there's a spring in my step

(this is me springing, photo courtesy of Amelia)

and a smile on my face.

Don't know the exact cause.....it could be one or all of the following -

~vacation in one week

~signed up for OXF 

~minimal fighting amongst the hellions children this morning

~I have the best parents that make my life easier

~the sun is shining

~awesome workout this morning

~the laundry is all folded

~chocolate chip cookies are in the oven

~it's nap time

~the trees are budding
~green is poking through the brown

Yea!  Lots of energy to carry me through another day!

Happy Wednesday!!

"the higher your energy level, the more efficient your body.  the more efficient your body, the better you feel and the more you will use your talent to produce outstanding results" ~~ Anthony Robbins

5 AM turn the radio up.......

so that title has absolutely nothing to do with this post, but I can't get that song out of my head today!

And actually it is a pretty accurate way to describe our household in the mornings because the majority of us are early risers....I am usually in the gym between 4 and 5 am with the music playing!

Anyways, after a long weekend at work I am glad to be home for a few days.

"what's the deal, yo?"

Okay, no more Pink lyrics!

We started off the morning with a little playtime

Did you know that Farmer John married the Virgin Mary?  It's true, Amelia told me, I even saw them kiss!

Nash's favorite place to be is hanging on my leg.....he is definitely a momma's boy

And if I detach from him it makes him a little upset:(

But then we kiss and snuggle and it's all better:)

So when I came home from work last night and told Amelia I'd be home with her today, her question was "what are we gonna make tomorrow?"

So i found a really good new recipe to try,

Amelia was the baker and I was her assistant.

She started by sniffing the cloves.

She added a few ingredients and started up the mixer.

Her favorite part of cooking is cracking the eggs which she is really good at, she never get any shell in the mixture

Nash kept entertained with some graham crackers....

She added some apples to the mix

And the most important part.....taste testing the batter

Yep, it was satisfactory!

And the finished product which turned out better than I thought they were going to be....

They are called maple-glazed apple cookies and the recipe is on the sidebar.  "Delicious" according to my taste tester Wyatt Hoy:)

Amelia even did dishes and then did a cookie delivery, what a gal!

Her partner in crime spent his morning playing with his truck and sitting in the sunshine.......what a life

I am feeling really lucky because I was able to snag one of Meg Duerksen's pillows from her Etsy shop today.....can't wait to put this in my living room!

Here's to a wonderful week!

"so raise your glass if you are wrong, in all the right ways, all my underdogs, we will never be never be, anything but loud and nitty gritty dirty little freaks, won't you come on and come on and raise your glass, just come on and come on and raise your glass, for me!" ~~ Pink  ( my all time favorite singer, she's never sang a song I haven't loved!)

no school today

meant it was the perfect day to go rent Shay's tux.  And that meant loading up the next three youngest (Nash got to stay home with his cute babysitter Bailey!)

So we roadtripped to Vinton.........if you haven't figured it out, I love Vinton.  A few fun clothing shops, a movie theater, restaurants, a dollar store, a nice park, a good coffee shop, Fareway, Theisens, and a lot of character!

All my pictures were taken on my phone.......Shay didn't want me bringing my camera after I told him I wanted to take a picture of him getting measured for his tux (maybe that is a little much?)

We pulled over to watch the train and, bonus, we got to see a dump truck, too!!

The train blew his whistle and the engineers waved at us!

We headed on to Cameron's where Shay picked out an awesome tux.....can't wait to see him on prom night.  Good thing he doesn't have a date cause all the girls are gonna want to dance with him:))

On to the Pizza Ranch where we got lunch for 5 for $25 - what a deal!  Mack and Shay made the most of the buffet, I think they both went back at least 3 times

Totally negates my gym time:((

And an ultra blurry shot of Shay pushing all three kids through the aisles of Fareway

Next stop was at the dollar store for the kids to spend a few of their own dollars, they each came home with a new bouncy ball.

We made it through the day with minimal fighting and lots of laughs......

