Wrapping Up Summer…Welcoming The Start of Fall

The past two weekends we have tried to soak up every last ounce of summer that was left.  Two weekends ago we wrapped up our last trip to Lake Ouachita with my family and sweet nephew.  I'm pretty sure the kids had a terrific time!  We were literally one of ten or so boats that we saw all day long, we literally owned the water.

How cute is this little "Captain" of our ship?

How about this candid shot that Whitney took?  Mom and I were planning upcoming events that I was putting into my calendar, Dad was keeping covered up from the sun and Adam was stretching out his biceps prepping to slalom ski, all while the kids swam around and enjoyed the last day at the lake.

Ava Jane thoroughly relaxed out on the boat as you can see!

We had fun being together!

This past weekend we hit the pool one last time and enjoyed playing football in the water and floating around in the warmth of the sun.  Hanging out with the Grands is always a real treat, we enjoyed doing dinner with both sides of the family!

We also packed one more fun treat into our Labor Day weekend, as we welcomed the start of fall with the Razorbacks football season.  We got to enjoy a wonderful day away with some of our dearest friends (you can read Carol's rendition of our trip here).   We weren't sure if we could pull it off, since we only decided to try and go three days prior to the big day, and since between our two families there are eight precious little people to care for, we knew it would all hinge on the sitter situation.  Thankfully, after several (as in about 14 tries at finding someone) I was able to get it covered with only one "hand-off" mid day from Adam's parents, thanks so much Poppy and Grammy as well as Whitney and Rob.  Here's three big cheers for family who save the day!!

It was fun just driving up to Northwest Arkansas and being able to chat about any and everything with no distractions from our sweet people.  We enjoyed two fun sit down meals, lots of laughs, some very hot but awesome seats on the 10th row at the 50 yard line.  And we even had a lady sitting beside us say that Carol and I look too young to have four kids each, that was a score for sure!  I loved being in HOG country, its just fun having everyone dress in red and white, sharing an experience and being one with the desire to see our beloved razorbacks beat their opponent, and thankfully they did!!

It really was fun to be back on our old stomping grounds and to show Carol and John around the beautiful campus that is the University of Arkansas.  Sharing about our college experiences was interesting, since theirs was quite different from ours, being that they went to a very small Christian university, but we both very much liked our time in college and look back on those years with many fond memories.  It wouldn't be a visit to the U of A without showing them Old Main, which is just one of the many beautiful buildings on campus.

 Just being away, having space and time to visit uninterrupted was such a sweet treat. Adam and I are so thankful to have the blessing of such great friendships! We love you Spensts, lets do it again!

So there went summer, here comes fall!  I must say that I am looking forward to a little cooler weather and the changing of the leaves.  I do enjoy seasonal changes and Arkansas never disappoints in that category!!

Light Fare

Wow, I've been on quite a hiatus from this here blog!  Life has been in warp speed with lots of wonderful things but also with some really hard, difficult to think about things as well.  The past few weeks have been full of planning party after party it seems, whether its personal birthday parties for my kids, back to school Staff Appreciation chairman duties which have ramped up since the start of school as well as hosting three baby showers over the next few weeks; its been full but fun.  Between these activities which are really enjoyable but require brain power and thoughtful preparation along with the very deep conversations about the hard things going on locally and abroad, my emotional and physical energy feels quite spent.  So instead of going with a heavy topic for this post, I'm going to keep it light, very lite in fact.

I recently became aware of a low carb way to eat "spaghetti".  You may or may not have heard of a spaghetti squash, I've just recently been made aware of its existence.  My husband, who has been on quite a health kick, found a recipe and sent it to me many months ago, but it took me quite a while to actually fix it.  After regularly looking for this particular squash at my local Kroger to no avail, my sister was the one who finally found them and so kindly bought three for me.  Now, they're not cheap little suckers, they are $7 per squash and to be honest I was quite leery of what they were going to taste like, but let me just say, I was pleasantly surprised!  FYI-for our family of six, I think I could have gotten away with roasting just two squash, just to give you an idea of how many you'll need.  So, without further a do here's the skinny on how to prepare this light and delicious meal.

Preheat your oven to 400 F.

Cut the spaghetti squash in half.  (It will be tough to cut through, similar to a sweet potato.)  Use a spoon to scoop out the seeds and pulp and discard.  Place the squash halves, cut side up, onto a baking sheet and drizzle with 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil, salt and pepper.

Turn the squash over, the cut side down and then roast until the flesh is tender, about 45 minutes to an hour.  Once cooked, use a fork to loosen the squash strands (it truly does look like spaghetti.)

Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of Olive Oil, ground pepper and a sprinkle of cheese. (You can reserve the the squash shells to serve your dish in or you can discard these too.)  As you can see, I didn't serve it in the shell, I thought I'd be a little less conspicuous in hopes that my kids would in deed eat it, and they did!!

While the squash was roasting I made an italian sausage bolognese sauce and let it simmer until I was ready to serve.  The meal was a total hit with everyone!  I'll definitely fix this again!

My family thankfully likes many vegetables, but its always nice to find another, more rare one that they equally love.  This is one of my most favorite meals that I've made from this past month, I highly recommend that you try it!  It was completely carb free for me and Adam, the multi grain bread (which I served the kids), instead of a white french baguette, was a great alternative.  It was light fare that was both healthy and delicious!                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

Starting Back To School

Sunday night we celebrated the start of school by making homemade pizzas and hanging out as a family.  In my mind this night went a whole lot differently then it actually played out.   In my mind, there would have been a lively discussion between all the kids talking about the cool things they were looking forward to doing in their new classrooms, which friends they would like to sit beside and what they thought their teacher would be like.  But to be brutally honest, this night was pretty much not enjoyable at all.  There was a lot of prepping of food (by Adam), I was wrapping cute "back to school gifts", the littles were arguing, the bigs were talking super loud trying to get up over the volume of Theodore and Ava Jane's fussing, and the longer it went on, the more frazzled my nerves became.  We did make the best of it, and the evening settled down a bit, but let me just say, having prepped for the back to school dinner, making breakfast casseroles and blueberry muffins for the next mornings big breakfast and making lunches too, my poor feet were killing me after having stood for five hours straight (except for the twenty minutes that I sat down to eat!)

