Thankful

I'm thankful that ...

even though it's pouring rain right now,
and my yard is full of thick, sloppy mud,
and the girls came in literally splattered from head to toe in mud ...


at least they were able to PLAY OUTSIDE for a few hours yesterday & today!

Woohoo! Ya just gotta thank God for the little things!

{and I'm awfully thankful for play clothes, rain boots and washable coats too!}

Getting Older

Our dog Casey is getting older. Every day she seems to move a little slower. She's developing more and more health problems and we know that she most likely doesn't have too many more years left. {She's 1o years old right now.}

She spends most days just lazing around the house, sleeping on our bed or any other comfortable piece of furniture she can find. She sits funny now because her old hips are hurting her. She gets up slower and has a harder time getting up on my {very high} bed.

She also stinks more and drives us more crazy some days. But we know that we have to try to cherish these times with her - we have no idea how many more years she'll have. Maybe we'll even be surprised by her living 4 or 5 more - who knows?


Last night my friends and I had a discussion about getting older. We talked about how important it is to take care of yourself. I think of Casey sometimes and feel just like her - lazy and wishing I could just nap the day away. Drained of all energy and wanting to just curl up and rest.

Getting older isn't fun ... it's harder to lose weight, you lose a lot of your energy, as my friend said 'you grow hair where you don't want it' and you worry more about different health problems.

Isn't it funny how we can spend all our time and energy making sure our kids are healthy and taken care of ... yet many times neglect our own health and well being?

I think it sets a great example to our kids when we purposely MAKE the time to be a healthy Mom. Here are just a few ideas of little things you can do to keep yourself healthy:

• Make and keep your regular doctor's appointments and check-ups {I'm SO guilty of cancelling mine when life gets too busy!}
• Eat healthfully. Make 'special treats' something you only indulge in once or twice a week.
• Make the time to exercise at least a few days a week. If you are stuck at home with little ones - get some exercise videos or put on some music and dance around the room with the kids. Be active!
• Get enough rest at night. Make yourself go to bed a little earlier if you need to. Give yourself at least 7-8 hours each night.
  
• Shop the perimeter of the grocery store. If you think about it, most of the inside aisles are full of processed foods ... stick to the perimeter and you'll find the fresh fruits, veggies, dairy, and meats.
  
• Laugh! Laughter is good for the soul ... laugh with your kids, with your hubby, with your girlfriends!
  
• Take a break. My kids don't nap anymore, but most afternoons we still have quiet time. And when they have quiet time, I have quiet time! I don't spend that hour cleaning - I spend it resting. I read, do my devotions, take a short snooze, or whatever. The restful time in the middle of the day is good for me.
• Surround yourself with positive people who encourage you. Remember when you were a kid and your parents encouraged you to choose your friends wisely? Well the same applies as an adult! Don't choose people who will drag you down, choose people who will bring you up and be your biggest cheerleader through the good times and the bad.
  
• Find ways to enrich your mind, body and spirit. Going to church to worship the Lord is just one way that I refresh my spirit each week. Reading books that help me become a better parent is one way I enrich my mind.
  

I'm reading an excellent book right now by Lisa Welchel titled, "Taking Care of the Me in Mommy". I have just scratched the surface of all there is to share from this wonderful book but hope to continue some future posts on this subject. So stay tuned for those ... but for today - try to choose at least one thing you can do, for yourself, that will help you become a healthier Mom today. And don't just say it, do it! After all, we're not getting any younger, right?!

Now What??

I've seen so many beautiful blogs with beautiful Apothecary jars lately and have been on the search to find just the right ones ... and by 'the right ones' I mean affordable!

Today I was so fortunate to find 3 that I really loved at a local store - they each only cost me about $10!

So I brought them home, shined them up and put them up on the bookshelf ... but now I'm wondering ... what should I put in them? In the summer I plan to fill them with shells, around Easter I'll add some eggs and such - but what to do for right now? I need your help bloggy world! Help give me some ideas!!

I filled them temporarily with a few things - I do love the ceramic balls I put in the largest one - those were a dollar each at the same store where I got the jars. But I'm not crazy about the marbles or flowers in the other two.

Also, I apologize for my lack of good photography skills - and the dirty mirror in the background!

So let's hear your ideas!!!!!

Family Bowling Party

On Sunday we did a family bowling party for Joy's 6th birthday ... my Mom, Bob's parents, my brother and my niece all came. We had so much fun! Joy was bouncing up and down, dancing around to the music, clapping over everyone scores ... she had a blast! Then we went back to my Mom's house for M&M cookie cake with ice cream and all the toppings. We ended the day with gifts. My niece's birthday was just last week so we also celebrated her.

I am so thankful for our wonderful family! We had a wonderful day celebrating our special 6 year old little princess!
The only picture I managed to get in - I was busy taking photos and video!
My niece ...
My Mom ...
Daddy's Girls ...
My brother and my niece ...
Bob's parents ...
Grandma and her girls ...
Singing Happy Birthday!
Opening gifts ...
Rockin' out with her new Barbie guitar!

My Baby Turned Six!

