Oh wow, I hardly know where to start, my head is so full I just need to let it all out, so, If I don't make any sense well I guess at least I feel better.
Reflections
I have really been reflecting on how fast my life as I now know it, is changing, this summer has been so busy  I can't believe it is almost time for school to begin again. Typically we will do one week long vacation each year at a cottage, and that is it. However, this year, we were invited to a wedding in Alberta, so my hubby and I flew out for 6 days and enjoyed a mini Vacation, it was the longest stretch of time we have been away from our children as well as our first getaway since our Honeymoon 9 years ago. We arrived home on a Monday and 4 days later we, with our kids, drove to Pennsylvania for the weekend, for a Church reunion. It was a lot of fun and the children really enjoyed it, that was the longest drive we have ever taken them on, beside in the truck. We were home for 10 days after which we again packed up to go to the cottage for a week. PHEW! and now thankfully we will be home just under 2 months before my hubby and I head out to Iowa for another wedding, of a friend who was in our bridal party.
I love to travel and so to me this was exciting and fun, but on the other hand, I have just felt overwhelmed at all that has been going on, I have not had time to enjoy the summer at home.
Family
Some of the reminders that my family is growing up are this, my baby will be turning 3 in November, and is now potty trained so after almost 8 years I am no longer buying diapers!!
My oldest turned 8 and she is going into 3rd Grade, and for her birthday she wanted to open a bank account, she is learning the value of money and hopefully we can teach her good stewardship.
D1 the oldest son is gong into 1st grade so we now will have 2 in school full time, that too is another big step. I am hoping he will be able to adjust, school is not his first love and I am really hoping it will go well for him. He is 6 and probably the one who tries my patience the most,
D2 is starting JK this fall and really looking forward to it, His birthday is in January so he is on the older side of the class. He talks a lot. . .  and doesn't pronounce all his letters correctly, so I'm hoping that won't be too much of a difficulty in school.
That leaves me with my baby D3 at home alone every other day. I really hope he doesn't get too bored. I am hoping to go to the gym regularly again so he will have interaction with other kids.
Goals & Dreams
SO where does this leave me?? I will have more freedom than I have had in a very long time(every other day that is), everyone asks me what I will do with all my spare time, well a mothers work is never done is it?? I have high hopes of catching up on things that have been neglected far too long.
* House cleaning
* Organizing closets and my office
* Book work
* Online courses (I would like to update my book keeping skills for 2 reasons, we are the Treasurers for our   church and also my husband runs a business with his brothers and Father)
* Loose weight 50 lbs is my dream, go to the gym regularly
* Touch up painting all the scuffs in our "new" walls
* Sewing extra stock of veils, and try to make a skirt out of a pair of pants
* Scrap book, I barely touched it last winter.
I am also in charge of getting our Ladies Bible study up and running and we are also talking about doing a monthly Moms Coffee hour, which I was asked about helping get started. Hmm how in the world am I going to have free time??
I Love to be organized and scheduled and sometimes I take so much time getting my lists and stuff done I loose out on time doing the actual work, but there is nothing like a nicely typed out list :)
Learning
This morning I read Proverbs 31 in my devotions . . . I have a long way to go, but I hope I can continue to grow in Wisdom, and not get so easily over whelmed, I hope to get more energy, by loosing these extra 50 lbs and really work on being a better Mom. I have been watching the series " Shepherding a Child's Heart" while I fold Laundry, in hopes of gaining new insights in parenting, discipline and leading these precious children I have been blessed with, to the Lord.
For our ladies Bible study we are planning to study the book " Love & Respect"
So I am also looking forward to learning many new things through that study as well.

In conclusion
As I go through these last couple of days before school and work on getting a schedule for the school year set up I hope and pray I can get myself motivated to begin good habits and when I reflect at the end of the school year I can see growth in myself as well as my children. I know I will struggle and bump along, life wouldn't be normal with out those bumps but my desire is growth!!
Now off to feed the kids some lunch, make my weekly menu plan and To Do List and we'll see what else . . . oh yeah there is a milk mess in the fridge that needs some attention.

Till next time, whenever that may be :0)

A Day in the Park

On Sunday we took the kids over to the Park to play, they had so much fun!!!

A ride on Daddy's Shoulders

Princess S

D1

D2

Little Monkey D3

We had a lot of fun, and hopefully we can do it more often this summer, I thought It would be a fun Sunday afternoon thing, after everyone naps =)

And now it is off to packing, only 3 more days!! and lots to do

Cindy

WINK

It's our secret Passcode:

ME: And who taught you how to wink?

