excting stuff...

So while my exciting news is not as exciting as my sister's was a few weeks ago...it is still exciting to me. I was feeling a bit jealous of my friend Beth because she is going on a vacation without kids for a week. I say a bit because she is very deserving of a break.:) However the other day my friend asked if I wanted to be one in a group to go to Bali. I talked to Ben about it and he didn't mind so in October I am headed here

8 days and 7 nights on my own. I can not wait.

April Fools Day poem by Harmony

Harmony was busy typing away yesterday, and this is what she came up with. She said it was fine if I share....

April Fools day bunny

I’m quite funny
When talking to my bunny
When I go a joking
It always ends up choking
But it will be okay
Just have eat some hay
She’s started grumbling
And stopped tumbling
Then she started napping
Then I started clapping
I don’t know why
So I started to cry
Then I stopped
Then she dropped
Off my shoulder
I’m glad it wasn’t a boulder

grrr!!

You would think,that with hardly any time left before my husband makes his return home, that I would be in a fantastic mood. Maybe even clickng my heels while I do a little happy dance. Well...if you thought that, you would be oh so WRONG! My patience is not currently a resident of my home. I am tired. I am frustrated. My cell phone just died. I have a very short fuse with my kids. I need to clean the house. I need to prepare my lesson for primary and I am just...DONE. I don't want to be a single Mom anymore. And I realized, that I am currently out of milk. Which means a trip to the commissary with all 4 kids. Maybe brownies will also have to be purchased...OK I think my rant is done.Please oh please let me have a better day...and it is only a quarter to 10!

oops...I lied

One more quick thing, if you check out my ctmh website and look under My Art, you can see some of the layouts I have made.I plan on adding a ton more...once I get them done! :)

OK that's it....

scrapbooking

Some people have already recieved an email about this, and if you have feel free to skip this post!

After months of thought, I decided to become a consultant for Close to My Heart. This was a very hard decision for me because at one point I sold Tupperware and can't honestly say I enjoyed it.I liked the product but was definatley not passionate about it.

The very first time that I saw a CTMH catalog, I was instantly in love! I knew that if I could sell anything, it would be these products. At first I was only interested in getting the discount. But as I heard more and more people tell me, " I can't scrapbook because...." Honestly all I heard was "blah blah blah"! :) Everyone has a story to be told. Everyone. Even if you don't have kids. Even if you don't think you have time. Even if you don't think you are creative. If you aren't going to tell your story who is?

So , I will get off my soapbox for now! I just wanted to let people know that I am doing this. I would love to teach people how to scrapbook. If you are local, I would love to do a home gathering for you. Or if that is not your thing, you can order directly from my website. If you are not local, I would love to have you order. Scrapbooking supplies make wonderful gifts! I have put my website on my sidebar, but it is also right here...

And I promise I won't ever talk business again! :)

jackpot!!

Whenever I do laundry, if I find money in the dryer it is automatically mine. I figure it is kind of my payment for doing that load. Makes sense right? Or maybe I should say cents! Today I found the most I have ever found...$17!! Not a bad pay day for one load of laundry!

that's what little boys are made of...

(at Connor's birthday party)
When I think of little boys, a few things come to mind...dirt, sticks, dirty hands, treasures in their pockets, secrets, puppies, mud and more. I have a special place in my heart for little boys...maybe because I have three of them. But there is one little boy, who is not mine,but who just makes me melt. He is adorable. He is Connor's best friend Keegan.

Keegan lives about 5 doors down from us. He is also in Connor's class at school. These boys are literally "as thick as thieves". They are constantly playing together. They search for treasures ( one days finds were a piece of metal, a bottle cap and a marker), they put sticks in to mud puddles, they "camp" in the parking lot by the park, they play bad guys and good guys, Star Wars,build Legos and more. Somedays these play dates end in, "see you tomorrow Connor!" Other days they end in, "we are not best friends anymore", although they quickly forget.

I am so glad that we live in housing where the kids are never hurting for someone to play with. Keegan is one of those fun kids. Today Connor came up to me and said, " do you want to hear what me and Keegan made up?"

"sure"

"ok, I say pinch, poke you owe me a coke!" And then Keegan says," a circle, a dot, I do NOT!" And Connor just giggles and walks away.

Precious memories. Precious boys.

more Ethan writings...

I found these on a table today. He is just the cutest little guy. I need to have Ben show me how to use my scanner so people can see the pictures. Anyway here they are...

" say he is a good guy and a good persin and good and me!"


" It is good to say I love you to your mom and your dad. it's so good to say good things. and your brother and your sister and your baby brother Ivan."

Then it has a picture of Ethan saying I love you and me saying "awwww"

Easter ( so far...)

