The Youngbloods Podcast

After many years several hundred ideas and a ton of discussions, Shannon has decided what she wants to do and what she wants to live in… And no it’s not a bus! Although, that wouldn’t be a bad idea. We still may dive into the #vanlife sometime, this won’t be the time for that. As a couple, we have talked about many things and what to do when it comes to the home we will live in and raise 0ur kids in. We have gone back and forth many times. Ever since we moved from our amazing home in Tennessee it has been hard figuring out what we want to do. It has been a long hard process but Shannon found a place that she loves. Although this will come with a chore in itself for us it will be beyond worth it. Shannon will have the house she has dreamed of second to our old Tennessee home.

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While browsing online the little home popped up. When I say title house I mean tiny home. Yes that is correct I said a tiny home. I know many of you may be thinking it. But how is a tiny home better than a remodeled bus. Well as cool as the bus would have been this is a permanent place this has a foundation it will be arched to the earth just like any other home. Bare in mind this tiny home wont be like many tiny homes you find out there. Most that you find are built on a trailer that is to be pulled behind a truck. Those are pretty amazing but we need something a little larger so we can house all of the kids.

I for one have loved tiny homes for a long time. I love the idea of them I love that it promotes the minimalist life I love he efficiency to them . Shannon on the other side hasn’t like the idea of them for most part… Well up until this little home popped up on social media. When she found he house, I had a job to do. I had to find out more about this tiny home I know if Instagram had a photo of it there was more photos out there with information about it. It took me a couple of hours, but I found it. Funny enough the home is actually back in Tennessee. Not to far from where we lived. To be exact it is pretty much in the huddle between Chattanooga Tennessee and Nashville Tennessee. In a small town called Tracy city. In fact you can rent this place on Airbnb for a by reasonable price.. here is the LINK so you can check out the listing. And possibly even book a night.

As Adam Sandler said in "Billy Madison”… “Back to school, back to school to prove to dad I’m no fool” … That’s right! My kids are going back to school tomorrow! Hallelujah, Amen! ** happy dance happening now ** Winter break just seemed WAY. TO. LONG. Maybe it’s because of Covid? Maybe it’s because when the kids are home, they eat us out of all our food… I never shop so much than when kids are on school breaks! UGH!

This year, I believe 2021 is going to be a great year! Why? Because I am going to make it a good year and we have a lot of HUGH ( Donald Trumps voice) HUGE things planned for this year! But, that’s in another blog!

I am going to try my best, if it kills me or not be set limits with the kids… less phone for Ethan. Less video Gaming for Logan and ESPECIALLY Jacob! It seems like that kids lives and breaths XBOX Call of Duty! I’ll admit it, he’s amazing at the game and does a lot of streaming with another gammer live. But, we need less electronice and more family.

Also, I'd like to make a request that we start FHE and dinners together, UNLESS… someone has work, then that’s and exception! For those that don’t know, “FHE” is Family Home Evenings. Oh, and I’d like scripture reading and family prayer daily! I really don’t think that’s too much to ask, do you?

The time from December to the beginning of February kinda kicks our butt! From getting 7 people in out house Christmas gifts, do friends and family and dinners and birthdays… I am exhausted!

Jacob turns the BIG 1 8 on the 10th. I have no clue what to get the kid… most likely Van shoes and something Nike… I don’t know! Anyone what to help a mom out? I know he’s wishing he can go do a lot, but he’s still in High School, graduating in June… but, he’s still under our roof, so curfew and rules and respect still apply. ( Even if he’s out of the house, I expect respect,) Just throwing that out here!

Anywho.. ( yup, I said that ) That’s that and Big things are going to happen!

It is that time of the year again. People are going to be making making goals for the coming year. This isn’t a bad thing, goals are good. We have done this but we have stopped making goals like this. Not down playing everyone out there that makes New Years goals or resolutions. Since we set goals throughout the year we have started something new…We do challenges instead. Challenges for us seems more of a race or urgency to get it done. It’s like starting on the first of the year the gyms are always full with people that want to better their fitness and health goals. But after a few weeks, most of those people have given up on their goal and that chocolate cake has won them back over. Challenges seem to make us work harder because we trick our brain to think a challenge is easier and only a short task.

Challenges are simple, they are small tasks in a larger goal. This year we are taking our challenges to the next level. Part of this is personal growth because with COVID, we have become as a people less friendly.. we smile less, we say hi less, we just avoid people. With technology, like we have it shouldn’t be that way.

This past weekend, Elizabeth had the opportunity to participate in an outdoor Winter Market where we live. It was freezing cold outside! She had spent all week and on Friday night she was up until 1:00 am finishing everything she need to do for Saturdays Winter Market. She was beyond If you have not read our blogs in the past, Elizabeth has been running a business since she was 11 years old. She started to make and sell All Natural dog treats. She figured since we couldn’t have a dog, she would find a way to be around dogs.

