Saturday, January 23, 2016

Blizzard is here!

And not a blizzard from Dairy Queen!  Not many pictures to post from today... I got out of bed around 7am and took a little time to myself before everyone got up... Around 9:30 I headed outside and snow-blowed and shoveled our driveway, sidewalks, and our neighbor's driveway.  I came in around 2:30 to eat lunch, Bob had made grilled cheese and cream of mushroom soup.  I whipped up a batch of MeMom's raisin breads and dried my clothes.  Around 4pm I went back out and felt like I was starting over!  The drifts were a killer!  I finished up and came in around 7pm.  We had chili for supper thanks to Bob!

As for the kiddos... RJ went out super early but only lasted a short time... then they went out a couple more times, but each time they really only lasted 20-30 minutes!  They complained it was too cold and too deep!  I agree, the wind made it really cold!!  And it was deep too :)  Especially where the drifts were!












Hopefully tomorrow we play more when the wind has died down a bit!

Monday, January 18, 2016

Day off together

The kiddos and I enjoyed an extra day off together!  Enjoyed playing Uno, playing outside, and enjoying warm grilled cheese for lunch.







Momma's list for today?
- Get up and exercise in basement
- Drink coffee
- Pay bills
- Fold laundry and put away
- Drink coffee
- Call Verizon again to get a charge off our too expensive bill
- Fold more laundry and put away
- Empty dishwasher
- Give Oreo a haircut
- Walk RJ to friends house for playdate
- Drink hot chocolate
- More laundry
- Clean up around house
- Make supper
- Clean dishes

Sunday, January 17, 2016

Busy Sunday

Today was another busy cleaning day! For some reason I woke up early again...

Today's to-do list:
-3 washes
- Worked a ton in the basement... (Morgan did help a little bit...)
 (tubs all labeled by age and winter or summer)
I added a second shelf near the bottom of the steps, one for food and one for appliances that are used often, but not every day so don't need to be upstairs in the kitchen

- Cleaned up kitchen
- Worked in my closet again
- Thoroughly cleaned all bathrooms
- Vacuumed
- Cleaned family room of remaining Christmas gifts
- Cleaned kitchen counters

While I was working hard this is what I had for help...
 RJ = Eating
 Morgan = Playing on iPad
 Bob = cutting hair
 Oreo = caged for throwing up
 Momma= working hard vacuuming
Momma = working hard cleaning bathrooms

- Cleaned out and organized deep freezer in basement
- Took car to auto shop to make sure nothing was wrong with oil levels
- Super with Bob's parents... oh and for an hour I was on the phone with yet another Verizon person trying to get the internet up and running... FINALLY it is working!!  (Now fingers crossed that it stays on and working!)

I am sure I missed something or other, but you get the point :)

Saturday, January 16, 2016

Spontaneous Bowling!

Today was  a long day for me!  I woke up around 6am because I am so used to waking up early!! Just couldn't get back to sleep. Ugh... fiddled around for an hour or so while enjoyed some quiet time with my coffee and laptop, then worked all.day.long doing the following:
- laundry (5 loads)
- cleaning RJ's closet floor (oiy vey!)
- taking out clothes from RJ's closet that don't fit him anymore
- taking out clothes from Morgan's closet that don't fit her anymore
(holy cow their closets were packed with clothes!!)
- worked in my closet trying to find more clothes to give away and organize the floor of my closet (as it was getting a little messy.. not quite done yet...)
- putting clothes away that were drying... all week in my closet... but had to put them away to make room for the new wet clothes!
- organized my clothe buckets by winter girls/winter boys/summer girls/summer spring so I can find what I am looking for more quickly (or so I hope) as I am still working on getting buckets organized so I am prepared for the next Mommy's Market!!
- dishwasher on, dishwasher emptied
- dishes done from Bob (kindly making) breakfast and dishes done from Bob (kindly making) lunch
- cleaned up family room
- walked Morgan up the hill for a requested play date
- dealt with a VERY upset RJ (I tried two different friends but no one was available, I tried, I really did!)

I think that is all I got done... with more to do tomorrow too... (sigh... never ends!)

- Around 4:30 we all got ready for church and off we went...
- After church we ran over to BJs to pick up just a few things, specifically water (for Bob) and laundry detergent (for me) because I was completely out!
- From BJs we went over to Target... it was the last day of the sale for Dunkin Donut coffee... buy 3 boxes get a $5.00 gift card AND I had a coupon for $1.50 off so in essence double dipping... also bought Felicity her bday gifts.  Check that off the list!
- Next stop Red Robin for supper.  Even at 7pm we waited about 20 minutes!
- On our way to get Dairy Queen Daddy says, wanna go bowling?  Sure... off to bowling we go!
- Spur of the moment fun for all!
- Finally around 10:30 to bed we go!



