Adventure

I am having a mad mad love affair with an app. You may think it's Instagram, my usual drug of choice, but there is a new girl in town whom I can't help but think may be aptly named after my life.

Please do yourself a favor and go download BeautifulMess right.this.minute.

And when you're done, come back and enjoy the above picture taken in a field of wildflowers on Sullivans Island, South Carolina- where sounds of the ocean filter in from just beyond the trees and where my crazies found great joy. Thanks to Bob Goff I'm learning to embrace adventure at every opportunity and this little spot provided the perfect backdrop :)

May Goals...and beyond

I've been working through Lara Casey's power sheets, approaching my plan for the year in a different way. Rather than looking at one week or one month, I'm spending time thinking on what I want to do this year. When I look back on 2013 at Christmas time, what do I want to be able to say that I accomplished? What activities make me the most happy and how did I infuse them into my every day routine?

I can't even tell you the clarity that has come from working through these goals in such depth. I'll definitely elaborate on that process another day.

For now, I want to clearly state my goals for May so that I am fully accountable for them. I'm also listing a few of the goals I'd made and completed for the year, purely so I can have the satisfaction of crossing them off :)

May Goals

1. Plan and book our trip to Walt Disney World for later this year. I want to plan this far in advance to ensure we have meal reservations at all of the fanciest princess-approved venues. This trip is going to be EPIC for Madelyn and I definitely don't want to wing it.

2. Finish Love Does by Bob Goff. Ya'll, this book is incredible. It's a quick entertaining read but it will change your life.

3. Update the picture frames in our house.

4. Finish painting the kitchen.

5. Send cards with updated pictures of the kids to grandparents, great-grand parents, and other extended family members.

6. Sell our baby stroller, car seat, and bases. Yes, I know what you are thinking. And yes, this is the official "we are done" battle cry of two parents who have decided we are elated to have two incredible children and that is enough for us.

And lastly, a few things I have crossed off my list for the year:

1. Paint the master bedroom and bathroom

2. Open 529 accounts for the kids and fund monthly

3. Book a family beach vacation

Little Miss turns four

Last weekend we celebrated the fourth birthday of our sweet baby girl.

 And let me tell you folks, four feels old. 

It is uncharted territory- parenting this little person with strong opinions that she can articulate

 in long detailed sentences.

Beware- sassy girls on the loose

One minute you're stressed over sleep training your infant and the next your baby can get themselves fully ready for bed and put them self to sleep without much more than a hug from you. 

It's bittersweet to say the least.

Oh, but how she just light us up with joy everyday. 

She loves pink. She wants to be a Disney Princess. She insists on wearing dresses as often as possible and will scowl should I suggest she don anything other than a glittery shoe on her foot. 

A princess pinata. Naturally.

She loves to take care of her baby dolls and knows just how to turn her daddy to mush. She likes to tell him he's handsome and say the prayer every night before dinner. And she's just dying for her little brother to get a little bit bigger so he can stop pestering her, though I tell her that's not likely to happen soon. 

If what they say is true- that God lets us pick our parents- consider me forever indebted to her. 

Special thanks to Heidi and Beverly from Sweet Birdie's Nest for the insanely cute invites and door decor. 

Worthy Reads

Beautiful verse courtesy of Emily Ley

Lately I'm really seeking wisdom from those around me- on the interwebs and elsewhere. Trying to focus less on the daily chaos and more on being a better person while I'm in it.

Every once in a while I stumble upon a post that feels like something that everyone should read. Here are a few of them.

This post is by Paige Knudsen who lives locally here in Atlanta and is the mom to four beautiful girls. This woman has a story to tell, and she recalls the challenges she has faced with incredible grace and wisdom (there's that word again). She wrote this post on her anniversary to her second husband and it has really stuck with me. If you are married- read it. You won't regret it. 

This post was one of those articles that showed up on my Facebook feed because another mom I know (and highly respect) had commented on it. It discusses why sometimes it's good to let your children play alone---GASP! I know. A shocking revelation in a society where we often feel like we need to cater to our child's every need and provide their main source of entertainment, all the while forgetting that the ability to learn to do these things for themselves can lead to incredible character development. Obviously more applicable as your children get a little bit older, but a good dose of perspective no matter how old your kids are.

And lastly, a post that spoke right to my gut. Emily Ley is a designer, entrepreneur, mother, among other things, who's blog (and products) I have really enjoyed. She wrote a post about why you have to take time to nurture the things you love, in the midst of mothering, working, and everything else we manage as women. Taking time for yourself will always make you a better mother in the end. I've talked about this before and I've really seen the benefits. Let the guilt go, moms. Your kids don't want you to be stressed and harried. They want you to be happy and relaxed. Make that happen.

