Sandy Hook..

I remember texting Luke and telling him there had been a shooting where lots of sweet, beautiful and innocent children were killed and some great teachers.

I remember that feeling in the pit of your stomach when you are hit in the face with the reality of the perilousness of life.

I remember being thankful that not only were my children safe but were home that day from school due to sickness and 2 weeks off before returning.

I remember sitting down and coloring snowflakes for Sandy Hook with my children as we explained in children's terms what had happened and what they should do if anything like that happened in their school. That was a hard conversation.

I remember the gripping fear I felt as I drove into the drop off lane when holiday break was over, and the extra hugs and kisses I made them give me even though we held up the line.

I also remember the sweet gentle whisper of The Lord as I drove away and heard "They are my kids"..

They are indeed. It would be easy to be afraid, but my life would be spent in fear wondering what evil or even accident lurked around every corner..but they are my Father's children. His love for them is high and above every ounce I have for them. I'm not saying losing a child would be easy, I know it would be earth shattering for me but I HAVE to believe my Father has their best interests at heart, whether that is 1 more day or till I am gone. I will embrace and love them and be thankful for every moment The Lord has loaned to me.

Go hug your kids.

Citrus Lane Box Review(Dec. Box)

So Nov. I bought a groupon for a Citrus Lane 3 month subscription. I paid $35 dollars for 3 months, which breaks it down to around 11.66 dollars per box roughly. If you don't know what Citrus Lane is, its like a Birchbox for babies and Mama's. Its a box built around your child's gender and age, and they have different themes every month for their boxes. They are full of full sized products and samples.

Last month I got a Under the Nile toy, some Green Toy company bowls, a Goodbyn snack container, 2 little spoons that screw onto the top of a baby food pouch, which they sent me one of Plum Organics baby food pouches..and a sample of moisturizer for me! Not bad for $11 dollars.

I love seeing other people open their Birchboxes and their Citrus Lane boxes and wanted to show off my Dec. box I just got today. When the mail lady brought my box, I was excited to see it was bigger then last months. You open it and its so nicely wrapped and pretty. They have a little welcome note, and on the back is a list of the items in the box, their value and where to find the item to buy more of them.

 It came with a Tiny Love  Frankie the frog stroller/carseat clip on toy that has a pull down string to make it jiggle. ($6.99)

 A Ecomom.com's gift voucher for $15 dollars. Super excited about this..I love that store! Now just to decide how to spend it!

 2 samples of Dapple baby bottle and dish liquid..I haven't tried any Dapple products, so I can very excited about this.

 A pouch of 479 Popcorn Fleur De Sel Caramel popcorn. I immediately ate most of the bag, definitely something I would buy in store. The popcorn was very nice and light and sweet with that hit of salt. So good. I was nice and saved Luke a couple bites. :) ($1.99 per 1 oz. bag)

 A Green Toys tugboat. Its a bath toy..I know Micah doesn't quite appreciate this just yet, but he will! You can fill it up and pour out the front..also Green Toys are made from 100% recycled milk jugs..is BPA and PVC free as well..so its safe for them to play with. ($14.99)

 Pearhead Baby Hanging keepsake. How perfectly timed right here at Christmas..($14.95)

 So as you can see, I definitely got my $11's worth! And Micah has a few more things for under the tree. :)

Just for disclaimer. I was not paid to review this or given any incentive. It was on my own free will that I bought this and my completely honest opinion about the box. I still have a January Box as part of my 3 month subscription, but doubt I will renew just due to funds. However, if I had the money, I'd so still be getting these every month!

If you are interested in signing up to try it out here are some deals for you and my personal invite link!

Right now you can start your monthly subscription for less! Take 10% off the cost of your subscription with code SPRINGFUN. You'll save $7.50 on three months, $12.50 on six months, or $25 on twelve months!

https://www.citruslane.com/invitedby/Kayla.Fletcher

3 months.

I've gone almost 3 months without posting..! Whoa. I kept thinking it'd only been like a month and then realized it was way more then that.

Life has just become all consuming right now. Having 4 children, running a home, being a wife, and being a active participant in our church....

I will not even attempt to catch up, so much as just start where we are.

Olivia is doing so good in school and asks the teacher for extra home work. I'm so thankful that she is doing so well. She has become very smart and very helpful and I'm just so proud of her.

Noah is loving school and always has great grades. I was so worried about it and he has far surpassed how I thought he'd do in school. He LOVES Micah and its adorable watching him interact with his little "brudder".

Kate is finally potty trained(only took like a bazillion times trying)..but we can consistently take her out in public without pull ups and she does really good. She is enjoying her time home with me and Micah.

Micah is getting so big. He's 7 months...crawling, eating some baby food, "talking" it up and loving on his Mama. He also has 1 tooth and working on his second. We are getting ready to move him out of the pack n play in our room to his crib in with Noah. I'm both very very ready for this and having my room back but it also signifies a separating of us that usually doesn't reverse, for that I'm a little sad. Hoping he'll sleep better too without Luke and I walking in and out of the room late at night or early morning.

