reflecting moment

My daughter Kyla is precious to me. I love my little girl to pieces. So when my little princess asked if I wanted to play dolls with her, I was all for it. Well, that lasted about 5 minutes, then she decided she wanted to play fix mommys hair. What fun we had! I had to take a picture with my hairstylist too.

Later on that night, as I was tucking her into bed, Kyla pulled me down and whispered into my ear. " Mommy, tomorrow morning lets play dolls again and I will fix your hair."

In that moment, I realized yet again how important spending time with my children is. I will be the first to admit that I am easily distracted by technology. Music, phones, internet, my camera. They all pull my attention and I think to myself its ok, the kids are playing just fine without me. But!!!! How much more fine are they when I am playing with them!

I prayed about it last night and as I did, I heard the Lord say to me. You devote yourself to me first, Dustin second, kids third. " Well, ok God, but what about me and the things I want to do?"

"You are last Sue."

Ouch!!!!!! With tears in my eyes I repented of how often I have been putting me before them.
The verse : But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first. ( matt 19: 30 and mark 10:31)came to my mind. It was a lighting bolt of revelation for me. I am to lovingly serve my family, with no hopes of anything in return. That is my mission field for this season in my life. I am to put God and my families needs above my own. The Bible also says, there is no greater love, than a person laying down their lives for another.

So, what does that mean? Well, I guess for starters, I am going to have to place some boundries on technology. Its is such a distraction to me and I need( with Christ) to get control over it. I am praying about anything else..( i sure hope there is nothing else!)
In the end, I hope that my husband and two kiddos know they are my greatest earthly treasure and I am grateful everyday for them.

Sitchin some sassy

There is something about creating that brings you a little closer to understanding why GOd always said it was good every day of creation.

Now I am NOT GOd and I did not create this amazing universe and our planets and all that inhabit it. But I did create this lovely strapless dress. AHHHH was it fun!!! Just like my cooking, it only turns out great when you follow directions. SO I am not one of those cool fashion people who can litteretly sew something just from their own drawings. I followed a pattern that I got years ago! I wish I would have really looked at how easy it was,I may have made one of these sooner! My only problem was that by following the measurements on the back I made this dres WAY TOO big. SO I had to take it in, but luckily that was all my issues!

I bought this fabric on my birthday and I was excited to make something sweet and dainty. I think that I did a pretty good job.

TKO laid back style

I have to admit that my style is mostly laid back. I don't dress up everyday and the reality is, if I dress up twice a week I am feeling pretty proud of that. I have two amazing kids Kyla is 3 1/2 and Isaac is 1 1/2. Two very active kids who always want mommy to play with them. So cute skirts and dresses just don't mix with wrestling and blocks and all other things requiring me to be on the ground and mauled by my kiddos.

So for this TKO I had to whip out one of my latest and GREATEST thrift buys! TO be honest, I got it for free!!! My lovely blue and white striped wool Gap sweater! ahhhh!!!!! Serendipity is a thrift store in Baldwin, WI and I LOVE IT!!!!( click here to go to the Facebook page) They have a great program where if you spend $10 you get a punch and get 20 punches get $20 off your next purchase. So on my birthday I went in with my filled card and was able to nab this beauty for FREE!!! yeah me!!! I have to admit that when I got home I started mixing and matching it with all of my dresses, skirts, shirts, boots, you name it I was having my own little fashion frenzy.

everything I am wearing is thrifted.

Serendipity for the sweater,necklace and orange top.

Treasures from the Heart for the jeans and shoes.

Bowls as hats.....a new fashion?

Bowls as hats......a new fashion trend? Probably not. But who can resist two adorable children asking so sweetly for mommy to participate in their fun.

When my little guy walked up to me with a bowl and pointed to my head I just knew we were in for a good time!

TKO!!!! Todays Kickin' outfit!

I thought of an acronym! TKO. In the boxing world is means Technical Knockout. But in my little blog world it will mean Today's Kickin Outfit! Yeah me, for figuring that out!

So whenever I have a new look that I have come up with that I want to share I will put TKO in the title!

Ah, now that that is done, I can get back to the task at hand. I grew up an only child. My parent were amazing and I think they did a pretty good job in the spoil factor. I grew up getting pretty much what I asked for Christmas every year. SPOILED. I also grew up buying new clothes every year school. SPOILED. But for the most part my parents were also realistic. Target and Kohls, JC Penny's were my main shopping stores and I never owned a pair of brand new Gap jeans until I got married and THEY WERE MATERNITY!!!

The one thing I never knew, was the value of a thrift store. We went to the local Good Will and Savers but it was never for clothes. We were into camping and my mom found a lot of helpful handy stuff for that. Also, BOOKS!! My mom and I were book worms and it was also a great place to get a lot of books for SO cheap! I do remember once getting a cast off mustard colored bridesmaid dress for dress up purposes, but I rarely bought clothes that I would wear for everyday.

Partly I think it was the stigma, you are wearing someone else's "cast offs". Well, I am much older and wiser now and I see the value in thrift shopping for my clothes! When I was given my $200 for buying new clothes, 70% was spent at the thrift stores. I bought the other %30 at target and Walmart and I bought a dress from Modcloth that was ON SALE! There is only one item I bought full price and it was a pair of jeans for $15 at Walmart. Yes that is right, WALMART! I don't care anymore. Labels don't really mean anything to me. Sure I love my banana republic pencil skirt, but I love it mostly cuz I got it for $10!!!! I would have bought the same skirt by some other brand and loved that just as much if I got it for so cheap.

So, I am thanking God for Thrift stores these days. I am grateful for a place to go and find cute things that help me feel all girly, sometimes sassy, even sexy.

Blouse: Serendipity Thrift Store, Sweater and boots: mine for years, Necklace: Handmade, Jeans: Faded Glory, Walmart