Blue Baby Shower

My good friend Mrs JCrew is having baby #3 and baby #3 will be her 3rd baby boy. we were so excited to celebrate with her.

we asked her some of her food cravings. here is what she listed

marshmallows

peanut butter

bananas

she is the momma and she gets to crave what she wants

we had some fruit, veggies, hummus, chips, strawberry cream cheese sandwiches, marshmallows (of course), peanut butter and banana sandwiches and peanut better fudge.

Jessica made these cute favors.

we had tossed around a few ideas and decide on this. I think they came out to great. she did an awesome job.

 we had a good group of ladies that were able to attend and some sweet littles that came too.

The Party hostesses and mom to be.

excited to meet baby #3.

What I learned in March

Hi I am new to this, so here goes.......

I have occasionally hopped on over to Emily P. Freeman's Blog.

I have read three of her books and have loved every single one if them. Because i am an occasional reader of her blog, i missed the "What we Learned....." series. I happened to catch it this morning and think it is something that i want to jump into this year. Sure i am two months behind but that is ok. I am fine with that. #beingflexible

I think i need to be a more regular reader of her blog though. especially since her books where go great.   

1. Mrs Meyer's everything is my favorite. I may have an addiction. the honeysuckle is probably my favorite right now.  Learning how to incorporate more all natural products into our home.

photo credited to Myquillyn at The Nester

2. My skin hasn't been this clean in so long. My little sis has been selling Younique make up and I have purchased quite a few items from her. Before this I rarely wore make up. Since buying it i wear it almost every day. it isn't an overwhelming amount either. I still wash and moisturize my face with the same stuff that I have used for awhile but then I apply the primer and either use the pressed powder foundation or the liquid foundation which has been dubbed "liquid gold", and truly it is. I love it. The bronzer i use is Hermosa. I have three of the Lip Stains: sleek, sappy, and shy, two lipsticks: upscale and affluent and the splurge cream eye shadow in "Dainty"

If you are at all interested in trying out Younique makeup i am hear to say that you will not be disappointed. My sister can help you out. you can find her Younique page here or find her on Facebook here.  I am learning how to better use make up and still look natural with it. not going to overboard.

here i am wearing the primer, powder foundation, bronzer and the lip stain "shy" with a bit of the lipstick "upscale" over it.

3. Baseball started for my little guy. I have a love hate relationship with baseball. I love watching my little guy play. i hate how long the season it. I am trying to relish in this time because i know that it will go quickly and i won't have the time back. there may be a day that he doesn't want to play anymore, so i am trying to soak up all of his play time and enjoying being on the sidelines cheering for his team.

4. Easter has become one of my favorite holidays. The past few years I have done the She Reads Truth Lent studies (2016) and have loved them so much. My early years growing up we were Catholic. We went to Mass, we gave up things for Lent (and didn't always stick with it), we went to Catholic school. It wasn't until I was in third grade that we started attending a  non-denominational church and learned about having a realtionship with the God who created us. At that point we stopped doing everything that we had done the Catholic way. Giving up something for Lent was not something that we practiced anymore. Three years ago when I did my first SRT Lent study I gave something up and it had been the first time I had done it in years, since I was a kid. Another thing is love about it is that I try for the most part to keep it personal. Sure there are a few people that know about it but I don't walk around talking about and say what I gave up for Lent. I mean, that is not what it is all about right? It is something that you sacrifice, that helps bring you closer in your relationship with the Lord. not something that you need to let everyone know that you are doing and compare how your gift is greater than someone elses or feel less about what you gave up. I think this act of giving up, as an adult has really helped me to focus on the Lord during this time and carry it over into day to day life after Lent.

5. Spend the time with those you love because you are never guaranteed tomorrow. My Nana-in-law went to Heaven at the the end of March. She is now whole and celebrating with our Lord.

Uncertainty

I have been working through the Karen Kingsbury Family of Jesus study and using the Give Me Jesus Journal from Gretchen Saffle.

 I am only four days into the study but I have really enjoyed it. The journal is beautiful and well done.

The second day of the study on Joseph posed a question on uncertainty. I wrote this in my journal:

I think when I was pregnant with Golden Boy there was a lot of uncertainty. It was my first pregnancy, my body didn't always seem to want to cooperate and then ultimately didn't at the end, having me deliver my tiny boy over 2 months early. Being 2lbs and 14oz and struggling for every breath.....those were uncertain times. They feel like a moment ago. Like I can reach back and just touch yesterday but he is pushing 9 years old and growing so big. Those were uncertain times for sure but I feel like when I look back on them we had a peace. Peace that when we left our tiny little guy in the hospital every night that God was there with him, helping him to continue to breath, having him gain the weight he needed, settling his wrestlessness. I feel like we had a peace through most of it.

I am thankful for the uncertain times and the Peace that He brings with them.  

These photos were taken by my sister-in-law.

Check out her other work at Pixel Me Photography

she does an amazing job with everything she does.

