life lately

here are some words that i would use to describe "life lately":

*fun

*busy

*exciting

*enjoyable

*encouraging

*inspiring

*smelly

*tiring

*reflective

*blessed

*refreshing

maybe these will help explain my choice of words....

 this past week my boy has been sick.

when i became a mom i kinda forgot about that whole cleaning up vomit & diarrhea thing. 

when you have a newborn, spit up & baby poop are kind of exciting in a weird "i'm a new mom & i love everything about my baby" kind of way, you know?

this was, well, not quite so exciting.  

i think i did more laundry this week than i have all month!

so this week required us to lay low, but when baby boy is sick, it means quality snuggle time.

i did need a lot of coffee though. 

thursday night i was pretty concerned about dehydration so i asked a few friends to pray & friday morning, wouldn't you know he woke up at 6:30 am like nothing ever happened! 

the power of prayer!

but before this week....

 a roadtrip to visit my BF & Eli's future wife & brother-in-law

props to all moms of 3! getting 3 kids out the door is a job! 

"cheers" after fun at the gym!

 getting out to enjoy some sorta warm weather

(we take every opportunity we can!)

some bounce house fun

eli's finally starting to say some words & one day i found him wearing mike's press pass, pointing at the picture saying, "da, da, da"

so sweet!

 

donut date on fauschnaut day

mini-date with my love

this will soon be our new bookcases!

i'm finishing up the soul detox reading plan with she reads truth....good stuff!

ok so i have to explain this.

a couple of weeks ago i got a message from an old friend who recommended i try out for a Wal-Mart commercial.  She was trying out for one in her area & informed me that they were looking for moms in my town as well.  i thought, sure, what do i have to lose?

so here i am before my big skype interview trying out some reactions i thought they might like.

i did end up getting a call back to be the "alternate mom"....yes, the understudy.  

so i may not have caught my big break this time, BUT they did tell me i was on the priority list for the next time they come film here.  

don't worry, i'll keep you all in the loop!

being the "alternate mom" meant i had to be on call on the day of filming & therefore had to be ready & waiting should they need me.  you know, just in case!

so the night before i asked mike to help me look through my closet to help me find something to wear.

i mean, i could've been on tv so i had to look good, right?

my normal yoga pants and sweatshirt that i'd been wearing for 3 days just wasn't going to cut it!

the producer had sent me a dress code ~ all the things i could not wear. 

and all those things i couldn't wear, yeah, those were all the things i had in my closet.  

get a load of this ~ my husband actually told me i had nothing to wear!

can you believe this?

what man tells this to his wife?

that just meant an emergency run to Target!

remember, this could've been my big break.

and while we were there, we had a little family fun!

oh yeah & then there was valentine's day too...

first, the hubs let me have some "me" time so that i could work on a project.

now we finally have something hanging on our blank walls.  

then we exchanged gifts.

my hubs gave me an ipad mini!

WHAT?!?!?!?!?

i was so blown away!

 i cried.

(so in this post when i said i couldn't remember when i last cried, totally forgot it was this moment!)

it was awesome!! 

and still is awesome...i love it!

then we grabbed dinner from chipotle because it's one of our favorites!

whew! that was a lot. 

i hope life has been ___________ for you lately too!

(fill in the blank with any of the positive words listed above. i wouldn't want to wish you a smelly, tiring life, of course!)

insta{week}

at the risk of sounding very cliche, february? already? 

i have to admit, this year is shaping up to be very different than i thought.  

i think i was so spoiled last year with our mild winter because this winter i'm feeling the winter blahs.

BIG TIME.

i know all the things that you might suggest. i just can't seem to get motivated to do them. 

i'm really praying through this battle. because really, that's how i view it. 

i've been really encouraged by the reading plan i'm doing through she reads truth. 

once again, it's meeting me right where i need it. 

praise!

here's what life looks like lately:

 lots of snuggling to keep warm & a little bit of elmo on youtube.

thankful for one warm day to get outside & get some fresh air!

making some valentine's crafts.

coffee & crafts on a rainy afternoon.

a little fetch with dink. just like the old days. 

2 days, yes, 2 days of happy mail from pick your plum! 

{laffy taffy included!}

 speaking of sweets...these are the best & i highly recommend you go right now to purchase them. 

go! now! you will not regret it!

lots of independent play going on & i love watching his little imagination working! 

there's something about a pile of fabric that makes me happy.

check out this post to find out more about this!

so even though i woke up today feeling like i got about 2 hours of sleep, i did have a small victory in making it to the gym. 

