Menu Plan Monday

Oh ya, baby. I'm back in action. After eating like a horse all weekend with my in laws it's time to turn things around. Brian and I have a vacation to Orlando in September (his annual sales conference---more of a vacation for me) and we have got to get into swimsuit shape! I headed to the Y this morning and worked out for an hour, I've eaten moderately healthy all day, and I'm feeling motivated to use the latter half of this summer to my advantage. Come on, cheer me on! :) Although I haven't posted our menus lately, I've been cooking a ton at home. Almost every night. By the time Bri gets home at 5:30pm, we're all so ready to see him that eating out is the last thing we want to do. Quite different from those last couple months in TX. Plus, the weather has been mighty fine which invites us to use the grill constantly. So without further adeu, here's the menu for this week. Keep in mind that which days we have what is always flexible. Sometimes if something is about to go bad, or has been defrosted too long, then I will switch things around. Just getting 5 meals or so on paper is a great headstart and then from there you can be flexible. For more great meal ideas, go to orgjunkie.com

P.S. We had a great time with Bri's parents. SOOO nice to have visitors. I'm officially out of my funk and feeling pretty good. Thank you for all the calls, emails and encouragment.

Monday: grilled chipotle chicken, broccoli casserole and salad.
Tuesday: Chicken Tacos (courtesy of The Crockstar) and leftover rice
Wednesday: BLTs
Thursday: Chicken nuggets and leftover pasta
Friday: Hamburgers, corn, chips, fruit
Saturday: Depends on what I come home with from the Farmer's Market
Sunday: eat out

Blaaaaaaaaaaa

Today is a blaaaa day. Very boring, hot, unproductive, sad, frustrating, annoying and any synonym for those words.

I'm easily irritated today. The one outing I tried to accomplish (going to the YMCA to work out which always makes me feel better) was thwarted with a road blockage and I had no idea how to get around it. So I turned onto a street and luckily it dead ended at a park. We spent an hour there and it was ok. Then we went to Subway for lunch on our way home. That was ok too. Then we came home, I put the kids down for naps. I walked in my room, stared at laundry that needed to be put away, and collapsed on my bed feeling blaaaaaaaaaaa. Noah never took a nap so he kept peaking his head at me every once in awhile. I slept for about 5 minutes and then woke up to him whining. The one thing I accomplished was to get the guest bed made and the room a little picked up. My inlaws are coming Wednesday night so that's why. (In other words, I would never have been motivated to do it if not given a reason. Hmmf!)

Our playroom has double doors on both sides. I told the boys I was putting in Elmo for them, shutting all the doors, and they weren't to come out. I've never done that before. But I feel a little like a zombie today. A sad zombie. My first sad day, actually. And I should be happy. Brian was supposed to be out of town tonight but his plane got cancelled this morning so he's actually going to be here tonight. Woo hoo! Funny enough, that wasn't enough to turn my funk around. Now it is time for a pity party. I have gotten one piece of personal mail since arriving in IN. It was the best present ever and I look at it every day. I think I have gotten 3 personal emails since arriving. Can you believe that???? What the heck? I used to avoid writing people back because there were too many and now............let's just say I'm actually initiating the emails. Gasp! :) No, I know, I probably have more time on my hands than others so I should rightfully be the one writing. Okay, so I sound like a brat. That's pretty much how I am acting today. Bingo----my sister just called. That was a nice surprise. So I guess I'll end this. Feel free to write me, call me or visit ANYTIME!! There are plenty of smiling faces ready to see and hear from you.

Thank you Mr. Kimball!

Have you ever heard of Kimball pianos before?? Click here if not.
Well, the owner of the company lives a few streets over (literally) and apparently lets off a HUGE fireworks display every year the day after July 4. We are talking, Disneyland quality and length. Our house has been BOOMING for the last 30 minutes. I had to run to CVS just to get Noah earplugs because it sounded like there was a cannon in our living room. I'm not exaggerating. We had the most awesome view from Noah's bedroom. I only could grab a couple shots so here they are. Wow, that was amazing. Very very loud, but beautiful. Can't wait for next year. But we'll have to count on staying up with Noah every July 5th till after 11pm. As for sweet Wesley, he's sound asleep. :)

Happy 4th!

Okay, these pictures aren't the greatest but we DID have a great time. Brian and I are blown away by the friendliness of our neighbors. We celebrated the 4th at a house down the street and neigbors from all over came to the event. It was wonderful getting to meet probably 8 or so other families from around the neigborhood. And boy are there tons of kiddos!! Here are a few pictures.

Noah's new friend. She's a doll and has been awesome at playing with the boys. She's a little mommy.
Wesley had a blast roaming all over. He is walking SO WELL and perfected his skills all over their house and lawn. Look at those chompers coming in!
Playing Corn Hole. A popular game up here that we had never heard of. Similar to Washers if you know what that is.
Noah getting serious for some baseball.
Our blurry family picture. But it's the only one we got, so I have to keep it.

10 days in.......

