Friday Five

In an effort to blog more and update those who care more often, I'm initiating "Friday Five." Always fun to think back over the highlights of the week, too :)

2012 in Review, 2013 - Something New!

A new year! How exciting!
I know, it's been 2013 for 22 days. But I'm just now getting around to writing my first post of the year :) My goal was to get it done in January, success! A little look back and forward!

2012 was another exciting, busy year of our lives. Some of my favorite highlights:

Here I Am, World, I'm Great

Recently God spoke to me through a show my sweet boy likes to watch, Wonder Pets. Seriously? Yes, indeed!

There is an episode where Ming Ming duck decides to try to save some animals on her own (instead of the usual teamwork) and while on her way she sings a sweet song, ending with the line, "Here I am, world, I'm great!" Well, in true fashion, at least one line from every show watched has to be stuck in mommy's head, and that's always the one from that episode. The thing is every time I sing it in my head I sing, "Here I am, Lord, I'm great!" As I stood doing the dishes singing the line to myself one day, I realized... There is a HUGE difference between those two lines! Then God asked me, "Do you know the difference? Do you live the difference?" Yikes. I thought about it for one moment before a little boy came toddling in the kitchen, yelling, "Mommy!" and asked me to pick him up to dance to Me Without You by Toby Mac on the radio. :D

Being the best.

After spending too much time on Pinterest and Facebook in an evening, I feel inadequate. I decided a few weeks ago to take that under control and give it to God. I'm not positive there are others that struggle in the same way, but I'm guessing so. Just like seeing a bunch of models makes the average American woman feel at least slightly unsightly, seeing all the amazing things that people do/ are able to do on my social media sites,  I feel like I should be able to do those things, too, and inadequate that I can't.

I've been that way for a long time. I always want to be the best at things. I want to be the best at way more things than I am able to. I want to be a super mommy, wife, Christian, money-saver, photographer, home-fixer-upper, sew-er, blogger, cleaner, teacher, nanny, graphic designer, and the list goes on (best ebay and craigslist-seller?). Can I be super at some of those things? Definitely! Do I need to be the best at all of them? Nope - and I don't think God wants me to be!

One Year Young!

It's been over a week since  Jordan's first birthday party. That's right, he's... ONE! Whoa. Yeah, we're basically in denial, still!

He has grown and changed soooo much in one year, I don't even want to think about the fact that that is going to happen over and over again. Josh and I watched a video last night "Birth to twelve years in 2 minutes and 45 seconds." Josh said, "That is what it is really going feel like isn't it?" Probably.

The fun (and scary?) thing now is that his changes are becoming so much more drastic and quick!

First {Football} Birthday Party!

Summary of the day. Joy, fun, love. Success.

[Lots of photos ahead, fyi!]

I'm so excited to finally post about Jordan's first birthday party! I had so much fun putting it all together! Everything was DIY, and I feel like I did well :-) {Kudos and thanks to my mom for helping a bunch, and for my Klein family for making pom poms & helping decorate!}

It was a whirlwind of a weekend, and we were so excited to be able to have lots of family at Jordan's party. (Even more were there for his dedication at church the day before!) Both sets of parents, Josh's grandparents on his mom's side, his sister and his cousin were all there to share with us along with some very close friends. It was a joyous time; Jordan totally had fun, that was my goal!

We made: a banner, growth "chart", pom-poms, foam fingers, a party hat and football cakes.

3 Great Blogs for Playful Mamas

Earlier this week in the morning I was [yet again] thinking about something I could post on our blog... I narrated the beginning sentences in my head, just as I always do, and "rewrote" and "edited." And then, about 10 minutes later as my son let me know I was done getting ready ;), the thoughts flew from my brain, probably never to be retrieved. This happens a lot, especially when I lay in bed at night (losing the thoughts when I drift off), or when I'm getting ready in the morning. When I do remember my thoughts at a later time I often decide, "nobody wants to read about that anyway"...

But I came across a new blog.

Word[less] Wednesday 4-4

Begging at the table! :-)