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reverie – facebook HOVER

October 8, 2014

reverie – facebook HOVER

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Baked goods have been a dime a dozen around here t

Baked goods have been a dime a dozen around here the last few months — definitely been fulfilling that quarantine stereotype. 😜 We just ran out of breakfast muffins and, although I suspect cinnamon rolls are in our (very) near future, I’m looking for a new baked good recipe to add to the mix! Got any good ones to share?

Hanging onto every last single little dimple of he

Hanging onto every last single little dimple of hers. ✨ #babydonnajean

Fresh starts and morning light.✨

Fresh starts and morning light.✨

Her days as ‘the baby’ are numbered. Always a

Her days as ‘the baby’ are numbered. Always a bittersweet realization for this mama… She’s going to make such a great big sister. ❤️⠀
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#babydonnajean #documentyourdays #momswithcameras #honestmotherhood #nothingisordinary #ohheymama #vsco_mom #motherhoodrising #theeverydayproject

My dirty dishes don’t always look this pretty, b

My dirty dishes don’t always look this pretty, but when they do you better believe I document them. 😉⠀
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Some days (*ahem* most days..?) I find it incredibly difficult to see all the ‘crud’ in the right light... You know what I mean? ⠀
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It’s a lot, but I’m working to reset current thought patterns that don’t serve me well and allow for more freedom in my mind to be able to pause and breathe-in a moment like this. ⠀
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I’ve relied on yoga in the past to help me foster positive energy and thoughts, but this week I dove head first into the world of meditation and am really loving the resources I’ve found. Do you meditate? Hit me up with all your favorite resources in the comments!⠀
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#meditate #meditation #mentalhealth #light #dark #goodheretoo #documentyourdays #momswithcameras #honestmotherhood #nothingisordinary #ohheymama #vsco_mom #motherhoodrising #theeverydayproject

38 weeks (and some odd days). ✨ Plus apparently

38 weeks (and some odd days). ✨

Plus apparently the only corner of the house I take photos in anymore... 🤷🏻‍♀️

This past Saturday Wyatt turned 7 years old. SEVEN

This past Saturday Wyatt turned 7 years old. SEVEN YEARS OLD!

He requested a pizza party where the kids could make their own pizzas (with a topping bar) so of course we made it 'Secret Pizza Party' style. We sure missed a few faces that would normally have been there, but we didn't catch a single raccoon trying to steal a pizza. It was a great day. ❤️ #weewyattgraham #myblantonbunch

Summer nights.✨ #myblantonboys #myblantonbunch

Summer nights.✨ #myblantonboys #myblantonbunch

Instagram post 17893705174512273

Instagram post 17893705174512273

And then it struck me: I hadn’t really changed a

And then it struck me: I hadn’t really changed at all. The things that made me uniquely me, my core, my essence, the things that make me “tick”. Those things hadn’t changed. (Even if I still find great difficultly in defining just what those things are...) What had definitively changed was the way I saw myself. I didn’t like what I saw — still don’t most days if I’m being painfully honest — the lens through which I saw myself had become grossly distorted.

And so this is my first, desperate attempt to correct that distortion. Of course it’s just me with brushed hair, a pretty dress, a little mascara, self timer, a tripod and some glorious lighting... But you know what? I can see her in this photo. The me that I miss and the me that I can’t manage to see some days. I think she’s there just waiting for me to rediscover her, even if she never really left to begin with.

You guys... in just a few short weeks there will b

You guys... in just a few short weeks there will be *another person* around this table. 🤯

Morning sunbeams: making dirty laundry look good s

Morning sunbeams: making dirty laundry look good since never. 😜 #blantonhome

Current favorite corner providing oh so much peace

Current favorite corner providing oh so much peace and sanity. ✨🤪 #blantonhome

On Sundays we set aside time for Jesus and making

On Sundays we set aside time for Jesus and making delicious things that require lots of butter. 😆

Nap time with this girl.✨ #babydonnajean

Nap time with this girl.✨ #babydonnajean

About to kick off our first weekend of summer brea

About to kick off our first weekend of summer break! 💃🏻Wyatt's official last day of kindergarten was Thursday. ☺️ This boy manages to fill the role of both the most serious and goofy six year old I know. He loves Minecraft, Fortnite, Star Wars, raising chickens, riding the GoKart and is an avid reader. He is a fun loving, obnoxious, protective big brother all wrapped up in one. He blows me away daily with the depth of his thoughts and questions and will forever be the little boy that made me a mama.
I love him fiercely and cannot, CANNOT believe he is now a 1st grader! #weewyattgraham

I make him a bologna and cheese sandwich with jala

I make him a bologna and cheese sandwich with jalapeño chips everyday.⁠
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It's become almost a meditative experience for me: spread the mayo just like so, layer the cheese, then the bologna, stack the bread on top and then a execute a clean diagonal slice through the middle of the sandwich. Pile the chips onto the plate, serve with a smile.⁠
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The first day he started working from home I made him this sandwich and was genuinely over the moon about doing so. We were all healthy. We were all safe. We were all home. It felt special, I felt grateful. Another little way to show him I love him. What more could I ask for? ⁠
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But today as I made that diagonal slice, the kind that is honestly just a little too fancy for a simple bologna sandwich, I didn't feel so over the moon about it. Isn't it strange how that happens? Why is it that our "get tos" somehow become our "have tos"? At what point does that simple perspective shift take place? ⁠
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All I know is that tomorrow I will do better to choose joy over getting the opportunity to show love to the man who is just as grateful for his 59th bologna sandwich as he was for the 1st. Whose only request for lunch in the first place is, "a bologna sandwich."

"I clutch the edge of the kitchen sink, hunched an

Happy Saturday! Hoping to make a little more head

Happy Saturday! Hoping to make a little more head way on rearranging the nursery this morning... I find myself with three hooligans — I mean helpers. 😬 I meant helpers... 🤫😉 #matriarchhandmade

There are always dirty dishes in the kitchen sink.

There are always dirty dishes in the kitchen sink. ⁠
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A perpetual stream of toddlers pants or toddler shirts soaking, pretreated from some chocolate ice cream spill or chicken poop incident. ⁠
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Without fail banana bread crumbs and dried up play doh bits rest under the kitchen table. ⁠
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Work is repeatedly interrupted by the shrill screams of a toddler learning to use her voice or the incessant bickering of brothers. ⁠
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Invariably someone is crying. Inevitably someone yells.⁠
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And is anyone still homeschooling anymore, I mean reeeally...?⁠
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The time I find for words, for writing, has always been in the margins. Words scribbled here, sentences typed there. Now the margins are narrower. Really to call them margins at all is laughable at this point. Yes, I am laughing out loud at the mere prospect of there even being space for *margins* now.⁠
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And yet here I am, fighting for them anyway. Attempting to string together characters that form the words and sentences that my fill mind, move my heart and stir my soul.⁠
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When I look into the crevices of our life, I find darkness and dirt and other gross bits that I am tempted to cast aside. But, often enough, as I search through the dark I find things that were once lost. Precious gems that may otherwise have been forgotten. ⁠
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I pray I'm never so proud that I cease searching for those forgotten things — the truly precious moments and meanings that the world sometimes encourages us to overlook. Might I relinquish my endless hunt for the light when there is so much to be found in the dark.

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