What's Up Wednesday

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! Welcome to my double post Wednesday. I'm sharing this post and I also wrote about the books I read in August. I'd love for you to check them out! I'm linking up with Sheaffer and Shay for this monthly blog post. I'll jump right in!

What we're eating this week:

Well, I'm writing this on Sunday night, but I have ordered my groceries and know what's on the menu. This week we're eating spinach quiche, taco soup and air fried shrimp and pasta and/or veggies. Other nights will be chicken salad for one of us and leftovers for me. You can scroll to the end of this post for my quiche recipe.

Have I mentioned that I'm ready for fall? I am.

What I'm reminiscing about:

Pool days and an amazing summer. I am kind of over swimming once August hits, don't ask why...but I am. I enjoy this activity so much during the warmer months, but I guess as August comes, I seem to switch over from summer mode to fall mode and I almost never swim during the month. It was lovely while it lasted and I still have a tan to say that it happened. 

What I'm loving:

So many things! Coffee each day made a new way—with less sugar and using a new-to-me oat milk creamer.

One I use in the mornings and the flavored one I use at night. 

Choir rehearsals have changed to Wednesday nights, and I've never been so glad for anything. We used to rehearse on Sunday afternoons and I never loved those long afternoons after a full morning of serving at church.

My worship pastor borrowed my phone one night so that he could snap this picture of us mid-rehearsal while he was helping us with something in the tech booth. He had left his down there at his stand.

I'm loving these town square views when I go into work each week. I can't wait to see them put out the fall decorations! 

What we've been up to:

All the usual things! Everyone is working and enjoying hanging out with friends and such. I'm keeping busy at home and with my job, and I'm still finding time to read and to watch the movies and shows that I love. I wrote about all of this yesterday, when I shared about some things I've been doing lately and how this has changed my life. 

What I'm dreading: 

I'm kind of dreading the months to come only because every single year, this is my "sick" time of year. I am almost always sick near Thanksgiving, but maybe that won't be the case this year. Even so, I'm not really dreading the months to come, because the b-e-r months are my favorite months of the year! Other than that, I really can't think of anything.

What I'm working on: 

I'm working more on maintaining our house. We're also working on a plan to clean out our attic and to somehow get it all organized up there. I'm trying to keep things orderly and organized while having less time here during the day. I'm barely figuring it out and scraping by, but it hasn't been bad.

What I'm excited about:

I have three big trips coming up this fall! One is at the end of September, and the other two are in October but I'll share more about that later. Well, I'll give you a hint. 

What I'm watching/reading:

I'm watching Chesapeake Shores on the Hallmark channel. When I'm finished with that, I'm going to watch The Good Witch all over again...I have only seen three seasons of that show and want to watch it all the way through. With Todd, I'm watching a documentary on the most dangerous places to live and we also started The Terminal List. 

I'm reading good books! Check out my second post today about the books I read in August. Here's a link for you. 

What I'm listening to:

Well, because the fall decorations are out, I've officially switched over to my fall playlists on Spotify. Think Father of the Bride, Alan Silvestri, Steve Tyrell, and all those jazzy singers that I love so much.

Currently I am also listening to the show Cops while I write blog posts for the week and Todd watches tv.

What I'm wearing:

Darker colors, neutrals, black sandals, and big hair.

I felt like this on Sunday. My hair kept growing outward. 

What I'm doing this weekend:

I'll be home alone for the next two weekends. Our local fair starts next weekend and Todd will be working all three weekend nights two weeks in a row. I anticipate going to my mom's house for dinner (ahem, Bill...get ready) and watching movies/shows at home. 

What I'm looking forward to next month:

Traveling! I'm not necessarily looking forward to flying to get there, but the excitement of travel outweighs my disdain for flying. 

I always love these kinds of posts and love to hear from you. Tell me some things you're excited about that are coming up. I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all! 

the books I read in August

 

Happy Wednesday, friends and welcome to my double post day. Don't miss out on either one today...I linked up with some other bloggers for a What's Up Wednesday post and I also wanted to share the books I read this month, even though it was a slow reading month for me. It was slow for a couple of reasons: one, I started working part time and two, I could not find a book that I liked enough to continue reading. Don't you hate it when that happens? That being said, I'll jump in with this post. Click on each image to be redirected to Amazon. All of the descriptions I share are from Good Reads. 

First up was The Beach House by Rachel Hanna. 

