Thousand Word Thursday: 11 Days of Christmas

On the Eleventh Day of Christmas my true love gave to me,

ELEVEN REASONS why I got Jack Squat Done yesterday...well not Jack squat because I was able to post, read a few blogs, order some books, work on some books, but yeah....I didn't get much done in regards to packing and cleaning....Eric came home and asked me the first time in our 9 blissful years of marriage "What did you do all day?" and one word, well a few more than that "T-Rex our little Texas Tornado"....

Here are the ELEVEN REASONS in no particular order:

You may recognize some pictures from previous posts, because well I wasn't in a photographing mood yesterday, but there a few already from this morning, after he spilled my slim fast all over the floor, and then dumped cheese (pre grated stuff on the floor) he thought he was still hungry and went to the trash can and dug out of there, and then I guess he decided to give someone a call! He is one busy BOY!

And since posting he has doodled on the wall!!!

Someone Help ME!

For more thousand word Thursdays check out Cheaper than Therapy!

Wordless Wednesday: On the 9th and 10th Day of Christmas

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, my eyes to see the beautiful world around me:

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, ten hours of peaceful (well mostly peaceful and mostly uninterrupted sleep) sleep, what more could a mom ask for:

And for more wordless Wednesdays check out www.5minutesformom.com Happy Wednesday!

WINNERS of MY Memory Making Poster Give Away

Not sure if that is what I called my give away but I have winners.....you ready??? Ok just so you know I just took the number of comments, wrote the numbers down and drew two winners! (if you didn't win you might want to read to the end of the post)



And the first winner is Abby...who has become my newest blogging friend! Yeah Abby! Congrats Abby!



And the second winner is Tonia! (all those comments paid off :)) Tonia has been a friend for several years now, and it has been fun to get to know each other better through this blogging world.



So girls you are going to need to go to storybooker.com and get started on your posters. If you need help let me know.



And since this was so fun! I am going to give one more away!! Thats right. So if you really wanted to win and didn't, comment here and I will give one more away in the morning. And your chances are pretty good of winning because who is going to read this far?? Right?? And rules are you can comment as much as you want, as long as you say something nice about me :)
Closes tonight at my time midnight! Read, set GO!!


Happy Playing!!!

NEW**** And the winner this time around is Cheryl ANNE! Congratulations! I will email you. Thanks for playing guys...hey I will being doing another one soon! Love you Guys!

NEWs FLASH!!!

Our family is moving in ONE WEEK!!! That is right next Tuesday night we will be boarding a plane and heading back to the main land!! Holy COW! Where did the six months go??

Yes we have had a wonderful time.

We have made some dear friends.

We have made treasurable memories!!

We will miss our island paradise!

BUTTTTTTTT.................................HOLY COW I have to PACK!!! I have to sell stuff! We were here just six months where did this stuff come from???

So off to pack! Anyone want to have the kids over to play!! We have to load our container tomorrow....um and so not ready!! Crap....was that just pistachio nuts dropping all over the floor?? Is that water running in the kitchen sink?? Put that marker down!!!

Gotta run!!!

(in the quiet of the night I will post my ninth day post)

On the Eighth day of Christmas

My true love gave to me ERIC....ok so that isn't eight things, but today is the 8th, and his birthday! And so I will post eight things I love about my Eric, mingled with some things we have done recently!

1. Eric makes me laugh! He is always doing silly things and we can sit together and laugh for hours. And yes sometimes I think he is "so immature" but that's Okay, I still laugh!





2. Eric loves adventures. Like today we went scuba diving!! Swam with sharks!! The boat was not quite circled but kind of with a school of about 200 dolphins..too bad I don't have that really cool camera, and that they all dive down too stinking fast... It was so awesome, I so didn't want to go and am so glad I did.

Ok so you can't see them well in this at all but there are several in the water, the dark shadowy parts.



