Our Family's September Favorites

Happy Tuesday everyone!! 

Hope you all are having a blessed day so far. I am about to go start fixing supper but I wanted to share with you all really quick a few of my family's "favorites" from this past month.

For our home:

Lemon Zest Yankee Candle

I am just now getting my fall candles out but one that I love (and you could use all year long) is the lemon scent Yankee Candle. I got mine from TJMaxx and couldn't find the exact same one but this one from Amazon I believe is similar. It has a very "clean" smell and I think is great in the kitchen any time of the year!

SpaMist Ultrasonic Diffuser

A few months ago, I had a real bad sinus infection and my sweet husband went to Vitamin Shoppee and picked up this diffuser and essential oils to see if it would help. I got on Pinterset to find good combinations for sinus problems and have been loving Tea Tree Oil. It really helps to clear me up and I also like to diffuse Pillow Potion when I go to sleep. Now since then, I have realized TJMaxx sells the oils and I prefer to get them from there. Lemon is currently my favorite and I also use it in my homemade cleaner. If you are interested in trying a diffuser, the SpaMist is a good one to start with as it is only $24.99.

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For Me:

Not Your Mother's Dry Shampoo

My hair usually gets oily the day after I wash it but I like to wait at least another day before I do to prevent damage since I also have dry scalp. I have tried out a few dry shampoos but have stuck with this one the past few months. It doesn't leave a white residue (as long and you rub it in some) and it actually works on taking care of the oil in my hair and does not cake up. I usually purchase it from Ulta because I am able to use a coupon. 

Dr. Teal's Epsom Salt

I have issues with my back and sleeping well at night so I started trying out detox baths. So far, I am loving them and try to take 2 detoxing baths a week. I add a couple drops of some lavender essential oil which help my sinus' a lot too. There are other options of detoxing baths and Pinterest is the best place to search for them. I plan on adding some ground ginger, apple cider vinegar and baking soda to my next one.

Skechers Memory Foam Sneakers

A while back I started having issues with my feet hurting real bad and knew it was time to replace my sneakers. I didn't want to spend a fortune so I headed to TJMaxx. They always have a wide selection of shoes to choose from but as soon as I put my foot into these, I knew they were the right fit. I couldn't find the same ones online so I just suggest if you are looking for new sneakers, go to TJMaxx and see what they have!

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For Him:

L'HOMME cologne

If you are ever looking to find a new cologne/perfume, just go up to Belk and ask for samples. We keep small cups with samples in them to try out for a while. RJ recently started trying this one and has almost gone through the entire sample bottle. I am hoping he will move onto other samples because I now know what I can get him for Christmas! :)

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For the kids:

Stackadoos

Right now, my boys are enjoying playing with these Stackadoos. We bought them from Target and thought they would be good for fine motor skills. They make me take them out every day to play with and it is fun to see their imaginations at play.

Letter Factory DVD

I home school my boys and right now my youngest is having trouble recognizing his ABC's. A friend of mine recommended this DVD to me and so far, it seems to be helping. I will let him watch it once a day usually after "school-time." 

Alright, that is all I have for this month! Let me know if any of you try any of this stuff out and how you liked them. Hope you all have a blessed day!



*My YouTube video:

Aldi's Grocery Haul

Happy Friday everyone!! Hope you are all having a blessed day! We are looking forward to a nice relaxing weekend. My daughter is going to spend the weekend with a friend and the boys are having two friends over to spend the night tomorrow night. Going to have fun playing outside in this beautiful weather and also go do some Christmas shopping! Trying to get a head start on it this year and we already have one big purchase made, an iPad for our youngest. We usually buy their iPads on tax free day to save some money so we checked off his "big present" off the list.

 Anyway, I am about to head out to pick up Trinity and go to a play-date. I just wanted to share my Aldi Haul with you all real quick and then I am off to start our weekend. Hope you like the video!

