What I Wore Wednesday. And Cake Pops.

My friend Whitney inspired me to team up with The Pleated Poppy for what I wore Wednesday!

I’m not gonna go all crazy and do what I wear everyday. Mainly because you don’t need to seem in six photos of jeans and a t-shirt, and then one cute outfit. I’ll just highlight my week. Deal?

This last week was our anniversary, and on Thursday Jon and I went out to eat. This is the outfit from my date. Sorry for the nerdy picture (below). We took one and then went in since I was starving. But isn’t my outfit fun?!?! I think I would’ve never put an outfit like this together before I started reading Kendi Everyday. Oh my goodness, I love her. She totally inspires me to view my closet in a new way and I now put together totally fun-ky outfits like this. So thank you Kendi.

For our date, we went to a little Italian joint we had a gift certificate to (thanks Mom and Dad!). It was really cute, and had delicious food. The service was really slow, however. Oh well. We hardly ever get to slow down and relax, I think I just don’t know how to do it anymore!! Ha!

Afterward, we headed over to Starbucks to get a gift card for our sweet friend Paula who was watching the littles for us that night. Confession: I love Cake Pops. They are what cake should’ve been all along. So, since it was a special night, I asked if I could splurge (yup, all $1.50) and get a cake pop. Jon, poor thing, had never had a Starbucks cake pop. (I know, he may need therapy for it). He was asking what they all were. Just so you know as well, here was my explanation. “That one is Tiramasu and it tastes like heaven. That pink one is birthday cake and it’s really good. The other one is Raspberry Truffle and I’ve never had it.” I know, I should replace food critic Amanda Hesser over at New York Times with reviews like that. Anyway, the incredibly sweet barista gave us the last Raspberry Truffle cake pop for free. Free, I tell you! How cool is that? I thanked her profusely (I probably would’ve hugged her if she hadn’t been behind the counter) and said it was a cool aniversary present. We then got the gift card, and I ordered a Tiramasu cake pop, and guess what? She gave us that one free, too. TWO FREE CAKE POPS. I know, it was like my birthday. So thank you random Starbucks barista!

Moral of the story? Date your spouse. Dress up in fun, unexpected ways. And eat cake pops. Especially when they’re free. (Okay, don’t eat them if some guy is just handing them out for free on a street corner. Thats suspect. But Starbucks, or little kids birthday parties? Eat it up!!!

DIY: Dyeing your Toms

Hello and welcome to this episode of ‘Morgan Makes Stuff Colorful’. In this episode, we’re going to talk about dyeing some old Toms. Just follow along with these simple steps!

1. Buy a pair of Toms.

2. Wear them. A lot. This may or may not include wearing them to Mexico (as your only pair of shoes) for a weekend mission trip in which you go camping, and are then almost flooded out.

My shoes don’t actually look too bad in this photo. But trust me, they were a wreck.

3. Decide you want to dye them. Buy your dye in whatever color choice you prefer. I love Rit dye. I purchased Teal for this project. The few times I’ve used Rit dye it’s been super simple. I never add salt and all that stuff. Here’s the simple way to do it. Grab a bucket. Toss your dye in. Heat up a bunch of hot water in a kettle and add it in, and then just add more hot water from the tap. You need enough to cover your shoes. (Obviously. Aren’t you so glad you came here for instructions?)

4. Get so into this project that you forget to put gloves on. When you add your shoes in and they float to the top, start shoving them in and therefore dye your hands blue for the rest of the day. (Optional).

5. Get the shoes to stay submerged finally (somehow) with some random cardboard and two empty glass bottles turned upside down. Ahem.

6. Let them sit for 10-30 minutes, depending on how dark you would like them. I chose 30 minutes since I really wanted to color to absorb, and hopefully cover some of the dirt.

7. Put gloves on. (I learn from my mistakes).

8. Rinse shoes out in the shower. You want to rinse until the water runs clear. This takes awhile since the inside is dyed and has absorbed a ton of water. Next time, I think I’d follow this bloggers advice and tape off the inside.

