It's 99 degrees and I'm thinking about Christmas.

Sing on Mr. Crosby. "And may all your Christmases be white..."

It's not a major announcement or surprise to see this post from me, is it? :)
I made it alllll the way to July 17th this year before I started longing for cooler weather, the holiday season and wearing jeans. I'm actually pretty proud of myself for holding out this long - and actually, really enjoying summer. And truth be told, I still am. We've got plenty left and I'm in no rush. Bonfires and s'mores, walks on the beach (next month!), and iced caramel macchiato's are on my mind - along with these laid back mornings, quality sit down and read time, late bedtimes and all the summer fun things going on in our city. But. It's 99 degrees with a humidity percentage in the thousands and I'm thinking, just thinking, about Christmas today.

We all have our favorites. Autumn and winter are mine. We'll leave it at that.

My husband gets home from his trip in TWO days. I'm giddy just waiting for him. We've made it all the way almost with little to no problems. Though, I'll recap some unfortunates:
- It's hot. Wicked, wicked hot and uncomfortable. I'm slightly nervous to see the energy bill next month after all these days and nights of nonstop air conditioning.
- Tuesday night I had to take August into urgent care. She woke up from her nap and was in tears saying her ears hurt. She also had gunky eyes. So, at 6pm we dropped her sisters off at friends and went in. Did you know kids can get infected swimmers ears? And eyes? I know it now. She has both. Did you also know it's near impossible to rub medicine into a 4 years olds eyes? We need to rethink that one there, Docs. ;) Today she looks and is acting much better.
- I found a dead bird in my garage yesterday as I was setting back up for my two-weekend-long yard sale. I CANNOT handle that sorta thing. I may have sent out a plea for help on Facebook. One of our awesome deacons may have stopped by to rescue me.
- Today we discovered a massive wasps nest right above the front door. Awesome. So, instead of buying spray and dealing with it... we open the door and run as fast as we can to get into the van. It's a sight everyone enjoys, I'm sure. I'll continue on with this plan until my husband is home. Nature is not my favorite right now.
- The girls and I splurged tonight and bought an almost SIX dollar watermelon (with seeds) only to cut it open and discover its the weirdest and grossest melon we've ever tasted. It's pale pink and tastes like melon rind. What am I supposed to do about that!? And.... what am I supposed to do with this watermelon craving?!
- Last negative: My throat. I just ended my antibiotic prescription a few days ago and now my throat glands are swollen again. Discouraging. I try to ignore it. But honestly it's seriously bumming me out. Back to gargling AC vinegar and salt water. I dunno. If it doesn't relieve soon I might seek an ENT. Do adults use those?

Well then. That was entirely too grumpy sounding. Ultimately, we are doing so well and the days have really been great!

Back to Christmas in July. Much happier.
We are in Iowa this Christmas and I am SO excited to be home with my babies for that special time. The Pausley family is all flying/driving here and there will be reunions, birthdays, etc.
Here are a few ideas I'd like to do this holiday season:

Only, obviously, ours would say Pausley.

I reeeeeally want to do SO much handmade this year. Loving these gift tag ideas!

I already have the door. Just love this easy, natural, old-ish looking vignette.

I remember buying one of these in college for a fundraiser and thinking I want to make them when I have a family. It's time.

So, there ya have it. My cold-weather musings tonight.
Back to reality - the sun is going down and another nice n' warm day tomorrow. :) 

Baby Weight. Seriously though...

So, I'm breastfeeding this time around. And by that I mean... it's going well and we are strictly nursing no supplementing, no breaks, no reason to. It's Ah-mazing. Jane seems to just get it, which is totally unlike my other two children. Strange, but I am NOT complaining. :) This child eats and sleeps and that is her life - and she's chubby and happy and sleeps. But I have already covered that. It's awesome. I feel good.

I also feel... slightly fat.

Now, before I get a zillion comments about how it will eventually go away and to treasure these days, etc. I AGREE on those points. Perhaps, though, I'm treasuring the food a little more and forgetting that while I am burning the calories while nursing - it's not a free for all. (bummer) I'm literally hungry ALL.THE.TIME and because it's this urgent starvation feeling I just go for what's easy - banana's, something peanut buttery, or... all the amazing desserts we got with our "new baby meals". Those meals have now come to an end and perhaps that is best for me. :)

While I have lost some weight, I feel like I have SO much more to go. The task seems daunting and today I feel discouraged about it. I'm also super curious how you moms do it... losing the weight so quickly, that is. And how on earth do you have time to exercise or practice any form of fitness?? I am on a 3 hour routine of nursing, baby napping, keeping other 2 alive... repeat. There is little to no time to even cycle through the laundry or sit down {and not be nursing}. I'm not a multi-tasker when it comes to that sit down time. And that's another post all together. The other night I nibbled on some carrots because I read they help with lactation - but, the entire time I was pretending they were chicken wings and big fat juicy bbq ribs. Don't judge.

Ah, baby weight. You sweet little reminder that Hershey bars and entire bags of chips probably weren't worth it that last month of pregnancy. {sigh} I will conquer you after Christmas.

Just for the record, I really am ok and not too super discouraged.
After all, we just ordered pizza for dinner. ;)

Life on the river... wait, you didn't know we had one?!

It's 51 degrees today in Iowa, so all the snow we've been getting...and getting...and getting has started a slow melt. Normally not a big deal and super exciting to be reminded about what grass looks like, right? That is - until you look into your back yard and admire the small river you've acquired over the course of a few days. And then the panic button sounds as you realize what you just thought... "what a nice river... in our yard?!".

