Happy Love Day

 This Valentines didn't exactly go as planned, but it will likely be one that we don't forget :)

Husband texts me at about 4:30, HAPPY VALENTINES DAY, BABY...Boss wants to finish a job, it will be at least 7:00 before I get home...

That was about the same time that I had put my mini, heart shaped meatloaves into the oven, along with the cheesy potatoes...

I gave the kiddos a snack & turned the oven to a lower temp, hoping the children could hold out till daddy got home...

About 6:00, dinner was ready & there was no more waiting for the children. They were HUNGRY!

I flipped the mini meatloaves out of their silicone heart molds, to find they looked nothing like hearts & more like turds.(tasty turds non the less)...

I had wrapped up a chocolate for each of the children & placed them on their plates... When River opened his, he said,"Mama, its too cute to eat!" ...It was gone within the next half hour :)

Just as we were finishing up, husband walks through the door with an arm full of wildflowers & chocolates...

I warmed up his dinner & then it was time for him to open his gift from me :)

The complete series of  The 3 Stooges.

I'm pretty sure I nailed it...

Lesson learned...tradition will change a little, starting next year.

Mama is going to enjoy the day as well & take-out will be ordered. No more heart shaped  turd loaves, or heart shaped anything-except maybe cookies!

River

This boy never ceases to make me smile with his words.

Since I'm awful at keeping baby books, I put to words here, all that I want to remember...

Tonight, as I filled little medicine cups with herbal drops & water, & mixed tiny spoonfuls of raspberry jelly, with their powdered prebiotics... then on to rub 4 little feet with Unkers, before slipping socks onto them, River looks up at me & says," Thank you for taking care of me, Mama.(heart melted)

Once they were tucked, all snug in their beds, I went downstairs to finish polishing my nails for church tomorrow. Only a few seconds later, I hear little feet, running down the stairs again & River calling out for one more hug. I say, "I can't baby, my nails are all wet." To which he replied, "But I can!" & came in for a squeeze...

A few minutes later, as daddy tucks him in for the 3rd time, I hear them talking & River says,"We need to go to sleep right away! So we can watch the football players, play bowling tomorrow!"

Daddy replied with a smile in his voice, "No, they will be playing football in the Super-Bowl game"

As little one INSISTS, that NO! they will be bowling! I know it!...

He fills my days with laughter, & brings joy to my heart.

He is my 4th born, the one who is so much like myself that I sometimes cringe. 

The one who will be spitting mad one second & loving on someone the next. Hes mischievous, & a big tease, but full of so much love.

I love you a million red M & M's! <3 

Master Bedroom, Before & After

BEFORE

 AFTER

The Gallery wall came together pretty quickly. I had a few frames & the "Love you Madly" print. Twisted Antiques had just what I needed to finish it out, with the oval frame & mirror...I'm loving the end result!

My wedding dress, displayed with a photo of us on our wedding day....

Well this was short & sweet...I'm fighting a terrible headache, so I decided if I'm just laying around anyway, I'll get the Master Before & After posted :)

The Kitchen/Dining room

The sunshine today has inspired me. The kitchen got a good scrubbing, & what better time to snap a few pictures & give you a peek into the room where I spend most of my waking hours.

This is the BEFORE photo:

...And AFTER:

This Spring, we'd like to add some subway tile to the back-splash & change out the light fixture over the sink.

I love that my kitchen is small enough, that everything is at my fingertips...

My kitchen at our old home was completely white, counter-tops, flooring...All. Of. It. 

It was impossible to keep it clean for even a few hours.

I'm loving my new Kitchen! The counter-tops are black, the flooring has variations of brown/tan & it's completely forgiving & hides a lot of kid dirt. That being said, it gets cleaned once a week(I'm not a complete slob) haha! ;)

Our little command center. Each year, I purchase one of these large desk calendars.

Every appointment & activity gets written down here. It saves so much confusion about whats going to happen for that week & the children don't need to ask me every day, what we're going to do. 

The artwork was created by our oldest when he was in 2nd Grade. It's still one of my favorite pcs. hes created.

I know, the table is off-center with the lighting. It makes me a little crazy. I believe the previous owner had a round dining table, so it worked perfectly. I've been trying for years to get husband to let me sell our dining table. it's huge & clunky. It was one of the 1st things we bought together as a married couple, so I think it holds some sentimental value for him.

The cubbies to the right, is something I'm still trying to get used to. At our old home, we had a mudroom/laundry room to hide a lot of the clutter...I've been thinking of ways to hide the clutter. Possibly old shutters on hinges?? ...not sure yet.

Over Christmas, Shutterfly was running a 101 free prints promotion.  I picked some of my favorite photos, over the past few years & printed them out in a Polaroid/Instagram style(with a white border) & hung them onto string with tiny clothes pins. I'm loving how it turned out.

The plate wall is a work in progress...

And that about sums it up!

Enjoy your SUNNY Wednesday morning!

The Living room

Well here goes... Many of you have been asking for photos of our (new to us) home.

It's a much smaller home than what we had, but it's cozy & we absolutely have fallen in love with it.

So without further ado...

Living room: BEFORE.

I forgot to take before photos. Everything was a blur for awhile there & we were doing our best to get into our home before Christmas, (With the previous owner's permission, I'm using the photos that were used with the listing of the home.)

Living room: AFTER.

