Monday Morning Mayhem

Okay, so there's actually no mayhem. It's only 8am! But, being brought up baptist, I know the power of  good alliteration.

       We love a good Monday around this house. Not as much as a Friday, but still. Monday is known here as "Reset Monday." The idea originally came from Amy's post here over at Amy's Finer Things. It really inspired me, and we have referred to Monday as "the day we press reset" ever since. There's something so fresh and hopeful about Mondays. No matter what pile of laundry you've left undone in order to play with your family; that sink half full of dishes you really should have completed but ignored in favor of sitting on the couch with your husband; the amount of times you ate dessert; WHATEVER it is, is waiting to be redeemed on Monday. Truth be told, I even loved Mondays when I was working. Seriously. Of course, Sunday nights once the sun went down, I loathed the thought of getting up and leaving my baby at home. But by Monday morning, once I got to work and got in the groove, I loved the prospect of a new week.

And as the great Anne Shirley (or rather, L.M. Montgomery) said,

(photo from Teaching Literacy, via Pinterest)

How was your weekend? We had a supremely relaxing weekend. It rained most of the day Saturday and Sunday-- as it did for you too I'm sure. Saturday morning we got up early and went to a local strawberry farm and picked 2 gallons of berries. (So yes, I'm trying to get up the motivation to make jam in the next day or so!) 

It was chilly and we picked spring berries wearing jackets and and long pants, but it was so nice. After a quick stop by the store, we spent the remainder of the day at home, relaxing. I cannot remember when this has happened recently. The kids took great naps and Lance and I lounged around and watched golf (well, he did. :) and mid-way through being totally chilled, a supreme feeling of panic overtook me as I realized that a mere two weeks away was Lucy's 4th birthday party. We planned it a week early this week, because of Memorial Day so.. it's coming right up. I don't even want to think about her turning FOUR. *Living in Denial*

So I jumped off the couch and ran out to Hobby Lobby while the kids were napping. (Our hobby lobby may be in the same parking lot as a Starbucks. They may have been having Frap. Happy Hour. I may have purchased one for a mere 2 dollars. I may feel the need to stay far away from there for the next couple of weeks until Happy Hour Days are over.)

Sunday we celebrated Cinco de Mayo by grilling fajitas and making Tres Leches Cake ala Pioneer Woman. (So yes, working out, on my Monday to do list.)

OH! Before I forget, one of my FAVORITE books is free on Amazon Kindle right now. If you have a kindle, snatch it up!!! I have the hard copy and love it. If you are a mom, have a mom, know a mom, or want to be a mom someday, you should read this book. It's so funny and poignant all at the same time. And I just love Melanie Shankle. And you will too after you read this book! If you don't have a kindle (like me!) it is also available in paperback and very reasonably priced at most local bookstores, including Lifeway and some Sam's Clubs

(photo courtesy of the Big Mama Blog)

Here's her BLOG 
And here is a link to the video promo of the book.

Now, I'm off to plan a tea party for this little one, who was born like... 5 minutes ago.

 Speaking of Strawberry Picking, here I am FOUR years ago this week, doing the very same thing!!!

 Baby Lucy ready to pop!

3 days old and ready to go home!

We are so blessed.

Miscellany

Here are a few somewhat random and not so related topics---
I've been a bit all over the place mentally lately, so this will certainly compliment that.

1. This post from the amazing Ann Voskamp. I cried from the fourth line until the very last. (Oh, yes. I did.)

Two lines that cut me right to the core (speaking about holding on to our "todays" and our little ones.)

"You don't get to keep. You get to witness.
You don't get always. You get Awe." 

and then, "And every milestone moment always forks, and you get to choose which road you'll go--bitter or blessed."

We've had a lot of uncertainty lately. Well, I say that. At the end of the day there really is no actual uncertainty. Just the quietness of God on particular matters. That can sometimes feel like uncertainty--but I don't really think it is. There is nothing uncertain about the major points of our future, only that we are safely in His care and whatever He brings to us, we hope He will sustain and guide us through.


2. This Album, Jesus Wants my Heart by Daniel Renstrom. I was introduced to his music while in school in NC, and he has recently come out with this album geared toward children. It's appropriately referred to as a "Family Worship Album" as it is NOT annoying. Seriously, we have had it in our car for days on end, and I'm not the least little bit tired of it. I can rarely say that about anything else geared toward kids--but the nature of this album is so uplifting for any age! He has a great, truly artistic style and he pairs that with wonderful theological truths. Go right on over to iTunes right now and sample the songs! (BTW, the whole album is only $8.99! Worth every penny!)

3.  Since we're talking about really weighty matters here, I will mention that tomorrow is a very important day. Tomorrow begins ten days of STARBUCKS FRAPPUCCINO HAPPY HOUR DAYS!!!!!! That's right, between the hours of 3pm and 5pm from May 3-12, you may get HALF PRICE frapps!!!! So, grab a friend! Grab your love! Grab one for your SELF!!!! There is talk of this new Caramel Ribbon Crunch frappuccino. Not sure what that's about except, okay it sounds all kinds of awesome!

