Family Fun: Adventures With Our Cousins
Cousins hanging out at the park together!
We had an opportunity a few months ago to spend some time with Jake’s sister and her family. The girls were in school during their stay with us but we still found plenty of time to have fun. It was great having an opportunity to hang out with them and create new memories, especially since it will be quite awhile before we can get together again.
Oh MY…..your lips look different today…..Silly girls with silly mouths!
My cute little kitchen helper!
Noah helping with the “science” experiment! Loading up the ingredients into a Ziploc bag.
It’s going to blow!!!! We did an experiment with baking soda, water, and vinegar inside Ziploc bags. When we sealed the bags they bubbled up and they popped! The kids really enjoyed doing this one.
Cousins Night Out!
We ended our fun adventures in town that evening with a special treat! Ice cream cones!!!! This is the only picture of the 5 of them, everyone was having so much fun playing I didn’t want to make them stop to pose for a picture! 🙂
Paul and Mirm were able to get away one night to meet friends and spend some quiet time together so we kept the kids. Since Jake was working when Paul & Mirm left I took the crew to Par Tee Time which has bounce houses, batting cages, and miniature golf for the kids. After Par Tee Time we picked up some pizza, had a picnic in the park and played. We ended our night out with the cousins at Bruster’s for ice cream cones than headed home to get everyone showered and ready for bed.
Whose up for a game of miniature golf?
Sweet girl having a blast on the bouncy castle!
The three older chickies having a blast giggling and playing
Come on NOAH! We know you can dunk that ball!
Even my sweet little niece joined the big kids in a game of miniature golf!
Concentrating hard on getting the ball into the hole!
Practicing his swing in the batting cage
Next one up to bat
Karlie taking a whack at it
Got those frogs…..Brina having a blast playing with her little cousin!
Getting some extra air on that jump!
Look out here she comes!
Snapped a quick picture of Brina as she zoomed to the bottom of the slide!
Karlie Cool Cat having a blast
Did you just see me dunk that ball!
Goofy girl, she makes me laugh!
Eating pizza at the park
Playing at the park
I had a blast with the kids. They did really well bouncing around and playing together. Thankful for some extra time with my nieces and nephew. The girls always enjoy their time with their cousins. A lot of great memories of their time with us!
Teaching Our Children: How to Wrap Gifts
Letting the kids wrap their own gifts
As I sit in the middle of the floor with little scraps of Christmas wrapping paper around me I have to smile….. The girls LOVE going to the store to pick out the perfect gift(s) for each person. They also really like to wrap the gifts! While they have a tendency to make a mess, use more wrapping paper, put on too much tape, and take a long time wrapping they have a blast doing it. Although, I have noticed that every year they get a little better and more efficient.
Each girl starts the gift wrapping activity by picking out their own roll of wrapping paper to use for their gifts. They use that roll of wrapping paper on all the gifts they have to wrap until there are no more gifts to do or the wrapping paper is gone. They do the entire wrapping process on their own from cutting the paper to taping and even labeling the gift.
While we still have the occasional – “Mom, I didn’t cut the wrapping paper big enough” overall they are getting better at the whole process. At times, I’ve even had problems not cutting the paper big enough! Typically, we spend an evening or two (depending on the amount of time we have) doing a “wrapping party” while listening to Christmas music. As they wrap their gifts I will tackle some that I need to do as well. Everyone has fun and we get a lot accomplished at the same time.
I love that they take the extra time to not only wrap the gifts but label, add little notes, or draw pictures on the outside of the gifts. They started doing this on their own last Christmas. It was so cute reading their notes and talking about their drawings as we opened the gifts. They were so proud of the gift and the wrapping which they did from start to finish. Here are some of the sweet drawings and notes we found under our tree last year:
Silly notes written on the gifts…..made me smile
Brina even picked out turtle food at the store for the turtles and wrapped it for them.
Karlie drew a planet, specifically Saturn, on this gift
I Love You note on the gift
Brina drew little “heart” people on the outside of this Christmas gift.
Picture of the sweet sisters on the gift
While the gift wrap my not win a decorative prize the girls are proud of their work and are excited to share. They are learning many lessons during this too (hand-eye coordination, measuring, sharing, giving, etc….). Pretty soon I will have to start delegating more gift wrapping tasks to them! 🙂
Family Celebrations: Catching Up with Family Over Spring Break
Cousins Riding Together on the John Deere Gator! Fun Times! The girls and I had the opportunity to go visit family over their Spring Break this year. We had a lot of fun spending time with Grandparents, Great Grandparents, Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, and more! It had been a few months since we had been in the Midwest yet I was amazed how much the girls remembered. They LOVED seeing family and spending time on the farm. Each night they would crash from their busy schedule but they would be up early the next morning ready to (as Karlie put it so nicely) “Go explore more of Kansas!”
