Runaway Summer...

Wow, I just realized it's been nearly three months since I last posted! We've been busy, to say the least, with plenty of summer fun and some much needed free time for me to enjoy time with Reese. From museums, to a water park, to Reese's first movie, a baseball game, and plenty of time with friends, it's truly felt like summer. A few highlights below...

Swimming lessons...

"near" our pals, Jimmy and...
Bella & Marco

A new job for me at A New Beginning!!! Praise God!

My beautiful new office!

Mmmm, 4th of July Firework Cookies

Playdates with Alli!

and spontaneous room remodels... (the master)

Kitchen Before

Kitchen After!

Best $300 of a landlord's money I've ever spent!

Reese and his puppy puppet

Hope your summer has been just as fun (and not quite as hot) as ours!

These days...

...we've been spending time with family, celebrating Easter, and sewing!

Reese at the Desert Botanical Garden

Studying butterflies with Grandpa and Nana
Butterfly sanctuary

When my parents were here, we bought a used twin bed and painted it so Reese could have a full-fledged big boy bed. Can you tell he loves it?!

A little dress thrown together for our niece Mary Ann...Happy Birthday Mary!

A new shirt for me, redesigned from an Old Navy shirt and a beloved childhood tee

The injury I sustained in the process - sewed through my finger (youch!!!)

Reese wearing his new cowboy fest, riding his horsie

Reese and King scoop the poop at the Bludworths...true cowboys!

Reese models the new cape I made for him...

Prince Smitham

Super-Reese!

Easter morning

Easter with Grandma & Grandpa

Reese's Spring Fun

Preschool Zoo Day

Resting wherever he can...
Children's Museum Climber!

Carrie & Declan making a hat

Ronan and Reese in the "grocery store"

Noodle forest

Mandy makes cotton candy at Bella's 5th Birthday party!

What an awesome party, complete with a bouncy castle!

Reese takes his swing at the pinata

Sew Much Fun!

I've been on a sewing binge lately and I can't resist the chance to show my recent projects!

Hide and seek in the shirt and pants I made him (not really meant to be worn together!)

Big boy backpack

Skirt for me!
Stay tuned to see all the projects I've been working on for little ones lately :)

Preparing for Lent

Seems like Lent is the perfect opportunity to move minimalism to the next level. With a little less than a week to go until Ash Wednesday, I'm contemplating how to further reduce stuff/materialism. I'm hoping that these changes, while they may feel sacrificial at first will simultaneously produce a more sustainable, in the moment, genuine lifestyle change. In some ways the applications of this Lenten project seem a bit silly and at the same time, if I'm not willing to give up the stuff that takes me further from my relationships with family, friends, and God, then how do I expect to change?!

On that note, I'm outlining a few changes and their possible benefits:

1. No Target: There is nothing we're in NEED of and going to Target just tempts me back toward all of my WANTS. Benefits: Decreased spending, less clutter, less irresponsible environmental and international impact of buying

2. No online shopping: I spend countless hours "shopping" on the internet, most of the time just figuring out what amazing deals there are on Ebay, etc. Now although this does not necessarily wreak havoc on the spending of money, it steals precious time from time with family and again feeds the WANT monster. The few exceptions I will allow myself: comparison shopping for things we do need (laptop battery) and fabric (cutest fabric is online, and I'm in gift-making mode right now). Benefits: Fewer WANTS, more evening time with my guys.

3. More time on relationships: This is no sacrifice, of course, but a definite goal. I'm not very good at staying in touch and yet there are so many important people in my life that I miss and want to devote more time/energy to. This also supports the less time on stuff part of my goals.

Wish me luck!!!

Minimalism - When Less is More

For a while now I've had the desire for a more minimalist lifestyle, and although my dedication to minimalism fluctuates based on life chaos, I always come back to certain things. I want to be less superficial, consumption-oriented, overwhelmed with things to clean/maintain/move, bound by material things. I want to be more frugal, clear-headed, in the moment, and focused on values instead of things. I want to show Reese that it's our relationships and our actions that matter, not what we own. One can only spend so much time telling clients the importance of slowing down and finding joy in day to day life before being convicted to focus on this in oneself! Of course, this flies in the face of what American society currently values as well as my all too human desire for more and more and MORE. And so, I'm in the infancy of my life as a minimalist, but I'm motivated to push ahead anyway!

Recently, my interest in making things by hand has dove-tailed with blogs and books to encourage me further in the direction of minimalism. Most notably, I'm currently reading "The Story of Stuff," a humbling look into the environmental and social impacts of our consumerist era. Nothing like it to challenge a person's love of Target.

Lately, when I'm feeling stalled out on making positive change in this area, I feel pulled to make a more substantial commitment to change. So I've decided that outlining some of the things I want to change here on the blog might hold me accountable and organize my thinking on something that feels so fundamentally important to me lately. Today I'm posting some changes I'm proud of and some areas where I need some work!

Progress

Owning one car

Buying second-hand (I love you craigslist!!!)

De-activating my facebook account (to focus on relationships in the here and now)

Living in a reasonably sized home for our family size

Only buying Reese a few things for his bday (and trying to get others to do the same)

Constantly trying to donate clothes, household items

Taking full advantage of our library (borrowing rocks!)

Making things homemade (less likely to make too much when each piece/meal takes work)

In need of help

Resisting the siren-song that is Target

Finding a way to keep the memory (but not the item) of things that are highly sentimental

Spending less time online "window shopping"

Reducing how much I want "stuff" all the time and halting my ability to justify any purchase

Anyone else out there working on this?

Never a Dull Moment

How did we get from here...

To here...

to here...

to here...so quickly?!

We've had no shortage of big boy moments lately, as Reese masters the potty, started at his new preschool, and turned 3. It's exciting and heart-wrenching at the same time. I can't believe how fast time has flown...

First day of school

At his bday party w/Bella

Jim, Marco, & Bella

Balloon fun

This year's cake

Geoff, Reese, Sam, & Alli

Playing with presents from Aunt Court

Toby's windmill! From Aunt Katie

A drum from Nana & Grandpa Chris