A Couple of Things...

I've been super busy this week trying to get ready for a craft show this weekend {while juggling three kiddos, the youngest of which hasn't felt like napping a whole bunch this week...} Anywho, I did want to bop in to mention a couple of things.

Uno:

Throughout the month of May, Madeline Bea Soap Co. will be donating 10% of all sales to the Ronald McDonald House of Danville, PA. So if you needed a little extra motivation to indulge yourself a little, now your purchases come absolutely guilt free!

Help us to help them help others!!!

Dos:

We have some new items in the shop this week:

*Sweetness & Light Body Oil 8 oz.

*Sweetness & Light Body Scrub 8 oz.

*Vanilla Pear Body Oil 8 oz.

Along with the welcome return of our Blueberry Oatmeal Soap.

Tres:

We'll be at the Danville Spring Arts Festival this Saturday, May 2nd from 9am to 5pm. If you're local, stop by and say hello, tickle the baby, and support th Ronald McDonald House!

Spirit: Renewed...

Aaahhh, I absolutely love the overwhelming feeling of relaxation that comes with a warm & breezy weekend. In between making product, filling orders, packaging, and filling, the sunshine and the laughter of my little ones kept calling me outside where we were swinging, relaxing, going for ice cream, pizza on the lake...it's really quite a miracle that I finished all my work! Our days ended with Rayne and Layla passing out the minute their little heads hit the pillow from the miraculous potion of warm fresh air and lots of outdoor exercise. Maya and I were asleep not too long after, side by side, completely peaceful under the warm breeze of our ceiling fan.

I'm a bit sad that it's Monday and I've desperately been trying to get back to that state of deep relaxation, but our scheduled day and lack of Brent have left this warm day with a completely different feeling. But , fret, I will not! For I know that this is only the beginning of a long season of beautiful warm days and hopefully many of them peaceful!

I hope you all had a beautifully peaceful weekend as well!

My Sunshine...

Maya 7 Weeks, originally uploaded by Madeline Bea.

Well I promised that I'd get a bit more tech-savvy so I could share Maya's cuteness with you. And indeed I have! Enjoy & Happy Weekend!

Fleeting...

Is it really Friday afternoon already? Oh, and come on, it's going to be May next week? Tell me that my newborn baby Maya is not almost two months old! And seriously, did my Baby Bea {aka: Layla} just turn THREE! Wow, am I really filling out all sorts of forms for Rayne to start Kindergarten in the fall?

Honestly, where is the time going? Because it really feels like just a little bit ago that I was in college. {it, however, was not just a little bit ago...} I'm totally feeling a huge need to try to savor every moment: capture every bud and flower on the trees because spring will soon be over and those flowers will be disappearing.

And not to totally beat a dead horse here but I'll illustrate with this: I feel so much like I'm the metro-rail at Disney and it's going so fast. I'm trying to take everything in but the intense forward motion makes me shift my focus onto what's coming up next. Just when I feel like I'll be able to soak up the upcoming sights a bit, we're past them and my focus has been shifted yet again. I'd really just like to get off and walk for a little while!

Here's to some slow, beautiful moments this weekend!

New Gift Sets...

...are now available in the shop!


*Vanilla Pear Gift Set with Soap, Hand & Body Salve, and Softest Lips Lip Tube




*Mom Gift Bucket with Persephone Soap & Body Scrub and Peppermint Pomegranate Softest Lips Lip Tube

*Acai & Mangostein Tropical Hand Care Set with Soap, Hand Scrub, and Vanilla Pear Hand & Body Salve

Please note: It's totally okay to get one {or all} of these delicious sets for yourself!

***Oh, and just a reminder to comment on Friday's post by Wednesday to enter to win the Lemon Ginger Foot Scrub and "Be the change..." handmade bookmark. ***

April Soap Notes: Leading By Example...

My husband was never a very good photographer. I usually had to prod him into taking shots of {seemingly obvious} photo ops where he would use our very capable camera as if it were one of those one-time-use film cameras with no zoom. I, on the other hand, love taking pictures. I take a million, some good, some bad…but I photograph everything using different angles, different settings on the camera, etc. Recently, after a particularly eventful weekend, I emptied our memory card out into our computer and actually could not be certain which one of us had taken some of the photos. Now, I have never sat down with my husband and instructed him on how I’d like him to sharpen his photography skills, but I realized that by merely watching me and seeing the pictures I was taking and what I was taking them of, he became better at taking pictures! It was at that moment that I realized the power of leading by example.


Once I had wrapped my head around how poignant of a tool it was, I saw how much my children were learning just by watching me. In fact, my eldest daughter will at times care for her younger sister using my exact tone and words. She also frustrates easily and is quick to blame others, just like her mama. However, no matter how many times I ask her to clean up after herself or untie her shoes before she takes them off, my words are so much less effective than my own behavior.
What I learned from this {completely non-scientific} experiment is that we have the power to influence the behavior of those around us: to increase optimism, generosity, kindness, creativity, etc. by merely embodying these qualities ourselves. When I think about this concept, the very popular Gandhi quote comes to mind: “Be the change you want to see in the world.” Although I have read and known this quote for years, it honestly wasn’t until this recent epiphany that I fully understood its significance.

We, as individuals, have the power to make the world a better place simply by living out the postures that we value.

To me, this statement is immensely empowering. It encourages me to be my best self. Just think what great waves we could make in the field of humanity if we were all being our best selves most of the time.

And now for the fun part…
Since I am all about rewarding good behavior, I’d like to help you remember your individual power and aid you in your spreading of essential positivity. We’re giving away a Madeline Bea Soap Co. Lemon Ginger Foot Scrub and a “Be The Change…” handmade bookmark to one lucky reader. Simply comment on this post or shoot me an email telling me what qualities you’d like to spread around a bit to be entered to win! The drawing will be held on Earth Day, Wednesday, April 22nd.

