my children's book update.....

It's getting closer and closer!!!!! Below is the cover of my book that I got to see this week! The book will be available very soon and I'm so excited!!! I have created a facebook page to give updates on the book so please "like" it, if you will!  AND of course, I can now tell you the title....You are so Special, Little One! 

Below is a brief glimpse into the book:)

"Mommy, how did we become a family?"

Annie is adopted and wants to learn more about where she came from. In this heart-warming tale, her mom shares how God hand-picked her for their family. Author Amy Prikazsky lovingly communicates a message that every child should hear: You are so special, Little One. 

facebook page for : You are so special, Little One!

HE IS SO GOOD....

One thing I know for sure...The Lord’s plan is perfect. I may not always understand it, but I know that His plan for me is the best thing possible in this world. Annie Rice has been the biggest blessing in our life. I look at her every day and wonder how did I get so lucky to have her as my daughter. She was loved before we ever met her...and our heart has grown with so much love for her it could probably explode!  Before we adopted Annie Rice, we knew that she had special needs. We were told her development was a lot worse than it actually was. Since we have gotten her, she has grown so much! She has achieved so many things that she couldn’t do before...At 12 months old, she could roll over and sit up if you put her in that position. That was it! She couldn’t crawl, sit up on her own, hold her own bottle, etc. I can honestly say up until around December, her delays never bothered me. It was something I simply didn't’ struggle with...But after hearing multiple comments from different people, our pediatrician, and even people we didn’t know I let Satan get a wedge in, and this area started to bother me. Play dates with friends who had 6-7 months old, started bothering me because they could do more than Annie Rice could and she was 17-18 months old. I have seen myself get more and more defensive with others when it comes to her development because I have just wanted everyone to see just how far she’s come...I wanted people to see what I have seen her do! But the truth is, it shouldn’t be anyone else’s concern. Annie Rice is loved and she has grown and developed and that should be it....but it’s not that simple:( It has been a daily struggle for me. She started physical therapy and seeing an early interventionist about 3 weeks ago...I think that has added to my struggle because I’m told every week where she should be...Sunday, was one of the hardest days that I’ve had with her development. I struggled all day, talked to Kaz, talked to friends and held back the tears....I just struggled. I KNEW HOW FAR SHE HAD COME BUT I WANTED HER TO WALK....And I know that she will walk just not in my timing...On Monday, she had PT and I had planned on really talking to the PT about some of my concerns. I woke up that morning and prayed that the Lord would do big things that day....I could have jumped up and down with what he did do! My sweet baby girl took 3 steps on her own during PT. She hasn’t taken any since but that’s not the point. The point is, she did it! She has started pushing her shopping cart more and more....taking about 15-25 steps each time she pushes it. I am so proud of her...She bucks and fights us pushing her, but it’s the same way the Lord pushes us. We may not like it, and even though it’s good for us, at the time we are comfortable where we are....It’s amazing how much the Lord shows me through those 2 little eyes. While my struggles with her development will not disappear, I’m thankful that the Lord has given me the strength to keep fighting through them, and that HE is continuing to do big things in this sweet little girls life. I am blessed beyond words....

3 kids equals tired and little free time....

It’s been a week since I’ve last blogged...There’s been a good reason for that! My sister-n-law, Emily, is here with her 2 sons Matias and Titan! They’ve been here since last Wednesday! We have had a lot of fun but I’ve had little time to do anything else! With 3 kids running around, when I’m used to only 1 it’s a big change! We have had a lot of exciting things going on, especially with Annie Rice’s development[more on this tomorrow]! But for now, I only have a short window of a break so I’ll just share a few pictures from the last few days:) 

oh yea-Titan, the littlest Prikazsky didn't make any of these pictures:(

more of these to come! We had a little St. Patty's day setup for them:)

a little break...

