Happy 4th and Link Party #74

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Did all of you have a great 4th of July weekend? Even though we're in a new location this year, we were able to have some great family time over the long weekend.

Much of it was spent at home just being bums and relaxing.

We also hit a couple of stores to take advantage of the sales to ready three of the kids for camp. (I'll share some more about how we shop for 5 kids and keep the costs down in later posts!)

Another portion of our time was spent at the pool. (Are you surprised?!)

It's always extra fun when Daddy is able to join us, too!

We wanted to find something fun to do to keep all our minds off the fact that our normal 4th of July activities and spending time with friends wasn't possible this year.  Fortunately, Canyon, TX was having a big bash down there for everyone to enjoy!  We got to sit in the shade at Kimbrough Memorial Stadium, have some food and a snow cone, listen to some really good music by Next to Kin and Little Texas, and then ended the evening with fireworks.

It was a bit hot standing in line waiting to get into the stadium, so snow cones helped cool us all off and put smiles on everyone's faces.

He really enjoyed his!!

Unusual, but I did think to get a picture of the two of us!

Since it was a smaller concert, there was a dance area down right in front of the stage that anyone could go to.  The kids had a blast getting in closer to the fun. (We got a couple of videos, but I'll spare you that here. If you want to see a little snippet of a song, there's one on my Facebook feed.)

Below is a picture of how close the kids were able to get to the stage.  A highlight from the night for them was watching Little Texas sing Kiss The Girl, one of the few songs they recognized. Ha!

I loved that there were multiple kids that looked at me through the evening and said "This is really fun!".  Definitely made my heart happy that the kids were enjoying themselves despite not being with our best friends.

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Ok!  Are you ready for this week's Tips and Tricks Party?!

Last week was, as usual, a lot of fun!  Here's the recap of all the favorites.

Most Clicked:

DIY Garden Decor by The Navage Patch

This week's favorites are:

Red, White and Blue Sangria by Cooking with Carlee - Krysta (KrystaSteen.com)

Patriotic Pinwheel Headband by Sunshine and a Summer Breeze - Kathleen (Fearlessly Creative Mammas)

DIY Teacup Succulent Planter by My DIY Envy- Cassie (Southeast by Midwest)

Summer Activities for PreSchoolers by Parental Journey - Ang (Juggling Act Mama)

Peanut Butter Cheesecake by Marilyn's Treats - Jessica (My Life By Jess)

Lots of Candy Monster Cookie Bars by Cooking with Carlee  - Heather (Stringtown Home)

Summer Bucket List by No Small Life - Gabby (Not Too Shabby Gabby)

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An InLinkz Link-up

Spring 'Greening'

I make no secret about how much I love the cleaners we use in our home.  I discovered this amazing, concentrated cleaner one day when I took to the internet to search for a natural cleaner.  One that was safe around my kids, didn't require me to have the windows open for ventilation when using it, was safe for all the surfaces in our house, was budget friendly,

It was definitely a tall order.

Funny how we stumble upon things when we least expect it, right?!  See my purpose in sitting down at the computer that day was to look for a cleaner.  After a few minutes of searching for something I was sure I'd never find, I got a little side tracked by different blogs.  (Is that typical for you, too?)

One blog sucked me right in and it was so much fun looking at all the things this blogger was doing- finishing their basement, cute posts of her kids, and getting things ready for a big yard sale.  And then there was one sentence that caught my eye.  She was using a natural cleaner to clean up some furniture she was getting ready to sell.  A cleaner she had been using for years with a link in the post to buy my own.  Bingo!

That was about 3 years ago.  Did you know I still have my original bottle I ordered that day?

Would you like to know why I still have the original bottle?  Believe me, it's not for nostalgia sake.  It's because I'm still trying to get through the whole thing!  That's right - that lovely little arrow on the picture is pointing to the level of cleaner I still have in my original bottle purchased 3 years ago!

This is the only all-purpose cleaner I use in our home, too.  How many bottles of cleaner have you purchased in the past 3 years?  This one cleaner makes my glass cleaner, all purpose cleaner and degreaser just by simply mixing different amounts of the concentrated cleaner with plain water.  Super easy and very economical - two things we can all appreciate!  Not only is Basic H2 an all-natural, organic cleaner it's also naturally anti-microbial!

Even if you only purchase one window cleaner, one all-purpose cleaner and one degreaser in a year, you would still spend more than if you purchase one bottle of Basic H2 concentrate.

There's another reason switching our house hold cleaners has made such a difference in our family.  Did you know the cleaners you use can have a direct result on your families respiratory health?  Ever check the warning labels on your cleaners?  This is something that other families have seen a huge difference in after switching their cleaners.

