Kids in their sunday clothes

So not much to update...nothing new around here, other than just dealing with everyday stuff. Mark took pics of the kids this past Sunday before we left to church and they look so cute..So I played around w/some fun boarders to make them fun. Sorry this isn't real exciting or in depth but hey sometimes less is more..ha ha ha

P.S Don't pay attention to my un-made bed and my backside....we were literally getting ready for church and Mark was snapping away after each kid was done getting ready...Still cute I think...lol

ENJOY!!

TV + SON = TV NOT WORKING!

This is my adorable son (doesn't his smile just melt you!? That's his look how cute I am mom, you can't be mad or upset with me smile).....and the story of the non-working TV!

So my TV was working fine this morning and early afternoon. Taylor was at school and I was in the kitchen doing paperwork stuff and making my important phone calls. My son was in the living room watching Sesame Street that he normally watches EVERYDAY and WAS sitting on the stool enjoying it. Well at one point I heard him getting into the DVD's under the TV while I was on the phone. (I just knew I had all the movies out of the cabinet and would have to pick up after my conversation) I could not get off the phone and I could NOT ask her to hold on so I still kept a listening ear out for Blake and checked in on him a few times. Seconds after I last checked on him the TV volume is SUPER high..so I rush in and turn it down and wiggle my finger at him NO-NO! He grins and runs to his chair and sits down. I walk away and then I hear him messing with buttons which I recongnize as the TV buttons and/or DVR machine. I am almost done with the conversation and all the while wishing I never made the call in the first place but it was one of those things that you had to call early enough or be on hold for FOREVER! So I am finishing up and I hear the TV go off. I said great he turned it off, any minute he will be running in here (my kitchen) saying ma ma ma getting my attention to show me what he did.

I finished the conversation at the same time of him coming in yelling ma ma ma ma. I ask him what he did and that it was a No-NO playing with the TV. (telling a 1 1/2 yr old what is right and wrong like they are 6yr old doesn't work) Blake of course smiled and grinned at me and ran away. I left the TV off and didn't think about it and started to pick up the DVD's and clean up his toys. After I was finished I turned the TV so I could catch up on some mindless shows before it was time to pick up Taylor and what do you know it won't turn on. It acts as though it will turn on but doesn't do anything just shows the POWER light as on. Grrrr I unplug, shake the TV disconnect and reconnect everything and no vail NOTHING!

So no TV for us, and Mark is away till Friday. I have a TV in our bedroom but it isn't connect to any cable or anything and it's SUPER heavy so that isn't gonna work...it just collects dust, since we are still on the fence about having a TV in our room. So I am left with no TV or have any clue what to do. So sad, when I have TONS to do...rooms to organize,closets to clean...laundry to fold and put away and plenty more but I am sad with NO TV!

Well if your wondering what happened to MISTER Blake....NOTHING did...he took a nap, we picked up Taylor...and we came home and read books and attempted to take another nap (didn't work out) ate dinner, played and now it's 7pm and he has to go to sleep..He is whiny right now since he didn't take his second nap today. I will watch some movies on the laptop and fiddle on here. Will do it all over again tomorrow till my lovely husband gets home Friday evening and sees what he can do to fix it. I am just HOPING it;s a simple fix and we don't have to get a new TV cause we can't afford it! Praying it's fixable...

I'm done with my rant for the evening.... off to get carpultunnel (however you spell it) searching for some entertainment on my laptop in my bed wishing I was sitting on my couch watching my DVR shows and watching TV!!! hee hee

Adoption

Well the day and call has finally came. Our adoption caseworker called to set up our interview with her in 2 weeks. We have been waiting for this day for awhile now. We started the process before the holidays and have been anixously awaiting for each step. The interview step is the second to the last step for it all to be final.

Not sure if everyone knows but I'm pretty sure most of you do. Mark is adopting Taylor and it's something we are excited about. We have talked to Taylor about it and she is soo excited and has been practicing writing her new last name. Taylor's bio. father signed away his parental rights to Taylor and to me that was a selfless act he did. It was not a healthy situation for anyone involved and made Taylor sad not having him as a bigger part of her life. I know it was not an easy decision for him to do but I appreciate he did what was best for Taylor. Taylor understands the best way a 6year old can about adoption and the process. We have been very open with her and trying to make it simple, exciting and a happy time. I feel we have done a good job at that cause everytime we talk about it or what to expect with the next step she has a HUGE smile on her face and asks questions and just expresses how happy she is.

