The latest FuN!!!!!

Noni and Daddy have been having lots of bonding these days and playing in the leaves is one of those time. She loves getting rides on the mower and basically just being outside. She really loves the outdoors. Its really neat to see her explore and not be afraid of dirt and bugs or anything. She has been testing the boundries though and wondering off into the neighbors yards. We are working on it. She loves to be chased.

This is her newest thing. Squinting her eyes at you. I'm not sure why she does it yet I think she's just exploring the possibilies. When she does it she usually is letting out this awful high pitched scream. Cute face but enough with the screaming.

She insists on sitting on the counter every time Im in the kitchen so she can watch and "help". So I decided to let her help me bake the other day. It was great until we were done stirring and I had to put them in the oven. She doesn't understand why we have to stop and she gets so mad. And she proceeded to lick her wisk. I hope chocolate doesn't stain.


Her shoe fetish (splg?) is only getting worse. She actually can walk in daddys shoes now. Its so cute.

So we are having a blast! Mama goes crazy some days but Noni still amazes me (us) everyday. She is getting so big! and so smart! I love life with her!!!!!!

Extreme Makeover

Wow it feels like forever since I have blogged. I miss it but just have not been moved to write about anything. Sigh.

But yesterday I was. Yes yesterday but I haven't had time until today. So long story short we have cable right now. We aren't supposed to but Peter got this cord from somewhere and plugged it in and now we have it. Since we aren't paying for it I have no idea why or how long it will last so we'll see. As for now I am really enjoying it. I was channeling surfing yesterday and came across the show Extreme Makeover. I usually dont care for the show very much but since they were makeing over a hippy chick who I thought already looked pretty cute I decided to watch it.

It made me so mad. The guy and girl who do it were so rude and were so I don't know what the word is but they are not living in the real world thats for sure. They totally dissed her and who she was as a person and made her look cute but not herself. I guess thats the point of a makeover but I personally like the way she looked before the makeover. I am a little bias though being a hippy chick myself. The girl was a yoga instructor and lived in comfy yoga clothe which I think is so cute and even flattering.

Anyway. Why am I telling you this. Watching the show made me think about my own fashion journey. I remember in 4th grade argueing with my mom every single morning because of the outfits she wanted me to where. Everything had to match. Purple flowered dress with purple tights. Yuck. In 8th grade me and my BFF Andi would go shopping at thrift stores almost every weekend and buy some trendy clothing but lots of fun funky stuff as well. We were trend setters. In our school anyway. Thats the point where I really started to love fashion. I made my own goal of trying to wear a different outfit every day and doing my hair a different way every day. It was so fun. In high school I was trendy for sure. I wore what was cool and "in" at the time but still had my own little twist. I took a fashion design class in school and wanted to be a fashion merchandiser. My dream was to live in NYC with Andi and be a big shot in the fashion world. Oh yea I even took a modeling class in 10th grade and wanted to be a runway model but figured since after the class no one called me that I wasn't model material.
Then in college (community college) I started taking the hippy route. I had met Peter and we both said we've always wanted to be hippys and loved that style. I started not being so afraid of what people thought of me and just wearing what I liked. I have continued to not care especially now that Im a mama. I want to be comfy and practical. I do still take care of myself and look in the mirror before I leave the house and pick out clothing I like and that is flattering but its not always very fashiony. Simple. Ecclectic maybe. A little of this a little of that. I do like a lot of the trendy styles but I can't afford it. I only own one pair of heels which I haven't worn in atleast 2 years. Dresses I own but if ya can't nurse in it I don't wear it. Stockings no way. Im actually starting to not like jeans as much. They are too binding. Give me comfy linen pants or my gouchos and Im good to go. Tshirts and cardigans are a must. Lots of layers. I guess jewelry would be where I dress it up a bit. I loooovveeee jewelery. I keep my rings and hemp bracelets on all the time. Peter doesn't know how I can stand all that stuff on me.
My favorite thing in the world to do is go to a thrift store and find that one of a kind item that just screams ME. Ya know what I mean? You just have to get it no matter what the price which is cheap since you are at the thrift and if someone saw it they would know it was mine.

I would love to know what the fashion goo roos think of my style. I wear what I like and like what I wear and thats all that matters.

This Moment

this moment
one image
no words
a tidbit from the week
held close to my heart

Church.

I don’t know if many of you know this but my husband and I have been attending a house church ever since we got married. It was Peters parents who started it and people have come and gone and it is down to just family. Which has been really great especially with having Nonah the kids can just play while we do church. For the past few months I have been longing for more though. For something different, for fellowship with other believers and other couples our age. I’ve just been ready to go to church. Peter on the other hand has not been ready. We started going to house church for reasons like wanting less structure and more freedom to share and take part and be able to bring something to the meetings which usually you can not do in a typical Sunday morning church setting. So Peter didn’t really want to leave our comfortable home church setting for lack of knowing where else to go.

Long story short Peters parents are moving out of state so we will no longer have a house church to go to. We have visited 2 churches so far and the one we visited this past Sunday might be the one. Peter and I really liked it. It was pretty casual, they are all about Love which is something that God has really placed on mine and Peters heart when we were at school. It just felt right being there. I felt the holy spirit and just really loved everything about it. I am so excited to be going back this coming Sunday and maybe even checking out some of their “Love groups” that meet during the week.