Brian and I were just sitting on the front porch. It's 9:53pm and it is finally getting dark. There are fireworks going off in the sky somewhere and there are supposed to be thunderstorms that roll in late tonight. I told him I feel like I am in a gap. It's like I don't know any future or the ability to even see a day ahead. I just simply exist in this house, on this street for now. I'm not saying this is bad at all...or necessarily good. It just is what I have felt like. It feels like we have been gone a month for sure. Neither of us feel like it could possibly only be a week and a half that we were in TX. It kind of feels like an experiment. :) Hey, are there cameras watching me??? It doesn't help that I'm reading The Shack and so my mind is fuzzy anyway with the greater details of life and beyond. But as I was sitting out there, I watched the gigantic trees sway and heard their leaves softly clap together. I watched three neighbor girls run around the grass catching fire flies in their hands. I saw many people out walking their dogs and children. And then next to me was Brian, carving away at a "walking stick" that he acquired last night while on a walk in the forest with Noah. So strange. Is this really our life? I mean, really? For good? Even though we had 9 months to prepare for it, it sort of seems like we were picked up and plopped down in this place. And a beautiful place it is. But it doesn't seem real. Atleast not long-term real. I feel strangely at peace but again, only in the moment. I have no plans, routine or agenda outside of our home. Well, there is the daily walk to the mailbox. :) They don't have mailboxes in front of each house. You walk to an area a block away that has a couple streets worth of mailboxes all together. When I try to think about next month, or Thanksgiving time, or Noah's preschool year, I come up blank. Friends and fellowship are an integral part of life and it saddens me deeply to think that people actually live the life we are living right now but forever. They have no church family, they have no close friends that know the ins and outs of them. Two of the kids that have latched on to us and the boys since we moved in came over for awhile today. They are 8 and 10 and really great kids. I feel like I can talk to the girl forever.....she's oddly mature but still very innocent. Anyway, she says they don't go to church and it made me try to imagine what that kind of life is like. I truly have no idea what it would be like growing up without being involved in a church family. It means more now to me that it ever has before. We will definitely be looking for opportunities to invite neighbors to church once we get plugged into one. Noah couldn't understand why these kids don't go to church. I think he really assumed everyone goes. Anyhoo, I ramble. Back to the friends and fellowship-----I believe they are what enable you to see the future. You make dates, you make plans, you schedule trips, you experience life together, etc. I am enjoying this time as a family immensely and yet I told Brian I am also looking forward to having people we know come over. Our families will be visiting the next couple months which will be wonderful. We can't wait to show people this place. But I also anticipate truly developing good friends here that we will invite over, talk deeply and experience things with. I am aware it might be awhile. I have stories I could tell but I realize this is getting really long. Whew. Well, write us, call us, come see us. We can't wait. And yes, we miss you.

Pictures

I've gotten many requests to post some pictures. So I did. Please check the boys blog for some cute pictures. You can find the link on the right hand margin of this screen labeled "my boys blog". Here is also one from the day Brian and I moved in.

Oh and by the way, if you didn't see the house before, I posted pics awhile back. You can click here to view them.
http://aprilspicer.blogspot.com/2008/04/we-have-house.html

Thoughts on Bloomington

I decided that it might be interesting from time to time to post my current thoughts on Bloomington. Over time, years even, it will be funny for me to look back and see how my views have changed, were wrong, were right, and so on. I know it's been awhile since I've written and I promised to be better. It's just things have been nuts and the kids are more hooked to me than ever. They have all this room to roam and do they want to? Nope. They want to follow me everywhere. Sigh.... So I will do my best. I have so many good pictures to post but my usb cable is in a box somewhere---story of my life. For now, here are some current thoughts on Bloomington:

-The weather rocks. I wake up to a chilled house and could spend a couple hours outside in the heat of the day without feeling miserable. Remind me of this come December.
-Grocery shopping could use some help--the girl at Kroger mocked me openly and I was not pleased with the store, prices or customer service. Sniff sniff.
-I wait expectantly for the YMCA to be spectacular. I signed up tonight and the gentleman, David, who helped me was so nice and helpful and seemed so excited to have me in his town as a newbie.
-Bugs. There seem to be large volumes of bugs here. Hmmf.
-Bloomington drivers. No one is in a hurry......ever. To my knowledge, not one road/hwy has more than two lanes on each side. Most of roads just have one. However, cool YMCA guy told me I need to start finding the shortcuts. Sure, I'll jump on that.
-Neighbors. I have met Coralee to my left and Sandy to my right. Very friendly people. While we've been told there are a lot of retired people on the street, we know there are a handful of kids. There is a 15 month old 2 houses down that Wesley could end up becoming buds with. Anton is a 5 year old next door that hopefully Noah can play with.
-Least favorite time of the day: 2-5pm. It seems like such a long stretch to wait for Brian to come home. I'm not used to this 7-5 business.
-General layout of the city: pleasing. I have ventured on a couple excursions and was able to follow a map perfectly. If you know me well, you know this is no small feat. I now know my way around most major parts of the city. I was told to avoid the campus once fall hits---too many one way streets with too many foreign drivers.
-Anticipated highlight: Farmers market. I look forward to going on Saturday. The whole town goes (not just the nature nuts. Oh wait, the whole town is nature nuts!) and families seem to think it's the best thing you could possibly do on Saturdays.
-Favorite alone moment: I've only had one. It was at a big beautiful Target tonight. I shopped alone for 2 hours and it was the coolest Target I have ever seen. Since this is a college town, they have so many cool things for super cheap. As Brian said, I guess it made up for my Kroger experience.
Dilemma of the week: We only get one trash can and they only come once a week. Now how am I supposed to make this work???

