My Little Boy is Growing Up

Yesterday was Tyler’s first day of Mother’s Day Out.

And boy oh boy was he excited! We were up early,had clothes on and he was about to drag me out of the house. He really thought we were going to be late for his 1st day. I am so happy that my little man is going to ‘school’ two days a week and gets to learn about Jesus.

Here are a few pictures from our morning…

{Tyler talking to his Daddy on his way to school}

{Tyler ready for class}

When I picked Tyler up from school they told me that he was a perfect angle. Tyler was polite, well behaved, picked up messes, ate all of his lunch and took his nap like he was supposed to. It’s like he was a different child! And he is so excited to go back on Friday.

I want that sweet, well behaved boy at home too!

Photo Friday Week 34: Defeat

Howdy peeps!

It has been for. ev. er since I have done a Photo Friday with Trina!

After I saw here cute photo of the dead plant, I knew that I had to… borrow her idea. With this heat I have plenty of dead plants, but what is really defeating me right now is the never ending loads of laundry!

Really! It NEVER ends!

I hope you check out all the other great photos over at Trina’s :)

Next Week: Sunset

Organized Life: Refrigerator and Freezer

I have been reading I Heart Organizing for a while now and I have to tell you, I have kinda fallen in love with organizing a little myself. It is so awesome to know that everything is all clean and organized, but what’s even better is that I can find it!

The first thing I decided to work on was our fridge{s} and freezer. Partly because it was the easiest, but mainly because I knew that I could get them done in one day. They was a horrible cluttered mess and I was lucky if I knew what we had half the time.

I can’t believe how much better it looks now! I can find things, and it isn’t so crammed that things go to waste because I can’t find them to use them. I am still working on some storage ideas, but it is coming along nicely.

I love storing certain foods in bins. They are easy to access and don’t get tossed around all over the fridge. Another new love is glass juice containers. I can’t wait to get some for my milk!

Next on the list was to clean my freezer. Here is a before and after. I’m not sure if it will stay exactly like this, but it is already a million times better!

I am lucky enough to still have our very first fridge that we got as a wedding present. When we bought our new one we moved the old one out into the garage for extra storage if needed. Let me tell you, it comes in handy! I keep all the beer, wine and extra juices on the bottom shelf where they stay cold. In the door is where I keep all the condiments that I use, but not on a daily basis. This way I still have them, but they are not taking up space in the fridge inside.

I hope you enjoyed the little tour of fridge{s} and freezer.

Next on my agenda is my kitchen cupboards!

Steak Taco Yummy-ness

Steak Tacos

2 to 3 lbs. Sirloin Steak
1/2 bottle of beer
10 dashes of Worcestershire sauce
2 cloves of garlic smashed
1/2 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground pepper
Juice of half an orange
Optional: 2 green onion stalks

Mix your beer, Worcestershire, garlic, salt, pepper and orange together in a dish big enough for your meat.

Add the steak and let marinate for about an hour, turning once halfway through.

Grill your steak on outdoor grill or in a grill pan until done to your liking. I prefer mine pink in the middle, but there are some people who choose to cook there’s until it no longer moo’s. I had to use my grill pan because my outdoor grill is broken, but it worked perfectly!

And if you like, grill your green onions until browned, cut in half and serve on your tacos! They are delish!

One of my favorite things to add to my tacos is pico de gallo. It adds color, heat and wonderful flavor.

You can see my detailed recipe for my Pico de Gallo here.

First Day of Kindergarten

Today was the first day of school! Amazingly the morning went off without any meltdowns or tantrums. We were up at 6:30am as planned and out the door like we were supposed to be. I will say it is rough getting two boys up at 6:30 in the am, but they sure do sleep better at night. But let me tell you… it is a mad house dropping him off for school. Those people are crazy!

{I spent most of Sunday evening getting things ready and making sure that everything was in order for a smooth morning. I laid out clothes so we would not spend the time searching for everything. I have to say that clothes will be laid out from now on, it makes like so much easier}

I thought I was going to be one of those mom’s that cried when she dropped her little boy off for his first day of ‘big boy’ school, but there were none. Not from me or Jake. I think he was too excited about meeting new friends to cry, and was excited that I could get my errands done and house clean. Does that make me a bad mom?

Sorry for picture overload. I was snap happy today :) 
Hope you enjoy!

Breakfast of champions… Okay, maybe not… but it was easy and they like em’.

I love this photo of us!

Tyler had to have his pic taken too! He was upset bub got to go to school and he didn’t.

Waiting in the looooong line to get into the building.

Picking Jake up was so much easier than taking him. He was so excited to tell me about his first day.
Wanna know what his favorite part was??

Recess and Lunch!
{Go figure :)}

Gearin’ Up for School

School officially starts tomorrow!

I can’t believe that summer is almost over. Where on earth did it go?

Jacob is all set to start school first thing Monday morning and Tyler starts Mother’s Day Out the following week.  It’s find it crazy that I have so many mixed emotions about the start of school. It it going to be different not having two kids constantly under foot all day every day. But on the other hand, I am excited that I have at least 2 days a week to grocery shop and run errands without any kids. I don’t know if I am going to know how to do that?!

