Merry Christmas

I know I havent been on here in a while, life took over with the new baby. My New Years resolution is to start being more active on my blog, sharing tips from parenting, to business stuff to crafting, cooking and more.

In the meantime, enjoy our Christmas letter that we sent out this year and we'll see you again in 2012:

Merry Christmas! What an amazing year. We just got done decorating our Christmas tree and it brought tears to my eyes. My usual Christmas routine is to adorn my tree with a specific color theme each year- purchasing new decorations and goodies to match my whimsical mood of that season. Sometimes red and silver, other times candy like colors such as pinks and greens. I let my craftiness consume me. This year, without having the time or money, I took out “old” decorations. Each ornament that I put on was carefully placed as I reminisced whom had given it to us and for what special occasion. I have one from my childhood that my Aunt Dorine gave me as a little girl. Another of Matt’s that his mommy and him made as a boy. Deshae’s first angel and one Ila’s daycare had her make last year- just a piece of paper with stickers on it. I hung up Ila’s First Christmas that we were given by grandma last year and our first one for Evie’s First Christmas as well. I loved re-reading the words of encouragement from our church’s ornament exchange as I opened each one up again, and I especially loved re-reading the letters just like this from other families and reminiscing on everything that happened in the last year. What joy my “homemade tree” brought us. Matt and I have been dreaming our entire lives of the family God would give us one day. It is finally here. All our three little girls tucked away in their beds, their special decorations on our tree, OUR tree; it is my absolute favorite tree ever.

Ila turned one this June and is becoming a true toddler. Watching her language develop and her little personality blossom into her own has brought us so much joy. She is such a ham and makes all of us crack up with laughter on a daily basis. I’m excited for this Christmas, where she has an idea of what is happening and we can’t wait to watch her little face light up as we start family traditions like Santa visiting, reindeer prancing and stuffing stockings.

Our third little girl, Evangeline Rae came into this world on October 17th at 8.5 lbs. She came out looking nothing like Ila and shocked us all. With long black hair and olive skin, Matt and I were blessed with our own little Pocahontas. Evangeline, meaning Good News is just that. She is so precious and truly completes our little family.

Deshae turned 12 this year and is in the 7th grade. She got straight A’s again and is in all advanced classes. She decided to take a sabbatical at soccer and try her hand at Volleyball. She loved trying a new sport and meeting new friends, as well as standing in the warm gym rather than running in the cold rain- oh wait, that was me that loved that part ☺. We are so proud of what an amazing young lady Deshae is. With or without her excellent academic and athletic achievements, Deshae is truly amazing.

She is so great with her baby sisters, and really has a funny personality as well as a gentle heart. What has most impressed me the most this year with Deshae is her relationship with God. She prays for people at church and gives words of encouragement far beyond her years.

Matt and I both decided God wanted us to pursue our own careers this year. With our ever growing family, we knew that we needed something that allowed us time with our children. Matt started a Landscaping Service on his days off and it is going really well. We are praying this avenue is what God wants for Matt to transition out of Les Schwab and be around his family more. I started Keepsake 3D Imaging, an ultrasound center. While it is taking as long as one would expect for a start up business in this economy, we are hopeful for the potential that it has.

My other favorite tradition this year, that I finally got to be a part of was canning. We started our own garden and had a surplus of fruits and veggies. Between that and other locally grown organics, my grandmother, Phyllis and I got together and she taught me how to jam, can and pickle all of my fresh goodies. I had such a blast learning and tasting and giving away. I’m excited to pass this tradition on to my girls each year, to know that I’ll have Oregon Blackberry jam in my fridge year round for breakfast guests and most of all, to have spent some precious time with my Nannie.

As 2012 approaches, we can’t believe that within our first two years of marriage, we’ve had 2 children and started two businesses. You can imagine that we’re looking forward to the New Year bringing a little rest to enjoy these amazing blessings that God has given us. It’s time to put down the anchor and wade in the water for just a bit. Until next time, may God bless you and keep you. May He make His face shine up on you and be gracious to you. May He turn His face toward you and give you peace.

Bless you all,

Matt, Rebecca, Deshae, Ila and Evie
2011

Head Band Craft Day...

My Friend, Emily, and I decided to get together today and create some fun head bands following some tutorials we found online.. Here are my two favorites:

T-shirt flower by Momma Go Round and Little Miss Momma

Little Miss Momma also had a great tutorial on a Pom Pom Headband that I loved...

