Make Time For YOU

I told you all about my New Years Resolutions here.

I wanted to give you a little update.

Fortunately, I have been good. (yay!!)

I have been exercising regularly (skipping a day here and there) with my buddy Jillian Michaels.  Let me tell you something .. . she knows what she is doing.

I have never felt so great.
I feel like I have so much more energy.
I feel more toned.
I feel less hungry.
I feel good because I am doing something for ME.

I want to encourage you all to take time out of your busy days to exercise.
I used to make excuses like, "my shoulder hurts", "I have too much laundry to do", "I'm too tired", blah, blah, blah. . .

It is not easy at times to put those clothes on and turn on that DVD.
I did it tonight at 10:00.
Laundry was waiting for me all over the couch.
I was tired.
And I wanted to eat chocolate.
But I did it.
And I'm so glad I did.

One major thing that has been helping me is accountability.
I have a few friends who are holding me accountable.  There have been many days when I would not have mustered up the energy to do my workout if I didn't have anyone checking up on me. 

So . . . go grab your weights, call a friend or two and get going!!
You will be glad you did!

Philippians 4:13

"I can do all things through Him who strengthens me."

Happy Valentine's Day!

I'm counting my blessings this Valentine's Day.
Here are three of them.

They started their day with these whole wheat pancakes . . .

. . . made with this handy dandy little thing.

We had our traditional fancy little supper together.

Fettuccine Alfredo with chicken was the meal of choice.
Made by my good friend Joe. (Trader Joe, that is.)

Joe also helped me make a family favorite . . . pesto tomato flat bread. y-u-m

Strawberries are always a must at Valentine dinners. . .

. . .  and chocolate.

The traditional heart shaped Jell-o jigglers.

Lava cakes for dessert.

Happy . . .

 . . .Valentine's. . .

. . .Day!

Thanks for stopping by.

"Three things will last forever--faith, hope, and love--and the greatest of these is love."

1 Corinthians 13:13

The Power of a Compliment

My sister's little boy, Caleb, stayed overnight at our house on Thursday.
On Friday morning, he was busy playing with Legos with Jake and Luke in the family room.
Caroline walked into the room dressed for school.
Her hair was pulled back with a white headband just like this one:

Caleb looked up at Caroline.
He stopped playing and said in the softest and sweetest voice,

"Caroline, you look bee-yoo-ti-ful."

The room was silent.

Jake looked at Caroline.
Luke looked at Caroline.
Caroline's face was full of pleasure.

This small compliment was so heart felt.
So meaningful.
So warm.
So . . . sincere.

Jake felt it.
Luke felt it.
Caroline sure felt it.
And I, of course, felt it.

It was so nice.
Four little words from a three year old.
Four words made Caroline's whole day brighter.

 Thank you, sweet Caleb, for speaking your heart and your mind.
Thank you for noticing that my Caroline is beautiful.

May we all learn how powerful a compliment really is.

Compliment someone unsuspecting today and just watch for their reaction.
It will make their day brighter.
And I bet a million bucks, it will make your day brighter, too!

1 Thessalonians 5:11 "So encourage each other and build each other up."

My Sweet Valentine

This little sweetie just gave me a very sweet Valentine.

I love what it said on the inside . . .

*sniff*

(yes, I realize that Luke's name is written in mirror-image . . . all of my children wrote their names like that at first, so I'm not worried about it . . . weird, though, right?)

Oh, and look what the temperature was when I rolled out of bed.

Notice the NEGATIVE sign in front of the number. 

Brrrrr. . . .

It's not that bad . . . there's plenty of sunshine.

Have a great day!!!

I "Heart" Food

I have been starting to plan our little "fancy" Valentine's Day dinner.
I found some cute heart shaped food ideas.
Here are a few that caught my eye:


I could totally do this!  So cute!

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These cookies are beautiful!

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 This, I could do for breakfast . . .

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 . . . . along with some of these from Dunkin . . .

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  . . . maybe some heart-shaped pancakes?? (served with my brother's yummy syrup of course!!)

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Aren't these pretty??

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Oh yum . . .

What will YOU be eating on Valentine's Day??

Our "Fancy" Valentine's Day Dinners

Every year on Valentine's Day, our family has a "fancy" dinner.
The kids help set the table.
Everything is heart-shaped.
I make love notes for everyone.
We go around the table and tell each other what we love about each other.
I love our sweet Valentine's dinners.

Last year, in addition to our little fancy dinner, we had a fancy lunch for my daughter and her friends.

We made favors. (my daughter even wrote everyone's names in cursive on them)

We had flowers.

We let the girls decorate their own cupcakes.

We had "tea" (raspberry lemonade) and little heart shaped cookies. (I found the cookies at Aldi .. . saw them there again this year)

We had Jell-o jigglers . . .heart-shaped, of course.

We had heart-shaped sandwiches. (peanut butter/jelly and ham/cheese)

We had red fruit . . . heart-shaped watermelon and strawberries.

Every girl brought their favorite doll . . . my daughter (and her doll) had a fabulous time.

I'm still trying to decide what our Valentine's Day will look like this year . . . I'm always looking for something new I can make "heart-shaped".

Any ideas??

I'm linking up with Debbiedoo's Newbie Linky Party . . .  http://debbie-debbiedoos.blogspot.com/2011/02/lets-get-it-started-again-lets-get-it.html

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Yay Packers! and Midnight Fudge

We just got back from a fabulous Super Bowl party.
Amazing food, ping pong/air hockey tournaments, and great friends. (oh, and we "watched" the game, too)
I wish I would have had my camera with me. (I always regret not having it when I decide to leave it home . . .) 
So happy for the Packers! (even though I do like the Bears, too . . . is that OK?)
(I grew up near Green Bay)
My (small) contribution to the food was this fudge. (notice the green and yellow M&Ms . . . for the Packers) 
It is so easy and soooo good.

You can find the recipe here.

It makes so much. 
When I make it, I give it to neighbors, teachers, students, friends, anyone I see walking down the street . . . and I still have plenty left for me to eat when the kids are all sleeping. :)

Can you just taste it now??
One of my friends suggested that I call it "Midnight Fudge" since that is when I get the urge to make it.
So there you have it . . . "Midnight Fudge".
Enjoy!
p.s. . . I recommend using Nestle Toll House chips (semi-sweet) and using a 9x13 pan instead of a jelly roll pan)