Dreams CAN come true!

We have been dreaming of a white Christmas and once we found out the snow storm was on its way we were ecstatic.  After the kids came home from Grandma and Grandpa's house last night, they wanted to frolic in the snow and that they did!

 

Snow balls a sailing . . .

 

Angels' wings a spreading . . .

 and kids a laughing.

 

They were SO SAD when I told them to come in.

 

 

0600 in the morning and Paul wakes me up with the flashlight flickering by his side.  "No power and the snow blower is stuck in the garage." He dodged the snow drifts with my car and made his way into work.  School might have been called off but Hospitals do not close on blizzardy days.

 

 

Connor and I gathered up all our candles and lit them in the bedroom and bathroom.  Olivia and Connor played an interesting game of "I spy" while snuggling in our bed. 

 

Connor:  I spy something gray.

Liv: The picture.

Connor: yep

 

Liv:  I spy something black

Connor: The TV

Liv:  yep

 

and their game continued of muted hues!

 

We planned to cook our meals on the camp stove and play board games by candle light.

 

BUT, then the power came back on and our "camping" plans were interrupted with television and Minecraft.

 



 Looking out in our backyard.

It looks so much prettier with a layer of white.

 

I put on Paul's coveralls and Carhart Coat and decided I would get the snow blower out of the garage and blow some snow but that was short lived; I couldn't get it to start.  (Actually, I didn't know where the choke or throttle was).  So I attempted to scoop the snow with a snow shovel and the kids followed me outside for another romp in the snow.

 





They were pretending to survive off the Arctic land.  Hunting fox, rabbit, and polar bears.  Making rabbit stew and sewing polar bear fur blankets.  So great for their imagination to run wild.  Made me remember when my sister and I survived the Arctic land when we were younger.

 

After I finished a third of the drive-way, I decided I had had enough activity and decided to leave the snow blowing to Paul tonight.

 

I started the Hot Chocolate routine and with some hesitation the kids came in to warm up.

 

We did away with the electronics and have been playing board games and putting together some puzzles.

 

They are trying to talk me into playing outside again this afternoon, but the wind has picked up.  I guess a few minutes won't hurt them. 

Keepin' it Real at Roberts' Christmas

We celebrated our Roberts' Christmas way back on the first week of December.  Since the family has multiplied, it was the only time we could fit it in!  I was just going through the pictures of this past and loved all the great expressions from the kids.  When I came to these pictures, I thought it would be nice to share some Christmas magic through the pictures of the kids in the family.

 

 

Tiny Tot's eyes all aglow . . . 

 

 

 Ansel is becoming very animated.

 

 Ada loved decorating the gingerbread houses with stickers.

 

 Talk about animated; Evie is all smiles while crafting.

 

 These girls were busy singing and dancing while crafting.

 

Evie shows us her Motherly skills while holding Ben.

 

 Paul seems quite jolly holding and loving on Ansel.

 

 Time for dancing to Christmas songs on the record player.

 

 Tickle fight, tickle fight, tickle fight!

 

Fifty shots later and maybe have one where everyone is looking forward.

 

 The night ended with a good story, read by Evan.

 

 The next morning, the girls were sitting nice and ready to rip into presents.

 

 Phew! unwrapping presents is tiring!

 

Ben has his second wind for the rest of the party.

 

 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

ENJOY THE MAGIC IN YOUR HOME!

Three meals in 30 minutes!!!

I am stoked!

It doesn't take much to amuse me, but when I discover how to make dinners [easy] . . . I'm game.

Of course, I don't have the brains to invent this on my own.  I discovered this brilliant idea from the one and only; Pinterest (see pinterest.com here to see some really cool ideas).  I'm doing my job of keeping the wheel turning.

Without any further ado:  Three at Once Freezer Meals for the Crock pot!

(My favorite combination of words EVER!)

