Happy New Year's Eve Wordless Wednesday

Prayers for Stellan, MCK Mama's new baby

Please join me in praying for this sweet boy who already in his short life was given a death sentence. MCK Mama was told her son would not live. Our Lord had other plans. Stellan defied odds and lives today and hopefully for years and years to come.

However, Stellan is very sick with RSV and his heart is beating at a strange pace. They are so worried for him and rightfully so. Please offer up a prayer for this sweet newborn that he is healed quickly and that his parents feel the source of God at every moment.

Thank you,

PS. Go here if you would like to know more.

http://www.mycharmingkids.net/2008/12/prayer-vigil-for-stellan-update-from.html

Fighting for Kisses

I saw this on one of those year end shows....nothing is on TV right now. So I must tell you that I laughed my a#* off! I had to find it online to watch it again, again & again. Each additional time I watched it, I just kept thinking of Travis and Lance. Oh what a mama's boy in the house I have and this was just so fitting.
I hope you get a giggle out of it too.

Merry Christmas!

From our family to yours we hope your day was blessed in many ways.

We spent our Christmas Eve going to church with our good friends and our godchildren.
I thought the nursery wouldn't see my children that day
because I really wanted us to all sit together.
Mistake. Well noted. Next year straight to nursery drop off.
But the service was nice and it meant a lot to me that we attended together as families.

We than had dinner at our friends home,
watched (assisted) children opening gifts
and talking about our hopes to come.
We then dashed off in the night with of course very tired and crying children.
Ours go to bed at 6-630pm so deviation to that leads to crying and well let's just say not so fun of a car ride...the noise in our car was not a joyful sound.

With the kids tucked in bed,
Santa soon came
Then it was lights out for he didn't need to be seen.

Today was fun as Campbell really connected the whole
Santa + Tree+ going to bed+ waking up = presents.
So as we prepared to go downstairs we talked about Santa and wondered if he had come.
I could see the excitement building.
We took some time to also sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus before hitting the stairs
as we had been talking about this day for some time and just how special it was.
I wanted her to understand that it's not just about the presents she was about to receive
but for the one she already has in her heart.
I know she is young but the dots are starting to connect
and singing to Jesus brought a smile to her face.
I felt good about the day from that moment on.

Travis and Campbell opened up so many fun presents
(thank you mom/Nana & dad/papa, great aunt Wynne & great uncle Dean,
Keagan and Jack and of course Santa).
At first glance I felt the tree looked a little slim underneath
but in the mist of these hard times the amount really made it look rather full.
I am not sure if that made any sense at all so I guess what I should say is that
I am VERY grateful for all we received.
Besides as I mentioned before it isn't about the presents
but rather the gift in your heart that you already have.
One to be treasured and shared forever.

As they opened gifts it was clear to see that at this age one or two would
have been enough as it was hard to tear them away to open another gift.
So note to self and to other mommies of young ones...less is more.
Today was truly a magical one seeing it shine in their eyes.

I hope that Christmas brought you and yours much joy and warmth.
That the spirit of Christmas stays with you throughout 2009.
Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Eve

It's almost midnight and not a creature was stirring...unless we count the noisy dishwasher.

Santa will be here soon....Oh I think I hear him...I better go tuck myself in. To all a Goodnight.

Not Me Monday...I havent played in so long

So I haven't played Not Me Monday's in a while...seriously I haven't. I haven't even blogged in a while so while I get back into the swing of things feel free to wander over to the amazing MCK Mama site to check out other Not Me Monday's.

Christmas is in the the palms of our hands and I am so not ready. I haven't wrapped, I haven't shopped really that much. I haven't even given gift giving much thought. I think it is because I am in denial. My parents are not coming this year and well that does not make me happy. I am not happy and joyful about spending this time of year with out them.

It might also be because of the lack of cash flow this year. So millionaires we are not so I am not buying the latest and the greatest. Our tree was a big purchase and I didn't even get the one I wanted. I did not so loathe the couple in the lot while Campbell and I were there. They were getting this amazingly tall and gorgeous tree. I so did not want to shout out..."I saw it first!"

I did not cry this past Friday from the stress of almost having my husband snowed in on the east coast. I was panic ridden and was trying to keep the faith that he would get home.

I did not forget that about the load of laundry I started on Thursday night until Friday night when I thought "hey it smells kinda funny in the laundry room."

I made brownies the other day and so did not eat the last one all the time letting my husband believe that he could have the last one.

