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A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home, just this minute. Intentional Hours Outdoors :  510 hours (of 1000) Snagged another hour this week on a long walk with the two big kids and the dogs.  It was a beautiful, albeit chilly day and we got some fresh air and our bodies moving.  We walked all the way to the road back by 'the forest' and the kids ran and jumped over the stumps and rocks.  Gosh, it was such a reminder of how much good wide open space does for all of us and had me reflecting a lot about my goal for increased outdoor time this year - and what that might mean for next year too. Reading and finishing The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins and picked back up again where I left off a few weeks ago in My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell you She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman Celebrating Christmas!! We buzzed around for four whole days with lots of hugs, good food to eat, presents to open, Baby Jesus birthday candles to blow out, laughing, dancing, game playing

oh, this week between Christmas and New Years has me all off-kilter over here.  Gifts need put away and left-overs galore for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and the feeling like there's so many ends to tie up and so many new strings to grab before the new year.  yeesh.  But I've been looking over my 100 small things list from this past year and feeling accomplished at all the things I finished (and partially finished).  But still kind of bummed that I didn't get even half of my list done.  Brandon and my conversation though went like this -  me: ugh, I only finished 38 of my 100 small things list this year! bud: you did better than I did. me: you didn't even have a list.  bud: exactly, that means you really did better than I did.  he's always erasing my selfdoubt #thanksbabe So in any case, I did finish up 38 full tasks and I kind-of started another 11 tasks.  We also had at least 6 unexpected additions to the list that gave our days some interesting and meaningful

While planning for Christmas this year and taking into account Brandon's new job that offer so many incredible perks to our life, it did also come with a significant decrease in pay.  It has been an adjustment in everyday life, but we knew it was going to be important to really make plans to make the holidays work within a budget. So, we sat down and did some planning.   I ordered our Christmas cards earlier than ever and with as many coupons as I could scrap together, we pared down our kids' gift list to a financially reasonable (and a they-don't-need-more-crap) amount, we budgeted our lists, shopped online with coupons and early, and tracked each spending closely to make sure we were on target.  But it was clear right from the start that we'd be forgoing presents for ourselves.   Truthfully, we don't mind all that much because neither of our main love languages is gifts, but it did feel a little funny every time we checked in with each other like, "wait, real

A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home, just this minute. Intentional Hours Outdoors :  509+ hours (of 1000) bleh. week before Christmas got Mrs. Claus like whoa. Reading The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins   and I want to ignore my motherly duties to keep reading. hahha, I've been reading it during Rusty's bedtime and sneaking in a few pages while making dinner too. Layering on the holiday cheer thick.  We have lots of silly Marco antics daily, a Christmas celebration with my CCD students, watching holiday movies like it's going out of style (The Santa Claus, The Grinch, Polar Express, and Mickey's Christmas), knocking off holiday shopping lists, delighting over the Holiday cards we receive in the mail, and secretly picking up loads of packages from the post office and our neighbor's porch (he's our unofficial UPS drop off since they don't want to come up our long driveway nor deal with the dogs.  He text messages Brandon "The brown sle

A glimpse into what it is like to live in our home just this minute Intentional Hours Outdoors : 509+ hours (of 1000) holding steady with no new hours to report as it's been freezing raining, snowing, and near zero temps all this week.  yeah, I'm a big baby about it.  hah.   Does getting stuck in the driveway on Tuesday night with Shelia count?  HAH.  Actually, I stayed in Sheila while Brandon pushed us up the driveway about 100 yards and then ended up having to pull her up over the turn with the truck.  We didn't get all into the house and in bed until almost 11p.  Sheesh. Reading  The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins  and really loving it. Baking my grandma's sugar cookies with boiled icing Christmas cut out cookies with my Adams cousins (and sisters & mum & aunt!) as is one of our holiday traditions.  We packed up and headed out to Pittsburgh for the day on Sunday as my sis Kayla hosted this year.  As is also tradition, we always have a toast (or a few) wit

We held our 8th annual Studer's Invitational Beer Olympics event this year in October, a big change from our normal summer party. But this awesome event only a few weeks after the birth of our fourth baby was just not going to fly in our sleep-deprived rotten eight weeks.  So, we postponed it until early October and our friends and family braved the rain and chill to have a great time for a great cause! The event is held at our home and as I say every single year, we could never ever do this without the help, graciousness, enthusiasm and kindness of our participants.  This day always reminds us of how incredibly grateful we are to be surrounded by so many amazing people.   And they all show up with a spirit of generosity and fun as we play together to raise funds for specific charitable goals.  This year, we were able to raise over $370 dollars for a local family that experienced health scares all  year - and who regularly inspire kindness and faithfulness to our entire community.