ALL Little Miss Momma's Tutorials are so cute and easy to follow. If you can't afford to buy a headband... MAKE YOUR OWN like we did... Rather than using a headband for these, I just hot glued them to a clip... Even though I love headbands, I ADORE clips because they can turn into a brooch, a "spice" for your belt, a topping on a plain pair of flats, etc...

Check out my friend Emily to see her different headbands emilymcentire.blogspot.com

How Do I Do It All...

This is the question I get often, but one I got quite a bit today... LOL
Today was my amazing little cousin's First Birthday!!! Lucy or LaLa as we call her, had a pretty picnic party and it was so much fun!

I made my first quilt ever for her present: an heirloom quilt. When I initially put together the baby shower for LaLa one year ago, I included a block of fabric in each invitation and asked the women to bring them back decorated. We ended up with 12 blocks all decorated differently per each friends different style.

While moving recently, I found the ever lost Baby Shower Blocks and decided it would be a really fun surprise to put together the long forgotten quilt.

ONE PROBLEM... I still work 8-12 daily at my part time job, then I have my own business to run and appointments booked for two weeks (let alone the marketing that needs to be done daily). I also have a one-year old and am 28 weeks pregnant. So, when do I find time to make a quilt?

I guess I allocated my time like I normally do when I need to get things done. Here's how I got the quilt finished:

(shower before I go to bed)
6am wake up: pack diaper bag for day care. Pack my breakfast and lunch. Take cup of coffee with me and leave for work at 7am.
NOW.. I dont normally have to be to work until 7.30ish, but this extra time allows me to work in peace and be as loud as I need to (sewing machines, metal embossing, etc)
12pm- pick up baby from daycare and take her home to eat lunch.
1.30pm- lunch and play time done, put baby in carseat with bottle for nap time. She falls asleep on our way to babysitters (either grandmas, friends or aunties).
2-5pm- Keepsake 3D Imaging (my ultrasound business)
5pm- pick up both kids and go home to start dinner.
During dinner I play with Ila- she smells all the different foods I use to cook with, or helps me taste things. This is a special time of ours.
6pm daddy is home from work and we eat together at table.
After dinner, daddy takes baby Ila for a bath and our oldest Deshae, has her daily chore of Dinner Clean Up.
This allows me another 30 minutes to get set up for finishing any craftiness.
After bath time, we usually spend a little family time by watching a TV show together and one of us usually sits on floor with baby and plays with toys with her during the show.
8pm- bedtime for baby.
8-9pm (ish)- Mom gets into crafts again that she already had set up and ready.
Usually by 9 Im either done and need to do NOTHING for awhile...
9pm- back on couch with daddy watching TV until I fall asleep at 10.

So thats it... No matter what craft I decide to try, I do rely a lot on the workings of our family to help me with my things, so that I can find a little ME time in there too... I suggest you do the same :)

GOT FUEL? {Day 2 Dream Journal}

{DAY 2 - GOT FUEL?}

DREAM
Last night I dreamt that I got trained to fly a jet. It was a small red jet, about the size of a couch cushion and barely held any fuel. Three of us got trained together and the three jets couldnt go anywehere without each other. After our training (2 random people from my church in real life and myself) we decided to fly somewhere for a vacation. We couldn't go far due to not being able to carry much fuel, so we went to a beach resort in California.

All the lifeguards and resort staff were Les Schwab employees (where my husband works in real life). For some reason in my dream, I had been 86'd from the resort- banned so I had to sneak in since everyone knew me- being that I knew them from when they worked at Les Schwab. I ended up at the pool on the resort where my oldest daughter was swimming with a couple we had met in real life while on our real family vacation. One of the other jet pilots reminded me at the pool that I couldnt drink any alcohol and fly a jet. I agreed and we started our trip home while the Vacation Couple watched our kids.

THOUGHTS
I'm dreaming a lot about vacations, it must mean rest of some sort. The three jets clearly represent God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit. The continual concern for fuel in my dream makes me wonder if it is symbolic for the fuel that God provides when we stay connected to him. For several months I have been in a spiritual rut. Like in my dream, I can't go far without fuel: fuel from prayer and reading my word.

PRAYER
Lord, help me to learn to rest in you even when life is hectic; to slow down and enjoy the journey, to actually look at the scenery that I seem to zoom right by. I dont know why this spiritual rut wont pass for me, so please help me to make prayer and my word a priority. Clearly, I cant go far without it. I love you Lord and want to draw nearer. You promise that when we draw near to you that you'll draw near to us... I miss you. Love, Becky

WANT TO READ MORE? CLICK ON MY FAITH TAB TO READ THE ENTIRE 30 DAY DREAM JOURNAL AND WHERE MY INSPIRATION CAME FROM... SEE YOU IN DREAMLAND

Where is God taking me TODAY

Where is God taking me TODAY...

