honesty

so I still haven't watched top chef. I am planning on watching tonight after everyone is in bed. I would like to say i have been so busy that I haven't had a chance to watch it but that is not true, honestly I haven't been doing much of anything. Today since the house is nice and clean I have been sitting around reading blogs, watching the today show, and playing with the baby. oh but I have done a little laundry.

you know what I decided as I was reading blogs today, most of you don't have many more exciting things going on then me and I always have a block on what to write about. I usually have so much to say in real life and believe me I am so funny (not even being sarcastic there) but that doesn't come out on my blog. I wish I was a better writer but I am not so what you will get from now on is honest me. I am going to challenge myself to blog everyday (at least once a day)for a month! I think part of my problem is I wait to long to blog about something then when I want to do it is not that great anymore. so today is day 1/ oh and I am going to give my blog a new look not sure what but something new and fresh =)

Top Chef...

my favorite show is back on tonight! If you remember one of my posts from before I love to cook and I always wanted to go to culinary school. so I am so excited to watch. and pick my favorites! clearly I have no life.... and that alright with me. =)

I am behind..........

I know I am way behind on my ABC's of gratefulness. we have been really busy so I plan to get back on track this week. Just thought I would let you know in case you are wondering where I have been.

Day 2 and 3! oh and 4!

I was super busy yesterday so I did not post my B's so today I got a lot of work to do! this is so good for me because I need to be more grateful for he little and big things in my life!

B's

1. my Boys
2. beach
3. Bible
4. breath
5. baby Jake
6. bread- since i am eating low carb how I miss crusty bread!
7. blessings
8. Biggest Loser- one of my favorite shows
9. beans
10. black- you know it makes you looks slimmer
11. births
12. birthdays
13. beautiful weather we are having right now
14. brother Benny - 2 points! =)
15. books
16. Brinks Deli
17. baked yummy treats
18. bananas
19. brooms
20. bed!
21. blood! I am so thankful for those people who can donate and do because I have had 3 blood transfusions!
22. bouquets of pretty flowers
23. bright colors
24. butter!!!!!
25. brownies with lots of nuts!
26. band aids

now for the C's

1. Christ
2. Clothes
3. cameras!
4. candles
5. children
6. computers
7. chatting with friends
8. cable
9. caring friends
10. clean home
11. camping
12. cookies- although I cant eat them right now
13. car
14. carrot sticks
15. confidence
16. clear days
17. cozy chairs
18. catalogs
19. carry on luggage
20. community
21. containers
22. cheese!!!!!!!!!!!
23. checks
24. clapping (Jake has the cutest clap)
25. change
26. Challenges

I am going to do D too since that is where Teri is too

1. dear friends
2. date nights
3. daughter
4. David
5. daylight
6. devotions
7. dishwashers
8. Daisies
9. drinks with lots of ice
10. Darling Hubby
11. doctors
12. the Dad John is to the kids
13. drawings my kids make me
14. dolls
15. dreams
16. desserts
17. dependence on God
18. dancing (watching my kids dance)
19. detergent
20. dryer sheets
21. diamonds (which I don't own any) =)
22. Dusk
23. discernment
24. DVR
25. discipline
26. desire to be a better mom, a better wife, and a better Christian

Gratefulness

my friend Teri is doing this cool grateful through the alphabet thing and I want to join, what you do is list 26 things you are grateful for each day and start with A and work your way through the alphabet so here goes:

1. Air conditioning! because it gets very hot here!
2. August because I was born in this moth
3. April because that is Liz's birthday month
4. actors and actresses- because I like good TV
5. America!
6. apple pie
7. Australia- because that is where my friend Natalie lives
8. Amazon- I love to look at books on there!
9. age- because I learn more as i grow up
10. Amazing grace
11. arms that can lift my babies
12. angels
13. appliances!
14. air
15. Avila beach
16. abundant harvest
17. airplanes
18. arts and crafts
19. answers from the Lord
20. ability to worship the Lord
21. archives so we can know things from the past
22. advice
23. aprons
24. animals- grateful I don't have any!
25. athletes
26. and a awesome God!!!!!

