A few things...

{1} Mason had his 2 year check-up last week. Technically his appointment was over a month after he turned two, but who's counting?

Two year stats:

Weight: 36 lbs (99%)

Height: 36.5 in. (85%)

Head circumference: 51.5 cm (90%)

He officially weighs more than Kensie (by 2 lbs.) and I recently bought both of them some summer shoes in the same size (10). The SAME SIZE people. They are eighteen months apart. Craziness. 

{2}The ladies from the women's ministry team at our church are putting together a cookbook. I just finished designing the cover and chapter pages. (I used my go-to editing site).

What do you think?

{3} It's April 14th and there are snowflakes the size of quarters falling right outside our living room window!! The weather lately is just so gloomy and dark and cold, cold COLD! My car said 35* on the way to church this morning. Depressing. I've been mentally wishing I was here...

{4} I'm turning 30 years old a week from today. And to be honest, I've never been more excited for a birthday. Strange, right? I'll have to do another post on my feelings, but I am so thrilled to be leaving my twenties. There are just a lot of hard transitions in life during that decade that no one really prepares you for. No one. I'm ready for a new and fresh decade.

{5} I'm really cherishing our schedule-free mornings without having to rush off to school right now. Generally, we sleep 'til about 8:00, breakfast at 8:30 and don't get dressed until 10:00am sometimes. But it won't last forever, I know. We are looking into signing Kensie up for preschool next fall. It seems crazy to think that school days are just around the corner. But she is a kid that will totally THRIVE in school. She is constantly asking me for "math problems", loves to pack her backpack, take a walk around the living room and pretend to "go to school". I'm just not looking forward to waking up earlier to get her there. I'm totally going to be the disheveled looking mom who pulls up to school at the last minute with messy hair and still in sweatpants.

Oh well. I'm really okay with it. I'm just not that peppy, morning, pulled-together-at-7:30am type of person.

{6} We have been researching kitchen counter tops and sinks for a while now. I think I've made up my mind. We're going with laminate b/c it's the most affordable. But don't worry, this is not your grandma's laminate. Here's the counter top I want...

Wilsonart's Mardura Pearl Pattern

And that's what is happening around here these days!

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Cedine 2013 {What I learned}

"Cedine Ministries is a Christian Bible Camp, Retreat, and Conference Center located in eastern Tennessee along the Watts Bar Lake section of the Tennessee River. Cedine is a ministry to youth, adults, and families with an outreach ministry that includes Bible quizzing, Bible correspondence courses, and devotional guides.

Cedine Ministries exists to honor God and His Word by partnering with the Church in evangelism and discipleship training through quality camp, conference, and outreach ministries, with emphasis on the African American community."

{All above information is from the camp's website located HERE.} 

Our church travels down to Cedine every year over spring break to help work around the camp doing whatever projects are needed that year. Our family has gone three out of the past four years. It's been pretty challenging with little ones but it's one of the few missions-type trips we can all go on together, so we really enjoy getting down there over spring break.

***

I will say first off, this year went much smoother than last year. There were definitely melt-downs throughout the week and we dealt with them accordingly. But overall, it was much MUCH easier. It's amazing what a year can do. Last year, we had a one year old who was still drinking bottles, transitioning from baby food to table food, had just taken his first steps but unable to walk without help and was napping twice a day.....AND a two and a half year old who was still in diapers full time. This year had other challenges like resolving sibling fights (which I expected) but the kids could generally do the same things, eat the same foods, and run around together.

So in hopes of giving you an adequate recap, I will share with you all what I learned this year....

We spent most of Easter Sunday in the car, driving.

I learned that praying and talking about expectations with your spouse before a trip like this relieves SO much stress.

Thank goodness for DVD's!

I learned that kids can spot water towers from miles away. This became a fun game as they shouted them out while driving.

The winding road leading up to camp.

I learned that winding roads still make my stomach feel yucky.

