A Day's Journal

Happy New Year

2012-01-06T13:33:00.000-08:00

2011 flew by, and now we have entered 2012. I love entering a new year... maybe it's because my birthday is around the the new year that it makes me contemplate my life. I love reflecting on the past year, and looking forward to the upcoming one.

Here are some things that happened/entered our lives to make it sweet in 2011:

1) Simplifying our lives/commitments this year. We took the year off from any extracurriculars, and it was oh so good. Ready to join back into society again, but with more discretion this time.

2) This maple syrup. Yes, it has made my life so much sweeter.

3) And with that - so has drinking coffee. Why did I wait until I was 30 to start drinking this stuff? It's magical!

4) Getting out of debt. Thankful for God's provision this year.

5) Going to down to two days a week with work. Loving it.

6) Watching the girl grow and flourish as she entered big girl sunday school and preschool. We got a thank you note from her teacher for a christmas gift that we gave, and the note gushed about how special she is, and how she adds lovely blessings to her teacher's life. I cry every single time I read it... especially when I read it out loud to the girl (and her dad).

7) This chicken recipe. It really is perfect, and now we make it often.

8) Relationships. We are so blessed.

9) The Dave Ramsey class we took at church. You may roll your eyes, but this class did more than educate us about money. It's hard to explain, but God used it to teach me so much (and it had little to do with Dave).

10) Kisses From Katie. Wow. Read it. Oh, and Bittersweet.

11) Answered prayers... and prayers that required a lot of faith and courage. And some prayers that aren't fully answered yet. Grace grace grace in the wait.

12) Parmesan cheese. I think my family would all shout yes to this. :)

And now in 2012, here are some things to add to the beauty that is my life:

1) Family memory verses. The girl told me a verse that she remembered from her christmas play at church and it inspired us to make it a priority this year. Every Sunday we will have a new one. This week is Jeremiah 29:13 (it's my life verse) and she's memorized it already (and my boy is trying too)! Any suggestions on simple ones a four year old can remember? Excited about all of us hiding His word in our hearts.

2) My side of the family committing to doing a 5k together. Is this cool or what?

3) Being more intentional in my life - limiting distractions (television, computer) to embrace actually living. :) God is showing me more and more what this means.

4) Allowing more flexbility in our budget for more fun.... and more giving.

5) Relaxing and having fun with the kids. They are at such fun ages now. We did the pool today, and it was so fun looking forward to our family nights having more "fun" added to it.

Any one make any new year's resolutions?

Back To School

2011-09-07T10:29:00.000-07:00

For some reason my blogs are not showing up. And it's now allowing me to publish some of them. Hopefully this one works.

1. Today was our girl's first day of school. She was so excited. I was excited. The only one who shed tears was the little brother who didn't get to go. We made up for it by going outside, and playing at the library.

2. We chose Montessori. I know a lot of people think it's a little weird, but everything so far has made so much sense - a family picnic, orientation in which we left her for an hour to learn the process, allowing each child to learn at her own pace, emphasis on work and responsibility. Plus is helps knowing that my girl loves loves loves the teacher.

3. Speaking of my girl - she has made her bed (without us asking) the past two mornings. What is going on? I'm loving it though... and it's impressive how nice of a job she does.

4. My boy is certainly a boy. I spent an hour the other day throwing the bouncy ball to him, while he swung is bat to hit it. Amazingly enough he had decent aim... today he requested that he wear his "soccer ball" shirt.

5. The hubby is supposed to make a business trip this fall to China - it's gonna be a long trip, and my evenings are filling up. Praying for peace, wisdom, and a patient spirit with the kiddos, and that he has a safe trip.

6. Can I just say that I love going to out of home work for two days vs. three and four?

7. It's cold here. Happy for fall, sad to be freezing when I wake up.

8. We Found this fire station on craigslist. Saving it for a Christmas gift for the little guy. I now have Christmas on the brain, and it's only the beginning of September. Any other ideas for little boys? Have to admit that I have a million and one ideas for the girl...

9. The hubs and I have been doing the 30 Day Shred and trying to attend our local (free) zumba class when I can. Seriously. The 30 day shred is hard work. I might be the weakest person I know - still doing the cheater push ups.

