Hey there!

Wanna hear some fabulous news?

B over at Feeling Bloggy nominated me for the Versatile Blogger Award!!!!!

How awesome & sweet is that?!

Way awesome & way sweet!

I am beyond thrilled…

so thanks B 🙂

I know this is a small victory in the grande scheme of things in the blogging world, but hey you gotta start somewhere right?!

Okay so here’s how this award thingy works:

First head over and show some love to B at Feeling Bloggy for nominating yours truly!

Okay now that you’ve seen B’s blog 

{and probably fallen in love with her fashion and writing style}

listen up!

 because in order to accept this award I have tell you 

7 facts about myself.

Let’s face it that is so not.hard!

I love you guys and love sharing my life with you.

So without further ado here we go…

Today’s post is going to be a little heavy on the heart.

Okay, maybe I lied.

It’s going to be a lot heavy on the heart…

especially mine.

Inspired by Brie over at Sophistifunk today I am sharing my story about standing up to cancer.

This is the story of my grandmother.

Like any other grandmom she had the sweetest, most gentle, kind soul.

She never asked for anything, needed anything, or wanted anything.

She was always doing for others, rather than herself.

She never raised her voice, always had cookies and Tastycakes at her house, and was always there for us. 

In fact she played a huge part in raising me, and walked me down the aisle at our wedding.

A year and a half after losing my grandfather we found out my grandmother had a tumor in her brain and more in her lungs.

This was in June.

She went through all of the radiation treatments her doctors instructed, and of course being the proud woman she has always been known to be, decided to cut her hair extremely short for when it began falling out…

which eventually it did.

As summer became fall and fall turned to winter the doctors realized the radiation wasn’t doing much for her.

She was already in frail health and the cold of the winter wasn’t helping.

She was sent home and started receiving in-home care from physical therapy and occupational therapy to keep her mind and body as sharp as possible.

Shortly after she started hospice care.

Hospice is a nice word for “keeping someone as comfortable as possible until their homecoming.”

Grandmom’s homecoming was on February 15, 2010.

Cancer took away one of the most solid, influential people in my life.

Am I mad?

Am I sad?

Do I miss her and wish she was never taken from us?

So as I sit here with tears welled up in my eyes because I know my children won’t be able to experience my grandmother like I did I pray that no one ever has to go through what she had to.

I pray that one day there is a cure for all cancer.

I pray that you too will stand up to Cancer.

A few weeks ago my hair became that length where a girl needs to make the decision

to keep growing it

 or cut it.

My first thought was to cut it.

Then I began seeing all of these cute hairstyles and thought to myself…

if I don’t cut it I could totally try them!

And that is what I have been doing.

Most days being a 20 something- momma of three-who doesn’t have very much time to focus on my outer beauty makes it hard to figure out what my sense of style is.

So far even doing the smallest something to my hair {ahem} the side braid gives it that extra little umph, and that is enough for this momma!

Plus, this is a hairstyle that is manageable on pretty much any hair you wake up with 🙂

Come follow me via Instagram 

{threelittlebirdsblog}

Remember that makeover I promised last week?

Well it’s HERE!!

What do you think?!!

I am absolutely head over heels in love with it.

I think the colors, style, and font depicts my personality amazingly!

Thanks to a Saucy blogger friend of mine I contacted Laura at Howdy Girl and she was able to make my vision a reality…

and sometimes that’s not the easiest with me!

I mean she hit the nail on the head, and was so polite, kind, and more than willing to explain a few things along the way to me 🙂

In fact, I kinda felt spoiled!

So thank you Aunie and Laura for re-vamping this little blog of mine, and making it a more enjoyable, colorful, full of life place to come!

Now do me a quick favor.

Look to your right…see those two super cute buttons?

 I am officially ready to start button swapping! 

I’d love to swap with ya!

Feel free to shoot me an email here and we can work out all the details 🙂

Thanks!

Oh how my heart ached for my family.


11 years later I will never forget. 
11 years ago bad people did bad things to our country.
Plain and simple.
This was the first time I ever experienced heartache, pain, and being this vulnerable.
There were so many unknowns in the days, weeks, and months following this attack.
Were we protected?
Was it going to happen again?
Who and why did this to us?

Everyday I am so thankful for our freedom. 
I am thankful that we have people willing to fight and protect us.
Everyday.
We live by an Aviation Tech center so there are always military planes flying over.
When I see them it brings me right back to 9/11/01.
They are protecting us and they have a family too.
A thank you for making the commitment of putting themselves at risk to protect our lives.
Seeing a person in uniform these days has taken on a deeper meaning as well.
I’m overcome with a sense of gratitude. 
Hearing the stories of fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters being reunited with their loved ones has a special place in my heart.
 My husband’s uncle was in Iraq for his 1 year tour.
His other uncle worked in Manhattan the day the WTC was attacked and had to walk all the way home.
He went to school with children who became orphans that day because one or both parents worked in the WTC.
So this has really hit home for us.

So now, 11 years later, when we look back at this day it takes on a whole new meaning.  
We lived through this but our children will live to learn about it.
This is now in their history books at school.  
Just as we learned about the battle at Gettysburg, World War II, and Pearl Harbor they will be learning about September 2011.
I’m sure they will come home from school today telling us about the bad people, the brave people, and the people who lost their lives.
I think it’s important that we remember, and educate our children about these days in America’s history.
Where were you when the world stopped turning?

Are you a scheduler?  

I am.

Do you like routine?

