Box of Chocolates

Mark and I took the kids a couple of years ago to Orlando for a weekend.  Nathan was less than a year old, Alexandra must have just turned 2 and Madison was 4.  I look back and laugh but at the time it was anything but funny.  A trip to Disney would be fun and relaxing right?  HA!  We never even made it to Disney because Madison was so ornery the day we were going to go I couldn't justify going.  We learned a lot about being parents of three young kids that weekend.   During our stay we took the kids to the Rainforest Cafe.  Nathan was terrified the whole meal and after our $75 lunch Madison threw up all over the table and floor.  That is when Mark made the rule we don't take the kids to a restaurant unless it has a drive thru, curbside doesn't count.  We really do stick to that rule and the only sit down "nice" restaurant we go to with the kids is Sonny's BBQ.  Before we left I wanted to get the kids a little something from the Disney Marketplace.  I took the

I am thankful for... My savior, Jesus.  He is alive!   My wonderful husband of almost 11 years that helps me stay balanced    My 3 funny, cute, and healthy kids  My village Friends  No school this week, no car circle (aka war), no getting Madison ready on time, no homework, and I can stay in bed just a little bit longer.    Trials of life, they make me self reflect and for that I am grateful because in the end I have learned something to add to the tool box of life.   Dark Chocolate, white chocolate and milk chocolate    Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade My health, two years ago I was coming home on Thanksgiving from the hospital.  A hospital stay or two will put things in perspective.   Did I say chocolate? Happy Thanksgiving to all our family and friends.  I am thankful for you all!  

A friend stopped by the other day for just a minute that I haven't seen in a few weeks and she asked me what I was doing to lose weight.  I said to her, "what are you talking about?"  I just thought she was crazy until Sunday.  I was getting ready for church as usual and picked out one of my newest skirts, ironed it and put it on and in fell below my waist!  I pinned it and went to church.   Today I put on another newer skirt and it too was very lose.  I then decided to get on my scale. It usually always tells me the same nasty numbers.  Today it was 9 lbs less.  I got on again to make sure it was right and it said the same thing.  9lbs?  I still think the scale is wrong.   I think it could be because I haven't gone to the drive thru's for over a month except for one day when I went on a field trip with Madison.  That speaks volumes of the fast food!  So, my goals to save money is also causing me to lose weight.  Great side effect,  save money = lose weight.   The

The Mother-in-law stigma seems to be timeless.  Well, I couldn't have gotten a better Mother-in-law.  She is crazy and she will admit it. She will not admit that she is dramatic, but she has plenty of drama. She is a wonderful grandmother, a prayer warrior, a repeat short term missionary to some of the worst slums in the world, after school bible club leader/helper, loves her boys and really would do anything for them when she can,  and loves to talk. I could go on but I won't.   This woman drove back from the mountains of NC to watch my kids after just being there for a day.  Why?  Well, I was sick and had to go the hospital for a few days.  At the time my kids where ages 3, 2 and 6 months.  She drove home to help us.  That is pretty amazing to give up your vacation in the mountains and drive home to watch your grandkids.  She even stayed the rest of the week to help out after my surgery.  That was two years ago this week.  It does take a village and I'm not sure what I wo

My life is so random lately that so are all my thoughts.  Random thoughts take two... People seemed to be more worried about the color of Mr. Obama's skin that his morals. I'm I not content with my life or is God leading us in a new direction? I wonder if my new wants or desires of my heart are there from God. It is very easy to become discontent and I don't want or need to confuse the two.     Where do you draw the line?  We spent over 40% less this month on our Visa than months past.  We use our Visa for everything and we always pay it off.  Not going out to eat, No starbucks (I can make a pretty good iced coffee now), no scrap stuff (minus a few things for cards) and trying only buying stuff we need. We saved almost a mortgage payment!  We did do some fun stuff we had Sea World tickets and Christmas presents on the Visa last month, although we didn't NEED them.  It's all about attitude. My new motto is, live like no other so you can live like no other. I want to

"Long movies should be called pants." This is what Alexandra said to Mark yesterday.  Have any of you guess why?  Well, last Christmas I bought Mark the Disney Pixar Shorts DVD.  The movies are only about four minutes and there are about a dozen of them on the DVD.  After a year of watching shorts, Alexandra said long movies should be called pants.   It makes sense, shorts are short and pants are long.  I think it is very cute and oh so funny.  Maybe a really long movie (epic) should be called overalls.  Anyone going to a pants movie tonight?  Happy Friday!  

