Are you reading my husbands blog???

I hope you are, because I've been MIA for most of this month and so much has gone on!  If you haven't checked out my husbands blog go check it out now at http://qcrashing.blogspot.com/ also check THIS POST out where he makes our BIG announcement.  Yep, that's right, I'm PREGNANT! YIKES. 3 kids.  This one wasn't planned and it's been a little overwhelming to think about but we've always wanted more kids (we just thought it would be thru adopting) but the pregnancy stage and newborn stage kind of gets the best of me.  If you read my post HERE where I announced I was pregnant with Journey, you will see shortly after that I stopped blogging for ummm... almost 2 YEARS! Eeeeek!  I can't even look at the post around that post where just looking at the pictures I remember how sick I felt.  I'm honestly going to try and stick with this blogging thing but honestly 3 kids seems overwhelming at the moment.  It starts getting "easy" again after they turn one...or something like that.

What else has been going on this month?  Well, we decided to do the 7 challenge inspired by Jen Hatmaker's book 7.  This month we decided to only wear 7 articles of clothing for the whole month.  You can read more about that on my husbands blog also HERE.  Seriously, I hope you have been reading my husbands blog this month.  We also had visitors from Alabama.  Our friends Michael and Heather Bledsoe and My Dad, his wife, and my younger brother came for a week.  Then my birthday and mothers day.  AND so much has been going on with The Beautiful Mess (which you can also check out on Q's blog).  ALSO, Deci got to be a model for ZozoBugBaby's Spring/Summer 2013's catalog and that was so much fun!  After we took the girls to the Zoo.  We also planted a garden and the weather has been absolutely BEAUTIFUL! 
 
So, lesson for you dear blog readers, if I go MIA again...Go read Q's blog! :)  But hopefully I'll have another moment when I'm free and feel good where I can post some pictures from the month of May! 

7. An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess

I just started reading this book called 7 An Experimental Mutiny Against Excess. By Jen Hatmaker.

I'm only on page 29 but I love it.

Watch this video below and it will tell you more about the book.

Our Weekend

On Friday, Q went to weigh in at Weight Watchers and lost 3.8 more pounds!! I'm so proud of him! So, this below is what we did to waste time...take pictures. :)

 Saturday night Q and I went on a date.  Our friends Holleigh and Alec asked us a few weeks ago if they could babysit for us sometime.  It's such a HUGE blessing to us to have them and Breanna around to babysit for us.  I don't know what we would do for date nights if we didn't have these Crash members here. :)  Plus, Q's mom, and her husband, sent us "Easter Date" money. Yay for Date money and for wonderful in-laws!!! We went to The Vintage and it was Wonderful.  They are known for their Fondu.  YUM!

This morning Journey still had snot pouring from her nose so Q said he would stay home and let me and Deci go to church.  There was SO many people there this morning!  Hello Easter Sunday!

 Then we spent the afternoon at a local park.  Then Deci and Q went to go help feed the homeless downtown while I stayed home with Journey.  We played in the backyard for a little while and I saw our first flower!  Living in this new house I have no idea what all is planted in the back yard.  I'm a little over my head because I have no clue how to take care of plants...

I usually take pictures of the plants on my phone and sent them to my mom to ask if it's a weed or a plant...then I ask her how to trim things...  Today I sent her a picture of the ferns planted in the back yard and asked her what to do with them.  They are HUGE and 1/2 are brown and dying.  So I spent about 30 minutes trimming them and Journey played in the bird bath. The yucky, green water, bird bath!  Then the bad part is we went in to eat and I forgot to wash her hands!! GASP! I know, I know! I'm a horrible mom!  I remember 1/2 way thru but I'm guessing at that point the damage was done. :/  

   Happy Easter!  :)

Finding Balance

   As a mom I really struggle with finding balance.  How much time during the day should I play with each kid, how much time should be spent cleaning, teaching the kids, crafts with kids,  playing online, doing bible study, laundry, phone calls, reading, watching T.V. and finally "me time".  I know it doesn't sound like a lot...but if you're a mom you probably understand.  This doesn't even have the days I go grocery shopping so take Deci to school...some days have more going on than others.  I'm sure I'm not the only mom out there that struggles with this.  I sometimes wonder if I feel this way because of my first child's need to have me near.  She wants me to play with her 24/7.  Seriously, I could probably play with her every waking minute and she would still want me to play with her more.

