Addiction to online subscriptions

So, I've jumped on the online subscription bandwagon and it's sucked me in and I don't know how to get out (or if I really want to)!  What do I mean by online subscriptions?  They are different types of services where you pay a monthly fee and get a box of goodies.  Here are my current subscriptions:

Wittlebee--I love this subscription!  I pay $40 and get a box of clothes for EV.  I can pause whenever I want to and I have my very own stylist.  I let them know what kind of clothes, season, style, color, print, etc. that I want, including detailed notes about what I like and do not like, and then I receive a box of hand-selected designer clothes for EV.  So far, I have received two boxes and have loved almost every piece that I got.  I wish they had a service like this for adult clothes.

Birchbox--I think my anticipation was much higher than what I got, but I was still happy with my first box last month.  This is a subscription for beauty products, such as make-up, cleansers, lotions, hair products, fragarences, etc.  It's $10 a month and you can cancel anytime as well.  I think the only thing is that the samples are smaller than I thought.  Although in my last box, I got a full-sized liquid eyeliner that retailed for $15 so it made my box worth the $10 I spent.

Little Black Bag--This is my current obsession (thanks @MaryLee)!  You pay $50 a month and get a box of bags, jewelry, accessories, and makeup.  You pick your first item (I picked a purse worth $72) and then the stylists will pick an additional 2-3 items.  After you submit your payment, that's when the addicting part begins.  You can trade out any of your items for other items for 7 days.  All items are fully refundable.  I love my bag and one of the jewelry pieces I currently have in my bag; I'm just waiting for the right trade for my other jewelry item.  Plus, on Monday's and Thursday's they have new inventory so I'll wait it out until Thursday before deciding on my bag.

I also have a few other subscriptions that I want to check out (but since I'm a sucker for these, I'm sure I will try out others as I learn about them):

-Conscious Box--a monthly delivery of pure and sustainable products
-Glambag--this is similar to birchbox but it looks like the samples may be larger (at the same price!)
-KiwiCrate--this is a monthly subscription of crafts and activities for kids with all materials included

Off to Maryland!!

The last two weeks have been super crazy for our whole family--with pappa bear being preoccupied with GoldRush, momma bear trying to juggle work and EV, and getting ready for our trip up to Maryland, it's safe to say that we all are now trying to get our brains and body back to normal to start a new week tomorrow.

We spent the last week in Maryland and boy did we pack it in!  We left Monday night at 7:30pm and arrived at grandma and grandpa's house at 6:00am on Tuesday.  After some breakfast, we went to the hotel to check-in and let pappa bear get some sleep.  We went to go visit great grandma in the afternoon and had dinner at grandma's house.  Wednesday morning after breakfast at the hotel (which EV ate twice--once when she woke up at 7am and again when momma bear went to go eat at 9am), we headed into the city to visit the natural history museum.  We spent the morning looking at fossils and learning about dinosaurs, then headed to eat lunch at the Old Post Office atrium food court (found it on Scoutmob).  Unfortunately, we did not make it far before EV fell asleep and therefore ended up taking her nap in the car.  For the afternoon, we went to grandma's house so that we could meet up with relatives: aunts and cousins galore!  We met up with some second cousins and went to Chuck E Cheese--the place gave momma a big headache but EV you were having the time of your life!

Thursday morning we decided to keep it low-key and visit a park--what a great park!  It had a huge playground, a carousal, and a choo-choo train.  It kept us busy for the morning and made us hungry for lunch.  For lunch, we went to have some Peruvian chicken.  Yum!!!!  After everyone's nap, momma bear and pappa bear included, we headed over to grandma's house again so that we could meet up with some more aunts and uncles.  We headed into Virginia, played at an indoor playground, and had really good Japanese buffet food.  

