Fun in the Sun + My Guest Post

We had one of the best weekends we've had in awhile.
The four of us hung out and just did family stuff.
Went to the park, went out to dinner, and relaxed at home.
The weather was great and our hearts were happy!
Hope everyone had a great weekend!!

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Last week I did a guest post on a well known blog called The Vanilla Tulip! Check it out below!!
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Hi everyone! I am Jessica from A Jar of Sweets. I am a wife to my high school sweetheart who is also a dentist and I am a stay at home mama to two sweet babies; Jojo who is two and half and Bellamy who is one and half. 

After five years of teaching first grade and baby number 2 on the way my husband, Joey, and I decided staying home would be the best choice for our family.

For this, I am beyond grateful!

We live in Las Vegas, NV and spend our days either at the park, the local springs preserve, enjoying our back yard, or spending time with friends and family.

One thing that I started blogging about are "smiling heart moments." 

 There are moments in life when I feel like my heart is literally so happy it's smiling.
It's moments when true kindness, tenderness, love, appreciation, or maybe even silliness are shown. 

I recently had one of these moments, so I thought I'd share it with you.

When I became a stay at home mama I had so many people suggest I try getting involved in local mommy groups.

I looked into a little bit and thought about it for a long time, but finally came to the conclusion that they just weren't for me.

 What I decided to do instead was reconnect with old high school and/or college friends that I knew had kids.

When I started thinking about the people who I used to be friends with I realized that I had some pretty awesome people I used to know!

 Since the day I made that decision I have reconnected with 4 old friends!

 Which brings me to my smiling heart moment/thoughts. 

A few months ago I started meeting up with an old friend I used to dance with that has two kiddos and then two weekends ago I met up with two friends from high school who each have one baby. 

Each time I left my meeting with them my heart would be smiling. 

Not because any big special moment had happened, but because I had had some realizations.

I realized that after all this time we are all still the same people, which is why we were friends in the first place, but our life experiences have made us better versions of our high school selves. 

My heart smiles because the friends who came into my life at such a young age are now experiencing married life, motherhood, children, and friendships with me.

So...as a little take away...

Aside from being a mom, I love crafting and decorating my house. 

I recently opened my Etsy shop called A Jar of Sweets. {ajarofsweets.etsy.com} 

I make burlap banners, pom pom banners, gift tags, and gift embellishments.

If you have a little time stop by, check it out, and spread the word!

Thanks for reading and I hope to see you over at A Jar of Sweets...the blog and the shop!

Smiling Heart Moment

Well...we got the house!! I am so thankful and excited to be moving closer to Joey's office. This new house has more square footage and two additional bedrooms, which means aside from everyone getting a bedroom we have an office AND a whole separate playroom for the kids! 

I. AM. SO. HAPPY.

On the flip side...with moving comes packing. It's amazing how much stuff you accumulate over time. I started packing this past weekend and have already dropped off 3 full car loads of donations!

Amidst all the packing, though, a smiling heart moment happened.

I have a handful of boxes in our garage labeled "Jessica's memories" and this weekend I was going through probably the best one of all. It was the box that had my "child" in it from when I was little. I say child instead of baby doll because I treated her like she was alive. Her name is Clara after the little girl in the Nutcracker. I had gotten her for Christmas from my Grandma Joy. I would put real preemie diapers on her, real baby clothes, and would swaddle her to keep her warm. She was my baby and being a mom was something I took seriously and utterly enjoyed even at a young age.

Fast forward to this weekend when I found her in that box. The whole reason I had saved her was for when/if I had a daughter of my own. So, I pulled her out and showed her to Bellamy. Bellamy grabbed her from me and I feel like pictures can only describe what happened after that.

The emotion she showed toward my Clara doll brought me to tears. Tears of joy. It reminded me of how I used to feel about her. My heart was definitely smiling.

Kindness

I've experienced some kindness while being out with the kids in the last couple of weeks and thought I would write about it because I'm not sure if it happens as often as it should.

The kids and I had stopped at Starbucks to kill some time between looking at houses last weekend. After ordering I went to reach for my wallet and soon realized I didn't have it. It had fallen out of my purse in the car. I quickly told the barista that I would be right back. I turned to walk out of the line and the guy behind me said, "I'll get it. I'll buy your stuff for you. I know how it is with kids to have to run to the car." 

Flabbergasted, I said, "Are you sure? Oh my gosh...thank you!" I almost started crying. I felt so thankful and taken aback by his kindness. I felt like just saying thank you wasn't enough! I soon figured out how what I was going to give back, though. While we were waiting for our drinks, the guy told me that his wife will randomly pick up the tab for the car behind her in the Starbucks drive thru. I instantly knew that that was what I needed to do.
More importantly it was what I wanted to do.

So, again today the kids and I walked to Starbucks after dropping off my car for an oil change. I had the double wide stroller with me, which is a pain in the booty to get in and out of regular sized doors when you are trying to hold the door and push the stroller through at the same time.

There was an older man (could have been my grandpa) and his friend sitting by the table we were at. Throughout the time sitting there he had made small talk with us. When he saw that we were getting ready to leave, though, he stopped the conversation with his friend to ask if I needed help getting the stroller through the door. 

This might not sound like a big deal, but getting that stroller out the door is really challenging and it makes me feel uncoordinated and a little embarrassed! 

 I was so thankful for his help and his kindness. 

There are moments in life when I feel like my heart is smiling. It's moments when true kindness, tenderness, love, appreciation, or maybe even silliness are shown. I think I'll start calling them smiling heart moments.