::sunny velvet::

Thinking about living room colors.
Traveling with Leila in a couple of weeks to see my dear friend Clare and I've all but convinced my dear hubby to paint the living room while I'm gone. Pretty crafty of me.

My second digital kit attempt:
Sunny Velvet (click to DOWNLOAD FREE)


Thanks Angela!

The kit in action...


Verbalization Update:
Luke said "duck" and has been saying "I want".
"Goggie" is Leila's word for Doggie.
Luke is "Duke".
"Sear-ee-ahh" is cereal.
If you say "A" she'll say "B".
If you say "one" she'll say "2".

Big Mac Pumpkin:


Speaker notes from Nurture Wednesday morning:
(Shame on me, I forgot her name.)
The topic was Loving Your Man.
Made me think a bit so I thought I'd share a little of her wisdom.

• There is a frog and a prince in every man. Some women are frog hunters but other women bring out the prince in the very same man.
• No woman has had perfect relationships with men all through life and we are afraid of getting hurt. We need to let go of the fear of being hurt and stop seeing men as a threat -- it's irrational.
  
• Do you want to influence your husband? You cannot influence anyone you don't have compassion for.
• Prov. 19:22 . There is a hole in our souls. Nothing in this world will satisfy. We were made that way so that we would seek God. Only a personal relationship with him will fill this hole. So many women try to have this hole filled by their man. We seek value, worth and affirmation from our men but they will never make us truly happy. They are incapable of making us truly happy because they are human like us. We must stop looking to our men to satisfy us completly. It isn't their job and we are setting them up for failure.
  
• Our husbands don't define who we are.
• We cannot love a man while we are looking to him to validate us. Men don't like needy, whiny women who need validation from them.
  
• Our husbands, by and in God, are: 1) Deeply loved; 2) Completely forgiven; 3) Fully pleasing; 4) Totally accepted; 5) Complete.

::going merona in a coach world::

I've got this thing with red bags.
Well, not that one...although it is nice...I'm not sure about the $428 detail.

This one on the other hand...


Loving those pockets which create an immediate "I'm organized" facade.
More pockets on the inside.

The color looks slightly off in this photo. It's a bit better in person.

$24.99.
At that price I don't have to worry about oatmeal smears.
With the Coach I would be slightly more edgy.
Oh wait, stains wouldn't be an issue if I bought the Coach as I would have to sell my children in order to purchase it.
Did I mention I love Target?

::double-pain::

Lace...made from chocolate.


Here we see a new window being installed in our living room. I felt terrible for the family on our street whose house is for sale who must have driven by our house each day cursing us for having an unsightly garbage bag covering one pane. Luke broke the window with his head. Fortunately, it was wrapped in the curtain at the time. Unfortunately, it takes 6 weeks for wooden windows to be made...apparently.

Groceries at Amazon? Who knew?
Through November 30th, 2006, use coupon code GROCERY3 to save $10 off your $49+ order, instantly.

::painting and pumpkins::

A little fingerpainting.

Artist at work.

At the patch


As usual, Rob has each and every child on the wagon completely engrossed in his silly antics. They always love him.



Petting zoo fun.





The best dressed farmer on the farm. (Yes, that is a suit.)

::the line where my infatuation- with- technology will most certainly be drawn::

We'll be going to:


...today for to pick a peck of pretty pumpkins and participate in peppy pictures to post.

We can add to the "Leila words" list...
oatmeal (oh-me)
up
down
open (oben)
boots (buts)
shoe
car (ca)
hat
off
on


This escapes me...
Baby Toupees.

::zippy feet::

I think I would satisfy my sweet tooth just by flipping these pages.

Luke at the new park we found.

Mike spoke on Gratitude.
What is this mystical connection we have with our stuff?
"A man's life does not consist of the abundance of his possessions."
I want to learn to give more.

Interesting watermelon carvings.

All things delicious.

::look who's talking::

• So Rob just up and decides to paint the kid's bathroom. Not even on a honey-do list. Bonus points.
  
• We found a new park in our neighborhood - well kind of, a couple of miles down the road. Pond, ducks, playground, picnic tables and trail.
  
• Looking forward to having friends over for dinner tomorrow night.
  
• My sister likes Ann Taylor Loft and I have to say I snuck a peak in Ann Taylor today and they really had some classy ensembles going on. Now that I'm more than officially into my thirties I'm thinking I need to be more of a classical dresser. Somehow that doesn't really go with my lifestyle right now though (rescuing toddlers from mounds of dirt, cereal, poop and bubbles consistently throughout the day and occasional gardening, cooking and cleaning) but I sure wish it did. I'd love to dress like the leading ladies of the 30's. Wouldn't you? (Okay, I guess I just excluded my male readers with that last statement - leading men?)
  

Free Hugs Campaign.

A Mini Boden catalog arrived in the mail today. Many fun clothing items for little people. Quite fun prices to boot.

Luke's communication boards are up. We're hoping this will facilitate language -- hoping that he'll begin to understand the importance of communication.

Once again, Nurture was just what I needed this morning. This was my morning to bring a dish. The Lemon-Scented Marscarpone Trifle was a hit.

My sister Angie told me the name of their baby-to-be. Love it Ang.

See my big boy helper.

::patchwork and programed beverages::

Watch 10 culinary lessons from Alton, my second place Food Network Favorite. He's just plain cute (in a make-me-laugh kind of way).
New soda bottle technology allows you to "program" own beverage. (Click pic.)

What do you think of these belts from Curious Bird?

Positives: very cool print and makes for a small-waist illusion. So does that cancel out the odd placement? The purses are kind of fun though.

My house is a wreck. Does this happen to you on the weekends? Out of a routine I guess. That's the way it should be no? Okay, not a wreck, let's say, "lived in". Yes, that is definately more fun to say.

:: clutches in print::

• I love these beautiful clutches from SML bags.
  

• This beautiful monstrosity came via the friendly fedex man this evening. It's huge.We can now print photos and scrapbook pages.We're happy about this.

• Geez was it ever a nice day. I had the nicest conversation with my Aunt Nancy - it was fun taking your walk with you!

• We're now thinking of Raleigh as an investment location. What do you think? Number 4 in the Money Magazine's top big cities.

• Plugging along on my video project. Every last video we ever made to be archived forever in the blogosphere. I'm an insane memory preserver. Afraid of being left alone in my old age with nothing but my memories?
  

::mom has a blog::

Welcome to blogland Mom!



A layout for a friend. I used Rhonna Farrar's amazing Chickpea.

Oatmeal faces by Rob.


Leila's new hat.


The earth is filled with His glory.

I learned this today...
Prioritize.
"Say yes to the best and "no" to the good."
If you know a woman with perfectly dressed children, emmaculate home, delicious meals on the table I promise you something is giving somewhere. You can't do it all.

I must spend more time tickling, dancing, laughing, being goofy with my kiddies.

Oh my goodness, Rob has had that same shirt on for the last three posts.
Does his wife ever buy him any clothes?

I'm putting together a video blog of the Carlin lives beginning with pre-Luke. Find it here. A work in progress.

Rob and I found ourselves at The Olde Ship last night listening to The Record Club. Kind of fun because of the Britishiness of it all (except the music, but they did manage to squeeze in a little Beatles . ) Mostly fun because it was just Rob and I getting out on our own for a change.

Love our church, pastor and the challenging messages we hear each Sunday. I know we're in the right place.

A few shots from the day.