a new chapter

its a new chapter in this life of mine and after much work and the help of my friend Kate and KH Creative we have redesigned my little ol' blog into something new.  

still working on kinks in redirection, but for now check it out!

www.themasseyspot.com

XO!

mama confessions v

pouring my second cup of coffee before 7am- and my house is asleep. it sounds like a healthy blend of an air field, the beach, and a rainforest.  we have four sound machines going (Brady has two in his room.. because the other banshee babes that rule this house don't often know the definition of "inside voice") and a couple of fans blowing.  not sure when I will have a silent house again. when the kids slept at their BB's last week and the house was 100% silent I found myself turning on all the sound machines in each room.. after almost 5 years of hearing them I've come to want them on for myself! 

after breaking up the fiftieth argument between the girls before lunch time I said to myself "I'm going to lose my mind today, I think". 

Parker politely popped off "just a little bit, mom." 

I get asked all the time how I get such great 'volume' and hold curl to my hair.. well, I've got a ton of texture and I attribute that to the fact that I started coloring my hair when I was 15 years old.  anyone remember Sun In?  my natural color is dark brown and I went to the beach with some family friends over the summer and came back with orange hair. eleven bottles of Sun-In later my dad sent me to the salon to have it professionally corrected.

Baker playing with a toy camera while we waited on breakfast:

"smaal JOWEE! kahkar, smaall! (smile jolie! Parker, smile!)

you want canneee?!" (you want candy??!)

while getting ready for the day Parker is always right under my feet.

Parker: mom, do I look pretty?

me: SO pretty. 

Parker: okay, well, you look pretty too, mom! just a little bit, tho..

me: 

it didn't take long for Baker to get on board with the bodily functions..

anytime Baker smells something gross she always blames it on me.  always.  

EW. MAMA!  YOU NASSSTEE (nasty)

thanks, Jordan.

Parker complains about wedges ALL THE TIME. 

mom. I have wedgies all the time. how can we correct this?

I hate baths. I really want to love them. but I just cannot bring myself to enjoy a bath. no amount of bubbles + bombs can get me into the tub.  we've lived in this house for over 5 years and I have yet to get in the tub for anything more than a photoshoot of my pregnant belly.

Baker: I'm hungry!

Me: what would you like for dinner, Baker?

Baker: ummmmmm.. 

Me:

Baker: RANCH!

Parker: mom. do you have kids?

Dad: I've got four kids!

Parker:  whoa. why?

I could throw myself into a wall to make the repeated "mom mom mom mom mom mommy mommy MOMMMMYYY" STOP.  it comes with the territory of having a litter of children, but omg.

just saying.

Parker is very particular about how she wants her hair done these days.  there is always a discussion about how she will wear it and if their isn't I pay for it after the fact.  

Parker: mom- I want a clip in my hair. Just one clip, mom. NO PONY. I want to look beautiful mom. 

me: like this, Parker? 

Parker: yes. high five, mom. 

Jolie: when I get big I'm just gonna wear all your clothes, kay?

..and when I get big I don't wear underwear like you, mom.  KAY?

me: 

we use the "OK to wake clock" to give the kids the alert when its okay to come out of bed. its set for 7:15am and the twins push the limit on it nearly every morning. 

Jolie: mom- that green light is taking too long.

me: Jolie, the green light isn't on, so you are supposed to be in bed still until it comes on.

  Jolie: well, obviously its broke. so you're just going to have to get me my chocolate milk now. 

Jolie: we watched a lot of shows today. I feel like it's time to go outside. 

Parker counting to her fingers and toes..

"I have four fingers and ten toes!"

frustrated with Parker for throwing a fit over who knows what..

I don't even know who you are when you act like that. 

Parker: I AM Parker Jane, MOM!! 

we have a behavioral clip chart hanging on the laundry room door (like this one!). the idea is that each child's clip moves from a color when behavior is changed.. our amazing nanny is about to graduate with her degree in elementary education and she made it for the girls when she was coming several days a week.  after the first week of using it Parker was explaining the concept to me:

mom. where is you clip? I'm going to make you one. so that when you be mean to us you have to move you clip to the BRAT page.  

bedtime is a collaborative effort. Jordan and I usually divide and conquer and often times our goodnight kisses and hugs overlap.  I walked into Baker + Jordan singing their usual "Jesus loves me" before bed and I laid down next to Baker to snuggle her.  she gave me a quick squeeze of my neck and looked me square in the face and said

"can you get out?"

