Blog Anniversary (8 YEARS!) and Christmas Day 2014

My first blog post was January 7, 2007.  I have written one thousand two hundred and fifteen posts (1215!) for Three Peanuts.  You have left almost 34,000 comments over the years and I cherish each one of them. And there have been almost 4 million visits to 3 Peanuts (more if you read on a reader or feed).

I have shared so much of our lives with you.  When I started this blog my goal was only to document Dave and Will's trip to China to bring our daughter home.  I never imagined that I would still be journaling on line all these years later.  But I am so glad that I have.  First and foremost, this blog has served as our family photo album and scrapbook.  I always say that some day when I am gone, my children will be able to come here and see how fiercely I loved them.

But this blog has brought us so many more blessings.  I have made incredible friends through blogging…some that I have met and become real life friends with and some that I have never met but I cherish just the same.  Kate's adoption has inspired other families to adopt.  I never had any idea God would use us that way.  Harry's prayer table brought a family back to God and church.  Again, we never had any notion that things like that would happen.  So, thank you. Thank you for saying hello when we see you out and about.  Thank you for reading and for praying for our family over the years.  It means a lot to me.  If you feel comfortable, I would love for you to say hello in the comments today.  I love to know who is reading over the years. Tell me how/when you found 3 peanuts.

Now onto Christmas Day.  Thankfully, Kate and Harry woke up at a reasonable hour.

Harry and Will asked for some clothes and a few things. Kate asked Santa for a balance beam. That was what she really wanted.
 

The kids coming down the stairs…

I think Will is still asleep here;)

And here is when she saw the beam….

Running to look for the beam:)





This was the first gift Harry saw.  It was a total surprise for him and he loved it.  I took his shirt from the Junior Olympics (which is too small to wear now) and put it in a t-shirt frame. I love this idea to frame a kid's first t-ball jersey or favorite t-shirt.  Harry LOVED it.  You can get it here.


Harry also got a new fishing rod and reel…



Dave did too…



Will, Harry and Dave are kind of obsessed with fishing these days.




Will really wanted this patagonia fleece.  And everyone else in the world must have wanted it too because it was SOLD OUT everywhere locally and online.  Finally, I found it at the last minute at Zappos and it was here in time.  I love Zappos.  I think Will has worn it almost everyday since Christmas so I'd say it was a winner.



Will gave Kate a skien of beautiful yarn and a box of graham crackers.  She had asked for both and was so happy.  Kate learned to knit on the 23rd of December and was in heaven with this yarn!!



Kate gave Dave a winter hat and Will gave him this Southern Marsh baseball cap.
 I think he is all set for hats.

And Miss Katie Ru asked just days before Christmas for a hot pink "Columbus" fleece.  It is Columbia but she calls it her Columbus;) And she wears it constantly.  We like cozy fleece here.

Harry and Kate are so cute together.  I love how they love one another.  Kate bought Harry some stinky fish stuff.  She knows what he loves.

I bought this sign below for Kate's room. I thought she'd love it.  She was not a fan.  It is too bright so we returned it:)

Scout always gets a new toy or treat in her stocking too…

 

See that beautiful hand made portrait/ornament with my monogram hanging on the tree?
 Kate made one for each of us.  That one is me.  I love it.

 There is a funny story about this Santa toy. I bought it at Marshalls months before CHristmas with a few other things.  It was in a bag in my closet with the other things…HIDDEN.  One day I came home and Scout had it out and was playing with it.  She had gone upstairs (which she is not supposed to do), found this toy amongst several other gifts in a bag and brought it down stairs to play with. I have no idea how she know to go looking in my secret hiding place for her Christmas present but she is one smart dog! I had to hide it up high until Christmas.

We had a nice brunch as a family and then Dave and I got busy cooking Christmas dinner.  This year we served beef tenderloin, ham, sweet potato casserole, roasted asparagus with shaved parmesan, mixed greens with pomegranate seeds and goat cheese, my homemade world famous macaroni and cheese, Aunt Waukita's zucchini casserole (yum!), biscuits, pies and a yule log.  I also made gluten free mint brownies (interest recipe…lots of work not very yummy).

 We had a great time telling the jokes from our crackers.

I did not make the yule log this year but it was delicious.

After dinner we played a game we like called the family game. We had never played it with Dave's brother and the nieces and nephews before but it was a lot of fun!

We had to get Scout in the photo too;)

Here are two more videos I want for my own memories …

This one is the letter our elf, Happy left…

And the letter Santa left on Kate's beam…



That is it for Christmas. It was a good one.
 I have a couple of posts planned for favorite things and books and such.  Be back soon.

