Fa la la randomness!

I can't believe Christmas is right around the corner!  I still have a couple gifts to buy, and I have ALL our wrapping to do!  Remember when the stores used to give you boxes with your Christmas purchases?  I sure wish they still did that.  I've been setting aside Wheat Things, Lucky Charms and saltine cracker boxes wrap some of our gifts!  Won't the girls be thrilled when they open a box of wheat thins!

I love the traditions that Christmas brings.  I've been watching plenty of Hallmark Christmas movies. That's my own personal tradition.  There's nothing more peaceful to me than after everyone is in bed I cuddle up on the couch with the glow of the Christmas tree lights on watching a Christmas movie! I'll stay up extra late just to make it happen some nights.

Last night we completed another tradition. We went to Winding Brook neighborhood in Mishawaka to look at all the Christmas lights. I popped popcorn for the girls, got them in their pajamas and off we went! The older they get the more fun it is.  Tenley counted how many santas she saw.  Paisley seemed to be in awe of it all.  Every time we asked her what she thought she just stared out the window and said "yeahhhh".  Ha!  She was intrigued.

Lindsey was nice enough to take a couple pictures of the girls for our Christmas cards this year after Paisley's 2 year pictures.  Here a few:

This was the one we used on our Christmas cards.

Here are a few of the pictures of our newest two year old too!  Where has the time gone! Grandma and Grandpa you'll enjoy seeing all of the hair that she has now!

Still blonde and blue eyed!  So different than her sister!  We took the girls to see Santa the other day and a friend saw us all standing in line and she said "I just can't get over it.  Tenley is so much like you, Michelle and Paisley is the spitting image of Mike."  That's really the truth.

Oh, our Santa picture you ask.  Welll.... I'll show it to you.  I cropped it so you could better see their expressions.  Paisley wasn't having it.  Not impressed by Santa.

Happy Halloween!

In the Marshall house we don't get too into halloween.  But the kids love dressing up and so I decided to humor them.  This was the first year that they went "door to door" trick or treating too.  Usually we drive around to houses that we know.  It was nice to have them out of the car, not so much loading and unloading.  Tenley just thought it was the best thing she's ever done!

This year Tenley went as a cowgirl and Paisley went as a bumblebee.

Aren't they the cutest!?  It took some convincing to have Tenley go as anything other than Elsa!  But once we talked up being a cowgirl a little bit, she was on board.  I took a look back at our past halloween costumes.  I came up with these:

2011

This was my favorite costume of Tenley's.  She looked so cute as a little ice cream cone! Halloweens in Indiana have to be a little different than everywhere else I think.  We have to dress for the weather too, so these warm fleece costumes are perfect!  For Tenley's first halloween she was a football and Mike and I dressed up as tailgaters.  I couldn't find that picture, but Tenley would have only been a little over a month old!

Paisley's first halloween and my favorite picture of the girls.  This picure is the perfect depiction of what we were going through at that stage.  A very happy Paisley dressed up as a cupcake, a curious Jayda Hollar, and a stubborn and angry Tenley.

2013

Fall!

Fall is my favorite time of the year in Indiana!  I just love the crunching of the leaves on the ground, all the colors, the temperature, -- everything!!

The girls enjoy every bit of playing outside during this time too!  Paisley and I got some good time in the leaves the other night.  

Now that GG and Great Grandpa are back in Florida (sniff sniff!!) I think it's time for an update. Tenley is loving preschool!  She claims that her teacher, Mrs. Simpson, is her very best friend.  

While I don't get a ton of information out of her, I do know she's learning a lot, meeting new people, and having a great time.  I pray that her excitement for school continues as she gets older.  Tenley was able to be in her first parade early this fall too!  She was THRILLED.  

Paisley continues to grow and is starting to put words together and talking a lot more!  Her laugh is so contagious and that little smile of hers never gets old!  God certainly knew what he was doing when he decided to surprise us with her!!  

Show us your life!

I'm linking up with Kelly and Kelly's Corner Blog today for Shop Small Market!

If you are visiting from her site, welcome!  I am a Christ-Follower, Wife and Mom!  I also own Madison Street Designs!  I make custom invitations, announcements, wall art, etc. and send it to you as a high resolution .jpg file so you can print it as many times as you would like!  Check out my facebook page at www.facebook.com/madisonstreetdesigns for more info!  I love what I do and would be more than happy to create something just for you!!

