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Spring Break Baby!

Published by Aubrey

This week we are on spring break. This is a week off for Brian where he doesn’t have to go to campus and we have been enjoying it to its fullest. Lots and lots of family time here at home and around our town. Going somewhere out of town just really isn’t easy or fun right now with our family so we are more than content spending our vacation right here at home. We have enjoyed getting ice cream, renting a fun movie, taking bike and scooter rides and having picnics in our yard. We also have been working on our yard a lot and believe it or not as a family. The girls have been getting their hands dirty just as much as us. The little mister is in heaven being outside with mommy and daddy ALL day! He hasn’t been taking naps because he’s been having so much fun. But come 7pm he crashes hard. Bri and I really enjoy taking on projects outside together. It’s one of our favorite things to do. I love working hard, tackling a big project and then having instant gratification from all the work we’ve done together. Good feeling. One day we decided to go after the side of the house where we have a dilapidated gardening bench, a bunch of weeds and our trash cans. It’s is now a little garden with stepping stones filled with rosemary, sage, beans and green peppers. The next day we went out to the front and Brian tore out 3 HUGE bushes that were a pain to maintain and basically a haven for snails. No positives in our opinion so out they went. Plus, we have about 15 more of the same bushes in the backyard. Not sure what the previous renters were thinking. It was such a sense of accomplishment when we pulled these ugly things out. Wish you could have seen our high fives and dances of celebration. The neighbors got a great show! We replaced the bushes with some flowers and a couple of rocks. Our landlord brought over a pick-up load full of mulch and now it is really looking pretty nice. We are proud of ourselves for sure. Before we went to bed last night we went out to look at our work and then again this morning! It doesn’t take much to make us completely happy! More than how happy we are with the results it was the experience of working together as a family. We have created great memories to look back on.

Here are some pics of the making of our garden. Enjoy!

This is the before but also picture lots of weeds and junky old gardening bench.

My little worker honey bee. Check out of the stones we laid.

The finished product of our new little garden!

Pictures from my Ohio weekend

Published by Aubrey

As promised here are pics from my wonderful weekend in Ohio at the state wrestling tournament.

Me and Brent (my brother) after it was all over.

My Dad and Mom

Angie (my sister-in-law) and baby on the way:)

Little E with his Daddy and Pa. I didn’t get a picture of Big brother A. Sad

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Published by Aubrey

We celebrated St. Patrick’s Day on Monday with friends of ours Tutu Girly. We had a great time! Wore green clothes, ate lots of green food, made some special crafts, decorated and ate yummy cut out shamrock cookies and even went on a treasure hunt for 4 leaf clovers around the house. The kids loved it. And I loved it too, just enjoyed being with friends. The girls played really well. They’re not babies anymore but 2 toddlers! The little misses think they are big girls too, and played right along with the older kids. It was a moment for me to see my babies be little girls!

Thanks Tutu Girly for such a fun party!

Miss K was all about the food! The Little Mister after eating his cookie he loaded with sprinkles! Miss T, she looks bothered I came in the room to check on her

Time Change of Goodness

Published by Aubrey

It has been a week since the time change and let me tell you it has been great! Wonderful changes have occurred in our family schedule due to just one hour difference.

Mr. Barela and I are getting a extra 1-1 1/2 hours of sleep because the kiddos are sleeping in. We haven’t been meandering out to the kitchen till 7:30-8AM! This gives me time to have a quiet time or go for a run.
Lunch is pushed back to noon therefore naps are pushed back till 1- 1:30. Before we were having our first snack of the day at 9AM and eating lunch at 11AM.
Kids are taking longer naps because we have longer time to play harder in the morning.
Dinner is pushed back as well. Kids aren’t at my heals at 4:30pm to eat dinner.
We can play outside after dinner because the sun is still out and the kids are going to bed a little later. This makes the night go so much faster.
It means spring and warm weather are coming!

It’s amazing how much just one hour of adjustment can do and the happiness and ease it brings 5 people. But when you run on a schedule like we do around here the time change means so much more than just one hour.

Hope the time change has been good to you too!

A Big Surprise Revealed!

Published by Aubrey

I have been waiting to blog about this for awhile but because it was a surprise and certain people read my blog I could not disclose any information. But now that the surprise is over and was a big hit I can tell you all about how my dad and I pulled off a very big surprise! It’s been in the works for about a month or so and all credit goes to my dad, his idea and he paid for it! Yeah, he really gets all the credit! This past weekend I flew to Ohio where I am from to surprise my mom and brother and his family. It just wasn’t any old weekend but a special, BIG weekend for my brother. First let me tell you I come from a wrestling family. My dad was a wrestler and coach, my brother was a wrestler and now the coach of the high school we both graduated from. A lot of people don’t get the sport, and that’s is ok with me, but I really think it’s because they just don’t know about it. Anyways back to they surprise…my brother, Brent’s team is very good and were predicted to win the state title. This past weekend was the state tournament so my dad offered to fly me in for the weekend to see the tournament and to surprise my family. It took me about 2.2 seconds to decide YES! It was great! My mom cried of course when she saw me. She had no idea. When Brent saw me he gave me a huge smile. This is big for “the man of little words or little emotion”. I got to see ALOT of wrestling, be with my mom and dad, see my grandpa, uncle and cousin, hang out with my sister-in-law and new little one on the way, tickle and play with my adorable nephews, yell and cheer for the PHS panthers, eat lots of good (not good for me!) food and watch my brother coach and encourage and his wrestlers. He is a great coach (which I already knew) and as I witnessed from being at the tournament, respected by many other coaches, parents and wrestlers. The tournament did not end as we had hoped but they still walked away proudly with the second place trophy, only missing the 1st place spot by 20 points. Which isn’t that much in wrestling. I was so thankful to be a part of a special weekend for my family.

