Simply Sara

Why is it that as Believers we have such a hard time being REAL with each other? Why is it so hard to ADMIT that we're STRUGGLING or DEPRESSED or ANGRY or DOUBTFUL? Since when did Christianity become so stinkin' POLITE that we are afraid to be honest with each other when we feel KICKED to the curb and can't see GOD anywhere? Why are we so afraid to LEAN on each other for strength, rip open our festering wounds, and BEG for healing? PRIDE and FEAR. They certainly know how to hold me back. PRIDE over admitting that I might not be PERFECT (as if everyone around me doesn't know that already!). FEAR of not being ACCEPTED by the people I love when they see my SIN. FEAR that people will think LESS of me when they realize that I DON'T have it all together. PRIDE in thinking that I don't NEED other Believers on this challenging journey. FEAR that my FAITH is less worthy if I admit what I'm really feeling on the inside. FEAR that NO ONE will CARE. FEAR of being CRITIC...

This is the best picture of the entire day! Ava fell asleep on her Aunt Sandra's shoulder, but was passed to Nana to finish her out her nap. Just beautiful! Ava bonding with her great-uncle Tom. (don't you love that bib? Thanks Meg for the adorable gift !) Lucas really enjoyed hanging out with his cousin Jacob.

Our Thanksgiving week began with a *quick* trip to Atlanta to visit some family. Ava bonded with her cousin Joseph while Lucas and Josh had a blast playing together. I told Ava that right now she may enjoy holding Joseph's hand, but one day he's going to pull her pigtails and she will think he has cooties. Why is it so hard to get 3 and 4 year olds to pose for a picture? Lucas used to be so good at smiling on command, but now we're lucky if we get something like this. Is this a boy thing? See, I told you there is something wrong with our (new) camera. Anyway, if you can see past the strange colors, this is me with my cousin Margaret. She and her family are moving to live with the yankees and we will miss them so much! Jump ahead to Thursday (Sorry the photos are out of order - I'm really in need of a nap and a shower, but that's another issue all together.) We celebrated Turkey day with Matt's family at his parent's house. Here Lucas is chilling with his...

So here's the plan for Black Friday. Lucas will wake me up at 7:00. I swear that kid has an inner alarm clock. After I wipe the grogginess from my eyes, I will stumble to the coffee maker, grind some Starbucks beans, debate about taking a shower, grab my ipod and head to Toys R Us to get some sales. Oh yeah, I'll change out of my pjs before I go. I figured listening to some great music while negotiating the masses at the toy store will only help my mood, right? What about you? Are you braving the elements and hitting the stores tomorrow?

The soup turned out great by the way. :) Not the same as Nana's, but still really yummy. I think the yumminess was contributed by the butter and sugar. No joke. And I thought vegetable soup was supposed to be healthy. Guess what I woke up with this morning? A stye. That's right. I'm going to look so cute on Thanksgiving. Maybe I should wear a red shirt to match.

When I picked Lucas up from preschool today, he looked like this! So cute I could just squeeze him! (And I did!) Apparently his class went all out celebrating Thanksgiving because I found lots of crafts in his bag. This being Lucas's first year in school, it feels strange to me that someone else is doing crafts with him. We still do projects together at home, but not as many as we used to. I found this foam "blessing" tree in L's bag as I was sorting through all of his Thanksgiving goodies. In case you can't see it, it says "Count your Blessings Tree". Apparently, Lucas's teacher wrote down all of Lucas's blessings: Mommy, Andrew, Pizza, School, Toys, Daddy, Friends, and Books. I'm not sure what to think about the absence of his sister's name! Since I picked him up, I've asked Lucas several times about what he is thankful for, and each time he simply says, "Andrew". I then say, "Anyone else?", to which he replys ...

