Ways I Wanna Be Better in 2013

It's a new year and I've been thinking a lot about how I want to be better.  These aren't resolutions, more just areas that I want to look back on in December 2013 and be able to say I've grown.
The time is now.

-Be a better reader of the Word.  Memorize more, study more, meditate more.  True growth will only come if I'm depending more on the Lord to help me.  I want to depend on him and the truths he gives me, not on my own abilities.

-Be a better wife, best friend, communicator, servant, lover, help-mate.  We celebrate 11 years in June and I pray this year will be our best. But with four kids it takes work to make it thrive. 

-Be a better mom.  I want to be more intentional and present in my kids lives.  I want to have more one on one time with them.  I want them to never doubt how much I love them, even in the midst of working through discipline issues.

-Be a better friend.  Take time to pray more for my friends.  Take time to send special notes and gifts to friends to show them how much I cherish their friendship.

-Be better to my body.  I'm still nursing so it's not like it would be too healthy for me to try and drop 20 lbs right now.  But I just want to be more conscious of the choices I'm making and I want to move towards being more active.

-Be a better seamstress.  I've got lots of projects that I'd like to complete for my kiddos and even want to try my hand at making some things for myself.  Most of all I want to learn how to use my serger.

-Be a better photographer.  I've had my camera for almost three years now and although I can get good shots of my kids and family from time to time, I want to get GREAT shots.  I need to read up on rule of thirds, composition, etc.  And I want to learn more about photoshop.

Here's to a year of growth!!

10 months...

Remember this little dude? That face. That drool. That (black!) hair. 

He isn't LITTLE anymore.  

Five months ago...This face kills me.

And now...

WOAH!!  Can I please just freeze time?!
I'm not normally the emotional 'cry over my kids getting big' type, BUT Mason starts KINDERGARTEN next week and Lincoln is really starting to change, so I have a feeling it's gonna start to hit me.  And I don't really like change, and having one of your kids gone all-day, everyday is a big change, but I know he is going to thrive so for that, I'm excited.

InstaFriday

Another installment of InstaFriday.  We just got back from MOVE in Carbondale, IL, so most of these pics were taken there.  On a side note, I have to brag on my kids.  It is about a six and a half hour trip and on our way home yesterday, they did AWESOME!!!  Traveling by yourself is never fun, I was actually dreading it.  Three hundred fifty plus miles all by myself, not my idea of fun.  But God shone down and blessed us with a great trip.

  Big boy eating some toast. CAN NOT believe he is almost 10 months old. 

Sister, the day we left, got herself all dressed and packed.  Momma had to make a few vetoes to this getup, I bet you can guess why.  She forgot it is summertime.

Loving our new Beco!

Posing on some piggies in front of the bbq joint where we had lunch on Wednesday.

Lincoln getting a quick snoozer at lunch that day.

Praise time

Given a big empty space, Mason likes to push Lincoln at super speeds in the stroller.

BUT, he also likes to cuddle with baby brother.

No words needed <3

Heard of planking?  Yeah, me neither. But I guess it's the new thing kids (and by kids I mean high school students) are doing.  We got Mason in on the action. 

Even tried the baby plank.

On our drive home yesterday the temp kept rising, and rising, and rising.  I'm SO looking forward to fall and winter.

Linking to:

InstaFriday at Life Rearranged

Better Late than Never....

Our fourth of July in pictures.

  Sunday night we celebrated with our homegroup.  Hard to get a picture with all twelve sweet faces looking at the camera.  I love these kids (and their parents)!

We had quite the spread.  Super delicious ham and cheese sliders.

Layered drinks, like these.

Stars koolaid ice cubes

With fancy red, white and blue straws.

Fun cupcakes.

And jello.
Also had red, white and blue popcorn (you can kinda see it in the background behind the jello), cake balls, and covered pretzels.
What can I say, we like to eat.

Kiddos on the Fourth.  It was this picture that made me realize how long Mason's mop really was and that it needed trimmed.  ASAP.

Happy {belated} Fourth of July!!

InstaFriday

Another installment of InstaFriday, some Fourth of July fun included

Retro baby in big brother's "vintage" 2006 Old Navy tee.  (Yes, that is my living room floor covered with toys in the background.  Real life peeps, real life)

Dad is always a good sport and lets sister brush his hair.

His Fourth of July attire (minus shorts).  Mason wore a matching tie, but I didn't get a pic of him in his.  

