Lila Rose Black Friday Sale!

I know it's been a little quiet around (holidays, new baby, and trying to get back into some semblance of routine!), but our sponsor, Lila Rose Consultant Jamine Bass, emailed me about the fabulous Black Friday sale she has going on and I wanted to make sure y'all knew about it.

All items in the store are 20% off the Retail Price! This Black Friday special includes the Party Cart as well. In addition, all customer orders over $50.00 will receive Free Shipping.

Jasmine said that in addition to the great Black Friday sale, she'd personally be offering a Buy 3, Get 1 free starting Nov 23rd - Nov 30th. "Customer must purchase at least 3 items from my online shop, then e-mail me at meetthebasses@yahoo.com with their order number and item of their choice (up to $16). I will put in their order separately. Allow 1-3 weeks for delivery of free item."

I love my Flexi clips and use one of them just about every day. They make a simple yet elegant accessory and they're super easy to use. You can find my full review here.

Do y'all do Black Friday shopping? Pre-babies I would go out with my Mom, but nowadays I value my sleep too much (and taking babies out in big crowds shopping just isn't too fun). I do keep an eye out for deals online for items we are looking for, though!

Menu Plan, November 12-18

I am so thankful for the freezer stash my Mom helped me put together while she was here before Joshua was born. It has been so unbelievably wonderful to have meals to pull out--especially since take-out or prepackaged foods aren't options even on the rough days due to Ben's food sensitivities.

I still have several meals left in the freezer, so we'll be eating from those--but if there's a day I have time to cook, I'm going to try to so I can stretch the freezer meals for as long as possible.

With that in mind, here's what I have on the plan for this week (* indicates a freezer meal):

Breakfasts:
Oatmeal
Breakfast casserole* with fruit and/or toast

Lunches: Leftovers

Dinners:
BBQ Meatballs*, baked potatoes, salad
Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole*, salad
Chicken, rice and beans, pineapple
Birthday dinner for my brother-in-law
Crockpot Roast Chicken, salad, mashed potatoes*
Chicken noodle soup, salad, coconut flour cheddar biscuits
Sunday dinner at the farm

This post is linked to Menu Plan Monday.

Quiet

The past few weeks, my days (and nights) have been anything but quiet.


Life with three children under the age of four is intense.

But it is oh-so-beautiful.

My sweet Katie's persistent desire to "spend time togeyer." My Benjamin-boy's growing vocabulary and jolly personality that rarely fail to brighten up my day. My adorable, cuddly Joshua who's already learning to smile and coo.

This life the Lord has blessed me with isn't at all quiet, but I wouldn't trade this loud and crazy life for all the quiet days in the world. I couldn't dream of a more wonderful life, noise and all.

Sometimes it's overwhelming. There are moments during the day when all I want is some quiet. Most of the time, it doesn't (and can't) happen. 

And in those moments when all I want is quiet I can't have, in the midst of all the loudness, I can still look to the One Who created me for this loudness--the One Who can bring quiet to my heart even when my world is anything but.

This post is part of Five Minute Friday--though it took a few minutes extra because (a not-so-quiet) life was happening around me while I wrote. ;)

Adjusting to Life with 3 Children

My mom went home last Thursday, so we've been "on our own" with all three babies for over a week now. It's been an interesting week! We are definitely in "survival mode."

Joshua has proven to be my 'neediest' little one so far, refusing to sleep anywhere but mama's arms the vast majority of the time. Aside from one 2 hour stretch in his bassinet and a few 5-10 minute spurts here and there, and one afternoon when he happily napped in his carseat twice (a total of about 3 hours), he has spent the vast majority of the past 17 days in my arms.

I always thought babies who refused to sleep in their beds did so because they were spoiled. But Joshua was like this from Day 1 before I even had a chance to spoil him. So, I stand corrected.

I love snuggling my sweet baby boy. But, it has made the adjustment more challenging. Even with comfy baby-wearing options, it's just hard to get as much done. I think my biggest struggle has been the lack of focused time I've had with Katie and Benjamin. They're handling it pretty well for the most part, but both definitely have their moments.

By nature, I really thrive on predictability, routine, and being in control of the situation, so a needier baby is doing much to teach me how little control I actually have! I can't really plan out our days...and the five item to-do list I made myself on Monday still isn't all crossed off. Besides washing clothes and putting dishes in the dishwasher, I've really barely done any cleaning.

Ben has been so incredibly helpful. He's kept up with the essential cleaning tasks and the others are just on the back burner for now without a complaint from anyone. I can't imagine what life with three children 3 and under would look like without him--though I suppose it's true enough that without him, I wouldn't have these three beautiful children. ;)

We've been eating oatmeal for breakfast every day, pulling dinners out of the freezer (what will I do when they're gone?!), and having leftovers for lunch. And we've been eating on paper plates and putting everything we can in the dishwasher, which we've been running every day even if it's not completely full.

Survival mode to be sure.

Oh, but the days are sweet. There's just nothing in the world like snuggling a newborn babe. It's such a precious season, and if Joshua is anything like my other two, soon enough he'll be too busy for much snuggling. So, if I'm a little scarce around here in the coming weeks, it's because I'm busy snuggling the cutest newborn boy, reading books with big kids, and throwing in an occasional load of laundry in the 3.8 spare minutes I have each day.

Happy November!