Summer is almost here!

I am dragging, my kids are dragging, we have been on the go the past two weeks and see the light at the end of the tunnel!!! We are hanging on by a thread! Between all of the end of the year activities/projects, softball games and practices, birthdays, get togethers, we are in need of some R&R. Haileys kindergarten graduation is tomorrow night, so bitter sweet! Hannahs last day is Friday and we are going to party, and by that I mean watching a movie and sleeping in on Saturday and not getting out of our pj's until we absolutely have too!

I have not made a dinner in I don't know how long, its been sandwiches, hot dogs, pizza, or just plain ole salami and cheese. I actually marinated some chicken the other day and finally had time to cook it this afternoon. We had my Moms birthday dinner last night and at 1:00am Hailey came in saying her stomach hurt and within 20 secs I was pushing her to make it (it meaning you know what) land on the bathroom floor instead of our bedroom carpeting! Phew that was close! To say the least we didn't sleep real well last night. Kept her home with me today, she slept most of the morning, but we are still feeling sooooo tired. We made our Summer to Do list! I am in the process of organizing the home some and did some decorating!!! Praying for Friday to get here fast!!!!

Catch up!

So I forgot to post Easter, and some other fun things we have been up to! This blog is all about cherishing moments to remember, a scrapbook in a way especially, since I cant seem to scrapbook. Poor Hailey has had a book with no pictures in it and she just turned 6! I have purchased three new books with all the fillers and stickers etc to redo their baby books, but can't seem to just sit down and do them! Blogging is so much easier! So here are some pics that I have forgotten about!

Princess Ball!

We went to the Princess Ball Party and it was so much fun! I actually got teary eyed! All the princesses are there and even a couple princes! The girls had a Ball! Get it Ball! Anyway they got princess tattoos, nails painted, and a couple toys of course! Great Day! There is Hailey's typical smile! She cracks us up! You ask her to smile and this is what you get! Chipmunk face! Love her!

Cant go to a Princess Ball without a picture with Elsa!!!!! Hailey kept asking "When is Elsa going to come out?" When she did "Hailey about fell out of her chair!" and I got teary eyed!

 

Wonderful pic with Jasmine!

Wonderful pic with Ariel!

Can't go to a Ball without dancing!!!!! 

Okay on to other things I have forgotten about!

Like Easter...

Random Friday

Its Friday!!! Logan came home from college last night! He has a car load of belongings to unload, uhg! He has done really well this past year, I am so proud of how he has taken college serious. Still cant believe I have a kid in college! The girls knew he was on his way home, however it was getting late and they needed to get to bed, just as we were walking to the bedroom Logan came walking in. They were so excited! Which left us up late, Hannah still said she was not tired and could stay up later, um sorry Charlie! I have noticed she is in that stage that she wants to be apart of the adult group and listen to what we are talking about etc. Like when my sister was in town Hannah just wanted to hang out by us and chat instead of going and playing with the rest of the kids.
Planning our summer vacations! Eeek cant wait! We will be going to Ludington for sure for a week, gosh is it beautiful there. I love the beach! I love summer! We are talking about going to Mackinaw Island as well, that place is awesome! It brings you back in time. There are no cars allowed, its all bike riding, horse and carriages, or just walking. It really slows things down and makes you enjoy the day so much better. However Logan said he might not be able to go since he and his cute girlfriend have planned for a concert on that same weekend. :-(   Thats hard too; trying to understand that your child would rather be at a concert with his girlfriend than with the family. I get it! Its just hard to get OVER!
Well very excited that it is Friday, and we have NOTHING planned!!!! Oh except some softball practice! Oh I am officially a T-ball coach, Yep thats right I am coach Stacie!!!! Those darn kids are so cute, swinging at the ball and trying to stay focused! Anyway Hailey is thrilled to no end knowing that I am her coach! Makes my heart melt!
                                                              Happy Friday!
                                                                       :-)

Dear Hailey!

 So your going to be 6 huh! My heart is breaking.......

Hailey I can not believe you are going to be 6 years old! My heart is breaking thinking of you getting bigger. You are our little girl and our baby! You love being the baby and soak it up every second you can! You are such a sweet girl. You fool most people, because you become so quiet when strangers are around, or people you do not know well. BUT when you are around those you do know, you are yourself and are such a goof and our wild little girl! I love all of the love notes and drawings you make, which I receive on a daily basis and it makes my heart melt!!! You have an awesome laugh, and are very witty! Your creative side is definitely coming out!

You love to be goofy and make others laugh!! (Sorry I forgot to rotate pic before placing). 

You love your sister so much and love when she plays with you. You like to be the boss, but she doesn't always let you get your way! 

Your big brother will do anything for you!!! 

We always have people telling us we look like twins!!! 

