My dad read to my 4 brothers and me, beginning with Winnie the Pooh, a very old collection of children's stories, Beatrix Potter, eventually into Mark Twain. My love of literature was born. At 77, I can still hear his voice, reading. Sweet memories will remain with your children, hearing your voice, time well spent.

“Just a mom trying to live a lovely life” really tugged at my heart. When I was a young stay at home mom I always felt like I should be working and contributing. I went back to work when our second child was still in diapers. We had two more babies after that and I worked full-time but my heart was at home. I could see they needed me but everyone I knew was a working mom. I was miserable as working mother, still I stayed working. Now all four are grown and gone and I only see them and our grandchildren occasionally. I no longer work but my friends still are. I feel like I got it backwards. I just want to encourage you that you are living a lovely life and I admire you so much for that! You are raising a wonderful family and adding beauty to this world. ❤️

My $0.02 is that you read unabridged books to your children. It will help them so much with vocabulary, comprehension, language mastery. This advice is from Charlotte Mason, whose books I read when I first started homeschooling. I have all boys and when they were younger I read them great boy stories, but also the Little House on the Prairie series, Little Women, The Secret Garden, and The Little Princess. We are visiting one of our sons and his wife this week and he brought up all the great books he remembered that I read aloud, and his particular love of the Little House series!

Little women is such a lovely book. You and your daughter will love it!

I believe your filler vines with purple flowers are vinca..a good ground cover. You may need to thin them out eventually so they don't choke out your other plants.❤

I was so blessed that I was able to be a stay at home Mom, I wouldn’t have traded that for anything… Love the flowers you chose, it looks so welcoming 🌸🌺🌸 I remember my daughter loving the Babysitters Club book series

Beautiful landscaping and flowers! Just a small tip, before planting, tease out those roots that are pot bound ....your plants will love it! Have a lovely day, Paige

Very nice, day in the life! I really enjoy watching your daily routines, you make them seem so effortless & calm. I love your house, it's so put together, it fits your family so well. You did such a wonderful job in all the choices when renovating. My daughter, when she was daughter's ages, started The Nancy Drew Series. She would receive the books as gifts toward collecting the set. I still have them, our set was not completed before she out grew them, there's over 100 total. She also enjoyed The Little House series.

My Aunt read Heidi to me & my brother every day back in the 60's when we stayed with her one summer. At the time I hated it but now I love having that memory! ❤❤❤

So nice to see the entire family enjoying time outside in your beautiful yard. Flowers look so pretty. Love seeing Finn being a part of the family too.

You mentioning Dan mowing cracked me up. Nothing like a mom waiting for your husband to come home and help with the kids and them wanting to mow! ❤ We have five acres and sometimes I think they enjoy it too much

YOU ARE A LOVELY MAMA! You have a beautiful life sweetie 🙋🏻‍♀️❤️🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼

How about Anne of Green Gables or my favorite by L M Montgomery, Jane of Lantern Hill?😊

Little Women, Little Men, Swiss Family Robinson & all the My Side of the Mountain books were some of our favorite read aloud. Along with all the Little House books.

Your new flowers look great! As they grow and get bigger they will just look better and better 😃 your haircut looks great!

Last year you planted hostas behind blueberry bushes. This year you put in a hydrangea plant. I always look at the height and width of the plant when it matures. There should be some information on the description of the plant that it came with. The hydrangea plant you bought could reach 4 feet by 4 feet wide. The plant is okay now but you need to think long term with perineals. in such a small space you would have been better planting annuals . That way you wouldn't have to hope for the best. My hydrangeas that I planted years ago had room to grow. And they are lovely. Or you do research online before you plant

Your library looks great, fun toys

I love the flower combination!!!

Thank you for sharing your day ! God bless you & your family . 😊

Gorgeous choice of plants!!plants!!!

Love the perennials that you chose. When planting it is always good to loosen the roots at the bottom before putting in the ground. If the plants don’t take root that might be the problem.

Beautiful plants! Thanks for sharing, Hilary ❤

I look forward to your video every week!

Love the new plantings. Astilbe is one of my favorites. I love tall spiky plants. White snapdragons are lovely and come back every year. Larkspur and foxglove too. Looks like another peaceful family day. Love it.