I totally will take a roadtrip with those four again!

Hope you all have a great weekend!

"yesterday is history.  tomorrow is a mystery.  and today?  today is a gift.  that's why we call it the present." ~~  Babatunde Olatunji

take the good, forget about the bad......

Yesterday my stress level was high and I was cranky.

I'm going to forget all that and move forward.

The sun is shining, I have a diet mountain dew and the kiddos are in a good mood. 

Parts of yesterday were great......

like hearing Mack (5) say to Josef (6) "Joe, you are not one of my BFF's!"  What? Even 5 year olds talk like this?

And Amelia, " Mommy, Josef just hit me in the nuts!" 

What the what?!?!

Nash consumed a massive amount of goldfish while I tried to keep up with the laundry

Lots of hugs and kisses..............

A little entertainment from Nash (which started when he was watching a video of another baby laughing, it made Nash go a little crazy!)

I hung up my very favorite pictures

"Storms coming"

And we ended the day with everyone's favorite: chocolate malts!

They were awesome, just ask these guys --

Ok, bad parts forgotten.....yesterday rocked!!

And I just entered this giveaway, I love this jewelry......so pretty!

bel kai designs

"life is not meant to be easy, my child; but take courage -- it can be delightful"

 ~~ George Bernard Shaw

i need an escape from reality......

just for a few short days.

My patience is wearing thin,

the cold, dreary days are getting to me, 

I need a change in scenery.

And it's coming......

in just a few short weeks.

Six days of relaxation, white sand beaches, turquoise oceans and warmth on my skin.

(Oh, and a liquor dispenser in our room and a fully stocked mini-bar:))

I cannot wait!

Don't get me wrong.......I will miss the kids like crazy.

I'm sure there will be a few (okay, a lot) of tears shed from being away from them.
But I need a break.

And I am hoping to come back with a new outlook and a whole lot more patience.

I think it will be great for the kids to spend time with their grandparents, too. 

 Some of my best memories with my grandparents are from when my parents were gone on vacation.  It's a vacation for the kids also! They have to be tired of me....

So until our day of departure I will keep this image in my mind..

Happy Wednesday!!

"stress is basically a disconnection from the earth; a forgetting of the breath.  stress is an ignorant state.  it believes that everything is an emergency.  nothing is that important.  just lie down. ~~ Natalie Goldberg

chameleon art

So this project came from one of my favorite people that I have never even met.  Her blog has inspired a lot of projects that I've done with the kids and especially my interest in photography.  Not to mention the awesome rainbow cake I've made for several birthday parties and some other really good recipes.  Check out her "craft Thursdays'" link on the right side of her blog for some of the art work she's done with her kids. I really love her and am thinking of making the time one of these days to drive to Kansas and stalk her house (with my equally nosy sister-in-law Sandy!)

Anyhow, here's our chameleons......and I have to give credit to Shay for drawing them out with Sharpie markers for us since I seriously have no drawing skills whatsoever!!

Meg used watercolors, but I didn't have enough for everyone so we used acrylics with q-tips for our paint brushes.

I let them each pick 4 or 5 colors that they really liked.

It's amazing how quiet it gets when art is happening in our house.

I usually do the project, too.  This guy is mine --

Josef spent the longest on his -

After the chameleons were done I let them do whatever they wanted on blank paper.......this turned into lots of mixing of colors

Mack likes this type of creating better than planned out projects......

I told Amelia her plate looked like a beautiful piece of art!

And the final works of art now hanging in our studio AKA the refrigerator......

And it took just as long to clean up the mess as it took for them to do the project, but they LOVE making art and being creative and it's a great way to divert them from t.v, fighting with each other, boredom, whatever the case may be.  

Well, I'm off to purge a closet.

Have a happy week, all!!

"watch your thoughts; they become words. watch your words; they become actions. watch your actions; they become habits. watch your habits; they become character. watch your character; it becomes your destiny." ~~ Frank Outlaw