Fall Touches & Favorite Things

When September rolls around, I pull out my fall decor & get to work making my home a cozy fall retreat! Our temperatures here are still in the high 80s with lows in the 70s but I know the weather will eventually reflect what I already feel like inside!  I update the decor as we move further into the fall. I'll throw in some more Halloween-ish decor (not much and nothing scary) and I'll change it around again when it's closer to Thanksgiving. This time of year just makes me so happy!  

I thought I'd showcase some of my fall decor, and also talk about some of my random favorite things!

FALL DECOR: 

I love my multi-colored felt leaf garland (Target, several years old). I paired it with a cream glass pumpkin, a straw & floral pumpkin (technically a door hanger), and a glass jar mod-podge handprint ghost art project my kids made last year. I added in some fairy lights (buy them at Target after Christmas when they're 60 cents a box!) and I love how cozy it turned out! 

I LOVE my $3 pumpkin door hanger I bought in Amish Country Pennsylvania a few years ago. Since we have double doors as our front door, I don't really hang anything outside anymore. Instead I find spaces inside to hang all these decor items! 

Technically, I think this is supposed to be a bathroom hand towel but I use it in my kitchen!  My other favorite towel is one from "Primitives by Kathy" that says "My Favorite Color is Fall" and it has glitter gold leaves on it (also known as "right up my alley." Give me all the glitter decor!). I bought it in Apalachicola, Florida on a Labor Day weekend girl's trip with my best friend a couple years ago. 

This lumbar pillow is a new addition ($5 in the Target Dollar Spot!). It says Pumpkin Patch on one side...

...and Apple Orchard on the other side. Avery uses lumbar pillows when she drinks her milk sippy cups. The regular one she uses needs a good wash, so she was happy to see this festive option for this season! She's very particular about it showing the pumpkin side up. 

I'm super pumped about these pumpkins being at a low level. I bought these 2 and the cream one on the mantel several years ago and I've always had to place them high up because of the age of my kiddos. This year, I felt confident enough to place these two lower down knowing that I could instruct all 3 kids not to touch. I'm still fairly smart about it though-- I put the fabric pumpkin on the left side that has no barrier beside it, and I put the mercury glass pumpkin on the right side behind the TV where it's slightly boxed in by Avery's toy kitchen. 

This is my little $3 felt wreath (Target, several years old-- do you sense a theme?!). This little decoration is very important to me. It's all I could afford when my sons were in their short daycare stint at the end of 2014. I've kept it all these years to remind me how far we've come. 

This is my laundry room door. The wreath on the right is my "seasons changing wreath." I'll swap out the flower for a pumpkin in October & for darker toned flowers in November.  I made the wreath on the left during a women's craft night. It's made from tiny cupcake wrappers. 

FAVORITE THINGS: 

We have all stainless steel appliances and I usually spray them down with my Thieves Household Cleaner, but they were all looking in need of some extra help, so I searched under my sink and found my Stainless Steel polish.  I forgot I had this!  It quickly shined everything up and my kitchen looks so neat!

My two big kids finished a week of virtual learning this week.  I keep their school papers in my cozy coffee nook.  The school crayons, markers, and our coloring books are kept in this utensil caddy. 

Since I'm back teaching in-person, I grabbed a pair of shoes to be my "school shoes" where I only wear them to school.  I treat them as a neutral and wear them with every outfit.  They're a snake print with gold accents (of course) and best of all, they are from Wal-Mart so they were super budget friendly.  They also have memory foam in the bottom and my feet don't hurt even after standing for hours during the day.  

I really wanted some faux plant accents around the house because I CANNOT keep anything green alive and I know myself well enough to stop trying.  I found a two-pack on Amazon of these little faux grass plants in concrete vases. I staged one on the antique washstand in our foyer...

...and I put the other one on the kitchen cart in our dining room. 

I found a larger faux plant in Target (where else?) that I put on the open shelves in our master bath.  I bought a second one that I staged on top of a filing cabinet at my desk at school. 

Baking really relaxes me, so I love sorting through my favorite old-school Better Homes & Gardens cookbook.  Tonight, I'm whipping up a German Chocolate Cake for my father-in-law whose birthday is tomorrow. 

