Awaiting the arrival of Baby Krew

My younger sister, Ali, is headed into the home stretch with her pregnancy - only a few weeks left.  So last Saturday we celebrated her upcoming arrival of Krew Braden with a baby shower. 


Keeping with the decor of the nursery, we threw her a sporting event themed shower, complete with concession-style food - corn dogs, nachos and cheese, boiled peanuts, wings, popcorn, and soda.  YUM.



Ali, with the party throwers (correct term?) - Sal Gal, me, and Aunt Sara 



Ali and her best friend, Brooke

We asked all the guests to sign this football as a keepsake.  One day Krew will be able to look back and see all of his fans that came to cheer him on.

Kate and Hamp spent the weekend at their Grammy's, so M to the Izz-A and I took advantage of the free time and went out to dinner with a group of our best friends on Saturday night.  I forgot the camera at home.  On purpose.



I'm loving this warm, almost hot, weather.  Kate, Hamp, and I have been on bike/stroller rides almost everyday for the past week or so.  We love it.  And Kate would ride all over this little town if I'd let her.  She never wants to turn around and always throws in a quick recommendation of riding all the way 'up town' to Subway or McD's for lunch.  Not to mention, we can't ever just hop on the bikes and go, she's got to 'work' on hers for a little while before we leave.  Every time.  It's hilarious.


So we give her the time she needs to work on her wheels while Hamp and I take shameless SP's.  Ain't no thang.

I love the view - my two loves.  Wait, make that three loves.  I just noticed my DC made it into the pic.


The only thing missin' from that picture is M to the Izz-A - then it would have been perfect.  Maybe he could join me at home, be a SAHD, and we could live on love and frozen Girl Scout cookies. 


And here's a pic of my girl and me from today.  Why is this pic so important?  Because it's the first knot dress I made her. 
And, well, I need to document it just in case it decides to come apart at the seams before the day's over.  I still get nervous about that.  Just kiddin'.  Kinda.

In other random news:

-- Hamp turns 9 months old this week. 

-- Shawntel on last night's Bachelor scared me. 

-- Kate asked to take Hamp to school in a box with her this morning as her show-n-tell.

-- For a second or three I actually considered it.

Early Morning in the Moddy Household

Well hey there, good-lookin.

Since it's Valentine's weekend and all, we decided to make a batch of heart-shaped chocolate chip muffins this morning.  Chocolate chips, as long as they're smashed into muffins, make for a completely acceptable breakfast.

Also, one should not feel too incredibly special.  As I've shared before, this is the only muffin tin I own.  So, if I withhold the making of muffins throughout the year and reserve them solely for Valentine's week, it appears I've gone the extra mile in more ways than one, no?

I assumed that the heart in the muffins stood for love.  Kate, on the other hand, rightfully assumed that the heart wasn't just reserved for love, but also for "pumpin' all ya blood".  Thank you for the early mornin' visual.

And the finished product of the highly-esteemed just-add-water-recipe:


Note to self: tackle Kate's fingernails this weekend



Think About Such Things

Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable--if anything is excellent or praiseworthy--think about such things.-Philippians 4:8


About a year and a half ago, I wrote a post about being intentional with your thoughts.  (Please visit or revisit that post, or this may not make any sense at all.) 


Well, today was one of those days where I had to be intentional about being intentional. 


Talk about down in the dang dumps.  I'm tellin' ya'll, I simply cannot handle a sick baby.  Cannot.


As much as I'd like to think of myself as a pretty positive-thinking person, sometimes I can't just take everything with a grain of salt and go on throughout the day as if everything's okay.  I'm telling ya, it's like some days I feel like I can take on the world, whereas some days I feel like I can't even take a shower.  Today was the latter.  (And at this point, if you're thinking I'm crazy, don't tell me.)

 Hamp has been crying for the past two days straight.  I'm assuming it's his teeth trying to come in, but he's also a little congested with a cold.  My poor little man has been so irritable, miserable, and just plain pitiful and that has a tendency to make me feel the exact same way. 


So while I didn't want to 'waller around' in the negative, I decided to focus on the things that made me smile - the little things throughout the day that brought me joy (or kept me from joining in with Hamp and just screaming).


#1 -  My big preschooler was so proud of what she made in school today, she asked me to take a picture of it "for Daddy".   I love that she's proud of her school work.

#2 - and the fact that she flares her nostrils sometimes when she smiles, just like her daddy.

#3 -  This little guy finally found some relief and took a short nap, in my arms.

#4 - This precious, family-sized bag of goodies was left over from our cookie decorating party...AND they were in the fridge, which means they were cold and crunchy, just the way I like 'em. 

#5 - seeing that about three-fourths of my grocery list is crossed out and accounted for, because M to the Izz-A volunteered to stop on the way home from his meeting and pick up the things that were on the we-need-it-NOW category.  The other stuff can wait.

I know ya'll are diggin' my stationary.  Don't worry, you can get yourself some from Burger King.  And the pen?  Teacher supply store, baby.

#6 - watching Kate and her daddy work together on their garage project.

#7 -  seeing this little guy get some fresh air and go longer than 5 minutes without crying. 

#8 - a pink washcloth and a blue washcloth -- well, not the actual washcloths, but what they represent:  A little girl and a little boy who have my heart. 

#9 - Leftovers from last night = tonight's dinner

#10 - A couple of new parts and they got it running!

Her colors aren't brown and brown...

...but apparently mine are?


Seriously.  Be honest.  Should I go with brown, brown, brown, or brown?



Or



brown?

We're considering repainting our bedroom.  I am completely over the super dark green color on my walls.  It's dated, to say the least.  Plus, I think I actually described it as 'depressing' the other day.  I need something more neutral, more natural, more....well, brown.

I need the perfect shade of boring brown, or...basic beige?  Something that will stand the test of time and the changing of my bedding over the years.


Since when did the color of dirt become so popular that it needed a million gazillion shades? 




Well, Kate wasn't feelin' as much brown as she was sparkly blue and purple, circa my middle school makeup years.

She didn't want to go upstairs to sit in front of the bathroom mirror, so we set her up a little makeup vanity at the kitchen table, with the help of Hamp's formula can and an old compact of mine.  Old?  Who am I kidding?  I'm still digging at the corners of that thing trying to get every last drop of powder out that I can.  But I'll call it 'old' because I plan on getting a new one TODAY.  Or tomorrow.  Hold me to it.

Putting on makeup first thing in the morning?  She's way ahead of her mama.

Simply gorgeous. 

Makeup by 7am - You're my hero, Kate.



But who could ever be grumpy in the mornings when they get to see this little cutie staring up at them?

And Mr. Man was sportin' his blue jeans today. 


Only he could make jeans with a drawstring waist look cool.

His best 'surprised face'

Can someone please come and rescue that family of dust bunnies living underneath my benchseat?

Wordless Wednesday

 currently reading and highly recommend...

Sacred Marriage by Gary Thomas

Girls Gone Wise in a world gone wild by Mary A. Kassian

Not quite Central Park, but...

Here's the view from my backyard this week:







Doesn't get much sweeter than that.