WLW: The Pink Headband

Have I told you that I am walking my first mini in October?  I am.  I very excited... and very nervous.  Five mornings a week I get up and walk my "scheduled" time for the day.  It has been positive for me in a multitude of ways, not the least of which is having lost almost 5 pounds this month!  Yea me!

Now, in my grown-up life, I have been a size 7 and I have been a size 16 and I have been everywhere in between.  I have found that the smaller the number in the back of my jeans, the more confidence I have to be.  Don't mishear me... I am not a confident person, I was not a confident person at a size 7, nor do I think that one can simply become confident by loosing some weight.  I just find, that for me, I feel a bit more confident to move slightly out of my comfort zone when I feel that I am doing a good job of taking care of my body.  Enter the pink headband...

On Sunday, I wore a black with white polka dot dress and black sandals.  I was doing my hair and it was a particularly rough hair day, so I thought I would pull it back somehow to hide the frizz a bit.  I looked under my sink and there was my daughter's bright pink headband.  I am not a "splash of color" kind of girl, but on that particular day I decided I felt confident enough to wear that headband to break up my blah black and white ensemble. 

My daughter... delighted.  My husband... surprised, but somewhat complimentary.  My son... insulting. 

You see, sometimes when we feel brave enough to move out of our comfort zone we are met with other's delight and sometimes we are met with other's insults.  But it shouldn't really matter, what matter is, that for a few hours, I was brave enough to wear that pink headband and to wear it proudly!

"For God did not give us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power, of love and of self-discipline."
2 Timothy 1:7

I Heart Faces: White

This week's I Heart Faces photo challenge is "white". This is one of the first photos I thought of. David was about 3 months old in this photo. I remember sitting in the adarondak chair, watching his siblings play and holding him on my lap. I remember thinking how beautiful the sky looked that day and how cool it would be if I could make it look like David was it the sky. So... ever so carefully... I palmed David with my right hand and quickly shot the photo with my left. It was a bit nerve-wracking, but I'm so pleased with the way it turned out (I even love the fact that you can see me in his eyes if you look closely)!

Head on over to I Heart Faces to see all the beautiful white photos!

Zoo-lebration

The last day of summer vacation began with a trip to the doctor's office for Eli.  We thought he had chicken pox just like his little sister had 2 weeks earlier; luckily we were wrong.

When I knew we weren't going to be sitting at home under quarantine, I asked E & R what they wanted to do.  They both agreed (insert moment of utter disbelieve) they wanted to go to the zoo.

 

This time I splurged for the train ride.  (We have an annual membership to the zoo this year.  In spite of that, they still charge you for the train ride!  Maybe I'm just spoiled by the Children's Museum's free carousel rides for members.)  I'm glad I did!

Maybe something's a little wrong with me, but the funniest part of the trip was listening to my kids laugh about the fact that one turtle was giving the other a "piggy back ride".  Ummmmm... no.

The last thing we did before we left was to play on the playground.

And, on the way home, we stopped at the "mixed up DQ" for a dip cone.

 

A sweet end to a delicious summer!

Splash Island

This summer, just like in years past, we made a Summer "Bucket List"-- what did we all want to do before the summer kicked the bucket?

 

One thing on Eli's list was to go to the mini water park at a local gym.  After explaining to him that we are not members of that gym, that he had only gotten to go last year because it was a birthday party, we came up with an even better idea.

Last year, while I was nursing a newborn, and sleeping, and nursing, etc... Aunt Sharon took the big kids to Splash Island in Plainfield.  We decided that Splash Island would fit the bill perfectly.

Aunt Sharon and (cousin) Kelsey joined us for a wonderful day of water fun!  (Thank goodness because I soon discovered that there was NO WAY I could have managed three children at this place alone!)

We had a wonderful time playing, and sliding, and swimming, and eating, and snacking (Aunt Sharon always brings fun snacks that Mom would never buy!).

 

And afterwards, it was a very quiet drive home! 

School Daze

Eli and Ruby have survived an entire week of school!

Eli is in 3rd grade this year.  He has already noticed a big difference in the workload 3rd grade brings!  He continues to love art, even with a new art teacher this year.  (I have no idea where he gets it, neither Jason or I have an artistic bone in our bodies!)

This spunky little lady is in kindergarten this year; I can hardly believe it!  On this particular day she insisted she could NOT go to school-- she had a runny nose and insisted that Mrs. Gibson would not have Kleenex!  She has already told me (on several occasions) that homework is boring.  Ugh!

This is by far my fav of our 1st day of school photo session.  I just asked them to turn around for one more pic and Eli grabbed Ruby's hand-- so sweet-- of course, they're always like that (tee hee!).

After these two got on the bus, little David just looked at that big yellow bus in disbelief.  Why was it stealing his brother and sister?  I think he'll adjust, though, to having Mama all to himself!

I Heart Faces: Beautiful Eyes

I know that I am completly biased, but I think Ruby has some of the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen! 

The week Eli was at camp, David, Ruby and I went up to the Children's Museum and met Jason at Chick-fil-A for dinner.  Once again, we lucked into Kid's Night.  Ruby chose this princess tiara to be painted onto her face and I had to get a picture.  The way she looked up at me with those big blues just makes me melt!

Head on over to see all the beautiful eye photos at I Heart Faces...

I Heart Faces: Friendship

I had several nice "friendship" photos, but I just kept coming back to this one.

One year ago (almost exactly), we packed up ourselves and our three children (the youngest of which was three months old) and flew to Colorado to see my cousin Cassie get married.

Ruby developed a friendship with this little boy almost instantly! They both enjoyed climbing, running, and swinging on their tummies.  Even now when Ruby saw this photo she said, "Ah, I loved him so much!".  If only he didn't live 4 states away:)

Head over to I Heart Faces to see all the beautiful friendships.

Take me out to the fair...

Fair week this year was just as hot as always!

But the three of us toughed it out on "Kid's Day" yet again.  (This was the week that Eli was at camp, and trust me, life is better for everyone if we plan it so Daddy doesn't go.)

Ruby wanted to go through all the buildings and check out all the booths.  Here she got to make a pinecone bird feeder.

We also had to stop by the Shudderbug Studios booth to vote for #7780!

Ruby found this flower halo with long streamers down the back that she HAD to buy!  (Of course, it was broken within 5 mins of getting home, but that's how they learn about quality construction and what's really worth the money, right?)

She also wanted to check out all the projects and all the animals.

Sorry, this guy just CRACKS ME UP!

Oh and every year at fair time, how I miss my bunny Abby...

And the fair just wouldn't be complete without lots of food... Pork Producers for lunch (for David and I, Ruby the "almost a vegitarian" had a corn dog), cotton candy & funnel cake.

Another sticky but fun summer day!