I am thankful the girls have an opportunity to spend time with my parents and all four Grandpa and Grandma’s on my side of the family. Each one has a special place in my heart and I am thrilled the girls get to have such wonderful memories of them as well. It has been a nice adventure full of old and new memories. It was such a blessing to see so many family members throughout our stay in Kansas!
Here are just some of the exciting activities we participating in during our stay in Kansas (I hope to have some more pictures to show in a few days):
- Riding Horses – Brina and Karlie LOVED Sassy
- Playing with Dogs, Cats and Farm Animals
- Watching them Work the Calves
- Easter Egg Hunts
- Kids 4 Truth Activities
- Spending Time with Grandparents, Great Grandparents, Uncles, Aunts, and Cousins
- Playing with family and friends
- Riding the Gator
- “Hunting” (Brina’s paraphrase) for Corn Cobs for the Horse
- Coloring Easter Eggs
- Crafts
- Seeing Grandpa’s Big “Sprinkler” (Center Pivot)
- Lots of Pheasants
- Seeing a Coyote chase the Pheasants
- Gathering Eggs in Grandpa Verlyn’s Hen House
- Feeding the Turkeys
- Homemade Food (including special Waffles)
- Hot Chocolate
- Helping Grandpa Russell on the Farm
- Shooting Uncle Lee & Uncle Josh with Nerf Guns
- Puzzles
- The Big Hole
- The Pet Cemetery
- Grocery Shopping with Grandma Penny
- Reading Books with Grandpa Russell & Grandma Penny
- Planting Flowers
- Learning More About our Family’s History
- AND SOOOO MUCH MORE!!!!!!!
The girls and I had a grand time seeing so many family members and spending time in Kansas. A big thanks to everyone for a super fun trip! It is a Spring Break that the girls will be talking about for years. And yes, they found out that Easter does come to Kansas too! Although we made a lot of wonderful new memories during our trip the girls are ready to see Daddy again. Hopefully he is ready for us!
Vacation: “Cruise Adventure” on Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas (Part 2, Pictures)
We talked a little earlier this week about our cruise vacation on Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas!
Now we would like to share a few pictures of our adventures on board the ship that week!
Our Stateroom on the cruise! Our stateroom was great! They had plenty of shelves and spots to put items away. It had the most comfortable bed I have slept on in long time. Jake and I are still trying to figure out how we can get that bed with the rocking motion of the ship so we can sleep soundly again!
Sitting on the window sill in our stateroom! This picture was requested by our girls. I did one last time and they wanted another window seat picture. The beautiful scenery behind me is Puerto Rico.
Playing Put-Put in the dark on the top of the ship. Go Amber! We played Put-Put or Miniature Golf in the dark and wind. They had plenty of lights and music going. Thankfully no one lost their ball but we had a few close calls!
Glass Coffee Table looking down the centrium of the ship (13 floors) It was pretty amazing looking down through the coffee table to the centrium. A couple brave people laid across the table but their pictures were too dark with all the lighting beneath them. It wasn’t an ideal place to linger if you don’t like heights.
Race cars on the wall by the "Pit Stop"! Karlie loves Matchbox cars so she liked this picture! Karlie LOVES Match box cars so we took this picture for her!
Jake checking out the night sights with the binoculars! Jake checking out the sights with his binoculars. It came in handy several times during the trip. The walkie talkies were another great investment especially since we were traveling with a group.
Formal Night with my "sparkly" dress B & K helped me pick out! Our first formal night on the cruise. It was fun to dress up, go to dinner and a show with my man!
Every night after dinner our room would be cleaned, bed turned down, and we had a towel friend to welcome us back (tonight was a Swan) The towel animals were a special treat in our room every night. Sometimes they were on the bed and other times they were hanging up in the room. Little gifts from our stateroom attendant!
Indoor Pool in the Solarium with Jake on the bridge over it. The indoor pool and Solarium was really neat. Full of plants, a pool, cafe and more. The pool was really neat especially at night when the ship was moving because you could see the waves rolling back and forth in the pool as the ship rocked.
