The Highlights

Happy Friday!  I hope you've had a great week.  It's been a good one here.

We celebrated Kevin getting Promoted and Tenured!

We kicked off Gardening Season

and the weather was lovely most of the week!  

It feels like Spring has really arrived in the Midwest.  The kids got to add something normal back into their routines - church.  Vacation Bible School started last weekend and I knew it was the perfect time to go back.  They got to go without masks and had so much fun.  They talked about it all week.  They couldn't believe how good it felt to go back and sing and learn about Jesus.  I was so happy for them.

The highlights of the week were...

1. Kevin's promotion and tenure.

I know I already mentioned it, but it's going to be the highlight of the year for our family!  It's such a big milestone for all of us.

2. New Outdoor Table

This has been on my wish list for years.  I've always wanted a bigger table to eat meals at on our deck.  We finally pulled the trigger this year and we are loving it.  Kevin spent 3 hours building it for us and we already enjoyed one dinner on the deck this week.

3. Jordan Bakery Box

I'm really enjoying everything about this little biz.  It's been so fun to bake cookies, bread and build charcuterie boxes for local friends and families.  I am working hard to figure out packaging, branding and advertising details which have been a good challenge for me.  I'm offering individual charcuterie boxes for Teacher Appreciation Week as well as gourmet I love you BERRY much! Mother's Day boxes for local pick up.  Head over to my facebook page to order if you need a last minute gift.  All ordering ends May 1st.

4. Movie Night

We made Candy Corn (microwave popcorn topped with candy) and watched Yes Day!  Have you seen it??  It's a cute Netflix movie about having a Yes Day with your kids - saying yes to their requests within reason.  My kids are already talking about earning their own Yes Day.

5. Surprise Flowers

My surprise flowers are still going strong thanks to changing their water every day and removing any wilty flowers.  I love these 6 cup Ball jars as vases.  My mom gave me the blue one and then I picked up the clear one secondhand this week for $5.  Yay!

6. Greek Yogurt Bowl

I've been enjoying this delicious snack all week - Vanilla Greek Yogurt, berries, bananas, granola, nuts, flax seed and chia seeds.  It's so pretty and filling and delicious.

7. Basketball Girl

Olive wrapped up her first basketball season this week.  She really enjoyed it, learned a lot and was happy she tried something new.  Next year she can play with all girls and I think she will like that even better.

8. Similar Lunches

I'm still over here saving my sanity and packing similar lunches for each of the kids.  It saves me time and energy to pack them very similar things - grapes vs raisins, olives vs pickles and two different kinds of sandwiches.  Otherwise everything else is the same.

9. The Little Things

After the craziness of this past year, I'm finding myself feeling so thankful for normal things like strolling around the grocery store with Leo while the big kids are at school.  I'll never take our regular routine for granted now.

10. Meow

Both cats think bags are for them.  We got a library book delivery this week and they jumped right in.  All three cats want my full attention when all three kids head to bed.

Cheers to a fun weekend!  We're participating in our neighborhood garage sale tomorrow - yay for clearing out the clutter and the kids are going to Vacation Bible School on Sunday.  We went back to church for the first time last week and it was great for them.  I stayed home with Leo so he could nap.  We'll slowly, but surely, figure out our church routine again.

Linking up with Momfessionals

6 Tips to Kick Off Gardening Season

It's gardening season again in Indiana and I'm ready for it.

We have shade gardens in our backyard.  

Full sun gardens in our front yards 

and we'd love to add a veggie garden on our side yard.

We also need to order a truck load of mulch and remulch the entire yard.  That'll be a big undertaking, but there's nothing better than a freshly mulched yard.

I have 6 tips to kick off your garden season.  Hopefully 1-2 will be new ideas for you!

1 // Watch for Deals

A local nursery is offering coupon books this time of year.  They're limited time only and each coupon has a certain window the deals are valid.  Meijer has their hostas on sale 2 for $12 this week.  They're HUGE and regularly priced $7.99 each.  I picked up several for our shade gardens.  Can you spot the three different varieties?

2 // Price Shop

If you're wanting the best deal on gardening items, shop around.

Our local Dollar General has HUGE planters for $10.  Those same size planters are $25 at Meijer.

Sams Club has great deals on planters.  I picked up a pair of planters for around $80 and they were listed for $120 on Amazon.   

3 // Recruit Helpers

Kevin digs the holes and I plant the plants.  It works great.  The kids are great at watering (especially right now before there are any mosquitos out).  Honestly Kevin says I've never met a plant I didn't like.  That's mostly true, but our yard literally had 2 plants in it - a rose bush and a giant boxwood when we moved in.  We had to tear out the boxwood and start from ground zero.  We've spent the last 5 years adding new plants to our yard every year and we are finally feeling so thrilled with our gardens.  

Kevin zooms home from work to help me plant.  

Thinks we're planting 3 things.  Surprise we're planing 11 things!

Love you!  Mean it!