I so did not take my children for a stroller ride to the pack n mail this afternoon. I so did not, I did not take them in this very cold and dry winter weather we are having. I would never consider taking my children out in 39 degree weather just so I could mail a Christmas gift and cards. Isn't fresh air a good way to get them to sleep easier.

I am so glad that I got on the computer tonight and actually posted a real post. I will so be back next Monday with hopefully a real good Not Me Monday.

wordless wednesday.

wordless wednesday.

(right after accepting the proposal.)

Elfing around

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Happy First Birthday Travis!

It was so wonderful walking into get Travis today. I sung him Happy Birthday and he smiled and made cooing noises as if he knew it was a special day. We finished getting ready and he took his first nap....then it was off to the park for some swinging and sliding fun. Of course the most fun came in the form of a cake. A first birthday cake....nothing can compare to the moment your child tastes cake for the very first time! What a moment, what a day it has been. Thanks to everyone who came and for all the wonderful books we received to donate to Texas Children's Hospital in his name. Knowing that his day will warm the hearts of sick kids is the best present our family could have received. So we offer many, many thanks. He will have other birthdays to open gifts from friends but this year we felt it was necessary to brighten another persons day.

So my dear boy your day is almost done as dinner is approaching. I can hear you busily playing with your sister and my heart is full of joy. This year has been even more special because you were in it. Thank you Lord for such a wonderful gift! We truly love our son.

We interrupt this birthday weekend for educational purposes....

The biggest game of the season is upon us today.
I can hardly wait to wear my shirt...No Pity for the Kitty.
Thanks to the smarties over at ASU athletic department I have something fun and new to wear tonight at game day. This game between ASU and UA is the oldest trophy given rival game and the award besides the serious bragging rights is the Territorial Cup. This game also is usually someones bowl game winner or breaker game too.
If I lived in Arizona I would be attending but instead I will be watching it closely on the big screen in HD.

GO DEVILS!!!!! Come on....I know you want to cheer along too. GO DEVILS!

the eve of a first birthday.

My heart is pounding. I cant believe the day is almost here. My baby boy will turn one and enter toddlerhood. WOW! This year has flown by so fast! I can honestly say that adding Travis to the mix was exciting and unforgettable too. I just peaked in on my little one and he is sleeping ever so soundly with his blankie in tow. IF I was a braver mom I would snap a picture of you sleeping but you are such a lite sleeper that I would surely wake you. Instead I just gazed and whispered I love yous!!! Now it is back to the busy bee work of a birthday....I just heard Nana pull the cake out of the oven. How I cant wait to decorate it and watch you smash it up tomorrow. Sleep well my baby boy for tomorrow you are O-N-E!

Safari Give Away!

Look what Brittany over at 4 little men& girly twins is giving away...it's a contest!
The winner will be so happy with this fun prize for their girl or boy.
If you want to try to win just click here.

A few words on Wordless Wednesday.

Lance and I are so thankful for the blessings in our life...
these two are our greatest joys ever to be granted.

LOVE me a Fundraiser.

So MckMama has done it again. This girl never ceases to amaze me at how kind hearted and strong she is. There is a HUGE commotion going on at her site and is it ever for a good cause. Let me correct myself...it's for three...count it out...1, 2, 3. Three (3) good charities. To check it all out simply go over to my side bar. Look for the button under my "19th Hole" tab. When you click on that button you will see for yourself what's brewing at My Charming Kids.

Fit Friday week #6

I am back to report about the trials and success of my being apart of Fit Friday. Here we are in week 6 and in a few days it will be December. WOW! Does anyone feel lighter.....I do, I do.
I am losing weight slowly but I am thinking that I will soon get a big jump in numbers when I wean Travis and can seriously reduce my points on the weight watchers system.

This week feels like it was a success but I don't have a number to prove it. My weigh in is on Thursdays and well as you know Turkey day was yesterday which was my weight in Thursday. So no scale for me. We were suppose to be able to go to any meeting prior to Thursday to weigh in and the one I went to on Wednesday afternoon was closed up tight with a note on the door. I was bummed! But that's life right. No need to fret over it.

But I did have wins with tracking my food and working out. I even did a little cardio on Turkey day. So last week I mentioned that I had a plan for not over indulging on Thanksgiving.

Here it was and it was exactly how it went.