I am lucky to have known Jacob’s teacher for the past 10 years, and I know that she is going to be great with him. He is going to love her!

I think the boys were most excited about picking out all the awesome school supplies that we got to buy.

Life is going to change drastically starting Monday. We have been so accustomed to getting up when we want and having leisurely mornings. But not anymore! School starts at 7:45am this year. Lucky for me school is only a mile away so I don’t have to drive for 20 minutes to get there. I am going to have to re-work my days so that I get the majority of my stuff done between the hours of 8am and 3pm.

Here is a sample of what my day is going to look like:

School lunches are my roadblock right now. I am sending Jacob with his lunch, but can’t decide if I want him to eat at school every so often. He is so picky that I am afraid he won’t eat what they have. I bought a bunch of stuff for sandwiches this week, but I am brainstorming different ideas to give him a better variety.

Any lunch ideas for me?

Well, now it’s off to bed so we can be up early!

I hope everyone had a blessed Sunday.

The Road of Faith

Have you ever driven down a small country road?

There is just something about them. Something that is beautiful and peaceful.

Country roads are usually less traveled than the main roads. They are usually not the quickest route to your destination, but they are the prettiest and most rewarding. There may even be times when you come to a fork in the road or a road block. {I know this from experience}

This is how I feel about the faith walk that I am on right now. Following God’s plan is not always the quickest route and He may not answer your prayers when you think He should, but God’s route is the prettiest and most rewarding route.

When I think about all the times that I have decided to do things my way instead of following God, I may have arrived at the destination I thought I was supposed to, but it was not at all what God had planned for me. I think it is crazy that so many time I think that my way is so much better than God’s. I must be crazy!

But then there are times when I do make pretty bad decisions, and God uses them to draw me closer to Him and glorify His name. I never thought that something so wonderful could come from something that was at one time so bad.

There are a few things that I have been struggling with lately, and it would be so easy to take matters into my own hands and try to fix them on my own, but why? Why would I take the easy way when I could trust in God’s plan and glorify Him.

I want to live my life for Him!

More importantly I want my children to see me glorifying God!
I want my children to see that if they trust in the Lord, He will bless them.

I now know more than ever that my place in life is on the small, quiet country road.

And so far it is a beautiful and blessed journey!

My Perfect Planner

I spent weeks searching high and low for a ‘mommy planner’ that fit all my needs. But all I found were planners filled with useless things or pages with grocery lists that were just too small for a family of 4.

Being extremely frustrated and needing something to help me map out my days, I sat down with my laptop and created a bunch of spreadsheets in excel. I spent a week tweaking them and making them exactly what I needed. Then decided that I needed a super cute cover for my personalized planner. I chose turquoise and animal prints, just because they are my favorite. I even added my name so I knew it was mine at all times :)

I contemplated just punching holes in the pages and putting them in a 3-ring binder, but I am so glad that I decided against it. Having it spiral bound makes it perfect! I can flip through the pages easily and I take it everywhere. You never know when you are going to need to pencil somethin’ in.

I am so glad that I decided to make my own planner instead of settling for something that I could only use half of. It may have been {a lot} more work, but in the end it was cheaper than any of the others I found and it is exactly what I need.

In addition to being spiral bound my planner has a clear front cover and hard black back. Makes it extra sturdy.

I added a .74 cent pencil pouch to hold things like stamps, coupons, receipts, mailbox keys, a picture of me and my love and things I need to be reminded about.

My monthly layout is of the 2 page kind. I added birthdays and places for notes at either the top or bottom on the pages.

My daily layout is wonderful! I have spots at the top for my to do’s {laundry, etc…}, dinner plans and misc. things. My day goes from 6:30am to 8:30pm so that I can jot down the things that keep my busy during the day.

I have a page for the boys school information that way I always have it on hand when I need it.

I also have a page for important medical information. This just makes it a little easier when needing insurance or doctor info in a hurry. Because I can tell you it takes me forever to find that stuff in my purse.

And lastly in the very back of my planner I have pages for notes, blog ideas and a place to jot down prayer requests as well as several pages for phone numbers.

I am linking up to Wow Us Wednesday @ Savvy Southern Style

Just Around the Corner

With summer winding down and school starting in 6 days, it can only mean one thing…

FALL is on it’s way!

I absolutly love fall, for all the obvious reasons of course. I love the way it looks and the way it smells. Oh how I love all the smells of fall. From hot cider to pumpkin spice, they are all so wonderful.

And you can’t forget about the cozy sweaters, furry boots and smell of a roaring fire! 
Oh so heavenly.

Here are some beautiful fall colors for you to enjoy:

As I surfed browsed the internet today looking at inspiration I stumbled upon some pictures of amazing ranches for sale in Wyoming. I would love to live in a place that was as breathtaking as this.

My living room furniture would look fabulous here!

 

Who would not want to wake up to this beautiful panoramic view?!

Or see these grazing in your backyard…

{all pictures courtesy of Google}