You always say "When I get bigger I'm going to be a Mommy like you", you make my heart melt!

You love your Daddy and you have him wrapped around your finger!

 You LOVE your blankey! It is the best thing to you after a hard day at school, there's nothing better than coming home and cuddling with your blankey! We are not sure how long this will last but we are going with it!

 It took us awhile to work on your smile. Whenever we asked you to smile it would end up either you not smiling because we asked you too, or you would give us a real big smile!!!!!

You are one that has your own mind and is very strong willed and determined! That is good, and Mommy feels that is a good quality. You never give up! We love you Hailey and are so proud of you!!! The other day you kept asking me "How many days til I turn 6 Mommy?" and I would start to pretend cry and you would crack up and we kept doing it. We are so Thankful and feel Blessed for you!!

Happy Birthday Hailey!! 

We Love You!

Spring Break!

Well my girls are on spring break this week! And we have no plans, well a little shopping maybe....:-)
We had a great weekend, my sister Kim is in town and we visited at my Moms on Saturday and she plans on coming out to our house this weekend, with my nephew can't wait! Every time one of my siblings come out I always wish all of them could and we could just spend some time together all of us, no other family, but my brothers and sisters, one day that's my goal! I can't imaging my life without them! They each are so special to me. That is what I have been trying to teach my girls, is how lucky they are to have each other! The relationship with a sibling is a best friend for life, no matter what you do or say they will always be there! So I have decided to not make a lot of plans this week, not invite any of their friends over, just us! They have been doing really well lately with each other and I really want to enforce it this week. We bought the new Tinkerbell Movie and they watched it in their bedroom tonight before bed, after lights went out I heard them chatting in there. I cant tell you how much I love that!! A little giggling and my heart just swells with love.

The weather has finally changed to spring so we can play outside riding bikes, jumping on the trampoline, play on the playset and just enjoy each other and the weather! Of course I plan on doing some spring cleaning, I get soooo excited when I get to do a good cleaning and some organizing, I can hardly sleep!!!

Quick pic of some friends to spend time with over spring break!

I purchased new filters for the vacuum, can you believe the dirt on those filters, even dog hair, disgusting!
So glad I am changing them out! Eww

Easter Bunny visit at the Mall! :-)

An easy peasy dinner! I add either hamburger or ground turkey to this meal and just follow the directions on the back of the Zatarans box and then add chopped tomatoes and corn. Mmmmmm!

A Great chalk drawing from my Hannah! Made my day!!!

Another great chalk drawing from my Hailey! So sweet!

Now back to my spring cleaning!
To do list:
Clean carpets
Wash comforters
wash floors
etc
etc
etc!!


Hope your having a great Spring Break!

:-)

April Fools!

Well today happens to be one of the best days of the year! My family were always getting each other on Aprils Fools Day, and we still do! If your not on your game and watching your every move your gonna fall for a trick or two!

Here are some ideas!
Place shaving cream on light switches.
Place a rubber band over the spray nozzle and aim it towards where they would be standing.
Call someone and tell them you are there and to open the door please! (Of course if they have no health issues)
Put vaseline on the steering wheel.

The ideas are endless!

I got my son by telling him that we were at his door (he is at college-mind you its 7:30 in the morning and he is definitely not up yet) He actually got out of bed and went down to his door and opened it! Bahaaaaa!!!!
See you have to get those ones that are waiting for it when they least expect it or aren't thinking about what day it is!
Then I got my husband and told him to look out his window at work I am there to visit him. He txted me back and told me he doesn't see me! Bahaaaaaa!!! April Fools Honey!!!!

Do you celebrate this wonderful day? If so please tell!

Have a great day! :-)

Stacie

Days to remember

It's these days I want to remember. Waking up enjoying our mornings on the couch with no TV, cuddling, and talking. The girls love when he is home in the mornings, which is only once a week so Sundays are special! Miss our Logan not here, which is just a reminder that kids grow up FAST! I'm really trying hard to be conscious of this and to grab every moment I can with them! We have no plans or things to do (well we just ignored the chores for the day!) just being with each other was our goal! Hannah and I went to church as Bruce stayed back with Hailey as she had a bit of a runny nose and needed extra time in her pjs (that girl loves her pjs like her momma!). We took a drive through a couple towns, that are by the water. We always tend to migrate towards the water its so peaceful. We watched the big chunks of ice float down the river. It was a beautiful spring day! Still a bit chilly, but nice! We stopped at a couple spots while Bruce took some pictures and Hannah always follows her Daddy while Hailey always sticks with her Mommy.

The girls climbing there "favorite trees". There are quite a few of these cool trees that when we go to this area the girls love to climb them. 

