'Twas the Night Before the Night Before Christmas.

'Twas the night before the night before Christmas and all through the house my toddlers were shouting and calling me out.
Testing my patience and wearing it thin, while I try to practice all the "gentle" parenting that I can manage to muster in.
No cookies are baked, no presents are wrapped. The house is a mess and momma could use a nap.
There are dishes in the sink and a long list of to'dos, how did Christmas come just so soon?
The children are not tired, oh not at all. Because they ate their weight cookies and candy canes from the mall.
As the day gets later and the night grows close, my eyes get heavy and I'm feeling like toast.
But there is still bath time, and story-time, and sugar bugs to brush. I will try to go fast but my boys hate to rush.
Lotion, and snuggles, and kisses on foreheads too knowing that they will come crawling out of the bed in just a minute or two.
When they are finally asleep ( and lets be honest... it will take a bit) its time to attack that to do list since I have been ignoring it.
Wrap presents, wash clothes, bake cookies, and sweep.
Pick outfits, clean dishes, and then hopefully sleep.
I walk past my love bugs as they are soundly asleep
Knowing that the magic of Christmas is still one they keep.
To them its not lists, fancy dinners, or matched clothes.
Its not clean houses, homemade gifts, or the list that always grows.
To my sweet children, with the wonder in their eyes,
They don't think about those things that sometimes make me wanna cry.
Its about moments and memories with the ones that they love.
Its about those sugar snacks and kisses and a big bear hug.
So as I drift off to sleep to wake up to Christmas Eve, I tell myself "next year, just enjoy it.
You don't need to fret. You don't need worry. And you don't need to stress. "
So a reminder to all you moms out trying to find their brave face
Enjoy this season. In the chaos, in the mundane, and make sure you give yourself grace.

Merry Christmas!

xxoo, Monica

Merry Christmas 2014

Hello lovelies! 

I know you are all wondering where in the world i have been.... well i wish i had something awesome to tell you -- but i have been in my apartment with Seth (LittleGuy) being a momma and loving this pregnancy. 

Today, I am enjoying the day celebrating the birth of our Savior with my beautiful family.  LittleGuy received so many amazing gifts from family and is currently napping (or in a sugar coma). 

MrV is playing with his little brother's new XboxOne getting lost in the Shadows of Mordor. 

I just finished my 4th cup of eggnog (don't judge me) and typing on my brand new ipad that MrV totally surprised me with! 

My in laws are all watching The Hobbit -- which i am not a total fan of. lol. 

Asher (LittleMan in my tummy) is kicking like crazy (probably wants more eggnog). 

We are thoroughly enjoying this Holiday and I am a little sad for the day when MrV returns to work next week and the magic is gone. 

May today (and everyday) be filled with laughter, the joy of Christ, smiles, and love! 

christmas sweets, mugs full of eggnog, and love. - MrsV

My birthday... And Happy Mother's Day!

Well, it was my birthday a few days ago! 

I love birthdays! Not just mine... But all birthdays. I love celebrating someone and showering them with love.

My husband totally did this! He bought me beautiful flowers, yummy coffee, lunch at Logan's, we went to a movie, and then had a romantic dinner at a local restaurant. We ended the evening with him singing me "happy birthday" as I blew out a princess candle in a Boston cream cake. (: A perfect and beautiful birthday. 

The next holiday to celebrate is Mother's Day! 

My first Mother's Day ever!!!! 

I am still in shock that I am going to be a mother in a little over two months. 

My heart is already exploding with love for this precious baby boy growing inside of me. 

So to all the mothers - the old and the new. The mothers with earthly children and the mothers with babies in heaven. The mothers with children they did not give birth to and the mothers whose children are being entrusted with other women. The mothers with babies still inside of them and the mothers whose babies are still in their dreams. I honor you and thank you for all that you do! Have a happy happy Mother's Day! 

May God bless you, not only on this day, but all year! 

Praying for ALL mothers and love. - Monica 

Valentines 2013

So I wanted to write a nice post about our love story in honor of this day of love.... But I have been up since 5am and didn't sleep well, so I am tired!
Maybe I will do that another time.... But a lot of it is in the "getting to know me" section. Hehe

Anyone have special plans with their love today?
My husby has to work today so we might celebrate it a different day. :)

I did get him a funny card and a small bag of flamin hot Cheetos (for my flamin hot husband).

