Autumn Hometown Hunt: Colorado Springs Labor Day Lift Off

It is the start of Labor Day weekend and there is so much to be excited about and to celebrate. Today is the Feast of Saint Gregory the Great and the start of the Labor Day Lift Off in Colorado Springs. Tomorrow will be the day of Saint Teresa of Calcutta's Canonization. The next day will be Labor Day and the actual feast day of Saint Teresa. Because the weekend is full of so many fun and exciting things we decided that we would combine and move around some of our celebrations to fit with our really packed schedules. We wanted to be able to attend and participate in everything and moving around and combing celebrations was the only way.

This post will focus on our Labor Day celebration. Yes Labor Day is Monday but we were planning on celebration Saint Gregory tomorrow and Saint Teresa of Calcutta Monday because my husband and I still work even though it is a holiday weekend. That is a sacrifice that comes with working in the hospitality industry.

To start our Labor Day Celebration we decided to attend the Colorado Spring Labor Day Lift Off. The actual balloon lift off was scheduled to begin at 7am so we decided to arrive early. We woke up at 4am on a Saturday! That is some real dedication! To help us all wake up we stopped by Dunkin' Donuts on the way to enjoy some salted pumpkin coffee, pumpkin hot chocolate and some very fresh fall flavored donuts with hash browns and breakfast sandwiches! We consider Labor Day the unofficial end to summer and the beginning of autumn.

As you can see Little Man and Goalie were in great spirits considering the early morning wake up. They really enjoyed their hot chocolate and couldn't wait to get to the festival. So just so you have some background on how excited my boys were for this event: Goalie LOVES Curious George the series and they have made several seasonal videos including a spring video where Curious George attends a hot air balloon festival in the country. Goalie was so excited I thought he would shake apart before we arrived to the park! He just knew Curious George would be riding in the hot air balloons and no one could convince him otherwise.

I think Goalie will be a photographer of some sort when he grows up. All morning he wanted to take pictures. This one was one of my favorites.

After devouring our delicious coffee, hot chocolate and breakfast we headed to Memorial Park and arrived just as the vendors were setting up around 6am. We setup our picnic blanket and sat together as we watched the sun rise. You can see it peaking over Little Man's head here in this picture. It was such a beautiful sight to watch the mountains start to become more defined as the sun rose higher into the sky. It was gorgeous. A moment I will truly treasure.

 After the sun had fully risen the fun began! The balloons slowly filled and were released into the air!

There were over 60 hot air balloons released at this festival and they were all so beautiful. It was my first time seeing a hot air balloon in person and my children's first time too. There were so many different shapes and colors. They looked so majestic as they filled the sky.

This hot air balloon was my ultimate favorite! It was the Little Old Lady that lived in a shoe. Can you see the child hanging from the shoe lace? I thought it was so creative and hysterical! 

I have spoken frequently about us recently relocating to Colorado from Florida. We had some military friends that also relocated here shortly after us and today was the first time we have seen each other since we have moved! It was so great to see some familiar faces and the boys really enjoyed getting to play with a friend they haven't seen in months. We were able to get a picture of the adults but the kids were having way too much fun to stop for pictures!

Here are a few more pictures from our time at the Labor Day Lift Off:

How do you find fun activities for you and your family to attend? If you are looking for resources, I highly suggest checking out Eventbrite! You can filter through different events by the type of event you are looking for or you can simply put in your town and state to get a great list of activities that will be in your hometown. I have utilized this website on several occasions and you are even able to create your own events to share and promote through their Event Management Page. I just found a cute, fun, and FREE event called the Great Bicycle Carnival that we may be adding to our Colorado Autumn Bucket List due to this great site.

Today was truly amazing. A great experience that the whole family will remember forever. I think this may become a family tradition. The weather was gorgeous, we saw old friends and enjoyed some memorable moments together as a family. With both my husband and I working and two very busy boys and lots of therapy appointments to run around to throughout the week, it is really difficult to find time to enjoy together. We try our hardest to take time together because that is what is the most important. We got a lot of use out of the selfie-stick today as you can see and I am so ready to go to bed. This day was so amazing and a rejuvenation to my heart and soul. Thank you Lord for blessing me with so much and this great experience. It is so easy to get lost in the world's troubles and today helped me shake off all the bad. I hope you and your families enjoy this Labor Day Weekend too!

God Bless!

