Christmastime is near!

    Eeek! This is my favorite time of year! I love, love, love Christmas and I am loving it even more now that AJ is old enough to begin to enjoy it too! He has absolutely loved seeing all the houses decorated with Christmas lights. He loves to go for walks through the neighborhood after dark to see all the lights. One night I took him out in his wagon and we were gone for probably close to 45 minutes and he did not want to come home! He has made it his job to turn on the Christmas tree after he wakes up every morning. It's so cute!
    
I have had a great time decorating the house this year. I have been able to add a few new touches here and there this year, including some things I made and I have lots of ideas for next year! ;)
  
Thanks to Pinterest, I've also made a few gifts this year and I'm pretty excited about them! I've only got a few more gifts to buy and then I'll be finished with my shopping!
 
Andrew, AJ, and I put up lights outside for the first time this year! I had bought a few strands the first year we were married but never put them up. I found some on sale this season and got a few more strands and we did a pretty good job, if I do say so myself!

Merry Christmas from the Withers!

 

 

November Update

     Well, November has come and gone. We had a wonderful time with our families on Thanksgiving! We spent Turkey Day at Andrew's parents' house. My mom, dad, sister and her boyfriend came too as well as some of Andrew's other family. Of course there was lots of delicious food and lively conversation (As if any other kind of conversation exits in the Withers' house. Hehe.). I love the holidays! Of course the day after Thanksgiving, the Christmas decorations were unpacked and the decorating began! Here are some pictures highlighting our November!


First buzz cut!

First bubble bath!





 



Playing with his nativity while the
Christmas decorations are put out!





Goobdbye, Halloween! Hello, Thanksgiving!

Well, October was a fun month in our house! We had lots of firsts as a family and even more firsts for AJ! There was the picnic at the arboretum, the pumpkin patch and pumpkin painting and theeeennnn.... AJ's first Trick-or-Treating experience! Gran (my mom), found the cutest policeman's uniform and ordered for him. The company even embroidered "Officer AJ" on it! It was complete with hat and equipment belt with handcuffs etc. He used his police car Easter basket as his candy bucket and he was super excited!

The Little Officer

We went out to Wylie to trick or treat with Mollie around her neighborhood. There was a whole brood of kiddos that we walked with, all older than AJ, but he did a pretty good job of keeping up with them! He would walk up and quietly say his own version of "trick or treat" that sounded something like "treh-tweet".



Mollie the ballerina and AJ the police officer.
 

The Trick or Treating group!

Off to get some goodies!

His first treat of the night.

Keeping up with the gang!

 By the end of the night he was one worn out little boy but he had a great time and I loved being able to watch him have fun and enjoy another first!!



Pumpkins!

Well it's October and we have done it up pumpkin style! Last week, me, AJ, Mom, Holly, and Aiden all went to the Dallas Arboretum because they were having a special kids' day with a petting zoo and face painting in addition to the Pumpkin Village they had set up for the Fall. It was super crowded because it was Columbus Day but we still had a good time. AJ loved the petting zoo, he petted some little goats and a bunny and chased a couple of poor little chickens around. Haha. Then we had all had a picnic lunch! Here are a few cute I snapped...

This past Tuesday we went to the Flower Mound Pumpkin Patch with the Sanchez family. The pumpkin patch had bounce houses, hay rides and all kinds of things to climb on! AJ had a fun time climbing and running around with Aiden. We also went on a hay ride and he had a blast looking at the tractors that pulled the hay trailers! He also got to pick out a pumpkin all by himself to take home.

 







In jail with Daddy!



AJ and his pumpkin.

 

We took his pumpkin home and he got to paint it the next evening! He had a great time. He started out using a paint brush but then decided that using his fingers and hands which was much more fun!

 

Painting!

The finished product!

 

So far October has been a great month and it's not over yet!













 

Change of plans...

So originally this blog was a way for me to share my crafty exploits (mostly fails! lol) and other projects but I've recently had a change of heart. I have decided to use this blog as more of a journal and scrapbook of sorts. The reason I have decided to do this is well.... I'm sort of obsessed with memories.

I have always been fascinated with stories of the past. I love listening to my parents, grandparents, and other older family members tell stories about their pasts. I love listening to anyone talk about the way things used to be. I think for me, it's almost like reading a book.  I can sit and imagine the scene in my mind as they tell their stories. I think it's why I love history so much and studied it in college.

