Mommy Days

My blog has moved

2011-08-01T20:53:00.001-07:00

I am so excited to report that my friend Jody from Blended helped me change my blog so I could stay signed in to my e-mail and my blog at the same time!! Yeah!! The URL has changed to kristenmommydays.blogspot.com. The dash is the only thing changed. Hopefully this will make it a lot easier to blog now. Follow the new address and find out about our trip to the Grand Canyon we took last week…

The Munchkins Amazing Progress

2011-05-15T07:14:00.001-07:00

We recently had an MRI for the Munchkin because his eye doctor was noticing some vertical drifting of his eyes. The doctor has always noticed that he had the horizontal drifting but the presence of vertical drifting at this age was alarming. There were two possibilities of what it could be. One is that it was always there and they just never noticed it because he would never cooperate for his appointments. He would scream and wiggle and they would be forced to do their testing quickly to get it over with. The other possibility is that some thing is attacking the 4th nerve in the brain causing this. I was told that whatever is attacking it would most likely be benign. Not exactly what a mother wants to hear about her child.

We went for the MRI in Loma Linda. He had to be sedated for it. After it was over we went over to recovery. It was a long day! We left our house at 7:45 and didn’t return until 4:00. His doctor called me the next day with the good news. “There is no new damage and no changes. The only damage is what he has had since birth from being premature.” This is what we were praying for that the problem or 4th nerve palsy was always there. However, I was reminded of what a precious miracle this child is. The damage that has been there since birth is that when he had a stroke in the womb, 60% of his right parietal lobe didn’t form. There is fluid in it’s place. There was a time when we didn’t think he would or they (his twin) would even make it out of my body alive. Then when they came out and spent 75 days and 105 days in the NICU, they struggled daily to survive. Then as the Munchkin got older and we got the diagnosis of Cerebral Palsy and they told us “He might be able to walk one day”. We have been to more therapy appointments than I wish to count but he is doing amazing!

Two years ago the Munchkin fell from his booster chair at the table and had to have a CT scan. The doctor was surprised to find what we already knew was going on in his brain. And was excited to inform us that his left brain was enlarged because it was compensating for what was missing. The doctor said “If he continues at this pace, in 15 years you won’t even be able to tell he ever had anything wrong with him.” This child is a miracle!

He used to have to use a gait trainer to help him learn to walk. He hated it! When he got his new hinged AFO’s (leg braces) he started walking. That was October of 2009- he was 3 years-old. A couple weeks ago he has begun actually pedaling his bike. He never could before because he couldn’t get his left foot to cooperate. He can also ride his sister’s scooter!

On Monday we are going to Loma Linda so the Munchkin can have a Botox injection in his left leg. The muscles are so tight and it hurts him so badly when we stretch him. The Botox will relax the muscle so we will be able to stretch him and he can put the left foot flat on the ground. Yeah! Having the injection will ward off having to have surgery until he is older. If he doesn’t have the injections or surgery, the muscle is so tight that his leg can’t grow properly. I am excited for his leg to relax!

Updates on the Twins

2010-12-29T17:05:00.000-08:00

I realize it has been a very long time since I have updated everyone on the status of my twins. They just turned 4 in September which is incredibly unbelievable! The munchkin stopped drinking his super high calorie formula from a bottle in July and his growth has been amazing. He had been throwing up a lot because the formula would fill his tummy too much. Then he wouldn’t eat real food. The GI doctor is the one who wanted him on it for so long but I am glad we finally stopped giving it to him. He now weighs 22 pounds! he has gained 2 pounds since stopping the formula. It is so very exciting to see him sitting at the table devouring a grilled cheese sandwich. Some days he is our best eater!

The bulldozer has some news of his own. We have been really noticing since about a year ago that he has some serious behavior issues that he wasn’t growing out of like we had hoped. He would almost go in waves behaviorally. He will be great, kind and helpful and then for the next week terrible spurts of screaming and being unable to make his bed or put on his clothes. I am sad to say that for a while we would get angry with him. Thinking he was just being stubborn or lazy, after all he could do these things yesterday. We took him to Mental Health Services and after much evaluation they diagnosed him with PDD-NOS which is on the autism spectrum. We don’t know a whole lot right now but we are learning. Especially we are learning to approach him differently. He has some fears and terrible nail biting to where he hardly has any fingernails at all. I called Loma Linda University today to see if we can get an appointment with them.

All in all both boys are doing well. We got new glasses for the munchkin and they are already scratched. If anyone knows us we always have trouble with glasses for that boy! I will have to drive out to riverside and order new lenses to fit his glasses. There is some news about our oldest the prince but I will update everyone on that in another post. Thanks for joining me in my journey to being a better blogger!

Sick, Sick, Sick!

2010-12-28T20:57:00.000-08:00

Someone has been sick in our house since November 29th. First the prince, on his birthday he had pneumonia. Then 2 weeks later the prince again and then me and now daddy. Daddy and I had Bronchitis which is so fun. Also there is some coughing going on with the smaller children but I am praying that I can boost up their immunity and they can fight it.

I feel like I don’t ever blog because there is too much to blog about so I don’t even try. My goal for 2011 is to fight the urge to feel overwhelmed by my life and by extension my blog and just choose something to blog about. I will try, cheer me on, pray for whatever you think will work. Actually don’t waste your prayers on that I am sure I will need prayer for something more serious later

Continued Vacation Pictures: Proving Ground And Lighthouse in Maryland

2010-10-23T11:44:00.001-07:00

Sunday we went to church and then ventured over to the Proving ground where my aunt works. I had been there many years ago with my dad to look at all the tanks and wanted to take the Prince. It was fun but super hot so we didn’t last very long. Then we went over to the lighthouse in Havre De Grace. The last time Dad had taken me there it had a rickety, unattached dock that would move like crazy when the boats would go by. Apparently a hurricane, Katrina I think someone said, destroyed the dock. The lighthouse was awesome. The last time I went there I was unable to go inside and this time it was open! It was so hot that the kids were just whining and crying and melting. We also got to go inside the light keepers house. Concord Point Lighthouse is really pretty and it is the only lighthouse I have ever been inside. I love lighthouses!!!

Cooking Like Crazy!

2010-08-28T11:26:00.001-07:00

To get ready for the school year with one child in fourth grade (public school) and three children homeschooling, one in kindergarten and two in preschool, I cooked like crazy. I wanted to have meals ready for convenience that were healthy. I followed recipes from Heavenly Homemakers because she grinds her own wheat like I do and her recipes are simple and cheap and nutritious. She follows the nourishing traditions style of cooking. The first thing I made was graham crackers. While they were in the oven I looked over at the bag of Sucanat (natural sugar) and realized I didn’t add any in, Oops! The kids still like them though, thank goodness. Next on the list Honey whole wheat bagels. I made a dozen to freeze for lunches or breakfast because it is the favorite food of the Prince. Next was Breakfast burritos for the freezer for a nutritious, quick breakfast. First though I had to make the whole wheat tortillas 24 to be exact. Then came the eggs and sausage and some cheese had to be grated. Then 20 burritos were assembled and frozen. Brad did the math and figured that the burritos cost about 45 cents each. Pretty good! I began soaking beans yesterday and will finish those today and also for today the granola just finished baking. The granola is very hearty and we can put it in milk like cereal, it is much cheaper and the kids love it!! I have been ignoring the laundry so that is also on today’s list. That is definitely the dreaded part of the day!

Memorial Service and The Old Mill

2010-08-21T17:10:00.000-07:00

The Memorial service was beautiful. My sister and cousin played “Let it be” on the guitar, and a family friend sang. Aunt Kim did a reading and my youngest brother Alex did a reading. Then Brad did the eulogy and it was amazing. He portrayed dad so well and he brought up some things about dad that a lot of people did not know about him. Adrienne and I went up at the end to read some letters we found that Dad had written to her and the boys. They were so funny! After the church service we went to the grave site where the urn will be buried and did a small service there. Everyone went back to Grammy and Pop Pop’s for food. The kids were picking berries in the backyard. It was so fun!

After everyone left we went to the old mill that is in my grandparents little town. It was so beautiful! It was built in the late 1700’s. It was interesting for me and the kids to see a grain mill this size. The grain mill I have fits on my fridge and it was pretty impressive to walk inside and see the inner working of one. They still do grain grinding demonstrations however, we did not get to see one. Right behind the mill is the Susquehanna river. We stayed around there for a while before going back to Aunt Kim’s. It was a very nice and calm day despite the sadness we felt.

My Problem is Solved!!

2010-08-20T22:18:00.000-07:00

My dear wonderful friend Kelly told me about Windows live writer. You download the program for free and then write your entire post in “writer” drag and drop your pictures right onto your post from the file on your computer and viola! You publish the post and never have to deal with blogger’s photo uploader shenanigans again! I think I may be in heaven! I was seriously going to stop adding photos to my posts and let all my many, many readers just use their imaginations :) Now, I am off to start writing some posts and schedule them for the next few days. Happy photo uploading to all of us, Thanks to Kelly!

Having some serious trouble

2010-08-19T22:11:00.000-07:00

During our vacation we took 1,400 pictures. That is a lot of stinkin' pictures. It was two weeks of travel and we apparantly didn't want to miss anything! The trouble comes in because blogger is making it very difficult for me to upload, organize and find the pictures for each post. I am not sure how I am going to fix this problem or if I will just have to skip over all vacation pics and continue with posts about regular life. I really want my vacation pics on here so if anyone has suggestions it would be greatly appreciated!

Baltimore

2010-08-15T17:19:00.000-07:00

After Fort Mchenry we went to Edgar Allen Poe's house and then to the cemetary where he is buried. It was a very interesting cemetary because a church was built on top of it. It was strange. We walked around there for a bit and then went into the Inner Harbor which was really important to me and my sister. Dad used to take us there and he loved the Inner Harbor. We then drove by dad's old house. It is the house I live in in my dreams. It used to be so beautiful-and still is, not much had changed. When dad was still alive and in hospice we brought up the "woodside house" and he said " I refinished 13 doors in that house!!" Everything else we talked about that day he was kind of soft-spoken about but not when it came to all the work he put into that house!! Anyway, that was our sightseeing for that day. I had a terrible time uploading these photos. I cannot get them to arrange in order. I am very frustrated and have given up on that task for now so they are unorganized and wacky-sorry. I feel it is better to have my computer in tact and wacky pictures than a computer that has been thrown across the room because I continued trying to fix the pictures. Also, I am getting frustrated because blogger has some sort of delay when I am trying to go back and delete words and letters. Ahhh I am done for the evening, hopefully I can find a way around these problems tomorrow.

We interrupt these regularly scheduled vacation pictures...

2010-08-14T20:45:00.000-07:00

...to discuss our dinner tonight. I had some boneless skinless chicken thighs that I got on sale at Henry's. I never buy thighs I always buy breasts so I had no idea what to do with them. I had some coconut milk in my pantry that I didn't know what to do with either. Sooo, I went on an internet search for recipes and I found a few but I didn't have most of the ingredients. Well I found one where I was only missing one main ingredient (rice vinegar-which I sent Brad to the store for) and I had similar substitutions for other things I was missing. The Chicken is Sticky coconut chicken with chili glaze and then to accompany I made sesame noodles. Holy cow!! dinner was so good, and the amazing part... my kids devoured it! They were begging for more chicken WITH sauce. I thought for sure it was going to be too spicy for them. I did not have the chili oil for the noodles or the chili flakes for the chicken so I just used tabasco and chili powder and kind of added stuff just to give it a little kick. They all loved it! After dinner they wanted some cheese and did some sort of goofy butt cheese dance, and you are lucky enough to see a video of it!

Sooo, make these recipes for dinner it was easy and delicious. I especially loved the noodles, Yum!

Pig Roast

2010-08-13T21:00:00.000-07:00

The pig roast was awesome! At first I wasn't so sure how I would feel about the whole pig roast situation but being there I was so happy I almost started crying. There was family that I hadn't seen in 10 years or longer and bluegrass music playing and a giant 95 pound pig being BBQ'd and cornhole going on in the background. This is family, this is what a get together should look like. 50 people all hanging out- some related, some not, all enjoying their time together. It was fantastic. It made me realize all that I have been missing out here in California. The only real, related family I had was my mom and dad. And now that they are both gone it is just me and my family. Brad has his mom and grandma out here and some other family a few hours away. I want to move, we want to move but we can't figure out how.There is a whole ex-husband situation for me and someone would have to give up summers and someone would have to give up the school year. We are trying to figure it out. Anyway, there were ladies there that were making homemade peach ice cream-it was soooo delicious!!! Pop was so excited about the ice cream and the pig roast. By the way Pop was driving around my daughter on his ATV and I should mention that he is almost completely blind and I was terrified wondering why in the world he was riding around on that thing. I also should explain cornhole... in Brad's words it is redneck horseshoes. Bags of corn, like bean bags thrown into a piece of wood with a hole in it. Simple but very fun.

