ALY ALLEN | THE BLOG

you have one more day to be my baby... tomorrow morning we'll wake up, we'll get in the car and we'll drive to the hospital, and you'll become a big sister. technically, you won't be my baby anymore. you'll be my big girl... God has equipped you in so many ways to be a big sister. you are kind and thoughtful and compassionate, always looking after others and making sure they're happy and comfortable. you love to help me around the house, and you love little babies. your family is so important to you. i believe you will be Tessa's favorite and best friend, almost by default, and i hope that each day you choose her to be yours too i pray that you grow to be the kind of girl, teenager, woman that she can look up to. you love to do right, and you love positive reinforcement. i pray i can nurture that desire into a love for goodness and mercy and mostly just Jesus. Tessa will need you. you will identify w...

lots of pretty things for you today :) how much do you LOVE this new hoop i got? no, i didn't make this one.  i haven't mastered real embroidery yet, though it is a long-term-eventual goal of mine. this is from natalie at "take the cannoli" who blogs here and sells her amazing stuff here . i love the sunlight in this photo. i had a few minutes of peace while reese ate breakfast and watched mickey in her high chair. orders being filled.  i get such a sense of satisfaction when i look at these all packaged up  and labeled and ready to go to their new homes! we finally moved all the crafts and furniture out of the 3rd bedroom. it was my "craft room" [junk yard, since it was a disaster of a mess most of the time] but now it needs to be set up for Tessa who comes in 5 days! so here are all my craft supplies neatly organized and put away in this armoire in the garage. it makes me happy to look at. finished up this ...

when i find a blog or a specific post that speaks to me, i like to share it with all of you. see that little tab at the top called "suggested reading" you can find all the blogs/posts i've ever suggested for you, right there :) okay, so i have a lot to share this week... i hope you find some time to read at least a few of these. they're really really good. have you heard of "momastery" ?  Glennon Melton is witty, which is what first sucks you in.  but also she's real and honest and  grace-filled and compassionate.  i like the combo :) anyway, the first three posts here are hers: 1) this post was about working vs stay-at-home moms.  and how we should just all get along! and i totally agree.  you have to read "friendly fire" . 2) here, she really opens up about her life. and how opening up can help others to open up too, and realize they're not alone. and how that's sort of how she found her ministry- lite...

i was contacted a few months ago by a wonderful young woman named sarah, who had seen my etsy shop and wondered if i'd like to advertise [for free] on her soon-to-be-launched blog ? um, free ad space? of course i said yes.  well, her blog launched yesterday [that's a little screen shot up there. it's pretty, huh?] it's called "speaking of truth" and i had no idea i would love it so much. this girl has a way with words, for sure. you've got to head over and start reading, and subscribe, and go back and read everyday :) just to entice you, here's an excerpt i loved: Within chaos (tension…uncertainty…fear…failure), the weary and mixed up heart of a woman needs to know that she’s held and that she’s okay. She craves the assurance of a compass, something to be trusted, because if she knew she was heading in the right direction—and if she was secure in her destination—she would push through anything. The more that sinks in, the more it hits h...

most of you know that i'm having a baby in 9 days, right? okay, just making sure. so i'm definitely in that last-minute-get-everything-done nesting phase. the furniture still needs to be swapped from my 2 year old's room into the baby's room. we still have to put together a dresser and storage cubby-thing. i have a million and ten things that i want to hang on the walls, in both rooms but my husband doesn't love when i hang things myself... but he also doesn't want to do it. [i'll probably just take the reins on this one and just do it myself] anyway, the nursery is just being recycled since i'm having another girl. it's the " brooke " line from pottery barn, and i still love it: owls, birds, trees, lots of color! i found this stamp at michael's yesterday and fell in love. i'd been wanting to do some hoop art for her room, and thought this would be perfect. well, i also needed to make a few things...

a little peek into our week :) on our way out the door to my doctor's appointment, i locked the keys in the house. luckily i had my phone. luckily my hubby's job is pretty flexible (though 35 minutes away). he drove all the way home and unlocked the door :/ but while we waited, we made the most of it. played in the car, recorded videos on the phone, walked over to the park. just a nice morning we wouldn't have otherwise enjoyed. practicing on her own "baby Tessa" (every doll in our house is named Tessa which i think is sweet) we have 12 days until we all get to meet the real Tessa. i'm hoping Reese loves her as much as she's anticipated her. last friday night i got to go to Target all by myself. of course i grabbed some starbucks and of course i spent way too much time in there. not too much money though, so that's a plus. how cute are these cupcake liners? 75 for $1.50 at michaels. they had lots of other darling designs too. yo...

last night we attended a "celebration of life" service for one of my husband's assistant coaches who passed away. he was 23 and he actually took his own life. you would've never known a guy like him was struggling. incredibly happy with an infectious personality, he touched a lot of lives. many of the boys on my husband's football team attended the service. he's not at a christian school, so it's anyone's guess how much these boys have been exposed to real gospel Truth... that is, until this service. the gospel was presented clearly and powerfully and the mood of the entire night was that of joy and celebration for this young man's life. sure, he cut it short, but i can only think of how God placed him on the campus of that school, for just about 8 months, to impact these kids, and then become the reason that they would hear the gospel last night. i imagine satan probably figured he'd won this battle. he'd defeated this young man and co...

maybe someone needed to read this today?  i know i needed it. i have a bunch of "mixed CDs" just laying around in the car. i stuck in this particular CD and this was the first song that played. and it was exactly what i needed to be reminded of. please take the three minutes and listen to it i included the lyrics below (emphasis mine, of course). i mean, they're just Truth, with some pretty music added to it. and hopefully they'll give you strength for whatever your circumstances might be if you don't know who Ginny Owens is, she's a singer/songwriter. and she's blind.  i won't write out her full bio, but i think that fact alone gives her some solid "street-credit" when writing about trials, doesn't it? the pathway is broken and the signs are unclear and i don't know the reason  why You brought me here but just because You love me the way that You do i'm gonna walk through the valley if You...

instafriday sneaks up on me every week, doesn't it? well, i finally put christmas away... my husband came home and didn't even notice that the entry looked any different. i took a photo so you can see the proof of the difference. remember how i had a bunch of my instagrams printed? well here's how i have them displayed, for now: and this: when we go to target, i almost always bribe her with a chocolate milk or apple juice + cake pop from starbucks. it's so unlike me, but so necessary for everyone's sanity! for awhile they had the pink pops, but they didn't have any this day. she was pleasantly surprised and told me: "i usually like the pink kind, but chocolate is pretty good too" i finished up these hoops for my lucky giveaway winner, jeannett and a cute custom-color order for someone else. love the yellow + red together! [you can buy my hoops here] this day, we decided to go up on the bank ...

for some reason i always do two posts on friday. why do i do that? i'm not really sure... i always want to do instafriday, but then inevitably i feel led to share something else too. so make sure you scroll down or click here to read what else i wrote today :) it's my 1 year anniversary of blogging [publicly].  now for the photos! apparently it's 73 in the dead of winter. in the beginning of january. seriously, i love san diego. how brilliant is kohl's? while everyone's christmas shopping and spending tons of money in our store already, let's give them "cash back" to make them come back in after christmas is over.  of course i had $30 "kohl's cash" and this is what i bought :) i just love little baby clothes. and even though i have more hand-me-downs than should be legal, i want her to have some of her own stuff too. i'm cleaning out my "craft room" [our third bedroom] to make room for the nur...