it's that time, again

we homeschool.

we love it.

one of my MANY favorite things about homeschooling?! school stuff.

i'm waiting each day for prices to drop on crayons. markers. folders. all of it.

and get SUPER excited when i find things like this...

for only 88 CENTS a piece.

insert happy, content *sigh*.

special day

i'll be quite honest, i wish these 'special days' were more and less between. because of life and being busy we've had a hard time scheduling these days...but thankfully we're starting to find ways, and get better at them. on saturday i was blessed to hang out with breigh. i had a gift certificate for a pedicure from mother's day, so we decided to go get pedicures. sadly, the place i had the gc for booked, so we went to walmart instead for pedicures. and because it was a special day. and not busy. we got manicures as well.

breigh was quiet during the whole thing, but took it all in and loved it. they were nice enough to do a design on her nails, too.

after pedicures i got to get a new phone! :) i was able to get an upgrade, but shaun couldn't. and shaun hated his phone. so we worked it out that he would get my galaxy sII and i could get a galaxy sIII. so i got a new phone at sam's club, because phones are cheaper there...for the same thing! 

after getting my phone we got dinner. breigh wanted chipotle. so i went for a yummy burrito.

i LOVE chipotle. and it's yummy. :)

after dinner we went to the mall. we walked around and had a lot of fun...

i found some great tank tops at GAP. they were 40% off, and i'm using all my willpower to not go back and buy one in every color!!

after the mall we headed home. BUT first stopped for a small cone at a&w. i LOVE their root beer ice cream. 

i loved having the time with breigh. it was fun to have some one on one time, and i can't wait to do it again!!

getting buggy

i'm pretty sure i mentioned that our church is doing VBS next week!! it's our very first VBS, and to say i'm super excited...is an understatement!! i'm so very super excited. a few months back VBS came up in conversation and i stated how i'd love for our church to do one. the pastor was asked, he okayed it...and off we went.

our theme is...





















it's a super cute curriculum and i can't wait for the kids to enjoy it!

i've been heading it up with two friends at church. it's been a stretch for me actually because i have been needing to "delegate". i honestly am not good at it, i like to be in charge, but don't like delegating. maybe that doesn't make sense. but either way, the Lord has stretched me in many ways through heading up the VBS, and i'm sure there is more stretching to be involved.

today we're decorating the church for VBS. i cut out some bugs with my cricut. i figured it would save some money to just make most of our own decorations...aren't they adorable!

i actually cut out some more after i took this picture. i figured, you can't have TOO many bugs. as long as they're paper of course! 

my awesome mom is coming out to watch the kiddos for me, and then shaun is leaving work early so my mom can go to work. that way i don't have to bring the kids along to decorate. i know myself well enough that if i would have the kids with me, and people seeking my "direction" as to how/what/where/why to decorate...i wouldn't be able to handle it. so yay! for awesome mommas and husbands. ((and a sister who was willing to help, until her hubby took off and planned a fun day at the zoo!)) 

on top of ALL of this excitement...it's also date night!! somehow june ended up with NO date night, but we're making sure to get one in, in july. :) we are actually double dating. we didn't plan this date night til tuesday, so we tried to think of someone who wouldn't need to find a last minute baby-sitter and instantly thought of our pastor and his wife. we really enjoy hanging out with them, and it had been on my heart to invite them over for dinner...so instead of having them over for dinner...we're having someone else cook for us. yay! 

i haven't mentioned it on here, but our pastor (danny) retired earlier this month. our assistant pastor is now our pastor (kevin). since the men's retreat last year shaun has made a really nice connection with kevin. in fact, for the first time since his dad passed away, he has a man who has stepped up to be a mentor to him. kevin has been there for shaun as a mentor and as a friend. and to have someone (mainly an "older man"-it's weird calling him older because he's only 45, but i guess it's still older than shaun. lol) reach out to my quiet husband and take the time to get to know him, means a lot to me! it is the first time someone has done it (in the 'mentor' role).  the growth i've seen in shaun over the past year is so amazing, and i know the Lord has used kevin to do it. so again, so very thankful for the church family we've been blessed with. on top of an 'older' man shaun also has lots of great guy friends at church. which again, means so much to me. coming new to our church shaun and i  had to make friends as a "couple" which we really never had experience with before, and we've been so blessed by it. and i guess we've made friends as "families" because of all the great families in church, our kids have a ton of awesome friends as well. God has blessed us richly.

