Why Weekending Is Coming Back to This Space

On Friday night, Mr. G and I were taking a little walk down memory lane and had varying recollections about a now-defunct restaurant in Fort Worth, and it hit me, "Maybe I blogged about that?" I searched the blog right then, and we spent the next 30 minutes laughing about what our life was like as DINKs back in 2007 through 2010 on a trip through this website.

All of that to say, I realized how much I have come to love this space as a diary of what's been going on with us. GROUNDBREAKING, I know.

So here's what I've been up to for the past many months that may or may not have landed here:

Raising two precious preschoolers and all of the fun playing, singing, and boo boo kissing that comes with it.

Serving on a strategic advisory team at my church.

Teaching a lot of Pure Barre, as well as growing my skills through additional training.

Taking a lot of Pure Barre, because I still enjoy it as a primary exercise.

Potty training a child.

Mentoring an awesome young lady at TCU regarding our mutual faith in Christ.

Reflecting on life with a child in kindergarten next year.

Laundering everything we own on Mondays and Fridays.

Leading a Ladies' gathering on Wednesday nights at church.

Writing for Fort Worth Moms Blog.

Currently finalizing the craft list and supplies for VBS 2016.

Reading a lot!

Taking time off from leading a Sunday school department, we've been part of a young adult Sunday school class since August.

Over the next several weeks, maybe I will find it in myself to break these down into separate blog posts, because a bullet does no credit to the amount of time I've actually dedicated to them. Especially those first and second items. When people ask how I've been, I usually say, "Busy." It feels good to list it out and see that I'm not making that up.

{Because you can't have a blog post without a picture.}

Am I the only one with photos like this on my roll?
I bought this shirt a while back and love it,
but not with a sports bra and tights. Found here.
I had a friend comment to me about how easy it is to be a stay at home mom. Yes, it's very easy to be a stay at home mother if you have no commitments to anything except your kids and the occasional playdate. I find it harder to balance when I'm volunteering at a high capacity with a child on my hip and the other pulling at my leg. I don't have a nanny, and the children always come first. However, it's absolutely my choice to take on those commitments, and my husband and I both find it good stewardship of my time to give back so much to the Lord through service to our church. One of the nice things about staying home is choosing how to spend the available time.

My heart--and my schedule--is full!

Babies and More Babies

I've launched a new look today, thanks to Anna at Designer Blogs, so if you're reading through Feedly or another RSS reader, I'd love for you to click on through and take a look!

My friend was such a champ earlier this week. After laboring for 30 something hours, she finally was delivered of her sweet little guy. (I'm leaving out a lot of details here--she is wonder mom.) Annabelle and I were able to meet him and fell in love with his precious little self. She loved it for a few minutes, and then she'd had enough of her mom holding another baby and was done with that.


At the hospital, the topic of baby fever and whether I will have more little sweeties came up. (Current answer: no.) While this was a perfectly normal conversation to have in that company, I find it interesting when folks who do not have a close relationship with my family or me ask it. It doesn't bother me, but I do think it's quite a personal thing to ask. I would go so far as to categorize it with asking a childless couple when they are starting a family, which is incredibly annoying. If they are having trouble conceiving, it's not just annoying, it's hurtful.

Do you agree, or am I totally off the mark?

My BFF is Having a Baby!

Today I had the hankering to fire up the ol' blog and write out a few thoughts on my best friend having a baby tomorrow. Because I've been missing from this space for a while, I had the hardest time coming up with a post title. With the picture posted below, I don't want anyone to misunderstand: my FRIEND is having a baby. Not me.

(That's another topic, another day. Ha!)

I'm sitting here tonight having all the feels about my best friend having her first baby, a boy, tomorrow. I would consider him to be the closest I've come to a nephew, so I'm terribly excited! I'm remembering the first time Jack was placed in my arms--I had no clue what I was supposed to do. All of a sudden, every bit of medical staff had cleared the room. It was just him and me (Mr. G was going to get our parents) and all I could think was, "Do these nurses not know I do not have a clue what to do here? What are they thinking leaving me alone with a minutes old baby!?"

Of course, there is no truer welcome to motherhood. It's fast and furious and half the time you're making it up because you don't know what to do, all the while praying to God that He will give you the wisdom and the strength to make it. And that He will fix it for His glory when you mess up. I'm so thankful for God's grace each day.