We had someone come in & repaint the house, from top to bottom. The home was full of color, & we enjoy a more neutral color palette.

We also changed up the flooring in the living room...
The wooden side table, is an antique sewing machine cabinet, that I inherited from my parents when they down-sized this past year.
The "Love chapter" print was made by the lovely Miriam @pinetreelanestudios.
And the yellow chair/ottoman came from a local, used furniture store. 

My mom passed on her love of Little Golden Books to me... When we were just little kiddos, Mom would often bring home a new Little Golden Book for us, each time she went to town to get groceries. As my collection grows, it's almost impossible for me to pass them up, when I discover a new one while thrifting or antiquing.

The little green dress, in the bottom frame, was my going home from the hospital outfit. I love the fact that it's a bright, lime green dress, made for a little Amish girl, in the 80's

Mom also passed down her love of  antiques & little birds, down to me. Although her style is more primitive/vintage & mine is more modern/vintage(oxymoron, I know), we both love a lot of the same things.

 This beautiful, antique piece was also passed down from my parents, when they down-sized this past year. I love the grains in the wood...

The entertainment part of the room... I'm still trying to decide whether I want to paint this piece or not. The TV stand was also found at the same, local, used furniture shop for 30.00! I love the Mid-Century vibes, I just can't make up my mind about painting it-your opinions would be welcomed :)

And that's a wrap!

In my kitchen today: It's not Rocket Science

Hey there! Today I'm going to share a few tips that I use on a weekly basis, in order to keep my sanity intact when it comes to feeding my family, & not having to spend hours in my kitchen daily.

My weekend, meal planning in review: Saturday, I thawed 4 lbs of grass-fed, beef  hamburger. Saturday evening I  fried it up & divided it up into multiple meals. 

I added taco seasoning to 3lbs. of the meat, & 1 1/2lbs of that was put in the crockpot & into the fridge for Sunday lunch Tacos. The other 1 1/2lb. was put in a freezer container for Taco night next week.

...The remaining lb. of plain/fried hamburger was put in the fridge for a casserole, for Monday night supper. Today I took out that lb of hamburger & made a macaroni casserole & doubled the batch. Half of the casserole will be served for dinner tonight & the other half was put in a freezer container, to be thawed for a busy night when I don't have time to cook. The leftover lettuce from Taco Sunday, was used to make a quick tossed salad to go with the macaroni casserole.

I cook many of my meals in double batches & put half in the freezer. The same goes for baking. 

Not everything can be frozen well, & there are days when I have the time to cook a nice meal & make it happen, But I'd say at least 50% of our meals are made ahead & frozen.

I use the 80/20 rule in cooking healthy for my family. 80% is healthy, organic-20% is convenient, ready-made foods. It's all about balance & not stressing about it too much.

Homemade bread is just a given here. Since I've started baking our own bread, the store bought just tastes like cardboard. The homemade bread is filling & nutritious, & keeps my kiddos full longer.

The children are all home today, celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.... So for lunch,

I sliced up some of that homemade bread, & made sandwiches, & cut up some apples to dip into peanut butter. (This lunch is the perfect example of my 80/20 rule) :)

Here is a list of a few staple items that are always in my kitchen, that make for quick, wholesome meals & snacks.

• Homemade bread-for quick sandwiches or a snack of buttered bread
• Deli meat & cheese-gasp! I know that it's not the healthiest thing in the world, but it's quick & easy & makes up part of that 20% I was talking about.
• Soft tacos-for wraps, quesadillas etc.
• Apples & peanut butter-we love our apples! & eat them almost daily.
• Bananas-another quick, filling & healthy snack
• Hard-boiled eggs-for salads, deviled eggs, or just as-is.
• Pasta & Rice-2 items that have a vast amount of possibilities in the kitchen & freeze well.

There are also bulk items I purchase through boxed.com that give me a break when the munchies hit.

• Nature valley granola bars
• Organic Z-bars
• large containers of stick pretzels
• Baked Sun-chips, in portion controlled packages
• Organic fruit gummies

Having canned & frozen foods that I've preserved from my garden every year, makes a huge dent in cooking times as well. We love Taco & Chili soup & I make that there are an abundance of each, every year...

I'm hoping this was even a little bit helpful to all you Mamas out there.

Happy Monday!

River has a Birthday!

We were barely awake, when we heard little feet come running down the stairs & into our bedroom. I pretend to still be sleeping as he comes to my side of the bed & whispers in my ear, "Mama! It's my Birthday today! Can I open my present now?!"

He's been eyeing his gift for quite a few weeks, all wrapped up in sprinkles, & was counting down the days till he could open it.

(I love how hes using his thumb to show how old he is)

...Christmas break had us all in a funk, so I planned a very, spur of the moment, pool party for the Birthday Boy. It was exactly what the kiddos needed to burn off all that Christmas sugar & excess energy!

A few cousins, an Aunt & Uncle, & Grandpa-Grandma Raber, showed up to join in the fun!

Doing back-flips off the side of the pool...

We had the pool to ourselves for almost 2 hours, then it was time to fill hungry bellies with brownies, chips & punch!

Later in the evening, we celebrated with Grandma & Grandpa Hilty & Aunt Miriam...

...We tucked-in some very tired kiddos, every ounce of energy spent.

Good-Night, Sweet boy. May everything you wished for, come true!

<3 <3 <3