( the long, ride home)

(what better use for a bucket than your head? I could not find the kids Easter baskets so they had to make do with ice cream ones)
( a family picture minus Ben)
( Ivan with Avery)
While we are not actually celebrating until next week, we did go to primary Easter Egg hunt yesterday. There were a ton of different egg hunts going on but we always like to go and support the church. I knew that there would be a ton of kids at the one on base also. So we headed out to a little park on the beach. I was expecting a lot more kids to show up, but there were only 4 families. Someone said that they had bought between 50-60 bags of candy and was divided amongst 12 kids! Needless to say, the kids were not hurting for candy or eggs. Ivan finally went up to one of the Dad's( whose kids are older) and said, " you help me". And he did. So Ivan got lots of candy and eggs and didn't have to do much work!

On a side note, I absolutely love my camera, but it sucks batteries down like you wouldn't believe. Luckily it is just double A's. But my batteries died during the hunt so I didn't get any pictures of the older kids getting eggs. Oh well. We are celebrating again next week so I am sure I will have ample opportunities!

Ethan's love poem

"Mommy, Roses are red, violets are blue,my heart is filled with love for you."
Everybody say it with me now, "awwww"!

Expect the Unexpected

My kids, like most kids, get a little well...should we say greedy over the holidays? Like Christmas they have a whole list of ideas for what should be in their Easter baskets. I make a very non-commital nod or noise to let them know that I am listening but not necessarily saying yes.

This year, Easter has come at me so fast. I just find it hard to believe that it is already here. This week has flown by and I realized that I didn't really have things ready. With Ben being gone, I knew I would have to tweek things a little but...

The kids have been having a hard time with Ben being gone.Ethan is a major grump and is mad at me for a variety of different things. So unlike him. He is usually a huge Mama's boy but he has been hard to take. Harmony has been drama and she will fall down crying over any little thing. I think they just really miss him. But they keep asking me if he will be home for Easter. I say no he will be home the next Sunday. They just frown and are really unhappy.Upset that he will be missing it.

Yesterday after school they told me that they wanted to wait to have Easter until the next week so he could be there. Even their baskets could just wait. I was shocked to say the least. So today we are headed out to the Easter Egg Hunt, and than I have a baby shower to go too.

I am really glad that we are waiting. I think tomorrow we will really be able to focus on the real meaning of Easter and not on the Easter bunny.Plus I have an extra week and I am sure candy will be discounted!

sexist

Somewhere along the way, I decided that taking out the garbage is " a man's job." I mean come on, it's stinky, bulky, what if the bag is ripped and stuff drips out. Yuck. Maybe it is because ( forgive me if I am wrong) but I never really saw my Mom take the garbage out. My Dad always would. I don't recall ever being asked to take it out while I was younger...my brothers or Dad would. So maybe I am a product of my environment. :)

With Ben being gone, that means that unfortunatley the job falls to me. Or does it? That little Ethan, he got dressed very quickly this morning, and helped me empty all of the bedroom and bathroom garbages. Then he brought out all the flattened boxes for me too. Towards the end, Connor went out and helped him.

I was doing Harm's hair at the time ( more sexism, I don't make her take garbage out!)but I looked out at my boys and told Harm, " when you start dating, you need to date boys like your Dad and brothers. Ones who are gentleman and take care of their women."

She gave me that Harmony look and said, " I don't want to depend on boys. I don't want to be a princess." Now I always realized that she was independent but...

I explained to her that she and I are helping to train the boys. That their future wives will appreciate that they take the garbage out, clean up after themselves, open doors and carry girly church bags. I believe that how they treat their Mom and their sister will directly impact how they treat their wives.

I am not sure she was impressed with my answer, but I told her we need to give them opportunities to be gentleman and to let them know that we appreciate that. Personally I am getting so sick of sitcoms that portray men as idiots. So I want her to value and appreciate how important these guys are in our lives. I also told her that it doesn't mean she can't be a strong woman. And what does she say? " Thank heaven."

ouch

I was never good at science anway...

oiy!!

Seriously, is it time for Ben to come home YET? The kids are driving me crazy and we are only on day 2! You know it is really funny, because I was thinking back to when Ben was still in school.One week he had to travel to San Diego for the Navy ( I believe he was gone Friday-Sunday) and then the next week he had to travel to Vancouver B.C. ( also for a weekend) and I was so worried about how I was going to deal with 3 little ones on my own. A weekend? Right now I would kill for him to be gone for a weekend. And you know what? Back then, the kids couldn't talk, and really only one of them walked really well. My how time changes your outlook...

on my own

I dropped Ben off at the airport at 4 am this morning!! Fun Fun. He is headed to Port Hueneme for 2 weeks. I am very jealous of him going on a 2 week vacation! :) He tells me it is not a vacation but I consider no kids, eating out, and having house keeping a vacation! The kids already miss him and Ivan keeps looking at his car, very confused, saying " Where Daddy go?" or "Daddy's car! Daddy's car!" and then..."Daddy at work." It is going to be a long 2 weeks!

