Becoming pals...

I know I'm going to jinx this entire post by saying what I'm about to say.

But I'm going to because it's good to live in the present. And I will want to remember this one....

Kensie and Mason have recently become such GOOD playmates! 

I'm really REALLY loving their ages right now. Mason is quickly learning from his big sister and is moving much faster these days--which means he is no longer frustrated that he can't keep up with her. It also means he can climb on top of tables and gets into almost everything {think I'll save that for another day!}. But, I'm okay chasing them around. It's tiring but I don't mind it one bit. I like these "chasing toddler" days compared to the "nursing/ up all night" baby days--gotta be honest.

Anyway.

They have been cracking me up with their antics lately.

Mason is a total copycat and thinks Kensie is the coolest kid in town.

{she kind of IS, I must say so myself}

Kensie loves to "help" Mason participate in whatever activity she's doing. 

Like, sitting on plastic bowls for example.

I think back to my days as a kid and I'm always thankful I had four other siblings. Especially now that we're adults. Even though we are currently spread across the country, I know they are my best friends no matter where we live or how our lives have changed. When we are together, we can be our crazy-goofy selves, laugh at the same hilarious things, and make fun of each other like no one else can. There's an unspoken connection. 

It's such a gift--siblings are. 

Life-long friends built in from the very beginning.

All that to say...

It's such a joy to finally see these two start to share some of the same things I remember experiencing.

PS- There will NOT be a "We're Pregnant!" post coming anytime soon. I know some of you were probably thinking that.

I'm thoroughly enjoying the two we have and would like to keep it that way for a while.

***

Focus up Friday

Proverbs 31 Woman {week 3}

^12 " 

"She brings him good and not harm, 

all the days of her life.

She selects wool and flax 

and works with eager hands.

She is like the merchant ships, 

bringing food from afar."

- Proverbs 31:12-14

In a nutshell, here's what I put into practice this week:

• I usually leave Greg's pile of clean folded clothes on the floor in the hallway. The expectation is that HE puts them away. Nagging is involved. This week I silently put them away for him.

• I usually leave clutter piled high on counters and tables throughout the house. This week I silently organized {kind of} and put the clutter away.

• I usually enjoy announcing the "work" I've accomplished at the end of the day. This week I sealed my lips and let the work do the talking.

• I usually procrastinate on projects in hopes that Greg will do them for me. This week I pulled up my big girl pants and actually did some of them.

• I usually complain about the fact that I love having a puffy duvet comforter on our bed, and how utterly annoying it is that Greg has to fold over his side on top of mine to avoid sweating because he is so hot! Well, this week I finally put away my dream of having a duvet comforter and bought us a lighter year-round quilt instead {from TJ Maxx}.

• I usually don't make the bed. Like, ever. This week I attempted to make it most days.

• I usually go back to TJ Maxx after eyeing a purchase I reeeeeeally want to make. This week I went back to the store but did not purchase a thing! It felt so good.

 God will always notice our "eager hands", and I'm still trying to change my perspective. To work eagerly FIRST for my Lord and Savior. But it's sure nice when our husbands notice too.

This week, he noticed.

:)

***

linking up to:

{CLICK HERE FOR LINK}

A little {paint} transformation

I love decorating our home. I love being creative. I love picking out paint colors

I DON'T LOVE TO PAINT. 

Gasp!

I know. I'm that crazy decorating lady {who despises painting} and decides to do a whole room makeover with new fabric, rearrange all the furniture, and paint half of it.

Greg knows this little problem I have. I mean, he is my husband after all. He is also the professional painter in our home. He has literally painted every single wall and ceiling in our house. With crisp clean lines by the way--in my opinion he's better than most hired painters. Not exaggerating. He's incredibly patient, doesn't tape a THING, and somehow cuts perfectly clean lines. It's amazing.

HOWEVER...

He wasn't thrilled to hear that only 4 years after carefully painting the kitchen green, I wanted to go all GRAY. So we struck a deal. I had to get all the fabric projects done, shutters painted, and hutch painted BEFORE he would help me paint the walls.

