Around the House {Part 1}

So these pics were taken like 6 weeks ago. But the only difference is the flowers are dead and gone :(

I am accepting replacements any time.

On to the mini tour of our main floor living room. I probably don't really need to have the baby swing and bouncer, but they seem to kinda fill in the blanks!

This is the view from the dining area/kitchen into the livingroom. You can see the front door and the entrance to the kids' hallway. The stairs to the downstairs is in the bottom right hand corner of the pic.

Behind me in the below pic is the sliding glass back door. The door to the left goes out to the garage. To the right is the kitchen. Look at my beautiful birthday flowers!

More birthday flowers on my birthday present from my parents! LOVE this little half table. Just. Right.

I made this spring wreath way back and meant to share, but you know, I forgot. I don't love it but I like it enough.

It was super easy. I had a foam wreath base that I wrapped with green yarn. Then I hot glued some fake flowers on and hung it up on the front door!

Hopefully there will be more to come eventually!

I love this house.

God sure loves to bless.

Linking up HERE

Natalya Lee

Dear Sweet Natalya,

Before you were even born, I loved you. You brought your momma and I together and were the very first friend to my baby girl.

You waited an extra 5 days to be born so we would be home from vacation and there to greet you in the hospital.

You kept me company as I waited for my baby girl to arrive.

You and "Mawie Wove" make the best of friends.

I will always cherish the sweet memories made with you.

My heart aches, I miss you so much.

 I love you, my sweet "Talya."

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Love,
Your Aunt Linds

Auntie Em! Auntie Em!

I have a phobia of tornadoes.

Derek made every effort to get us internet and tv before tornado season so I could get some sleep.

Last night I watched weather report after weather report about the impending doom of tornadoes coming today. I could feel an ulcer forming. I prayed over my babies (husband included) and fretfully fell asleep.

This morning was calm and beautiful. So I managed to relax a little. Then I got 3 texts (I signed up for all the alerts I could find!) that we had a tornado watch.

As a result, I spent the entire morning preparing our "tornado shelter." And we've been hanging out in the basement ALL day.

I love this house.


Several google searches have helped me out here.

Our little Tornado Shelter under the stairs. We usually keep a few boxes of toys tucked away in here. I left a couple in there to pacify the babies if need be.

Blankets and pillows.

Important papers stuffed in a box full of kids books. Flashlights.

Food, water, diapers, wipes, Bible.

Candles, lighters, and first aid kit.

Carpet scraps will be our seats. Also sweaters for the kids.

Made sure the computer and phone were well charged. I think the dark, dreariness of the day made my baby girl very lazy. She loves Care Bears.

I brought the potty chair downstairs, too, to make life a little easier. Jack guarded that for me.

That's how we spent our morning! We are expecting the 3rd round of storms in a couple hours. Thankfully, though, we hardly got anything earlier.

I spent time in the Word and prayed quite a bit, but I found what really helped calm me down was when I prayed for those who have already been devastated by these and all the crazy storms racing across the country. It's amazing what happens when I get over myself and think outside my little world.

Speaking of others, here's a great post with some info on how to help! "How You Can Help the Tornado Victims."

I have so many other thoughts on all this but this post is plenty long enough! Maybe the next tornado-threatening day. Besides, I have a post scheduled for later tonight all about my sweet "niece" :)

My Garden

I've fallen in love.

I officially LOVE my garden.

I've learned how to plant yummies.

I've learned the joy of hard work.

I've also learned that I'm a hands-on learner.

I know I'm 25... er... 27 and should have known this already.

I love my garden and my garden helpers.

I love that Marie is learning right along with me.

It's true. There's something so fulfilling... so fun about gardening. It's a form of worship, I think. A hard, exhausting, fulfilling, satisfying, fun way to worship the God of all creation.

There's an App for that.

We have been thoroughly enjoying our iPhones for a few weeks now. The husband has proclaimed, "There's probably an app for that" on nearly a daily basis. What's crazy is he's almost always right!

Okay, I know most everyone already knows this. But I am just learning so that's why I'm sharing!

I didn't even know how to get an app til after I had my phone for a couple weeks. Even then, I've only browsed the app store once or twice. Thankfully I know people who like looking up apps because there are a couple that I LOVE and have to share.

First, HeyTell.

If you don't have this app, get it. It's a must. It's instant messaging without the texting.

Steph and I HeyTell each other about how awesome HeyTell is.

Seriously.

Oh, and it's totally free.

HeyTell me any time :)

Second, C25K.

My friend, Rachel, turned me to this. It's how I'm pre-training for the training for the half. So perfectly perfect for me. It has your training plan all figured out for you, then it tells you what to do during your workout! So you don't have to time how long you've been running/walking. You don't have to decide which mailbox you're going to let yourself stop at. It tells you. I love this thing.

It costs $1.99. Then if you add the GPS tracking (I haven't yet but will as I outrun the neighborhood), it's another $.99. From what I understand, the GPS tracking will show you how far you've gone and what pace you're running!

Oh, and you can add itunes playlists.

Anyway, for those of you (like me) who'd rather have someone else research what's great and share the info, you're welcome :)

Bonus: the Kindle app is FANTASTIC. Woot.