Friday, March 28, 2014

Backtracking- Christmas Peek 2013

 In no particular order, a few Holiday memories.  I figured I better get these posted before summer hits and all is forgotten.  Since A certain little boy has been learning piano we have had the joy of listening to many of his concerts, especially at Christmas time.

The artist himself
Our in house expert on all things "techy"


The Little Miss had her turn too.  She is on a lesson hiatus.  I am hoping she will pick it up again soon.  I love the sound of piano music in the house.

Healthy treats for the reindeer.  Fattening treats for Santa.



This was to be our last Christmas in our little home.  The day after, we signed the contract on our forever home.  The next month we closed and the first week in February we moved in.  What a whirlwind!  
The best part of Christmas Eve were the hilarious family videos Papa Ran and Grandma Ann brought.  Some were from my college days.  I think the kids were shocked that Mama actually used to be quite silly and fun ;)
We face timed Uncle Will and had him read us all the Cajun Night Before Christmas in his best Old Farmer Thibodeaux voice.  He nails it every time and cracks us all up.
Goodbye 2013.  Hello 2014, the year of new beginnings.

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

One of My Favorite Ever Gifts...

...has to be this Instagram collage made by one of my favorite ever girls, our long time babysitter, pseudo 4th child, sister-Avi-never-had, and friend Laura (aka LaLa).
More about LaLa later.  I love that she captured the kids' personalities and our old house just right and how the kids would always yell "Lay a towel out!", meaning let's have a picnic in the living room and watch a show while we eat (middle pic).  The giant front yard tree and beautiful urban trail down the street, I miss.  And especially the amazing neighbors we had.  Though our time there is full of sweet memories and lessons learned, we are excited to finally be right where we are supposed to be and excited to build  
new memories in our new place.



Tuesday, March 25, 2014

Before

I thought I would be fun to photograph our home after only living here a month, before we start on the projects we want to eventually tackle.  I love seeing the before and after.
I know there will always be something that needs work, but when we moved in this house was pretty much just right for us.  Luckily, there were only a handful of things that we knew right off the bat we would want to change and that would be fairly easy, but would make a big difference.  
This summer our big job will be the back yard.  
Right now it is a blank slate, which is great because my Hub loves yard work and landscaping.  
It's like meditation for him.

Welcome home!  It's so nice to have a place to call our own.  Down the road (like WAY down the road) I think we want to repaint the exterior more of a sage green color to blend in better with our surroundings.  But for now, baby blue it is!
Really strange door in our master bedroom.  It doesn't quite belong and leads to nothing.  Right now it just takes up our very limited wall space.  Maybe we could fill it in with dry wall one day?


Front yard.  Can't wait to plant some trees and some greenery.  Maybe grass.

This back wall of our eating nook I would love to make one giant slider.  I think it would add more light to the whole area and it would be nice to look outside once we have landscaping.

Now this is the first project this summer.  The backyard.  We want to put in a grass lawn for the kids and trees and bushes along the fence to spruce it up.
And me in our master bedroom. Excited for the possibilities here.  Maybe a headboard?  A bench at the foot of the bed?  Curtains?  I want it to feel relaxing and romantic.  All in good time.


Monday, March 24, 2014

A New Found Secret

After 35 I noticed a shift.  My energy and patience were lower, my PMS longer and all over the place, and my overall feeling just wasn't as sunny.  It was like my body was finally saying, "enough already!".  I put myself through plenty of abuse over the years.  Some of it positive, like having three beautiful babes and being fortunate to breast feed each of them, and running races that were far too long, but oh so much fun at the time.  Some not so positive, like not putting the best things in my body throughout my teens and twenties.  I have learned lately to really listen to myself and tune in to what I need.  Hard to do when we have little ones demanding every second of our time....but, getting much easier now that they are more independent.  When I went to my naturopath, one of the suggestions that really stuck with me because it was so simple was "Seed Cycling".  Seed cycling may be the secret for getting myself back on track, along with a good diet, moderate exercise, and lots of sleep.  Here are the basics:
Phase 1:  Follicular Phase (Days 1-14) eat 2 tbsp. raw pumpkin and flax seeds
Phase 2:  Luteal Phase (Days 15-28) eat 2 tbsp. raw sunflower and sesame seeds
Simple as that!
Flax seeds I have to add to other dishes to get these down, but the raw pumpkin seeds are delightful on their own.

Raw sunflower seeds.  These are easy to just snack on.

Sesame seeds... these I have to put in a smoothie, stir fry, or oatmeal.  I only chew a spoonful if I'm desperate.

Our "woodsy" new kitchen.  I'm liking it.  And that is good since this is where I spend all of my time (or the car).

And my Little Miss.  My daily company and constant entertainment.
So, that's it friends!  Simple.  I never like to make things complicated or add undue stress to my life.  Life is is already stressful without adding more, right?  One more thing:  You can also add daily fish oil during days 1-14 and evening primrose oil during days 15-28.  But, sometimes I forget.  I'm not good at supplements.  So, I figure if I'm doing the best I can, that's ok.
Happy Monday!

Sunday, March 23, 2014

A Mini-Spring-Break-Escape

This may be the first little vacation we have taken that poolside=relaxation.
Typically, with three little birds, hanging out by the pool is fun, but also an exhausting, tension filled, heart pounding experience.
These guys are now almost 5, 8, and 11!  These are good ages.  They were able to safely and completely entertain themselves on the sandy beach, the three-story water slide, and table tennis.  We also saw some adorable baby ducks.  The Hub and I were able to lie in chairs, drinks in hand, and watch the excitement.  Daddy and our Little Middle actually both won 2nd place in the water slide speed contest.
We arrive.  I'm always amazed that we can drive two hours and find spring time.

Our very own "Vampire Kitty"


Table tennis championships

And hours of content sand digging

Until next time, so long beautiful paradise!
*The funniest part by far had to be when our Little Miss yelled out in her sleep at 3am "Oh ya I forgot, WHO WANTS TO WATCH FROZEN?!".  After all, it had been a  full 24 hours.

Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Let's Try This Again

So many times I have said, "I need to start blogging again!", "I'm not a scrapbooker, I HAVE to blog!", "This is the only record of my family!".  And then.... nothing.  So here it is again- another attempt because nothing is more important to me than this family.  I am always reminded of just how special our time together is when life throws us curve balls.  Like a co-worker covering for my husband, getting into a horrific car accident, and going completely blind.  Like breaking out in shingles for no apparent reason, other than the fact that life is a little stressful at times (as it is for everyone).  Like my husband fighting like mad to protect everything he has worked so hard for.  It is sickening to me that in his line of work there are no guarantees.  There is always someone looking to pounce on all we have built and claim it as their own.  Makes my stomach ache. And dealing with people who we assume are good and honest.  Why wouldn't they be?  Sadly, some people just aren't built that way.  BUT, (and that's a BIG BUT!) we have an amazing family that I couldn't be more proud of and they are my daily motivation to keep on keepin' on.  And the fact that I am blessed beyond measure and am grateful to my core.