A little bit of craziness!

My CrAzy Life!

Do you ever feel like your life is in fast forward. I do!

Don't get me wrong, I love my life for the most part except for moments of stress, 

but we all have that, right?!?!  : )

 

Right now I am trying to...

Finish up a college class to graduate with an associate degree, yeah!

Work on a FAMILY ranch!

Raise two children!

Keep a home some what clean.

Have a happy relationship with my husband, who is putting in lots of hours at work and 

leaves at 7 AM and gets home at 9 PM!

Workout to lose 30lbs.

Have a little bit of a social life... (OK maybe just check out a blog and play on Facebook!)

ARGH!

Yes I realize there are others who have more on their plates than me, but there are moments when I want to pull my hair out and scream! And as I type this I think really why am I making this into a big deal that is nothing compared to the troubles in our world today.

 

There are those moments when it makes everything disappear.

Here are a few glimpses of some smiley moments that make the stress start to melt away!

 My cute kids!

It was a Saturday night after a long day and we were going to camp out in the living room. All 4 of us!

The kids wanted to wear Daddy t-shirts for bed time so off they went to our bedroom. Here they came back in Daddy's underwear! : )

Spring Farming.

Farming is not my favorite part of ranch life, but it must be done to provide.

It is a quite time by yourself and it is amazing to see your crops grow and provide nourishment for your animals.

 Nebraska Weather!

Who would guess the last week of March, first part of April that the weather was so nice you would get a sunburn and my kids would run through the sprinkler. It might have been a little bit cold and it did not last long, but they loved it! Oh did I mention since then it has snowed two different times!!!

 A healthy calf, with a milk mustache!

My favorite part of ranch life is working with the calves! I love seeing little calves running and jumping.

 The hubs, who loves the camera!

Our cat thought he needed a little attention.

 Colby and Kalli being a part of ranch life! I love that my kids are getting the opportunity to be apart of farm life. I love that they are learning about responsibilities and seeing that even though it is hard work it pays off!

Kalli and I had to make a quick trip and were able to stop into Cabela's in Sidney, NE for a few minutes. Kalli had not been here since she was a baby and she was mesmerized by the animals.

It put a smile on my face to see her loving all the wild animals in the store!!

Easter

Happy Belated Easter! 

 

I hope everyone had a great day or as for us the whole weekend. It was my husband's birthday and we had a whole house full of visitor's! I think we had a total of 28 and we had TONS of food and fun!

Everyone brought something which makes it so much easier for the the hostess! 

I made this yummy homemade scalloped potatoes. You can find the recipe 

HERE! Thanks to Pinterest and the blog Family Feedbag for sharing!

 I also have made this recipe, found Here at How Does She, many times. 

The recipe makes 48 rolls and you might think that is way too many, but there is never any left when I make them. I absolutely love them and so did everyone at my household!

I thought I should make something yummy for the kiddos and since spring is in the air, why not

make Easter Nests, found off of Pinterest at Mom VS The Boys. It is a little messy, but yum!

First melt 8 squares of semi sweet baking squares.

 Mix in two cups of chow mein noodles.

 Spoon out on a baking sheet or wax paper.

 Make a little indent in the middle to make it look like a nest.

 Let dry and add eggs!

 Kalli helped and since the nests were not solid yet had to have some pudding!

 One of my favorite part of Easter or holidays at my house is time with family. 

Especially the children!

We dyed eggs(Since it was beautiful outside we were able to do it outside, PRICELESS!),

got to go for a fun ride with Uncle Troy, have an Easter egg hunt, jump on the tramp, play Frisbee, throw horseshoes, and spend time with cousins!

Even the dogs were in on the action! : )

Exercise Makes Me Smile

"If you have time to whine and complain about something then you have the time to do something about it. "
- Anthony J. D'Angelo

Yes working out makes me smile!

I am heavier than I have been my whole life, besides being pregnant, but I am not

happy with how I look.

Before Christmas I was working out and slowly losing a few pounds and then I got busy with the 

holidays and had a surgery and it went down hill.

I have been going again and sometimes it is hard to get the ambition to go, but it feels

SO GOOD, once you are done!

I always think why did I put it off. I am hoping by the end of the year to be looking good again. 

Wish me luck!

