4 Sundays ago, PC3 Leland, the Leland branch of my church launched! Here is a brief recap video:

I’ve taken pictures each Sunday, just to chronicle the experience and this chapter in my church’s life.

I’ve been amazed at the hard work this team of people has put in to pull off such a technology stunt, all the way to live-streaming, last Sunday! I know that so many have played a huge role in the success of this being a reality, and I have gotten to experience a lot of that first hand through my hubs.

So, this next portion is going to be dedicated outrightly to bragging, on Jeremy. I am so proud of him.

Today, in the hallways of PC3 Leland many came up to me to brag on Jeremy because of a few technology type things that happened in the early hours of Sunday, saying things like, “We love Jeremy,” and “Jeremy is a rock star” and “What would we do without Jeremy?”

and I agree, and know all of these things to be true,

every. single. day.

Jeremy does so many things well, and with ease. He is patient, loving, understanding. In public, at work, and at home. Always. I see many sides of his character, and I can vouch, he is a rock star, a rock star daddy to L, a rock-star husand to me, and a rock-star client helper (if I had a dime for every time I heard, click start, go to open, etc, etc, etc). And I, too, love him. And often wonder, what would I do without him. He is a true gift! I am so thankful for him.

Thanks PC3 Leland, for loving on Jeremy and in turn, loving on our family.

although somedays are really, really hard, most days are beautiful. and amazing. and you, are 1000 gifts, all in one.

I so appreciate the pace of life on this Sunday.

It’s still, cozy, and life-giving. Full of family, and faith, and fresh air. Pancakes and grits.

Snuggles with the little one, football, and Christmas lights.

Not busy with errands, not scurrying about.

This is my Sunday. So perfect. So full of joy.

my home on this Sunday…

That’s what a trip to Memphis is like from Wilmington, add in a 3 month old, and it feels like twice that. Liam did great, but that’s just a dang long time to be in a carseat, so I was very sympathetic and onto his needs to take a nap that didn’t take place in a car seat.

Some highlights of that looooooong trip were:

A stop in at Dave Ramsey’s office, how wonderful!

The Peabody Ducks

Lunch and a Christmas parade in downtown Franklin

A double tour of the Opryland Hotel (I say double, because my sweet husband insisted on driving through it twice)

and time with my precious family, absolutely priceless!

I’m in the process of editing photos from the rebel and will get those online soon, instagrams & iphone pictures are just super easy to post here, so, more will be posted on my flickr soon!

dear liam,

my sweet sweet smiling baby. there is so much to say, and so many things i want you to know about that happened in this 3rd month, but this is just a letter and not a novel, so i’ll try to keep it brief. you are such a sweet baby, you smile at the sound of our voices, and it just warms my heart. this month was the month that things seemed to click with you and i. from the moment you were born i knew that i loved you, but it was in this month that i really felt it.

i can’t get enough of you in fact. your daddy, can’t really either. there are times, in fact, where he’ll say, “don’t you want to just go wake up our son and watch him do tummy time?” to which i say, “no.” but in my heart i really want to see you, and cuddle with you, and watch you smile.

you dressed up as a glow worm for your first halloween, to be honest, i’ve never seen such a cute glow worm in my life.

today is thanksgiving and i must say that you dear liam have brought my heart to a whole new level of thanksgiving. i can’t even imagine loving you more than i do right now, but i am sure that you will show me how.

around 8 weeks was when we crossed our threshold with you. you are now starting to sleep longer at night, which is giving both of us better sleep, and for that we thank you. your on a little schedule now and for the most part you take fabulous naps now. we also starting swaddling you with one arm out, then both, and that’s how you are sleeping right now as i type this. you’ve started talking to us and laughing so sweetly as we tickle your belly. you are much more aware of things around you, and i think this helped calm your crying. although, don’t get me wrong, you still have your cry fits but, you seem to redeem those quickly by your smiles and little laughter.

you also hugged me for the first time this month, or what i translated into a hug with your little arms around my neck.

i love having you in my life, i’ve loved getting to know every ounce of you. thank you for coming into our lives and warming them up, and for bringing us so much joy, laughter and love. my heart is full.

i love you sweet baby liam, i can’t wait for you to read these letters, one day.

love,

your momma

We, like many of you, are traveling for thanksgiving.

What this means for us is that, despite hauling diapers, a pack and play, plus many other things that come along with sweet baby L, I still want to bring something delicious to eat to contribute to our thanksgiving meal. When we travel, I usually prepare a side dish and maybe an appetizer. (Oh, come on, you know you also get hungry smelling that turkey cooking away waiting for it to be ready). So, I was delighted to find this Thanksgiving menu meal planner, with a gluten free option, plus an option for freezer cooking, perfect for traveling! So, I’ll just make everything ahead and then just have it on hand to heat up when we arrive.

From this list, I am most interested in the Sweet Potato Delight, the Pumpkin Cheesecake Bars, the Cornbread Muffins (for stuffing), and the Chocolate Pie. Yum.

I think for the appetizer I might just do a simple veggie tray, easy enough, and healthy, too, with very little prep work!

Is your mouth watering yet?

I started reading “The 3 big questions for a frantic family” yesterday and finished all but a few pages.

Jeremy and I are going to meet this weekend to discuss it and figure out how we can best implement it for our family. I had a lot of fun reading it and thinking about how easily it could happen into our lives, including in the life of my business.