I am thankful for Mark who has stepped up and been such a wonderful example of a righteous man and a very loving man to Taylor. The only male figures Taylor has had her life that have been consistant has been both her grandfathers and uncles. So to see the special bond Taylor and Mark have as father and daughter feels my heart with joy. My ex called one time when Mark and I were newly married to thank him for taking such good care of Taylor since he hadn't been. I thought that was a nice gesture and so unexpected. Regardless of my ex's and my issues we had with each other for him to lay that aside and recongnize our daughter was being takin care of and loved and to acknowledge that, was a nice thing.

We are blessed beyond words...Taylor was sealed to Mark and I June 2008 in the Oakland temple. That was a day of unexplainable happiness and joy I felt. To have our adoption almost final, makes today a very happy day as well! So after we meet with our caseworker and she interviews us. She will make her report and turn it into the courts. Once that is done then we will make our appt to see the judge who will finalize it all and we walk out with a little girl who will officially be a Humpherys. The funny thing to all this is everyone we meet or know says Taylor looks exactly like Mark. At church she is always referred to as Taylor Humpherys.

I'm grateful to be married to a great man who loves unconditionally. Who is a wonderul father to all his children and is always there for them, no matter distance or whatever else he makes time and shows each one how special they are too him and how much they mean to him and that he is always there. He is a great man and I love him so much.

So with a heart filled with so much joy, I wanted to share with all of you this great day! I will post again after our interviews and how it all went.

Valentines

So I have spoken to a few of my friends trying to get ideas on what I can do different this year for Valentines Day. Most of them said that they don't give gifts just give cards. I love every holiday and find any excuse or reason to give gifts or come up with creative stuff to do. This year is different cause I am stomped. I'm hoping maybe someone has some new creative ideas or links that I can check out. I thought if I post this now I can have time to prepare and get it done before the big day.

You may wonder "what the heck are you doing Steph, your husband is going to find out" NOPE he doesn't even look at this blog and says he doesn't even know the link. The two times he has been on here has been me showing him it and telling him to read what I wrote. ha ha ha Plus he LOVES surprises unlike me who likes them but ends up finding out about them and ruin it for myself..

Every year I make mark a candy gram card. You know where you write a letter using candy. I buy a big poster board and tape the candy on it. So I know I will do that again. Which I have to say 3 years of doing it and no new candy coming out, makes it kinda hard to come up with something new and repeat from years past. (don't think he would notice but I still would feel bad) ha ha ha

I have heart attacked our apartment with reasons why I loved him. I have given stuffed animals like a frog prince and wrote a note to go with it that said "that out of all the frogs I kissed I'm glad I found my prince" (or something to that effect)

I have done hershey kisses in a container with a key chain lock and key with the top of the container saying you have the key to my heart. (we were dating when I did this one)

I can't remember every thing I have done in the past 3 years but I am having a hard time coming up with cute creative ideas for this year. I thought about doing Glamour shots and giving that to him. They have a special for 3 protraits with free session for $79. I have no ideas what to dress in if I did that...I thought maybe his white button up shirt with his chief hat (it looks like officer and a gentlemen) or his uniform top...but not sure..(sorry if this is too much) lol

Well before I make this a novel, I just thought I would ask for any of you for ideas. Or just hear things you do to celebrate Valentines with your lovely..I also give valentine goodies to my kids..I think it is soo much fun, I usually blow up balloons red and white and put them in Taylor's room while she is sleeping and live her goodies near her bed so when she wakes up she sees it all and I heart attack her room. So if you have cute ideas that you do for your kiddies I would love to hear them.

Feeling pretty crafty

This is the frame before picture...
This is the same frame with some spice...

Here is all three I worked on today..the pirate one before it was finished...

The pirate after I finished it with all the "lingo" pirates speak... :-)

Well today I did not want to clean..and since Mark has overnight duty I thought what the heck I will do some crafts. Nothing big and all very simple but nonetheless very relaxing and fun. I remembered I had a old picture frame I bought years ago up in the closet and I had old flowers left over from my 1st marriage in the garage. So I thought why not spice up my frame. I also had $1 frames from Michaels that needed to be painted and wood embelishments glued on..

This was all easy to do since Taylor had her friend over to play with and Blake joined them so I was left to myself in the kitchen while they played in the room.

I can't tell you how much doing crafts or scrapbooking relaxes me, especially when Mark is off at work and has overnight duty I can craft till my hearts content..lol

Like I said all very simple but I had fun and relaxed...so I thought I would share and add a post since it's been awhile since my last posting.

USS KIDD Kid's Christmas Party

Last night was Mark's work kids Christmas party. It was really nice and we had lots of fun. Santa and Mrs.Santa showed up and read the kids The Night Before Christmas. It was really cute! We had one of Mark's friends take our picture...It was great that everyone was looking at the same time..lol

I love Blake's face in this pic..he was saying mmmmmmm he was such a ham the whole night..

Daddy and the kids and of course our son is making silly faces again!!

