Weekend Fun

This weekend I realized that I haven't been in a pic with my boys since our Florida vacation at the beginning of May.  I am so bad about taking pics regularly, so I often do overkill to make up for lost time:). When Jude was born we would take pics every Sunday before, after or at church, mainly because this was the one day a week I was in make-up and dressed nice:). I decided today that we will start our Sunday photo tradition once again.  My family did this when I was little too, and I love having those photos to look back on.

 {Pay no attention to Jude's flock of seagulls hairdo.  It's getting long and he insists on spikes for church.}

{Jude Story}

This weekend we were driving through a neighborhood and Jude said, "mom, I just saw a mailbox like Aja's." I asked what color Aja's mailbox was and he said, "white".  Well I had no earthly idea what color her mailbox was, but after a quick text she confirmed, her mailbox is indeed white:).  I cannot recall the last time this child was at Aja's house, but it was not recently.  It's probably been close to a year since he has been there and not sleeping in the car while I run in real quick.  He is such an observant little stinker!  He is a sponge and I love every inquisitive part of his little life!

{Spa Day}

My friend Megan and I hosted a spa baby shower shindig for our sweet friend Sarah this weekend.  It was so great to see her and to spend some time with the girls!  I can't wait to meet little Whit in a few months!  For some reason I feel that our children will look alike too:), we call them blondie bluies.  Sarah, you look great!

Megan's fabulous cupcake display!

Momma-to-be pedicure seat.

We showered Sarah with books to get Whitney's library ready for her.  She got a lot of the great classics!  Sarah has to be one of the most practical moms I know.  Didn't want to register because she had so many hand-me-downs.  They are borrowing our infant-seat and and a couple of strollers and lots of other things from family and she is just oh so practical and economical.  I totally appreciate that in a day and age when the more you have the better....the disgusting world of $1200 strollers and $300 carseats, she is staying true to who she is.  She's all about getting just what she needs, not all of the made up crap the stores tell you that you must have. Refreshing. 

Special thanks to our friend Katie for lending us 3 hours of your night, access to your cricut machine, cute cupcake toppers and some decor!   If anyone knows how to throw a cute shower it's this girl!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!  

Prayers please.

Sweet little Lauren passed away yesterday.  She was born with a heart defect and was undergoing her 3rd and final procedure at Children's in Dallas last Wednesday when something went wrong and she went into cardiac arrest.  Lauren's family is in shock and obviously totally devastated.  I am friends with her Aunt Katie, and am asking for prayer for her entire family.  Lauren was 3 years old.  You can read more about Lauren's story here and here.

Lord Jesus, I pray for peace and comfort for this family, that you would wrap your loving arms around them in their sadness and grief, and give them a peace that passes all understanding.  I thank you for the three wonderful years of life you gave Lauren, and I thank you that her family will see her again in Heaven one day!  Please take good care of their sweet angel.

Randomness

We had a great visit to the lake and the boys had such a fun time with cousins!  It was so great to see them all playing together and having a blast!  All of the Grandkids were there....Cohl, Micah, Ellie, Hope, Luke, Jude, Rhett and Avie.  

This little pirate was AWESOME on the tube all by himself!  This trip reminded me of Jude's first trip to the Lake (Grand) when he was 7 months old.  He and his friend Soph chilled in the houseboat the entire time, but it still counts as his first experience on the lake! 

Sweet boy wasn't so sure about the life jacket!

 Jude and Lexi on the tube. Pay no attention to the date, I need to reset my camera.  In other news, my sisters and I all got up on skis!  It was a true miracle:)!  

 Jude has been drawing and coloring a lot lately.  He can count to 91(his favorite #) with assistance past 40.  I'm impressed with his peeps drawing skills.  They have triangle shaped bodies (and plenty of fingers:)).  Most kids draw circles for the body, but my kid is different than most:).

Pulled this out of his file the other day and wanted to color it.  I thought he did a great job of staying in the lines.

He draws a lot of pics like this.  Lines, angles, squiggles, lots of color...I love them!  

Jude likes art!  He painted these abstracts last summer and the summer before in IL.  We used all sorts of things to create them.  His toes, forks, a whisk, paper and who knows what else.  We display them in the toy room for all to see!  

Has anyone else been daydreaming about fall?  No, just me?  I have particularly been dreaming about cool runs in the brisk mornings, frye boots, scarves, our family hike on Turkey Mountain, hot drinks on cool mornings, cuddling up with one of my boys at a football game...ohhh I could go on and on...give me a break 105 degree weather, this northern girl can't take the heat!  

Off to fight swords with my little pirate and his "life saver"! Have a great rest of the week, friends!  

Crazy8=Crazy Deals

I have never shopped Crazy8 for my kids before, but man, I got some great deals online today.  From one deal-loving mom to another...here's the inside scoop on my great steals...

