everyday Ann

living the ordinary seeing the extraordinary

Lake Life

Finally feeling a bit more settled after returning from a wonderful five day vacay at the lake last week. Trying to settle into normal bedtimes and routine after late nights, early mornings and constant play.

Spending time at the lake has been a family tradition every summer since I was young and now I love sharing in it with my little ones, although sometimes it isn’t quite as relaxing as years ago. We had to miss last year’s gathering because I was pregnant with Caden and my doctor didn’t want me making the seven hour trek. So this year Kolbe and Ethan were extra excited and had been counting down for at least a month. They couldn’t wait to see their cousins and be on the water.

In addition to catching fish the kids also all swam like fish! Even Caden insisted on being in the water after I dipped his legs in. Grace was brave breaking out of her comfort zone riding on the jet ski, tubing and kayaking with mom. We even survived the drive after a slow start stopping every 30 minutes for potty breaks with a newly potty-trained toddler.

Sharing a few pictures of our fun!

Dining Room Update

In our ten years of marriage we have never purchased a dining room set. During our apartment living we used a cardtable. When we bought our house we received a hand me down table that Aaron refinished. We rummaged his parents attic for some mismatched chairs to go with it that I painted.

Last year a friend had some chairs they were looking to get rid of. I wasn’t sure how they would match with our table, but once assembled loved the brightness they brought to the room. Once I saw how the chairs lightened everything up I decided to trade in the brown curtains for some off-white ones (waiting for the day they get covered with spaghetti sauce).

It’s amazing by how just changing out the chairs and curtains the room really transformed and seems a lot brighter, cheerier and bigger. I decided the room wouldn’t be complete without a new piece of art work. Absolutely love the quote from St. Teresa of Calcutta.

Before:

After:

Before:

After:

Short and Brief

(source)

1.  Schools out for the summer. Nine days left and they are home free! Slightly nervous about the transition and looking forward to having time with them. I know Grace will be ecstatic to have the boys home every day to play with, no more boring mom.

2.  We are needing some new counter stools, but not budgeting for it currently. When we bought our house pre-children we bought stools with fabric on the seating. Rookie mistake. Still, I like to look. Right now these are my faves.

3.  If you have a Trader Joe’s close by and like sweet potatoes these crackers are a must. Yum, yummo!

4.  We officially have a crawler with two teeth coming in. He now joins the ranks of his sister screaming hysterically at night until mom rescues him from dad. By day his favorite word is dada.

5.  For baseball this year Kolbe is required to wear a cup. I don’t understand it, but it’s like a passage to manhood or something for them. Never seen him so excited to try on a piece of clothing and carefully box up his prize possession after practice to keep it looking like new.

6.  Trying to get back into the routine of exercising again. I am finding the only time to be 10:00pm at night, even then the little ones tag-team waking up. The struggle is real. Aaron has two words for me, sleep training. I am a wimp.

7.  Farmhouse. How long will the trend stay, because I want to make over our entire house. For now, I will dream and just enjoy looking at the pretty things. I created a Farmhouse board on Pinterest if you are channeling your inner Joanna Gaines. (p.s. The Magnolia Table cookbook amazing!)

Hoping everyone has an enjoyable and safe Memorial Day weekend. Here’s to three days! Even more so, here’s to those who have served, fought and died for freedom. Thank you for our liberty.

Carefree Timelessness

I am a doer by nature, making lists, making a list for my lists. My mind always racing to the next thing that needs to get done or next place to go. I am a Martha always busying myself with something to do. When it comes to entertaining I am in the kitchen rather than enjoying my guests. When it comes to motherhood I always seem to be busy with a task while watching my children play.

Being a stay at home mom one would think I have so much time to just be, more often than not I manage to fill it with something leaving very little time for being. I go through the day and base my success on how many items I cross off my to-do list or what was accomplished rather than if time was spent just loving on those placed in my life.

