Better than Flowers

Did you get flowers for Valentine's Day?


Seth let me know a long time ago that if I was the kind of girl who required flowers, I would need to find a different guy to supply them! This was not a deal breaker for me, since I have never been a big romantic.


Our children celebrated a wonderful Valentine's Day dinner supplied by my stepmom and dad (aka "Grandmommy Trish" and "Papa John") while Seth and I enjoyed a night off. Grandmommy Trish went ALL OUT for Valentine's by cooking a meal of all heart shaped foods and completely decorating the house for the special little guests as well.

Is this beautiful? They even worked on Valentine's and did a science project by turning flowers different colors. They had a wonderful time.

But this week, a week AFTER Valentine's Day, I received the best present I had gotten in awhile from my husband. Out of the blue, I received an email...yes, a email...very romantic, but anyway, in the email Seth thanked me for being such a great wife and mom. 

Wow, you wouldn't think it would be such a big deal, but it was! I was telling my friend Kelli about my special email, and she said, "That will last so much longer than flowers." How true!

My Messy Home

Keeping up with my home is a constant struggle for me. Even though I clean once a week, with my crew I would have to vacuum, sweep and mop everyday to keep things looking clean. I found this on Pinterest and it totally describes my home:

I had been feeling really guilty about the state of my home, until I read a blog recently about this very subject.

Ruth Schwenk said,




"I truly want to show love to my family and others more than I want to care about what people think of my housekeeping skills–or lack thereof.


Truth is, I admire others’ beautiful, perfect homes, but have felt the most love in homes that were a lot less than perfect since I knew that those people loved us enough to show their real selves.


And my heart breaks to hear older women say that they wish they had spent less time cleaning and more time just loving their family and friends."

WOW! I have to be honest...I often don't invite people I don't know well to my home because I am embarrassed. There is junk stacked up behind the house by the barn waiting for my husband to haul off (It's been there for months....that's a whole 'nother story!) The carpet has stains that I promise I have shampooed and scrubbed, but they aren't budging. The ceiling has water stains from when it used to leak before we got the new roof. We have a sunroom that is still unfinished from our remodeling job. The under hang portion of the roof needs replacing and we still haven't put siding up on the room we added on the house 2 years ago....I could go on and on.

My house may never be on a dream home tour, but you cannot deny that it is full of love. Little handprints cover the windows and walls, colorful "creations" cover the refrigerator, toys cover the floors. Each carpet stain tells a story....like the one Emma made the other night with the red marker because she wanted to make "a pretty heart picture for Mommy."

Of course, I will still try to keep my house clean, but I need to remember that there are more important things in life than a perfect home! :)

Sugar Scrub

I have been using something on my skin that I just have to share with you. I was given Burt's Bees Sugar Body Scrub for Christmas and loved it...until I saw the price to replace it. Don't get me wrong, I totally support Burt's Bees. They strive to make their excellent natural products in the USA.

BUT...I am not terribly wealthy, so I found this recipe for a brown sugar scrub to make at home....so simple!

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup of brown sugar

That's it! Even I can't mess that up! I also use it on my face, and I have found it moisturizes better than anything else I have used, but doesn't break me out!

I know, it may be something small, but saving money and helping my lacking beauty routine at the same time makes me happy! :)

Growing up too fast...

This school year is FLYING by! I cannot believe that next year I will have a 1st grader and a Kindergartener! And Emma Jo is turning 3 in April and is Little Miss Independent! "I do it!" is her most used sentence.

Daniel lost his first tooth last week. He was so proud!

He also worked very hard on his race car Valentine's box. I will say, Mommy worked pretty hard on this project too. I had to practice alot of patience and resist the temptation to jump in and just do it for him. I kept hearing his teacher, Mrs. Cooper saying, "STOP HELPING!" (in her 'nice' voice...or so she claims because she said it in an instant message!) I also heard her saying, "Is it process or product?" But oh my....it was a PROCESS! Daniel struggles with his motor skills and has problems saying focused. This makes for a looooooooong process, but an excellent life lesson in patience for me!

Daniel recruited his little brother to help with his hand-made Valentines for his class. He had 20 to do, so with Mann's help, he was able to get them done MUCH faster. It was so sweet to watch them work together.

And to sum it up, I have some new classroom materials coming to my students from some generous donors. My students and I are so excited. In a low income school district, we are thankful for any tools that help to educate our students!