9. Let dry! Mine took about 24 hours. Again, I think they would’ve dryed quicker if I had taped off the inside. Oh well, live and learn.

10. Enjoy! I am SO excited about my shoes! I love that the silver stayed silver and the teal only dyed the white.  They’re amazing!  It’s like having a new pair for summer. Whoop!

Thanks everyone once again for joining us. Here’s my encouragement. I know that time can be a restraining (you moms know what I’m talking about). And sometimes I get so overwhelmed by all the amazing craftiness out there that it’s discouraging. But ya’ know what, just do it! Craft and have fun, and if it doesn’t work out, oh well! I figured I wasn’t wearing my Toms anymore anyway, so who cares if they had gotten ruined. And now I have some great new shoes! So live it up, people! Praise Jesus!

From 2 to 3!

I’m sad that it’s taken me this long to finally blog about Miss Ada’s b-day. But hey, better late than never, right? Right?!?!? Come on people, I need some assurance here. It’s okay? You’re busy too? Phew. I thought it was just me.

We started the morning off with a few gifts. Flowers, a Rapunzel (her absolute favorite) placemat, a cute new shirt (a dog on a Vespa with flowers saying Bonjour! How cute is that? You know you want one. Wait, you don’t want your kids wardrobe? Weird. Anyway, I digress. This is the longest collection of sentences in parenthesis ever I think. Yup, pretty sure. ..) and some nail polish (which she is obsessed with. O.B.S.E.S.S.E.D.) (I honestly can’t believe how many parenthesis were in that last paragraph. Surely you all don’t come here for my excellent grammer usage though, so we’re all good).

After getting dressed we headed out to Starbucks. But first, we stopped off at our local doughnut shop for a little breakfast treat. We have a great shop right by us, and it has a drive through! So convient, and also, a little dangerous. After picking up a cake doughnut with pink frosting and sprinkles we hit up S-bucks. They were so sweet there. She, of course, had to tell everyone she saw that she was 3 years old. All the baristas were so sweet, wishing her happy birthday and giving her stickers. She got a Vanilla Steamer and we hung out there for a bit. (And can I say how much I LOVE that upper righthand photo of her? Melts my heart I tell you. One big sticky mess.)

Afterwards, we went to the park with her best friends, the Hartmans. It was fun to let them play for a bit. She got an adorable Hello Kitty tutu that she wears all the time. She loooooves it. (This isn’t the best photo, but Ada and Owen are SO cute in it. Kills me.)

Then it was time for our traditional In-N-Out lunch! That was the 1st meal I had after having Ada and oh my goodness, was that food good! We thought it would be fun if we made it a tradition to do that for lunch on her b-day every year. It was, as always, wonderful.

That afternoon our neighbor came over with lots of lemon cupcakes (Ada’s pick) and she brought tons of frosting and sprinkles and she let Ada decorate to her hearts content. It was so fun!!! She had a blast. It was so sweet. Erin is a wonderful neighbor and we’re definitely blessed to have her there.

That night Ada opened a few more presents and we did dinner at home as a family. It was such a fun day. She really understood this year that it was her birthday, compared to the year before. I really love birthdays and celebrating and making them special.

Miss Ada, we love you so insanely much! You are a constant source of joy, laughter and fun in our lives. I pray God will use your sensitive heart for His glory. He loves you so much and has great plans for you. We are so thankful everyday that He deemed us worthy to be your parents. We know what a blessing you are…we pray you will be a blessing to all those that know you!

7!

This past Monday, Jon and I celebrated 7 (!) years of marriage! I can’t believe that we’ve been married for that long. I also can’t believe we have 2 kids, so apparently I am just in denial.

