All about Lily // age six

Our sweet Lily turned 6 on New Year's Day! I'm not really sure how the baby who made me a mama can be six already! She is a precious, head-strong, loving, stubborn, encouraging girl. She loves writing notes and drawing pictures for anyone and everyone! When she gets to choose one thing from Target $ Spot, she chooses notecards over everything else. :)

She asked for pumpkin muffins, eggs and bacon for her birthday breakfast. 

We went to my family's for New Year's dinner. Mom helped Lily work on a little sewing project. 

Lily lost her second tooth on her birthday!

I find selfies like this on my phone all the time! haha. 

A few of Lily's favorites:

My best friend: Selena (neighbor friend)

My favorite food: mac & cheese and hot dogs

My favorite color: black and white

My favorite book: Heidi

My favorite place to go: the beach

My favorite animal: cats

My favorite sport: riding my bike

My favorite school subject: math

I would like to work on: being a better sister

I would like to learn more about: God

Hobbies: playing with Ava, drawing

What will you be when you grow up? artist and piano teacher

Are you going to get married? maybe, still thinking about it.

What do you love to do with Mama? go to Starbucks and Target.

What do you love to do with Daddy? go out to Starbucks

What do you love most about yourself? that I have a home and a family.

xoxo,

Highlight of the weekend.

Our weekend was a busy one! Jacob had several rehearsals for a concert and the kids and I stayed busy cleaning and playing outside - the weather was nice! The Saturday night concert was super special because Jacob (the concertmaster of the orchestra) played a solo - "Lark Ascending." It was such a great opportunity for him, but it took a lot of work! 

My sister in law kindly agreed to come and stay with Ava and Ezra so I could attend the concert with my big kids.

My nephew also sat with us! The kids did such a great job through the whole concert - my three were asleep by the end :)

It was so fun that a lot of family and friends were able to attend to support Jacob! In the picture are my mom, Jacob's mom, Lily, and Jacob's sister. 

Jacob did a phenomenal job! He had fun, but he's glad it's done!

I was holding a sleeping child at the end of the concert when everyone was getting pictures, so I had to snag one once we got home. I'm so proud of this guy! I love seeing him using his talent for the Lord!

xoxo,

Valentine's Day 2016

Ok, so I don't decorate very much. Like at all. I get so overwhelmed when I go to Hobby Lobby because I LOVE EVERYTHING...but I know I can't get everything...soooo I get NOTHING because I can't decide what would look best. OH my word, it's a vicious cycle. 

But anyway. Now I have a 6 year old daughter who wants to decorate all the things! I've got to step it up in the decorating department. Thankfully I have a sister, sister-in-law, and daughter who have a great eye for decorating!

We gathered these decorations along with a heart shaped wreath and a Target $ spot banner to make the house a little festive. The sign I've had since Jacob and I got married, and the chevron print is a printable I found on Pinterest and stuck in an unused frame. The kids were so excited when we got it set up. Holidays are such a big deal to children, and I'm so glad we were able to pull together few decorations to make it special for them.

I only had a small amount time between Jacob's rehearsal and concert on Saturday to get my groceries and valentine's gifts. I was running like a mad woman and everywhere I went there were crazy long lines. Anyway, I got the 4 big kids notebooks, crayons, and stickers from the Dollar Tree, Ezra got an outfit from Target clearance rack, and Jacob got some of his favorite foods - trail mix, cream soda, jerky, etc. Very romantic, I know :) Obviously I had thoroughly planned. Not! 

Jacob got me a new griddle (the one we had was practically dead), a selfie stick, and dove chocolate. I slipped 1 dove chocolate heart in each of the kid's bags. They were thrilled! :)

5 of my sweet valentine's before church.

My main man. I love this guy! 

We are enjoying the selfie stick! I love that I can now easily get in pictures with my kids. I want to capture memories with my kids...not just from behind the camera. 

xoxo,

10 on 10

10 pictures from our day - February 10, 2016

My time with the Lord was while cooking eggs and bacon for Jacob's breakfast.

Asher loves pretending that he's playing a violin. He is over the moon excited that Jacob is starting regular lessons with him soon!

Magnatiles. My kids favorite thing to play with. Best investment ever!

Levi telling Lily and Ezra a story.

Favorite breakfast: 2 eggs with peppers and onions, salt and pepper, and a sprinkle of cheese and bacon! Yum!

Just hanging out. 3 of my 5 children asked for a jammie day today. :)

Tea Time. Today was a special day - we are moving to Jacob's parent's land in the country (yay!!) and our mobile home was moved out there today so we celebrated with cookies at Tea Time!

Oh these babies. They sometimes make me crazy, but how I love being their mama!

These are Levi's brand new glasses. They have been missing for an entire week. I've torn the house apart everyday looking for them. This morning I threw up my hands and called to order a replacement pair. Wouldn't you know, I just pulled the boy's clean laundry from the dryer and these misshapen (from the heat of the dryer) glasses clattered to the floor. The biggest mystery to me is that I washed the boy's clothes over the weekend...so HOW and WHEN did the glasses get mixed in with the dirty clothes?!?

