10 Smile Tuesday...Wednesday edition

I've been hearing a lot of crunching below my feet lately. There seems to be a brisk chill in the air that makes me want to watch old movies and drink hot apple cider. I've been cooking things that warm your heart and body lately, things like chili and chicken noodle soup. Apples are literally falling out of my fridge. I may have bought too many.

Funny how this time of year my body craves comfort foods. I think my body is in preparation mode for the coming months. Gotta get some extra rolls going on to keep me warm while I hibernate.

There, of course, have been lots of smiles in the midst of this new season. It's always a busy time of year, and, as usual, we are on the go. In just one month I've travelled to Gatlinburg, then to Nashville and this weekend to Chicago. Whew, I'm ready for no more travel for awhile. Like I said, hibernation is the key!

So, here are some of the joys of the past week:

1. Last minute trip to Chicago to attend my cousin, Kimmy's wedding. We decided to go spur of the moment and are really glad we did. It was nice to see many extended family members and just to see the joy the day brought my cousin and her long awaited "prince".2. Dancing. Lilla is the dancing queen. No one else had begun to dance yet, but she just couldn't help but shake her groove thing. The child loves to move and twirl and had such fun when her skirt would blow out. She just loved being in her "beautiful dress."
3. Birthday party. What child does not like to go to birthday parties? I'm sure I don't know as my kiddo loves them! One of her good friends, Kendall, turned 3 this weekend and she had a ball being the one to start everyone in singing, "Happy Birthday."4. This picture. Just because I think it's stinkin' adorable!
5. Not the best picture of this outfit, but it's so cute I wanted to share it with you. I got it for $8 at Target, they have $4 shirts and yoga pants and I just love it. Apparently others do too though as I see kids everywhere wearing the exact same thing. Oh well, still love it!6. Festival time. It is definitely that time of year for festivals, including in our town. This past weekend we had our annual event, which is always fun to go to. We live in a small town so it's nothing major, but it's just fun to do something community oriented and different here.

7. Children's musuem. Yesterday we met my sister and her kids at our children's musuem. Every kid loves that musuem, it's great! We didn't stay long as Ms. Lilla was not having a good day, but that's the beauty of a yearly pass, you don't feel like you have to! Love it!
8. Like I said, the comfort food has been flowing at our house lately. And the fun part about it is that Lilla is really getting into cooking. We've made pumpkin bread and stuffed pizza pockets, chocolate chip-peanut butter cookies, chili and stir fry together recently.
9. Schedule. Last week, after two years, Michael's work schedule finally changed. He was getting home at 9 every night and is now getting home around 5:30pm. I am still getting used to the idea, it is just so different, and I love it! I am so thankful for the change as it is so great having him home at dinner time and helping with the girls at night. I'm still getting used to waking up early, but it's so worth it!

10. More celebrations. Our friend, Tom, had a birthday this week too and we were invited to share in the celebration with his family as well. We had a lot of fun just hanging out, eating yummy food and the guys had a great time playing Madden on the wii. There is nothing in life like good friends, that's for sure!

And a couple more for the road...
11. Starting a new bible study, 40 days of love. Looking forward to the weeks to come!

12. MOPS on Friday, such a refreshing time to get to spend with our women.

13. Shopping alone. Seems small, but as the mother of a 9 month old and 3 1/2 year old, it's a big old smile all in itself!

What are you smiling about today?

Rush, Rush

So today we had the MOPS garage sale at my house. This last year we had very little money for anything extra to do or just fun crafts so we were hoping to raise enough money with all the donations from MOPS moms to fund some things for next year. We had tons of donations, but not tons of people that came out. Unfortunately it was rainy and chilly today, so there just weren't a whole lot of people out. We did however, make a few hundred dollars, which will make a huge difference in our budget for next year so that alone is happy!

It was also just fun to spend some time with other MOPS moms, laughing, goofing around, pushing people out of the mudpile that is now my front yard, trying to get a very feisty groundhog out from underneath a customer's car, eating pizza and finding a summer wardrobe for Anna. I think all in all it was a productive day, and best of all we had lots of help to clean up, so it didn't take long and Goodwill is now the recipient of boxes upon boxes of new donations!

Now I'm just sit here to enjoy a few minutes of quiet time while Anna naps and Michael and Lilla watch Alladin. Hopefully they will be out soon too. It's peaceful in the house, and exactly what I need after days and days of busy times, preparing for our last MOPS of the year yesterday and then the garage sale today.

I need a nap...

Life goes on

I don't particularly have one specific thing I want to say in this post, just a bunch of stuff running through my brain!

• Have I ever told you guys I am a cryer? Well, I am. I'm not a sobby, why oh why me cryer, I'm an everything touches my heart mushy girl cryer. That is my normal state of being. When I am pregnant, this is magnified. My friend Carrie and I took our girls to the zoo the other day and during the dolphin show I was so overwhelmed with love for the peanut thinking how full my life is because I get to teach her about things like dolphins, that I just started crying. Yep, apparently even dolphins can make me cry these days.
• Everyone keeps telling me they can't believe how vocal the peanut just got over the past few weeks. She's actually always been vocal, she's just coming out of her shell more and making more sentences all of a sudden. The peanut has been saying some of the funniest things lately. Like when I go to the bathroom and she'll say, "Mommy go potty?" I'll say, "Yes." She'll say, in her very excited way while clapping her hands, "Good job Mommy!! Daddy, Momma go potty!!" Or when Michael takes a shower, "Daddy shower?" My response? "Yes, Daddy is in the shower." Her response, "Daddy stinky." That one kills me!! Or her sweet response when I tell her I'm not feeling so good, "Mommy sick?" I'll respond, "Yes, mommy is sick." She'll give me a hug and say, "Mommy better." I mean come on, who is not going to find these things just adorable?
• Speaking of the potty, we are making progress. As long as there are no pants, she goes on the potty each and everytime. If there's a diaper, not so much. So, she knows the score. Smart girl. And, there is a lot of nudey butt in this house lately. LOL
• This pregnancy has been harder than I remember the first being on me. I worked a 40 hour week the first time, now I just feel like death all of the time. It has been exceedingly hard for me to get out of bed everyday. If I could just stay there I would. I feel bad for the peanut as she really wants to get out and do things but I just don't have the energy to move. The poor kid is going to turn into a Backyardigan if I let her watch anymore TV! Also, the nausea is definitely worse than with her. At least I got relief when I ate something the first pregnancy, not this time. I'm just always feeling like I'm going to throw up. It's good times. And don't mention food around me because the names of any food make me want to yak. Yeah, grocery shopping with me right now is a real walk in the park. Hopefully it will be over week 12 like it was with the peanut.
• Today was the last day of MOPS. I forced mysef to go today, and I'm glad I did. It has been a really great experience and I'm glad I got to say good-bye for the summer. I don't go to that church so I don't see them on Sundays! I'm on the steering committee so I will see some of the girls for planning this summer but we are changing our format and a lot of the team won't be back next year so it's nice to say good-bye. Tonight is a MOPS night in but I just don't have the energy to go.

Now that you've gotten the Amy update, what's going on with you all?