My husband is a wonderful man. No really. You’re all missing out by not being married to him. Incredibly thoughtful and kind, endlessly patient, very giving (to those he knows, and those he doesn’t), and so loving. I remember when I first met Jon, one of my favorite things about him was the practical love he showed to everyone. He was just really good at always being there for people and showing Christ’s love. He always makes me laugh, he loves ethnic food just as much as I do, he puts up with the fact that I love coffee and drink it (a lot) even though he despises even the smell of it, he is a traveler (so much so that I’m pretty sure it’s written into his DNA), and he is the best daddy in the world. Ever. I really am super lucky. I thank God that He was kind enough to place Jon in my life. I’m blessed everyday by him.

My mom was here on Monday, and while we couldn’t go out that night due to prior commitments, we were able to sneak away for lunch while my mom hung out with the littles. It was so fun to go out, just the two of us and eat and talk and laugh.

Even as I write this, my heart is heavy.  A family at our church is suffering right now.  Tracy’s husband went into surgery unexpectedly on Tuesday for what was to be a routine shoulder operation (which he has had before).  Unfortunately, an artery was clipped and he suffered a massive stroke (although it’s unknown if the stroke was due to the clipped artery, or was something that was going to happen regardless).  At this point Mike is in a coma, on a respirator and with irreparable brain damage.  I can’t imagine how Tracy and their girls are feeling at this moment.  It seems so odd that I’m celebrating an aniversary, joyful in our marriage, while someone is suffering so intensely because her husband is (seemingly) beyond repair.  But we serve a mighty God, a God that performs miracles beyond our wildest dreams.  So please join me in prayer for Mike, Tracy, and the rest of their family.  Let’s be the body of Christ right now for this family and serve them as we share their burden.

Test Run

I’m currently blogging from my iPod touch with the WordPress app. I haven’t used it before, so this is my test run to see how it all works. So if something is wonky, blame it on technology.

We’ve had amazing weather lately! Today the kids and I took full advantage of that and spent the afternoon cleaning up the patio. It was pretty disastrous from when we planted some tomatoes a few weeks ago. But all is well. The dirt is off the ground and in the barrels, several spiders were vanquished, and my flowers survived multiple attacks from Hud-Bud. Victory!

Encouraging a heart of prayer

Awhile back on Pinterest I saw an idea that was used to encourage prayer within our kids.  I immediately wanted to do it.  So, I hustled to Wal-Mart and bought a huge box of craft sticks.  I then (did nothing for a few months, until a few weeks ago when I finally) invited Farah over, along with all her Sharpies (it pays to have Art Teacher friends) and her and I created these prayer sticks. (There has to be a better name than prayer sticks.  I mean, really?  Anyone?)

 

I put all the sticks in a cute jar, added a ribbon, and voila!  Instant prayer topics!  We keep it on our table so it’s a constant reminder.  I have around 30 topics, the idea being that we could pray for one a day.  The topics include:

• Family Members.  Jon’s family is so large that it was really impossible to name everyone individually.  We placed everyone in small family units, with a few exceptions for individuals.
• Countries we have a heart for.  These include Turkey, Sudan and, of course, Japan!
• Our country and our leaders.
• Missionaries we know, support, etc.
• Persecuted believers around the world
• The pastors at our church
• Friends, those in our small group, and others.
• The ministries we’re involved in, and what our future holds.

As I’ve said, the idea was that we could pray for one topic a night.  However, we’re going to be go through this jar so quickly…Adelaide is so eager to pray at every meal, sometimes even more often!  It’s been amazing to see how this really has given her such a desire to pray.  What a blessing!  I totally encourage parents to do this with their kids.  Adelaide was never shy about praying, but it’s become so much more of a desire for her.  I’m so glad that I did this.  I hope this encourages you do personalize prayer for you and your family!!

