To My Precious Parents

Happy Anniversary!!!

I love you guys sooooo much and am so thankful for your amazing example of commitment and love! 

36 year is an amazing milestone! 

I am so proud to be your daughter!

Also, I miss you both a lot!

(understatement)

LOVE YOU!!!

Or'ange You Window(s) Shopping Too?

Truth

 ³b Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the measure of faith God has given you. 

⁴Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, ⁵so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 

⁶We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his^[b]faith.  

⁷If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; ⁸if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

 ⁹Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 

¹⁰Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 

¹¹Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 

¹²Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 

¹³Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

 ¹⁴Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. 

¹⁵Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. 

¹⁶Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position.^[c] Do not be conceited.

 ¹⁷Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody.

 

¹⁸If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone.  

¹⁹Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"^[d]says the Lord.  

²⁰On the contrary:
   "If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
      if he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
   In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head."^[e] 

²¹Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

*Most of Romans Chapter 12

New Besties

Today I introduced Keurig:

To Milk Frother:

The result was one awesome cup of coffee!

My new favorite "recipe"

8 oz Coffee

4 oz Steamed/Frothed Milk

1 Tblsp Chocolate Syrup

*Mix until happy and bubbly.

*Drink.

*Faint with joy.

*Rinse. Repeat. 

Oh the happy little things of life!!

=)

Favorite.

Another Of My Favorite Songs From Mr. Wonderful's CD

My Lovely Ladies

Homesick.

It was absolutely glorious this morning--such beautiful and *cool-ish/warm-ish* weather we've been having (instead of the so hot you think you're going to die type weather!!)!!

We had a super busy day! We ran a bunch of errands in the morning and got groceries....came home for nap and woke the kids up early from nap to get Amelie's

 *Going to School* pictures taken.

They came out really cute!

See:

It turns out the photographer was one of my husband's old students! She was very nice. =) Almost everywhere we go somebody knows my husband--such a popular fella! =)

We also had to take our car to get some work done on it today AND after the photo shoot came home and Amelie and I rearranged the entire play room to become her permanent-ish bedroom.

She and Maeve were sharing but Maeve was keeping up Amelie until 10 or later every night just talking to her! Amelie tried out the third floor on a trial basis and is doing great up there so tonight is her first official nigth in her rearranged space.

This week since the girls have been separated, everyone is sound asleep by 8.

It is amazing.

I can't even explain how much more restful it is!

I'm so thankful we have the space to split them up b/c it just wasn't really working! Amelie is in heaven in her new room-

-I do hope the girls can be back together someday--we might just need to wait until Maeve is a little older =)

That's it for now! It was a really good day and I'm off to help my husband work in his *man room* =)

Good night!

Daydreams Vs. Reality

When I was younger I yearned to
be a Princess or
live in a Fairy Tale....
my mind was always wandering in daydreams and wishing for different things than I had
(even though the things I had were pretty great!).
Here I am....25 years+ later and I still get stuck in daydreams...
instead of embracing the present
I spend my time wishing that things were different or that I were somewhere different....
and then, in my nightly Bible reading, I came upon
this passage of Acts that really *spoke* to me:

***********************************

Acts 17: 24-28a

24"The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands.

25And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else.

26From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live.

27God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

28'For in him we live and move and have our being.

******************************

And so, I am reminded that I am HERE

(Earth, America, New Jersey)

*for a reason*

He has determined my birth and my death and

the exact place where I should live

That is so comforting and encouraging to me I can't even explain it.

God is good.

All the time.

Even when there is weirdness and uncertainty and wishy washy hearts like mine.

It's Time To Try...

Wordless Wednesday

Things I Wish I Could Buy From Old Navy. Literally.

Puddle Jumping With The Girls!

Today In O.C.

The water was sooo much warmer this time than it was in June on our vacay.
The sun was bright and warm.
We enjoyed the early morning,
non-populated beach.
I saw jellyfish for the first time today...
washed up on shore.
Gross.
We had a wonderfully perfect morning at the shore kind of day!
And then we were home in time for nap
and everyone was happy
and sleepy
and sandy
and slept.

Amelie Says...

"Mommy! I loooove having a matching room! You know what? Matching colors is FUN!"

