Tickle Me Tuesday Times TEN

Thought I'd participate in this, and this today.

So here's TEN of what's tickling my fancy lately...

1. Yellow striped sweaters. Even though I look terrible in yellow.

I would wear this in a heartbeat!

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2-3. Chunky Flower Rings.

Etsy

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4. I have been dying to wear this. But at $130 it's WAY too expensive to actually buy

Etsy

5. Flower Headbands..working on my confidence to rock one of these

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6. Brown Scruncy boots. It's shallow to want more than one pair of boots...but I just LOVE brown boots!

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7-8. Wool socks to go under my brown boots, but over my tights or leggings. ADORABLE!

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9. This chocolate brown flower necklace. LOVE

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10. Feather Necklace...I'd hop on this feather bandwagon in a second!

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~Oh the joys of worldly shallow fashion.~

What I Love About...

I thought that I needed to start out my "work week" with something positive.

I thought it would be fun to pick something that I love and blog about it each Monday.

So today I thought I'd kick it off with one of my kids.

So...

What I love about my 2 year old son

~MICAH~

He is always ready to cuddle and even begs for me to sit with him while he watches cartoons

That he says "hi" to every person he sees

That he calls all other kids "friends", even when he has no idea who they are

That he fake laughs whenever adults are laughing

His giant head that stretches out all his t-shirts

How he loves to sing

That he loves to read books

His desire to be exactly like Josiah

That he is very bright and knows his alphabet and can count to 20 (ish)

How he says "no way" instead of just "no"

His deep love for his "baby Ella"

He is all boy and usually looking busted up

His pouty face

His laugh (really amazing)

That he just told me "I like your face"

He was one of the cutest babies ever

His love for animals (despite his parents aversion to them and him being allergic)

My favorite part of Micah is...

That he marches to the beat of his own drum, is powerful, confident, and loving.

He'll be quite a mighty force for the Lord!

~Blessed to be his Mommy~

Felt Flower Clip Tutorial

I made these adorable little felt flower clips for Ella the other day, and I thought I'd share how I did it. I am not great at sewing, but these just came together so easily.

First: Cut felt into 3 different size circles. 5 sets of each size

Lay the circles on top of each other and pinch together

Sew the bottom part together with just a few quick stitches. Do this to all five sets.

String all 5 sets of petals together and sew together

Hot glue beads or buttons to the middle. Glue a clip to the backside of the flower and you're done!

~Keep it crafty~

Webcam Shenanigans

James and I recently had a great decision to make. Our old PC was on it's way out and it was time for the dreaded computer purchase.

My sister had recently bought a MAC and told us that it was amazing. At a staggering $1200 for the least expensive desktop, we had some serious considering to do. I went into the Apple Store loaded with questions, and came out dead set that I wanted to own one.

It has been SO much fun! I can't even begin to tell you all of the amazing features that it possesses, but my most favorite is the iPhoto and all of the editing I can do with it.

I have been dreaming of doing some more photo editing with all the pictures I have, and a while back I had gotten a trial version of Photoshop; only to realize there was no way I would be able to learn it all without a class.

Boo!

But the MAC makes it so easy to do some fun edits. Here's a few of my favs from editing

~Our Wedding~

~My sister's beautiful family~

~Josiah's Makeup Skills~

But the most fun aspect of it all is that it comes with a webcam. I'll be honest and admit that webcams have always freaked me out. But the boys are CRAZY about it. I'm mean really crazy about it. We've taken a million of these....

"Help Me!"

~Brotherly Love~

~Yep...Embracing the Camera for sure!~

Anyway...I think we'd make a pretty good looking alien family.

Don't you?

Linking up with Emily today!

Getting Out the Door

~The Culprits of My Not So Leisurely Morning~

I have to admit that 4 short years ago I was quite prideful in the fact that I could get out of bed and out the door within 20 min. And I wouldn't look like a complete disaster.

Flash forward to today...wow...getting out of the door is now the bane of my existence.

This is usually what it looks like in my house...

6am- James alarm clock goes off and James takes a shower

6:15-6:30 The boys and Ella wake up

James gets the boys and I get Ella

6:30- James will turn on some cartoon for the boys and get them milk

I will nurse Ella

6:45- Diapers get changed (this is my favorite part of the morning) *note sarcasm*

6:50- I'll make the boys breakfast (and by make I mean pour a bowl of cereal or throw pancakes in the toaster or nuke oatmeal).

6:51- Make some coffee for me and offer to get some for James and tell him "sorry he has to get his own lunch together, because I didn't pack it the night before".

~awesome wife award~

6:52- Tell the boys "no" they can't have something else than what I already made for them

6:54- Tell them "no" they can't have juice and pick up Ella, cause she's getting fussing laying on the floor by herself

6:58- Tell them to stay in their chairs while they eat. Then we all kiss James good bye and he heads to work.

7:00- Pour my cup of coffee and mix with a lot of creamer

7:05- Tell them they better start eating or they'll be hungry later and to stay in their chairs and stop fighting.

