Well I don't even know where to begin. It has been so long since I have posted on my blog that it is seriously pathetic. I need to write more and express more. I need to keep better track of the everyday joys that way I can look back one day and laugh and reminisce.

Bradley is 13 - almost 14 - and is 5'8" tall already! He is 4" taller than I am. His voice has dropped and he is super interested in girls. Oh my. I knew this day would come but well, it's here! His dad and I have had many talks with him about what we expect and how he is to act and what he is not allowed to do, so he is crystal clear in that area. He is in the Pre-International Baccalaureate program at his middle school in 8th grade and will transition into the International Baccalaureate program in August when he starts high school. Wow - high school is already here. We have already picked out his classes and electives! He is going to be in all advanced/honors classes and general electives. We might have him start some AP classes in his Sophomore year, not sure yet. We don't want to push him too hard. He is in the advanced program in 8th grade right now and is still bringing home A's and B's - even in Intermediate Spanish which he started this term but NEVER took Beginners Spanish! He is seriously awesome.

Jacob is doing well grades wise in Kindergarten, but behavior wise he could be a lot better. He doesn't like to do what he is told and he loves to talk. He doesn't fight or hit or bite or anything like that - he just straight up disobeys authority. We have tried negative reinforcement discipline at home and that does nothing. He doesn't care if he acts up and knows he comes home to get a spanking/get grounded/get items taken away. So now we are flipping it and trying the positive reinforcement and - it is working so far. Last week before Spring break he got all "smiley faces" meaning he had 4 good days total (Friday he was off). So each day he got a smiley we "high fived" him and on Thursday after the final smiley Hans took him to the Dollar Store for a small toy. Maybe this will work? We'll see.

Hans and I are doing as well as can be expected with him (being a normal person) married to a person with mental illness. I have my good days and my bad. My bad came this past Saturday when I cried all morning for no other reason than "he hurt my feelings" because he was starting to give the kids chores suddenly. I know, even typing it sounds stupid. But for whatever reason, that day the depression hit me hard and I was laying on the bathroom floor, sobbing uncontrollably for about an hour. Then I got up and went into the kitchen to try to do dishes and began crying. It was awful. Hans - since he knows me - told me to go out of the house and clear my mind, go have some "retail therapy" and spend $20 and go shopping for something frivolous. So, I did and it did help. I went to Ulta and got a bottle of nail polish... I got a monogrammed garden flag at Kirkland's... and a hazelnut cookie treat at World Market. I came home and felt better for the most part. Brad's still not happy about having to do chores now but he will get over it. He is 13 and he needs to do them to learn responsibility at home to teach him how to handle a home of his own in the future. Jake could care less right now and does them without hesitation, but I am sure that will burn out quickly.

My depression is mostly better with the once in a blue moon "off day". My anxiety is almost completely in check thanks to my medication. My migraines still come like clockwork once a month and sometimes twice if I have a really stressful day.

My weight is off the charts. I am as of right now 164lbs. I am 5'3" and this is the HEAVIEST I have ever been without being pregnant. When I started ________ University in June 2012 I was fluctuating between 135-140lbs. I am eating junk, stressed, and all my meds are "weight gainers" per my doctor. So, I have to work hard, change my diet, and work out. I am starting today.

Work is good as far as the company goes but I am starting to get burned out which is scary. I am bored. I do the same thing over and over and over again. I also don't like being measured for each second I am on or off the phone so closely. If I am even 1 minute late from clocking into work or clocking in from break or lunch, I have to complete a form for management. I miss having a salaried job with flexibility and where management knew I did my job and didn't scrutinize for each minute I was late because I couldn't find my work badge or car keys. If I begin to fully burn out - I may have to look elsewhere for something that is a better fit. Or another position within the company. We will see.

I guess that is all for now! I really hope to make this a healthy habit and write more soon.

Til next time,
K.

Cinnamon Roll Swirl Cake

This sounds so incredibly YUMMY! I cannot wait to make this...

