To Do List

I have noticed that I seem to have better luck getting things accomplished if I organize them and have a list to go off.. I also enjoy the satisfaction of crossing things off said list once finished. So I'm going to try putting up a to do list each week and keeping track of it. We shall see how it goes.

To do list for next week:
Finish setting up school room and organizing the closet
Clean bedroom and get rid of 50% of all the clutter
Meal plan for grocery shopping on Thursday
Work on debt binder and spreadsheets
Finish photo collage frames that have been sitting on the top shelf for months
Make folder games for Maddy
Change out the games/toys on Maddy's shelf in the living room
Begin looking through the trailer to bring stuff in
Clean off bar and decorate for fall
Hang photo's in dining room

Ok this is a good start... we will see what I get done, and what I add after having some time to think.
I really can't wait to get back to feeling well- this cold has claimed an entire week of my life and I'm getting pretty impatient to get back to normal. Hope everyone has a safe and blessed weekend!

Homeschooling?? Where are you?

So for those that know and those that don't, I've been prepping a homeschool curriculum for, oh, EVER.. not really but it feels like that. It's been about 2 months in the making. We are technically ready to launch, and were set to start last Monday, but then it seemed like one thing after another kept getting in the way. So here I am to recommit and pledge to (ahem, try my hardest) start next Monday. I should be over this cold/allergy/sinus hate-fest that is currently keeping me couch ridden. I have put so much work and planning into this, I am eager to get started and see how Miss Moo enjoys everything. At times I wonder if I'm simply using things as excuses to stall so I don't have to realize that she has zero interest in learning. But I know that's foolish, she loves to learn and work on things with me. The nice thing about all this is... she's not technically at the Pre-K age so I'm not feeling duty bound to keep a strict schedule (or that I'm harming her education by not). I am hoping to post some pics of the prep stuff I've done and what our school room looks like. More to come...

Meal Plans

Here is my meal plan for the next 2 weeks. It's just a rough idea, nothing is set in stone but it's nice to know that on any given day- we have food in the house for each of these recipes. I try to base the sequence by what food's go bad quickest. I also try to mix up the style of food so it's not the same cuisine back to back (i.e. mexican, italian, american). If you see anything that interests you just comment and I will send you the recipe. Also- my disclaimer is that I tend to "trash can" cook- meaning I sometimes throw things together and hope it tastes good. So some of my recipes are a little wonky.

Mexican Pizza, Beans
Ranch Chicken, rice a roni, Broccoli
Burgers, deli fries
Dijon Chicken, rice, sugar snap peas
Tuna Casserole, peas
Dorito Chicken, corn, brussels sprouts
Potato Soup
Pork Tenderloin with potatoes, carrots, onions, french bread
Hamburger Helper
Breakfast- sausage gravy and biscuits

Add in room for leftovers every few days, and the occasional dine out.

That's pretty much it, I make my meal plan every 2 weeks so I will be posting each time I finish a set.

New Idea?

So I have been looking at alot of blogs lately, for crafting and homeschooling and decorating ideas. I think I've decided that I want to redo Maddy's room. Not completely redo.. just spruce up and pull together with one cohesive theme. With that being said... I'm not sure what to do next. I guess I should start collecting ideas and building an image to work from. Luckily... I've got some SUPER talented friends in the decorating area.

What a difference 4 years makes!

So I thought this would just be a little cute something 

 to share. This first picture was taken in the hospital after Maddy's birth. 

It's baby Maddy with her Uncle Brad.

Now almost 4 years later... 

It's big girl Maddy with her Uncle Brad. 

They are so cute together!! She doesn't get to see him often, but when she does.. she adores him!

Colorado Vacation Part 3

We went to the mountains over the Labor Day weekend, Breckenridge to be exact. It was so gorgeous and we had so much fun. My family was gracious enough to arrange rooms at their time share so we certainly lodged in style. We loved venturing into town to look through the shops and street vendors. We took the gondola ride up to the ski area and ate lunch at the restaurant at the top. (I of course had a mini freak out when they slowed it on the way back down.. I hate heights). But Maddy and Marc loved it and thought it was so neat being that high above everything. What was really fun was when we would hit a stopping point for different levels and we would switch gondolas with each  other... especially when Brad missed the jump out point and Becky left him all alone in his gondola.. he was bummed ( but it was pretty funny).

  The kids had a nice time dipping their feet in the freezing cold stream and skipping rocks. Aunt Becky even got in for a few minutes. It was so refreshing just sitting by the stream watching all the people in the little town go about their activities, and letting there dogs run through the stream to get a drink.