What you'll need:

• 2 lbs. round roast
• 5-6 lbs. chicken
• 4 pork chops 1" thick
• brown sugar
• 12 garlic cloves
• soy sauce
• 1 onion
• apple cider vinegar
• 16 oz. tomato sauce
• 1 can green chilies (the small one!)
• chili powder
• ketchup
• honey
• chicken broth
• Four large freezer bags

We already had the round roast in the freezer, so I just bought a bag of frozen chicken, and some pork chops and put them on ice.  I bought a jar of already minced garlic (side aisles in the produce part of grocery store by the onions and garlic) because I didn't want to play with all that garlic.  I pretty much had everything else in the pantry with the exception of a new onion and apple cider vinegar.

When you have all your items gathered, dice up the onion.  Lay out the bags and using a permanent marker write the meal and directions.  Then, add the meat and ingredients!

Here's Meal numbero uno: Beef Burritos

1. Round roast
2. one diced onion
3. 4 minced garlic cloves (equal to (4) 1/2 tsp. of minced garlic in the jar)
4. ground pepper
5. 2 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
6. 16 oz. tomato sauce
7. one can green chilies
8. 1 1/2 tsp. chili powder

Directions: Heat high for 4-5 hours or Low 6-7 hours.  When meat is cooked, strain juices, remove onions, shred meat and add to cooker and juice for 30 more min.  Don't forget to buy some burrito shells, taco shells, or tortilla shells and other mexi-toppings.  This might be good with just rice too.

Meal #2:  Teriyaki Pork Chops

1.  four pork chops
2. salt & pepper
3. 2 minced garlic cloves ((2) 1/2 tsp. of minced garlic)
4. 2 tbsp. brown sugar, 1/4 c. soy sauce, 1/3 c. chicken broth

Directions: Heat high for 4-5 hours or Low 6-7 hours, eat with rice or noodles.

p.s. on that one I didn't want to waste a can of chicken broth, so I threw a chicken bouillon cube and made a not to add 1/3 cup of water when I dump it all into the crock pot.

Meal ##:  Garlic Honey Chicken

•   1 & 1/2-2 pounds chicken breasts
• 3 minced garlic cloves
• 1/3 c. soy sauce
• 2/3 c. ketchup
• 1/4 c. honey

Directions:  Heat high for 3-4 hours or low 5-6 hours, add rice or noodles.

I double bagged the meals with the freezer bags, I made sure I squeezed the heck out of them so they were as air-tight as they could be. . . now I get to throw the meal in the crock pot on one of those crazy busy days!

I'll let you know how they taste, that is still a mystery but they all smelled good when I was compiling them.  If you try these meals out before we get to let us know how it went and how they tasted.  I'm sure we can always tweak them to our tastes.

New Phase

I've discovered that I'm expeiencing a new phase in motherhood.  My dependent littles are no more and independent are they!  Oh, yes they still need me to help them find a missing book, or find a different shirt from the closet, and they depend on me feeding them, sheltering them (you know, basics.)  But they don't necessarily need me to feed them every two hours, change their diapers, shush and rock them.  Their infantile and preschooler needs are the past, especially the physical ones, and we have new adventures ahead of us.

I find myself talking, explaining, analyzing, and praying a lot more now that the kids are school-aged.  There's a part of their life that is a mystery to me and I try to extract as much information from them about their days, but get bits and pieces.  It's hard for me to relinquish the control over my kids' lives, but it is what it is and at the end of the day, I'm still their mom that they need emotionally and really the cuddles have been surprisingly more than when they were toddlers and preschoolers!  There might be some truth that distance makes the heart grow fonder in this case!

 

 

The first week of school was not what I was expecting. I thought for sure I'd be in tears that my baby girl is all grown up. But really, I felt proud of her spreading out her wings and learning to fly without me. I think it was helpful that she was VERY ready for school and it shows when she comes home. She is either making her own books, teaching to invisible students in her room, or her Barbies are having an intense lesson about the days of the week. She is where she needs to be.

Myself, on the other hand, I'm not sure where I need to be. I'm a bit complacent in the fact that I have free time (sure miss my little side-kick) and I have lists and lists of things that I could or should be doing. My first week, I paced and paced not knowing what to do. Now, I've been more comfortable in my routine, but still have this feeling of hesitancy that I should be doing more. . . but what? I really don't want to mess up the equilibrium of my work life, mom life, life life, and wife life. I am volunteering at school and church, and plan on cheering at all the kids' activities they participate in this year. I think that's enough, for now.