I also have this slightly irrational fear that one day when I'm old, I'm going to get some form of dementia and I won't be able to share all my memories with my children and grandchildren. It's very important to me to be able to make sure they know the stories and see the pictures.

So anyway, that's what this blog is now going to become, a memory book. I know I only have one subscriber, who just happens to be my saster, but I welcome any and all of you out there to read and share in our memories and maybe you'll get a few laughs and be able to relate too!

Eggless Cookie Dough

I think most of you would agree that the best part of baking is the batter. Brownie batter, cake batter... it's my whole motivation for baking. Cookie dough however is in a whole other category, at least in my book. It is the yummiest of them all! Now I know that you shouldn't eat raw dough with egg in it but I really just don't have that much self control. Now I've seen all these recipes for eggless cookie dough aaaaall over Pinterest and I really really wanted cookie dough so I figured it was high time I tried one of them!

I looked at several recipes and found two that looked good. I ended up going with this one. I chose it basically because I was feeling lazy and it had the fewest ingredients. ( It's been a busy couple of days ok!) I did end up fiddling with it a little though. It was good but I thought it tasted a bit too flour-y. I ended up adding extra butter and salt and a bit of granulated sugar too.

My helper and my messy workspace.

Eggless Cookie Dough
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened (I ended up using 3/4 cup butter)
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup milk
1 cup flour
Pinch salt (I used probably 2 pinches)
1/2 cup chocolate chips
(I also added about 1- 1 1/2 tsp granulated sugar)

In a medium bowl, mix together the brown sugar and butter until smooth. Stir in vanilla and milk. Mix in the flour, salt, and chocolate chips until well blended. Chill in the refrigerator.

The finished product!

This was pretty good but I think I may try the other recipe that I found next time. I'll let ya know how it turns out. If any of you out there have a recipe for eggless cookie dough that you like please share it!

Not So Organized Chaos

I can't believe that it's been so long since I've posted! I was working on a cubby organizer for AJ's room and I had planned to do a post on it but about 3/4 of the way through it, I had to put it on hold. You see "A" is looking for a new job and he's got a lead on something pretty promising. If he ends up getting this job we could be moving soon. By soon I mean, in two months. Now I realize this isn't immediate or anything but when I think about all that has to be done in those two months I sort of start to have heart palpitations!

"A" bought our current home while we were still dating and he has done a lot of work on it. After we were married and I moved in we continued to update here and there. We have a loooong list of projects we want to do to the house to "make it our own". Since we were very happy here (only 5 minutes or so from both of our families, "A" practically has no commute for work, within 30 minutes of almost anything we could need to get to, etc.) and weren't planning on moving anytime soon we have just been ticking off our little checklist at a nice leisurely pace. Thiiiiings have now changed and our pace is now what you might call...frenzied. 

I have to admit that I loathe home improvement projects. In my experience they never go smoothly. A seemingly simple project, like painting one small accent wall for example, can spiral out of control and turn into a week long project from you know where. Do you see where I'm going with this?

We have a tall wall in our dinning room that my husband, or his mom and aunt, painted a dark red when he bought the house. It's not a bad color but several months ago I found a navy color that I just fell in love. We decided that we'd go ahead and paint the wall since we are going to put up crown molding and it would be easier to paint first. I know the painting wasn't a priority but it's just one wall right and if we don't end up moving then I'll have my navy wall that I've wanted so much! Well we painted the wall and it ended up taking two coats but hey whatever, it was painted and the color looked great!

The only picture I could find with the red wall in it.
Not a bad color but I wasn't crazy about it.

Later that night as I was admiring my new navy wall I noticed some bubbles in the wall. You see, when the wall was painted red, it was painted over existing wallpaper. Dun, dun, duuuuun. So yes, the two layers of red and the added two layers of navy were just too much for the wallpaper and it began bubbling up. So I ended up pulling down all the wallpaper which ended up ripping some of the paper backing off the drywall which then had to be sealed and then retexutred. So several days later we finished the retexturing, or so we thought. As we were cleaning up we noticed that the texture was bubbling up!!! AAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!!!!  We had to excise the bubbled spots, then seal those areas for the billionth time, wait for it to dry 24 hours, the spackle, let that dry, then texture over the spackle and pray you couldn't tell they were patch jobs! Now I just need to prime and paint and hopefully that will be the end of this "simple little painting project".

Ready to prime and paint. (Hopefully!)