My husband and I have decided to go to our first marriage siminar. We have been married barely 2 years and in that time we have moved twice, opened a business, endured lay offs, had 1 baby and will have 2 babies in Oct (we celebrate 2 years in August). So A LOT has taken place in that 2 years of marriage. So much so, that we felt our marriage and building our foundation as a couple, as a team, had been put on the back burner while life rushed by. This year we are focusing on us!

Our dream in life is to some day run a youth home. We'd love to have young men and women up to age 25, live with us on our "ranch" while they get their lives together, learn about Jesus the ultimate healer and become members of society rather than menaces. We know that is a long time off, because our current season is newly married and new parents. But, if we want to go into the waters that God has for us, we know that we cannot build on a makeshift foundation...

As we attended our first marriage introduction class, I was inspired by a speaker. She encouraged us to journal about our dreams. God speaks to her in dreams and if she hadnt kept track of them, she wouldnt have seen how he had been directing her all along when she finally got to one of her many destinations. So here it goes... Click on my FAITH tab to follow me on my 30 Day Dream Journal. I will put each of my dreams in, what I think it means and my prayer for that day about it. I'd love comments and interpretations too, because some of you have the gift of intrepeting like Joseph... See you in dreamland :)

Raising a bi-racial daughter in America today...

For those of you who dont know me, I am the mother of an amazing 11 year old girl, who happens to be half black. Deshae was and continues to be the joy of my life. She is the wittiest little thing that always has a joke to brighten my day. She is energetic and bubbly, carries a 4.0 gpa and is an amazing athlete! So how do I, living in a small town with very little diversity raise a bi-racial daughter?

Does racism still exist? Yes, I'm going there. While we may not experience things any more like burning crosses in our yard or dead racoons on our front porch, racism is still very real.

In Malcolm Gladwell's book "The Breaking Point" he shares his research that Black Men, still to this day, make 30% less than White Men. In "Freakanomics" they show research that the same EXACT resume is 6 times more likely to receive a call back if the name is something like Matt or Bill, compared to names such as Tyrone or Daeshon.

I believe that racism is much less in bigger cities where diversity and culture are not only loved but desired. Maybe that is what has kept me away from GP for 10 years- the lack of diversity and culture. I'd be lying if I didnt have thoughts moving back of my daughter. Wondering how the community will accept her, will boys in school think she is pretty, will she be the brutal punt of some jokes at school...

How do you raise a girl to become an amazing black woman in a small town today? Because lets face it, that is how the world will see my daughter. Even though she is as much white as black, they will see that black girl coming in for a job or college interview. It is the stigmas here in this small community that have made me look more carefully at the things I teach her.

We will not be late - We do not leave the house in our pajamas with uncombed hair- We will respect our teachers, elders, etc - We will use proper English. Call me extreme, I dont care. I will not let my baby live up to the stigmas that are already on the forefront of people's minds. I will prove them wrong. That is my objective.

As a family, we watch movies that depict strong black figures like Ray Charles, the first entertainer in history who stood up for black rights and refused to play in a segregated theatre. He was banned from the state of Georgia for life by congress because of that. And now, after a public apology and welcome back, Georgia has taken Ray Charles' song "Georgia" as their official state song.

We watch things on Youtube like the U of O women's relay team out run the other colleges by almost 100 yards- taking themselves to possibly the national title. And I point out to my daughter while we watch it "their entire team is black women!" I want to point it out to show her strong black women and what they can accomplish.

I am so thankful that I cannot remember a time in my life growing up where any one in my family made a racist joke- whether it be about hispanics, asians, blacks, didnt matter. Maybe thats because my dad's side lived by the Sunday School song "red and yellow black and white they are precious in His sight." My mom's side, well, we all had some sort of jungle fever :)

Honestly, though- I dont remember my family ever making a comment about someone elses' race. Recently my 11 year old was watching TV. She was telling me something about the show she was watching and referred to a character as Chinese. I noticed his name was not Chinese, but rather Japanese. I corrected her "I dont think he is Chinese, I think he is Japanese." Her response was "whatever, they all look the same." I say this because kids sometimes dont know the damage they are saying and its our jobs as parents to correct them. Shame on the parents who laugh and agree at comments like that, they are only fueling the fire in their own kids. Of course, I quickly chastised my daughter "do all black people look alike?" "do you look like every other black girl in the world." "That sort of comment is racist- we dont talk like that in our home." I said it with love and encouragement. I didnt belittle her, because she didnt know. She probably heard it on TV or from friends, but now when she hears it again, I hope she corrects the person that says it.

