Inspiration.

Inspiration. Noun. \ˌin(t)-spə-ˈrā-shən

1. a) a divine influence or action on a person believed to qualify him or her to receive and communicate sacred revelation; b) the action or power of moving the intellect or emotions; c) the act of influencing or suggesting opinions

2. a) the quality or state of being inspired; b) something that is inspired

3) an inspiring agent or influence

Lately, I have been MIA from my blog. But, that doesn't mean I've been lacking inspiration. Sure, my list of creative projects has been ignored a bit. In fact, painting, sewing, scrapbooking, and home decor haven't really been on my radar.

However, I've been busy. I've been inspired. And I've been loving it.

What's got me so inspired? It's not really a what....but rather, WHO.

Let's start with this lady. Y'all may know her from her days on Taxi. But, I know her as the most energetic, naturally beautiful, and exciting red head on the planet! Yes, it's Marilu Henner.

I had the pleasure of meeting her several years ago, and...hold onto your shorts with this one...was in an infomercial she did. That's right - I'm a late night celebrity. About 5 years ago, had you awoken in the night and been bored to tears because you couldn't fall back to sleep, I'm guessing you caught a glimpse of me talking about how amazing Marilu is and what a health genius she is. Yup, I said genius. And I still think so highly of her that if you wake up tonight in the middle of the night, I'd tell you just to call me and I'd go on and on about how awesome she is.

Marilu has written several books about her healthy lifestyle, and gosh darnit, they rock. SHE rocks! Have I said that?!?! She's one of the sweetest ladies I've ever met! She has a great website, full of great info and there are even online classes that happen there. I feel like I've learned SO MUCH about health, food, and just striving to be my best.

One of my online friends from Marilu.com kept referencing a blog where she was finding super recipes. What she failed to mention was that not only are the recipes downright fabulous, but the blog in general ROCKS!!! I'm talking about peasandthankyou.com. Haven't been there?? GO. NOW! You'll thank me later.

Mama Pea is funny, creative, and a whiz in the kitchen. I have become nearly obsessed with her blog (not like, stalker obsessed, but more like inspired obsessed). She is a mom of two young kids and I feel a kinship with her. She's HILARIOUS. She understands being in jammies all day and not knowing what 'good hair days' are anymore. She finds her kids wearing costumes...bathing suits...tutus...whatever they can find. And, she's working hard to feed her family healthy meals and teach her young girls how to make good food choices. LOVE her!

And if we're gonna talk food....or photography...or being a cowboy's wife (wha??? I'm married to a computer guy)...we can't forget Ree - The Pioneer Woman. I think the kitchen is her mothership. She works a camera like no other. She's just....awesome.

I've got some serious plans to healthify her cinnamon rolls a bit and make them around the holidays for all my special peeps. I'm drooling just thinking about it!

Then, there are the 3 crazy, fun, silly, happy, wild, giving, and supportive people in my life who inspire me the MOST. The fam. :) I love the smiles I get, the requests for food or art projects, the laughs we share, and feeling of being together.

I really am one lucky lady. I feel so blessed to be at this point in my life, with the family I've got, my faith, great friends, fantastic food, and tons of inspiration.

anything goes.

First off, let's try to ignore the fact that it's been awhile since I last blogged. It's certainly not because I hadn't thought about. And it certainly wasn't because I didn't have anything cool to blog about....

...oh, who am I kidding. This place does not exemplify coolness. We are the house of randomness. A house of chaos and crazy. We've got toys everywhere, Legos falling out of the kids pants when out in public (no lie, that just happened Saturday), and the reality of my husband's multiple careers is beginning to take over our kitchen counter. I love being creative, but sometimes, I just have to keep everyone fed and alive. Anything goes around here.

So this morning, after a night of non-stopping coughing, Lydia woke up looking and feeling not-so-good. When I went up to get her this morning, she insisted that I crawl into her germ-infested bed to snuggle her. Then she proceeded to tell me that she wished she had a TV in her room.

“Mom, I wish I had a TV in here. We could just put it up there (pointed to the ceiling) and stick it up there with some tape. You know, mom…we can just go to that store where Daddy and I went. The TV store. The one where Daddy and I were and he forgot his wallet (it was in mommy’s purse 7 stores away). That one. They have TV’s there, mom.”

I had to call the pedi, since she not only had a cough and runny nose, but she complained that her ear hurt. A first for her. Darn you, swimming lessons! I’m thinking taking my kids swimming in the fall/winter months is a bad idea. I mean, we’re either going to miss ALL of the classes because they're sick…or, the few classes that we DO make it to are going to cause them to get sick. *sigh* I’m seeing this as a lose-lose here. I mean, water safety doesn’t really come into play here between September and May. I may need to rethink this. Perhaps we’ll just teach the kids to swim in the safety of our own home. “Hon, the kids are ready for their swim lessons!” (in the bathtub)

This was the scene when I brought Sicky McSickerson downstairs.

