Charlie turns 3 tomorrow!

I’ve never really felt that my kids’ birthdays are bittersweet. I think it’s cool to see them grow up! Maybe when they’re all grown and gone, I’ll miss these days. But for now, I’m enjoying what I can, as it happens! How do you feel about your kids’ birthdays?

For his birthday, we are doing a lot of nothing since he doesn’t know what a birthday is yet. Some family got him a few presents, so he’ll open those, and we’ll sing him Happy Birthday. But there isn’t a party or cake or any of that! Maybe next year, if he understands what’s going on more!

Solar eclipse & a small house update!

Earlier this week was the solar eclipse, and we decided super last minute to drive up to see it. We were less than 1.5 hours driving from the path of totality. That morning, we headed toward Texarkana, Arkansas. A couple of our church friends were planning to go as well.

There were a few potential problems. One was that I’d heard the towns along the path were going to be SO crowded. Like, fully booked hotels and AirBnBs, and so I was worried about traffic on the way there as well as in the town. Another concern was the clouds! It was quite cloudy most of the drive there. And finally, we did not have any eclipse glasses! So we brought a strainer (like the one you’d use for draining noodles) to see the interesting shadows, and since we were going to be in totality, we would be able to see the eclipse once it was fully blacked out.

Well, lucky us! There were NO crowds in Texarkana, the clouds disappeared as soon as the event started, and one of our friends there had several extra pairs of glasses. So literally it could not have gone any better. It was such a cool experience, and I’m glad we decided to go!

A tiny house update - they’re replacing our whole roof to match the add-on roof. Well, they got 80% done, leaving a portion of our old roof still in place. Nothing was exposed. But in the process of putting the new roof in some areas, they must have caused a little something to shift on the 20% of old roof. That wouldn’t have been an issue except that we had AWFUL amounts of rain for 2 whole days (many schools and homes lost power, some schools even flooded!) - and so part of our old roof started leaking and dripping into the house. Thankfully, Cam was around and able to contain it well enough until they came back out to fix it!

I’ll post some house pics in the next email, but I’ve been posting about it regularly on my Instagram stories!

Just dreamin’

I had this lovely thought the other night. I pictured myself and my 4 kids living in New York City. Remember, I lived there from 2006-9, but that was before kids. And the one time we visited, in 2019, we were there for a week; each day we had things planned, we ate out every meal, and we were just go-go-going. It was a blast!!

What I’m picturing is something a little more long-term, maybe 6 weeks or 2 months. I would not want to stay in a hotel for that long, so we would sublet an apartment or possibly rent a long-term AirBnB. I’ve not even looked into this! But I can picture our days… MOST days would be similar to what they look like now!

• Get up

• Have breakfast

• Do school

• Play

• Have dinner

But in NYC, instead of playing in our backyard, we would play at a local park, and maybe grab some groceries at a little shop on the way home. Here, if we want to go do something (we call ‘em field trip days), we drive 30-40 minutes, stay 2-3 hours in town, then drive home. In NYC, we could just walk. Or take the subway. And we would have SO many more options for things to do on our field trip days!

Another dream is also travel-related, but it’s further into the future. A friend of mine, Shayda, has started traveling more with her husband and 2 children. They recently just visited Iceland, and oh my goodness, it’s as gorgeous as I’ve always heard.

That’s literally all I got on that dream - but I think a big family trip to Iceland will happen within the next 5 years!

Instagram saves and faves

I know not everyone watches TikTok videos, so I thought I’d share some IG posts I’ve saved recently, as well as a few of my current favorite accounts!

1. I haven’t tried it yet, but this coffee shake sounds dreamy!

2. My kids really like fluffer nutter sandwiches as a treat (it’s peanut butter + marshmallow fluff!). These are fluffer nutter BARS, and they look delish. (UPDATE: Made ‘em. They were VERY sweet but delicious!)

   

3. Here’s a tutorial for an Infinity Cube made from Legos!

4. This is essentially a Brain Map hat, made from paper, for kids. I haven’t made it yet, but we will soon, possibly as a final project to our science curriculum!

5. I am obsessed with this sort of art: it’s like, the images alone don’t necessarily make sense until the whole art piece is manipulated in some way. Mesmerizing!

Here are some of my favorite Instagram accounts - I tried listing a variety, not all the same type! Some of these are repeats from old newsletters, I’m sure, but it’s been SO long since I’ve done an IG roundup, I figured you wouldn’t mind. 🙂 

• Chelsea Peitz - She’s a lovely lady, has amazing style, and offers excellent tips and info for posting great social media content.