Wake up
Deal with Kids
EAT BREAKFAST....Very important always but especially today.
Cardio
Finished chores
Deal with kids
Put bird in oven
Have a light lunch
Water, Water, water....all day I drank water.
Time for diner....big glass of water prior to rounding up everyone for dinner
Since I don't/didn't want to single myself out I took a big kid plate but envisioned it to be a small kid plate if you get my drift. As I placed food on my plate I left lots of room in between items. I took more of the green beans, sweet potatoes (which I made as plain as could be...not a marshmallow in sight on these babies.) and had a large helping of salad.
I felt so good about my choices and felt content after I ate. I didn't want for anything more nor did I go back for seconds.
I even allowed room for a small sliver of Cherry Delight Pie...a family favorite.

All in all my plan worked and I felt good about myself this morning when I woke up.

So now its the start of week 7 and I am already off to a good start with some gym time and a family bike ride already under my belt for today. I am going to do the "backwards" run the woodlands event...it isn't officially the RTW's because it is the 5th Saturday of the month so to make it different they are having us run the route backwards....no not literally running backwards but wouldn't that be funny to see.
So check back in next week when I will be posting pounds and measurements.....

for more Fit Fridays click on the chubby Mrs. clause on my side bar.

Fourth File, Fourth Photo

So I have done this before with the sixth file and the sixth photo but that was on my computer. Let's see what we find when we do this game in hubby's photo files.
Here are the rules.
You go to the fourth file folder on your hard drive under photos and then select the fourth photo in that file. Easy enough.

Holy holy it's the mac daddy caddy...there is a story here....I'll post about it in the near future.

A soccer outing

So we met up with one of our favorite family friends and watched their oldest play his last soccer game of the season. It was really fun to watch (what I could of course...my two kept be busy) and to spend time with some good friends. We all went for a family pizza outing and had a pretty nice time. I wish our families had more time to spend with one another than we do. We'll see you all Thursday for Turkey!

It's a chilly one!

Who's watching the game?

My darling Goddaughter and her fun mommy.
The Godfather gaze.

Whistles blowing their is a fashionista on the field.

They are truly brother and sister.

All this girl can do is talk...blah, blah, blah...doesn't she know I am trying to watch the game?

A friend is one who knows us, but loves us anyway. -- Fr. Jerome Cummings

Gotta love a contest

So one of my favorite blogs and a site you can witness a pure miracle of God on is My Charming Kids or better known as MCK Mama. She is having a contest and it would be fun to win some photo supplies and tips from a pro. So keep your fingers crossed that some how Membership Required(that's me) is selected to win.

Fit Friday week #5

Oh this week flew by. Before I knew it I was weighing in, finishing week five with success and not sure how it happened. Now I am embarking on week 6....last day of week six is a dangerous one....it's turkey day. Oh but I have a plan for that day and next week I will share with you when I review that week if I followed my plan.

So back to week 5. Week 5 was filled with stress and sick babies. One baby even had a trip to the ER. So this tired mommy didn't do so well tracking her food with pencil and paper (computer time limited as mine is still down) but I did make a conscious effort to pick up and eat good foods. I did some exercising but it was less than I had wanted to do. Heck, what can you do but roll with the punches when you get get socked.

So on with the success and let's leave the bad behind. I am down 1.2lbs this week. So the .2 I went up last week went bye bye (magically I suppose.) I am happy with the loss and am now at 6.2 total lost since I started weight watchers. I am nine pounds away from my 10% target weight loss. When I reach that loss, I then sit down and make a goal weight loss to strive for. I figure once I get to that 10% loss I am another 25lbs away from where I want to be. Oh, I am starting to feel the excitement. The best part is 9lbs is less then 10lbs so even speaking the weight I need to lose to get to the 10%loss sounds better. It sounds like something that could happen by Christmas. I can do it, I can do it! Oh how nice it would be to be a visible 15lbs lighter in Christmas photos. How nice will it just feel to be 15lbs lighter. Can you feel my excitement building? I hope so because I am going to DO IT!!!

See you all next week for week 6 in review of Fit Fridays.

Oh yeah...I am running in the RTW this Saturday for the third time. I can not believe it!

For more Fit Fridays click on the chubby Mrs. Claus button on my side bar.

Houston we have a problem.