It's hard for me to believe that it's been six whole years that we have had this beautiful little blessing in our lives! Some days I still feel like she should be three and can hardly believe that six years have gone by in such a flash.

She woke up in the morning to find her door all wrapped up with streamers ...

I bought her a Barbie balloon - her favorite thing lately.
Then I told her she could burst through the streamers if she wanted to - of course she wanted to!
We had a fun, relaxing day at home. No school work, just fun stuff. I made pancakes for breakfast {her fave} and then the girls helped me make choc chip cookies {another fave}. She used to need a stool to reach the counter top when she helped me bake ... now just by reaching a little she can reach it all on her own!
YUMMY cookies ...
Her big sis picked out this super cute hat which she loves and has not stopped wearing ever since!

We love you sweet birthday girl!

My First Star!!

Today at my WW weigh in I received my first star! It's a star for my first 5 pounds lost! Woohoo! I'm so excited to be seeing results already!

Afternoon Pick-me-up

Tuesday afternoon we came home from science class, ate a quick lunch, and then I quickly collapsed on the couch for a lovely afternoon snooze. It didn't last long, but it was so wonderful to put my feet up, snuggle up with a warm blanket and just relax for a little while. The busy-ness of the past week finally caught up with me and I was simply exhausted. After snoozing for a short while I woke up with a desire for something sweet and a hot cuppa joe.

Lucky for me, the girls had made this yummy gingerbread cake the day before - I warmed it, topped it with some whip and a strawberry and enjoyed it thoroughly with my hot coffee. AAAHHHH ... the perfect afternoon pick me up!

My Amazing Deal

For Christmas we each pick a name of another family member who we have to shop for. This year, my Father in law picked me. He knows me well and knows how much I adore Lands End. So he bought me a beautiful pink sweater from Lands End. The only problem was, my hubby had also bought me a beautiful pink sweater for Christmas and even though they were made by different companies they were very similar to each other.

So I took the sweater back and was given a credit for SEARS. I couldn't find anything else I wanted so I just kept it for awhile. Then we went to the mall the other day and I decided to just look around a little.

I'd been hoping to find a really nice black, winter coat that was dressy enough for church but would also look great with jeans. Since everything was now on clearance I was able to find this amazing deal.

I had $50 to spend on my gift card and I got this fabulous coat PLUS a really awesome black sweater {which I will have to photograph at another time}.

This coat was originally priced at $180 and I got it for just $34.99!!!!!!!! Amazing! I love it. The pictures turned out kinda blurry and don't do it justice at all. So if you need a new coat, or even want to get a jump on next winter's clothes ... check out the amazing clearance deals at Sears!


{With the hood up ... inside the hood is warm and soft and fleecy}
{Without the hood}

The Girls' Room Revealed!

I started this project way back before Thanksgiving and have finally finished it. We decided to put the girls back in the same bedroom together so that we could use the other room for our school room. Since we were making such a big change I agreed to totally re-do their 'new' room for them. Together they settled on 'Hot Pink' for the wall color ... I was surprised that they agreed on one color that they both liked!

I painted the room, re-painted all the trim and made the roman shades for the windows {with my handy, dandy glue gun!} and made 3 ragamuffin garlands - two for above the two windows and one long one for above the closet.

After all that I didn't make any progress for a while. But in December we finally got them bunk beds which made the room seem much larger than it did when we had two separate beds in there. We also took out a large bookshelf/toy shelf which we put downstairs in the family room and put in a couple smaller book shelves.

Then I bought and painted wooden shelves for above their dressers. I wanted them to be able to have a space to hold all their little trinkets ... snow globes, trophies, pieces of art, etc ... and that is where my progress stopped for a long time!

Today my Father in law came over and helped me secure the shelves to the wall with brackets. They turned out great! Exactly what I had in mind!

So there is only one last thing I want to do in there. I want to buy a mirror for the girls. They always come in my room to look in the mirror so I'd like to give them one of their own. I'm on the search for just the perfect one ....

You may notice that they have lots and lots of Hannah Montana and HSM stuff. One thing I wanted to avoid was making changes that they might outgrow in the next year or two. So anything that is 'themed' is removable - in case they outgrow that phase anytime soon!

Anyway, get ready for a whole slew of pictures!!! I wanted to try to show every side of the room ... enjoy!

"Hope's" dresser area with shelves above ...

"Joy's" dresser area with shelves above ...

All their Webkinz, Build-a-bears and Am. Girl dolls {not the real kind} sit on wooden beds the girls got last Christmas - the beds have their names painted on the ends. I think they might need a bigger bed for all those animals!

Little corner bookshelf ... I re-painted this too - hot pink on the inside and white on the outside.
Another book shelf - this is the wall where the mirror will eventually go. I also need to replace the lamp shade that my FIL accidentally broke!
Closet has curtains instead of closet doors ....

They got these HM chairs for Christmas and the 'wall art' are those removable sticky things ...
Bunks! I made the quilt on the lower bed to match the curtains - the other quilt didn't need replacing yet.

A close up of the hot pink walls ...


Found these super cute wooden words in the dollar bins at my local craft store!
Roman shades and garland ...