Back to Basics

Martin Luther King Jr. used to say that some days his schedule was so busy that he had to spend two hours with God, instead of one, just to get it all done. I wish I had that perspective.  I wish I was better at just giving my day to the Lord before I go and mess it all up with worry and chaos.

It's been over a month since I blogged.  It wasn't a purposeful fast, it just didn't fit into the schedule.

In the last year or so we've been trying to get "back to basics." We're eating better, exercising, spending time as a family, budgeting, etc.  So, it came as no surprise last week when my devotions were about being child-like in our faith.  How much more "back to basic" can you get? I started to research exactly what that meant and in the process I came up with a top ten list of ways that we can become like children in our faith. I even prepared to share it with the ladies at one of our church leadership meetings.  But, if the Lord is going to have you teach something, He makes sure you learn it first.

One of the characteristics of children that we can learn from is believing that God is capable of anything, even the little stuff.  I had gotten out of practice in asking the Lord for the little things.

Yesterday Skylar woke up with a bad headache and a 104 degree fever.  She has the flu.  It has been almost two years since the girls had any kind of virus so our ibuprofen was nearly empty and expired.  We made it through yesterday with just acetaminophen, but today it just wasn't working.  I put a plea on facebook for someone to grab us some ibuprofen while they were out and no one responded.  I got discouraged and frustrated.  Brian has been visiting his family back east, and my mom is up north at my cousins.  So, my normal go-to helpers weren't around.  I finally just stopped and prayed.  Within 2 minutes I got a text from a fellow school mom.  She was heading to the store and wanted to know if I needed anything.  She doesn't have facebook so she never even saw my request.  Then my neighbor texted and asked if I needed anything.  Then I got an email from a friend asking if there was anything she could do to help.  Not only did the Lord answer my prayer, He answered it in abundance.

It was a good reminder.  A humbling reminder.

I still have so much to learn.

Today I'm going back to the basics.  The laundry can wait.  My goal for the day is to sit with my precious girl and possibly shower.  :)

crazy days

September has been crazy! I started this blog as a way to document what's going on in our family but I've been too busy to even write posts! All of that changes next week.  We are slowing down.  For some reason, September was the month of visiting friends.  It felt like summer, but instead of just having lazy days to play, we had school to contend with (among 50 other things). We LOVED seeing so many friends though, and the girls are already asking when we get to see them all again. :)

I haven't downloaded pics yet, but promise to soon.  Here is a random recap of the last few weeks for us:

The girls are loving the new school (and we are too!).  We successfully completed a few "homeschool" days, and they are quickly becoming our favorites.

Skylar's teacher used to be Belle at Disneyland so it took her a while to remember her first name.  It's so much easier to just say "Belle." :)

Reagan was nervous about starting at a new school because she was worried about all the other kids already having friends and not including her.  So we prayed that she would meet someone on the first day and make a friend.  We were in her classroom less than a minute when a mom said to me, "Are you guys new here too?" Our girls ended up being at the same table and became fast friends.  Now they are in separable and so sweet to watch.  It was neat for Reagan to see how God answers prayer.  The best part is that her new friend loves Jesus, just like Reagan.  Her mom and I are starting a mother's prayer group and hoping to see some great things happen at our little school.

I thought Bailey would miss her sisters, but she is loving the extra attention.  Of course she's still happy each day to go get Skylar.  We've used the time to do some "school" of our own and her writing skills are improving fast!  She sounded out her first word last week so she tells everyone that she can read now.  :)

I participated in my first consignment sale.  I finally parted with the rest of the baby clothes. (sniff. sniff.).  It felt good to get some bins out of the garage but the smell of the baby clothes took me right back to when they were tiny.  Don't worry, I still have two bins of "keepsake" stuff that I plan to make into a quilt for each of them.  But the rest needed to go.  I'm officially hooked on this consignment sale.  It's only twice a year, so I can save up my items and make a nice profit.

Last weekend we had a snake in the house.  Granted, it was tiny and not too scary, but still.  A snake.  In the house! Thankful for my wonderful husband that took care of it quickly.  Don't worry, it wasn't a rattlesnake, but still....a snake.

I have full laundry baskets calling my name.  Right after we go swimming, that is. :) It's HOT today!

Big winner!

I just won an award.  For being random.  How cool is that?! Well, technically for being "versatile" but it's basically the same as random and "random" is one of my favorite words.

I've never tried to make this blog anything specific.  It's just about our family, figuring out God's plan for our lives, eating and being healthy, and having fun along the way.

I was given the award from Jaimie (a fellow versatile blogger and all around supermom/friend) and I'm supposed to give you seven random facts about myself and then nominate a few others for the award.

So here goes:

1. I'm 5'2" and really hoping my girls get some of their daddy's height. But not a lot.  Just enough to make pants fit off the rack.  
2. I love aqua.  A lot.  And chocolate.  The color and the food. 
3. I started buying organic almost everything after Reagan had an allergic reaction to pesticide. 
4. I run (blog post about that in the works).
5. I saw my first movie in the theater when I was 5 (ET) and decided I wanted to make movies.  I kept that dream until I got to college and took film courses.  I changed my major quickly to writing.  
6. I didn't like my husband the first time I met him.  He was rude. Although he begs to differ.  
7. I used to be a college professor and love when my old students find me on facebook and still call me "Professor."  Someday I will teach college again...until then, I get to teach my three blessings every day. 

Now for my nominations:
Liz@Sugarplum Creations: My blogging kindred spirit.  She's extremely versatile.  She's a great momma to three beautiful girls, crafty as all get up, and takes beautiful photos.  She's also just sweet as can be and a blessing to me.

