Our Christmas began on the 22nd when Chris’ parents, Jo Jo and Grandy came to visit.  They came bearing gifts, a bagillion homemade cookies, and lots of love.  This woman right here is one of the BIGGEST servants I know.  I can’t even begin to tell you all she has done in caring for all the members of her family these past two years.  It seems she is on the road constantly loving on us, her daughter & family, and caring for Grandad (her dad).  She gave me so many fun goodies, but this one topped them ALL : an apron that she sewed, monogrammed, and then added my favorite grandmother’s recipe  in  my mom’s handwriting.  I told her I wanted to frame my apron and not wear it.  So much love all symbolized in this apron!!!

The boys were over joyed with their grown up basketball goal!  Their pitiful pre-school basketball goal didn’t even have a backboard anymore! lol!

Haven turned 3 on the 15th!  How is she 3?!  It was fun celebrating her!

Christmas morning was a blast this year! Our previous years have been HARD.  I was just sooo thankful I was healthy this year (had the flu last year)!  I was so so so thankful.  Growing up, I always had to sit at the top of the stairs and sing Happy Birthday to Jesus before coming downstairs.  Here are these sweeties right before they sang.

Our beautiful Christmas chaos!

Ninja Turtles, Legos and baby dolls were the big themes of this year.  I sent this pic to my friend Emily, who is expecting twins in January.  She said she thinks matching outfits for multiples are God’s gift to mamas for all that hard work! Ha Ha – I love it!

You never really grow up!  I think Chris played with Legos for a good 2 hours!

I will be the first to tell you that I wish I could move to Florida for the winter.  I get all sad and weepy (cry several times a day), and have come to self diagnose SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder).  I got light therapy lamp for Christmas!!  I use it while I do my quiet time in the morning.  It isn’t like a mini-tanning bed (what I thought) when I first heard about light therapy.  It actually affects your retina and how your body suppresses the production of melatonin when the sun is shining.  Very interesting!!  I changed a lot of things all at once, so I’m not sure that is the only thing helping, but if it is – I’ll take it.  Weepy mama = a household that doesn’t really know what to do.   I can’t wait until SPRING and SUMMER!!!!

After all presents at our house, we walked across the back yard to my Mom’s house where she shared presents with us!  I didn’t take any pics of our gifts from Grandma Dee Dee, but we had a good time!  I did take these two pics though…

A lot of snuggles from our 3 year old!

LOVE sitting by the fire at my mom’s house.  Just taking in all the happiness of the morning – we have come so far!  First Christmas morning I have fully enjoyed in a while!  I sent this one to my sister saying I missed her.

Mom flew to NC Christmas day.  We hugged her good bye and went to take Christmas naps.  I had the best nap and woke up to golden sunlight pouring in my room. It was kind of magical.    The next 4 days were filled with enjoying our Christmas presents, being in jammies, and just relaxing. I kind of was restless after several days of that, but it was good for me.  Mom, Nancy, and Will came back to Raleigh to celebrate Nancy’s birthday and New Year’s Eve.  Here are some pics from that adventure…

Uncle Will and the Buddies

Christmas gifts with Aunt Nancy and Uncle Will!  They try to give something they can experience with them to build memories.  This time they gave them all sorts of cookie cutters and decorations and made cookies with them!  The best part : I didn’t have to supervise!!!

On Nancy’s birthday – New Year’s Eve – we woke up and went for a run.  It was FREEZING!!  Nancy and Will ran a 10K.  I ran/walk/worshipped my way through a 5K.  I just didn’t train for the 10 K due to illnesses and a lot of Christmas festivities, but I did get to run that morning!  The Lord opened my eyes to so much on that run.  I will always remember some of the things He showed me on that run.  Goofy selfie… I was like 20 feet behind those two cheetahs, but happy as a clam!

Don’t kill me, Mom and Nancy, for putting this on the blog, but I had to capture our spa day!  After our run, mom, Nancy and I went and got facials and massages.  We went to Whole Foods (the spa of grocery stores- amen!) and ate lunch after.  Our bodies were so nourished, well fed, massaged.  I felt like the pig in the book, My Lucky Day!!! We were total grease heads and didn’t care one bit!

We went back home to rest and then eat the best veggie pizza and olive garden salad followed by the birthday girl’s cake of choice – Cheesecake!  We had grand plans to ring in the New Year, but we were all in bed around 10:30.  Happy New Year to us!

