A Graduation Celebration

After Matt and I got married in July of 2006, we immediately moved to Topeka so that Matt could attend Washburn University. He wanted to attend Law School here and that was our main reason for choosing Washburn. His interests changed and so did his major. Six years later, here we are. Matt has finally graduated and I'm very much looking forward to a new chapter in our lives.

May 12, 2012, Graduation Day

Matt graduated with a Bachelors of Arts in History!

Our Family. We've grown and accomplished a lot in the past six years. We've had three beautiful children, bought a house, my husband has a great job, and we've really established ourselves here in Topeka.

After the graduation ceremony, we had a BBQ with Matt's closest friends in our backyard.

Chaseton played all evening long!

Matt and his girls.

Matt's sister, Michaela, Matt, and Jaelyn all graduated within one week.

You can't have a BBQ without S'mores!

Ladder Golf

This is Emily. Matt works with her and we have become great friends. Chaseton loves her!

Matt's Grandparents made the trip to support him!

I get my love for kids from my mom. She loves babies just as much as me! :)

Jaelyn made Nicholas dance with her.

Matt's Nana and Nicholas.

I'm so unbelievably proud of Matt and I'm so thankful that Matt is finished with school. I'm ready to concentrate on our family and move onto the next chapter in our lives. Big decisions are coming our way! I can't wait to see what God has planned next for us!

Graduation

Yesterday was a very exciting day for our family! Matt graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Washburn University! We are so proud of him! 

We've been celebrating all weekend long...more to come!

A Taste of Summer

We spend a lot of our summer days at Matt's parents house. Its close to the lake, the kids love it there as they get spoiled with ice cream and popsicles, there's so much room to play and run outside, and they have a pool. We headed over this past Saturday, since the pool had been set up the day before, to let our little fishies swim. The weather was beautiful and it was a great opportunity to test out the pool to make sure it was ready for summer! This was Chaseton's first time getting to swim at Grandma and Papa's house. He wasn't very fond of the cold water but other than that, everyone had a great time!

My little fish.

As long as Daddy held him out of the water, he was okay!

This is how he felt about swimming on this day! :)

Jaelyn is quite the swimmer!

Cuddles with Grandma.

Sweet Sisters

As far back as I can remember, I wanted to be a mom. I have always loved babies and dreamt of the day I would have one of my own. When I became pregnant for the first time, I really wanted a boy. I loved having older brothers growing up and I wanted a little girl to have an older brother just like I did.

Life gets funny as you change and grow.

As I got older, I longed for a sister of my own. I longed for a relationship with my sister that never had to face this world because she went straight to heaven to be with Jesus. I wanted a sister that I could call at any given hour and she'd be there for me. A sister that I could share clothes with and hang out with for hours on end. A sister that would give me nieces and nephews and ask me for advice and look up to me. A sister to share life with. Don't get me wrong, I love my brothers more than they know but I just wanted a sister, a best friend. God has more than fullfilled my desire to have a sister. Not only do I have numerous friends that would gladly fill the role, I have been blessed with sisters-in-law that love me like I've been there from the beginning and two cousins that have been more like sisters to me than cousins. My sister, Jenna, would have been 20 today. I'm so glad that my girl is named Jaelyn Lerae, after my sister, so that I have a constant reminder of her in heaven. Say a prayer for my mama's heart if you read this.

When Jaelyn was born, the idea of her having a brother went right out the window. I knew I wanted her to have a sister from the beginning. There is just something so special about the bond of sisterhood. I know because I get to witness it everyday. The day that Finlee was born is a day I will never forget. I believe that God placed these two precious darlings in my life so I can experience sisterhood in a totally different way, through the eyes of my daughters.

As crazy as this sounds, I can't wait to watch them grow and really develop a friendship. I expect drama, fights over the bathroom, and heartbreak but I also expect love, slumberparties, makeup and cute clothes, and happiness. I'm so grateful that God has blessed me with two precious girls that call me mom and I'm especially thankful for two girls that have and will have the best relationship a girl could ask for, a sister.

Celebrating Home

Today I'm linking up to Kelly's Korner for Show Us Your Life Friday: Show Us What You Sell!

Most of you may not have heard about Celebrating Home but you have probably heard of Home Interiors or Home and Garden Party. Celebrating Home is both of those combined! I began selling Celebrating Home at the beginning of Februrary this year. I love the opportunity to meet new friends and showcase great products that I love. Celebrating Home is a Christian based company that sells home decor, fragrance items such as candles and warmers, gourmet food, and an exclusive line of pottery and stoneware.

Celebrating Home is known for our pottery. My favorite pottery line is the Simply Summer design. Its bright, fun, and cheery and classy all at the same time.

My favorite product and probably the most talked about the product is the Bean Pot. Here it is in my favorite pattern. (There are so many other patterns that you can see HERE.)

What is a Bean Pot you ask? This product has changed my life! Its an easy, quick way to cook and serve meals or dishes. Its oven, microwave, freezer and dishwasher safe. Bake cakes in it, cook chicken in it. There are so many ideas that I can't even begin to share them all here. Place it in the oven for 20 minutes to keep items hot for 2-3 hours or in the freezer to keep items cold for 2-3 hours. You can also order a carrying basket for it (shown above) to make it easy to take to picnics or church functions.

These two items, in the Simply Summer collection, are on my wish list:

Our featured deal this month is our Fragrance Collection which is all 20% off this month only. (Ends in three days!)

These floral candle rings fit perfectly around the Raspberry Lemonade candle (purple) pictured above!

Most everyone has heard of Scentsy. Our fragrance warmers are similar except that we use a lotion-like gel rather than the bricks. You use 1 tablespoon of the gel, warm it, and it crystalizes when it's finished warming, making for easy clean-up.

A few more favorite items from my latest parties:

Celebrating Home has a great line of products that I love. I featured some of my favorites in this post! Feel free to shop HERE for Mother's Day or a treat for yourself! For those of you that made it to the end of this very long post, you should be rewarded. :) Leave a comment saying what your favorite Celebrating Home product is (you can browse HERE) and you will be entered to win the Raspberry Lemonade candle and floral candle ring, pictured above. Questions? E-mail me at tl_pollock@hotmail.com.