Pinwheels and Bird Baths

Wednesdays have become my favorite weekday. I have the joy of gathering with sweet sisters in Christ to study God's word. Together we reap wisdom from the Scriptures and run the gamut of both tears and laughter. Our current study has come to an end. I have had moments where verses hit me straight between the eyes and other moments where my heart was so tender toward my Savior and his abundant mercy I almost couldn't stand it. Next week we start the study of Daniel and Lord have mercy because I know I'm in for a rigorous heart and mind work out, can't wait!!

Tomorrow is the first day of March. March already. March makes me happy. A shared birthday to celebrate with my Honey. A Vegas getaway. And Peeps, yes Peeps.

A trip to Target today for dental floss, razors and bananas ignited my spring fever. The aisles of pastel and Easter goodness got me smiling.  The kiddos fell in love with pinwheels.

How could I say no?? We now have a couple new lawn ornaments.

They would get so excited when the wind would spin them. We talked about how the wind is like God.  Even though we can't see the wind, we can see the effects.

Post pinwheel planting we headed in for something to warm us up. It's no secret we love hot chocolate in our house. We like to get creative when it comes to this beverage. Around Halloween we spruced up our "Witch's Brew" with orange and black marshmallows. In December we made "Snowman Soup" with mini marshmallows and candy canes. Today...hmmm, it's almost spring what will we call our hot chocolate this season..."Bird Baths"...

hot chocolate+whip cream+Peep

{they loved it}

We continued our afternoon with a walk to the "seashell house". Around the corner lives a lady who's front yard reveals years and years of scouring the shoreline and collecting ocean gems, she also has a big pinwheel. Today she was out front and gave permission for the kids to pick a shell for keeping. Oh my heart were they delighted!! I love that they're innocence still allows for extreme joy over a seashell.

Spring is definitely in bloom around our house. I'm feeling the motivation to purge closets and drawers. Have fresh flowers and afternoon tea parties with my kiddos. Go on more walks to the seashell house and follow up with "Bird Baths". Happy March friends!! Anyone else have Spring fever??

And Done!!

Right now I'm laying in bed blogging from my phone. The Honey is packing for a trip and I'm directing him on where to find things, it's a team effort. Anyways, just hopping on because I feel compelled to tell you that I'm done with the detox. Not completed, just done. Several circumstances led to this really, the main one being my poor Sammy. She's been having tummy troubles since last week and I figured supplement laced breastmilk was not helping. Also the fact that even though weight loss was not a goal in this I found myself increasingly fixated on this aspect. Yep, time to stop. My point in sharing this...I don't know exactly. I guess because I've mentioned it on here a couple of times I felt it was important to come clean. And yes I did drive thru Starbucks today and order a DECAF (sticking to that one) latte with whip cream.

Weekend Recap

I always have mixed feelings when Sunday night rolls around. I typically have a very full belly after a delicious meal at my parent's {gotta love Sunday dinners} and while I'm sad that our lounging family time has come to a close for the week, I find myself eager to slip back into our weekday routine. This Sunday night is no exception.

It was a wonderful weekend. We changed it up a bit. In lieu of a family walk and the Farmer's Market we celebrated a very special three year old.

 If you ask Trent who his best friend is he will tell you "Cuppie!" As Juliana says, they are "professional friends."

Her mama is my professional friend, sister in Christ and fierce prayer warrior. We just click so it's a blessing the kids (husbands included) do too.

Oh yeah, she's also an amazing hostess...

Cupcake sugar highs led to a dance party for the girlies while Trent took it upon himself to test out some of Cuppie's new birthday scores.

The little sisters get down

Happy Birthday sweet girl, it was an honor to celebrate you!!

With the cooler weather rolling in, rather than stay for the second service at church we headed home to play with new blocks, take naps and test out a new {to me} soup recipe.

Sammy takes it upon herself to taste test all new toys that come into the house.

Word building is just so much work.

While he slept, Juliana went to work on her latest creation. You can see that necessary costume changes were made so that she could make a Valentine's book for Grammy's birthday...don't ask :).

I do love weekends, but I'm itching for Monday. A morning walk to invigorate my body, scrubbing my countertops clean after weekend cooking adventures and getting all the loose ends of laundry tied up and put away. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend, we'll be in touch!!

*BTW, Cuppie's real name is Avery, I know some of you were curious

Friday Confessions

1. I have cheated twice on my "detox". However, I have accomplished several of my goals already. I have discovered that I do better when not eating wheat and that when I'm not drinking a pot of coffee a day my breastfed baby sleeps through the night. Who knew? Weight loss...not so much. I have lost one pound in eleven days. On the plus side, my husband who has been detoxing for FOUR days has lost SEVEN pounds. Go Honey!! Oh Honey :)

2. My newest solution to the kid's bickering is to lock them in the backyard till they figure it out. Guess what?? They figure it out really quick. Our afternoons have been quite peaceful since I instituted this practice.

3. Since I now I have three children I'm better at turning a blind eye to germ traps. They'll survive.

4. Team Gross in the house!! I haven't washed my hair since Monday afternoon. I'm just lazy trying to conserve and also really appreciate what clean hair feels and smells like.

5. My knew knowledge of gluten sensitivities could be disheartening for a baker like myself. Rather than be discouraged I set out to find new recipes for some of my favorite treats. Here's the confessing part. Please note the bold letters spelling out HIGH FIBER on the package. Should you bake with this, don't go overboard devouring your finished product. I did...enough said.

