Christmas Time

I hope everyone's Christmas is off to a great start! We have already made 3 stops and are anticipating heading to Marion this afternoon. Hope everyone has a blessed Holiday and takes time out to praise God for coming into our world! Picture is of us being Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus

House Seasoning

I love Paula Deen's house seasoning. 1 cup salt, 1/4 cup black pepper and 1/4 cup garlic powder. I use this on everything from burgers to vegetables it is so good. Any time a recipe calls for salt and pepper I use this instead. Mix some up today and keep it in your pantry I promise you won't be disappointed:)

Mickey Mouse Clubhouse

Everyone loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse!

iPhone Blogging

I know I know it has been a very very long time since I last updated my blog. My excuses are I have 2 small children, my computer is broken and I don't like spending too much time on the Internet. I made a promise to myself when I started blogging that it would always come last on my to do list so if I sometimes go months without posting you can assume that my to do list is long ha. Anyways I am trying something new, blogging from my phone. I am doing this for several reasons:
1. Way more accessible to me
2. My computer is broken
3. Easy to quickly upload my photos
4. I probably won't ramble if I use my phone because it is harder to type on this small keypad

So here is an update on our life since my last post:

We went to Disney with Kory's parents, Crider had his 1st sleepover with Owen Staley, Kory and I went to Amelia Island with my parents, roofed our house, and had some fun times at home.

I know I have left a lot out but this is a test post to see if I like blogging from my phone so I hope to be posting again soon.

Update in Photos

Since I haven't posted in a while I thought I would do a small update through photos.  

Every day right around the time I am cooking dinner Finley gets so fussy so Kory takes him out to swing and he loves it.  This particular night he decided it was a perfect place to sleep ha.

 While Kory was in Nicaragua me and the boys spent some time in Marion.  We went swimming at the country club pool one day.  It was special to have the boys in the same pool that I spent so much time in as a kid.  Finley loves his uncle Logan!

We ate lunch at Aunt Ethel's after church which is always a special treat.  I love this picture of Finley playing in her floor.

Kory preached a few Sundays ago and it was just me getting the boys ready for church.  I surprisingly got all three of us ready early so I tried to get some cute photos of the boys all dressed up.

We went to the lake this past weekend and had so much fun!  It feels like vacation when we have the chance to get away from home and spend some time on the lake.  We also end up packing as if we are staying for a week long vacation.  Its a whole new ball game when you are packing for yourself and kids.  They require so much stuff.
I have so many pictures of my mom with the boys in this same place on the boat.  I think this picture of her and Finn may be one of the best.

The only way we could get Crider (Mr. Cautious) on the jet ski was to tell him that he was going to feed turtles, this would be the explanation for the hot dog bun in his hand.

Okay so maybe it wasn't the best update but I hope you enjoy the photos!

The Passionate Cunninghams and 4th of July

On the 4th of July we went on a little family bike ride.  It sounds sweet doesn't it?  What you don't know is that it was a 15 mile bike ride in the pouring down rain!  But it was a good time and I felt great after it was over and it was fun time spent with my husband, sister in law, and father in law.  My mother in law was sweet to stay back at the house and watch the boys so I could go. 

We are soaking wet in this picture

One of the many things I love about the family that I married into is how they get passionate about things and dive in head first.  Then in a year or two they move on to another thing.  I don't have this kind of personality but I love following whatever the latest Cunningham trend happens to be.  Right now it is road biking!  My sister in law is the one who usually determines what the trend is at any given time I just love her and she is so hard core. 

My mother in law and father in law get passionate about their own things too.  Right now COWS occupy most of their time.  I can't really get into this particular passion but I am trying to understand.  I think my son Crider might have inherited this from them because he gets really passionate about things and gets fixated on something for a certain period of time then changes to something else after a month or two.

He wanted to ride with us soooo bad!

Finley was teething over the holiday weekend and this face pretty much describes how he felt the whole time.  Poor thing:(

Ring Bearer

I am so happy for Josh and Lauren Burzynski!  They are 2 people I love very much and we felt so blessed to play a part in their special day.  Crider was asked to be the ring bearer and they asked Kory to perform the ceremony.  It was a beautiful day and a beautiful ceremony.

Crider did a great job and looked so handsome too.  He had a big bag of gummies and a green ring pop waiting for him.

Kory used the same vows that were originally written for our wedding and they brought tears to my eyes as I listened to them all over again.  It was also so special that their kiss at the alter was their very first kiss as a couple.

A few family photos!

So proud of our little ring bearer

Love Crider's and Finn's expressions in this picture

Sweet Sisters

Crider helping Unc with the music

The Coffee Diaries

This morning Finley decided to wake up at 5:15:(  For those of you who know me this is a huge deal because I am NOT a morning person.  I tried and tried to get him back to sleep but he was looking at me with those wide eyes that said "Mom take me out of this swaddle I want to play!!!" After saying a quick "Lord, help me do this" prayer we headed downstairs to start our day.  Side Note: we were at my parent's house because Kory is at m Fuge, my parents were out of town and my sister and brother were there with us.  Needless to say lots of coffee was involved.

Cup 1: 5:45am I went with Newmans Old Extra Bold K Cup due to the fact that I was way too exhausted to even make a pot of coffee.  After this Finn and I watched some christian music videos (who knew they were on at 6:oo in the morning.)  I was just trying to keep my eyes open at this point.

Cup 2: 6:20am Brewed a pot of Peets coffee (Erica brought it from San Fran delicious!) while brewing I fed Finn his breakfast.  After this Finn played in the floor while I got in the Word.  Right now I am studying through Kay Arthur's Lord, Teach Me How To Pray.