Christmas in July Celebration

Does the hot rainy weather of the summer ever make you miss the cool crisp winter air of Christmas? I LOVE the Christmas season. The music, food, smells, movies and sweaters! It has become tradition in our household to have a Christmas in July Celebration to help us all beat the heat and get into the Christmas spirit!

We started the day out at Mass. It was Little Man's first time altar serving at our new parish. He did amazing and I love how prayerful he looks. Goalie really wants to be an altar server but he is too young and I am afraid that his ADHD will inhibit him from doing altar server duties for awhile. Checkout 5 Tips to Help Your ADHD Child During Mass.

I am linking this at My Sunday Best at A Blog For My Mom.

After Mass, we headed to the pool! It is still summer time and it is hot outside. We have been experiencing rain quite often in the afternoon so we decided to head out early. It was a little too chilly for me to jump in the water but the boys had a great time.

While I prepare our yummy Christmas Feast, the boys will be able to read some Christmas books, color  and learn about Saint Nicholas all while listening to Christmas music. I think that the music is my favorite, honestly I could listen to Christmas music all year long.

Checkout the St. Nicholas Center, they celebrate Christmas in July too.

This year I decided (last minute) to keep our celebration pretty simple. I made a Christmas Pork Roast and Christmas Cookies!

Here are some more classic Christmas foods you can enjoy with a summertime twist for a Christmas in July Celebration! I have done all of these at one time or another but I just did not have time to incorporate them this year.

Smithfield Pecan Praline Spiral Sliced Ham

You can purchase this at any large grocery store chain. It's wrapped in a bright blue colored foil too! What I love about this ham is it is packed with a pecan praline sauce that is more summery and gives the ham amazing flavor.

Christmas Watermelon

Slice your watermelon into medium slices and use christmas cookie cutters to cut the watermelon.

Frozen Hot Chocolate (1 serving)

6 fluid ounces vanilla coffee creamer (I use creamer made with almond milk)
1/2 cup hot cocoa mix (2 packets)
1/2-2 cups ice
whipped cream (optional)
cinnamon sticks (optional)
shaved chocolate (optional)
sprinkles (optional)

Pour Creamer into the blender. Add cocoa mix and ice with the creamer. Blend until ice is crushed and drink is at a slushy consistency. Don't be afraid to add a splash of peppermint extract while you are blending if you like peppermint cocoa. Pour into a mug or glass and garnish with whipped cream, cinnamon sticks and sprinkle with shaved chocolate and/or sprinkles if you wish. Enjoy!

**This can be made into an adult beverage if you add 2 oz of Baileys and/or Peppermint Liquor**

So last minute I did make some frozen hot chocolate! We will end the day with a Christmas Movie Marathon that will include the classics! Polar Express, A Christmas Story, Silent Night and A Christmas Carol. My most favorite Christmas movies are White Christmas and It's A Wonderful Life. I force my hubby to watch them with me quite often.

A Movie Marathon would not be complete without popcorn and frozen hot chocolate for the boys and a nice big glass of wine for me and my husband. Now to be patient... just another 5 months until the real Christmas season begins. I am sharing this at Talk it Up Thursday.

Children's Prayer to Saint Nicholas:

God Our Father we pray,

That through the intercession of St. Nicholas,You will protect our children.Keep them safe from harm,And help them grow,And become worthy of Your sight.

To keep their Faith in You,

And to keep alive their joy,

In Your creation.

Through Jesus Christ Our Lord.

Give them strength,

Amen.

St. Nicholas, pray for us!

Summer Time Check Up!

Today we are almost to the very end of July and I thought it would be a great time to do a Summer Time Check Up! It's about halfway through the summer and I can't wait to see where everyone stands on the bucket lists and goals you have set for yourselves and your family. I have to admit I am disappointed we have visited the apartment pool more than anything else this summer. Just felt nice to be home and not travel a ton. We have been reading a ton and utilizing a lot of our money saving experiences like the $1 movies, parks and gym.

Cinemark Summer Movie Club:

COMPLETED

Cheyenne Mountain Zoo:

We bought season passes so we can enjoy this amazing zoo year round! There are Halloween, Christmas and other events that we are really excited to check out.

Focus on the Family Visitor Center:

NOT ON THE ORIGINAL BUCKET LIST BUT SHOULD HAVE

Seven Falls Hike:

Strawberry Moon Night Hike:

Colorado Rockies Baseball Game:

Birthday Pie Fight:

Little Man and my husband share the same birthday month so to celebrate we had a huge pie fight! My husband had his face pushed into the cake first then we took the "pie fight" outside and threw cool whip everywhere. It was a really great family memory.

