When the itty bitty turns 2

What I cannot believe is that my itty bitty little baby girl {who was born weighing 9lbs 2oz} turns 2 years old on Friday. I'm sorta in denial. 

She was born on her due date, after I had given up all hope on that.

She came quick and pretty easy, for which I am thankful.

She's been a momma's girl from the very beginning. 

And, I love it.

But, the problem is...

That she keeps growing up. And, oh, how it tugs on my heart strings.

And now... it's 2 years that have flown by. I'm so thankful for her health and smiles and beauty. She is a joy to my heart and life. But I still sniff and tear up thinking of how time is such a robber of days and how those days just seem to fly by.

August Hope, you are one of the biggest joys of my days. 

I love you baby girl. You are a gift and a reminder to this momma to slow down and enjoy the sillies. 

Happy Birthday this week! 

{excuse me while I go find the kleenex}

Happy Homemaker Monday

I'm pretty sure that in the last 2 days all of the trees, plants and flowers have decided to bloom and grow. It's SO beautiful out and there is SO much color! :) For this I am thankful. It's a slow day here - after a pretty busy week and weekend. The girls are down for this afternoon naps and I'm taking a quick break before busting into more cleaning/packing/organizing. Though I am tempted to grab a book and go lay in the sun all afternoon. Happy Monday to each of you! 

The weather.....
I saw it! The forecast has 94 on it for tomorrow! Woot woot! Then back in the 70's for the rest of the week. Folks, that's near perfect in my book. :) 

Right now I am....
Finishing my microwaved cuppa joe. Listening to THE loudest crow I've ever heard right outside my window - wow, that's quite a noise. 

 
Thinking....
I'm weary today. My heart hurts, but, that's life sometimes.

On my reading pile....

On my Nook - "Georgiana Darcy's Diary (Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice con't)" 

by Anna Elliot.

I came across this book lastnight for FREE on my Nook. The lady is taking some liberty and just making up some story involving Mr. Darcy's younger sister. It's cute and written in diary style - nothing fancy, but, fun to read so far. It's 510 pages...I'll let you know if it's worth continuing on in. :) 

In paper - "Made to Crave" by Lysa, still. Going through this again with some girlfriends. GREAT reminders on how to crave the Lord, rather then unhealthy eating habits!

On my TV.....
Nothing. No plans.

What I found while surfing the net....
Well, hubby's phone is slowly recovering from it's quick bath in the sink full o' soap suds courtesy of me. {doh!} If you ever have this situation... follow the advice we used from this site. Who knew so many people dropped their iphones in water!?

 http://osxdaily.com/2013/04/11/dropped-iphone-into-water-save-damage/

On the menu for this week....
Thankful we are in grad party mode around here... we love going to each open house and enjoying all the goodies! But, for now...

Monday - Cantelope Soup & cinnamon rolls

Tuesday - Sweet & sour pork {over rice}

Wednesday - Cookout @ church!

Thursday - Meatloaf and rice

Friday - Easy Lasagna

Saturday - Cheeseburger Soup

Sunday - Chicken & Sausage Etouffee 

These are all Gooseberry Patch recipes, as I'm cooking through one of their cookbooks. You can find all the recipes on their site. :) 

On my to do list....
General tidying of downstairs

Unload and reload dishwasher

start laundry

tidy up back yard toys

Clean out van & vacuum

Grocery shop for the week

Plan out birthday details for my baby girl, who is turning TWO on friday. What?!  

In the craft basket....
None. No thing happening in this department.

Oh wait, I lied...

attempting to turn a pair of my 4 year olds skinny jeans into shorts :) Thanks to a lovely gaping hope in the knee they get a trim. She thinks I'm the COOLEST mom because I'm recycling something, like Daniel Tiger did. Nice. I was thinking of doing something like this... with fabric scraps.

source: pinterest

Looking forward to this week....
Last week of youth group until our summer schedule. 

Cell group AND finding out the gender of our friends baby! 

Open houses and VBS meetings 

Looking around the house....