(a case of like mother-like daughter =)

Ode To *The* Handsome Husband

Favorite

Funny

Silly

Honey 

of 

Mine

I love everything about you.

The End.

Amelie Says....

Today upon returning from Target (on a trip to buy things for my husband pet project--his "man room" =)) Amelie asked what Daddy was doing. I told her he was just getting some man things from the car....

Amelie replied, "Man things? What in the world are man things? Oh! I know! Man things are when you say you are going to do something and then you just don't do it!"

I was laughing hysterically at this assesment when Mr. Wonderful walked in and asked Amelie what "woman" things were....

"Woman things are when somebody tells you something and then you forget what they said a few minutes later."

Oh. my. word. I died because THAT is *me*!

She's a riot!!

This Is A True Story

I was thinking about Maeve and her impending birthday and wanted to peruse Etsy to see what type of birthday girl outfits they had!

I found this and I was soooo excited because it's so cute!

It's precious!

It's perfect!!

Except for one thing....

(which my husband had no problem pointing out to me!)

She's gonna be 3!!!

Duh.

I totally spaced (or am in denial--likely!!!) and thought she needed a *2* shirt.

Sigh....

Today!

Today my husband had an extra day off so we had a lazy morning and headed to Ikea later in the day! I've been wanting to find some *art* for our bedroom and they had just what I was looking for! I picked up three of these frames:

And some wall decal stickers and made these:

Yay for cheap easy Ikea projects!

I'd be totally lost (creatively) without Ikea!

**Chuck E Cheese! Free Tickets Please!**

Maeve has been chanting that lately....so today, when I received some coupons in my email we packed up and headed there with some of our favorite people!

The girls had a lot of fun even though it was a little on the packed side!

(Must be the rain drove everyone there =).

But we ate their pizza and played their games and won their prizes

(glow in the dark vampire teeth if you must know =) and headed home for nap. Woot.

Of course, wrangling three kids at Chuck E Cheese was too much to do while taking pictures so I didn't =).

But since I don't love a picture-less post, I found these of my Dad and Ezra from the last time they visited and I think they are just precious so here they are! =)

Summah Summer; I'm In A Funk.

This past year...and this summer have been strange for me.

Full of so many changes--becoming a Mom of three...

Seeing my girl and her friends head off to pre-k.

Seeing wonderfully dear friends become Mothers.

Seeing my babies get bigger.....

Sometimes I think things are weird because my natural inclination is to withdraw.

Hermit-ize myself.

We are happy and busy but we don't spend time with our big *group* like we used to.

I miss (so much) our friends and the easy, frequent gatherings we used to enjoy.

Schedules are full and different and there are many more children and many less days that we can all gel.

Meanwhile....

these guys are keeping me busy:

Ezra stood up while holding onto NOTHING yesterday for a few seconds. He's so big. What a wonderful little guy! He is always smiles and easy-breezy-delightfulness!

(I can't wait to see him and his boy buddies grow up together!)

Amelie is counting down the days to school.

22....

She is thrilled and ready and excited! She will be awesome! I just know it!

I, on the other day, do not know what I'm going to do without her. I miss her already!

I can not wait to see the places she'll go!

 

Maeve is so funny. She keeps us rolling all day!

I worry about her...and what the fall will bring. She and her sister are such close, good, loving buddies. I know it will be very hard on Maeve to lose her best friend and favorite playmate.

Growing and changing is a good thing.

But it's also a hard thing.

I think I need to do less blogging and more praying. =)

If you've made it this far you deserve a gold star to bearing with me. =)

Good night!

Today. More or Less.

Inquisitive Maeve; Pensive Amelie, Cheerio Ezra

*Maeve and Amelie were totally obsessed with watching the workers who are putting up nice new window molding on the house next door. I couldn't get them off the porch even though it felt like it was 1,000,000+ degrees out!
*Humidity = Ick.
*I think Ezra could eat his weight in cheerios. Seriously.
*I drank a strawberry milkshake today and it was divine.
*Sometimes when I think about my husband I cry with happiness to know that he's mine.
*I'm so happy to see it rain. My poor poor grass desperately needs it!
*Something else that brings me joy? This:
*For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.
Jer. 29:11-13
*Goodnight! 

Can't Decide