Oh Macer...

Macy, we are missing you and all your spunk already!!

Catching Up

There was a special service at church tonight and I went by myself. I left Paul in charge of all 3 kids. This is what I came home to at 7:30...

Crazy kids

There was lots of running, squealing, make-up and princess gear packed into our short visit...

The girls finally crashed hard about 11:00. (Yes, Macy IS buried under all those blankets somewhere!)

Cousin Time

We spent Friday night and Lisa and Tony's. The kids had a blast playing together...almost as much fun as the adults had playing together!

A Lucky Charm

At Christmastime, from the depths of Nana B's closet came a lucky charm...I'm sure intended just for today! It was Paul's old Chargers sweatshirt...and it fits Brigg perfectly!! It's a big day for the Chargers...and Brigg is ready to cheer them on in STYLE! :)

Phoebe

There is a little girl named Phoebe who lives on the other side of the world, but has somehow worked her way into the hearts of a family in Iowa and made us think. Last summer Jody's sister and brother-in-law, Joanna and Taylor, spent 3 weeks in Sierre Leone, Africa, visiting a friend and working with Children of the Nations. Upon their return, they had hundreds of amazing photos to share. One photo/story stuck out to me and I couldn't stop thinking about a 5 year-old little girl named Phoebe. Phoebe has cerebal palsy. She lives in a home that Joanna's friend, Sarah, worked at for a year through Children of the Nations. Phoebe does not talk and rarely interacts with the other children in this school. When I saw a photo taken of her my heart broke. And now, I cannot erase this little girl from my mind. A couple months after Joanna and Taylor's return, they informed Jody that Phoebe was available to be sponsored. That night I got online and signed up! We were sent a packet in the mail and we introduced Brigg and Nalani to Phoebe through her photo and a short introduction that told us about her. Over time she captured their hearts as well. Not a day goes by that we don't pray for Phoebe. I find myself thinking about her and praying that she feels an overwhelming sense of love blanketing her in her small room in Sierre Leone. We send letters monthly and they get read to Phoebe. We tell her she is loved. Funny how we thought we would do a good deed by sponsoring this child and in all reality, she has changed our hearts forever. Everytime we walk by her photo, we send up a prayer for her. Tonight I am thanking our Father for allowing this 5 year-old little girl on the other side of the world to break our hearts...
"Throughout history, an authentic faith has been marked by a compassionate reponse toward those the world tends to forget." (Gary Thomas)

Shopping High

I'm not a big shopper. In fact, I could go without shopping from anywhere other than my living room recliner for the rest of my life. But it seems as though it is a necessary evil. So I heard Penney's was have a huge sale on winter coats. I made a flying trip there and bought 3 winter coats for the kids for next year for $8.99 each!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! That has to be the deal of the century. Plus, I picked up a leather (ok, maybe not REAL leather, but you'd never know!) jacket for Paul for $14.99. I can't stop telling people about this! Maybe I need to get out more often...

I want to cry

If I have to put up with this weather one more day, I think I might just cry.

Personality Test

You Are An ENFP

The Inspirer You love being around people, and you are deeply committed to your friends. You are also unconventional, irreverent, and unimpressed by authority and rules. Incredibly perceptive, you can usually sense if someone has hidden motives. You use lots of colorful language and expressions. You're quite the storyteller! In love, you are quite the charmer. And you are definitely willing to risk your heart. You often don't follow through with your flirting or professed feelings. And you do break a lot of hearts. At work, you are driven but not a workaholic. You just always seem to enjoy what you do. You would make an excellent entrepreneur, politician, or journalist. How you see yourself: compassionate, unselfish, and understanding When other people don't get you, they see you as: gushy, emotional, and unfocused

What's Your Personality Type?

Experiencing his presence

My prayer for the day is to experience his presence and not get preoccupied with me...

"Our world is saturated with grace, and the lurking presence of God is revealed not only in spirit but in matter-in a deer leaping across a meadow, in the flight of an eagle, in fire and water, in a rainbow after a summer storm, in a gentle doe streaking through a forest, in Beethoven's Ninith Symphony, in a child licking a chocolate ice cream cone, in a woman with windblown hair. God intended for us to discover His loving presence in the world around us....We get so preoccupied with ourselves, the words we speak, the plans and projects we conceive, that we become immune to the glory of creation." (Brennan Manning, The Ragamuffin Gospel)

Does it ever go away??

