where does she come up with these things??

seriously don't let your 9 year old dress themselves!

her first swim meet and she kept making all these weird faces at me.

see what I mean? the girl has issues! must get that from her dad =0

two words for you.........

SPRING BREAK. I know I bet you cant wait to hear about our trip to the beach in our new slender bodies and of course we will be taking the nanny's (yes that is plural hello we have 4 kids) so the hubby and I can enjoy nice blended fruit drinks with umbrellas in them as we stare into to each others eyes..............

YEAH RIGHT!!!!

reality is I will be here at home with the kids while they are out of school for 5 days, I will be cooking breakfast lunch and dinner and listening them argue over who won at guess who and how so and so cheated. ahh the joys of motherhood! who named this week spring break anyway because according to me there doesn't seem to be a break for me! or a new slender body!

Seperation Anxiety and not much more

apparently I have been on a blogging vacation and I didn't even know. Funny a lot of the blogs I read haven't been blogging much so I guess that means I haven't had motivation lately. or maybe it is I don't have that many exciting things happening. I guess i will catch you up on the weekend

• Friday night we went to a awesome talent show at my kids school, or maybe lame is a better word. All I can say is too bad I didn't let my kids participate because apparently talent was not required by any means. David wanted to do the robot and Liz i am not sure but I talked them out of it, they would have been so good. oh well.........
• Saturday I went and picked up my abundant harvest vegetables, then my friend Dani and I went to a local babyfest it was fun they had some fun stuff for the kids like a mini petting zoo, bounce house, and pony rides, along with vendors. I did get a few donations for our upcoming silent auction for MOPS. here is a quick funny story from the day: when I was watching the kids play in the petting zoo Jeremiah(Dani's son) kept saying "cow come here, cow moo moo", I said Jeremiah those are sheep not cows and the girl who was in charge (who was like 11) says (after she looks at me like I am a idiot) "these are goats!" oops I knew what I meant =0
• Sunday we went to church after the I think 3 weeks of not going and Jake cried and cried in the nursery. they didn't call me out of service but I guess he cried anytime they took him in the room, so they walked him around. after church we watched or tried to watch the race which never happened so we took the kids to dinner and I ran into Target to get David some pants because his are all so short.
• Monday was MOPS it was a good day except for the nursery that didn't go so well we were short quiet a few workers and Jake cried and cried, now I am certain it is not good when the coordinator's kid doesn't stop crying!!!! oh and hold on to your seats this is so exciting John and I went and got life insurance..... I know you can hardly contain yourself with excitement.
• today the boys and I (Johnathan and Jake) went to the grocery store and stayed home the rest of the day.

oh in other bits of business I started a new diet and I am doing really good I haven't had a Pepsi in 6 days! I repeat, me Raquel has not had a Pepsi in 6 DAYS!!!!!!!! and actually so far I don't miss it too much. The diet is going well and I am drinking lots of water so hopefully I will lose some weight.

toddles for now

P.S. yeah the spell check works!!!!!!!!!!!

Day 2- Paint your Windows!

so tonight we painted the windows, John helped the boys and I helped Liz and we had a little contest, it was a tie (go figure!) the kids did great, and had SOOO much fun! this will wash off with just warm water too!

Day 1- done!

and aren't they great looking?!

Day 1- christmas List!

Day 1 was to make a christmas wish list! have i told you I have not begun shopping yet?!?!!?

Countdown to Christmas!

so I made my countdown to christmas rings! we will do one activity a day until Christmas, I love stuff like this! stay tuned for all the daily activities!

A little late.....

but I am so thankful for so much this year!

1. John
2. Liz
3. David
4. Johnathan
5. Jake
6. my mom
7. family
8. friends
9. crushed ice
10. target

and of course God he has blessed our family so much and I am so thankful for that.

we had a great day the family came over here and we ate and ate and ate! then we had desert! we laughed and talked and played electronic catch phrase the music edition it was good times!

UPDATE.......