6. I bought the equivalent of gym shorts at Express because they looked like the ones that Bella wore in Breaking Dawn. I also explained to the sales guy why I was buying them (and a pair for Sarah). Fortunately there was no judgement on his part because he was also a fan.

7. Drake had a board meeting. I had a coupon. I loaded up the kids and did the unthinkable...

no, this wasn't one of the two ways I cheated, I just got the kids Happy Meals.
I only cheat when chocolate is involved.

We have a date night tonight and I already know it's going to be good because my mom {the saint} is keeping all three of them overnight. This has had me anticipating and smiling all week. Here's some other things that made me smile...

Juliana picking out a "journal" and neon pens.

Soft clean baby skin.

Samantha discovering the magic water in Papa's blue cup.

The return of our morning walks.

Gorgeous weather the draws us outside and to the seashore.

So share with me a confession or two...better yet, tell me what has you smiling right now...Happy Weekend everyone!

"The beach!"

My friend Annie once told me that exhaustion will make a coward out of anyone. I know this to be true. Exhaustion and I became fast friends about five and a half years ago (five years, eight months and 6 days to be exact). Most days we function together, I've learned how to have a working relationship with exhaustion. However, there are days where it just flat out makes a coward out of me.

Today was one of those days. I'll admit I had some things against me. Drake is gone. I'm on a twenty-eight day detox (we'll talk about that later I'm sure). Samantha has a cold and has been waking up even more than usual. Trent, bless his heart, has had some residual effects that come with having a tummy bug. Nonetheless, I could feel my skin crawling and we had to get out.

"Everyone in the car"
"Where are we going?"
"I don't know"

After the drive-thru Starbucks where I had to forgo my usual Americano in lieu of a cup of tea, I asked the kids where they wanted to go. "The beach!" Juliana exclaimed. The beach it was. Like native Southern California residents our car is equipped with sand toys and a beach chair year round. It was the perfect escape.

I have a little girl who loves to collect seashells and will scour the shoreline in search.

I have a little boy who loves to make roads and highways in the sand.

I have a blooming beach baby who is still familiarizing herself with sand between her toes.

There's so much healing and rejuvenation that takes place at the beach. I got down in the sand with kids. We built a sand castle with a moat. Juliana beautifully garnished the castle with all her findings and Trent strategically placed toy fish and sea stars in the moat. They ran and laughed and inhaled the fresh sea air. We all left sandy and I was once again blissfully in love with my children. After veggie pasta and warm baths I tucked them in.

I'm still exhausted, but the Lord has revived my spirit. Part of being a mom is being tired. Not just physically but mentally. My children all have an intensity about them and thirst for knowledge and know-how. I love it, but it can wear me down. Thankfully I'm seeing just how perfectly the Lord has equipped me to be their mama. Also, that He's with me every step. Giving me wisdom when I ask and that extra measure of grace when I mess up. Today I cried out for just a little more energy and He granted it, two-fold.

2 a.m.

At our wedding as we lit the unity candle and took communion for the first time as husband and wife, my friend Chris sang this song. I still can't listen to it without crying. I feel like it catalogues my life so well. Yes, I had curfew at 10 p.m. The lyrics go on to talk about wearing white and vowing forever to what lies ahead, even "kids that scream too much it might seem when it's 2 a.m." That's exactly how my Valentine's started.

I was startled awake around that time to Juliana shouting that she thought Trent was throwing up. Oh he was indeed and when he was done he proceeded to scream, waking up Samantha who without missing a beat started to scream. I literally raised my hands to the heavens and above the symphony of screams shouted "Why??" Praise Him for he is faithful. When we earnestly ask Him a question he will answer. My answer came in the form of perspective today.

I had plans of baking cinnamon rolls this morning with pink icing. Putting heart plates on the table with their Valentine's I had made for them on top. Instead my morning was consumed with stripping a bed, drawing a bath and disinfecting every door knob and handle in our house. By the way, our dryer quit working. As I was grumbling in my spirit, the Lord reminded me that I get to be the one doing this. That set the tone for my whole day.

No, it was not the day I had planned, but it turned out even better. Trent napped the whole time Juliana was at school. Samantha fell asleep nursing and rather then putting her down I just held her. It was pajama day at dance class. I resisted the urge to make Juliana wear the coordinated clean jammies and instead let her choose. She wore a light blue nightgown with red fish all over it and hot pink flower socks. We made the cinnamon rolls only as dessert instead and afterward we all took a bath together. We danced in the kitchen and had lots of hugs, kisses and snuggles.

My point to all of this? I was kind of sad when I woke up this morning (at 2 a.m.). Not only was it Valentine's day and Drake wasn't here, but I now had a sick kid to boot. However, after crying out to the Lord, he was faithful to remind me of a few things. Real romance isn't red roses and chocolate it's my husband who is away because he's working hard to provide for us. Working hard so that I can be the one that's here when our son needs to stay home from school. Working hard so that I can be the one giving the post throw-up bath or baking cinnamon rolls with pink icing, dancing in the kitchen and kissing near invisible owies. This Valentine's day was good. Not ideal, but good. I was reminded that true love and romance does require a little elbow grease because after all most things worth having require some capacity of work.

Like these cookies for instance. We decorated them at Grandma's yesterday, yum!

My sweet bubba getting some rest.

I literally had to set up a barricade so she couldn't get to him. Sister loves to pest.

Rose colored glasses and pink icing on her face. I don't ever want to forget this time.

Better, but still recovering.

And since it is Valentine's Day...I found this on my phone. It's where Drake proposed to me. Despite 2 am wake-up screams calls, I'm so glad I said yes.