I decided to try and do a table-scape that would get everyone in the spirit of "back to school" and thought it'd be fun to have a few little gifts at each persons seat.  I thought everything turned out pretty cute--I just wish that pictures could tell you what was really happening, it was not a dreamy, idyllic experience.  My sweet nephew was having a good melt down because he didn't want to look at my cute centerpiece, he wanted to use the items--specifically the water color paints, which made Ava Jane want to use the glue and crayons which led to quite a bit of fussing and screaming by the two youngest little ones which caused the older boys to continue talking extra loud to be heard above all the noise!  To say my nerves were shot would not even come close.

Monday morning was a first in our house, everyone started school on the same day and everyone was excited to go into their classrooms. The big boys both were excited to get into their classes and see and meet their new friends.  Even Ava Jane and Emerson went right into their classes with no tears shed, I didn't even cry, though I was not ready for summer to end.  I would have liked it to last a few more weeks.

A big "thank you" goes out to our wonderful, new Assistant Principal, Mr. Helmick, who was outside greeting kids as they arrived yesterday!  He gave high fives and good wishes to my boys and many others as we entered the building and even offered to take this family picture for us.  There are so many things that I'm thankful for about Roberts Elementary, the teachers that we have are amazingly seasoned teachers who seem to be organized and kind; the administration is caring and attentive to kids needs and the families that attend are awesome!  We are so grateful to be apart of this school.

How cute are these two little preschoolers?  I can't believe that Emerson is in the 4's and Ava Jane is in the 2's!  Where did my babies go?  (I joked with a friend yesterday that it feels like a huge step in the right direction now that I only have one child that regularly needs help when buckling her seatbelt!)

That afternoon I hosted Popsicles in the Park. It originally started out as a small group of Mommas that I know who go to my kids elementary school, but it grew to be quite a large crowd. I originally only got four boxes of twenty-four popsicles and thanks to a few other ladies who also brought some, we ended up with some 240 of those sugary sweet treats and only had six remaining when the afternoon was over and done.  I decided to host this little event because I knew there were lots of new families at Roberts who might enjoy the opportunity to let their kids play so that the Mommas could put faces with names and visit a little bit.  I'd say it was a hit and a complete successs, I know that my kiddos enjoyed their popsicles for sure!  We might just have to make this an annual event!

These two are so cute! They were together in Kindergarten and are together again in first grade!  Lucy and Lawson are pretty adorable, don't you think?!  We had a good first day of school!  I hope today has gone as well!  I look forward to seeing them in just a few minutes!

12th Anniversary: Trip to NYC Part 2

One night we did an open air bus tour of Time Square, the Empire State Building, the New York skyline and other famous landmarks.  It was fun to see everything from up in the air away from the crowds on the streets.  I was amazed at the throngs of people.

Thursday afternoon we did a ferry boat over to Ellis Island and saw the Statue of Liberty.  The scene was very pretty and I thought about what it must have been like for all those immigrants years ago who first set their eyes on Lady Liberty; it must have been an amazing moment each time it occurred.

You can see the One World Trade Center from Battery Park, where the ferry left and there's a great view of the skyline from the Hudson River.

That evening we had dinner at The View Restaurant (the only revolving restaurant in NYC).  High atop the 48th floor of the Marriott Marquis, we savored excellent contemporary American cuisine with spectacular views of many iconic landmarks.  Here we were in the elevator headed to the top.

My handsome date, who "posed" for this pic with my strawberry cheesecake that I DID in fact share with him.

We went to see The Lion King and were thoroughly impressed with the show, the music and above all the costumes.   It's a definite must see!

And no trip to NYC would be complete without a ride or two on the subway.  I must say it was quite the experience and I grew to tremendously love the fact that I can park my car right inside my garage, get in, pull out, park up close to a restaurant or any store, jump out and go in….but not in New York.  No, it is literally a shoulder to shoulder, almost chest to chest riding situation, at least when we were on it.  To say there's no personal space is a complete and total understatement.  Also another thing that stood out was the "me" centered mentality of those we encountered.  Almost everyone had head phones or ear buds in their ears and/or was on their phone.  There was little to no interaction with people while confined within those small subway cars.

(This picture shows how close I was standing to Adam at one point…thankfully I know him--if he was a stranger, I'm pretty sure I'd have just gotten off as quickly as possible!)

Well, that's a little bit of what we did on our recent trip.  We enjoyed the time together and certainly the opportunity to have quality time away (a big thanks goes out to our parents!)  I'm more and more thankful for the man that God gave me twelve years ago this month, the man I chose and the one who chooses me every day, with my good, bad and ugly parts.  We have had many good times as well as some really hard times.  There's been a year long deployment--time spent in a war zone where we got to have Instant Message "dates" before Skype or Face Time became a thing, there have been six moves to three states, four precious children, one shocking Congenital Heart Defect and our baby girls heart surgery where we spent eighteen long days in CVICU at Children's Hospital.  There have been and will continue to be disagreements as well as the day to day, moment to moments of working together to make a loving family and a healthy marriage.  It all takes work and intentionality but he is so worth it, and I'm so grateful for the way he loves me well.  We've had the chance to make many memories and gotten to go a lot of places, so I look forward to what these next twelve years will hold.  I love you Adam today and always!!