Happy Thoughts and Faces

Today is Baby #4's due date eve! (though I don't have a strong feeling that he/she will come on the due date) Anyway, to celebrate and keep my spirits and energy up I bought some flowers from the grocery store.  So happy, just like this coming baby!

I think Aria is having an identity crisis.  She doesn't know if she should be like Cadence or Finn.  So, she turned into a hybrid and became...Aria the Fairy Knight!  I don't know if I should give her a hug or run in fear as she tries to slay me with her sword.

Finn enjoys riding and playing on the Smart Cycle that a lady from church bought the kids.  He is video game crazy already.

Look at this pretty girl!  Don't you just want to zurburt her belly?! 

Such a sweet pug face.  A pug hug always makes you feel better. 

At my mom's group, yesterday, some ladies came and talked to us about "Faith Art Journaling".  It is the idea of spending time with the Lord in prayer and asking Him if there is anything He's trying to reveal/teach/ or just talk to you about right now.  Then, you take that image that He placed in your head/heart and figure out a creative way to transfer that into an image.  It's journaling with pictures more than words, which is right up my alley because I don't like to re-read my words, but I love to look back at pictures I've drawn to capture a moment in my life.  MomPom already does this a lot with her journaling, I think.

We started with a piece of water color paper and painted a background.  After that dried, we added our image.  I felt led to draw this daisy surrounded by busy little bees.  The bees are my family buzzing all around me.  Sometimes it feels a bit chaotic and overwhelming, but I love them and it feels happy (see their happy faces).  The daisy is me.  The petals display characteristics I need and my family needs me to have, in order to best serve them, which is why I need Christ to be my center.  Without Christ as my center, I cannot posses those characteristics successfully.  After painting all that, I had the vision to add fallen petals, which have words on them of things I need to let go, that aren't from Christ and are not edifying to myself or family.  All that to say, it was a fun exercise!  I don't know that I would be able to keep a consistent faith art journal, just because it is a bit time consuming, but I love the concept and venue for creativity while focusing on Christ.  I was thinking that maybe, in the fall when Cadence starts homeschool, we could have a "faith art journaling" time once a week and then we could both keep a journal.  I think it would be a good introduction for Cadence into learning different ways to have a devotional time with the Lord.  We'll see.

Brad's 31st Birthday!

Happy Birthday, Brad!

Friday the 13th, my lovely husband turned 31 and I had the privilege of escorting him around town and treating him, hopefully, to a fun day celebrating him!  All of my plans were a secret, so he just had to do as I said and go where I told him to go.:)   I wasn't as bossy as that sounds.

We started the morning off by dropping Cadence off at preschool and then heading into Old Town to try a new breakfast place we had heard about called "Snooze".  It always has lines out the door on the weekends.  The food was pretty good and it had a retro feeling atmosphere.  Here is Brad's breakfast.  Look at those cute mugs.  Don't they remind you of Dr. Seuss and something the Who's would drink coffee out of?

Next, we walked a block over to our favorite tea shop, "Happy Lucky's", where we talked, played scrabble and drank tea.

We made a quick pit stop to pick up Cadence and drop her off at home and then carried on our birthday adventure.

For lunch, I thought we could try a new sub shop in Old Town that had an appealing atmosphere, "Backcountry Provisions".  It was a bit of a disappointment, but at least we can say that we tried it, now.

We had a little time to kill before the next stop, so we walked around Old Town some more.  No Brad birthday would be complete without books, so into the used bookstore we went!

What a handsome man!  I am so blessed!

Our next activity took us to "Odell's Brewery".  I was hoping to go on the tour, but it ended up being full.  Luckily, Brad had beer and good conversation with his friend, Gregor, so he was happy.  I asked Gregor to hang out with Brad for a little bit while I ran some errands to get ready for the rest of our birthday adventures.

We ended the evening with a delicious meal at "Carrabbas", "Mission Impossible 4: Ghost Protocol", and a quiet and relaxing nights stay at a nearby hotel.  It was a lot of fun!  We were even asleep by 10 or 10:30!  Woo-hoo!  Party!

The next day, I scheduled a massage for Brad in the afternoon and then we ate his birthday cake with the kids that evening.  Cadence and Finn actually helped me make the cake and kept it a secret.  We made a "Beer Cake".  It isn't shaped like a mug of beer, it just has beer in it, as well as other ingredients to make it taste like a yummy cake rather than beer.  Anyway, it was very good and very moist!  I chose to make a beer cake because...well...Brad likes beer!

What a fun day with an amazing man!  I love you, Brad!

Glasses

I took Cadence to the eye doctor today for an eye exam because one of her eyes was a little lazy and I wondered if it was bothering her.  I didn't think she'd really need glasses, maybe a patch or something temporary to help strengthen her lazy eye, but it turns out that she does need to wear glasses.  She was such a good eye patient and the doctor was really great with her.  It was fun getting to pick out her frames (she got to pick two).  I had her try on some cute ones that reminded me of Granny's glasses (thicker frames with hearts and stars on the sides and one red pair), but they overpowered her face.  She ended up picking a pink frame and a blueish/purpleish frame.   We got to go back this evening to pick up her pink pair, but we have to wait until tomorrow to pick up her purple pair.  She was super excited to wear them!  She looks so cute and she even looks older.  Don't grow up too fast, Cadence!  I think, tomorrow, we shall take a trip to Hobby Lobby and buy some supplies to bedazzle her glasses case!  Fun!

Christmas Snapshot

Aria was getting into the Christmas spirit by trying on the stockings.

The stockings were hung by the t.v. with care.

Cadence and Finn got scooters for Christmas.  Look how nice Cadence is being by sharing hers with Aria.

Skydancers!  Cadence's new cartoon obsession.

These puppets are from when I was a kid!  I just re-gifted them.  Don't tell.

Yea for books and coloring!

Yeah for Dagedar!

Look at Aria dunk!  What a vertical!

A Christmas Aria, ready for church.

Christmas dinner consisted of a ham,

MomPom's potato casserole (as requested by Brad),

and rolls. (and salad/veggies, but I didn't take a picture of them)

Yummy!  A simple day to celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus!