Praying baby

 I know as parents, we all brag on our children every chance we get. Just to be clear, this is not that moment that I am taking to do so. I have been told time and time again how much Amara will start to pick up from Gabe and I as she is inching closer to 2 years old. We all want our children to pick up our good habits, right? I watch her put on make-up with me while I get ready ( will that make her vain or insecure?) She repeats words that just come flying out of our mouths like "shoot" (will other mom's judge me or think its cute?) I watch her throw tantrums or whine ( is that just part of being a kid, or do I play into that when I do the same thing at 27?) 

All I am saying here is that you are always waiting for those little glimpses of sunshine in the midst of all of your cloudiness. I caught my glimpse the other day when I was unloading the dishwasher. Amara was just wandering around while watching tv, and she made her way to the dining room table and crawled up onto the bench ( quietly) and I look up and see her just sitting at the table. Her little feet were swinging, her hands were lightly drumming on the table top, and she had the biggest smile on her face! She was so extremely proud of herself for getting up on the bench. I think I said something like "Boots! You got up there all by yourself?!? Look at you, big girl!!" Then, I noticed she crossed her little hands together ( which we never do when we pray - we hold hands), and she began to bow her head and pray. Tears welled up in my eyes, and all I could do was take in the moment. I didn't care about grabbing a camera or making sure I got the perfect photo. I just wanted to sit there and watch my sweet little baby have a conversation with the Lord. She was just talking away!! I DID hear the words "pad pad" ( Ipad) and "Mimmie" ( Mickey). She is clearly thankful for those two things. Then, she raises her head and spreads her arms out as wide as they will go and shouts "Amen". 

BEST. MOMENT. EVER!

Gabe was gone, and I obviously wanted it on video eventually, so I kind of "encouraged" a reenactment and this is what we got!

Amara Praying from Jenni Patillo on Vimeo.

Sure, Gabe and I make an effort to pray before meals with her and every night before bed. It doesn't make us completely responsible for this. I ask the Lord every night to pursue Amara's heart and let it be open to what He has for her.....despite us. It was just a great moment for me to take time to say "thank you" to God for allowing her actions to play out what may be stirring in her heart at this young age.

Have a GREAT weekend everyone! I am so grateful for all of you! Love you ..... mean it!

xoxo jenni

Summer Nights at the Vineyard

Some people have a beach nearby, a farm or even a lake to retreat to during the summers. While all of those things aren't all that far from us, Arrington Vineyard is super duper close to us. I have a feeling that is where we will be spending a lot of our summer evenings. Gabe was out of town this past weekend, so I called up my spontaneous bestie and we decided that a picnic filled with Mexican food, leftover birthday cake and wine would bring us much happiness! Simultaneously taking in a beautiful view didn't hurt either.

Off we went! I love how many families had the same idea that night. I enjoy crowds of people ( for the most part). I watched Amara run up and down a hill repeatedly, which brought her a lot of entertainment. I was able to relax on a blanket and eat in peace. Did I mention, we will be spending a lot of summer nights here?

 ^^^ Left over birthday cake with some raspberry dessert wine that the vineyard makes. ^^^

(They have a blackberry that I am dying to try)

^^^ Little hands can't resist cake......who can blame her? ^^^

 ^^^ A little blurry, but I love this picture. ^^^

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day to all you dad's! I know we all say this, but I am truly the luckiest girl in the world.

I could not strive to be an amazing mother without my amazing husband! You are my other half...there is no Jenni without Gabe. I am so proud of our family, and how you provide and CARE for us. You stop our little world to shower us with kisses and hugs daily. Amara is so blessed to call you daddy, and raising a child with you has been better than I could have ever dreamt. Thank you for that! I love you so much, and I look forward to celebrating the amazing person that you are today! You deserve it!!

Love you baby!!!

Water baby

We spent some time outside this last weekend....southern style! We have no pool, so we put Amara's splash pad out in the yard and let her play to her little heart's content. She seriously LOVES the water. I am so grateful. She is absolutely fearless in the pool and has loved to splash since her first bath! It is just a nice way to cool off without lugging everything to a pool. It was such a nice weekend to just stay around the house, eat sandwiches for lunch and just be together. Hope everyone had a great weekend!!

Flying a kite with daddy

Yesterday, we enjoyed a nice, relaxing afternoon at home. I got a lot of deep cleaning done in my kitchen while my two loves napped. It was pretty awesome to have silence in the house while I just cleaned....and thought. Amara is in this extremely fun ( and sometimes scary) phase of mimicking EVERYTHING that Gabe and I do. It is so cute most of the time, but I definitely don't like the word "shoot" coming out of her little 1.5 year old mouth just yet. 

