It Feels Like Home

Wow!~ I cant believe how happy being back to blogging makes me. You see I kind of lost a little of myself this past year. As most moms do we are asked and expected to be pulled in a million directions and sometimes we lose site of what was important to us. Some days just my to do list overwhelmed me so much that I forgot to remember what filled my cup, what fueled my passion. That my friends is not a fun place to be and it took a lot of reflection, prayer and questions to find out what I wanted from this thing called life. To be honest I have let the comparison thief take  away more time from me that I would ever care to admit. I have prayed wondering what is wrong with me that sometimes I have a hard time seeing the blessings that are right in front of me and spend more time thinking about what I am missing.


I realized that for me I have to ask God every day to do his will and to make me an instrument of His Peace. I have to commit to waking up everyday and deciding the person I am going to be with the help of God. I tend to make life so much more complicated than it is. For me this next year is going to really be about simplifying. I want to focus on experiences rather than "stuff". I want to make memories that the kids will tell their kids. I want to always be an example of someone who is so far from perfect but with the Grace of God has overcome and will remain faithful. I want to be KIND. Oh goodness I want to be kind, kind to myself, kind to my children, kind to my husband, family, the stranger in the aisle at Walmart. I want to finally allow myself to be the person I am with all of my imperfections and sin. I want to live freely everyday~!


I certainly didn't mean to get this deep on my first post back :) I hate that I missed a year and a half of blogging but that is ok. I am doing this for our family so that when time has dimmed our memories and my babies are no longer babies but having their own babies we can all sit around and pour over these memories that we made together!

Easter 2014

Easter is definitely becoming one of my very favorite holidays EVER! There is just something so relaxing and fun and meaningful about the whole holiday! It of course is all about Jesus! It is the reason for everything! I love that my kids are really learning the real meaning of Easter and Palmer knows the whole Easter story! I love that we have a church to go and worship an awesome God!

 

I also love our family traditions that we do every year without fail even though Mamaw is probably worn out! haha

 

Here are the cousins with their rabbit suckers! They thought they were hilarious!

 

Tex and I outside of church! I was a little psycho about pictures this year and I didn't hesitate to be a little bossy about it!~ haha Not one more holiday was going to go by with just a few pictures!

 

The whole family outside of the church. I was so proud of my father in law, he preached 5 amazing sermons over Saturday and Sunday!!! He is such a blessing to our family and all that know him.

My little baby Chan Chan! I could literally eat this child up, she is at the absolutely most fun stage ever!



Sweet Ann Mason, she was such a big, good girl this weekend! She loved hanging with the older girls and they treat her like one of them!

 

Katelyn helping Chandler before the big Easter Egg Hunt!

 

Our tradition at mamaw's dyeing Easter Eggs!

 

Palmer loved everything!

 

The kiddos and I, daddy had to work :( but we still had a blast!

 

I mean really? I can't help it she is too cute!

 

All of the girls and their favorite egg. Yes, don't ask... I pulled up after getting everyone lunch and my 5 year old had on a sports bra. I made it VERY clear that this was a one time deal!

 

Have you heard of Orbies? Well, I never had but my kids loved them! They are these silicon little balls and they filled a pool with them and they had games and prizes at the Easter Egg Hunt, I couldn't get Chandler out of there! haha

 

Katelyn and Chandler!

 

Someone got a swing from the Easter Bunny and she couldn't be more excited!!!

 

This years Easter theme.... Chevron, she looked so pretty!

 

Our 79th attempt at a family pic!

 

Tex and I, I don't think I could do this life without him. He is such a rock for our family we are truly blessed!

 

We hope everyone had a wonderful Easter!