I learned that Mason's favorite car activity is reading or sleeping and that Kensie's favorite activity is coloring or brushing her Barbie's hair.

The swings just never get old with these two.

Greg and a couple other guys worked hard all week laying these steps down to the canoe launch. Didn't they turn out great?

I learned that people really open up and are willing to listen when you work alongside each other for a whole week. I was so thankful to get to know some new people in our church!

Other projects around camp included chopping some trees down. Mason loved watching the "worker guys".

Alex and Mason. These two are more alike then you want to know. They got into all kinds of trouble together.

Kensie smiling even bigger this year!

I learned that Kensie still loves riding horses, while Mason wanted absolutely nothing to do with it.

This girl kills me sometimes.

Mason went to "work" with daddy most mornings and loved getting dirty.

I learned that Mason reminds me of his daddy more and more everyday. They were quite the pair this week. Working together. Eating together. Wrestling together. So sweet to watch them.

Twiners.

Many a meals were eaten in this place. None of which I had to cook!

Watching the talent show.

I learned that Mason will start strumming his air guitar every time he sees someone else playing one.

We have some very talented young people in our group!

Leaving camp early in the morning.

I learned that NO amount of coffee will ever make me a morning person.

We stopped at the Adventure Science Center in Nashville for a couple of hours.

Mason did not venture very far from the tool table.

Kensie did not venture very far from the train table.

Lunch with our sweet friends, Todd and Julianne.

I learned that Gatti's Pizza buffet let's kids ages six and under eat for FREE. Four adults and four kids in this group. You do the math.

Mason and Jay roaming the green hills of Tennessee.

I learned that families grow quickly, children are precious, and moments spent with friends we rarely get to see are priceless.

Jay with his week old baby sister, Carrington Joy (I just LOVE her name!)

Sweetness.

I learned that if we put the pack n' play too close to any piece of furniture in the hotel room, Mason can and will climb out.

I learned that while sleeping in hotels can be fun, it's nice to hear your oldest say, "Mama, are we going home tomorrow? I miss my bed."

Taking a much needed nap at the hotel.

I learned that sometimes, you just need some warm chocolate chip cookies from McDonalds to feel like you can drive just a little bit longer.

Wannabe Beach Party

Tuesday night I invited some sweet ladies over for a "Wannabe Beach Party". 

My intent for this party was:

{1} To bless others using the gifts God has given me.

{2} To thank and encourage women in my life who are constantly serving their families and other people. Women who may find themselves just needing a break from all the ups and downs of life. Or women who have blessed me in a personal way and I simply wanted to say thank you for making such an impact in my life. Basically, I wanted to lavishly love on some women who have so generously loved on me. 

{3} To escape from this LONG cold wintry weather in Michigan. I have a special place in my heart for anything beach-related. I wanted to imitate an outdoor beachy oasis all in the comfort of home. 

{4} To provide a party where absolutely NOTHING was required of my guests, except to show up in a cute nautical/ beachy outfit. It's so refreshing to attend a party where you don't have to bring a dish, or bring a present, or buy something once you get there. (Nothing wrong with any of those things). It's just nice to be totally pampered once in a while for NO reason, ya know?

Anyway, welcome to the beach party!

MENU:

Chicken salad croissant sandwiches

Lemon Orzo pasta salad with asparagus and cherry tomatoes

Stacked Pineapple and grapes on umbrella toothpicks

Chips and salsa

Blue lemonade (one packet of blue Kool-aide mixed with 2 containers of fresh lemonade) and lemon water to drink.

I'm mostly posting this one so you can see my nautical outfit. It's the only pic I have of myself, so please ignore the awkward face.

The party started at 6:30, and after some hilarious stories and lots of laughter, it was close to midnight before the last guest went home. One of the best girl's nights I've had. 

I think for one evening we all forgot that we were moms and wives, and adults with responsibilities, and we definitely forgot how blustery cold it was outside! Which was exactly the point of the party.