Baby Luke's shower cake made locally by Leah's Sweet Treats
No words can prepare you for holding your heart in your arms. There is no crazier revelation than in an instant realizing every cliche about having children is true. It's such a rush, a sweet new type of honeymoon, and the most beautiful feeling in the world.

Congratulations, my friend, and welcome sweet baby Luke!

Sick Day

I'm sitting on the opposite end of the couch from an almost two-year-old, strawberry blonde who kept me up most of the night last night. She ran fever, and as much as she's fever free now, she still doesn't feel good. I can tell because she's actually sitting still. She's propped up on a pillow with her favorite blanket and baby watching "Let It Go" i.e. Frozen.


Photo by Hailey Erickson

That is definitely her hand on her hip.
As I crawled into her eventual big girl bed last night around 12:45 and tucked her in beside me, I ran through our schedule for today, noting who I needed to call, and what would need to change about the day. There are many benefits to being home with my kids during this season, but as a former working mom, this is the biggest burden that has been lifted. I can stay home with my little sick ones without my work obligations hanging over my head. The war between being present for my sick child, yet keeping my responsibilities at work on track was enormous. I didn't give myself any grace from my own high performance expectations.

All that to say: I don't take for granted one second that I'm here with this little lady without much more than a text to my Tuesday morning Bible study group to say I won't make it.

Wherever you are today in your journey of motherhood, I pray on this Tuesday you find much grace and peace from the Great Giver, our Lord Jesus. He is everything.

What I'm Up To!

I talk a lot about the kids on here, but I often forget to include the things I'm into these days beyond shopping. Clearly I don't spend my days only shopping because if I did, I would need to find a job ASAP. Beyond the usual stay at home mom/family cruise director thing that is the majority of my time, I'm pursuing some activities I feel that God wants me to invest in outside of our home during this season.

Most of this involves ministries at our church. We stay fairly busy with high school students, especially this time of year with learning new names and new routines of our incoming seniors. We said good bye over the summer to a really great group, but we have another great one this year! By far, this keeps me feeling younger than I probably should--that and the playlists at Pure Barre loaded with top 20 music. This summer I was busy with student camp, and I plan on posting some details about that soon, because the evening extra I helped plan was so fun!

This fall marks the 3rd annual Pinterest Day held by our Ladies' Ministry, and I'm a co-chair of the event this year. I'm pumped about the classes we're offering:

• an Annie Sloan Chalk paint demo class (each participant brings a small furniture piece to transform)
• a beaded tassel necklace class (you know, the tassel necklaces you see everywhere right now!)
• a make-ahead meals class (stocking your freezer for a month)
• a Christmas wreath
• a Christmas garland (for moms and their young daughters to make together)
• a birthday wreath
• and about 4 others that I could go on and on about

Each lady picks one craft to make, and it's only $15. Such a bargain and a fun morning on top of it.

 My craft from last year
This Tuesday also started up fall Bible studies for the fall semester. The church provides childcare, and brother is already in school that day, so it's a good couple of hours for me to be me for a bit. We're studying Beth Moore's Children of the Day. I never start a new Beth Moore study without thinking of my college friends and the amazing first study of hers we ever did on the life of David. I'm so thankful God placed them in my life to sharpen and encourage me during that very formative time.
Speaking of that, I should probably get on my Bible study homework.

Weekend Pre-Party

We kicked off our weekend this morning with a trip to the donut shop. Probably some of my hesitation at wearing a running skirt is the fact that I will drive completely out of my way to go to a donut shop with a drive-thru. I don't understand why my part of town has only donut shops that you have to walk in to for a decent donut. Should someone with that kind of lazy commitment to donuts really be wearing a running skirt?

(Answer: that person should definitely put one on, then go run in it.)


Nonetheless, we found ourselves some sprinkle donuts and donut holes and made our way home.

Tonight kicks off the little guy's soccer season. First practice! Yes, Friday night. If you had ever told me at age 16 that I would be excited about watching little kids run rampant around an open field for fun, I probably would have looked at you like "that will never be me." But here I am, and there it is. We are probably more excited than he is.

This week my fave cooking collaboration blog The Kitchn kicked off the Kitchn Cure, which is 4 weeks of daily tasks designed to get your kitchen and pantry in shape for fall. I've been following along and am currently enjoying a sparkling clean fridge. So thanks to the Kitchn for inspiring me to take the time to really scrub it out. If you're into that sort of thing, it's a great way to divide and conquer the things you've been putting off in that particular room.