Please make are to say hello in the comments.

Six

Please pop over here and read the update on sweet Ivy Joy.  I know many of you have prayed for her for a long time now.  She needs LOTS of prayer right NOW!

Source: stay-classy-always.tumblr.com via Kim on Pinterest

Today marks the sixth anniversary of Three Peanuts!!! I had actually started a little web site earlier than that solely to document Dave and Will's journey to China to bring home Kate but quickly switched over to blogger. I still remember sitting in our family room at my laptop and asking Dave what I should call the blog. And thus Three Peanuts was born. Will was just 9 years old and Harry had just turned 6! Kate was not in our family yet but she was in our hearts and our constant prayers. It is hard for me to imagine that time in our lives because it feels like Kate has been here forever!

I am still amazed at the joys and gifts this journey has brought us. We have met amazing friends and made and documented so many fabulous memories. This blog actually feels like part of the family sometimes.

I know some of you have been here from the very beginning and some of you are new readers. I thank all of you for your love and friendship and prayers and well wishes for our family over the years.  I have had incredibly kind and generous readers and I am truly blessed to call many of you friends as well.

I have a lot to blog about this month. The peanuts have been off from school for the past 2 and 1/2 weeks so I have tried to stay off the computer while they were home. Kate and Harry go back to school tomorrow and Will goes back on Wednesday so I am sure I will be playing catch up.

Cheers! I look forward to many more years of blogging.  Please take this opportunity to let me know who you are and how you found 3 peanuts either in the comments or e-mail.  I would love to know who stops by each day to share in our lives.

Blessings,
Kim

(Just in case your a statistician like me, this is my 1150th post and 3 peanuts is read regularly by people in 11 different countries.  You can see the first (very boring) post here.  It is fun to see how young we all looked back then!  I think I posted 5 entires that first day though:)

FIVE years {and almost 1000 posts!}

Saturday, January 7th marked my 5th anniversary of blogging (first post here).  And while it might seem silly to some of you to even mention it, I am feeling quite nostalgic.  You see, I started this little blog just a month before we were referred our precious little Katie Ru.  Our ONLY intent back then was to keep family and friends updated while Dave and Will traveled to China.  Honestly, no one read 3 peanuts in the early days.  I never, ever imagined that so many people would come here every day.    I also never imagined that I would make such incredible friends.  And I have.  I have fabulous "real life" friends who I cherish dearly--- But I have also made some very special friends through the blog.  Some of them I talk to several times a week!  I see some of them on a regular basis.  We have talked, prayed together, vacationed together, cried together and laughed a lot.  They are my prayer warriors.  They are my girls.  They have become some of my best friends in the world.  And I truly love them.  Who would've thought?!  Not me.

I have also made some very special bloggy friends who I will likely never meet but who bring me such joy through their comments and or posts. Of course, this blog has connected me to the most amazing people in the adoption community and that has been such a blessing! However, 3 peanuts has also connected me to amazing interior designers who take the time to say hello and comment graciously.  I have heard from young single women who look to our family for things they want in the future.  I have connected with talented women who cook and sew and do photography and I learn from ALL of you.  I have met people "virtually" that I would have never been blessed to meet otherwise.  And for that I am so grateful.

I have been blessed to learn that this little old blog has opened others hearts to adoption as well.  A few people over the years have reached out to me to tell me so. How humbling is that? Another reader has reached out to me to tell me that this post and this one  (about Harry's prayer table) started a journey for her and her family to go back to church!  She has stayed in touch with me and really credits my little Harry with helping them trust the Lord again.  How incredible is that?!

One sweet reader has e-mailed me to tell me how much a supplement  that I posted about helped her ailing grandmother.  

God has used this blog and used our family in ways that I would have never expected and I take no credit for at all. We are humbled to think that we might have helped others along the way because we are a very average family doing the best we can to get along (just like everyone else out in blogland).

So, I wanted to take a moment to THANK YOU....all of you who have read for 5 years or just a few days.  Thank you for stopping by.  Thank you for your kind comments and encouragement.  There are days when it is really hard being a stay at home Mama to 3 peanuts.  You know, we don't get a lot of kudos.  But this blog has made it all a bit more bearable. I feel like I have a network of other women out there who have my back so to speak.  So thank you. I am going to be around for a lot longer.

I would love if you would leave me a comment telling me something about YOU.  I know from my stats that I have a lot of readers who never comment (and that is fine) but I would love to get to know more of you.  Also, if you have any questions, leave them in the comments and I will answer them later this week (maybe in my 1000th post.)