{thanks to my favorite blonde blonde. even if she did stand me up.} 

AND...there's a road trip in my very near future, like thursday, so this week is shaping up to be a good one! and of course there will be plenty of pics to share.

hope you have a good one too!

high five for friday

hey! it's friday! 

that means it's time to link up with lauren over at from my grey desk who is saluting friday with her

high five for friday link up. we are taking a look at our five favorite things this week.

check it out!

1. date night ~ friends, i'll be honest, i seriously cannot remember the last time we went out on a date. i mean, that's not saying much because you know i can't remember what i ate for dinner 4 days ago, but it was WAY OVERDUE!!!!! we had some gift cards so we had dinner at the OG and of course, had to have dessert at sweet frog. of course!  we also went to target. yep, we are classy people.  when we were dating, we used to play this game where we would buy each other little gifts at random times at whatever store we happened to be in.  so we played last night & one of my gifts was that very special rose :) mister thought he was playing it smart because it's "reusable".  hmmm...will that really work?

2. devotions ~ i started a new reading plan with she reads truth this week. i can't tell you enough how much i enjoy this!
3.  dance party ~ here are 2 little facts about me: i love music & i love dancing. when i was younger & would dream about my future life, i would always dream about the dance parties that my kids & i would have! as a kid, on saturday nights, i remember listening to my dad's records & dancing.  lots of CCR, fleetwood mac & rolling stones.  i cherish those memories & i so want my kids to have the same kind of memories.  the other day we had an impromptu dance party that seriously made my cup overflow.  michael franti's "the sound of sunshine" came on & i just started dancing around. eli came over & i grabbed his hand & he started jumping & dancing.  we were both laughing & having the most joyous, carefree moment.  i WILL NOT forget this moment!
4. packages ~ i was crafting like crazy this week & made a couple gifts to send to eli's future wife.
5. breakfast ~ next to ice cream, breakfast is my favorite. we eat breakfast for dinner probably once a week & for years my mom & i have met for breakfast a couple times a month. this week we (my parents, eli & i) hit up the hershey pantry. if you know my dad, you know that driving an hour to get a meal is no big deal. usually it's some restaurant he's read about in a magazine. omgoodness, so much food & so good!

it has started snowing here & i'm in need of a hot drink. definitely hot chocolate.
but before i do that, i'm leaving you with this because you'll definitely want to do yourself the favor & have a listen. if this doesn't make you want to dance, well, then there's just something wrong with you & you'll want to get that checked out. soon.

hope you'll stop in again soon.
stay warm & have a great weekend!!

insta{week}

have you ever had a case of the mondays?
monday morning comes & you just want to snuggle back under the covers & drift back into that crazy dream you were just having & maybe just skip right to tuesday?
your friend texts you to go to the gym and you just pretend you never saw it?
you definitely stay in your pjs or sweats all day?

so, i'm not the only one?

ok, well this week i had a serious case of the mondays. 

SERIOUS.CASE.

it lasted until thursday. 

nothing got done, i ate so many things i shouldn't have & overall, i felt like a giant ball of blah. 

don't you just hate when that happens??

with my case of the mondays gone i managed to get some stuff done & we ended up having a pretty good week!
check it out!

 1. in serious need of a kick in the pants

2. a catnap in the car

3. a catnap on my leg

4. another CM workshop with my love

5. saturday morning snuggles

6. snuggles resulting in a mid-morning snooze

 1. i just can't handle the cuteness

2. new storage for the blocks

3. good sunday morning

4. birthday celebration for my parents

we also celebrated our nephew's birthday this weekend & eli had a blast! 

even though i already featured this picture on friday, i just loved this moment so much that it had to be the pic of the week.

here's to a better, more productive week!

high five for friday {link up}

This morning I was checking out my blogroll as I do most mornings & read Holly's post for today and was inspired to join in the linky fun.
Picking favorites is really hard for me, so I'm really happy to have 5 choices! 

