Six Reasons Why I Love Chatbooks

I have run the gamut of scrapbooking + memory-keeping.  Remember these days?  I still dream of returning to Project Life - it has been my absolute favorite way to document our life.  But, in this season of three littles, working part-time and trying to keep the house clean, something much simpler was in order.

Enter Chatbooks.

I have been using Chatbooks for about two and a half years now.  Here's six reasons why I plan to stick around for a bit, and why we're loving its style of memory-keeping for now.

PS - I am not being compensated for this post.  Just sharing what we love!

1. Connects to Social Media Platforms - You can choose to connect Chatbooks to whatever social media platform you use (I connect to Instagram), so whenever you post a picture, it automatically loads the picture and caption into your book.  If you are not a social media user, you can choose to upload pictures and captions directly from your phone.  You can also upload a mix of both social media pictures and more private pictures from your phone or computer.  
2. Brainless Scrapbooking - You don't need to be creative, organized, have certain materials on hand, or even remember to print photos.  Chatbooks prints (and ships) automatically when your book is full.  I am usually surprised to find a new book in my mailbox, having put no thought into it whatsoever.  It's one less thing for a busy mom to think about.
3. Affordable - Each book with 60 photos + captions is $10 with free shipping.  There are plenty of coupon codes available online for even better deals.
4. Free Prints - You can choose five bonus prints to ship with each Chatbook via the app.  I collect these and use them to hang seasonally on our big kitchen bulletin board.
5. Kid-Friendly - Chatbooks are small and accessible enough for my littles to look through.  They adore leafing through them. 
6. Reorderable + Giftable - Want a duplicate copy?  Maybe the kids spilled their milk over your last book or you'd like an extra to send to Grandma.  Chatbooks saves your previous books to make reordering easy.

Do you use Chatbooks?  I'd love to hear your experiences!

Apple Orchard 2017

About a year and a half ago, we made a quick trip to Sioux Falls for a visitation and stopped on a whim at the apple orchard on the way home.  I'm so glad we did. 

We had just enough time to explore, pick out our pumpkins for the season (who knew pumpkins were so exciting), and take a quick ride in the barrels.

I remember feeling a little "off" this day - kind of nervous, my stomach was a knotty and I was extra tired.  Little did I know WES was tagging along.  I was only a few weeks pregnant!

This was the last family outing we'd have in several months - the rest of the fall, I'd be heaving over the toilet.  So glad we squeezed at least one seasonal bucket list item in before things got rough. ;)

Did I mention I'm a little glad I'm so behind on blogging?  It's a good excuse to go through older pictures and reminisce.  Look at their pudgy faces! 

Dinosaur Kinetic Sand

Mermaid Kinetic Sand

Top Knot Thoughts

Let's all take a moment to offer praise + thanksgiving to the Lord for causing my postpartum hair to grow back.  The greatest blessing is now I can wear my hair up without needing large amounts of brown eyeshadow painted on my temples to fill in my bald spots.

Hallelujah.  Thank You, Jesus, for real.

I would also like to share that in the entire history of me doing my own hair I have been doing top knots ALL WRONG.  A few years ago, I swore off top knots altogether because they hurt my head, pulled my hair, gave me sensory issues AND HEADACHES, and made me overarchingly grumpy at life.  #firstworldproblems

Anyway, I was styling them at the almost top of my head.  Like a conservative top knot on the crown of my head - not the very top.  Because, after all, I am a pastor's wife living in a very Republicany nicey-nice sort of area in the Midwest and conservatism in politics AND hair styling is highly favored.  

But then.  BUT THEN, I started following a gal on Instagram who is, by the way, a rock star in ministry sorts of things, and I began noticing her top knots.  They were, like, big and bold - at the tippy-top of her head.  She has really long, really thick hair, so they were huge + tall, like big towers at the VERY top of her head, you guys.  This girl had in-your-face sorts of top knots.

Just yesterday, Wes was teething and crazy fussy, and I had no time to take a shower, so a top knot of my own was in order.  I should also add that I had no time to look in a mirror, so I just shoved all of my hair in a big knot and lived my best mom life.

