Latest Project

I'm so excited to show you my scripture board that I finished and the hubby hung on the wall today!  I first found the idea from a blogger that I follow Love From Texas.  She is so creative and I just had to make one for our house! 

It is in our entry way and I will see it as I walk out the door for work every morning! It will be a motivator for me to see, and I hope to teach Christian more bible verses.  After I took this picture, I added this verse from Psalm 45:10 "Be Still and know that I am God." 

I also tried a new recipe tonight...Hawaiian Sweet Roll Ham Sandwiches. I thought they were pretty good, although, I would have cut the onion/butter mixture in half as it was a bit too much onion flavor for my taste.  The kids wouldn't eat them though, so next time, I will have to make a "kid friendly" version. I'm struggling so much with this right now as my kids will not eat anything these days unless its pizza, mac and cheese, or chicken nuggets.  I'm hoping this is just a phase...sigh!

Today just so happened to be a day that all school children dream about in the winter, Snow Day!  I think it is very unfair that work doesn't have snow days.  I sure would have liked to stay in my pj's all day and watched Disney movies.  But instead, I had to to leave at 6:30 to get to work by 8am.  It was a very long, scary drive.  I drove 35 mph the entire commute and still several close calls with the ditch.  But the drive home was much better thankfully!  On the flip side,  I've heard that after Friday, we may officially be able to say good bye to winter.  This was definitely my kind of winter,  mild and short!

Dad was outside shoveling tonight after I returned from church, so Christian got out his lantern and we told "camping" stories around the lantern.  Bryleigh was trying so hard to get out a story of her own but it was all gibberish.  A for effort though.  Makes me excited about summer, now if only we can talk daddy into using our tax returns for a travel trailer, I would be one happy girl :)

Stranger Danger

Although, we have briefly had conversations with Christian about strangers and he has brought books home from school about strangers, we have never had a heart to heart talk with him.  Today presented itself a necessary opportunity to have a serious conversation with Christian about strangers after seeing this report in the local newspaper titled,"Reports of Stranger near schools concern officials".  Most concerning was that just last week, I registered Christian to attend Howe school which was one of the schools listed.  This is not something I want to read when sending my baby off to school next year!  

But none the less, we knew it was time for some serious talk.  So after much explaining and using as much kid friendly explanations (without sugar coating it), we were able to identify a "password"  that only mommy, daddy, and Christian know.  So this makes me feel a bit better knowing that we have had the "stranger danger" discussion. This is something that I have been thinking about for some time but didn't know the best way of addressing it.  Hopefully, they catch this creep quickly so my nerves, as well as every other mother in the community, can calm a bit.  I also found this great article from the National Crime Prevention Council on how to talk with kids about strangers.  

On a happier note,  I came home from my day job this afternoon to become a supermodel...

On second thought, I better stick to my day job and leave the supermodel business to this cute little thing...

The love of a Father

I came home from work tonight to find the kids doing what they love to do...get messy! And what I love the most is that my hubby, being a stay at home dad, is not afraid to let the kids get messy with finger paint! I almost have a heart attack thinking about the mess, thus the reason that we do not play paint too often!  But Bryan just let them dig in and get dirty, and he even helped!

 Bryleigh found her belly button and thought it would be fun to paint that also!

 I'm just so blessed to have found such an amazing husband who also happens to be the most amazing father also!  Although, I do get jealous at times when the kids want their daddy to tuck them in at night, I know that this is also a special bond that the kids have with their father that some kids never get the blessing to have.  So I can go to bed at night knowing that my kids are being cared for by none other than the best person, their dad!  And I still get to read the bedtime story!!! 

Dear Daddy,

In all the things I try to do,
I want to do them just like you.
I'm watching every move you make
And trying to take each step you take.

Although right now I'm sort of small,
When I'm with you, I feel ten feet tall.
Like you, I want to be brave and smart,
'Cause I love you, Daddy, with all my heart.

When I am older I'll be so glad
If I grow up to be
JUST LIKE DAD.

Let the little children come to me....

