It's the Little Things

This month has been a sweet reminder that it's the little things that make life so fun.

Little things...

Like riding ponies at a festival...

Like getting to pet a baby pot belly pig...

Like getting your face painted...

Like an unplanned pizza night...

Like finding the perfect little gifts to fit the perfect little personalities...

Like your favorite cup of yogurt...

...while you are sitting on the potty...

...wearing your new awesome frog boots!

It really is the little things that make every day so fun. :)

Our Newest Athlete

We've decided that the kids can play sports as long as they alternate seasons so that we're not running all over to get them here and there every night of the week. Since Xzayvier played baseball this spring, Mekyla wanted to play soccer this fall and today was her first game. What a fun time! She's actually really good, considering she's never played before and her team has only had two practices. Xzayvier, Kreid and I enjoyed routing her on from the sidelines...even if the rules are a little strange here. They play 5 on 5. They have no goalie. They don't keep score. And they split the teams up and have them play on separate fields (five on one and five on the other). It's weird, but Mekyla doesn't know it's not normal, so I guess as long as she's having fun, it's okay. It's definitely not what I'm used to, but we'll make the best of it.

Here's our girl, ready to go.

She did a great job staying with the ball.

My little defender. Go get 'em girl!

This was just a fun shot.

 

Ky and her cheerleaders.

This should make for a fun and exciting fall season.

I ♥ September. Big Time.

Anyone who knows me, knows that I LOVE September. September has always been an exciting month for me. As a child, we were getting started with a brand new school year and I was geared up to celebrate my next birthday. I guess being raised an only child didn't help, because my mom always made a huge deal about my special day. Rob still isn't used to this. :)

Lucky for me, I have amazing friends who are super sweet, that helped me celebrate my birthday alllll day long. We started with lunch and ended with dinner and a great concert. I heard from everyone, wishing me a happy birthday and it WAS a happy day. A big thanks to all my friends and family who contributed to make my day really great.

My day started off fantastic! When we visited Cincinnati last weekend, my best friend from high school, Tonya sent my birthday gift home with me. She told me not to open it until it was actually my birthday. Now I see why...what a GREAT start to my day!

I managed to forget my camera for lunch, but did remember to take it to dinner, where I met Melanie, Tabitha and Kelly at Looking Glass. Thanks so much for celebrating with me, ladies!

After dinner, Tabitha and I went downtown to a festival where Addison Road was performing. We ran into a bunch of friends and it was fun, but Friday nights are not a good night to be out past dinner time. I think we were both ready to fall asleep at the concert.

When I returned home, my sweet children had decorated my bedroom door, something I usually do for them on their birthdays. Sweet, sweet babies.

Just for the record, "Bacon" is our neighbor/babysitter. Her name is Brittani, but when Kreid says her name, it sounds just like "Bacon".

Can't you see why I ♥ September?

Last-Minute Labor Day Cincinnati Trip

When I thought about our long weekend, Friday afternoon, I realized I didn't have anything planned...at all. That makes for a long three days in this house. Especially when Rob's not here to share the time with us. So I decided around 4 p.m., that we would spend our long weekend in Cincinnati with some of my greatest friends and my mom. It turned out to be a great weekend. We stayed with my friend Tonya, and spent lots of time with Kari, aka "Diddy" and my mom.

We spent Saturday afternoon with Kari at Sharon Woods park. The kids had a blast and I was able to get quite a few cute photos of the kids playing and them with Kari. They adore Kari, she is literally like their aunt...which is fitting, because she is like a sister to me. I am so glad we got some good quality time with her this trip. We miss her terribly, and it is so fun to just enjoy each others company like the 'good ol' days".

We don't really care much for school pictures, so I thought the park would be a good place to try to get some individual photos of the older kids, since we just had Kreid's photos done too. These are un-edited, but I am hoping to get them edited soon and that they are print-worthy. :)

Saturday evening the kids spent the evening with my mom and Tonya, John (her boyfriend) and I went to a comedy club to celebrate my birthday early. I forgot to take my camera to capture all the fun, but we enjoyed ourselves. The comedians were pretty funny and we had a great time...until I got pulled over around midnight that night on our way back to Tonya's house. haha. Apparently my headlight went out while I was driving back (I specifically remember seeing the glare off the wall from the headlights before we left the parking garage). Naturally, being Labor Day weekend, I'm sure the cop thought he had himself an arrest in the bag. I hated to disappoint him, that I wasn't a trouble-maker, but all he had me on was a burnt out headlight. He told me to have it replaced and sent me on my way. Whew! What a relief.

Sunday was fun too. We attended my mom's church and then took the kids to the Creation Museum in Northern Kentucky. Sadly, Kreid could have really used a nap, so we (Kreid and mommy) weren't exactly happy the entire time, but we did have some good family time. We ended our Sunday with my extended family, the Whalen's...i.e. Kari's family. Hopefully I can get the pictures that we taken from them and add them later, because once again, I didn't take my camera. It was so great to see everyone and spend time with them. It's times like these that I miss Cincinnati the most. 

What a great weekend! I'm so glad we decided to visit. Thanks to everyone who made our trip so fun. We thoroughly enjoyed our time with you.

WHAT is going on in this world?

I heard a great quote this week in a sermon I was watching online. 

"The world keeps creating more. You know why? Because we're not satisfied with anything that this world offers, which probably means that we were all created for something OTHER than this world." - Pastor Perry Noble

He started with a story about his most memorable Christmas years ago when he got an Atari. That Atari was the BEST thing he had every gotten...until the next year when the Atari 2600 came out. And, of course, we've made a tremendous transition from even that, to now the Play Station 3's, Xbox 360 and whatever else there is. My, how times have changed! Not just with video games. Think of our homes, our appliances, our clothes and our desires. There is a constant demand for bigger, better and more, more, more. But, do we ever stop and question our desires? I know that when I stop and rationally process what I really want, it is almost always a selfish desire and rarely is it ever a need. 

Pastor Noble's statement resonates with me so much. My heart's purest desire is to make myself happy. I think it's everyone's. And it is a conscious effort to avoid those thoughts, buying those new jeans (even though I have 10 pair at home), or even getting off facebook (or the blog, for that matter) long enough to actually read a sentence in my bible. UGH! Life is so hard. I don't mean it to say that I have it bad. I will be clear, I DO NOT. I am blessed. But life IS hard for everyone. On purpose, actually. It's because we are not supposed to be comfortable in this world. We are not supposed to seek satisfaction in the simple things this world offers. It's incredibly difficult, because we are selfish by nature, but it's clear when we step back and take it all in. 

Do we ever stop and consider though, that it's all for a reason? As Pastor Noble said, we are created for something other than this world. Is there a reason it is so uncomfortable here...and that we need all these "extras" to make ourselves feel good? YES. Because God wants us to seek Him! But we are not even close to good enough to feel even remotely worth the blessings he offers. That's why Jesus had to die on the cross. WE ARE NOT GOOD ENOUGH. If we could turn to him for our heart's desires, things would be different. But it's hard. God's standard is high. There's a reason we can't reach it. Because Jesus already did it for us. He bridged the gap between us and God. We can't be good enough. We're not made for this world. It will never satisfy us. It's all part of the plan.