This past weekend, my parents kept Annie Rice while Kaz and I had a little weekend to ourselves. It was very nice BUT we were SO HAPPY to see our sweet little girl on Sunday! We tried to relax and not do a lot, but that didn’t seem to work out the way we planned! Friday night, we went to dinner with some friends! Saturday, we decided to go to one of my favorite stores Handpicked because I had a gift card I hadn’t used...Handpicked is about 35 minutes from our house in Mt. Pleasant..Then we decided to go downtown Charleston[about 15 minutes away from Mt. Pleasant] to my favorite restaurant. We got downtown a little before 11 so we decided to walk around a bit and kill some time! It started raining so we made our way to Sermets Corner, my favorite restaurant in all of Charleston, only to find out it was under renovation:( We then made our way BACK to Mt. Pleasant to grab lunch at another place. After lunch, we went to the gun range[about 45 minutes away from Mt. Pleasant and about 20 minutes from our house]. The point is to show you we DROVE A LOT! I have never been to the gun range before. The word G-U-N has never been in my vocabulary. I don’t like them, I don’t like seeing them, even not loaded. NEVER HAVE. But, with all my late night traveling, we decided it would probably be a good thing to at least know how to use one if I ever needed to...So while we waited to get on the range[a 2 hour wait], Kaz showed me some possible guns he had thought about for my car. TAKE ALL OF THIS INTO ACCOUNT....I don’t like guns, I’m in a new place with guns everywhere, my nerves were already a little shaky! We were bending down at the glass counter and my back was to this lady behind me. All of a sudden, I heard BOOOOOM right behind me...not just a little boom BUT A BIG ONE. I think I probably came closer to having a heart attack than I ever have in my whole life! The lady behind me had dropped a medium size safe! No wonder it made so much noise! Scared me to death! But after the shock, it was pretty funny! After the whole range thing, we rented a movie and made hamburgers! It really was such a fun 2 days with just Kaz. 

Oh yea-and we did a lot of this:)

Thanks PaPa and MeMe for watching Annie Rice:) She enjoyed her time too!

praying for her...

I mentioned awhile back about the prayer pail that I made for Annie Rice. She absolutely loves it and most nights cries for a minute when we take the stick away:) Our nightly routine is to read a story out of the bible, and then pray using the prayer pail...but lately, I’ve been convicted about one thing. As much as it’s important for us to pray for other people, and for her to learn that, it’s just as important for her to see growing up that mom and dad prayed for her also. I know right now she doesn’t understand that, but she will soon enough, so I decided to add something to our prayer time at night. 

I made little cards with a different thing to pray for Annie Rice about every night. It’s cards that she can flip and play with, but also see growing up the specific ways we are praying for her. The full potential and abundant life that she can have in Christ. I found this list online and just added a few to it[future spouse, glory, etc]. Every card has a word and a verse so not only will she hear us praying those specific things but she will also hear scripture. 

Here is the list that I used...along with a few pictures of my sweet baby girl:)

writing....

Do you ever read my blog and think that I didn’t take English or Grammar classes growing up or in college? Because sometimes, I wonder that myself! I’ve mentioned several times that I’m not a writer, I’m not good at grammar, I can’t spell, and I know nothing about nouns, pronouns, punctuation, etc. AND YES, there are already spelling issues in just the above sentences that thankfully Microsoft word picked up:) BUT there’s other words that spelling check doesn’t pick up....The only person to ever point those out to me is my sweet, loving husband. Sometimes I wonder if he just laughs out loud when he see’s them because when he calls to tell me I’ve spelled something the wrong way, I can’t help but laugh! For instance, yesterday...Did anyone notice that I spelled my waist, my waste? Like trash. That’s just 1 example, but there were quite a few according to Kaz. 

My sophomore year of college, I took an English class with the HARDEST teacher at Francis Marion University. It was the only class still open so I didn’t really have a choice! Everyone told me going into it how hard core this teacher was! The first week of class she told us to write a rough draft of a personal experience in our life. We would have 3xs to show her our rough drafts and then the 4th time would be the final paper. No kidding, all 3xs she told me to keep the first sentence and start over! THANKFULLY, my sweet friend and roommate Anne had pity on me and helped re-write my whole paper! I don’t know what I would have done without her because this happened all semester long! My teacher, I know thought I was crazy because my favorite word[sometimes still is] was LEARNT. I used it all the time and finally she told me learnt was not a word! That has been a laughing joke amongst college friends since then BUT I still use it! AND I actually saw it in a book last year. I had to take a picture and send it to my friends:)

SO, PLEASE don’t think I’m a nut case when reading my blog! I use words wrong ALL THE TIME! I don’t even think about it. I probably spell them wrong all the time...I get quiet and quite, receipt and recipe, pen and pin, and a lot of other words confused all the time! AND I probably messed up somewhere in this post, BUT I LOVE TO WRITE! 

my sweet friend Anne....

sewing a skirt...possibly never again!

So, I woke up last Friday morning like any other morning. Before getting out of bed, I checked my email, facebook, E News, Groupon, Living Social, and Pinterest. How bad is that? Not only that I did it one morning, but I do it every morning:( Anyway, when I was looking at Pinterest I saw this skirt. 

It said, Easy to Sew skirt. I immediately fell in LOVE! We didn't have any plans over the weekend so I thought it would be the perfect time to make it! So, Friday morning I went to the fabric store, found the perfect fabric, got more than enough to make the skirt and as soon as I laid Annie Rice down for a nap I started working! I got about 1.5 hours into it and I was at a good place! We went out to dinner Friday night with some friends and after we came back home I decided to start working on the skirt piece. I knew it would be a challenge because I had to put a zipper in it and I have  never done that so I watched a few youtube videos and started to work....Not long after, I was in a horrible mood and just wanted to go to bed! I made it too small and was over the whole thing! Kaz talked me into trying again and he said he would go to the fabric store with me the next morning! 

