Thanksgiving Decor

I am slowly adding to my collection of harvest/fall/thanksgiving decor... I don't have a bunch and I don't want to buy something I don't love and won't use for awhile. Here is our downstairs this year!
One of my favorites is walking into the house, or sitting in the house and seeing spurts of small all around and the smell of fall candles!!! Oh my goodness, break me off a piece of THAT!!!

Enjoy!!

You can't see the other side of the stairs, but up it we strung all the kid's artwork from Thanksgiving over the years. I loved this idea!!

Can you tell I am obsessed with these little annalee dolls? I love to place them in random spots around the house! ;)

School Thanksgiving Treats

Every year, and almost every holiday, we make goodies up for the girls to pass out at school.They look forward to this, I look forward to this and even the classmates do!!
This year, we didn't have a lot of time to get super creative on what to make..(heck when do we have tons of time? when does anyone have extra time) so we made these easy peasy pretzel snacks!! They are SO addicting!! There are so many easy things you can whip up in a jiff!! Here is one!

Hardest part? Unwrapping every single piece of chocolate and trying not to eat them all!

Directions:
Set oven at 275 degrees



Lay out all pretzels filling a baking sheet
place heresy kiss on top
bake for 3 minutes
take out, and stick whatever you'd like on top (we choose marsh mellows) 

Berlyn's bags:

Kambria's bags:

craft day

Craft days (that are with someone else) are the most fun..... and a plus (when someone else....aka your mamma) pays for the craft day.... ;)

We decided to re-create some Christmas tree's.... these were a lot harder than we had expected. Before you go zooming in on these pictures.. I KNOW they aren't perfect... WHO IS PERFECT??... I will be so excited to display these this Christmas because I will remember back to how much hard work these were to make and remember back to a wonderful craft day with my mom.

Here goes it.
Everything is from hobby lobby.
FYI (we didn't do this) However, spray paint your cones the color you will be using to go over your cones with... example; my white cotton ball one, should of spray painted it white first... it's the things we learn AFTER the craft that actually count! ;)

Hope you enjoy these... Be on the look out for these displayed in my casa in my Christmas post!!! xxxx

Financial Peace

Does the word ring a bell to anyone? If not; check this out
http://www.daveramsey.com/home/

For the past 3...or is it 4? (something around there) My husband & I have been taking Dave Ramsey's -financial peace university- with some of our favorite couples... let me just sum it up in one word **AMAZING**EYE OPENING**
I was so nervous to begin this class, because, with my husband being an engineer, he already had us on a budget and had what i thought to be, everything budgeted out. Boy was I wrong... I also thought this class was only about creating a budget... Boy was I wrong again.

This class isn't even over and has brought our marriage together more tightly, has made me realize that it's not entirely how much money you actually make;  it's how you spend your money and how you invest your money. It's made me realize that I spend wayyyyy too much at Durango Joes Coffee.... :( wahh wahh...It's also made me realize that we started with ZERO money in savings and ZERO money in investments (which means no emergency fund and no to building wealth)

This class helps you pay off your debt, get a cushion for savings, save for your child's education fund (& just child fund in general) & to start investing money (making wealth) & start giving back.
Isn't that the life was all want? I do!

Why are you selling everything?
uhmmmm...... everything? first things first guys, it is definitely not EVERYTHING...
One of the things we learned about 2 weeks ago was to SELL anything that SITS or has been sitting for over months and months..."but what if you use it again, or get money and get to???"(well, eventually if you want that item again and plan to use it, you will have PLENTY of money to buy it later & use it (whatever that item may be) in the future... so sell it now, put it toward's debt/bills and free up space in your life and house) This was extremely hard for me at first... However, why do we need something that sits and something that we NEVER use? Pointless, right? .... *Life like no one else NOW so LATER you can live like no one else*


let that sit a bit.....

I just wanted to give a SHOUT OUT to my amazing friends that are taking the class with us and who fully support us and we fully support them.... Duh, we are in the same crazy train boat!! & a shout out to anyone that is taking this class or has taken this class...

School drop off & pick up.

Are you one of those moms who wonder why your children's teachers don't recognize you, or even think you are the same person when you come to pick your child up from school??? or better yet, your own child(ren) don't recognize you?... 

Don't worry, you're not alone!

Drop Off:

Pick Up:

xxx-Bristol

mom-hood rant

mom hood... motherhood, mommyhood, mother... whateva you want to call it.

IS NOT A COMPETITION LADIES.

literally that bugs me SO bad... like, what are we all against eachother for? why are we so quick to break someone down in a negative way, but it takes all of us to actually give a positive comment to someone.. ( i'm not excluding myself in this one, please don't think that ) I struggle with this often as well and have been working really hard not to! we are all in this together, so why not help eachother out?...

You know how they say it's the hardest job, yet most rewarding job? What about those single moms out there, or the ones who can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, the "rewarding" part.. Don't tell me you haven't been there, we all have... "How am I supposed to know if someone is struggling?" you ask.... well a couple things we can all do, if we are struggling at something, why not ask for help, ask for prayers, advice, etc... Why don't we? Because we are a bunch of judge mental( did I spell that right) WITCHES half the time.. It's a never ending cycle. 

