A Decade in Review

I saw this idea on another blog and loved it...so I have to borrow it.. It is amazing to think of 10 years and what changes have occured in my life! God is so good and faithful!
(disclaimer: this is long, once I started got excited about documenting milestones! more for me than you!)

2000

Adjusted to life in the real world with first job as a Registered Nurse

Learned how to deal with the stress of working in ICU

Bought my first home (a townhouse)

Realized living on my own was lonely even though I was still 15 min from mom and dad

Met the man of my dreams and realized he would one day be my husband

2001

Jan 26th, got engaged to my prince charming and started planning a wedding

Wanted to marry in may, got talked into september for "financal reasons"

Realized my future husband was brilliant and full of potential

Signed him up for the MAT without him knowing then drove him to take it so he could go to graduate school (his dream but needed a kick in the back side)

Start the application process for john to go to anesthesia school

Prayed for guidance in so many life changing areas

Sept 8th- marry the man of my dreams

Sept 11th- watch the twin towers fall while on a cruise ship on our honeymoon.

Try to get in touch with family from ship, no luck.

Feel sad and scared and try to enjoy the honeymoon anyway

sept 20something- get on a plane for interview to Duke for john, near panic attack flying so close to the terrorist attacks

dec-john interviews in kansas for anesthesia school

I don't go because "God would never send me to Kansas!"

John gets accepted to KU immediately.

I tell my family and new hubby I can't go to kansas

God starts revealing His plan for us to go to where?KANSAS

2002

John interviews at UAB, knowing he had KU to fall back on

I hope to fall in love with birmingham while there, hate it

March-put house up for sale to get ready to move to kansas

thinking it will take a while, sells in 2 days

Move in with mom and dad for 2 months while getting ready for move to kansas

May-move to kansas, john starts school

I stay behind to finish working and become and aunt for the first time!

I join john in kansas. hardest move of my life.

Have to totally rely on GOD for everything.

Find amazing job with nursing agency at 2 great hospitals

Make enough to support john going through school and live in 2 bedroom apt.

Realize how stressful it is to bethe breadwinner, move away from home, get married, and start feeling alone and lost

Homesick and depressed

Realize the honeymoon is over and had no clue how hard marriage really was going to be

Take a much needed vacation to the beach following john's first semester in grad school

Pack my bags for home and tell my hubby this is too hard (didn't ever make it out the front door)

decide to "stick it out" and adjust my expectations

Find an amazing church and start going to a couples bible study in kansas

2003

John starts in the OR for anesthesia school and stress levels reach an all time high.

Marriage is tough and my prayer life gets an overhaul.

Start longing for a family and the desire to have a baby burns in me

Realize we hadn't gotten pregnant and had been married almost 2 years.

Countless doctor's appointments and a diagnosis of infertility

Depressed, devistated, exhausted

Cry myself to sleep for weeks

mourn the loss of not conceiving and start praying for a miracle (along with hundreds of other people through prayer chains)

may- travel home for hubby's best friend's wedding

June- get in-vitro payment plan in the mail and again grieve over the thought of not having children

See 2 faint lines and realize God loves me

Take 3 more tests and know a miracle has taken place

Hospitalized for hyperemesis and find out pregnancy is tough

Stress out about not being able to work while so sick and being the bread winner.

Meet and get to know my best friend through work

Continue to enjoy new and growing friendships through church and small group

Go to marriage counseling

Found out we would be having a BOY

2004

Working way too much, days, nights, weekends, ICU, labor and delivery all with agency, trying to keep up with bills and pregnancy

Blood pressure goes up and swelling starts. pregnancy does not agree with me

Feb 27th-induced and deliver a healthy baby boy after a very trying and painful labor

Bond with my miracle

Hubby excells in school and looks forward to a dec graduation.

realize my hubby is the best father I could ever have hoped for for my son (and more)

Baby blues set in

Have to go back to work

Gramma (my mom) makes a trip to kansas 9 times in 9 months to watch jackson while I work and sleep

Aug-trip to louisiana to house hunt and look for a job, realize family is what matters

Spend every penny we have to put a contract on builing our dream home

Dec- john finishes anesthesia school after much blood, sweat, and tears for both of us

Move home to louisiana and back in with my parents as our dream home finishes contruction

Jackson learns to walk and we are amazed everyday with our miracle and how wonderful he is

2005

Jan- john studies every waking minute for boards

John starts new job

11month old jackson is rushed to the ER with anaphylactic reaction to eggs (scariest few hours of my life)

Feb-move into dream home

Jackson turns 1

March- realize that God has a wonderful plan for us and that includes blessing us with another miracle baby

