Whimsical & Girly Playroom

Whimsical & Girly Playroom

January 11, 2021

We are officially in the new house! We moved in December 16th, celebrated Christmas and the New Year freshly settled and we've been working on getting each room and nook unique and decorated just for us. It's been a dream seeing it all come to life since May last year watching it be built and the journey that was and now here we are! Soaking it up and living life in these 4 walls.

One of the first spaces I tackled was the playroom for the kids so they had somewhere to enjoy and escape. We decided to add a mural wall in this room to make it extra girly and whimsical. We did the Tawny design (link here) and it's everything I imagined it would be. Add in a few more touches to make it their own, like Cuddle & Kind dolls, a bulletin board to display their art and books in every corner to dig into - they love it all!

Christmas Bucket List

Christmas Bucket List

December 1, 2020

 

Happy first of December! It's my favorite month out of the entire year but it's also going to be the busiest for us with moving to the new house. We have 2 weeks until we close and we're knee deep in packing along with tying up all the loose ends - appliance deliveries, alarm installation, pool contracts and final orders.

I am doing my best to make our bare and chaotic home merry and festive while also doing fun things with the kids. While we always focus on Jesus during this season, we're also adding some extra magical touches to enjoy it all! We took this bucket list and printed it so we can check off all these goodies as we do them this Christmas season. Enjoy!

Click here to download this bucket list freebie.

Pumpkin Bars

Pumpkin Bars

October 7, 2020

Pumpkin bars- tis the season! I don't typically share recipes on the blog simply because I have no idea what I'm doing with food photography but I made these delicious Pumpkin Bars last week so I wanted to share. They're Andrew's favorite thing and the recipe is from his mom so each Fall season, I whip up a batch or two with cream cheese frosting to make it all sorts of decadent.

Save them for as a yummy treat or pair them with a cup of joe in the early am, whatever you like! Shall we?

A Bright Staple

A Bright Staple

August 17, 2020

 

dress - PinkBlush (gifted), jacket - Target, sandals - Target, necklace - Mady By Mary

Friends, it's still been so hot in Arizona and I'm doing my best to not live in sweats in my house with the AC blasted. My poor husband is used to it now and I'm really trying to get out of this funk to be bright and cheery and actually ready for my days.

Because we're home so much, the only time we really are out is for grocery pickup or church on the weekend so I picked up this bright and bold lime dress from PinkBlush to throw on with a denim jacket. I'm always in jackets because I'm not a fan of showing my arms and the pairing together made me so happy! How fun would this be for a summer BBQ or weekend shopping with girlfriends?

Here are some things I've been doing lately with the kids:

• Puzzles
• Family night every Friday with homemade pizzas
• Spa days complete with foot massages and nail painting for the girls from mommy at home
• Red light, green light in the backyard
• Backyard pool hangs with music and popsicles
• Cookie baking at least once a week
• Homemade playdough

Sending you all a virtual hug!! We can do hard things.

School's in Session

School's in Session

August 10, 2020

 

top - PinkBlush (gifted), denim - Target Universal Thread

We have officially started school with the girls from home and it's been such a gift! We always talked about being a homeschool family and it's been where my heart was pulled for the last few years even more. In between all the busyness of life and working from home, now mixing in school has been an adjustment, but a great one. I'm finding it's so important to do the following things to set myself up for success so I wanted to share here, too.

• Get ample amount of sleep each night
• Turn off electronics and devices 60 mins before bed
• Wake up an hour before the kids to get myself ready (instant mood boost!)
• Spend time in the Word and praying before starting the day
• Give grace to myself and kids while we all adjust by taking brain breaks and outdoor walks often
• Enjoy the season as it comes

What are some things you remind yourself of each day as we've all been at home? I've been really grateful for the time spent in our four walls because it's helped me be intentional with my kids and husband but also allowed me flexibility to our daily routines.

Thank you PinkBlush for gifting this top. It's been on heavy rotation for an easy and carefree outfit to help me feel pulled together while being home.

A Playlist for Your Littles

A Playlist for Your Littles

July 8, 2020

The other day the girls and I were jammin' out in the car on our way home from swim lessons and we always listen to the same songs. While I don't have Spotify, I use Pandora and we listen to a few stations consistently along with some favorites downloaded on my phone so I had to make a playlist for you guys.

