My Life thru a Blog...

He makes me laugh!

2010-07-29T11:38:00.000-07:00

For those wondering what happens around my house during the day:
This is what happens when a little 3 year old boy has an accident, and mommy is in the shower. He gets new "pants" and "underwear" for himself.

New day...new blog title.

2010-07-12T10:30:00.000-07:00

Feel like I need a change all around. Well be back later to blog.

2010-07-02T15:25:00.000-07:00

So I had started writing another post earlier this morning, but after my day I thought you may be a tad more interested in this post then that one. I will admit the other one was really boring I was getting bored just writing it.

First I realized something yesterday about sleep. I already know that I love to sleep; but more important then that I realized that I need to be waking up the same time everyday. I have woken up at various times all week...and I feel like crap. Even though I hate waking up at 7:30am I realize that I function better the rest of the day when I get up at that time. Not that the occasional sleeping in is bad-but when you have been doing it everyday for the whole week...you hear what I am saying. I can hear some of you asking how I am able to do that. My earliest riser is Haylie at around 7am. She is very independent and is happy to just watch TV in the morning and she can also make her own breakfast. Nehemiah tends to wake up right around 7:30 and the other two boys are more like 8:30/9am.
Second I realized that our kiddos need to have a consistent bed time. We need to really work this summer on getting them all in their beds by 8pm. We have really struggled with bedtime this last year. We were doing good for about 2 weeks at the end of May of getting them in their beds by 8pm...I don't know what happened. Okay that's a lie I know what happened. I am so thrown off by the sun right now that I am not starting dinner until about 6:30pm. When really I should be starting it around 5:30/45. Michael gets home from work around 6:30 and that's when it hits me..."oh yeah dinner". So by the time we are done with dinner it's 7:30 and we still have 4 shower/baths to do which puts us around 8/8:30. Then comes the battle of teeth, last drinks, and going to the bathroom. Add in tried kiddos, that are now just hyper...and you have two parents that are ready to strangle the other because they are tired of hearing the other yell at the kiddos-really the boys-to stop talking. By the time they are all asleep it is 10pm.
It's horrible. There is no real down time for Michael and I because we are too busy yelling at them and trying to finish dinner dishes. Then when it comes to the following day they are all so tired because they did not get the amount of sleep that they need.
So I know what I am doing wrong with sleep and I also know how to remedy it...so here's to the summer.
Summer 2010 the summer that the Boscia's get back on a contestant sleep schedule.

Zippity-do-dah...

2010-06-18T09:37:00.000-07:00

Zippity-day ,
my oh my,
summers headed our way!
Plenty of sunshine, swimming and play!
Zippity-do-dah,
SCHOOLS OUT TODAY!

Jacob's teacher taught him this song to perform at his preschool graduation.
I thought it was only fitting to sing it as we blew out candles on cupcakes celebrating the beginning of summer.
*Just so you know I did not bake the cupcakes for this occasion, they were the cupcakes from Haylie's birthday the day before.

After our celebration snack, I took them up to the pool. I sat poolside and flipped through a magazine. Nehemiah and Haylie are great swimmers and Simon and Josiah just had fun playing on the steps. I was however ready at any minute to be lifeguard if I had too. I was truly only planning at being at the pool for about 45mins. But just as I was about to give them all a 5min. warning 2 family with school age kiddos showed up. So we ended there for almost 2hrs. It ended up working in my favor. They were all so tired, that we came home and watched a couple of shows, then dad was home shortly after that.

Today marks our first whole day together. So wish us luck. Plans for today, get haircuts, go to the pet store to get a new heat lamp bulb for Irna, our tortoise, and get Lemon (our puppy) a pedi/pedi done.

HaPpy BiThday HayLie!

2010-06-16T10:44:00.000-07:00

Haylie turned 7 this morning!
She has been so excited for her birthday to come.
Having to celebrate all 3 of her brothers birthdays, before hers, can rather be hard on the only little girl in the family.
She had asked for a new American Girl doll for her birthday.
After making a big girl decision about having her birthday party at the bowling ally or getting a new doll, she chose to have a new doll. So she knew it was coming. So I think that only makes her opening her present this morning even sweeter.

Haylie was so excited about her present.

Here she is...her name is Mary and she is 8 years old, her birthday is today. The same as Haylie and Abby's (who is also 7 today). Haylie let us know that Mary has been in New York and just got off the plane this morning. How super cute is her imagination.

The 3 birthday girls.
Haylie, Mary and Abby!

beginings of summer...

2010-06-11T10:45:00.000-07:00

As summer approaches I have decided to try my hand at blogging my adventure. Either be of the fun we may have had or the frustrations that come along with summer break.
All around me I feel like I am surrounded by moms that are so excited that summer break is here. To be with their children for two and half months with no cares in the world. Summer break to me...scares me. To have all four again, 5 days a week. With whining and fighting. Not that there are not the time of giggles and smiles, they just seem to be overshadowed by the other two mentioned above.
The pressure to be this mom...this mom that other moms feel they have to be...the mom that we all feel pressure now to be. The mom that takes her kids to the pool and plays endless hours of "Marco Pollo" or "dolphin". The mom that takes her children to the beach every day, despite all the work it takes to actually get there, set up beach towels and chairs, only to have to luge it all back to the car within an hour or two, with no help from the children that are all now tired and cranky. Some of you are probably think that the children being tired is a good thing. But you forgot to take into account the other word-cranky. Yes they may be tired, but not enough to sleep and if they do fall asleep, the evening is only going to be worse. The mom that takes her children to the free movies being offered by the local movie theater despite how they complain the whole time you are trying to get everyone out of the house by 9am. Just to turn around and stand in line and feel judged by all the other moms who's children are not running up and down the stairs and ramps or swinging form the hand rails.
I am tired of carrying around this guilty feeling with me. That I must not love my children, because , I enjoy when they are away at school. I enjoy that they are being engaged with learning in a way that I am not able to teach them. I enjoy that they can socialize and play with other students through out the day. I enjoy that they are responsible for their own lunch and they are not whinnying to me about what it is or that they want more. I enjoy not having them follow me around like a puppy dog or asking me for this or that. Or having to be their only source of conversation.
I am starting to learn that there is no right way to be a mother. That there are many ways to be mom. And my way is just fine. My feelings towards summer are valid, but I don't have to give into my fear of it.
So here's to this summer...I will keep you posted on my journey.

When does it happen?

2010-04-27T08:49:00.000-07:00

When did I go from the girl in high school wearing jeans and my blue converse sitting on the lawn, eating lunch and wishing for a boy to like me... To a mom wearing jeans and white converse sitting on the porch watching her children playing in the front yard? When did my little baby boy swaddled in his Suzy Zoo receiving blanket, turn into a 8 year boy?
Do you ever stop and wonder about these changes? I have been doing a lot of wondering lately. At times I still feel like that awkward high school girl that doesn't know what to do with herself...wondering if anyone will ever take her seriously. Now being the mom, the teacher, the one that others come to looking for comfort, answers and advice, it almost strange. I have discovered a few things about myself. I have a huge heart for moms with kids that are close together in age. I am so over competitive parenting. Just shut up already. I always thought, and still really wish to be, the house that all the kiddos want to come be at. I'm selfish I want my kiddos and their friends in Jr/Sr high to want to hang out at our house. Yet I have discovered I really like when my kids are at their friends house playing. It's just so much quieter. I also feel like I am the "mean mom". No you cannot play the Wii the whole time. No you may not eat dinner at their house again. I don't know.
What I do know is that things are changing. That I am entering a whole new stage in life with my family. We are no longer in the early stages of life...we are entering into school age-hood. Having to learn how to respect my children and give them more responsibility. In return allowing them to learn the consequences that go along with more freedom and trust. I am learning that it is okay to be a part time working mom. I still don't feel like I am a working mom and still consider myself as a sham...but learning not to associate guilt with the fact that I love going to work. I feel like I am a better mom...I am rediscovering things that I enjoy in life. I am also rediscovering the simple way to make daily activities into a learning situation without much effort...the only effort required is to communicate with my kiddo, more then just communicating orders at them. Asking them questions with a purpose. I use to be just so worn out with them all, that the thought of asking them a simple question like what color is this apple was a lot of work. You may wonder how that could be, but when you are being pulled 4 different directions all at once by four different small kiddos with their own needs and interest...I think you probably get it.
Well change happens and "it is what it is" I just hope that I am still wearing jeans and converse shoes.

2010-04-13T09:36:00.000-07:00

Just like most of you out there, I have all these blogs written in my head and when I go to sit down and publish them on the computer...life (the kiddos) get in the way.
Honestly part of me just wants to rant. Things that are on my mind.
Yes I know that these feelings I feel are my own perception. Expectations that I feel that others are putting on me and really they are not there. I feel anger at some of these feelings. Wondering why don't I feel that way towards _________ ? Am I a bad wife/mom because I don't feel that way or believe in what others are doing. I feel like shouting sometimes: "Seriously! Are you being honest with yourself? With your family? Are you doing what is best for everyone or what is best for you so you don't carry any guilt?"
Obviously I feel guilt because I am buying into competitive parenting. I need to learn to be okay with the decisions that are being made in my family, and okay with the way others may or may not view those decisions.
My life is not a movie, or glorified stay at home "mom-hood". Currently I am beyond frustrated with Jacob. He is being squirmy and is touching me; whining/demanding that I do this and that. This kid does not like to be alone or play by himself. I am so not okay with this . I get angry at his lack of independence. I feel like I get nothing done. Either because I am trying to get him involved in something or I am so beyond annoyed that I can not concentrate. Does anyone else feel this way?
It's things like this I feel guilty over. I feel like I am being judged for feeling this way towards my son. That I want to be left alone. I want him to be able to play by himself and not need to talk to me the whole day.
Take this post as you see fit. And yes I know that I am judging others-but hey we all do.

What do these 2 things have in common?

2010-03-26T09:24:00.000-07:00

The answer:

BIRDSEED!

I know that those I talk to all the time already know about Simon Jacob and his adventure with birdseed...but for those that don't...

At preschool last Monday they were playing with birdseed in the class in the sensory tub. Well for some reason Jacob must of thought it would be silly to put the bigger round seeds into his ears. Now Jacob did not come out and tell me that he had birdseed in his ear and I don't think he would of told me either. He tends to become very shy and turn inward when he is embarrassed or knows that he has done something wrong. I was cleaning out ears after bath on Wednesday; and I have this huge fascination with ear wax. So I was looking into Jacob's ear and could see something. So I got out the flashlight and took a better look...yep something was down there. Thinking it was impacted wax I tried getting it out (bad I know). I asked Jacob if it was bugging him and he said " I feel like I have nuts in my ears." I wasn't able to get it out so I decided to flush his ears with water...still nothing came out.
I sent him to bed hoping that it would be loosened enough and come out while he was sleeping. Nope it was still there in the morning. I called the doctors office and told them that I thought he had impacted wax and that it was bothering him. My normal pediatrician was not in so they offered me another doctor...I should of requested another doctor I have never liked the doctor I went too. So we went in and he looked into his ears and said well he has "nuts" in his ears and that we needed to remove them. I am going to skip over this part...lets just say there was much screaming, a crying mommy and a bleeding ear channel. We were refereed over to a child's ENT the next day and he was able to vacuum them out... with no pain or screaming involved. He had put 2 seeds in one ear and 1 in the other. Jacob told me later that day, that the ear with all the blood (the one in which the pediatrician took a chunk out of his ear channel)...well he couldn't hear out of it, but now he could. Well that came as no surprise, the ENT said that the seed was covering his eardrum.

I/we can all laugh about it now and I can guarantee that Jake will never put anything in his ears again. Could you imagine running around with bird seed in your ears?

Having to sneek it in.

2010-03-02T10:20:00.000-08:00

This is Faith, my niece, when she was two years old. These are only a couple of pictures of her that I have burned into my memory.
Faith turned 10 this year...some where between Feb. 28th and March 1st.
(I'll let you try and figure that one out.)
She has grown into this beautiful child, who has a sparkle in her eye for life. She has a sympathetic heart, that I would say she keeps guarded. I love that about her.

This is Faith today she still has those same eyes that she did when she was two. There is something in her eyes that draw people to her.
Faith I love you more then you probably know or will not understand until you too are an Aunty one day. You hold a very dear place in my heart.
Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday Simon Jacob!

2010-02-27T21:56:00.000-08:00

Simon Jacob turned 5 on Friday!
I cannot believe it.
Today he really looks 5 too! How does that happen?
Well little dude...I love you and I look forward to another crazy year with you!

What have I been up to you ask?

2010-02-17T17:37:00.000-08:00

Well I have been doing a little of this and a little of that...
I thought I might share with you the fun little Valentine book I made for the kiddos for Valentine's day. We have not been ones to do much for Valentines. When Nehemiah was a baby we went and built a Build-a-Bear with him...that's when Build-a-Bear was brand new. Then when Haylie was born until last year we just got the kiddos a mylar balloon. Children love mylar balloons. Then last year I must admit we took all of them to Build-a-Bear with much saving and coupons-it was a fun experience where much patience was required. So I thought I would just make them each a card this year with maybe a "coupon" to go inside of it... then I decided to make them a paper bag book. First I was going to make one for each child, but I realized that would be a lot of work and undo stress for something they would not truly appreciate. Really I was making the book for myself and maybe to show it off :) So I made one for all of them to share. They loved it and have cashed in two of the four coupons. I took pictures of the whole book to share so here it is.

Here is the cover. I stapled two lunch bags together to make this book.
This is a fun medium to work with and allows 2 "secret" pockets to have coupons coming out of. The pockets are a result of the 2 openings of the lunch bags. I taped the openings together to make the pockets smaller and not so wide...so the coupons would not come out so easily. Does that make any sense?

Here is the first coupon of the book that you can see the rick-rac coming out of the front cover. It was good for one BIG bubble bath in our BIG bath tub, served with chocolate milk. They have cashed this one in and loved it. Silly I know...but it's the simple things that make it so fun.

Sorry the second page got uploaded funny into this blog. I made a pocket on the page from a clear envelope I had. I then goggled an image of 7-Eleven Slurpee's' which I stapled $2 to each image and stuck it into the envelope. They cashed this one in yesterday. They love being able to make their own Slurpee flavor and being able to pay for it on their own. Josiah was very excited about this one. You can also see Haylie's love note on the right hand side of the page.

Here is the third page where Simon Jacobs love note is written. On the left side of his page you can see some red ribbon sticking out of the second secret pockets. This is where the third coupon is hidden.

This coupon is good for one free room cleaning,along with still earning their chore stick. I created a chore stick system for our kids and each stick represents a job and the corresponding amount they can earn on it. Nehemiah and Haylie again loved this one. Mom and Dad cleaning their room and still earning a quarter. I am waiting to see when they will redeems these ones. Since Josiah does not earn money for his job of opening up new thrash bags for us-I made him a coupon for free diaper changing, until potty trained. Which I am hoping will be with in the next 6months.

Lastly is Josiah's love note and four $5 dollar gift cards to McDonald. Good for a happy meal and playing at the play place. They keep asking to redeem this one. I told them that this one would be family event with Dad. Maybe on Sunday after church would be fun. Yes Rachel I can see you cringing at the thought of this :)

I had fun making this and so not trying to set some "Super Mom" standard. I know I don't want to try to live up to it. But let me brag real quick one more time. I have been sitting on my front porch, at my cheery yellow table with my two boys, them water coloring and me blogging in this beautiful weather. This is so not our life. But now I must wake up and clean my destroyed house. I think I will take pictures of the house and post them later of what I really should be doing right now.

2010-01-26T23:42:00.000-08:00

I cannot believe that I just spent $45 in diapers, wipes and "big boys". We still have a little guy that wets the bed at night so "big boys" are code for pull ups. But at least I won't have to buy any of these items for another month. I normally spread the cost out over two pay periods. But there was a really good sale on the Mega size diapers and I had a coupon for $4 off. But the diapers alone were $30...how much longer will I be buying diapers. We are almost going on 8 years straight of buy and changing diapers. Hopefully within the next 6 months we will be diaper free...but we will still have "big boys", I can almost guarantee that.
Hey I'll take what I can get :)

I want to be left alone...

2010-01-25T20:29:00.000-08:00

It's been a very long long day...where I have gotten nothing done. Josiah wasn't feeling to well last night so I slept with him on the couch for the second half of the night. I think we can all agree that we do not get the most rested sleep on the couch. I seem to wake up and feel like I took a nap and not a good sound sleep. Due to being tired on both Michael and my sides we failed to wake up until 7:45. If I am to be at work by 8:30, I need to leave at 8am ideally. On top of all that I was still conflicted with having Josiah going to school or not. We decided not to send him. So I called up my director and broke her the news. You could tell on her side that she was running late and upset that I was not coming in. I feel like she sees me as a flake. Most days I am walking into the door at 8:30 all while trying to convince two non-morning children to get out of the car. If you are not in the office by 8:30 for devotions, the staff room door is closed and you are not to enter. I think I have missed 5 times this year because I walked in at 8:32...urgh! I have also had to take off a whole week and a couple of days here and there because of children being sick. I am the one that stays at home with them. I do not have a parent that lives close by and does not work to take care of my kiddos... like the other teachers. Then later on today I remembered that it is parent/teacher conference week at the preschool and I am to be taking over classes for the three teachers through out the day. So the pressure I feel from my director only seems to be made worse by remembering that today was parent/teacher conferences. I really would love to see myself working at the preschool over the next couple of years...if God allows me the opportunity. But I think the director might put a stop to that dream. I can't read her...I don't know if she likes me or not. All I know is that I love working there, even on the long days.
So I spent half the day cat napping here and there with a snuggle bug of a kid and a child that was just not up to par. By 1pm I had had enough and took a shower and took the two boys to the bank, Big Lots and to get their hair cuts. Josiah was still not fully himself, but we needed to get out and they badly needed haircuts. Go ahead and judge me on that one, but I just think that he had a long weekend and his body is/was trying to play catch up. Just so you know I don't regret keeping him home from school. He would of been a wreck there all morning and would not of gotten the rest that he needed. I mean really how many two year old boys do you know that lay on the couch for 3 hours watching TV just because?
After our errands we picked up the other two and headed home, where I was greeted by the consequences of my morning. So after we all got inside I tried to begin some where, any where to start catching up...but I miserable failed at that before having to leave for Hay's ice skating lessons. Yes she is taking ice skating and loving it. She has dreamed of ice skating for the past two years :) When we got home I think the pile of uncertainty reproduced itself some how while we were gone and I swear every time I turn around, there seems to be another physical pile or mental task that needs to be taken care of. I just wish to be left alone to try to sort this all out. I am not trying to be selfish by saying that...I just feel overwhelmed and discouraged at my self.
Tomorrow is a new day and it does not have to be like today. I can and will overcome this reproducing "to do" list. But for as of right now I think I am going to go crawl into bed and read some more Harry Potter.