Aug 29th- Hurricane Katrina changes life as we know it forever

Again count our blessings-our home was spared

Endure another sick pregnancy and watch blood pressure go up

Realize it's hard to be pregnant and take care of a 1 year old

Nov 16- Logan Maxwell is born and my life is filled with joy

2006

Jan 1st brings God's faithfullness in john's job transition to new employer

Adjust to life with 2 boys

Settle into roll as stay at home mom and love it

Vacation back to kansas to visit dearly missed friends, didn't go quite as planned

Still adjusting to living in hurricane ravaged town

2007

John gets idea to write a book, I never knew he could write

Boys start mommy's day out

I lose 70 pounds of baby weight

Start making deeper friendships at church through couples small group- open up our home for meetings

Continue to learn that marriage is hard work and adjust to the demands of 2 kids on our relationship

Vacation in pensacola and realize how blessed I am

Enjoy hours of boating, swimming, and good ole' louisiana living with parents and sisters close by.

Realize family get togethers are crazy with 7 cousins under the age of 6

2008

My hubby spends hundreds of hours writing, editing, and ultimately self-publishing his book about anesthesia

Worry our oldest may have autistic traits, start evaluations and countless therapy session with multiple disciplines (ST, OT, etc.)

prayer life again gets revved up thinking about wanting only the best for our boys

Head back to the beach for our favorite vacation spot.

2009

Watch Jackson excel in school and progress through speech therapy and occupational therapy enough that our fears and concerns diminish

Train for and complete my first ever triathlon

I go back to work for first time in 5 years

Take a trip to Branson, Mo with in-laws

Boys meet mickey mouse!!! great vacation to disney with my parents

The most perfect beach vacation yet with crystal clear water and perfect weather. The boys love the sand

Can't shake the desire for another baby

Pray about adopting

Sign up for half marathon to race in 2010

Struggle with finding out who I am and what I'm here for...

We have had a crazy full week of wonderful activities! It all started last weekend with a trip to granny's house.  After a 5 hour drive, the boys were so excited to play with cousins and have fun on the farm.  They were pleasantly surprized that "santa" found them a weekend early and at granny's house.  We had a great time of playing, relaxing, making cookies, and eating way too much food.  Granny always spoils us! (and grandaddy too)

Next stop, christmas eve bruch only an hour away from home with more "cousins" and fun play time with trucker, a boxer puppy that the boys love after warming up to him.  We also got to meet new baby raimey and I got some baby love to fill my tanks!

Christmas Eve night I hosted my family get together with boys sisters, husbands and all the kids on my side of the family! 7 under the age of 7!!! A little crazy and so much fun. We ate and played and read the story of Jesus' birth.  The kids had fun acting out the shepards and angels with grandpa with he narrated! (pics to come)!

We then threw in an evening of gingerbread houses and boys was that fun  interesting! The boys had a blast and I am still vaccuming up sprinkles and candy.  Gramma and Grandpa came over for the fun and 3 hours of candy and frosting had my boys spinning forever on a sugar high!

And finally, Christmas morning! The boys were so cute. They slept in til 8am which was nice. They were content to open their stockings and play with a 3 dollar car and new toothbrushes. Go figure.  Santa brought a Wii this year and we have had a blast playing that as a family!!!

Christmas day was topped off with more presents at gramma's and lunch! yum.

Hoping you all have a very merry christmas and looking forward to a fabulous new year!!!!

...we wish you a merry christmas and a happy new year...

i don't know if it is a problem with blogger or me but i can't upload any photos right now. don't even have the option for upload or attach in compose???? anyway, just wanted to say merry christmas a post some pics from our wonderful celebrations! lots of fun visiting family and friends and sharing company with ones we love! there was a trip to granny's, then to see family in ocean spring's, christmas even dinner at my house with my family and then santa this morning! more family fun for lunch at my mom's and now hours of fun wtih the big gift from santa...the Wii !!!! The boys LOVE it (and their mama does too)! anyway, will check in later to see if I can add some pics. hope everyone had a wonderful day and looking forward to a happy new year!

santa's on his way!

Santa's lap

Merry Christmas from the Marble's

Christmas Home Tours...

Welcome to the Christmas Tour of Homes with The Nester!

This Christmas season we are truly blessed and wish you and your family blessings and happiness this holiday! Thanks for stopping by and visiting our home tour.

Don't forget to go to http://www.thenester.com/ to see the full tour!

Santa delivered these new couches yesterday! i am so thrilled with them and love that they came before christmas!

Santa greets us when we hang our keys here!

