LIFE LATELY [01.10.24]
I’m sharing a little Life Lately. It’s a little of what we are doing, what we are eating, what we are wearing and a little bit of whatever else is on my mind all in one post.
We finished up 2023 in Texas. Our whole family got sick after Christmas and we mostly just laid around, watched movies and played games. We were able to sneak in one more fun day before heading back home to Colorado.
We were able to visit one of my very best friend’s farm and the boys had a blast! Amanda and I were college roommates turned best friends. We’ve known each other for 20 years now, through some of the sweetest and some of the hardest moments in life. It was such a sweet time to get to just sit and catch up. We could have easily sat for 3 more days talking and still not be caught up on everything. She had a few things left from her Fall garden and let the boys pick some radishes. They also loved feeding the chickens and quail and spent the rest of the afternoon exploring.
Getting home took a little longer than planned, but we were so happy to finally see Pike’s Peak in the distance. The day after we got home we were able to pick up our new puppies!
Meet Duke (like John Wayne) and Ranger (like the Lone Ranger). They are Australian Shepherd/Border Collies and have just settled right into our family. The boys LOVE them and as you can see, they have been playing out in the snow all weekend!
If you are from Texas, then you are familiar with the green sauce at Mexican food restaurancts. I could drink it. We definitely made sure to get our fill of good Tex-Mex while we were home over the holidays. Since we’ve been back in Colorado, the kitchen has sort of been every man for himself. I’ve been trying to get Christmas put away, everything tidied up and all of the laundry done over the weekend. I love that I was able to throw together a quick dinner using pasta sauce that I made over the summer from the tomatoes in our garden. We’ve had LOTS of meals like that over the past week.
I got these Rothy Dupes right before Christmas and cannot stop wearing them. They are SO comfortable, true to size and come in so many colors. If I was still teaching, I would be wearing these on repeat.
If you have a ski trip planned or live in a snowy place, I highly recommend these Kid’s Snow Bibs. They are such great quality, VERY warm and waterproof. My boys both have a pair and they wore them in the snow for several hours a day over the weekend without complaining of being cold.
This week last year, we were settling into a homeschool routine. Jack learned how to unload the dishwasher (which might be my favorite thing ever) and I started learning how to make bread. I committed to making sandwich bread from scratch for a year and can now say that I was successful in that! Once you get the hang of it, it’s so easy. This year, I plan to challenge myself to make other types of bread (rolls, bagels, donuts, etc.).
We also had a big dump of snow this week last year and the boys LOVED playing in it!
Grief is such a strange thing, it comes in waves and is never really something that you get over, you just learn to live in it and sit in it differently as time passes. For Christmas this year, my mom gave my brother and I boxes of toys that my dad had collected for his future grandkids many, many years ago. In each box was a handwritten note from my dad to his future grandkids. It’s been almost 13 years since my dad passed away and I never thought I would see a new handwritten note from him again. This gift was so special. It was another way to keep his memory alive, another way to talk to the kids about Grandpa and another reminder that Jesus is in the details. Over 13 years ago, my dad knew that he probably wouldn’t be around to meet his grandkids this side of heaven. So he took the time to make and build and paint toy cars and trucks for them and write them a note to show them how much he loved them already.
Here’s what’s in my cart this week!
I don’t know about you, but after I get the Christmas decorations put away, my brain just wants to deep clean EVERYTHING.
I grabbed this baseboard cleaner and am BLOWN AWAY by how much I love it. I actually ordered a second one to keep upstairs for the bathrooms. I’m going to elaborate more on my January Cleaning Reset next week, but this item is at the top of my must haves list. I’ve already used it to clean the baseboards downstairs, the walls and as a mop in the kitchen. New puppies = lots of messes and this tool has been a life saver. I think I like it most because it isn’t super wide, so I have alot more control with it, than with other brands.
I also grabbed the Bissell SteamShot. I’ve been eyeing this for a while and decided to take the plunge!! It comes in this week, so I’ll be adding it to my January Cleaning Reset blog post.
Two things I never knew I needed for puppies but am SO glad that we have now are the Pooper Scooper Bin and these Lick Mats. Aussies are high energy dogs, so these lick mats have been great for keeping them stimulated and engaged. You can add peanut butter, yogurt, cheese, etc to them and it keeps them very engaged.
We had a different pooper scooper with our previous dog and it was a pain in the rear to operate. I used this one today and was able to clean up the whole yard in under 10 minutes. I love the bucket that you sweep the poop into, the option for it to have a bag on it and the rake and spade are durable and easy to use. It’s a 10/10 for me on this one!
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