Later, much later, I realized I was NOT having a headache or a case of the grumpies.  Eventually, I also looked in a mirror and saw the knot was on the very top of my head, like Insta girl.  Imagine my surprise.

I'm going out on a limb here because I almost flunked physics, (special thanks to Jon Mouw for pulling me through) but I'm thinking my wonderful new top knot position - on the top of my head - is so wonderful because it is more in line with my body's center of gravity.

Is that right, physics people?  That's what "center of gravity" means, right?

Anyway, too far back, and it weighs down, pulls your hair, strains your neck, gets in the way when you want to rest your head back on the rocking chair - you get the picture.

Right at the TOP of your head, large and in charge, and it is perfectly balanced.  It's weight is supported by the rest of your head, it's bulge is out of the way for rocking chair mini-naps...  There is no pulling, no heaviness, no grumpies.

See?  This is why I love + celebrate getting older.  Sure, there are more wrinkles, but now, at thirty five years of age, I HAVE FIGURED OUT TOP KNOTS.

Excuse me while I go dominate the rest of my life.

Pond + Water Fun

Laptop Chats with Will

This was my very first laptop.  I can still remember using it, sitting on my bed, thinking, "Oh my goodness.  I'm using a computer sitting on my bed."  I had been so used the old, boxy, clunky things that took up half a desk and a full closet of cords.  It was the best.

Fast forward to a couple of years ago.  The kiddos have been using it as a toy and were having so much fun.  Whenever Mark was studying and working on seminary, Will would haul it out (it's pretty heavy for a little guy) and start doing his "sem-nary" work too.  "I'm working hard, Mom!"

This time around, Will had airplanes on his mind, though...  He is his Papa's grandson for sure.

It is really starting to pay off, being so far behind in blogging.  Sifting through photos + videos that are two and three years old is so nostalgic and fun.  The kids have grown up so much in just a couple short years.  In this video, Will was still having a hard time with L's and R's.  What a cutie.

Will's Disney Planes Birthday

Will is five!  We can hardly believe it.  This year, he has been really into the Disney Planes movies, so he chose airplanes as his birthday theme.  It was majorly convenient, since his Papa George is a pilot.  Lucky duck!

He chose sandwiches again for his birthday supper - no surprises there.  I'm wondering if we'll have ham sandwiches at every birthday for the rest of his life?  Such a guy thing, isn't it?  

Since Papa George flew his airplane to our house, everyone got to take a ride!  I wasn't sure how Will + Charlie would do going up for the first time - they had taxied up and down the runway last summer, but never had actually flown.  It took a little coaxing and reassuring, but both loved it in the end.  Charlie still talks about the teeny-tiny tractors she saw and Will swears he saw our house from the sky.  :)

Then, it was back to our house for cupcakes + presents.  

This Dusty Crophopper pinata served double-duty as decoration and party fun.  Win-win!

Marshmallows + coconut for some cloudy treats.  I think my dad and I cleared this whole platter by ourselves.  

Did you know airplane fuel comes in different colors?!  Avgas has a blue tint to it, which worked perfectly with our color scheme.  I bought a bunch of Jones Soda + designed a label to print on sticker paper to cover the existing label.

The first Planes movie is all about Dusty, a crop duster, who is designed to fly low + slow, but who dreams of winning the Wings Around the Globe race, so checkered flag cupcake toppers were definitely in order.

I have fallen in love with Sweetapolita's sprinkle mixes.  They are overpriced, to be sure, but when you spend so little on Wal-Mart cupcakes to begin with, they're worth the splurge.

Over Will's birthday weekend, one of the men's dorms at Northwestern (where Mark works) had their annual cardboard + duct tape battle.  Picture a hundred college guys dressed in homemade Braveheart and Knight gear, complete with cardboard weapons + armor, battling in the center of campus.  Will loved it.  One of the guys even gifted Will his ax.  We could have returned all of his presents and just given him the duct taped ax and his life would have been made.  It also turned into a perfect weapon to hack away at his birthday pinata.

He had such a fun few days.  We love celebrating birthdays around our house - such a great excuse to remember the Lord's faithfulness to our family.  We love you, Will-Bug!