On January 1st, my mom sent me a link to an article written by Harvey Mackey in the Star Tribune (our local paper). It’s about the power of the positive. You can read the whole article in the link below, but I plan to highlight my favorite bits (which is basically the entire article) in this post as well.

http://www.startribune.com/harvey-mackay-sees-the-power-of-being-positive/503632552/

I read this, and re-read it, and then saved it to my favorites so I could go back to it whenever I needed a boost of positive reinforcement. His message is so right on I could only dream of being able to say it so well. On this gloomy day, and after a sleepless night, I revisited these words once again because I needed a pick-me-up. Once again, it did the trick.

So, without further jibber jabber from me, I present to you some of my favorite pieces of his article…

“With the new year upon us, I have a challenge for you. Stop worrying about that which you cannot control.

Many years ago, this advice came from Robert Jones Burdette, an American humorist and clergyman: “There are two days in every week about which we should not worry, two days which should be kept from fear and apprehension. One of these days is yesterday with its mistakes and cares, its faults and blunders, its aches and pains. Yesterday has passed forever beyond our control. All the money in the world cannot bring back yesterday. We cannot erase a single word we said. Yesterday is gone.

The other day we should not worry about, is tomorrow with its possible adversities, its burdens, its large promise and poor performance. Tomorrow is also beyond our immediate control. Tomorrow’s sun will rise. Until it does, we have no stake in tomorrow, for it is yet unborn.

This leaves only one day — today. Any person can fight the battles of just one day. It is only when you and I add the burdens of those two awful eternities — yesterday and tomorrow — that we break down. It is not the experience of today that drives people mad — it is remorse or bitterness for something which happened yesterday and the dread of what will happen tomorrow.”

Let that sink in for a minute. Today is the only day we can take action. Sure, we learn from yesterday. And of course, we plan for tomorrow. But unless we approach each day with a renewed positive outlook, we are wasting enormous potential.”

He then goes on to write about a fellow writer, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, who published a bestseller in 1952 titled, “The Power of Positive Thinking”. Some of the highlights of the book:

• “You do not need to be a victim of worry. Reduced to its simplest form, what is worry? It is simply an unhealthy and destructive mental habit.”

• “The way to happiness: Keep your heart free from hate, your mind from worry. Live simply, expect little, give much. Fill your life with love. Scatter sunshine. Forget self, think of others. Do as you would be done by. Try this for a week and you will be surprised.”

• “When you expect the best, you release a magnetic force in your mind which by a law of attraction tends to bring the best to you.”

• “Believe in yourself! Have faith in your abilities! Without a humble but reasonable confidence in your own powers you cannot be successful or happy. But with sound self-confidence you can succeed. A sense of inferiority and inadequacy interferes with the attainment of your hopes, but self-confidence leads to self-realization and successful achievement.”

Wow, just wow. Every time I read it I once again feel incredibly empowered. Sometimes WE are the only ones in the way of our own success. So get out of the way. Self-doubt is NO GOOD so let it go!

Hi friends!

I just wanted to pop in real quick to let you know that we are one man closer to our very own basketball team.

Baby Blake arrived on July 14, 2018. 7#1oz, 19.5 inches long. Dark brown hair and lots of it!

As always, active labor was muy rapido for us and he came flying out to greet the world. The nurses named him Rocket, short for Rocket Man because he was lightning fast.

He is everything we dreamed of and more. The boys are adjusting beautifully and they adore their baby brother.

Life is obviously a bit crazy but all in all, I feel pretty good with where we are at! Heck, I even had a breather to type of this blog post!

I hope you are all well! Hope to check in again soon.

xoxo,

Melanie

Well, hello strangers! It’s been a very long time!

I’ve been having some issues with uploading photos into the blog, most likely because it’s been so neglected and could use some serious housekeeping. BUT, instead of spending my time googling how to fix it right now, I decided I would write a little post instead.

I miss writing. I really do. I’m not giving up on the hope that someday I will get back writing and posting more often.

