High Five for Friday

Here are my Top 5 for this week.....

1.  President's Day equals a day off from school to have fun with my girlie's!:)

2.  Helping prepare and serve a meal to the young teen moms and leaders of the Step By Step Ministry.

3. Completing and making a 125/125 on my Diet and Lifestyle Project! I had to research centenarians (those living over 100 yrs. old) with a high quality of life.  Here are the Top 9 characteristics they all had in common that have helped them to live a longer, more fulfilled life!:)

4.  I Love songs that make you just want to get up and dance around the house! I forgot how much this one makes me want to do that until it came on the radio this week.  Woo Hoo, Woo Hoo!:)

5.  Sooo excited about having our yearly sleepover this weekend!! There is just something about the bond between Mothers/Daughters and Sisters....unconditional love,support,wisdom, friendship, belly laughs and tears. My Mom and my sisters are uniquely beautiful; each of them so special to me & my best friends!  Thank you God for blessing me with them....they have helped me become the woman I am today. xoxo

All of us Then

All of us Now

Kim and Mom

Dana, Michelle, Denise and Dara

Rooted in Love

We love because He first loved us.

1 John 4:19

The love of family is life's greatest blessing.....we are all rooted in love. We take the love that we are given as children and love others and the cycle is never ending.

This is how our love story began....

 Our Grandparents

(I didn't have pictures of all four sets)

Our Parents

Us

We had our first blind date when I was a Freshman and Greg was a Junior

We have been together ever since...

The Love of my Life

Happy Valentine's Day to my

True Companion

Our Wedding Song

We are now called to build a strong foundation of love for our daughters,

 so they will always love God and others.

Love begins by taking care of the closest ones~the ones at home.

~Mother Teresa

My Plains of Peace

True joy lacks the wild ups and downs of an excitement-based life.  It's a peaceful landscape filled with peaceful thoughts and peaceful emotions.  Indeed, it's so peaceful that, to our adrenaline-soaked culture, it looks rather plain.  In fact, I like to think of it as the plains of peace.

~Martha Beck

The small things of life are what give me everyday peace and joy.  It is not very often that I will go back to bed after I get the older girls off to school but this morning I needed a few more zzzzz's.  It was such a peaceful feeling to fall back into a deep sleep and not feel the need to go full throttle as soon as my feet hit the floor.  Kate actually slept until 10:00AM this morning (apparently she needed a few extra zzzzz's as well) and woke me up ready for breakfast.

I enjoyed two of my favorite things of the morning...."Every Kiss begins with K", this is the song Kate sings before she gives me a kiss now days due to the Kay Jewelers commercials they play leading up to Valentine's Day and my coffee along with my favorite creamer....Natural Bliss!

We cuddled up on the couch and Kate asked, "Mommy, can we have a pajama day like I had at school last week?" My response, "Sounds wonderful!"  We watched some favorites on PBS like this and this and talked on the phone to Mamaw Carol for a bit.  One of Kate's daily joys is getting the mail, she can hear that mail truck two streets over.:)  Well, today, she wanted to play a bit after her visit to the mailbox and with this weather I didn't blame her!

Bubbles!

She worked up an appetite outside and was ready for lunch.  I think watching PBS this morning gave her some inspiration because she was ready to create her own lunch.:)

So proud and if you notice one of the "flowers" is missing a petal....she wanted me to taste.:)

This is the CD we listened to this afternoon, take a listen.

Sara Groves is inspirational and Station Wagon is

wonderful, especially for parents, to have in their collection.:)

My lunch was leftover White Chicken Chili from last night with a little reduced fat sour cream on top and some cilantro.  Yes, that is a plastic spoon...apparently every spoon we own was washing in the dishwasher and I wasn't up to eating with a ladle.:)

The recipe I used for this was adapted from my #1 favorite recipe blog Annie's Eats.  I added an extra can of Northern beans, increased the chicken broth to 3 cans and omitted the heavy whipping cream and sour cream that is added at the end of the recipe.  After all, I am currently doing Made to Crave and trying to develop healthier eating habits for me and the Fam.:)  We just add the sour cream on top when served and sprinkle a little dried Cilantro on top.  Good stuff!

Blessings and love to all!

Order Cultivates Contentment

Order is the shape upon which beauty depends.

~Pearl Buck

The order of our day....

Today was a beautiful day! Kate and I were dressed and out of our jammies early.  We flung open the front door and let the fresh air come in through the screen door. I was in the mood to get some things in order. Kate was feelin' a little bit country, we put on some music, and got to it! 

