::happythings::

got these fabulous little shoes on clearance at Target <3 

This is the duvet cover Steve bought me for my birthday. makes me happy :)

                     some little lovelies on our front porch that make me smile

I found this at a flea market. It's made out of 90 year

 old reclaimed wood and antique hooks. ILOVEIT! Just decided on a place to hang it today :)

::Just wanted to put up pics of a few of these things that put a smile on my face lately. Love the little things like these that make our houses feel homey and make life beautiful around us::

baby barrett comes to play

Last week we had the pleasure of eating lunch and spending the afternoon with Ashley and Barrett :) Time spent with Ash ALWAYS means lots of laughin' and good, encouraging conversation. So thankful for this girl and her handsome little guy whom I hope will become good buddies with my little man. They're off to a good start :) 

mmmm avocado :)

I gave Kaden some avocado tonight! Steve was home and I wanted to do it while he was here, so I made up a batch, got out the camera and let him try it. My baby is growing up. Mixed emotions here!! He had his 6 month check up today and he weighed in at 16 lbs 4 oz and he's 26.5 inches! He's 25th percentile for weight and 50th percentile for height. He got a few shots and got pretty upset. Last time he barely whimpered, but today was a different story. But it didn't last long, and we came home and he slept for 2 1/2 hours! I'm so blessed to have such a happy, healthy, SWEET little lovable boy! Incredibly thankful for the gift he is to me and Steve.

...blueberry picking and bath time...

This morning we headed out to Pungo to pick blueberries once more since the rest of the week is supposed to "feel like" over 100 degrees. Blueberries are one of my favorite things to pick myself since you don't have to bend down (they grow on tall bushes) and they are so fun to pop in your mouth as you go. So sweet and flavorful. It's quite a drive out to Pungo Blueberries, and at one point I was honking at this person in a minivan in front of me who had stopped at a flashing yellow light instead of proceeding through the intersection. I was all in a huff thinking how dumb is this person, when I realized there was a guy holding a stop sign in front of her, directing traffic through a construction zone! Oh dear, I can only imagine what she thought of me...so impatient and oblivious. HA. But in my defense I couldn't really see in front of her!

Despite the heat, Kaden did really well sitting contentedly in his stroller for a long time. He patiently waited for mommy to pick berries. Finally after a while, he'd had enough of the sun and started to get fussy so we called it a day. I got maybe 3/4 of a bucket and I was happy with that. I wanted to have enough to freeze for smoothies and baby food. I'm going to start Kaden on solids one of these days, just waiting for a good time since I want Steve to be here so he can see it. I'm going to be making it myself, so I've been researching the best ways to do it. I'm excited! Can't wait to see him taste his first "real" food :)

When we got home I gave him a bath since he was so sweaty - not to mention the fact that he hadn't had one since middle of last week ha! Love how he loves bath time. It's so fun letting him splash around now that he's sitting up well.

Steve was in an accident on Friday late afternoon as he was coming home from work. I am SO thankful that the Lord protected him and he walked away unharmed!! He was the third car in a three car pile up on the interstate, and the front end of his truck was pretty smashed up. So it's in the body shop this week and Steve is taking the week off - well sort of. He'll spend most of the time finishing the current "flip" house. Hopefully it will be close to done by the end of the week and we can put it on the market soon! It's looking good! Very exciting.

summer vacations (contd.)

In mid July we rode family style up to New Hampshire in the Coolong's minivan with with Brian, Jess and Howie. The boys did really great for the road trip and we made it in under 12 hours! Impressive with two babies. We swam, did some sight seeing in Rhode Island where the boys grew up and had a family reunion with Steve's Aunts and cousins. Fun times were had by all :) It was the boys' first trip up north to visit Nana and Bomps.

::love this cutie face::

love this cutie boy too :)

Steve and his cousin Melissa

Howie loved sportin' his shades!

boys and men :) :)

summer vacations.

Back to catching up. We've gone on a couple summertime trips this year. In June Kaden and I traveled to to Arkansas with the rest of my family to visit my grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins on my mom's side. Steve wasn't able to come, unfortunately, since it's a busy time for work. We missed him being there, but we had a great visit with the fam! We stayed at Uncle Lamar and Aunt Shari's house which is such a fun place to be. We did a lot of hanging out in the swimming pool, eating and laughing/catching up. It was so fun for Kaden to get to meet all them...I love my extended family - they are a gift from the Lord!

Today....

.....was one of those days that I really know and FEEL how blessed I am. God is good. He really is. He wants us to know him and experience him in a real way. His love can be seen and felt in tangible ways. God really met me this morning as I opened his scriptures despite the guilt I was feeling for not having devotions for, I gotta be honest here, weeks. I was feeling condemnation, but genuinely desiring to be met and encouraged in His word. And he was so kind and merciful to show me his faithfulness and his greatness. It didn't matter that I have failed at earnestly pursuing him - he was eagerly waiting for me to turn to him again and embrace me with his love. It was exciting because although I have had the gift of a prayer language for a while now, I think he gave me new words to speak this morning. I had such an awesome time of fellowship with the Spirit this a.m. My soul was refreshed and reawakened and I have been rejoicing in his grace all day. I drove to the oceanfront this afternoon and walked the boardwalk with Kaden enjoying the lovely day and again, prayed and gave thanks for His great love and faithfulness. Tonight Steve is working late at the 'flip' house, and as I perused Facebook I came across a link to a blog written by a young wife and mom in our area whom I've hung out with a couple of times. I don't know her super well and haven't seen her in a couple months, so I looked up her blog to see what she's been up to lately. WOW. As I read I discovered that it was a blog she had just recently created to fill people in on some huge life changing news. She has cancer of the lymph nodes. She's a beautiful 26 year old girl with a husband and a 6 month old baby girl and she has cancer. I was so shocked and so incredibly sad for her. I read through all of her posts and was amazed by her faith-filled words. She was very honest and real about how hard this has been, but you can hear her strength and faith coming through each post...I was so encouraged to see her glorifying the Lord through this awful news. As she faces her fears and all the what if's she is confident that she and her family are secure in the arms of Jesus and nothing can take that truth and the peace that it brings away from her. I feel so sobered and aware of the frailty of this life right now. I feel so aware of the gifts God has given to me to enjoy in this life. I'm so thankful. I thank Jesus for the gift of health, but ultimately I'm thankful to be held in his everlasting arms..thankful that no matter what trials this life brings, no matter how hard or easy it is, and no matter how long or short it is, I get to be WITH him one day and that is what defines me..that is what spurs me on to faith and good deeds while I'm living this life he's given me.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
look full in His wonderful face;
and the things of earth will grow strangely dim
in the light of his glory and grace.

mr. bright eyes