just lyin' around

I wish I could say that I was just lyin' around, like this post title describes. On the contrary with us moving next week! However, since we now have buyers for our house and our house isn't being "shown" anymore, our once show-ready house is but a distant memory. In its place. . . lots of clutter, moving boxes, toys, and parts of my littles (not literally parts) that tell their current stories. . .

Like this for example. In the middle of our hallway, I found this book lying open for me to trip over. If you look closely, you can read that it is opened to the page 20 Ways You Can Protect the Ocean. I'll give you a half a second to guess who was reading this book (forget the fact that only one of our littles is currently a reader). I later asked this one, why he left this book sitting in the middle of the floor. "Mommy, I didn't want to forget to have you read this to see how we can protect our oceans! Here, read it now!" I get it. I am totally forgetting things, and leaving things out where I can remember them is my best bet! Forgiven, Lukey!

I walk from our kitchen to our stairs and find this Spidey mask just lyin' around. Nobody is in it---just quickly taken off and thrown on the ground before nap, maybe? No trouble guessing who forgot to pick this up! Sweet Chuckles. . .

This has become something of a morning routine. Lukey comes downstairs with a couple of his lovies and tucks them into our couch "so Charlie and Miles won't play with them!" Well then, Sweets, how about you just leave them on your bed??

And, though he's totally obsessed with Superheroes, he's also a fan of Star Wars (though he hasn't seen it) and frequently wants someone to have a "lightsaVer" fight with him! I think this time he had wrangled Miles into playing and left them lyin' around when something better came along!

And little Miles, who does like to empty unsealed moving boxes, also offers to be packed up in an effort to help a Mommy out! Too cute!

Field Day fun!

May is here and so begins a myriad of activities to keep us busy and wear us out! First up, Field Day! Lukey wasn't looking forward to Field Day this year and I found out why the day of. He told me he remembered that his Field Day last year was when he was stung by the bee. Oh sweet precious---it wasn't Field Day, it was on a field trip! So, whew, with that cleared up, he was much relieved and ready for some exercise and fun!

I love these shots from the sack race! Determined and having a blast, our jumper was quite the jumping bean (usually a name I save for Chuckles, as he truly leaps and jumps everywhere)! Lukey turned it on big time! Even after a fall, he picked back up and jumped his heart out for a photo finish, first place!

They had several different competitions, but the class overall favorite was Tug o' War! Check out the enjoyment on their faces! Luke's team did pull out the victory after defeating 2 different teams and the boys had a blast doing their victory jumps and dances!

Way to go Luke and Team Blue! We love to see you having so much fun!!

birthday boy--Part 2

Okay, so I said I was coming back with Part 2 of Charlie's birthday, and it took me a smidge to get back to it. Since tomorrow is May (holy moley), I think I should finish his 4th birthday up!

He is all about superheroes! Always wanting to dress in his superhero costumes, wanting us to fight the bad guys with him or play with his superhero toys. Charlie frequently corrects us when we call him by his name, Charlie. He says, "You mean, Spiderman!"--or whatever the superhero is of the day--which often changes throughout the day. Hard to keep up with our 4 year old!! Anyway, he was hoping for a superhero party, and that's what he got!

We LOVE our cake lady! She never disappoints and her cakes are delish!!

We invited some of Charlie's friends to join him in fighting the bad guys for his party. They decorated t-shirt capes, listened as Superman Daddy read superhero books, played pass the kryptonite and x-ray vision! Charlie was so very excited to have his friends with him and for the day to be all about superheroes! Charlie, you are definitely our favorite superhero ever!

The party was a success--even though we were forced indoors by rain and cold, and we are super thankful for our friends and Aunt Mary who helped make Charlie feel special!

Even though his party was a week later than his birthday, we still celebrated with family on his actual birthday. He chose to have lunch at Five Guys (just like his Mommy did for her birthday---one of our faves). The weather was beautiful on his birthday, so we played outside a lot too! Superheroes, of course!

Happy 4th Birthday, Chuckles!! We love you to pieces!!

revisiting my word of the year

At some point yesterday, when one of my littles was having a rough moment, I thought of many things that Chad and I want to plan out and do to be intentional parents. I thought of the word intention, which was my word of the year last year. I felt like last year we made big efforts to be intentional parents! Hopefully we can do that every year, but it got me thinking about my word of this year. My word is focus. You can go back and read about it here. I did, today, because funny enough, my morning devotional was about being focused on the Lord. Let me just share this excerpt from Jesus Calling. . .

"Make me your focal point as you move through this day. Just as a spinning ballerina must keep returning her eyes to a given point to maintain her balance, so you must keep returning your focus to Me. Circumstances are in flux, and the world seems to be whirling around you. The only way to keep your balance is to fix your eyes on Me, the One who never changes."

