Iliana Mei Turns One

My sweet niece Iliana turns one on the 11th, and since labor day is the best time to get family together, my sister in law decided to throw her party a little early. So we had a great time this weekend celebrating my favorite baby girl. 

It was a sweet celebration under a pavilion at the marina in High Point.
We grilled and fed ducks and even a little wind and rain couldn’t keep us down.

Cutest watermelon cake ever..amiright?

Watching this little girl grow up this year has been just the sweetest. I can’t wait to see what is to come for this little firecracker.
Happy Birthday Illy Mei!

Insta-August

August was ridiculously good to us. We started it off at the beach, and ended it celebrating my sweet niece’s first birthday. (more pics on that to come.) The in between involved Judah growing 8 (no kidding) new teeth and it causing him to be sick for a few days.  But thankfully he came out feeling much better, and now he can eat steak or something I guess. Bruce Wayne turned 1. (Happy Birthday Buddy!) and our dear friend Erin had a birthday and got engaged. 🙂

September is a big month in our family. Sooooooo many birthdays. (including mine) so I am sure there will be plenty of celebrating. I am taking an online dslr camera course that I am super pumped about from Ashley over at Under the Sycamore. Other than that no big plans, just gearing up for fall and maybe buying some new boots since last year’s pair have seen much much better days. What are your big plans for September?

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Thirty By Thirty: The List is Complete!

If you remember from this post, Brandon and I have been working on a little “30 by 30” list. We will both be turning 29 in the fall which gives us a little over a year to work on completing the things on the list. Although we will be working hard to complete them, we will not be devastated if we do not get to check them all off by the time we are 30, and we obviously won’t be limiting ourselves to only doing the things on the list. duh. So without further ado…

Alright so a few notes about the list…the things in purple are for both of us to do together, the pink things are for me, and the one lonely blue guy is for Brandon alone, (I have super low iron which always restricts my blood giving capabilities.)

There are a few things on the list that I feel may warrant some explanation.

3. Master five hairstyles: I currently have 2 hairstyles…down and up. looking to spice it up a bit. Maybe I’ll bring the high side pony back.

5. Cook eggs five ways: It means I want to be able to cook eggs five different ways really well. Like if a guest wants a poached egg, or sunny side up, or fried or whatever, I will not only know what all those things are, I will be able to cook it atleast almost to perfection.

16. Make a baby: We realize this is a risky one to put on the list. What if we have trouble getting pregnant? what if we have a miscarriage?  Well, I am hoping that this blog is a safe enough place to talk about those types of things if they should occur.

26. Saw something: yeah, like with a saw. in the garage, wearing safety goggles or something. I haven’t sawed anything since 8th grade shop class and it was some weird butterfly lamp base that I never actually finished.

Alrighty. Here we go. Wish us luck? If you make a list of your own I would love to hear about it!

A coffee date

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If we were meeting up for coffee, I would probably only have half a cup because I am trying to quit. I would tell you I missed it terribly but it’s probably best because I put way to much creamer in it to justify it as “coffee” anyway. I would talk about how Judah has been sick the last few days and I hate feeling so helpless when my baby isn’t well.

I’d ask you how you’re feeling about the last days of summer. Are you trying to squeeze in a little more fun? Have you purchased all your school supplies? Even though I don’t have kids in school I still want to write with freshly sharpened pencils and buy a pretty notebook. you too? This is my second year that I haven’t been getting my own classroom ready, and it’s this time of year that I miss teaching the most. Getting my classroom ready, making the “big” overarching plans for the year, and meeting the students at open house.

If you asked how my etsy shop was going. I would say that it’s such a sweet place for me to be creative and show other people my product. It’s  no booming industry, but that wasn’t what I had in mind. I would also let you in on a little secret that there is a new product on it’s way to the shop soon.

I’d tell you that Brandon and I have been busy coming up with good ideas for our 30 before 30 list and that we are up to 25 things! I am pretty exciting about finishing it and starting to mark things off.

If we got onto the topic of tv I would tell you that although we don’t watch it that often, we love masterchef, and I hope Krissy gets kicked off pronto. And that even though we have been watching for almost a year now, and I have delayed watching the final episodes because I will hate for it end, we are almost done watching Friday Night Lights. What about you? Do you have favorite shows?

I’m glad we got to meet up. Please pray for Judah as he gets over his sickness, and how can I pray for you?

XOXO Laci.

 

14 months- a post without pants

Excuse the pictures being a bit blurry. I am not the best photog and Judah isn’t the best at being still. 🙂

14 months.

Judah is a sweet little guy with a really great demeanor.

He is quite curious and adventurous. You can find him climbing onto or into things and emptying out every bucket, box, drawer, cabinet, hamper, bin, or bag he can find.

He isn’t fond of getting his diaper changed or putting on clothes.

He has more teeth than I know about. Literally, I don’t know how many he has. If I had to guess I would say at least 10 with three on the way.

