enjoying autumn

this morning my kids slept in. usually Big A is up first around 6:15am, but he didn't wake until after 7:30!!! i was thisclose to making sure he was still breathing because this sort of thing just DOES NOT happen in our home. (it may or may not have something to do with the fact that we stayed late at bible study last night and he was exhausted!) because he woke up so late i had the chance to wake up naturally, on my own. i don't know if you have kids that wake you up every. single. morning. but i can assure you that a morning you are able to wake up on your own is like a treasure straight from heaven. i feel so refreshed and well rested. and since i was so bright-eyed and bushy -tailed i thought i would try a new recipe for breakfast.

i know it's only been fall for like half a day 3 days, but i hit the ground running. i am all about pumpkin right now. little a requested pancakes so i thought i would add a little pumpkin just for fun.

since we're trying to stick to a Paleo diet i was inspired by this recipe for pancakes. i am not being super strict, so i made a few changes. here's my recipe for a pumpkin "grain-free" version. 

1 c Bob's Red Mill gluten-free all purpose baking flour

1/2 c pumpkin puree

1 tbsp almond flour

2 eggs

1/4 c water

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp kosher salt

top with maple syrup

they turned out pretty awesome, except they weren't that sweet. i think i'll add some Stevia to the mix next time. or honey. whatever.

in honor of the change in season i also bought a new coffee. and DANG it is tasty. 

oh, and i'm also burning my sweet cinnamon pumpkin candle like Jesus is returning TOMORROW.  i just can't get enough of that smell. i fear i will burn it all before Thanksgiving even gets here so i'm on a feverish hunt for a new fall candle. someone tell me where to go, and quick!

 i have some left over pumpkin puree so i'm gonna go whip up some grain-free pumpkin bread right now. 

mmm. 

fall shaped confetti sparkles,

tara

always adoring: shabby apple dresses

happy second day of autumn!!!

you may or may not have noticed the Shabby Apple link in my sidebar. i recently became an affiliate and wanted to give you some inspiration on how i would wear two of their dresses.

i've always loved gingham, so you can imagine my excitement when not only did i find out that gingham is TOTALLY the new print for fall, but that Shabby Apple has the cutest shirt dress ever. i would wear this outfit to Thanksgiving, church, or to help in my little guy's classroom. eeek. i love it so much. 

No.1} Shabby Apple overboard blue and white gingham dress

No. 2} these shoes are RIDIC. i would never take them off my feet.

No. 3} this bag is a little more on the '80's side than i'm normally willing to go, but for some reason it sings to my heart. 

No. 4} everyone needs a yellow cardi for autumn. 

i love stripes and this looks casual enough to wear to the park with my kiddos. or on a hot date with my man. or on a yacht.

No. 1} Shabby Apple kelly green and navy stripe dress

No. 2} such a classic bag. 

No. 3} this jacket is sooooo pretty.

No. 4} i know i already said classic as a descriptive word for no.2 but these shoes are soooo classic. or timeless, yeah... that's it. TIMELESS. 

i've never bought a dress from the 

Shabby Apple site before, but as soon as i need one for a special occasion i'm heading there first!

which is your favorite?



love,
tara

monogram yarn letter

remember when i had my "craftening"? well, this is what i made! and i LUH-HUV it!!!!. eeek. 

i'm starting to let down my guard a little with this whole new house thing.... which i should really be careful because anything can happen. but for now we really feel like the Lord keeps opening the doors and we keep just walking through them. 

i know i've totally made inspirations boards for different rooms in the house, but this is the first thing i've actually MADE with it in mind. the new house is white with black trim and a brick red door, so i thought this pretty shade of blue would look just lovely hanging on it. i found a tutorial for the rick rack rosettes here. i also made clip on earrings for little a with them a couple weeks ago and she loves them. 

i think they are my new favorite craft. what else can i put them on? hmmm.... 

happy friday everyone!

tara

weekly "craftening"

craftening. you know "craft" + "evening". duh. 

ok, i know crafternoon sounds better but we just didn't do it in the afternoon. we did it in the evening. so i had to come up with something clever and that's all i got. 

pretty much every week since school started for our kids, Cherish and i have been having craftenings. before that we were having weekly play dates and just sitting around talking about doing crafty stuff... but now that the boys are all in school, and at opposite hours, we can never see each other during the day. MAJOR bummer. mostly for us, but i know the kids miss each other too. so now we meet when all our kids are in bed and stay up way too late making good use of all the DIY stuff we pin on Pinterest. 

this week i decided to make a yarn letter for my new front door and Cherish wanted to make a bunting for her mantel. 

this is probably the 3rd or 4th picture we tried to take of ourselves with my instagram app, in my kitchen with bad lighting, at night. the first couple were forced and we didn't look like we were having much fun. i can assure you we were. noted above. i think we were both just SUPER tired. she had been up since 3:15am that morning (F.) and i had no excuse. 

i almost crapped myself several times over this dang yarn letter. we all know i'm OCD and trying to get perfectly horizontal lines with my yarn EVERY TIME was totally freaking me out. i may or may not have hyperventilated, almost thrown it, or cried. depends on which one of us you talk to.

inspiration

Cher-bear had to figure out how to tune me out whilst accordion folding, whilst i watched. i may or may not have given her judgemental glances for not using the ruler while she made each fold. again, it depends on who you talk to. 

inspiration

i'm thankful to have a friend that will put up with my issues and even talk me down from the edge when i need it. i'm also thankful we pretty much love all the same things. 

