this is us...

yesterday melanie did some family pictures of us. i think they are fantastic so i had to share some of them with you...

that white loveseat was my grandmother's. it was passed down to me after she died. i remember her letting us sit in it when we were kids... but only if we were in our "sunday best". we define sunday best a little different than she did:)
i also want to brag on melanie. she's so great with kids! she's started her own photography business, melanie pittman photography... go check her out!

happy monday, evan

much better day...

isaiah was all smiles yesterday when i picked him up. whew! i know the process he went through after thieving something and having to deal with the shame and embarrassment of is a valuable lesson to him. a good lesson for me too: being a mom is the toughest thing i'll ever do.


and lookie what i bought:

it's a build your own notebook kit from leigh-ann over at freckled nest. (click on the icon to the right) isn't it great? she's got several left, so go pick one out. they are all so stinkin cute i had a hard time picking just one. my birthday is next month, so now you know what to get me:) i like "olivia" and "shawn" and "kim".


i cannot wait to get it in the mail!

my heart's a little broken today...

yesterday i discovered isaiah had taken some things from this art camp he's been going to all week. i was very upset with him, but remained calm. when michael got home, isaiah had to tell his daddy what he had done. and we told him that this morning he was going to have to take everything back to his teacher and apologize.

well this morning he froze. we got to art camp and when it came time to fess up he hid behind me. once i explained everything to his teacher, she was very understanding and told him "it's not okay to take things without asking. but i forgive you and i'm not mad". still frozen.

my sweet isaiah who has grown in confidence in the last month had faded fast. he was embarrassed and ashamed. i had to stay with him for an hour this morning. he would not let me go. he didn't want to stay. but what i wanted him to learn was that you can't let one bad choice ruin your entire week. you can't just quit because something bad happened. when i finally had a chance to sneak out of there he was coloring and cutting, red puffy eyes and all.

i'm having a tough time with this. i think this feeling of embarrassment is a pretty good consequence for stealing. but it's breaking my heart. not sure what to expect when i pick him up this afternoon. but i hope to see a smile on his face.

color me happy:)

so first i have to tell you that i'm beginning to get used to the fact that noone in my house is taking 3 hour naps anymore. since we put sarah in her toddler bed, she's been waking up early in the mornings and taking 1 hour naps. isaiah doesn't take a nap at all now. i always relished the afternoons when both my kids would sleep for 3 hours. it was my mommy time... i could take a shower, read a book, read blogs, watch oprah. things have changed and for a while i was frustrated. but i think i've accepted it... okay, so i have to share about how proud i am of isaiah. every summer we take swimming lessons at texas tech. two years ago isaiah was the kid standing on the side of the pool screaming his head off. he wanted nothing to do with swimming. last year was better, but he was still apprehensive. he's a different kid this year! he had two weeks of swimming and although he still wouldn't put his face in the water, he loved it. so we signed him up for another session. watch the video to see him jump off the diving board!!! amazing.

and check out my new coffee mugs... we found them here. so every morning, when i visit this little corner of my kitchen, i get to sip my coffee out of a color just as yummy as my cinnamon island blend coffee:) mmmmmmm.

here's my big bathroom reveal... (note: images are a tad funky b/c the lighting is weird, but you get the idea, right?)


and my new stitched up burp cloths... the "ella" flower is an elsie design. all others are my own:)

i know i know

it's beyond time for an update. i've been a busy little bee in the last week making over our ginormous bathroom. i can't even tell you how great it looks. you'll have to wait until i get pictures taken:) i'll have a fun new post coming soon!