She was hot and tired and found a chair to have her dinner

Enjoying the bluegrass music

Being helped out of a hole he fell in

My cousin Jessica and her husband Clark. They were playing cornhole

Cornhole!

This kid has candy hooked to his shorts!

The munchkin playing cornhole

I forgot to post about going into Baltimore and visiting Dad's old house. That will be tommorow.

Fort Mchenry

2010-08-12T21:22:00.000-07:00

We went to Fort McHenry on our second day in Maryland. This was exciting for my sister and I because Dad had taken us there sixteen years ago. She was only two at the time and I was 14. Whew, that was a really loooong time ago. Anyway, it was terribly sticky on this day and we were so hot. The kids were having fun going into the brick-lined tunnels and seeing all the cannons. We had a great time, and this being our first sight-seeing experience it was nice to show the kids all the artifacts. They however could have cared less and just wanted to be in some air-conditioning (we all did for that matter).

Tomorrow- Pig roast, cornhole and bluegrass at Grammy and Pop Pop's. (Cornhole surprised me at first too. If you know what it is comment, I am betting a lot of my Southern California friends have no idea what it is.)

Exhausted!

2010-08-11T21:13:00.000-07:00

First day in Maryland we were exhausted. We didn't go to bed until 3:30 am. We woke up around 10:00am but we were just a mess! We slowly got ready and then headed to grammy and Pop Pop's house for the first time my kids and husband got to meet them, and the first time I had seen them in 10 years. Before we left for their house the bulldozer decided to take a rest on the floor by my Aunt Kim's giant dog.

The Princess fell asleep in Aunt Kim's arms-Aunt Kim was in heaven!!

Tomorrow I will post about Fort Mchenry!

Vacation

2010-08-10T21:10:00.000-07:00

My amazing grandparents paid for us to go out to the east coast. All six of us boarded a plane excited for the trip ahead. I was so nervous that there would be nothing but meltdowns and crying. Thanks to all the pre-packed activities, the 2 flights out there and 2 flights back went fairly smoothly. We stayed for two weeks and visited lots of family and saw many different places. I will be posting about our excursions individually because there is so very much to post about! To start it off airport pictures. We arrived at our local airport very, very early. I was concerned that it would be busy and that the whole removing six pairs of shoes and then putting them back on was going to be time consuming. We were happy to not be rushed. We had packed peanut butter and Jelly sandwiches and after getting through security and making it to our gate we sat and enjoyed our lunch.

My Dad passed away

2010-03-20T20:25:00.000-07:00

On February 17th. After my mom died he helped clean out her apartment and helped organize our garage with all of her stuff in it. Then about a week later he just didn't have the energy and would have to go back inside to go sit down. He went into the emergency room December 20th and they said he had pneumonia. He got out and started drooping weight. He went into the emergency room again January 14th and when I picked him up the next day I just started crying. He had lost 20lbs. in one month. We had the memorial service for my mom on the 17th of January and everyone could see that clearly my Dad was not doing well. On January 26th he had lost so much weight and was so weak that his legs could no longer hold the weight of his body and he began using a wheelchair. On the 29th my husband took him to a doctor's appointment in Loma Linda and they admitted him-we were hoping they would. On Feb 1st I went to visit him and he had many tests scheduled-a lung biopsy, a bone scan and a liver biopsy. On Wednesday he called me with the results. He had lung cancer that had spread throughout his body- it was in his liver, pancreas and bones. It was incurable and untreatable and he only had weeks to live. Two days later his sister came out to visit and she stayed for two days. I wanted to move Dad closer to our house but I knew that he had a few friends visiting him there. They had gone and watched the Superbowl with him and that brightened his day. After I asked him if he wanted to move and be closer to us or stay and be closer to his friends he said I want to move! So I immediately filled out paperwork to get him moved. The next day, Friday Feb 12th my Husband drove out there and moved him 5 minutes from our house. It was perfect timing because my Dad's other three kids from North Carolina were coming on Valentines day. His kids are 18, 16, and 11. He was so happy to have them visit. By this time he was very confused and he thought we were going to take him with us. He also stopped eating. They left on Tuesday morning the 16th. Later that morning I went to visit him but he was fast asleep. I went back later that afternoon and I was so happy to see that he was in his wheelchair and looking out the window. I had three kids with me and after about 15 minutes they started making too much noise and we said goodbye. I wish I would have taken him outside with us but I didn't think of it. Later after my husband got out of school he stopped by to go see him and he was asleep. My husband told him thank you for all he has done for us and that he was a good man and that he loves him. In the morning at 7:30 I heard my cell phone ringing and I went running to it but missed the call. When I saw the number I knew it was hospice. I returned the call and the nurse said that William has expired. I just broke down crying. Dad died in his sleep within an hour of them finding him.
So now I am trying to work through all of these emotions of losing both my parents within 2 1/2 months of each other.

A Positive thought...

2009-12-05T21:45:00.000-08:00

This is a poem Brad wrote today as a way to deal with his grief. He was at the library looking out the window at the golf course and it was surrounded in caution tape and it made him think of my mom. Although there was no actual crime and no caution tape, he said that he felt it was a crime that she went so suddenly. He said he felt like she was robbed of her life. The final thought of the poem keeps his mind positive and hopeful for what's after this life. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did-it made me cry because it is so true!

Floating yellow strands, with cold, black letters
Line the doorway of your dark, empty place.
“Not for the weak of heart,” the tape mutters,
As it flutters, like a slap in the face.
But the words don’t hurt anymore, because
The sun is still shining from heaven’s lap--
To remind how He has washed all your flaws,
How anyone can dodge the devil’s trap.
Burn on us now, and show us, the path:
That the bleakness of The Fall was usurped
By the power and glory of His death.
Hand in hand, go from the devil decerpt,
And let the tears be happy memories
Of a life, once in bondage, that is free.

Unimaginable

2009-12-05T17:18:00.000-08:00

I still truly cannot believe that my Mom is gone. I keep thinking "I should call her and ask her about this picture" or "Why I am taking all her stuff she's not going to have anything left". I keep saying to myself that it's not really happening but then I get a flash of the image of her when I found her and I realize that it is very real. I am sort of numb today, haven't cried much like the other days-it's almost like I have no more tears left. My Husband and his 2 friends are bringing her furniture to my Garage and my Dad is cleaning her apartment. I look into my garage and her entire life is stuffed haphazardly into it. Things are piled on top of things and I keep walking in there and just staring at the things that filled her apartment, the things that accumulated form her 61 years of life. She lived in her apartment for 20 years-I lived there for 8. She has things that were mine, things that I rolled my eyes at when I found out she still had them and told her she was goofy for keeping them-they are now things I wouldn't give up for anything in the world. I checked her e-mail and her cell messages nothing interesting. However when I checked her outgoing calls she had called Urgent Care two days before she died and talked for 1 min 18 secs. I don't know what was said but it makes me sad to think she was bad enough to look into it 2 days before her death but ignored what her body was telling her. I miss her terribly and I am still wondering if it's true...I hope not.

I was just about to push publish when I thought "oh I should call my Mom and tell her I posted." It made her day when I would blog, she checked it everyday and unfortunately I barely blogged, I wish I would have been better. It brought her such joy.

Update

2009-12-02T12:59:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone-

This is Kelly, Kristen asked me to write a quick update for all of you with regards to her mom.

The Coroner called and it looks like nothing obvious led to her passing. They are doing a toxology screen to make sure there weren't any lethal amounts of anything in her system, which they said is very unlikely-they just have to check. Most likely she passed away from an infection and combined with everything, her body just shut down.

Brad and Kristen are going through her apartment now and making decisions and arrangements. Please continue to pray for their family!

My Mom passed away yesterday

2009-12-01T13:54:00.000-08:00

It was completely unexpected and I am stunned that this has happened. She was sick a couple days before thanksgiving with a fever and cough and her fingers and toes were getting numb. I told her she needed to go to the doctor but she said she'd be fine. Then yesterday she called at 11:15 and sounded terrible and could barely talk and was wheezing she said she would go to the emergency room but wanted to wait a couple hours so she could rest. She said she would call me at 3:30. After me freaking out and getting upset she asked me to just please wait -she wanted to be able to walk into the ER. She didn't call me at 330 so I started calling her her phone was off . I had her neighbor go over and bang on the door and nothing. He got a key from the manager of the apartments and we went in together at 600 and she was very much gone. The EMT said she had been gone since about 12:30. We are fairly certain it was pneumonia but they are doing an autopsy to confirm.

Happy Birthday!!!!

2009-09-21T22:54:00.000-07:00

My baby boys turned three today. It is sad for me but they are really getting so independent and it is exciting. We started off the morning with donuts for breakfast. Then we got the two big kids off to school (more on the princess going to school later) then we went to the park after taking the munchkin to the doctor. We finished up the night with the kids watching Wall-E with Daddy who isn't feeling very well. It was a great day. The kids all opened a present after breakfast. Aunt Jody (not blood related but the closest person the kids will have to an Aunt because Brad and I are only children) sent each kid a present because three birthdays are within a week and then she doesn't want to leave the Prince out so they all get one. It turned out to be a really great day. The bulldozer was amazingly grown up today. He was a helper all day and was just very proud of himself and how responsible he was being (we were too!!)

too tired to sit up and open the present

really excited about the card-it has a lobster!!!

Too cute for words!

Handsome...

and some more handsome. Three handsome guys!

The boy continues to amaze us

2009-09-01T20:16:00.000-07:00

So we were just about to brush the kids teeth and I look over at the munchkin and he looks like he is going to stand up in the middle of the floor. This is no new thing, he attempts to do it often but never does. Well, tonight he did it. We were all so excited!!!! The first video he really did stand up in the middle of the floor but I didn't record that the second video you get to see the whole amazing feat. Oh his physical therapist is going to be so proud!

Here is a much better video...

2009-07-21T15:18:00.000-07:00

I took this one the day after he first walked and he has been continuing to walk just little bits like this. We do have to set him up for it for the most part though. It is so exciting!! You might want to turn the volume down on your computer, apparently I was very excited (and a bit loud).

Look who's walking!!!!!!!!!

2009-07-18T22:06:00.000-07:00

Brad came home a bit early today from work and when he walked in the door he was greeted by the munchkin. Well the munchkin went up to him and used Daddy's leg to stand up. Then he proceeded to take 3 unassisted steps. Then we sat down and had him walk to us. He was so proud of himself and the Bulldozer at first wanted to help him walk (he came over to hold his hand-really cute!!) but we said that he was doing it himself, and then he kissed him. It was an exciting day at our house. The video isn't that fantastic because I am trying to catch him and record him at the same time but the third time he walks he takes about 4 steps. It's more than he has ever done and we are amazed at how well he is doing!! Lately he has been cruising around furniture but he never tries to balance on his own.

I need to catch up

2009-06-29T17:50:00.000-07:00

I have so much to blog about and I now have a friend holding me to at least 3 posts per week, so hopefully I can do it. Where shall I start? How about our Anniversary trip.... We had an absolutely amazing time!! It began on Saturday night when we went to see the Taming of the Shrew with Brad's Shakespeare class. Yes, it is strange to begin your anniversary trip with your spouses English class but we both had an amazing time watching the performance. Then we went out for a drink with the class and then headed to our hotel. By the time we got there the club next door was clearing out so the parking lot was filled with half-drunk gangster looking people and we almost stayed at a different hotel! After considering the fact that we would have to drive around L.A. looking for a hotel we decided we were exhausted and would just stay where we originally planned. It was a very nice hotel and because they couldn't locate our reservation we got free breakfast for the next 2 mornings which was great! Sunday morning we woke up and went to the Farmer's market in Santa Monica. I was so excited to be there I started to get teary eyed and then when I saw how much fun our kids would have being there I really started to cry. After a moment I composed myself and just took in how awesome it was to be surrounded by organic produce. There was a band playing nice music and people were totally picnicking on the grass. We had brought a cooler so that we could come home with organic treasures. For our lunch that day we decided to get salad greens which came in a plastic bag, some sun dried tomato dressing, an heirloom tomato,strawberries, garlic butter and a loaf of kalamata olive bread all from different vendors. We grabbed a fork and knife from one of the other vendors and we went to the sit on the beach and have our lunch. It was so relaxing to sit with our lunch and enjoy it together. We then went wandering around all the little shops and had dinner at a Mexican restaurant then went back to the hotel. As we were relaxing and watching a show there was an earthquake! The hotel was swaying!!! We ran downstairs and I was totally freaked out. All was fine though and we went back up to our room for a good night sleep and then had breakfast in the morning and then headed home. There were no catastrophes at home and we had a glorious time. It was exactly what we needed!!