⭐⭐⭐⭐// really liked it

Julie's husband of 21 years was living a secret life, which ended her marriage and forced her to start over alone at 43 years old. Faced with a new reality, she decides to rebuild her life on an island off the coast of South Carolina and learn to make it on her own. The only thing she isn't expecting is to be thrown together with her estranged sister, the flower child wanna-be, yoga teaching bane of her existence She also doesn't expect to meet a handsome stranger who will help her transform the money pit she accidentally bought into the home of her dreams. As she starts to create a life she loves, her husband causes a wrench in her plans once again. Will she be forced to help the man who broke her heart? Or will she finally break away and live life on her terms? 

Personal thoughts: Though I predicted how it turned out, I really enjoyed this book. It was clean, which I always appreciate and it was an extremely quick read. I went ahead and got the next one in the series to see what happens next. 

My second book of the month was Ten Beach Road by Wendy Wax.

⭐⭐⭐⭐// really liked it

Madeline, Avery and Nikki are strangers to each other, but they have one thing in common. They each wake up on morning to discover their life savings have vanished, along with their trusted financial manager, leaving them with nothing but co-ownership of a ramshackle beachfront house. Throwing their lots in together, they take on the challenge of restoring the historic property. But just as they begin to reinvent themselves and discover the power of friendship, secrets threaten to tear down their trust and destroy their lives a second time.

Personal thoughts: I've been wanting to read this one a long time! I really liked it, as I stated above, but I found out that it was a series and I don't know if I'm that committed to it. I honestly don't know if I'm going to read the second book. I'll think about it and let you know. It was really good, don't get me wrong, but there were times when it just didn't move along fast enough for my personal taste. It's my first Wendy Wax book. Have you read her before? Do you have thoughts?

Lastly, I read Friends Forever by Danielle Steel.

⭐⭐⭐⭐//really liked it

`Five children meet on the first day of kindergarten. In the years that follow, they become friends and even more than friends. Together, they will find strength, meet challenges, face life's adventures, endure loss, face stark realities, and open their hearts. In this moving novel, Steel traces their unforgettable journey--full of tests and trials--as three boys and two girls discover the vital bonds that will last a lifetime. Friends Forever Gabby, Billie, Izzie, Andy and Sean, each bursting with their own personality, strikingly different looks and talents in sports, science and the arts. Each drawn by the magical spark of connection that happens to the young. At the exclusive Atwood school, on a bright September day, they become known as the Big Five. In this rare world, five families grow closer and five children bloom beside one another, unaware of the storms gathering around them. As they face each age and their lives separate and diverge, the challenges and risks become greater, the losses sharper, and the right paths harder to choose in their journey of friendship, survival and love. 

Personal thoughts: Danielle Steel's books never let me down. Some I really like, others I love and some I skip all together. After a month of duds, this was what I needed to get me back on track. Have you read her books? Her earlier books are a little "smutty", but her writing style changed and I love almost all of what she's written in the last fifteen years. She's written SO MANY books! 

I would love to hear from you now! Have you read anything new and noteworthy lately? If so, I always love suggestions! Do you read differently when the seasons change? I'm more prone to reading suspense and mystery during the colder months. Don't ask why, because I couldn't tell you! Feel free to tell me what to read now. Thanks for reading my blog! Love to all. 

p.s. Check out my old Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books that I pulled out recently! I love old books.

share 4 somethings

 

Happy Tuesday, friends! I'm linking up with Heather for this monthly post, where we all share what we loved, gleaned, braved or saved and achieved on the last Tuesday of each month. I'll jump right in!

Loved. 

I have loved a new routine that I have. If you're not a regular reader, then scroll on past, because I sound like a broken record. I have always dreamed of being a stay at home wife and mom, so imagine my joy when I discovered that I got to live out that dream. It was AMAZING for all the years I (mostly) stayed home with the boys when they were little. I said "mostly" because I almost always did something, even while staying home. I've worked at mom's day out programs, I have provided early morning care in our home before school each morning, I worked part time at their school while they were in the local elementary school...but when I started homeschooling them, I stopped all of that to do just that. Fast forward ten years, and they're all grown, so I had been entertaining the thought of getting a part time job. I applied to our local library twice and was never given a return call or email, and then our oldest son got a puppy. I committed to staying home with her to help train her and so that she wouldn't have to live in her kennel for too long during the daytime. Now that she's older, I decided it was time to try again, so I applied at a local florist and again, never heard from them.

