Wednesday, July 20, 2016

Simple Summertime

Hello and happy Wednesday.

Summer is just slipping on by isn't it. I am trying so hard to savor each minute with my kiddos because I know all to soon school will be back in session and it will be go go go.

but they are starting to get a little bored.
I am always trying to come up with fun little inexpensive things for them to do to help keep them busy.

last week we had been cooped up much too long for the day and I was trying to start dinner, finish folding laundry and tidy up before Cam got home.

I had an idea to keep them busy and it ended up being the perfect way to end a summer day.

I picked each one of them some books to read, grabbed their journals, a quilt for each and some snacks and placed them each at separate areas in our yard.

I told them they had to read, write something in their journals and lay on their quilt and just think.

don't let the pictures fool you...they did plenty of running back and forth to each others blankets, but they loved their little quiet time and they looked so sweet I snapped some pictures of them.










it wasn't long and Cam came down the driveway and we were able to switch gears for the day. We are all always ready to see daddy. Things just seem right in the world when we are all five home together.


Thursday, July 14, 2016
This past weekend we had a dinner at the new place to thank all of our family and friends that have helped make everything possible.

As we were preparing to get the house ready to rent everyone came alongside us in so many ways and helped and encouraged us.
We are so thankful how they all pitched in whether it was cleaning, or working on the house or helping us watch the kiddos and we wanted them to know just how grateful we are that God placed them in our lives and that they are so open to helping and encouraging us chase our dreams.


The menu was grilled steak, the Pioneer Woman's twice baked potatoes, salad with homemade ranch, rolls and for dessert I made the Pioneer Woman's chocolate sheet cake.
Everything was a big hit and Cam and I worked all day Saturday getting everything ready. I made the sides and desserts and he took care of the steaks.

I picked flowers out of our yard and bought two bundles of sunflowers to mix in.

Weston and Ally were super eager to help and I tried to find as many jobs as possible that they could do to help.
Ally pretty much did all the flowers (once I cut them down) and they helped put the rolls in the pan, season a chalkboard and lots of other fun little jobs.

I was worried about the heat and the fact that it has been raining so much ....and there was thunder off in the distance. I asked God to bless the night and hold off the rain but keep it cool for great grandparents and he sent the perfect evening straight from heaven.








So thankful, my heart is full.




Sunday, July 10, 2016

be better...

its late
and I should be in bed
(everyone else is)
but my mind has been churning as I watched one of my favorite shows.
its a show about a family and tonight their love and devotion to one another and the parents to their children has stirred something inside me

it has my head spinning and it makes me want to be a better mom.
a better wife.
a better woman.

I am typically hard on myself and always trying to improve
but this last year I have entered a different season where I am learning that God uses my weaknesses just as much or more as my strengths.

sometimes I laugh out loud at myself at how I was as a mom when I first began this journey.

for some reason tonight the image of all of my babies coordinating stands out in my mind.

I fretted over Easter dresses and outfits that I wanted them to wear.
I loved putting it all together... In a way I think it was a way I showed love.

dressing them sweet and nice and all.

but then all of a sudden we reached a point where I was making them miserable stuffing them in things they didn't really like.

fast forward to now and it is so different and I keep thinking about this picture


Back when summer first started one of Cameron's projects had a ground breaking and the kids and I all went.

they picked out special clothes and as we were walking out the door McCoy had an accident. His pants, his shoes and even his shirt were wet so we were scrambling around trying to find matching shoes and more.

He ended up wearing a pair of Weston's old flip flops and we went flying out the door.
We arrived at the ground breaking three minutes after ten and Cameron sent me a message to not come in because it had started and was very formal.

so we waited (and waited) outside. luckily there was a lot of equipment running outside that they watched and we did pretty good.

but as the morning went on one of them had to potty, one threw rocks at the other one and McCoy's shoes kept flying across the parking lot because they were too big.

there came a point when I wondered why I even tried.

eventually I told Cam it was time for us to go and we loaded up and I felt a little defeated.

About an hour later we got a phone call and it was Cam.

He was just calling to tell me thanks for coming.

He said something along the lines that it meant so much having us there and I remembered why we went in the first place.

For him.

It didn't matter what we wore or did; what mattered to him was that we were there.

sometimes things are worth the effort and I am learning that there isn't as much effort involved if I go with things a bit more.

I have one that wants to wear sports outfits everywhere and another who likes only certain dresses and the same popsicle shirt over and over.

and it's O.K.

it doesn't matter and I am thankful I have learned that.

but I want to be honest and say that sometimes I have to bite my tongue when they put something together that I don't agree with.

but I am a better mom than I was before, not perfect, but better.

I have learned they would rather have my attention than watch me look at new fun clothes for them online.

They would rather me give them a hug and hold their hand on the way into church than be frustrated at the outfit I stuffed them in.

and you know what's funny...

I still buy my boys the same shirts sometimes
if I find a pattern I like I usually get them the same one.

and this past year for both Christmas and Easter they ended up wearing matching shirts and not because I made them.

I had bought Weston different outfits for both but he ended up wearing the same shirt as McCoy anyway...


that's the way it goes.
but I am thankful for what I have learned and pray that I continue to love them in the ways that matter and let go of the things that don't.




Barn Sale



hello again!

As promised I am back to share the next part with you about the new place.

I mentioned before about how we cleaned out the barns and out buildings.

I just have to say, those buildings are my favorite part of the whole place...that and the big old oaks on the property.

I said in my last past that I had dreams of my own and wasn't particularly excited about Cam's idea but felt led by the Lord to trust him.

