"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:)

Pee Pee on the Pottay....

So a lot of my good friends have asked me how I potty trained two boys at two years old, in three days.
So I decided to post a few pointers. I know that there are lots of different ways to train them, as with all things, but this has worked for us, so here goes!
1. Do NOT put them in pull ups!
    I dont love this option. I have a few sweet friends that are ok with their kids walking around naked. I am not. However, for the sake of potty training, I do it.  For the first day I let them walk around naked and watch them like a hawk. i have no life. i dont shower. i hardly brush my teeth. its not pretty. BUT its worth it!
2. I keep them confined to mainly one room.
3. I give them salty treats that make them thirsty and want to drink, in turn makes them have to go!
4. An M&M for even staying on the potty. And two for going!

Day 2 is similiar except today they are wearing undies. I show them the big boy undies, we talk about how they are dry and they shouldnt be wet, thats yucky. I put them on and make them feel them. "Oh they are dry, you get an M&M." So we are now excited about dry undies AND going in the potty!
Everything else is still the same. I make them go every 20-30 minutes and it works!

There isnt much more to it:) I do get frustrated, I do watch the clock till my husband gets home, but after about 3 days, they get it! Now and again Miles has an accident, but its usually when we put him in a pull up for church, or bed. Which is why I steer clear of pull ups during the day! They may look different, and cost more, but they feel the same to them!

So good luck! They'll get it. My friend once told me "they arent going to go to college in diapers:)"
And you will have a kid so excited he stutters:)...

Its December!

December 1st! I love the holidays, and my hips don't lie. I love the food and the desserts and the chocolate! As most know today starts the first day of candy out of the advent:) Years ago my sister, being the fabulous barista she was, bought me this advent from Starbucks ... it has little boxes that you fill with candy every year and when you turn the box around it makes a cute picture!
I grew up on the chocolate advent calendars that you can buy at any walmart or cvs type place...

did any of yall have these? I loved them!

Next year, when I plan more and have more time, I will make one like this....

Seriously. Awe-Some. Cheri at iammommahearmeroar.blogspot.com is seriously my DIY, cool mom, hero.



*So the hubs has to make a run to Target before he gets home to fill up our bad boy with some candy!
We definitely made up a super cheesy song to go along with the opening of each advent box, which I will not share, and you will thank me for.*

Another great, more important advent idea is the Jesse Tree. My husband and I started last year to do a Jesse Tree with the boys. Now, at the time Miles was 1 and call me crazy, but I waited till he was sleeping to get down with the bible stories. BUT this year they both are old enough to get it! And I am super excited about that! (Or at least Miles pretends to, because his big brother is into it:) For those that dont know what the Jesse Tree is, its gets its name from Isaiah 11:1. Jesse was Abrahams father, who is ya know, the father of all nations. Hes kind of a big deal. So the tree is kind of the lineage of Jesus, but moreso a tool to explain God's progress of redemption to our little tots (and it also is as exciting as the advent!) You can be super crafty and make ornaments out of felt and other materials, or what I do it print up coloring sheets and the kids color them, put them on a red or green card stock, hole punch them, string em, and hang them on their own little tree. If you want the print outs this is it dce.oca.org/assets/files/resources/jesseTree.pdf. It is such a great tool to teach your kids and get them excited about something more than just presents and Santa, which is all we seem to talk about this season. Dont get me wrong, if I had cable ABCFamily 25 days of Christmas and FALALALA Lifetime would be a constant in my house, but lets put a little effort in making Jesus the reason for the season!!

Have Fun!

Its up yall!

after a photo shoot with a few fabulous friends,

a trip to my sisters visiting her babies and my dad,

a late night working on her mac (much newer and faster than my oldie),

my shop is up and running and I am really excited about it!

please tell all your friends about it! and if you read my blog but dont "follow" please follow!

Yes, I craft because I love to do it and have so much fun coming up with things to do, but I am also doing it as a little income for our family:) So check it out. I can knit most anything, so custom orders I can do. I can sew too, check out the "Made!" link under my blog title. If you want custom orders let me know!

Enjoy your monday!

MY SHOP!!

Sometimes you just gotta get away...

I will preface this post with the fact that I love my boys "third best" in the world:) Jesus and Davon come first, which I think is so important for them to know. But after five days straight of not leaving the house and being with them from 7am ish to 8pm ish all.day.long. I was ready to get away:)
So I called my mom up this morning and said lets go on an adventure!
First stop was a great shop called whipstitch fabrics. I have been following great crafty DIY blogs all over the US and so many of them have bought great fabric from this store. A few weeks ago I stumbled upon the fact that they are located in downtown Atlanta! Yay! They have all kinds of sewing classes if you are in atlanta, but they also have online classes! So as most of you that "follow" my blog dont live here, if you want to sew you can do it! And order some rad fabric! Here are some that I picked up for my "go green" sandwich bags!

Yep. I know its more boyish than girl.
But most reg fabric stores have great girl selections, but not boys!

After that we drove through atlanta and went to a yarn shop and a great little book store. Which sightly reminded me of The Shop Around the Corner (You've Got Mail, come on, classic). Mom bought three books for the boys, shes a sucker for buying books for my boys and I love it! She bought Pete the Cat Rocking in His School Shoes. Y'all. Pete the Cat is a fave in our house. Both of my boys have it memorized. So the second addition was a must! Here is a pic of it the original! If you have young kiddos, get it, they will love! 

*She also bought a childrens book for the future about our nations history of racism called "This is Our Dream." It made both of us cry. I am excited and sad to have to teach them about our past, and really proud that they are mixed and won't ever have to experience the extent of racism that was years ago. *
I found a great book called "A Perfectly Kept House is the Sign of A Misspent Life" by Mary Randolph Carter. AMEN Sorry to my mother-in-law, who has a perfectly kept house, but I heart my mess:) -and even if I don't I cant keep it under control!

of course a trip to goodwill was in store. I got these fab rain shoes!

When we got home the boys were too excited about the books from Noni!

 Sometimes the best thing to do for a stay at home mom's sanity is to get out, enjoy the tree lined roads and the sunshine, without kids chatting, singing, yelling, whatever, in the back seat:)