ice cream, u scream!

after several exhausting and trying weeks, we were more than ready for a long weekend! nothing too extravagant planned, just some time to rest and relax, maybe do some projects & cleaning, and enjoy being together. so far... we've done just that - with a little bit of ice cream thrown in :)
friday nite we went out to eat at an old date-favorite spot that we hadn't been to in quite some time. headed home and topped the evening off with a long walk around uptown's "4th Friday" and caving-in to the long line at Graeters (new blackberry white chocolate chip... um yes, i think so). saturday, pete and dad worked on the seemingly never-ending porch/mud-room project, while i played with the girls, then tackled another project during naptime. i almost finished up making a bench cushion for the new mud room & am pretty pleased with the turn out... lovin these afternoon projects! with sunday came (well if youve read my previous posts, i wont go into detail but lets just say a for sale sign was in order) church and a fun afternoon at Nana & Papa's, which included grillin out, bubbles, corn-hole, sissy mae turning 6 months! and of course... more ice cream. ellia's first sprinkler fun run attempt = FAIL.
memorial day rain = fam house cleaning & organizing day! mommy cleans while everyone else naps :) looking forward to an extra "vacation" day tomorrow which im fairly certain will include some zoo-time! here are some other shots of our simple weekend fun...

i will rise

an interspersing of cheesy songs and the drastic tendency to overplay hot tunes does not change the fact that my dial is almost constantly tuned to 104.9 the river. with a 2 1/2 year old, everything said with emphasis is repeated and repeated till the cows come home. so this is just one way i can monitor, without having to monitor, what she hears. one such overplayed song that i didnt mind too much was "I will Rise" by Chris Tomlin. This was just another "bloop bloop - the river" classic until...

At petes grandma's funeral in march (p.s. also the same day as our senior pastor's funeral), this song was one of only few that was played during the service. it brought us all to tears as the significance of the words stood a little more relevant. i, as well as peter, will never forget that moment... its just one of those etched-in-your-mind moments. you know when you hear a song and it instantly takes you back to some place or time? Thats what this song does for us now.
Since then, "I will Rise" has been played numerous times in church and what normally would have been (to us) an overplayed, fairly typical worship song, is now an instant tear-jerking memory that actually brings a smile to our faces. Because we enjoy it so much, we downloaded it on our iTunes at home and now savor our moments watching ellia sing the chorus word-for-word.

Have a listen (to chris tomlin's version)... here

our funny float flogging

so im enjoying the Lord's humor today as he worked over my poor attitude last night. Peter and I are on the Leadership Team at our church and we meet together once a month to discuss things we can improve on. we got an email heads-up that we would be discussing our church's involvement in the Westerville 4th of July parade. very honestly, my immediate reaction to this information was "oh thats a good idea! sounds like something i would normally really love to do... but i am just about as committed to stuff as i can be right now - so this is one thing we ARE NOT going to do! we'll give some ideas at the meeting but then let this one slide past us." To add to it, Peter had been sick and even taken a half-day off work, so in the car on the way he said "i'll go but im not sayin much. i dont really feel like doing this tonight so ill sit and listen."

We left last nights meeting as the head leading couple to organize this event. Peter is in charge of everything and I'll be his right-hand gal. I'm also in charge of our yearly summer picnic which was committed to me again this summer. we have to plan everything for this parade in about 5-6 weeks. we laughed as we drove home at how often we think we have total control over what goes on. the Lord obviously wants us involved in this event... not sure why, but hopeful to see what He'll teach us. looks like He's gonna start with our we'll-make-our-own-plans-thank-you-very-much attitudes :)


"We can make our plans, but the LORD determines our steps." Proverbs 16:9

POW! BANG! ZAP!

lets play a little Q & A...

Q. What is one of the worst things that could get into your house?
A. A BAT!

Q. What is worse than getting a bat in your house?
A. Getting a second bat in your house a year later. (isnt that like getting struck by lightning twice??)

Q. What is worse than getting a second bat in your house?
A. helplessly having to watch the creepy thing fly around all your stuff with only a glass door seperating you.

Q. What is worse than watching the creepy thing fly around all your stuff?
A. having it land and then completely losing it!

welcome to my nightmare.

Q. What is much better than losing it in your house at 11:00 at night?
A. having your hero dad and husband finally find and rid our house of the creature.

Q. What is better than finding and getting rid of the creature?
A. having gotten most of the action on video :)

Q. What is better than getting it caught on tape?
A. having a husband that will stay up really late and watch light, funny and distracting chick-flicks till you fall asleep.

Q. What is better than a husband staying up?
A. LYSOL-ing the whole house the next morning.

my final note to Peter: 1 more bat in the house = 1 for-sale sign in the yard.

step-stool savvy

rainy saturday with hubby busy workin on the porch... so i whipped out the 'ole never-ending project list. i keep it handy for when i really need something new, exciting and different to work on. somewhere around #22 was "new kid step-stools for bathrooms." saw this adorable and super-easy idea on one of my fav blogs to follow (prudentbaby.com). these girls always have awesome ideas and have inspired several more items to be added to that ever-growing project list. here was the result of a little target shopping and rainy-day (naptime) fun...

BEFORE (just got a couple plain white kid-stools)


AFTER
downstairs bath:


upstairs bath:


pretty pleased with this cute update and pretty pleased i wont have to continue holding a 27lb girl up to the sink every time she needs to wash her hands and brush her teeth!