Have a great, time-is-ticking-on-summer weekend!

Motivated Monday

Last night I went to bed with the house a mess. That's a rarity, as we usually do some picking up family-style on Sunday evening, but last night, I was all, "meh, I'll do it tomorrow."

On the weekends I'm usually a little more lax in my tidying up, simply because I spend the entire week doing exactly that. It seems a little fruitless, but since my job is "homemaker" I feel like I'm taking a hit on my (self-scored) performance appraisal if the order of the house is less than what I want it to be. And I'd prefer the house to be within 15 minutes of company-ready, if at all possible. (Not always possible. You know, real life happens.)

When I was working, the house stayed a lot cleaner since we weren't here most of the day. Now, even if we have plans to be out and about in the mornings, we're still home at naps and usually through the rest of the evening, which leaves plenty of time to distribute every single toy we own in a location other than its home.

One of these days I will miss that, right?

Anyway, I spent most of the morning moving laundry, picking up around the small folk, and running errands. Supper's in the crockpot, and my car is even washed. It's nap time now, and I've settled down on the couch to the whoosh of the laundry room and a bag of brownie brittle. I'm a little late to the party on this, but it's amazing and only 120 cals per serving. It reminds me of the crispy edges of the brownie, if that's your bag. I'm trying to decide if I've only had one serving or if I've crossed the line into 2 (most likely). I found it on the cookie/snack aisle.


Here's to Monday's to-do's becoming done's.

Tap, Tap, Tap...is this thing on?

When I last checked in from a long pause, I mentioned that we were busy with all kinds of stuff over the next few weeks. The very first thing on that agenda--youth camp--knocked me off my game. I've been digging myself out of laundry, toys, dust, floors that needed to be vacuumed and the like since we got home. Only this week am I beginning to feel like I'm catching up.

The kids are having a great summer! After youth camp, we had Vacation Bible School at our church. Mid-week, our children's and young adult ministry areas flooded due to heavy rains in our city, which was intense. We are trusting God to provide for the repairs needed. We're talking lots of new carpet and sheetrock. No one will soon forget VBS 2014 around there.


The following week was the first of two in swim lessons for our boy, plus we all had a post-VBS summer cold. It's amazing how quickly one can progress in a skill when focused on it for two weeks. He's gone from not wanting to get in straight to loving the water. Tomorrow is his last day, and Monday we have no commitments.


Other than those items, we're squeezing in as much summer fun as we can. Snowcones some evenings, popsicles on the back porch, and thankfully, some naps for all too. Noses are finally drying up, and now that the 100 degree days are hitting here, we're glad to have lazy days at hand.

Longtime, no see!

Well, hi and hello! I've been missing my blog, and my mom tells me she's about to stop checking it, so I guess I needed to either end things or get moving. I've decided on the latter.

The little guy finished up preschool a few weeks ago, and sister is getting a mouthful of teeth. They just keep on growing, and we're looking forward to another fun summer of just hanging out together. Last summer we were very consistent on a weekly story time, so we're getting back into the groove of that one.


A special guest at our most recent story time visit.
I'm still attending Pure Barre, and I'm set to join the 250 club, probably in early July with all of the activities going on June. Oh yes, June. We've already taken one vacation, and coming up is youth camp and VBS back to back. For youth camp, I'm responsible for planning and executing one of the nightly activities--a thrift shop prom. It should be a ton of fun. I've been researching how to make balloon arches, so if you need one, I'll be your girl.

While I've been out, I've still been blogging on Fort Worth Moms Blog. My most recent post, Think Before You Tweet, was on what we post about our children online. If you're a blogger, instagrammer, Facebooker, or a mom who has a computer in 2014, you might enjoy it, and I'd love your feedback!

Thanks so much for reading my tiny slice of the Internet. I hope you have a great summer!

Weekending and the Ramp Up to Summer

This weekend was full!

Friday night started out with Parents' Night Out at our church which is awesome, low-cost childcare for a date night. Mr. G and I headed down to Sundance Square for supper at Bird Cafe. While we enjoyed our dining experience, I think we decided it wasn't really our kind of place. For example, we ate some part of the base of a cow's brain or something like that, without knowing what it was. I tuned out after the waitress said "cow" and "brain." Thinking about it makes me want to go grab my toothbrush again.

