Chatting & Ice Cream

I have been so very tired. I blame it on the spider incident. Ever since I saw that thing dangling over my head, I've had sleepless nights. One time, I turned on the fan thinking that if the spider's friends come find me, the wind will keep them from getting close. So, now because of the lack of sleep, I  have puffy bags under my eyes. I do own some caffeine cream that is supposed to reduce the puffiness, but I'm too lazy tired to apply it.

The other day we all had a craving for 'smores. All we had were marshmallows (chemical free, thank you Whole Foods) so Greg ran out to get Graham crackers and chocolate. When Greg was growing up, he rarely looked at price tags. Me, I pride myself on being a frugalista (I like nice things at bargain prices). That even pertains to my chocolate. When he came home with the 5lb bar from Trader Joe's because it was the best value.....well, I just about cried. Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? Sadly, the bar was way too thick for the 'smores, but it hasn't stopped me from devouring almost the whole bar in just days.

Onto our new everyday joy...... " 'Ol Red " the ice cream machine.

 We have come up with different concoctions.......coconut milk & fruit, mostly being our base. This batch we added blueberries & chocolate chips.

 It's so easy. We freeze the base, add mixture, press on button, and wait several minutes.

Yum. It was pure joy.....though, I wasn't a fan of the frozen chocolate chips. Maybe sprinkles next time?

Lots of Little Things

Well, wanted to give a quick update. A lot has been going on, but really nothing huge. It's all those little things. Before jumping back to last weekend, let me share my morning. It involved waking up to find a spider above my head. Thankfully, there is a cathedral ceiling in our bedroom. After many minutes of laying and waiting for it to move, I finally called down to the boys to share what was going on. Sam quickly raced up the stairs to my rescue. The next several minutes involved "stealth spying" as Sam put it. A few times the spider shot down on it's web only to spring back up, which caused me to scream loudly {7:45am-sorry neighbors}. We propped chairs, turned lights on....did everything to get it to come down. Once it finally hit the floor all chaos followed......my whole body gets nauseous at the sight of a spider. Eventually, we attacked it with a lotion bottle and went on with our morning.

                                          {this was our stealth spying hideout}

Last weekend, we went on a long walk/scooter ride through a really neat forest. We met many dogs along the path.....and Greg and I often rode the boys scooters while they jogged behind. I'm sure we were a sight to be seen. On the way home, the boys spotted a garage sale and asked to stop while Greg waited in the car. What did we find? The most awesome & ridiculous thing I've purchased in a long time....a red unicycle {$2!}. I told the gals at the sale that the look on my husband's face would be priceless when he saw our purchase. I was right. Thankfully, he threw back his head and gave a loud laugh. How could I pass up a $2 unicycle?!

Also priceless was the great bookstore near our house. We lingered in there forever.....finally leaving with a few fun books for the boys. I love love love bookstores, and this one was a homeschooler's dream.

Almost forgot another red & spontaneous purchase. While at Costco, I sent the boys and Greg to look for lightbulbs. They came back with a red ice cream maker. The price was right....I checked later and it was 2 times more on Amazon. We are loving it. Our first concoction was coconut milk, a little sugar, and raspberries. So good!!

I'll leave you with a few photos of the boys own cardboard arcade. After watching a video of Caine's Arcade online, they decided to make their own and invite a couple of our neighbors to play {no charge, and they gave away some of their old toys as prizes}

                   {see that pile next to the ball game? that's all going to Goodwill. Phew!}

Grandma

Today, Greg's our Grandma died. She was Great Grandma to our boys. I realized today that I knew her longer than I had known my biological Grandfather {who died when I was 11}. Grandma R was one of the most amazing, wonderful, and kind women I have ever been privileged to know. To feel loved by her, and treated as her true grandaughter was a gift.

This past Easter was also a gift. Normally, my brother hosts Easter in Syracuse and that is where we spend our day. This year, for various reasons Easter was being held at my mom's home....which meant we would drive home for the day, and also get to spend time with Greg's family. We feel so blessed to have been able to sit and chat with Grandma, to tell her we loved her one last time. In fact, I remember kissing her and saying goodbye....only to quickly return and tell her I wanted to give her one more kiss. Our world all ready feels very different without Grandma in it.