Hope you take the time to enjoy the day! :-)

The Stillness of Early Mornings

The stillness of the early morning excites me! I love waking up before the kids. I am able to take moments and gain a perspective on my day. My husband leaves for work around 4:15 and I have become a lite sleeper. He comes in to kiss me goodbye every morning, on most days I wake up. I will lay in bed for a while laying in the darkness thinking. I then get up enjoy a cup of coffee, do some light chores; putting dishes away, making lunches (if I did not do it the night before), let the dog out. I don't turn the TV on, or the computer I just am with the morning and love this time of day for myself. I get the girls up around 6:15 as their bus comes at 7:10. Its a great start to my day, no hurrying, lots of time for kisses and hugs and talking.
     There are some days where I just can't fathom on getting up and need sleep. I then wake up in a hurry and feel unorganized a bit and wish I had gotten up earlier. I set my alarm for 5:45, although I keep hitting snooze!
     On those days I get up early, I can accomplish sooooo much! Chores, exercise, time for me/reflection, which leaves me feeling calm and peaceful! There is something about the darkness in the early morning that makes me feel so centered and I can think so much clearer. It is mostly due to the fact that I am alone with God and can listen better without other things to get my attention, as I am one who can't focus on a lot at once, especially when it comes to people. I have to focus on one person at a time, which can be very difficult! You know what I am talking about. When your little ones and sometimes even  your better half talking to you all at once and none of them even have a clue of what is occurring!

Today was one of those days when I was able to get up early and have a peaceful calm morning. I enjoyed the stillness, and it happens to be my Birthday! This is a gift to myself!

Do you like to wake up early? If not try it out and see how your day goes.

Stacie :-)

Pot of Gold!

So its St. Patricks Day and the leprechaun has left my girls a rainbow and a pot of gold! 

Skittles and rolos! Yummy!  

I have out traditional St. Pattys day dinner in the crock pot; corned beef/cabbage with potatoes and carrots  can't wait!

It has been awhile since I have posted anything. The winter has been endless. We still have so much snow on the ground. I had spring fever last week and did some spring decorating. The spring fever came due to us reaching the high of 49 degrees! Woo Hoo right! lol

Well I needed to change things in the house as I like to change things around a lot, but this time I decided to change out my decorations. I had a lot of red and black decorations for fall and winter. I wanted to spruce things up and add a pop of color and thought yellow and some flowers/greenery would do the job! I did some spring cleaning, but still have more to do. I LOVE to clean the house and have it smell clean! Washing everything from pillows, blankets, drapes, comforters, cleaning under the beds, etc, etc. Ill post on my spring cleaning on a later post. Can't wait to open the windows, which is not too far away. Its been so cold I think once it hits 55 I am going for it!

Heres some pics!

 New pillows. Sasha felt she needed to be in the pic! :-)

 New vases that came with the flowers

I plan on changing the red mat to a yellow

 I Love the birds!

 I would show more of the kitchen cabinets however they are so old, we are the process of saving for new ones! 

My lovely daughter Hailey wrote me a note because tomorrow is my Birthday! It says, "Mommy is esxcited to Daye" (Mommy is excited today)!!! Priceless

That pink candle I have been burning; stocked up on them, can't remember the scent, but it smells like spring! Its a febreeze candle and you can smell it throughout the house!

I didnt change much in the curio cabinet just because I love everything so much in there and it still had yellow flowing through it!

Mostly everything was purchased from either Target or TJ Maxx. 

Wishing everyone a Happy St. Patricks Day!

Did you start to decorate for spring yet? If so how and what is your favorite way to bring in the new season?

Goals!

Well the new year brings everyone to place some goals for themselves. I usually am one to do the "exercise and eat better" and that's it. However this year I am doing something different. I honestly have to say that one thing that I need to really, really do better at for myself and my family is stay on budget and SAVE! I am one that when I want something I want it and I will do whatever I need to to get it! Now I am not one that is totally over the edge, we are talking items here; clothes (for all), shoes (for all), things for the house, not outrageous things. As you can read in my other posts I like shoes/boots!

                                         

So this year I am buckling down and have started using an Expense Tracker Andrea Dekkers finance tracker workbook. It allows me to place ALL in and out monies and tracks everything. I am staying on track with making sure our checkbook is up to date at all times. I make sure my husband is up to date on where we are, as I am the one who pays the bills and keeps track of finances. We went to our church this past fall and took Dave Ramseys financial institution classes, which were eye opening. Especially when he talks about credit cards and that that dumb score really means how well you place yourself in debt and pay on it! So this brings me to our 2014 financial goal! We are going to pay off all of our credit cards and really ask ourselves before we purchase ANYTHING "Do we really need this"? We are placing all or most of my paycheck into our savings.

Of course I am doing the whole exercise at least 3x a week and be more patient! I would also like to read the Bible or a scripture a day!

