{Virtual Coffee}

6:35 a.m.
It is still completely dark still at this time since Spring Forward happened...which is not my favorite thing ever, if you really wanna know.
Birds are singing though and that just makes it feel like Spring out there, even if I am under a big blanket drinking my early morning coffee on the couch.
I love that Spring just feels so close now.

Sometimes after a busy weekend, it's easy to feel, even a couple days into the week, like you are still trying to get caught up. That's exactly how I am feeling this morning.
Since I started working again, my struggle is always the same-- Feeling completely behind on everything at home AND not wanting to spend my entire weekend doing those things. Ha!
I know I need to start spending a little more time getting caught up on these things as well as some time on Sundays to do a little to prepare for the school/work week ahead.
I just need to make myself start doing it already, which is often easier said than done for me.

Do you use Sunday or the weekend in general to plan for the week ahead at all?

If we were really meeting for coffee this morning....

I would tell you that I got to see my three best girlfriends over the weekend.Two of them I have been friends with since junior high and the other since high school. That's a long time, huh?

The older I get the more I realize how absolutely important it is to have friends in your life that you can really and truly count on... and unfortunately, this doesn't always get easier the older you get, either.

My younger self would just die to learn of this... But i have to say that it's not as easy as I thought it would be by the time I hit 40, regarding many, many things and that includes friendships.

That being said, I am so thankful I have these friends that I have been through so much with.

I do wish that I got to meet up with these girls for coffee every week, it would be sooo awesome + 

the mini weekly therapy sessions would be so good for me. Sighhh.

Oh, you wanted a Stanley Update, did ya?
This past weekend was  b e a u t i f u l   and Stanley is loving this weather + being outside just as much as we are.
The kids have been really good about playing outside with him and taking him out, no matter how cold or how much snow we have... But it's just so nice now that we can leave the door open and he can go in and out when he wants.
Stanley is doing well and if we could just get him to sleep in one spot for the night and keep him from going from bedroom to bedroom waking us all up... That would be great.

Sunday we celebrated two of my niece's Birthdays, they spent lots of time outside, cake + ice cream,
The Wubble(having you seen those balloon/bubble things?) and lots of time to play with cousins.
Some days when I am so annoyed/over/tired of where we live, I remember that my kids live near their cousins and grandparents and family and nothing can ever replace all of these memories and the relationships they have...
Right?
That's what I will keep reminding myself.

This weekend I am thinking about taking Charlotte to see the new Cinderella movie.
Has anyone seen it? Thoughts?

Hope you all have a great day... Yesterday it was in the 70's and today it's just supposed to be in the 50's... But I'll take it! No snow, ice or freezing temps? 50 sounds just fine to me.
Tell me what's going on with you....what's new in your world?

Happy Tuesday!

I Freaking Loved This Day.

Do you ever have those really good + awesome days, and while you are

  in the midst of the day, thoughts like this cross your mind:

I freaking love this day

This day and this weather is perfect.

I wish my kids could stay this age forever.

I hope my kids always remember this day.

I hope I always remember this day.

I love my nieces and nephew so much.... who knew this is how it would be??

Thank you God for my brother and sister.

I want to live in  the country... I should be living in the country.

I freaking love this day.

Saturday was that day.

A good memory-making, unexpected kind of day.

I loved Saturday.

My sister, sister-in-law and I had planned to take our kids to my uncle's house

 on Saturday to attempt a good picture of the seven grand kids for my mom's birthday this week-
it is all she asked for and pretty much threatened us if we didn't deliver this year.

So deliver we will... I think we ended up with a couple of usable pictures although

 it was a lot harder than I thought it would be.

Someone always had their eyes closed, was looking away, weird smile, picking their nose,
 laughing, pulling their dress up... something... but I think we did it.

My uncle is digging a huge hole in his field where a barn stood over 50+ years ago
and this hole has brought my kids so much entertainment, you have no idea.

A hole + dirt + forgotten treasures = hours of entertainment.

They spent a lot of time in the hole just digging through all of the stuff-- bricks from the foundation, 

glass bottles,  parts of tricycles, pieces of farm machinery... so much stuff.

It was so cool.
They built a fort with the bricks and little rooms and Charlotte was lining up
 all the glass bottles as "sun catchers".
Watching the kids outside, playing and using their imagination with their cousins makes me so happy.
Beyond happy.
It made me wish I could freeze this moment and these days and this stage in our
lives right here... Right now.
Freeze.

After the kids played in the hole and the dirt pile we decided to drive to the next little town
 for supper and ice cream. It was a beautiful night and absolutely perfect weather.
We ate outside at the dairy bar, the kids ate ice cream and acted silly and crazy and just had
so much fun together.
When we got back to my uncle's house we realized we could see the drag races at the race track
from his field, so we stood outside by the pond and watched and listened
 to the races for a while.
It reminded me so much of my own childhood, this was my grandma & grandpa's house,
we grew up hearing the races on Saturday nights right there in the (kinda)country.

This was my favorite find that Charlotte pulled out of the dirt pile.
We think it's a turn signal from an old Ford.
It still has the wire connected to it and none of the glass was broken!
Isn't that amazing?
That has to be from a car from over 60+ years ago... and probably even older.
We brought this home... now just to try and figure out how to clean it up.
Any ideas???