Anyway, nothing against Bird Cafe. The atmosphere was great, and the service was fine. I'm not an adventurous eater, although I now feel practiced up to try out for Survivor.

We washed that down with a cupcake, as we enjoyed the fabulous new open space in Sundance Square. If you've never been to Fort Worth, it's a fantastic place to spend a summer evening, with the fountains for kids to play in and plenty of seating to just relax and visit with friends and loved ones.


This pic was from brunch on Mother's Day weekend, which was very lovely.
Saturday was filled with errands for Senior recognition Sunday at our church before a 75 minute intensive Pure Barre class for 100 Club Members. It was with one of my favorite instructors who you seriously cannot help but love as she challenges you in a very sweet voice to push yourself harder than you ever have before. That was Saturday, and I'm still sore. It was awesome.

Moving on to Sunday. Our church's Student Ministry has a lot of traditions surrounding Senior Sunday, and I really enjoy getting to be part in honoring those. We have a robing ceremony during the Sunday school hour where each graduating senior chooses someone who has had a significant impact on their walk with Christ to honor that morning. The honoree helps the student into their graduation gown, followed by the student saying a few words of thanks to the honoree. It's really moving. After, the students are recognized in the worship services, then we have a special luncheon. After all of the running around, the fam came home and took a big nap. We rounded that out with snow cones and guacamole on the back porch.

I keep looking at the calendar and can't believe my eyes. Between youth camp, VBS, and swim lessons, our June is booked. So much for the lazy days of summer.

Us, Lately!

We've been busy the past few weeks during my unintended blog silence. Here's a little peek at what we've been up to!

::ONE::

Way, way back a month ago, we spent spring break at my parents' house. If you had told me when I was 16 that I would actually plan and enjoy a spring break in my hometown, I would've called you crazy. Yet that's exactly what we did. We played at the great community park (with a real retired fire truck that's been retrofitted for kids to crawl all over!), hung out with Sugar and Granddaddy, and ate snow cones. It was great!

::TWO::

Speaking of my parents, last weekend they treated us to Disney on ice last weekend. It was so much fun!


Side note: I often find myself telling Jack to stop making the exact same face I'm making in that family pic. I have been baffled until now on where he picked it up. Poor kid.

::THREE::

The first nice day with nothing on our calendar, we high-tailed it to the Fort Worth Zoo. They have an exhibit on right now called GIGANTABUGS which is quite like it sounds: gigantic replicas of bugs. Especially creepy ones are the scorpion and tarantula. The tarantula is hairy and probably as big as two mid-size SUVs. And they all move. {Shudder}

Not everyone appreciates a good selfie on the train.



::FOUR::

I've still been going to Pure Barre religiously. Back during the Olympics, they were having a contest regarding social media check ins and attendance, so I was checking in on Facebook everyday. My friends were like "did you stop going?!?" Nope! I'm still there almost every day, but I only post sometimes. Right now I'm dying (exaggeration) over these blue Splits59 crops and waiting for my studio to get them in.


::FIVE::

I cooked my first whole chicken using this recipe from Fort Worth Moms Blog. It reminded me of cooking a pot roast, once I got past the mental block of sticking my hand inside the chicken. Maybe I should stick to pot roast. The chicken was delicious though!

Every Week, A Party

February has flown by! I know it's because I've been procrastinating getting everything together for the two birthday parties we have going on this weekend and the next. So many people have told me how convenient it is that my kids' birthdays are two days apart, making one birthday party for both of them a snap. However I am a birthday GIRL, and it would not have gone over well with me if I'd had to share a party with my brother, much as I do love him.

Therefore, I can't imagine making my kids share a party, at least not at this stage in the game.

So that means over the next 7 days I'll be making two bakery stops, two balloon stops, and two very different party themes happen. I'm tired just thinking about it, but I'm doing it to myself so I'm not asking for sympathy.

Jack's birthday will be at Chick-fil-a. I know every mom on Pinterest just gasped in unison at the thought of me not having special customized wraps on his bottled water, but it's his favorite thing in the world, and who am I to deprive him of it? He loves to play on the playground, and I love their diet coke, so really it's a win-win for both of us. Plus I can prolong cleaning up my house for company for the next week when we have Annabelle's party here. I even sprung for the cow to make a special appearance. He's going to have a blast!

