a busy, busy week

The Turners left bright and early this morning, and with that, our busy week will hoopefully be slowing down. Back to our normal life, back to our normal routine.I love normal.I love routines. We really enjoyed their visit and there was so much going on while they were here. So consider yourself warned. First things first...

On Saturday we had Connor's birthday party. We figured that Connor would not always have a chance to have a pool party on his birthday so we went down to the pool on base for his party. He had insisted on a baseball cake but once he started looking at the book...he went with Star Wars. We bbq'd hot dogs, swam, open gifts and just played. He got some fun gifts and was anxious to get home and play!

Later that night, we decided to go to Planet Hollywood for Connor's birthday. The kids were pretty worn out but we ate and than went to a gift shop close by. Christy had souveniers that she wanted to buy so we walked around there.I wanted to get some picture of downtown Tumon ( the tourist-y area) but while pushing Ivan they weren't that great. But that's ok...

Wordless Wednesday

How my kids kill time at K-Mart...

thirty reasons...

that I love my thirty year old!!

1) sooo hot
2) hard working
3)kind
4) merciful to me and others
5) always wants to help people
6) intelligent
7) his talent for woodworking
8) he is a good cook
9) he is a wonderful father
10) he indulges me
11) he can fix anything
12) he plays baseball with the boys
13) he takes Harmony out for snorkeling
14)supportive in the things I want to do
15)because he likes to have fun
16) because he can take a joke
17)because he makes me laugh
18)he buys Lego's for the boys so that he can play
19)because he understands how Harmony feels ( being the oldest & only girl)and can talk toher about it
20)because he takes his priesthood responsibilites seriously
21)because he calls when he will be late
22)because he looks so cute when he falls asleep with one of the kids
23)he is patient with me
24) he is stubborn 9( I only love that up to a point!)
25) he wants what is best for me, even if it isn't what he would want
26) he knows how important family is
27) he spoils me
28) he cuddles in bed when he gets cold,because I always have the a/c and the fan on
29) he lets me keep the temp.in the house where I want it
30) he loves me

Happy Birthday Honey! I now have officially known you more than half your life! Love you tons!

more Falls pictures

Talafofo Falls

So after a slow start yesterday, we did finally get up to Talafofo Falls. We took a longer route to try and keep Ethan from getting sick. He is the absoolute worst when it comes to getting car sick. There were tons of places that we drove past that I would love to go back and get some photos of. Anyway...

We got there and the first guest to welcome us was this huge pig. Apparently he eats anything because Ben dropped a reciept and the pig snatched it up and ate it!!

Living in the gorge, I have never had to pay to see waterfalls. But after a military discount and being charged as locals instead of tourists, it wasn't as much as we thought. Although still a lot for just looking at a waterfall. Know what I mean?

We went down the cable car ( which Harm was totally freaked out about BUT did great!) and then walked around the falls. It was really beautiful and we got some fabulous pictures. We walked back up on a suspension bridge( that once again freaked harm out but not the boys) and then viewed some more of the falls. Once we got up there we walked around in the water. You weren't actually supposed to swim, but thanks to a lot of slick algae on the rocks, I being so graceful, slipped and fell. And brought Ivan down with me.We did make it out unhurt though. After the ducks were loaded up on goldfish crackers,we decided to head home. We had intended to hit the beach but the kids were exaughsted and so was I.

languages

Ethan is getting really good at speaking Spanish. He loves his culture class (about Guam and learning Chamarro) but he also loves to learn spanish. He is constantly surprising me so well he can speak it. So we were driving and I asked Ethan if he had learned how to roll his r's yet when he replied..."no but I can roll my eyes." So funny!

a busy blogger

We have been really busy this week. First we were preparing for the Turners to come (Ben's parents) and now we are busy trying to keep them entertained! They arrived on Wednesday night and the kids have talked their ear off non-stop since they landed! :)

Because yesterday was full of Valentines parties and bake sales etc. I sent the kids to school. Today however, we are going to go and play "tourist." I am excited to see some of the sites on Guam that we haven't made it to yet. I will post pictures later today.

