My Beautiful Day

As of late, this is a theme that has been replaying in my life over and over and over and over, and I don't understand the reason.  It seems that 28 is the new 15 when it comes to receiving advice from me.  Granted, this isn't the case in all situations, but in many it truly is.  I can't help but wonder why.  It seems that it is the same few people who continue to talk down to me in the "you have no idea what this is like" stance. Really?  Would I be offering up my opinion or ANY amount of advice if I didn't understand where you were coming from? No.  I truly would not. I find myself feeling frustrated at the fact that people look at me as being younger.  Let's be honest - there are not many women who are near my own age who are in the place of life where I am.  A few, yes, but not many.  A majority of my friends are about 10 years older than I am, and when I am with them, they don't point out my age difference or make me feel any less ...

This past Wednesday (November 7th) we celebrated Ethan's 2nd birthday!  We had so much fun!  We started the day with a nebulizer treatment, since our birthday boy is currently fighting off a nasty cold ...  We had "Ethan's choice" for dinner, which turned out to be Macaroni & Cheese with hot dogs (I really wasn't surprised that he chose that .. he is a two-year-old, after all!) and followed that up with some really yummy cupcakes ... Ethan opened his present - a bouncing Tigger doll - and couldn't eat his cupcake fast enough to be done and play with it! Then, once he was playing with Tigger, I couldn't get him to turn and look at the camera even once! Happy 2nd Birthday my little love!  I am so grateful that you are mine and that I have had the last two years with you in my life.  I hardly remember what our family was like before you arrived!  Daddy and I love you SO much!!

This is something that has been on my heart for about a month.  I had the privilege of sharing it with my MOPS group yesterday, and now I want to share it with you.  Looking back over the past (almost) four years, I have found that there were so many times I felt I didn't measure up.  It started out with motherhood. Jumping in head-first to being a step-mom to four kids is one of the best blessings I've ever been given, but it also is one of the most frustrating learning journeys that I've been on.  You see, I really thought I was doing a good job - I was staying on top of our housework and laundry (which I now realize was truly a miracle!), I was making dinners, I was playing with the kids and helping with homework.  Sure, we had a hiccup every now and then, but life really seemed to be going smoothly. Then I started following mommy blogs. There are few things in the world that tear me down the way that reading a mommy blog can.  Those bl...

Good morning and Happy Monday to you all!  Today I am very excited to announce that I have a guest blogger here on My Beautiful Day!  My guest is my oldest brother, Jeremy.  He is an amazing brother, a husband and father to four beautiful kids (the last of whom is not yet two weeks old!), among other things.  He also is the one person who harasses me constantly that I'm not good at keeping up with writing on my blog - and every time he says this to me, I always tell him that he's welcome to do a guest post and that way my blog will have new content.  Well, this time he took me up on it!  What he wrote is something he posted on his Facebook page and told met hat I could use it for his guest post.  I love what it says and appreciate any positive  feedback you might have for him.  Even if you aren't in agreement of what he says, at least be positive with your response. So, without further ado, here is my big brother! Minnesota Marriage Amend...

Can I be honest about something?  Before I ever had a baby, I had that  mentality.  You know the one; it occurs when you look at a woman with children and wonder why she hasn't yet lost her baby weight.  The one where you assume it's because she's too lazy to work out and has no self-control over what she eats. If it were possible to kick my own butt for ever thinking that way, I certainly would! Now, almost two full years after having Ethan, I can't help but resent how much of a struggle it really can be to lose that weight.  I know that I've come pretty far from where I was, and I know that I do look good (no arrogance here *wink, wink*), but I also know that I would feel so much better about myself if I were to lose those last 10 pounds. While I know that I will likely never be my size 0/1 little self again ... ~ I won't lie - I miss being this little! ~ ... would it be okay to be a size four ... without  the muffin top?! So I have beg...