3. He is always willing to do anything. Kind of goes with adventures, but if we are sitting around and I say hey lets go hike to the top of whatever (as if I say lets hike much but anyway all I could think of) he is always like "Yes lets go do it." For example back when we were free with only two kids (yeah when you have enough arms to each take a child, it feels care free), it was Memorial Day, and I said to him at 7 in the morning, lets drive to Florida for the week and visit my parents. He said "if you pack the car, I'll go." So I packed the car, we had friends over for our scheduled BBQ and left and drove through the night. Surprising my parents, by calling them and telling them to check the front porch for a package we sent! It was awesome.






4. Speaking of surprises, Eric likes to plan little surprises for me. He will schedule a babysitter and just take me away. I love that.





5. He is an awesome planner! I think he should open up a tour guiding/ travel planning company here in Hawaii and then we would never have to leave and we'd all be so happy...and poor! But that is ok, though he would be so awesome at doing that.



6. He remembers things about people that most people don't remember. For example if you mention once sometime in passing that Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream is your favorite, then he will just one night bring you home some mint chocolate chip ice cream. If you like yellow roses or you really want a cool coral colored shirt, he will just show up with it one day.



7. He is always willing to take all four kids away for the day so I can stay home and clean (if I knew how to slash out words I would have put blog and check email cross it out and put clean....but I don't know how...) But side note here I love cleaning the house, especially when I am all by myself!






8. He loves me! I am so not perfect and probably difficult at times to live with. And he still loves me.

and he is Handsome!

I love you Eric!! Happy Birthday!!!

PS, don't forget to sign up for my give away! Ends tomorrow night at 6 PM Pacific....

On the Seventh Day Of Christmas...

my true love gave to me,

the seventh day of the week, some call the Sabbath, others may call it Sunday.

As a Christian, I believe that the 7th day was created for rest. It's a day of worship. A day to reflect on the rest of the week. A day to rest from our worries. A day to sing and to pray. A day to go to church.

This morning didn't start off much different than most Sundays lately, you know go get dressed, try to get some breakfast for the kids, do we have any toys or snacks?, some protests from going, however it made me think: Why the heck do I bother? The kids didn't want to get dressed, didn't want to go to church. Once we got there, they did ok at first and then....oh man lets just say the man that sat behind us last week that mumbled under his breath, loudly to his wife "Could we have picked a worse seat for church?", was certain to not sit behind us this week, and I am sure he was glad. Between T-Rex screaming and Two and Bee running in and out! It was just so not good.

I even left the meeting room and sat in the foyer, with three out of four of my naughty little ones. I finally went out and sat by the car, with Two screaming behind me the whole way leaving the building...so much for keeping the spirit there for others.

I was in tears. One mostly embarrassed at my inability to parent and reinforce positive proper behavior. And then two because my kids were so out of control. Not sure how it happened. Not sure what to do.

I could just stop going but I can't. Why? Because I believe strongly in the importance of torture!? No because I know that regardless of their behavior and regardless of what others may think, that is where we need to be.

I know that God lives. I know He loves us. I know He knows our struggles. I know He wants us to be happy. I know that life isn't always easy. I know that we gain strength through the hard times. And I know the knowledge they gain by being there will help them be better people.

And plus don't we just all look so cute dressed up and at church?

On the Sixth Day of Christmas: Kind of Grasping at straws to remember!

My true love gave to me,
The ability to communicate, with some Six great, or not so great conversations this week:


First: As I was getting out of the shower, my little TWO was standing there, looking up at me with her big brown eyes, wide smile and says "Mommy what in your tummy?"

"Nothing."

She lifts up her shirt, fills her belly with air and says "well it looks like this, is there lots of fat in there?" Um yeah thanks!

Second: Eric comes home bags in his hands. I see several bottles of soda.

"Was the soda on sale?"

"Well no. I bought myself a DR. Pepper and knew I couldn't just bring one home for me. So I decided to get you a Diet Pepsi (yeah to fix the belly problem from above). Then I realized if I had a soda and you had a soda, I had to get a Sprite for the kids."

Ever so thoughtful.

Third: After getting frustrated with my children this afternoon, I know surprising you could hardly imagine me getting frustrated, but it happens, probably more often than it should. Anyway G-Man says to the girls:

"You have to stop going into Mom's bed at night and waking her up. She needs a lot of sleep so she doesn't wake up in the mornings all mean and grouchy."

