my response to Fridays Feast

Natasha challenged us all to answer the questions-

Appetizer
What is the weather like today where you live? Today it was a scalding 113! Too hot to even swim if you ask me.

Soup
On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being highest, how career-minded are you? I think I am somewhere around a 3, maybe a 4. I know that once the kids are in school all day, I will go back to work. I just can't decide what I want to be when I grow up.

Salad
What type of window coverings do you have in your home? Blinds and boy do they not keep the heat out.

Main Course
Name something that instantly cheers you up. Shopping, even just window shopping is good for me.

Dessert
How many times do you hit the snooze button on a typical morning? Usually only once, but then my alarm clock starts crying and I have to apologize to which ever one of the kids I just hit since I don't' really use an alarm clock and the kids usually wake me up.

Now its your turn, use the comments area to answer the questions.

Eli Stone on ABC

Last night I got sucked into a show on ABC called Eli Stone. It was great!!!! Very Funny, good characters, good story line, it was just a really good hour of TV. There are no shows on that I watch every week, but I am adding this one to my planner. You can check out the characters and watch clips at the following link. Enjoy!

http://abc.go.com/fallpreview/elistone/index

Dancing Queen

Savannah is constantly dancing and putting on "shows" or "recitals" for us. This time I was able to get her on video and she is so stinking cute, I can hardly stand it. She is also singing a little ditty, but I am not sure you will be able to hear it.

She did her own hair. Apparently it just isn't the same without about 3 bows in, one on top and two on the sides. She is a hoot! Who does she remind you of?

Mt. Charleston

Yep, that is snow we are playing in.
We hiked up a trail to Little Falls and the kids really enjoyed splashing around in the cold water that was running down.

Last Sunday, Ben and I decided we would skip church and take the kids up to Mt. Charleston for the day. We just couldn't face everyone at church telling us how sorry they were for our loss and we just needed to escape reality for a little while and spend some time with the kids. We had a good time. It felt good to get out and enjoy nature and the kids loved it. On the hike we saw some snow that was in the shade that someone had built a snowman on and we had a snowball fight in June. Then we made it to the falls. They were small but beautiful. We had a little picnic and had time to sit and talk about how were were feeling and how to deal with what would happen this next week. The kids have handled this as well as could be expected and Ben and I are also doing surprisingly well. We are very blessed to have the wonderful family we have and feel no immediate need to try again, but who knows what the future holds for us.

It was a good day. I can't believe I am posting a picture with me in it, but oh well. Here is me in all my splendid glory.

Camp Invention

Austin had the opportunity to attend a summer day camp at his school called Camp Invention. They spent the week taking apart machines and seeing how they worked and then building new things out of them. They also used recyclables to make robots and learned about keeping the Earth clean. He had a blast and on the last day the families were invited to attend an Inventors Showcase where the campers could show off everything they had been working on through out the week. These are two of Austin's robots that he made. He was very proud.

This is a picture of Austin and his two best buddies from kindergarten. They were able to do the camp together and they had a blast.

my vote for product of the year!!!!

I bought this covered deep dish baker at a Pampered Chef party I went to about two weeks ago. At the party, the consultant told us that you could use this in the microwave and then she proceeded to cook an entire pork tenderloin with BBQ seasoning in the microwave in less than 10 minutes. I will admit to being more than apprehensive that meat cooked in the microwave would taste good. Boy was I wrong!!!

It had to have been the most moist and delicious pork tenderloin I have ever eaten. The beauty of this product is that you never have to turn on your oven. When it is 105-115 degrees out, the last thing I want to do is turn on my oven. This is a life saver. Now I can still make good healthy meals for my family, and not have to spend additional money to cool my house back down. It came with recipes on how to cook ribs, a whole chicken, roasts, and about 100 other recipes.

I have to say, I believe that it is the most useful, wonderful kitchen gadget thingy I have bought in all my married life. I used the same recipe last night to make dinner for my family and everyone loved it. The kids ate more than Ben and I put together.

I just thought I would share my new favorite product with all of you. If I were Oprah, I would say "Congrats, you all will be receiving one in the mail!" But, I am not so you are gonna have to buy your own, Sorry.

Why were happy?

I wanted to share with you a very interesting story I read in this months Readers Digest. Either click the link below or copy and paste it.

http://www.rd.com/living-healthy/gross-national-happiness-adaptation/article75230.html

It is a good read and makes me feel happy.

letting go

We are beginning the healing process. For those who don't know, I lost the baby last week. I went for my regular four month check up and there was no heartbeat and with an ultrasound they confirmed it.

We went through a lot of the stages of grieving over the weekend and by Monday felt prepared to face the facts and deliver this sweet baby that had brought us so much happiness. I had the D&E yesterday and am recovering well today.

Ben and the kids have been especially wonderful even though they to are dealing with the loss. Ben has been my rock and I couldn't have gotten through this without his strength and support and love.

Thanks for all the prayers that have been offered up on our behalf. They have not gone unanswered and we have been comforted by them.

What I have learned this week...

