Liebster Award! :)

When I first started blogging, I was doing it strictly for memory keeping purposes. I wanted it to be somewhat of a digital scrapbook since I knew I'd never have the time or creativity to do an actual scrapbook. I wanted to be able to print out my blog into a book and look back to see what we had done. My blog still mostly serves that purpose, but lately I've wanted it to be more. I love reading the blogs I've found - especially the posts about motherhood, serious and funny. I also love the recipe and fitness posts. I don't think I'll ever reach the point where I'm really inspiring people with my blog, but I want to make an honest effort. Which is why I was so excited when Brittany nominated me for the Liebster Award.

The Liebster Award is an award for new bloggers with less than 200 followers. It exists to help find new blogs to read and also help promote the blogs of people who don't have a huge following yet. Other than family and friends, I don't think anyone else reads my blog, which is why I was pretty excited that Brittany thought of me!

The criteria, should you accept this award, is as follows:

• Thank your nominator by linking back to their post.
• Answer 11 questions posed by your nominator.
• Make a list of 11 facts about yourself.
• Nominate 3-5 up and coming bloggers with 200 followers or less.
• Provide a list of 11 questions for your nominees to answer.
• Publish your post and contact your nominees with the awesome news!

Questions from Brittany:

1. What is your favorite song? Hmm, tough one. I love music so I don't know that I could nail down one favorite song. Pretty much any song by Casting Crowns (recently reminded again of how much I LOVE their music!) and Point of Grace

 

2. You have three hours to yourself - what do you do? Either take a nap or go walk around in any store by myself :)

 

3. What is the last book you read? The Resolution for Women by Priscilla Shirer (would totally recommend it too)

 

4. What is your favorite candy? Oh wow, there are so many! Probably Swedish Fish or anything sour. I have to be in the mood for chocolate to crave it

 

5. What is the last movie you saw in theaters? I honestly have no idea. I don't like movies and I definitely don't like paying money to watch them

 

6. What do you love most about yourself? My work ethic

 

7. What is your favorite season? FALL!!!

 

8. When is the last time you had a date night? Maybe a month ago? I can't remember

 

9. Are you an early bird or night owl? In my pre-mommy life I was definitely a night owl. Now that I have a child who ALWAYS gets up in the 6:00 hour, I try to go to bed pretty early

 

10. What is your favorite Bible verse? Matthew 17:20:  He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.”

 

11. What is one of your family traditions? Opening new Christmas pajamas and a new ornament for the tree every Christmas Eve (the ornament is something I've started with Brayden; the pajamas are what my family did when I was growing up and I've continued it)

 

11 Random Facts About Me:

1. I do not like to be touched. I even get uncomfortable when people around me touch each other.

2. Oddly enough, I touch my child all the time and cannot get enough hugs and kisses from him. He is the only one though!

3. I am extremely Type A personality. I can't stand when I'm not in control and I need to know what's going to happen ahead of time. I like to read the spoilers for the Bachelor so I'll know who is chosen before I watch it.

4. I do not like to clean house (I think this one could also read: I'm lazy).

5. I love to drive.

6. I am extremely introverted.

7. My primary love language is quality time.

8. I love ice cream.

9. I love to get new clothes, but I hate shopping.

10. I love my job, but sometimes I wish I were a teacher so I could do something that would have an impact on others. Plus I wouldn't mind having 3 months off. :) It would help if I could actually teach though!

11. I cheer for both Alabama and Auburn. I want them both to win every week and when they play each other, I want the team to win who would benefit the most from it. I am very much of the mentality that it is just a game!  

 

My nominees are:

1. Bruce at Bruce's Blog

2. Jackie at Losing It One Day At A Time

3. Patti at Living on Faith Alone

 

These folks don't blog very often so they may not want to participate, but since I really like when they do, I'll nominate them anyway! :)

 

Questions For My Nominees:

1. What is your favorite recipe?

2. What is your favorite restaurant?

3. What is your favorite thing to do in your free time?

4. Where is your favorite place to go on a date?

5. What would be your dream job?

6. What is your favorite high school memory?

7. What has been the best day of your life?

8. What is your favorite tv show?

9. Where do you want to live when you retire?

10. What is your favorite vacation spot?

11. What's the best vacation you've ever been on?

 

Sunday Social Linkup

I'm linking up with Ashley for the Sunday Social for the first time! I love this idea!

This link up is all about summer! I honestly can't believe summer is pretty much over. It seems like we were just ringing in the New Year!

1. What was your favorite trip/vacation/activity this summer?
My favorite would definitely be the week long beach trip I took with my family at the beginning of the summer. You can read about it here. It was seriously so much fun and I can't wait for next year!

