Hey lovely friends! I have MOVED locations! I had a redesign in mind for this blog, and decided to just move EVERYTHING on over. SO, if you’re still checking for updates here, you’re missing out. I am NOW blogging over at my new home spot on the web at a blog called Stellar Day Blog. You can find me talking about all the same things I did here and MORE at www.stellardayblog.com.
Come check it out and sign up for my emails so you don’t miss out on anything.
SEE YOU THERE.
I have had an intense BURST of creative energy. And I have changed up my blog. Location and all. I will be launching it soon, and once I do I sure hope you follow me! Details coming soon.
Rider has taken it upon himself to create a new fashion statement of his own. And he seriously WILL NOT TAKE THIS OFF HIS HEAD.
It’s hysterical. When I try to take it off, he gets REALLY upset. Like, screaming, tantrum throwing, I just removed his soul from his body kind of upset. So, I obviously let him run around with it on his head. I’m not quite sure what he thinks it is, BUT it’s pretty hysterical to watch. Kids are so funny. My Rider-man never ceases to amaze me. His bubbly little spirit and fun energy keeps us all smiling all day.
I’m simply in love with him.
We’ve been home a lot these past couple of weeks. I’ve been saying over and over, ‘I love June.” and THAT’S because we’ve actually had a BREAK. I’ve put my kids to bed every night. I’ve cooked dinner every night. We’ve gone swimming as a family after naps. And I’m catching up on home projects, cleaning my house and office work that only gets done if you can be HOME. We love what we do. We love being as busy as we are. But there are a couple of months a year that are slower than all the others, and they are a welcome break! You can love what you do tremendously and still need a break from it to recharge, refresh and restore yourself. So it’s been absolutely refreshing. That was a lot of ‘R’ words.
I made this salad last week AND the dressing and it was SO good. I actually baked a couple of chicken breasts to put on the side. I try to eat vegan as often as I can. But a couple of times a week, I eat some meat. This was the perfect salad to pair some chicken with. It was a great meal. And yes, I made garlic bread with it out of hot dog buns. Does anyone else do this??? No? Just me? My mom used to do it ALL the time. She was a single mamma trying to make ends meet so she used EVERY bit of food for ANY purpose that we needed. So it’s nostalgic for me. You should try it. It’s sorta like breadsticks, but not. And it’s on hot dog buns. YUM.
Anyways. I digress. Back to the salad.
Ingredients
9 cups fresh spinach leaves
1 pint (2 cups) fresh strawberries, sliced
1/2 cups sliced almonds, toasted
Dressing:
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon finely chopped red or white onion
1 teaspoon sesame seeds
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (a couple shakes of the bottle)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 Tablespoons cider vinegar
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Toast almonds in a small skillet over medium heat for a couple of minutes to brown and bring out the flavor.
In a large bowl, combine the spinach, strawberries. and almonds. Place dressing ingredients in a blender; cover and process until combined. You can make the dressing ahead of time and store in the refrigerator. Pour over salad right before serving and toss to coat. Serve immediately. Makes 6-8 servings.
* Image taken on my iPhone.
*Recipe found on Pinterest. But you can also find the recipe here.
This post should appropriately be titled, ‘Swim Lessons, 2012 AKA Cruz hates his life’. This kid seriously, SERIOUSLY HATES swimming lessons. But his teacher is awesome and I just really, STRONGLY believe that it should be a law that EVERY kid gets swim lessons. Drowning shouldn’t even be an option!! Gosh, that freaks me out in a state where EVERYONE has pools in their backyards. Well, we put him in swim last year and he SCREAMED the entire time. I mean, I understand it can be quite unsettling as a little kid. And I even remember loving the water when I was a kid, but not being particularly fond of swim lessons. But he really hates it.
But he’s gotta swim, so we go back.
And he’s really getting the hang of it! I’m so proud of him. This year, he wimpers a little bit when we get there, he cries when the instructor pulls him in for the first time, and then he’s actually ok. And does a great job. It’s nice that he’s an entire year older because I feel like he understands things A LOT better. Last year I think he was slightly confused. HA. Poor kid. But I’m so grateful I’ve found a great instructor who is patient, loves kids, and does an amazing job to do her best to make them feel comfy in the water. I can’t wait until he can swim on his own. How crazy it will be to watch him go!
I’m planning to get Rider into swim too. This particular teacher doesn’t take them until they’re two, so I was going to wait until next year. And THAT thought proved to make me a true idiot. Watching Rider around water has made it ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to get him into lessons as SOON as humanly possible. The kid has ZERO fear. I mean, seriously, he’ll jump right in if no ones looking. So you ALWAYS HAVE TO BE LOOKING. Scary stuff. This teacher we are going to is full for the summer, so I’m coming up with plan B for him. But next year, he will go to her too WITH Cruz. Oh man. Talk about cute overload. HA.
Here’s a few photos I snapped on my iPhone while there these past two days. And if you want to check out last years video, you can see it HERE.
