Moments 05.2019 JoyFoodSunshine – May was mostly focused on moving & settling into our new home! We also celebrated Naomi’s birthday at the very end of the Month!

I can’t remember all the times I tried to tell myself to hold on to these moments as they pass.”

Welcome to “Moments” here on JoyFoodSunshine. At the end of every month I share a recap of all the shenanigans that went down in crazy town (i.e. our life in a nutshell).  So here it is for May 2019!

Recipe love:

Here are a few must-share recipes from the month of May from my favorite spots around the web!

Mango Salsa from House of Yumm {100% Summer Perfection}!

Avocado Corn Salad from Eating Bird Food {Bring on the fresh summer corn}!

Meringue & Lemon Tart from Kitchen McCabe {A must-make}!

Real Fruit Slushies from Super Healthy Kids {So refreshing}!

Cucumber Salad from Cooking Classy {Love this}!

New Recipe Videos

Here are the videos we produced for you in May! More to come in June!

Cinnamon Honey Butter 

Eggless Edible Cookie Dough

No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Bars

Homemade Strawberry Lemonade 

A few of my favorite things…

Here are a few products I have used over and over again in May!

Slow Cooker

I have been wanting to replace my slow cooker forever because the display was broken so I couldn’t see the timer. I talked about doing it before we moved, but I just never got around to it. Well, when I went to cook a chicken recipe in my slow cooker in the new house it was nowhere to be found. I called Ritch and asked if he knew where it was and he said, “Yep, it’s at Savers!” LOL! He remembered I had talked about getting rid of it but didn’t realize I decided I wanted to wait. Sooo I ordered this Caphalon slow cooker and I love it! I got it on sale for $60 (from $150) and it’s just so great! I love the color, size, shape, etc.! It’s lightweight and easy to use!

Popsicle Mold

I have a new recipe coming the second week of June and let’s just say this Popsicle Mold has gotten plenty of use this month! I actually bought two of them for video shooting purposes. But I made about 6 batches of popsicles…some using the sticks provided in the mold, and some I just covered the mold with tin foil, cut slits in the top and slid regular popsicle sticks through them (because there are only 6 sicks/drip catchers and I needed to make more than that)!

Madewell Courtyard Ruffle Hem Top & High-Waisted Button Fly Jeans

I have this top in plain black and in a flower print and I wear them all the time with these high-waisted button fly jeans! It is literally my post-baby go-to outfit. The high rise jeans are amazing and the top is so flattering! I haven’t fully “bounced back” after having baby #5, and I have come to terms with the fact that I like dessert so much I may never be exactly as I was before I got pregnant with Keilah…and I’m OK with it! So this outfit is really flattering and makes me feel cute even while I’m trying to adjust to my “new normal” for now! 

Life with my tribe

May was mostly focused on moving & settling into our new home! We also celebrated Naomi’s birthday at the very end of the Month! Since we moved the Saturday before Mother’s Day we didn’t do much to celebrate, but Ritch stayed home that Sunday morning to wake up with the family for the first time in the new house and drive to church together – which is a rare and special treat!

We MOVED! 

We closed on our old house on April 30th, and then we closed on the new house on May 3rd! The people who bought our house gave us up to 45 days after closing to move out, so we decided to take some extra time and actually move into the new house on May 11th. 

However, during those 8 days we moved most of our stuff from the old house to the new house. I had the kitchen 90% unpacked on moving day, which felt so great. Ritch moved the entire garage that week and built himself a new workbench, setup the new garage, put up shelving, peg board, etc. etc. He also installed all the lights we picked out on our own (pendants, chandelier, etc.)! 

On moving day we only really had our large furniture to move, and I felt so good about how organized we were this time around (which was not the case during our last move when Naomi was 6 weeks old, or our move to Utah, when my water broke the day we moved out of our condo and Gabe was born the next morning)!

I was grateful Keilah was a little older and I was enough past birth to be fully recovered and able to lift/move/pack anything! Of course moving day was crazy, but it was made extra special with some sweet baby snuggles all day long. 

I will give a full tour of the new space once we actually get it decorated the way we want it! 🙂 But for now here’s a sneak peak of my new kitchen! I am in love with the layout and am still trying to figure out where to put everything. 

Honestly though, we have had a pretty disappointing experience with our builder, and I would never recommend building with them. There have been SO many issues with the house that were careless mistakes, some of which include: the AC didn’t work because they didn’t plug in one wire, they installed the hot water recirculation pump upside down so it took a full 2 minutes to get hot water in any of the faucets, AND our microwave broke after 4 uses (the button wouldn’t compress to open it), and I had to fight with the builder for over a week to fix it, although they ended up just passing the buck to GE.

The biggest thing to me is that their customer service is horrible. They seem to have the attitude of “deal with it” instead of bending over backwards to fix problems like our other builder did (of which we had VERY few). Also add being super emotional and tired from moving to the mix and I can say I’m not proud of some of the e-mails I have sent to the “warranty manager.” However I’m hoping all the issues are behind us for now and we can just enjoy our new home! 

