Recycling

We have been recycling for a while now. It is nice because there is a free drop off very close to our house, so doing it is not a chore. The thing I really like about it is teaching the girls to care for our earth. Maddie will look at the bottom of anything plastic and tell whether or not we can recycle it. This sometimes leads to me learning of a new recyclable item. Yesterday I had a ton to drop off so Bella and I went off to recycle after dropping off Maddie at school. Bella loves this one on one time and she really enjoys throwing the different things into the different bins. I would love to be able to go totally green and buy only natural and organic food but it is very expensive. So we try, we recycle, we buy organic in the things that we use the most like PB and milk for the girls only, and a lot more fruits and fresh veggies. So even though our part is small it is still a big help when you put it with all of the other people out there that are doing the same.

First Days of School

Well Maddie is officially a "big" girl. She has completed two full days of kindergarten. There have been sad moments (for me), the first day she got in line at the front school door and said bye mom,bye Bella and smiled all the way to her room, a room that I thought I would "have" to walk her to. And then there have been happy moments too, yesterday she was talking up a storm about the friends she made, the popcorn pop, and how she needs an item for show and tell for Friday. I think Maddie is going to love kindergarten even though she came home the first day and said " I can't believe I have to go to shcool three days in a row", only to find out that she actually has to go 5 days in a row (holiday this week). I keep telling her that the more she goes the more fun it will be. There was a sad moment for Michael too, Maddie has made two friends....both boys;) I think it is funny, he told her to play with the girls. I'll leave a few pictures of the first few days, Enjoy:) Blogger isn't working well so I will post more pictures later. This one is on her first day, well her first day alone.I was with her for the first time there, just for orientation.

Deer Acres

Not only did I enjoy Deer Acres Storybook Amusement Park when I was little, I worked there when I was 15. The park is based on Mother Goose stories. It really is a cute little park. There is one area where you can go in with the deer and feed them popcorn, but they almost took out Bella. They are very aggressive.

My mom and I recently took the girls there and it is funny how over the last 18 0r so years not much has changed at all. The girls and I had so much fun, I felt like a kid again.

Here are some pictures of one of my many visits(when I was about 7 or 8) and then some of the girls doing the same things.

Here is me and a childhood friend at Deer Acres. And since I don't know how to get words in between the rest of the pictures I will leave it up to you to know who is who. It is pretty self explanatory:)

New Camera = Cute pictures

I'm so excited to have a new camera. I have been busy taking pictures and wanted to share a few of my favorites.

Love this....

"When one door closes, another opens, but we often look so long and so regretfully upon the closed door that we do not see the one which has opened for us".
~Alexander Graham Bell~

Imagination at it's best.

A little play make-up, a scary face, and a lovely princess add up for a good time playing the wolf and the princess. A story made up by yours truly..........

Dance Pictures...finally.

Well after a month and a half we finally recieved Maddie's dance pictures.

I will just post the group one because I like it the best. For those of you who read about but did not attend the recital, the dance for this outfit was My boyfriends back. It was soooo cute. The little guy was such a trooper, blowing each girl a kiss in the routine...too cute.

Yesterday Maddie turns on the TV and finds the cartoon station. I walk into the room and hear a program about how the egyptians drain the body of all organs and brain etc...etc... I look at Maddie and see an expression on her face that is priceless. It is a look of confusion, horror, and interest. Hmmmm...should I leave it on or is it too much for her . Now this is a children's show, Reading Rainbow. I always let them watch this if they are interested, it's educational. I used to watch this show, I loved it when I was little. But still, taking out the brains and internal organs? I decide to leave it on, you can see the intense learning that is going on just by looking at her. Towards the end of the show they show the pryamids where they kept the mummies and she is fascinated, proclaiming that she wants to go to Egypt! I bring out the globe and show her exactly where Egypt is, no problem to her. "All we have to do is take a boat like the one we rode on to Mackinaw Island and then drive the rest fo the way". I laugh and try to explain to a 5 year old how far and exspensive it is. She and I argue about this for a while, I tell her the only way we will get there is if we win the lottery. And that I would love to go to far away places too(trying to teach contentment) until I finally tell her that we will go to the museum and see a real mummy someday.
The point to my story here is that Maddie is not that little baby girl I long for her to stay, but she is growing and wanting to know and learn about things that I thought she was too young to handle. I'm trying to live in the present moments and this really makes me wonder how many moments I've lost by not living in the present.

