Jadyn's new game!

Jadyn continues to amaze us with the 'new' tricks she is learning daily. This video is already a couple of weeks old! It's been so busy around here that it took me that long to get it edited and 'short' enough to fit on blogville. Her longest time to stand by herself was tonight at my school program. She stood for 10 seconds!!! All by herself! Tonight, after I had fed her dinner, I said "All done!" and showed her it in sign language. She picked that right up! Now, all I have to say is "All done!", and she immediately starts to sign it! She also knows 'please' in sign language. Right now, she's really only saying please at mealtimes, but we are working to extend that to any time she wants something.

Jadyn's officially11 months old. The other night, we were standing in the kitchen and I looked at Jay and said she was now that old. The loving and goal-setting father in him came out as he looked at her and said, "Now, Jadyn, you only have a month left to be walking by your first birthday. Come on. I know you can do it." It was quite humerous!

The Sapp household has been going nonstop, it seems, for many weeks. Jay's been hard at work, busier than he's ever been. School keeps me busy, as usual. As I mentioned before, the 3rd-4th grades Program was tonight at school. We had a combined program of about 200 kids (whew! wouldn't want to do that again!). Our theme was "Music Around the World". It went pretty well. The kids were very excited. They did a really good job. And the teachers are relieved it's over! :)

Jay and I recently signed on a gas lease (just in time, too) and used a portion of that money to buy a much needed new bed. The first mattress we bought about 2 weeks ago ended up being too firm, so we went back to the store and exchanged it for a different kind. Last night was our first night with the new mattress and we both slept much better! Praise God for providing the new mattress. We are also going to use another portion of the gas lease to get a much-need paint job and face lift on the exterior of our house. It has needed it for at least a couple of years now. Praise the Lord for always meeting our needs.

On another happy note...The Sapps are officially and totally credit card DEBT FREE!!! Praise be to God! It's been a work in progress for exactly 2 years. When we got married, and shortly after, we had built up quite a debt and were not good stewards of the money that the Lord has given us. With conviction and repentance, we began to follow the Dave Ramsey plan. Slowly, but surely, we began paying off each credit card one by one and closing them out once they were paid off. It hasn't been an easy two years, and we've had some fallbacks along the way, AND had a kiddo. But, God is faithful, and we continued to press forward. No more credit cards for us! We are FREE! I say all that to encourage you who are in the same boat of debt. You can google Dave Ramsey and find out about his financial plan. Crown Financial is another good one. My church has a ministry that teaches families to be better stewards of their money and get out of debt and encourages them along the way. Now, we can take that money that was once put towards credit card debt towards other things. Our next goal is to pay off the 4Runner, then my student loans, and so on.

Let's see...what else? It's been so long since I've been able to update! I miss getting to my blogs! Like I said, school has been so busy, even on weekends (I hate having to do school work on the weekends... :( I've made several attempts in the past 3 weeks to update this and haven't had a chance until now. I have new pics of Jadyn to post on our Picasa. I will try to do that this weekend.

Now that I've chatted your ear off :-D, I am going to head to bed and try that bed out again..... aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhh.....sigh.

Goodnight!

Weekend update

Jadyn's changing so much these days. She's losing the infancy look and is metamorphing into a toddler. We are daily amazed at God's precious gift! She'll be walking any day now!














Before we know it, we'll be celebrating her first birthday. Our little bright eyes...stealing our hearts and brightening our lives!















The Sappington's
September 28, 2008

(Me, a very pregnant Vanessa, Mandy, Kelly)

On Saturday, we celebrated Mandy's 30th birthday. She actually hit the big 3-0 in July, but we just now got around to celebrating (better late than never, right?). It was a fun day filled with clues, fun, relaxation, and smiles! The first part of the day was spent doing girl time with some of her closest friends! What better way to celebrate than over a light lunch? We then went to the nail salon where we got our nails dolled up and some of those pesky hairs waxed! :) While we enjoyed our girl time, the men single-handedly took care of the babies and even got in a football game! We met up with them for a delicious dinner at La Hacienda Ranch. We topped off the evening with some (slightly overdone) brownies and ice cream. I hope Mandy had a really good day. Good friends are a treasure...Mandy is one of those treasures. Happy Birthday, my dear friend.

Today has been a relaxing day overall. The message at church was really good. We are made new in Christ. When we walk with Him daily, He renews our minds, giving us peace, hope, and a sound mind. We spent the afternoon chillin'. Jay watched the Cowboys lose and I got to get out and hit up a few stores. Working on laundry, updating pictures, doing grades, and tending to Jadyn. And that wraps up this weekend. On that note...Jadyn is 'calling' from her high chair...ready to eat. Toodles...

We make you great deal!

Today, we are having a garage sale...you know...one man's junk is another man's treasure....at first, not a whole lot of people were convinced or at least seemed to realize this is treasure! Business has been increasing as time goes on, and overall, it's a perfect-weather Saturday. I keep trying to convince my husband to dress up in a gorilla suit and stand at the busy intersection and wave people in our direction. He's not going for it.

We advertised on Craigslist.com. We are wondering if we should have done the newspaper as well. But, we'll see what happens by the end of the day. Come and see us...we make you great deal! :-D

My brother, Jed!

Jay is the oldest of 3 boys...Jay, Joel, Jed (and all of them have the initials J.P.S....!) I love each of my brothers. In total, I have 4 of them (my side of the family and Jay's side of the family). This blog is dedicated to my brother, Jed. I love my brother, Jed. He came to stay the weekend with us. I always love it when I get to see him. I loved this kid before I even got to meet him face to face. Jay used to tell me stories of them growing up, and so once I finally got to meet Jed, I felt I had already developed a special place in my heart for him. He's not such a kid anymore...he's 16, soon to be 17 and wayyyyyyyyyy taller than me! :) He can always make me laugh and he's just one of those all-around good kids. I know the Lord has great plans for his life, and it's such an honor for me to get to see God's plan unfold in his life.

