We are seriously working on this garden of ours every weekend. There’s really no rest. We’ve got a ton of (mostly house) projects going on at the same time and it seems there hasn’t been much time for play. Technically though, we love gardening, so though it’s work, it’s also play for us. It’s totally Ben’s hobby (We actually like doing it together, but he’s the one that invests all the time and research into it, I just do as I’m told) and thankfully when we’re outside working in the yard, the girls love joining us. It’s been especially fun for them lately since we’ve made the backyard much more relaxing for them.

It’s that time of year again when we start shopping for tomato plants. Typically, Ben grows over 20 varieties, but he’s telling me this year, he will probably only go with about 15. Though, if it’s anything like the orchard we’ve been working on, the tomato number will jump right back up to 20 soon enough. Normally, he orders his grafted tomatoes online, but this year he’s mostly getting them from local nurseries. This past weekend we went to our favorite one, Roger’s Gardens, and he came home with a few tomato plants and I got some edible lavender plants and caladium.

The girls are such troopers (we were there for 2 hours!) and they like looking at all the plants. Plus, this particular nursery is a bit fancy and there are a lot of little spots for them to ooh and ahh over. I’m thankful Ben is totally into gardening because of it we get lots of fresh fruits and veggies and a pretty yard!

on me: top and bottom, thrifted. shoes, c/o modcloth. the girls: dresses, misha lulu. leggings on true and brave, c/o hello apparel. moccs on glow, c/o freshly picked.

Sundays are filled with gathering with our church family, then hopping from Ben’s family to mine, so we made sure to do our own family Easter thing on Saturday. We went to Citrus State Park to go on a family picnic and do our egg hunt in an orange grove. Every time we have passed this park, True always wants to go and roam, but we never do, so we knew that a little time at the citrus park that afternoon was going to be perfect to celebrate Easter together.

It’s a massive orange grove, so we limited our eggs to one row and within 4 trees on each side of that row. Ben did a good job hiding the eggs and if we left some, then someone will get a surprise one day when they find it. The girls were totally into it, especially that little Glow. She watched what her big sisters were doing and she immediately knew what to do! It took us a bit of time to get situated after the girls ran around, Ben laying the eggs out, then doing the egg hunt, that we didn’t get to actually have our picnic. The park close time was earlier than we thought, so we had to skedaddle out of there. Instead, we drove down the road a bit, pulled over on the side of the road right next to the orange groves and had the picnic in our car. With 4 kids, you’ve gotta try and stay flexible when things don’t go as planned. I don’t always flex so easily, but this day, we all just rolled with it. Thankfully.

It’s a place not too far from us, so we’d love to go exploring more when we’re able to. Next time, we will be sure to allow for ample picnic time in the orange grove. Despite our picnic getting cut short, I think it’s obvious from these pictures that the girls still had the most lovely time. Wouldn’t you agree?!

I had True and Brave back to back, and after I had Brave, I pretty much didn’t venture out of the house by myself. It was fine by me because I’m a total homebody and also I love to stick to routines and didn’t want to interfere with their nap schedules. My kids thrive on routine. Then, Soulie was added to the mix and leaving with 3 terrified me, so you can imagine what happened when we moved up to 4. They were all so little and all took naps, so I didn’t mind not leaving the house. Ben does the grocery shopping and I just send him a list of what I need.

Now, True, Brave, and Soul are bigger and no longer nap, so it’s just Glow who naps (two times a day: 9am-12pm and 2pm-5pm). With that, I’m noticing the need to go on more adventures together. To actually leave the confines of our home. It does them good and it does me good too. The idea of leaving with all 4 by myself doesn’t scare me as much (as much is the key word here). Glow won’t ever nap in the car, so it does mess her up a little, but planning quick adventures out and coming back home before traffic hits (see, it all revolves around traffic here) isn’t so bad.

True, Brave, and Soul are getting so curious about the world around them that it does them an injustice to coop them up at home all day, every day. These girls of mine need to get out and explore, so I’m working on trying to give them opportunities to do so. Plus, we live in southern California where the beach, desert, and mountains are all within an hour or less of where we live. I better take advantage, don’t you think?! And if for some reason, we aren’t able to leave the house on a particular day, I’m making sure they spend it in the backyard playing. Lately, they’ve been spending hours out there. Being outside, just reminds us that the world is so much more than just our little family and home. It’s easy to live in a cozy little bubble, but we need to be reminded that there really is a whole world out there and we need to live intentionally and we need to live life well. We need to love and serve others beyond our little family, and honestly, I really suck at teaching my children that.

I don’t always feel like I’m living life well or intentionally. It’s more like I’m just trying to survive my days (and keep my head above water until it’s time to go to bed), but it’s something I need to keep in mind and work on. Sometimes a post about going to beach, turns into a little reflection. This is to remind myself… take the girls on more adventures and teach them how to serve others. I haven’t figured out exactly how to get better at both, but I’m working on it.

btw- they had a blast at the beach!

I woke up at 4am, picked up my friend Reese (and her bun in the oven) up at 5am (okay, 5 minutes after 5am), then we headed out towards Santa Barbara. We wanted to make sure to get out of the city before traffic hits and come back home before traffic hits. When you live in southern California, your outings revolve around traffic. You want to try and avoid it if you can!