2010-01-12T16:06:00.000-08:00

One word: clutter!
Not so much clutter around me physically...more like clutter in my mind. I have this on going list of things that I need to do and would like to do. About two months ago I started writing them down on an index card, and it really has been helping me. I feel like once it's on paper I can stop worrying about when it will be dine, and just start getting to it. Yes not everything on that list gets done in a time period that I would like to see it done and some of them I never get too...and I just cross it off all together. Through this list I have been able to clear my mind and see the true importance in these items. I wonder why I use to fret so much over some of these items and let them rule my life at times. They are not necessarily crucial items, they can wait another day or be crossed out all together.
Now I only wish that I can find a way to incorporate a system like that into my spiritual life. I am so thirsty for His Living Water and I feel like Satan is just cluttering my mind with things that I need to fret over...like items I have been writing down on my list. I HATE Satan, he knows where my weakness are and uses those to crush me. I know that I do not need to worry, I am writing those items down, I just feel like he is just bombarding me with the aspect of needing to worry. Now I can probably guess that most of you are thinking that a good solution to this would to be to write in a journal. Do you know how many times I have tried that? To many to count it's just not my thing. It's also not a particular item that I feel I could write down and tackle it. Really this blog is me journaling and we all know how much that happens. I guess in writing this post it's just more of a way for me to de-clutter my spiritual mind.
I see now that I have the control as to what I allow to take over my thoughts and I have the strength to take those thoughts and openly hand them over to Him. Really that's what this clutter in my spiritual life is all about right now...believing Satan that this clutter needs to be there and that I need to fret over it being in my thoughts. While Christ is reviling everyday in my life that that is not the case. Those thoughts do not need to be there and do not need to consume me.
My real desire is to be consumed by His consuming fire and have that fire spread like wild fire in my life.

Another lesson learned.

2009-11-12T08:02:00.000-08:00

You think after going through 3 other 2 year old's, I would no all the do's and don'ts. Well yesterday I learned yet another don't. So I will pass it on to you who have a 2 year old or will have one in the future. The others of you who have had 2 year olds in the past feel free to laugh. That's what I did.
So yesterday was a school holiday, as most of you know. I had decided on Monday that we would go down to 7-11 and get a slurpee as something fun to do. So I load them all up in the car and we head down the street. We get there all pile out and make our way in. I had told the older three that I would buy them a slurpee and they could bring a $1, to buy a piece of candy. So we headed down the candy isle where Jacob and Haylie grab what they want right away. Mean while Mr. Indecisive was weighing out all his options. Josiah spotted his favorite thing and grabbed it off the shelf...a lollipop. After what was probably 5mins, we headed over to the slurpee machines. I helped Jacob and Josiah fill their cups, while the older two concocted up their own flavor. Off we went to pay and back out to the car. In front of where we parked there was one one of those "Red Box" movie rental kiosks. I had spotted the new Tinker Bell movie and Monsters vs. Alliens as we had gone into the store and thought that might be a good way to survive nap time, and we could watch the other during Cub Scouts later in the night. I opened up the car and they all climbed in and started to unwrap their goodies. Meanwhile I was renting the movies. With movies in hand, I go to buckle up Josiah. He has already gotten up into his seat and Haylie had unwrapped his lollipop for him. I begin to strap him in and asked Haylie if she has his slurpee, she tells me no, and I then go on to ask the other two if they have it. Receiving no's from the both of them, I turn to Josiah and ask him where his slurpee is...with a big smile on his face he points to his bum. Yes, you guessed it, he was sitting on his slurpee. I grab him out and look at the damage. Luckliy I had only filled his cuo half up and only half of that had spilled out. I clean it up with napkins and laugh to myself. It is what it is! He knew no better and I left a 2 year old alone in a car to look after his own slurpee. The plus side of the whole thing is that my car now smells like a mixture of pina colada and cherry suagary goodness. Just kidding it now smells like Tide from me cleaning out the car seat.

If I was a turkey...

2009-11-04T08:39:00.000-08:00

My pop up timer would of popped up three days ago.
I would love this to be a fun little post about all of our Halloween fun...but there was not much fun to be had. I think I probably made this the worst Halloween for my family yet.
I was so full of anxiety last week, that at times I didn't even know how I was functioning. I kept praying and talking myself through it, and how irrational my thoughts were. But really I am still fighting some of those same thoughts and feelings. A lot of them have to do with things around the house and they have only been compounded by the fact that Haylie, Simon Jacob and myself came down with the stomach flu. After I have been sick, everything in the house, in my mind, is just filthy and I feel overwhelmed to have to clean it all compulsively. I feel trapped by the house and feel like my whole self is being judged by the way the house is cleaned. I feel like a prisoner.
Today though I am going to fight against it. My husband and children do not love me any less because the carpet is dirty, heck they help get it to the state that it is today. They do not think I love them any less because we have used bath towels strewn around the house, along with books and used paper airplanes. They probably think that I do love them less though when I am nagging under my breath at them to put things away.
My house has always been a struggle for me and my pessimistic side of me wants to say that it always will be, but I refuse to let that be the case. My mom and I were briefly talking about this yesterday and she hears and observes the struggles that I have with this issue. It's such a trivial thing is life for some and there are others of you out there that may be crying right along with me. But she was telling me that she cannot wait for me to be able to experience freedom from this bond that I have with my house. Hearing her use the word freedom, just did something to me, it gave me hope to sit back and take a deep breath and be okay. Also when she was talking about freedom she was talking about me learning how to be okay with the type of house I keep. Which got me thinking, what kind of house am I okay with keeping. Am I trying to keep a spotless and I mean spotless house for me, personally? For my husband, so he doesn't have to live in the same type of house he grew up in? For my children? For others, to keep up with some false sense of super mommy-hood? I like a clean house. I like going to bed at night with the sink empty and only a few things on the island for tomorrow. The kitchen table wiped down and chairs pushed it. Toys off the floor and laundry folded and put away. I really do like having a house like that. But I am okay with a laundry basket here and there. The sink with dirty dishes it it, because the dishwasher is clean and I hate to empty it. I am okay with an occasional toy; and most of all I am okay with people seeing it in the middle of the day when the towels are on the floor the couch cushions thrown behind the couch and goldfish cracker crumbs on the table and floor.
With what has been over a year of trails and diagnosing with my doctor we have finally found a combination of drugs that have made me feel like a real person. A person who understand that it's okay to have days where I am sad, days where I am just hyper, days where I am just trekking on, and days that I just want to power through and tackle that "to-do" list. And do this all with in moderation and not swinging from one mood to another on a drop of a dime, followed by outburst of anger and frustration at those who dare cross my path, who I feel like I do not need to impress. It has all been real eye opening, you don't realized that you haven't cried in 4 months until you are able to cry out of stress and have it out of your system and be able to move on. How I thought crying like that was a bad thing. It's not, it's a release, a healthy release. To realize that you can walk out of a room and make a choice to enter it differently and be able to follow through with what your mind is telling you to do is empowering. To be trying to work around the house and not yell at some one, or be able to stop what I am working on because it's not worth the way it is making me feel. To hear the sounds of my children that use to annoy me, and now be able to laugh at them; to stand back and realize how other people are able to laugh at there own children. It's all priceless.
Some of you will never understand why it takes a series of medications for me to feel this way and how I can be okay with it. I don't understand it either. I just know that it is not just a emotional problem anymore. It's a chemical one, one that God has blessed doctors with the knowledge to be able to give a person back there life, or a life they did not know was possible. Giving a husband and his children, a wife and mother that wants to be around them, and even on her bad days, when she wants to go running and screaming out of the door, can stop and know she is in the right place. That if it were not for these medications I may not be here, or I would be in and out of a hospital. I have dealt with this. It was not that long ago when I sat in my room to ashamed to tell my husband what was going through my mind. Not wanting him to be the one to take me to the ER because, I didn't want to let him down. To refuse the much needed rest that was being offered to me because I didn't want my children, my baby, to have to come visit me and not understand why I was there. I will gladly be on medication the rest of my life never to feel that way again. To have foot in the door to be able to get the help I need to be able to work on the emotional side of the problem, and have it make and impact.
Where is this all coming from? Why is this all flowing from my mind? Why does this feel so good? God is this your way of beginning the the healing process within me? To be able to fully accept that you have made me, and have forgiven me? That it's okay to let it go? To forgive myself for those feelings in the past? Towards forgiving myself of allowing people to judge me over my house? To forgive myself for holding onto others hurtful comments over the years and not want to forgive them for it. That in some way by me holding onto to them I was hurting them in return. But now realizing that I have only been hurting myself. And that by forgiving them I am only opening the door to fully love them.
This isn't easy, and not easy to write. It was far from my intention to go this deep into my emotions, to write them down and see them. Yet this is right were you wanted to meet me today God. Right here in my living room, in between, one child who is now starting to feel sick (Josiah) and another who has been house bound since Sunday (Simon Jacob). Right here! Not on a mountain top, where I could sit in silence and look at your beautiful, aw filled wonders. Yet listing to Mikey Mouse, the sounds of a hyperactive 4 year old, a little guys who cries out in little bouts of pain. In a house that has been taken over by the stomach flu with stuff just about ever where. Me in my pajamas, not showered and a painful pimple on my chin. You are omnipresent, you say that you are always with use...and here you are.
A smile comes to my face, thinking how it was just last night when I was trying to explain this to Nehemiah in particular. That when we call upon your name that you are here. That you want us to come to you in all seriousness and truly be thankful for what we have, and not just go through the motions, to get to what we want. I confess I started writing today with the intention of whining and complaining, which I know I have done, to get to what I wanted, a pity party. But you took that selfishness to use it to meet me, to turn me around. To free me.
I am now anxious in how to finish this post. How to end it, so I can get up and shower and move on with my day. A fresh perspective in mind you have shown me. Not to end it in my normal way of just dropping off and leaving some chessey note to my reader. I hate doing that. Maybe though that is the way I am to end it. To stop and just move and not to try to leave some "powerful thought provoking-cheesey" statement at the end.

2009-10-29T21:12:00.001-07:00

Okay so seriously where is blogging suppose to fit in? During the summer I thought..."oh once we are back on a schedule I can be more consistant in my blogging." Well that schedule has come and is still going...but those days "off", meaning not working at the preschool and only having 2 boys for the majority of the day, well they turn out to be my hardest days. Reason mainly being there are only 2 boys. They are both the younger ones in the family meaning that they are the ones that need a little more push in the right direction of play. They , okay really, Simon Jacob does not get a lot of "ear time" when the others are around. So he feels the need to meet more then his yearly quota, on those two days a week. And the best time for all this conversing is when Josiah is sleeping of course.
Alright train of thought has been dis-railed by the oldest member of this family and I am no longer literate.

Is that chocolate?

2009-10-15T09:16:00.000-07:00

So Haylie was in the bath tub with Jo-G last night. They were having fun together playing with all the bath toys; I love hearing giggles from Josiah that are brought on by one of the older siblings. I yelled in to Haylie if she could wash Josiah up for me. Her reply back: "Mom, I can't...Josiah just pooped in the bath tub." LOL! I am still giggling at this. Some how Haylie did not lose her cool, and she thought it was pretty funny herself. The best part of the whole thing is that she said she saw it in the water and thought to her self....Is that chocolate? Oh too funny. Okay I am sure I am the only one laughing.

"Let love be your greatest aim." 1 Corinthians 14:1

2009-09-27T15:43:00.000-07:00

What am I living for? This was a question posed by my pastor this morning in church. It really struck me and I began to answer the question on my outline. As the pastor kept speaking, God was really speaking to my heart and I kept writing the feelings that were being stirred inside of me. The message at times was more then I wanted to hear... but was just what I needed too. I feel the need to share what God was working on my heart this morning, not for anyone but myself. So that I can take it more to heart, and allow God to speak to me even more.
What am I living for? To be accepted... but this can only happen by loving them first. Yet I cannot love them until I learn to fully accept God's love/gift for me, and to be able to give him that love/gift in return. I need to do it out of necessity until my heart can follow, but this can only come through prayer and trust in those who I need to show fervent love to. Fervent love: physical love...physical touch, not always meaning sex.
In the next 40 days God is going to squeeze me in love, and my hurt is going to come out. I am scared for my hurt to come out; or the hurt that will come out of the one that I love.
Love is an action, not an emotion, it's a choice that I make and an action that I chose to portray. I cannot command my emotions, yet God commands us to love him. That love is not an emotion that can be commanded, but the actions can be; because love is a choice. It is an action that I can take to love God.
Love is a skill that can be developed. 1st Timothy 4:15 "Give your complete attention to these matters. Throw yourself into your task so that everyone will see your progress." Fervent love is something that needs to become a habit for me. Something that I need to practice on a daily basis-even though it is hard for me to show that fervent love and receive it from others.
So I need to commit to grow and not just write these words or think these thoughts. Yet it also is not enough to commit to them, but I need to practice them. I also need to TRUST God to help me, and remind myself he loved me first. He has put me here in this time and place, for my family (Michael, Nehemiah, Haylie, Simon Jacob, Josiah, Mom , Dad, Rachel, Christine and Summer)to be the one who fervently loves them. First loving them physically here on earth for you God, and then for them to be reassured that I love them with, Agape love: a flawless love, Stergos love: a family love, and Phileo love: a friendly love.

2009-09-27T09:07:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have those day's in the blogging world, where you have a blog on your mind and have it perfectly crafted in your head, but it never seems to make it into a post? Well I have many of those post stored some where in my memory. That being said I am not sitting down this morning with some great blog in mind, I am sitting down out of guilt. Feeling like I have not been doing my part in the blogging community. I really have no clue how many people actually read my blog,and that can be a good and bad thing. I think we all (or at least I do) dream of being one of those great blogger's out there who has hundreds of followers and on average has 42 comments per post, supporting their thoughts and ideas. But I know me and having that many followers would probably go to my head, and in return I would be stressed to live up to some other persons view of me and my thoughts. Then there is always the flip side, the more realistic side, where you have 4 religious followers, and some how they are all related to you. But at times that too can go to your head, but not in "I am getting a big head" sense; but in the "woe is me" sense. It's in those times I need to remind myself that it is I, that I am writing this blog for. This is my way of getting some of those thoughts out of my head, even if they are only blogs that I write in the shower. Yes there are times where I want to share family vacations and photos, or I am truly looking for sympathy (ie: the washer). Yet overall this is truly for me. It is not for my readers, even though I am happy to see that I have a few, this is a way of clearing my head. To ramble in a circle, in a incredible huge paragraph, with run on sentences. So here's to me this morning my thoughts and my blogs.

Quick Update

2009-09-26T14:11:00.000-07:00

My washer was fixed this morning and it is the most glorious sound ever.

Looking for sympathy out of fustration!

