The Faithful Rhythms of the Morning

I often forget to document the mundane. I hope that this space that I have been sharing life on for the past 12+ years will be a source for me to look back on often as the kids grow older and the seasons of life give way to change.
Today I was reflecting on our mornings. Right now with the current state of the quarantine our mornings are static. Each day begins, for the most part, the exact same way. And for the sake of documenting the simple things of this season of life, here's how it goes.
At the first hint of sunlight, the birds begin to sing crazily to one another. I remember that this was something I had to get used to when we first moved here 11 years ago. Every morning, particularly in the spring, it sounds like we live in the midst of a bird sanctuary. Our home is in a standard southern California track, but our backyard is a bit unusual with a giant sloped hill on two sides that provides home to trees and birds and some other unwelcome creatures as well. (That's you, baby rattlesnake that we found two weeks ago). Any way, I have grown so accustomed to the sounds of the morning that I hardly take note of it anymore. Until yesterday when I snuck outside on my balcony for a virtual meeting and my principal stopped the meeting to ask, "Where are all of those bird sounds coming from?" Oops! All that to say that the birds are the alarm clock for our littlest Hein. When they start singing, she comes ringing.
Taylor comes in to our bed unapologetically noisy and asks to crawl in with me and cuddle. Sometimes she will actually snuggle with me allowing me to catch a few more minutes of much appreciated sleep. But most mornings she makes her presence in bed wildly known and practically kicks me out of the bed so that we can continue our morning routine.
I go to the bathroom and brush my teeth and then she insists on me carrying her down the stairs. I plop Tay on the couch, turn on a cartoon and cover her up with one of her blankets. She is very picky about the blanket and the cartoon selection.
I warm up the coffee maker, give Molly, our 10 year old yellow lab, a treat and then get Taylor's sippy cup of milk ready and deliver it to her with one white chocolate chip. So random, right? But don't judge. With kid #3 I shamefully give in to many things to avoid the tantrums.
The next 20 minutes or so are quiet. I make my coffee and sit down at my favorite spot on our living room couch and break open my Bible. This is my sacred prayer time. The way I fill myself for all of the needs that will present themselves throughout the day. This time grounds me. It is often left off during busy work weeks so this quarantine time has blessed me by making this special quiet time a strict routine.
Now, even though it's my quiet time there are requests yelled from the room next door. "Momma, can you take my cup?" Which means that she is too lazy to put her milk cup on the coffee table directly in front of her. "Momma, can you tuck me in again?" Most days I willingly give into these requests, although there are a few mornings that I just don't have the energy... yet. At least not until my coffee kicks in.
I know my quiet time is coming to an end when I can hear Emmerson tip toeing down the stairs behind me. Each kiddo is so unique her their morning habits. Emmerson likes to come downstairs unannounced. She would breeze right by me, happily unnoticed if I'd allow her to. She usually has a tired, grouchy face and doesn't want to be touched, cuddled, or engaged with yet. I usually offer her a sweet voiced, "Good morning, sweet girl." To which she scoffs at and grouchily makes herself a spot on the couch by Taylor with her own blanket to lay in. Em is also my first kid that requests breakfast. She's hangry. Every single morning and doesn't become "herself" until she's eaten.

Next comes Donovan. He's an early riser, but he usually spends time in his room before coming downstairs. I hear him stirring about shortly after I bring Tay downstairs. When Donovan  comes down the stairs, he bounds a few steps at a time and jumps right on the couch next to me, seeking a kiss and some morning back scratches. He'll take all of the attention I can muster. He leaves very little personal space between the two of us and begins asking questions a mile a minute, "What do you want to do today? Can we watch a movie tonight? What are you going to make for dinner? Want to hear something funny that happened in my book?"

You may be wondering where my other half is in this... He is our sleeper. He sleeps like a rock and would sleep in until noon if he could. He's our slowest to rise.