My computer is still dead so to speak but I have been navigating the bloggy and Internet worlds via stolen moments on my hubby's computer. He is not a fan when he finds me in his office doing my thing on the computer but has been kind about these affairs with his keyboard this time around. Apparently my computer is still alive and kicking. It's just that the cord isn't giving it any juice. I tried getting a universal cord from radio shack but that didn't work so I took it into Fry's and they said I would need to order a special cord and that my computer will come back to me after it is revived with power. Oh you don't know what those words meant. For weeks I have thought that my computer was gone and so that meant my numerous files upon files of pictures would be gone too. I have had a bad experience with a photographer, the kid in Michigan that created that severe virus (thanks kid!) and a destroyed hard drive. Needless to say I have NO wedding pictures. My heart still hurts when I think of that. So you can see how worried I might have been about my little laptop friend...keeper of files near and dear. However now that we know the issue that ails my little laptop friend we are unable to help her until some number crunching issues are resolved. So until then, little posting for me and little surfing will I do. I miss my blog and sharing my world in the spheres of bloggy world. Till we have complete blast off again......

Fit Friday week 4

So hey some times you lose and well sometimes you gain.
This week....I gained. Not sure how it happened as I worked out, I ran and I tracked my food.
I gained .2 of a pound. Really I am not sure where that creaped into my week with all my efforts but it did. I was bummed but now I am just determined to lose it and more next week.
My run last saturday was amazing! I ran so much more than I did the first time and I felt so much better during and after the event. Even later in the day I felt energized and inspired all day. Strange but true. Well check back in next week to see how I have progressed. Hopefully it will be GREAT news! Check in on other Fit Friday participants over at It's Almost Naptime by clicking on Mrs. Clause on my side bar.

The croup or should I say "oh crud!"

Well it's that time of year. The season of colds, fevers, coughs (barking seals at our house...croup), the flu, runny noses....you get the picture.

So a couple of days ago Campbell started feeling bad and then boom today Travis started our day with some barking coughs over the monitor...."oh crud!" were my first words not the words I usually say..."Dear Lord, watch over us today in all we do. Grant me patience, a loving heart & gentle words. Also grant me kindness for others and stamina to get through the day. Amen."
I think God knows that prayer comes from me every day that I might have surprised him this morning...wait I cant surprise God....Ha. He got me...he knew what I would say prior to me uttering it.

Sometimes I wish he would share his surprises with me. Like exactly when my kids will get sick. Not that I am blaming him for the "bugs" of the world that infect my household but seeing that he is all knowing....you get the picture.

But seriously, my kids are sick. It's terrible, it's rough and in a day or two (seeing that they are on steroids) it will literally be H@*#.

So Lord, please be with them. Be with us as a family. Let the days pass quickly and allow them to be well soon. Amen.

Fit Friday....week 3

Oh the torture of being a woman. We all have different things that torment us but one we all share; the curse of Auntie Once A. Month and well she stopped by to visit me. To be quite frank I began receiving messages that she would coming soon....last Friday I started to feel "slow" and well rather hungry. Hungry for things that I haven't wanted to place my hands on and shove into my mouth for quite some time. Something was up, she was coming. I needed to prepare because I knew that it could R-U-I-N my week if I did not prepare. So well my quest to prepare myself and safe guard my week was weak. Auntie and all her evil doings were slowly breaking me down. This is my week.
I only worked out at the gym on Monday and Wednesday. I only walked twice this week. I ran once and was that ever a slow and painful run. I did enjoy four family bike rides...but that is far from breaking a sweat...but it is movement for over 25 minutes so it must count for something. I was terrible at tracking my food but I was pretty darn good at my water intake and fighting the temptation to eat, eat & eat. I did however cave and have a McDonald's cheeseburger with extra ketchup and mustard on it. Let me tell you....it was DELICIOUS!!! But wait, wait for it....my week was not completely ruined by Miss Once A. Month. Ha! Ha! to you Auntie. I lost, I lost a tiny tiny bit of weight...but it's a loss. Have you been waiting? Here it is.....I lost .4Lb. Told you it was tiny tiny. But heck...I didn't gain any weight. So once again, Thank You Grandma for these words....Slow and Steady wins the Race!
Speaking of races, I will be in the Run the Woodlands event again this Saturday...so pray, pray that I make it....I already expect to be in last place so no need to pray for me finishing with a qualifying time for say like first place. But pray that I don't have a cardiac arrest out on that run as chances are I will be all alone...way behind the pack. But I'll be there, that's gotta count for something. I will be running with this thought in my head..."I want to feel good naked!"

Tell next week's post on my week four...stay true to yourself...workout and eat right!

for more Fit Friday postings click here or the Mrs. Clause button on my side bar.