Ahhh yes! Praise the Lord for His consistency and constant presence in our lives! I find it so interesting that I chose focus for my word this year. We knew and still know only a glimpse of our year ahead, but we know more about our year (our baby-to-be having Down syndrome, a new house to fix up and move in to) than we did when I first wrote my word of the year post. The Lord, though, knew all along. He knew I would be spinning like a ballerina and would need to remind me to make Him my focal point! How thankful I am that everyday, especially on those whirlwind days, I can retreat, and breathe Him in and regain my focus. I hope you can too!



our 4 year old blessing (birthday part 1)

A little over a week ago, our little Charlie turned 4! I think 4 is old. Not little baby anymore. I can already tell too---almost instantaneously, he just seems bigger-boyish. A friend of mine said that once her little one turned 4, almost immediately he began obeying, being so sweet, etc. I must admit, I sure hope that happens with Chuckles! He truly has such a big heart and is compassionate and has the sweetest most heartfelt prayers! He also has quite a temper! :) It's that temper that gets him into trouble--we pray together for self-control and forgiveness a lot. You know, I think he gets it too. He knows his Bible and how Jesus died and saved us from our sins, and he knows he sins and that Jesus wipes his heart clean!
Charlie, you make us smile everyday! It has been such a blessing from the Lord to watch you grow! We love your independent attitude, your caring heart, your sweet way you talk and pronounce your words, the best giggle ever, your joyful and enthusiastic spirit, the way you adore your big brother, how you love to be read to and play outside, your mannerisms, that infamous smile of yours---Charlie, we love it all! We are so very thankful for you! We love you with all of our hearts!!!! Happy 4th Birthday!!! Love, Mommy and Daddy

From here. . .

to 4!! Happy Birthday!

(our traditional morning birthday morning greeting pic)

More to come on our Superhero's birthday!

thirst quenching Thursday

It's going to be getting hotter soon. Boo. But hot weather makes me excited for fun and refreshing drinks! Yay! It may be pregnancy for me now, but lots of my cravings involve drinks already. Freshly squeezed lemonade from Chick-Fil-A and Coca Cola slushies from wherever I can find them have been some of my big cravings lately. My sister is a big fan of an ice cold beer in the summer (preferably with a Pronto Pup, oh yeah), but while I will enjoy a beer, here and there, a.) I'm preggo and that won't work this summer, and b.) I prefer Coke hands down! It's not a craving, it's a NEED, and not for the caffeine, but for the pure delicious taste!!!

But I wasn't posting to write about Coke. I've found this new amazing drink--with bubbles and no alcohol and healthier than my fave soda. And, I had to share! It's called Izze!! Now, I may have been hiding under a rock, but I had never heard of Izze until Valentine's Day, when my hubby brought me an Izze to have a "fun" drink on a special occasion. Turns out, he was right! It was fun! And DELISH! And, the very next night, I was late picking up my sweet children from choir, on a rainy night, when I had to run into a store to find my new gotta have--need right now--refreshing drink that makes me so happy!!! That first week of having Izze, I thought I could only find it at Whole Foods or Fresh Market, but turns out Izze is in your local, friendly grocery store (in our organic section) and Target and even my fave cupcake joint! It's made of pure fruit juice concentrate and sparkling water! It's such a treat and completely thirst quenching---which is perfect for summer weather, or winter or spring and I'm sure fall, though I didn't know about Izze back then! So far, I've had the Grapefruit, Blackberry, Pomegranate and Sparkling Lime. I really love them all, though the Grapefruit is my fave and Lime is giving Grapefruit a run for its money!

Cheers!!

a little creativity. . .

So, I finally attempted my first project from Pinterest! I've seen lots that I'd love to try at some point, but this one caught my eye a few weeks ago and I was determined to try it out for our Easter lunch centerpieces! My mom always buys floral arrangements for special holidays, but I knew my parents were just going to be getting back into town before Easter, so I thought I'd give it a whirl! It was really pretty easy, minus the bow tying, and I think I loved them all the more, because I made them! Found some vases, some burlap, which I cut down to size, some ribbon, flowers and limes and voila! My parents have a big dining room table, so I made 2 smaller vases and 1 big vase for the center! In the first picture, I hadn't added the sliced limes yet, but I did slice limes and added them to the vases. Loved the extra touch it gave! Also, the pin I found on Pinterest used daffodils, but since I couldn't find any, I thought these worked just as well!



If I ever get to making more Pinterest projects, I'll share again! Anything you are making from Pinterest?