Believe it or not, that’s actually Alyster mid yawn (not viciously trying to eat the phone).
A busy day ahead and I have exactly zero energy. Need. More. Coffee. STAT. Side note: how cute are cat’s tiny little middle teeth? I had never noticed them before I read an article a few years ago and now it’s all I see whenever Alyster opens his mouth.
Happy hump day friends. xx
I received President Obama’s new book for Christmas this year from my soon-to-be sister-in-law (thanks again, Mariah!) and I’ve been eager to dive into it ever since. I’m only on page 9 and I’m already hooked. Obama’s writing is so clear and concise and his prose is beautiful. The book is a fascinating peek at his early life and the eight years he was in office, so I’ve heard, and I can’t wait to get to the juicy parts of his presidency (and his thoughts on the last administration).
Happy Tuesday to you!!
Nothing like starting the week off with an apology, right?
This is on my mind today so I wanted to talk to you about it. First, I want to start off by saying thank you, thank you, THANK YOU.
Thank you for the kindness and the love you have extended to our family over the last five years. Having this community of smart, strong, brave people has been so incredible and we feel incredibly grateful for you every day. And ever since the kiddos came to live with us a year and a half ago, seeing the love you have sent to them has been overwhelming in the best way possible. To know that so many of you care about and send love to them is the best feeling in the world. Thank you for that.
I am trying to say thank you in a way that doesn’t sound pretentious or self-absorbed. We never take your presence or your time for granted, and we thank you from the bottom of our hearts for being here with us. Hearing your stories and learning your backgrounds has taught us so much about life, about the world, and about ourselves. The lessons we’ve gained from you are irreplaceable and honestly, we’re so much better because of them.
We read every email, letter, comment, message, and package you send us and are immensely grateful for you, for all of you. But I want to say I’m sorry. Lately I have fallen behind on responding to the things you send us and I feel so awful about it. The letters and cards, though they have been read, have started piling up in my “respond to” stack and they glare at me with seething eyes every single day. It’s so bad, y’all. And I am so sorry. I think about you every time I walk by and see them and I think, “If I just sit down for 10 min I can write them back and it will mean so much to everyone involved!” But then a dog needs to be fed or a kid needs to go poo-poo or dinner needs to be made and I lose track of time. Rinse and repeat.
I feel guilty for us even having a PO Box when I can’t respond to everything you send in. The kiddos received SO many gifts for Christmas from you all this year, and I think that was the hardest thing to not respond to. You put so much time and effort and love into everything you send and we can feel it as soon as we open the packages.
Please know we see everything you send in, even if you don’t get a response from us (or it takes us weeks to get back to you!). I don’t think I could have anticipated, no matter how many parenting blogs I read or people I got advice from, just how busy and all-consuming (in the best way!) kids would be. I feel like by the end of most days I have zero energy left and all my bandwidth is used up. What then?
But the truth is, lots of people have kids and still find time to get done what they need to/want to. So I will keep working on it and in the meantime, I ask for grace in responding to your sweet, kind correspondence. The quickest and easiest way to reach us is by email (propertyloversemail@gmail.com), so please always feel free to send something that way! I hope you understand and again, thank you SO much for showing our family so much love. You mean more to us than you’ll ever know.
xoxoxo
Good morning, friends.
After a chilly last few days at home, I made crispy cheesy stacked potatoes last night (in muffin tins, no less!) from Half Baked Harvest and omg they were so good. Tieghan comes up with the best recipes ever and after last night, I’m wondering how 30 years of my life have gone by without ever having made potatoes like that. From here on out, there is only my life before crispy cheese stacked potatoes and after crispy cheese stacked potatoes.
Do you have any plans this weekend? Right now, the only plans we have are editing this week’s YouTube video and hopefully spending some time out at the land if it warms up. I’m sipping my coffee as the sun is slowly coming up and the house is sleeping, and I always like to refer to this part of the day as the calm before the storm, even though, in truth, it’s not so much a “storm” when everyone wakes up, but it is when our day begins and it doesn’t usually stop until long after the sun goes down.
What a week, y’all. So very glad it’s the weekend. Stay warm, and have a good one!!! xoxo
The importance of today cannot be overstated.
