summertime.

summer is here and we have a fun project happening!  we've dug up the yard and brought in the fun machines.  i.e. dozers and diggers.

its been constant entertainment for the last 8 weeks.

and can i just insert some cuteness here.  chichi is 10 months old!  he is completely adorable and spoiled.  i'm not even going to try to deny it.

back to the pool project.  we chose a square, dark gray slate tile for the top border.

the interior will be a hydrazzo finish in the color 'french gray'.

back to some serious cuteness.  chichi loves loves loves his older siblings.  they tote him around and play constantly.

are you enjoying your summer?  

we don't completely stop school.....we do a math lesson here and there, a full day of school here and there, but mostly just enjoy the outdoors and do Bible time (i'm using the apologia What We Believe Vol. 1 and LOVE IT!)  

remember.....you don't have to "do it all".....keep it simple.  Love God, Love your spouse, Love your kids.  Spend time with each of them.  Its the relationships in life that matter....not the stuff.  

hugs, kisses, walks, and holding hands.   listen.  appreciate.  

Happenings.

It's been awhile!! I've been posting a lot over on Instagram and would love to have you join me.  

Chichi is almost 10 months old.  He is such a happy, cheerful baby. He has 3 teeth on the bottom and is cutting both if his top teeth right now.  

He loves the hammock and settles right down when we put him on it! 

We're putting an pool in!  The kids are so excited.  The tools and equipment over the past two months have provided lots of entertainment for them.

The garden is in and the cucumbers, beans and sunflowers are all growing! I even saw the basil popping up yesterday.   Please tell me you remember how hot it was last year!! Well, I remember. I was hugely preggers, sweating constantly and the garden barely produced anything.  This year is going much better!!

Garage sale season is in full force and a few of our best finds this year so far are this playpen .....

A vintage crib toy....

And this desk for the girls bunk room! Have you guys found any good deals out there?

 

spring shelves. some bloggy and reader love and thanks.

while the snow is still flying outside, the springtime decor has sprung inside.  

i have been eyeing these cafe shelves for some time and i really really like the idea of having two shelves to change out the decor for the season.  sometimes thinking about decorating an entire room seems overwhelming in my mind and in reality two completely decorated shelves can make a better design statement.

here is what i chose for our spring shelves (everything was from shopping around our house except the owl and little tiny lamb, both from hobby lobby)

"be filled with joy" print by katie daisy.

and now for some fellow bloggy love!  this is a corner of our front foyer.  the micah 6:8 canvas is from the ever talented dee of red letter words. this particular scripture brings me back to my childhood and as a young girl memorizing micah 6:8.  it all seems so simple.  to do justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.  but life happens and it can all suddenly seem so complex.  having Scripture hidden in your heart truly is a treasure and i need more of it.

i also think it is so important to mark your homes with God's word.  we use index cards and handwriting assignments taped to the walls with Bible verses but dee's artwork sure makes a pretty display of such strong truth.  and right in the entryway, to set the tone, to welcome, to remind us all.

and do you see the a. dor. able. michigan pillow??!!!  yes, i am THAT excited about it.  This was sent to me by a fellow michigander, Jill of Cora Anne Designs .....

too cute, i know i know.  and the back is navy and white chevron.  ahhh.  chevron just makes me happy.  and this pillow is quality work.  please, go visit jill's blog, they are renovating a lake house right now and its super cute.

blogging has connected me with so many people from so many parts of the world and from so many different walks of life.  the idea that people take the time to read my blog is humbling, and that many of you take the time to email me fills me with sincere THANKS.

thank you for reading.  thanks for encouraging me through comments and emails.

fact:  just last week i was having a doozy of a day.  grey skies outside, not motivated, and not feeling like i was accomplishing....well, anything.  i open up my email to find one that began like this

"I want you to know that your blog has been such a tremendous inspiration and encouragement to my wife and me........"

this gentleman went on to share their home building experience and thanked me for sharing my faith and life.  wow.  

thank you.

he (as well as all of you have emailed such kind words) was such an inspiration to ME.

to take the TIME to say THANK YOU.  to you guys, to people around me.  do you even know how many thank you notes i have written in my head?  i'm great about thank you notes for gifts but just random notes of encouragement, of thanks.....so many times i just let it slip by.

i'm going to try to be more faithful to say thank you.  do write a note of encouragement.  because i KNOW how much its appreciated!