For our family, we saw a quick difference with allergies in all the kids and chronic coughs in our two youngest.  Once we switched, I no longer had teachers contacting me about the little ones having trouble staying on task and keeping with the class because they were coughing all through school.  No more having to go to the pediatrician {at 20 bucks a pop} to be told to try another type of allergy medicine that just didn't work.  No more dealing with chronic sinus infections for our oldest and youngest daughters and having to get prescription after prescription to help relieve the hurt that goes along with all of that.

So, are you curious to learn more?  My team would love to have you join us April 22nd at our Facebook event in honor of Earth Day.

Here we will be sharing the background of the Shaklee cleaning products, uses, some great before and afters, and so much more!  These cleaners are so versatile you will never need to bring a harsh, chemical cleaner into your home again!

This is an absolute, no-obligation event!  However, it's a great way to get your questions asked and find out more about what so many of us have discovered in these natural, non-toxic cleaners that work to keep our homes clean without being a harm to our families or the environment.

Can't wait to see you there!!

Keep loving Life!

My Life Has Moved!!

If you've been following along on Facebook, Instagram, or right here on the blog, I'm sure you've noticed our family has been dealing with some major changes.

WE'VE MOVED!

What brought this on?

My wonderful, over achieving husband, who's been in the food industry for the past 17 years, was asked if wouldn't mind a new job title.  While the past handful of changes were all able to be done in the St. Louis office, this one required a major move.

Now, we've been though this several times before; but,  each and every time has it's unique qualities.  This time is no different.  Things that I've either forgotten about from previous moves or new exciting things I discover or things that take me off guard and have my sarcastic 'Really?!' escaping before I think to keep my mouth shut.

1. Water Softener

I really miss our water softener.  With the dryer climate and lack of softener salt, the skin is a little dry, itchy, and brittle.   Can you say herbal blend multi-purpose cream?!

2. Amazon Prime

There have been a couple purchases made since we moved in.  Grateful for the free shipping and number of products from which to choose. (Apparently, I'm a toilet bowl brush snob.)

3. Wind

Wow!!  This one really caught us by surprise!

America's Windiest Cities

Sorry, my Chicago friends! You didn't even make the cut.  

4. Distance to Everything

After having lived outside of both Atlanta and St. Louis, you get pretty used to having to drive at least 30 mins to get to a lot of places.  Here in Amarillo, I can get from one end of town to the other in about 20 mins.  Shopping, groceries, utilities, library, schools - are all so close now!  I'm already spoiled!

5. Community Dumpster

Really not used to this, but it's definitely a bonus!  No worries about having the trash can out for trash pick-up on time, but not out too long that HOA sends a note.  Twice a week pick-up.  Kinda a 'don't-ask-don't-tell' policy.  Not much worry about things blowing over or away. And all the kids can manage to take the trash out for me.  Another thing that will spoil me.

6. Gas

I LOVE having gas!  Not the digestive kind - but the home heating, water heating, stove top cookin', oven baking kind.  

7. New Construction

We purchased new again when we moved here.  There are several benefits to this for our family - the biggest being the quick move-in date we can usually get.  

I always forget about the mess that goes along with being in a construction area.  My windows are constantly dirty, the floors constantly have tracks on them, and there's just no getting away from the grime.  Once you feel like it's all clean the wind picks up and you have to start all over again.  (See #3)

Another aspect that makes living in a new construction is that no one knows where you live.  Not a big deal, except I don't know where I live either!  (Google Maps is one of my favorite things right now.)  Kinda hard to give directions.  I'm learning, though.  Thankfully, UPS and FEDEX have had no trouble getting to us.  (See #2)

8. Smell of Money in the Air

It's pretty comical to walk out the door with your kids and hear them exclaim 'What is that SMELL?!'.  This is cow country, after all.  :)

9.  Facing West

When your home faces full West it causes you to make some pretty drastic (temporary) decorating decisions if you want to protect your retinas at supper time.

10.  Furniture Fitting

This is one that always gives me a bit of trouble.  Every time a move is made, you're essentially taking one home and trying fit it into another.  Lots of times it can feel like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole.  This time around we have a ranch style home for the first time ever.  We also gave up having a basement.  It's been a bit more challenging for me this time around.  

11.  Dark Hardwood Floors

I'm not sure if I'm up for the work these are going to require. (See #3 & #7)  Do you really have hardwood floors if you end up purchasing enough rugs to cover 80% of them?

12.  No State Income Tax

Need I say more?!

Okay..... There's just a small glimpse into the changes that have come our way.  While we are really missing our friends up North, we've already met a lot of new people and found a great church family to be a part of.   So far settling in has been pretty effortless.  Sure there have been a couple of bumps and frustrations, but that all happens no matter where you are.  Most important thing has been keeping a sense of humor when things come our way.  

