The list keeps growing...........

It's official. The twins are going to financially devastate us. In the last few weeks we have had to replace 2 toilets, we are now in the market for a new computer thanks to their constant button pushing and rebooting skills - aka - killing it, and I'm frankly afraid to see what happens next. We've also had to buy new bar stools and I wish we had a way to bolt them down to the ground. Oh, and let's not forget my previous treadmill that they broke the power chord on. Quite the list right? Yes, they've racked up quite the tab and sucked dry my patience reserves.  I keep asking myself, what am I supposed to be learning from all of these frustrating experiences that just seem to keep on happening? I know that when you pray for patience it is not automatically granted to you, rather you are given situations to hone that specific virtue right? I don't think that's working for me. Maybe Cooper and Kale were really sent to our family for the sole purpose of keeping us humble and to prevent us from gathering too many worldly riches. On the flip side, we now are expert toilet replacers and I suppose have involuntarily added a few more updates and value to our home. Yeah.

Well, I suppose next time I am having a bad day I will think, are my toilets working? Have I had to take any one for stitches today? Ok, maybe life isn't so bad.

Pinterest + Polyvore

I love clothes a lot. You can check out my pinterest style board if you want to see how much. I like trying different styles and not putting myself in a box. Sometimes it's easy to get in a mom slump where I only wear workout clothes, or jeans and a hoody, but it makes the days that I do put more of an effort into it that much more of a treat. Dressing up for a night out, church, or a special occasion is fun and it's nice to wear something other than the normal everyday attire but if I had to pick one style that fits me most, I guess it would be leaning towards the sporty athletic look. I own a few too many pairs of athletic shoes and usually my wish list contains a few more. I can't fight it.

I thought I'd share a few of my favorite looks I created on polyvore just for fun today. Some sporty, casual, dressy and everything in between.


This first look makes me feel kind of like a mini celebrity. When I pinned it to pinterest, I didn't really expect 13 other people to repin it, let alone 113! Crazy. When I created this "Soccer Mom" outfit, I was trying to find something that balanced between normal casual clothes and a semi-sporty look.





Here's another take on it:





And one more for football season:




 Here is one of my favorite fun happy outfits, I just love yellow:





And another one in some tangerine for spring:







A couple of my favorite dressy outfits:











I love this for a nice fall weekend:






Wintertime:



Vacation:






So there is a small sampling of some of the outfits I've created. I love putting things together and finding inspiration for new ways to wear things I already own or things I see in the stores. It's a fun hobby and almost satisfies my need to shop.

Miles and Miles

Here it is the last day of February and I was able to squeeze in a little more running and working out thanks to the extra day this month courtesy of Mr. Leap Year. I'm breaking in some new running shoes and trying out some new workouts to mix things up and keep my body and metabolism guessing. Results are slow and steady and I just keep at it.

I wanted to try and run on average 50 miles a month this year. As of today I am at 95 miles, and I probably could have eked out more if I hadn't gotten sick and felt so rotten a couple of those weeks. Still having trouble getting all the junk out my lungs and getting my full breathing capacity back so I've scaled back on the miles for the time being.

Started back up with some free weights and my arms and back are feeling better. I've been reading up on healthy fuel for the body to restore and replenish exhausted muscles after a hard workout and found that chocolate milk is one of the best things you can drink post workout. A glass of low-fat chocolate milk and a banana and peanut butter (the potassium from the banana helps prevent muscle cramps and the peanut butter just helps me get a little more protein) are one of my go-to snacks now to help make sure my muscles are getting the refueling they need.

My challenge for March is finding more healthy dinner ideas that the whole family will eat and planning them way ahead of time. We are jumping full throttle into Riley's high school soccer coaching season, Kendle's soccer season, added onto school, work, church, piano, and everything else. We've been in a food rut so hopefully I can overcome that in the next few weeks and make good things happen.

Weekend

What a fun and relaxing 4 1/2 day weekend we had. Friday Kendle only had a half day of school (it was a furlough day). Kendle had another birthday party to go to that night that she was excited to attend. January and February have been super busy birthday months! It was a sleepover, but since she had an early basketball game the next morning we agreed to let her stay until about 9:00 or so instead. After much deliberation she decided that sounded fair.

Bright and early Saturday morning we went to Pasco High for Kendle's basketball game. Her team was missing a few players and have had quite a few people that have been sick so it didn't go too well, but Kendle had a couple of outstanding baskets the last little bit of the game. On one play all of her team mates pulled out of the key taking their defenders with them and left a wide open lane right down the middle for Kendle to drive to the basket. It was great. I wish they could do that more. Since she is not one of the taller girls out there she has to really hustle and try harder for rebounds. She does a good job of shutting down the other teams good players when she gets to defend them. There are only two more games left in the season and it has gone by really fast. I wish I could get pictures and video of her playing more, but it is hard when I'm wrestling little guys during the games.

Saturday night we celebrated my little sister Tamra's 22 birthday. She came home for the weekend from Corvallis. We went to Texas Roadhouse and stuffed ourselves silly and Tamra even got to sit on the birthday saddle. Yee-haw! It was fun to visit with her and her boyfriend Luke, and also Tucker and mom and dad.








After that we made a run into Ranch and Home so the guys could look at some "guy stuff". You know - guns, ammunition, out door gear, etc......We found a super fun little sandbox digger for the boys that was a total steal that looks like this:


Morgan has been digging some big holes already and loving it for his farm. We might have to go back and buy two more for the the other little farmers though! Good thing we still have that big patch of dirt for the kids to play in on the side of the house. Some days I hate it, but it keeps the little guys busy.

Monday we relaxed most of the morning and then Kendle and Riley headed to soccer practice after lunch. Riley is coaching Kendle's t-cysa team and also a tournament team he was asked to put together for the upcoming Blue Mountain tournament that is put on every year over here at our soccer fields. It will take place next weekend so Riley has been trying to cram in some practices beforehand with these girls who are mostly all coming from separate teams and have not played together before. Kendle will be playing up an age group and hopefully their team will do some good things in the tournament. It has been a lot of work having two back to back practices for the regular season team and then the tournament team and Kendle has been getting her soccer legs back under her on Monday-Wed-Fridays and then running more at basketball on Tues-Thurs-Saturdays. The regular season for Kendle's soccer starts March 2 and then softball starts in April. Riley also "officially" starts high school soccer in the next week or so as well. Whew! Hope we can keep up.