If You're Not on FB

You know that sweet baby I keep taking pictures of?? Well, she turned 3 months this week which is a fantastic excuse to take more adorable pictures (I think Bethany & I for sure enjoy this far too much!).

She's such a great little model because (a) she's beautiful. (b) her eyes are incredible, (c) she looks right at the camera almost every time like she's posing - love it. Love her!

I think I took over 250 in an hour, but here are some of my favorites:
(If you're my friend on FB you might have already seen them...sorry).

Things to Waste/Not Waste Your Time On

First I need to **pause** and pay tribute to none other than thunder and rain.
(Adri in Portland, I have been jealous of you this summer).

Yes - it is doing both thundering and raining outside my window right now - a love I have since forgotten. Glorious.

NOW. Pinterest.

Yes, I'm talking about it again. Yes, I have understood more about it (thank your Bethany), and yes, I like it. :)

So since I've gotten involved I've rolled up my sleeves to a few of the things I've found interesting. I'm determined to actually do some of the things I've "pinned" and not merely look at them. So I thought I would share some of the things I've tried that have worked and some of the ones that should be stabbed rather than pinned (stupid, I know).

1. The BEST chocolate chip cookie. I was skeptical on this one because I already have an absolute favorite recipe that I have yet to beat. But then I saw the picture of these supposed "bests":

Heavenly? Looks like it. But then I got into the recipe and it calls for various kinds of flour and such and I got skeptical yet again. Then I decided to google this recipe for other photos and found this:

Don't look as good, huh? So I decided against making them and moved on over to my next Pinterest cookie:

Brown Sugar Cookies.

These looked great and different and I actually just got done making them. Happy to report they are fabulous and they do melt in your mouth! Just make sure not to make the dough balls too big or they won't cook right. Recipe here.

Next up? The Sock Bun. Have you seen it on there? It says if you wrap your wet hair up in a sock overnight, in the morning your hair will look like this:

I even watched the youtube tutorial (and made my husband laugh at me) and folks, it just doesn't work. At least not on my hairtype (or perhaps I just don't have hair skills??). It was pathetic. I'd love to hear if it worked for you and if your hair was this stunning when you woke up...really.

Then the fun idea of "snow paint" for the kids:

You just mix these ingredients together and when they dry it's suppose to make a fun texture to play with. I just did this and wasn't impressed...seemed liked shaving cream (smelled good!). But then I re-read that it's fun when it drys. Oh. So verdict is still out. Should be dry by the time kids wake up. But the website it came from is super fun and silled with ideas for kids!

And of course the cake I already posted about:

This was a hit, easy to make, and colors turned out awesome! Trick for colors is put an insane amount of food coloring (I'm sure that's good for you).

So those are my tries recently. I'd love to hear ideas you've found that actually work and turn out good! Next on my list to try is this:

*scrapbook paper glue to canvases for wall art. We'll see...

Oh - thunder and rain are gone...just like that. Sun already shining. It was fun while it lasted.





My neighbor has been n a "green smoothie" kick and after I tried one of hers one day, I decided to join in on the outrage. They're crazy healthy, and - here's the amazing part - my husband LOVES them (which is one more checkmark on the veggies he now likes and consumes!).
The first one I made was terrible, but the second was fantastic and I now drink one for breakfast almost every morning. Thought I'd share my recipe in case you were interested:

My juice base is our current favorite drink: picture is fuzzy but it's cherry pomegranate. Sugar-free with only 5 calories, but without it, the smoothie is not nearly sweet enough. (make the drink - don't just pour powder in).

Then I add 1/2 banana (or even a little less):

Next I cut up a bunch of fresh strawberries (I use about half a carton):

 Then the spinach. I go nuts with it: I get fistfulls and break it apart. At first I didn't use a lot of spinach but now I use a ton. I go all out. :) And if it tastes too spinach-y, I just add more of the sweet drink.

Ice + our margarita machine = GREATNESS. I use a lot of ice because I like the crunchy ice type of smoothie.
Try one...you'll feel super healthy drinking it. :)

Mr. Handsome

Little Noah J. got his haircut yesterday. And that's all the news I've got. I just thought he looked pretty darn handsome so I thought I'd share.

(sorry these were taken during his "lounge session" right after he woke up)
Then Lincoln requested his picture taken, too...pretty handsome as well (in my biased opinion, of course).

Looking Ahead

There's 3 types of "starts" to the year:
- The actual year (starting Jan 1)
- The fiscal year (usually July 1)
- And, the school year (um, next week)

Maybe because my husband works in the school district, but I still operate on the third. My church seems to do the same, so it becomes a natural flow for us. And subsequently, in the past few weeks, Jason and I have had numerous lengthy conversations about the upcoming "year".

Here's the "to-do" list for the upcoming months. Now, I operate under the pretense of "make some plans, but be open to God changing them all" mindset, so...to clarify, some of these are tentative and contingent on other things:

1. Lead a Cell Group: this is not tentative since it starts in 2 weeks and I'm fully committed. :) I am SUPER excited about this! Me and a few other girls are leading a 7th grade cell group with intent to lead them all the way through the end of high school - pumped. I'm excited about this on about 10 different levels. Even better, if he can make it work in his schedule, Jason is possibly going to be doing the same with a group of high school boys. I'm really excited to get involved in student ministry again.

2. Go through Discovery Group with our church in the fall (Jason and I) which will result in us being members of our church and many other cool things.

3. Start back up women's ministry on Tuesday mornings (can't wait for this again!!)

4. Go to the Philippines with basketball coaches + wives over Spring Break on a mission trip

5. Go on a mini vacay with Jason and other couples (sans kids) to Six Flags (Dallas) in the fall.

[The latter two are those contingency plans that are currently being prayed about - some details need to be worked out].

Excited about the months to come and to see what God has in store for us through these things!

Friends Make Me Smile

My friend Bethany and her sweetie Ellie came over for the day. I always enjoy our conversations and am blessed to have her as such a great friend (now she needs to sell her house and move her little butt over to Bentonville!). And of course, when the sweet little girl comes to play, the cameras roll out. :)
And I have to share some of the pictures cause, yall - she's that stinkin cute.

Street Cookout

So I live by some pretty fun neighbors. And here recently we had a new one move to the hood sandwiched in between Amanda and I. His name is Ira and he's great. He's from New Orleans which means he can cook. This past weekend a group of us on the street decided to do a cookout. Ira said he was in, too, and his driveway became the central point. Welcome to the neighborhood full of extraverts, Ira! :)
There were lots of kids, lots of food, tons of fun, frequent laughter, and good ole times.

(BTW, how cute is this picture of Jason with our neighbor GK??? We definitely need us a little girly)