Posts in FAMILY
ABNER’S BIRTHDAY WEEK - YEAR 4

This month, we celebrated our son, Abner, turning 4 years old. Abner is very passionate about the things he loves: the color blue, good food, and dinosaurs. Every year we ask our boys what theme they want for their birthday. Their decision is usually based on whatever their favorite things happen to be at the time. So it’s only natural that Abner would request a T-Rex birthday.

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FAMILY, EVENTSJACINTHA PAYNEComment
A COVER IS NOT THE BOOK

I’ve been thinking a lot about life and the things that motivate me to do what I do.

So much of my motivation is centered around providing an environment for my children that is safe, loving, and creates a space to learn and grow. As I think deeper about why I want these things for my children, I obviously want what is best for them - but, I also want to keep them from experiencing some of the unnecessarily painful things I experienced in my own childhood.

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HAPPY IN THE SIMPLE THINGS - PT 2

Life is full of joy and pain…and a whole lot of in-between.

Every day feels jam packed from the moment our feet hit the ground in the morning, to the moment our heads hit the pillow. Sometimes the day ends and you wonder “where did this day go?” Nothing was remarkably amazing or horrible, it just kind of happened. These days happen more often than we like to admit and they can feel discouraging.

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HOME RULES

Our mission statement communicates the things that we want to be true of each person that lives in our home. These are the values that we want to cultivate every day and extend to our family, friends, and others we interact with.

We simplified our mission statement even more and created something we could hang on the wall in our home as a regular reminder of what’s most important.

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EMET BASEBALL - 2021

This last spring, we returned to the baseball field for another season of baseball. This was Emet’s first season of coach pitch baseball. We were so proud of him and the way he adjusted to playing without the tee. It was a joy to cheer him on from the sidelines as he played.

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TOP 10 BLOGS FROM THE LAST 5 YEARS

2022 marks over five years of blogging. Over the years, I’ve written on a wide variety of topics from parenting and cooking to staying organized and setting goals. I’ve even brought in some friends to help contribute along the way.

Below you will find the top ten most read blogs from the last five and a half years. I hope you enjoy this variety of posts and that they’re helpful to you in some way.

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A VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS - 2021

I love looking back on the holidays and seeing the highlights from the season. It’s fun to see the boys expecting to revisit old traditions each year and experience excitement as we introduce some news ones. We started the Christmas season a bit earlier this year by stringing up our lights outside before Thanksgiving. We had the time, the weather was warmer, and we knew how busy things would get on the other side Thanksgiving.

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2020 (2)

We started the first few days of 2022 taking it easy because we were feeling a bit under the weather. This meant we didn’t get started on all the things we were planning. Less turning in early and starting before the sun came up and more taking medicine, temperature checks, and resting whenever we could…

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HALLOWEEN - 2021

When the summer began winding down I thought it would be fun to have an end of the summer party at our home. We’d invite some of our dear friends for grilled food, swimming, and time to soak in the final days of warmth before fall hit. Well…life got busy, deadlines with work approached, and we had to table the idea for an end of summer party…

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10 THINGS TO PROMOTE REST IN YOUR RHYTHM

What do you have in place to help ensure that you're taking the time to rest and recoup throughout the day?

As I get older, I'm realizing how important regular sleep and times of rest are for the well-being of my family. I'm notorious for pushing hard to get things done and at times burning the candle at both ends. The truth is, it really does catch up with you. And taking a few days to "catch up" on sleep really doesn't work like it used to.

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