Daily Moments

Here is another look at daily moments throughout our week. I really love this idea of capturing a moment a day...thanks to Jessica at The Mom Creative.  Of course I am missing a picture for Wednesday & Sunday.

Monday-August 23rd-Jake & I enjoyed the morning at the library. This was the 1st time we had gone to the library in a few months. This time Jake was so into it and loved looking at all the books and getting to pick some out to take home. He looked at his books the whole way home from the library. Then after nap we took the books outside and enjoyed our snack & reading in the grass.

Tuesday-August 24th-Jake loves when Daddy is home and couldn't wait to get outside and play football with him. I love being able to sit back and watch them play together.

Thursday-August 26th- I didn't want to get rid of some of my favorites of Jake's clothes so I asked my mother-in-law if she could make a blanket out of them. Here is Jake with Mawmaw showing off the blanket.

Friday-August 27th-Friday I hosted my rubbermaid reveal mop party. Here is a picture of my sweet friends, sisters, & mom all enjoying themselves at the party.

Saturday-August 28th- Today we celebrated Joss' 2nd birthday. Her mom did a great job putting together the cutest sunflower birthday party. Look at Joss in her precious tutu and #2 shirt.

Braid Rug (12 new things)

So my new thing to learn for August was how to make a braid rug. Although, I haven't completed a rug I did learn how to make one.

Last week my mother-in-law showed me the steps to do it. Umm...I thought the rugs were just called braid rugs had no idea it was really  braiding.

She sent me home with some scrap fabric to practice on. I think I have it down and am ready to start on an actual rug. I will be going to pick out some fabric and get started on that.






As soon as I have a completed rug I will share it will all of you.


**my Sept. new thing is run a mile without stopping...this morning I walked/ran 2 miles and was able to go a full 1/4 mile without stopping. I am on my way to my Sept. goal.**

Mopping Good Time

You might remember this post I did a couple weeks ago about being selected by www.houseparty.com to host a Rubbermaid Clean Little Secrets Party.

I was sent a mop to try out and some goodies for each of my guest. I hosted my party this week and we had a great time.

Of course
most of the time was spent enjoying the company of my wonderful friends.

But we did spend some time talking about cleaning and the Rubbermaid Reveal Mop. Then we had a little mopping contest.











 I love the reveal mop. (mostly) I really like that the pads are washable and reusable. I like that you can mix whatever cleaning solution you want in the bottle (for me that means vinegar & water). And we discovered at the party after trying the Reveal mop against the clorox mop that the spray on the Reveal is great and reaches a good distance.

It doesn't get into my tile grout as well as I would like it too. But I am still playing around with it. I think next time I will try getting the mopping pad wet before I mop. This seemed to work well when we tried it against the Bona mop.

All in all everyone at the party really liked the Rubbermaid Reveal Mop and they will be  using their coupons to go out and get themselves a great & eco friendly mop!!

Learning

Although, I am not in school it is always great to learn new things. I am joining in with Like A Warm Cup Of Coffee for her 12 new things in 12 months. I am getting in a little late as everyone else will be posting their new thing they learned for August today. I am just now posting my list of 12 new things. I will have my August new thing up on Monday of next week. 



So here is my 12 in 12:

August- Learn to make a braid rug
September- Run (1 mile without stopping)
October- Knit a blanket
November- Make a pie crust (no more Pillsbury refrigerated crust)
December- learn how to make jewlery
January- find and perfect a homemade chicken noodle soup recipe
February- perfect a cake recipe(that will be my go to cake)
March-learn to ice a cake(smooth pretty...nothing fancy)
April- Learn to sew
May- Make homemade yogurt
June- Learn how to use a lawn mower
July-Learn the basics of grilling and how to grill a hamburger

It was actually a little harder to come up with 12 things I wanted to learn then I thought it would be. But I am super excited about each of them. And can't wait to keep track of my progress and let you all know how each thing is coming along.

Visit Like A Warm Cup of Coffee if you want to join in. Leave a comment and let me know if you know how to do any of these things I listed...I might be calling on you for instructional help.

How about you are there 12 things you would like to learn to do over the next 12 months?

'stache bash

My best friend (spoonful of frosting) throws the very BEST parties. She is so creative and when she decides on a theme she runs with it.

