BBQ

Do you ever find yourself thinking of someone or something, out of the blue? Does something ever take you back to a moment in time? It happens quite often to me, I could list countless moments, things or places that flood my mind with memories.  

A while back a friend taught me how to make the most tender pulled pork. Aside from the amazing taste, making it is so easy. So it’s a win-win for sure.

I was a little shocked when Baby M first tried BBQ.

I was shocked because she devoured her plate full and asked for more.

If you know Baby M, you know she’s a picky eater and meat is her least favorite food. So when she actually liked the BBQ I was almost in tears rejoicing!

The other night I made BBQ and Baby M kept rubbing her belly and saying, “mmmmm…. mmmmm…”

I’m not sure why, but the thought never crossed my mind, until this night, this particular meal, this plate full of BBQ for Baby M. When I met Baby M’s birth mom, she was working at the most adorable downtown restaurant. She often told me about her meals she would eat while at work and she usually picked that restaurant for us to eat lunch at. She loved BBQ and hated most other meats and is the picky eater queen. The restaurant boasted some of the best BBQ in Mississippi. 

I knew Baby M would have her features, her nose, her smile, her attitude, her strong will and even her love of BBQ. 

I'm forever grateful for these moments and my memories I'll carry with me always. 

Three cheers for BBQ! 

The Bennett Family

I know it’s been a while since I’ve written a post, to say our life is busy, is truly an understatement. I can’t believe we’re about to step into April, I’m still trying to write 2015, instead of 2014.

This year has been a year of surprises to say the least and while I know God has a reason for every storm, it never makes the moments less scary.

Today, I’m going to share a little about a wonderful family. This family and another family really brought the best out of Cody and I. Without a doubt, they really did help us through our first years of marriage and we’re forever grateful for their guidance, love and support.  

We have had the privilege of attending the same church for over 10 years. Through those 10 years we’ve met some of the most incredible people, enjoyed way too many calories and are forever grateful for the lifelong friendships we have. When C and I were in our early 20’s, we started working in the youth group. Our youth group was full of so many different teenagers and we loved it. I knew God wanted to use C and I to connect with these kiddos, but I never knew 10 years later they’d actually still think we were halfway cool, crazy right? In the years as youth leaders, a couple teens seemed to always flock to the Rodgers peeps, they became more and more like family.  

One of the craziest, most humorous and slightly inappropriate teens we’ve had the privilege of knowing and watching grow is our dearest Aaron.  I tried to think of a word to describe him and I can’t find one appropriate suitable for this blog post, but I’m sure I’ll think of one. He has two of the greatest siblings, a superstar athlete and the kindest, most adorable sister. I like to call her the baby whisperer because I’ve yet to meet any kiddo that doesn’t love Kirstie. Then you have Aaron’s parents, Lynette and Chris, who work so well together and who should have gray hair from dealing with Aaron, but somehow look fabulous.

This family means so much to C and I for so many reasons. They know our story and still love us unconditionally. Chris taught me how to make the best pulled pork, Lynette stocked Baby M’s closet for a year, I promise it took me 20 minutes to open her gift alone at our shower. These two are some of the most generous human beings to walk this earth. I’ve personally had the pleasure of serving alongside these two and I’ve witnessed & been a recipient of their generosity.  

A week ago, life changed for this family in so many ways. While working, Chris was injured, falling 20 feet from a roof.  Chris suffered many broken bones and a skull fracture. I’m sharing this story for 3 reasons.

Pray

Pray for a full recovery and for peace for his family.

Help

As a sole provider for his family, Chris will be out of work for sometime while he recovers. If you’re able, any amount is greatly appreciated.

 http://www.gofundme.com/chrisbennett

Share! Share! Share!

By sharing their story and their Go Fund Me page, imagine how many prayers and support the family can receive? Your support is needed and appreciate! 

Thank you for reading about our dear friends and thank you for your support.

I’m believing and praying for a full recovery for Chris.

Much love,  

Mercedes 

Hey, Hey, Heeeeyyyy!

