Shadow

My husband never was a cat person. Some people just don't like cats and Ian, was one of them. That all changed one day when a friend told us she had kittens that needed a home.

"We'll just go look", we said.

You know how that goes. That day, we came home with the cutest little kitten. She was the least shy of the bunch and had the cutest spots on her coat, hence her name "Shadow".

Sadly, Shadow is gone now. One day we realized, we hadn't seen her in some time. It's not unusual for her to hide most of the day. Or to spend some time playing outside in the backyard. When we realized we hadn't seen her in a while, she was already gone. We're not sure what happened but we know we miss her.

She was a GREAT cat! She wasn't mischievousness. She was sociable and liked to be wherever the family was. Sometimes, she slept with Jacob at night, and he loved it, until she would scratch his head to let him know she wanted out of their room. She tolerated the puppy as much as she could.

The boys ask us if we can get another cat but we know that it is difficult to get a good cat. It's been difficult for them to loose another pet but the loss has allowed us to have a lot of heart-to-heart conversations about loss. We remind them that for those who believe and trust in Jesus, there will be a day when there is not more pain, tears or suffering!

We all miss you Shadow, you were a very special friend!

Double Digits

 

My first baby turns double digits today, 10 years old! Where did the time go?

Wasn’t this just yesterday?

God is glorious in His creation. The boys love for me to tell them the stories of when they were born. One of the most important parts of Jacob’s story is how long we prayed for this child. How much we desired to have children before God gave us this special boy. We tell him about what a delight he has been to have as a son and what a joy he is to his brothers.

This birthday will go down as one of my favorite milestones of his. Just a few weeks ago, Jacob made a decision that we have been praying for since before he was born. Jacob put his faith in Jesus Christ. We firmly believe that each of our children’s greatest need is for salvation. The Bible tells us that all who put their faith in Christ alone will be saved. We talk about Jesus freely in our home. We talk about our need for Him and what He has done for us and we pray that God will call each of our boys to Himself as He did with Ian and I.

God used the loss of our beloved pet cat Shadow, to show Jacob of his need for a Savior. One night while we were praying before bedtime, Jacob surprised us all as he genuinely prayed for the forgiveness of his sins and placed his hope in the work of the cross. It was spontaneous, it was heartfelt and it moved us all. Since then, we’ve noticed a change in him. The foolish young boy is being transformed into this responsible, thoughtful and loving young man. We are so delighted that God directed his path towards Him. We have much to praise Him for!

Happy Birthday Jacob. We are so proud of you and love you more than you will ever know!

Little Man Turns One

Happy Birthday Evan!

One year ago today, these words were heard around our house, “Ian…my water broke!” and a few short hours later this beautiful boy was born. We didn’t know whether he was a he or a she, and we didn’t care. But I must say, he fits in nicely with all his big brothers.

Now 1 year old, Evan is very close to walking. He cruises on everything. Not long and he’ll be chasing after his brothers. He is learning to communicate through a few words like “mama” and “baba” (bottle) and some sign language such as “all done” and “more”.

Just last week he was at the doctor’s office with a double ear infection and his weight was 24lbs 7oz! He’s a big boy indeed. He fits into most 24months size clothing. He wasn’t a little baby for very long. Evan is a precious gift to us all. We are so thankful for this little boy and hope to celebrate many more wonderful years with him.

Inventory Clearance Sale is Live!!

Great discounted Thirty-One products, just in time for the holidays.

The bidding is open for 5 days, until Wednesday November 15th at 9:00pm. To bid on an item, comment on the post with your email and bid amount.

Email me if you have any questions about any of the items at mrsjorgensen@hotmail.com

Happy Shopping!

$7 Thermal Totes

Windsor Bouquet, Paparazzi Dot, Flutter, Painted Snakeskin, Awesome Blossom, Lil' Mushrooms. Retail Value $15

Exterior pocket, zipper closure, silver thermal lining. Approx. 9.5" H x 14"W x 4.5"D

1 Windsor Bouquet, 2 Paparazzi Dot, 2 Flutter, 2 Painted Snakeskin, 1 Awesome Blossom and 1 Lil' Mushroom available for $7

$5 Small Lunch Tote

Mod Dot and St. Andrews Tartan. Retail Value $12.50

1 outside pocket, zipper closure, webbed handles. 11"W x 9"H x 5.75"D

2 available for $5

$10 Organizing Utility Totes

Paparazzi Dot, Black Tailored Stripe with Pink/Green handles. Retail Value $22

7 exterior pockets (2 mesh) 15.5"W x 10" H x 6.5"D

2 Paparazzi Dot, 2 Pink handles, 2 Green handles available for $10

Skirt Purse

Brown Skirt Purse, retail value $42. Fitted Purse Skirts, retail value $15.