Something I wasn’t prepared for was how emotional I was about leaving our yellow house. I literally stood in the nursery and cried for a good 20 minutes, and could’ve stayed far longer if I didn’t have 5 kids to get into bed. 

We moved into that house when Naomi was 6 weeks old. Every night for four years I rocked one of my three youngest girls to sleep in that nursery. I spend many hours nursing and rocking and snuggling and raising our kids in that home. I honestly miss it so much, even though I love this new house. Bethany and Gabe were super emotional too, and I explained that God blessed us by giving us a home we loved SO much that we’re this sad to leave it. 

A friend of mine, Wenny Prints,  does sketches of homes and I commissioned her to make this one for me. I had her write the dates we lived there underneath the house. As kind of a memorial stone for a sweet season of life I always want to remember. 

Keilah is 3 months old!

My baby girl turned 3 months old! I still feel like she should be a newborn, even though we’re well past that stage. I love her so much, but she has become our second most difficult baby (after Gabe). She cries all the time and is just generally a little stinker. 

She can be happy when she wants to be, and I’m grateful that she sleeps so well. So hopefully she’ll realize she has an amazing life with six people who absolutely adore her and start being happier more often! 😉 Since she cries every time she is put down she is held 90% of the day! Tummy time? Forget about it, she hates it! So I swear she is never going to learn to roll over! LOL! 

Mara!

My sweet Mara is becoming more and more hilarious. She has this story that she tells all the time about my friend’s baby boy who was born 5 days after her and they’re little buddies. It goes something like this: 

Barrett eat gum mommy’s diaker bag. (she pronounces it with a K sound instead of a P)

Holden spit it out in toilet. 

She’s referring to an incident where her little friend ate gum out of my diaper bag and then his big brother made him spit it out. She literally says, “MOM, Barrett eat gum you diaker bag” at least 10x every day. She even turned the story into a song. It’s seriously hilarious! 

Mommy daughter Date

We started back into our rotation of mommy/daddy dates with the kids after a brief hiatus from them during Keilah’s birth and the move. Ritch took Naomi out and when he asked her what her favorite thing about dates was she said, ‘That it’s just you and me.” 

We have come to realize that one-on-one time  with our kids is so important. We have a rotation that Ritch logs on his phone so that we make sure everyone gets to go on a date with mommy and daddy. This time it was my turn to take Bethany out. She had her heart set on going to Mazza, my favorite classy Mediterranean restaurant, to get lentils. I had brought some home after a date with Ritch before Keilah was born, and she has been dying to go back and get some ever since!

We had so much fun. It was great to get to talk to her about anything and everything, and teach her how to order and try new and different foods! She asked me, “Mom, did you like any boys when you were my age?” I said yes, and asked her if she liked any boys. She said, “Well yeah still _____ (my friend’s other son), he’s just so funny!” Then when Ritch asked her what we talked about she replied, “It’s girl stuff, you wouldn’t understand.” 

We are trying to teach all of our kids to wait to date until they’re ready to be married, while still reassuring them that having little crushes is totally normal. I want my daughters and sons to marry rock solid spouses…one day. And I want them to talk to me about their hearts today!  I’m still navigating on how to train them to seek God in the process of finding a spouse, and to not awaken love until it’s time! I try to explain that I wish I never dated anyone except for their daddy, but it seems like a daunting task so if any of you have suggestions I’m all ears! 

Naomi turns 4!

My Naomi is FOUR! And honestly it feels like she has been 4 for a while! She has the sweetest demeanor, and really was so excited and appreciative about everything on her birthday. 

I think we over-compensated for the fact that she is the middle child and her older siblings don’t share as well as we’d like them to with her, because she received a MOUNTAIN of presents lol! However watching her open them was the best thing ever. Every single one was “EXACTLY WHAT I WANTED” and she was so excited about all the gifts she received! 

She asked for a “pink sprinkle 4 cake” so I did my best and she loved it! She asked for homemade pizza for dinner and these chocolate chip muffins for breakfast! I loved making her feel special on her special day! 

Recipes I’m Making on Repeat

Here are a few recipes we enjoyed in May!

Cashew Chicken Stir Fry 

This is my favorite healthy dinner and I pretty much make it weekly!

Homemade Pizza Dough & Pizza Sauce

Breakfast bars

IF YOU MAKE SOMETHING FROM JOYFOODSUNSHINE I WOULD LOVE TO SEE YOUR CREATIONS! DON’T FORGET TO RATE THIS RECIPE AND LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW! ALSO, FOLLOW ALONG WITH ME ON INSTAGRAM, PINTEREST, FACEBOOK ,YOUTUBE AND TWITTER FOR MORE RECIPE INSPIRATION AND A GLIMPSE INTO OUR EVERYDAY LIFE!