All of this post is really just to say that I'm sorry for not posting anything in such a long time. My house and my life , to some extent, have been thrown into a bit of chaos here lately. I hope to have another post in a few days but if it takes a little while I'm sorry and I hope you will understand why. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. (Think of me while you're doing fun things. I'll be painting. Sigh.)

Dinning room contents shoved into living room.
(Yes, that's laundry on the couch waiting to be ironed and folded.)

"Family" Photo Gallery

So, like many people out there I am completely and hopelessly addicted to Pinterest. (That's one of the reasons I started this blog, to document my attempts at creativity.) Some of my most frequent pins are of various versions of the family photo groupings. I love,love, love having pictures of my loved ones around me. For me it really is a memory captured forever and if I could I would probably just wallpaper my house in pictures! (Can you say creepy? Maybe, but I love my peeps!) Aaaaanyway, I have been wanting to make one of these awesome photo gallery groupings of my own for quite some time so I decided that now was that time!

My first step was to collect all the photos that I wanted to use. I asked my mom and MIL for old family photos and picked out some current ones that I had of the three of us too. I scanned almost all of them into the computer so I could get different sizes plus the matriarchs wanted some of the originals back. I got two 8x10s and the rest were either 5x7 or 4x6.

I knew I didn't want to spend a ton of money on this little project so I decided to see if I could pick up picture frames at the dollar store and spray paint them.  I really liked the idea of mismatched frames and the dollar store had a large enough selection that I think I only ended up with two matching pairs.

Dollar store frames!

I had seen several galleries on pinterest that had either some kind of meaningful quote or the word "family" incorporated into the design and I really liked that. I played around with several different quotes, printing them out in different fonts and layouts and decided that I didn't want to go that route. I ended up going to a craft store and buying wooden letters that spelled family and picked out  three scrapbooking paper that I liked. I cut lots of 1", 2" and 2 1/2" squares (3 inches was too big for my letters) and decoupaged them onto the letters. Since the scrapbooking papers were all in black and white I spray painted half the frames black and the other half white. (Some of the frames ended up looking terrible once they were painted so I ran to Ikea and bought a couple of their $1.99 frames to replace those. It meant that I now have more matching frames than I did before but oh well.)

"I'm ready for my close up, Mr. Demille."

I have a small wall in my kitchen that faces my pantry and for the last three years I have had to look at one of the few remaining remnants of my husband's bachelor days, a giant framed poster of an African Lion. ("Why a lion poster?", you ask. "I have no friggin' clue!", I answer.)  I knew that this wall was the perfect spot for my gallery!!

I had my awesome sister Julie, from My Southern Soapbox, come over to help me hang it all. After quite a lot of back and forth about the best way to hang all this we ended up just eyeballing where to put the letters.

We did use a level to keep it, well level. We're not completely reckless, people!!

I'm sure that many would  have found it hilarious if they could have seen video of us trying to figure out the picture placement but after spending about 15 minutes holding pictures on the wall with everything but our noses I remembered a pin I had seen about using wax paper to hang pictures. We didn't do it exactly like she did and I'm about to tell ya why. I didn't want to put a bunch of holes in my wall so I decided to use some 3M Damage-Free velcro picture hangers.

Yup! That's them!

Ya for no holes in my wall!!

Since I couldn't just nail through the wax paper we just outlined the top or bottom of the frame so we would know where to place it. Then after attaching the hangers to the frames I used to wax paper to put the frames on the wall in their proper places!

As you can see by the Xs we changed our minds a time or two.

Aaww, wasn't I a cute lil chubbers? ;)

That sweet blonde boy is my hubby!

The great thing about using these velcro hangers is that I've been able to switch around a few of the photos. after changing my mind yet again, and it was no big deal. Gotta love that!! 

Ok, so here's the final product and I've gotta say, I'm pretty happy with it! I love being able to walk by and see all these happy memories!! :)

Not a great picture but I had to stand in my pantry to take it so cut a girl some slack! ;)

Hope this inspires some of you out there to get crafty! Don't be skeered! If I can do it and it looks half decent then I know you'll knock it out of the park!

Farmers' Market

I love fresh produce and fresh, local produce is even better! Yesterday, AJ and I went to the Dallas Farmers' Market with my mom and sister. We have been going for years. Before I was married we would go as a family early in the morning and it was so much fun!

Beautiful berries being sold.

One of the best things about the farmers' market is that the vendors let you try their produce. These samples are waaaay better than anything you'll find being passed out at those wholesale mega stores! ;) AJ was in heaven snacking on watermelon, peaches, cantaloupe, and strawberries. (Let's face it, I ate my fair share too.)

