Easy DIY Valentine's Day Wreath!

This was a fun and super easy diy wreath I made in about 15 minutes! 

Keep reading to see just how simple and adorable this is.

I started out with the grey yarn wrapped foam wreath from this Easter wreath project. 

If you are starting by scratch, you'll need a foam wreath wrapped in grey yarn.

I had picked up a few goodies from the Target $1 bins last week and thought they would work nicely for this project. The circle punched paper is left over from a decor project we did for my sister's wedding. I literally have a hundred or so of these to use up. Of course, I will eventually use them! :) 

Send Ants Marching with Cinnamon EO!

As usual in Arkansas, this winter has been wet and muddy. Just when the yard starts to dry up, we get more rain. An unfortunate side effect is a line of marching ants along our window sills, walls, doors, floors and even kitchen cabinets!! 

Yuck! 

These little guys can multiply fast! Give them a teeny tiny crumb and suddenly a hundred of their buddies have joined the party! With the three little mess makers we have living here, there is no lack of crumbs! 

This is my go to concoction I use to rid the house of these little marching lines!

Cinnamon Bark essential oil (you can buy them here), water and a used Thieves Spray bottle.

Simply fill the Thieves Spray bottle with water and add 10 drops of Young Living Cinnamon Bark EO.

Shake and spray on location. It usually takes a few times to complete the job. 

You can literally see the ants start to die as you spray them. Not only does it take care of the current residents, but keeps more from joining the party.

How awesome is that!?!

I love that this is a non-toxic alternative to use in my home! I also love that I can successfully avoid nasty chemicals that have negative side effects on my family and pets! 

Not to mention, my house now has the delicious aroma of cinnamon throughout! Yummy!

To learn more about Young Living essential oils you can go here or here.

Give it a try and let me know how it works for you! 

Easy DIY Accent Picture Frame

My sweet momma's birthday is on December 28th. Since we were visiting her the weekend after I brought her a little something special!

My mom's colors are greens and cream colors. I wanted to find her a frame that would match either her colors or go well in her office at work. Of course, the frame would be the home to a fun photo of the grandkids!

Here is what I picked up at Hobby Lobby. A green and cream stripped frame and some burlap flowers. The flowers were actually in the hair accessory area! Hey, whatever works right! 

Moving Forward- Update 1

So we are 9 days into the new year… and thought I'd give a quick update on how I've started working on my goals for this year.

If you missed it, here is the post with my goals and plans for 2016. 

Of course, I know it will take a bit to get into a routine. We started back to school, homeschool co-op and therapy this week. We had multiple showings (or almost showings) on our house sprinkled among these activities.

Somehow, I managed to keep up with my YL business, follow the daily bible reading, and make some plans for some projects I'll share here.

I am giving myself some grace as I work up to incorporating all my goals into my daily and weekly routines. Honestly, it has been challenging!
I feel like my life is being consumed with cleaning and making sure the house is perfect. I want to be ready the second someone wants to see the house. Having three small children is like having 3 tornadoes in the house! They have done surprisingly well with helping for their ages.
Eli and Brooklyn understand that a clean house equals a better chance of selling the house. They both are looking forward to moving so that helps.
Toddlers are a different story! Haha! It takes Jude one second to draw all over the bathroom sink and counter!
I have to remind myself daily, "He is only two, he is only two"!
Here he was sitting on his poor kitty! Oh boy…

We did get to the Zoo yesterday with some friends! It's nice to take advantage of the 50 and 60 degree January Days!




I have been really excited to get more into the scripture! I love using the YouVersion Bible app on my phone. It has The One Year Bible plan. All I have to do is select the day and start reading through the passages for that day. If you get behind…cough...like me…it is easy to catch up. Since Scott and I are both doing the plan, we are enjoying bouncing thoughts off each other. Scott has a bible degree and has more knowledge on the context and history of each book. It's nice to have him around to ask historical and cultural related questions! ;)





Looking forward to next week, I want to add my yoga workouts, do more YL class planning and work on my vision board.


How has this first full week of the new year treated you? Are you working on some new personal goals?

A Joyful Heart

One of my favorite words is  joy. I even gave my first daughter the middle name Joy.

My Brooklyn Joy!

Studying what it looks like to have joy, I have discovered there is much more to this little word then we first give it credit for.

What is Joy really and what does it look like?

According to merriam-webster.com, the definition of joy is:

-a feeling of great happiness.

-a source or cause of great happiness: something or someone that gives joy to someone.

-success in doing, finding, or getting something

All these definitions are great and even believable. I agree joy can be a feeling of happiness and I sure feel happy when things are going well! I use the word when I am feeling happy, elated and joyful. But is that all? Is there more to this little three letter word?

Everyone loves to have joy in their life. But how do we get joy in our lives? 

Do we find it, earn it, buy it or are given it? 
The world would like you to think this is how you get joy. 

Small House Hacks- Playroom Equals Sanity

I have posted how we live in a small house and have wanted to sell for a couple years now. Our house is currently on the market and we are waiting for it to sell! Woohoo!

Our very first home! 

As we wait, we are raising our 3 children (with one on the way) and have figured out a few hacks to make our small home function better.

I am sure we are not the only family out there with several kiddos in 1000 square feet! Maybe this posts will get your creative juices flowing for your home.

The first 'hack' was our Playroom. 

Every parent can understand how toys multiply! Somehow you start out with a small basket in the corner, you blink, and the whole house is over run with them!