It was a great drive up. Reese and I were chatty about everything and laughing about everything. We actually just met a year ago (as a result of her traveling to L.A. to meet her boyfriend’s family and friends), then she married said boyfriend (who is one of my closest guy friends), and they just moved back to Southern California from Minneapolis with a little baby on the way. Despite not knowing each other for very long, it seriously feels like we’ve known each other forever. She’s someone that I just feel comfortable speaking and laughing with despite only knowing each other for a short period of time. No awkward getting to know each other moments at all! I’m always thankful for kindred spirits and Reese definitely is one.

We got to Santa Barbara and walked around the beach, more like the cliff area of the beach. Then, we grabbed some yummy breakfast. After which, we continued about another hour northeast into the country until we reached our destination. The reason for the little road trip was to pick up some fantastic find on craigslist. It’s something Ben and I have been searching for and we finally found it! It’s a bench for our backyard and when everything is set up, I will definitely share pictures.

I found the listing Sunday morning and Ben and I would have picked it up Sunday afternoon, but the seller had work at 1pm, so we wouldn’t have made it in time. We didn’t want to chance waiting until our next chance to go together because I’m sure the bench would have sold had we waited a full week. We thought it would work out if I went on Monday morning. Thankfully Reese, who is a Starbucks manager and used to being up so early, was up for the challenge, we were able to borrow my dad’s truck, Ben had to leave the house at noon for work, so we had Steph, our babysitter, come watch the girls until I got home. We’re so happy it worked out and that we safely got there and back home. I love driving (as long as it isn’t in traffic) and I love road trips, so I had a blast even if I had to wake up before the sun did.

The bench is outside and we are still working on pulling things together for a cozy, comfy outdoor space, but it’s slowly coming along. We’ve been budgeting to be able to do some things to our backyard and that’s our main project for this spring (last spring was wood floors), so it’s been fun seeing it all come to fruition. Don’t worry… I promise to share it when it’s all done. Do you have any major house projects you plan on tackling this spring?

Sunday afternoon we went hunting for Camellias. I had horrendous allergies attacking me, but still we forged on and went to a nursery. When there’s a will, there’s a way. I went out to look for some on Saturday, but didn’t find what I was looking for and we hit the jackpot on Sunday and ended up buying not only 1, but 2 large Camellias. There were so large (15 gallon containers) in fact, that we had to literally stuff them in our car. I think the gentleman who stuffed them in thought we were crazy and scurried from our car as quick as possible because he didn’t want to be responsible if any mishap should happen to our car or our plants.

We had a blanket that draped between Glow and the plants that prevented her from pulling and chomping on the plants, and thankfully, she fell asleep on the car ride home. The plants were probably mostly up in Soul’s grill, and as we were driving she said, in her cute little Soulie voice, “Mommy, Papi, I can’t see Glowy!” Ben and I just started laughing because besides not being able to see Glow, the plants were literally pretty much covering her from seeing anything. I think this moment will be one of those that the girls will make fun of us for one day. We have a Toyota Highlander, so while it fits our family of 6, it is a tight squeeze, and then we made it even tighter with our large plants!

And don’t you just love how True, Brave, and Soul dress themselves?! Now, I personally wouldn’t have worn leopard pants with that dress, but when Soul put them on, I wasn’t going to contest it. I’m learning everyday, albeit a little slowly, to just go with the flow and relax. And yes, that’s Brave rockin’ that 80’s ponytail. Don’t really know where she learned that from, but that’s her new thing. Speaking of new thing, Lisa Leonard sent me this pretty necklace. I’m so jazzed that she now offers beautiful gold and brass jewelry along with her pretty silver pieces.

It was such a gorgeous day to be out looking for flowers and then spend the rest of the day gardening, even if my allergies were raging. I’ve been reading up on plant care for my Camellias (we use this book as a guide), but if any of you have any experience with those gorgeous flowers, please do share! I want to make sure these thrive so they can be enjoyed for many years to come.

on me: top, thrifted. trousers, vintage from viral threads. necklace, c/o lisa leonard. shoes, anthropologie. on all the girls: mostly misha lulu mixed in with vintage, with little bit of american apparel and soulie’s moccs c/o freshlypicked.

We’re slowly finding our regular routine again. It’s been totally out of whack for some time now, but the rhythm of our home is coming back to us. We started it back up with our farmers market trip. We go, load up on fruits and veggies, pick up some fresh pita and hummus, then head home to eat it all up for lunch! Well, not all the fruits as those are supposed to last us a week, but the girls eat so much than we run out so quickly. People used to ask us, “Is it expensive to have 4 kids?” We didn’t feel it a few years ago, but now that they all eat so much despite how tiny they are, the answer is, “YES!”

Soulie is our little eating monster. She’s seems to always have food on her mind. That girl can have a full breakfast and then by 10 o’clock she’s already asking for lunch. She will come up to me and say, “My hungry.” When she talks about her feelings it always starts with my… my tired, my hungry, my sad, and naturally we hear, “My toy!” often. At least she has correct usage with that one. Oh Soulie! That girl is such a riot!

Our market bag was sent over from Tukula. It’s this one. We love it because it holds so much and the pattern is beautiful! I have this one too and it’s so great for throwing all the junk I carry around for 4 kids when we’re out and about. These days it is just so much easier for me to use a cross body bag to keep my hands free for the little ones.