It’s hard for me to believe it’s really March, it seems like it should still be January. I also won't talk about how much I don't love snow or ice . . . 

I know it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything and here’s why:

Time

I seriously can’t tell you what I do in 24 hours, but somewhere in there . . . I make meals, feed babies, clean, work full time, clean some more, kiss babies, spend time with C and oh, I sleep sometimes. My days seem to pass by faster than I’d like to admit and I’m just hanging on for the ride.

Family

Our little family grew by one in mid January and it’s been fun and wild! Baby M tends to be very needy these days, almost whiny. Baby J fights her sleep and demands to be held a lot. Would we trade the bad days with either one, absolutely not. Sometimes I still feel like we won the lottery, chosen to parent these two beauties. It’s also pretty rad to parent with such a great partner in crime, Cody. He and I work pretty well together, even when we both want to cry.

Changes

I know I briefly mentioned the new baby, but to add some spice to life, I also lost my job about 2 weeks ago. It was a complete shock to me and to be honest, I’m still completely shocked and a little sad. I really did love my job, but I really loved the team I worked for the most. I had the privilege of working alongside some of the nicest, strongest and greatest people. I know God had and still has a plan, it’s just waiting to see it through, that makes the inpatient side of me want to scream! I will say, that God opened up a door, for me to go and work for a great company. I started last week and the employees are super great, so inviting and the atmosphere there is healthier than the last. Things have changed for us with my new gig, but I can already see the goodness coming from the job change.

I’ll write more when time allows, but I have to do this crazy thing… you know, get ready for work….

Whatever you take from this post, please always carry with you just how great God and love is.  Thank you to the family, friends, our amazing church peeps for helping us through these crazy and wild transitions. Seriously, I can’t explain how much your support means to me!

<3 Mercedes

Josie

I remember the day like it was yesterday.

I am a morning person to the fullest, so it’s no surprise that I wake up around 5 am most mornings. On this particular morning I woke up at 5 am and I started the daily debate  - do I get up and run and eat donuts today or do I not run and skip the donuts. While contemplating my life changing decision, I grabbed my phone and checked my email and then did the ultimate time ruining thing – I checked my Facebook. I remember seeing the small little number 1 on the bottom of my page, I had one unread message.

That’s the message that forever changed our lives. That’s the message that opened the door to our second adoption.

Fast- forward some months and we’re at a specialist. When we arrive at the specialist, both the birth mom and I, believe it’s just a routine visit, the doctors are just checking on the baby. Then a nurse walks in, smiles and says, “Okay, let’s check her brain.” Akkkaaaexcuse me. We both lost our breath for a moment and I’m sure the look on our face is what made the nurse leave and go get the doctor. You see, our birth mom was late in the game, she didn’t make her initial pregnancy visits, instead she started seeing the doctor around 7 ½ months, so … we knew something could happen, but we didn’t know what. Long story short, the doctors found nothing wrong with her brain, but that’s the appointment where they told us the baby would be big and come early, most likely around Christmas or on Christmas day.

Fast-forward a couple months and our birth mom is officially 39 weeks and a couple of days. The doctor schedules her for an appointment for the next week. Um, what? Our birth mom is beyond angry and miserable. It’s now past Christmas and no date in sight for this little gal to be born. We return the next week; she’s now 40 weeks and a couple days over due. She’s larger and more miserable. The doctor is busy so he has her meet with his nurse practioner. She’s no peach and doesn’t like the idea of inducing labor, so after some begging and almost tears, the nurse practioner and doctor schedule to induce the following week – Yep, that’s another week overdue.

So at 5 am on January 14^th I meet her mom in the waiting room. Our birth mom is in the back getting checked in and we’ll be called once she’s settled in her room. An hour passes and nothing. I can tell her mom is worried and I’m trying all my Mercedes tricks to calm her down, but I’m running out of happy-go-lucky attitude.

