Around the House {Part 1}

So these pics were taken like 6 weeks ago. But the only difference is the flowers are dead and gone :(

I am accepting replacements any time.

On to the mini tour of our main floor living room. I probably don't really need to have the baby swing and bouncer, but they seem to kinda fill in the blanks!

This is the view from the dining area/kitchen into the livingroom. You can see the front door and the entrance to the kids' hallway. The stairs to the downstairs is in the bottom right hand corner of the pic.

Behind me in the below pic is the sliding glass back door. The door to the left goes out to the garage. To the right is the kitchen. Look at my beautiful birthday flowers!

More birthday flowers on my birthday present from my parents! LOVE this little half table. Just. Right.

I made this spring wreath way back and meant to share, but you know, I forgot. I don't love it but I like it enough.

It was super easy. I had a foam wreath base that I wrapped with green yarn. Then I hot glued some fake flowers on and hung it up on the front door!

Hopefully there will be more to come eventually!

I love this house.

God sure loves to bless.

Linking up HERE

Natalya Lee

Dear Sweet Natalya,

Before you were even born, I loved you. You brought your momma and I together and were the very first friend to my baby girl.

You waited an extra 5 days to be born so we would be home from vacation and there to greet you in the hospital.

You kept me company as I waited for my baby girl to arrive.

You and "Mawie Wove" make the best of friends.

I will always cherish the sweet memories made with you.

My heart aches, I miss you so much.

 I love you, my sweet "Talya."

Happy 3rd Birthday!

Love,
Your Aunt Linds

Auntie Em! Auntie Em!

I have a phobia of tornadoes.

Derek made every effort to get us internet and tv before tornado season so I could get some sleep.

Last night I watched weather report after weather report about the impending doom of tornadoes coming today. I could feel an ulcer forming. I prayed over my babies (husband included) and fretfully fell asleep.

This morning was calm and beautiful. So I managed to relax a little. Then I got 3 texts (I signed up for all the alerts I could find!) that we had a tornado watch.

As a result, I spent the entire morning preparing our "tornado shelter." And we've been hanging out in the basement ALL day.

I love this house.


Several google searches have helped me out here.

Our little Tornado Shelter under the stairs. We usually keep a few boxes of toys tucked away in here. I left a couple in there to pacify the babies if need be.

Blankets and pillows.

Important papers stuffed in a box full of kids books. Flashlights.

Food, water, diapers, wipes, Bible.

Candles, lighters, and first aid kit.

Carpet scraps will be our seats. Also sweaters for the kids.

Made sure the computer and phone were well charged. I think the dark, dreariness of the day made my baby girl very lazy. She loves Care Bears.

I brought the potty chair downstairs, too, to make life a little easier. Jack guarded that for me.

That's how we spent our morning! We are expecting the 3rd round of storms in a couple hours. Thankfully, though, we hardly got anything earlier.

I spent time in the Word and prayed quite a bit, but I found what really helped calm me down was when I prayed for those who have already been devastated by these and all the crazy storms racing across the country. It's amazing what happens when I get over myself and think outside my little world.

Speaking of others, here's a great post with some info on how to help! "How You Can Help the Tornado Victims."

I have so many other thoughts on all this but this post is plenty long enough! Maybe the next tornado-threatening day. Besides, I have a post scheduled for later tonight all about my sweet "niece" :)

My Garden

I've fallen in love.

I officially LOVE my garden.

I've learned how to plant yummies.

I've learned the joy of hard work.

I've also learned that I'm a hands-on learner.

I know I'm 25... er... 27 and should have known this already.

I love my garden and my garden helpers.

I love that Marie is learning right along with me.

It's true. There's something so fulfilling... so fun about gardening. It's a form of worship, I think. A hard, exhausting, fulfilling, satisfying, fun way to worship the God of all creation.

There's an App for that.

We have been thoroughly enjoying our iPhones for a few weeks now. The husband has proclaimed, "There's probably an app for that" on nearly a daily basis. What's crazy is he's almost always right!

Okay, I know most everyone already knows this. But I am just learning so that's why I'm sharing!

I didn't even know how to get an app til after I had my phone for a couple weeks. Even then, I've only browsed the app store once or twice. Thankfully I know people who like looking up apps because there are a couple that I LOVE and have to share.

First, HeyTell.

If you don't have this app, get it. It's a must. It's instant messaging without the texting.

Steph and I HeyTell each other about how awesome HeyTell is.

Seriously.

Oh, and it's totally free.

HeyTell me any time :)

Second, C25K.