(Credit to Andrea's Country Home Cookin')

CINNAMON ROLL SWIRL CAKE

Batter:

3 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cup milk

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup butter, melted

Topping:

1 cup butter, soft to the point of almost melted*

1 cup brown sugar

2 Tbsp flour

2 Tbsp cinnamon

Glaze:

2 cup powdered sugar

5 Tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients together except for the butter.Once mixed; slowly pour in the butter. Stir into batter.Pour into a greased 9x13 pan. For the topping, mix all the ingredients together until well combined.Drop evenly over the batter and swirl with a knife. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes.

While the cake is warm ~ drizzle the glaze over the cake. 

Why I Love My Husband... 1-10

Starting today and thanks to a blog I came across from Pinterest called The Happy Wives Club, I am going to be starting a list today with the hopes of continuing this each Thursday through whenever! :)

Above is the link to the blog if you want to become involved and join in, or you can do so by clicking the icon below:

So to begin my list! Here are ten reasons - in no particular order - as to why I love my husband:

1. He loves me unconditionally, no matter how "crazy" I become.
2. He is an amazing daddy to our two boys.
3. He has this awesome love for Golden Retrievers! We have one named Cody and seeing him play with the dog is so fun. He has always told me if we ever got another dog, no matter what, it will always be a Golden Retriever.
4. He has the most goofy sense of humor. He tells me "I pick on you because I love you".
5. He is just as obsessed with Disney as I am.
6. He will cry at the end of an emotional movie - just a tear and will never admit it - but he will do it! ;)
7. He always does the laundry because he knows I am laundry challenged. I can wash, dry, and fold... but they'll never make it to their closet/drawer destinations.
8. He is so patient with my imperfections.
9. We can both sing ridiculous songs together in the car and laugh. Ex: anything by the Spice Girls, Usher, etc...
10. He will occasionally buy me flowers, just because.

To be continued...
Kim

Blessed blessed blessed!

I am so incredibly blessed.

• I have a husband who loves me no matter how crazy I get.
• My kids are growing so fast and they adore me (most days).
• I have a mom that loves her grandbabies tremendously and watches them while Hans & I work.
• I have a job I thoroughly enjoy going to each and every workday. 
• I have in-laws that are so much fun that it is just a joy to be with them.
• We have a roof over our head.
• Food in our "tummies".
• We are able to enjoy the extras in life... vacations, Disney passes, etc.
• We have jobs that we can have evenings and weekends with our kids.
• We have (mostly) well behaved kids that know that they must respect their elders, and say "please" and "thank you".
• My oldest son loves the Lord and is a born-again Christian.
• Our youngest loves the Lord and is learning what it means to become a born-again Christian.
• We have a church with an amazing program for adults, youth, and a Pastor that is a man after God's heart. Not to mention a church family that truly is like family.

I am just so thankful today for everything that God has blessed us with. I am "counting my blessings" today.

I am so undeserving!

Happy 2013 Everyone!

A new year.

A fresh start.

I am so incredibly blessed in my life. This year I want to take more time to sit back and enjoy what I have and the people I have around me, and try not to worry and complain as much.

I am blessed that I have a wonderful "homegrown" family with myself, my husband, and our two sons Brad & Jake. Last night we were able to stay home together as a family and just enjoy each other. We all watched Dick Clark's New Years Eve special on ABC and Brad would play his guitar off & on while Jake went and ran around the house, played with army men or whatever he could get his hands on. We went outside at 8pm and lit off our fireworks. We laughed and we played and we made jokes. When a couple minutes to midnight came about, we all gathered together on the couch. Jacob on Hans' lap and Brad beside me. We counted down together, then screamed "Happy New Year!" with the rest of America. Afterward we heard and saw lots of fireworks going off from our sunroom, so we went outside and enjoyed seeing our neighbors and their families celebrating as well.

As far as "resolutions" - we have none. We do have goals, however.

