A Few More Celebrations!!

February brought two more celebrations to Twin Oaks – but we managed to combine them and celebrate them the same day!

Our celebrations always take place on Sundays after church because everyone is headed here for lunch anyway.

It’s PERFECT!!

Tate and Eliza really wanted to celebrate Chinese New Year this year and we also have a wonderful son to celebrate!

It was Grant’s day on February 28th – the anniversary of his arrival into our arms!!

Of course this celebration meant an Asian menu!

We gave Eliza the job of planning and decorating for this special day.

She did SUCH a GREAT job!!

Addie made dessert, as she does for every Sunday family lunch, but made what Eliza requested – panda cupcakes!


I was in charge of the rest of the menu and made our favorite Asian meal – jap chae.

David and Kayla marinated and dropped off all of the meat to be grilled – what a blessing that was!!!

I usually make some kind of bread to make sure the bellies are not only full but also satisfied.


Of course you already know we had the BEST time!!

Having everyone together eating and visiting is just the BEST way to spend Sundays!!

Yes, Chad is a literal GIANT!

He is so much taller than the rest of us here!


Grant Evan, happy Grant’s Day to you!!

I cannot believe Dad and I have the privilege of being your forever – we are not worthy!

We cannot WAIT for your and Kamryn’s wedding day!!

WE LOVE YOU BOTH SO MUCH!!!

Happy Belated Chinese New Year, everyone!

Xīn nián kuài lè!

Bulk Shopping

At the beginning of this year (with Kayla’s encouragement) I decided to start bulk grocery shopping instead of doing my bi-weekly early Friday morning run to the grocery store in town – which I talked about in a post in January as well – here.

Grocery shopping for the crew I feed here is a BIG job!

I think it was a year ago that I switched from shopping every Friday morning to shopping every other Friday morning – which had been a nice change as well.

I would drive about 45 minutes around 6 a.m. every other Friday morning to town to a store called Woodman’s and push two carts through the store to be able to get all that we needed.

Shopping only every two weeks sure made the week I did shop an even BIGGER job!

I do not miss that, just saying.

We just finished our third month of this new bulk shopping adventure and I AM HOOKED.

WHAT A HUGE BLESSING!!

Our plan is to drive to Costco once a month and also order from Azure once a month.

The closest Costco to us is a two hour drive.

Azure drops our order at a drop point five minutes from our home.

Today we decided to add a third idea to this whole bulk shopping thing and have our paper products delivered to our home from Costco instead of trying to push them through the store and fit them in the van the day that we shop there.

I think we are perfecting this!!

In February we took a crew with us for our Costco run!

It was fun for my kiddos to get out for the day and it was great to have them to help us too!


That day I still felt like I was figuring out everything that I needed to get at Costco, and also how much to get.

Even so, we managed to fill three carts full between Kayla and I!

Yes, it still is a BIG job – but only for about six hours ONE day a month!!

Please take note of my cart and how I made sure I had plenty of the most important things, ha, ha.


It was about ten days after our run to Costco in February that our Azure order got dropped off at the drop point.

From Azure I have been stocking up on 25 pound bags of flours, dry beans, beautiful produce, healthy cleaning products, and anything else we would need that I cannot get in a clean, healthy and bulk version at Costco.


I will be picking up my third Azure order next week!

Kayla and I did our third Costco run yesterday!

It was just her and I yesterday because besides our monthly grocery, we had a bridal shower to shop for that we are hosting this weekend for Kamryn.

We had three very full carts!!!


I really feel like we are finally fully stocked now and I know what to get from which place and how much to get!

This has changed the way we eat just a bit, yes!

I am bringing home far less convenience foods and many more “ingredients” instead.

MUCH healthier, and MUCH MUCH more cost effective!

I am enjoying figuring out how to use our bulk grocery foods to make our meals and snacks.

I am not even meal planning anymore because I have so many ingredients to choose from all the time!!

Another time saver!!

Kayla and I had such a great time yesterday and we are both so thankful to have each other to do this with!

It is saving us both time and money.

I hope that we will be able to continue to do things this way, Lord willing.

As always, time will tell!

Until then, shopping has become enjoyable, believe it or not!

Thank you Kay for helping your mama learn a new way!!

Valentine’s Day!

Every year we have Valentine’s Day celebrations!

The first one we had this year was at church – our annual Valentine Banquet.

This is our most attended event each year!!

Those who are in charge of this banquet do a wonderful job!!

Not only were Blake and I able to attend, but so did some of our favorite people!!


Our next Valentine celebration was the one that Addie Mae plans each year for her younger siblings, nieces, and nephews.

They look forward to this SO very much!

We did have to postpone it a week because of illness, but it was so worth the wait!


Everything was super cute and very delicious!!

I made chicken noodle soup for lunch and Addie made all of the yummy treats, of course!


We all exchanged Valentine’s.

My favorite part is to see their excitement in this!!

I wrote my little loves notes to everyone like I do every year.


The rest of the day the kiddos just played and played while Addie, Kayla and I sat and chatted the day away!!

Kayla had some cuddlers taking their naps too!


We are starting to see that our celebrations are piling up on top of each other these days as our family gets bigger!!

Kayla and I had a brief conversation about what birthdays and such might look like going forward – but time will tell how we implement a new plan.

For now, I happily participate in (and make food for) all the celebrating!!!

What a sweet, sweet season it is!!

Valentine’s Day seems like years ago now, but I am very behind in this little scrapbook of mine!

It is fun to take a look back to all the life we have lived these last two months – so let’s hope I can keep these posts coming and catch back up!!

Until then – have a great day friends!!

We have the BEST news!!!

Well, Saturday was an AMAZING day!!!

Our daughter, Addie Mae, and her boyfriend, Scottie got engaged to be married!!!!

I literally have a sob in my throat as I think of this beautiful season of our lives, you all!!

TWO weddings!!

Scottie had Kayla in on his engagement plans!

They got engaged in a greenhouse, and Kayla hid in the owners office and got these amazing photos through a window in the door!!


Wedding plans are being made for July!!

One year to the exact weekend of when they officially starting dating – how sweet is that??!!

Rejoice with us!!

We could not be happier for Addie Mae and Scottie – the Lord has brought them perfectly together and we are just praising Him for His kindness!!

Wedding season – LET’S DO THIS!!!