Christine@ Mommy Madness: She is a friend and a blogging guru.  She has an amazing daughter (that happens to be my husband's goddaughter) and she's been on a journey that inspires me to greater things.  She also loves coffee creamer nearly as much as I do.

Anna@Annas Joy- If you look up "versatile" in the dictionary, I bet there's a picture of Anna.  She has traveled the world, been in the Air Force, gone on missions trips, started fostering precious kiddos, and just announced that she and her husband are expecting their first bambino.

Kelly @ Three Kids, a Minivan, and a Lot of Love: Kelly is crazy talented, has three adorable kiddos, takes awesome pictures, and seems to be a current day renaissance woman.  You may remember that she redesigned my blog, cause she's awesome like that.

Julie @ The Peapod Four plus one- Julie has three kids also (just now realizing how many folks I know with three kids).  She is a wonderful mama, a wonderful friend, and tries to deny how talented she is, but if you follow her blog at all, you will see that she makes cakes and dresses and pillowcases, and quilts and shoes (yes, I said SHOES).

If you've been awarded and feel so inclined, please write a post about your own randomness, er, versatility, and nominate other fellow bloggers for the award.

Credit where credit is due

If you love my new header and blog look, go visit Kelly and let her know.  She had one picture and the words "I was hoping for something beachy" to go on.  She did fantastic!!
If you need a new look, she's awesome to work with!!
She also happens to be another mom of three super cute kiddos and wildly talented.
Thanks Kelly!!

Forgive me...

Sorry we've been MIA around here, but we've been playing....

...at the zoo....

and hanging out with friends....

Enjoying the summer...

at the beach of course...

and being silly too of course!

Hope you're enjoying your summer too! 

I'm afraid it's contagious

Remember my disorder ICMTFL Syndrome?
Well apparently it's contagious.  Quite  a few folks have admitted that they too suffer from this disorder so I thought I should inform you that it spreads...or maybe it's genetic.  It seems to "morph" a bit though.  Instead of ICMTFL Syndrome, it's MMCMTFL aka: My Mom Could Make That For Less.  My girls have now started showing signs of the same disillusion that I live under.

I was looking through all the quilts from the Bloggers Quilt Festival hosted by Amy, and the girls were looking with me.  There are so many lovely quilts (that I could never possibly make) and the girls have decided that I can make one for them too.  Like this one.  Or this one (Take note that ONE square on this quilt is made up of 30 small squares!).  I personally love the look of this one and this one.

Of course, folks like my sweet friend Liz don't help matters much either.  She said she suffers from ICMTFL too but the only difference is that she really CAN make it for less.  Check this out.  It just so happens that my girls saw the same exact shirt in the mini Boden catalog and loved it too.

Of course I wasn't going to shell out 84 dollars for a t-shirt with a camper on the front.  But it never occurred to me that I could make it.  (Apparently Liz's disorder is far worse than mine in the best way possible).  Now my disorder has started to include appliqued clothing...who knew?? :D

Just be warned.  I believe this is an epidemic in the making.

Bigger and Better

There is never a shortage of ways to help others.  Hopefully you don't have to look very far to find folks that are doing something good for others; something bigger than themselves; trying to make the world a better place.

Today you don't have to look very far at all.  A dear friend of mine decided to do something really big to make a difference.  She's walking 60 miles in 3 days to raise funds and awareness for breast cancer.  It's a giant responsibility but she has taken it on with perseverance and a determined resolve.  It's getting harder and harder to find someone that has NOT been directly affected or known someone affected by breast cancer. My very own Nana is a survivor.

In order to help raise funds, she has had a few folks offer products for her to auction.  If you can, would you stop by and check out her item of the week? While you're there, leave her a note of encouragement and maybe follow her journey to "Saving Second Base." (How great is that title?!) You can also click her google ads.  Each click earns money toward her fundraising goal.  How easy is that?!




Just click on her button!
Thanks friends!!

Can't stop laughing

I read this post from my IRL friend Nikki and I cannot stop laughing! It's Reader's Digest or Parent's Magazine-worthy.  I hope you enjoy it too!

Girls day out

I always assumed I would have a son.  I was wrong.  After three girls, my original ideas for family have been tossed out and new ideas have been formed.  I'm not eliminating the idea of a son altogether.  He just won't come from my genes. :) I actually have a number of friends that have three girls also! God is so good to give me these friends so we can walk the journey as "moms of 3 girls" together.  My friend Beana in particular has been a part of my life since we were about 9.  Most days I wish we lived a lot closer, but she is never far from my heart.  My girls are about a year ahead of hers (which has worked out well for exchanging baby items and clothing!).

Recently we had a girls day out at SeaWorld.  I grew up going there frequently so I love to take my girls often too! My favorite time to go is during the winter when attendance is low.  Reagan had an extra week off of school so we made plans to go during that week (since most kids would be back in school).  After a trip to the doctor in the morning for Skylar's ear infection, we were off! It was a gorgeous day.

I even let them get churros and frozen lemonade (can you tell Skylar was not feeling up to par yet?)

Most of the day I got pictures of their behinds while they looked at animals

I did manage to get a couple shots of their sweet faces.  Then we waited for our friends to arrive after they got out of school. I decided to try and get a picture of all three girls.  It's just not easy!

One looking at me (the other two doing their own thing)...typical.

All three running away from me!!

As good as it's going to get....

Then our friends arrived!! We love hanging out and our girls ADORE each other!!

This is one of my favorites.  They're in height order (although not age order as Beana's Miss Rose is VERY tall for her age!)

The trainer in the Shamu area even commented that they looked like a commercial for "more bars in more places" hehe!

A rare shot of the mamas with all the girls!

It was a fantastic day out with our girls! I can't wait until we move on to movies, spa days, and maybe even weekend getaways! Oh the fun you can have with girls!!