   I feel like there are not enough hours in the day sometimes.  The house is almost always a mess.  I almost always have a kid at my side asking me to play with them and I honestly almost always crave "Me time".  I understand that as I signed up for this mom job that I gave up a lot of my me time or I have to be creative and have that time when the kids are in bed.  I've had several moms with older kids that tell me to "let the house go and spend time with those babies or you'll regret it when they are older."  I understand this but a part of me just wants to clean...to do something that feels like I'm normal.  Not just a mom that's changing diapers, cleaning up spills, playing barbies, calming crying kids, teaching them how to share... sometimes I just want to clean.  I want my house to look clean even though it hardly ever is.

  I know also how important it is to teach your kids to play by themselves.  To teach themselves how to entertain themselves.  I somehow messed up on this with Deci but with Journey she just wants to follow Deci around.  Journey has always been more content playing my herself and I know that has a lot to do with being a second child.  I actually called a friend back in Alabama a few months ago to ask her what her day was like as a stay-at-home-mom when her kids where my girls age.  I know that with every age it's different but I just needed to see an example.  I'm such a "by the book" kind of mom.  I can sometimes be a perfectionist even though I'm SOOO far from being perfect.  I just have a hard time balancing all that needs (or all I want) to be done during the day.

  I talked with a friend this morning that said she will set her kitchen timer for 10 or 15 minutes and clean until the timer goes off.  Or she will set it and play with her kids until the timer goes off.  She said she does that because she use to start cleaning the kitchen then walk away to do something else and never get the kitchen clean.  So, today I'm going to try this because I do the same thing.  Even sometimes I'll sit to play with the girls and then remember that I didn't put the clothes in the wash so I'll get up and go do that and then remember something else that needs to be done.  I know there doesn't have to be this schedule everyday...even though in Audrey's Perfect World there would be a schedule! haha!  I just don't want to neglect my kids.  I want them to know I love them.  I want to do my Job and clean the house and cook, I want to do my bible study everyday, and I need me time...to blog or read.  I'm just being honest with you guys today.  I know there aren't a ton of moms that read my blog but if you are a mom and have suggestions for me I'd love to hear from you.

Wednesday's List: Alabama/Oregon (Part 1)

It's Wednesday!  That means it's time for Wednesday's List. Join me and write a post in list form, then leave a comment and let me know you are joining me so I (along with others) can check your list out! I LOVE LIST!

I've been pondering this list for a while.  The difference between Alabama and Oregon.  Believe me the list is quite long so I'm going to break this into 2 parts. So...here goes :)

The Difference between Alabama and Oregon (Part 1)

- The Weather.  Oh, I could say so much about the difference in the weather...but then I'd get all depressed that I'm still having the Winter Blues...so I'll keep it short. It rains a lot here. A LOT...but not a lot all at once.  It drizzles all day long here, where in Alabama it pours for an hour or two then the sun comes back out (most of the time).  The Winter is LONG here and short Summers, BUT when it is Summer here it's WONDERFUL.  Absolutely perfect weather to play outside.  Alabama Summers can be Too hot for most people (I just so happen to love the heat...) and lots of humidity (which I'm loving living without).  Also no Tornado's here and I don't believe I've seen lightening (thunderstorms) since I've been here.

- If someone invites you to their house to eat here in OR usually you will not be offered Coke products...you will have water or wine. (or Coffee)

- Lots and Lots and Lots of Coffee here.  Everyone drinks it...even kids...  Coffee shops are EVERYWHERE.  There are these drive-thru coffee places that are about as small as a walk-in closet.  At our old house in Springfield, OR you could go a mile (or less) in any direction and hit one of these coffee shops. (I just counted 7 that were in a mile of my old house!)  We lived 1 mile away from 2 different star bucks.  Seriously! CRAZY and I LOVE it!

