Love List

I know that Valentine's Day was last week, but it is still the month of love, so I thought I would share a list of things that I am loving right now.....

*Pinterest - Oh, Pinterest, how much do I love you?  If you are at all into decorating, cute ideas or recipes and you haven't gotten on pinterest yet.....it is time.  My sister in law first introduced it to me and I have been hooked ever since.  I love decorating and doing new things around our house and also trying new recipes.  And, it turns out, people have all sorts of creative things on this site.  Just looking around on pinterest makes me happy and here are a few things I have found on there lately that I am really loving....

Green Monster Smoothie.....so good

I have heard several people talk about spinach smoothies and as much as it sounded like a good idea it just didn't sound good enough for me to want to make one.  Until one day on pinterest I saw a pretty picture of one (that always draws me in) and people saying that it tasted really good.  Honestly, to me that means it tastes like a blizzard from DQ.  I was highly doubting that a spinach smoothie would taste like that and to be truthful, this doesn't taste quite that good, but it is really good.  I make one several times a week.  If you are on pinterest, look it up and give it a try. My other favorite from pinterest is this photo collage that is now on our living room wall.....

Here it is all laid out on our floor before being put up

I had so bad been wanting a photo collage for one of our walls, but left to my own devices to try to come up with all the right frames all the right distance apart, it never happened.  Enter pinterest and all of the creative, pretty and inspiring ideas.  And, this particular project gave very detailed instructions, was not hard and did not cost a lot of money....all of my favorite things.

Finished product.....we all love it.  The girls love it! They were so excited to see it and Kyla loves to talk about the memories associated with each picture.  So much more meaningful than the wall art that was hanging there before.

*Message Board - This is another thing I am really loving right now....

My friend, Nicole, recently had what is called a Blessings Party, which sells DaySpring products.  They have beautiful products and I chose this.  I love it!  It is a dry erase marker board....it is in our kitchen and I put Bible verses on it.  It is a great way for our family to see Scripture as we walk through the house and also to help the girls memorize verses.  

*The phrase, "Not cool"- I am loving this right now because it is one of Kyla's new phrases.  It is so big kid sounding and makes me laugh.  She uses it in several circumstances.  The other day she was building blocks and Ashlyn knocked them over and she said, "Ashlyn, that is not cool." :)  And just a few days ago I accidentally dropped a plate in the kitchen.  She walked in, looked at me and just said, "Not cool."  She cracks me up.

 *Morning devotional time -  I have for so long wanted to get up early in the morning and have quiet time with God reading the Bible and praying before my day starts.  The problem here is I am not a morning person.  I tried it in college, it lasted a few days.  I have tried it several times over the years, never lasted long.  I always did better with devotional time in the afternoon.  The problem I was running into recently though, was that my afternoon time is becoming very limited.  I just don't have a lot of uninterrupted time and was feeling like I couldn't really focus.  I knew it was time to try the morning thing again but I was nervous about it.  And, the deal is, I really need this time and really want it.  I kept thinking about doing it in the mornings and finally tried it again.  I am going on a month now and loving it.  Both of my girls are good morning sleepers, neither of them getting up super early, so I am able to get up before they are awake and have that time.  It has been wonderful.

*Date nights - This will always be on the list of things that I love.  The other thing I really love about date nights right now, though, is that my friend Tracy and I swap date nights with each other once a month.  One Friday night a month her kids come to our house so she and her husband can go out and vice versa.  We each get a night out with our husbands, free babysitting and our kids get to play together, which they love.  Everybody is happy.

The very top of my love list.  On our date this past weekend

Woohoo!!!  We are getting ready to celebrate being married 10 years and we are taking a trip to celebrate.  Add in some travel research to our date.

The love is shared with our kids on date night too.....Kyla came home with this note of sweetness from her friend, Alyssa

This is what I am loving these days.  How about you....anything on your love list right now?

Lovey Dovey

Today is Valentine's Day but we have been feeling the love for weeks leading up to it.  I love Valentine's Day because it is a reason to make things special, but nothing you have to stress about to get ready for.  It is just the special little things about Valentine's Day that make it so fun.  Like wearing clothes with hearts on them....

Ashlyn after church

Another heart shirt

And another

And one more....Ashlyn declaring her love for her daddy

And, of course, the fun of having small kids at Valentines....making crafts.  This is something Kyla just loves!

Ashlyn got in on it too with her sweet speech therapist adding in some play dough fun during speech.

And, who can forget about the Valentine's treats?  We always look forward to the really yummy treats my mother in law sends us at Valentines each year.  I have been getting these treats ever since Troy and I were dating in college and now Kyla and Ashlyn are loving them.

The other great thing about Valentine's is that you can make anything extra special by making it into the shape of a heart.....

  Rice Krispie treats

Not heart shaped, but so good

Valentine's lunch....heart shaped grilled cheese

My favorite part of Valentine's is doing special things to show our love for each other.  I love seeing this between Troy and the girls....he is such a loving daddy to them, making sure they know they are loved.  And he gives them each flowers every year.  I just read something a couple of weeks ago that said that young girls that know they are loved and affirmed by their dads when they are small, won't be as likely to feel the need to seek love and affirmation someday from a teenage boy. Amen! I experienced this love from my dad and love seeing my girls receive it from theirs.

Ashlyn looking at her card from daddy

We are lucky girls....our beautiful flowers

Add in a little Valentine's snow.....

and, we had a great day.  Feeling the love....Happy Valentine's Day!

On the same journey

When Ashlyn was first born and we received her Down Syndrome diagnosis, I felt very alone and isolated.  I knew no one personally who was in our same situation.  It wasn't long before that all changed and God began to bring people into our lives who were also in our situation.  I have connected with so many people who I never would have otherwise met and they have all been such a help and encouragement to us. 

I also began following the blogs of others who had children with Down Syndrome.  It is amazing how much you can feel like you know someone even when you really don't.  It is just an encouragement to know there are others on the same journey.  Last week we were made aware of two different articles written by parents of children with Down Syndrome.  And, again, I see the people God has placed on the same path as us and I am so proud of how they are using their voices to honor their children and the Down Syndrome community as a whole.

The first article is written by Gabe Lyons who my husband knew about before I ever did.  He has written books that my husband knows about and learned that he has a son with Down Syndrome.  Anyway, he wrote this article that is just so good.  It is getting lots of publicity right now, probably because it is very well written and speaks very honestly about how the culture we live in craves a perfection that we can control.  And when somethings happens that we can't control, we want to take the control back by getting rid of it, which is why the abortion rate of Down Syndrome babies is so very high.  You can read the article here.....
To Cade and the Eight Percent

Then just days after that article, my husband was made aware of another article written by a mother of a Down Syndrome daughter.  Her name is Amy Julia Becker and she wrote the article about how her daughter has caused her to rethink perfection and all the other things God is teaching her through her daughter.  I loved reading it and could relate to so much of it.  You can read that article here....
It's No Mistake, Penny is Perfect 

I am really thankful for the people who are on this same journey with us.  Most of all I am thankful for a child who brought us into this community and all of the beauty we are finding here.