3.31.2013

Sunday's Top 10- HAPPY EASTER!

Here are 10 Blessings from this past week that made me stop and say: "Wow- God is Good!"

In no particular order-

Drum Roll Please...

1)  Baby Girl is feeling better from the RSV- aka- "Rotten Stinky Virus"

2)  Got to visit with my sweet friend over some really yummy breakfast and some incredibly delicious coffee.  I'd hook those pancakes and that coffee up to an IV and pump that stuff straight into my veins if I could.

3)  Little Man had his first Soccer game and rocked it out like an All- Star Pro.

4)  Little Miss Sassy Pants is feeling better and moods are on the rise!

5)  After missing for a couple of weeks due to the crud, having a baby, and traveling we were able to attend our church for the first time in a long time.  The message, the fellowship, and the food were all wonderful!

6)  The sweet moments I got to sit in my rocker and rock sweet Baby Girl.

7)  All the precious baby smiles that have been flying around here since Baby Girl figured out that her mommy's soooooo funny.

8)  Getting to play basketball outside on the carport with Little Man and Little Miss.  They had no idea their mama had so much Game.

9)  The wonderful truths I'm learning from my Beth Moore bible study.

10)  My sweet friend who agreed to be my new running buddy.  It takes a special person to agree to wake up at 5 a.m. to meet you outside in 25 degree weather to exercise.  She deserves the Rock Star award this week!

It's nice to stop and recognize all the wonderful blessings in our lives.

I think sometimes I get caught up in thinking that only big things should matter, but sometimes it's the sweet, little things that can really make you see just how much you're truly blessed!

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."  -John 3:16

Happy Easter!


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3.30.2013

Spring Break Funk


For Spring Break we headed over to visit our parents.
 
My sister was coming in so we decided to make a week of it.
 
Baby Girl got sick again while we were there, and spent most of her time under the fog of two humidifiers.
 
Little Miss came down with the funk too, spending most of her trip in a fowl mood and freaking out about anything and everything.
 
I'm pretty sure Little Miss made it her mission to give me the nastiness too, because after coughing on me every, single chance she got it finally hunted me down and took me out too.
 
And now one week later, one Z-Pac later, and one round of steroids later- I'm still sick.
 
Boo.
 
However, despite all the funk we were still able to hammer out a pretty good Spring Break.
 
Cookout included:

 

My neices lovingly fed each other marshmallows.  Aren't they sweet?


My mom and dad- they love each other so much and are such an awesome example of love to us kids!  I love them so much!


Who likes their marshmallows well done?

Can you say - "pass me the antacids please?" "YUM"?.


How cute is my sweet, little niece?


After looking at all these pictures I came to the conclusion that our family desperately needs to work on our marshmallow cooking skills.

Would you like Burnt or Extra Burnt sir?


Marshmallows can make even the frumpiest of little, sick girls smile...


The Smelly Beast loves the country, but it was a little cold this trip so she spent a lot of her time at the door hoping that my parents would change their minds and let her in.

Fat chance Smelly- #keepdreamin...


My neice highjacked my camera and left her mark-

Nice.


Despite the fact that 3 of us felt like poo not great- it was still a great time had by all!

I have my humidifier and will travel- so no worries- we're all good here.

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3.29.2013

This Week In Instagrammy Goodness


Once again I'm linking up with Life Rearranged for her Insta-Friday Link Party!
 
 
Woo-hoo!  I'm a party pooper ANIMAL!
 
Let the Party begin...
 

Middle Picture:  Baby Girl is 2 months old!  She's getting so big, and she's awake so much more (which means my naps are getting harder to come by).

Starting in the top left corner going around clockwise:

1)  The Smelly Beast loves her some Rice Krispies cereal- licked that bowl dry.

2)  Little Man is such a deep thinker.

3)  Why is it that you never lose both socks?  It's always, ALWAYS,  just one.  And where does the other one go?  It's like there's this black hole that they fall into and now they're all living in this alternate universe alone.

Who's the deep thinker now?...

4)  Fat baby cheeks?  Yes, please.

5)  How weird do my lips look in this picture.  Weird- right?!.

6)  Who wants to read at the totally awesome library when there's a computer?.

