Merry Christmas Today Becuase You Know I Won't Post Before Then.... LOL

So I want to seriously wish all my friends a wonderful Christmas.  Not filled with stress and last-minute "oh shoot I forgot so-and-so's gift..." shopping.  Just remembering that, truly, Jesus is the ONLY reason for this wonderful time and looking around in amazement at all the incredible people He's planted in your life as a representation of how much he dearly loves you.

Update:  Judah is FINALLY crawling!!  Praise the Lord above.  I thought this day would never come.  Now that it is here I am kind-of wondering why I was in such a hurry.  He has eaten an array of what can only be called "rubbish" from our floor.  I have never swept and vacuumed so much in all my days!

So, I am making green bean casserole for Christmas dinner.  I am a bit nervous because it is my Aunt Marinell's recipe.  It includes worshteshire sauce, velveeta cheese and lots of butter!!  I think it sounds like an absolute treat!  Oh!!  It also has WHOLE button mushrooms.... YUUUMMM~~ I am SO pregnant.  Oh dear, no one is going to eat my food.  Eh.. more for me!

And I have 2 weddings to do hair for in one morning tomorrow.... I still have not figured out the inner workings of my own brain and why I booked both of them, but my glorious friend Abby is going to help me and I know it will all work out!!!  (That is complete blind faith talking!)

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good... rest of the month... uh, yeah!

Love,
Mary

Happy Thanksgiving!

So, there are many reasons I have been unable to blog for the month of November...
The main one is that Judah was a sick little man for most of the month.  I kept having to go to the doctor and get him on all kinds of antibiotics.  Finally I took him in and they tested him for RSV and we found out that was what kept causing him to get sick so frequently!  I was partially relieved and partially terrified!  He had to do treatments every few hours for a week and finally those are over! Yay!!

Needless to say I didn't sleep and neither did he... for pretty much the whole month!  I am so excited to become a part of society again.  I get to go to church tomorrow and everything.  So much to be thankful for. 

We had the privilege of doing Thanksgiving at our house again this year.  I will have pictures very soon.  It was so much fun :-)  We had about 15 people here and about 150 lbs of food or more!  Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  I love that you get to enjoy family and friends with no pressure of gift-giving and all that.  I love to give and I love to receive, but I feel sometimes that Christmas has just gotten out of hand.  I think we will start doing things to teach our kids that it is truly all about Christ coming in to the world and show them how they can bring Him into the lives of people that need Him.  Of course I want to bless my kids every year, but I feel the biggest blessing I can give them is to teach them how to reach out.  Just my opinion... not preaching here! 

Next week you may not hear from me.  I am taking Judah to see his Papaw and we are attending the funeral of my Great Aunt Midgie.  You may remember her from the pictures I posted back in July.  She was 92 years old and lived a full, wonderful life.  She got to meet Judah and for that I am grateful.  Her funeral is Wednesday and she will be greatly missed by all. 

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Helping Dad Work

Last night Micah watched Judah and could not get him to go to sleep so, as any good father would, he put him to work!  He proceeded to text me this picture while I was in the middle of teaching a class to women and I almost lost it completely...

Pumpkin Painting

I let Judah paint his own pumpkin today.  He had a blast (which goes without saying!) 

His main concern was eating the pumpkin stem...

He concluded that it was not the best taste in the world!

Sheee's Baaaack!!!

Sorry for the long delay in posting.  I didn't realize people read this thing until I got all these questions... "why haven't you put up new pictures, etc?"  So I am truly sorry, I will start the attempt to maintain at least once a week. 

So, if you are my friend on Facebook you already know that I am EXPECTING BABY #2!!!  If you have had children close together and have any sort of advice for me please let me know!  Micah and I are very excited, however we do have a bit of nervous energy since we are finally getting used to parent-hood in general!! 

My main concern is that all my children (present and future) feel like they are loved equally and abundantly. 

So "Glamma" came to visit this past weekend and here are some pictures of the fun we had...

Here are the cool jammies that she brought Judah... He was still in them late Saturday!  LOL

I was not a happy guy because people were trying to get me down for a nap so Glamma had to take me on a walk so I would go to sleep - FINALLY!!

 

SUCCESS!

Playing with one of my new balls that I got!!  Such good form already!

We went to the pumpkin patch and I got to ride the "big green tractor"

This is my new sport called "pumpkin surfing" 

This is my Clint Eastwood face.... 

Attempted Outing

So today I wanted to take Judah to the park because my friend Rachel posted cute pictures of her little Katie Bug on the swings and I couldn't resist! Well my friend Ann went with me. We loaded the stroller, etc. and went on our merry little way. Judah talked the whole way there, obviously thrilled about the whole thing (as if he knew!).

So we pull up and I was gung-ho ready to get Judah playing and screaming with delight. I open the back door to the car and here is what I see...

















