Minding My Matties

I promise I didn’t forget about my blog and my whole five readers (haha), but there is a reason I have been MIA these past couple weeks! We have been super busy especially since we were out of town all last week. Every year, my husband’s job puts him up in a hotel for a week near one of their headquarters for training. So this year we decided to take the kids with us and make a family vacation out of it.  Last year, training was in Kansas City and this year it was in Dallas so we were both glad it was so much closer and not too long of a drive. Joke was on us though since we got stuck in traffic on the way there due to a major accident. What was normally a 5 hour drive turned into a 7+ hour drive and we arrived late Sunday night. Thank goodness we packed snacks and books! They loved looking out the hotel window and watching all the cars leave the post office across the street. Of course, him being gone at training until 4:30 everyday starting on Monday meant I had to find so...

As many of you probably know, an unspeakable tragedy occurred this morning at Santa Fe High School here in Texas. 10 people were shot and killed and 10 more wounded when a 17 year old Santa Fe student opened fire in a first period art class. I think it shocks me the most that this happened so close to home. It’s just 5 minutes, yes 5 minutes from my home! I drive by this high school all the time going to church and running errands. While I have lived in Santa Fe my whole life, I never personally attended this high school since I was homeschooled until I went to college. I have been there a few times for events and to play tennis on the tennis courts so it’s just unthinkable that something like this could happen so near to my home. We don’t really know for sure yet why the shooter did what he did. Many of his fellow students said they never expected it from him. Of course, no one expects something like this to happen, but if you looked at his Facebook page, you would se...

This post may contain affiliate links. My littles love banana bread! This blog is turning out to be a great way to remember all the recipes I use, so today I have another recipe for you to try!  I haven’t made banana bread from scratch in awhile and I had some bananas to use up so I decided I might as well make some this morning.  My husband and kids love this. Honestly, I do not eat it since I don’t like any type of fruit, especially bananas, unless they are in a smoothie or juice. Even then, I still can’t stand bananas. I know, I know, that’s a terrible thing but if you read my last post, you know I’m not perfect haha.  My favorite fruit smoothies are actually those mixed with coconut rum or tequila (wink wink). But anyway, this bread works great for breakfast, a snack, or even lunch sometimes if I don’t feel like making anything else. It freezes well too! I let my peeled, frozen bananas sit in the bowl for a little while so they could thaw some. Th...

Yes, it’s true. I’m not perfect. I’m sure everyone else knows that, but sometimes I need to remind myself that no one is perfect. It’s important for me to keep that in mind especially with starting a new blog, where my ideas and opinions are out there for the public to see.  I mean, my husband doesn’t even understand what the point of this thing is!  I realize that many people will agree with me on certain topics but then there will also be a few people here and there who won’t agree and that’s okay. I never said I was perfect, but guess what? Neither are you. From my Switzerland trip last summer. Switzerland was perfect. We all have different views on what we believe is right: how we should parent, how other people should be treated, how we should act, how we should spend our money…the list goes on. Sometimes, people will say something that disagrees with our views or criticizes our ideas and we will have to remind ourselves that we...

As many of you know, my wonderful husband, Matthew, comes from a large family of 16. He has eight brothers and five sisters so, as you can imagine, he likes to hang out with his brothers.  They are friends for life whether they like it or not. Since before we were married, there would always be a certain hobby that many of the Matties boys would take up and have fun doing together. First, it was playing pool. Then, it was ping pong (until everyone realized they couldn’t beat Benny). Last year, they started playing golf, which they have mostly continued doing. At one point, they even got me to play, along with my husband’s parents, grandfather, and some in-laws.  Earlier this year, right around when Lent began, they decided they were going to take up racing remote control cars. The reason they started this new hobby could have been because many of the Matties’ gave up video games for Lent and needed something new to occupy their time. It could also be because this past ...