Five Things

Spring Favorites (so far)

1. Asparagus | We love fresh asparagus. Our favorite way to cook it is on the grill, but for those times that we can’t grill it, we opt for roasting it. If you’ve never tried it, you’re missing out. Simply wash your asparagus and break the ends off. Then place it in a single layer on your baking sheet. Drizzle it with olive oil and sprinkle it with Kosher salt and pepper (this is also how we prep it for grilling). Then put it in the oven at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. We like ours roasted until the tips start to crisp just a little, so it may need to stay in longer depending on how you like it. After you take it out of the oven, you can also grate some Parmesan cheese on top. Delicious.

2. Sandals | I love sandals and flip-flops. I’m in the market for some new ones this Spring and really like these metallic flip-flops in gold from Target. They would work for casual outfits and when I get a little more dressed up, which if I’m being honest, isn’t all that often! Ha ha I will probably buy myself some this weekend!

3. Our Spring Bucket List | We love our bucket lists. They help us remember all of the fun things we say we want to do when the weather gets warm again and also help with boredom on those long summer days. And this year I created a Spring Bucket List for the first time and we are working to cross everything off before we move on to our Summer Bucket List. Get yours here.

4. Midwest Living Magazine | I think this magazine is on every one of my favorites lists. It’s such a great magazine. I look forward to every issue and this Spring issue is awesome. There is an article all about Custer State Park in the Black Hills, which just so happens to be where we are taking the kids on vacation this summer. Lots of good info that we’re using to plan our trip. Plus, they always have awesome recipes and seasonal decorating ideas, not to mention beautiful photography.

5. Garden Planning | As you know, I started my first mini garden last Spring, but this year I’m planning on going much bigger. I’ve been making plans, but it’s still been a little too chilly here to really get started planting yet. Soon though. Very soon. We’re thinking about a raised bed, however, I might stick with some big galvanized steel tubs this year before venturing into anything bigger. I don’t want to bite off more than I can chew and I am still very much a beginner at the whole gardening thing. I definitely plan on planting a few tomato plants and lots of basil again, but I also want to grow some other veggies too (any suggestions for a beginner?). I can’t wait to get started! I will for sure be writing much more about this topic as it gets closer.

I have big plans for you Spring! I’m so glad you’re finally here and I can get a move on!

Do you have any big plans for Spring? A garden? A fun spring break vacation?

 

Weekend Favorites

This weekend was all about the new swing set. My parents bought our kids their very first swing set and the kids are in love. We just got a simple metal set (that doesn’t take up much space) instead of one of those over-priced wooden ones. It’s not really aesthetically pleasing, but it serves a much more important purpose and that is to entertain our kiddos and make them happy.

Jeremy put it together on Saturday and the kiddos could hardly stand the wait. I bet they asked a thousand times when he would be done.

Then Sunday was all about enjoying it. And man did they enjoy it! Harper absolutely loves the swing and Hudson loves climbing up the slide and going back down. They were out there all day. It was so much fun to watch! Best ever.

(I had to put a blanket down because there’s lots of dirt at the end of the slide. We’re trying to figure out what we want to put there permanently.)

 

I got this great shot of Harper running.

 

 

I had a Girl’s Night on Saturday which is really rare these days and it was so much fun catching up with my very best friend. There was lots of Parenthood and Gilmore Girls chatting, good food and good beer.

It was a great weekend. I’m so happy Spring has decided to arrive and stick around this time! Being outside and just spending time together is the best.

Creating in 2014

I love to make and create things. I love having handmade objects in my home. I have a lot of pride in my creations and they are some of my very favorite things. So, when I was thinking about how I could create more this year, I came up with the idea to create/make one project each month starting April 2014 and ending March 2015. I landed on these dates because my birthday falls at the end of March and I want to end up with handmade 12 projects by my 35th birthday.

At the end of last year I came up with the Ten Projects challenge to get me creating more before Christmas and I loved the outcome. I made some awesome things and felt so accomplished at the end. The challenge definitely worked to get me brainstorming and making. Yes, I love a challenge, oh and I love anything that has to do with lists.

My favorite project from Ten Projects is my hand stamped curtains. They are amazing and exactly what I had in mind when came up with the idea. They hang in our living room, so I look at them every day and still sometimes can’t believe that I actually made them!

 

 

The projects may be big like furniture or smaller like artwork. The possibilities are endless.