It's our first pre-spring in this new house and so in all honesty we have NO idea what to expect once the real melt down begins. I may have had a mini-freak out thinking this was our septic tank exploding or something. My hubby assures me it's not. {whew!} So, for now we get to enjoy this beautiful river flowing right through the back yard. My 2 year old thinks its the best thing in the world. It certainly compliments the river in our driveway, too! I feel like an island almost.

And what's this I hear? A blizzard coming again this weekend? Well, then we can all go ice skating! :) Ah, life on the river... it's beautiful.

Valentines Day {reality version}

I have to laugh right out loud... or I'd cry. You know those "nailed it" moments when you try to copy something and ends up so much less then you'd hoped. Had another one of those last night!

Hubbys' gift was to be simple and classic. Mug with the word LOVE painted on it, baked to set, and filled with tissue paper and his fave gum. {hey, we keep it romantic around here} I wanted it to look like this -

It turned out like this -

I think it would have been just as romantic and thoughtful to hand him the white mug, paint brush and bottle of paint. I dunno. This might be packed into the Goodwill box by tonight. {blah}

But, although I have successfully failed in the area of gift giving {again} - I was able to sew up a quick and pretty cute bunting for the dining room last night.

Try not to be WOWED by my sewing skills. I know, I know. ;)

Happy Valentines Day. Here's to 2014!

Ever feel ugly?

Remember the character from the famous Greek wedding movie? Opening scenes show a tired, frumpy, undone, gal... working at her fathers restaurant, basically unhappy in her life. You want to feel bad for her. But, it's also kind of funny. 

This morning I feel like her. Only, in the tired, frumpy, undone sort of way. I'm VERY happy and thankful for my life. :) 

It was as I was walking out of Target this morning in my black jogging suit {which, has NEVER been jogged in}complete with HUGE winter coat, no makeup, two children, huge purse spilling out receipts, diapers, etc. and realizing I don't think I even ran a brush through my hair... when I saw HER. Tiny, perfect hair, perfect makeup, amazing clothes, manicured nails, carrying a Starbucks latte and a Victoria's Secret bag. She even walked cute. Annnnd... my 4 year old noticed the "pretty lady". For some reason, at that moment - no matter how thankful, blessed and content I was... I felt UGLY. I just wanted to duck away and hide. And while I've had those moments before... this one took me off guard. I'm still bothered by it. As women, we never want to feel those times. Even when life is crazy hard and days are long - we don't want to be ugly or feel ugly. And at that moment I felt like the UGLY poster child. 

I tried to recall scripture on "real" beauty - how the Lord calls us to guard our hearts and work on our beauty within. It was a comfort. But then I looked down to realize my jogging pants have shrunk and now 2 inches of my {unshaved} legs are showing. One more thing on the list... sigh.

There's no real lesson or moral with this post - just that, like everyone else, my insecurities are very real and I'm humbled and reminded AGAIN how vital and important it is to know truth, practice truth... and, shave. 

And for goodness sake... find 4 minutes to brush your hair. Shout out to all my hard working momma friends, today! 

29 days of 29

In 29 days I'm having a kind-of-a-big-deal birthday. It's a big one. BUT I have 29 days left of 29. While I don't fear or loathe the next number in line... for some reason I woke up thinking about it today. Like, a lot. Even during my bible reading {through 1 John} it kept coming to my mind. Woah, 3 decades. It seems like it crept on me - came out of nowhere. Most days I still feel like a jr higher. And, perhaps, but hopefully this is untrue... I still ACT like a jr higher. {??}

My husband won't be in the country this year for my special day. I try not to think about it. It is just an another day for everyone else in the world. He'll be off to Haiti serving the Lord with some of our youth and their parents. For which, I praise God! But there's a teeny, weeny, tiny part of me that feels a little sad about his absence on that day. My Golden day, actually. Bah - I'll get over it. I'm sure we'll celebrate like crazy when he is home. :) 

I want to make the MOST of the next 29 days. I'm thinking today of creative ways to celebrate this whole month. I've come up:

-Write a list of 29 things every day that I'm thankful for. {Voskamp style}

-Try 29 new foods...tho, I'm a pretty adventurous eater already...so that could get real interesting.

-Take a walk every day for the next 29 days. 

-Kiss my babies 29 times every day

Yea, I'm still thinking. Got any ideas? What did you do upon approaching your milestone b-days?

Just for fun, I've googled some things that were popular in the year 1982 - my birth year. Let's all have a good chuckle as we look back! 

Who doesn't remember the Glow Worm?!

Every Grandma's house had one of these. :)

I vaguely remember this show as a little girl.

Mr. President - circa 1982

The car of "choice" in 1982. I'll admit... I giggled.

And, oh, the hairstyles...

And, I'll end with this, and I will never complain about my computer again after seeing it.

Happy weekend everyone! 

Stuff you didn't know you didn't know :)

Bear with me as I share a silly email I received this weekend...

Every day more money
is printed for Monopoly than the U.S.
Treasury.



Men can read smaller
print than women can; women can hear better.



Coca-Cola was
originally green.




It is impossible to lick
your elbow.




The cost of raising
a medium-size dog to the age of eleven:
$ 16,400



Intelligent people
have more zinc and copper in their hair..




Q. Half of all
Americans live within 50 miles of what?

A. Their birthplace




In Shakespeare's
time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes.
When you pulled on the ropes, the mattress tightened,
making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the
phrase...'Goodnight , sleep tight'



In English pubs, ale
is ordered by pints and quarts... So in old England , when
customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them 'Mind
your pints and quarts, and settle down.'

It's where we get
the phrase 'mind your P's and Q's'



Many years ago in
England ,

pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim, or handle

of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill ,
they used the whistle to get some service. 'Wet your whistle'
is the phrase inspired by this practice.

Now, how have any of us survived until now not knowing those things? :P
Happy Monday! Let some silly in today!