Quotes to live by

Now that we are settled, I have taken some small steps to reclaim 'me'. I love being a mom to these three beautiful children, and being a mom has brought so much out of me I never knew I had, but I also lost a little bit of myself in the baby/early childhood stages (throw in four moves and I kind of feel like I boxed myself up long ago and didn't unpack myself until now!).


Some quotes have resonated with me lately:
Decide you want it more than you are afraid of it. Bill Cosby

Do the thing you think you can't. Not sure of author, but my neighbor made shirts with this quote for a Mother's Day fun run.

Life begins at the end of your comfort zone. Neale Donald Walsch


Going back to work, especially to writing was a HUGE step in the right direction for me. Deciding to run a half marathon in November has been another. Neither of these were on my radar a few months ago, and if you had told me a year ago that I would be doing either, I would have laughed. They are new adventures, pushing limits I love to push and I am doing them, happily.

But just this morning, while running, an old friend came to visit. I noticed a voice in my head urging me to take the short cuts to get home, a voice saying,
"You'll never make it the whole way".

As soon as I heard this, I got angry.

For too long I let my highschool English teacher's words sting,
"This is the worst piece of writing I have ever read!"

To allow myself to listen to these voices, whether in my head or aloud from others, and hold them true is lunacy. To have these voices create fear and intimidation is stupidity. I have been a stupid lunatic for far too long. I have let words hold me captive, control me, leaving me boxed up with little adventure and many limits.

I have realized that when I control my thoughts, I have more freedom to live.

things aren't where they should be

The laptop I use was attacked by a virus 2 weeks ago.
Surperiornerds.com helped me fix it

Run Amuck - 5k mud run through Quantico Marine Base

Three and a half mile run on road and trail, complete with five obstacles including two mud pits! We met up with our former neighbors from NC, two of us crazy enough to compete. It was so much fun, I felt like a kid again playing in all that mud.

The before


The after

Church cookbooks

Recently I pulled out the two church cookbooks I own, trying to find some new ideas for dinner, especially meals the kids will eat.

Before I met my sister-in-law, I never glanced at a church cookbook. I have been a slave to cookbooks put together by famous chefs.

One day said sister-in-law was was going through my cookbooks, also trying to get new ideas and mentioned how great church cookbooks are. She said "if you think about it, everyone they know is going to see this recipe and possibly try it, why would they put a bad recipe in the book?"

You know what, she was right. These two cookbooks have been my top choices as of late and I have not found a bad recipe yet.

I especially love the one my mom gave me from their church in New Jersey. A lot of Italians live in that area, go to that church and have added their authentic, ethnic, wonderful recipes.

Avery made most of this dessert tonight and I wanted to share. It was delicious and simple!

Apple Crisp
5 C apples, sliced and pared
1/4 C water
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1 C sugar (you could easily go with less, but it was super yummy this way)
1/3 C butter or margarine
3/4 C flour

Spread apples evenly in a greased 8x8x2 pan. Sprinkle water, cinnamon and salt over apples. Mix together sugar, butter and flour. Sprinkle this on top of the apples and bake uncovered for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. Serves 6 people.

we had so much fun

Thankfully the wear and tear of driving south on 95 in the middle of summer wore off and we had a fantastic week on the Outer Banks. We already decided what we will do differently if we plan to go again next summer. After talking with friends, two other carloads of people that we know personally were stuck in this same traffic.


We had so much fun, we didn't take a lot of photos! Mostly because I didn't want sand to ruin any of our electronics. But it was also so nice to not worry about a thing and just play. Stephen and I commented that neither one of us wore our watches all week! We went to the beach every day, swam in the pool at least once a day, ate a lot of good food and bonded.



The kids ALL took naps and slept well at night, incredible what a day of fresh air will do!

dance with the seagulls

For a little over two minutes, the boys all stood mezmorized by the surf, while Avery flitted around the beach

If you can't laugh at yourself...

was this trip worth it?

Day 2 of our family vacation to the Outer Banks. And I think Stephen and I are definitely questioning why we thought this was a good idea.

Day 1 found us in the car from 8:30am until 6pm. The drive from our house to VA Beach was excruciating. The kids did so well and were so happy to finally get to grandma's and grandpa's.

Day 2. After spending the morning with family, we said our goodbye's and hit the road for the outer banks. We were doing so well until we got to the outer banks. Traffic, again.

We find ourselves on the third floor of a condominium, I think Stephen said it is 48 stairs to get up here. It is nice, clean but very, very small. We unpack and all the kids want to do is see the beach, but it is raining.

We went out to eat and the kids were crazy, can't blame them, they've been stuck in the car for two days.

I think Stephen and I are very hopeful the week will turn out fantastic and we can look back on these first few days and laugh. Either that or we will adjust our vacation plans next time, time will tell.