the summer of '07 when we visited them at their home in Pennsylvania. Valerie was about 2 months pregnant (I think) with their son, Calvin. I was 1 month shy of being pregnant with Reese.

Valerie, Matt, Aliza, George, me

Matt teaches a class at DTS each summer, so we saw him exactly one year ago. It was especially fun to see Matt this year, because he's lost about 80 pounds! Here's what he looked like this year:

Jenny LOVED Matt!

Matt is working on a book about his weight loss, so if you want to know his secret, you can read about it sometime around January.

George and I decided to eat dinner at Posado's for our date. He especially loves Posado's, because of the free frozen yogurt. George has the special "talent" of making really tall ice cream cones. I made him stop at this point:

The little girl coming out of the door said, "Whoa!

Look at that ice cream cone!"

And here we are enjoying a quiet drive after dinner. No screaming coming from the back seat!

After dinner, we drove to a neighborhood in McKinney called Adriatica. It's a beautiful replica of a Croatian village. I would love to live in one of the unique houses there. It's still under construction, but I took a few pictures.

I love this door!

Tower

An occupied home with a lot for sale to the right.

Look at that huge front door!

There was also a quaint chapel in the neighborhood that I didn't get on camera. It overlooked a pond, around which Adriatica is built. I plan to go back in a month or so to check on the progress of the neighborhood.

It was wonderful to have a date night with my hard-working husband. Thanks, Matt! I hope we don't wait another 8 months to go out again.

4th of July

2009-07-06T20:01:00.000-07:00

This 4th of July was a replica of last year's. Reese and I went to my sister Stacy's party, while George worked 8 1/2 hours. We've missed out on fireworks the last 2 years, and I love fireworks. I hope we'll get to see some next year!

Reese and Jessi in the pool. I was having allergy
issues, so I didn't feel like getting in to swim.

This is the banana split cake I made for the party.
It was yummy! (By the way, Blogger decided the
picture should be vertical. Arg!)

Last 4th of July - Look at Reese's fat cheeks!

This year - sitting in the same spot
(different chair now). What a big boy!

Reese 's First Swim

2009-07-02T11:28:00.000-07:00

Despite George being a former competitive swimmer, lifeguard, water polo player, and all around aquatics guru, it took him 14 months to finally get Reese into a pool. We took him swimming a few weeks ago at Jini's house. Jini was George's boss when he worked in Plano.

Reese was cautious at first, but loved the water. Jini even scooped Reese underwater to George. There were at least 6 people in the pool who work in aquatics, but I was a nervous wreck! You see, even though George vowed to never date, let alone marry, a non-swimmer - I am just that. I can keep myself afloat, but that's about it.

Here are some pictures of Reese in the pool.

Shannon (Jini's daughter), Reese and Jini

George, Reese and Shannon

George had just put Reese's face in the water.

Just chillin on a raft.

Hey, this is fun!

George has to work on the 4th of July, but if I can muster up enough courage to put on a swimsuit, I'm going to take Reese swimming at my sister's house. I haven't been in a pool in at least 7 years. I told you I'm a non-swimmer!

Thrift Store Remix - Mirror

2009-07-01T20:00:00.000-07:00

My sister, Jessi, has been working on redoing her bedroom.

Nope, that's not Katy Perry. I promise.

The walls of her bedroom were painted in colors similar to the ones on her shirt. Each wall a different color and even the ceiling was painted. It was LOUD, just like her. : )

Now she's thinking about redecorating with black and white, and Jessi spotted this pretty frame when we went to Ikea. I convinced her we could find a similar one at a thrift store for much cheaper.

A few weeks later we ran across this mirror:

It's much smaller than the Ikea frame - this one is only about 8 inches tall. I think it was only $3.99. It turned out really nice with a coat of black spray paint:

Spray paint makes everything look better. Now I've decided I need to find one like this for myself!

Flashback Friday

2009-06-26T09:11:00.001-07:00

Me in my Michael Jackson shirt around the time
the Thriller album came out. I was a HUGE fan and
am so sad about Michael's final years and his death.
I'm looking for another pic and will post more when

I find it...

Wordless Wednesday

2009-06-24T11:16:00.001-07:00

Thrift Store Remix - Frame

2009-06-23T09:05:00.001-07:00

Before:

Goodwill find that someone probably spent a lot of time on.

After:

This hangs in the hallway between Reese's room and my
craft room. I'm working on adding pictures, quotes,
and other fun things framed in black and white.

Flashback Friday, aka The Goldfinger Riot

2009-06-19T13:44:00.000-07:00

In June of 2005, George and I went on one of our many vacations to Los Angeles. As soon as we landed at LAX, we rented a car and drove 7 hours to San Jose so we could see our favorite band, Goldfinger, perform a free concert. It was a concert experience we'll never forget.

We hit traffic and were running late to the concert, so we had to park and RUN through downtown San Jose. We made it to the concert just in time. Goldfinger took the stage and everything was wonderful.

Except for the fact that after about 15 minutes people started jumping onstage with the band. Now, this wasn't a problem for the band, as they like for fans to jump onstage with them.

But it was a problem for security. The concert was put on by the city of San Jose, so several police officers made the band stop the show for safety reasons. Well, John Feldmann, the lead singer of Goldfinger, has a bit of an issue with authority. (Isn't that a prerequisite for the lead singer of a punk band?) He was not happy being told his fans couldn't get onstage and that he had to stop his own show. He yelled, "F--- the police!" and all sorts of *fun* mayhem ensued.

We were a tad bit uncomfortable, as we're normally fans of the police, and we worried about how this would all end. We stood around for what must have been 20-30 minutes, thinking that we'd wasted the past 7 hours of our lives in a rental car for no reason. Finally the show continued without further problems. George even got his picture taken with Feldy after the show.

The next day back in L.A. we ate at our favorite vegan restaurant, Native Foods. George learned about Native Foods from an interview he had read with John Feldmann. Besides being the lead singer of a punk band and music producer, he's also a vegan and animal rights activist. We had visited the restaurant on previous trips to L.A., and each time we hoped we'd run into Feldmann. When we're in L.A., we always eat every single meal at Native Foods. I'm not joking. It's that good.

We sat down to eat our food in the tiny upstairs eating area, and George ran to the restroom. I looked over to my right, and there sat Feldy and his wife! I was so shocked to see him I could barely contain myself! I was grinning ear to ear when George came back to the table. He said, "He's here isn't he?!" We knew we had to say something to him, and I could barely eat the rest of my yummy Native Nachos I was so nervous. What if he acted like a jerk because we were imposing on family time?

When they got up to leave, George stopped Feldy and told him we were huge fans. We talked about the good vegan food in L.A. and the lack of it in Dallas, the crazy concert experience in San Jose, and his wife took our picture.

He wasn't a jerk and it made our ~~day~~ whole trip.

We've Got a Toddler!

2009-06-13T12:00:00.000-07:00

Learning to walk wasn't enough excitement, so Reese is also cutting 3 molars at once. All are poking through his gums except for one. Once it's in, his tooth count will be 12. 12!!!

Lunchtime with Reese

2009-06-12T11:31:00.000-07:00

Now that I'm a stay at home mom, I often get asked what I do all day. (As if Reese just takes care of himself!) Sometimes I feel as if I spend half of my day watching Reese eat. Every meal goes just about the same.

My lunch date starts out happy and eager to see what's for lunch.

He dives in eagerly and tries everything to see if he likes it.

Once he starts to get full, Reese slows down a bit.
I try to get him to eat more, but he covers his face.

Then he gets mad and throws the food off his tray.

Next he tries to break free.

Still trying his best to break free from the highchair.

Then he realizes he's not going anywhere and decides
to entertain himself. If his gums are hurting,
he chews on his bib or tray.

I'm glad my lunch date is so cute. It makes up
for his questionable table manners.

The Break-In The Break-Out

2009-06-10T08:36:00.000-07:00

Monday morning started just like any other normal day. Reese and I woke up, let Rudy outside to sniff around, let him back in, and then I jumped in the shower. When I got out of the shower, I heard Rudy barking non-stop, like I've never heard him bark before. The only problem was he sounded like he was outside, and I thought I had let him back in the house.

I sat Reese down in the living room and ran out into the backyard to see what the fuss was all about. No Rudy. No sign of him anywhere in our entire backyard. But I could hear him barking outside.

A little background info... Our neighbors next door have this little fenced in area between our fence and their house. They never go in it and apparently have no clue there's a possum colony there. We know, because the mother possum likes to run along our fence at night and hiss at Rudy. And, a few months ago, some baby possums showed up in our backyard. Rudy managed to kill at least 4 of them, and George has trapped 2 of them in a cage we rented from the city. They then take the possums to a nature preserve, where they live happily the rest of their days.