2009-09-17T10:54:00.000-07:00

I have been without use of my washing machine for 2 weeks now and have one more week to go. It all started about a month ago. I went to go open up my front loader washing machine and the plastic handle cracked right in half. Ahh! The first thing I did was went and found my extended warranty that we had purchased when we bought the washing machine 2 years ago.
A little back story on this washer. I was 8 months pregnant with Josiah and I was washing laundry one day the washer started to leak water. Luckily we had a drain pan under the washer so our laundry room did not get flooded. Well we had a repair man come out to look at it and hopefully fix it. The repair man came out a couple of days later and told us that the motor was no longer working properly and it would cost $300 dollars to fix. Not bad, I'll pay it and get back to nesting again washing all the newborn laundry, that was soon to be in use. This is when the repair man steps in and tells me that he is unable to fix it, because the washer was not even worth a hundred dollars and it would not be worth it for him to repair it. In a panic I called up Michael and told him about the washer situation and that we were going to have to go get a new one in the next day or two. He agreed and I started looking on the Best Buy website for front loaders. If I was going to get a new washing machine I wanted one that was going to be more efficient and had a bigger capacity. Not doing any research, just looking at price I called Michael back again and told him about the one I found and was wondering if I should go down and purchase it, to get it delivered ASAP. Probably knowing that I was a crazy nesting pregnant lady, and I was determined to get a new washer, he told me that I could go down there and purchase the washer. So I pack up my 2,3, and 4 year old at the time and headed down to Best Buy. I headed straight for the washer and found the first sales person I could find. I told him what washer I was looking for and he brought me over to where it was. He tried showing me a few other washer that were of better quality and only a few hundred more, but at the time I was not concerned about quality. It was all about finding the right price and getting it delivered. Now remember I am 8 months pregnant, huge, and trying to manage a 2,3, and 4 year old all while purchasing a setting up delivery of this washer. I think the guy felt really bad for me, because he gave me next day delivery and set up for free, along with no sales tax. We have always purchased Best Buy's extend warranty's and it has worked out good in our favor a few times now.
Okay now back to the current washer. So the repair man through Best Buy comes out to look at the handle and says that he need to order a new handle and he will be able to be back within the next week to install it. He told me it was okay to continue to use the washer, which I did. Well the rest of the handle ended up tearing off and I was having to open the door up using my finger in one of the holes where the handle attached too. The repair man came a few days later and fixed the handle.
So this takes me to two weeks ago. When I noticed that the clothes did not seem that they were as spun dry as they normally were. Thinking it wasn't much I continued to use the washer and within a few washes the washer was not going through the spinning phase. I watched it and performed a couple of my own washing test on it. It was washing the clothes and spinning during the wash cycle, but not the spin cycle. Again I called up Best Buy and the same guy came back. He told me that the washer did not think the door was locked during the spinning phase, hence the reason it was not spinning. He told me he was going to order the part and ship it to my house because it could get to me faster then having to go through the warehouse. He also told me that the part would take about one to two weeks to arrive. And I should call when it arrived and schedule an appointment for him to come out. Well the part was delivered yesterday and I called to get an appointment. Are you ready for this, they can not come out until NEXT Saturday the 26th. Ahh!
Imagine being a family of six with no washer. Talk about stress. Thankfully my friend Lacy has come to my rescue letting me use her washer a few times a week. Which involves taking the laundry to her house throwing a load in and coming back in an hour and doing it again. Thankfully I have been able to get into to her house even when she has not been home. Today she was so kind enough to come take all my laundry and she told me she would do it for me and get it back to me tomorrow. Humbling and a blessing all at the same time. Still frustrated and have cried more then once over the washer. But thanks to great friends, we are all wearing clean clothes.

Yeah I did it!

2009-09-09T22:09:00.000-07:00

After a lot of frustration, and a little html programming from Michael...I have created my first personal header. Yeah Me!
Hoping to actually post soon. Like maybe tomorrow.

2009-09-09T06:57:00.000-07:00

Okay this header is a work in progress. I follow another blog and love all her headers of her family. She finally put up a tutorial, so I am slowly learning. Maybe I should stick with the beginners steps, then try for the fun background.

We...or should I say I...made it!

2009-08-30T07:18:00.000-07:00

Today it's official, last day of summer vacation. Tomorrow we all go back to our school year routines. Only things are going to be a little different this year. To start both Nehemiah and Haylie will be at school full days, that also means that they will both start the school day at the same time...leaving us with a little more wiggle time in the morning. Another change this year is that Simon Jacob and Josiah will be attending Bethel Baptist Preschool, three days a week. This is truly a answered prayer from God. For you see last year when we started out Total Money Makeover, we began cutting out a lot of things that we thought we needed, but did not. After we learned that Michael would be having to take a temporary pay cut in January, we had to make the gut wrenching decision to remove Simon from preschool. This is where my mighty God steps in to take care of his child. At the beginning of August I received a phone call from Linda, the director at the preschool, informing me that there was a floating teacher position opening up at the preschool and wanted to know if I would like to take it.
A little back ground real quick: Nehemiah went to pre-k at Bethel, and Haylie attended there for two years and Jacob for a year and a half. I have always told Linda if a position opened up when Josiah was two I would love to take it. For the preschool accepts two year old's that are not potty trained.
Well a position opened up and I will now be a mommy and a preschool teacher. Preschool days and hours are M-W-F from 9am to 1pm. Which still allows me to come home and give Josiah a quick nap before having to pick up the older kiddos. As well as having T-Th's off to be at home with Simon J and Josiah for the day; or run the errands that I need to do. I am excited and nervous all at the same time. I think really I am more anxious about the next few weeks as the whole family makes the adjustment to the new school year.
So hears to the new school year.

Cinnamon Sugar Peanut Butter Sandwich

2009-08-26T09:47:00.000-07:00

So yesterday for lunch we had peanut butter sandwiches, cut out into shapes. I never, ever do this so do not think that I am some great mom for doing it. Even though it is not hard to do and the kiddos really enjoyed it. Anyways we had these cut out sandwiches and Josiah had one of the negatives. During lunch I was in the middle of making some sweet ice tea. I had open up the cupboard to get out the sugar and the phone rang. I ended up walking into my room to be able to talk in quiet on the phone. I must of left the pantry door open; for when I came back I found Josiah standing on a stool in front of the sink. I went over to him to see what he was doing and he was trying to wash his mouth, then I discovered that he had cinnamon all over his face. I looked over at the table and saw that he was attempting to make his own cinnamon toast.
*please note that he had the negative of the cutout sandwich and it is now completely filled with cinnamon sugar with a dusting of powder sugar on top.

It was worth it in the end.

2009-08-13T09:31:00.000-07:00

So I was really excited about sitting down this morning and blogging about who-knows-what, with a fresh brewed cup of coffee with french vanilla creamer.
Yes I am sitting down getting ready to blog with my fresh brewed coffee and french vanilla creamer. Yet my mind is not quite so filled with the wonderful thoughts of waking up and getting to be my children's mom this morning. I thought it was going to be one of those days, and I guess it can still be one of those days, but I have been bombarded with whining, and fighting amongst the three that I do have home with me. Side note: Michael and Nehemiah left for Boy Scout camp yesterday and will not return until Saturday. I guess being the fun mom last night has come to bite me in the bottom.
We were over at Lacy's for dinner and got home right before 8. I had told Jacob that he could take a bath in my big bath tub with lots of water, because I was not up for going to the pool. Then some how by the time we left Lacy's not only were they getting to take a really "big" bath, but they were going to get to drink chocolate milk in the bath too. Jacob and Haylie just thought that was the coolest thing ever. They took their turns in the "big" bath and served each other their chocolate milk in the tub, making sure not to bend the other person's bendy straw. Another side note: Josiah was taking a bath in the kids tub, with out chocolate milk :)
After they were done with their baths, which was about 8:45, I needed to make an extremely important phone call. So what does any good mother do, I loaded up all the kiddos on my bed and put in a 45min. movie. After the movie it was off to bed, thank goodness they didn't have any problems falling asleep, or staying asleep, but they did waking up a little more grumpy then normal.
So tonight it is off to bed at bed time around 8:15, with hopefully a normal grumpy morning tomorrow. But really it was worth it in the end.

The home stretch.

2009-08-09T14:23:00.000-07:00

I can not take credit for this post. I copied and pasted from another blog that I read called, Clover Lane. I do not know this woman or quite remember how I came about her blog. But I love her. She holds a lot of my same morals and views on raising a family. Michael makes fun of me for reading her blog and feeling like she is a close friend. I can relate to her stories and totally understand her sense of humor. I only wish I could post as beautifully as she does. So here is her post...it describes EXACTLY how I feel.

Pure exhaustion is setting in.

I have 2 more weeks to go and a million things to do in those 2 weeks.

Do home school moms think us thank-God-school-starts-in-2-weeks-moms are wimps?

You must. And it's OK if you do. I sometimes think it myself.

I just feel at some point in the summer I reach the point of no return.

The point where you just can't catch up:

on laundry

on cleaning

on patience

on fun activities

on sleep

on privacy

on meals

on negotiation skills

on time management

and most of all

on quiet.

Just a few quiet moments. To finish a sentence in my head. A train of thought that lasts till completion. Time to plan, to contemplate, to find the right attitude.

I'm all tapped out now.

I'm ready for the first day of school.

I am always giddy on that day...half of me could cry...especially when I put a young one on the bus. And I usually do. But at the same time I'm smiling inside my heart like a fool. I can plan my week with no interruptions. I can go for a walk with Patrick who, thank God Almighty, has a slight speech delay and therefore stays mostly quiet. Speech delays...what use to worry me seems like a blessing on this particular day in August.

I love August.

I love cicadas and tree frogs and the dry grass.

I love school supplies.

I love brand new white uniform shirts.

I love new beginnings.

I love the anticipation of quiet days, too.

Day 3

2009-07-31T09:00:00.001-07:00

Day three was just as much fun as the last two. The day was filled with a trip into Monterrey were we visited the "Denice the Minice" park followed by a trip over to the Monterrey Aquarium. After a long a fun day in Monterrey we headed back to the house for dinner followed by smore's (I do apologize my pictures got uploaded in the wrong order).
What a fun park to visit. We went to the same park about two years ago with them and it was just as much fun, as it was then. At the park they have a huge old steam locomotive that the children can run all around on and let their imaginations go wild. There is also a fun wobbly bridge to run across and tunnels to crawl through. A maze to navigate and many slides to whiz down. I would say the only down side to the park was the size of it. It's a huge park and when you have four kiddos that all want to go explore something different (and daddy's not there because he is out getting lunch), well it's enough to give this mom a heart attack.
Next it was off to the aquarium, this too is our second time there, and both times we have only seen one half of the aquarium, because it is that huge. Yet it is such a neat aquarium, very kid friendly, where they encourage hands on learning. I think the highlight of the aquarium for me was the glass tunnel you can stand in, a rush of water falls over it simulating the come and going of the tide for the fish in the tank. What a rush.
The last of the day was spent back at the house. After dinner we lit the backyard fire pit and enjoyed roasting marshmallows. The majority of the kiddos loved roasting their marshmallows and enjoying their smore's. Kyla has a very healthy fear for fire and did not want to get too close and was very concerned about me sitting too close to the fire. :) Then there was Josiah that was not to sure about this sticky marshmallow mess that we handed him, he was ready to hand it back a few seconds after we gave it to him. Which rather suprised me because he is sucha boy who loves to get all dirty.

I further want to aplogize for all the photos and I am sure you are all sick of them and hearing about our vacation, but you are going to have to be patient with me for one more post. I promise I will combine the last two days together. :)

Day 2...Soledad...."Feel the Momentum:...

2009-07-26T11:04:00.000-07:00

Code for the strong wind that blow through this little city.
This blog is filled with ton's of pictures from our second day of vacation and our first full day with Luke and Christine. We ran through the sprinklers, tie died t-shirts, flew a kite and spent time at a local park. Hope you enjoy.

Fun times in the sprinkler.

"let's go fly a kite..."

Kyla (age 5) takes a turn flying the kite. Look at the wind blowing her hair.

Christine with Ella (age 3) showing off her finished t-shirt.

Josiah (age 2) with his t-shirt all tied up.

Nehemiah (age 7) dipping his shirt in the dye.

I always laugh at Nehemiah when he is concentrating, because he sticks his tongue out. I guess I now know where he gets it from :)

Simon Jacob (age 4) with his funny tied up t-shirt.

Haylie (age 6) with her new hair-do.

Teaching the all the kiddos how to rubber band up their t-shirts. This was also a first time for both Christine and I tie-dying t-shirts. Thanks Christine for your willingness to experiment with me.

Josiah zooming on the trike in only his diaper. Quite normal attire for him.

Luke resting under a tree at the park. It was rather funny because we were commenting on how many of the Mexican field workers will go find trees and just lay there all day. So Luke fit right in.

Kyla at the play ground, again look at her wind blown hair.

Haylie monkeying around.

Michael monkey around. Actually he did more then monkey around, he ran around chasing all the kiddos.

Michael giving Jacob one huge push. Yes I was flipping out and telling Michael not to push him so hard. But of course Jacob being the crazy boy he is was loving it.

Look at this smile...

Again look at this face on Nehemiah...child will you please give me one good smile?!?

The wait is over...

2009-07-23T19:58:00.000-07:00

For those of you that do not know, we took a family vacation last week up the 101 to visit friends and family. Along the way we took some detours to explore a little bit of the 101. Our first destination was blueberry picking. It was so much fun, and "scrumptious". We filled up our buckets and went along our way. I do not believe that I have ever had blueberries that have tasted so good. Luke, our friend in Soledad, made the most delicious blueberry buckle you could dream of. I think I ate half the thing by myself, and had a stomach ache to prove it. Here are some of the pictures from our first day/destination. I especially love the one of Josiah on Michael's shoulders with bucket in hand.

Sneak Peek

2009-07-22T09:09:00.000-07:00

2009-07-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

So this morning we were watching PBS Kids and the nursery rhyme of Humpty Dumpty came on. Haylie was singing right along with the rhyme and as the rhyme finished "...and they couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again." Jacob chimes in "because he was an egg!"

So I know that I want to blog...

2009-07-02T09:01:00.000-07:00

I'm just not to sure about what. I started writing a post yesterday about our short trip to the wild animal park, where I got stung by a bee, and I was consumed by the itching and pain. That was yesterday and this is today and even though I am still in some pain and itchy it is not all consuming. Maybe I should blog about our up coming trip...no I will write about that when we get back...it will be more fun that way. Okay maybe another sip of coffee will help ~pause~ um, yeah, nope. But I will say man I got some cute little boys. They are all sitting in a row and just looking down at their profiles all together and they are just so dang cute.
So I put on Toy Story 2, because I have had a line from the movie in my head since Sunday, I just love the Toy Story movies they hold a special meaning in Michael and I's relationship. Anyways they just said another line that I think constantly about with all of my kiddos. The mom tells Andy that he has five more minutes before it is time to leave and Andy looks at Woody and says "Five more minutes..." and then the next thing you know Andy is in full play mode with Andy and the other toys. Like I said I think about that a lot with my kiddos especially when I give them a five minute warning. To them five more minutes is plenty of time to start a great adventure, where we want them to have their shoes on, have gone the bathroom and ready to walk out the door. I just love this movie.
Okay how cute is this...Josiah just got up off the couch and I asked him where he was going? He pointed to his room and said "Woody" and then walked in his room and tried grabbing out "Kitty" and "Buddy Bear". I helped him of course and he is now sitting back on the couch snuggling with his two "Woody's". Yeah you read right...Nehemiah was a very kind big brother and has passed "Buddy Bear" along to Josiah. Josiah has really liked him for some time now and Nehemiah finally said that Josiah could have him and love on him. It is way too cute. And it is way to cute to watch Buddy Bear being loved all over again-he really is a great little bear.

A whole new meaning to "bubble butt!"

2009-06-25T15:00:00.000-07:00

Do you get any better memories then this?

2009-06-25T10:13:00.000-07:00

Trying to find new things to do this summer, to keep us all entertained and happy; I decided to pack us all up and head over to a park in Encinitas. The last time I had been at this park was when Jacob was not even one yet. I just remembered that it was a fun park with a neat water feature where you could play in the wet sand. Well the water feature is no longer up and working, which was a huge bummer, that was how I was able to lure them into the car. But I think the park made up for itself with the teeter-totter; or "lever" as we have learned to call it from Sid the Science Kid. The four of them had a blast on there, and it was so peaceful to watch the four of them having fun together and not irritating one another. Maybe we should get a teeter-totter for the backyard? Yes I know if we had one in our backyard, it would never get used and only cause more fights amongst them. But I can dream can't I.

Well I am trying to let go of my need to feel that in order to be a good mom on summer break, that I must entertain them for the whole day and keep the peace. For I can not function in my house anymore. I am so stressed out by it; which in return is putting unneeded stress upon the kids. So here I am off to put my house back in order after 2 weeks of disarray. So wish me luck with a fast cleaning hand and patience's that is going to be needed to keep from wanting to pull my hair out when they all start bickering.

2009-06-07T08:59:00.000-07:00

Okay so I know that I am really behind in all my blogging when it come's to birthday's and holidays. So I am really trying to list them out in order no matter how old the blog now is.
So as I wrote a couple of weeks ago about Nehemiah turning 7. Well a few months before Nehemiah's 7th birthday my Mom said that maybe she would buy Nehemiah a turtle for his birthday. Thanks Mom :) So week or two before Nehemiah's birthday he comes out of his bed and says "Mom I have decided that I would like Nona to buy me a turtle, instead of going to Toys-R-Us."
So really how are you suppose to respond to that when everything inside of you is crying out "NO!" I told him that Mom and Dad would have to think about it and we would let him know. Being good parents, we really did talk about it and started to do research on what it take to care for a turtle. Let's just say they are the worst pet you could ever get for a child. They require much care and carry salmonella.
Not yet having told him "no", he was talking with one of the mom's at Haylie's gymnastics class. We also know this mom from Haylie's kinder class. He was telling her that he might get a turtle for his birthday. She responded back to him that they have a tortiose. So a few mintues later after listing ear of Nehemiah, I asked her about the tortiose. She told me that it was so easy to care for and that her family loved it.
I went home that night and looked up information on careing for a tortiose. They turned out to be pretty easy pet's to care for and a good pet for kiddo's. Michael and I agreed to the tortoise and talked to Nehemiah about the responsiblities of caring for one.

Well I can proudly say that we are now the owners of a Russian totoise named Irna. Silly as it sounds I love this little tortoise. She is about 8inches big, and that is about as big as a Russian tortoise will get. I am guseeing she is around a year old, but there is no real way of knowing, we were not givien that information. Yet she is predicted to outlive us if she is properly taken care of. She lives in a tank in the front living room and we take her out a couple of times a day. She is a pretty speedy walker, and can hide from you pretty good. Another crazy thing about her is that she will hibernate during the winter months (Nov.-Mar.), that vet recommended putting her in a shoe box to hibernate in the garage. Silly. isn't it?
So if you are ever by our way and wana come play with Irna, feel free to stop by...we all ove showing her off.

For today...