I recently bought myself a new shade of nail polish that I had been admiring for years but hadn't bought yet.  I figured if I can't put make-up on my whole face due to wearing a mask all day, then I could dress up my nails!  It's called "Smokin' Hot" by Essie and it's a dark purple/gray.  It's the perfect fall color and I've already been complemented on my nails after putting it on for the first time!

Hope you enjoyed this random assortment of fall decor & favorite things! What are your favorite fall decor items to add to your home?

Until Next Time, 

Much Love, Reba

If I Can't See You...

 ...then you must not be able to see me!

At least that's what Avery thinks. Here is her latest rendition of a super great hiding spot. 

This age is so fun!

Until Next Time, 

Much Love, Reba

Michael's Super Nintendo Mario Party

 Originally, Michael's birthday party theme was going to be "Poison Kirby" but alas, that proved to be too difficult to find supplies.  So he changed it to Super Nintendo/ Mario.  This, I could do.  I have done a Mario party for three out of the last 4 years (year 4, year 5, year 8).  We kept it simple with the invites-- partly due to Coronavirus concerns and not wanting to expose ourselves to too many avenues of exposure, and partly because school wasn't in session yet and we didn't have classmate information. 

We invited our church family and our extended family.  All three grandparent sets were able to come, as well as two uncles, an aunt, a girlfriend of an uncle, and two cousins.  It was a very fun day!  We opted not to do a bouncy house this year (again, covid concerns of little kids jumping on a slick surface where sweat and inevitably some spittle would flounce about).  We had our party at the church building still, because people could spread out and because I wouldn't have to bend over backwards to clean my home to the desired level that I feel is necessary when non-family is coming over. 

We kept the decorations relatively simple.  We used solid red plates, multi-colored cups, and a Funfetti cake with homemade buttercream frosting.  I bought Mario themed balloons from Amazon, as well as a Mario "Happy Birthday" banner, and Mario cake toppers.  Michael scrolled Pinterest with me one afternoon and we picked out some food ideas. 

We had cheese balls as "Bowser's Fireballs" (all labels I printed myself at home), strawberries and green grapes on skewers for "Piranha Plants," blue jello with Cool Whip as "Mario Sky," and labelled soda bottles (Dr. Mario [Diet Dr. Pepper], Mountain Boo [Diet Mountain Dew], Koopa Kola [Diet Coke], and Rex Root Beer [Diet A&W], and regular Coke as well).  We also had classic potato chips (that I forgot to label as "coins"), crunchy Cheetos, and the cake with tinted green frosting for grass and the Mario characters set atop in the order Michael provided. 

We bought a few "yard games" on Amazon for party participants to play.  We bought a bean bag toss game, an inflatable bowling set (very popular with the 2 and 3 year old crowd), and a giant table-top checkers set.  The kiddos also played with the foosball table in the Children's Church room and the toddlers enjoyed playing in the nursery.  All in all it was a super fun day and I'm so grateful to our family and our church family for stepping in and making sure Michael had a fantastic 8th birthday!

Until Next Time, 

Much Love, Reba

Michael is 8!

 Literally, the first title I typed said "Michael is 7!"  Then I had to pause and erase my text and say "Michael is 8!"  Wow.  I REMEMBER being 8!  It's so strange to me to have a child that will be entering 3rd grade and become an age where I vividly remember a lot of things about that same age.  I'm not sad-- it's just weird.  

Michael is pumped about turning eight.  He knows it means that he's nearly ten and that he's entering the last half of elementary school.  I still get caught up in the hamster-wheel inside my mind that says "One day, my kids will remember the things we do and the memories we've made but they're not there yet."  However, yes they are.  They are old enough to remember family trips and funny phrases and inside jokes, and however much I think that "one day, I'll have this parenting thing down" I realize daily that I do not.  And instead of waiting for when I feel like the perfect prepared parent, I need to instead take each day as it comes, get my daily dose of grace given by God and walk on.  

Michael still loves all things Mario and Pokemon with a nice sprinkling of Minecraft thrown in.  He is great at impressions of these characters and absorbs all information he can read about them and the various intricacies of the games in which they're involved.  He LOVES jokes-- loves to read them, loves to listen to them, loves to create his own. 

