Project Sunday 2015 {April}

Happy Sunday friends!

I think this might be the first time I have ever posted on a Sunday.
Typically I keep the blog on a Monday-Friday schedule but things have been busy and I have clearly neglected my Sunday photo project. I never shared our April photos and May is wrapping up today! 
Let's do a little recap of the first three months.

 

Man this year is just flying by! Anyone else feeling this way?!

*As a side note I would just like to point out I will be putting up 5 Christmas trees in less than 6 months :).

Now for our April pictures

Week one was Easter. It was cold and windy and two little girls were NOT happy about a mom who wanted photos.

Pretty obvious to, huh?

With warmer weather they were much more cooperative.

Man I love these silly girls. I wish every week went this well.

The dress that Emily is wearing in this weeks photos was mine. Not only was it mine, my mama even made it. I just think it is the sweetest little dress. I am going to be very sad when she outgrows it. 

This was the week I was gone to OKC and Dad was in charge.
The sun is always shining when your cool.

That wraps up April and May will be coming soon.

Are you working on any photo projects this year?

Friday Highlights 5.29.15

Hello Friday!
This week felt like it flew by and the weekend would never get here all at the same time. Then there was the constant challenge of trying to remember what day it was all week, which I failed miserably at. But hey, a 3 day weekend with the husband home is always worth the confusion.
As for this weekend we have a whole lot of nothing planned. After several busy weekends in a row that sounds just about perfect if you ask me.
Now for this weeks Friday five

{ONE}  On The Blog This Week

This week I shared about...

Opening day/ date night at the new minor league ball park. Go Blasters!

Finding confidence in motherhood. 

Last weekends shopping trip to IKEA!!!

{TWO} Summer Reading Challenge
A few of my favorite bloggers have put together a really cute summer reading challenge to read 12 books in 12 weeks. The girls and I love reading and have been spending LOTS of time at the library lately.
Challenge accepted!
They even included some theme ideas!

Make sure you check out the details, grab your books & link up with these awesome ladies. Stephanie from Wife Mommy Me
Elizabeth from Chasin' Mason
Courtney from Sweet Turtle Soup
{THREE} Healthy Meals
The winds of change have been blowing friends. 
Lately the food in our house has taken on a whole new level of healthy, especially for me. I wouldn't say that I was a super unhealthy eater before but I definitely enjoyed more than my fair share of sugar and french fries. Not anymore. 
I started a training program a couple weeks ago that goes hand in hand with a very macro nutrient specific diet. Eating 30% of my calories in protein has been quite the challenge. But I am doing it and get this... I ate fish. I hope my mom doesn't pass out when she reads that. For years I have sworn off eating anything that lives in the water and this week I ate Tilapia.
If you follow me on Pinterest you may have noticed that I am on the lookout for healthy recipes.
Follow Our Pretty Little Girls's board Healthy Recipes on Pinterest.
Do you have any favorites you could share with me?
{FOUR} National Donut Day
In the past I have been really bad about not sharing the news of upcoming "holidays" until the day of or the day after. 
Not this week friends. 
If you've been around here for a while you know how I feel about donuts.

Well guess what?
Next Friday June 5th is National Donut Day.

Many of you in larger cities than I live will have SEVERAL opportunities to pick up all kinds of free donuts. An opportunity you should clearly take FULL advantage of.
Your welcome.
That seems like a completely logical and acceptable excuse to eat one even though my new eating habits tell me it's a bad idea, right?
{FIVE} Girl Mom
This week I had Justine from Little Dove Creations guest post as a part of my 'Girl Mom' series.

I absolutely adored her post. It was so real and relate-able for this mama. I have had so many great posts in this series and this is definitely one of my favorites. You can read her post here.

If you're interested in sharing your story about being a girl mom fill out this survey and I will be in touch. 
Friday Linkup Parties

To see where I am linking up check out my link-up tab.
Have a great weekend!
We will see you back here on Monday.

Girl Mom Series: Justine, Little Dove Creations

Hi! I'm Justine and I blog over at Little Dove Creations, a DIY/lifestyle blog where I blog about everything that helps make our house, our home. I'm a mom to three (soon to be four!)--my son who is 5, and my two daughters, aged 3 and 15 months. Big thanks to Beth for having me today so I could talk about my little girls, specifically my second born.

