We got back last night from a couple day trip to the Chicago area so I didn’t have a chance to post yesterday's blog post so I’m doubling up today!

Yesterday’s topic was about hobbies.

I love blogging, shopping, and spending time at the cottage. I love being with my family and going on vacation. I recently became obsessed with Zumba and its a good thing because I also love to eat!

I like to read when I can and watch movies with my husband. I’m addicted to reality TV. My guilty pleasures are Giuliana and Bill, The Kardashians, and the Bachelor/Bachelorette.

Today’s topic is my dream vacation.

I haven’t given much thought to that b/c I usually just like to think of/plan vacations that are more likely to happen! We love to cruise, just got back from our 4th one in March.  It’s a great way to see a lot of places in one trip!

On my {growing} list of places to go are; Costa Rica, the Virgin Islands, Dominican republic, Puerto Rico…I’m kinda done with Mexico, we’ve been there twice, (Puerto Vallerata and Rivieara Maya) and have not had the best luck there, but I would maybe like to try out Cabo some day. My dream vacation would definitely have to be somewhere warm and tropical without an overly long flight.

I’ve had a lot of fun with the commenting challenge and look forward to doing it again next year!

today's topic is about my social media and other favorite websites.

I check pinterest everyday! so in love with that site! I have a whole post coming up about things I’ve tried ;) you can follow my pins by clicking here.

I’m also more addicted to facebook than I’d like to admit, its my personal page and I doubt I’ll ever make a blog page on facebook b/c I would just end up repeating myself a lot :) so no link on that one.

I’m a recent Instagram-er! {katiejo1122} I check that multiple times a day whenever I post!

No twitter, anymore, and no Google +, don’t even know what that is :)

Google reader and my email are my other two must read websites! I used to be on Bethany Christian Services a couple times a week checking in on waiting families but I don’t do that quite as often anymore.

I love shopping online at target, Amazon, zulily, old navy and ‘window’ shopping anthro’s site. I love etsy and allrecipes.com too! I recently came across picmonkey and use that to edit pics when I have time. I used to edit almost every picture before I posted in on here but then I had TWO kids and now the pics are straight outta the camera expect for intstagram pics.

It’s not a lot but somehow I end up spending way too much time online…

Thanks so much for stopping by and leaving some comment love, it was fun chatting a little bit with you yesterday!

Today’s topic is to blog about my blog!

I started blogging over 4 years ago as a way to cope with the loss of Brenham. I quickly found lots of support and encouragement though other blogs and people who have been through similar losses. It became a way for me to share his story, I wanted people to know him, I wanted his short life to mean something in this world, because he means so much to me.

Over the years my blog has had lots of other purposes, it was a great way to keep people posted on my health and also a means to advocate for organ donation. I’ve had lots of readers commit to becoming an organ donor and that makes me so happy! I’ve loved being able to share my faith and testimony with people in a way that makes me WAY more comfortable than speaking in public. It’s been a journal of my boys’ adoption journeys and a place to record their milestones. It’s kinda you’re typical mommy-blog most times! Its really the only place I can permanently record my memories, I have a terrible memory and love to be able to read back about what we were doing at this time a few years ago and I know I will love that about my blog even more as time goes by! I’m hoping some day the boys will take interest in reading it. I want them to look back on this years from now and know how much I love them and wanted to record these memories for them.

There have been times where I’ve wanted to stop blogging (boy are there some rude comments that float by every once in awhile!) but I keep at it because ultimately  I love it! I think a lot about how cool it would have been had my grandma (who is no longer living) kept a blog. I would love to be able to read her blog about what life was like raising kids in her era and what her day to day life would have been like. I would love to see her pictures of ‘what she wore Wednesday’ or my mom’s first day of school!

(So boys if you’re reading this some day, I hope you’re enjoying it and not laughing too hard, I promise our clothes and hair styles were stylish at the time, you just wait…it will come back! I love you so much and tried not to embarrass you too much!!)

This week I’ll be participating in Jenna’s commenting challenge, I love to read blogs but I’ve been reading the same ones for awhile now so I’m hoping this will lead me to find some more ‘blog friends’ to add to my list!

So, if you’re visiting my blog for the first time, then welcome! I’m Kate, I’m a part time hairstylist (I work from my in home salon in the evenings) and full time stay at home mom. I’ve been married to my hubby, Robb, for 6 years!  Next month we will celebrate 11 years of being together. We live in West Michigan in our dream home we built this past November.

We have 3 beautiful sons, Brenham is in Heaven, he was born too soon on Leap Day 2008, he would have turned 4 this past year. We miss him every day. Although he’s not presently here with us, he’s a very special part of our family. Shortly after his birth and death my kidneys failed, and I was placed on dialysis for 9 months until I received a transplant from my sister who donated one of her kidneys to me! I’ve had a second chance at life and I’m not gonna waste it!

We’ve since added 2 more boys to our family through the miracle of adoption. Grayden turned 3 in May and makes us laugh every day!

Sadler turned 1 in April and is the perfect addition to our family, he keeps us very busy but we couldn’t imagine a day without his sweet smile.

We’ve had a difficult journey to get where we are today but our faith in the Lord has only gotten stronger. We have been so blessed and are very thankful to have the assurance that we’ll be with our son in Heaven again some day!