His birthday party looks a little different this year. We invited mainly church families since our congregation basically has stayed out of the public sector. My brother and family are able to come in from out of town (also they have remained largely out of the public eye).  I am saddened a bit that Michael doesn't have school friends at this year's party since they haven't started back to school yet.  He seems to be okay with it though and I'm so thankful for our church family coming together to support this little boy on his special day. 

This morning, Aaron & I had Mario themed balloons ready for Michael at his dining room seat. Avery was the first one awake & gushed over the balloons. When Michael did wake up, I greeted him with a hug and a "Happy Birthday!" as soon as he walked into the living room. Avery then instantly gave him a hug and said "come see your 'boons!" So... I guess it was still a surprise. :)

He chose pizza for dinner, so Aaron braved the late summer thunderstorm and picked up dinner from our favorite local pizza place. We had a small ice cream cake later on and Michael opened birthday cards while we snacked. He got to open presents at my mother-in-law's house today and my parents stopped by this evening to let him open the gifts they bought. 

We ended the evening by daydreaming about how he could spend his birthday money, and we read a couple pages in our "Rush Revere and the First Patriots" chapter book.  Overall, I think he had a very fun day and we look forward to his party!

Michael, you are sweet and kind & such a great problem solver! I'm so proud of the young man you are growing up to be. Everyday, I'm super thankful to be your mom. I love you so so very much. Love, Mom

Until Next Time, 

Much Love, Reba

Avery's Unicorn Party

 Avery is all about some unicorns, so it wasn't a far stretch to choose that for her 3rd birthday party!  To be fair, pre-Coronavirus, we had tossed around the idea of having her first "friend" party since she's made a little toddler friend at church.  This party was going to be a painting theme with little pallets filled with sprinkles and white frosted cupcakes for the kiddos to decorate themselves. However, we decided to forgo that idea the closer we got to her birthday when we realized life as we've come to know it for the past 5 months isn't changing anytime soon.  Avery has only had "family" parties, so she wouldn't know any differently this year.   So we put the painting party in the back of our minds (and in our "Save for Later- Amazon cart") and we'll use that idea in a future year.  We decided on the unicorn theme since we knew she'd FLIP OUT and it was easy to find things to work for a low-key party.  Everything came from Amazon and Wal-Mart.  

I grabbed this decoration set on Amazon and originally thought of hanging them on the mantle, but decided last minute to string them from the dining room light and we LOVE how it turned out!  There's ten different pictures, each attached by a metallic streamer.  The pictures include a unicorn cupcake, a unicorn face, two unicorns, some shooting stars, some unicorn heads, and a cloud with hearts raining down. 

The cake is a Funfetti mix with homemade buttercream frosting.  The decorations were from an Amazon pack.  Aaron skewered some toothpicks to the felt base to get the crown to stand up correctly. 

The unicorn plates were a Wal-Mart find!

When we called Avery into the kitchen to see the cake, she was so excited!  We put on her unicorn headband (also a Wal-Mart find) and she held up a unicorn plate for the ultimate unicorn compilation photo. 

Her party was great!  We had three sets of grandparents and most of each couple set could come!  We also had an uncle in attendance too!  She loved singing "Hap Birt-day" and eating cake and opening presents.  She got lots of cute girly things, but wasn't overwhelmed.  She did decide though, to try out her mermaid swimsuit and skirt, Little Mermaid sandals, and hold her unicorn toy while I turned on "Home Alone."  Yes.  "Home Alone."  But you know what?  That is what makes up Avery-- lots of color, an eclectic vibe, and a misplaced seasonal movie. :) 

Until Next Time, 

Much Love, Reba

Avery is Three!

 Avery turns 3 years old today!  Throughout her childhood, I have continued to feel a sense of contentment and peace about each age and each stage.  I'm not sad to see seasons go, and I'm happy to welcome in the new skills she learns as time goes on.  Today she is cheerful and so very excited for this birthday!  That's so much fun for me to watch because I'm observing her really taking it all in and understanding what is going on!  We've talked about her birthday for several weeks now and she knew it was this week on Thursday, so the fact that it's here is just so exciting!  She's been pumped about her birthday cake, so we've gotten that baked (she helped!) and frosted and adorned with purple sprinkles.  We'll wait a little closer to tonight's celebration before we put the finishing touches on it and of course, I'll share pictures here. 

