Seasons of Life {Words for My Babies}

leggings // top

When summer was drawing to an end, and the school was starting I was a little bit sad to be honest. I didn't want the carefree, hot and fun days with my kiddos to end. I really didn't want to get into a routine of waking up early and going by schedule because our summer was full of so many adventures that happened on a whim. 

I wasn't enjoying the change.

Then came autumn. With its ever changing leaves and chill, crisp mornings. I was starting to like the fact that we can layer our cardigans and enjoy the sunlight instead of hide from it. 

Then fall became this beautiful array of colors everywhere I looked. There were gorgeous magenta tones, bright oranges and stark yellows all around me. The sun was still warm during the day but nights were refreshingly chilly. 

I started to enjoy it. 

                                It got me thinking. It's the same in life. We love or enjoy something so much that we don't want to let go or move on. There is something to enjoy in every season - in both valleys and high peeks. Right now, I'm enjoying the toddler stage in life. My children are always with me and seems like on me. But they share everything with me, I'm their best friend of choice and we do everything together. The cuddles and fears, the night time prayers and songs, the trips to the zoo and exploring, the learning about life and trying their limits. I'm here for all of it and I love it. I'm going to miss it when they are grown but every season will have something beautiful in it. So find yours and enjoy it, whatever it may be. 

To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven                                                          (Ecc 3:1)

Summer Happenings {Family Photos}

 Taking family photos is the most labor intensive job out there. Kids are running around, adults are cheesing and you are desperately trying to look natural but have the perfect photos at the same time. Well, I'm loving our these photos we did couple of days ago! We got all dolled up and made a trip downtown to one of our local landmarks and snapped away. Thanks to the talented and patient photographer TC from the Thenappan Picture Gallery, we got some great shots! I honestly want to post all of them - there is so many good ones. If you are in the area, I recommend you hit him up for some photos because honestly I didn't even edit any of these. I also can't wait to frame them because we don't have many recent pictures of all of us together. Hope you have a great weekend and enjoy the weather because it's not going to last long (especially around these parts).

Thank you for stopping by! 

Summer Happenings {Berry Picking}

I love summer! Around our parts, it is very short, hot and humid. But those days we savor every minute and try not to complain about the heat. We go berry picking every year. Starting with strawberries, then raspberries and blueberries. They are in abundance in upstate New York, which we absolutely love. This year strawberries weren't very good considering all the rain but we are looking forward to canning some raspberry jam and eating tons of blueberries. 

We went later in the morning which turned into a muggy and hot afternoon. It wasn't all that popular with kids who wanted to get outta there asap. But nevertheless, they had fun. It's so sweet watching them discover things. Abbie was so excited finding all the ripe blueberries and caught on very quick that only blue ones are yummy. She wasn't a fan of raspberry picking because leaves a bit prickly. Jonathan was a great sport, while I was carrying Abbie around, he picked quite a few berries on his own. I was so very proud of him! 

Although I am very goal oriented person, I try to relax and enjoy kids and see it for what it's worth. Of course, we didn't pick many berries but we enjoyed our time together and the kids learned too a few things too. Hope you get to enjoy some fresh picked berries this summer too!

5 Things My Kids Taught Me About Life

Her Boots (also love these) //  His Boots (he still wants another pair)

When I had my first boy, Jonathan, life changed. Dramatically. Everything from what time we went to bed to what was on TV changed. I was determined to be the best mother - to teach them, mold them and guide them where to go. But one of the things I didn't expect is to learn something from those little people that we brought into this world. So here are 5 things I've learned from my kids

1. Be In The Moment. How many times we are too preoccupied with life or stuff to just enjoy simple life's pleasures. Like Rain. I mean, seriously. When it rains, my kids get excited because they get to go splash in the puddles and carry their umbrellas. They forget that it's wet and dirty, they just enjoy the splashing and stomping into giant puddles, getting wet and dirty. Life is full of moments that are enjoyable and it's up to see to see them.

2. Enjoy The Small Things. Getting rain boots in the mail was the highlight of their week. From picking them out to seeing UPS truck pull up to our house, everything was so fun. Then getting to go and explore outside right after the rain, it was simply joyous occasion. They were happy with the little things like rain boots and puddles.

3. Get Carried Away. As adults we like to rationalize things and put a limit onto how much is a reasonable amount of fun. Even I get myself caught saying, "that's enough now", but why? There should never be enough laughter, fun and joy. Kids don't think that at some point they had enough laughing and playing. They would rather crash on the floor while playing, then go to bed. Getting carried away with things you enjoy is the best you can do with your life.

4. Let Others Join The Fun. My kids always ask me to come and play, or go climb trees or jump puddles with them. They never hesitate inviting our neighbors to pool parties or to our backyard to play. They simply want to spread the joy around them. They don't think that this person isn't good enough or they don't fit some social standard - they love people for who they are. Bring others into your life and see what surprising treasure you may find in those relationships. Maybe it requires you to step out of your comfort zone, give someone a call or invite them into your home. You will never be sorry for doing more, but you may regret not doing enough.

5. Look For Extraordinary in Mundane. The day we went outside for a walk around the neighborhood, was a rainy, gloomy, windy and cold day in the middle of June. We were stuck inside all morning, kids wanted to go play but it was raining non stop. The moment it stopped we hopped outside for a quick walk. Half way through it started to rain again. There was nothing really exciting going, but we just made do with what we had. They enjoyed themselves in the small window of gloomy and boring. Life is what you make it out to be. You can be in the most picturesque place in the world and not see it, yet someone can be in the dead of winter and recognize beauty of it all. 

So today, try to be a kids again, and you will see how much more joy you will find in your life! 

Thanks for stopping by.

Toddler Activity {Making Rain}

Hello there! Having two children at home all the time, gets them a little bored. This passed winter was so long and cold that we were looking for ideas on how to stay busy and not to loose our minds. My son Jonathan is 4 years old and loves all hands on activities. He loves cooking with me, mixing things and see what comes out. On a particularly rainy and cold day, I was looking for something to keep him occupied and found this cute idea on Pinterest, Honestly, I can't even find the link of the original blog post. But whoever you are, I give you credit for being so creative and finding a way to use common household things for such a fun experiment, We learning about rain and how it works because I'm sure God does have fun when it rains. So, I hope you enjoy making this fun experiment with your little ones over and over again, because we sure do. 

Things You Need
- Shaving Cream
- Large Glass Vase/Jar
- Colored Water
- Ramekins
- Syringe

How To

Pour water into a clear glass jar and leave room on top for shaving cream, about 3 inches. Mix colors of your choice with water and make sure it's really concentrated. It will become much  more pale when mixed with shaving cream and more water. Fill the rest of the vase/jar with shaving cream and set it up on a table. Fill the syringe with color of your choice and sprinkle all over the top of the shaving cream. Do not put it all in one spot, you will end up with cloudy mess instead of pretty drops. Keep going alternating colors and watch the colored water fall to the bottom of the vase/jar. After a while Jonathan got bored of the 'right' way of doing it and made cloudy with spraying syringe directly into one spot. After a while water was dark and cloudy and we started all over again. Enjoy! 

Thanks for stopping by!