Outdoor Pool deck at night! The outdoor pool was always surrounded by numerous people laying out to work on their tans.
Dad, Josh, and Jeremy playing pool on the Self Leveling Pool Tables in the Safari Club, pretty neat! The self leveling pool tables were pretty cool. It was a hit with our group after dinner. I even played a couple rounds!
Amazing food - Ice Sculpture & Fruit. Love the fruit monkey climbing the palm tree. The food was simply delicious! The best part is I didn’t have to cook or clean all week. Love the fruit monkey in the tree.
Dolphin carved on a Watermelon Talented watermelon carvers on board. These looked awesome and they were the displays!
Swan carved into a watermelon The swan was beautiful. The detailed carving on these and other watermelons was really neat!
A rooster made out of veggies! The rooster made me laugh. I have never seen someone turn vegetables into a rooster before, very creative!
Our awesome waiter Noel balancing a glass of water on his head while dancing. Noel was an awesome waiter. He was positive, pleasant and entertaining. Also, he offered a lot of great recommendations on what to do during our days on the islands, several times that proved very valuable!
Elephant towel by our pillow that night. The elephant was so cute standing next to Jake’s pillows. Our stateroom attendant did a great job keeping the room clean and was always helpful with any questions we had. We only watched the ship and activity information channel on TV but since ours wasn’t working we ended up getting a Flat Panel TV in our room by the second day. The maintenance guy said you would be amazed how many people actually spend the entire cruise in their rooms watching TV. So thankful Jake isn’t that way because we had a blast exploring islands, learning, on adventures and meeting new people.
Plant full of lobster tails for our table! Delicious! Noel brought our table plates of lobster tails since everyone ordered lobster one night. It was wonderful. The girls were ready to go with us just for the lobster and seafood we ate during our cruise!
Jake and I after dinner and the show! Our second “formal” dinner night. Jake and I had wonderful time having fun and relaxing together. It was great traveling with family yet having some time alone as well. Lots of fun memories!
Beautiful fresh flowers!Two things I love about this picture - their window sill seats all over the boat and Amber's pirate shirt! Fresh flowers were distributed throughout the ship. The islands had the most beautiful plants. Loved it!
Pool Volleyball - Crew versus Guests Outdoor pool in the daytime. They are having a Pool Volleyball competition between the Crew and Guests. Not sure who won the competition but we watched a couple rounds.
Going down the ship's water slide! They had a water slide on the ship. Yes, I had to go down it! Actually I think we went down it 3 or 4 times. If you look behind the people standing at the railing you will see the ocean in the background.
Jake and I with our server for the week, Noel! Awesome! Noel was an excellent waiter. He even came by our breakfast table the morning we were leaving to say goodbye to our group. If you go on Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas request Noel as your waiter, you won’t be disappointed!
Long hallway of staterooms! This picture makes me laugh because it really is a long hallway with rooms on both sides. With that being said we never seen or heard anyone in the rooms next to us (well except for Jeremy and Amber, but that was because they were part of our party).
"3526" our Stateroom! It was a wonderful week packed full of fun activities and great memories. Jake and I had a blast and look forward to our next vacation traveling. Next week I will share with you a little about our adventures in Puerto Rico!
A Vacation To Remember series is a reflection on our recent trip and ways we relaxed. Life is short and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to build memories with family and explore of of the most amazing places during our time away. Go with a good attitude and looking for fun and it will be an awesome trip jammed packed with positive memories. It is refreshing having some time away from the regular routine. Make it a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet new people and learn. You just might see or try something new that takes your breath away!
Vacation: “Cruise Adventure” on Royal Caribbean’s Serenade of the Seas
Royal Caribbean's Serenade of the Seas Cruise Ship (the back of the boat) As I reflect back over the cruise vacation we took on Royal Caribbean, Serenade of the Seas, I am thankful for the opportunity to experience a fun and relaxing trip full of new memories. Over the last several weeks I have been sharing tidbits about our time exploring the various Caribbean Islands, however, today I want to focus a little more about the actual ship we spent our evenings on together. We gave some facts regarding the ship in an earlier post but I want to share a little more about what we did on the cruise in this post.
The seventh day of our cruise was the only full day we were at sea. Every other day of the trip we were visiting an island in the Caribbean. Ever day was packed full of a variety of activities. There were a lot of fun things to do on the ship, here are just a few:
- Breakfast – you could chose to have it delivered to your room, eat at the Windjammer (buffet) or eat a sit down meal at Reflections. We did a mix of the Windjammer and Reflections throughout the week depending on the activities for the day.
