I hope you never lose your sense of wonder,
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger,
May you never take one single breath for granted,
GOD forbid love ever leave you empty handed,
I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance....I hope you dance.

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance,
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Livin' might mean takin' chances but they're worth takin',
Lovin' might be a mistake but it's worth makin',
Don't let some hell bent heart leave you bitter,
When you come close to sellin' out reconsider,
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

I hope you dance....I hope you dance.
[these lyrics are found on http://www.songlyrics.com]
I hope you dance....I hope you dance.
(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along,
Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder where those years have gone.)

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean,
Whenever one door closes I hope one more opens,
Promise me that you'll give faith a fighting chance,
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance.

Dance....I hope you dance.
I hope you dance....I hope you dance.
I hope you dance....I hope you dance..
(Time is a wheel in constant motion always rolling us along
Tell me who wants to look back on their years and wonder where those years have gone)


*song is on my music down below!

I Hope You Dance....

This morning Livvy and I took the kids to school and dropped off a bunch of stuff for their class parties and as we walked down the halls she skip/kick/danced in front of me. She skips, but when she goes onto her right foot, she kicks her left out. And while she is doing this, she moves her arms with her fingertips touching in front of her and moving both arms out like a ballet dance move.

We stopped at Fry's to grab a couple of things and she was bouncing around on her tiptoes. I asked her if she had to go to the bathroom and she said no. When I asked her why she was dancing around she said,
"Because there is music on."
But of course! :)

Wouldn't it be nice to skip/kick/dance everywhere and dance when there is music on?! AND look dang cute while doing it! :)

So just for today, I hope you dance.......

My New Calling

Well, I have finally been released as the Enrichment Leader. I just couldn't seem to escape that calling! :)
I was asked to be the Young Women's Secretary!! I'm very excited! I LOVE LOVE LOVE working with the Young Women. It'll be tough cause I'll need to go to YW on Wed. nights and Bret has Scouts and YM to go to on Wed. I guess we'll have to divide and conquer. :)

The Bread

The Double Fiber bread I talked about in an earlier post is made by Orowheat. Try it - it's Yummy!

Trunk or Treat

Well, last night was the Churchs' Trunk or Treat. There was a dinner, some games, and Trick-or-Treating from the car trunks. The kids had lots of fun. Here is a picture of the kiddos:


We had a Ghost Bride, 2 Ninjas, and One Pink Jaguar (really a leopard, but she wanted to call herself a Jaguar)

I was proud of myself because Friday night Livvy broke her headband that had her ears on it. I couldn't glue it, so instead I thought of a most ingenious plan! I took a sewing needle and thread and sewed her ears to her hair. I even added a few pokes to the head for breaking her headband. :( Seriously, no - I didn't!

Congrats Blake!!!!!

Congrat's on finishing school! I know it took forever, but it is finally done!! And we think you're pretty special so we dedicate this post to you:

Awesome Graphics at pYzam.com

OH JEN, I'M SOOOO NOT HAPPY WITH YOU! :)

You cursed me! I'm sitting here at the computer adding pictures to the other post and I hear this knocking on the wall. I go into Livvy's room about ready to scream at her cause she is supposed to be taking a nap. And she is asleep. What is that noise?!

(lightbulb moment) A Woodpecker?!

I go out the backyard and a bird flys away from that area of the house where the knocking was. Yep, darn stinkin woodpecker!! You cursed me!
By the way, did you ever find out if a woodpecker means termites? (weak smile)

Another thing - I have more to post about lunch with Jake. But I have a real nice veggie sandwich in front of me and a very thick book calling my name! See Mom, I am so much like you! :) I'll post later.
By the way again, you gotta try this bread - Double Fiber. I think Aunt Hattie or something like that makes it. I LOVE it!! And it has 6 grams of fiber per slice! Very healthy!

What are your plans for today?

Mine are pretty simple. I have been doing laundry this morning and getting my shopping list ready for Walgreens. I need to go and get a few things before the Rebate cut-off date.
I am also taking Livvy and going to lunch with Jakie today @ school. He has been so excited for this for over a week! It all started when the week before last week he wanted to buy his lunch at school. But I wanted to make sure that he knew how to do it and I couldn't go with him that particular day to walk him through it. Yes, I know - overprotective. But I just have this fear that my kids won't get their food! :) Maybe it's some deep rooted concern of my own! :) Besides they only get 2.2 seconds to eat their food so they have to hurry.
Anywhooo, I told him that after Fall Break I'd go to lunch with him and he can buy his lunch. He chose to do it on Chicken Nugget Day. He is so excited and has been counting down. He even told his teacher about it! :)
I had to laugh because he has been having "tummy aches" at school - AKA "missmymommy aches" - the past few days. I'm friends with the nurse and was talking to her about it yesterday. I mentioned that she would definetly NOT see Jake today. He is having Mommy come for Chicken Nugget Lunch! :)

