Answered prayers

Yesterday was a school holiday for my kids. We headed to the zoo with her and her and their kids. After the zoo, we took advantage of the sunny weather and my friend's heated pool. So the rest of our FEBRUARY afternoon looked something like this:

I was thinking about how blessed we are to live where we do and have such fun friends when suddenly it dawned on me...all of this is an answer to prayer!

After my husband left the Army, we relocated to the Seattle area where both our kids were born. We loved it there, but after the kids we really wanted to be near family. Five years ago I began praying that God would eventually lead us back here and provide the means to make the move, hopefully before my son started school. Almost 2 yrs later, and before my oldest started kindergarten the door opened, and we moved 2 blocks from my sister-in-law.

Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer,

believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Mark 11:24

I was so excited when we moved, but I felt a little lost as a stay at home mom in a new place with no close friends. So I prayed for close Christian friends for myself and my children. And I got the 2 great gals that I spent the day with yesterday with kids who attend church and school with my kids. They're all buddies too, with personalities that compliment each other.

But it didn' stop there! I got the BONUS plan. These friends have introduced me to so many other great gals who are becoming fast friends as well. So today I was thankful and humbled as I offered up a prayer of GRATITUDE for my answered prayers.

more fancy-ness

been to Old Navy lately?

my daughter had to have this outfit

Yes, the same little girl who I found sitting on the toilet last night wearing nothing but MY orange Tory Burch flats.

Spring shopping and wishlist

I realize it's only February, but the clothing retailers have already got me feeling like Spring is in the air. Spring nights are chilly around here though. I'm sure this adorable Anthropologie sweater that I'm dreaming about would warm me up.

I can picture it with a pair of wedges (mentioned below) and cuffed boyfriend jeans, or with a cute skirt and a ruffly white button down when it warms up around here.

And since rain is in the forecast AGAIN, my daughter will keep dry in this Old Navy raincoat I bought today. I'm tempted to order the matching boots online after the crazy flooding we've had lately.

Now, onto the more practical every day staples. You gotta' love layers in the spring when the weather fluctuates between chilly and hot. I just went on Old Navy.com and added the cute ruffle cardigan below to my shopping cart. Gap has some great spring cardigans and jackets too. Here is a look I like with a couple of shoe options depending on the weather & if my pedicure is up to date :).

spring layers by 2Cool4myMinivan featuring J Crew

Items in this set:
Classic-stripe tissue tee - J.Crew, $33
Old Navy Womens Ruffled-Neck Cardigans, $27
Finsbury anorak - J.Crew Item 22996 (Cognac / Shadow), $150
Gap Destructed easy straight jeans (light wash), $70
Shoes & Handbags: Rosita open-toe high heel clog: heels sandals ..., $98

Less expensive alternatives:

tee - Gap tee

jacket - I found a navy one at Forver21, or the Gap utility jacket is way cute & 1/2 the price of the J.Crew jacket shown above

shoes - the ballet flats shown are from Payless. I like these wedges from LOFT in brown or putty

bag - Gap utility bag

These are just my amatuer picks, but for style that rocks, check out Fabulous Florida Mommy. In addition to great ideas for your wardrobe, you can also leave her a comment to win a J. Crew gift card by clicking here. Happy Spring shopping!

Polka dots, sparkly things and being fancy

Shopping with my daughter is becoming SO MUCH FUN!! She is starting to have an opinion about what she wants. Her criteria for almost everything is polka dots, sparkles or pink - the brighter the better. As you can see in the above photo, her carseat is B.R.I.G.H.T. pink as is her sequin heart shirt. Seriously, that carseat hurts my eyes everytime I look in the rearview mirror. And don't get me started on the shoes she picked out today. They're even brighter than the carseat, and they light up.

I did her room a couple of years ago in a girly green and pink. I have a feeling we'll be going brighter in a couple of years, but I've jazzed up the color palette by adding touches of fuschia, purple and orange. Don't be too appalled that I mismatch colors! The room was lacking something in the big empty wallspace above her headboard, but I took care of that last weekend.