 Daddy bowling in the background!


Friday, January 15, 2016

Wrestling, anyone?

Gotta love Friday night wrestling!


Stripes

Morgan wanted to take some silly pictures of us since we both wore stripes today!





Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Finally... SNOW!

RJ (and I!!!) were super excited to see our first 'real' snow of the season!!  We have had a few flurries once or twice, but finally a little coating on the ground!  Yay!  Nothing to cause school closures, but at least FINALLY some white stuff!  It is winter, isn't it?!

RJ catching snowflakes!

 


Sunday, January 10, 2016

What can we make?

So... Morgan and RJ are into watching these blogs that young girls (8-13 years old) create about all sorts of silly things... The most recent one went like this: The girls each gathered a bag of random 'stuff' (literally) around the house and gave their collections to one another (switched bags).  They had one 'shared' bag (that had tape, markers, scissors, etc) and they had to create outfits from what the sister gave them.  Well... guess what RJ and Morgan wanted to do?  Yup... do the same thing...  Here are their results...  kept them entertained for a long while but what a mess they made...





 

Saturday, January 9, 2016

bzzz, bzzz, bzzz...

Bees?  Wait, what?  Yup.  Daddy has decided he wants to make honey this summer.  He has gotten Morgan on board so this is has turned into a Daddy/Daughter project.  Who wants to play a game... how many bee stings will we get?  They went to a full day seminar and came back overwhelmed but still excited to start this project!  Let's see how it turns out...



Saturday, January 2, 2016

Ninjas!

Ninjas in the house!







Friday, January 1, 2016

New Year's Resolution

Wow!  2016!  Where did last year go?  We had lots of ups and downs!  I personally had a lot to work through and am trying to start 2016 in a more positive light.  I need to lead my life the way I want my children to lead their lives!  Being positive, kind, generous, slow to anger, and trying our best to make the best choices possible for all people that enter our lives.  I also do not want my children to be taken advantage of or be 'push-overs' by their classmates.  I have decided I need to show them how to be themselves and be proud of who they are and what they like, enjoy, and activities they want to participate in!

This is so difficult for me because I struggle with being happy with me.  I don't know why, but I am always comparing myself to others, not completely happy with my appearance and have been known to try on many outfits before being picking the 'right' one!  Ugh, gotta stop always comparing myself and am going to try hard to change that bad, bad habit of mine!

When trying to figure out New Year Resolutions I was a bit stumped... I don't want to make resolutions that I will not follow through with as I do every year along with everyone else!

So... yes, there are several things I will try to work at, but are NOT resolutions...
* I will try to be healthy = exercising and eating less junk food
* I will try not to raise my voice as much
* I will try not to bring school work home

So... a couple of my resolutions...

1. Keep the master bathroom floor clean of my clothes.  Only leave my gym clothes on the tub if wet. (I often plop my clothes on the floor next to my sink at night)
2. Add a new blog entry at least one time a week including a quick blurb about the week and at least one picture. (I have been neglecting my poor little blog!)
3. Work on being proud of who I am, what I like, what I enjoy doing, and my appearance

And, as I kinda shared in the first paragraph... I am going to live by a word every day.  I had already written the top paragraph before talking to Megan.  She shared she was going to live by a word this year and that she read an article.  I did some hunting... several different sites shared about the 365 day challenge.  Some of their reasons for picking a word are as follows:

"Forget New Year's Resolutions.  Scrap that long list of goals you won't remember three weeks from now anyway!  Choose just one word.  One word you can focus on every day, all year long... One word that sums up who you want to be or how you want to live.  It will take intentionality and commitment, but if you let it, your one word will shape not only your year, but also you.  It will become the compass that directs your decisions and guides your steps.  Discover the big impact one word can make!"

"Words are powerful and focus is powerful.  Choosing to focus on just one word is just plain powerful."

Then... I found a book called, My One Word by Mike Ashcraft.  Part of the book synopsis said, "The concept of My One Word is simple.  Lose the long list of resolutions - all your sweeping promises to change - and do something about one thing this year instead of nothing about everything.  Choose just one word that represents what you most hope God will do in you, and focus on it for an entire year.  The single act will force clarity and concentrate your efforts.  As you focus on your word over an extended period of time, you position yourself for God to form your character at a deep, sustainable level.  Growth and change will result."

A link to Mike Ashcraft's blog will give you much more information!

The word I will try to live by everyday will be POSITIVE.

A positive start to everyday in 2016!!