DEAL!

Looks like someone is holding up their end of the bargain.

{No pics of the hutch yet. I painted it. Promise.}

***

We're getting reeeeeeeally close to the final blue/gray room reveal!

Thanks for staying tuned in peeps.

So, I bought a shirt from the men's department...

Welcome to my first refashion post!

In between yardwork, projects, and playing in the kiddie pool over Memorial weekend...

I found some time to take the kids shopping.

This was not a "leisurely-browse-until-your-hearts-content" shopping trip. 

I was on a mission and a budget.

Greg wanted some new shirts for summer, and the kids desperately needed some jammies that won't make them sweat during Michigan's humid summer nights.

Plus, Memorial weekend always means SALES!

So, while I was in the men's department at the GAP Outlet picking out some shirts for the hubs...I stumbled across a T-shirt in the clearance section. It was a men's size XS...but I really liked the print. Anything with California always catches my eye! 

I suddenly had an idea to slightly alter it to make it more girly.

And for THAT price, I figured if I messed it up...I wouldn't be devastated.

When I got it home, I found a shirt that I really liked and laid it on the floor next to my bargain t-shirt.

My goal was to simply imitate the same look on my men's t-shirt!

NOTE: make sure you wash and dry your shirt before you start any refashion project!

The following is a step by step tutorial on how I turned my men's t-shirt into a surfer girl shirt...

Supplies you need:

- sharp pencil

-fabric scissors

that's IT!

{please let me know if you have questions! I'm trying to improve my tutorial skills}

Once you are satisfied with your pencil lines, take the shirt off and lay it back on the floor.

Follow the next four steps...

Take one of your leftover sleeve trimmings and slip it on your head. It will stretch easily to make a cute headband! No altering necessary!

So there you have it!

If the shirt was a bit longer or a size larger, I would have cut about an inch or two off the bottom to give it even more of a beachy look. Oh well, I still like it.

Surf's up DUDE!

Total cost for this project...

$1.78

Thank you GAP Outlet.

You're welcome husband.

:)

Memorial weekend recap

Greg spent all of Saturday and most of Monday at work...

The kids and I spent the majority of our weekend playing outside, running errands, splashing in the pool, and soaking in the sun. When their afternoon naps came, I was able to get a TON of house/craft projects accomplished!

{More on that later this week...I'm pretty geeked about it!}

But, the times we were all together as a little family of four was by far my favorite part. It's always my favorite part.

pool time!

sitting on the front porch watching my sweet family all together...so good for my soul.

taking a break from the pool to spread some bark in the front yard

admiring the finished landscape

thoroughly enjoying these two little blessings

downtown parade!

We even had a chance to go out on a double date with some of our best college friends.

We went to see "What to Expect When You're Expecting" and then out to dinner. Word of advice: GO SEE IT WITH FRIENDS WHO HAVE KIDS. Oh my word. It makes it ten times better.

PS-You know you are getting old when the majority of your dinner conversation includes talk about pee, poop and all things related to potty training. 

Allison and Aaron

One of the best double dates we've had in a long time!

***

Hope your Memorial weekend was grand!

Focus up Friday

Becoming a Proverbs 31 Woman {week 2}

"A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies. 

Her husband has full confidence in her and lacks nothing of value."

Proverbs 31: 10-11 

I was struck this week by two things from these verses:


{1} What character qualities do I need to work on?


There was a powerful list in the book I'm reading alongside this study that lays out exactly what a Proverbs 31 Woman is NOT...the ones I struggle with the most are in BOLD.