Last night was sooo nice. We actually got to go out on Valentines day! That hasn't happened for a long time. We went with two other couples and had a blast. Watching "Over Her Dead Body" which I thought was cute. Predictable but cute. Then we went to a bookstore and then onto LoneStar for dinner. Just a fun night of laughing and talking. Until one of the husbands scared me to death! ( I am going to kill Kory for that Tiff!)seriously a fun night.

I have to go and clear my memory card. I will try and keep posting while the Turners are here but no guarantees on that one! :)

soo excited...

Can not wait for this...

( a bit choppy but...)

A fairy tale?!

Once upon a time, in a land far far away, (somewhere near Guam) there was a girl. This girl was smart, beautiful, interesting, sweet, artistic and more. Unfortunately for her, she lived in a perpetual state of “ that is soooo unfair!” Her life was very rough. She is expected to do her homework before playing on the lap top. She is not allowed to do said homework on her Mom’s bed while watching Zack and Cody. She is expected to help her brothers straighten up the living room. And when she throws a fit about it, her mean mom sends her to her room. Speaking of rooms, he poor girl has her own room. “ But that is not fair, I don’t have two people cleaning my room! “ she cries. Her “meanest Mom ever” makes her use he own money to buy a travel size packet of strawberry scented tissues! Life is never fair. The poor, poor girl. There is always so much expected of her.

How will this story end? Only time will tell…hopefully the meanest Mom ever will have lived to tell it!

snip snip

Harmony has been growing her hair out forever. She had intended to wait until it was long enough to send to Locks of Love. Well...it was starting to cause us some problems. It was getting really tangly, hard to brush out, she didn't want to sit still etc. I finally told her she was going to get a hair cut. I am mean I know. But it was just as much of a hassle for me as it was for her. I said at the least she had to get it shoulder length. After that it was up to her.

Last Friday my friend Tiffany came and did it. And Harmony loves it! I keep finding her checking herself out in the mirror! :)It's cute.Plus it has hardly taken any time at all to do in the mornings. I don't know if she will ever grow it out again but for now we are happy.

I forgot to take a before picture but I did snap a good one of when she was working on her science project the week before. So you can see how much was cut off!

a new blog

..in addition to this one. I know how many blogs does a girl need? Anyway this is a homemaking blog. If you are interested you can go to MarthaWannabe Just a place to do all my home challenges!

Hmmm...

I took this quiz that my sister had on her blog...
Find out Which Lost Character Are You at LiquidGeneration.com!

What do you think?

baseball fever

Is baseball still America's favorite pasttime? Well, even if it isn't, it is sure getting popular around this house. Ben has always wanted the boys to play baseball, however, they never showed any real interest. The mitt he bought was slowly gathering dust. Then all of a sudden, they wanted to play. So Ben decided that the best way to do that was to teach them to play catch first.

They did pretty well and have been talking about it ever since. Every day before Ben gets home they say, " Mom make sure to remind Daddy that we have to play baseball when he gets home."

Unfortunatley, Ethan took a ball to the face. Which is why Ben reminded me that, " you start out with tennis balls because they don't hurt as bad."

ageless

Last night, there was a knock on our door. Connor and I went to open it and there was a guard standing outside. He looked at both of us and then said, " are your parents home?" I said "uhm yeah I am the parent." To which he replies, " oh I am sorry Ma'am." I told him " you don't have to be sorry about that!"

