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Monday, November 18, 2013

A Fun Family Weekend

We got lucky and my parents and sister graced us with our presence over the weekend.  We took advantage of the gorgeous weekend and spent most of Saturday outside.  We kicked off our Saturday with the Veterans Memorial Bridge 5k.  It was a fantastic race!  Miriam and I were both speedy enough to win our age groups, which made things even more exciting.



It was the first time I've ever spent any portion of a race in front of Mickey.  He stayed ahead of me for the first mile, but then I kicked it in on the bridge and was able to pass him.  I didn't keep enough energy in the tank for the final push and he was able to pass me at the very end but I was less than 10 seconds behind him.  It felt good!   Pushing that stroller pays off....those boys may be riding til they're 10 haha!!  Cheers...


We spent most of the rest of our day hanging out at Stuart's first seafood fest.  The boys had fun checking out the rides in the kids zone...




....as well as the crafts...




...and we had a great time watching them and just spending quality time together...


The beer and food were pretty delicious too.

The bummer of the weekend was my mom getting sick on Saturday night.   That darn bug is really making the rounds these days.  It's bad enough to be sick at home, but to be sick on vacation is even more frustrating.

Miriam and I kicked of Sunday morning with a 10 mile run before scurrying off to church.  It was the perfect way to start our Sunday.  I wish I always had her around to keep me company on my long runs. I'm excited to run with her in January for her first half marathon.  She's gonna rock it!

The boys learned about Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace...


...and have been talking about fire ever since.  LOL!

After a couple of errands, we spent the rest of the day around the house, relaxing with Aunt Miriam and Grandpa...



...and baking pumpkin muffins...


I even made my own puree this time.  YUM!! 

Today was a catch-up day after the weekend, the highlight of which was a trip to the car wash...


...the boys LOVED watching all the cars come through.  Fun times!  They also had fun playing with their friends and making some cute turkeys...


...you better believe they think the orange, red, and yellow on the turkeys is supposed to be fire...silly boys!  They'll never forget that story from Sunday School.  I love knowing that they paid attention.










A Quick Thought

Usually in my haste to empty the inbox, I skim through all my emails, checking for important things, deleting more and more emails every day, even subscriptions to blogs I love reading, just because there simply isn't enough time to read them all.  This morning, the title of this one peaked my curiosity and I'm glad I clicked on it and let the author speak to me...

Check out here fantastic post here.

Lately, I've really been finding myself struggling with feeling like I'm failing miserably at this whole mothering thing.  I fumble over my words with conscious discipline, I get tired and sometimes let my consistency slip, I give in to the boys more than I should, I find myself frustrated more often than I care to admit,  I catch myself being very selfish and then feel guilty about it, etc.  Being critical of myself can become a very vicious cycle for me and I was letting it get the best of me.  This blog gave me encouragement this morning when I really needed it.  This was my favorite part...
So why do we try so hard to be perfect? It’s our imperfection that brings us to our knees; eye level with the ones that are watching us all the time. It is our imperfection that brings out beauty in our mothering. It is our imperfection that makes us realize we can’t do it alone. We have a perfect God that can take our imperfection and use it to make our children something great.
As soon as you know you’re imperfect, you are becoming a great mother. Our imperfection should draw our eyes to Christ’s perfection and allow Him to do the work in us…daily!
Being confident in this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.—Philippians 1:6
It was  EXACTLY what I needed to be reminded of today.  Not only have I been overly critical of myself and others, especially my husband, I have been trying to do it all without remembering who's really in charge and keeping my eyes and heart focused on Him.  Things never turn our well when I try to take over rather than letting God do his work.  For some reason, I never seem to remember that.  I'm my own worst enemy sometimes.  I can't do it alone and thank God I don't have to...literally. It was a wonderful reminder, Natalie.  I am grateful!!  God is good.

Gardens Outing

We had such a fun day on Thursday.  After some rocky outings lately with our very independent 2 1/2 year old boys, they renewed my hope with some fabulous behavior on our adventure today.  Of course it helps that almost the entire outing was geared towards them :-)...oh well, made it fun for me too.

In typical fashion, I kicked off my morning with a great run in this cold front...


...followed by a yummy breakfast with my men before tackling the day.  

First off, I took the boys for a long overdue haircut at Cartoon Cuts in the Gardens.  It's a fun little place...completely kid friendly and perfect for 2 1/2 year old boys...


...can you say twins???  They take haircuts very seriously, as you can see :-)

Our next stop was the carousel...I hope I never forget how excited they were to check it out for the first time.   It was PRICELESS!!  


Mason was beaming the entire time!  We're talking ear to ear smiles.  


Colton enjoyed the ride from a more cautious standpoint.  Too cute!

We checked out all the ponds and fountains in the shopping center too...


...before taking a ride on the train...


...check out my very serious train riders...


Love them!  They were in HEAVEN!!  

We made one final stop at Whole Foods (needed to indulge myself a bit too) before heading home for lunch.  We couldn't have asked for a better morning.  

Before the boys took their nap, they begged me to go on a walk.  Apparently this is what they meant by walk...


