Loving Life

We went to the library this morning for the preschool story hour.  Abby was the only preschooler there.  Ana was very delighted to join Abby for story hour and have another opportunity to do crafts. David did school work at a table with me at the library, however couldn't help laughing at the silly stories being read to his sisters.  Stories > Algebra. Books were brought home from the library Rule of "Do not walk while you read" was inforced on the way home Now it's quiet this afternoon as the kids are engrossed in their respective books. I love libraries.

We went on a field trip yesterday.  It was a learn to canoe field trip for David's age group.  Ana's age group had indoor activities at the nature center and Abby stayed with a friend.  The weather was fine all morning until about 15 minutes before we arrived at the destination.  It decided to start raining.  By the time we were ready to canoe (after watching two snakes eat some mice in the conservation center), the rain had become an annoying cold drizzle.  We survived and David learned to steer a little bit better.  Ana had fun indoors staying warm and toasty.  David and I were cold and wet and ready to get warm by the end.  Before heading home, we stopped by Walmart for a few necessities.  We scored a few more things than I was planning on getting.  Score #1 - Half price Easter candy!  I hadn't gotten the kids their usual chocolate Easter bunny from me because the few times I looked prior to Easter, they only had the ginormous over $5 chocolate bunnies.  I opted not to

First of all, I want to say a big thank you from the bottom of my heart to all of you who left a comment on my last post or sent me an email.  They gave me piles of warm fuzzies.  I didn't write my feelings out to get back pats, but mainly because I was tired of feeling bad and listening to the whiny voice inside my head.  So I thought if I wrote my thoughts out it would help me with my whininess and aid in promoting an internal change for me.  And I ended up getting bonus back patting too.  : ) So, that aside, let's get on to my favorite topic... food!  Strawberries are starting to get cheaper in the stores and less green looking, so I bought some at our local grocery store (actually I got them for free since I was able to redeem them using my "points"!).  I told Aaron I wanted to make some strawberry shortcake with them.  I was appalled when he was indifferent to that idea and then had the audacity to say that he doesn't really like strawberry shortcake all tha

Don't you wish you could spend your days snoozing on top of a pillow?  Me too! Oh well, I would miss out on much of life if I slept as much as Joey.  So I will be content with my non-snoozy-pillowless-days. So I've been doing lots of thinking, praying, etc. the past while about my life and the way I live it.  For the past I don't know how long, but for too long, I've felt like I've just been hanging on by the seat of my pants as I try my best to survive each day.  Not getting done what I want to do with schooling stresses me out, having a messy house stresses me out, unfinished projects stresses me out, dealing with a bum foot stresses me out, feeling like I'm falling way short of the super high expectations I put on me stresses me out.  The past month has been rough and full of stresses I've put upon myself.  I don't want to live my life that way.  It's silly that I have a huge amount of grace for the people around me, but a zero tolerance level fo

Ana had her first official sleepover at our house this weekend.  Of course, being the good mother that I am, I did not take any pictures of the time.  Oops.  She invited over one of her friends who is also a homeschooler.  The last few hours before she arrived passed agonizingly slow for Ana.  But once she arrived, all the past angst immediately disappeared.  They spent the evening playing with their magic fairy wands that Ana had made for each of them, casting magic spells to make things happen - they pretty much made supper as they ordered everything I did as I prepared things ("Now, I will make water cups appear on the table!").  It was pretty cute.  They turned in their fairy wands in exchange for wooden swords and spears after awhile.  It was time to defeat some nasty foe (which was me, apparently, as I happened to walk by at the wrong time).  Easter egg dyeing was also in the mix, along with drawing on the whiteboard.  Sleep was hard to achieve for them, morning came to

