Weekend recap

I am so excited I am recapping our weekend and its still Monday =) Friday we went to sams club for a few things like diapers mainly... The kids ate lunch there 

Jake finished a week of basketball camp, this is his second year and he loves it. So funny how kids end up loving specific sports and activities. Jake is obsessed with basketball, obsessed I tell you

Friday nights Lilly and Liz have there sleepover parties as Lilly calls them! She loves to sleep with Liz and with Liz working all summer and lonnnng hours I only let her sleep with Liz on Fridays or Saturday

Saturday I took the girls for mani/pedis it was so fun! I had some GC's from mothers day so I treated the girls

We go to church on Saturday nights our church has been doing this for a few years and we LOVE it! After church we had a family swim and then roasted marshmallows and made smores it was a fun time!

Sunday the baby and I went to the mall for a few things and returns I love this boy so much!

when I got home John had put up our swim security fence up yay! I started working on a few areas and I am LOVING how the yard is looking. We decided to do grass seed instead of sod to save money it take patience but it seems to be starting to grow in YAY! I love this little corner I got these chairs on clearance from target a few weeks ago, and the throw pillows too. I bought some spray from Lowes that you can spray on fabric to make them weather proof so awesome!!! I also made these umbrella holders myself so proud of that =)

looking good!

it was a long day, this guy crashed before 7

oh and here a pic of my cute nails =)

have a good week guys!

Weekend update

I realize its Wednesday but I wanted to catch up after a busy but fun 4th of July weekend! Friday we had our monthly dinner for my side of the family , it was the first one since our pool has been done so it was especially fun we swam and ate then floated in the pool and watched a movie!

Normallly for the 4th we go to a friends house, wehave done this for the last 3-5 years but this year we decided to stay home. It's so hard going places when Cole goes to bed about 7:30 just makes for a long night for him and us....

I ran to the farmenrs market earlier that day and there was some great deals to be had it was great! 

John's parents, sister and nieces/nephews came over that evening and we swam, BBQ, did fireworks, we were able to see the big firework show from our street too so that was perfect! We even watched Annie {new one} while the kids floated in the pool! I love having the outdoor projector so fun for nights like these

I would say it was a wonderful night for everyone =)

Hi!

Hey everyone, anyone out there still? I have taken a lonnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggg blogging break, i know a LONG one! I actually didn't break completely the last few months i have been writing on a private blog just to see if i could be consistent with blogging before coming back. I did it i wrote 2-3 times a week just like i hoped to do here so i think its safe to come back =) i haven't updated here in a year and a half so here is a little update to what we have been doing:

1. Cole is almost 2 =( he is SO adorable i promise he is a CUTIE i love him so
2. We found a house in our top schools districts and we love it
3. we have the BEST neighbors God is so good we hated leaving our old neighbors but these ones are pretty great too.
4. Our oldest is 17 and drives like a real car {truck} she is also working a ton right now she is a swim instructor and life guard. Next year she is going to be a senior and we have begun looking at colleges =( 
5. The other kids are doing great David is almost 13 and will be in 8th grade, Johnathan almost 12 and 7th grade, Jake 8 3rd grade, Lilly 5 kindergarten and Cole almost 2 
6. Johnathan our {almost} 12 year old has been diagnosed with aspergers and that has been a long interesting road I will share more later
7. John is still working away to keep us all fed and dressed I love him
8. We just built a pool {finally finished last week} so now we are working on the yard
9. our home is fun i have a lot of projects going on I will show you soon!
10. I LOVE IG https://instagram.com/steele_family8/ I also have a second one where I post food/recipes its foodmom6 if you want to follow with either
11. Our lives are full and we wouldn't have it any other way I hope you are here to see us grow. my tentative plan is to post on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays for sure and any extras I see fit as usual it will all be eclectic posting from mothering to decorating and everything in between =) Here are a few pics off my phone I can update with 

my Liz 17 going to be a senior in high school

Lilly with her daisy cat 

my boys when Liz and I took them shopping for shoes which turned into prom shopping for liz =)

Johnnie.. the beard is gone PTL!

Lilly and I 

all the littles minus Liz

my sweet baby

Seems like

I am constantly updating this blog with good intentions =) I do have them, but unfortunately my busy life takes over sometimes {read holding the baby, or driving} . The baby is finally sleeping wonderful, like 11-12 hours at night! He also take a good 4 +/- hour nap in the day plus a few smaller naps, say he is a rock star i am LOVING having a baby again he is so cuddly he fills my heart with so much joy.

