thanksgiving decor.

halloween is over. thanksgiving is coming! in our house we don't pass this decorating opportunity.  i feel like Thanksgiving gets passed over for Christmas.  now don't get me wrong, we love holiday decor just as much as the next family but if we put it out too soon then we are tired of it before Christmas even comes.  also it is a great time to remember to be thankful before the craziness of Christmas comes.  so here is how we do it.....

and this last picture that SportsBoy took of me.  just because it's funny! 

little mama.

happy birthday.

today is our middle boys birthday. 

he is 9.

how did this happen?

he used to be little.

this was kindergarten.

this was today.

he is sensitive.

he is caring.

he is a great athlete.

he loves his family deeply.

tomorrow he will leave

for his first time

at camp.

5 hours away.

for a week.

this will be so great

for him if he can make it through.

he will grow.

he will learn more deeply

about God.

he will make friends.

Lord, please protect him

and his brother.

it will teach him

and oldestboy

how to rely on each other better.

we are so blessed

to have him in our home.

he has such a cool

sense of humor.

always making us laugh.

he is moody.

he is cuddly.

we love it all.

happy birthday

sportsboy!!!

mama loves you

more than the moon.

happy fathers day! yes!

this guy.

he's pretty great.

he's my dad.

he is a great teacher.

he is kind.

he will give you the shirt off his back.

he loves my mom.

more than life.

he is a strong christian.

he knows what he believes.

and he sticks to it.

no matter what.

i love him.

this guy.

he is pretty great.

he is my husband.

he is loyal.

he is a hard worker.

he will help anyone in need.

he has my back always.

he is cute.

he loves our boys.

he will do anything for them.

he is a great example.

he loves me.

sometimes that is hard.

he does it anyway.

i love him.

happy father's day to two great men in my life.

i am so blessed.

love you both.

little mama.



listening.

a loving husband.

a loving wife.

3 caring boys.

a package deal.

taking time to listen.

listen to each other.

listen to what God is trying

to tell them.

taking time to connect.

connect to the ones they love.

the ones they love the most.

each other.

spending time being silly.

laughing about things only they

think is funny.

listening to the heart.

the hearts of their little ones.

the hearts that teach so much.

making their children

and their marriage

a top priority.

helping their boys become

amazing men.

listening.

this is us.

this is our story.

this is our journey.

loving the team we

are on.

little mama.

lets grow old together.

dear workinman,

i hope this is us someday....

lets grow old together.

love,
little mama.

lots going on.

hello there friends.  lots is going on in life right now.  mostly good.  life is good.  baseball is in full swing for the boys.  altho our spring weather is no where to be found.  which has made for some very chilly practices thus far.  oh well.  soon enough i suppose. 

WorkinMan and my 12th anniversary in on easter sunday so we decided to celebrate on saturday instead.  we love baseball and went to a Twins game together.  it was lovely.  chilly but so fun!

tomorrow is easter and we are very excited.  we all love to dress up.  especially the boys.  i will try to get pictures up of their fabulous outfits.  have a lovely easter weekend with your family and friends too.  much love!

little mama.

some things that make me happy.

happy things...

smiles from a dear friend.

snuggling little boys

campfires at the cabin.

(this may or may not involve wine.)

owls.

brothers who are getting along.

a night out with awesome friends.

this bag.

ikabags from france

via etsy.

the awesome support

this woman gives

my mama.

little mama.

bokai.

a good friend once told me to remember that you never know how your actions and words will affect someone.  i had said something sweet to her in passing and it really helped her sad day get brighter.  i had no idea. 

