The baby. Friday afternoon, I dropped the girls off for piano lessons and the baby and I set off for lunch with friends. I remember one being tough when it was just True. It’s overwhelming to be a first time mom and there are a lot of changes (sleep?! what’s that?!)! But once you slowly (or we kind of did it quickly) work your way up to 4, and then get an afternoon with just one, the difference is amazing. One becomes a piece of cake.

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

I’m noticing this week that True and Brave are better at summarizing the central idea of a story. Yay!

Glow loves hats. It’s her jam of late. I guess once you turn two, you find your style.

Soul said the cutest thing, as she was crying with lots of tears she said, “True, you’re making my heart break.” Well, long story short, True told Soul she wasn’t loving God because she was being rude (and Soul admitted to being rude). I guess that made her heart break because she wanted to love God.

Thankful for our church family. They encourage us so much! If you’re in the LA area, come visit us!

Loved my friend Karen’s interview (read it here). She’s the brain behind Misha Lulu and one of the most creative (and kind) people I know!

I think the SoCal has finally arrived. At least, I hope.

Tonight is Salvage Life store opening! If you’re in SoCal, I think you should go!

Love this reminder. So true.

I want to plan a fall potluck with friends. I think it would be fun to have a fall celebration get together!

I want a cute flounce or flared skirt for fall. I might to try and make one.

This fall we’re working on major garden changes. Oh that yard of ours is always changing. So much trial and error goes on all the time, I can’t wait to share until things are finally settled and figured out!

This week’s been great. Despite being a shorter week since Monday was a holiday, it felt really long. It’s also been crazy hot, so we stay inside and there’s been a lot of learning, playing, and cuddling in bed (of course, there was fighting and yelling throw in the mix somewhere too).

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

I asked Soul her prayer request and she said, “That I trust God and my mom won’t lell (yell) at me.” So cute and funny!

Glow had two falls this week and busted her lip twice. That girl is so clumsy!

I’d love to make these crowns with the girls.

I don’t know if I could pull off a jumpsuit, but this one makes me wish I could.

These comfy dresses (that require no ironing after wash) look so fun for kiddos! Excited to have City Kid on board.

Love the fashion style in Le Catch. Most pieces are not in my price range, but it’s a fun blog read.

Thankful for my sweet husband who comes home and surprises me with ice cream. I love ice cream!

This vintage tapestry bag is cute and on sale!

The Salvage Life grand opening party is on Sept. 21st from 6-10pm (see invite here). I’m going, I think you should go too! Plus, there will be drinks and cupcakes and live music from Me & Mr. Cassidy, so you won’t want to miss out on this fun evening! RSVP to [email protected] so Beth knows how many cupcakes to have!

Oh! Officially signed up for the Zombie Run on Sept. 28th! Anyone in SoCal want to join? The bigger the group, the better! See last year’s zombie run here.

Happy weekending friends. We have nothing planned, but the next three weekends will be busy, busy, so we welcome having a restful weekend.

School started again this week. Summer went by too fast and the summer heat we evaded all season long, has finally arrived. The weather is supposed be giving us glimpses of fall, instead it’s insanely hot. We stay inside all day long because it’s way too hot to be outside. We did have to do errands on Friday and the kids kept asking to go back into the air conditioned car. Despite this heat though, I really feel fall. I can imagine the cool evenings and the coming cozy days, and I’m a little bit jazzed about it.

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

So thankful for our 3 day weekend because I love the extra day with Ben home.

Feeling good about the new homeschooling year.

Panache Box has an abundance of amazing children wear. They sent a box over and their pieces are gorgeous. If you don’t like the hassle of shopping, check them out.

The images from Misha Lulu’s new line is just gorgeous. This is one of my favorite shots.

I finally ordered our kitchen sink (it took me forever to decide). Excited to get the sink and faucet changed out. We’ve had a broken one for a few months now!

I had the worst throat pain for about a month now, and I had all sorts of bad ideas of what it might be. I went to the doctor and turns out I have a really bad nasal infection. Thankful for doctors and medicine!