Big Girl Bed

Ada has been in a crib all her life.  She’s not a climber, and therefore never really tried to climb out of it.  We’ve been meaning to switch her crib over to a toddler bed, and when Jon’s parents were in town last weekend we finally got around to it.  (Thanks for the help, Dad!).  She was so excited!  Her jaw literally dropped when she saw it and she was too excited to speak.  It was so cute.  She’s been talking about a big girl bed for awhile now, but she seemed to think it wouldn’t be until she was 5 or so.  (Becky’s oldest daughter, Noelle, is 5.  She’s a ‘big girl’ according to Ada.  I think she’s the reason Ada equates being a big girl with being 5.)  Also, sorry for the bad quality of the photos.  My camera is missing, so it’s all from my iPod which isn’t the best on quality.

As soon as she saw it she wanted to get in.  She’s done a really good job of staying in it, as well.  She doesn’t sneak up to play.  She will occasionaly grab a book, but she then proceeds to get back in bed and read!  Even in the morning, she still yells for me and asks if she can get up.  What a sweet girl she is!  The only problem we’ve had with the bed is…she tends to fall out.  It happened a few times the first night.  We thought she would eventually get over it, but when it happened a few nights in a row we know we needed to do something! (By the way, the dresser that’s in the picture was moved and the only thing by her bed was pillows and blankets to break her fall.  It’s also really close to the ground, so no worries people, she wasn’t ever actually hurt.  She was always just sad to be rudely awoken at 2am.  We weren’t too excited about it either.)

This is what Jon came up with, and I love it!  These are tiny dressers my grandpa made that we’ve had in her room.  Jon put them next to each other and put a comforter over them (just to make sure there were no sharp edges).  It’s fun because it feels like a little nook.  She can have water up there on the ledge, and a pile of books at the ready.  And we’ve obviously had no issues with falling out.  Perfect!

By the way, the quilt is from my mom.  She made it for Ada for her 1st Christmas.  It’s so beautiful and sweet and Ada loves it.  The pillow is great too, with beautiful hearts on it.  It feels just right for my baby girl! (Who is no longer a baby. Sniff, sniff).  The baby doll is Ada’s current obsession.  She carries it everywhere, playing with her, feeding her, wearing her in a sling, and sleeping with her.  Her name is Baby Reese. (After Becky’s other daughter.  Ada, as you can tell, is quite obsessed with Becky and her kids).

I know Hud, who is quite adventurous, will never last this long in a crib.  Especially with an older sister that I’m sure will ‘help’ him out.  So I’m sure this bed will only be in use for a little while until we get a trundle.  But we’re loving it for now!  My sweet girl and her big girl bed.

 

 

Facts

Fact: I’m super bad about blogging.

Fact: I really want to blog, and think about doing it often.  The problem? I think my blogs have to be big posts with lots of humor and pictures. 

Fact: I’d much rather have blogs of our life to look back on that are short on photos and humor, but reflect life as it was (even if the quality of photos is bad, etc…)

Fact:  I just need to suck it up and blog.  Agreed?  Agreed.

Fact: So, I’m pretty much the luckiest person around.  I get to hang out with these cuties.  All day.  Every day.  They’re adorable!  And funny.  And even though I need a break sometimes, I wouldn’t trade it for anything!  These kiddos rock my world.  I’m also thankful for my wonderful hubby that lets me have breaks when I need them.  It’s amazing how a quick trip to Starbucks on my own can restore sanity. 

 So, whatever it is you’re doing in/with your life, I pray you feel as blessed as I do!  I’m so thankful to God that He has allowed me the best job on the planet…mom and wife!  Not easy, not self-serving, but absolutely wonderful.

6 Months

Dear Hudson,

I can’t believe you’re already six months old!  Surely that’s not possible.  There’s no way half a year has already flown by since you’ve arrived.  I think the calendars are all conspiring against me.

 You are, without a doubt, the happiest boy.  Ever.  You bring smiles to everyone you meet.  People are constantly stopping me in stores, stating what a happy child you are!  I absolutely adored your little gummy smile, but apparently you decided that look was too infantile, and you decidede to bust out your two bottom middle teeth!  You were a champ about it though, and I must admit, I think the two-tooth smile is pretty stinking adorable as well.