years ago there was a family at church from Liberia, Africa.  they had little ones, and in a new country were struggling to make it.  annie, the mom, worked nights. and had to work saturday night.  she would come in to church on sunday with blood shot eyes and looking exhausted. i was so proud of her for getting there at all with the load she had and how tired she must have been. she had other children but the one she struggled with was a little, chubby boy named b.j. (bokai jr.).  he was a ball of muscle and energy.  he would wreck havoc on anything in his path but had such a sweet spirit. getting him to sit still was impossible.  b.j. didn't respond to anyone.  he didn't like anyone but his mom and dad.   i offered to take b.j. for the services so that annie could rest and concentrate.  she agreed and b.j. began sitting with me and my family every sunday. we bonded instantly, b.j. and i.  we would teach him to sit and listen, to pray with our boys, and most of all we hugged and loved all over that sweet little boy.  he was stubborn and we loved him.  he was wild and we held him and kissed his soft cheeks. he was Gods child and we loved him.  well, b.j. is 10 now and still sits with us at church.  he no longer runs and makes a ruckus at church.  he sits still, and participates. he is thriving in school. and helps his parents.   he is a joy.  in all the times i have been huggin and lovin on b.j. i thought he hated it.  he would stare strangely at me at 3.  he would roll his eyes at 8. and now at 10 he is beginning to hug me back, just a little.  but i keep at him.  mainly because he is just so darn cute i can't stay away.  you never know how your words or actions will affect someone.

yesterday at church b.j. came up to me and handed me this card.  it is tattered. it is handmade.  it is perfect.

the verse on the left in green says:
no matter how steep the mountain-the Lord is going to climb with you.

he made this card for me at home, on his own, by himself.  after hearing about my mom. 

but this....oh my.  this is my favorite part.  it says:
miss kelly your the greatest teacher in history. you are so lovable. you give me hugs & kisses. you are the best! the most that is.  b.j.

i melted. now i know that deep down he loves those kisses and loves that i goo over him.  i gave him a big hug and told him how much he brightened my day. how much i loved him. and that i would hang this wonderful card on my wall. and that is where it is.  right next to all the other mementos of life that we hold so dear. 

so remember... our words and actions are so powerful.  good and bad.  the look you give someone, the smile while you hold a door.  little things really are the big things.

if you have a moment. say a prayer for my mom today.  she sees a specialist at the u of m this afternoon.  we hope to get some answers.  thank you so much.

little mama.

choosing to be content.

I have been thinking about this subject for awhile now. Contentment. We as humans, and especially women  I think, compare too much. We compare ourselves, our skills, our families, even our children's skills with others.  And especially with other mothers.  We also compare our homes. We compare how big or small. How they are decorated.  And even the money that goes into them.  We always assume that everything is wonderful behind those walls and that things comes easy.  I can tell you from experience that things are not always what they seem.  You never know where someone is in their journey.  I wish we could be more honest with each other about where we are on our own road.  I think it would let us all off the hook of comparison.  It would help us all be more real.  More authentic.  It might be ugly but at least it would be the truth and that is what I am always looking for.  I would much rather be in a space decorated with love and pennies.  Than a house decorated to the nines with lots of money and a family trying to be someone that they are not.  Lets try it, be as honest and kind as you can to people and maybe it will spread.  Share a little bit of your struggle with someone else and you never know how it may release them from the comparison trap. 

I choose to be content with my old thread bare sofa.  It shows love and time with us.  We are thankful for a place to cuddle and read, a place to lay and watch movies when we are sick.  Even if it does have a few worn holes and stains from our big Boxer cuddling at our feet.  I choose to be content with a home with no architectural elements.  Instead it is full of mementos and old photos.  Old blankets and handmade pillows.  It is full of found treasures.  Rocks and driftwood picked up on nature walks and cheap camping vacations. 

I choose to be happy with a less than perfect house, a less than perfect life.  My Lord tells me that he is not finished with me yet.  I am so thankful for that promise.  I can easily slip into the comparison trap.  Magazines, blogs, and TV all tell me that everyone has more, is doing more and is achieving more than I am.  But I have come to the realization that I am in the most perfect place for me and my family.  Maybe you are exactly where you should be.  I could be out achieving "more" and doing "more."  I could have my children in every activity and sport available.   But that is not where the need is.  I am needed here.  In our home.  With these boys.  And this WorkinMan.  This is where the Lord wants me.  I need to be reminded of that when I look to the outside world for approval and contentment. 

There is a wonderful blog called www.notsorandomstuff.blogspot.com  She has written about this same subject very well.  It is titled "around the house."  Check it out.  It is a good read. 
What are your thoughts on this subject?  Do you feel the need to pull back sometimes and
go inward to really see all you have?
Do you see yourself falling into this trap?
How do you put it in perspective?

Thanks for stoppin by...

Hope your weekend is lovely, full of relaxing,

cuddling, crafts, reading,

and being with those

you love.

