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Baseball, Daddy/Daughter Date…and Organized Simplicity!

BASEBALL

One of my FAVORITE seasons has begun!!! The one that starts with a B!!! BASEBALL SEASON! I just love it!!! And this past Saturday was P’s first game of the season! He is 6 years old, and they skip t-ball in this particular league and only pull the tee out if you miss the ball 5 times. No sense in learning on a tee and then having to UNlearn it…so they just DIVE right in–and they DO AMAZING with it! Parker got 3 hits and most of all–HE HAD FUN!!!

He plays in the pitcher position so he has to be on his toes and ready to catch!!!

His coaches take their roles QUITE seriously…especially the short one–Frank seriously thinks he is one of the coaches!

DADDY DAUGHTER DATE

While Laney plays in sand–and two of Parker’s biggest fans cheer him on!!

This was ITY’s FIRST baseball game EVER!!! Ok…we had to work on a wave for the camera…

THEN–after all the boy stuff–it was TIME for the princess to go on her date. She has been talking about this for weeks and trying to decide what to wear…

Parker totally understood his date with momma is NEXT. BUT–the babies DID NOT. They LOOOOVE having daddy on the weekends–and when they saw ONLY LANEY was going…THIS WAS THE REACTION…

SOOO…momma can’t handle big alligator tears. Yes, of course I could come in and tell them, “Now darlins–it’s the way the world works! She gets her turn–and you boys have to wait yours.” ORRRR. I could throw clothes on everyone and tell them we are going for milkshakes and burgers at Steak-n-Shake with momma! AND…all of the sudden…you get THIS…And that’s how we rolled…and everyone was happy. We went through the drive-thru and came home for picnic!

ORGANIZED SIMPLICITY

THEN I survived all week flying solo (praise the Lord Rico Suave just got home!!! SO thankful to have my helper again!!!) In our crazy this week–I have been reading Organized Simplicity and applying the purging principles. My kids may want to admit me for walking around my house picking up things as I ask, “Is this beautiful to me? Is this beautiful to us?”

Let me tell you this–if you REALLY want to SIMPLIFY–do not ask the Organized Simplicity principle question “Is this beautiful to us?” around your pre-schoolers. “Oh YES! That is beautiful too. You can’t give that away momma!” The purging has been most productive during nap time to say the least. GoodWill is about to rack up on what we don’t think is beautiful to us:)

And while I ABSOLUTELY think the portraits of my little ones are forever beautiful–we were missing portraits with our newest…SO it was time to update. I decided to go with COLOR instead of the black and white…and instead of horizontal I changed the update to vertical.

{BEFORE – Black and White portraits}…

{AFTER – Color portraits}

Special thank you to my dear friend Shannon Holden for the 6 center images…thank you for capturing our family’s love for one another! You can check out Shannon’s photography HERE.

Sooo…watch cha think?? Does color give it a totally different look? I think most stick with black and white for wall groupings–but I think color is kinda fun! Don’t you??

THEN…I proceded to do “Is this beautiful to me?” to the nicknacks on the shelves…and I think bookcases can be a headache–but I tweaked a bit and think I’m done:)

One way to take away from bear/negative space is to add a frame in the base/wall of a bookcase. And some times–you have to keep older portraits up and never replace the ones that forever melt your heart (can you believe it’s Parker in these pictures? It goes by so fast!)

I love little reminders of His provision–and for me…it’s always been symbolized through birds (you know some of my crazy ‘bird’ stories!). Love using different things for bookends…

AND I’m a LITTLE SLOW I know–it’s MARCH and I JUST took the manger scene off our mantel. YES…it’s TRUE:). And I added something that says ‘Spring’…’new life’…to me:)

LAST but not least–I have to tell you I used to put up “pretty pictures”…but these days–I am putting up more pictures that just melt my heart OR MAKE MY SMILE! Now…if you are a Frank fan;) you’ll love this. Frank makes this “OH MY GOODNESS!” face when he sees something really amazing. SOO…It is “HIS” face–and I LOVE that I have it in this picture. He spotted Uncle Buck’s HUGE tractor tire–and thought it was AMAZING. He was saying “LOOOOOOOK! TRA-TER!” I even got it enlarged…so I could see it…on the wall–like EVERY day:)

TO COME…

While I was PURGING I ran across some more CRAZY pictures from back in the DAY–and I think I’ve GOT to take the next couple weeks and shamelessly share some of those with you! On a serious note–there are some PRETTY incredible things to share from those days–and they make a really amazing impact on the NOW for us. SO…I’m going to be scanning away and sharing some of those in the days ahead. Hope you all have a great week!!!!

XOXO,

Andrea

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Bonnie Nieuwstraten - March 17, 2011 - 12:56 am

I DO love your new picture wall!! You have inspired me. Too many of my pics have been up for way too long! And, I love the pics like the one of Frank too. He won’t make those faces forever, and you don’t want to forget.

Kristin - March 17, 2011 - 8:57 am

Your home looks so inviting. Very calming! Where did you get Laney’s dress? My girl would love that! Laney wears the cutest clothes!

emily v - March 17, 2011 - 9:16 am

you are so fun! you inspire me! Can’t wait to see ya’ll this weekend!!!!
EV

Kim - March 17, 2011 - 10:21 am

Your sweet girl looks BEAUTIFUL! What a fun date!

I love your picture wall, too.. LOVE it!

Kim - March 17, 2011 - 10:37 am

Baseball and home deco.
All of a sudden I am feeling homesick.
:o)
Love & Blessings from Hong Kong,
Kim