Blogging Break and Some Pictures...

 

 These two little cuties kept us quite busy on this trip :P

 

  Sharing and letting go of toys was a new learning experience for Winston! Zane tried to be the gentleman, but Winston loved to test his patience :P 

  Marie's display of our teatime is always so pretty. A short moment of peace and refreshment!

Our good friend Julie was able to come over for a quick visit. She told me at my baby shower last year right after Winston had been born that she and her husband were expecting. And now a little over a year later here is her precious baby boy Andrew in the above left picture.

 We tried to capture some nice ones with all the boys, but it was pretty difficult! Andrew and Ezra were hungry, Zane teething and Winston shy.

Winston enjoyed looking at Jon while we tried to capture his cute chubby face. I loved these pictures Marie thank you!

It was so nice to visit Marie, Jon, Zane and meet precious little Ezra! It did my heart well! Ezra is a prize and treasure! Marie and Jon are so abundantly blessed!

They were so so good to us, made their home feel like it was ours. We also got to be there for the boy's baby dedication at church. I am so glad they waited for us to be there with them! 

So yes, we are home and back to routine. Benjamin back to work and myself catching up on laundry! Its so refreshing to go away and then come back! And when we came back Florida's Spring showed up! Beautiful flowers welcomed us when we returned ;)

Yes, I have decided to take a short blogging break. I say short and I hope it will be. Benjamin will be leaving for a deployment in June and I am beginning to realize the reality of it! He will be gone at least six months but most likely longer. The blessing to us is that he wont be on a ship! (Praise the Lord!)  I will be looking after and managing his website business and I have a lot more to learn, so with that, I need to focus my priorities for the next couple of months.

I know I haven't blogged that much anyway lately, but I would rather give a notice then just disappear for a long period of time. I will miss posting and you all who visit, read and comment! Thank you all so much for your dear friendships! 

I will be back, but for now God's blessing to you all!

Love

Elizabeth

An Exciting Jaunt!

Pslam 27:13-14

I remain confident of this
   I will see the goodness of the LORD
   in the land of the living.
Wait for the LORD;
   be strong and take heart
   and wait for the LORD.

 

Off for a sorta surprise get-away! 

Jon, Marie and the boys were going to meet Benjamin, Winston and I in Tennessee this coming weekend, but then Benjamin was able to get more time off then we realized and so we went ahead and checked airline tickets and it turns out that flying would be much more affordable then driving! 

Tomorrow I will be making a mad dash to pack, put ALL the fresh fruit we bought into the freezer since we can't take it along for the ride (bummer), then clean up the house so its nice and cozy for our return and then we will be off the following morning.

So I, we plan on taking lots of pictures the next week and half!

:D 

And I get to hold my two precious nephews in my arms!

It has been over a year now since I spent time with them in Ohio and my goodness have I missed them!

We are so blessed to be able to go and not just me, but Benjamin and baby too!

I hope to post while I am away, not that I have been doing well keeping up with my posting lately, but I will try. 

:)

 A very blessed week to all!

A Pizza Date

Well, it was not a planned pizza date! 

Benjamin wanted to take baby and I out. A cozy bookstore was the plan. 

I packed a little snack and boiled some water for the thermos so we could have a bit of tea while we enjoyed books. 

Well, the bookstore didn't happen, but I am looking forward to enjoying doing that maybe this weekend ;P 

Benjamin saw this cute little pizza place as we were out and about. 

The temptation was too great ;)

It is refreshing getting out once in awhile like this. 

And so fun with Winston being able to eat with us.

The pizza was divine!

 One of my favorite meals is pizza! 

Winston enjoyed it too.

Maybe this weekend we can still have our bookstore date :P

Glorious Rain and God's Glory

~Picture google images~

The sound of steady rain falling in the morning when I woke up was wonderful! When I was little, it was my dream to see the rain fall all day instead of for just a few minutes. It looks like my dream came true so far! Its still coming down! 

I am excited about Winston's birthday coming up. We invited our friends the Porters to come over and celebrate with us. Benjamin is going to cook his famous Brisket. I had dreamed of making the perfect birthday cake, but I decided to go along with my friends suggestion of going to Publix and getting a free one year old birthday cake that they decorate personally for you! I am not even sure Winston will eat from it! I am hoping for him to sink his chubby little hands in it though!

:D

I started a new Bible study last week with our church. Its called Apples of Gold. I am so excited about it! 

It is really nice to go away meet new ladies and fellowship. And then share in our Bible study of His goodness.
  Then to come home and walk through our door and see Winston's face light up when he sees me, squealing loudly! Now I know how Benjamin feels when he gets home from work!

I wish you could here the sound of the rain falling right now! I think a cup of tea is now in order to celebrate the rain and the day! :)

Here is a short worship song that I heard off of Benjamin's Pandora worship station the other day. I heard it playing and loved it! So I searched for it on Youtube and here it is! I love it because I have been reading and dwelling on God's glory. The brightness and peace of His glory is so beautiful and peaceful.

  Make sure you scroll to the bottom to turn off the music.

Happy Tuesday!

Catching Up

Happy Tuesday!

I have fallen way behind on my blogging lately. 