Then one night after church I was talking to my best friend at dinner and when I told her this story and was saying how strange it was that I kept not hearing from them even though I'd basically been promised the job, she started laughing. She told me her boss had been trying to get her to get me to come to work with them for months, but she never did because she was afraid it would mess up our friendship. Spoiler alert: it hasn't! I'm starting my fourth week there this week and I am still loving it as much as I did when I started. I now work part time at an attorney's office on our town square, and I do receptionist work. I work at my own pace and can work any amount of time that I want, along with whatever days and hours that I want. I love the flexibility the most. I decided to work on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays. (I also love the cool office that I work in.)

I am continually amazed at how God works and how He turns our hearts from one thing to something different. I am so thankful for His provision for me to have something fun to do that fills my time. Needless to say, I've had to develop some new routines and am still kind of figuring it out from week to week, but it's causing me to be super organized and to plan for a week at a time. I use my calendar daily and I schedule grocery shopping or pick-up around when I work and I even do lots of blog writing in advance, which is something else I've loved for a year. I already did the writing for this blog that way for the past year, ever since I started planning it out months at a time. I have a notebook that I use for this and it helps me stay on track.

This is how I do that. I just use a regular composition notebook for this, mark out the five days of the week and their dates and schedule in advance. I often have blank days, so I fill them in as the month goes on and I make notes on each month's page for favorites posts, thankful posts and the topics for each currently post and this post, where we share 4 somethings. It's been life changing to do this and it makes writing so much more fun for me, because I don't have to think about it each day. I always do the writing at night and schedule it to post the next day at midnight. I also schedule times at home when I need or want to do something, like this weekend when I decorated our house for fall. I had planned in advance to do that on Saturday, and because I'd had it on my mind to do that, it was no problem to get it all done in a few hours that afternoon and evening. I never mind being a planner like this. 

Gleaned.

I have gleaned a wealth of information this month, needless to say, with my new job. I have a better understanding as to what Clay (the attorney I work for) does and the why behind it and I'm learning more and more to ask the right kinds of questions when I'm on the phone with clients. I talk to a lot of older people each week and I have honestly loved that part of the job. They've all been so sweet to me and one precious older gentleman called me "baby" last week when I asked him a question about his job before he retired. It feels good to learn new things and to have a job that is totally unrelated to kids. That's all I've ever known! I feel like such an adult. 🤣

Saved.

I have saved my sanity and my time by being organized. I have learned to meal plan, to order my groceries around my work schedule, and I've better learned to use my time wisely. The one thing I've not quite figured out is Bible study and how I can fit that into each day. Because I'm a small group leader, I usually like to do all the days at one time, or break it into two days. Doing that helps me to stay fresh on what we studied throughout the week and I feel like our discussions flow better when I'm fresh with the topic. Does that make sense? It does in my mind. I've saved time by doing laundry at a different time each day as well, which is when I come home from work. I start it in the wash each morning and throw it in the dryer, then fold it in the afternoon. I put ours up when I go upstairs each night to change into pajamas. 

And as foolish as it may sound, I've saved my time by having a plan for when I get my nails done each month. The place I go to has so many colors to choose from that it's hard for me to decide, so I always look on Pinterest and have a few color options picked out and my girl helps me to decide. Also, by doing all of this, I have saved myself from decision fatigue. Do you ever get that? 

Achieved.

I've achieved several projects around my house in August. I managed to clear off an entire book shelf and I then I sold it on Facebook marketplace. I got rid of most of my books, only saving the ones that are nostalgic or favorites for me and the boys. I cleaned our bedroom really well and went through several piles that had built up. Does anyone else put their own bedrooms off for as long as possible? I achieved goals I set for myself to maintain things a little better around the house and I met my goal for putting away all of the summer décor and pulling out all of the fall stuff that I love. 

These journals took up two shelves on the bookshelf. I was going to get rid of them, but two of my sons told me to keep them, so I will put them into a Rubbermaid container and save them. 

It's hard to believe it, I know, but this lawyer's cabinet is so much better than it was. I spent a good two hours purging what was in there and hauling it all downstairs one day. I also cleaned the shelves off and gave it a good dusting, though it always looks dirty because of its age. 

