Simplicity, chaos, but so much love!

Then we had straw cowboy hats for all the kids attending. We had favors bags that included, sheriff's badges, bandanas, root beer candies, western pencils that said "Happy 3rd Birthday Griffin", toy horses, tops, yo-yo's that were all western themed. Then we also had real horseshoes as balloon weights and each kid got one of those too. We had straw bales outside and then played corn hole, needle in a hay stack and a stick horse relay for prizes.
All in all, I think it was a good time. The weather ended up beautifully and I'm glad everyone was able to come celebrate our little man's birthday! He was exhausted (and I have to add, so was I!)
Can't wait for the next party to plan....I have something in mind...but it's a bit of a secret! Oh, I realized it's my dad's 50th in November and of course, you can expect a bash! He won't be reading this so I know it's safe to post!
Oh, Tyler's birthday is in June and he want's a Hawaiin Luau! Can't wait...think a roasted pig is in the works!
On a side note, I'm running in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure this Saturday in Indianapolis and am still looking for sponsors to help raise money for breast cancer research. It's super easy and again, anything you can give will help. You can donate online with just a few clicks and as this is a non-profit it's tax deductible. http://rfci.convio.net/site/TRC/Race/General?pg=peditor&fr_id=1090&px=1885660

Happy Hump Day everyone!

Okay, all (not that there are many of you following this) but, after talking about blogging today, I realized it'd been a good long while since I last blogged, so here I sit. After a month of leaving no updates for you, I decided.......it may be time for a new post! So, ready...set...blog!
We have not had a whole lot happen since my last moment of blab, but we are still, and always, super busy. Tyler has decided to run track. So, he's a sprinter (like his momma) and a long jumper (must get that from his dad!) He loves it, but still doesn't really have confidence. Still not sure how to restore that in an 11 year old after it's lost, so if you have any insights, please share. His first meet is thursday and I am both excited and nervous for him. Baseball season officially kicks off this week! So we will have nightly track practice or meets, plus 2 weeknight baseball practices, followed by Wednesday games (this is just Tyler's sporting events!)
Then Savannah decided to play fastpitch this year. After considering how last year went in softball and talking to several parents and coaches, she has her first fastpitch practice tomorrow. Not sure how many practices or when games are, but she has a great coach and I think she will be just fine. Oh, and she will move up to Red Squad at On the Flip Side next month after her last performance as a Mini at the Relay for Life. One of her best friends moved away last weekend and she was devastated. Even though she has other friends, it's hard to tell an 8 year old that it will be okay when a bestie moves away. She has shed so many tears. :(
Addison will continue on the Mini cheer squad and has shown so much improvement in the last 6 months. We only have a few more months until my baby girl will be in kindergarten! So hard to believe. She is so smart, yet so stubborn (yet another quality instilled from daddy :)...lol).
Griffin, my oh my, where do I start! My baby will be 3 years old in 6 days. I'm just in denial. He's a very determined little boy, and yes, I will own up to that trait. He surprised me with potty training much earlier, and much easier than his big brother and now, yes, this may be TMI, it kills me that he insists on standing up while peeing. It is just a milestone that makes him seem so much older and bigger. But, we are super excited to celebrate his birthday on Sunday. I am attempted something new with the cake and I hope it works out well! If not, I won't tell you b/c I never admit failure! LOL!
I have 2 months left for my ASB and then start in to my Bachelor Degree, though I'm still debating which area. But, we have just confirmed family vacation plans and we are so ready to go right now. Even more excited that my parents, who are so deserving of a nice vacation, are going with us.
Adam's new schedule makes his job even more trying than it was, but we still hold hope for a change in the future. There is potential, so with patience and prayer...you know the saying "good things come to those who wait"...well, let's just say we are still waiting.
I'm running in my second race next weekend. The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure and I hope to raise some money for research funding for breast cancer. I have a friend right now suffering from this awful disease and I have to admit, I wonder often why such bad things happen to such good people. Especially when really great things happen to some that are less deserving. I would love to say that I don't question God on this matter, but I would be lying. But I question God because I know that He is all knowing and that one day, He will answer me. It may not me now, but one day He will. So, I ask and wait for Him to answer.
Okay, that's my babble for now. Hope this finds you all doing well and that I maybe made you smile for a brief moment or even provoked a good thought.

