Love That Shot Link-up: Tuesday

Love that shot is doing a photo link-up Tuesday through Friday this week with a different theme each day. Today's theme is "A Few of My Favorite Things".

I love flowers! But, those of you who know me know that I cannot take care of them!

Trinity's BIG Secret!

My mommy made me a new shirt!

Do you wanna see it? It says...

I am going to be a BIG SISTER!!!!!

I am so happy!

Sometimes... Ha!

We are so excited that we are expecting! God has truly blessed us!

I am now 5 weeks and 3 days. I know that I am telling the big news early, but this is how we wanted to do it. Also, I couldn't imagine having to deal with this early pregnancy stuff by myself! Oh, and I CANNOT keep a secret!

I have been feeling fine. Which is good in a way, but it also makes me worry some. On one of my baby apps, it said that it was normal this early on not to "feel" pregnant.

I felt sick every now and then before we found out, but I have had no sickness lately. I had no sickness with Trinity so hopefully I won't with this baby either. Today was the third day of a headache I had but I don't have it any more. Praise the Lord! I have also felt very tired. Nothing to complain about though!

I cannot even begin to say how excited I am. At first it was kind of a shock (We had been trying, but we figured it would take us longer than what it did!) But now we are super excited. I am anxious to go to the doctor and see our tiny little baby in the ultrasound! And hear its little heart beat! I can't wait!

Please, please pray for us. My estimated due date will probably be January 28,2012. We've got a long way to go! My first doctor's appointment is June 16th. We are in a situation I can't say right now that we need prayers in, but I know God can and will move and provide a way. I know He didn't place this baby in our lives to just leave us hanging.

Again, we are so excited about this baby! I can't wait to see Trinity with her new baby brother or sister. She loves tiny babies. I tell her all the time that she is going to be the best big sister EVER!

Thank you God for this wonderful blessing You have placed in our lives!

A plunger?!? Seriously?

Walmart, Walmart, Walmart. You used to be my favorite store. Oh, how you have slacked lately.

I hate going to Walmart. Yes, I said hate. I hate going because the staff is so hateful and you cannot get in there without spending 2 hours. However, it's the only place we have to shop. No Target close to us. No Meijer close to us. Just Walmart (and it is over 20 minutes away).

Anyway, you may be wondering what in the world this has to do with a plunger. Enter this picture...




I love the toddler seat that is in the bathroom now. It is so handy. Way to go Walmart! But, if you will notice a little to the right of the toddler seat. Yes, that is a plunger.

Thankfully Trinity didn't notice it, but if she had she could have easily gotten to it. It was right in her reach. Nasty.

I mean come on, does that make any sense???

I wish we had a Meijer close by. *sigh*

Our Five Feathery Friends

We have a new pet! Actually 5 new pets! My mom and I decided to take on a new adventure together and get some baby chicks! We were at a yard sale Saturday and someone was selling them. So we decided to go ahead a buy them.

We plan on eventually having 25 of them! Wow! I only wanted 3, but my mom thinks we should get around 25. We have a ton of land to put them on so why not? Mom knows a lot about raising baby chicks.

When I first asked Steven if we could get some chickens he said no. But then my mom and I started talking to him about it and so he changed his mind. He is even going to build us a coop! He is such an awesome husband!

Here are some adorable chick pictures!

This is Steven fixing our temporary home for them.

Here we had card board lining their crate but now we have hay.

Trinity actually likes them! I figured she would be scared to death of them but she ain't. Every now and then, she will hold one. But if it starts moving, she drops it!

This is my niece, Hannah, holding her baby chick. (We gave one of them to her)

We are really excited to have these chickens. We don't know if they are roosters or hens so we have to wait until they get bigger to be able to tell. They all look just alike! We can't wait to have fresh eggs everyday!

More Pictures of Trinity!

Hey everyone! I just wanted to let y'all know that there are more pictures of Trinity on my photography blog! Just click here to see them!

Trinity's 18 Monthy Photography Session

Hey guys! I just wanted to let y'all know that I have posted a sneak peek of Trinity's 18 month session on my photography blog. To view them, click here!