Lovely landscaping! An ideal location for your children to enjoy! Thank you for sharing Hillary.

The entrance of your house looks lovely! Great work! Also you seem to have a really nice public library. After seeing your videos for a while you have inspired me to make a better use to our public library and I am planning to do so. I might even join you in reading The Count of Monte Cristo later since now I am working on The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis. Loving your content always, Followthetulip 🌷

Your vlogs are my favorite!!!!!! Thank you for this!

Thank you for the video👏👏👏

Always a pleasure Hilary. The flowers look so pretty. Enjoy the day. 🌸☺️🕊️

Thanks for reminding me I need to order some things from Thrive Market! :)

Lovely video Hilary!

After you read "Little Women", watch the movie, and then go visit the house that Louisa May Alcott lived in, as a young person and while writing the books. I think it's in Concord.

Good morning, I really love your videos in the morning. Your little vining purple plants are vinca.

Always enjoy your weekly day in the life, Hillary. You are a wonderful homemaker and fantastic mother and wife.

Try the Little House on the Prairie series for your daughters. I remember they were very popular around 4th grade (when I was young; when my daughter was in 4th grade the other girls were reading Twilight 😳)

HAPPY THURSDAY IN MAY Hillary, family, and fur baby Finn. Thanks for sharing your day. STTB

A nice busy day! ❤

Thank you so much for your videos. You are such an oasis of calm in a world where everyone is screaming for attention. Thank you for being faithful to your family and kids and showing that it can be done with sanity! I admire that!

Wonderful day! I always look forward to your videos.

Hilary the flowers looked lovely. Lara was doing really well on the mini ATV. Have a great day. 🙏💙🙏

Thanks for making my day!

I loved this sweet video. I also love how much you love books and incorporate that into your life and lives of your children. My parents weren't really readers when I was younger, and I will never forget when I discovered our public library and started on my journey to loving all kinds of books. Nancy Drew books were a gateway to me loving all kinds of mysteries. I also really liked your outfit! The t-shirt and jeans looked fantastic on you!

Flowers look lovely! I am working on a ‘cottage garden’ and chose Astilbe as well- I want lush perennials that return every year. It’s a challenge because we’re on a hill and this garden spot is where the rainwater drains into. We’ve had soooo much rain this Spring. And Hubby has been mowing like every 4 days, in between rain😢. But when it’s dry and the sun pops out or not-- I love having my morning coffee and prayer time in that garden❤

Your young boys would probably love Treasure Island, Robertson Curuso and Gulliver's Travels...

Fun video! 💜

Heidi and Anne of Green Gables have been our favorites this year.

Try The Secret Garden. A story for boys and girls. Your flowers look lovely.

Your flowers/breezeway entry looks so nice! LOVE Purely Elizabeth granolas and I didn’t realize there are grain-free lower sugar ones so thanks for mentioning them. Also love that you are setting your intentions to fuel your kids with good slow burning proteins. People don’t realize how much money they will save on groceries if they feed their kids hearty meals with strong animal proteins, healthy fats and less sugars. It’s how I feed my teenager and she rarely asks for a snack. When she does, the only snacks things I keep on hand are cheese sticks, homemade salty butter pecans, cut veggies with homemade sour cream dip, and on the rare treat… organic tortilla chips with homemade salsa or cheese with a few homemade sourdough crackers. Since my husband and teen daughter like a little something sweet after dinner, I’m trying to steer them towards organic fresh, frozen or canned fruits with or without cinnamon, organic applesauce, clean cottage cheese or homemade Greek yogurt with said fruits, cinnamon, honey, maple syrup etc. Sometimes as a treat we have a cleaner (or homemade) chocolate or natural vanilla ice cream such as Brayers, with homemade salted caramel or homemade fruit jam with granola or salted butter pecans. Weaning us off heavily processed foods and “kindling” snacks and re-directing our grocery monies to good quality animal meats and fats, eggs, dairy products and organic fruits and veggies of all kinds has simplified my shopping and cooking and I don’t have to spend as much time making sourdough bread and bready things since we don’t go through them as fast because I’m not basing meals around breads/grains.