 

I knew that my kiddos would be growing up fast but it's so different experiencing the reality of it, than just saying it. I am blessed to have all the memories of my kiddos flood my heart and brain and SD cards. I am blessed that I'm at the stage of getting 7-8 hours of sleep, unless I'm worrying or praying about the kids' days or issues in their lives. I'm blessed to engage in new relationships with the kids; for example, the dinner table is full of conversation and interesting topics anymore!

 

 



So here's to a new phase of motherhood, one that was less traveled in my dreams because I always imagined myself with a swaddled burrito in arms or a toddler at the hip. Here's to being a little more introspective and finding myself again as a mother of school children. A woman who can get back to a few activities that were given up for the intense physical child-rearing. A time to enjoy some alone time with my hubby. Amazing how much we've talked to each other now that we have the opportunity!

Here's to a new phase!

Nephew #3

Okay, this is a late photo . . . but how lucky am I to have three nephews in a matter of six weeks!

 

Meet baby Ansel . . .

 

look at that pucker!

Our Little Girl Turns 6!!

We threw a Brave birthday party for Olivia and her friends this past weekend. . .

and it went on without a hitch.

 

 Here's Miss O posing at the chalkboard door.

 

 I made her a bear cake; if anyone has seen the movie Merida's triplet brothers turn into cute bear cubs in which I was trying to portray!

 

 Games consisted of a whisp find outside in the backyard

(aqua tissue paper with a candy treat wrapped inside).

musical chairs, and freeze dance!

The favorite was when they decorated their own shields

(without swords; I didn't want any parents upset!)

 Make a wish my sweet little lady!

 

After getting a sugar rush the kids danced and giggled and played some duck, duck, goose!

They had a blast and Olivia was a happy birthday girl!



UP, UP & AWAY

 

In my beautiful balloon!

 

Back at the end of July we went to the Balloon Festival in Indianola. 

It was a lovely night and an ideal event for pictures.  Enjoy!

 

 The sunset had a lot of character that night and peeked in and out the clouds.

 

 

 Gentle Giants

 When the sun sets, it's time for the balloons to glow.

A little blurry and never had good timing but here's one glowing.

The Great Outdoors

There are days when I crave the great outdoors.  Sometimes the city just gets too overwhelming and today was one of them. Plus, I wanted to take the kids to do something that was free.

So we visited the great outdoors about twenty minutes away.

Posing at the Butterfly Garden.  Even though there is a drought in our region of the world, the flowers look like they are getting good care.  We saw a black swallow tail butterfly and lots of white and yellow ones.

Saylorville Lake is unusually low this year.  We visited the gentle giant dam and were quite surprised to visit it up close and personal.  Last year, it was rip-roaring loud and too scary to view it up close.

We enjoyed a picnic in the park, the exhibits at the visitors center, and a movie about the wild life in Saylorville Lake area.

A nice little outing and we escaped the heat for a few hours . . . 

Swim. Splash. Jump. Dive.

The first two weeks of July, the kids had swim lessons.

Olivia took level 1 again, even though she had passed to level two.

I thought she needed to go under water without plugging her nose.

Little did I know that her brother would teach her in Grandma's pool!

 

She is my girl with no fear and water did not scare her or slow her down.

She jumped in the deep end without hesitation.

I was so proud of her to just dive in and have complete trust in her abilities!

I love her confidence.

This guy was in level four and worked on his strokes. 

This has been a challenge for him and he continues to practice his strokes and kicks in Grandma's pool.

Hopefully, I can find a level four class this winter.

I also am very proud of this guy who can take the plunge off the diving board

without any fear.



Cousin #13

We were all excited to visit our new family member at the hospital on Tuesday.

We welcomed baby Ben into the world.

 Olivia patted him when he fussed, like a natural!

 Connor is excited that there's another boy!

 We went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house to swim with new big sister and big brother!

We will enjoying soaking up some baby time now!



An American Celebration

Miss blue eyes gets a tattoo for the occasion.

We were so excited for Connor to walk in the parade this year. 

We made sure he had plenty of water for the 100 degree temps.

Looking on and waiting for candy.

Sparklers are a must for Independence Day.

We Heart the USA!