#today

today the boys and i went out to watch the new house construction going on next door.
i look down to see sawyer has whipped out his you-know-what and is just peeing his little heart out, right there in the front of our house.
he looked at me like, "what?" when i said "Sawyerrrr!!!"
#boys


today sawyer was eating a peanut butter sandwich at the bar while i was feeding ruby her baby food.
i didn't realize i had forgotten to give him a drink.
i look over to see that he had taken off the lid of the ironing spray bottle and was chugging it.
thankfully it was water.
#resourceful


today at dinner avery asked me to show them my arm muscles.
he is slightly obsessed with muscles lately.
i flexed my guns.
he said, "okay now flex them."
oh fine.
aj is laughing.
i try harder.... then realize that my nine year old's arm muscles are bigger than mine.
#getusedtoit


today was a long day.
i'm thinking ruby is teething? maybe?
she doesn't have one tooth yet so surely one is coming soon.
not that i'm in any hurry.
i love her toothless grin.
she was pretty emotional and so was i incidentally.
#girlproblems


today i found a basketball goal on craig's list.
aj knew i needed some alone time so he took the boys to go get it tonight.
they have no idea.
they are going to be so excited, especially avery.
he's been asking about one for a long time.
can't wait to hear about their reaction.
i'm very thankful for a few minutes to myself.
#timetorelaxandwatchsomediving


how was your day?








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need wedding inspiration?

remember that aj and i went on a fancy wedding date a few weeks ago?

recently, ashley's photographer posted pics online and they are just so beautiful that i had to share....

even if you don't need wedding inspiration....maybe you just need a little bit of pretty in your afternoon...

click here and here for gorgeous photos of a gorgeous wedding. :)

enjoy!



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friends handmade craft day

this weekend i was invited to a "friends handmade craft day."

randomly, my friend becca connected with a girl, sara, who had sponsored one of meg's craft weekends. 

they met up and dreamed up the idea of hosting a craft day.

i happily accepted the invite and was very excited to get to spend a morning crafting with other craft-lovin girls. 

we spent the morning drinking coffee, snacking & learning how to make pom poms using just your fingers and some yarn. 

we each brought our own yarn that we wanted to use. 

some girls made yarn wrapped wreaths or letters as well.

i worked on making different shades of pink pom poms to use at ruby's first birthday. 

it's really fun, easy and therapeutic. 

plus you can chat easily while making them. 

i love crafting so it was nice to have an excuse to do nothing but craft. 

i could have kicked myself for getting there without my good camera. 

but, sara's house was so cute with so many great crafty touches that i had to take some pictures with my cell phone to show you.

so...these aren't the greatest pics...but isn't her house so cute?

she had bunting everywhere. 

i love her aqua blue spray painted sticks in the big red vase. 

those are old books inside a birdcage on her mantle.....love it. 

love that celebrate banner. 

wishing i had time to do more crafting.

she also had tons of quilts around which i love. 

okay, this is her craft room/laundry room. 

so happy and fun right?

love her big "EAT" letters in the kitchen.

simple fabric & lace strips make ordinary jars so cute. 

it's hard for me to give up family time on the weekends, but this was definitely worth it. 

it was fun and i left feeling so inspired. 

i also left feeling very motivated to make the time to do projects or crafting...it's good for my spirit {and attitude incidentally. ;)}

and since i already had all the yarn out, i spent the rest of day making pom poms here and there while we were watching the olympics or just hanging out. 

thanks girls! i had a blast!

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oh you know, just some cell phone pics.....

hey there friends....

what have y'all been up to?

our week has been pretty low key on one hand but really full at the same time.

okay let's start this slideshow with a  cutie cutie cutie pie.

oh mylanta.
i love that girl in some skinny jeans.
doll. baby.
and ruffly polka dot pink shirt? yes, please.
i am so stinkin happy about all that pink right there.

no, ruby did not pull herself up there all by herself.
she wants to, she's just not quite strong enough.
she pulls up on shorter things, but i had to help her get all the way up there.
she's really, really close though...she gets almost there on her own.

love that sweet little profile and her double chin.

she is yummy.

we're working our way through our summer list....crossing them off as we go. 

i feel a bit panicky that summer is slipping by.

i'm trying to hang on to it and make the most of it. 

we've still got a few more things to cross off!

avery made a race track with painters' tape all over the living room.
the younger boys had so much fun driving their cars on it.
avery spent a lot of time positioning the cars on it so they would hang upside down or stick on it sideways.
they enjoyed it for a full two days before i couldn't take it anymore and made them clean it all up.
it was a good afternoon activity on some really hot days.

there's some construction happening right next door.
the boys love to sit on the top of the slide and watch the "builder guys" work.
i think those guys are getting pretty used to an audience.
it is pretty fun to see a house built from the ground up.

boys watching the tim tebow "movie" {the chosen one} again.
thankful for a good role model who is also really cool to three little boys.