Then two nurses walk into the waiting room and ask us to follow them. I failed to mention, but this is a new hospital and this is the first adoption they’ve ever handled. It’s beautiful and still smells new. We’re walking down the hall and finally enter her room. Our birth mom seems miserable, she’s in pain and they haven’t even started the meds to begin to induce labor. It’s about 6:40 am and two nurses walk in, they both tell us their shift ends in 20 minutes and they won’t start the meds until the next shift arrives. Around 6:50 am the nurses jog back in and I can see the look of terror on their face. They put some oxygen on our birth mom’s face and ask her to shift left and right. They walk out and about 20 minutes later they come back in and introduce the next shift nurses. These nurses will work 7-7pm and will most likely be present during birth. It’s about 8 am and the nurses rush in again, same look of terror over their faces, and again they put oxygen on our birth mom’s face. They shift her left and right. I can’t understand their codes or terminology and neither can our birth mom’s mom. So I finally ask, “what’s going on?” They look at me and look at our birth mom and say, “The baby’s heart rate is dropping.” I’m still oblivious and I feel like my mind is going 100 miles a minute. They stabilize the heart rate and leave the room. I call C and tell him what’s going on and I try not to worry him, which clearly I’m not good at. He keeps saying, “I’ll leave and head that way.” I reassure him she’s not even close to delivery, so I’ll keep in touch and let him know more when I can. The time is about 10 am and the nurses rush in again and this time the head nurse accompanies them and then another two nurses come in and each nurse has the same look of terror on their face. One nurse shouts to the head nurse, “call the doctor.” I can’t help it; I need to know what’s going on, so I walk in the hallway behind the head nurse. I ask her what’s going on. She looks at me and pauses for a long time, she knows I’m adopting this baby, so she chooses her words wisely and says, “the baby is losing oxygen and that’s not good.” I call C again and I tell him, this time he’s beyond worried and tells me to go back in and tell him play by play. The heart rate keeps dropping over the course of the next hour and again the doctor comes in and he finally determines it’s best to do an emergency csection. I’m sad for our birth mother, she didn’t want this to be her birth plan/route, but she knows the baby needs to come and quickly.

I walk out in the hallway and I called C, this time it was a little different. You see, before I walked out of the hospital room, they told us about the csection, but they also told us that only one person could go back to the surgery room with our birth mom. Her mom reached over and told her, “in the next couple of minutes you need to decide who you want to go back with you.” When I heard her say that to our birth mother, I knew, I knew it didn’t need to be me, but I was still sad. When I called C, he felt the same way. So when I got back to the room the nurses asked me to get all of my belongings and to follow them. I wasn’t sure what they meant really, but I did it anyway. We walked past every empty room, until the last room on the right, the room furthest away from our birth mom and any other patient. When we arrived, it was just me and two nurses. They told me this would be our room until we were all released and that the baby would come here in about 35 minutes. They explained that the birth mother had expressed her wishes for a closed adoption and wished to not see the baby. My heart dropped. I felt like I had lost my breath and I wasn’t able to move or speak, I just nodded. Just as I was about to sit down, C walked in. He asked me a million questions about the baby, birth mom, hospital and I just snapped. I needed a minute to take in everything, I mean in the last 30 minutes we went from an open adoption to a closed adoption, sharing a room with our birth mother to having our own secluded room I needed just a minute. About the time C and I started talking, a nurse turned the corner and entered our room with a  perfectly swaddled baby. She was all smiles and told us she was healthy and beautiful; she congratulated us and left the room.

I remember looking at Josie and feeling like I was the luckiest person in the world, like it was a dream. Then I remember looking up and seeing a hospital bed pass by slowly and seeing our birth mom’s mom and locking eyes with her. Our birth mom was just out of surgery and entering the recovery hour and the bed passed our room.

The next two days in the hospital were a little weird and tiresome. The hospital staff was great, but also very reserved and nervous. The legal situation surrounding adoption worries everyone, so with this being their first adoption, I knew they were scared of messing things up.

