the doodlebug.

Milestone moment: we got rid of cable! Although I'm surviving, I already know I'll miss Fixer Upper on rerun on the DVR. Maybe Netflix will start running it? I can only hope! I do think without the distraction of all the channels we had (and that we paid $85 a month for - yikes) that maybe I'll find a series to watch on Netflix. This evening as the storm began rolling in and the windows were open, we had the Cubs game on. It was a nice change of pace, let alone the fewer options the kids have now! Side note: along with cancelling cable, we also paid off a BIG chunk remaining on my student loan and now just have a bit left that we plan to pay by the end of this year!

This weekend the kids Roz ran in a kids track meet, although she required a bit of coaxing, she did pretty good! I mean, out of three races, she only fell in two :)


The rest of the weekend was a blur: Roz nearly broke her pinky finger, Johnny's truck was broken into and we took a trip to urgent care for an …

Back at it! Except, to tell you the truth, I don't have my list in front of me so I will recall the last few from memory.

5. When my grandma died we were left with a lot of stuff (which may be the motivation behind my minimalism approach lately). If you knew her at all, you know she had a lot of hobbies that she loved to share with her family and friends. One of which was sewing, I inherited a brand new sewing machine she'd just bought as well as mounds of beautiful fabric. Some of the fabric I remember she had used in quilts and projects for me when I was a little girl. Ok, so back to my goal. My goal this year is to begin using the fabric (and NOT buy more) not only to eliminate having SO much but also to share with others my grandma. You guys, I didn't realize you could miss one single person so much. This is my way of thinking about her and making her proud by finally figuring out a sewing machine (all you have to do is follow the instructions - who knew!). So far this…

As I mentioned in a previous post, I've been using Lara Casey's Powersheets to outline goals for 2017. As you can see below, I took a photo of the page that actually outlines your goals. Prior to this I answered a series of questions to help me get to this point, it seemed overwhelming but essential. From here I choose tasks from a few goals to break down into daily, weekly and monthly things that help me get closer to completing a goal. It's truly what they say about making small changes consistently equate to big changes. I can't say I've been faithfully looking at this each month, but at least a few times a week to remind myself of things I need to be working on.


So, what's on there you say?
1. Read bible assignment daily and write notes. I definitely haven't done this daily, BUT I have gotten past my fear of publicly learning about God and joined a bible study - which is fantastic! I don't know what I was nervous about. With that said, I do a lot of…

Thursday nights always bring "Girl's Night" in the Russ House. Johnny bowls these nights each week and Roz and I always make plans to do something special. This typically ends up being the same type of night as usual with a few shows, baths and dinner but it's exciting anyways! Memphis asked this morning if he could "be a girl" so he could be invited, too - of course!

In reality though - the kids fought over the same chair, argued over the movie we would watch and then when bedtime came I put Memphis to bed a minimum of six times. It's ok though,  I wouldn't change it.

Here's your Thursday night/Friday Eve quote:
Me: "Buddy, you have to get some sleep so you can grow up big!"
Memphis: "Ok. Leave my door open, k?"
Me: "You got it, dude."

Quiet for five minutes.

Memphis comes peeking around the corner.

Memphis:"But mom, I don't WANT to get big!" Cue alligator  tears. "I want to stay small!"

Oh b…

Is it just me or does every post on this blog start with: "So, it's been a while." The end of 2016 had me in complete shock that life has had its foot on the accelerator and our babies are nearly three and five years old.

Say what?

I worked through Lara Casey's Power Sheets and uncovered goals I knew I needed to start chipping away at this year. One of them being to get back into blogging. I had been researching new platforms and ultimately decided my track record of checking in every few months may not immediately warrant me paying for a more professional blog at the moment. Perhaps a polished and more professional look is in my future, but for now I'm back at square one!

I'm not certain where or how often I'll check in, I'm just hopeful that at the end of 2017 I can say I recorded more of our year.

February has brought surprisingly warm temps, with expectations of 73 degrees tomorrow! This weekend we were able to spend the majority of it outdoors, M…

I think this blog needs a complete revamp (considering my last post was over a year ago), but on the way into work this morning I had the thought  that I could instead use this space to keep track of funny things the kids say and do. I hope to spend more time here with the notion of only posting daily musings from my kids.

Up first, a few Rozisms:

On the way out the door this morning:
Me: "Let's get in the car, baby!"
Roz: "I'm not your baby, I'm daddy's baby!"
(I guess she told me!)

After scolding her for throwing her juice:
"Don't look at my face, mom! It's not funny!"