Until next time!

Life is Happening

Like anyone else's life, ours has picked up a little more crazy than normal.

Things I've discovered...

Moving is a big headache, but very doable if you keep organized - ish.  Still ready for it to be done, though.

I have more junk (and therefore more work) than I thought.

Junk drawers I didn't know I had

Fixer Upper and Property Brothers are my new favorite shows - and keep me company for hours in my very quiet house. (ahem)

I like soup.  Lots and lots of soup.

White Chicken Chili Soup (Recipe coming soon!)

When you can't do something (sew, craft, diy), that's when you get all kinds of great ideas.


Keep loving Life,

Have You Heard the News?!

Things have been mighty crazy around here the past couple of months. Wanna know why......?

Our family is headed to Texas at the end of the year!!

It's a crazy, bittersweet feeling for us.  We have absolutely LOVED our time here in Saint Louis (even with all the medical stuff we had to deal with).  Great friends have been made, fun has been had, and wonderful memories abound.

Right now is just another point in our lives for change - and that's okay.

This all started about two months ago.  Kevin has been doing a lot of flying back and forth trying to hand over his current position and learning what is expected of him in the new.  I've been busy getting junk treasure cleared out of the basement, excess trash thrown away, and readying our house to put up for sale.

Thankfully, all the hard work has paid off and our home sold in 3 days!  Such a blessing!

Now we are moving quickly to get our new home lined up and ready for us to settle in just before Christmas.  We've looked at a lot (okay, that should be highly emphasized) of homes online.  Soon we will be able to see them in person and hopefully find one that will work well for our family.  A lower mortgage payment would be nice, too.

I won't lie - this will be one of the hardest moves for us.  Being in one place for seven years allowed us to grow some roots and make some really deep connections with friends.  The kids being older is also a huge factor, too.  Change is harder when you are 12 and 10 years old as oppose to 5 and 3.  They will adjust, though.  And, thankfully, there is FaceTime, texting and Facebook available to keep connected.

So...... that just a bit about sums it up.

I'll let you know how things go!

Easy Way to Bag Rose Bush Clippings

Fall is just around the corner. I can feel it .... even though it's been above 90 degrees so far all this week. So the temperature hasn't cooled off much yet, it's still the beginning of September. Getting a head start on the outside clean up work seems appropriate, so I hit the front flowerbeds. (Either that or I'm just looking for something different than cleaning another bathroom... again!)

The flower beds have really gotted out of hand this summer. Both Knockout rose bushes I have LOVE where they are and grow like crazy. Big bonus since they fill the space and give us color all summer long. Downside?  It's always a challenge getting all the clippings in the yard bags and ready for trash day pickup. Those thorns hurt, friends!

Yesterday I had an 'aha' moment! 

Here's what I did:

Take one yard waste bag and open it up with some scissors. 

Lay it out close to where the clippings will be cut.

Start piling up the clippings within the bounds of the bag. 

Now you can roll one edge over the thorn filled clippings and really squish it all down. 

This step can be done several times until you feel like you have as much in the bag as possible.  The layers of paper the bag is made of helped add some much needed protection from thorns.

Next and final step will more than likely require an assistant. 

Gather up your nicely rolled up full bundle of stickery clippings and slide it into another (intact) yard waste bag. It was a little tricky getting it all tucked in and started- kinda like getting tights on a toddler.  But, once started, the rest of it just slides right in. 

No one to help lend a hand? Have some twine on hand and tie the bundle at both ends. This would hold it all together. Then lay it on the ground and work the second bag around one end and up the bundle of clippings. 

Try it out and let me know how it works for you! 

3 Little Birds, Pitch By My Doorstep

As we all know, there can be a lot of wasted time to be found on the internet - and Facebook in particular.  I figure that sums up most of my time on there except for when I'm actually working.

The other day, though, I don't care how much time equaled waste, because I ran across this picture someone had posted in a FB group I'm a part of.

I immediately knew I had to have them.  I even texted my husband the picture and let him know I was on a mission.  {I thought it only fair to warn him of my obsession intentions before he got home.}

You may be thinking 'Why?'.

Or, maybe you're more like - 'Really?!?! You can't be serious, right?!'

So, let me take you on the long, winding journey of my - slightly strange - reasoning, my friends.

If you recognize the title of this post for the song lyrics that they are, you probably already know where this is going.  IF you don't know the song, here's a link.



Bob Marley - Three Little Birds

I have always enjoyed listening to this song and have passed that love on to four of my five children.  I've had it on my iTunes playlist for years.  Whether we're in the house cleaning, by the pool, or driving down the road with the windows open or closed:  this song gets turned up just a little louder.  {Which is pretty humorous considering we are all painfully white.}

However, about three years ago, this song took on a new meaning for me.