because of VBS, i may not be around much this next week. so enjoy your week. and if you're local to me...come check out our VBS!! :)

10 days in

as i mentioned in my last post, shaun and i have been doing a 10 day cleanse through advocare. it is the first part of the 24 day challenge. originally i was going to wait 24 days before saying anything, because i wanted to see if it actually worked. well 10 days in, i can see results. so i have to share how excited i am!! :)
i put together a collage type thing in photoshop in hopes to see the differences. here are the results:

can i just say, i hadn't realize that i was over 190?! i have never been that weight NOT pregnant. it made me really upset. i guess because i didn't "feel" like i was that weight. but the pictures speak louder than words, i was clearly not as thin as my rose colored glasses in my head made me feel. 

so this morning when i stepped on the scale for the second day in a row to read UNDER the 190...i was SO excited. i've accomplished my first goal in only 10 days...get the heck out of the 190's. 

when i loaded the pictures up, shaun was anxious to see if there was a difference. he was all, oh yeah! look at your belly!! and i realized that 1 inch lost in my belly doesn't seem like a lot...but it truly does look a bit different. my belly is one of my biggest "ugh" things, so i was super excited to lose the most in my belly. 

so the official results are 4 pounds and 2.5 inches down in 10 days. not bad!! i'm really excited to be through the cleanse part. there is a fiber drink that you need to drink for the first and last three days...it's not the greatest. but my best tip is: drink it in orange juice. then i just tastes like orange juice with pulp. lots of pulp. ;)

i'm excited to start the second part of the challenge. i'm excited to be doing this with shaun. he's never done any sort of weight loss thing with me. so it's fun. i don't know if he weighed himself this morning or not, but as of last week he was down 5 pounds. he never measured himself. and didn't let me take pictures. so we only have the scale to go off of for him. i'm just glad i made him take pictures. he doesn't "care" as much as i do about pictures, hence the head cutting off. leg cutting off. but whatever. you can still see. :)

now the scale and tape measure say i've lost. but have i noticed? it's weird, i have. but i've noticed mainly in my back. i can't really explain it, but my clothes feel looser in the back. i can also see the change in my waist. again, a half an inch doesn't seem like much, but i feel like there is a difference. 

in addition to doing the cleanse i've also been consistently working out. i've done my boot camp workouts on monday mornings. gone for 4 mile walks with my sister in law. and turbo fire workouts. shaun has done zero working out, and still has lost. BUT he does work really hard at work and can't sit still for long. :)

and i'm sorry to go on about this again. i just am really excited for something to be working! and for being able to stick at it with my awesome hubby. we're not calling it a diet, we're calling it a life style change. and i was so proud of shaun last night when we were trying to decide supper, and it was SO hot out...and we both wanted to order in pizza...we refrained! we both admitted later if either of us would've said during the discussion, call pennelopy's...we would've. so i'm glad we both kept our mouths shut, and didn't give into the temptations.

i've made it my goal to not have a drop of soda in these 24 days. 10 days in. whew. generally i only drink soda when we go out to eat, and since we haven't gone out to eat much in the past 10 days, i haven't been tempted that way. i also have a soda stream, so i've been carbonating water and adding orange juice or cranberry juice to it. it gives me my craving for fizz, but in a better way. 

