Christmas with The PRDZ

For the Prdz, Christmas begins on the 23rd.

We meet up with my Gpa & Gma Saunders and family for dinner 

at the Mission Inn. It is always a treat and we love catching up with 

everyone. Titus was not afraid of Santa this year. Go Titus.

This is a cute pic of the Prd family. I love Tidy's heart booty 

which was probably cuter than his face at the time because 

he was definitely tired and grumpy :)

Christmas Eve was delightfully busy. We spent time with Justin's family 

and went to the Sandals Church Christmas Eve service. We had so much 

fun having a traditional tortilla soup dinner. After the awesome church service 

we had a midnight breakfast with Justin's parents and spent good 

time with Titus' auntie and uncle visiting from Chicago. 

Justin and I love watching Titus have fun with them.

Christmas Morn part 1: The Prd home. Titus had a great early 

morning face. He enjoyed opening his gifts and he was pretty 

good with ripping paper and emptying bags.

Justin got me a vintage yellow chair which I absolutely love! 

We got Titus his first red wagon. 

Christmas Morn part 2: The Saunders Home. We love spending time with my 

parents and fam. One of the best gifts was given to my mom. My dad took 

a piece of wood from my mom's childhood house and made it into a growth 

stick for their grandkids. I painted an orange with blossoms on the top to 

symbolize the orange grove my mom grew up on. My mom cried. 

My dad gets the award for the most heart warming gift :)

My Gma and Gpa Ricker. My Gma just recovered from hip surgery. 

Go Gma! So glad she's doing better!

Jojo enjoying the day.

We spent a relaxing Christmas afternoon with my Gma & Gpa Shoe. 

We got to have some quality time with our aunts, uncles & cousins. 

Here is one of my cousins, Grace. Love this girl!

Justin and I feel so blessed to have had such a great Christmas. 

Spending time with all our family and church is such a joy! 

Jesus has truly blessed us all by coming to this earth. It would be a 

sad thing to only remember and reflect on Jesus' birth at Christmas 

time. It's a story of amazing Hope and we should remember it often :)

My Black Friday Technique

I am no expert on Black Friday techniques. I've only attempted to get deals on this day a few times.

However, from my experiences (and long stretches of time thinking to myself as I waited in lines) I have deduced a few helpful tips for Black Friday shopping. By the way, I am not a hardcore, camp outside before it opens kind of girl. I'm a wake up around 5 or 6am and slip in to catch some deals person. That should give you some perspective on my tips.

1. Look at the ads in the paper and online and choose the main items you want before you go. You don't have time to browse if you have a lot of stores to go to. It's best to get in and get out. (clothing stores do require some browsing however)

2. Map out what stores you want to hit up in order of importance. Variables include Store open times, favorite items, items you know will go fast, sale ending times & location of stores.

3. Go with a friend. Lines can be long. To save time it's best to grab your main items and hop in line. Take turns with your partner standing in line as the other one shops to find their final deals.

4. Bring snacks & drink. If you are in a mall area where you can go from store to store quickly, you might be racing the clock as sales are ending. You may not have time to wait in the 30 min long Starbucks line for nourishment.

5. Stores like Target and Home depot seem to check you out pretty swiftly. I have found that clothing stores are super slow and backed up such as Gap, Old Navy, Express & Macy's. Be prepared.

6. Bring your iPhone or smart phone. There is plenty of time to check your FB status or read blogs while you wait to purchase your items.

7. Don't bring your kids. I don't mind watching YOUR kid lay on the floor and sob because they can't run around and pull stuff off the shelves. I just don't want MY kid to do the wet noodle and scream in my ear while I wait in line. Leave them with their toys and a guardian. You'll be happy you did.

8. When a clothing store has a sale like- 40% or 50% off Everything- and they don't have your size. Just buy any size and come back a week later when the shelves are restocked and exchange for your size. Worst case scenario is you have to return the item- No loss to you.

I think that's all I got. Did I miss anything? I hope this info only adds to the technique YOU have developed for Black Friday! Today, I only went to Gap, Baby Gap, and Macy's. I feel pretty satisfied. A salesclerk at Baby Gap said she has worked there 12 years and this is the first time Gap has offered 50% off everything. It made me feel good that I made the effort to get there because who knows when that deal will come again.

