Most precious to me...

-- Post From My iPhone

Gotta love eBay!!!!

Wooooeeee I just sold some leftover curricula from last year and made $200+! I'm happy bout that...now I can buy some fabric for fall/winter outfits for the kids. Also thinking about investing in a resale kit from old fashioned candle co...LOVE those candles and love their company, great family owned business.
Hub is in Indiana preaching a revival, Chandler got to go along since the pastor there has a son his age. We sure miss our daddy and bubba! Life is sorta plainish with them gone.
They will be back next Wednesday after which I have a quick run up to sactown for school business and then after church on Sunday we will be heading down south to Disneyland! Kids are superstoked about that.



-- Post From My iPhone

Eating out

Wow, eating out everyday is "eating us alive"! It is very expensive as well as difficult to eat healthy.
I will be so thankful when our kitchen at the church is completely finished so I can broil salmon, bake chicken and make fresh salads again.
Right now we are sitting at Corsaros Family Pizza sharing a small pizza and a mini order of cheesey breadsticks.
This morning for breakfast, we went to a small Mexican grocery store where I told the kids to find something nutritional to begin the day with. They chose bananas, yogurt, green tea/vitamin water/milk/apple juice. Only one child had a complete meltdown due to the absence of white donuts in our cart. I stood my ground and after about 15 minutes of sniffling "he" consented to having a yogurt with his milk.
Looks like a nutrition study unit will be first on the to do list school-wise.



-- Post From My iPhone

Still insomniatic

Ava is lying diagonally across my bed. Hubby is snoring softly. Leaky faucet is dripping incesantly-trying to imagine it's gentle rain is not working. Dog is barking outside my window. (it's not mine or it would be 22 material) white noise machine isn't masking any of this. Long day tomorrow. What to do? I've prayed, I've surfed ebay, (nuff said) I've surfed etsy, (nuff said) I've updated my blog at least 8 times. I still refuse to go to facebook. Why? Nothing spiritual or deep. Totally personal...I like my friends there don't get me wrong but having to read their status updates so frequently is just simply annoying. Some people are hilarious and cool then others just...idk just bug the fire outta me. So. I just figured it wasn't worth the time I was wasting. So I'll waste my time here in blogland where if someone wants to read me they can. If not they can politely stay away. Nice. And I can do the same. Nicer.

Btw the dog's barking seems to have escalated into an unconteollable panic frenzy. Must be way too many cats meandering about. I need a lunestra pill or something. I'm never drinking coffee again. I really like it but this stinks.

Got a Jillian Michaels 30 day shred DVD. Haven't started yet. Need to. Next week.

The drippy faucet is making me crazy. More than the rumbling in the corner.(snoring)

I need ear plugs!!! Why oh why did I not buy some today?

Ok enough rambling...I'm hungry now. That's what happens when I can't sleep. I get hungry. I will not dig into the double stuffed oreos in the cupboard. Nor the fritoes. Nor the chex mix. There are some oranges and nectarines but I won't touch those either. I will let my stomach growl away. Maybe it will start competing with the snoring hubby. Or the barking mutt. Argh. I am thoroughly irritated.



-- Post From My iPhone

My blue eyed dolly

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The farmers at work

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Chicken Snatcher Caeden

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Elise and Geronimo

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The buckin bull riders!!!

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Ava and Baby(dads catahoula)

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The insomniac

Per usual, I can't sleep, drank a venti iced soy latte today...

Have Sunday school curriculum themes swirling through my foggy brain...trying to tie them in with our home school lesson plans. Medieval History is the plan, thinking a big castle backdrop with little lords, ladies, knights and damsels. Renaissance costumes aplenty...a trip to Medieval Times as well.

In additionto that I have fall photo shoot ideas brewing...sewing projects, crafts etc. (sigh)

I so wish I was like my hub and began the snoring before my head hit the pillow.

Also, I finished all my homework for the week today. Big accomplishment. New class-Survey of the Exceptional Child. Love it. Disabled children are so special.

Additionally, I painted the church kitchen. It looks incredible. One wall is cornelian red (kilz) the other 3 are golden margarita (also kilz) love love LOVE the colors. I'm totally pleased. Doing the cabinets black. Flooring will be black and white lino. Stainless steel accents. Sweet.



-- Post From My iPhone

Hot cheetohs

Nothing soothes the burn of a hot cheetoh but a........nother hot cheetoh


-- Post From My iPhone

Six Flags!

