nails

I got some amazing nail polish from my mom for Christmas.  They are called Nailritz and have tiny tips so you can make fun designs on your nails.  I had never heard of these but love to do designs.  I saw an awesome picture on Pinterest and wanted to give it a try myself.

Love how they turned out!

Starla and Aron's wedding

On December 7th, my good friend (and coworker) Starla got married!  Her and Aron are the CUTEST!  They are a great couple and deserve to be SUPER happy.  It was awesome to be able to share in their special day. 

Saying their vows

 Some of my favorite people were there!

Steve and Amber (my boss)

 They threw a really fun party!  Mark and Amber danced to the 'Cupid Shuffle'.  Sema, Starla, and me danced to the 'Macarena'.

 There was even a bubble war!

 And I'm sure it had nothing to do with drinking...

 

 Lastly, a mini photo shoot with the girls

Congrats Mr. and Mrs. Eisold!

(Told you, they are adorable!)

nails

newest color is 'berry naughty' by Essie.  LOVE it!  Favorite Essie color so far :)

It's a very dark red.  Perfect for Christmas coming up

first mill foster

Judah is our newest foster!  We picked him up yesterday which was his very first day out of the puppy mill!  WBTR came to the rescue and busted him out of that place, and now we are on the long journey to normal dog life. 

We have had an exhausting first (full) day with him!  Although it has been extremely frustrating trying at times, we have had some successes as well, which helps us to see the light at the end of the tunnel.  When we first brought him into our house, he was completely terrified of us.  Last night I was able to get him to snuggle with me on the couch, and Mark too!

He wouldn't eat either, which we were able to do before we went to sleep, and was still successful with both meals today.  He only pooped in the house once, but every other time has gone outside!  He even has chewed on a bone and tried playing with Stella with her ball.

The best moment was when we brought him home, and took him straight into the backyard.  We have a good fence and we didn't worry about him getting out, so we let him off the leash to run the yard.  He ran so free and looked like he was having so much fun.  Made us feel really special to be able to give that to him... freedom. 

We still have A LOT to work on though.  We had to block off a part of the kitchen to keep him in a more secluded area so he didn't pee all over the house.  Plus, this allows us to keep him from humping the girls.  He isn't fixed yet and it's just annoying! And, he HATES going into his kennel.  Puts up the biggest fuss.  Kinda scares me too!  He's a whiner when he's in his kennel too.  My list could go on, but I'm praying and hoping it gets better.  I have to keep reminding myself that no one taught him better and he has no idea what's going on.  Patience....

Kari Jobe - Find You On My Knees

This is my go to song.  I listen to this when I'm feeling down and when I need a boost, and after the shooting today, I feel like everyone can use this.  Makes me think of my grandma too.  I miss her...










 "Find Me On My Knees"

Troubles chasing me again,
Breaking down my best defense,
I'm looking, God, I'm looking for you
Weary just won't let me rest and fear is filling up my head.
I'm longing, God I'm longing for you

But I will find you in the place I'm in, find you when I'm at my end,
Find you when there's nothing left of me to offer you except for brokenness.
You lift me up, you'll never leave me thirsty,
When I am weak, when I am lost and searching
I'll find you on my knees.

So what if sorrow shakes my faith,
What if heartache still remains,
I'll trust you, my god I'll trust you.
'Cause You are faithful and

I will find you in the place I'm in, find you when I'm at my end,
Find you when there's nothing left of me to offer you except for brokenness.
You lift me up, you'll never leave me thirsty,
When I am weak, when I am lost and searching
I'll find you on my knees, my knees.

When my hope is gone, when the fear is strong
When the pain is real, when it's hard to heal
When my faith is shaken and my heart is broken and my joy is stolen, God I know that

You lift me up, you'll never leave me searching,

Find you in the place I'm in, find you when I'm at my end,
Find you when there's nothing left of me to offer you except for brokenness.
You lift me up, you'll never leave me thirsty,
When I am weak, when I am lost and searching
I'll find you on my knees.

nails

I have been thoroughly enjoying my few days off before I need to buckle down and study for finals.  It has been amazing to not worry about homework for a day or two!

Anyways, for as long as I can remember, I have always been a huge fan of painting my nails.  I can't remember a time where I didn't wear nail polish.  So here is my latest nail color.

  

I have to say, I'm not a huge fan.  I picked the color (Sugar Daddy, by Essie) cause it was a light pink, but instead my nails looked the same color as my skin.  Looks a little funny!  It would be a good choice if I could do french nails, but I'm not a long nail type of girl.  I think they are WAY harder to keep nice when they are long.  At least for me, they chip really bad, and the nail polish doesn't stay on as long.  Oh, well!  Better luck next time.  I got a dark red color from Essie that I'm going to try next time.  I'm sure that'll look awesome, especially for Christmas.