Madison's two front teeth are loose! We own a baby grand piano.  Baby doesn't mean small, well in comparison to other grander pianos.  This is not a new item in our home just one that is big.  Anyway... Nathan says things wrong which is hilarious or he says stuff you just don't expect like "mmmm this is dewishious (delicious)."  Always good for a laugh.   Alexandra is in the 95 percentile for her weight and height.  The Dr. said if this rate of growth continues she could be taller than Mark, he is 6 feet tall.  Changes in Latitude,  changes in attitude nothing remains quite the same. That is all I have to say about that.   Christmas cards are NOT keeping my mind off things.   Alex is going to have to get a job to buy food.  She must say to me 10 times a day " I'm hungry." I will write down everything she eats tomorrow and blog it for you.  Prepare to be amazed.  I want a craft room.  Mark's Aunt and Uncle are coming over tomorrow for dinner and I

Less than 12 hours and I have already forgotten my frustration and am back on the saddle again.   I am back to making Christmas cards, I got a 50% off coupon from my mom.  Thanks mom!  I found 20 envelopes for 5.99 - 3.00 for my coupon so I only paid 2.99!    My mom is going to get me 20 more tomorrow with a 40% off coupon that starts tomorrow.   So all isn't lost and I still think it is a ridiculous idea but I am not a quitter and I refuse to be beaten by paper.  Off to Cricut tags and trees.   This is all so silly but it takes my mind off of the serious stuff happening in my life. Preoccupation with silly keeps my mind from all the "what if" thinking.   So, silly about Christmas cards is better than crazy about things that may never happen.  All that to say I wish God spoke with a loud thunderous voice.  It would make things so much easier, Amen? 

All I have to say is that making Christmas cards was the must ridiculous idea I have ever had. It has sent me to many stores and it costs 10 x's less to do photo cards.  I have a cute idea but to do fifty or more of them is NUTS!   My genius idea started because of all the scrap supplies I have.  I thought it would cost less than photo cards.  I decided to do cards to fit in an A6 size envelope.  Michael's sells them 10 for 4.99.  I need at least 50.  I thought surely I can get them at Office Depot or Walmart for less in a 50 count box.   I started to make my cards without envelopes.  Number one mistake.  40 started and no envelopes to be found in this city other than Joann's and Michael's.  I got online to shop and envelopes will cost me at least $20 to buy and ship to my house.  Sam's sells 50 photo cards with envelopes for 14.50.  That math problem was easy.    I didn't give up hope until today when I sat down at the Circut I borrowed from my friend to do tag

Mark read an article the other day about 12 things you can do to exercise your brain and blogging was one of them.  I am very excited about this because I feel like I never use my brain. I have become a robot.  All I do is laundry, dishes and clean. Although a robot would do a better job.     My mom was reading this sarcastic framed art catalog.  Of course the funny ones she read to me. It is similar to art work that has a nice picture with a nice saying on it.  Like Perserverance yada, yada, yada.  Well, this one was about blogging and it said: Never have so many people with so little to say said so much to so few.  HA! Very funny.  I do feel like I am spending too much time writing and rewriting and then no one is reading, but at least I am exercising my brian.   So much is going on around here I just wanted to do something light and fluffy.  I love comments.  It would really make my day if you all would comment.  PLEASE, I need a self esteem boost.  I really hope Meagen isn't th

We are planting a garden in the backyard.  I'm not sure how it all came about.  Probably because I love to garden, the price of veggies and I think Mark is tired of mowing the back yard.   He started to dig up the back yard behind our bedroom.  It is going to be about 20 x 15 feet! That is a lot of garden to maintain.   I think we are going to try and plant strawberries for the winter. It isn't exactly the best time to be starting a veggie garden but Mark has the time now to do this project.  We will work with what we can grow during the winter. There are some other veggies that will be fun to grow but the kids won't eat them.   In my research of what to grow and talking to my mom she was telling me about the Victory Garden,  why I didn't learn this in school is beyond me.  During the World Wars people planted gardens because the price of food and it was a morale booster.  Funny how the simple will encourage others.  My mom said everyone had a garden.  Then today I was

Ten things I learned this weekend 10. I LOVE grass.  Did you know that grass is a great buffer for keeping your son from kicking dirt?   9. I also love my bed.  8.  Nathan can't hang with the older kids.  He gave it a good American boy try, but it put him into a 14 hour comma.  The poor kid slept for 14 hours last night.   7.  Campfires smell great until you get home and everything smells like a campfire.   6.  Raccoons fight like cats. 5.  You must invested in a good sleeping bag! 4.  I didn't know mosquitos got so big.  I thought I was going to have to tie Nathan down so the mosquitos wouldn't carry him away.  3.  My kids would rather play in the van than the woods. 2.  Wild pigs like breakfast too. 1. Coming home a day early was the best idea EVER!    The kids got to dress up for Halloween but Alex said to me today,  "please don't make us go camping on Halloween again".  I had a good time until about 4 pm yesterday. We have a set routine which we are flexab