I had made two attempts to post, but my plans were thwarted because my computer has had something against my camera :P

The computer decided to leave his personal opinion in the past and now I am uploading around 700 pictures lol! Thanks to Benjamin my camera has a huge memory card! 

January has been refreshing and accomplishing so far. Cars and computers are 90% working again and just waiting on our registration from Arizona so we can drive our new (older) car! We are so thankful that we could still register our vehicles in Arizona (due to the military) because Florida is pretty pricey! 

Winston is over eleven months now. Only a few more weeks and we will be celebrating his one year birthday! 

I am excited to pose Winston for his one year pictures. I need a little of my sister's creativity :) 

Last week I checked the Goodwill and I am so glad I did! I found a nice wooden high chair for the little guy. He is so cute sitting in it and playing with whatever we put on the tray for him.

I have nursed him constant this whole year and we are just now giving him little things to taste and try. It is so much fun feeding him and watching his expressions.

We bought a juicer this month as well and I am in LOVE! I have been juicing up everything! Maybe I'll post some recipes of what we have been juicing. I'm loving carrots and apples right now. 

My second favorite holiday is just around the corner! Valentines Day!!

I need to begin thinking of how to celebrate it. With Valentines, our anniversary my Mom's birthday and now Winston's birthday, its a lot of celebrating! 

 Since our anniversary is so close to Valentines we may just combine them :)

Here are a few pictures from the 700 that uploaded successfully on my computer :)

His new highchair! 

 

 Its a little beat up and scratched on the front, but nothing a little scratch free dusting spray can't take care of, thanks Mom for the suggestion!

Mounds of fruit! I didn't even capture all the carrots, celery and beats in the fridge!

Dressed up in daddy's uniform ;D A present from Grammy and Grandpa.

I made some Vanilla Bean Sugar as little gifts for many of our local friends here.

I ordered some vanilla beans online (which was much cheaper) and had fun putting these little presents together.

They can use the sugar for tea or coffee, the sugar will have a nice aroma of vanilla in it.

This idea was from Nigella's Chirstmas book

;)

You cut open the vanilla bean to expose the meat inside and then cut

the bean into smaller portions.

Then place a stick or two in the jar and cover with sugar.

The sugar needs to sit in with the vanilla bean for at least a week.

Winston's first Christmas. 

Here he is on Christmas Eve.

Right before we opened up a package from Grandpa and Grammy.

Which were some homemade jammies for baby. They are so cute!

I also had some yummy homemade Creme Brulee waiting to be devoured. I used some of the leftover vanilla bean and oh my was it amazing!

The most recent shot of Winnie. 

In his Sunday clothes right after church.

Happy January everyone and many blessings for this New Year!

One Last Post Before the New Year

Christmas is over and New Years is almost here. I love the week between Christmas and New Years. Its almost like an extra week. After Christmas I always feel that it should be the new year as well, but there is still one more week left before the new year begins. Its so nice. 

We had a beautiful Christmas. Winston enjoyed unwrapping his presents. It was a lot for him to take in. His personality likes to study every little object, so he seemed to enjoy every part of Christmas!

I made salmon for Christmas dinner and boy was it delicious! I think I want to do that every year. Benjamin helped me cook it. He seems to be an expert at cooking fish! Thank you baby!

Well, it looks like Marie and Jon are about to have a new little bundle in their arms some time today! She had contractions throughout the night last night and Patty (our Midwife) said she is dilated at 5 cm. The baby was posterior and that may have slowed things down, but Patty was able to turn him and we shall see what happens next! I'll keep you posted :)

"Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? 

I will even make a way in the wilderness, 

and rivers in the desert."

Isaiah 43:19

Christmas is almost here......

Its already Tuesday!! Christmas is almost here yay!!!

This is the last week that we'll play Christmas music, how sad! Then I'll have to wait until next year! It feels like we just started listening. I am so glad we got an early start on our Christmas tree ;)

I had an extra box of lights so I went ahead and strung them up outside. I haven't seen what they look like at night from the outside yet, but they look sooooo cozy shining from the inside! 

Our weekend was full and busy. We finally got the car to the mechanic and we are so excited to have two cars again. Benjamin had to work the whole weekend, boo for him and for me. It always seems so quiet when he is gone those extra hours. When he works his regular schedule, the time usually flies by and I can't believe he is on his way home already, but those unexpected long hours really get to me and Winston.

So I finally played with our camera. I did figure out how to take pictures at night without the flash, but I couldn't quite get the focus right. And with this little cutie always on the move its a little difficult.

Not only was the car sick, but I accidently placed my laptop down on my hope chest one night in the dark and thinking that the surface was flat, (there were folded clothes that I hadn't put away yet) it fell down on the ground and lost the function of the screen.

So I have been without my laptop for the last month and half or so. And it looks like today we can go and pick it up  from Apple!

No more laying things down in the dark :( 

You can see Benjamin working in the back ground and his toes too he he :D 

I made some rice crispy treats last night. As I was searching for a pan I found these cute little Christmas tree pans that I had bought two years ago after Christmas for like $1.00 each. 