2009-06-03T09:09:00.000-07:00

For today I am reminded of how lucky I am. It is a little past 9 o'clock, and I have been sitting in the house for the last hour going over in my head all the things I would like to see done today. The two little guys are still sleeping and it's just nice. I decided that it was an okay time to make a cup of coffee (I use a coffee grinder and have not wanted to wake up the boys). As I am cleaning out the coffee pot, I hear a cry of a small child calling mom. At first I was a little taken back, why one of the boys was calling my name and in such a sadden voice. Then I realized that it was not one of my children, but of the little girl across the street. My kitchen window looks directly out into their driveway and into their garage, when their door is open.
As I stood cleaning out my coffee pot I watched as the mom walked out past her child and got into her car. The little girl was standing at the garage door leading from the house just calling out mom. The little girl then began to wave to mom, so I thought maybe she was just getting some last minute good-bye into mom before going inside to go be with her grandparents. That's when I realized how lucky I am...for the little girl was not giving a rambunctious good-bye, but was in her own little way grieving that her mommy was leaving her to go to work. For that little girl began to wipe her eyes with her arm, between each wave good-bye and I could not help but cry with her. All I wanted to do was will the mom to get out of the car and run to her daughter,pick her up and give her a hug that showed that she would not go to work today. Yet mom sat in her car, with out even turning it on and watched the scene play out like myself-but instead of running to her child, she shut the garage door, turned on the car and drove away.
In no way am I saying that working mom's do not love their children, or long to be home with them. I am just saying that I am lucky...lucky to be there to hold them when they are scared, lucky to be there when they get hurt, lucky to listen to the funny things that they say and come up with. Lucky that I get to be the one that disciplines them they way I want them to grow.
I am also not saying that I don't get tired of the mundane, or do not get flustered by the excessive talking and questions, or that I am always on the floor playing with them. Or that my kiddos don't cry when I leave and I have to walk past them and get in the car. I just know that I do not have to do that 5 days a week.
I am blessed by God and my husband, that allow me to be at home with them. I know that I do not thank them nearly has much... but here is a public thank you.
One more thing I am glad that I am at home comforting Jacob in the thunder storm, but my heart is torn and sadden...because all I want to do is go grab Haylie and Nehemiah from school and comfort them too. As for Jogie, he is making thunder noises right along with it.

SEVEN!

2009-05-20T08:19:00.000-07:00

Believe or not my "baby" turned 7 at the end of April. I am still wondering how that happened. I can still see him very vividly laying in the hospital bassinet all swaddled in his Suzy Zoo flannel blanket, with "Buddy Bear" sleeping with him in the corner.

Now 7 years later he is in first grade, having his first real birthday party with friends from school, church and baseball. There was such a different feeling surrounding his party this year.
We celebrated with a Mario Kart birthday party. The boys raced each other, all while playing it on the living room wall, thanks to daddy who brought a projector home from work. The boys also painted their own "Mario Karts" along with building Lego's, and being stunt devils in the backyard. They were all so entertained by each other, just enjoying the freedom of being 7 year old boys.

Pay it Forward

2009-05-14T08:31:00.000-07:00

I take it that most of us have seen the movie "Pay it Forward" where a little boy decides to do three acts of kindness, not expecting anything in return, except for asking the person he helped to...pay it forward. I have always loved that movie and more then that love the concept of...paying it forward.
So as I was reading my friends blog the other and I was excited that she was going to...pay it forward through her blog. So here's how it works. She is going to randomly pick three people who comment on her blog that they are willing to...pay it forward, through their blog and in return she is going to send them a hand made gift from her.
So loving the concept as it is, I signed up right away, I love doing things just to do things. So here is how it officially works:

You comment on my post that you want to... pay it forward
I will then pick three people, by random, on Wed the 20th to PIF to.
I will then send you in the next 2 months something made by me, for you. I don't know what it will be yet, but it will be made with much excitement and love.
Finally make sure that I can reach you by email, either through your blog or by me knowing you.

I know that this is just for fun so even if you decide not to sign up, I encourage you to find at least one way that you can...pay it forward to someone in the next week or so. Let the Holy Spirit work through you to be a blessing to some one else, it can be as easy as encouraging a mom in Target, by helping her unload her cart or interacting with her kiddos as she is trying finish her transaction, to bring a meal or flowers to a friend.
I look forward to a little be of fun, but I even look forward more to seeing who and how God wants me to bless someone this next week. I would also love to here through your comments who you were able to bless. Give it back up to our father by sharing how he worked through you.

Hippity Hoppity Easter!

2009-05-06T08:13:00.000-07:00

Easter was celebrated differently for us this year, but then again I do not think we have ever done the same thing twice for Easter before.
Easter for me is a tricky holiday. I get way too sucked into the Easter bunny, flowers and pastel colors...that I forget to stop and really remember why we celebrate Easter. I almost carry around a little bit of guilt, afraid that my children too will have hard time remembering the true meaning of Easter, due to the lack of Mommy's teaching. Though this year Eater was put into more of a child like perspective for me.
Nehemiah and I attend a walk thru at church of the last week of Jesus life here on earth. From Palm Sunday to his reseraction. I have heard (as I am sure you all have) the story of his last week read many times, but never really put it into perspective of a weeks time. I didn't even realize that that was the time when Jesus over threw the tables in the temples; I thought that was earlier in his ministry. During the walk through we were taught hand motions to keep it fun and concrete (I think every sermon should be taught with hand motions :] ) I walked out of the chaple knowing that his death and resurection were real, that it is a real story in our history, and not just a story/parable that we read in our bible. I am so thankful to my savior for what he has done for me. To think that should be me on the cross paying for my sins, but he loves me so much that he took my place and because of that I can go to my heavenly father and rest. Knowing that my past sins are forgiven as well as the ones I will make in the future. That he is holding me and comforting me as I repent in his lap over the sins I have made today.
So this may not be exactly the Easter blog you were hoping for, but it's the one I needed to share. But I will share with you my four cute little bunnies.

Four Little Monkey's Jumping on the Bed....

2009-04-16T09:55:00.000-07:00

I am constantly singing this song in my head throughout the day. I lovingly call them my little monkeys. The only problem is that Haylie does not want to be a monkey, she wants to be a horse and Nehemiah get's embarrassed by me calling him my little monkey. So I tend to call them my little monkey's in my head or when I just have the two little guys. Currently my monkeys are coloring with markers and spinning around like tops in the living room. Oh wait the littlest monkey has been spinning around with an open orange marker in his hand. Do you all realize how much I really do not like markers. What are childrens fascination with these wet coloring devices. I really do prefer crayons for my own coloring medium.
Alright I have seem to have thorughly made the little monkey mad.

The dreaded spring break!

2009-04-09T09:11:00.000-07:00

My house is too loud for my taste. I know that some of you are laughing at me as I type this thinking: "Lady you have four kids and you expect it to be quite?" Well yes I do!!! You see at this time in the day it would be just me and the two younger boys who are pretty quite and play well together. Then when Haylie get's home we eat lunch and Josiah goes down for a nap, and now I only have the middle two who play pretty well together. And it's is not until Nehemiah gets home do I have all four, and that's when it begins to get loud. When they are all awake, hungry and tired and big brother is now home calling all the shots. Gotta love that first born. So let' listen together and hear what I hear. Super Why, Haylie jump roping with a knit scarff, Nehemiah fiddling with his Lego's, Jacob making farting noises with his mouth, and Josiah crying becasue I took a water bottle away. All sprinkled with talking and feet pattering down the tile hall, oh and we cannot forget the whinning. And this is only the first day of spring break! Aaahh!
We have a few plans but not enough in my mind. Today we are going to get Haylie's ears pierced, followed by batting practice. Saturday we have a baseball game and we are having our Easter celebration, and Sunday we will go to church and hopefully go to the San Diego's Children's Museum or walk around Torey Pine's. Tueday Nehemiah has an invite to spend the night at a friends house. Wednesday baseball practice, Thursday bowling and then back to school on Monday. Let's really hope that I am able to survive this. Spring break always makes me nereous about summer, but then again it's not so dreary outside and we have a more consistant routinue.
If anyone wants to get togehter send me an email or give me a call.
Oh yeah Talia I almosted blogged about my to do list of cleaning today...just for you ;)

2009-04-01T13:36:00.001-07:00

I feel like I am secretly hurting, ashamed too much to let people in. Afraid if I do that they will not allow me to grieve. Tired of carrying this burden alone. Tired of not knowing. Tired of having to keep giving it back to the Christ. Scared that people will not understand my feeling's towards God; for this is not His fault. This is what He has written in my story. Longing for relief, or at least the heaviness on my heart to disappear. Longing for perfect knowing that Christ will always come true on His word. Wishing for a friend to come and stand by me...yet not wanting that friendship to be out of pity or obligation. Wishing for a miracle. Looking towards heaven, waiting on Him.

Some of you may or may not know what this blog is written about. But as you can see it is a very heavy burden I carry around with me. I know God is right here beside me wanting to carry me, please pray that I will fall into His arms and rest completely while He is the mediator of my needs.

"I'm so silly!"

2009-03-22T09:03:00.000-07:00

This is Haylie's go to phrase..."I'm so silly!" She say's this after silly things that she say's. For example she asked if she could go to the grocery store with me, And I said yes. I was gonna to ask her, but she beat me to it. Of course she is beyond excited to be driving in the car alone with me not caring where we are going or what we are going to do, as long as she is with me. So anyways, we are in the car and Haylie say's: "I knew you were going to say yes! (laugh) I'm so silly!" Then I told her that I was planning on asking her and she says: "Did you know that I knew you were going to ask me? (laugh) I'm so silly!" Then just this morning I was doing her hair and I asked her if I could put it up with two clips-which is really rare these days that she will let me actually do her hair. And she replies: "Did you know that I knew you were going to ask me to put my hair in two clips? (laugh) Did you know that I almost said mom. instead of clips? (laugh) I am so silly!"

Gotta love her she is pretty silly!

15 Random Facts About Josiah

2009-03-09T09:11:00.001-07:00

Alright here is my last post on my forth kiddo. I hope you all have had as much fun reading these as I have had blogging them. If not thanks for bearing with me.

Josiah could spend all morning in the backyard sun playing with Cali Cat.

He is already starting to put together the concepts of potty training. When he wets his diaper he tends to go to the bathroom and lift up the toilet lid and then flush it. Mind you he is only 22mths.
He loves to eat cinnamon sugar waffles withe powder sugar on top; just like his brothers and sister. He also can say "waffle".
Every time I clean out his ears or wipe his nose he says..."Eeewww". Michael has recently started hearing him say "Eeewww...gwroosse".
He has learned in the last few days how to climb up on the top of Nehemiah's bunk bed. Arrgh!
He LOVES LOVES bath time. It does not matter where he is in the house; when he hears the water turned on he starts running.
He loves to play with baseballs and is always trying to create some type of baseball-T to hit off of. Hint hint Papa Larry...he would probably like a T-ball set for his birthday. :)
He is more then a typical fourth child. He has no fear and thinks he can do everything that everyone else does. Example he stopped using a high chair at 15mths. He know sits in our cooshy booster or just on the bench. Lately he prefers the bench.
He is the best nap taker ever. He sleeps for an average of 2.5 to 3 hours a day. WoooHooo!
He is such a funny kid. He comes up with some pretty funny ways of walking into a room.
If you ask him for a high five, you better be prepared to give him a bump or two afterwards.
When we are coloring or drawing with a pencil; he already know how to hold it properly. Very observant if I can say so myself.
He loves to dance. Any sort of music thats on and he starts rocking back and forth on his feet.
He can now jump with two feet off the ground.
When I take him to the grocery store I almost always have to buy 2 bananas. One for him to eat in the store and the other to have weighed twice at the checkout stand.

What a fun little guy Josiah is and a great way to round off our family. He perfectly completes us. I am enjoying him growing up and not to sad that he is no longer our baby, but a growing toddler. It's hard not to laugh at him when he gets upsets and starts to pout, for we have seen it all before. He is a full blown toddler now who thinks he is two , even though he still has a couple of months to get there. I truly excited to watch him grow and continue to watch his personality grow.

Lord, I know that you have great plans for my little turkey. What a blessing it is that you gave him to me. Thank you for the joy, laughter and patients that he brings out in me. Help me to train him up in the way you want him to grow. Please also give him a heart after your own heart.

Lord I have so many prayers for my children as you know. I know that you are listining and hear my prayers. I in-trust their little lives in your hands. Help me each day, moment by moment to give them back up to you.

15 Random Facts About Haylie!

2009-03-07T09:11:00.000-08:00

Every night before I kiss Haylie good night she always ask me "Mommy what are we going to do tomorrow?"
She loves horses and everyday is either a horse or she is ridding a horse; and yelling "SHA GIRL!"
She loves to read Dick and Jane. At night after we have turned out her lights she uses her Aerial light up wand to read by. So Cute!
She is starting to scrapbook with Mommy. She is so funny about it she only wants to scrapbook pictures of herself, Mommy or Daddy and the Cousins.
She is was meant to be an only child.
She has many "boyfriends" at school that have crushes on her; yet she is naive that they all like her.
She does not like yogurt.
She would also choose to be a vegetarian if we let her. It's not the animal rights thing, she just does not like to eat meat.
When it's summer time and we are at the pool; she is a little mermaid. She spends most of all her time under the water.
She is such a TV kid. When we were potty training her, she watched a potty movie , called "No More Diapers". After it was over she went into the bathroom and went potty and came back and said "no more diapers" and that was it she has not used a diaper since.
She has such small feet that just don't grow. Yeah for me less shoes I have to buy per year.
She is very savvy when it comes to playing Webkins. She has two pet's now "Kellla" and "Lady".
She can smell sweets like a hound dog can smell the scent of a fox. Example yesterday she was standing next to my purse-which was closed- and she says "Mommy I smell gum." And wouldn't you know I bought gum earlier in the day that she did not know about.
Her and I have a tradition, that one or two Fridays a month we will go get Taco Bell after school.
She loves her jammies. Can you blame her? Both of us can spend the whole day in our jammies and not have it phase us.

Haylie, Hay Baby, Laylie, Hay are only some of the names that she goes by. We even have a little cheer for her name. Each of them all have their own little stories. Haylie hold such a unique spot in my heart. Not only is she my only little girl-but her personality is a spitting image of mine. So we have fun together and get sad together; but saying all of that we get mad together. Yet I wouldn't trade her for the world. She has to be the most beautiful little girl I have ever seen, and I am just not saying that because I am her mother. She has the most perfect color of dirty blonde hair that always lays perfectly straight. She has this beautiful bronze skin, so she never burns. She has these long beautiful legs that cause me to have to buy her new pants every couple of months. I only hope that they more she embraces these physical traits about herself now the less critical she will be about her self as a teen. Haylie as never meet a little girl that she would not play with or a little boy for fact. Adults are always telling us that she is the sweetest most well mannered child, and she is always willing to get up and participate. Which she loves to do by the way, she loves to get up on stage. She is very particular about the places of her things and at the same time is the messy kid of them all. What a joy it is to have her in our life, to take the time to look at things through the eyes of a little girl and just not that of a boy.

Lord I pray for Hyalie today and for the woman she will become in the future. I know that you have great plans for her and as her mother I look forward to seeing those plans unfold. I pray that you will give her a heart after your own heart, with love and patience for those around her. I pray for her safety not only physically, but also emotionally and spiritually as well. I pray that you will give me the wisdom and patience to help mold her into the beautiful child you have created her to be.

15 Random Facts About Nehemiah!

2009-03-02T09:43:00.001-08:00

Nehemiah does not like milk with his cereal, really he does not like milk in general unless it is chocolate milk.
All the girls at school just love him and they call out his name when they see him: "Nehemiah" in a girly voice mind you.
He loves to hear himself talk.
He eats 2 to 3 servings more then me at dinner.
He still has "lovies" they have just changed over the last year. From "blankie star" to "sports blanket"; and "Buddy bear" to "Jock". He still sleeps with the other two but these are now his go to "lovies".
He is a great big brother to all of his siblings-but Josiah seems to hold a special place in his heart.
Cali Cat and him are best friends. When ever she comes near him he almost always lays down with her and begins to pet her, while she meows and purrs.
He is such a white boy with no rhythm. Oh he was funny to watch at the 50's dance at school.
He gets his expectations up really high and gets hurt really easily when they do not go his way.
He says that "math is like a party in his head!" and asked if he could have some math books for his birthday that say 7+ years on them...because he is going to be 7.
He does not like getting his hair spiked, so he wanted to grow it out only to learn that now he has to brush his hair, with water on the brush.
He is a kid that enjoys life and very easily makes friends to enjoy it with.
He brings home everyday from school at least a cup of sand in each shoe. How can he walk with so much sand in his shoes?
It takes him anywhere from 30-45 minutes to fall asleep at night. Half this time is spent talking to his brother or to himself.
He really dislikes when I call him by his full name: Nehemiah Leeooon (Leon). I thinks it's because the way I say it with a long southern drawl. :)

Nehemiah is such an awesome kid. He still has the innocence of a young child, who loves to watch children's cartoons, and listen to children's music. He loves to play and use his imagination and engineer crazy things out of Lego's. He understands that video games are a privilege and just not another toy you are entitled to play with everyday. I love that he does not care how old someone is, as long as they are willing to play they are his friend. He loves to learn and likes that I am giving him more responsibility around the house. Really he is just a great kid all around and I am so lucky to have him as my son.

Lord please watch over my young man as he walks through out his day. Give him eagerness to learn and to be kind to those around him. Lord I know that you have great plans for him that I can not fathom. Thank you for your blessing of giving him to me.