2. What was your favorite outfit look/clothing item of the summer?
Well, I tried some new looks for the first time this summer. I was given a bag of clothes by a friend and there were a pair of skinny jeans in it. I would have NEVER bought these myself, but I tried them on and really liked them. I still haven't quite determined if I'm skinny enough to wear them, but I've been wearing them anyway. I also bought a maxi dress for the first time this summer. It is so comfortable!

3. What is one thing you wish you'd gotten to do this summer?
Hmm, this is a tough one. I can't really think of anything. I got to take a week off and go to the beach, I got to take Brayden to the McWane Center and the zoo, we're about to leave for the lake right after I get done posting this and get ready. I can't really think of anything else I wish I'd gotten to do. I guess that means I had a great summer!

4. What was your favorite song of the summer?
I'm not sure if it was released during the summer, but I've really been loving You're An Overcomer by Mandisa. I also love He Is With Us by Love & the Outcome and Hey Ho by The Lumineers.

5. What was your favorite movie/tv show of the summer?
We cut off our tv back in April and now only watch Netflix. I watched the entire series of Friday Night Lights at the beginning of the summer and I've been watching Melissa & Joey lately.

I'm so excited that Brittany nominated me for the Liebster Award so I'll be doing a post about it tomorrow!

Hope you're having a great Labor Day weekend!

Come to the Well/3K Open House

Last night we went to the Casting Crowns/Francesca Battistelli concert and let me just say, it was phenomenal! Seriously, it rocked my socks off.

I already loved Francesca Battistelli long before the concert. I bought her My Paper Heart album and loved it! She seems so down to earth. I did a little research on her while she was performing and we're only like 2 weeks apart in age! Plus we have children that are only about 6 months apart.

We were so close to the stage! We had awesome seats (thanks to my mom for scoring those!) This is a picture from my Iphone that is not zoomed in at all:

I LOVE Casting Crowns. They are so talented and I've never heard a song from them I didn't like.

This was my first Crowns concert, unlike the rest of my family who had seen them at least once. I already knew that he was a youth pastor, but he said they are all very involved in their churches so they are home Sunday through Wednesday so they can be at their home churches and they only travel Thursday through Saturday. How awesome is that?

They sang their new song, Thrive. I think I hard that a new CD comes out in January. Can't wait!

I thoroughly enjoyed my evening, except for not getting into bed until about midnight, and cannot wait to go to another Casting Crowns concert.

By the way, if you look back at the pictures, you'll notice my sister has a purple contraption hanging from her neck. While she may look 26, she's really 75 at heart. Every time I've seen her outside this summer, she's had that fan hanging from her neck fanning herself with it. Hey, I'm sure she was more comfortable than we were! :)

As I mentioned, last night was also 3K Open House and I had to miss it! I gave Tyler strict instructions on everything to do, even down to what I wanted Brayden to wear. I also instructed him to send me a picture. When I got this one, I got a little freaked out:

I just knew that he was sad and upset that I wasn't there and anxious about meeting his new teacher and it was killing me!

Then he sent me this one and I felt much better:

He starts school Tuesday and I can't believe next year will be his last year before kindergarten. I am definitely ready to get back into a routine though!

Mid-Week Randoms

I'm linking up with Megan again for Mid-Week Randoms.

1. I found this on Pinterest the other night about introverts. It describes me perfectly. I consider this blog a Catch 22 - I can express myself without having to worry about people looking at me and being the center of attention, but it's also very hard for me to put myself out there like this. Anyway, I am 110% introverted!

2. My sister loves to go to yard sales & she finds really good stuff. She got an entire box full of Fall clothes for Bray for only $15! I mean, check out all of the clothes:

My sister really does make my life so much easier and I hardly ever give her credit for it. She pretty much always takes my child to get his hair cut when he needs it. She keeps him stocked up on clothes that fit him; like seriously, I don't think I've bought him more than 5 pieces of clothing in his life. She keeps him any time I need her to after she's spent 10 hours a day with him 5 days a week. She's a lifesaver for this working mom!

3. You know that estate sale I mentioned in this post? Well, I racked up on some gently used household items. I got some new sheets for my bed and a couple of lamps for my living room. Previously I had a standing lamp that had lost its lamp shade many moons ago. It's amazing how much more homey my living room looks with these new lamps! It's like a new room and I love being in there!

4. I just found out I'm taking a beach trip with these 2 cuties!

We're not going until October, but I am so excited! Brayden is beyond excited. I know it will be such a fun time!

5. Tomorrow is the Casting Crowns concert & Brayden's open house for his new year of school!

Happy Hump Day Friends!