Hans and I have already started a healthier lifestyle plan about a week ago. We rejoined our gym and have been going regularly. We stopped eating white bread, drinking sodas, eating the amount of sweets several times daily that we once were, and are dedicating ourselves to a healthier lifestyle of food and fitness. It is part wanting to lose the 30 pounds I've gained in 6 months and 40 pounds Hans has gained... but it is also to set a better example of how to eat proper foods for our children.  Am I going 100% organic? No. Am I never going to eat another bacon cheeseburger? Of course not. Everything is fine in moderation - but before we weren't listening to the moderation part! :)

We also want to dedicate ourselves to spending more time in God's Word, and in the church helping and assisting where we can. Where God wants us. Where God needs us. I have a great job now so my migraines have mostly subsided. My old job was one of the triggers because I was under so much stress each minute of each day I was there. My depression and anxiety has also taken a back seat. I can live my life now much more freely so I want to take my thankfulness for that and put time back into my church.

Additionally - I want to continue to move toward earning my Business degree. I started college again in October 2012 and am looking forward to more classes and getting that much closer.

A whole new year awaits. What will you do this year to make it memorable?

Christmas in South Florida!

Why hello there, Blogger! I haven't seen you in ages. It has been so long in fact that I am not used to the new layout of posting! :) Anyway... to begin with...

...Our Christmas this year was fantastic and will be remembered as one of the best that we have had. Not for the presents that any one person received, but for the quality of time we were able to spend with family. This year we went down to South Florida (Cooper City, FL to be exact) to my husband's parent's house. We arrived on Friday night and spent some time with his parents, and his sister and niece - Lil & Ava. We arrived around 10pm so soon after that we just went to bed.

The next morning (Saturday) we had breakfast and went to the grocery store to get a couple things. Mostly just enjoyed each other's company and hung around the house. Lanie, Jim, and Austin (my sister/brother-in-law and nephew) arrived at 6pm and from there Bradley & Austin were inseperable! They haven't seen eachother since last year and they are close in age (12 & 15). They would play Monopoly on Austin's Kindle Fire and - since Austin has his learner's permit - Lanie would take Austin to practice driving and Brad would tag along. I was able to cook dinner for everyone and we all ate and just talked.  Later that evening at 11pm Hans & I went to Walmart because we are crazy to get some last minute items for Brad, Jake, and the "white elephant" gift exchange for the adults. More about that later... :)

The grandkids - Austin (15), Ava (2), Bradley (12), and Jacob (4)

Sunday was a nice, lazy day. We are breakfast, played Catchphrase, Lanie and Hans worked on a puzzle on the back porch, Brad - Austin - and Jake all played together. Lil, Tom, and Ava came later and then we all played with Ava and watched her run around with Jake. It was so fun seeing Ava and Jake play together... and they played together so well! She is 2 and Jake is 4 so again, they are close in age like Brad & Austin are. It works out very well. Later we had burgers for lunch & pizza for dinner. Wait... what was I doing most of the day, you ask? I was laying on the couch watching movies. Yep. I was relaxing! Later on, their cousins (and my cousin in laws...?) Brent and his wife Dely came over with their kids, Dani & Brandon. We were able to get some great photos and again, the more the merrier. We had a great time with them.

(Jake, Ava, and Brandon on the piano)

(Front row: Dani, Ava, Brandon, Jake -- Back row: Lanie, Austin, Brent, Hans, Brad, and Lil)

That evening - Hans and I realized we still had to wrap every present we had bought all through the year! Yes, we went to South Florida with our presents unwrapped, in boxes. All of them. So we spent the next hour or two wrapping lots and lots of small and large presents for the kids, from Brad and Jake to Ava and Austin. Finally, around midnight, we went to bed.

(Brad playing Catchphrase)

Monday (Christmas Eve) was very pleasant. Cooking began very early in the morning for our Christmas Eve meal. In between all the cooking, we went over to Potential Church where my in-laws attend and enjoyed their Christmas Eve Candlelight Service and sermon. Pastor Troy Gramling is a good speaker.

We ate dinner later that evening. It was incredible. We had roast turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, dinner rolls, olives, cranberry sauce, stuffing, gravy made from scratch... My mother-in-law is a great cook! After dinner and cleaning up - the games began. Ava and Jake played together while the rest of us (adults and teens) played the games for our Christmas Eve celebration! This has begun a new tradition in the Reller/Krasnor/Sheets Christmases for sure.