It says for all the kitchen dance parties but don't limit yourselves, friends! ;) We are constantly dancing, singing, worshipping and just having a good time getting our wiggles out with these songs. When we sit down for school time, we typically stream the station NeedToBreathe on Pandora through our bluetooth system and it's always a good combination of music for us, too.

Maybe it's time I switched over to Spotify though. I don't even know where to begin. I hope you enjoy this and it's a foundation for lots of dance parties and memory making in your future!

Click here to download playlist printable.

Breathing Through It

Breathing Through It

June 8, 2020

Wowza. Where do I even begin? You met our newest addition, Bear, over on this post and it tears my heart out sharing we said goodbye to him May 28th when he died during a routine surgery.

We were hesitant bringing him home because our hearts were still aching from Brutus but within hours our cares washed away. He was something special. He healed spots of my heart and held space for all the emotions we were and are still navigating with grief and loss. I’m so sorry and so sad we didn’t get more time together. 

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• May 8, 2019 — Brutus diagnosed with diabetes
• May 13, 2019 — Andrew’s dad meets Jesus face to face
• August 16, 2019 — we say goodbye to Brutus
• March 24, 2020 — welcome Bear to our home
• May 28, 2020 — say goodbye to Bear

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I’m pretty freaking shattered and clinging to Jesus. I’m feeling angry I was put in this position again. I’m confused why we keep getting knocked down continually this past year. A routine procedure with an unpredictable outcome. He went in for a neuter surgery and his heart rate dropped and stopped. He was back and forth breathing with a ventilator for a few hours but he lost his light and we had to say goodbye. I held him in his last moments and my heart will never forget how I felt whole again with him in our home.

That day and a few days after I kept saying I will never have another dog. My heart literally can't handle the pain again if something were to happen. I know if we had another dog and we decided to neuter, I'd be on edge the day of surgery and events to happen again the same.

Today, I'm longing for our Brutus, for our Bear, for some happy and light in our home. Emery said the other day "mommy, when you're ready, can we get another puppy?" which breaks my heart my kids are walking this pain, too. I don't think they feel it as deeply as I do or as Andrew does, and call me crazy for being so dang attached in 2 months, but that boy was another baby and he brought JOY back to us. He brought life to our home and excitement and happy. All the happy. And I want that happy oozing in our 4 walls.

I started taking weekends off social media and as of today, I have my instagram account disabled and empty. I want to step back and breathe. I've been feeling the last year the Lord calling me to take a backseat to social media and just be. Spend time intentionally with my kids, read a book instead of choosing to consume on social media and simply soak in life around me while my heart takes time to heal. So challenge accepted. The Lord put it on my heart and in all honesty, I don't miss it. I've needed this. The break may be 2 weeks, it may be 6 months. I'm just here listening to the Lord and what He wants me to do.

Thank you for being here and loving our family. I'll be here sharing in the meantime.

xo

Taking the Weekend Off

Taking the Weekend Off

May 23, 2020

photo via

I've never actually done this before where I say intentionally I am taking the weekend off social media. It's been on my heart to create more boundaries and margin in my time and how it's spent and I'm all consuming when it comes to instagram specifically and know I have an addictive problem there. For almost a year it's been eating at me and I've been feeling pulled to essentially "clock out" on weekends on social and just breathe.

I've built so much on instagram through both my personal account and through my wellness account and I really spend so much of my day responding to dms, scrolling to support my team, engaging in comments and scheduling out content and posts. It's a lot. And when it comes to wanting to scroll aimlessly for fun, it almost makes me nauseated and it's not fun. lol.

So this weekend I'm kicking it off! Right now it's 7:20am on Saturday morning, I've been up since 6am working strictly from my desktop doing back end details for my business, design projects and a few blog posts. I will check out from being in my office mid morning and spend the rest of the weekend with the family! We have game night with friends tonight, church tomorrow and Monday is memorial day so maybe a fun pool day all together. Who knows! I'm going to pull out my DSLR and document and hoping each Monday I can come back here for a "weekend dump" type post.

Overall, I'm feeling like this will be a good reset each weekend with honoring the sabbath, soaking in the moments and capturing life like a normal person not solely focuses on the perfect content to share with a following or friends online.

I hope you have a great weekend! Be back Monday for our weekend dump.