Hi friends! I can hardly believe it’s July! We are in full summer mode over here and it’s just the best. Let’s chat about what’s been going on in our lives while we sip some coffee (or tea!). Don’t forget to post your link below if you have one. 🙂
If we met for coffee, I would share how we are coming off of a long holiday weekend and I’m not ready to get back into the swing of things just yet. Tommy was off for four days (which is so unusual for us) and it was so nice to have him home. We kept ourselves very busy with lots of plans. Our lake community has sports and swim lessons that started up a couple of days ago so it’s been a bit of a whirlwind but also so fun to see the kids having so much fun too.
If we met for coffee, I would share that we just finished our first homeschooling year this past week! We have had so much fun doing school at home and have learned so much. I’m really thankful that God has led us down this path and for the new friendships that we are making with other homeschool families. I couldn’t have imagined how far we would come when we started this school year and it’s just been the best.
If we met for coffee, I would likely share how I started planning my weeks out on Sundays in a new way that has really freed up so much head space. I’m no longer asking myself all day long what I should do next. It has been such a game changer. I will have to share a blog post soon about it. I feel like as a stay at home mom, it can be so hard to know how to spend my days. There are just so many options to choose from and so many things that need to get done. My new planning method just helps with the overwhelm so much. I can’t wait to share more with you guys.
If we met for coffee, I would tell you about a new Bible study that I started a couple of weeks ago. It’s called Never Alone: Parenting in the Power of the Holy Spirit. It’s basically a Bible study on the Holy Spirit and it’s teaching me so much about how practical the Holy Spirit is to us and how we are able to more consciously lean on him. I feel like I’ve never really been taught much about the Holy Spirit in the past and I just never knew how much we could actively lean on him day to day and especially in our parenting. It’s been very eye opening and I would highly recommend the study!
If we met for coffee, I’d likely have to keep our visit short this month. Things have been go, go, go in this season and I am constantly feeling like there are so many things packed into each day. This sometimes is a good thing and sometimes it can feel hard. I’m hoping in the fall things will slow down a bit and we can sit and spend some more time together. I would thank you for spending some time with me and am already looking forward to our next coffee date next month!
Thanks for being here friend! Add your link below if you have one. 🙂
If we met for coffee, I would ask you how the weather is where you live. It’s about to be summer here, and this month is usually one of the best months for weather. It’s usually around 65-75 degrees (occasionally going about or below) and it’s glorious! Especially since we moved up to a lake, the weather is a little less hot and it just makes being outside so nice. The boys have been spending around 3-4 hours each day outside. I love that they get to spend that much time and I love how much they enjoy it.
If we met for coffee, I would share that Melly is 9 months old today!! How did that happen?? It’s starting to hit me that she isn’t going to be a little baby very soon and I’m not sure how to feel about it! I can’t believe that were already here in life and have had three kids. There’s a part of me that is going to be so sad when we no longer have babies in the house. It just goes too fast.
If we met for coffee, I would also tell you how excited I am for today. Tommy and I are bringing the boys to the new Spiderman movie and I cannot wait. Riley has never been to the movies and both of the boys absolutely love Spiderman so it is going to be so much fun. We’ve been looking forward to this day for months so I’m just so excited that it’s finally here.
If we met for coffee, I would share that I’m reading this book about parenting and raising children who want to follow Jesus and it’s really convicted me and made me think so much. It’s helped me really see my own weak spots and want to work on them so that I can love my kids better. Also, it’s made me realize how helpful parenthood would be if it came with a manual. 🤣
If we met for coffee, I would ask if you have any gardening tips. We are going to be starting our first garden this year and I’m so excited! I’ve been wanting to plant a garden for a few years now and this year my brother and sister in law gave us some of their extra plants they had. We probably weren’t going to get around to planting them until we got them from someone else so I’m really excited that they have helped us along on this process! I’ll have to keep you guys updated on how it goes. I’m so excited.
Thanks for being here friends! Just a reminder, Bella and I host this linkup the first Wednesday of every month. Share your post below if you decide to join us. 🙂
It’s been a long time since I’ve shared goals here but I used to love doing so. My biggest issue with goals is setting my expectations too high and not accomplishing them so this month I wanted to set only a few and have them be more realistic.