On Sunday night I was talking to C about our life and I told him how I felt extremely blessed. I mean it. The statistics that surround adoption, infertility issues and just births in general, is scary. It’s hard for me to grasp that two separate birth moms picked us to parent their children, that we now have 2 babies, 2 little girls that fill our days with laughs, diapers, tantrums and joy.  Not to mention, we haven’t prepared a meal since leaving the hospital,  Baby J sleeps & eats like a boss, we were gifted so much formula that Baby J will be 4 months old until we will need more, we didn’t buy a single outfit for Baby J, nor did we pay for fabulous family pictures. This is just a small list of blessings we’ve had in the last week and we are forever grateful for the generous people that surround us – our family, friends and complete strangers who have helped. Thank you to everyone who has joined together to make this journey extra sweet. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, it means more to us that you could ever imagine.

Also, if you’re reading this, I know I’ve told you in person a million times and I know we shared a special “mom” moment in the hospital, but know that your gift is something we treasure. Thank you for choosing life and thank you for choosing us. We’ll never take you for granted and you’ll always be part of our family. Thank you.

Love,

Mercedes

Hey 2015

First time blog for 2015

I still can’t believe Christmas is over and that January is among us, a whole new year!

I’ll recap a little from the holidays:

Christmas Fun

First, we aren’t like the normal television show type families. We don’t actually open presents, sit by a fire and eat mounds of food on Christmas Day. We actually, celebrate all throughout the month of December. We gather with our family, friends and really go to town on celebrating!

The Brothers

On Christmas Eve our church has an amazing candlelight service. The worship team sings their heavenly renditions of Christmas carols and our pastor finishes with the reading of the Christmas story. Every year I cry, every year. If you’re never read the Christmas story, do it. To hear about the trials they faced, to relive that magical moment, is such a great experience, better than any babysitter’s club book I ever read. After the church service we invite our friends over for dinner, gifts and games.  The night goes well into Christmas morning and it’s always a blast.

Special thanks for everyone that stopped by, called or mailed us some love. While Christmas is truly a special time of year, may we always remember to share the goodness throughout the entire year.  

New Years Goodness 

New Years was interesting. The neighbor kids were partying with fireworks and I was praying baby M didn’t wake up. She of course slept like a champ while mom worried. Ah, the joys of mom hood.  New Year’s Day, C was on call for work, so we partied at home, aka my favorite. It was such a chill day, it was an awesome day. It was nice to spend some time together as a family and really just relax.

Wild New Years Eve 

Live band NYE 

Baby Talk 

Of course, I can’t end this post without a baby update. Right? That’s what all you selfish people care about, right? I’m kidding!

Preppin'

If you've lived under a rock for the past 3 months, you’re confused right now. It’s okay, just go back under your rock.

We’re adopting a baby! Guess what? She was due on January 5^th!

Guess what? Birth mom is overdue and miserable.

So the doctor set a date to induce our momma bear.

Baby J's House 

We are prepping for her arrival by watching mounds of TV, sleeping through the night, washing bottles, prepping diapers, showering, eating with both hands – we’re ready!

Many people have asked – “what can we do, how can we help?”

Our response . . .

Pray – for our birth mom, Baby J and Baby M and well you can add us in there too.

While we understand we’re going through the adoption process aka roller coaster again, there are two sides of every story & situation. Our side is pleasant, we’re bringing home a new baby and all her goodness! The other side isn't always peaches and gold. So please pray for strength, wisdom and healing through this entire process.

Drop a million dollars off on our front porch.

Share our story with others. Not in a creepy way, but in a beautiful way. 

Don’t be afraid for us. Do failed adoptions happen, absolutely? Are we speaking bad thoughts over our adoption, absolutely not. What we are asking, is that you walk with us through the good and the bad, know we are not afraid. We are worried and nervous; I mean Baby J is a newborn, hello. But we are not afraid.

Last, thank you for your love & support. We have received so much love, I mean it. The amount of love and hope our family, friends and complete strangers have given us is beyond words. To the people who send texts every day, to the ones that surprise us with gifts, to the ones who have prayed with us, to the ones that let us vent, Thank You.