15 Random Facts about Simon Jacob

2009-02-18T08:46:00.001-08:00

He likes to have his ears cleaned out.
He has the best imagination and is always making me laugh with what he is imagining.
He has worn thru 3 pairs of green "Croc Crocs"
He was named after Simon in the bible who was called upon to carry Jesus cross.
He would live in swim suits if you let him. I had to hide them from him. He would be in three to four pairs a day.
Every night when he finds out whats for dinner he exclaims "That's my favorite!!".
He prefers his food cold, he always wants his food put into the "freezer" a.k.a the fridge.
His chore every Monday is to wipe down all the light switches in the house. He loves it. He puts on his glove, and gets his Clorox wipe and goes around having fun making the lights turn on and off. Luckily he know to leave them in the off position.
He is my major snuggle bug. We have to sit together or lay together at least once a day.
He prefers to drink his milk out of a sippy cup, and he drinks everything else out of a normal cup.
He has the cutest freckles ever on his face.
He is so fair skin that I have accidentally given him 2nd degree burns twice, by missing a patch of sunblock on his back. We now where sunblock plus swimming shirts.
His due date was March 8th, but we induced him ten days early on Febuary 26th. My baby boy is turning 4 next week.
He is a hands on kid. He learns best when you allow him to get in there and try for himself, teaching him as he goes along.
He feels at home riding his bike, he started scooting along on his trike when he was 1.5, and got his first big boy bike when he turned 3.

* I just love this kid to death. I am telling you I love the stories he tells. Currently as I am typing he is telling me all about how Haylie and him washes their hands. I see him as he gets older being someone who is always doing something with his hands, either cooking or engineering something. A friend that will stay loyal and being a great husband and father. It's hard to think of your little guy growing up and becoming a wonderful man, but that's what I want to do in my life was: was to raise the next christian leaders of tomorrow.

*Thank you Lord for the wonderful privilege of raising your child. Give me the strength and patients to make it through the days when I feel this job is too challenging for me to handle. Thank you for Simon Jacob and all the things he reminds me to stop and look at in this world. Thank you for the love he has for me and for his family. I pray over him that you will make him a man among men, and that he will walk in your will.

2009-02-11T13:32:00.001-08:00

So I figure it's probably time to blog and so far so good; I am having a pretty good day. Which means I might actually be able to get through a blog and not lose my train of thought.
Things are going in the Boscia household. Baseball has started back up for Nehemiah but he is not showing as much interest in it this season. I am hoping that will change when they really get to start practicing on a regular schedule and playing some games. I am also very thankful for his coach this season. Just in two practice I can already see much improvement with his catching/throwing and hitting abilities. Also t me tell you that kid has some hussle to go after that ball in the outfield; at least not while he is playing in the dirt. :)
Haylie is doing rather good over this last week, now I would not of said the same a few weeks ago. I am loving having this side of my child when we can help prevent.stop the "fit" from getting any bigger. She is doing great in school and a really social butterfly. She is going to start singing in the children's choir at church, and I could not be more thrilled for her. She has been asking to be a part of an extracurricular activity, but because of our TMM, we have not been able to put her into anything. So I really thank God for opening this up for her. She loves to sing-even though she sings like her Aunty Rachel :)- and love to be up on stage, with the lime light on her.
Simon Jacob is now officially enrolled in Mommy and Me Preschool and we are learning all about the letter "L" this month. How to write it, sound it out and doing activities based on the objects that start with the letter "L". He is still also full of energy and lound-another "L" word for you. I think Michael and a friend, Mrs. Larson, have describe his personality best. That he is trying to figure out his role int he family, along with being a child that is very kinetic, in need of touch. Sometimes that can be good like our snuggle breaks and other times, when he is head butting it can be rather embarrassing. but that is who he is.
Josiah is growing up. I am really starting to see him entering the world of being a two-year old. He is starting to parrell play with his siblings and mimicking what they are doing. He is very observant and a lot of times will watch what they are doing and as soon as they step away he will pick what ever it was up and try doing it himself. He also wants to be the big kid who climbs into the car by himself. He has graduated to being able to sit in the third row and he loves it. Then just this morning I came in his room and he grabs onto the crib rails and starts jumping-really learning how to use his large muscle group.
Michael has become quite the mechanic and handy man, and I could not be more proud of him. Not only has he fixed up his car, done my brakes on my car. He just helped a friend at work do his breaks and just replaced our broken sink faucet. By the way I love my new sink faucet.
I am doing pretty well. Trying to keep myself stable with my emotions and trying new techniques to keep myself even-keeled. I am starting to try to run and hoping to do a half marathon this summer. Anyone who remotely knows me, knows that I hate exercise and especially running. But I have been motivating by weight lost and endorphins. I have been doing really well with the weight loss and am only 10pounds away from where I would ideally like to be. Selfish side of me, and not trying to fish for compliments: I just really wish that people who know me and see me occasionally, like at church, would say something to me about how I am looking. I just could really use that encouragement. Yes I get it from my husband-but we all know that's different. Just like when your mom in high school tells you that you are pretty.
Well I gotta go, it's my turn for carpool.
Hope I will blog again soon.

Tag I'm It!

2009-01-26T09:11:00.000-08:00

So I got tagged by a friend on my Facebook account to write 25 random things about myself. So instead of posting it on Facebook...I thought I would write it out on my blog instead.

1. I really do not like nut flavored coffee.
2. I do not like things that are symmetrical, too formal for my taste.
3. Gerber daisy are my favorite flowers, followed by tulips as a close second.
4. That I really just want to take a nap right now; and it's 9:15am.
5. I love to scrapbook.
6. I love carpooling. This is my week off! Yeah!
7. I really do not like the smell of toast.
8. I have to have something kitty cornered in every room in my house. One of the reasons I fell in love with our current house is that the stove is kitty cornered in the kitchen. Love it!
9. Is wondering if Wal-Mart will take back a package of opened diapers, because Josiah is allergic to them.
10. I really do not like shopping at Wal-Mart but do because we are living on a budget. I am telling you Target is like Nordstroms.
11. I dyed my hair a little to dark on Saturday, but I still like it.
12. I am trying to grow out my hair for Locks of Love. We'll see how long I last. I am really hoping to reach my goal-but I really like my hair short.
13. Swears that she is always have to pee. I telling you all those babies messed with my bladder. I know to much information.
14. I secretly play Webkinz and buy the kids cool things for their pets.
15. My major house cleaning secret is when I walk from one room to another I try to take something with me that needs to go back to it's home and put it away and not just throw it into the room. Alright my secret is out for all that want o know how I keep my house clean with 4 kids.
16. Alright another cleaning secret because I know that you all want to know. I keep a sink full of soapy water every say to be able to wipe down the counter and table as I see fit.
17. I have a few "Monica Closets". One in particular I call "The cabinet of death."
18. I am still finding Christmas tree needles in my house.
19. Our house is now officially baby gate free. The house seems so much bigger now.
20. I only like to write with blue pens.
21. Just treated herself to a new album off of itunes. Taylor Swifts:Fearless. Yes I am a country girl.
22. I like to try find the hidden Mickey's at Disneyland.
23. I have a love affair with "Madeline's" from Starbucks. Don't tell chocolate, he doesn't know.
24. I love my Dyson vacuum cleaner.
25. I participate in online surveys. Some of them pay a whopping $4 to $6 dollars.

It wouldn't be my house if...

2009-01-16T11:46:00.000-08:00

there was not couch cushions thrown around.
there was not a pile of laundry in almost every room.
there was not a vacuum cleaner standing randomly in the house waiting to suck up it's next victim.
there we no art/coloring pages taped to the cabinets.
there was not a toy of some sort hiding from the kids under the coffee table.
there was no Lego's inching themselves out from under the boys bedroom door.
when I went to go make one of my children's bed and I did not find a pile of treasures.
I was not told 300 times a day by someone that they were hungry even though they just ate.
there was not the sound of a toddler running around with a baseball bat.
or siblings fighting with each other and loving on each other the next.
there was not some type of half naked child running through the house.
all the things that I think are irritants in my day were not here. Like a bed being jumped on after you just made it. Emptying the kitchen sink just to find a week old sippy cup.
But the reality is they are not going to be there some day and I will look back at this time and wonder why I thought this was so hard.
I have being thinking of this a lot lately. Just how fast this time is fleeting. How I would sit there and cry with two babies in my arms and another on the way and just pray that daddy would walk through the door to save me. That fighting with my daughter to do her hair was just insane. Not that I am trying to say that the first 5 years are not hard. I am just beginning to see how precious that time is as my oldest baby walks through the door and he is not my baby anymore...but a wonderful handsome son who I could not love more.

2009-01-14T16:54:00.000-08:00

Okay so I know you have all been wondering where I have been. No I was not on some fabuolus Disney Cruise with Michael, I have been having an affiar...with Facebook. Dang thing. I am trying to break it off but he just keeps calling me back to him.

I keeping thinking of great blogs to write about, but I never quite find the time or the motivation. Michael has been finishing up his truck, which I am happy to report he finished it last night. Babe I am just so proud of you. Then Josiah got a 24 hour icky stomach bug. Which it's just so hard to see your little toddler throwing up for the first time. His icky stomach bug has been followed up with one grumpy little baby who just does not want to sleep, I have let him cry it out the last two days at nap time and it just breaks my heart. But he is just so much better off once he has had a nap. We also tried letting him cry it last night when he woke up in the middle of the night. That lasted about 20mins. Until I went in to regive him his binkie and tagtag and Haylie tells me that Josiah is scarying her. Poor thing. We hate hearing him cry from our room, so I am sure Hay hates it even more. Truly all we want to do is get up and snuggle him back to sleep but the problem is as soon as you go to lay him back down he is screamimg again. Now I know that some of you are judging me right now, because you don't believe in the cry it out method. But that is what works for our family. Babies and toddlers are a lot smarter then most people/parents give them credit for. The learn that they can manipulate (okay so maybe that's not the right word for it), there way into your heart by crying. And we all know how good it feels to be able to soothe your baby just by picking them up. Now I do believe that there is a time/place/and age to do this. Yet I also believe it is important for babies and toddler to learn how to fall asleep on their own and soothes themselves back to sleep. Okay how did I start going on this tangant, I don't know, but I will stop now.
Okay so I will try to be better at blogging, especially becasue I have all these great blogs to post just floating around in my head.

2009-01-01T11:52:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!
From the my 3 monkey's and 1 horse!

Nehemiah, Simon Jacob, Josiah and Haylie.

This was the first time in 12 years that I was not able to ring in the New Year with Michael and it made me sad as I drove home. Not that Michael or I have ever done anything fun on New Years Eve, except for waiting for y2k with our friends Luke and Christine. Though I think that the best New Years that I have ever spent with Michael was last year. We tucked in all four babies and sat there in awe that we were celebrating our first New Years as a complete family. We ended up watching a movie laying on the living room floor and of course we ended falling asleep. But we woke up just in time to see the ball drop at midnight. Okay so the actually ball that we saw drop was a tennis ball that the news anchor dropped at midnight, on the news desk. We laughed pretty hard and then made sure to stay still on the floor as not to get shot by a fly away bullet from the apartment buildings next door. Actually that would probably never happen, but stupid people live over there and it's just a joke, as you listen to the many guns go off and the illegal fireworks light up the sky. This year at midnight I rang in the new year driving home in my car. I was watching a little boy in Ranch Santa Fe while his parents were at a party done the road at a friends house. The parents were expected to be home between 1 and 2am but they said that the party was a huge bust and would rather spend ringing in the New Year with their own family. I don't blame them. I was actually pretty glad to be leaving there house around 11:15 and some what beating all the people who have been drinking at parties. And especially thankful when I got on the road and discovered the thick fog I was having to drive home in. I was having to drive about 15mph and using my windshield wiper to wipe away the think water droplets on my windshield.
In the year 2009 I am not making any new resolutions but keeping on track with my short and long term goal that I have set for myself in the last 4 months. I would love to see us being debt free in 2009, so I am going to keep on trekking on and remembering that God is working in my life, even though I may not always feel that He is.

"The Whale is Moving!"

And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
Jonah 2:10
The whale suddenly felt the "urge to regurge," and Jonah was deposited on the beach. So too, if you feel that nothing is working out with your job, your relationships, or your family; if you feel that your life is going nowhere, that nothing is making sense, take heart - for even when you think nothing is working out, God has promised that it's all working out (Romans 8:28). You see, while Jonah felt forsaken and forgotten, blinded and in the dark - for three days and three nights when he thought his life was going nowhere - the whale was moving.
Where was it going? It was swimming from somewhere out in the middle of the Mediterranean off the coast of spain back to the place where God had wanted Jonah all along. Jonah didn't have a clue that anything was happening until suddenly he was on the beach in Assyria.
The same is true for you. If you call out to the Lord and say, " Lord, I need you," you'll see that eventually you'll be right where you were supposed to be - that, through the days and nights when you thought nothing was happening, unbeknownst to you, the whale was moving.

Peeking Order.

2008-12-19T16:27:00.001-08:00

So as all the kiddos are getting older and Josiah is wanting to keep up with the older ones I am really starting to see how our family peeking order is playing out. Now of course Nehemiah being the oldest, he belives that he is ultimatly in charge and gets to delegate who plays with who, and how the "game" will be played. But when it comes to Josiah he tends to play two diffrent roles with him. Realizing that Josaih is the baby he tend to be a little gentle with him and loves to make him laugh. But then there are other times when you hear him calling "Jos" in a very specific tone, signaling that Jos is doing something very irritating to Nehemiah.
Next comes Haylie, being a close second, she realizes that she too poses some of the power that Nehmiah has. Now that mainly consist of her pushing Jacob around but hey that's how it works. When it comes to Josiah for her, she is an absolute mother hen. She tends to smother him and picks him up a lot. I feel like we are constantly telling her to get out of Jos face and to put him down.
Jacob, the pour guy only has one sibling to boss around, but he tends to do it in style. Which consit of yelling, pushing and just plain taking over anything that Josiah might be playing with. Other times Jacob can be very sweet on Josiah, mainly while the other two are at school in the morning. And also very protective of him around other children that are three and younger.
Finally as for Josiah, do not feel sorry for him that he has no one to boss around, becasue he paly the part of annoying little brother very well, especially with Jacob. For example today Jacob was laying on the couch and Jos comes over to him and is about an inch away from Jacob's face. Almost in a teasing fashion, like "I am not touching you", but doing it with intent to be a nuciance.
I know that this is truely only the beging of how their relationships are all going to play out over the next few years; and I don't think that there will ever be two that are closer then the others. They each have a fun bond with eachother that I think they will always have a sibling to go to for what they are dealing with or share their same intrest.

Being open and honest.

2008-12-15T08:22:00.000-08:00

So as most of you know I battle with bi-polar depression and am under medical counsel. Most months the medications seem to do a great job being able to minimize the "swings" between the highs and the lows that I tend to suffer with. I use to "swing" on a average of three to four times a month. My highs consisting of obsessively cleaning the house, feeling like I could actually clean every ones house on the block like that, doing silly and unexpected things with my kids, dive into some type of scrapbooking projest and pretty much be up all night in my bed thinking about stupid stuff, like how to rearrage furniture in someone elses house. Not that things on my high side are always bad, like playing with my kids, helping a fellow mom out or working on a scrapbooking project. It' s the intensity in which I do them in is what becomes the problem. From there I begin to realize that I cannot keep up with everything I have been doing and start to become really anxious, and the next thing I know I don't wan to do a thing. I don't want to get dressed or even eat. I don't wan to to be talked to or touched, and am really irritably. One of my children can be telling me they love me and I can just snap at them and lose it. I feel like nobody likes me and everyone that is not talking to me is talking about me and how much they don't like me. Which is just so irrational. I slowy come out of the low and am a stable human beingf or a little while who is able to balance it all and know that some of my feelings are normal and some are very irrational. Before the medication I was lucky if I got one or two days of being normal, but now with the mdication I can go a few months. Medications are not a cure' it's a means of being able to help work through the battles of bi-polar and depression. It gives your mind a chance to wrap it self around the problem and see that things are not as bad as what we tend to percive them as being. I don't know if I will ever not be on medication any more; and sometimes that upsets me like why cannot I do this on my own or why am I such a nut. Then my husband always reminds me that if I had diabetes or another physical chronic illness I would not think twice about taking the medication. I would take it becasue I knew it would help control my illness.

Now you might be asking yourself why I am bloging about all of this? First off let me say I am no where near looking for a pitty party or for you to feel sorry for me. I am doing this more for myself to remind my self that I can win this battle with in me today, that I can make it through the depression and it is not like how my mind is telling me it is. That I can pick up the phone and ask a friend to come over for an hour or so and she will just becasue she's my friend. That God will get me through that he has an awesom epurpose and plan to use my bi-polar for His glory. That I am going to be okay.

Murphy's Law and Other Things

2008-12-08T08:42:00.001-08:00

So as some of you may or may not know Michael and I are going through a "Total Money Make Over" with Dave Ramsey. I am so proud of us. We have been paying everything with cash since the end of August, with nothing on credit. We have never had an emergancy fund, besides the credit card. Well within these last couple of months we have been able to build up an emergancy fund and praise God that we did. We had to first replace the front brakes on Micheal's truck, we are now in the process of fixing the head gasket on his truck, and just last night our main water valve broke in our house. A portion of our wall in the garage is soaked and we are going to have to replace the valve plus fix the dry wall, and through it all we are being able to pay cash. It's bring tears to my eyes just think about it; how much the Lord is taking care of us. He tell us that he takes care of the birds and how much more does He love us and will provide for us.
It has been a very humbling process. I have always talked bad about Walmart and even though I still hate to enter that store and deal with all the people; I am now a shopper at the store. To go into Target is like going into Nordstoms. We have cut back on all our cable and long distance services. So I know ask my best friends and family to call us back.
We just bought a Christmas tree and was able to buy it with change that we have been collecting since October. We went through the whole house and found all the change hiding in all the nooks and craneis. I would put all my change from my wallet every friday into the can and the kids would put the pennys and other coins they found on the ground into the can. I was so proud of our kiddos. They really suprised me by how much they wanted to give to the Chritmas tree fund. It was a wonderful feeling to praies and thank the kids last night for helping to buy the Christmas tree. So now it's onto to saving an Easter bunny fund!
*If you would like to know more about Dave Ramsey and starting your own "Total Money Makeover". Just click on his name above and it will take you to his website.