Unfortunatley we couldn't help him but he has now earned a spot as one of my favorite guards! :)

MPM

Part of my attempt to be a better homemaker, I realized that one of the things that I really needed to work on, was my meal plans. Sometimes our meals are so sporatic. One day I want to make a full course dinner, the next it is mac and cheese. So I want to have it all planned...even if it is mac and cheese! If you want to check out Laura's site and get some ideas you can go here

Monday: ( Happy Birthday Ivan!!)
B: eggs and ham
D: turkey burgers and hot dogs, tater tots, fruit and birthday cake

Tuesday:(Ben & Harm gone)
B: pancakes
D:chili pie casserole, carrots,

Wednesday:
B:cereal
D:pork loin, rice, vegi's and rolls

Thursday:
B: muffins
D:spaghetti, salad, garlic bread

Friday:(date night)
B: leftover pancakes and muffins
D:leftovers

Saturday:(from now on every Sat will be pizza night!)
B: cinnamon rolls
D:pizza

Sunday:
B: kids pick
D: crockpot roast, carrots and potatoes, rolls

Happy Birthday Ivan!!

I must have blinked, because how could three years go by so darn fast?! When the kids were younger, I wondered if I would ever get out of the diaper/bottle stage. And then the next thing I knew, it was over. And when Ivan was born, I was suddenly thrown back into it. And now he is three. My BABY is three. Somedays I wish I could just bottle the littleness up and keep him forever. Others I can't wait to see the little boy and than man he will turn into. Awww...just feeling so sentimental!

patience is a virtue...

...that 3 year old boys just don't have. ( Most adults don't have either so...) We had decided to celebrate Ivan's birthday around three, when the kids got home from school. Ben has the day off today, for Super Bowl Monday ( yep it's Monday over here). I decided to give Ivan one gift though, so that he would have something new to play with during the day. Unfortunatley, he saw the big birthday bag. He stared longlingly at it and then waited for me to leave the room. I went upstairs to gather laundry and came down to find him digging into his gifts. The big gift he left in the bag but...

I have to go and pick up his cake later. I wasn't going to get him one, just make cupcakes or something. But then, he started talking about having a Buzz birthday cake. I don't know how/wh en he realized he could get a cake with Buzz on it but...I took him to the commissary to order it but he changed his mind when he saw the Thomas cake. He cried and cried when he realized he couldn't take the cake home with him yet!


A funny story about the bag that Ivan is trying to dig into....I have always been one to keep bags. Always. Just saves me having to wrap later! Well this bag ( does it look familiar Mom?)has been at our house since Ethan's 1st birthday! Mom had gone shopping for his birthday and just put all the gifts in that bag. Well, we started using it the same way. Ecspecially when the kids were still small and couldn't get wrapping paper open. And we still use it today. How much longer do you think that bag will last?

a good steward

So as I was putting the pictures of Harmony and Ivan ( the previous 2 posts)I started to notice a few things. For example, as Harmony was doing her science projects, she was sitting at a table that still had not been cleared off from lunch. The way it shows up though you don't actually see the ketchup bottle. In the pictures of Ivan, the kitchen counters are obviously not cleared off!

This weekend has been kind of crazy ( which is why I didn't get a chance to call you back Susan!!!)and I noticed that when my house is cleaner I am happy and calm. When it is not, I am stressed, irritated and in a bad mood.

It is becoming increasingly important to me to get my home and life more organized. To be a good steward. So starting today I am going to do better to take care of my home and family. I am not striving for perfection, just some major changes. Which of course I will be recording here! so stay tuned!

I realize that my blog has been pretty "churchy" lately, but as it is, my blog, I can pretty much write whatever I want. So I wanted to share a part of an article, that has sparked me to want to make this change....Mothers Who Know

"Mothers who know are nurturers. This is their special assignment and role under the plan of happiness.5 To nurture means to cultivate, care for, and make grow. Therefore, mothers who know create a climate for spiritual and temporal growth in their homes. Another word for nurturing is homemaking. Homemaking includes cooking, washing clothes and dishes, and keeping an orderly home. Home is where women have the most power and influence; therefore, Latter-day Saint women should be the best homemakers in the world. Working beside children in homemaking tasks creates opportunities to teach and model qualities children should emulate. Nurturing mothers are knowledgeable, but all the education women attain will avail them nothing if they do not have the skill to make a home that creates a climate for spiritual growth. Growth happens best in a "house of order," and women should pattern their homes after the Lord's house (see D&C 109). Nurturing requires organization, patience, love, and work. Helping growth occur through nurturing is truly a powerful and influential role bestowed on women."
If you want to read the whole article you can go here

