Hopping back on the Band Wagon!

I am not sure where this month went to?  And here it is the third week and I haven't posted much at all!  At the beginning of the month I went to a Youth Leader Retreat for our district.  I have engrossed myself with the topic of leadership right now and am reading a few books on it.  ( That will be another post for later. )  Since the retreat I spent the next week getting ready for AnQuenette's and Isaiah's birthday party.  And then I got sick-after I started getting better I had a DHR mid year visit and have done some HUGE purging.   I also have been working on a healthier me, which includes trying to walk 10,000 steps a day and logging my food everyday.  Being sick did not help me.  
One of the other things I have been working one, is identifying my passions in life.  I find I have many.  Is this good or bad?   Besides my husband and kids, I find that I love to talk about church ministries (which is why I find myself so interested in leadership right now),  fostering and adopting and homeschooling.  Which is a lot of things!  So I am trying to refine how I spend my time and focus on the things I really want to be involved in.  Unfortunately I am spending too much of my time playing Casteville and on Pinterest.  And spending so much time on them are not helping that trying to get to a 10,000 steps a day goal!  With all that said, Lent is in a few days so look for a post on how I am adjusting my life for 40 days.  
With the last three weeks of being off, I didn't get a menu planned for the month, tried to cook and freeze 15 meals, but got sick, and meals fell apart.  And since we are doing respite care for two little guys (we took care of them last year) 3 and 2 I knew I had to get this part into place.  They come on Wed and stay for a week.   So my dinners are:

Tuesday- Egg Salad Sandwich/veggies to dip /apple sauce/

Wed-Ash Wed-Rock Soup-crock pot

Thursday-Homemade Hot Pockets/cheese and crackers/yogurt

Friday-Tator Tots Casserole

Saturday-Tortellini and meatball Soup

Sunday-Shepherd’s Pie

Monday-Chicken Waffles

Tuesday-Tuna Sandwiches/veggies to dip/apple sauce

Wed-Dinner at Church

My challenge is on Tuesday and Thursday we are at swim lessons and don't get home till 7-on days Dan and I don't work out.  So I am doing sandwiches those nights.  With Baseball, softball and t-ball around the corner, I really need to become creative in my cooking, and the portability of my meals.  I don't know what games are like, and while I am glad for the concession stand, I can't always eat there.  (watch for more post of spring baseball/softball and how I keep life organized or not!)

Well with all that said, I am hopping back into the blogging mode again.  I will be also starting a new blog  "i foster and adopt 2" and inviting others to share their stores and advice with their experiences.  I hope by March to have that blog up and running.  And I also plan to make a few changes to my blog, so keep an eye out for that.  

And now I just count down to the cruise at the end of March.....how many more days honey!

Facebook & Twitter

In a quest to gain more views to my blog, I have attempted to create a facebook page and Twitter for my blog - Hopping to it.  I don't really don't do much Twitter, but I read that it is important to use both to gain more traffic.  I am trying to get a link to facebook set up- still on a learning curve, but here is the link to the page....http://www.facebook.com/mommahopper.  You may notice it says Mommahopper and not Hopping to it....there will be a changing come to the blog so be on the look out!  Twitter I am Mommahopper also.

So check them out!

Learning new things

One of the things I have as a goal this year is to learn more about blogging.  I have been trying to learn from other bloggers and have been trying to work with in blogger where I blog.  There are still many things I am trying to learn, like how to make those top buttons work!  Or how to make a button for others to share my blog.  So keep checking back us I try to update my blogs!

Buttons and Cute Sewing Ideas

I have this one blog that I found a few months ago call The Happy Housewife.  I love it cause it has great breakfast ideas, homeschooling ideas, and lots of other great things!  She has been doing a 100 handmade gifts ideas.  Many I love and think I may try.
But I have also learned how to add buttons to my blogs, and her gift idea today came from


See what I did!  This blog is filled with wonderful sewing ideas and some yummy recipes!

I wonder what I can do next!