30 Before 30 Update

Well my 30th Birthday has come and gone....and I need to admit that I only completed 25 of my 30 items on my list.

I'm actually not even slightly disappointed in not quite finishing the list, because I had a blast doing the ones that I did!!

And I would still encourage others to do a list of their own.  It was fun!

Enjoying my 30's ~ although I don't feel like I'm in my 30's

Melodiejoy

30-Before-30 #2 Take Sleepy on a Mother Son Date

Sleepy and I had a wonderful dinner date last Saturday.

We chose to eat in because all the other family members were away from home. 

Sleepy picked, toasted honey ham sandwiches, and macaroni salad.

We enjoyed our flashlight lit dinner, while discussing the important issues of a 6 year old boys life.

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Sleepy giggled lots, and really enjoyed his quiet time alone with Mom.

He then asked me to dance with him to the music we had playing in the background.  Let me just say there is not much sweeter than dancing with your tiny son. 

Thoroughly enjoying having a son

Melodiejoy

30-Before-30 #26 Watch Northern Lights with my husband again

:-) This is probably the second most exciting task on my 30-before-30 that I've completed (I will post what so far has been the most exciting one to be completed at a later time)

At just after 11PM my husband was tying the dogs out before going to bed...when he looked up in the sky and saw lights...not just any lights Northern Lights...in our back yard ~ just to put this in perspective we live in the city :-)  So we quickly woke all 4 kids still in their PJ's (thankfully it was a really warm night) and we headed North of the city to do some observations :-)  We didn't have to go far to realize that this was a spectacular light show.  The grid gravel road was lined with vehicles parked, and cameras mounted everywhere...so we found a secluded spot, pulled over and watched!  Wow is all I can say, they were BEAUTIFUL!!!!

Now as a disclaimer...I am not a photographer...but I tried...and even with my grainy photo's I think you can get a glimpse at how bright these lights were, a couple of the photo's you can see just a ting of colour (other than green of course)

The light show completely surrounded us!   We just stood in awe of God's creation!

  This is my hubby with a couple of our girls....as you can see our girls are getting TALL

 That's my husband looking in the Bright sky...the light's in the distance are the city, so you can tell we really didn't go far out!

Here's proof that I was actually there...with my husband :-)

These 30-Before-30 are proving to be lots of fun!!!!

Melodiejoy

Day 5 ~ Tiny

These "tiny" creatures decided to invade my home this spring...thankfully I was able to eliminate them :-)  My theme song for days was Dead Ant...Dead Ant ect... to the tune of the Pink Panther song....

Happy to be pest free

Melodiejoy

Day 4 ~ Someone Who Makes You Happy

This photo challenge was easy ~ of course it's my husband of 10 years :-)

This is a scanned picture of our wedding day :-)  Wow did we ever look young :-)

Loving him more and more each day

Melodiejoy

Day 3 ~ Mail

Nothing fancy in our mailbox today, just a bill, a renewal notice and some tracts.

I  love the thrill of discovering what's in our mailbox each day

Melodiejoy

Day 2 ~ Colour

This is one of the activities that has kept me from blogging the last few days.  With 3 girls all in Girl Guides of Canada we sell a lot of these cookies each year :-)

Craving cookies

Melodiejoy

Day 1 ~ Your Reflection

:-)  Well I knew when planning on doing a 30 day challenge that I would not be able to blog a photo a day.  But I am going to post for each day...even if I have to post multiple times a day to catch up :-)

Day 1 ~ Your Reflection

My reflection in our grandfather clock :-)

Starting 4 days late :-)

Melodiejoy

30-Before-30 #19 Ride A Bike

This spring has been amazingly strange...someday's it feel's (and looks) like summer, and other days we get snow all over the ground.

Thankfully this past Monday, when we were enjoying our day off together, the weather decided to be summer :-) (But Tuesday morning we woke to snow)

So we found all the kids helmets...made sure they all fit properly, and allowed them to ride their bikes for the first time this year!  It was great fun having them all back on bikes ~ and especially now that there are no training wheels for anyone!!!

While we were setting up all 4 of the kids bikes, with pumped tires, and ensuring that all the brakes still worked.  I took spin of 3 of the bikes to make sure everything worked great (no I didn't ride my sons tiny little bike...that would have been impossible :-)  So I rode 3 bikes (yes they were all kid bikes) but none the less I completed another 30-Before-30 :-)

Our youngest daughter "Happy" had outgrown her cute pink bike...so we headed to Canadian Tire and bought her a new 20" bike.  She was so happy to be able to pick out her own, and because Happy is a Tomboy she picked blue boys bike :-)  ~ Oh and we purchased her $299 bike for only $119!!!!  What a pleasant surprise at the store!!!

appreciating our family day together

Melodiejoy

Planning Ahead: For April's Photo Challenge

# 18 of my 30-Before-30 is "Do a 1 Month Photo Challenge"

So I found a list that I like from this blog and I intend on starting on April 1st...

So if you to would like to join in, please do ~ and let me know that your doing it also, and I'll be sure to check out all your photos!

Excited to do my first Photo Challenge!

Melodiejoy

Working Out ~ Again

Ok...So I was working out really hard before going on a 10 day vacation in February ~ Then it's been rare workouts since we arrived back home ~ but I'm determined today to get back at it, on a regular basis!!!!  Plus I really want to reach my goal weight for my 30-Before-30 goal #1 :-)

Here's what my weight loss chart currently looks like:
Please note the sudden jump was due to weighing in after vacation :-)

So even though I gained during vacation, I'm glad that I'm still below where I started!!  ~ Seriously who doesn't gain weight on vacation :-)

sweating myself back into a workout routine

melodiejoy

30-Before-30 #27 Have Family Photo's Done Professionally

Today, we did our annual family photo's at Wal-Mart

 

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This was actually our best photo session yet,
I guess as the kids get older that's to be expected :-)

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If you have had/have multiple kids I'm sure that you can relate to some photo's being a "tense" time, because for an hour or more, you attempt to get multiple kids to look at the camera, give "normal looking" smiles, and not blink all at the same time.  I know we have had a few very long photo sessions, with kids in tears before ~ and the poor stressed Mom and Dad before us today, had one of those photo sessions :-)  We really ought to be sure to thank photographers lots when we have our pictures done, because I am sure it's stressful for them too have crying kids in and out of their studio all day :-)  

But we had a great photo time!

The kids were so attentive!

The smiled beautifully!

We rarely had to take any retakes!

And the photo's turned out great!

And the best part is, we ended up getting lots of photo's
(2 different poses) and the sitting fee for only $36.00!!!

Happily awaiting the photo's to come in print

Melodiejoy

30-Before-30 #22 Reorganize My Walk in Closet

OK ~ Confession time...

I only put this task on my 30-Before-30 because I've been procrasting about it for way too long :-)  And I knew that if I put it on my list, I would do it, just to check it off :-)

I absolutely love to organize things....however this was a BIG job, so I was dreading doing it.

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Some of the items our closet contains are:

• most of my husbands clothing
• all my hanging clothing
• all my sweaters
• my shoe collection
• all of our "construction" clothing
• my hope chest
• my husbands tie collection (well it's not really a collection...but he's a pastor so there is a tie in every shade and design imaginable!)
• all our belts
• my purses
• laundry hamper

But I did it I tackled our closet.
It took me many hours!!!  
Sorry I have no photo's of this project :-)

I sorted through all my clothing
(while I was at it I went through all the clothes in my dresser as well)

Reorganized my husbands clothing

Installed a new wall shelf to hold my sweaters

Installed a new track lighting fixture, so that there would be more light in our closet

Hung up a 6 peg wall hook, for my husbands "to be worn again" clothing

And I hung a cute new curtain over the closet door 

~ a door will be installed someday...but our home is a work in progress, so a cute curtain will work for now :-)

Enjoying knowing exactly where all my clothing is

Melodiejoy

30-Before-30 #16 Teach 1 or more Dogs a New Trick

Well one of my dogs Mocha knows a fair amount of fun tricks. 

Somehow though we never taught her how to shake paw? 

Such a simple trick yet we had spent more time on the “funnier” tricks, like imitating a gopher, or playing dead when we shoot her, ect....

So I sat on the floor with Mocha for 5-10 minutes with lots of verbal praises (and zero treats).  And she can now shake paw!

I taught her this on Friday, so yesterday, and today, I’ve made sure to just go up to Mocha randomly throughout the day, and ask her to “shake”.  I like to do this to ensure that she has put this trick into her permanent memory.  So another 30-Before-30 crossed off my list!!!!

Enjoying my smiling dog

Melodiejoy

30-Before-30 #14 Buy a New Espresso Maker, and use it Everyday for a Week

Back in December, a friend purchased me some new coffee syrups for my espresso drinks, and when I turned on my espresso machine the next morning to try one out...my machine died :-(  So sad, this is actually my second espresso maker to kick the bucket since I've been married ~ sigh ~  

So I began the shopping experience of looking for a new one....sadly I purchased not 1 but 2 different espresso makers (from 2 different stores, and 2 different brands) that I needed to return because they didn't work at all!!

Finally however, while we were vacationing in Austin MN, I found an espresso maker at Target!  Because of having to return 2 machines already, I took the machine to my hotel room, and tried it out before travelling back to Canada where I would not be able to return it.   Thankfully it worked great.  So I packed it back up...and a brought it home.

I was happy to be home from vacation, and on the first morning home, I made myself a yummy espresso drink.  Then to keep with my 30-Before-30 goal, I continued on for not 7 but now 9 days, having not 1 but 2 specialty drinks a day :-)

So I will share with you my favourite homemade coffee drink :-)

Hmm, for the sake of this post...I'll call it....

"Melodiejoy's Caramel Mocha"

First you need an Espresso Machine ~ just stating the obvious...because I wanted to show you a picture of my new machine.

Next, compress your grounds into the espresso ground container (or the what-ya-ma-call-it)

Then I start by brewing 4 cups of espresso, into my "brewing" mug... (yes I do love my coffee)

After this I pour 1/4 cup chocolate milk into my "frothing" mug...

and froth it nice and "poofy", till it bubbles over the top of the mug.  (you can also use white milk...but chocolate milk was on sale this week ~ cheaper than white ~ and it tastes sooo good)

Then I pump in some syrup into my "serving" mug  For this drink I use caramel flavoring...but lots of flavors would be great with this, just experiment with what you love!

I then pour the espresso on top the syrup...no stirring needed...but you can if you want too :-)

Next I pour the frothed milk on top...once again no stirring...

You can stop here if you like...because this also makes an amazing drink (it's what I had this morning)
Or you can continue on with whipping cream
This was a "splurge" purchase with my groceries last week :-)

I shoot some whipping cream on top....then drizzle some caramel (ice-cream) syrup on top
-I also sometimes sprinkle cinnamon on top

Finally I serve it with my breakfast...which the morning I took these photos,was a homemade iced cinnamon bun.  mmmm....

Then enjoy your creation ~ just avoid reading calorie content...because it could be discouraging ~ But I don't drink the whipped cream/syrup drinks everyday so I don't feel bad about having them once in awhile.

contently sipping coffee

melodiejoy

30-Before-30 #23 Ride a Roller Coaster and let go of the Bar

Ok...so a little back ground here....I only rode my first roller coaster 11 years ago on my honeymoon.  It freaked me out at the time (and looking back it really wasn't that spectacular of a roller coaster)

Since then, Michael and I have ridden any roller coaster we have had the opportunity to go on...slow, fast, twirling, upside down...ect....But I hadn't had the courage to let go of the bar.

Of course I've always known that I'd be fine if I let go, because tons of people on these roller coasters ride with their arms in the air while I cling on for my dear life :-)  So I made it one of my 30-before-30, in hopes that it would motivate me to let go.

So while on vacation last week, we spent an entire day at the Mall of America amusement park.
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Which is called Nickelodeon Universe
So I decided to start easy, and my first roller coaster of the day was this one...the PEPSI® ORANGE STREAK I got on this ride and raised my hands in the air the whole time...even on the slow stuff...because well I wanted to 100% pass this 30-Before-30 goal!

Yay I did it, another 30-Before-30 DONE!!!!!

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We then rode the other roller coasters at the park (and all the rides that were not babyish)....however I didn't initially have the courage to let go...till near the end of our time there. Finally on the LOG CHUTE  I let go of the sides and plunged into the watery spray.  That was lots of fun!  (side note, I've been to this amusement park twice now, and the Log Chute is by far my favourite!!!)
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Finally on our 2nd to last ride of the day, a ride we had taken countless times throughout the day.  My friend Heather and I decided to raise our hands half way through the ride...it was so much fun, that we got back on for one final time, raised our arms before taking off, and only put them down when the ride ended!!! It was awesome, and a major adrenalin rush!  So here's the twisty twirly ride (very similar to one at the West Edmonton Mall) The FAIRLY ODD COASTER 
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PS....  We also rode this ride...all my kids were tall enough to get on this one, and they all went on it...including my 6 year old... this ride was a blast!!!!!   Especially for my 8 year old thrill seeker Happy!  This is called the AVATAR AIRBENDER  
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Excited to have accomplished this goal

Melodiejoy

30-Before-30 #7 Go on an Awesome Family Vacation

Wow were we ever due for a Family Vacation, we hadn’t had one in a really long time.

We started our journey by doing a 17 hour drive (all in one day) with 7 people (3 adults, and 4 children) cramped in our minivan all the way to Austin, Minnesota.

After getting a good night’s sleep we began our relaxation time.

Some of the many activities we did during our time off included:

• Visiting the local YMCA for swimming
• Playing countless games of Killer Bunnies with our great friends Dean and Heather
• Explored the SPAM Museum (yes you read that correct)  This was actually a very fun museum with lots of interactive displays. (and it also is a Storm Shelter Area) ~ yes that is a wall of SPAM cans :-)
  
  
• Playing Connect (for the very first time) at our amazing friends Sarah and Troy’s house
• Visiting Faith Baptist Bible College to see another awesome friend who gave us a full campus tour, and the kids ran off some steam on the campus grounds
  
  
• Spent an entire day at the Mall of America’s amusementpark
  
  (more about this in an upcoming post)
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• Worshipping with the church family in Austin, Minnesota
• Built an impressively tall tower out of full individual milk cups with a good friend Ian at Perkins
• Unknowingly chatted with 3 NBA players
• Ate at countless delicious restaurants (no calorie counting this past week)

We needed to end our vacation a day early due to the passing of a godly man from New Brunswick.  So we headed home ~ taking 2 days to do the long journey this time.  We stopped mid way at an impressively wonderful hotel, where we enjoyed swimming and hot tubing.

The next morning we awoke early and hit the road for home. About the time we were nearing the Canadian border we drove into horrendous weather ~ this is really as good as the visibility got from this point on. 

We drove slowly and carefully and arrived safely home late Saturday night. We then awoke early the next morning to enjoy a day of fellowship with our dear church family.

Thanking God for a memory packed vacation
with our family and friends

Melodiejoy