BDO (Boy's Day Out)

Saturday I helped some family friends get a house ready for an estate sale so Tyler was on daddy duty all day. He decided to take Brayden hiking at a state park that was close by and they had a great time together. I'm glad they finally got to spend some time just the 2 of them. I hope they end up being the best of friends. First, they stopped and got some lunch and Brayden got a cookie!

Then, they went and hiked up the mountain to see a waterfall. According to Tyler, Brayden did so good! There were some steep portions of the trail, but he never asked to be held. Also, to give you a glimpse of real life, those clothes actually served as his pajamas the night before. He wears his clothes that get too small as pajamas. Tyler said he couldn't find any of his other clothes, so he just took him in that! Ah, men! In his defense, though, I don't think any of his clothes were actually clean. :)


Seriously, why does my child smile like this?!

Saturday evening we went to get groceries. After grocery shopping, we decided it was too late to try to get home and cook so we made a stop by Cracker Barrel to eat.

Yes, that's the Cracker Barrel game on his head

 

On Friday, Brooke texted me a video and said Brayden and Bentley had been doing this all day. The funniest part of it is at the beginning when Bentley talks. She has just started talking so of course we think everything she says is hilarious. To translate: she says "Bray, hold me?" Brooke said Brayden finally said "I can't hold you all day Bent, you're too heavy!" I love those 2 kids!

 

We had a great weekend! Hope you did too!



Bentley Grace

Brooke and her family recently went to the beach. When I borrowed her memory card to get those pictures from Brayden's party, I found some pictures of Bentley on the beach and laughed so hard. That girl has so many faces.

The I'll Cooperate For Now Face

She is full of personality and has no problem letting you know how she feels about anything.

The I'm Not Happy About This Face

Followed by:



The Now I'm MAD Face

 

If she loves you, she LOVES you - this would apply to her Mom & Nana. If she doesn't LOVE you then she could take you or leave you so I get this face a lot:

The You Get On My Nerves Face

 

So then I start to annoy her because for some reason I think that'll make her like me and then I get this:

The You Better Leave Me Alone Face

 

I've finally accepted the fact that she's never going to get too excited to see me or choose me to be the one who gets to hold her. Of course, I still love her more than words can say.

The Normal Face

 

I love this sweet girl so much and I'm so glad we live close to each other so I can watch her grow up. Who knows, maybe one day when she gets older she'll like me! :)

The Mommy, You Hung The Moon Face









5 on Friday



 

 



 

 

 

 



I'm linking up with Darci, Christina, Natasha, and April for 5 on Friday. This is such a fun linkup that so many people participate in so click on the button and go read some of the blogs that linked up!

1. I'm pretty sure I've found the planner I want for next year. Don't hate, I'm a planner (haha, pun intended) and I know it's early but I need to be prepared so I can order it in a few months. Molly at Duchess of Fork posted a picture on Instagram of her planner and I loved it. She commented that it was from Plum Paper on Etsy so you better believe I looked them up. They have so many cute planners! I love the Fitness Planner because it still has the monthly view that I like but then it has each week broken out so I can record my calories and workout information. Perfect! I can't wait to order it!

2. My work friend Nena is currently battling breast cancer and she is going through chemo treatments right now. Everyone at work is wearing pink bracelets to support her until she is done. Her little boy is the same age as Brayden and was in his preschool class last year so Brayden knows why I wear the bracelet. A couple of days ago, he asked me if his friend's (not using his name for privacy purposes) mommy was still sick and I said she was and that she hadn't been at work that day because she didn't feel good. He said "Let's pray for her. Close your eyes and put your head down." I was driving at the time so I just leaned my head forward so he would think I had my eyes closed. He said "Dear God, thank you for helping my friend's mommy feel better. I love her to the moon." Y'all, I was stunned. Not because he wanted to pray for her (although I was very happy about that), but because he doesn't really know her and has only seen her a handful of times and yet he still said he loves her. This is what God wants us to be like. Whether we don't know someone at all or know them fairly well and don't really like them, he wants us to love everyone. My sweet 3 year old has empathy and compassion for his friend because he has a sick mommy. I was so proud of him in that moment and pray so hard for God to continue that spirit of empathy and compassion in him as he gets older.

3. I am so excited to be going to a Casting Crowns/Francesca Battistelli concert Thursday! I love them both so I know it will be loads of fun.

4. Brayden starts 3K a week from Tuesday. He has open house the same night of the concert and I am so upset I'm going to miss it. His daddy is going to take him, but it is seriously killing me inside that I can't go. I hate missing anything and I want him to grow up knowing that his parents will always be there to support him.

5. My husband has recently told me that he thinks my blog is too boring! I can always rely on him to be brutally honest with me. And I do mean brutally! Please give me suggestions of what I could do to make it more interesting or anything you'd like to see me blog about.

Have a great weekend friends!