Question for all you runners out there....
Does that feeling of "I'd rather give birth than get on this treadmill and run" ever go away? If so, when?

What kind of mixed drink are you??

You Are a Margarita

You aren't just the life of the party, you are the party! You mix a good drink, bust out some great music, and know how to get down.

What Mixed Drink Are You?

Just processing out loud

So I just got our budget all in order and was feeling so very proud of myself. This is such an issue around here with Paul being the primary income. (I do a little paperwork, but nothing to write home about!) So the budget was all in order for the new year and then a couple things came up today and now we are back to re-working it. I feel like throwing in the towel sometimes. I love staying home with these kids and loving on them all day. But I have days when I think it may be better for everyone if I just got a full time job to make ends meet. After so many years of living so tight, you start to have these moments where you think you just want some breathing room. If what looks to be small changes in your budget can make you stress at night, you start to think you need to make some drastic changes. I don't know. Just processing here and I know it will all work out. But for the moment I am just stressed about it. Thank goodness for free therapy...my blog! :)

2 months

Ayla had her 2 month appt today. She is doing great...weighing in at 11 lb 8 oz, she is growing like a weed. She HATED her shots. I have never experienced that with my kids. Brigg and Lani really didn't cry for their shots. Ayla screamed bloody murder. It was so sad! Overall, she did great though. I can't believe it's been 2 months already.

Cinderella

Jody introduced me to this song the other night. I cried. I listened to it again tonight and guess what...I cried again. If this doesn't sound like Lani (and I'm sure one day Ayla), then I don't know what does. Spins and sways to whatever song plays. Oh my heart...


The Lyrics...

She spins and she sways to whatever song plays
Without a care in the world
And I'm sitting wearing the weight of the world on my shoulders
It's been a long day and there's still work to do
She's pulling at me saying "Dad I need you!
There's a ball the castle and I've been invited and I need to practice my dancin'
Oh please, Daddy, please!"

Chorus:
So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone

Verse 2:
She says he's a nice guy and I'd be impressed
She wants to know if I approve of the dress
She says, "Dad the prom is just one week away
And I need to practice my dancin'
Oh please, Daddy, please!"

Chorus:
So I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone

Verse 3:
But she came home today with a ring on her hand
Just glowin' and tellin' us all they had planned
She says, "Dad the wedding's still six months away but I need to practice my dancin'
Oh please, Daddy, please!"

Chorus:S
o I will dance with Cinderella
While she is here in my arms
'Cause I know something the prince never knew
Oh I will dance with Cinderella
I don't want to miss even one song
'Cause all too soon the clock will strike midnight
And she'll be gone
She'll be gone.

Either/Or

Sometimes you have to make hard choices around here. It's either clean the house or get dressed and ready for the day. For today, we have a clean house...and Lani, Ayla and I are still in our jammies. Yes, I do realize it's 4:40 pm...

Our party animal

I don't think she really understands that although I love playing with her until 1 am, unlike her, I don't get to sleep until noon the next day!

These didn't show up

For some reason my last 2 pics didn't post. Anyway...
This is a chalkboard/cork board I got for my birthday. I'm thinking I need the person's job that made it. Those are all wine corks. Sounds like a dream job to me!! ( you must remember I am a teacher by trade, hence "Today's number and letter".)

And finally, my Product(Red) items. A nightgown and a handbag. So cute...and very comfy!

Some things I have used today and am LOVING!

This is a Chico Bag. Funny thing, I have been considering getting some for months online. But I still have these canvas shopping bags from King Soopers in Colorado. They are dirty and yucky and ugly, but they still do the job, so I haven't been able to justify spending the money on new ones. So for my birthday, my friend Robin got one for me. I love it! There is a little clip on it to hook it to your purse or whatever and the little bag you stuff it into is sewn to the big shopping bag so you won't lose it. And I think it's about the same size as a regular shopping bag. Hoping my old King Soopers bags rip out soon so I have an excuse to buy some more of these!!