This was the Awesome fountain that we got to see in action after the performance. We were very impressed!!!

BBQ

2009-06-08T10:12:00.000-07:00

We had a BBQ with my friends that I have known forever. Since I am terrible at posting pictures my friend Chrissy has posted some on her blog so please go visit here to see the pics. They are sure cute and one day eventually I will post some on my blog. I hope to get caught up with blogging ove the summer but it probably won't happen.

Baldness

2009-05-31T20:57:00.000-07:00

These bald heads are what I came home to after being at a rally for summer spectacular at church. We had talked about shaving these heads and Brad took the initiative tonight. They look adorable!

The Bulldozer sitting in his sisters car seat

The munchkin half watching tv and half looking at me

2009-05-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

We are leaving this afternoon for our Anniversary trip. We are hoping it is better than Last Years Anniversary Trip. We are staying two nights in L.A. We have the weekend planned out but I will share the details when we get back so I am not reiterating information. We are both so excited. I am a little nervous about leaving the kids for 2 nights but I am sure I will get over that very fast. Please pray that nothing eventful happens with the kids and that the munchkin eats for Grandma because our weight gain appointment is on Wednesday.

I am sick

2009-05-05T16:54:00.001-07:00

I don't think it is swine flu though because it started yesterday and I am feeling MUCH better today. This happens every year around this time-I go to bed too late and then I have one really long night where the kids don't sleep well and WHAM! Last year I got strep throat 2(or maybe 3) times in an eight week period. The kids are being pretty good-the bulldozer has actually been "washing dishes" at the kitchen sink for about 30 min. He is very happy there and I think he may have a system going. The princess is napping, the munchkin is talking to the TV when he is asked questions and the prince is playing in his room with his friend. I was able to clean the kitchen this afternoon -thank goodness! The only reason I am even feeling better is because my amazing husband watched the kids this morning instead of doing his homework. I was able to rest and get rid of my fever. Then the wonderful man took the kids to the park so I could shower in peace. He truly saved me! My only complaint is my throat is still a bit sore but I am treating that with echinacea tea with honey. Everyone else is doing well though. Brad has occasional kidney pain but he is okay for the most part. He has his pre-op appointment June 4th and on that day they will schedule the surgery, I think it will be a month after that- not sure though. Just wanted to update everyone.

My Husband's Kidney

2009-04-16T21:27:00.000-07:00

On March 9th a day after my Husband turned 27 he went into the emergency room because of excruciating pain in his kidney area. He had had that pain before but this time it was so terrible that he had to go into the ER. We found out that his left kidney was not working but that hospital could not do anything for him but give pain medication because we don't have insurance for him. We applied for medi-cal and he has seen a urologist in Moreno Valley at the county hospital 3 times-the third was today. He found out what we had been suspecting, that his left kidney is not working due to a severe obstruction that he has had since birth but it hasn't given him problems until the last year or so. In about two months-we don't know the date for sure yet- Brad will be having his left kidney removed. The right one is still working fine but it may give him trouble later in life. I will update with the date of the surgery when I know.

The Munchkin is Doing AMAZING things!

2009-04-09T22:39:00.000-07:00

I never reported this to everyone but we went to the GI doctor in Feb and she wants him to gain a good amount of weight by mid May or they will want to put in the feeding tube. Well, we have started putting a small amount of prune juice in his bottles of pediasure plus the neccessary 3 scoops of Calorie booster in each bottle. And let me tell you he is totally gaining weight!!! Also, he used to spend a good part of his day cranky, like screaming cranky-not fun. Well since the addition of the prune juice he has been soooo happy. He is like a new child. He also has many new tricks. He can pull himself up to stand in the hallway and open doors, he can also walk along the hallway holding onto the wall. He needs less support when we are helping him walk and today he got his gait trainer (medical walker). He was so excited and so was his brother and sister. They wanted to help him when he was in it and the bulldozer came up to me and said "Bike" and pointed to the garage. He wanted to take the munchkin outside with his new wheels so they could ride "bikes" together. So we went out and they had so much fun. I let the munchkin wander around the cul-de-sac where there were no obstacles. He was very tired after already having had therapy and then trying his new walker out for a second time but it was so fun. I pushed the munchkin home because he was just too tired to walk himself and when we got to the driveway, the bulldozer hopped off his bike so he could push his brother up the driveway, while he was pushing, he kissed him on the shoulder. It was the sweetest thing ever. Here are some short videos and a couple pictures.

He is so happy!

The bulldozer enjoying playtime outside with his brother

He got really tired at the end of this.

Cardboard Testimonies

2009-04-08T07:35:00.001-07:00

Our church is doing this at the Easter services. Brad and I have both decided we want to do it but, we are going to need a BIG piece of cardboard. I am thinking refrigerator box size.....

Check it out if you have never seen it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RvDDc5RB6FQ

This video is not from our church.

Today's Fabulous Purchase

2009-04-04T14:44:00.000-07:00

My entryway has been begging for something interesting.

It has been desiring something to make it feel like it is part of the house.

I spotted it, the table I have been looking for,

On my way to the street fair with the kids,

There it was, right in front for me.

I pulled up right in front (a bold move, especially for me)

Jumped out and layed my hand on the item that would complete my entryway.

$40......hmmm

I had to get back in my car-I was blocking traffic.

So....I drove to the bank

pulled right up to the front of the yard sale-again and said will you take thirty for it- she said yes
Yeah!!! I almost burst with joy.

And then they delivered it to my house- we were only 2 streets away

And when they placed it for me they said- it looks like it was made for this spot.

I know-this is the table I have been looking for!

Older than I thought I was

2009-03-31T09:02:00.000-07:00

Heard from the bathroom this morning.

**Upon noticing the headband falling out of the drawer onto the floor

Princess: Mommy, I need your headband because my hair keeps getting in my face

Me: No, you don't, your silly-I'm brushing your hair

Princess: Mommy, I need it. AND it's the color of your hair

Me: That headband is NOT the color of my hair-that headband is Gray

Princess: Yes it is Mommy, it's the color of your hair

Me: My hair is brown, thank you very much!

Just so you know, there was only one gray hair found on my head and it was discovered by my hairdresser and promptly removed by her.

Oh, what a day!

2009-03-23T12:28:00.000-07:00

Well, it has been interesting so far. At therapy they informed me that the munchkin has been having crying fits- (I affectionately call them tantrums) and that they can't do therapy because he is screaming so much. Then they asked me if I knew how to control them-Ummm, no that's the main problem in our house! They also asked me if there was a better time in the day when we could do therapy, when he is in a better mood. Ummmm, no again, it's pretty much whenever you can catch him (or his twin for that matter) in a good mood and if you give him his way.

Then, when I got home I got an e-mail from The Prince's teacher reporting that he is not doing what he is supposed to be doing in school today.

Then, I got a call from my Dad, he was in a bad mood from something that went on today so that brings me down.

And then, finally (well for now anyway) I got a call from the Prince's step-mom saying that football practice would be starting tomorrow and she would come and pick him up at 4:30 then take him to practice at 6:00 and then return him at 7:15 on my weeks, two times per week. And then games are on Friday's. Ummm, I don't think so! I will be taking him to practice on my weeks so that will be an added stress, but at least I am not without my boy for that many hours. I am extremely selfish with my time with my boy. His friends always want him to come over to play and I have the hardest time letting him go. I only see him half the time in a month already, it is so hard to relinquish any extra time that I may have with him.

As I was writing this my best friend from Boston called me. When I heard her voice I started crying. I told her all about my terrible day and just talking to her made me feel better.

I just got off the phone with another friend and we are going to have a playdate tomorrow. The Lord sure knew who to send me to change my day from terrible to much better. Thank you friends!!!

Houston, we have a problem...

2009-03-19T20:30:00.000-07:00

Okay

It Happened

The beginning of the end

We witnessed it with our own eyes

it was scary, you'll just have to see it for yourself...

His sister was more than happy to create a soft landing spot for him-made up of and Elmo chair and a blanket "Come on jump you can land here"

Immediate action had to be taken, so that we knew everyone would be safe. We took the bunk beds apart to ensure the safety and well being of the ~~daredevil~~ little sweetheart.

This is the room before the incident (with the slide out bed on the floor.)

This is the room tonight after they finally went to sleep

There is some rearranging to be done like headboards and foot boards and railings but it is good for now. We are down one boy tonight-he is at his Dad's, this arrangement may not work when he comes back- the excitement may send me them over the edge.

He has a future in Hollywood as a stunt man or maybe skydiving instructor. Not exactly what I had hoped for....

The Foods We Eat

2009-03-19T12:07:00.000-07:00

By we, I mean all of us (Including you reading this). I just found a blog this morning that I am extremely impressed by. Ship full o' pirates, she makes her own deodorant for her family (healthy and cheap), she makes her own bread (mulitple loaves per day-she has a BIG family), and she makes her own condiments (Ranch and ketchup). She makes the bread and condiments due to High Fructose Corn Syrup. This article about HFCS is astonishing. I have been trying to avoid it for the Prince because of his behavior sometimes. But HFCS is in EVERYTHING! read the article and check out her blog you'll be amazed I have only read a few of her posts so far but really I am inspired to make more things on my own and not rely on the grocery store for everything by purchasing products in their most natural state and then creating from there. The thing that would save me the most time would be to make double of things, like banana bread, zucchini bread, pizza dough.... and freezing the extra for another day-not stuffing ourselves with the delicious banana bread all in one day. One suggestion I read in a free e-book from Minute with Molly was to bake all on one day, say Saturday, you would make your bread, muffins, loafs or whatever for the week. I hope you are inspired too. By the way that free e-book is awesome!

Funny Girl

2009-03-17T21:04:00.000-07:00

So this morning the Princess got dressed and she was wearing a purple shirt and black skirt. I said"Oh, I forgot, you need to wear green today-it's St. Patrick's Day!" She looked at me puzzled and said, "Does he like purple?"

Later she comes up to me and says "When is the boy coming?"
Me: "What boy?"
Princess: "The boy who likes green..."

Clearly I need to explain this holiday further, she is definitely confused.

Hope you had a great St. Patrick's Day! I made Corned beef and cabbage in the crockpot which the kids would not eat (that's nothing new!) and we wore our green shirts. That was the extent of today's festivities. Tomorrow I get to get my hair cut-it has been soooo long since I have been. I can't wait!!!

Friends

2009-03-16T22:15:00.000-07:00

We went over to a friends house to see some of my friends from high school a few weeks ago. Two of this group are pregnant now and what cute pregnant tummy's they are! (The two on the right are pregnant, please don't mistake my belly fat for a baby bump)

Me, Erika, Sara, and Angie

Us with our Husbands- from the left Matt, Mike and Brad (Erika's Husband was putting their baby to bed)

We all went to each other's weddings except I did not go to Erika's because I was in the hospital on bedrest. If i had been at home on bedrest I was planning on going, my doctor didn't know that though. That is precisely the reason I was in the hospital-my doctor knew I was incapable of following orders. Anyway, Erika would bring me the best chicken salad sandwiches from her dad's restaurant while I was in the hospital. Sara and Angie helped take care of my two kids at home and brought food, movies and books. Angie even cleaned my bathroom while I was on bedrest. I love these girls I don't see them nearly enough!

Complaining

2009-03-15T22:37:00.000-07:00

I received this devotion in an e-mail from Above Rubies and I thought I would share. I have copied the entire page.

**All writing belongs to aboverubies.org**

HOME DESTROYERS

Philippians 2:14-15, "Do all things without murmurings and disputing: that ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke,in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world."

COMPLAINING

Psalm 106:25, "They murmured in their tents, and hearkened not unto the voice of the Lord." Read the story in Numbers chapter 14, especially verses 2 and 27.