I have been cooking up a storm, mostly recipes that I find on Pinterest that I end up tweaking. Lots of wins lately. My favorite soup right now is this cheesy vegetable chowder from 12tomatoes:

http://12tomatoes.com/vegetable-chowder/

I cut down on the butter just a bit and it turns out great every time. It makes a big batch so we are able to make it last a few meals. Go make it, you won’t regret it!

Our Minnesota “Spring” continues to look more and more like winter. We just got some snow last night and are supposedly getting 10 more inches by tomorrow. Hence the reason why I’m still making soup. Who am I kidding? I love soup any time of the year.

Let’s see, what’s been keeping me busy lately…oh yes, my energetic beautiful boys.

Bode is 3.5 years old. Spunky, hilarious, curious, cautious and very much a three-year-old. So far he has dabbled in swimming, gymnastics, soccer, and dance. He is looking forward to starting up gymnastics again hopefully this summer. He is my mini me in terms of looks.

Benjamin is 1.5. Sweet, fearless, so happy, and always has that twinkle in his eye. He is definitely the instigator between the two boys. I think Ben will be the one looking for trouble and Bode will be the one questioning if it’s a good idea. Time will tell! Ben is looking more and more like Dana every day.

The two boys love to play together and love to fight. This is the beginning of a long road of boy battles I realize.

Our latest house projects have included redoing our mudroom. We took out the closet and knocked back the wall and replaced with paneling, hooks, and shelves. Our little family can all fit in there when we are coming in from the garage. It’s AMAZING!

We’ve also been working on getting Bode’s room ready to share with Benny. Ben will be moving in within the next few months to make room for….

A NEW BABY! We are excited to announce that baby boy #3 will be joining our family in July! Upon finding out I was having another boy, I was terrified. Talk about being outnumbered. But you know what? I grew up with three older brothers, growing up I had a ton of guy friends, and now after having two boys already plus being married to one, man alive, I feel like I’m doing pretty well with figuring out how the male work. I’ve had a lot of time to learn. They are much less complicated than girls I hear?

So yes, bring on the cars, trains, and superheroes, I am ready. Also, my boys love to play dress up in my old dance costumes and play with dolls and barbies and I adore that. I’m about to pull out my old barbies for them to play with. It strengthens their masculinity. 🙂

I will be updating the nursery because I am so tired of the old nautical stuff from when Bode was a baby.

So that is my latest creative outlet. Planning and decorating the nursery for sweet little boy. I am hoping to work with this color scheme:

I GOT A PICTURE TO UPLOAD! Whoop whoop!

I am working on a decoration for the wall that says: Be Brave, Be Kind, Be True.  I am very excited to see it all come together! I have a long way to go though!

Alright, the boys are up and it’s time for me to get a truckin’.

I hope you are all doing fabulously well! I would love to hear from you!

xoxo,

Melanie

I really wanted to come on in here and say hi so…

HI!!!

I WILL be returning at some point to write posts again! I miss it. I miss you all. How is everyone?

Quick updates:

-I KILLED the half marathon in May! Hopefully I can recap it at some point.

–Ben is almost ONE! How on earth is that possible?

–Bode is almost THREE! Again, how on earth?

-We enjoyed summer so incredibly much and still can’t believe it’s over.

–I LOVE FALL and am SO EXCITED for it!

-Still obsessed with essential oils. Errrrr-day.

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Alright, that’s all  for now. It’s bedtime for Bode man (and for me).

Check in with you all soon again I hope, hope, hope!

Oh, hey! Man alive I have been completely MIA! How is everybody?!

This post is all over the place, so bear with me. Also, I am having serious issues with my photos on the blog. All of my old posts have random photos and they are all in wrong places. There is no way I am going to back and fix them all so it’s just going to have to stay that way. On this post, chances are you will be looking at sideways and upside down photos until I can figure out what’s going on. Yikes.

We are great over here. Bode will be two years old next month! He is talking a TON now, running around with endless energy, making us laugh, and impressing us everyday. It’s amazing how such a small person can brighten your day so much and be so funny!

Jasmine went through two months of puppy training and is doing great! We still have a bit of training to do but we are getting there. She is a very sweet girl and puts up with a lot from Mr. Bode man.