On another cute note, Livvy sure is dang funny! When we take the kids to school in the morning, we listen to Classical music. (Mom, I'm so AMAZING now!) I swear it calms the kids down and me too. Plus, I've learned that if you blare it real loud just before you pull up to drop the kids, the teachers out front and all the other parents dropping their kids off think you are one of those moms! The kind that plays classical music, your kids are super smart, and your life is at such a higher level than the others. Wait, that IS me!!! ROFL!!
Ok, back to the point - on the way home from dropping the big kids off, Livvy says to me, "This is the happy song!" And she danced her arms around to the "happy" music. Then she verbally discusses the "happy" song to Robin and Sonic. I guess they like happy songs too.

Now this gets me thinking - you all probably think that I don't think my other kids are very cute. :) They actually aren't - not in the way Livvy is. But then again, they are 9, 8, and 6. You tend to lose the cute factor at about 5. BUT (there's always a big butt) they have their own amazing traits! When they were Livvy's age, they were just as cute as she is. Only back then I didn't have a blog to discuss their cuteness. Although I DID have a journal that I made for each of them where I wrote down cute, funny things that they did. Or sweet moments in their lives.
So, Livvy is cute! But so was Elizabeth, Elijah, and Jake! And they are all Amazingly, Wonderfully, Glorious "Little" (snicker) kids! And they always will be - "Little" that is (big snicker) - no, seriously; amazingly, wonderfully, glorious.

On a side note, how many of you had the image in your head of me and the 4 freaks in our gray, beat up minivan (oh and we have a vinyl sticker on the back with our family in stick figures - even Dozer which is larger than all of us - seriously, we do). And our Classical music blaring and our hydrolic lift system hooked up so that the van is bouncing up and down. We put those teenage kids (I had to edit myself here - my blog IS public after all) to shame with our getto set up! :)

I'M SO PROUD!!!!!

Today was Awards @ the kids' school. Elijah and Elizabeth both got awards.

Elizabeth got an award for being on the President's List and also an award for Student of the Quarter! The P.E. teacher told me that she was getting one in PE too, but that he could only choose one child.


This is her with her teacher and the Vice Principle.




Elijah got an award for being a Student of Character!


Here is Eli getting his Award


Like the wierd smile?!

I am SO very proud of all 3 of my school kids! During the Award Ceremony I whistled and whooped! Sure, I probably made a scene but do I care - Nope! I told myself that I'll be a loud supporter up until they are too embarrassed to have me around. Then I'll tone it down a bit. But just a bit! :)
I love my kids and want them to know how proud I am of them. So I'll whistle and hollar till my face turns blue and I'll be so excited to see them do well.

So my feathers are all puffed up! Wouldn't you be with kids like this?! :)

That's Too Girly Girl!

Well, I finally got a little bit of time to go shopping. I had a few deals to take care of and some costumes to get. Livvy and I were looking through all the costumes at WalMart and I'd ask her if she wanted to be such and such; things like and angel or a princess. Her response was, "No, that's too girly girl."

What does she want to be for Halloween you ask? Sonic, the Hedgehog or Robin, the Superhero. We couldn't find either. We saw a Robin, but it was for a baby. We ended up getting her a pink leopard costume. She likes the tail and the ears.
"Mommy, I'm going to call it a Jaguar."
And I'm ok with that because her little mouth is SO cute when she says Jaguar!

Lizzy wants to be a Corpse Bride and I'm not sure about Jake. Elijah is easy though. He saw his old costume from last year (Flame from Fantastic Four) and has decided he wants to be that. Ok, I can handle that! :)

I do need to make sure that their costumes are ready to go because we are having a Church party on Saturday. The kids are SOOOOOOO excited!!!! They'll get to do a Trunk-or-Treat and play fun little games. Bret and I don't really dress up. But we might decorate the van for the Trunk-or-Treat.