Where were the people complaining? In their tents, which were their dwelling places in the wilderness. Where does most complaining happen? In the home. But what does it do? It tears down the home, whether we complain about our circumstances, the work we have to do, or our husband. Not only do the walls of our home hear it, but our children hear it--and God hears it!

The children of Israel murmured and complained against Moses and Aaron, but when God heard it, He said they were complaining against Him. God says in Numbers 14:27, "How long shall I bear with this evil congregation, which murmur against Me? I have heard the murmuring of the children of Israel, which they murmur against Me." Stop press! Help! When we murmur and complain about all our problems, God hears it as murmuring against Him.

The ten spies had returned from spying out the land of Canaan. It was a land flowing with milk and honey, but they complained about the fortified cities and the giants they would have to fight. It looked impossible! Even after all the miracles of coming out of Egypt and provision in the wilderness, they did not believe God could help them. They blamed Moses for bringing them out of Egypt. They complained that all their children would be taken as salves.

What happened? God told them, "Get back into the wilderness..." He told them that they would all die in the wilderness and their children who they complained would be taken as slaves would be the ones who would go into this magnificent land. Where do we end up when we complain? In the wilderness.

Wives and mothers,
we take our families into
a wilderness journey
when we complain!

The root of complaining is unbelief. "Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?" The Israelites cried out in unbelief. (Psalm 78:19). "How could we ever have another baby?" you cry out in unbelief. "We can hardly make ends meet now!" "How can we afford to educate our children?" "How can I put up with this little house any longer? I need more room" And so it goes on.

Here's a good habit to start. Change every sigh into a Hallelujah! Every time you are tempted to complain, turn your heart to the Lord and acknowledge His power and His presence. "Thank you, Lord, I trust you. I know that you are ordering my footsteps. I thank you that you are with me in these circumstances." It will take time to establish this new habit, but keep at it.

It doesn't mean that your circumstances will necessarily change, but you will change. God promises in Isaiah 43:1-3 that when you pass through the waters, that "I will be with you. They will not overflow you." God says that when you go through the fire that "You will not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle upon you."

What is our confession? "I'm going through a fiery trial. I don't know how I can make it." Or, "Thank you, Lord, no matter how hot it gets, I will not be burned because you are with me!"

I remember when complaining as a young child that my mother would immediately direct me to think about those who were poor and suffering in the world and didn't have all the blessings that I had. It's not a bad idea. There are millions in the world who live in abject poverty, without running water, adequate food, shelter or any of the basic amenities of life which we are used to. My husband, who has ministered in the slums of India and many third world countries, often says, "Just to live in a tent in America makes you a millionaire!"

I think about the Karen people, the displaced people of Burma who have been fighting a genocidal war against them from the Burmese government for over 50 years. We complain about keeping up with homeschooling. The Karen try to school their children while they live in hiding. We complain when things are not just as we want them when we give birth. Many Karen mothers give birth while running from the enemy. No time for recovery. No time for relaxing with their baby. No gifts. No excited calls from family and friends.

The wife the founder of the "Free Burma Rangers" shares about the love, forgiveness and generosity of the Karen, even in the midst of suffering and hardship. She says, "The gifts they gave were of themselves--their time, energy and love. In my experience in the West it is easier to go to the store and buy a trinket as a gift. For this reason I have chosen to raise my children in this war. The influence of these people is something I have never experienced anywhere else."

Love from NANCY CAMPBELL

PRAYER:

"Oh Lord, I find it so easy to complain. Please give me strength to create a new habit of praising instead of protesting, gladdening others instead of grumbling and being content instead of complaining. Amen."

AFFIRMATION:

"Not for the lip of praise alone,
Nor e'en the praising heart
I ask, but for a life made up
Of praise in every part!"

Horatius Bonar

Many women like to save these devotions. They print them out and keep them in a folder to read over and over again. Some print them out and pin them on the fridge with a magnet to read through the week. If you are printing this devotion and need it to be smaller, highlight and change to a smaller font.

If you know others who would be blessed by these devotions, you are welcome to forward them or let them know they can subscribe by sending a blank email to subscribers-on@aboverubies.org

An Accomplishment

2009-03-14T23:41:00.000-07:00

One of the Munchkins goals from therapy is to be able to sit at the edge of something with his legs hanging over. And he has done it! He has reached other goals since this one (reached in December) but this is just so cute because he is so little. Just thought I would share how proud we are and how proud he is of himself.

Sharing the spotlight with their brother

"Look at me Mom, I am doing it"
The bulldozer and his cutie smile

Christmas Day!

2009-03-13T22:00:00.000-07:00

We woke up and opened our presents. Before we started the opening I popped the sausage strata in the oven, which takes and hour to cook.By he time we are done opening presents we eat.Then I pop the cinnamon sticky buns in the oven to be baking while we ate the strata. So yummy!! The food was a lot of preparation the night before and I will probably only make one next year-most likely the sticky buns-mmmm they were so good. We gave the rest to our neighbor across the street or else we would have finished them. Here is some pictures-no pictures of the food though I do have the recipes if anyone wants.

A family of jammies!

The boys

The girls
Her puppy (pretend) she asked for

Teamwork to open their big present

A little people train set

Happy Birthday Jesus! Lots of sprinkles!!!!

The blanket the Prince made for the boys

Look at that morning hair

Ooh, what is it?

I'm excited!

So now I am done with Christmas posting-Yeah! I do have a few more things to catch up on. This auto post thing is great! I can write up a bunch of posts and set them to each post one per day instead of posting six at once and then not posting forever. It is marvelous.

Craigs List

2009-03-12T22:46:00.000-07:00

Well today I posted something for sale for the first time on craigslist. It's our patio table set, the kids prefer to climb on it so we wold prefer to have something not as dangerous to just sit on. I was not planning on listing it for so much($200) but after doing some price research, another table was on there for sale for $200 and it was only 5 pieces (half what ours is) and not nearly as nice, so hopefully with the money we make we can buy a "conversation set" I would like to find something similar to what we want at a thrift store but we will see.

This is what we are selling:

This is what we want-basically

****UPDATE**** It sold within 5 hours for full price to the first person intersted. We then had 6 other inquiries before 11pm. It had only been on Craigslist for only 9 hours. Craigslist is awesome!!!

Festivities after our company left (Christmas Eve)

2009-03-11T23:10:00.000-07:00

After the Grandmas left I had 2 pairs of pajama pants to finish making, we had a birthday cake for Jesus to frost, I had sticky buns and sausage strata to prepare to put in the oven for the morning. It was a busy evening. The kids opened their pajama pants from mom and their shirts from Dad that he made. We were all so cozy.

My shirt says "God is Love"
...So does Daddy'sBulldozers shirt says "Stick with Jesus" with a picture of drum sticksThe munchkin in his jammies-his shirt says "pick Jesus" and has a picture of a guitar pick Her shirt says "Some day my Prince will come"

Very little frosting went on the cake Don't you frost your cakes wearing a leotard??

My sweet boys

Christmas with Grandma and Great-Grandma

2009-03-10T22:58:00.000-07:00

Brad's mom and Grandma came over Christmas eve and we opened our presents from each other. The kids were mostly well behaved. It was nice to spend time with them. The kids enjoy the attention when people come over so it gets terribly loud in our house. That is why we really don't invite people over, it is overwhelming!

This kid should be on a commercial!

They look so calm and serene. When they are screaming and hollering at me I will mentally put myself in this pictures, and maybe put in some ear plugs. Hey, not a bad idea!

See, they are little angels

Oh and they share so nicely, are these even my kids?
Great Grandma Jean, she looks so lovely

Trouble Makers

2009-03-09T22:46:00.000-07:00

These two are always into something. Climbing, biting, screaming, crying, wrestling, screaming, hollering, singing = driving mom crazy. But how darn cute are they?

They have to be this cute or else we would never forgive them for the shenanigans!Who said it was okay to get on the table??? Dangerously close to the edge

They had fallen asleep after an very long and drawn out supposed to be napping extravaganza! Apparently removing ones pants and diaper was part of the party.

Clearly the child in the bucket, with the bucket is waiting for his brother

Going back to Christmas

2009-03-08T22:31:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I know, I am a flake. I am just finally blogging about our Christmas festivities. I figure if I don't do it now I never will and then I can freely move on to other things without any event induced guilt. So this is our trip to Candy Cane Lane. The princess is wearing about five layers, she was so funny and insisted upon wearing them. We were frozen. I know, I know go ahead and say it we would never make it the snow, and on the other hand you "snow people" would never survive one of our treacherous summers. So anyway we had a blast and stopped at Sonic Burger on the way there, what a cool place that is. I am pretty sure I have never been there before, I was very impressed with the amount of people they can service there. So, this is our trip, it was fun and now I have to try to figure out how to use autopost.

Frugality...(Is that even a word??)

2009-02-27T12:15:00.000-08:00

We are being extra frugal lately and I have found an amazing book at the library which have given a whole new insight on budgeting (which to me is more visual and it just makes sense), and everything we spend money on from clothes and cars to entertainment. It is America's Cheapest Family. One of the ideas is not buying the lunch meat from the deli counter or prepackaged, instead buy the chub of meat from the meat section and take it to the deli for them to slice. Divide it into bags when you get home and freeze some. When you need more take it out of the bag put it in a plastic container in the fridge with a paper towel to absorb moisture and you have saved 5-7 dollars per pound. The meat chub is only about $1.19/pound as apposed to $6.99/pound for deli meat. Another fabulous idea is the budgeting but it is too hard to explain when typing, I just tried and deleted it all because it doesn't make sense. Call me and I can tell you, it is easier to explain verbally :)

The meaning of a word....

2009-02-19T10:59:00.000-08:00

I wanted to share something I was thinking about this morning. As I was listening to the radio, the morning show host referred to a guest that was coming on the show and that his "lovely Bride would be joining him" It made me think about the words Bride and wife. What different feelings those two words can mean. Being a wife you are a cook, a housekeeper, a companion, friend and sometimes a nagging cranky women who prefers that socks not be left on the floor and that the room be painted "now"....and so on. BUT an Bride is something entirely different. The day you were a Bride you were committing to the world and to the Lord that the man next to you was going to be yours forever and you would cherish him and love him. It brings up feelings of great joy and contentment, where the entire day was a celebration of your love for each other. I want to encourage every married woman to look at your Husbands the same way you did on that day. Just remember the reasons why you fell in love with that man and how you felt on that day when you committed your lives to each other. After hearing it on the radio I walked in the door and hugged and kissed my Husband and he was surprised. Because I sometimes let our relationship sit on the back burner. Our relationship is the reason we are where we are today, and if I would just pause for a moment and show him how much I love him it would make such a huge difference in the way we (especially me) speak to each other in stressed times.

Have a Blessed Day!!

Valentine's Day!!

2009-02-14T08:43:00.000-08:00

The top two pictures I took the night before Valentine's day so I could include it with Daddy's present. From start to finish with setting up "the backdrop" adding the decorations, dressing the kids and then taking the 30 or so pictures took about an hour. Oh I also had to give candy to encourage smiles and the TV was on behind me so they would stay in one place AND look in my direction, I was sweating and exhausted when we were done! Then we stayed up to decorate so when they came out in the morning it was festive and fun. We had heart shaped pancakes and special treasures in little bags that I decorated

Opening their chocolates from their sister He shoved and entire chocolate in his mouth!Playing with peanut butter play-doh

He wanted to eat the play-doh (fine with it has me lots of calories!)

Smiles!!Opening his treasure bagSporting her new visor that daddy made for herHugs from the only Valentine she'll ever have (according to Daddy)

"There's only one way to handle this...."

2009-02-09T11:14:00.000-08:00

I hear the oldest say. " Handle what?" I replied without turning around. "Can I have the scissors please?" He says. That sure made me turn around and when I did I saw the Prince walking VERY closely behind his sister who is drinking water calmly from her cup. They are still too far away to see what is going on. "Why do you need scissors?" I questioned. "Well, I don't know how it happened but.... her hair got caught in the bubble blower... and well we are going to need scissors to get it out." I started cracking up. It was so funny, they were behaving nicely and then cooperatively came inside together that all I could do was laugh. Only one small knot had to be removed after I put bucket loads of conditioner on the "area". Good thing he didn't get the scissors without asking me, could you imagine???

Oh, yeah, my blog....

2009-01-30T14:11:00.000-08:00

Seems that I have forgotten about it, or maybe have been far too overwhelmed to even check my e-mail much less blog. I still have to post about christmas, my birthday, Brad's job and a million other things. So in true procrastination style I shall post about last night, and put off posting about all those other things until another day. This video is funny, no other reason than that. Enjoy!