Spring Break 2014

Well we survived Spring Break 2014!! I must say that spring breaks now are totally different than spring breaks of the past. No beer with cereal, no spray painted t-shirts, no driving the strip blaring rap music! HA HA

 

With little ones I don't necessarily use the word vacation because let's be honest...Three kids under the age of 6 in a car for 9 hours and then going to the beach everyday is wonderfully exhausting! Mother nature was NOT on our side for the trip we literally pulled into sun and 75 degree weather changed into our bathing suits and walked outside just as a storm was blowing in. That storm didn't stop for 3 whole days!

 

Somewhat of a beach day! These kids were freezing, I was wearing a sweatshirt!

 

We made the most of our rainy days and went to the gulfarium, science museum and ate at some great restaurants.

Our fam at the gulfarium!

 

This girl didn't care rain or shine, sand or pool she was LOVING life!

 

It is hard to see but this is a tornado simulator and it gets up to 75mph winds ALL of my kids wanted to go in with Sarah and I think from this picture Chan changed her mind about halfway thru!

 

Palmer.... my sweetest boy beach bum!!!

 

Ahhhh A toddler, hot pink and a tutu OH.MY!!! I cant get over her cuteness, I LOVE this age!

 

The last day was beautiful of course! These kids were good as gold on the beach!

 

 

Ok so here is the story! All of the kids wanted to be "buried" up to their necks so we took turns burying everyone, even Chandler was helping. After we got done I look over and Chandler is laying on the sand and trying to burying herself so we helped her out, she thought it was funny minus eating the sand!

 

It was a good trip but it also felt good to come home and get in our beds :) There is no place like home!!

Catching Up

Finally I am getting a chance to catch up!!! Our Internet as been down at our house for what feels like ages and then the more time that has past the more anxiety I get about getting the blog caught up! Nothing truly exciting has been going on but it just feels like we are busy :) I think once the weather FINALLY gets nice we will all feel like different people! So here is what has been going on!

 

Chandler's Hair has clearly been growing! Girlfriend has bed head just like her momma and brother! Ann Mason can sleep for days with straight hair! 

 

 

Annie and Katelyn got a girls night out and my 5 year old picks turquoise cheetah nails for her polish selection. Why not? Isn't that the first choice for most 5 year olds?

 

This is my attempt at family pictures! Yes, I was that mom before church on Sunday that may have been so frustrated that I cant get ONE picture out of these three that I shed some tears! Is it that hard people? haha

 

Chandler has recently sported her first pony and pig tails! She is getting so big, it makes my heart hurt!

 

Talk about heart hurting.... this girlfriend and sassy pants registered for Kindergarten and went on her kindergarten tour!!! With Palmer I was worried about he will adjust with Ann Mason I am worried about how the school will adjust! haha She had no nerves and walked thru that school like she owned the place!

 

Before we left, she looked so cute!

 

We got to reconnect with some dear old friends that we had not seen for years! They too have 3 kids under 6 so you can only imagine how this crazy slumber party went! Right when we saw them it was like old times! So thankful for reunions like this!

 

Other than that we basically been hot messes. We are tired of being in the house and really, really ready for spring!

 

Tomorrow we are off to the beach and I couldn't contain my excitement if I tried!!!!

Living with Purpose-Family Fun Night and Redecorating

WE have been BUSY! This momma has gone on a bit of a rampage... more on that a little later! My new goal for 2014 was have one special family fun night a month. Last month we went to Louisville to spend the night and this month we bought tickets and went to Evansville to a hockey game. It is just a night to "splurge" a little bit and hang out with the kids doing something that we typically don't get to do. 

Annie and I eating at the smiling moose deli! That place is SO good!!!

My co-worker and Ann Mason's new bestie was there with her husband so we all sat together!

Palmer was one happy dude! He gets way into the players, their stats, their backgrounds, etc... He is definitely my little analyzer!