Tell me whats on your Goal list this year?  :-)

Living in the Country in the Midwest

So winter has hit most of America, however here in Michigan it happens to be REALLY cold. We live in the country across from a couple of fields where you can see the wind blowing through the fields. You can see the snow masking itself as a cloudy fog. At night the moon shines down so bright across the fields and houses near by and into our bedroom window light a night light. It can be so pretty. I cant imagine living anywhere else.

We live in a house that does not have a furnace we burn wood and turn on a couple base electric heaters mostly in the bedrooms. The wood burner is centrally located in our family room/kitchen its basically one huge room - all open and pretty much does a good job on keeping most of the house warm. We start preparing for these days actually in the summer months. We have to cut down trees or find trees to cut, and then split them with a log splitter. Some say it burns twice, since we burn a sweat from all the preparation before actually burning it! However I have to say I owe that all to my husband and son! I do help stack and of course bring the wood in the house. It can be a pain having to go out in the morning if you did not prepare for ensuring that there is enough wood to burn throughout the evening and through the night. However it can be so refreshing with the cold air against your face in your pjs grabbing wood! It really makes you think about years ago when this was done to keep houses warm and we are still doing it!

When we first were looking at houses in the country we saw some houses with wood burners and I said to Bruce "That's what I want! A wood burner, that would be so awesome".  Little did I know all the work it entailed to have one that has to actually heat your house, I was so naive! I am constantly cleaning up around the wood burner as the wood breaks off and leaves a mess. We used to stack the wood in a metal frame made for fireplaces however quickly learned that it does not hold enough for what we need. So we now place the wood in a big Rubbermaid bin and use the metal frame for the small stuff. 

You can see we are low and I need to go get more wood!

Bringing the wood in tracks a mess on the floor because I do not expect one to take there shoes/boots off when bringing wood in, therefore I wash on a regular basis! As much work it brings us I would not change it for a thing! The smell of wood burning when you open the door to place more wood in is awesome! Every fall when the temp drops we get excited to start it and cozy up in a blanket. The dog loves it as the hearth rug in front of the wood burner is her favorite place to lay. 

Its a little messy! 

So to all those that wake up and need to turn the furnace up a notch think of me as I place a piece of wood in the woodburner! :-)

Stay Warm!

Winter and Snow Days

So we have gotten ALOT of snow this season already! This is the kind of snow I remember growing up. In just about a day we have received the majority of our accumulation in a normal season! The kids school has been cancelled for 3 days and my work is closed today (Yay!).  Now its supposed to get really cold, everything is closing; my husbands even coming home early due to the weather, which is a never! The stores I hear are almost empty from people shopping and stocking up. The kids played in the snow yesterday and Bruce took them sledding to the big hill, while I made a nice pot of potato and ham soup. I am going to get some more stuff done in the house (yay), organizing and cleaning!!! Of course after a game of spoons!

  

The kids outback playing in the snow!

Big brother Logan building their very own sledding hill, while Daddy plows the driveway!

Dinner!

Stay warm and safe!

Happy New Year!

The New Year is here and I always start out being organized and goals set in hand. However this past year I have done a lot of organizing and list making and have really been able to get my household in better order. I have a cleaning routine down, I make lists for weekly dinners, I make lists for groceries needed, I have a couple calendars I use for different things going on in our lives. All of this makes me look back on 2013 and feel somewhat accomplished. There are some things that I did not accomplish, but I am not beating myself up about it of course, its just life!

Our break has been great except for the part of Hannah and Bruce being sick, but it has kept us to be at home and just be together which is the best of anything anyway! We have watched movies, played games, ate a ton of sweets and popcorn (I received a new popcorn maker for Christmas!). I really am not looking forward to going back to work, I Love being home and being just a Mom and wife, but God has other plans for me and that is to help others as well! Here are some pics of our Holidays and time off!

Some Christmas goodies we made!

At my Moms on Christmas Eve.

                                                Uh Oh someone is pouting on Christmas Eve!

Trying to take a nice pic of my mom and brother-however Logan has other plans! Goof ball!

Logan and Taylor!!

Isn't little Mason adorable!!!

Getting ready for Santa to come!

The girls and their cousins, at Bruces Moms on Christmas Day!

Enjoying some more cousin time!

                                        Girls enjoying their holiday break-laying around and coloring

New Years Eve-playing a mean game of Twister!

It was a great Christmas, went to a beautiful service on Christmas Eve night, I love our Church! New Years Eve, we stayed home, I just love being home. We used to go to our neighbors house however they moved and we miss them greatly.  Logan had a couple friends over and they played games in the backroom, fun was had and we are ready to have a blessed new year! Peace to all! 

Happy New Year!!!!