Cheap decor!

So I've been sloooow getting our house decorated. Mainly because we have a set budget each month for "house furnishings" so I have to slowly buy the items I want. Oh Dave Ramsey, how I love thee and hate thee all at once.

So I ran across these two really inexpensive decorating ideas online and I'm totally syked to try them both. (Did I spell "syked" right??). Yay for cute AND cheap!

These floor candlesticks are adorable!!! Click here to learn how to make them (from Impatiently Praying for Patience).


And secondly, here's a way to take 12x12 scrapbook paper and turn it into cute wall art. Click here from Rose Knows Coupons to learn how.

For the Fam

I know it just kills our parents that were in Texas and although I'd like to think it's because they miss Jon and I, we all know it's really Brennan they miss. :) And I don't blame them! He's changing a mile a minute. We're like the worst kids ever, taking their sweet grandson from Michigan to Texas. I do truly still feel bad about that!! Anyways, here's a few videos I thought our families would enjoy of Brennan and his car. You all know how car obsessed he is, whenever we go outside to get in our car, he runs for his little cozy coupe. Too cute!

And here's one of him just hanging out with me in his nursery:




(sorry, this second video is shakey! I am obviously not the talented videographer in this family!)

Stomach viruses and White Chicken Chili

Dear blogger,
Why are you being so difficult? I only want to update a video of Brennan for my sister! @#$&*!
Meg, I'll get up some video as soon as I can, promise! Perhaps when my stud of a husband comes home and figures out what I'm doing wrong. :)

Jon came home on Saturday afternoon from the Story conference. We got a babysitter so I could go pick up Jon and have a lunch date while Brennan was home napping. It was a great plan. But Jon was sick with some sort of stomach virus/food poisoning. Poor guy had to fly home super sick. We did still take advantage of our babysitter and went to lunch anyways. I ate, Jon sipped on coffee and toast. Such is life!

We mostly chilled this weekend and watched football. Brennan is repeating so much of what we say, this weekend he picked up "football" and "peace". So funny.



It's a TON cooler here today in Houston and it's AWE-SOMMME. Our playgroup met at a park today and I didn't want to leave it was so nice out! Yay for fall type weather!! I even have white chicken chili in the crockpot as a celebration to fall.

I love fall. I love fall decor. I love fall colors. I love fall foods. I love roasting pumpkins and squash and sweet potatoes. I love fall scented candles. I love hanging out with friends and family watching football. Yay for fall!

Excuse me while I go eat my chili that's in the crock pot. . .

Is anyone else praying this week goes by quickly? Jon is in Chicago for the Story Conference and while I'm thrilled for him (I really am), we miss him! Saturday afternoon can't get here fast enough!

And I have to give credit where credit is due. I got the following prayer from Beth Moore's Living Proof Ministries Blog and I thought it was fantastic. It's the prayer of commissioning she has women do at the end of her simulcast in pairs and I wanted to share it because it's THAT good. It reminds me of a quote from this morning's bible study: "choose your travel companions wisely".

My Dear Sister,

Your God has called you

To use that mouth of yours

For His great glory.

Don’t just add to the noise.

Become a real woman

Who opens her mouth with wisdom.

God wants the Law of Kindness

On your tongue

And the love of Christ

In your heart.

Never forget:

Kindness is not a weakness!

When you’re wearing down

Head to Christ and His people

And let them build you back up.

Always remember:

His yoke is KIND.

Make sure

It’s the only yoke you wear.

It’s time to go our separate ways

But we’ll all meet up again

At the glorious epiphany of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Until then,

Let the One who led you here

Lead you on with cords of kindness.

Now, get out there

And build a welcoming fire

In a cold world.

Live by the Law of Kindness!

Jeans, Jewelry, and Super Sized Bugs

Dudes. Have you all checked out Forever 21's jewelry section lately? OMG. (did I just write OMG)? Yesterday I ran to the mall by myself to go jean shopping. ugh, I hate jean shopping. It's pretty much impossible if you're trying to keep a toddler happy and try on clothes, so nice to go by myself. Anyways, I'm apart of erewards and had a $25.00 express gift card from there (erewards is awesome!!). I also had a $30.00 off $75.00 purchase so it was the perfect time to buy a pair of jeans. I tried on 1500 pairs of jeans and finally found a pair that works. I love being 5 foot tall, it makes it so easy to find pants that fit. Not.

Anyways, I perused through Forever 21 on my way out of the mall and was just in awe of their jewelry selection and prices. And perhaps I left the store with *several pieces of jewelry. I don't normally just shop for the sake of shopping, but it felt really good to buy something for myself, know what I mean? What a cute cocktail ring wont do for a girl.

We had a great weekend. Friday night I met some friends at the church and did some scrapbooking. Saturday, our small group had a get together at a ranch about an hour north of us. It was beautiful! And the house was completely fenced in so we could let the kiddos run around and not have to worry about them. Besides seeing tarantula sized spiders (Texas grows things big, these bugs are causing me to lose sleep) it was a great time.

