Praise the King

I LOVE this song!

happy monday friends!

ben's girlfriends!

you may have watched this and this is ben's # 4 on the girlfriend list. he just so happened to be taking a class picture right outside my classroom today and i was able to capture the sweetness!

just to update everyone...he is up to 12 girlfriends...one of his teachers even made the list. and tracey if you happen to read this, you are on the list too! congrats!

this is ben with his "mace mace"

do you see how they have their arms wrapped?! and look at her little knees in his lap.

i was so glad i had my camera with me today!

Weekend Wrap Up

I think I may have finally recuperated from my wonderful weekend with crafty girlfriends. Two of my friends came down from Richmond Friday night and left Saturday night. We stayed up until 3:30 Saturday morning creating and chatting! We started again at 9am Saturday morning and only stopped to eat and visit a scrapbook store...(that we won't be visiting again!!)

First on our agenda~
I've been eyeing these since last year when Sarah first posted them on her facebook. I finally got around to making my own.
We are going to put our favorite Christmas things to do inside each little muffin cup. (making cookies, driving to look at lights, watching Polar Express, etc.)

While they were fun fun fun to make, time is running out.
Sarah has a stock of them in her shop if you don't have time to make your own.

Jennifer & Jenn busy at work!

After finishing our muffin tin advent we started another project.

I think we will put Scripture verses inside these Advent Ornaments

and hang on the boys' Christmas tree along with all of our homemade ornaments.

and isn't this amazing?!
When Jenn asked me to send her some of my favorite pictures of the boys,
I had no idea it was for something this lovely.
I did suggest that she do a tutorial on her blog.
I'm ready to make one so if you are interested in making one too
let's pick a date to create them together!



and this shy pilgrim would be my ben!

if mama aint happy, aint nobody happy!

so what does bring a smile to my face?!

what makes me happy?

honestly there is so much that brings joy to my day!

*the freshness of a good night's sleep & a new morning from God*

*a husband that is also an amazing daddy*

*hearing the boys scream dadu when JM comes through the door*

*having JM come through the door*

*listening to Jacob sing his precious heart out in worship

listening to music in his room or at church*

*girlfriends having babies ~ girls for both of them

born 1 week apart*

*the glimpses of God's amazing provision*

*the smooth minty feeling of my freshly brushed teeth*

*creating*

*creating with girlfriends*

*time spent with family*

*waking up to a "dusting" of snow*

*obedient, happy boys that get along

and show love to each other*

*a warm cozy home*

*working with Godly women

in a nurturing Christian environment*

*stay home jammer days*

*thanksgiving & christmas*

*the smell of anything pumpkin flavored*

*hugs from 13 little 3 year olds on the active room*

oh Lord, you've blessed me richly.

thank you for showering me and reminding me ~

big or small blessings are all from you and need to be thought of as HUGE.

i'm so thankful for the way you make your self known to me.

i'm so thankful for the life you've given me.

i'm an incredibly blessed mama, woman, wife, daughter, & friend.

i'm an incredibly thankful mama, woman, wife, daughter, & friend.

a little giggle!

after dinner tonight JM & I were cleaning up the counter and i leaned in to give him a little peck. both boys started screaming like little girls saying "no don't . . . KISS!" well of course we did. then after JM left the kitchen jacob mumbled to ben "good thing we didn't have to see the honeymoon"! he doesn't even know what a honeymoon is!

etsy items

i just put a few more things up on etsy.

it's a girl!

i have a few girlfriends that are having babies ~ one today in fact!!

this is what they just might be getting!

a fun give away!

i found these pretty little camera straps at a give away on another blog. she also has baby rattles. this cute blogger is hosting a give away . . . go sign up . . . no don't! i want to win! :) we are saving up for a good camera for our family for christmas!

this is my favorite!
they are all adorable but i like autumn dream the best

(i did post a picture but then realized i wasn't supposed to copy pics from her blog)

Catching Up Through Pictures

Whew . . . I only wish the weekend were longer! We are still catching up from all the rva fun we had! Throw a time change and a day off of school in there and we are exausted! We had a great time in Richmond and packed so much into the weekend. We had Halloween & Ben's Birthday party as well as visiting with great friends. We trick or treated w/ the best neighbors and saw some other friends through out the night. All of us were able to see some of our best friends whether a lunch date, play date or over wings. Of course Ben hit jack pot seeing most of his . . . including his very special girl! She was dressed so adorably as Dorothy and they were so sweet with each other. I have some sweet pictures of them together!
We even got to hit up some of our favorite spots ~ Moes, Trader Joes, Ben Franklin, Buffalo Wild Wings, Gelati Celeste, just to name a few.

my little Indiana Jones

my little rock star

"happy birthday to you"

i'll give you one guess as to who's eyes he is gazing into while everyone sang.

you would think she is the only one singing!

"on the road again"

but with a beautiful view!

i LOVE mail!!

i received my fall favorite things package this weekend too!

one of the girls in the fall swap circle called it blessings in a box!
this was so much fun!

a few of us girls swapped addresses and sent out our favorite things to another girl!

i hope you all had as much fun as i did assembling as well as receiving!

i've had requests to get this organized again after Christmas once things have settled down.

something to get us through the cold, dreary weeks. think on it and let me know!

mine included not only the giver's favorite things but mine too!

we must have even more in common!

delightful contents included fun colorful papers, candy corn, recipes, bobble head turkey parts, picture frames, socks, dish towels, and more!

we came home for company from more of our favorite people!

the botham boys came to spend the night & election day with us

and left today just in time for mama botham to vote!

today i had a wonderful conference with Jacob's teacher.

we are very pleased with his progress and adjustment.

God is so good!

okay...that's a wrap!