Dusk

Just been playing with the kids at the table before dinner and its just the most beautiful time of day.  

Tears & Cheers!

We had a little going away party for a sweet friend during bible study this last week. They are moving to San Antonio and we will miss them so much! Her little girl is kind of Ella's soul sister. They were born on the same day, in the same hospital just minutes apart. We did not know each other at the time and it was such a crazy thing to realize when we first met. How crazy it that?! She is also the little girl that was under the table with Ella as they both cut their own hair. They have so many special bonds.

We threw her a little Tears & Cheers going away party. I made the banner out of card stock with my silhouette. I sewed together some tear drops and made my first tissue paper tassels. I feel like I could become addicted to them now.

We had cards on each table for everyone to fill out. Also made on the silhouette.

We always have one person bring a snack during bible study but we decided to step it up a notch for this party. We pulled up her Pinterst board and everyone cooked something from her food board. The title of her food board is Straight-up YUM.  It was so fun to try all kinds of recipes that I would normally never think of making.
 

Of all the delicious food the one thing I think I would make was the White Pizza Dip. It was really good and I think the only dish that was completely finished. Suni made the drinks and the strawberry drink was so good. I want to try the original recipe sometime. The original recipe calls for champagne but since we were throwing a bible study party at church, she substituted Ginger Ale. 

Lots of tears, cheers and yummy treats were shared with sweet friends and we will all miss Kirsten and her sweet family so much!

Uncomfortable

That's my word of the year. (a few months late)

Uncomfortable.

I live very comfortably. I don't step too far out of my comfort zone. I know that speaking out loud in a group setting makes me a nervous wreck, so I just don't do it. Approaching someone I don't know could be weird, so I stay close to those I do know. Praying out loud with anyone besides my family makes me sweat, so I turn away any opportunity to do so. Not having "the perfect jeans" (I still haven't found them yet) and v-neck t-shirt could make me uncomfortable in my appearance, so I'm always on the lookout. Canceling our cable would make me miss out on all my favorite tv shows so I frown at the idea every time my husband suggests it, even though it would save us some money each month and I could still watch them on the computer. It just wouldn't be as easy and "comfortable" so I shy away from the idea. I shy away from a lot of things in life and I am going to make it my goal in 2013 to make myself uncomfortable. 

Last year my word was Brave. I really do feel like I embraced bravery in many situations but not as much as I wanted to. Mostly due to the fact of feeling uncomfortable. I think this year will be my year. My year to grow in so many ways.

The word uncomfortable first came to my mind as I heard a story in my bible study. A friend told us about what her family was doing for the next year. They are taking "uncomfortable" to a whole new level and selling most of their belongings and moving into a lower income neighborhood. They are going to share and spread the love of Jesus to all those around them, whether it makes them uncomfortable or not. I think it is so awesome for them and I am so excited to hear about their journey over the next year.  They have started a blog to keep track of their year. It's called uncomfortableforoneyear if you want to check it out.
I think that God calls us all to be uncomfortable in different ways. I don't think I am called to do the exact same thing as someone else, but I am called to do something. Something more than a life of getting up and being comfortable each day.
Here is to 2013! I hope it's my most uncomfortable year yet. (makes me uncomfortable even typing that!)

143

Also known in pager code as "I love you."
I is 1 letter, love is 4 letters and you is 3 letters. 

143 has always been something special between my sister and I. We are 10 years apart so when I was in high school and pagers were the cool thing to have, she was 6 years old. She picked up on a few things from me having a pager, 143 being one of them. From then on out, 143 is always how we said I love you to each other. 

Let me get a little off topic for a bit now. (it will all tie together in the end) My sister Anna has a few tattoos. Some small and some big. I have never really been the tattoo type or really cared to get one. I wasn't against them in any way, just never really had something I wanted to put on my body forever. 

For my sister's 21st birthday last year, I told her that my gift was to get a matching tattoo with her. She was beyond thrilled and shocked. At first I thought we would do it right then and there but I got nervous. Anna was so patient with me as I kept postponing the tattoos over and over again.

Finally, after almost 1 year of talking the talk, we did it! A few weeks ago, my sister and I got matching tattoos!
We printed off a few different fonts and after I stared at them for hours, we picked one.

I paced up and down the tattoo shop with this paper on my wrist and kept talking out loud to myself. I was so excited and a nervous wreck all at the same time.

 Anna was the exact opposite. As calm and cool as you could get. Anna wanted hers a little thicker and bigger so two different guys did our tattoos. We were in two rooms side by side. My mom (yes our mom is the cool mom that went with us) went from room to room taking our pics.

Here we are with our bare wrists before.

Bob called right before and I am saying in a very excited loud voice, "I gotta go babe, I"M GETTING A TATTOO RIGHT NOW!" 

I couldn't watch. I just laughed and kept saying, I can't believe this is happening. It didn't hurt at all. I do feel like I have a high pain tolerance though. Or maybe it's the fact that I have been through some physical pain in my life, that made this feel like nothing. 

Then there is Anna, watching the whole thing and having a normal conversation with her guy.

Adam was the guy who did mine and he was so nice. He kept telling me that I will be back because no one has just one tattoo. He said you either have none or multiple. Not me I told him. I am a one tattoo kind of girl.

Here we are after!
 
I didn't tell my girls what I was doing and just thought maybe they wouldn't notice. Boy was I wrong. The next morning as I was fixing Ella breakfast she spotted it immediately and said, Mom! What is on your arm? Ha! If Ella and McKenna ever want to get a tattoo when they are older, my rule is not any bigger or more than her mom has. Bob was great with my tattoo choice too. He will always be the guy with none but has a good sense of humor about mine. The other day he was playing with the girls and they all called me in the room to show me something. He had tattooed everyone with marker. Even the baby doll. Love him.

