Posts Tagged ‘Windham Familia’
One Week Before We Move
Posted on: March 24, 2011
- In: Life
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A few weeks ago, I wrote about how we found a house, put in an offer and had the offer accepted in less than 48 hours. As with a lot of other life things, housing buying can be tricky. Between finances, paperwork, inspections, schedules, etc., anything can go wrong at any time. So, in an effort to not put my hope in the wrong place, or to hype anything up, I haven’t written about our move.
But it’s happening.
While we haven’t signed the closing paperwork, everything is set {finances approved, money in the bank} and ready to go for next week. We are having a few scheduling issues arise, but we think they should be smoothed over {for those of you who want the boring info – the short of it is – we are set to close on the 31st, but our locked in interest rate ends on the 30th, so we need to figure out which day to close}.
Here are just a few pictures of my favorite things in the house:
Look at that beautiful {big} kitchen! It overlooks the living room and backyard. Sigh.
The girls' room. Already painted girly pink and everything!
A playscape! Heart be still, the playscape stays! I am one happy mama {with two happy little girls}.
While we still don’t own the house, we are pretty certain everything is going to go through as expected. Which means, come this time next week, we will be in our new home, starting some wonderful new adventures! I cannot wait!
Visit Alicia at Alicia’s Homemaking for more Try New Adventures Thursday.
Visit Jill at Diaper Diaries for more Things I Love Thursday.
*If you’d like to see the rest of the house, let me know and I can email you a link to the tour {it has our address and I don’t want that on my blog}.
Angel Food Ministries
Posted on: March 23, 2011
- In: Life
- 8 Comments
Last night I had dinner with some friends, when they asked if I’d ever heard of Angel Food Ministries. I admitted that I had not, and they proceeded to tell me about the coolest food ministry I’ve heard of in a long time.
Angel Food Ministries distributes food boxes filled with frozen meats, fresh or frozen veggies, canned goods, etc., for a discounted price. It was started in 1994, with the desire to help families afford feeding themselves. Their food packages range in price from $16 to $51. Typically speaking, you save about half your money for the goods received {a $30 package is about $60 worth of food}.
The best part is: it’s open to all families. I love that. I love finding easy ways to save money, while at the same time giving to a good cause. Because the more I buy from Angel Food, the more they can continue to help provide for other families.
While you can order as many packages you want, the distribution is only once a month. I’ve missed the deadline for March, but plan to order a box come April. Now I will say this: I’m sure the food isn’t organic, the meat isn’t grass feed and the mixes they provide are modified in some way. But, shockingly, I’m okay with that. You know why? Because I have a peace about feeding my kids non-organic veggies. And while in my ideal world, we would only eat grass fed beef, right now, our budget won’t allow it. So, I figure, even if the package isn’t my “ideal” it is pretty amazing. And feeding my family amazing food works for me.
Have you ever heard of Angel Food Ministries? Would you ever participate in a food ministry like this?
Visit Kristen at We are THAT Family for more Works for Me Wednesday.
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This past Sunday, we spent the afternoon at Zilker Park enjoying the city’s annual kite festival. This year marked 83 years of Austin kite flying! The festival takes place on the first Sunday in March every year {with some changes made over the years due to weather}.
Getting the kite ready for air time
Hannah had a blast being part of the action
Poor Julia felt pretty crummy the whole time. This is the last photo Jon snapped before she laid down in the grass while we flew the kite.
Jon took the kite for a test flight and got it up much higher than me!
As we were leaving, we turned around and saw tons of kites in the sky. It was a very cool experience!
What fun outdoor activities are you do as spring approaches?
Alicia at Alicia’s Homemaking is taking the week off Try New Adventures Thursday to enjoy spring break with her family. This post will be linked to her next week {3/17}.
Valentine Surprises
Posted on: February 15, 2011
- In: Life
- 10 Comments
Usually Jonathan and I don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day, since neither of us are big fan on the holiday. However, this year we decided to “celebrate”. I say celebrate loosely, because we didn’t go out last night, we didn’t even really acknowledge the day beyond a nice family dinner. But, there were some unexpected surprises that happened:
1. Flowers – Can I brag a minute? Jonathan does a wonderful job of bringing me flowers on a regular basis. However, typically speaking, he doesn’t bring me flowers on days that you’d expect – such as Valentine’s. So it was a complete surprise when he walked in with these:
2. Cupcakes – There is a fun little cupcake shop here in Austin – Hey Cupcake! Yesterday I splurged on their Luvcake for dessert. I’m fairly certain is fulfilled my caloric intake for a week, but it was worth every bite.
3. Balloons – In addition to my flowers, Jonathan brought home pink and white balloons for the girls. They loved them.
4. Dinner – I experimented with a rice and chicken dish for Valentine’s Day. We were all impressed with how great it tasted. Looks like we found a new favorite recipe {score!}.
5. Date – While we didn’t go out last night, we are going out tonight. Which means….
6. Dressing up – I get to wear this:
7. Clean house – Let’s face it, once kids are involved Valentine’s Day changes {along with everything else}. To have a clean house made my Valentine’s.
