currently

sitting in my office (which is a small desk in my crowded master bedroom) with a space heater blowing continuously at my feet.

getting ready to make the school pickup run

feeling filled up after going to bible study this morning.  i will look back at this time and see many blessings (quite honestly, i see many already.)  one of them, is being able to go to bible study.  not only engaging in the word, but doing so with a great group of women (and a few men joining us for our current study). 

avoiding housework and meal prep at all costs

loving this show.  i was up till 1:00 last night (not one of my wisest choices albeit) watching missed episodes.

excited for Friday night basketball.  mac's team is rocking it this year

smiling when i remember Charlie's words of wisdom yesterday.

2015 - my one little word

I've been doing one little word for a couple years now.  If I recall correctly, I started in 2012 as I knew it would be a year faced with challenges as my Dad was fighting cancer.  I'm not one that really ponders or thinks too hard about what my word should be, it seems to pop up in my head or is just obvious for the current stage of life I'm in.  So I was not surprised when a few weeks ago, when I was thinking about what my word for 2015 should be, FEARLESS jumped out at me and I knew that this was my word.














FEARLESS:  without fear, bold or brave, intrepid

I want to grow this year and be fearless in doing so.

I want to be fearless in taking on challenges and not be afraid of the them.

I want this to be the year I stretch and make changes to what has become status quo.

I want to redefine failure to have a positive connotation vs negative.  Failure is not bad, why have I made it so that it is? I will work on changing the message in my head for it to mean you took a risk and this is what I learned vs the negative message that I usually give myself.

Do you choose a word for the year?

A year later

It has been nearly a year since I posted on this blog and wow how a lot has changed in that year.

We Moved!  We sold our house last summer and moved to smallville usa…and we LOVE it.  I think i might be able to say that for the first time I feel like we live in a community.  A community that is made of all the facets of our life, our church, our neighborhood and our schools.  The boys have adjusted amazingly well.  The first week as we settled into school and the routine and the newness of it all was rough, especially for Charlie. After that first week though it was almost too easy.  The boys have made some great new friends and did fantastic in school.  Really we couldn’t ask for any better.

Mac has ‘graduated’ middle school in May, which means…duh duh duh…that’s right my first baby will be a FRESHMAN in high school.  CRAZY!!!  he has surpassed me in height, which really is probably not a major feat because lets be honest, 'i’m short.  However he just keeps growing.  I swear he is eye level with Jay. 

Charlie is officially heading to third grade after completing a very successful 2nd grade.  So so proud of him and his hard work this year.  He’s still actively playing sports with basketball and baseball on his schedule this past year.  He’s hoping that lacrosse will become a thing in our new community.  His only request for his birthday was you guessed it, lacrosse sticks and a net.  In the fall, he will play tackle foot ball.  I’m not sure how this momma’s overprotective heart feels about that, but we’ll try it out.  In addition, Charlie had his first communion.  Such a special day in his life and for us his parents. 

 

Now that we are heading into our third week of summer, it feels like we are settling into our summer routine.  The first few week was rocky but it’s turning around and this week i was reminded that oh yes…i love summer, i think you are my favorite season of them all.

Strawberry Pickin

For years, I have wanted to take the boys strawberry pickin and each time I brought up the idea it was met with little enthusiasm.  On the first day of summer break, I didn’t ask, I told the crew to load up the car and we were heading out to the country.  :)

Needless to say the boys had a BLAST and we are planning on going back to pick blackberries in late June or July when they are ready.  I’m already dreaming about the blackberry cobbler we’ll be making with those. 

We went to Gieringer’s Orchard and it was such a great place.  It didn’t feel commercialized but like a real farm (because it is :)).

By the way, the berries were fantastic!

      

round here

So since this ol blog hasn’t been updated since Spring Break there is quite a bit of updating to do.

1.  Yeah…this guy turned 8.  He requested frosted brownies for his birthday treat.

 

 

2.  School is out for Summer.  For this momma, I think the start of summer is harder than the start of the school year.  It’s just another sign that time is moving too fast and these boys of mine are growing fast.  It’s rare for Mac to show so much emotion, but this is pure joy that summer has started…or he’s telling me to quit taking pictures.  :)

 

2.  Baseball…hello Baseball.  As a fan baseball is my least favorite sport, but as a Mom it’s my favorite.  Love love love watching these two.  The best is when it is beautiful outside.  Very few things in life better than your kids ballgame (imho)

3.  Addicted…to ice coffee. Can’t get enough.  Trying my own home brew, using Pioneer Woman’s recipe but in love with Starbucks of course.  At least its cheaper than my usual froo froo drink.