There was drool and snoring... it was too much. I couldn't bear to wake him. We will try the park some other time. Meanwhile, being two females we went and got Baskin Robins as any good woman would in order to kill time and give her son a good "car nap". Suffering for the cause... I know, it's tough but I will make it! (-;

In other news... I died my hair yesterday at 6 PM. I had to be across town by 7 PM... not a good move. I laid Judah down for a nap and went to coloring like a mad woman! My plan failed - he woke up SCREAMING 10 minutes later. I had 1/3 of my scalp colored and my hands were full of dye. He was SO upset and then I finally went to pick him up holding him about 3 feet away from me and putting him on my bed. I was better off leaving him in the crib because when he realized that I was not going to hold and feed him it was all over. I thought there would be death by crying but we survived. Meanwhile, my hair turned out okay. All the nasty old blond highlights were annihilated!!
See?

Crazy Saturday Morning

So Micah went to Mission, TX to help our church there with a building issue. He is only gone for 24hrs, but wouldn't you know...

My dog (Brooklyn) decides to get a stomach virus in the middle of the night and starts puking all over every surface EXCEPT the tile which would be simple to clean. Ugh! Then Judah has been teething something fierce to the point where I just don't think I can take the screaming and agony anymore. I so wish I could take the pain for him. So....

I wake up at 5 AM to the sweet sound of baby screams. Since Micah was gone and the bed was free I just put him in the bed with me. Usually I would never do that but I didn't feel like getting up again every hour. So he slept pretty good after that. Then in the morning I went to let the dogs out. Being that they'd been pent up in our house for 4 days because of the rain, they went bolting out of the front door and down the street. Not before sliding through the mud in our front yard, of course. So there I am in my "wife beater" and a black bra! LOL A baby on my hip and BAREFOOT, at that. Screaming in my front yard at my dogs. This scares the daylights out of Judah and he starts wailing uncontrollably. So I have to start running down the street because I can't yell anymore. Running, screaming baby, wife beater... not good. Oh, and did I mention that I hadn't showered and my hair was ALL over the place in like a side slept-in ponytail thing and bobby pins were scattered about flopping around in there somewhere. Oh it was just not good. And to top it all off I look up and there are our neighbors all sitting in their garage watching the whole thing, seemingly very entertained. Lord!

So I finally get the dogs in the house (mud prints on the carpet and all) and I get Judah in his high chair so he can eat breakfast. Then it starts (imagine gagging noises from the pit of ... you know where) I had just made Judah's rice cereal and I set it down and ran to Brooklyn, trying to move her to the tile in the entryway. I missed. She spewed all over the front carpet for the 3rd time. So I put down a towel and went back to tend to Judah. Only to find... Well the pictures will better explain anything I could attempt to say....




















"Hey Mom, look what I did! You told me you wanted me to start learning to eat finger foods!"


















"Look, I am doing such a wonderful job. I only missed my mouth a few times!"

















"Mother, forgive me, for I know not what I chew..."

















Yes there is cereal in my son's EYES. Don't judge... you would have stopped to take pictures, too, if you had such an opportunity. He didn't seem to mind!

Make-up 101 (This Was Way Too Fun To Do!)

So I have about a million people ask me how I do my makeup and what colors I am wearing... yada, yada, yada... I finally decided to hunker down and give you a play by play. Do not try this at home (the photographing, that is... DO try the makeup thing!)

I am only going to do 1/2 of my face and by the end this will look really funny! What is even funnier is the "makeup faces" you will see me make!

So for the first time known to man I am about to do the unthinkable and I am going to take a picture of me in the "nude" (not really -- just my face!) This is me with NO added ingredients or preservatives!


Ugh... okay.... POST!














Am I still alive??? Wow - I thought that would kill me. I was wrong.
Since breath is still in my lungs I will start with step 1:

Step 1: Facial Highlighter















You want to put this in any areas that surround dark circles or any area that you wish to enhance based on your bone structure, etc.














(Click here for more application tips)


Step 2: Concealer

You only ever want to use your ring finger to apply concealer. It has the least amount of pressure and you don't usually get calloused there (unless you are my wonderful guitar-playing husband, in which case I would hope you never learn what concealer is - let alone wear it!!)




























Then you will want to use a brush (if you have it) to apply. Mary Kay has a wonderful brush set, however we don't yet have a concealer brush. I got mine at Ulta (shhhh....) but the next best thing is the ring finger. You can put concealer anywhere you want to, um... conceal? Ha! Above and just below the eye. Any zits or as we now like to refer to them as "blemishes" or dark spots. Try to use a shade that matches your skin tone. In looking at these pics I realize I need to go a bit darker! LOL




Step 3: Mineral Powder Foundation - By the way... this stuff ROCKS!!!!!!














The trick with this is to start with a tiny layer and add until you have the coverage you desire. You also want to get all the excess powder off the brush so that you don't get showered with powder. I learned to twist the cap into the empty lid and that pushes the powder up into the brush. Make sure you wash your brush after using and dry flat.
