Tata for now. I'll try to post pics tomorrow if I can find the cable. Write me, call me, email me, mail me.

In Transit

Hey ya'll. I think it's funny that I just used that word when I'm leaving Texas and really didn't use it for the 7 years that I've lived here. :)

Well, our home is no longer our home and we officially signed it away to a nice family of four today. What a weird experience. I've done it once before but I was more proud of this home for some reason. It was a little harder to let go. I said goodbye to 2 of my best friends which was less than satisfactory. Cried some of my first and hardest tears. Yuck. I really wish I was the type of person that could just cry openly and comfortably and people knew me as such. But that is not the case. I feel most comfortable crying alone...even when my husband is around. I looked out the window to my right so that he wouldn't see me. He knew what I was doing and squeezed my hand. He's very sweet. But I wanted to just sob for as long as it took however, that was not the time. 

We are now at my sister's house in McKinney with cousins galore running amuck. My other sister is here with her kids as well. Noah and Wesley are having a blast and it feels quite normal to be here. Tomorrow Brian and I embark alone to IN to close on our new house and begin the unpacking process. I will fly back to TX in just a couple days to pick up the boys and take them "home". That's it. That is the end of the story, the process, the details. From then on, it will just be us....the Spicers....living in Indiana. I'll keep you posted.......

Menu Plan Monday...countdown to...........

Good evening folks. I hope you had a beautiful Sunday as we did and are winding down or gearing up for your work week---whatever that may consist of. For us, it would be our FINAL full week in this house. Can you believe that?? I can't. It's just nuts. Brian has been going around today and taking down all the shelves, pictures, etc and now the house is looking a bit bare. The movers are packing us, so none of that is going on (thank goodness!) but still little tasks here and there are getting done.

The reality is slowly starting to sink in. I hated telling everyone at church today "next Sunday is our last Sunday". Blaaaa, bleck, phooey, lamo, not cool, suck. I will miss our family in Christ more than I could ever put into words. I feel more at home there than possibly anywhere else. We have been through so much the past 7 years, and this is the most glorious time ever at our church. So many qualities of Christ are being shown constantly. I am proud and honored to call Southlake Church my church home. I feel like I know everyone and everyone knows me and my kids (and hubby of course). I could jump in anywhere to serve and never feel intimidated, I could ask favors from people and not feel awkward, I could be transparent in worship and not feel shamed.......the list goes on. Our church is comprised of young and old, baby Christians and sages. Just the perfect combination of parts that make up the body of Christ. I know that no future church will ever replace it. But I do pray that God brings us to one that rivals it. Pray with me, please.

Noah likes me to tell "stories" a lot. We have been telling them each night as we lay in his bed together. (He has a new giant bed and it makes cuddling SO much easier). Tonight I told him of a fictional character named Luke and his experience at a new preschool in a new town. Hmmmm, too close to home? The fact is I'm trying to prepare Noah at every turn for what I think he'll experience there in IN. And these stories serve as great reminders to me for my own preparation. We ended the story with a prayer asking God to provide each member of our family a very special friend. Pray with me, please.

So as I experience my last week here in TX, I did my last grocery trip to my favorite Kroger this afternoon. Boo hooooo. Good news is that they have Kroger up in IN! Woo hoo. Anyway, they happen to be running fabulous sales on meat and it was fun to try to shop knowing we have to eat everything perishable in one week. And guess who is coming to help?? My nephews and sister will be staying with us a couple days and so I shouldn't have any problem with food hanging around. I referenced this phenomenon a few posts ago. So here is my final menu plan in Texas. I hope to be up and running quickly in IN and will try to resume life as normal. But you might just get updates, stories, and pics for awhile. Afterall, everyday will indeed be an adventure. One that I pray is not too lonely and not too difficult. Pray with me, please.

Monday: pork chops on the grill seasoned with Emeril's Essence, baked potatoes, mixed veggies

Tuesday: Hamburgers, hotdogs, pasta salad, chips, and fruit (it'll be a hit with all the kiddos)
Wednesday: Spagetti, garlic bread, and caesar salad
Thursday: Mustard chicken, brown rice, green beans
Friday: Going out with some of our best friends
Saturday: Chicken fajitas, beans, rice
Sunday: Eating up every last perishable morsel that exists in our house. Feel free to come over and help us out. :)