Aga Splash Park:

NOT COMPLETED (YET)

Denver Zoo 

Royal Gorge Train 

Royal Gorge Bridge and Park 

Berry Patch Farms 

Patsy Candy Tour 

Peterson Air and Space Museum 

Colorado Springs Pioneer Museum 

Williams Fire Museum

Canon Balloon Classic 

*Missed this completely so we will have to wait until next year* 

Manitou Springs Cliff Dwelling 

Manitou Springs Incline 

Miramont Castle 

Cave of the Winds 

Aquarium 

Arkansas River Rafting Trip 

Camping Trip

Visit a Lake

OH MAN! That is a LONG list! At least some of these activities are in close vicinity to each other so I can hopefully knock out several in one day. If not, we will get to it eventually. I realized that my aspirations for the summer were quite large to say the least! We have had an amazing summer so far and I'm sure it will continue to be great until school starts. This week we will be celebrating Christmas in July and several other fun feasts. I have already begun working on our Fall Bucket List too! How has your summer been so far? 

#WorthRevisit: Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity

With the ending of the summer approaching and Vacation Bible School sessions going on all over the place, I felt a pull to share memories from Little Man's first time experiencing this faith strengthening fun. This year our parish was not hosting a Vacation Bible School and I have to admit I was really sad. VBS always seems like a necessary part of our summer. Thankfully Holy Heroes is hosting their Summer Faith Adventure and we start our session August 1st! If you are looking for something to inspire yourself and your children, I highly recommend giving this online program a try and join us on our Faith Adventure. You can find more info and can ask questions through my Facebook Event here. Let's end this summer on a high note and make sure we have enriched our children and families as we head into a new month, a school year and all the new adventures that we are heading towards.

Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity {Day 1}:

Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity Vacation Bible School started today and Little Man was excited to have something to do for the entire week! As I mentioned in an earlier post, it has been raining non-stop this past week (there is a town not too far away that has declared a local state of emergency, so please keep the Gulf Coast in your prayers). I am so thrilled that our church is continuing with their lesson plans from last year's VBS. Last years the theme was Hometown Nazareth: Where Jesus was a Kid and this years theme is Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity. Hometown Nazareth was an eye-opening experience for Little Man. He knows many stories about Jesus and his life but the idea that "Jesus was a kid like me"was a concept that had never entered his mind before. I was relieved Little Man remembered the amazing experience he had last year woke up excited, knowing he had a great day ahead of him. Another reason I really enjoy the depiction of these Vacation Bible Studies is because it incorporates an abundance of arts and crafts while exposing the children to new songs and music.We still have several refrigerator magnets from last year and I hope we have more to add by the end of the week. I wish Squishy was old enough to participate in this religious program, he gets lonely without his big brother around the house for several hours.

I love that Little Man can describe his entire experience and relates it to how we try to live our lives. The first thing he asked me after his first day at VBS was, "Mommy, did you know when things change, God is always with us?!" I thought this was a great lesson for him to be learning at this particular time in his life. I felt like God was truly speaking to him (and our family) because Little Man has expressed some concern about our move. I have to admit I was raised a military brat and this move is already making me a nervous wreck. Finding a new home, school and church from such a long distance with little time... not exactly my idea of fun. Although, the excitement of a new adventure in a new place with new experiences and knowing God has a plan for us helps calm and reassures me that this is the best thing for our family.

Here are a few crafts and original artwork from Little Man today! As you can see... he loves color! I hope he is ready to help create our front door wreath and some Sacred and Immaculate Heart T-shirts sometime this week. We are also attending story time at our local library and picking up some books from our book list. There will also be a celebration in the evening for the library celebrating its 10 year anniversary! I will have some more on those activities tomorrow.I am going to wrap this up so I can get back to snuggle time with Squishy. We are watching The Little Engine that Could, his absolute favorite movie! Little Man is in bed early in preparation of Day 2 of VBS. I hope everyone is finding some great adventures to have with your families during this summer. I will leave you with a cute snuggle picture of me and my Squishy baby.

God Bless!