Avery is all about some unicorns and I'm just so very grateful that apparently 50,000 other girls are equally obsessed because this means there are bountiful unicorn things out there to curate gift options and party decorations!  I'll share later on what we used for party decor, but please believe me when I say that the unicorn theme is real. 

Avery is funny and also a sour-patch kid (remember those commercials? "First they're sour, then they're sweet").  That is Avery to a T.  She can certainly hold her own against her brothers, but she can also just be so very kind and it's kind of funny to watch the juxtaposition of the two personalities.  She loves to participate in whatever her older brothers are doing, even if she's not quite sure what that is exactly. She basically repeats the last two to three words any of us say (for example, "Noah, go to your room, that was not nice!"  She will say "Noah, room. Not nice!" OR  if Noah says "Michael, let's play police officers after snack." She will say "Officers after snack").  Any random statement or admonition is sure to get a partial repeat. 

She LOVES to be a "big helPER" (emphasis added just like she says it!).  If I'm unloading the dishwasher, she'll stop what she's doing to hand me each piece of silverware individually.  "Here you go.  Fork (except it sounds like "foak"). Here you go.  Spoon.  Here you go. What's this?"  "A knife."  "Oh.  Knife.  I a big helPER!"

She loves to help bake, (especially to stir), do crafts, read books, take baths, use scissors, play dress-up, brush her teeth (seriously), hold her Pat Pat (baby doll), and have her fingernails and toenails painted.  She's such a girly girl and I'm so grateful!  She keeps track of intricate pieces of toys and offers things just the greatest care and attention.  It's so interesting to see her unique personality come into focus these days.  Such a blessing. 

Her favorite TV shows are "Cocomelon" (some weird cartoon nursery rhyme show) and "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse" (pronounced "crump-krouse").  She LOVES all things princess but is particular about which movies she likes them in.  She's a die-hard "Frozen" and "Frozen 2" fan.  She prefers the original versions of "Little Mermaid" and "Beauty and the Beast," but likes "Cinderella 3" the best.  She'll also start Moana and Tangled occasionally, but hardly gets through the whole movie before she requests to switch back to her tried and true favorite shows.  She knows the name of Aurora from "Sleeping Beauty" but isn't interested in the movie.  Today she chose to watch "Home Alone" (she actually requested it twice, so we started it twice and got side tracked).  She'll hang tough with her brothers when they choose "boy shows" and she enjoys a good comedy and laughing her way through it.  She's so funny to watch!  She also likes to join in video games by holding a non-connected controller while the rest of us actually play the game.  She'll tell me the character she wants to be, so I'll choose that one for myself, and then she'll pretend to play on the controller before she wanders around the room playing with other toys before pretend-pouting and saying "I didn't win!"  

She likes a good routine and likes to start her day with a sippy cup of milk (we still call it a bottle even though it's not).  She likes to choose her breakfast and lunch options and kind of grazes her way through.  Sometimes (like today) she'll surprise me and ask for a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich as her snack.  She enjoys drinking her water flavored with Crystal Light liquid.  She occasionally has some type of diet soda like her brothers and we put it in a special cup for her and she thinks it's so special.  

It's just such a major joy to have her around!  I'm so so so grateful that God put her into our family plan and gave us a gift we didn't know we were missing.  And despite the craziness in the world around us and the "3 weeks of school break" back in the spring that turned into 5 months, I can find the silver lining when I have days like today-- I got to be home on Avery's birthday and that's miraculous and a gift.  

Thank you, Lord, for the gift of a daughter. 

*I'm writing this after her little celebration we had and the cake turned out so CUTE.  I will share more tomorrow!

Until Next Time, 

Much Love, Reba

Here I Go Again

 So.... as you may have read about earlier in the summer, I recently switched General Practitioners.  I had my first in-person appointment in May and was told to come back in July to get my blood drawn to check my thyroid levels.  Well, I didn't go in July-- I waited til the first week of August because SUMMER.  At the blood draw, the phlebotomist took twice the amount of blood I thought she was going to take.  I assumed this meant that the doctor wanted a new CBC on record since I was a new patient.  I was correct.  