Also, The picture up top is not actually random. It's the 4th store I went black friday shopping at. It's a window of an antique store. Although there were no Doorbusters or even any sale prices, there was a lot of lovely things there and I had a great time collecting a few beautiful items. Antique stores are just my favorite :) Look how beautiful that handmade curtain is as the sun passes through it. It's like stained glass. Gorgeous.

When I see this picture I think of...

When I see this picture I think of my family.

Although I am not very good at keeping up with the laundry and housework, I really enjoy accomplishing things like this that help take care of my family. I have found that drying our jeans on the hearth of our fireplace is easy, uses less electricity, and keeps the color from fading.

As I continually walk past all these drying jeans, different things come to mind. Sometimes it's the thought of, "Geez, I should really fold those up and get them in the drawers." Other times I look at these drying jeans and think of them as art. I think, "Wow, that is so pretty." The contrasting Blue jean on Orange brick pleases my eye and the representation of our family members in the clothing laid out makes my artistic mind get excited. I used my camera to capture this mundane- spectacular scene.

Another thought I have is one of thankfulness and love. I love what God has given my family. He has given us each other and provided for our needs. I also think of the fact that as being a wife and mama, part of my role is to serve my family. I am reminded of the best servant of all, Jesus.

 "... The son of man did not come to be served, but to serve, and give his life as a ransom for many". Matthew 20:28.


I fall short all the time at being the amazing servant He was. He serves us all the time in His Love, Grace, and Provision. I have the opportunity to be like Him and to serve like Him. Serving like Him in the Pardee home is not what always comes natural, but it's my goal.

Titus' Last Cutesy Halloween

This Halloween my plan was to purchase a costume for Titus to wear, saving myself time and energy. However, a few days before Halloween, I didn't have a costume and I realized my heart was set on making Titus be a sock monkey. I decided that this would be the last year that I could make Titus a CUTESY costume! This is the last year that he won't have an opinion and I'm going to take advantage of that! :)

At that point a ready made sock monkey costume would not get shipped on time and it was pretty expensive anyway. I told myself, if I go to Joann's Fabric and there is no sock monkey material, then I will just forget it. Well, I did find some awesome fabric so I just dove in. I used every spare moment of time (usually between the hours of  9pm and 4am) and I sewed away. I used online tutorials for making a hoodie sweater and Pj pants. It all came together and I was so happy to see the finished product. I felt like I graduated into that classic "crafty mom" role. Yay!

Titus with his sock monkey. Not only a pal, but also an inspiration ;)

I love this cute little pose. He seems so happy to be a sock monkey.

This is his determined sock monkey look.

Awww It's fall!

Sock Monkey with his awesome cousins, Ariel and Optimus Prime.

Justin went as a young boy with his favorite toy!

We went to the Sandals Church Trunk 'n Treat along with about 5,000 other friends and new people from the neighborhood! It was our first sunday at our own building so it was exciting :)

Easter & Titus' Blue Basket

Our celebration of Easter was great this year. We had family time and worship time.

Titus had fun with his great grandpa Ricker. I love both of their expressions :) Titus has a little cabbage patch kid smile.

It was my mom's birthday this Easter so we got to celebrate that as well. Here are my cute parents.

Then the Easter egg hunt began for all the little kidlets. Here's a Titus and blue basket montage...

Haha, I love that Caleb is holding Tidy's face that way. Look @ those cute kids who wouldn't look at the camera all at the same time! :)

Titus in the blue basket with daddy

and Tidy in the bucket with Gma Cece

What a great day! So thankful for our loving family and most especially for Christ and the sacrifice of his life for us. He is deserving of our praise! :)

Pots and Pans

Titus loves pots and pans. Check out this video. Titus is with his grandma Cece and Great Gma.

His Seventh Month

Titus is now in his 7th month being in the outside world.

He is constantly changing- It's so exciting to see him developing thoughts and skills before my eyes. One day he will have a handful of certain skills and the next day a new skill will instantly emerge.

Recently he started shaking his head as if he was saying "No". He also says the word "Bwa" really well. All the sudden he went from sleeping in the middle of the crib, always- to sleeping all over the bed and spin himself 360 degrees.

He's been trying solid food for a few months now, but he's not that into it. We will keep trying. He just likes his breast milk I guess.

We are so thankful to be given a unique, healthy, curious, wide-eyed boy. We are blessed, blessed, blessed!