life is not an emergency.

Tonight as we're putting Ryder to bed I say, "We might just have a quiet day at home tomorrow."  To which he replies, "We're not gonna go ANYwhere?  Well, WHAT are we gonna do?!?"
Ryder is what I like to call the Cruise Director these days.
He sits in his car seat, sweet and inquisitive as can be and asks a million questions.  He needs to know everything.  Where are WE going? Where everyone else is, what they are doing and most importantly, WHAT'S NEXT?!?
I can't say that any of this is not my fault.  I'm the exact same way.
I thrive on change, movement and excitement.  Planning & doing is my thing.  And he watches and falls right in place behind me.
Example... We were going to the football game Friday night that his Pre-K was involved in and when I told him he was gonna run through a banner on the field with the cheerleaders at the opening of the game well, here came a million questions.  One that was puzzling to me was, "But why?  I don't want to get the paint from the banner on my face!"  I was thinking to my self, he's gonna get to run on a football field, why would he be worried about this?
So lately with Ryder's constant questioning- and basically worrying- it's got me questioning myself as well.  Why does he feel such need to be concerned with these miniscule details of life?  Why can't he just sit still and RELAX?  And know that Mommy's got it under control?  Well, yes it is because I too feel the need to be concerned with these details of life and incoherently air them to my children. I have to question and worry the day away.
This morning at church someone got up to exhort after worship and the last thing they said was, we worry and fret over all of these "things."  "Things that are not of any eternal value."  Ann Voskamp says in 1000 Gifts - which I HIGHLY recommend - "Life is not an Emergency.  Only the amateurs run fast."  She tweeted Shakespeare one day: "Wisely & slow.  They stumble that run fast."
I am trying so hard to live in that eucharisteo and this is how I've resolved to celebrate the holidays this year.  Yes, I have deadlines, many.  Yes, I already have a holiday list of a million things to do, the events are growing by the day and the wondering of how we're gonna have time & money to do it all begins. But I've resolved to focus on the eternal and live in that gratefulness now.

For some reason it's not enough to sit still in my "car seat" of life and rest in God's grace.  But God I'm trying to...

thankful.
xoxo

Pumpkin Day!

Last weekend we made our annual trek to the pumpkin farm.  We headed out to Marble Falls and had breakfast at the Bluebonnet Cafe and then over to Sweet Berry Farms...

Forget pumpkins... there's a firetruck!

 On to the main attraction...

 These kids can't keep their mouths shut these days so half the pictures they are "talking" in.  :)

She LOVES her piggy-tales.

 My favorite.

 Best family pic we got!

 

 Watching the goats in the trees... There's something symbolic of those 2 goats butting heads in front of these 2! :)

 Feeding them with Daddy.

 Flower time!!

 Me & my girl.

 Last one... the big ones!  

 Me & my pumpkins...

Our little Birdie turns 2

We celebrated sweet little Paisley's 2nd birthday last week in Dallas with family & friends.  Paisley has always loved birds.  She started saying, "birdie!" really early on, loves saying "Tweet, Tweet!" & sees them everywhere!  Plus she's our little bity birdie... so I went with the theme!  I hadn't really seen it done with birthdays (mainly baby showers) but it was fun.  I'll go into more details on my Perfectly Paisley site soon!   There are lots of pics of sweet Paisley (but lots of decor pics first, b/c that's what I do these days!!)  

The invite.  I might start selling these pinwheel invites soon...

 Finally did a wreath for my own girl :)

 The party girl is ready!  Found her this fun little outfit at a boutique in Fredericksburg called Beulah's and of course Birdie & Peanut made us a custom hair accessory!  ;)

 Birthday Banner!

 All of the cute little birdhouses were made by Daniel's grandfather... and well, you see what I did with them.  Don't think he'd ever seen them looking like this before!

Cupcakes!  Lemon with strawberry filling.  Mmm.

 Little birdie cookies.

 Mommy/Grandma favors- handsoaps

 Kiddie favors 

 Let's get this party started!  Ryder & Tyler take off...

 I've seen this before, and Paisley LOVES to color & paint, so we let the kids paint on the fence and they had fun... and didn't make to much of a mess!

 The grandparents watching...

 Aunt "Sawah" 

 Ryder & Tyler chillin'

 Grammy steals a moment with Paisley girl

 Paisley & Grandmommie

 My sweet friend Bridgette came in town for the weekend too!  Loved having her & her mom there!!!

 Mimi & Paisley

 Cake time!  I have to stop and preface this... We were on our way to Dallas and about 2 hrs into the trip, Paisley's asleep, Ryder's digging in his backpack that he packed himself and suddenly I hear a HARMONICA playing.  I was like, "Ryder!  Why did you bring that!?!"  And he says, "BeCAUSE, I need to practice and play it while we sing 'Happy Birthday' to Paisley!"  I laughed and said ok.  Well, he did not forget.  Except the moment we decided to sing he panicked when he couldn't find it.  We waited, he found it and it was THE most precious moment of the day.  He played the whole way through while everyone sang.  And she just starred at him.  LOVE how they are together.  And at the end everyone clapped and laughed and without skipping a beat Ryder says, "Ha, I learned that 2 months ago!"  LOL.  The little HAM.  

 Paisley & Grandma - Paisley has 4 great-grandmothers!

 Present time!  She was so sweet & funny with the gifts.  She opened some cards and said "MONNNEY!"  And she took her time looking at every little thing.

 Ohhh, sleepy moment...

 Dress up time! :)

 New blanket from Grammy!

 Her new apron and cooking stuff...

Bridgette, Paisley & Me

 Me & my girl!

Luke & Ryder

 And, wait for it... the family pic!  lol...

 After the shindig...  love her.  love this.

 And this...

We had a great day and again are so blessed by our sweet family and friends that love to celebrate with us.  Our little birdie had fun turning 2!