Celebrating Nana

On Wednesday Heaven welcomed a loving mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Like my son says she now doesn't need a cane/walker anymore. she is running and whole.

while we are here left sad that she is not with us anymore, we are all grateful for the time that we had to know her, love her, and be loved by her.

here are a few pictures of her and my kids through the years.

on her 80th birthday with Golden boy (May 2008)

this little curly haired cutie is my nephew

another birthday celebrating. see me big and pregnant with little girl. this was may 2010 so Nana was turning  82

Nana with Little girl just a few days old. her feet were pretty darling and Nana was mesmerized 

 i am pretty sure that she was singing to her

this was Easter maybe of 2012

Little Girls first birthday party in 2011

Christmas 2012

Easter 2012

St Patricks Day March 2013

so thankful for my time knowing her and that my kids got to spend time with her and know her

Easter Weekend Recap

Easter weekend started with an egg hunt with Little girls class. it was fun. there was lots of running

on Saturday morning we went to our churches egg hunt. it was a lot of fun with a lot of things going on.

Friends were there and it is always fun to hang with friends

 Little girl got one of the golden eggs for her age group

Golden boy is down and ready to run for those eggs

after a birthday party and a baseball scrimmage we went to another egg hunt  

on Sunday morning the kids came out like usual, following their blue and pink egg trails to their baskets.

after searching through their baskets they both saw the eggs in the back yard and were ready for their Sunday morning egg hunt.

super fast dude

the it was time to get ready and head to Sunday morning worship.

it was a great worship service.

He is Risen!

Happy Easter!

surprised by motherhood

I just finished this really great book that I had previously started but put down for a bit to read something else. it is amazing how God can use the beautiful words of a book to speak right into you heart and at just the right time.

the book Surprised by Motherhood by Lisa Jo Baker is just what I needed to read. she talks about how she never imagined being a mother and I wondered if I would relate or even connect with anything in this book because all I ever wanted to be was a mother.  there were so many things though that I connected with in the book even though our desired were very different.

being a mom is way, way harder than I ever thought possible. here are a few quote from the book that really hit home for me and helped me through this motherhood, struggling process.....

"I understand because I, to, walk the tightrope between my old habits and my new ones, and as a mom, I want to be present in mind as well as body. smartphones make it easy to pretend."
I don't want to pretend with my little people or with those that I love and love us. I want to be real and true and honest.

"It's funny how having a mom and becoming a mom are so profoundly connected."

"But moving forward is usually impossible without first going back."
I feel very stuck here. My hubby encourages me to meditate and remember my younger years and while I had a pretty great childhood it is difficult for me to contemplate on it and connect with how things were when I was a little girl.

"Becoming a parent is a lot like breaking up with yourself. There are all these things you used to love about yourself and your life. Those late-afternoon naps. Those spontaneous movie nights. The tidy house and pretty things that could easily break. Lots of pretty things. Unbroken pretty things. Uninterrupted meals, sleep, bathroom breaks."
No one ever wants to consider themselves as being selfish but I think that may be part of the problem. there are some selfishness that I need to consider and let go of to continue to be a better mom.

"Some days you've done it right-you've been reasonable in the face of irrational toddlerhood and you've bent low to meet the needs of tiny humans straining against their own limitations. You've reminded yourself that you're the grown-up, and you've tried really hard to act like it."
That is the problem though, right there, that we act like the grown ups that we are. (so hard sometimes) that we guide our children through the struggles that they are going through. that we remember that they are just kids and that they don't have the same coping skills that we are equipped with, even when our coping skills don't seem to be on point.

"How my parenting had mostly been a mixture of embarrassment and frustration."
still remember that girl who could be judgy about the way people were parenting their children (even thought I didn't have any) and now that girl is a parent and has way to many judgements on her self in how she parents and the worry about what other people think. working on releasing those fears and frustrations and embarrassments to Him.

"I saw how long it had been since I had enjoyed him."
in the book, Lisa Jo, wrote a note to her second born and before I barreled though and read her's I wrote one of my own:

So that I embrace the full of life child that God has blessed me with
So that I enjoy her presence and words
So that I relish in her learning and curioursity
So that I see the tender heart that she has
       -her love for singing
       -music
       -twirling
       -gymnastics
       -all things pretty
so that I love her for who God made her. not who I want her to be or others think she needs to be
so that I encourage her through al of the awesome-ness that is her.
completely opposite of me, but maybe, just maybe, everything I need

"No, God doesn't ask us to trade who we are for the label of 'mom'."

"But I believe God loves us too much to leave us flailing in our self-centered universes, so He delivers these tiny reflections of ourselves into our homes with earthquake effectiveness."
Trying to look into the mirrors of who my children are and see them as a reflection of me and maybe that reflection has more smudges than I thought. They are more like me than I realize and sometimes it is the not so good, like me parts.

"And I will keep opening my arms, and we will keep teaching each other what it looks like to give up the pieces of ourselves we thought we needed, in order to make room for someone else."

"I care about slowing down, doing less, being present more."

Friendships

while roaming the wide world of the internet i came across this beautiful prayer for girlfriends  that i wanted to share. take some time to read it over. thankful for the girlfriends the God has placed in my life during every stage of my life. they have all and still continue to teach me something.