Luke and I are doing good..our life financially feels like a rollercoaster that we are just having to ride, but are continually thankful for the Lord's provision in this season...in the little and big ways.

We are so excited about Christmas this year and are probably going to set up our decorations this weekend. This is my favorite holiday and I'm so happy its here and we are getting to enjoy it. Now if the weather would cooperate and make it cold at least a few days this month to make it feel more wintery that would be great! :)

Stuffs

We went to T'ville this past weekend because Luke's grandmother passed away last week. It was both sad, and completely beautiful because she lived her life. It was full and she loved the Lord and she was without her husband for many years. I am thankful for such a great lady and for her time here on earth, and just as equally thankful for her passing as she is now with our maker and Bridegroom and I cannot imagine the unspeakable joy she has because of that. She is seeing her family and husband and all the Lord has for her there with him. She won't miss us, though we will miss her..and thats ok.

Got to see so many people while there and enjoyed hanging out with family. Not only do I have a great family myself but I married into an amazing one too..such a blessed girl I am.

The kids have been in school for a month now and are loving it. I'm still getting used to it, mostly just having to get up in the morning, but they are so thoroughly enjoying it that its hard not to feel their joy about it all. Both are doing well and seem to have friends already, so that's an answer to prayer!

Kate I have learned is a serious bum when the older two aren't around. She loves watching tv, and playing games on the ipad. I literally have to pull her away to do other things or she'd do that all day..

Micah is getting so big. At 4 months he's 17 lbs.. and pretty long though I need to measure him to see how big. He's wearing 9 month clothes and has ignored my requests to slow down on the growing thing. Stinker..:)

My coffee table.

Luke has asked me several times that we replace our coffee table. We were given it 9 years ago. It has scratches, dents, food that has dried and cannot be scraped off anymore, and has chewed up ends from a Rottweiler puppy we once had. Its not pretty anymore ya'll.

I cannot seem to part with it. It has seen life. It has been a place to put feet up, to eat dinner on, it has seen super hero's jumping from it, and glasses of sweet tea. It represents everything I want my home to be..A house the shows life, that sometimes life is messy and sometimes it leaves behind marks that show where we have been. I want people to know that they are always welcome at my house, but that it will not always be spick and span. That they can be comfortable because they can't possibly hurt our furniture anymore then it already is..

So if you come to my house, expect mess, expect life, and expect to see my grungy beat up coffee table that you can put your feet up on. :)

Dog Island 2012 notes

* Stayed with Luke's brother and our sister in law to break up our drive down, they have cats and we learned Micah is probably allergic due to a swollen face upon being around said cat. But enjoyed our time with them all the same.

* Being at the beach is wonderful.

* We had a 4 bdr. house all to ourselves.

* I realized how badly I missed a king sized bed.

* My children tired themselves out so well that they went to bed without issues all week.

* Micah slept like a champ. I however did not. What gives?!

* Walking on the beach every night after dinner should be a regular event in my book. Too bad we live so far from the ocean.

* Going with a set of Grandparents makes it even better. I enjoyed naps, finished a book(Water for Elephants, don't recommend due to some trash up in there!),had plenty of hammock time all to myself and went fishing thanks to her playing with them.

* My mother in law and I split the cooking. Pretty sure I got the better end of the deal on that one.

* My 14 year old sister in law is so awesome and sweet.

* Dog Island has shells. Like real big ones that aren't broken.

* It stormed on our way there and we had a choppy boat ride over. Noah freaked. Thankful our ride back wasn't so crazy.

* It feels nice having a tan.

* Forgetting to pack your bathingsuit will make you have to detour through Tallahassee to pick one up.

* We saw sharks, sting rays and crabs. No jelly fish thankfully.

* No one got burned the whole week. Score one for Me and sunscreen.

* On our way back home, we saw my sweet friend Patti, who made Micah his very own blankie because my kids love their Aunt Patti blankies, and she's been a gem crocheting 4 for us!! Also saw my Grandmother, ate dinner with her, saw my two youngest cousins and my aunt and uncle while there. Long travel times, but soo amazingly thankful for our time away. 9 days with my family is more then I can ask for!

Imperfect.

There are days where I feel like super woman. My kids act ok, my house is clean and there is a warm dinner waiting for my Husband when he comes home. 

There are days when I'm just ok. Had to discipline the kids more, laundry is washed but waiting to be folded and dinner gets cooked after Hubby is home and I can pass off baby. 

Then there are days like today. I yelled. Loudly. No part of my house got clean, my children played video games all day, and I sobbed when Hubby came home because I was simply overwhelmed. 

It would be easy to say that I am always looking to the Lord for strength, but that is not the case. Sometimes we fall and crash and burn, and are reminded how deeply flawed the flesh is.

Sometimes it takes your husband telling you to go to Starbucks to sit and remember to take the time to just ask.  Ask for Him. For a double portion of all that He is. Walking by His life is so easy, too easy really. Thankful that He promised that His fullness lives in me , just need to remind my flesh that it has been crucified with Christ and no longer lives so that He can be revealed even more clearly me.