10. I've found that I'm very restless now that I'm home a little more - maybe even a little lonely, even though we see friends quite a bit. The sermon we heard on Sunday talked about "being still", and I think God meets us in that restlessness - if we don't try to fill that feeling with other things. Looking forward to a more regular quiet time now that life is a little slower for us.

2011-06-10T10:00:00.000-07:00

1. We have knobs and pulls our cabinets now. This is a big deal. Not only does it look great, but it means we're getting to the finish line... Next up: trim on the cabinets. Forgive the poor photo - the little guy was tugging on me while I was taking it.

2. Have discovered that I actually do like coffee... but only black with maple syrup in it. It's pretty great that way.

3. Now we have to buy a gallon of maple syrup to make it last. This is the brand that we use - local and oh, so good.

4. I've been eyeing this pendant light. I've never bought anything from Pottery Barn, so this feels really indulgent. Looking doesn't hurt anything... right?

5. I'm always amazed how I can justify some purchases (like the light fixture), but we've been without a microwave for over nearly a year now, and we're not planning on getting another anytime soon. Weird (though we didn't use it much anyway).

6. It is definitely boating season here in the great up north. The little guy has been quite obsessed with all of the boats that we have seen lately.

7. And he definitely loves the beach, but really, who doesn't?

8. Fun, but tiring weekend of farmer markets, a wedding and a bridal shower. I had fun putting my friend's gift together (had to sneak my fave Mrs. Meyer's scent into it).

9. We've been talking a lot about our "story" (Donald Miller "A Million Miles in a Thousand Years"). I have so many thoughts and emotions on this book - what our story is about as a family, and it rekindled my motivations and renewed peace in a lot of areas in my life. This is a whole other post, and I do promise to share.

10. I've written two posts in a week. Yay for me.

List of Life

2011-06-04T04:59:00.000-07:00

It's been a little while, but felt a little inspired to blog again. Hope everyone is doing well, and enjoying the first portion of June!

Our life as a list:

1. Summer is coming! Garden is in - we have tomato plants, peas, beans, kale, peppers, broccoli, spinach. Hoping it's a good year, and hoping it consistently stays warm.

2. Some of my favorite books I've read lately: "Power of Play", and "Bittersweet".

3. We're taking a break from all extracurriculars this summer. Sometimes we all need a break and rest.

4. We're getting a play structure for the kids today. Yay!

5. Work has been crazy for both of us. Seriously crazy for me. I have 28 cases, with three more on the way, and two more referrals.

6. That said, God has answered a prayer regarding work. I've been working a ton - enjoying the job, but not really wanting to be away from the kids three or four days a week. My boss approached me about going down to two days, so that we could move someone else into our program. I was like, um yes, I do! So starting July 1, I will be transitioning down to two days a week. Excited to have more family time, and still keep my job.

5. We've designated Sunday as a media free day for the family. No movies, television, internet. Just a day of rest.

6. We've had a sick week in our house. The girly was sick last weekend, now I'm not feeling the greatest and the little man came home with a fever yesterday. :(

7. The little guy had his two year birthday a couple of weeks ago. Crazy how fast time goes. The big guy had his much much much older birthday too. He built a computer to celebrate. :)

8. Looking forward to lots of beach time, berry picking, CSA shares, and farmers markets. Hooray!!!

2011-03-25T05:32:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's been nearly a year since I wrote my last post. Hmmm... that probably won't change. I'll just keep this blog open for when I feel inspired and have the time to sit. Here's my life in list format:

1. The sun is shining AND it's Friday. Praise God. Please make this snow go away.

2. Eden is sporting her ballerina outfit this morning. She's been showing me what she learned from class... I've never taken dance before, but I did not know there was a balloon move.

3. A friend gave me farm fresh eggs the other day. Mmmm...

4. Blessed that my clients continually open their door week to week allowing me to join in on the mess of daily living. Certainly wouldn't get this kind of relationship if they came to my office. It's an honor to have my job.

5. Rhys is counting and starting to sing the "abc" song. This stage is so much fun.

6. One month since we've become debt free! We took the month off from money management and bought an armoire and flat screen TV. Our old, old, old TV has served us well over the past eight years, and to the others before it was given to us.