In my boots

  The Refrigerator

 (Before)

 (After)

I know this should be such a simple thing to keep in order but, the truth is, there are times I have let most of this go bad before it gets cleaned and cut up.:( My family and I will eat it when it is ready to go and it will not go to waste!

Apparently we like pickles of all varieties.:)

Scrapbook Corner in the Basement

Before

Okay, so I attempted a few of Greg's "perfect push-ups" while contemplating....

those things hurt my wrists!

After 

Uh, yeah, the Scrapbook Corner, well.....to be continued....Kate wanted me to roll her hair and do some art. Then we decided to go outside and make sure everything was in order out there.:)

Tiger Lily's are sprouting up

Kate's getting really good at riding without training wheels

The first half of the day flew by then it was time for lunch and nap time for Kate and school work for me.  When Olivia and Caroline got home from school it was more time outside and waiting on Greg (Daddy) to get home.

Over dinner, Mr. B and I discussed some shelving options for the Scrapbook supplies and pictures....when it is completed I will post the "After" photo.:)

Until next time....

 

Security in the Senses

Smell is a potent wizard that transports us across thousands of miles

 and all the years we have lived.

~ Helen Keller

Last weekend, Greg, the girls and I went to visit our parents.  My Mom recently had knee replacement surgery and I had not been able to see her since she had gotten home from rehab.  I was anxious to see how she looked and how the recovery was going.  The first thing I noticed when she answered the door was how rested and beautiful she looked.  Then, when I went in for a big hug, the smell of Burberry, Mom’s perfume, comforted me in a way I can’t really explain. A little bit emotional, I immediately let her know I couldn’t believe how well she was getting around…already going up and down stairs….I was impressed! 

Mom and I Christmas Eve, a couple days before surgery.

Greg took the girls over to his Mom and Dad’s house so that I could have some one on one time with Mom (Mr. B is a wonderful, thoughtful husband) and spend the night.   We spent time talking about how she had been feeling, getting Christmas decorations down and put away in the basement ( I made Mom sit in a chair and tell me what to doJ), watching the Cardinals play in the snow outside her kitchen window, and I took notes while I watched Mom and my Step Dad, Joe make “The Roast”.  

Outside Mom's kitchen window.  See the Cardinals?

When we sat down to eat, the aroma of the Roast and Vegetables as well as the taste, transported me back to my childhood and the security you get from a home cooked meal made with love.  That night when I went to bed, looking around the guest room, I was given the inspiration for this post. I thought about Mom's hug from earlier that day and how just the smell of her perfume made me feel like she was okay. I started thinking about how we get the feeling of being secure via our senses.  I thought about when I was in 1^st grade, I would take my Mom’s empty Revlon “Coffee Bean” lipstick container to school in my pocket.  If I would start to miss her or feel upset, I would take it out and smell it.  Immediately, I would feel better. 

Then there is Pond’s Cold Cream that my Mom would put on every night to take off her make-up….to this day, when I smell Pond’s, it comforts me. When I was growing up, my Dad had a shaving kit that he kept at the end of his dresser.  It was off limits to the 6 girls in the house, Ha!  Dad kept his own stash of toiletries in there and I remember sneaking to use his toothpaste.  The first thing I would smell when I unzipped the brown leather bag was Old Spice Aftershave…I visited him not too long ago and he still uses Old Spice.  My Dad also listened to talk radio, 840AM, all the time….he still does and I do too.  When I am missing my Dad, I turn on talk radio or Bluegrass music.  He always had the radio on when we were at home.  Dad listened to a variety of music; I guess that’s where I get my love for music. 

One of my favorite Bluegrass singers.

I wonder what the girls will associate with their Dad and I.  Olivia did an assignment at school a few years ago where the students had to choose and describe their favorite place to be....she chose her home.  I framed it and put it in our kitchen.

What do you remember from your childhood that still comforts you today?  

January....Really?

Well, I was wanting to have a picture of snow for the first post on my new blog but, I can't wait any longer!  The weather in Central Kentucky has been unusually mild for January and although I love a big snow, the family and I have been enjoying the beautiful weather!  Mr. B (nickname I have for my husband:) and I spent some time at the park with our girls this weekend....64 degrees and no coats needed!  It was great to be out in the fresh "Winter" air.

"I look up through leafless branches, as I never can in other season, and see the stars shine in Heaven."

~Anonymous

Have a blessed day!