April 8, 2013

  • It rained that day.

    We didn’t care. We were getting married!
    That was sixteen years ago last Friday. 

    In the great, big living room in my parents old house,
    wearing my Grandmother’s wedding dress from the 1950′s, Jeff in a rented tux….we said our vows.

    {OH! I love him SO much!!}

    Our parents took our kids this weekend. Jeff’s parents the boys, my parents the girls.

    We had the weekend alone.
    We did many very exciting activities without the children, like….

    …purchasing new ink at Best Buy.
    …making a few returns at The Home Depot.
    …eating gigantic cheeseburgers.
    …finding a new book for our girls at the teacher’s store.
    …getting new light bulbs for the basement.

    Can you imagine anything more romantic than light bulbs?! ;)


    We actually had a great, great weekend.
    I believe the clock was ticking twice as fast as usual, Saturday seemed to fly.

    I’ll tell you, I wasn’t ready for our time to end.

    Sunday afternoon we met Jeff’s parents (and sister and her family) at Catigny.
    It is such a lovely place to visit. and even though nothing was in bloom yet, it was still beautiful.
    We had a wonderful time walking the grounds. 

    We toured Robert McCormick’s house and went to the war museum.
    If you have never been…Go! take your kids, go yourself, go with a group. It is such a neat place.

    It’s $5 to park your car…everything else is free.
    Pack a lunch and spend the day.

    If you have boys (or girls), they will be in heaven climbing all over the many war tanks.
    Summertime the gardens are beautiful! and in the fall…Gorgeous! 

    The girls spent the day with my family hiking and having a grand old time.
    They are still over there sewing with my mom and running through her woods with my brothers.
    They want to move in with my mother. They said they don’t miss me, but they still love me. ;)

    Hope your week was off to a good start.
    Our day started off rainy, then the sun came out this afternoon.

    The rest of the week is looking to be rainy and chilly. This is April in the Midwest. 
    and I’m okay with it. I’m okay with it. I’m okay with it. (maybe if I say it enough times I will believe it :)

April 4, 2013

  • An upward trend.

    Have you ever looked at a ten-year chart of the price of gold?
    If you go back ten years, it looks like a fairly straight line with a constant incline.
    Values rose seven hundred percent. But if you look at a monthly chart, and especially a daily chart,  the line jumps up and down like it was going nowhere.

    Raising your sons and daughters is a fifteen-eighteen-year process.
    There will be ups and downs, so that ten years from now the chart will show a significant upward progress toward raising up sons and daughters with strong spirits, filled with wisdom and the grace of God.

    The frailty of human flesh will create a drag on our idealism, but
    “Keep they heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life”
    (Proverbs 4:23)      -Micheal Pearl, from Training Children to be Strong In Spirit.

    If you’re having a bad day or going through a trial with your children, remember, God is faithful.
    Parenting is a tough job, and sometimes you’ll feel like a failure. (and we’re going to fail at times!)

    That is why we are so in need of God’s grace. He always supplies our spiritual needs. 
    We need to seek Him. Trust in Him. Rely on Him.

    Even though I will be faced with ups and downs…I am going to keep my focus on an upward trend!

    Nice weather here…Finally! 
    Off to the bike path with the kids, then dinner must be made.

April 2, 2013

  • We were cold.

    1. Sliced oranges at Easter breakfast.
    2. Sunrise breakfast/church service.
    3. I finally learned to french braid..now my poor girls are forced to wear them often. :)
    4.”Moooooom, how many eggs are we allowed to find?”
    5. Good buddies…my little brother/my son.

    While Easter pictures in catalogs boast of sunshine and tulips blooming and green grass and white sandals on little girls,
    here in the Midwest we donned warm jackets and wellies due to mud and snow left on the ground.

    Today is sunny, and it should be in the 50′s towards the end of the week. Yippee. I can’t wait to plant flowers.
    (not that I’ll be doing that anytime soon…but I’m thinking about it ;)

    Hope your week is going well. Happy Tuesday to you. 

March 29, 2013

March 25, 2013

  • Skating on Ice.

    Saturday afternoon my whole big family rented out the ice rink. 
    There were thirty two and a half of us. (another new nephew on his way :)

    We celebrated five birthdays. My mom. A sister of mine. A nephew. A brother in law. My daughter.
    Having a big family is such blessing. I can’t tell you how much I love getting together with my family.

    Our baby is seven now. I fell asleep with a newborn in my arms, woke up and she turned seven.

    She’s been wanting a ukulele. (of course! her mother will buy anything that has to do with music ;)  
    She chose a local diner for her birthday dinner. She asked Auntie Caitlin to bake her cupcakes.
    She’s been dying to go ice skating.