We had a blast yesterday at Six Flags Disovery Kingdom...Ava and Caeden love "big" rides and had big meltdowns when they weren't tall enough to go. Notice I didn't add Chandler to that sentence-he breathed great sighs of relief when he failed to meet the 58" height requirement...he is a big scaredy cat! The alltime fave for all the kiddos was the Tony Hawk Big Spin roller coaster, short but very fun!!!
Here are some pics of Ava on The Ark...top row!!! She was squealing with delight!





-- Post From My iPhone

Moving

Moving stinks!!! We are moving to our church for a few months. It's a looooooong story as to the dynamics facilitating this change; however, I am happy because I am no longer doing daycare and I am ready for some simplicity in my life. I have a fabulous plethora of curricula for my kids this year! ALL my children will be officially in school which amazes me. I want to spend my time where ur matters most. With my precious children and in the House of God. I can't complain He has been so good to me!!! I love you all and covet your prayers these next few weeks. It's sometimes difficult to move etc because we don't have any family nearby. I have been putting stuff in storage daily and about 50% of the move is complete but the last seems the hardest...especially when trying to please a landlord so as to receive our deposit back.
I'm posting this with my phone, that's why I am a bit rambly LOL!!!

God bless all my friends and even those who really are not. I wish Jesus would come tonight because I am ready to go!

-- Post From My iPhone

I like my iPhone

Here I am sitting in Berean waiting for a bible to be inscribed for a great young person in my church! It's so awesome to be able to post on my blog while I have a spare moment. Much much better than taking the time to log on my pc at home when laundry awaits.

There is a beautiful picture of a little girl standing at a rustic looking door and the scripture "seek and ye shall find, knock and it shall be opened unto you" is printed on it. I am going to imitate it with a picture of Ava for my hubbys office! I can't wait, it's going to be so gorgeous. So now I'm on the hunt for an interesting doorway so if you know of one near me please let me know!!!

Have a great week bloggie friends!!!


-- Post From My iPhone
Ps this is a pic of my kiddos catching chickens!!! Just practicing posting photos, this is so cool!!!

This is a test!!!

Wow, I finally got an iPhone. I am so excited! Ok so there are all these must have apps for it and I just realized I can blog with it too! Hey the other day I actually took a university test on it and aced it so it's all good in the hood peeps. I will be back cuz I definitely love blogging but hate sitting at the computer. Would MUCH rather lay on the couch or something. Cheers!!!!


-- Post From My iPhone

Time is Flyin'

Arrgh...time sure does fly whether you're having fun or not I think!

I can't update my blog much these days because we only have dial up at the house so my internet usage is pretty much limited unless I go to Starbucks which is where I am right now. I come here to do homework, log attendance for the kid's school and other businessish things I need to do. SO by the time I am done with all of that I am usually frozen solid, with my hinder parts numb and my brain fried so blogging is the least of my worries. Plus I usually really miss my family by that time so I am rushing home to kiss them.

Today however, I set aside this whole day to do homework as I have 4 assignements due-2 are due tonight and 2 are due monday night. I wanted to do them all so that I can relax over the weekend in Sacramento. Unfortunately, I got 1 assignement completed and the university server went down and I can't even retrieve my instructor's email addy to inform her of my problem. So I am very frustrated, I have multiple things on my to-do list but #1 was homework so.......*shake fist**stomp foot*

Geronimo

Here are some pics of the kids with our newest family member Geronimo. He's a gorgeous paint gelding who used to do Gymkhana with a little girl named Angela who so graciously has allowed us to provide him a new home. He is fitting right in as you can see!

Here Chandler is riding Geronimo bareback while Elise leads.

Now Caeden is riding bareback while Elise leads.

This is Ava's first time riding!

Just a pretty girl I saw in the field

"Farmer Chundo"

Goats

Well, we got some goats for the little farmers-to-be! They had a blast picking them out. They got a boy and a girl and named them Jack and Jill. Jack is a sweet thing but Jill is as mean as all get out. Doug says if she doesn't straighten up we'll be having goat stew! Anyhow..we got 2 pigs also, I'll try to post pics of them soon. Enjoy these!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Home from Disneyland

Whew! What a trip! Fast and furious and a total blast. After celebrating Thanksgiving for TWO days at my parent's house, we left early Saturday morning to meet my husband's brother and family in L.A. We met them on Sunset Blvd. at Le Croissant Club- a great place to eat if you like Mediterranean food-which I do wholeheartedly. They have a great selection of items for those who would rather stick to chicken fingers and other forms of nonadventerous fare.

We walked up and down Sunset Blvd till evening...stopped at the Disney store for a pre-disney sampling of disney inspired lollipops.

That evening, we drove to Rialto and stayed with our awesome friends Patrick and Holly Garrett...got to see Katie and Philip Booker and their gorgeous kids too-what a treat!