So, when I heard Rudy barking like crazy and couldn't see him, I thought he had jumped the fence to get a possum and was stuck in the neighbor's yard. I went back in the house and looked out the front window. I couldn't see Rudy, but when I turned around, I saw this:

That's the front door - OPEN. I panicked and yelled, "HELLO?", fully expecting an intruder to answer. There have been some home invasions in our area recently, and I thought we were the next victims. I honestly thought someone attempted to break into our house and Rudy ran them out. Because if he'll bite me, just think what he'd do to a burglar!

I scooped up Reese, grabbed the phone, and ran out front to call George. Now, remember that I said I had just showered? I was looking quite lovely. I had wet hair, no makeup, a green and yellow Napoleon Dynamite "liger" t-shirt, and purple yoga capri pants. Hideous. But I was trembling with fear by this point, and didn't care.

When I got outside, I realized I could hear Rudy loud and clear. I ran to the side of the house and saw this:

Look closely - that's Rudy barking at a trapped possum. Yeah. Rudy was violently attacking the cage, biting and pawing at it, trying his best to get that possum. The poor critter was hissing and putting his paws up to protect himself. I'm really surprised he didn't have a heart attack.

Did Rudy learn to open the front door? Did someone break in? Now I was really confused.

I called George and we figured it all out. He had gone out front to check the cage early in the morning, but it was too dark to see if anything was in it. He forgot to lock the front door back, so when I let Rudy in first thing in the morning, it created a suction which opened the front door.

We solved that mystery, but I still didn't know what to do with Rudy. I could not even get him to look my direction (even when I offered treats), because he was so enthralled with the possum. There was only one option. George had to drive 20 minutes home from work to get Rudy. The stupid dog barked continuously the entire time. Reese and I prayed that Rudy wouldn't bite George when he came to get him, and just a few minutes later, George sped up to the house. Thankfully, Rudy saw George and raced to him, and George was able to drag him into the house.

I think it took Rudy about an hour to quit panting and it took me just about as long to quit trembling.

In case you're keeping score:

Rudy: 4, George: 3

Wordless Wednesday

2009-06-10T00:01:00.000-07:00

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go - Indelible Grace Style

2009-06-07T19:58:00.000-07:00

This is one of our favorite songs right now, which we sing often at church.

Here's what I found about the history of the hymn:

“O Love That Will Not Let Me Go” was written on the evening of Matheson’s sister’s marriage. His whole family went to the wedding and left him alone. There is a story of how years before, he had been engaged until his fiancé learned that he was going blind, and there was nothing the doctors could do, and she told him that she could not go through life with a blind man. He went blind while studying for the ministry, and his sister had been the one who had taken care of him all these years, but now she was married and gone.

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

1. O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

2. O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

3. O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

4. O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

Flashback Friday

2009-06-05T21:06:00.001-07:00

This photo was taken 1 year ago today. Last year on June 5, I worked my last day at school while my mom kept Reese for me. I came home for lunch only to find him napping - for 4 hours! He loved sleeping on his tummy, but we continued to make him sleep on his back. Now that he can choose, Reese almost always sleeps on his tummy.

Man, he sure did grow fast.

One Day at a Time

2009-06-02T21:23:00.000-07:00

A few months ago I lamented the fact that we cut our cable. Thanks to my friend, Gloria, it hasn't been so bad. She told me about Hulu.com. It's a free website that has lots of clips of tv shows, and even full episodes or entire seasons of some shows. I just realized yesterday that it also has movies, including Super Size Me, which is one of my favorites.

I'm working my way through the first season of One Day at a Time right now. If you've never seen it, you should check it out. I remember watching it when I was little, but it premiered in 1975, which was before I was born. I must have watched reruns. Even better than the show is its theme song. I sing it day and night. Just ask my husband - I know he's tired of hearing me sing it!

If you hover your curser over the box below, the play button will appear, and you can watch the first episode of One Day at a Time. Just don't blame me if the catchy theme song gets stuck in your head too.

Elephant Nursery Tour

2009-05-28T19:59:00.000-07:00

Kelly's Korner is touring nurseries today, and Reese's nursery happens to be my favorite room in our home. Welcome to his elephant nursery!

The day I found out I was having a boy, my mom and I looked at this bedding from Pottery Barn Kids. I love elephants and I knew it was exactly what I wanted, but it almost sold out before I got my hands on it. We were able to get everything but the elephant sheets.

Since Reese came 1 month early, his nursery wasn't quite ready yet. My mom and her friend/boss, Diana, put up the quilt for me before Reese came home from the hospital. My dog is a bit territorial and nipped Diana on the neck. Sorry again, Diana!

Here's the changing station, where Reese kicks and screams when I change his diaper. My friend, Michelle, made the cute "R" painting and my mom painted the antique dresser.

The bookshelf holds some of my books from when I taught 4th grade and others we received as gifts. Reese likes to tear and wrinkle the pages, so I had to put some of them away for now. The fabric covered board holds birth announcements and photos of Reese's friends. I got it at the Pottery Barn Outlet for $4. I love the elephant lamp.

Here's my sweet little boy and his elephant. He doesn't like to sleep in his crib. Maybe he doesn't like all the elephants as much as I do!

I've Got Burlap, How About You?

2009-05-27T21:12:00.000-07:00

Even if no one else in the whole world reads my blog, I know that at least my mom checks in from time to time. I'm sure she just comes here to see pictures of her one and only grandson, but she saw this post about how I wanted a pretty burlap table runner, and had one made for me!

Rhoda is having a burlap party, so I decided to post a few pictures of my new addition.

This is now the first thing you see when you enter my home.

I love the texture.

This burlap table runner is just the beginning. I'm planning on having burlap pillows made for my sofa.

Thanks, Mom!

By the way, I took these pics near midnight, and my dog was right in front of the cabinet and wouldn't budge. See? Rudy couldn't care less about burlap.

And, did you notice that ugly brown paneling behind my cabinet? It's finally going away very soon. Woohoo!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-05-27T09:44:00.000-07:00

Flashback Friday

2009-05-22T15:51:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe I'm posting this picture, but I got such a good laugh out of it when I came across it the other day, and I thought you should get a nice laugh as well.

Sporty, Scary, Posh, Baby, and Ginger Spice

This picture is from Halloween around 1996. Some girls from church and I decided to dress up as the Spice Girls. I'm Sporty Spice on the far left. That's my friend Brandy, as Ginger Spice, on the far right. (Geri Halliwell had just become a UN ambassador, so that's why she's in a suit.) We actually performed If You Wanna Be My Lover at a party. Talk about a scary Halloween!

Give Me a Caption

2009-05-20T21:18:00.000-07:00

This picture was taken a few months ago. Can you come up with a good caption for it?

And just in case you didn't already know, we're not Osteen fans.

Mother's Day

2009-05-12T20:59:00.000-07:00

We had a lovely Mother's Day picnic at the Arboretum on Sunday after church. George's dad met us there and we enjoyed spending a few hours with him.

Love. this. little. guy.

The Deines men standing behind a waterfall.

Reese gave me a great Mother's Day gift. That night he slept from 9-5:30, which is the longest stretch he's given me in a long time. If only I had gone to bed before 11:30!

And now I've gone and stayed up until midnight. I'm off to bed!

Burlap is the New Black

2009-05-05T14:49:00.000-07:00

I've noticed in blogland and in some of my home decor magazines that burlap is the "in" thing right now. I don't have any in my home yet, but I would love this personalized table runner. It would look perfect on my favorite cabinet in my living room.

Picture from The Lettered Cottage.
Table runner from Coastline.

Do you have any burlap yet?

Wordless Wednesday

2009-04-29T09:08:00.001-07:00

Still Singing "Great is Thy Faithfulness" - 1 Year Later

2009-04-20T13:31:00.001-07:00

Reese has been in our lives for one year now, and he has given us a joy we've never known before. Our hearts just melt each time we look at his sweet little face. He makes us laugh and turns the mundane into fun.

But it has been a difficult year. The first few months seemed to be full of unending problems: an early entrance into the world, projectile spit-up, projectile poop, pumping, crying - it wasn't just Reese shedding tears, sleepless nights (Wait, still have those!), teething, pumping, thrush, 2 bouts of mastitis, pumping, etc. There were honestly days when I didn't think I would survive. There were days when we thought, "What have we done?"

Once again, the Lord has been faithful to provide for us, and we've made it through the struggles with His help. He has been more generous with us than we deserve, and has used the thorns to draw us nearer to Him.

I am especially thankful that He has allowed me to nurse Reese for a full year. I never thought we'd make it this far. It has simply been one of the best accomplishments of my life. (I know that sounds silly, but if you've ever nursed a baby before, you understand.) I'm so thankful that George has been supportive of me, as I couldn't have done it without his help. And Jan, thanks for letting my cry on your shoulder so many times. I'm glad we've been able to enter motherhood at the same time!

Reese's first birthday was bittersweet. A celebration of surviving the first year, yet a goodbye to babyhood. (Is that a word?) It was definitely a year we'll never forget - I hope.

