Our Week

Hey guys! Hope you all are having a very blessed weekend! 

I want to ask quickly for prayers for my mother-in-law's husband (my husband's step dad). She called us earlier today to say that he had to be taken to the hospital because he had a stroke. Earlier tonight, she did say that he has most of his feeling back but cannot squeeze his left hand. So please say an extra prayer that he makes a full recovery! Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!

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So, we have had a very busy week! Last Thursday, Trinity had her tonsils taken out so we spent most of the past weekend recovering. 

Here is picture of one of the gifts she got from a sweet friend to help her feel better. She was definitely spoiled by get well gifts from family and friends.

By Sunday she was ready to play though. LOL It is amazing how kids can bounce back!

This worked out well because my husband's workplace was having their company 4th of July picnic. They throw a big Independence Day celebration every two years and this year was just as amazing as the last ones. They serve dinner which was a choice of BBQ, hot dogs or burgers. You get chips, drinks and a couple options for dessert.  Their theme this year was Disney cruise and I wish I could tell you all they had for them to do but I would be here for a while. LOL My kids did not get to take part in everything because of time but they did enjoy seeing the different characters, doing crafts, getting their faces painted, getting balloon animals (twice because they popped the first ones) and bouncy houses. 

They had two photo booths which the kids were not really into. LOL

After standing in line for close to a hour to get their faces painted, it was time to go outside for fireworks. 

At first the boys were a little afraid but they were amazed once they got over them being so loud. Michelin put on an amazing 4th of July celebration for it's employees. Definitely a wonderful company to work for!

Later in the week, we had a play date with friends at the splash pad. 

Asher refuses to get into the water so he just hung out with us adults. LOL

Other than playing games, running errands and spend some relaxing, quality time together, we have had a very low key week. 

Hope your week was as blessed as ours was! See y'all in my next post!

What's up!

Happy Monday everyone! 

Hope your week has started off well and you had a wonderful weekend. 

This past week the kids had vacation bible school and they LOVED every minute of it! It warms my heart to know that they love learning God's word. :) Major props go out to all the teachers who helped...you are all blessings!

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Friday was mine and RJ's 10 year anniversary. 

We went on a cruise last month to celebrate but I wanted to throw something together for him since he had to work that day. We had plans to watch a movie so while I was grabbing some groceries, I bought a few yummies that I knew he would like and made a "candy bouquet" for him.

LOL I think it turned out cute for last minute. 

Poor hubby fell asleep half way during the movie though and didn't get to enjoy any of it. :(

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I sure hope all the Dads out there had a blessed Father's day yesterday. Father's day is always a little bittersweet for me. I lost my dad when I was 4 months old but I was extremely lucky to have had a Grandfather who raised me like I was his own. He passed away from cancer 10 years ago but I am thankful God blessed me with him.

I  never got to know my Dad's father as he passed away when my Dad was young. 

Here is a picture of my Dad and his parents. 

I also didn't get to know my Grandmother because she passed away a few months after my Dad. My family says that his death was so hard for her that it was like she died of a broken heart. 

I sure have been blessed with a loving husband who is also an amazing Father to our 3 beautiful kids!

He does so much for us and definitely has his kiddos wrapped around his finger. :)

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Trinity lost her 5th tooth last night and she was so excited. She has worked on that tooth since she first felt it loose a few weeks ago. 

She is growing up way too fast!!

Well, RJ is outside trying to level the ground for our pool we bought last week so guess I better go help him. :) Leaving you with this cute picture of my girl and I earlier in the week.

Love the look she is giving me! :)

Blog you later!!! LOL

Friday Favorites

Happy Friday everyone!

It is the weekend!! Hooray! :) 

My hubby is actually off this weekend so we are looking forward to a some time with the family. 

My mother-in-law is coming over to watch the kiddos for us so we can go to a movie together tonight. We don't get the opportunity to go on date night often so we value the time we do get together. 

Tonight we are going to see Captain America: Civil War

 It had really good ratings so we are looking forward to seeing it.

RJ and I are rooting for Iron Man! :)

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Today I headed up to Ulta to purchase a new beauty blender. I had a coupon and was on the hunt for some new nail polish. I fell in love with this color from Essie. It is called In Stitches.

My total was only $12.83 after my coupon which I thought was a good deal! Also, if you all have not used a beauty blender before, give it a try! It seems to make my makeup go on smoother and not take as long to apply. 

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This past weekend I took the kids to Home Depot for their kid's workshop. They offer one a month for the kids and a bunch more for adults. What you can't beat is that they are free!! If you are interested, here is the link you can go to to sign up for the ones in your area.

The kids had a blast making bird houses and I am going to one next week to learn how to make a gilling caddy. I thought it would make a good present for my husband for either father's day (I would let the kids paint it) or for part of an anniversary present.

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Right now as a family we are addicted to playing games! Rj, Trinity and I have been playing Mexican Train together almost every night.

The boys usually just play with the trains. LOL

If they want to play games with us though, we usually play Don't Wake Daddy, Hungry Hungry Hippos or Let's Go Fishin'. These are all great games for when you have a little one (Asher is 3)! 

Well, I am off to go give the kiddos baths, cook supper and get ready for date night. Hope you all have a blessed weekend!! 

Today-What I Ate & Exercise Routine

Hey guys! Hope you are all having a blessed Thursday! 