If you’re stateside, enjoy the extra off day on Monday!!! I’m looking forward to an extra day of relaxing with my family.

My Glow looks so sweet sitting in this chair with her babies (bear and cat). I borrowed the chair from my friend Owen for the Babiekins baby shower this weekend, but my friend is selling it now, so if you’re in SoCal and interested do let me know.

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

Glow loves spicy food (in tiny bits at a time)!

True’s first loose tooth is almost ready to come out, but she’s so scared to pull it off!

I never get tired of hearing Me & Mr. Cassidy! They’ll be playing at the Salvage Life grand opening, so mark your calendars for Sept. 21st! I plan on going and would love to meet you!

Met the designers behind Frankie & Sue and I’m total loving their boho, colorful line of clothing for girls! Their harem pants for kids are so cute!

My girls would love to eat these Cinnamon Roll Waffles for breakfast. Okay, maybe I would too!

Thankful I was able to get one whole month of lesson planning done, so we’re totally ready to start (home) school again on Tuesday!

The girls had so much fun with their first sleepover (at our house) this past week!

This weekend flew by since I was mostly busy with prepping for the Babiekins baby shower. It was a good evening of friends, desserts, and lots of crafting! What was your weekend filled with?

I needed a little break from this space. I went to a homeschool conference, spend lots of time researching curriculum options, saw my childhood best friend and his wife’s new little baby enter this world, and was just sharing life and food with various people in our church family. I love hearing other people’s life stories over a good meal. We have one week of summer left before we get back into the swing of homeschooling next week (yikes!) and this week the girls are having some friends over for a sleepover so it will be me against 6 kids. This should be interesting. I don’t want summer to end, but I am excited for our homeschooling this year.

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

I got a crock pot! Woot! Woot!

Thankful for the movie/cuddle time we had with the girls last night.

My sister’s boyfriend, Andrew Ho, killed it at his art show. He is so legit and so many other totally legit artists were taking notice. He also received tons of inquiries on his pieces. I can’t wait to see how Andrew continues to grow!

This post (from my sister) was an encouragement to me.

I want to make this yummy looking cake.

Love my kimono from Salvage Life. I can’t wait for Beth’s official store opening party!

So thankful that Ben and I are done paying off our school loans (we got aggressive about it this year) and we are officially debt free. Yay! Well, we still have our house to pay-off, but that is good debt to have.

Excited about the Babiekins baby shower the whole Babiekins team is putting together this coming weekend!

Happy Monday friends!!!

This week it’s not a picture from my instagram, but our photo booth pictures we took at the fair! I seriously love these so much and I think I plan on going until we can no longer all fit in that little booth. Until then, we’re going to keep trying hard to squeeze in. True is on Ben’s lap, and Soul is on True’s, then Glow is on my lap and Brave is standing in the front. Look how cute Glow’s face is in that last frame of the family one… she looks a little bored! HA! In the black and white strip, we had to be quick grabbing each girl for her kiss from mommy and papi (that was a little crazy trying to go so fast all cramped in the booth), but we loved the result! These little strips of memories are so special to me.

This week’s learned, links, and thankfulness…

Thankful that True and Brave have taken charge of certain responsibilities in the house, but for some reason, when it comes to their room, it’s like pulling teeth to get them to clean it!

Thankful Ben and I got a date night in on Friday.

Loving our Tuesday Dinner Club! So blessed to hear how God has worked in the lives of my friends.

Happy to have this baby shower done and onto planning the next one for Priscilla and Babiekins Mag!!!

Glow is starting to be able to tell me when she goes potty. I cannot even imagine the day I no longer have any children in diapers, but I know it will be here soon enough.

Seriously, this mild SoCal summer is so great.

Thankful my mama had another birthday! Every year she gets older, she looks younger. I hope I get that anti-aging gene.

Okay, so Ben still hasn’t ordered my crock pot because he says from his research all the reviews on a pressure cooker are much more favorable. Any thoughts on crock pot versus pressure cooker? I told him you all have been sending me crock pot recipes, so that’s what I’ve had my heart set on.