And I know I can't end this blog without a photo of the B man. He loves to read books about cars.

Thumb Sucking Suckers!

Hi all!!
So Brennan is a thumb sucker. Around 4 or 5 months old, he started sucking his thumb and it was a LIFE saver for us. He would self soothe in the middle of the night when he woke up or when he was upset and was a much happier camper once he found his thumb. My mom told me her happiest babies were her thumb suckers, and I trust my mom, so we didn't think anything of it.


Well, come to find out, it's kind of a controversial thing!! I had no idea! He's 18 months old now and sucks his thumb when he's riding in the car, riding in the stroller, watching cartoons or going to sleep. I've gotten quite a few comments about his thumb sucking and it's really surprised me. We were going through the Sonic drive thru earlier this week (tehehe, love that place) and the lady at the drive thru counter commented on him sucking his thumb. And then she told me "not to worry because she's 18 and still sucks her thumb". Oh boy. Apparently, people don't think kiddos should suck their thumb. . . that pacis are the only way to go since you can take it away.

So now I'm a little nervous. I'm wondering if we should start trying to get him off the thumb. I'm wondering, if your child was a thumb sucker, how did you wean them off and when? Are you a paci-all the way type of mom? Or are you laid back in this area like us?



I'm really not too worried about it, but I am curious.

In other news, we taught B how to say "yee-haw" and it is a never-ending source of laughter for us. I'll try to get video and post it on here. He's having a word explosion, repeating a ton of words and picking up a least one new word a day. So fun!!

Have a great Saturday!

Wednesdays are like "church" day for Brennan and I. In the mornings I attend a women's bible study and he goes to child care. For this semester, I joined the MOPS bible study and we're doing Kelly Minter's book on Ruth.




Wednesday nights, Jon and I are facilitating a small group as we all go through Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace University. Jon's Uncle gave us Dave Ramsey's book "Total Money Makeover" when we were first married and we've been huge Dave Ramsey fans ever since. I feel it's set a good foundation for our finances- we're on the same page for a lot of big decisions and both agree to stay debt free. Our friends running this class needed facilitators and we thought it'd be a really good refresher course for us.

Okay, I have more to type, but Brennan is a DISASTER so I need to get off this thing. I knew something was up with him, we could see his gums were swollen and he was teething but he was just melting down with everything. Yesterday was his 18 month well child check up and not only is he teething but he also has an ear infection. Plus he got some shots. Plus, as we were packing up to leave for his appt, he started choking on a cracker. Like, couldn't breathe choking. Jon did the finger sweep and got some of the cracker out and then Brennan puked the rest of it up. I'm not sure if he puked from the finger in his throat or the choking or both but it was pretty scary for all of us. So needless to say, I'm outta here. It's time-out time :)

Our House "Situation"

I just wanted to share the good news that our house is RENTED! I'm sure most of you saw our excited-ness on Facebook already but I realized I'd forgotten to post it on here. Here's the story:

We had four months of double house payments last year (one payment for our apartment here, one for our house in Lansing). Killer on the mind, the finances, everything. Thankfully, my brother and two of his friends were moving to Lansing and wanted to rent out our house starting January 1st. They've been a HUGE blessing to us. They told us last week that they wouldn't be renewing the lease (they had a 9 month lease) and we're moving out October 1st. We don't blame that at all, but long story short it kind of had us stressed and on our knees. Jon actually had a couple sleepless nights just wondering what we should so. . . should he get a 2nd job to pay for the mortgage in Lansing? Should we put it on the market? Should we fly home to get it "show ready"? Should we rent it? Should we quit the job at The Met and go back? (well, not really, but the thought did cross our minds.). So on Friday, a friend recommended we list it on Craiglist since she sold their last house on Craiglist. I put up a quick post listing the house for sale or rent and didn't really think much of it.

Lo and behold, the next day, someone called wanting to see the house. My brother (thank you, Dave, you are AWESOME) gave her a tour of the house and she called me ten minutes later wanting to rent it out. Starting October 1st. I.E. no months of double payments for us. Are you kidding me? Pretty much that one of the most relieved feelings we've ever had. We feel comfortable with them as renters, they are both in grad school and all their references spoke very highly of them. Anyways, just wanted to share the good news!

In other news. . . anyone ever been to www.houzz.com? It's a home design site where you can save photos of designs/paint/colors that you like and create your own idea book. Except I don't recommend going to that site if your a renter like me because then you just drool and try to stay patient.

You're welcome.