While I've been sporadic posting around here lately, I've been on some other blogs recently:

You may have seen my post here regarding our trip to Cook Children's Urgent Care. They featured that post on the Cook Children's blog We Do it All For Kids. It's a great resource for any parent, not just locals, so check it out. I can't say enough good things about Cook Children's.

My latest post over at Fort Worth Moms Blog is on new date night dining options in Fort Worth. We tried Cane Rosso late last week, and it was delicious!

Celebrating 2013

As much as last night was a celebration of ringing in the New Year, I can't help but look back with nothing but gratitude for so much in 2013. Let's take a walk down memory lane.

In February, just two days after Jack turned two, we met baby sister.


And then, I quit my job of over a decade to stay home with my babies.

We spent some days at home in our pajamas while I adjusted to life with two children.


And then I got it together and we made many trips to the Fort Worth Zoo, the Science Museum, and the parks around Cowtown. And sometimes just to Chick-fil-a or HEB just to give us something to do.



We took our first vacation as a family of four.


Over the summer, I fell in love with Pure Barre. And thanks to it, better eating, and the safe delivery of an 8 lb 3 oz sweet baby girl, I'm starting the year a pound under my pre-baby weight (which was last seen in 2010.)

It's been a great year, focusing on serving the Lord, serving my family, and taking in this beautiful life. I'm in hopeful anticipation for more of the same in 2014. Happy New Year!

Weekending

This weekend was just an ordinary weekend. Nothing fancy, nothing big, just hanging out as a family doing the things that we do.

By some strange course of events, Thursday I had an allergic reaction--red welts and itching on my arms and legs. It got worse on Friday, and by the time Mr. G got home from work, I had checked in on the web at CareNow (a local urgent care clinic) to be seen ASAP! It was also parents' night out at our church, so first he dropped me off at the clinic, ran to drop off the kids, and came back to pick me up. By the time he was back, I had a steroid shot and a prescription.

We had easy plans to hang at Brewed so that's where we headed after my prescription was filled. Brewed has a Sweet Eugene's feel to it, if you're familiar with College Station, except they serve a full menu of food as well as coffee. We ate, people watched, and talked about Christmas. We're anticipating so much fun with our kids.

I wouldn't have even mentioned the breaking out allergic reaction thing, except that on Saturday we had family pictures scheduled. Red welts. On arms and legs. Some on neck. Awesome. By that evening, it didn't look too bad. (At least that's what I'm telling myself. And yes, #firstworldprobs.) We had a 20 minute mini-session for pictures this year because I wasn't sure how it would work out with a baby and preschooler. They were both great, although Annabelle didn't have the usual smiles I was expecting out of her. We're talking kids though--so really I should've known to expect the unexpected.

After, we made good on a promise for ice cream since the preschooler smiled well for the pics. I can't wait to see how they turned out. He definitely earned his ice cream!


A cookie monster from Cheddar's. YUM.
Sunday we spent the morning at church, then lunch after with friends. Later that afternoon, we BOO'd our neighbors. I took some covert pics, and I think the little guy had fun!

We filled the in between times with football (mostly him) and Pure Barre (all me) and trying to forget about the Aggie loss (both of us.) I hope you had a relaxing weekend too!

Five on Friday - Volume 6

It's a gorgeous morning here in Texas, and I'm blogging from our back porch. These kinds of mornings are few and far between so I'm loving it. I was up and at 'em for Pure Barre early this morning again, and tonight is the official grand opening party for the studio I attend, so I'm looking forward to that. And also pretty pumped about doing a massive clean out of our attic this weekend. My age is showing on that one.

I'm linking up with The Good Life blog for another Five on Friday!

ONE
I made no serious attempts to give up Diet Coke this week. One day I switched to Dr. Pepper, but that's only because the Taco Casa doesn't carry DC, and I am firmly opposed to Diet Dr. Pepper.

TWO
I absolutely LOVE two years old. I wish I could just bottle this time up with our little guy. Everyone tells me the terrible twos are a fallacy--that it's really the threes that are nuts. I would love for anyone to chime in and tell me their child's threes weren't bad either. Anyone?

THREE
I finally made an attempt at decorating for fall and put out my Bronwyn Hanahan front door decor. If you're looking for something fun for your home, she has super cute things. I'm thinking of getting a Happy Birthday cupcake since February will be such a big birthday month at our house! Both my kids were born in that month.