Be good, do good!

Mercedes 

Savings Some Money!

Savings!

Hey, Party Peeps, it’s me again …

I know what you’re thinking, twice in one week. I know it’s shocking, pull yourself together.

I remember when we found out about sweet Baby M and all her goodness. Everyone offered advice and told us how expensive babies were. I’m here to tell you, yes, babies are expensive, but not as expensive as some like to tell you.

I’ll share with you our tips on savings and still getting top grade products for our babies!

Clothes, Toys, Furniture . . . you name it. 

Trust me, I know how tempting it is to pick up 3 outfits at your weekly Target shopping trip, but try and refrain. First, if you’re like me, your family will do it for you. Seriously, between my sisters and our church pals, close friends -  Baby M and J have outfits to last until they’re in toddler attire.  

What happens is that you have your mind set on consignment selling, “I’ll buy this $35 outfit and resell it at consignment for $20!” Wrong. You’ll be lucky to get $15 for the outfit, maybe.

So here’s the skinny on baby clothes and toddler clothes . . . you go and shop consignment sales and stores, you’ll save a ton of money, trust me. Also, if you can find local swap shops on Facebook and you’ll have a year around consignment sale!

Same thing goes for toys & furniture. Let someone else pay the $80 for the toy or the $250 for the Pottery Barn chair, you come in months later and pay the $15! No joke, I’ve scored some amazing deals on used items!  My favorite is when  someone posts “free” on an amazing toy or piece of furniture.

Diaper Bags

Our first diaper bag was a gift from my sister, she bought me this adorable Coach diaper bag. I loved the look and loved the storage.  . . Until we had to travel with Baby M. The bag is really designed with small storage areas and not really good for cloth diapering or a lot of diapers. So I knew I’d need something different when  carrying for 2 babies… so I searched, read reviews and thought a lot about the Ju Ju Be bags. I fell in love with the reviews and then I started shopping for the bag. I was a little overwhelmed with the price, but I kept searching. Then . . . low and behold, someone posted a bag on a used swap page on Facebook. The person listed the bag for a 1/3 of the retail price and the bag was in perfect condition, complete with changing diaper station set. Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

 

Used Ju Ju Be, $46

Diapers

I shared with you that we started cloth diapering and I love it. I love the savings, I love the cuteness and I love knowing we’re helping our lovely Earth. So when we started the cloth diapering process, I knew I couldn’t justify to buy all new, I mean some diapers are $20-32 brand new. That’s a whole lotta money when you need 20-30 diapers. So I read a lot of reviews and found that we would start off with pockets. We also opted to try Alva brand and love it! We use flour sack towels and microfiber inserts. When buying used diapers, you need to be cautious and inspect so many things before purchasing. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, do your research. Also, just this week, while scoping another consignment place online, I found a set of 30 newborn & small diaper lot. Normally, the lot would cost roughly $250, but I scored the lot, with inserts, with disposable inserts and liners for $35. Oh, and the diapers were brand new . . . 

So for about $300 we will cloth diaper both girls, until the potty training days. Oh and before I leave the cloth diaper subject, the resale value on diapers is amazing, if in good condition. So I’m feeling pretty confident in selling the newborn lot for triple of what we paid. Selling the newborn lot will fund new diapers for the girls, new inserts or even different creams.

 

Huge Diaper Lot 

Coupons

I know when you hear the word coupons you think of the people who clear the shelves at the store, then pay $.01 for everything. I’m not to that level, though I wish I could spend the time to get to that level. I’m to the level of paying $12 for a total that started at $70. I mainly shop at three stores – Walgreens, CVS and Target. The stores print off different coupons, have coupons available online and even provide store bucks to use on later purchase – or in Target’s case, gift cards. I buy most of our household and some groceries through couponing. It takes me roughly 30 minutes a week to plan out what I will buy using coupons. I don’t clip coupons from the newspaper – shocking I know. I actually opt to not receive the newspaper and sometimes I score great coupons through friends, my sister or church peeps.

