i most definitely do not have a green thumb.  i don’t know light differences, repotting techniques or even when to stop drowning a plant in water.

so it’s with a fairly large leap of faith that i purchased plants, pots & soil yesterday to make a patio garden with amelia after school.  luckily for me, i got almost everything at the japanese dollar store [winning!] so there wasn’t a huge out of pocket expense.

you know, just in case we face the worst case scenario of everything dying next week.

i bought all of our supplies while amelia was at school and then unloaded everything out onto the dining room table.  oh! the look on her face when she walked through the door yesterday afternoon & saw all the plants & flowers — absolutely priceless.  this kid loves her some flowers.

so while dinner was baking away in the oven, we had a fun half hour of matching plants to pots, dirtying up our palms and taking pictures of her new garden.

amelia was so good! i’m constantly amazed at the huge change in her demeanor since starting school a couple of months ago.  she was so gentle with the plants and very attentive while i packed in extra soil for each little pot.

i think what excited her most during the whole project was using her new plastic elephant watering can [again the dollar store.... seriously can't beat japanese cuteness for a buck!].  she was patient with me as i showed her how to pour slowly & not too much water at once for each plant and then she watered the last few by herself.

i’m so proud of amelia & how excited she is about the little things in life.  like our dollar store garden.  let’s just hope we can keep it all alive & growing!

the past couple of months i’ve been struggling with my own definition of motherhood.  or rather, good motherhood.  as mothers [and women, too] we are constantly comparing ourselves to others.  we excel at being our own worst critic.  the internal battle of what we did wrong and what we could have done better seems to banter on long after the choice was made.

oh, and then there are those women we compare ourselves to that write the kind of blog posts that just make you feel even crummier.  dear mom on the iPhone…. i’m sure you know what i mean.

before amelia started preschool, i felt like i had a pretty firm grasp on what type of mother i was.  frazzled, tired, overworked & a Dora episode pusher.  i wasn’t the best, but i was doing what i could & i pretty much felt ok with it.

over the past couple of months as we’ve transitioned from being very non-scheduled to an “up at 7am, lights out at 8pm” kind of family with hours more strictly dedicated to work, play & learning, i’ve had to learn to re-mother.

Dora just isn’t cutting it anymore [and let's face it, we are so over Blues Clues].  bins filled with happy meal toys & random barbie clothes no longer hold much interest for us.

so we revamped & restocked amelia’s play things.  but that wasn’t quite where it all ended.  weekends have turned into all out craft conferences at our dining room table.  i’m combing pinterest at midnight each night for the next best thing to do & how to keep amelia super entertained.

i feel like i’m hovering.  i feel like i’m undoing all the independent thinking we had been so proud of amelia for having at such an early age.  i don’t really know what to do, so i just do it all.  to the extreme.  and then burn out.  and then we are back to tired ol’ spanglish television with talking monkeys in rainboots.

so i’m trying to scale back.  to just be normal.  if there is such a thing in motherhood.

i want to be creative & involved, but i also recognize that i need to give amelia her independent space to make decisions [good or bad, with praise or consequences].  i’m still working on distinguishing the difference day to day, but i hope i’m getting better!

ps — all you moms feeling super guilty for being on your iPhone?  don’t!

check out this pretty awesome rebuttal post by another blogger.  living in a foreign country on a totally opposite timezone from family & friends [not to mention, trying to run a business while on the go most days] makes it absolutely impossible for me to stay off my phone.  and we shouldn’t have to sacrifice a few minutes to ourselves at the park on the bench.

you deserve those few minutes, i know i sure do.

the saying must be true…. april showers bring may flowers.  because this month is absolutely blooming with beautiful birthday girls ready to celebrate their special day!

be sure to wish these girls a very happy birthday through any linked websites below!! xo

Chelle Y.
birthday:: May 3rd
blog:: Milesbehindme.blogspot.com
twitter:: @miles_behind_me

Hannah S.
birthday:: May 11th
blog:: gladblog.gladheartacres.com/?cat=12

Tori F.
birthday:: May 19th
blog:: painlings.tumblr.com

Emily N.
birthday:: May 20th
blog:: http://practicallypink.blogspot.com
shop:: http://practicallypink.etsy.com
twitter:: @emily_nicole520

Heather D.
birthday:: May 26th
blog:: http://www.domesticextraordinaire.com

Cynthia T.
birthday:: May 29th
twitter: @trfywyf175

Julianne B.
birthday:: May 29th
blog:: www.madebyjewls.blogspot.com
shop:: http://madebyjewls.com
twitter:: @madebyjewls

[photos courtesy of weheartit.com]

last week i was finally able to introduce something new to the shop that had been swirling around in my mind [and the minds of some of my favorite customers!] for a bit….

