Lankford Love

A few weeks ago we road tripped to Kansas to see family on my mom's side. RMom and Pierre joined us for our trip. We stayed with my cousins, who are just as crazy crunchy as we are. ;) Love it! It's always fun to talk about our weird natural ways with others who are like-minded. During our stay, all of our other Kansas family (cousins, aunts, uncles..) came over to visit too. It was so great to see everyone! Unfortunately I did a terrible job photographing our trip. We saw way more people than this, but I'll have to remember to take more photos next time! At the family gathering, we did try this awesome berry oats bars recipe . So yummy! Check it out. We also were inspired to buy a grain grinder when we got home! Hooray for freshly ground flour that still has nutrition in it! Check out our bread!

These past few weeks have been a whirlwind! Brace yourselves for a long post!  Three-and-a-half weeks ago we went on a "sibling college tour," starting on a Thursday and driving down to Waco to see Meg and then to Austin on Friday to see Anabelle and William, returning on Saturday to come home. Adeline woke up with a fever on Thursday, but since she had no other symptoms I assumed it was teething and pressed on.  We loved getting to see Meg! She showed us her dorm room, the Baylor bears, and some of campus! We went out to eat to Ninfas (reminiscent of Brendon's college days).  Meanwhile back at the hotel, Adeline cried off and on all night, and I vowed to be done with hotels forever. I also decided we weren't going to Austin but going back home because I could not handle another night of that. While Meg was in class on Friday, we took the girls to the Waco zoo, which was so impressive! Best zoo I've been to, for sure! Great kids area, a baby chimp, bears (why does...

Until about a year ago Brendon and I have been on health insurance through his work. For us, it was super frustrating each time we needed to use the insurance for a major medical need, like say having a baby. Tons of bills come in, and you're supposedly paying a deductible and then your insurance is covering the rest or a percentage of it. In our case, we had a high deductible, and then our insurance paid everything over that, supposedly. In the end though we definitely paid more than our deductible for each birth because insurance decided certain things weren't covered, which seemed ridiculous. And on top of paying an arm and a leg per need, we were also paying a sizable chunk to insurance each month out of our paycheck, in addition to whatever his work paid, which I believe was about the same amount. The cost was crazy expensive in our book, and it was so vague as to what was covered (and a headache to gain clarification) and how much we would really end up paying for an acc...

A new semester has started! We are in full swing with explorer school (what we call our homeschool preschool) and ballet! Lilleigh is loving every minute of dance! Mommy does too! It's through our city, and not only is the facility nicer than our last dance place, but the waiting area is more baby-friendly - clean and carpeted!  In the photo Lilleigh has the bow. On the note of dance, I totally have to brag on God for a moment.   So I am quickly seeing a challenge of honeschooling is little to no Mommy time. We really feel homeschool is where God is calling us, so that's not a question. It's just a matter of - how do I keep myself filled so I don't run dry? I've been praying about this - asking God to help me find a regular time to work out and to find regular time for myself, whether it's reading His Word at Starbucks (dreamy) or going to Target solo, just some time each month that I can look forward to without my precious girls.   Answer #1 came last Tuesday. ...

Sweet girl turned one a week and a half ago! We celebrated with a "You are my sunshine" party, during which it was only natural that a total unexpected freak monsoon hit. So our splash party was moved inside! At least we had a ball pit to move inside for the kids to play in! Mommy and Lilleigh made her birthday cake with a number one on top out of sprinkles! And our sweet friend Katie made Adeline a smash cake shaped like a sun! Adeline ate her cake, but I think she was intimidated by the size of the smash cake. She just stared at it. Just days before her birthday, Adeline started crawling! She had been army crawling for about a month, but she finally started using her knees to crawl! And just days after she began pulling up on everything! Adeline is now getting all sorts bumps and bruises on her head from falling over, but she's learning!  Now that Adeline is everywhere, I have to watch her like a hawk! Earlier this week I found her ...

There are a lot of Adeline updates around here, but let's not forget who came first! #firstbornlove Today's post is all about big sis Lilleigh. Sweet Lilleigh loves to dress up and sing! She also loves to dance and is signed up to take ballet this fall! Pink and frills. What more does a girly girl need?  Being 3, she loves all princesses, but Lilleigh has been on an Ariel kick lately and keeps telling me she wants an Ariel dress. This weekend I found a great deal on our swap site on an Ariel dress. I told Lilleigh we could get it if she earned the money by selling some of her toys. She had to choose the toys and help me take photos to post them. She earned the money, and today we picked up the dress! Lessons learned - things cost money, earning money, giving up old toys for new ones, counting money, patience, the list goes on. She was ecstatic to pick up the dress today! Can you guess what she's currently wearing?  This girl is also bright. So so smart...

We recently got back from a family reunion in Colorado! It was Brendon's mom's side of the family. Twenty-one people in all. We drove there (quite the roadtrip) and then stayed in Brendon's grandparents' guest house for the week. It was a lot of fun seeing everyone and having all of the little ones together! We took probably one million pictures (okay, slight exaggeration), and yet the little ones totally stole the lens... so sorry to those we didn't get photos of! {My cheeks are burning... sorry y'all.} I'll post a photo of the whole fam once we get those back! How was the car ride? Adeline actually did really well that first TWELVE hour day, but after that she was done. Sweet girl. And I had tons of activities for Lilleigh on the way there, but on the way home, she pretty much watched the iPad the whole time. Next time I'd be more thoughtful for the way back too! I think I was spent also though. In fact, I actually needed some mommy time after t...