8. Spurs Game – Our family are big Spurs fans. They played the Nets last night and won. Needless to say, my husband was quite excited. Happy Valentine’s Jonathan!
9. Valentine’s Hater No More – As I mentioned, I’m not a big fan of Valentine’s Day. But as the girls are getting older, I’m starting to enjoy it. Aside from the balloons and cupcakes, the girls didn’t really celebrate – but I’m kind of looking forward to next year {and the years after} when we can really do something fun with them.
10. My Valentine – Jonathan is an amazing husband and father. He makes my life brighter, filled with laughter and joy. I can’t express just how grateful I am to be his wife {Love you babe!}.
Visit Amanda at Oh Amanda for more Top Ten Tuesday.
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One year ago, I started a photo project – to take a family picture once a month. And while it seemed easy enough, it was hard coordinating a photo every month. Yesterday was the last day, which actually didn’t happen until this morning. Here are my favorite pictures from the last year:
1. June 2010
2. March 2010
3. October 2010
4. July 2010
5. May 2010
6. November 2010
7. December 2010
8. February 2010
9. April 2010
10. January 2011
Visit Oh Amanda for more Top Ten Tuesday.
An Entire Year of Family Photos
Posted on: February 1, 2011
{Sorry for the fuzziness - I'm still figuring out our Point and Shoot. And Jack does look a little evil in this one...}
Yesterday marked the 12th month of our monthly family photo. It’s hard to believe an entire year has passed since I first started this project. It has a been wonderful documenting how the girls have progressed. So much has happened in the last year that our lives seem so different now.
Hannah is talking up a storm. Every day she adds something new to her vocabulary and it’s awesome. My favorite phrase is “I did it!“. She says it with such pride and enthusiasm. Hannah has completely transitioned to a twin bed and isn’t waking up nearly as much to crawl into our bed at night. Watching her always imitate Julia has made her seem advanced for her age. And while she isn’t even 2, she seems so much older than she really is. It makes me want to pause life for a while and capture all these little moments.
Julia, as always, is acting like a little mama. She’s taken charge of several responsibilities – putting away dishes, helping with Hannah and cleaning. Julia’s been learning a lot in preschool lately. She’s very fascinated with sciences, so we have been spending time watching educational videos on the planets, the ocean and wildlife. She can’t get enough. I secretly believe she’s going to be a scientist.
Jonathan recently became part of Toastmasters – an impromptu public speaking group. It suits his personality perfectly and is teaching him how to be short and concise in his presentations. In addition, he has been spending a lot of time researching houses here in town, narrowing down what part of Austin we would want to live in. While we haven’t found a house that we want to buy {or rent}, we have at least settled on living in south Austin – for now.
I’ve spent the last month training for the Austin Half Marathon, which happens February 20th. It’s been good for me to get back into a real running regimen again. However, I’ll be happy to have long runs of only 5-6 miles instead of 10-12 miles. I got back yesterday from Blissdom in Nashville. It was a awesome. Overwhelming {with information and content} but I am hopeful that I can really implement a lot of the things I learned this week.
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I’m leaving today for Blissdom. And much like when I left for New York last fall, I have taken some steps to help Jonathan out while I’m away. Because, while some days I’d like to think my full time job is my blog, it isn’t. My full time job is taking care of my family. I take a lot of delight in my work and want to make sure that I can still fulfill my wife/mother roles while away. So here are some ways I’m helping Jonathan cope with me being away:
1. Organize the girls clothes –
Each day is bundled together, with the girl’s name on it. Unwrap, dress and you’re ready to go! {I did provide layers, in case the weather goes all crazy on me.}
2. Organize meals –
I have the freezer stocked with dinners and the pantry loaded with quick and easy snacks. I’ve also made a list of side options to go with each meal.
3. Organize activities – While Jonathan is super active in the girls’ lives, he doesn’t quite know what activities there are to do around town like I do. So I made a list for each day to let him choose.
4. Sticky notes –
I did this when I traveled to New York. Jonathan said it was helpful {for other things – like coffee}, but the dog never did get fed…
5. Movies – While I tend not to want the girls to watch much television during the week, I know it’s an easy pass time. I’ve made sure there are several episodes of their favorite show recorded so they can watch a set amount as needed.
6. Diapers/Wipes/Pull ups – Jonathan isn’t as into cloth diapering as I am {read Jonathan doesn’t cloth diaper}. To prepare for the week, I stocked up on disposables. Because there is nothing worse than having to run to the store just for diapers.
7. Back up help – We were very blessed to live right by three close families while in Iowa. At the drop of the hat we could ask for help and they could be there in no time. Now, as we are still meeting people, I’ve had to do a little more planning. Still, we’ve been really blessed with people willing to help Jonathan {even if it is just inviting him to playdates} so that he doesn’t feel alone in the process.
8. Answering my phone – I’m notorious for not answering my phone. And it drives Jonathan bonkers. Because of that, for the next few days, my phone will be attached to my hip {not literally – not a big fan of those hip holders}.
9. Sweet loving – I’m making sure Jonathan gets some sweet loving before I leave. And… It’s not what you think. I made him a batch of cookies {as bribery for girls} and am currently baking some blueberry muffins – which are his favorite.
