Posts Tagged ‘Try New Adventures’
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Since being married, Jonathan and I have never spent a Christmas with our families. Not that we didn’t want to, we did. But we lived too far away and never had enough time off work to make a trip happen. Last year we were able to go to my parents’ for Thanksgiving and loved it. Now that we are in Texas, we are thrilled with all our family-for-the-holiday options. This year my parents, two younger brothers, and our family, will be meeting in Ft. Worth, where my older brother lives with his wife and kids. To make it even more fun, my SIL’s family will be there too. The last guest tally was 36 people. Eekk! {That’s a squeal of joy}.
I volunteered to plan out our meals for Christmas Day. And while it’s a big task {did I mention several teenaged boys will be there?!}, I am beyond excited to put my hosting, cooking, Christmas-loving skills to work. Here’s a small preview of our Christmas Day menu:
{photo credit}
Breakfast:
Lunch:
Dinner:
Pork Loin Roast with sides and clover rolls
Call me crazy {cause I know I am!}, but I am really looking forward to this cooking adventure. Being in the kitchen with my mom and stepdad {both fabulous cooks} and enjoying the hectic, loud, loving family reunion just feels too good to be true. *happy sigh*
What are your plans for Christmas? Any favorite holiday recipe I should try out?
Vist Alicia at Alicia’s Homemaking for more Try New Adventures Thursday.
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Yesterday my SIL and I decided to treat our three youngest by letting them help us bake snickerdoodles. Rare is the day that I bake with both my girls helping, let alone three. Each mom manned a counter and had the girls take turns helping us measure, pour and stir.
The girls had a blast helping. It was so much fun to be baking with Christmas music playing in the background and the girls laughing and having such a good time. Hannah especially liked the mixing spoon. Who can blame her? 🙂
*Another adventure this week was my new hat {see picture}. What do ya’ll think?? Is it a keeper?
Visit Alicia at Alicia’s Homemaking for more Try New Adventures Thursday.
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Jonathan and I started Jillian Michaels’ 30 Day Shred last week. I have to admit I didn’t expect it to live up to much. After the first day I really thought “That wasn’t bad.” Maybe I should have waited until Day 2.
The workout themselves are challenging, but not undoable for me. However, doing it every day is what is challenging. My body doesn’t get to rest like it’s use to. In the past I’d workout, give myself three one day off and would feel pretty great once I went back to the gym. But not now. Now there is no resting. Jon and I do “Shred” every night after the girls go to bed and I’m impressed with what a good workout we are getting. I’m sore, but keep pushing through. Certain things are getting “easier” but other moves I dread {like side lunges with front raises – I hurt just thinking about it}. It’s been great working out with Jonathan, because he keeps me motivated and it makes things go faster since we are in this together. Here’s to hoping to be “shredded” in the next 30 days!
What are some of your favorite workouts? Have you tried the 30 Day Shred?
Visit Alicia at Alicia’s Homemaking for more Try New Adventures Thursday.
We Are Moving to Texas
Posted on: November 11, 2010
- In: Life
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In what has been one of the craziest Windham adventures yet, we have decided to move back to Austin, Texas. We will be moving Thanksgiving week. There are a number of factors as a basis for this decision, as there are with any big move. Three main influences in taking us back to Texas are:
1. Spiritual direction – God is calling us to a place where we can minister to our (extended) family, to our past, and mostly to Him. We know that God is moving mightily and drawing us to follow Him there.
2. Family – Being closer in distance to our family while surrounding ourselves and our girls with our/their heritage.
3. Work – The reason for “why now” is that Jonathan will be employed and that’s important for him and for our family as you might agree.
Now for the hardest part:
For nearly six years I’ve lived in Iowa. And over the last 5 years our friends here have become family. They have been with us through life and death. They have been our support, our encouragement, our lives. I would not be the same person without them. I’ve shared many tears and laughter with each of them; building memories and relationships that I pray stand the test of time.
So, my sweet Iowan friends, we are heading south for the winter. Please know each of you mean the world to me. I treasure your friendship and thank God that I have had you all in my lives.
Now to leave you on a funny note, I give you this:
Visit Alicia at Alicia’s Homemaking for more Try New Adventures Thursday.
