A Christmas Recap

Merry Christmas & Happy Holiday's to everyone! I know I have been MIA lately but we finally have the internet up and working over here at our new home. 

I hope everyone had a very merry Christmas and were able to spend it with their loved ones. 

Here's a little recap of our FIRST CHRISTMAS

Santa came to see Bailey 

Bailey opening her presents

It's safe to say that Bailey had a great Christmas, and we had a great first Christmas together as a family. Santa brought Bailey lots of toys some of her favorites including; her doctor kit, Dora legos, play fort tunnel, and a play kitchen with lots of food. Christmas is so much more fun through a child's eyes.

Now that all the madness is over its time to pick up all the pieces and go back to a normal routine. Jason has already returned back to work with the tons of snow we have received all month and I go back to the routine of my new job as well as enjoying my last two weeks off before classes start back up. So I am off to bed to get some rest. Sweet dreams all!!

P.S. I have a BIG Christmas announcement.....COMING SOON!!!! :)

The inconvenience of moving

Have I happened to mention at all how much I HATE HATE HATE moving!? Well I do! Sorry I have not been able to post much lately we still don't have internet, but that will be changing by Thursday! So for now all I have is my phone and it's very hard to blog off of that if you haven't ever tried.  

Our weekend consisted of very little and somewhat boring.

Friday: Dinner. Frankenmuth. Bronners. Family time.

Saturday: Attempted finding a Christmas tree with my family. Jason plowed. Sick baby. PJs all day. 

Sunday: More of Jason plowing. Picked up our couch. Dinner with my parents. 

To sum it all up Jason was out plowing ALOT this weekend since it was continuously snowing- complaining but not at the same time winter and I have a love hate relationship he's gone a lot especially at night or a moments notice but the more it snows the more money brought home. 

While Jason was busy playing in the snow I was home helping take care of Bailey who was sick and still is. I attempted taking her to the tree farm with my family but that didn't go over so well so instead we headed home to put on our fuzzy pjs and watch cartoons and eat soup all day. 

Hopefully I didn't just bore all of you! I hope to be back in action no later than Friday! So see ya then!

P.S. Started my big girl job today! Way to go me

We've Moved!!

Hi all! Sorry it's been so long since I have posted last time has been flying by and we have been super busy over here. Since Thanksgiving we have: moved into our new apartment ( I HATE moving), started getting ready for Christmas, and I finished my classes for the semester. 

This has been my life that past few weeks since right before Thanksgiving. I have been consumed by the four classes that I was taking from doing homework, to writing papers, to finishing projects, and studying for exams. And it feels so great to know I get to say I am DONE! Im sure it will feel even much greater to say I am done completely but were not quite there yet. I am excited to say that I have the next month off and I will be using it to relax and collect myself before I start another long semester.

We received the keys to our new apartment right before Thanksgiving but with the holidays we decided to wait until after to move in. We moved last weekend and now that we are almost settled in we love our new place. Its so much more like home with the four of us in our own space...Jason, Bailey, Bentley, & me. For those of you who don't know before this Jason and I were living at his parents with Bailey when it was his days therefore she always wanted to be with her grandparents and my dog, Bentley, was living at my parents house. I have been creating different home projects for our new place and I will be posting them on here soon!

I also received some great news today, I am now an employee with Morley and I could not be happier!! This is great for especially right before Christmas and I'm happy to say it's my first big girl job but the greatest part is that it will work with me going to school as well.

Happy Thursday everyone!!!

I Am Thankful

I am thankful for so many things each and everyday and although we think about these things the most on Thanksgiving we need to try and remember everything that we are thankful for on a daily basis. 

I enjoyed a great Thanksgiving dinner with my family today. Great and yummy food with some great people and even better pie afterwards...yum I love love love holiday food. After dinner we enjoyed playing a game of phase 10 together and a round of apples to apples. I just love when we can all get along and have a great time. Now Im all snuggled up enjoying my blog while Jason is out salting the roads...making that money!...haha

As a tradition of being thankful I have made a list of things that I have been and am thankful each day this past month. Enjoy!

1. I am thankful for all those who love and support me and have helped me to get through a rough time in my life. You truly find out who is there for you the most when you need them and those who don't judge you at all.

2. I am thankful for my family & the things we are able to do together. My brother was running at MIS for states and it was awesome to be able to watch and do it all together as a family.

3. Today I am thankful for my parents and how accepting they are of Bailey. My mom treats her just as if she is her own grandkid and that makes both Jason and I smile. You can tell my mom looks forward to her weekly visits and the two of them always have huge grins on their faces. 

4. I am thankful that I have been able to go back to school and follow my dreams not everyone gets this opportunity and I am so grateful I have so many people backing me up. 

5. I am so thankful that I have picked someone to spend my life with who gets along so well with my family. He's the one who always wants to go spend time with them and I dont have to push them and its such a great feeling. 

6. Today I am thankful for Bentley, my dog. Dogs are those one things in life that never let you down and can always make you feel better. They love you more than they love themselves and are always there when you need them. 

7. Jason's new job makes me so thankful. I am thankful that he has gotten this new opportunity to advance in his career and the opportunity to make more money and be successful like he wants.

8. I am thankful for my sister, its great to have her in my life. I know we dont always get along in fact we but heads a lot but I know that no matter what we are there for each other and nothing can change her being my sister. 