She was selected by houseparty.com to host a Baboli grilling pizza party. Instead of just having a pizza party she went with an italian theme and turned it into a 'stache bash.

Random fact did you know that mustaches are the it thing right now...and super fun too!!

The kids each got to make their own pizzas and all of the adults helped make some super yummy pizzas.

With Vickie's help I made Jake a super cute I love mustaches shirt(which he loved!) Every time I put makeup on Jake asks for makeup so a while back I started drawing a mustache on him with my eye liner. So he was all about this mustache themed pizza party!

We all had our picture taken in the mustache photo booth with mustaches on sticks.






And of course did we not only enjoy s'mores pizza & fruit pizza for dessert...we had mustache cookies, mustache cake, & mustache chocolate suckers too.

 Just because these 2 are just way too cute & in an ideal world they would be prearranged for marriage!!

Daily Moments (8/16-8/23)

Of course it wouldn't be a Project Life Tuesday post with The Mom Creative if I didn't miss a couple of days of taking pictures. So of course there are no pictures for Monday & Tuesday.

Wednesday-August 18th-We had a lot of fun swimming with our friends today. By the time we got home it was too late to take a nap. After changing my clothes this what I came down stairs to find. Apparently Jake had a different plan.

Thursday-August 29th-Jake found a piece of aluminum foil in the recycling bin and wanted to play with it. Soon he was walking into the kitchen with a piece on each foot....and said "do you like my shoes?" Love the model pose!

Friday-August 20th-I had my monthly girls night scrap booking and of course Mawmaw & Papa Jack came over to watch Jake until Jason got home. Jake kept telling me it was time for me to go...he was just a little excited to play with them. Before I left I took a picture of Mawmaw & Jake doing a puzzle book together.

Saturday-August 21st-Jake & Joss at our Saturday 'stache bash. We all had the best time and the kids especially loved when Vickie pulled out the stick on mustaches for them to wear. Aren't they the cutest...of course Jake had the cheese face right after I took the picture.

Sunday-August 22nd-Daddy & Jake reading the Sunday comics together and only a few short minutes later both of them were sound asleep on the couch. Love their Daddy-son time...so precious!

Good Morning Girls

I have a group of friends that I love so dearly. Some of these friends have come along with me and joined in the Good Morning Girls group. Thanks to Courtney at Women Living Well for starting this.

I really feel so close to this group of Good Morning Girls & I love that we are so transparent with each other. I can feel us growing closer with each email.




Oh...I didn't tell you what the Good Morning Girls were all about it?
In a nutshell we are an accountability group (that is really the nutshell....we are SO much more to each other).

We email each other every day to share what we read/learn during our quiet time with God that day. Some of us have our quiet time 1st thing in the morning and others not till late at night. But whatever time of day you have your quiet time you email the group and share a little piece of what you read that day. Usually we end up sharing a lot more...and really opening up to each other about struggles, praises, or thoughts. And best of all when we share with each other we get emails back with great Godly wisdom and encouragement.

Over the last several weeks I have learned so much from this great group of ladies. We are finishing up our final week now...and I already know I will miss our daily emails so much. I think I will start marking off the days on my calendar until our fall session starts up.

To celebrate our time together(I really can't remember when we started was it June or July?) we had a wonderful Girls night out dinner (we were missing 3 of the girls). We all know each other in real life and are real life friends, but it was so great to get together and just hang out and talk after spending all this time emailing every day.

It really was wonderful!!!

I am sure when we rejoin up in a couple weeks a few will drop off as fall is a busier time. But I think most of us will be back and counting down the day until we get our 1st email that says Good Morning Girls!!!

Thanks friends for letting me be transparent and knowing that I needed to have my quiet time because there was someone waiting for my email that day. Will be praying for each of you daily...during our time apart!

Daily Moments (8/9-8/15)

Sharing another glimpse into our daily moments and linking up with The Mom Creative!

Monday-August 9th-Mondays are usually grass mowing days for Jason. Jake loves to be out there right beside daddy doing everything he does. They came in for a short break and you can see that Jake had to sit just like daddy, his sun glasses are on the table just like daddy & of course Jake has to have a gatorade just like daddy...these are the days!