He has me figured out!

Fourth: I was slowly browsing the aisles at Costco, yep no kids, so I was going so slow. Though it was later at night, my shirt was covered in snot and kids dirty hand prints. So feeling kind of gross but alone and enjoying my shopping. I smiled at one of those tester sampler guys. He walks away from his table and stops me. He says "I just have to tell you, you have the most amazing eyes." Gulp....ummmm "Thanks!" Made me feel good.

Then I related this story to some friends, enter another comment "Yeah it is amazing what people will say to sell you something." Gee thanks!

Fifth: This one has been deleted to keep this blog family friendly....lets just say it has to do with me saying something to Eric and him thinking I said something else, and then me getting bugged, and then today I mentioned it and he said "Oh I thought you said.... now I get why you were upset at me...." Believe me it was funny!

Sixth:
Last night we went on a sunset sail boat cruise, it was fabulous!! We sat and talked with a bunch of strangers. The last little bit, after the fabulous fireworks, we spoke with the captain's wife. She was so sweet. And I know, maybe I am relying too much on outside verification or something, but she mentioned how wonderful our family was, and how she admired us....I just thought I'm just glad we didn't lose a child to the sea, or make the captain turn around cuz a little someone we like to call T-Rex screamed a lot of the time. She just was happy to see a family like ours and impressed by our adventurous nature.

Anyway kind of boring, but it was a nice conversation. I love talking to people. I like hearing their stories.

I also love hearing my kids talk and every day they do say something I should record, but I don't. But they do say quite a bit and I am grateful for their little minds and all the thoughts that come out of their mouths....well most of the time.

Christmas Memory Give Away!

'Tis the season to give away!

It has been awhile. And this one will be a quicky. Closing the give away by Tuesday Dec. 9th in case anyone wants to finish the poster and give it as a Christmas Gift.

I am giving away, not one but TWO 18x24 posters from Heritage Makers ! (possible two different winners and possible you could win both). These poster are totally customizable, totally awesome, and totally the coolest way to display your fun memories. Whether you want to enlarge a great family picture or compile a bunch of your favorite pictures or words! Whatever you do, it will look awesome on your wall!

So you want to know how to enter to win....its simple just leave a comment telling me you want to win! And you can enter more than once, here is how:

1. Leave a comment saying you want to enter (one entry)
2. Leave a comment saying you linked this give away on your blog (another)
3. Become a follower, or if you are leave a comment saying you are a follower. (see another chance)
4. Go to http://www.storybooker.com/ and sign up for your free account (cuz you have to have one to make the poster) and come back leaving me a comment letting me know you did or if you already do just leave a comment saying you do have an account! (wow four different chances to win- HOW COOL IS THAT!)

Happy Holidays!

HO! Ho! Ho!

On the Fifth Day of Christmas

On the Fifth Day of Christmas, my True Love gave to me,

five typing fingers....

You know I am so grateful for my fingers, that they work so well together to type. With out typing, well I guess I could write, speaking of writing.... have you tried writing with your pen lately??

Man my hands are out of writing shape that's for sure.

But I am grateful for my ability to type, with all my fingers and am able to express and share my thoughts, feelings, and life with others.

My question to you....do you chicken peck or use all your fingers on all the right keys??

Happy FRIDAY!

FYI-I appreciate all your comments! And love to be able to comment on your blogs.

Sidenote: Have you become a follower? What's stopping you?

On the Fourth Day Of Christmas....

So, I am just on day four and I am having a hard time finding something of four that I am grateful for....my first thought was...

On the 4th day of Christmas my true love gave to me...
FOUR hours of sleep!...Yeah not a lot and yes it was a miserable night.

You know one of those nights, you get everyone in bed, you straighten up a bit. Then you check some email, catch up with your DVR and then think I need to get to bed, kind of night. And then the second you log off your computer, turn off the TV the baby starts screaming.