FOUR
My church is having a Pinterest craft day, where several ladies pick out a craft, and others sign up to come make them. You pay $10-15 and all materials are purchased and ready to go that morning. I'm leading a craft, and we'll be making a burlap wreath. I started making my mock up last night, and I'm pumped about it! I think we'll be adding some Christmas decorations to it, but ultimately, I want it to be re-usable for all seasons.


I bought too big of a wreath form so I don't have the finished product yet.
FIVE
I got a Vox Box from Influenster this past week and will have some reviews coming up. I was really impressed with the first product I tried! If you haven't signed up for Influenster, check it out!

Random Naptime Updates!

My kids are down for a nap, my house is clean, and currently, I'm having a new air conditioning installed. It's a little sad to need a new air conditioner right here at time for the weather to cool off, but it must be done, and besides, we're likely to still need AC during the day for several more weeks around these parts.

I would take the opportunity to decorate for fall, but seeing as I don't want to interrupt the action in the attic, I thought I'd update the blog!

Sunday, the three of us were dressed in Aggie maroon. It just happened. Mr. G dressed Jack, I dressed myself, and when I went to pick out Annabelle's clothes, I felt like it was too early for pumpkins, and she had worn pink like 3 weeks in a row, so I grabbed the Aggie dress. We bleed maroon around here, so it was bound to happen. I'm surprised we weren't all 4 matching!


Ahh, taking pictures with young children.
I have a post going live on Fort Worth Moms blog later this week regarding routines for babies and how that resulted in a solid nighttime sleep schedule for our kids early on. And of course, as soon as I turned in that blog post, Annabelle decided to become a night owl. Isn't that how it always happens? Anyway, after a rough few nights on my girl and me, I think we've figured out the source of the waking.

We're late for her 6 month check up--it's tomorrow and she'll be 7 months this weekend--and I'm dreading the immunizations. After her 4 month shots, she ran fever, and a little higher than I would've expected, at that. So I'm praying that the Lord will keep my sweet girl happy and feeling well. There is no more powerless feeling than watching someone else be sick, especially your child.

I've been watching the stats on my blog lately, and surprisingly, my most viewed post is the review of the UppaBaby Vista. It's a great stroller and is holding up really well with my second baby. I'm really putting it through its paces now, simply because I'm home with my children, and we go somewhere nearly every day where I pull it out. I plan to update soon with my thoughts on the Vista Rumble seat.

Yesterday I ordered two Christmas gifts. I think this is the earliest I've ever started Christmas shopping, but, why not? At least I haven't started playing Christmas music, right?

Five on Friday - Volume 5

Good morning! It's a deliciously-close-to-fall rainy morning here in Cowtown. I kicked off the day with a 6 am Pure Barre class, and I'm looking forward to spending most of the day in my comfies with my sweet littles before a date with my husband this evening.

And it's the perfect morning to list out the randomness on my mind, so I'm linking up with The Good Life blog for another Five on Friday!

ONE
Sitting next to me is an adorable strawberry blonde blue eyed girl wearing these precious, ruffled Carter's pajamas. Normally, I would have her in footie pajamas, but these were just too cute to pass up. Now if I could just get her to keep her socks on overnight.


TWO
I'm thinking of giving up Diet Coke. Altogether. I drink two a day: one in the morning and one at lunch. Have you done this? It's mostly for the aspartame and NOT the caffeine. When it cools off more, I probably will start drinking Starbucks Awake tea as my caffeine source. I'm not completely committed, but I'm exploring my options here. I like carbonated drinks so I need another low-cal replacement.

THREE
This weather has me ready to decorate for fall, but I'm conflicted on changing out the Aggie sign on my front door for something with a pumpkin on it. Shopping for fall decor, I came across these adorable owl salt and pepper shakers from Pottery Barn. So cute!


FOUR
J. Crew is having a 25% off sale right now. Everything is on sale, so it's a great time to grab some fun fall pieces! We were in our local store earlier this week and had such a great visit that I e-mailed their Customer Service Team to tell them what a great experience it was (and they responded!) They were awesome with my kids, which I ♥. Great experience = fun new closet additions. Am I a nut for sending a Customer Service e-mail? In my former life, I loved reading what Customers sent in, giving our Company a pat on the back, so I figured, why not?

