mélange

The Internet has been awesome lately! Also, I've begun reading my blogs via Feedly, instead of my old fav, Google Reader. Verdict? Feedly is wayyyy better, more user friendly, easier to access on the iPhone, and has cool features that GR is sadly lacking. Feedly has a "save for later" feature that I've used for the last couple weeks to collect all of the posts I want to link up with when I finally got around to writing a mélange post. So easy! Here they are, hope you're inspired today friends.

• I've mentioned that we've begun praying with Lily on a nightly basis but what about praying for our children? I'm sure most Christian parents do pray for their kids, but maybe you're like us and do it randomly and without a ton of focus? I found this article incredibly helpful and motivating to be specific and purposeful as I pray for my littles.
• I loved this post on living with kids in a meaningful way. Teaching, mentoring, disciplining, all intentionally. A lofty task that I admit I'm not up to every day, but I want to be!
• Tonight I made Earl Grey Tea cupcakes with Earl Grey Tea butter cream icing and OH MY GOODNESS TRY IT.  I used this recipe for the cupcakes and I doubled the amount of loose leaf tea required (and used David's Tea Cream of Earl Grey). For the butter cream, I made my own with this simple tip (Great butter cream is 1:4 ratio of butter and icing sugar with a dash of 35% cream and vanilla, plus in my case, loose leaf Earl Grey)

• The pathetic attempts schools are making to ratify bullying, from a mother's perspective. I so appreciated reading this, and her opinion that it's not enough, as one who was badly bullied for years in elementary school.
• I can't even believe the name of this recipe, let alone how delicious it probably is. The name says it all: Chocolate Chip Bacon Orange pancakes.
• now that the weather is finally getting nicer, I can get some of the spray-paint-related projects done in the coming weeks. SO exciting. My parents bought our kids the amazingly priced IKEA children's table + 2 chairs for Christmas and I haven't assembled it yet because I'm waiting to paint the pieces first, then assemble. I was going to do all yellow (and we're going to buy two of these white chairs to add to the two yellow ones) but now I'm not so sure after this, this, and this!

source

• Have you ever thought about what extracurricular activities you'll out your kids in and how many? We're basically settled on "one or none" (at a time, per kid) thanks to these great parenting talks and Jen's recommendation, but this post reminded me why that's so important. I saw her schedule and felt sick and stressed - and it wasn't even mine!
• Aaaaaand just like that, I'm done my 1st trimester! Thank you, Lord! Also, you can now vote whether you think Baby3 will be a boy or girl on the Baby Bump Blog. We find out April 30th, and for the record, I think it's a girl ;)
• If you have a lot of kids but not bedrooms, I'm a fan of giving the kids the master bedroom, if it works. In our case, we have doors to the back terrace and an open concept ensuite in our bedroom, so it wouldn't be the best choice for kids. But I love what this NYC family did with their master bedroom - cutest co-ed kid's room EVER.