She spent quite a few months working on recipes and tweaking them to make them perfect. She did research on what is good for dogs, what is bad for dogs… different foods that pair well together… coming up with about 10 treats that would be the winners. Bacon Cheddar. Carrot Zucchini. Peanut Butter Banana Pumpkin. Pumpkin Apple. Apple Cinnamon. Apple Chi. Mint. Sweet Potato. Sweet Potato Apple.

I am sure she has more, but these are the main treats she makes. She also makes Pup Cakes, they are cup cakes, but for dogs. as well as dog birthday cakes. People love these for birthdays for four legged members.

Her big goal is to have a car by the time she turns 16… which is in February…. But back to the beginning of this blog.

With Christmas coming faster and faster every year and since it is almost here . Shannon and I talk about many of our favorite Christmas songs. We even created a s[o tidy playlist that y’all can listen to https://open.spotify.com/playlist/2UmcsmzT8GtUP6DULz4F9S?si=iIaqeCpUSAGFPRh7Wnhpeg it has many of our favorites and new favorites so enjoy this play list and add some of your favorite Christmas songs.

Everyone has traditions. Maybe it’s something that has been passed down from generation to generation. Maybe it’s something that you started when you were a young child, or when you got married. For us, we have since we have had children had the tradition of pajamas. Every year, without fail, we get everyone in our family pajamas. They know what they’re getting… just just don’t know color, style… ect. Every year, Devin and I take notes on everything the kids say. “can i get shorts” “can they be soft” “no buttons” “not this color”… you get the point. Also, every year, without fail… the day after Thanksgiving Day we get our Christmas tree. To us, that’s when Christmas starts. Even though Christmas has been out in the stores for about 2 months now… we wait until the day after Thanksgiving.

Last year we got a permit and we drove what seemed like FOREVER to cut down our own Last year we got a permit and we drove what seemed like FOREVER to cut down our own tree. It was great doing it once, but the kids and I decided it was not a new tradition we wanted to do. What are some traditions you do with your family? Some people have told us:

Have a cookie exchange party. Every guest brings their favorite holiday cookie to share with the rest of the party guests. ...

Go Christmas caroling. ...

Elf on the Shelf. ...

Check out a local light display. ...

Pick out a new ornament for each child. ...

Angel Tree. ...

Donate food to your local food bank. ...

Make Christmas candy. This year , we are starting a new tradition. Back in Tennessee, we went to this place called Jelly Stone park. they would put up lights and you would drive around looking. You would be in you car. The kids loved it. This year, we are starting “Christmas in Color” same concept. The people have spent hours making Christmas in color memorable. They put up millions of lights and you sit in your car and drive around. You set your car radio to a certain station and Christmas music is playing. So cool!

I love that this is going to be new for us. I love that we will be making new memories. Even though our kids are all older ( 19-10 ) it’s still fun to start and make new traditions and memories. I even can’t wait until out family of 5 grows larger, We will get to start more new memories to share.

Can’t wait for making new memories. &. If you ‘d like 15% off your Christmas in Color tickets use promo code:

YOUNGBLOODLIFE

One thing for sure both Shannon and I know it’s that we have freedom and bondage in this life. Our freedoms are a God given right that sometimes we take for granted, But that all comes down to the choices we make. Yes, your freedom to choose can continue to give you freedom or bondage.

I just read that the Chicago Mayor has canceled Thanksgiving for the people in Chicago! Yes, I know why he feels he has the power to do so. Yes, I know we are in the middle of a pandemic. One that has a survival rate better than the flu, but still a pandemic. To tell the people in Chicago you can’t have family over to celebrate a day of giving thanks is pure over reach of power. I know Shannon and I don’t get to political on our blog, but when we see injustice and people blindly giving into tyranny we have to throw our two cents in. First thing we need to remember is our freedoms, they weren’t given to us by our government, they were given to us by God. This is the biggest issue people don’t understand. Even if you don’t believe in God, doesn’t make it less true. This is why it is so important to stop electing power hungry idiots assigned to a political group. We need to elect based on our personal beliefs. Sadly many of the people out there don’t even know what they believe they just blindly follow the cool kids. This isn’t high school, you have a brain you can make decisions based off of facts and truth... And no, you cant use the term “my truth.” There is no such thing as “My truth “ it is either true or not. When you say “My truth” all you are saying is my opinion is. Don’t get tangled up in these falsities.

Good question. What is a traditional Thanksgiving dinner? For me and my family, it’s home cooked, fresh, cooking all day long. We cook from about 6am, getting the turkey ready for later on… once that’s finished, we start breakfast. It’s a long day.