I have been so proud of my daughter through her transition not only back to GP but into middle school. She has endured racism already- quite a bit. But yet, she still loves school, gets straight A's, plays select sports and next year is in all advanced classes. She will make people in our community rethink how they view black girls and Im so honored to be her mommy.

Baby's FIRST Birthday Party Planning

Our Baby turns One year old on June 8th and this weekend we are having her party. I'm super happy that I had ZERO appointments book this Saturday because that gives me time to get things ready. Normally, I would panic being a start up business and no appointments on the busiest day of the week usually. But today, I am thankful.

So, our theme is an outdoor baby water park- we have a kiddie pool and a really cool wild sprinkler and slip and slide. We have kids of all ages showing up, so we wanted to be able to accommodate everyone. We'll have a hot dog "bar" with lots of toppings. But- I really wanted to do something kind of cute and girlie since it's my baby girls FIRST.

My theme: Mermaids/ Flip Flop tea party. I bought a dozen rubber duckies that were in Mermaid costumes from orientaltrading.com and I bought a wooden mermaid that I colored and am putting as the cake topper. From there, the waves will get rockier on my blue iced cake and go into a cinnamon crumb beach topping. Of course my beach cake will be centered with a mermaid, but will have candy fish in the waves and teddy grahams laying on their fruit roll up towels in the sand (see pics).

I also did a craft that I saw online with nutter butter cookies and some gel frosting to make tiny flip flop cookies (see pics).

My biggest shabang however, is the birthday bathing suit and one year hat I got. I had all these bathing suits that were for 3-6 months. Since my expectant baby is due in October, we figured those little bathing suits will not fit either girls anymore, so I took them to a baby boutique and traded them for the cutest bright yellow one piece with built in tutu. It was adorable. Then, I stopped at Michaels craftstore during the soccer tournament in Medford and got scrap booking paper to match and a stran of maribou. With my hotglue gun I created a birthday hat to match!

As I've said before Im totally a wanna be domestic diva. I only get a chance to do creative, amazing things on special occasions- not on a regular basis. Its those few times a year that I get my creativity out!

All my crafts I did for very inexpensive since I had most of the stuff laying around: cake batter, frosting, frosting gel, etc. I also traded some already existing stuff for new stuff at 2nd hand stores, so it was a wash. I grabbed a big piece of cardboard from work and painted it like a surf board- stuck it in the front lawn and wrote "Party in back" so I didnt have to have people trample through my house. I also bought buns and hot dogs when they went on sale during memorial day and froze them until the party.

Its my attempt to be thrifty yet still throw a great party! Hope you enjoy the crafting tips...

Does one have a 3rd Baby Shower? I think not...

I suppose lots of women have a baby shower for each child and that is totally great. Personally, I am not going to have a big shin dig for the 3rd baby.

With each baby we had I tried to do something original and unique. My first daughter, I was barely 18 and still living with my parents. We had a traditional baby shower and I was so thankful for all my friends and their moms who came and joined in the fun.

With my 2nd daughter (my husband's first) I thought it would be fun to honor him- since it was his first baby. We themed the party "Daddys little princess" and decorated in black and silver and pink. We had a huge pizza party and invited all our couple friends. We played funny guy games so they felt involved and it was a blast!

So with our 3rd bundle on the way, I am ordering a belly cast kit from offline (only around $20) and I am asking just a handful of ladies over for a potluck lunch and their help in assisting me cast myself. I will then do some sort of mosaic design and hang on the nursery wall. I'm super excited to do something different!

When I lived in London I had a friend who was expecting their first baby. They were a young couple just starting out and were overwhelmed with the amount of items they needed for their tiny thing. I suggested a baby shower and they were shocked- that is such an American thing. Brits dont usually have showers, but excitedly she agreed, always wondering what one would be like and thankful to have an overwhelming amount of friends wanting to bless her. This was a super fun party to be a part of.

On the flip side- I had another friend here in the US that was pregnant with their 3rd baby. They were going to have another shower. Their 2nd baby was barely a year old and as I strummed through their registry I couldnt help but feel a bit annoyed. I saw baby monitors and cribs and bathtubs and thought "if you wanted to have another baby, why did you save things from the baby you just had!"