7. I miss our early years in which we didn't have cable TV. Trying to convince the hubby to go back in time. He ain't buying it. :)

8. God is doing an amazing work in my life. He's leading me through a hurdle that I've been staring at for a little while, and it's so humbling and wonderful to see where we're going together.

9. Eden keeps asking to take piano lessons. I am incredibly excited about this... though she should probably wait another year? Anyone know when an appropriate time to learn happens to be?

10. Thinking about school for the fall... considering montessori, public preschool, and even homeschooling.... yikes. Liking montessori the most right now.

11. Trying to gear up for a 5k in spring with a friend and some family. Hoping it's warmer than last year.

12. So proud of how hard my wonderful husband works to provide... and still has time to play with the kids and do chores around the house. So blessed to have him.

13. Getting ever so much closer to being done with our house... we still have to do lighting, trim, another painting job, backsplash, but... we're closer. :)

14. Looking forward to spring break! We're all taking time as a family to do some fun close to home activities... maybe water park? Children's Museum? Discovery Center? So excited.

15. It's spring people! Hooray!!

Islands

2010-07-10T17:16:00.000-07:00

Today has been such a beautiful reminder of how important friendship is to me. God has allowed so many lovely people to surround me. I am so thankful that God answered my prayer to provide kindred spirits in this tiny town we live in. Lord knows I needed it.

There are moments when life gets hectic, or difficult, and it's my tendency to become insular. I am a fairly social person - after all, I chose a career that is people driven, and my mom always reminds me how I was never able to play by myself as a child. I justify this isolation by saying I'm exhausted, an introvert, or just plain too busy to get together with someone. And you know what? That's how I know that Satan is creeping in, because it's during those times that I become depressed, lonely (go figure), and negative.

God must be showing me something, because I've had the same feelings twice: we have some friends that we haven't seen since March (tsk tsk tsk), and I've been meaning to call her. When I would actually think about calling, I would feel silly waiting all of this time to call her and chicken out, or my workload would be heavy that week, leaving me with one day off (which is normally errand day).

Well, this week I worked four days, but happened to run into my friend very briefly, as I running late to something else. She was on my mind the rest of the week, and finally on Friday afternoon, I just sucked it up and called her. It was a forty five minute conversation and a "let's get our kids to do this" and "let's get our kids to do that". And instantly, it was like we had talked to each other every day during this time. Why do I wait so long?

And just today, my wonderful hubby was busy working on his car, so I was in charge of kiddo care. It was fun for the most part - farmer's market, park play, spraying each other with the hose. Honestly, I was torn between calling a friend or napping. And even more honesty, I regretted it a little because a nap did sound good. Thankfully though, friend was the right choice, and for four hours we talked, and teared up, and shared, and laughed, and ate. A nap wouldn't do for my soul what my dear, sweet friend did for me. Praise God for knowing me better than I know myself.

Aren't you glad that we were never meant to live as an island?

Decisions and Home Remodels

2010-06-21T08:03:00.000-07:00

All right - let's talk home remodeling. Now when we bought out home a year ago, we knew this house would be a "project house". The bones were good, and had a lot of aspects we loved - walkout basement, tons of windows/natural light, open floor plan, etc, and at the right price, especially with our down payment.

Still, we knew that we wanted to gut the kitchen, and redo the flooring in the living space. We decided to hold off a little while due to a new babe and do a lot of minor projects our house needed.

We continued to debate whether or not we should put the project a little further down the list when we found out that L's company was doing some pay cuts, as we didn't know if this was the start of worse things to come (things have since picked up, and his full pay restored). Finally we came to the point that we just decided to save and go for it - ripped linoleum, and broken, unusable cabinets put us over the edge.

We started saving, and researching flooring options, cabinets, countertops ideas. We decided that we would not buy anything unless we had the cash, got a good deal, and liked it. L had his heart set on wider planked wood flooring, and surprisingly enough, we found maple planks that we both loved on clearance. It's in now, and it looks even better than I imagined.