Okay so! I completed my first race! Very exciting I know. While I have been a pretty healthy and athletic female all of my life, I have never been a long distance runner. Not to mention I have bad knees and have been advised to take it easy when it comes to running (as you can see, I do not follow instruction very well)! But, I honestly love a good jog, and I do know my limits. I love to plug in my Ipod and just jam to a good beat and mindlessly jog on a daily basis. Running honestly makes me feel better! On the days that I don't get to run, I feel like a total slob! So, for the last 3 months I have jogged 2 miles a day on my treadmill. That's not a lot, but that's all I have time for in the evenings.
Then I was invited to a race by a Facebook friend and I signed up for a 5k. The Spring Fling in Plainfield this past Saturday. I had no expectations that I would finish near the top of women in my age class or anything but was happy with the results. I ran my fastest time so far at 29 minutes flat. I thought it was 29.10 as that was what the clock said, but apparently it took me 10 seconds to get over the start line at the beginning of the race! LOL! So, never having jogged that far before and certainly not in those circumstances, I was thrilled with my results.
I made new friends and had such a wonderful time even though the weather was cold, windy and wet! I now see how people get addicted to these things! I came home and signed up for my next race! My goal is to run a 15k this summer and then hopefully a half marathon in Chicago in August! We'll see if my knees can handle it!
So now, on to my next race! The Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in Indy next month. Cancer research is so important and doing anything to help raise awareness is so helpful! I honestly do not think I know anyone who has not been affected by this terrible disease. I am running for all those I know, or have known who have battled this disease. I've known some who've lost their battle: my cousin Adam, both of my grandfathers and a few friends. I know some who were successful in their fight and I know someone right now who is fighting hard against this disease.
I agree it's time that we Stand Up to Cancer and do all that we can to help! So, if you are reading this and can give even $1, that can help. Something is always better than nothing. Give for the loved ones in your life that have been affected!
You can make an easy, online and tax exempt donation here: http://race.komenindy.org/site/TRC/Race/General?pg=peditor&fr_id=1090&px=1885660

Okay, so first I want to say that I am changing my template to a SPRING one in the hopes to bring on the warmer weather. Normally I do not complain about the winter, but this year, I am so ready to be done with the cold and ready to move on to brighter days!
Okay, on to sharing recipes. I had posted on Facebook on Sunday that we were having crockpot lasagna and that I was making my weekly batch of granola bars and I had several people ask for both recipes. First I would like to say that both were recipes from other individuals that I took and tweeked to my own personal taste, so I cannot take the credit. But both are some of my favorite things. So, here it goes.

Then on to the chewy granola bars. I found a recipe on allrecipes.com that I tried and we all loved them, but I added a few things. So, here is what I use:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees, prepare a jelly roll pan with cooking spray (I use my Pampered Chef stoneware bar pan, so I skip this step).
Cream together:
2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/3 brown sugar, packed
Then stir in:
4 1/2 cups whole grain rolled oats

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
2 cups of your favorite ingredients: I use 1 bag of miniature semisweet chocolate chips, alongwith 1/2 cup of slivered almonds and often toasted coconut. Mini M&M's would be a good addition, or even PB chips or raisins.
Also, when I have it on hand, I add some wheat germ or milled flax seed.

Press into prepared pan and bake for 20-22 minutes. The longer they cook, the crunchier they are. So, if you like them chewy, bake for 20 and for crunchy 22! Hint: if you cook in stoneware, it will continue to cook one you remove it from the oven from the heat of the stone.
Cool completely and then cut into bars. We cut into 24 bars. We then put them into snack size baggies that we reuse each week. Everyone in my house loves these. I know they are healthier than what we buy at the store b/c of preservatives. I have yet to figure what the cost is, but I am sure it's cheaper. Regardless, the kids and I usually bake these together and so it's a good time each weekend!


Now I am hungry! Good day everyone.

