Little Climber!

The other morning as I was making the babies breakfast, I went to get Leah and put her in the high chair, but found her sitting high upon Pooh Bear, which was placed on a chair. How those chubby little legs got themselves up so high I do not know!

My Chubby Chocolate Girl

Sweet Leah Dee after eating her first chocolate bunny!

My Easter Beauties....and Handsome!

Leah and Beau, each having a 'Coca Cola' at Grandma's House!

Ahh! What beauty before me this Easter Day!

A boy and his Choo Choo Train Basket!

HAPPY EASTER!

WoW! What a day! Jack woke me up as he was leaving for work so I could wake up enough to get around, and be ready to hide all those easter eggs before the troops awoke and came running out to see if the easter bunny did in fact leave them a surprise! And, I did very well hiding them I must say. The girls only found 11 of 18 and came in, I sent them back out in PJ's, and after another 2o minutes they came in still in search of the last one. I had put one in the tree, and told them to look higher! They figured it out. Drew was so enthusiastic, so 'ready to go'! It was so much fun.
Beau was the first to wake up, and I had hid his 'THOMAS' eggs all over the living room, all 6 of them, and he found 1 first thing as he entered the living room and started playing with his train table. Then it was on! I had to help him out, but he soon figured out the whole idea, and just wanted to do it 'more, more, more'! He loved his choo-choo train easter basket, and Leah loved her stuffed chicky. I did well, again!
We got around, went to church, and then had lunch at my Mom and Dad's. Yummy tacos! The kids ran around like crazy, especially Beau Michael, and played catch with Papa, oh, and Me too! As soon as that boy walked into Grandma and Grandpa's house he spotted his easter basket from them, which was a police car and when you push the button on top of the sirens, it says, "back away from the basket". He loves it! They all got another round of chocolate easter bunnies, which Drew ate half of as soon as she could, then had a nervous breakdown as it was time to go. "Mom, don't you see how much I love Grandma!? I can't leave without her!!!" Sob after dramatic sob. Time for a nap! Just a little too much excitement for one day!

My Week (in short!)

Sunday:

Church with babies, 1st time back, Beau had breakdown, "Beau sad!", Leah did fine! Great service....lunch with MIL, and some easter shopping!

Monday:

Babies up at 7am, girls off to school by 8:30am, babies breakfast, naps, my shower, Drew home at noon from Kindergarten, off to town to exchange her too small soccer cleats for larger ones, stop at grocery store for milk (1%, 2%, whole, and lactose-free!!!!)

Mom's Bday, picked up some flowers, cupcakes to take to her at work. Home, babies down for naps, NOT!, off to take Bday present to Mom at work, quick stop, Grace to volleyball practice by 5pm, home again, cook dinner, Grace home at 6pm, wind down time, baths, bed for babies, Drew, Grace....once everyone is in bed, Jack working, so I do laundry!

Tuesday:

Lazy morning, Doctor apptmt 1:30p, work 2:30-11pm

Wednesday:

Apptmt with personal trainer at Go Figure, 10am, I'm late, she's late, I'm late for Drew getting off bus! Pick Drew up at school after route is done, and bus driver drops her off, home for lunch, babies naps, off for "me" time, got gas for lawn mower, vaccumed out van (which was hideous!), cook dinner, eat dinner 6pm, (what took me 1hour to cook, is consumed by all within 15 minutes) Leah covered in mashed potatoes, Beau decided to catapult mashed potatoes from high chair onto oven door, ugh! BATH NIGHT! Clean up kitchen, kids to bed!

Thursday:

Girls catch bus at 8:30am, Storytime at library 10:30am (after marathon breakfast, shower, clean up!) MUST be home for Drew by 11:40am. Lunch time, naps...me time??? Need to weed, finish laundry. No other plans!

Friday:

Kids will go to school like every day, I work at 2pm. Stay home all morning, I'm sure.

Saturday:

Drew Soccer at 11-noon, Kids easter egg hunt at church, not sure if we can make it. Jack works, I'm on my own again!

Mom...Choo Choo? Choo Choo, Mom?

