Lately's....

Memorial Day weekend fun at my Sister's....

...Engagement pictures ....

...Maternity Pictures....

...And, really enjoying my new camera.  If you couldn't tell.

Show me the way I should go, for to You I lift up my soul.

Psalm 143:8

Soccer Mom.

It's hard to believe I have a child old enough to start a sports class.

I was a little hesitant, considering he's only 3 years old, but this class is specifically designed for 3-4 year olds and I thought following instructions + a little physical activity would be good for him.  It is a 6 week sports program, covering soccer, basketball, and baseball.

At risk of sounding like an annoying proud parent, this boys is fast.  He clearly gets his speed from his Daddy!

He did really good overall, kept up with the upper-4's, and of course made his Mama so proud.

Have a great Memorial Day weekend...
It will be a busy one for us...
hanging out with family + friends
taking pictures for 2 different couples
laughing around the campfire
going through an entire bottle of bug spray
giving daily baths to my boys
and most importantly, avoiding snakes.

Dirty outfits + dirty faces... it's officially summer.

What about you... any plans?

Sensory fun.

I'm always on the hunt for fun things to do with my boys.  It drives me a little crazy to not have a small "plan" each day... a few activities we'll do or a few places we'll go.  Of course we have our down time as well when the boys play on their own, but I like a little bit of structure in our days.

None of these ideas are original or my own, but a few weeks back Jaxon helped me dye some rice and once it dried they were able to play with it.  The fun colors made me happy (what can I say... I'm a visual gal) and it kept both boys occupied for over an hour... total win win situation.

A couple days ago, Jaxon helped me pour water and make water balls.  They are supposed to be used for watering plants and decoration, but also super fun to play with and a great sensory activity.

I told him, "when you wake up, these balls will be bigger and then we can play with them!"

Lots of fun, but I have to say... It continues to take me off guard when Jaxon says to me (and complete strangers),

"Mommy, my balls got big!"

Always takes me a few seconds to realize what he's talking about.

Wordless Wednesday :: BFF's

Hello Monday.

hello beautiful weather today, i could get used to you.  70's, cold breeze, sunny.

hello $260 worth of clothes from Gap for $42.  Mama loves clearance!

hello returning home from Iowa for the past 4 days... love getting out of town.

jax has been begging to see cooper lately and i enjoy any chance i get for some R&R.

tyler's grandma was also there and i love being with her!  she's a wealth of knowledge and FUN.

hello my best friend leaving for sierra leone tomorrow... going to be praying for her nonstop!

hello another fun weekend coming up... headed to Iowa again, but this time to my Sisters!!!!!

i also have 2 photo shoots scheduled while i'm there.  eeeeck!

hello amazing blessing & provision from the Lord... a new-to-me canon 5D. 

now i need to learn how to use it :)

hello awesome giveaway from meg at whatever!  i want SO bad!

hello jaxon starting his summer sports program this week... how is my baby so big already?!

hello dream house in our price range... but wrong timing.  :( 

have a great week!

Mother's Day 2012.

Jaxon woke up bright and early Mothers Day morning and greeted me with a train in my face, per his usual morning routine.  I rolled over and jokingly asked "where's my breakfast in bed?" and Tyler replied "sorry, we just have trains in bed."

The rest of the day went off without a hitch... a great church service, lunch with friends, and naps all around.

"The boys" gave me a couple more charms for my Pandora bracelet and Jaxon cut me some flowers from our rose bush... so sweet!

Later in the afternoon we headed down to the Plaza for some pictures by Rachael Ruffin.  She was offering free mini sessions and in return asking for a donation for the American Widow Project.  I very happily took part since I'm so often the one behind the camera, and in-turn could also could donate to a great organization.

All in all, a great day with my boys.  I am so thankful to be their Mommy.

Jaxon-isms.

I am almost hesitant to even type it out in fear of jinxing things, but the last few days I've seen a different side to Jaxon.

You all know, it's been a tough ride the last few months raising this boy.  I don't know if it will be short-lived or not, but man oh man... I'm definitely soaking it all in. 

Today he came up to me, cupped my face in his hands, and said "Mommy, I love you."  Completely unprompted, it was my favorite part of today.  

Another favorite phrase is "well, that makes me happy!"  Whether it's me getting him a drink, getting him dressed, playing with him, or giving him hot dogs for dinner, it's his reply right now and I adore it.  Although, along with this also comes, "that makes me sad..." when he is upset about something.  He's learning to express his emotions the last few months and it is exciting yet heartbreaking at times.

He's a super sensitive boy.  When he senses being left out from other kids, he HURTS... real tears.  A few weeks at small group I heard him start crying a real cry from the other room so I quickly rushed in.  When I asked him what was wrong, he replied "she's lookin' at me like that!" Someone looked at him the wrong way and it really hurt his feelings.  Ha!  Sweet boy.

Jaxon is also great at encouraging people.  He loves to tell Cohen "great job, brother!" "great job, Mommy!" or "be careful, Aunt Kallie!".  The other day when we arrived at bible study he said "Ethan, this is my best friend Benton."

His manners get better with the day, as he's starting to ask "Can I please have ___", instead of me prompting him to say 'please' after anything he asks.  He loves to have his back scratched, and also recently has started saying "you want to carry me to bed, Daddy."  The answer is always yes to that one!

And lastly, he is heard saying "hey, watch this!" about a hundred times a day.  Usually it's something small like a goofy face, but a lot of times it really makes me laugh. 

Oh, and Cohen?  He's hanging steady with the "ah? ah!?! ahhhh!" talk... although yesterday he did bark like a dog.  So that's a start!

There's a lot of hard days in parenting, but the last few days have given me fresh hope, and for that I am so thankful.

Being a Mom.