Thanks for reading my blog, friends! Love to all. 

weekending/Hello Monday

Happy Monday, friends! I'm linking up with Holly and Sarah for this weekly blog post. How was your weekend? Mine was really good. I got mine started with my husband being at home and working from here for a couple of hours. Todd had a doctor's appointment that morning just before eleven, so he stayed home and we both worked while we sat at the kitchen table. I brought home some forms to fill out and envelopes to stuff with those and letters to get done over the weekend so they could be mailed. I finished almost all of them, except for about thirty, because I ran out of forms. It's kind of nice being able to work at home occasionally! The dogs appreciated having our company. Todd left and my dad came over for our weekly date, which was really nice. It was good to see him! I made us a different kind of lunch that was unsatisfying to me, but that he loved. That's all that matters! 

In a rare occurrence, my husband was also home that evening. We ordered sushi takeout and watched a documentary on the world's most dangerous places to live. It was fascinating! I read while I half watched the show with him. Like I love to do, I woke up early on Saturday morning and watched last week's newest Hallmark movie, Dating the Delaneys. It was so cute and very original, which is slightly unusual for Hallmark movies. If you've not seen it, you should watch it! Later that morning I went out with my mom and Trish. We had lunch at Jason's deli, because we all crave that salad bar occasionally, then we ran into a couple of stores. It was a fun time with Mom and we enjoyed our time together. I considered this my mom's birthday celebration, because her birthday was yesterday. I didn't see her on her actual day, what with church and all, so I'm glad we had a few hours together on Saturday. 

This is one of my favorite pictures of my mom. I don't remember if I made the boys do that or if she said something funny and they were all laughing at her. I kind of think that was case...because she is funny and she is also very amusing. Isn't that a sweet picture of her with them? The picture below was us on her actual birthday last year outside of a favorite Mexican restaurant that has since closed down, the iconic Poncho's here in Memphis. There is still one left in West Memphis, Arkansas, but it's not the same. I miss their cheese enchiladas, their tamales and their cheese dip and salsa.

When I came home, Todd was finishing up something so that he and Graham could get to work that night. Jonah came home after they'd left and went up into the attic for me to pull out all the fall decorations and I started decorating late in the afternoon and a little into the evening. I was mostly finished by seven, though I got up to change a few things, but here's a tiny glimpse.

I got this new fall arrangement a couple of weeks ago at HomeGoods and put it here in this little corner of my kitchen. I had to go back and hide that lamp chord a little better and I need to change the order in the cookbooks, but I'm mostly finished. I'm missing a couple of things from last year...this is the story of my life because our attic is a train wreck, so if I don't find them in time, I'm going to buy a few new things and I may do that anyway. I would like to replace some of the older and tired pumpkins I have with new ones, for the downstairs and I want one thing to put on a bookshelf upstairs. I'll probably do that next weekend. Every year near the autumn solstice or around the first of October I always have a "fall come on in" home tour. I always love sharing that each year and I do the same for Christmas. Anyway, it was a fun afternoon, because I love to decorate and spruce things up around here. I can't ever do this without doing a full cleaning, which also inspired Jonah to clean the upstairs and vacuum, then after all of that was done, I ate dinner and watched Chesapeake Shores for the rest of the night.

I was at church around ten Sunday morning for a really great service with a guest speaker, then I was home the rest of the day. I caught up to the current episode of my show that aired last night, I made dinner for Todd and me and then I worked on blog stuff and read for the rest of the night. Like I said, it was a great weekend. How was yours? Tell me one good thing about your weekend, I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all. 

Friday Favorites

 

Happy Friday, friends! I'm linking up with Andrea and Erika for this weekly blog post of all my favorites. I have a new appreciation for Fridays now that I'm working part-time and I love that for the next two days I don't have to be anywhere. I've mentioned before how my weekend mornings are my favorite. I always wake up early and watch a movie on Saturdays and Sundays. It's a fun way to celebrate the weekend, in my humble opinion and I love having an easy morning. I anticipate getting some things done this weekend, the things I've neglected this week. Don't take my words as me complaining, I promise I'm not doing that! I'm still loving my new job and I'm finding my groove and getting more cautiously comfortable with what I'm doing and the kinds of questions I need to be asking.

That being said, I was so surprised when I went to work yesterday and noticed that our office was not as messy! It's nobody's fault that it was like that, there is just a lot of paperwork that we handle and eventually shred, but our shredder hasn't been working. Our boss ordered a new one for us, though and things were a bit more organized when I walked in. That kind of thing is always my favorite. Did you see my office when I shared this week?

Fun architectural details are my favorite things in life. I never get tired of walking into work, because the building is so cool. Speaking of, so is this cute little coffee shop right next door to where I work. It's called Square Beans and I met a friend there for lunch yesterday.