 welcome to my edition of 

1. Family time ~ It seems that some of the best family time we've been having lately is spent on the kitchen floor {which if you've seen our kitchen floor, you'd probably totally judge me}. We play a lot of ball with Eli in the kitchen & now he requests that we sit on the floor by either taking our hands & tugging on them or by slapping the floor.  It's become a "thing" for us & I really like it dog hair, crumbs & all.
2. Truck book ~ Of course, Eli will always be in my list of favorites, but this week it's been his enthusiasm over trucks. His vocabulary at this point consists of 2 words: ball & truck. "Truck" sounds more like "buck", but there is a distinction from ball. {yeah, makes this momma's heart so happy that "mama" is not on that list} But to see his little face light up at the sight or sound of a truck melts my heart every time. So, when I saw this truck book, I just had to buy it. We now read it about 12 times a day.
3. Headbands ~ I've been crafting a lot lately & these have been one of my projects. I'm really considering selling them.  What do you think? Would you wear one? Buy one for a friend? A daughter? A sister?
4. Redecorating ~ I am slowly, s l o w l y trying to get our living room complete. As soon as I took down the Christmas stuff, I got out these owl friends to be my inspiration to get a move on.  This week I've been doing some planning {even if it is only in my head} & I'm ready to start completing projects to hang on the walls.
5. Alias ~ Now, this may seem quite random & really quite outdated, but this has been a favorite lately! Since we cancelled our cable almost a year ago, we find old series that we can watch together.  Recently the ones we've chosen have been so short & it really stinks when you get so into a show & then BAM! It's over. Thankfully, Alias has about 5 seasons.  On a side note, since starting Alias, I have literally had a spy dream every night that we have watched it.

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

insta{week}

So remember when I said I was feeling better & ready to tackle it all?

Yeah, I probably didn't say exactly that, but I really did think I was better. 

I was wrong.

This week I developed a sinus infection.

And talk about pain! It felt like my head was being crushed in a vice, and the only way to relieve the pain was to counter the pressure with more pressure.

Problem is, it's not really conducive to getting a whole lot done when you're walking around with your palms squeezing your face in. 

So I broke down & went to the doctor. 

I think I am on the mend now. 

{fingers crossed, prayers said}

Good news is Eli is definitely better & Mike is still healthy!

And now....

1. Goodbye, Christmas. Sad to be putting all this away, but ready to redecorate!

2. Eli's new crockpot recipe.

3. New earrings from hubby. You can find them here.

4. Downward dog baby style.

5. Single serving cookie in a cup. Will be posting a recipe this week!

6. Sweetness is my baby's foot always touching me while we eat.

7. Sweetness is also baby butt cracks.

8.  A "kind of" date with the hubs to a Children's Ministry workshop.

9.  Finally getting around to reading this & excited about what God will teach me through it.

Saturday night was one of those nights when we just had to get out of the house.

You know those times?

When kiddo wakes up early from a nap, eats dinner in 5 minutes & we still have 3 hours until bedtime. 

Those times.

So I took my little man on a date. He insisted we go to Sweet Frog. 

He can be very convincing.

So we get our yogurt, get up to the register to pay & omgoodness, my wallet is not in my purse!

I realized in that moment that I left my wallet sit on the counter at Hallmark where we had just been to buy some cards.

Ugh! 

Thankfully they had turned it into the mall office & all was safe. 

And we could go back to enjoy our yogurt date. 

Of the many, many things I love about this boy, one is that he loves music & dancing. 

We often have music on, just playing as the soundtrack to our everyday.

And many times, we just dance. 

And it's one of my favorite things. 

To end this post, I'll leave you with this thought.

Isn't it the truth?

insta{week}

So it's all over.

Christmas has come and gone, and yes, I'm quite sad about it. 

It never lasts long enough. 

I think this year was especially different because our little boy spent the latter half of Christmas day with a fever. 

It made me really sad to see him not being able to enjoy Christmas because he didn't feel well.

AND we didn't even get a family picture.

Yes, I am sad about that too & yes, we will put on the same clothes we were wearing and recreate the night so we can get that picture...once the sickness has left our house.

Our poor boy is still fighting this nasty flu bug & it stinks!

He's never been sick before so this is new for us. 

We're just taking it day by day & praying that we don't get it! 

Good thing we didn't have big NYE plans! 

Enjoy 2 weeks worth of pics since last week I sort of fell asleep.

 1. Praising Jesus

2. She Reads Truth goodness

3. Visiting a horse

4. Kisses for Dink Dink

5. Socks & a diaper

6. Saving money on gas? Yes, please!

7. New scarf from a friend

8. Wrapping gifts

9. Double-fisting it

1. New game

2. Thinking I might get some quiet time before everyone wakes up....didn't happen

2. Valentine's already???? On Christmas EVE???

3. So much to do but so comfortable sitting right here

3. New traditions

4. Can you imagine this electric bill? 

Christmas morning 

Christmas evening

and pretty much the rest of the week.

 1. New purse (belated birthday gift)

2. Terrible decorations

3. Family white elephant

4. Proud new owner of Tickle Me Elmo gloves

5. Pillow hog

6. The one day we got dressed this week

7. The rest of the week looked like this

Looking forward to a New Year! 

2013, here we come!