1. First a shout out to my mom, not only is she an awesome mom, she helped us get the hotel because she's a traveler extraordinaire. Her generosity definitely touched us!

2. If you have young kids, the Willow Valley Doubletree is where it's at! We had a two bedroom hotel room, which fit us perfectly. The indoor water playground had my kids going nuts. In fact, the woke us up at 5:30am saturday wanting to know if it was time to go back to the pool yet! 

3. I had recently purchased discount tickets to Dutch Wonderland through our preschool and boy am I glad I did! Dutch Wonderland became the other fun part of our weekend that made the kids so happy. 

Here's the hubs and kiddos before our "preview night" (You can go it after 3 to check out the park until closing and come back for the full next day!)

4. If you missed this embarassment, enjoy your free laugh! For the record, heights don't scare me but getting soaked on a 60 degree breezy day does apparently strike fear into my heart! We laughed so hard seeing this picture we had to purchase it for posterity. Good times...

5. The kids favorite ride other than the log flume was the "mini-whip" where they got whipped around in a circle. I think it was invented by parents who needed a good laugh. When the boys rode together, they could not stop laughing when the squished into each other around the corners. Loved it!

6. We saw an absolutely gorgeous scene as sun was setting Saturday evening... This is just my phone shot. I took pictures with my 'real' camera too but just haven't had time for them yet. 

7. Today alone we have already gotten an oil change, gone to Safeway for groceries, went to play at the park, went through the car wash and vacuum...then came home to continue the 5 loads of laundry I have been working on. I looked like a troll all morning in sweats with no earrings but it was TOTALLY a trade off. I didn't look good but darn if I didn't kick butt and take names in the productivity department. Kids were cooperative and willing to be good for bribes like mini-donuts and a trip to the park :)

8. My knee is still on the mend..missing my insanity exercises!

9. I shared a quote last night that is on my heart today "There is no way to be a perfect mother, but a million ways to be a good one" - Jillian Churchill. I love that sentiment. It's true, not a one of us can be perfect but we can be good. Motherhood has rocked my world in many ways but it's refining me into an entirely different (and i hope better) person. 

10. SO THANKFUL for all the moms in my life! I already mentioned my lovely mother but I am also blessed with a great Mother in Law too! She is so generous to me and loves on my kids like no other. I am also beyond thankful for my grandmothers that I still have to spend time with and learn from. Ain't nothing like a mama!!!

Have a great Monday friends!

1. I hurt my knee late last week and it's been killing me. Remember that 3 mile run I was all hyped about? Well it hasn't happened again since. I tried to run friday night and "pushed through the knee pain" like an idiot. I could barely do the steps by Saturday so I need to do a little resting of the knee and low impact exercise this week to get back on track. Getting sidelined isn't fun but sometimes we need rest to bring healing!

2. I caught the Blind Side on TV last night and it gets me every time! I love the story of a family opening up their lives to an unsuspecting soul and how God weaves it all together. I know Sandra Bullock won an Oscar for her rendition of Leigh Ann Tuohy but someone had to give the raw material! Who shouldn't love a fiercly loving and protective mama that isn't afraid to stand up for what is right either with her snooty friends or the boys in the projects?!

3. Mother's day is next Sunday and I am totally stumped for gifts! I am usually a planner and not so last minute. I have a couple ideas up my sleeve so we shall see what we come up with!

4. I started reading a really good book towards the end of last week, Prodigal God,  by Timothy Keller. I have to read it in small doses because it's so convicting! He breaks down the story of the Prodigal Son from the perspective of both sons and who Jesus was really talking to when he told this story. I am sure it will be a book I read over and over!

5. My kiddos are done preschool in just two short weeks and I am starting a list of summer fun that we can have. Do you have any great ideas for day trips or fun things to do around the house? I would love to hear them! Anything preschool appropriate we are up for!

6. Even as I am writing this I have been called to the upstairs potty to go wipe a bottom and Dean's voice a few minutes later just yelled down "Mom, Maxwell smells like poo." That's mom life for you :) Keeping it real...

7. Can you believe this guy is 2 later this month? It's crazy to me!! I really don't remember him ever being that small!

8. Tonight is my last class of the semester! Teachers get just as excited as students this time of year. It was a great bunch of students to work with this semester and I will be sad to see them go. I am thankful though that summer is on it's way!