Since it had been raining Thursday night, Friday morning was much cooler than the previous couple of days.  So, we decided to take the chance and go to the National Zoo.  Boy oh boy, did you have a good time.  We saw zebras, cheetahs, lions, tigers, panda bears, elephants, gorillas, monkeys, and much much more.  You couldn't stop talking about all the animals! (Side note:  I don't think I have heard you talk as much as you talked on this trip!  You definitely love to talk!  You also made us laugh more and understand you more on this trip!!).  We had lunch at the zoo then headed back for your nap.  After your nap we made our way into Baltimore to meet more aunts and uncles.  Here you got to meet 4 of the largest dogs you have ever seen.  I was so proud of you--you were not the least bit scared and you embraced them as if you have been around big dogs all your life!  In Baltimore we ate Maryland blue crabs, snow crabs, and corn on the water.  You were having the best time.

Saturday was our last day and unfortunately we were not able to do anything we planned as it rained hard all day.  So, we spent our last day with grandma and grandpa, eating good food, and making games out of plastic bags and paper.  Although it was spent mostly indoors, it was a good day.  After dinner, we got ready and headed back down to Georgia.  We were sad to leave but thankful we had a week to spend time with family.  We love you and miss you all!!

Our summer so far...

I can't believe it is already the end of June!  I find myself busier than ever with work, church, family, and friends.  Since my last post, I have been on work travel twice and the beach for vacation.  In addition to traveling, we have said good-bye to old friends, hello to new ones, and nice to see ya again to friends we haven't seen in awhile.  I've had crazy work deadlines and Jimmy is busy preparing for Rush.  We've gone to birthday parties, celebrated father's day, hung out at the pool, had a garage sale, and spent time with friends and family.  I've been spending time thinking, praying, and planning for the new ministry year for the working moms community.  So yes, it's already the end of June but we have done so much and we still have so much more to do!

So, what is EV up to now?  She is becoming a lady.  It's amazing how quicklyl they grow and mature.  We have conversations and I can now see and understand her thought processes.  She's able to articulate her emotions and her thoughts.  She has an incredible memory.  She is considerate, loving, funny, persistent, indepedent, sensitive, perceptive and insightful. She is constantly talking and likes to narrate EVERYTHING--"Look mommy, I am eating a bagel; it has cream cheese on it. Mommy is all done with her bagel and is wiping her mouth. Look mommy, daddy is sitting next to me.  Daddy has a bagel, EV has a bagel.  My bagel has cream cheese on it..." and on and on and on.  She puts a smile on my face when she says things like, "Mommy, please turn up the air.  Look at me, I'm sweating."  or "Mommy, you look pretty today." The mornings when she wakes up before us, she'll tiptoe quietly into our room, peak in and take a look at us, and then go back to her room to play by herself until either we are ready to wake up or she gets too bored.  She likes to play jokes and she loves laughing.  She loves to sing and is singing all the time.  She loves to swim and getting more confident in the water--she can jump high and far.  She swims across the pool with just pool noodles and no help.  She has high standards for herself and gets frustrated when she cannot accomplish what she thinks she can in her head.  She gets embarrassed when she gets in trouble in front of others.  Her current favorite book is Ten Apples Up on Top by Dr. Suess.  Evangeline, you are truly our joy and in times of frustration or discouragement, we look at you and are reminded of God's love and blessing.  I am so thankful for the moments we share and I look forward to more.

Things to come next month:
--4th of July
--GoldRush
--Trip to Maryland
--Camping

Mash Up

EV has really been getting into singing.  Her current favorites include, "Yes, Jesus Loves Me," "Happy Birthday to You," "Row Row Row Your Boat," "The Wheels on the Bus," "Baa Baa Black Sheep," and the "ABC Song."  The other day Jimmy mentioned that Baa Baa Black Sheep, ABC Song and Twinkle Twinkle all are based off of the same notes/melody.  The next thing we know EV is singing Baa Baa Black Sheep and finishing it off with the ABC Song (when she was supposed to be taking a nap).  She doesn't start really singing until about 15 seconds into the recording; it's actually really cute how she corrects herself, although she's still a little pitchy.  So, without further ado, here is EV's mash up of Baa Baa Black Sheep and ABC song.