Okay all, so call me crazy, but I love it when we accomplish a new home renovation project. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy! You see, when we bought our house in November of 2009, we knew that we would not be truly "at home" until we did some updates. The home itself was in perfectly sound, structural condition, but was truly outdated. Seriously...1970 everywhere. Wallpaper, mint green carpet, gold fixtures, paneling, you name it, our house had/has it! So, we bought the house, then went shopping at good ole Menards and bought all the supplies to make the renovations/updates, and almost a year and a half later, we are not even half way through these updates. We just do not have the time to get them all finished. We start something, and then we run in to an unexpected problem and it ends up taking more time and money then we expected! Truly our life story! Just ask Adam! Nothing ever goes as planned!
Anyway, anyone who knows me knows that I am a tad bit OCD about orgazination and cleanliness so, having so many unfinished projects literally causes me physical stress! Still having all my decorations in boxes, causes me stress, having half of my garage filled to the brim with supplies for renovation...causes me stress! So, you get the picture! But, with each little task completed, I am so thrilled! And, this weekend, that was my kitchen flooring! When we moved in, we had 1970's linoleum that was coming up in some of the seams and just really old and dated looking. It was the faux brick looking stuff (I know...you are so jealous!) and it was just so dark in my already small and dark, square kitchen (that has 1 real brick wall!).
Over Christmas break, when everyone was actually healthy, we ripped up the linoleum. Which proved to be no easy task as it was sersiously super glued! We couldn't even get the paper backing off the floor! We tried to wet it and everything! Oh, and the linoleum was really, like 1/2" thick! It was awful! But, for a month, all we had was sub-flooring with stuck on wallpaper backing! Not pretty, and definitely not easy to clean! So, I was so sick of it...literally, sick!
So, on Saturday when Tylers basketball was cancelled, we decided to start! I wish I had taken a picture of the ugly linoleum, but I didn't, so this is the floor before:
And on Saturday, we decided to do half of the floor so we could walk on the other side of the kitchen until the other side dried. You see, we walk through our kitchen to go down through basement to garage. And, we have 4 children and so not using our entire kitchen for 24hours was really NOT an option. So, here's after an hour of tile work on Saturday:
And, then on Sunday, we did 2 more rows and needed more glue and tile and so, we took a break and ran up to Avon for the supplies and grabbed lunch on the way, half of us in our pj's mind you! And then decided I wanted a dark grout b/c this is in the kitchen where spills/stains are likely! So, after lunch, Menards, and 3 potty breaks later (Griffin at 2 is potty training!) and we made it home just as Adam had to get ready for work. So, I decided to finish the room by myself. This was our 3rd room of tile and I had laid it and grouted it, but never actually CUT the tile! So, a quick lesson from Adam and I was good to go! So, my Superbowl Sunday was spent home, tiling alone, with no husband and all 4 kids (again, I know you are jealous!) So, ta da!!!! Here is the finished product, minus grout that Adam is hopefully doing today! Then tomorrow, we can put our fridge back and lay down trim and we are good to move on to the next item for the kitchen-redoing cabinets, counters and installing a few items: pot rack, range hood and micro shelf! Cannot wait to be done! But super excited that the floor is down!

     Ice storm 2011! Wow, what a dosie! Well, we survived! Monday night I stopped by Kroger after work at about 3pm and the only thing they were out of were parking spaces and bananas! Someone on Facebook said it best when they said that it was like Black Friday at the stores! Total craziness! Really, really crowded and everyone was in a state of panic. We got everything we could together at the house in case of a power outage. Sadly, Adam worked Monday and Tuesday nights which left me at home with all the kids greatful to have power at night! The sounds from outside were super creepy though. I kept going to the window to look out as I heard limbs falling and transformers popping! Thankfully, Adam made it home safely each night.
     We lost power Tuesday at 4am and was without for nearly 6 hours. Then lost it again Wednesday morning around 10 am and went all day without it. We only got down to 62 degrees and did not every light the fireplace! Then, power came back on around 4:30pm! Yay, thanks Duke lineman! We quickly cooked dinner just in case it went out again.
     We don't have any tree's down, just a few limbs. The worst thing I can say is the kids are going stir crazy! I was able to deal with the no power thing just fine, but the bored children were another story. At least if it were snow, I could have sent them outside to play in it! And, it's not like they could have friends over because hello...we had no power and we were under a Level 1 Emergency so travel was restricted to emergency personnel only!
     So, no school for 4 days for the kids and no work for me for 2 days. Which means, Greencastle will probably have to go on Presidents day and now another week tacked on at the end of the school year. Which won't apply to us as we are planning a vacation the first week of June. Sorry school, it's already been scheduled!
Nothing else really exciting happening! Adam and Tyler are going to the Pacer's game tonight with the Greencastle Youth Basketball League! Tomorrow, we are hoping to FINALLY tile the kitchen floor. I am so sick of looking at the sub floor! I will try to blog about it...before and after! Little by little we are getting things done. At some point, the house updates will be finished and organized, and this will make me one happy homeowner!
     So, I will leave you with this:
LOL! :) Happy Friday everyone! Enjoy the weekend, enjoy your families....enjoy Life!