It’s really non stop.

I really enjoy holiday dinners. I know my kids will be home with Devin and I ( at least until they are married.. then it’s switching holidays ) but for now, we will be all together.

We go all out for holiday dinners. Turkey, homemade cranberry sauce ( recipe will be below … you’re welcome ) rolls made by our daughter ( she’s a pro at rolls and biscuits ) green bean casserole, homemade mashed potatoes and maybe sweet potato casserole and corn ( no, not mixed together )

We always invite friends over that are not close to family, or have no one cooking for them. This year, we invited a few friends and I’m so glad they will be joining us!

What’s the best part about Thanksgiving also? I’d have to say the left overs! SERIOUSLY! I love left overs from any holiday meal! The ideas are endless!

We really don’t have a tradition for Thanksgiving dinners, ( besides inviting friends ) but, I’d definitely like to start one. Maybe a “Thankful Jar” where you write down what you’re thankful for the seal it up and open it the following year. I think that would be cool.

For now, I’m thankful for family and waking up everyday to a new day.

Days may be stressful, but that’s why you always get the chance to start a new one. But if not, always be thankful for the one you had.

Several months back I’m browsing my Instagram feed, I’m scrolling through all the amazing pictures when something catches my eye. I stop on DRock holding a few collectors cards. Pokémon cards to be exact. I start thinking we have a few of these cards in the house. So I comment on his picture and tell him about our cards. As he does he replies back saying message me. So I do. He asks if we have had them graded. Both Shannon and I aren’t sure where to start for this. We message back and forth send him a few pictures of what we have to which he says well they could be worth from a few hundred to thousands depending on how the grading goes.

As y’all know Shannon and I have been wanting to buy a house. We have actually several plans on how we are going to achieve this goal. Some of them we have shared on here. We have had a lot of skepticism from a lot of people both publicly and privately. That is the nature of life when you share your life with the general public. It seems haters and trolls are always out there to watch you fail and make sure they tell as many people as they can even though their opinion isn’t worth anything.

If y’all didn’t know, these amazing cards to the right collector are quite lucrative. Especially when Youtubers like Logan Paul get involved in this awesome trading card world.

If you didn’t know Logan Paul, according to his YouTube channel he got a text from Gary Vee asking him about if he has seen this sports cards thing. He replied of course I have. But he doesn’t know anything about sports cards. But he did collect Pokémon cards. Gary vee in a nutshell tells him this is the new art ironically Pokémon is at the top so get educated on Pokémon!

Fast Forward to now. Devin has spent countless hours sorting our Pokemon cards in to years and sets… then sets by numbers. Then, spending time putting them in the correct order into the selves of the card holders so non of them get ruined, lost or trashed in anyway. Trying to hold the value and keep them looking nice.

This was by far no easy task and a lot of the time he has to take out cards to replace ones that went in the missed spot… meaning all cards had to be moved down by 1 or 2 spaces. Again, very time consuming. If you knew how many cards we had, you’d understand.

Are you into collecting cards? Action figures or Legos? maybe Hotwheels…. let us know. Was it something you had as a child and still do? We’d love to know!

Charizard Slush Freeze:

1 packet of Mango Kool-Aid

1 Cup sugar

Fill blender with ice… then with water till filled

Blend packet and sugar with ice and water

Repeat with -

1 packet of Strawberry Kool-Aid

1 Cup sugar

Fill blender with ice… then with water till filled

Place mango freeze on bottom, layer top with strawberry.

TA~DA…. Charizard Slush Freeze

I’m sure you have read it before in our blog somewhere… but if not, let me say it again,

A CLEAN HOME IS A HAPPY HOME!

Our kids know that when ma’am’s happy, everyone is happy. We all do our part in keeping the house clean. We take about 15-20 minutes a day and focus on what needs to be done. We also assign our kids daily chores, something that they will have for the entire day. Most of the time, it’s not fair that one kids has trash, and another kid has dishes. We go through a lot more dishes than trash. We hear it daily “that’s not fair” yes.. it’s fair… because eventually said kid will have chore that’s not fair and other child will have a harder chore or a chore that they will do more than once. It all comes around full swing.

Yes, we have days where we don’t want to do anything and just be completely lazy! That’s why we like going to bed with a clean house. Once the house is clean, it tends to stay clean .

Teach your children to clean up after themselves. If they play with something, put it away before getting another toy. Put clothes that are dirty away in the laundry hamper. It’s not hard… kids can start doing chores as young as 2.

If you’d like to have an easy chart to help get your cleaning organized, visit cleanmama.com she’s filled with amazing charts for daily chores, monthly and weekly. •

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