Thanks for visiting!

And to my regular readers, thanks for reading! I’ve really loved getting to know some of you!

*photos taken by Kim Egedus Photography

Gray had soccer camp again Saturday morning!

He is so fun to watch!

After soccer we headed to the local bakery to get the boys donuts!

Robb and I headed to my cousins wedding later in the afternoon.

Sunday we went to church and had fun playing tennis at night

another great weekend, too bad they go so fast!

I also wanted to share the pictures Robb put up in the hallway using the Velcro strips, it worked so well and was so quick and easy!

this is what the strips look like in the package

I've recently gotten around to displaying some pictures around the house, its always been a struggle for me to keep them updated. We get the boys’ pictures professionally taken every  6 months so our photos always seem to be outdated. It can be a bit of a hassle to change them out when you have to line them up on the nails just right so I’ve come up with a few alternative ways to display pictures that I thought I’d share with you!

This first one has been around for awhile, it was the first craft I did as a MOPS craft organizer, it was hung over Grayden’s bed in our old house and when we moved we put it up over his dresser. Just last week I made one for Sadler’s room too!


I got the wooden stars from Hobby Lobby and painted them to match the boys’ rooms.
Then I strung some twine between the two stars by stapling it to the back of the stars.
I got the little clothes pins from Hob Lob as well and used them to clip on the photos.
Such a cute and easy way to switch the picture out whenever you want to!
I have both of their 1 year smash cake sessions displayed now.

This next way is so simple too, instead of fastening the frames to the walls with nails or screws I just set the frames on the little ledge and leaned them against the wall. I know I’ll be quicker to update the photos inside the frames when I can take them down easily!

I just received my fist canvas order in the mail a couple days ago. I love it! The colors in the photo match Sadler’s room decor perfectly!
Just something a little different than the standard large print.
I do wish I ordered the canvas in a bigger size so next time I find a good canvas sale I might have to upgrade!


And lastly, an idea from my sister’s home. Behind their picture frames hung on the wall are Velcro strips so the frames stick right to the wall and come down easily too. No need to find studs in the walls, or drill in a bunch of screws! My husband LOVES that! We haven’t done this one yet but plan to use it to put up pictures of the boys on the hallway wall that leads to our master bedroom.

this post reminds me that I never shared our most recent family pictures, Grayden’s 3 year and Sadler’s 1 year…coming soon!

first of all, happy fathers day to my husband and father of my babies, you are the best dad! Our boys are so lucky to have a dad like you!

and happy fathers day to my dad and dad in law, both excellent fathers and great godly examples to their children! Hope you all had a great day as we celebrated you.

A picture before church of my dapper dudes in their ties!

and of course, our annual pictures in dad’s tie!

happy fathers day!

Friday night Robb and I went out while the boys played by grandma and grandpa l’s house.

date nights have certainly changed over the years, we had dinner and got groceries, we had a nice time none the less!

this deer in our front yard provided a little entertainment Saturday morning

then it was off to grayden’s first day of soccer camp!

after soccer, Robb took the kids to go buy a new soccer ball and I went to do updos for a cousin’s bridal party.

Robb and I went to the wedding in the evening

and the boys had a fun night with grandpa and grandma r.

love the weekends!

We’ve completed a few more things off our summer list in the past couple weeks!

Wednesday night we went to the Outdoor Discovery Center, we enjoyed walking through the trails, looking at the deer and elk and playing in the sand box!

Grayden also had swimming lessons this week!

so proud of you, Gray!!

*pick berries

*feed ducks

*Fillmore park

*outdoor discovery center

*kollen’s park

*timber town

*Lawrence st. park

*farmer’s market/ market kid’s activities

*whitecaps game

*downtown fountain

*zoo

*coast guard festival (July 27-August 5)

*hot air balloon show (June 30, July 1)

*truck parade (labor day)

*memorial day parade

*have picnic

*bubbles

*water bed (Pinterest)

*run through sprinklers

*fly kite

*sidewalk chalk

*go garage sale-ing

*beach

*Meijer gardens

*library programs

*lemonade stand

*downtown street performers (thursday nights)

*play tennis

*go to cottage

*swimming lessons

*pool time

*bike ride

*mini golf

*soccer camp for Gray

*water table

*little pool

*sand box/swing set

*campfires

*hike trails

*trip to sandy pines

I've received a few questions regarding the necklace Sadler's been sportin’ lately. 

It’s called a ‘b.altic a.mber teething necklace.

Amber is a stone known for naturally relieving pain, I had purchased the necklace (specifically designed for babies) quite awhile ago when Sadler was struggling with reflux and I did notice his fussy times become less frequent. Since then, we’ve only pulled it out a handful of times while he’s been teething until just recently. I put it on him again after his surgery and he’s been wearing it ever since. Sadler’s been much more calm and relaxed since he started wearing the necklace. Is this because of the necklace? Who knows? I could be, or it could be a due to a variety of things.  Although I wouldn’t say its this huge miracle necklace and he’s suddenly the happiest baby in the world, I do think its pretty adorable on him!!

So that’s the story about the necklace! Hope that answered your questions!