say hello to these new & totally fabulous ruffled wallets!  wallets are so functional & vital to keep your purse or chevron tote bag tidy + organized.  so why not carry one as flirty + fun as you?! all ruffled up with a thousand places to go!

i was a little nervous to put such a new, detailed product in the shop but after taking a peek at this past weekend’s sales, i am oh so glad i did.  you guys have been pining for some organization in your life, i guess! –*wink!

these wallets are sooooo organizationally driven.  if you’re anything like me you may have multiple bank cards, a couple of ID cards, checkbooks, cash + loose change…. oh and what may seem to be nearly a hundred shopper’s perks cards for all your favorite grocery & discount stores.

well lucky you – because there is a slot for everything mentioned all in this too-cute-for-words wallet!

there are currently five ruffled wallet prints to choose from — each one is made to order specifically for you!  which means that once you place your order, it goes into the sewing queue & is then sent to you hot off the press…. er, ironing board!

i think my favorite feature of the wallet is the zippered coin pouch on the back!  it’s so handy to keep all my loose change back there rather than bulking up the middle of my wallet!

grab one for yourself + one for a friend by visiting the shop!

what’s your favorite print or feature of the new Marine Parents ruffled wallets?
share it with us in the comments! xo

on monday, amelia started preschool!  oh it was so much fun getting her all set up & ready for her first big girl day in school! we chatted at length for several days about what she could expect at school & she was pretty pumped about getting started!

for several months now, we’ve been looking for a school that would fit our family’s needs & amelia’s vibrant personality.  it was such a relief when we finally found the perfect montessori preschool school a couple of weeks ago [right when i was just about to give up hope....].

we toured the school, amelia got to join in classes for three trial half-days and she was immediately accepted after her initial assessment.  all of this in the span of one week.  it was easy as pie & i know it was so easy only because it was the exact right fit for our family.  the schedule was great, the teachers were fantastic & we immediately felt at home in the school.

we spent a few days accumulating the seemingly large amount of school supplies a three year old would need — drawing pads, erasers, crayons, glue.  sunscreen, bug repellant, extra clothes, snacks & water bottles all went into her new hello kitty backpack.  and everything was inscribed with her name — including each & every one of her 24 pack of crayola crayons.  per our instructions — hah!

on monday morning, we woke up bright & early so amelia could ease into the day & enjoy her breakfast.  i also wanted to take some pictures to remember her very first day of school!  she was a champ & let me holler out “say cheese!” ten thousand times –*wink!

when i picked her up later that afternoon [after a full & very productive day of work, thank you very much!!], amelia was curiously sly & secretive about what all went on during school.  i think she wanted to keep all the puzzles & japanese snack memories to herself!  luckily her teachers wrote me a sweet note tucked in to her backpack.  she did great, was very “busy & independent” and ate ALL of her japanese catered lunch!

i am just so proud of my big girl — she’s growing so fast & learning so much.  i’m excited for her to have a more enriched learning experience in school amongst other kids her age.

i hope that this new adventure we are traveling will grow her in ways i may not be able to.  i want to give her the whole world, but i guess for now we’ll just start with montessori school.

it’s hard to believe it’s already spring — a quarter of the year has passed us by!

happy april first to everyone, especially to our new birthday girls this month who just joined the third season of the love & envelopes birthday girls club!  this is for sure our largest group of girls ever & i’m so excited to celebrate with each of you over the next twelve months!

in fact, this year i wanted to make the club extra special!!
take a peek at these birthday girl exclusive pouches i’ve been working on….

each girl will receive one of these happy mail inspired pouches for her birthday, full of some of my favorite goodies & some yummy japanese candies!  i’m so excited to have something super exclusive just for us birthday girls!

Lindsey B.
birthday:: April 3rd

Dawn M.
birthday:: April 5th

Alissa S.
birthday:: April 12th
blog:: anewhistory.com
shop:: anewhistory.etsy.com

Deborah G.
birthday:: April 15th
blog:: astimeflies.ca

Cheyenne C.
birthday:: April 22nd

Elizabeth D.
birthday:: April 26th
blog:: miaandbean.blogspot.com

Aleisha M.
birthday:: April 28th

♥ ♥ ♥
be sure to check out this awesome blog post full of cards & goodies received from one of our march birthday girls, Crystal at The Lil’ Cupcake!

photos one and four courtesy of weheartit.com

…it’s easier to gallop a camel through a needle’s eye
than for the rich to enter God’s kingdom.
– matthew 19:24, the message

i just want to be totally up front & honest before i even start today’s blog post.

