Fall Break Fun!

 When the kids were out of school last Monday, we did a little family one-day road trip adventure. We started at Trader Joe's, then went to Majestic Caverns (formerly DeSoto Caverns), and finished at the Bluebell factory! It was a fun, full day and I hope the kiddos made lots of good memories! 

I already blogged about the Trader Joe's haul, so I'll use this space to showcase some pictures of the rest of our day! 

At the caverns:

Fun fact: once we exited the cave, we saw one of Avery's dance class buddies & her sweet family! We both live hours away from this place so it was such a fun coincidence to run into them! 

At the Bluebell Creamery:

What a fun day! Making memories like this is so important! 

Until Next Time, 

Much Love, Reba

15

 On October 3rd, Aaron & I celebrated 15 years of marriage. It's been an absolute blast! We've had our lows (diagnoses and losses) and we've had our highs. Through it all, we've grown in our love and are consistently building a life we don't need to escape from. 

Our anniversary fell on a Thursday so we decided to keep things low key at home. 

Aaron surprised me with some new fall flowers in one of our front porch flower beds (which is now totally destroyed by our dogs who are using it as a warm place to lay down at night), and it was so pretty! He cooked one of our favorite Korean dishes (jap chae) and I made a cookie cake for dessert. We made the buttercream frosting together around 8:45 at night and it was pretty thick, which is why my lettering looks ridiculous, but it makes it funny. We celebrated our day with our kids and at our home, and this made it so super special. 

(And now the flower bed looks like this)

I've learned to take photos of the beautiful beginnings since it'll probably change! I kept wondering why the dogs were destroying the flower bed and then this week, I caught them sleeping there. Now it all makes sense. 

Until Next Time, 

Much Love, Reba

Mini Trader Joe's Haul

On Monday, we did a little family adventure  to celebrate fall break. Our first stop was Trader Joe's for some seasonal snacks! 

Here's our mini haul:

This time, we picked up milk chocolate peanut butter cups in addition to the dark chocolate ones. 

We grabbed some pumpkin cranberry crisp crackers that I'm excited to add to a snack board spread with some cheese. 

The box of maple fudge is small but had a lot of pieces inside. Pro tip: make sure the baggie of fudge stays sealed so the pieces stay soft. 

I read that the pepper jelly is seasonal so we decided to grab some on this trip. We haven't tried it yet but it looks like it'll be delicious!

I'm still trying to figure out what to use the maple marshmallows for, but I couldn't pass them up!

The raspberry star shortbreads were an impulse buy, and Aaron and the kids say they're really good. 

We picked up the pumpkin shaped chocolate mousse cakes for dessert and the kiddos have each enjoyed them. 

I also bought some seasonal spiced tea that is really good! 

It was fun to pick out some special treats!

Until Next Time,

Much Love, Reba

Little Reminders

I thought I'd share some of the screenshots I've saved on my phone as reminders to myself when I need to regain perspective. (I'm not the author of these, but tried to retain the credit line in the screenshot as much as possible.)

Maybe some of these will speak to you too. 

We'll stop at 11 today, but expect to see this type of post periodically. I have too many good ones to keep them all to myself! 

Until Next Time, 

Much Love, Reba 

LADA and Type One Diabetes

So, it looks like I have Type One Diabetes. 

A few years ago, my general practitioner told me I was pre-diabetic and about a year or so later, she diagnosed me with Type 2 Diabetes. I took medication for Type 2 diabetes for over a year and finally found an endocrinologist this past May to take over my care. 

That endocrinologist did some bloodwork and discovered that my body was slowly destroying its insulin cells. He diagnosed me with LADA (latent autoimmune Diabetes in adults) and told me I did not have Type 2 Diabetes. Over the summer, I modified my diet and exercised regularly and my blood sugars just kept rising. 

I went back to the endocrinologist in mid- August for a follow up appointment and since then, I have had to go on insulin and wear a continuous glucose monitor. I'll go back in December for another appointment but it doesn't look as though things will change. LADA turns into Type One Diabetes eventually (some people last for years without needing insulin and some last only a few months). 

I might have made it a few years since I never actually had Type 2 Diabetes and was progressively slipping into insulin dependence. 

I'm thankful for a diagnosis and a treatment plan. Each day I learn more about how I react to certain foods and where the best places are for injections. 

Michael was pleased not to be alone in this fight and for that alone, it's worth it. 

Until Next Time,

Much Love, Reba 

Avery's Princess Peach Party

Well, whoops. It's already more than halfway through September. Real life. 

