A thoughtful gift...

My mother-in-law recently gave me this as a gift and I wanted to share the accompanying prayer card. I find myself saying it often, and so wanted to share it with my many currently pregnant blog readers (and those yet to come).  Happy and healthy babies are such a little miracle -- can't wait to meet mine. :)

2 things that get me thinking...

Ready for spring... image via

Two things that got me thinking lately... :)

1. I first wrote it about it last year around this time here, and now the ideas have crept up again in the interwebs. As a soon to be mother to not one, but two, little girls this issue is all the more important to me. I'm sure you've all heard about it by now... but, the Ban Bossy campaign is where it's at. I agree with every.single.word in this post! Read it.
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2. I wrote about Lent and Ash Wednesday very briefly last year here (I still love that video about selective attention). This year, I came across this and wanted to share it with you. The gist of it talks about how Lent often means we should give up something (I do not because I was not raised Catholic, but many of my readers I know in theory do this). But maybe rather than giving up something, we should think about how we "fill up" ourselves. A good reminder for all of us!

For example:

Having given up junk food for a healthy diet, what will you do with the energy you gain?
Having given up Facebook, to whom will you devote meaningful conversation?
Having given up TV as a default activity, how will you use that time to cultivate quality family time?
Having given up isolation, how will you immerse yourself in community?
Having given up shopping, will you see those who need clothing in your city?
Having sacrificed whatever form of selfishness you indulge, how will you meet the needs of others?

Makes you think, right?

P.S. Speaking of girl power, check out this link... I love the captions! :)

St. Patrick's Day

Today is St. Patrick's Day! Slainte!

Yesterday, I made a sort of Irish inspired meal. This Irish Cooking Blog I stumbled upon (Farmette) is where I would've preferred to plan my meal, however my pregnancy has diminished my ambition to be in the kitchen for hours on end. Nonetheless, the meal was good and I am so ready for a Jameson!

Her Irish Princess crown and skirt were the hit of the day!

Guinness for Mr. Evans, Irish soda bread, Kerrygold Dubliner cheese, Reuben Quesadillas and Creme de Menthe Brownies (recipe here)!

p.s. Our trip to Ireland recap here.
p.p.s. Nina's very first St. Patty's Day photo shoot here.
p.p.p.s. Our 2013 adventures here.

Children's Museum Morning

We recently visited the Children's Museum of Fond du Lac on a wintery Saturday morning. It's about the same distance here as it is to visit the Betty Brinn in Milwaukee (see my recap from last year here), so we thought it would be worth checking out. Another fun option is the Delafield Children's Play Gallery!

Nina loved the Fond du Lac museum! We got there right when it opened - it's a great size, full of fun things to do, not too overwhelming, not too busy, clean and organized. We stayed for about an hour and a half and then went to lunch at Trinity. Here are some (blurry) photos to recap! :)

Birchbox Review

I recently started receiving a Birchbox monthly subscription as fun gift from Mr. Evans! The monthly beauty product samples are so fun and something just for me. Since my Stitch Fix monthly subscription has been on hold for a while due to my pregnancy, this has replaced the fun treat once a month! Here's what I've received in my past two months of Birchbox. P.S. It's a $10 monthly subscription... pretty minimal if you ask me!

If you're interested and want to sign up, I'd love if you use this link. I get a little kick back!

https://www.birchbox.com/invite/zdk4c

Month 1:

Month 2: