Happiness is...

Happiness is Fall!

Like about a million other women in the U.S. my favorite season is fall.  I so love many things about this time of year.  Just look at my Pinterest board "Fall is my Favorite" and you will see images of falling leaves, cozy sweaters, bonfires, pumpkins, old trucks, plaid blankets, stacks of firewood, colorful foliage, and lots of other fall-ish things.  Did you guys read the funny article on buzzfeed about basic white girls and fall?  If you didn't, then you should.  It made me laugh hard!  My teacher BFF Kacie and I were guilty.  I just can't help it.  It's my favorite time of year! 

These photos just reinforce my love of this time of year.  

 This bag of coffee at Target got my attention because of the fall packaging.  I didn't buy it, but I was tempted. It says "COZY" and looks like a cable knit sweater, how did I walk away from it?  

I have an addiction to Bath & Body Works candles.  Especially when they go on sale 2 for $22 and I have a $10 coupon.  My husband doesn't even bother to ask anymore what I'm going to buy.  He knows it's candles.  What do you think about this name?  Perfect for fall!

Sweet baby clothes are my favorite.  My boys are getting too big, but my friend has little guys who still look adorable in matching fall shirts.  These are from my friend's Facebook shop Little Missy Boutique.

What's a post about fall without the Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks?

The PSL in all its Autumn glory!

If you are fellow lover of fall, then I hope you are enjoying this time of year as much as I am!

Monday Morning Encouragement John 16:33

{Monday Morning Encouragement}

John 16:33

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace.  In the world you will have tribulation.  But take heart; I have overcome the world.

It's easy to get distracted by the things of this world.  It helps to remember this world is not our home.  While we are here, we will encounter trials and tribulations.  I can't imagine that what we suffer on earth would ever be worse than what Jesus' disciples faced, but if they could take comfort in these words, then I know we can, too.

InstaFriday {September 2014}

InstaFriday {September 2014}

Photos from the last two weeks starting with the most recent photos first.

Will and Ben with our junior high school mascot. Will isn't afraid of the tiger, but Ben isn't sure what to think about it.  It's a big deal that he finally posed with the tiger for a photo.

Will likes the mascot.  This was taken before Ben was brave enough to stand by her.

This week I turned 37 on Tuesday.  I had to retype that number twice.  My fingers kept hitting 27.  Funny, right?  I certainly don't feel 37.  I still feel young, maybe even 27.  Well, I don't feel 37 until I'm around a 27 year old and then I definitely feel my age.

On my birthday we had to see the dental specialist for Will, and we left school early.  Since we were already near it, we had pizza for lunch at our favorite place before his appointment.  It was fun to spend the day with my boys even if it included a trip to the doctor.

Special dessert for my birthday.  The cheesecake and tiramisu were delicious!

The weekend before my birthday the boys let me choose where we'd eat lunch.  I picked Twisted Root Burger Co because I was craving their flavored root beer.  That weekend they had Buttered Pecan Root Beer being served.  Yum!  My friend told me on IG they have a pumpkin spice flavor during the fall.  I can't wait to try that one.  Photo credit: Will

My new poncho/hoodie is perfect for fall.  I used my birthday money from my in-laws to purchase it. 

It's from Anthro.

The Dallas Cowboys won this weekend!

Mark's a true fan, and it's not a happy home when they lose.  I'm not sure how many more games they'll win this year so I dressed the boys in their Cowboys shirts while I could.  We hope they win more!

Sometimes the boys go through phases of dressing up like superheroes.  Maybe they interested in their costumes because they are seeing them for sale for Halloween.  Ben wanted to wear his Batman mask while we had story time.

I bought this new t-shirt when Kayreen was visiting.  She picked out one as a souvenir to take back to Seattle.  The t-shirt is called the "I've been everywhere" shirt.  It has towns and cities of Texas written in the shape of our great state. 

Really there's not a good reason to include this photo but I am. 

I had a Capri Sun fail.  Clearly I don't know my own strength, ha!

Reading Mo Willems.  The pigeon books are awesome.

About two weeks ago, Will had a sore throat.  I was sure he'd gotten strep throat but his test was negative.  It was some viral thing going around with similar symptoms.  He was up and going the next day.  I was very thankful to avoid a round of antibiotics.  I'm sure we'll have our fair share of strep this fall but I'd like to avoid it as long as we can.

That's about all.  Can't wait for Fall and cooler weather!

Will's Tooth Tale

It's taken me over a month to write this blog post because I didn't really want to think about the day Will knocked out his permanent front tooth.  Do you know that feeling when accidents happen?  You replay the event a thousand times in your mind and wish for a different outcome.  That's the feeling we've had regarding Will's front tooth.  I've joked with people that I'm weak of character because I was a mess after this happened.  This unfortunate event had me awake for many nights worrying about Will.  Mark and I felt so sorry for him.  We wished we could make it better but there was nothing we could do but follow the dentist's instructions and pray for healing.  

Here's how it all began.

My family from Virginia was visiting--my brother Chris, sister-in-law Laura and nieces Ella and Lily, and my brother Brian and niece Cassidy.  We were having a great afternoon (which I still need to blog about).  We'd grilled burgers, let the kids go swimming and enjoyed hanging out together.  The kids were playing outside in the swimming pool and on the swing set.  We also had out a giant beach ball sprinkler.  I let them wet down the slide with the water toys since they were already wet from swimming.  The kids were having fun going down the wet slide and playing in the sprinkler.