- Every day evening after dinner we would have a new schedule of the next day’s events, information and activities so we could plan out our day on the boat or if we were going onto an island.
- Morning Activities where available throughout the morning and at various locations on the ship (here is a sample of some activities)
- Brain Teasers & Trivia
- Sabbath Service
- Early Morning Stretch
- Abdominal Conditioning
- Indoor Cycling
- Adult Mini Golf Tournament
- Yoga
- Walk for Wishes
- Napkin Folding
- Movie in the Cinema
- Acupuncture Seminar
- View from the Top
- Royal Bingo
- 3 Minute Makeup Seminar
- Secrets to a Flatter Stomach Seminar
- Cake Decorating
- Interview with Olympic Gymnast Lance Ringland
- Swimming
- Rock Climbing Wall
- Shopping
- And More….
- Afternoon Activities (here is a sampling)
- Music (Hot Spice – Calypso Sounds)
- Backstage Tour of the Theater
- Towel Folding Demonstration
- Ice Carving
- Movie in the Cinema
- Slot Tournament
- Men’s Belly Flop Contest
- Informal Bridge
- Learn to Swing
- 3-on-3 Basketball
- Name that Movie Tune
- Blackjack Tournament
- Scrapbooking Workshop
- Detox for Health & Weight Loss Seminar
- Pool Volleyball Crew vs Guests
- Belly Dance Class
- Gotta Dance Class
- Royal Poker Tournament
- Wine Tasting
- Adult Volleyball Tournament
- Core Conditioning Pilates
- Learn to Salsa
- Royal Bingo
- Adult Speed Climbing Competition
- And More…
- They had a variety of Evening Activities to keep everyone entertained as well
- Farewell Movie Night
- Showtime
- Star Bridge Dance
- Mambo Caliente
- Royal Poker Tournament
- Jazz Cabaret
- Paradise Lotto Draw
- Adult Karaoke
- On Board Shopping Deals
- And Much MORE
Our days were busy both on and off the ship. There was always something to do. We had fun, met a lot of wonderful people and created new memories. We look forward to having the opportunity to cruise again in the future. It was great not having to cook or clean the whole week! On a side note, they had food available when you wanted it pretty much 24 hours a day! It was nice because you could eat when it fit into your schedule!
Here is a quick introduction of a few key crew members aboard the ship. The Captain of our cruise ship was Captain Michel Claveau who started his career as a diver. Marc Walker was our Cruise Director from Weymouth, England started out in the entertainment industry as a DJ (22 years ago) then went on to juggle, unicyclist, then onto TV and Radio. Marc has been with the Royal Caribbean family since the late 1990’s and has served on 20 of Royal Caribbean’s 22 ships. Sanjay Dumar was our Hotel Director from Mumbai, India. Marco Marzocchi was our Chief Engineer from Genova, Italy. Cristiana Maruntelu was our Loyalty & Cruise Sales Manager from Romania. Alistair Burnett was our Food & Beverage Manager from the United Kingdom. Noel was our waiter and Janet our head waitress. They did a fabulous job serving, singing, and creating a pleasant atmosphere during dinner every night we were on the ship. I will add that the meals were amazing! We met a lot of other wonderful people aboard the ship. The staff was from all over the world and we enjoyed getting to know several of them during our stay on the ship.
We spent some time in the late afternoon on the last day packing. We were sad to pack but excited to continue our trip home and see the girls. Jake and I walked around the ship on the last night snapping a few more pictures and video clips to show the girls. They always have a lot of questions about the BIG boat! If we could Jake and I would have just keep on cruising! It was a wonderful experience again traveling with Royal Caribbean. We will be sharing a few pictures on board the ship in a post later this week!
A Vacation To Remember series is a reflection on our recent trip and ways we relaxed. Life is short and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to build memories with family and explore of of the most amazing places during our time away. Go with a good attitude and looking for fun and it will be an awesome trip jammed packed with positive memories. It is refreshing having some time away from the regular routine. Make it a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet new people and learn. You just might see or try something new that takes your breath away!
Vacation: Swimming with the Turtles in Barbados (Part 2, Pictures)
We had a blast spending time on the Caribbean Island of Barbados this year!
Here are a few pictures of our adventures on the island!
