How To Make Dinners Easy With Blue Ribbon Foods

How convenient would it be if when you planned your menu for the week, you already knew you had a freezer full of choices? And to sweeten the deal, what if those choices were all-natural, farm-to-table produce, meats, and more? Since hitting the reset button on our family diet, my biggest dilemma has been quality meat choices that are affordable. So when the opportunity arose to review Blue Ribbon Foods and services I jumped on board. Read on for an inside peek!

Bermuda Shorts & Button Ups

 I said I wasn't going to do it.

"Bermuda shorts aren't flattering on me."

Well, once again I've proven to myself that sometimes it's about the cut, make and fit, over the style or trend. And so the story goes while I was out shopping holiday sales with my MIL. We popped into Lucky and quickly found cute tops to try on. However, I was in a dress and would need some bottoms. Of course, this is where the Bermuda shorts come into play.  My choices were the shorty shorts or these. I grabbed these with no expectation to like them.

So, welcome to today's post featuring the Bermuda shorts that I wasn't supposed to like, as well as my latest top from H&M. And since my MIL tried on these same short, I thought she should make another guest appearance on the blog.

Fun Family Traditions: The 12 Days of Christmas

When Christmas rolled around last year, we had only been in Florida for five months. We were struggling. It takes time to become rooted in an area and some of our boys chose to distance themselves from the family as well. My subconscious solution was to work more. However, between working through a special goal planner and the encouragement of friends, I realized my error.

Time is short when they are home with us, right? I stopped and began praying about how I could make this Christmas stand out or feel exciting. That's when the idea for the Twelve Days Of Christmas came to me. From there I went to Pinterest and now I'm sharing it with you!

I'm sharing it with you because though it was a LOT of work and not every moment was met with appreciation, it produced the result I hoped for! It was worth the effort and helped our family make memories we wouldn't have had otherwise.  And you know what? I had fun!

Perhaps you need inspiration to make sweet memories! Hopefully this post will do just that. Warning! These pictures are not blog perfect and my poems are lame. The idea is to inspire you with what works for your family!

The Striped Tunic, My Usual Felt Hat & New Tradition

That's me thinking. I'm doing a lot of thinking lately. The goal planner that I've mentioned repeatedly since November, has prompted introspection and life evaluation. In turn, I'm seeing several areas that, like a neglected flower bed, needs major tending. But rather than feel doses of self-incrimination and shame, I feel excited to try things differently; maybe even feel a modicum of freedom to dance in who I am. Have you taken some time out to assess how those major life areas such as: health, family, work, rest, finances, etc?  If you haven't, it's worth the time investment because it can help you regroup and maybe even take steps towards a new plan! 

They're 5! We Gotta Have a Party!

What?? It feels like a short time ago, Glen and I received the news from our doctor that we would be having not one, but two babies! I walked around for the rest of that day in some sort of haze. It was like seeing double. I kept thinking "two, two cribs, two carseats. two." Other moms of multiples would smile and tell me the first few years would be a blur anyway. No doubt, year one and two were all about surviving with cuteness thrown in between. However, I have been gripping year 3 and 4 to no avail. They still turned 5 on me.

We decided that "5" calls for a real party - with friends and all. I came up with the theme when I happened upon red and white striped straws in our garage. A carnival. We would throw a mini-carnival. Easy, right? Says the girl who doesn't host parties. How hard could it be? I already had straws and a bouncy house!  Those of you who have done this before are smiling right now, aren't you?? And so the adventure began...

I spent a day and a half shopping around, while trying to remain frugral. It took an entire evening to ready decorations and games. And of course preparations began early and continued until guests arrived (even with the help of my mom!).

We had a prize basket,  a favor basket, jelly bean jars and rainbow lollipop jars to name of few things.

Sitting in our garage were 8 brown, medal folding chairs awaiting spray paint. Hey! Why not paint them the day before the party?? The colors totally go with the theme.  So we spent the day before cleaning up the yard AND spray painting folding chairs. My husband loves me. hehe

With little experience at hosting events, I'm afraid I was too busy to capture many pictures of the tables, etc. However,  my niece took over the role of photographer and captured memories of the kids at play. That's what really matters, right?

My sweet brother popped popcorn and stuffed individual bags. My hubby hung balloons in groups of 3 from the trees and we set out tables for our carnival/picnic food. NO PIC - BOO! There were corn dogs, deviled eggs, regular hotdogs, fruit, animal crackers, etc.

I wanted to turn our camper into a sideshow or freakshow. Glen nixed the idea and I ran out of time anyway. NEXT time!!