photo booth

We got a new computer (well, new to us). I gave my old girl a hard knock life, and she was very, very tired. So my new imac has this cool thingy called photobooth. Basically, you take goofy pictures of yourself and can do all kinds of distorted things to yourself. Here's what I like to call Hot Mama. Thank goodness I got a gift certificate my sister in laws salon for my birthday! Those eyebrows are looking AWESOME. I emailed this one to my hubs at work, just to entice him.
And here's some pop art, courtesy of Hayden.


and our favorite, "Hi, my name is Chubby"

And, my sweet baby boy.

Oh, the things we do for entertainment, while waiting for an adoption...:)

Heart and Sole- Girls Getaway!

Aaahhh. Doesn't that title just give you warm fuzzies? I just got home from the best weekend!

I went away midday on friday with 3 of my dear girlfriends, Nicole, Jen, and Mere. No agenda, no plans, no alarm clocks, no early bird little people. We went to the store and bought easy food on our way down to the beach house, and we only left the house once all weekend, to go to the bead store and dinner out! We layed around in our jammies, giggled ALOT, relaxed a bunch. We stayed up late, we watched chick flicks, made girly bracelets and necklaces, slept in (you know, until like 8:30! It was awesome!) in our own beds, with NO ONE touching us or waking us up in the middle of the night to go potty. We took long hot quiet showers (I even shaved my legs and armpits both!). I got to drink my morning coffee while it was still hot, and we laughed and laughed and laughed some more. One of my sweet friends Jen, brought all the goodies to give us each a fancy pedicure! My feet and soul were nourished! Mere gave me a little manicure, too. I came home feeling happy and full and pretty. My birthday was Sunday, and Saturday night the gals made me a yummy chocolate cake with candles and all. I got fun presents (jewelry, a cute bag, pedicure, and starbucks...all of my love languages!) and best of all, quality time with some of my favorite people. There was no better way to ring in my 30's! I'm officially IN my 30's...not just 30. 3-1...I really don't mind. I feel good about where I am in my life and where God has brought me in these past few years. He has shown me alot about who he has made me to be, the unique heart and design he's given me, and purpose for my life.

It was so good to getaway, it really refreshed and renewed me. I missed my boys, but I really felt new today. I've been back for over 24 hours, and I feel like I've had loads of patience and energy today. I didn't loose it with my kids at all today, and I went on a little organizing/cleaning binge (that NEVER happens unless I'm 9.5 months pregnant!).

It was G-O-O-D. Thanks Husband (and Mom) for giving me a break. It was awesome!

tagged

I was tagged by my friend Jana, to post 7 random facts about myself, and then make 7 friends do it too...these are fun to read! I don't know why everything is underlined, that is so annoying


1. I am an aspiring granola girl:) I make my own bread, raise my flock of chickens (3 is a flock right? Gladys, Myrtle and Agnes think they are worthy of the title). I wash my face with Olive Oil (scented with lavendar and tea tree oil...thanks Traci!) and make my own deodorant and use cloth diapers...I know, I'm a freak. I do still shave my legs (at least 1-2 times per week, ha ha!)

2. I totally fell down the stairs tonight (all 3 of them) and scared my husband to death when I layed there crying! It really hurt. I hit the edge of little wall (the corner) right where my kidneys are (I think) and my arm on the hardwood edge. He said "Do I need to call an ambulance?" as he ran over to me. I have a big fat bruise and stiff back, but no ambulance needed. Maybe a Tshirt that says,"World's Biggest Klutz", but no ambulance.

3. My house is so unorganized. I used to sort of pride myself on being a mini-martha (yes, as in stewart) but since children, um, that's gone out the window. Since I'm desperately trying to make some cash by selling myself, I mean my crafts, at Christmas Bazaars, i have projects everywhere, stuff I'm selling on ebay in piles, adoption paperwork spread out...I need to do some deep closet organzing BEFORE the nice social worker comes for our homevisits.

4. I HATE tomatoes. Love tomato soup, love pasta sauce, I even like salsa and ketchup. Hate a big fat fresh tomato.

5. I'm going away for the weekend with 3 wonderful girlfriends, NO KIDS, just us, a few COZY beds, no alarm clocks, no agenda...ahhhh. relaxation!

6. I have learned alot this year about what I'm not. I'm not a supermom. I used to want to be one, now I know that is not what the Lord is asking of me...he just wants me to put him first and let him fill me up. Not my accomplishments, not my darling children or my husbands appreciation for all the menial tasks I do. Not the acceptance of my friends and peers. Only Him, that will fill me up so full that I can slosh his love all over the people around me.

BUT, today, on my way home from Mom's group, I found myself fighting to not feel shamed for the ways I have parented. We had a great speaker today on parenting. TRULY, I loved it. I learned alot, that I could do better. I was encouraged. But in the van all by myself, the dark enemy was whispering to me, that I should feel awful about all the things I 've done wrong and should be doing better. He was shaming me. And, dang it, I know better than to fall for that garbage, but there I was with tears running down my face feeling like poo. God reminded me that those are not from him. He is not ashamed of the way I parent. I just have to keep turning my face to his, even if it's 90 times a day when I think my face is going to explode from saying "DO YOU HEAR ME CHILD? PICK UP THE FREAKING BLOCKS."

