Moddy's thoughts, prayers & adventures

Nothing like a brief re-appearance every few months from the blog graveyard to spice up your Sunday evening. I have been wanting to do a blog update for awhile, but haven't known where to start typing. In typical Kara form, a bullet point list seems most appropriate for an update. So, here we go. Little girl surprised me this morning with the sweetest wake-up treat. She proudly walked into our room and said, "mommy - I made you coffee!" This of course perked me right up because 1) 7 year olds shouldn't be brewing hot coffee, and 2) ooooo - coffee sounds so good! Well, she had sweetly made me some of my Starbucks iced via coffee that I usually drink for my afternoon treat (you only have to mix it with milk) and she was so excited to give it to me. She then stated that she wished she could make me breakfast like she did on Mother's day, but she didn't know my favorite sandwich. :-) She quickly disappeared and then came back with a plate filled with 1 w.w. cheese stick, some strawberry activia yogurt and 3 crackers. It was precious. She completed my morning with my non-mother's day "gift" and made me a picture telling me how much she loves me. I don't really know where all of the love came from this morning, but it was sure a beautiful start to my day. I love that sweet girl. LG also wanted us to both wear our fall boots to church this morning and she requested a little photo shoot. I know I look strange standing there alone in front of the house, but look at my cute new Gap sweater! I love it. :-) Baby Boy is going to school 2 mornings a week like he did last year and I tell you that my time with him is my whole heart. I think because I know he is probably my last that I cherish all of his baby boy sweetness and the fact that he is starting to feel heavy when I hold him makes me watch time slip away in front of me. He is the chattiest little boy in the world and literally never stops talking, but I would miss his chatter if I was home by myself each day. He makes me smile. Little girl got to have a show and tell day at school. She brought her ribbons from swim team this summer and Baby Boy enjoyed sitting up front with her in class. We have a crazy week this week with some travel and our family reunion this weekend. I love getting together with all my extended family and talk through memories, watch all the cousins playing together and eating some really good food. It's one of my favorites. We ate well last week. Our menu was the following: Chili with fritos Mediterranean chicken kebabs - skinny taste Salmon, potato soup and veggies Taco Soup with corn muffins Chicken Quesadillas - skinny taste This week will be a little crazier and I also have a lot of items I made bulk of a couple weeks back and froze for weeks like this. Buffalo Turkey Burgers - skinny taste Baked Chicken Parmesan - skinny taste Cereal Lean cuisines Pizza :-) Yes - this will probably be a true picture. I hope you all have a great week!

Dave is out working late tonight and that leaves me to my own devices involving dinner, entertaining the children and flopping on the couch mindlessly watching television and browsing the internet until my eyes feel as though they may explode. I have to admit, since losing these 20 lbs. that I have shed since the beginning of the year, I have been drawn more and more back into fashion. The last couple of years I remember mentioning to David that I "think I lost my mojo" in the "how to dress myself and look put together and cute" department. I used to always have my toenails match my outfit every day and my hair styled in different and unique ways on a weekly basis and I NEVER wore the same thing twice in a monthly rotation. Where did that chick go? Oh yes, she had children, stopped working at an office job everyday and started feeling like 2 items that "at least didn't clash" would work as far as my wardrobe went. It's been fun getting ideas on Pinterest and feeling inspired to build a new look for myself as I enjoy this new smaller version of Kara. My favorite new site for fashion ideas: J's Everyday Fashion. Seriously - this girl is so adorable and her ideas are super practical and helpful to a a girl like me. She lives in Orlando......she does fashion consulting and wardrobe help........Dave travels there a lot. I think you see where I'm going with this. :-) Now that I've said that - I'm looking around my house for things to sell to pay for such a thing. I believe I'm dreaming on that one. I'm still loving all my "skinny" recipes from the best blog of all time - "Skinnytaste.com. Some of our family favorites are the Pork Carnitas, slow cooker barbecue pulled pork, and chicken quesadillas. Also, I am getting ready to try out one of her newest recipes - Summer Macaroni salad with tomatoes and cucumbers. It looks so amazing to me. Can you say 4th of July yumminess?? This summer is flying by at an insane speed. Little girl has swim team practice every morning at 9:00 am. and then a swim meet once a week. We have 2 art day camps for both kiddos next month. We have a trip up to see my family to love on our newest member - Parker Jansen Oyler soon, and we have a trip to see David's family for some hangout time right after that. With two August birthdays in my house - we will be busy with those right up until school starts again. Wow!! (sweet friendships) (hanging with my sister for a baby shower for Parker) I better get some sleep. That whole little break down is making me sleepy. Happy Summer my friends!

