10 on Tuesday

1. Today I just keep thinking about baby Logan who at 4 months died yesterday. I just can't imagine being in his mommy's shoes...
2. Another toothache. Absolutely annoying.
3. I reactivated my Facebook, yes earlier than I planned. The break did me good.
4. I love Flavor Ice, or as I call it-Freezies!
5. Had my very 1st Scentsy home party last week. It went really well and I have another one on Friday. I just need to sell $600 more to reach the next consultant level-who wants to do a party for me?!
6. Klayton has learned where his nose, mouth and belly are. When he points to the nose he likes for you to say, "beep!" So funny!
7. I had tried my hand at homemade potato chips a couple weeks ago-they were really yummy. But, they needed to be more thinly sliced; I'm excited to try again with my new mandolin slicer that my MIL bought me!
8. Are you an avid Olympic games watcher? We have been enjoying the swimming events!
9. I took gymnastics when I was kid, just think if I would have stuck with it I could be an Olympic gold medalist?!
10. Happy Tuesday!!

God's Will

“Everyone desires to be in God’s will. But God’s good, pleasing, and perfect will might not look the way you think it should.

We need to clear up what we mean by perfect. Otherwise, we could miss out on God’s will altogether because we’ll be too busy chasing our own daydreams.

Our idea of perfect is perfect to us.

A perfect day to you might mean everything is going the way you think it should go.

A perfect marriage to you might be one that’s easy and stress-free.

A perfect job to you might be one where you’re high on the leadership pyramid and banking loads of cash.

Those aren’t bad things, but they’re not necessarily perfect to God. The point is that what’s perfect to God is also perfect for us. God’s will for you is to become everything He created you to be, so that you might glorify Him the way that He deserves. And that doesn’t necessarily require easy circumstances or perfect conditions.

God’s will doesn’t have to be perfect to me to be perfect for me.

God’s will for Job wasn’t perfect to him. He lost everything. But it was perfect for him. It brought him to a whole new level of faith and positioned him for a double portion of blessing later in his life.

God’s will for Joseph wasn’t perfect to him. He landed in slavery and prison for over a decade. But it was perfect for him. Through him, God saved his family and an entire nation.

God’s will for Paul probably didn’t seem perfect to anyone. Few men have ever suffered so much for the gospel. But it was perfect for him. Few men have ever spread the gospel so vastly in their lifetime.

God’s will for you might not always seem perfect to you. But trust me, His will is perfect for you.

The job you hate right now might not seem perfect to you. The relationship you just lost may not look like God’s perfect will to you. The disease you’re facing certainly doesn’t feel perfect to you.

But through it, God is perfectly developing your character, creating the space you need for the person that God created you to be. And along the way, He’s putting you in position to make Him look greater than ever before.

His will may not be easy, but it’s perfect for you.

10 on Tuesday

1. Tonight is my very first home party for Scentsy! I'm excited and a little nervous!
2. Thursday my in-laws arrive for a visit.
3. Still have my toothache. It's supposed to be fixed a week from today. Can't believe I'm saying this; but wish it was today.
4. Today's agenda: laundry, clean and make myself presentable for tonight's party!
5. I haven't scrapped in forever. Cleaned my scrapbook table off last night with a longing spirit!
6. The heat, oh the heat. Makes me grateful for cool weather.
7. Tomorrow I'm going to post pics from our baking adventure this past weekend.
8. It's going to be a crazy weekend in our neighborhood. This weekend is the car show, right in front of our house.
9. Really don't like cooking right now...it's just so hot! Do you ever get that way?
10. Happy Tuesday...here's hoping to getting the to-do list accomplished!

21 Months

Klayton you are 21 months old!