Praying for Townville

Not sure if a lot of you heard about the school shooting at Townville Elementary School yesterday but for me, it hits close to home. I live about 10-15 minutes away from Townville and when I heard about the shooting, I was in the car rider line picking up my daughter from school. So many emotions came over me and I instantly started crying.

I first felt relief and fear....relief that it wasn't my child but fear because it could have been. We live in a crazy world which seems to be getting worse with each day! I remember the days where I could ride my bike around the neighborhood and my grandparents weren't scared that someone would hurt me. Now it doesn't even feel safe to send our children to school! I know incidents are more publicized now with social media but you cannot tell me that this world isn't getting scarier every minute.

Then I felt guilt and sadness....guilt because I was glad it wasn't my child and sadness because it was someone else's. I cannot imagine what it had to have been like to be that parent sitting at home and hearing over the news that there has been a shooting at your child's school. It makes me tear up now thinking about it. My heart goes out to all the parent's that went through this. Some are friends I know and children that I used to keep in childcare and knowing they are safe makes me happy but they should not have had to experience this.

Then I felt angry....angry because those children and teachers should not have had to have gone through this. Angry at the 14 year old who killed his father and then went to the school and shot at innocent people. Angry at his parents for not seeing the signs and for letting their child even have a gun. Angry at a situation that probably could have been prevented.

But now, now I don't know how I feel...
I know I am proud of the people that help keep the children safe. I know I feel like hugging those poor children and wishing I could take that experience away from their little minds. I know I feel thankful the ones hurt will more likely be ok physically in the long run. I know that I forgive the child's parents because you cannot predict what another person may do even if it is your child. I know that I will pray for the young man who did this terrible act.

We can blame a lot of things for what happened but all I know is, I am going to continue loving my children, teaching them to come to us if they need advice/help and hope & pray that they will help make this world become a better place. I just hope others do the same and maybe we can help turn this world around.

*Update: One of the children shot at the school is in critical condtion. It is heart breaking not knowing what will happen but if anyone would like to help, here is a ling you can go to if you would like to help. Please pray that this sweet little boy makes it!!!

Mini Front Door Makeover

Part of my zone cleaning today was cleaning my front doo. As I was wiping down the door, I realized it has not been re-painted or updated since we bought our house 10 years ago. So, of course I had to do something about this! :)

First on my list was to spray paint the handle of my glass screen door. It has bugged me for a long time and was well over-do! We bought this spray paint a while back to re-do our light fixtures (which I am hoping to do soon) and thought I would try it out on the handle. 

After cleaning the door handle, I taped off the area to begin spray painting. I tried to take the handle off the door frame but apparently I am too weak and could not unscrew the screws and did not want to risk stripping it. 

Got to spraying and here is the before and the after...

Here is a peak at the inside handle...

After doing that, I decided that the lookout glass of the door needed an update also.

Yeah, that used to be white but I guess 15 years (our house was around 5 years old when we bought it) made it turn yellow. LOL

Since I am trying to get rid of the gold accents, I decided our address numbers needed a little sprucing up too.  So here is the before and after...

I still need to repaint the door because when you look up close, you can see scratches and spots from years of using it. I think it looks good for now until I come back around to it in two months for another zone clean. :) 

First week of school!

Happy Friday everyone!!

The first week of school is finished and ours went great! 
Hoping yours went well also!

Glimpse into our first day!

My oldest, Trinity is in 3rd grade this year and is loving it! Luckily she has always enjoyed school and other than a few nerves, her first week went smooth!  She was even chosen as the first "Captain of the week" and gets to take part in special activities next week.

So proud of her and looking forward to having lunch with her one day next week. 

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This is my first year home with the boys and I want to be sure that I am preparing them well for Kindergarten so I homeschooling them. I am pretty much doing what we did with the kids at daycare...crafts, working on writing, bible lessons, etc. I was nervous Gabriel was not going to do well for me but so far when I say it is time for school, he screams "YAY!" He does tend to rush through his tasks while Asher likes to take his time. Our theme this week was "Back To School" and here is a look at some of crafts and pages we worked on:

School Supplies Handprints

Creation Book

Paper Plate School Bus

Handprint Craft-printable below

The poem is a little different than the one I did because I typed it up wrong. LOL 

I will probably redo them with my boys because it will bother me.

