We are still on Winter Break - we get 3 weeks this year and I love it!
It's so nice to just hang out
Today I walked in Sydney's room to put Laundry away and noticed her babies...
Each one has their own little 'room' and a kleenex 'blanket'...
It made me smile.
I bought this bunch of purple daisies at Trader Joe's for $3.99.
They aren't very special or fancy
I liked how they looked tightly massed together in the package. When I put them in the vase they sprayed out - not the look I envisioned.
So.... I cut them REALLY short and used a square candle holder instead of a vase.
It was perfect.
A quick and simple fresh flower centerpeice for $5.
Being away for 10+ days makes you appreciate HOME... your shower, your coffee, your bed.
Our East Coast trip was incredible & memorable - but it's so nice to be back.
SCHOOL IS IN FULL SWING
I am a mother to a Middle Schooler - when did that happen? There are couples walking around holding hands, girls wearing make-up and HUGE bras... it's weird.
Luke is adjusting great. They are working on his schedule and he will be transferring in to a new math class within the next week. For electives he has German and Woodshop - how fun.
Syd is in FIRST grade, loves it.
Lots of football and cheer coming up that's for sure. August is over, that means the season starts and we have real games now. That is way more exciting than conditioning and scrimmages.
[ As the boys walk out to the meet on the field with the Refs ]
Today the boys played against Huntington Beach.
I got there about an hour into it - straight from Syd's game.
As I was walking up I watched Luke catch a pass and run it in for a touchdown.
It. Was. Awesome.
If there is one thing I can always count on -
Sydney is ALWAYS willing to help set the table.
She wraps up our fork in a napkin 'nice and tight'.
She also made us all a little letter with a picture and our names at each setting.
(even herself)
As much as I want to step in sometimes with scalloped scissors and scrapbooking supplies ~
I let her own these place cards...
I love this girl.
Vacation is awesome but I think everyone looks forward to coming home.
I miss MY bed, MY shower, MY morning coffee.
The kids miss their backyard... simple little people aren't they.
(School is almost out - they will be in their backyard lots)
A few months ago... as we stepped onto our porch at about 8pm we saw the power arc at the end of the street. You could hear it, and then the explosion.
Then all the lights went out ~ as far as we could see.
We opened up the door to our dark house, fumbling around for a flashlight. Within a few minutes the house was glowing- pop lights in the kids rooms and candles in the rest. There was a peaceness (is that a word?). No TV's, computers, phones.
It was almost magical looking, the flickering warmth. While I did fear the thought of my freezer melting slowly, I was in no rush for the power to come back on. It did. 40 minutes later.
A few days ago... I found a few jumbo packs of tealights from Target and Ikea. I buy them all the time - for special occassions. Then I thought...
dinner with my family is special
They cost pennies and I have hundreds.
So now, each night I light them.
Just a few... here and there.
Don't wait for a special occasion.
Make one.
I always forget that we have a HAAS tree in the backyard. In fact, I had avocados on my grocery list for this week. Now, I have some from my tree in a brown bag in the kitchen. I hope they ripen quickly.
And just today while out back, I noticed that we have little peppers ~
I think my gardners found them before I did...
and helped themselves.
Simplify - Plan - Organize
Today I cleaned out the office (including the files).
We filed an entire green trash bag with old shredded paperwork, like utility bills from Feb '07. It took me a while to sort thru and preserve all the kids drawings and little notes from my babies.
I'm working on a pile for a garage sale - it's growing. Feels good to move that old stuff.
Finally, in my efforts to de-stress I've decided it's time to start a menu plan. Dinner time rolls around before you know it and most of the time, I'm sadly unprepared. I contemplate what's in the fridge as we drive home from football practice at 7:30pm. I whip something up, nothing special. We eat by 8:15 if we're lucky. I'm not proud of that. (tell me I'm not the only one...)
So I've made my shopping lists for each meal and saved them on the computer. I think after a month of so it will be faster and easier to pick 5 or 6 dinner meals from those saved. In fact on Saturday I spent 2-3 hours and prepared everything for this week. The Shephard's Pie, Taco Soup and Lasagna are ready to heat and eat. I have all the crockpot items and will throw them in that morning, easy peasy.
Hopefully I can keep this up. Do you have any yummy recipes that freeze/heat up or make easy dinners? I'm looking for yummy crockpot recipes especially... my starving children thank you.
* * * * *
I made whole chicken this week in the crockpot- delish. It was so tender and shredded up easily. It was enough to enjoy 3 different ways:
*Jiffy Cornbread mix prepared with cream, egg and cheese.
*Dollop 1Tbsp of mix, then 1Tbsp of Chix and then top with 1 more Tbsp of mix & bake.
*Tasty surprise in the middle - Serve warm with butter.
the sprinkler's are on~
the boys are playing a game~
and there is laundry spinning~
My man is outside fixing this~
and he just finished doing this~
Our little helper is by his side~
I should be working on this~
but I want to play with this~
{ Saturday Afternoon }
Maintenance and upkeep are never-ending with a home.
As soon as you finish one project, someplace else screams for attention. It's an on-going cycle that all homeowners are far too familiar with.
We easily put off starting the big jobs because...
'We don't have the time/money right now'.
What this really means is...
'I'm too lazy and that's a lot of work'.
Months, even years will go by.
This is one of our bathrooms CIRCA 2001:
( August 2009 )
I still need to buy a few cutesy things but it's pretty close to complete. It was a family project with the huge help from my brother-in-law, thank you Joe!
Ever since then, we say the same thing to each other when we pass the new bathroom...
"The bathroom looks so nice now'
And, what this really means is...
'Why on earth did we wait so long?'