Verfied Local Farmer signs

 I haven't ever been to any other large farmers' markets but one of the great things about the Dallas market are these signs. Local farmers who have been able to show that they grow their own produce in the state are given these little signs to put at their booths. I love being able to support local growers and many of them even have organic produce. Another great thing about the farmers' market is the exposure to new foods! One local gentleman was selling round squash! They are called One Ball and Eight Ball Squash. They are said to be sweeter than your usual summer squash variety. I haven't tried them yet but I'm looking forward to trying them soon!



One Ball Squash

Eight Ball Squash

I was also excited to find local vendors with grass fed meats and organic eggs! I am going to be experiementing with my family menu and budget starting next month to try and cut out as much processed food as I possibly can and start buying some more organic foods and making more things from scratch. Now this won't be a complete overhaul because we do have a fairly tight budget but I am looking forward to seeing how it will work out. I will be posting more on this once I get into it and may even make it a regular weekly post. We'll see. In the meantime, get out there and find some yummy fresh local produce if you can!

Feeding A Toddler

I don't know about you but I have a hard time coming up with different ideas for feeding my toddler. Thankfully AJ is not a picky eater, for the most part, but I always find myself in a rut with his meals. I'm constantly looking for new ideas on things to feed him. Just in case you're like me and looking for some kid friendly foods to shake up your menu, I decided to share some of our favorites that we've found so far and some of the recipes that are on our list to try!

Let's start with breakfast!

I am all about things that can be made in large batches and frozen or refrigerated for later!

Photo credit : Cooking Light

Blueberry Oatmeal Muffins from Cooking Light - These are fantastic! Our whole family loved these. I'm not sure how well they would freeze but I kept them in the refrigerator for several days with no problems.

Frozen Blueberry Muffins from Stockpiling Moms - I am planning on making these next week!
**Update! I just made these a few days ago and they turned out great! My batch made about 28 large muffins so if you made them smaller I'm sure you could get quite a few muffins! They thawed perfectly!**

Toddler French Toast Sticks from Once A Month Mom - These are on my "to make list" once freezer space opens up.

Frozen waffles are a quick and easy breakfast. (I don't give AJ any syrup for two reasons, I have no desire to de-stickify a wiggly 18 month old and he has more than enough energy without the aid of sugar!)

Toasted bagels are also another easy breakfast. AJ's favorites are blueberry and cinnamon raisin. (Again I usually give them to him plain. I have put a little cream cheese on them before but he didn't really seem to care.)

We also like to make pancakes. I cheat a little and use a pre-made mix. I usually make "silver dollar" sized pancakes and AJ loves them! If I'm feeling fancy I'll add blueberries or mashed banana and poor little AJ just goes nuts with excitement. (Sigh. Is that a sign that I'm a boring mom? Lol) Any leftovers just get put into a storage container in the fridge and served later.

Now onto lunch!

One of AJ's favorite lunches is probably one of the most simple, pita bread cut into smalls squares with a little bit of hummus on them, grapes or some other fruit, and cheese or cold pasta salad.  This is great for hot summer days since it's cold and light but still very filling. (Plus mom likes eating it too!)

Mini calzones - I used Pillsbury ready made pizza dough, cut it into rectangles (as big or small as you like), put pizza sauce and any toppings your child likes on one end of the dough then fold over the other half and seal by pinching sides together and then pressing with the tynes of a fork. Then I just sealed them up in Press and Seal wrap, labeled them and stuck 'em in the freezer. When you're ready to cook just preheat oven to 400 degrees, place on cookie sheet/pizza stone, and bake for 10-15 min. or until done.

Photo credit: allrecipes.com

Grilled cheese -  You can switch up the cheeses or try adding tomato

Quesadillas - cheeses and veggies, you could also add some sliced/shredded chicken.

Peanut butter and banana in a whole wheat wrap - I tried this one with AJ once last week and the jury is still out. He ate some of it before deciding that it was faster and more fun to just pick out the peanut butter covered banana slices. :/ I'll keep trying. Ha!

Now for the finale, Dinner!

AJ almost always just eats what we eat for dinner now, either in whole or in part, depending on what we're having. If you're sweet one(s) aren't quite there yet here are a few more ideas!

Mac & Cheese -  You could add some broccoli or other veggies for a change up.