finally got around to giving the top of our table a fresh coat of paint.
after a few years of daily abuse it was looking a little worse for the wear.
why didn't i do this a year ago?
it took an hour and was no big deal.
better late than never....story of my life. ;)

this morning i loaded up the kiddos to go yard saling.
i let them watch a movie in the car and bring a snack along so they were pretty pumped about it.
sawyer didn't want to come home. he's a good little shopper.
i usually park the car right by the sale and just leave them all in with it running because i can watch them the whole time.
it's easier that way...if i let them get out, i have to deal with them wanting to buy a bunch of junky toys that we do not need.
unfortunately this was an unsuccessful yard saling trip....unless you count sawyer's 25 cent knight hat or the donuts i bought them at a rummage sale.
oh well, you win some you lose some.

what about y'all? have you found any good yard sale deals lately?
i love a good yard sale find!


have a great weekend, y'all....

link up your phone pics with me over at life rearranged!








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sermon notes

in church we've been going through the book of james for the last few weeks.
it's pretty much kicking our tails.
in a really good way.

a few weeks ago our main teaching pastor talked about taming the tongue. {listen to it here}
whew.  so. so. good.
i think i took about five pages of notes and then went over them all that next week.

i am an avid church note taker.
it helps me stay focused and really receive what i'm hearing.
also, i love to go back over my notes throughout the week.

this past week our college pastor preached on James 4.
it was really good.
you can listen to it here. {click on James 4:1-12, July 22, 2012}

i thought i'd share some of my notes from james 4.....

******************************************************************

*do not have a love affair with a world system that opposes Jesus.

*God yearns jealously for us. (vs. 5: Or do you think it's without reason the Scripture says that the Spirit He has caused to live in us yearns jealously?)

*His grace is greater than our sin and our need (vs. 6 He gives greater grace)

Humble Yourself:

1. pray with the right heart (1peter5:6-7)
2. let others speak into your life {be teachable}
3. be grateful

Submit to God:

*He wants the key to every part of your life

Resist the devil:

*sometimes verbally resisting
*also living in the opposing spirit
*we have to do the resisting!

*we take a few steps towards Him and He runs towards us.

{jer 29:13 seek me & find me when you seek me with all your heart}

*key way to draw near to God = repentance.

*wash your hands { doing. right.}
*purify your heart {internal, attitude}
*grieve, be devastated over your sin
*ask God to tenderize your heart . . .
  -think about how my sin affects the heart of God
  -consider what my sin cost God.

***************************************************************

we've seen a lot of spiritual battle around us lately and people close to us are going through some really difficult times.
we have felt Jesus so close.
so thankful to serve a living God who is for. us. 




{also i ask you to please pray for my friend amber and her sweet son titus who is at children's hospital right now. read her words here.}





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on a monday afternoon

oh monday.
you're here again.
i love our weekends with our whole family home so much...i will always long for them and feel a twinge of sadness when monday rolls back around.
but we press on! ;)

we had a great weekend...we didn't really do anything super exciting...a lot of errandy stuff.
but we make the most of it and just enjoy being together.
avery kept saying "this is the best saturday" even though we weren't doing much of anything at all.
pretty sweet.

my boys eat popsicles around the pool all the time but this morning they ate them on the front porch.
it reminded me of the days and days and days that they ate popsicles on the front porch of our last house. 
they probably did that every day for a couple of summers.
such good memories.

my boys are getting so big.

we had a sweet little conversation about our old house and how we used to sit out there eating popsicles all summer long.
trying to keep cool.

i am so thankful that we have made the choice for me to stay home with these kiddos.
it is definitely a choice that comes with sacrifice...but i would not have it any other way.
i get the luxury of time.....time to have sweet, simple moments like these.

i'm so glad these boys still get excited about a popsicle.
they are so good at appreciating the little things.

yay for popsicles.
yay for sweet summer days with my boys.

and hip hip horray, yay for one more hour til AJ gets home. ;)


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instafriday

happy friday, friends!
linking up my weekly cell phone pics again.....

i love their friendship.
these sweet kiddos have grown up together and i pray that they are lifelong friends. 
we love watching them all interact and play with each other.
it is so easy with them because they love being around each other just as much as their parents do. :)

cleaning out our game closet caused us to play several games that we had forgotten about. 

this one is not actually a game but it's a really fun activity. 

it has magnetic foam pieces that you put on the board using a code to make a picture. 

it's a fun, easy, quiet, afternoon activity. 

we've done it several times this week.

the big boys and i are in a nice afternoon routine of reading together for an hour after the littles go down for nap.
my house is a mess because when i get a good book, i shirk all my normal responsibilities until i finish. 
this is not a good time to drop by my house unannounced. ;)
although, sadly my book is done so it's back to reality.
also, i cheated on my bf, La Croix, to try out Ozarka's sparkling water.
it's okay...not as good or as bubbly as La Croix, in case you're wondering or love bubbly water as much as i do.

we had a long wait for an appointment yesterday.
i love seeing my boys read.
avery is starting to read AJ's hardy boy books from when he was a kid.
i love seeing them be so into what they're reading.
they come by it honestly. :)

this is my morning routine.
AJ wakes me up with my big ol' mug of coffee and i have some sweet quiet time with Jesus.
so thankful for my disciplined husband who wakes up his not-a-morning-person wife every single morning.
i need this time focusing on God's word and listening to Him so much.
i wouldn't make it without Him and that's the truth.