A couple days later, I called to find out if my thyroid medicine dose needed adjusting and was told "yes, and we'll call you next week with what the dose needs to change to" and that's a whole other story in and of itself.  However, she began to tell me the results of the complete blood count.  Most things were great.  One thing slapped me in the face and I could've earned an Emmy with how hard I worked to keep the tears back while she finished reading off the results of everything they had checked.  Despite the overall good report, it's the combination of the thyroid dosage change and this new bombshell that have me rattled and apprehensive and sometimes just downright sad. 

This receptionist on the phone told me "Your A1C is 6.5 and this means you are borderline diabetic.  You will need to follow a low carb/ low glucose diet, and the doctor wants to see you again in three months." The wind was slightly knocked out of me.  I was ashamed (although this was for no reason because sometimes, Type 2 happens to people who are relatively fit and know a thing or two about carbs).  I'm raising my hand because I am the mom of someone who has Type One Diabetes and I know a thing or two about carbs.  I also see myself in the mirror every day and know that I'm not astronomical in size.  Therefore, it serves great purpose to say that we have stigmatized a disorder and we assume that anyone who gets it must have self-sabotaged and should've been paying closer attention.  That's so not it at all.  Sometimes, genes are a factor.  Other times, environment can play a role.  Sometimes, and I'm just so certain of this, stress can wreak a myriad of havocs on oneself.  

Whatever the causes of my borderline diabetes, I am knee deep in walking this "low carb/ low glucose" diet and I WILL NOT STRAY (much) because I want to look the doctor in the face come November and say "I really did try my hardest."  For now, the onus lies with me.  I am on no medication right now because we are seeing if I can handle this disorder with diet and exercise alone or if I'll need medication or further help.  I am committed to this low carb diet.  In November, if my A1C has lowered, then we will know that diet can fix it and I'll stay the course.  If in November, my A1C has not improved, then I will probably receive the official Type 2 Diabetes diagnosis and will try out some form of oral medication (similar to what I had to be on when I had gestational diabetes with Avery).  If my A1C has risen to higher levels than what should occur after a committed diet change, then it could be possible that I'm in the early stages of Type 1 Diabetes and will soon produce none of my own insulin at all, which would require injecting artificial insulin like my son has to do daily.  

No matter the final outcome, I have found that the low-carb diets really aren't terrible.  I'm including some recent pictures of things I've found that I enjoy eating or drinking that fall into the low carb category.  I wrote extensively about this in 2017 when I was undergoing gestational diabetes for the second time.  Very recently, I have gone back to this point to remind myself of the variety of things that I really can eat or drink that will fill me up without overdoing it in carbs.  That post can be found here. 

Here's my most recent compilation. 

Chocolate Fairlife milk (about a cup) plus peanut butter powder.

I use a blender bottle metal ball and shake it up, then stick it in the freezer for 10-30 minutes and it tastes (kind of) like a milkshake!  The Fairlife brand of milk offers a lot of protein, so it helps fill me up as well. 

Target's "Good and Gather" brand offers sparkling water for pretty cheap and it tastes all right. I have tried the Cranberry Citrus and the Coconut Pineapple (this is heavy on the pineapple, and I wish it was heavier on the coconut). 

Salads have been my favorite side dish and/or meal option.  I made sure to order salad supplies on my recent grocery orders and I included Reduced Sugar craisins also.  

The craving for something sweet is real, but I'm able to stave this off by eating a couple of sugar-free wafer cookies.  The longer one is Publix brand (Vanilla flavored) and the shorter one is Voortman (chocolate flavor).  We also have the Voortman lemon flavor which Avery and Aaron prefer. 

This was my lunch from yesterday.  Half of a turkey sandwich, salad, Diet Dr. Pepper (or Diet Dr. Thunder as it were), and a couple wafer cookies.  This meal was under 30g of carb, and to be considered "low carb" a meal must be under 45g of carb.  (Side note: we'll talk about this book in another post.  I just finished another book by this author and it was phenomenal. I just started this second book yesterday).  

Thanks for keeping up with me on this journey!

Until Next Time, 

Much Love, Reba