**************************************

dancy's 10th birthday party. confetti.

so i totally forgot to post dancy's birthday party last month!  not only that, but i really didn't even take very many pictures.  you'd think i have a new baby or something :) :)

dancy is very outgoing, endlessly loving to others, artistic, loves to dance and sing, and for the past year her joys have included gymnastics.

she asked for a colorful birthday party and wanted confetti.  to which i had to explain that unfortunately there was no way i was going to have fistfuls of actual confetti be thrown around the house to celebrate.

*side note*  when i was little MY mom and dad actually let my sisters and i cut up newspaper into a bazillion pieces and throw it all over the family room on new years eve.  my mom found newspaper pieces in the registers and stuck into crevices for months! i'm too chicken.

we decorated with a confetti motif instead.  we found colorful cupcake holders, big round sprinkles and from etsy, some fun printables.

her big gift was an ipod nano that we've been filling up with some of her favorite tunes.

francesca battistelli, casting crowns, jamie grace, kari jobe, mandisa, toby mac and yes, a little one direction. :)

i love you dance.  your heart is full of love for the Lord and creativity.  you are determined and steadfast.  you fill our home with music and laughter, singing and awesome art. your little brothers and big sisters all love to be where you are.

i pray that i can continue to be the best mom i can be to you and continue to encourage you in the ways that you need it most.  i am so glad that God gave me you.

6 months. chi-chi.

6 months.  little A has slept through the night 3 times now!  from 10pm-7am.  

this is a big deal as all the other kiddos were sleeping through the night waaaay earlier.  on the plus side though, i've been using the late night feeding frenzies to read through the Bible on my phone.

look at those eyes.  

little A is not so little anymore.  he's filling right out and has also acquired quite the arsenal of nicknames!  is this normal?  do you all have nicknames for your kiddos?

so the one that seems to be sticking is chi-chi.  (pronounced chee chee).  like chi-chi rodriquez, professional golfer.  but that's not where it came from.

have you ever seen the movie chitty chitty bang bang?  its a dick van dyke classic.  we were watching it with the kids (again) when little A was still little.... there is a song called chu-chi face and

 i. think. its. hilarous.  

i was calling him chu-chi face and well....it evolved into chi-chi.

so there you have it.  our little chi-chi.

40 bags in 40 days 2013.

today is ash wednesday.  the beginning of lent.  what is lent?  it is a 40 day period that starts today, ash wednesday, and leads up to maundy thursday.  the next day is good friday (crucifixion of Jesus Christ). three days later is EASTER! 

are you confused?  

pastor bill crawford of waters edge church puts it this way:

Ash Wednesday is a day to stare death in the face, to acknowledge our mortality. All of us will die. Christians who observe this day get ashes "imposed" on their foreheads, while a minister says, "You have come from dust, and to dust you will return." In other words, "You are going to die. And here are some ashes to remind you, just in case you've forgotten."

Are we Christians gloomy? Do we have some peculiar fascination with dying? I don't think so. Rather, what allows us to stare death in the face is the assurance of life, real life, eternal life. When we know our lives are safe in the hands of God, and that this physical life is just the beginning of eternity, then we're free to be honest about what lies ahead for us. We can face death without fear or pretending, because we know the One who defeated death. 

on to lent.  its not a mandatory observance but one that prepares our hearts and minds for the days ahead. our family has been doing 40 bags in 40 days for a few years.  

here is our list for this year.  this is a very tangible way for everyone to get involved!

we also spent time in prayer this morning and came up with what each of us was going to "give up".  again, this is a period of self-denial to commemorate the 40 days that Jesus spent fasting in the desert.  these are things that in today's world should be SO easy to go without right?  

its just GOOD for us to (all ages) to have to FEEL the pangs of going without something, making us look UP and remember:

"I can do ALL things through HIM who gives me STRENGTH"  Phillipians 4:13.  

It's a time of humility.  i can't do it on my own. 

 if i tried to homeschool, be a good mom, be a good wife, be a good friend...etc.  all in my own strength i would have burned out LOOOOONG ago!

another fun thing that we pulled out was this countdown poster that we made with my friend amy and her kiddos when they still lived by us......

do you see  the little paper Jesus on the first day? we move him one spot each day.   :)  again, just a tangible way for the kids to see what is happening.  and just throw it up with tape on your cupboard.  its all good.

here is a closer look at our 2013 list.  i mostly do this on my own during the day.  if there is an area that its more helpful for the kiddos to join me then they do.

will you make more room for Jesus this Lent?  you'll be glad you did.