Beau Michael is more of a train fanatic than ever! Every time I say we are going to go to town he says, "Mom, Choo Choo? Choo Choo, Mom? Choo Choo Ding Ding? Choo Choo tracks?" Ding Ding meaning the rail road bars as they go down when the train is coming. I think he knows the exact route which has the choo tracks, and those that don't. He will even get upset if I go the way that does not have the choo choo tracks! As we are leaving down town, we have to pass the train station, and every time he starts yelling, always so excited, "MOM CHOO CHOO'S, MORE CHOO CHOO'S!" He anticipates this passing the entire ride to town! It so funny. I just love his fascination with trains!

Easter is Coming!

Easter is quickly approaching, and I still am not prepared! I am usually a very organized, think-ahead person and have easter baskets made 2 months before hand! I am still searching for my decorations! I can't wait to dye easter eggs, and make our giant easter bunny cookie. Beau is gonna just love hunting for eggs! Me and my MIL found him an adorable choo choo train plush easter basket when we were shopping at Target. We also found a snoopy candy train, and a Nemo hollow chocolate fish. And I found some real cute Thomas the Tank engine easter eggs to hide just for Beau. I can't wait to see his face! I think for dying eggs this year we are gonna try something from one of my Family Fun magazines, tye dye eggs, by just putting the eggs into a strainer, and dripping vinegar and food coloring onto the eggs as you shake them all around. It's worth a try, something different anyway. Ofcourse, we plan to go to church. But, no real plans yet for dinner. I just haven't even thought about it. I guess I should get going on it. Jack works so I'm on my own! How am I gonna do it all???!!!

Bye-Bye Binky!

The other day, I talked Beau into putting all of the binky's in a bowl to place on the porch for the 'binky fairy' to take away, and I told him he would get a surprise in the morning. Well, Daddy could not stand the crying, so he insisted Beau get one back for bedtime only. He went to sleep then, and the next morning, when he woke up, we checked on the porch, and the 'binky fairy' had indeed taken the binky's all away and left him a Hot Wheels car. He was so excited, and talked about it all day! (An idea I got from watching SuperNanny :) !) Ever since then he has done extremely well without a binky all day long. If he has a "breakdown" and begs for binky, then he knows he must lay down in the crib for a brief period of "binky time", which hasn't lasted much longer than 10 minutes, and then he gives binky back, and runs off to play! It's working out much better than I had expected it to. I wonder how much longer it will be before he will give up binky all-togther?!!

My Beach Baby

Yesterday we took advantage of the weather and headed for the coast. Leah has never been to the beach, and Beau has only been twice, of which only once could even remotely be remembered. He was very excited to see the ocean. We flew a kite for a little while, and the kids played in the sand. I put Leah down to sit in the sand, and she touched it, touched it some more, then took off crawling! It didn't bother her one bit! I was in shock. This girl had sand in her shoes, up her pant legs, on her hands, knees. I remember Beau was scared to death to walk in the sand, footprints in the sand freaked him out. He stood screaming waiting to be picked up and carried at her age, maybe a little older. Funny how different they can be. It definitely was a beautiful day, and as short of a stay as it may have been, the kids had fun, and that's what matters most.

Dear Leah

One day late, sorry my love, but HAPPY FIRST BIRTHDAY LEAH MY SWEET "1"! I love you ever so much, and wish that forever you could stay so small. You are forever my baby.

♥

A Real Choo Choo!

This past weekend I found out about a local park that has an old Steam Engine that kids can climb on, and go inside of. So, we had to go check it out! Especially for the sake of that boy! He was so surprised, his mouth dropped open, he loved it! He took along his dump truck and drove it everywhere possible too. All of the kids had a blast! I love this park!

Sweet Leah Dee's 1st Birthday Party!

Big Brother Beau just had to show Sissy how it was done!
My attempt at a Teddy Bear cake, turned out okay, I think!?
Mmmm, Mmmm...that's pretty good!
What?

My Heart Floats For You

I look out my picture window revealing my backyard, and I absolutely love the fact that I see trucks scattered all around. I love having this boy to dig up my flower beds, muddy my porch, stomp through every mud puddle...it's just so different from having a little girl. I just want to bottle him up and save him forever in this age of 2, so wonderous, so excited about so many things. Everything so new through his eyes. I just adore My Boy.

"Two small arms to hold you tight,

Two small feet to run,

Two small eyes so full of love for you,

One small Son."