You can check out the following information on the rest of Vacation Bible School:
Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity {Day 2}
Babylon: Daniel's Courage in Captivity {Day 3, 4, 5}

I have linked this to Theology is a Verb and Reconciled to You

Feast of Saints Joachim and Anne

Saints Joachim and Anne were the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the grandparents of Jesus Christ. Saint Anne's name means "grace." God blessed Saint Anne with many special graces, the most important being that she was the mother of Mary. Saint Anne is the patron of mothers, infertility and children. Because of Saint Anne's patronage to fertility, she is known as a patron of rain for the soil's fertility. In Italy it is said that "rain is Saint Anne's gift" and in Germany it is called "Saint Anne's Dowry." We have had tons of rain this past week during the afternoon, maybe we will be blessed with Saint Anne's Dowery today as well. Saint Joachim is the patron saint of fathers, grandfathers and grandparents. Grandparents should be shown some extra love on this day. Since we relocated out of state, my children will be sending letters and goodies to their grandparents today.

Saint Anne is my baptismal saint as well. It is custom for girls who are named for Saint Anne to wear red and green ribbons in their hair. Maybe I'll rock some cute red and green head pieces today. The day is still young. Thanks to this color combination I think of watermelon, strawberries, and fresh salads for food. I also think of beautiful red roses, lady bugs climbing on leaves and Christmastime. We are already celebrating Christmas in July this upcoming Sunday but today might have been a fun way to incorporate some cool Christmas cheer into the hot summer too.

For breakfast I decided to make a watermelon strawberry smoothie and I felt that it was appropriate for the boys to pick their meal for dinner because that's what their grandparents would do for them. Naturally they chose chicken nuggets and fries. We don't usually eat stuff like that and when we do it is probably once every couple of months. The boys are ecstatic about dinner to say the least! While the boys stuff their faces with nuggets and fries, my husband and I will be enjoying a fresh garden salad and maybe a french fry or two and attempting to stick to a healthier eating menu.

If you check out my previous post about the Feast of Saint Anne you will see it is customary to prepare some type of lobster or shell fish in Saint Anne's honor as well. In the past I have made lobster bisque and a watermelon cake, they were both delicious!

We are so blessed that we are close to the Shrine of Saint Anne. I discussed this shrine in the Ultimate Guide to Holy Places in Colorado. Today we will be unable to drive out to the shrine because Tuesdays are a busy day with behavioral therapy and other things. My little Goalie really has been struggling with controlling his emotions the past few weeks so days when we have behavioral therapy are usually emotionally draining for him. I will be planning a special trip to the shrine to have some quiet prayer time. I am also thinking I will print a couple coloring pages. I just came across this new Catholic coloring page site here too. What do you have planned today? Any fun activities or outings with the grandparents? I would love to hear all about it!

My husband and I have been trying to conceive for over two years and have not been blessed with another child yet. If you don't mind please pray the attached prayer with my special intention to conceive a child if it be God's will. I would greatly appreciate it! 

St Anne Prayer (To Obtain Some Special Favor) 

Glorious St. Anne, filled with compassion for those who invoke you and with love for those who suffer, heavily laden with the weight of my troubles, I cast myself at your feet and humbly beg of you to take the present affair which I recommend to you under your special protection.

St. Anne, please, recommend to your daughter, the Blessed Virgin Mary, and lay it before the throne of Jesus, so that He may bring it to a happy issue.St. Anne cease not to intercede for me until my request is granted. (Here ask for favor you wish to obtain.) 

Above all, obtain for me the grace of one day beholding my God face to face, and with You and Mary and all the saints, praising and blessing Him through all eternity. Amen.Good St. Anne, mother of her who is our life, our sweetness and our hope, pray to her for us and obtain our request. (Three times).

Here is a another prayer that can be said in honor of your Baptismal Saint as well. It has Saint Anne in the prayer because she is my Baptismal Saint but to make it personalized for you and your family, just replace "Saint Anne" with the name of your saint:

Saint Anne, at baptism, my parents gave me that name which was also yours. You are my companion and heavenly protector. You have borne this name honorably before God and men. May your example teach me to do the will of God, to be faithful to Christ, to go my way with the attitude and conduct of a committed Christian so that I may one day share with you the rewarding joy of having followed Christ faithfully. Amen

Saints Joachim and Anne, pray for us!