D2: My friend Betty ( His Imaginary friend and He's a boy Betty not a girl Betty)

Having fun with my 3 year old this morning!!

Now I should get back to packing!! Hopefully moving in One Week!!

Cindy

Happy Easter

Christ the Lord is Risen!! Hallelujah!!!
I hope you all had an awesome day, and weekend for that matter.
On Friday we had a meaningful Communion service at Church, after our Small group went out for Lunch to Cora's a tasty breakfast spot!! My Crepe-omlette was VERY tasty!! And since I am not very good at this blogging thing, I forgot my camera, but the presentation of our food was spectacular!! It's worth going back just for the pictures =)
Saturday I went to the gym, and than met my husband and went to buy lighting for our new house!! We got everything!! Yeah what an accomplishment!!
And today Easter Sunday we had a great service this morning, in Sunday school we just finished the Video series by Chip Ingram, The miracle of Life Change  What a fantastic study!! I now want to go back over my work book and reread everything to try and absorb it all!! If you ever get a chance to read the study or be a part of the series DO IT!!!
After Church we came home for lunch of  BBQed Steak, baked potatoes, and beans and carrots,  my aren't we traditional??HA. It was very tasty!! We had some running around to do, so FINALLY at 5pm we had time for our Easter Egg Hunt, The first rule was they have to get their picture taken!!

Princess S

D1

D2

Well, D3 Didn't co-operate so We took one of him after . . .

and Mr.B He enjoyed th candy as much as the kids

D2 Showing us his character again!!

Oh yes, the sugar high, joys of Easter!!

Well hoping you and yours had an awesome Easter, and now it's off to put the kids to bed!!  and possibly I'll go to bed early too!! I'm feeling a little sleepy myself!! Oh wait I need to Study for our Ladies Bible study, It's my turn to lead out, AAch That's on Tuesday morning and the children don't have school tomorrow, and I want to start on Clean Mama's Cleaning Schedule See If I can get my house whipped into shape this week!!!

Till next time ,

Cindy

Show us your Life - Cleaning Tips

Well my cleaning has changed in the past couple of months, I am pretty much going chemical free, the toilets are the only place I use any Chemicals, and that is because I have 4 young children I am working on getting them to make sure they wipe their drips, but, sometimes they forget!!

I use a microfiber cloth and water for all else, I am not stuck on any one certain brand, I use Norwex Enviro cloths which are great!!  IF you use only water you are not leaving a residue behind, which in turn actually attracts the dust to it(the residue from cleaning products), so that is one of the major selling factors for Norwex, I am not a consultant but maybe I should be, HA, I do love to give a mock demo to anyone who will listen. I can hook you up to a couple of different demonstrators if you want the whole shpeel.




The other company I use products from is liveEuroclean, I have 2 of there microfiber clothes and the microfiber mop  The handle is extendable and it is so easy to use, I bought the deluxe mop set and have had it for several years and have yet to get anything replaced, it came with 2 mop pads and 2 cloths, and I use them all the time, I have use different ones for different tasks e.g. dusting, counters, etc I don't use mine on my toilet although they(Norwex) would claim you can because it will eat up the bacteria in them.
Those are just two of the brands I use which I really love both, one side note though if you start using just water and a micro fiber cloth on you windows and mirrors it may take a couple of washes to get a streak free shine. . . until you get all the residue buildup off from your cleaning products. . . after that is all of you should never have problem with streakiness and you can sometimes just buff the dirt off with a dry cloth for a quick touchup.
When you have your house cleaned several times with just the water and get rid of most of the residue, cleanup is a breeze!! The reason I love the mop is it isno more than an inch thick and has a slanted edge so you can reach under the stove and fridge edges and into corners better, which didn't work with my Bee mop I used, also, my floor is dry in 5 minutes, I can immediately walk on it after, because you don't slop a lot of water around, you really need to check out the website the have lots of video clips to watch if I haven't convinced you. Also since the mop is so light weight you can do quick touch ups very easily, and I use the mop dry, to dust down my walls or do hardwood or laminate floors.
After you are finished all you need to do is rinse out the cloths and mop pads and let them dry and they are ready to go when the next disaster strikes, or you are ready to clean again. Whenever I  think they need a good washing I make a load of laundry of my microfiber cloths, etc, (they only thing is DON'T use fabric softener on them or put a dryer sheet in with them)
SO that is a quick run down of what I use for fast and easy, and chemical free cleaning!! Hmm I really should be getting commission on this =)
I like to do my laundry, Mondays, and Fridays, Mondays are smaller loads but a lot of our better clothes and Fridays, well I like to go into a weekend with clean clothes.
I often do my cleaning all on fridays, but after reading several other Blogs I am thinking about going into making my self a schedule, I am very much a list maker and so I love to srtoke stuff off and have a guidline to follow, typed out of course.
For some reason since D3 was born I had been feeling overwhelmed with all my housework, but since he has turned one I still feel busy just not as stressed out about it, and so hopefully it goes up from here once I have my schedule typed out !!!
Till next time ,

Cindy

Life is a Journey . . . as if you didn't know that!