Im sure my friend didnt intend to annoy anyone by having a shower for her 3rd, but I would wager there were people - like myself, who wondered where all the stuff was that we all just bought 9 months prior. I understand if you had a boy and now its a girl and you need clothes and such, but things like a bathtub and baby monitor and crib which can be gender neutral shouldnt matter.

With our 2nd daughter, we knew we wanted to have another one right after. We asked for everything to be gender neutral in color (the car seat and bathtub, boppy, cloth diapers, etc) that way we could save it for the next time we got pregnant.

I will post pics of my finished cast when its complete- still a few months away :)

Soccer Season is OVER... for good!!!

To anyone who doesnt know me, I am a soccer fanatic.  I played all through high school.  Then, my oldest daughter started playing when she was 7.  I coached through my 2nd pregnancy and even got my E license - which means I can coach Select or Competitive.  I love soccer!

I looked into starting to help with the high school here in town since the head coach and I are good friends.  He encouraged me to come join him and maybe someday I'd be able to coach the Girls HS Varsity team.  Then... I got pregnant, again!  The Lord must have other things in store for me.  Coaching while pregnant was difficult with a team of 10 year olds.  I couldnt imagine doing it with  15-18 year olds who take much more time than the little girls recreation team I was use to.

So, with a bit of sadness, I didnt take him up on his offer to help.  My family was thrilled as they couldnt imaging me adding one more thing to my already overflowing plate.  As my daughter's U11 Competitive season got underway, I too was thankful that I did not decide to coach again.

The season was rainy- which isnt too bad except my husband works Saturdays so its just me there by myself most games.  The baby was NOT happy to be out in the rain cooped up in my front pack for 2 hours.  When my baby bump started protruding it was too difficult to wear the front pack.  So, my infant was equally as upset to be strapped in her stroller.  Had it been a sunny season, she may have enjoyed crawling around on the blanket and grass while mommy screamed like a lunatic for sissy.

Funny how the screaming parents are at their kids games, huh?  I admit I am one of them- I have tamed my tongue quite a bit throughout the years- after hearing what other parents sound like.  But still, the coach in me sees plays and passes and openings that I cant seem to help but blurt out:

"Watch #10"  "Go up line" "Call for drop"  "Megan, go center"

Of course the girls cant hear me, they are too involved in their play and trained to listen to their coach.  I think I do it to make myself feel better.  Its like seeing a car crash about to happen and you cant help but yell, oooh watch out!  Of course, to some soccer may not be as serious as a car crash... lol

As the season progressed and my eldest got seemingly more and more burnt out, I was a little heartbroke and happy to hear that she no longer wanted to play soccer.  Her play level was diminishing, not because she suddenly lacked talent, but because you could tell her heart was no longer there.

I look forward to not having to bundle up two infants next year and stand in the rain for 2 hours by myself with 2 miserable cooped up babies.  I look forward to not having to pack up the car with double strollers and toys and snacks that could entertain and feed an army.  But mainly, I look forward to seeing what new thing my oldest daughter will get involved with.  I love seeing that spark in her eye when she "gets it."  Something clicks that says "I like this" and it such a joy to watch her grow into her own person.  To see a child use the talents and gifts that they have been blessed with is every parents honor and hopefully a goal.  And maybe, if other parents are lucky, she will choose something that I know nothing about so I dont scream on the sidelines like a maniac :)

About Me

Well… I am a very busy mother of, soon to be, three little girls. I also am a business owner and wanna-be domestic diva. Life is never boring in our home and that’s what makes it memorable.  

My husband and I have been married for 2 years and we live in beautiful Southern Oregon. On our boat, he is the anchor and I am the motor. This boat, named “The House of Estrogen” due to having 3 daughters, is on a journey wherever the good Lord will take us.

I think that I am way more organized than I truly am. I consider myself hyper-competent and hyper-confident. In my ideal world I would have an amazing craft room with old mason jars harboring all my ribbons and buttons (because I love the vintage look) on tidy decorated shelves. My kids would also sit quietly the entire time I work on projects and the dog would pick up his own poop. But, in actuality, my craft room/garden shed is still piled with a landmine of boxes. The dog has dug up my garden yet again and will someone get that crying baby… Im trying to type!!

My main purpose of sharing this blog is to talk about my day, because frankly I process things by talking them out. My journey of starting my own business, getting the kids to soccer practice, play dates, doctors appointments and having dinner on the table when my honey gets home is a juggling act I have yet to manage without dropping something. But I try to do it with a smile on my face… and always in heels!