dance

Today.   Full of joy.   Busy, but full of joy.  This morning I went to bible study with the kids- at first I was skeptical about it, but it's a chance for them to be social and my eyes seem more open for chances to involve them with other kids.  I suppose it's a win-win. :)   We got home, made lunch, put Ella to bed, and started homeschooling.  I let Maddy stay up in hopes that she would behave. After a couple of threats of sending her to nap, she calmed down and even listened in. I have been working on putting summer clothes away and there was a huge mess in their room with clothes neatly folded, but all over the floor and in baskets. I knew it should get cleaned up soon or I would regret it later! I worked on that for a good 20 minutes and before we knew it, we were rushing out the door to dance class. It never fails, we were running late again.  After finally getting to the school and parking on the total opposite side, we were in the room and I watched in excitement and clicked away on my camera, fighting Ella who was very curious. I'm so very excited for them in the upcoming months....what a great experience and opportunity for them!

march madness

it's that time of year again for this house... basketball will be on every weekend non-stop. I am sort of glad that we are going away this weekend.... we won't have to watch a ton of it. I doubt that peter would allow the tv to be on all day during a Sarah Richardson marathon on HGTV. :)

We had a pretty productive day today.... the kids had a playdate with some friends at our house and then I worked out like a maniac this afternoon.  Well, probably not a maniac but I did work out hard... I did the elliptical for 20 minutes doing intervals of really fast and fast... no resting, and then i came downstairs and did workout II in Jillians 30 Day Shred. I was definitely tired! Maddy woke up with about 10 minutes left, so I went and got her and she played with blocks while i finished. The girls and I made cookies this afternoon and they were of course excited to eat some dough, and then i quickly tried to put together a muffin mix. Peter baked the cookies while I gave the kids a bath and then while he put them to bed I tried to do a banana-oat cookie, which failed. I took out most of the shortening it called for and put applesauce instead.... so just in case you were going to try that... don't :)

I am trying really hard to not eat any of those cookies... it's a good thing I can't smell. I did try the banana-oatmeal cookie and it really was good, it just doesn't look like a cookie. It looks like a browned, round piece of dough.  Anyway, right now I am going to read through James and hopefully my Beth Moore bible study, which means I have about an hour of that to do and it's already 9... so I better go. I am hoping for a good weekend in Bemidji... if you think of it, pray that we do not get sick.  I am still a little worried about it... not just the flu, but strep-throat too. 

just an update on Jaco, from a fwd. email:

Thank you so much for your encouragement and prayer for Jaco (my cousin)!!!!

Our Father has shown once again that He is God of the impossible, we are just humble infront of Him for His goodness and mercy. Jaco is still alive!

He was transferred to another hospital after a week and the doctors there said that he shouldn't have lived longer than a couple of hours after the incident. His lung capacity and function was 0% for 7 days! He stopped breathing just after it happened. So he has been connected to a ventilator but as of today his lungs and all other organs are doing much better! We prayed so much for his lungs and God really stepped in and healed it.

During the last couple of days the doctors were very concerned about his skin since it is 3rd degree burns and 90% of his body. They said medically there isn't any hope. Many risks involved such as infection. YET again, God moved and Jaco was stable enough to go for surgery 2 days ago so that they could see if synthetic skin would work on him. They scraped the remains of the burnt skin of his right chest and it went okay. Today they tried the left side and his blood pressure didn't even drop. The doctors are very pleased. All glory to God!

Thank you once again for each one's prayer, please do continue to lift him up as the battle is not over yet - although we know the victory is God's and He is so faithful!

blessings to you,

Maryke

date night...finally!

Today has been a weird day! Last night was 'date night' for us since Peter didn't have to work this morning so we decided to watch our movie that has been waiting for us for three whole weeks!  We really needed that... especially since Maddy has been uncontrollably crabby and the girls seem to be whining a lot more... Maddy will now throw a full-blown tantrum if I give her the wrong cereal bowl..also only taking one hour naps-- and Kate has started this "I'm still hungry!" fit if I do not give her a piece of candy. I think I've got two divas on my plate!!:)

My plans for this morning were to get some 'deep' cleaning done since Peter would be home, especially since I did not go to bible study last night or this morning, freeing him from having to watch the kids... so I asked if I could do that.  Instead, I made him his favorite breakfast and got so overwhelmed with dishes and not enough sleep,so he let me take a 45 minute nap! For lunch I again made a huge mess in the kitchen and missed my morning workout.  So this afternoon I had to push it extra hard with my elliptical AND jillian DVD!  I definitely got my workout, that's for sure.  I read an interesting article here:

Anyway , here's a couple pictures from the last couple days... later!

pics this week...(end)

can't sleep

I am up again tonight. I don't understand;  I haven't had caffeine or really anything to eat before bed so I am not sure why the last couple of days I've been up until 12, tossing and turning! I finally got out of my bed at 11:30 to do some more editing. At least that's done, but I'll pay for it tomorrow.