You:
*Wear size 5 diapers!
*Wear size 5-5 1/2 shoes.
*Wear size 18 or 18-24 month clothes.
*Now have chores, you throw your own diapers away when at home. You also help pick up your toys.
*Instead of climbing the stairs you now try to walk up and down them.
*Love to eat cantaloupe and watermelon.
*Special treats that you enjoy are freeze pops and sips of Root Beer!
*Your two favorite dishes are pizza and chicken!
*At night you enjoy a bed time story with daddy!
*Love balls, it doesn't matter if it is a basketball, soccer ball or football!
*Like to watch Little Einstein, apparently your Baby Einstein days are drawing to a close.
*One of your favorite places to go is the mall playland.
*Are such a big helper, you love to help mama sweep and mop the kitchen floor.
*Favorite toy as of late, your Dirt Devil Junior vacuum cleaner!
*Love to give kisses! You are always giving mama kisses on the lips; but remember those kisses are only for mommy!!
*Like to put your arms around daddy or mama! Sweetest thing ever!
*Had your first tumble down the stairs.
*Enjoy "playing" NBA jam on the WII with Daddy.
*Still a boy of few words; but you know how to get your point across!
*Love watching yourself on the camera or on a video camera.
*Love puppies!
*Currently working on some molars...I think since you are drooling SO much!
*Hats? You love them, especially if they belong to daddy!
*Climb on everything.
*Like to put on other peoples shoes.
*Enjoy bouncing on mama's leg.
*Don't like to be left alone.
*Test your boundaries often...

Things I Don't Want to Forget:
*One night for bed you slept with your teddy bear, 2 golf clubs and 3 books! Cutest thing ever!
*When at the store, I bought you Cheetos. Since you don't have words yet; but wanted to get the point across to me that you would like to eat them while in the checkout stand. You took my hand and placed it on the top of the Cheetos bag and showed me how to "tug" the bag in hopes of opening it!
*While putting groceries away you came across the cantaloupe-a ball in your eyes! Ha! You picked it up and promptly threw it and when it didn't bounce you tried it again!

Dear Klayton,
This is your golden month birthday! Lol! I really can't believe that in just 3 months I am going to have a 2 year old on my hands! Where has the time gone? I say this often; but it really feels like it was just yesterday that I was holding you in my arms for the first time!
This month I have started really reflecting on what I want for you in your future, what I want you to become and be like. There are so many things in my life that I don't want for you...sometimes its silly like my phobia of the dentist! I really don't want you growing up with that fear. But, in truth its not what I want for your life-its what God wants. I don't want my dreams for you to get in the way of the dreams God has for you.
One thing that I desire is that your grow up as a man willing to be humble and apologize. We all make mistakes and sometimes we don't want to admit to them because of our pride. I hope that I can be an example to you in this area, so I have started making sure that even if it seems like a minut detail to apologize over I still apologize to you. I'm sure you don't always understand; but I would love for you to be able to look back on your life and in spite of seeing my mistakes and failures remember a mom that owned up to it, even owned up to it to a little boy! Does that make sense?
I love you Klayton and I am so thankful that God lets me have the joy of you in my life!
-Mama

Surviving

I am still alive.

I don't brush my teeth the correct way.

I have a lot of teeth issues.

The first to be fixed will be tooth number 26 and 27. They have large cavities that might result in a root canal.

I go back the 31st and until then I will be loving me my Ibuprofen!

The "D" Word

I hate that word.
The sound of it makes me cringe.
Sometimes it even makes me want to cry.

Dentist.

I hate going and therefore I haven't been since I had a baby tooth pulled my Senior year of college.

Yes, you read right it was a baby tooth. Driving to work one day, eating a frozen burrito I cracked a tooth. Pathetic me hoped it would "heal" itself. It didn't. So, it had to be pulled roots and all.

Now, I have a toothache.

A front tooth.

I don't want to look like a hick and have it pulled.

I have already shed a tear about my appointment later today.

The receptionist has probably already written, "Crazy Lady" on my file.

They will probably take one look at my teeth and want to run away.

In spite of my fear, I just need relief. So, please dear dentist don't make the "D" word even more unappealing to say.

4:10 today is when I go...

10 on Tuesday?

1.-10. It's hot and we are spending the day doing errands. Nothing to exciting to share or worth writing about!

Things I Don't Want to Forget (20 Months)

I have so many unexpected moments going through my mind with Klayton. So I thought I would share some randomness from our lives!