I do.

I wasn’t so much sans kids, I was more of a fly by the seat of my pants kinda gal.

However with 3 kids there is just no way around scheduling.

 I love love love schedules….

and routine!

Honestly, I think my kids like it too.

They seem to do best when they know what’s next, or what to expect rather than just waking up and being able to do whatever they want when they want.

Our unscheduled days seem to bring the most chaos, tears, and bring out the worst from every one.of.us.

Don’t get me wrong I can handle spur of the moment events, I’m just not a big fan!

I like routine.

I like to have an yummy & nutritious afternoon snack ready for my kids when they come through the door after school.

I like our bath, book, and bed routine we’ve stuck with since our oldest was 2 🙂

This is just what works for our family.

What works your yours?

P.S. Enjoy this cute little cartoon I found that I think is just HIL-AR-IOUS!

That’s what my husband said to me as I gave him a not-so-nice look after he made an annoying noise while swallowing his drink.
I made my husband feel horrible all because he swallowed too loudly.  Seriously?!
I’ve never been a fan of bodily noises {of any kind} but I tend to take this out the worst on my husband.
After he said that, time stopped.  I felt like I got sucker punched in the stomach.

This happens frequently in our house.

Little things my husband does that irk me.

Dirty looks given to him in return.

If I’m being completely honest, these are real things that happen in our house.
It’s not always glitz, glamour, and rosy cheeks!
I’m not always perfect.

Does this happen with your significant other?  

I’m sure there are little things your s/o does that make you crazy too.

Maybe he never drinks a full glass of anything that is poured, or puts his dishes in the dishwasher.

Or leaves an empty roll of toilet paper…all the time.

Maybe he snores too loudly at night?

Whatever the case is why does it irk us?
Why do we let little things like this eat at us?
I promise this is going somwhere just hang in there with me through this post.
I promise it’ll be worth it.

My husband has never said those 4 words to me before, “You’re gonna miss this.”

Tonight it really hit home for me.

Wow!  One day I will miss this!

There will be a day when he won’t be around and I’ll be eating by myself in complete silence because he is not there to make his little noises.

There will be a day when he’s not around to leave balled up dirty socks around the house.

The day will come when ESPN isn’t on our tv’s 24/7.

All of those annoying acts will only be a memory…
and that my friends is scary…like take my breath away scary.
Can’t even fathom that day in time scary, and instant tears scary.

Today these things bother me.

Today they are a nuisance.

Something that I cannot stand.

But one day I am gonna miss them.

One day, if it’s just me by myself, I will miss him.

Everything about him.
His smell, his clothes, his face, his child-like smiles, his feet, his touch, his kind soul, his deep brown eyes.

Even the noises he made that I was once not too happy about…

and the balled up dirty socks around the house.

Tonight I learned something. 

This stopped me in my tracks.

It was like coming face to face with an 18 wheeler at 70 mph.

I don’t want that.

I don’t want to remember being nasty to my husband because of little noises he makes, or habits he has that make me cringe.

Who cares?

Is it really that big of a deal?

No.

I realize this is something I need to work on.

I need to be thankful that my husband is here for another dinner with me, that he walked through the door after working and driving home at 3am, that he is always willing and ready to change a dirty diaper, or take the kids to the grocery store with him.
Or that he can tell when this momma needs a morning to sleep in, or just a few minutes to myself.

I know I’m becoming long-winded and your probably wondering where I am going with all of this!

This is something that we are called to do.

To be gentle, to show courtesy towards others, especially our husbands.

Do something for me-today.

The next time when someone does something that bothers you think to yourself:
One day I’m gonna miss this.

Remember that we are called to be gentle, always. Not sometimes.  Always.

See if that changes your perspective on things, because I know it changed mine.

P.S. Thanks for hanging in there with me through this loooooong post!

Fall or Summer?
Upon the arrival of fall around here I always try to gauge which season truly is my favorite.
It’s just hard because I’m so in love with both seasons!

Years ago my favorite season was summer where I could spend 6 hours laying on the beach, surfing the waves, summer nights spent on the boardwalk, and having ice cream for dinner.

Wearing mini skirts and tank tops was the fashion, wavy salt water hair, and smelling like coconut, ah!

Days that last forever and nights that never end.

Nowadays with 3 kids to pack up and to haul a ton of toys to the beach, on top of worrying about who’s throwing sand on who I enjoy fall a bit more.

The temperatures are cooler and more breezy-which makes for a less sweaty and more patient filled momma!

Jeans, boots, and long sleeve lovelies.

Pumpkin spice coffee and warm apple cider-need I say more?!

Colorful scenery, scarfs, and spice scented candles.

Warm fires, and early bedtimes.
Trips to the pumpkin patch and apple farm.

Firey red, bright yellow, burnt orange and brown leaves twirling to the ground.

Back to school, festivals and Thanksgiving.

Ghosts, goblin’s, and witches.

Yes.

I’d say I’m more a fan of fall these days then summer!

Bring on fall!

What’s your favorite season?

First grade and Pre-K.

New book bags & lunch boxes, fresh shoes, crisp t-shirts, hot breakfast {thanks to the microwave lol}.

Notebooks, sharp pencils, bright markers and colorful crayons.

New schools, new friends, new teachers.

Yummy lunches, healthy snacks and happy hearts.

Sweet notes left inside lunch bags and kisses left on cheeks!

P.S. My {FREE} Firmoo glasses finally came in the mail today-eeeek!
What do you think?!