Our Weekend

We had a fantastic weekend! Friday night was Parents Night Out at the church so I met Jon there and we dropped off Brennan together. Then I surprised him and had already made an appointment at a car dealership to test drive some Mazda's. Our Civic is a 1998 with 260,000 miles (or more, I can't quite remember). We're "drive them til they die" sort of people, but we want to know what car we want to buy when it does eventually die (which could be in two months or two years. Our other Civic had even more miles on it and was running just fine when someone totaled us in the Meijer parking lot. . . . nother' story. . . ). Tis one of the reasons we love our Hondas so much (right honey? :) Jon likes the Mazda 3's or Mazda 6's but he'd never driven one so that was fun to do that on Friday night. Whatever car we end up getting next will be to replace "his" car that he drives back and forth to work in, so it'll probably be a small-ish sedan that gets good gas miles. We'll see. (If you're interested, we were not that impressed with the Mazda so it probably won't be that!). Afterwards, we were running low on time so we ate at Chick Fil A (my request, that chick fil a sauce is to die for). Beforehand, we both wrote down some dreams that we had for our future and we had really good conversation in a chick fil a booth talking away. The night went too fast!

Saturday we went to Galveston Island with some friends from our small group. There's a beach on Galveston that you can drive on, it was awesome to have our cars SO close in case we needed anything.

Some of our group, there were a lot of us!

The kids (and adults) dug this out for the babies to play in.

B loved playing with his cars. Shocking, I know.

Beach day was great! Except when Brennan took a bite of another kid's peanut butter sandwich. THAT was fun. NOT. Luckily I saw him eating something and looked down to see the sandwich in his hands so I was able to reach in his mouth and pull it all out before he swallowed it. I honestly think that's what saved us. Benadryl makes this awesome pre-portioned packets which we always carry with us, so we gave him one of those and he was fine. He did have a few hives on his face but nothing bad. He did take five years off of my life though!

We've been out and about a lot this week and Brennan was exhausted. They have showers at this beach and while Jon was showering, I was holding Brennan and right there on the beach he fell asleep in my arms and stayed asleep the entire ride home. I'm sure the bendaryl didn't help either. Sweet kid.

Today after church (and after naps for two of us), we headed to Boys and Girls Country. It's a home for kids whose families can no longer take care of them. The cottage we visit once a month has all boys, I think there's around 10 of them per home. There are house parents that take care of the kids and it's an environment much like a regular home. It's pretty much awesome. I love watching Jon play outside with all the boys. Brennan also said "NO" and "MINE" for the first time today at BGC when another boy tried to take the car he was playing with. I think we just officially entered into toddlerhood!!

Good Things

Here are some Good Things going on around here:

*Netflix Instant Streaming.
Right now Brennan is currently watching "Thomas the Train Engine" on Netflix instant streaming and I am one million times thankful that we got a Netflix subscription! He doesn't watch a lot of TV but knowing I have Thomas on hand for days like today is just, well, wonderful. He's got a head cold (allergies?) and you would think that would cause him to sleep more. But the funny thing is, it actually causes him to sleep less and today his nap was one hour. Funny, huh? :)


*Playdates with friends

Josh and B

Josh's mom was one of my first friends here in Texas. She was at my MOPS table and called me one day to see if I wanted to go walking with her at a park. We met once a week to walk with our kiddos in the stroller and she's been a blessing to me. Her and her hubby are building a house in the neighborhood next to ours, so exciting!

*A happy baby. Besides this little cold, Brennan's been such a joy to us lately that I can hardly stand it.

Cheesecake Factory with Katie and Charlotte. He was SO good that entire day!

*Our small group at The Met.

We're currently going through this book, guys are going through "For Men Only".

*MOPS

*Running! I ran 3 miles twice this week and although it's almost killed me, it's a nice feeling of accomplishment. I haven't ran 3 miles since the week I found out I was pregnant with Brennan. It's slightly embarassing that that was 2.5 years ago, but, you know, whatever!

*The possibility of our house being rented for TWO years! (more on this at a later date)

*The Ruth bible study I'm going through at The Met right now (and the subsequent child care they are providing during that time, hallelujah).

*Financial Peace University. Jon and I are facilitating a small group for that class on Wednesday night.

Texas On-Going's. . .

"Say Cheeeeese"

Hola!! Sorry (Grandparents) that it's been so long since I've updated! It's been a super fun week and I just haven't had time to sit down and blog! (however, I did have time for a nap yesterday and that was fabbbulous!).

My dear friend Katie came to visit last week. We had a blast with her and baby Charlotte! She is on maternity leave and was brave enough to fly with her 8 week old Charlotte to visit us, I was thrilled. I showed her the goodness that is Chick Fil A, we shopped at the Galleria one day, visited Galveston Island and went to MOPS together. One night after the babies went to bed we were able to go to BJ's for drinks and pazookies, YUM! We had a great time discussing childbirth and breastfeeding and high school and the craziness of being a mom. THANK YOU for visiting Katie! (P.S. please come back) :)

We've had a fun Labor Day weekend with friends here in Texas and I am so thankful for them. We've been to the park, out to lunch, had friends over for dinner and had our "annual" labor day get together with some staff families from The Met. Now we're off to detail our dirty/sandy cars. Have a great week!

P.S. We have a possible renter checking out our house in Lansing tomorrow. This is huge. PLEASE PRAY.