life hack & monthly haircut

My kids go through a lot of food.

My son is an endless pit, and Lacey not letting her brother ever have one up on her with anything, has decided to follow suit.  

One of their favorite snacks is fruit and over the years I have always been frustrated with how quickly I have to get through our fruit before it goes bad and I end up throwing it out and wasting a ton of money.

I spend a little time (ok, a lot of time) browsing Pinterest after the kids go to bed, and I came across one I just had to try.

It claimed to keep your strawberries fresher, for weeks longer, with one little trick.

Vinegar and water.

Easy  peasy.

First I combined 1/4 cup vinegar with 4 cups of cold water.

Then I just pour my container of strawberries into the water mixture and swoosh around a bit.

Little tid bit, this also gets rid of any bacteria left on the strawberries and no your strawberries won't taste like vinegar, promise!

It doesn't take long, just a few seconds to give them a good coat. 

I then lay them out to dry on a towel, and store them in the fridge.

No joke, my strawberries lasted for several weeks like this, when before I would notice them getting smooshy and bad after about a week. 

You have to try this out and let me know if it works for you! I even tried it on my blueberries, and it worked with them as well.

Nd just for fun, Maverick got his monthly haircut today so I have to share a pic. I'm always amazed by how well he does for being so little. He goes every 6 weeks.

Happy Thursday everyone!

xoxo

sibling love : park fun

It has been raining a lot here the past few weeks. It has kept me and the kids inside a lot, which makes for some pretty long days! Today it was cloudy, but warm (and no rain!) so I decided to head to the park with the kids. 

My kids LOVE the park. Maverick usually stays in the stroller while Lacey plays, but now that he is walking, he wanted out. So I put my mommy fear away and let him explore a bit!

He was so proud of himself! I need to get him some shoes, but I love his little bare feet! I left Lacey out of shoes for the longest time. I just think it's so much better to have them in their bare feet for as long as possible.

He loved this tunnel!

We love this park. The only complaint I had was there was no baby swing. Well a few weeks ago, to my surprise, they finally put one up! Needless to say, Maverick loves it. And his sister loves to push him.

Lacey is so good with her brother. She found a beetle in the tunnel and made sure to pull him back to protect them and even took a stick to push it out so it wouldn't bother him. This is such a big step for her because she is TERRIFIED of bugs. I've been trying so hard to help her get past her fear and I think she's getting past it (slowly.)

We had a good evening. Getting out in the sun for a little while always boosts my mood. 

-raindrops-

Today was a good day.

My husband, Aaron, was able to come home from the hospital.

He has a history of bowel perforations after having his large intestine removed due to his Ulcerative Colitis, so anytime he has a stomach issue, he ends up in the hospital.

The stress of his health has really worn on me over the years. I joke and tell people I think I have some form of PTSD from all of his health scares. Anytime he has a pain of any sort, I get sick to my stomach. Too many times, I've planned out in my head how I would tell my children their daddy passed away. It's morbid to think about, but it's real. I've almost had to have the talk a few times, and it's scared me to death. My kids are what get me through. I have to put on a brave face foe them, so that gets me through the days. They keep me pretty busy not only physically, but mentally. God knew what he was doing blessing me with each one of them.

This evening it stormed and Lacey begged me to play in the rain. I watched her as she giggled and jumped in the puddles, and turned her face up to the sky to catch the raindrops. It was good for my soul. My kids suck every ounce of energy out of me, and some days I wonder how I pulled through it all, but they replace it with a beauty that's hard to describe unless you are a parent yourself. Sometimes I feel as if my heart could burst with too much love. It makes the exhaustion bearable.

Today was chaotic, but it was beautiful.

xoxo

adult life is HARD

Can I get an AMEN?

Being an adult is hard. DANG hard. 

I spend most of my mornings like this

I am a stay at home mother to my two littles.

Translation-I thrive on coffee.

I love being at home, raising my kids, but it doesn't mean it's easy.

Sometimes I'm jealous of the fact my husband gets to leave all day to go to work.

I crave adult interaction and the thought of being around adults all day sometimes seems, dare I say, heavenly?

But then I have the moments like these

& I thank God that he has provided us the blessing that is letting me stay home with my kids.

When you're daughter hangs her arms around your neck and whispers in your ear

"You're the best mommy in the world."

and your son walks into your arms for the first time

and you actually got to witness it...

all the exhaustion, all the stress, all the chaos,

it just seems to fade

& you breathe in those moments 

& pray they last forever.

Being an adult is hard. There are struggles, and responsibilities, and roadblocks...I know.

Each day it seems as if a new hurdle has to be jumped.

The past few days have been harder than most.

Some nights, after I tuck my kids into bed, I wonder if I was enough.

Was I good enough? Did I yell too much, did I not discipline them enough, did they watch too much TV, did I tell them I loved them enough.

But in this moment, right now, I choose to be thankful.

Thankful for my children, thankful for my husband, thankful for a roof over my head.

I am imperfect, my life is imperfect, but in my flaws I find beauty.

The act of waking up each day to two little ones yelling "Momma!" is beautiful enough for me.