"Appreciation can make a day, even change a life. Your willingness to put it into words is all that is necessary."

Margaret Cousins

{P.S. This is my 991st post too (some are saved in draft as they are private).  So, I am almost at 1000!!}

Apparently, it is another special anniversary. We adopted our schnoodle, Scout 5 years ago this week too!! Look how little she was!  We love you Scout!

quick update {and 4 years}

A couple of friends have e-mailed or called to check on me.  I am okay... I just have a lot going on here and a two day headache (feels like the beginnings of a sinus infection).  I am praying for all of you who are doing the Bible Study!  I have a couple of posts in my head and I will try to get them up here as soon as I feel better and caught up.  Happy weekend!

Oh and I just realized today is the 4 year anniversary (and 802 posts) of my blog!!! Thank you for all of the kindness over the years.  I would have never imagined when I began this four years ago that I would have made the friendships and connections that I have made.  Some of my closest friendship have grown out of this endeavor.  I still remember sitting in a chair in VA and Dave helping me come up with the name 3 peanuts:)

P.S.  the above photo is mine but I took it to celebrate my friend Shana...read below...

Imagine my utter JOY when I walked into Papyrus a few days before Christmas and saw one of my best friend's photography in a beautiful set of boxed notecards.  I immediately called her!!  I was SO excited and happy for her.  I am really proud of my friend, Shana.  She is talented, beautiful and has a heart of gold.  I used her Florabella action "afternoon" on this  photo. 

You can find her work here.  And the cards here and here.

This cold weather is not good for my butt!

I am just saying. When it is cold, I crave really fattening foods (fritos, hot chocolate made with real milk, ice cream, beef, chips and dip). Normally, I eat pretty healthy and I had actually gotten quite thin thanks to that salmonella I had around Halloween. However, if this Arctic blast keeps up, I am going to need an intervention (and some exercise!). I do not know how you people up North do it. All I want to do is stay inside by the fire looking at beautiful decor on the computer, read magazines, sleep and eat. Oh and I am watching a little trashy daytime TV while I eat my salted caramels covered in dark chocolate from Crate and Barrel too.

So yesterday marked 3 years of blogging for me! I was so busy eating and shivering that I forgot. I do have a really fabulous give-away planned for my next post though. You will love it! In the meantime, stay warm and tell me what you crave when it is cold....

I am off to the store to get ingredients for Shrimp Etouffee. It is not too fattening but certainly warming. Then it is back to the couch to warm up:)

Kate and I have been doing lots of "arts and crafts" this week too. And just for the record, I am not an arts and crafts kinda Mom. I let her paint in my kitchen/hallway without a drop cloth. Can you believe it? I have come so far (LAZY) in my 12 and 1/2 years as a Mom.

Two Years

I had no intention of posting today.  In fact, I was purposefully not posting (and being very productive instead).  But as I was reading another blog today (she is celebrating her one year blogivarsary), I realized that I too was approaching an anniversary. I knew I started this blog sometime in January because it was about a month before our referral for Kate. Sure enough, I checked and my first post was January 7, 2007! So, today I celebrate my 2 year blogiversary!  It looks like I posted several things that first day.

So, have a cupcake!  Don't they look good? Thank you for every sweet and thoughtful comment along the way. I cherish the friends I have made here. You all have blessed me in many ways.

One Year Blogiversary!

Today is the one year anniversary of when I began this blog. How time flies! Honestly, I had never even heard of a blog before and then somehow, I came across this adorable family. I think I spent hours reading their story from start to finish. And then I found them and them and I was hooked. It was so wonderful to know that there were so many other families out there going through the exact same things we were experiencing.


So, about a month before our referral I started this blog as a way to share the news and our trip with our long distance friends and family. I never imagined that I would find such a supportive network of Moms and Dads and other adoptive families. I am truly grateful to each and every one of you that has cheered us along on this amazing journey. This blog as been a great outlet for me and it has grown into more than just a way to update our long distance loved ones.

You can click here to read my first post!

Welcome to our blog--Family Photo

Here we are...just waiting for our little sister!

Kim, Harry, Will and Dave

This is our new blog set up to chronicle our life as we wait for our daughter/sister. Last month I started a web page but decided due to the overwhelming response that a blog was a better long term solution. Here we plan to share our family adventures. We expect this year to be full of exciting changes as we expand our family. The photo of our little girl should arrive at the end of this month and we will post it here. While Dave and Will are in China, we will post entries and photos of their travel. Please add us to your favorites and check back often. Also please feel free to comment. I promise we'll stay here.