These are a unique Thirty-One item. Purchase the purse body and then you can purchase and mix and match different "skirts" that fit over the purse body. Leave the contents in your purse even though you change the look of your purse! Genius!

2 available for $15

Fun and cute prints to fit over your Skirt Purse! Grey Dot Print, Ruffled Skirt (reds, browns, blue), Floral Fanfare and Red Holiday print.

4 available for $5

$2 Key Fob

Cool Lime Ditzy, Square Geo Jacquard, Peacock Medallion, Floral Fanfare, Hampton in Black and Newport Stripe. Retail Value $5

Most approx. 4.25"H x 1.5" W

7 available for $2

$15 Demi Purse

Black Pocket Full-of-Posies, Peacock Paisley, Floral Fanfare. Retail Value $29

Inside zipper pocket and cell phone pocket, magnetic snap closure. 10.5"L x 9"H x 5"D

3 available for $15

$5 Zipper Pouch

.
Pink Circle Spirals, Counting, Windsor Bouquet, Minty Chip. Retail Value $12

Zipper closure. Approx. 9"H x 11"W x 2.5"D.

4 available for $5

Prepared and Pretty

Expand-A-Tote Day Extender, All-In-One-Organizer. Retail Value $69

Put everything in its place with both of these items. The extender tote literally expands to give you more space to carry it all. Unzip the middle to expand the tote from 14"H to 20.75"H. You name it, the Organizer will keep it organized. Whether you need a place for library book, DVD's, diapers, toys, etc., you can store it in the All-In-One Organizer.

Starting bid $25

Lunch With the Girls

Thermal Tote and Wristlet Wallet. Retail Value $37

Grab your lunch, wallet and go in style with this combo. The thermal tote keeps your lunch hot or cold with its silver thermal lining and exterior pocket. The wallet has an interior zipper compartment, clear PVC slot and 4 card slots to keep all your cards handy.

Starting bid $20

The Styled Traveler

Cosmetic Bag, Wallet and Mirror Compact. Retail Value $62

A picture can't do these items justice. This cosmetic bag is lined with a wipable clear PVC lining and interior pocket so that all your bathroom necessities stay neat. Not only is the wallet pretty but functional as well. It has 8 cards slots, 2 bill slots and a zipper compartment inside. This 2.75" compact has dual mirrors for quick touch-ups.

Starting bid $25

Beauty Control

Mini Organizer, Flat Iron Case, Pinch-Top Eyeglass Case. Retail Value $50

A place for everything and everything in its place. Keep your bathroom clutter neatly put together. This organizer has space for it all inside and in the 5 exterior pockets. The Flat Iron Case is lined with silver thermal lining to put away your flat iron when you're done. Keep your glasses protected and clean in this stylish eyeglass case.

Starting bid $25

The Organista

Five Pocket Clutch, Soft Wallet and Ruffle Mini Zipper Pouch. Retail Value $70

This set will help you keep organized in a fabulous way. The clutch has a place for everything with its 2 exterior pockets and 3 interior pockets. Keep all those loose items put together in the adorable mini pouch, add the soft wallet (11 card slots and 4 bill slots) and you've got the perfect combination for organization.

Starting bid $35

Girl On The Go

Ruffle Cinch Sac, Fold-And-Go Organizer with Notepad, Hard Case Wallet. Retail Value $74

This one is for all those girly girls. The pink cinch sac holds all your on the go essentials with style. With the Fold-And-Go Organizer you can keep a notepad, pen, supplies and coupons all together in one pretty place. The sturdy metal frame on the wallet ensures all your important cards stay protected. It has 5 card slots, a clear PVC slot and 2 gusseted slots for bills.

Starting bid $30

The Super Shopper

XXL Everyday Tote and Mini On-The-Go Organizer. Retail Value $87

This set is perfect for the special shopper in your life, or even yourself. The size of this cute tote (16"H x 2.5"W) can hold all your shop goodies and more. With 2 interior card slots and 5 divided inserts, the organizer is the best place to keep all your cards and coupons in one place!

Starting bid $25

Grab-N-Go Style

Flat Iron Case, Soft Wallet and Littles Carry-All-Caddy. Retail Value $54

This set is perfect for beauty on-the-go! The Flat Iron case is lined with silver thermal lining to pack your flat iron quickly and go. The 6" high caddy is perfect to hold all your makeup essentials. With 11 interior card slots, the wallet has plenty of space for all your necessities.

Starting bid $20

My Inventory Clearance Sale

Help me out!