7)  Five strand braid by yours truly.  Thank you very much.

8)  I had to take this picture of myself to commemerate the fact that I had on makeup.  These days it doesn't happen too often.  Sad, but true.


Head on over to Life Rearranged and Link up your Instagram Goodness!

It won't be a party without you!

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3.27.2013

The Many Faces Of Baby Girl

It's been so fun watching Baby Girl grow each day.

She's such a happy baby.

Of course- much like her mama- she has her moments.

I blame mine on hormones.

I don't know what her excuses are.

I love it when she's alert and happy...


But sometimes a girl just has to let people know what's up...


And then there are times when confusion sets in and a girl just has no clue what's going on...


And then there are those times when you have a slightly herniated belly button and your mama writes a smiley face on your tummy and uses your belly button as the nose...


But lately there have been a lot of these moments...



As Baby Girls mama- I'm super thankful for these times. 

All of them.
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3.26.2013

All Roads Lead To Somewhere. But Where?

I have posted this before.  It's my testimony- my hope and prayer is that you will take from it how much I love God, and how wonderfully, amazingly, good and loving He is.  It's a two part post so I will post part 2 later this week (probably wednesday)...

Part 1- Before Marriage:

I have a true story to tell you.

It's about the road that has led me to this place that I'm at right now. While the road has been rocky and the journey a little ugly at times- it has led to the most wonderful of places.

I started on this road when I was about 7 I think (while the exact age seems to have left me- I remember clearly the place and the company). I was sitting in the hall of my house where I grew up waiting to use the restroom when my father came down the hallway. I asked him to sit down and visit with me for a minute- I had some questions. Questions about Jesus and God. Questions about my salvation and where I would go when I died. There in the hallway, with my earthly father's support, waiting to use the bathroom, I chose to believe in Jesus Christ as my Savior.

Fast forward a few years to a teenager who believed in Christ but really didn't take it much further than that. Who was super quick to throw others under the bus with judgement for their "sin", but felt like since she wasn't going to the parties and doing "those" things then she must be doing right by God. Right?.

Fast Forward a few more years to college. I continued to say I loved God and believed in his Son as my Savior, but unfortunately continued to live a life that was contrary to what I professed. I made many poor decisions and followed the road of the world in a way that I'm sure made satan sing with joy. I dated and then later became engaged to a guy that was a relationship unhealthy for both parties I'm sure. Emotional damage seemed to be the base for which that relationship was built on. I prayed and prayed that God would heal our tattered and torn relationship. I was marrying this man for crying out loud! How could we ever have a successful marriage if we couldn't even date properly? I shed tears over the brokenness of it all- all the while crying out to God to fix what we seemed to tear down and break so frequently. With invitations sent out, two wedding showers under our belt, dress, flowers, and cake all purchased, and less than a month before the wedding we threw in the towel and walked away from each other.

What had gone wrong? Had I not prayed hard enough? It felt like complete failure had consumed me. Embarrassment. Shame. Hopelessness. What had started as a smooth road, had turned into pebbles, then rocks, then boulders, and had come to its end as this huge mountain that I could see no way over. Along with the ending of what I thought was supposed to be the beginning of this new life came other changes. I immediately moved home to my parents after living on my own for 3 years, changed schools (or so I thought at the time), and basically just tried to figure out where it had all gone wrong.

The next few months to follow would not be what I would describe as pretty. Without going into too much detail lets just say that rock bottom seemed to be my new address. However I had mastered the art of putting on a happy face and making it seem like all was well in the world. I was not happy with the person I had become, and I know that God was saddened by where my life had gone.

It was one of those things that in the midst of the sin and shamefulness I could hear and feel the Holy Spirit convicting me. Telling me to turn away from the ways that seemed to be consuming me, but I just kept turning from him and digging myself deeper and deeper in. I just kept turning to the world to try to put out the pain, but it only seemed to produce more pain and more trouble.