i am not a good servant.  i don’t have a servant’s heart.  i try desperately to avoid volunteering even when i know help is needed.  i’m quick to duck my head & avoid eye contact, or even worse — volunteer & then find an “excuse” at the last minute to back out of helping.

my husband on the other hand, is the most selfless, giving servant of Christ i have ever met.  the man stops for nothing.  when we attended church in san diego, he was there an hour before service to set up chairs, helped throughout the service in different areas, stayed an hour after the service to put everything away & many times loaded the trailer full of chairs + equipment to be hauled to it’s parking spot across town.  he is quick to help any marine in need, no matter the situation or time of day.  he always has an available hand to lend.

his heart is always full of yes’es, mine full of no no no’s….
and let me tell you this — God surely gets the biggest chuckle out of our mismatched hearts for serving others.

♥ ♥ ♥

for the past six months or so, i’ve been attending a small women’s bible study every tuesday night.  my heart is full every week from the fellowship i get from other christian women longing to fill the empty days & long nights of deployments.

many changes have come to pass in the last month for our bible study.  the organization leaders of the church were called to a different ministry in a new country, and many other committed members of the group received orders to move to different duty stations.  this left a lot of open slots for serving in different ministries.

**insert cringe here.

i had already been helping the coffee shop located above the church since i started attending.  it’s a blast for me to be slinging shots & frothing foam like back in my pre-married/college days.  to me, whipping up lattes & frappes isn’t really a form of serving, but when i think about it a bit more, perhaps it is.  that’s besides the point :]

what IS the point is that one area for service that desperately needed to be filled was transporting our tuesday night babysitter home after bible study.  about a twenty minute drive from the church building in the opposite direction of where i live on the island.

when it was brought up one night that this position needed to be filled, the room of twenty or so women was silent.  except for God.  who spoke through my mouth & said “i’ll do it, i don’t mind….”

um…. yes i DO mind, God & that was not a funny trick you just played.

thankfully a couple of other women ended up volunteering for a rotation.  when my night came to take the babysitter home, i was a nervous wreck.  because let me tell you about my severe lack of driving skills.  and let me reiterate that i live in a foreign country where i can’t read road signs, half the roads don’t have signs, we drive on the left side of the street & oh yeah — people walking their bulls on a leash have the right of way.

i was literally sick to my stomach, shaking with fear about driving the babysitter home — this sweet girl who watches amelia for two hours each week for just five bucks.  this young girl who serves all of the women of the bible study by allowing us this small, precious window of time to relinquish our mom roles & feel like women amongst women, sitting back & sipping coffee while we dive into God’s word.

i wanted to bail.  and i almost did.
but God said no.

we got in the car, she directed me to her home and then the real fun started.  because as many times as caleb has tried to show me how to use google maps on my phone, it has never clicked.  and for the first time in my entire life of living in a technologically advanced world, i followed google maps all the way home without a single hiccup.  i drove on the okinawa expressway for the first time & paid a toll [somehow i ended up in the correct lane for paying because i'm sure you can gather that i don't read japanese either].

i navigated 30km of this foreign country that i had never traveled before & i did it because God allowed me.  because He opened my mouth & volunteered me to serve, He gave me the strength to follow through & showed me that serving outside my ministry is not that bad.

it’s not always convenient & when it’s not your love language or spiritual gift, it may not even be enjoyable.  but our walk with Christ is all about stepping out of our comfort zone & getting messy & extending love & serving others.

i’m far from perfect, i’m far from having the heart of a servant of Christ.  but i’m working on it.  i hope that when you hear that still, small voice of God calling you to a very non-comfort zone area of servanthood, maybe you’ll step out & work on it, too.

photos via weheartit.com

i remember when amelia was little [like two hours ago, right??] she could care less about the animals at the zoo in san diego.  she was enthralled with the buckle on her stroller & eating frozen lemonade from the sidewalk cart.  because kids are fun like that –*wink!

now that she is older & has her own cute little interests, it’s fun to go on outings to places like the churaumi aquarium in okinawa.  i’m not sure who was more excited to go — her or me!

we spent the day falling in love with the typical adorableness that all of japan showcases.  flowerbeds in vibrant colors adorned with cement aquarium friends & huge plant creatures were everywhere on the aquarium grounds!  we spent about an hour walking through the actual building & then a few more hours lazily traveling the walking trails they had along the beach.

i was so excited to see the churaumi aquarium’s whale sharks!  they have three sharks total and they were glorious.  i loved visiting the georgia aquarium when we lived in atlanta several years ago to see their enormous whale sharks as often as possible.