I found this book from my local Aldi store (they also have a great selection at Toys R' Us) and worked on the letter A and tracing this week. 

I like that they are front and back also. 

Well, I am about to head off to go walking with a friend and then my husband and I are taking the kids to Toys R' US as a surprise. Looking forward to a relaxing weekend and hope you all have one as well! God Bless!

Organizing...Extra Cords

Happy Monday guys!!! Hope you all have had a blessed weekend! We cleaned, organized, ran errands all day Saturday and then yesterday we had a full day of fellowship with our church family. We stayed fairly busy but I am looking forward to a relaxing day playing in the pool with my babies before school starts tomorrow.

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The other day I was looking for the cord that went to my digital photo frame to only be greeted by this mess....

Insert: minor panic attack

So something obviously had to be done about it and quick. 

After looking through my craft closet, I came to the conclusion that rubber bands would fix my problem. Now it was time to tackle the mess!

Sorting

Some types cords we had double of so I just wrapped them all together. I only kept up to 3 of the same and donated any extras. Threw them all back in and here is what it looks like now:

I can breath!

Much easier to search through!

I keep this tote in our garage on a shelving unit we purchased off of Craigslist. They are great for corralling extra things for the home and I got them from Home Depot for around $5.

While on my organizing kick, I went ahead and labeled the kid's iPad chargers with their names to keep in their rooms. 

They get one full charge per day and once it goes dead, on to the charger it goes and it cannot be used again until the next day. We got rid of cable a while back so they have Netflix on them so this is considered their "TV" time also. We are currently trying out Playstation VUE but my husband is the only one who really watches television so at $35 a month, it suits our needs. We did just put up a satellite dish so we get local channels free and it seems like we have a found a reasonably priced solution for our TV needs! :) 

Well, I am off to go get in the pool with the kiddos and then get ready for open house at Trinity's school tonight. Cannot believe school starts back tomorrow!!! I am going to miss having my baby home with us! Till tomorrow...God bless!

Weekly Round-Up

Hi guys! Hope you have all had a blessed week! 

We have had a pretty busy one but thankful for a relaxing Sunday. We had an amazing sermon this morning and are leaving in a bit to go back for a singing. I look forward to an entire day relaxing and spending the day with God, family and friends.  :)

Anyway, last time I left y'all, we were making costumes for cow appreciation day at Chickfila Tuesday. 

I forgot to get good close-up picture of how their shirts turned out but they had a blast and that's all that matters. :) Aren't my friend's kids adorable too?? 

Wednesday we took the kiddos to the movies. They offer $1 movies twice a week and you cannot beat that! They loved the movie (Curious George) and especially all the yummy popcorn!

Trinity had her tonsil checkup later that day and got a great report! Everything seems to be healing well and she is pretty much back to eating everything normally. We had church that evening and I brought home 2 extra kids for a sleepover. :)

We played outside and ended the night with a movie. I just love having a house full of kids! :)

Thursday I spent the day getting caught up on housework and running errands. We have gotten into the routine of going on an evening walk and the kids and I enjoy that time together. :)

Trinity was running ahead of us. LOL

Friday we slept in and had a pretty lazy day. Those are the best right?!?!? I did manage to dust the entire house and vacuum all the rooms. I told myself that I had to atleast get that checked off my list! We had plans to go to an outdoor movie with some friends but it got rained out at the last minute. We were about to walk out the door when we found out. :( Bummer! So, we just turned on a movie at home and enjoyed some family time. I ended up grilling some burgers and making potato fries so we all enjoyed some yummy food! 

Yesterday I told my daughter Trinity that we had to work on her room. It was a mess and needed some major organization! We moved furniture around, cleaned out every drawer and her closet. A friend of mine had also posted this cubicle online for sale for $10. We ran to her house to pick it up and Trinity had a blast decorating it for her room. 

