on parenting...

Parenting is hard.  Plain and simple.  Don't get me wrong, there are some really fun moments and I wouldn't change anything about it.  I am so thankful to even be a parent.  I know there are plenty of people who don't even get the chance to have their own biological children.  I am thankful.  All that to say, it is hard too.  I fail so much at it.  I want to be the kind of parent who is able to talk calmly through issues with their children and show them their heart issues and point them to Christ.  I want to.  So many times I don't though.  So many times I get so frustrated.  I loose my patience.  My concern with myself is that I so many times want to create a robot out of Sarah kate and have her do the way I want her to and act the way that I think is appropriate, but not take the time to explain to her why she is to obey me and to look past the action to her heart.  I know that isn't what she needs.  She needs to know of her need for Christ.  She needs me to take time out to talk with her and be patient.  She needs Christ.  Making her do as a say doesn't necessarily show her that.  I don't want a child who obeys Momma so that they won't get a spanking or have time-out.  I want her heart to yearn for her Savior.  I want her to see her need for Christ.  Why can't I do that on a daily basis. 

Join the Club!

So I thought I would share a cool deal, esp. if you are in St. Louis.  I signed up for The Club early this year before my birthday since I heard you get a $10 gift card to the St. Louis Galleria Mall.  Since then I have signed up MIchael too and so far this year we have been able to get a total of $50 to the mall.  These are mall gift cards so they are good for any of the stores or restaurants.  No strings attached!  Pretty cool right!  They have this in other cities too, you can look and see if there is one close to you.  They will send you emails which you then take to the mall and get your gift card, really easy.  And then they have also given away gift cards others times of the year too.   On Valentine's day they sent an email to print and bring to receive a $10 card and then last week they did it again!  Check it out...you know I love me some good deals :)

http://www.ggp.com/gift-cards/chance-to-win-a-gift-card

I know I need to blog about all that we have been up to.  Things I want to blog on soon (so I remember...)
*Our New Van!!!!
*Crafts I have been up to...
*SK update :)

I have been plenty busy the last few weeks.  I am taking class with Michael and that has been fun.  We have something going on most weeknights now, so things are just plain busy, but we are enjoying it.  Mondays are class (SK goes to the log cabin), Tuesdays I teach ballet, Wednesdays we have church (where I am helping teach SK's class), and Sunday nights we have K-groups (our church small group). 
Hopefully more blogging will come later.  I need to take some pictures of our van and the things I have been sewing, ect.
Hope everyone is having a good week!

My little Ballerina!

Yesterday was a very special day for me as a mommy.  I got to take my little girl to her first ballet class.   We got all dressed in our little ballet outfit and got the hair put nicely in a bun and headed out.  She looked so stinkin cute :)  I might be biased, but that's alright.  She is in a class with several of her buddies from church and was so excited to dance with them as soon as she got in the room.  She walked right up to the teacher and started talking her ears off.  While I wanted to stay and watch (totally wanted to break all those rules about being that mom that won't leave the room and takes a gazillion pictures...), I didn't.  Instead, I headed to the playground with the other mommies, who just so happen to be friends and had a lovely mommy time.  SK was so excited when class was over (it might have helped too that she got a sucker!)  and was so wound up that nap completely didn't happen.  She had fun showing us some of the things they did and "teaching" me how to do ballet. 

On a side note (just one of those things for me to remember while I am thinking about it.)  Sk loves to dress up in her ballet outfit or in dress up dresses.  When Daddy is around, she wants music on and comes running to him and says "DADDY, you can be my man!"  "Come one!"  "Dance with me!"  I guess we have seen enough princess movies now, that she feels that in order to be a princess,  you need a prince.  Daddy is happy to fill that role.  I love it when she says it.  It melts me heart and I know he kinda likes it too :)

Apple Pickin'

We decided on Monday to go apple pickin' since we had the day off from work and school.  The weather was incredible, so we set out with our picnic to Eckert's farm in Illinois about 40 minutes from us to enjoy the day.  We had so much fun on our first trip to pick apples.  We ate quite a bit of apples and brought some home to enjoy for a while.  I haven't gotten around to making an apple pie, but that is on my list for tomorrow!  They had a kid's play area too, so SK got to pick one ride and happily chose the airplanes.  She had a blast riding, then we were off to the apple orchard.

I have more posting to do hopefully by tomorrow.  Sk had her first ever BALLET class today.  I think I was more excited than she was, and she was pretty stinkin excited.  I had a hard time not being one of "those moms"  who take a ridiculous amounts of pictures and take forever to get out of the door so the teacher can start the class and peek in the window.   I restrained myself....this time :)  I can't believe my baby is old enough to go to ballet!  Ok, so enough about that.  Pictures and post about that will come tomorrow!

Hello Fall!