Gods timing is just so perfect. We went to house church for 5 years and really grew and learned so much from it. There was so much one on one time and questions answered. You have to be real when you are in such a small group so I was able to give a lot and receive a lot which is what church is all about. I know Peter and I would not be the Christians we are today without our house church experience. It has been amazing but God has also been preparing us for this transition. I was ready but Peter wasn’t but we were talking about it months ago and now here it is. Now we are ready. I guess even if we weren’t ready it’s not up to us but God’s timing is perfect and it has all worked out. Thank you God.

Fall Festiveness

Although I am not really the kind of woman to decorate my house according to the season I do love being festive. My favorite colors are green, orange and brown so my decor works perfect for this fall season. I end up being festive without even trying. But sometimes I do try. These are our simple touches of FALL.

Hand me down pumpkin bib.
Yummy Gala apples from a local farm.
In season veggies from a local farmers market for a really great price.
Noni picking the few tomatoes that are still growing in our garden.
This week I am looking forward to making some yummy pumkin dishes. Pumpkin oatmeal and Pumpkin Penne. Mmmm!
HaPpY FaLL!!

this moment

this moment
one image
no words
a tidbit from the week
held close to my heart

Pumpkin Patch and Playgrounds

Noni and I had a blast today. It was a beautiful day and we were able to soak it up with some fun fall activities. It all started with a trip to the pumpkin patch with some friends. Noni experienced her first hayride and my first one in a long long time which took us to our patch. Now I know 13 months sounds a little young to be picking pumpkins but she did great. I pointed to the pumpkin and made sure it was off the vine then she picked it up and put it in the bag. She liked carrying the bag more than the pumpkins.

Then we went through a corn maze. It was a good one not just a lame kiddie one. Four of us adults with our kids got lost. Once we made it to the end there was a slide you had to go down in order to get out.
And to top it all of we got ice cream. Yum.




Then I decided to go to my favorite park. I am in love with this park. Its right down the road and just so beautiful. Its huge. It has tennis courts, 3 volleyball nets, soccer, and a baseball field. And two playgrounds. One is absolutely perfect size for Noni, only 4 steps up and mini slides.

Playgrounds are our new pass time. Noni totally loves to climb and isn’t afraid of anything so the higher the better. I actually enjoy climbing around with her. To see her find new textures, colors, challenges and adventures. She is just so much fun! The pictures tell it all!

Weekend tidbits!

So are cute little garden is still producing. We have 2 grape tomatoe plants that are pushing like crazy. I keep forgetting about them and go out and find lots of plump red mini tomatoes. Also we had planted parsnips and they took forever to become anything. But I dug them out this weekend and we got a pretty good amount. I am going to look up a recipe on line for a "Root stew". Sounds nice and festive for this time of year don't ya think?

My Noni girl was helping the whole time. More like digging in the wet mud trying to copy what I am doing, picking up rotten tomatoes, and picking green tomatoes. Although she did carry the bowl for me. She is a piece of work and makes me laugh. She is getting so sharp and understands a lot of what I say to her. She can follow simple instructions (if she wants to). She waves, sort of blows kisses, knows sign for more and please, shakes her head yes or no, and knows who mama and dada is. She said hello today and she says hi but thats all. She is such a handful and tires me out every single day but she is just so fun. I love seeing her and daddy play together. She hates her stroller but loves her little monkey leash so we go for walks all the time.

So I went to a bridal shower on sunday and wanted to look a little fancy so I did a little dread up do. I thought for doing it myself it turned out pretty good.


We have had a couple showings on our house and still no go. Its only been 3 weeks so we are trying not to get discouraged. If it is meant to be God will make it happen. It is hard though when you feel ready to do something and can't. So I have pretty much stopped allowing myself to think about what we would do next or where we would go until we actually get someone interested. I don't want to get ahead of myself. Still trusting in Gods timing though.

This song makes me smile!!

Turning over a new leaf!

No punn intended. As I am getting older I have realized how much the weather affects me. Can any of you relate? When its dreary out and cold or rainy then I get in a very dreary mood. I dont feel like doing anything. I usually eat more when its cold out and I already feel like I've gained some weight and its only October. But when its sunny out all is right with the world. I am happy and have energy to do things. I even feel inspired by beautiful sunny days. Maybe you are the opposite and thrive on cool cloudy days.

All that being said I am rebuking it. I think it is totally valid and even understandable to be affected by the weather. But I want to be able to overcome the mood swings and embrace the rainy days. Embrace the chill in the air and find inspiration and satisfaction no matter what its like outside. I want to find things to do inside when we can't go out and to make the most of my days. I want to be able to motivate myself when everything in me wants to stay in bed all day. Or to just stay in bed but not feel guilty about it because lets face it sometimes we just need to do that. So thats the new leaf. Im going to embrace the "rituals of the season" and be present in the moment. Not wish away the fall and long for summer.

I write all this here so that some of you will hold me accountable and remind me to enjoy the rain. So wish me luck!!!
Happy Weekend!!