Once Donovan makes his appearance known for the morning, my Bible and journal gets put away. I fix my mind on things that need to be done. Some chores, fixing breakfast, clearing the dishwasher, getting the girls dressed and ready for the day. In the midst of these things, we wake Daddy up and the real day begins.

These are the constants. The faithful rhythms of each morning full of varying personalities and needs. I often wonder if they will remain in tact as they grow older into pre-teen years and beyond. I am so thankful for these predictable starts to each day.

Today

There is so very much to catch up on around here, but the minutes to sit in front of my lap top are few and far between. 

Instead I will fill you in on the most memorable moments of my day. 

 Like when Donovan woke up with one eye swollen shut from a mosquito bite reaction. With no grandparents in town and an important presentation at school, I dragged him reluctantly into my office where he hid in the corner until Benadryl kicked in and made him look less Hitch-esque. 

Tonight I complimented Taylor when she put her Paw Patrol slippers on the correct feet unassisted. She responded, "I know stuffs, Mom." Indeed, little one. 

And the extreme talents of this one included reciting every single word of a 90 second commercial for a toy, to which I shouted from the kitchen where I was cooking, "How do you always memorize everything like that?" 

"I watch a ton of tv!" says she. 

Momming so hard on this hump day. 

How have you been? 

Unexpectedly Perfect

This is kind of an odd post to round out 2019 with. But I don't want to forget today. 

Sometime I will get around to posting pictures of Christmas Eve and Christmas morning and all of the messy, toy induced fun that followed us into the new year. But I start today's post here. 

 Last night, Dustin and I went out for a much anticipated date night. I had been looking forward to it like crazy, craving some time away with my guy. He bought us concert tickets to see Donavon Frankenreiter at the Belly Up! We left the house early, with plenty of time for dinner before the concert. We ate at a restaurant in Encinitas I had wanted to try for years and it was amazing. 

 Here we are in all of our date night bliss. I was desperately craving coffee to keep my old, tired self awake for the start of the concert. Also, it was SO cold... at least southern California cold. 

The concert was great. Super mellow music with an eclectic group of fans that made for perfect people watching. 

At the concert Dus ordered us a pair of IPAs and later in the night a refill. And this is where my story takes an unexpected turn. 

I can apparently not handle having a couple of beers like I used to. The night was perfect and we headed home and crawled into our cozy bed where I quickly drifted off to sleep. Only to wake up a few hours later feeling SO sick! I spent the next few hours from about 3:00 on dry heaving and swearing I will never drink another IPA as long as I live. Holy cow. As I laid awake tossing and turning in the early morning hours, I thought surely I had come down with the flu or maybe food poisoning.  But alas, my other half that split everything I ate yesterday with me was jussssst fine all through the night and for the rest of the day. 

I was not. I finally fell asleep as my kids were waking up for the day around 7 and proceeded to sleep until 10:30. Praise the Lord for Dustin and Grammie that manned the ship for my very lively crew. 

But the silver lining of my day came here. Gram took Taylor and Emmerson out for a day of running errands. They hit up Hobby Lobby and the library and followed it up with lunch. And this boy right here, crawled into bed with me. Knowing I was "under the weather" he asked if he could make me his specialty, cinnamon sugar toast. And he did... I could hear his every step in the kitchen below me. Pretty soon he brought up this little plate for us to share in bed. We laid back on the pillows and watched a Hallmark Christmas movie that made us both laugh and chat a bunch with commentary on all of the cheesy goodness. And when it was over, he said, "Today is kind of the best, right Mom?" And he was right, it was. I resisted every urge to get up and shower and start some laundry and pick up a million toys and.... to continue laying there and watching a complete second Hallmark movie... equally entertaining. Half way through the movie when I was feeling almost all the way better I muttered that I would give anything for a cup of coffee. And guess what? D jumped back up and said, "I can do it Mom! I know where everything is!" He ran down the stairs and then ran back up two or three times to clarify where the K-cups were hiding and if I liked cream, and how much cream exactly. And then a few minutes later, a hot cup of coffee and more cuddle time with my boy. 