I'm surprised at how often God continually amazes me.  I know that sometimes I should expect that He will, but I am still blown away by Him ALL. THE. TIME. It's no secret (at least not on here) that I have felt distant from God.  My life has been incredibly hectic and I have felt a lot of self-pity in the fact that there wasn't quiet time.  My prayer recently has been that God would show me where there is quiet time in my life and that I would learn to fill it with Him. He has been so faithful. My life is filled with quiet moments.  Yes, they are just that - moments.  But they are moments that I so desperately need to keep my cup filling up.  It might be the five minutes I have while Ethan is splashing in the bathtub and I am sitting on the floor keeping my watchful eye on him.  It might be the sweetness of tucking Colin into bed at night and having him want me to crawl in and snuggle with him in that tiny twin bed.  It might be through lovi...

I've spent a lot of time in reflection this past week.  Now that my four big kids are back in school and it's just Ethan and me at home, there's a lot of extra time to reflect!  This has been an amazing week.  God has spoken some true revelations into my heart and has met me where I am.  I am so thankful for where I am in life and I truly wouldn't trade this spot for anything ... ... with the exception of one thing. About three years ago, a very good friend and I had a falling out.  I'm not talking a small deal, either, I'm talking an I-can't-believe-you-said-the-things-that-you-said-and-we-should-never-talk-again kind of falling out.  The hardest part of this for me has been the fact that, as the years have passed and she hasn't been part of my life, the hole in my heart where she used to be keeps getting larger.  She had been my BFF (that's "best friend forever" for those of you who don't understand pre-teen acronyms!) since four...

Have you ever been in a position where something in your life is just 'off', or even wrong, and you want so desperately to fix it but yet you can't seem to move your foot to take that first step? Or is that just me?! I haven't updated my blog in ages.  Part of that is because I really have been busy, part is because I haven't had the motivation to do so, and part of it is because I've been afraid to be truly transparent with you.  You see, right now in my life I am struggling.  I am fighting an internal battle that I don't fully understand, which makes it difficult to express and explain to all of you. My heart and my soul are screaming, desiring, begging me to indulge in a deeper relationship with my Creator.  Longing to go back to the woman I once was.  The woman who first sought after God, and everything else fell into place surrounding that. The problem and the very thing stopping me from getting there is me.   Me and every factor living under t...

A few weeks ago I wrote this post  in which I shared that we had recently remodeled our kitchen.  I was feeling a bit hesitant in posting about it due to some negative feedback I had received from a random reader when posting about our home addition a couple of years ago.  After I had written the post a few weeks ago, however, I received so much wonderful feedback from you that I decided to go ahead and open the window of my blog up and share our renovation. In keeping up with something that I started WAY too long ago and haven't kept up with it at ALL, I am including this as part of my "A Peek Into My Home"series. I do have to give a few shout-outs to the people who helped Monte and me make this renovation a possibility!  A big thank-you to Stacy Klone from KitchenWerks  for helping us to look at our space and figure out what would be best for the functionality of our home and for introducing us to the people who helped make it all a reality!!  We are ...

Today, my daughter is interviewing me about Summer Beauty Tips! Enjoy! For more tips on staying beautiful all summer long, visit Getting Ready with Kendall and Kylie Jenner and the Venus page . For a chance to win a $50 Visa Gift Card, answer this question in comments: "What's the best beauty tip you have shared with your daughter to prepare her for the summer or share your funniest beauty mishap!” Rules: No duplicate comments. You may receive (2) total entries by selecting from the following entry methods: a) Leave a comment in response to the sweepstakes prompt on this post b) Tweet about this promotion and leave the URL to that tweet in a comment on this post c) Blog about this promotion and leave the URL to that post in a comment on this post d) For those with no Twitter or blog, read the official rules to learn about an alternate form of entry. This giveaway is open to US Residents age 18 or older. Winners will be selected via random draw, and will be ...

