30 days of thankful- day 7

Another simple post- this time from my computer- but still, I'm way behind on this thing called sleep... and I've had little time on the computer- which has been really nice, to be honest. I took two whole days off from doing any sort of editing or anything like that. It was refreshing, and now I'm ready to pound out these last few sessions before taking a mini-break before 'launching' kristenmcg photography. Exciting stuff. Why am I talking about all of this right now? I'm rambling... onto the thankful.
Today, I'm really thankful that I can barely remember my kitchen looking like this:

 

If I weren't on my laptop, I'd show you some other 'before' type of pictures of our house. Our kitchen, though, has seen numerous transitions and is in the middle of yet another. Last Christmas Eve we bought new flooring, and today, we're about 4 feet shy of having the new floor down. I'm really really pleased with how it's looking- can't wait for it to be finished tomorrow!

This picture gives me hope and makes me so glad. One- we've come a loooooooooong way. Two, we have a house, a home... and I love it here. It has become our home. It's comfortable and cozy- I love being here. I love that we've transformed it and made it ours, that it's plenty spacious, that people can and do gather here. Provision beyond what we could've imagined- and I am so thankful for this place.

Lastly, despite the uproar seen in just about every inch of living space right now, it has been much, much worse here. The things we have to do now- the things that are tremendously hanging over my head and making me crazy- are far less hard, time consuming, and costly than most of what we've already accomplished. I am really thankful that it's not 'everything but gutting drywall' that needs to be done now. Instead, it's throwing unnecessary things away, simplifying, getting rid of clothes (again. always. continually), finding places for the things that used to be in the 2.5 closets we did away with, deep cleaning every inch. The time is very near, my friends, when that amazing little instinct called nesting takes over. I'm right on the brink- I bought more household cleaners tonight than I have in months and I am giddy with excitement. I've got lists of things to scrub and boil flowing from my brain. I'm plotting and planning and so looking forward to getting these things checked off my list. In case you've missed majority of my other blog posts, this is very contrary to my normal nature. I love this aspect of pregnancy. :) 

So tonight, I'm really thankful for our home, but especially the work that's we've already done in our house, meaning we have that much less to do now. Some day when I have time, I'd like to do a 'house tour' of sorts- with before and after pictures and all. It's really an amazing transformation, and we finally have more finished rooms than unfinished- and that's an amazing feeling.

With that, I need to go sleep so that I can one day have the energy to actually do the things I'm dreaming of. Staycation is wonderful!

See you tomorrow!

Day 6

I'm on my phone again, we are driving home from Ft. Wayne and it's 10:35p.m. The kiddos are conked out (finally) and I can't wait to crawl into my bed. Neither child napped yesterday and corban was up every two hours through the night and up for the day starting at 5 a.m.
Needless to say, we are all tired.
We had an incredible time though, and it was worth sacrificing a nights rest. :)
Anyway, call me frivolous and vain, but today I am darn thankful for the first haircut I've had since January. My hair was really long and way past overdue on a trim. We thinned it out, took just an inch off the length, an added some layers. There's something so ... Idunno... Refreshing? About a good haircut. Especially at this stage in pregnancy.
A boric update ad 'thankful', I know, but I don't do this thumb typing well and I'm very lacking in the sleep department- that's all I've got for today. :)

Day 5

I am thankful that we've been too busy this whole day for me to be on a computer to write a blog post. A full, wonderful, relaxing kick off to our staycation. We started last night with Toy Story 3 and popcorn on the couch as a family and it was awesome. We (in parent world) slept in and started our morning with cinnamon rolls by te fire. We packed up, finally cleaned out the van and headed up to Ft. Wayne to spend the weekend.
I'm typing this on my iPhone, so I'm going to stop there, but it's so good to be with my husband and kids, seeing family and friends who are like family. We are being encouraged and refreshed and I am so thankful for this time we have right now. God is so good to give us what we need just when we need it.
Hope your weekend is great!

day 4

Here's the deal.
I have this big long heart-filled post I want to write. I've been thinking about it for days... really tossing some things around, but I'm swamped with 'work' (if you want to call it that) and really need to bust it the next few days so that I can enjoy our 'stay-cation' next week. So bear with my shallow and surface level thankfuls that may appear in the near future and please know there's more depth to this heart than just being thankful for caffeine. :)
With that said... Day 4.
As previously mentioned, we have a friend living with us right now. He fits into our family quite nicely. The munchkins love him. Jordan loves having a climbing buddy. Meet Jacob:

 

Jacob works at a little local establishment known as Starbucks.

Oh, you've heard of them? 

Ha. I'm a big fan of his recent employment... mostly because he brings me pumpkin spice lattes when we pick him up. Like last night. Except last night we ate a late dinner and I was full and wasn't up for drinking it at 9 p.m., so it ended up in my fridge. And now it's nap time and I only slept five hours last night and what do you know if I don't have the most perfect little treat sitting in a holiday themed cup waiting to be consumed now that my house is quiet. (How's that for run-on sentence?!)

Ahh, yes... I am thankful for housemates and jobs and pumpkin spice lattes.

Also:

or maybe more recognizable here:

 

This man of mine (who happens to be dang good looking... just sayin'.) will be off of work for the next eight days, starting tonight.