The 3 big questions has also had me rethink my goals lists and how I am focusing on things. The book brings up a great point, that if you try to do everything, you end up with nothing. And, not to mention that in a list of 10 goals, I am most likely to do the easiest. Human nature, I do believe.

The book states,

There are two keys to answering any of these questions. First, limit yourself to one primary answer. As difficult as that sounds, it is critical. How many times have you written a list of ten priorites only to look back later and realize that you’ve accomplished just three of them, and not the most difficult (aka important) ones at that?

Woah. Was he talking to me? I think most likely, yes.

If you’re curious the three big questions are:

1. What makes your family unique?

2. What is your family’s top priority-rallying cry-right now?

3. How do you talk about and use the answers to these questions?

Based loosely off of a business strategy, these help you zero in on what is most important and how you are going to stick to it. Can’t wait to implement these into the life of our family.

Shout out to Mike Paschal and Kirsten Paschal for telling us about the book in the first place!

Jer, Liam and I went to Charleston for a brief getaway. It was so fun to walk around the battery, downtown, rainbow row, and to eat some delicious food. Our friend Rebecca, who lived there for several years, gave us the inside scoop on some delicious Charleston eats.

The first night we had dinner on the water, and this was our view:

The next day we just walked around, probably well over 6 miles…

Yes, as you can tell, our sweet Liam slept almost the whole time we were walking around the city!

This is us….

and this was Liam, just about the whole trip…

and lunch in the park…

We did have such a great time, great weather, and a beautiful city!

So, you might remember this post about my 10 weekly goals. If not, I’ll list them below, to be as user friendly as possible.

Family/Mothering Goals

1. Spend 15 minutes a day with Liam completely focused on him (YES! I did it, and found that time with Liam begets time with Liam, the more time I focus on him, the more time I want to spend with him, what a sweet finding!)

2. Track Eat, Wake and Sleep patterns everyday, on my new nifty spreadsheet. (Sorta-ish… I have the past few days to catch up on, but I’ll do it, my memory in this area is pretty good… especially the nighttime feedings… because they are getting so much better, thank you Liam!)

3. Sync said spreadsheet to iCloud (oh yes, I said it) AND yes, I did this! It was surprisingly easy.. tutorial coming soon, for those of you who care!

Personal Goals

4. Walk 30 minutes a day with Liam (no, I really failed on this one.  I think I walked one day with Liam… , we will try to do better next week!)

5. Join the Y. (no, I realized that this action item requires a presence at the budget meeting, so we’ll be doing this one in November!)

6. Finish reading So Long Insecurity (no, I didn’t finish, but I did make significant headway. I decided that the better goal on this one is to savor it and let it seep in, instead of finishing for the sake of finishing a book! I am treating this book more like a devotional than a novel, and therefore it’s going to take some time. I am completely okay with that because of what God is doing in my heart through reading it!)

Home Management Goals

7. Meal plan & shop from E-Mealz (yes! and it was incredible!)

8. Finish 3 loads of laundry from start to finish. (yes and no, I folded 3 loads of laundry, and washed 3 loads of laundry, so in total I did 3 loads of laundry from finish to start)

Business Goals

9. Move blog & business website to new hosting company (yes, and I am so glad I did!)

10. Finish web project #1 (yes! I did, why thank you!)

At first glance it looks like I didn’t complete many of these, but having these goals spawned me getting so many things done, I think that it was still completely worth it, and I plan to keep it up even if I don’t publish it here!

I know, I know, it’s not even Halloween yet! What am I doing even mentioning Christmas. To my friend Aaron, who hates it when people do this, I’m sorry.

And I love Thanksgiving, and in no way trying to by pass it, just trying to plan ahead, especially this year.

But the truth is, Christmas is upon us, every year it seems to do it, just sneaks right in.

The past few years, I’ve had the best intentions of designing our Christmas cards, and I think last year I did, but this year, my time is much more limited, so I’ve been checking out my options. Truly there is nothing like receiving a personalized card in the mail. It never gets old. So, I try to be intentional about sending cards, year after year. And now, that our family has grown, it is an absolute must!

This year, I’ve started looking into different photo cards, so that we can feature our favorite Liam and his adorableness. I just checked out shutterfly’s christmas photo card collection, so many stylish ones to choose from. It will be hard to pick just one.

like this one… it’s so cute!

(No, that’s not my family, just an example of a photo card I love!)

A few years ago, after Jer and I got married, all mom wanted was a photo album with at least 20 pictures from our wedding. I made her a photobook instead, and it was a big hit. I’m thinking of making a photobook for our the grandparents this year for Christmas, too (shhhh, it’s a secret, if you’re reading this and you know them, don’t tell!). I don’t know about you, but don’t you think they’ve gotten so much cuter than they used to be?

In the way of Christmas besides looking at photocards, and making my wish list (Liam’s too), and gift ideas for family and friends list (in evernote), I’ve also been checking out ideas for decorating, and diy crafts to make, and starting new traditions with my family. After all, it is the most wonderful time of the year (or should be… that’s why I thought finding this free e-book on how to live simply during the holidays, would be helpful to all of us)

I also really want to host a make-your-own ornament party this year! What fun it would be, especially with the onset of pinterest! Whew! So many good ideas, so litte time!

Oh, and, Jer and I have started thinking about our black friday shopping too, we’ve done it the past 2 years (yes we were those crazy 4am shoppers!) it’s so much fun, and you can really get some major deals!

What are you doing to get ready for the holidays? Have any cool sites/resources to share? Please pass them along!