Dance

2009-01-13T12:57:00.000-08:00

Before Christmas we were able to go inside the room where the Princess has her dance class and watch them do a dance to Rudolph the red nosed reindeer. It is the first time we have been able to be in there and take pictures. It was so cute and any time that song would come on she would start dancing-in the grocery store, anywhere. She would say "It's my song!" Here is the video of the dance it is pretty funny.

Living Green

2008-12-31T11:46:00.001-08:00

I just wanted to share how we are trying to live greener and healthier. We have been shopping at Henry's and Clark's mostly.

Organic Milk- I have been buying only organic milk, on sale and we have really been paying more attention to when the bulldozer has it in his cup, making sure he doesn't leave it somewhere and it goes back in the fridge.
Vinegar and baking soda (separately of course) to clean, I have been doing that for a while now. I still have a lot of traditional cleaners so I am trying to use those up before I buy natural cleaners.
Indoor plants- we have 7 now, so that is really cleaning our air. We really notice how stale the kids rooms are without having the plants in there.
Natural meat-We have been purchasing natural chicken and beef from Henry's only on sale, which is by the way, the BEST meat we have ever had!
On sale items- Organic items can be pricey so I have really been paying attention to purchase only when on sale. I am currently watching for a sale on the seventh generation brand dish washing detergent, laundry soap, and dish washing liquid. I have also been purchasing organic fruit on sale only and the locally sourced eggs they sell at Henry's.

I watch Get Fresh with Sara Snow and I have gotten most of these ideas from her show.

If you love purchasing your foods instead of making them, Do Not Click On The Link Below!!!
I have also started making more things from scratch. The major one is peanut butter. I read this article on the Internet, I had heard about it a long time ago, but didn't believe it. Now I do believe it and I am trying to make more things from scratch and buying things closer to their natural state. The insects don't bother me terribly, it is the rodent hair part that disgusts me.

This Peanut Butter recipe is so easy and the kids love it!
I added some honey to sweeten it up a bit.

I will share other things we are doing to be green and healthy! Share any tips you may have also please.

Three Stitches

2008-12-28T22:59:00.000-08:00

And unbelievably cute! Bad news is that he is allergic to latex, we now know this because of the redGreat news though. They did a CT scan to see if he had a concussion and while looking at it the doctor noticed (What we already knew) that part of his right parietal lobe is missing. The doctor was about to discuss it with Brad when Brad said, Oh I know about the missing part of his brain already, he happened at birth. The doctor was relieved that Brad knew already. The cool part was that aftder reviewing the CT scan further the doctor noticed that the left side of his brain was enlarged, in a good way. It is compensating for the missing part. He said that in 15 years he may only have a slight delay. Which to me translates into he may one day get married and have children, which means the world to me.

Here you can see the reaction to the band-aid. Actually The prince and I are both allergic to latex. And after my fetoscopic laser surgery when pregnant with the twins we found out I was allergic to the surgical glue. My reaction to the glue was terrible! They almost put that on his eye instead of stitches. Good thing!

You'd never guess!

2008-12-28T15:05:00.000-08:00

First thing you'd never guess is the great deal we got on a 1953 hutch at a thrift store. We decided 2 days ago we wanted a hutch for some better storage solutions and last night we went looking some were $280 used and $400 new, that wasn't going to work for our budget. So we tried one more store and found the perfect one that was the perfect size and it was only $90 marked down from $240. What a steal!!! Brad picked it up today. Here it is in all it's glory.

Sooooo while I was helping Brad take it out of the van, actually we barely had opened the van door when from inside we heard crash... wahhh. We ran in knowing what we would find, mostly anyway. The boys have been pushing themselves away from the dining room table and then they decide to pull themselves back up to it from their booster chairs. Which is fine, except when the munchkin does it he isn't strong enough to slide straight back up to the table so he, only once before, has fallen face down with the chair on top of him. Very scary, we thought he learned his lesson and we have been careful with his placement at the table. Today he fell again. So when we ran inside he was under the chair. And apparently he hit the table on his way down. The cut continued slightly bleeding so after we took the hutch out of the van and put his car seat back in, Brad took him to the emergency room to see if he needs stitches. Brad put a butterfly stitch on his cut to help with the bleeding. This sweet boy has now had 2 emergency room visits, the seven year-old has had 0. I think the munchkin is not as innocent as we all think he is. No really though he only cried for a second, he sure is tough!

I will post about Christmas and everything soon, I promise!

It's Raining, It's Pouring

2008-12-17T07:09:00.000-08:00

Literally and figuratively. This is the second day this week it is raining, Oh I am a happy girl, When I looked out the window this morning I smiled so big when I saw it all beautifully cloudy and drizzling. So now the figurative part, it's raining homemade Christmas presents. I am working on like 5 projects right now. With the kids all being sick last week I was too exhausted at the end of the day to sew the pajama pants but I have finished Brad's pair, so just 5 more to go! I also need to help the kids finish their gifts and I am knitting and crocheting. I have a nurse here today so hopefully I can get a good part of my projects completed. And Brad just called and said because it is raining so hard, he is on his way home. Apparently you can't work with asphalt when it's raining. Yeah, I love when he comes home early! Even though it is not so great when the check comes, I do love having him here!

Todays Happenings

2008-12-13T07:26:00.000-08:00

The kids have all been sick for over a week now. It has been a looong week. This morning as they are waking up they seem to be all better. Yeah!! We are talking about going to look at a new camera. My Mom and Dad said they would help with the cost for our Christmas present. The one we have now takes terrible pictures at night and of moving subjects, which doesn't really work for us. We found a sale at Circuit City so we will probably head down there and then maybe to the Snow in Palm Springs. Then tonight is the Christmas show at our church. We are going to take the big kids out to dinner first and then to the show. I am really excited to do something for the big kids.
In the mornings I listen to CSN (Christian Sattelite Network) on channel 88.9 on the radio in the mornings and there are two really great shows that I have caught. One is about the Ten Commandments and the other is about Marriage and parenting the resources are free and you can download them right onto your ipod. Just click on Listen online. Just wanted to pass that information along it has been quite informative for me. Have a great day!

Skip

2008-12-04T13:57:00.000-08:00

I just read their blog. As soon as I saw it at the top of my blogroll I knew what had happened. I am so sad. We brought them a meal a few months back and I was on the phone with skip for about 20 minutes just talking. He asked me abut our kids and I told him how the boys were premature and about the munchkins CP. And at the end of the conversation he asked me if he could pray for us. I felt so undeserving-he has been suffering with brain cancer for about 5 years now and he is praying for me?? When I got off the phone I prayed, and prayed and prayed for him. I never really knew him except for that phone call. I was Hannah's preschool teacher at the church when she was 4 (I think she is 11 or 12 now) I know Linda much better than I knew Skip. I can't even imagine what their family is feeling right now. Please pray for peace for them.

Seven!

2008-11-29T23:01:00.000-08:00

My first born, my sweet boy is seven today. It is amazing to me that he is growing so quickly. I look at his face and I see my sweet baby. Don't get me wrong, he has always been a busy boy, climbing and exploring, but he has also always been very kind. He is amazing smart and in his recent report card he is reading far above second grade level and he is 6 months to a year (in age) behind his peers. I am so proud of his curiosity and his ability to retain information. Sometimes I will be reading something to him and I will think he isn't listening so I will ask him what I just said-expecting him to say ummm I don't know, he will repeat the sentence word for word. I on the other hand have to go back and re-read it to make sure he is right because I can't remember it, and I am the one who read it! His favorite TV show when he was 3 was Jeff Corwin and The Crocodile Hunter and he can remember facts from those shows forever! He is so patient with me and with the boys (and the girl) who destroy his things. He is flexible from having to bounce from his Dad's house to mine form week to week. I will spout off a million directions to him when I am stressed and he will do them. And if I ask him to make the boys stop crying or to play with them he will. He is my Prince and I am so grateful to God for him.

We celebrated Thanksgiving on Friday and since everyone was already here we decided to have a sort of surprise party. When we said it was time for pie and everyone was in the dining room I came from the bedroom with a birthday cake and we started singing. He was so surprised! and the look on his face made me cry. WE had some trick candles on the cake which was hilarious. He hugged me while I was cutting the cake. He was smiling so big! We had gone with one of his friends to "Pump it up" (an inflatable party zone) and then to Hometown Buffet last weekend so we said that he wasn't really going to get much else. We decided a few days ago to do the surprise thing and I am so glad we did. Al the pictures I have of him as a baby are in a scrapbook or in a box and I don't have a scanner so I took pictures from my scrapbook.

A Glorious Day!

2008-11-22T14:15:00.000-08:00

Today has really gone well (besides the COMPLETE meltdown in the grocery store from the munchkin) We started off by earning a cub scout patch because we dropped off canned food with the scout people (I am still trying to understand this whole cub scout thing) While talking to the head lady we mentioned that we tried to get the uniform but couldn't and I asked if we needed the belt she said"I happen to have one in my car that he can have" He gasped with delight! Then we did some grocery shopping-I really needed creamer, everything else we could have done without (you know like milk, cheese, bread...) The we came home and the boys took their nap. The big kids played at the neighbors and I got to be on the computer uninterrupted and Brad got to be outside in his garden uninterrupted. As I said it has been a Glorious day! We go to church tonight and then tomorrow we will be doing a small celebration (One friend gets to come) at pump it up and then to Home town buffet for lunch (He gasped with delight multiple times at the thought of the buffet!) For the Prince's birthday. It is actually next Saturday but he will be at his Dad's house so we are doing just a small something.

Presents

2008-11-22T13:41:00.000-08:00

This year for Christmas we are each making something for each person. This is the first year the kids are giving each other gifts.

This will be the handkerchief doll the prince makes for his sister

This will be the 2 blankets the prince makes for the twins (tied fleece) This will be the pajama pants I am making for everyone. I made some when the prince was little but that was a long time ago, we will see how they turn out :)

Daddy is making shirts (iron-on emblems) for everyone to wear with their pajama pants for Christmas eve and then they can be worn out in the world. The twins are making bookmarks, and I am not sure what the princess is going to be making this year. The two big kids will get a couple of store bought presents but we really want them to realize what this season is all about: giving not receiving and praising God for sending his son!

Yeah

2008-11-20T13:40:00.000-08:00

Today is going MUCH better except for some crankiness from the boys this morning. I got a full night sleep so that is wonderful. Thank you everyone for your kind words and prayers. Now I am off to make my corn muffins....
This is the munchkin about a month ago raising both arms! This is my visual of YEAH for you.

We survived

2008-11-19T19:56:00.000-08:00

We made it through today, barely. I went to the conference but the teacher wasn't expecting me (the office didn't let the teacher know I switched my day to today) so I will be going back on Friday, which is good because I will be at the school anyway bringing 40 mini corn muffins (that I am making because I can't find them at any store), 40 little cartons of milk (purchased from the cafeteria for $14.00) and 20 plastic spoons-all for the November birthday/thanksgiving party at school. The prince will be 7 in nine days. It's breaking my heart that he is so big.

We went to dance class and found out that her creative movement class will be performing at the Mcallum in June and the costume deposit was already due. I don't know where I have been-(oh wait I was chasing my screaming 2 year-old boys around the dance studio. the past two weeks I haven't had to bring them because the nurse has been here she is so wonderful)-that I didn't know about the performance. So after dance we planned on driving out to yellow mart in Indio to get a cub scout uniform for a very excited cub scout. There was major construction that I had to park very far away and carry the princess through the mud and we had to enter through the back service entrance-it was crazy, I am so glad I didn't have the boys with me!
So they didn't have his size-only youth XL, that would definitely not fit him! So, devastated we left and drove to little Caesars for 2 $5 pizzas and cash back so I could drive back to the dance studio and pay for the costume. Then we had to rush back home before the wonderful nurse had to leave at 6. We got home at 5:50-awfully close! Then the munchkin threw up for the 3rd time today. I think I have figured it out I think it is a combination of teeth pain and we need to change our air filter. He is our air filter sensor, when he starts throwing up-it's time to change the filter. I would prefer that he let us know another way :)

Well that was our Crazy, Crazy day today. I know that many of you will breath a sigh of relief that this day didn't happen to you :) Oh, and I am trying to keep on top of updating my blog, soon maybe I can update and be able to comment on your blogs-I do read every one's blogs-just so you know.