In this season

I am learning more and more, that every phase of life is just a short season. Whether good or bad, it will eventually pass and you'll move on to the next one.

Sick baby, healthy baby, busy schedule, quiet days, feeling like my house was ransacked by a pack of wild monkeys-- all just a season.

One of the ways I struggle with this is in how I feed our family. I love to cook and making sure that we eat 90% healthy is a top priority of mine. But how to do this while working and with two constantly-hungry children still something I haven't figured out. I use my slow cooker, I try to bulk cook early in the week, but more and more I'm finding myself resorting to healthy convenience foods which while still somewhat nourishing, make me feel like a total mom slacker.

I want to cook big, delicious meals every night. I enjoy that. And I like to sit down and enjoy a good meal after a long day. But this just isn't the season for that.

The kids want to eat the second they walk in the door. And more than that, they want ME the second they walk in the door. They want my attention, and I want them to feel loved and valued. I certainly can't be gone from them all day only to spend an hour facing the stove while they pull at my legs crying.

I know a day will come that they entertain themselves or can help me in the kitchen and things will be different. Until then, bring on the organic chicken nuggets and sweet potato fries. I've decided I'm going to give myself some grace on this one.

Oh, the irony

I've been praying a lot about contentment lately. At my base I feel very very happy with my life, overjoyed even. But I struggle with really silly things like our house not being what I want, the urge to buy new clothes, new furnishings, things like that.

I stumbled upon Nancy Ray's blog a few weeks ago and was so moved by her and her husband's financial  journey I began reading about a contentment challenge she was planning to conduct. No buying extra unnecessary stuff from April-June. No clothes, no house things, nothing, in order to focus back on what really matters and learn to practice gratitude for what I think we'd all admit is a life of abundance.

I committed on Monday, April 1st. And on Thursday, April 4th we encountered our third major house repair in THIRTY days. Trust me people, the irony is not lost on me.

We're spent enough money the past month making repairs to this house that we don't even want to live in that we could have bought a small car. We've been frustrated to see the money we worked so hard to save dwindle away. We've been so frustrated that we had other plans. WE thought we were in control. WE wanted to save a lot of money this year. We We We.

As the reality of having to write another large check set in last night, Matt and I sat down and started wondering if we're missing a bigger message in all of this. Here I am trying to focus on all of the blessings God has given us, and at the same time God is testing my sense of security (which is often wrongly set in that savings account).

Obviously my security shouldn't be in things. Or in money. Or the ability to control our life. if anyone should know by now that WE are not in control, it should be us. But clearly it's having a difficult time sinking in.

So even though it feels like we're financially treading water, like we really just can't get a break, and like we truly are going to live in this house for the rest of our lives I'm going to choose to be grateful. Grateful that we live a simple lifestyle and have the money in savings to cover the unexpected, grateful that we have TWO HEALTHY CHILDREN, and grateful that we can trust that there is a bigger reason for this. We may not be able to see it, but we can feel it. 

Life right now

Oh, sweet blog. You are the first thing to get neglected when life gets busy. And I think that's ok. Better that I not blog than not shower. Am I right?

We've had our fair share of unexpected house-related emergencies this past month. You know- the kind that make you cringe to pay for but so grateful that you have an emergency fund to pull from. First we had to take down a bunch of trees that were dying because we live on a very wooded lot and tend to get very windy, sometimes tornadic, weather this time of year. And then came the doozie- having to replace 25 feet of underground plumbing pipe. We could have waited, but we were essentially playing Russian roulette with outgoing sewage. NO thank you. I can't even tell you the amount of crap-related puns we've used in our conversation these past few weeks. Our house is going to crap. The *^#* just hit the fan/I mean yard/I mean our bank account. We have no shame. I also told the plumber I would need him to sit down and explain to my children why they couldn't go to college. He did not find me nearly as funny as I did.

the crap hole

Anywhoo---In good news, April brings the celebration of our sweet angel's fourth birthday!! Don't even ask me how that is possible. She's also making her society debut as a flower girl in a wedding on Saturday. And Davis is wearing a blue gingham tie. I am already dying from the anticipated cuteness. Dying.

Also worth noting- I am now fully reliant on my iPhone for any family pictures, I am obsessed with Instagram and the new Hazelnut latte from Starbucks, oh, and one more little thing---I finally get to meet my little God-given miracle niece Greer Elizabeth on Thursday!!

It's an incredible gift to watch your best friends become mothers when you're already in on the secret of how wonderful it is. You can't explain it to them, but you know how much their life is about to change and how absolutely incredible it's about to become. It's truly such a blessing.

Ok. Brain dump complete. Wishing you all a wonderful week!