Well. . . I hope you will bear with me as I struggle along in this post, I haven't taken the time to write a personal post in a long time, and for some reason I was really drawn to writing I don't know why if it is for someone else since I don't have much readership . . . is that a word??? or maybe for my own sake I needed to write and haven't realized it yet. So anyway here we go,  It all started as I think about Easter coming up!! A year ago, we were seeking God's will about what we should do about buying a house we knew that our days are getting numbered in the house we are at . . . My Father in law owns a business, and the house is also a part of the property . . .  Anyway, my Brother in law Kerwyn has been dating for almost a year and we knew that they were heading in the direction of Marriage sometime so we wanted to be prepared and not have to rush into something that we would regret later. I can't remember the exact dates, but sometime around Easter we came across a house in the town very near to where we live and of course checked it out online looked at pictures, and  finally called the Real Estate to book a viewing.
Enter Josh Friend, as we went through the house with Josh and talked we soon found out he was also a Christian, which definately helped us feel like we could trust him, he also told us his other job, is his ministry and it always comes first, hmm how interesting so what was it, well, he is a Bass singer for the Torchmen a country Gospel Singing group!! I actually grew up listening to their music, before Josh was a member. God showed us that he was taking care of us in all of this with someone who we felt we could trust, It took that intimidation of not knowing if we were being ripped off or if the agent was straight talking to us!!.
I think Josh took us through 4 houses over the next couple of months, and each one was nice in it's own way, but just didn't feel right, finally we inquired about a lot that was for sale, and after talking to Josh, he was probably more excited than we were, he told us" I really think this is the best option for you guys, nothing felt right until now, I really think this is what you should do!!" WOW, are we really ready to undertake such a project??
After much prayer and a lot of thinking and number crunching we decided to go for it!!
September 16, 2009 we signed the papers!! Here are a couple pictures of the property.

The property is 100 x 220 feet, with mature trees, an almost impossible find in this area, yes it did look a little like a junk yard, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and those who saw the potial and still do for that matter were thrilled with us.

They ended up taking the one scraggly tree down because of it's proximity to the fence, and the way it was leaning; that in it self leads me to another story . . . so we talked to the contracter and told him we would like that tree torn down, he in turn talked to the neighbour, who decided that he would take it down himself so that we wouldn't fell it on his house roof, well it fell over the fence into his yard, so we now have a small section of new fence and we didn't have to pay for it =)  Too bad it wasn't the back section. My husband will be bothered by the look of the mismatched plywood fence that is there, so we'll see what he comes up with to improve that eye sore.

A well was drilled by Oct 13,

The septic system was put in by Oct 22, 2009

 

I am going to stop here for now with the house building project, I can hardly keep my eyes open any more, I have to say that this past year I have also had an emotional journey, I have faced struggles that I never dreamt as a Christian, a wife, and a mother I would ever have to struggle with, Issues so deep and still fresh I can't even share yet, and I am thankful God is a loving and forgiving God and wonder where He is taking me next, Thankfully my journey is not over and maybe this house building project is how He is showing me, he builds my "house" for Himself first I sold my heart to Him, well I actually 'gave' it to Him  and than trade by trade he dug out, poured His foundation and started building me 'custom' . . . how he wants my to be!! And that my friends is exciting and scary all at the same time, somedays, I want to stay in the foundation stage no framing or anything on top but, how can I become a house if I am only a foundation?? I need to continue to let Him grow me. and so, I allow Him to start building, sigh, It hurts but thankfully I am begining to take shape.

iheartfaces Challenge - Bundled Up

 If you are looking for some great photgraphy click onto the link above ^^^ So I decide today to join in the "Bundled Up"Challenge, We haven't had a lot of snow all winter, but in February we had one big snowfall, and it was actually a nice day. . . not too cold or windy, and my son D2 had so much fun shovelling the snow, He came to the door the one time and said" Mom, i was just looking out the window and saw all the snow and thought I rally should shovel it"  and so here he is, Shovelling the snow. 

Hope you like it!!