Tag: Motherhood

Happy 9th birthday, Zephaniah! 🥳

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Zephaniah is nine! My, that happened so fast. Each year, it feels this way because the kids are growing so quickly. It’s bittersweet.

I feel incredibly blessed that God has given me the gift of celebrating my children’s birthdays, but I also can’t help but feel a little weepy that my babies are growing up!

Zaya (6), Zechariah (11), and Zhen (13) helped me make Zephaniah’s birthday cake—a homemade chocolate cake with cream cheese frosting.

We made a diy dinosaur theme for the cake (because Zephaniah loves dinosaurs 🦕) using chocolate cupcakes for a volcano and food coloring gel for the orange-red lava and green grass.

Then, we topped the cake with miniature dinosaur toys.

Zephaniah invited our neighbors to his party, and he was so excited when they arrived. Elijah (26) and Mj (24), our oldest children, also joined us for his birthday celebration.

6-7 chicken muggets for the birthday boy!

For party food, we had pizza, chips, and 6-7 chicken nuggets. I saw the 6-7 chicken nuggets at Aldi and thought the kids would find them hilarious. Lol! 😂

The kids had a blast! They played outside for a little bit before coming inside to play Zephaniah’s new video game, Bluey’s Quest for the Gold Pen.

My mom (aka Nana) mailed him a birthday card with $25 tucked inside. This is a cherished birthday tradition from Nana that the children always look forward to.

Then, we take them to the store of their choice (usually Target, Walmart, or Five Below) so they can go shopping.

Zephaniah said it was the best birthday ever! 😊

💜 XO

Happy birthday, Zaya! 🥳

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Zaya celebrated her 6th birthday! 🥳

We had a family cookout at home with hot dogs, burgers, chicken, and homemade red velvet cake.

Burgers were the birthday girl’s special dinner request, so a cookout it was!

Zaya’s birthday is extra special to our family because she was born on our 9th wedding anniversary!

Yes, our sweet girl shares a very special day with her mommy and daddy. 🥰

Zaya was born on our 9th wedding anniversary during the 2020 pandemic! 💜😷 What a time!

This year, Zaya wanted to help make her own birthday cake because she loves cooking.

So, we made a red velvet cake together, complete with homemade cream cheese frosting. 🎂

Zaya putting frosting on the birthday cake. 🎂
Zaya lighting a prayer candle at church for her birthday. 🕯💜🙏🏽

A family birthday tradition for the kids is to go to a store of their choice to spend their birthday money. Their grandparents and older siblings usually gift them with birthday money.

Zaya birthday shopping at Walmart.

Zaya picked Walmart for her birthday shopping. She had $25 to spend, and she bought a remote control car, princess nail polish, and eyeshadow.

Zaya loves playing dress-up with costume dresses and makeup. Lol 😄

Happy 6th birthday, Zaya! 💜

💜 XO

I voted! 🇺🇸

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Tuesday was the Michigan primary (the day after we celebrated our 15th anniversary!), and I made sure to cast my vote!

Travis and I always take the kids with us when we head to the polls, whether it’s Election Day or a primary election. We believe it’s important to include them so that voting simply becomes a normal part of life.

Photo of me on voting day! 💜

I honestly can’t remember ever going to the polls with my mom or dad when I was growing up.

That doesn’t mean it had a negative effect on how I viewed voting, and I certainly don’t blame my parents. It was simply a different experience.

Politics wasn’t really discussed with the children when I was growing up. (Of course, other 90s kids may have had a different experience than I did.)

I will say, though, that I didn’t fully understand the importance of voting when I was younger. It wasn’t until I was in my thirties (I’m 45 now) that I began to better understand the voting process and just how important it is for citizens to participate.

By including our children and having ongoing conversations about voting and how our government works, Travis and I hope they’ll have a much deeper understanding of the process by the time they turn 18. 😊

No matter where a person stands politically, I think understanding how our government functions is an important part of becoming an informed citizen.

💜 XO

Photo info: the photos featured in today’s post are from Tuesday’s voting day, 8/4/26.

Making blueberry muffins with Zaya 🧁

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This morning, Zaya (5) was the first one of the children awake. She popped into the kitchen just in time to discover I was making blueberry muffins.