7:06- "No" to juice

7:10- Go get the kid's clothes for the day

7:20- Reheat oatmeal because it's starting to get cold and tell them to eat

~yes, I'm a nag~

7:21- Tell them they better start eating and stay in their chairs and "no" they can't have juice

7:25- Try to keep Ella entertained while I am getting dressed (this does not usually include a shower, but I've found baby wipes and body spray to be my saving grace)

7:45- Tell the boys they have 5 more min to try and finish their breakfast and if they do I'll give them some juice

7:55- Have an internal debate whether or not I should let Ella have a quick nap before I have to take Josiah to school, and usually just end up dressing her and keeping her awake.

8:00- Tell the boys their hour long breakfast venture is over. They put their dishes in the sink, and tell me their still hungry (imagine that). I then run Micah under the faucet to clean him off.

8:05- After explaining to the kids why they should have ate at a quicker pace, I tell Josiah to get dressed and wrangle Micah to get him dressed (which is another highlight of my morning).

8:10- Micah is dressed but now I'm arguing with Josiah on what t-shirt I picked out for him to wear. They ask for juice (can you see the theme with the dang juice)

8:15- Put Ella someplace high where the boys can't get to her and I attempt to eat breakfast and start to drink my coffee.

8:20- Come downstairs and tell the boys to get their shoes on, only to realize Josiah is still naked. Start to lose my temper with Jo (say a quick prayer), and tell him he'll get no juice if he doesn't get dressed RIGHT NOW

8:22- Pick up Ella, she's really tired now and try to find Micah's shoes

8:28- Find Micah's shoes. And now I'm stressed because Jo is still working on getting his socks on.

Ella is crying so I put her in her carseat. Now she's screaming.

Tell Josiah to put on his shoes.

Pour juice into sippy cups for the car ride.

Tell Jo to put on his shoes.

8:35- I'm stressing out because we need to get in the car NOW. I tell the boys to go get into the garage and they are crying about wanting their juice before they get into the car. I put Ella in the car first, wrangle the boys to get in.

Make sure I have all of our bags (and I usually forget one of them).

8:38- Leave the house to drop Jo off at preschool, and realize I'm going to need to reheat my coffee when I get home, I never drank it.

And that's just the start of my day.

I'd tell you about the rest of my day, but let's be honest...it'd take forever just to read it!

P.S.

After all of this...

I wouldn't want to trade a morning like this for a morning where I get to shower and get all fancied up.

I'm pretty sure I have the best job.

Even if it means I have oatmeal stuck to my booty when I walk out the door.

Potential

Another amazing sermon at church yesterday. The pastor spoke about potential and asked us if we thought we were living up to our own potential.

He talked about how God must see us as a world. He must be heartbroken to see His people not living up to their potential; with all the war, hatred, hunger, neglect, abuse, sin, and depravity that our world possesses. Knowing He created His people with amazing potential.

It was then that I felt like God has created me with great potential that I am not living up to. He has given me the potential to be an amazing wife, mother, sister, daughter, friend, and so much more.

I am often faced with the thought that there is so much more I could be doing for my children. I'll be the first to admit to you that I don't think I do all that I could do for them. I am not the mom that plans out the day with fun activities, nutritious snacks, and learning games. I wake up each morning without a plan, and just roll with it. I don't play with them the way I could. I justify this by saying that I have so much to "do".

I am not the wife I believe James deserves. I can be extremely selfish with my time, and my priorities. There is so much more I could be doing for him.

I am not the sister that calls as often as I should. That goes out of my way to help my brother and sister the way I could be. I don't pray for them the way they deserve and need.

I am not the friend that gives up everything to be with you. I don't return phone calls in a timely matter. I don't know favorite restaurants, movies, music, or hobbies. I am not living up to the full potential a truly great friend can be.

But the one that makes me that saddest and most convicted about is being a Christian. I am not living up to the potential Christ has given me to fully love Him. I don't spend enough time reading His Word, or praying, or helping the needy. I don't put Him first. I fill my life with "good things". Like my family, my Church, and my MOPS group. While these things are good things, He has asked that I put Him first. He asks me to put Him first in my thoughts, actions, and intentions. He has given me the ability to talk about Him to other, and I don't. I let fear of rejection cloud my mind, and I shut down.

This is not what I was created to be. I was created to be bold, outspoken, loving, kind, compassionate, and selfless.

While this post may sound like I'm being really hard on myself, I'm really not. In fact, I'm probably not being hard enough.

He has gifted me with talents that are just laying aside. It's time I use these for His glory and not mine.

I am so grateful for the sermon. I intend to live my life to my potential and I vow to listen to His directions, not mine!

"For God did not give us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline."

2 Timothy 1:7

~We chose this verse for Micah before he was born. Little did we know it was going to be a verse for our entire family~

Happy 28th to my Hubby

Here's to you James:

I've know you for 7 years.

Fell in love with you 2 weeks after I met you.

Engaged 21 months later.

{Best decision I've ever made}

Married 6 months later.

Aruba for our Honeymoon

College graduation

{Didn't know it yet, but we were pregnant with Josiah}

2nd Anniversay trip to Denver

{Didn't know it yet but pregnant with Micah}

Trip to Nebraska to watch the Huskers ~WIN~

{Pregnant with Micah}

My first trip to San Diego

~LOVE~

1 day after Ella was born

How unexpected has our life been?

I wouldn't trade 1 second of it for anything.

So here's to being with you for the

REST OF MY LIFE

Happy birthday!

How much do I love you?

"Too Much"