I have a ton of discontinued Thirty-One products and everything MUST GO! Just in time for the holidays, I've marked everything down 50-75% off. If you're looking for a great gift for a friend, mother, sister or even yourself, you'll find something here.

Here's how it will work, on Saturday, November 10th at 9:00am, I will open bidding for all my clearance items. Each item or group of items will have their own post. If you'd like to bid on the item, leave a comment with your bid price and name in the comment box. The bidding will remain open for 5 days, until November 15th at 9:00pm. Bid as many times as you'd like. The item goes to the highest bidder. Out of state friends, I'll ask you to add $5-7 for shipping so I can send your items to you. When you win the bid, I'll send you an email with further directions to claim your item.

Please share this opportunity with your friends! It's a great time to get some Thirty-One products for less!

Thanks for stopping by.

11 Months Old

This is it. I can’t believe we’re here. This is the last monthly baby post. The next time I update on Evan, it will be on his 1st birthday, sob. How did my baby grow so fast?

At 11 months old, this little guy can move! Boy can he get around in the blink of an eye. No walking yet but he is really good at cruising around on the furniture. I’ve caught him a couple of times being very interested in going up (and subsequently, down) the stairs, yikes! He doesn’t like to be held too long in my arms anymore and wiggles to get down on the floor.

He makes another recognizable word now, “ba-ba”, which means bottle. He’s developed a love for nutri-grain bars, thanks to influence from his cousin, Sammy, and really loves beans. Although, I have to give those to him sparingly. He had his first lollipop on Halloween and now he’s hooked. I keep catching him snooping in the boys buckets of candy for another one.

He loves to take a bath with his big brother Austin. Evan really enjoys when we go outside and I sit him on a blanket in the grass and loves to watch his brothers ride their bikes up and down the street.

He’s just a fun-loving, easy going kind of baby. Although, pretty soon, he won’t be a baby anymore, he’ll be my toddler and eventually one of the big boys!

Boo!

These goons terrorized the neighborhood tonight. Trick-or-Treat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pumpkins and Ramblings

It’s that time of year again.

Time for pumpkins and pumpkin patches. This year we had some family here with us and we headed out to our favorite pumpkin place, Dewberry Farm. They have all kinds of rides, food, corn mazes and our personal favorite, the lighted pumpkin stroll.

We even stopped and snapped a family photo. But seriously, do you see why we have so few family pictures?

First there’s Mr. Sensitive Blue Eyes who has to have his glasses on in daylight, no matter what. Second,  only one of my boys is actually looking (very angrily I might add) at the camera. One of my boys doesn’t even have his eyes open at all!

Dear boys, in the future, please indulge your Mother who loves her treasured pictures, and smile for the camera. Thank you, your Mother.

 

On a complete side note, my blog is titled “Life in the Precious Moments” because these days with my little boys are precious. One day they will grow up and become independent men, have their own lives and Lord willing, their own children. Every single moment, every single opportunity with them is a gift from God. I was created to be their mother and they, created to be my sons. When they are grown and gone, I never want to forget these sweet times with them. And my memory stinks! So it must be written down.

Yesterday during a phonics lesson with Nathan he says to me,

“Mom, I like writing the letter “t”. I like writing it because, it reminds me that Jesus died for me.”

He melts my heart and God truly has special plans for this amazing boy.

But I thought to myself, there it is! The reason we homeschool. Of course, academics are important and we make every effort to prioritize our academia but more than that. My ultimate goal is to teach them about Jesus. To teach them about the One who paid our ransom that we might know God and make Him known. Not just through Sunday school but in history, geography and even math! That all our studies flow from and are created by the one true God!

This is the stuff, the stuff that gets me through the hard days. And yes, we have LOTS of those!

Swapping

This summer as I was planning out our current school year, I started thinking “What am I going to do with my two preschoolers?” This is the first year I’ve had to consider how I would manage two children in school and two children not yet in school.

The baby was a no brainer, he would be content to sit and play with toys, nap or eat. But my three year old is an entirely different subject. He is content with an activity for about 5 minutes! I’ve seen ideas for Busy Bags (activities geared for preschoolers that fit into bags) all over the internet and Pinterest and I knew my little guy would really enjoy them. But buying supplies for several bags and taking the time to prepare them all might be too time consuming. That’s when I thought, “I wonder if there are other moms that are facing the same issue as me?”

I’ve learned in my experience as a homeschooler that I need other moms. I need to learn from their insight and wisdom. At times,  I need their help. I always want to be encouraged by them. I need their shoulders to cry on. And sometimes, I just need some fun!

