Fun Kid Pictures…

This past winter I didn’t get many pictures of the kids… life was busy and I just didn’t get around to pulling out the camera and snapping some pictures. I hope I won’t regret missing those memories too much! Anyways, since the weather is nice now and I have a little more free time over the next week and a half I might post some more pictures… if you get tired of seeing my cute little kiddos, just let me know 😉

Happy Threesome!

Funny Fiona~

Kute Kenzie~

Terrific Titus!

Enjoying the stroller together.

Having fun with scissors!

Kenzie- “See I can put paper down in my scissors holder!” 😀

The “queens” on their way to the California coastline…

The beautiful ocean.

Titus loved the ocean!

The flowers along the coastline are beautiful!

I think this might be lupine…

Wild growing yarrow.

All tired out from lots of play~

An Announcement…

Another brother or sister is joining the family in October!

Five Year Anniversary and pictures of life these days…

~Five Years Ago my beloved and I were married~

Yesterday Samson and I celebrated our fifth wedding anniversary! Life has been exciting with Samson and I look forward to what the future holds for us. I have grown in the past year in my admiration for all the hard work Samson does to provide for us. He coaches many hours in our basement and often has office work to keep up with on top of coaching. He does this all without complaining! He gets up early to get all his work done, but also to make sure he spends time reading God’s Word before he starts his day. He leads our family in devotions and is helping the girls learn a children’s catechism. He doesn’t get tired of me telling him all the funny (or naughty) things the children do while he is coaching and he listens to me late at night when I need to just talk. He has loved me unconditionally and I am so blessed to be his wife!

Today he is coaching in Pittsburgh and had some beautiful flowers delivered… he spoils me!

I can’t wait to see what this year has in store for us as a couple!

And since I haven’t updated my blog in a while I thought I’d throw in a few other pictures…

Papa Dubina reading to the girls.

Look who joined me for breakfast a few weeks ago… a lovely princess and a cute unicorn!

Reading together~

The threesome

Titus, our cute little man!

Silly grin~

All ready to go play in the snow!

Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from the Dubina family!

Kenzie and Fiona

Our little man, Titus!

 

Apple Muffin Recipe

I’ve tried a new muffin recipe over the past several months from a dear lady at church who made these for us after Titus was born. I had a staple muffin recipe that I grew up making, but I think I’ve replaced it with this new one! The original recipe was for blueberry muffins, but I made them with apples twice and they are just as delicious with apples as they are with blueberries! Now on to the recipe…

Apple or Blueberry Muffins

1/2 c. water
1/2 c. oats
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
3/4 c. white flour
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. baking soda
1 1/4 t. baking powder
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 c. canola oil
1-2 apples, chopped or 1 c. blueberries (fresh or frozen)
(1 t. cinnamon if making apple muffins)
cinnamon sugar

1) Mix water and oats with a spoon.
2) Add remaining dry ingredients, mix to combine.
3) Add egg and oil, mix until just combined.
4) Add apples or blueberries.
5) Pour into muffin tin and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
Bake at 425 degrees for 18 minutes.
Makes 1 dozen

Five Months Old… and a few other random pictures

Five months old and his cute face just keeps getting cuter!!

Our happy fella!

Isn’t it funny how different this view makes him look?!

Love this little man!

Fun threesome picture! Fiona loves holding Titus and helping me take care of him~

A bit late, but this is Kenzie on her 2nd birthday in June~ our little princess!

Kenzie loving her present~ a sandbox! The girls thought they were at the beach, so they took their chairs into the sandbox 🙂

Samson took Kenzie out for dinner (to Arby’s!) for a father/daughter date… so sweet of him~ She absolutely loved it, especially the red drink!!

My sister-in-law took these pictures of Titus and I on our vacation earlier this summer. I wanted a few pictures of just the two of us… he’s my little snuggler!

Three months old

Our happy little guy!

Summer Picnic…

Today the girls and I enjoyed a summer picnic in our backyard! Their faces tell of the excitement of eating lunch outside… 😀

So excited to eat outside!

Fiona was so excited!!

~Yummy food~

Eating cherries~ Fiona was our photographer 🙂

Titus was sleeping while we ate, but because he is so cute, I thought I’d post this picture of him practicing his growl (well, he was really yawning, but we pretended it was a growl!).

Our New Addition!!!

I can’t believe that I didn’t update my blog about some very exciting news… we expanded our household by two feet…

by two precious little feet…

two little boy feet!!!

We are excited to announce the birth of our son

Titus Josiah Dubina

April 18th ~ 7 lbs. 2 oz ~ 21″

Our prayer for our son is similar to that of Paul’s for Titus in the Bible:

“Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us.” Titus 2:6-8

We pray that the Lord would convert Titus’ heart at a young age and that he might be a young man who lives for the Lord. We are so blessed to be his parents!

Here are a few pictures of before and after Titus was born:

A week before Titus was born.

The day Titus was born we took one last family picture with the girls~

Proud daddy to a handsome little boy!!!

The happy parents!

Fiona meets Titus for the first time~ 😀

Kenzie meets Titus and give him a soft little kiss~

Samson’s parents- the proud grandparents

And my parents, the other proud grandparents!

A few days after he was born…

Looking cute three days old…

Exchanging sweet little gazes~

The threesome!!!

Precious!

~Sweet sisters~

My sister, Rachel, came over to help us out several times over the past few weeks. She is such a joy to be around and very capable of helping me with the children.

And as you can see, Titus loved sleeping in her warm arms.

Enjoying the spring weather with the three children 🙂

 

 

Mommy Encouragement

I’ve been reading a book off and on recently that my dear sister-in-law gave me for Christmas called Delight-Full: 31 Days to a Happier Baby… And Wholehearted Motherhood by Kate E. Collins.

I’ve been very encouraged in my role as a mother and thought I would share a few quotes from a chapter I read recently that I found particularly helpful for the stage of life that I am in with our daughters.

When children reach the stage that they question rules and test limits, they are developing a character that is uniquely their own. They are seeking guidance from Mommy and Daddy in the only way they know how. By acting in ways that Mommas see as defiance, they are simply using their baby language to ask: “Are you going to take my hand and lead me ‘in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake (Psalm 23)?’ Will you teach me how to grow the fruits of self control and gentleness in my life? Do you love me enough to see this through?”…

Boundaries in the life of a child show them without words that we love our children too much to leave them to themselves to figure out how to grow up. The Bible teaches that a child left to himself brings his mother to shame…

Babies need Mommas who won’t give up on them when they have difficult days. Babies need Mommas who will carefully watch the makings of their hearts, helping them to cull the selfishness and the whininess and planting the seeds of grace and gentleness. Babies need Mommas who will help them to guard their hearts, for out of our hearts grow the true stuff of life (Proverbs 4:23)…

Christian Mommas need to be studiers of the hearts of our children. We need to discover what they’re “made of” and point them to the Lord– praising Him for their strengths, that they might bring glory to Him! And praising Him for their weaknesses, that they might be used to bring glory to Him as well (2 Corinthians 12:9)…

 

And just for fun, here are a few pictures of our girls…

Smile Big!!!

Thoughtful Fiona~

Trying on Mommy’s shoes!

Sitting next to a little snowman about a month ago…

Good-morning smiles!

Fun times together!!

Kisses from big sister- oh my!!

And to finish this post… a cute funny from Fiona: She told me this while having a bout of hiccups the other day, “I keep hicking up!” 🙂