weekend

• this weekend was fun!
• Friday my friend Dani came by and her son watched cartoons with my boys so we got to play phase 10 and she helped me with some mops stuff. I love playing games, although she won it was still fun.
• Saturday night I got to go on a date with my hubby and some great friends! We had such a fun time although my steak was way overdone so I sent it back and then the one returned back to me was rare GAG! we went to their house and played Tiger Woods golf afterwards. fun times people. fun times.
• today I missed church AGAIN I am so tired of missing church but Jake was acting sick again. I am trying to avoid him getting sick because he has already had 4 or 5 ear infections and I do not want him to have to have tubes put in his ears. plus he had a little tummy issues so I dont think the nursery would have enjoyed that. I did run to the grocery store becasue my brothr and his wife and son were coming over for dinner. John and I watched the race becasue hello Daytona!!! we are bug race fans (well i used to not be but he loves it so I figured I amy as well like it, nad now i love it) neither of our guys won bu oh well. Then I cooked a big ol' Mexican feast for dinner, it was good. I made tacos, rice, beans, and my sil brough drinks and a pineapple upside down cake YUM!
• can you tell my diet is going great?!
• so thats it for now! I will be back tomorrow with some riveting reading I am sure.......
• p.s. whats up with blogger it wont let me skip lines, or check my spelling UGH! excuse my grammar errors please

what dish are you?

You Are The Stuffing

You're complicated and complex, yet all your pieces fit together. People miss you if you're gone - but they're not sure why.

What Part of Thanksgiving Are You?

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!

where I have been....

well mostly home but busy, we started school the kids loved it. David (5) loved his teacher and all his friend, Liz (9) of course loved it she is the one who counts down the days until school starts the first day of summer. we also started soccer practices for both kids. i keep meaning to blog, but figure I will do it in the evening, well this week i have been so tired at night since I get up early... oh well
I have tons of posts I have been jotting down ideas for and I cant wait to share especially with school , soccer, and MOPS coming up I need to put blogging on the schedule. oh speaking of schedules i said i would post mine so here you go: I will probably still do some tweaking but it seemed to work good for this week, so it may stay, anyways here it is:

I think I finally figured out a routine that would best suit my time hopefully it goes smoothly.

dailies that I do everyday so I don't have to list are:
up/dress/devotion
get all things done for the day (pack bags, get water, load car)
make breakfasts/lunches/ snacks
kids up/ eat/ dress
while kids do that get Jake up and bathed and dressed
make beds
vacuum
wipe down bathrooms
empty trash
run dishwasher- when needed but I usually do this at night
make sure kids do chores
straighten up all rooms
cook

Mondays-
L-D-J- school
mops days every other week
no mops week- whatever I want to do but fun:scrapbook, crafts, blog, I really want to learn to sew but will see :)
good cleaning but not a major one
gym-9pm

Tuesdays-
L- D- school
bake
cook (any food that requires prep for the week or prep that can be done ahead of time)
house projects (organizing, specific cleaning, etc)
Liz soccer 6, David soccer 6:30
gym- 9pm

Wednesdays-
L-D-J- school
walking w/MOPS girls 8:30
WW 10am
errands (grocery, target,haircuts, etc)
Liz soccer 6:00

Thursday-
L-D- school
watch Hannah???
laundry day
bills/paperwork
David soccer 6:30
gym- 9pm

Friday-
L-D-J school
deep cleaning day
wash bedding
weekend ready

Saturday-
to be determined
but every Saturday from Sep 8- November soccer games for Liz and David
relax

Sunday-
church day
plan week
meal plan
relax

riveting I know aren't you glad you read this post today......

oh yeah I have been coming up with some ideas for my cooking blog, and I am having my blogs redesigned it is going to be so cool, I cant wait for you to see!

oh yeah!!!!

Exciting news I am starting a new blog! a cooking blog, I am going to try to work on it while I am gone but my idea is to share recipes that I have cooked for years, but also try recipes that friends email me and the post the results all with pictures of course! so you gotta a recipe you have been wanting to try, or a recipe you love that you think I should make???? email it to me and I will make it and let you know how it goes. I think this is going to be SO fun!!! alright back to packing

P.S. I am open to ideas for this blog so let me know what you want to see!

