largen life

matchy pj's-ruthie is smiling at her da-da. she's about to be 1, i'm not ready for my squishy baby to be 1.
this made me laugh-this is hubby's drawing of henry, ruthie & our neighbor's cat. apparently, i didn't put a shirt on ruthie this day & he thinks she looks like a plumber (no offense to all the plumbers who check out dd).

baby gift

This assortment of personalized baby happies was $50: laminated square monogram hanger, square labels, thank you notes & laminated tag. If you ever want to give something like this-just email me. Let me know your price limit & I'll tell you some options.

thanks, jen for your order-you always think of fun projects for me.

mix it up

as the unofficial queen of the mix tape in jr. high, my heart started beating real fast when I saw this.

good books

Above are 2 books that I wanted to pass along. Okay the titles are a little hokey, but get past that. We are studying the Becoming More Than a Good Bible Study Girl in a bible study I'm in and it is one of my favorites so far. The author is very honest, funny, encouraging & 100% relatable. It is hitting me just right. And this author, Lysa Terkeurst, was featured on Oprah for the adoption story of her 2 sons from Africa. We had discussed this powerful episode in our girls group this past fall and just put it together that it is the author of this book we were studying.

And the Busy Mom's devotional book is a good format-my friend Sissy gave it to me after Ruthie came (I think this was the occasion?)-such an appropriate gift regardless. Speaking of, baby girl is waking up from her nap. She knew I was talking about her.

Enjoy!

winter largen life

We got snow today and it was great. What a fun treat. but when you make snowmen (or women) every 5 years-it is hard to remember how to do them. of course hubby figured out the best and most efficient way to do it.

A winter hat a friend's mama made-isn't is so cute. Ruthie almost always has her little tongue out like this.

henry being excited about his new electric train and book. just the other day he got this electric train stuck up in his hair-quite traumatizing. he was in a dora watching trance when it happened.
i wish i could think of a clever caption.

lia kate's paintings

This is Lia Kate's bedding & below are the paintings I did to coordinate with it.


lia kate, I can't wait to meet you in person, sweet girl.

step stool

This is a Target step stool painted up for my Bham sister, Meg's friend-DeAnna. Get all that? Her friends are so sweet to do these long-distance orders from me. Hope Peyton enjoys her step stool for many years to come.

valentines cards

I did these little valentines for Henry's class/teachers & Ruthie's teachers. I laminated the verse & put a magnet on the back. I'm so last-minute with these things. I had my veggie-tale valentines already bought and ready to give and this idea hit me the other day & then i HAVE to do it. I had fun putting them together.

valentines day

so Henry has a valentine & it isn't me. her name is savannah. she loves keeps him in line at Mother's Day Out-telling him to share & hopefully encourage him to potty train. she told her daddy that "she was going to keep henry forever".

valentines-n-etsy

We can twist and shout, do the turtle dove-you're the one I love. David Gray (listen)
islands in the stream, that is what we are. dolly & kenny (listen)
And they could never ever tear us apart. INXS (listen)

So this was a goal for about 2 years & now I have a little shop up on etsy! I have worked up some fun V-tine day happies. Above are pics of them. I had so much fun making them. I make a valentine mix for hubby every year and these songs usually make an appearance. So I'm keeping a set and made some more for YOU! You may purchase them at etsy ($25) or just email me. If you are local & could pick up-you don't need to pay shipping. I'll slowly add things to the etsy site & keep selling from my blog as well.

haiti help

This seems like such a small effort to help such a huge disaster going on in Haiti. But I am giving 50% of all profits for the Jan/Feb months to the Red Cross for Haiti relief. It is impossible for me to process the despair these people are feeling.

My purse calendars are reduced to $7 (limited amount), any design can be ordered. See my magnet selection-$5 each & then my sticker labels for order.

This song reminds me of how we are to trust God when such hurt is happening. Click the link to listen. Or it is also in my music player in the side bar.

Your Hands by JJ Heller

children's books

The Kissing Hand, Audrey Penn. The perfect book for the first day of school.
Someday. Alison McGhee
Perfect for baby girl-I teared up in the middle of B&N the first time I read it.

Spider Sisters, John Trent
My sister Polly gave me this book a few years back and it has the sweetest message.

The House in the Night, Susan Marie Swanson
(Reminiscent of Good Night Moon, beautiful illustrations. It makes me sleepy, we just got it at christmas.)


The Pigeon Wants a Puppy, Mo Willems
All of his books are hilarious, I laugh each time I read this to the kids.