9. Our kids don't know yet but we are going away this upcoming weekend!! Who's excited?!! ME! We are going to Lancaster, Pa for a weekend away as a family. I really cannot wait! Our hotel even has an indoor kids water park area....counting down til Friday....

Have a great week friends!!

One particular form of self neglect can come with exercise. I am here today to try to encourage even one mom out there who feels like she just can't. I have been in that place and it stinks. You are so exhausted that even thinking of exercising wears you out! What I have learned through the different cycles of my mom life though, is that I am ALWAYS better off when I am excercising regularly. Diet is sort of a dirty word in our house so I will avoid that discussion but food makes a difference too!

I ran 3 miles last night for the first time in maybe years and it felt so good to accomplish that. It helps that I have been doing all different exercise videos for the last few months trying to get back in shape. I haven't lost much weight in the last few months but my body has changed so much. I can actually do push ups too! (This is huge for me). Running 3 miles with a friend last night reminded me that my body is strong and meant to be used. It also gave me way more empowerment than sitting on the couch. I felt accomplished, and saw a little glimpse of the "former me" who ran and exercised regularly before kids. So wherever you are on this journey...start with a brisk walk today or if you are farther along, push yourself to go longer! 

To encourage you...

This is me a few months after having Max at around 175 lbs if I had to guess... (if you think it's not that bad, it's because that size 14 dress covers A LOT gracefully :)

And some of you might remember this recent shot at Easter, at 150 lbs (the weight I was pre-kids) and feeling much healthier and stronger. Please excuse our pasty whiteness, I definitely am in need of a tan :)

Here's what I realized through this journey, along with my brother and some of dad's best friends...this was his final gift to us. We had set the date for April 17, which would've been dad's 60th birthday this year. While some might think we were going to great lengths to honor someone who had already passed on, this trip really was about us. I cannot tell you what a gift it was to spend a few days (sans kids) with my brother and my dad's buddies. It was such a gift to see and experience his favorite place in a huge snow storm no less! Lets just say though that this was not an adventure for the faint at heart!

I had to laugh though because I am an amateur skiier at best and my bro might have even less experience than me...I know, we put dad to shame but he couldn't stand "Pennsylvania foothills" after skiing the rockies. I can now see why! Anyhow, I digress. The thing is though, you can't exatly get up a snow filled moutain without skis! We had our first adventure with cross country skiis in 18 degrees, at 10000 feet and the whole thing took us all about 4 hours on the mountain because of our novice. Thankfully DJ & his wife Marie are both skilled and patient :)

Here's us heading up...

David and DJ, two of dad's best friends. DJ & dad met when they were just 13! 

This was Rabbit Ears Pass the day before the snow, you can see the "rabbit ears" up on the mountain top. (iphone pic, sorry not the greatest)

Our little moose sighting!!

Good Morning Steamboat...

The "Eagles Nest"...where we stayed 

Heading to town on an adventure... Ok, it was really just for coffee and souvenirs but everything felt like adventure on this trip!

DJ made dad's famous beer batter pancakes for breakfast!

My brother and I

Beautiful scene near town...

And here's when we finally made it up the mountain...

I will save some of the more personal images for ourselves but I did read a little something and we all said a few words. Here's what I read, "Into the freedom of wind and sunshine, we let you go. Into the dance of the stars and planets, we let you go. Into the wind's breath and the hands of the star maker, we let you go. We love you, we miss you, we want to you be happy. Go safely, go dancing, go running home." It fit the scene and the person, if you knew my dad at all. I am so thankful for this experience. It gave me a great sense of peace knowing we fufilled dad's wishes! 

1. It was the last day of the spring Free Dunkin' Donuts Iced Coffee and I tried the new butter pecan flavor, enjoyed it!

2. I did a 20 min Turbo Jam workout this morning to get the blood flowing. I haven't tried any of the rest of that set but it was a good 20 mins! I will count the rest of the kid chasing today as a workout. 

3. I teach tonight and the lesson is one of my favorites to teach but it's so hard to do...food photography! Have any of you ever tried it? It falls into the category of "WAY harder than it looks." I love the Pioneer Woman's blog about food and life. Any other fabulous food blogs I should know about?