FIVE
I had a post on packing a preschool lunch earlier this week on Fort Worth Moms Blog. If you're looking for some lunch ideas for your littles, click on over there! And feel free to leave me some comments with some successful lunch options you've tried!

Have an excellent weekend!

Five For Friday

Here are five things I'm loving right now!

ONE
Jack's First Movie Experience! My mom and brother were in town, and we took him to see Monsters University yesterday. I didn't have high expectations, but he did well! The movie was cute too.


TWO
Hyatt Regency Hill Country Spa and Resort. That's where we vacationed last week with some friends, and we had such a great time. I can't tell you how perfect it is for young families desiring a low stress getaway. More on this coming soon.


THREE
Priscilla Shirer's Gideon Bible study. Some friends of mine and I are following Beth Moore's online study of this. We're two weeks behind because we started late. It's about bravery, and so far, I've connected so much with it due to the season of life I'm in (motherhood). Tuesday night we had a very rich conversation in being brave and how to raise children to be Christ-followers in today's culture. The first week of homework was slow for me, but the second week really captured my attention.


FOUR
This toddler tricycle wash, featured on Design Mom. So cute!


FIVE
Library Story time! I love that any given day, there are no less than 3 story times for us to choose from when we need a laid back outing. Such a great benefit of living in a large town! That's what we did today, then hopped over to meet Mr. G for lunch. It was a great start to our weekend.

Long Time, No Blog

Why, hello!

I feel like I should re-introduce myself here in this space since I've been absent for more than a month. I thought that staying home with my children would give me an abundance of time to blog, but I'm finding that I stay far busier (with fun things, mostly) than I anticipated.

During my absence, I went to church camp with our Middle and High School students, helped with VBS, went on a first family of four vacation, and did a lot of Pure Barre. That one deserves its own post.

Other notables: Annabelle hit 4 months old. We had our first experience with vomit in a restaurant. (I feel like we earned some real parenting stripes with that one, so it gets a mention.) We celebrated Father's Day. With congratulations to my cousin and his wife, we welcomed a new baby to our family just last week!

I have a post up on Fort Worth Moms Blog this week on what I wasn't expecting about being home with my kids. It is by no means a complaint session. I'm savoring the pace and richness of being with them all day. After working Jack's first two years, being home seems like a wonderful indulgence, like an infinite number of vacation days. I'm so grateful for it.

Also? I'm grateful for the perspective that comes with knowing both sides of the coin.

This week we're staying close to home. I'm loving on these babies and putting my house back together after so many weeks of busy-ness.

Five on Friday

Here are five things I'm loving right now!

ONE
The Lululemon Bang Buster. I instagrammed this several weeks ago. I bought one to keep my hair out of my face while I was in labor. I've since added 3 more to my collection because I love them that much. They don't squeeze the life out of my head, they come in fun colors, and? Two words: baby bangs. Enough said.


TWO
The Fort Worth Zoo. We can't get enough. Our zoo pass was renewed about two weeks ago, and I think we've already gotten the full ROI on it. And to be quite honest, I'm not a big fan of zoos in general, but it gets us out of the house. Plus, my little guy loves it, and I'm a huge fan of that. Personally, my favorite part of the zoo is the fudge shop in the Texas section.


THREE
Speaking of getting out of the house, my blog post at Fort Worth Moms Blog today. We try to get out of the house everyday for a little bit. I should call myself a stay out of the house mom. Not really, we're home some too. Some.

I'd love it if you clicked on over there and even if you're not a Cowtown mom, tell me your favorite summer activities with your babes.


FOUR
Pure Barre. I mentioned that I got a package for part of my Mother's Day. It's taken some getting used to, but I really like it. I haven't felt this sore in probably 4 years, and it makes me feel like I'm doing something great for myself. I'm going to do a longer post on just this topic but want to give it a couple of weeks. Don't worry--no gratuitous before and after pics.


FIVE
Last, but certainly not least: my wonderful husband. I had a moment out and about with my babies earlier this week where my heart was just so full to be home with them and share their fleeting childhood. As a working mom turned stay at home mom, I've been hustling so hard for two years to juggle it all, so to now have time for daily simple and quiet moments with them is priceless. Before, we'd been going 100 miles an hour nonstop. (I would categorize myself as being at least back to the speed limit now.) He's giving me this gift of the little summer vacation that is their childhood, and I will be forever grateful.