He likes books. and balls. and books that have balls in them,

and being destructive.

He could spend all day opening and shutting doors. He waves a lot, and blows kisses now with the correct side of his hand.

We love you buddy.

Bald Head Island

I guess since I am writing this post it must mean we are back from the beach. sigh. We were there from Friday to Friday and after we got home and the baby was asleep and we were settling in on the couch, Brandon said to me, “I have felt so stressed since we got home.” Darn you beach, for making us feel so relaxed that even the comforts of home make us feel stressed. (Don’t worry we had a good weekend and the feeling of stress has subsided.) 

Bald Head was so beautiful. There are no cars, it is pretty much totally covered in trees besides where the homes are, the sandy shore, and the marsh. You should go to their website and check it out, their pictures are way better than mine. It was my first official vacation with the Wong side of the family and it was fabulous. The Boggs family also joined us (my brother in law’s mom, dad, and brother.) 

 

Like I mentioned before, there are no cars allowed on the island so we parked our car for the week and took a 20 minute ferry ride to the island. There were 2 golf carts at the house where we stayed and they were our transportation for the week. 

 

There were plenty of things to do on the island including, fishing, crabbing, paddle boarding, kayaking, alligator wrestling, etc. etc. 
Most of my time was spent with Judah and my niece Iliana at either the pool or the beach and that was A-OK by me. 

Getting to hang out with Judah while he experienced the beach for the first time was one of my most favorite parts of our vacation.

 

 

That picture up there of Brandon’s first real ponytail is probably worth noting. 

We did plenty of exploring the island, which included trying out all of the ice cream shops and partaking in a drum circle.

 

We had a really great week making family memories and were really sad it had to end. Judah was especially sad to not have any more occasions to wear his beach shirt.

Until next time Bald Head.

 

The Past Two Weeks.

Currently, I am sitting on the couch, with my feet up r.e.s.t.i.n.g. because y’all, these past two weeks have been a dooooozy. In the BEST way. Next to me is our packing list for the beach. We leave in 2 days and I am entering into the “madness before we get on the road” phase, but I don’t mind it because at the end my toes will be with our family and in the sand. There is so much to do before we leave, but for now I am going to sit here and finish this cup of coffee and most likely make a playlist because no vacation/road trip is complete in my eyes without the most perfect playlist. amIright?

Let me recap the fullness of the past few weeks around here.

Our former pastors and friends, Ben and Casey,  were in town from Denver just for a few short days and I managed to not get one good pic of us together, but we did meet up for an hour or so at the spraygrounds. It was Judah’s first time and he pretty much loved his life until he was crawling around and got an unexpected spray in the face.
We just love them. Ben was the pastor that married us and we were a part of their church plant for several years here. It was a really sweet but short time to catch up.

I drove up to High Point for one day because Judah had a little photo shoot for the Buy Buy Baby Christmas catalog. We will find out in a few weeks if his handsome little face will be in the catalog or not. I’m not yet sure how I feel about having a baby model in the family but he had so much fun playing with the toys during the shoot, he got to practice his blue steel, and we got orange mocha frappuccinos after.  Plus it gave us the perfect excuse to stop on by and see Brandon’s family while we were there.

My friend Michelle came to Charlotte just for the weekend so we got to meet up for an impromptu lunch. She, La’Tasha, and I taught together for five years, but now Michelle is all fancy and lives in New York City.  It was really good to catch up and we are crossing our fingers that she will move back to Charlotte soon so we can see her WAY more often.

I wish I had words big enough to explain the joy that those pictures above give me. I feel like my heart might just burst, so I am going to type this next part as quick as possible before the tears start to flow.
Two years ago, Brandon and I dropped off my friend Christine and her husband Tracey at the airport as they began their lives as missionaries in Santiago, Chile. They are dear friends to us and I may or may have not cried on and off the whole day they left. Since that day, both Christine and I have had babies, subsequently missing each other’s entire pregnancies, and many other fun life changes, aside from Skype and emails of course. When they told us that they were headed back to the states this summer for a few weeks, we couldn’t have been happier. We were only able to spend a few short days with them while they were here because they had so many other family members and friends to see, but we soaked it up with baby cuddles and game playing and good conversation. And Judah and Coen got to meet and I think I literally felt my heart leap inside me.

We made sure and got our sisterfriends together for an afternoon of chasing babies and catching up. So much love for allllllll these ladies. (Baby Coen was asleep for that bottom picture so just pretend he is in there. )

That’s my friend Erin. She’s going to be so excited I put this picture of her on here. 🙂 Erin is a friend of ours that lives here in Charlotte. Yesterday was her birthday, and she got engaged! (check out her new bling!) I am so excited for her and can’t wait to dance at her wedding! Last night we went out to celebrate her. (Thanks Jess for babysitting so Brandon and I could go out!) We went to this amazing burger place we had never been to called Kickstand Burgers. Erin ordered a burger that had a beef patty between 2 grilled cheese sandwiches (pictured above) craziest/ most delicious thing I have ever seen.

