Fall Cara Box

Oh.My.Goodness!! All of my Cara Box partners have been awesome! BUT my Fall partner, Shannon, over at Life of Poole sent me chocolate! Yes I LOVE snickers and Reese's and M&M's so she sent me a BIG bag do peanut butter M&M's and lots of peanut butter snickers along with dark chocolate (anything is great) hot chocolate and a coffee to go with. Shhhh don't tell anyone but all my chocolate is in hiding from the rest of the family...hehehe. I have new knee high socks and a thanksgiving magazine for new recipes. She also sent red nail polish. It goes perfectly with my gold polish I received from Kim a fee months ago. Apparently I'm easy to please. I mean just send me chocolate, wine, or anything and you'll be my friend for ever! LOL. Thank you so much, Shannon!

If you want to sign up for the next Cara Box, head on over to Wifessentials. There you will find all the details about it and meet some awesome ladies. 

Here's my box:

Here are the goodies! 

Carabox Reveals!!

Well back in June I learned about this modern twist on the age old pin pal exchange. In the two months I have signed up for this exchange, I have met some awesome women. I can't wait to make friends with some other ladies around the US. Below are my reveals for July and August! 

In July I was paired up with a wonderful woman by the name of Kim. She lives in Washington. The theme of the month wasNautical, which is what I am re-doing our guest bathroom in! So obviously I was excited cause Washington is on the coast!! We had ALOT in common...including wine lovers! So she sent me a little bottle of wine! Oh yeah! Plus lots of other goodies! 

In August, I was paired with an awesome mommy of 2 girls with another girl on the way! She actually got married today! And her baby girl is due to arrive in November. Amazingly, she also lives in Washington! Below is what she sent me and I got it just in time to use some of the stuff on my vacation!!

Until the next exchange, talk to you all soon!

Sara

Life's a Beach!

Life is a beach! How? Well have you ever seen a straight flat...I mean completely flat flat flat beach (if you have don't tell me, haha). Ok, so the non-flat beaches, they have hills or ripples or dents or whatever...right? Right! Well so does life! As humans we have our ups and downs like hills and smaller ones like ripples and then we have those life occurrences that hit us like a baseball and leave a dent that lasts with us either for a long time (if it was a good thing) or last a short while (like going to a repair shop). 

My first year as a stay at home has had a lot...A LOT...of ripples, some hills, and a few dents (some of which as still being repaired). On many occasions I have thought that I am just not cut out to be a stay at home mom. Usually its when i have had a stressful few days or something have had enough of the crying and whining over toys and naps and food. Then other times I'm just like 'wow, I have more time with my kids'. I have time to do more with them and help them develop and grow. I honestly like the fact that after Fan has been out in location for a few days and he comes home during the week, I don't have to wait til I get off work to see him, I'm already at home. 

Staying home has allowed me to work more on growing my photography business. I created a website, had my logo designed, put together my brand and packaging and been available to my clients when they wanted to do a session anytime. 

I love my kids and I love my husband and I love my life. The only thing I would change if I had the power would be to win the lottery or I'll settle for having a little more money to pay things off. But until then I will just go with the flow and ride the waves over the hills, ripples and dents that come along. 

Life's a Beach! Have fun while you can!

Sara

Hello! I'm back!! So...here's the catch up!!!

Last time I posted, I was still pregnant with our little girl. Well, she is a WHOLE 15 months now!!!! Gosh where does the time go!!??

There is so much to catch up on, so lets start of course where I left off. Adalynn Kaci was born March 17th. Fan was to be home that weekend so I scheduled to be induced so that he could be with me. We arrived at the hospital at the scheduled time and recieved a call from the charge nurse saying that over night they had many women go into labor and had no rooms available at the time, but would call me when one opened up. So Fan, Eli and I went to eat. Wouldn't you believe it as soon as we got our food, the nurse called me to come in. A few hours later we had our beautiful baby girl!

I was able to take 8 weeks off work and let me tell you it was awesome and tiring as I was learning to juggle both kids and their schedules. I managed. It worked. We survived. I went back to work, pumped at work again and made everything work, but I was still missing my kids. Fan and I talked and decided that at the end of June I could quit and stay home with the kids full time...under one condition...I worked harder and did my photography full time as well. Needless to say its still an on going situation to get use to.

In August 2012, Fan, Eli and I went to Suriname for 2 weeks to visit his family and friends and to see the country he grew up in. It was amazing, beautiful, peaceful...I could live there! The only that was hard was to leave my baby back in the States with my mom and mother in law. I know she was safe but still missed her terribly! Plus I pumped while I was down there so that I could keep up my supply. Any nursing mom knows that having to pump and dump is just down right hard to do, but I survived 2 weeks and several plane rides! We ate a lot. I learned to make a few things. Eli got to run around and see at the aunts and play with cousins. We went to the jungle. Swam at one of the hotels. Went to the market. Walked around town. Got to go out on a fishing boat and catch all kinds of jellyfish and fish. Over all fantastic time!

After getting back from Suriname, we went back to our normal routines. Eli started school, Fan went back to work and I officially began getting use to staying home and not having to wake up and go to work. Don't get me wrong I'm 'working' as hard as I ever had been, but this time it's just a bit different. It's getting up, getting the kids up and ready to take Eli to school, breakfast, lunch and dinner, cleaning, snacking and playing and more cleaning. After a year now I'm still getting use to it! 

After the first of the year, it was time to start preparing for a 1 year and 5 year birthday party. I decided to combine their major birthdays {1,5,10...}. It was a success! We did a princess and super hero theme. I made capes for the kids. Crowns for girls and super hero symbol for boys. We rented a bounce house and I had my friend Ashley with Southern Hearts Bakery make the 2 smash cakes and all the cupcakes. Delicious!! We have more toys now too! LOL

Not too much has happened since their birthdays. They are growing ever to fast. Eli can read now and is learning more and more words. He will be going to Kindergarten in August :-( Addi is growing so much. She is becoming more independent, learning more words, loves to sing and dance. They both love being outside all the time.

We are doing wonderful, loving life, living everyday to its fullest.

Lovies and best wishes,

Fanuel, Sara, Elijah, & Adalynn