Category Archives: Personal

We can plan them or not.  And if anything many of us need them more than we know.

I didn’t realize how much I was needing a halt with life until it snuck up on me and smacked me in the face.  I was busy doing my thing and keeping up with the routine of life and then it hit me, hard, and put me down on the floor.  The past 2 weeks have been some of the hardest I have experienced and also two of the most needed.  I have had to S-L-O-W down and just take a break.  I didn’t realize how quickly my routine was taking me captive and how other things were left to the wayside.  It has been in the slowing down that I have come to value the importance of each day that I have been given and each life that has been placed in front of me.

Kevin and I took a weekend getaway (Ok a long overdue anniversary trip) this past weekend and hit up one of our favorite places in Minnesota, the North Shore.  Usually see it in all its fall beauty in September (our anniversary month) and do a bunch of hiking.  Because our schedules did not mesh at all this past year, we decided to try something neither of us have done before; Snowshoeing!  It was an absolute blast and we had great hiking weather.  Besides the enormous blister I got, we had an amazing time and both are feeling so much more refreshed and ready to go.

I would highly advise an planned break if you can get one, but if you are like us and get one that is unplanned; take it for all it’s worth.

Have a great weekend.

Kiss.

I gave Lydia the camera and told her to take a photo of us.  I guess this is the way she sees her mom and dad.  Kinda glad about that….

I have decided to let myself get behind in the love project.  This was supposed to be a month long project, but it is turning into a 2 month project!  No worries as there really are no deadlines and no grades.  Just a challenging assignmet to myself.

Day 13 challenge was to find the everyday routine and document it.

Lydia started kindergarden this fall and goes every other day.  He lunch box out on the counter reminds me that these are our strict schedule days where our routine is very set.  7 am wake, out the door by 8 and at school by 8:15.  During the morning on these days, Elise and Ben get the majority of my time with errinds, and other activities we do together.  We have lunch around noon and naps are at 12:30 and I get in about 1-2 hours of work.  Lydia is picked up from school at 3 and the afternoon is spent playing.  Very routine.

The other days of the week, Tuesday and Thursday, are more fly-by-the-seat-of-our pants days.  This is more my style and so I am glad to still have 2 of these days.  On these days the lunch box is thrown in tehe cupboard and they are more of a day for adventure and play dates.  In January we met some friends for coffee and then headed over to the Winter Carnival for a few hours.  We have also been swimming and have spent longer hours making indoor and outdoor forts just because we can.  I do love these days and will have mixed emotions when our more “routine” days will take over next year when Lydia starts 1st grade.  For now, the lunchbox can stay hidden.  There will be a time when it will be here every day.

The Eyes.

We have heard it said, they eyes are the window to the soul.  I have been learning through these three sets of eyes that the phrase is very true.  Thankfully on this day I was able to capture that window as very happy!

Dreams…

It’s quite hard to say what my kids’ dreams will be, so today I chose a different approach.  My husband and my dream.  We dream of going far away places together.  Because we started a family quite early on in our marraige, we have not been able to go to the places that we have wanted to.  We HAVE been able to go on wonderful trips together for my business, but going to places like Europe and Argentina are places that we dream of going on together.  I know one day our kids will be quite grown up and we will have the opportunity.  Right now our dreams consist on much smaller scales, like having a full night’s sleep or keeping the house clean for more than a day!