Growing Up Too Fast...

So, as I sit here skimming my Facebook On This Day page, I just can't get over how fast my boys are growing up!

Welcome To Kindergarten...

It's hard to believe, but we officially have a kindergartner in this house! As you can see from the picture below, we also have a toddler that wants to be just like his big bro, ha...

Preparing For The School Year And The Rest Of The Alphabet...

We're less than a month away from school starting. I can't believe it! Even though our schedule isn't slowing down and I'm having a hard time finding a way to accomplish all that I wanted to this summer, I'm trying to get us prepared for the big day. I'm a planner and I know if I don't get things prepped and planned, it just won't happen. So while my mom was in town (keeping the boys occupied), I made a planner in photoshop that I plan to print out and use for lesson planning. Can I just say, I can't believe my kid is going to be in kindergarten?!

Homeschooling Adventures And The Letter R...

The past month has been a great one for the Moore house. Samuel has gotten involved with two separate homeschool groups, Caleb started his very own speech class, and we've been trucking along with pre-k at home. I can't believe Easter is just around the corner!!!

Thanksgiving In Vegas And The Letter N...

The last time I was on here, I was preparing for Thanksgiving and our trip out of town. Now here we are...preparing for Christmas!!! It's crazy that it's just 3 weeks away!!! There's so much I want to cram in between now and then. We'll see what actually gets accomplished, ha...

Finally Back! (And The Letter M)

It feels like it's been forever! My Mac officially died, so I had to wait for Apple to install a new hard drive. Unfortunately, trying to catch up on everything has taken much longer than I would've hoped...

With that said, how is it that Thanksgiving is NEXT week?!?! I absolutely love this time of year! This is when Thanksgiving and Christmas start to merge in this house. Our house is decorated with the harvest theme (it has been since September since I don't care for Halloween), but I have to admit, Christmas music and movies have been in full force for the last week or two. Ha. To add to the fun, there are so many crafts and activities I want to do with the boys that are holiday-themed. Now it's just a matter of finding time for it all. We did start doing a couple Thanksgiving crafts today with Samuel's school, which was fun!

Fun Times With Numbers And The Letter L...

So after having a chaotic morning with Mr. Caleb (I adore that boy, but he definitely keeps me on my toes!), I decided to scratch our previous plans and go meet James for lunch. Afterwards, Samuel asked if we could go to the toy store before running our errands. How could I say no?! Unlike my usual willpower to not walk out with anything, I gave in today. I found an awesome "toy" that is similar to something I was already considering for our homeschool. So instead of the fun Hot Wheels toys that Samuel wanted, I let him "buy" this educational toy. Regardless, he was super excited! He is such an appreciative kid. You could give him new socks and he'd excitedly yell, "Oh!!! Thanks, Mom!!!!" And actually mean it. In fact, he did just that a couple weeks ago when I grabbed a new set of socks for him. Ha! He gets so excited and is genuinely thankful for anything that comes his way -- boring or not.

Pregnancy And Infant Loss Awareness Day...

October 15th has and always will be a special day to our family. It's a day to recognize and remember all babies gone too soon. At 7pm worldwide, everyone (who chooses to participate) is asked to light a candle to create a wave of light. I love that as Samuel gets older, he eagerly wants to participate and help with it. Tonight, he asked if he could light the candles (with my assistance) and as we did so, we talked about what they represented. We always light 3 -- one for each of our angels. It's such a little act, but has so much meaning…

Visitors And The Letter K...

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How is it almost the weekend already??? Over the past week, we had my parents in town along with some old friends that we haven't spent time with in years. It was great to catch up briefly and I can't tell you how happy the boys were to see my parents! We lucked out with our friends' visit -- they happened to have to work in Vegas and decided to head down this way for a little vacation afterwards.

Etsy...

Who here is on Etsy? I'd love to check out your creations! It wasn't until my sister convinced me to create an Etsy page to sell some of the things she had previously hired me to make that I finally caved. I love all the fun things you can find on there -- not to mention it's a fun creative outlet for me. Most recently, I was hired to do a few ads for a fellow photographer as well as a couple birthday invitations. I only mention any of this because one of them stands out and I think it's hilarious…

Soccer And The Letter J...

If you've never watched 4 year olds play soccer, you should. It's quite entertaining to say the least. I'm one of the coaches for our AYSO Region's U5 team and feel like I spend most of my time just reminding them to stay inside the lines, not carry the ball with their hands and most importantly not tackle each other. During one of our practices, someone clotheslined Samuel as he was running onto the field. Instead of looking hurt or offended, he got up (looking like he enjoyed it) and started running around doing it to other teammates. Luckily, he's not alone in the madness. It's definitely fun, but crazy.