So, he's staying the weekend with us. Being that he's allergic to our cats, we locked them up in the office (our only spare room) and Jed slept on the air mattress in the living room. Anyways, I am minding my own business, putting a trashbag in the diaper champ, when I look up to see this! Jed is deflating the air mattress and sinking into it! LOL We had a good laugh over it and I had to snap a quick picture or two!















I go about my business of putting things away, and jed continues to deflate the air mattress. I go in my bedroom and come out to see this! LOL Doesn't he look like he's posing for a photo shoot with the wind blowing his hair? 'Where is the wind coming from?', you wonder...














Why, it's coming from the pump deflating the air mattress! He cracks me up. He was kind enough to pose a few times while I gave him an actual photoshoot!



I love you, Jed. Thanks for coming to stay the weekend with us. Our house is your house. We are always here for you....



Now get that homework done! ;)

Hairbow making - my new found hobby!

So, eversince I started buying bows for Jadyn, and forking over the money at the ridiculous (in my opinion) cost for them, I realized that I needed to learn how to make them myself! Really, people can sell them and make 90 % profit off of them! Ok, maybe I'm exaggarating, but still. Really, how hard can it be? So, I set out to the store, bought some ribbon (2 spools for HALF the cost of buying one bow!), hot glue gun, wire, hairclips, and off we go! I did my first bow (see blue one to the right) by comparing it to one of Jadyn's pre-made bows I had purchased. If you look closely enough and got very nitpicky, you'll notice that it's slightly uneven, but hey, it was my first bow! Excited with my new endeavors, I had Jay go buy me some pink ribbon, while I surfed the wide world web on directions to make a beautiful bow. I found a whole slew of directions for making all kinds of cool bows! Upon Jay's return, I eagerly snatched up the pink ribbon (by the way, good job, honey!) and went to work creating my new masterpieces! After 3 rounds of bowmaking and one burnt thumb later, I came out with 2 (yes, one bow didn't turn out and had to be disassimilated...) cute little pink bows. I eagerly put them in Jadyn's hair so she could relish and ooh and ahh over her newest beautiful treasures that now adorned her hair. Only...I couldn't get her to sit still long enough for her to even notice let alone coo and babble over them! When I asked Jay and Jed (our bro who is spending the weekend with us) what they thought... they thought that just maybe with the 3 bows in her hair it was just slightly over the top..... ok, so maybe they are right. But, ooo, I can't wait to make more bows! :)

Fun in the yard

This evening, we went to join daddy out in the yard. Jadyn has been VERY cranky these days in the evening. So, we decided to go for some fresh air in the yard. This was only her 2-3 time to be in the grass, so she's very fascinated with it. Her fussiness temporarily disappeared while she enjoyed exploring the outside world.







These days, she's constantly on the move! She has mastered the crawling business!











This picture here looks very familiar! I've seen this look before in Rebekah, my neice, and also in my twin sis. I think that somewhere in the records of our past photos as wee children, my parents have a picture or two of my twin and I with this same expression. When I saw Jadyn make this face (from looking up at the bright sky, and she was squinting), I was instantly reminded that she looked like Sara (my twin). Ironic as it is, I know Sara and I are twins, but it's weird for me to think of that face as my face...it reminds me of Sara, not of me. Funny, huh? Anyways...









My wonderful and handsome husband...hard at work in the yard!





The reason for Jadyn's crankiness these days is the breakthrough in teething! If you look closely enough in this picture, you can see the tooth on the bottom left, and she's getting her two top teeth...ALL at the SAME time!!! Needless to say, the teething cream business has increased in our household this past week, and we've invested in a couple of teethers...oh, and tissues! Nothing like having your little Bright Eyes bury her face in your shirt, smearing the ever-running nose and constantly drooling mouth all over you! Yet, when you look at this face, it's all worth it. :-D

Goodnight!

This and that

Well, we've been trodding along the past few weeks, and adjusting to mommy being back to work. I want to insert a little blurb right here about how wonderful my husband is. I am so blessed to have him as my better half. He reminds me to 'lighten up' and can make a remark that will make me bust out laughing. He's my lover, my support, my right-hand man, my best friend. I thank the Lord for the gift and companion He's given me. He is self-less and makes me feel like I am the most beautiful being he's ever seen. I love you, Honey!

So, Jay , my wonderful hubby, takes Jadyn to the sitter's, our dear friend, Mandy, in the morning and I usually pick her up. The days are flying by and it seems like every other day, Jadyn's doing a new thing. She's closing in on 10 months old. Where does the time go? Here are a few pics from the last couple of weeks. Enjoy!












Bath time is always fun! And now, it's gone to a whole new level! She's learned how to stand up in the tub AND as a result, she's discovered that there's another side to the bathtub and it's fun to drop toys over the side and watch them fall.



















Last night, we went to the wedding of a friend of ours, and were joined by some of our partners in crime, the Chaddywacks. We caught them in a cute, intimate pose, but by the time we snapped the pic, this is what we got:














We've been working to put Jadyn down to bed between 7-7:30 p.m. now that she has to get up at 7-7:30 a.m. to go to Mandy's. She will sleep a full 12 hours usually. Well, we took her with us to the wedding last night, and needless today, it was not even 8 p.m. that she got to go to bed. At 10:30 p.m., when we were getting her ready for bed, she was all smiles! We were relieved as there have been many times when we've put her to bed late and she's all but smiles. She was so cute, we had to snap a pic or two...


















Until next time... :-D