Feast of Saint James the Greater

Today is the Feast of Saint James the Greater. He was given this name to differentiate him from Saint James the Less, who was believed to be shorter than him. He is the patron saint of Spain and pilgrims. Saint James was one of the first apostles of Jesus. He was found fishing on the Sea of Galilee unable to catch fish that day when Jesus called out to them and asked them to cast their nets once more. The boat the men were fishing from nearly sank because of the abundance of fish they caught in their final netting. Saint James was one of three disciples who witness the Transfiguration and is known for spreading the teachings of Jesus in Spain for over 40 years. Saint James was decapitated by King Herod for his faith and became the first apostle to be martyred for his faith. His remains can be found in the Cathedral of Santiago in Spain.

I thought that making an authentic Spanish meal would be perfect to celebrate Saint James the Greater. I decided on making Gazpacho but with a twist. My kids, especially my youngest, have some texture issues and Gazpacho is actually a cold soup. I decided to add pasta to my gazpacho and not blend the ingredients into a thick soup so it resembled a pasta salad instead. If you checked out my Menu Plan Monday post for this week and looked at the ingredients for my recipe, I am sure you noticed I tweaked my recipe a bit. I didn't feel like running out to the grocery store today so I replaced a few things that I didn't have on hand with other ingredients that I did.

Here is my original recipe

Gazpacho Pasta Salad:

1 lb Rotini Pasta
3 Medium Ripe Tomatoes (diced)
1 Large Cucumber (diced)
1 Green Bell Pepper (minced)
2 Green Onions (chopped)
6 Fl oz Canned Tomato Juice
2 Cloves Garlic (chopped)
1/4 Cup Parsley
3 Tbsp Lime Juice
1 Tsp Tarragon
1 Tsp Basil
1 Tsp Cracked Black Pepper

Bring pot of water to boil. Add pasta and cook until al dente. Drain and put aside. Combine the pasta and the rest of the ingredients together and mix well. Chill for at least 2 hours and toss again prior to serving.

***If you wanted to make traditional Gazpacho you would mix all the ingredient together except the pasta and increase the tomato juice to 4 cups. Place ingredients into a food processor and blend until it is a think soup consistency. Chill for 2 hours and serve with croutons***

I substituted Shell pasta for the Rotini Pasta because the shells represent the sea. Saint James is also represented by a cockle shell or a man with shells all around him. Saint James was a fisherman and he traveled the sea to evangelize Spain so the extra symbolism is beautiful. I was also out of tomato juice, tarragon and green onions so I used a half jar of leftover jar of marinara, fennel seed and red onion. All the substitutions made resulted in a delicious Gazpacho Pasta Salad. I have it chilling in the refrigerator now and will toss it with a little extra lime juice before serving. If you aren't into eating pasta or you are trying to keep carbs out of your diet, some kind of fish or scallop dinner would be perfect to celebrate this day too.

We have been enjoying the nice weather here and intend on going to the gym before sitting down to dinner as a family tonight. After dinner, I will read the short summary that is in the Book of Saints Part 8 and say a couple prayers. If you click the affiliate link above, the book is included in a 10 pack for an awesome deal! We own tons of the little books from Father Lovasik and my boys love them.

If we still lived near the beaches, I would definitely consider going for a stroll on the beach and collecting some sea shells. It use to be a common tradition to build a shrine in honor of Saint James from broken sea shells. If you have some shells, placing them on your home altar would be perfect! I am working on a prayer wall in my house that I will update each month to coincide with the liturgical year and feast days. 

Other ways to celebrate are:

Creating a dessert decorated with the Saint James Cross (cake, pie or cookies)

Checkout Catholic Cuisine for some other great recipes

Go on a fishing trip 

Coloring page 

The Way of Saint James Game

O glorious Apostle,

St. James, who by reason of thy fervent and generous heart

wast chosen by Jesus to be a witness of His glory on Mount Tabor,

and of His agony in Gethsemane;

thou, whose very name is a symbol of warfare and victory:

obtain for us strength and consolation in the unending warfare of this life,

that, having constantly and generously followed Jesus,

we may be victors in the strife and deserve to receive the victor's crown in heaven.

Amen.

Saint James, pray for us!

Rising Strong: Book Review

I have to thank my friend Amber, who suggested reading this book several months ago. I decided to include this book as part of my Mid Year 2016 Reading Challenge. I love to read and I especially love books that find a way to touch me in my life, experiences or heart. Rising Strong did all of this and more. I have shared my thoughts on this book as I read it with my husband and he is eager to read it, as I hope you will be too. Please be aware This post contains sponsored links from Amazon.