Amid this lazy day in bed, my husband came in repeatedly to half check on me and half make fun of me. But his teasing smiles made me feel so loved. 

And that was it. That was why today felt so good. I am so loved by my family. And it wasn't because I was tending to their every need, or fixing them lunch. It was just because I was me. A tired, hung over mom, laying in her bed watching Hallmark Christmas movies. 

An unexpectedly perfect way to end the year. 

Me and My Boy

This almost 9 year old boy of ours is driven by sports. His favorite thing to talk about from his school day are the play by plays of the lunch and recess football games. When we get home from school, he promptly changes into a football uniform and plays with our neighbor in the front yard until it's completely dark outside. And then, before I know it, it's time for bed. 

Long gone are the days where he wants to spend all of his waking hours with his momma. 

So this picture is everything to me. Dustin snapped this the other night at bed time. It's our new routine. 

After tucking in the girls, I crawl into bed with Donovan and we read. He's reading his Warriors series and I am reading Anne of Green Gables. Sometimes we read to each other, but more often than not, we each read quietly to ourselves. When we both hear each other yawning, we agree to put our books aside and turn off the lights. Then, Donovan requests a back scratch before he dozes off. I happily oblige because I know these nights are fleeting. In these moments we talk about his little crush and all of his friends at school. We laugh about the silliest things and talk about things we need to work on to do better the next day. 

These moments are sacred to me and I never ever want to forget them. 

The perfect end to a tough week

Today was Hein family perfection! Thank you, Lord for a fun day adventuring with my family. I needed this. 

 By the end of the work week, last week. I. Was. Done. For the past few weeks Taylor has been in this "phase" of not sleeping and throwing tantrums every moment of her awake hours. We have always drawn a very hard line when it comes to kids sleeping in our bed. I am all about what works for each and every family. But for ours, we just don't roll that way. In rare occasions when the kids are sick, or they have a bad dream, Dustin and I usually crawl into bed with them until they fall back asleep and then we sneak back into our own bed. 

But in recent weeks, things have completely flipped. Taylor seems next to impossible to get down to sleep at night. We have to tuck her in over and over again. She's such a stinker. She'll turn the lights on, start pulling out toys, jump on her sister's bed... basically torture poor Emmerson. When she does finally fall asleep, she'll wake up an hour or two later and cry/scream uncontrollably for an hour or two. There is no consoling her. It's total insanity. So for that reason, we've been pulling her into bed with us. And to make matters worse, after the time change, she started to get up for the day at 4am. 

Annnnddd... (I think because of her lack of sleep) she is having melt downs over everything! I mean everything. I didn't pick out the right shirt, she actually wanted her hair in a braid, she hates these socks, she only wants chocolate milk, not regular. Dad can't take her to school... only mom! She doesn't want Emmerson to touch the blanket that she's cuddling with. She wants her stuffed animals, no wait, she hates them. 

You name it. There was literally nothing we could do right with her last week. 

I hit a new mom low on Saturday morning when I got very stern with her and said between my grinding teeth, "If you keep screaming, the neighbors are going to call the police and they're going to take you away from our family because they think we're terrible parents. Is that what you want???" 

Yep. I went there. 

It was either that or I think my marriage was about to end. When you are completely sleep deprived, still working 50+ hours a week, and listening to non stop screams of rage every second that you're not working, you say horrible things like this to your two your old. Or at least, I did. Sorry, not sorry. It did seem to work, at least temporarily. 

Here was poor Emmerson sleeping with me all Friday night because she began to cry uncontrollably from the Taylor torture. Ugh. 

But I am sooooo happy to report that Saturday night and Sunday night were like miracles! She slept in her bed with only a few wake ups and no screaming cries. Glory, glory, Hallelujah! All is right with the world. Our marriage, sleep, and sanity have all been restored in just two days of normal sleeping. 