My hubby is so wonderful to work on the lights every year. This year we added the big lights that line the driveway and I love the addition! We usually just have the trees in the window.
I love getting out christmas photos from years passed. This is the boys last year in their santa hats! A gold tree and the end table is adorable.

We put up a tree in the upstairs bonus room and in the attic dormer. The boys have a tree in thier room and I am in charge of the foyer tree. So much fun to decorate!

My first year to have dining room furniture. I loved decorating this room this year.

I added the ornaments to the chandelier this year and I love it. A fun and different way to add christmas to any room!

This is the boys tree in their room. Their train is a nice addition and they have hours of fun playing and watching the train go around and around.

I let them decorate their tree this year all by themselves. They loved it.

Check out some of my other blog posts for more christmas fun.

Thanks for stopping by!


Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Meet Knuckles...

"Santa" dropped off Mr. Elf today and the boys are thrilled! I saw this idea last year and decided it would be a fun tradition to start in our family. The boys are 4 and 5 now and I know are making memories now that will stay with them for a lifetime. I have such wonderful memories of being a little girl and all the wonderful things our family did together.

Here is our elf that Jackson named Knuckles! I thought that was the cutest name and giggled that he thought of it on the spot when I asked what his name should be.

I bought the gift pack that came with this book to introduce the elf to the kids and tell the story of how the elf reports to santa every night until christmas eve. Logan was mesmerized at the thought. Of course we know that Jesus is the true reason for the season and talk daily about what this holiday means.

DEAR SANTA,

PLEASE SKIP OUR HOUSE THIS YEAR!!!!!!

Show us your life...CHRISTMAS TREES!!!!!

Well, if you hop on over to www.kellyskornerblog.com, you can see some amazing Christmas trees. She put up a linky to let everyone showcase their Christmas trees! Some great ideas to look at and beautiful decorating!

This is my main tree in the living room, which lived in the dining room every year until we finally got furniture. It likes the new home in the foyer in front of the doors for all to see! I have changed the colors a few times and am currently stuck on gold, red, and some bronze and brown thrown in there. Needs a little more polishing but not until after Christmas clearance sales!!!

I had planned on putting a picture every year of the kids as they grow. These frame ornaments were my fav but can't find them and haven't found others to compliment them yet. This was logan 2 years ago!

With my tree out of the dining room, I wanted to spruce up the table, so they got the 3 lighted trees this year that usually go on my entertainment center. The ornaments from the light are still growing on me but love that we have something in this window to see from the outside at night!!

My hubby is in charge of the tree in the attic dormer! Yes the attic. I know we are crazy. It was his idea and I LOVE it! He also does the tree in the bonus room over the garage. We spent 2 days putting all the trees up and decorating. Oh how I love Christmas trees!

And this is the boys tree. The decorated it all by themselves and I think they did a pretty good job! The loved that I let them put as many ornaments as they could, wherever they wanted!

Thanks for stopping by and hope you are having a wonderful Christmas season!

Things that make me giddy...

I think I'm on 5. The chance of snow!!!!!!!!!!!! That's right people, southeast Louisiana is under a winter advisory and my boys (and their mom) are giddy with excitement at the possibility of a snow flurry or two falling just to make this a perfect Christmas season!! Of course my poor children think they will be making snowmen in the morning, but don't think that is going to happen. We may just have to hop in the car and drive to the snow, since it will be a lot closer than say, Colorado or Kansas!!!! Anyway, I wore a scarf to take the kids to school which was a needed piece of clothing and not just a great fashion accessory! Hope all of you are enjoying this first week of December and all this season has to offer!! Hot chocolate anyone???

wordless wednesday

Things that make me giddy!

3. The lights of christmas that are strung everywhere!! The tree, garland, outside, white lights everywhere. I love the evenings when all I have on in the house are the decorations and the tree. It is such a cozy, warm, happy feeling to see the glow of white christmas lights everywhere!

4. The smells of christmas!!!! This is my favorite candle this year! It is a new one from Bath and Body Works and is to die for. We have artificial trees so I leave this candle lit all day when I am home! Heavenly and (squeal) totally makes me giddy!

hop over to this site

If you like my blog, Danielle is the designer that I have to give credit to! She is doing a great giveaway on her blog for a blog makeover! Check it out!!!! I also have her button to the right side bar.

Things that make me giddy!

2. My Yultide Camelia tree

Every year I can't wait for this tree to bloom. It took quite a hit after hurricane Katrina and I had a year where it didn't bloom. I nursed it back to health and as you can see is happy this year! I love putting up my christmas decorations while gazing at my camelia tree!!

Things that make me giddy!

1. Decorating the house for Christmas!