We had to tell the Rays goodbye on the 1st, so everyone gave Aunt Nancy’s baby  a good rub!  Oh this picture makes me so so so happy!!!  Some of my favorite things about celebrating this baby so far: 1.  When Nancy told me, we were in a restaurant in Indianapolis just after the Influence Conference,  I went from happy, smiley la-la-la to weeping like a baby crazy person when I read the card she gave me.  I was just so taken by surprise and so so so excited.  2.  She is my sister, my twin separated by 5 years.  There is nothing like knowing she is going through all I’ve walked through.  3.  I love this baby like it is my own, but I have none of the ‘responsibilities’ of carrying it.  It is amazing!!!

The kids are pretty smitten with Aunt Nancy’s baby in her tummy, too!!!  In fact, Haven had an all out fit that she couldn’t hold it.  She is very baffled by the entire idea.  Bless her heart.

We had such a fun time celebrating Aunt Nancy!

We rang in the New Year eating corn bread, black eyed peas and collard greens followed by naps and general laziness.  It was a great Christmas and New Years!

Hey there!

I have a bit of Christmas cheer for you, mama or mama-to-be!  If you think that this is a video of all the traditions we do and how creative I am, it is not.  In fact, there are very few traditions we do at Christmas- we are building, brick by brick.  The past 5 Christmases I have felt like a failure! It has been hard.  I’m finding my footing, my foundation, and I want to offer encouragement on how you can, too.  Being a mama of little ones makes it especially challenging.  When I say little ones, I am talking about newborn – 3 or 4 years old.  Christmas becomes entirely different when a child reaches about 5 years old!!!

So, know there is a new day coming if Christmas seems particularly difficult for you this year.  It won’t always be this way.  I hope this offers some encouragement to you.  Begin by laying a strong foundation, and then build – brick by brick while keeping our joy.

The wise woman builds her house,
But the foolish tears it down with her own hands.  Proverbs 14:1

Some simple things our family does:

– Play catch up on advent.  ha!  We have had sick children from December 1-6.  We sat down to do our first advent the night of the 6th.  We are doing the Jesus Story Book Bible Advent with ornaments.  And, I quickly told about each ornament.  I kept their attention, for the most part, and each child (we have 5 kids) was able to hang up an ornament (can I say peaceful?!)  I would love to do our advent each night, but this is working for us right now.  I’m thinking about doing advent every 5 days (even though the perfectionist in me cringes at the thought).

– Christmas books in a basket – easily accessible right under the tree!

– Manger scenes – we have 3 nativity sets in our living room.  I knew of one mom who had the wise men travel down their stairs, and baby Jesus did not appear until Christmas day.  I soo want to do this one day… but, I think it is also important for the kids just to play with all the pieces and tell the story and ask questions. Maybe even have a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle come visit baby Jesus – every one is welcome! ha!

– Cookies – this one is tricky because it can quickly become complicated, but I have found a cookie is a cookie is a cookie to a child.  Break and bakes work just as well as homemade dough!  But, if I’m feeling particularly energetic, I may bake them from scratch.. and then, go lay on the couch for as long as can!!  hah!  (Also, why is it always sooo hard to clean up the kitchen after making cookies?!)  Break and bake are a beautiful thing!

– Riding around looking at Christmas lights!  Everyone is strapped in – which can be amazing…or horrible if all are crying – we had them all crying one year.  This year they said things like, Oh my word!  This is amazing!! I didn’t see this coming!! Mommy and Daddy thank you so much!!!  We were cracking up.

– I am pretty sure I made chicken nuggets for Christmas Eve dinner last year.  Oh wait, I had the flu last year.  The year before I made chicken nuggets, and I might make them again this year because… world peace and silent night.

These are a few of our bricks.  Chris and I want the focus of Christmas to be on Jesus and why He came – to give a very dark world, hope and eternal life.  We want to be a family who gives and serves, and we cannot wait to begin doing that with our littles.  We are almost there!  And you, dear mama, will be there before you know it.  Embrace the little moments amidst the crazy.  And most of all, keep YOUR cup full and connected to the reason for this season – Jesus Christ, the best gift of all.

I am homeschooling the ‘big 4’ this year- Harper, 6 & Warner, Crews, and Maverick – 5 .  Haven, 2, certainly tags along and tries to interrupt quite a bit.  But, now that we have been schooling for about 2 1/2 months, I think we’ve found a little groove.  The beauty of home school is that it can be flexible.  While we have our school groove – the time of day we get into our groove changes.  Last night, Harper and I did school at 5pm.  It wasn’t the best time, but we had not had a chance to get school in yesterday any earlier.