Tired, tired and more tired

2008-11-19T09:13:00.000-08:00

4:23 am
Prince: cough, cough, sniffle
Mom: go get a tissue and I will help you blow your nose (Yes he is almost seven, but the boy HATES to blow his nose and wouldn't if I didn't make him. )
Prince: (after we have taken care of the nose) can I sleep in your bed?
Mom: okay, get in

4:30
Prince: Cough, cough My nose is running
Mom: go get a tissue and I'll give you some cough medicine

4:35
Mom spills cough syrup on her pants, feet and floor

Return the prince to his bed after I clean up my mess and change my clothes
The bulldozer makes noise when the Prince walks into his room

4:50
Prince: Mom, I am still coughing (He is right in front of my face)
Mom: you'll be fine here get in bed with me
(as I roll over I realize that I didn't quite clean my foot good enough so up I walk into the bathroom to wash my foot)

5:00
Prince: Mom, I can't sleep. I want to go read my cub scout book
Mom: No, it's too early, go to sleep.

5:15
Mom rolls over again only to realize that the other foot is still sticky, so up to clean it.
Prince: my nose is running
Mom: go get a tissue
Prince: the floor is sticky in here where you spilled the cough medicine
Mom: Okay thank you, I'll take care of it later
Brad gets up to use the restroom
Noise coming from the boys room
everyone back in bed

5:30
Prince: Mom, I can't sleep
Mom: take a deep breath and let it out slowly, do that 3 times.

5:45
Brad's alarm goes off he pushes the sleep button

6 am
Brad gets up and now the boys are crying
Mom fetches a bottle and feeds the munchkin while the bulldozer cries.

6:20
Brad leaves for work
Bulldozer empties toy buckets in the boys room while Mom lays on their bed

6:40
Princess wakes up. first thing said"I don't want to be asleep anymore"
Prince wakes up. first thing said "Did I miss anything??"
Boys were already awake so we all emerged into the living room to begin our very fabulous day
which started with the munchkin throwing up- he is teething and can't stand the pain.

I set the timer for 5 minutes and told the two big kids they had to be dressed, faces washed, teeth brushed before the timer dinged. If they weren't ready they were leaving the house as is. ( they had already been asked to get ready and didn't listen.) Well the timer worked so well. When it went off the prince said "My shoes aren't on-can I put my shoes on?" Princess said the same thing. I told them that the shoes not being on was fine. I was amazed that they did it. I did not have the energy to discuss anything this morning.

I nurse coming today at 10am-6pm to help with the boys. (It's respite care) and Brad has school today but he got off work today at 8:45 so he is here for a little while. I do have parent teacher conference today and the princess has dance lessons this afternoon. I think we will make it though.

The Munchkin

2008-11-13T11:55:00.000-08:00

The munchkin wearing his (leg braces) AFO's and working with the teacher that comes to the house. He is doing so well!

Pumpkins and Halloween

2008-11-13T11:21:00.000-08:00

Carving pumpkins is very serious stuff!!

This pumpkin is not carvable, he tried and when we realized it would be easier to carve it if we had a chain saw we looked it up on the internet and found out it is for pies and such. Such being pumpkin pancakes, pumpkin spice muffins, a pumpkin spice lattes. We have already made the first two things.

The boys got to draw their faces on their pumpkin with guidance, of course. Now they are waiting for their pumpkin to be carved

Our scarecrow family outside, one for each of us.

The Prince wanted slashes on his

Pinky's (The Princess) Pumpkin

The boys

The Princess was sleeping beauty with "New Hair", as she called it

One knight...
and then another. We let this monkey wear his new leg braces(AFO's) and we held his hands and he walked up to the houses (well stepped). It was so cute.

And then a few days later I made my first pie EVER! The crust was frozen but I used fresh pumpkin. It was so yummy.

Family Night-Pizza Making

2008-11-13T10:51:00.000-08:00

The serious pizza chef of the group

A pizza dough mustache

Daddy wasn't available for this family night he had a lot of homework to do-this one was a couple weeks ago, it was terribly hard to help four kids make pizza but they had fun. The Prince put both sauces-red and pesto, he also put chicken, tomatoes, and any sort of topping I had out. It was so cute and so yummy. It took forever for me to clean up because first I made the pesto sauce from the basil in the backyard. I was going to make my own pizza dough but I ended up buying it at Trader Joe's, thank goodness for that. It is really neat because the kids gets excited now when we say " It's Friday, It's Family Night!" The Princess says "Yeah, Family Night!!!"

Halloween Party

2008-11-12T21:24:00.000-08:00

We sent the princess to one Grandmas house to have "girly" time and the boys went with the other Grandma to McDonald's and the park. Then Daddy and I had 8 little boys in the house. It was so awesome! I was dressed up as a witch and Brad was a 1920's business man (so he said, his costume was pieced together) Brad was in charge of 2 games-a balloon pull (the number on your balloon determined your # of prizes from the prize bucket) and water balloon toss. I was in charge of musical chairs and this icky game where you put things like cooked and oiled noodles (brains) in container in a bag and they blindly feel inside and try to guess what body part it is. There was cold cooked oatmeal (guts), unpopped popcorn (teeth), yarn (hair), peeled grapes (eyeballs) and more. It was so funny. We had one boy who was three and every time it was his turn to feel he would do it but when it was time for him to guess, Brad would say "okay what d you think it was?" and he would say "Yuck" then Brad would say" yeah, but what do you think it is?" He would reply "YUCK!" He was adorable. The Prince felt so special to have something just for him and his friends.

Karaoke

2008-11-12T21:15:00.000-08:00

The Bulldozer dressed up as a cowboy for a karaoke family night. Adorable!!!

Family Night (3 weeks ago)

2008-11-12T20:34:00.000-08:00

So I am a little behind in my blogging, I am going to do as may blogs as I can tonight to catch up. Here is our family recipe for caramel apples......

First, you wash the hand picked apples Then you dip them in caramel and let them set

Then you enjoy

When you are done with your apple you place it in an inconspicuous spot for your parents to find it later

Pumpkins

2008-10-28T11:16:00.000-07:00

We left Oak Glen and went to the Pumpkin Patch to get our pumpkins. We normally get our pumpkins at the same place but this time we wanted to try the other place. They had games and a corn maze and jump houses which we all $4 each, per kid so needless to say we did not participate in any of those activities. We let them climb up the FREE hay castle and then we went searching for the perfect pumpkins-1 for each of us. The Prince always has to have the perfect choice so he was the last one to choose his pumpkin after having looked over many. The princess chose hers in 2 seconds. We said "okay everyone gets to pick a pumpkin" and she said "Okay here is mine" We helped the boys pick and then chose ours. We grabbed some very cool mini pumpkins and some Indian corn and then The Prince found his PERFECT pumpkin.

All the minis and corn and Daddy's cool gourd(far right)

Daddy's extremely large green pumpkin

Mommy and The Prince's (Yes his is gray, and most definitely the coolest!)

The Princesses and the Munchkins

The Bulldozers pumpkin didn't make it. Somehow (???) it got a hole in the side and had to be thrown away yesterday after rotting slowly for 3 weeks.

We did have a great time, and it will be eve more fun next year when the boys are older. It really is so different now that they are 2. Besides the constant tantrums, we are getting to do more things with them that would NEVER have been attempted before. WE do still have our limits though.

Apples

2008-10-26T22:15:00.000-07:00

We went apple picking a few weeks ago. The kids LOVED it!!! The princess talked about it for days "My favorite part of the day was picking apples" she would say. The twins had so much fun too and the Prince was so well behaved and helpful (I love that).

I never thought...

2008-10-04T15:41:00.000-07:00

...that my husband was capable of this. I have always known that he is very good at MANY things but on this I totally doubted him. You might even say that I laughed at him and made fun of him. I even called the man "Farmer Brad"! Well now I owe him an apology. Farmer Brad grew sweet potatoes from the eyes of the potatoes that sat too long on our counter. We weren't sure if they were relly growing under there, but sure enough they are! We pulled these out too early but there is still another crop out there that we will allow to continue to grow. Good job Farmer Brad! (He has EARNED that title now!)

The backyard

2008-10-02T21:43:00.000-07:00

I know I promised these a while ago, sorry as you can imagine I forget about things often. So here they are plus a new fabulous wall that was purchased on sale and built by my amazing husband. What in the world would I do without him? He now has to fix our dryer which still works but is very, very loud. This is the beautiful wall that will have plants behind it at a later date.

There are lots more plants to add to the side yard but we want them to live so we are waiting until it isn't 104 like it was this day.

It was so very sunny out when I took these. I made a mental note to take some at a better time of the day so you will probably see those in 3 months-just being honest here!

Today was a good day!

2008-10-02T21:30:00.000-07:00

There was virtually no crying, well except when Daddy came home they decided to cry continuously! As Brad was leaving I thanked him for being so wonderful and working so hard so I can stay home with the kids. He said- thank you for staying home with them, so I don't have to! All the while they are screaming away behind us. So funny!

Here is a very sweet video of the princess doing what she does best, being a princess!

Oh My, My

2008-09-29T22:12:00.000-07:00

Wow it was a hard day. The three little ones are just crying all the time because of their teeth. Multiple times during the day I didn't think I was going to make it through. I layed on my kitchen floor praying for strength to continue with this unbelievable day. I am exhausted and I haven't been able to complete tasks today without interruptions. It makes me feel so unproductive to constantly be taken away from what I am doing to tend to who knows what. Then I look at my children as they are in pain and very sad- but not in too much pain that they can't bite or hit or smack each other-with as much love and patience and kindness as I can muster for the moment. There were a few times when I had to just walk in the backyard and close the door behind me just to hear silence for a few moments. So here I sit, releasing the tension of the day with my computer, which by the way has never once yelled at me or hit me or any of my children for that matter. Oh the computer gets the most well behaved of the day prize- hey I think I just had an idea for my kids:)

... and one that is 3!

2008-09-27T21:58:00.000-07:00

My sweet Princess is three today. It is so amazing how much she matures every day. She is so kind-unless her territory is in jeopardy, she is thoughtful and loving and gets so excited when the munchkin does something new and fabulous-she exclaims "Mommy, look at you little munchkin!" She puts up with so much from her brothers which has made her amazingly tough! She was born 5 weeks early weighing 6lbs. 3oz. and stayed in the NICU for 10 days because she had respiratory distress. I was so excited to have a girl so we could do "girly" things and she wouldn't have it any other way! She got a dancing princess DVD for her birthday and she watched it 5 times-it teaches you to dance like the princesses. Oh my, she had to have on her princess dress and her ballet shoes "like the girls".

Their party is supposed to be tomorrow BUT everyone is not themselves. Both boys are teething-molars, and they are beyond miserable. The oldest came home early on Friday from school with fever and the princess had a fever last night and today and she is having some mouth pain that we can't seem to figure out. We are postponing the party because we don't want the kids to be miserable at their party, they only get one birthday each year, they need to enjoy it! I will be calling everyone that was coming to the party in the morning. I am sad about it but they had a miserable day today and we don't want the same sadness for tomorrow.

She did have fun opening presents and having a cake and she tanked me for her pretty cake and for her movie and she also hugged both brad and my legs many times to say she loved us, She is truly a sweet girl. Happy Birthday Princess, I thank God for my sweet Angel. She is the exact daughter I always dreamed I would have!

2 that are 2!!!

2008-09-20T07:41:00.000-07:00

My boys are 2, I can't believe it. Starting out so unbelievably tiny to now be 23lbs and 16lbs. They are so sweet and so busy and I am so grateful to the Lord for them. They have been such a blessing and have taught something to everyone in this family! They are amazingly busy, curious, kind and wild. The bulldozer can say so many words now: Hi, stinky, thank you, by, five, yes, no and so many more.

The Munchkin plays peek-a-boo by putting his hand over his nose, his totally thinks he is invisible when he does this. He answers me when I ask questions by saying "Yeah", no matter who or what I am asking. He is so strong now and his legs don't shake when he tries to stand.

They are both so wonderful!

I tried desperately to take a picture of them together when we went to the park today but there was no such cooperation, as usual!

Tonight we are having pizza, because they both love it and I am making cupcakes. Theirs and the princesses party is next Sunday and her birthday is next Saturday. It is a very busy time but fun this year. Last year they were still too young on their birthday and I wouldn't even let them have cupcakes. I am so excited that they are past that first very difficult stage(yes I realize we have entered a new defiant stage) so that we can do fun things like outings and parties. At the time it felt like it was never going to end and like our baby stage was going to continue FOREVER! But it has not and our sweet boys are toddlers. When I am looking through the pictures I have posted on here and it transitions from when they were tiny and cuddling to the bulldozer my heart skips a beat, each time I see it.