Gifts of Thankfulness

My children on Wednesdays have been going to an after school church group called

The Lord's Joyful Singers.

The children sing, play games, do crafts, and learn about God.

I think it takes a lot of patience to be a teacher and especially for children between

 the ages of 4-10 after a long day of school!

Last Wednesday was our last one for the school year because spring always seems to get busy and people in the past miss a lot of meetings.

 I have been working on teaching my children to write thank you and show appreciation to people!

The kids helped me pick out these cute planters at Dollar General for $2 a piece. We also picked out seeds for the flower Impatiens for $1.50.

Our $3.50 gift a piece turned out real cute!

The saying ties it all together. I picked the flower Impatiens on purpose and the planters to emphasize growing! : )

Things That Make Me SMILE

What makes you smile?

When you are having a bad day or having a hard time in your life, you HAVE to find

something to make you smile. 

My Goal:

Once a week share something with you that makes me smile!

Below is a picture of my mom and one of my great nieces.

I have been unable to work for the last few weeks and it has been difficult for me. You see it is calving season for my family and one of my FAVORITE times of year.

Even though it takes A LOT of work the enjoyment of seeing a tiny little baby calf is great.

I have not been able to help with it, so I had a chance to drive my dad around and things 

were not going the best that day for them. Which made me feel worse because I can't lift

a calf or anything to help.

But from a distance I could hear laughter and giggles!

A child's laughter is priceless!

Seeing her great grandma laugh and having fun with her,

even more priceless!

I stopped the pickup and took this pic on my phone because I wanted to remember to smile!

WHAT MADE YOU SMILE THIS WEEK?

Snow Day

 It's snowing here in Nebraska and the kids got a snow day! What to do???

Well of course when you have a day off of school you get up at 4 A.M. right?!?!

Ugh, but they have played outside and got out all their stuffed animals and blankets.

Also made their own office in the living room. I love that they included family pictures! : )

What does a mom do when it is cold out? Well of course cook and bake and with the invention of Pinterest, how can you not go there for inspiration! I love Pinterest and thought I should make something off one of my boards, instead of just pinning, ha!!!

I found this beautiful picture of strawberries, which I admit are not my favorite unless they have sugar, but the description below it said:

Strawberries dried in the oven. Taste like candy but are healthy & natural. 3 hrs at 210 degrees......might be better than Twizzlers.

Sounds good right, plus since it is 16 degrees out it will help keep the house warm.

The picture below is what it is suppose to look like!

 MY STRAWBERRIES AFTER 2 HOURS...

 Hmm...Pinterest recipe gone wrong for me! : )

Not sure what I did wrong, but oh well.

All I could do was smile and start the exhaust fan!

 So since the oven was warm I decided to make pigs in the blanket. 

My recipe is 1 package of hot dogs and 1 package of crescent rolls.

8 hot dogs in a package and 8 crescent rolls. Wrap each hot dog in a crescent roll. Place on cookie sheet.

 Cook for 15 minutes at 375 degrees or until golden brown. Quick easy and kids love it!

What are you doing on this cold snowy day?

Thankful 16-20

 Day 16- I am thankful for southwest Nebraska. I love the small town Nebraska life! If you need help there is always someone there and always a smile and wave. A great place to raise children and a great place to live!

 Day 17- I am thankful for electronics. Isn't it amazing how tv, computers, internet, and cell phones have become a part of our lives. On the days I forget my cell phone, I feel helpless, but on the days I am in the middle of nowhere and need help it sure comes in handy!With the internet I can connect to all my friends I wouldn't be able too.

 Day 18- I am thankful for jobs for my husband and I. I am thankful we both have good jobs to pay the bills and work with people we like, it helps make life better! Both jobs have their moments of frustration, but every job would!

 Day 19- I am thankful that deer hunting is DONE, over with, FINISHED! Don't take me totally serious, I love a good hunt, but having to fix the fence after people drive through it and onto land they are not suppose to be on is irritating! Putting in two new corners and lots of posts, I hope whoever it was got a nice deer and it tore their pickup up in the mean time! : ) I am thankful for the extra meat for the freezer and the fun of hunting.

 Day 20- Thankful for patience. I can't say that I have the most of it some days, but I am so thankful for the people that do. I helped my dad work with colts today and the patience he had was so amazing. Can you imagine where you would be without it?