Lots of miracle grow for your new plants! Trust me, it works great.

hey girl- Shawnna here-😉loved the video! I am so glad I came across your channel- You are pretty cool😀👍 Great job on the flowers- so pretty! Have a wonderful night🥰

Your flowers look so beautiful!

Purple vinca. Looks beautiful.

Well titled vlog with tangible backup! ❤

I have never read The Count of Monte Cristo but I think I will try it on audio…Meredith of Currently Reading podcast loves it too…if you haven’t listened to that podcast you should give it a try. I’m so impressed at how quickly you are plowing through so many books, Hilary…have a great weekend🇺🇸🇺🇸

The vine looks like vinca vine. Pretty flowers ❤. The Count of Monte Cristo was always my favorite book too. I read it when I was in high school.

With Finn and your little boy as garden assistants I don't see how you can go wrong with those pretty perenials. I always enjoy your book 'reviews'. I thought A Flicker in the dark was just ok (I did like the ending though) Have a great weekend!

Hillary beautiful pretty plants! Have a lovely weekend!

Trying to catch up on all my videos, I've gotten behind the last 2wks. I'm originally from the south east part of NC.. we were raised on pork rinds! Lots if people make their own & sell them, those are amazing! Even living in Tennessee the last 4+ years they're pretty popular. Barbeque are my favorite!😋 We've been in Tampa FL for a little over 2wks with my son & his family.. we mad be moving down. But I'm missing those wonderful 70° temps😩 For more than a week the temps are 100+ before 12:00pm! The grass Is turning even with sprinklers running at night. A every few days we have to sweep dried up earthworms off the sidewalks.. its miserably HOT🔥🥵 Lol I try not to go out before sundown, but its still hot then. Your flowers are beautiful! Looks really pretty! I always plant different varieties of begonias and also coleus' in all the color variations.. they do well in the shade. I don't do much in the sun. We have A large porch in Tennessee, all my of my flowers were always there, the yard was established when we moved there with lots of gorgeous flowers! A little tip that will help newly planted flowers, when you take them out of the pots break up the soil & roots just a bit. They've been root bound so it'll help the roots to spread and get the water & minerals the need a bit faster, helps them to survive the shock of being replanted also. Your little helper is too cute!😊 The last one you planted, I'm not quite sure what they are but i would do google Lens on them. If its A weed it could choke out the other flowers. Google Lens will let you know what it is and give you a little info on them! I love Google lens and use it all the time! If you've never used it, its the little camera symbol on your google bar, usually on the right side. Tap it, a frame will come up, snap a photo & that's it! It'll take you right to whatever the picture is of! Great when out thrifting, vintage or antique shopping too! Either way hope all the flowers are doing well.. since I'm 2wks late maybe there's an update in a newer video😄 I would love one of the old original "Little Women" along with several others like Gone With The Wind.. those type books! I love collecting old books and these are on my hunt list! I haven't been in a public library since my daughter was probably 10, she's 38 now! Wow things have changed!! When I was a little girl i loved going! It was necessary for projects or papers when i was in school. We didn't have computers, not even in school! Thank goodness my mom had a nice set of encyclopedias at home!😄 You used the word "quading". I've never heard it called that! We had several when my son was younger. We always called then 4-wheelers! When he got into his teen years all his friends had them, we lived way out where there was lots of woods & dirt roads. Our hay field would be full of them on weekends! They would unload & park there in between rides. The used them for hunting too. And we had A mud pit/trail park not far from us. They loved mudding. There would be dozens of people there on Saturdays. I loved riding but not mudding😄 I'm going to finish catching up now..TFS😊

Finn is so cute! ❤

Great video, I was going to say your vines are vinca vines.

I enjoy watching your channel. I never married n or had children and enjoy watching how a stay at home wife lives.

Love your videos. I always thought you didn't have a microwave though when you said you nuked the blueberries!

Your flowers look lovely. I like your purple vinca. Mine are blue. And I love them too. But they take over. Lol HUGS 🙏🌼🌸

Oh, yes, reading the classics! 😍

Just reread the count of monte cristo, so good!

