Enuf

Enough.
Am I a good enough mom?
Am I a good enough Christian?
Am I a good enough wife?
Am I a good enough friend?
Am I a good enough employee?
Am I a good enough daughter, sister, cousin, niece?

Everything to everyone. It cannot be done.


Pressure.
Pressure to be distinguished, successful, professional.
Pressure to make a good living.
Pressure to be a wonderful cook, meticulous housekeeper, efficient manager of the household, crucial farm help.
Pressure to keep up with the Joneses.
Pressure to be cool and humble, amusing and serious, sincere and comedic, open-minded and discerning, gracious and aggressive, practical and visionary, creative and productive, stern and loving, willing to try new things and stick to personal morals, flexible and intentional, be content and reach for the stars.


Know your limits.
and
Learn to say “No.”
but
Say “Yes” when it really counts.

Vocabulary Lesson from a 1-year-old

This post is coming straight from my brag bag. My son has a constantly expanding vocabulary. He’s got the basic “dada” and “mama” words down, but he also has his own enunciation that I find particularly cute. As you read, say his pronunciations aloud and I promise you’ll have way more fun:)

“zoos”= shoes
“zeus”= juice
“zeesh”= teeth
“zoosh”= toothbrush

Here's his cousin and him brushing their teeth.  She calls 'brushing your teeth' "ABC's" because that's what her mom sings while she brushes!

“tglglglglglglglglgl”= tickle tickle
“told” (while shivering)= cold
“taaaark-uh” with a scared-shudder= dark
“tote”= coat
“aminal”= animal
“Maaaa-ma”= Grandma
“Papa”= Grandpa
“Bun”= Brad (just like his cousins say)
“nana”= banana
“nana”= Anna
“LaLa”= Kaia
“Ki-yee”= Kaia
“Ki-yee= Kiley
“Zi-Zi”= Cindy (his daycare provider)
“boxsand”= sandbox
“key”= kitty
“key”= Claire
“Bob”= Bob
“baba”= Barney
“baba”= baby
“baba”= bubble
“baba”= bye-bye
“Ommm”= home
“ous”= ouch
“ous”= house
“Ugg”= hug
“Hotzzzz”= hot
“caw”= car
“sinksies…ewwwww!”= stinkies
“no”= no (He’s really good at that word)
“S”= yes
“mo” (while signing the gesture for “more”)= more please
“thunkque”= thank you
“wa-wa” water
“simmy”= swimming

“biper”= diaper
“awsh”= wash
“bash”= bath
“kack-kack-kack”= quack quack
“kack-ka”= cracker

“Ha!”= Hi

“trat-toe”= tractor

“sidseer”= skid steer

“chuck”= truck

“wawn-wowa”= lawn mower

“wowa”= flower
“mocicin”= medicine
“booooook”= book

“banquette”= blanket

“waaaaining”= raining (It does that a lot around here)

“la-LA-la”= I love you

“Mama….doe?”= Where did Mom go?

[panting heavily] = the answer to “What does the dog say?”

[Gasp!]= Gasp!

Blogs & Coffee

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Two of summer's guilty pleasures

Italian Sodas made with 3 simple ingredients: Archer Farms Italian soda from Target (It comes in a lot of yummy flavors, like Strawberry Pomegranate and Blood Orange), whipped cream, and ice.  Yum-O!

And, this frozen treat:

Dark chocolate-covered banana slices.  Heaven!  My friend brought these to work one day (You know how it goes- somebody brings food to share at work and suddenly everyone transforms into vultures!).  I had to run right to Sam's Club to get a box. 

Bonus: each treat is only 100 calories per serving!

Luxury

In keeping with the theme of my last post-


[“Wait!” you say, “There was a theme to your last post?! Was it interior design, or flooding, or materialistic people, or remodeling? I couldn’t tell because you were jumping all over the place, Jill!”
Okay, I’m sorry. I’ll try to stay on track this time.]


In keeping with ONE of the themes of my last post, life on the farm just got a little more comfortable last week. We had central air conditioning and a driveway installed. Two things that we considered luxuries up until recently.

So exciting!

Here is my dad and J installing pavers and prepping the ground...

 It is a work in progress (like most things around here), but definitely an improvement!

Here is my cousin and my baby last July trying to cool off in front of the fan during a heat wave…

…and this is us now…

Just kidding! I got this picture as a forward and I have no idea whose dog this is, but it does look just like our friends’ dog, Stella. And I can picture Stella doing this, too!