I sure do love children's books & these are some of my favorites. I used to buy them before I had kids & felt silly. Now I have a perfect legitimate reason. One day I would like to do a kiddo book. Share your faves that I need to have.

house of prayer

This is a verse print adhered to a 5"x5" wooden block. Most of my verses I have painted can be ordered this way. See the selection of my magnets for verse options. These are $30 each. The wood block is stained with painted stripes. It can set on the shelf or can hang on the wall.

dandy things

Here are brother & sister step stools. Thanks Lauren for ordering these up for these precious kiddos. Porter and Ruthie were baptized on the same Sunday!

new years resolutions?

I've been in a funk all today-trying to sort out my new year's resolutions (i've given myself a tummyache). I was awake last night thinking of the million i could make:
-have the kids watch less tv (um, and this does include my 9 mth old-yikes)
-quit checking out people.com
-enjoy each day like it could be my last
-take better care of my hubby
-cook more for my hubby
-start exercising
-commit more time talking to God & having that still time with Him

And then it hit me, if I set aside my "be still" time with God each day-surely these other things have got to work themselves out. So that is what I'm going to do. I am going to commit that this next month, that I will find 30 minutes in the morning/night to really focus on Him. This is one of my biggest weaknesses-my lack of commitment to this time. In each Bible study I've done, the importance of this one-on-one time is always stressed. So this has gone up to the top of the resolution list and will be the only one I am going for this year. If you have any pointers on how you carve out this time each day, pass them along. And I feel pretty lame needing to make this a resolution (should be a given!) but I'm on the hook now & I'm going to do it!

caroline

Caroline Herring is from Canton, Mississippi and a wonderfully talented singer/songwriter. She was featured on NPR's All Things Considered this weekend, talking about her new album out. This is huge. And in true Mississippian form, I love to brag on successful fellow-Mississippians. It's a great little interview-listen to it.

meredith pardue

I've developed an obsession for this artist-meredith pardue. I'm considering buying a piece of her artwork and putting away money for it. a total want, not a need. I don't even buy fancy jeans & I'm considering buying this. i loooove her work though.

love came down on christmas

I'm thinking about my dear friend Emily tonight, she and her husband Danny are getting to know their new baby girl in China right now. God is so amazing how he brings families together. I'm smiling thinking back to when were both single girls in 2001, about how she said she wanted to adopt a baby girl from China. We worked together briefly before she went to the Peace Corps & then when she returned to the US we taught english as a 2nd language together at a local church and have so many wonderful memories with our international friends.

Both of the blogs she keeps up have amazing stories-the bumpy arrival of her baby boy & the miracle of his life and health & then now her journey to Lia Kate. Emily has always been brave-will try any kind of food, loves adventure, & always up for any type of travel. I'll never forget one time we were riding horses and the 2 horses we were on, totally took off & were racing us through the woods. The whole experience was traumatizing to me (I thought I was going to be impaled by a tree limb) & when I looked over at Emily-she was just laughing and loving it. That totally sums up Emily. I'm so happy she & Danny have Lia Kate, please pray for this transition for baby girl and the new dynamics of their family.

Christmas happenings

Henry getting handsy with the manger scene. Baby Jesus goes MIA about once a day.



This is what I made of my shells from the beach. I glittered them and tied them on pretty ribbon with a cluster of ornaments. I think I was just trying to hold on the beach for a bit longer.

Take kids in christmas pj's in front of the Christmas tree-check.

Above is a picture of my dear high school friend Melanie & of the beautiful church in Gulfport where she is the new rector. This church was rebuilt after Katrina and they did a fabulous job-wonderful architecture. This was such a special night for me. Getting to see her being installed at St. Peters by the Sea. She is such a wise person-has always been this way, even when we were all stupid in jr. high. A great listener. I pray for her all the time-the huge job she has, balancing motherhood with serving her church. Her blog is great-she's a wonderful writer.
http://lemburgordinarytime.blogspot.com/
Our day of snow!!!!!
Our beautiful Japanese Magnolia that stays this brilliant red for about 1 week.

Have a wonderful Christmas. I love this verse and it sums up how we are to treasure Christmas in your own quiet way. Think of Mary, admiring her new child & just soaking the whole experience in.....

But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19

thanksgiving largen life

We went to the beach with hubby's side of the family for Thanksgiving. IT WAS FABULOUS. Nothing like the beach. Everyone is lighter at the beach. Even shopping at the Wal-Mart at the beach is a different experience-people are relaxed. The shells. I always love finding shells and thinking of ways to use them. And we did a little surprise bday celebration of Tim's bday-Jonas Brothers style. It was that or Spiderman. Our nephew Jack was a little disturbed that uncle tim "really" liked the Jonas Brothers-he said he thought only kids like them.










Had to air it out after some burnt toast.