You see, when you have the reality below staring you in the face....

So many things in life take on a new meaning.

And you need something to fight off the worry and nasty thoughts that can plague you - especially as a parent watching your child suffer.

I know we've all seen pictures of children dealing with any number of ailments.  And our hearts go out to them.  And their families.  We sit there and can't imagine what they are all going through.  We even say an extra prayer or two just for them.

But when it's your child in that picture...

When it's your child's long, beautiful, blonde hair now collected in a bag...

Or when you are the one sitting on the floor of the grocery store with your child while she has a meltdown for no apparent reason...

You hit your knees on a daily basis.  Sometimes you don't leave your knees for days.  People may see you walking around, going through the motions of life like normal; but,  inside you are humbled in front of the throne of God begging for your child's life.

There are so many things we were able to find strength in during those months and years, though.  We have some of the most amazing friends both near and far.  We were (and are) able to open the scripture and find so many encouraging words to sustain us.  My prayer life was built up significantly during that time, too.  And our marriage gained a firmer foundation.

With this song, though, we could get lost in it.  We would dance and sway together in the living room and smile through the tears.  We could really enjoy the moment and forget for just a little bit.

Can you now understand just a little bit of my obsession/desire to have those birds in my home?  And when I saw these three little birds, I was on a mission.

And I found them just a few hours later at Target.  {Yep, that same day.}

While I thought about putting them in our kitchen; they look perfect over our front door.

It's something we will be able to see every morning when we come down the steps to the main level.  The kids will also get to see them everyday heading out the door for the school bus.  None of us will ever be tall enough to slap the top of the door like all those football teams coming out of a tunnel; but, this is kind of the equivalent for our family in my mind.  It will be a reminder to us all that God takes remarkable care of us through all the good and bad times in life.

I hope I've explained that well for all of you.  I'll be completely honest: this post has taken me several days and  a couple of all out sob-fests to get written.  Because even with all the emotions I've gone through and how thankful I am to be where we are today; I still ache for all those families who don't have a happy ending to their story.  I hope that now when you see those pictures of someone else's kid you will understand just a little more and are willing to say a few (more) prayers for that family.  And then maybe this song will cross your mind, give you a smile and remind you that every little thing really will be alright no matter what may come.

The LORD is my strength and my shield; in him my heart trusts, and I am helped...   Psalms 28:7

Love to you all and God bless.

Getting Organized for School: Part 3

In Part 1, I covered some lessons I've learned that will hopefully help anyone who has kids in school to some degree.

In Part 2, I shared the calendar methods that have been working out best for our family.

Today I'm sharing a few miscellaneous tricks we've implemented around the house to keep me on top of school things.

Posted Notes

I used to use Post Its on the front door for little reminders to myself.  The idea had merit, but there were just a couple of things that limited it:  they fell off the door every once in a while,  I was going through a lot of Post Its, and the kids could easily remove them.

I had this really cute Roommates Dry Erase Calendar for another project, and had yet to use it.

I still have the calendar waiting for me to get to that other project, but the little word bubbles and circles have taken the place of my Post It notes.  

I purposely put them up higher than what the kids can reach.  Since I'm tall, it's no problem for me to write on them.  (For those of you vertically challenged, arrange yours accordingly.)  

Since there are five kids in our family, one circle is used for each kid/grade with one circle devoted to school wide events.  

This is such a small thing, but it's saved my bacon more than a few times.  The quick reminder that a permission slip needs to be turned in or a lunch made in a paper bag for a field trip or that it's pajama day keeps me looking like a rockstar mom and keeps the tears off my kids' faces (and mine).  There have been lots of tears in the past, too, people!

Email

This has been a HUGE game changer for me!  Not about just getting emails from the teachers and school - we all probably have this happening.  It's the fact that I devoted a single email account to school stuff and nothing but school stuff.  

It takes only minutes to set a new account up.  I decided to use Gmail, since that's what I'm used to, it's easy to use, and I can receive the mail on my phone app.  

Now, if you decide to do this, which I highly recommend, don't use it for anything other than school.  That would completely defeat the purpose of this email account.  Keep it for school, and only school communications: teachers, school district news, and other parents.  That way the important stuff doesn't get buried under junk emails.  Also, make sure to clean out the older emails periodically to avoid clutter.

All of these organizing tips that I've shared are easy to implement at any stage in the game.  My oldest is in middle school and I just started most of these things in the past two years.  I'm hoping that my stumbling along all these years will help all of you be able to get a handle on school organization long before your oldest gets to middle school or beyond!

Share any ideas you have with the rest of us at My Life by Jess on Facebook!  

Have a great weekend!!