Second Star to the Right and Straight on til Morning

We received
this invitation
in the mail

And man were there shrieks of excitement


Our friend Saxon
was having a Neverland Party,
or as he referred to it
a
Stinkerbell Party


It happened to be right in our backyard.
So we didn't have far to fly
to get to this
Neverland


Caitlin's Creative Genius is obvious.
as is my sister in law Rachel's photography talent.



Cait had all of them make their
"shadows"


and then
they all got to pose
for their
Flight to Neverland


They each got a scrapbook page


and a goody bag
I love how they have the "Shadows" on them
so even the kids who couldn't read
could find their bag.

Captain Hook
quickly got very hot in his costume
and became Caden
about two seconds after we took this picture


Doesn't Vienna make a lovely Tiger Lily?


And Princess B is
of course
the quintessential Tinkerbell
Tiny, Cute, full of mischief and fun.


and seriously,
what would the party have been
without Bridger
our Smee.
Sporting the Belly shirt
and the rolly polly belly to go with it.

The cake was divine
the decorations perfect.

My poor kids
get Costco cupcakes most of the time.

Caitlin said she would help me out
if I came up with a budget
and a theme.

I might just take her up on it.

all photos from Rachel at Black Eiffel

Perfecting the Pout

At the
ripe old age of 2
Cohen
is perfecting the pout face


He did not think that
time out
was a fair trade


for
covering his head in hand soap
and dousing the whole bathroom in water.

Lunch at the Trellis

My friend Auburn and I
Met for Lunch today
at The Trellis.


Loved it.
Its the perfect spot for a ladies lunch
on the patio, overlooking the beautiful
Thanksgiving Point Gardens


Did I mention the food
was light and refreshing
and delicious?


Because it was awesome.
I want to go back already.

Be Faithful and Fearless- The Integrity Project Part 3

Its overcast today


I can't hang laundry on the line

I have a sore throat
and a pounding head.

My kids cannot seem
to get along and be happy.

I have to work at 7 am
for the next 3 mornings in a row.

I was thinking about this post all morning

not feeling it.

Then I hopped over
to my friend Jamie's Blog
Her post today was so lovely.
So heartbreaking and beautiful,
and the
epitome of faithful and fearless.

Thank you Jamie for the inspiration

It made me think a lot.

A LOT

About devastation,
dashed hopes,
unrealized dreams,
reaching for the unreachable,
about how it seems
that just when I am crawling out of the hole
a huge wave crashes that washes me right back in.

When I am having a hard time,
this seems so overwhelming.

I think this is when being faithful comes in.

faithful- keeping faith; maintaining allegiance; constant; loyal faithful friends marked by or showing a strong sense of duty or responsibility; accurate; reliable
(as found on yourdictionary.com)

I love
all the aspects of this definition.

Being faithful doesn't mean being perfect,
its means keeping faith
it means finding your responsibilities and duties
and being constant in them

It means, that you keep going (you maintain allegiance)
when it all seems like a little too much.

It means having hope
when the world seems bleak,
that tomorrow will have beauty in it
even if the heartbreak is there right beside it.


So this brings me to the fearless part.
Once again,
I love this definition

fearless-not faltering or hesitating because of fear or discouragement;
undismayed; intrepid.

It says no where in there,
that when you are fearless
there is no fear or discouragement
it just says you don't falter because of it.

There will be hard things in my life

sometimes its a headache and grumpy children
sometimes its wondering
if its really worth the hassle and heartache.
Sometimes its just feeling too tired
to attempt to change what I am doing
even when I know I could be doing better.

But if I want to claim
being faithful and fearless,
then that means I have to keep moving,
I need to remain devoted
I need to keep moving towards what is right.
Even when I am daunted.

I need to keep reaching for
a greater love
a greater understanding
a greater knowledge.

I need to

"Do what is right
Be faithful and fearless."

Now to put it into practice.
The hard part.


P.S.
I just finished this post
and with a resolve to move forward
I find a quiet house
(this kids are playing Batman, Robin, and Kitty Girl together)
the Tylenol has finally kicked in
and the sky now looks like this.

all within about 45 minutes.

Talk about faith inspiring.

We now interrupt the Integrity Project, for a little Dance Preformance

Miss Kennady


Had her
first dance recital.
On Thursday night.



She and Princess B
have been taking dance
from some very talented girls
in our neighborhood.