Putting God First
Posted on: November 4, 2010
- In: Life
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I’ve been challenging myself lately to stay connected to God through actively reading His Word. Being a mom, it’s easy it let my relationship with God take a backseat. The girls wake up during my morning quiet times, I need to do chores during naps, and by the end of the day I realize I’ve spent no time with God.
This month I’m reading through the book of Psalm. Start to finish. This means reading 4-6 chapters a day {not always an easy task!}. It’s only week one and I’ve been faithful, making it a priority in my day. Part of me thought that in doing this my week would go much smoother {girls acting like angels, house clean, dinner making itself} but it’s been the opposite. My house is dirty, the girls are coming off their travel highs and dinner, sadly, has yet to make itself. But, and that’s a big but, my attitude about it all is so much calmer. Sure it bothers me, but in a oh-man sorta way, not a I-can’t-handle-it sorta way. Being immersed in the Word reminds me of what’s important – my relationship with Christ, my family and my friends.
This newest adventure just might be the best one I’ve had in a while! I can’t wait to see how God reveals Himself to me this month.
Visit Alicia at Alicia’s Homemaking for more Try New Adventures Thursday.
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I have a mild obsession with Mexican food. And by mild, I mean, I eat some form of Mexican at least four times a week. I am not exaggerating. It’s mostly bean and cheese tacos, meat tacos or some variation. You’d think I person would grow tired of it after a while, but I haven’t. In fact, I love it so much that since being on our trip I’ve had Mexican nearly everyday. And one day I had it twice.
Tuesday night we had dinner with some friends in Austin. It was a Tex-Mex/Southern joint that served enchiladas on the same menu as chicken fried chicken and burgers. You know, a place a girl like me instantly loved. I was in a burger mood, until our friends and waiter suggested I get the fried avocado. Avocado. Fried. Topped with more avocado. Served with beans and rice. Hallelujah.
I can’t give the meal the justice it deserves. Seriously it was amazing. While we spend the next few days in the Ft. Worth area I am going to try making it for my family {since avocados are so much cheaper here}. Hmmm….. Just writing this makes me hungry.
Visit Alicia at Alicia’s Homemaking for more Try New Adventures Thursday.
Visit Jill at Diaper Diaries for more Things I Love Thursday.
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I’ve always thought it would be wonderful to speak a second language. I took four semesters of German in college, and while I could speak/understand it then, I can’t even recall any words now. Jonathan grew up in Texas with a Spanish speaking family, but they never taught him and only spoke to the children in English.
When we had the girls, we decided we really wanted them to learn Spanish. Not only do we think it’s an important language to know, we want them to have a strong connection to their heritage. {For those who don’t know us personally, despite having a very Anglo last name, Jonathan is in fact Hispanic.} When Grandma moved in with us we saw it as a great opportunity for the girls to learn Spanish.
Then Jonathan decided that rather than just having the girls learn, we should make it a family adventure. And so, our family has embarked on learning Spanish. We got some amazing books from the library and are constantly quizzing Grandma on proper enunciation and wording. The girls {i.e. Julia} are slowly picking up on different words and I’m putting together sentences {Yo quiero uno vaso de lecha, por favor – I would like milk please}. It’s been pretty fun, listening to Spanish songs and reading through the picture dictionaries. Hopefully we can say a few Spanish phrases for families back in Texas the next time we visit.
Visit Alicia at Alicia’s Homemaking for more Try New Adventures Thursday.
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As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, I really, really love sugar and coffee. But I’m wondering if my two loves could be the root of my long term headaches. While I haven’t been drinking coffee as long as I’ve been eating sweets, I do tend to drink a lot of coffee. {Depending on what you consider a lot. Maybe 2-4 cups a day – usually closer to 4.} Oddly, I don’t put sugar in my coffee, which might be a plus for what is about to happen:
I’m giving up sugar for the month of October.
Now there are a couple of ground rules:
1. I will continue eating yeast breads that contain sugar {i.e. yeast rolls, sandwich breads, etc}.
2. I will stop eating sweet breads, cookies, cakes, etc.
3. I will continue eating natural sugars – honey, agave, peanut butter {without added sugar}, fruits.
4. I will in addition cut back my coffee to once a week, drinking one cup at house church on Sundays.
I’m giving myself two weeks to see how my body handles the changes. If I don’t see much improvement in my headaches, I’m going one step further and eliminating all sugar {basically cutting out sugar from my yeast breads}.
