Friday Fill-Ins 06/11/2010

So this week was pretty busy. Aaron was working out of town in Tucson for the week - he came home on Tuesday night, but headed back out early Wednesday AM. Today(Friday) I have a 6:55am flight to San Diego for a client meeting. This is my first travel day since AJ was born. But it is a turn around trip, and I'll be home around my usual time in the evening. SAM went to a Teen Camp this week at a junior high near my office. She said it was OK, but I'm not sure if she'll go back in the coming weeks. It's hard because she would like to just go to my grandparents' during the week, but she has responsibilities at home, and she helps me out tremendously. For the first week of her summer break, she did go to my grandparents' and it felt like chaos at home. I mean, just having the extra hand in the morning while I'm trying to get everyone ready is such a relief. So, when she's not here, I can definitely feel the extra stress. So, this week I tried to give her something fun to do with the camp, but then she could still be at home in the mornings/evenings. I'm not sure what she'll do next week - the weekly camps are pretty expensive. Then there is a church youth group mission thing to go build a house for a week - but that costs $400! It's for food and lodging and stuff, but sheesh that's expensive! She's old enough to stay home, but I know it's boring for her, and even though she doesn't want to admit it, she would be a little scared. I was too when I was her age and started staying home alone for the first time. Anyway, I'm sure we'll figure something out. The other kids are doing great - Cita is at her dad's in California for the summer, Monkey is doing the summer program at her preschool, and Baby Pants and AJ go to their in-home daycare. I've just been working, and teaching my sign language classes on the weekends. And also enjoying the fact that we took the summer off from all sports teams - so no practices and no 3 games every Saturday. Phew! But it will all start back up again in the fall. Oh joy.

Now for the fill-ins! Have a great weekend everyone!

1. Salon styled hair feels great.

2. The solution is the problem.

3. The sound of the ocean outside my window is what I wish I heard when I fall asleep.

4. How about letting each person who plays the lottery win at least once?.

5. Doing the Bible Study called 'Balance at the Speed of Life - For Women' is something I highly recommend!

6. Imagine fulfilling your life's purpose - what would it be?.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to getting home to my babies, tomorrow my plans include a welcome home party for my BFFs husband who just came back from Afghanistan and Sunday, I want to go to church and chill out at home!

Friday Fill Ins

OK - since I totally suck and can't seem to find time to blog, I'm committing to at least posting on Friday's with the fill-ins! And then maybe a little blurb or two on how things are going. :) Kids are good - AJ is big as a horse - I'll need to take an updated picture to share. The girls are out of school for the summer and doing their summer frolicky things like swimming, going to the park, and having visits with Nana and Papa. I can't believe my oldest will be in her last year of junior high in the fall - and then...dun dun dunnnnn...high school!!! eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeKKKK! I will have 3 kids in school this fall...and 2 more to go.

Ok on to the fill-ins...oh, and by the way Kierra's Courage (see my previous post) is over the 10K mark on their journey to a handicap-accessible van for little Kierra! YAY! And my company is matching all of our contributions - woot woot!

1. The ocean is my favorite place to travel to.

2. When I think about my childhood, I often remember riding my bike through the golf course and making troll movies (yes the ones with the hair) with my BFF.

3. Cuervo makes for a good friend.

4. The wind in the trees, the rain on my skin, where am I, this sure ain't Arizona??.

5. Being 30 is so exciting!

6. My best friend knows what my barf smells like (ew - sorry first thing that came to mind).

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to Friday Night Dinner, tomorrow my plans include Phoenix Mommies Bday Party and Aaron's motocross race and Sunday, I want to hang out at home!

Help for a Little Girl Named Kierra

Readers...today's post is about a local AZ girl named Kierra. She's a 2 year old little girl, who developed a metabolic disorder as an infant and she is now handicapped. Her family is raising funds for a wheelchair accessible van. And I'm asking all of you if this story touches your heart, if you would to please contribute, and also write a post on your blogs and encourage your readers to contribute if they feel led to.

