note to self...

i realized something about myself. probably something that others around me knew but were kind enough not to say... i'm not a clean person.
i thought i was a cleaner, an organizer... but i've realized that you ARE what you DO. and what i DO is not clean. ... i realize that there are other things on my list that are more important to me than a clean house. such as: eating healthy, homeschooling, running, sleeping. and at the end of the day, that's about all i have time or energy for. now, do i want a clean house? MAI, OUI!  but am i willing to sacrifice the main time commitments of my day to get it? not likely.... so if you come to my house and see clutter everywhere, chances are, i was able to get my run in.

moral of the story: if it's really that important to you, you'll sacrifice other things to make it happen.
application of the story: if you come to my house, you'll probably not see a clean house, but you'll probably have one of the healthiest smoothies around.  

one crap of a day!

today was one homeschooling day that i'd soon like to forget.

i basically spent the entire day monitoring our jewel doing copywork on three lessons that she was supposed to read aloud and discuss with me. instead, it turned into a bear. whining, pouting, complaining about not wanting to do the work resulted in me telling her that since she didn't want to read it, she could copy the 3 lessons down. 10 hours later, she was sent to bed, to be resumed tomorrow. ugh!

honestly, she could have finished it in 2 hours, had she not whined, complained, and pouted. i'm not looking forward to tomorrow.

oh and by the way, happy birthday to me. this is NOT how i thought the day was going to go.

wanna know how i had envisioned how the day was GOING to go?  we were going to finish school early, go to paneras for a fun treat, and work on a puzzle.  

dang gone it! it's gone into the crapper!

http://www.musclehack.com

a whirlwind of days

it started on wednesday and since then it's been a procession of events!

wednesday evening, we had some friends over for a pizza dinner (my man's specialty) and they left around midnight.
then on friday, after our jewel's ballet, we had some other friends over for a pizza dinner and they left around 12:30am.
on saturday, we went to an easter egg hunt (which i drove 30 minutes for and then ended up missing) but our jewel got to pick up her dad's birthday gift so it wasn't a complete lost. then off to a friend's birthday party and then drove down to philly for a progressive dinner w/ some friends.

our precious getting serenaded at Lascala's

love this face!

appropos of nothing, both the men in the families were feeling under the weather, but because it took 3 months to get a date we could settle on, no one wanted to postpone. it was fun, but guess what time we got home? 1am. then i was up til 4am making our jewel and our precious'  easter baskets. for someone who's not a fan of easter baskets, i surely did put a lot of time into it!

KA and her basket

our precious' basket. i wanted to get a picture with her but the only time we were home, she took her nap

our precious and her easter hat

peek a boo!

i see you!

then on sunday, we had easter service at church and then afterwards, went to a friends' house for easter dinner. didn't get home until well after 10pm, so by sunday evening our jewel  was a basket case. so today, we're just chillin' around the house. reading books, playing w/ toys, and eating :)

venting over easter traditions...

i'm not one for dying easter eggs as i think it's a waste of my farm eggs. i know you can eat the eggs after you dye them, but honestly w/ that nasty food coloring, i'd rather not.
i know you can get the cheap store eggs and just toss them afterwards, but that seems so wasteful too...
so i usually ho hum about it each year and then  i usually don't do it. but this year, i just may muster up the energy to go to the store and get some natural dyes. 

last year, i did an easter basket for our jewel. i'm not one for giving junk just to give junk...which is why i don't generally do baskets, but for some reason last year, i just had a heart's desire to give her a basket.  but this year, i don't know, i'm back to thinking it's junk again.

i think if i were more proactive about planning for this, then i would look for small things that she needed and gather them in a cute basket - you know, socks, pencils, etc...
wait! stop the presses!
you know, as i write this, i think that i just may put something together for her. i know she would enjoy opening it.  now i just need to get myself to the store...


however, the one tradition that requires no venting is the easter meal with family and friends. each easter we've had the privilege of spending time w/ some wonderful people in our lives. i love that we can sit down w/ others over an easter meal and share the love of Christ.  we're excited to spend some time w/ a really cool family that we've gotten close to here.

dad

dad and grandkids

dad celebrated his 70th birthday a few weekends ago. the grandkids got a kick out of opening his presents.

mom and our precious

happy birthday, dad!

dinner fast food wise

today was a typical day where i was behind my "schedule" and i didn't get done nearly 1/2 the to do list that i wanted to get done...
it's 6:30 and in walks my man to see that the baby is crying and our jewel is taking a break.


anyways, i passed the baby to my man and whisked into the kitchen to whip something up for dinner.
i pull out stuff for a salad and a baguette i had picked up at target earlier today.
i had made hummus a few days ago and figured we'd just do that.  but then i remembered we had left over sausage in the fridge too...

soooo, after a 'hurricane' of action in the kitchen, we sat down to:

spring green salad w/ a shallot vinaigrette
hummus and baguette (so yum! hot and soft right out of the oven)
scrambled eggs, sausage and onions in thai chili sauce.
for dessert, we had protein bars that i had made earlier today. they were really good! my man said that they tasted like scones.

oh and by the way, i picked up a few containers at target (my original reason for going) and was able to organize my fridge. so while i didn't get everything done, it was still a good productive day.

Death comes to us all

the child we sponsored through compassion passed away quietly in a hospital in December from Hep.
she was 7.
7!!! that's the same age as our jewel....
i've been thinking about their family. praying.