Blake was having fun w/throw the ball in the snowman...didn't want his sister to do it.. ;-)

My cute kiddies...I just realized Blake is in need of a serious haircut...gotta do that before we go out of town..

Taylor going up to get her gift from Santa

Showing what Santa brought her....

Blake going up to get his gift...and NOT letting go of daddy!!! Can you tell by the grip he has on Mark's shirt??!! lol

Happy as pie away from santa...

Well it was a great family evening...and mingling w/other military families gives you a sense of being part of a bigger family than your own. It's a great feeling being part and having an extended family even if it's your military family.. :-) I'm glad the crew is home for the holidays and I'm especially happy Mark is home with us. We are off to LA and AZ for the holidays and we are soo excited to see everyone and make new memories. I love my family and love being around them. I'm not sure if I will be able to post anymore before we leave or while we are away. So I wish everyone a MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR! Be safe and have tons of fun!!! If you live in AZ send me a message on Facebook w/your phone number if you would like to get together..we plan on heading to the Mesa area to see the temple lights and do some visiting...and I would love to meet up with whoever is free..

A little bit of everything....

I thought I would combine the last week into one posting. We have had a busy rainy week here in San Diego! With lots to try and find to do inside vice us being outside where it's normally sunny and warm. I feel as though we live in Seattle,WA with all this rain and cold weather. :-) I do enjoy the coldness even when I complain I will take it over the HEAT anyday! Below is Taylor's x-mas tree she has in front of her bedroom window. She decorated it all by herself. She is so proud of it and so am I so it is blog worthy to post! :-)

Daddy and daughter on our Wednesday (family home evening) since we didn't have time on Monday and Tuesday Mark had overnight duty we decided to do it when he was home. Taylor said it was better to wait to have daddy here cause Family home evening has "family" in it and daddy is part of our family and he has to be here. Of course she is right so we waited and had so much fun. (the picture below this is out of order but the results of our FHE activity is below that)

This is out of order but I'm too tired and laze to fix it so I thought this was a cute pic of the kids the other morning when Taylor was getting ready to go to school. Blake woke up and would not leave her side and just stood by her. It was really cute and I love that my kids are so close and Taylor is a GREAT big sister to him. Blake just adores her and loves her!

Okay so here is our Santa handprints that we made for our FHE lesson on Wed. It was so much fun and we had a blast! So we displayed our little santahand family on our wall.

Below is our kids "feet" x-mas trees. Blake had so much fun getting his foot painted, and Taylor thought it was funny how her foot turned out to be a christmas tree...All in all we did not have melt downs like our last FHE so it was so enjoyable and fun. I guess I need to work on my patience with little ones nad understand that they aren't at a age where its very easy to sit still and listen w/out throwing fits or getting bored easily...lol (a issue I will be trying to perfect for a VERY LONG TIME)

Taylor and her BFF Hannah. This was our Ward x-mas party last night. The kids had to wear their pj's to perform there dance I want a Hippo(not sure how to finish spelling it) for Christmas. It was so cute!

My cutie pootie waiting for them to be called up to dance!

My rascal son getting himself into whatever trouble he could find. lol He ran EVERYWHERE and thought it was so much fun to run away from us when we tried to get him to stay where we were at. Gonna have my hands full w/him and I blame my newly found grey hair on him...ha ha ha

Daddy got tired of chasing him so he put him on his shoulders...and as you can tell Blake is leaning backwords...silliness I tell you!!

Taylor performing her dance...she looked so cute and I want to now put her in something like this where she can perform.

Well this is our little updates from the last week. We had fun and still trying to stay dry and warm with this crazy weather we are having. I'm excited to see family and be with them for the holidays. Lots of pics will be loaded when we get back. I hope everyone has a great Christmas and a Happy New Year! I'm grateful to my family for the love and support they give and show especially my parents who are always there for us no matter how big or small with open arms never judging. I'm grateful for a loving heavenly father who everyday forgives me of my short comings and guides me to be better everday. I am grateful for our savior and brother Jesus Christ for his loving sacrifice of giving his life for all of us. I am grateful for the gospel I believe in and the strength I find in it when I need an extra push or reassurance. I am grateful for my friends and there friendships. I am grateful for my husband who is such an amazing person who continues to show me unconditional love and keeps me on my toes w/his jokes, smiles, hugs and thoughtful words. I am grateful for my children and the joy they bring into my life. I learn so much from them and they make me want to be a better mother and teacher to them. I am also grateful for Alisabeth and Jared for the short time I was with them they joy I shared with them. I'm happy to have had that time w/them and excited for the near future visits to have them here w/us making new memories. My heart is filled with a lot of grattitude for the ones I love and hold dear to my heart. I have learned so much, and continue to strive to learn more. I hope I never forget the small and little things that mean the most.