A life update

Fall is here! Welcome, Welcome! How this momma has missed it. We celebrated the day by attempting to make sugar cookie cutouts... got about 7 done and the chaos was just more then could be handled. :) So, we finished them tonight, complete with icing and sprinkles.

I finally got some fall decor up and I'm happy with what is done. I'm learning to make use of what I have and am still so thankful for my mom passing so much of her stuff down to me. But I have found some inexpensive ways to add some "spice" around here, too. Thank you again to The Dollar Tree for some unexpected finds a few months ago! The above picture is what is hanging on our front porch door. I found the basket and onion grass all at The Dollar Tree, for, you guessed it... a buck a piece! It's simple and warm and cost just a few bucks depending on how much onion grass you use. :) I love it.

While this isn't the best picture of it... we were given this awesome coffee table a few weeks ago. I'm SO thankful for this piece! I had been wanting one for so long but we just didn't have the funds to make it happen. Thankfully a friend was willing to hand it over for FREE! I had this bucket that was bright white and some random plastic pears and a bunch of viney twigs... voila! This is what I came up with for the coffee table. FREE :) It works.

Last, the front porch. Right now its entirely taken over by kids toys. But, this is what I came up with for my hanging shelf. It works for now. Nothing too fancy, but, it was free because I already owned it all. And so now we are ready to celebrate and live in the Autumn.

Last Sunday my husband had the awesome opportunity of baptizing 2 of our teens! That will NEVER get old to watch, for sure. So excited to see how the fruit of this summers growth is carrying on through the fall. Praising the Lord for changed lives!

In just a few months Ava will turn 3 years old. Seems totally impossible that I could be mommy to a 3 year old, but, it's true! She's all about playing dress up, helping me cook, pestering her little sis {sigh} and reading lots of new library books. She's a delight - and yet, learning every single one of my buttons and just how to push them. Lovely. She's completely potty trained and just growing and learning new things by the day!

August is 4 months old and just doing so so well. She is learning so many things at once that I can hardly keep up. She now sucks her thumb and it's absolutely adorable. I love it. She has found her toes, is trying to roll over, and has found her sometimes very loud voice. The other day she was sitting up all by herself, too, causing momma to tear up {of course} at the fact that my baby is already SO big! We started rice cereal this week and she did ok - not really sure about this spoon thing, but, she'll get it eventually.

And as for me...

well, I'm fine. Dreading losing this baby weight especially as all these yummy autumn and winter holiday treats are coming up. I'm still babysitting full time and it's going well. We've pretty much found our groove.

I'm tired a lot. And I've been battling with some loneliness, but, I think every woman must go through this off and on in life. Just thankful for my "Friend that sticks closer then a brother". Fall is underway and life doesn't slow down. There is always a reason to give thanks and I'm fighting for it daily... rejoicing in the little things.