-----sigh------

Super Saturday is done! We did over $1000 worth of stuff. And it was a lot of fun. I was busy all over the place on Saturday and didn't get to do any of the crafts I got. But I really didn't plan on doing anything anyway.
The kids are back to school today. I feel cheated though. I really wanted Fall Break with the kids to be fun and to do lots of stuff together. It actually turned out to be a boring week for them. I was so busy with getting things ready for Super Saturday that they didn't get to do many fun things. I'm a little depressed today about it.
BUT there is a sense of peace around the house that things are back to normal! Bret went into work for a few hours today too. So right now Livvy is asleep and the house is quiet! I really want to take a nap, but there are other things I want to do too. I really want to get all the stuff from SS put away so I can have my craft room back and then I can do the crafts I didn't get to do on Saturday.
You know, I have always wondered why women need to do crafts. Sure, men have things they enjoy, but it really is the women who need to do things creatively.
Saturday morning when I went to set up for all the crafts we were going to do, there were a bunch of men in the cultural hall playing basketball. I told them that we were going to be setting up in there for Super Saturday and they could use half of the room for their basketball for a little while. They were cool and there wasn't any confrontation (which is good, because I had my shovel tucked in the back of the van for purposes such as this). But while we were setting up, I was real selfconcious. I felt like the men were thinking, "Another crafty women day!" (exasperatedly thinking). And I wondered for a few minutes about why we need this outlet to make pretty things. Even today I feel that itchy "don'twannadoanythingelsebutbecreative" feeling. Even this simple blog is a way for me to be creative. Why do we NEED this?!
And then my thoughts turned more sinister! Men need things too.....

I have to inject here - I swear I just heard a chorus of "FOOTBALL!!!" (exasperated)

Right now my man needs Football and Katan. Those are 2 of his releases and they drive me CRAZY!!!!! I know its silly that it annoys me. (I had to put that last sentence in there - Bret reads my blog too). LOL!
But honestly, in my mindless wanderings of my mind I realized that there are things that we all need that others just don't understand. And its ok!
So Bret, thanks for watching the kids all day Saturday so I could help other women "get their jollies" so to speak. And I'll try real hard to turn the other cheek when Sunday morning, afternoon, and evening games come on. Oh, and Monday night too.

(is it just me or does that seem a little unbalanced?) Just kidding, Dear Hubby! :)

Look At The Beautiful Nature!

There were 2 things that I made a top priority in the hecticness that is my life this week.

1. Take the kids to a park that they love - Sahuaro Ranch Park.
2. Date with DH.

The date is tomorrow and I can't wait - it's been a few weeks!
The park - we went this evening. And the kids had a lot of fun! It's a little bit of a drive from us, but so worth it! We pulled up and piled out of the van. I grabbed the stroller and Livvy stretches her arms out and says, "Look at the beautiful Nature!" I didn't have the heart to point out that we were still in the parking lot and not actually in nature. :)
The kids followed the roosters and everytime one crowed, Livvy got excited and skipped around. We fed the rabbits and even got close enough to pet one. I was secretly proud of my little spazes. I saw other kids chasing the rabbits to try to touch them and ended up scaring them away. My tykes were quiet and bent down and so tender. The rabbits weren't scared and would eat our bread and let the kids touch them.

Livvy danced everywhere. Lizzy discussed the things that had changed since last time we were there. Jake walked around picking up anything that looked interesting. And Eli read every sign aloud to us. I just smiled and enjoyed it all. It was nice to not have to worry about keeping my kids in line - they were free to be free. :)

Mommy, I can't remember what we used to do together!

Jake has had a hard time adjusting to being away from Mom all day. Heck, I'm having a hard time with him being gone all day too! The other day he turns to me and says (very sad), "Mommy, I can't remember what we used to do together!" My heart broke! SOOOO...

Jakie, this is what we used to do:

Livvy and I would take you to school with the big kids and drop you off right in front of the Kindergarten playground. You'd hug and kiss me and walk toward the gate. You always turned to give me one last look. And I always felt a tug on my heart.

Then 2 hours later I'd be waiting in the van to pick you up. On Wednesday's Daddy, Livvy and I would park the car by Frys and walk over to the school. Then we would all walk back to the car. I loved watching you walk kicking rocks, balancing on the sidewalk edge or picking up anything interesting along the way - which was often because we walked right by construction and you LOVED nuts and bolts and stuff.

Then we'd go home and have lunch. I'd fix you lunches like the big kids. You LOVED bologna with mayo! That was odd - no one likes bologna with mayo! :) You'd have chips, capri-sun, and fruit snacks too.

After lunch I'd put Livvy down for a nap and that was our special time! Sometimes you would grab some toys and sit and talk to me. But most often we'd sit and cuddle on the couch upstairs watching Tom & Jerry. If you were sleepy, you'd nap. If I was sleepy, I'd nap too! :) I loved having you cuddle up against my legs - until you started to get too wiggly! :)
After Tom & Jerry, we'd get Pivvy up and leave early to get the big kids. Then we'd wait in the car line watching movies and talking about dumpsters, hummers, and Buzz Lightyear.