Now I have effectively powdered my eyelashes and they have disappeared! But no more shiny forehead and uneven complexion! Yay!

Okay...


Step 4, Part#1: Shadow - Highlighter Color = Moonstone (another good one is Crystaline)














This color only goes on the base of the eyelid (From lash line to crease) and on your brow bone just under the eyebrow. This adds a glow in the right places.




















Step 4 Part #2: Shadow - Mid Tone - Chocolate Kiss (another great color is Vintage Gold)















This color goes in the crease area and just above to give it a natural shadow. You can get several application tips by clicking HERE based on your eye shape.
















A trick to eye makeup and pretty much all else is LAYERING. Before you get ready to apply liner if you put a thin line of the mid-tone color at the lash line with an eyeliner brush (part of our brush set) it will add dimension to your overall look and keep things from getting smeared or fading throughout the day!


















Step 4, Part #3: Shadow - Accent Color (Navy Blue)














Some other good colors for this are Iris, Golden Olive, or Denim Frost.

When using the Navy in particular you want to use VERY LITTLE. It is always better to get too little and add more than look like Bobo the Clown! Just dip the brush lightly and then...

Blow!











You will take the accent color and using a "c-curve" motion go from the corner of your lash line in to the middle of the eye. Then go back (always keeping the brush touching the lid - don't "flick" the shadow all over your cheek!) in the opposite direction to the corner and then up to the middle of the crease of your eye.































Then you will want to go back with the highlighting brush and blend all 3 colors together do they do not look "choppy" but smooth.

















Step 5: Eyeliner (Black)

With Eyeliner you want to start from the outside corner and work your way in with tiny connecting strokes. This will keep you from having "skid marks" and you will also not have to PULL your eyes out. I feel for you if this is how you do your makeup because gravity will eventually set in and, unfortunately, what goes OUT must come DOWN! Ugh.















Step 5, Part #2: Blending Shadow With Liner (I love doing this!)

So you take the Navy shadow and using the eyeliner brush go over the liner that you just applied. Then you can blend that up into the color on your eyes. It makes it look like one fluid sea of color! This is what makes things go POP!!
See??

















You can also put a highlighting powder in the corner of your eye closest to your nose and this will really widen and open up your eye.
































Now to resurrect those lashes!

Step 6: Mascara (not just any, but... ULTIMATE Mascara)

This part is pretty self-explanatory. Make an incredibly funny face with your top and bottom lips curled over your teeth and your eyebrows raised to the sky. Then put it on in small layers until you have the desired thickness.

















Step 7: Eyebrows! (Shading, filling, etc)

So this dang eyeliner brush is the coolest thing since sliced bread! I had an unfortunate "plucking incident" in 10th grade and my brows never fully recovered. I can't really "draw" them on because it is so obvious. I discovered if I take my brow pencil (Brunette) and rub it on the liner brush it softly fills in my brows in the most natural way I've found thus far! Yay!

Not too shabby, huh??
















So now we are done with EYES!! And now I look like a cyclops!!! So scary!



















On to the cheeks...

Step 8: Mineral Cheek Color (Color - Pink Petals)

First you want to make sure you use a brush that is thin and angled specifically for the cheek area. Don't use a fat powder brush because then you will not look contoured, you will just look pink!

Next you want to apply cheek color in the natural places to accent your bone structure. I have a shadow that already exists, be it fat or a cheek bone - who knows!? But that is where I put mine and I run it from the back to the front (the apple) of my cheek. Then blend backwards so it doesn't ever look streaky.















Then you can apply the mineral highlighting powder that we used to highlight the eyes. We have both a matte and a shimmer for whatever finish you prefer. I like a little glitz!

















All you do is apply this in the places you want to accent, much like the highlighting pen.
















See how it sparkles? :-)



Last, but not.... LIPS!!

Step 9: Lip Liner (Color: Dusty Pink)

You want to start in the middle, go out, and then work your way in with feathering strokes. Much like the eye liner.


















Step 10: Lip Color (Color: Sweet Nectar)

Apply from the outside to the middle and DO NOT rub your lips together after application of color or gloss. It causes it to clump on the sides and it will need to be taken off and re-applied sooner.




















Step 11: Lip Gloss (Color: Bronze Bliss)

You can apply the gloss the opposite of the lip color. You want the concentration to be on the center so you can start there and work your way to the corner. If you want less shine, spread the gloss in a thin layer across entire lip. If you want to really glow dot the gloss on and only put it in the center of the lip. Again... NO RUBBING! :-)
















Okay... now I need to do the rest of my face!

Before I do, remember BEFORE?: (ugh!)
















Well, I'd like to introduce you to AFTER!:














5 Words: Thank God For Mary Kay
While "Before" was pretty bad, nothing is scarier than "cyclops girl!" Ha!
I hope you enjoyed and learned something. Leave any helpful comments below!