It was at the bottom of the wet slide where Will's tooth got knocked out.  He bent down at the bottom of the slide to wipe off some grass stuck to his leg.  At that very moment Ben slid down the slide on his stomach.  I don't think Ben and Will ever saw each other.  Ben's feet knocked Will's feet out from under him and Will was already bent over so that when Ben made contact Will's face hit the bottom of the slide.  Will never saw him coming so he couldn't brace himself.  His face/tooth took the brunt of the impact.  I saw it happen, but I didn't think it was that serious from where I was standing.  I thought he might have a bloody lip.  As soon as he turned around, I could tell it was much more serious.  He immediately yelled "I've knocked out my permanent tooth!" and blood was everywhere.  

I was on the back porch and turned to yell inside the house for Mark. This is my typical response when there's trouble.  I yell for Mark to come and help. We knew we  needed to comfort Will, but we also needed to talk to his pediatric dentist fast.  We got Will inside.  We got Dr. Kelli on the phone.  Laura had the composure and quick thinking to get the tooth from outside where it was knocked out and left on top of the grass.  Those first 5 minutes were a whirlwind.  Dr. Kelli answered immediately and told me the tooth needed to be reinserted in the tooth socket.  Since Laura is a nurse, Mark and I both looked at her.  I can't express how thankful I am that she was there.  If a bad thing was going to happen, we had the best possible scenario for handling it.  Laura reinserted the tooth.   We didn't rinse off the tooth.  It's important not to do that.

We left the house in a mad dash to get to the dentist office where they were going to put on a splint, which looked just like braces.  That would hold Will's tooth in place so it could hopefully reattach.  Will was such a good patient during the entire thing.  Obviously he was upset, but he was as brave as we could have hoped for.

Here's Will in Target waiting for his antibiotics prescription to be filled.  This is just after the splint had been put on.

Here he is a few days later.  I was so thankful he never complained of pain.

Here's my brave boy.

Here he is a few weeks ago after the splint was removed.

So here's the status of his tooth almost 6 weeks since the accident.

The X-rays at the endodontist didn't show any problems so that's a good thing.  I was disappointed when the tooth didn't respond to the sensitivity test.  At the 2 week checkup he did respond to a "cold test" for sensitivity.  The advice from the dentist was to wait and see.  We will go back in 6 weeks for another checkup.  I'll take no bad news as good news at this point.  We are cautiously optimistic and praying for healing.  We hope that the tooth will reattach properly and heal.  Please keep Will in your prayers.

Monday Morning Encouragement Ephesians 3:20

{Monday Morning Encouragement}

Ephesians 3:20

Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us

When I was a college student, one summer I served as a summer missionary at Mission Arlington in Arlington, Texas.  My roommate was Marcy, and she loved this Bible verse.  I always think of her when I read it.  I can understand why it was her favorite verse.  It's one of mine, too.  When we think about all that God has done for us and will do for us, it's more than we can comprehend.  Isn't that an awesome thought?  He's already done so much and will do more--abundantly more.

All of Ephesians chapter 3 encourages us to be thankful for even more spiritual blessings...

God's saving grace
Christ's sacrifice
the Gospel
the church
confidence through our faith
love
and strength to live the Christian life.

If we are faithful Christians living a life that honors God, then we know His power is at work in us doing more than we could ever imagine.

Weekend Fun

Weekends spent with family and friends are the best!  This weekend we got to hang out with lots of friends we usually don't see.

On Saturday Kayreen visited Texas on her way to Oklahoma.  We took her to Rudy's because she needed an authentic Texas BBQ experience.  She really enjoyed it.

Earlier that day we saw Terri and Cory two of my BFFs from college when we celebrated Alyssa's birthday.  Isn't Alyssa adorable in this photo with her Barbie birthday cake?  She's a girl after my own heart.  She loves all things girlie.  I was just like her when I was little.  

On Sunday after church we took Kayreen to McKinney, Texas.  We ate at La Madeleine and then walked around downtown McKinney.  I've never spent much time there, but we liked all of the unique shops.  She bought some Texas souvenirs to take back to Seattle.  Ben posed for a photo on the stairs in this coffee shop.  I think Will was trying to tell me that we needed to order coffee and have a seat upstairs.  Too bad we were all stuffed from lunch or we would have.

Why do weekends have to go by so quickly?

Hope y'all had a great weekend, too!

Family Photos {Summer 2014}

Y'all know I faithfully have family photos taken twice a year. We usually have the photos taken around Will's birthday and Ben's birthday since they are about 6 months apart. Two times a year may seem like a lot to some people, but we have such a good photographer that I actually look forward to it. We started using Lauren when Will was two and she's been there to capture special images of our family ever since. 

This summer was really busy and I forgot to share some of my favorite photos that were taken in June just after Ben turned 5.   I thought I'd better get around to sharing these photos because it's almost time to schedule family photos for this Fall.

This black and white photo of the boys is precious.  

I'll cherish it for many years to come.

I can't help but smile when I see this one. It reflects Will and Ben perfectly.  

I have a huge print of this in our playroom.  

Our family

Mark's parents are so sweet and I love how Lauren includes them in our photo session.

Ben

Will

Sweet brothers

One of the cutest boys I know!

The other cutest boy I know!

One of my other favorites.

These photos were taken at the Dallas Arboretum.