The cabinets were a little more difficult decision for us. I'm cheap. I'll admit it. We looked everywhere for cabinetry, and boy, boxes that hold stuff is expensive! We both liked the shaker style the most, and we liked the painted maple the best (painted wood is an upcharge). After a little more deliberation, we just decided to buy it, only to find that there was a special on painted wood that week. We were a little more than excited. We were able to get our cabinets for $2000 cheaper than we were originally quoted.

The last "big" decision was countertop. We have a lot of countertop space, and found that the solid surface was priced between laminate, and granite, and we liked the look. We were a little nervous to put that in ourselves, as that can can be a pretty expensive fix. We looked, and looked, and waited, and waited some more. Finally we were at Home Depot and found a solid surface priced at the lowest we had ever seen - and that was installed. Praise God.

In between those purchases, we had a dishwasher to buy (also on sale, with an energy rebate), a sink, faucet, knobs, and lots of other miscellaneous items. At times we were burned out just deciding and debating. I'm not naturally someone who just knows what they want and can visualize how it will look, so it was a stretch for me.

But here we are, in the middle of our remodel, flooring completed and some of our cabinets in. We wonder if we made the right decision doing the work ourselves, but know that we could have easily doubled the cost to pay to have it done. We have gotten burned out, and doing a remodel with two little ones underfoot isn't easy. Still, we can sort of see the end now - and boy, it's going to look so so so nice when it's done! Can't wait to share how it looks once it's finished.

Some Green News

2010-06-13T15:36:00.000-07:00

Our first strawberry off of our own plant! Yay!

It's been six months since my last blog. Yikes! Let's say life has been full - some family stuff, saving for, picking out, and gutting our house for our kitchen/living space remodel (more on this later), adjusting to two kiddos at work (this was harder than I thought it would be), and just the day to day wonderful stuff like having two kiddos who are too cute.

Anyway forward to fun stuff, this summer I was bound and determined to try our hand at gardening. We built two raised beds and filled them - perhaps a little too much - and we've seen a lot of good growth. We're growing peppers, broccoli, peas (lots of these), green beans, watermelon (crossing my fingers on this one), zucchini, cucumbers, and lettuce.

We also have some containers plants going - strawberries (shown above), blueberries, grapes, and some basil. Sadly, my last three are not doing so well. I bought them in an attempt to nurse them back to health (since they were such a steal), but no luck so far. Needless to say though - I am excited for harvest.

Honestly, I thought my garden would be dead by this point, since I don't have a green thumb, but weather conditions have worked in our favor thus far. I'm excited that we can continue our quest of eating clean and local food (what's more local than your own backyard?). It started with our CSA a couple of years ago, and has grown ever since. We've bought local grass-fed beef, eggs from church friends, and once this house project settles down (a kitchen is such a blessing we take for granted), hopefully some raw milk in the future. I love supporting local farmers, and love being able to grow our own food to know exactly what is put into (and onto) the plants, and cutting down on or food bill.

Isn't my garden pretty?

2009-12-23T06:13:00.000-08:00

It's hard to believe that in just a few days Christmas will be here! E, R, and I have the next couple of weeks off, so we're hoping to eat, relax, see friends and family, and of course, play. The girl and I have been making cookies, wrapping gifts, and decorating Christmas tree ornaments. We don't go overboard with the gift idea - we didn't get R anything this year (as we didn't get E anything her first year), and our budget for E was pretty small, as she likes pretty cheap-o stuff. We want the kids to understand Christmas is about our Savior's birth. We also want them to understand contentment and have a heart that understands that there are those who don't have the luxuries we have here.

I think E is mostly excited to see the grandparents anyway. She's been talking about seeing her grandmothers for days now. I pray she always treasures family and Jesus above presents under the tree.
I'm sure you've noticed these pictures are not very "Christmas-y", but we found them on our camera the other night - one of our last hikes before the snow. I love my kids. R is seven months and so close to crawling - he'll see E run by and push up on his arms, trying to propel himself in a foward fashion while grunting. He's waving and getting pat a cake, which is so cute. He's starting to do the army crawl a little bit, but he doesn't go very fast. He's got three teeth at the moment, and we see three more coming in. Yikes.

E is becoming more and more independent. She likes to pick out her own clothes, and dress herself. And you know what? She actually matches a little bit - sometimes she's purple from head to toe, but we're impressed.