2008-12-01T08:25:00.000-08:00

Just changing my background. Hope to blog about our Thanksgiving trip later today.

I think there is a mouse in my house!

2008-11-26T11:56:00.000-08:00

Ack! I really do think there is a mouse in the house. Our cat Cali Cat has been guarding the stove all morning long. That normally means that their is a mouse or some other creepy crawly creature under there. She is the best cat ever though for catching things. The only down side is that she likes to share them with the rest of us. And after she is done playing with them and they are no longer playing with her...aka dead. She just walks away leaving me mainly to pick up the remains. Of course the kids always love it. Trying to help trap whatever she has brought into the house. And I look more like the lady on the Tom and Jerry cartoons who is up standing on a chair yelling at Tom to get the mouse. So here's to hoping that for once she will capture the little booger and bring it outside and not want to share it with the rest of us.

Things I am learning.

2008-11-22T10:52:00.000-08:00

So as some of you may or may not know Michael and I are really starting to live on a budget after 9 years of marriage. Because of this I am really starting to look at things in a new light. Especially about things that we think are necessity's, but really are luxuries. Not to say that I do not have some of these objects right now, but they go on my wish list of items that I can only buy after the necessity's are bought.

paper plates- why not use your actual dishes
cleaning wipes-you can always use a spray cleaner and a paper towel or old rag
kitchen sponges-wash cloths and some elbow grease
paper towels-old towels/rags
water bottles-fill up reusable water from home.
Bottled water-buy a filter to attach to your tap.
Buying a cup of coffee or a Dr. Pepper while you are out. -Brew it at home or pour yourself a glass before you leave and bring it in the car with you. Really think about this one. $3.50 for a cup a coffee out or $5 for a can of coffee that will last about a couple of weeks and some flavored creamer at $2.50 which will also last you a few weeks. As for the Dr.Pepper it's about $1.50 for a soda or 99cents at McDonald's for a 42oz drink, but if you can get a 2litter of Dr.Pepper at the store for about a $1.50 just think about how many glasses that is.

Yes I understand that this is a mindset and it takes a little more effort. But man we are so spoiled. Just look back at our grandparents generation, and how they still do things now. And the savings might be small and not noticeable at first, but after living this way for a little over 2 months I am really starting to see a difference in the savings. Not saying it is not hard. All I wanted to do last night when I went Target to get Nehemiah a much needed outfit for today was stop at the Starbucks inside Target and get a hot coffee to enjoy. But I resisted and when I came home I made a cup of hot chocolate with whip cream and sat on the couch and was really able to enjoy it rather then thinking I am enjoying while I am out shopping. But really half the time I realize it's gone before I really got to taste it because I was too distracted. Just some things to think about.

How to post a blog?

2008-11-18T08:39:00.001-08:00

How do you go about posting a blog after the great blog that you got to write the day before. But in the spirit of Nehemiah I shall go on ... that child loves to talk and try to make people laugh. So I don't think he would mind if I go on to talk about nothing.
So you know when you get up in the morning and you look in the mirror at yourself, you first notice your crazy bed head hair, then most likely your red and scrunchy face followed by, what's that, it can't be...a flat thin trim tummy that was by all means not there the night before. For you see before I went to bed last night and I looked in mirror and looked like I was four months pregnant. My tummy full of yummy homemade chili and a sip or two of homemade chocolate milkshakes. So what happened to that tummy during the night that allowed me to wake up with this fabulous tummy in the morning...and why can't that fabulous tummy stay with me all day? Yes I do know that this all has to do with consumption and digestion, but man do I ever like the look of the digestive side of the process. Yet I was happily surprised when I weighed myself this morning that I had lost another 3lbs. I have been stuck at a particular weight for about four weeks. It is so frustrating because I am working hard to somewhat eat right and workout. But hey that's just the way my body is. For example I was 1_3 for a very very long time I finally broke it and dropped about 10lbs in 3 weeks. Where I ended up at 1_3 for the last four weeks. So maybe this 3lb weight lost is the start of another big drop. I would be happy with losing 10 more pounds, but would really be happy with about 15 more pounds. I think that would be a great weight for me after having four babies. That would be the weight I was at after having Nehemiah and Haylie and I really enjoyed being that weight. And I think my body agreed with it too. By all means I am not hoping to be a 115pounds...just something a little lighter then I am now.
So thanks for reading my rant and I apologize for all the "buts" I used through out it. Obviously I do not have good grammar or sentence structure. Those have never been my strong suits.

Rejoice!

2008-11-17T15:01:00.000-08:00

There is a new memeber in heaven today. Michael lead Nehemiah to Christ last night. What an awesome experience for Michael to lead his son to the Lord. And as a mother to know that your baby wants Christ to be in his life is almost peaceful. Not that I expect anything miraclous to happen: like him listining to me the first time I say something, or him putting the toliet seat down. But just knowing that he will always have Christ in his life during the happy times and sad times, God promises to bring him back to Him.

Can I give up just for today?

2008-11-10T08:49:00.000-08:00

Alright so I already know the answer to this one...No. But wouldn't it be nice to just let your kids go wild, eat what they wanted when they wanted. Jump of the top bunk into a pile of pillows on the floor. Let the baby walk around the house with open markers. Let them beat up on each other and talk "potty talk". Leave a sink full of dirty dishes (by the way I do do this one a lot...I just feel better when they are clean) and spilled orange juice on the table and floor. Leave the TV on all day and ignore any type of cry from my children so I can scrapbook all day.
But if I even give in for one day it would ruin everything Michael and I have been working so hard to do for the last 6 years of parenting. Now I am more then for certain that there are many out there that do not agree with our parenting style but it is what works for us and what we feel is important for our children to grow into healthy adults.
Like learning boundaries with food and appreciating the work that is put into the preparation of their meals by having to wait until it is time for everyone to eat, especially for daddy at dinner time. Also by learning how to respect rules and why they are put in place to protect themselves and other. To also respect personal property by not defacing it with markers. Even though the baby is not trying to be disrespectful, he just thinks it's fun to have markers. But as the older kids watch and the baby grows bigger they will learn it is not okay to write or deface property. That by working hard, and pushing through something you don't always enjoy doing, you will enjoy the fruits of your labors. They learn this by watching me working hard and getting through the mundane task like cleaning and laundry, to me enjoying a clean house and being able to spend time with them, like coloring at the table with them and getting to hold conversations without interruption. Finally by not having the TV on all day they learn how to play together and problem solve together. They also learn the power of their imagination. By watching me they learn how sometimes you have to give things up and delay gratification until the appropriate time comes.
Again like I said there are many that do not agree with me, but this is me trying to get through this day and not giving up. Even though it is a little ironic that I am sitting here blogging, but in my defence I am sitting with all at them at the table coloring and holding conversations with them while trying to get my thoughts out on the computer.
Okay I am stepping down now off of my laundry basket and get back to my kiddos.

2008-11-04T17:00:00.000-08:00

If any of my children call me mom in the next 2 seconds I really do think I am going to scream. SERIOUSLY! I am only one mommy! I am mommyed out. I don't even think that that is a word but it should be. Who ever thought I would look forward to shopping for groceries at Walmart and Ralph's tonight. Why because I am going to be by myself. I think the ipod is going to be required tonight.

2008-11-03T12:57:00.000-08:00

So I am not in the mood to type a whole lot today but for some reason it bugs me when people take the time to change their background, yet do not take the time to post something new. Sorry if that offends anyone.
Anyways I have so much I need to do like a grocery/Walmart/Costco list, then shopping for those items at that particular location. Sorting and washing laundry. I would really like to scrapbook. Oh how I could go on, but you see the problem is I have been dealing with a migraine since Thursday, which I am sure my husband is sick of me talking about, but it makes me not want to do anything. So I am sitting here with a heating pad on my neck and shoulders which seems to be helping with the tension in those area. I am also taking Excedrin migraine and Motrin.
One last thing where oh where does Simon Jacob get his energy from????

It's the little things!

2008-10-29T09:19:00.000-07:00

It's the little things in life that we take for granted everyday that make up the memories that we will hold so close one day.
Josiah has two big loves in life right now as a 1.5 year old. Snow globe cups and the ability to transfer one object to another. Especially when that object is water. Since the other kiddos are all away at school right now I thought I would let Josiah have some "science" time here at home. He had already gotten out the snow globe cups and was pretending to transfer water back and forth, so I figured why not. What is he going to be hurting anyway. So I laid a towel down and put about a half inch of water into his cup. And let me tell you we have one happy little guy. I think he has been at this for almost 1omins with a few refills along the way. Yes the towel is soaked, but hey, this time is priceless and probably one of the times I will hold in my memory for many days to come.

"Our Little Pumpkin Patch"

2008-10-27T21:29:00.000-07:00

Or I guess we can call it the "Boscia Nut Farm". Sinces that's how it feels around here most days. We were just not able to make it up to Bate's this year but I still wanted to make getting pumpkins for the kids fun. On a selfish note I really wanted pictures with my kiddos in front of the pumpkins. It's somewhat starting to become a tradition.
So being the frugal mommy I am, I scouted out pumpkin prices and found a great deal at Sprouts: 3 for $10. We gathered the kids in the car and head for Sprouts. We told them that they were going to pick whatever size pumpkin they wanted and when we got home that we were going to make our own pumpkin patch and they all loved that idea. When we got to Sprouts they all started to look for their pumpkins. Nehemiah was looking for the biggest one he could find. Haylie was looking for one that she could barely carry but still carry. And Jake well he was just looking and when Michael held up a pumpkin to ask me what I thought about it for Josiah, Jacob told us he would take it. So Michael went digging looking for another JoJo pumpkin. Meanwhile Jos was just sitting there watching wondering what we were all doing. When we got inside and I was picking up a few fresh food items, we came across the indoor pumpkin display. At one point Josiah started pointing to the small pie pumpkins. I thought he wanted to touch them so I pulled the cart over to the display. Not only did he want to touch them he also wanted to pick out his own pumpkin and he proudly displayed it in his lap. When we got home we gathered all of our pumpkins the five we got from the store, the one Jacob got on his field trip to the local pumpkin patch and the "fumpkins" that I have decorated on the porch. Then I had the kids gather the leaves that are falling from our liquid amber tree in the front yard and we positioned ourselves in front of the porch decorated with pumpkin light and more "fumpkins" in the background. Yes please note the tank top and shorts on the kiddos. Gotta love the the Santa Anna's in October.

Twirly Skirt

2008-10-23T09:03:00.000-07:00

So I got out my sewing machine yesterday to sew a red scarf for Jacob's Speed Racer costume for Halloween and I stumbled across some material that I had got to make a baby sling for a friend of mine. She ended up buying a sling so I never made it. So after some time looking on the internet I found directions how to make this skirt. It is way cute and she LOVES it. It has a drawstring waist so it did not require a zipper or elastic. Which was great because I didn't have any. Now those of you that sew IE: Leah. I know that this is pennies compared to your creations. But hey I had fun and she loves that her mommy made it just for her.

Dinner

2008-10-22T22:00:00.000-07:00

So I thought I would post for all of you the meals that I have planned for the next week, give or take a day. I know that I often wonder what other people are making for dinner and thought maybe you do too.

So here it is:

Gnocchi with sausage in a tomato sauce, garlic bread
Chili with chips
Baked Potatoes with all the toppings (chives, bacon, cheese, sour cream)
Pork roast with mashed potato's and gravy
Hard shell tacos (ground turkey), spanish rice and beans
Baked pork chops with a salad
Homemade waffles and bacon
Tortellini Soup with sourdough bread
Chicken broccoli casserole
Chicken soup with bread

Then I have these staples for lunch:

Hot dogs
Quesadillas
Bean and cheese burritos
Chicken nuggets
PB&J
Mac and cheese

I know lunch is not too healthy and completely full of chemicals, but hey it's cheap and easy and most of all pretty kid friendly.

2008-10-13T09:03:00.000-07:00

I feel like I am walking around with no real purpose in life. I have this "to do list" in my head but it can not seem to find it's way on to paper. I know that I have things that I need/must get done...yet I don't know where to start. All the little things that need to be taken care of right know seem like a huge mountain at I need to climb. You know how in the back of your mind you know that it will only take you like 20mins, but that just seems like an eternity. That's were I am. I don't know why I am feeling this way. But I do know that I wish it would go away. I would like to be productive this week. Compared to last week where I felt like everything I touched became even a bigger mess to take care of.
I know as the primary parent who is at home, trying to do the best by your children and your spouse, plus keep a household in some working order we all go through these seasons in life. Sometimes they last longer then others and some don't seem that bad. I just know I am done being in this funk and ready to be a fun productive mommy again.
So here's to all of my other parents who are in a fog today. Know you are not alone and we will get through this together.

Baby Blue's Proverb...

2008-10-08T16:12:00.000-07:00

Nothing in life is certian except for Death...Taxes...and Laundry. I have this posted above my washing machine and it still makes me laugh after almost two years of it being taped onto my cabniets.

Random Week

2008-10-07T17:25:00.000-07:00

Okay I know I have not blogged anything new in a while and I apologize. I have some what been on vacation the last week. My birthday was Monday. We went to Disneyland on Tuesday to celebrate my birthday. Then we went to the new Legoland Sealife Aquarium. I liked it, but I have read some bad reviews about it. When we went there was no one there. Legoland was not open that day and we got free parking. I would say it;s about the same size as the La Jolla aquarium, but so much more kid friendly. We also took them to Chuckee Cheese that night for dinner and let them all pick out a toy at Toys R Us. Thursday we took the day off and then the weekend. Michael went camping with our friend Luke and I went scrapbooking with my friend Christine. While grandparents all watched the kids. So it was a pretty good week but I still feel like I am somewhat on a high. Like I need to get so much stuff done to move onto the nest task. I think we can all relate to that when it comes to getting ready for vacations. All right I am going to go. Gotta go get dinner ready.

What did I do!

2008-10-01T08:49:00.000-07:00

So I was talking with my BF Summer and she said that I needed to sign up for a Facebook account. She then went on to tell me that my sister was on it and my sister-in-law. Along with a few other people we have in common. But I must admit I thought that she said "Faithbook". Since we are both believers I did not question what she said. I was thinking that maybe this would be a place to share prayers and devotions with eachother, kinda of like a blog. Later that night she sent me an invite to join "Facebook". So I decide to create an account to see what this whole thing was about. Oh my goodness what did I just get myself into?! I must admit to all of you out there...I don't like it. It's not for me. So don't expect me to be doing too much on it. The worse part about the whole thing is that it is filling up my "inbox" on my gmail account. I really like everything in it's place and I really do not like having a full inbox of just stuff. I know you guys are not just stuff, but I still don't like it. I mean seriously I normally only have like 2 messages in my "inbox" at any given time and I perfer it to be empty. So I apologize to all of my fans that were excited to see me on Facebook but don't expect too much out of me.

I think I need to clarify something...

2008-09-30T06:59:00.000-07:00

My name is spelt S-A-R-A-H. I know it should not bother me that much that people forget to put the H at the end of my name, but that's how my name is spelt and I like the H. I have recieved many nice birthday wishes and "Hi's" from alll the people on facebook I just joined (whole other blog) and most have spelt my name with out the H. Now my firend Sara that I have talked about does not have an H. So maybe that is why people are getting confussed because when I write her name in my blog you see it with out the H. Okay so one more time it is S-A-R-A-H. Sorry if I offend anyone.

I'm getting old.

2008-09-28T17:43:00.000-07:00

Okay all lets go back in time to Friday afternoon. I was dropping off Emma and Faith (the two girls that we carpool with) and I was talking with their mom Lacy. I was asking her if they wanted to come over on Monday to have cake with us to celebrate my birthday. She replied "yes." and then asked me how old I was going to be. I then told her "I'm turning 28."
Alright fast forward to current day. I am making my bed this morning thinking how this is the last day of me being 27. Then I start doing all the math in my head. I know that Michael is 30 and that there is a 2 year difference between us. I also know that he will be turning 31 in a month. So I stop and start to laugh. I'm not turning 28 I'm turning 29! What a dork I am. I have been thinking for the last couple of months that I was turning 28. Man my brain has been permanently damage by all four pregnancy's.
So Mike and I have been having a good laugh at my expense all day. Both of us making jokes about me turning 28. So please feel free to make fun of me too. Consider it your birthday gift to me.

My Baby

2008-09-25T08:35:00.000-07:00

Nehemiah age 4 months. We were having a suprise birthday party for Michael and Nehemiah was in charge of balloons.

Josiah age 6 months. Taking a ride on the Polar Express Train in Campo. Whoo! Was it ever cold!

Simon Jacob age 3 months. Our first camping trip with Mission Hills Church. He loved Leah's chair.

Haylie age 11 months at the Carlsbad Flower Fields. I love this little bonnet.

A challenge for you.