Photo credit: simplebites.net

One Pot Toddler Meals from Simple Bites

Pasta - (any kind) with a tiny bit of melted butter with a little Parmesan or some oregano or other seasonings. This is what I make for AJ when we have ravioli or tortellini with marinara. (Only rarely do I let the mess maker have marinara.)

Homemade pizza with your kiddo's favorite toppings!

Easy dinner recipes, two ways -  This has recipes for adults that can easily be modified to serve the kids at the same time! Great idea!


I know it can be hard to come up with new ideas for feeding our kids but that's why the internet is so fantastic!! All those incredibly talented people out there have already come up with endless mealtime possibilities and all we have to do is find them! :) I hope this helps some of you out there get out of your toddler friendly food rut!! If you have any recipes to share please do!!

Lemonade Party Cake

Myself, A and AJ all recently went to a dinner at my parents' home to visit with my mammaw (aka, grandmother) since she was in town from Mississippi. Being the selfless woman that I am (cough, choke, sputter), I volunteered to bring dessert. I like to bring dessert because that means that we get first dibs on bringing home leftovers! Hehe.

I have had the recipe for this lemonade party cake for quite a while and have never gotten the chance to make it. It sounded like a perfect summer dessert so I thought I'd give it a try. It's basically an old fashioned poke cake but instead of using jello you use lemonade. I've had the recipe for so long that I'm honestly not even sure where it came from but it was extremely easy to make and quite tasty too!

Lemonade Party Cake

Ingredients:

1 box Betty Crocker Super Moist lemon cake mix

• water
• vegetable oil
• eggs

1 can (6 oz) frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed (regular or pink)
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 container whipped fluffy white frosting
colored sugar, if desired

- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake cake mix, using water, oil and eggs, as directed on package for a  13x9 pan. Cool 15 minutes.

- Mix lemonade concentrate (I could only find 12 oz cans so I just used half.) and powdered sugar. Using fork or skewer,  poke holes into top of warm cake every 1/2 inch, wiping fork/skewer occasionally to reduce sticking. Drizzle lemonade mixture evenly over top of cake.

- Cover and refrigerate about 2 hours or until chilled. Spread frosting over top of cake. Sprinkle with colored sugar is desired. Store loosely covered in fridge.

You can see how the lemonade mixture soaks into the holes poked into the cake.

This cake was really really good, however, it is extremely sweet. For me it was little too sweet with the frosting so I think I will make it again and instead of frosting I will dust it with powered sugar.  It might also be good topped with whipped cream instead of frosting!

If you try this recipe, please let me know how yours turns out!

Cleaning Schedules

So in my last post, which was also my first post, I mentioned how I’ve had a harder time adjusting to staying home full time than I thought I would. I had all these grand and lofty ideas about all the things I would be able to accomplish with all the extra time I have now. One of these grand ideas of mine was how immaculate my house would be. I would have all this time extra time to spend keeping my house organized and clean so of course rather than setting out to clean my house I got on Pinterest. Ha!

I began pinning cleaning schedules and family planners like there was no tomorrow! I really loved the idea of the family planners I looked at so many of them and was so overwhelmed by them that I basically just decided that a planner just wouldn’t work for me, at least not right now.

I have found several cleaning schedules that I like and I finally settled on one of them.

Here are some of the schedules and I looked at.

Clean House Worksheet at Life On Paper

Daily Housekeeping Schedule at Time - Warp Wife  *This is the one I based mine off of.*

Daily Chores and Deep Cleaning Monthly Schedule at Six Sisters’ Stuff

My problem with doing these kinds of things is that I look at them and want to make it work for me the way it already is. That just isn’t always possible and for some reason I have a hard time coming to terms with that but I was actually able to adapt one of these cleaning schedules to my own needs and for even more growth on my part, I have been able to be flexible with it!! It’s a miracle! (I’m only kind of kidding about that.)

My schedule goes something like this…

Monday: Clean Bathrooms

   Clean showers/tubs, toilets, sinks, counter tops, and mirrors, sweeping/mopping floors, and emptying trash cans

Tuesday: Clean Bedrooms

    Change bed linens, picking up any dirty clothes that missed the hampers, decluttering dresser tops and bedside tables, and picking up toys in AJ’s room

 Wednesday: Grocery Shopping/Errands

     I originally chose this day for shopping because it was the day that my husband went in to work late so he could watch AJ while I did the shopping. (Any of you that have ever tried to take a one year old grocery shopping know the potential hazards this holds!)