Here are some examples of my work:

Being a Mom is tough!

I've become a stranger on this blog!  I thought I would dust it off and start writing again and link up to a Bible Study I'm participating in right now.  We are currently reading "Am I Messing Up My Kids" by Lysa TerKeurst.  I love anything by Lysa!  She is so honest and open about her parenting experiences.  I need a little open and honest parenting conversation in my life.  Because let's be real- being a mom is TOUGH.

If you are a parent and you haven't asked yourself "am i messing up my kids?!" then you should probably stop reading now.  Good for you.  But I doubt there's many of you who haven't asked yourself that question at least once or twice.

 I think back to when I was pregnant with Tenley (my oldest) and I think about all the sweet, emotional feelings I was feeling back then.  "This is the greatest time in your life", "I have wanted this all my life!" were things that I was probably caught saying.  Then our amazing Tenley came into world.  As we drove away from the hospital with our sweet girl, I remember thinking "OH.  MY.  WORD.  Did they really just let us walk out of this hospital with a BABY!?  They know nothing about us!  Are we ready for this responsibility? They just let anyone walk out of here with a little human!!" Talk about a freak out moment.  That was it.  But life went on and we learned to understand each other, Tenley and I.  Tenley became less of a baby and more of a toddler.  A horrible toddler!  Tenley has always had her own ideas and opinions and she wasn't afraid to share them starting around 18 months.  That was about the time that people started saying "about time for another one huh?"  I would adamantly say, "I'm not cut out to be the mom of a toddler and a newborn."  Well...God thought I was.  Along came Paisley.  Boy was she a surprise.  But above all a wonderful little blessing that has completed our family and made me feel like maybe, just maybe I can do this motherhood thing.

Now, Tenley will be four in September and Paisley will be 2 in December.  We have our hands full most days.  But I love being a mom to my spirited little girls.

The truth is- I can't do it on my own.  I can only be a parent with God by my side.  A good parent that is.  I am excited to see where this Bible study takes me!

The countdown is ON.
We are done with this arctic mess we are trapped in.
We are heading SOUTH!
We may never come back!

... okay.  We probably will.  But the thought has crossed our minds.

Indiana in January...and February...and sometimes March gets gray.  Depressing.

So bring on the Sun, Sand and WARMTH.

Just a few more weeks.  My bags are almost packed already.  I may just leave early.  :)

She chooses to invest in JOY.

We have been snowed in this week!  With temperatures well below zero and the "feels like" temperature hovering around -35 (that is just insane) - we have been doing lots of activities indoors!  Tenley loves to paint with her water colors, so she has been doing that.  We have played memory, trouble and worked on more potty training.  Which I'm happy to report that Tenley is doing wonderful!  After several very trying attempts, she is now almost without accident during the day.  One big success in the Marshall house!  I was going a bit stir crazy in the house and yesterday I woke up in a pretty foul mood.  I knew that if I wanted to get through the day I would need to make some adjustments.  An active 3 year old and attention craving 1 one year don't exactly care if mommy needs a time out of her own.

I have been working through the attributes of a Proverbs 31 woman for awhile now.  After a few swapped text messages with my dear friend Trina, I realized that the advice I was giving her about her own foul mood needed to be said right to my own heart.  On our fridge I have this verse:

"A joyful heart is good medicine." Proverbs 17:22

Below that verse it says:

"Though life may turn on her, she chooses not to reciprocate.  Instead, she strives to be emotionally generous towards others by investing in them with joy.  As a result, when darkness threatens to loom over her she can easily chase it away by giving joy."

Could I come up with any reason for my foul mood and quick temper?  No.  Nothing justified.  Was I giving joy to those closest to me?  Not even a little bit.  God knew just what I needed to hear at that moment.  Even in the times when I think I would rather crawl back in bed than hear the truth.  Instead, I needed to put to use another attribute I have been working on - getting up every morning and following through with my commitments, despite how I feel.  Those commitments included providing food for my family, sweeping, doing laundry, respecting my husband, etc.  I understand that if God can trust me with these small things, He can trust me with big things.

Show me Lord when I fail, teach me how to be the wife, mom, friend, sister, daughter - woman that you created me to be.  Help me to continue to do the work that you've given me.  Amen.