About a week or so before the auction I was working down in our basement on some furniture I was redoing and had an idea.
while I was working I decided I should open a little shop out of our basement and start selling things that I made or found or didn't have a place for anymore in our home.

if you know me at all, you know one of my favorite things to do is work in our home and I always have a project going.

I was so excited to walk out and tell Cam and he was super supportive except for the part about it being in our basement. which I understood and kinda wondered how that would work myself but I just felt a little spark in my heart and knew something was going to come out of it. He told me to let him think on it for a bit and see what he could come up with.

later that night I was doing dishes and all of a sudden I had figured it out. THE BARN! THE BARN at the new place would be perfect. I ran outside to tell Cam I had thought of the perfect place and when I told him he told me he was just thinking the same thing.

we rode over right away and looked at again and it was perfect. I just loved it and the idea to have a barn sale a few times a year blossomed.




You may be wondering what does one buy at a barn sale (or sell) and honestly just about anything goes, but this sale is going to be a mix of handmade, antiques and other goods for your home.

Some of the stalls will be rented out and have a similar feel to an antique booth or craft fair booth.

As we prepare and get closer I hope to share some of the items we are going to have for sale as well as some more information about the first sale.

The date is set for the first sale! It is going to be August 6tt!

If it is something you are interested in please follow along here, or the Facebook page

I will be sharing more details about the sale and also share photos about some of the cool things we have found and are going to be selling at the first sale on the Facebook page and here as well.




Once again, thank you for following along and for all of your support and messages of encouragement, they mean more than you could ever possibly know!





Thursday, July 7, 2016

our new place...

I have been anticipating sharing this story for so long and now that it is here I am afraid I wont get it out the way it should read as I type, but either way I want to share a bit about our new place with yall.

Some of you probably read on Instagram awhile back that Cameron and I bought a place down the road from us back in the spring.

You may have scratched your head as to why we would buy another little farm, so today I am going to tell you why.

Dreams.

That is the best way to put it.
Cameron dreams of a farm and cows and for the past year we have been looking to by some land so he can have some cows.

a friend of ours put a bug in our ear as they say about the place that we purchased shortly after the owner passed away. a for sale sign never went up for a year and then the last day in march this year one went up.

I remember Cam's text that day and how excited he was but to be honest I wasn't that excited.

We had been saving and budgeting but I still was having a hard time with it. I had dreams of my own...more on that in a minute.


we met with the family that was selling the place the next weekend and they told us it was going to be auctioned.

We rode the property, walked through the house and out buildings after they gave us permission and we really liked it.

we really prayed about it and I felt God urging me to trust Cam in this so I told him I didn't understand it completely but I trusted him and supported him in this.

in april they held an estate auction and I don't recommend ever buying land that way.
at one point I thought Cam was going to have a heart attack.

It was rainy and wet and we had all three babies with us, but I remember taking a walk and praying about the auction and everything the day before and I felt in my heart that God was in this and we had his blessing.

I walked back into our house after praying and my grandma told me that she was going to be selling food at an auction by my house that Saturday. I smiled because I knew in my heart God was orchestrating something beyond me.

He knew what a dream this was for Cam and I and me being the way I am he knew I would want family there...family to share it with and he did just that.

My grandma didn't know anything about us wanting to buy the property until right before it sold but she gladly let the kids sit with her while we bid.

I took this picture after the kids and I got home from the auction and I was getting ready to hose off their boots.


it was such a good day. our hearts were so full and I will never forget how excited we were to call our parents and tell them what God had just allowed us to do.


We closed a few weeks later and they took our picture with the older man's jumble of keys.


Then the work began! HA!

We knew right away the wisest thing for us to do was to rent the house because we were so content with where we were living there was no need for us to move.

we started right away and cleaned out the workshop and the barn as well.

it took three solid days to get the barn and workshop cleaned out and we did it as a family and it was such a blessing to all be together work hard towards a dream.

McCoy passed out on me right before we were about to finish up that first day and I remember how good that felt.

Cam and I were a little worried about how the kids would do but their hard working little spirits shown bright and they found all kinds of ways to help and wanted to take home every little thing we found out of the buildings.




We purchased the property in April, closed in May and have been work work working on it this summer and the house is about finished and we are meeting with our potential renters tonight.

We have shown it several times, but my prayer all along is that it would bless who lives there as much as it blesses us to have them there.

and last week God sent the perfect people.

I am so thankful for ALL of the ways God has blessed this dream of ours so far. there is no way I could blog every single detail and story that has happened but each time something happens I am so thankful for His hand in this.

One of our biggest concerns was our kiddos and how we would balance everything and it has all worked out so well. we have included them as absolute much as possible, but when the days would get long (or weekends) we would ask grandparents to watch them or let them nap at their house while we worked.

what we didn't anticipate was how much they would enjoy being a part of it.
they love "our new place" and have each learned so much right along side their momma and daddy


I don't know all the details of God's plan for this place, but I know He does have one and I am so thankful.

Believe it or not I have more to share but all the kiddos are waking up so it ends here today.

But earlier in my post I mentioned something about dreams of my own and that is what I want to share with yall tomorrow

thank you for reading along!


Wednesday, July 6, 2016

The Ice Cream Truck


One of my favorite things about our little place is our neighbor Ms. Tracy. She lives right across the road and has stables and gives riding lessons. There is always someone coming and going over there and its just fun!

She sent me a message the other day that an ice cream truck was going to be at her place at 5:30

so, the kids dug through their piggy banks and we headed over.

It turned out to be a double blessing because Cam was working late and I am always looking for things to do when he does so the night doesn't seem so long and lonely.

We had so much fun.



They wanted me to take pictures of what they picked but McCoy was too busy eating the (black) eyes off his.



That koozie is holding his beloved old cell phone my grandma gave him. 




Such a sweet night with my sweet people.