$20 bucks a month,
for 1 hour of Jazz
and 1 hour of Ballet
You cannot beat that!

And they have
LOVED it.


The recital was in a beautiful backyard,
and all the girls were darling.
We laughed so hard at some points
that we were bent over double.


Holly had to bribe B
with a Barbie
to get her to stay up there at all.
and
she was a riot the whole time.


Molly and Chloe did such a good job
with so many silly little girls,
that we have been begging them
to keep teaching
during the school year.
(Seriously, $20 a month!)


It was the first time Ryan had seen the routine
and he was pretty impressed that our 3 year old
Actually looked
like she knew what she was doing.

I was too.

Kenna cracked me up until the very end
when she announced

" I was really good! Huh Mom? Huh?"

Yes,
Kenna Bear,
you were really, really, good.

Do what is right - The Integrity Project Part 2

So in my quest to not avoid my life
I have avoided my blog.

great.


Evidently I am having a hard time
escaping avoidance.

but for today,

I keep humming this hymn from church.
My favorite verse goes like this

Do what is right
Be faithful and fearless
Onward, Press Onward
The Goal is in sight.

I often have a hard time with this,
I am ashamed to admit,
with all of it,
So I think this verse is going to be
my theme for the week.

The do what is right,
doesn't seem hard,
I don't cheat or steal, or lie
but sometimes,
Doing what is right,
conflicts with doing what I want to do
and there lies the rub.

Sometimes
I want to lay on the couch and read a book
not get up and pick up the toys
and put the laundry away
Some days
I don't care
if there are sinks full of dishes
or aprons to be made.
Somedays
I don't care
if my kids are in pajamas all day
and there are four bedrooms to be tidied.

Those days I feel like my soul looks like this
Cluttered, Overwhelmed, A little rusty.

But I made my life what it is.

I chose it.
I chose to be a mom.
I chose to be at home with my kids.
I chose to start a little business.

Doing what is right,
means doing all the things
that come along with my choices
it means Choice and Accountability,
it means
I need to buck up and be accountable

No justifying a way out of the responsibility
that comes with the choices I made.

So today,
Today I will make all the beds.
Today I will hug my children,
and try to teach them to do what is right,
and why it is so important.
I will do the dishes,
and I will try to remember

That I know what is right,

and I will try to keep in mind the reason
that I am trying so hard to do what is right.

Scrubbing toilets isn't fun,
But when I am doing what I know is right
when I am being responsible
with the gifts that God has given me,
my spirit feels it,
and happiness and peace settle.
No matter what the chore is.


That's the goal.

When do you feel the most connected to your spirit?

Am I the only one that avoids
and then feels unsatisfied?


Stay tuned,
tomorrow is

Be faithful and fearless.

The Integrity Project

Hello

Avoidance
and
Justification


its
yours truly

Your Queen
your friend
your constant companion

I call upon your services more than most
and I have to say
I'm a master at using you both.

And why shouldn't I be.
Practice makes perfect,
right?

For half my life
I have been using one or the other of you
because you seemed to make it easier.

And just when I would start to think
that I could exile you,
Avoidance
and just get down to it,
justification would sweep right in
and make it all look better,
make it not such a big deal.

You need an example?

My house is always a mess.
Ask people who have been here.
Its the truth.

Some days
it is SO messy,
that I don't know where to start,
and I feel overwhelmed,
and then my ever faithful servant
Avoidance
comes along,
and says,
you'll never even make a dent,
focus on something else,
paint a bookshelf instead,
and then when I think, no,
YOU MUST DO IT,
my other friend Justification steps up
and tells me that
the kids would just make it messy again anyway,

and that I have been meaning to paint for a long time anyway,

And husband left his socks out,
so shouldn't he have to pick them up?
Right?

and off I go to paint the bookshelf.
and my house is still a mess.
and i am happy that the bookshelf rocks,
and I tell myself who cares if my house is a mess
my bookshelf is a masterpiece.

But lets get down to it.
I care.

I care that I am the
chubby
messy
sloppy
always late
irresponsible one.

Even if people say
that's not how they see me,
that's how I feel
when I am being honest,
and not using my two favorite allies mentioned above.

I care that people who come over
assume that my house will be a mess
and are pleasantly surprised when its not.

I hate that people assume that I will be late
and are shocked beyond measure
when I occasionally show up on time.