- Kids.  Kids don't wear hair bows here...or not a lot anyways.  Here kids wear layers.  Leggins, skirts, rain boots... RAIN BOOTS are everywhere.  Alabama kids wear dresses.  Frilly dresses and Bows!  I don't see a lot of frilly dresses here in Oregon.  Also it seems in the AL kids wear a lot of initialed clothes, bags...well anything you can initial.  I don't hardly see anything initialed here...especially not clothing.

 - Speaking of Dresses.  Someone once warned me about this one.  I got my hair cut by a girl about my age just after we moved here.  She was really interested in the South.  She said she really wanted to be a Southerner, wear a sundress, bake a casserole and show up at a picnic. haha! :)  I wondered why people in Oregon don't wear dresses.  Well, this Summer I figured it out.  It's only warm enough to wear dresses for about a  month or two here (for me anyways! ha!).  So, why buy a dress when you can only wear it for one month?  Or maybe for real Oregonians there is another reason...

-  ORGANIC.  Oregonians are all natural.  There are several grocery stores here selling all natural foods.  I know there are people in AL that eat all Natural foods, Organic and Gluten Free but here it's to the extreme! 

- In AL you have Rednecks.  In Oregon you have Hippies.

- I don't have to pump my own gas here in OR!!! It's actually illegal to pump your own gas and I LOVE it!

-  Dogs.  More people here have dogs than in AL it seems..  If you have a dog here it's really a kid.  You can take your dog to work, church, out to eat.  I see more dogs in the strangest places here than ever before.  It seems in AL people don't take their dogs everywhere with them...Dogs are USUALLY just pets...maybe in the backyard or some even in the house.  Some have hunting dogs.  

Well, there you go... just a few differences.  Come back next Wednesday for Part 2.

If you've been to both AL (or the South, really) and OR (or the North West), I would love to hear the differences you noticed. :)

Where have I been???

Well...MOVING and unpacking and no internet... and it's been over a week since I've blogged! Eeeek! I know, shocking. I have to admit that it's been quite nice.  I love to blog and I feel the need to blog.  I want to post pictures about what we're doing and keep family updated.  I love recording our life on here but If I'm honest, it was a great little break. I actually picked back up the 5th Harry Potter book and read almost a whole chapter without falling asleep! It's nice going without the internet for a little while.

(excuse the pictures that aren't edited....you're lucky I've posted pictures at all! ha!)

    We are loving our new house and I can not wait to post pictures but It's so far from being put together.  I still and finding boxes that I need to unpack.  I want to do a post soon of our old house compared to our new house and all the funny things like the fact that we didn't have a backyard...or really not much of a yard at all, so we had our trampoline sitting in our drive way! Yes, you could spot the Alabama rednecks from a mile away!  ha! Now we have a backyard and I LOVE it!

   We've also found a gymnastic place that's close by where I take the girls once a week for open gym.  They are having so much fun and we are getting to meet new friends.  We haven't met our neighbors yet (which I miss our old neighbors terribly!) but we hope to venture out and meet them soon.  Quinton met one of them who is an elderly lady in her 80's once when I wasn't with him.  I told Deci about her and now she is so excited about Granny (Q's grandmother) meeting her when she is here in April so they can be best friends. :)  She said they are both old! haha!

  Ohhh, I have to tell you the funny thing that happened this week:  We got snow! Yep SNOW in March.  Happy Spring! And to make things worse funnier, in Alabama it was 85!

  Well, I just wanted to stop in and say hello...I'm still here!

It's Friday! A Week Review In Pictures

I'll start this post off by telling you that I've met an AMAZING friend this week.

Her name is Kylee....which confuses me every time I say it because it's like meshing my 2 brothers names together... Kyle and Lee...but not really... but I keep wanting to say it that way. I'm sure she hates this! ha! :)

ANYWAYS, She really is amazing and I am so glad my friend Holleigh introduced us.

She is originally from Ohio and moved out with her husband this past Summer.

It's nice to have another friend here who understands how hard it can be to live so far away from family.

So.... Here's Her Blog: Ramblings of a heart learning to love and how to blossom 

Go, NOW, and check out her really cute Clutch she just made! (I saw it in person and it really is as cute as it is in the pictures!)