As you well know, this coming Sunday is Father's Day. A day to celebrate our dad's and also our hubbies and the father's of our children. I'm looking forward to spoiling David this year, since I enjoyed my Mother's day so much. His requests involve things like "laying on the couch and watching t.v. all day and not feeling guilty about it." Done. He has been wanting to go Kayaking for awhile now, but the man is so busy and travels a lot, so there isn't a lot of down time in his schedule. I asked him if he would enjoy getting up really early on Sunday and heading out to Springfield Lake and me renting a kayak for a couple of hours for him. He is excited and will probably go to do that (he is happiest being up at the crack of dawn before we all wake up). Then me and the kids will work on a special breakfast for him while he is out there with his thoughts and a paddle. :-) Today we enjoyed Little Girl's first swim meet and she was SOO tired when it was over. We treated ourselves to Chik-Fil-A and then we headed downtown for those cupcakes I told you about. We were all quite happy about that treat. Very happy. I hit the gym for a vigorous 45 minutes of cardio so that I didn't feel as guilty. It did make me feel better. Then, we stopped at Pier One (I know!) and got David a gift from the kids. When we walked in, LG said, "this doesn't look like a store daddy would like!" Ha! Smart girl. But - they had this cool ring toss game for the backyard on sale and the kids wanted to get it for him. We scored the very last one. Woo! Hoo! I just stumbled across some pics from my fun Mother's Day in May and thought I would throw out some pictures. I enjoyed all my favorites including the kids making me "heart eggs on toast" and coffee in bed. Sweetness. Then we went to church, out to my favorite mexican restaurant and out for a long hike. We ordered pizza for dinner and then out to Andy's frozen custard for a treat to polish off the day. I loved it. The kids bought me a new Starbucks mug that I wanted that said "tall. 12 oz". Simple and cute. I also got a SB gift card to continue the caffeine addiction. It was perfect. So, make an effort to love on those dads and hubbies this Sunday. I have a wonderful Dad I am so thankful for and I also have my hunka-burnin' love that is the most amazing father to our kiddos that I could ever ask for. He makes them feel cherished, adored and unique. His love is pure and we are blessed to have him in our lives. Happy Early Father's Day boys! :-)

We scheduled out our summer - like I'm sure most of you do each year. It gives me a feeling of some sort of expectation and ritual each day so that we don't end up all wishing we had our own homes far, far away from each other. :-) Little Girl has been staying busy with Swim Team for the first time this year. It has been so fun to watch her try this new adventure, and we are anxious to see her grow and change throughout the season. We had a brand new pool put into our subdivision also, so that has made the trips to the pool extra fun too. Last week was VBS. It was the first time both kids could go and they went with some really good friends of theirs. I love seeing them soak up God's word on a daily basis, learn songs of worship and just have fun playing, making crafts and meeting new people. What a fun week it was! This week I am filling our time with more swim team fun, gym time for mommy, Swim lessons for Baby Boy, friends over for lunch, playmate with LG's friend from school that she misses dearly, and using our fun Flip-card that we got from the Library that gives us lots of fun free things to do throughout the week. Last week we enjoyed free mini-blizzards, free Qdoba, Free Chik-fil-A and also some Free Cherry-Berry. This go around will be more Chik-Fil-A, Free Cupcakes from "The Cup" downtown and lots of other cool stuff. I strategically chose this week to do the cupcake place because I am in LOVE with the mocha cappuccino cupcake there and they only carry it once a month. Since I try to steer clear of splurges such as this, I am saving up my calories for this one. Can. not. wait. :-) The kiddos are both into superheroes these days. It's hilarious actually, since we don't even watch any shows with superheroes, but between friends and commercials (apparently) they are obsessed. LG wants to be wonder woman for halloween and BB is all about Batman, Spiderman and Superman. He does declare that Batman is by far the superior and coolest of the superheroes. I love it. I sense a birthday theme for my August birthdays this year will be a little of the same. They will be turning into 7 and 4 year olds that month and it is almost surreal for me to even believe that is true. Wasn't I just bringing these cuties into our home and family and latching onto them with enough love for a whole lifetime - in just a moment???? Time moves too quickly. We all say it, but when you experience it - it's just painful. I am excited to be going up to meet my newest nephew in about a week. My sis is scheduled to be induced this Wednesday, and then after we get past Father's Day and my MIL comes back in town, I can scoot away to love on him and also little Cooper. I am working on my menu right now to serve up to the Oyler clan. Here's what I am thinking about choosing from: Crockpot Baked Potato Soup Caramel Banana Pecan Muffins Barbecue Shredded Pork Sandwiches Monster Cookies Roasted Potatoes, Bell Pepper and Chicken Sausage one pan dinner and last, but not least, maybe I'll make them some Skinny Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie. Yummo!! So many choices! It will be fun to love on the family and serve them up some food that is also "filled with love" as I like to say around here. I hope you all are having a great weekend and getting some suntans. Say hi if you stop by! I love hearing from my readers out there. Hugs and kisses.