So I think to myself, I will just brush my teeth and he will stop. And he doesn't. So instead of waking up the whole house at 10:45 I decided to go for a walk. After about an hour I decided to come back home, actually ran into some neighbors and talked for a bit, I came back inside with a screaming child.

I did what I could to try to get him to go back to sleep. Then I passed him off to the hubby. Who T-Rex wanted nothing to do with. After a few tosses back and forth he finally left with his dad to watch the Lifetime Movie Network! Things got a little quiet. I snoozed a little. Then the little guy came running in screaming!! Anyway at some point I fell asleep. At some point he fell asleep.

And all said and done, I got four hours asleep. Better than none! (I took T-Rex to the doctor, no ear infections, but a sinus infection, so poor baby.)

And then I thought what kind of Gift is just four hours of sleep.


Then the thought occurred to me:

On the Fourth Day of Christmas my True Love gave to me
Four healthy beautiful babies!

Yes that is it! Four Beautiful Healthy Babes!

I love my kids. I have my moments of frustration, some days more than others. But I am so grateful I have these wonderful little kids.

G-Man: He is so compassionate and sensitive to others feelings. Sad, funny and true story. Today Two went to work with her dad. After school, the three other kids and I were in the elevator.

I looked around and said "Oh my goodness, we are missing one."

G-Man "Missing one..what?...TWO??? Where is she?"

Me: "Oh my goodness, I must have left her at the store."

G-Man with tears in his eyes and true sadness in his voice "Oh Mom we have to go back! Quick."

I was getting all teared up and sad even though I knew where she was...and then I apologized to him for teasing him. I had know idea how upset he would become.

He is also very smart and has developed a keen ability for art.


Bee: oh she is quite the observer. Often she will just sit and stare and watch people. She notices things and on top of it she remembers it. She when she wants to can be very helpful and sweet. And some how she always gets me to take her on my girls night out. She is a fun little buddy for me. She is imaginative and loves to just talk on her phone....to no one.

Two: She is so happy and friendly. It is hard for her not to have a smile on her face. She is three and has developed that ever so contrary personality of typical three year olds, but she sure is fun. We have a great time hanging out during the day. She loves to get away with things by say "but mom me love you!"

Then there is T-Rex, he is so busy and active and so gosh darn cute. He is a climber! I spend most of the day getting him off of counters. He is easy going but has learned the great trick of squatting on the floor when someone tries to pick him up. Though he is slow on his speech, he understands so much. Like if someone in the next room says "let's go swimming," he will show up with swim suit in hand.

So there you have it.

Four Beautiful Healthy Kids! I am so lucky.

Heritage Makers on Good Morning America!

You may or may not know that I am a Personal Publishing Consultant for Heritage Makers, but I am. I have been working with the company since 2005 and am very pleased with their quality of books and products.

The exciting thing is we were featured in the O Magazine by Oprah as one of her favorite things. Pretty Exciting. And this morning Gayle King was on Good Morning America sharing the books. Here is what they said on Good Morning America on ABC this morning. *And actually the books are far less than 4 dollars a page.

Just a side note, when I started in Heritage Makers' one of the first books (august of 05) I ever made was Before I was your Mother, and even the President's wife used it for a class, and then I later remade it and used it as a sample book to sell to other consultants...and that book took like fire. I had people email me and say that that book helped them with their sales. Anyway they even mentioned the Before I was your Mother book, not my copy of the book, but still a book that has become very popular...Kind of cool, even though I never get the credit for it!

The Third day Of Christmas: Wordless Wednesday

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me
a wonderful camera to capture my memories (ok it isn't that great of a camera and hoping Santa brings me a really fancy one this year), but this amazing camera is on its third life, it had been left to die in the toilet a couple of times by T-Rex.

But I am grateful for my camera. I love shooting and capturing the candid moments of life.

I love taking pictures.

I love looking at pictures.

I love creating books from my pictures.

I'd love to make a living with my pictures.

For more wordless Wednesday's check out Five Minutes for Moms

or here and here

The Second day of Christmas...(a little overshare)

My true love gave to me,
Two years, two months period Free!