Now, on to my very CRAZY week:

Sunday night we had our very first meeting about the Beautiful Mess in the basement we will be meeting at to do outreach...did that sentence even make since?   This whole Beautiful Mess stuff should have had it's own post but man when do I have the time...something HUGE is going on this week...

 Do you know what happens if you leave a one-year-old alone in a room with baby wipes??

Well, this is what mine does:

 Every. Single. Time. Why do I keep leaving them where she can get them??

 So, This HUGE thing that's been going on this week...and the surprise I talked about last Friday, HERE is that we are MOVING!!  Just to another place in the same area...it just has a back yard, dishwasher, bonus room (for the girls toys and guest to stay), and two bathrooms!!!! Which we don't have ANY of those things in the house we are living in now....well, I mean, we have a bathroom, just not 2. ;) So, this week every day I've been loading up my car with boxes and taking them to the new house.  I'll do a moving post soon and post more pictures.

Box tunnels are the best!

Brooke, Breanna, and Maribel

Look! Our closet is CLEAN!

 Seriously, I LOVE these pictures! I love these girls so much.

 (Don't let all these pictures fool you, they do fight a lot too!)

Yesterday morning we met one of Deci's friends from school at a local indoor gym to play.

Since Brooke is here visiting us in Oregon at the Moment, I'll leave you with a post (click HERE) from the past about the one and only Brooke and I'm thinking maybe I should get her to potty train Journey while she's here. 

And, I'll leave you with this picture.  I've never been a fan of BIG sunglasses but there is just something about Oregon that makes me feel like I can branch out...what do ya think?

Haha! These are Breanna's that she got at Forever 21 for like $2.  I think I need some! Kerrie would be proud!

Wow, That was packed FULL! Happy Friday Everyone!

It's FRIDAY: A Week Review in Pictures

My friend Brandi (who I mentioned Here. A.K.K Aunt B.) sent me this key chain and I LOVE it.  These keychains were designed for SCTNow.com and all proceeds go to them to help Stop Child Trafficking.  You can buy one for yourself HERE at www.thevintagepearl.com You can also read more about how you can help stop child trafficking by reading a post I wrote a few weeks back HERE.

I can not keep this girl off the table.  I remove her from this table SEVERAL times a day.  We underestimated our high top table when Deci was this age.

So, Saturday we ventured out and went to the Frontier Heritage Fair.  It wasn't quite exciting but my husband loves any kind of fair.  We went but ended up at the Asian Heritage Fair going on next door which turned  out SO much better.  Too bad my husband had a stomach bug and we had to rush out after about 15 minutes. :( Luckily no one else caught the bug.

My youngest blog reader. :)

Journey and Deci around the same age in the same dress. :) This is the dress Deci wore for Kerrie and Wade's wedding.  Deci saw it in the closet the other day and begged me to put it on Journey so she could be a princess.  :)  I know this isn't the best picture of Journey.  Sometime soon I want to put her in it and take some pictures outside but right now it's still too cold.   

Happy Friday Everyone!  Have a GREAT weekend!!

Lately

So, whats been going on lately? you may ask...  WELL... nothing really but also SO MUCH! ha!  First, I was asked earlier this week to guest post on another blog! EEEEEK! It's my sister-in-law's blog. Kerrie @ Williams in Love.  I haven't written it yet, it will be on her blog sometime in March.  I'm writing about my mission as a mom.  I'm honored that she would even ask me but also so intimidated (silly I know)...she has way over 100 followers and she writes so well.  I'm not sure I can measure up, but it will be fun. :)  Kerrie has started something new on Tuesdays and I love the idea.  Check out her post from this past Tuesday HERE.

Also,  we booked tickets to fly back to Alabama for a visit this Summer and I CAN NOT WAIT!!!  It's so expensive to fly back so it looks like we will only be able to fly back once a year.  We picked a few weeks last Summer and it turned out perfect.  I miss the Alabama humidity and heat!!  Honestly, I do!  I miss all of your Southern accents also!  I love it here in Oregon but honestly 3 weeks back in Alabama once a year is SO refreshing!