4. Those of you that are local will remember that our local Friendly's burned down last summer. It was super sad for our kids especially because they loved to go there! It was sad for us because it was one of our fav family friendly options. The good news is the grand re-opening is next week, just in time for ice cream season! (I think it being closed saved me some calories though). 

5. I currently have dualing crock pots going for tonights dinner. On teaching nights it can be especially hard to get dinner on the table basically when my husband walks in the dorr and I leave for class. It's a simple meal though with meatball sandwiches and Paula Deen's crock pot mac-n-cheese (a recipe I literally now know by heart :)

6. We spent the morning at the park already with friends. It was lovely to get out but do playgrounds give other mothers anxiety?! Trying to watch 3 kids that go in 3 different directions makes me sweat. Thankfully with friends we can play more of a zone defense and keep kids covered. I learned a little lesson in trust today though, allowing Dean to play a little farther away from me with a new friend that he made. It was hard but I am glad he was allowed a little freedom and handled it well. The other mom he was near said he listened well and was respectful to her son while they played. Maybe something is sticking after all?!

Macy and her new shades from Mimi! (don't mind the hair, it had a head band until the sunglasses. sometimes a girl has to choose :)

7. Last week was kiddos' spring break so we had many adventures to fill our days. One of them was to the Herr's Snack Factory where the kiddos saw all their favorite snacks being made! We had a blast, including hot chips right off the production line. (not the best picture, it happens to photographer moms too....don't worry friends :)

Alright friends, I have a MOUNTAIN of editing to get to between weddings and mini sessions. I will just feel the breeze from my windo while kids nap! Enjoy your week!

 Update: Proof that I am indeed in front of my computer working on this gorgeous day :)

A sneak peek from this weekend's mini sessions!
 

The craziness continued into yesterday morning while piling all 3 kids in the van at 7am in jammies to take Matt to work. You know the old, "if i don't want to be stuck without a car today, we need to go drop him off." It just went from one thing to the next yesterday and although most of it was just daily life, it did include some fun with friends. I think sometimes the daily life stuff is what can overwhelm us the fastest.

Here's a snapshot of us on Easter all dressed for church, thanks to our kind neighbor!

(I was freezing, not sure what happened to that sunny & 60 degree forecast!)

This is more realistic....

Love these crazy kids that made me a mom.... (for the record, Max was busy running around the yard and didn't want any pictures!)

So my real confession is that when life gets crazy, take some deep breaths and try to enjoy the people around you. There was a lot going on yesterday, I thankfully had some good friends to support me and remind me what's important. Things will be busy, cars will break, things will go wrong, but your family and good friends are the treasures of life!

Hope you had a great Easter and are enjoying a fun spring break week!

1. I confess, I still love snow....even in March on occassion. 

2. I just made a baked oatmeal dish for breakfast and it was yum! I have tweaked my recipe a bit but here's a similar version.  Here was a quick pic of my delish breakfast! It was hard to stop eating...

3. I have my fingers crossed that class gets canceled tonight...although the teacher in me knows it's spring break next week so two weeks off might curse the class momentum we have built. 

4. I started making my own K-cups with the aptly named "Keurig My K-Cup" and I haven't been dissapointed! I bought a bag on sale of a Starbucks blend at the grocery store and it's the bag that just keeps on giving! It's a little more prep time but not much and it's totally less expensive. 

5. Pardon the potty humor but this made me laugh out loud! This is pretty much my life these days :)

6. I am reading about four different books at once right now and having trouble committing to any one of them. A few are off to slow starts but I am going to try to commit and dive in so I can pass along a review or two. We shall see if I get uniterrupted reading time?!

7. We had a great palm Sunday service yesterday at church which included some great singing from the children. It was a precious reminder of all that is to come this week in preparing our hearts for Easter. If you are in the DE area and don't have a church home, we would love for you to join us at LifeHouse next Sunday! Check out details here.

Wishing you a blessed week and don't forget your free Dunkin Iced Coffee today if you venture out! I know, something silly about iced coffee in the snow but hey, it's free and delish :) Happy Monday!