I’ve already cut out the coffee this week. It’s not been as hard as I expected, but I do miss it something fierce. I’m not as concerned about eliminating coffee from my diet as much as I am cutting it back and being mindful the timing of when I drink {better before 9/10 am}.
I’m a little nervous about this new “diet” adventure. I’m imagining having night sweats when I just have to have something sweet and can’t. Hopefully my imagination is just a little overactive. I’m keeping a date journal to see how things go, chart my improvements {fingers crossed} and if there is anything more that might trigger my headaches.
*Please keep in mind that I am not a medical professional and my crazy no-sugar diet is my personal exploration for headache remedy and not medical advice.
Visit Alicia at Alicia’s Homemaking for more Try New Adventures Thursday.
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I landed in New York around 11:30 pm. My plan was to take a taxi from the airport to Midtown area {about 8 miles}. When I got outside I was overwhelmed. So many people. I looked for taxis, but didn’t see any. Then I realized there was a taxi line. That made since, as there were several lines for transportation. Or so I thought. About half way down the line it dawned on me: all these people are waiting for taxis. I overheard some people saying that the front of the line {who were just about to get taxis} had waited for nearly 3 hours. Wow. Welcome to New York.
What’s a girl to? I figured if I could just get to Manhattan I could figure things out from there. So I stood in the taxi line. After 20 minutes, I saw a bus coming that read: 125th Manhattan. Do I get on? Do I wait? In the millisecond I had to ponder, I saw one person step out of line. I figured it was now or never. I ran over to the bus stop as dozens of people followed. I pushed, yes pushed, my way onto the bus. I am good to go.
Or not.
A visitor was a asking a lady {who lived in the area} how far down the bus goes into Manhattan. 125th St. Wait. I’ve know the area well enough to know 125th is Harlem. And while I have been there before, I am not sure being in Harlem, alone, at 12:30 is an experience I really want. I told the lady where I needed to go and asked what I should do. “Get off at Astoria Blvd., take the NRQ to 47th and walk from there.” The what? To where? Will I even see the train station? Is Astoria safe? Should I just take a taxi? She said she would show me where to go, but would be heading in the opposite direction, so I was on my own.
Thankfully, New York is friendly, and there were a lot of people waiting for the train, making me feel even safer. I got off at 47th at Times Square, which was an amazing first sight of the city. I walked about 2 blocks and arrived at my friend’s apartment. And so I started my New York adventure.
The best part: I had budgeted about $25-30 for a taxi, but only spent $4.50 on the bus and train together. I enjoyed it so much that I decided to take public transportation back to the airport rather than hail a taxi. A am one cool mama.
Visit Alicia at Alicia’s Homemaking for more Try New Adventures Thursday.
Visit Mrs. Sojourner at Mrs. Sojourner’s Monologues for more Thursday’s Travel Tales and Tips.
I Heart New York
Posted on: September 16, 2010
- In: Life
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If there is one thing I love it is a big city. Chicago, Seattle, Boston, London, Paris. If there is one {American} city I love the most it is without doubt New York. Even as a little kid I just knew I would love New York. The people, the crowded subways, the hustle and bustle, the culture. It is an amazing city. Many years ago, Jonathan and I planned to move there. We even went so far as to check out real estate on one of our visits. But God called us to stay in Iowa {which we love and are so incredibly thankful for}. We decided that if we can’t move to New York, we needed to make sure we visited often. We went every two years until Julia was born. Since 2007, neither of us have been back. Until now.
I leave today for New York. I’m visiting two of my girlfriends from college and another girlfriend from Iowa. I cannot wait. And yet part of me is a little nervous and sad. Aside from saying goodbye to my girls for the second time ever, I’ve travel only once to a big city without Jonathan. And never to New York without him. It’s not that I couldn’t, but I just don’t {and why would you go without your best friend?}. This is a new experience and adventure for me. One that has a bittersweetness to it. I’m looking forward so much to my time away, but I’m grateful that I can come back home to the warmth and love of my family.
Visit Jill at Diaper Diaries for more Things I Love Thursday.
Visit Alicia at Alicia’s Homemaking for more Try New Adventures Thursday.
A Wife Loved Like The Church 
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