Sorry I haven't been around much other than being busy I have not been feeling well. I have been having some gallbladder issues and I am having it removed on October 19Th so if you all could pray that everything goes OK. I am a little higher risk during surgery because I have had a abdominal surgery so i have a higher risk to have to be opened up again. i have a good surgeon who thinks he can do it laporscopicly with out incident so I pray he can. Also I am VERY anemic, I always have been but they cant seem to get my levels up, so I will have a blood transfusion before surgery. anyhow all that to say I haven't been feeling my greatest so sorry I have been neglecting the blog.

so I will give you a update on the kiddos:

Liz is rocking it at soccer, she is becoming so aggressive. and anyone who knows Liz knows she couldn't hurt a fly she is just too sweet. She is doing great in school, she loves school this year (she loves school period, but especially this year) she has a great teacher and of course we love our school. soccer only has about 4 more weeks and then she will be joining a swim team. She receiving a award at school this week during chapel. she ran for school secretary but did not win but she did run against a 6Th grader and as a 4Th grader she did great!

David is also playing soccer and he is doing really good. he scores so many goals and constantly running. He may be starting swimming too when Liz starts in November. As far as kindergarten goes he is doing really good he loves school. He is adjusting great and I am amazed at how much he has learned already.

Johnathan is not playing soccer you have to be 5 but he tells me all the time " when I am five I can go to kindergarten and soccer right mommy?" Johnathan still loves to sing and he is definitely a otter personality, he is always wanting to be the class clown... but he is doing REALLY good in school! like scary good maybe he is growing out of that difficult stage, can I get a HALLELUJAH?!?!?! Johnathan has a great, fun, and crazy personality

Jake is ADORABLE! He is getting huge, I swear he has to weigh close to 20 pounds already and he will be 4 months on Thursday. He goes for his check up next week. he laughs and squeals now it is so cute. He is recognizing a lot more people and is just such a good baby. Definitely mellow but when he gets mad he gets MAD! good thing that is not often. and Praise the Lord he still sleeps a lot, about 12 hours at night and 2 2-3 naps.

so all in all everyone is doing really well. John is working hard, and enjoying soccer (he loves to watch his kids, he is a AWESOME dad!)

that is it in our house for now. I am trying to make myself remember to blog more often

Blessings,

Raquel

Whew!

I have been busy! Let me tell you I have been busy!!!! I was in Orlando, Florida for 5 days last Wednesday - Sunday... and it was great, OK worshipping with Matt Redman who I already have told you is my absolute favorite christian artist in the world! he was FABULOUS pair that with 5,000+ women and how can you go wrong! OK it was a little hot, who am I kidding it was VERY hot, so stinking hot and it was so humid it took your breath away. but fun none the less, and I learned so much it is amazing how much you can learn when you have no interruptions. did I mention we went to the cracker barrel, oh my that place is heaven to me talk about great sweet tea, us Californians do not get sweet tea at our local establishments, so seriously that is my favorite part about eating in other states. and lastly thank you all who were praying because really i didn't really miss the kids very much, I did miss John a lot, but the kids were all good when I got home and actually acted like I had never left they were like "Hi Mom" and went back to playing, oh they did stop for second to see what I bought them LOL!

we also had our seconds MOPS meeting Monday it went very well. I love MOPS this year, not that I don't every year but this year I really feel so good about the things God is doing in our groups. we have so many cool women.

OK so then after the long weekend and MOPS we took the kids to fair last night! have I mentioned before I really don't like the fair? it is so expensive people $75 just to ride the rides! John was with me and he was like just do it, so we did and they had a great time. and there was hardly any lines, it was fabulous! the kids had fun, oh and I had a funnel cake and the world was great! so now I need to get back to blogging.

oh oh oh did I mention I got a iPod? OK I Love it! I got it yesterday too late for my trip but I will enjoy it all the same. I ordered it on eBay so I got a great deal!!!!
OK for real BYE!

Liz

David

Johnathan

Jake

School Time Already?

this summer has flown by! we had a great vacation and have been busy getting ready for school since we have been back.

I cant believe it, i know i have said it before but I will say it again, I can not believe on Monday i will have a 4Th grader(Liz), a kindergartner(David), and a preschooler(Johnathan). 3 days a week it will just be Jake and I! I am excited for the one on one with Jake but also sad that the kids are growing up way to fast!