We made it to Barbados! Welcome to Barbados! Jake and I near the Welcome sign at Barbados, which is our last Caribbean Island before heading back to Puerto Rico! We are ready for the fun adventures today. When we stood at this sign we had no idea how many memories we could pack into one day at the beach on Barbados!
Clouds gathering on Barbados! The big puffy clouds eventually turned into gray rain clouds, but they did not damper our time at the beach. It was actually neat swimming in the ocean and hearing the pitter patter of rain drops clicking on the top of the water. Yet another adventure I had never experienced before. When you grow up in Kansas, the majority of your water experience is on lakes not at the ocean because you are so far away from any ocean beaches. Actually the first time I saw the ocean was when I got engaged to my man, Jake, in Aruba (which is another amazing place to visit).
Cute little pink and white cottage clothing store on Barbados. This is another “princess” looking cottage we took a picture of for Brina who loves anything pink and princess. She is our “girly” girl who loves princesses, babies, and animals. Although we missed them during our excursions it was nice to snag a few pictures to share with them. They loved that we thought of them during our adventures away.
Beautiful Blue Monkey beach at Barbados. The water was BEAUTIFUL at Blue Monkey beach in Barbados. It was the gorgeous turquoise blue that you could stand in and look down to the bottom of the ocean and see your feet. The dark patches under the water in the picture above is where we saw the most colorful fish snorkeling and it was in a spot we could touch. It was nice to relax, swim and look at the colorful fish swimming all around us.
Swimming and snorkeling! For Christmas Jake got me a waterproof, shock proof camera that we were able to take into the water with us to capture some of the fish to share with the girls. Here are a couple of the fish we encountered near the coral as we were swimming just off the beach at Barbados. If you look closely you can see another fish down in near the sand in the corals.
We had beautiful fish swimming all around us. This type of fish we saw several times. I am not sure of the name but it was pretty with its face turquoise blue, a couple black stripes, and a golden yellow body. We had the opportunity to see a lot of different fish but with us swimming, but the fish were moving quickly so it was hard to capture all them.
Beautiful fish off the beach of Barbados! This was probably one of my favorite ones that we seen next to the beach. It was really beautiful almost rainbow striped with vibrant colors (taking its’ picture under water doesn’t do it justice but it is the closest we could come).
Turtle swimming right below us at Barbados! I cannot express how much I enjoyed swimming with the turtles in Barbados! It was such an amazing experience to be swimming right beside a huge turtle, beautiful and peaceful at the same time. I could literally reach out and touch the turtles. Turtles really are awesome swimming and it was almost relaxing just watching them glide through the water. I hope to do this again some day!
A couple of sting rays swimming right underneath us! Two sting rays were swimming together right beneath us. Wonder if they were a family! We seen them several times always near each other swimming. I didn’t get as close to the two sting rays but it was very excited to see them swimming with us.
Hey Friend! Words cannot explain how excited I was to swim with the turtles on Barbados! Gorgeous turtle swimming right in front of us. I never thought of turtles as beautiful animals until this experience in Barbados. We were blessed to have the opportunity to enjoy so much of our wonderful creation from animals to plants and so much more during our trip. Karlie is our girl who loves sharks, rockets, planets, matchbox cars and animals. She was so excited to see this turtle and amazed that we could be swimming with them. She had two questions for us after seeing this picture – She wanted to know why we couldn’t bring it home with us to put him in our turtle tank, ha! Her second question was “Did we get to swim with any sharks?”
A sting ray scooting along the ocean floor right below us! One of the sting rays swimming below us on the ocean floor. Simply amazing!
Josh and Amber flipped their jet ski, opps! I had my first experience riding on a jet ski in Barbados as well. It was all I could do to hold on and not fall off when we were racing across the ocean so there weren’t as many pictures of us ON the jet ski’s. Shortly after we got on the jet ski’s I look over at Josh and Amber riding and see Amber hanging off the back followed by a crash and a flipped jet ski. Although difficult we managed to get the jet ski flipped back over but they had to go into shore to get another one to ride. Thankfully, we only had to do that once. It was pretty funny sight to see though!
Mom and Dad relaxing on the beach! Mom relaxing in the shade and Dad sunning himself after getting wet jet skiing. The tide was moving in during our time at the beach so Mom, Dad and Becky thankfully rescued our backpacks, shoes, water bottles and other stuff from floating out. To this day I still don’t know how we didn’t lose something with the number of times we were chasing sandals in the current and moving the canopy back.