Speaking of caramel. I tried to make some today for the first time. I needed some for these (which I am taking to a friend who had a baby) and the store was all out of caramels. So, I thought, well I can make this!!! Something happened, and now I have a jar of beautiful caramel sauce, which *may* have a slightly burnt aftertaste. I'm not sure what I did, except the obvious: I burned it.
I have a close friend, (and when I say close, I mean I would give her my right arm if she asked for it--and all the butter in my freezer which I 'm saving for the apocalypse!) her husband *allegedly* makes A-MAZING caramel. I say allegedly because I've never tried it. (SNIFF.) Perhaps next time we are together I can get a TUTORIAL!!!!


And for my mom, and anyone else who came for pictures of my girls---

Here they are! From a recent trip to visit family

For those who have come here in hopes of hearing a tale of a washing machine come back to life, sorry to disappoint you. It's still just a pretty space filler in my laundry room. But there has been progress. Meanwhile, my dishwasher still works. Thankful for that, as we seem to use it more than any other appliance!!!

Laundry.. Loads and Loads of Fun??!?

So several weeks ago, ( a mere three days before we left our house and it was rented by several men I've never met before who were in town for the Master's Tournament) I found myself ankle deep in towels, sheets and Oh, yeah several loads of our essentials that had to be washed before our vacation.

Why was I ankle deep you ask? Well, partially because I waited until way too late to do said loads of towels.
But mainly, because our dear, still shiny Maytag washer that came into our family brand new two years ago, quit working. As in, quit. kaput. Dead-as-a-doornail. As in, OH MY GOODNESS THIS CANNOT BE HAPPENING NOW.

Lucy entered the laundry room to find me bent over the washing machine in utter defeat, and asked me what was wrong. (She must have heard my deep, guttural moans of failure all the way in the other room.)

And because I am a firm believer in "where two are more are gathered..." I told her what was going on that we needed to pray for God to please fix it for us. She immediately dropped to her knees amongst the thread counts and prayed. Hands folded, chin earnestly pointed toward heaven, eyes screwed shut in sincere heartfelt supplication. We got up and I attempted another load. It worked like new. I kid you not.

Well, the next day she was at her Nana's house (where we would pick her up to go on vacation,) and the machine went out again. It stopped doing essential things like agitating, draining and spinning.

After many boring details which I will leave out, concerning me and a local laundromat-- we left on vacation and all was fine. Until we returned.

The service man which our Home Warranty service sent out was very helpful and tried to diagnose the problem, trouble was, it worked almost fine when he was there. But when he left, notsomuch. He has been out twice so far, and we have paid him our deductible, and his "best guess" (because that's going to fix my machine...) is that we have what is called, "an intermittent problem" Riiighht. That's code for, "Lady, you're crazy and you're making this all up." He said that he thinks a sensor is in the process of going out, and the company won't let him replace it until it does. MY question was, "BUT IT'S NOT WASHING MY CLOTHES!!!!" As I held up a towel which I placed in the washer with strategic spots of dirt on it, which came out with the same spots in the same place and OH YEAH IT WAS SOAKING WET ALSO.

It's not agitating. It's not spinning. It's not draining all the way.

So basically, I used to have a HE Washing Machine. Now, I have a washtub. It fills with water and then partially drains it out 43 minutes later.  That is all.

In an effort to help us, he advised me to do as many loads of laundry I could this weekend. In hopes that the sensor would go ahead and go out if it's going to.

Fun. honestly, I would wash every shred of cloth on our street to figure this thing out. HA!!!

It's been pretty comical how it only messes up when he's not here.

But only a little comical. Mostly, it just makes me want to pull my hair out and limit everyone in the family to one change of clothing a week.

#Firstworldproblems, huh?

Things to be thankful for:
Clothes to wash
Little People which get them dirty
a laundromat close by where no one has tried to sell me drugs
A sense of humor
A changed perspective in which I will NOT complain about laundry to do ever. again. :)

Can you still take a blog break if you haven't blogged in a week?

Because I am.


We are headed out for a vacation tomorrow morning-- yippeeeeee!

(Just in case anyone is reading this and planning to rob us while we're gone, you should know that we rented our house for Master's Week and there will be at least FOUR burly men staying here. So don't even think about it, Mister.)

Anyway,
I am ecstatic with a Capital E.

Just the four of us, relaxing and chilling for a week!

There will be lots of reading..
(during naps of course!)
Lots of cooking and grilling...
Plenty of swimming and sand-castling...
Maybe a little shopping...
And just plain old family time!

I could NOT be happier. I love our little family of four and it's been quite awhile since we have had plenty of time together without pesky things like work and laundry interfering.

Speaking of Laundry, I don't even want to tell you how many loads I've done in the past few days.

You would be tired on my behalf. Seriously. Having four beds ready with changes of linens and towels to suit every one, WHOA.

But I'm really just so thankful to be able to have our house rented and go on vacation with my Handsome Husband and Two adorable kiddos.

Hopefully this little reprieve will produce someone who is ready to write again!