Rising Strong by Brené Brown is an amazing book that will make you question every significant event in your life. Her understanding of emotion is astounding and her ability to communicate her research to readers is direct and easy to comprehend. There is an exploration of shame, anger and fear that is prominent in our failings through life and her rising strong teaching and process can help you study and understand more thoroughly how to grow and recover from failing more quickly. Failing is something that every person can relate to and makes the topics discussed within this book more important to understand how to be better productive within our relationships and our daily lives.

I will warn you that the colorful Brené Brown does sometimes use strong language to get her point across. I did not find the language to be vulgar though, rather she used it as an exclamation point to highlight her important research. I also find that her presentation made her feel more relatable. I love that there is a direct conversation between Brené Brown and the reader. She does not hide her true ideals or intentions.

Another aspect that makes this book unique is that although Brené Brown is a researcher, she allows the discussion of faith and spirituality to be important in her research. She includes research and quotes from religious people. One of my favorite moments within the book is during a discussion where Brené Brown states, "I experienced a collection of holy and unholy moments that would eventually bring me face-to-face with one of my greatest fears and, in the process, teach me exactly what Saint Teresa of Avila meant when she said,"There are more tears shed over answered prayers than over unanswered prayers."" If only we could all have revelations that bring us to a closer connection to God.

I have not had the pleasure to read her book Daring Greatly yet but I can promise it is now on my book list. There are several references to it within Rising Strong and I think that the best understanding of both books would come from reading both. Daring Greatly discusses concepts of vulnerability and scarcity and pairs well with the overall topic of overcoming adversity in Rising Strong.

I will end this with another one of the great topics that is discussed throughout the entire book; "The irony is that we attempt to disown our difficult stories to appear more whole or more acceptable, but our wholeness, even our wholeheartedness, actually depends on the integration of all of our experiences, including the falls." This particular quote is written on the back cover of the book. Rising Strong is truly an amazing book and I hope you take the opportunity to read it.

I know I have several friends reading this book right now and I would love your opinions as well! I am sharing this at The Book Nook At Create With Joy. 

{pretty, happy, funny, real}

~ Capturing the context of contentment in everyday life 

Every Thursday Like Mother Like Daughter ~

I have really come to LOVE this linkup, although today there is no link up I still wanted to share me post. I am one of those mom's that takes pictures of everything! I love having a souvenir to remember all of our family adventures and let's be honest, you never know when something amazing will happen. Having a day set aside that I get to go threw all the pictures I have taken the past week and be thankful for all the blessings, big and small, that I have each and every day.  This week has really been the pinnacle of fun and relaxation and I enjoyed going through all my pictures to share with you. We have an extra exciting week because Feast of Saint Kateri Tekakwitha is today, Saint Bonaventure and Saint Swithin are tomorrow and the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is Saturday! I will be sharing all of those pictures later! You can always get a sneak peak on Instagram too. 

{pretty}

The weather has been amazing this week. Blue skies, bright sun, warm breezes through the trees. I have been making sure my boys have been able to enjoy it with me at the pool and parks. We are still acclimating to the weather here and I am not use to the lack of humidity and the dry heat is very different but I am loving it. As much as I am enjoying the bright, hot sun, I am excited for the cool breezes of autumn to start within the next few months. Hopefully we can get more of our Summer Time Bucket List completed.

{happy)

There are many moments in my life that I am happy with my family but I really have a good time working out with my husband. This past week I started getting back into my workout regimen and today was leg day. My husband is an avid weightlifter and obviously is much stronger than me but we always have a blast together. He makes me giggle because he calls us "swolemates". We get our adult time and are teaching our boys the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. I want my boys to be well rounded. I want them to have a deep and meaningful connection to their faith, always do their best in their studies and know the importance of taking care of their physical bodies with good wellness and nutrition. 

I just joined a new accountability group to share recipes, workouts and fitness information. I am super excited to be apart of a group and it makes me feel much more motivated to complete my workouts and stick to my weekly menus. I share those on Mondays as part of Menu Plan Monday at another fun linkup! You can check out my latest menu here, there will be no link ups the next few weeks but I will still share my menu ideas each week. 

{funny}

Watching my boys run around at a nearby waterpark was the most hilarious thing I saw all week. At first, both boys were upset with me because they wanted to go to our neighborhood pool but I wanted to try something different. When we arrived I was told that "this place will not be as fun as the pool". Five minutes into our visit I received hugs, kisses and apologies because they were having a blast. It was quite amusing because I know as these boys grow older I won't hear about how I was right quite as often.