My friend, Rachel, turned me to this. It's how I'm pre-training for the training for the half. So perfectly perfect for me. It has your training plan all figured out for you, then it tells you what to do during your workout! So you don't have to time how long you've been running/walking. You don't have to decide which mailbox you're going to let yourself stop at. It tells you. I love this thing.

It costs $1.99. Then if you add the GPS tracking (I haven't yet but will as I outrun the neighborhood), it's another $.99. From what I understand, the GPS tracking will show you how far you've gone and what pace you're running!

Oh, and you can add itunes playlists.

Anyway, for those of you (like me) who'd rather have someone else research what's great and share the info, you're welcome :)

Bonus: the Kindle app is FANTASTIC. Woot.

Coupon Code!

Because it's Thursday and for some reason I've always liked Thursdays, I'm offering a coupon code just for you all!

 Go to my etsy shop, pick out some little beauties, and enter coupon code "BLOGLUV" for 20% off!

Good from now until tomorrow (Friday May 20) at 11:59pm!

30 Day Encouragement Challenge

I read about the 30 Day Encouragement Challenge over on this blog and was excited about jumping into it! I'm always excited about simple ways to strengthen our marriage. I thought this would be super easy but before day one was over I already slipped up. Ridiculous.

So the point is to every day purposefully be an encouragement and blessing to your husband over the next 30 days.

Here is the first day:

Day One:
"The heart of her husband safely trusts her; so he will have no lack of gain. She does him good and not evil all the days of her life." Prov. 31:11-12
To refresh your memory...here's the 30-Day Encouragement Challenge...for the next 30 days:
* You can't say anything negative about your husband ...to your husband...or to anyone else, about your husband.
* Say something that you admire or appreciate about your husband...to your husband...and to someone else, about your husband!
To help you get started, have you ever thanked your husband for "choosing you" above all other women? He found you attractive as a person, and appreciated you. Though many circumstances in your marriage may have changed, let your husband know that you are glad God led you together, and that you want to be a blessing to him for the rest of your marriage. Let him know that he can trust you to be in his corner.
One of the best opportunities to express your gratitude is first thing in the morning. How do you greet your husband each morning? Is he confident in your love? Give him a "wake up call" that he'll never forget-a big "I love you" and an "I'm so glad I'm your wife!"
-----------

After reading this, I knew it was something God wants me to do because just the day before it suddenly hit me how awesome it is that Derek chose me.

It started with thinking about how huge a decision marriage is. I mean, 5.5 years ago we married with views of forever. But I feel like we're only just now beginning to grasp the hugeness of forever.

By the grace of God, we both look at forever together as exciting, wonderful, beautiful, and a dream come true.

But seriously, we were clueless then. Well I was. I think Derek had a little bit better understanding of it. And that's what makes it even more humbling and amazing that he chose me to grow old with.

Consider joining me on this challenge. Your marriage deserves it.  I know mine does.

Introducing...

Finally adding a whole new type of jewelry to the DandLs DangLs shop! I'm SO excited!!!

Meet the Sweetest Crystals WATCH!

The sis-in-law and I were like kids in a candy store when we walked into this little bead shop in Shipshewana. Walls and walls of beautiful, sparkly, colorful happiness!


Then we spotted them: watch heads! Steph had suggested this before, but now the option was directly in front of us and we went in search of just the right beads to match.


Thus begins the new line of watches!

Check out these gorgeous rondells...

Love the toggle clasp.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure this watch is SOLD as I type this up, but maybe these pics will whet your appetite for the new line!

Keep an eye out for more of this beautifulness! Super easy way to do that is to become a fan on Facebook and/or follow on Twitter!

Also, don't miss out on a great giveaway going on HERE!

Over and out.

Homemade Pizza

My philosophy on pizza has always been: it's what we order when I don't want to cook!

But I just had a weird desire to play with yeast. Or better, to overcome my fear of it!

So I whipped out my favorite cook book...



And found a scrumptious and easy recipe for pizza crust. (Find the ridiculously easy recipe here)

Of course I grabbed my little side kick.

Her favorite part was putting flour on her nose.

We left it in the fridge over night then went to put it together the next evening. It was then that I realized I didn't have what I needed to make the pizza sauce! So I grabbed a jar of roasted red pepper and garlic spaghetti sauce, added some extra flavor (more garlic, oregano, chili powder, black pepper). I shredded some mozzarella cheese and cheddar cheese, and added pepperoni and green peppers. Yum!

The kids loved it!

In fact, Marie wouldn't eat the pizza I made a week later with the homemade pizza sauce. So I have more of the spaghetti sauce ready for the next time!

This is what I ate the entire weekend of Mother's Day while the hubby was out of town. Good thing it's delish!