Santa got me this very cute pink travel coffee mug. I think Santa is a hottie!! :) It's also a breast cancer research foundation item. Lately with all the running around I seem to be doing, instead of drinking my coffee from a regular coffee cup, I've been putting it in this so I can grab it and run...plus it keeps my coffee hot longer when I get sidetracked changing diapers! :)

Oooo, if you are in the market for an electric toothbrush, BUY THIS ONE!! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! It's a Sonic Care. Paul got this one for me for Christmas and it's great. My teeth feel SO CLEAN these days!!

Your turn...

When the honeymoon is over...

How do I make our "Health in 2008" permanant? Right now I am still in that honeymoon stage. I'm loving eating healthy and starting my 8 week beginner running program and never eating out, but I know that is going to end...probably very very soon. I need to figure out how I make these changes a lifestyle change and not just a January 1-March 1 change. I can already feel it coming...the day when I fold up the treadmill and let the dust start collecting. When I skip past the bag of oranges for a bag of Doritos. Any suggestions??

My hope...

Is that she enjoys this more than I do. But I'm afraid the novelty will wear off all too soon...

The last hours

From piles of snow to 58 degrees...the weather has been nuts! The kids were trying to get in a little more time in the snow before it all melted the other day. Not the BEST sledding conditions!

I have no idea

why my blog header shrunk in size. and i have no time to figure it out right now. i'll have to work on it tonight. any ideas?

Luckiest girl alive

I just may be that. It was a great birthday. Pretty low key. I ended up with some cute jammies, a corkboard/chalk board, a photo key chain and a pedicure gift certificate. So exciting! Everyone is in bed and usually I would be sound asleep myself, but I felt like staying up a little later and doing some reflecting, reading and blogging. A perfect way to end the first day of my 32nd year...(is that even possible? my dad asked if i felt 31 and if not how old did i feel? 19. i really feel 19 years old. much too young to be responsible for 3 children!)

Christmas Gift

Brigg got a wooden model airplane for Christmas from Chris and Brenda. He and Paul worked very hard on it over the weekend to put it together. It was a great gift for these two worker men! They thoroughly enjoyed it! And Brigg was very proud of the finished product!

oh that face...

Reading this afternoon

Got this quote from Blessed Unrest, one of my current reads (All the books I'm currently sifting through are along my sidebar). My mind is spinning today with all the info I'm getting from these books.

"No Sierra landscape that I have seen holds anything truly dead or dull, or any trace of what in manufactories is called rubbish or waste; everything is perfectly clean and pure and full of divine lessons. This quick, inevitable interest attaching to everything seems marvelous until the hand of God becomes visible; then it seems reasonable that what interests Him may well interest us. When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the universe." (John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra)

Progress

All luggage is unpacked and clothes are put away. All christmas gift are unpacked and put away. Ayla has been sleeping all morning and I have accomplished quite a bit. Starting to feel like we are getting back on track!

Shoes

I just have to put a little plug in for my new favorite online store...Zappos! I love them. Going along with our "HEALTH IN 2008 "theme, Paul had to get some new running shoes. Last night we found a pair on Endless.com, made sure they had Paul's size and color in stock, went to Zappos.com and found the exact same pair. They were a little more expensive. Endless.com has negative $5 overnight shipping...yes, they actually take off $5 for overnight shipping. Zappos price matches 110% and includes the negative $5 shipping, so we got them for a little cheaper at Zappos. AND we ordered them about 9:00 LAST NIGHT...they were just delivered to my door about a half hour ago. Which was 12:30. 15 hours. How is that even possible??

The New Year

Paul had a doctor's appointment. His bad cholesterol and triglycerides were high and blood pressure boarderline. So I went to the store and although our budget needs to be altered a bit, our cabinets are full of healthy snacks and the meals this week include very little creams, butter and salt. Yum. AND, our Y memebership is new. How many families do you think join the Y the first week in January?? :)
Here's to the new, healthy year!

Silly

The kids were being silly on New Year's Eve. I think they look a little like Michael Jackson. Paul thought they looked like Squidward from SpongeBob. It was just funny...

Home

We made it home. We have spent the day trying to restore order around here. Slowly, VERY slowly, we are getting there. We can't seem to warm up after the 80 degree weather. This morning when Lani woke up she said, "MOM! I thought you said it was going to be warm in here in the morning. It's NOT warm!" Yeah, I don't think it will be for a long, long time. So we made chili for supper. Maybe that will help.