I don't like that I weigh more than I should.

I don't like myself when I justify
what I am doing wrong
because I am avoiding doing whats right.

So here I begin

On my journey to banish
avoidance and justification.

On my quest to find peace
responsibility, joy, fulfillment, integrity,
respect, enlightenment,

and lets be honest,
(remember, that's the name of this game),
a thinner, healthier body,
and a clean, and peaceful home

In other words,
the true self that I know God created me to be.

Care to take the challenge?
What have you avoided?
What are you waiting til "someday" to do?
What is your favorite thing to justify?
What are you doing in your life to make it better
To live with more integrity and inner peace?

Share! Inspire me!
I need it!
I'll going to try to post more
you know, the whole accountability thing,
I would love to hear it.

Meanwhile, wish me luck,
this is not a little project,
and I feel daunted already.

Off to clean my house.
and make lunch for my little ones
and
I'm going to turn the music up really loud
and pretend that I like cleaning
Maybe that will help.

Are you kidding me?

I was about to make the turn into my work
when I noticed this in my mirrors


I wanted to put my head down on my hands
and cry
or curse very loudly,
very very loudly.

It was 7:15 am
for pete's sake.

Evidently,
I paused,
but I did not pause long enough
at the stop sign.

Today I HATE stop signs!

He was "gracious" enough
to let me go to traffic school for it.

Seriously?

If you feel bad enough about giving me a ticket
that you "offer" me traffic school,
DON'T GIVE ME THE DANG TICKET!

and if that isn't bad enough,
I was then 25 minutes late to work.

yes I took a picture,
what else was I supposed to do
while sitting there for 20 minutes ?

the
first one ever to not turn out blurry
on my iphone
and its of this.

Seriously annoyed.
SERIOUSLY ANNOYED.

Our Little Town
has
"Arts in the Park"
every Sunday afternoon.

Local musicians come
and play for the small crowd that gathers.


My friends from work were preforming
So we decided to check it out.


The kids cared nothing for the music
and checked out the playground instead.


Cohen was so scared
he wouldn't even look at me
to say cheese
But whenever I tried to help
he repeatedly screamed
"I do it, I do it"

Caden was testing out his kung fu moves
from up in the tree.
I was waiting for him to fall and break his arm
but
He's going to be a ninja when he grows up,
don't you know
Ninjas don't fall out of trees



It was a
lovely August evening
The weather was perfect

Summer is so magical
I'm sad that its almost over.

Pardon the pictures (again)
my iphone is incapable of taking non blurry pictures

These Pirates Know How to Party

Our Friend
Logan
turned 5


and he was cool enough
to invite us
to join in on the fun.


His mommy
Amy
went above and beyond.

Seriously,
who can do this?
NOT ME.
I would not even attempt.


There were swashbuckling swordfights


and treasure hunts for buried treasure.


We came home with all this loot.
Amy made sure every one had some costumage
(eye patch, and red sash)
and a name tag
proclaiming their position on the ship
The awesome "Treasure"
was the bag with their name on it.
Filled with chocolate coins
and "daggers",
and "precious jewels"

I think
I am going to hire her
to do
all
my kids birthday parties
from here on out.

If only every party had a cake this cool...

My Uber talented friend

Caitlin

Created this masterpiece

for her baby's first birthday.

I even

cheated on the diet

for this bad boy.

How could I not?

When a cake looks this cool,

You Eat It.

Even the crumbs looked amazing

in a colorful jumble at the bottom.

I was tempted to lick the plate.

I believe she got the recipe from here

A word of warning: do not go to this website if you are hungry

you will want to bake and eat EVERYTHING ON IT.

Its always a party

I have discovered
that having
three kids
means
It's Always a Party


a big production
lots of noise
lots of movement.

never simple
never boring
never the mundane.


we
"lit up"
the dentist office yesterday.


I'm sure
they were grateful
for the little
"change of pace"
that my children provided for their
quiet little office.

I had a headache
from all the crazy
"entertainment"

(and the stress of keeping them from breaking
equipment that costs more than my life is worth.)

Healthy teeth
is worth the price of a
"rockin party"
is what I keep telling myself.

Funny?

Does it mean
that I'm a
bad mom

if I think

that these pictures

are hilarious?

Because they
crack me up!

The elephant made a sneezing sound
and Cohen DID NOT like it.

Caden LOVED IT.