WIWS: Answers & Easter!

Christ is Risen!

He is Risen, Indeed!!!

Joining two link-ups today. One is new and the other I am trying to be better about consistently joining! The new link-up is Answer Me This over at Catholic All Year with Kendra. I've been wanting to join, so glad I'm here now! Also, will be linking up with What I Wore Sunday over at Fine Linen and Purple because I ended up wearing something other than the same dress I was considering making happen two Sundays in a row.

1. What did you and your family wear to Mass on Easter Sunday?
Here we are! This was the best out of many photos we took after Easter Mass. The wind wasn't friendly with my oldest's hair, but I love how we are all smiling!

 The boys were super cute this Easter! My mother-in-law did another great job of picking out their attire. She is so great about getting the boys some cute outfits and we love her for it!

 The hats were especially cute! We put them on for pictures and were surprised that they both took to them fairly well.

 Pictures with Bigfoot wouldn't be complete without sticks. Love these two together though.

Onto Fine Linen and Purple link-up goodness. Here I am - full length version!

I picked out a random outfit since my more Easter-ish dress was worn the week prior at Palm Sunday Mass. 

For some reason this photo keeps flipping. Oh well.

Skirt: Banana Republic Outlet (Probably a good 7 years ago. Thank goodness high-waisted things are somewhat in style because this skirt would not have worked around my mama mid-drift otherwise!)

Shirt: Victoria Secret Online (A good 4 years ago.)

Cardigan: (Victoria Secret Online (Also, a good 4 years ago. Seeing a trend here, ladies?)

Shoes: Forgot the brand, and they were purchased in sometime in '05.

Okay, back to the cuteness. The photo above is pretty much how Bigfoot feels after any family photo session that happens. Over. It. Although, he was fairly happy with sticks in hand.

 

Meanwhile, my little ham was eating it all up. He loved walking around with his little hat. Mind you, it came off a couple of times, only for him to start trying to put it back on himself. After a while, he just left it which made for some sweet photo moments.

2. Easter Bunny: thumbs up or thumbs down?
Don't have much of an opinion on the bunny but am a fan of the eggs as those make the most sense to me in celebration of the Risen Christ. I need to read up on my Easter bunny history to figure out what I think about the little hare but till then, I'm all about the eggs, confetti, decorating, and candy treats to serve as teaching tools and celebration for our Lord and His Gift to us.

3. Do you prefer to celebrate holidays at your own house or at someone else's house?
Prior to this Spring we were living in an apartment. As much as I love hosting, our little place would always get cramped real quick-like! Now that we're in our new home-sweet-home, and after having some family visit, I would love to host every and all holidays at our home. I know that won't happen only because I also think it's important for us to travel to the grandparents for holidays, especially so the kids can spend time with any great aunts, uncles, cousins that we don't get to see often as well as spend time in the homes their parents grew up in and were loved for a lifetime in. With all that said, I have a feeling my little homemaking heart is going to absolutely love having family over for holidays now that we are in this home.

4. What is your favorite kind of candy?
Candy in my mouth. Does that count? Any and all work for me. In terms of chocolate or sweet, I think it depends on my mood and what language my sweet tooth is talking.

5. Do you like video games?
My brother and I had a super nintendo growing up. I played a little but never really cared for it. I would rather be reading or spending time with my friends. My husband on the other hand could easily get whisked away in a game, and being the geeky-tech man that he is, is pretty good at them. And, him being the perfectionist he is, could easily want to play the game (each one with a perfect score) till the ultimate conquer. This is my husband and a quality I love about him when applied in other realms of our life, but not the video game one. Therefore, we currently don't have one, and we'll see what we decide once the boys get interested.

6. Do you speak another language?
I do. I'm fluent in American Sign Language. In fact, I went to graduate school at Gallaudet University which is an all-Deaf university in Washington, DC. I went there to get my Master's in Mental Health Counseling and had an absolutely amazing experience. My classes we're all taught in sign and I could not be more grateful for the education I received there. Upon graduation I worked in mental health as a therapist for a number of years for the Deaf community and went on to work as an ASL interpreter in my last few years leading up to motherhood.

I also speak Spanglish. I'm very fluent in my receptive ability, but spoken is a bit broken. My conjugations are lacking but I can manage pretty well. I do better when I'm speaking it on a daily basis as I did when I was working in the mental health field.

That was fun, Kendra! Thanks for the link-up and looking forward to joining again next week! And, head over FLAP for more fun and beautiful Easter outfits!

Also, stay tuned for birthday posts and some fun news this week!

WIWS: Birthday Weekend

Back for another round of What I Wore Sunday. This past weekend was my birthday weekend! I have nothing but good things to say about the whole weekend, too. I mean, it truly was kind of amazing! And, I love when  my birthday falls so close to Holy Week and Easter! So, not only is it what I wore for my Birthday weekend Mass but also for Palm Sunday!