I've been avoiding this link in my "favorites" column on my computer for weeks. You know how when it's been so long since you've talked to a friend on the phone, that the more time passes, the harder it is to just pick up the phone and be like, "hey chic! What's goin' on?" Because she is going "who is this?" Yeah. That's how I've been feeling the more that Winter turned into Spring and now it has advanced to Summer! I've went from back issues, then on to weight loss that took my 100% focus, to last weeks of school craziness that took up a lot of my time recently. My husband has been promising to re-vamp and re-style my blog for me to stir back up my creativity. The sweet man says that he likes to see me blogging. Love him. There really is no other way to begin the journey back into blogging for me than to give a good ol' fashioned bullet point update. Who doesn't love those. ;-) Here we go: I started getting serious about losing some extra weight at the beginning of the year. I fluctuate 10 pounds or so at any time, and I always use Weight Watchers online to pull it off. I had been doing it half-heartedly the last go around and kicked it into gear in January. I am down 20 pounds and feeling amazing. The working out 4-5 days a week doesn't hurt either. David and I celebrated our 15 year anniversary this year. We decided to splurge and take a cruise to the bahamas for 3 days. I hurt my back (again) the week before we were leaving and I lived at my chiropractor and physical therapist like every hour of every day until I left. (here I am on the spinal decompression table) I was told I have the spine of a 65 year old woman with arthritis, degenerating discs and bulging discs that have caused me way too much pain. I may have cried a lot this week. I am feeling good right now though, thank you Lord, and trying to take care of my back as well as I can. It rained the entire cruise. Like, the whole time. Like, it was cold and I was wearing a sweater instead of my bikini that I worked so hard to get into. Yes. It was depressing. We tried to laugh about it, but we had to take a break from crying to do so. :-) We still love each other though. My sister is pregnant again. Surprise! Cooper is 20 months and little Parker will be making his debut in the next few weeks. We are so excited! For those of you counting - yes, she has 4 boys. Let's all take a moment and pray for her sanity. I am still cooking up a storm over here, but the best discovery of my life was the healthy and delicious recipes from the Skinny Taste blog. It makes easy, normal ingredient types of recipes that I would naturally want to cook for my family. She lists all the calorie information AND W.W. points, so it has made my life so easy to stay on track. We have made almost 20 of her recipes that she has created and I am in love with nearly every single one. Love!!! It's allowed my eating to still be super enjoyable, healthy and I still get to cook for my family and see them light up with happiness over their meals - and their desserts. She is my hero. I want to send her money and make her create a cookbook so that I have these recipes on my shelf in my kitchen. For now - I will use the internet and continue to try new recipes every week. I seriously can't wait to cook during the week - they are THAT good! I am in love with bright colored polish on my toes. Blue and green are super fun! Here is my latest favorite - China Glaze's Four Leaf Clover. Little Girl is an official 1st grader now and finished out Kindergarten with a bang at Field Day. I loved Field Day as a kid. LG did too, except for when she felt tired and wanted to know how long that particular race was going to last. :-) Thankfully the day ended with a giant slip-n-slide down a hill and snow cones. You truly can't beat that. We don't have a dog. The kids decided they were happy with just us right now, and I decided I loved them so much more. :-) I have been hearing chaotic dog stories from a ton of people around me recently and it just reminds me why we are dog-free. Childhood is calling and so is Summer. We have lots of fun things to do to keep us busy over the next few months. I have a feeling it's going to fly by! Someone listed on their blog recently how many Summers they have left with their kids. I have 12 with LG and 15 with Baby Boy. I'm going to make the most of our day today!

