28 December 2012

December: Day 28

10 years.

10 years ago I made the best and biggest decision of my life.

And everyday I am so grateful that he said yes too.

10 years. What a ride!

Happy Anniversary honey.

27 December 2012

December: Day 27

Friends, please pray for sweet Rebecca. She's a girl at our church (in fact, her parents are best friends with my brother and sister-in-law) and is very, very sick. You can read more about her situation on her CaringBridge site (password: rebeccataylor1).

You can also visit her website, Raise Up Rebecca.


December: Day 26

Christmas 2012...
a few snapshots















the end.

25 December 2012

December: Day 25

from our family to yours

24 December 2012

December: Day 24

Ready for Santa!

23 December 2012

December: Day 23


22 December 2012

December: Day 22

He makes me laugh.

December: Day 21 and InstaFriday and my birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!
Today I turn 32.
Woohoo!

This past week we had highs in the mid 80's. Very un-Christmas weather. 
So a campfire and fake s'mores it is.

Butter. Oh butter.

Poor Turbo had surgery on his foot and is so out of it.

Tyson's school Christmas party.

Tucker's school Christmas party.

Ridiculously cute.

by Tyson


 Tucker has made roughly 6 additional gifts for his little girlfriend. 

Happy birthday to me indeed!

Happy Friday!
life rearranged

December: Day 20

December: Day 19

December: Day 18

17 December 2012

December: Day 17


a little Christmas party cheer

December: Day 16


December: Day 15

14 December 2012

Psalm 46

God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. 
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth should change, 
though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; 
though its waters roar and foam, 
though the mountains tremble with its tumult.

Psalm 46


As the events of today are still sinking in, I cling to truth.
God is our God.
He is our rock.
He is mighty.
He is our refuge.
God hears our hearts.
We must lean on him; not just in times of trouble but in times of joy.

I also cling to my family.
My heart is torn for the mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters and grandmothers and grandfathers whose arms are empty tonight.
I can't help but love on my boys a little more tonight.
God is in control.
He loves us and just as much as we are hurting, He is too.

Lord, come.

December: Day 14 and InstaFriday

life rearranged
That's right: another week has come and gone and we are now that much closer to the most wonderful day of the year.
And the weather in south Texas is FINALLY starting to feel like winter.
Hallelujah!

Tucker really liked the carousel.

Tyson equally enjoyed it.

My boys. Love them. A lot.

Cold weather = warm head gear. (thanks Peepaw!)


I totally busted out several pillow covers thanks to Raechel Myers' super easy and fun tutorial.

L O V E this.

Homemade ornaments. Always a hit.

Happy Friday y'all!

13 December 2012

December: Day 13

**there are two not-so-nice words in this article, just a heads up**

Why You're Never Failing as a Mother
by Amy Morrison


I've gotten a lot of emails from women saying they feel overwhelmed by motherhood. Not in a dangerous way, just in a "I totally suck and I don't know how I'm supposed to manage all this" kind of way.
To this I say, you're not supposed to.
If you think about it, if you had a baby thousands, if not hundreds of years ago, you would have had your mother, all your sisters (all of whom were probably lactating) and your nieces all taking care of your baby. They would help with food preparation, show you how to manage and make sure your baby wasn't eaten by a bear. Your kid's feet probably wouldn't have touched the ground until they themselves would be able to carry around an infant.
Back then, the point of a child was to have free labor in the fields and someone to take care of your old ass down the road, and not much more.
As for the past generations that like to tell you that they raised six kids on their own and did it without a washing machine? Well, sort of. Keep in mind child rearing was viewed pretty differently not that long ago and you could stick a toddler on the front lawn with just the dog watching and nobody would bat an eye at it -- I used to walk to the store in my bare feet to buy my father's cigarettes when I was a kid. As a mother, you cooked, you cleaned, but nobody expected you to do anything much more than keep your kids fed and tidy.
My grandmother used to tell the story about how she forgot my mother at the grocery store in the early '40s. She walked up to the store with my mother sleeping in her carriage, parked it outside with all the other sleeping babies (I'll let that sink in), went inside to do her shopping, then walked home, forgetting that she'd taken the baby with her. She quickly realized her mistake and walked back and retrieved my mother, who was still sleeping outside the store.
There were no flashcards, there was no sign language (unless you were deaf), there were no organic, free-range bento boxes -- your job was to just see a kid through to adulthood and hope they didn't become an idiot.
Hey, I'm not judging, and I'm not saying one way is better than the other, but I'm just saying that we are part of a generation that considers parenting to be a skill. Like a true skill that needs to be mastered and perfected and if we don't get it right, we think our kids suffer for it -- and that's hard sh*t to keep up with. That's not to say other generations didn't have it tough or think parenting was important, but there just wasn't the same level of scrutiny that could be liked, tweeted or instagramed all at once.
You are in the trenches when you have a baby. To the untrained eye it seems pretty straightforward and easy -- you feed them, you bathe them, you pick them up when they cry -- but it's more than that. It's perpetual motion with a generous layer of guilt and self-doubt spread on top, and that takes its toll.
Feeling like you also need to keep on top of scrapbooking, weight loss, up-cycled onesies, handprints, crock pot meals, car seat recalls, sleeping patterns, poo consistency, pro-biotic supplements, swimming lessons, electromagnetic fields in your home and television exposure is like trying to knit on a rollercoaster -- it's f*cking hard.
We live in a time when we can Google everything, share ideas and expose our children to amazing opportunities, but anyone that implies that they have it figured out is either drunk or lying (or both), so don't be too hard on yourself.
Your job is to provide your child with food, shelter, encouragement and love, and that doesn't have to be solely provided by you either -- feel free to outsource, because they didn't just pull that "it takes a village" proverb out of the air.
Mommy and Me classes, homemade lactation cookies and learning Cantonese is all gravy, and if you can throw them in the mix once in a while, good on ya, Lady. I have about 9,000 things I've pinned on Pinterest and I think I've done four of them, which is fine by me, because those are above and beyond goodies, and not part of my just-scraping-by norm.
It's an amazing and exciting time to have a baby right now, but always keep in mind, no one has ever done it like this before -- you are pioneers that have to machete through the new terrain. Chin up. Hang in there. And remember, you're doing a great job.

December: Day 12