Cherish. you complete me. 

too much?

oh well. it's true. 

xoxo,

tara

celebration!

i love to plan a good party. i love making invitations for parties, coordinating snacks for the theme of the party, making decorations for parties, cooking yummy food and giving it name tags for parties... i just LOVE PLANNING PARTIES!!!! 

well, Big A recently turned 5. and i did not plan him a party. sad. 

it partly had to do with the fact that we didn't throw little a some big party back in June because we had been home from Hume SD for only two weeks and i didn't have time, and partly because we are saving our pennies to get into *crossing fingers, saying a little prayer* new house. 

plus, like 75% of the people he wanted to invite are in San Diego... boo. for the several days leading up to his big day he would announce people he wanted to attend. "mom, i'm inviting chloe, ethan, and liam. but not baby jack because no babies are allowed at my party. and make sure you tell auntie jackie to bring emery. but not baby wren because there are no babies at my party. also, noah. and don't forget rylan and hayden. can ms. cherish bring daisy and olive too. yeah, we can have dogs. but no babies." 

for someone who loves pregnant woman as much as my son does, he will kick you to the curb once that baby comes out. see proof above. 

we still wanted to make his day extra special. so all day long he got all his favorite things. for breakfast i made him Paleo Crepes with non-paleo Nutella and banana slices, scrambled eggs and avocado. mmmm. i think it's my fav too.

Paleo Crepes:

1c coconut flour

1c coconut milk

1 egg

mix. pour about 1/4 c in small non stick pan. flip. eat. 

after breakfast we heard some weird noise like the wizard working behind his curtain from the Wizard of Oz so we ran outside to see what all the commotion was about. it was just some hot air balloons (!!!!) floating over our house, no biggie.

they were apparently landing across the street. we saw four huge ones right over our heads. i have no idea what it was all about but i told Big A they were giant balloons for his birthday. he loved it. 

we had been receiving packages in the mail from our family and friends all week and they were just sitting there waiting for him to open them. some special gifts he got were the Thor costume shown above (and little a scored a belated Princess Aurora costume as well!), a Wolverine Costume, transformers watch, books, clothes, jammies, gift cards, and a giant Optimus Prime. i'm sure i missed something, and we're still expecting another box to arrive this week. i think he made out big time!

for a special treat we took him to Chuck E. Cheese. we ate terrible food and played lame games, but the kids loved it so that's all that matters! 

Big A requested the carrot cake i made for his Back-to-School party, but i totally blew it. i made them as cupcakes before and had no problem with them, but this time they did NOT want to come out of the cake pan! 

so instead of a pretty frosted, layered cake, we ate it ghetto style straight from the pan! it still tasted just as good! and i'm pretty sure he didn't even notice.

this is my first year with a child in school so i got really excited to make cookies for his classroom the next day. 

rocket sugar cookies, straight up.

i let the kids decorated them. so messy. so fun. his friend from school said they looked like toes. i can see that. ha! 

this boy felt special. party or no party. job well done.

the fact that my baby is 5 coupled with all the gray hairs i'm pulling out lately is really starting to make me feel old. but i'm loving all the experiences that come with each new day!

love,

tara

forever changed

five years ago today my life changed forever. before this day, five years ago, i had no idea what becoming a mom would mean. i had no idea that God's grace would get me through so many sleepless nights to come. i had no idea that i could overcome my innate disgust of boogers to relieve my child from the inability to breath clearly. i had no idea that my ability to love someone more than myself would be possible. i had no idea i would be constantly faced with how selfish i am. i had no idea that making a quick trip to Target would sometimes take an hour because a certain little person wanted to stop and read books or admire the toy section. i had no idea i would occasionally leave my cart in said toy section to carry a screaming child into the bathroom for consequences. i had no idea that God's plan for me to disciple someone would mean that it would be my children. 

but i quickly learned. and what a deeply humbling and intensely fierce love i have gained for it all. 

i would never change a single moment of the change this boy has meant to my life. 

i also had no idea that having one would mean having two. and how much more magnified the changes would be. good and bad.

we spent 3 days in the hospital with him before naming him Asher Elijah, which in Hebrew means "blessed or happy" "the Lord is God". we brought him home and life was complete. i enjoyed my role as a mom and savored every moment with him for the first year. his little personality revealed a deep love for cars. he would often be found carrying one in each hand, and never without any. suddenly every car that passed him by (which was EVERY CAR) was a new marvel and he would yell, "CAAAAAA!!!" in a Boston accent. 

shortly after he turned one i became pregnant with our second child. and my priority shifted. i still enjoyed him. i still cherished him. but i was now divided. i daydreamed about my girl. and in some of that daydreaming i felt detached from my son. like i was losing him. he became more of a daddy's boy and didn't need me so much. a change i thought natural and allowed to happen without a fight. 

after the birth of our daughter, this divide widened. partly because of the unemployment of my husband and the extra need for his help with our newborn, we grew apart. i could see it but i didn't know how to change it. my buddy didn't want me and my tiny girl NEEDED me. i couldn't, and didn't, stop the drift. 

when my daughter became less dependant and my husband found employment 10 months later i started the process of rebuilding the bond. there were times when i felt he just HATED me. forcing him to spend time with me was painful. the process felt like i was ripping him away from his daddy, when i just wanted him to gain a mommy.

it's been a long road, with resistance from us both. sometimes it was just easier to let daddy do it and not deal with the tantrum. sometimes i just didn't want to feel the pain of him screaming for daddy. but over the years, and thankfully due to the diligence of my husband and i, we grew closer. 

he's my buddy again. and in some ways i feel a stronger bond. he asks for me some nights. he can only be comforted by me sometimes. he NEEDS me again. and i need him. 

today we celebrate his life. the gift that he is. how God so entrusted us with such a gem i will never fully understand. we are grateful and in awe of the treasure he is. 

happy birthday Asher. you are my special buddy. 

love,

mommy

my dad is a rockstar!

this is my dad:

isn't he awesome!?!?!