There ya have it folks, the longest blog post ever. I guess I’ll go start packing working on the playlist for the beach.

Julystagram

I can’t believe July is over but oh man was it a good one. We started the month off in Los Angeles with Brandon’s family, the rest of the month was spent soaking up summer in the backyard and just outside in general (when it wasn’t one of the 20 days it rained here in Charlotte), hanging out with friends, (Those are our sweet friends from our Taylor days, the Cases, in the bottom row. They stopped by on their way home from the beach and it was sooooo good to see them), and looking for a new church home. There are so many good churches around here I am not sure how we will ever choose one. We have ended the month with more friends in town. The Keitts, who currently live in Chile are here for a few weeks and man it does my heart good to hang out with them and their new sweet baby boy.

The most exciting thing we have going on in August is our week long trip to Bald Head Island. Eeeeeee!  I can’t wait! I am sure there are some other things that will pop up as well. I may even head to Target and buy some school supplies just for fun. 🙂

I hope your July was great and your August will be even better. Go here to follow me on Instagram.

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my 300th post and some shop talk.

You guys, this is my 300th post. 300. That’s a big number. For those of you who have been around for all 300….I am so impressed, what a roller coaster ride you have been on. For those of you who are new..welcome!

Remember that time I opened a shop? Guess what?! It’s still open!

You should probably hop on over and see what is currently in stock.

There are all these super cute fabric flowers.
Seriously, you can stick them in your hair, on a headband, on your jacket or sweater.
Think of how one would look on your purse! Maybe someone you know has a birthday coming up, or is having a baby girl that needs her hair accessory collection started. So many possibilities!

There are also some cute new flowers in the shop.

Those John Deere flowers really speak to my small town roots.

Ok since I love you all so much and since I am pretty pumped about this whole 300th post thing, go get yourself some goodies and use the coupon code 300love at checkout to get 30% off your order!

The Promise and The Details.

I find that probably too often I am looking for what is next. New house? New business? New vacation spot? New baby? New adventure? New pet? New church? New husband?  kidding kidding on that last one, (you are never getting rid of me Mr. Wong). Some people find it easy to be content and to sit and soak up their current season. I do try my best to be that way. To soak it all up with gratitude. To breath in these moments. These moments we have been given as still kind of newlyweds, as new parents, as growers, as learners, as disciples, as teachers, as friends, as family members. These right-now, in this very season moments. Because these moments are truly beautiful and I don’t want to think back and feel like I have missed any of it, or the growth that comes from it because I was so anxious for what was to come next.

But God has created me in such a way that I know I will always feel the stirring for what’s next. The hopeful anticipation of a new adventure. Of just a glimpse of what God has to offer us in the next season. I feel that stirring now. So I find myself stretched. From sitting glued to the now and soaking it all up, to being pulled to the next piece of God’s plan and His story in us. That’s probably how it will be until we get to Heaven, when the now will be forever and we won’t even desire the next because the current will be perfection. Amen! Oh how I long for that.

I think all of this is good. The wanting to breath in the now, and the anticipation of what is to come. All of that is good. It’s contentment with an open hand for God to work in me and grow me and transition me into the next part of His story. The thing is that I try to rush it.

God plants a promise in my heart, He creates a stirring for the next adventure and my reaction is to say “Thanks God, I’ve got it from here!” He gives the promise, and I try to take the details. Because I can get it done faster right? Because God has given me an able mind and body so I must be able to have control over this part right? Because I couldn’t possible WAIT any longer right? There are all these tiny seeds of promise growing inside of me and our family….why can’t they all come in my timing? in my strength? with my planning?

Because God not only wants us/me to trust Him in the promise He has planted, but also in the fruition of that promise. He wants us to trust that He has it allllll under control. Even the details. Now, I am pretty sure that doesn’t mean we step back and do nothing. I am confident that it means we continue to open our hands to him and when he presents open doors to us that we walk in faith towards his promises but that if those doors don’t present themselves in the pace that we believe they should, that we open our hands again in faith to believe that His timing is better than ours and we don’t run to find other doors to run through to get to that promise on our own accord.

There are some women in the bible who I have read about recently that have tried to open their own doors. Women like Rachel, Rebekah, and Sarai. Women who God had made promises to, and in their anxiousness tried to fulfill those promises in their own planning and strength. The good news is, things still turned out well for them. That God didn’t turn his back after they didn’t fully trust Him in the details.  But He showed them, that in His perfect grace and timing, “all things work for the good of those who love Him.”

Thank God for grace. For picking me up and dusting me off when I fail him time and time again. Thank God for planting promises and fulfilling them, and thank God for making me a part of His story here on Earth.
Lord, help me to fail when I try to get things done on my own accord, but to daily open my hands in surrender to the promises and the details of what you have for me and my family as a part of your beautiful story.

How about you? How do you find balance between soaking up the now and racing on to what is next?