favorite things//fall moments

HEY!

Today I'm talking all about some Friday Favorites and I'm linking up with Erika, Andrea, and Narci! I'm blogging about some fun stuff (I will not mention that my boys have strep throat this week. Poor boys!!)

1.) Last weekend was absolutely gorgeous! It was 70's on Saturday and my oldest had a soccer game. Watching his soccer games are one of my all time fave things to do! I want to keep my eyes glued to his game the entire time. Of course I love chatting but oh how I enjoy cheering him! The team is a blast to watch!

We're so proud of our strong and determined 7 year old!

2.) In the cooler weather this fall it sure has been a good time playing in our woods...climbing trees and crunching the leaves under our feet. My middle child is such a little monkey! I can remember fun times as a child climbing trees and exploring the woods. 

3.) We got the chance to attend a glorious wedding reception for my dear friend. The decor was amazing and the bride was stunning! What a great time we had. Dancing is always so much fun!

4.) I've taken pics of this trail before because it is just dreamy. I love the pine tree lined path with the tiny bit of light at the end. Love!! This is my favorite little running trail to get to. It's almost like a reward to myself :).

5.) I've never created new crayons from old ones. But this day we did and I'm so happy we finally did! And it's so much easier than I thought it'd be. Just take off all the paper from the old crayons. Randomly place the pieces into an old muffin tin (or these oven safe star molds I have). Bake at 200 degrees for about 20 minutes or until all melted. Then let them sit for 1-2 hrs until completely cool and hard. Pop out and color away. What a blast!!

6.) I've been binge watching episodes of The OC at bedtime lately. This show brings me back to my teenage years. I remember my husband (then boyfriend) coming over to my parent's to watch this show weekly. Haha! 

7.) I just got this hand soap and it smells so so good! I've realized that I'm in love with the scent of lemongrass. Give me all the lemons :).

8.) I've almost done with the book. Live Love Lead by: Brian Houston. I got the book from a Hillsong concert I went to recently. Brian Houston was there and gave everyone a copy of his book. How generous! And it is an extremely motivating book!!

Happy weekend to you!

Friday Favorites: Sunny Summer fun

I can't believe August 1st is tomorrow! July has been such a fun and hot month. We honestly couldn't have asked for nicer summer weather. I'm going to talk about some of my favorite summer moments lately for Friday Faves!!

I'm linking up with Erika for...

1.) It has been so much fun swimming this summer in my Mom in law's pool. Troy is loving the pool this year and will jump onto the mattress with me close by. So grown up!

2.) We've found a total of around 6 frogs this summer. And this boy loves to find them and keep them :). We still have our sweet little turtle. We've gone bug hunting a couple of times, too. Great memories! I have found that the very best memories are made doing such simple things :).

3.) This sweet girl is loving her fancy dress up shoes! It sure is cute listening to the 'clickity click' noise on the hardwood floor. Music to my ears ;).

4.) My sister and her kiddos came to visit a couple weeks ago. The cousins get along so very great! I love watching them together. This particular day we did some fishing and some unexpected jumping off the dock into the water. Fun times!!

And afterwards we were able to enjoy some yummy pizza and ice cream! 

And these cool mustaches were a favorite for the kiddos. All the kids got one to wear. 

5.) This is what summer is about. Playing in the mud with trucks getting nice and dirty! I say a dirty kid is a happy kid :)!

6.) We have been meaning to go to the Library this summer. So on this hot day it was a perfect excuse to be inside getting some books. Our local library has the cutest corner for kids with a beautiful outdoors mural on the wall and tons of puppets to play with. 

Had to stop by and let Troy use the phone. Haha! At first I asked him "Do you know what that is?" :) 

7.) I'm so proud of these kiddos! They built this amazing "house" fort all by themselves. The older cousins hammered the nails in. And they even made mud concrete to keep the posts stable. With a little help from Grandpa ;)  I just love them so much! And their creative minds!

8.) We went to a water park this past week and Austin passed the swimming test to go in the deep water. I was so happy for him! And he grew in courage. As much as I love my kids being little I enjoy seeing them face their fears as they grow up :). My Mom took this picture as we were heading over there together. And I remember thinking "I wish I could've gotten a picture of us walking over there." So thankful she did that without me knowing. 

Have a great weekend!!

Jamie :)

Some random favorites!

This Friday is extra special because I get to spend it with my sweet family on a little get away!

While I write this they're all sleeping and I'm up thinking about all the fun we are going to have...or rather brainstorming how we will fit everything we want to do in ;) Lots to do and little time!

I'm linking up with Andrea at Momfessionals for...

1.)
During this vacay I plan on reading this amazing book below. "One thousand gifts" By: Ann Voskamp. My sister got me this life changing book for my birthday and I can't even tell you the many times I saw it at the store and was going to buy it. And boy am I happy she got it for me because it is a Life.Changer. For real! I am loving it... Favorite!