I don't want to forget a single moment of our first year as a family of three.

More birthday pictures coming soon!

Great is Thy Faithfulness - Reese's Birth Story

2009-04-20T09:29:00.000-07:00

Today is my baby boy's 1st birthday! I'll post again later today about his birthday, but first here is his birth story...

I unknowingly went into early labor on Saturday morning. I woke up at 6:45 in pain, but figured it was the pancakes I had eaten with my family at IHOP the night before. I called George (who was in Kansas) and told him about the strange feeling I had, but we didn’t worry because it went away. I managed to work out and go to my friend Brandy's baby shower, but the pain came back while I was there. We joked about how we might have to deliver the baby at the shower, never imagining that I really was in labor! My friend Lisa came over after the shower to see the nursery, and we sat and talked until 7:00. When she left, I was in quite a bit of pain, but still thought it was just stomach issues. I tried to eat dinner and couldn't. I didn't think that was a good sign.

I called my mom and she came over to sit with me. She didn't think I was in labor, and Dr. Griffith didn't either. I couldn't identify if I was having contractions or not, because they felt totally different than the Braxton Hicks contractions I'd had. The doctor thought if they were contractions, they weren't long enough to do anything. Boy was he wrong! I started having severe pain - I could barely talk through it. By this time, George had already looked up a flight home, but the next one wasn't until 5:50 the next morning. He was on the phone reading to me the signs of labor from a website he’d looked up. He was really worried, because it sounded like me – especially the part about not being able to talk through the contractions. My mom and I were still in denial that this was true labor, so we decided to wait before going to the hospital.

It was close to midnight and I couldn't go to sleep, so we loaded up and headed toward Presbyterian to ease our minds. That was the longest, bumpiest car ride ever. When my mom finally found the labor & delivery entrance, I asked her to pull up to the door and get me a wheelchair. Since she didn’t think I was in labor, she parked the car and we walked slowly into the hospital, stopping at least once on the way for a contraction. I didn't even pack anything just in case, because I just knew we'd be sent home. Wrong again! After spending about 20 minutes trying to change into the hospital gown, having contractions through the whole process, they finally checked me. I was already at a 7! I'll never forget the nurse saying, "You're going to have a baby tonight – you’re dilated to a 7!" I started crying, thinking about how George would miss his first child's birth and worried about how I would have to go through the delivery on my own. He was my labor coach – he had read Husband Coached Childbirth and we had practiced my relaxation techniques! What would I do without him? My mom came back into the room and I told her that I was going to have the baby that night and she started calling everyone to come to the hospital. George called his family and told them the baby was on his way.

My little sister, Jessica, arrived and we decided to let her stay in the delivery room. I labored from around 12:30-3:20 am with the help of my WONDERFUL labor & delivery nurse, Kelly. I concentrated as hard as I could on relaxing through each contraction and my nurse reminded me to breathe. She put me on the birthing ball for a while, which was torture. She said it felt good to some people to rock back and forth on the ball during contractions, but it just simply hurt. Instead of rocking my hips back and forth, I would rock my head from side to side and moan through the contractions. Mamaw and Stacy came in at some point during my labor, but I was in too much pain to talk. (Tracy was at the hospital too, but couldn’t come in because she was sick.) I kept thinking to myself, “What am I doing? I’m not going to be able to do this.” But then I remembered that George had told my mom she could not let me give in and get an epidural. I just kept thinking about George and how I needed to keep going for him and for the health of our baby.

George at the Kansas City airport.

The pain was unbelievable and didn't seem to stop at all for the last hour. The Bradley book talked about how there would always be a break between contractions, but I didn’t feel like I was getting a break at times. I knew that my doubts about being able to have a natural birth were an emotional signpost that it was almost over, and I kept moaning through the pain. They called in Dr. Griffith to break my water, and I was disappointed that my own doctor, Dr. Tillman, was not there to deliver my baby. My mom was happy though, because Dr. Griffith had been her doctor for a long time and he had assisted in the delivery of my niece, Riley. He came in at 3:20, broke my water, and I started pushing right away. Kelly, my mom, and Jessi cheered me on and reminded me to push as hard as I could. I felt light headed from holding my breath during this pushing phase, so Kelly gave me oxygen to breathe in-between contractions. The last contraction before Reese’s birth was the worst – they wouldn’t let me push that time.

The pushing phase lasted a short 20 minutes and a few screams later, Reese was born! They laid him on my stomach and I felt relieved as I touched his gooey little purple body for the first time. Mom cut his umbilical cord and Jessi handed me the phone so I could talk to George. She had him on the cell phone during the entire birth, so he was able to hear the whole thing. They thought Reese might only weigh in the 4 pound range, but he was 5 pounds 8 ounces and 17 ¾ inches long. They wheeled Reese to the nursery to monitor his breathing and body temperature. Jessi sat with me and we chatted until Kelly came back to check on me. My adrenaline was pumping and I felt great. I was up on my feet within the hour. No pain meds needed at all!

Kelly wheeled me up to my room and I thanked her for being such a great labor & delivery nurse. I had been really worried that I would get someone who would push for an epidural. She told me that she normally did not work that shift, and was pleased that she had been able to work with us that night. I knew the Lord had put her on that shift just for me.

Mom and I tried to nap while waiting on Reese. We had to wait about 3 hours, because it took a while for his body temperature to go back up. I think I only slept for 10 minutes during that time. I kept thinking about my sweet baby and wondered how much longer until I got to see him and George. I thanked God for his providence and sang Great is Thy Faithfulness in my head (my mom was still sleeping, so I couldn’t shout it out like I wanted) while watching the sun rise.

The nurses finally brought Reese to the room and George arrived at the hospital just a few minutes later. He brought Reese a Kansas City teddy bear as a keepsake and reminder of his crazy birth story. My mom left the room and George and I cried as we held our precious son together for the first time.

Father meets son

I hate Kansas City!

We don’t know why God chose for Reese to be born while George was out of town, but then again, we don’t really need to know why. We know He is sovereign and we trust in Him no matter what the circumstances. We are forever thankful for the blessing He has given us in Reese.

I <3 Goodwill

2009-04-17T09:27:00.000-07:00

I have a new obsession. Just a few months ago I discovered the wonders of thrift stores. I kept seeing lots of pictures in blogland of wonderful things people were finding at thrift stores. Some of the items they repainted or repurposed, and other items were just fine left as is.

I decided to venture out to Goodwill and found myself wondering why I hadn't shopped there before. It was like a gigantic air conditioned garage sale. I was just plain giddy as I shopped up and down the aisles of candlesticks, pretty glass containers, and lamps galore.

Here's what I found on my first trip:

A silver candlestick, Smith & Hawken flowerpot,
a birdcage (to be painted black), and an ironstone pitcher.

Most items I've purchased at Goodwill are no more than $2 or $3, and when an item is not priced, they only charge me $.99!

My local Goodwill gets donations from Target, which means brand new items are sent to be resold there. I've seen new lampshades, clothes, curtains, furniture, bedding, etc. I just scored a brand new bamboo Roman shade for $7.99, which I had just been looking at online the day before for $25.99!

I'll show you what I've done with some of my other thrift store finds soon.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-04-15T13:20:00.001-07:00

Hot Off the Press

2009-04-09T15:56:00.000-07:00

Reese's 1st birthday party is only 10 days away! Here's what his birthday invitations look like. I stayed up until 1:00 a.m. a few days ago finishing them.

The inside says:

He doesn't have a lot of hair,
But we don't really care.
He's our happy, fun, sweet little boy,
Who's brought us incredible joy.
We can't believe it's been almost a year,
And his special day is drawing near.
Reese Owen Deines is turning The Big 1!
We hope you'll join us for the birthday fun.

I can't wait to celebrate!

Happy Birthday Jessica Sue

2009-04-07T15:25:00.000-07:00

How is it possible that my baby sister is 18 today?

I love you, little sis.

Bamboozled

2009-04-05T18:13:00.000-07:00

My little sister, Jessi, took a road trip to California to attend the Bamboozle music festival. After running out of gas and getting stopped by a cop twice, she and her friend finally made it to L.A.

She just called us and was watching one of our favorite bands, The Used. She also met Fall Out Boy yesterday. Oh, to be 17 (almost 18!) again.

Jessi with Fall Out Boy - Ashlee Simpson is married

to Pete Wentz, who's on the far left. She was
standing right behind them.

Palm Sunday

2009-04-05T14:08:00.000-07:00

Today is Palm Sunday and we were surprised when our pastor at church said that meant pretzels.

Pretzels?

Each person at church went home with a pretzel, complete with a packet of salt and mustard. We are pretzel connoisseurs, but didn't know about the connection between Palm Sunday and pretzels.

