National Sibling Day

I didn't realize until this morning that yesterday was National Sibling Day.  So to celebrate, I would like to give a shout out to my two siblings:

 

Kimberly - Here's to all the talks and gossip we shared growing up.  To the fights we quickly got over, to the nights we stayed up late having a midnight snack, sleeping in each other's beds when it stormed and even when it didn't, and sharing each other's clothes.  To the night we got locked out of our house on accident, to all the jokes that we shared, and to becoming big sisters in our teens.  I love you and I couldn't ever imagine a day without you in it.

 

Kollin - Here's to being there watching you be born, to helping you learn to walk, talk, and to learn "verb, it's what you do."  Here's to watching your soccer, baseball, and basketball games.  Here's to taking you to the movies to see Transformers (over 2 hours long) when you were only 6 and to us staying out way too late.  Here's to all the smiles you have given me, how proud I am of you, and how excited I am to see what you make of yourself.  You're the best baby brother I could have ever gotten and I couldn't fathom what our lives would be like if you had not blessed us by being here.  I love you and am proud of the fine young man that you are.

Happy A-Day to My Sister

 

 

 

Today is the anniversary of one of the people who mean the most to me.   Happy 3rd anniversary to my sister and her husband.  This is the first anniversary that the two of them can be together to celebrate as the past two years they were apart due to Lonnie's deployment and my sister's job in North Dakota.  In these past three years, they have grown their family by one special little boy.  I remember this day three years ago so vividly.  It was a beautiful sunny day, with a slight breeze that was perfectly cooling.  The wedding was beautiful, and perfect, and perfectly played out.  My best friend (and cousin) sang a song while her boyfriend at the time (who has since left this Earth) played the guitar.  My sister was the most beautiful bride and I will never forget the way it made me feel to watch her and my father walk up the isle on her special, special day.  They rode off on Lonnie's motorcycle which was probably my favorite part of the whole wedding.  My mother made the beautiful wedding cake which resembled Kimberly's wedding dress.  We danced the night away and had a wonderful gathering in the morning for breakfast with the whole family.  There's a photo below of Kimberly and Lonnie on their bike and there's a tow truck in the background.  This is a funny story that involves Keane having to use one of Kimberly's bridesmaid's AAA hook-up to unlock a running vehicle during the ceremony. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you remember the butterflies and the happiness that you felt this day three years ago, and I hope those special moments continue throughout the following years.  Congratulations, you two.



Weekend Fun

This past weekend was full of activities.

Target practicing

 

Keane taking Kaden youth turkey hunting

Playing baseball in the yard

 

"Do it now" approach

Saturday night visitors and KJS Country concerts

Playing basketball on the paid-in-full concrete approach

Playing with the pets

 

 

Hair cuts for the kids

 

 

 

Facing the fact that my prayer plant died and has no hope of return

We also did a little fishing, four wheeler riding, bike riding for the kids, and getting the lawn mowers ready for mowing.  We had friends over Saturday night for a weenie-roast-turned-into-grilling evening thanks to the wind, grilled deer steak for supper, and played Mancala.  We pigged out on DQ ice cream and Kylie wrote her first entry in her first diary, "I love my whole family very much."

It was a gorgeous weekend.  Saturday was warm but the wind was blowing like crazy, Sunday turned into the perfect day with the sun shining and temperatures in the high 60's, and a thunderstorm rolled in on Sunday night.

Do It Now

I read here about three inspiring words, "Do It Now."  I'm excited to "Do It Now" and I have been trying to apply that to everything right now including house cleaning, work, and my business.

Reading articles online that are inspiring, uplifting, and full of ideas can be addicting, fun, yet time consuming.  Try something -- every other time you want to get online and read articles, you should make/design something instead, write a list of to-do's, or do one of the things on your to-do list.  It is easy to quickly get discouraged when you don't see instant results, yet everything that I've read and know is that there won't be "quick" results; being successful will take time and work.  Just concentrate on taking steps towards your goal for now, one by one, and put yourself out there.

I opened up a site to sell products for about a month (it was free) but didn't get any hits, so yesterday I cancelled it.  I have started an Instagram account and on that I have five photos and two followers (one is my sister) but it's a start.   Right now, I have a cheap, yet free, website and an Etsy account.  It feels good to be able to check on my items, even if there's no progress. 

You can either be one who analyzes every situation and finds all the "no's" or "too hard's" without giving it a shot, or you can be like the wife who quit her job and "do it now!"

Here is a blog post about setting short-term goals in an effort to not overwhelm yourself.  What's your goal for today?  Mine, you ask?  Besides getting groceries for steak fajitas and pork loin in a crock pot, going to my little brother's baseball game if it's not cancelled due to rain, and getting through the work day, I have a daily goal to pick out a new fabric and to decide on one more product to offer through my business. 

Hang in there and things will come your way, as long as you keep working, moving forward, and putting yourself and your work out there where it can be seen, reached, and discovered.

Mushroom Journal

Keane and I took a walk into the woods yesterday, knowing that we wouldn't find mushrooms, but still wanting to satisfy that urge to go look anyway. The woods were pretty dry and brown. Soon enough I will be sharing our finds, but for now, all I have is the very last mushroom Keane we found last year - making our total count in 2012: 77. 

 

Bring it on this year, mushrooms!

Happy Mushroom Hunting.

 

 

Guitar Lesson

When I got home from work, Keane was filling the home with beautiful music from his guitar. Kaden excitedly told me that he was told this would be an easy song for him to learn so I told him to go grab his guitar. He sat at his dad's feet, followed the directions for playing an E chord, and A, and strummed along to the words his dad sang.  He played for a little bit until his fingers were marked from the strings.  All the while, Kylie lip-synced and strummed along with a pink, blow-up electric guitar.

 

Lenox-Scape

 

On the Lookout