Thankful for what I've got and our weekend.

So this could be two posts, but let's get real. I'm a working mom. So it is a post full of thoughts and pictures! Yesterday I went to church, and Brother Danny mentioned an alarming statistic. (If you want to hear the message, it should be posted here soon. Great message!) He said that if you make over $30,000 a year you are in the richest 6% of the world. Then he continued to say that if you make over $40,000 a year per family you are in the richest 1.5% of the entire world.

Y'all.

That just rocked my world. I mean 30K in the USA would be considered poor. I mean 30K in the USA leaves you begging for money wondering if you can make ends meet. In the rest of the world, they would die to have $30,000 a year. But here? All we can talk about is having that six figure income, buy the latest big screen tv, wear designer clothes, and carry around a $500 handbag. I mean how excessive is that while people are dying without clean water. I mean, seriously.

Anyone out there read Boo Mama? Read this post. This is so my heart right now, especially after watching her and Kelly blog about Compassion for a week from Ecuador. (I don't read tons of blogs of people I don't know, but these Christian women are hilarious and heartwarming to read. So I do.) I don't want to "go through the turkey motions" as she said. I want to actually make a choice to live a life full of contentment.

I found it funny that the sermon was going right along with my thoughts last Friday when I took this picture.I know that clothing can be a little shallow, and how does it mix with theology? I have been going through my closet because let's face it...my body's changed. The baby weight came off easily, but my body is not the body I had before. Yes, part of this is because I stopped nursing (sigh), and the other part is because I've stopped working out since I've been back at school (sigh again). So I've been cleaning out, getting ready to try to sell some clothes, donate some others, etc.

I've been really discouraged by my wardrobe choices, my body after baby, etc. It took me years to compile that awesome wardrobe. I was somewhat of a clotheshorse designer snob (only on sale!) for years and years. But. Real life with a kid has set in, and I find myself feeling blah. Hating my clothes. Hating how I look in other outfits. Thinking I need all this new stuff. (And honestly, I do need a few new things that fit better or to replace some stuff that is just plain worn out.)

But I wanted to challenge myself (not realizing this was a short week b/c of Thanksgiving, so maybe this is an after Turkey Day project) to shop my closet, document some cute clothes I actually own, and be thankful for what I've got.

This may be an ongoing thankfulness project, but here is outfit #1.

Boots: Bass Outlet $40--these are new. I bought them while we were on vacay in Pigeon Forge.

Scarf: Insert Elementary School's Name Here (it is embroidered on the scarf so it counts as "spirit day" attire but I turned it around for the blog photo): Free (a Christmas gift from my principal)

Sweater: Ann Taylor five thousand years ago, Christmas gift

Jeans: Knock off skinny jeans from a thrift store: $3

I think the outfit turned out pretty cute!

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Hair:

Pintrest inspired, although I came up with it on my own. I keep seeing all these cute hair styles, and y'all...I've got lots of hair! Meaning, I can totally style it. I basically looped my hair through then braided it instead of just letting it hang. (Yes, I realize I need a hair cut desperately.) And, wow! What compliments I got at work on the whole thing!

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Friday night, I did something new for a change. Instead of staying in and grading papers while Micah & Mr. C slept, I went to eat with a friend and her son! Gasp! I know! I should have taken pictures, but I didn't. My sweet teacher friend from my old school, Angie, and her son Lane met up with Micah & I at Lenny's Sub Shop because I had some coupons that needed to be used right up! We had some great conversation and food followed by (double gasp!) some shopping at Kohl's until our little tots started getting fussy. Well, her son is actually a kindergartener, but still. So around 9 something I got home, and then I graded papers. It was so nice to have some "teacher" talk mixed with "adult" talk and catch up.

On Saturday, we had an appointment scheduled to take Micah's first year photos. I am one happy, happy Mama! He took some really cute pictures, and you can see the full sneak peek post on Crystal's blog here. But first, I went by to get his smash cake. Yes, I realize it isn't his real birthday, but this was also Pintrest inspired. I've seen lots of people have their little ones smash a cake for their actual one year birthday portraits. I loved the idea, and I had my friend make a cake for us. So I rushed by her house Saturday morning while the boys slept, picked up the cake, and started getting ready for the photo shoot.

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It takes this much stuff plus some to get out the door for a photo shoot. My goodness!

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I also had one extremely happy baby on my hands! Unfortunately, there was a mix up with the time, and we had to come back with Micah at 2:30 (2 hours later than I thought). When we got back, we had a little sleepy thing who had just conked out about 20 minutes before. So I'm sad I didn't get as many smiley pictures, but he just doesn't seem into that.

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So here are a few of the pictures that I borrowed from Crystal's blog. I can't wait to see the rest of the files and upload them for you to see! What I didn't expect was for my son to KICK his cake. Oh my! He didn't really dive into the cake like I thought, but he enjoyed kicking it! Haha! My mom (Micah's KayKay) made the birthday cupcake shirt for his pictures.


Oh, the cute little toes covered in cake!

Oh, his cute little face covered in cake!


One of our family portraits. Why is almost already one?? Ah!

We could get smiles from him if we let him walk or crawl all over the place. He's ready to run! That little thing does not like to be contained or to sit still these days. And look at this balance? He's about to walk any day. I can feel it.
The rest of Saturday we spent wasting time wandering around Midtown Memphis until the real appointment time. We ended up eating some yummy barbeque at Central Barbeque and getting some Starbucks. I didn't take pictures of that either. I guess I was "pictured" out trying to keep the family together and coordinated. Why did we go to a bbq joint on the day we had on nice clothes? Probably a dumb idea, but oh, well! Memphis may have some murders, but we sure can cook some bbq better than any place in the nation. I guarantee it!

Even though we had a time snafu (sp?), it ended up being a great day. I never get to see my husband on Saturdays since he usually sleeps it away. So I enjoyed some family time and a deep theological discussion with my main man! We like to debate stuff a little too much sometimes, although this time we were just discussing several things (like contentment) in detail. When I got home, I thought my man would fall out (he's sick) from exhaustion. You know what? He wanted to go out on Saturday night, too! It was just a fun day with my family!

Sunday proved to be too much for Mr. C, though. He was sick on Saturday, and it really hit him after being up all night with sinuses Saturday night. I headed to church alone after baking two breakfast casseroles for our Sunday school class. I cooked four pounds of sausage. (We have a really, really big Sunday school class. Maybe too big, but I love the people!) Do y'all know how much grease can be found in four pounds of sausage? Ugh!

So I went to church with a baby and two breakfast casseroles in the pouring down rain.

That's when I proceeded (shhh! don't tell) to park in the guest parking by the door.

I know. I know. I know. But there were so many spots, and I had my hands full with a diaper bag, casseroles, a baby, my purse, and my Bible in the pouring rain. So I just did it anyway.

I hope you had a wonderful weekend! We spent Sunday afternoon enjoying the rain, cleaning, addressing party invites for Micah, and doing laundry. Have a great turkey week! Two days of work for me, and I'm almost halfway through with the first day!