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!!

Meal Plan Monday

I'm finally back again!! Wow, these last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind!! I've had to pick out all the paint colours formy house, doornobs trim, interior doors and door frames, and all the flooring!! SO I think I have finally nailed down all of the big decisions, not that they are over yet, faucets, sinks and lighting are still to come, but they say our house is 66% complete, so that's exciting, although I really need to get some packing started!!
All right so about the meal planning!! Here goes,
Monday: Leftover Scalloped Potatoes and ham

Tuesday: Chicken Roast (Whole), potatoes and , spaghetti squash

Wednesday: BBQ hamburgers ( if the weather is nice, my hubby will be gone on a business trip so we'll see if I feel like firing up the BBQ for me and the kids)

Thursday: I'm going to a friends house all day

Friday: Steak, Baked Potatoes

Saturday: Leftovers

Sunday: Fellowship meal at Church--Enchiladas, Salad, and Homemade Caramel Pudding (yummy)

So that's it

Menu Plan Monday

Well, I know I'm a little late this week, But better late then never, Right? I have been busy these last couple weeks, and didn't take the time to actually sit down and blog my menu's but they have been planned!! We are building a house right now and so that has been what is taking up a lot of my time, it is another whole post!!
So here is my menu,

Monday - Scalloped potatoes with chopped Ham, I tried a new recipe for the potatoes and it definately was the best I've ever tasted, and simple too, so I will post the recipe, some time.

Tuesday - Baked potatoes and Meat sauce

Wednesday - Marinated Flank Steak and Rice, I'll have Wild rice and the rest can have Regular rice.

Thursday - Leftovers

Friday - Bacon & Cheese topped Chicken I haven't decided what is going with it, I need to look through all your ideas=)

Saturday - We have a wedding

Sunday - We have a fellowship meal at Church and I am still trying to decide what to make for that, something pretty quick since I will be busy Saturday afternoon & Evening!!

So there you have the basics of my menu this week!! I am tempted to make the Bacon Wrapped Green beans again, they are definately a family favorite!! Honestly my kids GOBBLE them down!!

Menu Planning

This week I didn't get a menu planned, and now I remember why I do, our meals have been terrible!! I feel so disorganized this week it's driving me crazy!! I should run out and grab some groceries, today sometime yet!! Not sure when that's gonna happen, the weather isn't very nice, It doesn't look to bad now, but I'm afraid when I get out there, it will pick up again!! So we will see what happens.

Menu Plan Monday

SO I decided to join in on Menu plan Monday, I often do my planning on Wednesday and get my groceries Thursday, but I decided to plan them today and join in the pantry/freezer challenge, because that is what I want to do empty out my freezer so we have less to move. So here goes

Monday : Baked potatoes with topping (I had to make it for a family thing on Saturday and have leftovers)
Green Bean Bundles
Slow Cooker Stewing beef with Onion Soup

Tuesday: Ham - I'll probably do it in the slow cooker with pinapple tidbits
Shredded Potato Casserole

Wednesday: Beef Enchiladas / Salad

Thursday: Leftovers

Friday:Creamed Chicken over biscuits (Taste of Home)
Fluffy Biscuits (TOH)

Saturday: Don't plan food for then

Sunday: I hope to plan a birthday party for D2 in the afternoon, so i May need some groceries for that possibly do Stromboli and Veggies and Birthday cake still need to decide about that!!

UPDATE:
the links are now working!! and I have to commentand say we LOVED the green bean bundles I will definately be making them again!! I used 2 cans of the french cut beans and I will use at least 3 next time, I also only use 2/3 cup brown sugar and some worchestershire sauce with the butter!! My kids loved them too I had to save some to put in their Thermos for lunch today =)


Cindy

Show us your Life

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Well, I'm not a professional at this weight loss thing... I am struggling right along with every one else, after having four children, and gaining extra weight with each one I am now at the point in my life where it is time to drop it again!! Especially with a family wedding coming up !!
Between my third and fourth child I had lost almost 40 pounds and was feeling good, so I hope I can do that again!! I was on Herbal Magic that time and had to quit when I got pregnant, we are now building a house and so because of the cost of it I cannot go back on it.
But from what I have learned, the most effective way of burning your fat is by exercising, the more muscle you build the more it burns the fat for you!! Awesome as long as you can stay motivated to get started!!
One of my favorite workouts is ZUMBA !! honestly you have to try it!! I take a class at the gym and I also have the DVD go to http://www.zumbafitness.com/ and check it out!! the motto is Ditch the Work out and join the party!! and that's exactly what you do!!
Eating healthy is also very important, and that is where i have the problem I am a huge sucker for chocolate!! and adding butter to my veggies for extra flavour etc. Less salt is also a good thing, yeah these are the hard parts for me - - - Zumba is fun, eating healthy um not so much!! Oh well hopefully by July I will have a success story post!!

Sharing

This just warms my heart!! You gotta love the little tongue!!

Mama B

I am no longer MIA

Man I never thought I'd go this long without posting, I was going to try and post every day, every other at the least, how terrible is that anyway?? OK well, I'm back and still no Christmas photo's I need to edit them-- mainly red eyes, my children are so bad for that!! I even have red eye reduction on!! SO yeah they are still coming. I do have these from the Christmas party at the Gym - Kidz Klub

The whole group - D3 is on the right hand side he's wearing a yellow shirt (being held) He wouldn't pose for a picture with Santa

D2 he wanted to have a picture taken he just wouldn't smile or talk to him LOL

D1- sat on his lap and wanted his picture taken but only had a fake smile for the photographer

Princess S - a half smile- not too bad

So what did I do today?? WELL, I started the long torturous task of house cleaning/purging/packing!! I am excited and scared all at the same time. The first room on the agenda was the boys room, last night Mr. B came up with this great idea, that we could move S's bed into the boys room, and her room/ my sewing, scrap booking room could turn into the packed box room, Fabulous Idea I think, we have a sun porch but it is not tight so the boxes that were in there were getting snowed on if the winds blew in the right direction!!

The other reason it's a fabulous idea, well the room was getting cluttered and very disorganized and starting to drive me crazy!! SO, we got the room cleaned, and the bed moved up and now I can tackle my sewing room, and start packing boxes and moving them into there!! Hopefully by the last weekend in May or June 1 we will move into our new house, I am starting to get excited about that!! and some day I will post pictures of the process too!!

Till next time,

Mama B