Beautiful Duluth 2018

   We finally made it back to Glensheen. Josh and I went 10 years ago, this time I wanted to take the boys. They were excited. The best part for them was walking the shore on Lake Superior in front of the mansion.
The mansion had some neat outdoor activites like a swing and walking trails (currently closed off for winter).

The inside was beautifully decorated for Christmas.

Glensheen started being built in 1905 and was completed in 1908, its crazy to think this mansion is 110 years old!

This is the breakfast room. 

The dining room.
Underneath the table is a white push button to call the servants.

The swing I mentioned above. This was fun!

How beautiful!

The boys looking for Agates and cool rocks.

Puzzle season has begun!

We just finished our first puzzle last week, it was a 500 piece puzzle.

He does a great job at doing the dishes, notice his apron. :) What a hard worker!

Thanksgiving break 2018

Here are some of the things we have been up to lately. From selling coffee at a craft fair to Thanksgiving break. 

We went on our local trail and found a nice spot to relax. 

                     The boys found this cross someone made.

                            Our yearly Samaritans purse boxes. So glad our church participates every year in this.

Josh and I at our first craft fair selling our coffee! It was fun and nice to meet new people. And yes we are wearing our jackets, it was in an old barn.  

Putting up our Christmas wreath.

Helping mom make cookies during Thanksgiving break.

Grandma with the boys. Its so funny that soon they will be taller than her.

My pies for Thanksgiving!

Playing with friends during break. 

And we also got to catsit for our friends during the break. We love Max so we had no problem with this. :) 

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!

Redeeming Love- 10 years of marriage!!

Today Josh and I celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary, wow! We are busy working and running to teacher conferences today, but our 10 years is significant as there were alot of different struggles we have gone through and I wanted to share some wisdom as we hit our 10 year.

Josh was a drunk for seven years of our marriage. It was very hard for me as I did not grow up with parents who drank nor was I ever around drinking much. It was a total change for me and it was not easy, especially with kids. There were many times I felt like packing up the kids and leaving. Something I always think about is how I never really had the urge to leave, I just felt like, no you stay. It was so hard to see someone you love, love something else more. And sadly that something else was alcohol. I remember just wanting him to be present, just help with the boys or even play with them. I will say during the day he did a pretty good job making sure he spent time with the boys.

This was not what I wanted for the boys, so I prayed alot and shared/yelled at Josh for what he was doing, which after awhile you just learn to step back and watch. Because yelling actually makes it worse. So I started to learn to just give it to God and try trusting in him and his plan. It took me awhile to finally be able to do that. As the boys grew I had them pray for Daddy too. After a wedding one night Josh was very drunk and we had to pull over and let him puke, the boys were so upset they almost started crying. The next day they asked me questions about why was Daddy so sick and they were sad. I really think that was a changing point for Josh. His own kids were sad about his drinking and he saw that. I would say about 6 months later, Josh came out of the bathroom crying and he said he wanted a change and was sick of his drinking. I will never forget his face, he was sincere and something changed in him. I knew something was different this time and December of 2015 he quit drinking. He has now been sober for 3 years!!!!!

He has been an inspiration not only to others but to his boys, which I am so thankful for!!

I know some spouses drinking may lead to abuse, which is something Josh never did to me or the boys, he got angry but never to the point of hitting.

There have been more things we went through, but praying, our love, and encouragement from others has been key.

When you go through trials, pray and be honest and God will comfort you. 

A quote from one of my favorite books- Reedeming Love- Francine Rivers-

Love the Lord your God, and love one another as he loves. Love with strength and purpose and passion and no matter what comes against you. Don't weaken. Stand against the darkness, and love. That's the way back into Eden. That's the way back to life. 

I wanted to share this to maybe help others. I wasn't sure we would make it to 10 years, but we did and I am so thankful we are at a better place then we were on our wedding day.

 I LOVE you Joshua with a love that has made it through many trials and I know God has a plan for us.

With God all things are possible. 

Back to school and my thoughts on it

Well we sent our boys off to school last week, I can't say this Momma is thrilled for school, I like having my boys around and learning with them. I'm that Momma that has to have my husband take them to the first day of school otherwise I will cry.

I am excited to be at their school working once in awhile to see them.

My 5th grader is learning all that you have to do in Middle school, like having a locker with a combination lock (he really likes his combination lock actually), going to band (he is playing the Trombone),  and having more than one teacher. These are all new things to him, but he is doing good and says his favorite part of school so far is gym, I guess he has the best gym teacher!

My 3rd grader is enjoying his teacher, every time he gets a math fact right or a star he gets to make a basketball shot and its a Dude Perfect hoop at that, his favorite!  Other than that he enjoys gym and recess. Both of my boys like to be outside or doing something fun more than learning about math facts or reading. They both have wonderful teachers again this year, so I am thankful for that.