I had the best lunch! I ordered a slice of quiche and had a scoop of espresso brownie gelato. It was amazing! Meeting friends for lunch is one of my favorite things to do, and I was grateful to her for coming here, since it's right next door to my work. I love supporting local businesses and I knew I was limited on time, since I left for work at 8:45 yesterday. I got home around 1:45, which is longer than I like to be gone with dogs, but they were fine. 

Would you believe that working with the tech ministry at church is one of my favorite things? I really, really enjoy doing this and I took this while helping out our tech director at Bible study on Wednesday. One year ago, I would never have said this! I was kind of thrown into this ministry at our women's event, where I ran lights, screens and sound. I also got started accidentally in church one Sunday when I did this to cover for my friend who was sick one day and the spot needed to have someone working it. Here's why I don't mind volunteering in different areas often: it's because the people I'm helping out make it a joy to do so. They're always appreciative and it takes an army of people to run a church the size of ours and they simply CANNOT pay every person. It takes a ton of willing helpers! This is part of church attendance that I love. I love to serve in different ministries.

This view of our town square will always be a favorite.

This little spice rack in my bathroom is one of my favorite things. I keep all my essential oils here, since the bottles are all so tiny, along with things I use everyday. I like it here, but more than that, I like the convenience it gives me. This is why I'll never win awards for decorating a home...I really like doing and using things that are practical and in a way that makes sense to me. I think it's cute and functional, but most people would probably disagree. As for the shelf itself, it's a little sentimental to me. Back when there was an antique store in an old church on our town square, my sisters or mom and I loved to go there for lunch and to browse. I was there with my sister Lisa one day in my early married years when I found this. She may have even bought it for me, but I've kept it all these years and I love that I see it and use it everyday in my bathroom.

I also mentioned here this week that it's been a favorite thing to get up and get dressed for work everyday. I even brought some home to finish this weekend. I love the flexibility of my job and that I can work there or from home and that the hours are easy for me. Time really does fly when I'm there, because I also work with my best friend and we talk and catch up while we work. It's not weird AT ALL and I don't feel strange about her giving me things to do. She asked me that yesterday and I assured her that it felt normal and like we'd been working together forever. We have many years and trials behind us to back up our friendship and nothing will mess that up. I feel so fortunate and after living my dream for the past 23 years of being a stay at home wife and mom, I'm living another separate dream now with a part time job that I love and am enjoying because it makes me feel productive, helpful and accomplished. I do not say any of this lightly and trust me when I say that I have thanked God for His provision over and over again.

On a lighter note to wrap this all up, have I mentioned this amazing detangling brush I recently bought?

Because my hair is so long and curly, it gets all knotted up underneath and this thing makes brushing it all out after I wash it so much better and painless. It was a recent Amazon purchase and I bought it when it went on sale for under $7. 

Have you seen all of my posts from this week? Here they are with links, just in case. 

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Tell me something good from your week! I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all! 

Thankful Thursday

 

Happy Thursday, friends! Welcome to our weekly link party where Rebecca Jo and I share all the things we're thankful for each week. I hope you'll join us! My sweet friend is taking a break from this right now, but she'll join again someday...if you see her around on Instagram, give her some love!

I'm making this week's post all about Bible study. As you know, we started back last week and it is so good to be back! That being said, we had a bunch of ladies sign up to join us, so our "small groups" aren't so small. That always makes me a little nervous, because I am not a teacher. I am, however, a facilitator, a leader of discussions and I am able to keep the conversation flowing. I don't say this in a self deprecating way, I truly mean that in my list of spiritual gifts, teaching is at the bottom. Something I would dread happening would be for the ladies to show up and not be willing to talk each week. I'm always a little nervous the first week that we meet in small groups anyway, because the homework isn't usually long and there's not a lot to discuss. It helps that we always play a get to know you game and make introductions, though, so it's a good time filler. 

Yesterday when we met, that did not happen! Ladies started coming in at different times, so we started a little later than we normally would, and then we went around the room and answered a fun question to get to know each other better. For this, I just write ice-breaker questions on strips of paper, fold them and have each lady draw one out of a bag. The goal is for each lady to answer a question like this:

What's your pet peeve?

What's something quirky about yourself?

What are you known for?

What's your favorite holiday tradition?

What was the best job you ever had?

What is a quality you look for in a friend?

If you were given a million dollars, what would you do with it?

What is something memorable you've done?