...it was their sneaky way to venture down the street a bit to play on the sidewalk.  They said they were looking for treasure.  Not sure we found it but we did have fun ;-)  














Thursday, November 14, 2013

Embracing the Busy Day

I need to learn to be more of an optimist.  I knew yesterday was going to be a busy day, so I prepared myself for it to be chaotic and frantic.  Little did I know it would turn out to be a pretty fantastic day...I should have known when it started off with a fantastic green juice...


...kale, tangerine, apple, celery, and lime.  YUM!


I got my workout in super early, to make sure it wouldn't get lost in the shuffle today...just some time on the elliptical while reading this book...


...(I'm a sucker for an easy Nicholas Sparks read...so far this one's great!)   I followed up my time on the elliptical with a quick round of full body weights and planks.  Nothing crazy...but a decent workout to keep me fit and sane.

We had a little wiggle room in our morning and we took advantage of the chance to enjoy some breezy, cool weather outside ...




...you know, doing the usual stuff, like building boxes, hiding from the camera, and trying to ride trucks up and down the steps.  Good times!

Unfortunately the rain drove us inside, but we found plenty of fun things to do inside too...


...like making play clay using the recipe from the cornstarch box...


...it turned out well.  I'm thinking we'll try to make some christmas ornaments with it since it says you can bake them.  Now I need some christmas cookie cutters...

We also mixed up a batch of homemade chex mix...


...I used olive oil in place of the butter and LOTS less salt than the recipe called for and it turned out great.  It was a hit with the boys.  It made the house smell great too.

And we did some puzzles...


...I have to brag.  They do these completely on their own with no help from me.  See Colton still wearing his helmet from when he was riding his bike outside.  He loves that thing...haha!

We also did our Wednesday produce thing...


...the boys sure do love making trains out of the boxes.  See the engine they made for Colton to ride in??  So creative!! 

In the midst of all our fun, I got good news at the dermatologist too...all clear and no need to go back until next year.  Love good reports.  Maybe Mickey will get the all clear one day too...one can hope.

While the boys napped, I got to do a little tutoring with one energetic, awesome little gal.  It's definitely a highlight of my week.  

We rounded out our night with a lovely evening at story time.  The featured stories were...


...the boys and I especially love The Cuddle Book.  We cuddle all the time!

We hung around for a bit to sip on some drinks and listen to the accordion player...




...its gorgeous out there at night this time of year.  We love it!  (I look a little sleepy with my little cuddlebugs...lol)  The boys were mesmerized by the accordion too.  They say they want to learn to play it when they get bigger...that could be a fun adventure :-)  

It was a great day!  I need to remember to look forward to the excitement of Wednesdays rather than worrying about the busyness of the day...busy isn't always bad.  

We're off for some fun adventures again today, including some haircuts.  Fun Fun!  Hope your day is fabulous too.
















Tuesday, November 12, 2013

Back to Life as Usual...

It seems like the Planker family can't catch a break in the health department these days.  After fighting colds for most of the month of October, we thought we'd paid our dues for a while...ha!  Friday morning showed us otherwise when Mason woke up sick to his stomach.  Yuck!  We spent our whole weekend like this...



It was like a domino effect in our family as we all went down, one by one...Mason, then me, the Colton, and finally Mickey. It was AWFUL!!!  It made me grateful we only have two children.  I don't know how my mom did it with five of us.  God bless her!  It's so hard to take care of your sick kids when you are too sick to even stand up yourself.  Thank God for buckets, tons of towels, a washing machine, and Netflix...they were our lifesavers...and thank God we don't get sick often.  God bless those of you who tend to get sick frequently.  I don't know how you do it!

Thankfully we are all feeling much better and now that I've disinfected the house and made a BIG batch of chicken soup, we are back to life as usual...

Today kicked off with a lovely 7 mile run with my running buddy in the gorgeous weather before tackling the rest of the day.  We had some extra time this morning before we had to hit the road, so we took advantage of the opportunity to make some fun crafts...


...these little kits from Michaels are awesome since they have everything you need and they're always on sale.  I need to go get some more for Christmas fun since they were such a hit with the boys.

Our first stop of the morning was story time.  Today's featured stories were...


...what's not to love about animals??  It was a fun morning!

After story time, we headed off to Music class.  Today's favorites were the bells...


...and the train song...


...especially when it involves these hats.  Miss Rabe even got in on the action...


...fun times!!  We love her!  Reminds me of this book...


...if you haven't read it to your kids, you should.  It's a classic!

We finished up our morning with some stops at the Library where we got a surprise visit with Miss Lisa, the Fresh Market (hello cheap chicken, coffee,  and pork chops) and the Dollar Tree where we stocked up for our Operation Christmas Child boxes...  


...the boys and I had fun picking out stuff we thought other kids might like.  I think they really got it when we talked about shopping for people who don't have as many toys as we have.  Gotta keep it simple at their age.  I'm excited to be able to track the package to see where it ends up.  You can find more info here.  It's an awesome organization and mission to help others.

After a little play time at home, which is so good to see again...




...now it's nap time and I wasted more time than I care to admit playing around with this little gem... 


...go ahead and check it out.  You won't be sorry.  In the words of Mickey, it's "great brain candy."  Never gets old.   I dare you to resist making your own version.  Tis the season!

And on that note...have a LOVELY day.   :-)