The Avengers!

So The Avengers came out yesterday! How many of you saw it? I have not yet. I made my husband promise me that he would take me before he took any of his junior high students to see it. We just need to find a babysitter for a 2 and a half hour movie?! But, I am so geeked about it! After all the marvel comic movies they have been giving you teaser clips, and come on, there is such a great cast! I'm no nerd. But this is gonna be a great one!

Well, Jay is also excited about the Avengers. He has seen the commercials and we have let him watch most of Thor and Ironman, and come on, Daddy is into it, so in turn so is Jay:) So when my favorite crafter/blogger Cheri wrote her blog to me- I had to copy! 

And yes, I was the "one" she was talking about:) 

Isn't it great? So simple and yet, if you know Captain America, Thor, Hawk Eye, and Ironman Symbols, you'll know how awesome it is! ( I know there are a few missing, but hulk doesn't have a symbol-and I don't need the girl:)
It was so easy to make, and I am going to walk you through how I did it. You can use any old plain tshirt, but Jay is growing like a weed and tshirts are limited, so I bought him a $6 Target T.
I made a stencil with freezer paper. Have you ever used it? Its so great. Just let it run through your printer like a regular sheet of paper-then cut it out with an exacto knife to make a stencil.

ugh. ignore my chubby fingers:)

Then you iron the shiny side down onto the Tshirt, making sure to keep the little pieces. (In  Cheri's blog she does a great tutorial on how to do it, you just have to navigate a little:)

Then you take fabric paint and paint!

  It helps if you have a super cute little helper, this one isn't for sale, but I may be willing to rent him out for a small fee:)

After it has dried, peel off the paper, and iron with a cloth over the paint. To help the fabric paint set!

He has now worn it 2 days straight. Church is tomorrow. Im going to sneak it into the washing machine tonight so he's not tempted to try to bust it out:)

605 stairs to the top!

Davon and I took the boys hiking at Amicalola Falls  and it was beautiful.
Goodness, I am so thankful for this little family that God has blessed me with. Thankful that Jay wanted to run up all 605 stairs to the top of the falls and that Davon ran with him:) and thankful that my two year old walked up all of the stairs by himself all the while his little hand holding mine:) and look at those chubby hands in that picture! Stinky, sweaty, chubby hands-gotta love them.

The hike was beautiful and daddy and I used it as teaching time about how amazing out Creator is. We saw all different kinds of trees, rocks, birds, and even a 4 foot snake walked across our path. YIKES!

SO Pretty! No Filter and taken by my iPhone!

This was after we made it to the top!

As we enjoyed the view from the top of the waterfall (and the beginning of the Appalachian trail!) I couldn't help but think about the Lord. I thought about Psalm 139 and sang the song we would always sing at Young Life when I was in high school

"Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
⁸ If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
⁹ If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
¹⁰ even there your hand will guide me, 
    your right hand will hold me fast."

Then I thought about the beginning of this chapter

You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
² You know when I sit and when I rise; 
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
³ You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways. 
⁴ Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely. 
⁵ You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.
⁶ Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, 
    too lofty for me to attain.

God knew me and You before He created us. He knew us before He created this waterfall and these trees. He knows us enough to care about our thoughts- to search me out and want to know me. This knowledge is to lofty for me to even attain, or even understand for that matter. But regardless of what I do, regardless of how I "feel" about Him, He will remain constant. Thank you Lord.

Letter Wreath

So my sisters birthday is Cinco de Mayo Eve and she has been dropping hints like crazy for a wreath like mine. I used to change the decorations on my wreath every season, and for fall and christmas that was fun, but Jan-September was always a real let down! 

SO...I was looking through pinterest and came across one that looked simple enough and got super excited about rosettes and hot glue and of course the letter S:)

This is mine on our front door.

So I headed out to Hobby Lobby, our closet craft store, Joann and I are actually BFFs, but she was a little far of a drive. I brought a coupon-always bring a coupon!- and bought another wreath and the letter P for my sisters last name. I had the fabric in my stash at home, so this birthday gift was a total of $5! So great right? (Don't worry I am also getting her something else-she deserves it:) 

I just traced the letter and hot glued the fabric to it!