It's really fun to hear their answers and we always end up laughing our heads off. I once learned that a friend of mine loves M & M's, but ONLY the Christmas ones! She promises they taste different. Needless to say, after we went around the room and made introductions and answered each question, we didn't have much time left. The questions we were able to go over went by great, though and I was so happy that all of the women participated in our discussion. This always brings relief, because like I already said, them not talking would be terrible. 

Look at all these ladies!

My friend Amy did a fabulous job teaching today, as usual. I love to hear her when she gets going! I said all of that to say this one thing: I am so thankful for the freedom we have in our country to meet like this in a public place of worship, to fellowship with each other and to be able to open up our Bibles and study together. What an honor and privilege it is to do this and I am so grateful for those freedoms we still have. We may not have them forever, so I don't ever want to take this for granted. I always think of my brothers and sisters in Christ around the world who do not have such freedoms and my heart goes out to them, as do my prayers for their encouragement and strength. What some of them wouldn't give to be able to do this! 

So, that's the summation of what I'm thankful for this week. What about you? Tell me one thing you're thankful for. I'd love to hear from you! In the meantime, I hope you join the link party this week! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all! 

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

a random post on a Wednesday

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! I always love a Wednesday during the week...it feels good to know we're midway through the week and it's a night I get to be re-fueled at church. My dad always equated Wednesday night church with refilling the car with fuel. I wholeheartedly agree! I love Bible study on this day and I love choir rehearsal, as I've mentioned a thousand times since we started rehearsing on this night in August.

Every once in a while, I like to do these random posts on the blog. Have you ever seen when someone posts a bunch of pics at once on social media and titles the album "photo dump"? This is kind of what that looks like. These things are in no particular order and some have pictures to accompany them. I'll explain below.

First off, I am in a reading slump after a fabulous month of reading in July. I hate it when that happens! I've had to quit way too many books to count. Do you quit books that you don't like? One of my mottos in life is that life is too short to read mediocre books. I have no guilt over quitting a book and I quit pretty quickly. If it doesn't grab me from the first couple of chapters, I have to put it aside. Tell me your thoughts on this? Do you agree with me or do you press through? 

I LOVE getting dressed to go to work three days a week. It doesn't matter what I wear, because the only person I see is my best friend and occasionally Amy, who also works there. Even if I do see someone, that's not why I get dressed in clothing that I love. I do that because it makes me feel good! My friend always says that she loves to help women look their best so they can live their best, confident lives to do what God has planned for them to do. Amen, right? Also, thanks to Amy for the idea of putting a kimono over one of these dresses I love so much! This navy colored one is my least favorite, but now that I put this over it, it's becoming one of my favorites. Too bad summer's almost over and I just figured this out. 

Also, I love the black sandals I wore yesterday with my jeans, but it's the first time I put them on all summer long! I told you I've been loving all the neutral colored sandals this summer, but I thought I'd pull them out and wear them so that I could say that I did. My favorite brand used to be the Dansko brand, but I'm thinking that's not the case anymore. I really love the brand I've worn all summer, the Remonte brand. 

Have I mentioned here that I have two sets of great nieces? I do! Their mommy is the same person and yes, you read that right. My beautiful niece Erika and her husband Kyle had two sets of twins in three years. Kinsley and Kylie in the top picture started Kindergarten Monday! Madi and Macy in the second picture had their first day of preschool two weeks ago. How precious are they? I get to see them in October and I'm so excited about that. I love that Erika has four girls and I have four boys. Though Graham and Drew aren't twins, everyone referred to them as Irish twins, because they're only a year apart. 

I've been collecting stickers for a while and started putting them on my laptop. They all mean something to me...Graham gave me one of the ones he got in the mail when he ordered car parts, I have a Navy one that I found recently for my Dad, I have one of my favorite movie (Dirty Dancing) that says, "I carried a watermelon", I have ones with Bible verses and little hearts. I love doing this and the way it looks. 

Ignore the messy office, because we're cramped and will probably clean out soon, but look how cute the office space is. I love all the architectural details like the wall that's partially brick. 

Oakley LOVES toys and stuffed animals and often falls asleep with one in her paws. She's the cutest little thing ever. She went to the vet yesterday and came home with a turquoise bandana around her neck and was so adorable. I wished I'd thought to get a picture, but she didn't love it and it ended up coming off pretty quickly. 

Well, it's after nine p.m. on Tuesday when I'm writing this, so I'm going to sign off with that last one. Thanks for reading my random thoughts and thanks for always chiming in each day! I love reading your comments. Love to all!