Saturday, NEW day, picked up the fabric and got to work! The zipper was in, no problem! It seemed like I kept running into problem after problem with my sewing machine and I ALMOST GAVE UP! I kept fighting with it and finally finished the skirt! I tried it on and I was just PLAIN MAD! IT LOOKED AWFUL! IT WAS TOO BIG! AND TO TOP IT OFF, I WASTED SO MUCH OF MY WEEKEND TIME:( BAD MOOD, YET AGAIN!

A little later in the night, I decided to wash it and dry it! I knew it would shrink a little, I just didn't know how much. To my surprise, it shrank almost enough! I mustarded up the courage to wear it to church on Sunday and I actually really like it a lot! It's still a little big in the waste but I'll go with it! It doesn't look like the above picture at all, but still pretty cute! I don't know if I will be making any more skirts for ME anytime soon, but will continue making outfits for Annie Rice...at least until I get fed up enough;) Here's the finished product!

healthy living...

Remember last week when I told you that we were changing our lifestyle by eating more organic foods, etc. Well, it’s only been almost 2 weeks and I feel better than I have in a long time! I have so much more energy and I find myself daily wanting to make small changes to improve other eating/exercising habits. Take for instance last night, we had dinner and I’m a sweets girl. I love to have something sweet after I eat. In the last few months, I’ve gone from buying 2 boxes of 100 calorie packs every week to maybe buying 1 boxes a month! Literally, the last few months I’ve been slowing changing my eating habits but more so over the last few weeks. So after dinner, I asked Kaz if he wanted a chocolate chip cookie. With our food order, we got 4 containers of organic chocolate chip cookie dough and it is delicious! He said no he didn’t really want one, so instead of baking 1 for me, I ate a grapefruit! 

I’ve also been drinking a glass of carrot juice everyday for almost 10 days now and it really makes such a difference. Annie Rice has had a full sippy cup everyday now for 10 days and it makes me so happy! She LOVES it, although I don’t always love her diaper:)!

Kaz’s favorite dinner that I make is chicken casserole. It’s always been his favorite meal! I normally put in chicken, cream of chicken, chicken broth, and cover the top with ritz crackers soaked in butter. We eat that over pasta. The other night I decided to make it and made a few small changes that is healthier for us and tasted JUST AS GOOD! Instead of chicken broth, I added zucchini and added plain ritz crackers instead of soaking them in butter, over organic whole wheat pasta instead of plain pasta! I’m really seeing day by day how little changes make big differences. We also made a really big decision over the weekend...REMEMBER HOW I SAID I HAD NO DESIRE TO GIVE UP SODA! I’m going to be pretty honest here and tell you how bad my soda addiction has been. We would literally go through 4-6 2 litters a week! I would drink coke zero all day, every day from breakfast until I went to bed. The more I thought about my statement last week about not giving it up, the more I was convicted that Annie Rice sees me drink soda all day and I make her drink water. That’s not really the best example for me to be setting so Kaz and I made a deal. We decided to NOT BUY soda in our house ANYMORE! We have given ourselves 1 out a week BUT ONLY over the weekend IF we go out to dinner. We can’t bring it home, so it has to be if we go out to lunch or dinner on the WEEKEND! I actually was dreading doing this because I just knew my headaches would be awful but I have to say the Lord has honored our decision because I’ve had 1 headache that was yesterday and it maybe lasted 15 minutes. I’m on day 5 of no soda, just water and a little apple juice in my smoothie:) 

I’ve made a couple really good recipes lately that are very yummy! Here are 2 from this week that our family loved:)

Mexican Rice Bake

2 boneless skinless chicken cooked

3-4 cups of cooked brown rice[I use the rice in the bag so mine came out to be a little over 3 cups]

1/2 bag of frozen corn

1 cup of salsa

1 cup of plain greek yogurt[I used vanilla because we didn’t have plain and I couldn’t taste a difference]

1/2 cup of cheese

1 can of drained black beans

Mix it all together[make sure the chicken and rice are cooked, the corn is frozen]. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes! We ate it with tortilla chips! Very yummy!

Chicken Casserole

2 boneless skinless chicken breast cooked. Cut in cubs

2 regular cans of 99% fat free cream of chicken

1 zucchini cut in tiny cubs

Bake for 20 minutes at 350

Take it out and cover the top with crumbled ritz crackers[I used reduced fat]

Bake for 10 more minutes

Serve over pasta!