the churaumi whale sharks share a much smaller tank with several equally impressively sized manta rays and a wide variety of other ocean fish.  it was a little sad to see them with such little swimming space, but i put the thought out of my mind & went about my merry aquarium tourist way…. sort of

amelia’s favorite exhibit was the annex building full of swimming turtles!  she got to look up close at the glass & see them right in front of her overjoyed face.  we also got to see lots of growing turtles in different stages of their lives, all the way from tiny little babies up to ones nearly a hundred years old.

we of course couldn’t leave without a souvenir for her….

this little turtle guy has been her constant companion for the past couple of weeks.  he loves living the military base life — lots of dora episodes, second hand banana snacks & sleeping under martha stewart sheets at night.  :]

it’s been so much fun traveling about a little on weekends — enjoying quality family time & seeing more of the island than we typically do on a day to day basis.

about two months ago i opened up sign ups for the five dollar craft swap — a challenge to ONLY spend five dollars on a handmade craft to send to a new, randomly assigned friend.  oh it was FUN!  i so enjoyed connecting with everyone who signed up for the swap as well as creating & receiving some goodies in the mail myself!

as i was emailing along with my partner, amber [who i actually had been partnered with months ago on a fun apron swap!] i learned that she is currently pregnant & due at the end of this month ♥

while they are not finding out the baby’s gender, she did already have nursery colors chosen so i sent her a painted wooden frame with a nursery printable in her nursery colors.

shipping from japan to canada [and canada to japan for her gift to me] went surprisingly fast & we both had our swap packages within a couple of weeks!  i was glad that my package got to her in time :]

amber sent me the cuuuuuuutest package of paper crafts made from washi tape!

i love the cupcake banners, liners and matching garland — they will make the perfect little accessories for a mini, impromptu celebration!  she also sent some adorable teensy fabric rosette earrings & a crocheted flower clip for amelia’s hair!  so in love with everything — talk about spending $5 wisely!

i hope everyone else had an awesome time swapping five dollar crafts!  if you participated & either blogged or posted a photo on flickr/instagram/etc — link up below so we can all check out your swaps!

check back soon for the next swap party ♥

oh what a happy day it is today!

season three of the love & envelopes birthday girls club is OPEN for sign-ups!!  i know some of you have been anxiously waiting for sign-ups to open & i’m very excited to get to know even more birthday loving girls this next year ♥

if you’re somewhat new around here & you haven’t seen any of my love & envelopes posts each month, here’s how the club works::

♥  love & envelopes is a birthday club designed just for ladies who love to send & receive REAL TANGIBLE mail — like in a mailbox outside your house!  there are no age limits — anyone can join.  there’s a super simple form you can fill out [below] & that’s it…. you’re in!

♥  NEW THIS YEAR – it is no longer required to have a blog to join the club.  any lady who is fully able to commit to sending one birthday card a month is welcome just as much as the next :]

♥  each month i send out ONE email that is blind copied to a big handful of other club members [this means no one gets your email address except me!!].  in this email you’ll receive the name of another love & envelopes club member along with her birthday, blog link, favorite colors, mailing address, etc.  lots of fun information to help you pick the perfect card for her!

♥  you’ll mail out the card to your assigned friend so she gets the card in time for her birthday.  feel free to send more than a card, but that is absolutely & 100% completely optional — just a card is all you’ve signed up for :]  i like to include my blog & shop business card inside so that the birthday girl can find me online & we can get to know each other.  it’s a perfect way to network & make some new, amazing online friends!!

♥  when your birthday month arrives, be prepared to open a ton of pretty & fun birthday cards, full of well wishes from new friends [& sometimes even piles of confetti!!].  if you post a blog about all the “love & envelopes” you received, i’ll post it with my monthly blog post where i feature each birthday girl during her month [including a link to her blog, shop, twitter, etc]!

♥  your monthly birthday card DOES NOT have to be store-bought!  i totally encourage you to be as creative, thrifty & practical as you desire!  a few ideas to consider:: handmade cards designed on classic kraft card stock, a collage created from repurposed birthday cards of the past [!!!], purchasing a bulk package of blank notecards at Target, checking the dollar store for pretty & simple greeting cards…. the possibilities are endless [& never more expensive than you care to make them].

if you’re as in love with the idea of blessing other like-minded ladies with a single card each month & in return getting a mailbox stuffed full of cards on your birthday, then we’d love to have you in the club!  sign up by clicking on the link below!

sign ups are open march 1st-march 21st and then the link will be closed until 2014!!

SEASON THREE
LOVE & ENVELOPES SIGN UP FORM

you’ll receive an email from me shortly after signing up giving you more details about when to expect emails, etc.  after you’ve signed up, feel free to grab a button for your blog sidebar & spread the news that sign-ups are open!!

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♥ ♥ ♥