A catch up....

I haven't blogged in awhile. I guess I just haven't had anything really worth blogging about it. Wait that's not true, I guess I just haven't been feelin it. And I hate not feelin it. ( I think I may be in a creative rut, I'm working on it though.)  But here are some of the things we've been up to  :)

Our first ride sitting in the front of the shopping cart. And I am pretty sure it changed both of our lives. No more lugging the carseat into the store and having no room in the cart because it's so big, and for him no more laying back wondering what in the heck is going on. He was giggling and smiling at everyone who walked by and kept stroking every food item with in reach. 

Very handsome Sunday outfits. A super cute sweater vest and grey pin  stripped paints  I am sad I didn't get a better picture, guess he'll just have to wear it again ;)

Snack time with cousins. Aubrey is such a little momma to him! She's very worried about his well being :)

A visit to Krispy Kremes. Basically the kid just loves donuts.

Hanging out with the dad. He went a couple days without seeing him so I know they both enjoyed their play time together.

Just general cuteness. All the time. Seriously, he melts my heart and makes me so happy!

Oatmeal with nutella and bananas. If you're gonna eat oatmeal it might as well be with Nutella :)

I never take pictures of myself, but I really wanted to share this shirt. It's yellow and flowy and has eyelet lace at the top and I got it at Goodwill for full price ($4.50), which I also never do, so you know it's special :)

B has been super busy with school so I've had a lot of time to myself. I've worked on a couple little sewing projects in the evenings and watched a couple chick flicks last week. Time Traveler's Wife is amazing and I loved it. Why do we like movies that make us cry? I also read a novel for the first time in at least a year, maybe longer. I read Austenland by Shannon Hale. I stayed up until 2am reading, which I paid heavily for the next day, but you can't get to the good part of a love story and then put it down :) I went back and forth about whether I liked it or not and then decided in the end that I liked it. A movie is being made of it this year and I am excited to see it. Any recommendations for my next book? 

Well that's about it around here. 

Here's to a happy week :)

I didn't know...

The day Jackson was born I didn't know that I could love something, or even someone that much.

I didn't know motherhood would hurt so bad. (Like that same kind of pain when a muscle is strengthened.)

I didn't know that my heart would mold into a different shape entirely.

I didn't know that I would stand at his crib rocking him until he fell asleep and then finally lay him down, so peacefully, then I would leave the room and cry.

I didn't know that all his growth and learning would make me a little sad, because I'm saying goodbye to a little part of him forever. 

I didn't know that my heart would feel so much all the time.

I didn't know that I would get bored sometimes.

I didn't know that I would feel guilty all the time.

I didn't know that doing what's best for him would not always be easy.

I didn't know that everything I did would feel like I was doing it wrong and that I'd have to look inside myself so hard to find the moments that felt right.

I didn't know I would be so happy.

I didn't know what being a momma truly meant.

(I'm not sure I still don't, I think it comes with every day and every moment. And we have a lot of moments to go.)

I didn't know I would feel so whole and complete.

It surprises me now that I didn't know all this before. Because now that I know it's so obvious, of course this is what it all feels like. I do feel like a women who is being transformed. Slowly, but transformed all the same, into the kind of mother Jackson deserves, the kind of wife Brandon needs me to be and the kind of women God intends me to be. 

It's powerful to be aware of that. 

It creates a sort of reverence for my day to day life. That all of those small tasks and moments and little things will make up who I am for the eternity. 

Adding a little broth

I made chicken noodle soup today. 

It is quite possibly my favorite food. 

It always feel so wholesome to me.

As I was stirring it and letting it simmer things started looking a little too cramped, too mushy. 

So I added more broth. Problem solved.

It got me thinking about when I feel too cramped, too mushy, too busy, too "fill in here with any negative emotion", that all I need to do is add some broth. 

So my broth this week is going to be going to the library. I'm looking for a good novel, I haven't read a novel in years. Maybe a parenting book and definitely a cookbook. 

It's going to be making a homemade meal every night because it feels good and I like how it tastes. 

It's going to be a lot of half done projects sitting around. It's going to be projects that were never even started. It's going to be projects that never even get thought up :)

It's going to be more meaningful time with my husband in the evenings. which means less laptops and TV and more cuddling and laughing.

It's going to be more time with my son that isn't rushed. And if that means lying on the floor while he drools on me and sucks on my arm than dang it I'll do it :)

It's going to be less guilt and frustration about motherhood. 

It's going to be taking a walk and mailing a card to a friend. 

What would you do to add some "broth" to your life?

Doing it right...

Yesterday Flower Patch Farmgirl (who I am secretly best friends with, problem is she doesn't know yet :) wrote about "taking herself out to lunch"

So today I took myself out to lunch.