Things I have learned this week. I am feeling too old to hang with the highs and lows of a two year old. I love my family so darn much! That is all. 

Back to the weekly updates, then... shall we? Saturday wrapped up the soccer season. Donovan's team won the silver division title. It was such a fun final game. 

He played against one of his best buddies from school. 

Emmerson was sad to see her soccer season end. She loved playing with this little group of gals. Saturday night we went to the Trampoline Park to celebrate a fun season together. 

Sunday, the kids were happy to have a lazy day without plans. I started to deep clean the house in anticipation of all things Christmas. Does anyone else do that? It felt so good to clean, clean, clean. The bigs and I got on a kick cutting paper snowflakes. We came up with a fun plan for decorating their rooms for the holidays. I am so excited for the holidays! Thanksgiving break is right around the corner and I am here for it! Also, I have had holiday music playing non-stop AND we broke out the Christmas jammies... so pretty much, It's the most wonderfulll time of the yearrrrr! 

 Today we had no school in observance of Veteran's Day. PS So grateful for those that have served our country. We decided to make the most of our first free of sports, day off since summer with a little family outing. We drove the kids down to PL to see the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.

 We also did some adventuring at the Cabrillo National Monument. 

 The kids posed with who I think was supposed to be Cabrillo himself. He awkwardly pulled out a dagger and posed like he was attacking the kids. #memories I guess. 

We toured the lighthouse and watched a little informative movie about the Point Loma tide pools before heading over to our college alma mater. 

The kids have been on campus a handful of times, but we typically go during summer and winter break when the university is empty. Today, classes were in session and the kids thought it was so funny to be up in the mix during a college school day. 

After playing around on campus, we went out for a late lunch and then came home in the afternoon. 

It was the most beautiful day together that ended with sharing homemade queso around the table and some fresh chocolate chip cookies for dessert. 

It was the perfect family day that I needed oh, so badly. 

We survived last week. Even in the chaos and sleep deprivation... I am so very thankful to do life with this crazy crew of mine. 

Wishing you all an amazing week ahead. 

xoxo

keeping me humble

It's been so long since I've posted here. I have a whole lot of little nothings to catch you up on like a big boy haircut for my now 8 year old, a first wiggly tooth for Emmerson, and Taylor's cutest new phrase, "Lemme tell ya sumthin'..." 

But first, before I forget... this morning: 

I was doing some random silly mom dance in the kitchen this morning while I was cooking away and Emmerson so sweetly looked at me from the barstool and said, "You're pretty." 

My heart nearly melted into a puddle on the floor. And then from the other side of the room, Donovan agreed saying, "It's true, Mom." 

So sweet! I rattled off some response like, "You GUYS! That is so sweet. Momma doesn't always feel all that pretty so that made me feel so happy. Thanks, guys!" 

And then thought... you know what, let me take this to a deeper level. I want them to understand that beauty comes from within and we can shine our light to others when we feel God's love in our hearts yada yada. 

So I simply asked, "Guys, you know where real beauty comes from?" 

And without a second of hesitation Donovan said, "Your make-up?" 

True. Well- played, son. Well played. 

So cheers to make-up and a non make-up picture above to prove that no matter how much love I shine from the inside out... make-up certainly does help. 

navigating the world of stay at home momma

So, as I mentioned in my last post, this is our first week back from vacation and Dustin has been at work every day leaving the house at around 6 and getting home somewhere between 8-9. I must admit, I love and look forward to these rare times of being with all three kiddos on my own because this never happens throughout the school year. But that's not to say it isn't full of challenges, either. 

So here's the thing: 7, 5, and 1. I am fairly certain that each of my children's love language is quality time. But I am finding this so hard to juggle with these ages. 

 Donovan and Emmerson are loving creative activities. Like this particular afternoon it was play dough. Great, except I couldn't really engage with them in their play because a particular one year old wanted to stand on the table, tear all the play dough away from them, and or throw a tantrum when she wasn't getting her way. 