Beautiful flowers in Barbados! Beautiful flowers to welcome and wave us goodbye on the island of Barbados. They thought the rain was refreshing and delightful as much as we did. You can still see some of the rain drops on the flowers and leaves!
We had a blast on Barbados! Swimming with the turtles, sting rays, snorkeling and jet skiing were amazing. The time flew by so quickly! It was a great day with family! We created a lot of neat memories and had the opportunity to enjoy new experiences. I highly recommend Blue Monkey beach if you ever get a chance to visit Barbados!!!
A Vacation To Remember series is a reflection on our recent trip and ways we relaxed. Life is short and we were thrilled to have the opportunity to build memories with family and explore of of the most amazing places during our time away. Go with a good attitude and looking for fun and it will be an awesome trip jammed packed with positive memories. It is refreshing having some time away from the regular routine. Make it a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet new people and learn. You just might see or try something new that takes your breath away!
Family Celebrations: “Welcome Ranch” Birthday Party
This year did the girls birthday party celebration at Welcome Ranch. It was our first year doing their party outside of the house and after calling several locations we made the decision to do it at Welcome Ranch. Brina and Karlie’s personalities and tastes are very different (one of the many joys of having twins), however, they both LOVE animals especially horses. Jake and I booked the party and when we sat down to tell the girls they were thrilled. They were okay that we wouldn’t be decorating the house since they would be riding horses for entertainment this year. I think every day after telling them they would ask “Is it this week?” When the day finally arrived they asked every few minutes “How much longer until we can ride the horses?” Thankfully we had another activity planned with friends earlier that day so that distracted them for a couple hours. They were very excited when we were on our way to the horse ranch to celebrate. Here are a few pictures from our day at Welcome Ranch:
The sign at the entrance of Welcome Ranch said "Happy Birthday Karlie 6 & Brina 6" The girls were thrilled to see their names on the BIG sign at the entrance of Welcome Ranch! “We have never had such a BIG sign to wish us Happy Birthday!” They were pleasantly surprised and excited!
Brina and Karlie listening carefully to Ms. Lisa's instructions! Lisa did a wonderful job of getting the kids (and parents) attention while making the whole experience fun for everyone. She even got a few laughs when explaining the rules. Brina and Karlie were listening carefully so they wouldn’t miss out on anything! They picked out their ranch hats earlier that week at Wilson’s Five & Dime store on Lauren’s Road. I was surprised they wore the hats the entire time!
Karlie and Brina leading the way with Ms. Lisa to the horses! On our way to ride the horses! Karlie and Brina led everyone with Lisa to the horses. They were ready to ride!
Brina talking and riding Montana! Loving it! 
Karlie all smiles riding Chocolate their miniature horse! 
Brina having a blast at Welcome Ranch! 
Karlie riding with Daddy on Montana! Hang on tight kiddo! 
Brina LOVING her time with the horses! 
Karlie riding on Mickey! 
Brina riding like a pro on Mickey!!! 
Brina and Karlie riding together on Montana! 
Karlie riding on Chocolate! 
Mommy and Brina riding Montana! 
Karlie volunteering to ride again! Always ready for another turn on the horses! 
Brina going for another ride on Mickey! 
Brina and Karlie on top of the Firetruck!!! 
Karlie putting out the fire! 
Brina putting out the fire! 
Firetruck at Welcome Ranch 
Daddy putting out the final flames! 
One of their signs at Welcome Ranch, love it! 
Happy Birthday Brina and Karlie!!! 
Karlie and Brina taking the candles out of their cake! 
The birthday girls enjoying a slice of delicious cake - Brina and Karlie! 
The girls liked their cat - Supervisor! They thought his name was very funny! 
Karlie had so much fun she crashed in the van on the ride home, too funny! 
Brina playing with her toys on the way home, love the crazy hat hair! 
Skipper joining in the birthday fun by wearing Karlie's hat! The girls had a wonderful birthday party at Welcome Ranch! Lisa, her Mom, and the crew did an amazing job. The kids loved riding the horses petting the animals (goats, donkey, dogs, cats, etc…) eating pizza, drinking ice tea, koolaide, a delicious cake and enjoying time with their family and friends. Thanks to Welcome Ranch for making their birthday extra special and memorable. We had a lot of fun celebrating with everyone that came to their party.
Happy 6th Birthday Brina and Karlie!
WE LOVE YOU!!!