Tuesday-August 10th- Today was election run-off day...can you see Jake's upside down Georgia voter sticker. He loves going with us to vote and handing in our voting card then getting his sticker.

Wednesday-August 11th-playing a fun game of memory...Mommy & her sweet boy memories are always the best. I love that he is getting old enough to play games with...I love games!!

Thursday-August 12th-Fearless...Jake is walking up the big hill to the top of the water slide. He did the slide at least 100 times all by himself...and loved every minute of it. I can't get over how little he looks walking up t his big hill!!

Friday-August 13th-a few of my friends and I joined with Women Living Well and made a Good Morning Girls group. We send each other emails each weekday sharing what we learned that morning(evening) during our quiet time with God. This group of friends has been such a blessing. Friday we all met up for a super yummy and fun dinner at Big Chow Grill.

Saturday-August 14th-Really this is the best I could get....at least they both have the same look on their faces. Jake had just been sitting on Caleb's lap, while Caleb pretended to be Santa and ask Jake what he wanted for Christmas. Of course when the camera came out they had to move and wouldn't smile for anything.

Sunday-August 15th-Sundays are almost always family days at my parents house. I love that Jake gets to spend so much time with his cousins and he loves it too. Tyler is helping Jake wash his hands...such big helpers the older cousins are to the little ones.

Completing Him

Today is it the final day of the Completing Him summer challenge.  I really am sad to see this challenge come to an end. Of course I know I complete Jason (I am his wife!!!), but it has been so great to have a challenge every week to focus on. Something to put him in the front of my mind all through out the week.



From fun things like remembering our dating days & then keeping our vows sacred. To things that involved daily taking the time to focus on Jason like praying for him daily and specifically asking  him how I can pray for him. Things like admiring him, keeping priorities in line, letting him lead & showing him nothing but respect. Then the big finally kissing him like I mean it. There has been so much good that has come from this challenge.

I think the biggest change for me was taking the time to be sure I was making Jason #2(after God of course). Being a mom it is so easy for Jake's needs/wants to become 1st above Jason. It is so easy to be too tired in the mornings to remember to ask Jason how I can pray for him that day & again  be too tired at the end of the day to admire & respect him for all his hard work.

We have had a wonderful summer making our marriage a priority. We started the summer with our anniversary trip to Savannah just the 2 of us. Our 1st overnight trip away from Jake ever. But it was so good to just be us. It was a great way to focus on our marriage. This challenge then built on our commitment to make time for each other.

I think no matter what is happening in our marriage (or any marriage) the number one thing to remember is communication!!! It seems so simple, but sometimes is the thing that gets pushed to the side. Good solid communication....much more then "how was your day?" conversations. This challenge was a great way to be reminded about communicating about everything. The keeping priorities in line and letting him lead where some of the best weeks for us. We really talked about a lot of things and have made some great changes from those weeks!!

One of the biggest eye opening things for us was seeing God work. During the Let Him Lead week God really showed us how to do that. That exact same week in our nightly devotion reading(Night Light by James Dobson) was about the husband being the leader in the home.(apparently we really needed this) And seriously on Tuesday Jason was offered a new position at his job that would have taken a move(almost 2 hours away) and some really big changes in our home. Not sure if you read that post, but seriously here is the line from that post: I just wonder if I would be so willing to let him lead if it was regarding a big decision that would change our lives. 
I really wrote that not knowing anything about this new job offer. I passed the test(this time). Jason & I talked a lot about this big change and what it would mean. I did offer my opinion, but only when he asked. My answer stayed the whole time that I would support him no matter what choice he made and I would be ready & willing to move if the time came. After lots of praying it turns out Jason decided it wasn't the best plan for us at this time (thank you Lord). But I really did let him come to that decision all on his own...no nagging from me about how horrible it would be to leave our families and friends.


To me it is clear that the Visions of a Leading Man was the biggest week for us. And God really put me to the challenge!!


We learned a lot about each other during this challenge. I am making a commitment to keep these things I have learned a top priority for us. And taking the time for our marriage is now a daily thing!!!

 

Women Living Well

Thank you so much Courtney for putting together this great summer challenge...are you sure you don't want to have a fall marriage challenge too???