Jessi Hutchens recommended it to me and I am so grateful.  I have learned a lot so far about prayer and how God has perfectly instructed us how to pray within his word.  I think I do fairly good at praying and talking with God throughout my day when certain situations arise but I often times neglect quality time in prayer where I spend significant time just praising God for who He is and all he does for me.

Cup 3:  7:00am Refill my cup of Peets and eat a blueberry muffin,  Finn is starting to get pretty fussy at this time so I attempt to pacify him while finishing up my bible study.  Also Erica woke up around this time so we spent some time together.

Cups 4 and 5 occurred after Crider woke up sometime around 8 and Finn was already taking his first nap of the day at this point.

What began as a frustrating groggy day turned out to be a great morning.  I spent quality time with the Lord and both of my boys individually.  I lucked out too, both boys took super long naps in the afternoon and I got to nap too.

Also wanted to share another book I have been reading, 50 People Every Christian Should Know by Warren Wiersbe.

I feel like since having kids all I have read is parenting books, which is great but I was in need of a change.  This book has been the change I was needing and I am loving to learn about all of the Christian men and women who have gone before me and helped to shape the faith as we know it today.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Father's Day:

Love this picture of my boys and their amazing father.

Craziness

I originally began this post last week and haven't had the chance to post due to the craziness that sometimes can overtake our lives so here it is... better late than never:

This week has been crazy!  Kory was at camp all week with the youth so it was just me and the boys.  Monday was soooo hard, it was one of those days where I prayed a lot "God, are you sure you want me to be a stay at home mom."  For some reason Crider was extremely needy and wanted my attention at all times which is very hard when you have a 6 month old who likes to be held a lot.  There were a lot of times where I would be trying to pacify Finn and Crider would be clinging to my legs.  But we made it through the day and there were some small victories like Crider peeing in the potty twice and it was completely his idea.  So I will look back on Monday and think of that and try not to remember the melt downs.  Tuesday was my birthday and that morning I had a little pool party at Kory's Aunt Gina's house with Jen, Jack, Jaye, Kayla, Owen, Lora and Jack J.  It was a blast and Crider is starting to get a lot better at swimming without always having to be holding on to me.  That night Kory had someone fill in for him at camp (camp was at Jonathan Creek only 30 minutes away) so he could take me out that night.  Kory and I went out to eat at Doe's in Paducah and it was soooo good.  That place is pretty special to us because that is where we announced to our parents that we were pregnant with Crider.  Kory made the evening very special for me!  On Wednesday morning Crider tripped over some toys and ended up with a huge knot on his head.

The swelling ended up going down before he had his big ring bearer debut in the Burzynski wedding (Stay tuned for more about that).
That night we headed to Marion to spend some time with my family and my parents had a little birthday party for me there.  The trip to marion wasn't exactly what I was hoping it would be because Finley slept terribly, and Lucy (our dog) got very very sick (I will spare you the details).  Also Finley cried the entire way there and the entire way back to Murray.  An hour in a car with a screaming baby does something to your nerves.

This was right before Lucy jumped in Finley's seat and he started pulling her hair so I had to reach back and move her to the front with me.  Also shortly after this he started screaming.

Marion wasn't all bad...  my mom made my favorite foods for birthday dinner and we got to visit my friends Leigh, Josh and Jude Hutchens who have been missionaries in Moldova for 2 years.  Also Crider and Pappy (thats my dad)  threw out the first pitch at the Marion Bobcats season opener.

I debated on whether I should put up a somewhat negative post like this but then I realized that if I want to be real on this blog (which I do) I should.  My life isn't always rainbows and sunshine (even though pictures can make it seem that way sometimes) it can be hard and oh so challenging.  I love being a mom and one who stays at home but there are days when its a struggle just to make it to nap time.

Sticker Torture

I have learned to celebrate those small precious moments in the midst of a hard week.  This weeks little moments include pee in the potty, rolling over for the first time, songs sang in the car, precious moments with the grandparents,

 brothers who love each other,

pool parties, date nights, Crider's giraffe pool at Grammy's house,

mom's lasagna, visits with close friends, sleeping in Aunt Erica's big bead

and daddy coming home after a long week.

Best Friends and Boat Babies

A few days ago after watching a Little Einsteins episode about best friends, Crider came up to me and said, "Mommy do you know who my best friend is?  It's Owen."  I thought it was so cute and considering that I am good friends with Owen's mom, Kayla and Kory is great friends with Owen's daddy, Caleb we were pretty happy in his choice of a best buddy.  These pictures are of Owen and Crider walking into Cody and Kara Brown's wedding reception.

They thought it was so funny that the wind was blowing their hair

Cody and Kara's wedding was beautiful and we had a fun time at the reception.  Kory was honored to perform the wedding ceremony.  He did a wonderful job as always and added a part to his normal wedding message to the couple about how sin is our enemy in marriage.  Instead of looking at your spouse as the enemy when things aren't going the way it should recognize that sin is the enemy and defeat it together.  I loved this and thought it was such a great message to share with a young couple.  They held their reception at the CFSB center in Murray and it was the perfect venue.  It was also fun to see all the people from Marion that came to the wedding, it felt like I was right at home.  Cody has been a best friend to my little brother for as long as I can remember and it was so sweet to share in his special day.  I am proud of the man he has become and am so happy for him to have found Kara to be his bride. I look forward to many grill outs with the two of them:)

Logan and Stevie

I loved the yellow tie that Kory was asked to wear for the wedding

Crider dancing with the bride and a little girl he met at the reception

On Sunday we headed to the lake to celebrate memorial day with our families.  We went to Pattis on Sunday night with Kory's family and then spent Monday on the lake with my family.  It was Finley's first time on the boat and I decided that both him and Crider are boat babies.