I haven't been feeling very good for a few months so food has been a bit of a struggle, but it's one I am going to win dang it! So yesterday I went to the grocery store and bought everything that sounded good. 

Strawberries made the cut, so I enjoyed them for lunch with an Everything Bagel toasted sandwich with guac, lettuce, and chicken. Like I said I haven't been able to eat very well lately, but I ate the whole thing. 

And it was so good!

Doesn't it look good?! Or am I just glorifying this sandwich :)

I did want to share a link to an article that my sister shared with me today called "to the mother of only one child". At this point in my life that is me. And I think it's hard. Well the women who wrote it wrote it so beautifully you really should just go read it, but she says, "My dear, it is hard.  You’re not being a wuss or a whiner when you feel like your life is hard.  I know, because I remember having “only one child.”  You may not even believe how many times I stop and reflect on how much easier my life is, now that I have nine children."

I love her for saying that! Sometimes you just need to validated by someone who has the power, and I am pretty sure as a mother of nine she has the power to do a lot of things, including validate me :) Now don't get me wrong, I adore staying home with my son and you could not pay me enough money to do something else. But it is hard. It's hard to not know what to do all day. It's hard feeling like you're doing it wrong. It's also a little boring. I mean I love his slobbery kisses but I can only be a chew toy for so long before I start itching for some grown up conversation and a decent shower. 

But she goes on to talk about why it's hard. And I'm not gonna lie I cried while I read it. She said, " Dear mother of only one child, don’t blame yourself for thinking that your life is hard.  You’re suffering now because you’re turning into a new woman, a woman who is never allowed to be alone.  For what?  Only so that you can become strong enough to be a woman who will be left." 

I think I have been feeling that since the day my son was born, but didn't know how to put substance to it. I think I've always realized I would be left by him and that's hard. But it's wonderful. I want him to have what I have. To fall in love with someone wonderful and get married, and have babies of his own. To find out about things he loves and then to do them. To experience the world in a special and beautiful way and to have a good life. And if I held onto him forever he wouldn't have any of that, and that hurts more than letting him go. 

She ends the post with this, " Dear mother, don’t worry about enjoying your life.  Your life is hard; your life will be hard.  That doesn’t mean you’re doing something wrong—it means you’re doing it right."

So I'm holding on, because I'm doing it right... 

Keep Breathing

Tonight I am here.

 Breathing. I feel creatively drained today, which is better than not feeling creative at all, but it's still not my favorite.

Today was a whirlwind day. Not a bad thing,  it was all good and wonderful stuff. But I don't do very good with whirlwind. After a few days like that and I am headed for a sobbing break down, and I am not kidding.

 I wish I was.

 I wish that I was more able to handle "busy", but I am not very good at it. I am learning though.

 Growing.

 And that's all I can ask for. 

I am such a homebody. I'm not sure why I am so drawn to staying at home. But I am. I always talk about getting out and doing more things, traveling, seeing things I've never seen before. Every time I do I am eager to get home. It feels like I leave my heart at home, and you can't go very long without your heart, and even if you could I wouldn't want to. I like my dear little heart that pitter patters at simple things. 

That draws me home every time I leave. 

On a lighter note I hit up Goodwill today and found some awesome things! I found a few cool vintage ties for the hubby and a pair of ballet flats with a ruffle.

That's about as good as it gets.

This song is speaking to me tonight, hope you enjoy it. 

Happy right now

So a few days ago Kelle from Enjoying the Small Things blogged about those moments of motherhood when you say to yourself "I've got this." Those moments when you know that you were divinely made to be a mother, and not just any mother, but your little one's mother. 

Those days and moments when you are handling everything just the way you want to. They are rare around here, but I sure love it when they come.

Today was an "I've got this" kind of day.

I needed a day like that and it felt good. 

I got a lot done around the house, laundry, cleaning, cooking.

 I can not wait to get into my freshly washed and made bed, boo yah.

I also made a birthday card and present for my sweet friend who's birthday is tomorrow. We have some serious birthday celebrating-Goodwill thrifting-lunch eating plans, and I can't wait.

Here's the card I made for her. I'm on a "wish" birthday card kick right now. It's just so perfect and simple. One word that expresses everything a birthday should be. 

 I made her some brown sugar vanilla body scrub. Delicious! It smells so good I want to eat it!

I'm wack, I know.

I played around a lot today with snapping some pictures. These ones below are just from my iphone instagram app, but that thing is just so dang convenient it's a hard sell to get out the big camera. 

I wanted to share a few things from around my house that are making me happy right now. It's so easy to get caught up in how beautiful everyone else's houses are and forget about what we love most about our own home. 

I found these gorgeous aqua mason jars at Goodwill one time for $2 each! Killer deal, I felt like I was practically stealing them! (Side story I almost only bought one, I have NO idea why I would have done that, but thank goodness my dear friend was with me and convinced me to buy all three!) They are gorgeous, look perfect in my living room and are making me happy right now. 