So I asked all my mom friends with preschoolers if they would be interested in doing a Busy Bag swap. To my surprise, there was lots of interest. Friends invited other friends and before I knew it, there were at least a dozen other women wanting to participate.

Here’s what I did, I created an online sign-up and each person signed up to prepare one particular Busy Bag activity, one for each member of the group. For instance, I signed up to make the alphabet match-up activity so I made one for each person in our group. Additionally, I set a price limit for each bag. Then, we arranged an evening together. Yes, there were desserts involved . We exchanged our bags so at the end of the night, each lady walked home with 12 different Busy Bags for her preschoolers!

These were some of the activities we created

Austin had been enjoying his Busy Bags this year. Even my big boys like to take a break from school and help their little brother.

I am so thankful to have such an amazing group of friends and other moms around me. They make activities like this one a possibility!

10 Months Old

This little guy is officially 10 months old. It almost seems as if I shouldn’t be saying he’s 10 months old but rather, he’s almost one. Yikes!

He has a mouth full of teeth. I swear he cut 5 teeth at one time. Yeah, it wasn’t fun.

 

Evan is a sweet, easy-going and happy baby. I told Ian the other day that my favorite thing about Evan right now, is that he laughs just because someone’s laughing. Not because he got the joke or because he understood what was going on, but just because. It’s awesome. I also like that his hair curls with the humidity, that when I hold him, he wraps his leg across me, that he makes some seriously funny faces and that his legs are still super chubby.

He has decided he prefers table food over baby mush-although I still give it to him with his meals. He his full force crawling which means lots and lots of trouble making! He gets away quick. Not too long after he started moving, he’d also began pulling up on things. He’s pretty close to cruising now.

Maybe all this exercise will help work out his potbelly .

He’s very good at saying “mama” and now he’s working on “dada”. I wonder what will come next? One of the brothers, “no” or something worse? He keeps getting cuter every month and I am cherishing the precious moments of the last of these baby days!

Finding the Light

Whenever I read articles and posts about good photography, I notice a lot of professionals say light is everything. Sure, there is composition, balance and all the other goodies but light can make or break your photo. They suggest you “find your light”. That once you practice, you start to develop an eye for where the light is and how it will look in your photo.

Well I have been practicing and truthfully, it’s not so easy to find the light! I have an idea for how I want my photo look and it just doesn’t come out that way-I still got lots to learn! Sure, I can expose a picture properly but I’ve been wanting to create something more drastic than just exposing my subjects.

The other day, my sweet crawling baby discovered the window on the back door. He made his way over to it and put his face up against the pane. It was sunset right about that time. The light that was hitting his face was DREAMY! At last! I saw it. Not the cuteness of the kid, outfit or setting, but the light. The glorious, yummy light. I dashed to get my camera before the moment was gone and snapped a few beautiful shots.

See what I mean? Dreamy light, or is it the dreamy baby? Either way, SCORE!

I still have lots to learn. For instance, in the bottom, Evan is a little out of focus ( I gotta improve my moving subjects skills) and it’s a tad overexposed. But progress is progress right?

My Summer Through my Phone

I have really enjoyed learning how to use my fancy, fancy DSLR camera. It captures precious moments in such a beautiful way. However, there are times when it is not convenient to pull out the big gun but rather, use the ever-handy camera phone. My Iphone has a good quality camera so I use it often for spur-of-the-moments. I also love my Instagram app which can add fun filters to my images.

Our summer was CRAZY to say the least. Most of my pictures are from my phone so I thought I would post those fun images.

This is our summer through my Iphone images.

June

July

August

9 Months Old

It’s a small miracle that update is even being posted. First, I am late, again, getting to Evan’s monthly shoot. But better late than never!

Second, most of my photos look like this,

Or like this,

That’s right! Baby boy is crawling, yikes! Which makes taking his picture, near impossible. He’s been on his hands and knees for a few weeks now but never fully committed to the moves. Once he figured out he could go somewhere, he’s been going ever since. And he just LOVES getting into trouble. To include pulling the alarm clock on his head, spilling big brother’s water twice in a row and discovering electrical cords.  All this to say, so long free time (what little there was). If you need me, I’ll be chasing after my son for the next year.

Evan is still our sweet chunky monkey. He’s become quite the character lately. Here are just a few of the many faces of Evan.

Now that our classical classes have started again, Evan has discovered his love of a bottle while he’s in the nursery. We just can’t fill this guy up! He’s started to pick up some foods as well. He loves crackers, cheerios, veggie booty and the baby puffs so far.

He is such a good baby and a joy to be around. Babies don’t come any easier or cuter than this guy is. I love you to the moon and back Evan!