    Yikes! Life goes fast. Enjoy every moment.
    Happy new week.

March 14, 2013

  • Homemade Granola

    This is our new favorite cereal, by far my favorite granola recipe.
    (not the healthiest one I’ve ever made, but my fave!)

    We’ve been eating it almost everyday for breakfast with milk or Greek yogurt for the past two weeks.
    It’s SO good! and your house will smell SO good while it’s cooking.

    Mix all the dry ingredients together in a great big bowl.
    Add the melted butter. Mix well.
    Bake at 400 degrees for 20-25 minutes. Stirring often…if you don’t, it will burn and/or be clumpy.

    Let cool. Add chocolate chips. (I use the minis)
    Store in air tight container. (or zip lock bags or mason jars or..you get the point)

    Happy granola making.

March 11, 2013

  • This picture is slightly staged.

    If you were wondering. ;)  However, we really did read these stories before bed.

    A book suggestion if you have little ones. 

    For Girls ~ The Flicka, Ricka and Dicka series by Maj Lindman
    For Boys ~ The Snip, Snap and Snur series by Maj Lindman

    Sweet, wholesome stories written in the 1950′s. There are quite a few books in each series.
    All are Fantastic!
    Happy new week to you.

March 7, 2013

  • So we’re a little off with our seasons.

    While outside has looked a lot like this the past few days….

    …we’ve been drinking this summer wonderfulness. 

    Strawberry Lemonade

    1 cup of lemon juice, freshly squeezed (about 3-4 lemons)
    1 cup of sugar
    1-2 cups of pureed strawberries 

    Mix together in a gallon pitcher.
    Fill the rest of the pitcher with water. (or half water, half crushed ice, which is what we did. it makes more of a slushy =)
    Enjoy!

    While I am looking forward to spring..
    I still love looking out my window and seeing a beautiful winter wonderland.
    God puts so much beauty in each season, we need to take the time to notice and appreciate.

March 5, 2013

  • Our second first date.

    February 1994. {Yikes that sounds like a long time ago.}
    The snow was falling very heavy that night and my parents almost didn’t let me go.

    He was late. He said I gave him bad directions to my house,
    I say he was just late…I only lived a few blocks away! 
    He drove his mom’s car, it was red. He opened the door for me. He still does.
    I was impressed and told all my friends about it Monday at school.

    He wore an American flag sweater from Structure…yeah, remember that store?
    If not then you’re too young to be reading this blog. ;)

    We ate at The Olive Garden. I ordered ravioli, he ate…I don’t remember! Ha!
    After dinner we went ice skating. It was his first time. It was my millionth.


    Last Friday night, 19 years later Jeff surprised me and recreated our very first date!
    Complete with driving past both of our old houses, which we now live an hour away from.

    We went back to the same restaurant and then went skating.
    It was so much fun to pretend to be on our first date all over again…
    (until later when he let me know that indeed we are married. ;)

    A couple things we learned.
    1.Sometime between 1994 and now, Olive Garden stopped serving bread sticks and salad for free.
    2.We’re terrible ice skaters, I mean really terrible. 
    3.We never save room for dessert.

    After nineteen years of knowing each other, we are more in love than ever.
    I’m so glad God placed this man in my life, what a gift he is.

    So that was our first date. 
    Where did you go on your first date? How long ago was it?

March 1, 2013

  • Fashion Tip Friday ~ The Ombre.

    Can you believe it’s March already? 

    When I think March, I think sunshine and tulips blooming.
    However I am sitting in Panera Bread right now with a bagel and cup of coffee.
    Outside the great big window next to me, it’s cold and snowing like crazy.

    I live in the midwest. I should know better!
    In like a lion, out like a lamb, right?

    Well, now that the love month is over, we’re back to fashion tips.
    Today’s tip inspired by my friend Thelma who started a hair coloring conversation this morning.
    Since I am “dying” to color my hair {pun intended, Ha!} Let’s talk about that.

    Not exactly sure what I want to do yet, but my stylist was trying to talk me into the ombre.
    Sounds like a dance, doesn’t it? So what exactly is the ombre you’re wondering? 

    The ombre is  a coloring technique, darker at the roots,
    getting lighter and lighter as you get to the bottom of your hair. 
    It can be subtle or very drastic.

    At first I didn’t care for it very much,
    but it’s starting to grow on me and I’m thinking about it.
    It looks really nice when done right on the right head of hair.

    A few pics I stole off the internet.

     

    {this one ^^^ is my favorite}

    I’m warming up to the idea.
    How about you? Would you do the ombre?