Her speech is insane. L was reading her a book the other night, and she pointed to a picture (it was a squirrel), and said, "Daddy, that's terrifying!" and her prayer before bed the other night was "Thank you Jesus for a nice day. Thank you for Daddy, Rhys-y-pie, Grandma Mona, Grandma Linda, Mommy, my bed, Emma, Madeline (her friends), Megan (cousin), Ann, Steph, lights. Oh, and my toes. Amen." I'm thankful I have toes too.

As far as our family goes, our life is very full right now - we have been, and continue to be very blessed. As you've probably seen on this blog as of late, I haven't been posting much. That is probably not going to change much - in fact, I've debated bringing this blog to a close. I'd like this upcoming year to be focused on my personal journal that can voice what this blog cannot. My main goal for the new year is simple - I want to love Jesus more deeply, and my journal helps me do that.

So this is a close for now. May you all have a lovely Christmas filled with wonder, and a happy New Year that brings you even closer to our Savior.

Nice Day

2009-11-29T12:26:00.000-08:00

We are at the end of Thanksgiving weekend, and it's been full of friend and family fun, Christmas shopping, Christmas decorating, a lovely church service and of course, good food. You can see that the little guy was pretty tired by the end of the Thanksgiving day that he just crashed. The girl sighed on the way home, "Nice day, Mom", as she says every time she sees friends or family. She went from one grandparents' house to another, not wanting to leave either one. We are truly blessed to have such wonderful family to love our kids. E and a couple of her cousins had a great time playing together, and R wasn't left out of the mix. Cousin M wanted to touch his head over and over - evidently my sister in law said that she talked about it all day. It was cute. E announced later as we drove home that she wants to see her cousins "lots more times".
Typically we spend the Friday after Thanksgiving with family, but the hubby had to work, so we headed home. Our little town had their annual tree lighting ceremony where kiddos can make and decorate an ornament and visit with Santa. We heard kids yell "Eden" over and over again - we both kept looking around to see who was calling her name (because seriously, this name isn't common in these parts). We discovered two of her daycare buddies there, so we visited with the parents and the kids ran around, loving life.
It was a lovely weekend filled with many of the blessings we are thankful for. L and I have two pretty amazing kids - a crazy chatty two year old, who has a new interest in board games, Bible Stories, Jingle Bells, and counting to 14 (who knew?), and a happy happy 6 month old who is so curious, yet pretty relaxed and smiley. My girl is so right - it has been a nice day.

Our Bedroom

2009-11-10T03:33:00.000-08:00

"The After":

Per Kristin's request, I have uploaded some pics of our bedroom. This really isn't the project we're working on, but since that is still in process (trimming out windows/doors/hanging curtains), I thought I'd show you these.

There are still a few things we need to do in this room, like painting the window and our chest, getting our closet system set up, but it's "done" for a while. As you can see in the "before" pic of our room, they had painted the walls an insane purple, and then sponged one wall blue and purple. You know, they put effort into making it this busy - yikes. The carpet was nasty and ugly, so we pulled it up, kilzed it (it smelled like dog urine, so we primed the subfloor), laid new carpet, painted it like 30 times, and put our stuff in here. Sorry for the last dark pic - it didn't save the changes I made to the photo.

House projects with two kiddos underfoot is a slow process, but we have the rest of our lives, right? We remind each other of that quite often, because we get impatient. Still, with each little project done, the house feels more like "home".

Popping In to Say Hi

2009-11-09T07:43:00.000-08:00

Life is good and full right now. We're settling into our new normal, as R is settling into his regular sleep routine. It's amazing how much more productive I am now that the babe is sleeping better! We've been working on house projects like crazy people, but are still making sure to get lots of kiddo time in. E requested the playground yesterday, and we were able to get some shots of the kids. Boy, they are cute, aren't they?

Hope you got lots of sunny time in too!

Planning It Out

2009-10-07T12:47:00.000-07:00

Well now that we're into October, we're starting to think about preparing for the holiday budget, and thinking about the increase of our heat bill, since we live in the lovely north. Now we don't spend a lot on each other or the kids, but it's nice to have a plan of action so we know how much we have to spend.

