Girlfriends

One of my favorite things is friendship.

Uh, yeah. Pretty simplistic, or even cliche, right?

I know, I know.

But, it's true!

You see, growing up, I didn't have a ton of friends. When I married my husband, I "inherited" a ton of insta-friends. I was in hog heaven!

But something was missing.

I needed, as Anne of Green Gables would say, a "bosom" friend or kindred spirit.

I prayed and prayed and prayed.

And guess what? My prayer was answered. Multiple times.

I have been abundantly blessed with dear friends. The kind of friends that will be there, even throughout eternity.

Holy Cow! That is an incredible thought! Maybe one of the best gifts of heaven will be not only spending eternity with my Redeemer, but with my most precious friends.

One of the best things about my friends is that their husbands are friends of my husband. Their kids are my kids' best friends.

We've seriously talked about building a huge compound for us all to live in.

It's that scary, folks.



This picture was taken by one of my dearest friends, Allison.

She's so talented. Wouldn't you agree?

I guess it doesn't hurt that her subjects are just unbelievably adorable.

This is what it says to me:

I love being with you. You are my best friends. Do you want to come live at my house? Ask your Mama to ask my Mama.

Because life is just too short not to be joyful, y'all.

Attack is Imminent. Or Not.

Once upon a time, a girl married a boy.

This girl loved this boy very much.

This girl loved that this boy was quite the handy man around the house.

And it didn't hurt that he was a great smoocher.

This girl also loved their children very much.

She loved them so much that she almost didn't mind how dirty they got while helping the boy in the backyard.

This girl is me. The boy is my fanta-bulous hubster.

Did you guess?

It's not like it was obvious or something.

My sweet man spent a good portion of this weekend doing this:



and this:



Yes, it's true. We are now the owners of a six-inch deep moat.

Because you ever know when the imminent invasion of Lilliputians will happen. (Anyone know what those are?)

The children feel that they will be safe on their "island".

What are they going to do when it's all back-filled?

So, because Hubby had done this, the children did this:



Can't see what they're doing? They're sabotaging the Lilliputians attack vehicles.

And for the record, let me just say, it was MY idea!

Who's the fun parent now?!

Doin' the Tiger Woods fist pump as I'm writing this. Just wanted you to know.

After all that hard work, guess who made homemade apple cobbler?

That would be MY MAN!

Oh, how I love him. He knows the way to this Mama's heart.

Then the boy and girl lived happily ever after.

Plannin' Ahead

My mind (like many mamas I know) is in constant thinking and planning mode.

This is not always a good thing.

My husband is duly impressed (or should be) by the fact that I can wake up out of a dead sleep to remind him it's trash day at 4:45 am, as he's leaving for work and then go right back to sleep.

Within the past few weeks, I've started contemplating Christmas gift ideas for the wide variety of people on the ever expanding gift list. You know, there are always those who, ahem, require an extra dose of God's grace to shop for. Oh, maybe that's just my family. And then there are: the kids.

Well, this year I have the answer! I took two sewing lessons this summer at my neighborhood fabric store and so now consider myself a professional seamstress. I'm the only one who thinks this.

Alright, so I'm not a professional. But, I certainly feel like I'm actually able to go into a fabric store with my head held high. Always before, I felt as though I was a living a lie by going in there with no knowledge of how to thread the bobbin. I would slyly slide up and down the aisles hoping no one would question my presence there because, obviously, I did not belong. But now, well, I can throw the lingo around with best of them. (not really)

Guess what my family is getting for Christmas?

I'll keep you updated. I'm sure there will be lots of laughs and usage of the seam ripper.

When do you start planning for your family's Christmas? Do you prefer to make or buy gifts?