This world is not fun alone, I think we all can agree on that. 

Let's take a vow, who's with me?

Vow to be on a team with all of us moms who are in this day to day job TOGETHER... let's empower eachother, let's lift eachother up, not break eachother down.. Let's help someone when they are down, not judge them.. we really don't know half the stuff each person goes through and we will most likely never know. 

let's do mom-life together!

Cheers

xxx

youtubin it up.

That's right....... I got a youtube. Well, I think I already had one... however, we are going to be posting more on there!! Yauuhhhh.......

On my blog, on the right hand side, I have linked my favorite social media app's that I use, they are just a click away!
We (me) am extremely new at this whole vlogging thing, so beware the quality is TOP NOTCH and the editing is as well.......
;)




Enjoy, loves!

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqmDsphPuOatpV5lZvYJDvw
direct link.

life.unplugged.

 I have been going back and fourth about posting this on social media or not, or even on facebook, instagram, or even who to tell, who not to tell.. If you are a dude and NOT a dad(or heck just a dude in general)... You probably don't want to continue reading this.
Let me just tell you, this will be the most I have ever shared and the most I have been like... REAL, REAL.. honest. I am asking myself why I am sharing this now, but why not?
We have two kids, (obviously, if you know me) with the oldest being 10... maybe 2 years ago we threw the idea around of having another child, infact; we tried for about 6 months or so and had no such luck. As it was taking longer and the girls were only getting bigger we figured we were just meant to be a family of 4 and the thought of having more kids was not there.. I however, am not on anything to prevent more kids.
Fast forward a few years and 4 positive pregnancy tests later.... This was probably the most selfish I have ever though or felt in my life.. "What about my body? I want to get in shape, I AM trying to get in shape... I don't want to be pregnant again and get fat"..... Yes, those words came out of my mouth. "but, we didn't want anymore kids...." I've gone 5 days with a visit to the ER, visits to the Dr, and 4 panels of blood work later; to find out what was going on with me since I was supposed to be about 6/7weeks pregnant (from my last period) and I was experiencing some heavy bleeding and clotting.The thought of a mis-carriage was absolutely devastating to me. The answers they were giving me, weren't helping "Well, you have a cyst on your ovaries and this can be causing your body to "think" it's pregnant so you go through all the motions with it.... however, your blood work comes back that you are pregnant with a very low hormone level which can mean you are not very far along, or you are and you are experiencing a mild mis-carriage, we will need to keep re-testing your blood every 48 hours until we figure out the answer"...the waiting game....
 I have never felt so many emotions in such little time. I want(ed) a baby... (yes the one I was just complaining about a few days before) How could I? Now, I understand, well let me re-phrase that, I got a TASTE of what couples go through when they have zero kids and are longing for a child and can't, or they experience mis-carriage after mis-carriage, and keep trying. It is completely heartbreaking to me.... to know that, those small emotions (which felt HUGE... still do) to me at the time, these couples face them day in and day out. I have never sat and thought about what they feel like going through a mis-carriage or loss of the baby during pregnancy. I will NEVER look past this ever again. Every single person here is a Gift.... It is hard to grasp that in one single sentence.

 I just want to send major love and prayers out to anyone who has ever experienced this, or anyone who is going through this.  Whether you believe in God or not, HE HAS A PLAN FOR YOU... This I know. This I am passionated about. It is so hard to tell someone "This is the plan, it will be okay" when you haven't been through half of what they have. However, this chapter in your life will pass, you WILL turn the page and start a new adventure. Don't be afraid to seek others for help, for comfort, for peace and keep your mind busy. Don't let this end your journey and don't let your story stop here. Also know how strong you are to keep trying and keep pressing on.

With this being said, I got the news today that I miscarried little babe that was forming in my body. I am so very thankful and blessed for the two beautiful girls I have, for every inch of their body..I can't help but keep repeating this in my head; 

Psalm 34:18 

The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit

Maternity Shoot

Pregnant Woman are the most serene people I feel like...like they are straight magical people walking the earth.... We are so blessed to be able to house these little humans in our body. It is crazy to wrap my head around it (and I have birthed two baby girls)! Being pregnant is something unexplainable and the crazy hormones along with it? Don't even get me started... Ask my husband! Well... he may be too scared to even tell ;) haha  Enjoy this beautiful pregnant mamma and her cute family!

xxx Bristol

Valentines Day Garland

Who is getting ready for Lover's Day?
I have never went all out for Valentines day when it comes to decorating... I am not sure why.. This year I decided to start building my collection and I started it by the DIY paper garland. I am not super into pink's and reds.. I figured I would stick with my go to colors right now.

I purchased the paper from Hobby Lobby and cut them all into heart shapes.

I then just hot glued the string onto the backs of the hearts.... SO EASY... & I am obsessed with them! I made a few of these to go in different spots around the house.

V-Day Decor with the DIY heart garland :)