When you go to the store, make sure you go with a list and stick to the list. Seriously, you’ll thank me later. Sometimes I go in and I buy 5 toothpaste tubes, 3 shampoos and 4 body washes. Yes, that’s weird, but overtime, it adds up. So in one month I’ll usually stock our family for the entire year. It’s true. We haven’t had to buy a single toothbrush, body wash, lotion or shampoo product in a long time, years. It’s because of my one month of couponing. Of course, sometimes C will want to try a new body wash, toothpaste or toothbrush, but for the most part, we have a closet packed with goodness.

In closing, I want to make sure you each know that in buying used, comes some worry. People are shady and sometimes will not give you the right information, sometimes they don’t show when meeting you for an item and sometimes the item is not in great condition, as they advertised. So please, use your judgment, do your research, ask questions and bottom line, if you don’t feel safe meeting someone or don’t think the product is as advertised, walk away/don’t go. It’s okay, life goes on.

Whatever you decide, make sure it works for you and your family. I never let my couponing or any other money saving fun, spoil our family time, church time or anything else. 

Here’s to hoping I’ve helped you save some dinero! J

Until next time,

Mercedes

Hey, Hey, Heyyyyy!

Something crazy happened, overnight it seems that December arrived and it's now the 10th.

Holy smokes, Batman! It's hard to believe 2015 is right around the corner, but we're pretty pumped about it!

So what's happening in the Rodgers household?

Meal planning
Who am I? I'll tell you how this started. . .
One Saturday when Baby M actually decided to take a nap, I found myself cleaning watching Pioneer Woman. She talked about how busy she was and how vital meal preparation is in her household.
Then my mind started to wonder and my tummy began to growl . . . Then it hit me, I wonder if I too can board the "meal prep train." Well I went to the grocery store one Saturday morning and bought enough to feed an army. For starters, I only try and go to the grocery store to actually shop - once a month. So because I knew Baby M would wake up around 8 am, I needed to shop quickly and prepare the meals quickly. I left my house bright and early and to my amazement, Kroger doesn't open until 6 am . . . Kidding me right? Luckily, I had some other errands to run before lovely Kroger peeps were open. So I shopped for everything on my list - and was out the door at 6:30 am, no joke. I get home and immediately start unloading, petting Boomer, telling Boomer to stop barking and then finally start to cook. I made a list of everything I hoped to cook and I also made sure I had the containers to store the prepared dishes.

When I finished the meal prep, Baby M was yawning and waking up in her crib. Yes, that's right, before sleeping beauty woke up, I had prepared our meals for the entire month! Most of the meals were casserole type dishes, but I was able to properly store meats for tacos, chili, spaghetti, chicken and dumplings, etc.

The outcome . . . is fantastic. We literally thaw these meals and heat them at night, takes no extra time! So, if you're interested in meal prepping for your family, do it! I am forever a fan and plan to make even more meals before Baby J joins our party!


Cloth Diapering
What, that's gross! Save your words! I tried to cloth diaper months ago and failed. I was using the worst inserts available and luckily my friend Jenn helped a sista out! Shout out to Jenn!!

So I immediately bought better inserts, more diapers, more inserts, better diaper pail and .... low and behold, we're celebrating our month anniversary this week & I just bought Baby J's entire stash of newborn diapers yesterday!

I feel quite foolish for not seeking advice sooner, all the money we've wasted on disposable diapers, ugh, pains me to even think about it.

I chose to use pockets, one size for Baby M and I love them. Sure, the diaper + prefolds makes the baby's bottoms a lot more fuller, but I'm forever a fan of cloth diapers. I think C is still on the fence about the diapers, but I'm sure he's appreciating the savings!


Thanksgiving
We were able to spend most of Thanksgiving with Cody's family. It was pretty great to see his cousins, eat amazing food, and watch Baby M perform for all of the adults. I still wish I had taken a plate home with me, lawd, that dressing was amazing. The ham, tasted like nothing I've ever had in my life ... it was Heaven.

