2016, a year of feels.....

2016. What can I say? It started off really crappy. We had injury, death and sadness.  But, as the year progressed, things seemed to looked up. We've had the most incredible support from family and friends.

We sold our house. I was sad. That was the place Brett had proposed to me. We took both of our babies home from the hospital to that home. We both had broken hearts there with the passing of both of his parents. Many family gatherings and parties with friends. We both turned 30 in that home.

But, we had some ups this year too. We bought 5 acres and are building a home. Sooooo excited about that one. :-)   Quite honestly, that's been taking up a lot of time for us. That seems to be our focus. I don't have much time for anything else, which kinda stinks, but I just need to keep the big picture in focus. Otherwise, I think I'd probably get whiny and not happy. We moved twice (once to our cottage and now into a rental) and hopefully our next move will be into our new home.

We've had a lot of change; some good, some not. I've learned to let stuff go. I've learned that I can't control the actions of people, just how I react to it. I've tried to stop being so bitter about stupid stuff.

So, my goals for 2017 are as follows:

Continue on my path and journey with God.

Eat more healthy by getting back to my routine with meal planning.

Be more active. Move more. Phone less.

Healthy body, healthy mind. Don't fill it with trash, either one (body and mind).

Simplify. It if doesn't make you feel good, don't do it.

That's all for now. Much love.

Thoughts

So, I've been struggling with finding balance. Trying to find time for everything. I was taping some recipes in my recipe notebook and came across this bible verse I had written down:  "Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus" Philippians 4:6-7

This gave me some peace of mind and reaffirmed my theory of giving it to God so I thought I'd share. :)

Hello again, it's been a while.....

So, as you can see it's been a while since I've last posted anything.  It's been a year in fact.  Wow, a year.  So much has happened. I feel like that year has just flown right on by.  T started school full time.  Kindergarten.  It was interesting to say the least.  At first, he had a hard time adjusting, so did I.  But by the first month we had it down pat and it was all good.  I volunteered at school (PTO but mostly in the classroom), took care of A, did work stuff for B, tried as best as I could to keep up with the house work, and all the stuff in between.  Somewhere in there, I think I lost myself a little bit.  Which is kinda sad. So, this summer, I've been trying really hard to get myself back.  I'm dedicated to start my running routine back up when school starts.  (it's easier to just push a stroller than push a stroller and try to watch T on his bike.)  I've deleted the Facebook App on my phone.  (I  still go on there, I'm just not on there constantly.)  I've pulled my camera out of hibernation.  That's something that I REALLY miss.  I want to go  take the boys pictures before school starts.  Maybe Grand Haven Beach or something but I know how to do it, so why don't I?  The other thing I've noticed, I didn't have much style.  I'm trying to get a casual but nice "mommy" look. That's slowly coming.  I lost a little bit of weight and had to buy some new clothes.  So, I had B watch  the kids and I went shopping.  I like Kohl's but I've found that unless you buy from the LCLauren Conrad or Jennifer Lopez collections, their clothes are really young. Or for the older ladies (like ladies in their 50's and beyond), there wasn't anything for the in between.  I'm in my late 30's, I don't need to dress like I'm just entering my college years or starting retirement.  I would go to Target.  They have some really cute stuff but I think I used to go there to much.  When I go clothes shopping there now, everything always looks the same.  I love boutique shopping but honestly, who wants to pay those prices!  Really!  I found a few pair of jeans at a boutique here that were (hold your breath) close to $300! $300!!!  I could not fathom paying that much for jeans.  Seriously!  So, I found a store.  It's not new, it's actually been around for quite some time.  Maurices. http://www.maurices.com/  I love that store.  They have a wide variety of stuff.  Some is on the younger end, but a lot of it isn't.  It's just one of my new faves.  My other fave while I'm talking about fashion, is an accessories store.  Charming Charlie.  I LOVE this store.  I've only been there twice, but I've found great deals and they have coupons.  Which is AWESOME!

So, in conclusion, I'm going to start writing in here more, get back into my exercise routine and all the while, I'll try to be fashionable while doing all of that!  :-)

I'll leave you now with a couple of pictures that I took the other day of my kiddos.

Peace out!

One Decision

So I was on my Facebook page the other day and I saw that on the news feed there was a video.  The headline was a heart  wrenching video of heatstroke, or something like that.  So I clicked on the link and the video that was on there was so upsetting I couldn't finish it.  I literally had to stop watching in and come back to it at a later time.  It really was disturbing to me and really made me upset.  Not angry upset but sad upset and made me want to hold my kids just that much more.  So, I went on youtube to see if it was on there.  It was.  But there was also little "behind the scenes" snipits.  So, the basis of the video is how long it takes for a child to have heatstroke if left in a locked up car.  If you decide to watch this, please know it is a re-enactment, not actual events.  The child in the video was unharmed.  In fact if you watch any of the behind the scenes stuff, he's in those and he's so cute.  But the video itself will make you cry.  You may not even be able to finish it, but it is good to be aware, which is the whole idea behind the video.  So here it is:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=one+decision&oq=one+decision&gs_l=youtube.12...0.0.0.231363.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0...0.0...1ac..11.youtube.

summer lovin'

So, this has been a busy summer thus far but we really haven't done anything super expensive and traveled anywhere huge.

We started off the summer by traveling to our friends property in Cadillac, MI and camping over Memorial Weekend.  That was a ton of fun.  Thomas got to run wild with the kids that were there and he had a blast!

Then we had preschool graduation and summer officially started!

Our next big thing we did was we went to downtown Grand Rapids for their annual Festival of the Arts.  Soooooo much fun!  We went to the paint-in and the glue-in.  Thomas had a blast recreating what he would like to say is the Titanic at the glue-in.