If you aren't doing anything lovey dovey or if you are completely single remember there is a big God that loves you so much and that in itself is a reason to smile!

Sending you lots of valentine hugs from my home to yours!

-Mrs V

O Holy Night.

My mind has been in 100 different places the past two weeks.

God has been speaking to my heart and I have been absolutely stunned by the tragedy in CT.
I have been trying to gather my thoughts to put something on this blog but nothing could come out. I needed to just sit and be quiet for awhile. But I have missed you all!
-.-.-.-
Christmas is only a few sleeps away and I have been so impacted by the meaning of Christmas. I have been following through with the  #shereadstruth advent study and my pastor also has been doing a series on Advent (which means "coming".)

I am overjoyed to spend another Christmas with my amazing husband and celebrate the unbelievable birth of our Savior.

I leave you with the lyrics to my FAVORITE Christmas carol. I LOVE 'O Holy Night' because of the beautiful story it tells. The lyrics are so powerful!
Read the words and open your heart to the meaning. (:

What's your favorite Christmas carol?
-.-.-.-
'O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining, It is the night of the dear Saviour's birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining. Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth. A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices! O night divine, the night when Christ was born; O night, O Holy Night , O night divine! O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!

Truly He taught us to love one another, His law is love and His gospel is peace. Chains he shall break, for the slave is our brother. And in his name all oppression shall cease. Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we, With all our hearts we praise His holy name. Christ is the Lord! Praise His name forever. His power and glory ever more proclaim! His power and glory ever more proclaim!'

A thrill of hope and love. - Monica

Grown up Christmas list

Well Christmas season is here!

Christmas trees are decorated and stockings are hung. Streets are filled with sparkling lights and the countdowns are starting.
Which means....... its time for letters to santa.

Do you remember what you wished for 10-15 yrs ago? (oh my! I was 15 yrs old ten yrs ago! How is that possible?)
Its funny to think how different our list was from then to now.

When I was 15 I probably wanted clothes... or a cell phone. Haha. I most likely got cds, makeup, clothes, and jewelry.

I would still want makeup, clothes, and jewelry [*wink wink husby*  (; ], but yesterday I was thinking "I wish Santa would bring me a vacuum that picks up dog hair and works on carpet and wood floors." Lol

Now that I am married (and 25) my wish list has changed from things I want for myself to things that would benefit our home and has more of a purpose.

Here are some of the bigger items Santa can bring us. (:
- vacuum
- a kitchenaid
- fancy blender
- decorative stuff for the house
- mixing bowls
- coffee table
- bigger TV (husby would like this one)
- new car
- tv stand/entertainment center

Those are some things off the top of my head. Hehe.

What's on your Christmas list?

Growing up and love - Monica

2nd thanksgiving married

I hope all you had a wonderfully beautiful thanksgiving!

The husband and I had a great time with fantastic food!!!
I had sweet potato casserole for the first time and Martin tried pecan pie for the first time!
The only bad thing with not cooking for own dinner is no left overs! Hehe.

We did not partake in black Friday but we did end up going to Wal-Mart and getting Christmas stuff and decorated our tree.(:
The theater was offering matinee prices all day so we saw Red Dawn after eating a DELICIOUS meal at Logans (two steak dinners with two sides each and dessert for $20).

After that we got all bundled to go see this part of town that is all lit up with Christmas lights. We were even going to take Sophia.... but when we got there it was going to cost $5 each. No thanks. Lol.

Today it has been really cold so we have just been snuggling all day. (:

Hope your weekend is going wonderful! (: did you do black friday? What was the best part of your thanksgiving dinner?

New foods, Christmas trees with colorful ornaments, and love. - Monica

Also make sure to like my Facebook page to see more about what's going on in my life. (:
Www.facebook.com/mrsv820blog

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Happy thanksgiving lovelies!!!

What are your plans for the day?

Martin and I are hanging around the house and then going to a friend's house for dinner. I am excited for it but actually a little sad that I won't be cooking.
So I made a big breakfast instead! (: I even made heart shaped cinnamon rolls (Martin ate three of them... after eating a huge plate of hashbrowns, eggs with sausage, bacon, and cheese, and biscuits)!
Now its time for some football as Sophia naps.

Happy Turkey day from my little family to yours!

{Psalm 136:1} Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.

Turkey, giving thanks, and love. -Monica

July fourth

Well Martin and I really had a great Alabama fourth of July!!!

