The Buerglers

When I first transitioned to being a stay-at-home-mom I feared that I would waste the days away, and while some days this is true, I have found that having a decent routine helps keep peace and order in the house but also increases my productivity. It has taken me a decade or two to admit that I actually need and thrive on routine.  My free spirit didn't want to seem "trapped" or "tied down" - however, sometime at the end of college I learned that a little self discipline goes a long way.  When I graduated I was balancing 3 part-time jobs, and later added graduate school into that mix. It wasn't that each day had the same routine, per say, but that each day of the week did and that was enough. Now that I am home with the girls, we have preschool, I teach an online theology class, workout, and juggle dance/gymnastics/PSR, and a small photography business. It seems like a lot but finding the day-to-day routine and the weekly routine has made everything p...

I still can't believe the words I just typed at the post title, "We're a Van Fam!"  Seriously. We own a van. Paid in full. It's ours. We tried to make the CR-V work. We even bought Diono carseats in preparation.  However, there were two distinct moments that made us realize we needed something bigger. First, we realized the girls could hold hand sitting on the two outside seats.  What they heck were they going to do to poor baby brother when he sat in the middle rear facing towards them? Then Eric mentioned the Disney trip and subsequent road trips. He asked where we were going to put all the car trip toys since they usually go in the middle seat. YIKES! But we couldn't really afford anything bigger.  We did keep an eye on the used car market trying to figure out if maybe we get a full sized SUV.  After we saw the price of the SUVs we wanted and the price of the minivans, the van made the most sense long term.  We have no idea if we're done hav...

Since it's been like two months since I've posted I figured I'd just jump in with life now instead of attempt the overwhelming task of playing catch up. We had a very rainy start to October.  Many of our Fall plans got pushed back or rearranged.  We had been hoping to Elijay to pick apples but it had rained the two Saturdays we had planned to go.  By some great miracle I was on the orchard's website I noticed that they were opening on weekdays in mid October to make up for the loss of visitors on the rainy weekends.  In the same conversation Eric was telling me that he had some use-it-or-lose-it vacation time before the end of the calendar year.  Eric decided to take a half day off from work.  As soon as Evie was done with preschool for the day we drove to North Georgia for a family fun day of hayrides, apple picking, and fried pies.  Evie was disappointed that her favorite apple, Pink Ladies, were either rotten or not ripe yet. ...

When I retired from youth ministry seventeen months ago, I had no idea what my life would look like. At the suggestion of my spiritual director, I took a full year to just enjoy my retirement and motherhood. It took a full year to really unwind and relax. After nine years of working nights, weekends, and holidays, I was long over due for some R&R. During this time I discovered the aspect of youth ministry that I really missed was teaching. This lead me to working for The Natural Baby where I teach monthly cloth diaper classes and workshops. I love my Saturday morning time working with families on something I am so passionate about. I've also spent a great deal of time growing my photography "business" - taking workshops both in person and online, as well as joining a forum where we share constructive criticism.  I am pleased to say that I am booked through the end of 2015 with Christmas card, maternity, and newborn sessions. In August and September of this year...

Most of my mom's family lives nearby but we're all so busy that we hardly get to see each other. My mom and her sisters decided to host once-a-month Sander Family Fun Days the 4th Saturday of the month. If you're in town and can make it, great. If not, that's okay too. Everyone in the family takes a turn hosting and you can do whatever it is that you want.  Typically, we have a birthday cake and exchange gifts for anyone who has/had a birthday that month. This makes things a lot smoother, and having dedicated family time is always awesome! April was our month to host.  We were going to host a cookout to kick off Spring but the forecast for the week was looking crummy.  I gave Main Event a call and they still had room on their Saturday line up for a party.  I organized the lanes, catering and our own waiter. Our package included two hours of bowling, shoes, and a yummy lunch buffet.  My sister, Katie, and her husband, Sam, chose this afternoon to...

This winter was super snowy for most of the country. We were supposed to have a rough winter but as each storm approached hours before the snow was supposed to hit the front would push north or warm just to that 32-33 degree line where the snow would turn to rain as it hit the ground.  One day it did snow a little bit and enough stuck to satisfy a Southern born three year old. We had several days off from school in anticipation of these snow storms being awful. And watching them carefully on the radar they had the potential of shutting down the city for days, but they didn't produce anything more than soggy days...and I am okay with that.  We made the most of the chilly weather this Winter with fun dinners, new games, learning scissor skills, practicing drawing, playdates, organizing the house, learning to crawl, going to the movies, reading by the fire and taking selfies.  As much as we loved our ...