Thank you Lord for these miracle boys you have given us!

***The pictures from them being very tiny are all gone, I only have a few hard copies (but I don't have a scanner). Our computer had crashed and we lost all those pics but I was able to save some from my myspace page. I can't find any from their first birthday either, they may be gone also***

Gotta See!

2008-09-17T08:42:00.000-07:00

Brad and I will be going to see the movie Fireproof next Friday. Kirk Cameron is in it and he is my friends brother, if the movie does well it will stay in the theater past the preview time. We are so excited and we are going to go out dinner first! Yeah!!!!!!!

Another thing you gotta see is the pictures my friend Katie took of us. She is just starting a photography business and she is fabulous!!!! We took the pics at her house and it was so relaxing, I wasn't worried about time or cooperation from the kids. They played with her kids toys and it was just wonderful. At an actual studio it would have been a nightmare! The setting was perfect and she was so patient and accommodating AND the pictures are amazing!!!! Thank you Katie!

The Munchkin

2008-09-11T17:05:00.000-07:00

His last appointment at the GI doctor was on 7/30 and he weighed 15 lbs 8oz. Today at therapy he weighed 16lbs 10oz. Now I realize that it is a different scale and he was wearing clothes for this weigh-in and not the last one but I am pretty excited. Just thought I would share.

Hi, I am still here!

2008-09-06T21:17:00.000-07:00

There has been so much going on here I truly can barely go on the computer. Here is the quickest way for me to share our happenings, a list.

Brad switched jobs a few weeks back. The other one was barely giving him 40 hours. This one despite the fact that he is working with asphalt, pays more and gives over time so we are happy.

We painted the boys room, the Prince got to pick the color he was sooooo excited and felt really special. We got new bedding for his room on clearance and 20% off and the paint we get a rebate on (YEAH)

We (Brad) worked on the side yard. We got all the plants on sale AND we had $10 off coupons and we did it for so cheap! WE have to have it done on a deadline or we get a fine from the HOA so I am glad we began now.

The Prince started first grade, I am so excited. I really feel like it is going to be a fabulous year.

The munchkin is pulling himself up to stand everywhere! He is doing so fabulous. He climbed up half the stairway at church tonight and then scooted on his bottom back down.

I am planning The little kids birthday party for the end of this month and a Halloween party for the end of October for the Prince and his friends. He is so excited, I know because normally when he gets in his dad's girlfriends car he barely says bye. After we decided to have the party he got in the car without saying goodbye rolled down the window waved, blew a kiss, waved again and said "I Love you Mom, Bye, See you tomorrow" Oh yeah, we are totally having a Halloween party every month-just kidding! But he is finally feeling special because the babies are not taking all of our time anymore.
The Princess starts dance lessons next Wednesday, she is so excited she can't even take it!
The boys got haircuts at the beauty college this morning they did so good! I only got a pic of the Bulldozer, I forgot to take one of the munchkin.

Here are some pics to catch you all up...

I will post pics of the boys room and the side yard later.

I've Been Tagged!

2008-08-29T09:07:00.000-07:00

I am so excited, I have been tagged...Here's the deal, I have to list 6 unspectacular things about myself, then tag 6 other people...

1. I have a deep desire to sing worship music with my husband. Not just in the house but at church or as a ministry. The problem is that I can't really sing, well not well enough for anyone to want to listen. My husband is very talented he can play guitar and sing. He tried to teach me to sing once but-once just won't cut it.

2. I completely LOVE being pregnant. I am totally jealous when I see someone pregnant, yes my last pregnancy was terrible with the bed rest and all, but I still long for that feeling of the miracle growing inside me. After my first pregnancy I seriously considered being a serrogate because my ex-husband didn't want more kids and I desired so greatly to be pregnant.

3. I love baking but the problem is that I usualy won't let the kids have more than one or two servings because it is not good for them and then I will end up finishing it-especially if it is cookies!!

4. I MUST have a plan for everything. For example-before giving baths I discuss with my husband what the plan will be, who will wash, who will dry. What will the other person be doing while the other one is washing. I think about it, discuss it, recap (for understanding) and then execute. It drives my husband crazy "We would already be done if we didn't talk about it so long"-he says. My reply is "How would we know what we were doing if it wasn't discussed???"

5. Every night before getting into bed I first bring my water into the bedroom, then wash my feet, then put lotion in my hand and walk to my dresser, put on chapstick (Carmex-I have three containers of it strategically placed through the house), climb in bed and put the lotion on my feet. Every night that is the sequence. If something has been forgotten then I have to put lotion on my feet again-How could I be expected to sleep with dry feet?

6. I can't stand saran wrap. I mean really, who in their right mind would create something so terribly frustrating?? Yet I still continue to purchase it, what does that say about me? Obvioulsy I am not in my right mind, I am sure that my insanity has nothing to do with my children!

"Here are the rules for being tagged...
1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules on your blog.
3. Tell about 6 unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag 6 following bloggers by linking them.
5. Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger’s blogs letting them know that they have been tagged.

I have been tagged by 4under4

Here are the people I have "tagged"
1. Jody
2. Hailey
3. Holly
4. Crissy
5. Genny
6. Lydia

Camping!

2008-08-21T13:02:00.000-07:00

We got to go camping! We got a call from StorAmerica on Thursday and they told us we had won a $50.00 gift card for gas. So on Friday morning we decided to go camping. We left friday after lunch (we had to come back to the house 3 times for things we forgot), then we picked up the gas card, stopped at the store and then we were finally on our way! We were going to go camp at a wilderness campsite but as we passed Lake Hemet we decided we would stay there. It was a nightmare and a dream all at the same time. There was loads of crankiness and dirt. Brad and I were EXHAUSTED as were the kids but it was so worth it. The campers next to us came at 9:30 and set up six tents and they were up making way too much noise until 1am (lights out is supposed to be at 10pm) I was the only one that had touble sleeping under those conditions. The weather was beautiful, it was 89 during the day and 60 at night. We all woke up at about 7am and had breakfast. Brad and the prince had to go searching for the reel for his fishing pole. When they were fishing the day before, the prince unscrewed his reel so when they finally caught a fish, the reel fell apart in Brad's hands. The fish had time to get caught around a reed so they had to cut the line. Catching a fish was sure a highlight. However when they were walking back to camp they realized they had dropped the reel somewhere. They went searching in the morning for it. Another highlight was the bulldozer climbing up this huge slide. It freaked us out but he was completely confident that he could do it and repeatedly did! The princess tried to climb up the slide at first but then she got scared. She said" Iwll stand down here(at the bottom) and tell Bulldozer GO BULLDOZER!" Then finally she got wnough courage and she was more excited about that than any of the other stuff! We also roasted our own hot dogs and made s'mores.
It was so wonderful to have been blessed with gas maoney to make a trip that we longed to take but wouldn't have been able to. Praise God for his blessings!

There were definitely some sad times!

And some curious times!

It was so beautiful there, I had never been before.

How many calories are there in dirt? If there is a good amount we might start feeding this little boy dirt because he seemed to enjoy it much more than any other food we feed him!

Waaaay too cute!

2008-08-14T22:04:00.000-07:00

I can't believe we have made it to a time when I would be posting this. We took out the boys cribs tonight. I have been thinking about removing the cribs because the lack of space has been driving me crazy. Well tonight we did it. All the kids were completely obsessed with jumping on the twin mattress we put on the floor. We felt this was the safest with the munchkin being so munchkin-y still. We had a special little introduction time to the new bed and then we walked out. There was some crying and escape attempts, but they only lasted 20 or 30 min. By 8:45 it was quiet in there. At 9:00 there was some giggling and then quiet. We just went in to check to see how and where they were sleeping at 9:50 and this is how we found them. Had these cuties been wearing the same pajamas, we would not be able to tell where one begins and the other ends. They couldn't be closer if they tried! (I took a chance and used the flash-I had to, how could I pass up this cuteness?)

So Impressive

2008-08-10T12:02:00.000-07:00

Really all you need to know going watching this clip is that the munckin is using his left hand, the one the never uses. I am so impressed. The other day he tried to climb into the dryer-he couldn't get all the way in so he just stood there leaning on the opening removing clothes. That same day he climbed onto the dining room chair and then onto the table. I was right there being his spotter, just so you know. Oh and he smacked me at the end of the video, its okay though I forgive him, but only because he is so cute!

I have many other things to post about, I am just exhausted right now. I will try later.

A Weight Lifted

2008-08-05T21:08:00.000-07:00

We have decided, my husband and I, that we are not going through with the feeding tube surgery. One of the ladies that comes to the house to work with the boys came by today, but not to work with the boys. She came to let us know that ever since I told her about the surgery she has been praying and that she thinks we should get a second opinion. From her perspective, he is doing too well for a setback like this. She said that she has seen kids that need feeding tubes and it is because they don't eat. That isn't the case for the Munchkin. She prayed with us and then Brad and I talked about it and we decided that we will not be taking him for surgery. The doctors' office called to ask us if we were confirming our surgery date and I said well actually I tried to call you but the office recording came on. We are not having the surgery. And I told her our reasoning. The nurse at the office said, Well, good! If you don't feel he needs it then you know him best. If the Doctor feels very strongly against this the she will call you. I deeply thanked her for her call and making me feel better about our decision.

Thank you to everyone for praying for our family!

Last night I was able to go to a bible study at the church. It is a 10 week study and I went at week 7. I didn't realize I would be joining in the middle but I am sure glad I did. We are doing Beth Moore's-Believing God. Wow, it is so amazing! The part that stuck out in my mind is when she says that "There are times when we cry out to god-Lord what do you want me to do in this situation- and he says-I already gave you an answer, you're just looking for a different one." How true! With this feeding tube I didn't want to get it but I wanted it to be the Doctors decision not mine. I did not want the responsibility of having the decision on my hands. If it hindered his current physical abilities, then it wasn't my fault. If he continued to not gain weight, then it wouldn't be my fault ( If I was able to talk her out of the feeding tube) Now Brad and I have made this decision together, not because we can blame one another later if we made a poor choice but because we know our son. We know how well he is doing right now, and we can't possibly hinder that growth.

I am devastated...

2008-07-31T15:08:00.000-07:00

I just don't even know what to do or think or anything. We found out that the munchkin needs a feeding tube and will be getting it next Thursday. I am so definitely opposed to it that I can't even take it. He has been progressing so much lately with eating and movement that I feel like this would be such a setback. We also have to patch his eye for 2 hours per day because he refuses to wear his glasses. So we have therapy 2x per week 30 minutes away, 2 hours per week someone comes to the house to work with them, The munchkin has to be in his stander for however long he can handle it, we still have to have him wear his glasses (try), he has his hand brace that he wears all day. He needs to eat more pureed food than other stuff and I have to do exercises with him. The feeding tube will be added time. Plus there are 3 other children that need attention and a house that needs cleaning and so on and so on. And the hospital stay is 2-3 days which will be his 3rd hospital stay, first was for his double henia surgery, 2nd was when he swallowed the battery and this will be the third. I am completely overwhelmed and just devasted that we are veering no careening off the road that leads to normalcy. I am venting, thanks for listening.

He sure is cute though, little stinker!

All about Ironing

2008-07-30T13:18:00.000-07:00

Ironing has never been my thing unless we have somewhere extremely special to go. Our form of ironing is to spray the clothes with a water filled spray bottle while you are wearing them and if you were really thinking ahead they might get sprayed before putting them on but that is highly unlikely. For Easter I purchased a pair of pants and I was doing my usual spray-to-iron technique and it wasn't working. I couldn't figure out why the water was beading off the pants. I was trying to smooth the water onto the pants to make the wrinkles get out still not working. I looked at the label, Plain as day it said "Stain Resistant" . I was so very frustrated. I had to bring out the iron-what torture! Why would a company cause you to iron pants, don't they know how many children I have??? Anyway, Brad's new job is at the pro-shop at the Bob Hope Classic Golf Club so he has to wear nice, unwrinkled clothes. Darn! He is perfectly capable and willing to iron his own clothes (He has been for the dropping off of applications, interviews and so on) but I want to attempt to keep his clothes ironed for him so that when they hit his closet, he knows they are ready to wear. We do have to get a new ironing board though. Ours is broken, it is bent and won't stay up high. It wobbles and is frustrating. If there is any hope of me keeping up with the ironing for him we will have to purchase a hanging ironing board-one that lives in the laundry room-then I can iron when the kids are awake.