Naturally, she wanted to help me because Zaya loves cooking. 😊

After filling one muffin pan with liner, we realized we had run out of cupcake liners. So we made our own! 😁🧁

Using a sheet of parchment paper, you cut out squares. Then, make small slits along each side. Place the parchment paper in a well and use a small cup to help form the shape of the liner. Then, fill it with batter.

As she helped me fill the liners with the muffin batyer, Zaya said, “The batter looks like lava, and the cupcake cups are the volcanoes.” 🌋🧁

Days like this remind me how important it is to slow down and enjoy these ordinary moments—not stress about perfection.

The muffins don’t have to have matching liners or look Pinterest-perfect. All that matters to me is spending time together and the memories we’re creating. 🥰

💜 XO

Baby cucumbers 🥒

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We have baby cucumbers! 🥹 I discovered about 10 cucumbers growing in our back patio garden.

Why is it such a thrilling feeling to discover your fruit and vegetable plants have started to produce food? I had the biggest smile on my face when I saw the tiny cucumbers. ☺️

A couple of weeks ago, I was worried the cucumber flowers weren’t going to get pollinated because I hadn’t really seen any bees in our patio garden.

But last weekend, I noticed a few honeybees flying back and forth to the cucumbers. 🐝 I felt relieved.

Gardening is teaching me to be more patient and have more trust.

And I loved showing the kids the little cucumbers!

They were excited to search through the big leaves and count how many cucumbers they could find.

I can’t wait to harvest our cucumbers once they’re ready! I told the kids we’re going to use the cucumbers to make homemade dill pickles. 😊

💜 XO

Happy Friday

Three things to reflect on in honor of September 11th.

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Drawing with the kids 👩🏽‍🎨

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Today, I enjoyed a calming activity with the kids—sketching and coloring flowers. 🌸 The flower activity was part of a science lesson for the kids to draw, color, and label a flower with pollen.

I turned on a jazz playlist to help us focus on our artwork, and as we were creating our sketches, it started to rain.

Perfect timing! 🌧☺️

We discussed shapes we could see in the image of the flower.

One shape that stood out to Zaya (5) and Zephaniah (8) was the middle of the flower reminded them of a hexagon.

So, together we sketched a hexagon shape onto our sketch pads.

Surprisingly, drawing a hexagon is not as easy as I thought it would be! It took me several tries to finally get the six sides connected to form the shape. 😆

Next, we discussed the vibrant yellow color of the pollen and its purpose. We also made connections to the flowers and vegetables growing in our garden.

There was something unexpectedly joyful sitting at the kitchen table with Zaya and Zephaniah, drawing and coloring together.

Keep in mind I am not an artist 😅.

However, the children told me they thought my purple flower looked amazing, and really, that’s all the recognition I needed. 🥰

💜 XO

Happy Friday!

Four fun things for Friday, including a new art exhibit I’m excited to see.

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Pool day ☀️

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It was another hot day, so the kids and I spent some time at the pool today. The temps reached 94°F, but i think the weather app said it felt like 102°F! 🥵

I’ll be honest—for most of the summer, I kept putting off going to the pool because I don’t particularly like wearing a bathing suit. 🫤

But once we got in the pool and started swimming around, I really started to enjoy myself! 😄🏊‍♀️

It made me realize I need to just relax and take a break sometimes, stop being so hard on myself.

I mean, it is summer after all. Lol ☀️😊

Mj (24), my oldest daughter stopped by to hangout with us at the pool after she got off from work.

She has her own apartment in our neighborhood—just three minutes walking distance from our house.

It’s nice having my daughter live in the same neighborhood as me. I really enjoy having her live so close by to us.

I’m so glad we went to the pool around 1 p.m. and hung out for a couple of hours because the weather unexpectedly got bad later in the day.

All of a sudden, around 6 p.m. the air quality became hazy and unhealthy because of the wildfires in Canada. 😲 (We live about 40 minutes from the Canadian border.)

The atmosphere became very smoky outside as if the entire neighborhood had finished shooting off fireworks. You could even smell the burning wood!