yesterday i posted this picture on facebook of my face, just in the past two months i can't believe how my face changed. (either that, or dark hair makes me look fat) :)

and then, as much as i love my dark hair. i realize how much i love my blonde hair. lol. i was set on going back to dark for fall/winter..now i'm not so sure. and i act like it's such a "major" decision, it's really not. i just love getting my hair done. :)

tomorrow starts phase two. and my goal is to not bore you with details in the mean time, and let you know the final results on day 24. 

keeping at it.

working out. i've gotten myself on a great track and actually having shaun hold me accountable and making me get out of bed. this picture was taken BEFORE 7 AM last week after a HIIT workout. notice, i'm even smiling!

and i was even in pain. lol. boot camp last week kicked my bum. and i was SORE for a few days. i seriously debated just sitting on the toilet all day one day last week, so i wouldn't have to keep getting up and down. tmi, maybe! :) but it's a good pain. i love, seriously LOVE the pain of a good workout. i guess it makes me feel like i actually did something.

last week shaun's sister came over a few days and we went for a walk. we decided to try walking the block, which is about 4 miles. and we did it! it was nice to chat with her, and it didn't even feel like 4 miles. my old goal was to run it, but i seriously do not like running. i really don't even enjoy it. i'd much rather walk. so my new goal is to run half of it. because i try to convince myself that running IS fun. that i WILL enjoy it if i do it more. i'm not so sure if that's true.

this morning was boot camp. i dread getting up for it at 445. but once i'm up at at it, i really do enjoy the workout. it was hot today, and the workout went fast. well, as fast as a workout can go at 530AM. there was some running today, and the entire time i told myself you LOVE this. come on. you LIKE it? ugh. i can't wait til the running is over. :) just keeping it real. i do it. but i don't love it, that's for sure. i do like it more than i like squats. i do not like those. but i like squats a TON more than i like burpees. burpess are pure awfulness. and maybe it's because i really have to push myself to do them, because i don't like them? i am actually learning to like push ups! i never dreamed a day where i'd say that. so i'm thinking eventually i might say, hey...running isn't THAT bad.

there are only three more boot camp mondays left. i'm really glad i decided to do this boot camp. it's spiraled in to me caring more about working out. and taking care of myself. and hey...the waistline getting trimmer thing...that doesn't hurt either.

shaun and i started a diet last week. and i hate using the word diet. it's more of a life style change. the first 10 days are a cleanse. we're a week in!! woo hoo. we've both been holding each other accountable. and i've been noticing a change in shaun and in myself. we allowed ourselves a "cheat" lunch yesterday after church. and we both felt "blech" after it! we ate at a decent place, not fast food, but we were both amazed at what the food did to us. it's been fun doing it with shaun. we actually signed up to be distributors with the company we're doing the cleanse/challenge with. mainly to save the money on the products. and just seeing where it can take us in other ways. the company is called advocare. if you're interested in checking into it you can look here. i'm not trying to sell you anything at all. and really wasn't going to mention anything til i had our 24 day results. but it's hard to not talk about it. :) i have been 'journaling' throughout the challenge so far, and will share that at the end.

i had shaun take before pictures as well. i looked at them once, and haven't loaded them on the computer. mainly because, they grossed me out. i am honestly excited to see a picture of myself and not hate how it looks. i've never had to deal with this before, and it's really not fun. i KNOW that the number on the scale, the way i look doesn't define WHO i am in Christ...but it does get me down. and i know i lose my confidence in myself, and then in turn my confidence in Christ goes down...so by taking care of what Christ has given me...will turn out all good.

