Travel Tuesday - Alaska

me and my boy

on the ferry from Juneau to Sitka, AK

love this photo that Adrian captured

Kelly

two years ago and today

This photo was taken exactly two years ago.  Fun times.

Today . . . 

oh today we potty trained.

We are exhausted.

Kelly

this morning

I enjoyed a "crostini breakfast".

We had a HUGE snowstorm last night!  Everything is completely covered and there is still a light snow coming down.  So thankful to be cozy warm inside and just observing the beauty out the windows.

Off to build some tunnels for the train track.

Hope you're having a good day.

Kelly

Travel Tuesday - Alaska

photo by Adrian

big list of praises

I feel compelled to make sure I list and capture some praises today because I feel like they are coming at me fast and furious and for that I am oh so very thankful and humbled.

* a BEAUTIFUL sunny day with temps in the high 50s

* an invitation to come over tonight for chocolate cake

* wonderful parents who serve me and my family and bless us

* scoring some great vintage sheets this morning for nursery 

decorating and a mom who is willing to sew a ruffled crib skirt with them!

* laundry that is truly, actually, amazingly almost caught up (again, thanks to an amazing mom)

* a very thoughtful husband and one who communicates

* God's reassuring me gently and in wonderful ways that when I think "the plan" has derailed, He REALLY DOES have it covered!

* people who listen to nudges from the Holy Spirit to be used in the above reassuring

* good nursery progress being made 

* not having to cook dinner tonight

* fun social opportunities to look forward to tomorrow

* a sweet baby girl moving around like crazy inside

* wonderful friends who know me, love me and accept me for exactly who I am

* some new blogs I'm enjoying reading

* more energy today than I've had in a while - wonderful for nesting!

* a neat conversation with the check out lady at the thrift store today about how my mom is a breast cancer survivor too and how is her treatment going, etc.  I could tell she was blessed and I am so thankful God could use me for something that to me was so small but to her was big

* a VERY patient boy in said thrift store and one who was willing to leave behind the toy he had been playing with without buying it - very mature - not that we don't ever buy toys but you know . . . 

happy heart day

This sort of makes me feel like my kitchen is a fun, festive bakery that one would visit on vacation as opposed to just my normal everyday kitchen.  

Sometimes it's good to feel that way about your house.

I hope you have a very happy heart day!

And get to eat some chocolate.  :)

I don't know if I'll ever forget the day our PTA at school switched from the "death by chocolate" spread they annually put on (have you ever tried a brownie bite in a chocolate fountain?!) to a healthy yogurt bar without any warning.  

I'm planning to take my friend Janae's grandma's Mocha Angel Food Torte to our MOPS meeting today.

What are your plans for the day?

If you're feeling mopey, try brightening someone else's day in someway and hopefully you'll feel ten times better too!

Kelly

thank you Nana!

Nana made these super cool robot Valentine's for David's class party!  

Thank you for the great idea to copy, Aunt Gail!

Kelly

super mom

Do you ever do things that make you feel like "super mom" if only for a few minutes?

Once upon a time I had saved this idea that I found here.

The other night after dinner this was our special dessert.  

I made it right there as we all sat around the table while he watched.  He was pretty into it.  It was fun.

Often when I try to implement something cute I saw online, it turns out that it is something moms think is cute or maybe older kids or something but he isn't really all that into it.  

This time was fun.  Plus it was healthy fruit for dessert!

My only prep was to add "green apple" and "green grapes" to the shopping list when Adrian was going to the store and then to e-mail myself the link so I could look at the step by step instructions on my phone while I made it and just making a note to do it after dinner that night.  

I think that sometimes I feel like I need to prep these things ahead of time and then they just never happen so this was a good lesson learned. 

Plus I got to cut the apple on the horizontal and show him the star that God put into the middle of apples!  I remember how I used to beg my mom to cut our apples that way so I could see the star.

So, if you have any green apples and grapes sitting around, maybe have a turtle for dessert tonight. 

