It's been a long time.....

So obviously it's been a really long time. It's been a busy year and a year of walking on faith too and really blogging wasn't the first thing on my mind. Maybe blogging would have made the year a bit smoother if I had typed it all out but life goes on and before you know it months have passed and no blog updates. So out with the old and starting fresh from here.

The summary of our year...

In June Nathan and I went out to Texas for his cousin's wedding and we got to congratulate Andrew and Elba on their beautiful wedding! I was blessed to try my hand at taking some photos or them of the wedding...so much fun!

July brought lots of visitors to our house! We started the month with Alicia and Emily and then ended the month with my sister-in-law Emily. It was so nice to have a house full of guests! the kids didn't know what to do with themselves after everyone had gone!

This Summer we were very blessed to find out that we were expecting a 5th baby. For reasons known only to God Himself He chose that our precious wee one was better off with Him. The rest of the Summer was spent learning a lot about God's plan for our lives as well as trusting completely in Him for our well being. I think God really was able to use this as a time for both our family and Nathan and I's marriage to grow stronger.

In September we were sooo excited to spend Labor Day in Williamsburg Va visiting my bestie Alicia (love ya girl) and her parents. We had so much fun both visiting colonial Williamsburg and Jamestown but also just spending time with her family. Of course the time ended way too soon and we can't wait until Alicia, Emma-Lee, and hopefully MeMaw Joye come to visit us this next Summer.

October was filled with Emma's 6th birthday party and our annual Hamons Family Camp Out. Emma had her very first slumber party and was blessed to have Miss Heidi do her party as an example for her new party business. Our house was oozing in hot pink and black with bling!! The Hamons Camp Out this year consisted of 34 people in 5 campers and 2 tents, 14 of those people being 8 and under!

November brought another wonderful blessing of finding out that we were again expecting a new baby. Of course there were lots of worries and fears but God has really given us a sense of peace over this baby and as of 2 weeks ago we were able to see a precious wiggling baby with a good strong heartbeat! As of the week of Christmas I am now 11 weeks along and our new arrival is due July 10th. Nathan is pulling for a boy for Elijah's sake, but of course I'd love another little girl! I've never had a little one to do my own hair bows on so it would be a really fun change...however we'd be thrilled with either!

That now brings us to December and Elijah's 2nd birthday. That just amazes me that he's 2! So weird to thing that I was pregnant with him when we bought this house and started our remodel! Wow! Elijah had also was blessed to have Heidi do his party as well and we of course had to do John Deere and farm. It was adorable!

So looking back this has been a very full year! We now have 1 girl in second, one girl in kindergarten, and one in preschool, Elijah is now 2 and oh yeah we have a new puppy! We welcomed Hershey our chocolate lab into the family in July. So anyways its been a full year but a blessed year. We've had quite a bit of time relying on God, but He has always been there when we've needed him and been directing our path along the way.

Hopefully this now means that I'll be updating my blog again on a regular basis. I'm making it a priority even if it's just a quick post. Happy Advent!!

Month in Reivew

Wow! A month since my last post! Honestly though that's kinda where I am in life right now. Life is full...to say the least. Not really a bad full, just full. Besides that with being able to connect with so many people on Facebook with just a simple 1 or 2 line post about wheat we're up to, I don't feel that burning need to make a blog post as much. Although I said the whole reason I wanted to start a blog was to keep basically a online journal of the happenings of our lives for my kids to have in the future. Of course that would be quite a bit better if I had my blog actually printed out or something. Yep...let's just go ahead and add that to the master-never ending-always updating-to-do-list. Print Blog....check. Okay so back to what's been going on in the not so tiny butter cream house on the corner.

Well since we came back from NCY Miss Maddelyn turned 7...yes...pick yourselves back up off the floor...she's 7! I mean I know time flies by but 7? She's officially not a preschooler-kindergartner anymore! I think every day I see just 1 or 2 more things about her mannerisms that show me she is growing up. She has become a wonderful reader and spends any free time she gets on the floor or couch with a book. All of this reading has opened up a whole new world for her and she now has lots of new questions about what she's read as well as the world around her. Sometimes I honestly have to tell her "I really don't know Maddelyn?" Parenting for the past 7 years as well as a college degree in Early Child Education in no way prepared me for all her questions. I guess that's the way one learns though! She's so her father's child!


To celebrate Maddelyn's birthday she had a horse party at someone from our church's riding stables. Each of the girls got to help groom the horses and watch them be saddled up before they each got a turn to ride. The older girls were even able to guide themselves through the course once they got the hang of it. Maddelyn had a blast! After she got the American Girl Doll Felicity for Christmas last year she's been all into horses...just like Felicity. We searched all over town for the perfect horse cake and Grandma and Great Grandma got her a horse for Felicity to ride as well. I asked her if this was the best party ever and she said "Mom all of the parties have been the best!" Awe bonus points for her!


The next week we of course celebrated Easter. We were excited that Nathan's dad came to visit for a couple of days and was here to go with us to a local church's Easter egg hunt. That was so much fun! Caroline was kinda shy about it at first but eventually did pretty well. Maddelyn was a super egg hunter, and Miss Em...well she took the prize with how many eggs she got. I'd have to say she definitely inherited that competitive gene from her dad (just don't tell him I said that!) The older 2 girls were in a dance Easter morning at church and after service we had a family cookout at my Aunt and Uncle's house in Willard. It's kinda like the first cookout of the season for us all.


April also saw a bridal shower that we threw for my sister-in-law-to-be Beth. What a sweetheart she is! Not only is she amazing with my nephew and nieces (and keeps my brother in line haha) but like Caroline says "Beth Ann's my best friend" kinda sums up how much my children adore her. Welcome to the family Beth!