and i'm trying to not get frustrated with my awesome husband. he's lost 5 pounds in the first 7 days!! his pants are loose! i've got zero pounds down. but an inch and a half lost. shaun didn't measure himself, so i'm not sure what that is for him. i'm just excited to be doing this with him and watching both of us get healthier. the kids are in turn eating better as well. i guess it because we have healthier snacks in the house...sure we do have the fruit snacks, but they're also eating snow peas. raw spinach and edamame. :)

so, yeah, keeping at it. it's good. and it was a huge challenge last week because of doing the rummage sale at my sister's house i had to plan out supper and make sure we were making good choices. planning lunches, etc. i held out on a TON of temptations. the biggest one i was proud of myself for, was fries and cheese sauce from JD's. (a local fast food place) it's really been great. the Lord has really been helping me. each morning and all day long i ask Him to help me make wise choices. to help me with the temptations, and to not snack on junk. it's my reliance on Him that has helped me get through a lot of struggles with the food. maybe that sounds 'weird' to some of you, but for me, it's been a real 'game changer'. knowing that i can't do ANYTHING on my own.

i'll probably be sporadic these next few weeks...VBS starts on sunday at our church and i'm heading it up with a couple of friends. this week is crunch time to make sure everything is "set". ((if you're local...let me know if you're interested in coming!! it's free and open to everyone PRE-K (age 4) -6th grade. or check out the facebook invite.))

childhood memories

maybe the picture won't bring back memories for you...

but it did for me!!

breigh got 13,000 beads and the pegboards for her birthday. i actually suggested it to my sister, because a few weeks before the birthday party i saw them at joann and knew breigh would love it.

and love it she did. the three big girls all loved it. they had fun picking out colors and making shapes look beautiful. and as the momma...i had fun being in charge of the iron! :)

and it was fun to have the memories of making my own little projects like these. i think it's great to have some of the same things that i had growing up, for my kids. sure there might be a bajillion beads to spill...but that's why i have them do it only when the little two are napping. and sure i may be a paranoid mother telling them every point five seconds...the iron is ON. be careful of the iron. the iron is HOT. but it's still fun for all of us!!

my little author

this past weekend amelya asked to type on the computer. i thought she was just going to be "practicing". turns out, i was wrong...she wrote her own little story::

in case you can't read it::

Once upon a time there was a brave knight who lived in a cozy house. he loved that house. but one day a man came up to the knight and said i want your cozy house. the knight said no. the man became angry. he began stomping around. but soon the man stopped and realized what he was doing was wrong. then the man sat down to read his Bible. he read 1 and 2 Kings. he read something he never read before. he read that a king did the same thing he did.

the end.

i love it. her imagination is so much fun to see when she plays 'baby' or 'house', and even more fun to see on paper! 

take 2

i may be sporadic this week.

it's time for a take 2 of our rummage sale! my sister lives about a half hour-ish away from me, and in a bigger town. we decided since she's staying home this year, to hold a sale at her house as well.

thankfully everything was packed away in an orderly fashion, so we don't have to sort anything out. just unpack the totes and fill the tables. the girls are excited to help with the sale again, and to spend the week hanging out at their cousin's house.

i'm excited to get rid of more things!! :) my sale at my parent's house went really well, so i'm praying this is a repeat of that. plus it feels good to rid ourselves of more things.

and on top of the rummage sale excitement...i have a haircut today!! woo hoo. i love getting my haircut. really, love it. and because my hair is short...that means i MUST get it cut every 4-5 weeks. :) and more than needing a haircut, i also need my eyebrows waxed. which i've stated before...i will not pluck them myself, i can't bring myself to do it. so i succumb to the pain of the waxing, and it's all good!

this morning was boot camp. i survived. barely. but it was good. i guess. i mean, really it was as good as good can be at 530 in the morning and you'd rather be in bed. and then it's hot, so you're dizzy and actually almost throw up. then you understand the throwing up on biggest loser, and promise to never ever laugh at them again. :) yeah, like THAT kind of good.

and with all that randomness...i'll stop!! enjoy your week!!

happy birthday.

miss evaleigh...
you're TWO today. two entire years have gone by since you blessed us with your arrival. i can't believe it. the two years have seem to gone by so quickly.

it's no secret, for right now...and most likely always, you're our "baby". you're the "last one". it's taught me to make sure i'm enjoying every single moment of all of your lives. your entrance to this world was a hard one. it was my worst delivery yet, and also helped convince me i'm not wanting to do THAT ever again. ;) but since  that brief hour of torture...you've done nothing but bless us. and smile at us with those precious dimples.