To start: We played a scavenger hunt that Lil made up. It all took place in the back yard. We were put on separate teams ("Team Frosty" and "Team Prancer") and then beginning with one clue we had to find the next clue and so on... until we got to clue ten where the winner was chosen. I was on "Team Frosty" and we won... YAY! :)

The next game we played was "Minute to Win It" - Christmas style. These were the games that my mother & father-in-law thought of. We had to hang ornaments on a yard stick suspended on an empty paper towel roll. The one with the most on there in a minute wins. Well, my mother & father-in-law dominated and won! After that, we had to take metal hardware nuts on a candy cane and stack them from the candy cane onto a table, one on top of the other. Jim won this round as he was able to get all ten stacked in no time, while the rest of us did six, seven, or they would topple over.

(Geoff & Gail win it all!!)

 The last game we played was a card game called "Spoons". We went through several rounds, starting with ten people and then it came down to two. Father vs son, Hans vs Brad! Hans ultimately "won" but there is always next year for a rematch! By the time this was done, it was 10pm so we all got the kids in bed and went to bed ourselves, so we could be up bright and early for Christmas.

(Clockwise from left: Lanie, Hans, Austin, Gail, Brad, and Tom)

The next morning, Brad was up at 7am. Jacob and Austin wanted to sleep longer so they slept until Ava got there (with Lil & Tom) at 8am. From that point, it was eating breakfast, drinking coffee, and watching the kids open gift after gift. They are so blessed and they had so much fun! Ava received a "Doc McStuffins" doctor set and she kept walking around and giving her mom Lil a pretend bandaid. Jake got an Iron Man dress up costume and so he was walking around most of the day dressed up as Iron Man. Austin's big gift was an iPod Nano and a gaming chair, so he and Brad (who also got a gaming chair) were sitting next to eachother, in the chairs, streaming Coldplay over the speakers in the chairs. It was a lot of fun being around everyone and again - very memorable.

We left at 2pm that afternoon and arrived home at 6pm. The rest of the night was unpacking, cleaning, laundry, and trying to relax a little in between as the hubby and I both had work early the next morning.

Here are some more pictures from Christmas... enjoy!

What's new?

Well, I can see that it has been quite a while since I have posted an update, so here goes nothing! This is what has been happening in the Reller Household since the last post.

My migraines had begun to occur more often and I was missing a lot of work. I had spoken with my doctor on numerous occasions and also to my therapist. Both of them (after trying all sorts of migraine medicines) said that they believe that my migraines are "tension migraines" and may be triggered by stress primarily. That being said, my job was crazy stressful. I put a lot of stress on myself naturally, and not promoting and other things at _______ was just too much for me.

So. I left.

I applied at _______ University after talking with one of my good friends who works there. He suggested I apply because they needed help in Student Finance, so I did so, and after a couple weeks of background checks, testing, and interviews, I learned I got the job! My last day at my old job was back on June 15th.

Right now I am still in training, but I couldn't be happier. From the outside looking in now, my old company was really putting a lot of stress on me to be more perfect than I wanted to be. They had an "all or nothing" attitude (not any specific person - my supervisors and management were AWESOME, just the company politics in general) - and that was wearing me thin.

I love my commute. I love my new coworkers but miss my old ones. Change is just that, change. And I am going with it for my health.

Secondly, we celebrated Jacob's 4th birthday on June 16th at our home. We had a HUGE inflatable water slide that we borrowed from the church in the back yard, and everyone had a wonderful time. It is hard to believe that he is already four. years. old. We also celebrated Brad's 12th birthday in May!! He just wanted to go see "The Avengers" in IMAX, and we also got him a mic for his PS3. 12 & 4. Where has the time gone?

Thirdly, our very good friends Gary & Alicia (who were also the youth pastor & his wife at our church) left in May for Fairfax, VA. Gary accepted a position as a Youth Pastor at Fairfax Baptist Temple. While they are soooooo missed, I couldn't be happier for them. They are amazing people and are going to do amazing things in that area, I just know it. The husband & I are planning on going to visit them up north in October and attend their church's Couples Retreat. It will be my first time on an airplane. Yikes! :)

Well, that is all I can think of for now. :)

Til next time,
K.