#mugswap14

This year was my first ever mug swap with a cuppa kim.

I was super excited to participate. once my person was assigned I went searching for the perfect things to send her.

her instagram was private (I understood, mine is as well) and it took me a while to locate her on pinterest. in fact by the time that I did find her I had already got most of the items for her box.

she did have a blog that was very helpful. check her out here.

I found the mug first. I just couldn't pass it up. it was just too great with the spoon attached and such a cute little spot for it to sit. she likes nail polish, Swedish fish, diet coke (i enclosed a dollar for her purchase, i wasn't about to send a coke, talk about a mess) i knitted a scarf for her (my daughter helped me pick out the yarn, and enclosed a Katie Daisy notebooks, some Tazo passion tea and some Starbucks instant coffee packets, along with two fallish recipes that we love in our house and a note. 

 it was so much fun shipping for and packaging up this to send to Liz for my very first mug swap.

 about a week after i send Liz her package this little beauty was in my mailbox.

 enclosed was a cute apple mug, a crocheted dish cloth, soap, lotion bar, and apple spice packets. I am saving the packets for when it gets cooler here. they looks and smell amazing and i am tempted to tear them open sooner but i have a feeling they will be worth the wait. it was such a sweet surprise from a homeschooled teenager who participated in mug swap this year and just seemed as sweet a can be. Thank you Stephanie for blessing me with this lovely package.

excited for #mugswap15

Thank you Kim. What fun time this was.

Women on Target

Let me just say our church is AWESOME!

Now let me  give a little background.  I grew up in a home where my dad had rifles and shot guns and I am sure some sort of hand gun. He used them for hunting. He still has them (although they mostly collect dust in their case)(actually that is inaccurate they are in their case but dust collection they do not. my mom loves well maybe she doesn't love to but she is quite the duster and probably dusts them occasionally)

My sister and I never seemed interested in them. I am not sure if my mom was either. I would guess no. somehow though I found myself shooting a gun the other day. Our church (see above comment) had a women on target event as a local gun range. there was an encouraging devotional about God and Jesus being the target we aim for and continuing to draw closer to Him through prayer and studying His word. Of course food, coffee, ammo and guns were involved too.

I was given a Smith and Wesson 9mm (quite possibly a little to powerful for me)

 practice rounds were turning out not so well. I got a bit of help from the Range Officer on aiming and got a bit better. Our first competition was target shooting. we got 10 rounds. my first 6 were too low. about four of them hit in the lower left by the 7. I loaded 4 more rounds and was instructed on where to aim for and I would get closer. 2 out of those 4 hit the 9 on the right side. I was not the  winner of the competition but got an 85. Not bad for not having shot since I was a little girl.

 

our next competition was a walk and shoot. I hit all 6 targets with 6 rounds in 18.85seconds. again not the winning score, in fact I was probably in the bottom 5 out of 12 ladies but I did it and more importantly I hit all the targets.

here is my friend Julie doing the walk and shoot. doesn't she look tough? scroll down to see me. I look like I just rolled out of bed and decided to shoot a gun.

 

remember this was the first time that I have really ever shot a gun. at least by myself. I was emotionally and physically drained by the time it was all over. I did have a good time but that thought that I was holding a gun continued to run through my mind. It was intimidating and exciting all at the same time.  I mean I think I was one of three of these ladies that didn't not have their own gun. it was nuts all these ladies that showed up with their very own guns and how awesome they were with them. I was super impressed.
Russ, the owner of the range at one point was talking about hitting the guy on the targets and not the guys gun. he mentioned that you usually shoot what you are looking at the not to focus on the scary gun in his hand but on the man. later I heard this song by For King & Country that I love but really listened to the word and thought that it pertained some to the "On Target" theme of our event. it is called "Fix My Eyes" and the chorus is
I'd love like I'm not scared
give when its not fair
live life for another
take time for a brother
fight for the weak ones
speak out for freedom
find fait in the battle
stand tall but above it all
fix my eyes on You
just like Russ said about fixing our eyes on our targets for shooting, I want to remember to FIX MY EYES on the target (GOD) and not stray from Him.

Good job ladies. I had a great time shooting with you.

Take 1

I got all of Little girls back to school pictures in one morning.  it was quick and she seemed to have fun. I had trouble coming up with age appropriate ideas for Golden boy. I didn't want his pictures to look too toddler-ish or too girly. I saw something similar to this and tried to grab him before church on Sunday to capture it but I had trouble getting high enough to get all of him and the words. I wish I got his cute feet but all the ones with his feet in them his eyes are closed or the angle it just wrong. it was only about 6 or 7 pictures that I attempted and this one was my favorite. I will be trying again. hopefully after a couple takes in will have a handful that I love.

what he wants to be always changes........

I like that too. I want him to know that he has options and doesn't have to be what he wanted and stay with that for forever.

 

Back to School Teacher Gifts

I must give credit, where credit is due. I saw this cute little tag on my instagram feed and had to investigate. I clicked on her site and there is was. this cute little printable to pair with your favorite candle for you childs teacher. you can find the link to this printable at Skip to my Lou blog here. there is also another option with the same saying on them.

my printer is currently out of colored ink so I just wrote the cute little saying on come card stock. we have three teachers this year. one for my son and my daughter has two preschool teachers. it was fun picking out the candle and the scents with my girl and then bringing them home to tie up.

Thank you Skip to my Lou for such a wonderful idea and the cute printable. I wish my printer was working and I could have printed them.

My not so Baby, baby boy.