I found this super cool vintage California license plate at a yard sale for $1. I love it and it looks great in Jacks room.

This is making me happy right now 

These are the paint colors I am thinking about for our chairs....

Any thoughts on them? 

They are making me happy right now, just sitting there in the windowsill looking so pretty and perfectly turquoise. 

And I couldn't talk about things making me happy without a picture of the little man now could I?

This blog may not be about him, but my life sure is.

He's so stinkin cute and fun, I just love his personality!

Surely mine is not the only heart melting right now :) 

Teriyaki Salmon 30 Minute Meal

So I threw this dinner together last week and it may just be a new favorite! 

It turned out super yummy and is super easy and fast, which is my kind of dinner, especially with this adorable little helper hanging out at my feet :) 

He loves playing with spoons and bowls, I love how he finds joy in the most simple of places!

 Please forgive the out of wack photos, blogger is not working very well for me tonight. 

You make the teriyaki sauce by mixing soy sauce, a pre-made teriyaki sauce (glaze or marinade works too) and some honey (this time I threw in a little garlic, because everything is better with garlic :)

I didn't measure it, but you need just enough to dump on top of some salmon in a pan. (I used an 8x10 but use a 9x13 if you are making it for more than two people.)

I made oven roasted zucchini and wild rice for sides (I LOVE Uncle Ben for that stuff!)

I just chopped up a zucchini and salt and peppered it. Put them in the oven at 400 while the fish was marinading.

Let the salmon sit in the sauce for a few minutes (up to 30 minutes is fine) then pop it in the oven for about 15 minutes. 

Serve with rice and veggies and enjoy! 

I was super hungry tonight and just wanted me some yummy salmon so forgive the rushed photos. This meal can be on the table in 30 minutes from start to finish which I love! I hope you like it as much as we do! Let me know if you try it :) 

Teriyaki Salmon

1/2 cup soy sauce

1/2 cup teriyaki sauce

2 tablespoons honey

1 glove garlic

Salmon Fillets

Mixed together first four ingredients. Pour over salmon and let marinade. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 mins or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Enjoy!

I'm off to do my Monday grocery run. B didn't have school today so it felt like Saturday and I'm totally off now! A small price to pay for having him around for the day though :)

Hope you all had a great Monday!

Some random projects

I have started about ten posts in my head and none of them have come together. Oh well, what's a girl to do but share some old projects right?

It's been a little cloudy around here lately so it's been hard to get good  pictures of projects and all the things we've been up to. But I did get a few taken on Friday and got to play around with them a little in picnik, which was fun. So here they are :)

These are some of the cards I've been working on. Just some fun little things to send to friends and such. It keeps me happy and sane, both of which are a good thing :)

I saw the inspiration for this "wish" card on pinterest. I love when I actually make the things I pin :)

Have you made or done anything you've seen on pinterest lately?

This is part of my son's room. I love this space, it's my favorite room in the house. It still has some tweaking to do and some more things I'm looking to add (can you say cheap globe?) but I do love this space. I made the big canvas "J", which was a simple and easy project that worked out just how I wanted it to, (this rarely happens, so I'm reveling in it still :)

And this is a small part of the gallery wall and the mobile I made for above his crib. Cute paper, polka dots and ric rack? Yes please!

What have you been working on lately? Anything fun? Or anything that turned out just right?

Have a great week!

Yes

Today was a say "yes" kind of day. As in say yes to things that make me feel good and make me happy. 

I said yes to listening to music with Jackson ("She is love" Pandora station, it always feels just right)

I said yes to eating a real lunch at a real lunch time. 11:30, yes ma'm I did. 

Oh and hello new found love who is actually an old fling... everything bagels. They smell so delicious they should make it a candle. 

I said yes to be creative and crafty. I made cards. Lots of them. I made them until the creativity ran out and then promised myself I'd be back for more tomorrow. Pictures to come I promise, it was just a really gloomy day so the light was really bad and no good picture has ever been taken in bad light, and trust me, these cards deserve a good picture :) 

I said yes to rainbow sherbet. Because who knew that this stuff was so stinkin good? My four year old nephew that's who and he's totally gotten me hooked.

I said yes to laying on the floor with Jackson while we both giggled and played with each other's face. (His latest little trick is touching my tongue. I know that sounds gross but if you saw how he smiled after he touched it, you'd let him touch yours too. 

I said yes to being honest and real. 

I said yes to positive only thoughts. All negative ones were fought off with loving words from my dear sweet husband. 

What kind of day did you have? 

A little something pretty

The last few days have been absolutely pitiful.

