I’m trying out some new technology around here in these parts.  {that’s not how people really talk in my sweet little southern town unless they’re being featured in a movie that claims to take place in Alabama but is, in actuality, being filmed in Georgia, but I’m feeling a little backwoods lately}

I discovered Instagram!  As in, there’s my feed over there to your right, feel free to follow the not-so-great photography that pairs so sweetly with ice cream and big smiles.  Now, how do I use specific pictures from Instagram in my blog post?  Seriously, please, help a girl out.

I’m writing a book.  Well, I’ve been writing a book for awhile, and I’m going to eventually finish it, but this is another project that I’m hoping will be simpler and then motivate me to finish the much, much bigger and infinitely scarier task of a novel.  Right now, I’m just working on a little e-book, a collection of some of my favorite randomness so you don’t have to search through the blog to find the posts most worth reading.  Got a favorite?  Let me know and I’ll see what I can do 🙂  Once I’ve got this all figured out, I’m borrowing inspiration from this girl and offering it up to subscribers for FREE!

Who doesn’t love FREE?  Speaking of, did you enter the giveaway?  I hope so!  Winner announced tomorrow, so come back then, when I’m going to be posting a little list of ten ways to make your mornings better.  Then I’m going to print that list out and hang it on my fridge, so the next time I have a monumental meltdown like I did on Friday, I can look at it and remember, oh yeah, do this instead.

One of my issues the other morning was about clothes.  I’m trying to fix that using this great service called StitchFix.  I think it’s really cool {i.e. total time and mind-saver} that a stylist will pick out everything for me because, let’s face it, if it can’t be bought at Old Navy or Target in the kids’ section, I’ve probably never seen it.  Unfortunately, I sized myself wrong because I’m in-between and some of the incredibly gorgeous tops I was sent were tighter than I prefer on post-baby-#4 belly.  But a friend of mine bought a top out of my box because she loved it so.  In fact, when I took it out the first thing I thought was, “This is so her, and I can’t wear this because she’s moving far away and then I’ll cry every time I put it on.”  I did try that shirt on, though.  It was super cute and nicer than anything else in my closet.  So, I’m trying again.  New Fix to arrive next week sometime, hopefully not before I’ve run out of the birthday money I’ve been hoarding for this.

I’m not posting my menu this week because when I post about food it causes my mother to ask if me if my sister and I are in some sort of cooking competition.  {we’re not.}  Also, because it’s not all that exciting this week.  I’m trying some new recipes from this cookbook, so I’ll let you know how that goes.

Finally, you should know that I had most of this post written last night with grand intentions of posting early, because I’m pretty sure when I post has some effect on my pageviews, but then life happened.  It was totally and completely a manic Monday.  Overslept, Amelia wet the bed, last minute childcare fill-in at Jazzercise, grocery store….you get the picture.  But I’m linking up over at lowercase letters today and starting next week I’m thinking about having my own little linky party about Manic Mondays.  I know I’ve said that for ages, but I said I was having a giveway for ages, too, and look!  I finally did it!

It’s Five Minute Friday over at Lisa-Jo’s!  Come on in and join the party.  Write for five minutes flat and don’t cheat like me and edit!

Home

Someone once said, “Home is the place, where, when you go there, they have to let you in.”

Sometimes, though, for me, home is the place where no matter what I do, they have to let me stay.  Home is where I lose it, where it’s messy, where it’s all sticky floors and wet towels and crushed cheerios.  Home is where I sometimes slam doors and throw clothes and pull my hair.  Home is where I creep back into the living room after the storm is over and gather little ones into my lap and sob out pathetic excuses and beg forgiveness.

Home is where I get put back together.

Home is here, where the days that are so seemingly ordinary become my greatest treasures, where the moments that are so wrought with frustration pass quickly in the wake of toddlers, where I’m allowed to have a tantrum once in a while, as long as I finish it up with a good dose of humility cloaked in grace.

In case you missed it, I’m hosting my first ever giveaway! Hop on over and Get Dolled Up!

Update: This giveaway is now closed!  Thanks to all who entered. Our winner was Laura Day!  She’s getting a sweet Easter shirt from Get Dolled Up for her little girl.

My kids have a problem.  We realized it right after Christmas when this came out of my daughter’s mouth, “It’s okay I didn’t get a horse, Mama.  I’ll just ask the Easter Bunny for one.”

What?!?

