Weekend Reading

I read a lot of blogs and my favorite ones are the ones that put up links on the weekend. Or even post on the weekend so there's something new to read. (Feeding a baby in the middle of the night is much more enjoyable with something new to read. Even if you doze off a few times while you're reading!) I don't intend to do this every week but I've read several great things this week and wanted to share them with you!

What You Should Tell Your Teen (and yourself) about Kim Kardashian by Annie F. Downs.

And in light of the whole Jennifer Lawrence ordeal, here's Lisa Jo Baker with some thoughts.

And since we've been connecting our favorite musicals with life thoughts, this is a great post on remembering who we are.

This is a longer article but worth the read: Reflections Following My Conversation with an Abortion Provider.  My favorite part? The ending where he quotes a doctor who wishes for a society "where abortion... is not merely illegal... but unthinkable."

And here's a song that made me cry. Of course.



And some adorableness for your weekend.

Friday Favorites

Woo-Hoo! I finished that second music theory book! And, of course, started the third one.

I can't figure out if this one will take me longer to finish because the songs are harder or if I've gotten better so that will even out and it will take the same amount of time.

Baby Kevin was sleepy and wanted to snuggle while we were reading. 

Micah has been helping make breakfast. I stepped out of the room and came back to this. He had definitely taken a bite out of each piece. :)

Playing with boys!! 

This boy is three and a half now. Isn't he the cutest?

Friday Favorites

“…When women – sometimes well-meaning, earnest, truth seeking ones say ‘Get out of the house and do something creative, find something meaningful, something with more direct access to reality,’ it is a dead giveaway that they have missed the deepest definition of creation, of meaning, of reality. And when you start seeing the world as opaque, that is, as an end in itself instead of as transparent, when you ignore the Other World where this one ultimately finds its meaning, of course housekeeping (and any other kind of work if you do it long enough) becomes tedious and empty.

But this is what we so easily forget. … We have meekly agreed that the kitchen sink is an obstacle instead of an altar, and we have obediently carried on our shoulders the chips these reductionists have told us to carry. 

Those who focus only on the drabness of the supermarket, or on the onions or the diapers themselves, haven’t an inkling of the mystery that is at stake here, the mystery revealed in the birth of that Baby and consummated on the Cross: my life for yours.

The routines of housework and of mothering may be seen as a kind of death, and it is appropriate that they should be, for they offer the chance, day after day, to lay down one’s life for others. Then they are no longer routines. By being done with love and offered up to God with praise, they are thereby hallowed as the vessels of the tabernacle were hallowed – not because they were different from other vessels in quality or function, but because they were offered to God.

A mother’s part in sustaining the life of her children and making it pleasant and comfortable is no triviality. It calls for self-sacrifice and humility, but it is the route, as was the humiliation of Jesus, to glory.” -- Elisabeth Eliot (emphasis mine)

Friday Favorites

Sometimes cooking lunch looks like this. 

Yes, he made the shot. 

The hubby finished the swing set! 

Kevin is starting to get excited about playing ball! 

Cute little face! 

Justin made faces in all the pictures so I just picked one. 

One cute little cowboy! 

Babies are adorable. Especially this one. 

Chips and salsa! 

Dishwasher help

Kevin wanted to go out and play too. He even had his ball ready! 

Micah's starting to really help in the kitchen! It's a lot of fun (even if a little messy). 

Happy Weekend! 

Friday Favorites

I don't normally rate Fridays as better than any other day but since Justin has worked 14 hour days this week I think Friday will top the list! 

Two links for you this weekend. 
Pursuing excellence, but not perfection.

You can give your children a gift today. 

Check out this awesome shirt! I would totally wear this but I'm not paying $25 for a t-shirt. 

Someone was helping Daddy at work! 

Friday Favorites

"A pail with a pinhole loses as much as the pail pushed over." Thank you, Ann Voskamp, for that concise and piercing explanation of time management. I've been working on that lately and that phrase will stick in my head! 

Funniest boy in the world! 

That's seriously gross!

Rearranged "the office." It's much nicer. I'm planning some more decorating for that corner. 

Baby Kevin is a stasher. If he can put something away, he does. (At what point do I have to stop calling him 'baby Kevin'?)

Seriously, he puts things away. 

He puts everything away. Even wet dirty dishrags in the bottom drawer of the bathroom or houseshoes in the diaper pail...

Playing in the water! Everything was soaked :) 

It's hard to stretch in this chair! 

Love this! 

We were racing down the road! 

We crawled all over that playset! 

Micah got in on the action. 

There were several pictures before this one. Everyone was smiling. Then Micah poked Kevin in the face. Then Kevin was hiding and then he gave Micah this face. And Micah's enthusiastically waving a whisk almost in Justin's face. ha! 

Love this! 

Happy Weekend! 

Friday Favorites

Swiss-stuffed bacon burgers with homemade pretzel buns. Yum!! 

Our friend's hammock- too bad Kevin was over it by picture time

Micah eating fries in Justin's truck

Micah wearing Justin's work badge

The best bbq I've ever made. You'll see it later! 

Mickey reading a book

We made a crab headband at Toddler Time

My favorite shirt from when Micah was little! haha

A little boy and a country road