2008-09-23T08:47:00.000-07:00

So I was challenged by my friend Sara's Blog again. She got this idea from the quote "You can tell a lot about a woman by what is in her purse." She then proceeded to list everything from her purse as she was pulling it out and then analyzed what she thought her purse said about her. It was a fun blog to read and I thought I would pass it onto all of my readers and fellow blogger's to take the challenge. So her I go.

mini diaper bag-just hold diapers and wipes
sunglasses
keys with big blue Chinese fish on it
coupon book-can't leave home without it
adventure bucks-these really belong to Nehemiah he earns these at Church and can redeem them for fun things like hand cuffs
immunization cards in a blue zipper pouch
big blue plastic clip
wallet
cell phone

So if I were to analyze the contents of my purse I would say that I like things organized and in there place. That I have a young child, but not a baby. That I am always looking for a bargain and like the feel of the hunt. That I have a quirky personality represented in my big blue fish that I got in SF in China Town.

So what does your purse say about you?

2008-09-16T13:26:00.000-07:00

So my friend Sara posted yesterday on her blog all the random things about her Monday and I thought it was pretty cute. So I thought I thought that I would try it for my Tuesday.

I love scrapbooking. I don't know why. Maybe because it allows the creativity side of me to come out. But if you think about it it's a pretty expensive hobby that no one really cares about except for yourself. And you have to force people to look through your scrapbooks.
I hate the mouse pad on my laptop. I am always bumping it with my palm and moving the cruiser back up into the paragraph. So I start typing in the middle of a word, and I have to go fix it.
I love when babies take naps they are so dang cute.
I love when my two other kids are watching Calliou and leaving me alone.
I love when my oldest child is at school and not antagonizing his siblings.
Nehemiah had his first phone call home from his teacher yesterday. And no it was not to talk about how his days are going. Yet it was to talk about the fact that his name made it on the "Yikes" list yesterday. He was not listing, fidgety (I mean he had his feet up on the desk) and making farting noises when the teacher was trying to teach. I think he is starting to adjust well. He is a total class clown. everyone loves him and he just thrives on that.
I think I need to go back to the chiropractor. I have been dealing with a migraine for over a week. And it is steaming from the base of my neck. The same place it did last year.
I get to go to the gym tonight and take my addicting class. I f anyone is a member of LA Fitness feel free to join me at the San Marcos gym tonight at 7pm in the workout room. You'll love it!
I love carpooling. I don't have to drive to school all week. Yeah!
I am bidding on Disneyland tickets on Ebay at a really great price. I hope I don't get outbid.
I really need to repaint my toes.
My wedding rings fit again. I have not worn them in over two years. With all the pregnancy weight. I have been wearing my Great Grandmothers wedding rings. Which I like. But it is nice to wear my own rings again. And know that I did not have to go get them re sized. Yeah I am losing weight. And feeling much better about my self.
Oh no Calliou is over.

Updates.

2008-09-12T09:19:00.000-07:00

Mr. Lego, Still has a Lego in his belly as far as Michael and I know. We have been checking poop now for a couple of weeks and have yet to see anything. The thing was pretty big so I don't think we have missed it. We called the doctor and they said that it could take up too 3 weeks. They also said as long as he does not seem to be bothered by it or uncomfortable he is fine. So the hunt continues.

As far as Nehemiah is concerned. The principle has stepped in to help us out and things seem to be getting much better. I don't think that he cried yesterday when being dropped off and Nehemiah said that he has not cried at lunch since Tuesday. He finally made a friend with a little guy named Alex in his class so I think that is helping a lot. Him and Alex were in kinder last year and also seat at the same table this year together. It's been very calming for me knowing that the his principle and teacher are on are side and trying to make school and fun and happy place for him.

So thank you for all your prayers for our two boys and hopefully we will NOT need you to be praying for the other two in the near future.

Mommy Tears.

2008-09-09T09:18:00.000-07:00

So this mommy heart is totally breaking. Nehemiah is having some major separation anxiety at school. He did great the first day no tears and he came home saying that he really enjoyed it. Then the second day came at everything changed. He has been crying at drop off and the lunch ladies say that he cries through out the majority of lunch. Even though the teacher says he is fine once he is inside the classroom. He tells me now that he does not like school and he does not want to go back. He keeps telling me that it is a really long time, and he does not like that Haylie gets picked up earlier.
I think I need to distance myself from him and school. This morning I tried to stay in my room as much as possible and let daddy take care of him. For he is more attached to me and I think it make it harder for him with me there. I have tried talking with his teacher, she says she is praying for him and his transition, and does not seem to be too concerned because he is fine in the classroom. I am going to set up a meeting with the principle to see if we can get some tips and help from the school side.
I use to be like this in school too. I just hated leaving my mom and knowing that I was not going to be with her all day. I remember that my mom even got a job at the school to help me through.
I think I am the one who needs more coping skills then even Nehemiah. My heart just breaks for him and I feel so much sympathy for him.
Meanwhile Hyalie is doing great in Kinder. The Lord blessed us and we were able to switch her teacher to Mrs. Mattews who was Nehemiah's teacher last year. She is a wild and crazy teacher who makes learning fun and exciting for the kids. Haylie says that she really enjoys school and looks forward to going back each day. She is just so independent but hay I have been saying that about her since I was pregnant with her and first started to feel her move inside my tummy. She too though is concerned about Nehemiah. She told him this morning that she gets scared too and misses mommy but has fun at school. She is turning into such a mother hen with a sympathetic heart.
So all of you that are believers out there...pray for Nehemiah and my self. For really both of us are dealing with the separation anxiety. At least I am on meds for mine. :) I just love him too much to know that he is sad and hurting inside.

First Day of School

2008-09-05T16:48:00.000-07:00

Nehemiah

Grade 1

Mrs. Solis

Haylie

Grade K

Mrs. Mattews

Mr. Lego

2008-08-31T09:35:00.000-07:00

Mr. Lego was the name given to Josiah yesterday from all the ladies at the Children's Urgent Care Center. For you see Josiah favorite game to play with Legos is to get one in his mouth faster then what Mom and/or Dad can get it out of his hand. Well yesterday he won the battle against Mike. I was in the garage sorting through Mt. Washmore when I could hear the baby screaming. I figured it was because he was tired. He never took a nap yesterday and by this time it was almost 4pm. I came inside to tell Mike to give him his milk and lay him down for a nap, when he informed me that he had a Lego in the back of his throat and that he could see it and feel it but could not get it out. My first reaction as a mother was to grab him and rush him to urgent care. I had no clue where the thing was stuck at. Was it in his trachea? Was it in his esophagus on it's way down to his tummy? All I knew was that he was crying and had a Lego in his throat. In hind sight I should of flipped him over and given a few good blows to his back trying to force it out.

Now luckily Mike knew what it look like and was able to retrieve another one for me to show the doctor. And it also had a very big hole in it. On the car ride he was still crying and then he let out a big yawn then even a louder scream, after that he quited down and started to fall asleep. I am guessing that is when he swallowed the Lego. But being afraid of him turning blue I made him stay awake the whole time and getting him to cry for me. At least then I knew that he could breathe. I got in and praise the lord no one was in there. Amazing really. 4 something on a Saturday afternoon at the urgent care. They were able to get him in right away, where I told them what I knew and the checked his O2 stats and listen to his breathing. They also look in his mouth but were no longer able to see it. The doctor figured it was probably in his belly by know but wanted to make sure that he could tolerate food and drink before she discharged him, in case it was stuck in his esophagus. I had a cup of milk on me only because I had grabbed it to give it to Mike when I came into the house. I guess I never let go of it. So he downed his milk, literally and we proceeded to wait about 20mins. to see how he did. Mean while this kid is up walking around talking with me and exploring the little there was to the room. I knew that this was good sign and he was probably going to be okay. The doctor discharged us with instructions to check his diaper and if it does not pass in three days to call our pediatrician. Hopefully it will not come to that.
I have just been thanking the Lord for protecting my baby and helping me make it through that hour yesterday. I can see where his hands were guiding me through.
So here's to Mr. Lego and the diaper changes yet to come.

Just a boring blog...read at your own bordem.

2008-08-27T16:39:00.000-07:00

Okay so I know I haven't blogged in a week or so. Yesterday all I wanted to do was blog, but that never quite happened. And today everything that I wanted to blog about yesterday know just seems pointless.
Alright for those of you out there that do not have laptops...I highly recommend getting one. I know that this is not really feasible for most, because seriously how often do we buy new computers? But I really like mine. Take for example right now. I am sitting in the front yard on my garden hose container blogging. The kiddos are riding their bikes and their is a gentle breeze blowing. I can hear the leaves rustling and I am in the cool of the shade. Beats the stuffy house that has the AC off.
Next topic of interest. My face is killing me. I have been breaking out now for a few months. And they are the painful kind. I think some of it is due to the fact that I have been taking this class at the gym where you just sweet for the whole 60 minutes you are in there. It's a very addicting class and I love it. But I am constantly wiping down my face and neck with my towel. Gross as it sounds I am probably just spreading the bacteria around. Anyways I talk to my doctor about this problem and she gave me a prescription face cream to help fight off the nasty little guys growing on my face. At the same time it's pretty drying. So not only do I have painful underground pimples I have tight drying skin. Hopefully it will work.
How many days until school starts? Lets just say I am done. You could put a fork in me and I would burst. It's been a long summer with good days and bad. Long weeks and weeks that have just flown by. Hopefully some fun memories and some that I hope none of us remember (ie: grumpy mommy). I just don't think I have anything left in me to entertain with. At the beginning of the summer I had a little weekly routine we followed and it worked really well. Then we had swim lessons and Kids Games at church. Then came a week with Auntie Karen, Uncle James and cousin Ann. Then nothing. This mommy just has not been able to pull herself together for these last two weeks of summer. Okay only three more weekdays to go. Then the 3 day weekend and then...wait for it....THE FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL! As most of you know 2 of them are off to school this year. Then one off to preschool two days a week. It's going to be a little crazy with pick up times two days a week. But we will figure it all out ans get into a routine.
Next. I think it is time to take the "blow up" pool down and reclaim our backyard patio. I miss it. I enjoy sitting out there in the morning at the table drinking my morning cup of coffee. Speaking of coffee reminds me of grocery shopping last night. Man why do groceries have to be so expensive. Last nights trip mainly consisted of produce, dairy, and cereal. Ahh. Main it stinks. You know a normal family of four buys one package of chicken I gotta buy two. Now we can just buy one, but Mike and I will get like one bite to eat each. Yet when we buy two we have left overs. Frustrating. Not that left overs are always a bad thing. It's just hard when there is not enough of them to feed all the kids with them for lunch the next day. And if I am caught eating them everyone wants a bite. And then once again I am stuck with eating only one bite of my chicken. And I really hate having to stand up in the kitchen and hover over my food and try hiding it.
Sorry girls, battery's dying have to go. I know you all are really enjoying my rambling but it must end sometime and now is that time.

Snuggler for Sale!

2008-08-20T09:29:00.000-07:00

I am totally touched out right now! I don't know what time it was when Jacob crawled into bed with us last night, but he was attached to me for the rest of the evening. It started out with him resting his head on my shoulder, then it was his head on my chest and by the morning he was sprawled all over me and I on the edge of the bed. Now I am all about personally space while sleeping, and lots of room. I like to be in the center of my side of the bed, but that clearly that did not happen last night. Normally when I wake up in the morning I go and sit on the couch and kids start to cluster around me, and taking turns on my lap. Josiah is normally the first one to claim lap space, and as soon as he gets down Jacob crawls right in and does not budge until I kick him off. Jacob is a huge snuggler always has been and I suspect he always will be, just in different form through out the years. His love language is definitely touch. So this morning when it came to time on the couch, lets just say I was fine with Josiah snuggling, but Jacob I was so over it. I think it might take me the whole day to recover from last night. :)

2008-08-18T10:46:00.000-07:00

Kara's Cupcakes!

The best one was the vanilla frosting with vanilla cake, and white sprinkles. I wish I would of gotten two of those.

2008-08-18T10:41:00.000-07:00

All the cable lines for the historic buseses.

Just crazy!

The sign in the parking garage at the Fisherma's Wharf.

Note what it tells you to do in case of an earthquake.

Can you guess where we are?

Yum! I love sourdough bread.

2008-08-18T10:37:00.000-07:00

Looking down to Union Square.

Michael in front of the entrance of China town. I forgot to mention all the Starbucks we drank on Saturday.

This church surrvied the 1902 earthquake and fire.

This picture is for my sister who always takes funny pictures on her trips. If you look closely enough you will see someone airing out their unmetionables.

Newlyweds for the Weekend!

2008-08-11T09:23:00.001-07:00

Last Thursday Michael and I celebrated our 9th wedding anniversary with each other. I still cannot believe it. When you first get married it's all about counting how many months you have been married together; now it's hard to fathom that we have been married this long. Not that that's bad it's just WOW! It's gone by fast. I would of never believed you if you would of told me that I would have four kids by the time Mike and I had been married nine years. I guess it just goes to show how fast life really does go by and how fast your kids grow up.

We saw a glimpse into our future life this past weekend. We flew up to San Francisco for three days and just spent time together. On Friday night we went to a nice five star steak restaurant and had an awesome view of "Kitchen Stadium". It was an open kitchen and we saw them preparing the majority of the food severed that night. I also had the best butterscotch pudding you have ever tasted. I would fly back to SF just for that pudding. We then spent the rest of the night looking for a jacket for myself, for the sweaters I brought with me were not going to cut it. We ended up in a 6 story Macy's. If you know me I love Macy's shoe department. And the third floor alone was filled with shoes and purses. I had to run my to the next escalator as not to be tempted by all the shoes. Oh it was if I had died and gone to shoe heaven. But besides all of that we did find a great little peacoat and it was well worth the hunt.
The next day we were planning on spending the day with our best friends Luke and Christine. While we were waiting for them to arrive we decided to going exploring. We ended up walking along thru China town. Now I was very worried about this part of the trip. I really do not do well with Chicness food. and I was so afraid that I was going to be forced some how to eat things like chicken feet. I don't know where I got that delusion from yet that was the delusion I had. Thank goodness there was no force feeding. We ended up walking along looking at all the trinkets and the neat architecture. I am really into architecture from years past. We just do not make buildings like that anymore.
We got a call from the Navarro's and we were off to meet them at the hotel and have lunch with them. While making plans to go the SF I had told Christine that Mike and I were thinking of trying to find a restaurant called Joe's Cable Car that was featured on Dinners, Drive-ins and Dives on the food network. Mike and I had dismissed the thought by the time we had gotten to SF. When they picked us up they had asked if we wanted to go there for lunch and they had already had it programed into their new iPhones. Oh my goodness it was probably the best patty melt I have ever had. After lunch we were headed down to the Fisherman's Wharf. Where we walked around and looked at all the sights. We also took a tour of the Boudin Factory and tasted some freshly made bread. Then it was off to find Kara's cupcakes in Giredali Square. A friend had recommend this place to me. What fun cupcakes. Not only to eat but to look at. Yet I do believe that we all went into a diabetic coma after eating them. If you have not caught on yet the Navarro's and ourselves are big fans of the Food Network. It was time for the Navarro's to make their trek back home so it was beck to the hotel for us. As we were all driving back to the hotel we found ourselves on Jone's street. Let's just say it was straight up and we were in a manual Mazda 5. Oh how we were all laughing. And what goes up must come down. You know it's steep when the driver can not see the street past the front of his car while he is making his way over the crest.
After we were dropped off we took a little reading break and rested up for the rest of the night. Down to the Wharf once more to take a night time segway tour. Now getting down there was another adventure all of it's own. Our plan was to take the cable car down to the wharf. As we were waiting for the cable car, and had already missed one do to the fact that it was to full, we heard a limousine driver shouting that he was giving rides down to the Wharf for $5 dollars a person. We figured what the heck just another fun adventure. So we hop in and are enjoying our ride down there with another young couple. We get down to the Wharf and it's time to pay. So I hop out and am waiting for Mike who is paying the driver thru the window inside the car. He gets out and the limo pulls away. Mean while I am watching the limo and how the guy is calling out to people saying that he will take them up to Union Square. Mike is doing his normal check of his pockets when he realizes that he left his wallet in the limo. My heart starts pounding and I just start praying to myself; all the while I am still watching the limo. That's when I start running I was going to try my best to catch it. Mike start running after me when he spotted the limo too. Off into the street he runs in front of traffic and all. It was like a scene from a movie I tell you. He caught up to the limo at a stop light and started banging on the back of the limo trying to get the guys attention. Sure enough he did and low and behold we got his wallet back. Thank you Lord! You are so faithful!
Our original plan was to eat dinner before the tour but both of us were a little to anxious to eat. I think between chasing down his wallet and the fear of falling off the segway we were done. So we went into the nearby Starbucks and got some over priced veggies and fruit to snack on. But just what we needed at the time. It was nearing 7pm and time for our tour. We got to the segway place and ready for a night of fun. After a 20min tutorial we were off for a two hour lead tour of the city. Oh my goodness what fun we had. And we got to see a part of the city that we would of never explored on our own We also learnt about some cool behind scene things of SF. If you ever have the chance to do a segway tour hop on. It was a blast!
It was almost 10 o'clock and time to head back to the hotel and figure out something to eat. We got in the long line to take the cable car back up to the hotel. We got to watch how the turn the cable cars by hand on the turn table. Then it was off up the hills of SF on the the Powell/Hyde line. We got off at our stop and were starting to get quite hungry. Now 10:45 we were wondering what might possible be open to eat. When we noticed the little pizza shop was still open. So we headed in and had the best pizza ever.
The next day was Sunday, our final day, and we still had some shopping to do for the kiddos. So we walked, and walked and walked looking for things to buy the kiddos with very little luck. We finally decided that shopping at the airport was not a half bad idea. So we headed back to the hotel were we sat in the lobby reading our books and just being together and not having to talk. Sometimes that is just so nice. Just being. Our shuttle came and it was off to the airport once more to fly home.
Now I did pretty good all week not missing the kids to bad, but let me tell you as soon as we landed in San Diego the tears started flowing and I was ready to see all my babies. If you were to ask me the best part of the trip it would be the segway tour followed closely by the hugs that Josiah now gives me. They are the best tightest little hugs that a 15 month old baby could ever give.

