Engagement Photos

Things are a bit crazy here at Haus of Girls.
The post-Christmas chaos of organizing and cleaning is in full effect.
My family was blessed this Christmas with so many wonderful gifts and time spent with family.
We were even blessed with another White Christmas this year!

And now, which I still can’t truly believe,  the planning of a New Year’s Eve celebration is in the works. 

With 2011 just around the corner,  our family is most excited about the countdown to Maggie and Austin’s wedding.
I am the matron of honor and have several duties.
If anyone has any fun ideas or tips, please leave me a comment!

2011 will be filled with showers, parties, celebrations and planning of such a special day.
The final Viefhaus sister will walk down the aisle.

Here are just a few of the engagement photos that my sister Haley took this past weekend at my mom and dad’s house, as well as mine.

 

The sunset shot in my backyard.

 

 

And my favey fave so far, down at my parent’s pond.

I love my sisters mad photography skills, almost as much as I love these two beautiful people.

Merry Christmas Eve

This morning, we woke to a snow filled yard and three happy little girls running around the house cheering with excitement after realizing that we would be having yet another White Christmas.

(Photo card created by Mel from Daylight Designs)

(Photo card created by Kimmie from Sugar and Dots)

God’s blessing to you and your family this Christmas Eve!

A Well and a Winner

 

We did it!

We prevented one village from having to see this…

…or this ever again.

As a result of so many giving and kind people who generously donated their time, money and efforts this year,  one well, and then some, was fully funded.

Hundreds of children will never have to drink another bottle of contaminated, dirty water.

So thank you to all who were a part of Project 320 this year!
And thank you to all of my giveaway participants!
Are you ready to see if you’re a winner?
Drum roll……

The randomly selected winner of my bundle is….
Jessica!

Congrats!
Email me and your prizes will be on the way!

Today’s the Day

We are almost there.
Creeping closer and closer to the $5000 goal which will fund an entire well and give an entire village clean water for years.

If you haven’t donated yet and would like to, head over to our well today. It is the last day to enter as all giveaways will close at midnight.

For every $10 you donate you can enter once in any of these incredible giveaways…….. go!

To All My Blog Readers

Today I...

Took a shower.
Brushed my teeth.
Filled the coffee pot.
Filled the Christmas tree stand.
Ran the dishwasher.
Ran the washing machine.
Used the toilet.
Washed my hands.
Did some more dishes.
And lots more laundry.
Rinsed salad greens.
Ran baths.
Topped off my iron.
Fed my kids glasses of fresh, clean water.
Water, water, water...

Is it fair that today I whine & worry over trees & toys, when today 4500 moms just like me are worrying whether their children will live or die? Over contaminated water?

When I think about how healthy and safe my family is, I have no worries.
I need nothing.
I am so blessed.
But those other moms need us.
Together, we can relieve some worry.

 

I hope you will all please take a few minutes to stop by here. You will see that we are HALFWAY to our goal of funding an entire well!

I am praying that you will join the hundreds of others in donating to our Project 320 well.

Each $10 donation gives you one entry in any of the twenty one giveaways worth thousands of dollars.

Please head over to my giveaway and be sure to enter that as well!

Thank you for helping us change lives across the globe this Christmas season.

Project 320 Giveaway…Go!

Last year was truly overwhelming.
Humbling. Amazing.

We could not believe the outpouring of support for our little dream to build a well.  A dream that was quickly expanded to yet another well.

This year we still had water on our hearts and minds.  We still wanted to do what we could to change lives half a world away.

Together we prayed, brainstormed and came up with a new model for 2010.

We invited anyone with a blog, be it one followed by millions or dozens, to host a giveaway. Handmade, vintage, or store bought.  Freedom and creativity were the only guidelines.  It could be one pretty thing, or a whole bundle of fabulous.

Then each $10 donation to the Project 320 well will count for one entry in one giveaway. Your giveaway of choice.

Each blogger will then choose a winner, verify the donation, and ship off the prize(s).

Just think, it would only take 50 blogs with 10 entries each to fund one well.
Little things= Big changes.

So let’s Go! Here is my giveaway…
 

 

Prize #1.
Your choice of any appliqué tee from my etsy shop. 
Pick from Christmas tree, Christmas tie, striped tie, shamrock, horse, initial or number.

Prize #2
Your pick of any Superhero, or other logo of choice, crayon/pencil/marker organizer bucket from my shop.

 

Prize #3.
An adorable Happy Holidays plate made by the talented Erin Stremsterfer Civey, whom I grew up playing softball with and even ended up going to the same college!
Stop by her etsy shop Lizzie Jean’s and order some of her amazing cookies for your next party or get together. 

 Prize #4
This incredible handmade picture frame made by one of my oldest friend’s Katie Mitchell Carr, whom I also grew up playing softball with.

And guess what, she is also donating a $15 iTunes gift card to go with it!
How sweet is she!

******

If you’d like to win this bundle of fun, simply head over to our Project 320 well page and donate $10. Then come back here and leave me one comment.

