Are you bored of every blogger talking about how insanely busy life is? I think life is busy in general for everyone, and those who blog (me included), just like to blab about it. It’s probably monotonous, but it is what it is, and this is where I continue to blab about it… we’ve been so on top of school these days. It makes me excited! And we’re actually ahead in math (we’re never ahead in math). We’ve finished Story of the World: Ancient Times and we’re heading to the middle ages. Brave, my informational text lover, has taken it upon herself to re-read our whole ancient times curriculum. That girl scored high in the informational text assessment test she had to take online, so I guess she wants to up that score even more! I think we’ve been doing so well in our homeschooling this week, we might be able to take Friday off (since we also did do school on Veteran’s Day), and that my friends, is part of the beauty of homeschooling. It isn’t for everyone and it definitely does take discipline, but it’s what is right for our family right now.

Other than school stuff, we’re going to start some Thanksgiving projects and we’ve been doing lots of baking. Ben and I have really been wanting to teach the girls how we can serve others and the community we live in, so we’ve been trying to bake things for others and have people over for dinner. Despite how open I may seem in this space, I am really an introvert, just an extroverted one. My Ben is not an extroverted introvert like me, he’s just straight up introvert.

And while most of you are probably blissfully basking in the wonderfulness that is fall, it was 95 degrees here today. Ugh. Fall, where are you?! We skip out on the challenges of snow, so maybe we’re even. What do you think?

I’m thankful the cleaning we did on my birthday has pretty much stuck around, thus we’re still enjoying a decently clean house. I’m looking forward to Thanksgiving week when we have an official week off of school (and I’m hoping I don’t get called in for jury duty), so that I can spend even more time purging. It just feels so good that I think I’m addicted.

Now I’m switching subjects (yet again), the devastation in the Philippines is just so sad. Here I am (and most everyone in the blog world) ranting about too much junk or what junk we want next, and in the Philippines, there are thousands upon thousands who have lost everything when Typhoon Haiyan hit. I’m Filipina and while I’ve never been to the Philippines, my heart goes out to everyone there. My parents are supporters of a missionary group called Amazing Grace Missions and the island that this particular missionary group is located on is near Tacloban, which was the worst hit city. The pastor lost his home, along with the schools and churches that were built, and the cottages that were there for other missionaries. My mom was telling me how sad she is and that we might forgo Christmas presents this year because their resources are going to be helping that mission group rebuild their homes. I told her we were way more than okay with that! Seriously. If you’re the praying type, please pray for all those affected, and if you are led to help, I’d say the Red Cross or UNICEF is a good place to start.

Thanks for checking in to my rant and share for the day. Sorry this post was probably all over the place, but that pretty much sums me up lately. xoxo

These girls sure do deserve an award! They are such bright girls and how much they take in and understand always amazes me. I see how their minds grow everyday and I’m so proud of them. They really work hard learning all the new concepts I’m throwing at them. Also, they have their crazy mama as their main teacher, so they for sure deserve something special for putting up with me!

It’s cute that they wanted to wear matching outfits this day. They pulled the dresses out over the weekend and had them laying out until it was time to get dressed to go to their one day a week enrichment classes.

on true: dress, misha lulu (can be purchased here). shoes, gymboree. on brave: dress and leggings, misha lulu. shoes, hand me downs. hat, dollar store.

1) The new shelves Ben put in for me in the craft/guest room a couple weeks ago. 2) Soul always colors on her nails because she wants to wear nail polish. 3) Still mattress shopping.

I love Instagram. It’s such a great little way to quickly catch snippets. The girls love scrolling through and looking at pictures too. They’ve been know to sneak in a picture or two (without my permission) and my BFF always texts me to let me know I’ve been hacked. Those kids! If you wanna see more of my ig snippets, just follow along @rubyellenbratcher.

Though my main birthday request was to stay home and clean, another one was to go and find a pretty cactus to bring indoors. Yes, it might sound crazy to have an indoor cactus, especially with young children around, but I was sure there had to be a spineless one that would definitely be kid friendly enough to have inside. Thus, Ben took me to a local cactus nursery to see if we could find one that fit the bill.

