Her "big" present

I know I didn't mention what all Makayla got for her birthday, but that was on purpose because I wanted to share it in a separate post!

This year we got her a bubble machine with plenty of bubbles to go along with it, a Melissa and Doug ice cream set, and Minnie Mouse shoes.  She got lots and lots of clothes, money, a new pool, a puzzle, her first paddle ball, Minnie Mouse tambourine, and a flute.

But her big gift from us this year was a swing set!!

We picked it up the day before her party and finally got it all put together almost a week later!  Needless to say, Damon was glad to see it done!  Poor guy works evening shift and had very little time to work on it throughout the week but he never gave up and worked every day on it with what little time he did have.  He's a great daddy!!  And Makayla is one lucky little girl! 



Three.



I can't believe my baby girl is now three years old!!  But, that she is, in all her glory and I love her so much!  We celebrated her birthday a few days early last week as her actual birthday fell on Saturday and of course, it was memorial weekend. 

We have a family party for her every year..I figure she'll have her little friends at birthday parties once she's bigger, so I cherish the time that we just have with the family now!  This year, when I asked her what she wanted for her birthday party (theme-wise) she was very undecided. She'd tell me something different every time.  I racked my brain on what to do when the song came into my mind, "These are a few of my favorite things".

And thus her party theme was born.

I incorporated all of her 'favorite things' into her party in decorations on her cake.  Everything else was a neutral (if you want to call it that!) rainbow colored chevron theme!  Oh it was so pretty..and it went with everything.  That was the whole idea.  I didn't want to do all purple (Sophia the First) or all pink and white (hello last years Minnie Mouse party).  I bought cake decorations at Hobby Lobby and Walmart of the characters she's currently liking, including a Sophia the First dollar pin at Walmart that I just taped to a toothpick and stuck in the cake!  Everything was so cute though..and so her.

 

I bought chevron fabric at Hobby Lobby for her backdrop I have come accustomed to making every year for her party.  I cut out her name and age in some hot pink felt and just stuck it on with double sided tape.  The banner was 97 cents at Wal-mart!

 





Of course, my three year old cries at the drop of the hat over pretty much everything.   So having a good cry at her party was just something we had to roll with!  If your wondering, she was playing with her paw paw right before we blew the candle out on her cake, and dancing while he beats on her toy drum was MUCH more fun than having a birthday celebration!

 

After a good half hour of tears she got into the swing of things and had a great time with everyone!  Lots of cake and presents is enough to put anyone in a good mood!

 

 

I usually get the best pictures after her party is over with, and this year was no different!  I'll leave y'all with some of my favorites.  Oh and how cute is her dress?!  I made it!!

 







"Marked" Progress!

So..my "Mark" has improved!!  In case you have no clue what I'm talking about, you can read my post on my mark here.  But basically, I had a mole removed quite a while back and was left with a scar..or as I refer to it as my "mark"!

I had it injected with cortisone about a month ago to help I soften and shrink.  I'm proud to say it's been working!  It is MUCH flatter now than it was.  I have a marked improvement. On my mark.

Ok..enough silliness!  Here is how I'm currently looking.

This is how it looked before...

A nice improvement I think!!  Yipee!  Now time for the holiday weekend and time for me to break out the red, white, and blue for the summer!!

Looking Forward

I know I was MIA for a little while, but I am back for now!  Let me explain a bit...

We've had a rough month.  I will say however, we are very blessed and I'm not complaining here, just explaining what we've been through.

We had 2 deaths in Damon's family in the same week.  A coal mine that Damon worked at in the past (a few years ago) had 2 fatalities one night last week.  My cousin's husband works there now, and the night the news broke I was afraid he could have been involved.  Thankfully, he works a different shift than what I thought.  I had neck and eye problems (on separate occasions) over the past month.  Our cat Ravey had a bout with worms.  And of course, about a month ago we had the forest fires behind our home and Damon's mines being on a 60 day warning (impending layoffs..we just don't know how many).

My stress levels have been high.  But my faith is higher.  I realize all the problems I've dealt with are nothing in comparison to what some people are going through right this very minute. 

I'm looking ahead, and trying to get my stress under control.  Giving it to God is the first key step and one I have been doing.  Prayers for me?  I would appreciate them much at this point!

I have so much to look forward to this week.  My little girl is turning 3..THREE!!  Where does the time go?  I am beyond blessed to have her.  The fact that God chose me to be her momma blesses my heart with so much joy it feels like it could burst.  My love for her runs deep (as all you mommies out there know) as do my frustrations that comes with this age!  But I wouldn't trade this time for anything.  She's a blessing. And when she sings, "Glory to His name" at any random time, I feel like I must be doing something right.  Her little heart is already letting God in. 



