Jimmy is a co-owner of his family’s steel fabrication business. He has been blessed to do work all over the Pittsburgh area: the zoo, parking garages, residential railings, elevators, gates, stairways, water slides, and more. Everywhere we drive he can be heard saying “We made that” as he points at a cable railing or steel column in a parking garage.

This week, we took the kids to Sarris Candies for a little treat night! We wandered around the candy store and sat down to enjoy our chocolate when Jimmy pointed at the railing in the store and said “We made that.”

How cool is that railing? I think it’s made to look like licorice?! Or a candy cane? I have a cool husband 😎

Speaking of cool, we had a great time wandering around the candy store! It’s just so *extra* that it’s downright fun and magical, especially for the kids.

Valentine’s Day Fun

To prep for Valentine’s Day, the kids and I did a craft together! We glued tissue paper onto hearts and hung them up as decor. They make my heart so happy 🫶🏼

We also had our annual Valentine’s Day family celebration on Saturday night! The kids and I picked out and set the table with a tablecloth, cute napkins, and paper plates.

We made a pizza and drew names out of a bowl and split into two groups to shop for a small gift for the person whose name we drew. The name sheets also had fun prompts like “Something you’re really good at is…” and “My biggest prayer for you is…” We have saved these papers from the past few years and the memories are so sweet!

Sadie has been talking about this tradition since the New Year and I love that she’s at the age where she remembers and enjoys these traditions! Making memories 💛

I shopped with Mordecai and Jimmy and Sadie went to the mall together. I love the moments I get alone with Mordecai. I treated him to a cake pop! And don’t let this picture fool you. He finished his cake pop and said “I get down” and then alternated between walking, running, and riding in the bottom of the cart, etc. haha. We got quite a few looks and laughs with him under the cart, but he was happy and not doing anything wrong so I was fine with it 🤷🏼‍♀️

I think my favorite memory from the night was how Sadie was dancing around and jumping up and down with excitement to exchange gifts and share our answers to the prompts! Mordecai gave Jimmy his favorite coffee beans (Starbucks Komodo Dragon!), I gave Mordecai a Play-Doh tool set, Jimmy gave Sadie a Sonic the Hedgehog toy, and Sadie gifted me Kuromi (my favorite Hello Kitty character 😂) pajama pants!

Half the fun of this tradition is the suspense of wondering whose name you will draw, who you’re paired with, where you’ll go, picking out the perfect gift, and then reading those sweet answers on the prompts. The gifts are nice… but they’re not what it’s all about. It had me reflecting on a scripture found in Matthew 7:11:

If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! Matthew 7:11

How true is it that we as imperfect humans give good gifts at holidays and such… but think about the gifts God has given us! He is the true Gift Giver and gave us Jesus 🤍

Pictures from Life Lately

These kids! Their souls are so precious. Every day I am reminded of what a great responsibility and privledge Jimmy and I have been given to raise them in the Lord.

Family photo before church!

Mordecai woke up on Saturday morning while I was in our basement and Jimmy and Sadie went to get him out of his crib… and they climbed in with him! That was the scene I saw on the baby monitor 😂

When I peeked on the monitor again… Jimmy was all alone in the crib?! I think he wanted to go back to bed?

I’ve been helping a friend who is a dog trainer develop a curriculum for a special training program, so we’ve been collaborating a lot. I’ve spent a lot of time on the phone with her, so Jimmy was kind enough to bring the kids out of the house (and in the hot tub!) to give me and Niva some quiet while we worked with the trainer! I’ll be able to share more when she is all set on this big project 🐾

Funny story about this project… on Saturday we were all set for a training phone call and guess who zipped out the front door right before we were to meet… Niva! She took a joy run around the neighborhood but thankfully the trainer was like “Yup.. I get it.. husky life!”

I made homemade shower steamers! This was a goal of mine for this year and I made it happen. They’re eucalyptus mint and smell divine 🌱

I made a big batch of egg bites for breakfasts. They had eggs, bacon, bell peppers, potatoes, and cheese in them! The kids’ reviews: Mordecai loved them and Sadie said she likes Starbucks egg bites better 😂

She may look calm and lazy but she is an opportunist… if she sees an out, she will run!

Okay, so I took the kids out to a few stores this week and they were joyfully exploring and playing. Someone looked at us (me, in my ninth month of pregnancy and two littles in tow) and said “You have your hands full!” Here’s my question… was it a passive aggressive dig like… your kids are misbehaving and you’re pregnant… good luck! Or was it like Whoa you have a lot of kids going on there! What do you think?

Also, when someone says “You have your hands full” I always reply that I do and my heart is full too 🥰

I mentioned in this post that I was thinking about celebrating St. Patrick’s Day this year just for the fun of a small, happy holiday in winter (since there’s a big gap between Valentine’s Day and Easter!) and I decided to go for it. I made a little clover craft. Baby’s name will go on the bottom clover ☘️

I gave Sadie a personalized Bible case to carry her Bible (she now uses it in her classes at church!) and she was so happy and excited to fill it with her Bible, colored gel pens, and stickers to bring to her friends. She is too sweet!

Other thoughts

• The kids are still loving our tradition of me giving them a wrapped Valentine’s Day book from our collection each day. Mordecai makes me read him The Itsy Bitty Sweetheart about five times before each nap and I kind of love it 🥰
• Sadie and I did her 100th day of school last week! I feel like I’m due for a post reflecting on the past 100 days of homeschooling. We have both learned so much.
• Want to hear a major pregnancy brain moment? Before church, I put on Mordecai’s button-up shirt, pants, suspenders, and shoes… only to realize I didn’t change his diaper!!! So I had to take it all off and put a fresh diaper on him. I yi yi Allie!
• Jimmy takes two of these every day and hardly ever gets sick. Do you take any immune boost supplements?
• We got home from church last night to see a bunch of police cars about two doors down from us. We texted our neighbor and it turned out that they had a four foot wide and 15 foot deep sink hole develop in their yard. Uhhh, what?! Apparently there were mines under our neighborhood at one point? Sink holes freak. me. out.
• I just love this peanut butter. I can easily eat a jar a week. Jimmy got me started on it a few years ago when he gave me a jar for Christmas. Now I’m hooked. I like that it has extra protein, too, since that seems to be a big bonus with gestational diabetes.
• On Saturday morning, Jimmy’s mom and step dad hung out with the kids! I was able to visit a local small business that was having a Valentine’s Day party. I just love supporting small, local businesses! I came home with a candle. Afterwards, I stopped at the library to pick up books I had on hold and then swung into the grocery store. I was amazed at how fast those errands took me sans kids. I also missed my kids the whole time! When I was in line at the store, someone sweetly offered to let me go in front of them (I only had two items… salmon and play-doh 🤣) and asked if I was pregnant with my first child. When I said this was my third, she said “Oh you’re an ‘ol pro!” lol. I said “I don’t think I’m a pro but I often feel old.” 😜
• Did you watch the Super Bowl? We watched bits and pieces after church but weren’t invested at all haha.
• I’ve thought more about our robot vacuum since writing this post and my thoughts are now that I absolutely love it. If it ever breaks, I would definitely get a new one. I’m a robot vacuum convert 🙈

---

Whew this was a long post! Thanks for sticking with me this far if you made it here haha. I am off to start a new week. I think we have something going on every day this week… coding class for Sadie, dog training, a prenatal checkup, and more!

What will you be up to this week?

Have you ever changed your mind on a piece of technology/appliance/machine (like a robot vacuum in my case!)?