There's really nothing that can fully prepare you for becoming a Mom.  Sure, you can read the hundreds of books out there on parenting, but until you have a itty bitty tiny human in your arms, you can't quite understand.

As quickly as they started, the newborn days are over, and suddenly we have tiny humans on our hands.  They're rolling, crawling, walking, then running and each night you realize you will never have these days again.

Then, you enter the tunnel.  The days of dreading dinner time... it's loud, chaotic, and always a fight.  One of the boys is banging their fork against the plate, while the other is yelling "ahhh aaahhhh ahhhhhh", just to try and out-do the other.  These are also the days that you wave your white flag, even though its only 8:30am.  And of course the days that you think your child spent more time in his room in time-out, than he did outside his room.  You know the ones I'm talking about.

Through the chaos that abounds and also through the happy and silly times, above all, I want our home to be a place of refuge.  The place that our kids WANT to come home to... where they know they are loved and their voice is heard.  The place they want to go when they've been mistreated, or made fun of... or when they were chosen last.  As well as the place they run home to when they are so excited they can hardly speak.  I want to be the person that they want to share their secrets with.

Our Pastor talked this morning about the legacy we leave and have, not only on our children, but our grandbabies and beyond.  How similar our parenting style is to our own parents, because that's what we know.  Sure, we can tweak things here and there, but the bottom line for most of us is that we parent how we were parented.  Which, most likely is the same as our parents... and our grandparents.  The values, the traditions, the way we speak and talk to each other. The way we love our spouse will someday affect how our kids love theirs.  The amount of affection we show to our kids will someday affect how loving they are.  The way we react to positive and negative will most likely be how our children do as well.

We have such an important role to play.

Today, I'm especially thankful for my Mom, who is an amazing example and role model for me... who raised me in a Christian home, instilling Godly values in me that affect me daily.  I never fully understood the way she loved me, until I became a Mom myself.

I'm thankful for my Mother-in-law, who raised my husband to love God with all his heart.

I'm grateful for our grandparents... without them, we (literally) wouldn't be.

And today, I'm thankful for the blessing of being a Mom.  For the exhausting, terrifying, overwhelming moments that give me opportunities to show my complete dependence on the Lord.  I'm thankful for the chance to put my boys' needs above my own, on a daily basis.  And more than anything, I'm so grateful for the sweet and tender moments that put everything else into perspective.

Thank you, Jesus for my boys.  Being a Mom is one of my greatest blessings.

"Before you were conceived, I wanted you.  Before you were born, I loved you.  Before you were an hour old, I would die for you.  

This is the miracle of love." 

-Maureen Hawkins 

Tidbits + Giveaway winner.

- The garage sale this past weekend was so.much.fun!  I'm admittedly a total dork when it comes to this and didn't want to leave the sale, even to use the restroom!  I don't know what it is, but it's so interesting to me to see what people are buying... the saying "one man's junk is another man's treasure" is DEFINITELY the case at these sales... ha!  We had a fun time with the family, as usual, and I came home with $350 in my pocket and an (almost) empty trunk, so it was a win-win all around.  Everyone keeps asking if we're going to buy anything fun with the money... yep, gas money to Canada!

- Have you tried the new chocolate chip cookie from ChickFilA?  Oh heavens, they are so so good.  Drive-thru warm delicious cookies are dangerous!

- Jaxon has slept through the night for years now, so last night when he was crying and yelling for me, I was pretty quick to jump off the couch to see what was wrong.  With the sweetest, yet whiniest voice, he said "I want to rock with you, Mommy."  I have no idea where this came from, but I sat and rocked and sang my boy to sleep.  I remember the last time I rocked him as a baby like it was yesterday... it was the night before Mother's Day 2 years ago. A little strange that it's within days of Mother's Day again that he asked, but I loved it.  Soaked it in.  

- I am on the hunt for a super cute maxi dress for summer... it seems like an essential part of a wardrobe.  I ordered one yesterday from AE, so we'll see how it looks once it gets here.

- A couple days ago our music pastor from Waco posted a picture of a HUGE...HUGE snake that he said his wife found while out on her run in their neighborhood.  He posted the street corner it was found at, and I looked it up on the map only to find it was 2 BLOCKS from our old house.  I don't know if I've ever shared, but I don't go a day without fearing snakes.  Aside from losing my family, I would confidently say they are my biggest fear.

- Our lease is up in 5 days, and we still haven't heard from our landlord about signing another lease.  I assume this means we're on a month-to-month basis until we do sign another one, but it's so strange that we haven't heard from them.  I mean, not really, since we haven't heard from them in over 6 months, but it still feels strange to me.  I am really trying hard to be happy and content here... but seriously, I can't wait to own again some day.

- I am adding "attend a Whatever craft weekend" to my bucket list.  Anyone else want to go with me?  For real.

- I'm still itching to hit the pavement and start running again, but am SO hesitant because of my knees.  My Dad, who also has major knee issues, has started running and plans to run a marathon with my Sister this fall, so that has inspired me to try try try again.  I just need to get my jogging stroller fixed!

- I've heard 2 different people testify about provision this past week, and am so thankful to serve a God who promises to provide for our every need.  I love hearing testimonies like these.  So encouraging!

- I am getting excited about summer with the beautiful weather we've had this past week.  As much as I dislike the heat and humidity, being outdoors with my boys just screams fun.  I want to have lots of BBQ's with friends, travels out of the city, tons of time in the water, and multiple campfires.  Who's in?

- One last random thing.... Starbucks has HAPPY HOUR from 3-5 each day until May 15, half price frappucino's!  I would be lying if I said I haven't gone already... twice.  :)

- The winner of the printable invitation design from Life Well Lived is KARI!  Congrats, friend... Send me an email and I'll get you more info!