Okay, without further ado, here are some pictures of Avery's Princess Peach Birthday Party! She knew she wanted a Princess Peach party since this Spring. As we got closer to time, she helped with the party details. We had the party on a Saturday afternoon so that the attendees could enjoy cake and snacks. 

We also planned some activities to do. Not all of them went according to plan which is totally fine. All of the girls had a good time and that's the most important part! 

Amazon was our friend for finding all kinds of cutie things for the party! I found this pink 7 balloon with crown! So cute! Along with this backdrop (which I accidentally thought was a tablecloth), it created the view behind our table of snacks!

We made two snack trays based on the fire flower from Mario. These are both Pinterest inspired. (I forgot the 2 chocolate chips that were supposed to be eyes on the fruit tray). 

The fruit version is made of strawberries, cantaloupe, pineapple, green grapes and some cream cheese fruit dip in a ramekin. 

We bought rice Krispy treats (work smarter, not harder) and vanilla flavored pink candy melts to drizzle over the tops. 

Here's the veggie version of the fire flower made with red, yellow, and orange bell peppers, cucumbers, broccoli, and ranch dip in a ramekin (with black olive slices for eyes). 

I also made "Mario Sky" jello, which is something I made when Michael had a Mario themed birthday years ago. Super easy and fun for kids to see. 

Of course I forgot to take a picture of the cake! Avery chose a chocolate cake bottom and a yellow cake second layer. Cream cheese frosting & funfetti sprinkles. 

One of the activities we did was "Make Your Own Princess Peach Crown." The girls (and brothers!) loved this! Last year, we had a craft time during her party and it went over so well so I definitely wanted to have a craft time at this party, too. In staying on theme (and knowing that Avery would be wearing a crown) I wanted the other girls to have a chance to have crowns too. These would also count as part of their party favors. I was so impressed by the crown kit from Amazon. We chose one that had 20 golden crowns in different patterns, and came with gems of varying size and shape and color, and feathers and alphabet stickers. The girls had so much fun wearing their creations! The brothers both made crowns too. 

I set up our inflatable bowling set with the intention of printing out villain faces from Mario and having the girls "bowl away the goombas" but I forgot to print the pictures, so they just played bowling (in a heavily modified way) instead! 

We also played Pin the jewel on Princess Peach, which was also an Amazon find and came with two eye covers (orange & pink) and the girls really enjoyed this (the brothers did too!). 

While the girls were working on their crowns in a room, the brothers hid 40 Easter eggs that we had filled with chocolate coins (a Hobby Lobby find) in the large room. The girls then got to race around and find the eggs on Yoshi's Egg Hunt! They loved this! 

She enjoyed present time and then we ran off energy outside. 

For favors, I bought yellow Mario question-mark favor bags and filled them with Mario themed Fundables fruit snacks, a ring pop, and a small slinky (plus the Easter eggs with chocolate coins and decorated crowns). 

The party lasted for 2 hours and almost every guest stayed longer because they were having fun! That's so worth it to me. 

 One of the gifts she received included some gems which she decorated herself with the following morning! 

Here's a picture of the cake she decorated on her actual birthday since I forgot to take a picture of her party cake. 

We love you, Avery Kate! What a fun day! 

Until Next Time, 

Much Love, Reba

Michael is 12!

Yesterday, we celebrated Michael's birthday! He had the whole evening planned out right down to the time that he'd like to have cake! He chose Bare chicken patties and crinkle fries for dinner (delish!) and a Caramel cake for dessert. He enjoyed all of his gifts and cards and of course, his last gift was found via scavenger hunt (a tradition!) 

This morning, I captured this sweet moment between my August birthday kids. 

My mom took these last night at his party. 

He loved reading through his cards & opening his gifts. He received a few books in a series he's been loving. He got a Kindle which will be super helpful & fun for this super reader! He got a really nice pair of goggles which is awesone for his strides he's made in the pool. My dad gifted him a very sentimental gift which he's excited to learn to use. His scavenger hunt gift was a punching bag on a stand and a set of boxing gloves. He is so excited to be 12! 

Dear Michael, 

We are so excited that you're 12 and loving life as much as you do! You're kind and genuine and can be such a wonderful friend. You're a great big brother and it's a joy to watch you interact with both of your siblings. We're so proud of how hard you've worked in the pool this summer and how far you've come, by sheer determination and effort! You are a great diligent student who has mastered the locker and who is handling the load of honors classes with ease. We are proud of who you are and who you are becoming. Continue to seek Jesus earnestly and always and He will direct your path. 

We love you dearly!

Love, Mom 

***

Until Next Time, 

Much Love, Reba