instagrams

you know instagram is my favorite app, right?
i love photos and i love capturing little moments throughout our days.
also, it's pretty much the only app i have because i have sooooo many photos on my phone taking up all the space.
it's so hard to delete them!

whenever people ask me "what's new with you guys?" i never really have anything glamorous to say.
we're just doing life.
one day at a time.
a happy life with our little peeps.
we like it. :)

i also like these vintage thermoses.
perfect for hot chocolate on a cool fall day.
i kept the coleman and sent the thermos to the booth.

we went to visit my mom & david's house a couple of weekends ago.
ruby had fun exploring outside and looking at my mom's pretty flowers.
they live way out in the country on the prettiest land.
we always love a visit out there.

i walked by his room the other day and saw him and thought, "man i love homeschooling."
also, i was a teensiest bit jealous and wished i could curl up in my bed with a book. ;)
but mostly just really happy that this is his life.

on the 16th we had the joy of celebrating AJ's birthday.
the kids get so excited about birthdays and they each made him a sweet card.
ruby kept saying, "birtday! birtday!"

AJ and i got to have a lunch date on his birthday.
so. fun. seriously best idea ever.

i made the best cheesecake in the history of ever and we had fun celebrating as a family that night.

i like to send AJ pictures throughout our day and he loves receiving them.
they can't all be just adorbs photos of the kiddos.
sometimes i gotta send the ones of our kids being total goobers.
like ruby wearing ginormo plastic ears and being super proud of herself. :)

to his future wife: you're welcome.
finley loves to vacuum and i love to let him. :)
also, saturday morning cleaning makes me super happy.

AJ took work off this whole week and the boys are on fall break.
we are having the best time.
we went to mt. kessler and it is my new fav-o-rite place.
seriously, i fell in love.
it is gorgeous. 
our family loves to go hiking together.
many of our best family times and memories are of being out in the woods together.
love. it. 

that is my child flying over my head at silver dollar city.
avery has NO fear. none.
deep breaths, mama. deep breaths.

ruby rode her first kiddie ride.
i was so proud of her.
little miss is getting brave. :)

we even got to meet up with my friend christy and her sweet girls for a few hours yesterday.
such a treat.
{nice face, ruby}

so that's us lately. what are y'all up to?




{if you instagram, i'm itsgoodtobequeen :)}


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farmland adventures

this weekend we went back to our favoritest fall place, farmland adventures.
we all looooove going out there and the boys were so excited when i told them AJ was taking off early on friday so we could go.

we started with the corn maze...we do the smaller corn maze for our little ones' sake.
ruby wanted me to hold her through the entire maze...i was really wishing i had brought the ergo.
let's just say AJ ended up carrying my purse through the rest of the maze.
why i even brought my purse escapes me.

everyone loves the corn box.
i think we need one.

avery really wanted me to take a picture of him doing this.
oh my.

fin and sawyer did the pony rides.
something we love about farmland adventures is that all the fun activities are included in the price.
the kids can do everything as many times as they want.
that is huge.

after pony rides we walked around the petting zoo & fed the goats.
there are tons of goats.

all of our kids love feeding animals.
they are pretty good at holding their hands nice and flat for the animals to eat the feed out of.

next we did the hay ride.
the hay ride is probably my favorite part.
it is so beautiful and peaceful out there.

they give everyone tortillas to feed the animals.
the chickens and the cows come running for their treats.
there was a cow running along side....like really close.... right beside us.
it was hilarious.

the man stopped out in the middle of the field so that we could feed the cows....that were coming up really close.
this cow was literally right up in my face.
hilarious.

after the hayride it was time to pick our pumpkins.
the boys had very specific ideas of what they wanted.
finley wanted the weirdest looking pumpkin possible.

we spent some more time there just letting the kids play around the hay bales and take extra pony rides.
ruby decided she wanted to take a pony ride.
i really thought she would freak out once i actually put her on the horse, but she did great.
she did cling to me really tight....but i was so proud of her for actually getting on the pony.  :)
she loves animals so i know she was so happy she did it.

this was our third year in a row to go to farmland and it is definitely our place.
we love it.

check out our first trip here. and also notice that our little finny fan's picture is up on farmland's home page.  :)