Happy Birthday Seabees

( the Navfac Wardroom, good lookin' bunch huh?)

(my friends Cindy and Tiffany)
( My absolute favorite part of Seabee ball is seeing all these grown men singing the Seabee Song. The Ensigns have to start it off)
( the oldest and youngest Seabee cutting the cake)
(this is our CO speaking
( this is a picture of the centerpieces that we worked on for each table)


After months of meetings, fundraiser lunches, Navfac shirts to be sold, a bake sale, VIP gifts, centerpieces, trips to find latte stones and more...it all came down to...

3 dresses ( finally narrowed it down to the "one"
2 sets of earrings ( 1 broke and the store wouldn't exchange it so Ben bought a brand new pair for me)
a necklace
bracelet
2 pairs of shoes to choose from
make up at 12:30
hair at 1:30 which consisted of 28 bobby pins( and oops chit chat until 3:30!)
get ready by 5
Jonathon ( babysitter) comes and last minute instructions
kisses goodbye
drive to the Marriott
check out the centerpieces
fix the POW table
people start arriving
pictures
dancers
dinner
talking
laughing
good times

self esteem

There is nothing better for your self esteem, like taking a 3 year old into a dressing room with you, trying on a dress and having him say, "Mommy you so pretty".

He is also my very own cheerleader. For example I will be loading the dishwasher and he comes in and says, " yay Mommy you did it!" Well thank you Ivan. Yep cheers for everything. Closing a door, getting him dressed, fixing a lego, turning the tv off, I think you get the picture.

And last but not least, whenever I come home from being gone,or sometimes just coming down the stairs, he will say " Yay, Mommy you are back!"

yep he's just a boost to the self esteem. Except when...oh that would take way too long!

sooo proud

My kids do things all the time that make me swell with pride. They also do a lot of things that make me cringe. But such is the life of a mother, am I right?

Well on Saturday I honestly do not think I could have been prouder of Harmony. We signed up to do the Girl Scout 5k. I had to wake her up at 5:30 ( after she had a pizza and movie night the previous night)and drag her out. She had slept in her "exercise clothes" so all she had to do was get out of bed. We get to the pavillion and it is still completely dark. Let the complaining begin. However, her friends started showing up and she was fine. So before the race she says she needs to go to the bathroom but they are all locked. Uh oh.

She started out telling me that there was no way she was running. At all. I let her use my ipod though and amazingly enough she ran a little bit. So the whole thing was 6 laps around this path. We did the first 3 and than the complaining started..." I need to go to the bathroom. I'm tired. I don't want to do this any more, etc etc) I didn't want to push her but didn't want her to quit either. We get to the 5th lap and she is barely holding on, when one of the Mom's offered her a port-a-potty. Which she happily agreed to use. When she was done, I told her she only had about a lap and a quarter left, did she want to finish and be done or go the last lap. She said, " I said I would do the whole 5k and that is what I am going to do. I want to finish what I started." We told the "official" that we would be finishing our last lap, so Harm's whole troop started cheering for her.

We finished the last lap easily and grabbed hands and ran to the end.We did uhm finish well...dead last but... I have never been more proud of that girl. And it turned out that she was the only from her troop to do all 6 laps.

I am just so proud of her. She could have chosen to sleep in that morning, not ran at all, given up but no. She pressed on. When the going got tough, the tough got going. So very proud. That's my girl!!!

procrastination

For as long as I can remember, I have been a procrastinator. Putting things off until the very last minute. And as I sit and write this, a lot of them come to mind. Like telling Mrs. Yates I forgot my essay at home, and could I run home and grab it? And in actuality I went home and typed it out. ( Sorry Mom!) I still pulled A's in her class though...

Or doing laundry first thing in the morning b/c I forgot to wash something the night before. Packing at the last minute. Or stopping at the store to pick up a baked good that I promised I would bring somewhere and never made something. Those are just a few of them.