Thursday: Clean Kitchen
    Do dishes if needed, (“A” always leaves dirty dishes in the sink. The dishwasher is right next to the sink man!!),  disinfect counters, stove and appliance surfaces, clean sink, declutter kitchen table and disinfect, declutter kitchen window seat, empty trash can

 Friday: Clean Floors

     Mop, sweep, and vacuum all floors. Yes, even under the couches and rugs. (You could just use this day for mopping and do the floors in the other rooms as you clean them but I prefer to only have to schlep the vacuum out as few times as possible.)

Saturday: Clean Living Areas (Formal dining room gets lumped in here too)
    Declutter rooms, straighten couch pillows and throws, and dust if I feel so moved

Sunday: Church and Family time!! J

Dishes, basic kitchen tidying, and picking up toys in the family room are done daily and I just do laundry a few times a week whenever I have spare time( My fantastic hubby helps with the laundry too.).


This is just a basic daily cleaning schedule that I use to keep from getting overwhelmed and trying to do too much at once. I am fairly flexible with it so that if something comes up one day and I don’t clean one of the rooms I just add it on to another day that I’m able to squeeze it in or switch days around if I need to. I don’t include things like cleaning baseboards, or dusting blinds and light fixtures in this schedule. (I am still in the process of finding a monthly deep cleaning schedule that I like and will have those things on that schedule)  Of course you can make your schedule anyway you want, to include or exclude anything you like. One of my friends recently asked about my schedule and she was very much against the idea of having a Saturday chore. I saved the living areas for Saturday because they’re quick and easy! ;)

My only real advice is to look around for ideas out there and then make something work for you. I realize how ironic that statement is since I have such a hard time “making something work for me” but it’s true. Start with a schedule, try it a while and play around with until you find something that fits your needs. Keep it simple so that when you do need to be flexible on a crazy day it won’t throw the whole week off. Most importantly, if a schedule freaks you out, don’t use one!! The point is to make things easier on you and if it just stresses you out or overwhelms you then toss it out the window and do what you can when you can!

To Blog or Not to Blog

Well, here goes my very first blog post! I'm honestly not sure where I'm going to go with this post. I have so many ideas rattling around in my head and I know I should have probably sat down and made some sort of rough draft but I'm really not a "drafting" kind of person, never really have been. I guess I'll just tell you a little about what I imagine when I think about the mature version of this blog.

There are so many great blogs out there that I LOVE reading, written by these amazingly talented, crafty, resourceful women about home decor, organization, cooking, crafting, raising a family and so much more. I am not one of those women but I reeeeaaaallly want to be one!! I guess maybe this is my attempt  hold myself accountable for all those blog posts I've bookmarked and those darn projects and recipes I've pinned! It's also a way for me to share some of my neuroses I have about being a wife and mom. I'm sure I'll share some of the crazy things that go on in my house that make me stop and wonder, "Does this stuff ever happen to anyone else or is my family just really that weird?" Please feel free to tell me I'm not alone! Even if I am, lie to me anyway! ;)

My "About Me" section isn't very detailed at the moment and I'm sure it will undergo some changes with time but for now I'll give you a quick rundown on my story so you'll have a little context for future posts. My name is Maegan (yes that's really how my name is spelled), I am 27 and I live in Texas but am originally from Mississippi. I have been married for almost three years to my wonderful hubby "A" and we have a 17 month old son, "AJ". About 3 months ago I became a full time stay at home mom. Sadly, I am still getting my act together with the whole stay at home thing. (Yes, I know. Perfect time to start a new blog right?) Who knew not working could take so much effort?! Seriously? Cleaning and running errands, chasing a perpetual motion machine, aka AJ, around and trying to keep him busy. Oh my goodness, trying to keep that child busy and out of things he shouldn't be in... it's more intellectually challenging than college ever was and way more exercise than I'd get at the gym, if I ever actually had time to get there anymore!

I love cooking but I tend to find it intimidating. I love being outdoors but hate sweating. I have all these creative ideas but I have a hard time getting them out of my head and turning them into something real. My family means the world to me! Most importantly, I am a woman of faith. I am not a perfect person by any means and you certainly see that in this blog but I hope that I will also be able to show how God has lavished his grace upon me in those moments, and there have and will be many of those moments!

Anyway,I'm sorry I have rambled on for so long. I hope maybe something here has piqued your interest and you will come back and check out my next post. I promise to try and make it more interesting and entertaining!! :)