*This post is sponsored by Boulder Canyon Foods*
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“You only have 18 summers with your little ones. Make them count.”
This quote has challenged me immensely in the past few months. As a mom of two boys, I am doing my best to respond to it in the best, most effective way that I can with the goal of loving Sutton and Saxon well.
For me personally, that means a few things:
1. Being a lot more present (shutting my phone completely off.)
2. Allowing them to be kids and living in their world with them when we play, rather than forcing them to live in mine.
3. Paying close attention to what I ‘feed’ them – physically, emotionally and spiritually.
4. Waking up on my mommy/son days and saying to myself immediately, “There is nothing more important than seeing, hearing and loving your family today.” This helps me to not get distracted by menial tasks.
5. Scheduling play time + learning time each day.
6. Choosing to work/write a lot less.
7. Not allowing guilt to consume my heart when I fail or when I have a lot of things going on and need time away or alone. Because #momguilt needs to stop being a thing and God’s grace is sufficient in our weakness. Motherhood reminds us why we need Him every moment and every hour.
#momguilt needs to stop being a thing. God's grace is sufficient in our weakness. Motherhood reminds us why we need Him every moment and every hour. Click To Tweet
It isn’t unlike me to be busy, but my heart has shifted toward what exactly I want to be busy with. I want to get to know Sutton in a way that I never have and I want to intentionally witness Saxon’s character as it grows each day.
My focus has been on experiencing my family. Seeing them. Hearing them. Loving them fully and intently.
I desire to be utterly and completely present – looking them in the eyes, reading too many books to count, doing science/art/math projects together, eating chips, popsicles and s’mores and balancing that out with ‘good for them’ snacks and meals, jumping into the pool alongside them, playing airplane with Saxon and just giving them the freedom to be children.
I want to be busy with them. I want this summer to be memorable for us as a family. If Sutton only remembers one thing – I want it to be that his mommy and daddy held him near and loved him well.
I am excited to share some of our summer adventures with you all! It’s a great way for me to document it for our future and also to let my friends along for the ride. 🙂
Sutton had just gone horseback riding for the first time before this picture was taken!
We had so much fun on the 4th of July! We went swimming in the morning with family, ate a bunch of snacks and then came down to my in-laws to jump on the trampoline, light sparklers and watch the fireworks show.
This last photo is blurry but I don’t mind. I don’t have many photos of me nursing Saxon and it has been such a sweet experience for me. He is my little angel baby and I desperately want to slow time down and keep him that way.
Sutton turned 3!
This is the only good photo I got from his birthday party because we just had too much fun (and chaos!) haha. Jesse and I rented out a “bounce house party zone” for him where they had tons of different bouncy houses and activities, slides, play mazes and more.
All of the kids ran themselves ragged (as you can tell by Sutton’s sweaty hair haha) and had an absolute blast. He chose a pirate theme this year so I gave away treasure maps, eye patches, gold coins and temporary pirate tattoos in his favor bags. A friend of ours made his pirate cake and his face absolutely lit up when he saw it!
Time on the deck of our new, temporary home has become a nightly routine for us! The view is beautiful and the company is even better.
As I mentioned, I’ve been trying to pay close attention to what I’m feeding Sutton because it’s easy for me to just completely let go during the summertime. Friends houses and play dates don’t always offer the healthiest options – and we love our snack food around here! I just try to balance out the indulgence to the best of my ability.
I’ve been intentional about choosing ‘better-for-us’ snacks which are still fun for summer but bring just a little less guilt. 😉 We do a lot of fruit, cheese sticks, green juices, chips (like Boulder Canyon Foods), hummus, kale “chips” and more.
I’m not joking when I say that Jesse finished the entire bag of the “Buffalo Ranch” Boulder Canyon chips as we were taking these pictures! haha. The first time he tried them he literally said, “These are the best chips that I’ve ever eaten in my life.” They are SO good.
Buffalo Ranch is definitely our favorite flavor (oh.my.word) and the Sweet Vinegar’s a close second for me. Jesse and Sutton both love the Sweet Chipotle as well.
I really love that these chips are cooked in unique cooking oils (avocado oil, coconut oil, rice bran oil and olive oil), that they don’t have any trans fats and are kosher, gluten free and above all, they have a clean label! Seriously, you guys. I’m a chip addict so thank God for good chips that don’t add chemicals or GMO’s.
Find out more about Boulder Canyon Foods here!
You only have 18 summers with your little ones. Make them count. Click To Tweet
Oh, just the best. picture. EVER!!!!
(Be still, my heart!)
I recently bought Sutton his first lunchbox and I cried a little bit! Whenever he goes to his play date, he says he’s “going to school.”
He looks so big in this picture, doesn’t he?! I can’t get over how quickly he’s growing and how incredibly mature, intelligent and loving this kid is. So thankful for him!
This was at America’s Largest Bounce House. I wish I would have gotten more pictures but, again, we were busy playing and I completely forgot. It was SO HOT but there wasn’t nearly anyone there so we had a blast!
Sutton’s two favorite things right now are time with his cousin, Christian, and time spent in the water!
This was on Father’s Day when we went to the golf course to buy Jesse a round of golf for one of his gifts! We went outside afterwards and just ran around and played for about an hour.
Oftentimes, I forget that our plans with our littles don’t need to be extravagant; it really is so easy and wonderful to just allow them to play by finding joy in the simple things and exploring God’s creation.
I just took the boys to a fun little splash pad with my mom, stepdad, nieces and nephew (Jesse had to work sadly.) It had two pools, a water slide and a variety of little waterfalls and spray sets. Saxon seriously loves the water and Sutton was so thrilled that I went in and swam with him.
It has been a beautiful summer so far and I’m so excited to be present for the rest.
I look forward to sharing a Summer Photo Diary – Part Two with you guys!
What is your favorite thing that you’ve done so far this summer?
What is one way that you are intentional about making your kids feel loved?
Share with me in the comments below!
With Grace,
Lindsey
Love this!!
Just the sweetest!!
My 6 year old goes back to school next Monday. I got back to work as a first grade teacher the following Friday. I am sad that summer is ending for us but we’ve had a fun, memory filled summer together with my husband and 2 year old. We had many Disneyland visits, but our annual pass expires next week. We even stayed at the Grand California. We went to Sea World. My oldest and I went to Comic-Con. We also went to the movie premiere for Teen Titans Go in Hollywood. On top of their regular activities such as swimming, hula, and piano, they did some painting and lots of reading. As far as eating, my littlest is will eat anything, but my oldest is trying to try new things. It definitely was a busy and memorable summer! Enjoy!!!
So sooo good! Thank you for this post and for your honesty as always! I always tell myself life is a video, not a photo. So when I feel like I’ve messed up as a mom, I think about the day as a whole (a video) and I see that I have actually done an overall good job as Mama Bear. Just because I messed up in those one or two “photo” moments does not mean I am not doing a good job overall. Same to you, friend!