I have just decluttered almost every nook and cranny from our home. As you may imagine, we now have a TON of stuff that we need to get rid of so we are going to try our hand at our first yard sale! I’ve always wanted to have a yard sale as a kid. Now as an adult it doesn’t sound quite as exciting (ha!) but I am still hoping that it will be successful nonetheless.
Also Melly is going to be 9 months old (!!!) in a few days so I thought it was time we start thinking about moving her into her own room soon. So that is also on the list:
June Goals
Read one book
Stick to our meal plan
Have a yard sale!
Start working on Melly’s nursery
Finish organizing the homeschool supplies
Celebrate our first year of homeschool completed!!
This post is going to be short and sweet since I don’t have any goals from last month to recap. I think I’m going to start adding in very short book reviews in these posts starting next month as well. I don’t seem to get around to posting about the books that I’ve read so maybe having them in this format will help with that? TBD.
Most days I wake up and feel the pressure of all that needs to be done. I struggle to be fully present and just enjoy each moment. On this day things were different. I woke up and it was Friday and I had already done nearly all of the laundry for the week. The only thing we really needed to do was finish our schoolwork. This thankfully felt completely doable. The weather was absolutely beautiful. It was 65 and sunny and the four of us knew we needed to get out and enjoy it.
After most of our schoolwork was done and the baby had her morning nap, we snuck out and enjoyed the most perfect walk around the lake. Shane was able to ride his bike and the little two ones rode in the stroller.
These are the reasons I am so thankful we are homeschooling. Being able to just sneak out and do something fun together is so special. This walk was definitely the highlight of my week and I thought it deserved to be the frame this moment this week. I also vlogged the rest of the day if you are interested in seeing this day in video form. 🙂
I made this recipe for the first time this week and it was soo good! It’s made in the Instant Pot which gave it this creamy risotto texture with basically none of the work. I highly recommend if you enjoy risotto.
What I’m reminiscing about:
Ugh my heart! I just read this essay from Coffee and Crumbs. I already struggle with feeling like time is moving way too fast and struggling to really stay in the moment with my babies and this essay just was a hard reminder just how fast it’s all going and is going to go. So now I’m thinking back on when my babies were smaller and wishing I could go back and give them extra cuddles. 😭
What I’m loving:
I rarely buy new makeup but decided to try out this bronzer and I am in love. It’s perfect for me right now because I have very fair skin and it gives my skin a little bit of a glow like I’ve been out in the sun. It’s also
What we’ve been up to:
We have been trying to live our best lives outside as much as possible. I took the kids out for a walk last week after school because it was the most perfect weather. We had such a nice time walking around the lake and Shane got to ride his bike. I’m hoping to have a lot more time like that soon.
What I’m dreading:
I honestly can’t really think of anything! I’m so thankful! We are in a really sweet season right now and I’m really excited for this summer coming up.
What I’m working on:
I have been working on just trying to stay on top of everything lately. Between trying to keep enough food in the house, keeping up with our budget, homeschooling, and doing Youtube, I have been very busy haha. 😅 It’s been good but I am very tired at the end of most days that’s for sure!
What I’m excited about:
We have a few small trips in July, plus Riley’s birthday so I’m really excited for those! In July, we are going up to Lake George to celebrate my father-in-law’s 60th birthday, Riley’s birthday is the 13th, and then I have a girl’s weekend trip planned for the weekend after Riley’s birthday. Soo we will be very busy that month but I’m really looking forward to it!
What I’m watching/reading:
I just downloaded this book on our libraries free app to read and I am so excited!! I have heard this book is really helpful and after just reading the first few chapters I am so thankful that other faithful parents have written down things that worked for them. Both Tommy and I were not raised in Christian homes so I am always looking for wisdom from others so that we can try to get it right with raising our kids to love Jesus. I have a feeling this book is going to be so so helpful in that.
When it comes to what we are watching, we’ve been watching a lot of Parenthood lately. We basically just rewatch Gilmore Girls, Parenthood, New Girl, or How I Met Your Mother. We have tried to watch new shows that we’ve heard are good but they all have nudity or way too much sex in them. If you have a good show that doesn’t have any of that type of content pleasssse send them my way!!
