To my sister Elizabeth and brother-in-law Oliver on their darling newest addition…

Thomas, born in France on May 6th weighing 8.27lbs — We love you already!
I haven’t been on my computer very often the last few weeks (maybe months) – my phone is a different story – so I’m finally getting around to posting these.
We like going to this beautiful spot overlooking the ocean, there’s also a quaint park close by.
These photos are a mix from Easter and Preston’s birthday.
We had a fun celebration for him with a few of his friends which was low key and relaxing — a pleasant surprise.
So far Preston’s personality has been very easy going, though he does have a determined side when he’s set on something he wants, whether that’s food (he has a sweet tooth!) or staying with dad and mom instead of going with his group at church, and not much will change his mind. It makes for an interesting contrast from his usual jolly self.
When he gets in those moods I wanna tell him ‘it’s not part of your laid back personality to do that!’, but that would just be silly since apparently it is.
And then with the other boys I expect, or at least am not surprised, by their more “intense” reactions to a host of things. Gotta love all the different personality types under one roof.
Comparisons will kick you in the teeth and hijack your dreams every time by Lisa-Jo Baker. – “The Internet can be a very loud and shouty place about what everyone else is doing successfully.”
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You Are As Valuable As the Orphan by Amber C. Haines. “We’ve had to remind ourselves again and again that salvation doesn’t come when we work more. Sometimes it comes when we stop and lay down the work, not in sloth, but more like in the work of turning back a cup and drinking.”
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What Shames Us by Tim Challies.
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Tips for Decluttering Your Kid’s Bedroom by Melissa from The Inspired Room.
Even though I’m not able to pull off all her tips exactly I still liked the general concept of “zones” for kids and it helping with organization/cutting down on messes. I’ve already started getting rid of things we don’t really use enough, now I need to put some toys and books out of sight too.
I keep up better with cleaning and organizing by having less stuff around me – big surprise there – but the hard part is consistently keeping things to the essentials and/or things we love without letting all the other stuff make its way into the house (first-world problems I know).
Are you gonna spring clean or how’s it coming along if you already started?
We just got this Bible last week and it’s SO nice, it’s like a giant comic book fully in color. My boys love it!
I got our copy here but I’m sure you can buy it from other online stores too.