9. I am thankful for Jason's family and how they accept me as their own and take care of me even when he is out of town. 

10. I am thankful that God has given me such a love and eye for photography. Who would have known that I enjoy it so much that I want it as a career. I love to capture the little moments and look back on those photographs. 

11. Happy Veteran's day! I am thankful for my daddy who has served for our country, it hasn't always been the easiest having him leave us on occasion but he makes me and our family proud. 

12. I am thankful that my boyfriend cares enough to come home and surprise me! Being home alone with out him is no fun I missed him so much and to find out he was home a whole day early even if it was one in the morning makes me so happy!

13. I am thankful for the life that God has given me, sometimes we overlook everything and we become ungrateful but just remember all the good things you have and how fortunate you are to have a roof over your head and food to eat.

14. Today I am thankful for the love and support that I receive from everyone around me. 

15. Today I am thankful for my fuzzy pjs and lots of warm blankets and a TV of  ON DEMAND just full of things for me to watch. Sometimes its just nice to stop the craziness of always running around and just cuddle up and have a lazy day.

16. I am thankful for our little family. Today we went to take pictures and although Bailey struggled with her smile we were able to get some great shots that we will be able to look back on for a long time. 

17. Today I am thankful for the amount of time we get to spend together doing all sorts of things. Our trip to Bronners today was much needed get out of the house time, and Im so glad we were able to spend it with friends who share so much in common with us. 

18. I am thankful that I have the energy and motivation on Mondays to get up and out of bed and to make it to class all day long. Some days are better than others but I just have to remember the long term goal and that this will all pay off.

19. Today I am thankful for the love that a little girl named Bailey gives me. 

20. I am thankful for my cosmetology license and the fact that I had people who supported me through the whole process. I know it was a far fetched idea when I first suggested going to school but my family stood behind me and I found something that I love to do that I would have never known had I not tried.

21. I am thankful that Jason works so hard for us, I feel awful sometimes that I cant contribute as much as I want to he understands that I am going to school and trying to concentrate on that as much as I can. 

22. Today I am thankful for Jason's mom, she treats me as her own daughter and sometimes we have the best days together, just like today taking Bailey out shopping and just spending the day out and about.

23. I am thankful for our great friends that we have, they know just how to have a good time with us and its awesome to have people who understand what you go through and who are on the same level as you. 

24.I am thankful for our Sunday family dinner that we have at my parents house every Sunday night. Its great to make sure we get together and catch up on what has gone on during the week. I look forward to it every week and I always know Ill have that one home cooked meal. 

25. Thanksgiving break woohoo!! I am thankful for almost being done with this semester only two weeks left and I am still hanging in there. 

26. I am thankful for the keys to our new apartment that we received today. It has been a long time coming but were here and Im excited to start the next chapter of our lives.

27. I am thankful for my "little shadow" and how she always wants to do things with me. She can be a handful at times but when she's being sweet like tonight when she let me give her a bath and play with her toys it makes up for all the other times she's screaming "go away!" 

28. I am thankful for my amazing boyfriend, Jason James Carlson, words can not describe how much I appreciate you. A year ago we met and although it was under such strange circumstances you stuck by my side as a friend and you never gave up on being there for me. You mean the world to me and I am so glad that our friendship has turned into much much more. 

Canvas Painting

I found this painting on pinterest and decided to give it a try for myself! 

I love being able to make stuff for the house & not spend alot as well as have the satisfaction that I did it all on my own!

{Pinterest original}

Supplies Needed:

a blank canvas (whatever size you want for your home)

acrylic paints (about 6) 

paint brushes

painters tape

Paint as desired all over canvas blending your colors together

afterwards let dry

After drying place painters tape in chevron pattern

this may take a little time to master

dont worry its ok to take off and redo!

Once tape is placed on paint entire canvas with white paint

afterwards let dry completely!

Once dry peel off all painters tape

And this is your end result!!

I cant wait to place this on our walls somewhere

Weekend Recap...just a tad late!

Friends, Family, & Love

Friday:

errands w/ Bailey. friend time w/Hannah. takeout.

Saturday:

family photos. mall. pizza in Bay City. family time @ my parents.

Sunday:

Bronners. lunch with good friends. more family time. homework.

Bailey being silly at my parents in the dog cage.

The only way she would take her Christmas photo.

My favorite family photo.

Bailey had lots of fun at Bronners! 

She loved seeing the BIG santa

HO HO HO!

27 Months

Favorite Words: She is now speaking more sentences and having conversations with you. She loves telling you no, knows her full name and everyone elses name ends in Carlson. Instead of saying "mama" she now calls her grandma "gamma" and "puppies" has now turned into each dogs name "puppy toes" for Cash and my moms dogs are "atson" watson, "entley" bentley, and "ixie" for Dixie. 

Favorite Things: Her pots & pants and new pretend microwave, playing on the iPad she can complete all the puzzles by herself

Favorite Food: She loves her chips and dip {a must buy for the house at all times!}, loves her coffee with grandma, fruit snacks, and anything that your eating she wants too!

Now that she is two we are on to the great world of potty training!! Ahh help! haha She knows when she has to go but at this point is deciding when she will and wont get on the toilet. And when she does get on it she MUST have her privacy she will tell you to go away haha hopefully we keep making positive strides in this direction!

I know after 2 years people hardly ever say 27 or 30 months but why should these stop only because Bailey is 2 years old? She's changing on a daily basis right now and its so much fun to watch her grow. I want to be able to document these things and therefore I will ever couple months!!