I’m using My Father’s World curriculum with both Harper and the boys.  Last year I was very frustrated at the speed the kindergarten lesson moved.  I knew we could be doing more.  I wanted to push Harper- to see her achieve more.  Now that we are in the this year, I am so thankful that I did MFW last year.  While it wasn’t super speedy, it gave me some steady footing in learning how to be a teacher!  I tried some other curriculum this year, and I went back to MFW for first grade.  It is just a good fit for our family.  I love how the curriculum is centered on the Bible. One of Harper’s first history lesson was on the Jewish calendar in comparison to our standard calendar.  We are following the calendar throughout the year.  We are looking at the history as well as the festivals in the Jewish calendar, and I am LOVING learning about this!   Harper is learning to read with a very strong foundation.  Math is made fun!  (We tried another math program earlier this year and she pretty much dreaded it.)    MFW is very gentle in its approach, but gives a solid lesson plan so I know exactly what to expect.  In the next few weeks she will begin reading from a Bible reader.  I love that these words are some of the first she is internalizing!  Oh, and the art program with MFW is Drawing with Children and Harper is goo-goo eyed over art right now!

I am reusing a lot of the MFW kindergarten curriculum that I used last year for Harper, for the boys.  I just had to order a few more packs of the consumable  worksheets.  They boys are liking it.  They are frustrated at handwriting.  They ADORE math and are really accelerated in that area (which honestly freaks me out a little.)  For example, I taught them how to count by 2’s.  We counted together one time from 0-100, and they got it.  Harper, still doesn’t understand that.  It will have to be memory work for her, and that is okay.  But I was shocked how easily the boys caught on!

Focus on cutting and drawing. The fine motor skill stuff drives the boys crazy, but I am so proud of their perseverance!

For the boys’ school time, I have them all sit down at the table with me.  It’s like they are my little class.    We do Bible, poetry, letters, math, writing, and we finish by me reading them a book.  You would think this would take hours… it doesn’t.  It takes about 30-45  minutes depending on what our day holds.  Sometimes we add in art, sometimes science outside.

Letter Bingo!

The girls are usually playing together while I am teaching the boys.  It is so cool to see them stop playing and come sit on the floor to listen when something is interesting to them!  I pull the boys to the side individually a night a week to work on something that may be frustrating to them.  Most of the time it is writing, but lately we’ve been putting letters together for reading and they are loving that!

The girls’ cute set up one day during school. Not always this picturesque, but it was pretty sweet that day!

Harper and I do school while Haven and (sometimes) the boys are resting.  If we happen to get it done before lunch – hooray!  But, most of the time we do not.  It is a wonderful time to connect with her one on one.  Our time together takes about an hour to an hour and 15 minutes.

Haven, being 2, still requires a lot of my time and attention.  But, Thursday morning are our time together.  We run errands, read books, she helps me do laundry (kind of!), or she plays with any toy in the house without being bossed.  I love Thursday mornings with my little Gussy girl.  On school days, she will color, play with an alphabet letter board, look at books, play with salt in a tray, or play with her babies.

Dot paint pens are the bomb!

The big 4 attend a co-op program on Thursdays from 8:30-3.  We begin the day with family worship from 8:30- 9, and every week I am encouraged.  We pray for countries around the world, learn about missionaries, sing together, and pray over the kids.  There they do the following classes : Five in a Row (boys)- literature based with fun activities, Galloping the Globe (Harper) – learning about countries around the world, PE, Music, Science- fun & messy experiments that aren’t always fun for mom to do in the home, Art (Harper), and Legos (boys).  We are connecting with other families, and I get a little time to do some errands/ to-do list items.

I love this season of our lives.  It is un-rushed yet filled with chaos.  But the chaos is just childhood chaos, which is not really chaos at all.  Just loud, messy, laughing, passionate, & occasionally fighting little children – which I am seeing a treasured chaos.  I am learning so much on how to connect with their hearts, and I can’t wait to share with you more on that!  (Vlog!) Home school has been a huge blessing to our family.  We are not dead set on homeschooling through all of school.  However, at this state I want to!  I just wanted to capture a little of what 1st grade and kindergarten are like for us right now.

I have to say I was very nervous about taking this job as their teacher, but it has proved to be so fulfilling and such a blessing.  The toddler years are HARD. And I was afraid I was signing up for an extended year of exhausting work.  Now that Harper is 6 and the boys are 5, we are just entering into these precious years where their hearts want to please.  They are learning to communicate their feelings – which would cause so  many melt downs and tantrums in the early years.  I know the thought of sending kids to school is very much a mental & physical relief for some mamas.  And I can say there are days when I wish they were in school, but those days are few and far between.  But, I am loving our slow mornings with no deadline to be up and out of the house.  I love preparing lunch at lunch time instead of packing lunches the night before (I had to do this when they were in preschool and I hated it!)  I love that they are having a slow childhood this year, and we are truly enjoying each other. It is much more peaceful than exhausting.  I would truly be sad to send them away to school every day. But, this is just this season in our life.  I am embracing it…we will see what the future holds.