This summer was awesome. I’m not even going to try and sum it up in a nutshell; it was fab!

Dana and I took a trip to Lake Tahoe just the two of us about a month ago now. If you’ve never been to Lake Tahoe, book a trip now (book through my husband of course). It is one of the most breathtaking places I have been.

We had such a relaxing time. We ate tons of great food, walked around, drove around the whole lake, went on a boat ride on Lake Tahoe, and were in bed between 8-9:30 every night. How’s that for crazy?

(Dana had shoulder surgery a few days before our trip. He’s all good now and was a total champ the whole weekend.)

View from our boat cruise…

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I’ve been trying to get myself back in the kitchen after a bit of a hiatus this summer. Some of our dinners as of late:

Paleomg’s spaghetti squash pizza pie:

Skinny Taste’s Bang Bang Shrimp:

There hasn’t been much, if any, recipe creation over here, but I am sure good at following recipes!

Let’s see, what else is new…

We have been busy rearranging rooms in our house to make room for a BABY BOY!

This post is obviously long over-due because I am due next month! October 22nd is my guess date. This pregnancy has been so smooth just as my pregnancy with Bode was. I have felt great, stayed active, and am blown away as each week passes by so quickly. We are talking to Bode about having a baby brother but pretty sure he doesn’t quite get it. He will soon enough! We unsure of names but think we have it narrowed down to two.

My “cravings” this pregnancy have been:

• Pickles
• Bagels and cream cheese
• Caesar salad (hold the anchovies in the dressing)
• Fruit gummies

How’s that for random? I haven’t really had any aversions this pregnancy. All safe food is fair game really.

That about does it for this quick little BIG update. Next time I check in, we will more than likely be a family of four!

Oh my goodness it’s been over a month since I’ve been on here. YIKES!

Here’s what I’ve been up to…

We moved into our new house on Friday! We have now been here for a week and are starting to feel semi-organized. There is lots and lots to do still but we have time! We aren’t planning on leaving any time soon! 😉 We absolutely love the open floor plan and everything about this house. Bode is getting used to it too!

Bode is right around the corner from turning one year old. How on earth that is even possible I have no idea. He has taken a few steps but still not ready enough to do it on his own all of the time. I am perfectly okay with this. Considering I am already chasing after him I am just imagining how life will change even more once he is running everywhere! Time for me to lace up my sneaks. He now has six teeth so he is eating pretty much everything with a few exceptions. But that didn’t mean that we stopped getting him checked by our Orlando Family Dentist, because he still had some issues with the teeth. His favorites change on a daily basis as do most kids’, but you can be pretty sure if you give him yogurt, pancakes, grapes, meatballs, pasta or mashed potatoes, that he is going to be a happy camper. He makes me laugh everyday. I love that little munchkin.

Since I love all things fall, I have made it a priority to put at least a couple of my fall decorations out to enjoy before the season passes. We don’t have shelves up so there is limited decorating space, but I have managed to find a few spots! Considering I do love fall so much, I decided that Bode was going to have a lil’ pumpkin/fall themed birthday party. I’m by no means going crazy with decor but it helps me to have a theme in planning. Think pumpkins, soup, apples…it’s going to be fun! But again, still can’t believe he’s turning one.

Let’s see, what else has happened over the last couple of months? I am still loving and becoming more obsessed with my essential oils on a daily basis. I have been diffusing peppermint and lavender in the morning while I get ready for work and it such a nice little pick me up that I look forward to. Love!

Because of the move and trying to get our lives organized in our new house, exercise has been thrown to the curb. This is going to change very soon though because I am starting to feel it. I miss it! We have definitely been active unpacking boxes but it’s just not the same you know? It will happen! I had plans to go for a run today but now it’s raining so we will see. Excuses, excuses.

Okay so I guess this is going to be a post without pictures and I apologize because that is very boring but I realize I haven’t synced my photos to my computer in about a month and baby cakes is about to wake up and I really want to get this published before he does!

I hope you are all well and enjoying this beautiful fall as much as I am!

xoxo

Right?!

We have a winner of the Stubb’s coupons! Random number generator chose…