They were perfect for my crispy treats! The treats molded right into it. And then I pulled the two trees out and smacked them together :D 

After I took the picture I decided to un-smack them so we could could eat them easily.

We ate one tree last night and the other one probably wont last much longer!

:)

I got all our presents wrapped today. I even got the cats a can of canned food. They are not accustomed to eating canned cat foot. They eat the hard dry stuff. So I bought them a can each lol. They were sniffing their wrapped presents after I placed them under the tree. That stuff is pretty strong smelling I guess!

We were so blessed to receive a very nice car seat from Benjamin's work last week. It was donated from several families that want to bless military families. Its a super car seat because we can use it for infant, toddler and then booster. We both are so overwhelmed with the generosity of these families.

 So we have a big box sitting next to the tree waiting for us to unwrap it and put it in the car for Winston :) He is just now ready for it too. He has outgrown his infant seat, so this was just perfect for us.

The Lord is so good!

I hope everyone is blessed this week as we celebrate the joy of the season which is

 Christ our Lord.

Merry Christmas!

Happy Happenings

Winston is now over ten months old. I am glad I have tried to record each month of his growth.

Otherwise the feeling of him growing so fast would be worse.

He says ddddd and bbbbbb and mmmmmm and almost bubble :)

dada and mama have been said on numerous occasions as well.

He has been pulling himself up now and wanting to get up on those little chubby legs.

Our little peaceful time has gone by. No more staying put when placed somewhere ;) He has my full attention lol!

He has six teeth at present so there's no asking Santa for his two front ones :)

I think we would ask Santa for a little break of teeth  making!

Here is Bay who always wants to be near his Winnie even though he is missing chunks of hair all over his body and a few whiskers. This cat is pretty determined to hang out with his little companion.

This duck was given to us as a present, it has come in so handy! He loves sitting and relaxing in it. And of course bathing and splashing in it!

 

He is my delight that the Lord has blessed me beyond my wildest dreams. After looking after other children for a long time and loving them so much, I knew the feeling would be even better when I had my own. And boy was I right! 

Getting excited for Christmas over here. We had some really cold weather blow in and our temps reached the low 20's which is pretty low for us. The cats are pretty grouchy and we have had to dress and act like Coloradoans! I am so glad, it really helped set the Christmas mood!

I still have a lot of shopping to do and I still have to visit the post office. I don't think there has been a Christmas when I was ahead or on top of things!

I am excited to do a post for CSN this month. They have graceously asked me to do a review for them and I cant wait to show what I picked out for Benjamin. I will do a post on it so keep on the lookout for that!

It was hard to decide what to pick because of the endless supply of house decor, home bar furniture, kitchen tools! It was so much fun!

Benjamin has duty this weekend so I am planning on getting all of our little Christmas plans in order. I have selected our menu and still need to shop for it. Its been a little difficult lately because we are sharing one car, so its not as easy to get some of these things done like I would like to. 

And boy was Wal-mart packed to the hilt last night! Whew! I always tell myself to get everything done right before the month of December and then enjoy the month with the festive things. Maybe next year! ;P

I hope everyone is having a happy month of December!

Blessed

My Mom's visit came and went and was so refreshing and uplifting. The six days we had felt like two days. As soon as she hopped into the car from the airport we didn't stop talking. The few hours of sleep we got were enough to recharge our batteries for the next day of delights.

That first morning waking up and jumping into her bed with Winston in tow, was one of the brightest of my memories. We had coffee in the mornings on the back porch feeling the cool breeze and looking at the lake water. I don't want to forget it!

On a walk to a little lake close to the house where there is baby ducks.
Winston was pretty delighted!

I took her to the base and showed her all the different special things and then we had a picnic lunch by the water in this cozy private area. The weather was perfect.

Since Benjamin isn't a fan of brownies, I took advantage of my Mom's love for them lol!

 

 Mom served us non-stop while she was here. I would go upstairs to put the baby down for his nap and come back down and the dishwasher would be unloaded and loaded again, our lunch would be cooking and the laundry started. She did this throughout the whole of her visit.

In the evenings Benjamin and baby would go to bed, and I would sneak off to her room where we enjoyed tea and some form of a  yummy sweet. We were pretty tired by the end of her visit lol!

 

This little cutie enjoyed Grammy so much! Her laughter was contagious and he couldn't resist it!

Our day at the beach went by too fast. I can still smell the ocean. We spent several hours there, but it felt like a few minuets. Benjamin had to work the whole week and weekend, so he missed out on a lot of our fun. The last day she was here, he took us to one of his favorite restaurants. 

It was soooo nice!

It was a little difficult getting myself back into the routine again. Today I think my spirits are up and I am ready to get to cooking our yummy Thanksgiving menu! 

Benjamin and I went shopping last night and it was so delightful. Its really fun to be with him when grocery shopping. He takes his time and gets way more then I would have, I love him! ;)

This time last year we were in two different states, wishing we could share this holiday together and now here we are a year later enjoying the joys around us and especially each other.

I am trying to cherish every second of these holidays, cause it looks as though we may not get to share them together again next year.

I received my apron from my sweet friend Missy. I can't wait to post it!

Happy cooking! :P