• Cassidy Montalvo - I started following her ages ago on TikTok and recently started following on IG as well. She posts fun outfits, easy hair ideas, and just some of her life. She’s a military wife with 2 little kiddos.

• Sarah Fennel - AKA Broma Bakery. She and Sally (from Sally’s Baking Addiction) are my two fav baking pages. Sarah’s recipes are straight forward, I usually have everything I need for them, and they’ve ALL been winners so far!

• Betul Tunc - As far as (mostly) savory recipes, this page is amazing. Now… most of her recipes are quite involved, and I’ve only made a couple of them, but I just love watching her cook!

• Emmy Goulet - I just love her. She and her family live in Florida, have a homestead, and they homeschool. Her posts and stories are generally just peaceful and lovely and encouraging.

For those of you who DO use both Insta and TikTok, have you noticed the HUGE difference in comments between the two apps? An IG comment section often seems to be a place for people to complain and offend. And the same video on TikTok gets mostly light-hearted comments or encouragement.

Of course there are exceptions to this! But I’ll say this: The TikTok comment section is my second favorite part of the app. The videos are my fav, but the comments are often equally as entertaining! On IG, I generally avoid the comment sections because they can be so nasty! I wonder why that is!

30 WEEKS!!

I’m 75% there (maybe less!) - baby is the size of a cabbage now. 😏 I’m getting kicked in the ribs constantly, and it’s starting to get a little tricky to flip from one side to the other in the night!

I feel pretty good otherwise - just today, I was on the ground sorting through items from our closet, and I was able to get up off the ground without using my hands! 👊🏻 I mean, that may not be a true test of anything, but I was pretty proud of myself.

It seems like I’m at the end, but 2 more months is a LOT! I know it will go by quickly, and I’m trying not to get too anxious about the waiting game. I’ve got 3 other kiddos to take care of right now: cooking, schooling, and keeping up with the house are a big enough job! It’s actually helpful in distracting me from the pregnancy.

TikTok round-up

1. Anyone else loooove those slime scooping videos? I think I like it because of the sounds more than anything. Thing is, if I were to buy myself one of these fancy slimes, I’d literally never use it or scoop it or anything. I just like watching other people do it!

2. These two people (I’m not sure if they are a couple) watch/hear Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody for the first time. Watching their reactions is almost like hearing that song for the first time. I got chills.

3. “The friend who recently learned new words”… I distinctly remember learning the words juxtaposition and epitome back in high school and wanting to use them all the time. 😆

4. Awww these 2 swans are reunited after one of them had to go to an animal clinic for a hurt beak.

5. This photographer got an amaaaazing photo of a couple getting engaged in the middle of the solar eclipse!

Inadequacy

Earlier this week, I shared this on my IG stories:

Well, I got SO many helpful, wise responses, and I wanted to share just a few of them with you. (Some of these have been shortened, but I didn’t change anything anyone said!)

• All my mom friends feel exactly the same way. And it’s because we want the best for our children.

• I would never in a million years say to another mama that she wasn’t doing enough but boy oh boy, I’ll say it to myself.

• I heard somewhere once that you need to think about all the things you do as a mom, all the things you need to do, as balls you are juggling. Some are more fragile than others. The ones you can’t drop are glass and so those are the important ones to keep juggling, but you shouldn’t worry about dropping the plastic ones because those will bounce. (She also sent this link!)

• Keep your eyes and heart on Jesus - your identity and worth are found in Him. He will equip you for all He has called you to!

• I have to slow down, take a walk or sit somewhere quiet, and just remember my blessings. In Psalms many of them go through moments of negative feelings and then end with praise of how great our God is, all of the great things he’s done.

• “It’s not my season to have a clean, organized house.” There will be tons of time for that later. What you give to everyone is more than enough. Hope you can enjoy this beautiful ride. ❤️ 

• I try to find “glimmers” (the opposite of triggers), and name them out loud when things are going well or when something makes me happy.

• Someone suggested the book You’re Not Enough by Allie Beth Stuckey.

Until next time

I hope you and yours have a great week. Please let me know if you need anything from me: prayers or suggestions or encouragement or anything.

If you’d like to support me and my content, then here are two ways:

• My Amazon wish list!

• Buy Me a Coffee - it’s basically a virtual tip jar!

Much love,
Bethany