Little Mama.

thank you and some valentine decor.

Thanks everyone for your comments and ideas for decorating my mantel. I think the key was finding something to cover the cords coming from the TV. I searched and thought and thought some more. Tried a few things and then came up with the solution. An old metal street sign I picked up at a flea market years ago.

Placing this sign here helped solve my main problem. After that I could concentrate more on what I like instead of what I needed to hide.  I got some great ideas. I loved my dads idea of collecting old colorful books and placing up there as if they had just been laid down. Really great! I will definitely use that one. For now I wanted to go with celebrating Valentines Day. We love to celebrate in this house and love to decorate for it! I pulled some fun red and white things together. Made a heart garland out of felt ( idea from Fresh and Fun).  And pulled out my white heart frame with all three boys hospital pictures in it. The little red and white vase is a favorite Goodwill find, I love fawns, and a decoupaged red and white polka dot bowl. Things I love.  So this is how it is at present and we like it.

As I said, we love to decorate for holidays. So we are bound to have a few homemade things around. Those are always the best! First up is an idea I modified from http://www.creativejewishmom.com/ She had done this idea with snowflake shapes. We used hearts for Valentines Day.

For this craft, we cut hearts out of cardboard. We used an empty cracker box. Line your heart with glue and lay down pieces of yarn. Pretty simple. We really liked this craft and even the Baby could do it, with a little help with the glue. We also did this craft at our last weekend at my parents cabin this winter. So this craft is special to us. You can also let your little ones color them. When we were done we hung these in out large picture window from yarn. They turn with any slight breeze. Very nice little decoration.

SportsBoy made this heart to hang over our dinner table. So sweet.

We also like to make a "tree" for whatever holiday we are in. We wrapped some sticks from our yard in colorful yarn. These stay in this pitcher year round. Sometimes they have lovely things hanging from them, sometimes not. They are pretty either way. Right now they have handmade hearts hanging from them.

Tie one end of your yarn to your stick and wrap until you want to stop. I left some bare in some spots and some I covered the whole way. This is a great way to add some fun pops of color.

The cute heart garland on the mantle was fun to make. I cut hearts out of felt and sewed them together on my machine. Very easy and so happy. This idea originally came from http://www.freshandfun.blogspot.com/ Lots of cute decor on her blog.  We will use this garland year after year and might leave it up for awhile even after Valentines Day. It's just so happy. So thats about all. Thanks for stopping by!

Little Mama.

Random.

So here are some things I am thinking about today. In no particular order.




Me, Caleb Hawley, and WorkinMan

 This is our friend Caleb Hawley. He is an amazing singer, songwriter and all around great musician. He is from Hudson, WI and transplanted to New York. You may have seen him on American Idol, the first night, the second person to come out, in the grey and white striped tshirt. I am just saying, you might have seen him. He has got mad skillz and talent. You need to check him out. You can google him just to read up on him. And then do over to cdbaby or itunes and buy his cd. I believe there are three available, buy one or all, you will not be disappointed. And then tune in to American Idol and lets vote him as far as we can!!

sister bear and me





This is my baby sister. She is getting married in August to a nice boy. I am excited. That is all.



boys in the Minnesota weather,




We live in Minnesota. We love it here. The change of season here is beautiful. We are very outdorsey people and love to camp and just be out. But it was -18 degrees when WorkinMan left this morning. And we are not even the coldest in our state! Jeeze. Now that is just too cold. Complaining over.



ugly but warm



So I am very Thankful for this very ugly fireplace in our basement. It is old, and weird (the thing plugs in!) but it makes heat and for that I am greatful. There are many in my community who don't have a warm home and an ugly fireplace. So i am greatful.

Mama and Dad

So these are my parents. They are awesome. And up until about a week ago they lived about 5 blocks from me. Now they do not. They live in Amesterdam. Yep, like the Netherlands people! So needless to say, I am happy for them, not so much for me. And the baby tells me literally every 5 min that he misses Nannie and Popsie. So sad.  I was chatting with a friend, Elizabeth, and she reminded me of one very important thing. She said, I would be so happy if my mom was in Amsterdam. My mom is in Heaven and while it is nice, I wish she was in Amsterdam. You are so right E. Thank you for giving me the perspective I needed today.