This day was much needed,  for me especially.
There have been a lot of not-so-good ones lately, a lot more than usual due to
stress and just regular old life stuff that is really easy to let get the better of you.
Saturday was a good reminder for me, I needed it.


:::::::::::::::::::

Today is the last day of September... where do the days and months and years GO?
Happy Monday!

Happiness Is... A Donut Party

Friday morning we had a Donut Party and invited the kid's cousins and my sister-in-law over.
I think those trendy little donut makers might just be one of the best inventions ever.
Like ever,  ever.

And you know that I love any excuse to get out my vintage pitchers and juice glasses.
Oh, yeah.
Listening to music in the kitchen on my little clock radio, while making donuts , with the windows open... while the kids waited
on the porch for their cousins to get here... THIS is what Summer is all about, folks.
I love it(and yes, I know it's only Week One, but I love it).

This time, out of pure laziness, I bought a regular old white cake mix and made the donuts that way, just follow the mixing instructions
on the box like normal.
We did half with cinnamon-sugar and half with chocolate icing and sprinkles, but it was determined that the next time we need
lots more with chocolate icing & sprinkles though.

To me, the perfect Summer balance is having some fun, planned-out , busy days followed by a stay-at-home in our pajamas and do
nothing but watch movies and play kinda days.
Too much of either is not good, not for me and not for them.

I'll be back next week to talk more extensively about our Summer Plans... schedules and camps and ideas and crafts and how
this mama is gonna keep it together all Summer long.
I'm open to any suggestions and ideas... I love to hear how other mamas make it through the Summer- and make it a good Summer
for themselves and the kids.

:::::::::::::::::::

Happy Saturday,  Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Happy Monday + A Winner

Hey there.
It's Monday and the last day of Christmas vacation for us... back to school tomorrow.
How am I going to get up tomorrow morning?
Seriously. I think the kids will do fine but I am more worried about myself,  I have gotten so lazy over break.
It's a little ridiculous, uhhhh.... like- think high school + college days of sleeping in. Ooops.

Anyway--
Since it's Monday, my three nieces will be here today and the kids are super excited.
They are looking forward to movies, brownies, hide-and-go-seek  + lots of playing with their
American Girl dolls.
I have to say, we have had a really nice break but I am ready to get back to a normal routine.
I kinda need it, like a lot.

>>>>>>>>>>

OH!!
Charlotte picked the winner of the adorable fox mug from last week's give-away...
That's Heather from We Are The Holden's. Yay!
Look for an email from me today, Heather, and I will be sending a package your way this week!

Make sure you join me here for  Virtual Coffee tomorrow morning.
Have a great day and a happy Monday!

Memory Makin'

Ahhhh, long weekends are so good.
A bit of a break from reality.
That one extra day just makes them that much more special and this weekend was no exception.

But  I have a really hard time putting pictures or ideas out there that make things look too good.
If you have been reading here very long at all, you know that.
So, I have to tell you that I was not looking forward to our annual Labor Day trip to the Cabin, not
at all.
We have gone basically all summer long with virtually no rain but the past several days we have had
a lot.
The idea of going down there just to be cooped up in the cabin with 7-10 kids, a dog and a cabin full of adults didn't sound super appealing to me.
Add to that the possibility of a certain older adult's grumpiness(i'm not namin' names) over wild cooped-up kids, tracking in mud and rain and dealing with  an outhouse in the rain during the night ...
Yeah, I could have easily been persuaded to just stay home.

But luckily I have Eric to talk me out of being an old negative grouch that would just rather stay home sometimes.
That and the guilt of knowing I would make the kids miss out on a whole lot of fun with their cousins, which is one of their most favorite things EVER...
made me realize we should go and I should get over myself.
So go, we did.
And it never fails that every single time I feel that way about going somewhere or doing something,
I am always more than happy that we went.

That's my man helping me pick wildflowers to fill a jar-- he is also the best poison ivy spotter out there.
Oh and it rained.
A lot.
It stormed then it was sunny, then it sprinkled, then the sun came out, over and over again.
Gotta love that manic midwestern weather.
And lots of rain means lots of mud.
The kids were in heaven.

Lots of things bother me or irritate me-- but see all that mud?
That doesn't bother me at all.
And the fact that there is no running water at the Cabin?
Fine with it.
We have a rain barrel and soap and towels- not a problem.
The only problem was that I was a little short on extra clothes for the kids, but we managed.
And how much fun does that look like anyway?

We are home and showered and un-packed and the laundry is going.
Back to school tomorrow.
But until then, we are going to finish off this long weekend with homemade pizza and ET.

How was your weekend? What did you do?
Hope it was a good one.
Oh- and Happy Monday...I'm going to be off on what day it is all week now.

It's Here...

Tomorrow is the big day.
First day of school.
The backpacks are packed, all the supplies are labeled, clothes are set out...
BUT, right now, instead of talking about how I am feeling about it all, how in the hell we got here
already and what I am going to do tomorrow...
Let's just look at some pretty pictures of my day instead, okay?
You can call it prolonging my denial just a little bit longer if you want.
You might be right.

The country, beautiful weather, horses, the pond, fishing, cousins, family, that sky, the lavender....
Can you even stand it?

>>>>>>>>>>>>

Hope you had a great weekend.
Wish me luck tomorrow!