Hey Strangers!

I know some of you have been wondering where I've been and waiting with baited breath for a new blog post. But, the past week has been one filled with craziness for me and unfortunately the blog is the first thing that gets ignored. I won't go into all the craziness, but some highlights (or lowlights) of the week included: Mallory's poop in my foyer (funny story actually), Mallory in dog poop, coffee falling all over my head and my car, Aubrey giving himself his own haircut (AGAIN! Look at all the hair he cut while playing "Barber"), sliding into throw up at Monkey Joe's, spraining his ankle, and me being in charge of crafts for MOPS and our Spring Retreat. Nothing in my week was really bad, but added stress and interruptions. It was funny though, because in my Bible study last week, Priscilla Shirer talked about how our interruptions are really God trying to get us to stop and change our focus or view. So I kept asking Him what I was supposed to be seeing! It was a crazy week, but one that kept me looking above, so I guess that was the point of it all. Our MOPS retreat was so fun, and made me laugh harder than I have in a very long time.

Anyway, today was a bittersweet day for me as a Mommy. I registered Aubrey for kindergarten. I realize the ultimate goal for moms is for their children to spread their wings and fly away (as told to me by my all-knowing sister) but I'm really not ready for Aubrey to fly yet. To continue the bird analogy, I like feeding him and sitting on him in our nest. I know that's not good for him for long though, so pray that I will be able to nudge him out of the nest this fall. I'm really praying that God will give him a Godly teacher and Godly friends and surround him with things from above. It's scary this big world we live in.

I have been scrapping and crafting some. I did a couple of layouts for challenges and fun at Vintage Plum. I haven't taken pictures of two of them, but when I do I'll post them I have really been enjoying hanging out there and using the fun kit they had in March. I am really looking forward to the April kit. I also did this snail for Mallory's bathroom. I got the snail from damboise designs on etsy. She has some really fun shapes and letters to alter. I will have more scrappy news on the way, but I can't share right now. Stay tuned!

Fun site!

Just a quick post to let you know about a great site for ladies t-shirts that are super stylish, but have great Scripture verses on them. It's called Wild Olive tees and they are so fun. So, go check them out and order one while you're there! I don't even have a favorite because they're all so neat!

A few things

My new blog picture is our family portrait done by Aubrey. He was so proud of himself that he asked if he could stand by the picture when I took it. I loved it. And the round things on my body aren't what you might think, they're my knees he told me. I was a little worried when I asked him!

Before: After:

Mallory got her first haircut on Monday! Such a bittersweet occasion. I had been hoping that the rest of her hair would catch up to her "wings" on the sides of her head, but it wasn't happening so I decided to go ahead and have it trimmed. My mom, who cut my hair until I went away to college, cut it for me. Mallory was so good. She sat as still as a 20 month old will sit and never cried or fussed. It looks so good now, and my mom and sister are very happy that I finally did it and I am too.

I promised pictures of a couple of things I did for my class at Get It Scrapped. One of the layouts is actually about Mallory's hair after her Daddy got ahold of the comb at bathtime. The other is about Aubrey's pony ride this past fall. My class is over now, but it was a lot of fun. I am going to take another very soon.

Yesterday we went and spent part of the day with Jill and Jameson. The weather was perfect so we got to go to their "beach" on their lake. The boys had so much fun, especially since they got to ride their bikes to the beach from Jill's house. As soon as we got in the car to come home Aubrey asked me when we could go back to their beach. It wasn't a big deal of a day, but it reminded me again of how special it is to have good friends to hang with. I had lunch with another sweet friend today. God has been so good to me to bring such sweet Christian women into my life.

I have a couple more book recommendations, but I'll save it for a later post. Email me if you have to have something to read right this minute though!

Whew!

I haven't posted in forever! Ok, it's only been almost two weeks, but it feels like forever. I have just been busy and just haven't taken the time to post. I don't usually go this long between posts and I don't like it! This week has been especially busy. I had to get all of our used children's clothes together to sell at two different consignment sales this weekend. I did that, and am actually going to volunteer at one of the sales today. I have loved being able to get rid of our things like this. And I have actually found things for Mallory at the sale, so it's a good trade. But getting over 150 items hung, tagged and ready to sell is a chore.

One of the most fun things I did this week was have a chat with Christa Parrish, the author of the book we read at Book Club this past month. We read her book Home Another Way and just loved it. Since I lead our book club, Bethany Publishing sends me books for free to preview for our group. As soon as I read this one I knew we had to read it. I wasn't disappointed. The ladies just loved it too. One of the ladies said it was her favorite book we had read in the two and a half years we have been meeting. That's pretty amazing because we have read some good books by some pretty prolific authors. Anyway, Bethany also gave us the opportunity to have a teleconference with Christa. I jumped on that offer and we had such a good time talking with her about the book and her writing. This was her first novel, which just amazed me. She is young - as I had to ask her age, which was inspiring to me. So, go out and buy the book. You will not be sorry.

On the crafty front, I finished the last week of my scrapbooking class at Get It Scrapped. It has been so much fun and I have learned a lot and gotten more done than normal. I will post my layouts this weekend after I scrap some more. I am thinking of taking another class there from the same teacher, Doris Sander, because I have enjoyed her so much. I'm also thinking of applying to a design team for Vintage Plum. It's a brand new kit club made up of all American made scrapbooking products. I'll keep you posted. We also had MOPS yesterday and made some fun cookie sheet message boards and I made some Easter eggs with yarn that are fun. I'll post pics later this weekend. We had a great time. My friend Kim came and my other friend Laura gave a great devotional about our jobs as moms and doing everything for the Lord.

Have a great weekend! I will be back sooner rather than later this time!