So more often than not, I set up something for Emmerson and Donovan to play with and then they do it by themselves and I try half heartedly to keep interjecting myself with a, "That looks nice!" Or, "Why don't you try..." while I'm more focused on entertaining Taylor at ground level. 

 When Taylor takes her one nap, it affords me more of an opportunity to engage with my bigs. Donovan loved teaching me how to play Black Jack the other day. Two decks and he beat me every single hand except for two. Someone take this boy to Vegas. Ha! 

 They do so well playing together, too. The other morning they played Life with their neighbor friend on the front porch for more than an hour. I love how close Donovan and Emmerson are. 

 We did a lot of garden work together the last few days. I set Taylor up with a make shift water table and toys so that Donovan, Emmerson, and I could do some planting. 

 While late in the season, I thought it'd be a fun experiment to watch some pumpkin seeds grow. 

 Our front yard tree sheds all of its leaves in the summer so every afternoon when a breeze kicks up, I send us all out there to rake together. It keeps us busy and makes Daddy happy, too. Win- win. 

 We updated our fairy garden with some fresh flowers. 

We even took cuttings from our backyard succulents to make some new planters for the front porch. I love that the bigs love getting their hands in the dirt just like I do. 

We have also taken lots of walks and scooter rides, although it has been extraordinarily warm here this week. Donovan said on our afternoon walk yesterday, "Mom, I am hot and miserable!" And Emmerson made me carry her little mini bike home claiming she couldn't ride it one more second because she was too hot. Ha! 

We did the park one morning, and went to our school today for a Reading on the Lawn event which was fun, too. 

Oma so graciously stole the bigs away for a movie yesterday and for Legoland this afternoon. They love spending time with Oma and Grampie and I am so appreciative for a little extra help so that I can at least give my undivided attention to Taylor for a bit, and let's be real, also kick my feet up, or SHOWER! Ha! 

I truly love these slow, unplanned days but the mom guilt is still there. I really enjoyed this post by Emily Henderson with 27 summer activities to try with kids. I can't wait to try out a few of them that I know the bigs will enjoy. I am just finding it so hard to split my attention between toddler and bigs.

Anyone else been there and get that? I would love to hear your ideas, thoughts, or just reassurance that they won't someday think I ignored them all summer long. 

Dustin will be home next week which will be a total game changer. An extra set of hands and eyes in the mix and we can completely divide and conquer. I'm excited to get us out of the house more and do the things that I love so much in the summer... mainly the beach. Wish I was brave enough to try it with all three on my own but I'm not quite there yet. Stay tuned. 

xo

baking with my babes

Every Sunday it has become a tradition to bake with the kids. Since we usually attend church on Saturday nights, Sundays have become my favorite slow moving day of the week. I live for these relaxed days.We usually start Sundays snuggling on the couch, watching cartoons, while Daddy gets some extra zzzzz's. Then we decide what to make for family breakfast. And the rest of the day is open for whatever we feel like doing together. I love that!

One thing that we always make time for is getting our hands dirty in the kitchen. I feel like baking with Donovan and Emmerson is one of my favorite ways to bond with them. It takes us away from electronics and allows us to chat endlessly about whatever is on their minds. We typically bake muffins to have for breakfast for the week ahead. But we also love preparing something yummy for our Sunday family dinner dessert. 

Last weekend, Donovan had a baseball tournament, so it became a girls only baking day. 

 I think when the kids are big enough to reach the counter without the chairs, I will be so sad. I swear their footprints are permanently etched in the seat of our kitchen table chairs and I kind of love that. 

 Emmerson is super confident in the kitchen. She loves measuring everything. She meticulously uses the back side of a knife to shave off excess flour and sugar back into their respective bowls. 

She's also my #1 egg cracker. I think she's better than I am at this point. Look at those precious 4 year old hands. 