We went to our friend's house, BBQ'd, and lit off tons of fireworks. I mostly stuck with the sparklers but it was still fun!
I have never done that since its illegal in California It was really fun!!! (: (:
I tried to put a video up.. but it wouldn't let me. I will try again later. (:

We stormed earlier in the day and my husband was NOT happy. He was SOOO looking forward to the fireworks .. so when it started to clear up I thought he was going to jump up and down!
We had to wait until it got dark to light them all off and he was soo impatient! We ate and then watched an episode of Parenthood and an episode of Swamp people until it was dark enough.

Our friends have two young children so Martin and I had a great time playing with them. They did so good with the fireworks too. The little boy even held a sparkler!!! (: 

Now Martin is off for the rest of the weekend and I am so excited to hang out with him!

Fireworks and love. - Monica
♥ . ♥ . ♥

25th day of birth

This was me a little over 25 years ago. WOW! 25 years! A quarter of a century. 

Yesterday was my birthday.

I love birthdays. I love holidays. I love anniversaries. I truly enjoy celebrating people. Even if it is not a HUGE blow out party I like doing something to make the other person feel special.

After working all day long, outside, my husband was still able to come home and celebrate me.

He bought me my first wife birthday card.

 And replaced my espresso maker. (My sister got me/us one for Christmas but in the move - - it died. )

 I made a wish while blowing out candles on a cookies and cream cupcake.

Martin enjoyed a strawberry cupcake (his favorite).

It was the simplest birthday I think I have ever had but I loved it.

Earlier in the day my friend took me out to this fun pizza buffet place. It had tons of different types of pizza (including buffalo wing and loaded baked potato!). She bought me a beautiful mug made in Italy and some delicious Italian biscuit/cookies.

I think that it is so important to celebrate each other. To rejoice with them. To tell them "hey! I am happy that you are in my life."  It does not have to cost a lot or even take a lot of time. It just needs to be sincere.



I tend to reflect a lot when my birthday is approaching. (Just like last year) I like to think about where I am at in life and where I thought I would be.
Sometimes I can get down on myself for not doing A,B, and C. Or for being a certain age and not accomplishing certain things that my peers are accomplishing. For not being who society THINKS I should be.
BUT....... when I think about where I am at... apart from other opinions, previous goals, or statistics I am so proud of my life.
I am happy where I am at. (: Yes, I will keep moving forward - learning and growing. But I refuse to allow anything to take what is mine - joy.

 So celebrate someone in your life and find the joy that is yours!

birthday wishes coming true and love. - Monica

♥ . ♥ . ♥

Happy Valentines Day!

Well.. life has been soo crazy lately!

car problems. work. bills. life! hehe.

Everything is finally settling down and i feel like i can breathe (and live) again.

We did have a fun-filled weekend though! Martin, my sister-in-law, and i had a movie day on Saturday. We went to Red Robin and got lunch, hung out at the house for awhile, and then headed out to see 'Machine Gun Preacher' at the "dollar theater". It was really sad.. and based on a true story (which makes it even more sad)!
After that we rushed over to the other theater and watched 'Safe House'. The movie started at 10pm and i will be lying if i said i didn't doze off a few times.
The next morning Martin and i got up and headed out for church. After church we went to see 'The Vow'.

That was also a sad movie based on true events! But... oh... it just made me want to be true to the vows i made almost 6 months ago! 

That night i made a delicious dinner of steak and garlic shrimp sauce while i rocked a scrunchie while cooking.

 Dinner was sooo good!!! Mmmmm... and then i made pink strawberry cupcakes for dessert. 

I truly love going all out for holidays. I love making themed foods (the first time i met Martin's family.. it was St. Patricks day.. and so i brought over green mint chocolate chip cookies). I love making it special and memorable! I know i will do this forever! hehe. Hopefully i will still have the energy and time. 

I made Martin a gift... i found it on pinterest. (follow me on there pinterest.com/monicamv ) 

I made him a '52 reasons why i love you' card deck book. 

It was really easy to make!!! 

Write down (or type) 52 different reasons why you love your spouse (or mom, or sibling, or child), hole punch a deck of cards, glue the reasons on the card, and put it together with a binder clip (or ribbon). 

I added little pictures of us, sayings, and bible verses to the backs so that each page had something. And here is how it came out. 

And that was it! hehe. :) 

He sent me my favorite flower to work today! 