After 5 years of cooking for Matt, I've figured my way around the kitchen. I've always liked cooking, especially baking. Growing up I was often beside my Mom, learning from her and gaining confidence in the kitchen. My favorite thing to make has always been cookies. In high school, I started baking every Saturday to take cookies to youth group Sunday night. (I totally had a crush on our youth leader. haha He was a local college student and fond of my cookies.) My ridiculous attempts didn't work (he never asked me out) and in retrospect, I'm so glad! One thing I've never enjoyed doing is replicating a family recipe. Yes, I love the classics, food that I grew up on. But it nevers seems to taste exactly the same as Momma's! A couple weeks ago, I attempted Matt's grandmother's famous caramel icing. After 45 minutes of standing over the stove, it turned out like a rock. But the sad thing is, not including the texture, Matt still said it didn't taste the s...

We're trying something new today. On a typical Sunday morning, Matt heads to church at 6:30 while we are still in bed. I struggle to wake up at 7:00, get myself and the kids ready to leave by 8:30. Once we get to church, it's great; we volunteer, attend the 9:15 service and the kids have a blast! But today is a little different. We're going to attend the 6:00 service tonight instead. Matt left early this morning to volunteer, but I got to sleep in! Lucas spent last night at his Mimi and Poppy's house after begging and pleading until we called Mimi. Ava and I have been busy playing on the floor, reading books and giving her a bath! It's 11:00, I've had 2 cups of coffee and some amazing time in the Lord's presence. Funny how He always speaks when I take time to listen. So, it's been a really, really great morning. Thank you Jesus for this special time of peace and quiet. Thank you that I know Lucas is having a blast with his Mimi, Ava is warm and clean, as...

Long before there was a Lucas and an Ava, Matt and I participated in one of Newspring 's first Financial Peace University classes. Taught by Paul Marshall, we spent 2 1/2 hours every Monday night at the Anderson Library , for I don't know how many weeks, going through this incredible program. This class changed our lives. We made a plan for our finances, changed our view on money and started living on a cash only system. Then life happened. And we lost some of our focus. It became much easier to use the debit card than carry around all that cash. Our emergency fund took a hit, and suddenly we were worried again. But one thing did stick - we didn't accumulate any new debt (except medical bills, and that's because our health insurance coverage sucks, and we had two babies with very high deductibles). Our passion to be in control of our money and not let it control us has lingered as well. So today we got the chance to spend 8 hours being taught by a man who is on a ...

Over the past month, Ava's personality has blossomed! She readily hands out smiles to everyone who looks her way! She is truly a happy and content baby (and I am SO thankful for that!) I love putting Ava on the changing table and watching her whole body move in excitement as she coos and kicks. She hates being put on her tummy and loves reading the book "Mimi's Toes" . Three months is truly one of my favorite stages. We took Lucas and Ava to Olan Mills last night to get pictures made for our Christmas card. I rarely put Ava in a dress, but last night she looked so adorable in her Christmas plaid dress complete with green bloomers. Of course she spent most of the time pulling her dress up and showing off her bloomers, but she was still precious. Lucas looked so grown up in his Christmas sweater vest. Haha I can't believe I put him in a sweater vest. That is something I NEVER do, but I couldn't resist this one time! As the holiday season is quickly approaching,...

Did you know that the average woman loses 100-125 hairs a day? Did you know that 3 months after having a baby, a woman typically loses 500 hairs a day? If this is news to you, come on over and check out my bathroom. It's like a freaking gorilla's been in there. (Not sure where the gorilla reference came from, but it's the only hairy animal I could think of at the moment.)

If I were stranded on a desert island and could only have two beauty products with me, I would choose mascara and chapstick. On a day when I'm lucky to get out of my pjs and take a shower, I always find the time to apply a little mascara and a coat of cherry chapstick. Well lately, the mascara hasn't been happening. Oh, it's not a time issue; in fact, since I am no longer breastfeeding, I have more time that I ever thought possible with a 3 month old. No, the issue is my eye. Or more specifically, a problem with styes that won't seem to go away on my left eye. They started up about 3 weeks ago and culminated with my eye being half swollen shut for a couple days. I've stopped applying all eye makeup on that eye, but I couldn't give up putting mascara on my healthy eye. Call me vain, but a girl has to feel pretty. I thought my problems were solved after I bought some new mascara and got an antibiotic from the doctor, but alas, the styes have come back with a venge...

