the perfect job.

Friday marks the beginning of the weekend...at least it used to for me. When you are a stay at home mom the days really seem to lose the meaning they once had. I don't dread Mondays or wait for payday. My weekend is when my husband has off. I rarely know what date it is. Instead of having numerous clients I have two very demanding ones...one of which speaks very little English and the other other none at all. Both change their demands often and without telling me...but I am supposed to know anyway. As soon as I learn their list of favorites they change those too. Their wardrobe is ever changing...one of them now demands a choice in the matter of what outfit to wear. I don't work 9am-5pm. I work 9am to 9am. No days off. :) These clients can't be avoided until I am in the mood to deal with them.
(not that I EVER did that with real clients). ;)

I can however wear whatever I want...and drink coffee all day. I can use the rain as an excuse to not leave the house. I have job security. I can't be fired. They have to eat my cooking. We can walk to the park because we want to...have lunch when we are good and ready...and read books all day if we feel like it. We can meet friends for coffee or to spend the morning playing.

I have never loved two clients more. Or been more confused by two either. I have never been as pushed to my limits...good and bad. I have never longed for silence more or loved laughter as much. I have never felt such extremes of success(like when Moses counted from 1-10 for the first time) or failure(when Moses seems to spend more time in time out than playing some days). I have never wanted to succeed so much. I have never wanted to be the best at somethings as much as I do now. I have never had so much to lose.

I have never been more thankful for tiny socks or baby snoring. Or Moses' lisp. Or the way he calls bee's "bum bum bee's". I have never, before now, wondered how much it will cost to feed two teenage boys. These are the details of my new "job". The one that, on paper, you would be crazy to take but the one I know I would be crazy to miss. :)

xo

happy monday!

Our weekend was packed...with walks collecting wildflowers...

...cuddling and snuggling cute babies...

...admiring the blue skies and dogwoods in bloom...

...the usual household chores...

...and hanging out with friends at the park! :)

This past week I worked really hard to lose baby weight...and I lost a little over 7lbs!!! So I rewarded myself with these tasty brownies...smores brownies! The actual recipe called for making the brownies from scratch...but I turned to good old Betty Crocker instead...threw in a half a package of crushed graham crackers...some chopped up marshmallows...poured that all into a 13 by 9in pan....then placed large marshmallows on top of the batter like so...cook as directed on the box. yummmmm! :) the marshmallows get all toasty. :)

Two things in case you don't know...cut brownies with a plastic knife...the brownies won't stick...and to tell for sure that a cake/brownies are done without jabbing them a million times with a fork in the middle...look along the sides of the pans...the cake is ready when it starts to pull away from the sides. :)

The only bump in the road this weekend was the nasty case of food poisoning that I had all Saturday night...that led to a whole lot of nothing being done on Sunday...so thankful that Doug was home to take care of all of us. :)

Hope your weekend was just as wonderful and as full of sunshine! :)

xoxo

Easter weekend...

We started the weekend on Friday by having Dish Network installed...the photo above is Moses flashing his tummy to the installation guy outside...yep...that's my son. :)

Moses helped me make a pound cake for Easter dessert..."help" meaning he licked the beaters. :)
We managed another year of non-candy Easter basket...full of Thomas, marshmallows and rainbow goldfish. :)

He didn't seem to miss the candy when there was play-doh in his eggs.

He showed off his "this looks painful" fake and cheesy smile.

The Easter bunny slept through most of it. :)

I made this dessert for Easter...along with homemade pulled pork and homemade mac and cheese. yummmm!
Here is Moses on Easter last year. :)

And here he is this year...hunting eggs with his good friend Kai. :)

And here they are...high-fiving each other over all the eggs they found. :)

Sadly, we didn't make it to church...I am just not ready yet...is that normal?

We did have a great Easter, though. We had some great time together as a family and then our good friends joined us for dinner and dessert.

I hope your Easter was just as lovely and full of the warmth of family you love.

xoxo

finally...