I want to start off by saying how I have personally felt over the last four years, and that is uncomfortable, worried, uneasy, and unsafe. I shared my feelings and beliefs this summer on the blog and they were in turn shared on a FB group who, let’s say did not share the same feelings as me towards the last administration. I don’t want to get too much into that, nor do I want to spend too much time writing about the negative effects of our old President. Instead, I would love to discuss some takeaways from today’s inauguration.
I had been looking forward to today for the last four years. That sounds like a joke, but I am so very serious. When Biden was elected President at the end of last year, I, as millions of others, let out the biggest sigh of relief. I immediately felt hope, optimism, relief, excitement, and at ease. I knew the future looked so much brighter than what we’d experienced during the last administration. I know America has so much work to do to make up for the last 4 years of lies and corruption and violence and racism, but I have to believe we’re all up to the task.
It will feel strange to live in a country where the current administration listens to scientists and facts, where they empower and accept minorities and don’t try to oppress people’s rights just because they look different than they do. Biden’s cabinet picks are officially the most diverse of any President. History!!! Speaking of, so much history was made today. Can you believe it? Vice President Kamala Harris (can I just say how much I love writing that entire title?) is the first woman, and first woman of color, to become Vice President of the United States. Black women all across America DID THAT. The Democratic Party seems to always be at the forefront of change, of breaking through barriers, and I am so proud to call myself a Democrat today. And don’t even get me started (or do) on Amanda Gorman and her breathtaking and beautiful poem “The Hill We Climb”. I got chills and started to tear up listening to her stunning, timely words and rhymes. Highly recommend watching.
I feel confident that the next 4 years will be a time of positive change here in America. Where climate change and racial injustice and Covid-19 will be taken seriously and dealt with appropriately, instead of being dismissed and tossed under the rug. I feel confident that there is still so much hard work ahead of us all, but together, and with strength and determination, we can achieve greatness as a unified country. We are still so divided as a whole, and it’s somewhat overwhelming to think about all that must be done to right all the wrongs we’ve caused, and not just in the last 4 years, but the last few hundred years.
As a member of a minority group it’s easy to feel like our wants and needs are overlooked, even as the gay rights movement has picked up substantially over the last decade. I definitely didn’t feel like it was a priority during the last administration, but I feel like things will be different this time around. We have a President who is intelligent, compassionate, caring, and seems to have the people’s best interest at heart, especially those in minority groups.
Don’t get me wrong. I do not agree with everything Democrats stand for and believe in. I loved Obama, but he was not a perfect President, nor a perfect man. But mostly, I had faith in him and supported him and truly believed he put America first. To put it plainly, I did not feel that way about 45.
But a new dawn is on the horizon and there is electricity in the air and optimism in our hearts. A new year, a new presidency. Same problems, same country, but a renewed sense of possibility is taking over and I can’t shake the feeling of hope I’ve had all day. All day I’ve been at peace, smiling and taking deep breaths and savoring this historic moment. Living in the south, in a conservative town, it’s easy to get lost in the politics, but today felt different. Today was different.
May we all go forward with love in our hearts and compassion leading the way. We have so much work to do, but something tells me we’re all willing to put in the blood, sweat, and tears that it requires. For the first time in 4 years, I feel hopeful for the future and what it means for us all.
PS: The Deep Meaning of the Color Purple at the Biden Inauguration
The Significance of the Bible Joe Biden is Using on Inauguration Day
Friends, we are currently in the very thick of raising a 3 year old. Even though little sis just turned 3 earlier this month, it feels like she has been at her current age for months.
Can we just state the obvious right off the bat and say that parenting a 3 year old is not for the faint of heart? She is the second one to be at this age in our care after little brother went through a similar, albeit different, experience last year (older brother was 4 when we got them). The thing is, she is the love of our life, truly, and our family wouldn’t be complete without her. But she is miss independent to the fullest right now and it’s coming through in the form of yelling (screaming?) “NO!” every time she doesn’t want to do something. Or sometimes she’s blankly say, with no enthusiasm or feeling whatsoever, “no…”. It’s so matter of factly that I often can’t help but start to laugh because it’s so damn cute.
Honestly, looking back on it while writing this, it’s comical because she’s 3 and nobody can tell her anything right now (so don’t even try). She is so hilarious and so cute and so smart and she learns something new and says something new almost every day, and it brings us the most incredible joy raising her during this time in her life. I am excited to look back on these hard months and laugh in the next few years (with her next to us, of course) at how difficult it all seemed at the time. Because doesn’t it always seem worse in the moment than it really was?