It was during this time of lowness that the future hubster came into the picture (again. Seeing as how he and I had grown up together and then dated in high school for a couple of years off and on, only to part ways when I went off to college). I'm not going to lie and say that it was all roses right from the start, because frankly drama usually follows when your heart is saying one thing and your brain is saying another. However, after a few talks, a few situations, and a few shed tears it became apparent that Nolan was God's answer to the prayer I had prayed a year earlier. The prayer where I had prayed for him to heal the brokenness of another relationship with another guy. The prayer where I thought he had abandoned me and left me hopeless. The prayer I thought he had chosen not to hear- not to listen to. It wasn't that he didn't care or had chosen to ignore me- instead like a faithful and loving parent he had just chosen to say "No."


"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord, "and will bring you back from captivity." -Jeremiah 29:11-14


You see, only He knew my future. My small faith had left me feeling abandoned and alone in my time of need. I felt that God had failed me, but he had really delivered me choosing to reveal himself true and faithful on his time, not mine. Most of all he chose to show himself loving despite the lack of love I had shown him.

Nolan and our marriage was a "good and perfect gift" that could have only "come from above," but like I'll show you tomorrow when I finish this story- sinful nature is not pretty, and can unfortunately, cause hurt and pain within the most wonderful of God's gifts.

For now I'll leave you with this. My hope is that through my story you can find hope. Just know that God is faithful, and merciful, and always- ALWAYS- shows himself true. Unfortunately we have to hit rock bottom sometimes to recognize our need for him, but find joy in those moments- for it is then that God's Glory and Awesomeness can truly be realized and we can find him.

Blessings,

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Pretty Little Liar Obsession/Confession

For Christmas my in-laws got us Netflix.
We have access to it on our tv and on our phones.
Oh My!
Best. Thing. Ever.
I'm nursing Baby Girl and it has been awesome sitting down to nurse her- it gives me something to do while I'm sitting there.
I just pick up my phone, plug in my headphones and watch whatever sounds good.
It's Glorious. 
Marvelous.
And Wonderful.
First I worked my way through How I Met Your Mother Episodes.
Then 30 Rock (super funny).
But then I was kind of lost where to go next.
While searching through my possibilities I came across "Pretty Little Liars."
My niece and my sister-in-law both watch it, and while it seemed a little teeny-bopperish- I thought "Hey- why not?!  I'll give it a try."
There's:
Suspense
Mystery
Drama
Great Hair
Great Clothes
Great Shoes
Love
Pain
Good Looking People
Scary Moments
And I like to watch things that require me to figure out who done it.  They have me completely stumped!  I have my ideas, but there is seriously so much going on I can't hardly get my thoughts straight enough to figure it out!
It's officially my newest obsession.
I've watched Seasons 1 and 2, but 3 isn't on Netflix yet!
I'm not sure I can wait for Netflix to get it together- I might have to make a trip to Wal-Mart and buy it tomorrow!
 
I will say this: I think Allison's still alive.
Don't know who Allison is?
Watch the show.
You'll Love it!
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3.25.2013

Officially On Bloglovin

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

I've signed up for Bloglovin!

I'm not going to lie- I'm not totally sure what it is- BUT I'll figure it out soon!

Yay!!!
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3.24.2013

Spring Door Wreath Tutorial

Hello!

So we just got back from our Spring Break.

We went to our parents'.

We had fun!

There was tons of eating, movie watching, visiting, cooking, and even a cookout.

However- Baby Girl, Little Miss, and myself were all sick.

Boo!

We're on the mend though- so Yay!!!

Here is a Wreath Tutorial that I made a couple of weeks ago.



What you'll need:

3 inch Strips of your favorite fabrics- any colors- I chose rainbow colors
Fabric scraps- different colors and sizes
A Styrofoam wreath- any size- You pick
Buttons
Hot glue gun
Tread
needle
Maybe a sewing machine (depending on how you choose to make your flowers)

It will look like a big mess getting started:


Start by wrapping your fabric pieces on one at a time.  I only glued every so often and only on the back side of the wreath to keep from having glue lumps on the front.  You don't have to glue every square inch of fabric- just every so often.



It will look like this when you're done wrapping your fabric:



Once you are done wrapping your wreath with fabric you can make your fabric flowers.  I used Cotton, Burlap, and some felt for my flowers.  I apologize that I forgot to take pictures while I was making mine. 

Bummer I know right?!  Ha!

I'll make some more soon and post a tutorial for them.