Xoxox,

ML

Very excited to be starting this little vlog. I did not plan on doing this today. This idea has been rolling around in my head for a few weeks, and I just decided today was the day. Let’s do this. The ‘little 4’ (boys & HAven) are taking a nap today, and Harper is at piano with my mom. So, I figured now was a grand time to try this. Jumping in! Yikes!

I’ve recently been encouraged in a Bible study that we are all given a beautiful gift and a beautiful story to shine God’s love to others. I have always been a timid one. I have always thought others could say their stories better than I could say mine. But, I am learning no one can share MY story that God has given me except me. So, I pressed record, and am beginning this little vlog for you.

Who: Mamas of young ones
What: A 5-10 minute vlog of encouragement on different topics that you will probably encounter in motherhood. I will talk about what I did, how I honored or didn’t honor the Lord, funny stories, great books, encouragement, life with triplets, etc.
When: Once a month (hoping to increase to once a week)
Where: At your convenience! I hope to help fill your cup up in the morning, at nap time, or in the evening. Just like you are sitting in my kitchen with me over a cup of tea.
Why: Because I wish I had someone who said, I feel like I’m drowning, but here is how I swam (or sank). We all need community, and this is the best way I know how to offer a little right now.

So, with out further ado… my first vlog…the awkward pause at the beginning is well… funny. But, it’s my first, so here’s to hoping I get a little better over time! LOL! We all have to start somewhere!

Click here if video below doesn’t work: First Vlog Hope Filled Home

Leave a comment below on any and every topic you are curious about how we handled! More than likely it will come with a funny story! And, if you don’t comment, then well, you get to hear topics that I would have loved help with! Love you, friends!

Mary Lindsey

PS… I do not think I have all the answers. I just have experienced some extreme situations and want you to know YOU CAN MAKE IT!

So this is the key to success of Whole 30.  You need to have a plan and food on hand.  I like to plan, but then leave room for flexibility.  My week usually looks like this – meal plan/ grocery list- day 1, grocery shopping- day 2, meal prep/ batch cooking- day3.  It takes about 2 hours or so, but saves so much time in the long run!

Here are some of my favorite meals:

(any meals with a * can be prepped ahead of time. You do not need to make all of these.  Just choose 1-3 recipes for breakfast and lunch to prep.  Then, know what you will make for dinner each night. )

BREAKFAST:

Sausage with sweet potato hash* – I get sausage from Gardner Grove Family Farms (where I work on Saturdays at the Nolensville Farmer’s Market.  It has no msg, sulfites, or sugar).  Brown the sausage.  I do pour off some of the fat, but not all of it.  I then add 2 peeled and shredded sweet potatoes to it.  Continue to cook until sweet potatoes have soften.  So yummy! Store the rest in the fridge.  On left over day, add 2 over easy eggs and some avocado and you are pretty much in Whole 30 heaven.

Sweet potato hash, 2 eggs over easy, avocado. ahhhhh!!!

2 fried eggs with a side of roasted veggies & avocado* Make roasted veggies ahead of time.  I do use the microwave (oh no!), but I do what I have to do.

omelette cups + avocado* – I have tried all sorts of different recipes.  I basically just use whatever veggies I have on hand.  Use 10 eggs plus a lot of chopped up veggies.  I don’t make theses often because the clean up is a beast.  I  need to get some silicone muffin cups.  Have also see you can use parchment paper to line your muffin tins…I may try that the next time I make these.  These are great to make ahead of time and store in fridge. Pop 2 in microwave for breakfast and add some avocado.

LUNCH:

Big salad with Green Goodness Dressing – use chicken or salmon add any and every veggie!*  This dressing is amazing!  If I’m not using this dressing, I mix balsamic vinegar, olive oil, and mustard.

Soup (butternut squash soup is a fave of mine! I added some sage and a bit more salt to her recipe) with a side salad with chicken*

chicken salad made with avocado*

turkey and red pepper wraps with homemade mayo* – I make the homemade mayo recipe from the book- It Starts With Food, but it can also be found here.  I quarter a sweet pepper, put a dollop of mayo on top and spread it out, then wrap a piece of Applegate Farms Oven Roasted Turkey breast (from the deli counter at Whole Foods & sometimes at Publix).  Not pre-packaged…that has carrageenan.  All the flavors are SO yummy together!!

