Family Pictures and an Announcement.....

Last week in the midst of our family having the worst stomach bug, we had family pictures schedule with the amazing Brianna Venzke Photography. She shoot our last family pictures a year and a half ago and I just loved them. She has moved twice since then but is a traveling photographer who comes back to Souther California often so when I heard she was heading this way, I made sure to schedule our session. I just love how these turned out! And how well she captured our family.

 Our poor little lady felt so crummy the whole time and was just not her normal self.

But when she got to put on her princess Elsa dress she gave us a little glimpse of her normal self with daddy being silly :)

And announcing.....

We are thrilled to announce that Baby #3 will be joining us sometime in May. My due date is May 28th but this baby is already measuring a week ahead of schedule which is typical for my babies so we usually don't make it past 39 weeks. We will see what God has in store with this little one but we are all very excited!!

We waited to tell the kids we were expecting until we were taking pictures so that she could capture it. The week before Aston had mentioned that my stomach looked like it had a baby inside so we told him he was right.

Aston was so cute when it clicked. He looked at Brianna and said, "Mommy has a baby in her belly!!!!" It was the best!

Leia was very confused and tried to look for the baby :)

Showing them the ultrasound picture.

Leia was over taking pictures and we wanted to get a cute one of them holding the ultrasound picture. This is what we got.....Hilarious! Max calls this picture, "Game Over!"

This is really how Aston feels. He is so excited!!

All photos are by Brianna Venzke Photography. She's amazing! Go check her out!!

Celebrating Advent

This year to celebrate advent, we are doing some things differently and others different. Last year I bit off more than I could chew and we ended up ditching most of it! 

Photo by Naptime Diaries

This year for my personal study time, I decided to do Naptime Diaries Advent Devotional which starts tomorrow December 1st. The Devotional is sold out BUT they have made a digital PDF version that you can purchase in their shop if you want to join in!  Max and I had planned to do She Reads Truths Advent study last year but life happened and we had too much planned during that season plus we were dealing with some other issues so we didn't end up doing much of it so this year, we are slowing down our schedules as much as possible and have plans to try to do last years again since we have the book. I debated this year between Naptime Diaries and She Reads Truth Advent studies and decided to give Naptime Diaries a try but SRT looks really good too so if you don't want to pay for the Naptime Diaries one, go with SRT. They started yesterday, the traditional first day of Advent. As a family, we are doing the Advent wreath again. And Maxwell is planning and will be leading our family in what we will be doing as a family each week. The plan is to read a verse or verses that goes with the candle (prophecy, bethlehem, shepard, angels, Christ) and then sing a hymn that goes along with it and teach it to the kids all week. Both our kids love music so we know they will enjoy this! We will do as much as we can to prepare ourselves and our kids for the real meaning of Christmas- Christ, while not putting too much pressure on ourselves and on our plates. We have lots of fun things planned this year for our 12 Days of Christmas fun but that is where our limit will be. Later this week I'll share our 12 Days of Christmas plan with you!

Happy Monday!

Black Friday Silhouette Sale

My most used tool is my craft room is my Silhouette Cameo -even above my glitter! I use it all the time for all kinds of things, every holiday, birthday party, baby shower and even just for everyday needs. I have recently made some planner stickers using the sticker paper and the print and cut option within the software and they turned out great! If you are a teacher, have small children or just like to decorate and craft like me, this machine and the Portrait (the smaller version) would be a great tool for you! This year, Silhouette has come out with two brand new machine that both look amazing. The Mint is a personalized stamp making machine and the Curio which is a machine that can etch, debs, emboss and stipple. I don't have either of these machines but the Curio is on my wishlist this year for sure. It looks like a lot of fun to play with!!

This year I'm thrilled to be apart of the Silhouette Black Friday sale which starts now, Thursday morning at 12:01 am MST and goes through December 4th! In order to get the discount, you must use my code BEAR! So here are some of the big deals:

- Free Shipping on order over $50.00 to the contiguous United States

-40% off almost everything in the Silhouette America store

- machine bundles as low as $99.00 including 

   *Silhouette Mint $99.99

   *Portrait & Mint $189.99

   *CAMEO $199.99

   *CAMEO & Portrait $289.99

 Lots more bundles featured on the site! 

-20% off Silhouette Design Store Subscriptions using the code BLACK 

Head to silhouetteamerica.com/bf to see all the deals and Remember in order to get the discounts on these items, please use my code BEAR at checkout!

Maxwell bought me my machine using a black Friday sale and I'm so glad he did! Have a great Thanksgiving and have a great holiday weekend!! 

November 2015 Meal Plan

Can you believe it's November already????? Christmas shopping, Christmas music, cooler weather for us(hopefully), Thanksgiving dinner!!...I cannot wait! November kinda snuck up on me so sorry I didn't get this up before the month started like I usually try to do but here it is. I really hope this helps you in your planning and gives you some inspiration. I was lacking in the inspiration department this month but I hope this helps you.
Spaghetti and Meatballs Ham and Pineapple with Mashed Potatoes Sweet Potato Shepherds Pie Beef with Snow Peas (and Broccoli) Grilled Veggie Burritos with Grilled Chicken Honey-Orange Chicken Stir-fry Noodle Bake Sloppy Joes (We use the sauce from this recipe cut in half and ground beef because thats just our preference.) Steak with Roasted Pumpkin Puree and Mixed Veggies Fried Rice (We add any meat we have leftover and make this a complete meal) Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup Thanksgiving Casserole- I'm ready for thanksgiving flavors so I may be making this soon! Thankgiving Day!!! And Leftovers the next day Enchilada Casserole Chicken and Noodles Chicken Parmesan using Parmesan Shake and Bake Fresh Ham with Maple Balsamic Glaze with Veggies and Potatoes Breakfast for Dinner once a Week As always, I'd LOVE to hear what you are having for dinner! I need some more on my list but can't think of things that sound good. Hoping that next month I have a bit more inspiration and recipes for you!