well, i've got a morning of errands to do so i better get going.
have you joined instagram yet? if you want to follow me, i'm saragood2bqueen




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how we do.

so my to-do list is one bazillion miles long.
truly.
i try not to think about it too much and get overwhelmed.
do you know i still have my winter clothes in my drawers?
and i still have a tub of summer clothes half spilling out on my closet floor?
might as well just roll on through to fall at this point.

i'm trying to do a little here and a little there to chip away at my to-do list...while...you know, taking care of four {!!!} kids.
four kids is a lot by the way.
didn't really realize that until school let out.

our routine this summer has been that after we eat lunch, i get sawyer and ruby down for a nap, the big boys have an hour of alone time {reading or drawing or something quiet, away from each other!} and i get some glorious quiet moments to read or blog or cook or do a project or what have you.
it's worked out pretty well.
and after very physical mornings of taking care of chitlins, i'm always ready for a little bit of peace and quiet.
yesterday afternoon, during that blessed hour, we all three sat and read.
it was pretty sweet.
i'm still working my way through tim tebow's book and i can hardly put the thing down. so good.

then we tackled this . . .

you see how the doors don't even shut there.
yeah.
that cabinet holds all our games.
and it has become a hot mess.

yikes.
pretty much every box lid was broken.
there were ninetyeleven randar game pieces floating around in there.
three of the games had migrated to the next cabinet because there just wasn't room for them.

i thought this would be a good project for the afternoon.
it needed to be done and it was something we could do together.
we listened to adventures in odyssey while we worked.
there were some frustrating moments if i'm being honest, but we got it done.

aaaahhhh, much better.
we picked out about 5 games to donate.
we threw away a bag full of odds and ends.
i taped up a bunch of box lids.
we corralled all those run away pieces.
we had our usual "next time you play a game, get one out at a time and put it back away neatly" talk.

it was a small project but it feels good to have it done because it's been nagging me.

so obviously, after all that we had to play one of the games.
sawyer woke up from his nap and they all agreed on candy land.
whew at least they didn't pick chutes and ladders. not my fave.

i'm really trying to find a good balance of being a good mom and engaging these sweet kiddos while also being diligent about normal life duties. 

taking time to just be with them is so important to me. 

and i love it. 

and no my children don't wear clothes.
summer in the south.

ruby crawled around entertaining herself while we played.
and then she found the cards.

and spread them all around and chewed on them and had general merriment with them until we were so mean to take them away.

finley won. :)

all work, no play makes jack a dull boy.
no dull boys in this house. :)


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a wedding date.

AJ and i got to have a big ol' date night with friends this weekend.
like a six hour long date.
a fancy weddin' date.

no, AJ did not consult with me before buzzing his summer buzz even shorter three days before the wedding.
ahem.
i love him anyway. kind of.

we had friends coming into town for the wedding so we went to dinner together before the wedding.
see, i told you, long date. :)
so fun.

this was such a special wedding as we got to witness God's provision, restoration and lavish love for our dear friend, Ashley.
so, so happy for her.

a children's choir sang "Great is Thy Faithfulness" and then her four kids walked her down the aisle.
it. was. precious.

ashley does everything fancy and beautiful so obviously this celebration was no different.

i wish i would have taken more pictures {had to steal some of these off facebook ;)}....there were so many fun {and fancy} touches.
we ate more than our share of desserts, talked and laughed with friends and just really enjoyed our dressy date night together.

it was a great time...kinda sad it's over. ;)


what did you do this weekend?

anything fancy? :)


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instafriday

happy friday morning, friends. :)
hope you are all having a lovely week.

i started out my week with piles of laundry from camping.
camping is so fun but it is a lot of work before and after.
worth it though.
this little hallway laundry nook works but i do find myself day dreaming of a big laundry room with a window and a sink.....

while i did laundry, these tired boys had a morning movie.
we only get to see micah and levi once a year {when they're home from india} so our boys were very happy to get to spend a whole extra day with them.
they did lots of superhero playing and lots of swimming.
it was a good day.

oh ruby.
such a happy little thing.
i love watching her sit and explore her toys.
in a word, captivating.
have i said that i'm so thankful for her?  i am. so so much.

oh nooooo.
this is not good.
we had left over grahams and mallows from camping.
when the kids are in bed or out of the house, mama's been naughty.
i made them under the broiler, in the toaster oven, & last night i roasted marshmallows over the stove burner.
i've been digging around in the kids candy bucket for chocolate.
yesterday i used old christmas {not sure which christmas} mr. goodbars.
desperation i tell ya.
this is not a good habit to get into.
but so, so yummy.
on a positive note, i only eat one in a sitting b/c they're so rich.


i'm looking forward to a great weekend spent with our family and friends.
whatever y'all are doing...hope you feel Jesus close.
blessings!

join me in linking up your phone pics at life rearranged?







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