Intentionally cleaning and keeping things tidy due to our home being for sale has been WONDERFUL. It's looking ok around here. Need to make my bed and get this confounded bags of rice put away. {cell phone therapy}

From the camera....

My ladies and I at the Mall of America this weekend! They loved the rides! 

On my prayer list.....
The sale of our home - soon!

Peace in the home

.:Saying goodbye again:.

Last weekend we celebrated some very special people - our graduating high school seniors. It seems like a blur, these last 4 years...but sure enough, they have gone by. It's a basket of mixed emotions for me. This was the first class we have had for all 4 years of highschool. As I shared with my girls during our last cell group date at Chili's :

- I remember the first time they drove into the church parking lot, alone.
- When braces came off
- Break ups and new flames
- Late night chats at retreats
- numerous coffee and restaurant dates
- valleys and mountaintops
- Baptisms and life changes
- ACT's, SATS, plays, basketball and volleyball games, band concerts, new jobs...

Priceless.

So Friday night as I sat and watched them I couldn't help but just let my eyes mist over. 4 precious years. And now we send them out to be adults, we say our goodbyes. {P.S. I cannot imagine doing this with my own dear children someday...}

And, I think everyone else had a good time celebrating our graduates, too. :)

The girls table {and my 1 year old}!

Some of our great leaders and teens

Hubs, bringing a great challenge! 

It's always hard to say goodbye to teens you love so much in your student ministry! But I'm thankful for the opportunity and I'm eager to see what the Lord does in each one of their lives! Congrats class of 2013!

Spring Time has come.

Hello Mr. Robin!

It may have taken a-while, but Spring made it. The temps are warmer, the birds are chirping, and leaves are starting to grow on our trees! 

We spent the morning yesterday enjoying God's creation on one of our local bike trails. We don't have bikes - but we have legs! So we loaded up a cooler full of picnic lunch stuffs, packed the stroller, laced up our tennis shoes and out the door we went. 

It was a PERFECT Spring day! 

After walking the trail for a bit we stopped and had a picnic lunch right here. 

Bugs buzzing, sun shining, just wonderful. 

Attempted a few family pics with the timer...

Attempt #1 - with the little telling me "tamera beeping"

Well, not bad for the second take!

And, most of all just enjoyed being outside! 

It was nice to get some exercise, too. 

While on the trail I found this crazy tree covered in huge, thick, thorns. I'm intrigued and hope to find out more about it. Can you imagine stumbling into this thing?

Anyone know anything about it? Crazy! 

From my home to yours... Happy Spring!

Happy Homemaker Monday :)

It was a high stress and partially high drama weekend for us here in Iowa. The combination of a super busy time in life and then...dropping hubby's iphone in the kitchen sink {full of Dawn!} made for some tension. But Grace abounds and we made it and are even better on this side of it! :) Happy Monday to you. We spent the morning walking a local bike trail and stopping for a picnic lunch! What a GREAT start to a GREAT week! 

The weather.....
We finally made it back to the 70's! Glorious spring weather! I cannot believe a week ago today we were watching big fat snow fall. 

Right now I am....
Finishing my morning cup of coffee that is on it's 2nd time being nuked. {gag} Why do I do this to myself?! I have the windows open and planning in my head what I want to accomplish most while the children nap. 
 
Thinking....
During our family walk this morning a bird... left it's "mark" on me. Ew! That hasn't happened in years. It's funny now... not so much at the moment. 

On my reading pile....
I'm SO SO SO enjoying "God's and Kings" by Lynn Austin, still. Have spent a couple late nights up with it, and this morning hubby let me read in bed for 40 mins as I was in the "thick" of the story. It's so great! I love the biblical history in it. 

On my TV.....
Off. Ah, sounds good.

What I found while surfing the net....
Excited about this new question! But, mine is a blog post, still :) I've mentioned September McCarthy's blog a few times before - and her post last week really hit me in a good way. "It's the little things" reminded me how to really take hold and ENJOY these days with my children. So good! 

Check it out here. 

On the menu for this week....

Confession: hoping to pinch pennies and eat from the cupboards and freezer this week. 