I never would have expected that I would have had my son two months early. God had His plans though I am sure. Here is a picture of me getting to see him for the first time after he was cleaned up and before he was whisked off to the NICU

 

this is the very first time that I got to hold him.

 

 this is one of my all time favorite pictures of the two of us.  my mom took it once we were home from the hospital which was over 50 days after he was born

look at him now. all big (really he is till tiny compared to most kids his age) and still awesome

 

with his twin from another momma (my niece) they are a month apart and whenever my sil and I went places together if I had both of them or if she did we were asked if they were twins. as babies the looked nothing alike but now they are close to the same size.

 

he loves birthday parties. anyone's really. he awaits his all year long.

 

wishes galore for you  my sweet, sensitive, boy. I hope this year is magical and AWESOME!

Back to School (or i should say starting school photos)

 it was just me, her and my camera. I wanted to get some back to school or going to school for the first time pictures of her. I am pretty happy with the way they came out. I am still learning my camera and all the details that come along with it.

 these two are seriously my favorites. I sent them to my sister and she asked my faves. I told her these two and she edited them for me. these two are the edited ones. she did an amazing job editing them.

 and last this one is a little blurry but out of all of the ones that I took with her holding up her four fingers for four years old this was my favorite, blurry and all.

Artwork display x2

when I made my kids art work wall almost two years ago I never dreamed that I would be making another one. especially never thought it would be as a gift. if you click over here to the post where I wrote about how I decided to make the wall after seeing all of these awesome walls and wanting something in our house for the kids art work.

after my sister had her first born and when he started mothers morning out she was getting all of this super cute art work that was being sent home and wanted an art wall as well. last year for Christmas I think she was a bit disappointed that none of the packages contained a couple of sticks in them. this year for her birthday I was sure to give her what she wanted.

the idea is simple really but she knew that she would never take the time to go and gather sticks and spray paint them. besides gifts like this are fun to get. (at least I would think so)

her husband thought we were insane. sticks as a birthday present. (I also bought the café hangers (from walmart) and the mini curtain rings (from old time pottery))

 

here is an upclose shot of her artwork wall.

I asked her to take one back a little bit so you can see more of the wall. she hung it over my nephews super awesome kitchen set.

And just like that

my Golden boy is a 1st grader.

how is this possible

check him out over the last couple of years.

Preschool

Private Kindergarten

Public school Kindergarten

First grade

Be still my heart. Oh how little he looked at 4. to be honest he still looks little to me walking into school today. he told me last night he was nervous to go to his new school. I let him know that it was ok to be nervous and that he is a pretty awesome kid, who is friendly.  I know he will do great. I feel like yesterdays post was a little scatter brained and all over the place. I feel like today I a somewhat the same way. I mentioned at the beginning of this post that I am not much of a writer. my thoughts don't always seem to come together. well let me take that back......they seem to come together better at night right when I lay down to go to bed. I feel like any sort of writer in me comes out better then. I am going to have to get a notebook to put by my bedside to write those thoughts down because by morning they are gone and I am a jumbled mess.

even still I love this boy and I ubber blessed that I get to be his mom. hoping that first grade was a blast for him and that he had an amazing time.

funny conversation I had with him this morning. I pulled clothes out for him last night and asked him to go and get dressed this morning. he brought the clothes to me and said "why am I wearing this?" I told him because it looked nice and that was what wanted him to wear today. (it was khaki shorts and a navy blue striped collared shirt) he said, "well I don't want to wear handsome clothes, I just want to wear regular clothes."  so we went to pick out what it was that he would prefer to wear. it was awesome.



School

feeling excited but unprepared. lots has happened around here and lots of changes. God's timing is always amazing. just a month away from school about to start the hubby got a new job, in a new school system, which means Golden boy (and eventually Little girl) can go to. we are thrilled and is what we have been praying for, for a long time. that's where the excitement comes from, along with all the added benefits that Golden boy will receive in the new school, via hearing specialists.
unprepared.......sure, his supplies are purchased (although I may be two glue sticks short), book bag, lunch box, thermos, ready. but I just don't feel prepared/ready for it all to start. TOMORROW!
my boy will be in the 1st grade. I feel like last year and even the year before I had ready what he was going to wear, his sigh ready for his picture, maybe a plan for a yummy back to school breakfast. this year my mind is blank. sure I know I am taking him to school and walking him in. hopefully he gets in clothes that match and everything actually gets to school. and I remember to take a picture of him before we leave. I think I have so many things bouncing around in my head that I have just chosen to clear it all and keep it blank. I'm not very spontaneous but tomorrow may be that way because for some reason, planning seems to much.

3rd Annual Lake House Trip

Year One 2012

Year two was a little all over the place. The Jenson's went for only Friday. We went for Friday night and all day Saturday, and the Edwards came for only Saturday. I don't think a group picture was taken that year.

 



Year Three 2014
We have multiplied.......alot

 we love our time each summer where we get to spend the weekend at our friends lake house

we went swimming in the lake, off of the dock

 

did some tubing

little girl even went (and fast)

I didn't have my  camera then

 

played some cards

 

watched the sunset (twice)

even the kids joined in on the sunset watching

 

Golden boy woke up on Saturday morning and came and cuddled up in this chair

He had the right idea

 

Mr. Robert had a kid pile up when they were deciding which movie would be watched while breakfast was being made.

 

a tiny fish was caught and all the kids were amazed. Little J.Crew even reached out and touched it.

Some coloring while dinner was being prepared

All made for an exhausting but extremely fun Lake house weekend

Thank you McInnis Family for a fantastic time and lot of fun and memories

Friends lake house trip

watch a sunset