EV's Mash Up of Baa Baa Black Sheep and ABC Song

Strawberry picking we go!

We went strawberry picking this past Saturday and had a good time.  It's funny because when we got home to wash off all the strawberries, we found many that were already bitten into.  Apparently, EV was taking a bite out of all the ones she picked--I guess she was doing a taste test to make sure they are okay. 

This has been a really fun age, as EV continues to grow exponentially in her speech and is now even making jokes and trying to be funny.  After she goofs off or makes a joke she'll say, "hahahaha.  EV's funny!"  Lately, she's also been asking, "Mommy, what's this?" or "What's inside this?" Her curious mind has to know how everything works.  On many occasions I have found myself stumbling on my explanation.  She asked me the other day, pointing to the cutting mat, "Mommy, what's this big paper?"  I said, "Oh, that's for cutting fabric so that mommy can make you dresses and clothes."  Although it wasn't that eloquent, it sounded more like, "Oh, yeah, um, mommy cuts on that. Well, mommy puts it on the floor and puts fabric, I mean clothes on top to cut it.  I mean it's a mat for cutting."  Halfway through, EV is bored and is onto the next thing.  It's even worse when she asks about something I don't want her to know about.  "Mommy what's inside this" (pointing to a brownie oatmeal bar from trader joe's).  I respond with, "Oh, um, it's nothing. yuck. you don't want to know. actually there's nothing inside." (as I quickly walk away to avoid telling her about the delicious sweet contents of the bag).  I need practice responding to these random questions more clearly and succintly. 

I can't believe it's already May.  Jimmy and I will be celebrating our 7 year anniversary in a couple weeks.  We have been so blessed in our marriage--we have definitely had our ups and our downs but it's all made our marriage stronger and better.  I hope that as we celebrate 7 years, we can be appreciate all that's happened in the past, be thankful for what we have in the present, and look forwards to new adventures in the future.

Funny things kids say

I am absolutely floored at how quickly EV's language abilities are growing each day.  Not only her vocabulary and pronunciation, but her ability to get intonation, sentence structure, and humor.  With this constant development of language, we are seeing more and more of EV's personality.  We are seeing how bossy she really is, "Mommy, come here and sit down, RIGHT NOW!"  She is constantly saying do this and do that.  We are also seeing her sense of humor and how much of a jokster she really is.  She will say, "Mommy, go away!! Noooo! I'm sorry"  Then I'll come to give her a hug and then she'll say, "No--go away!" And then laugh hysterically (I think her humor is mean like her momma's).  We also see her compassion.  Last week Jimmy hurt himself at the park and EV started crying saying, "Oh noooo!! Appa's hurt!  Kiss boo-boo."  Recently she told her auntie Gina to watch her do something and my sister and I just sat in awe by the complexity of her sentence.  She's also singing a lot of songs lately--it's as if she finally gained the confidence to say the words while carrying a tune.  I think hearing a little toddler sing is the sweetest thing I've every heard!

Evangeline, you make our hearts so glad and we are so thankful for you every day!  We are so blessed to have such a beautiful, funny, smart, loving daughter like you.  I look forward to seeing how God will grow you and use you as a young woman.

Let's Pray

EV sometimes says really random things and one of those things is "Let's Pray."  She'll be playing with her puzzle, then stop look at us and say, "Let's Pray" or she'll be eating her food and in the middle of a bite she'll look up and say "Let's Pray."  In those moments, we stop everything and we lift up a prayer.  When she was really little, we use to have family prayer time where we would gather in the living room and each take turns praying.  Unfortunately, we weren't very consistent and eventually family prayer time turned to occasional prayers to nonexistent.  Thankfully we have a very systematic child that likes consistency.  First, it was every time the three of us were in the living room, she would say, "Let's Pray" then it was just anytime the three of us would be gathered.  So, a lesson we have been trying to teach EV has become a lesson to us.  As we try to teach EV the importance of prayer, she's teaching us the importance of maintaining it.  I love this kid and I love how God teaches us so many lessons through her!