I was so blessed to have such a great group of women all together at the same time.

Each guest went home with one of these party favors...

I wrote a personal note to each guest about what I appreciated and loved about them as a person and wrapped it up with twine. And the anchor bracelet fit perfectly around the outside of the bottle!

***

We are heading out of town tomorrow morning but I will be back in a week to update you on our trip! Curious where we're headed? Read THIS POST. And then after you read it, say a little prayer for me will ya?

Thanks for staying tuned in my friends!

All to Him I owe...

Happy Good Friday friends.

:)

Ladies Spring Conference

Working with the other ladies on the women's ministry team to pull this event off took a lot of time, meetings and preparations. But I'm so thankful I got to be a part of such a great night! And it was a good chance for me to get to know some other ladies in our church that I don't normally bump shoulders with. Our team leader, Kris, was always so calm and gracefully was able to keep those of us working right on track. 

I brought the chalkboard sign from home...you may recognize it?

The silverware was wrapped in floral napkins, a doily, and some raffia.

I found half of the bird cages from a combination of Hobby Lobby and Michael's (I got them all for 50% off). The other half were borrowed from willing ladies in the area. Most of the bird cages sat on cake stands (all of those were borrowed as well).  The fake greenery was all from Michale's. I bought about 10 bunches and cut them apart to use around the cages and had leftover to use for the stage decorations. The paper birds were cut out of double sided card stock (bought from HL) using a Cricut I borrowed from my MIL. Cutting out all those birds was not my favorite part....very time-consuming but I really wanted a lot of them, so it was worth it. I loved how each centerpiece was completely different from the next!

We had close to 150 ladies sign up for the event, so we set up enough tables to seat 160, but ended up having about 3 empty tables. It's better to over-estimate than under-estimate, and we guessed pretty well!

Greg's brother, Curtis, is one of the best chef's I know, and he and his team made this amazing Carribean themed menu. It was absolutely delish!

Our speaker for the evening is the author of both of these books. She primarily talked out of the book titled, "Shame Lifter".

Don't get me started on how good these desserts were either. You know it's a ladies conference when the line for the dessert table stretches across the whole length of the room!

I found the idea to make potted tree branches HERE. It was a very easy process and I loved that it filled the stage adequately for not a lot of work. The white pillars were sitting in a storage room at church (they mostly use them for weddings) but they were the perfect perch for 2 larger bird cages.

Our speaker, Marilyn Hontz is the pastor's wife of another church in our area. She was so down-to-earth, yet her message was able to reach almost every woman in a different way. Loved everything about what she said.

Kris was our official MC, and gracious women's ministry leader.

We gave away some fun door prizes at the end of the talk including 5 tiny bird necklaces that look like this...

as well as one of the larger bird cages on stage!

drummmrollllll please...........

Our bird cage winner! (Doesn't her outfit go so well with the cage?)

Lisa (on the left), brought her awesome camera and took all the pics for the event. Thanks to her I have a documented blog as well. :)

We made a craft at the end of the night. People brought photos from home (or we provided scrapbook paper if people forgot or wanted a different option) and were used to make a set of 4 tile coasters. They simply mod podged the photos to the tiles and then we set them in the sanctuary to dry for a week.

I'm telling you, those were the yummiest cookies ever!

And just when we thought the night couldn't get any better, Lisa and her camera made her way over to some commotion down the hall only to discover a young couple in our church had just gotten engaged! They stopped by church to tell both of their mothers (since they knew they were at the conference together). There was shock, and laughter, and crying and praising God. 

I'm partial to this story b/c the gentleman you see pictured above on the left  is Greg's cousin. So we are excited to welcome Lindsey into the Mulder family soon! (There are a LOT of us Mulder's that attend the same church).

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Thanks for making it to the bottom of this post. Geesh! But that's what the blog is for right? To record and remember :)

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I'll be posting my beach party tomorrow, so come back okie dokie?