  Headed out to have some fireworks fun!!

The moon on the Fourth was so pretty.

Ooh, awwww!!

DATE NIGHT!! What a cute couple! *wink*  My MOPS group and church sponsored date night for 50 families, you dropped your kids off at the church, they got fed Chickfila and you were given a gift card to go eat.  SCORE!!! Since we chose a Starbucks giftcard (don't be jealous) we ended up going to Outback for dinner.  God blessed us with slow service and we got to eat free.  When we left the manager apologized and told Ben, "That's not how we do business."  Um, we kinda like doing business that way, bring on the free steak :)

And I had to laugh when they brought us our second loaf of bread, they stabbed the life out it. But it was still delicious and I had about ten slices, ok maybe just five.

Took a trip to Silver Dollar City, this handsome dude kept me company while daddy road rides with the big kids. 

SUPER Dad!

Linking to:

InstaFriday at Life Rearranged

Blessed to be called Mom

Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her

Proverbs 31:28

So thankfully that God found me capable (even if most days I feel inadequate) and blessed me with three kids.  They are growing up WAY too fast!!

Hope you had a great Mother's Day!!

Baby is 7 months!

Lincoln is 7 months tomorrow.  C-RAZY!!  As an early Mother's Day present he slept for 9 hours straight last night.  **Hallelujah**  I'm hoping he makes it a habit.  I don't want to sound like a pessimist but I'm not holding my breath.  I'm just thankful he's healthy and that God has blessed me with him.  

And an added bonus, he is seriously the BEST BABY EVER!!

HE is here

Lincoln Benjamin

10.08.10

7 lb 10oz

And sweet as can be!

We don't find out the sex of our babies, so I was beyond thrilled when he was born and all the waiting and anticipation was over.  I wanted another boy, and Monster REALLY wanted this baby to be a boy.  He couldn't be convinced otherwise. 

SUPER proud big brother!

Sis likes him too :)

He is so handsome!  Not that I'm partial or anything.  His happy milk drunk face.  I'm in love, again!

I have been doing some sewing as well, a couple of diapers to share with you and I just finished his wetbag today.  So stay tuned...

Back from Hiatus

Well, I’m back!  It was nice to take a break from blogging and blog searching.  I haven’t checked my google reader since February and to be honest I’m afraid too.  I’m sure there are probably thousands of unread post.  Maybe I’ll check it one of these days, but for now I’m still staying away.  I miss reading all my favorite blogs, but it got to be WAY too time consuming. 

So anyways, I’ll catch you up on what I’ve been doing with my life the past few months.  For starters I got my new camera.  YAY!  I was so excited when I finally ordered it.  I got a refurbished Canon Rebel XS from B&H.  I read through the manual  when I got it but need to read it again, and again.  And then get a lesson or two from one of my friends that has a Canon and does photography.  But here’s a pic I took the first day I got it.  Oh, how I love him.

I have also still been sewing.  I did a huge project for church and embroidered around 50 seat savers.  And I’ve done some fun sewing too.  I just got done with a diaper case order for church (yesterday actually).

And please excuse the off color white backgrounds.  I couldn’t get any of them to look right, and didn’t really want to mess with retaking pics.  I’m a little rusty on my post-processing, seeing as I haven’t done anything in two months. :)

For a friend who could a have her babe ANY day now (she just got off weeks of bed rest), I made her a sweet bib and burp cloth set.  She’ll also be getting a diaper case and nursing cover, but I need to get the fabric from my friend Jen who is making the diaper bag.  She’s getting a whole set, cause we love her!

I also completed some projects that I failed to get pics of before sending them off to their new owners.  Jackie had me do a a nursing cover and diaper case for our dear friend who lives in Memphis now.  Every girl needs a Princess Cape, right?  That’s what my friend’s daughter Thea got for her 5th birthday.  

BUT, my biggest (well really smallest in size) project I’ve been working on the past few months has been growing my new “bean.”

I will be 15 weeks tomorrow (and yes, I'm HUGE already), so come October a new little one will prayerfully be joining our fam.  Big bro has already named “him” Door Door.  It’s got a nice ring to it, right? ;)

Well there’s the update.  I promise to post more, not everyday mind you, but my goal will be once a week.  But I will post again tomorrow cause I’ve been sewing some trainers for Brooke and I need to show them off. 

Stay tuned :)