Real Beauty.

I often pray for my children and think about their futures. 

I dream about what their personalities will be, their interests and who they will choose to spend forever with. I pray for their friends and positive influences.  Against, peer pressure and bullies. I think about a lot, what parent doesn't? I think about a lot of things that really don't matter right now and won't for a while. 

But, one thing I find myself thinking about often is, how they will view themselves. Especially, Madelyn. I think girls battle self worth more than boys. So many young girls let their peers define them. They allow society to mold them into what "beauty" is. They will alter who they are to fit in with people they want to be. I can say I struggled with those areas growing up. High school is a tough environment, I don't care who you are. It's an awkward stage. 

A few weeks ago, I watched a video that Jodi, a friend/family/fellow blogger shared. She's a great gal and you can read her awesome, real writings, here. I have since seen it many other places. You may have already caught a glimpse of it. If not, here you go. It will bless you.

Really makes you think, right? It's real. And it's reality for most of us. Even as adults. After watching it, I thought about my girl and the journey that is ahead of her. A journey filled with a corrupt view of beauty that our society portrays to us as such. I want more for her. I want confidence. I want purity. I want strength. I don't want the opinion of herself to be written out for her by her peers. I want her to see herself, how God sees her. As a daughter of The King. A treasure. Beautiful. A masterpiece. 

Along side of their peers, daughters watch their mamas. I want to be a Godly example for my girl. How will she view herself as beautiful and walk in confidence if she hears me constantly tear myself down with criticism? Don't get me wrong, every one has things about themselves they wouldn't mind changing. I get that and I'll be the first to admit it. But, I want to help her to focus on the things that are great. Because, there are great things. Why put so much focus on the others?

May.

I love May. It's my favorite month. Lots happen around here in May. It's my birthday month, mother's day and our anniversary. Along with many other exciting things all crammed into 31 days of awesome. See why it's my favorite?

The kids and I have been on a mission to find new parks the last week or so and we definitely succeeded! We found one that is my favorite so far, Madelyn agreed!

With the summer coming and the insane heat, I wanted to find some "splash parks" in the area. They are parks with playgrounds and water areas too. It's a great way for the kids to cool off and for the mamas too. 

Madelyn is a huge fan of the water area. Maybe a little too much. Nothing like trying to drink a little city water. Gross.

This park overlooked a huge lake, it is so pretty. She loved watching the boats.

Hope you are having a great week. It's almost over already! Oh yeah.

Along with looking for new parks we are also looking for other fun summer activities, too. How do you plan to spend your summer? Have any toddler activities you would suggest for a busy little bee like this one? 

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I was in a baking kind of mood and Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins were going to hit the spot. I had been talking about making them for weeks. It was time I stop talking and start baking.

I posted a picture of one I made yesterday on Instagram (you can follow me here, @jenstacey) and many of you requested the recipe I used. So I thought I would share it with you here.

The reason I loved this one was because it came with a brown sugar topping that will knock your socks off. It's a very simple recipe. I like simple. You can alter it too, maybe add some nuts? If you do change it up, and like the results, please share. I am always looking for new recipes!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. cinnamon

3 small bananas- mashed
3/4 c. white sugar
1 egg - lightly beaten
1/2 c. canola oil
1/2 c. mini semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 c. brown sugar - packed
2 tbsp. flour
1/8 tsp. cinnamon
 1 tbsp. canola oil

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375, line muffin pan with cups.
Mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.
In another bowl beat bananas, white sugar, egg, and canola oil - stir into flour mixture.
Stir in chocolate chips. Spoon into cups.
Mix brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and canola oil.
Sprinkle mixture over each muffin.

 Bake 18-20 minutes.
 Number of Servings: 12

Happy Baking!

Survival Mode.

Life with two little ones have had its challenges but triple the rewards. It's been an adjustment for all of us and to be honest, I have no memory of half of January and all of February. With a newborn, there is no separation of day and night. It all rolls into one very long mush of time. If I got a shower and brushed my teeth once in a day, it was a very good day. Some women can balance a newborn, a toddler or two, makeup and hair, fashion and still get to where they are going on time. Ha! The first three months were survival mode for me. If everyone was alive, we were good. Let's just be honest. My first outing with the kids alone, Madelyn wore a backwards shirt. If I didn't have spit up in my hair, food smeared all over my clothes, pee on my shirt and baby poop somewhere on my body then we were doing good. Madelyn went to bed in what she woke up in the morning before... a time or two. And we ate dinner at 8, often. But you know, we survived.

We have recently started venturing out for longer than the time it took for the first kid to cry. I used to high tail it out of wherever I was when one would start. Because, it never ended well. I was out numbered and they both knew that. I have since become more comfortable in mothering two and a little more relaxed. I told a friend the other day that I feel like we are just now getting out of the "survival mode". Madelyn may not have gotten a bath every night of the week but she went to bed knowing how much we loved her. And that's what remained important.

Our Weekend in Pictures.

Ryan was home both days this weekend. 

It was lovely. 

The weather was glorious. 

Children's Museum.

Sprinklers.  

Hope your weekend was a great one!

Easter Recap: 2013 Edition.

As the kids get older we are going to make sure they know the true meaning of Easter and that it's not all about bunnies that lay colorful eggs. This year, since Madelyn is all about books, I picked up this one to help lay some ground work. I don't think she understood much of what I was reading but she had fun looking at the pictures. It's a great little book that I will pull out in the years to come to help them understand what it's all about.

Tell Me About Easter

Along with keeping the real reason for the holiday the focus, it's fun to participate in the fun traditions that come along Easter. We started off Easter weekend with an egg hunt at my parents house for the kiddos in the family. We had lunch, played games, exchanged baskets and of course the egg hunt! Everyone had a ball and I loved watching our girl participate in her first real egg hunt. 

We had been practicing around the house the past couple of weeks and you better believe by the time Easter came, the girl could say "eggs" and fill a basket like no ones business. 

Each kid had a gold egg hidden with something extra special inside. Madelyn's was in the mailbox flower bed. Clearly, your supposed to sit on your gold egg when you find it. 

Saturday night I stuffed eggs and positioned baskets after everyone had gone to bed. I was excited about the festivities to come in the morning and couldn't wait. I wanted everything to be perfect.

I filled her eggs with yogurt bites, her favorite. Great alternative to candy.

I filled their baskets with things they needed and fun things too. Landon was low on paci's and got a few of those, along with a couple "boy" books for later. Madelyn needed a new bathing suit for this summer and the rest consisted of books, stickers, bubble bath, chalk and of course a sock monkey for each.  Everything (minus the bathing suit, pacifiers and sock monkeys) was bought from the dollar section at local stores. 

Easter morning went surprisingly smooth. We were even early to church, total shocker. Don't think that has happened...ever. We had a mini egg hunt for Madelyn first thing in the morning. She wasn't too sure about searching for eggs before her sippy of milk. The girl loves her milk. However, she got over that quick when she caught a glimpse of the bright colored eggs scattered all over the living room.

Landon was having fun watching his sister find eggs.

Her basket was hidden under the dinner table. She couldn't squeeze her little body back behind the table fast enough to search through her goods.

Next year this little guy will be hauling a basket and throwing eggs at his sister collecting eggs with his sister. 

After we had our fun at home, we headed off to church. We enjoyed a lovely service with family followed by another egg hunt. The children's ministry at the church provided activities for the kids.

And finally we ended the weekend visiting family and eating lots and lots of food. Here's our best shot at a family picture. Not everyone was smiling but no one was crying...score!

After a busy fun filled weekend, we enjoyed a low key week. It was lovely.

Happy Weekend to you!