 We also have been praying about whats next for the Crash team.  My husband, Q, wrote a post called The Crash Update.  If you haven't read it yet, you should. :) Please pray for us.  Q and another guy met with this church staff on Monday.  So far we haven't heard anything back but we are excited about the possibilities.

Also on Monday Deci had a play date.  One of her friends from school came over with her mom.  We don't know a lot of girls here Deci's age so it was really nice to be able to get to know this little girl and her mom better.  If you didn't know, Deci goes to school twice a week for speech.  It's a free program here.  We got to pick if we wanted someone to come to the house or for Deci to go to a school type environment.  We thought it would be fun for Deci to be around other kids and she loves it!

Just in case any of you were wondering...my hair is fading slowing, which is a good thing.  It is no longer EXTREMELY red/purple at the top.
 
Well, I feel like I haven't updated you guys on life lately...so there you go!  I'm already working on Tomorrows "A Week Review in Pictures" post and then Saturday (hopefully) I'm going to be posting a photo an hour post about my day today.... like Kerrie's post today.  So fun!

Oh, ONE MORE THING: Have extra income tax money?? Consider helping my friend Breanna go to India! :) Check out how you can help by reading THIS POST.  She only needs about $100 more to have all $500 of her deposit!

A Week Review in Pictures

Last week I forgot to do a week review in pictures so this one has a few pictures from last week.  Warning: You are about to see  A LOT of pictures. :)

Deci and her outfits:

On Saturday Q and I went out for Valentine's Day.  We went to get super at a Thia place in Eugene then we headed on over to the Roller Derby Tournament.  It was soooo much fun to watch.  The middle picture is from our neighbors 2nd birthday party.  And the picture on the right was our celebration after getting our taxes done.  We didn't owe anything back! Whoohoo!!!  Deci requested that we sing her happy birthday, so we did.  Why not? :)

Monday night bible study.  Marks on the wall from a 1-year-old.  Yay for Magic erasers! That stinker little 1-year-old learning to wear a bow.  Sisters. :)

Q (Click HERE to see his blog) took Deci on a Daddy/Daughter date last night.  On Valentine's Day he came home with flowers and Chocolates!!  Then we ordered my favorite: Stuffed Crusted Supreme Pizza from Pizza Hut! We ended the night watching Lost after the girls went to bed! It was a perfect day.

Journey wearing Deci's backpack and rain boots. My Valentine Deci made me at school.  The Valentine's Deci sent to family. Deci and Raegan. The McKinney family came down to Eugene on Valentine's day to take Knox to a clinic.  Breanna watched Charger and Raegan.  Raegan went with me to pick up Deci from school.  :)

So, I dyed/colored my hair twice in one day.  The picture (above) on the left is after the first color.  My new friend, Katie colored my hair the first time.  She is amazing and gave me an AMAZING deal for her to color my hair professionally.  The problem is that she has never touched my hair before and I colored my hair this dark brown/black color a few months ago.  So, it's so not her fault that my hair didn't change much.  By the way she said she would fix it for me but for us to not be rushed she would have to wait until Tuesday. Busy, busy girl who is spending the weekend in Portland with family.  If you know me, you know I don't have patience and when I decide to do something I want to do it NOW. :) SO, I went out and bought hair color myself (pictured above Middle).  Yes, I wanted my hair that red/orange color.  Breanna (Her blog) put the color on for me and we left it on for 45 minutes AND she put the color on my ends first.  Here's what my hair looks like now:

:)  I'm thinking the problem is that dark brown/black color that I put on months ago will not absorb a lighter color.  I've colored my hair a lighter red color before and it took but it was probably because my hair didn't have color in it.  So...this is what my hair will look like if you see me in the next month or so...I'm not touching my hair again for a little while. :)  I'm not sure this is the "different" I was going for but it sure is different.

*Speaking of Breanna (mentioned above) Please go read this post HERE about her and her upcoming trip to India and find out how you can support her by giving financially and praying for her! :) Thanks!

Portlandia...and other things.