 

I don’t have a list yet as far as what I want to create/make, but I’m super excited to brainstorm some ideas and get started! I’m always the happiest when I’m using my creativity, so with that being said, I think this year will be a good one. Really good.

I’ll be posting my April project around the end of the month, so keep an eye out for it.

My Birthday Weekend

This past weekend I celebrated my 34th birthday. It was a fantastic weekend filled with all of my favorite things. Mother Nature really came through too and provided some pretty great weather for the occasion!

I thought today I would share a few snippets from the weekend.

On Saturday we went to Home Depot to get some paint and I ended up buying a few succulents to finally plant in the pots I’ve thrifted. This photo cracks me up! I don’t know what they were looking at, but their expressions are too funny. And I should mention that both kiddos were sick the end of last week and the weekend, so that’s why poor little Harper’s face is all red and chapped.

My birthday started with Jeremy letting me sleep in for a while. I’m not very good at sleeping in anymore. I can’t usually make it past 8 o’clock unless I’m sick! After I woke up they gave me cards and my present which was a FitBit! I’m so excited about having one. Then it was off to our favorite donut shop and Starbucks for my free birthday coffee. Have you tried their new Vanilla Machiatto yet? It’s delicious!

Then we went thrifting for a bit. I found some cute mugs and I bought myself Best In Show on DVD. It was only $2.99. Totally worth it. If you haven’t seen that movie. Watch it. Hilarious. The kids also found some pretty great books too. Thrifting is seriously my new favorite.

We went to a very late lunch/early dinner at one of our favorite restaurants and of course I ordered dessert!

Then it was home for birthday cake (we didn’t actually eat any because we were stuffed from dinner)! Jeremy always makes me the best birthday cake…Almond M&M’s!!

 

My night ended with the season finale of The Walking Dead. Ohhhhh, it was good!

 

We also spent some time outside in our backyard setting up the patio furniture and cleaning things up. It was a windy weekend, but the warm temps felt so good!

It was a truly great birthday and if it’s any indication of how my 34th year will go, I’m feeling pretty good about what’s ahead!!

See you tomorrow!

Monthly Portraits-March

I’m back with another monthly portrait post. This month I was hoping to get some photos outside, but the weather didn’t really cooperate. However, I love the photos I ended up with, so yay!

Hudson and his cars.

Harper being her pretty, sweet little self.

14 Books in 2014-Book Two

Wow! I’m so behind on my reading. I need to pick up the pace!

But I wanted to take my time with this last one. It was so good.

I read The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.

image source

I had heard a lot about this book before I started reading it. Let me say, it did not disappoint. I thought it was fantastic. It was a long one and I loved it. It is an engaging story that follows the life of Theodore Decker, a 14-year-old living in Manhattan with his mother until tragedy strikes and Theo’s life is turned upside down. It’s about all that life involves; tragedy, death, friendship, love, ethics and morals, but it’s not at all predictable.

It didn’t take long for me to really get into this book and once I was half way through I had to make myself put it down at night.

I couldn’t always relate to the character’s tragic story, but I could relate to his emotions. They were real and I became invested in the story right from the start. It was thought-provoking and when it was over, I was left wanting more. I didn’t want it to end. I will most likely read this one again some time in the future.

Rating: 4 1/2 Stars. I would most definitely recommend this book to a friend!

 

Happening Now

Celebrating my birthday this week. It’s on Sunday and the weather is supposed to be fantastic! Hooray!

Looking forward to my official business launch party in a few weeks. Hopefully this will be the jump start that I need.

Getting excited about garden plans.

Starting to Spring clean and it feels good.

Using this printable from Ask Anna as my cleaning guide.

Selling baby stuff that I’ve held on for too long.

Reading Notes From A Blue Bike by Tsh Oxenreider. Love it.

Working on Project Life finally! I drove all the way to Lincoln to get the Kiwi edition because it’s still sold out online and in Omaha. I’m so glad a did because I really like it and it was the only one they had.

Feeling better this week and looking forward to getting things back to normal around here.

Eating clean…well, as often as I can.

Grilling our dinners lately. Yum!

Exercising.

Making some new projects that I’ll be posting about soon. The creative juices are flowing again.

Taking photos  Lots of photos. Always.

Thinking ahead to birthday parties, holidays and all that is to come this season.