I leave the room for 5 minutes...

and this is what I find. Grrr! I had put that Lego creation on top of the microwave to keep it safe. But while my back was turned, he got on top of the counter and got not only the Lego's but some Nesquick too!

science geek

Last night I was with a group of women from church. And as mothers do, we started talking about our children,nad some of the experiences that we were dealing with. And as I thought about what some people were going through, it hit me that the one thing we all had in common was that we just want the best for our children. Unfortunatley, we don't always know what the perfect thing is.

Harmony is a science geek. She LOVES everything and anything having to do with science. From astronomy, to animals, to volcano's and everything else in between. She loves it all. Her teacher was telling me the way that she thinks and tests things out is amazing. She has a real aptitude for it.

I want so badly for Harmony to reach her full potential. To just give her opportunities to helpher grow. To just water that little seed of curiosity that she has. But how do I go about doing that? She has so many things going on in her life with Girl Scouts, school, Achievement Days and we are talking about putting her back in swim lessons. I am thinking about looking into some home school science courses for her....other than that I don't know what else to do.

Today she recieved her Christmas gift from Grandma T. ( You have to love Guam and their prompt shipping) and her little eyes just went wide with excitement. A science lab. " Mom it is even from the Smithsonian!!" She has been busy with it all afternoon. I think she was most excited about the microscope. I thought these pictures turned out cute!

a touching tribute

My friend sent this to me and I wanted to share.

sweetness....

"Ivan, what does a bee say?" "buzz buzz".

"What does a cow say?" "Moooooo"

"What does a pig say?" "oink, oink".

"What does Ivan say?!" " I love Mommmmmmmmy!"

a farewell...

At 97 years old, it really wasn't unexpected. But at the same time, recieving an email from my Mom, telling me of the death of President Hinkley, made me so sad. Harmony read it over my shoulder, and said," That makes me sad. I really liked his smile." Me too Harm, me too.

Gordon B Hinkley was not famous to everyone. He was not on the covers of magazines at the grocery store. You didn't see his name splashed all over the news.

Instead, he helped in getting more temples built. He served the members of the church in countless ways. He spoke of the love he had for his wife, for his family and us as church memebers. He seemed to have endless energy.

I am happy that he will be reunited with his wife. And I know that he has been welcomed home and has returned with honor. He will be missed.

contradictions

My kids are just walking contradictions. Ethan has just been testing me lately. That little guy, will be a litle sugar one minute. Giving me loves, writing me thank you notes, drawing cute pictures on the chalkboard and more. Last night he told me that I was his girlfriend but today I was his wife. ( He moves fast!)

However, lately we have really been struggling with Ethan's behavior. I can not get him to leave his hands off of his brothers. I don't think he tries anything on Harmony but the boys...it's crazy. I am constantly on him about it. He has also been pouting alot. Any time he is asked to do something it ends up with a fit. I had him on time out,and while I was in his room, Harmony came to tell me something else that he had done. I didn't want to hear it but once it was out of her mouth, I was shocked to learn what he had done. I was infuriated with him. I just told him not to bother getting off his bed.

So during the day I go back and forth between wanting to throttle the kid and wanting to love and kiss on him. Is that what having kids is? Just learning one moment to the other?Dealing with the emotions that come and go?

Ben is going to have a man to man talk with him. About what is expected of him and what is allowed and what isn't. I am hoping that will help.If not, I am going to be yet another contradiction...

a drama mama

...and no, I am not talking about me!! Ms. Harmony in not feeling well. At all. She has had a fever for 3 days, a sore throat and I am not sure what else. She is miserable and is starting to make everyone around her that way also! If anyone does something that she doesn't like she screams, cries and yells for me. She refuses to deal with anything. Like Ivan came and laid in bed with her, and put his leg on her, well instead of simply moving it, she sits and screams until someone comes to help her. I have been letting her lay in our bed and watch tv. But absolutely no boys are allowed in there. Oiy! She is just driving me nuts. Last night she got dinner in bed. I can't wait until she is feeling better. She missed school on Thursday, there was no school on Friday, so it has been a long weekend. Right now I am not even sure when she is going to be able to go back.