Now you may be wondering who was with MY family while I was across the country? Good question. Brian did a wonderful job manning the fort while I was gone and also hosted his parents for the weekend. He ventured out of the house for the first time alone with all 3, taking them to Barnes and Nobles to play and read and then to Costco to play the “How many samples can we get” game. He did wonderful! I am so proud of him and the confident father he has become. The kids did amazingly well, ate good, played good, slept good! Can’t ask for more than that. They all had a great time seeing Grandma and Grandpa too! Lots of extra lovin’ for our kiddos is always nice:)

I came home to a clean house and smiling kids who tackled me when they saw me. LOVE IT!

Thanks Brian for being the amazing husband and father that you are and thanks Dad for making it all possible. It was so fun to be sneaky with you!

***more pics to come when I download them***

…Running…it’s my thing…

Published by Aubrey

I’m a runner. I love it. It’s my thing.

I got up early before the rest of the house awoke and made a break for it. The days have been filled with rain, but this morning it had stopped for a moment so I took my chance. Thirty seconds into my run it started sprinkling…then raining…then pouring. I just kept going. It felt so good. Running clears my head. I’ve had some of my best thoughts while running, best conversations with God, best prayers for myself and others. And I also think this is where God meets me, I listen, I confess, He speaks truth, He forgives, He reveals Himself to me in ways I wouldn’t see if I didn’t have my running shoes on. Some of my best ideas for crafts, recipes, party planning, blogs posts have come while running. I’m not a great runner but not a bad one either. Just your average runner I would say. I do some races here and there. I would like to say I “train” for them but I really don’t. Most times I just go out do what I do. Usually depends on how much time I have and what else is going on in my life. On race days the competive side of me comes alive and I race like I have been training for this race all my life. I always sprint at the end because you have to finish strong even if you are dying inside, and because that is what my Dad (my coach) has always told me. Running gives me peace, keeps me strong physically and emotionally, allows me to eat whatever I want and gives me a place to just let go and be me.

I’m a runner. I love it. It’s my thing.

What’s your testimony?

Published by Aubrey

I was running with my running partner last week and we got to talking about coffee. How much we LOVE it, when we started drinking it, how we like it, how much we drink, what kind we brew at home, what kind we like when we’re out and about, what kind of creamer we use, what kind of coffee maker we have at home, how our moods are affected if we don’t have coffee, how our coffee preferences have changed as our stages in life have changed. I realized that we each had our own little coffee testimony, as anyone who drinks coffee does. I came home that morning telling Brian all about it and how fun it was to talk about my “coffee testimony”. Then I got to thinking, “Am I this excited or eager to tell my real testimony?” Not really. How many of my friends or even family do not know my spiritual testimony but know how I like my coffee? I want to change this.

How about you?

Homemade fun

Published by Aubrey

Last night the Little Mister and I had a fun time in the kitchen as we often do after the girls are in bed. We love to bake together, and let me tell you he is getting pretty good at mixing and measuring. We decided to go a different direction last night and make some homemade chocolate playdough and crayons. I’ve been wanting to try both of these for awhile and the fact that we have yet to send a birthday gift that is almost 2 months late now ( I know!) gave me even more desire to try these creations out. Here is what we did.

First we started with the chocolate play dough using this recipe I found from A Foothill Home Companion. It was super easy and smelled great (better than it looked). It’s edible, I guess. Like it won’t hurt you if you eat it, but it doesn’t taste like yummy chocolate or anything. I thought this would be a good place for the girls to start in playing with play dough. It was really easy to make, all of about 10 minutes All of the sudden play dough is “cool” again to play with because it is chocolate so the Little Mister was happy.

Next, we moved on to the homemade crayons. We have a lot of broken crayons in our crayon container that aren’t really being used. I peeled all the wrappers off, broke them up and put them in mini muffin tins. I filled them up as full as I could because I knew they would melt down. I wanted to make swirly crayons so I did all different colors in each but you can do it any way you want and with whatever shape or size mold that fits your fancy. Set the oven to the lowest temperature it can go, mine is 200 and bake for about 10 min. Just keep an eye on them, because you don’t want to over bake them. Let them cool and then color away. Again, I thought these would be great first crayons for the girls to start with. Easy for their little fingers to hold.***Side note- the cheapy waxy crayons don’t work well. Go for the real thing…Crayola.

We had a lot of fun creating our own art supplies and I’m excited because we have a fun, inexpensive gift to give! Everyone wins!

Monday Mom Time

Published by Aubrey

The last 4 weeks there have been significant changes at the Barela household for the better. All because of ONE wonderful idea, and an answer to many prayers, life seems a little bit more managable. On Monday’s our neighbor friend comes over to watch the kids for 2 hours. She is 13, lives right across the street and because this is her first babysitting job doesn’t expect a lot of money. Oh, and most important she does great with the kids. So it all works really well. Because of this most precious time I am able to be more organized with meal planning, budgeting and I get to have 2 hours to myself (who cares if it’s at Trader Joe’s!) Also, it helps me feel more at ease through out the week because I’m not wondering how or when I’m going to get to the store. I have more time during the week now to just be at home with the kids or the park or wherever because of my Monday Mom Time. I’m so thankful for this time. It’s a highlight of my week.