This morning we went to church for the 10:30 service since Christian's Preschool/4K program was celebrating their 40th Anniversary of Christian education. Children from both the 3 year old class and the 4K class sang several songs at the service! We were excited because this is the first time that I have actually seen Christian participate, usually he just stands up there and smiles! Bryan came with us to the service and it was so nice having him there.  He was such a big help with the kids.   It was services such as this one that I remember why I go to the prayer and praise service on Wednesday nights so the loud singing can drown out the screaming of my fighting children! 

I just have to commend the St. Luke's Program for all that they do for the children in their programs. Christian has learned so much in the few short months that he has been in the program.  I wish he could stay for a couple of more years.  Unfortunately, he will have to move on but Bryleigh will definitely be starting in the 3 year old Preschool in a year. I know she will love it just as much as Christian does! 

There was an open house after the service with some fun activities.  We didn't stick around for too long though because poor Bryleigh wanted to join in the fun but she would have been trampled over with all of the excited older kids, so she was one unhappy girl :(

She didn't even want her cookie, that's how much she wanted to go play.  

We had a great morning and I even took a nap this afternoon when the kids did!  Great way to end the weekend!

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."---Matthew 19:14

Cheese Factory

This morning Christian's class took a trip to the Wisconsin Dairy State Cheese Co.  Although, we have been to the cheese factory many times, it never seems to get old!  I mean who wouldn't love to watch some good old cheese being processed while eating some warm, squeaky cheese curds!  The class had a lot of fun learning about the process of making cheese starting with the process of getting the milk from the farm...

Of course we couldn't end our tour without some ice cream...I mean what is a stop at the cheese factory without some ice cream!

This past week has just flown by and I can't believe it is already Friday!  What a fun way to spend my Friday morning with Christian.  I've really come to realize in the past couple of weeks how grown up Christian is becoming. Although, he will always be mommy's boy, he becoming a little man.  I was almost in tears the other day when I signed him up for Kindergarten.  It is hard to believe that in 6 months, my first born will be attending full 5 days a week school.  I want him to stay in the preschool age forever so I can come home from work and spent time with him every day :(  I don't even want to think about this, but it does make it easier that he enjoys school so much!  I just wish he would stay at St. Luke's 4K forever!  His teachers are AMAZING and the program is teaching him so much!  I just pray that he enjoys school this much next year. 

And even more exciting, Christian is also signed up for T-Ball again this summer!  He is so excited, and so am I.  I signed him up for the WRYSA (Wisconsin Rapids Youth Softball Association) league this year versus the Parks and Recreation Dept. League as I think playing ball in the actual baseball diamond will help him learn the game a bit better than just in the open grass.  We shall see this summer.  He will have games 2 times per week so this is something I am really looking forward to!

Tonight we have our weekly movie night with Grandma and Grandpa, but right now I think I'll go have a cup of coffee and read my Bible Study book while the kids are relaxing. 

One request before I sign off... a friend of a friend went in for a scheduled C-Section this morning to welcome her little boy and he was stillborn.  Please say a little prayer today for this family as they try find meaning in this difficult time.  Please pray that they find comfort that God needed an angel this morning.  No words could begin to describe how much this family is hurting right now!  So please lift them up in prayer!  Thanks! 

Happy Friday!

Ash Wednesday

Today was a long, stressful day but this did not stop us from celebrating Ash Wednesday!  Although,  Bryleigh was quite a handful in church tonight!  She really tested my patience.  But how could I not overcome the frustration when this little girl wanted ashes on her forehead...

 She wanted so bad for me to take a picture but she had rubbed all of her ashes off already!  She tried to wipe mine off too but she left a little for me!

You can definitely see the smear mark where she attempted to rub them off!  Tonight began the celebration of lent, leading up my one of my favorite holiday's...Easter!  Although, I may not have been able to actually receive any information from the message tonight (due to my winey, food loving,  little mess of a child) I still know the meaning! 

Now off to spend a little of time with my naughty little boy who decided to play baseball in the house tonight, which resulted in 2 broken picture frames!  (Can you understand why I am having a little bit of a stressful night?)