At 6:03 ,looks like vinca vine from here. They’re not just weeds,but frequently used as the “spiller”. When a nursery creates a big full planter, they use “fillers,spillers and thrillers”. The thriller is the main attraction plant,the filler goes in and around and then the spiller is a plant that will flow down the sides,usually vinca or potato vines.

Hi Hilary, another great video! Just curious, you got your puppy about the same time as us and I was wondering if he stays in the yard on his own or if you have it fenced in?

Little Women is my favorite book of all time. I first read it the summer I was 12. ❤

17:10 I love Acure products also. I use their facial bar soap and shampoo bar. Recently bought their facial lotion which I have a hard time finding one I like as my face is already oily. Acure Brighting Day Cream. I love it!

A book suggestion for your girls: "Echo Mountain" by Lauren Wolk. Very uplifting and suitable for kids.

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What was the preschool curriculum again? Also- we’ve loved Understood Betsy, The Little Pilgrims progress, children of the new forest, Rebecca of sunny brook farm, the Wingfeather saga, the penderwicks, and Betsy tasy books and Mandie books. Also, trying to lead a lovely life- definitely resounds with me. Happy end of School!

Ruth Ware has a new book out - One Perfect Couple. It's good!

I had re ad the audio book for Hidden Pics and it was nice. Right now I am reading the new book called The ministry of time and so far it is o.k..hopefully gets better eventually. Classics are the best!! For a book club I am re reading Pride and Prejudice and truly enjoying it. Enjoy your summer with the kid s!

Does your library have Hoopla? They tend to have more audiobooks and they can usually be taken out automatically. Little Women is my favorite classic. :)

Your shredded pork reminded me of the delicious carnitas tostadas we used to enjoy weekly from a local place.

Could you share what product you finished your counters with?

Since you like mysteries...Laura Childs with her "tea room mysteries" is a whodunit and her tearoom recipes are in last pages of book...easy enough for your daughters to make and you could do tea party moments for all of family.

You cut your hair. Enjoyed the video. I love ordinary life.

Do you have a link to your gold bed frame? 💛🤩

Your young boys (and girls)would probably love Treasure Island, Robinson Curuso and Gulliver's Travels..and dont forget Huck Finn! Nancy Drew, Little Women and Little Men and the true stories of Beatrix Potter and Tasha Tudor might be special for you and your daughters to share .

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Two book suggestions Hilary, Brooklyn and Long Island, both by Colm Toibin (Long Island was just released, it’s Oprah’s pick this month, it’s a sequel to Brooklyn). Brooklyn is one of my favorite books ever. A different genre than what you usually read but you might like it! Thanks for another lovely video ❤

So do you get a shower at night when instead of the morning. Trying to tweak my schedule.

❤❤❤❤

Hillary what kind of protein powder do you use? Thank you for your time.

First to comment 😊 ❤ thursday mornings are my favorite. 😊❤

Your Astilbe will attract butterflies and other pollinators, good choice!

If the girls don't mind a little scare read Edgar Allen Poe to them. I still remember my dad reading them to me.

Don't you typically grocery shop at Aldi and Walmart????

Hi Hilary, always nice to hear from you. I love how your shade plants looked. So pretty! I’m with you, every time I plant something I wonder if it will thrive and since last Summer I’ve really surprised myself. ❤

Thrivemarket sounds fantastic for quality food Hilary 😊

Do your girls go to school everyday or a hybrid school? And are you planning on doing the same with your sons? Sorry if that's too personal... I'm a sahm and my oldest is 5 and the only option I like here is a local Christian school and it's a full 7 hrs and I'm nervous it's too much! I've done preschool at home with him so far... and I have a 3&1 year old. Love your videos!

😊👍👋

Anne of green gables is a good one to read with your girls

Little women is so good,if you watch the movies they're good too! Little Men is good as well!

Do you only do sponsored videos now?

Being Filipino, pork rinds or chicharon are pretty popular pairing with beer or alcohol. Being that it's pork skin and fat, I have never really considered it healthy. 😅

Do you allow your little boys to play outside unattended? I don’t think that’s safe. The kidnappers have really stepped up their game.

I think you’re going to love the Astilbe. I have quite a few and they are so easy and low maintenance