Happy Birthday to ME!!!!!!

and boy was it a uneventful..... I slept in (kind of) the baby woke up at 7 and ate the we went back to sleep until 9:30! I woke up to my boys (4, and 5) were eating every fruit snack, kudos bar, and any other sugary product. BOYS! I tell you. OK so then I cleaned the kitchen and straightened up the house and then I took a nap. oh yes people I leave a exciting life. John came home with presents and of course I love presents! Gifts are so my love language, I love to give and receive! he got me my favorite perfume oh it smells SO good, I got a bottle for Christmas and have used every single drop! he also got me a BIG gift card to Lane Bryant, so that I could by myself some new clothes. So all in all it was a good day, pretty boring but what else do you expect from a 28 year old stay at home mom. Tomorrow is going to be fun I am going shopping, to lunch with my mom, and to take Jake to the doctor, oh yeah people now doesn't that sound fun? It does to me

Hello!

WELL....it has been a few days since I last posted. I don't know how you ladies post something everyday, I try but I don't want to be boring. you all have much more interesting thing happen then me. if I posted every day most of the posts would probably be. I woke up today fed everyone, cleaned the house, read blogs and email, took someone somewhere, etc... so I thought I would give a boring update to what we have been doing for my lovely family who reads this occasionally.

Liz leaves for camp tomorrow after church! she is so excited to be going here. I am excited for her, to go learn about the Lord, do lots of fun activities, but I am a mom, and her telling me how last year she jumped from a rope into a lake, slid down a hill in shorts in a race, and slept in a freezing covered wagon kind of makes me nervous! plus she helps me sooooo much and I will have a lot more work around here! LOL that is kind of a joke! she does help a lot but she really helps with her brothers, they love her, and follow her around, translation: they are not following me around. oh well.

David is almost done with preschool this Tuesday is his last day, I am going to take him school shopping Thursday when Johnathan is in school. He is getting so big, and can not believe he will be a kindergartner in a few short weeks :(

Johnathan is still Johnathan, he is silly that is how I can explain him the best. he smiles when he gets in trouble, cries when he doesn't get a snack, and he still sings SOOOO loud, he is just LOUD period.

Jake is getting BIG he goes to the doctor for his 2 month check up on Tuesday, I cant believe he is 2 months already! today he wore some little old navy overalls I know i am bias but. OH. SO. ADORABLE.

Tonight John and the kids took me to outback since my birthday is Monday and Liz will be at camp. of course it was good!!!! after that we went to Target to get Liz a bunch of sugary loot for her trip and a flashlight, because she can not take her dads MAG light

John and I have been pretty boring, nothing much going on. John working and me getting things ready for MOPS. MOPS is only 6 weeks away! and this coordinator needs to get moving!!!! oh yeah I got my tooth pulled last Saturday, and the dumb thing still hurts!

so I told you, boring post, sorry if your still reading! have a good week I will be back with my oh so exciting Menu Plan Monday! I am off to bed, I got to get up early to go worship and take my baby to the bus for camp

challenge for myself

my challenge for myself this week is to stop lurking on other people's blogs, after such a huge response to my bloggy giveaways, I started visiting other people's blogs, and I thought wow I bet these people want to know who is reading about their lives as much as I do, so every blog I visit this week and hopefully longer I will comment, so they know me. Plus how are people ever going to read my blog if they don't know who I am :) blogging is somewhat new to me and I love it, I get to put a little bit of my life as a wife, mom, and my daily walk with the Lord and how far I have come since I began having babies 9 years ago!

OK you all know I love blogs, they really have taken the place of my "fun" reading nowadays. I used to sit and read a book now I read a blog, sad??? I think not, do you know how many funny talented Godly women there are out there in the blogosphere? TONS! TONS I tell you! today this spoke to my heat so I thought I would share it, the importance of spending time with your babies and not worrying about all the other stuff so much! so enjoy a little wfmw from dcrmom.

not much more summer left....

I can not believe how quick this summer is flying by! I mean it seemed like yesterday that it was the last day of school, and now it is 4 weeks until it starts. I haven't begun shopping for clothes or school supplies, my kids go to private school so they must where uniforms, Liz out grew EVERYTHING she owns, and David will be entering kindergarten thus has never wore uniforms, Johnathan will be going to preschool 3 days a week and also needs new clothes this year for fall him and David are the same size so none of the hand-me-downs will work. I am not complaining just getting it out of my mind into the real world I mean blog world.

our plans for the rest of the summer:

1. 
   
   school shop


2. 
   
   get Liz ready for a week away at camp


3. 
   
   go to the beach the week before school starts


4. 
   
   go to all the parent meetings before school starts


5. 
   
   clean and organize Liz's room while she is at camp


6. 
   
   get my tooth pulled (it has hurt for 7 weeks it is time people!!!)