This is a true picture of my children. LG is always posing and asking for pictures. Baby Boy ALWAYS has cars or monster trucks in his hands. Always. I love having one of each. I get the best of both worlds in so many ways.

I have a yummy new menu planned for the week, and I've even bought all of my ingredients, but it's shaping up to look busy and I may not be in my kitchen as much as I anticipated, so we shall see. You may see some of these back up on the menu next week I'm thinking. Here goes anyway.

Homemade Baked chicken nuggets, baked zucchini stix and steamed veggies or pasta
Chicken Francese, potato and salad
Skinny Chicken Enchiladas, yellow rice and refried beans
Weight Watchers banana and chocolate chip wontons.
Taco Soup

I also just posted a new recipe that I promised you over at The Recipe Box. Go check out the Skinny No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie.

Have a great night!

If you know me at all, you know friendships are very important to me. It's easy to have a lot of acquaintance type friends, but true, connected, in-each-other's-lives-daily-encouraging-laughing-evencrying type of friends are rare and to be treasured. No one can nurture every single relationship that comes into your life. It's not physically possible. I often feel guilty if I can't call or send a note to someone or bring them a treat on a rainy day when I think about them, but if you tried to do that for everyone in your life - you would end up doing it for NO ONE in your life because you typically also have responsibilities, a family, school schedules, a husband, meals to prepare, church responsibilities, homework, needs of the house-hold, time with the Lord, shopping and a whole host of other things that pull you and don't allow you to be all things to all people. However, when you meet that friend or 2 or 3 friends in your life that are people you want in your tight-knit circle - you go the extra mile with them. You check up on them. You deliver soup to them when they are sick. You pray for them when they are struggling. You bring them a Starbucks on a Tuesday just because you love 'em. You ask them about their life and truly listen to their life and all the stories they want to share. It's called being a really good friend.

I'm trying to teach Little Girl and Baby Boy how important friendships are. I want them to treasure their friends like Gold and like gifts from the Lord when they have someone that they have buddied up to at school or church or wherever. I hope I'm instilling this quality in them by example (I know I fall short) and in my words about the importance of being a good friend.

LG has made a really sweet friend at school this year. They both love to laugh and giggle together. They seem to speak kindness to one another and encouragement - which I love, and they are CRAFTY with a capital C. They both have the same little passion for Art which is so enjoyable to watch when they are both in "creative mode". It makes me smile. So, when we heard LG's friend from school was sick most of last week, we both agreed we should drop by a little something to cheer her up.


LG had p.j. day at school and looked all a-crazy, but she had her fun little gift to run over to her friend's house (a crafty project of course) and she was so excited about it.

I believe that being a parent is a really intentional job. A lot of days I worry that I am just coasting by in survival mode and just making sure everyone is fed, clean and presentable to the world. But then there are days when I sit back and really try to make small impacts in different ways on each of my kids and it makes me happy to see them blossom into who God wants them to be.

I have had numerous great friends in my life. Literally every place we have moved to and lived, whether it be for a year or 3 years at a time - God has always blessed me with some of the most amazing women in my life that I still call dear friends to this day. I pray those things for my kids too.

Well, on top of all this fun, we have been cooking up a storm in my kitchen this week and I wanted to send you over to The Recipe Box to check out some of the awesome recipes I made this week. I kid you not that we ate well and we ate healthy this week. This is my all time favorite combo. O.K. - Here's what you have to go make:

Crockpot Barbacoa Beef with cilantro lime rice and corn salsa - You must try! You'll love it!!

Crockpot Creamy Potato Soup

Asian Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Banana, Caramel Pecan Muffins

All these recipes were a hit and I have even a new one to share on Monday. It's Skinny Chocolate Peanut Butter Pie and it is awesomely good.

Have a great Saturday. The kids are playing all their musical instruments upstairs as I type and the hubs is asleep on the couch. I guess that makes for a perfect weekend. We're off to a birthday party soon which will run out all their energy and fill them up with sugar.

See you Monday.