See you soon!

Honesty (And a cure for Insomnia)

Lately I've been thinking a lot about Motherhood, Authenticity and Social Media.

We've all had those days where we go about our day, happily resting in what we have, who we are, and where we live etc. That is, until nap time. Somewhere in the midst of our daily moments with the computer, our brief interlude with facebook and pinterest throws us into an internal tailspin of discontent and "comparison-itis."

I really wish I was on vacation this week like that family instead of battling a stomach bug with my kids. Sure would be nice to be at Cinderella's castle instead of holding a vomit bucket for my 5 yr. old... 

If only I could lose my last bit of baby weight, all those style tips would look cute on me too. I will never look that cute in shorts...

Look at her, painting her living room while her kids are napping AND cooking a gourmet meal. My spaghetti doesn't sound so exciting anymore. 

WOW! She did all that for her kid's birthday party??!!!??? I thought all I had planned for this weekend was enough. But maybe I could fit in one more trip to the store....

They just bought another new______?!?!?! I wish we could afford a date night every now and then. 

And so begins the malestrom of unhappiness brought on by others' apparent good fortune.

Why do we do that to ourselves??? 
More importantly, why do we allow ourselves the sin of ungratefulness in the midst of so many blessings? 

I have read ALOT of helpful (in the stick their finger in your eye way) articles and posts lately about the dangers of social media as it can cause us to be fake, discontent and constantly "performing." This is something I've been thinking about a lot because I do love to cook. I do love to be crafty. I do love to do projects with the kids and get them dressed up for playdates. And let's be honest. I'm far more likely to post pictures of that then the pile of dust and cheerios I just swept off my floor. But who am I doing it for, really? It's a daily struggle for sure.

However, I am making a REAL, CONCERTED EFFORT to do the following-- Won't you join me?

 1. to not "apply a filter" to every detail of my life. I.E. pick the BEST parts of my day to share, document, etc. and leave out anything that anyone might critique. For example, the other day I posted a few pictures from Lucy's ballet performance. Here's one I didn't post that I wanted to.

I love this picture... I think it's such a cute "glimpse" into what it is like to be her mommy. But look behind me. (GASP!!!!!) I know. The filth that is my closet. I could tell you that Lu likes to play with my shoes and they all end up in a pile. I could tell you I'm in the process of taking out winter things. All of which are true. But what's MOST accurate is that my closet is just. a. mess. And yes, I'm embarrassed. And yes, after posting this, I'm going to go clean it up. But, hey. Keeping it Real.

 2. And to PUT DOWN THE CAMERA. I know, we all want to document every little detail. And we should. But, I'm really serious about being able to see my memories while they are happening...with BOTH of my eyes. In Lucy's performance the other night, cameras were forbidden. And I enjoyed so much just drinking in the moment and taking a mental image. Because no photo, ever will compare of the feeling of watching her dance in front of all those people. No photo would express the way my breath caught in my throat when she came out; or the way Lance and I were holding hands so tightly, blood flow was becoming an issue. I will never forget that.

Earlier this year we went to Disney World for one day. It was Abby's first visit and 12 minutes after arriving, my camera just quit working. I could have cried. (Literally.) I could have bought one at the gift shop. Instead, I stuck it in the bottom of our bag and saw the entire day with both my hands (and eyes) free. It was so liberating. (To be fair, we did purchase a few Disney Pass photos, but only 4 and they were enough.) It was money well spent to be able to forget about being the designated photo taker for the day.

All that to say, I'm guilty of doing too much documenting and not enough living. That has to stop.

And finally, 3. Am I self-promoting in the way I'm sharing "our life?" I have an acquaintance on FB. She is a very sweet girl, but she often posts pictures of food, whether it's her breakfast, her child's lunch, whatever. In every single description, it's as though she tries to fit the word "Organic" in as many times as possible. Literally labeling every already healthy food as "Organic" even if it means saying "Organic" 12 times on one photo. Now, she probably has no clue how it comes across. Of course at first I thought, "Wow. That's kind of annoying. We get it, you only buy organic for your family and the conventional strawberries I bought this morning aren't healthy at all but should be fed to the dog...." But then I thought (with a sinking feeling) "Have I done that?!?!" Because I am one of those people that loves food photography. I don't post pictures so you just covet my iced coffee, but I do love to "share" those kinds of things. All in all, I've been re-considering my sharing. If I want to cook a yummy meal and share a photo, fine. But if I need for everyone to know that we are eating Grain-Fed Bison on a homemade Bun with a side of vegetables which we grew in our own dirt and I purposely don't include the pile of Cheez-Its just because some might not think it's "chic" then I have a problem that is way bigger than snack foods. I feel that it is my DUTY to care for my family's physical and nutritional needs. But since the Lord sees my heart, I better make SURE I'm doing it for them and unto HIM instead of trying to impress people by my ultra Proverbs31-ness.


Let's take care of our families for the Glory of Christ and not for our Instagram followers.

Oh, if you were hoping for the cure for Insomnia.... Read this ridiculously long post a few more times and be sleeping in no time.