I was so blessed to have a mother-in-law who loves me dearly enough to make a very last minute-unplanned trip to Cincinnati for a Homeschool Convention. All I'm going to say is AMAZING! If you're a homeschooler and have never been to one it is worth doing everything you can to get to go to one. We went to the Midwest Homeschool Convention were there were over 250 speakers and 300 vendors! I left feeling so inspired and feeling like yes we can finish the rest of the year! Not only was I able to sit in on some amazing speakers, but I was also able to see products first hand and go through each curriculum. I also found lots of new ideas and companies that I had never heard of. Of course I did do well more than enough shopping, but I came home with a new spelling/phonics curriculum for the girls (All About Spelling - AMAZING), science kits like dissecting an owl pellet, workbooks, manipulatives, readers, devotionals, and lots more. It was a wonderful time both at the convention and spending a weekend with my Mom-in-Law. Thanks Carla!

The next weekend I went to Louisville for a Women of Joy convention with our church. My mom, aunts, cousin, mother-in-law, and grandmother-in-law also all came making the weekend even more fun! The only thing that could top that off is not only did we see Steven Curtis Chapman and Michael W. Smith in concert...but we saw SARAH PALIN!!!! Let me just say that she was even more amazing in person than I've ever seen her on TV. She not only spoke on her faith but what it was like for her to go through the rough waters she's been through lately both politically and with her family. I left seeing her even more as a role model! It was a great weekend of great speakers and a wonderful "girl time" with the family.

Well I guess that puts us to here. So right now finds me getting ready for our annual garage sale and juggling trying to finish up our lessons for the year in school as May approaches. This will be the first year that Maddelyn takes her state requited testing to see where she's at with her school work. I think Momma is much more nervous than she is? No...I know Momma is much more nervous! Basically it feels like I'm being tested. You think my education background would make this a breeze for me...nope I think it makes it worse because I know how much the public school students are being tested on. I guess all we can do is try and expose her to as much as possible this year and just pray that she does well on them. Why does it sound so much easier than really doing it?

So as May approaches we will be starting tee-ball and coach pitch with all three girls. Yes even Caroline will have a team for her this year. That could be very interesting??? We are still working on Elijah to walk...yes the kid WILL NOT let go of us or the furniture and just take off. He can do it just fine but refuses to let go. Stubborn that's the only word for it. Nathan will be traveling a lot this month with work so that means there will be a lot of mommy-kid time to fill. We'll be doing quite a bit of yard work when he is home trying to get the overgrown mess the previous owners had under control. Something that drives an OCD person nuts is pulling in their driveway and seeing nothing but weeds! Oh my! It's also getting very close to garden time to so that will be on the agenda as soon as the garage sale is over. We had a huge but lovely crop of tomatoes last year that I made into freezer spaghetti sauce. I'm not sure what else I'll be putting out this year, but I do know that this year the bunnies and I will be at war!

So you can see that this will be yet another full month in our house but like I said before, full doesn't mean bad full. It just means full!

The Big Apple

So New York was AMAZING! It was so good to be away with just the hubby and I, relaxing and getting to know one another again. We realized that these past 2 trips (NYC and then San Antonio last Nov) were a wonderful time to just get to know one another again..a.s husband and wife...and not just the other parent. We were able to actually talk and not be interrupted 10 times, laugh about silly memories from our past, and just relax. it has helped us remember that we were "we" before we were parents. So we have decided that we need to make a vow to each other that we will make time every so many months to do this. After all someday it will be just us so we had better make sure we still know each other by then!

Okay so the new Target Liberty of London ads have be all googly eyed! Like I told Nathan seeing these everywhere makes me either want to shop...or scrapbook! LOVE all the florals!

Okay...I don't love the Liberty of London of florals as mush as this man! Thanks for the trip Sweetie!

Love how the sun was shining on the Empire State Building here.

I was amazed how bright the theater district was even at 11 at night.

Those lovely Target ads again! :D

Time Square

I just had to take a picture of my breakfast that morning. We ran into a little market/coffee shop to grab something quick for breakfast and I saw these! They had entire pies but then I saw these tiny ones just perfect for breakfast. Oh and and the inside was Bavarian creme. Ohhh so lovely!

Had to show off the new sweater I got in NYC. Okay I'm a sucker for all the ruffles that are in style right now.

So I guess we didn't put 2 and 2 together that we were going to be in NYC over St Patty's day and the parade. It was nuts! Okay...imagine the normal amount of people in the city but then add about 1/2 that many people again..bagpipes..way too much alcohol...and a lot of green. Se we got to see the annual NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade! Well I guess you'd say parade. I'd call it more a festival in the streets of green and bagpipes that slowly moves up the street and lasts all day.

Ice skating at Rockefeller Plaza

And the reason for our trip...WICKED! Lovely just simply lovely!

Carriages in Central Park

Had to stop and pick up some souvenirs at the toy store FAO Schwartz

Picked this little sweetie up there for Caroline and Elijah. We were trying to find just the perfect thing to take home for the littles when I saw a sign above this little foot bike that said $159.99....sale $9.99! Yep after my sweet hubby lugged this box down 5th Ave for me we checked that baby as checked luggage and onto Ohio it went! Boo-ya! See you can still be frugal on 5th Ave! Ha!

Oh so pretty window displays but look at the dollar signs swinging next to those purses. Yep...keep walking!

We of course had to pop into Tiffany's. I had to pick up my jaw just a few times at the amount of bling in that store. Totally amazing!