{real}

I am a lover of books. I have been my entire life. I was introduced to the book I am reading now, Rising Strong: The Reckoning. The Rumble. The Revolution. by Brené Brown, by a good friend I met shortly after moving. There is nothing better than getting to relax poolside and hearing the laughter of my children while I can enjoy a good book. This particular book has really been eye-opening and I highly suggest it to anyone willing to give it a chance. My husband has even shown some interest in the book just because of a few quotes I throw out to him here and there. Here are some quotes that really stood out to me. 

"The most dangerous stories we make up are the narratives that diminish our inherent worthiness. We must reclaim the truth about our lovability, divinity, and creativity."

"Regret is a tough but fair teacher. To live without regret is to believe you have nothing to learn, no amends to make, and no opportunity to be braver with your life."

What do you think? She makes some good points that should make you think and question experiences. I am doing a Mid Year Reading Challenge and I would love for you to join me!

Mid Year 2016 Reading Challenge

I came across this amazing a blog about books called Modern Mrs. Darcy. In one of her posts she shares a Reading Challenge for the year, however, it is not the beginning of the year anymore. However, I believe avid book lovers could finish this challenge in 6 months. I would love to have some friends, family and fellow bloggers join me in this Reading Challenge for the rest of the year. You can download a copy of the Reading Challenge at the link above.

Here are the books I plan to read (listed in order of the Reading Challenge):

This post contains sponsored links from Amazon.

The Girl On The Train by Paula Hawkins

The Crucible by Arthur Miller

Go Set A Watchman by Harper Lee

Ghost by Alan Lightman

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Rising Strong: The Reckoning. The Rumble. The Revolution. by Brené Brown

Illusions of Love by Cynthia Freeman

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin

The Other Boleyn Girl by Philippa Gregory

Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

I hope you decide to join me and if you do please comment with the books you are reading. I am always looking for good books and I would love to hear about your book suggestions. If you need help creating a list, you are welcome to use some of my suggestions or you can checkout the ones Modern Mrs. Darcy suggests. Cloud Atlas and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in my list came from hers!

I am linking this to Booknificent Thursdays at Mommynificent

Indian Temple Mound

Today we made our first visit to the local Indian Temple Mound in honor of Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha. The Mound was built sometime around 700AD has been restored and turned into a museum for people to come and learn about the earliest civilizations that lived in our local area. It was fun to show the boys the simple way of life the Indians were accustomed. There were several exhibits that displayed different time periods before and after Explorers and Pirates began to influence the culture of the Indians. There was even information on Billy Bowlegs and how the festival began. You can not actually walk onto the ground where the temple is built because it is so old so you stand and look at it from a pavilion that holds several posts with information about what the temple was used for and traditions of the Indian tribes.

We even got an added bonus of visiting a Civil War Exhibit, Garnier Post Office and Camp Walton Schoolhouse. Apparently it is an all inclusive look into the past with the purchase of your admission to the Temple Mound! What a deal... it only cost $8 for me and the boys!!! I highly suggest taking advantage of such a great and fun opportunity to educate yourself and your children.

The museums were full of hands on activities such as weaving with reeds. I wish we could have stayed all day but an hour was about all Squishy could handle. He is going through the Terrific Twos and teething really bad right now.

Inside the Civil War Exhibit there were old fashioned Confederate flags, uniforms and weapons. Little Man was most mesmerized by the cannons and wanted to find a canon ball so badly. It was so cute but I am glad there were no balls to be found

The Camp Walton School House was a working school from around 1912-1936 for grades 1st-8th. It has been restored and still holds several of the original desks that were used by its students so many years ago. I loved that the desks held small chalk boards with vintage chalk. Little Man and Squishy both enjoyed sitting back in the past and writing with the chalk boards. They looked so sweet "pretending" to be back in school. Little Man is so ready for this upcoming school year to start. And Squishy just wants to be like big brother!

The first thing to catch Little Man's eye was an old checkered board. I wish I could have gotten a picture of him setting up the game board but Squishy was ready to head home. It was past nap time and everyone at the museum knew it!  Although the visit was cut shorter than I had hoped, it was an awesome experience and the perfect activity to celebrate Blessed Kateri Tekakwitha, Lily of the Mohawks! It was so eye-opening to see all the richness of life and the advancements we have made throughout history. There are several other family field trips I am hoping to coordinate before the big move!