i'll admit, i'm also partial to your curls. with each baby i prayed they'd have curls. you're the first one to have them. now i'm just praying they stay!! you smile and i smile. the look on your face. the twinkle in your eyes. makes all things just a bit better. your giggle, mixed with the giggles of your siblings...and no one can be having a bad day.

you still love to cuddle with me, and i love it! i love it when you lay your little head on my chest and put your thumb in your mouth and just cuddle. and even though i'll eventually need to rid you of that thumb sucking, i secretly love watching you sleep while you suck your thumb.

since you've been born we've been praying for you. we've been sharing Jesus with you. and now that you're getting older and can talk more, you pray each night before bed. i love listening to your praying. and the enthusiastic AMEN!! at the end always blesses my heart.

keep on looking to Him and pouring your heart to Him. the Lord will NOT disappoint you. NEVER. NEVER EVER!! momma and daddy will do our best to be the best parents we can to you, but the Lord is truly the best parent to you. He's blessed us with you, and i'm so thankful for the gift of being able to raise you in His love.

i love you miss evaleigh jo faith. always and forever.
love.
momma

new 'dos for summer.

the girls LOVE to get their haircut. LOVE it, is really an understatement. in fact, dustin also loves to get his haircut. there is a beauty school next to our church, and the price was reasonable for kid's cuts...so i made an appointment for the four big kids. then i decided to see if evaleigh could get her first haircut as well. they let her get in with the same girl who was doing dustin's. since his was just a buzz cut. i totally should have taken a before picture, because amelya and breigh got a ton of hair cut off!! but alas, i didn't. so here are the new 'dos for summer...

it was starting to thunder out, so that is why evaleigh and dustin are covering their ears. and evaleigh is holding a baggie with her very first haircut curls in it. *sigh* they're just so adorable. and i'm SO blessed!!

The Scent of Cherry Blossom Review

Immediately the reader will fall in love with Annie. The story opens with her in the Amish market, and with some issues that leave your heart aching for her...and giggling a little as well. Annie is sent to her Daadi's house after an incident with her mother. I think that the author portrayed the mother character well, someone who had a husband leave her alone with many children, and Annie's feelings were also very clear throughout the story.

As soon as you fall in love with Annie, you start falling in love with Aden. Aden runs a restaurant, and is partnered with Daadi Moses. To make the story interesting you have Annie in the picture of helping out at the restaurant.

Annie and Aden vividly remember each other from their childhood...emotions come back, and the love starts to blossom...but at what cost? Sneaking around to avoid Daadi Moses' reprimands? Hurting a brother?

Cherry Blossom trees hold a special story within the book, that I don't want to spoil for anyone...you'll have to read it to get the true meaning. Aden's drawings will bring you to tears, and you can't even "see" them. The true love between many characters blossoms and you can smell it as clear as you can smell the cherry blossoms.

A book about love. Forgiveness. Self Worth. makes it one book worth reading. and all of this while tying in the Love of Christ.

I would like to thank WaterBrook Publishing for allowing me to read and review this book in return for a free copy and was never asked to write a favorable review by anyone

monday morning giggle.

who couldn't use a giggle in the morning...here is one that made us giggle this weekend.

saturday we went through the drive thru of a restaurant, the girl said have a good night. (it was lunch time) breigh asked why she said good night. i just said she probably messed up. not a big deal.

amelya proclaims with all seriousness...she got SCREWED!!

i stifled my giggle and asked, what?

mom, she got SCREWED. said again, just as serious.

i asked her, what do you mean? screwed?

clearly exasperated with me, she said. "MOM. it's SHORT for screwed UP."

guess she set me straight. :)

((today i'm linking up to celebrate "mindful mothering"...it was one of those hilarious moments that makes you so blessed to be a momma!))