What I’m listening to:
I don’t really listen to Podcasts much because there just doesn’t ever seem to be a good time to listen to them. My kids are almost always around and they are very loud haha but I was able to sneak away last week and run to Target and Walmart alone. On the drive there I listened to this episode on Verity podcast about the difference between punishment and consequences and I really enjoyed it. I’m hoping to try to sneak in more time to listen to some more of Phylicia’s episodes. I also follow her on Instagram and really enjoy her insight on so many things.
So something to know about me is that I rarely buy new clothes. It’s one of the things we sacrifice being a single income family but when I went to Target and Walmart this past week I picked up some new clothes. I basically needed an entire new summer wardrobe because it had been a while since I had gotten anything new and because last summer I was very pregnant so I obviously couldn’t rewear what I wore last year haha. I got these adorable graphic tees that I’m really excited to have. I also bought new biker shorts, leggings, and some nicer shirts for going out/going to church.
What I’m doing this weekend:
Hopefully getting rid of all of this stuff!! We are going to have our first yard sale! I’m so excited because this past month or so I’ve been decluttering our entire house and now have an entire room full of stuff we need to get rid of. I’m really hoping that we can sell some of our stuff but I’m not sure what to expect ha. Have you ever had a yard sale? How’d it go? I’m so excited to get all of this stuff out of my house either way!!
What I’m looking forward to next month:
We will be ending our first homeschool year next month! I’m looking forward to summer but I’ll also be a little sad to see it go. We’ve had so much fun and learned so much this year. I can’t believe we’re almost done with our first year. I’m so glad I’ve been documenting our journey on Youtube. It’s made it even more special to have the memories to look back on.
My favorite Amazon purchase this month:
Both this umbrella stroller and this travel high chair for Melly!! I’ve somehow never owned an umbrella stroller before and I’m so excited about it! It’s going to be so perfect for this summer going to the park and for t ball with not having to lug out our bigger stroller. And I just cannot get over how adorable this tiny chair is! It’s also going to be so helpful for this summer with traveling and going to the park and that sort of thing.
Thanks for reading! And thank you to Shay and Sheaffer for hosting this little linkup.
Hey friends! I hope you had a great week! I am really looking forward to this weekend. On Monday it’s Tommy and I’s seventh wedding anniversary so the boys are going to be staying with my mom for the weekend so we can celebrate. We were originally going to take a trip up to Lake George for the weekend but we just decided to vacation in our own town and do all of the things we wanted to do up there, at home instead. Hopefully I’ll remember to take some pictures so I can share how it went. 🙂 Let’s jump into our Friday Favs though, shall we?
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Ugh this sweet girl! I just love her so much! I couldn’t handle her in this adorable jacket! Also her poor little runny nose. She’s just the best.
She’s just always so happy, it’s so cute! I love how she does this little scrunchy nose face when she smiles. I also just can’t handle all of the cute little girl clothes. After two boys, the little girl clothes are just extra adorable!
t w o
Mother’s Day was definitely a favorite this week! Tommy did such a good job at making me very loved. He also included the boys in it so much, which made it extra special. He took Riley out in the morning to pick me up breakfast and flowers. Then they made me one of my favorite dinners, homemade strombolis (pictured above), and they made lava cakes for dessert. Sooo yummy! Can you tell the way to my heart is yummy food?! 🤣 He also just took care of the kids so much and folded some laundry. It was a very special day.
t h r e e
Haircuts this week were very necessary and a favorite for sure. These before and afters are so fun to see. I learned how to cut their hair from a Youtube video and it used to stress me out so much because I was always really afraid to mess it up haha. But I have practiced now for about five years and have gotten halfway decent at it. It’s just a good way for us to save time and money. And how adorable are those sweet faces!
f o u r
Another favorite from this week is that we finished our read aloud from Sonlight this week. We got send this book for free to try out Sonlight and we have really loved it. Even Riley listened to some of it. It was really cute. Having a read aloud time in our homeschool has been such a great thing that we added in this year and a for sure favorite.
f i v e
Homemade bread is also a favorite this week. I have broken out the bread maker the past few weeks and I forgot how easy it is to make fresh bread, and how delicious! I’ve been trying to make it once a week or so and the whole family has been really enjoying it.
Thanks again for being here and thank you to Andrea and Erika for hosting this little linkup! 🙂 I’m off to go back for the boys to go to my moms, wish me luck!