The family makes hair bows and bracelets that are for sale, and they also have a few different fundraisers on their website. Or you can simply make a donation.

My little girl is 2 years old, and I guess that's why this story affects me so deeply. It makes me think that anything can happen at any time, and if something were to happen to one of my children, I would need help. So, whenever I am in a position to help someone else, I try to do that.

One of the wonders of the internet is its ability to reach so many people in such a small amount of time. I would really appreciate as much help as I can get.

Let's get Kierra her van! :)

Here's some links:

http://kierrascourage.com

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Help-Kierra-buy-a-handicapped-van/113291925352885

Wordless Monday

I know it's supposed to be Wordless Wednesday, but I just don't have time to post anything but a picture. :) hehe

Only 2 More Weeks

Yes, it's sad, but true...only 2 more weeks until I have to return back to work full-time. :( I've come to terms with it over the last week or so, but it definitely still makes me sad. It makes we wish I were independently wealthy. It makes me wish that the economy didn't suck so hard that my husband has to take crappy side jobs because he can't find full-time work right now. But I'm also thankful that he even has those crappy side jobs to take. God has given me peace about returning back to work, maybe even hinted that it might be temporary, so I'm OK with it I suppose. I just put myself into my little son's head and wonder if he will be OK with it. All of my other children were, so I'm sure he will be. But it just makes me sad that he'll be wondering "Who's this strange lady, and where's my mommy?" But his big sister will be there too, and we've been using this in-home daycare for almost 4 years, so I know that he'll be in completely good hands, they just won't be mine. Waah.

You know when 'they' say that you are a servant to your debt...totally true. Shame on me for allowing myself to get into debt to where I don't have the freedom to not have to work full-time if I don't want to. And I'm not even in THAT bad of debt, a car and a few credit cards...but it's enough to tie me to a desk for at least the next few years. Not to mention medical bills. For the last 3 years, I have reached the out-of-pocket limit on my insurance plan. And it seems as soon as I get one year's bills paid off, here come the next round. I know there's light at the end of the tunnel, but sheesh, it's looking pretty faint right now.

Sorry, didn't mean for this post to be a complaining post. There are lots of things I'm grateful for and happy about. But I'm human, and things bother me sometimes, and it feels better to get them out. To hear encouragements from others that have felt the same way. To let others that are struggling know that they aren't alone.

These are some scriptures that came to mind for my current state of mind:

Romans 8:28 - "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose."

Jeremiah 29:11 (my favorite of ALL time) - "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future"

30...Flirty...and Thriving

Did you ever see that movie, '13 going on 30'? With Jennifer Garner? And she's all in her akward teenage years, but then sees an article on the cover of her favorite magazine (Poise), and it says "30, Flirty and Thriving"...and she decides she wants to be 30, and , when she wakes up, she's 30?? Yeeeaahhh...I'm her. Except I look nothing like Jennifer Garner, nor do I feel Flirty and Thriving...but, I AM 30. Yes I am. Today, I am 30. Holy Poop Flakes, I'm 30.

OK, done obsessing about that now. I joked with my BFF today at lunch that I'm 30, Dirty, and Sagging. I'm dirty because I have 5 kids, and I'm lucky if I get to shower every OTHER day...but it's usually more like every other OTHER day. hehe. And I'm sagging because, well, because I have 5 kids. Need I say more?

But it's cool. I have gorgeous kiddos, a wonderful husband, and a Shark Steam Pocket Mop (my bday gift from hubby...which I ASKED for, by the way...that's how you know you're 30 and lame, when you want a MOP for your bday).

So...I'm saying 'So Long' to my 20's, and entering a new decade. I've grown and learned so much from 20 to 30, I'm looking forward to the lessons I'll learn over the next 10 years.