He's such an imaginative child.  And he LOVES to learn.  I am planning on taking him to see the Titanic exhibit  at the Grand Rapids Public Museum (maybe when his Aunt Lora is in town?).  He's saw it when it first opened but I'd like to see it and I know he would love to see it again.

So then I went on Pinterest and found two things.  One, a blog (www.peanutblossom.com) that had a summer schedule on it.  So, I took that and adapted it to be my own.  The second thing I found was a how-to on making an "I'm bored" jar.  This one is a work in progress, which I'm almost done with. The link for that one is here: www.shabbybeachnest.com.  Some really good ideas on this one. :-)

So then we started doing things around town (some free, some not) but we are having so much fun.  From strawberry picking, going to farmer's markets, the park, the library (which we're participating in the summer reading program), having fun in our own backyard and blueberry picking.  It's all so much fun and I'm so glad that I have the opportunity to participate in this time in both their lives.

Generally when we go out, I try to do our "stuff" in the morning and be home for lunch.  That way we can still have some fun and Andrew can take a nap.  Then we are also trying to do some learning stuff at least two times a week. This is usually done in the afternoon while Andrew is napping so I can have full attention on Thomas and we get that much needed one on one time. Or as he calls it his "mommy/Tommy time".  Anyway, here are some pictures of our adventures thus far.  Fun times.

One last note, I still can't believe that the middle of summer is almost here.  This summer is going by soooo fast and soon we'll be back on a more strict schedule and kindergarten will be here. So, for know we're trying to squeeze in as much fun and memories made as we can!  We went blueberry picking a few days ago and I forgot to take pictures.  I am planning on going either tomorrow or sometime next week and I plan on getting pictures then.  But for now, enjoy!

summer

Hi there!  It's been a while, I know.....ya'll were missing me I'm sure!  lol  Anyway, it's been a crazy, busy, beautiful summer so far.  Can't believe it's already the end of June, where did the time go?  It's been a pretty mild summer so far, which is pretty nice.  I've taken the kiddos to lots and lots of stuff.  We've been strawberry picking, Frederick Meijer Gardens children's garden (never been there before, can see it as a recurring thing), to the library a bunch of times, various farmers markets, a little camping etc.....  Still have lots to do yet.  Splash pad fun, blueberry picking, the zoo, GRCM, hopefully the beach (thinking about taking them to Grand Haven Coast Guard festival for the carnival) and we want to do a little camping yet.  So much to do, so little time to do it! I also found a zoo that's more of a petting zoo and farm environment rather than a traditional zoo.  It's out by Alto that I want to check out with the kiddos.

Been trying to remember the camera and take LOTS of pictures of our activities.  All I have to say about that is, it's a good thing my phone camera is pretty good.:-)

That being said, when did kids stop sleeping in?  You'd think with all the activities we've been doing they'd be a little more tuckered out and sleep in.  But no, every morning by 7am one or both  of them are up and ready to go for the day!  It's good I guess so far so that their schedule hasn't changed that much.  If it stays about the same, there won't be this big dramatic "Uh-Oh what are we going to do?" when it's fall and school starts.....

Anyway, to keep somewhat busy during the summer, I found a website on Pinterest. It's a blog and she has a summer schedule on it for her kids.  There's an errand day, stay home day, arts & crafts day, pool day and   field trip day.  So basically I've taken all these same concepts and made them my own.  I still need to find something for our art day, but so far, it's worked out pretty well.  Our pool day generally is me sitting by the blow up pool and Thomas in it, but hey he's having fun.  We're also trying to incorporate some school stuff (drawing, coloring, writing and reading) into our days.  We're participating in our local library's summer reading program so right there he's picking out books.  I'm generally reading them to him and he helps where he can but he's involved with books and that's the important part.  As for the other three, we're trying to keep up with those as much as we can. :-)

Well, gotta go for now.  I'll post more later and hopefully add some pictures of our adventures!

My my, it's Sheppard pie

Ok, so I made this Sheppard pie the other night for dinner.  It was absolutely delish and I wanted to share.

It is a Rachael Ray recipe (from her big orange recipe book.  The single guy (or gal) Sheppard pie). I've attached a link here if you want to use all original ingredients. http://www.eatyourbooks.com/library/recipes/236453/single-guy-or-gal-shepherds

I use most of all her ingredients but kinda make it bigger for our whole family.  So, I kinda wing it.... Sorry if you're gonna try to follow the recipe and have trouble with what to do.....

1-1 1/2 lb ground sirloin
1 small onion chopped up
1 couple of carrots chopped
1 couple of celery stalks chopped
garlic minced (1-2 cloves)
salt & pepper
mashed potatoes
steak sauce
flour
butter
beef stock
cheese (I used three cheese cheddar that that already shredded)

Brown the meat and drain the fat. (Season meat and onion celery carrot mixture with salt and pepper as you add them to your pan.)  Add the onion carrot and celery until soft.  push the meat aside in the pan.  Melt 1Tb of butter and add 1-2 tsp of flour to make a roux.  mix in beef stock and about 1-2 Tb of steak sauce to make a gravy.  (Sometimes I also  add a little Worcestershire sauce. depends on my mood.)  Then mix the gravy into the meat and heat through.  Put the meat mixture in  a casserole dish. When I make this I use leftover mashed potatoes. (I used garlic mashed potatoes when I make this.  If you don't have that, add the garlic to the meat mixture when you add the onion/celery/carrot mixture.)  If you don't have leftover mashed potatoes, then make your mashed potatoes however you normally would.  Top the meat with the potatoes and cover with cheese.  Put in a 350 degree oven until the cheese in melted and casserole is heated through.  It's really good.  When I do it, I put mine in a 2qt dish.  Just depends on how much meat you have. 9x13 might be too big unless you double the ingredients.  Enjoy!