I posted on Instagram tonight about how much I love doing life and parenting with PJ and how, though it isn’t perfect, there are some nights where it feels pretty damn close to is. That’s kind of where I’m at right now: today was hard with sis, very hard actually, but tucking her in and laying down with her as she ooo’d and aaaah’d and pointed at her nightlight that casts dancing colored stars around her room, I thought (as I think pretty much every night) how did we get so lucky? Out of all of the people these kiddos could have been placed with, how were we the ones who get to say good night to them night after night?
It’s so easy to get frustrated in the moment when they’re being naughty or acting out, but the friggin truth is we would be lost without them. Because we would be. So even though she’s been the pickiest eater lately and refuses almost everything we put down in front of her, and doesn’t always come when we ask her to, and throws whatever is in her hand (and I really mean whatever) when she gets angry, sis is the absolute definition of love, light, and beauty. She is our world, and even though her brothers probably wouldn’t admit it, I know she’s theirs, too.
I wish everyone could have the chance to know and love her like we do, but you’re just going to have to take my word for it on how great she is. Parenting a 3 year old is not for the faint of heart, but it is absolutely the best decision we ever made.
I am writing this on a cold Monday night after an entire day of doing absolutely nothing. I can’t remember the last time that happened. And it was everything we needed it to be and more.
Our family is always going going going, and we never have days where we have nothing to do and nowhere to be. Except for today. We woke up extra early to drink our coffee and pick up the house a bit before one of PJ’s family members came by to tell us something extremely important, but after that, it was all about eating and taking naps and watching TV. The best part was the sun was shining all day, but it stayed consistently cold, so I didn’t feel guilty about us not spending more time outside.
I never changed out of my comfy clothes (that are borderline pajamas) and drank multiple cups of coffee and even TOOK A NAP. 2021 has been crazy for multiple reasons, and in no way am I diminishing the severity and importance of recent events, but on a personal note, I haven’t taken a nap in I don’t even know how long, so it was wild that I actually had the opportunity to pass out for an hour. I didn’t want to get up, it felt so good. I think if this was a year ago I would have actually felt somewhat guilty for falling asleep in the middle of the day, but these days I am considering it a blessing.
We ended the night with PJ dancing with the kiddos and older brother reading us all a book before bed. And at the risk of sounding like everything was perfect and easy and there are never any problems in our life, we are raising 3 kids under the age of 6, so is anything ever easy when dealing with that many at that age group? Scattered throughout this peaceful, restful day were fits of crying and screaming and older brother shutting the back door on his finger and little sis refusing to eat her dinner (per usual), so if you find yourself rolling your eyes when you read the blog sometimes, just know we’re right in the thick of it, yet trying to focus (and remember) on the positives in life.
Because isn’t it so damn easy to focus on the opposite?
Last week on Instagram, we shared a few of our words for 2021 (like simplify and be) and asked what words YOU would add. You sent some extremely inspiring ideas our way and we had so much fun pouring through them that we wanted to write them all down somewhere to look back on and to give us all a little inspiration for the new year (because it’s already off to a pretty rocky start, isn’t it?)
Below are the words that kept popping up again and again, in no particular order. I love the sense of renewal everyone hopes to have this year after the mess that was 2020. Of course, a date on the calendar does not mean a complete restart- it’s more of a renewed state of mind and a commitment to yourself (and to others) to accomplish what you want to for the year.
Without further ado, your top words for 2021:
Resilience
Purge
Revitalize
Selfcare
Love
Mindful
Explore
Celebrate
Heal
Survive
Hope
Happy
Dream
Drink
Grateful
Enjoy
Breathe
Connect
Learn
Inspire
Reset
Reuse/recycle
Exhale
Laugh
Vegan
Give
Overcoming
Relax
The most common word we saw was “love” and that made me smile. You all never cease to inspire us and to bring us joy. May we all do our best this year, whatever that looks like.
Stay safe, friends, and take care of yourselves.!!! xoxo
The Property Lovers is a daily lifestyle blog by PJ and Thomas about our adventures as husbands and dads living in our small hometown, life in our 100 year old Craftsman home, and fixing up our farm. Welcome!
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