miscellany

Too much of life is being lost as I neglect to write.  My inner perfectionist pleads with me to wait until proper time can be given for good writing and good pictures.  But I have a burgeoning realist (quite impressive if you know me!) who is beginning to realize that there's only a Now.  And right NOW life is good, and I want to remember. 

So here is the short & non-perfection version of several posts that have been running through my head over the past week.

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Yesterday I was part of a surprise baby shower for my friend Melissa.  These are the cookies I made and packaged as favors.  The design comes from Bake at 350...I saw it a few months back and fell in love.  I LOVE decorating cookies.  Less stress than cakes, and I adore the happy bundles they make when packaged.  

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In other treat news, I spent last Saturday afternoon making two boxes full of popcorn balls.   A *thank you* for our Primary children, who did an incredible job in our program that day.  It's the first time I've been part of a Primary program, and I felt very blessed to work with these little ones.  Especially my two boys.  When each of them stood to speak their lines, a lump filled my throat.  They have grown so much over this past year. 

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About two months ago I realized that Aidan's church clothes were looking ratty.  Ratty every day clothes don't overly bother me, but I like my boys to look sharp at church.  With the hustle, bustle flurry of our typical weekends, shopping kept being pushed back.  Finally, with the primary program being last week, I just decided it had to happen.  So I took him out.  With every intention of buying the simple slacks and white shirt ensemble that our budget demanded. 

We tried on a few ill-fitting pants.  THEN he saw the suit on the end of the aisle.  A three-piece, pin-striped black one, to be precise.  He stood in front of it, looked up at me and said, "I just think wearing a suit to church adds a nice touch."  The phrase cracked me up, won my heart over, and - of course - we walked out of the store with the suit.  Which did indeed add a *nice touch* to his Sunday self.

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I love writing birthday letters to my little ones.  But perhaps it's a selfish practice.  I write them, thinking about their grown up selves reading them twenty years from now and feeling my love in the words.  I don't think we even begin to properly appreciate our parents until we're parents ourselves.  So I mainly write so their adult, parent selves can catch a glimpse of the little people they were and how much they were loved. 

Anyhow, all that as an intro to the fact that I haven't taken the time (or HAD the time!) to write Azure a birthday letter yet.  Plenty of thoughts have filled my head, so hopefully they'll be placed into permanence here soon.

In the meantime, here are some pictures I took to put up at her party. 

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I'm participating in a health challenge over the next 12 weeks.  There are 10 points possible each day, earned by following these rules:  drink 48 oz. water, 30 minutes exercise, no soda, no sweets, no fast food or unhealthy snacks, 2 fruit and 2 vegetable servings, 15 minutes uplifting reading, journal (or blog) writing, personal goal.  You can check out the details here.  I'm excited about this because these are all habits that I'd love to cultivate anyhow.  And the fun part is that each participant contributes a prize.  The person with the most points at the end of the contest gets to choose their prize first.  So everyone ends up with something and gets motivate by "the goods" that are already posted on the site. 

I started this week determined to earn full points, but have learned this lesson as the week as the week progressed:  the biggest deterent to good habits is the combo of busy life and inadequate planning.  On some days, I cornered myself and couldn't accomplish everything.  Good planning could have easily eliminated this problem.  Hopefully this week will be better!

Comments

[Melissa M.]

I like this post. You're kids are super cute!
I think you are awesome, best wishes for your 12 week plan.

[Barb]

It all sounds (and looks) *perfect* to me. I agree on the suit thing. Our boy didn't start wearing one till he was 12 years old, but I have loved it ever since and maybe would have started earlier had I known then what I know now. I'm checking out that health challenge link for sure.

[Deborah from Creative Gift Ideas]

I'd love to join the challenge. Already doing some of them. Making too many changes all at once can be difficult. Simple and basic, I like it!

[Neighbor Jane Payne]

You have such a handsome family Amy. The cookies and Azure are darling, but not necessarily in that order. How's work going?

[Angie Ras]

The cookies are darling. Yum.
And your boys all look so handsome. I'd give in on buying the suit too. What a great kid, that Aidan.

[sista#2]

The cookies and treats are super cute!! Our presentation is this Sunday. Yay!