I didn't take a picture of making the rosettes- probably because I burn my fingers trying to go to fast, and paying attention to two little boys while using hot glue (yes I know, not to smart-at least no children were burned in the process!), but here is a great video tutorial!

Rosette Tutorial

I hot glued everything onto the wreath. And check her out!

So pretty right?! I love the red and the robins egg blue colors together.

Garth Brooks juice diet

So we still have fleas. Seriously? How do you get rid of these things?

So during the "bombing" of our home (after we tried other "highly recommend" sprays) we had to spend the whole day outside. And 

Praise

the

Lord

For such a gorgeous day! I had my women's discipleship group (and do you ever feel weird about calling yourself a woman?-It makes me feel like such an adult?).

Then we went to Fresh 2 Order- I love this place. I ordered a tuna burger with salad-of course no picture:) and the boys shared grilled cheese and fresh fruit, sooo good. If you are ever in the Atlanta area-its a must!!

 Then a little time at our church. I must admit, I took a picture and read about 3 scripture verses before Miles pretty much fell in. They wanted to get as close to the waters edge as they possibly could! I could say boys will be boys, but my niece would be right there with them!

Look at that muddy little behind!!

I could just eat them up!


Last stop was a yummy juice from Whole Foods! Because its healthy and reminds me of the So I Married an Axe Murderer line of "I'm on my weekly world news Garth Brooks juice diet."

Ok seriously. I bought it because I like juice, and there was a huge line for it. So I waited. Didn't know the cost, but when they said it was $4.50 I thought, ouch, but hey its super healthy.
and super nasty.
Come on, celery, kale, beets, wheat grass, pears, ginger. No. Never again. and if you say you like it i won't believe you. I saw everyone buying it, but walking to their cars with it? No one gulping it down. Hmmm.
Even Miles and Jay pretended to like it cause it was juice, then a few minutes later-"this is so yuck." ugh, my children are sheep also:)

"everybody's workin for the weekend"

Ugh...What a weekend.

I am posting today because my husband works in the ministry, so Mondays are our Sabbath, Sundays are a work day:) Our weekends are broken up, Saturday and Monday are weekend days to us:) Which is fine by me! 

This Saturday, though, Davon had to "work" and by work I mean he played games with sixth graders all day at a camp in north georgia. Tough stuff right?!

and I had to "work" too... I took the boys to warbingtonfarms for most of the day to play in the sun, eat yummy sugary snacks and see chickens, pigs, ducks, turkeys, llamas, and these cute cows...

Miles wanted so badly to get off the trailer and play with them...not my child, more like my moms:)
If anyone knows me, I pretend as well as I can to not be totally uncomfortable around all animals for the sake of my children!

Then we got home just in time to meet up with daddy, so I could leave to go watch The Hunger Games with these fabulous eighth grade girls! It is such a blessing to me able to invest in the younger generation. Being a ministry wife is difficult at times, but when you are as invested as your husband is, its makes it sooo much easier!!

Then came sunday....

Miles loves peanut butter. He will say this to me daily, "Mommy, I like peanut butter, so much." Yes I know son. We go through it like crazy, and I try to make all different flavors. We have made honey peanut butter, cinnamon raison, vanilla coconut, and sunday was chocolate peanut butter (pretty sure my favorite!).

and probably Miles' too!

They played at the park with a sweet friend of mine, while I hung out with my discipleship group...

you know, really getting deep in the Word:)!

Then came Monday....

This is our 5 pound chihuahua who has, unknown to us,  infested our house with fleas.
Yep. I know. Disgusting. 
The fleas don't seem to bite anyone in our family, but Jayson. I won't even tell you how many bites he has. Its sad. I feel like an awful mother.
So after a trip to petsmart for flea killer to spray the whole house. Stripping all beds. A trip to the vet for  a pill to kill the fleas (I might add she has had 4 flea baths and her regular on the back treatment of flea meds all in the past 2 weeks), we finished the night off in style.

with a healthy digiorno pizza and wings, or as they spell it wyngz.

and little boy pedicures, per the request of my flea bitten 4 year old.