Is it really Monday? It feels like a Friday for some reason. I know what it is. I just got in from a weekend trip to visit my Mom. And while it was a wonderful trip, it absolutely wore me out. I need another weekend to recover. I left Matt at home, so it was just me and the kiddos. The first night, Lucas ended up sleeping in the bed with me (which has never happened before) because he was homesick. It was really sweet and a little pitiful. He still woke up at his usual time of 7 a.m. even though we didn't fall asleep until 1 in the morning. I tried to catch a little nap today, but Lucas kept waking me up asking if "I was done yet". One day I'll get to nap for more than an hour, right? My sister Melanie spent the weekend with us and she brought her little girl, Anna. We had so much fun with the girls listening to them coo at each other and kick their legs. The girls are 5 weeks apart. Mel and I had a blast putting Anna and Ava in matching Christmas dresses that Grand...

The old man is snoring.... or something like that. We're having a laid back night in the Alexander household this evening. I'm wearing my "it's laundry day" clothes while catching up on blogs and facebook; Lucas and Matt are singing along to Thomas the Train (no joke, Matt' s enjoying it too!), and sweet little Ava is entertaining herself on her play gym. Good times. I made Taco soup tonight - a favorite in our house. Truthfully, it is full of flavor, super easy to make and low-fat. It would be even more low fat if I used ground turkey instead of ground beef, but I don't think my meat and potatoes hubby would go for that. Because this is such a random post, and random evening, I think I will share my recipe for Taco soup with you! 1 Pound ground beef 1 can corn 1 can pinto beans 1 can black beans 1 can kidney beans 1 (16 oz) jar of picante sauce 1 can rotel Brown the ground beef, then pour all ingredients into the crockpot. Don't drain the corn or bea...

When we first walked through our new house, it look liked this. Old furniture, opened boxes of junk, and piles of trash were everywhere, along with a mess of people pilfering through an estate sale. This is our living room before we moved in. Make sure you take a moment to admire the lovely burgendy carpet. I wish you could smell it; that would tell you the whole story. When I saw this room, I knew immediately what I wanted to do with it. After living in 1200 square feet with a very active toddler, we were overrun with countless toys, trucks, cars, and crayons. My dream of a playroom was finally going to come true! A place to put all of the stuff that comes along with children. Growing up we had a playroom in the first house I lived in. I have fond memories of playing Barbies with my sisters in that shag carpeted room. So here's the playroom now. We painted the walls (thanks Suzanne and Skye), ripped out the carpet and restored the hardwoods, and piled the room high with toys. And...

While I'm busy stuffing my face with Orville Redenbocker's Kettle Korn (it's 94% fat free, so that means I can eat the whole bag, right?), I just have to share a few highlights of our day so far! We went in this morning for Ava's weekly weight check and found out that she gained an entire pound last week!!! Hooray for chubby cheeks! (Front and back!) That means we don't have to see the doctor for an entire month! Lucas came along to receive his flu shot, which I was dreading. I tried to prepare him, explaining why he was getting poked and how it would hurt only for a minute. But apparantly it was all in vain. He didn't need the pep talk. No, he just took it like a man. We rolled up his sleeve, nurse Lynn counted to three, and all Lucas did was say "okay" after it was done. Apparantly I act more like a three year old when it comes to needles than my three year old does. And now the big news of the day.... Ava rolled over from her tummy to her back, twic...

I’VE GOT POPPY’S CHAIR! The door barely opens and he’s in on the run, Before the first greetings have even begun. He’s wearing a big grin as he quickly zips by, Barely slowing, he turns to catch his Poppy’s eye. The game is on and they both are aware That for the next few moments, the prize is…a chair. Not just any chair, mind you, it has to be Poppy’s Later he’ll be intrigued with sports and jalopies. But today, at this time, make no mistake, Lucas is competing, my seat to take. He races to gain the first advantage With another chair, Poppy will have to manage. For a few moments, these two simply have no cares, As the game evolves into musical chairs. Lucas scores first, diving into my recliner, Now it’s time to switch places…to swap our behinders. Laughing, giggling, all the while through (that’s me – but I see he’s enjoying this, too!) Perhaps he’ll eventually wind up in my lap Where not too long ago, I held his pap. But today, it’s just us...