♥ BOYS ARE FOUND EVERYWHERE,

one top of, underneath, inside of, climbing on, swinging from,

running around or jumping to...A boy is Truth with dirt on it's face,

BEAUty with a cut on it's finger, Wisdom with bubble gum in it's hair,

and the Hope of the future with a frog in it's pocket! ♥

My Little Hams!

Parts of my Garden

My beautiful blue butterfly delphinium. The 2nd one I have planted, said to be a perennial, but has never lasts more than the summer I plant it!
This is an artichoke bloom from our garden. We decided to let them bloom, one summer, rather than eat them, just to see what it would look like. Quite striking, huh?
These are my "gimme" Cana Lillies, they grow taller and thicker every year, very hardy! Hummingbirds love them, and I will find them feeding off of them every morning when I go out to water. I had transplanted my purple creeping phlox beneath them to create an extreme contrast in color, but Jack went round up crazy last year, and killed it!

Thank You Susie's Zoo :)

Many thanks to you once again, Sweet Susie, for this wonderful car ramp/garage. Both Beau and Leah are getting alot of use out of it!

Flu Bug Be Gone!

My poor Handsome is still so sick. He started getting better the end of tuesday, but has reverted back to lying down, eating little if any, and refusing to drink much. I did get some 7up in him today, but he puked again, and keeps having this terrible, terrible watery, burning diahrrea. And, the smell is the most dreadful smell I've ever smelled. Just awful!!! He just screams and begs for a new diaper every time he even thinks he may have pooped, and then screams even louder when I have to wipe him. Poor little guy. And, to top it off, Jack is sick too. Chills, aches, nausea, diahrrea. This bug is the worst I've seen, and I'm a nurse! I did get Beau some childrens pepto bismol today, and by golly, he got relief enough to calm down and go to sleep for the night. Thank the Lord! So far, Drew, Grace, and I have not come down with this flu bug, lucky us. I hope we get by without even a touch of it!

Silly Spring

We awoke this morning to a thin layer of SNOW on the ground. How crazy is that? My car was covered! The girls were busting out, so excited. It's March for goodness sake! AND, we are in the valley, yes, the VALLEY! I still can't believe it. In fact, it is still snowing. Beau Michael had never seen the snow, and so I took him on the porch as the girls were making snow balls, and he looked around in amazement. Then I tried to explain to him what the snow was, and asked if he wanted to touch it, so he touched a snow ball that Drew made. Still not too sure about it. Leah giggled as she watched the snow coming down through the window. What a strange spring day!

What a Delightful Surprise!

I have been waiting for this moment for so long! Everytime I see a rainbow I NEVER have my camera. Well, I finally snapped a couple photos this afternoon from my front porch! WoW! Isn't it just beautiful?

Poor Babies

Both, not just one, but both babies are sick with the stomach flu at the same time! Leah is lucky, or rather I am lucky, that she is not puking, only has diahrrea. Poor Beau, though, can't keep anything down, not even ice, popscicles or pedialyte. Yesterday morning he was lying on my bed, and started screaming, I ran over to him, but before I picked him up, he sat up and projectile vomited all over our feather down comforter! It was everywhere! Big chunks of curdled milk, yuck! I couldn't bring myself to scrub it clean. (Can you scrub a down comforter clean?) Today, he is sleeping, sleeping, sleeping! He has tried to eat ice, and tried to drink, but it all keeps coming back up. I sure hope this passes quickly! Thankgod for Febreze!

3-Day Belly Fat Buster!

I have lost 5 lbs. (YAY!) in 4 days after trying this diet that I found in a magazine. It was so amazing! In one day, I felt so much less bloated, my tummy felt so much better. I have gained back more energy, less tired. I was feeling tired all the time!!! I even enjoy the food I eat now more than the old nasty fattening food I was eating, when I ate. I feel more clear in the head, MORE ME! I just gotta keep this up. But, 5 lbs. ain't bad to start!

Try it if you'd like! This was only specified as a 3-day diet intended to help you lose a quick few lbs., and take away bloating:

Every morning I ate 8 oz. low fat plain yogurt with 1 hard boiled egg, and green tea
Mid-morning snack was 2 oz. low fat cheese (about 2-1 inch cubes)
At lunch, one can of tuna, drained with lemon juice, and pepper
Afternoon snack 8oz. low fat cottage cheese with 1/2 cup broccoli spears
Dinner was yummy! 4oz grilled or broiled fish brushed lightly with olive oil, salad with plain rice vinegar, and 1/2 cup steamed spinach with lemon juice and pepper. ( I cheated and topped the fish with salsa, what could it hurt?)