Have you ever heard the story behind the pretzel? Here's what they told us:

The pretzel was invented by a German monk in 610 AD from scraps of dough. The monk used the pretzels as treats for children who learned their prayers and scripture lessons. The pretzel is shaped in the form of arms folded in prayer - in those days people did not pray by bowing their heads and folding their hands, but by crossing arms with each hand resting on the opposite shoulder. Later the pretzel was used as a convenient way to hand food to the poor, and it became a favorite form of alms for the hungry. The church adopted the practice of handing out pretzels in the streets on Palm Sunday as a commemoration of Christ entering the city of Jerusalem as King in order to bring gifts and blessings to the people of God. It is in this sense that we use the pretzel as a holiday food - Christ our King has come to bring us gifts and blessings - He is the answer to our prayers and the bread that fills and strengthens us.

Believe it or not, Sam's Club sells really good pretzels in their little cafe, but the best pretzels I've ever had are the pretzel sticks from Auntie Anne's. Yum-o!

A Cool Day in the Gardens

2009-03-31T09:36:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Reese and I met my friend, Janna, and her daughter, Kaylee, at the Arboretum. It ended up being a cloudy, cool day, but we had fun anyway. Kaylee is about the same age as Reese (she's only 1 month younger, and was actually due the same day as Reese), so they had fun playing with each other.

We arrived just in time for the Kindermusik concert. Reese and Kaylee chased each other in the grass.

From Blogger Pictures

Then we walked around the gardens and took a few pics.

I had Reese's silhouette done while we were there!

George doesn't think it looks a lot like Reese, but he does think it looks like a silhouette of himself that's hanging in his parents' house. We're going to have to look at it a little more closely the next time we're there.

I'm surprised at how different the gardens look at the Arboretum each time I go. I just went less than 2 weeks ago, but some of the flowers have been changed out already. This week the "water wise" flowerbed caught my eye. I love cactus plants and want our flowerbeds to look like this:

On a separate note, I am beginning to HATE Blogger. This post took me FOREVER today and it would not load any of my pictures for a while. Anyone else have trouble with Blogger?

11 Months

2009-03-20T11:48:00.000-07:00

Bedtime Reading

2009-03-19T09:42:00.000-07:00

"Dad, where are the pictures?"

Wordless Wednesday

2009-03-18T16:48:00.001-07:00

St. Patrick's Day Tradition

2009-03-17T11:43:00.000-07:00

Three years ago today George and I spent a cool and dreary St. Patrick's Day in Toledo, Spain. We spent the day touring the town's huge cathedral and visiting little shops that sold Toledo's famous swords and damascene goods.

We did not know photos were not allowed in the cathedral, until I tried to snap one and a guard yelled, "Noooooooo fotooooooos!" That was okay with us, because it was the last day of our 5 days in Spain, and we had seen so many cathedrals that they were all starting to look alike.

Here's the photo I wasn't supposed to take.

We had a difficult time finding a place to eat lunch that day, as most restaurants in the town served typical Spanish fare, which is heavy on the meat. We stumbled upon a little Irish pub, of all places, and ended up having a good lunch. We dined on cheddar peppers, peanuts, nachos, and of course, Fanta limon.

The Irish pub

Our St. Patrick's Day lunch

Ever since that day, we've made it our St. Patrick's Day tradition to eat cheddar peppers to celebrate the day. Sonic's are pretty good, especially with their ranch sauce. Now if I could only find some lemon Fanta in the States to go with the cheddar peppers, I'd be one happy girl.

George walks up one of the quaint streets of Toledo.

Here I am walking up a huge hill to get to the older
part of Toledo.

The view of Toledo from the top of the hill.

Me and Cervantes, author of Don Quixote

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Walk!

2009-03-14T15:19:00.000-07:00

This is what you call an over-dramatic dog. He finally got his walk.

Rain

2009-03-13T13:38:00.000-07:00

Strike Three, You're Out

2009-03-13T11:32:00.000-07:00

The weather has been rainy and cold for the past few days, so our beloved Rudy hasn't gotten a walk in three days now. I've written before about the shenanigans that result when Rudy doesn't get a morning walk.

He's been at it again.

Wednesday morning Rudy ate Reese's favorite bath toy. It was a little rubber starfish that squirted water. I tried to get it from him by giving him a treat. He dropped the toy between his front two feet, ate the treat, and promptly picked the toy back up. He ate every single piece of it.

Thursday morning he got a frisbee and chewed it up. Now, I can't exactly blame him fully for that one, because when he was a puppy we let him play with a frisbee a few times. Still, he knew what he was doing was wrong. I managed to get the frisbee from him by knocking on the front door. He barked and ran to the door, and I scooped up the frisbee.

This morning he tore up a roll of paper towels I accidentally left out when I was cleaning. If he were smarter, he would have chewed up George's shoes, which were sitting right next to the paper towels.

He loves to destroy paper products.

Rudy, dreaming of a nice, long walk around the neighborhood.

God, please let it stop raining just long enough for Rudy to get a walk tomorrow morning, before he eats one of the cats.

Welcoming Spring

2009-03-11T20:21:00.000-07:00

One of our Christmas gifts from George's parents this year was a family membership to the Arboretum. On Sunday we made our second trip of the year there in order to enjoy Dallas Blooms. We invited Steve and Sarah Bagby to come with us and we had a picnic together after church. Though not officially spring yet, it turned out to be a beautiful, warm (almost hot) day, and we all decided we need to do outdoorsy things more often.

Here are a few pictures from the day. I have 2 trips planned to the Arboretum next week, so I hope you don't get tired of the pictures!

Reese slept during our entire walk around the gardens.

Steve had fun touring the early Texas homes.

25 years of Dallas Blooms

Steve and Sarah explore one of the storybook
houses currently on display.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-03-04T10:45:00.000-08:00

10 months

2009-02-21T18:43:00.000-08:00

Someone turned the big 1-0 yesterday.

And he's recovering from his first ear infection. : (

He's still managing a few smiles though.

The One I've Been Dreading

2009-02-10T19:21:00.000-08:00

I've been dreading this post. I put it off in hopes that if I didn't write it, it wouldn't be true. When I realized it was true, then I feared I wouldn't be able to write a post that would honor my mother-in-law the way it should. But I will try.

Monday, February 2, 2009 was a day we will never forget. We awoke with a 4:30 am phone call that brought news that would forever change our lives. George's mom had died... it was a sudden massive heart attack... and it was definitely unexpected.

We were in shock. How could she have died? Beverly was healthy and George had just talked to her the night before. He and his dad are ham radio operators, and they talk via ham radio every Sunday night. That particular night, George's radio didn't work, so he called his parents on the phone instead. He told his parents he loved them, and hung up, not knowing that his mom would die just a few hours later.

Thank God the ham radio didn't work that night.

A few weeks have gone by since Beverly's death, and it still hasn't sunk in. I'm not sure when it will. Since she has been gone, Reese has learned to crawl, pull up, and clap. She didn't get to see any of those milestones. She won't be here for his first birthday, or his first day of school. Beverly only knew Reese for 9 short months, but she loved him. We will make sure he knows.

Beverly was a loving wife, mother, friend, mother-in-law, and grandmother. Unfortunately, I never told her that she was a good mother-in-law. She made me feel at home with the Deines family from day one. I will always remember her as a great example of a woman who served the Lord and others. She joyfully put the needs of her husband, family, and friends above her own needs.

It hurt to lose Beverly. And it will hurt for a long, long time.

But we do have comfort. We have comfort in the Lord, and we are thankful that Beverly is with Him at this hour. Not because she was a good person, though she was. Not because she did good deeds, which she did. It was not those things that saved her. We know Beverly had faith in Jesus Christ, and since she is absent from her body, she is present with the Lord (2 Corinthians 5:8).

And we have been comforted by our dear friends and family during this difficult time. Thank you all for the caring emails, phone calls, cards, flowers, food, visits, and prayers. Please keep praying for us as we continue to mourn.

Grandma Deines and Reese

Tooth Count

2009-01-30T14:33:00.000-08:00

Total amount of teeth = 7

And yes, he bites.

What Not to Say

2009-01-29T12:54:00.000-08:00

The other night I came home from the store and greeted Reese with a kiss. I thought I smelled a dirty diaper, and asked George if he knew if Reese had a present for me. He said he didn't think so, and I replied,

"Maybe I just smell what you're cooking for dinner."

Oops. Not exactly what I meant.

Thanks for the falafel, it was good. : )

-----------------------------------------------------------------

Speaking of falafel, here's a picture of us with the Bennetts at Fadi's right before they moved to Missouri. (Andrea, you need to take over that blog, so we can get our Cole and Joanna fix!)

Reese, George, me, Andrea, Cole, Jay, and Joanna's arm and leg

Sprinkles

2009-01-25T11:21:00.000-08:00

When my wonderful husband got home from church today, he surprised me with two Sprinkles cupcakes! They are way overpriced, but soooo delicious. If you've never eaten one, head to the closest Sprinkles pronto.