The next day was Sunday so we took a drive to San Diego-did the 8 boat tour deal and finished the day off at Rockin' Baja's Cantina...I love the place but this time all it seemed to do was rock our pocketbook a little too much...I guess it was the "big trip spending initiation night". I told Doug that after that we'd have to survive on PB & J for the rest of the trip...SO on the way home we stopped at Winco and bought a cart full of groceries to last us throughout the week.

The next morning we began our trek to Disneyland...it was awesome, the crowds were slim Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We park hopped all three days...I had never experienced "Tower of Terror" so one morning, Elise, Caeden, Ava and myself were the first to arrive to California Theme Park...Caeden had said he wanted to go on it, Elise had already been and wanted to go again, poor Ava had no choice in the matter and I figured I'd better get it over with before I got stereotyped as a feathered creature that lays eggs. So we bravely entered the big scary room where they show you videos of scary twilight zon-ish phenomenons.

Oh my goodness...that ride is FREAKY!!! It was VERY cool...I am NOT afraid of it I promise...but I will say I felt like the world's WORST mom for taking my little innocent babies on it. I couldn't even scream I was trying so hard not to puke...Caeden and Ava both had huge eyes and huge mouths the entire time. Ava cried but at the end guess what Caeden said? "THAT was UNbelieveable!" I said "Really Caeden? You liked it?" He said "YES!" I said, "Wanna go again?" He said "NO." BUT when the rest of our party joined us a few minutes later and wanted to ride too, guess who joined them? AVA! Yep, she rode it AGAIN.

So I guess you could say that was one of my big highlights...other than the one time I spent $5.75 on a chimichanga...that was pretty exciting.

On Wednesday night, I left the crew enjoying ice cream at the Ice Cream Parlor so I could have some time of solitude and concentrate on the 4 assignments I had due the next day. Unfortunately, I had severe internet access issues and wasted my entire evening stressing out about it.

The next day, Thursday, was stressful since I knew I still had to complete my homework and the crowds were reaching excessive numbers at Disneyland so we decided California Theme Park was the place to be. We hit downtown Disney that night after the parks closed which is basically what everyone ELSE was doing too which made it very unpleasant for those of us who despise crowded walkways. Really doesn't do too much for self esteem you know...you're just inching along being sandwiched by strangers on all sides...sort of a panicky weird feeling. The looming homework assignments weren't helping me cope either. I ended up staying up till midnight that night completing them.

We took Ava and Caeden to Build-a-Bear which they'd never been, since they both still had some spending $ left. They thought they were in Heaven. It was so neat to see them having so much fun.

The next morning, I had made plans for Maxine, (my sil) and I to go to the LA garment district and the guys were going to keep the kids at the hotel to chill out and do laundry. That plan quickly changed however, when my hubs bro decided to upgrade his tickets for one more day at Disneyland. Our kids have season passes so of course they were eager to join in on one more day of chaos. They had a blast...went on Grizzly River Run a dozen times, got soaked to the skin.

On Saturday, we spent the day with Patrick and Holly again...relaxing...doing the laundry that didn't get done...four wheeling...laughing...basically just goofing off. Didn't leave their house till 6:30 pm...didn't get home till 11:30 pm and by this time I was feeling that tight chest, sore throat, pounding headache coming on. But it was WORTH it!!! I am better already...nothing a few nights of normal sleep couldn't fix!

Managed to get up the next morning for church, after which we had an appointment to meet our new landlord to get the keys to our "new" house. After that we took the kids to pick out a Christmas tree which we took to the "new" house with a thermos of hot chocolate and my ipod with Christmas music on. We set it up and decorated a few areas in the new house before anything else was in it.

This morning, at 9 o'clock 2 trailers arrived at my "old" house to pick up my furniture and any boxes I had ready. (not very many I'm afraid)

SO!!! I have been planted firmly in my computer chair today diligently picking up the pieces of my neglected studies. Finished a paper and took a test...got 100% prayz'im!

I think I might be a bit outta my mind at the moment...so here are a few pics for you to enjoy.

Tomorrow, my mom is coming to help me do the rest of the packing and moving. Hopefully we'll be settled in by the weekend. We'd better cuz Richard and Jessica are coming for the weekend!!! YAAAAY!!!! Can't wait.......partay!!!!!!!!!

Bradley, Elise and Chandler getting ready for the parade

Just a pretty girl I saw at Disneyland
Having a thrilling time on "Dumbo"California Scream!!!!

The gang...minus Brooke who escaped before the camera could get her!

Elise, Minnie and Ava...

My cute niece Brooke