{*Madeline Bea Soap Co. Soap Notes are our version of a monthly newsletter meant to inspire and promote well being. If you would like to recieve our Soap Notes by email each month, please sign up here.*}

***The drawing has been held! Congrats to Patrice McArthy!!!! Thanks to all who played along.***

Some Things...

...that are making me all warm & fuzzy inside:

1. Maya laughing!...She's working so hard at it and I think I need to get a little more computer savvy and get a video of that up here for you {it's adorable}
2. Listening to Amy Seeley...her voice has magical qualities, I swear!
3. Anticipating these little lovelies coming in the mail any day...I'm having such a thing for yellow these days!
4. Reading this book and following along with Brene's read-along...soul work is so great and I DO choose authenticity!
5. The artwork of Louise of Art & Ghosts...her work has this ethereal quality that just takes me away.
6. Scrapbook.com is now selling some Martha Stewart craft items...one of the only places online to buy them which makes a busy crafty mommy {who's afraid to leave her house with three kids} very happy!
7. Getting ready to write my April Soap Notes...I'm very excited to write about this month's topic and I'm even offering a give-away in correspondence with it!

Well, seven is a nice number that also makes me warm and fuzzy {it's my hubby's favorite number...oh, come on, like you don't have a favorite number?} so I'll end my little list there. I'm pretty much hanging at home most days and most often just sitting in a chair nursing Maya so I'm all about the little things these days! Happy Hump Day!

Egg-cellent Weekend...

Whew! It was a whirlwind..packed with all kinds of goodness. Our crazy weekend began with Layla's B-Day dinner at Denny's Friday night...

Then a little B-Day soiree on Saturday...

and Easter festivities on Sunday. Complete with bunny-outfits,

handmade Easter cards,

an egg hunt at Grammie & Pop's house,

...and lots of good food, laughs & company. I hope you all had a great weekend!

Now I must hunker down and focus on Madeline Bea a bit to get some wholesale orders together, take some pictures for a couple giveaways coming up, and get some Mother's Day items in the shop. Wish me luck & may my little birdies sleep well this afternoon!!!

Birthday Girl...

Happy Birthday, my sweet Layla! Wow, being 3 is huge! You're definitely not a baby anymore. If feels like just a very short time ago that we were making you laugh in your baby swing {which you did often} and cuddling with you while you slept in our bed.

And now look at you, so strong and full of life...and a big sister, too! We love your sweetness, your spirit, your big beautiful eyes, your toothless smile, and the absolutely adorable way you say things like "ABCZ's" and "pik-a-nik". You are virtually impossible to say 'no' to which makes it very hard for Mom & Dad to enforce the rules around here!

Your love for Rayne is incredible and it warms our hearts so deeply that you have found such a fabulous best friend right here in your family. She loves you, too and you two are lucky to have each other to play with now and in the future to love and support you always.

You're so cute and loving towards baby Maya, always making sure of where she is and that her needs are being bet. I'm glad that you were able to share your 'baby status' with her. It's just another example of your great big heart and fierce loyalty to those you love. Maya adores you and I'm not even the least bit jealous that she gave her first real smile to you...you deserve it!

We love you so much, sweet Layla! You bring such life and laughter to our home!

Happy Birthday Baby!

Love,

Mommy

Little Kids + Fire Trucks = Too Darn Cute...

Yesterday was a blast! We took a little day trip to visit my big brother and his great family and attend my nephew & niece's birthday party. They had the brilliant idea to have their party at a fire station where the super kind volunteer firemen let all those crazy, very excited kiddos climb all over their awesome fire trucks.

Every kid at that party was loving life...well almost every kid. Turns out my adorable niece, Emily, is terrified of fire trucks.

No biggie, though. She had a kicken' time eating pizza in the fireman's lounge.

Layla was exhausted from the mere anticipation of coming see her cousins...but she pushed through it and had an amazing time!

And baby Maya, spent from the car ride, slept through the entire party! She did so well on her first little road trip!

It was so nice to get to spend the day with family. Rayne & Layla adore their cousins and it was great that we could celebrate their birthdays with them.

Sending Love...

I painted this piece while I was {not so patiently} waiting for Maya to be born. It was on my heart that loving her meant being kind and patient with her and gracefully waiting until she was ready to be born. Today, I'm sending it out to myself and all of you as a reminder to love ourselves: to be patient and kind with ourselves. Often, we're so needlessly hard on ourselves. But life is tough and complicated and exhausting at times. And it needs to be okay to tell ourselves that we're doing great.

How do we get to these places in our minds where we feel it's necessesary to get things right all the time, not mess up, look great while we're doing it, and never complain about how hard it was? Why do we wait for someone else to tell us that it's okay if things aren't always perfect. That it's no big deal if we're not wearing mascara to pre-school drop off and that they wouldn't change their whole outfit just for a little spit-up either. Do we really need someone else to say that they would've freaked out about that totally crazy thing that happened too. Can't we just tell ourselves that we're fine, that whatever we're doing is enough, that we trust our own judgement, and that it's completely understandable to need a little help from time to time? Well, today, I need to say this to myself. I need to love myself. This is the message that I need to hear {and say out loud} today and I'm just guessing that there are others out there who need to hear it as well.

We are off tomorrow for a little day trip to my niece and nephew's birthday party. It'll be nice to get out of the house a bit and spend some time with family...very chicken soup for the soul-y! I think I'm really craving that right now.

I hope you all have a great weekend!