Dose of reality. Yes, you may have seen our previous kid room tours (here, here, and here), but this is more of reality. The not styled, very much played in, kid decorated room of True and Brave. I told them to clean it up and this was the result. Looks a lot different from when I clean up, but hey, I guess it was clean. Sort of.

If you read blogs and get frustrated about your own state of messiness, thinking that you can never get things as neat as the homes you see online. I am here to tell you, that at least for me, my home is never as clean as my home tours that circulate. I try to keep it as tidy as I can, but life happens everyday. 

I speak for myself, but I think as a blogger, you can get easily caught up in how you want your life portrayed online. Or as a blog reader, which I am also, you get caught up in the wanting that and wanting this and thinking those things will make you happy. I love reading blogs and I think there is a wealth of inspiration and learning that comes from some of them, but make sure to keep your heart in check. Always be content (and thankful) with what you already have and be honest. I read something from Proverbs this morning that stood out to me, “A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot.” Oh man. I don’t want my bones to rot.

Happy Monday! Be wise and discerning in your blog reading today.

p.s. don’t you love how brave laid out her clothes on her bed? hilarious!

Holla! That’s just what I feel like saying every time I see the wood floors in my house. It’s almost completely installed in the entire downstairs, upstairs will have to wait for another year, but we still have a long way to go until we are done. By the way, when it comes to house stuff like this, we aren’t DIYers, so we are working with some people to get the job done. After this weekend, next up will be the sanding, staining, and sealing of the floors. We’re gonna be brave and go with what we love and are doing white stained wood. I am pee in my pants excited, not to be confused with pee in my pants nervous, but maybe I am feeling some of that too. Eeks!

This week’s learned and links…

It was Ben’s first week back at work and it was a tough one with him not being home. 

Glow is starting to sit up now. She falls down real fast though.

We got some organic pest control to get rid of ants. Be gone ants, we don’t like you.

Once my house is back to normal making these peach cobbler muffins. 

Loving this necklace from Homako. She might be my favorite jewelry designer yet! 

Obsessed with hanging chairs and hammocks, see my houzz ideabook for proof. After the wood is done, one of those will be going up inside the house.

Giveaway winners announced here, here, and here. Follow on twitter, to see if you won! 

Got this black bathing suit from modcloth, but thinking about exchanging it for this. Ben says he likes black better though.

I love hearing Ben speaking spanish (he’s not fluent, just conversational). Makes me think of when he read a Pablo Neruda poem to me and whoa baby… hot, hot! Baby #5 here we come! Kidding. Well, only about that baby 5 part. 

House stuff pervades our weekend over here. What do you have going on where you’re at?! HOLLA!

What’s this girl’s favorite thing to do during lunch time at school? Walk around the playground collecting rocks and sticks. She always comes home with quite the collection.

p.s. make sure you check out misha lulu’s new site. it always gets better and better. 

One home cooked meal this week and that’s because we are pretty much quarantined upstairs. All the carpet is gone downstairs and it is quite dusty, so the kitchen is only in use for quick things.

I did get to make some baked salmon…

I merged this recipe with the olive tapenade in this post and this is what came up. It was good, but I don’t think it fit our taste palate. We like salmon with spice and though the flavors were good, they were just too mild for us. It did give me a chance to try baking salmon in foil, but for me this came out dryer than when we grill it. I prefer salmon grilled. 

For veggies we had roasted brussels sprouts…

Ben made it with a little bit of lemon juice, zest, garlic, salt, and pepper. This combo always wins with us. Here’s a recipe you might want to try. Brussels sprouts are really good! Really!!!

I have a feeling there won’t be much cooking again next week, but I will still plan, just in case. 

Monday: Seafood Medley Pasta

Tuesday: Spaghetti and Meatballs

Wednesday: Oven Baked Taquitos

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday: Pizza

What’s your family’s favorite vegetable?

|week 15|week 14|week 13|week 12|week 11|week 10|week 9|week 8|week 7|week 6|week 5|week 4|week 3|week 2| week 1|

Six months.

Seven months.

My littlest love. She is so good. I almost feel bad because she rarely cries, so she rarely gets carried. This littlest one is also kind of a string bean. She is really thinning out a lot and stretching. I think she will be the tallest one yet! She’s got the army crawl down and it sounds like she says “mama”, though I really think it is just murmurs that sound like it. At this rate, she will be speaking full sentences before Soul! And lately, for some reason, every time I put her in her pink chair, she cries. Maybe pink’s just not her color.

See the rest of the series here.

*inspired by nicole from making it lovely. 

I really like having a house full of girls. I think Ben likes it too. Though, the girls are far from puberty, but maybe when we’re all PMS-ing at the same time in the future, it won’t be so fun for him. My guess is he will declare a need for a man-cation and take off for a bit. Maybe. But then again, he needs us, so maybe he’ll just stick out the mood swings and will serve us up some chocolate. Yes, chocolate is always good during those times. At least I think so. 

Funny thing is that people often ask Ben, “How is Ruby when she’s on PMS?” and he will say he doesn’t know because ever since we got married, I have either been pregnant or breastfeeding so Aunt Flo has pretty much been non-existant. We are settled on only four kids and Aunt Flo did make her appearance last month for the first time in a long while, so from here on out, Ben will probably have an answer to how I am during PMS-ing. By the way, an ex-boyfriend of mine always thought that stood for pissed off mood swings, which I think sums it up nicely. And based on last month’s experience, Ben now knows that I get cranky. Bah-humbug! Ben has a long while until he’s got a house full of scrooges, so for now we keep enjoying them in their joyful, kid-like state, except on the occasion they all start fighting, which is more often than not. 

Anyhow, I like to call Brave and True “The Bobbsey Twins” not sure what that means, but I remember the school custodian calling me and my best friend that when we were in grade school, so it seems appropriate now. I must mention that the straw bowler hat True and Brave are wearing is my fave. You’ll never guessed where I picked those up… the 99 cents store! Best 99 cent store find ever. Hands down. Unless you have something better to share!

We’ve been busy over here with flooring finally coming in. We still have a long way to go until it’s done, but it will be so pretty. Not only are we doing home renovating, but there will be some blog renovating as well. Please don’t mind the little changes going on. It is all exciting stuff for us and we hope that you get excited too. I love being able to share in this space and I hope you love coming to visit too! We appreciate you friends! 

on me: dress, vintage. shoes, c/o blowfish shoes. 

on true: bowler hat, 99 cents store. dress, misha lulu. shoes, salt-waters.

on brave: bowler hat, 99 cents store. dress, vintage. shoes, salt-waters.

on soul: dress, vintage. jeggings, target. shoes, salt-waters. 

on glow: onesie, vintage.