My frustration had hit a whole new high.

It wasn't even noon and already I'd had to remind her that pee-pee goes in the potty, you don't go outside without mommy or daddy, and you don't drag your baby sister around by her leg, even if she is laughing about it.

And for the umpteenth time, pee-pee goes in the potty!

My voice was rising to a whole new level which I did not like.

I just don't understand what's so hard for her to grasp, I thought; I mean, it's like she doesn't listen to, or respect me at all.

I realize that she's right at the "threeanger" stage, but this seems to go beyond that.

I might need a time out myself.

My first born, my son, was a very "typical boy" (sorry to gender stereotype, but I'm sure that by saying that you all know what I mean). From the time he could walk at 9 months we'd had a hard time keeping up with him.

Yes, walking at 9 months, very steadily I might add. Practically running really.

So when my daughter was born I was excited, I thought, "This will be great. With a girl I can relax a little bit, she'll be much more calm and cooperative." Even her labor went a lot more smoothly, only 12 hours instead of 19, and none of the dreaded Pitocin! This was surely a sign of things to come!

Ha!

I quickly learned that each child is unique and has their own innate personality that begins to show itself from the day they arrive on this earth.

This sweet little princess that had slept peacefully in my arms and lulled me into a false sense of security that she would be my "easy" and "calm" one was now terrorizing the household. Although unlike her brother, she didn't really walk until she was a year old, she quickly mastered running and climbing onto everything from toys, to their little kid's table, to the counter height kitchen table.

And her exuberance is only matched by her volume.

Sure, she likes to dress up and loves her teddy bear, but she is happiest when she's playing with toys cars and trains, or getting filthy outside in the dirt.

Don't get me wrong, she is a sweetheart, typically the first to pitter-patter into our bedroom in the morning for snuggles, empathetic to the feelings of others (especially her siblings), and quick to ask to sing songs in the car.

And I have begun to see so much of myself in her.

Some of my favorite toys growing up were cars and Legos, who knows how many we had. Definitely more than Barbie dolls or Polly Pockets.

I, too, loved to climb when I was younger. Mom, I'm sorry for all the heart palpitations I surely caused.

There aren't many white clothes in our closets, because I am all too aware of where she gets her messiness from.

That stubborn, strong-willed streak that she has a hard time controlling, I'v learned to keep in check (at least on the outside).

And, really, don't we all have selective hearing to some degree?

I love all my children fiercely, and equally, but they all challenge me in different ways and have different lessons to teach me.

My Heavenly Father gently reminds me of my imperfections and I am trying to soften my heart to my precious second born, this little girl who is so much like I am.

Being a mom to two little girls has been an eye-opener for me, not because the experience has been so different from that with my son, but because it has been so similar. All of their personalities shine through boisterously.

And despite my girls' fascination with bugs and the fact that you can find them with skinned knees more often than with combed hair, I wouldn't call them "tomboys", they're just themselves--dirty, mischievous faces and all.

Thank you so much for sharing you heart Justine. The Lord uses my children to sanctify me on a daily basis, I can really relate to your story.

It is so refreshing to read the real stories of mother hood.
Messy, imperfect and beautiful.

Make sure you stop by Little Dove Creations and say hello!
You can also connect with Justine through these social media networks.

Facebook ~ Pinterest ~ Instagram 

If you're interested in sharing your story about being a girl mom fill out this survey and I will be in touch.

Taking On IKEA

Saturday was a day that I waited months for, literally months. 
Anna and I planned a trip to Ikea back in February! That meant three months of saving, waiting and building up a shopping list. 

Finally the big day was here and I woke up with that goofy "pinch me" feeling. Part of me thought "Your such a nerd it's just IKEA." The rest of me was doing a happy dance singing "I'm going to IKEA!" over and over. 
After all is IKEA ever "just" IKEA?!
We were ready to be on our way but first we took a quick picture before the 2 hour and 20 minute drive.
I assure you I was indeed happy despite the concerned look on my face. But I had just taken a big bite of my newest concoction, a homemade protein bar. Let's just say that recipe needs a bit of tweaking before I would ever share it on the blog. They're just so sticky and.... tasty?

