Good morning rosy friends! It's a better late than never kind of day on the blog and in my life, really! I am finding myself forever behind on emails and texts, but trying to chip away at them today. Can you relate?
I suppose one of the biggest things on my mind this morning is this blog. No, this isn't one of those announcement posts where I say I'm going on a break or skipping over to the faster Instagram. In fact, it's quite the opposite.
I do adore Instagram. But I don't adore scrolling, which is the reason why I actually removed it from my phone, along with Safari. The scrolling feels fun to me for a season but then my highly-sensitive personality kicks in (it's a real type of personality, google it!) and suddenly every single thing someone typed I'm feeling. Guys, that's a lot of feels. Too many for me! You know my heart is storytelling with my camera. There is something so healing to me about taking the time to choose my words carefully on the blog. Something so truly special and honoring about pulling up posts from the past and really taking the time to read through where our family was, and think about where we are now. It's like watching a movie of my own life or reading a book about myself.
The girls are growing faster and faster, and I hear that won't change as they get older. In a bit of an opposite decision, I'm really pondering showing up on the blog more, not less.
Not what you expected to read I suppose, because these days the trend seems to be to move away from blogging because it "takes too much time." I feel like the blog is an old friend that I dearly miss when I go a week or two without checking in. I'm on Week 19 of my "hello rosy" series and it has served me very well to blog less these past few months. But I'm wanting a change.
I don't have a real plan or anything. I was just sitting in the car line yesterday and thought how nice it would be to post one or two photos a day with a few words. Maybe they'll be reflections, song lyrics, or scriptures. I know I could easily do that on IG and I basically do with my #therosylifelist lists. I don't know why I feel compelled to switch over here instead, it certainly isn't for blog traffic reasons. I gave that up a long time ago!
So starting here in a few days, I want to try it. I want to try to blog daily, but in small doses. Small stirrings with photographs that speak BIG.
I hope you'll join me.
With the girls growing and our days feeling fuller than ever having little routines and things to look forward to outside of school hours has become even more important to me. One afternoon last week we created an art table on the dining room table. We set out all kinds of watercolors, Sharpies, papers, and paintbrushes. Then we sat and painted together, visiting with one another while we worked. It was a favorite memory of mine from last week.
I also squeezed in a tiny creative moment when I recalled an idea I'd seen in a magazine where you stretch a balloon around a pumpkin. Didn't it turn out cute?
I am totally a magazine gal. Call me old-school or crazy, but I subscribe to several magazines and tear out pages I like. I keep the pages in a wire basket and look through them every few months or at the start of a new season. It doesn't beat Pinterest, because you know how much I adore that! But I'd say it's a tie with Pinterest.
The girls have been enjoying some of the last ice cream cones of the season! We had a hot stretch last week and went camping and did summery type things. The whole time they felt bittersweet to me, knowing that I would truly have to pry my fingers loose of summer once and for all, letting fall have its way in our home.
Sigh. I'm just such a sucker for summer!
Playing with Betsy Grace at home has been a delight! She has only ever been the sister, having very little alone time since being born, especially compared with Anna. It took us a few days to really learn a new rhythm with each other. But we've found it. We still miss Anna terribly while she's at school and I don't imagine we'll ever stop. But for now things like bubbles and hiding behind the curtain fill our joy tank.
We have our dear pop-up camper, as you know. Usually by now we would have camped five or six times at least, but this year we had only been a few times. Life just got in the way.
Last weekend we decided to change that and went camping for two nights with other family!
For all you locals, we adore camping at Dam Site River (Beaver Lake) in the Pines. If you google that you should be able to pull up the campsite pretty easily. It is close to Eureka Springs, which is one of my most favorite places in the world.
For this trip we took the bass boat and the camper both. I pulled the boat and Brett pulled the camper. We drove when it was dark and that made me slightly nervous. I held on tight and prayed! The road is extremely steep and curvy on the way there.
We had so much fun camping with other family!
A few camping tips that make it work great for littles:
I cooked homemade chicken nuggets and fries to eat on the way to the campsite Friday night. We also listened to an audio book on the drive there!
We keep the packing simple! A few clothes for each person, a pair of flip-flops, and one dry pair of tennis shoes. Most of our packing is food!
We pack a few things for the kids to do, but they are mostly happy playing with things found in nature! I gave the girls each their backpack before we left and told them to put whatever they wanted to do inside. We also packed pumpkins and paints, for a fun activity with all the cousins Saturday night.
There is nothing like waking up to the campsite in the early morning!
The only downside of this trip was our campsite location-right next to the bathrooms. The bathrooms weren't that great, but I've definitely used worse. That wasn't the problem though, there was just lots of foot traffic past our campsite. Almost constantly. Usually when we camp at the Pines the site is very private. Overall not a big deal, because most people who camp are super friendly and nice! But I would have liked more privacy.
Saturday was hot, hot, hot! My twin and I loaded the kids up and took them to the river to play. They built this awesome dam! The husbands went fishing and caught their limit of trout!
I introduced this sweet guy to saltines and he was instantly hooked!
The kids were so excited when the guys came back with plenty of fish!
This trout was delicious! The grown-ups topped theirs with homemade Sriracha I brought from home. Have you ever cooked fish you caught?
That night we hung out around the fire and let the kids roast giant marshmallows.
Are you a camping person?
The light has started to change. It seeps in during the late afternoon, coating everything in a warm, buttery light. I'm not used to the dark earlier in the day yet, but I do adore this afternoon glow.
What do you do during the dark fall and winter evenings?
Maybe this is weird, but we aren't scared of spiders around our house but like them instead. I mean I wouldn't want this guy in my house, but as long as it's outside I think it's fascinating. I don't know that this photo really even does the spider justice. This thing is HUGE. I actually knocked the web down with the hose because we couldn't walk through our back deck door anymore without getting caught. That didn't slow the spider down though, it just started over building another web.
You know how there are those little chores you do that just make you feel better? Kind of like the feeling of a new haircut or finally checking that pesky item off your to do list. Well whenever I clean the craft room I get that feeling. Even just taking a peek into the tidied up room gives me all kinds of inspired vibes.
Looking ahead to fall I am looking forward to including art journaling, daily blogging, and a continued love of photography into my days.
Continuing to focus on my health, connections with friends and family, and foster care are also strong on my heart. I'm trying to learn to embrace the word "now". Just embracing what is in front of me right now.
Can you relate?
What fall ideas are you looking forward to?
What keeps you inspired health-wise?
Thoughts on my daily blogging idea?
*last thought-Storytelling with my camera is my absolute heart. I just see stories everywhere I go. I want my blog to reflect that and I dream of capturing families at home, loving and living in a natural, lifestyle setting. You'll see changes coming to the blog reflecting that heart and you'll hear more about booking a lifestyle session with me. If you're interested in knowing more please email me at sunshinebysara@hotmail.com