Is anyone else addicted to their iPhone? Does your ENTIRE LIFE exist in it? Do you rely on it A LOT? I do. If my computer exploded, aside from editing photos, I could do the VAST MAJORITY of my work from my phone. That’s pretty neat, if you ask me. That we live in a time and place in history that we are able to enjoy little gadgets like that. And that they enrich our lives as much as they do and help us to be productive.
But lately, Jason and I have been having a heated conversation about whether or not it’s super healthy to be on our phones as much as we are. I say ‘heated’ because it causes me to get a little defensive for some reason (red flag #1). It’s been a good, healthy debate- don’t get me wrong. Weighing the pros and cons of how much we actually use our phones, how often we should be on them, and what it takes away from socially sometimes.
And what it’s taking away from our kids. Yikes.
He shared a blog post that I’m going to share with you today. You may or may not have read it. But holy moly, it is convicting. It makes me wonder exactly how much am I missing in my kids lives, just because I am on my phone. It reaffirmed the conversations that Jay and I have had about how you can be in the room, but not really there. Not listening. Not connecting. Because there is an entire world on the internet that is always distracting me, pulling me in another direction, and vying for my attention. All while two little boys of mine are vying for my attention too. And they don’t know anything about the world wide web.
And nor do they care.
They are going to grow up before my eyes. And I am going to miss it if I am always on my phone. I am going to regret it if all I do is pin stuff, Instagram stuff, and ‘Like’ every status known to man. But I WON’T regret being there for them. I WON’T regret watching them grow up. The internet is always going to be there in some form. But my small, little boys won’t always be. I don’t want them to remember their mom with a phone always in her hands. I want them to remember me as a mom who played with them. Who was silly with them. One who tickled them and made them laugh until they couldn’t laugh anymore. I don’t want them to think I was too busy ‘working’ that I couldn’t build legos with them.
I need to put my phone down more often during the day.
This article was super convicting to me. I’m not saying that being on the phone during the middle of the day or when your kids are awake is a bad thing. BUT, I am suggesting that you read this blog post and figure out what this might mean for your own life with your own kids. There’s a lot of things I HAVE to do during the day through my phone because of the nature of my job and because I have toddlers. I work a lot and at very random times during the day. But is it out of control? Am I too busy on my phone to actually SEE my kids? Am I missing huge parts of their childhood, even though I’m a stay at home mom? That’s what I’m sorting through right now.
Read the blog post HERE. And then make your own conclusions. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
Keeping up with this series has been sorta difficult for me. Well, blogging in general has been which is weird. I am a writer. It comes easy to me and I usually always have something to say. But in this past six months, it’s just been a constant battle inside my heart and my mind. And to be honest, its been sorta paralyzing at times. God has constantly reminded me how much I truly need Him in this life and how I can’t do this by myself- even when things are actually going ok! So because of that, I’ve had to step back from some things and try to take some time to rest my soul and my mind when I can.
Through studying this chapter, God somehow always prompts me to write my next post in this series in the exact right timing that I need to hear from Him about what I’m struggling with. So I have found that doing this series has made me way more vulnerable than I was planning because I find myself sharing with you things that I’m really struggling with, as im struggling with it. It’s been a much more organic process than I was anticipating, but slower to evolve at the same time. Anyways.
The next verse in my study of Proverbs 31 is:
“She speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue.” Proverbs 31:26
Words. This next verse is about our words. *Sigh*
Why is controlling our tongues one of the hardest lessons to learn? Why have I been struggling with this so much? The truth is, I haven’t been struggling with it in a gossip sort of way, although there HAVE been times in my life that I’ve struggled with that. But right now, I’ve been struggling with my words in the ways that I talk to my family. Mostly my kids. Lately, I have been tired, not reading my Bible enough and just running on empty. I’ve allowed myself to become exhausted and to take on too much at times. And because of that, I have so willingly put my kids last- especially this past week- and I have had an incredibly short temper with them. My short temper this week, has not come from God. The Bible says MANY times that the Lord is slow to anger, like in Psalms 103 stating, ‘The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.’
Not only is He slow to anger, but He’s compassionate, gracious and abounding in love. My words and my heart haven’t reflected that to my kids this week. I haven’t loved them the ways that God loves us as much as I should have. I haven’t been compassionate, gracious or abounding in love. Don’t get me wrong, I DO love my kids. And I haven’t been a complete monster to them. HA. But, I’ve just had a shorter fuse that I usually do. And I was convicted this week that it’s been out of my own disobedience. To be honest, I had a defining moment when Cruz walked up to me and told me he was “really, really mad” after I had yelled at him for disobeying. My heart broke. The way I was choosing to discipline them this past week was actually making it worse. And it was stirring up my little boys anxious heart and confusing him about why mommy was so angry. And it was causing HIM to be angry and mad too. How do I know? That sweet boy actually TOLD me that he was very, very mad when I yell.
Words. Words are so powerful. They have the ability to ruin entire households. Wars have been started over mere gossip. Families torn apart over harsh words, misunderstandings or even just the wrong tones. Proverbs 15:4 says, “The soothing tongue is a tree of life, but a perverse tongue crushes the spirit.” Proverbs 18:21 says, “The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”
Our words can crush spirits and has the power of life and death. Holy moly. When I read this, I was vividly reminded about the damage I can do with my words. My big, loud, carless words spoken over my little boys can crush their little spirits. It can crush a girlfriends spirt. My husbands spirit. Or your OWN spirt. Our words are so incredibly powerful. Powerful enough that Satan can make us THINK that our words aren’t doing any damage, when in fact, they are sparking a fire that could blaze and entire forest (James 3:4-6).