We don't really know what to expect for our heat bill, since it's our first winter here, and for two winters we were in a free utilities rental (which was nice). Some things we have saved on, some things we haven't, and some things we're looking into:

1. Our mortgage payment is pretty low for our neighborhood (rumor has it that the neighbors were trying to organize themselves to put an offer on it for rental use since it was such a steal). We tried to put as much of a downpayment as our budget would allow, since we paid $10000 a few months earlier for another car, and to fix our current one.

2. We shopped around for cheap(er) car, life, and home insurance. Wow. We should have done this much much sooner.

3. We tried to save by going to cell phones, since I "need" one for my job (and so our daycare worker can contact me at all times). Unfortunately, our service is less than stellar (actually it's terrible), so we ended up getting a landline anyway.

4. We're hoping to have an energy audit done.

5. Continuing to get our food bill in order. I feel like we have the most control over this area, but also the area we struggle with too.

6. We're taking advantage of craigslist as much as we can for appliances and furniture. I'm not sure we've ever bought a new appliance in our lives.

7. Staying away from debt. No money = no spending. Thankfully when one of us is ready to give in, the other is encouraging us to stay the course.

8. We do pay PMI, so after we do a bit more work to the house, we'd like to have another appraisal to get rid of it. I look forward to that day a lot.

9. Cutting down on our eating out. Seriously, why do we stink at this?!

10. One that I'm aiming for, but don't like: turning the thermostat down. Being cold is yucky.

What are some ways you guys have saved? Or need to work on saving?

Another Frugal Post

2009-10-05T07:55:00.000-07:00

All right, it's time for another frugal food post. Mostly to remind myself to be more efficient with the money God has blessed us with. L and I do believe that food helps heal and keep our bodies healthy, so it's important to eat the proper food. Hence, we are willing to pay more for fruits and veggies, and some organic items.

This is the first time in five or six years that I have cooked a whole chicken. I am certainly going to do this more often - it is so cheap, and talk about efficient with time. My first attempt at doing this was when we first got married, and well, I grossed out. So grossed out that L had to eat the whole chicken himself.

Well, I found this recipe (thanks, Elizabeth!), and decided to give it another go, since we had two whole chickens sitting in our freezer, waiting to be eaten. It was good. L had to do much of the work, but it was worth it. We have enough chicken for the week! We can have chicken sandwiches, enchiladas, salads (my lunch today), chicken/rice/potatoes/veggies, stir fry... the possibilities are endless.

In addition, we even used the bones of the chicken to make a stock for soups and to flavor other dishes. Not bad for $5, right?

My List of 15

2009-10-02T05:59:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy few weeks for us here, but I felt like we needed to update, so here's our life via list:

1. We all missed L greatly while he was gone. We survived despite two viruses hitting our house, and a baby getting his first tooth. He is now home safely, and had a great time visiting with family and friends.

2. E requested a giant red giraffe as her gift. Red giraffes do not exist, not even in South Africa, but seemed quite content with a regular ol' stuffed giraffe. She has slept with it and her lion from the family since L's been home.

3. R is sporting a rugby shirt as his gift... and staring at the monkey that he received.

4. R has been a rolling fanatic for about a month now. Seriously, R is the happiest baby I've ever seen. He and his big sister certainly get a kick out of each other. Hopefully that lasts.

5. E is potty trained, and has been for about a month. Totally worth the time and effort.

6. I've been approached by a local agency to be a "money mentor". It sounds super cool, but not sure about another commitment.

7. Is in love with our food coop.

8. We are splitting a meat order with some of the sibs. We're grateful for local, cleaner meat.

9. I've been reminded of some of the great things our God has done this week.

10. Our freezer is full of frozen fruits and veggies from our farmer's market, waiting for the winter and for R to get old enough to eat some homemade baby food.

11. Looking forward to apple picking... yay!!!

12. E and I have so much fun making silly faces at each other. We laugh so hard our neighbors probably think we're crazy.

