A Little Encouraging Post To Myself, On My Birthday Weekend.

It's Friday and we are gearing into the weekend in which I know will be spiritually edifying! General women's conference, and my 46th birthday are both this weekend and to be honest I couldn't be more excited. I love attending with my girls, and celebrating my special day with people I love. Nearing my 50's doesn't scare me too much. Maybe it's because I see my sister aging gracefully, and the way she embraces life, and her age is impressive. Same with my momma. She's in her 70's, and looks as if she's in still in her 50's. So grateful she's doing well with her battle with cancer and all! 

On The Cusp of a New Season.

The days are getting shorter, and the weather is getting cooler. Not that I mind, but sometimes I would like for the days to last just a bit longer. I'm slowly putting away our summer clothes, and saltwater sandals, and it actually feels pretty good to be doing so. September is a big deal for me not because it's my birthday month, but because the cusp of autumn becomes more official. Next to summer, fall is definitely my  favorite & this season prepares me for back to school nights, Halloween, & Noah's birthday. Those are the things I tend to concentrate on throughout my birthday month. Turning 43 in a week seems surreal because I feel as if I have a young heart. Hitting 40 didn't freak me out like I thought it would. It was just another day for me, and hopefully I'll have the same mentality when I turn 50, and so on! I'm focusing on the now in enjoying life. The years & days seem to get shorter & in a sense I think I am too! Spending my days with Noah is all I want to do right now. I don't yearn for a job or a career at this time. My time during the day is with him & today we both had a lunch date with papa at the pop shop. Because he's still on a "probation period" with UPS he's only been working a few days a week, and has two more days till it's over (yes!) Since we didn't have a date night last week we decided to have lunch at one of my favorite places. I'm grateful for those free meal coupons I get via email for my birthday. 

We didn't mind that we had Noah because he is the life to every party...literally! Everything was delicious as usual. I had a yummy tuna melt topped with swiss cheese & Jon had a sandwich with shrimp in it (I forgot the name), and Noah, well...he mostly drank all my root beer (he had cereal for lunch earlier!)  

Pop Shop's signature is are the "paper hats" and we all decorated them. Noah kind of added a little bit of his art on mine! He is the funniest boy & sometimes I have to calm him down. He's not used to drinking soda & when he does boy is he like the energizer bunny. He'll just keep going, and going until that sugar wears him down. We had the sickest shake known to man & if you've never had one you've got to try it. They have a variety of flavors & because it's my birthday month I got the chocolate Oreo! It was mouthwatering & between me & Jon that thing was devoured in seconds. 

We then went for a drive to check out if the rain brought forth any colors to some of the leaves. I love, love going on drives whether it's out in the boonies or further north which in this case we only drove within our neighborhood. We did see tiny hints of yellow, and red on a few trees, but nothing really bright! We get the changing of the leaves here pretty late in Jersey so hopefully when we venture our further north in the future we'll see some color. Right now what we saw is what we got which were brown, light golden discolored leaves. We didn't mind & Noah was still a happy camper especially when I told him when the leaves fall to the ground we'll have ourselves a leaf war. I think  after his last birthday he's fully aware that he's a fall baby like his mama & when he sees me happy he's happy too. 

Jon snapped a few shots of us brown leaves and all! 

One thing for sure we are super excited for autumn to officially arrive so that we can have apple cinnamon, and pumpkin scented candles, sweater weather, wearing scarves, go apple and pumpkin picking, and have a hay ride -drinking hot cocoa kind of days! 

Happy Wednesday! 

September.

Have I told anyone else besides my family that September is my favorite month? Well it is. It is my birthday month, the beginning of football games, school, and my favorite season...Autumn! I'll be seeing my 40th birthday in about 23 days, and I am feeling pretty good about joining the elite 40's soon.

Last night I wasn't feeling so good. I was feeling a bit melancholy and out of sorts. I really try to accentuate writing positive and uplifting things on my blog. I don't want someone who visits my blog to think that they are reading a therapy session. I do however, feel the urge to regurgitate as to why I think I may be feeling this way:

I am getting a lot more gray hairs than I have ever gotten since I moved here three years ago. 

I have a junior in high school, and although she doesn't cause me stress, I can't help but to think how much stress I'll be going through with young men asking her out on a date...yes, the dating scene has officially begun! So young men...beware of the Lioness!

I have an almost tween who is sharp as a whip, and I know that the 'middle school years' will fly by for her just as quickly as Sierra's did.

My six year old said goodbye to kindergarten and is now in first grade...tears! My little girl is not a baby girl anymore!

I am throwing a baby shower for one of my sisters in our church this weekend, and I have been real emotional about the whole thing. I really love this sister and have so much compassion for her. She is having her first child and it is a boy! Which reminds me that Noah is no longer a baby...he's now a little boy. More tears!!

Let's face it. All of my kids are a grade older, and I really don't want that to happen, but it's inevitable. They have to grow up, continue to learn, and become someone important in this world.

Although I was feeling a bit pensive all day yesterday, I had a fabulous morning and I am feeling a lot better today. As I was getting dressed and fixing my hair my youngest comes up to me and says, "You look very beautiful today mommy, I like your lipstick and your hair. That really made my whole day! I needed to hear that. When I hear compliments like that from my youngest daughter or any of my children...turning 40 doesn't sound so bad.