The week of Thanksgiving,  Cody's dad and step mom stopped in for a visit from Texas, God's country. It was great to see them play with Baby M and I think Baby M wanted them to stay, because who else would give a baby sweets at 8 pm? I guess that's what grandparents are for. . . it's payback since I'm sure C was a handful.

Martinez Christmas 
Every year my family gets together sometime before Christmas, to celebrate Christmas and birthdays together. We have family in Michigan, Texas, Oklahoma and Colombia - yes out of the country. So while the closer states get together often, the MI and MS crew tend to only see the family once or twice a year. It's always a blast, drama filled, food feast and calorie overload good time! When we arrived, it was about 1:30 am on Friday morning. Baby M was set up in her very own room and C and I were in one of the guest rooms. In my mind, I imagined setting up the baby monitor, walking to our room and catching some Z's before Friday's party. . . Baby M had other plans. She wanted to party in the guest room with us and she wanted to play slap-punch-kick us in the face. I wish I could say the next two nights were magically filled with sleep, but no, that would be a lie. Baby M wanted nothing to do with her pack and play and we wanted to nothing to do with co-sleeping.

Despite Baby M's sleeping fun, the weekend was a blast! The aunts and uncles went above and beyond for the nieces and nephew's visit. We went to the museum, the boys played football, dodge ball, we spent some time with Santa and opened mounds of presents. When we left, our entire car was full of all sorts of things, no joke. My sister even bought Baby M the girl and boy elves, don't worry, I'll cover these in a bit. Keep reading. 

The cousins 

Maggie at the Museum 

Play dough sesh with the best 

Birthday Celebration Part 1

My sister Fran always captures the best moments

Christmas 

We have such a large family, we have amazing friends - just really blessed with so many awesome events and fun around the holidays. So we do Christmas all throughout the month of December. The day after returning from Oklahoma, we hosted our church party, this Saturday we're hosting a gingerbread house party and then on Saturday C is also going to another Christmas party . . . so we love us some Christmas and good times!

Now, onto the elves. When I first saw the elves I laughed and thought, how creepy. Then we welcomed Baby M into the house and I wondered . . . What will we do about these elves and Santa. I mean, who doesn't love an adorable picture to show M's future husband Baby M when she gets older? Well the elves are adorable, but the whole story about them watching you and reporting back to Santa, seems like a story I heard off Dateline. . .

So, yes we have the elves and yes, she went to visit Santa, but we put no importance in either. In fact, we're keeping the elves out all throughout the year because she loves to chase our dogs with the elves. I mean come on, even Blue and Boomer are deathly afraid of these little devil elves . . .what does that say? As for Jolly Ole Saint Nick, no thanks. I think he's a great guy, but he's creepy too! I can't teach our kids to believe in a weird reward system around the holidays. "You act nice and this large, beardy, strange man will come bring you presents, down a chimney we don't have." I just can't and we won't. Now, with me giving you my opinion, sharing with you what we won't do, I'll also add ... that we do not judge our friends or family for bringing these traditions in their home. That's 100% a okay with us, trust me, we're fine with Santa and the elves, its just not something we're going to put a major focus on. With that being said, if you need someone to play Santa aka eat cookies for you, sign me up for that gig. I'll take one or three for the team. #teamplayer

Growing up, Christmas wasn't about the gifts, the food or about Santa, it was really about the birth of Jesus. From the beginning, I hope I've shared enough for you to know that our faith in Jesus may grow weary, but we're big fans of him and his works. : )

In case Baby J comes early, or in case I fall into a food coma, I wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I pray you are surrounded by loved ones and that wherever you are, that you know you are loved!

Many blessings to you and yours!

New, faster way to open gifts 

Oh, don't be alarmed if you don't receive a Christmas card from us, we've got something special in mind for the New Year! No, we aren't sending you elves.

Until next time, stay classy amigos.

Mercedes