Milk chocolate and carrot cake cupcakes

I had to stay home from church again this week, because Reese has a runny nose. I don't think he's sick, because it's clear, and he always gets a runny nose when he's cutting new teeth. The doctor also said he looked fine on Tuesday, but I didn't want the nursery workers to buzz me to come pick him up when his nose started running.

Yesterday I spent a few glorious hours outside of the house ALL BY MYSELF! I should be the one bringing cupcakes to George, since he stayed home with Reese for almost 3 hours. I got my hair cut, treated myself to a Starbucks hot chocolate and went to my new favorite store... wait for it... Goodwill.

More about Goodwill soon.

Inaugural Photos

2009-01-21T12:56:00.000-08:00

Photo from news.yahoo.com.

If you're like me, you just can't get enough of yesterday's inaugural festivities. Here are some great behind the scenes photos from the historic day. I especially like the one of former President George W. Bush in the helicopter leaving Washington. (Notice the Lifesavers and other candy on the helicopter.) I wonder what was going through his mind. Love #6 as well.

My niece, Madison, attended the inauguration. Can't wait to hear about her experience!

9 Months

2009-01-20T18:25:00.000-08:00

Reese is 9 months old today! We spent most of the day watching the inauguration. Here's a photo I took to remember the day:

That's President Bush (41) on the screen.

He fell asleep just before Obama took the oath, or I would have snapped a picture of him with President Obama. I'll be sure to tell him all about it someday.

We went to visit Dr. Johnson this afternoon for Reese's 9 month checkup. Reese weighed in at 18 pounds 14 ounces, which puts him near the 50th percentile. He's 28 inches long, which is also the 50th percentile. They drew blood for an iron test and gave Reese 2 shots, and he didn't shed a tear or even grimace. (He gets that from me. His dad would have cried and then passed out.) His 6th tooth has broken through and his 7th is not far behind. I'm very happy to report that teething is going much easier this time!

Here are a few more shots from today:

Deines Family Lunch

2009-01-16T14:49:00.000-08:00

George has declared Thursday to be Deines Family Lunch Day throughout 2009. Every Thursday he will come home to eat lunch with us. We are glad he only works 10 minutes away from home now!

Here are some pictures I took while he was home yesterday, as well as some others from throughout the day.

They still look alike.

Gimme a kiss!

Reese knows to smile at the camera now.

Bath time

I Want My MTV!

2009-01-14T08:33:00.000-08:00

When I was in 5th grade my best friend at the time, Melissa, got cable. We discovered MTV and spent hours watching video after video. We sang along with George Michael, Terence Trent D'Arby, Michael Jackson and Belinda Carlisle. Debbie Gibson and New Kids on the Block soon became our favorites. We loved watching VJs Adam Curry and Downtown Julie Brown, and said "Wubba Wubba Wubba" whenever possible. My family got cable shortly after Melissa, and I've had it ever since. That is until now.

Since we are a one-income household now, we could not justify spending $50 a month on cable. We thought about the cost of it in the long run, and noted that if we go without cable for a mere 5 years, we will save $3,000. And that's if the cost does not increase, which is unlikely. $3,000 is a lot of money for us, so we did what we did not want to do. We called our cable company and told them to turn it off.

This past Saturday I was watching the premiere of the 21st season of Real World, thinking I could really get into it this season. I've watched every season except for one since its premiere in 1992. (The season with Pedro and Puck was my favorite.) The show went to a commercial and then the tv went fuzzy. I noticed Rudy was barking at something in the backyard and it dawned on me. He was barking at the cable guy. He had cut our cable!

I know I spent way too much time watching tv, so not having cable will be a good thing. It will allow for more reading time and for more conversation. But I will miss my favorites:

The Hills
Keeping Up with the Kardashians
Real Housewives
True Life
Run's House
Top Chef
Project Runway
The Rachael Zoe Project
Dress My Nest
Flip That House

I could go on. See what I mean? Way too much time spent watching tv. But thanks to Netflix, I will hopefully hear this again:

This is the true story... of seven strangers... picked to live in a house...work together and have their lives taped... to find out what happens... when people stop being polite... and start getting real...The Real World.

Christmas Recap

2009-01-03T18:29:00.000-08:00

I'm a little late getting these pics posted, and I'm also late getting our Christmas letter mailed out. Well, I haven't actually even written the letter yet to be honest. Look for it in your mailbox sometime in 2009.

After attending a beautiful Christmas Eve service at New Saint Peter's Presbyterian Church, we ~~had dinner with my family~~ arrived at my mom's 30 minutes later than we expected and everyone had completely finished eating by the time we got there. So, we had to eat by ourselves. Someone had to eat all the food that George had spent hours preparing.

Here are a few pics from the night.

Reese's first Christmas gift

Me and sweet Bella - They (Bella and Pearl, the other
chihuahua) were dressed in their new Christmas collars.

Cousin Mackenzie and Cousin Riley, opening Riley's
Hello Kitty sweats

This year my family decided to make gifts for each other for Christmas. George made Chex mix and I made these decorative letters for my nieces and their parents.

For Mackenzie, Madison, and Morgan

I had quite a few to make!

On Christmas Eve, we started a tradition with Reese that comes from my childhood. We gave him a new pair of pajamas to open, which he slept in Christmas night. Then on Christmas morning, George read a little about Jesus' birth before opening gifts. George and I don't buy gifts for each other, so Reese had the only gift to open. We plan to always keep the gift-giving to a minimum in order to keep Christ the focus of Christmas.

Ready to open his gift!

We spent Christmas day with George's family in Denton and had a delicious, quiet meal. We opened presents after lunch, visited for a while, and then headed back home. We ended Christmas day with a nice visit with my dad.

A new book from Grandma and Grandpa

Now on to that Christmas letter...

Adios 2008

2009-01-02T17:07:00.000-08:00

2008 in pictures:

January
At Jan's baby shower
(Thanks for this idea, by the way!)

February
In my work "uniform"

March

April
Exactly 1 week until Reese's surprise arrival!

May
Friends already

June
Can you tell this was a difficult month?

July

August

September

October

November

December

What a year!

When It Rains, It Pours

2009-01-01T08:36:00.000-08:00

This picture pretty much sums up our past 2 weeks.

If you know anything about George, you know that
spit up on the face is almost the most disgusting
thing that could happen to him!

Happy New Year! I think we're all going to live. A few days ago, I wasn't so sure. The past few weeks have been pretty painful at the Deines house. It started when I came down with a 24 hour stomach bug. The next day George got it, but worse. Thank goodness Reese avoided that one.

Last Friday, I woke up with my second case of mastitis. I ran fever for 5 days and thought I was going to die at times. I think it's the sickest I've ever been. Twice I had a fever of 102.5 with Tylenol. Not fun at all. My sister Tracy, a nurse, advised me to go to the ER if the fever didn't come down. Thankfully it did. Sunday when I woke up I was worse, so I got a stronger antibiotic. No improvement. I had to end up going to the doctor on Monday, because they thought I potentially had an abscess. By the time I finally got in to see the doctor that afternoon, I was feeling a little better. He said there was no sign of abscess and he thought I was starting to recover. I'm feeling MUCH better and am almost back to normal.

Saturday night George was working on his Sunday school lesson and was leaning on his elbow while typing on the computer. He apparently developed a pinched nerve in his shoulder blade from the way he was sitting. He is now in severe pain when he moves. And for some reason, the pain is worse when he sits. I know he was in quite a bit of pain while caring for Reese when I wasn't able to get off the couch.

Unfortunately, Reese wasn't excluded from the fun either. His top 3 teeth are partially in, and he has been in quite a bit of pain at times. He fell on his new Christmas present the other night and his gums bled a little. He has been a CRAB this morning and he's sitting here whining as I type.

We just keep reminding ourselves that the pain we experience is a mere shadow of the hell from which God has saved us. Man, oh man, am I glad He has saved us. I pray He will do the same for Reese.

When I get a break from the whining, I'll post a Christmas recap. Here's a sneak preview...

All I Want for Christmas

2008-12-24T09:37:00.000-08:00

We made a video of Reese dancing to All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth, but the file is too big to load. I'm posting a meaningful song instead. It's my favorite this Christmas. This is the only video of the song I could find, so you'll have to deal with the less than stellar quality...

From the Squalor of a Borrowed Stable

Merry Christmas!

Bad, Bad Dog

2008-12-23T09:41:00.000-08:00

Rudy Fleetwood Deines

Our dog lives like a prince. He gets a walk every single day (weather permitting - key part of the story), he has his own chair and ottoman in our bedroom, his own full size bed in our extra room, he eats premium dog food, etc. Rudy is treated like a member of the family and he lives in better conditions than a lot of people.

Rudy has been known to pull some devious shenanigans around our house. He broke out of our fence, so we bought a dog run. He broke out of the dog run and we started calling him Rudini. He's chewed on and eaten everything imaginable: glass Christmas ornaments, whole socks and gloves, plastic bowls, magazines, a couch, mail, the wood on our house, the old fence, and he's tried unsuccessfully (so far) to eat both of the cats. Rudy has even knocked people down and has bitten several times. Yes, we really love the mutt, or he would have been gone a long, long time ago.