1. So speaking of goals for 2013, what were some of your goals and resolutions because we are almost a fourth of our way through the year! I promised to get more organized and although it hasn't been a magic wand effect, I am slowly but surely working on different areas of my life and home to organize. I confess that my closet is still a headache for me because of it's small, odd shape. I did, however, do some cleaning out and organizing in the closet on Saturday and now can better see what I actually own!

2. I confess a new slight obession with buffalo chicken dip! My friend made it a party recently and I stole her recipe. I have been working on perfecting it to our likes and the hubs is a big fan! Is this a recipe you friends might want? Let me know and I will share :)

3. Working out was another goal for the new year. I wanted to get back on track with doing a legit workout at least 3 times a week. I have been doing so much better at this the last 4 weeks or so. Today, even though I am a little under the weather, I pushed through and got a workout video done while kids played around me. I have realized that as a mom, nothing gets done without major intentionality. It's too easy to let things slip! Taking care of myself means I can take better care of everyone else!

4. Don't forget your free Iced Dunkin today...I confess I can't wait for mine! I have been saving it and getting it before class in the evening. My favorite combo lately has been the caramel iced coffee with just cream. The caramel makes it sweet enough for me! It gets me through my 6-10pm night class!

5. Like most moms, I confess I have grocery store woes. I try to plan so that I don't have to go there multiple times a week but it just never seems to work out that way for me. I also like to go when the store is less crowded but that usually means going with my little helpers who aren't always the best "help" in the grocery store. We made a dash in this morning for juice, milk and fresh produce. It felt like a major workout just for that 15 min excursion! Any moms have good grocery strategies? Other times I just punish myself and go at 9pm to avoid crowds and kids :)

6. I am just one month from what would've been my dad's 60th birthday. There's not a day that passes that I don't think about him. We are actually going to travel to his favorite place on earth, Colorado, to spread his ashes next month. It's hard to think about but I know I better start preparing my heart for the journey. (I also prepared myself by purchasing a cute winter hat on clearance yesterday at EMS :)

7. The twins have been off their rockers today. This mornings shenanigans included a game where they were both barking dogs, which I was not a fan of. Other games today have included wrestling and running. The funniest came after lunch when Macy was playing the "mommy" and Dean was playing her pet guinea pig "Bobo." I really don't know where they get this stuff....other than the fact we visited the pet store yesterday and have been getting hounded about animals ever since!

8. Here's a peek at our trip to see the Easter bunny, as you can see the youngest Troutman wanted nothing to do with that larger-than-life bunny!

9. I am going to leave you with a great video I came across this past week. Some of you know of our love for the show Duck Dynasty. We stumbled upon it during the first season and it quickly became our favorite show. We are not alone because it just recently took over the top spot for any reality based shows. It's wonderful that a goofy show about a family with values is sitting at the top! They have stayed true to their values and not wavered, I believe God is honoring that as they honor him. If you have questions about Jesus, especially as these next couple weeks leading into Easter, check out Phil's story here on this video. 

I hope you have a great week ahead friends and I will see you back here next Monday!

1. I confess, I am SO READY for spring and not a fan of the fact that there's more snow in the forecast later this week! I thought the ground hog said early spring?!

2. We have spots open still for mini sessions on April 6, shoot me an email if interested!

3. I am loving a fresh scent from Victoria's Secret, it's called Pure Seduction. Now never you mind about the saucy name...it's just a yummy, fresh scent of sweetness! If you need a pick me up, this is a nice one. And if you know me anyway, you know my husband has no sense of smell...so nice fragrance is only for my enjoyment!

4. I have banana chocolate chip muffins in the oven as I write because I had three overly ripe bananas that needed a good fate! I love the smell coming from the kitchen right now!

5. We have been dealing with some sickness over the last week, it's mostly been little Max. It's no fun especially because he's been a little bit of a bear and not really eating much. Hope this week brings healing!

6. I have been day dreaming about Shamrock Shakes

7. I have also been good about my commitment to exercise at least 3 to 4 times a week right now. I have been mixing it up between Zumba and Insanity workouts. It's been good for me!

8. Anyone else been catching The Bible series on History channel? I don't think it's award winning acting or anything but it's really neat how it brings the bible to life in ways we may not have imagined before. Definitely check it out next SUnday night if you haven't yet, I think it's nice timing with Easter on it's way!

9. Don't forget your free iced coffee today my Dunkin friends!

Hugs and prayers for a great week!