Today I dropped the kids off for exactly two hours to get some cleaning done in the house. I vacuumed all rooms downstairs and cleaned out both kate's and maddy's rooms. The living room seems much better now that most of the toys are again upstairs in bins and there are no longer piles of mail everywhere. I snuck in Jillian's DVD for a quick 20 and it went well. This afternoon was quite rare; maddy must have been really tired because when she woke up from her nap, i brought her to the couch for some cuddle time and she fell asleep shortly after! I layed on the couch for 20 minutes with her and I had to get up (because I can't just sit and wasn't tired) and she stayed asleep! So i got these cute pictures:

well, i suppose i better try to fall asleep. g'nite!

day at home

The weekend was filled with lots to do and events and this week is proving to be even worse! I am hoping we can squeeze date night in sometime this week but it is looking doubtful. Yesterday I went to my yearly exam and it was the quickest ever! It was so nice to be out of there in a half hour. I was by myself (I can't remember the last time I got to do that) so I stopped at a few stores, - Platos Closet being one of them.  I don't have many jeans that fit very good so I wanted to get a couple that I can wear that might get me by - I am hopeful to lose more weight.  So far it's going really well. However, I tried Jillians 30 day shred..... and man am I sore!! I am unbelievably sore... I can't possibly do that for another week, so I am back on my elliptical, which is fine. I think though it will be good for me to do a few other things like sit ups and maybe some push-ups. I am finally a couple pounds below 130 and that makes me happy. I hope to just keep on going - so far it isn't too much of a drag to exercise. I am sad though because if I were just a couple inches taller I think my hips wouldn't be so big.
I am happy about today b/c that means there's no where to go this morning or afternoon, so I can wash some bedding and play with the girls. Peter is gone all day to meetings so that probably means we can have something fun for lunch ;)   I  better get started on some washing so I can get done before nap time.  Here are some fun pictures from the last couple days:

catching up

Today I finally got, sort of, caught up around the house. I cleaned the kitchen and got some garbage emptied. I had voice lessons today and as I was leaving Warren I stopped by Annabelles Wish for a tiny bit, which i NEVER go there, but I thought maybe I'd just look. I found a cute, but rather large, purse! And a really nice billfold that i have been wanting for a few years, but hadn't found one.I did think it was big, but when I brought it home, Peter confirmed it and now I am a bit shy to lug it around... oh well :)  I am so excited that tomorrow we don't have anywhere to go and can just be with each other.  I hope it can be a fun, yet productive day. I know there's a few things that we could get done and it would take obviously less time if both of us did them. Peter is always so supportive of my working out so I am glad that I will be able to work out twice tomorrow. It is always so much easier to do it in smaller increments rather than a whole 45 minutes. Sometimes I just don't have 45 minutes.

I thought I would post a couple of photos from my mini photo shoot with a friend from bible study.  I hope she doesn't mind... not many people read so it's probably okay. Let me know Kari!  Off to bed!

faithful blogger

= not me lately! I have been trying to find time to even write a little paragraph once in a while but it just hasn't happened. I can't even really tell you what i've been busy with lately because there's been so much!  I have lost 3 total pounds, which isn't much but it is something at least. The first week I hardly lost a thing but the second week was much better. Valentine's day was so much fun, going on a date the Saturday before (movie and dinner) and then I took some pictures for a friend on Sunday, and Monday we had fun with the girls -- giving them Valentines and tasty treats.

One of my fav. gifts from V-day was my NIV/The Message bible I got from Peter. What a sweetie. We went to a couple basketball games in the last week and have finished a few projects in the house. I can also proudly say that Maddy is doing much better at night and during naps... she is taking naps now and not crying as much when it's time to go to sleep. I'm not sure what happened, except that we prayed over her room and rebuked Satan (which sounds weird, i know)  but Satan causes fear and thoughts in everyone's mind... it worked for Kate's potty training and it worked for Maddy.... i don't think it's a coincidence! I haven't had time to do any crafts, but i realize i have to pick my priorities... working out, cleaning, bible studies and pictures are a priority in my time when the kids nap or are in bed -but i do have many fun projects that I am hopeful to start within the next month or so. Anyway, thanks for reading, off to bed!

(fav. pics from this week)

love my family

Today has been sort of a whirlwind... i'll spare you the details but it definitely seemed long.  I am concerned because Maddy has been waking up (scared I think) ever since Monday. She didn't nap Sunday and didn't nap today... she has screamed for a solid 20-30 minutes with me trying to rock her to sleep....though it never helps because she wakes up as soon as I put her back and then we start back at number 1 again.  Not sure what to do... I am hoping it has something to do with her teeth but it feels like she is really afraid to be in her crib. I feel like I am a mom to a newborn only worse... she has gotten up in the middle of the night every night this week, and when I try to put her back she screams.  :(    I wonder what's wrong?

I have been doing well otherwise with my diet and exercising. I guess I can't really call it a diet... I just eat more moderately and cut out sweets.  I keep in check with my calories and try to with my carbs and have a strong drive for exercising. I am thankful that i WANT to exercise. Hope that never goes away!  These are from the past few days...

 

After a day like today it is really encouraging to get support back from loved ones...can tell they really care!