Some are done with a sewing machine and then I pulled the tread to pull all the fabric to the center making the pleated "flower" look.  The cheetah print one I twisted fabric hot gluing it to a round piece of felt as I twisted.  The centers of most of the flowers are just round, cut out pieces of fabric with buttons that I sewed thread into and then glued on. 

Let your imagination take you anywhere you want on this part!

Use plastic flowers, fabric flowers, plastic berries- Go wild!



I'm not totally happy with my end project, but overall it turned out okay.

I was going for Spring-y and I feel like I achieved that.



I found this idea on Pinterest.  The original idea was a wreath wrapped with yarn and it's tutorial can be found HERE at My Little Corner Of The World:


It's way cuter than mine.
I tried to add some plastic flowers to mine like she did and just couldn't get it to work.
Oh well. 
No worries!
Give it a try, and be sure to leave me a comment letting me know if you tried it out and what ideas you had to make it even better!  And if you post about it- Leave me a link back to your post!  I'd love to see what you came up with!
I can't think of a better way to bring in Spring that to do it with a colorful Spring Wreath on your front door!
WELCOME SPRING!!!
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3.16.2013

Picture Fun

My kiddos got this super funny wig from their Nana at Halloween, and Little Miss decided she wanted to dress up and wear it the other day.  Little Man decided it looked like so much fun that he had to test it out too.
 
I mean what kid doesn't like to dress up right?. 
 

 
 



With the wig on they look just alike don't they?

Crazy!

And of course I couldn't pass up a chance to take this little ones picture...



She's eight weeks old and still having a little trouble keeping those eyes straight and focusing with them.  The older two think it's pretty funny when she goes cross eyed!


Look at those cheeks!

She was 6 lbs 6 oz. at birth and she's already 10 lbs. 

She's like her mama and she enjoys her meals!

I want to pinch her sweet, chubby cheeks!


By the time we got to the group shot- Baby Girl was OVER IT!


How gorgeous is this quilt that my wonderful mother made for Baby Girl!



Little Miss is sick right now.  Baby Girl got RSV and managed to give a cold to me and Little Miss.  She's running a low fever, coughing, and CRANKY!

We start spring break this weekend so of course someone's sick (thick with sarcasm).

I'm ready for her to start feeling better so I can see this sweet smile again...



Little Man started soccer this week.  He's pretty stinkin' good at it and super fun to watch!

We went to his Parent/Teacher Conference this week and his teacher told us that he's reading at the sixth grade level!  Crazy Town!  He's only a second grader!!!  He's so his father's child!  He's handsome like his Daddy too!


I think I hear the Laundry calling my name.  I've ignored it as long as I can.

Have a great night!

3.12.2013

One Month Later...Valentine's Day

So having a baby makes things crazy.
 
I've had all of these really great intentions of posting, yet here I am a whole month later and I'm just now getting around to it.
 
Sad. 
 
I know.
 
Anyhoo- Little Man is a mess.  His daddy told him that if he got a perfect weekly report from school he'd get a treat...
 
A basketball hoop for his bedroom door.
 
I'm happy to report that he's not just The Little Man, but he's the The Man!
 
He had a big time helping his daddy put it together...
 
 
 
 
 
I honestly can't get over how nice it is!  It looks like a real goal- only smaller.  Crazytown!
He's been driving me bonkers with the loud sounds of dunking and with the entire house rattling and shaking ever since.  However, if it means he's being a rockstar at school...
 
I'll take it.


 


Here's the sweet card the Hubster made me for Valentine's day.  So cute and sweet.




We made cookies.  Apparently I lost my heart shape cookie cutter so instead I had to use my biscuit cutter.  It worked.



They were decorated lovingly and beautifully...



The weather has been going from super cold to super wonderful.  So we took advantage of a super nice day and headed to the park.  Some of our sweet friends joined us...


What a bunch of goobers!

 
And of course no playground experience is the same without some fairy wings.
 

What a sweet little fairy!  I love her!

 
 
So I took the baby to the doctor today and she has RSV.  It stands for "Really Stressful Virus".  She can hardly breath and she keeps coughing and she has all this nasty mucous stuff.  My heart is breaking for her.
 
I'm off to change a diaper and suck some snot. 
 
Have a Super Day!