No matter if you are single, married, complicated, divorced, or not even interested... i pray that love will surround you not only on February 14th.. but all year through!!! 

love, love, and more love. - Monica

♥ . ♥. ♥ 

our road trip as Mr. & Mrs.

Martin and i had a lovely New Years Eve. We decided it was FINALLY time to take our first road trip as husband and wife and make the looonnngg (a whole 2 hours) trip to visit my sister. (which we realized when we got there that Martin hasn't been there since BEFORE he left for school in So Cal).

Saturday we woke up with NOTHING ready to go. We weren't packed. We didn't even have clean laundry. I told my sister we would be there AT noon.... needless to say that did not happen.
Martin got up and had to start a load of laundry (which quickly turned into two loads) and get a haircut. I jumped, sprung, slowly got up and started to clean the kitchen so it wasn't a MESS when we returned. After that i hopped in the shower while Martin finished our dirty wet laundry. I had to time to straighten my  hair and do makeup! Its amazing how sslllooowww laundry can take!

Martin bought me this new shirt... i wasn't too sure about it.. but now i think i am in love! I thought i looked like a farmer... but at least i look like a cute farmer! hehe

He actually bought my entire outfit. hehe. He's good. :)

But.. i can give myself credit for my oh-so-simple hairstyle. hehe. :)

After laundry was all finished and tummies were full of food, we headed off.

Our radio doesn't usually work (i think we need new speakers) but for some odd amazing reason it worked the majority of the ride there. So my hubby and i grooved, sang, and were silly for 2 hours.
Being a girl.. i tried to start serious conversations... but he asked if we could just have fun. hehe. :) I agreed and joined him in singing and dancing to the radio. I am glad i have him to remind me to be silly. ;) Although this is him being serious driving..because the roads were starting to get icy.

When we arrived in the mountains the temperature DROPPED! And we were surrounded by beautiful pine trees!

Do you like the crack in my windshield? hehe.. i really need to get that fixed.

When we got to my sister's house my nephew ran as fast as he could to.... Martin. Yup, my husband is apparently his new favorite. hehe. But i still got some hugs and kisses.

But he quickly returned to "Mar-TIN". (he pronounces the 'tin' part very distinctive.. it is soo stinking cute!)

Then he, of course, had to show off all of his new stuff he got from Santa.

He really loved this watch he got. It had a little light and would shine different little aliens on the wall. He would NOT take it off! hehe. And every picture he took he wanted to show it off. lol. He took it off to play with Martin some more and had me wear it. He was all kinds of excited when it fit me. hehe. He made sure to tell everyone around him that his watch "fit Auntie too"!

My sister cooked an amazing meal of tri-tip and crab! Sooo good! and then we had cheesecake and carrot cake for dessert.
My nephew and husband played the (old school) Super Mario Bros game on AJ's gameboy. hehe. My nephew cant really play.. but was amazed when Mar-TIN "beat the game" (he only beat one level.. but AJ was soo happy!)

At about 9:30pm we all headed out to my sister's friends house for a New Year's Eve party. Although stuff like that isn't really my thing... it was still pretty fun.
Of course i probably looked silly with my giant Hello Kitty purse (which Martin eventually put it in the car.. because i kept it on all night lol) and my red cup of the kid's punch. hehe. No shame though. lol. :)
At 11pm we went home because my brother-in-law had to work early the next morning.
At home we watched Dick Clark's New Years Rockin Eve and drank some DELICIOUS Starbucks peppermint hot cocoa with my sister's homemade marshmallow.

That was probably the highlight of New years Eve. I love just snuggling on the couch with hot cocoa! I don't really enjoy "going out". I'd rather hang out and play board games, sipping hot chocolate, listening to music with my loved ones. i know.. i am probably boring. hehe. but i like it.

At midnight we said our happy new years.. and after Martin stopped coughing (he got a tickle in his throat RIGHT at midnight haha) i had my FIRST ever New Years kiss! :) 

It was a really great first New Years as a new wife. :) 

The next morning was the 49er game and so my sister made her brother-in-law an amazing football meal!

She is such a wonderful cook!!! :)

After the game we talked for a little while and packed up and headed back home. :)
Arriving to town the sky was sooo beautiful!!!

We had SUCH a fun road trip together. :)

I am sooo excited for the new 2012 year! My resolution is to continue to get closer to the Lord, be love everywhere i go, and cherish my marriage.

new years, short road trips, and love. - M
♥  . ♥ . ♥