A few years ago, we hired a Bark Busters trainer to come help us with Rudy. He challenged the trainer, but by the time she left our house, he was like a changed dog. He learned to follow George's lead on a leash, how to sit at the door when people enter and leave, and how to come when called. If you've ever heard us use the Bark Busters' "BAH" sound, you know we look like idiots when disciplining our dog. We've come to terms with the humiliation. The BAH works!

We've been super cautious bringing Reese around Rudy and never leave them unattended. Rudy has done very well with him so far, and seems to understand that Reese is a part of the family. We'll have to always be cautious though.

This morning I guess Rudy was a little mad at George. It was freezing outside (literally) and pretty wet, so George decided to not take Rudy for his morning walk. Rudy wasn't happy about that, so after the mean master left for work, Rudy got George's favorite Rancid beanie. I heard him growling at it and when I went to check on him, Rudy showed me his teeth. I learned a few years ago that when a dog growls at you and shows you his teeth, he means business. So, I called George, and he came home from work to rescue his hat. Of course, Rudy knows that George is his master, so he didn't growl or show his teeth to George.

Rudy being BAD

After all of his bad behavior, Rudy got a walk. That was really for our benefit, not Rudy's, because now he's sleeping by the Christmas tree and being a good doggy.

Recipe: The Deines Shake

2008-12-23T08:46:00.000-08:00

I'm sitting here drinking my favorite breakfast shake, so I thought I'd share the recipe. My friend Caren calls it The Deines Shake, but we got the recipe at the State Fair of Texas a few years ago, when we sat at the Vita-Mix tent for hours. Not joking - we were mesmerized!

We didn't buy a Vita-Mix that day, but we dreamed about it for the entire year, and purchased one the following year. We use it at least once a day, and sometimes 3-4 times a day. It was one of the best purchases we've ever made.

At the risk of this sounding like an ad for Vita-Mix, there's one more thing I have to say about it. It doesn't leave any ice chunks in shakes at all, so you may need to adjust the amount of ice in the recipe if you're using a blender. George and I also put veggies in our shakes (carrots, kale, sweet potato, etc.), because the Vita-Mix completely blends them and you can't taste them at all. You probably won't want to try that with a blender. I also sneak in flax seed and omega 3 oil.

The Deines Shake
1 cup milk (we use rice milk)
6-8 ice cubes
1 packet hot chocolate mix (I never use this much, and often use half chocolate protein powder, half hot chocolate mix)
1 spoonful of peanut butter
1 banana

Add all ingredients to blender and blend until ice chunks are gone.

Enjoy!

8 Months

2008-12-20T12:29:00.000-08:00

Today is Reese's 8 month birthday! He has now been with us longer than I carried him inside me. I have to admit, that made me tear up a little this morning. He's growing and changing so fast.

Someone loves the remote.

Reese's two front teeth and the tooth to the right of them have almost broken through. I've just about decided that teething is more unpleasant than childbirth. Even childbirth without any pain meds.

This smile didn't last long today.

Reese shares his new teether with Rudy.

We made a video to share, but Blogger won't let me load it. I'll try to get it posted soon.

The Plague

2008-12-19T09:24:00.000-08:00

The plague has hit our household. I had it yesterday and George took care of Reese and me all day. George has it today, so I am taking care of Reese and George. So far, Reese is well and hopefully will not get sick.

Today is also George's birthday. Not a fun way to spend his special day.

Recipe: Taco Soup

2008-12-16T13:51:00.000-08:00

The Deines Family is a vegetarian family. We were once vegan, but now we just say that we're "near vegan". I need a little ice cream from time to time, and vegan ice cream tastes about as good as cardboard. Yes, Reese is also a vegetarian, and will be one until he decides on his own to eat the rotting flesh of a dead animal. Yuck.

People always wonder what we eat and how we get enough protein. If I had a dollar for every time I've been asked about protein, I could buy myself a lot of Starbucks hot chocolate. There are other sources of protein than just meat! Did you know that many fruits and vegetables even have protein?

Okay, back to the reason for this post. I thought I would share some of our recipes, so that you can get an idea of what we eat. You might even decide to try out a few recipes! Vegetarian food is much more than a few steamed veggies on a plate and it can be quite enjoyable.

This first recipe is a Paula Deen recipe, y'all. A member of our church family brought us this taco soup after Reese was born and it was so delicious we asked for the recipe immediately. I ran across the same recipe on Paula Deen's website a few months later, but we still call it Amber's Taco Soup.

The recipe calls for meat, which we just leave out. It also calls for olives, which I think would taste really good in it, but I haven't convinced George of that yet. It's perfect for a cold day like today.

Photo from pauladeen.com.

Ingredients

Jalapenos
Chopped green onions
Grated cheese
Sour cream
Corn chips
1 1-ounce package ranch salad dressing mix
1 1 1/4-ounce package taco seasoning mix
1/2 cup green olives, sliced (optional)
1 small can black olives, drained and sliced (optional)
2 4 1/2-ounce cans diced green chilies
1 14 1/2-ounce can tomatoes with chilies
1 14 1/2-ounce can diced tomatoes
1 14 1/2-ounce can Mexican tomatoes
1 15 1/4-ounce can whole kernal corn, drained
1 15 1/2-ounce cans pink kidney beans
2 15-1/2 ounce cans pinto beans
2 cup diced onions
2 lb ground beef

Directions

Brown the ground beef and onions in a large skillet; drain the excess fat, then transfer the browned beef and onions to a large crackpot or a stockpot. Add the beans, corn, green onions, tomatoes, chilies, olives, and seasonings, and cook on low setting all day (6 to 8 hours) if using a crockpot, or simmer over low heat for about 1 hour in a stockpot on the stove. To serve, place a few corn chips in each bowl and ladle soup over them. Top with sour cream, cheese, and jalapenos.

Enjoy!

Open House

2008-12-16T11:02:00.000-08:00

The Deines Christmas tree! We have a dog angel on top.

No, angels aren't dogs just as much as "angels are NOT pretty women
dressed in robes with glittery wings." to quote my friend Michelle.

If you enjoy home decorating, or at least enjoy looking at pretty homes, don't miss out on the plethora of opportunities to get a peek inside homes beautifully decorated for the holidays. Here are just 2 holiday open house parties that will keep you busy for hours. Grab some hot tea and enjoy!

A Gift from Oman

2008-12-15T11:59:00.000-08:00

Last week a package arrived for Reese from a land far, far away.

He tore it open and was quite excited to try on his gift.

Reese received his very own kandoora!

And a little cash too.

Thanks, Dave and Gloria!

The Best Part of Waking Up...

2008-12-10T11:14:00.000-08:00

I love breakfast. I'd classify myself as a morning person, and there's nothing better than watching the sun rise and eating a good breakfast. The first thing I eat every single day is a banana. Then I normally eat a quick breakfast of cereal, a "Deines shake" as my friend calls it (I'll have to post the recipe for it in the future), steel cut oatmeal, fruit, or toast. When I was pregnant, I would sometimes eat all of those things!

This morning it was cold outside, so I decided to make a special breakfast.

Here's what's left of the sleet and snow from last night.
Reese got to see snow for the first time!

I made flax seed pancakes with faux sausage and orange juice.

Of course, Reese got fussy 5 minutes after I started cooking, so I had to put in his Baby Signing Time DVD for him. That made him smile!

When I was little my mom made breakfast for dinner quite often. She made wonderful cheese blintzes with strawberry preserves. I'm getting hungry just thinking about them! Unfortunately, George thinks breakfast for dinner is "gross", so we won't be having any breakfast for dinner around here.

Do you have breakfast for dinner in your home? Leave a comment and let me know. Maybe I can convince George that breakfast for dinner is actually normal.

Saturday at the Onion Shed

2008-12-10T10:28:00.000-08:00

George, Reese and I ventured out to Farmersville on Saturday to check out their flea market. It's held at the old Onion Shed (pictured above) the first Saturday of each month. We didn't arrive there until about 2:00 and many of the vendors were already packing up.

We didn't find anything we couldn't live without at the flea market, so we went to a few antique stores. I think this was Reese's first time to go antique shopping outside of the womb. I went quite a bit before he was born.

Farmersville is my favorite place to go antiquing, because the prices are pretty reasonable. Here's what I bought, and I spent just under $10 total:

A vintage Santa candle and a cute
Woodpecker Woodware bowl from the '50s

My first piece of milk glass for my new collection. I think I actually
already own a milk glass hen, but it must be boxed up somewhere.