$2.99

$6.99

7.99

$6.99

$5.99

$4.99

3.99

 $3.99 (a pair for both boys)

$7.99 (for next summer)

I got some great deals for Jude's pre-k school year and also some end of season steals for next summer. Just $5 shipping for an entire order.  From what I understand (which may not be much) Crazy8 is to Gymboree as Old Navy is to Gap. Much of the their stuff is not my style, but check out these cute girly deals I could totally get on board with...

$4.99

$6.99

$6.99

$3.99

Oh how I love a good deal!  Happy shopping!  

twenty six point BOO...

UGH!  This marathon thing is tough.  The running is not hard, it's just the toll the running is taking my my body.  I don't know that this here bod was built for all the miles I'm putting on her.  I have dislodged a rib-head 3 or 4 times in the past 2 weeks.  I was miserable after my long run Saturday, and Dallas had to physically help me out of bed to go to the bathroom the other night.  Sheesh, I know I'm 29 and 10/12's, but come on!  My left knee is rockin a new pain today, but hopefully this too shall pass!  I really want to finish this thing, but I LOVE to run and I don't want to damage any parts of my body to the point that running would be a struggle in the future.  I want to still be running when I'm 60.  I'm trying out some higher "good" fat foods to help with the rib problem and getting fitted for new shoes to help with my knee. I hope it works! We are up to 12 mile runs on Saturday.

I'm going to miss training this weekend for our Hughes family Ozarks trip and I think it will be a much needed break for my body.  I just hope I can jump back in next Saturday!  I also hope my knee won't inhibit me from getting up on skis, something I haven't done since High School...should be comical:).

Speaking of the Ozarks, my dad is moving there!  That will bring him 5 hours closer to us, and we are very excited!!!  He also visited lakes in Nashville and Kentucky, but in the end I'm so glad he went with Osage Beach!  There is a route to get to IL that goes straight through the Ozarks, so that will be great to stop and visit my dad then go on to my mom's house in IL!  He's right on the lake in Osage Beach, so I can only imagine all of the fun my kids will have boating when they get bigger!  Dad has lived in IL for 25 years now, and he's happy to be moving on.  Here's a glimpse of where I'm from...

 Lots of corn...

 more corn...

 Oh look, yet another corn field!

I want to say these are beans, but I can't commit to that.  

The endless fields and rolling hills of corn really are pretty.  I never appreciated it growing up, but I do miss the slower pace lifestyle I experienced living in a town with a population of 701.  Wow!  

There are big cities near by, but between my parents houses this is all we see for 25 minutes.  My brother in law came home with us once and he didn't realized places like this existed.  He was asking us where we bought cars and clothes:).  He said it resembled the Iowa from Field of Dreams.  

I bid farewell to my dad's place when we left.  He lives on 8 acres in the most private location anyone could ask for.  Part of me yearns for a place like this.  He gardens in his underoos:). 

Dad found this sweet scull in the woods on his property.  I bird-dogged this thing right away and my dad said I could have it!  So excited to put it somewhere.

Somewhere like in one of these pics...

Antlers seem to be all the rage these days...who woulda thought?

Finishing touches...

I am SO excited to debut my new curtains!  This fabric was a steal.  I was looking for something similar to Pottery Barn's Simone fabric that they sell for a ridiculous $30 a yard.  I love the colors and the pattern and I was determined to find something.  I was telling my husband's aunt (who is a creative design genius) what I was looking for and she automatically told me about this discount design fabric place that may have something similar.  Sure enough.  Not only was is similar, it was THE Pottery Barn fabric, Simone herself!  They had 2 bolts they bought when PB opened Simone up to designers and it was on special the weekend we got it for $15 a yard!!!

I outsourced the sewing on these beauties to the best seamstress I know, my mom!  She is seriously SO wonderful and does a way better job than whomever PB uses to whip up their threads.  I wanted them lined for the front window in our reading room.  I actually want to use them as curtains to block night-time views into our home, so I really didn't want to risk doing them myself and jacking them up.  They turned out beautiful, as I knew they would!  Thanks mom!

I can't wait to cozy up in one of these chairs in the morning to do my bible study!  

Moving on to my bedroom...this poor room was in desperate need of some color!  I'm not done with it yet, I'm waiting to find just the right bedding, but these curtains brought in some much needed color to start.  Maybe in another year I will get around to new pillows or bedding.  These guys were a great deal as well....$22 for each panel + 50% off at Hobby Lobby.  They are 96" and lined!    

By the way, when did curtain rods get so UGLY and ornate?  It was so hard just to find something plain and simple...what gives?

These obviously aren't curtain related, but I found these cool vintage scales at an antique market in IL.  I had wanted one after seeing them in magazines, and was SO excited to discover them amidst the other junk surrounding them.