Exploring Our Family History in Tannehill State Park: A Beautiful Place to Take Your Family

Tannehill Ironworks Historical State park

Last year my cousin Amber sent me a VHS video clip of an interview she did with our Maw-Maw back in the 1990s. In this video, Maw-Maw told us there is a cabin in Tannehill State Park that once belonged to our great-great grandparents. Once I learned we have an ancestral home on display in Birmingham, Alabama, I knew we had to go check this out! My kids love it so much when I drag them out on these sorts […]

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3 New Children’s Books for Summer & A Giveaway!

summer reading giveaway

This past month I had the pleasure of reading a few new children’s books that I think your kids will love this summer. ***When you purchase through links on my website, I do collect advertising fees from the Amazon.*** Best of all, these books each have a different character-building lesson in them. They are beautifully illustrated too. When you shop online, it is hard to know what exactly is in any book you have never read before. That can be […]

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Successful Annual Road Trip to See Family During the Rona

covid road trip to see family

We make this trip down south to see our family every single year. Alan had to switch jobs back in June, so this year we pushed the pilgrimage back to August. I kept thinking by August “things” would be better. But alas, August is here, and things still look like a bowl of mush. Alan had to get special permission to even take leave and travel so far during all this mess. With permission secured, we packed our bags and […]

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Overnight Trip to Ocean City, Maryland During the Pandemic

Ocean City During the Pandemic

Alan pleasantly surprised me a couple of weeks ago when he announced that he had cashed in our hotel points and made reservations for us to spend July 5th in Ocean City. Say what?? Granted, Alan can be very spontaneous, but this was even better than a last minute trip. This was a PLANNED vacation surprise! Wahoo! I had not even suspected that he was planning something like this. We have been basically stuck here. You see, not only is […]

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5 Printable Summer Journal Pages to Get Your Kids Writing

free printable summer journal pages

Do you vow every summer to make sure your kids still read and write over the break? I know I do. Then I am always thoroughly disappointed when no one wants to do anything of the sort. In fact, as a mom of all boys, I feel like all anyone ever wants to do is stare at screens all day. That is our battle as a generation. Every year I enter in with delusions of grandeur, but that is okay. […]

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The Thrifty and Sunburn Free Trip to Miramar Beach

The Thrifty and Sunburn Free Trip to Miramar Beach

The beach is my favorite place to go in the summer, but it can be expensive and dangerous for a family full of pale skinned people. This year we actually managed to take a thrifty trip to Miramar Beach without getting sun-burned! Alan and I are always dreaming up fun things to do together as a family, and our efforts are often met with …….resistence. One of our fellas actually lamented, “I don’t want to go to the beach. I […]

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Life After Home School and the Move

life after home school

Tomorrow is Daniel’s very first day of kindergarten. To me he still looks like this: But, believe it or not, the Dan Man is 5, and he is extremely excited about going to school with his brothers. They will all be at the same school together. I had planned it differently, but at the last minute Daniel was awarded a scholarship, so that worked out beautifully. It’s hard to even focus on how much is happening. Our heads are still […]

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Deep Thoughts from Magic Kingdom 2016

Magic Kingdom

This was the best surprise I’ve ever pulled off. We are not typically adept at keeping exciting news to ourselves. We are the kind of people who announced we were pregnant the second we found out. But this time we played it cool. We DID tell the boys we were headed to Disney World. However, we did NOT tell them that I copied my friend Amy’s Disney itinerary as closely as I could, so our Disney vacation would be shared […]

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Exciting News, Dirt Angels, and Checking on Daniel

I’m sitting by the bathroom, making sure JD does not splash while he takes his bath. I can hear some other children of mine downstairs, voicing their disapproval of what I’ve cooked for dinner, and well….I’m thinking perhaps some of my summer vacation plans should be alone….maybe Alan can come, but that’s it. So here’s my EXCITING NEWS. JD suddenly up and decided to start pooping on the potty this week. I’ve died and gone to Heaven, but first, there was […]

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What to Do to Overcome Evil With Good Today

To begin with, I will say that no one ever said overcoming evil is easy. This has been an exhausting week, with both Art Camp and Vacation Bible School going on. It’s hard to explain why. It’s difficult to tell you what it’s like to get 4 little boys ready to leave the house 3 times a day, wake up early, and stay up late. It’s hard to explain why I completely melted down yesterday morning, but I did. Let’s […]

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