Oh, The Heat!

Oh the heat has been just miserable! I can't even take the boys out to play because it's just too darn hot outside! It's like as soon as you step outside you can feel your energy being zapped right out of your body. I was so tired last night that I couldn't read or anything and ashamed to say I left the dinner dishes to be done this morning, and the other chores yesterday were neglected as well. We were just SO exhausted after the movies, the store, and our usual Thursday errands which unfortunately couldn't be avoided despite the heat. Even my energetic little boys wanted to just sit on the couch, watch cartoons, and read books until bedtime.
Here's something to give you an idea of the heat in our area (and I know some others have it worse, but for us in this area we've known no worse this early in the summer. lol)
From our local newspaper::
"On top of seeing the longest period of consecutive days without measurable rain in June at 24 days, as of Thursday, the area saw a heat record for June 28 at 104 degrees
The average high is 85.
It also set the record for the hottest day in June, beating 102 degrees back in 1988, Nield said.
And he added there’s “no relief in sight,” with a high of 100 today and in the upper 90s next week with very little chance of rain."

I am hoping for rain very VERY soon to cool things off. There was a poor little cat laying on the side of our building last night just dehydrated. I have seen the cat ever since we moved in, and I took it some water and piece of leftover chicken. It drank half a cool whipped bowl of water which told me it was indeed dehydrated. Poor little kitty. It was gone this morning though and the bowl was almost empty so I'm hoping it got to rest and re-hydrate.

 We did get out and go watch the movie Disney's Brave yesterday. Something we could do that still kept us cool. Lucas had a play date with a friend from preschool so we all went to see that movie for her belated birthday.

It was a pretty good movie for both boys and girls to enjoy. The triplets in this movie just had Lucas laughing time and again and he was SO well behaved during the movie! He sat through it all aside from the potty breaks and actually paid attention to the whole movie. He did so well in fact that we are going to start taking him to the movies on a regular basis.
Levi on the other hand (whom is only 1 1/2) was super good the first 30 minutes into the movie until he decided he had just had enough. Me and Hubby had to take turns leaving the movie theater to take him and walk him around in the lobby because tantrums were never-ending. We are going to try again on July 4th since our local movie theater is hosting a FREE movie of Happy Feet 2. Maybe since it has a lot of singing and dancing he will also be intrigued. LOL

We picked out our new apartment yesterday after looking at 5 of them we found the PERFECT one for us.

 The ONLY downfall was the fact that the air conditioning unit was a bit dated, but as long as it does the job I can live with it. I'm not too picky and an A/C unit is just a seasonal thing. I'm thankful to have one at all because a lot of people do not and in this heat our town has set up some relief centers with A/C and bottled water. Besides the apartment had all the other perks we were looking for from the carpet color, tile color, bathroom style, cabinets, layout, closets, etc so there really is no complaining. I'm thankful we finally found a place and now I CANNOT wait to get all moved in. I feel like a little kid at Christmas. haha.


We are going to be going through stuff over the next few weeks and then it will be time to start packing. We went through the boys books the other day and eliminated 3 boxes and 3 totes filled with books. They still have an entire bookshelf filled with books, but we will be donating the books we are getting rid of to a church for other children to enjoy. This week we are tackling the toys and clothes.
Anyway I have literally an entire house-full of chores awaiting to be done so I better get started on them.
Have a wonderful day, and a wonderful weekend! :)

Sincerely,
Tori

August...ALREADY?

August is here already!

 This summer has went by so fast I just can't believe it. With August's arrival I am feeling nostalgic, already, over summer's loss. Unfortunately we didn't get to enjoy the summer fully what with all these new changes taking place in our family. Especially with moving and everything. HOWEVER, I would still rate it a good summer, and we still have awhile before the pools close down and the weather gets nippy. And we still have a few family outings planned as well, which is exciting. And I will of course keep you updated on those. We have the zoo, the children's museum, and Conner Prairie coming up which is so very exciting. Not to mention one good aspect of the weather cooling down a bit is PICNIC's! Yes I love family picnics. They are so relaxing even if they are in your own backyard, or a park nearby! Here in Indiana the weather has sweltered. Some days we have had some severe heat advisories so I couldn't even take the kids out to play much to all of our disappointment. But now even though the heat is still here we are at least getting some breeze, and we have had some much needed rain off and on.