I know, I know...I haven't blogged in a while.  Sorry.  We have been getting used to our fall schedule of classes and busy stuff.  Michael had his first week of classes and we have had a fun weekend.  Monday night I get to go to class with Michael and am really excited about it.  I am looking forward to being in class together and learning together.  SK started "school" Monday morning as well too.  She loved it.

Friday afternoon we got a phone call from a friend offering us tickets to the Cardinal's game.  Not just any tickets, front row, behind the dugout.  Free.   Fun times right!?!  We said yes immediately and took 5 minutes to get ready and head out the door.  It was such a fun family night.  We rode the train to the stadium and headed to our seats right before the game started.  SK even got one of the batter's gloves and a ball from the game.  She was so excited!  We lasted till 9:45 and then headed out so get SK to bed.  At that point, she was asking to go home and go to bead.  It is pretty rare that she asks to go to bed. 

Yesterday we watched some football and cheered on the tide, then headed to hang out with friends.  The daddies studied and the girls took naps, which left us mommas some chat time :)  It was nice.  We had dinner out at the "horse" park and then played games.  Fun weekend!

I hope to get around to blogging more this week, but I have said that before right :)  SK and I start ballet this week, so we are excited about that.  I teach 2 classes on Tues. and Sk has her class on Wed.  Pictures will definitely come from that.  And, I hope to share some of the crafting I have been up to.  We shall see if I find some time to do more blogging...

Oh, and the weather here.  Incredible.  The temperature right now is 69 outside.  Lovely.  Just so lovely.

Recap of our week

So I know I have been horrible at blogging lately.  We have been trying get lots done and enjoy our time with Daddy before the fall semester starts.  This week has been busy, but I am sitting here trying to remember what we have been up to.  Ha.  I did have to work Monday and Tues. later than normal, but the payoff for that is that I will have Friday off.  Woohoo.  Last night we got a surprise visit from a friend from Birmingham.  I say friend, he was actually my Sunday School teacher way back in 7th grade with his wife.  They were always very involved with the youth (and still are...) and were a big influence on me.  He happened to be in town for business and he had last night free and offered to take us to dinner.  We had so much fun catching up with him and having a fun treat eating at The Elephant Bar. 
I have also been crafting and sewing too.  I have found so many ideas on pinterest, that I don't know where to start with all of the things I want to try.  This week I am working on making SK some things for the fall including a smocked top and a turkey outfit.  I have ideas running in my head for making curtains.  So many things :)
I have also been getting some great recipes off of pinterest too.  Wanna see what has been on our menu....

Buffalo Chicken Mac-n-Cheese
Want the recipe?  I highly reccomend it.  It made a huge casserole, so 2 meals worth.  It was delish too!
Here is the link.

Other things on my list to make tomorrow:
Homemade yogurt
Homemade Protein bars

So fun right :)  I am excited about the clothes I am working on for SK.  My plan is to finish them up tomorrow and hopefully have a blog on Friday with pictures of them being modeled by the lovely Sarah Kate.
That's if for now.  I am off to enjoy the rest of this naptime...

More on Alabama

I did not mean to take so long to blog again, but such is life right now.  This week has been filled with to-do lists, catching up, clean, sinus headaches, and just plain old busyness.  O well.  I haven't been feeling too hot this week, so I am just trying to keep up with life and working and such, therefore blogging has taken a back seat.

On to the rest of our trip.  I know most of you have probably seen the pictures from our trip on facebook.  I didn't take tons of pictures, not near as many as I should have, but we had so much fun each day.  It was so nice to be back at our parent's and friend's homes.  It was such a whirlwind of a trip and not near long enough to be able to see enough of everyone that we wanted to see.  We are so blessed with an awesome family and incredible friends that love us and care for us. 

So there are way too many stories to tell about the trip (esp. with my headache...), but I will try to tell some.  SK got a special treat of getting a slumber party at each of the grandparent's houses while Michael and I got to spend some time together with friends.  She had so much fun having that quality time with Mimi and Nana and Papa. 

SK is so blessed to have her grandparents.  She is so well loved and we love seeing her face light up when she is with them.  So thank you Nana and Papa and Mimi for loving our baby so much.  We love seeing her with y'all and even more than that seeing how each of you are helping us point her to Christ.  It truly blesses our hearts.

So I know this post probably is a bit jumbled, but that is the best I got right now.  We wish our trip to Alabama could have been longer, but had so much fun while we were there.

We also got to have our dear friend, Virginia take our family pictures one morning, which was so much fun!  We are so excited to have some new pictures.  It is fun to look back each year and seen how much SK has grown.  Thanks Virginia for doing such an awesome job!  We love them!

Hopefully I can get back to blogging more.  Michael is in between semesters right now so we are trying to enjoy this down time (somewhat down time at least...) as a family before the busy fall begins!