Anyway, while I was looking out at them from the kitchen window, I noticed Amara putting the kite handle in her mouth ( as she had just watched Gabe do while he was getting the kite ready), and I knew I had to snap some pictures. I bought a little kite from the dollar section in Target. Who knew it would have a.) lasted more than 30 seconds b.) provided so much entertainment for Amara. 

I am just so grateful for the days and nights that we have daddy home. I am soaking it in the best that I can!

 

^^^ Getting a little help untangling herself ^^^

^^^ Oh, how she loves "Seeey" ( Sadie)! ^^^

Pinspiration! What I am pinning these days.....

I have been loving Pinterest a lot more than usual lately. It kind of makes me feel like I am shopping, but money isn't necessarily coming out of my wallet at that moment. We are currently in the very slow process of redoing our master bedroom ( new carpet and all), so every decision is "life or death" here, right?! ;)

Sometimes, it is just nice to get out of my head and just look for looking's sake. Then, sometimes.... constantly finding new ideas makes me want to change things CONSTANTLY! I like change...what can I say?

Here are some random pins that I have enjoyed looking at. They can also be found on my Pinterest boards HERE!

^^ Been lusting after a mint tassel key fob for a while now. ^^

^^ If I had these, they would have to sit out on my counter somewhere. Too perfect! ^^

^^ Really wanting to dip dye one of my white T-shirts. ^^

^^ I mean....this is just purty! ^^

^^ I neeeeeed this! Perfect one piece for toting my little one to the pool! ^^

^^ I have been wrestling with what color palette to go with for our bedroom. When I saw this, I knew I landed on what I wanted! ^^

^^ Just waiting for this little number to go on sale :) ^^

^^ Dying over this front door color! ^^

Organizing my LIFE.

I have spent most of this week just trying to get a grip on my life. I will be the first to admit that I don't take Mondays very well. I just don't have the motivation to tackle the things that I need to. I think it is usually because our Mondays are like Saturdays around here. It is usually our family day since Gabe is usually gone on the weekends. Our world stops when daddy comes home :)

 Anyway, Monday I decided to get up and get going. Gabe had a busy day starting around 11:30, so I got up, made a grocery list, went to the grocery ALONE ( much faster), made some appointments, made some calls, had a couple of allergy attacks. By 2 pm, I was ready for a nap. I took a midday shower and nap I did! Then, I was ready to tackle the rest of my day. I made dinner for the family ( big deal....really, it is!), bathed Amara then had a client come over for a late night eyebrow waxing before her lead role in a music video! So excited for her!! 

With a productive beginning to my week, I have tried to make an effort to stay home more, and get some organizing done around my house! I am on a mission to completely redo this house of mine. I am soooooo tired of little things just laying around. They either need a designated space or they need to get out of my house. I think I have had the same dry cleaning pile for 2 years straight. Just take them already, Jenni!!! Things just have to change....period. 

Here are some before an afters.....nothing special....no fancy bins or things that look pretty, just good ole fashion organizing and purging. I TRULY believe that life is easier when you don't have as much stuff. My house feels bare compared to most, but I go through a major purging phase at least every 6 months. I don't hold on to much! I was able to make space for some of Amara's craft stuff as well as throw expired pantry items out. I have a plan to make more use of my counter space in the kitchen by removing my endless mail pile that makes it way out of the actual mail holder. Again, this just all has to end! I will post pics when I tackle that.

^^ Is it bad to keep potatoes on the ground? I am planning on purchasing a three drawer tupperware from Target to store them in along with snacks. I think it works for now.^^

^^ This is our "junk drawer"...we all have them. I just need it to be a more organized junk drawer.^^

^^ I have just had these items sitting on top of my buffet for weeks. I finally cleared room in my "placemat/charger drawer" to store craft supplies for Amara. Feels so good to not see them lying around. It only took two trips to the drawer for Amara to now go on her own and ask to "cull"                ( color).^^

^^ I actually ( FINALLY) wiped all of the dust off of our bottles. I mean, if you want to have a bar cart of some sort to display these gorgeous bottles, they should be sparkling....ting! Right?!

I also threw out anything we don't drink, and added a tumbler to hold stripey straws. Why? Because they make people happy! ^^

^^ So, we keep a coin sorter in our coat closet. It is where my husband dumps all of his change so that it can go back into our pockets. We just let the full coin rolls wiggle their way around the shelf, so I finally decided that they needed a home. It just got annoying. :) ^^


Thanks for checking in! Sorry there is not much going on over here this week.....not on the blog anyway! :)