10. Grace – Taking care of the girls and being a homemaker isn’t Jonathan’s full time job, it’s mine. I need to loosen up any expectations I might have for how things should go – or honestly, how the house should look when I get back. I need to be overwhelmed by the fact that my husband is showing me this grand gesture of love and respond in kind, with grace and love.
What do you do to help your husband prepare for you being away?
Visit Oh Amanda for more Top Ten Tuesday.
- In: Life
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This week we had the opportunity to go to the circus – which was a first for all of us. Initially, I had some reservations about going; I have mixed feeling about zoos and circuses because of the welfare and treatment of the animals. But, Julia loves animals and probably won’t ever be able to see an elephant or lion this closely. So we decided to go.
Excuse the camera phone quality - We forgot our regular camera
We went with some friends, John, Angela and their little guy, Evan. The girls had a really great time. Julia was in complete awe. Thanks to Angela, we scored some seats center ring right at the bottom, so we had great views of everything. When they brought out the elephant, Julia mouth dropped. It was great.
They also had acrobats who did these amazing {although completely crazy} stunts. At one point in the show there was a woman on this small platform hanging from the ceiling. She had nothing securing her to anything and she did these twists and turns by just holding on to a bar. From the ceiling. Then they had women climbing sheets hanging from the rafters and doing synchronized twists and turns. It was really, really impressive. And really, really crazy. I suppose it’s not crazy – their trained professionals – but I’m probably not going to sign up for acrobatic classes anytime soon.
I’m glad we went, if for no other reason than to see Julia and Hannah’s faces when they saw all the animals and acrobatic tricks. It was a fun family adventure.
Have you ever been to the circus? What did you think?
Visit Alicia at Alicia’s Homemaking for more Try New Adventures Thursday.
Unintentional Co-Sleeping
Posted on: January 19, 2011
- In: Life
- 14 Comments
Nap time in the Big Bed
When Julia was born, I was firmly against sleeping in the same bed with her. I viewed our master bed as a sanctuary, a safe haven from the day. And as such, I didn’t want to share it with anyone but Jonathan. Which in reality meant, I spent a lot of nights sleeping in a rocking chair. But despite the hours spent sleeping nearly upright, I never gave in.
And then we had Hannah.
I was way too tired to make the trip 20 feet to Hannah’s bassinet and back every few hours. Before I knew it, Hannah was 6 months old and co-sleeping. Honestly, Jonathan and I didn’t mind, both knowing it gave us a little more sleep. However, somehow {maybe intuition?} Julia caught on to our new sleeping arrangements and demanded to have a spot too. Well, demanded might be a tad strong, maybe begging at 3 am is more like it. And really, who were we to fight it? {Ah, the life of sleep deprived parents}. Slowly, we weaned both girls out of our beds {well, Julia never fully – she still managed to find her way back in every few nights}.
Once we moved to Texas, we had the horror {and I do mean horror} of discovering that our movers broke Hannah’s crib. So, much before she {or we} were ready, Hannah was bumped up to a big girl bed – a twin mattress on the floor. Before we knew it, Hannah was coming into our room every.single.night. We pushed both girls’ beds together, in hopes that it would deter Hannah from leaving. But it did not. And, if Hannah left, Julia was sure to follow.
So our sleeping arrangements are back to unintentional co-sleeping. And while we don’t love fighting over the space at 1 am, I’ve learned to deal with enjoy having baby feet in my face every night. After all, this won’t last forever. Right?
- In: Life
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The other day, Jonathan said “You really tricked me about who you are while we were dating.”
Those words might seem to sting, but they didn’t. Because it’s true. Well, at least what he was referring to: My love/hate relationship with Chinese food.
While we were dating, we loved eating at Asian restaurants. One we found while visiting friends in Boston, Pho Pasteur, was amazing.
Madam Mam's Spring Rolls*
We ate there two, maybe three times on a week long trip. When Jonathan would visit me in college, we ate at some favorite haunts: Madame Mam’s and Thai Noodle House. Yum, yum, yum! And since Asian food is one of Jonathan’s favorite, he was thrilled that his girlfriend loved it.
And then we got married.
While we lived in Iowa, we didn’t find one Asian restaurant that we both enjoyed. Not because they weren’t good, but because I am incredibly picky. I am no fan of Panda Express buffet style Asian food. Yet it seemed that was our only real option in Iowa. So whenever Jonathan would ask “Do you want Chinese food?”, I’d sigh and say “No.”
And Jonathan felt duped. All this time I claimed to like Chinese food, when in fact, I didn’t. Or so he thought.
So this weekend when Jonathan said “You tricked me” I had to clarify:
I didn’t trick him. I still love Asian foods, I just don’t like Asian food chain restaurants. There is a big difference. Upon learning this tidbit of knowledge {although I’m fairly certain this wasn’t the first time I told him my pickiness}, he was elated. As in I-don’t-care-if-we-just-ate-let’s-drive-to-Madam-Mam’s-now-and-eat-again elated.
Needless to say, this week’s date will include Asian food.
And we’re both pretty excited.
A Wife Loved Like The Church 
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