Lately, he has been giving Mommy Kisses...kisses reserved for Mommy lips ONLY! For no apparent reason he will come to me and nuzzle his face close to mine and let me kiss his lips or vice versa! Talk about melt my heart moments!

Moments like that might overshadow the fact that when I went to pick up from the church nursery the other day that I was greeted with him pointing a "gun" made from legos saying, "ba-ba-ba!" His version of bang-bang. I love you to Klayton! *sigh*

Some of our grosser moments involve him "dumpster diving" for food or drink. So, now comes the lessons of you only eat food that mommy and daddy have given you and you don't share food with anyone else but us...because he has also been known to steal food and has become quite the beggar! I really don't starve him! Ha! And I might also be working on only drinking after mommy and daddy...because first of all I find it disgusting to be sharing drinks with people; but secondly because Klayton has been found drinking coffee from a cup in a trash can and has swiped someone elses drink!

Klayton has a hiding place in the kitchen. Whenever our remote control, dvd, wii remote, etc seems to be missing I simply go to my towel drawer in the kitchen and lift a few dishrags to find the hidden treasures! At least I know where to look and I am just hoping that he doesn't catch on to the fact that I know about his secret hiding spot!

When we go to the grocery store there is a ball bin near the checkout stand and my child knows exactly where to find it. He could be carrying groceries for me; but it doesn't matter once we near the checkout he promptly puts his items down, neatly of course-he doesn't just drop them! He will then run to the ball bin and pick out 2 big balls to carry around!

10 on Tuesday

1. Wow, my blogging abilities have been looking rather bleak lately.
2. The day is almost over and I feel as if I've accomplished quite a bit.
3. I just need 2 more sales to earn some free Scentsy inventory. If you need anything visit, https://KendraBarnhardt.scentsy.us and shop under the party, Kendra Random!
4. Looking forward to time spent with a friend in the morning, over homemade cinnamon rolls!
5. Klayton has now learned the fine art of playing with toy guns and saying, "ba-ba"! I wish I could capture the inflection of his voice with words...
6. This past Monday, July 9th marked the 5 year anniversary of Joseph and I getting engaged!
7. Do you have Swagbucks? If not you should look me up and sign up! I just earned a $10 gift card to Chilis just for searching the Internet.
8. Yesterday, I had a nice girls afternoon at Panera Bread and learning a new jewelry making technique!
9. I'm looking forward to some cooler weather in my future... I just wonder how far off is that future??
10. Happy Tuesday, just a few more days to the weekend!

Independence Day

Our day wasn't overly impressive; but it was good! My dad came up for the morning/afternoon and after realizing the downtown shops were closed for the holiday we spent time at the mall. Klayton enjoyed a train ride, thanks to my dad. (Side note: the lil mall train in my opinion is oddly out of place...cho-chooing its way through shoppers. So, the train kind of annoys me.) after the train ride, he spent a better part of an hour playing in the free play land-he loves that place! While there I recognized a fellow blogger, Melissa; and was like, "hey I know her; but I don't really KNOW her!" Does that make sense?! But, I stepped out of my comfort zone and introduced myself and the kids played! Fun times! Later that day I made Andes Mint Sugar Cookies and off we went to a cookout and fireworks! It was a hot; but good day!

10 on Tuesday

1. I want to try my hand at glass etching. I already have the cream and the glass...now I just need my stencil. I want to get, Walk in My Garden cricut cartridge for that.
2. It's going to be a long week and that's all I will say about that.
3. This is my number for the week as I have 3 parties scheduled for Scentsy this month. A basket, catalog and home party! Yay!
4. I think I'm going to do a garage sale this weekend. Canton doesn't really have a newspaper, so maybe a few signs around town will do the trick??
5. I'm going to make copycat Raspberry Lemonade from the Cheesecake Factory. It's a Pinterest idea...here's to yumminess!
6. So, a few weeks ago Klayton's kiddie pool was stolen and last night our visitors had their gps stolen.
7. I'm still enjoying my Facebook sabbatical.
8. None of us really slept last night. Hate when that happens.
9. Sometimes I get really frustrated when people act like they know what is best for MY child.
10. Here's hoping to a regular blog post in the very near future...Happy Tuesday!