We spent alot of time just hanging out with everyone, playing card games (golf) and acting goofy (singing camp songs in the car at the top of our lungs). Even getting Uncle Brad to do his CRAZY laugh and my grandpa to make a few really funny jokes! Marc even had an encounter with a bear!! up in the mountains. Not to mention the ridiculous deals we found at their thrift store which lead to us bringing home 2 boxes full of goodies. It is a completely different way of life in Colorado and it really made us wanna be there more.. like.. live there?!?! Sooner or later... sooner rather than later?! Who knows where God will lead us. All we know for sure is that we didn't wanna leave and could totally see ourselves living there.. guess we have some praying to do.

On our way outta town Uncle Brad (who is a pilot for Frontier) had a flight scheduled an hour before us so he took us to the airport and let us come see the cockpit to the plane he was flying that day. Um, it was AWESOME! Marc and Maddy sat in the chairs and steered and all that stuff, even pillow pet got in on the action. It was so sweet of him, I could tell he loved every minute of her exploring it. He's super cool like that. 

Now it's time to unpack (ugh!) and get back to the things we have going on here. Maddy has dance class and homeschool starts on Monday. Marc is still on vacation until Wed so we will be enjoying more family time!!

Colorado Vacation Part 2

So it's been an eventful vacation so far... in order to fill you in I must preface this post with the info that my Aunt, Uncle and Grandparents own/run a commercial cleaning business. So first thing Wednesday morning was a phone call that one of their employees has been killed in a motorcycle wreck (further validation for my NO motorcycle rule)... as if this news wasn't terrible enough.. she was also scheduled to clean a building on the other side of town that night so they were scrambling to figure out what to do- while sinking in to the reality of her passing. The day was filled with posting a job ad, fielding calls and scheduling interviews, making arrangements to get the building covered all while juggling us as guests to boot. I must say my aunt did a great job trying to play both roles as business owner/ vacation tour guide. She finally got 10 interviews set for today and we arranged this evenings plans to accommodate interviews on the other side of town. However, once we traveled the 45 minutes to the location we realized... we left the building keys at home...!!!!!!!!!  So we now had to figure out a plan to get the building opened.. ARGH! The new plan involved most of us traveling back home to get the keys and leaving everyone there but me and Becky and Brad and Grampa who were conducting the interviews (which only 3 of 10 showed up to). We came back and all went to clean the property which ended up going quickly and interesting to see what exactly their company covers. While I feel awful about the bad few days they have had, it's also been nice to see them handle various situations and overcome the obstacles. Plus it's been nice to help contribute to the "family" business even if I did just clean toilets and sinks. Tomorrow we plan to head to the mountains for the weekend, should be fun and beautiful.

On another note, I woke to a breath taking view of the mountains and felt compelled to just take in the awe of God's design. I played some worship music and just focused on His plan. It was a beautiful moment to slow down and remember that the God who created those mountains also lives inside of me. I am really looking forward to the church plans for Sunday. We are going to a hillside church that has their service outside when the weather permits- this should be AMAZING!!

We went to Jumpstreet tonight which is a place a lot like Let's Jump (the indoor inflatables place) but this place was all trampolines... like 10 rows of a long line of trampolines where both ends curve up like a wall you can bounce off of with padding in between. It was AWESOME! Marc and Maddy and Becky's kiddos had so much fun (I did not bounce much as it's not good on my back). They also had a trampoline dodge ball course. It was really neat and made us wish Texas had something like that to offer. Pics to follow.

Colorado Vacation

So we are finally on vacation in beautiful Colorado... Aurora, CO to be exact. My Aunt and Uncle were so gracious in offering us a place to stay, and tour guide services. We made it here safely, although for me anytime spent on a plane isn't exactly "safe". I only cried for the first 15 minutes while praying and singing "the presence of the Lord is here." Maddy had a blast on her first flight- although she was more entertained with the new stuff I'd bought her than the actual flight or view. (pics to follow). So far we've visited with family, my grandparents also live here (it's a two-fer vacation) and went out to eat at this amazing Italian buffet that put Golden Corral to shame. After eating we were introduced to a new activity that is very fun, addicting and sure to become part of our family routine once back in Texas... Geocache-ing. It's where people from the city have hidden a little "treasure" and you must find it based on the location it's posted at and the clues provided. Some are linked to others so it's more of a treasure map find where there's multiple stops. We did 1 stop treasures and found 2 out of 3. It's pretty cool because you get to sign your name and date on the paper and some have little trinkets inside. Our first cache was in a deck of cards tin and it had little trinkets for the kiddos (of course you must replace the items if you take them, luckily I had a pack of silly bands that we used to replenish.) Then our second was in a film roll canister, it didn't have treats but we had just as much fun finding it. This service is free and there is a program free on android for finding them.
All in all it's been a great first day .... more to come....