I’m keeping Canada and all U.S. states affected by these wildfires in my prayers! 🙏🏽

💜 XO

Flight of the bumblebee 🐝

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I never thought I’d be so happy to see a bumblebee buzzing beside me, but I suppose that’s where I’m at now in my gardening journey! 🐝😆

About a week ago, it occurred to me I hadn’t seen any bees in the garden, even though I have plenty of pollinator flowers.

This morning, I was again thinking about the bees because I have a lot of flowers on the cucumbers now.

I started worrying what if the fruit and veggie plants don’t get pollinated (I know we can manually do this, but I’ve been waiting for nature to take its course 😉).

And then later this evening, Zaya (5) came running through the front door into the kitchen.

She excitedly yelled, “Mommy! Mommy! I saw a bumblebee! There’s a bumblebee on a white flower in the garden!”

So, everyone rushed out to the garden, and the six of us (me, Travis + 4 children) huddled together to watch this little, fuzzy bumblebee wiggle its tiny behind from flower to flower. 🐝😄

💜 XO

Tattoo collector

American traditional tattoos—I love the classic, vintage imagery and bold colors and lines.

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Purr my last email 😹

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We do something a little different from the traditional chores allowance. Instead, we give the kids a reading allowance. 📚🤑

Think 90s Book It!, but instead of a free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut 🍕📚 (which I miss BTW! 🥹 #90sKid), they earn a little money when they fill up their reading logs.

And my kids LOVE doing this! 😁

I always take them to the stores where it’s easy to find fun things for under $10.

Places like Walmart, Five Below, Target, and Dollar Tree where a kid gets excited over novelty products, inexpensive art supplies, plushies, puzzles, slime, posters and unique gadgets. 🤩

You know the kind of stuff when you’re out grocery shopping and your kid picks up some random fuzzy pen that costs six bucks and asks if you can get it.

But you’re like, “Absolutely not! That fuzzy pen is $6! 😲 We’re here to just get some milk and bread, dude.” 😂😏

I found this fun sign when we went to Five Below. Lol 😹

But with their own money they can get any fuzzy pen or quirky doodad they want! 😆😉

Yeah, those are the kind of stores I take the kids to on their allowance payday. 🤩😂

Plus, it’s a great way to teach the kids living math! 💯

They learn price comparison, estimating, paying tax, counting money to pay for purchases at stores, how to save their money…and bonus…social skills—how to interact with the cashiers and staff!

💜 XO

Low energy day, so let’s make pancakes!

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My energy is low today, which is honestly pretty typical for a Wednesday for me. 😴

Today, I am taking it slow and reading Outlander (I’m on chapter 25), finishing organizing my homeschool planner, and doing a little cooking with the kids.

Outlander

Okay, don’t laugh at me, but I have been reading Outlander since last summer! Maybe longer. 😆

I struggle to stay consistent with reading books. 😫 It frustrates me because I LOVE books!

I used to be able to read one novel (under 400 pages) in 1 – 2 weeks. Now, it takes me much longer.

I partly blame social media for zapping my attention span. 😏 Last year, I stopped using Instagram regularly for this very reason (also anxiety).

Now I just hop on social media every once in awhile. It has made a huge difference for me, so hopefully this summer I will finally finish reading Outlander! 😂

Pancakes

It’s a low energy day, so let’s make buttermilk pancakes! 🥞 Zephaniah (8) and Zhen (13) helped me flip the pancakes while I washed the dishes.

Another sunflower rescue

So far, we’ve “rescued” five sunflowers we found growing in between the sidewalk. We discovered another volunteer sunflower sprout that, unfortunately, was broken.

So, I put what was left of the stem in a glass jar of water. Now it’s growing new roots! 🌻😁

One of the sunflowers we rescued is happily growing in a pot for now. Once it has outgrown this pot, I will move it to a large-size grow bag.

Lasagna for dinner

And we’re ending this chill day with a simple homemade lasagna for dinner. Zaya (5) and Zephaniah helped me make the lasagna.

So much to do tomorrow! Hopefully, today’s relaxed activities will give me the energy rejuvenation I need for Thursday.

💜 XO

The old journal

A visit to an art thrift store leads to a journal discovery.

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