Now I am kind of just waiting for the boys to get sick...

wildlife

Since we have been on Guam, we have seen...

carabou
boonie dogs ( tons!!)
gecko's
lizards
snakes
frogs
fish
boonie bees
beetles
butterflies
roosters
chickens
and of course...bugs! We had 2 of these guys hanging out by our front door!

my sugar booger

Ethan is just the yummiest little kid. Just so sweet. Like his comment the other night at dinner. The other day we were at the store and he asked me if I would buy him a little notebook. He wanted to use it as a diary. And what did he write in there? "I love my Mommy." Sooo cute.

Today he drew this on our chalkboard. In case you can't tell, it says E hearts M.

little boys

Ben was walking Harm down to Girl Scouts and so I was left with the boys at dinner time. And as I sat watching them scarf down their dinner, I asked them, " why do I have so many little boys?" To which Ethan replied, " Mom, Jesus wanted you to have all of us. And besides we will always take care of you." I think my heart was literally a puddle. He just melted it. So sweet!

that's just sad...

I SCORED A 81%

Meet Missouri Singles

My friend had this on her blog. I scored a 76 the first time, and than with Ethan's help I brought it up to an 81. I have seen these movies a million times...or so I thought!

yikes!!

Has it really been almost a week since I blogged? Wow, time sure flies when you are having fun...or busy. Take your pick. So what have I been doing since I haven't been blogging....well let's see...

**picking up 98 boxes of Girl Scout cookies

** going to Alvin and the Chipmunks

**going to dinner

**getting a new monitor and a scanner/copier/printer

**going to birthday parties

**sweating it out at my 5k class ( don't let the couch potato part fool you!)

**eating said Girl Scout cookies

**tons of laundry

** tons of dishes
**swimming
**grocery shopping
** grounding children
** cleaning rooms
** going to lunch with friends
** shopping in the Chamarro village
**baking bannana bread

and more. But I will try to be better this week!

A big mistake...or not?

***This is actually on my weight loss blog also. Just wanted to share it here also***

There is a program down here called " Couch Potato...to 5k". It is a beginners running class. My friend asked me if I would be willing to do it with her. Well...since I found that jogging stroller, I told her sure. The coach said she makes it stroller friendly so that everyone can have a chance to participate.

So today was the first day. I was late ( long story) and so ended up kind of having to jog to catch up with the rest of the class. What we did today was run for 60 seconds, walk for 90. And do that for 20 minutes. I was DYING! Please let me mention that it is like a 1000 degrees here, so it was sooo hot out there. Add in pushing a 35 lb.child in a stroller and well....I was literally shaking by the time I got done. My legs were sore, my arms were shaking. It was crazy. Now I have exercised sporadically for a while now. 3 times just last week...but I was not prepared for that.

I honestly felt like a big idiot out there. Like am I just wasting the coach's time? I didn't come in last ( it is not a competion)but I still felt exaughsted.

HOWEVER...I worked hard. I did something that was out of my comfort zone, and did the best I could. I got out and got fresh air, spent time with friends and worked my body. hard. It feels kind of good. After I took some tylenol of course. :)

So we will see how it goes on Wednesday!

Am I the only one?

**Am I the only one, who knows what time it is, because of what tv show my children are watching?

** Am I the only one, who gets sidetracked by her computer when she is supposed to be gathering items for a yard sale?

**Am I the only one who has to explain to her son why watermelon would not be good in stew?

**Am I the only who know has to tell her son not to blow bubbles in his milk, or do it with his spit?

** Am I the only one who says " keep your hands off each other" 50 times an hour?

** Am I the only one who thinks that when little boys miss that they should be the ones who clean the toilet seat?

** Am I the only one who threatens to cut all her daughter's hair off if she doesn't let me comb it out?

** Am I the only one who isn't quite honest with her kids about the ingredients in a casserole,( like peppers) just so they will eat it?