13. Am wearing regular jean #3. You may now cheer.

14. Is amazed at how many people are pregnant - I swear our population is going to double by the end of the year.

15. It's nice to have my husband home.

2009-09-11T07:03:00.000-07:00

We're a little busy this week in our house - dealing with some good news (which is rather time consuming), and getting ready for L's upcoming trip to South Africa (he leaves Sunday to see family and friends).

Until I feel inspired to write, here is a blog that I've found uplifting:

http://www.incourage.me/

Hope that you all have a lovely weekend!

Back to School

2009-09-06T04:38:00.000-07:00

The fall always brings good memories of childhood. Though it always meant cooler temps and going back to school, it also meant new pencils and of course, canning. Lots of canning. My dad used to have a garden that was was probably larger than a couple city lots. We would can a variety of things, but mostly tomatoes. Oh my goodness. I wish I could show the number of jars we would can... we would tease my dad about his garden, joke with each other, get upset with each other, beg my parents to be done, and my parents would reply "we're almost done", only to bring in more buckets of tomatoes. And in single digit years, a half hour is a lifetime. Hey, it's even a lifetime in double digit teenager years.

Obviously, we didn't get to garden this year with all of the other changes we had going on, but I've been going to the farmer's market faithfully, in hopes of doing a little preserving. I'd like to preserve spaghetti sauce, salsa, and of course, just tomatoes themselves for chili, etc. As far as fruits are concerned, I'd love to make some apricot jam and pick some apples for apple pie and applesauce, as well as just saving them for smoothies.

I love harvest season, and the fact that I scored a couple boxes of canning jars at a garage sale for a buck.

Some other things I'm looking forward to this autumn:

* sewing (being outside is more fun in the summer)
* eating this
* fall hikes
* warm apple cider and freshly made donuts.
* getting ready for holiday season... did I just say that?

Anything that you guys are looking forward to?

On The Last Day of August

2009-08-31T13:49:00.000-07:00

We scored some basil at the farmer's market the other day, so we made some pesto. I love me some pesto pasta. I was able to freeze some, but boy, it takes a lot of basil to make pesto in large quantities. Ah well.

We went to the beach today to meet some friends, and one of the moms there had five children. All by herself. What I mean is that she was managing five children all by herself at the beach. How she managed to make sure none of them drowned or hurt on the playground is beyond me. I could barely manage two. Maybe it does get easier as you have more (that's what she told me!). We're not going to have five to find out. :)

Speaking of managing two kiddos, L leaves for South Africa in two weeks. I'm excited for him to go. He, his sister and her husband are going for two weeks. It's been eight years since he was there last, and even longer for his sister, so it's definitely worth the financial sacrifice for them to go. I'm nervous to be in charge 24/7, but I know God will give me strength and grace, and lots of friends and family have offered to help.

My little sister has also just left for her schooling downstate, so I am once again feeling old! My sister is all grown up, and living on her own all by herself. She has such a great attitude about it - I just know she will learn so much in this adventure. She adapts to change so well, and is pretty positive about it, so lots of good memories will be made. She has taught me that much of life is what you make of it. Focus on the negative and that is all you will see. See the positive and you will see all of the blessings around you.

My blessing today is a clean house and good beach time. We're trying to squeeze every last ounce of summer that we can, though I always look forward to the autumn too.

Goodbye, August!

Right Now I'm Loving...

2009-08-26T04:51:00.000-07:00

1. Dahlias. Really. I need to stop thinking about these flowers.

2. Curling up on the couch while it's raining and reading a good book. Just started Eat, Pray, Love... Our theologies are certainly different, but it's an interesting read nonetheless.

3. Going to the library on a rainy evening. It's even more fun watching E get excited about going... it's one of her favorite places to go. People with kiddos - take advantage of all things free!

4. The fact that I fit into one of my old pairs of jeans. Yes, I'm sucking in ever so slightly, but I'll take it.

5. Dreaming about how our living space and kitchen will look after we get the money and time to fix it.

6. This lamp shade. The hubby's not so thrilled with it, though. Seriously, is it so bad? You can be honest, people, but I'll love it anyway.

7. This rug or this rug. I think the colors of the poppy rug will go with my chair (above). You know, if I did get to choose a rug at this very instant.

8. This and this flooring.

9. Just to prove that I love more important things than just well, things, I am loving all of the friends and family we've been seeing over the past month. We've been blessed.