Sorry I have been MIA for a bit but we have been super busy over here and have had a lot of things going on. The kids are all eating supper which is a little earlier than usual for us so I thought now would be a good time to throw up a post. We had a t-ball game tonight but as soon as we pulled up, it started raining and lightening. :( 

Anyway, I thought I would give yall an idea of my workout routine currently (I am going to change it up every 2 weeks) and what I ate today. I got out of the habit of exercising but with our cruise getting closer, I thought now would be a good time to start back. So here goes...wish me luck! LOL

So, as soon as my husband got home from work this morning (he worked 3rd shift last night), I hightailed it out the door for a 1 mile jog. I will hopefully build up to a longer stretch but for right now, I am taking it easy. When I got back home, I ran to the bedroom (in hopes the boys would not see me) and busted out 3 reps of the following as quick as possible:

15 push-ups

15 squats

15 reverse crunches

15 lunges (on each leg)

15 second plank 

I will gradually increase the amount as I go along. 

My meals went as such:

Breakfast

Protein Smoothie-

1 cup spinach, 1 cup fruit, 1 scoop protein powder & add water

I pre-make packets of fruit and freeze ahead of time. 

This morning was strawberries, blueberries and some banana.

I also included 2 scrmbled eggs and 2 slices turkey bacon.

Lunch

Leftovers from the night before: BBQ chicken and Quinoa Rice

I also treated myslef to a glass of tea.

Supper

Hamburger patty (no bun for me), carrots and small salad.

I also had two cups of coffee this morning but I just add a little creamer to it and no sugar. This is a big deal for me since I used to add a bunch before.

Well, I am off to Pinterest to find some healthy recipes to try this upcoming week. If you have any suggestions, let me know! 

Spring Purge: Garage Part 1

This post is going up late tonight because it has been a LONG day! I worked on the first part of the garage this morning and then had to head out to go grocery shopping as soon as I was finished with that. By the time I got home to drop them off, it was time to pick up Trinity from school and then I had to tutor this afternoon. After, we all headed out as a family to run some errands but our battery light came on in our car and we ended up having to take it to our local Honda dealership to get looked at. 

Thank goodness they had a kid's play area there!

Well, long story short, we were told the alternator needed to be replaced and we were left stranded. After calling a couple of people with no luck, a friend of mine was able to come pick us up to take us home. Thus was the perfect opportunity to leave the hubby with the kids and go grab some supper and catch up with her. LOL So, I am now home and after getting the kids to bed, I am finishing this up and hitting the hay. *sigh* So, I hope your Wednesdays is going better than ours! Here's to a better tomorrow!

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I am a little embarrassed to show these pictures but I wanted you all to get a sense of what I was working with. My garage tends to be my "throw all" area and anything that is in the way usually ends up in here. So, it was time for a good clean up! I started with this one today and will work on the surrounding walls tomorrow. 

After sorting through everything, this is everything I ended up pulling off the shelves:

I had an entire shelf dedicated to home decor and after seeing the mounds of dust on them, I knew it was time to sort through it all. I decided that whatever I did not find a place for, it would be given away or sold. So, some stuff went to use...

and a bunch of stuff was put away to donate/sell...

I cleared out enough stuff to get rid of the shelving unit and put it in the backyard for the kid's toys. 

I grabbed a few baskets from the dollar store today to hold everything and I think it works quite well for the area. 

So, here is the finishing product:

 Before                                After

Before                            After

Before

After

I still have to finishing adding labels to everything but hope to have everything organized soon. I will do a post on how I have everything organized another time. So, I am about to go pass out and hopefully wake up bright and early in the morning to finish up and complete this area. Wish me luck! Good night and God bless!!

Spring Purge: Beauty Products

This week I am working on purging through things throughout the house. 

Today I worked on my makeup table.

So, this is the table I sit at to put my makeup on or fix my hair. 

It was an old computer desk but I built a "floating" desk out of some scrap wood I had so my computer now sits at it. I didn't want to get rid of the desk so decided to use it as my "get ready" station. Well, I rarely use it. Most days I don't wear makeup and my hair is usually in a ponytail so I feel like it is wasting space. So time for a purge!

I bought this case from Ulta to put all my makeup into and it fits perfectly into my ottoman that I sit on at my desk. I keep my printer paper and card stock in there also for my printer (which hides under the bed).

I also went through my nail polishes and put all my nail care stuff into this bag I already had.

All of this and my hair products went into our main bathroom. I already had space for it all so it worked out great!

So, when all was put in place, I ended up getting rid of all this:

I am also going to sell the desk so it will add more space to our bedroom!

So, I went from having a whole desk to hold my beauty products to just my carrying case and a few things in my bathroom. I think it was a good purge! :) 

Now off to think of what I am going to tackle tomorrow!! 

Hope you are all having a fabulous Tuesday!

Spring Purge: Clothing

Happy Monday everyone!

Hope you all had a great weekend! I was out of town for a friend's wedding so today has been spent trying to catch up on stuff around the house. Luckily it did not take me too long to get everything done so I decided this week would be a great time to start on some Spring purging!

I started in my room by taking everything out of the closet.

I had some help from two little boys but you can barely see my helpers through the mound of clothing. LOL

As I started going through things, I decided that if I had not worn it recently or did not fit into it, it was being donated. I am trying to take a more simplistic approach to things because well, that's it, they are just things and there is no reason to hold onto it. I am bad about telling myself that I will probably use it "one day" or it holds "sentimental value" to me. It is time to let go of some stuff!!

So, here is my before and after:

This is everything I own, summer and winter. The bins at the top (which are made from Pampers boxes with fabric modpodged onto them) hold my seasonal clothes) and the bins in the cubical hold my PJ's, undergarments, workout clothes and shorts. 

After doing my room, I went onto the kids...

(forgot a before picture but I could barely open her drawers)

(still have to pull out the boys summer shorts)

So, this is everything we got rid of:

It ended up filling up two trash bins and are piled into my car to take to Haven of Rest. So nice to get rid of some stuff that will hopefully benefit someone else. Onto my makeup table tomorrow!