My birthday fell on Saturday, but with some friend love, family love, and lots of husband love I was able to celebrate from Friday through till Sunday. It was definitely the best birthday yet!

For Mass on Sunday, I wore this spring dress. After taking the pictures I regretted wearing this dress because everything about it says Easter. So, don't be surprised if I'm not posting my Easter outfit only because I will be wearing the same dress again!

Dress: Macy's 2013 (birthday gift from my Mom)

Shoes: Nine West (Christmas gift 2012 from my Mother-in-law)

Glasses: Nicole Miller (few years ago)

Jewelry: James Avery (a good 4 years ago)

As for the birthday goodness, I have full intention of sharing how absolutely wonderful it was, but I will have to do it in installments. Given that we had a three day celebration I want to be able to fully grasp and share the amazing love I felt.

For now, though, here is a little glimpse of fun from Saturday. This was right before we headed out for dinner. Got a few selfies with my oldest and a fun picture of Linus and GeekMan.

I'm excited to share in these next posts, all the fun that was had over the weekend. But, because I feel sort of guilty about not having yet posted about Linus' birthday party (that happened two months ago) I will be posting on his birthday celebration first and then follow through with sharing my birthday weekend and some EXCITING news (And, just in case anyone thinks EXCITING news always equals new baby in my belly, I'm telling you that there is not a little one within me at this time. Not yet, anyhow. :))!

Stay tuned, friends and family! And, head over to Fine Linen and Purple for more lovely outfits!

WIWS1: Advent Ungplugged

I'm alive! Haha, mostly that is.

We've been pretty busy this past week. Between bidding on a house that, for the time being, is not meant to be our home and Thanksgiving family fun and love, I have not blogged. Honestly, I am in complete admiration for all you amazing bloggers that are able to put out posts during busy seasons, hectic days, and after sleepless nights. For now, I am not one of those, but hopefully will be able to spend more time blogging and sharing our life during this beautiful Advent season that is upon us.

I'm hopeful only because I'm earnestly going to try and unplug. There have been so many beautiful posts that have been encouraging and wonderful! All sharing ways on how to be still. How to be quiet. How to embrace this wonderful time in our liturgical year patiently and joyfully - rather than with anxiety and stress.

 After reading said-posts that have encouraged me to be more still and to embrace this journey to the birth of our Lord, I came across Haley's Unplugged Link-up and thought it was such a perfect idea! So yes, I'm unplugging. And, this is what I've got so far:

My main time consumer during my days and sometimes nights can easily be Facebook. I found my time on Facebook has changed over time. It used to be a tool to help me keep in touch with long lost friends from high school, college, and graduate school. And as much as it is still that to a degree, I find it is moreso my source of articles and news. I read, read, and read so many articles that get posted. Hence, time-consumption. I keep scrolling till I find something else to read and then read it. So, for this season, to help me focus more on making our home a peaceful space filled with joy and awe for the most beautiful and perfect Gift, my little Facebook app has been deleted it. 

I'll be making a more concerted effort to leave my phone elsewhere when it's play time. 

There will be more eye-contact and hugs. 

Imagination and story time.

Less screen time and more music and dancing.

More prayer and spiritual reading than games and shows.

And, hopefully more blogging. As much as blogging does take some time, it forces me to think through where I am spiritually and as a mother and wife. Something that gets lost in my days if I'm not intentional about it.

So, here's to my first blog post post-unplug!

Now, back to What I Wore Sunday! I'm excited to be linking up with all the lovely women at Fine Linen and Purple. I've followed them for a little while and definitely have been inspired by their encouragement to be beautiful for Our Lord while at Mass and on a daily basis. Lately, since little Linus has not been a fan of sleep, I haven't been great about getting dressed nicely for our day-to-days but I've been going strong on Sundays.

Here I am!

Scarf: World Market (love this store!)

Sweater Dress: Banana Republic Outlet (a couple years back when I was first preggo with Bigfoot).

Leggings: Target?

Boots: Mikarose! (they arrived and I heart them!)

Jewelry: James Avery (Same that I wear day in and day out probably for the past two years. Haha. It's how I do in the jewelry department.)

I felt fun and trendy in my little outfit only to arrive at a very hot Mass! See, being in Texas you can go from 30 degree weather for three straight days to a a warmer day in no time, which completely messes with the system in church. It seems there wasn't enough time to cool off church seeing how just the day before the heater was just on. So, my outfit became scarf-less pretty quick - especially since I was wearing little, squirmy Linus in our Maya wrap!

Thanks for the fun link-up, ladies! And, I look forward to joining more often!

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Prayers for a peaceful and joy-filled Advent!