A Look Into The Future And The Letter I…

So, we spent the weekend trying to get things knocked off the to-do list -- like laying down mulch, painting the boys' bathroom to match their stuff, etc -- and unfortunately, still didn't get through the pictures from our trip. However, I was just skimming through a couple of them with Samuel and this one made me laugh. I feel like it looks like their prom picture, only preschool style. Ha!

Summer Love

So, I'm a little behind on making Samuel's Paw Patrol letter worksheets, but for good reason. We spent a week in our hometown (Indianapolis) and just got back late last night. It was the first time we had been home in almost 3 years. It's hard to believe Samuel was 18 months old the last time we visited! Overall, we had a great time! I'm thankful Samuel was able to play with his cousins and Caleb was able to finally meet everyone (at 15 months old)!

Pre-K Picture And The Letter E...

So, I realized yesterday that I failed to get Samuel's mug shot for his first official day of Pre-K. Oops! I love seeing back to school pictures, and I especially love seeing the comparison between each year. It's crazy how fast time goes and how much kids change with each year. So, even though we started last month, I decided that we still needed that official shot. It was clearly last minute, as I didn't even bother printing it out and just had him hold the iPad -- lazy, much? Nevertheless, we have it. Oh, and I also put the date we started even though I know that's also almost a month different than the picture. Oh well. It's really only for my own amusement anyways. I may still take him outside to do a nice picture, but at least I finally have a picture of him at this age…

Painting And The Letter D...

Samuel has been wanting to break out the paints and stamps the past several days, so we're going to use those in our lessons this week. I'm going to incorporate it into learning to write the letter D, but to start, I let him go crazy on a canvas. We talked about how you can blend colors to create new colors, as well as creating different shades of the same color. Sam had a lot of fun creating his own work of art on a canvas. And while he did so, I decided to join in the fun, ha. I haven't painted in I don't know how long so don't judge the skills, ha.

Kindergarten...

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but that sure came out of left field! Today, I was reminded once again of where we should be…celebrating the first day of kindergarten with our baby girl. Upon getting on social media, I was quickly reminded by all the pictures posted by friends who were pregnant with me back in '09 -- all commenting on the bittersweet nature of such a big day. Sigh. I'm happy for all these kids that are SUPER excited about such a big step, but boy does it hurt my heart to think of how that's just one more thing that should be happening at this house, but isn't.

California...

I think the last time I was on here, James had just decided that he was going to resign his commission. That feels like an eternity ago! And now here we are…officially Californians. Due to the cost of living, I would've never imagined we'd settle here, but we're here now and hope to never leave. We feel very blessed that everything fell into place. Not long after James accepted a job offer, we found a house that we loved and got the offer accepted. It's really hard to believe that this time last year, I was recovering from gallbladder surgery and preparing for a move from Ft. Bliss, TX to Ft. Irwin, CA with a newborn Caleb in my arms. SO much has happened since then! Life couldn't be better. God is good.

2014

I don't even know where to begin. What a year! I think the last time I was on here, I mentioned how we were pregnant. Well, the best news of the year was that we added another healthy baby boy to the mix! Caleb Wesley is now 5 months old and I'm still trying to grasp the fact that we have two boys here in our arms. It's pure joy, I tell you. Even though I'll always have 3 gaping holes in my heart and will forever long for Jacob, Jordan and Olivia -- missing Olivia an insane amount lately -- life is pretty awesome at this point. Seeing Samuel and Caleb together warms my heart more than you can imagine. We're finally at a place that I always dreamed of, but never thought would happen. It's truly indescribable...

The Last Eight Months...

I've often wanted to try and get on here, but it just never seems to happen. And now here we are...eight months later and just now blogging. I can't believe the last time I was on here was after Samuel's 2nd birthday in June. Sad, really.

I can honestly say, things have been going amazingly well. After Samuel turned 2, we took some leave and took him out to Disneyland, Los Angeles and the surrounding beaches, and finally San Diego. Oh, how wonderful it was to be able to go back there! We haven't been to San Diego since before our time in the Army, but it felt like we were going back home. James was ready to quit his job and stay, ha. We were able to do our typical family portraits with the tripod while out at La Jolla, too. Good times.

It's A Party, It's A Party For Samuel!!!

Our little miracle turned TWO years old on Friday! I'm still trying to grasp the idea of having a two year old...where did time go?!

To celebrate his big day, we threw a Yo Gabba Gabba party for him on Saturday with some of his little friends here in El Paso. I'd like to think it turned out fairly well. With the temp being around 102 and the sun shining bright, the water games were quite a hit. It was definitely fun to see Samuel party it up with his little friends. In fact, he had such a blast that he passed out immediately after everyone left -- the sweet boy!