Maybe we will try to teach the kids to "iron" like this helpful little boy I found through google. How much can I hire him for?

Just to let you know...

*I do know how to iron, I just choose not to

*Brad ironed before he met me, I converted him :) The first time I came at him with the spray bottle, he looked at me like I was crazy. He was like why are you getting me wet? You will dry, I said.

*My Mother taught me to spray iron- her philosophy is: "It is too hot where we live, and by the time you get where you are going you are sweaty and wrinkled again, so you have wasted your time ironing. Or if you have spray ironed-your are dry and look fabulous!!" Love you Mom

*My Best Friend Jody in Boston is also a fan of the spray iron technique she has three kids, (with twins) it is a busy mom ironing technique

* After rereading this post I have realized that I must live in a dream world, Do I really think that I can keep up with the ironing?? I will try though...

Team Chaotic

2008-07-29T13:52:00.000-07:00

Brad has found a job, it is not as much money as he was making but it has some really awesome benefits to working for that company. He is also looking for something else to fill in the gaps.

Brad was home because they called and said they didn't need him at work anymore, so last night I had all the kids pitch in with dinner which is much harder than just doing it myself but it was nice to give them that sense of accomplishment. The munchkin and the bulldozer were in charge of sitting in there seats and not screaming, I must say they did a nice job. The older two were in charge of making meatballs, setting the table, making the noodles, sauce and so on. After dinner I had the brilliant idea that we could go to the store and get some popsicles. We also had to pick up creamer so I could have my coffee in the morning. What a nightmare. There was so much excitement about the popsicles that there was yelling, and screaming, I couldn't even hear which ice cream they were so excited about. After calming down the hoodlooms, we decided upon our ice cream and left. The Prince referred to us in the car as "Team Chaotic" What a perfect label!

New Tricks!

2008-07-26T11:47:00.000-07:00

This first video the munchkin has been doing this for a while now I just keep forgetting to let the world know. He easily transitions from crawling position to sitting.

This second video is breaking news. (Daddy hasn't even seen this trick yet)He has been reaching up to things to try to get up but he couldn't quit do it on his own. I took the cushions off the couch so it was lower and he did it! He climbed up all by himself. Yeah Munchkin! He has been doing so well, he has been eating 6 oz at a time and about 15-18oz per day. This morning he ate 7 oz. he also eats table food at every meal with us. We have our weigh-in on Wednesday, the doctor was on vacation when we called about the feeding tube before so the nurse said we should wait until our next scheduled appointment. What a blessing! He is eating 3x the amount he was eating at the time of his last weigh-in. Hopefully the doctor will agree that a feeding tube is not necessary! Thank you all so much for your prayers!

Some other news about the bulldozer. Do you remember when they all had to go to the emergency room for the battery incident? Well they had found that the bulldozers heart was skipping beats. We took him for an EKG and they found an Incomplete Right Bundle Branch Block (Incomplete RBBB). Brad looked it up on the internet because our cardiologist appt. isn't until Aug 5, and it said that f it is on the rught side it should be fine (which our is) It's the left side that brings MAJOR concern. So hopefully we are all good there, we shall see.

Blessings!

2008-07-23T13:31:00.000-07:00

This is the sign that has been outside in front of our house since we moved in 1 year ago. It couldn't be more true. Blessings came today in the form of an envelope delivered by a good friend. I feel like we are undeserving, it has humbled me and just last night I was going over the notes from church this last weekend about how being humble is not a fruit of the spirit, it is a choice.

So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. 1 Peter 5:6

We have been so unbelievably blessed and I am so grateful for my friends from church and their giving hearts. 15 friends pooled money together to help with this time of transition in Brad's job.
What an amazing gift, I cried when I opened the card. Brad was speechless. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

The Reunion

2008-07-23T12:55:00.000-07:00

So we went to the reunion last Saturday night. It was awesome! I am so glad we went and I got to see one person that I was very good friends with in high school. I did not expect to see her because she lives in Atlanta. It was so strange to see everyone that I haven't seen in 10 years. I thought for sure we would get some sort of prize for having four kids, we were the only ones that had 4 one other family had 3 a few had two but most had either one or no kids. They did give out a prize for youngest child- we did not qualify. There was a couple that had dated in high school and they are still together, how awesome is that? There were a few people that still live out here and I didn't know they did. All in all it was an amazing time. I also got to see the maid of honor from my wedding. She graduated in 2001 but her sister graduated in 1997. The reunion was for 97/98 graduates. My camera completely flaked out on me that night and made all the pics gray. But I have taken these pics from Jenn's myspace page.
These were from my camera, I really don't know why it did this. I tried all different settings and light-oh well.Two sweet friends.

A day trip

2008-07-19T14:12:00.000-07:00

At the dentist

We had to drive out to Riverside to pick up the munchkins new frames for his glasses that he broke. Since we were going to be in slightly cooler weather we decided to pack a picnic lunch and find a place to eat it after we got there. The princess had her first dentist appointment early in the morning and then we would leave after that. By the way, she has two cavities, I know, I know what terrible parents. We have already adjusted the juice consumption and the teeth brushing has been upped. Just for the record, the Prince has never had a cavity. Okay so back to the story. On the way driving the kids were starving. I was handing our small amounts of snacks and we told them that when the temp dropped from 107 (Where we live), we would stop for our picnic. When we got into riverside it was 90 WooHoo what a treat. after driving around in the gorgeous historic district, we all want to move now, we found Fairmount Park. We found a tree and had our picnic, then we went walking around near the water. It was beautiful! The we left to the eye glass place, and then went shopping for my dress for the reunion, which is tonight. We decided to go. We paid for it and if we get into financial trouble later we will have a few options from our Moms. I am excited and nervous and I am worried that people will think I have abused because of two hug bruises on my legs-from when I put the kids in the car, I hit the cup holder every time! I tried to tan my legs outside today hoping it would maybe camouflage the bruises. We shall see. I will post pics from the reunion.

Sprinkles, Sprinkles EVERYWHERE!

2008-07-19T13:26:00.000-07:00

The other night while I was recording the munchkin playing sweetly by himself, the other kids were destroying my dining room. The oldest was making an ice cream sundae for himself and his sister. Just then.... the bulldozer gets a hold of the sprinkles.

It was totally fabulous! Actually it wasn't too terrible because I sent the kids to go play in the princess room so they wouldn't track the sprinkles all over the house. I couldn't walk anywhere without getting them on my feet because they were truly everywhere! I thought that the vacuum would be perfect for this job but when I tried it they shot even farther across the room and into the kitchen. So, I put on the "Left Behind" audio book I got from the library and got on my hands and knees and started cleaning. It took forever so I got pretty far into the first disk of the book. What a night.

Feeling Better

2008-07-14T23:22:00.000-07:00

When Brad came home from work tonight I showed him my last blog post. Without saying anything, he pulled up this passage. There is no question in his mind that the Lord hasn't been in control of this situation. He is completely at peace and he is such a light for me. He knows that where he is, is unpleasing to the Lord, the place has no moral values. He has been put down today and been yelled at by this awful man at work. I am going to go and hug my amazing husband.

25 “That is why I tell you not to worry about everyday life—whether you have enough food and drink, or enough clothes to wear. Isn’t life more than food, and your body more than clothing? 26 Look at the birds. They don’t plant or harvest or store food in barns, for your heavenly Father feeds them. And aren’t you far more valuable to him than they are? 27 Can all your worries add a single moment to your life?
28 “And why worry about your clothing? Look at the lilies of the field and how they grow. They don’t work or make their clothing, 29 yet Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are. 30 And if God cares so wonderfully for wildflowers that are here today and thrown into the fire tomorrow, he will certainly care for you. Why do you have so little faith?
31 “So don’t worry about these things, saying, ‘What will we eat? What will we drink? What will we wear?’ 32 These things dominate the thoughts of unbelievers, but your heavenly Father already knows all your needs. 33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.
34 “So don’t worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring its own worries. Today’s trouble is enough for today. Matthew 6:25-34

Getting a little nervous

2008-07-14T14:52:00.000-07:00

Brad is supposed to be done at his current job next week. He has already filled out a million job applications and reapplied at school. He only has 12 classes to take until he graduates probably Dec 2009. He will be graduating with a BA in English with an emphasis in Literature so he can teach High School English. He will of course have other things to do before teaching but he will be closer. He is so excited to be able to finish school and fulfill his dream. He is trying to find any job that would be flexible with school hours and he is looking into working two part-time jobs to be able to achieve that. If needed I would also be willing to be a server again to fill in any gaps. I am trying to stay faithful but I am beginning to question whether he should have quit in the first place. Maybe he was supposed to stay there and stick it out and be miserable to see how strong he was. I am just really hoping that the Lord isn't planning to make us homeless to see if we really do trust Him and love Him. Yes, we still would, so hopefully our marriage does not have to overcome any more trials like the ones we already have. Please pray for us, for strength and for our family to come closer together. I have noticed that we have been kind of on different teams, we have let ourselves get caught up in the craziness of our lives and we are just not working together. I know the Lord is trying to show us something through this time I am praying that we can "see" what it is he is teaching us and for it to really sink in.
I am also thinking about this reunion thing and how badly I want to go, why do I want to go? So I can be nosy and see what everyone has been up to. That is not what the Lord wants, I do not need to be concerned with other peoples' lives. I also wanted to go on a camping trip, first it was going to be for a week and then I was just wanting a day. A day away in cooler weather with our family. Well we have decided that it is just not in the budget to drive anywhere extra. We don't know what the future holds so we have to make good choices with what we have today. We do have some money that is saved up, so we will be okay for a short (very short) while. We can be closer to each other in our own home and that is where we need to begin.
Thanks for listening and praying and letting me vent. Have a good day.

Uncle Brett

2008-07-12T11:36:00.000-07:00

Well he is not actually and uncle but he is the closest Brad has to a brother. Brad is and only child, as am I, so we have to create Aunts and Uncles for the kids. The kids absolutely adored Uncle Brett, and it was so nice to have someone stay at our house. He left at about 9 this morning after making french toast for the kids, what an awesome Uncle! He has been on a "Super Vacation" Travelling from North Carolina where he lived- he sold his condo to go to graduate school full time. He has gone to (I believe) Colorado, Hawaii, San Clemente, our house, he is on his way to Arizona right now and I think he finishes up in San Diego. He is very kind and we were sad to see him go knowing that it will be a while before we can see him again. Yesterday the boys BBQ'd steaks, corn on the cob, potatoes, and chicken, and I made Brussel Sprouts inside. There was so much food! We had an awesome and lovely evening with Brett. The only thing that was missing was our Prince, he was with his Dad, but I think he would have remembered Uncle Brett from the wedding. Thank you Brett for coming, we will miss you!

The BIG Stand-er

2008-07-11T10:04:00.000-07:00

My Little munchkin got his stander yesterday, it will help him to put pressure on his hips so he will want to stand on his own. On the way to pick it up, my husband got pulled over by a police officer. Brad explained where we were going and he apologized and the officer let us go with a warning. Brad was going 67mph in a 50mph zone, the ticket would have been $497. Wow what a blessing, the officer was referred to as the nicest man in the world for the rest of the day(by us). I was going to try to catch a video of the kids taking turns pushing the munchkin around in his stander but I was too late they had exhausted themselves doing so and became cranky very quickly, here is a pic of my cutie though. I cried when I saw him in it at therapy. It made him look so big and so little at the same time, and it is another step farther away from "normal". I know that in God's perfect timing he will be healed, it is just that I am having trouble with the fact that the Lords timing doesn't coincide with my timing. I'm working on it. The munchkin is sure adorable in his stander and the other kids love to be able to push him and interact on a whole new level. I also included some pics of the family resting after running through the house with the munchkin. Brad's cousin (who was also his best man in our wedding) is coming to stay with us for the day and leave tomorrow. We are very excited and have been cleaning like crazy people. He will be here in about 2 hours I'll post pics (after we take them of course lol)

Horsin' Around

2008-07-09T18:43:00.000-07:00

I don't know what is so fabulous about pretending your brother/sister is a horse but my kids do it all the time. So much so, that when a friend and her baby were here, the Bulldozer tried to ride him like a horsey, "Um he's not a horse sweetie, he is a baby!" I told him. Well at least they are being nice to each other!