I REALLY love this time of year! I love back to school, it seems like get back into a more "normal" routine, the kids are n school, definite bedtimes, MOPS starts, the weather begins to change (kind of it is still hot here!). I love routine and schedules, so I love school time. I have a busy fall I am going to be David's room mom, in Liz's class I will be the PTF Representative. Liz and David will both be playing soccer, so they each have 2 practices a week, plus a game on Saturday. all this and MOPS it should be fun. I am in the midst of planning my fall schedule which i will post, I would love to see all of your schedules too, do you all do schedules?

I am going to be working on my cooking blog this week and try to start posting some recipes, our family favorites, ad some new ones I plan on trying

Summer Vacation!

VACATION!!!!

So we I am getting ready to leave for vacation tomorrow morning(I am making a list on the computer of things I still need to do, as the family is sleeping). John's parent have a trailer that they keep at the beach and we can use it anytime we want so we are leaving tomorrow for a few days of R&R before school starts back up. We are staying at a new campground and it looks pretty nice, of course I will be posting pictures while I am there! well there is supposed to be Internet access there but you never know! We plan on sleeping in (doubtful), swimming in the ocean, eating good food (hopefully I can stay on WW), reading, making smores by the campfire (my favorite part about camping, and you can ask anyone who has camped with me I am the BEST smore maker EVER!!!) I will take pictures of that too! We will back on Thursday just in time for a mandatory parent meeting at school, then Friday a family picnic, and then school Monday! this summer has flown by...... so I hope to check in I am at the mercy of the computer access at the RV park, could be a scary week, and if there is no computer access you can bet I will be twitching by the time I get home..... so until I talk to you next goodbye from the self proclaimed smore making queen of the world!

we are going on a date.....

that would be my son and I. Today we are going to spend the day together, we are going to get up take Johnathan to school and him, Jake and I are going to do whatever his little 5 year old self wants to do. You see God has really been speaking to my heart regarding spending times with my kids on a one on one basis. I tend to do that with Liz because she is older and a girl, but my boys need that time just as much as Liz does. so since David will be starting kindergarten in less than 2 weeks, I felt it was time I did it now. so far he wants to go to the bookstore, golfing, the movies, to lunch, ice cream, and to Walmart to look at toys(which is funny because if there is one place i cant stand it is Walmart, and we rarely go there). not sure we will do all of those things, actually I am sure we wont do most of those things but we will probably do a couple. you see it doesn't matter what we do, or how much it cost as long as he feels like mom took time and planned a day to spend with him. it can consist of coming home having lunch on the couch , watching a movie, or reading books, as long as we are together. David is actually quite a homebody so he may end up wanting to come home and hanging out we will see. anyways, what are some one on one things you do with your kids? is God speaking to you about setting some special time to just spend with one child, whether our kids are 1,5, 9, or 15 they still need that time with us.

too much sugar......

Have I ever mentioned that my daughter Liz has the sweetest personality, of probably anyone I have ever met. Now I am not just saying that she REALLY does. she always helps with her brothers, she is patient with them, teaches them things and reads to them, oh and she lets Johnathan sleep with her most nights. she always does her chores, never talks back, and really loves to help out. so yesterday I had my tooth pulled (yes on a Saturday), and Liz was so concerned about me, she asked if I needed anything, kept the boys occupied, and helped her dad out. well my mom came out to watch QVC because she doesn't have cable and wanted to buy some Birkenstock's, anywhoo back to the story.... Liz wanted to spend the night and came in and woke me form my divorced induced nap and said "Mom would it be OK if I spent the night with grandma" "sure sweetie, whatever.." "well mom will you be OK, you know with your hurt tooth and all?" "oh yeah I will be fine go ahead" so she left and called me approximately 45 times, OK it was more like 8 but still when your on darvocet you don't know what your talking about. see isn't she sweet? kind of makes you look over the days that she says things like this:

"mom today at school we were learning about nutrition, and how God wants our bodies to be healthy" "oh yeah" I say, "yeah, and do you know what Mrs.L said" "what Liz" " she said if you eat a lot of sugar when you are little you will get fat and have a big belly" "oh really what did you say?" " I raised my hand and said my mommy and daddy must have ate A LOT of sugar when they were little"..... isn't she sweet!