Here is our garden so far this year

I will post the pictures starting from behind the garage to the back right corner of the yard. We only put acorn squash, watermelon, and cantaloupe in the vegetable garden. The rest of the veggies are either in pots or hidden in the flower garden.

Here is the clothes line we put in this year.

This is where the perennial garden starts and it goes the rest of the length of the yard. We added a space for strawberries and chnaged the stepping stones around. I really like it better this way. Next year the rose bushes are coming out, they are just too much work.
Our Strawberry Patch This is the new addition , really we just connected the two existing gardens and moved stones around. Here are some hidden veggies that are doing very well, I think they like it here. There are pickling cucumbers, bambino eggplants(which I will post a picture of) and japanese eggplants. We also have cucumbers, green beans and peas. Oh and let's not forget Maddie's carrots, which she plants every year and they do great every year.And the little bambino eggplant, there are wuite a few. Can't wait to try them))

Thankful Thursday

SOOOO thankful to have a digital camera again.....
Enjoy!!!

Just some pictures

Since my camera has been down I haven't been able to post any pictures, or take any for that matter. Over the weekend my mom gave me back my old digital camera and I'm back in business. So enjoy all of the cuteness.

Garden Pictures

Well here are a few pictures from our flower garden this year.

This is Bella and her Best Friend Sarah.

And here is Maddie and Bella taking a moment in the garden...love it!!

Dance is over ahhhh.....

After taking a 6 week summer dance class last year Maddie wanted to keep with it. So after finding out that her teacher from that class just became pregnant, I wondered how she would be able to teach the whole year. We ended up going to a studio that is new to Owosso, BIG mistake. I will not go into all of the horid details of this ladies business sense but I will leave you all a beautiful picture of my little "Dance Star".

By the way she did a wonderful job at the recital and for all of you wondering if I will let her continue dance, let's just say that if she wants to I will take her back to the place where she went that one summer. I saw some of the pictures from their recital and the costumes were not only 100% cuter(if that's even a word) but they were also $20 cheaper!!

Enjoy the pictures

Awesome Salsa

Here is a great salsa recipe. It can be used with tortillas chips or with grilled chicken pieces on top of grilled corn tortillas with sour cream and cheese. However you want to eat it, it will be great!!

1-3 mangos, ripe but firm. Chopped into small pieces
1-2 jalapeno peppers. seeded and then finely chopped
Fresh chopped cilantro. As much or as little as you like. I use quite a bit.
1-2 large tomatoes, use the type you like. chopped small
The juice of 1-2 limes
1 med onion finely chopped

Mix all of the chopped ingredients together and let sit in the refrigerator to chill for about 1/2 an hour or so. This is so lite and refreshing you will love it. You can add more or use less, depending on how much salsa you want to make. It really is an eyeball it and taste as you go kind of recipe.

Enjoy:))

Thankful Thursday

Wow it's Thursday already!!
There are so many things to be thankful for. Even as I am typing I'm trying to decide which one of the things I'm thankful for that I would like to share today.

Friends, old and new are something everyone should be thankful for. We all have friends and I'm sure that at some point we have all taken those friendships for granted. Only realizing this when a close, neighboring friend moves away, or an old friend calls and shares exciting news and wishing you could be there to give a hug and celebrate, or a dear new friend that says something so inspiring that you stop and think wow how thankful am I to have such great friends. Friends that love me for me and do not judge or expect anything more than just me. I love these friends exactly the same, no expectations and no judgements.