"Jesus said,“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."

---John 14:6

"Healthy" Dinner

Now don't judge me but tonight I made Toasted Ravioli and Baked Dill Pickles for dinner!  Don't worry, we had a side of fruit!  But I have been wanting to try this recipe that I found on Pinterest for a couple weeks now and so tonight was the night.  The Ravioli was very good and very filling too!  I finally got an A+ from the kids which was I super excited about! We have lots of leftovers!

When I had finished up the Ravioli, I had tons of breading left over that I hated to waste so I attempted to make Baked dill pickles.  I only had baby dill pickles in the house and was not about to run to the store so this is how they turned out!  

Although, not very pretty, they tasted decent. Not the best thing I have ever made but not the worst either.  They just didn't quite taste like the good old fried dilly's from Hudson's! 

And to top off our wonderful dinner of "fried" foods, we ate some Dairy Queen for the first time this season.  I"m surprised we made it several weeks since they first opened. Normally, we would be there on day 1 :) 

Its a good thing that I started another workout series this morning...

We will see how this goes. I have been very good for about the past year at getting up at 4:30am every morning and working out but I'm getting more and more bored with my workouts.  I did the Chalean Extreme Workout series from BeachBody and LOVED it but I borrowed it and needed to give it back.  So I also borrowed another video called Turbo Jam, also with Chalean but did not care so much for that one. There's something out hard cord dancing in the morning that does not really get me motivated.  I'd rather be doing strength training with a little cardio. So I'm still debating on if I should just by the Chalean Extreme since that is the best one I have tried so far. I'm open for any suggestions on workout series that you have tried and enjoyed.  P90x was just too much for me.  I'm more of a 5 times per week for 30 minutes type of workout girl or I lose interest very fast. 

Now on to take a hot bath,  cold ice cream will get to you!  I should know better :)  Happy President's Day!

Spring Cleaning

I think it has hit me...spring fever!  I was all about cleaning today and I think its that last little bit of energy gearing me up for Spring time.  The nice weather and beautiful sunshine has been so nice to the past couple of days.  And it is even supposed to get up into the 40's this week!  So today,  besides leaving the house for the weekly grocery shopping trip, I stayed home all day and cleaned and organized. 

I finished off one of my projects that I have been meaning to finish.  I'm so excited that it turned out and I have already started on my next project which is similar...

I live by my lists so I know this Menu board will help me to be accountable for cooking good dinners every night!  It is also nice that I have been planning weekly menu's and then shop for the items on Sunday's.  Much better than my past routine of shopping twice a month and having my veggies go bad by the time I get to making that recipe! 

 I also did some organizing. I cleaned the kitchen cabinets out and organized all my big gadgets so that I know where everything is. I also found this great idea on Pinterest to store my smarller ribbon and it works out wonderfully!

Bryan made a fun  meal tonight of Chicago dogs and fries!  It was delicious. But of no surprise to us, the kids wouldn't eat them. They do not anything we cook these days! 

We relaxed the rest of the night and had a lot of play time!  

Christian wanted to take pictures but not be in them tonight!  But I do have to give him credit for his spectacular bowling skills...

We have been playing the Wii a lot lately, and the other day he beat me in bowling once again!  That kid sure knows how to bowl!

Now on to another work week! 

Decisions

Disclaimer: Please know that this post does include some personal information about myself and maybe a little TMI for some.  This is my personal experience and I only share so other women may make an informed choice.

That being said, I had my yearly gynecology exam on Thursday. We went through the standard questions including concerns about my current birth control method, which happens to be Mirena IUD. In the past year that I have had this birth control, I have debated if I really liked it or not.  My main reason for making this decision last year was because every form of birth control that I have tried in the past have given me horrible headaches and my doctor informed me that this type of birth control does not contain the estrogen that causes these headaches.  So after weighing the pros and the cons, I decided that the pros outweighed the cons. 

