Little Man's Newest Trick and Home Tour Tuesday

 He loves to open the drawer under the oven and climb on in!

He does have a hard time getting out though.

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The place I go to relax is my bed!

This is normally where you will find me while Little Man is napping!

Yes, I was too lazy to move my sock out of the way and clean up the bedside tables :)

Link up here or here!

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And if you haven't entered yet, click here to enter my giveaway!

Remember to leave a separate comment for each entry! 

I will be having someone choose a number for the winner!

Happy Tuesday!

Monday Message: The Advent Conspiracy!

Christmas can [still] change the world.

The story of Christ's birth is a story of promise, hope and a revolutionary love.

So, what happened?

What was once a time to celebrate the birth of a savior has somehow turned into a season of stress, traffic jams, and shopping lists.

And when it's all over, many of us are left with presents to return, looming debt that will take months to pay off, and this empty feeling of missed purpose.  Is this what we really want out of Christmas?

What if Christmas became a world-changing event again?

The concept behind Advent Conspiracy is simple:

Worship Fully

Spend Less

Give More

Love All

(Text and images are from www.adventconspiracy.org)

Yesterday, we had our "Hanging of the Greens" service at church.  This is a service in which we prepare the Sanctuary for Christmas, for Christ's birth.  The wreaths are hung, the poinsettias are placed on the steps, the star is lit, and the nativity scene is put together.  Christmas carols are sung, the Christmas story is read, and the choirs sing.  It is one of my favorite services all year long!  

The Advent Conspiracy was mentioned at the beginning of the service, but a lesson was given earlier in the year in which this video was shown:

Think about it!  

Hope everyone had a good and safe Thanksgiving weekend!

Don't forget to enter my giveaway!

Mama's Messages Giveaway!

 I am hosting my first ever giveaway today!!

I started Mama's Messages Etsy Shop in July of this year, wanting to have some way of making a little money after becoming a stay at home mama!  I chose to paint wooden signs for all different occasions.  While there are many signs up in the shop, I also will make custom signs and personalized signs as well!  

For example, one customer said that she wanted signs for her mother, brother, and self that had the quote, "It may look different, but it's all the same!" Her mother said this at Christmas every year in regards to the presents that were given.  She continues to say it to the grandkids!  These were her signs:

A couple of the Christmas signs:

There are signs for a nursery:

College or Sports Teams Signs: (or sorority/fraternity)

 My mama requested these for her laundry baskets:

(the back of the signs have the opposite)

 And signs for teachers:

If you want a certain sports team's colors on your sign, or a different ribbon color than what you see, you are welcome to ask!

The winner of the giveaway will receive any sign of her (or his) choice!  You may choose one already in the shop, or have me create a custom sign just for you!  They also make great gifts!

In order to enter:

Be a follower of Mama's Messages!

For extra entries:

Visit my etsy shop, and tell me which sign you would choose! (or what custom sign you would choose!)

(You are allowed to change your mind if you win) :)

"Like" Mama's Messages on facebook

Grab one of my buttons!

Blog about the giveaway and leave a link! (2 entries)

Suggest an idea or quote for a new sign!

**Please leave a separate comment for each entry!**

The giveaway will end on Thursday, December 2nd!

Thanks for entering and good luck!

Happy Thanksturkey!

In the children's sermon on Sunday, the pastor asked the kids what they were going to do on Thanksgiving, and of course some of them said, "Eat Turkey!"  An adorable little girl shouted, they should call it "Thanksturkey!"  

Our thankful turkey is complete for the year!  I am very happy with the way it turned out, and I can't wait until my son is old enough to join in this new tradition with us.

I did have to stick one feather in our turkey butt because I thought it was a little inappropriate!

Boo Duke!!

Go Tarheels!!

Please no mean comments if you aren't a UNC fan!! Come on, it's Thanksgiving!! :)

I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed Thanksgiving! I am so thankful for each one of my faithful readers/friends! :)

Almost Wordless Wednesday: Fun Around the House

Happy Wednesday!

This is the mister vacuuming Little Man's hair:

And this is Little Man with his stuffed dog:

He loves to cuddle!

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving tomorrow!!

Home Tour Tuesday!

I am linking up for the first time for Home Tour Tuesday!  Please join in on the fun!

Well...now that I have taken my pictures, I am just going to go with them :)  When I took them, in my mind I was thinking of two of my favorite items in the house, but when I went back and looked, it's actually two things you are thankful for (besides spouse and kids).

You might not think those would be that different...but for me they are.

Here are two of my favorite items in my house:

This is a painting that used to hang in my "Mimi and Pop's" (my dad's parents) house.  It hung right at the end of their kitchen table.  I have always liked it because it just reminds me of their house.  They had a small "farm" behind their house with chickens, horses, goats, and peacocks.  When my grandfather passed away in August of 2008, I asked if I could have that picture to hang in my house.  I was told that one of my uncle's girlfriend's had painted it awhile back and that made me laugh, but it will always be sentimental to me.  I love knowing that I have a piece of art that will always remind me of my loving grandparents!  