4.  For Sale…our house.  We have literally been talking for years about selling our house and heading for the country and we are actually trying to make it happen.  While I feel good that we have made it this far, now that it is on the market, can you say “hello stress”   I need to imprint some great quotes I’ve seen about worry and stress…and how lame it is (basically)  i would plaster them on my walls but maybe not the best thing while we’re showing the house.

5.  Nana and Grandpa Camp 2013 is this week and let’s just say I’m missing my boys.  While a break is always nice, I can’t wait to get them back this weekend.

Spring Break

Grab some coffee…you are about to read a book about our little road trip or you can just skip this blog post.  :)              

The boys were on spring break last week so we decided to partake in a little road trip.  We headed to OKC to watch a OKC thunders game.  We got to OKC got checked into our hotel and walked to the arena to watch the game.  I will be honest that I am not a NBA fan.  My boys don’t necessarily watch a lot of NBA but as much as we know and spend time watching college basketball, it naturally lends itself that my boys would be interested in NBA.  Also it doesn’t hurt that they’ve spent some time playing NBA 2K whatever on the good ol XBOX.  We all had a blast at the game.  Let me tell you it felt like I was at a show.  Music and what not playing the entire length of the game, a sold out crowd.  I sat next to an older gentleman who basically told me his life story in a nutshell.  He was born during the war and was adopted by an older couple who lived on a farm in a small town Oklahoma.  He was the star athlete at his high school and still holds many of the records.  He played baseball at OSU where he met his wife, no kids, holds season tickets to OU and OSU athletic events as well as the Thunder  and really I could go on (like what his favorite restaurants are).  I love meeting people from the older generation that are so giving of their stories.  This man exuded pure joy...i need to work on that in my own life.

Thursday morning we headed out to the botanical gardens just a block or two from our hotel.  This was really more like a tropical garden.  Just to walk in the heat and see the beautiful color so life giving.  They had a neat playground outside of the museum that both boys enjoyed. 

We headed to Bricktown where we took a look at the facilities where Houston Astros double A team plays.  Had lunch at this little joint then headed to Norman, OK.

Our intent was to check out the OU campus.  Needless to say we did a drive by and due to lack of interest by all parties we decided to head towards Arkansas and Mac assured us that OU was no longer on his list of potential colleges.  Really…i had no idea that it was ever on his list.   I can’t really explain it. but it felt like Salina, KS.  Other than having a huge football stadium it was just kind of ehh.

On our way to Arkansas we stopped at the Citizen Potawatomie Nation Cultural Center in Shawnee.   Charlie is obsessed with Indians.  He has loved the Little House series and asks tons of questions about Indians.  The museum was so nicely put together and we all enjoyed it. 

And finally we made it to Arkansas.  This guy wanted to run up the drive…

While we were in Arkansas we took part in good food (as always), rest and relaxation (I finished 3 books) and lots of outdoor play (hiking and four wheelers.)  Ken’s nephew brought this little toy…Um.  so much fun!  It took every ounce of bravery I have to get on this thing and to let my kids on it, and it was an AWESOME ride.  This beast can go on land and water. At one point I looked down and the speedometersaid we were going ~ 50 mph. 

 

And well that pretty much sums up our little adventure. We had such a great time just being with each other.  I.m so thankful that we were able to get away for a couple of days and just be.

I am currently loving….

 

Gingham…i have this shirt in green and black.  Would love to add purple to my closet as well. 

This new to us recipe. So easy, so good…it just really doesn’t get much better than that.  We had these twice in the last 3 days.  Yum, Yum!

ecloths…have you heard of them.  I hate cleaning and will invest in any product that might make the job easier or more fun ( wait, is that even possible?)  I made my first order a week or so ago and i’m gonna go out on a limb and say these are seriously a game changer.  My first order included the window cleaning pack, bathroom cloth and stainless steel cloth. 

This video.  I watched this video late one night and seriously laughed so hard I was crying.  I shared with my boys but they didn’t seem to find the humor in it,  they were laughing at me laughing.  Although if i’m being honest, i just rewatched it and it’s not as funny as it was the first time i watched it.