The nursery looked small, but there were so many different varieties all over the place. Not only that, they were giant cacti that were planted over 40 years ago. Those were insane! The owner lives on the property and has been selling cacti for over 50 years; he had so many different varieties! Ben and I had a good time walking around looking at all the different types. Of course, we had to be careful when we’d take a step back because there were prickly guys everywhere!

We found some cacti that had the shape I was looking for (and would do well indoors), but they had little spines! That was no bueno for being kid friendly. We were just about to give up our search for one when we spotted a little guy about 2 feet tall looking nice and spineless! I internally did a happy dance. The owner informed us that it was a type of mutated cacti and it indeed is spineless. We paid for the little guy and took him home. I still need to get my cactus in a ceramic pot and find the perfect spot in our house. Once I do, I’ll introduce you to him! Are you a cactus lover or do the spines intimidate you?

My big girls. I can’t believe how fast time has flown. I remember them being itty bitty and now these girls are the ones I depend on to help make my days slightly easier (and sometimes they make it harder too). They’re good at putting away the dishes, grabbing me something I need (though they usually fight about who gets to grab it), and helping keep an eye on Glow. I know I sometimes get frustrated with them because I expect them to already know what to do, but really, they’re just 6 & 7, and sometimes they listen and sometimes they don’t. My job as their mother is to train them. They don’t come out already knowing what to do, so it’s my job to patiently teach them (even if sometimes it takes awhile for them to get it), so I need to remember… Ruby, they’re just kids! Take a chill pill. 

Today, we had a really good day together. We went on a field trip with their theatre class to watch a play and then we had a lunch date. I definitely need to try and squeeze in some special dates with them more often. It was just so nice to be able to have a bit of time just the three of us.

on true: dress and leggings, c/o fab kids  (love that they put together full outfits for you!). shoes, c/o old navy (worn here). on brave: dress and leggings, c/o fab kids. shoes, gap.

Since last year I went on a birthday trip, we had been planning to do another one this year. Though the week leading up to my birthday weekend, I didn’t want to go, and all I wanted to do was stay home for my birthday and clean. Am I lame or what? My sister and friends were trying to convince me not to do that, but it’s what excited me the most! The girls would still be spending the weekend with my parents, so the idea of being able to clean the house while they weren’t here sounded like the most fun idea (I’m weird, aren’t I?!). So that’s exactly what we did! Ben and I did throw in 2 dinner dates, get to do some mattress shopping (we still haven’t picked one), and he did take me cactus shopping (another birthday request), so I think I made out pretty good.

The actual day of my birthday I cleaned all day long. My horrific throw-it-in-and-close-the-door room is actually looking more like a room, and we got rid of a lot of junk. Both Ben and I cleaned different parts of the house, and our entire house is feeling more manageable. I told Ben not to make me breakfast in bed since the girls weren’t here, and to hold off on giving his present. We agreed we would celebrate the next day as my birthday, so the girls could be part of it all. My birthday was such a productive cleaning day and it’s all I wanted.

We did end up celebrating it the next day and I got the family tradition of breakfast in bed. It was really cute how they made foxes from the waffles! Apparently, it was True’s idea and she was inspired by something she saw in a magazine. The girls had been “working” on my presents for awhile now, so I was excited (and nervous) to finally see what it was. My heart was melting as I opened each one to see their cute creations and cards! True made me a recipe book and Brave made me a pen holder. They also wrapped a bunch of other things that were already mine and gifted it back to me (for example, my dry erase marker, nail polishes, rings, necklaces, highlighters, and the list goes on…)! I was wondering where some of those things went. Really though, their handmade cards and gifts are the sweetest things this mama could get.

The rest of my belated birthday was nice and chill. The girls got to watch some shows, while I got to do a little bit more cleaning, and Ben took care of all our meals (and cleaned some more too!). We had a nice family dinner together and Ben made one of my favorite dishes. It was such a simple birthday and Ben kept calling it my “funny birthday” because all I did was clean. He was feeling bad because that’s what we were doing, but I kept reassuring him, it’s what I really wanted. I just wanted to be able to give the house a good purge and clean, so that my days with my girls are much less of housekeeping and more love giving to my little ones. My heart is feeling very full and loved at how great it is to now be 32, and have my little 4 sweethearts and my loving husband to share all this with. To me, it was the most perfect way to celebrate my 32nd birthday.

Have you ever just wanted to clean for your birthday?