Monday: Spaghetti and leftover Broccoli-cauliflower salad. <---this a="" gooseberry="" nbsp="" patch="" recipe="" span="" was="" yummy="">

Tuesday: Pancakes

Wednesday: not sure

Thurdsday: Meal with potential new youth leaders, so, something yummy! 

Friday: Not sure.

Saturday: Graduation open house for brunch! Then off to MN for a fun weekend trip! 

Sunday: Something in MN! 

How's that for some LAME menu planning! 

On my to do list....
Laundry
General housework

Some bible reading

Clean out and vacuum the van {she's seen cleaner days!}

Pack up excess stuff and bring out a few nice spring decorations.

In the craft basket....
Have just a few feet left of yarn on my baby blanket - it's the size of a scarf! Progress! 

Looking forward to this week....
Monday - Going to one of our seniors band concerts with a fellow youth leader! {and coffee!}

Tuesday - Taking the girls to a local park

Wedneday - Play group in the morning

Thursday - 5am prayer and then a trip to the library with a friend and her girls! 

Friday - family day

Saturday - heading to weekend trip!

Sunday - same! and...it's MOTHERS DAY! 

Looking around the house....
It's not pretty. The girls were playing so well the last few days so every toy possible is out. Bedroom has some clothes to put away. Everything needs a good dusting. 

From the camera....

My big girl :) Cheesin' it up at church! 

On my prayer list.....
Trip this weekend, for safety and just a great time with these special students and leaders.

That our house would SELL quickly! 

Praying we get accepted into a student loan repayment plan to help us make the pennies stretch a little more. 

To glorify the Lord with how we live, in and out of the public eye! 

 Bible verse, Devotional....

Source: Pinterest

Beauty.

I tip toed out while the snow was falling in hopes I would find something like this.

Simple beauty. 

I seem to want it more and more these days. 

Beauty. 

Now mind you, most don't think snow on the 2nd day of May is much to write home about.

And maybe I'm not all that thrilled, myself.

But, you can't deny how beautiful it is to watch it melt on warm Spring flowers. 

Or how the water drops collect on the now closed tulip. 

Because even when eveything around us seems ugly and hostile and harsh...

we can still find the beauty. 

It is there.

HE, the creator of all beauty, is there. 

May blessings to you today, friend. 

"Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean;

Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.

 

Make me hear joy and gladness,

That the bones You have broken may rejoice.

 

Hide Your face from my sins,

And blot out all my iniquities.

Create in me a clean heart, O God,

And renew a steadfast spirit within me.

 

Do not cast me away from Your presence,

And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation,

And uphold me by Your generous Spirit.

 

Then I will teach transgressors Your ways,

And sinners shall be converted to You."

Psalm 51:7-13

31 day May challenge! {get yer camera's out!}

Happy May Day to you all! The sun is shining here and... it is... FREEZING! But, we won't focus on that today. Another month closer to summer and eventually we will warm up. :)

I've been so eager to really dive in and learn how to use my new camera. If you haven't read THE STORY about my camera - check it out here, first. Precious. Makes me smile all silly even while sitting here today. {grin} Ah, how good is our God?! So, yes, I've been itching to learn all the different buttons and settings and color options, etc. The list goes on with this thing! I've looked up a few helpful tips on websites, but basically have just been playing around with it. My beautiful children make great guinea pigs for this!

This is the challenge I'll be following - and I'll just jump right in with day 1.


But, can I just be reeeeeeeel honest here for a second? NOT A FAN of selfies, self ports, personal pose, whatever you want to call them. I'm not super excited about day one being a picture of myself. Boo. But, I'll take one for the team and make it fun anyway!

May 1- Self Portrait.

Ah, the frazzle, crazy hair, makeup-less face, hiding behind a mug of hot java. Yes! This is the morning routine! I went super low tech on this first picture, only using the auto setting on sepia color. Easy peasy. :)

And now, for you! I'm attempting {for the first time ever - grace please!} a link up. All you should have to do is link up your May photo challenge post at the bottom of this post here. I can't wait to see your selfies! :) Happy May day and keep those cameras ready!