Hallelujah, thank You, Jesus.

A week at home. Just us. Our family. Amazing.

We had planned on a vacation, had several things in the works, but alas- we had to choose to be responsible adults (darn it), and will be staying home in FREEZING SNOWY Indiana. I may or may not have had a little pitty party this morning, but really, all we need is some time together, and that can happen just as easily here as it can on the ocean. Okay fine, maybe not. But still- it'll be good. What I have to do is figure out how to allow (or force) my husband to relax and rest. He is the most hard-working man I know and doing nothing is not an easy task for him. That was the major appeal of a repeat trip to FL... we had no choice but to just sit by the ocean. Rough life. But being home where our 'to do' list is eighteen miles long... that'll be more difficult. We DO plan on conquering some projects- as there's just no other time to get them done, but I want to make sure Jordan has time to refresh and recharge, you know? I'll keep you posted, I'm sure. :) And if anyone has brilliant ideas, send them my way.

Alright, my french fries are done and I must go scour the fridge for some buffalo sauce. (a lunch of champions, huh?)

Happy Staycation to us!!

30 days of thankful- day 3

I'm gonna be real honest here.

My kiddos didn't nap yesterday.
And then last night they went to bed two hours late, and this morning woke up an hour earlier than normal.

I'm praising Jesus for nap time.
And it's not just nap time, but a loooooooong nap time. Like entering the fourth hour nap time.

I've gotten a ton of work done, listened to a sermon, and then enjoyed a silent house. Absolutely refreshing.

I'm also (and really, even more so) thankful for a perfect check up at the doctor today. Baby McG #3 looks perfect! I'm convinced this baby is going to be my smallest-- it measured a few days behind it's due date today. I don't remember exactly with Corban, but I know Cate was measuring a week or two ahead by this point. Anyway, it measured in at approximately 3lbs 14 oz. and passed it's BPP fairly quickly. I go once a week from here out.
This was the first ultrasound I took the kids to. Cate did NOT want them to touch me- she cried when they put the gel on my belly, the blood pressure cuff on my arm, etc... so protective (and possessive) of her Mama. Corban said the baby looked scary and that it was probably a brother... or a sister. Wise little boy I have, huh? :) It's just amazing to me to consider the beginning of this pregnancy and how we feared that this baby would never be one we'd hold in our arms... and here we are, less than two months out from my due date. Thank you, Lord! I am so excited.
With that, I hear little footsteps upstairs and a baby girl asking for her 'cuppy'. Better go! I'll be back for day 4 tomorrow!

30 days of thankful- day 2

 

This picture shows a lot of things-

my current work station

my ordered and ready to go disks and print releases, waiting to be taken to the post office

my labels and print releases, meaning that my printer actually- wait for it-- PRINTED!

delicious glorious nutella

I'm thankful for all of those things. 

I'm also thankful that I bought a dSLR camera a year ago and poured myself into all things photography related, that people saw pictures I took of my kiddos on facebook, that they asked me to take pictures of their kiddos, that in October I had around 15 or so photo sessions... that that enabled me to buy the new camera I'd been wanting and put money aside for vacation home repairs (God provides, yes?). I'm thankful that I get to do something that I love, that I get to meet new families, capture new faces, use my brain, have a little 'me' time. and I'm thankful for a husband who supports me in pursuing a dream.

and that that husband of mine will be home in half an hour and I can go to the post office without two children in tow.

mostly, though, that he'll be home in half an hour.

I love that man. A whole stinkin' lot.

:)

Back to editing I go...

What are you thankful for?

30 days of thankful- Day 1

With November kicking off the holiday season and Thanksgiving being only a few weeks away, I thought I'd follow suit with numerous other bloggers and do '30 days of thankful'. I never commit to things like this, where I have to blog every day or so many times because consistency in blogging is not my strong suit- my schedule is chaotic and unpredictable... but nothing says I have to post a thousand words per thankful or anything like that- so I can do this! :)
Today was one of those days where it would've benefited me about 12 hours ago to write a post like this. Disobedience was the attitude of choice in this house and frustration was the result. 6 p.m. couldn't come fast enough and tension was high. But as the evening went on and Daddy got home and lightened the mood, as we laughed and played as a family, as we put the kids to bed and snuggled and prayed, my heart was again overwhelmed by the gifts that we've been given in Corban and Cate.

 

I know this is an obvious thing to be thankful for. I know I say it every other post... but I am so unbelievably thankful to be Mama to these kiddos. They're amazing... their little minds, their unique personalities, sense of humor, strong wills... how different and how similar they are to each other... I am so glad that these babies are ours, that God created these two exactly as he did, that He's entrusted them to us to nurture and raise.

 So, so, so thankful.

=)
and on a little less serious note- I'm really thankful for the free pumpkin spice latte given to me about an hour ago by our housemate- as I've got hours of editing ahead of me. And I'm thankful that I fixed my photoshop problems that occurred ALL afternoon preventing me from doing the massive amounts of editing that I needed to be working on. AND... I'm really thankful that my husband is currently (at 9:30 pm, mind you) changing the break pads in our van.That's all for now.

I'll be back tomorrow. Hold me to it!