It fits perfectly in that spot and works well next to her desk. We still have a few little projects to work on (mainly filling holes in the wall, paint touch-ups, etc) and I plan to have her room completely refreshed before the new school year. 

Anyway, about to have to run out the door to head to church but just want to leave you with this cute picture of my middle man concentrating on his masterpiece. 

He said he wanted to draw a picture of his family but 5 minutes into it, he got aggravated and gave up. I did convince him to go back and try again and he made an beautiful abstract piece. :)

God bless,

Quick DIY Cow Costumes

Happy Monday guys! Hope you all have had a fabulous start to your week. Ours has been pretty busy. Our main task today was working on our cow costumes for the Chick-fil-a cow appreciation day tomorrow. If you show up dressed up like a cow, you receive a free entree or kid's meal. Now the words Chick-fil-a and FREE are some of my favorite words so you know we will be there as soon as we can tomorrow. We are actually meeting friends at what I hope will be a time it won't be too crowded. Which, I do not know when Chick-fil-a is not crowded. LOL 

Unfortunately when I looked through my kids clothes, they did not really have any plain white or black t-shirts on hand. This year you do not have to dress like a cow from head-to-toe so I knew I would just do shirts for them. Last year I just taped some paper to our shirts but the only bad thing about this was they kept falling off. LOL 

I think we still looked cute though! :)

So the idea came to me to just take some old white undershirts that belong to my husband (he has tons) and use them. I washed and bleached them really good, threw them on the kids to see how how short they needed to be and started cutting away. I cute some spots out of black felt and the kids helped me glue them on. 

 They are currently drying but I will post a picture tomorrow of how they turned out.

I used this Fabric Fusion I had on hand to glue the spots to the shirt. This runs around $9 from Wal-Mart but goes a long way. 

Most of my morning was spent catching up on house chores but this afternoon we went and picked up a friend to go to the Makerspace for kids at the library. They offer this every Monday for kids to make a craft and mine really enjoued it!

We ran some errands afterwards, came home to eat supper and then went for an evening walk. 

The kids love pulling each other in the wagon and was a good way to end the evening. 

Now it is time to get the kids ready for bed and hit the hay! :) Hope you all have sweet dreams!!

Our Week

Hey guys! Hope you all are having a very blessed weekend! 

I want to ask quickly for prayers for my mother-in-law's husband (my husband's step dad). She called us earlier today to say that he had to be taken to the hospital because he had a stroke. Earlier tonight, she did say that he has most of his feeling back but cannot squeeze his left hand. So please say an extra prayer that he makes a full recovery! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

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So, we have had a very busy week! Last Thursday, Trinity had her tonsils taken out so we spent most of the past weekend recovering. 

Here is picture of one of the gifts she got from a sweet friend to help her feel better. She was definitely spoiled by get well gifts from family and friends.

By Sunday she was ready to play though. LOL It is amazing how kids can bounce back!

This worked out well because my husband's workplace was having their company 4th of July picnic. They throw a big Independence Day celebration every two years and this year was just as amazing as the last ones. They serve dinner which was a choice of BBQ, hot dogs or burgers. You get chips, drinks and a couple options for dessert.  Their theme this year was Disney cruise and I wish I could tell you all they had for them to do but I would be here for a while. LOL My kids did not get to take part in everything because of time but they did enjoy seeing the different characters, doing crafts, getting their faces painted, getting balloon animals (twice because they popped the first ones) and bouncy houses. 

They had two photo booths which the kids were not really into. LOL

After standing in line for close to a hour to get their faces painted, it was time to go outside for fireworks. 

At first the boys were a little afraid but they were amazed once they got over them being so loud. Michelin put on an amazing 4th of July celebration for it's employees. Definitely a wonderful company to work for!

Later in the week, we had a play date with friends at the splash pad. 

Asher refuses to get into the water so he just hung out with us adults. LOL

Other than playing games, running errands and spend some relaxing, quality time together, we have had a very low key week. 

Hope your week was as blessed as ours was! See y'all in my next post!