2.)
Mystery tackle box and Lucky tackle boxes. These are my favorite new monthly subscriptions for my boys. The assortment and quality of the goodies is fantastic. Austin is absolutely thrilled when he sees it has arrived. #likefatherlikeson

3.)
Nordstrom's customer service is a favorite! I had recently ordered a cute striped tee but after wearing it once noticed a small hole. I called and with few questions they're asking me to return it for a full refund! Awesome!! Although I really did like the shirt :) and wished the quality was better.

4.)
Young living lemon drops in my water! Fave all the way! It tastes great and gives me some extra energy. I want to try the lime and orange, too! I even brought the lemon with so I could put it in my water on vacay!

5.)
Bike rides with my kids! We take almost a daily bike ride and how fun it is to enjoy God's beauty outside and in my kiddo's faces! Especially when Troy wanted to stop for a "giant blow flower!" And he carried that weed all the way home so he could blow it! Love that kid and his joy for life!!

Have a very happy weekend celebrating The 4th of July!

Jamie :)

Friday Favorites: Outdoor Fun

I'm grateful today is a Friday and that Spring Break is approaching fast. 

More time to spend with my kiddos doing more fun stuff.

And listen, the weather here has been FAB! 50-60 degrees in comparison to a couple weeks ago when it was frigid cold. So we have been soaking it in. Because if you live in MN you know that the weather can change in an instant. 

Today, I'm linking up with these awesome ladies:

 Andrea from Momfessionals, 

Narci from Grace and Love Blog 

and Erika from A Little Bit of Everything blog 

This past Monday after picking up Austin from after school basketball we stopped at the park. It was so much fun. We ate powdered sugar donuts at the picnic table before heading to the playground. We got wet feet but we didn't care :).

My wonderful sister has been here in MN visiting. We've loved spending time with her and her sweet kiddos. The cousins sure have fun together! Here they all are staring at the big puddle in my parent's ditch. And I guess not just staring but walking through it. :) However, they loved it!! And that makes me happy.

This is the last of our snowman family. Melting away. Seeing the grass is one of my favorite things.

Boy did we have fun coloring with chalk on the driveway. It never gets old. Troy got some for his birthday and is loving it. {Me,too}

That's a lot of wet shoes! Troy is an explorer and goes right for every single puddle. He went through 4 pairs of shoes. And finally I found his rain boots. So now he's been having even more of a blast. 

My sweet big 4 year old and me. I love spending time outside with my kids. 

I even got to read some of my book while the kids were in the sandbox/playground area. Feeling the sunshine and warmth upon my face was like Heaven :)!

Have a happy Friday!! 

Jamie :)

Friday Favorite Moments

Niiice weather today and through the weekend. Think above 35 degrees and up to 45 degrees! That is awesome!! I hope you're having a wave of nice weather, too!

I just love linking up with these ladies:

Andrea from Momfessionals, 

Narci from Grace and Love Blog 

and Erika from A Little Bit of Everything blog 

 Last Friday evening we had a fun girls Christmas party with a few of my FAVORITE friends!

We laughed, ate a delicious meal, laughed some more, exchanged cookies, swapped cute scarves and a fun white elephant gift. Honestly, the white elephant gift exchange was absolutely hilarious. So, if you're having a party...include it! It's free and a blast!

We took probably 100 photos to get this one below :)!

Here are some more fun photos from our girl's party.

And some of my FAVORITE moments have been with dog sitting this sweet little pug. Troy loves her and she is such a great dog!! He makes forts for her all over the house, takes care of her, helps feed her and brings her out to go potty. And the other kiddos have been amazing with her, too. 

One of the forts :). 

And one of my FAVORITE crafts from this past week has been making these snowflakes below. I found them on Making Home Base. Click HERE for the directions and original snowflakes. 

Here mine are before I spray painted them gold.

Here they are on my wall. I love them! They are so pretty and simple. Such a great craft to do. I would've done a hundred if I hadn't ran out of popsicle sticks :).

Have a splendid day!! 

Jamie

Here are some of my favorite things!

Happy Monday to you!

Today I'm linking up with Andrea from Momfessionals and Erika from A Little Bit of Everything for their "Favorite Things Party!"

And I hope you will, too! I love scoring something amazing for under $10!

1.) Up first are these earrings. They come in other colors, too. They are on clearance for $7.80. I got them months ago and love them. They're so pretty. They are the "LC Lauren Conrad" collection from Kohl's. 

Get them HERE.

2.) This lip balm is the best. I love the shape of it and the fact that it is organic. It's $2.99. It'd be a great stocking stuffer!

Check it out HERE.

3.) Oh yum! This yogurt is delicious! It's dessert in a cup. 

If you go HERE you can get a downloadable coupon.

*Score!

My favorite flavor is the "Strawberry Rhubarb." It's so much better than other greek yogurts. I love it so much. I got mine at Target. They are over $2/each but so worth it!

Jamie :)