 

Chandler stayed with Mamaw and Papaw and from the looks of things she probably got the best end of the deal. They literally spoil her rotten and papaw follows her around taking videos of her! They make things so easy for us! haha

 

Well, about this time every year I get a house re-arranging/re-decorating kick! Thankfully we have a barter and trade page on facebook for our city that is fairly popular! At least I am resourceful... any one that knows me knows that once I get an idea in my head there is really no rationalizing and the results are immediate! haha

 

I have been wanting to basically purge the WHOLE house. I am not a clutter person and I happen to be raising 2 (not sure about the third child yet) mini pack rat hoarders. I was DONE! Anything that was missing a piece or hadn't been played with in 6 months was donated!!! I went a little crazy!

Some of the items for Goodwill. This was JUST out of Palmers room!

Again the trash pile, just out of Palmers room! Every one's room got the same purging except sadly my own room! That is going to take a while just with the closet alone!

 

So for as long as I have owned a home and decorated it I have always been very matchy, matchy. The woods all had to match, pillows, etc... well I don't know what is going on with me or if it is the pinterest era but I am LOVING all things NON matchy! Lo and Behold I found a consignment store right by my work that has old furniture that people have painted and re-done and they are selling these pieces for next to nothing. So I took pics of a lot of our current furniture and placed it on the facebook page and between Friday and Saturday made almost $500 and sold everything!

Here are a few pics of what I am talking about. I bought this little white distressed end table. I LOVE how they don't match, this is so not me!

One of my favorite purchases is this old refinished desk. It is beautiful in person and probably the heaviest piece of wood furniture we own!!! I need to buy it to house this little guy....

MY NEW CAMEO SILHOUETTE!!! You all have no idea how excited I am about this!!! I am going to be learning all weekend how to use this baby! I am sure I will post many projects!!!

Here is Palmer's new dresser! I sold one that we had bought at Target 7 years ago and got this. It gives his room so much more character. He says it's old, I say its great!

This is a terrible picture of Ann Mason's room and I will be taking more as soon as her bedding gets in... but we sanded and refinished a headboard that has been in the Templeton family for decades and decades, I bought her a turquoise vintage dresser and a white distressed night stand. I am madly in love with her room!

 

I am just loving adding character to our house. We are still waiting on a few things to come in like our chevron rug for the living room and some curtains but I am SO excited! I am also a little worried that I might vinyl the whole house with my silhouette! haha

 

Exciting things to come! Happy Friday

Living with Purpose- Getting my craft on

2014 was a year that I wanted to focus on things that I have a passion for again. Crafting, reading, getting healthy, family time, time with my husband, etc... Being more intentional on what I am choosing to do with my time. I have always LOVED crafting and decorating. It makes me happy!! So far it is only February and I have been crafting and decorating away! I love it! Here are some of my latest projects.

Ignore the big cheesy grin, the girls were making me laugh. This is my cross that I created!! My friend invited us over and her husband had cut some shapes out of plywood and we started with a blank canvas and painted away. I was so happy with how this cross turned out! It will be my door hanger for Easter!

I finally tried my hand at a burlap wreathe! It wasn't as hard as I thought. I went pretty simple for my first one, there are so many cute ideas out there! I plan on adding a few more trinkets to this depending on the holiday!

Our master bath and bedroom were the VERY last things in our house to get decorated at all! We have a lot that we want to do to our house but for the most part every room is decorated and looks put together until we make the updates in the future. I hung this in the bathroom to organize all of my jewelry. It is super cute and I love that it makes my jewelry so organized!

We have a huge bathtub in our master bath but we didn't have anywhere for towels when you were taking a bath. I hung the shelf and added our initials and it really made that empty space behind the bath have a purpose, I love the way it turned out~!

A "T" wall. I saw the idea on pinterest. Some people love it and some people hate it. I think it is cute but decided to go small scale but it definitely added some pops of color to the wall!

This is my vintage window I found here at the consignment shop. I put a mini burlap wreath on it with a turquoise T and it made a huge difference on this wall!

 

All of these things are just little projects or crafts here and there but I forgot how much I LOVE doing this stuff! I can't wait to take more pinterest ideas and bring them to life during this year!!!