************
Bible in A Year peeps.....how's it going????  i've had a couple times where I fell a few days behind and had to catch up.  it's been a HUGE blessing.  you can do it!  if you want to join here is my blog post about it and follow the hashtag #afbibleinayear over on instagram (@augustfields)
************

valentines 2013.

adding a few touches of love around the house.

here's a peek at some valentine love from years past

baby stuff

this little man is growing so quickly.  chubby legs and big smiles....what a life.

here are some of little A's latest adventures:

playing so hard he just crashed.  he slept like this for 25 minutes.  so funny.

 umm....yeah...so i stuck my tongue out at him and this is what he did back.  smart little bugger.

first try at rice cereal.  i caved and gave it to him before 6 months (JUST our personal choice), its still only given sporadically...  of course he eats it right up.

he has calmed down tremendously!  sweet little boy cried for his first two months.  now at 5 months he is lively but not in a screaming-aaaahhh way...know what i mean?  he is so much more content!!  

happy 2013. let's read through the Bible!

2013.  time to read the most popular book ever!  

i've read the Bible my whole life.  yet i've not read the Bible in its entirety. 

over on instagram i started posting pics of what i'd been doing and others wanted to join in.

AWESOME!

---------------------> join me on instagram over on the right 

or download the free instagram app on your phone and find me (augustfields)

yay!  so here's the plan:

• download the app i have shown in the second picture below.  its called  Bible in One Year by Alpha International.
• join me on instagram and use the hashtag #afbibleinayear  (don't forget the "f")  is stands for august fields Bible in a Year.  you can search by that hashtag on instagram and see how it's going for others and share and encourage eachother.
• i am personally using my journal and Bible (you can read the Bible verses on the app itself) along with the app

here is the app to download (it's free)

i also like to doodle and draw in my journal. 

i'm a homeschool mom so of course i get super excited when i find THE perfect office supply.  enter the paper mate flair pens.  go get these pens.  they make me happy.  fine point.  don't bleed through the page.  and lots of fun colors!  no one touches these but me in our house :) (i call them my teacher pens....)

i'm excited to connect with more people and work through this together.  my husband is on board as well and i even set a daily reminder on my phone for 10pm.  this is when we share a favorite/standout/meaningful part of our study that day.  

*amazon links are affiliate but are products i have tried and love!

christmas 2012.

first things first.  this little man is 4 months old already.  he just started picking things up with his hands, he laughs out loud, and has started talking in church.  not crying just talking....  i still have not cut his hair and have to answer to mr. daddy at least twice a week as to when this will happen.  but he knows that i just crave this baby stage and really is good with it.  its more of an ongoing joke/tease.  

here are little A's past pictures:  1 month,  2 months,  3 months

christmas eve.  we spent the day at my parents house then came home that evening and the kids exchanged their gifts to each other.  the kids did this last year too, but honestly it was a long process as we had to go to different stores, talk through practical choices etc.

so this year i set up some guidelines.  actually just one.  the gift had to come from walgreens.  isn't that funny??   but it worked!  it wasn't out of my way, so if i was running errands i would take a couple kiddos with me.  and since there is a walgreens every 5 miles, we just picked one and stayed on course for the rest of the errands.

they used their own money and i guided the decisions.  they have a ball with it.

dancy had little dubs name.  she bought him a little dog that walks with an attached remote.  he. loves. it. he named it 'doggy'.

i love this picture!  he jumped on his sister and hugged her so hard....we were just all so happy for him.  his happiness is contagious.

the kiddos also open one gift from us.  the traditional gift of pajamas.

they all rushed upstairs and put on their christmas jams.

then, the girls surprised me with a special gift they had made.  a coffee mug cozy (that deanie made all by herself) and an awesome table mat.  they cut and sewed all of this!  my mother in law guided and quilted it.  they also wrote me a special note.

that gets me every time.  i treasure their written notes of admiration, encouragement and love.  blessed.  i am so so so blessed.

christmas morning!!!!  dancy asked me repeatedly the night before, 'what time are we getting up?', 'when can we go downstairs?' etc. etc.

i really needed to be showered and ready first so we said 8:00am we can go down.  this was at 8:01am.

strained necks all around from smiling so hard!

so to disguise who's gift was who's this year i came up with something super fun for the kids!  i gave them each a character from narnia.  they didn't know who they were though.

so presents started to appear under the tree for susan, peter, the professor, lucy, mr. tumnus and edmund.  they were not allowed to touch the presents so it was hilarious to listen to them trying to sort out the logic behind who was who.

they didn't know before hand but i did not include little A in the gift exchange and instead included mr. daddy.

so this picture is the kids picking up a present that they thought was theirs.

this bundle of cuteness just soaked it all in.

and finally this is the fun that settled in as the sun came up.

you can see our christmas pasts here.  2011,  2010