Teachable {MOM}ents

I am an introvert by definition, although I probably fall somewhere in between introvert and extrovert. I have learned to be more extroverted and God is stretching my little world, but I still don't like to walk up to strangers, I hate making phone calls - what if they ask me something I don't know?!?, and you will find me quiet and submissive when in the presence of a domineering personality. God definitely decided to challenge this part of me when he blessed me with our first-born, Evelyn. Although she shares many of my qualities and traits (some not so pleasant), she is NOT an introvert. And yet, I have found myself trying to squeeze her into an introverted box. Partly because it is what I know and what I am comfortable with. But also partly because I have had this idea that she should be an introvert. I imagine this meek little girl that sits so nicely and is always quiet, speaks only when spoken to ...and that is NOT my Evelyn. The truth is - that is ...

Here is the fourth week in my series on birthday parties - how to have super fun and festive parties on a budget. All of the parties I will be sharing in this series are birthday parties that I have planned for my children and the entire party cost is under $100 {including food}> I love planning parties, but also need to keep my spending to a minimum. With more children and more parties to plan, I now spend even less. The fourth party I am sharing was my son, Beckett's 3rd birthday party - an "Out Of This World" party! (1 year ago). We finally had beautiful weather and were able to hold the party in our back yard! I used plain black table cloths from Party City and we hung balloons from the trees :) I used plates and printed letters to create a banner We painted the table with chalk board paint! I made rock candy for favors and filled their star bags (dollar store) with glow sticks and glow in the dark bubbles (dollar store). I ma...

My lovely friends,     I have been a little quiet the past couple of weeks as we have moved to a new home and have been getting settled in. I didn't realize how busy life was going to get! Thank you for your understanding and prayers! Now back to our regularly scheduled blogging... I am going to share a few funny moving mishaps with you this week. First, the Box of Socks...duh duh dum As I was packing our home for the big move - I had a brilliant  idea! Let's pack all of the socks   all in ONE box , I said excitedly to my husband as if I had just solved a great mystery! I do not mean some socks - I mean every sock that I could find, was going into this box - one location to easily find them. Sounds good, right? So I rounded up all of the socks and packed them in this box. As we cleaned and moved furniture...I found lone socks under recliners, and inside of toy chests, and tied onto bed frames (anyone else?!?). With each find, I tossed them in the sock box....

Here is the third week in my series on birthday parties - how to have super fun and festive parties on a budget. All of the parties I will be sharing in this series are birthday parties that I have planned for my children and the entire party cost is under $100 {including food}> I love planning parties, but also need to keep my spending to a minimum. With more children and more parties to plan, I now spend even less. The third party I am sharing was my daughter, Evelyn's 4th birthday party - A Tea Party (1.5 years ago!). This party took place just 2 weeks after our youngest was born, so it was a smaller, more intimate party :) I set up our dining room up as our tea party space.  The lanterns were recycled from another party :) I got the flowers at Michael's on sale, and the pots from Target's dollar spot. The lace overlay is my mom's as well as the tea set. We served tea and pink lemonade. I found some honey tea stir sticks at...