** Am I the only one who overreacts when

** Am I the only one who has kids that want all their clothes as soon as you start to give them away?

** Am I the only one who has ever lost a birthday party invitation, so your son is crying because he can't go because you have no idea what time it starts?

** Am I the only one who wishes life would slow down just a little?

** Am I the only one who thinks that Ivan still looks like a baby? ( I have many people tell me that no he does not and that is just me)

future so bright...

Over Christmas break, Ben took the kids to the movies. While there, he got a coke to drink. The boys wanted some and Ben told them no because it had caffeine in it. He then told them that when they are Dad's that they can have caffeine if they want it. So they are looking forward to that day.

The boys are also curious about bedtimes if you are a dad. " You mean we could stay up all night if we wanted?!" I told them that they could if they wanted too. So Ethan told me that when he is a Dad, he is going to stay up all night playing the Wii. I asked him about work and he said, " you mean a job?" well...yeah. He thought long and hard about what he wants to b when he grows up.

The first thought was for Connor and Ethan to start a "Bestest Brothers toy store." Ivan couldn't work with them but they would let him have some toys. For Harmony they would price all Polly Pockets and Pokemon game boy games for 14.99. What a steal huh?

Then, Connor decided to branch out and he said you know what I really want to do? I want to have a CiCi's!" ( If you don't have one, Cici's is an all you can eat pizza place). So then they decided that Ethan would own a lego store, Connor would own a CiCi's and Harmony would be a vet. That way they could all give each other something for free. Where Ivan fits into the new equation, I have no idea. But it was really cute to listen to them talk about their futures!

tongue tied

"Hey Mom, guess what? I don't need to take a bath tonight! I already gave my whole body a tongue bath!"-Connor

"Ewww"-Mom

so far...not so good

My very last post was about how I was going to go green. Well...I went to the grocery store today. I was busy trying to remember what I needed, entertaining Ivan and well I forgot to bring bags or ask for paper! Next time maybe I will write myself a reminder on my shopping list!! And now to go find a place for all those grocery bags!

going green

I am not an enviromentalist. Honestly I had trouble remembering how to spell it. I am not a tree hugger or a granola person. However lately I have been seriously annoyed by something. Ok a few things.

1) There is no recycling on Guam. There is no truck that comes and picks it up. You can drive your recycling down to the NEX, but that is not everything. I may be wrong but I believe it is just aluminum cans.

2)Because of #1, my trash can is constantly overflowing. For example say I buy a box of fruit roll ups. They come in a box ( which I would normally recycle) then they each come in their own individual wrapper and then inside is the paper that it is rolled on. There are 8 in the pkg. so that means 2 for each of my kids. By the time that is gone, a 1/4 of my trash can is filled. But that is just one example. So many of the things my kids eat are individually wrapped. And I am starting to get frustrated by it.

3) Yesterday I went to the commissary for very few items. Literally, hardly anything. But I swear I got 50 plastic bags! I bought a refill pkg.of baby wipes...own bag. And the sad one? A double bagged box of crystal light on the go packs. This is not a joke. Those little teeny tiny boxes...2 bags!! You have got to be kidding me!

4) And I will end here...I promise. Water bottles. We are better about drinking water when it comes from a water bottle. I don't know why. Convenience maybe? Whatever the reason we are much better about it. our kids love the little kids sized ones and down them in a second. 1/2 of my trash bags are filled with water bottles.

So I have decided to go green. Here is what my goals are...

**not be as nice about bags at the commissary. Use tote bags ( when I remember) and use paper. No more plastic. Seriously. I have enough here to line my bathroom garbage cans for the next millenium.

**no more water bottles. Refill the many nalgene water bottles and bottles that the kids have. Do it every night, with a Brita filter ( the water here is TERRIBLE). That way it is cold, convenient and not filling my trash can.