We had a fun time together! We both miss those times; but don't worry about forgetting, cause I'll remember for us both.

Parent - Teacher Conferences

Ok, so today was the day! The day where a parent finds out what is REALLY going on in school. And all was great!

I learned that Elijah needs to work on his writing and comprehending. He is in 3rd grade and reads at a 4th grade level but writes a lot lower. And he behaves very well in class.

Elizabeth is doing excellent. She is top of her class in all areas. That doesn't mean as much to me as what else her teacher had to say:
That she is such a joy and a real leader. She is helpful with other kids and he can put her with anyone to help them. Everyone in class likes to work with her. She is trustworthy and behaves wonderfully. I even asked if she talks too much. Surprisingly the answer was no!
I think her teacher is guinely (how do you spell that stinkin word?) happy to have her in his class.

Jacob is also doing wonderful. He's come a long way. At the beginning of the year he just wanted to stay home with mom. But now he loves school and his teacher. His work has improved tons too.

So that went well! :) I'm proud of my Monkies!

On other tidbits, things are well for me. I'm glad the Book Fair is done. I'm really enjoying the PTA though. We had another meeting last night. Lots of fun things coming up to raise more money. Anyone wanna buy a Discount Card? :) There are some other activites coming up for just fun too.

I'm off soda for 2 days now! I actually started (again) on Sunday. But then we went to my brothers house on Monday and that is always a junk food and game frenzy. So I toppled off the wagon - willingly! :) I actually drank so much soda that I was nauseous that night driving home. Kindof cured me for the next day. Soda just doesn't sound good.
It's also been dry here so I'm more dehydrated so all I really want is water.

I have that stinkin Super Saturday coming fast! Still not finding the motivation to do things.

I had a good day shopping after a few weeks of putting that on the back burner. For those of you that don't know, I LOVE LOVE LOVE coupons!! I save generally 70% on groceries.
This is what I got on Tuesday at Basha's and Albertsons:
4 Eggo Waffles
8 personal sized Blue Bunny Ice Creams
30 boxes of Quaker items (granola bars, breakfast bars, and YUMMY YUMMY YUMMY oatmeal!)
1 gallon of milk
2 smart waters
6 24 oz jars of La Victoria salsa
tiny bag of apples (Livvy's snack)
2 bags of quacamole

total = $165
I paid = $15
not too shabby! :)

Other than all that stuff, there isn't much going on right now. Sorry for the boring update!

BE the PERFECT you!

How did you read the title for this post? Did you read it BE PERFECT? If so, look again. Because this is my thoughts, feelings, ramblings for today.

Be the Perfect YOU!!

I have been blessed in my life to have friends from every walk of life. I have seen the wide spectrum of personalities and there is one underlying concept I noticed with each one. They were trying so hard to be perfect. And I got to thinking - perfection is a tricky concept. It's dependant on what YOU think is perfect. Some women's idea of perfect children are kids who run around carefree "expressing" themselves all over the place. But to me, that's chaos. Perfect children to me are the ones that sit perfectly still (there's that word again) and are quite! :)

So "perfect" is an opinion based word. Then it goes to reason, if I'm trying so hard to be perfect, WHO'S perfect should I try to be? My mom's? Sorry, she really is perfect and I just can't be like her - I've tried. :) Or are we trying to be our best friends perfect? How about the very cute mom that you see walking her kids to and from school (by the way, I met her yesterday at the Book Fair)? What about the sweet old lady at church who gives you funny looks when your kids act up?

OR what about that image in your head? You know, the one who wears cute, trendy, clean clothes; who has a clean and nicely decorated house; the kids are spiritual and kind and bordering on genius. The lady you WANT to be! And if you look closely at her, you'll see that she is perfect in all the areas you aren't. AHHA! That's the key!

Why can't we be content with who we are? Honestly; it's natural to aspire to be better. And it's a good and necessary desire. BUT there are other desires that warp our view. To compare ourselves to others and go over the top. Trying to be better along with those other desires makes it a compulsion to look good in others' eyes.

We are who we are for a reason! And we really can't go back and change who we are either. Wouldn't that be nice?! I'd go back to the perfect body! :) It's important for you to look to your strengths and focus on your weaknesses little by little.

"I have a friend" :) who struggles with feeling like a bad mom. I have to take the time sometimes and put my arms around me (oops, I mean HER) and remember why I am a good mom - for MY kids! No one else could raise them the way they need to. No one else could give them the learning that THEY need in life. I feel very strongly that in their lives, they will need the skills that I can teach them. For example, I love people - I really do! My kids are learning that (hopefull) and will need that in their lives. So God gave me children that would need my strengths. And if we truly were Perfect moms, our children will resent us (more than they will anyway). Could you imagine being the child to a perfect mom! Oh Heavens, someone send in the shrink! How many years of counseling will THAT be?!