Lego's, dirty underware and candles buring.

2008-08-05T10:04:00.000-07:00

I am about to round up all the Lego's in the boys room and put them into a melting pot and and boiling them down into one huge lump of plastic. I swear to you that Lego's and hot wheel tracks have overtaken my boys room. And of course the minute you ask them to start picking them up, because they have not played with them for a few hours, they start playing with them all over again and make even a bigger mess. This is a season in life right? Right? Who am I kidding this is only the beginning of dirty boy rooms. The worst part is their room is starting to smell like stinky boy. When I was changing the sheets on Jacobs bed the other day I found a pair of stinky underwear underneath the bed. Gross! How does something like that make it's way under the bed. I think it's only a talent that boys poses. But isn't this why we buy our children toys so that they will play with them and not just look pretty and organized on a self.
I am telling you I need to move into a magazine cover sometimes. I love when my house is all picked up, everything organized and put away. Couch cushions aligned just so and undisturbed. Candles lite and filling the air with their fragrant aroma and fresh flowers scattered around in unique vases. Once again who am I kidding I live in a house with four children. Currently my living room is covered in every one's bedding because they wanted to watch TV all bundled up. Laundry folded, but not put way on the coffee table. Just Duckie game sitting on my counter waiting for all it's little ducklings to return home (Jacob placed all the duckies around the house yesterday and we have only been able to find three). Shoes all over the entry way to the laundry room because Josiah likes to "sort" them. Wipes strewn across the front living room floor, also because Josiah felt that the carpet needed some "spot treating". Dirty clothes piled in the hall way. A wet and soggy pull up from Jacob in the bathroom because he has not thrown it away yet. A garage that has been once again been taken over by Mount Washmore.
Yet this is the life that I have chosen, the life I love. Though I get frustrated at times, I know there will come a day when my house is clean and organized with candles burring and flowers all about. But there will no longer be the sounds of children playing in the back ground. No more snuggling on the couch watching Dragon Tales and folding little bitty socks and underwear. No more preschool projects to display around the house or little treasure find in the bottom of the dryer. This time will go by fast and I need to remember to hold onto this day even though it may be overwhelming with the chores at hands and squabbles between siblings.
These are the days that I hope my children will look back on fondly and think that mom was their for me. Not that they had a clean house that was pretty to look at, but a house that was a home. A place where they can run into a feel safe and loved. A place they can be themselves.

An afternoon with friends!

2008-07-30T17:02:00.000-07:00

So I had started this post a couple days ago about a summer's afternoon and my kids swimming in our "pool" and how perfect it all seemed. But today's afternoon beats that day 10x's over. After quite time/nap time I called up my friend Lacy to see if her and her kiddos wanted to play. She was having to take her girls to swim try outs, so I asked if I could steal her son Noah while they were gone. So Noah came over and all three older boys started swimming in the pool and making a train out of the pool noodles. They then formed a huge whirl pool that took them along on a ride. Haylie announced to all of them that she would be the life guard in case anyone was drowning. :)

Mean while I called up my other friend Kami to see if her daughter Katelyn could come over for a while to play with Haylie and she gladly said yes. So within a matter of minutes my pool is full of five little kiddos swimming around. But in typical boy/girl fashion their was some bickering but we compromised by letting the boys swim five more minutes then the girls got to have the pool to themselves. If I am hearing correctly the boys are planning a "trick" to play on the girls. And I am also seeing some dart gun go in and out of the boys room. We will have to wait and see what happens. Yet besides all of that I love having a house full of kids

How?

2008-07-24T09:56:00.000-07:00

My mind is racing and wondering how anyone could abandoned a baby in a pile of sand at a construction site! And that is exactly what happen to a little boy in China. My sister best friend Leslie and her husband Rusty adopted a little boy from China this past week. I have been following their journey in their blog that they have been keeping about this experience. I have smiled and cried and called out to Jesus in praise for all he is doing in this young child's life. Joshua (the child) is now safe and comforted in the arms of parents who will always love and care for him. He will be raised in a family with a brother and a sister; and from what I can gather from the "comments" several other family and friends that are all ready to bestow the love of Christ on him. But through all of this my mind still races back to his birth mother and what was going through her mind when she abandoned her child. Was she a teenage mother who felt like she had no other options? Was she a married woman who already had children and felt like she could not care for one more? Was it the baby's father or another male figure in the family who left the baby there against the mothers will? Who ever she was I feel like God has been pressing it against my heart to pray for her. Not that I think what happen to this wonderful child can be excused away. I am just praying that she may be able to find the peace of God and the forgiveness that He only can offer.

A Day at the Beach!

2008-07-17T16:12:00.000-07:00

What an adventure. Last Tuesday morning I was standing at the computer and thinking to my self that I don't think I want to take the kids to the beach until Josiah is walking. About 20 mins later my friend Stephanie calls and ask if I want to meet her at the beach on Wednesday morning. I started to laugh and agreed to go. I figured she was an extra pair of eyes and she only has one child. When I woke up on Wednesday morning I was excited and ready to go. Then my friend Kami came to mind...she is always willing to do something on a whim. So I called her up and off we all went down to the beach.

First let me paint you a picture of my car. Kami literally lives right up the street from me so I told her I would drive. No reason for both of us to drive when my car could fit all of us and we were all going the same way. So between us we have 6 kids and need to fit five car seats. In the third row we had all the girls in booster/car seats. Then in the middle row we had all the boys, two full size car seats and Nehemiah sitting in the middle of the two. Then of course me and Kami in the front.

We arrived at the beach and it was a perfect day, blue sky with a hint of clouds just enough to cover the direct sun and but still let the warmth thru. We meet up with Stephanie and her little girl. We then had to walk quite a ways down the beach due to rip currents. During this time Jacob informs me that he does not like to walk on the sand and wants me to carry him. Which at this point in impossible for me to do. In one arm I am holding Josiah and in the other arm I am loaded down with everything you need for a great day at the beach. So needless to say we had a slow and whinny walk down to our final resting spot.

We got all set up and the kiddos were off and frockling in the water...well except for Jacob. I had to carry him down to a spot to dig in and he really did not move unless I carried him. That's okay, it made it easy to keep an eye on him :) I also brought a little two ring blow up pool with me for Josiah. We filled it up and let it heat up in the sun. It worked out perfectly. By the time I put Jos in it it was almost the temperature of bath water and Jos just sat in there and played.

At lunch time Haylie got sand in her sandwich and ruined the whole experience at the beach for her. At this point she decided that she wanted to go home because she did not like the sand. I guess I really cannot blame her. I hate the sand at the beach too...how it gets everywhere...especially when you have kids with you. I convinced her to get in the little pool with Jos and she seem to be doing better.

Now you might be wondering what Nehemiah did all day at the beach; well like his picture he lugged water up and down the beach to the sand castle moat they were building-pretty much the whole day. With a smile on his face every step of the way.

And me well between keeping an eye on all the kiddos and constantly counting to "7". I would play with the kids, sit back and relax and take deep breaths when looking at all the sand on the beach blankets. I think I only flipped out a couple of times about wet, sandy feet walking across the blanket.

Would I do it again. Yes, especially if I had help from another adult. I actually really enjoyed my self.

Alright I need to go make some breakfast...If not I think there might be an upheaval happening in this house hold.

The Lazy Gene

2008-07-17T10:52:00.001-07:00

Michael and I have determined that Josiah has inherited the lazy gene from us. We believe that this child knows how to walk, but out of pure laziness has decided not too.

So when I woke Josiah up this morning, I looked him straight in his eyes and told him that today was the day that he was going to start walking. Has he listen to me? NO! But he is trying to walk around the house more on his own.

Yet I really can not blame him. I am currently blogging because I am procrastinating...Okay even in trying to write this blog I got bored and walked away for a few minutes.

It's hopeless... Here's to getting nothing done today.

2008-07-15T11:00:00.000-07:00

Thanks Jessica for the way too cute link to the blog backgrounds. Love it! How did you ever find it?

2008-07-14T11:24:00.000-07:00

I am hot! I really do not do well with humidity. And I am currently doing a BIG cleaning of the house-like everything is getting a good wipe down. On top of all of that I have the washer and dryer going and I am standing in front of the dishwasher that is currently on the steam cycle. Alright done complaining back to cleaning. Any one have any good ideas what to make for lunch?

2008-07-07T09:51:00.000-07:00

Happy 4th of July!

Our 4th of July was very quiet this year. We made no plans, other then to swim with all of the kids in the pool in the backyard and watch fireworks. And that is exactly what we did. After eating hot dogs for lunch and putting Josiah down for a nap we hopped into the freezing cold pool with the three kids. Haylie and I made up a sycronized swimming routine to show off to the boys and daddy was a human Shamu giving Jacob rides and Nehemiah coaxing him as to where he needed to swim. After a fun hour of swiming I took Haylie and Jacob big grocery shopping with me and they were wonderful helpers. If you ever need two great kids to go grocery shopping with you, these are the kids to take. Ralphs has these little kid sized shopping carts that they push around and help me gather items off the shelves that are on Mommy's list. I also take this as a learning opportunity to explain to them about the valuable skill of coupon shopping. We always need to make sure that it's on sale and that we have a coupon. I rarely buy an item at the grocery store full price. Besides fresh produce. Even then I go for the stuff that is on sale. My mom taught me by example how to shop with coupons and to that I will always be grateful. I also think it's a good time to teach them about impulse control. Even though I think I am learning more from my kids in that department then they are learning from me. Man it's hard to practice what you preach. When we got home from shopping daddy and Nehemiah were playing the Wii and Josiah was just laying on the floor. When I picked him up he was burning up. I took his temperature and it was reading 101. I gave him some Tylenol and he proceeded to be a slug on me the rest of the night. He was miserable. I bought some nice rib eye steaks from the store and we bar-b-qued those for dinner. Yum! After dinner we had ice cream cones for dessert and set off to watch the fireworks. Mike and I decided to take Josiah to watch the fireworks, even though he was not feeling to well. We found this great empty parking lot where we were able to lay out our blanket and eat our popcorn and watch the fireworks. All the kids loved it. Even though Jos would look at us every once in a while with a look on his face like what are we doing here. It was a fun day all together. The only two bummers were Josiah teething and not feeling well and that I was not able to take as many pictures as I wanted because I was having to cuddle the baby the whole day. Oh well there is always next year. Just for your FYI: After three days of teething and high fever Josiah is now the proud owner if three almost four new teeth.

ONE WORD...

2008-07-03T12:09:00.000-07:00

LIZARD!!!

So some of you know that I have a cat that likes to bring us little prizes every once in a while. It's normally a mouse that she brings us. Now after a few years of her bringing me mice I can handle catching them and throwing them outside. But not lizards. And that is exactly what she brought me this morning.

I was sweeping the floor when Nehemiah informed me that Calli had brought in a mouse. So I grabbed a bowl and went to go trap it. It's little head was sticking out from under the couch. But when I got there I discovered it was not a mouse but a lizard and it ran with in a half inch of my foot. This is were I started to scream. I picked up Josiah by one arm screaming and swinging him around and looking for the nearest place for me to stand on something. During this process I almost stepped on the lizard barefoot. I am still screaming and swing Josiah around by one arm. I find the couch and try to catch my breathe and comfort Josiah. After about 10mins of the cat playing with the lizard he was starting to die. So I went outside and grabbed the pool net and trapped the lizard. I then looked at Haylie and told he to watch Jos and told Nehemiah to make sure the lizard did not escape. I went running around the neighborhood for someone to be home. No one was. I came back and called my dad hoping his job site was near my home today, but it was not. He said he could be there soon and take care of the now dead lizard. I would of called Mikey but I knew he was in a meeting. After I hung up with my dad my neighbor Megan pulled up in her driveway. I asked her if she was brave enough to pick up a dead lizard and she said she was. So she came over and did the dirty work. I owe her a big plate of cookies for that. So that was a hour of my morning. And I still have the hibby jibbies.

2008-06-30T08:58:00.000-07:00

Alright I can not tell you how many times I have tried to sit down in the past 7 days to write in my blog, only to be side tracked by children. Shocking I know! I decided though I am just going to have to push through all the distractions. Like the 3 foot long fire truck that is making all sorts of noise to delight of a 13 month old little boy. And "Mr. Jealousy" glued to my arm and talking to me through his Binky. Or my daughter singing. The only one not currently making noise or doing any thing to distracting is Nehemiah. Man he is getting big. I cannot get over it. Obviously, I feel like I am always blogging about how much he is growing up. Maybe this would be a good time to give you an update about all the kiddos. Nehemiah is officially six and in full blown school age boy mode. He has his first loose tooth. I cannot believe it. How much is the Tooth Fairy giving these days anyways? Mike and I were thinking we would get some gold one dollar coins and put one under his pillow. And is it gross to keep his tooth? So what if it is I am keeping it. I remember my mom kept our teeth and I was always fascinated to look at them and hold them as a little kid. Gross I know. Nehemiah has graduated from kindergarten and moving into first grade. He told me the other day that he misses going to school. I asked him if he missed his friends or learning. He first responded by saying his friends but quickly added that he like learning too. I love this! I am so happy that God placed Nehemiah in Mrs. Matthews class this past year. She has a great love for teaching and still enjoys it after 20 years of teaching. I am pushing to get her for Haylie next year.
Speaking of Haylie, she just performed her first baton routine at the Del mar fair yesterday. Man she was way too cute! With a smile like I can not describe on her face the whole time. I was so proud of her up with the big girls holding her own. She even caught her trick. Haylie too is all down with school and ended the year with a little cap and gown ceremony graduating from Pre-school. She will be going to kindergarten next year as mention above. She turned 5 this past month and got a "two wheeled" scooter, in her won words, for her birthday. She loves that scooter and rides at least once a day down the street and back. Her hair is also getting really long. As some of you know we have been growing out our bangs together as a challenge from Aunty Rachel. She is always sure to remind me that we cannot cut her bangs because that's what Aunty Rachel said.
Now you may be wondering who "Mr. Jealousy" is that would be Jacob. He is a mama's boy to no end and can not handle me giving attention to anyone but him, even at age 3. Most of the time him and Josiah fight over who is sitting in my lap. Luckily they both don't mind sharing most of the time. Jacob is growing up so fast and the sentences that are coming out of his mouth are pretty funny. I laugh at him a lot. Now most of you may not know this about Jacob but he is not one for the pool. He actually make me pretty said to see him so timid around the pool. I grew up swimming and Nehemiah, Haylie and Josiah enjoy it so much. I just feel like he is missing out on a part of childhood. I think it has a lot to do with fact that we really did not expose him to the pool as a baby. He love the bath and is even willing to put his face under the water and blow bubbles. We have been trying to go swimming at least a couple times a week, and now with our over sized inflate a pool in the back yard he is starting to gain more confidence. Hopefully swimming lessons will be good for him and not torture.
Last but not least we come to Josiah. He is 13month old and almost walking. He pulls himself up on anything and everything and loves to climb. I swear sometimes he thinks he is 2. He started taking four to five steps this past week and standing all by him self. The best part about him learning to walk and stand is to see how excited the older kids get about it. They are always right there cheering him on. Nehemiah and Haylie never cheered Jake on because they were really to young to understand the importance. So it is neat to see them experience this with us. He is also a great little nap taker. Every day he takes a 3 hour nap and it is just so nice. He is getting more vocal but really only says "Mama" and even that has different meanings. He is starting to sign "more" and "all done" so that is helping at meal times. He is a great easy going little guy and we are so blessed to have him. My favorite thing about him right now has to be his blooming personality. He is starting to throw mini tantrums and I cannot help but see Haylie in him. Hopefully it is not a sign of what is to come. He has this fake cry that he does when you tell him "no" to something. The nice thing is he tends to learning the first time of being told "no" but I also know that this is probably going to be short lived...he is a Boscia child after all. They don't think that "no" applies to them. They think it only applies to those around them. I am sure many of you can relate.
Well I think I did it. I think I blogged and ramble for long enough. Sorry if some of the wording does not make sense. And things seem to be in the wrong place. Josiah has a great knack for hitting the page up button. Hope to hear from all of you soon.

My personal goal for the day.

2008-06-20T12:51:00.000-07:00

So my personal goal for the day was to make every child cry. And as of 12:50pm I have managed to do that. It took me almost 4 hours but I think it was worth the wait :)
Okay so not really. Why would I ever wish having four children cry through out a 4 hour time span. Nehemiah was my first crier of the day; he was upset about Jacob playing with a certain Geo train. That by the way used to be the only train that he would let Jacob play with and now he's crying when Jacob doesn't want to give it up. Come on now. The second crier was Josiah. He decided that he did not want to take a nap and I don't blame him it's pretty hot in his room. His room has a hard time cooling down and heating up during the winter. I think there is something wrong with the vent. (Hint, Hint Dad) My finial two criers as you can guess were Jacob and Haylie at the same time. They were fighting with one another. I sent them both to their rooms until they were ready to apologize to the other person. Haylie is still crying in her room.
So the crying has stopped and the anticipation of swimming has come over them. I need to find something else for them to do for a couple of hours until our over sized inflate a pool is done filling. I will post pictures of them later swimming in our "pool".