Somewhere, somehow, they’ve gotten the idea that the point of the Easter Bunny must be to function like Santa Claus (except better because Santa didn’t bring a horse).  I truly don’t know why they think this, because in the first place, we don’t talk about the EB much.  Secondly, our Easter baskets consist of about $5 worth of candy and junk toys from the Dollar Tree and that’s it.  Finally, we always talk about Christ being at the center of our Easter celebration.

Don’t we?  After that comment, I’ve had to do some hard thinking about whether or not I use this season to teach my children about the sacred, glorious, incomprehensible power of the Cross.

You know what?  I don’t.  We attend the sunrise service, we pray, we thank God, we have devotions, we’ve learned with Resurrection Eggs, but I think I keep it all a little bit too bright and shiny.  You know, it’s a fine line with children: I don’t want to show them the ugliness of the crucifixion so I can scare them into submission, but neither do I want to gloss it over with pastel colors and chevron painted eggs.  Somehow, Easter has to be brought to their level of comprehension.  I think that’s why Christmas gets more attention; it’s undoubtably easier to talk about a sweet baby being born who loves us all, than it is to talk about that same sweet baby becoming a man who died for us all.

I have a friend here in my small town who blogged recently about the same struggle.  She’s a mother, and she’s built a business on the idea that it’s fun to doll life up.  Katie will embroider your monogram on anything you can think of, and her daughter is (according to one of our mutual friends) the best dressed little girl at the church Pre-K.  But when it came time to doll up for spring, Katie didn’t just want to make a cutsie Easter shirt and leave it there.  She wanted to make a statement about faith, a gentle reminder that this season is more.

So using a little ItchtoStitch inspiration, she’s going to be offering these sweet appliques with a monogram of your choice for Easter.  I’ll be ordering baby Gus that darling wagon and talking to my girls about how we carry the cross with us wherever we go, even egg hunts.

Don’t you want to doll up your little ones with these for Easter?  Today, Katie and I have teamed up to offer my very first giveaway!  I’ve been wanting to jump on that bandwagon for awhile now, and we had even discussed a giveaway for this, but when I saw these yesterday I knew I wanted to start here.  So, pretty please, enter my giveaway, follow this randomness, shop at Get Dolled Up, and leave some comment love! a Rafflecopter giveaway//d12vno17mo87cx.cloudfront.net/embed/rafl/cptr.js

I started thinking the other day when I was up to my elbows in dirty dishwater and sticky plates, that life’s a stage.  All too often we put forth just what we want our audience to see, the perfect Pinterest house or craft or dish, the coordinating outfits for all the kids, the happy family Christmas card.  But back there behind the scenes, that’s where the real action is happening.  That’s where real life is, where it’s all a little messy and chaotic and pulsing.

Backstage is the heart of a theatre company.  It’s where you can really see how well a group jives, how connected they are by the spirit of the show, how quickly they can rescue one another from missed entrances and early exits and dropped lines.  Backstage is where we’re all in the same mess and we’re all working together to make what comes out beautiful.

So what’s happening backstage at our home these days?  Are you like me, knee deep in laundry and legos and cheerio crumbs?

This is Gus.  His big sister recently discovered that he will happily eat Ritz crackers all day long if she smears them with baby food.  He’s dis-GUS-ting, I know.  But cute, too, huh?  I posted a better version of this picture on Instagram a couple days ago.  That’s right, I’ve joined the 21st century and officially have a smartphone.

I have no idea what I’m doing with it.  So somebody want to leave me some comment love on how to link my Instagram account to this blog and let you all follow the randomness over there too?  And as long as we’re talking pictures, what’s up with Picasa?  Is it morphing into Google or what?  I just now got to the point where I feel like I had one program figured out, why in the world, does it need to change to something else?  Tell me about that, too, please, if you have any idea what I’m talking about.

Backstage at this house is usually mess.  Mainly because I would prefer to bake and eat rather than clean.  I’m working on our menu for the week and since I had a really long conversation with my friend who’s a super healthy CrossFit owner about this yesterday, I’m very aware of how heavily laden with carbs some of my days are.  Didn’t stop me from making orange marmalade muffins for Sunday School, though.  (I know it’s Monday; I’m trying to be proactive and embrace the freezer that takes up so much space in my laundry room.)  So what’s on the menu this week?

this

and this and maybe chicken tacos.  Definitely homemade pizza on Friday.  Weekend Pork tenderloin like this

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