Aaron and I are raising animals!  In a good sense.  Sometimes we go to the track as a family so Aaron and I can do a workout together.  The kids like to play there.  Sometimes they like to run there while we run too.  Last week, the kids went with Aaron and ended up running a mile and a half there (David and Ana).  That was the farthest they had ever gone before without stopping.  This week, we were all there again on Monday.  Aaron said that if anyone of them could run two whole miles without stopping that we would go to our local diner for supper (yes, he's forever the coach).  Well, that was all the motivation they needed.  They promptly trotted their required two miles.  I ran the second part of it with Ana.  We finished and cheered David on who wasn't much behind us.  When he got to the two mile mark, he kept going.  He had decided, unbeknownst to me, that he wanted to see if he could go a full 5K (3.1 miles). He kept going and going and ended up trotting the whole 5K.  Bo

Hi again!  I had a super busy weekend.  I was going to try to post on Saturday, but ran out of time.  So here's a quick post for you to enjoy.  I went on a 9 mile run on Saturday.  I haven't run that far since my marathon last October.  It felt nice, but somewhere in the midst of it, my mind left good, sound reasoning and I decided that it would be good to take an ice bath once I got home to help my legs not get sore or injured.  I have heard the wonders of what an ice bath will do for you after a long or hard run.  So, I got everything ready once I arrived home (cup of hot tea, portable heater in the bathroom cranking, tub filled with cold water and ice cubes).  Here's proof: My goal was to make it 10 minutes.  However, I was a super huge pansy and couldn't make it more than one at a time.  So I would sit in it for about half a minute, get out and let the pain from coldness subside for half a minute and submerge again.  I did that for about 7 minutes.  Not sure I will

Today has been a nice low key day.  I tried to get some things done.  One accomplishment of mine was to clean out and organize my freezer.  I haven't done this for awhile.  I'm pretty good at knowing what I have and using up what I have.  But occasionally a few things slip through my notice or don't get used up.  I weeded out the things I knew were too old to consume anymore (at least for me - Aaron probably wouldn't bat an eye about eating any of it - please don't tell him I threw away two random corn dogs I found in the freezer.  He would be aghast at such a thing.  He would also be aghast to realize there were corn dogs in the freezer that he was unaware of.  I don't remember when they were purchased.  Hence, the throwing out of them) I also attempted to till up my garden.  I got about 1/3 done, but was stopped by rain.  Rats.  I had hoped to get it done before all the rain came, but that did not happen.  Guess I'll have to practice patience until thing

After yesterday's glorious 80 degree weather, we woke up to windy, chilly 40 degree weather today.  So, in honor of how my heart felt yesterday, I am devoting this post to my top 10 spring loves. Love #1 - Getting seeds started for gardening season!  The kids and I started our tomato, pepper and flower seeds last week.  They are happily sprouting now.  Well, they might not be happy, but I sure am happy to see them grow! #2 - Daffodils - This is definitely my most favorite flower and it's not just because it's the first flower Aaron ever gave me - though that's a bonus.  I just love their beauty and brightness they bring after a long winter. #3 - Any other kind of flower.  I don't really care what it is.  I love any and all flowers in my yard!  I even kind of like seeing dandelions - until they go to seed.  I like how they dot my grass with color. #4 - Finding shorts when I do laundry.  Summer clothes = smaller clothes = fewer loads of laundry.  Abby does not limit

It's become a tradition that on April Fool's Day, I make a meal where at least something is awry.  Two years ago, I told the kids that we could have our dessert first for once and I brought out a chocolate pie with strawberry whipped cream.  It turned out to be a pie plate with meatloaf topped with mashed potatoes colored with a bit of red beets.  They thought it was hilarious.  Last year, I made them quail eggs for something new.  Those turned out to be peach halves in whipped cream.  They actually looked like real eggs.  We also had cupcakes for dinner (similar to the pie of the previous year), and then I decorated real cupcakes to look like spaghetti and meatballs.  The kids thoroughly enjoyed it all.  So this year, I knew I had to come up with something or there would be disappointment.  I get all of these ideas from the internet, so I started looking a few days ago and came up with this - Chicken Pot Pies You bake a real pie crust to cover your little dish, but instead of