Hello Monday

Hello new week.

Hello spending all Sunday afternoon in a class learning all about my new computer.

Hello day date with my first born. So precious.

Hello cute kiddos that watch their mamas clean up the kitchen.

Hello needing to re-focus on my clean eating. These two blogs are really helpful.

The Gracious Pantry and 100 Days of Real Food.

Hope you all have a wonderful week.

Thankful Thursday (but on a Saturday)

1. For the friends my Calvi has. He's had a very social week of at least one coffee or lunch date everyday. The boy is going to need a second job in order to afford his social life, or a Proverbs 31 wife that will allow him such luxuries.

2. My baby took a spill on his skateboard this week. It was a horrible fall and he's quite the mess. But I'm SO VERY thankful that it was not so much worse. During our day at the hospital, we heard countless tragic stories, it makes me quite emotional to think of what 'could have been'.

3. Enlisting prayers from our friends for more work, and within just this past week, we got four new phone calls. So thankful for HIS provision.

4. My job. Did you know that I work? I do. I do all the books and such for our company. I'm FINALLY starting to take it seriously. After 13 years, I figured it was probably about time. Ha! The past two weeks I have been having to pretty much re-learn everything as I've switched to doing the books off of a software program and am now on an online application. Ugh!!! "It's hard to teach an old dog new tricks!"

5. Homeschooling. I'm amazed that I'm almost done. That I've lasted as long as I have. I'm thankful for all the different opportunities there are in our area. It's been a stressful summer trying to navigate and plan and make sure I finish their schooling well, but I'm excited and thankful for our upcoming year.

6. Friendships. Walking every morning this week with sweet Monica; the time flies by as we do circles up and down the hills in her neighborhood and vent all our woes and tell all our stories. Plus a very special night last night with some favorite friends that we haven't spent time with in many years. Precious.

7. The weather was cooler this week, WOW, so much cooler. We could go on our walks anytime of the day and not pass out.

8. I started using fabric softener sheets in the dryer, AS WELL as using the liquid downey in the wash...the towels and SO MUCH softer. Oh the joy of burying your face in a nice fluffy towel that smells so divine. Sometimes it's the little things that make a big difference.

9. The neighborhood pool. Love it that the kids can have their friends over and they all just go to the pool. What fun!!!

10. My Sweetie is teaching a class tomorrow at church. I love it when he teaches. So thankful he gets opportunities to share his gifting.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend!!!

Tour Tuesday - The Kitchen

(I forgot to post this yesterday, so forgive me, I'm a day behind.)

My kitchen. Love this kitchen, I love how it opens to the rest of the house. I love the arrangement. I might want to paint the cabinets a white color, but this house gets so much light that I never feel like it's dark in here.

My favorite square wreath is from Target (a long time ago).

My baking center. I am a lover of all things baked.

Food storage. Boring. But well organized.

My beloved spice cabinet. Makes me look like a real cook.

Where I keep my extra mason jars & lids. Our extra vitamins. (Yes, I'm a vitamin junkie.) And our paper goods.

Cooking utensils.  I keep them in one drawer, if they start not fitting, it's time to get rid of something!

Knives and all things sharp.

Pots, pans, lids, skillets, mixing bowls & measuring cups.  I love that all the lower cabinets have the pull out shelves.

Under the kitchen sink.  I'm in love with those dishwasher pods, how easy are those things!?

Pantry love.

Pure bliss.

I have a mixture of mis-matched white dishes, it suits me just fine, especially since I've got two clumsy boys that do the dishes everyday and tend to break things.

This is what happens when your son finds you in the kitchen trying to take pictures. He's so helpful.

I have been put on restriction from buying anymore mugs.  I love mugs, I don't know why.

We have lots of silverware.  We are constantly running out of spoons, so I stock up when I can.

The tea drawer.  I have gotten back into drinking tea, as long as it's caffeine free and  TAZO brand is my favorite.

The coffee pod drawer.

Small appliances.  My two favorite ones are on the lower left, my Vitamix and my waffle maker.

The junk drawer, AFTER I straightened it.  See those red trimmed circle stickers, from the Martha Stewart line at Staples, I love them, I use them to label everything.  Just love the Martha Stewart line at Staples.  Anyone else??

That's my kitchen, time to go cook something.  Thanks for visiting.

Hello Monday

Here are the latest pictures of our summer adventures:

Playing Yatzee one night, Winston likes to play, but he couldn't get his full house. Poor thing.

One more family shot while in the car. This is going to become our Christmas card picture, cuz it's the only time I think to take a picture of all of us. So lame.

I love summer storms, but this one was a little scary looking.

Love sitting on the front porch during the rain.

Face Timing with Sweetie and Dave every morning when they were on their big baseball extravaganza trip.

Snuggling with my favorite boo while watching a movie.

While in San Diego, our trips over lapped by a couple of days. I hadn't seen these two in a week, I was SO excited to spend a day with them.

My mother-in-law is precious.

My Daddy is hilarious and such a cutie-patootie. Though he's going to kill me for posting this picture of him.

A most precious afternoon with my mama and sister, love them so much.