** not using as many plastic baggies in the kids lunches. I realize that many frugal people wash plastic baggies. To me, I would just rather use containers. I am going to start making my kids take leftovers more often, so hopefully that will limit my use.

** frugal and environmental...stop using so many prepackaged foods. Last night the boys wanted kids cusines. So that would be 4 boxes x's any other packages that were in there. I decided to buy one box of corndogs, which are now sitting in their resealable bag in the freezer. The kids are going to have to tough this one out. As will I ( making a full pitcher of crystal light instead of a waterbottle full)


That is all I can think of for now. Anybody else going green? Have any ideas/suggestions. I think this helps me with my want of organization, keeping my house clean and helping with the whole budget thing.

Feels so good to get that off my chest!

A birthday wish

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday to you

Happy Birthday dear Deborah

Happy Birthday to you!!

Love yah! :)

growing pains...

Poor Connor. It started while Ben was gone. Connor would come to me in the middle of the night and complain about his feet and legs hurting. The first couple of times I brushed it off as he just wanted to come and sleep in my bed. But it kept occurring. I didn't think he was old enough to have them but apparently...he is. He really suffers from it and there is nothing that I can do about it, except give him some tylenol and put him back to bed.

Well last night, my allergies were full force, so I took the medicine that would make me drowsy and went to bed. Connor came to me in the middle of the night complaining, and I told him to go back to bed and I would be there in a little bit...and then I promptly fell back to sleep!

When I woke up this morning, he started crying because, " I waited for you and you never came in!" Who knows how long he stayed awake! This morning he is really grumpy and the other kids aren't much better. Harmony is now on the 7th Harry Potter book and is staying up late reading it! I know she is tired and Ethan seems to feed off of the other two!

So Connor was finally sent back to bed. He is driving every one crazy, ecspecially me! He, of course is feeling very picked on, so I guess he is having growing pains in more ways than one!

New Years...at the beach

What better way is there to spend New Years then a day at the beach?! We decided to pack a picnic lunch and head to our favorite spot, Gab Gab Beach. When we left it started raining but we figured " just give it a few minutes and it will stop" and it did! The water was a little chilly at first but once the sun came out it felt great. We collected a lot of rocks and shells and just had fun playing in the water. Ben took Harmony out a little further, with masks on to look for fish. She didn't see any...but she also didn't have her glasses on either!

Harmony and I went and looked at a monument that we thought looked like a little mini Washington Monument. It was actually a dedication to a sailor. I have mentioned this before, but it is hard to get a good picture outside, because the humidity is so high. Your lens fogs and it is hard. But here are some that I got. Hope everyone is having a wonderful new year!

hello 2008!

Ahhh...a new year means new resolutions. I love making goals for myself. I like this time of year ( along with September) to kind of re-evaluate and look and what I would like to change in my life.

I had spent New Years Eve, trying to get the house "perfect" so that I wouldn't start the new year off on a bad foot. Well perfection always seems to allude me when it comes to cleaning! Oh well. It still looks good! On New years I had written out a routine that I wanted to follow. A morning, afternoon and evening one. I did do my morning routine and then...

I have been suffering from some serious allergies here. I constantly have red itchy eyes, a sore throat, a stuffed up nose etc. It has been pretty miserable so I took some allergy medication. However, it may cause drowsiness! And holy cow were they right. After we returned from the beach, I went and took a nap. And didn't wake up until 3.5 hours later. Then I stayed up later because I had slept for so long, and then couldn't sleep all night because I wasn't tired. So once again, I am all thrown off!

Anyway, I am not just throwing in the towel on my resolutions. I guess I will just have to start my morning routine a little later!

I found a great site and there is a challenge for doing one small thing every day. So I have joined in. I like to do all these challenges so I can get little things done here and there. I know the next few months are going to be BUSY. But I look forward to getting little things done. If you are interested in doing the challenge from Sanctuary at Home, you can look at the tag on my side bar.