School’s in full swing

 

School is in full swing now, and it’s going pretty good.  Braelyn is doing well and likes her teacher and class.  Selah is still struggling, crying every morning, but seems to do fine when she is at school now, so that is an improvement at least.  Gracyn has now been switched to 2 day threeschool which is going to be a much better fit for her than the one day.  She loves school!  September has been moving right along, and next week is Gracyn’s 4th birthday!  We don’t have big plans, but she wants to go to Chuck E Cheese, so I am sure we will be doing that.

Here are a few beginning of school LO’s I have been working on.

I’ve been struggling a lot lately with my work schedule.  The “mommy guilt” of working has really been getting to me lately, and a schedule that isn’t ideal for school schedules and Grandma schedules doesn’t make it easy to get it out of my head.  I am also realizing that the years that my kids are home with me are growing fewer – soon they will all be in school full time – wow – that is scary to me!

Hope you all have a great rest of your week!!!

MandaKay

A Grandma?

I got into a conversation the other day with my girls about how many kids they want to have some day.  I don’t remember exactly how it came up, but I think Selah was talking about being a mom some day – she brings this up a lot, especially when I am making dinner, baking, or doing something that she thinks would be a fun “mom” thing!  All three of them were in the kitchen with Kyle and I , and so we asked each of the girls how many kids they wanted to have.  Documenting this here on the blog is more of a way for me to write it down and get it off the sticky note in my kitchen…hate having too many of those sitting on my counter!  This will definitely become a scrap book page at some point – just need to decide if I want to do one per kid or put all three on one page!

Braelyn’s answer at 7 years old:  2 kids, 1 girl and 1 boy

Selah’s answer at 5 years old:  6 kids, 2 boys, then 2 girls, then a baby boy , and another baby girl.  She was specific about the order and everything!!!

Gracyn’s answer at 3 years old:  4 kids, 2 boys and 2 girls

So, potentially someday Kyle and I will be grandparents to 12 kids!  Wow – that is a crazy thought!  I love it!

I think about it.

My blog.  I think about it often.  I try to remember to get on here and post something, and then I run out of time.  The girls and I got talking a few days ago about how many kids they want to have some day, and I need to get their answers down in here so I don’t forget!  The sticky note on my counter will inevitably get lost or thrown away, so if I get it down here I can reference it later.  But for now I am just gonna clean out my layouts folder to share what I have done lately.

Summer is winding down and I think I am ready for the routine of school.  I get a little nervous about all the things that will need to be done each day, but I can tackle them!  We are looking forward to the long weekend of Labor Day – lots of family time!  Hope you all have a great weekend as well!

Fresh Fruit Pie recipe

I love summer fruit!  strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, all of the berries really!  And I love a good fresh fruit pie – almost better than a cooked pie and they are so easy too!  I thought I’d share the recipe that I got from my sister for fresh blueberry pie, which is basically good for any fresh fruit.  Think blueberry, strawberry, raspberry, peach, etc…!!!

 

Crust:  (if you should choose to make it from scratch!  I usually end up buying a Keebler ready made crust - it should be the shortbread kind though and not the graham crust!)
1/2 cup cold butter (real butter only - I use salted when I make it)
1 1/4 cup flour
1 Tbsp cold water
-Mix with two forks (hold back to back and cut thru ingredients).  Leave a bit crumbly, press into pie pan, poke a few times with a fork so that it doesn't bubble up and crack, bake at 425 for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool before filling.

Glaze for the fresh fruit:
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp corn starch
-mix dry in sauce pan
Add 1 cup water (or just a bit less than one cup)
Bring to boil/clear liquid and remove from heat.
Add 3 oz. box of jello (flavored to match fruit)
Chill the liquid by letting it sit for about 15 minutes or so.  Place your fresh fruit in the pie crust, and then pour the glaze over the fruit, and chill in the fridge until ready to eat!

Here is a very bad picture of the pie I made yesterday – doesn’t do it justice, but it’s all I got!

Hope you get a chance to try it!

MandaKay

Short Hair for Summer!

Braelyn has been bugging me to cut her hair short for the last month or so.  I wanted to keep it long until her gymnastics meet, which was last Thur. night.  So on Friday she was already begging me to cut her hair!  The girl doesn’t skip a beat!  So last Friday night I spent giving haircuts to Braelyn and then Selah!  They both have new summer short hair!

And of course some LO’s I have finished up since the last time I posted LO’s on here.  All of them using The-Lilypad product!  That store just keeps getting better and better!

Don’t forget to visit the Lilypad Store this weekend for all of the sales and new products!

We have a busy busy end of our week and weekend – but all fun stuff mostly!  Lots of cookouts with friends and family and a little work for mom and dad.  The 4th of July is always a fun summer holiday!

Have a great rest of your week!

MandaKay

Lions & Tigers & Bears! Oh My!

Well, not really! The Binder Park zoo actually didn’t have any lions, tigers, or bears!  Crazy huh?  We took our first trip to the Binder Park Zoo this summer.  Normally we head to the John Ball Park Zoo since it’s closer, but I got a great Groupon deal for the Binder Park Zoo and we have been wanting to see the giraffe exploratory, so we headed down to Battle Creek one day as a family!  It ended up being a cold and cloudy/rainy day, but we still had a lot of fun!  If you have not gotten a chance to meet the giraffes up close and live anywhere near the Binder Park zoo, I strongly suggest going!  It was amazing!  We were literally RIGHT by the giraffes.  Like petting them and feeding them!  So awesome to get so close to such a beautiful magnificent animal!  I’m always amazed when we go to the zoo by the variety of animals that God created and how different and amazing each one is!

It was a fun day for our family!

Once a Month Post

Guess I can barely call this blog my “Everyday Life” blog when I have been updating it only once a month lately!  I may have to come up with a new clever title!    As usual, and much like everyone else in life…things are busy!  Summer Break is officially here, and so all three kiddos are home with me on the days I am home and don’t work.  Our first week was very fun, very busy, and I guess I could say successful!  I think the kids would consider it that  at least!  I on the other hand felt a little overwhelmed with everything.  The constant questions about who can we play with, what can we have to eat, can so and so eat over, can we swim, can we have a play date, etc….Let alone the fact that they were in and out of the house a million times a day.  I had to keep telling myself that it was all ok, and that they are just being kids and enjoying summer!  This week we have a few more structured things planned which will be good!

Without sounding like I am whining, I just have to complain about the house for sale business.  I am so sick of trying to sell our house.  I keep telling Kyle that this is the last time I am doing this.  We are staying in the next house!   I am so sick of showings, so sick of hearing that people don’t like this or that about a house I LOVE, and sick of being in the top 2 or 3 choices for someone and showing our house 2-3 times to the same couple just to have them decide on another house.  I don’t get my hopes up when we have a showing.  I pretty much go into it thinking it won’t amount to anything, but I stress about having the house spotless and making it perfect, because you know it just takes that “1” right buyer.  And needless to say, doing that with 3 kids, and at kind of inconvenient times  in a bad market is just exhausting.  There.  My rant is over on that!

I haven’t been really into scrapping lately for some reason.  I’ve never had this much of a lull with that, but I have been trying.  Spring/Summer is always a tough time to scrap because there is always so much going on, so I am cutting myself some slack!  Here are some pages I have done since my last post though!

 

Our basement is now drywalled, painted, and on it’s way to being finished!  I am loving how it is turning out – it’s always fun to see your plan come together!  I’ve been repurposing some things and painting some canvases for art – which gives such a sense of accomplishment!  And Kyle has been doing some things on his own that he hadn’t done before like laying wood laminate floor and putting up a tile backsplash!

And one more thing to talk about!  We went geocaching today!!!  Geocaching is a real-world outdoor treasure hunting game. Players try to locate hidden containers, called geocaches, using GPS-enabled devices and then share their experiences online.  I had heard from a couple people that it’s so much fun and that the kids would love it, so I suggested we do some while we were on our bike ride to the park.  The girls got excited and we really enjoyed the hunt for the little boxes!  This is the site that we got our locations off of, and while we didn’t do it the exact way we were supposed to, by putting in the coordinates into a gps, we got the location from the geocaching website and then used some clues and ideas from the map!  We did two today, and they both were a little tough to find at first, but after some hunting we finally found both and signed our team to them!!!  The girls were enjoying it, and at the park they mainly wanted to find the box rather than play on the playground!  If you haven’t tried geocaching yet, you really should give it a go – there are hidden treasures everywhere!

Have a great week!!!

MandaKay