102.4 perfection

when you have kids, there are all kinds of big special times to celebrate and remember (birthdays, holidays, special accomplishments, milestones, etc.). they are all very exciting things you can plan for and look forward to, document, create and embed special memories from... noteworthy and memorable times. many im sure i don't even know about yet but certainly dream of and hope for.

and then..... there are those unparalleled glimpses of perfection. quick snapshots out of just livin' life and experiences together. no not "perfect" as flawless, but "perfect" as in pure and unequalled moments. they probably come more often than i take the time to recognize...but they are gone in an instant. when i am able to stop and really enjoy those quick bursts of blissful moments, i am overwhelmed with thankfulness. i had one such moment tonight:
having a fantastically fun evening with friends when a fever hits ellia out of nowhere. she didnt want to eat or drink or do anything, just be held - you could tell she was pretty sick. hubby and the other couple went to check on dessert, while i took ellia (in nothing but a diaper) out on the porch swing. i just held her while swinging and the rain was pouring down and we were getting the perfect breezes. it was so quiet except for the rain. and i just thought to myself "there is absolutely, positively, whole-heartedly NO WHERE else i would rather be." no balloons or camera and though the circumstances were less than ideal, i wouldnt change that moment for anything. i poured out thanks to my Jesus for everything He's provided, but most of all for this simple, may-not-seem-all-that-exciting-to-anyone-but-me, perfect moment. within minutes she was asleep on me (which she never does anymore) and i soaked it all in.
a perfect moment cherishing my treasure.

Joy

"The Lord has done great things for us, and we are filled with joy." Psalm 126:3

This is truly my heart and thought as I reflect on remae. joy, joy, joy is the one word that constantly comes to mind when i look or think of her. ive never seen a baby smile so much & sometimes its just that smile that recharges me during a trying day and shifts my mood. i delight in her and am so excited to see the amazing plan the Lord must have for such a joyful blessing.

remae, i relish in your smiles... keep 'em comin.

sponges

so i always pictured my little girls going to sunday school, neighborhood bible club, etc. and similar experiences like we had... places she could absorb teaching about our Savior. never did i think at 2, ellia would be able to learn bible verses. shes amazed me so much already with spouting off her months (in order i might add), her abc's, too many words for me to count, so many different songs, and basically being able to carry on a fairly normal conversation with us. so it just hit me the other day... if shes soaking so much in like a sponge, why not hit her with some verses from the Bible. although she can't quite grasp the full meaning yet, she will hopefully be able to hide these words in her heart. this is what 3 days of medium-effort work on John 3:16 became (p.s. i couldnt be more proud):


on a much much lighter note... in the same sitting as the previous video, we captured ellia's recreation of her fav commercial. in my opinion, staples has got nothin' on her...

midnight delight

so this morning is the official launch of a new care ministry at our church that i'm helping to start (http://grace-untome.blogspot.com). im really excited about it and praying there is strong interest. getting everything ready to go last night for the booth I have to man after the services and in just my style... the one night im not crawling for the bed for sleep and feel slightly energetic soon = hey, ive got an idea (10:45 p.m.) - wouldnt it be nice to have some sort of baked goods at the table? (insert pete's rolling eyes) its kinda fitting for the ministry and well... would be cute too. why i do things like this to myself i'll never know - but probably wont quit either. anyway, so around 11 i get around to mixin' up 2 kinds of mini muffins for the morning. one was just "okay": cinnamon streusel. the other recipe was worth the late evening a delicious find!: fresh strawberry muffins

i had to share the recipe(found here). would be great as a breakfast treat or dessert but not too sweet. hope you enjoy:

Fresh Strawberry Muffins


1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped strawberries
3 tsps sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and mix well.

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to butter mixture. Add vanilla. Gently stir in strawberries.

Spoon batter into muffin pans.

Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over muffins. (I didnt do this... but sprinkled with powdered sugar when they cooled)

Bake at 400º for 20-25 minutes. (if your making minis - only 8 min or so)

late-night deliciousness and hopefully early-morning jolt...

a step away from easy-bake

so a planned morning trip to the zoo changed quickly to some good-ole' garage sale hopping. i found myself reeled-in to a few big baby/kid sales in a fancy neighborhood on the way & had what I felt was one of my more proud-bargain-mommy moments. $10 got me some pink gap shoes, a ralph lauren shirt & dress, 5 nice books and wait for it....

yes, thats right... Ellia finally got herself a little play kitchen. though nothing too "gourmet" about it, i just couldnt resist the deal of a perfectly sized kitchen, a bucket full of kitchen toys, (and the dream of someday soon having my own experienced cooking buddy in the kitchen with me). I know its only a step away from the classic (& inevitable) easy-bake oven purchase, but the joy of watching her face light up & spend the whole day doing nothing but blending & baking made it so worth it.
...ok so maybe not the best nutritional lessons here but what can I say?

renewal

was given a sense of renewal this morning from an unexpected phone call challenging and encouraging me to love love love my daughters. not to get too hung-up on daily stresses but rather just love them... so that will be all they know & experience right now. at 7am I was asking 'but how do I really do that? what does that look like day-to-day? what about when I have my hands full with food & baby in the middle of a restaurant and she runs off and won’t come when I tell her to? what about this? & what about that?' i had a good talk with my Jesus and the Spirit of God reassured and strengthened me with these two verses (yes, in particular order):

James 1:5 "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him."

and what will it look like....?

James 3:17 "But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy."