Head on over to Family Muscle to win a Family Night Giveaway!!

We are giving away a family night in a box….check it out!

Jason and I went to Seattle this past weekend and I managed a 2 mile run and a 5 mile run.  It was amazing running in the cooler weather! Jason even ran with me for 3 of my 5 miles. I had already ran 2 on the treadmill and was ready to go outside!

Here is training for this week, which I am modifying due to travelin:

Week 8 (August 29-September 4)

Tuesday: 4 miles

Wednesday: 2 miles or cardio

Thursday: 4 miles

Friday: rest

Saturday: 6 miles

Sunday: Stretch and Strengthen

About a month ago, I began training for a half marathon.  I am a fairly regular exerciser. Jason and I did p90x last year and then through last Fall and Spring, I did the pre-cursor to P90, Power 90. They are shorter and I didn’t want to invest an hour a day into exercising! I have never been a runner….ever. I had ran some before we had kids, but since then, nothing consistent. I always seemed to hit the 25 minute mark, and would be either, so bored I was ready to stop at any cost, or so in pain, I just wanted it to end!

Needless to say, I was ready for a challenge. So, when two friends, asked me to train for a 5k, a 10k and then the Half, I was ready to go!

We started really slow. To keep up with how many miles I am running, I am going to post my runs, here.

Week #1 (July 13- July 17)

Monday- Didn’t start yet

Tuesday- 1/2 mile

Wednesday- 1 mile

Thursday- Rest

Friday- 30 minutes of cardio

Saturday- 2 miles

Week #2 (July 18-July 24)

Sunday- Stretch and Strengthen

Monday- 1.5 miles

Tuesday- 1 mile

Wednesday- 2 miles

Thursday- Rest

Friday- 30 minutes of cardio

Saturday- 2.75 miles (supposed to do 3, but it was super hot)

Week #3 (July 25-July 31)

Sunday- Stretch and Strengthen

Monday- 2 miles

Tuesday- 1 miles

Wednesday- 2 miles

Thursday- 3 miles

Friday- 2 miles

Saturday- Lake/Traveling

Week 4 (August 1-August 7)

Sunday- Stretch and Strengthen

Monday- 3 miles

Tuesday- 1 miles

Wednesday- 2 miles

Thursday- rest

Friday- 1 mile

Saturday- My first 5K!!

Week 5 (August 8-14)

Sunday- Stretch and Strengthen

Monday- 3 miles

Tuesday- p90x (Plyometrics)

Wednesday- 3 miles

Thursday- rest

Friday- cardio

Saturday- 4 miles

Week 6 (August 15-21)

Sunday- p90x (core synergistics)

Monday- 3.5 miles

Tuesday- p90x (plyometrics)

Wednesday- 3.5 miles

Thursday- cardio

Friday- Cardio

Saturday- rest (moved run to Sunday- Jason out of town)

Week 7 (August 22-28)

Sunday- 5 miles

Monday- Strength (p90x Chest and Arms)

Tuesday- 3.5 miles

Wednesday- 2 miles

Thursday- 3.5 miles

Friday- rest

Saturday- 5 miles

I am by no means fast, but I am beginning to really like running. I like that training has forced me to be disciplined. I am taking some products from Advocare to give me energy on my long runs and it so makes a difference. I am also watching what I eat and just enjoying the challenge.

A few weekends ago we were able to go to Knoxville and spend some time with the GP’s. It seems our time to visit our hometown are few are farther in between since our kids are in school and life is just….life.

I love Knoxville. Fall in Knoxville, by far is my fave.  There is something about a college town in the Fall, especially with the leaves turning and football starting…I just love it! But, alas, that was not the purpose of our trip. We were going to spend some time with Jason’s Dad and his wife, Beth. Our kids were so excited to see Grandad and Beth and were looking forward to going to the Lake.  I was also looking forward to going to the Lake!

On Friday night we met up with Grandad and Beth and they took us to eat at a cute little restaurant in Dandridge.

We had a yummy, barbeque dinner.

Here’s the kiddo with Grandad and Beth after we ate dinner.

Afterwards, we went back to Grandad’s house and had some homemade ice cream. It was a really fun, relaxing evening. The kiddos spent the night and Jason and I headed to a hotel.

Parker, Emery and Bradley were happy to see us go and get to spend the night without us around!

The next morning, we met up at the lake. It was looking CLOUDY. Uncle Matt met us there as well.

Exhibit #1- Cute kids with no inkling of sunshine to be found…

Exhibit #2- One cute kid with a non-essential visor on….

Sure enough, about 10 minutes into fishing off the pontoon boat, it started RAINING. HARD.  We rode until we found an empty covered boat dock.

We then waited about 2 hours for the rain to stop. We fished, ate lunch, got fussy, and FINALLY it cleared enough to do this…

Bradley is eagerly awaiting his turn…

So, when it was his turn, we took off and I think Uncle Matt took his foot off the gas, because the front of the tube did this….

which caused all three to shoot off the front! This attempt left one little boy doing this…

but willing to get back on.

Here is the last ride back in…the kiddos and Grandad.

Despite the rain delay, we had a great two days with Grandad, Beth and Uncle Matt. We can’t wait to do it again!

About 18 months ago, Jason and I decided to be more intentional about having a night set aside with our kids that was fun, focused and faith building.  Family Nights are not new, nor are Themed Family Nights, but we wanted to take it a step farther and add in a devotional that would help us teach our kids, in a very REAL, hands-on way, about following Christ.  So, out of our desire to be strategic and intentional our Stew Family Nights were birthed. If you have read my blog, you have read about our family nights.  We have had good ones, we have had bad ones, but the point is…we have had them and our children LOVE them.  Over the course of the time we have been having our family nights, I have had several moms tell me that they had started having them and were taking our ideas and making them their own. I was shocked and excited. Excited because I know that the time invested in your kids is always worth it.  Yes, they take time, energy, planning and can be stressful, but I really believe we are giving our kids an experience that helps them see the Truth of God’s Word that is relevant to their young lives.

For about 6 months, we have kicked around started a website that would help other families in having themed family nights.  A few months ago, Family Muscle was birthed.

You may think the name is quirky, and it is, but we want it to be a resource to help build strong families, in a fun, focused way (no, we are not the Y.)   We have set it up where your night is already planned out. You can download a PDF with details of the decor, food, an activity, a craft and a devotional.  We have also given a time and cost estimate. We are adding family nights regularly and hope to have a place where families can share their own family nights.  I am really excited about this and hope that it is a useful resource for parents!

So, I have a favor! If you would help us get the word out about Family Muscle, that would be AWESOME!

You can follow Family Muscle on Facebook and Twitter, to get notifications when new family nights are available and also links to articles about parenting, family nights…. Or, if you have a blog, I would love for you to link to Family Muscle!

You can also comment on our blog posts with links about any family nights you have had with your family. Comment here or on FamilyMuscle.com and let us know what you are looking for, how we can help and the ideas that you have. We are not trying to have all the answers, just jump out there a little and create a place for all of us to help each other build stronger families. Things are just getting going so we are planning a lot of upgrades the days ahead. So, let us hear from you.

Thanks for your support! Let me know if you have a family night or have any ideas for a fun night!

To celebrate a new school year, we decided to have a Back To School Family Night.  I can’t believe I have a 3rd grader, a 2nd grader and a Pre-Ker.  Seriously? Where are the years going?

I had a lot of fun with this family night. It was pretty simple, but there is beauty is simplicity because it allows us to just have fun together.

I had been looking for props for decor while back to school shopping and hit up the Dollar Spot at Target. I was able to get some nameplates, flash cards and abc bingo. I also got a couple of buckets to use for their lunch.  Brown bags would have worked just as well, but this made it cuter!

We started out by making Edible Crayons. Word to the wise….invest in colored candy melts. Adding food coloring and mixing caused the candy coating to harden really fast. Also, do one one color at a time so your candy coating doesn’t harden on you before you are done.

These were yummy and really simple. I loved the crayon wrappers! We made up a pencil box filled with these for Parker and Emery’s teachers. We also added a SLAM, which is basically a healthier 5 hour energy! We thought they might need it and we are not above a little sucking up to the  new teachers by the new kids!

For decor, I just used….you guessed it….school supplies! The girls decorated the table and Bradley set out everyone’s name cards.

For lunch, we filled their lunch buckets and put a cute little card on it. I found some great free printables for school at this site.

During dinner, we went over our goals for the next year, some in the class, some at home. We discussed our morning chores and I had printed out morning chore cards for them to have to refer to

as we are getting ready in the mornings. We start earlier, so we need all the help we can get to arrive at school on time! Hopefully, this will cut down on any stress we might encounter.

For our devotional, Jason read Hebrews 3:17 and Titus 3:1, which state:

Hebrews 13:17

Obey your leaders and submit to their authority. They keep watch over you as men who must give an account. Obey them so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no advantage to you.

and

Titus 3:1 NIV

Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good,

We talked about how we have prayed for their teachers and are confident that God has placed them with the person they are supposed to be with this year. We talked about obedience and why we choose obedience. We also talked about why God places authorities over us and we want them to bring joy to their teachers by their obedience.  A big saying we have at our house is “Obedience brings blessings and disobedience brings consequences.” It was good to remind our kids that obedience is not just to act correctly but is about having a heart that wants to please God because He deserves it!

We rounded out the night with a few, old school, playground games.

A little four square…

Please observe the tie-dye explosion, which were presents from my parentals…

Please notice that all but one of my children are ahead of me…I didn’t make it to 4..

Bradley, the four year old, did make it to #4.

Parker with her mad skilz

Emery, the kid who makes everything look girly, dancy and fancy.

We also played a little GOTCHA, with the parents scoring our kids…we don’t show mercy!

We had a good night before school, Back to School Night!

We had a great family night recently that was all about BOWLING!!

Bowling? Why? Basically, because I got several things on clearance at target that were all about bowling! That is the great thing about themed family nights- they can be created around just about anything!

It took a little planning and honestly, the dinner was a little bit of a stretch, but we still had a great time together.

For starters,

This was our appetizers of black olives and cut up mozzarella sticks.

Here is our fancy centerpiece…this is the bowling set I got at Target.

They are super cute!

For Dinner, we had Bowling Ball Sliders, or as Pioneer Woman calls them, Meatball Sliders.

They are yummy! I actually made the meatballs from scratch, but to save time, you could just buy a bag.

We also had Strike It Potatoes or as Pioneer Woman calls them, Au Gratin Potatoes.

See I told you the menu was a little bit of a stretch, but it was a good meal, that we enjoyed.

After our meal, Jason led our devotional. He read from Matthew 7:13-14,

¹³“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. ¹⁴But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”

He talked about how long and narrow the alley is that the bowling alley goes down. He then talked about choices and how many choose the wide (worldly, unwise) path and few choose the narrow (life-giving) path. We talked about what that means for them as kids and as a family. We talked about how obedience brings blessings, but disobedience brings consequences.

We capped it off with this simple of all desserts….marshmallows and whoppers.

We finally put our bowling alley/art gallery to good use. The kids loved this. I must admit, it was a little hard getting those pins down! I am much better at Wii Bowling.

Next, we moved outside for a little slip n slide…bowling style. This was another deal I found at Target…seriously it was less than $4.

Bradley rarely got to the end because he would dive….and somehow land on his hinney. He got sooo frustrated. He got the hang of it after a little while!

Parker was BY FAR the best slip n slider! She could go far in life if there was a professional slip n slider circuit.

Emery did pretty well, herself, but was all about hamming it up with her Dad.

The slip n slide was a great  hit….and a great photo op.

Life…is….good.

Today was our first day back at school.  But, it is also our first day at a NEW school.

The story is obviously long, detailed and one that is very personal. Jason and I take the education of our children very seriously. Therefore, the decisions we have made have not been easy or obvious. Our girls have been at an AMAZING school the last three years. We have no issues with their previous school and our plan, would also include them finishing out their entire education at this school.   Our girls were cared for, loved and taught so much more than how to read and write complete sentences. But, those wonderful benefits were not free! God has been so faithful to provide for our family these last three years. I have stand amazed many times and marveled at how HE has BLESSED us. We have many instances that went above and beyond what we had asked or imagined. He even did that for this next school year in a way that completely blew us away.

Yet, in the midst of this, we also saw many signs that pointed to us pulling our family and going in a different direction.  Our decision became more than just one on how we would educate our girls, but also included, our son. It became about how we prioritize things in our family, our ability to give and creating margin in our lives.  We went through every scenario, every possibility and still would come away unsure of what decision to make. I have watched my husband LEAD us, as he struggled, to discern what we were to do.  I have struggled to determine what God wants for our family at this season of our lives.  It has been difficult, hard and stressful. Mostly because we were effecting our children, changing their lives in a very real way.

After much prayer, discussion and then finally, just making a decision, we have moved on to a local school in our county.  There are so many positives to our new school.  Yes, we still grieve for what we have known, but, that is okay.  Sometimes, following Christ is hard.  That doesn’t make it any less of God’s plan, it just makes it…..hard.  I know that no matter where my children are educated, God is with them and we are fierce in our devotion to them.

My girls are doing well.  Telling them was grueling, I am not going to lie. Parker is sad and slower to warm up to change. She is nervous and today did little to diminish that, but I am praying for quick friends, an understanding teacher and for her attitude to be that of Christ, who for the joy set before Him, endured the Cross. Emery, on the other hand, loves a new adventure, change and takes on any challenge set before her. I am praying for quick friends, an understanding teacher and for her attitude to shine for Christ.  I am sad, But, in my fears, sadness, excitement and questions, I am CHOOSING to trust HIM.

Emery outside her new school

Parker and Emery

Parker and her Mrs. R

Emery and Mrs. C

This morning, Jason claimed and read Proverbs 3:5-6 for our family this next year. In all we do, we trust HIM.

⁵ Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;  ⁶ in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.

Last month was a busy, but fun month for us.  We finished up some projects in the house, which makes my heart SMILE! We were able to lay the flooring in the playroom and my soon to be office and Jason also put up the baseboards and quarter round.  It looks sooo good! I sold our couch on craigslist, but haven’t found a new one yet, so we are a little makeshift in the playroom! Oh well! I am super excited to move into my office and have a dining room soon. We are re-routing our cable and internet and once that is done, I am moving into my own separate office. This will be great for my homestudy appointments, since we meet at my office/home once.

So what was the reason for our frenzy of project finishing you ask??

Our dear friends, the Robertsons, were in town and we decided to have a Shrimp Boil to celebrate.  They are living in Houston and only get home a few times a year, so we asked some of Jason and Matt’s old college buddies, along with their families, to come and join us for a fun evening of food and fellowship.  Our turnout was low, but we still had a blast.  It is amazing to me to think that I have known Matt for around 15 years and Heather for around 12 years.  I love that we have been apart of their story from the beginning.  Matt was Jason’s college roommate and they worked together, as well. Matt continued to work for Jason’s family’s business well after college and we have been able to stay connected through marriages, babies and distance.  When we moved away to Cleveland, years ago, they were some of the few to come visit us….I guess we need to return the favor!

One of our greatest joys was seeing Matt become a Christ-follower when he, Jason and Melvin were golfing. To watch how he has grown in his relationship to Jesus, is leading his family and pouring into the lives of others, brings sweet tears to these eyes.  They were the first to have a baby of our crew and they blessed us by naming Andrew after Jason (Andrew is his middle name and Bradley’s as well.)  We have watched Heather grow from a teenager into a beautiful woman who loves her man, her children and Jesus.  As they struggle living far away, I have seen God work in them anew, as they seek to find His place for them in Houston. I have seen how He has provided amazing friends for Heather that I know are supportive of her and Matt.

To me, this is a relationship that is all about doing life together….even though we rarely are.  It is about investing for the long haul.  I am so thankful for their friendship and that we can truly be real with Matt and Heather. I am praying BIG, GOD sized things for them, no matter where they live.

I went really basic on the tables since we would be putting the food right on it! This is a cute little tray I found at Goodwill for 1.99!

The wind drove me crazy and kept messing with my table! Loved the daisies and bandana mix….

The Amazing Shrimp Boil…love this meal

This was about the only pic we got of even a few of the kids…they ran, explored, jumped, played basketball, rode….

I am loving our yard…after all the work, it is worth it!

Mollie loves the four wheeler…she just needed some steering assistance.

Matt, Jason, Philip

Zan, Heather, Me

We had such a great time, catching up and watching our children play…8 between us!

We really enjoyed a relaxing evening with our friends. It has been so long since we have entertained and I was reminded how much I love having people in our home.

This house is FINALLY feeling like home!

I was about to sit down and write a sweet little post about some of the fun times we have had with our friends and family in the past few weeks.

But, I am simply not feeling it right now.

Why?

Because I have had one of those days where I feel on the edge…..the edge of anger, frustration, and not liking very much in general. I could go into the various reasons why I feel this way, on this particular day, but really, what is the point?  We all have these days, these moments, these emotions.  The key is figuring out what you are going to do with it.  Am I going to allow my emotions to rule, get on Facebook or Twitter and vent or am I going to die to my emotions, bathe myself in Scripture and prayer, and CHOOSE to respond in a way that brings Glory to His Name.  I think this is a battle that I fight more days than not. More than that, I think this is the battle I see many moms fight each day….especially with these last few days of summer upon us.  Life is hard, days are long, frustration is inevitable, so why not get a plan together for how to handle it instead of blowing up and moaning and groaning about it?  Imagine how that would look to a non believing world? Not that as Christ followers we don’t feel every single one of those emotions, but that we allowed Christ to respond for us, in the midst of those moments.

That is my prayer, my longing.  Is is yours?