That was until I went to my appointment on Thursday and the doctor could not find it (for lack of going into further detail.) This made me very nervous because one of the cons of getting this method was that there is the risk of the IUD getting displaced in the uterus and perforating other female parts.  I have had extreme cramping sporadically since I have had the IUD and also I have sporadic bleeding, which after discussion with the doctor is not particularly normal.

So after finding out that it was missing, I was informed that I needed to get a pregnancy test and ultrasound completed to locate the IUD. I was told if the IUD was not where it was supposed to be then I would most likely need surgery to remove it. So this was how I spent my Thursday afternoon and Friday morning.  The ultrasound was very strange because the several other times that I've had one, they are checking out a cute little baby in my uterus and this time after confirmation from the pregnancy test, there was no baby in there. Although, if not being warned by the technician, I would have thought there was when she listened to the sound of blood flow in the uterus.  It sounds exactly like a heartbeat. But after all this was said and done, it was confirmed that it is in the correct place but the location needs to be slightly adjusted.

I am very frustrated and have been in a very crabby mood the past several days, thus resulting in my mini blogging break.  I'm frustrated for several reasons.  One being that I'm not so sure that I want this form of birth control any longer for fear that I am always going to be worrying about if it is where it is supposed to be and I will probably associate every pain I have with this thing.  Also,  the doctor did not have an answer for me when I questioned if I would have to go through this whole process again if they were unable to locate the IUD the next time around.  So I am undecided in what I want to do.

I am also frustrated because I had just gotten over my emotional slump of wanting another baby since my sister and several friends have been announcing that they are expecting.  I was finally in a good place to say that I was content with not having any more children right now.  I was fully aware that I would be completely protected from any little surprises for 4 more years which would take me through graduate school with no more mini me's.  So now I feel like I am back at square one.  The thought of having a little surprise was sort of exciting, but then the pregnancy test was negative. And then I had to go to an ultrasound which was pretty emotional. And now I have to start over trying to find a birth control method that is right for me and my family.

Urggg, so these are my thoughts right now.  So I really need to weigh the pros and cons and decide what to do soon. 

The pros include:

1) No need to worry about a pill or anything and fully protected for 5 years
2)Little or no monthly "friend"

The cons include:

1)Sporadic monthly "friend"
2)Horrible Cramps
3)Still get headaches
4)Many risks and some are quite serious
5)Uncertainty that I may have to go through pregnancy test/ultrasound again if can't locate it.

The cons certainly outweigh the pros this time around, so now the decisions begin.  I wish I had done more research a year ago when I was making this decision. So I hope this helps others who may be weighing their options.  Not only was it really pricey for the IUD but now for all of these extra doctor visits and tests, but it was also very stressful.

On the upside,  I had a girls day with my mom, kids. and niece today by going on a shopping trip.  Although we did not find much, the kids found these awesome sun glasses and they sure know how to show them off...

 These kids just make my day! 

All my love...

All my love on this Valentine's Day is for my 2 sweet kiddos and my sweet, caring hubby!  I'm head over heels in love with my little family!  And before I left for work, I left the kids with their little Valentine's Day surprise...

 We are all set for movie night on Friday! 

Since Bryan and I had our date afternoon on Saturday, we stayed in for the night and had a nice dinner of steak, Hot Crash Potatoes, and Creamy Cucumber Salad. And we finished off with cupcakes for desert that we made last night!.

We finished off the night with some Wii Bowling! This was Christian's first real time playing the Wii and had learned really fast and had a blast!

How Sweet!

 We watched our foster sisters for the evening so our parents could have a date night and Tasha read the kids their bedtime story!  Such a good aunt! 

Hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day! 

For my MIL

This post is dedicated to my mother in law! As a lot of people know, I am type A personality.  I have to have everything clean, organized, or just packed away out of sight!  This really shows right after the holiday's. I love to enjoy Christmas and all of the great gifts that we receive, but I like to have every item have a home within days after Christmas.  I feel like I just can't relax unless I do.  Needless to say, I am notorious for getting great gifts and packing them away and although I remember that they are there, it takes me a bit to break them out of the box.  So after many months (and a few questions lately from the mother in law!  he he)  I decided that I wanted to try my new items out.