George even managed to stay entertained by looking for Dr Pepper items for his office at work. He found a vintage bottle that he purchased, as well as some wrestling video from the '80s. I turned my nose up at the video, but he said it would bring back good memories from his childhood. And it was only 50 cents. Plus, it has Kerry Von Erich. I actually saw him wrestle in person when I was little, and (I can't believe I'm admitting this) I had a framed picture of him in my room. I think I still have that picture somewhere.

It will be fun to see what Reese decides to collect when he's a little older.

Way Overdue Update

2008-12-03T09:39:00.000-08:00

I've felt like this the past few days...

But I'm better now.

Reese is sleeping MUCH better, now that we're co-sleeping. I never wanted to co-sleep, but it is the only way we are all able to get a decent amount of sleep. He only woke up 1 time last night! This is the best sleep I've gotten in 7 months. Poor George has been sleeping on a mattress topper on the floor though. Anyone have an extra king size bed?

The days surrounding the Thanksgiving holiday were very busy. George's family and my friend Caren came to our house the day before Thanksgiving and we had a huge feast. George had just taken a vegan holiday cooking class at Spiral Diner and we all benefited from his new recipes. He made cranberry salsa and black bean dip for appetizers, and for the main course: tofurky, cranberry pecan dressing and gravy, green beans in sesame sauce, and rosemary mashed potatoes. He made pineapple upside down cake and cheesecake for dessert. Everything he made was vegan! His family brought all sorts of goodies as well, including his dad's candied yams, which I love.

Eating acorn squash and sweet potatoes

1st Thanksgiving

On Thursday, we went to my mom's house and celebrated Thanksgiving with my family. We went to visit my dad that night, as it was also his birthday. Then, we had a birthday party for him at our house Friday night.

During all of this, we also got a new fence. This is a huge, huge improvement to our home, as our old fence was on way past it's last leg. Rudy has escaped from our backyard on several occasions (earning him the name Rudini), so we are happy to know that he is safely secured in our backyard now. Wylie fence company came and took down our old fence on Wednesday, but didn't get our new fence completed until Monday night, due to all of the rain. It was worth the wait!

Old fence...

(I'm trying to give away the swing set on Craigslist.

For some reason, no one wants it. I'm sure someone could fix it up.)

New fence...

Doesn't Rudy look proud of his new fence?

George went to San Antonio yesterday for a conference, so Reese and I will head to the airport to pick him up tonight. He's only been gone for 1 night, but we sure do miss him! I made banana nut muffins for him this morning. Can you believe it was the first time I've ever made muffins from scratch?

Still No Sleep

2008-11-25T08:08:00.000-08:00

Time Reese spent in his bed last night: 5 minutes.

I'm beginning to wonder if we have a high need baby.

Who Needs Sleep?

2008-11-23T12:03:00.000-08:00

Who needs sleep? Well you're never gonna get it. Who needs sleep? Tell me what's that for. Who needs sleep? Well you're never gonna get it. Be happy with what you're getting, there's a guy whose been awake since the second world war.

I've been singing this Barenaked Ladies song the past few days. There's not a lot of sleep happening in this house, except for the animals. Reese is teething. Again. And this time it's really bad. He screams when he nurses and claws at his face and ears. He'll be sound asleep, and the second I put him down in his bed, he kicks his legs and starts to cry.

Friday night, Reese slept for 25 minutes total in his bed. I held him until 5:00 or so and George was then able to get him to sleep on our bed for a few hours. Since we only have a full size bed, that meant George had to sleep on the couch.

Last night, he didn't go to sleep until midnight. He was up crying at 12:30. He slept on me until 2 something, we gave him more Tylenol, and George got him to sleep on our bed at 3:30. This time George decided to sleep on the floor. Rudy snored through all of this. Reese slept until 7ish, ate, smiled and talked to us a little, and slept on George until 10:30. At that point I took Reese out of the bedroom so George could sleep. He slept until noon.

I don't know how people manage with more than one child. I am in awe of Michelle Duggar, who is pregnant with her 18th child. She's been through the nursing issues, sleepless nights, and teething 17 times already. Wow. And I know I'm no Kate Gosselin. Those mothers are truly amazing.

Each day I pray God will give me enough patience and strength to make it through the day, and still manage to glorify Him in the process. Today I hope He'll give us all a little more sleep too.

I should note that we did not skip church this morning! Due to plumbing issues at our church, we've been having night services at another location.

Free Dr Pepper!!!

2008-11-23T11:26:00.000-08:00

George and I are health nuts, but we are also a Dr Pepper family. We think that although not terribly healthy, life is too short to not enjoy a cold Dr Pepper every once in a while. We've toured the Dr Pepper museum and even use Dr Pepper barbecue sauce on our fake barbecue. : )

Today only, Dr Pepper is allowing every American to print a coupon for a FREE Dr Pepper. The company made a promise that if Guns N' Roses released the album they've been working on since the mid 90s by the end of 2008, they would give away free Dr Peppers. Somehow GN'R managed to finally get it finished and it was released today. It even came out on vinyl.

Now the last time I saw Axl Rose perform, he didn't sound so hot. But if producers can make Ozzy intelligible when he sings, they can definitely help Axl. How could they possibly top Welcome to the Jungle or Sweet Child of Mine though?

Anyway, be sure to get your free Dr Pepper!

Happy 7 Month Birthday, Peanut!

2008-11-20T13:29:00.000-08:00

Today is Reese's 7 month birthday! Here are some random pics from the past few weeks.

Our Saturday in Pictures

2008-11-15T16:27:00.000-08:00

1. Baby woke up happy.

2. Fresh squeezed orange juice.

3. Guilty dog ate 2 of Reese's socks.

4. New food - bananas.

5. New hair.

6. LA Gourmet - The best pizza in all of Dallas!

7. A quick trip to Whole Foods to purchase our Tofurky.

8. Nap.

9. New clothes.

10. Yummy dinner.

The War in Pictures

2008-11-12T10:04:00.000-08:00

From the comfort and safety of my home, I often forget that our country is still at war. I forget to pray for the soldiers whose lives are at risk every second of every day. I forget to pray for the loved ones, who wonder if their soldiers will return home alive.

I often wonder how my grandmother, Mary, coped while her son was in Vietnam, a land she had never seen. I can't imagine how it would feel to send my little boy to a far off land, where he would be the target of bullets and bombs. I can't imagine what it must feel like to be a soldier at war.

One of the blogs I follow posted pictures of soldiers at work in Afghanistan's Korengal Valley. You must take a few minutes to view these amazing pictures. Be sure to note the ages of the soldiers. They are all so young.

I pray they will return home safely - soon.

Thank a Veteran Today

2008-11-11T09:34:00.000-08:00

My dad is a veteran who served in Vietnam. He was a Seabee, which is the Construction Battalion (CB) of the United States Navy.

The Seabee - I took this photo at Port Hueneme
Naval Base, where my dad was stationed.

The Three Soldiers

George's reflection in the Vietnam Memorial Wall

Thank you for serving our country, Daddy!

7 Years Already?

2008-11-10T08:40:00.000-08:00

George and I became Mr. and Mrs. George Thomas Deines on November 10, 2001. I can't believe we've been married for 7 years. Not bad for two people who never wanted to get married!

I am so thankful God has blessed me with such a fine husband as George. He is caring, an excellent cook, funny, smart, and hard working, just to name a few. He often comments that he's my "servant leader" and he certainly does have a servant's heart. Just this weekend, Reese woke up at 5 am and George watched him for 3 hours so I could sleep. Then, he cooked me a delicious breakfast of pumpkin pancakes, faux sausage, and topped it off with fresh squeezed grapefruit juice. More important than all of the above attributes, George loves Christ and strives to glorify God and enjoy Him in all that he does.

A few years ago we read a very good book in Sunday school called Sacred Marriage. The book makes a case that God intends for marriage to make people holy, not necessarily happy. Now I'm not saying that we're not happy, because we are. But when two sinners decide to live as one, there are bound to be difficulties along the way. We were glad to gain that perspective about marriage early on in our life as husband and wife.

This year the Lord blessed us with our sweet Reese and we are now a family of three. My transition into motherhood has not been the easiest at times and George has been a huge blessing. Even when working 70 hours + a week, he never hesitated to change a diaper, vacuum the house, or scoop the cats' litter box. (That last one proves he truly does have a servant's heart, huh?) I love to see George interact with Reese. They are crazy about each other. That's another thing I must include on his list of positive attributes - he's a good father.

I pray that the Lord will help me daily to become a better helpmate and wife to George. I hope I am able to encourage him and make him laugh as much as he does me. Most of all, I pray that we will glorify God as husband and wife from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part.

We don't have a scanner, so I had to take pictures of these pictures and the quality is not that great. Plus, the batteries in our camera died and I can't find more, so I'll post more pics when I find more AA batteries.

Praying as the ceremony begins

Leaving the wedding - We didn't know at this point that
my little sister, Jessica, was hiding in the back seat under our luggage!

Those Clothes Look Expensive

2008-11-09T10:35:00.000-08:00

This is what happens when Daddy dresses the baby.