Normally I wouldn't post for the whole world to know but I went TWO years plus a few months no cycle! So imagine my surprise yesterday when using the facilities just before picking the kids up from school...SHOCKER! But maybe it explains the quick tears I had last week.

Lets just say I was totally unprepared, I put the younger kids in the car, drove and picked the older ones up from school and headed to Safeway.

Where into my cart I threw, tampons, some snacks for the kids and ICE Cream!

As I was checking out, T-Rex climbing all over me, Two crying, the male cashier scanned my items glancing up at me after each. I can only imagine his thought process "oh man poor husband! Kids, chocolate, pads never a good combination!" He asked "how are you doing?" I wanted to say..."as if you can't tell already" But I answered with a courteous "Alright, thank you."

Armed with chocolate and feminine protection and kids' choice treats and sixty dollars later, we headed home, set emotionally and physically for a few days.

I think the last two years have saved me some money and a few pounds...

Days til Christmas

(If you choose to participate, link back here and feel free to use this picture)

On the First Day of Christmas...

My true love gave to me,

ONE BEAUTIFUL FAMILY!

It doesn't matter if you drive a nice car, or have a beautiful big home, or wear the latest and best fashions. Cars age and break down, home's get dirty or outdated, fashion well that changes like the weather and I can never keep up with the trends, but Family never gets outdated, seems to hold up well, and changes are always welcome...well most times, we seem more flexible with family changes.

I love that my family is so forgiving of my imperfections. When the day is done we can sit down with each other, give a little hug and know that we love each other. Forgiveness comes quickly...most days. We laugh together. We cry together. We grow together.

My sister shared with me a saying while she was here "We may not have it all together, but together we have it all." That's the way I feel about my family. Take my home away (oh I think we already did that), take my things away (oh yeah did that too), and what I have left are the people who love me the most.

(this is Christmas, or maybe Thanksgiving about 24 Years ago)

As the part of this holiday season I will be posting one thing I have been given, like the song you know? :) Each day, I will find something that I have been given, and will try to correlate the number of day with the number of items...a challenge, I love challenges...Care to join me?? Lets find the best gifts of the season, not at the stores, but in our own homes, neighborhoods, towns, states, country! They are there, find them!

Happy December 1st!

Aloha Friday

The question was asked today: Are you going shopping? And for me, the answer is no...no way!! Even if we weren't moving across the sea in a few weeks, and can't possibly fit another item in our suitcase, I still wouldn't be shopping. Me, crowds and stores just don't mix well, kind of like water and oil. Just don't mix, unless you shake and shake, and then shortly after they go their separate ways. Desperate measures only lead me to shopping.

But speaking of shopping I have been thinking more and more about what to do to provide a memorable Christmas with out breaking the bank, or possibly even standing in lines.

I am not a planner, in any way shape or form, nor am I really organized at all! But a rule of thumb when it comes to shopping for Christmas, I came up with this, from some ideas from a friend.

To make gift shopping equitable and fair, I try to shop in four categories for the kids and spouse. I call it the 4 W's:

Something to WEAR: Everyone needs a new outfit to put on Christmas morning, after eating all the candy in the stocking and hanging out in jammies most of the morning, and well into the afternoon sometimes.

Something they WANT: Everyone deserves a little something they really want. With little kids and the influences of commercials there are many things they want...and well narrowing it down to the one thing can make a difficult task.

Something they WONDER about: This is the special gift that santa gives. The one that keeps them up at night wondering what will be under the tree staring back at them in the morning. (a little like the want, but can be a fun big surprise or a little surprise or just something you found in the clearance section.

Something to WREAD: Ok doesn't really start with a "W" but every one needs something to read or at least a cool book to look at or even better a personalized yearbook, I make mine at www.storybooker.com and each year I try to put together a book for the kids of all the things they did in the last year, as well as a book to read.

So there you have it. A list of categories to help you narrow down your shopping. Maybe helping you budget a little bit more and spread the wealth among many things.

We do buy some little things and items to go in their stockings. I try to buy these things through out the year, like standing in line at the grocery store, or the one spot at Target, cuz a little here and there ends up adding up but you don't notice that extra few dollars on your grocery bill.