On a positive note, she did promptly ask for breakfast after she finished her juice. She was beyond indecisive with her choices, and went from having pancakes (I vetoed that one), to cinnamon toast, to cereal, and finally landed on a smoothie.

"The banana-berry one, mom."

Out came the frozen strawberries, banana, strawberry jam, and rice milk. After a quick blend in my not-so-Vitamix-blender (I'm still sulking over the way QVC taunted me with their Today's Special Value yesterday), she was happy.

Max sucked down a cereal bar and a banana, and was as content as anything. The little guy is free from torment and torture when he's in high chair! No wonder he loves being in it so much.

We wrapped up our morning with some playing, singing with Elmo, and several sneezes and coughs onto mommy's laptop. Yay me. Anyone know how to disinfect a laptop keyboard?? Yeah, didn't think so.

I did take Lydia to the pedi, where they confirmed that while she didn't have a full-blown ear infection, she was well on her way. So we scooped up her antibiotics and some Gatorade at the drug store and came home to enjoy some yummy vegetable soup and garlic bread.

I topped off the evening with some Dancing with the Stars. I'm considering a little kettlecorn to make this day complete. Hopefully I can keep away the side of germs that'll inevitably try to sneak into my snack. We'll see how successful I've been in 3-4 days. ;)

am I a DIGI-SCRAPPER now?!?

YOU BET!!!

I'm exploring the world of digital scrapbooking.

And........I LOVE IT!!!

It's INCREDIBLY addicting.

I've found tons of free stuff that I downloaded and played around with a little today. I am very new to photoshop, and have only done a few projects in the past, including the banner for this blog. But I found a nice tutorial, and just went for it!

Here's the first one I did of Lydia. :)

Then I did one for Max.

They are SIMPLE, but it's a start!!!

I'm so excited about this. I have TONS...I repeat

TONS

of photos.

I never get them printed out, so digital scrapbooking is a good fit for me. Just another crafty craft for me to delve into!

life liver....blog slacker....

The end of summer is near...and I've been trying to enjoy every minute!

Consequently, the blog has been...well...IGNORED for the past few weeks. It's certainly not because we don't have things going on here that I could blog about. But, it's because there were things going ON here!

I've been a bit productive over the last few weeks - cleaning out the kids' dressers and getting them ready for fall. I reorganized our pantry and filled it with HEALTHY things. I'm still on my quest for better health, and I'm excited to share that I'm down 17 lbs! WOOHOO!! It helps that we're eating yummy food - like this:

...and enjoying some DELICIOUS local sweet corn! Lydia decided she was ready to eat it off the cob,

'BY HER OWN SELF!'

She can't get enough!!

We went to an awesome pig roast at the lake. Good food, great friends, GORGEOUS weather, and fun activities made for a super day!

Lydia had so much fun playing in the water...

...and the sand. LOL I don't really recommend army-crawling through a giant sand pile. It makes for a difficult bathing situation later on. Trust me.

Max loved exploring the yard, the toys, and the sporting equipment.

Over the last few weeks, we had a vehicle switch-up as well. We sold our one car and Steve got a jeep! He found a great one with a hard top (we need that here with our winters) and Lydia couldn't WAIT to go for a ride - with the TOP. OFF.

She didn't realize, though, that the top off meant a windy ride. She kept telling Steve,

"Mommy's going to be upset that my piggies are blowing out!!"

LOL!!!!!

Needless to say, she hasn't taken a ride with the top off since.

We've also had a few campfires. Lydia has loved getting to stay up a little later for special time with mommy and daddy around the fire.

Of course, she LOVES the marshmallows.

When we haven't been attending pig roasts, eating, riding in the new jeep, or campfiring, we've just been enjoying time together. Max LOVES going outside to play and makes his way to the door to pound on it, just to let me know he's READY TO GO! Our playground is his favorite hot spot to play....and suck on rocks. Good grief. BOYS!

I guess just as long as the kids are havin' fun, that's all that matters, right?!?!

Something really cool has been being featured on Blue Cricket Design TWICE in the last week!! Becca at BCD is VERY sweet and has liked some of my projects, so she was kind enough to feature my hutch and the scrapbook wall flowers. How cool is that?!?! Makes me want to get workin' on some things - STAT!!!

I have several projects on the horizon, including sewing projects, knitting (fall's comin', folks!), furniture painting, wall art, and more. So, hang in there! This mama's gettin' creative soon!!

the weekend...the kids...the scale

Whew. What a weekend! We were busy this weekend, but it was a FUN busy.

Friday night, we went to a reception for my cousin, Luke, and his new wife, Beth. They were married at the end of June in Florida. With two small children and pretty crazy lives, we were unable to attend the wedding, but were excited to hear there was going to be a local party this summer to celebrate with them!

Luke and Beth live in Nashville. He's a country songwriter! He's had a few #1 songs, including a few for Carrie Underwood. In fact, her latest song, Undo It, he co-wrote - and it just went #1 this week! He lives a busy, successful life in Nashville, but when we get him back home, it's as if he never left. He's as down to earth as they come and his new wife is just as wonderful.

