AUBREY KINCH

photography @annaelainephotography

Easter is right around the corner and I found the perfect dress to wear! We all know I love neutrals but there's something about the pastel mint that says Easter perfectly. Add in the puff sleeves and tiered style with some springy wedges and it's a win. Click the above pictures to see some of my favorites I've added to my closet lately from PinkBlush. I love their variety while being on a budget and their wide range in sizing.

I hope you all have a lovely Easter! He is Risen!

one, two, three (code "socute" for 30% off), four, five, six, seven

We are officially able to swim at our new house! The pool was completed and we took a dip when it was freezing cold. I remember growing up when we had our pool built and it was the middle of December when it finished but my brother and I still jumped in! The girls were so excited to do the same and I immediately started shopping around for some good coverage, basic swim suits for myself to enjoy it all summer with the kids.

I always go for black but added in a leopard and olive - can't go wrong with neutrals! I'll upgrade my birkenstocks this summer to a fresh set of white ones and some inexpensive sunnies because I'm bound to lose them at some point.

Enjoy my little round up of summer must-haves as we dig into warm weather! xo

clear spray bottle / thieves label / thieves cleaner (11517995 at checkout) / tea towel (similar)

It's here! Your free download for keeping on a schedule for housework. I haven't ever followed a plan when it comes to cleaning but has some loose things I did daily and weekly. If I look at this honestly, the monthly section would typically be done every 6-9 months and I need to be better at maintain those tasks. 

The kids help a lot with tackling things, as well, so don't feel like this has to be all on you, mama. Ask for help! I always struggle asking for help and being so angry when family members don't pitch in but shifting and being honest that I need the help has been huge for my mental wellbeing. Plus we all know we have some contributing to do and take pride in our home and I feel like that's *hopefully* setting the kids up for success later when they're out of the house.

We use one cleaner for everything in our house but add certain oils to it seasonally to change up the scent a bit. I just added Lemon Myrtle to my Thieves cleaner and when I did all this on Sunday, I was so happy with the fresh, spring vibes going on!

Click over here to download your printable! I am going to laminate mine and use a dry erase marker to easily check-off and wipe off as tasks are accomplished. I hope you enjoy it!

knit dolls / earrings / bunny headbands (similar) / swimsuits / coloring mats / book / playdough / jelly tote

Easter is coming and I'm normally really late to collecting my thoughts on what to do for the kids and getting it compiled but I'm all set and done for all three kids! Easter is about Jesus and celebrating His sacrifice for our sins so when we're sharing gifts on Easter for our kids, we are focusing on that. I loved adding in the coloring mats from His Kids Company this year and a some books about Easter for the girls. Of course, a few fun things and they are needing new swimsuits so this was a good chance to grab those staples!

I'll pull together what I did for Drake in another post, in case you're wondering for a 15 year old. He's always tricky but staples are best!

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!

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!

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. 

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀

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

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.