So here is a nice quote about friendship

Chaff and grain

" Oh, the comfort...of feeling safe with a person-having neither to weigh thoughts nor measure words, but pouring them all right out, just as they are, chaff and grain together: certain that a faithful hand will take and sift them, keep what is worth keeping, and then with the breath of kindness blow the rest away."
~Dinah Craik, England

Sunday Sentiment

I have really neglected these Sunday Sentiments so I will try to keep them going.

Here is a good one for me today, it really worked for me yesterday too...enjoy!!

" We have the right not to tolerate the intolerant. We should tolerate them whenever we can do so without running a great risk; but the risk may become so great that we cannot allow ourselves the luxury."
~Karl Popper(1902-1994), Austria/England~

Thankful Thursday

Kind of busy today so this won't be a long post. I was talking with a friend and she really got me thinking about something I had read in my book. That is an emotion that I carry with me daily that I wish I could let go of forever....Worry. I worry about everything and it is not healthy or fun. I am missing out on other great feelings because I hold on to this worrisome mind set. My dear friend pointed out that I am not living in the moment, the right now in life, I am always thinking "what if". Yesterday is gone, tomorrow is not here yet so why not just enjoy today and the right now of it all. I'm taking this to heart and really going to try and keep this in mind the next time I start to worry about the silliest things. So today I am thankful for my friend who point blank told me to stop worrying and live in the right now;) Love Ya Friend.

Thankful Thursday

Today I am thankful for the willpower that has come over both my husband and myself. Michael has now been smoke-free for 3 weeks!!! I am so proud of him, I know how hard it is for him he was probably born with a very addictive personality. I'm not just talking about the cigarettes either...Hunting, Fishing, and Golfing are very addictive for him too, can you hear the sarcasm in my words? Really though I am very proud of him. I am also proud of myself I guess because I have been smoke-free for 3 1/2 months. I am more proud of the fact that I have not gained any weight, actually I just noticed yesterday that I have lost 5 lbs!!! I guess all of those walks, the yoga, and using the dumbbells is finally paying off. Now back to poor Michael who has gained about 10 lbs! He is laughing it off, me too sort of. I keep telling him to watch it or those 10 lbs will turn into 20. Men are lucky like that, as soon as the weather is nice and he mows the grass once it will all just magically melt off, more sarcasm.

So thank you God for giving us both the willpower we both needed to stop that terrible nasty habit. We both feel great and are getting along much better too!!

Thinking Spring, Big Time!!!

This is our backyard now. The view here is looking towards the back of the house.

This is looking from the back deck out into the yard, same side of the yard though.

This is the big plan for this years yard work. Work it will be but isn't it pretty. I'm sure ours won't look like that for a few years but since we are not going anywhere for a while this will help ease the discomfort of the cramped space inside. If you click on the picture you will see that there is a shed back there, that will be where the playhouse is now.

Well what do you think, like it?

Thankful Thursday

I love a new box of crayons. Coloring gives me a sense of peace and relaxation. It brings me back to those more carefree days of being a kid again. Coloring to me, seems more appealing when there is a new box of crayons to use. Maybe it has to do with the sharpness of them, being able to color in all of the tiniest details, or maybe it is the sense of a fresh new start filled with all colors imaginable. How about the memory of getting new crayons as a child, the excitement and question of which page to color first,what picture deserves the vibrant colors and detail that only new crayons can give? Since becoming a mother I have had the pleasure of using new crayons more times than I can count. Each time brings a new experience with my children. As they grow they are able to appreciate those new crayons a little more and the special times that coloring together can bring. Our crayon collection is quite large but so are the memories of us all coloring together, even daddy finds the child within on occasion. I have even been known to color a picture or two for my dear(grown) friends if the picture is fitting. So this week I am thankful for new crayons and the memories they can produce and the ones that I hold dear to my heart. Thank you Crayola for such a wonderful and inexpensive treasure.