Joyfully Weary

I don't know how I've gotten so lucky, but I have been blessed with amazing friends. New and old,  I have friends who have become family. I tend to hold my cards pretty close, and I'd prefer to keep the ugly parts of me hidden. When someone really gets to know you, though, and decides to love and accept you despite your awkwardness and the ugly struggles of your heart - it is such a blessing!  This past week our family was able to go on a mini vacation with some of our dearest friends. We rented a villa together at Kalahari resorts in Wisconsin . This group is really special; not only do I adore all of the moms, but their kiddos are some of my kids' best friends. We had a lot of fun exploring the water park. We also had plenty of good talks and lot of laughs.  All the kids spent a lot of time on this obstacle course. I soon as a saw it I knew it would be right up Mini Man's alley.  BabyZ is a water park enthusiast! He loved al...

I already shared earlier in the month about our  V-day traditions.  This has become one of my favorite holidays...I'm a bit like a kid, though, and get excited for every celebration. It did this mama's heart so much good to sit down and write what I love about my kiddos; they are such unique-fun-extraordinary people.  Life can get too hectic sometimes and I loose sight of what a joy they are. We have these little tin mailboxes, that I picked up at Target's dollar spot; Jeremy's been leaving little notes in them before he leaves for work. I think I'm going to start doing the same. There is just something about the written word...it seems to have more power to change outlooks/attitudes than spoken words do. The kiddos where all pumped to look for their hearts again. Mini Man always asks us to hide his really well and I think we succeeded this year. He was the last to find all of his hearts. We actually gave up on the last one. He found it a couple hours later...

This past weekend we went to the American Girl Place to celebrate these three girls birthdays. They all have January or February birthdays and decided that instead of a party they wanted to have dinner with each other and their dolls at the American Girl Place. They all have hand-me-down dolls: Felicity, Kristen, and Samantha that they are very attached too.  Too make it even more special we invited grandmas to join us. How cute do Maca and Little Lady look in their matching red coats? I am so grateful that Little Lady has these friendships. I am still close to friends I met in first grade girls scouts. I'm hoping these three will also be life long friends.  They are great girls who also come from families who also love the Lord. Their  moms are actually good friends of mine. It's such a blessing to know that her best friends are being raised in families with similar values.  I love how Little Lady can be completely herself w...

It's been forever since I've sat down and put together one of these posts. I'm still taking outfit pictures, though. My family is so sweet; they pose almost every Sunday for family outfit picture; I'm much better at posting those on Instagram . This outfit is two dresses layered on top of each other. Both of them where thrift finds. I love the pattern on the top dress, but it's a little too short for me to wear comfortably.  My mother-in-law works at Banana Republic  and she picked up this coat for me at a steal of a deal. I adore it; it's warm enough for hiking with the kids but also a bit dressy. These two dresses ↑↓ are both from Antropologie . The one above is several years old. The one below  I picked up last summer. You can probably tell that I'm a sucker for bright colors, flowers, and texture.  I always get complements on my gold shoes . They are actually a  DIY .  Almost eight years ago Jeremy and I where in Florence (he...