1. I have learned that I depend on Austin alot to entertain Savannah. Austin has been at Science Camp all week from 8:30-3pm, leaving Savannah and I home all day. It is a good prelude to school next year and I must say, I miss him already. All day, Savannah is saying, "mom what can I do?" or "mom, play with me" or "mom, I'm bored can you call my friends". I had no idea how much I depended on him to keep her occupied so I could get stuff done. This is partly why I haven't been on the computer this week, Savannah doesn't give me a moments peace to sit and do something I want to do.

2. I eat out too much. I have noticed that nearly everyday around lunchtime I seem to think we need to get out of the house and going to get something to eat is the obvious choice. Now that I am aware that I am doing that, I can be more mindful of filling my day with more exciting things than having the highlight be eating out.

3. My kids need way more stimulation then I expected. I thought if I planned one thing a week as something special, that would be enough. Nope, I have to have 3-4 things planned every week so they have something to look forward to each day. It is getting exhausting.

4. I have really good friends. This shouldn't come as a surprise, but when you see them everyday or every other day, I think it is easier to take them for granted. I have realized how much I miss them and know that I need to plan more so that we (the moms) can have play dates too!


Next week, I signed the kids up for Vacation Bible School at my friend Tanya's church. I am going to volunteer also. I think it is a good opportunity for them to see how other people worship and get a feel for other beliefs and to be able to feel for themselves what they think feels right and so they can know where to look for truth and light in their own lives. I will let you know how it goes. They have all sorts of projects and singing time and dancing and art and I think it will be alot of fun.

Happy Fathers Day

What more can I say about Ben except that I think he is the most incredible man I have ever known. I love him more everyday.

He is the best father I have ever known, personally. He loves his kids, he honors his wife, he provides more than we need, and he does it with little or no thanks from me.

Today, babe, I thank you for a life that is better than I deserve. Thank you for trusting me to be the mother of your children. Thank you for picking me!

I love you!

Heritage Makers

I went to the coolest, most awesome home party today. It was a party to sell do it yourself digital scrapbooks. I was totally impressed. I am going to host a party on June 28th at 10 am so mark your calendars. All of you who don't live in Henderson, go to the website and check it out. It is the most incredible way to do your scrap booking all online and they send you printed books that you can past down to your posterity.

www.heritagemakers.com

Let me know if you want to sign up for something and I can get you in touch with my consultant who is the best.

mission accomplished!

This week has been set aside as the "get your house in order" week. I have been doing a little bit everyday, but yesterday the kids and I went gangbusters and finished everything but my room.

We rearranged the kids rooms, vacuumed every square inch of carpet, got rid of toys, cleaned out closets, cleaned bathrooms and mirrors, organized closets, washed bedding, and got everything organized.

I also was able to go through a couple of boxes from the first move from our first house to the one we built almost 3 years ago. It was so funny to me to finally throw away the Tastefully Simple boxes Amanda gave me. Seems like just yesterday I was loading them up and to think it has been nearly three years is crazy. But yes, I did finally go through 2 of the 8 remaining boxes that are just stuff that we either really don't need or don't know what it is. Felt good!

Now I feel like we can have people over again because my house is clean and organized. Hooray!

just like Violet

If you want a visual of what happens to me immediately after eating anything with chocolate or anything carbonated watch the clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SfIL0Vyr864

Except for me, I ain't fillin up with blueberry juice if you know what I mean!

Mina had her baby!

My sister Mina had her baby yesterday. It was a boy, Paul William Kendig. He was a whopper at 9lbs 1oz and 21.5 inches long. According to her hubbie she is doing good and as soon as they send pics, I will post some!

Recital 08

This is the video of Savannah's recital. If you can't tell which one she is, she is to the left of the little black girl who actually knows the dance routine and is doing it flawlessly. It was so much fun. It was definately one of those proud parent moments. Yea Savannah! We love you and are so proud.

Sidewalk paint

Austin got sidewalk paint for his birthday which I promptly put away. He found it this week and was determined they were going to use it. This is the brick wall in our back yard. The did a good job painting it, now lets just hope it washes off.

Savannah and Aspen

This is a picture of one of Savannah's little friends, Aspen. She lives about 3 blocks away and Savannah loves it that she likes to play dress up too. On this day they were bunny and flower princesses, respectively.

Little girls are such fun!

kindergarten round up

Today was the last day of school and I wanted to showcase a few of his accomplishments!

-Austin has lost 4 teeth and counting. He currently has 2 that are loose and is very excited to lose them as well.

-Austin received his first kiss on the playground and decided it will be a couple more years before he likes it.

-Austin only missed 2 days of school this year and got a certificate for exemplary attendance.

-Austin made his first best friend. Not a friend that I picked for him because I liked his mom, but a kid that he made friends with who just happens to have a really great mom.

-Austin got the citizenship award for being a good example in his class.

-Austin is becoming quite the little reader. We will be getting books all summer so that he can continue to progress and not lose the skills he has.

-Austin has grown almost 3 inches this year, but ironically his shoe size has been the same all year.

-Austin has made us proud in a million different ways. Congratulations on finishing kindergarten! WE LOVE YOU!!!!

migraine

I can hardly squint enough to make looking at the computer screen not hurt.

I have had a migraine for days now and can't take anything for it. Please just let me die!

Will post when feeling better.

Tessie