Each $10 donation will count for one entry in one giveaway.

Make sure that either your email is attached to your profile, or is included in each comment.

Comments will stay open until midnight pacific time on Sunday, December 19th.

Donations will be verified,
and one happy winner will be chosen to receive all four prizes on Monday, December 20th.

Win prizes and save lives. What could be better?

{Be sure to click over to the Project 320 blog and check out all of the other wonderful giveaways.  How encouraging is it to see social media being used to change the world?}

Good luck!

Flashback Friday- Our New Home

Flashback Friday is my new way of looking back at our little life before I started documenting it on Haus of Girls.
Let’s flashback to 2006…..

In October, we had just sold our very first home. 
While our new home was being built, we needed a place to live for the next three months! Thankfully, my parents allowed us to move in with them and take over their basement.
With a seven month old baby and a two in a half year old. Craziness!

We would occasionally sneak into our new home as it was being built to see how things were progressing. It was fun to show the girls where we would be living very soon. Here are a few pictures of our new home from one afternoon in December, 2006.

The view from our front room looking back towards our dining room and kitchen.

Steve and Sophie in our future living room.

 

Another view of our living room.

The kitchen, before our appliances arrived.

And the front of our new home.
We moved in on December 27, 2006 and have been living happily ever after from that moment on.

Happy Flashback Friday to all!

On Your Marks…….

 

Get Ready…….

And next week I will happily say GO!

You will have the chance to donate $10 to our WELL giving you one entry at the chance of winning my bundle of goodness that I will be giving away.

There will be over 30 other bloggers doing the same thing.

 
All in hopes of reaching our goal of funding another well this year……..will you join us?

Santa Through the Years….

This weekend Santa came to our town.
Every year he kindly finds the time to stop by the fire house where my mom works.

His entrance.
Note Sophie’s intense nail biting.

The girls checking him out.

Patiently awaiting their turn on Santa’s lap.
Can you tell by their faces who was most nervous?

Continue on to see our Santa pictures from the past years leading up to this weekend, and you will see if you are right about which blondie was least excited so sit on Santa’s lap.
This same girl has, for the past two days, been saying “I don’t like Santa.”

All. Day. Long.

2004

 

2005

2006
I was too lazy to scan in our Santa picture from this year so here is a cute shot of them in front of Mimo and Grandpa’s tree.

2007
Two criers.

2007
A quick pep talk.

2007
Round two.

2007
Bonus photo showing how Mia hid under the table when Santa entered the building. Being pregnant with little Gracie, I almost peed in my pants.

2008
Gracie may or may not be trying to fly away.
 

2009
Two criers this year, again.

 

2010
One crier,
three festive dresses that I am so happy I squeezed in the time to make
and many more memories made.

The Happiest Quack You’ve Ever Seen

If you haven’t noticed in any of the photos I’ve posted in the past few years,  Gracie loves her Ducky.
 

And after going through some old photos, I realized JUST how much our little Grace loves her.

 

It all began back in 2009 at her first birthday cupcake party. Her Great Grandma Viefhaus gave Ducky to her as a birthday gift, and she’s been snuggling with her ever since.
Every. single. night.

That was two and a half years ago.
So, as you can imagine, Ducky is a little rough around the edges.

Let’s take a look back at Ducky’s journey.
A “Where’s Waldo” of sorts……

May 2009.
The beginning of their strong bond.

June 2009
The car seat connection.

September 2009
Every night looks like this.

October 2009
Ducky accompanied Gracie for her first hospitalization. Darn that scary pneumonia.
Luckily Ducky was by her side to help with a speedy recovery.

Jan 2010
Once again, car seat love.

February 2010
A snuggle in her “bed” one afternoon.

 
March 2010
Look who is hanging out of her baby carrier!

March 2010
Watching big sister Sophie sing in her Easter program.

April 2010
A family photo at the top of a water tower.

May 2010
An eight hour trip at night to Michigan to watch Aunt Maggie.

May 2010
A COLD Michigan day at the ballpark.
Ducky cheered quite loud that day if I remember correctly.
Good thing, because Gracie couldn’t see a thing.

June 2010
Her new big girl bed.
An easy transformation when she turned two, all because of Ducky.

After scrolling through all my old photos, I realized that Ducky has been through so much with our family.  She’s been a part of every milestone and memory.
She’s been there for all the happy, sad, scary and confusing times.  
In a way, she is like our fourth daughter.

And a few weeks ago, Gracie welcomed ANOTHER ducky family member with loving arms….

Her first meeting with Ducky number two!

Steve’s mom Barb kindly surprised Gracie with a new, less tattered and worn Ducky.
We surprised her with the new Ducky when she woke up one morning and she couldn’t believe her eyes.

So excited!

Now we have a fifth daughter.
Meet Sleepy Duck.

Thank you so much Nana for making Gracie’s day!
And welcome to the family Sleepy Duck. We think you will fit right in at Haus of Girls. 
We sure hope you like pink!