We arrived scored an amazing parking place and decided the first stop should be lunch. We needed to fuel up before we attempted to shop. I decided since this was my first real shopping trip to IKEA I needed to do all the IKEA staples. Including Swedish meatballs for lunch.

With food in our bellies we were ready to shop!

It was amazing.

So much to look at, crazy crowded, over stimulation central... but amazing. We walked through the showroom just for the fun of it before heading downstairs for serious business. 

I could just live in the kitchen section. I have a weak spot in my heart for kitchen gadgets and IKEA was like heaven on earth. 

This is my "AAAAahhhh I am shopping at IKEA face".

For 6.5 hours we ate, shopped, wished, looked, searched and had so much fun.

Then we finally just had to walk away with the goodies we had, knowing that we would someday come back again.

Before we left we stopped for a pan of cinnamon rolls and frozen yogurt of course. After all we did want the full IKEA experience ;).

I would definitely call our trip a huge success.

Now the question that I have already been asked so many times....
"What did you get?"
I got two sets of Fargrik Dishes and some other Fargrik pieces to go with them. I knew our home school room needed the infamous Raskog Cart.  A couple Bekvam Spice Racks will come in handy somewhere I am sure. Some Lill Curtains are perfect for an upcoming project for Emily's room. A Borrby Lantern for decorating And that is just a few of the goodies I brought home with me.

Of all the items I purchased I think I am the most excited about the Raskog Cart.
I can not wait to get started on re-purposing the old play room.

What is your favorite IKEA item or what item would be #1 on your list?

Tuesday Talk/ Mom Talk Tuesday: Becoming A Confident Mother

Welcome To Tuesday Talk!

 The weekly link-up where you can post about anything, link up, read some great posts and meet some amazing bloggers.

This week I am excited to also be linking up with Stephanie from Wife Mommy Me for Mom Talk Tuesdays

First off I want to say a huge thank you. Last months Mom Talk Tuesday topic was sharing your faith with your children. Your support and comments on that post were so appreciated. I pray that it continues to be an impact in the lives of others for months to come.

If you missed it you can read about how we share our faith with our children here. 

The topic for this month: Becoming a confident mother.

I'd love to pass this off as an easy topic. Give you five quick steps of things that you can do to: increase confidence, feel better about yourself, rock your role as a mom and appear to be "that" mom. You know, the one who is always so put together.

But that would just be me speaking false words of a false hope. Giving the impression that this is easy and can be done alone.

That is something that simply put, I just don't believe.

I struggle with having confidence in motherhood on a daily basis. 

I can recall nights were my heart would break and I would cry myself to sleep out of a fear that I had "messed them up". Days that turned into weeks of worrying about the what ifs. Feelings that consumed me in my entirety that I am failing.

Not exactly the picture of confidence.

There are so many places we can turn to to find confidence. So many ways the world says if you do this, you can achieve that.

I have never found any lasting joy or confidence pursuing the hopes & things of this world.

For me being a confident mother isn't about learning more about my child and how to parent them. It isn't about reading parenting or self help books. It is beyond loving myself, gaining experience and having a good day or week to boost my esteem. It is more than realizing that I am going to screw up but my children are gracious with me just as I am with them.

I am sure all of these things can and have helped so many during times in their life when they needed help.

 But I believe there is still more.

My confidence in being a mom rests completely in Christ. 

I find my confidence in Him, not within myself.
 I know that every good thing in me is there because of Him.

I find confidence being a mom of two beautiful little girls because I know that Christ gave those girls to me to mother. He picked them special just for me . He knew that I would be exactly what they need just like they are for me.

It was a match made in heaven.

I find confidence in my role as a mom when I look to the cross.
When I think of God's grace.

And on those days when life gets hard and my confidence is shaken. I look to the one who is unshakable. I think of His grace and mercy that is continually washing over me if I just rely on Christ, not myself. I think of His calling on my life, the calling to be a mom and I mother my girls for His glory not my own.

Through Him my confidence is found. 

My prayer for you today is that you would find your confidence in Christ.

"On Christ the solid rock I stand all other ground is sinking sand, all other ground is sinking sand."

Now it's your turn to grab the button and link up!

An InLinkz Link-up