As in raining and gloomy and doctors visits and dentist visits (I had to a have a root canal, and I'm terrified of the dentist, and it was already the second time having it worked on, and due to some complications it's still not done and I have to go back, c'mon feel sorry for me please) and piles of laundry and stress and insecurities and some tearful conversations with the hubby and my sister. And as much as I want to just sit around and feel sorry for myself, and trust me I do ;) I know that's not healthy and even if it was it's not really an option. So I just wanted to share a few pretty images that are making me feel a little bit happy...

I snagged this little beauty from this lovely blog I just discovered, I think this is just about all the inspiration I could ever need :) 

I think I have spring fever. Today I wore legging capris and flip flops with a pink t-shirt and scarf. It was 40 degrees outside. Whatch gonna do about it...

Now I promised my husband I would never make our house too girly, but this bedroom seriously tempts me :)

Have a great rest of the week!

What I love about Sunday

Happy Sunday to you!

Hope your day has been as relaxed and joy filled as mine. It started out a little rough when the little dude woke up earlier than he should have because he won't sleep if there's poop in his diaper (TMI I know, but seriously this kid is advanced) and then didn't go back to sleep. He spent much of the morning crying at me while I got ready for church, got him ready for church, tried to eat breakfast which consisted of a glass of milk and then got him in the car, all before 9am.

Note: this picture was not taken of the little man this morning, there were far too many  tears for that kind of shenanigans

Wow that's a ramble and it's not even interesting.

 Fast forward a little bit, had an awesome lesson in church about making good choices that positively affect others. Great take on that I'd never thought of, it inspired me. Wrestled with the little dude through the rest of church. It's amazing how the Lord blesses me with His spirit even when I can't really listen or pay attention, I just love that.

Dish tower courtesy of the hubby, he's such a kid at heart.

Little man fell asleep in the car, brought him in for a nap. O.K. we bought a black out shade two days ago for his room. That thing has paid for itself already. Three words- three hour nap. Yes ma'm, thank you very much!
Spent the afternoon with the hubby and then my sister and her kids came over. I'm a very biased and adoring aunt but they are just straight cute. My four year old nephew didn't really want to eat the dinner I cooked. I told him it hurt my feelings. He said he would still eat it. I asked him if he liked it. He said not really. I love how he taught me a little bit about "sucking it up" even if you don't like something.

Recipe found here...

He may not have liked dinner but I sure liked it. Honey Sauce Chicken. I basically love anything that you can make in a crock pot. Super easy and super yummy, plus hardly any clean up, that's my kind of meal.

I love hanging out with my sister and her family. They are just plain awesome.

Today was filled with little man smiles, hugs and cuddles, my feet propped up on the exercise ball (not actually used for exercise), cupcakes, colorful mixing bowls, winks from the hubby, and chocolate smeared hand prints.

I will take that every day :)

A lazy day and a gallon of paint

        

             Today was supposed to be a productive Saturday. We've been out of town for a couple of weeks so there was a long honey do list just waiting to be crossed off. But as the morning got going things were slow moving. So I finally just said to B, "If we're going to resign to a lazy day let's at least do it right and fully enjoy it." And he said OK. So a lazy day is what we did. 

I absolutely adore this space, how beautiful!

And it was wonderful. 

I think I put too much pressure on myself, and maybe even more on the poor hubby to get something done all the time. But that's another issue for another post. Anyhoo, we did a lot of lounging, TV watching, video gaming, blog reading, facebook scrolling, and Peanut Butter Chocolate Cupcake making today. Recipe found here at Our Best Bites, and seriously so worth every bowl and spoon that later had to be cleaned to make them. Unfortunately I'm having some stomach problems lately so I have to stay away from fatty and sugary foods, darn you gall bladder or whatever it is that is making me be on a diet that I don't actually want to be on! But maybe it was for the best because I only ate one, instead of twelve.

On to the gallon of paint. I have been wanting to paint our kitchen table white since we got it when we got married a little over two years ago. She is old, and was free and is ugly so she's pretty desperate but it has just been one of those daunting projects that just hasn't happened yet. But oh is that table in for it now, because it's gonna happen. This week. And I am stoked about it. Not stoked for the whole sanding and painting and waiting and sanding and painting and waiting process, but I have a feeling that this table is going to be like the Peanut Butter Cupcakes, in that it will be worth all the work, and heck it'll probably be even better because I won't get flabby just from looking at it :) Wish me luck, I promise to post pictures of her once she's all done and prettified. 

While buying the gallon of paint I also snagged some paint chips of some seriously lovely blues and aquas that may just become the color of the chairs at my lovely new white table :) What do you think of that? All one color or all four different? Mmmm.... Not sure, I'd love some input.

I love these metal industrial chairs

And then I snagged a few more for some craft projects ;) I'll share those when they are done too.  Have a great rest of the weekend!

go be a little lazy ;)

All images via pinterest, love me some pinterest.