5 Question Friday

I know I haven't posted in a few days.  I've been really busy and am now feeling just a bit under the weather. The good news though is that I get to see Pat today for the first time in almost 3 weeks.

I promise that I'll do a real post soon, but for right now I'm linking up for Five Question Friday.

1. Vow renewal ceremonies-yay or nay?  Yay in general, but probably a nay for me personally.  I think that renewing them is fine and great, but I just cannot see us spending money on doing something like that.  Plus I don't  think it could ever be as special as the first time.  

2. What sound/s annoy you the most?  Finger nails on a certain type of fabric.  I think it is usually the sound of nails scratching rough nylon.  I also do not like the sound of my husband cracking his knuckles.  Oh and a weird one is I do not like when my husband or kids cough...I know I'm a pain in the butt.  

3. If you had to pick, would you have only all boys, or only all girls for kids?  As most anyone I would be so completely happy with either.  I can say though that before I had children, I always pictured myself a mom to just boys.  Right now I have two boys and hope to have another child.  I'll be happy either way, and it will be interesting to see what happens.  

4. Do you believe in alternative medicine?  Sure.  I don't think I've personally done much that is alternative, but I do think it is good to take a diverse and well-rounded approach to healing.  

5. Would you take a family members children and raise them if they needed it?  Of course, and they would do the same for me.  

Thinking of Saying No

For the past few months, one of the activities I had been taking part in seems to be giving me more stress and strain than sense of accomplishment.  It's a volunteer position.  While I've never done it for the fun  (because it really isn't fun), I always thought it was an important role that needed someone committed to it.

The ironic part is that it is now something where I would be working along side my husband.  And yet, that is part of the problem.  I've done this job for years.  I've worked with many people.  I thought my husband and I would "knock it out of the park" working together.  But instead, we do not see eye to eye on it at all.  My husband is taking it very seriously, but he's running it his own way.  While running it his way isn't bad, he is not listening to my experiences or ideas.  I find that I don't agree with a lot of his decisions in this area.

I'm beginning to think it is time that I say no to this extra work which is causing strain.  I don't want to be part of something that I don't feel proud about.  But I don't want to let my husband down either.  We've talked about it a million times.  He'll support me either way, and to be honest, he won't really care if I step down because he is doing it all his own way anyway.  Part of me is sad though on losing something that once brought me a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment, and there is a small part of me that feels like my husband has taken it away.

I thought about it all last night while laying with the kids.  I'm thinking that saying no, and closing that chapter may be the best thing.  It isn't bringing anything positive to my life, and I cannot let something like that come between me and my husband.  I have plenty of other tasks to keep me busy and feel accomplished doing.   Plus this will free up more time to spend with my family.  Even though I hate saying no to helping out, I'm slowly learning that sometimes saying no is okay.

Boys Will Be Boys

My sister snapped these photos of the boys jumping in mud puddles.  Typical boys, I guess.   :D

Raspberries

My parents have a raspberry patch in their back yard.  It's a bit ironic because they totally are not the garden or grow your own food type.  Thankfully the raspberry patch is a hearty and resilient plant.  It does not take much care at all.  And for as long as I can remember this patch has flourished with berries.

I arrived in town just slightly past the prime picking time, but there were still plenty of berries left on the vines.  Sean is a big fan of the raspberries.  In fact one morning I knew Sean went out the dog door (they have huge dogs, so it isn't a small door).  When I went out to check what he was up to, Sean was no where to be found.  I started getting frantic calling his name, and out he came from the raspberry patch having a snack.  He's now done this disappearing act multiple times.  Whenever we are near the raspberries, Sean requests a few.

The best thing about the raspberries here is that my parents make the absolute best raspberry jam.  I would love to be able to keep up that tradition in my house.  I just need a big back yard with a raspberry patch first.  It's on my to do list though!

Orange Man

Around the time of our vacation, Pat and I were stocking up on DVDs for the boys to watch during the road trip.  Pat insisted we buy He-Man when he saw it in target.  I wasn't so sure Ryan would be interested, but I was so very wrong.  

Ryan really likes He-Man.  

In fact shortly after he saw He-Man for the first time, he started telling me he was "an orange man."  I didn't immediately put it together.  In fact it took me a couple days to figure out "an orange man" was He-Man.  

See, he is kind of orange, right?

So for months now, my boy has been pretending to be an orange man.  

 He normally carries his sword like this all the time.  It goes grocery shopping with us and even to the zoo.

In case you forgot, He-man has a sidekick, his Battle Cat.  On good days, Sean gets to be Battle Cat, but on other days he's the "bad monkey" (otherwise known as Beast Man to those who actually know He-Man).

 Together these two are just too cute!

And in case you were wondering, I'm usually "Skeletor Momma".

Beach Boys

Yesterday morning, my sister and I took the boys to the beach.  It's less than a 5 minute drive from my parent's house, and I feel so lucky to have such easy access to it for the next couple weeks.  I was really excited to see if the boys would have as great of a reaction to the beach here as they did down in Daytona.  Up here there are a lot of rocks and the water is much colder, but I could tell as soon as we got there that the kids were going to love it.

Rexhame Beach

Ryan jumping the waves.  

Sean with his Auntie Rie.  She is the greatest!  

Sean loved the water as much as Ryan.  He could barely stand though with the undertow.  

Snuggled up warm after playing in the water.  

Enjoying tiny waves.  

The kids realized how much fun throwing rocks into the water was.  Once they figured this out, they didn't stop ;)

It was a great summer day at the beach.