You not only decided to cut some teeth, you finally decided to start rolling over from stomach to back.  This opened up a world of possibilities!  You are very curious, and like to be in the action.  You quickly discovered you could roll from place to place.  You are quite pleased to be able to reach toys now.  You’re sister is still a little unsure about that, though.

As if that weren’t enough, you are now sitting up.  And you’re a total pro! It’s so fun to have you sitting up now.  This is especially fun since Costco has the double seats, so you and your sister can ride together.  And let me assure you, this is not only one of your new favorite things, but your sister is pretty syched about it as well.

The world is your oyster, and between sitting up and taking it all in, rolling from place to place, and the beginnings of a crawl (Seriously?  Army crawling already?  Yeah, I’ve noticed.  You getting up on your knees and scooting around.  Just because it’s cute, doesn’t mean it’s allowed.  You’re my little baby.  B.A.B.Y.  Not my crawling moving wriggling grown up baby.  Okay?  Okay.  Now that we’ve got that settled…) you are so happy to be taking it all in.  I see that look of adventure in your eyes, and I know that, well, I’m in trouble, that’s for sure.  I have a feeling you’re going to constantly be keeping me on my toes!

Your current favorite things/activities are:

• Sucking your thumb.  Always a favorite.
• Your bouncer.  Oh my Hud, you ADORE this thing.  I can’t believe how much energy you have, and how active your bounce is.  It’s seriously adorable.
• Mama wearing you in the Ergo.  Even though you can do shopping carts now, you still love the Ergo and I’m pretty sure it’s your favorite place to sleep.
• Us!  You get smiles whenever you see anyone, but your biggest smiles are reserved for me, Daddy, and Adelaide.  You and her are quite the dynamic duo.  She absolutely adores you, pays you tons of attention, and most of the time is great about sharing.  You’re quite lucky to have the world’s best big sister!
• Toys!  Adelaide never really liked toys, she’s always preferred books.  But you’re quite the toy buff.  You love your Sophie (teething giraffe toy), keys, fish teether, and Oishi (your froggy that Daddy bought you in Japan).  You also love playing with the Duplos and chewing on the little people.

Even though you’re six months, you haven’t shown any interest in food, so we’re skipping that for now.  You’re content with just mama’s milk, and I’m fine with that.  You still aren’t sleeping through the night, waking up once a night, although sometimes more, but not too often.  You have the sweetest sleep smiles when you hear us talking, and we love how excited you get when we come to pick you up out of the crib…crazy arm flapping going on!  (Unfortunately, you have the same reaction when we’re just rocking you back to sleep.  You’re not so happy about it then.)

We’re very much looking forward to your first Christmas, and whatever new tricks you have up your sleeve!  We’re so blessed by you, our sweet, blue-eyed baby boy!  

Love,

Mama

Thankful: Blueberries

I am thankful for blueberries.  I used to not like them, which is crazy to me.  Now, you may be thinking, ‘Blueberries are great Morgan, but it’s December.  It’s an odd time to be thankul for blueberries.’  Except, it’s really not.  Because we went blueberry picking last weekend.  Yup, blueberry picking on December 2nd.  So awesome!

 Someone’s excited!  The excitement died about halfway through picking, but was ressurected after we watched the cows moo for awhile.  I know, two year olds…

Headed to get the goods!  This particular blueberry farm (farm?) is our favorite, and is on such beautiful land.  It’s always a pleasant, albeit long, walk out to the bushes.

The goods!  We had two (filled to the top brimming over with blueberry goodness) buckets.  We also had lots in our tummies, so we were happy all around.

We’ve been munching on them, but I need to make something with them.  Obviously, it will be a cobbler.  I have a recipe for one with a cornmeal topping that is to die for.  Blueberries and cornmeal?  Indeed.  A match made in heaven. 

So yeah, I’m thankful for blueberries.  But more importantly, I’m thankful for the fun time it was with my favorite peeps.