7. I love taking pictures. I'm an aspiring photographer you might say. I think it would be about the coolest job ever to get paid for taking delicious photos of little people and families.

That's all! I am tagging Mere, Amy J, Missy, Kala, Dee, Amy G, and Trish

here's some fun pics I took of one of my favorite girls in the whole world. I was TRYING to get pictures of the cute TU-TU I made, but her big brown eyes turn my heart into a puddle of warm gooey hot fudge. That's what they remind me of...chocolate. It's no wonder my son want her to be his girlfriend. I told him he's too young for a girlfriend, and said, "H- do you even know what a girlfriend is?" He said no. "Maybe when I'm 7, Mom". Ok, buddy. Let's revisit it in a few years!!

Pumpkin Patch

Today was a great day, we resumed the annual Kesler Family Tradition of going to the Pumpkin Patch with our Kesler cousins! We took our boys for thier first two falls, and then our sweet cousins moved away to Texas. Now they are back and we had so much fun today! Here are some of my fave pics of the day! I don't know why this is underlining everything!

I have to say, my neice is so stinking adorable, with the most delicious chocolatey brown eyes ever. All afternoon, she kept grabbing my hand to walk with me, and sit on my lap...she melts me! I love you Katie!

Look what the UPS man brought me!

I was so happy the UPS man came to my door last night (and suprised he actually found my house!) Now, I need to get a little hope chest of some kind to stash my little collection of things I can't wait to give to our baby to be someday down the road. This blanket is from MyBlankeeinc.com...seriously SO soft and snuggly and darling, to boot! I secretly want to sleep with it...

EKINSPIRED.COM

It's not quite as fancy as it sounds, but my ek inspired blog is no longer the big ol blogspot name, and can be found at www.ekinspired.com. I posted some brand new girly goodies today!






I am so excited about this little hair clippies! They are stinking adorable, if I do say so myself!

My model was very cooperative, but shhh, don't tell daddy! :0) Those curls are so cute with the clippies!

The ones with the flower are $3 each and sold individually
Ribbon only are $5 pair (pairs only)

More colors to come, these are what I made today. Brown with pink flower, Brown with gold flower, cream with Red flower, Tan with rainbow sherbet flower.

Funsies...

I am kind of lagging on the adoption front. My homestudy binder has been sitting there staring at me for a good week or two now, patiently waiting for my life to slow down so I can dig in to it. Between our big (HUGE) fundraiser garage sale that took over my entire house for about a week, and gearing up for the kickoff of our MOM's ministry, I have had no time or energy to dive into the homestudy. I did finally look through the binder and started my "personal profile". It's loaded with questions like..."are you and your spouse in the same page in regards to adoption?" UM YES.

I need to spend some time making a budget worksheet, making copies of our marriage license, birth certificates, etc...and lots of paper work filling out. U>G>H. But, it will help us get the ball rolling.

The fun news is, that the garage sale was such a blessing. It made me feel very full of hope and made this all seem alot more "real" to me. I am overwhelmed with God's provision, and have faith that he will provide all we need. It got me in baby mood. I've been daydreaming about her room, her clothes, what she'll be like, how old will she be when we meet her and bring her home...so many fun thoughts. My mom has been so sweet, on Sunday, while I was online daydreaming about "her" room, she said, "I bought something for your birthday (Oct 19) but I can't wait!" She made me close my eyes, and she had this for me when I opened them!
Her name is Coco....isn't she adorable? She is so soft and snuggly. I can't wait to give her to our girl!

I also ordered a blanket from My Blankee. I had this idea for her room, that it would be cute to do pink and brown with some giraffe mixed in (you know, to represent Africa and all). I had seen this giraffe blanket at a boutique, and I was just showing my mom the idea...when I went to the website, ALL of the products were 50% off until Sept. 30!! So, a $66 blanket (which I could never bring myself to pay, for a blanket!) became a $33 blanket (not so much I'd be ashamed of myself for buying it)...so I ordered a custom blanket, brown giraffe print on one side, raspberry pink on the other, with brown ruffley satin trim...it'll be perfect thrown over the end of the crib and hopefully be that special snuggly blanket! I can't think of anything cuter than that raspberry pink on a little dark skinned baby girl! Some of you are probably thinking, Really? Animal print in a baby room? but, I'm talking tiny accents. I'm hoping to find some super cool little giraffe keepsakes when we travel to Ethiopia to get our girl. It's sad that my brain is so stuck on daydreaming about this, I've thought WAY too much about it already. Walls the color of chocolate milk, some fun pink (brighter pink, not pastel pink) and chocolate brown accents...I found this on Etsy, which I think is totally adorable... grrr, blogger is too busy to upload my pics. That always happens this time of day! Anyhow, it's a cute mobile, that i'm pretty sure i can make easily. And, a a really cute wall art vinyl sticker think of a giraffe, rhino, and elephant stacked on top of eachother. So cute! and, I think it would be really cool to paint a verse on the wall in Amharic (Ethiopian)...

Okay, enough day dreaming. Time for real dreaming! I'm off to bed!