We sold our house almost a year ago and we have been renting since we have been looking again to buy and houses are selling SO quickly its crazy. i hate making big decisions so quickly on big things. We have put about 3-4 offers and haven't got any of them... oh well! we found a house yesterday we LOVE i am praying the doors open and we get it i told John if i can picture my Christmas tree there you better believe i love it ha! We have been married almost 16 years and have lived in a apartment, our first house, 2 rentals, our last house and now a rental again we have lived in our first house which we brought our first 4 kids home to and that was a 954 sq foot house, to our last house which was 3500 sq feet i have come to decide i like a smaller house. OK by smaller i am thinking about 2500 sq feet is good for our family, we really don't want to move again for a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng time so i don't want something to big so as the kids start leaving it will be too big for us, but on the other hand we will still have kids home for over 18 years! Anyways just praying that God leads us to the right home for our family, in our BUDGET which is pretty small for this area of town and our size family but we will find something i know it =)

That's about it around here well her is a little more with some pics from the last month!

pumpkin bread with cream cheese frosting yummo!

Let the boys miss school for a MOPS playdate at the pumpkin patch!

Love this baby!

volleyball season is over Liz's team was GREAT this year they never lost a game not even in a tournament if i had to guess i would say they were 22-0 they never even play a 3rd game in a match they always won in 2 games! She had the BEST coach, she was wonderful and the team played SO good together

Liz's friend Hannah makes the best signs for all their friends! This one was one of my favorites

did a youtube cookbook tour, i had to do it in 2 parts because it was too long! Do you all watch youtube videos? I LOVE them and have been watching a lot lately! 

http://youtu.be/hQFfnv3FcEY

http://youtu.be/BxxRTs916WY

I signed up for a online art class on skillshare have you guys heard of this site? Very cool! I paid $6 to take a hand lettering class, here is a link if you are interested in

http://skl.sh/1aml3BB

last night we made breakfast for dinner always a favorite around here, we made pioneer woman's biscuit recipe that was fun =)

how are you all doing? getting ready for the holidays? i am excited i love this time of year!

11 years

11 years is a long time.... 

11 years seems like yesterday

I have wondered what he would have been like, how our family would be different, how i would survive some thing like your child passing away.... I have learned in 11 years it is still tough, i will always wonder and question but i know we will see him again. Hug your babies, your not guaranteed tomorrow 

Just stuff....

Thought i would update on things going on in our lives, via a photo dump...

Cole has never sat in this awesome swing my friend gave me {he seems to young to me still} so Lilly keeps the seat warm and the batteries used by sticking this doll in there all the time!

back to school night at the boys school. 3 in elementary school. i laughed out loud when i saw this self portrait of my 5th grader.  We have been doing a lot of testing lately for Johnathan he is a little quirky and we are trying to figure out what is going on, things like this wear on a mommas heart. iep's, behavioral therapist/counselors, tests, meeting etc it's just.... a lot!

I wish there was like 10 of these candles in the clearance bin at target because i may have bought them all, it smells SO good! i had the weirdest pregnancy and could hardly stand any smells but now that i have had him i am missing having candles burning often but i am still a little sensitive, weird huh?

basically my motto ^^^^

Liz's volleyball is off to a good start. She is the captain this year and is loving her team and coach always a good sign!

pulled out the ONE box of Halloween/fall decor i have and took about 5 seconds why the baby was sleeping and everyone else was amused and threw everything up. It works

I cant believe this girl is a sophomore! Her entire school takes a trip to Hume and it is her favorite school activity of the year she said the speaker and worship were great. i need a getaway =)

MOPS started last week and we made coffee mugs as our craft we are reusing them each meeting instead of name tags they turned out great (these i found on pinterest and cant find the original link but anyway)

my secret pal got me these super adorable canisters <3 p="" them="">

MOPS wore this girl out and she is getting so big, she will be 4 this week!

she is obsessed with her "animals" as she calls them, even though they are not all animals. She sets them all up to watch movies i love this age!

and of course we are ready for fb season. 

Cole 3.5 weeks

Hi! It's been a couple of weeks since i have checked in here but i would think ya all would understand!

We are still obsessed with this baby boy, he is growing quickly and i want to remember these days because honestly they are my favorite times

gahhhhhh those feet! Love them he has big feet

cracks me up that he sleeps with his mouth open a lot, i kiss that mouth a million times a day.... So far he is still sleeping really well, if i can get him to eat about 7 he will eat again about 11-12 and then he will sleep until 5-6 i LOVE those nights! honestly i am a little tired but i don't mind getting up with him most nights it is usually just once so i cant complain

it's still so hot here poor Cole needed a break from being held

can you even handle it? SO beautiful i told ya all they were going to be great in my last post! i love love love them... I ordered baby announcements they should be here anytime i cant wait to see those!

cheeks for days......

there is nothing sweeter than seeing your husband holding his babies makes me so happy!

he looks like a little man this was on his 3 week "birthday"

baby booties are so cute! 

Lilly decorated Cole with stickers after a dental appointment the other day she has done great with him so far, pretty much gentle and loving

Our first church service tonight, apparently Cole was amused but it was so nice to be back and worshiping with our church i hadn't been in 6 weeks because the last few weeks of my pregnancy i was just miserable so i definitely missed it