Finally a warm spring like weekend with NO rain!! :) It was beautiful and productive...even if the boys both went crazy on Saturday. :) Just wanted to say thank you to all of the wonderful feedback from the last post. I really REALLY want this blog to be encouraging to all who come here...and I hope that it helps you get to know me better, too. :)

So like I said...Beautiful, warm, dry weather! :) Lots of bare toes at our house...Moses has his first pair of flip flops (or slippy shoes as he calls them). It's been cute to watch him learn to walk in them...and to occasionally look down at his feet to see the shoe wedged between the wrong two toes. :)

I just threw this in because I think he's so handsome. :)

We had a visit from my Uncle B this weekend...Moses ADORES Uncle B visits...so much so that I can't tell him that he is coming until like two minutes before he is about to pull in the driveway or I have to hear Untol B? Untol B? Untol B? Untol B? Untol B? Untol B? Untol B? Untol B? You get the picture right? So Uncle B comes to see us once or twice a month...and by come to see us I mean come to see Moses. :) Moses loves it because when he is here Moses has his undivided attention...he never brings mounds of toys or gifts...he brings his time and spends it all on Moses. :) I love the Moses never expects anything of him but to play cars or trains or to play in a box for hours at a time. Gotta love when someone loves your kids like that right?

Uncle B does help us out with a lot of projects around the house though, while Moses is napping of course. This weekend he taught Doug how to change his brake pads...YAY honey!! :) Then he stained our back fence for us. :)

I LOVE how it turned out...we have had to work a LOT on this fence since moving in here...now I am itching to make a trip to Lowe's to pretty it all up with some plants and bushes. :)

Then on Sunday we got to break out the new double stroller...quite a work out on our hilly trails...but the weather was amazing and we all enjoyed getting out. :) UNTIL I got home and realized that I had locked us out of the house...oops. Luckily Doug only works fifteen minutes from home and was able to come rescue us and Moses didn't seem to mind staying outside to play. :)

And the winner of the FREE silhouette is the blogger from http://faithfamilyhomefriends.blogspot.com/
She didn't leave her name but her blog is darling. :)
So mystery blogger...just contact me via Etsy to get started. :)

As for the rest of you...if you entered you can still get a silhouette...I genuinely felt bad that I couldn't do one for everyone...if you order between now and next Monday I will give you $5 off of each one you purchase! :) Just be sure you write "giveaway participant" in the notes to seller when you check out...or contact me via Etsy.

Happy Monday to you!
xoxo

happy spring things...

Spring is finally here!! And you can see it all around our house!

The mantle is all decorated...I LOVE green bunnies...don't ask me why...if you find any good ones you just let me know. :)

Just a little something to make it fun and cheerful...light and springy...

I also collect yellow chicks for Easter/Spring...this one is from middleburg.etsy.com. :)

Sweet little eggs and Easter grass...in Spring green of course...

...this green bunny and Spring sign are from Target...

...Spring colored towels in the shop...

...with Spring colored pom poms to match...

...things blooming in the garden...

...being OUTside!!!!!

...and loving it! :)

Hope you are seeing Spring all around you today...I would love to see your Spring post...let me know if you do one! :)

xoxo

Do You See What I See...

Look what I found just outside my door the other day! :) AND we have had unseasonably warm weather lately. I have a serious love/hate relationship with these kinds of things...they make you get all excited that Spring is coming...but it's not really. At least not yet.

A couple questions answered:

Playlist at the bottom?
you are the best thing, Ray LaMontagne
Be ok, Ingrid Michaelson
I'm Yours, Jason Mraz
On the Radio, Regina Spektor
So Long sweet Summer, Dashboard Confessional
Anyone Else but you, The Moldy peaches
Three Little Birds, Renee and Jeremy
Summertime, Summertime, the Jamies
Pocketfull of sunshine, Natasha Bedingfield
realize, colbie callait
aint no reason, brett dennen
The way I am, ingrid michaelson
Light&Day the polyphonic spree
blue alert Madeleine peyroux
New soul yael naim
Bubbly colbie calliat
Closer Joshua radin
Star mile Joshua radin
Hallelujah Leonard cohen

Music inspiration?
Before I met Doug I was pretty good at finding out of the way good music...since having him in my life I have become permanently lazy in regards to this...I let him find most of the good music...though I can still come up with a new song here or there. :)

Moses' bedding in his room?
Ikea. :) Cheap and wonderful!

Daily routine and Jesus?
The short answer is that I am always reading the One Year Bible...this is my third or fourth year. I usually do this right before bed...I also like to read books with a purpose, like Christian fiction or biographies. I hardly ever read a regular ol' novel...not that that is a bad thing but for me, if I take the time to read, I want it to challenge me and improve who I am. We go to church, I do MOPS, I am in a Bible study, we are part of a new parents group at church...as for Moses we try to live what we preach. :) We talk about Jesus to him, pray with him, he is in Sunday school and the MOPS program as well. We do our best to be living examples. :)

I think that is most of them...if I missed one just let me know. :) My hubby has a couple of days off so you may not hear from me...it's all ok though! :)

Happy Wednesday!
xoxo

Getting things done...

