Easter

We had a really great Easter. It is so wonderful to know that we have a Savior that died for us and paid the price for all of our sins. I know that he lives and that we too shall live again after this life. We had lovely beautiful spring weather on top of it all and that just made the day perfect. I love spring time and the feeling of the earth coming alive again.


I really wanted to take pictures of everyone before we left for church but we were running late ( I know, it's annoying to even say you're running late when you have 1:00 church). However, we still don't get ready until it's close to time to go or everyone would destroy their clothes. So-- I insisted on taking some when we got home and by that time everyone was not in the mood anymore. Go figure. So this is as good as it got. Can't wait for the day when my boys are all grown up with families of their own and complain to me that their kids never hold still for pictures. Then I can show them pictures like these of when they were little.

 





The kids enjoyed what the Easter bunny brought them in their baskets and made short work of a lot of the candy. We had a yummy brunch with apple butter braids and scrambled eggs. After church we had a delicious dinner of ham, potato casserole, rolls, salad, and strawberry shortcake for dessert. We did an egg hunt for the kids after dinner and it was so entertaining to watch the kids looking in all the nooks and cranny's of the yard. Riley did hide a few in some pretty interesting spots, mostly for our own amusement to see if they would be able to find them. It was a fun day and a good way to end spring break. I'm thankful for wonderful days like these.

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.