Fearless

We spent the day playing in the pool with some of our very sweet friends. The pool we were at had a fairly good sized tunnel water slide.

Jake said he wanted to go down the slide so I walked with him to the top. Getting ready to get in with him for us to go down together...he says "my do it by myself."  So I let him go 1st and then a minute later I came down the slide.

As soon as he was out of the water enough to talk he said he was going to do it again.
This time I stayed in the pool while he walked up the hill to the top of the slide. (can you see Jake walking up the hill?)
And went down again....

Honestly he probably went down the slide, climb the steps out of the pool, & walked back up to the top of the slide close to 100 times!!!

He LOVED IT!!!

He had no fear and even when he would come down side ways, or on his belly, or facing backward...and even when we heard a loud thump inside the slide as he was coming down....

Every time he got to the end of the slide he would say "I am going again."

It was great to watch him have so much fun...and I will say the water slide is a ton of fun!!

Lasagna Rolls

One of Jason's favorite things I make is lasagna rolls. And as part of week 7 in the Completing Him Challenge I asked Jason what he wanted to eat. Because he was in Las Vegas for the actual week of the challenge his favorite foods were made the following week.

Here is the recipe:

12 Lasagna Noodles-I use whole wheat
ground beef
3/4 cup chopped onion
14 oz spaghetti sauce-I think I actually used more
8 oz sliced mushrooms
15 oz ricotta cheese
4 oz mozzarella cheese
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup  Parmesan cheese
10 oz frozen chopped spinach(thawed and drained)

                                                             Cook your noodles


Brown your ground beef with the onion. Drain and return to skillet. Add your mushrooms and spaghetti sauce. Simmer for about 10 minutes.

Mix ricotta cheese, mozzarella cheese, garlic, & parmesan cheese in small bowl.

Pour the sauce into 9X13 baking dish. 

After your noodles have cooked spread the cheese mixture on the noodles(one at a time). Roll the noodle up.

And slice across making 2 rolls out of each noodle. 

Place the roll (curly edge of noodle up) into the pan with the sauce. Repeat until cheese mixture is gone. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.

Rubbermaid Clean Little Secrets

I finally was selected for my very 1st house party. If you have never heard of house party click the link to get all the info. But basically they host different types of parties featuring different products and you can apply to be one of the host for a particular house party item. I pretty much apply for every single one because I really want to do it. My best friend got to do an awesome William Sonoma one and that is how I found House Party.

Finally I was chosen for my 1st one. And it is totally up my ally....
Rubbermaid Reveal Mop

I received my party kit last week and was so excited to open it and start using my mop. I literally could not wait to mop my floors.

However, I also had a 2 year old who was equally excited(if not more so) about our new mop. He couldn't wait for me to take it out of the box. And he kept saying "can I mop?"

Being a nice mom, I mixed up our floor cleaning solution into the mop spray bottle and let him try it.

Little did I know I would literally have to fight him for the mop just to try it out.

I LOVE it!!!
And best of all it is super eco-friendly.

You can use whatever cleaning solution you want. No using the swifter poison cleaner in a bottle. For us that meant vinegar, water, and a little bit of method dish soap.(the same stuff we have always used...except now it sprays out of a bottle attached to the mop)

Then the pad that you use to mop the floor is-WASHABLE! Hello money savings.

The handle swivels nicely making it easy to use and get into hard to reach spots.

It probably won't be the best choice if your floors are super dirty with a lot of caked on grossness. I had a sticky spot on my floor and it was a little difficult to scrub. But after a few more squirts of the cleaner and pushing down kind of hard it did come off the floor. 

I am hosting a Rubbermaid Clean Little Secrets party later this month. Where several of my friends will come over and have a chance to try out the mop. As well as, compete against the mop with their own mops right here in my house. And they each will  walk away with a few little party favors of their own.

For now I will keep blissfully mopping my kitchen floor...at least when I am not fighting the 2 year old for it. Seriously...he has asked me every day since the mop arrived if he can mop the floor. My floors have never been cleaner!

Of course when you are 2 and have spent 30 minutes mopping the floor. The only other logical thing to do would be get all your little people figures and line them up on the floor. Then spraying them with the mop and mopping them up. This lasted another 30 minutes at least. He is too cute!!!