This stuff about me not liking to bring them to school and being sad, it is hard because I feel school isn't what it used to be, there are some kids that say and do things that I would not allow my kids to do. So for me to just let them go there and know that is what they are facing is hard. I honestly don't worry about the teachers as much as the influence from some of the kids. Thankfully my kids do talk with me about how their days go and what goes on, we have many late night discussions, especially with my oldest. And with me there often does help me to be ok with them there, plus our school district does have wonderful staff and teachers.

I have often thought about how neat it would be to be a missionary somewhere and to homeschool my boys while helping others. I know that is not perfect either, but I would at least know what is going on with my kids more.

This stuff about dropping your little child off for 7 hours and not seeing or knowing much of what goes on during that time does bother me. That is one thing that I like about homeschooling is you know what they are learning and you get to learn with them and read books on the couch or outside on a blanket and get to be creative with learning to help them understand.

This is exactly how I feel!

My oldest in Middle school

Both boys before school

My oldest has been doing this alot lately, practicing his Trombone!

Saying goodbye to a good friend the boys have played with since they were younger (he is behind our oldest). Our friend left for South Carolina for National guard basic training. He is a wonderful young man who is getting off to a great start at his adult life. So excited to hear more about the things he does in his future! Good job Sam and know that we are praying for you! By the way his brother and him were home-schooled, they have an awesome mom, someone I look up to, she is a great friend. :)

Taxidermy, coffee and a quick summer

Wow, it has been four months since I updated my blog, sorry.

So my husbands taxidermy business has been busy this summer, which has been great. You can follow his work on Facebook- Water's Edge taxidermy. He loves doing taxidermy, it is neat to see his finished work. 

Josh and I have started something new- selling healthy coffee! We tried Organo about a year ago and we both like it so much we are distributors now. Here is a brief overview of Organo coffee-

Organo coffee contains Reishi mushroom in it, which has many health benefits. It was even used thousands of years ago in the Han dynasty in China. It is known as the King of herbs.
This is organic coffee!

Health benefits-

• Boosts immune system
• Anti-Cancer properties
• Detoxification of the body
• Anti-inflammatory properties
• Lowers blood pressure
• Boosts energy

That is just some of the health benefits!

If you are interested in trying some let me know!

Here is our website- http://jkcarlson.myorganogold.com/

*You can order directly from our website too!*

The boys have been enjoying V.B.S, swimming lessons and soon my oldest starts his band lessons, wow!

I still fight with the thought of homeschooling with public school not being perfect for us, but I do enjoy working there as an aide and will continue to do that this fall. We will see how the boys do this year, homeschooling is always in the back of my head. I miss organizing my curriculum and getting our "school room ready." The boys would like me to homeschool again too. :/

Here is some pictures from our adventures this far-

Working to get our garden started!

Painting our farm table!

Saving a baby Wood duck from our dogs!

Spying on Josh painting a fish!

Kayaking on our camping trip!

Little Charlie!

My oldest has a new hobby, collecting bobbers and fish baits. He finds all kinds of these while kayaking!

My boys taking care of tree frogs!

Camping with cousins!

That is all I have for now! 

I will update again soon, hopefully! :)

Cub scouts

My oldest has been involved with Cub scouts since kindergarten and I will say he has had the best teacher the whole way through. 

Next year he will be crossing over to Boy scouts, O boy will I cry, but with tears of joy. I cannot believe how fast that came up, but so excited to see the many things he will learn and the many adventures he will go on. 

So proud of him! 

Some things we have been up to-

Trying downhill skiing for the first time, except my husband has tried it before.

I will say it was a bit scary, but towards the end of the day, we all got better and less scared. My oldest picked it up fast and became an expert at the end of the day. I think I will stick with cross country skiing, but maybe try down hill once in awhile. 

This was just before a really steep hill, lets just say I ended up walking most of it.....

Cross country skiing in our back field. It was the Worm moon. 

 O yes, and our new puppy Charlie! He is the sweetest thing and him and Sadie are bffs! He is a Shi Tzu and we got him from Joshs aunt who has like 5 of them, not for sure on that. We love their cute little faces and we think he looks like Wookiee from Star Wars.

 

How sweet!

Snow days!

In our neck of the woods, we have lots of snow and it is cold. We have had 3 snow days! Usually, a snow day entails, eating yummy snacks, playing lots of games, having a nerf war and watching a good movie. We even went outside and built a few snow forts and went skiing/snowboarding. It has been a crazy winter and lately the boys have been asking every day, is there school today?! They have got used to no school recently, that's for sure. 

Everything is back to normal this week though, which is fine with me. I do like them home, but too many snow days get crazy.

The last picture is of our new puppy, his name is Charlie Bear and he will be coming home in a couple of weeks! We are excited and hoping our big dog will get along with him. I have always wanted a small dog. 

Why small dogs are fun-

-They can ride in your basket on your bike

-The boys can easily walk him

-Good snugglers :)

♡Happy February!♡