This cross also hangs in our kitchen.  It was a wedding present from one of my mom's friends.  I love that it is a cross and I love the Bible verse.  It is a great daily reminder of our purpose!  

After writing, I realize that I am very thankful for these two things.  Had I chosen something else, I may have taken a picture of my pantry because I'm thankful for food, and a picture of my bed because I LOVE going to sleep at night in my comfy bed!!

Go to Webbisodes or Flip Flops and Pearls to link up!!

Happy Tuesday!

MikWright Giveaway from Cool Gal!

 Cool Gal at It's the World I Know is having a great giveaway!  There will be four lucky winners that each get three gifts from MikWright!  

Click here to enter, and good luck!

Monday Message

This may sound kinda bad, but we had a guest preacher yesterday and he was a little long-winded, so I may have tuned out just a little bit during the sermon.  We all have days like that right??  But, the scripture that was read is my favorite scripture...so I'll share it with you:

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone.  The Lord is near.  Do not worry about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:4-7

I also wanted to let you know that I have more signs up in the Etsy shop!  I made lots of new ones for a craft fair this past weekend.  I was happy to sell 20 signs!  

I have new Christmas signs! These are just a few:

I also have signs for teachers, like these:

If you need gifts for teachers, coworkers, family, or friends, please keep these in mind!

Mama's Messages Etsy Shop

Happy Monday!

 

14 months old!

Today Little Man is 14 months old...really?! Ah! 

Last year, he was 2 months old:

And now:

What he's been up to:

He ate pineapples for the first time a couple days ago and loved them! He also ate corn for the first time today and loved it as well! We are still working on more solids.  He still mainly eats pureed food.

He crawls really really fast (I call it run-crawling).  I hope in the next post I can say he's walking!  He did stand up on his own yesterday for about 10 seconds, and he will walk along everything...just not without letting go!

He has started getting really annoyed when we put him in the car seat.  I usually have to give him a piece of food to sit him down.  Maybe it's time to switch to forward facing!

He loves being around people.  When I push him around in the store, he laughs really hard at most of the women that walk by!  I love it :)

He loves to open and close the drawers in his room.

He loves sitting in "his blue chair" in his room.

Little Man likes to pull hair! (Not really mine...but everyone else's!)

He is really into mimicking what we say...and tries to match our pitch and syllables!

When he goes to bed at night, he laughs himself to sleep.  He likes to get in the "downward dog" position a lot and laughs.

He has been teething and just got a big molar with more on the way!

He likes to try and wear Daddy's hats.

He still really loves his baths, and gets mad when we take him out.

He likes to lay down while he's crawling.  If it's a new feeling surface, he sniffs it and then lays down on it.

He likes to look under the coffee table when Daddy is on the other side.

When we are in the car and a siren goes by, he mimics the sound almost to a tee!
He recently got two new teeth.  One on the top right, next to his front tooth, and one of back left molars!  It seems that many of his molars are about to come in and also the other top tooth!!

Vocabulary:

He has recently started saying "I love you" back to us, but it's just a jumbled mess.  

He does the same thing after we say, "Bless You."

*Happy = "How big?"

*Baybee = Baby
*Up = up
*Ee-yah = Eeyore (his favorite animal to sleep with!)

He has recently started saying many family members names (Bippie, Papa, Gigi, Coco, Ashee, Bobo)

He still likes to talk in his own little language.

And he's still saying these words as well:

Apple= Ahh+phhhf

Doggy= dig+ee

Beep= dee dee

Uh oh= Uh Oh repeatedly!

Mama

Dada

Good= Guh

Book= Buh

Go! Go! Go!

Ball= Bah

Yay! (and claps his hands)

Hey!

Bye Bye!

One week til Thanksgiving!

Only one week until we get to visit with family and stuff our faces with wonderful food!! I am so thankful to be close enough to both of our families to be able to celebrate and see both sides!  Our Thankful Turkey is sprouting many feathers and will be full by next week!  I will show y'all the finished turkey when that day comes!

Also, I am SO thankful for my wonderful blog friend Shannon!! You can visit her beautiful blog, Webbisodes, and get to know more about her family and her adorable Gillybean!  She also recently started a blog design and stationery business called Persnickety Pages & More.  I posted about that here!  And if you haven't already noticed, she came back and graciously gave me an even better update!  I was one of her first blog designs, and since she has had more experience now, she decided to come back and give me a little update so that it looked a little cleaner and neater!  She gave me a new header, new button, new tabs, new headings on the sidebar, changed my post title font, and a favicon!  All of this was without asking and just her being generous (and persnickety)!  So please keep her in mind if you need anything for your blog!  She also just posted her beautiful Holiday Cards, so check those out as well!

And here are some pics of Little Man in his new "Christmas pajamas!"

Happy Thankful Thursday!