Life Simplified: Laundry Day
For those who don’t know me…….I am NOT a big fan of doing laundry. Don’t get me wrong , it gets done in our house because I don’t like wearing dirty clothes but doing laundry everyday is almost like torture to me. Before discovering a system that worked for our household I would delay doing laundry until the last possible moment (ie…someone was out of underwear) then do a huge batch. The laundry would then sit on the guest bed waiting to be folded and put away. Many times if you wanted to wear a certain shirt or were looking for clean underwear you had to dig through a massive pile in search for an item.Thankfully, we had a season in our life that forced me to get organized in the laundry department as well as other areas. Several years ago my husband took a contract position in a town an hour and half away from our home. Since the girls were young and not yet in school the entire family commuted with him on the contract. The company gave him an allowance for an apartment and we were able to find one less then the amount we were given so we could save a little bit extra. A couple of the downsides to the apartment being less expensive is that it was tiny and it didn’t have a washer and dryer hookup. Since we came “home” on the weekends it wasn’t that big of a deal, however, that meant we had to keep track of groceries in two houses plus carting laundry back and forth every week. During this season in our marriage I learned a lot about organizing and planning especially with living in two places at one time, an apartment during the week and at home on the weekends. There were several benefits to our family doing laundry only once a week:
- Less Stress for Mom because once laundry was completed on Saturday it was done for an entire week.
- More Cost Efficient as far energy, water, and laundry soap.
- Only 4 Loads of Laundry per week (on a typical week we do 4 full loads of laundry for an entire week: 1 – Sheets & Towels, 2 – Light Clothes, 3 – Dark Clothes, 4 – Whites)
- Saves Time when I do everything all from start to finish in one day. The laundry gets washed throughout the day and for about an hour in the evening I take the time to fold, hang up and put away the items.
- Happy Family – no more digging through piles of clean laundry on the bed looking for underwear or a shirt, etc…. everything is cleaned, put away and ready to be worn.
- Cleaner Home when the piles of laundry are no longer stacked on our guest room bed or in front of the washing machine our home is neater.
- Items are Pre-Treated prior to being put in the laundry basket instead of trying to remember which ones to spray when I am putting them into the wash machine.
- Organized System – having a specific day and task to accomplish enables me to get it done for the week and move onto the other tasks that demand my time and attention
On the weekend we had to get the laundry done in order to have clothes to wear for the next week so it was a great motivator. Even though that was several years I still do all our laundry in one day. I no longer have to get it done on the weekends so currently laundry days are Monday’s at our house. Everything is washed, folded and put away all in one day. Since starting this organizational task it has allowed additional freedom in my week plus it has been a blessing to my family. I no longer dread doing laundry because I know it will be done completely on “laundry day” and I will not have to think about it again until next week. My family no longer has to dig through piles of clothes looking for something to wear. It was a win-win situation for everyone.
Even though that season in our life was difficult balancing the two households looking back on it I realize how many rich blessings and memories were created during that time as well. It is during the times of stretching and change in our family when we discover new ways to make life more enjoyable for ourselves as well as those around us. Having the opportunity to look at our organizational system from a different perspective may be all it takes to make it more efficient.
Do you like doing laundry? What works for one family may not work for another. What are ways you use to help make your time doing laundry more efficient?
Photo by Jon Yu
Life’s a CIRCUS!!!
Sometimes every day life begins to feel like one circus act after another. As a family of four there is always plenty of fun happening around our house. Even though life has a way of getting busy it is important to take some time to relax and just have fun! Go to the circus and let yourself laugh!
I had the privilege of chaperoning my girls kindergarten class to the Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus. It had been years since I have been to the circus and the girls had never gone. We had a blast! It was a challenge keeping all the kids together especially since a bunch of other schools were attending the same day but we managed to keep track of our troops and everyone made it home safely. Here are a few pictures from our adventures.
Karlie and Brina at the Circus! I could NOT pry their eyes away from the circus long enough to take a picture, it was that much fun! 
The clowns were a big hit for both of the girls! 
So much visual stimulation! Always a lot of fun stuff to watch! 
The beautiful horses captivated the girls attention! 
The kids were impressed with the strong men and swings! 
A couple of the kids had their eyes covered because they didn't want to see the lady fall! 
The "Donut Wheel" bike was a big hit with the kids! 
The girls were glad to see the Tigers caged at the circus & loved their "tricks"! 
The elephants were a huge hit with all the kids!