So with that, I am looking forward.  Forward to this week as we celebrate my Makayla's 3rd birthday.  To all the good things that lie ahead.  Leaving behind our sorrows and looking to a brighter tomorrow.  A tomorrow that God already holds in His hands.

Consigning..again!

I went to another fantastic consignment sale again a few days ago!  I definitely didn't leave empty handed and wanted to share with you all, if you've never shopped consignment sales for your kids, so that maybe you'll be inspired to hit one up if there are any near you anytime soon!

And if you don't know what its all about..let me explain briefly before sharing my pictures.  You have kids.  Kids outgrow clothes.  Fast.  Most times the clothes they outgrow are in pretty good shape (especially when they are little).  Enter consigning!  Depending on what kind of shop/sale/etc you go through, you will either drop all of your items off at said place, and they will price and tag everything for you and in return, when your items sell, you will get a profit of the sales (typically anywhere between 50-75%).  Or you might be able to do a sale where you can price and tag your own items.  It just depends.  I consign Makayla's clothes at a nearby consignment shop.  I don't control the price or tag, its done for me.  I get 50% of the sales.  Its pretty good because its less work for me!

Back to the sale I went to!  Here is what I came back with:

• 1 dress
• Pajama set that included 3 shirts and a pair of pants
• 2 outfit sets
• 3 pairs of shorts
• 1 skirt
• 7 shirts

Shirts

2 shirts, 3 shorts, 1 skirt (there is another pair of shorts behind the yellow ones)

Outfit sets (how cute is the polka dot one?  Gymboree!)

Pajamas and dress (again, Gymboree!)

 

Do you consign?  Or shop consignment?

Courtship

I'm sitting here watching 19 Kids and Counting for the second time this evening and the topic on their show lately has been 'courtship'.  A couple of the Duggar girls are now in courtships, which is really exciting to watch (In my opinion anyways.  I've been watching the show for years so its neat to see them enter relationships).

So..what do you think of 'courtship'?  Or do you know what it means (at least in their home)?

According to the "Duggar Law" as I'm going to refer to it as, courtship is when a couple is in a relationship to see if it leads to marriage.  Not much different from 'dating' to most of us. But for them, courting is much different to dating.

They typically don't hold hands, only 'side' hug (no full body embraces allowed here), they ALWAYS have a parent or someone responsible present at all times every time they are together, and absolutely no kissing whatsoever.  That's reserved for your wedding day.

How many of you dated like that?  Not many, I would imagine.  I find it fascinating.  Its a great way to keep yourselves totally pure for your marriage (if that's where the Lord leads).  It helps you to form a deep bond with one another instead of a physical bond. 

All wonderful things!

But I didn't date like that.

But, I would love to share with you what my dating life was like, because I would guess that it was nothing like what you probably experienced.  My parents were strict with me. (More so my mom's doing than my dad's, but that's a long story!)  I am an only child so that added into the overprotection part of everything.  Damon had also been married before, so that just added to the overprotection!  Did I mention Damon is the only person I ever dated?  I feel blessed to be able to say that.  :-)  Anyways, yeah, they were strict with a capital S!  We weren't allowed to go out on dates.  We dated at my parent's house.  We got to sit together at church.  We talked on the phone.  A LOT.  We only went out on dates a couple months before we got married and that was probably only a handful of times.

I have to say, my dating experience wasn't a great time for me like it should be for a young girl/lady.  I had been a Christian for 5-6 years prior to meeting Damon. Damon himself had been a Christian only several months prior to us meeting, but he had turned his life around DRAMATICALLY.  Like some people do, he had a lot of 'skeletons' in his closet, but you know the great thing about God is He wipes all of that clean and forgets about it all. 

However, it wasn't all forgotten by everyone (especially my mom).  Hence the strict dating.  During that time, it made me resent her.  I did a ton of praying.  I did a lot of crying.  What it boiled down to was this...

Trust.

Which leads me to the Duggar Law of courtship.  As great and everything as their style of 'dating' is, I often wonder if they feel like their parents aren't trusting them.  To be alone with your possible future spouse without your parent's noses being right there in between you, it would feel like there is no trust there.  Thankfully, mine weren't THAT bad (we were alone 95% of the time we were at home dating), but still.  I understand their reasoning, I do, but having gone through what I did, as a Christian woman I felt underscored.  Like that I wasn't trustworthy in their eyes. 

What do you think?  Do you think the Duggar Law of courtship is a good thing or bad thing?  Let me hear your thoughts!!