So first off,  for Christmas I received the Shark Steamer Mop..

I used it for the first time this past weekend and it works great!  It heats up in like 2 minutes which is great for an inpatient person like me and it uses detachable pads that can go in the wash!  I like that I don't need to get out the old fashioned mop and bucket and wait for an hour for the floor to dry.  The floor dries so quick and it really doesn't take that much manpower to get the extra sticky stuff off the floor!  So I give this one an A+. 

Second, for my birthday I received the Babycakes cupcake maker. Tonight we decided to make some cupcakes for Valentine's Day since I plan on making a nice dinner tomorrow!  And I had a bit of a sweet tooth! 

So I love that I am able to make cute little cupcakes in like 5 minutes but on the downside this was my first time making them and I have not yet perfected the cook time yet.  As we were frosting them, I noticed that some were a little soft yet and the inside was not quite cooked through.  It will be tough to determine thought because the toothpicks all came out clean so that is why I thought they were done.  So it will take some perfecting on that part! 

We let the kids frost their own cupcake and they both had theirs eaten in about a minute!  So the kids gave it 2 thumbs up and so do I! 

(Disclaimer:  I know that my mother in law is reading but trust me, I am being honest!  She knows I would tell the truth if it had some quirks about it! )

On another note,  I came home from work to find that Bryan had done the thing that I had been asking him to for about a month now.  The only problem is that he did it while I was at work so he didn't have the nagging wife reminding him how its supposed to be done.  The thing we are talking about here is...

Shaving Christian's head!!!!

The last time we shaved Christian's head was last summer and we all loved it, including Christian.  But with the exception that we used an extension on the clipper last time so he wasn't completely bald.  So since, I wasn't there to remind, Bryan forget and now we have one really bald child.  I know it will grow back and he still looks very cute but I definitely do not like it like this.  

So there is my product review post for the night!  Hope you enjoyed it Lisa!  Love you and now you have proof that I do use the things that you buy me :)

DIY Jewelry Holder

I've been meaning to buy a jewelry holder for quite some time now but I didn't know what type I wanted.  But after getting my ring from Bryan yesterday, I was thinking more about it today.  Since I didn't really feel like doing much today, I decided to tackle a jewelry holder from stuff I had laying around the house. 

These are the items I used to make the jewelry holder:

• An old frame with glass removed
•  Paint
•  Ribbon- 1 1/2 inch and 5/8 inch
• Hot Glue
• Bow Wire
• Alligator Clips
• Hot Glue Gun

I didn't want anything too spectacular just something  that I could use to hand my necklaces and rings that are lying around.  I'm not an big earring person so there was no need to hand any earrings.  But the tricky part was trying to figure out how I could hang my rings up too. All of the jewelry holders that I looked up did not give the option of hanging rings but rather, they had little boxes or it was more of a shadow box type of holder. I just wanted to use the frame that I had laying around.

1. I painted the front of the cardboard backing which comes with the frame.  I let this dry for about an hour. 
2.  I hot glued the 1 1/2 inch ribbon how I wanted it to the cardboard backing (the ribbon is covering the little metal holes where the hangers are attached on the back.)
3. I hot glued the Bow Wire to the back of the frame. On the top wire I added a Damask Button which gives the wire a better hold when all of the necklaces get hung on it so the wire doesn't sag. 
4. I used 5/8 inch ribbon to line the alligator clips.
5. I clipped the lined alligator clips to the bow wire attached to the lower part of the frame. ( I had planned to hot glue the alligator clips right to the cardboard backing but the glue wouldn't stick for some reason so I made do with adding the wire and clipping them to it.)

And TA DA... I have a jewelry holder for my bedroom.  And it was cheap and easy.  Its not perfect and I noticed some things that I would have done differently but I'm happy with it and it serves the purpose I wanted.

I just clip the rings right on the alligator clips!

Have fun if you decide to make one for yourself!