I'm exhausted. Embarrassed. and offering Charli, the chihuahua to any home that wants her, she flea free now people!!?

Deep Waters...

Am I raising little Pharisees?
Will my boys know how to act like christians, or actually be a christian? 

This is how things play out in my house.
"Thats mine Miles, thats mine."
"No, Jayson its mine."
"Give it back!!"
"WAAAAAAAH"
"Sorry Miles, Sorry Miles, Sorry Miles, Soooorrrryy!"
Me-"What happened"
"Jayson hit me"
"But, But, But he was trying to take my toy and I was playing with it"
Now, no one would look at this and think, oh well he apologized, good job!
It was obviously not a heart felt apology. and although this is a small example of a heart-felt apology, how often do we respond a certain way, just because we "know" thats how we should respond? But what is really in our hearts?
How do I reach the heart of my child? Proverbs 20:5 says "The purpose of a mans heart are deep waters, but a man of understanding draws them out."
My little 'mens' hearts are deep waters. Just because they are 2&4 doesn't mean I don't need to reach their hearts! It is my job to be a 'wo'man of understanding and draw out what is in their hearts.
What an incredible ministry! -and difficult! How easily do I drag out what is in my own heart?? Let alone that of a Pre-Ker and a toddler:)
We do this by communicating with them! When i just tell him, "Jayson, don't hit your brother" and "Miles, don't take a toy away from Jay." I am just telling them these are the rules. Abide by them! But it isn't my job to just tell them what to do. Proverbs 18:2 says,"the fool does not delight in understanding, but airing his own opinion." Y'all, when I tell them what they did wrong, it doesn't give them a chance to process through it themselves-and I am a fool!! They are little human beings, who need to be instructed in righteousness! It is what is in their hearts that produce their behavior!
Help God!! Help me to be a woman of understanding! To see their hearts! To help them to see their own hearts. To love them well. To not look at them as just children, but my own personal, special, God-chosen ministry!

if only everyday had this much brotherly love-this post would not have been so heavy on my heart!!

these two books are where my heart is right now!! Highly recommend both!

new mac, new blog, new pants

For a while I have been wanting to blog. But my computer had gotten WAY to slow. Posting one pic took me at least 20 minutes.
And because this year we were able, by the grace of God, to pay off our debt. Our tax return came and
We got a new computer!!
and not just any computer
.......

This Gem!!!

I am so freakin excited about it. I don't even know where to start.
She is so beautiful! AND because we bought it through peachmac.com we were able to get double the RAM! For any of you who know anything about this, its pretty great. (However I don't, all I know is that my computer will be pretty darn fast)
So I am back in business with blogging and gonna revamp a little. Maybe a little DIY stuff, maybe a little parenting stuff, maybe a little me, we'll see.
For starters I had to get my sewing machine fixed. It had been out on sick leave for about a month and a half and my craft room was getting dusty. Now we are back in business! Although to finish an order at my so called shop, a good friend of mine let me borrow hers and it was pretty choice.

come on...touch screen! Let me tell ya, this thing purred.

My first project was these pants I saw on the "celebrate the boy" series that happens in the blogworld called pieced jersey pants, follow the link and she gives a great tutorial.
I decided to do this with this marvel comics fabric Jay picked out from the fabric store.
This is a confession of mine, I let my children pick out their clothes, but I teach them what matches and what does not. A lot of my mom friends let their kids pick out whatever they like, but if I am being honest, I steer them in the right direction, AND I don't like tshirts or things that are "overly" character.

So this fabric, which Jay absolutely fell in love with, was a toughy for me....
So I decided to just use a little bit of it, and that was good enough for Jay!

I cut up a few old tshirts

I turned on a podcast of Mark Driscolls from Mars Hill Church and got to work

I made a mistake sewing the waistband, and this handsome seamstress took it out for me.
(I'm not patient enough for this kind of task:)

 And VIOLA!! We have a comfy pair of pants and cute little model too:)