Life's Bittersweet Moments

Have I ever mentioned just how much we love our homeschool group?  This group of families are so special to us.  We moved to this new, small town, in a different state than we had ever lived in previously last June.  We spent the first six months settling in to our new home and new routine, but we quickly became lonely.  I was introduced to our homeschool group in December of 2009 and was instantly impressed with this group.  They are so warm and welcoming.  Even though they didn't know us and even though our kids are not "official" school age, they never left us out from events.  In fact, they treated us as if we had always been part of their group.  We looked forward to our weekly park play dates and field trips.  In the short amount of time that we have known this group of families, we have made life-long friendships.  So, it was with a heavy heart on Friday that we announced we'd be moving.  On one hand, we will be so sad to leave our new friends, but on the other hand, we are so, so excited about the new adventures that lie ahead of us.  We are no strangers to moving.  Andy and I have been married seven years and with this next move, we will live in our seventh house.  Arin will be four this summer and this will be her fourth home and in Ella's short 19 months of life, she will be moving into her third home!  So, if anyone was wondering about my lack of blogging lately, it is because I've been busy packing, painting, and finding a new place to live!  We are so excited about this move because we will be living near much of Andy's family and within only two hours of the rest of the family (except one of his sisters that lives in a different state).  I am so excited that our girls will grow up near grandparents, cousins and aunt and uncles.  We are also quite excited that we will not have to travel as often to see family.  My blogging will continue to be sparse over the next few weeks, but will return after that!

Family Weekend

Last Friday night, we took a road trip to meet up with part of Andy's family in Jacksonville for the weekend.  We had a great time, even though we didn't do much more than just spend time together and swim.  The simple things in life are often the best!

We all had a great time together, but the girls especially loved being with their cousins.

Swamp Field Trip

Last Friday, we met up with our homeschool group for a field trip to the swamp!  We took a boat tour and a train ride, saw an animal show and had a picnic.  We saw an otter, turtles, alligators, snakes, and chickens (there were also bears, but we had to leave before we saw them).  As always, we had a great time with our friends!

Yes, this is a real alligator, which was sunning itself on the bank, nears the cars in the parking lot!  Apparently, the gators have free roam of the park, which is a little unsettling when you have kids out there.

This is the alligator that everyone got to touch.  It is about two and a half years old.  I was surprised how slowly alligators grow, even in the beginning of their lives.

Wading Pool

The girls and I were outside cleaning out the truck and also playing today.  As cold as it was this winter, it is equally hot this spring!  Once we were finished our chores, I got out the girls' wading pool.  If I remember correctly, this is the first time that Ella has ever been in a wading pool.  Both of the girls loved it and they spent a couple of hours playing in it this afternoon!  Got to love the simple things in life!

Declutter Challenge: Final Post for this Challenge

It was two months ago today that I challenged myself to get rid of 372 things in twelve months.  Amazingly, I was able to accomplish that in three and a half weeks.  Even more amazing is that after I finish this post, we will have decluttered a total of 898 things from our house in two months!  Wow, that's a lot of stuff!  We still had a few boxes in our garage that needed to be cleaned out, so we have recently done that and have found a few more things in the house for a total of 121 things this week.  Thanks for putting up with this challenge over the past couple of months.  It has been incredibly motivating to get rid of stuff when I take pictures and post about it (also eye opening and a bit embarrassing to know we've had so much junk stored here and there around the house!)

Delicious Muffins

I saw this recipe last week and knew that we had to try it.  We were not disappointed.  These muffins are so good!  If I would have had the right kind of sweetener on hand, which I didn't, then we could have even considered these healthy!

Apple Banana Muffins

◦2 cups whole wheat flour (I used fresh milled hard white wheat)
◦1 teaspoon baking soda

◦1/2 teaspoon baking powder

◦1 teaspoon salt

◦1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

◦1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg

◦2/3 cup coconut oil, melted

◦1 cup sucanat or rapadura (I cut it back to 3/4 cup sugar and wouldn't doubt that we could cut it back a bit more)

◦2 eggs
◦1 teaspoon vanilla extract

◦1/4 cup cultured buttermilk, kefir, yogurt, or acid medium of your choice (I used plain yogurt)

◦1 cup ripe bananas, mashed

◦2 apples – peeled, cored and shredded

Directions

A.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease and flour muffin cups, or use paper liners. Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Set aside.

B.In a large bowl, cream together the coconut oil and sucanat/rapadura/sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla and buttermilk/yogurt/kefir. Beat in the flour mixture, mixing just until incorporated. Fold in the mashed bananas and shredded apples. Fill each muffin cup full.

C.Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool.

Declutter Challenge: Closet Clean Up

We've had a hugely successful decluttering week.  This week, I worked in our closet.  I chose to paint it the same color as the bathroom because we had paint left over from that project. 

Here is the before pictures.

They aren't the greatest pictures, but they give you an idea.  When we first moved in, we had Ella's crib in our room, so the only place we had for Andy's armoire was in the closet.  The top of the armoire quickly became a catch-all for clothes and other stuff.  I know, shame on us!

The first step in this project was to move everything out of the closet and get rid of unused items.  Both Andy and I have gained weight since we got married.  There's a part of us that previously had a hard time parting with our old clothes because we always think we'll fit back into that stuff some day.  During our garage clean up, I went through boxes of my smaller clothes and realized that even if I were that size again, it is unlikely that I would wear much of that stuff anymore, so I got rid of most of it.  Yes, I still held on to some "just in case things, but mostly I got rid of my smaller clothes last month, and this week was Andy's turn to do the same.  I am thrilled that he was extremely willing to part with this stuff.  We're both just so over hanging on to stuff.  I have a couple of teenaged nephews, so I bagged up Andy's old clothes and shoes and we will let them see if they want any of the stuff, otherwise it'll find a new home at Goodwill.  We ended up bagging up seven garbage bags full of stuff. I could do a dance - that's how excited I am that we are getting rid of this unused stuff - plus, laundry day is going to be a breeze now that I won't be trying to stuff clothes into overfull dressers/closet!

Here are the pictures of the stuff that we have gotten rid of from our closet (and also a box from our bedroom).

Clothes: 102 items

Shoes: 18 pairs

I actually wrote this post last week and have since donated an additional 10 items of clothing/shoes, which are not pictured.

Total things decluttered this week: 130

Grand Total things decluttered: 777!!!!

Here are the after pictures of our closet.  Again, the contrast of the paint color isn't very great.  I still don't love painting, but I am happy to report that it was not as frustrating as it was in the bathroom.