1. She does not rival her husband.
2. She does not mope around and complain about her housework. (even though I don't even DO that much housework). 
3. She does not overspend and put her family into debt. (Online shopping anyone??)
4. She is not bored, discontent, greedy or selfish. 
5. She does not gossip and slander others.
6. She does not spend her days doing leisurely shopping, texting, emailing, web browsing, watching late night movies, and sleeping in. (Oh, the sleeping in one is SO hard for me.)
7. She does not criticize, mock, or disrespect her husband. (I can get carried away with joking and sarcasm.)
8. She does not have children and a husband who embarrass her.
9. She does not let her outer beauty take precedence over her inner beauty. (It's better now than in the past but can easily creep back in my life if I'm not careful).
10. She does not take God’s word lightly. (I can easily justify a verse by saying, "Well that doesn't pertain to ME")


While these honest evaluations are good, I don't want to spend all my energy on how I don't measure up to the Proverbs 31 woman. Instead, I want to focus on practical ways I make a change!





{2} How can my husband have full confidence in me when I have such little confidence in myself? How can he trust me to handle my emotions when I DON'T EVEN TRUST MYSELF?

Here's the scenario: I wake up groggy and moody at 7:30am. It doesn't matter what time really...it's just ALWAYS early in my opinion. Half-dressed I feed the kids breakfast. All day long I hear Kensie exclaim "I do it Mama!", while Mason has climbed on the fireplace ledge and starts rattling the poker stick for the umpteenth time. Then when I finally get them down for a nap a salesman comes to the door and ignores my "Please knock" sign and rings the doorbell which inevitably wakes my peacefully napping children up. Or worse, my children team up against me and decide they are NOT going to nap that day...thus spurring a series of complaining, whining and crying spells all afternoon. My husband works until 8:00 that night. By then I'm pretty sure I don't have leftover dinner for him because (a) I didn't have time to cook, (b) I'm lazy and all I can think about is putting my kids to bed asap, and (c) I'm mad at him for being late (again).

So minutes before we head to bed he asks about my day. Uh, wrong question. I end up complaining to my poor husband about all the terrible, horrible ins and outs of my day...when he probably had just as awful of a day at work.

***

My prayer this week...

"Lord, you know my failures. Forgive me for the ways I've failed my husband and family. Forgive me for ignoring my need for you. Please Lord, continue to open my eyes to ways I can be more like the Proverbs 31 woman. Give me endurance on the days when I have no patience. Give me encouraging words for my husband when all I want to do is complain. Give me full confidence in my daily tasks...so that I may be a wife of noble character. Amen."

Proverbs 31 study

Let's get real for a minute shall we?

I signed up to do a bible study a while back online. It was a 12 week study on the book of Ephesians. A very low-key commitment, but one that required reading a few verses from the Bible every day and writing down my reflections. I really enjoyed it and could see God working in my life. But, like most commitments I struggled with consistency. Why is my problem always consistency??? Anyway, I lasted about 3ish weeks, feeling discouraged the more days in a row I skipped, and eventually fizzled out. 

So, what did I do?

I signed up again. 

This time it's on Proverbs 31. It's a 14 week study with daily Bible reading plus a small book to read alongside. The blog I am connected with also sends bi-weekly emails with words and videos of encouragement. 

It's not too late to sign up if you'd like to join me! I just finished week 2.

Head over to Good Morning Girls to see what the blog is all about! It's such a great community.

Click here for the Proverbs 31 study {reading plan}

I have a friend in real life who I consider closer than close. We've been there for each other through thick and thin. She's my accountability in real life...and we're darn good at it! I love that girl. We've been friends for almost 7 years now and I consider her a lifer. We're doing this study together and are trying to be more diligent this time around to lift each other up when we "just don't feel like doing it".

Me and CJ on a retreat in 2008.

I've also found the simple act of blogging to be another great way to stay consistent. So, I want to take it to the next level:

Tomorrow I will post on what I am learning this week from the Proverbs 31 study titled, Focus up Friday. Once a week, for the next 12 weeks I will be as vulnerable as I can with what God is teaching me. You may even get some humorous stories as well--because realizing you've failed at something can certainly be humbling--but in the right context it sure makes a funny story! And I don't know about you but I desperately need to laugh at myself more often. It makes it much easier to pick yourself up and move forward.