A little catch up!

It seems hard to believe it has been a year and a half since I last wrote here on the blog.  It seems like just yesterday I was writing constantly.  What a difference a year and half can make! Our family looks differently than it did then--In July of 2012, we added a baby boy to our family. 

Simeon Joel

7/11/12

 Levi was excited it was a boy!  We didn't find out what we were having, so it was a surprise for all of us.  He said all along that he thought we'd have a boy, and was excited he was right!

 I didn't think that Lydia would love him as much as she did! She thought he was born just to be "her" baby and when someone tried to take him away, would squeeze him tight and say-- "no, MY baby".  To this day, she loves him lots and still squeezes him constantly!

Here is a picture of the crew!  Levi and Lydia were very excited to have a new baby brother.  Silas...he wasn't excited-- he thought we needed to have a girl, so we would have 2 boys and 2 girls and it would be even.  He didn't want to hold Simeon at the hospital, but warmed up to him when we got home.  To this day, he still says he hopes that next time it will be a girl...to help even things out.  Love him!

 Lydia helping daddy tend to Simeon.  There wasn't a moment she didn't want to be near him!

The sign our children (and our moms) made to welcome Simeon home.

He has been a great baby, and an easy fit in our family.  As we speak, he is 11 months and is a giggly, busy, happy baby. 

Our Crew at the Zoo!

Praying that you have had a great 1 1/2 years too!  

More updates to come!

Blessings, 

Amanda

One last bit of fall

Before I can completely wrap up fall around here and show you all of the fun things we are doing around here for Christmas...I wanted to take a minute to show you how we spent those months I spent not blogging...

Silas as a firefighter...at church for the harvest party

Lydia my little lady bug...at church

Levi wanted to be a cyclist...just like daddy!

Playing at the harvest party!

helping with the harvest at Mr. Marty's house

going to get the tractor...

going down the lane

That day the boys even took a nap in the cab of the combine...they just slid down on the floor when they just couldn't take it anymore.  Most of the time, however, they were faces flat against the window.  They love riding on the combine. 

A quick front porch picture...at the end of one of my mom's visits...I think Aaron was napping! 

 

 

 

Blessings to you,

Amanda

I'm thinking Christmas!

I know I am just getting back to blogging, and I really haven't even been doing any blog reading over the last few months either (I will post later this week about our October).  Today, while doing some catch up reading--my whole family was napping and it is a good day to rest and catch up--I saw this and just HAD to share! Check these out!

No..these aren't cupcakes--they're bath bombs! I love these--they are just so expensive! What a great Christmas gift too! Check out the tutorial HERE!

What a FUN idea!

Blessings to you,

Amanda

Life

Sometimes, though I do enjoy blogging, life has this way of taking over.  I can't believe it has been so long since I blogged.  I meant to just take a week long break to figure out our new schedule, but life just took over.  I used to love the back to school season.  As a teacher, I loved shopping for school supplies, decorating my classroom, and getting it ready for a new group of kids, etc.  But now, as we intentionally focus our lives on not getting too busy, I get frustrated during the month of September.  Everything hinges on the start of the school year--for us, it was Awana started at church, gymnastics for the boys started on a different day, MOPS started, and I had planned and prepped to start preschool with the boys on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  Honestly, I just got overwhelmed and needed to take some time to get re-organized.  I found myself frustrated that everything starts at the same time...

So, I took a step back, pushed the start of school to October, and spent extra time playing with my littles that are growing up way too fast.  We have been traveling too, though I don't love the packing and preparing, long rides in the car, and feeling overwhelmed at the thought of unpacking...I do love the time set apart with my family.  As we speak I still have many things to put away from last weekends adventure, but just haven't felt up to the challenge...so I'll have to get to it soon.

Have you ever felt the strain of a schedule that just doesn't seem to work out your way?  Frustrating isn't it!

Blessings,

Amanda

Break

I am enjoying a bit of a bloggy break this week...I didn't mean to...it just got crazy around here!  I'll be back next week!  In the meanwhile, take a look at this beauty...

Smoothies!

Sunday evening we planned to go on a long family bike ride, but when the littles woke up from naptime it was raining.  We opted for a movie night and smoothies!  The boys were thrilled and they always think that they are icecream.  This is how we make em...They are super simple!

A simple banana

Frozen watermelon and strawberries from the freezer

2 T Maple Syrup, A handful of Spinach, and some water...start with 1/2 cup maybe upto 1 cup (depending on how runny you want it), juice from a lemon or a capful of lemon juice from a bottle. 

Mix it up and pour...yum, yum!

My husband always grimaces at the spinach, but you can't taste it and it adds nutrition...but if you add too much--it will turn the smoothies green.  I love these best with the watermelon and strawberries, but you could use any fruit you have in the freezer.

On top of having an amazing time with my family this weekend, I was a busy bee in the kitchen.  Here are a few of the highlights!

 Easy Granola Bars!

I added chocolate and pecans...the chocolate was melty..but they taste GREAT!!

 Uncrustables

They make for a quick easy lunch on the go!

 I used the excess to make croutons too!

I used salt free butter, so I used garlic salt and Italian seasoning to flavor them...yum!

They are GREAT!

I hope you are having a great week.  We are enjoying the last few days of warm weather...I am hearing rumor of frost this week (on the news).

Blessings to you,

Amanda
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Sunday Five

I have really been enjoying my family--spending time outdoors and playing, I haven't been spending much time on the computer.  But I did have some time to pin some of my favorites this week!

1.  I have been really trying to cut out processed foods from our diet...it is always easy to go out and buy snacky foods.  We love goldfish around here, I usually buy the whole wheat or garden veggie ones anyway, so THIS recipe, for whole wheat goldfish crackers, is a real keeper!

2.  Friday night, after movie night, I took some time to do some prep work in the kitchen.   I had some bananas that needed made into bread, so I made a triple batch of banana bread, homemade granola bars, and then--I made uncrustables and homemade croutons that I saw in THIS post.  I loved this idea.  Often on gymnastics days, since we are in town anyway we have lunch with Aaron--I made these uncrustables to pack for the boys lunch.  I also loved that there was no waste--the homemade croutons were awesome and easy to make too! 

3.  This recipe for Roasted Tomato and Pepper Soup with Pesto Cream Cheese is our dinner for tonight! Erica, one of my college roommates from college posted this recipe on Facebook last week.  It looked so good, I just had to try it.  I plan to roast the veggies and take the recipe through step 7  and then freeze the extra.  I hope it freezes well!  It looks amazing...and I can't wait to eat it! 

4.  Last week I used THIS site to make name practice sheets for the boys.  I just typed out their names and printed them off.  Just a note...I had to change the orientation on my printer even though I had chosen landscape on the page.  Also, when I printed them off...it all didn't fit on one page.  I cut them up and taped them onto another page--to make copies of and then laminate...I LOVE my laminator!

5.  I really like headbands with flowers and bows to put in Lydia's hair.  While I was looking something else up this week, I saw THIS tutorial on how to make a felt flower headband I am going to have definitely do this very soon! 

It is my prayer that you had a blessed weekend with your family! 

Amanda