I'm finishing up the night drinking tea, doing a little planning, reading, and journaling while I wait for Jacob to get home from orchestra rehearsal. 

xoxo,

Tea time // a new tradition

One thing that Sally Clarkson mentions in her books and on the podcast is how she started Tea Time each day with her children when they were young and to this day when her grown children are home, they still take time each afternoon to do it. I was inspired by that, so we have been having our own Tea Time each day at 3pm. 

The kids LOVE it! They look forward to Tea Time all day long! I had them each pick out their own special mug from Target (on clearance!). Right now milk is what they like, but as they get older it will probably change to tea, coffee, and hot chocolate. We have a snack - cookies, fruit, cheese sticks, pretzels, etc - drink our milk, and snuggle, talk, and read (I read chapter books aloud to them). 

I love that it's become a special time during the day that we all enjoy and I hope that it will be a lasting tradition in our home!

Filling my mind with truth.

I feel like it's so important to fill our mind with God's Word and good books that grow us and stretch us in our walk with the Lord. These days there are so many ways for unbiblical thinking to creep into our minds - through fear of the future brought on by the news, or articles shared on Facebook, to our own thoughts of failure or discontentment. 

I have struggled through postpartum depression since Ezra was born, after never dealing with it after any of my other babes were born. It has been a dark journey that I didn't even realize I was on for awhile...meaning, I didn't know why I felt like I was literally going pyscho and I didn't know how to verbalize it to anyone. I am doing much better now and only have rough days once in awhile. I hope to share more about it another time, but for now, one huge thing I've learned is that I must make it a priority to fill my mind with TRUTH in order to fight the dark thoughts and feelings. 

Philippians 4:8

Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. 

2 Corinthians 10:5

Bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.

For the last year or so I've enjoyed using the Overdrive app to listen to audiobooks on my phone. With Overdrive you use your library card to link your account to your local library. It's pretty cool! I have listened to tons of great books!

Lately I've been listening to podcasts as well. I wanted to share my two favorites: 

Cultivating the Lovely with MacKenzie Monroe and At Home with Sally - Sally Clarkson and Kristen Kill. These two podcasts have blessed my heart and soul in an incredible way the last few weeks. MacKenzie is a mom of 4 little ones and I can relate to so much of what she talks about. Sally and Kristen are more like mentors and they love the Lord so much. I have the podcast app on my phone and listen to them through that, but you can also listen to them from your computer. I recommend starting at the first episode and listening to them in order. 

I'm sure the question is brewing in your minds - How in the world does a busy mama like me fit in listening to audiobooks or podcasts? These are times that work for me:

- During my workouts

- Anytime I'm alone in the car running errands (or when I have just my youngest little ones who don't yet beg to listen to their own audiobook. ha!)

- During rest time when I'm doing computer work

- After the babes are in bed while I'm doing dishes, folding clothes or doing other chores. I know this wouldn't work for everyone, but Jacob is gone most evenings so I can just stick in my earbuds and listen. The chores seem to get done so much faster when I'm listening to something too!

One more way I'm filling my mind with truth is through this scripture writing plan. I followed it everyday in January and really loved it. If I don't get it done during my morning time with Jesus, I leave my bible out and do it later in the day. The passages take 10 minutes or less to write out. I love that when I slow down and write out God's Word, I find blessings that I might not have gotten by just reading. You can get print your own plan (it's free!) at Sweet Blessings. 

Think on TRUTH today!

xoxo,

A few thoughts...

Hey y'all! I just wanted to let you know a few things.

1 // Yes, my friend's blogs from my sidebar were deleted in the midst of the new design. I have put up a few that I remember (why does my mind go blank when I try to think of blogs I regularly read? haha) and will add to the list when more come to mind. If you remember any of them, leave a comment and remind me. :)

2 // I now have a Facebook page if you want to "Like" it. I don't really think I'll be posting a lot, but I do hope to post some recipes, motherhood encouragement from other blogs/articles, Young Living promotions and/or my personal business incentives, and new posts that I publish here on my blog.

3 // My blog was started in 2009 primarily for recording our family's lives and that's what it will remain. I will occasionally post about essential oils and how we use them in our home, but I am not turning my blog into a business blog. :)

Thanks for reading and loving on my family through the ups and downs of life!

xoxo

Ezra // monthly pictures

Ezra is growing and changing so quickly! He is such a joy in our home. He is very laid back and enjoys all the attention from his brothers and sisters. He weighs 13 pounds now and wears size 3-6 months. He eats and sleeps well although he seems to be slightly in the "4 month sleep regression" because lately he's waking up around 5am...right when I am  getting up to go to the gym. Hopefully he'll be back to his 7am wake up time soon!

I love looking back at these monthly pictures! How much he's grown and changed in just 4 short months.