9 Years and Growing

Once upon a time in January of 2004 my best friend, Jenny and I were looking for a drummer for our band. Little did I know that the guy that would fill the position in our band would also play such a huge part in my life. I didn't realize that when we were praying for our drummer that I was also praying for my future husband.

Matt joined our band that January in 2004. We spent a lot of time together playing music and hanging out. It didn't take him too long to steal my heart. His heart for God was apparent from the start and he was funny and smart. I had never met a guy like him before. I remember getting so excited to see his screen name pop up on MSN messenger and getting to chat with him after school on days that we didn't have band practice. We began to hang out more outside of band stuff and on March 13, 2004 he asked me to be his girlfriend. 9 years ago from tomorrow. It's so crazy to think that was 9 years ago!

 

9 years ago. Matt couldn't take a serious picture then either.

I am writing this post because I was just thinking about how much my life has changed in the last 9 years. Normal changes like growing up, getting married and having a family. And to think that this journey started 9 years ago when I met my love at the age of 17. It's all I've ever really wanted; to be happily married and have a family.

Matt and I were engaged later that summer in Aug. 2004.

We were married a year later on June 11, 2005. We were 18 years old and had just graduated high school.

After we got married in 2005 we spent a few years just enjoying the married life and working on our educations (Matt still continues doing school stuff).

In July of 2008 Matt got his LPN. He is now currently a Wound Nurse, Licensed Massage therapist and is working on a B.S. in Pshycology and is also working on getting his RN as well.

Soon after Matt graduated from LPN school we got the exciting news that we were expecting our first child! We were super thrilled! If there was anything that I wanted more than being married, it was to be a mama.

We found out we were pregnant Sept. 1, 2008 and our sweet little boy was born exactly 8 months later on May 1, 2009.

We have so enjoyed our little family. Over the last few years we have moved a couple of times and saw a few minor job changes.

Last summer we were super blessed with the opportunity to buy our first home. We have had a lot of fun making the house our home and adding our own personal touches. 

Our home:)

A current photo of our family taken in November 2012.

I just feel super blessed looking back on the last 9 years. God has brought me major joy in the man he gave me to be my husband 9 years ago and the growing family he has given us...

Baby Arthaud #2!:)

The awesome announcement photos are courtesy of my sister, Sarah Johnston (Sarie's Photography)!

Basement Makeover!

I didn't post anything on here last month, however it was a pretty busy month. For one, I wasn't feeling so great the last few weeks and still feel a bit icky- just couldn't muster the energy to sit and look at a screen and type. Nonetheless, I did manage to finish our basement makeover!

When we bought our house last summer, a friend and myself painted the whole upstairs in 2 days. Up until earlier last month I couldn't even think about painting anymore of this house. Painting is such a chore and hassle. But, I got sick of looking at the buttercream-yellow on the basement walls and wanted a more cozy feel for the basement.

 Here is what the basement looked like when we first bought our house:

 

We started by painting the walls Earl Grey, adding this cute vinyl quote and moving in a couch my sis gave me.

Then I decided to paint the foyer a different color. I had left the "foyer type area" the yellowish and at first decided a cool orange would go well with the earl grey: WRONG! Epic fail. The orange looked so different in that lighting than what i thought t would. So then I pulled out some dry sage green that the previous owners left in the garage and it looks SOOO MUCH better!!

After the painting was finished we moved Matt's drum set to the office to make more space since we ended up getting rid of the leather sofa and getting a sectional (second hand deal!) The space is SO cozy now and a great place to relax or entertain. :D

Sight Words

Elisha and I have started working on the basics of reading. We have started with working on sight words. We really like using starfall.com for the different activities on the site. I knew he was ready to go from the computer activities to sight word books when one night he began to help me read his bedtime story. He loves the book Good Night, Pillow Fight by Sally Cook and he does a great job with recognizing the sight words.

I was able to catch him helping me read  one of his fave books:

This week I decided we were ready to start the BOB Books. I really like the BOB Books and I am super pleased with how well Elisha is doing with learning the sight words. The first day I read the book to him. The second day I read it to him again, but I also asked him to see if he could read any of the words --he got several of them. The rest of the week we went  through the book together a couple times during our reading time. By today, he was able to read the entire book to me with only a little help. The BOB Book we started with is Mat. I think this was exciting for him since his daddy's name is Matt. He always trips up on the "Matt sat on Sam" sentence, but other than that he did super well.

It's so cool to watch Elisha read even if they are sight words. I'm excited to see him grow into an enthusiastic reader!

Christmas Activities

Last year, I feel like Elisha and I did a whole lot more crafts and handmade gifts than we did this year. We didn't make handmade ornaments this year. Time has just really gotten away from me. Here we are just a few days away from Christmas --already! I feel like it was just Christmas 2011! This year has just flown by so fast not to mention just the last few weeks! So for the last several days I have been trying to do at least few festive activities and crafts.

Since the 1st of December we have done an advent activity everyday. This consists of a simple chain made of 24 red and green construction paper links and 1 yellow link for Christmas day. We tear one off everyday. We also have 25 small books that share a tidbit of the story of Christ's birth and we read one of those everyday as well. Our family  lets the Santa "thing" be a "thing". We teach Elisha that Christmas is Jesus' Birthday Party. We teach him that Santa is the nickname for a man named Saint Nicholas and that he was a good man that served Christ and gave gifts to others.