 My mom gifted me with the Magnolia Table cookbook for my birthday last month. It just came out and was sent to me last week! I can not even begin to tell you how beautiful it is. I LOVE it! It'd make such an amazing Mother's Day gift. It is FULL of great looking recipes, all with beautiful pictures and stories. I can't wait to work my way through it with my little helpers.

This was the first recipe we tried and it did not disappoint.  I have decided to date the recipes each time we bake together. Emmerson signed her own name, "Emmerson Hein Grace" and I wrote a little note about the occasion we were baking for. Later that night, Donovan was thumbing through the cookbook and felt sad that he didn't get to help us or sign his name. He wrote his own little note underneath, "Donovan was at a baseball tournament and won one of two games." I know that someday I will flip through these pages with such fond memories of our Sunday tradition. 

Weekend Ramblings

You know it's been a long week when you get out of bed well after your alarm, secondary alarm, and snooze alarm went off. You opt not to wash your hair for the third morning in a row because... no time. Instead, you jump in the shower strictly to shave your legs because that (for me) is an every day kind of thing. No excuses. Then, when you do get out of the shower, dry off, and grab lotion for your shaved legs you realize... wait a second... Did I seriously forget to shave? 

Ya. That's how my day started. Working mom of 3. I may look like I've got my stuff together. But you, my lone blog readers know the real way we roll around here. 

Speaking of blog readers, my parents were off to Tennessee this week. Well, first to Florida and then to Tennessee. In the past few months we lost my Dad's only sibling, my Aunt Barb who lived in Florida as well as their dear cousin who was also like an Aunt to us, Trish from Tennessee. It's been such a shock for our entire family to lose them both so quickly and unexpectedly. The two of them were a big reason why I continued to blog when I had otherwise given up on it for a time. They were always emailing to let me know how much they enjoyed the pictures and stories of the kids. 

My parents were gifted with Trish's little country home in Tennessee. Today, my mom emailed me a few pictures of the most charming country shops and gorgeous fields of cotton and three surprise pumpkins that randomly sprung up in Trish's front yard garden. I'm not going to lie. At times I wish I could instantly transport my own family out there to experience the small town simplicity for a time. Or at least some fall weather and color. Come on Autumn... I'm begging you, come! It's supposed to be 90 degrees here for the next few days!

Which brings me to this weekend. Guys, my other half is running a marathon again this weekend. This time in Lake Tahoe. I am infinitely proud of Dustin and how he crushes his goals. But I'd be lying if I told you I wasn't nervous about this one. He's so far from home and running a crazy course at elevation. I think I am either going to be in total avoidance or in non-stop prayer all of Sunday morning. I am already counting the hours until we have him back home with us again. 

Meanwhile, you can find me sweating it out with three kids, and TWO dogs. (Doggie sitting for one of my besties). Come to think of it, I believe I will be in prayer this weekend. Lord, give me all the patience to do the things. Things = soccer, lots of soccer and also, Target. 

Let me break up these endless words for a moment to show you this most precious face. 

Taylor is not on a steady diet of orange juice, I assure you. This is Emmerson's baby doll bottle that Tay got her hands on. Are her curls not the cutest? I think I love them so much because all three of our babies are like little clones of each other but these curlies are allllll Taylor Joy's.

Love Bug gets her hands on everything! If I want to be sure that she is safely secure and not within reach of all things...

I lock her up in her jump-a-roo. She's not a fan of this type of restriction, though. And I can not stand listening to this one cry. So the jumpy play never lasts very long. 

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Coming back to you on Saturday morning because I could not, for the life of me, keep my eyes open to finish the post last night. Good news: Game one and Target are done. Boom! One more game to go this afternoon and then I'm going to call this day a victory. 

So, where did we leave off on this rambling post?

Can we talk fashion for a moment? 

I almost laughed out loud reading this blog post yesterday. 