This post is going to be random.  Consider yourself warned.  My goal is to post a blog every day this week.  Not because I want to blog everyday but because this past week SOOO much has gone on and I want to remember it all! I am so behind on blogging...how does that even happen?  (1.) We had guest for 6 days.  I've been busy.  (2.) I want to blame it on editing.  I've never edited a picture in my life until a few weeks ago and now I'm addicted.  BUT now that I can see the difference It's so hard for me to put a picture on my blog that hasn't be edited, especially if it's from my cell phone. (Which if I haven't said lately, it takes HORRIBLE pictures. I miss my old phone.)  Editing pictures takes so much time.

Random: Have you ever seen the show Portlandia?? It's pretty funny.  Mainly because we live in Oregon now and get most of the jokes.  They exaggerate a little...maybe...  I want to do a post one day on the difference between Oregon and Alabama. 

The picture below I took of the T.V. When we were watching Portlandia. Check out the Pillows!

 

Now check out the pillows below at our house!!

 

We have the same pillows!!  haha! Ok, cheesy, I know!  Gotta love IKEA!

Portland's IKEA is where I got our pillows.  (and our curtain rods for $1.99 each and our curtains!) 

Okay, I told you it was random.  (and just think, I could have spared you guys this blog and actually wrote about something important! ha!)

Why I blog.

      This is my life on paper. 23 Journals here and I'm missing one.  I know this because it's my very first one. It's got to be around here somewhere.  It's small so it's likely that it didn't make it on the bookshelf but maybe in a drawer or box somewhere.  I started my first Journal in 1993 if I remember correctly.  I was 11 years old.   Some of these Journals are just horrible poetry. Some are mission trip journals. Two of them are more like scrapbooks with mostly writing but with pictures. I also have a pregnancy Journal and  2 "Mama" Journals answering questions about each of my girls and my life growing up. I love looking back on life. So, if you haven't guessed yet, (1) I blog because I want to be able to look back on life. It's my new Journal...in a weird public kind of way.  Also I'm living 2,000+ miles away from almost everyone I grew up with.  (2) Blogging is a cool way to let friends and family back in Alabama know whats going on here in Oregon with the Williams family. (3) It's my new "hobby".  What else do you do when you move from a place where you knew a million people (not literally) to a place where you only know 10 people? Ha! Get out there and meet people, right? Yeah... well, also I'm enjoying my girls being at an age where I can blog.  I remember having a 3-year-old and a newborn and wondering how in the world anyone with kids EVER blogs! Things are calming down now and I LIKE it, a lot! :) 
       So, been wonderin' why I've been posting on my blog almost every single day lately? Well, there ya go! Recording life online for ME and YOU! (and the fact that my mom's been here helping with the girls so I have extra help... and my little secret: I'm writing this post on Thursday night while the kids are in bed...but you won't see it until Saturday. But if you see things slow down it may be because mom is leaving in the morning (Friday)...which was yesterday...If that makes since...) Whew, ok so that last part was confusing. I think I need sleep! Thanks for reading my blog! Friends, family, strangers...  I hope you enjoy!

Recent thrift store finds.

Minnetonka Moccasins for Deci. The price tag says 3.99 but they were 1/2 off so I got them for $2!!! :)

This is random but I wanted to share because I'm addicted a little bit to thrift store shopping. I once counted around 12 thrift stores about 10 miles (or less) from our house. Since we've been in Eugene I've only bought myself one shirt (that I can remember) from a chain type store.  Not bragging on myself here but bragging on Oregon for having the coolest thrift stores around. I do most of our families clothes shopping at second hand stores.  I found this purse below for $12.99 and it was 25% off!

liz&co.

For some reason in this picture it looks more yellow than gold...it's more of a mustard yellow/Gold color.  Also I got this coat at a thrift store a few months back.   To find out more about this picture, check out my friend Breanna's blog.

A week review...in pictures.

Date Night! Eating with the Woodward clan.

Monday night Bible Study. Alabama Crash team.

Our First Snow this winter!

Deci's self portrait.

The girls having a sweet moment. :)

CHEESE!!

Dress up!

Deci picked out her clothes for school this morning.

She fits in well here.