When It’s Cancer…

For the past six months, my family and I have been waiting, as patiently as possible, to find out if my mom had cancer. Back in September she had to have a chest x-ray before she could switch to a new RA (Rheumatoid Arthritis) medication, and to everyone’s surprise, something showed up on the x-ray. A very tiny spot on one of her lungs. It is common for RA patients to have nodules grow on their lungs because of the medication that they have to take, and because of this fact, the nodule wasn’t all that alarming. They told her that because it was so small and because she has RA, they weren’t super concerned with it and she would just need a follow-up x-ray in six months.

Waiting those six months was very hard on my mom. She could not shake the bad feeling she had. Finally after waiting six months, she had her second chest x-ray to see if the spot had grown. It had in fact grown ever so slightly. The next step was to do a PET scan to determine if it was cancer. She had to wait two more weeks. Once the PET scan was completed, she had to wait some more for the results. Four very long days. It turned out that the scan showed a slight glow that could possibly indicate cancer.

My mom was devastated. We were all devastated. The next step was to have it removed immediately. She had surgery last Friday and during the surgery they dissected the lump, sent it to the lab and found out that it was definitely cancer, so they removed the entire thing. It was a major surgery and the recovery is long and painful, but she’s doing pretty good.

It’s been very hard on everyone and I don’t think I realized just how much it was affecting me until after I found out she made it through surgery and was okay. I hadn’t cried at all, not the entire time, until I hung up the phone with my dad. Then I broke down. I couldn’t stop crying. My mom had cancer. It was gone, but it was real. It was so hard to wrap my head around, so I think I powered through as best I could with the information I had. But once I knew she was going to be okay…well I couldn’t hold it in any longer. I haven’t felt much like myself since Friday. I’m still trying to work through all my feelings. I’m so relieved that the cancer is out. I can’t believe how lucky she was and is. If she didn’t have RA, she wouldn’t have needed a chest x-ray and if she hadn’t had that x-ray, she wouldn’t have found out about the cancer. Her cancer was stage 1-A, which means they found it the earliest they could have possibly found it. For that reason, I’m so thankful that she has RA. Her cancer could have gone unnoticed until it was too late. Instead they found it early and removed it before it could spread anywhere else in her body. She is now cancer free!

I still need some time to heal emotionally. We all do. Especially my mom. So, I’m going to spend some time with her and I know that will make all the difference (I didn’t get to be there for her surgery). Hopefully by next week, I’ll be feeling back to my normal self and be able to focus attention on other things again, but for now, I’m giving all my attention to my mom.

 

This is my mom with my uncle at Christmas. She will say she looks terrible in this photo. She always says that, but I think she looks happy.

Love you Mom!

See you next week!

Weekend Favorites

There wasn’t any thrifting this weekend, but there was lots of fun!

Date night with my cute hubby! I love date nights and they just don’t happen often enough.

 

Painting birdhouses with the kids outside on our deck. The weather was beautiful! The kids had so much fun and we crossed our first activity off our Spring Bucket List.

 

We all made a rainbow craft for St. Patrick’s Day. By the way, I learned from watching the Today show this morning that it is incorrect to call it St. Patty’s Day. It should be Paddy’s. Very interesting. I learn something new every day!

These are rainbow windsocks that I found on Pinterest, but you can find them here. The kids love these. They decided that they looked like jellyfish, so we glued on some googly eyes. Lots of fun and we crossed another activity off our Spring Bucket List.

 

 

And last, but not least, my favorite photo from the weekend. I’ve always loved watching my babies sleep and I still can’t get enough of it. She looks so peaceful and beautiful.

 

How was your weekend? Did you get to spend time outside? We were outside all day Saturday, but then it was cold again on Sunday. I did get a bunch of painting done while I was stuck inside though. So that was good.

I hope you’re having a great start to your week!

Spring Bucket List

I mentioned yesterday that I was thinking about making a Spring Bucket List/Spring Family Fun List. Well, I made one and I’m sharing it with you today. It is available for you to download.**PLEASE NOTE: This download is for personal use only**  To print your own copy simply right-click on the image and save it to your computer and print.

I hope it inspires you to get outdoors and enjoy the new season!

You might notice that some of the activities on the list are repeats from previous Summer or Fall lists. I decided to repeat a few that were on the lists that either never got crossed off because we didn’t get to them or were activities on the list that we did when Harper was a baby and she couldn’t really participate in, such as painting birdhouses.

I can’t wait to start having some Springtime fun!

Enjoy!

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