And while we realize how important our strengths are, we still need to work on our shortcomings!!! I don't agree with the mentality, "that's just who I am." Because although it IS who you are, you still need to work on who you are.

Lastly, we need to support and love each other. Sometimes we need to take a break from those that hurt or harm us. But never look down on someone who is different. You'll never know if they are the ones to help you in your quest to be the perfect you!

I'm doing quite well, considering...

Ok, so another day at the Book Fair. I drop Livvy off at Mela's and head to school. And one of the ladies isn't coming in today - sick. I totally understand, but let me give you a little more info so you'll see the whole picture.

There are only 3 women who are allowed to ring things up on the register. Myself, Wendy (who works at the school), and Valerie (the school Nurse - who needs to be available in case of sick/hurt kiddos). We have other women occasionally to help out, but they cannot run the register.

So Wendy is sick and it's just me and Valerie who can deal with the money and Valerie isn't always there.
Well, around 1pm, Miss Rock (Jake's amazing teacher) comes into the Book Fair with little dude and says, "I think Jake threw up at recess."
"Threw up?!" I ask.
"Yeah, they came in from recess and the other kids were saying, 'Jake threw up. Jake threw up.' " (By the way, how the heck do you use quotes in quotes? Can't remember that from school. I apologize if it is incorrect. But don't worry about correcting me - I really don't care.)
My thought was too much running on a hot day = barf. So I kiss his head, ready to send him back to class and he is burning up. I lean over to Valerie, school nurse, and say, "you wanna run him to your office and check his temp?"

It was 102. Kid is sick. I gave him medicine and he just sat with me at the Book Fair reading all the books. I really couldn't leave - me being one of 2 money people and the 2nd one being the nurse.

So, school gets out and I'm ready to leave and go get my little Liv and suddenly a wave of arms and legs and bodies come through the doors. I guess all the parents who pick up their kids decided to come into the Book Fair. And all the obnoxious 7th graders too. I had some trying to steal things but I got out my shovel and stood right by them the whole time.

An hour and a half later I finally walk out the door with my 3 big ones in tow. We go and get Livvy and I feel so bad for having Mela watch her all day.

We are home now. Jake's medicine is wearing off and his fever is coming out again. Livvy's tummy is upset and it looks like I won't be going to Book Fair tomorrow a.m.
Bret gets home around noon tomorrow, so I'll head on over after that.

And I swear if I hear one more time tonight, "How much does this cost?" I think I'll curl into fetal position, rocking back and forth, "No more books! No more books! No more books!" I might even have to develop some split personalities to help protect myself from emotional scarring! Everyone, meet Tawanda! :)

I'm Mush!

No, not mushy. Although I am that too - it's just not what I'm talking about right now.

Before I was married I worked and worked and worked! Some jobs were 12 hour days of intense physical labor. Sometimes I even had 3 jobs at once. But the past few days I've been doing the Book Fair and I'm POOPED!! It's not even the end of the week and I'm tired!
So yes, I'm Mush. I guess the expansion of my middle region should have been a big indicator. :)

Aside from being exhausted, it's been fun! The kids have LOVED me being at school. And I enjoy seeing them too. They are not worried about hugging me or even kissing me in public - for now. The room where the Book Fair is is down by the Art room and Music room and the kids come in the door down the hall after lunch and recess. So every time I saw them coming, I'd get up and go into the hall and hug my kiddos.
I've missed my Baby though. My SWEET, SWEET, SWEET friend Mela had her all day. And when I picked her up I was so excited to see her. It's really important to have someone watching your child who you trust totally and completely. That is a big reason why I appreciate Mela. I know that I NEVER have to worry about my children at all. Thank you Mela! :)

Today is my "day off" and I have a TON of stuff I need/want to do. I need to clean the bathrooms and laundry. I need to go grocery shopping (which means clipping coupons). I WANT to sit and veg, cuddling Livvy and maybe even a nap. Please give me the strenght to actually do what I NEED to do!

This morning is Walk To School day. It's the first year that AZ is participating and it's only a few schools doing it. Ours is one. So guess what we are doing this a.m.? Yep, walking to school which is a pain in the butt because we live to far to walk. So we are driving part of the way there, parking, and walking the rest. :) But my kids begged for us to do this and I said yes. Somebody smack me in the head please.

Well, I need to go and get the kiddos ready for school. Have a great day everyone!