4 // Plant Perennials

I'll always and forever be a huge fan of perennials.  Who wouldn't love a plant that comes back year after year and builds up your landscaping and gardens??  We stocked up on hostas this year.  Lavender, Peonies, Phlox, Lantana (if you live in the South) and Astilbe are some of my favorites.  They show up each year ready to look pretty and are ready for some new additions around them.  I'd love to add in some more Astilbe (loves the shade) and planted some 

 

5 // Buy from Your Neighbors

Does your neighborhood have a Facebook group?  Or try your local marketplace options.  

Look for neighbors giving away plants to thin out their yards or neighbors selling plants for deals.  We got some free Lilly of the Valley last year and it's coming up perfectly this year.  We just bought some zebra grass from a neighbor for $5 a plant.  They're going to be such a pretty addition to help us get a little more privacy in our backyard.  If I would have purchased those plants in stores, they would have been close to $20 per plant.

 

6 // Save Your Car

I keep a really tidy van.  That's probably no surprise.  I'm always hauling kids, groceries, bikes and this time of year - PLANTS!  I keep a cheap plastic table cloth in the back of my van always.  I can lay it out and put all my plants on top.  It contains the dirt and then I shake it out after I'm done unloading.

What yard projects are you working on this year?

Leo's WILD ONE Birthday

He's a WILD ONE!

Leo turned one April 7th and we were lucky to get to celebrate him with our families the following weekend.  He enjoyed his parties, the cake and the new toys, but really first birthdays are a celebration for the whole family.  We made it!!  We made it through a hard year together!  Babies are tricky little people and adding in COVID really made this past year a weird one.  We're thankful to have made it through and enjoyed lots of extra time together.

We celebrated with my Kevin's family for dinner and my family for brunch.  Everyone loved getting to celebrate Leo.  His WILD ONE party came together so cute.  I loved the jungle theme.  It was perfect for our lion loving guy.  We decorated with our jungle creature toys, picked up jungle wrapping paper at TJ Maxx to cover the tables with and added jungle food toppers to most of the food.

Leo is determined to blaze his own trail - he is our first kid to walk before their first birthday and he's the first kid to grab his lit birthday candle!  It scared all of us but he was okay.

I almost skipped printing his monthly pictures, but I am so glad that I didn't.  It was one of my favorite party decorations.  I LOVE seeing the big changes each month.  Look at that tiny baby in month 1 and the big boy in month 12.  Those months go by so fast!

We ordered pizza, played outside, ate cupcakes and opened gifts.  Olive read all the cards, Fletcher helped open gifts and Leo loved it.

Then Leo gave hugs and waved goodbye at the end.  These pictures of Leo with his great grandparents are just precious to me.  He LOVES them.  These pictures made me tear up a bit.  They're just so so sweet.  I think I'm going to frame this one.  Leo is one loved little guy.

 

 

Day 2 // We woke up and had a brunch birthday party the next day with my family.  Leo loved exploring a new kitchen and getting into everything.

We love Leo!  Our party was at 11:30 in a different time zone that we live in so it was 12:30 our time.  Kevin put Leo down for an early nap and woke him up right before the party started.

Look at this delicious brunch buffet that my mom and I put together!

French toast sticks, cinnamon rolls, blueberry mini muffins fruit, yogurt parfaits, cheese cubes, scrambled eggs, friend ham, sausage and bacon. 

We did a birthday book for everyone to sign - How to Be a Lion.

Leo was a little more into opening gift for this party.  The cousins were so cute to sit and watch.

He's warming up to all the girls that want to love on him.

 Cute birthday decorations, Mom.

We are thankful for all these cute cousins, family and friends that came to celebrate Leo!  We gave out favors of bubble wands, treats and big bouncy balls for everyone.

Promoted and Tenured!!!!!!

It is official... Kevin was promoted and tenured at Indiana State University!!

He's been working so hard to reach this huge professional milestone for the last 6 years and it's finally time to celebrate.

We arrived in Terre Haute. Indiana as a family of 3 back in to 2015. 

Little did we know how much our family would grow here.  

We have worked really hard on making our house a home.

The kids go to wonderful schools. 

We have found numerous ways to get plugged into our community.

We've made good friends.

We added TWO boys to our family here.

We love being just 2 hours away from nearly all of our family.

 

We are all thriving in a city that was never on our radar.

God's plan is better than our plan and our family is proof of that.

Kevin's been busy teaching, researching, publishing, mentoring students, counseling, getting licensed, advising, working with veterans, consulting, guest lecturing, volunteering, lecturing, learning and teaching both virtually and in person.  

It's been a busy 6 years.  He's worked year round to get the job done.  We're so proud of him!

We got married and he started graduate school back in 2004 with the dreams of one day becoming a professor.  We had no idea what the road to professor would look like back then.  I would have been shocked to hear the words - Arkansas, Mississippi, 3 kids, many moves and stay at home mom way back then.

God has been so good to our family.

The years haven't all been easy.  There were plenty of hardships and unexpected trials along the way.  We are happy to have worked through all of them together and come out on the other side.  In the moment, things often seemed really hard and our path forward seemed unclear.  But, now years down the road, we are seeing that this is exactly where God wants us to be.

Way to go Associate Professor Kevin Jordan!

We wish we had gotten to go to an in person ceremony, but we will make sure to celebrate on our own!

And he gave me a beautiful bouquet of flowers because, "I couldn't have done it without you!"