Hooray for Bullet Time

OK, so I tried to post sometime last week, but Blogger was not letting me. It was giving me some sort of "You cant post right now, because Blogger sucks" kind of message. So, I gave up, and now here we are...and all I can do is bullet. Because that's what I do when I haven't blogged in awhile and need to catch up.

And away we go...

• There is a Dollar Tree getting ready to go in by the Target!! Can you say, "YIPPEE!!!"??? I can...and I said it out loud to myself in the car when I was driving by Target and saw the sign that said "Dollar Tree coming soon". YIPPEE!!


• My daughter, Cita, turned 8 on March 30th. WHAT? 8 years has NOT gone by since she was born. That is just ridiculous. She should be 3 or something.


• I started to work part-time last Monday. I'm telecommuting for 4 hours per day...with my infant son at home since I'm still nursing. Yeah...it's going awesome. But seriously, I'm just sort of getting my feet wet again as I prepare to return back full time on May 10th. It's going pretty well.


• My 2 year old's most commonly used phrase at this juncture is "I do it MYTHELF!"


• The craziness of my kids' sports has begun, but it really hasn't been as bad as I initially thought. That's the beauty of building something up to be MUCH worse than it actually is. Then, when it actually comes around, and doesn't quite reach the level of bad that you thought it was going to be, you can pretend that it doesn't suck THAT much.


• I started working out last week...to the program called "Insanity". I'm an infomercial, workout DVD junkie. Seriously. I have a bajillion workout programs on DVD...and am I ripped? Well, I just had a baby 7 weeks ago, so that's not fair to ask right this second. But have I EVER been ripped from using the DVD programs when I wasn't 7 weeks post-partum? Ummmm...nope. So why do I do it? I think it's all of the success stories that they put in the infomercials...I always find a bit of myself in some of those success stories. I just seriously lack the willpower. I've already missed 2 workouts, and this is only the beginning of Week 2. Argh. BUT, on the plus side, just from the workouts I DID do...I've lost 2 pounds and 1% body fat in one week. Maybe if I actually committed to these things, I could be ripped. :)


• We had a nice Easter. I took the girls to the park in the morning, and then we went to my Mother-in-Laws for lunch. She made a YUMMY ham, and salad, mashed potatoes, some creamy cauliflower and broccoli thing and bread rolls. Mmmmmmm. Then we had a custard cake with fresh fruit on top, and mandarin orange sherbet for dessert. Double Mmmmmm.


• Every stray cat in our neighborhood finds our house. Seriously. A new one just showed up this past week. It's white, with a couple black spots on its forehead and it yowls ultra loud. We don't let him in the house, but he has managed to sneak in a couple times and chase our other cats around. They don't like it.


• My knock off version of Spanx does a pretty good job of holding in the post-baby flabberoo. But when I take it off, my fat explodes out of it like it's relieved to have been released from its prison.


• AJ is getting HUGE! He's going to be 7 weeks tomorrow. I can't believe it's been that long.
• My husband's friend said that AJ has my cheeks. I was all "AJ's cheeks are FAT, what are you trying to say?"


• Aaron was in a motocross race this past weekend. He did pretty well. He's up against a lot more experienced dudes because they have more time to practice during the week. (Read: 17 year old kids with no jobs)


• My oldest, SAM, did great in her volleyball games on Saturday. On her last play, she tried to spike the ball, but hit the ball so hard that it flew over the net, and hit the wall behind the bleachers where all the parents were sitting. EEK!


• Why do 2 year olds have to wake up at the sound of the first bird chirp? I can't wait until she learns the concept of sleeping in on weekends.

OK, I think that's about all I can muster up for today. AJ has his 2 month appointment in a couple weeks...so I'll post more pictures then. OH YEAH, I looked at Baby Pants' measurements from her 2 year checkup, and she is 3 feet tall right now. My grandma says that if you measure a child when they are 2, and then double it, that's how tall they will be as an adult. That would make Baby Pants 6 feet tall...hmmmm...not sure about that one. Maybe we should put a basketball in her hand now. ;)