Getting Organized

Folks, I am getting organized. And I love it!

It all started about a month and a half ago when I read this post that my blogging friend, Amy, wrote. It's like a light bulb turned on in my head! Her post has helped me a ton! I have now been making a meal plan and it has made my life so much easier. I have been cooking a lot more and I love it! Steven has loved all these home cooked meals!

I also read this post that she wrote about grocery shopping. It also helped me a bunch. I now go grocery shopping once a week. I plan what I want to cook and then I look up coupons and sale ads. I have also quit doing all my grocery shopping at Wal-mart. Last month I needed a green bell pepper. I paid $1.59 for a GREEN BELL PEPPER at Wal-mart. Then I went to Save-a-lot the next day and they had them for .50 cents! That is a HUGE difference! It really opened my eyes to shopping at different places.

Amy said that she is going to make a spread sheet with a list of the prices of things they normally buy so they know which store has those items cheaper. I really want to do this but I haven't yet. (If you have any tips Amy, please e-mail me:))

Now, for some more (uninteresting) stuff!


Yesterday I made a family organizer.

Originally, I was just going to make a list of pantry staples; things I always need in my house. When I make a grocery list, I always look in my cabinets to see what I need. That didn't always work because if I was completely out of something, I wouldn't remember and therefore I wouldn't buy it. Now I have a list and all I have to do is look at the list and check to see what I have and what I don't have.

I also made a section for my weekly cleaning schedule.

And this is my to-do list of bigger projects that need to be done. I was able to mark 4 things off yesterday and today I have marked 3 things off! I am on a roll!

Eventually, this binder will (hopefully) have more things in it. Like if I make a spread sheet of prices like I mentioned above. Also, I want to write down all my cleaning and cooking tips in it so I won't forget them.

I have been praying for wisdom. I'll confess, I had never really prayed for wisdom until I read this post (Yet again, by Amy:)) I didn't pray for wisdom because I really didn't think I needed it. Crazy huh? Well, I am just a stay-at-home mom. Why would I need wisdom? I didn't realize this, but being a stay-at-home mom (a good one anyway) requires a lot of wisdom! Who would have thunk it? I mean, I need wisdom when raising my child, grocery shopping, shopping in general, and being the wife God has called me to be.

I honestly believe that God is answering my prayer! No, I probably don't have much wisdom in a lot of people's eyes. Probably not in a lot of your eyes! But God has really been helping me to keep my home a happy, organized place. He has opened my eyes to a lot of helpful things I have missed before.

One thing that I have been doing now is waking up earlier. I am NOT a morning person. I really wish I was. I honestly could sleep until 11:00 every single day! But, I was waking up at 8, kissing Steven good-bye, fixing Trinity a bowl of cereal, praying, reading my Bible and then it's already 10:00!I have already wasted almost half my day!

I prayed that God would make me a morning person. I know this sounds crazy, but it was something I needed. He has answered my prayer in that too! For a couple of weeks now, I have been waking up at 6. I wanted to wake up at 6 so I could pray and read my Bible without Trinity climbing all over me and needing this or that. But, that hasn't worked. I have been waking up at 6, but Trinity has too! Oh well. Now I get up, pray, read the Bible, cook breakfast, and clean the house and I am done by 8:00! Wow! I feel like I have a ton more time now! And also, Steven and Trinity has a better breakfast than just cereal. Which is great!

Now that I am becoming "organized" my house is a lot cleaner. It's (almost) always "company ready". Yes there may be toys around but I can't do anything about that yet! And I don't mind toys.

This is my living room.

This is Trinity playing with her babies. She has 7 of them and an alligator that she carries everywhere with her. I was picking them up all the time, but now I just let her play with them until Steven calls and says he is on his way home from work. Then I tell Trinity that Daddy is on his way home so we have to clean the house so he doesn't come home to a messy house. And she picks up her toys, and loves helping me!

I can't tell you how much Amy's blog posts have helped me! I love reading about her family and she is one awesome Momma! Amy, please feel free to share some more homemaking tips! I need all the help I can get.