Kelly

declutter {thirteen}

ancient tennis shoes

two wire hangars

generic nyquil that expired in '11

an empty Biz box and extra scoop once I emptied the contents into my glass jar

a broken set of chopsticks that somehow went through the dryer???

I took a photo of the little piece that sits in the washer's agitator but I'm not getting rid of *it*, I just spared you a photo of all of the gunk that had collected in it that has been bugging me for weeks and I finally cleaned out.  It was super simple, why did it take me so long?

an empty and washed out can that I had saved for crafts or whatever - I can always get another, it's time for stuff to go!

some cards/notes/drawings from school years past that I don't need anymore (don't worry I've kept many meaningful ones)

shopping bags

Travel Tuesday - Juneau, AK

hiking Mt. Roberts

photo by Adrian

Queen of Hearts

I recently got to host a women's event at my house.  I had two lovely ladies helping me and they did basically all the food and let me decorate!  That is my kind of sharing hostessing duties!

Our theme was black, red and white, queens, hearts . . .  and it was a fun one to work with.  I'm just realizing that all three of these table coverings were cheap ($1 at an estate sale) or free (when I scored after someone cleaned out storage closets at my old school.  

Look at these ADORABLE ladybug crackers that Jeanette made!  They were tasty too.  Well, except for the black olive, I didn't eat that part but I'm sure if you like black olives they were quite tasty too.  The black spots were cream cheese with black food coloring!  Do you see those little chive antena?

Kat made this YUMMY cake that she put a tiara on top of, how clever is that? 

We had lots of other goodies too.

It was also fun to see my living room full of women dressed in red and black!  Quite the coordinated event!  

Kelly

decluttering {twelve}

*Finally* mailing off something that I should have already!

The glass lid to a candle.  Do you keep these while you're burning the candle or throw them away as soon as you light it the first time.  These are kind of an enigma to me.  I'm never sure where to keep them or if I should once I've lit it the first time.  The candle has long since been burned and thrown away but I found the lid in a drawer.  

a random price sticker found on the floor.  I gave David the remainder of our price stickers to play/"craft" with after we did our last garage sale and decided "never again"

a box that held three remaining notecards - kept the cards, don't need the box

various fabric scraps (and my fabric basket is still stuffed full)

a Dec. issue of Real Simple

In the morning light . . .

paint samples on the walls

The top pink is different than the bottom pink.

The grey is on the right.

Any thoughts?

Kelly

seven minute post

I've got a lot to "talk about" so I didn't even start the seven minutes until after I'd uploaded and resized the photo.

David has croup  :(  

He is nearly over it I think for which I am really thankful.  It has been one of those weeks where plans didn't really turn out as planned but at the same time I could see God's hand leading the way, preparing it all.  

Baby names . . . we still don't have one.  Wanna talk girl names?  What names do you like that you can see us having in our family?
(Remember please, no last name on the blog, thanks!)

I feel like we're leaning towards some names that start with 

K, A, E, C, maybe L

What are your favorite girls' names that start with those letters?

Okay, paint, it is hard.  

Why is it so hard to pick a color?

There are sample swatches painted on the walls of the nursery right now and I'm not 100%.  Two pinks and a gray.  I think I like REALLY pale paint colors.  But the thing is that all three colors are the palest on their cards.  hmmm . . . advice?

Let's see, what else?  I thought I had a lot to say.

In the middle of the night last night when I was lying awake in bed I sure had a ton of thoughts swirling around in my head.

One of the ways that God took care of my smallest of needs/worries was that Dollar Tree carries these great mini-rollers for painting, two to a package, no clean up!  Yippee!!  

hmmm . . .

I feel super conflicted about food right now. 

Eat what I want? try to be healthy? what does healthy food even mean with so many conflicting opinions out there?

I do know that I need to continue to submit this area of my life to God and if I'm honest, I don't like to take God with me to the refrigerator.

What is going on in your week?

What sorts of things are keeping you up at night?  ;)

Okay, well, there's seven minutes.  

I'd love to hear what you're thinking.

Kelly

Travel Tuesday - Juneau, AK

eagle

taken by Adrian