So, for the most current in my procrastinating ways, Seabee ball is on Saturday. I have known for a good 4-5 months that it would be falling on Saturday. Seeing as there are a lack of stores here, you might think that I would have bought my dress early. But no. Why would I do that when I could wait until the last minute? About a month ago I found a dress online that I liked. Did I order it? Nope, waited a little longer. But seeing as how I waited, I decided to pay EXTRA to get it here a little earlier. It came today.Phew, wipe the forehead right? WRONG. It is the wrong dress. It's cute. Not the color I picked, or the style but it's cute. It is also huge. When ordering I didn't take into account that it.might.not.fit. Oiy! What is a girl to do? Oh I know, run around the island like a mad woman looking in every store for something.
Nothing like the thrill of the hunt right?

poor poor Ruby

Yesterday morning, Harmony came downstairs. The look on her face was enough to tell me something was the matter. Her eyes welled with tears as she said, "Ruby died." I tried to make her feel better but I am not sure I did any good. Now, gecko's are not exactly rare around here. If she really wanted, she could have gone and caught 20 more. But she didn't. She wanted that one.

I am not the biggest animal person around. I admit it. But watching Harmony deal with this made me sad. Not because of the gecko but b/c Harm really cared about it. I also feel a tad guilty. Why? Because I kind of shrugged her off when she asked if we could go get some lizard food.

Being a Mom is never easy!!

remember...

Remember when a few hours ago I said I was feeling much better? Well apparently I lied. I feel so much nausea. I don't know what it is, but I know if I get up, that is not the only thing that will come up. Isn't that a lovely thought. Being sick is so frustrating. And it reminds me of a quote that I heard.I know I have heard it in a couple of places but whatever. Here it is, for those who haven't heard it...

“Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he has been robbed. The fact is that most putts don't drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just like people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, and most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is just like an old time rail journey ... delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride."
President Gordon B. Hinckley

to my loyal fans...

It has been such a long time since I have blogged. So to all my loyal fans out there, I am sorry. :) I have sooo not been feeling well. But as I am feeling somewhat better I thought I would share what has been going on with us...

We had a trip to the store to buy new shoes for a little boy who is growing so fast that all I want to do is slow time. One morning Connor could not find both of his crocs. So I had him put his tennis shoes on. Barely fit on his feet and honestly they probably hurt that day! So I went to K-Mart and found a pair of shoes on clearance for $9 and when I showed him, he said those were the ones he had always wanted. Sweet.

In an effort to get the kids more active, there have been a lot of visits to the park. Ivan loves going and screams when it is time to leave.

A lot of baseball has been played around here. The kids are really into it right now. Not sure what prompted all of it but it is cute to watch them. They are getting pretty good too!

Harmony has a...pet. She caught a gecko that she has named Ruby. She is keeping it in a pickle jar. she absolutely loves this gecko and carries it around everywhere. She wants me to take her to a pet store so that she could buy gecko food for it. This morning she thought that it had got away and she was upset about it, however Ruby found her way back to Harmony.I would love to get Harmony a dog, she has been sooo cute with this gecko, but with our summer plans I don't think that is going to happen.

Speaking of our summer plans, we are going to have a busy summer. We had planned to leave at the end of May but it looks like more of the middle. Ben has a chance to go and do some humanitarian work in Vietnam, and so he is going to be gone the same time as we are. ( Thus there would be no one here to take care of a dog for 2 months). So Ben is keeping his status as world traveler and I am anxious to get home and do some shopping!!! :)

Let's see, what else? Scrapbooking, grocery shopping, walks, cleaning, going out to lunch, paying off all credit card debt!!!(whoo hoo!), watching a lot of Harry Potter( can't get enough), being sick, and so much more. I am glad I am feeling better as next week is Seabee ball and then Ben is gone until the end of the month (no fun!!). Our lives are way too busy, or should I say hectic?

food, glorious food!!

The other day my friend Cindy tagged me with a food tag. I haven't been feeling well so it took me a little while to do it. 5 things relating to food. Hmmm...ok here goes...

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules.
2. Share 5 food facts about yourself.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post and list their names (linking to them)
4. Let them know they've been tagged by leaving a comment at their blogs.

1) Unlike Cindy I would not consider myself a picky eater. There are very few things that I don't like...and I have the figure to prove it!

2) Ben is very good about going into the kitchen, pulling out ingredients and having them all work together nicely. Not me. I have to follow a recipe to a T. I don't add or substract.

3) When I was younger I went camping with my friend Leslie. While there I had food poisoning.I had never been more sick in my life.However Leslie's father ( he was a jerk anyway) teased me about it and as we drove past a McD's he kept saying he was going to stop and get me some nice greasy sausage. He repeated himself over and over until I threw up again. It took me a verrrrry long time before I was able to eat sausage again.

4) I love recipes. I also love watching food network. I have a ton of cook books, subscribe to recipe emails and more. However, we eat out way too much, and have a lot of prepared foods!

5) I could probably eat Subway every day for the rest of my life.I love sandwiches!

OK I have to tag 5 people, so here goes...Beth, Darla, Susan, Mom and Christy! Can't wait to hear your answers ladies! :)