It has been SO long since I've participated in Five Question Friday, but since I'm hoping to be posting more regularly, I figured this is a good way to keep me going!  As you likely know, FQF is usually hosted by Mama M , but since she's enjoying some time away right now, you can hop over to Kate's blog and join the party there! 1. What do you call them- flip flops, sandals, thongs, or slippers? Flip Flops. Picture courtesy of Google Images. I love Flip Flops!  No question about it. In fact, it drives me crazy when people (especially my mom, bless her heart!) refers to them as thongs.  In my mind, thongs are underwear, not something you wear on your feet!  Sandals are usually bigger, often involving straps that go around your feet or ankles.  Slippers are soft and fuzzy and are worn around the house. 2. Are you a "my kids can do no wrong" kind of mom or a "Johnny punched you? Well what did you do to him first?!" kind of mom?  Definit...

There's this guy I know who I really want to introduce to you.  I've known him for probably five or six years now.  His name is Ryan and he's loads of fun! Ryan (on the left) with our friends Tony and Pete. I met him and his fantastic wife when I dated her brother (for the record, while I was dating him I used to always say that, if it didn't work out and I was dating him just to be introduced to his amazing family, then it was worth it.  That statement holds true to this day!). Katie and Ryan He works in Youth Ministry - I actually worked with him for just over a year and would have continued to do so, but then I fell in love, got married and moved too far away to continue to work with that specific group.   Our group of leaders at Castaway Club (a camp).  I am the blonde in the center - Ryan is directly above me. Ryan preaching at Bethel College. One of my favorite things about Ryan is the fact that he's pretty dedicated to healthy ...

Yesterday was an amazingly productive day.  Colin and I went to Costco and Toys 'R' Us (he earned a reward, and his choice was a little Star Wars Lego set).  Monte and our friend Chris tiled our backsplash in the kitchen.  I took all of the kids swimming at the park near our home.  We had a fun dinner on the patio and Monte and I spent the evening (after the little kids were in bed) playing Texas Hold 'em while sitting at our new kitchen table and admiring the new backsplash.  It was an awesome day. As Monte and I sat playing poker, he asked me if I would be blogging about the backsplash - putting up pictures of our kitchen remodel, now almost fully complete.  My answer: I really don't know.  You see, while I do fully understand that this is my  blog and that I am fully able to talk about whatever I so choose, I am still hesitant to mention it.  The reason?  Well, a couple of years ago when Monte and I decided to put an addition on our...

One of my favorite things about summer is the fact that we have so many birthdays to celebrate!  June is Ellis's, July is Monte's and August is Iain's (among other cousins, aunts, uncles and grandparents, too!).  When a birthday comes around, the birthday king/queen gets to decide what we have for dinner that night as well as what kind of cake they like. It never fails that Iain requests the same dinner each year, as it's one that has been a favorite of my kids' since the first time I made it.  We have made this dinner for friends, we make it when people have babies/surgeries or just need some help - it's delicious for parents and kids alike!  Since we love it so much, I decided it was time to share it with all of you. Recipe courtesy of the "Southern Living at Home" Magazine, January 2011 issue. Baked Smokin' Macaroni and Cheese Makes 8 total servings. Hands on time: 25 minutes - Total time: 1 hour 1 lb. uncooked cellentani (corkscr...

It's no secret that we've been gone from the blogging world for awhile now.  Life just gets to be too busy to keep up, especially during the summer!  So, instead of trying to catch you up on everything I've missed telling, I'm going to sum it all up in pictures and minimal words ... We cleaned out some of our cabinets to prepare for our kitchen upgrade ...  Ethan has had some fits ...  I planted our vegetable garden ... Ethan played with sidewalk chalk and got it all over his face ... We've taken baths ...  Ethan has run around the house in just his diaper (and LOVED it) ...  Ellis has played soccer (and has done amazingly great this season) ... Colin graduated from Kindergarten and refused to smile for the camera ... We took a family (minus Ethan) vacation ... We visited Wall Drug in South Dakota and posed for pictures with fake cowboys ... We hiked through the Black Hills ... We visited Mou...