Normal?

Diane made a comment last night that she should have stayed until Thursday (after my birthday). And then...her flight got cancelled this morning due to a snow storm in New York. hehehe She put that out in to the universe last night, and Mike said, "Hmmmm...let me see what I can do about that?" LOL

The yearbook teacher, Jessica Payne, at AVHS contacted me for pictures. They are dedicating a page to him in the yearbook. :(


I fell asleep at the kitchen table after eating lunch. I guess I was tired. :-/


I enjoyed watching Cameron play various sound clips from Star Wars on his MacBook and Sara cracking up. :)

Now I am enjoying Pomegranate Margaritas, Cookie Brownies, and a Nicholas Sparks movie marathon with Diane & Sara...pretty awesome start to my 36th birthday.

Is this a normal day? It wouldn't have been a month ago...but I guess it's my normal now.

Eternally Grateful

I am eternally grateful for my Auntie Pam (PatPam) & my Dad, who has taken turns every night to be with me during this time. I can handle the days...the nights are REALLY hard. Without the both of them, I honestly don't know what I would have done this last week.

Faith, Family, Friends

For those who have been reading with me for awhile now, you know that I take the title of my blog VERY seriously. I live by faith and desire my children to do the same.

The family...well, that's harder. Obviously I have a family, and unfortunately we cannot pick our family. Mike and I often said that we made our friends our family. We meant it. One such instance is Chris & Amy. Amy showed up at my doorstep a couple nights ago because I hadn't returned her phone call. I hadn't done that on purpose, I just hadn't gotten to her message yet. (Between the house phone, my cell phone, and Mike's cell phone I have 100 voicemails. This does not include the emails, facebooks, or texts.) Amy, trailed by her 3 beautiful boys, hugged me and we cried. She insisted on making us dinner, and we set it up for Friday night (perfect as my cousin's Brian & Alicia with their 2 boys are coming in).

Fast forward to this afternoon and Alicia tells me they won't be here until 9 tonight. Amy has cooked for an army, no doubt, so I call and ask her and the family to stay. I needed that! Their friendship means the world to me. And I may have to dedicate a post just to them soon.

They were leaving when Brian and Alicia got here. The overlapping was nice, because being by myself at night is REALLY hard. Brian, Alicia & I stayed up...well, into the wee hours of the night (as you can tell by the time stamp). I am blessed by their presence here this weekend.

In the morning, I will keep Peyton's first haircut appointment. The day is just taking a different turn. We were suppose to get Peyton's hair cut, and then her 3rd birthday pictures (as we had to postpone those with the death of my Grandma). Instead, it will just be her haircut...too many firsts this first week (Dylan's first tooth & Peyton's first haircut). :(

Summer 2008

I haven't been on here much this summer, or haven't you noticed? Well, first of all, I have been fighting with my computer. I am in need of an upgrade. We have had ours long enough. I want a laptop and I just have to figure out how to make it happen.

Other than that, I have been busy playing, organizing, and spending quality time with me loosing weight. Summer seemed to end so quickly for us this year. Hubby worked summer school, which means he only had 12 days home with us before back to the grind. In those 12 days we hit the beach, twice, and, FINALLY, bought annual passes to my favorite place in the world, Disneyland! Prior to that my time was spent with all 3 of my children at home, chaos, mayhem, running amok. Okay, well, Peyton can't run, but she can scoot all over the place. As for Boo-Boo reports, well, she dislocated her arm, TWICE in 24 hours. They call it a nurse maid's elbow. That pretty much sucked. Dylan got a sunburn, never mind the child had sunblock on, on his nose the first time we went to the beach, he still has a little pink discoloration and I pray it won't scar. Cameron seemed to fair okay this summer, nothing out of the ordinary to report there. Well, except that, unbeknownest to us, his school decided to extend the day by 1 1/2 hours. It's a grant and several classes are doing this, one of which is his. This means I am up at 6:15 rather than 7:30 every morning, plus I get to hear the joyous cries of mutiny from Dylan and Peyton. Our schedule has been uprooted and there is no turning back. This time next month we should be old pro's at it. I HOPE!

As far as the house goes, WOO-HOO! Some much needed organization has taken place. The laundry room is done. The hall cupboard is done. The bathroom's are done. The playroom is next and Dylan will be graduating into a big boy room pretty soon. Don't get me wrong, there are still things that need to get done around the house, but it's so much nicer knowing just those few things have been accomplished and my daily chores run much more smoothly.

It's terrible, I haven't read one thing this summer. Scratch that, I have read Eric Carle & Dr. Seuss, does that count? I understand now why Katrina only does Spring and Fall Reading. There is just too much going on. However, Hubby FINALLY picked up Sacred Marriage and has begun reading it. I pray he gets as much out of it as I did.

As for quality time with myself. FANTASTIC! I have continued my water aerobics three times a week. I have refused to get on a scale, but I can tell you I have to buy bathing suit #3 because of the inches I have lost. They have extended our class until the end of November. A gigantic (47,000 square foot) gym is being built in our area with indoor pool, but it isn't set to open until mid 2009. By then I think I'll be ready. My goal? This is the last year Mama will be fat in our Christmas picture! It's my mantra right now.

I look forward to seeing ya'll more often. God Bless.