7. 
   
   get the pellet out of David's ear (long story a whole post in itself will post all the details after the surgery)


8. 
   
   get things ready for MOPS

that is a lot in 4 weeks on top of all the other stuff I do in a day. so why I am sitting here on the computer I have work to do people! I think I will get a good night sleep and start tomorrow!

summer TV.....

tends to be ummmm a little lame! I like to watch TV as I sit on my laptop and read emails, blog, and look at recipes or what have you. well my choices for TV I was thinking were going to be less than appealing, but I have seemed to find a few keepers. now if you have read my blog before you know I love me some reality TV, I heart reality TV. not the dating shows but things like survivor, amazing race, and Americas next top model. oh yes people I know I have some decadent taste in my TV shows. now I also like a good morning talk show, The View , Regis and Kelly, and Oprah. OK so back to summer. have you all watched Big Brother? love it! OK so my favorites, evil, and Eric, but i do not like Kale, and Danielle, in case you were wondering so in case you are looking for something to watch here are a few of my favorites that are not on rerun

1. 
   
   
   the view



2. 
   
   
   live with Regis and Kelly



3. 
   
   
   big brother



4. 
   
   
   top chef



5. 
   
   
   hells kitchen



6. 
   
   
   house hunter



7. 
   
   
   Detroit/Dallas/Kansas city swat



8. 
   
   
   the next food network star



9. 
   
   
   baby story- I know you are only supposed to watch this while you are prego but I love it!



10. 
    
    
    anything having to do with families of lots of kids like on discovery and TLC

just in case you needed some TV choices....

Who's your baby!

alright people! dcrmom led me to a great tool, called Picasa, it is through Google, and you organize, enhance, and do lots of fun things with your pictures! I am so excited I had to show you a picture of my future Star! I see rapper in the future???? I think not! oh yeah that is a pacifier, on a gold chain, you know you like the bling! N-I-C-E!!!

I bought that onesie at oldnavy, love it!

IT'S HOT......

and when I mean hot I. MEAN. HOT. REALLY. HOT!!! when I watched the news last night they said it registered downtown at 113 degrees what??? a friend invited me and the kids over to swim today so I thought oh great idea the kids can swim for 2 hours get good and tired and come home and nap, so we get there and swim they had so much fun, we only stayed an hour and a half, it was too hot for the baby, I felt like a bad mom I should not have taken him out, BUT I wanted the boys to nap today, they didn't so i was a bad mom who was sweaty, grumpy, and irritated at the world.

Have I told you I am hungry? I am on WW and today I felt really hungry all day. but it is too hot to eat right now.

4th of July!

I tried to post yesterday but my stinkin computer or stinkin blogger wouldn't let me! oh well now I have pictures, we had a great 4Th of July, the kids had fun swimming at one event and eating and playing on a big slide thing at another here are some pictures!

why am I blogging?????

when I should be getting things ready for retreat?!!!!! I sat dow to my computer to type up some stuff for retreat and noticed i had some email, so I checked tht and then decided to read some blogs, but i like so many it took a while. i plnned on working from 9-12 and it is 12 and i have done nothing. to my defense John got home from bible study at our church and we sa and chatted, now my hubby normally goes to bed at 8 and tonight he stayed up until 10:30!!!! wow he is living la vida loca tongiht! it was nice to talk without the kids interupting us. so retreat is tomoorrow and now i have to be under pressure, which I am pretty good at anyway so tomoorrow I have to finish my work!!!! I will, hey I got the house cleaned today that is progress!

Procrastination....

must be my middle name, figuring my mother did not give me one it may as well be procrastination right? no really, OK those who know me know I love MOPS really I do, I am the coordinator of a awesome group really the best group and I know the Lord has called me to this awesome ministry that I hope to serve in for a long long time. Well every June we have a annual leaders retreat that I have to plan, well that retreat is in 4 days

4.

days.....

what have i done you ask???? I have read the surveys, yup that's it, read the surveys.

So I have got to get to work on this. I have lots of ideas running around in this brain of mine but I need to get them down on paper. wish me luck.

P.S. don't forget I have a 3 week old gotta give a girl some grace right? in refrence to the picture I am not complaing I promise ;0)