What a sweet couple!!

I love how happy he looks with her!!

It was a wonderful party at the lake. Lydia enjoyed the playground...

...and of course, the make-your-own sundae bar was a HUGE hit.

My Uncle Tim was ready for fun! If this outfit doesn't say BBQ, I don't know what does.

We enjoyed time with family, friends, and our own little ones.

We even got a FAMILY. PHOTO. That's right - all 4 of us! Together!

IN

ONE

PHOTO!

Sure, the kids are lookin' a little squirrelly, but hey, you take what you can get, right?!?!

This little daddy's girl just can't get enough daddy hugs!

Max was chillin' by the water...enjoying the BEAUTIFUL evening!

Lydia even got some time in the sand with her cousin. They had so much fun playing together!!

Friday night was alot of fun...and the fun carried over into Saturday - the 90th annual family reunion for my dad's side of the family. The reunion means some games, lots of family, and TONS of food! I was proud of myself for eating as healthy as I could, but also glad that Lydia could enjoy some summertime treats (popsicles, popsicles, and more popsicles!)

The kids played HARD! Lydia rode the spinning merry-go-round thing on the playground for, what seemed like, hours.

She enjoyed the funoodles too :)

Max crawled around the park, picking flowers and trying to eat grass. You know, what all 1-year-olds love to do at a picnic!

He spied the swing and had to get in!

He had fun practicing his walking too. He really is sooooooo close! I think any day now he'll take those first steps on his own.

When the games began, Lydia was EXCITED! She got to hunt for money in a pile of sawdust and search for candy in the woods. There was a balloon pop game that she THOUGHT she wanted to get in on, but then decided she didn't want to play...then decided she DID want to...played for a minute, realized it was hard, then ran out of the game.

3-year-olds change their minds. ALOT!

But, then came the sack race! She was ready for it! See how excited she was?!?!

Ready-Set-GO!

She started hopping....

...then...uh-oh...she realized the other kids were hopping really fast and were waaaaay ahead...

...annnnd, she's OUT! No more sack race!

She was a trooper. She tried everything and just wanted to play, play, play. At the same time, she was soooooo tired.

Little did she know after that sack race, she'd have to cheer for....

DADDY!

That's right, folks. Adult sack race time!!

You should know, Steve was quite an athlete when he was younger. He was a gymnast for years and played soccer into college. He is an EXTREMELY fast runner, but I'll be honest, I've never seen him in a sack race, so I really didn't know what to expect.

Ready. Set. GO!

Alright, here's when it gets crazy. Steve jumped off like I've never seen ANYONE jump. He was hopping like a wild man! I immediately went into hysterics...I was doubled over with laughter. I couldn't contain myself - I nearly peed my pants!

When I finally looked up, he was at the halfway point!

See him down there?? Navy shirt, plaid shorts, and sack around his shins?? Apparently, holding onto the sack slows you down. Or so he says. I believe him.

This was the best picture I could get as he went whizzing by! He was a blur!

And I was STILL hysterical.

His freakishly amazing sack race skills landed him in first place...or second...we never quite figured that out. He and a distant cousin of mine dove over the finish line and I think it was determined that they both simply deserved accolades for their crazy sack race efforts!

Moving on...

...Egg Toss time!

The reigning champs from last year - my brother, Curtis, and my dad.

These two were pretty convinced that they could take the championship again. Mind you, my dad's still recovering from a heart attack and the placement of 2 stents in his heart, but hey, he's goin' for a repeat win, people!

Look at that form!!!

Sadly, those two only made it a few tosses before their egg broke. The winners of the egg toss were two cute boys - I'm guessing ages 4 and 8. Sorry dad and Curtis - the boys took the men on this one!

Yesterday, we tried to lay low at home and get the kids rested up. Lydia did go out on a daddy date last night. She and Steve went to dinner and then her first MOVIE!!

Apparently, she did well at the movies....she ate popcorn, scarfed down "NandM's" (that's what she calls them), and intently watched Toy Story 3. But shortly over an hour into the movie, she turned to Steve and said,

"Ok, dad - I'm ready to go home now. I've seen this movie before. Let's go."

LOL

She must have just had enough. I'm guessing she was just sooo tired from the rest of the weekend's antics that she just couldn't make it anymore. She came home and told me about the movie, her abundant snacks, and the fun she had with daddy.

This morning, I woke up slightly anxious knowing that I was going to get on the scale and see if my healthy efforts have paid off.

Well....I'm happy to say...I'm down 8 pounds!! WOOHOO!! I was so stinkin' excited! I got my walking shoes on and took off down the road. That success put an extra spring in my step. It was fabulous! I felt accomplished today, and even more motivated than ever.

So, here's to a great weekend with family, my dear, sweet kids and husband who keep me smiling, and the scale, that was so very kind to me this morning.