Kitchen organization

This project has made me so happy!  It wasn't anything that took too much time, and wasn't super creative either.  But we definitely needed this change!  So we had been getting more and more things to hang on the side of our refrigerator.  And I HATE clutter.  It was definitely creating A LOT of clutter, so the pictures had to go! At the same time, we had a very bare wall behind our kitchen table, so I knew this would be the perfect space to put something, anything that would move the pictures off of the refrigerator.

I was so happy when I found a magnetic dry erase board at Michael's which I could use a 50% off coupon with.  Got the board for $12!  This way I could move all the pictures to hang on the board, PLUS I could write my daily tasks on here, so my husband could even help out around the house.  And it's amazing how much it has helped us!  I used to use a household binder for my daily, weekly, and monthly tasks, and it worked awesome.  But while I'm in school I need him to help me out around the house.  When I'm done with school in May (FOREVER!) then I can do it all myself again, but until then, this board has saved my marriage life!

Much better!

puppy play date

We had a puppy play date at our friend's, Jake and Penny's house.  Our friend Johnny came over too and brought little Addie.  Penny made an amazing dinner of Baked Mostocholi!  It was SO good!  And Stella and Luna were so happy getting to play with all of their friends!  We also did a gift exchange between the dogs, so they were so thrilled to play with all their new toys.  The biggest hit was the edible Christmas cards that Johnny got for all the dogs.  You can buy them here. 

Luna and Maddie chewing on their edible cards!  So cool!

Jake and Jett

Jett

Addie and me

Mark playing with all the doggies (minus Jett)

Maddie getting a chunk of Addie's cheek

We are so greatful to be able to spend time with such wonderful people!  And it's also great to let the dogs get all their energy out ;)

Dogsit

Last week Friday, we had a little visitor to our house!  Our friend, Johnny, was going to Chicago for the day and asked if I would be willing to watch his puppy, Addie, for the day.  Of course, I jumped at the opportunity to spend the day with a puppy!  She was so cute and so sweet!  

 Stella taught her to play, and they played like crazy!  Luna, on the other hand, absolutely hated her.  :(  She is a major Mamma's girl, and didn't like that the puppy was taking my attention and snuggling with me.  As a mother to 6 litters, I would say she has a right to not like puppies if she doesn't want to. 

Luna giving Addie a dirty look

Luna had to make sure that the puppy didn't spend any time with me without her there

And this is me getting no work done, because Luna refused to let the puppy sit on my lap without her being there.

So overall it was a fun day!  But I did learn that maybe we won't be getting a puppy or puppy foster anytime soon.  At least for Luna's sake.  Too bad because puppies are so cute and snugly!!!

Christmas Tea

 Yesterday I made the long drive (about 7 hours round trip) to visit my sister, Sara, and go to the Christmas tea at her church.  I decided not to stay with her over night because I made Christmas cookies with my mom and Grandma today.  Anyways, the Christmas tea was a BLAST!  I got to meet all of Sara's Northwoods friends.  It was a lot of fun dressing up and listening to the story of Jesus's birth and all of the wonderful music!  Glad I made the long drive, and hopefully will be able to go again next year! :)

s

Sara and I

Sara and Sarah

Christmas time

Last week on my break from school, I wanted to make sure I got up all of my Christmas decorations.  I always try to get this done on Black Friday, even though I typically have to work on that day as well.  This year I only had to work for 3 hours, so I got a lot done before work, and then had Mark help me set up the tree and houses when I got home.  I love how everything turned out!  I always love my Christmas decorations!  I think I may get that from my mom... seeing that I grew up with a different Christmas tree in each room of the house, with a different theme for each one.

Christmas tree all decorated!  I didn't use all of my ornaments this year.

This is my first year putting up the village.  They were my mom's and she knew how much I loved them growing up, so she was kind enough to give them to me!

 I was really hoping to be able to get an awesome picture of the girls in front of the tree for our Christmas card, but it is near IMPOSSIBLE to get them to sit together and look cute.  This is the best picture I could get.  They look SO cute, but it didn't make it onto the Christmas card.

Luna and Stella looking to daddy for treats

And lastly, Stella was super excited that I got her a new bed for a Black Friday deal. She was so proud that she sat in it the whole time we were decorating.  She is so dang cute!

Thanksgiving 2012

We always have SUPER busy holidays because we have a lot of family to see!  Thanksgiving this year was NO different.  We went to my mom's for lunch and Mark's uncle's for dinner.  AND we had dinner last night with Mark's mom's side.  BUT even though we are busy, we are grateful to be able to see and spend time with everyone.  It was even EXTRA special because my sister came down for Thanksgiving this year and we did a gift exchange since they won't be down for Christmas!  I LOVE my new scarf that she got me :)  I have fallen IN LOVE with infinity scarves!

-link-

 I didn't get many pics so I only have 2 funny ones to share...

Luna and Stella on the way to Aunt Carol's

Mark looks thrilled...NOT!  But at least Stella is smiling :)