DINNER:

salmon and roasted veggies* – I bake (pacific wild caught) salmon at about 375/400 until it flakes – time varies depending on size & thickness of fish.

roast with veggies – throw it all in the crock pot and cook!  I would love to buy a grass fed roast, but for our size family, it is too expensive.  So, a lot of time I do a regular roast from the grocery store.

chicken with sweet potatoes and salad – My favorite is to roast an entire chicken with chopped up sweet potatoes and onions and carrots all in the same pan.  Here is a great recipe.  (I use coconut oil in place of ghee/butter)

coconut curry chicken  Very yummy and filling.

turkey sliders with sweet potato ‘buns’  This recipe is pretty genius to me!

Snacks:

piece of fruit + handful of cashews

smaller portion of turkey + red pepper wraps

banana + cashew butter (make sure there aren’t any additives in the the cashew butter)

smoothie made with coconut milk

banana ‘ice cream’ – take 1-2 frozen bananas and add 1/2 a can of coconut milk.  Blend on high until the consistency of ice cream.  Sometimes I add a few strawberries or peaches or blueberries to the mix.

How I prep ahead of time.  I discovered this idea, as well as a lot of other heart encouragment from a college friend of mine, Kara at Wellness Witness.  Take time to prep for your week and be ready!  This seems like a lot of work, but it is so worth it.  Do this when you do have back up at home for kids.

– Chop up and roast a big pan of veggies at 400/425 for about 20-30 minutes.  Also roast your butternut squash if you are making the soup.  (I usually do onions, sweet peppers, beets, sweet potato, & whole okra.  Put a few ‘pats’ of coconut oil.  Begin roasting and stir mix every 10 minutes to distribute coconut oil and prevent burns.  Salt with sea salt at the end.  Store in fridge).

– Wash and chop up a couple of heads of green leaf and red leaf lettuce.  Dry thoroughly. Place in big plastic bag with a paper towel.  Or go ahead and portion out into plastic storage containers for easy grab & go.

– Chris grills up some chicken for us – about 2-3 pounds of chicken thighs and chicken breasts.  It is nice to have on hand all ready to go.  It takes about 15  minutes to do.  Marinate chicken in a little coconut aminos, salt and pepper.  Make sure grill is oiled before turning it on high.  Place chicken on grill and let cook for about 2-3 minutes on each side before turning heat down to medium.  Allow to cook about 5 more minutes.  Take off grill and chop.  We do use this for the kids, too.

– Make a batch of homemade mayo and green goodness dressing.  Dressing has a base of mayo.

– Brown any sausage or meat.

– Shred sweet potato in food processor to make hash – add cooked sausage and heat to soften up sweet potato.  Store in fridge for easy access.

– Buy rotisserie chicken and take all chicken off bone.  Use half to make chicken salad, and store the other half to add to salads or to munch on for snack.

– The night you make salmon, make extra.  Use on salads or put in eggs in the morning.  Or eat salmon another night. 

I know a lot of people have asked about budget and eating this way.  It is hard for me to do a complete evaluation because I am usually shopping for our family of 7, which is not cheap.  Here is how I look at it.  Our food budget  may go up.  Will I buy all organic, all grass fed/ free-range?  I so wish I could, but I can’t.  I am blessed to get a lot of that from working at the Farmer’s Market!  That helps a lot!  But, I also know that this food is nourishing my body and making it stronger & healthier.  Healthier = less doctor’s visits.  Grabbing an apple vs. a bag of cheetoes really just comes down to a little bit of money.  Even if that apple has been sprayed with pesticides, it is still going to be way better for you than the bag of cheetoes!  And, I eat leftovers.  All of them.    No waste!

One other word of advice I have with Whole 30 is to truly evaluate the season of your life.  If you want to still do W30, there is a way, but take a bit to think on how you can make it work. (ie:  are you nursing a baby?  You can still do this, just make sure you have adequate snacks to keep milk supply up.  Are you away at college?  Meal prep will be your bff!  Working?  Meal prep and scout out a few restaurants ahead of time and know your exact menu item.  Stay away from menus!  Don’t put off tomorrow what can be done today.  And getting it done today is just one bite at a time.  One meal at a time.  My plan may not work for you.  I just like to have all of my food planned out.  It is a commitment and a bit of a sacrifice, but I look at it like an investment in my body and my health.  The benefits you will gain for eating this way truly pay off.

Please let me know if you have any more questions!