Five on Friday

one 

baker's first week if preschool!
Baker had the BEST week!  she started a Mother's Day Out program at a church up the street from our house and oh my goodness I am so excited for her this year!  Tuesday and Thursday from 9a-2pm Baker will be in a classroom with about 12 other kiddos her age to grow and play with.

she loved carrying in her "pack-pack" and her purse (lunchbox).. she talked about her teachers and playtime and most of all about eating "MAH WUNCH!" sweet girl gets nervous at drop off and cries when I leave, but just a few minutes after I'm gone her sweet teacher, Miss Autumn, is sending me happy pictures of our Baker girl.

bows // clip // shortalls // tank onesie // sneakers (similar)

 her nervous habit- hands in her mouth.

back pack // nap mat // lunch box // thermos

by day two this week she had the routine down for the morning and was off to her second day of school.  love this girl and I'm excited to watch her grown and change this year! 

two

first taste of fall!
my favorite time of the year is HERE!
I'm as basic as it gets when it comes to the fall season- right down to my coffee!  I try to stick to the lower cal options at Starbucks, and usually go with the skinny caramel macchiato, but this time of year I get picky when I order!  I'm not a PSL kind of girl, just too sweet for my taste, I suppose, but I do LOVE salted caramel mocha! I got a ton of questions about how I order my coffee drink after I posted this to my IG stories! I ordered it with skim milk, no whip cream, and sub out the regular for sugar free mocha syrup! AND my shirt is from Albion fit!  its long enough to cover my rear when I wear leggings and the thumb holes are everything this time of year! I actually bought this tee when I was pregnant with Brady last Fall and was excited to pull it out for the chilly mornings we've been having. find the exact top HERE and more colors HERE.
use code MASSEYA15 for 15% off your purchase!

three

one hundred.
I hit 100 check-ins this week at camp gladiator! that means I have completed 100 hours of butt busting workouts over the last year or so and I have never felt so amazing in my life!  they kinda make it a 'big deal' when you have your 100th check in and all I have to say is that there was WAY too much excitement going on at 5:30am that morning!

four
fall fashion
AGAIN.  another reason why this time if year is my FAVORITE.  the clothes!!  working at Stitch Fix,  I love all the clothes..but the fall and winter apparel are AMAZING and those are my favorite Fixes to style. from cardigans to booties to sweaters to flannels!  I got my Fix this week (I styled myself!) and it was filled with a bomber jacker, flannel with elbow patches (!!!) and the coolest moto leather leggings evaa.
these zoey sunnies from DIFF landed on my doorstep this week and, y'all.. I have about 6 pairs from DIFF and while I love all of them THESE are my favorite!  a good friend mentioned that they look like fall and I 100% agree!! you can use code AMBER25 at checkout to get 25% off a pair for yourself!
sunnies // flannel

ALSO. I feel like I'm living with the CAPS LOCK on because I just cannot get over how amazing all the fall drops have been!  I got these sweet little digs for Brady this week from Zara and I'm obsessed!!  

tee // jacket // denim

five

festive jams
last but not least.. its September, which means it completely appropriate to pull out the halloween jams.  happy Friday, folks!  go on and get a little festive!  

the road trip that didn't happen..

well, we made it to Gurdon, Arkansas. population 2000. 

I had grand plans for an amazing Nashville trip recap this week.  we left for Memphis TN last thursday to stay one night and then on to Nashville for the rest of the weekend.

we didn't make it. 

the weather man had been talking about residual rain from Harvey but we didn't anticipate it completely ruining our time in Tennessee so we packed up the kids and dropped them with BB and Papa before heading out. we were abut 5 hours and three pitstops into the roadtrip, just crossed over the Texas-Arkansas border and all hell broke loose.  the car started sputtering/stalling out and the "check engine" light started flashing.  we pulled over.. confused and concerned because what the heck was happening with our car?! we sat on the side of the road in hopes to let the car cool off a little and maybe it would let us get to a place where we could get it checked out.. because there was nothing where we were.

we drove a few more miles up the road and finally were forced to pull into a gas station that legit looked like there wasn't a soul in site.

..and then it started to rain.