Let's start off with some shop talk...above is the only crafty thing I did all weekend! :) It is a custom order for a sweet customer...I may have to make more...it is such a sweet little brag book don't you think? I'm switching things up a little in the shop...I may start carrying some supplies and such as I go through some of my stash...

AND I have white house towels again! Let me know if I can make some just for you! :)

Everything seems to be blooming in the yard...LOVE these Canterbury bells. :)

And these sweet pink hydrangea...

Nothing says warm weather like watermelon, right? Gettin' ready for some of our BEST friends in the world to come visit tomorrow. :) They don't make people much better than the Selents
They are more than friends to us...they are family. Shoot, Michelle was there when Moses was born...front and center (I have blocked that from my mind) and still loves me. :) We can't wait to see them...tomorrow will be a great day!

And this is what we did all weekend...this is our poor fence before. We have no idea what the previous owners were trying to do...unless they were both blind, there was no reason for this fence to look like it did...different heights, sizes, etc. It was a mess.

Here is the during. Getting the lattice up. Foreman on the project, front and center.

All finished...minus a new stain job that will happen some time in the future...all the same height...cute little copper caps on the posts, lattice...we also found some HUGE perennials 75% off...and a sweet Wisteria that I am hoping will take over the other side of the fence. :)

Hope you all are well and blessed!
I'm thinking about doing another goody bag giveaway in the next few days...stay tuned!

My other love...

is in the garden. I could spend hours out there, pulling weeds, planting, watering, digging, arranging...making it all just right. I have worked really hard on our garden here in C'ville. It hasn't been easy, I didn't have much to start with but today for the first time, I saw the start of where I wanted our yard to be...I still have some work to do....three more hostas and a few loads more of rock and stones but it will be beautiful this summer.
Here are some of my favorite spots...

I LOVE nasturtium. I plant packets and packets of them every year. They are hardy, viney and downright lovely. They are impossible to kill. I love that.

Here is the window box under my kitchen window. :) It just seems happy to be there.

My mini-boxwood. I LOVE boxwood. This is by our back door, welcoming the back door visitors.

I love viney, spreading things. I think that has to do with my lack of patience. I want things to grow. NOW.

This goes to our back door. We have added spreading plants and stones for a cottagey like look. We have a lot of work to do on the fence.

I do this every day after I blog. :)

I built this wall. It's not done yet but it has already transformed how the back looks. I moved the day lilies to this spot last fall.

And here is what has been on my heart lately. Being a Titus 2 woman. And all that encompasses. Hand in hand with that I have been wondering if those that have fought so hard for feminism have realized that for as much as it has done good for women, hasn't it hurt just as many? I feel like the race to be "equal" to men has made hard for those of us who are ok with being submissive. The push for women to be equal in the workplace makes it harder for women to stay home in the first place. The strive to "be independent" makes being taken care of by our husbands unattractive. Does anyone understand any of that? I would love to hear some feedback on this. Am I the only one who feels this way?

EDITED TO ADD: I am not anti-feminism in that I agree with Sara in that the feminist movement has done a lot to improve the way women are treated. I just want the right to stay home or to be anti-feminist to be fought for just as hard as the right to be paid the same as a man. I know that in my college experience, I was endlessly railed for knowing then that I wanted to be a SAHM mom. I was told that I would be wasting my degree, why was I even in college in the first place if I wasn't going to use my degree, why would I want to let a man take care of me, etc. You get the picture. That is my experience with feminism. :) Sorry if I offended anyone. That was not my intention. :)

And. I have a dilemma for you. We live on a loop. The street is pretty busy, cars speed through on a regular basis. There are ALWAYS young (2 and up)children playing IN THE STREET. Their parents are never watching them. The kids often refuse to move out of the way when people come through--like the cars have some nerve being in the street. I am terrified that a child is going to be hit by a car but I am certain that these are not the kind of neighbors that I can walk up to and discuss this with...I am sure I would get a "mind your own" business kind of response from them not to mention dirty looks. What would you do to help ensure that these unsupervised kids don't get hurt?