This weekend some of our plans fell through leaving almost the entirety of Saturday and all of Sunday completely open. I had cleaned the house earlier in the week and was comfortably caught up on the laundry. The fridge was filled with leftovers, so I wasn’t stressing about dinner.

The older boys were gone Saturday morning and Caden’s teething had me up all night, so I decided to lay down with the little ones for their nap and ended falling asleep for a good two hours! I woke up to Aaron and the boys playing outside. The weather was gorgeous so I decided to take Caden and Grace out as well and my to-do list became history (until Monday).

It ended up being a weekend of carefree timelessness. Spending time together as a family without anywhere to go or any agenda to follow. Halfway through the weekend I admitted to Aaron that I was struggling a little to let myself continue to just be. He laughed and said he was a bit surprised himself and was wondering how I was handling it.

To be present to my family without needless interruptions. Interruptions and tasks that I create on my own behalf. Stress that I place on my shoulders as I strive to live up to a false ideal of perfection. Feeling the pressure of our fast paced society to constantly be doing while neglecting the just being.

As I reflect back on the last few days I need to remind myself that my children aren’t going to remember whether the floors were vacuumed or all of the laundry put away. Rather it will be the time spent and the memories made that will stay with them.

With summer approaching I hope to fill our days with carefree timelessness, simply being together. I am going to strive to fight the false notion that I battle which says that our summer will only be successful if we are constantly doing. Here is to focusing on being.

Surviving the Drive

1.  This week Aaron had to be in to work earlier than usual, so I was in charge of doing both drop off and pick up for school. I am used to being pick up mom, we have it down to a science, easy peasy. Being drop off mom is an entirely different beast. Credit to all of you mothers who do it every single day while loading up little ones to boot. Getting four bodies clothed, fed and in the van on time before I am fully awake is an accomplishment.

2.  Navigating the whole drop off scene caused me a crazy amount of anxiety. The principal is smiling while aggressively waving me through to keep driving even though I am in the drop off lane. All I know is I am supposed to stop at an orange cone to leave the boys out, but there are 8 orange cones. What do I do? Keep driving through in circles or choose not to follow the traffic signal and stop at a random orange cone hoping a smile and wave will cover the damage.

3.  Lessons learned from drop off. Go with your instinct. Just pick a cone and sound like a military sergeant ordering children out of the van while side swiping them with a kiss. Getting five hours of sleep for five nights in a row leaves one in a delusional state and craving chocolate. Waking up early and getting all bodies fed and dressed before 7:45am including myself gives me a lot more time in the day. I don’t know if I have ever set foot in a grocery store before 8:30am until this week.

4.  I am attempting to pick out a paint color for the two bathrooms and laundry room. Looking for something neutral enough, but still with some color. Lesson learned the bright colors that I originally went with eight years ago have not stood the test of time and need to go. This time around I am on the search for a color that I will still love five years from now. Grey is the new beige, but I think I need more of a greige.

5.  Aaron gave me the Magnolia Table Cookbook for Mother’s Day. I didn’t even know one existed, so I was beyond excited to receive it! (I am pretty sure he has elves who help him with his shopping.) Looking forward to diving in and making some new recipes. What I love is the recipes call for common ingredients and nothing fancy that I need to buy at a specialty store. Good hearty home cooked meals. I am especially looking forward to the breakfast section, love me some good brunch after church on Sunday.

6.  I was recently gifted with an Instant-Pot and am attempting my first meals with it. By the looks it is rather intimidating, large in size, so many buttons, timers, vent don’t vent. Gave a quick read through of the user’s guide and hoping to wing it enough so something turns out. Last night shredded beef sandwiches, yummo!!

7.  Any Blue Bloods fans out there?? If so, you want to make sure to catch last Friday night’s episode. The moment we have been waiting years for, literally years.  SPOILER……….Jamie and Eddie finally a match!!!!! My heart is at rest until next season.

Happy weekend!! Visit Kelly for more.