I immediately texted it to a friend of mine that used to wear the identical daisy jeans but in overall form. We were so fashion forward in 1994 I tell you. All things from my middle school era seem to be back and I am not hating it one bit. Next up... Doc Martens, baby doll dresses, and flannels-courtesy of My So Called Life era. Let the prediction be documented here.

My most worn item in my own closet in recent months has been these overalls from Madewell. People always kind of laugh when they see them... but I kid you not, they are my FAVORITE! I mostly wear them with form fitting shirts underneath and in true 90s form, I have even sported them with this other favorite piece from Madewell. I remember when my mom wore nothing but bodysuits in her day and now, here I am. Full circle moment. 

I am excited to try dressing these overalls up a bit for fall with a dressier button down shirt, or a lacy top underneath with booties. I am sure Dustin is on the edge of his seat to see how that will turn out. Right hun? It's the silliest things that make me happy in life, I know. 

So all that to say that my love for overalls has made me curious about if I could pull off more styles like this? Hmmm... any thoughts?  Do I draw the line at overalls or leap forth into jumpers? Yes, I said jumpers. Decisions, decisions. 

In other fashion news, the Hein family is preparing for family pictures. We typically don't take family pictures more than every two to three years but we've been feeling guilty that we don't have many pictures of Taylor up around the house yet. So we decided to go for it and have plans to have them taken next weekend. 

I read this post that recommended that mommas always wear a dress in their family pictures. I have never opted for a dress in pictures before, but I just might this time around. I am liking this one, seen below for its Autumn-rust color and longer lady-like length. 

Change of  topic: Faith. 

I listened to this sermon this week and as always was deeply moved and challenged. Pastor Nathan talks about how words are of huge significance (piggy-backing from his sermon the week prior) but how our actions are so much louder. He talks about some biblical examples and then brought it home by commenting on how when there are different types of catastrophic news stories weekly: Hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, mass shootings... it's easy for us to feel overwhelmed by how many needs there are and to instead respond by doing nothing... when in reality, we're called to an actionable faith that's meant to be the hands of Jesus in whatever form we can be. 

This was so convicting. 

I have totally experienced that feeling of emotional overwhelm lately and in turn, responded by doing nothing more than praying. It's hard to know where to begin when there are just so many needs. 

But it's time to be intentional and do what I'm called to do. So this is on my heart. Time to make a plan and figure out how and where to give. 

Or as Nathan put it, "Resolve to take your Christianity out of your head, and out of your mouth... and actually LIVE it out." 

I am grateful for podcasts because they seem to be the best way for me to reach out for spiritual guidance in this sometimes hectic season of my life. In the last year or two I began to spend time most every single morning with my Bible cracked open taking notes and writing prayers in my journal. I continued that even after Taylor was born because there was always some point in the day that she was napping and the house was quiet. But since I have been back to work, this quiet time has disappeared and I just haven't made it a priority. My alarm goes off at 5 and I am go, go, go until I hit my bed again around 11:00 at night. I know eventually, I will find my groove again. But until then, it's listening to sermons, podcasts, and worship music on the go. Thanks to my Heavenly Father for meeting me right where I am at and always blessing me with what I need regardless of how little time and effort I am putting forth to reciprocate. 

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Are you still there? Good news! We are now back from today's games and errands.  Taylor is napping and we have two wild and crazy labs covered in mud chasing each other around the backyard. But hey, we're doing it. Making memories, as my other half always says. 

I am off to play with the big kids. But I will leave this random post with a picture of me and my girl, taken by my love, in the place where I begin and end each day. 

I wouldn't have it any other way. 

How is your weekend going? Did you brush your hair today? Put on make-up? If not, you're in good company, my friends. 

xo

Things that make you go hmmmmm

Me: Hey guys, do you know why Tay's hair feels so sticky? 

Emmerson: Ummmm, I think I put a little bit of my Otter Pop juice in it when we were outside. 

Note to self: I may want to add Otter Pop juice to my morning hair routine... curls for daysssssss.