10. That we have a roof over our head that isn't in need of major repairs (we can live with green carpet), two working vehicles, food, family, friends, and a big God. Not in that order.

Weekend Highlights

2009-08-24T04:35:00.000-07:00

L's cousin from South Africa is in town for a couple of weeks, we (along with some of his other family) took a trip to Mackinac Island. E enjoyed the butterfly house, but wanted to touch and kiss the butterflies (I did let her kiss one).

Some of family at the butterfly house

Along the shoreline

The weekend cleared enough for some outside tummy time.

Decided that dahlias must make it into our flower bed somewhere - these were too beautiful. Speaking of garden beds, we used our first bit of compost on our bed yesterday. You can't imagine our excitement.

E and I shelled the last peas of the season, and snipped the green beans. Notice E put most of them in her mouth... seriously, this kid loves fresh peas (and her diaper showed it). Loving harvest season.

Hope you had a lovely weekend too!

Farmer's Market Love

2009-08-20T13:55:00.000-07:00

Harvest seasons is here - hoping to get lots of goodies to store for the winter!

Tea and Sleep

2009-08-17T05:33:00.000-07:00

I found these little teacups at a second hand shop the other day. I don't shop often, mostly because my patience runs thin at stores, and can't stand stopping at several different places. Still, this little find (it was even half off!) made it worthwhile (amongst other work toys I was initially looking for).

E and I have had a couple of tea parties since, mostly with water, even though she asks me for tea (she's her father's daughter). I'm looking forward to R being a little older so he can play tea party too ( you know, if he wants to...). I mean boys can play tea party too, right?

The past couple of weeks have been a little busy for us, and this week isn't any different - something happening every day of the week. I'm having a hard time staying motivated in the evening after I get home from work. Once E is in bed, I feel like it's my time to sit and breathe for a little bit (if R allows me to). It's been said a million times before, but boy, am I glad I only work outside the home part time. .

Speaking of sleep, R has been sleeping through the night. Well, he slept through the night for a week, and then had a growth spurt (my daycare worker almost called because she thought she was running out of milk for the fella!), so he was up around 4:12 every night. Last night, though, he did sleep through the night, and did my body need that... getting up at 6 am took everything in me!

Well time to get moving on the day. Lunch, check. Pumped and had breakfast, check. Put together, check... why am I ready so early? Oh that's right; I still have to get the kiddos moving!

Have a fabulous Wednesday!

Shiny, Shiny, Shiny

2009-08-13T03:43:00.000-07:00

So this was our kitchen sink for the past few months - and yes, this sink had just been washed. Gross, right? We wanted a new sink, but had a few other projects to get to first (and were debating leaving it until we redid the whole kitchen). When my grandfather mentioned he had an extra sink, we were thrilled. What's better than recycled and free?

Seriously, I think this is my favorite project thus far. Simple pleasures, right?

Nothing fancy, but certainly an improvement... and look how shiny....

Picture Time

2009-08-11T04:08:00.000-07:00

This often results in this expression

from R... the flash is a little bright, I think. :)

The Kitchen Sink

2009-08-10T07:04:00.000-07:00

One thing that is a little difficult to do with my job is pack a lunch. I don't take a lunch break, and am often in my car rushing from one visit to another. Meals that need to be heated aren't an option, so I often take fruit and sandwiches (salads are often tricky for me). Recently, though, I've been in a certain "dippy" kind of mood, and have been taking pico de gallo, tortilla chips, hummus , and pitas made into chips with olive oil, basil, garlic, salt, pepper, and paprika. I may have hit the jackpot with this. I am still full by the end of the day, which is pretty unusual for me.

Speaking of food and preparing food, L is putting in a new sink in our kitchen. Oh my goodness. I should post a picture of how the old one looked... it was really dreadful. My grandparents just remodeled their kitchen and had an extra sink, so now it's ours.

I just started reading "Animal Vegetable Miracle" and am really enjoying it thus far, but it's slow moving on my part. What can I say? I'm mostly reading a lot of Fancy Nancy and other toddler reads. Can I admit that Fancy Nancy is one of my favorite reads that E picks up?