The Proverbs 31 woman is very, very different. I actually don’t think she had a lot to say, at times. The Bible says she speaks with WISDOM. And with wisdom comes discernment. She is thinking about her words, choosing wisely, and not starting gossip. She is deciding to use her words for faithful instruction to her children, her family and her friends. Words that they can count on. Words that will be uplifting, even in a crucial disciplining moment. Words that won’t do damage or crush little spirits. Her words give life. And I have a feeling that she wasn’t known as the town gossip. She wasn’t known as the bully or as someone who would put you in your place if you needed it. She was wise in her speaking, choosing what words to say. She gave out faithful instruction and all those who were witness to it gained something positive from her words.
Don’t you want your words to reflect that about you as well? Shouldn’t our mouths be an exact reflection of our hearts? Shouldn’t our little kids come to know and subconsciously understand that mommy isn’t going to fly off the handle? Wise words and faithful instruction SHOULD fill our homes. When I think about what that looks like, it isn’t yelling and screaming. It isn’t chaos. It isn’t gossip. It’s methodical, well planned, self-controlled words that are only spoken to give life.
Oh how I’ve failed at times recently here to give life with my words. What a convicting passage for me. I am going to be working on allowing my mouth to be the gate keeper for every word that comes out. Because once your words are out, they can’t be taken back. And THAT, is when it can cause real death and crush spirits. We think that words aren’t going to be painful. Or that our toddlers won’t remember or hear what we mutter under our breaths when we are angry. But in fact, they are. And once spoken, if not thought and planned carefully, can kill a precious spirit that was designed by God Himself. I’ve received a jolt this week by this verse. And you better believe that I’ll be working on this area of my life from here on out. God is very clear to warn us of the danger here, with our words. And I don’t want my kids, family or friends to be on the receiving end of something that is so obviously a heart issue on my part.
Sometimes, being busy is a good thing. Sometimes, it’s not. I feel like for myself, these past several weeks have been a mix of both extremes. I have been finding myself extremely overwhelmed with work, thankful for the job I have, busily rushing around you both, AND trying to make intentional time to focus on you and just to be a mom too. This balance that I have to find, I will never understand. I’m often told by other mom’s that it looks like I am super mom. That it looks like I have it all together. And that I do it with grace. While those are HUGE compliments to me and also very encouraging, I DO sometimes feel like the world is running AROUND me. That I’m NOT making time for what’s important. And I’m constantly feeling guilty for the nights that I can’t tuck you in. AmI doing the right things here? Do I work too much? Am I shuffling around my boys- the very REASON why I stayed home to begin with?
It’s a constant battle. One that I fight every day in an effort to make sure that I am maintaining some sort of BALANCE. And it’s not ever easy. I find that in my life, Satan does everything that is possible to make sure that the balance in my life is constantly chaos. If it’s chaos, it means that I am doing something very, very wrong. And it means that I’m not focusing on what’s important here. And that I’m not spending time with Jesus and allowing HIM to direct my steps. It only means that I’m relying on myself and all the things that I think are important to get done. And I’m not focusing on things from above, like the Bible calls us to.
Anyways. I guess this quick little letter is my way of saying. ‘I’m sorry’ to you both. You’re both too little to understand all of this big vocabulary, but someday you will. I’m sorry that I’ve spent the last few months rushing around you, impatient, sleep deprived, and grumpy. Mommy is doing some things to get back on track, including changing my diet so I’m not so irritable. I’ve been really, really horrible at keeping and maintaining any kind of balance these days. And you boys have gotten the short end of the stick, somewhat. I do promise you, that mommy is doing the best that she can. And I promise you that you really ARE the first things I think about when it comes to any decision I have to make. And I promise you that I’m going to strive for more balance in all the areas of our lives. And that when the balance scale is starting to tip, I will be more intentional about spending time with Jesus to get me back on track instead of just plowing forward, hoping the season will end soon.
Even though I am your mommy, and I’m trying to do the very best that I can, I still make mistakes too. I’m still learning and growing too. And I’m so lucky to have both of you as my little boys. Both of you sweet, patient with me, forgiving. And loving me enough to see past the mistakes I’m making along the way. I’m so grateful that we are in this journey together as a support system to one another. That’s what family is. And I’m so glad you’re mine.
I love you all the time.
Mommy xo
I just wrote up an entire blog post and decided to stop myself before I published it. For if I published it now, it would be out of a heated moment and about a topic that really gets me going. So instead of ranting and raving like a crazy lunatic with no self control, I’m going to BREATHE. Then, I’m going to edit my blog post a little bit and post it here once I’m not so worked up.
But for now, I leave you with this. For THIS is what I’d REALLY like to say to a few peeps today. But would regret it if I said it any other way:
Journal of a Mom 