Free (Good) Recipes

2008-11-06T07:01:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we received our latest edition of Food & Family magazine. It's a FREE magazine from Kraft with tons of great recipes. We're always excited to look through it and see which recipes we can make vegetarian. You can go to the Kraft website and sign up to receive the magazine, or find all of the recipes from the magazine archived here. These are some of the recipes in the current holiday issue:

banana-sour cream cake
truffles
candied apple pie cheesecake
three cheese chicken penne pasta bake
cheesy spinach artichoke dip

I'm definitely going to try the Italian-marinated vegetable salad and the chocolate-candy cane cupcakes. Yum!

Chipotle Pics

2008-11-04T13:20:00.001-08:00

Our free "boo-ritos" were delicious. Thanks, Chipotle!

My handsome boys

Happy Reformation Day!

2008-10-31T14:05:00.000-07:00

Today is Reformation Day! On October 31, 1517, Martin Luther nailed his Ninety-Five Theses on the door of a church in Germany. His Theses criticized the Catholic Church and the Pope and made way for the Protestant Reformation.

Back in high school, before I was even a Christian, I had to make a video about the Reformation for my social studies class. (Jan, do you remember that?) I still have the video and it is hilarious. My friend, Kim, played Martin Luther. Clad in a maroon bathrobe, she nailed a piece of paper on the door of my fence and stomped away. Another classmate, who may have actually been Buddhist, played Erasmus. The video ended with my cat, Annabelle, in the lion's den.

Today is also Halloween. George and I are still unsure about whether we'll let Reese dress up in the future and go trick-or-treating. We will be dressing up tonight in foil to get a free burrito at Chipotle, but that has nothing to do with Halloween and everything to do with the greatness of Chipotle.

When my grandfather was a teenager he got shot in the head on Halloween and carried the bullet there for the rest of his life. So if you do go out tonight, be safe!

I'm Addicted!

2008-10-27T17:01:00.000-07:00

I must admit that I've become a bit of a blog addict lately. I subscribed to all of my favorite blogs on Google Reader, so I'm notified when all of the blogs I follow are updated. One of Reader's features is a recommendation of other blogs. So now in addition to reading all of our friend's blogs, I'm reading design blogs, political blogs, and blogs about people I've never met. (Like John Piper's son and daughter-in-law.)

Today I ran across a blog that I just had to share. This blog made me cry tears of sadness and just a bit later made me laugh so hard I cried again. It's the blog of Angie Smith, the wife of Todd Smith of the Christian group Selah. Incidentally, I've heard of the group, but I've never actually heard the group. Maybe I'll check them out.

If you want to see what made me cry tears of sadness, check out the story about their baby, Audrey Caroline. If you want to laugh to the point of crying, you MUST read The Sticks and the Panties and the follow-up, Exhibit A (and B).

Also, if there is a blog you think I should add to my list, let me know!

6 Month Birthday

2008-10-20T19:11:00.000-07:00

My little peanut is 6 months old today! I can't believe it. The past 6 months have been the most challenging, yet most rewarding days of my life. I am so thankful God has blessed us with such a beautiful, happy little boy. I can hear Reese giggling at his daddy in the other room right now. I pray the Lord grants us many more giggle-filled days together.

These are some of Reese's favorites at 6 months:

Rolling from back to tummy, and then from tummy to back. Repeat 20 times.
Sleeping on his side
Playing in his exersaucer
Laughing at his silly daddy
Napping with and petting Jenny (the cat)
"Flying" in the air
Running his tongue over his 2 teeth
Chewing on taggy, paci, and his feet

Reese visited the doctor today for his well check-up. Here are his current stats:

Weight - 16 pounds 6 ounces (50th percentile)
Height - 26 3/4 inches (75th percentile - up from the 25th!)

The doctor was amazed at how attentive Reese was during his check-up. He kept smiling at her and trying to catch her eye. She said he has the softest baby skin and is actually a little ahead of schedule developmentally. She said since Reese is rolling and scooting so much, he should be crawling in the very near future. Yikes!

I've been debating whether to start solids now or to wait. The doctor confirmed what I've read - that solids at this age are just for experimentation, and that mommy milk is still the best thing for Reese. We'll probably wait a few more weeks before beginning the messy mayhem of solids.

Here are a few pictures of Reese showing how much he's grown and changed during the past 6 months.

First walk - 4 weeks

Last week

First doctor visit - 4 days old

Today

Like Father, Like Son

2008-10-16T15:10:00.000-07:00

Shortly after marrying George, I learned about all of the crazy things he does in his sleep. He sleepwalks - a lot. I mean talking, jumping out of bed, walking around, yelling, and as he did just this week, moving his arms like he's swimming.

It got really bad after we brought Reese home from the hospital. George would get up 3-4 times a night searching for Reese in a panic. I hope Reese doesn't take after George in this one particular area, but he's already done some funny things while sleeping. Here's what he did while napping the other day.

That's the edge of the bed, people!
He started out in the middle.

The Thorn

2008-10-10T16:34:00.001-07:00

Life has been crazy and difficult the past few months. Though I believe the Christian life is more often than not a life of suffering, I've still found myself wondering why God has ordained for me so many difficulties all at once. George often reminds me this is an opportunity for my faith to increase. He's also quick to add, "God's faithfulness to you in the past is both a model and a promise of His faithfulness to you in the future, though He's too creative to do the same thing the same way twice."

John Piper put together the 5 R's of suffering, which I found highly encouraging:

1) Repentance

Suffering is a call for us and others to turn from treasuring anything on earth above God.

Luke 13:4-5 - Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

2) Reliance

Suffering is a call to trust God not the life-sustaining props of the world.

2 Corinthians 1:8-9 - For we were so utterly burdened beyond our strength that we despaired of life itself. Indeed, we felt that we had received the sentence of death. But that was to make us rely not on ourselves but on God who raises the dead.

3) Righteousness

Suffering is the discipline of our loving heavenly Father so that we come to share his holiness.

Hebrews 12:6, 10-11 - The Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.... He disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.

4) Reward

Suffering is working for us a great reward in heaven that will make up for every loss here a thousand-fold.

2 Corinthians 4:17 - This light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison.

Matthew 5:11-12 - Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven.

5) Reminder

Suffering reminds us that God sent his Son into the world to suffer so that our suffering would not be God’s condemnation but his purification.

Philippians 3:10 - ...that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings.

Mark 10:45 - The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.

Martha Snell Nicholson is a Christian poet who knew a great deal about suffering. Nicholson suffered from 4 incurable diseases and was bed ridden for over 3 decades. I've been thinking about her poem, The Thorn, for a few weeks now. If you are experiencing some sort of suffering, I hope it comforts you as it did me.

The Thorn

I stood a mendicant of God before His royal throne

And begged him for one priceless gift, which I could call my own.

I took the gift from out His hand, but as I would depart

I cried, "But Lord this is a thorn and it has pierced my heart.

This is a strange, a hurtful gift, which Thou hast given me."

He said, "My child, I give good gifts and gave My best to thee."

I took it home and though at first the cruel thorn hurt sore,

As long years passed I learned at last to love it more and more.

I learned He never gives a thorn without this added grace,

He takes the thorn to pin aside the veil which hides His face.

Howdy, folks!

2008-10-07T16:51:00.000-07:00

We ventured out to the State Fair of Texas today. George and I have been to the fair each year since we started dating in 1999, so we couldn't wait to take Reese to meet Big Tex. It turned out to be a fabulous day. We met Grandpa & Grandma Deines there, Reese behaved perfectly, the sun shone all day, and we were able to avoid all the tempting yet unhealthy fried foods.

What's back there?

Hey, you're not Rudy.

Grandma & Grandpa show Reese the train going
around Big Tex.

We couldn't pass the elephant
(or woolly mammoth? gomphotherium?)
without taking a pic.

Fall at the Dallas Arboretum

2008-10-03T12:55:00.000-07:00

Reese and I recently visited the Dallas Arboretum with some other ladies from church. September 20 - November 2 is The Great Pumpkin Festival and there were thousands of pumpkins and gourds throughout the Arboretum. I felt so blessed to look down at Reese's smiling face as we strolled around the beautiful gardens. Even though he had just cut 2 teeth, he was a perfect baby. It was definitely a more relaxing day than the last time I visited and had to chase after my class of fourth graders. We hope to visit again soon!

My dad says Reese looks like Charlie Brown!

Sage and Reese

Happy baby, happy mommy

Welcome to The Deines Family Blog

2008-09-30T11:46:00.000-07:00

We're finally giving in and joining the world of blogging. Okay, I, Kasey, am giving in. George isn't wild about the idea, even though he already has his own website. I think he's just disappointed that I chose to blog with Blogger rather than Word Press. Anyway, Reese is growing and changing daily and we want to share what's going on in our lives with our friends and family. We hope you enjoy the peak into our lives.