Just Life

 Just real life over here in my cozy little home. Mama (that's me) was not feeling well at all last week! I had laryngitis & could barely speak. My throat & ears were aching me! I actually went to the doctor which is rare for me but I wanted to make sure I didn't have strep throat or something of that nature so I could take extra precautions & try not to spread it to my kids. My doctor told me laryngitis & gave me a prescription, which I never filled! I'm not really big on medications, I always like to try & fight it off naturally if I can but I just wanted to know what I had! lol.. So I headed over to the food store and bought this and with in a few days I was feeling much better :) 

*Update! I'm all better & kids are healthy too :)*

Things still needed to happen in my home, like me cooking dinner. 

So thankful for my crockpot. I literally just threw in ingredients that I had  & turned it to high. I know it doesn't look like anything special and that's because it wasn't! lol.. Again, I wasn't feeling well! Totally "un-Instagram" worthy! lol.. But again, real life :)

                                     

So what is this mystery meal you are staring at?!?! Incase you are curious! It's just chicken breasts seasoned & covered in a single can of cream of mushroom soup,  a 1/2 cup of roasted chicken dripping I had in my freezer that I saved so I could add it into a meal for extra flavor! And it definitely came in handy that day :)

2 carrots peeled & diced cause that is all I could bring myself to peal and a good sprinkling of paprika. I ended up serving this with some plain steamed white rice cause I was able to just prepare it in my small rice cooker, easy! My children enjoyed it, our tummies were full, so that's blessing enough! 

After I put dinner into my crockpot that morning & breakfast was fed, my older children got busy on their school work :)

I like to have my my older children start their school work first. For one, my littler ones have way too much energy to sit and do school work with me first thing in the morning! lol.. Two, my one daughter Abby has phonological dyslexia so she needs me to help her with some of her school work :) 

That's my Abby! A pleasure & a joy to teach! And although she needs my help a lot, she is quite smart & very capable! She's extremely creative & had even taught herself cursive hand writing a few years all on her own! Proud mama, not bragging ;) 

So as I sat with my older girls & helped them with their school work, my littler ones kept busy making a tiny fort out of their baby blankets along with throwing a TON of their toys into that little corner of the room (which you can't see! hehe!) where my little guy happily pokes his head up from :)  

 Suppose that's the price I pay, as I don't like to put on the TV on in the morning just to keep them busy while I do schoolwork with my older ones! lol 

Oh, here's a peak of our "classroom!" It's was under construction for a while, still have to put up cabinet  doors  & now we are now finally redecorating it! It's not totally finished yet... but it almost is! Until them school work happens at the dining room table! I'll have to do a post about our "classroom" when it's done :) 

So 12:15 rolled around and I gotta admit that tea I bought for my laryngitis tasted absolutely  horrible!! lol.. So I decided i'd stick with my usual afternoon drink since I look forward to my coffee break and I like for it to be somewhat pleasurable :)  

Especially since I was going to be folding laundry!

AND I still made my bed that morning! 

Cause that's one thing I always do first thing in the morning, is make my bed no matter what!! My mother taught me to be that way... but I like it :) 

"Papa & Mama Bear"

Oh and this... I opened the fridge to find a special little cake :) My little Hadley always finds a way to make me laugh & smile. 

Also, my girls started lacrosse this weekend! It's their first time playing & they were super excited and did really great! Can't believe how fast they are growing up! 

I even got my little guy a lacrosse stick so he could practice with the girls in the yard! He's actually pretty good, so maybe next year he could play too :) 

So there you have it! Just living life & feeling blessed, even when i'm not feeling so good! I persevered & did everything I needed to do all through the grace of God :) 

First Weekend of Fall

Hello friends! How was your weekend? Do anything exciting or enjoyable? Mine was pretty good! Started off with me treating myself to a celebratory drink in honor of Fall on Friday!

Since it was warmer than I was hoping it would be for the 1st day of Fall! I opted for a cold & yummy pumpkin spice frappe :)

Later that evening I made burgers & fries for dinner! Burgers were delicious but boy did they make a greasy mess all over my stove top as they cooked!! I had sautéed a huge heaping of finely minced onions in a pad.. or two.. or three of butter until they started to caramelize a bit and then placed the burgers onto the griddle over the onions & slowly cooked them on low :) 

After that we all channeled our inner cowboy or girl ;) Got ready & hurried out the door! And I mean hurry as in I left that greasy griddle on my stove top and unwashed dinner dishes sitting out just so we would make it on time to our first barn dance ever! 

That's my hubby & our 2 youngest :) 

That's my Ava one the left!

My kids with some of their homeschool friends! 2nd one in is my Ava , 5th one in is my Abby, the littlest boy to the right is my little guy Alex and the tiniest cowgirl to the right is my baby Hadley :)

Have any of ya'll ever been to a square dance before??? Talk about fun! Was truly the perfect way to celebrate the arrival of Fall with my family! Big open barn, loud country music, twinkle lights & the cool evening breeze coming through felt so amazing:) Oh and snacks too.. hehe! Just saying ;) 

Our littlest ones Alex & Hadley eventually made their way outside! He brought along his harmonica to play while Hadley had a hoot watching her own little shadow dance along side of her, all under the twinkling stars :) 

The rest of our weekend was all about comfy, cozy and coffee :) 

Some people like to mix cocktails on the weekend... I on the other hand like to mix this :) 

First I mix in the french vanilla, then I mix in the vanilla caramel latte! And as you can see it makes a really nice froth on top!! Genius right?!? 

 

More coffee & a warm chocolate croissant because it's the weekend, Fall is here and before  you know it we'll be breaking out those warm cozy sweaters & oversized sweatshirts anyways ;) 

Homemade banana muffins warm & fresh out the oven topped with princesss because my little guy Alex said we should add them on for Hadley because it would make her happy... 

And it did :) Such a sweet big brother she has! 

And there you have it, our first weekend in Fall! Hope you all had a wonderfully comfy & cozy weekend too! 

(Btw, this was meant to be posted on Monday but I was having some technical difficulties! lol.. I couldn't get onto the internet and check my blog or visit anyone else's blog! I tried enlarging the print on my blog but i'm not sure it took! What do ya'll think.. Is the print still too small? Shall I make any changes? Let me me know :) Basically  bear with me folks!! I am the least computer savy person I know and am still trying to figure things out on here!! lol)

Blessings to all! 

Happy Fall Ya'll

 Ahhhhh Fall!!! How I missed you so much! As much as I enjoy the summer and all the wonderful  changes that come with each and every season, my heart will always sing for fall.  Infact, My husband & I got married in the fall! First week in November :) Just so we could have all those beautifully colored leaves on the ground & all around in the background of our wedding pictures! It was really romantic & beautiful!

So as you can see i've got my calendar marked for a celebratory drink! A pumpkin spice latte from Starbucks of course! Hehe!!

And I recently picked up a few adorable hand painted tin ornaments from a delicious & cozy Amish shop to add onto our season tree :)

Time to switch out the scents!  I've been burning this incredibly yummy smelling candle up until this final day just cause it smells that good! But now it's time for all things apple cinnamon & pumpkin spice! Although, I gotta be totally honest with you friends & let you know that I actually burn those smells all year round in my home! lol

Well, i'm looking forward to sharing all the fun & cozy moments that come during this wonderful season! And i'm looking forward to reading about yours! 

Blessings & hugs,