..and whatever at&t cell tower was in or around this area blacked out.  literally.

so lets recap.

no phone. no internet. no CAR. and we didn't exactly know where we were at. we ran into the desolate gas station/truck stop and thank goodness there was someone behind the register!  we asked her if she could point us in the right direction for finding a place that we could get our car looked at and she casually pointed to the shop that was in the same parking lot as the store. which also happened to be connected to a restaurant. 

we pulled our car into the shop and the sweet young guys gave it a look over.. thought it could be the battery and then also thought it could be a sensor.. they had to call someone with a computer to come and hook the car up, so we waited and waited.  Gurdon is about 30-45 minutes from the next town over in both directions, so there was a lot of waiting that day.

I checked "pumping in a truck stop" off my bucket list and we went to see about getting some lunch.  still no cell service or internet at this point, but we were able to use our waitress' cell phone (thanks, verizon!) to call Jordan's dad.  we were on the phone with him when the tower blacked out and the last he had heard was that we were having car trouble.
so we sat.  and sat.  ate a grilled cheese and a fried pie..
the cell tower booted up again around hour 4 of waiting (YAS!) and then waited some more.
by the time hour six rolled around they had finally hooked the car up to a computer and determined that one of the sensors was firing incorrectly. OKAY. so there is still hope!  they assured us that they could fix the car, but wouldn't be getting a part until maybe the next day.  maybe?? at that point we started trying to figure out if we were going to have the car towed to a dealership about 35 miles up the road or if we were going to stay put until the next morning and let them fix it.
oh and there happened to be a motel, albeit creepy AF, but there was some place to stay if we needed it.  we talked to my mom, who was a life saver in all this helping us with hotel rooms (she works for Marriott).  we cancelled all our plans for Memphis and eventually decided that our trip money was probably going to car repair.. so Nashville was off, for now.

SUPER bummed, and I might have shed a tear, we started up the car in hopes that we would be able to limp the car down the road back towards home.  the car would run, just not very well.
UNTIL we started driving.  nothing.  no check engine light.  no shuttering.  no stalling.
so we risked our chances over paying $500 to tow the car and drove about an hour back to a hotel my mom had helped us book last minute.
the car didn't make a peep.  
as we laid in our hotel room that night, still licking our wounds over the fact that the entire trip had been ruined, we watched the news reporting tornado warnings in Memphis.  and the next story was flash flooding in downtown Nashville.  I woke the next morning to a text from my mom saying that the hotel we were supposed to stay at in Nashville was evacuated and flooded.. the roads we were supposed to take were nonexistent at the moment.
if we would have made it to Tennessee we would have been stuck there for a hot minute!
we took the scenic route home and made a stop in Canton for first Monday trade days (basically the best flea market you'll ever go to.. and it happens just once a month) and made it home to these precious babies.

have you ever have one of those moments when you don't see the blessing in those exact moments,  but as it all rolls out before your eyes you kinda go "okay, Jesus.. I see you."

He totally took care of us on this one.  I was bummed about the car, which by the way has yet to even flash an engine light, but the trip wasn't going to happen either way.

SO.. instead we spent the weekend at home with the babes.  we didn't have 'plans' because we weren't even supposed to be here, so it was low key and enjoyable with my favorite people.  we hit up the nephew's bday party on Saturday afternoon where we were reunited with Jolie, Parker, Baker, and Brady. Baker wouldn't leave my lap and I wasn't mad about it! we finished off the weekend with the last swim of the summer, ordered pizza and the kids crashed early because they were zonked! church on Sunday + brunch at our favorite spot then an afternoon outside while daddy threw some chicken on the grill.  after Brady was down for the night we popped in The Lion King and snugged up with popcorn and theater candy before bed.

I took an unexpected hiatus from the blog the last couple weeks.. my plan was to get through my last week of work, come back after our trip without kids with loads of blog content and feeling refreshed. but the truth is, we are still living out of suitcases that never even saw said 'vacation' and my house looks like a tornado casually dropped in. life sometimes gets in the way of our best laid plans. and it sucks and its so annoying and I find myself the most anxious when things just aren't going my way.
but we came back and were greeted with the best weekend ever.  if only I could get myself and all these kids unpacked! best part about unpacking for a trip you didn't take is that there us way less laundry to be done..?

I say yes!