Strawberry Muffins

I love buying fruit when it's on sale, but sometimes we end up with too much.  I had a lot of strawberries on hand and wanted to bake something with them.  My first attempt was a strawberry bread.  Unfortunately, I was sad to realize that after I pulled them out of the oven the centers completely fell.

So my next attempt was strawberry muffins.  I combined a couple recipes and was really happy with the results.  The kids loved the muffins if that is any measure of success (which it usually is in my house!)

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 tsp ground cinnamon (give or take)
1 egg 
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup milk
1 1/4 cup (or more) fresh strawberries, chopped


Preheat oven to 350*.  Combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.  Make a well in the center, and add the egg, oil, and milk.  Mix well.  Fold in strawberries.  Use a lined muffin pan.  Fill muffin cups almost to the top.  Bake 20 minutes.

They are very light and fluffy muffins with sweet bites of strawberry.  I will definitely make these again.

The bread loaf next to the muffins is my banana bread.   

Enjoy!

linking up here:

Newlyweds

Since I'm currently living away from Pat for a few weeks, it reminded me of somethings I've never told you about our first year of marriage.  Here is a tiny glimpse of what our first year as newlyweds looked like.

• Pat and I were 22 when we got married.  We were out of college less than a month.  
• After our wedding we lived in separate states.  I lived with my parents, and Pat was renting a room in a rundown college house.  He was working as a recruiter for his college ROTC department.  I should add that he was able to at least spend the weekends with me (at my parent's house).  
• At the end of the summer Pat moved to OK.  He drove out with his family.  I stayed behind for my future sister-in-law's wedding shower.  I finally joined Pat 1.5 months after he left.  
• We shared one car for the first year of marriage.  
• My parents bought me a dog for my birthday that year.  We adopted a second dog early that spring.  
• That spring we bought our first house.  
• We celebrated our 1 year anniversary in June with a new house and two dogs.  
• 4.5 months later Pat left for his first deployment, a year in Iraq.  In the Army life, we were rather lucky to have had that whole first year together.  

So our first year as newlyweds was not quite what the romance novels make it out to be, but I wouldn't change a thing.  

Even though Pat and I have been bickering like two little kids lately, I am missing him a lot.  

Take a Deep Breath

I need to step back and take a deep breath.

I am a person and parent that gets flustered easily.  That is one of my shortcomings.  When I am out of my element, I struggle.

I'm finding myself being challenged with the boys right now.  We're staying at my family's house.  The boys are into everything, and it is quite difficult to calm them down.  They are perfecting their skills at ignoring everything I say.  Because we are out of our home, routine, and normal surroundings, I cannot get a break from them.  My patience is wearing thin.  I am constantly saying "no" and running around to keep them occupied and out of trouble.

I am overwhelmed, and it is stressing me out.  When I am stressed, I am cranky.  I am hoping that a few minutes of deep breaths will help because right now I could use all the help I can get.

No matter how challenging they are, there are moments each day that make me smile.  These are the moments that I will remember, all the rest doesn't matter.

Holding hands.

Even if they are super cute, I sometimes still need to take a step back and clear my head though.  What do you do when you are feeling overwhelmed and out of your element?

What I'm Loving Wednesday

I'm linking up with Jamie at This Kind of Love for What I'm Loving Wednesday.  Since I'm still away most of what I'm loving is about that.

I'm loving the weather here in New England.  There is a nice breeze every morning and evening, perfect for sitting outside.  The only thing that would make the mornings better would be a hot cup of coffee.

I'm loving seeing the kids play and interact with family.  We don't get this opportunity often, so I'm really enjoying it.

I'm loving that I get to cuddle the boys in bed at night.  I may not get much sleep, but the three of us sleeping in a full size bed is a memory I'll keep.

I'm loving that Sean's potty training hasn't be interrupted by our trip.  He's still not there yet, but he's doing pretty well.

I'm loving pinterest.  I'm not sure I completely understand it yet, but I'm learning.  You can find me here.

So there are a few things I'm loving in New England this Wednesday

Ball Photos

This past weekend we attended Pat's military ball.  It was your typical event.  It was great to talk with and meet some really nice people.  Other than that there isn't much to tell.  Boring, I know...


Here are a couple photos from the evening.

Now the boys and I are headed back to New England with my sister for a few weeks.  I have some personal stuff to take care of up there.  I'll definitely be blogging as soon as I settle in though.

Happy Monday!

Lemon Blueberry Bread

Lately I've been baking quite a bit.  We've been getting great deals on fruit but haven't been able to eat it fast enough.  I hate letting things go to waste, so I've been making breads and muffins and freezing them.

The other day I made a lemon blueberry bread to freeze.  It was a new recipe.  Today I thawed it out and we tried some.  It was delicious!!!!  I will definitely make this one again.  I got the recipe from allrecipes.com when I did a google search.  I made a few small modifications.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup white sugar
3 tbs lemon juice
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
2 tbs grated lemon zest
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350*.  Grease a loaf pan.
Mix butter, sugar, juice, and eggs.
Combine flour, baking powder, and salt.  Stir into egg mixture alternately with milk.
Fold in lemon zest and blueberries.
Pour into pan and bake 60-70 minutes.

I didn't take any photos when I was making it or when it came out of the oven because I wasn't sure if it would be good.  It was so good though that I had to share the recipe.  I just took a photo of it after being frozen and thawed, and I think it still looks pretty good.