Here is what it looks like today, about a month after it was done.

I'm still in shock that I have a tattoo but I love it so much and think it is so special that we both have 143 on our wrists.  

Iphone Ketchup

My camera is not working.  It wont focus very well and I just don't know what to do about it.  I want to use it and keep thinking it will fix itself and then- every time- it doesn't.   When will there be a self repair button for everything I break?  Is that coming in 2013?  I feel like that would be a good investment.
SO, if you weren't tired of averys bday before, you will be now.  I just wanted to remember that we put streamers up for her to run through and filled the car with balloons when we picked her up.
Did she care about these things? No.  She wanted the streamers but the balloons, eh.  Not so much.  Did I scream and yell at her to be thankful when she was tired after school and just wanted to relax? Yup,  sure did.  Maybe I don't need to force my celebrations on everyone, every time.
Overall, it was a fun day.

Then, I ran the hot chocolate run with Jennifer and Katie and it was so much fun.  I was literally sick with anxiety before because I didn't know if they were going to be able to tell me when they needed to run faster.  What if they were sick of me walking and didn't know how to politely tell me I was the one holding the whole crew back?  Ugh.  I was so nervous. Luckily, with the adrenaline of the whole thing and my fantastically dorky running mix, there was no walking and it really worked out great.  We all ran at the same pace and just had so much fun.  So, now we are doing the rock n roll half in march.  I have no idea if I will be even close to ready for that, but I am excited.
Julie stayed a few days after the party and we had just so much fun hanging out and going to the zoo and pretending we still lived in the same town.  Then, I went to sassy's field trip with her little school.  It was hilarious.  All those kids in matching shirts. So cute.  Then, at one point she told me I had to leave because she was ready to play with her friends and she ran off.  Right.  This was just after Jeff asked if sassy even wanted me to go on her field trip and I had replied with an "of course she does!!"  Spoke too soon.
We used white crayons to write secret messages and then watercolored over them.  Then Lindsay Lancaster sent me the sweetest package full of fantastic fun stuff.  I could not get over it.  That girl has a heart of gold.
Avery (and mostly me) sewed together a doll with a kit from lindsay and we had so much fun.  We lost one of the shoes so she improvised by making her own.  I love when rule followers are ok with breaking the rules.
Sassy and ben fished in the front yard with homemade poles.
We did a run/ride as we are calling it over here.  They rode and I ran.  And pushed them.  And pleaded with them to keep going a little further and we would be done.  It was a semi success.  Success that we did it and finished and there was only a little crying.
And run over right now and see Lindsey's incredible wedding that was featured on green wedding shoes.  it was more fun than I have ever had and could not love them more.  and their wedding was the most beautiful wedding I have ever been to. ever.

And heres a little playlist for your weekend:
1.  Half Moon- Blind Pilot
2. Girl from the North Country- Bob Dylan
3.  The people I know- Eric Hutchinson
4.  Happy Endings- Mika
5.  Down in the Valley- Head and the Heart
6.  My body- Young the Giant
7.  Apologies- Grace Potter
8.  Vegas- Sara Bareilles
9.  Old Before your Time- Ray LaMontagne
10.  Say Please- Monsters of Folk

The snickerdoodle heard around the world

These cookies are amazing.  Amazing.

Go ahead and stop what you are doing right now and make them.  

I pinned them on pinterest at first because of the pictures that are so amazing but I will admit I was a little bit skeptical.  I had never browned butter and can be nervous about dark brown sugar, but, I was wrong people.  So wrong.  Browning butter was so much fun. I know it is a huge fad right now, but it really is as cool as its reputation.  The cookies tasted like butter.  Browned butter and cinnamon.  Just so good.

So, go ahead and believe the hype and make these for breakfast.   You will not be sorry.

Valentine's Day recap

I wish I could do it all over again! It was one of those days that was so wonderful, I wish it wasn't over. The girls are at such a fun age and really get excited about stuff like this. It makes me giddy to have some sidekicks that also speak my love language. 

We started the morning off with some pink heart shaped pancakes,

then headed to school in our matching homemade heart shirts.

As the girls were at school, I turned our living room into a Valentines dance room! 

Since we just so happen to have our very own dance floor, (the one my awesome hubby built for McKenna's party) I thought a Valentine's Dance was a must. 

I printed off an invite and the girls were so excited to give it to Bob.

The love notes we did last year were a hit so we did it again this year. I made it more of a fill in the blank on one card this time.

How sweet is this picture of McKenna praying?! Her voice is even sweeter. She mumbles quiet little sayings and then in a very bold strong voice says AMEN! Melts my heart every time.

During dinner Bob and I read them all out loud. Ella's face is priceless. She loved hearing them.

After dinner we opened presents. Bob got the girls the "as seen on tv" light up heart pillows. They are a huge hit!

Then the dance party began!

Ella was so proud that she knew to put one hand on my shoulder and hold the other. She told me that Avery taught her how to dance.

Nice no show socks Bob:)

Girl on Fire is always a favorite with both girls and they sing it at the top of their lungs.

Ella and Bob danced to Sweet Thing by Van Morrison.

McKenna and Bob danced to Angel by Jack Johnson.

Wild Horses by The Rolling Stones is Bob and I's song. Ella took some pics of us as we danced to it.

We ended the night with the most delicious chocolate strawberry pie.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Valentine's Day!