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reason #792 to shop at thrift stores

you can come up with cutie pie outfits like this:

i found these adorbs kelly's kids pants at the thrift store for two bucks.
they retail for around $36.
boom. stickin' it to the man.
and seriously, anything with a big ruffle at the bottom is perfection.
so stinkin' cute.

ruby had an extra black shirt in her closet so i dug through my fabric stash and found some red fabric to use.
i googled an arkansas shape, printed it out on card stock and used that for my pattern.

then i just sewed the shape right onto her shirt.
i didn't iron it or use interfacing or fray check.
i like to live on the edge like that.
also, i don't have time to make this a big drawn-out project.
i like the way the edges fray a bit on the shape after you wash it.

so this whole outfit cost me $2 and i think it's pretty darn cute.
and ruby loves it.

while i had all the materials out, i quickly made another shape to make a fun arkansas hoop art for my booth. :)

that black & white jersey material is an old t-shirt that i cut up.
i also used it for ruby's head band.

i love doing craft projects....especially when they turn out how i wanted. :)

and yes, this totally fueled my thrift store shopping even more.  :)

happy monday, y'all......what are you creating lately??

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yay it's instaFRIDAY! :)

well let's talk about the elephant in the room.
let's talk about this poor, lonely blog and how i've neglected it lately.
i am sorry, i really am.
i love writing and i so appreciate you hanging in there with me.
i miss the days when i posted five days a week and had time to read other blogs as well.

i am in a stage in life right now that is hard.
it's so, so good but also really hard.
i told AJ last night that i'll probably look back on this time in my life as the sweetest and also the hardest.
i wake up around 5:30, pour coffee down my throat and try to get my brain going to spend time with the Lord {currently going through a chronological reading plan, fyi}, i quickly get ready and then head to the kitchen by 7 at the latest to get breakfast going and start our day.
i work hard and long days and hit the pillow hard at night.
i was remembering last night how i used to have a break time every afternoon when avery and finley were little.
they would nap and i would eat a snack and recharge.
i would read blogs and work on my blog.
these days, there is just not time.
i am moving all the day long.
homeschool is intense because i'm managing all four at once.
in the afternoons when the littles are in bed we try to do some of the homeschool that requires my help or is more hands-on.
when we're done with that or on tuesdays and thursdays when the bigs are gone, i am usually cleaning, laundering or some other task.
so it seems lately, i've been able to sit down and write out my thoughts about once a week.
anyhow, all that to say, i'm still here.
i am not going anywhere.
i have tons of blog post ideas milling around in my head, it's just taking me longer than it used to......
so thank you for continuing to check in and read. :)

okay onto instafriday.... a.k.a., a smattering of cell phone pics from the last month or so. :

1. sawyer's first day of preschool. tear.
2. sissy's first day of mother's day out. i die of cuteness.
3. labor day bike ride.  we loved this and made such a sweet memory with our little family.
4. three handsome boys heading to church. we love our church!
5. avery and ruby. he is delighted by her & she's pretty happy about the attention. :)
6. silver dollar city day with friends!
7. it takes a village, people. :) {this is how we convince people to come to our moms of providence meetings....somehow it worked}.
8. oh girl.
9. homeschool. some days are longer than others.....

1. amazing fall sky. our Creator God showing off for us. :)
2. long live the slip n' slide! fall in the south still gives us some warm days here and there.
3. sissy "washes" bubba's hair.
4. how we get through target
5. ninjas! {with our neighbor-friend hudson}
6. last saturday was a rain boots and cabella's kind of day.
7. this boy. so much passion in one little body.  love sweet alone time with him.
8. girls night OUT. so thankful for these homeschool mama friends.
9. greek olympics day for fin's class.  toilet plunger javelin throwing, tricycle chariot races & more. fun!

sweet night celebrating grandmother's birthday.
i love hearing her stories and we all love spending time with her. :)

potter's house sundays.
blessed to serve.
learning to be more servant-like....such a process.

this is how i make dinner most days.
it's insane.
that little boy better be a chef for how many meals he's "helped" me make.

fall = boots and that makes me happy.
{i'm trying not to think about what comes after fall.}
we are loving the cool mornings and evenings.
i love having my windows open and a candle burning.
the days are still sun-shiny and warm so that is just perfect to me! :)

have a happy weekend, y'all!




p.s. i update very regularly on instagram. if you're on insta, i'm itsgoodtobequeen, if you want to 
follow along. :)
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