Our Family's Introduction

Hello! As a first post I thought I'd start with a short intro of our family that is sure to be outdated in a few months time, nothing stays the same in our house.

Hey, that's me too! 

My husband Seth and I have been married for almost 6 years, lived in an apartment in our college town for two years before moving back "home" and buying our first house in May 2010. He has a degree in business administration and is currently working part-time as a tax preparer, he was laid off the end of November where he worked at a farm implement dealership. He's a loving, sweet man with a dry sense of humor and a willingness to at least listen to my crazy schemes. He's my rock and my love.

And then there are my babies. My God, my babies. If there has been anything given to me that I don't deserve and that I can never repay, it's my children. Samson is my boy, he's almost 3 1/2 and "spit-fire" is the nice phrase I'll use to describe him. He's conniving clever, crafty creative, and shifty (yes, I'll leave shifty). While all those may seem like negatives, in him they are why we love him. Always up to something and quick to giggle when he gets caught. He taught me what it meant to love someone unconditionally and without ceasing. Life will never be dull now that he's apart of it.

Next is the sweetest little thing that could ever exist in the world, she is the icing to my cupcake and the sugar to my spice. Sydney Marie was born in December 2012 following a miscarriage and she was just the thing to help us heal. She could not have been more of a blessing in a hard time and there's been many moments where I've cried into her blanket while she's slept on my chest. She loves her brother, playing in water and is quite content with a good snack and a soft blankie to snuggle. She's often referred to at "Neeners" a nickname coined by Samson when she was first born. "Sydney" was originally "Nee-Nee" according to Samson and it has since taken many forms but has finally settled to Neeners and sometimes Baby Neeners.

Then there's the latest and not quite complete addition to our family, Baby Z #3 to arrive in late October. This one came as a surprise and while the timing isn't the greatest, we're thrilled and excited to welcome this little guy or gal. We find out this Saturday at an elective 16 week ultrasound that's my Mother's Day gift from my kids and husband. We're guessing boy, and will be very surprised to see otherwise!

And last but not least is, me! I'm Sam, a stay-at-home-mom to the little urchins and wife to the bigger urchin. I turned 25 last month and was married at the tender age of 19, oh so very long ago. I am a hopeless clutter-bug with the desire to change my unorganized ways with mostly failed attempts. I also have an unquenchable lust for all things dishes, passed down from my mother, the two of us in a thrift store is a recipe for disaster. 

hello!

Before all those things, I'm a born-again-Christian (check out all those hyphens!) and I'm attempting to live a life that is what God intended for me and my family. As the years have gone on it's become more and more apparent to me that there's far more to life than things and money and the last 6 months have shown me how true that statement is. Learning to live on less than half of what we previously made has put many things into perspective for me and I wanted to share my experiences with others going through the same thing. 

So I guess to sum all this up, we're the Z's and this blog will be about the things we know, the things we'll learn, and everything in between.