Here are some of the crafts or activities that we have worked on:

Baby Jesus craft.

Playing with play doh and Christmas cookie cutters.

Got to visit Santa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Made lots of Christmas goodies:)

First Snow!

Today we enjoyed our "first snow" day around here! I had to get up super early to help shovel the driveway so my hubby could get out for work. The power went out for about 15 minutes. It took him about 20 minutes to get to work-- on a normal day that would take about 5 minutes. He said there were quite a few accidents and cars in ditches. I was supposed to go run errands today, but opted to stay home and play in the snow, hang out with family that are staying with us and catch up on some nap time:).

We got a few inches of snow and powerful winds caused some fairly deep snow drifts in some places.

Elisha and I had fun in the snow:)

Elisha and Uncle Nate make snowballs and wait for Aunt Rachel to come out so they can get her with them!

I love how our tree looks when it's covered in snow:)

After playing in the snow we warmed up with some grilled cheese and tomato soup.

We enjoyed some indoor activities as well such as playing Hi-Ho Cherry-O and Toy Story 3 Matching Game. Elisha spent a good portion of the day hanging out with his Uncle Nate--they played with blocks, had a pillow fight and played Mario. 

My Sweet, Silly Boy

Spending time with my son is one of my most favorite things in life. Since the day he entered this world my life has become brighter, more challenging and more interesting. I'm definitely guaranteed  a smile and a chuckle pretty much every day that he is around. I just wanted to share some (more) of  the sweet and silly things that this little guy says and does that makes my life more interesting and joyful.


*Yesterday Elisha was full of silliness and mischief. At one point we are just sitting doing an activity and he looks up at me and says, "Mom, I just wanna hold you like a little baby." I just looked at him and chuckled and thought that was a weird thing to say, but also really sweet at the same time. He probably said it two more times that afternoon. I'm not sure what made him say it, but it was sweet.

*Last night it happened. You know that one thing  that happens to all parents of small children. I was naive enough to think it wouldn't happen to me. We've had the talk about this, we have stressed how naughty it is, we have prepared him enough that he should know NOT to do this thing. But he did it anyway. He cut his own hair. You know what I'm talking about, that "v" cut right in the middle of bangs. Matt had the scissors and clippers out and was giving himself a haircut. He left the stuff out because we were planning on giving Elisha a trim. When Matt wasn't looking, Elisha made his move. Afterwards, we told him how disappointed we were that he would do that even though he knew it was naughty. He said he was sorry. Matt fixed his hair and cut it shorter than what we wanted initially. When Matt was done Elisha said, "look, now I'm handsome like you, except I don't have a beard." Matt chuckled and replied, "yeah, but mama is not gonna like that we had to cut it so short." with that Elisha yells upstairs (where I am) "Mom!!! I'm handsome like daddy now, but I don't have a beard!!" It was just so cute, I couldn't possibly stay upset. His hair turned out fine and he won't need a trim for awhile.

*A couple of days ago Elisha was over at his Auntie Sarie and Uncle Luke's while I was out running errands. His Uncle Luke asked him, jokingly, "Elisha, when are you going to settle down and get married?" Elisha replied, "I don't know." Luke then asked, "well do you have a girlfriend?" Elisha replied, "Well, I have my mommy." What a sweetie!

*Just about everyday Elisha will randomly tell me, "I love you, mom." It's always completely random. I never know when he will say it because I'm not usually actively doing anything for him. He will be coloring, playing a game or eating and he will surprise me with those sweet words.

Helping mama make grilled cheese for dinner. He likes to put the cheese on for me.

Holiday Happenings

So, I've been meaning to post new stuff for awhile, but I have been SUPER busy so this will be a sort of another photo dump along with updates on what we have been up to!

For the last few weeks I have been helping a friend do some interior decorating projects: stripping tables so we can paint them, planning color schemes, working on sewing pretty things, etc. I'm pretty excited to see how things look when it's all done. It's been really fun helping this sweet person get organized and decorate her space.:)

Last week I hosted Thanksgiving. Twice. Two days In a row. --I'm still recuperating from all the busy-ness. It was fun baking new things though! The shopping and prepping began on Monday and the cooking and baking and more prepping started Tuesday and didn't end until Thursday afternoon. On Wednesday my parents and siblings came over and on Thursday my husband's family came over. We enjoyed the traditional turkey, hot rolls, mashed potatoes, stuffing and pumpkin pie. We also enjoyed new twists on old traditions on Wednesday with my mom's sweet potato souflee-yum! On Thursday we enjoyed a new, unexpected dish for Thanksgiving-nachos! My Sis in law's boyfriend brought nachos--super good idea!

I had fun with a few new things as well. I made a braided homemade loaf of bread--deelish and pretty:)

I also made a festive veggie tray that looked like a Turkey-thanks to Pinterest for the idea:)

On Friday I worked on cleaning house and putting away Fall decor and breaking out the Christmas decor.

On Saturday we took Elisha to see Rise of the Gaurdians. He really liked it. It was kind of cute. He thinks Jack Frost is pretty cool. Then Saturday night we baked and ate cookies, drank egg nog and watched Arthur Christmas while decorating the Christmas tree. Elisha LOVES putting ornaments on the tree--he had such a great time.

Now, it's Sunday evening and I've been enjoying an afternoon of rest since coming home from church this morning.
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving and good times with family and friends. I know I did and I have SOOO much to be thankful for!:)