Care Team Meeting

So, we finally had the meeting, last Tuesday, with my Daughter's Teacher, the Principal, the Behavior Specialist, the Speech Therapist, and the Special Ed. Teacher. We got there a few minutes late, but they started over for us. Her Teacher smiled ever so sweetly as she shook my husbands hand, and was so disgustingly nice, I wanted to scream! She has never had a single smile for me, or friendly gesture. She really buttered him up! So, turned out they WERE worried about her 'unusually low' DIBELS scores, however, "Drew is doing much better, cooperating much better, reading her books without problems...." I am still wondering, what it was that she was so afraid of me reacting to? I just don't get it. Yes, I worked harder with Drew since that last time I spoke to the teacher, and yes, I had a few talks with her about behaving, and being kind to everyone, teacher, kids, etc. Maybe I resolved the problem before it got worse, and before we ever had the meeting. Regardless, I will never again settle for the neglect of a teacher to schedule a meeting with me one on one to discuss anything that may be going on with my child(ren). I firmly disagree with how they handled this one. And, to top it off, the principal says, "You know, if you ever have any questions, or something you just want to talk about with either me, or the teacher, you can just set up an appointment for a conference, or email one of us, and we can talk." Hmmm, seems that's what I was trying to do! What a contradiction.

A Horrifically Truthful Forward

So scary..... A young Indian girl who was in jail for drug charges, and was addicted to meth wrote this. She wrote this while in jail. As you will soon read, she fully grasped the horrors of the drug, as she tells in this simple, yet profound poem. She was released from jail, but, true to her story, the drug owned her. They found her dead not long after, with the needle still in her arm. Please keep praying for our Children, Teens and Young adults. Understand that this thing is worse than any of us realize...

I AM METH

I destroy homes, I tear families apart,

Take your children, and that's just the start.

I'm more costly than diamonds, more precious than gold,

The sorrow I bring is a sight to behold.

I live all around you - in schools and in town

I live with the rich; I live with the poor,

I live down the street, and maybe next door.

I'm made in a lab, but not like you think,

I can be made under the kitchen sink.

In your child's closet, and even in the woods,

If this scares you to death, well it certainly should.

I have many names, but there's one you know best,

I'm sure you've heard of me, my name is crystal meth.

My power is awesome; try me you'll see,

But if you do, you may never break free

Just try me once and I might let you go,

But try me twice, and I'll own your soul.

When I possess you, you'll steal and you'll lie,

You do what you have to -- just to get high.

The crimes you'll commit for my narcotic charms

Will be worth the pleasure you'll feel in your lungs,

your nose, your arms.

You'll lie to your mother; you'll steal from your dad,

When you see their tears, you should feel sad.

But you'll forget your morals and how you were raised,

I'll be your conscience, I'll teach you my ways

I take kids from parents, and parents from kids,

I turn people from God, and separate friends.

I'll take everything from you, your looks and your pride,

I'll be with you always -- right by your side.

You'll give up everything - your family, your home

Your friends, your money, then you'll be alone.

I'll take and take, till you have nothing more to give,

When I'm finished with you, you'll be lucky to live.

If you try me be warned - this is no game,

If given the chance, I'll drive you insane.

I'll ravish your body, I'll control your mind,

I'll own you completely, your soul will be mine.

The nightmares I'll give you while lying in bed,

The voices you'll hear, from inside your head

The sweats, the shakes, the visions you'll see

I want you to know, these are all gifts from me.

But then it's too late, and you'll know in your heart,

That you are mine, and we shall not part.

You'll regret that you tried me, they always do

But you came to me, not I to you.

You knew this would happen, many times you were told,

But you challenged my power, and chose to be bold.

You could have said no, and just walked away,

If you could live that day over, now what would you say?

I'll be your master, you will be my slave,

I'll even go with you, when you go to your grave

Now that you have met me, what will you do?

Will you try me or not? It's all up to you

I can bring you more misery than words can tell,

Come take my hand, let me lead you to hell.

It's March, my love, you will soon be 1!