She has a little bit of Fancy Nancy in her. So, I got creative by using a $10 matted frame from Ikea and a Fancy Nancy book jacket thingy. I used double stick tape to secure the book cover in place on top of the mat. I tied fuschia ribbon to hang it and overlapped it with a banner that I recently made. Here is a not very good close-up:

My little fancy girl and I love how it turned out. I'll probably add some touches here and there later, but for now I don't have to stare at a big empty wall every night during story time.

Gone are the days of Leave it to Beaver

Excuse me while I hop up on my soapbox, but I've been wondering lately whatever happened to *NICE*? Why are there no shows appealing to kids in which the characters are *KIND* to each other? Is there no modern day equivalent of the Cleaver Family?

It's not that I rely on television to teach my kids values. However, I have such warm and fuzzy childhood memories of going to my grandmother's house after school and watching Little House on the Prarie, Andy Griffith and Leave it to Beaver. Each episode of these shows found at least one of the characters in a predicament in which a lesson was learned after sound advice and encouragement from parents, elders or siblings.

I haven't found a safe modern day show like these for my kids. Once they outgrow the preschool shows, it's a downward spiral of poor grammer ("Dude, like totally..."), caustic wit, and just plain meanness. Friends verbally shoot down friends, and don't even get me started on how cruel siblings are to each other in the name of humor. I've noticed commercials are heading in the same direction - portraying fighting siblings or inept parents just for laughs. Where are Aunt Bea and Andy when you need them?

When did *MEAN* become the new *FUNNY*? And when did parents start tolerating kids speaking so disrespectfully to each other and even to grownups?

I guess I'll just look forward to movie night visits to Walnut Grove and Mayberry. Between movie nights I'll make every attempt to remind my children of these truths:

Ephesians 6:1 - Children obey your parents in the Lord for this is right.

Proverbs 15:1 A gentler answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

Proverbs 18:7 A fool's mouth is his undoing, and his lips are a snare to the soul.

Thankfully I can spend a few minutes each day in Blogland, which is my virtual Mayberry - where my neighbors are kind, encouraging and funny without tearing each other to shreds.

That's a load of CRAFT!

As our kids get older, a few of my friends and I struggle to stay in touch due to schedules that have us going in different directions. I was so fortunate to reconnect with my buds Kelly & Darlene last week. Normally we meet for coffee and enjoy carbs and catching up on what the kids are up to while perusing Kelly's stash of People Magazines. However, this time we mixed it up a bit.

As you can see, this is not the normal brunch spread of coffee, fruit and scones. Instead I laid out supplies to make homemade Valentines. Corny, but fun as can be. We still got in all the chatting, carbs and coffee while productively using our hands. Check out a few of our creations. (Thanks Sunny Tuesday for recommeding the manila tags - you can see they were a hit.)

Of the ones I made, this was my favorite:

In the words of Martha Stewart - "Crafting with friends...it's a GOOD THING!"

You don't have to be a Martha to host a craft date. Since I don't have an arsenal of craft supplies, I used basic things I had on hand like scalloped craft scissors, mod podge and a book of scrapbook paper. I purchased the letter stickers & a rubber heart stamp the day before. I didn't have stamp pad ink, so I improvised by coloring my rubber stamp with my kids' washable markers, then stamping. The markers wash right off. Any flowers or pictures glued onto the cards were cut out of scrapbook paper.

Gotta have FLAIR!

Yesterday, along with my cohort the Warrior Princess,

I headed to a body-piercing salon. GASP!!

This is how I looked before:

freckle-faced soccer mom in need of an industrial strength eye cream. This is how I looked after my little ear hoop addition - ROCKSTAR!

Ok, maybe that's a stretch, but an improvement nonetheless.

I had to do something to offset the fact that my ride is a minivan after all!

WP got hers done too and we l.o.v.e. our new FLAIR.

Thanks Sarah for making me go through with it!

p.s. Dear Mom, I know you're going to read this. Please don't freakout. No, you didn't fail as a parent and there are worse things I could have done (like Brooke's horseshoe tattoo). My tetanus shot is up to date, and the chances of my ear falling off are really very slim as I'm strictly following the aftercare instructions.