One thing that I'm excited about the approach of is homeschooling! This year I will be homeschooling my son whom will be 4 towards the end of the year. I will update on that as well. I found a great free pre-k curriculum HERE. They have for ages 2-4. This is a bible curriculum by the way. I am going to definitely use some of their curriculum as well as tweak it and add some things/change some things so it will better fit our pace. I don't really feel comfortable with the preschools around us so I've decided to do it on my own. I want my son to be prepared and ready when kindergarten gets here. While I'm no teacher nor psychologist I do know my children and I believe just thrusting him in a class and leaving him will be stressful so I'm going to prepare him myself. He does just fine in his Sunday School classes, but that is only for one hour. Besides there's some things I want him to learn that he just won't learn in school. As far as what I'll do about homeschooling him from kindergarten on I haven't decided. This is going to be a great experience for us to see what fits us best, and we'll go from there. I will have some great things to share along our way which you may find useful in your own homeschooling ventures. Feel free to share them or try them for yourself.

I have some great upcoming recipes to share as well that are just yummy not to mention surprisingly affordable! One of them is our family's recipe for Sausage Stew. And another is some yummy Breakfast Burritos. I will have more recipes upcoming as well, and I'm going to start posting one weekly. Recipes are so good to share with each other. If you have some awesome recipes that you would like to share or recommend feel free to drop me a message or comment. If you'd like I can feature the recipe on my blog. I for one am always up for trying out a new dish.

Anyway, I hope you all have a great and wonderful day! Hope you are all taking care in this heat as well. See you soon!

Summer Fun

We have been so busy with things. There are some super new developments that have taken place lately which has been the result of these late blog posts. I promise that will all change here in a couple weeks. A few at the most, and then I will be more current. I wish I could fill you in on all the details, but right now my husband is asking me to keep mum about it all.
I will state however that due to these recent changes that have thrown us off kilter I have not yet had my gallbladder ultrasound!

I know, I know, I have had it scheduled several times, but due to our life being so hectic right now we have had to postpone it and postpone it to the point where I called the doctor and said things are crazy right now I will just have to cancel it and come in sometime in July! They were not please, and I know it is so dangerous to let this go, but I don’t know what else to do. Things are happening beyond my control that I absolutely HAVE to deal with, but like I said before things are about to calm down, and then I will be taking it easy the rest of the summer.

I finally got a new suitable bathing suit. Let’s just say that after having two children my body is nothing like it use to be, and it is so hard to find a good bathing suit that I don‘t feel like a whale in! Don’t get me wrong, I love every stretch mark because it is the markings that showed my body grew and bore these two beautiful boys, and I have been trying to exercise more. I will be starting a new yoga exercise routine here in a few weeks, and I will weekly post how that is going so if you would like to give it a try after I start it (or before) feel free to join in as well as feel free to let me know and others of your progress.

Exercise can be strenuous and it can be so hard to get the time in to exercise when you have a household to keep up and two small children to take care of, and let’s not forget my little doggy. LOL. Sometimes it seems like I clean all day, cook, and by the time laundry is done, food has been consumed, house and dishes done, and the kids are bathed and put to bed I feel like I have run around the world and back and I just want to crash at the end of the day.

So yoga is both a stress reliever as well as a great way to stretch your muscles, get circulation flowing, and lose weight! Visit this link if you don’t believe me: (post link here). I’m sure it will back up my statement.
I have tried various diets, and they just don’t work. Or they start to work and then all of a sudden I find myself either back at my old weight or a little above it. Or I find myself starving, or I just can’t plain swallow the food because it’s so gross. So I am implementing yoga, and walking into my routine. I will of course try to watch the sweet stuff, but I won’t completely cut it out of my diet. Life is too short not to enjoy just a little bit. I will just watch the amounts of what I eat. I think it is all about serving size, not particularly WHAT you eat. Food is meant to be enjoyed, and I love cooking. So why cut out that delight in our lives? I especially love nothing more than my family sitting down at the table enjoying something I have prepared for them. It’s so rewarding.

So anyway after this chaotic period we will be going swimming and having family picnics. We also have TWO vacations planned this year! I can’t wait. Last year we didn’t do anything! I am so excited to have some summer fun, and just let all the frenzied stress go. It feels so good to just BE even if it’s only for a few hours a day. I want to enjoy this beautiful weather! LOL. Plus I haven’t got to spend any time with my best friend here recently, there have been some major new developments in her life as well. I miss her terribly, and can’t wait for the chance to catch up with her. She has been such a good friend, and so patient and understanding as to all the chaos in my life. I am so blessed to have her!

Anyway sorry for all the rambling. I just wanted to give my readers an explanation of my MIA blog status! I apologize so much, and thank you so much for sticking with me. I am blessed to have you all! I hope you are all enjoying your summer. How are you spending it?