 

Whirl of a Weekend

We decided to make a quick trip home for Easter. The day before we left, we said goodbye see you in a year....to dear friends.

                                              {I adore this sweet gal}

                                 {can't imagine the year without them....:( }

We left Saturday morning and arrived at Great Grandma's by 3pm. The boys had a fun day with their little cousins.....and we loved seeing all of our families.

                                           Singing happy birthday........

It was great Grandma's birthday.....she celebrated with a shrimp shaped cake {she loves to eat seafood}. We cannot believe she just turned 98. She's amazing.

                                We also went outside for some football fun.

 

We took the game very seriously..... actually, most of us had no idea what we were doing.

 

The next day we egg hunted, munched grandma's traditional treats, and played some more football with my side of the family. We are thankful that both sides of our family live in the same city. Makes visits home so easy.....tiring, but easy.

 

                                    Loved spending time with all the cousins!

 

 

                       And now back to reality....and getting back into our groove.

I Need Pictures

I noticed that I hadn't posted a picture in forever!! What's up with that? Again, part of that non existent blogging mojo. I decided to upload a few random pictures.....photos that I planned to blog about, but never got around to it.

See those cookies up there? Yes, that mess up there.....and yes, I'm sure they are cookies. One of my many Pinterest fails. Why can't I make a decent chocolate chip cookie? I swear I follow the recipe. Any suggestions?

Ok, I didn't take this photo. Y'know who did? My sweet husband. One of Greg's pet peeves is chaotic cupboards. I seem to have a little habit of just throwing my bowls and pots in the cupboard. Sort of a no rhyme or reason theme. My excuse is that I'm busy and have other things to think about. Yeah, really I have no excuse. Greg wanted to do his own "before & after" photo shoot.

This is his after photo. C'mon, is there that much of a difference?

I'm loving this little beauty. A couple of months ago {during my birthday}, I was contemplating purchasing myself a Kitchenaid Mixer. Greg encouraged me to do it, but I had a hard time justifying the purchase. I went back and forth deciding.....and then forgot about it. During a visit home, my mother in law and I were chatting about recipes, and I mentioned that I had been thinking about purchasing a mixer. She replied  "just take mine, I never use it!".  How cool is that?! I can't explain how awesome it was{thank you God}......I had this little desire on my heart {the mixer} yet couldn't get myself to spend the money{on myself}. Little did I know that this sweet mixer was sitting unused in my mother in laws cupboard. My father in law said he had been wanting to get rid of it! I only wished I had shared my desire for a bread machine before they actually did get rid of theirs. One person's trash is another person's treasure!

In Which I Babble ON and On

I'm glad I wrote about my endo. I've tucked it away on it's own page at the top of my blog....right next to our adoption story. Lately, I have not been feeling much like blogging. I lost focus of what I was even blogging about......was it the ongoing homesick saga of a 40 something mama? Or, was it about our many adventures and fun we keep trying to fill into our new life? Actually, maybe it's a blog about my never ending whining thoughts about moving from our large space to a small space?? I've almost completely stopped writing about homeschooling.....it's such a big part of our life, not sure why it never gets any blog space.

I guess it's a blog about all of the above, and much more. Mostly, it's just a place for me to get some thoughts off of my mind. A place to share with friends/family near and far. Lately, I've had so much on my mind....I have not known where to begin.

Are you following me here? Confusing, huh?

I want to write about some new thoughts on homeschooling. Basically, less is more....in my opinion.

I want to share our new easy delicious Shepherds Pie recipe. Sam found this awesome{non chemical filled} seasoning packet in the International aisle. So good. I just made a big batch in my cast iron pan....and planned to take a picture, but Sam is busy making a stop animation movie with my camera.

That's another thing I wanted to share....Sam has a new passion.... stop animation movie making. He uses everything from Legos to mini wrestlers to his own mom.

There are so many things I want to blog about, but just haven't. Any down time I get, I find myself vegging with a book or an episode of House Hunters, or trying to fit in a real live phone conversation. So, dear friends and family.....my blogging may be sporadic, but all is well. Just living life. Hoping to get my blogging mojo back soon!