RIP Daddy!! We love you and miss you!!!!

When I posted my TT last week, I had no idea our world would be torn apart 24 hours later! My daddy was taken away from us unexpectedly! Thank goodness he had loved ones by his side!! I am so thankful that we were always at their house and that I realized how important my parents are to us before it was too late!!!

Daddy, next weeks TT will all be an honor to you!! Your 54th wedding anniversary will be spent with our family at mom's side!! We can't mend her broken heart but we can help her ease the pain.

We love you daddy!!!

-- Post From My iPhone

Thursday 13

I have been thinking of all the things my parents have taught me (directly and indirectly) and decided my TT would be a perfect way to honor my parents!!!!

1. Never be jealous/some people have more, some people have less





2. Animals are the heart of the house





3. Noise and confusion build character





4. Family comes first





5. Humor is the best medicine









6. A house is a shell, it's the people inside that make it a home








7. Help others





8. A bond is much stronger than an age difference






9. You can say anything with a smile on your face





10. Never leave the house without a book/a good book is the best security blanket (mom)






11. Say what's on your mind (Dad).....Use a filter (Mom)





12. You can spread your wings and fly BUT you can only take short flights - you have to build your nest close to the main tree





13. A weak friend is better than a strong enemy





BONUS - Money can buy fun but not happiness!!!!



-- Post From My iPhone

Inside picnic!!

Thanks to a great idea from a great friend, the kids and I have been having indoor picnics!! So fun!!!




-- Post From My iPhone

Only a fellow 'contact wearer' would understand....

I have had one of those days and it isn't even 2pm!! YIKES!!! Actually, the universe was working it's way against me yesterday but I didn't even realize it until today!!!

Yesterday morning I decided to change my contacts. I opened my contact bag and realized I had 3 left eye lenses and only 2 right eye lenses. I put my contacts in but for some reason, I didn't realize for a few minutes that my right eye contact wasn't in my eye. Too late - I couldn't find that little lens anywhere!!! I opted for 'screw it' and used my last right eye lens. All day my eye felt weird but with the hustle of life in general, I didn't do anything about it. Way to many 'needs of others' to think about a little piece of flexible plastic in my eye.

That night while running around, my right eye felt weird. I was seeing halos on every light while I drove and a weird reflection when cars passed by me....FYI - No drugs or alcohol were involved. When I got home, I took my contacts out and didn't think much about it.

This morning I woke up and put on my contacts. My right eye hurt again but I had bigger issues. P didn't want to wake up for preschool and declared he wasn't going today. After my hour battle with Mr. Stubborn, I was more than eager to get out of the house! As an added perk, hubby was home so I was able to leave with only one kiddo today! My plan was to escape during the two hours P is in school and run some errands...ALONE!!! My contact was the last thing on my mind UNTIL I left his school and realized there was an annoying blur on my right eye. After ten minutes with my mind racing with health scare thoughts, I pulled over and took it out of my eye to investigate. There was a frickin' tear right in the center of my contact lens.

Simple fix for most - for Jenny, not so much!! The kids broke the 'leg' on the side of one of my glasses for the millionth time several months ago. I only wear them at night in the privacy of my own home so I balance them on my nose. I have been meaning to replace them but like I said, the needs of others come first...and I am not complaining about that - just explaining! Anyway, I had to go home and put on those horrible glasses. So I was forced to put on glasses that make me dizzy, annoyed and frustrated!!






By the time I got home, I had time for a quick shower before I had to run out the door to get P at school. I walked in to his class and the teacher called him off the rug to come to me and he said, 'MOMMY - WHY DO YOU LOOK SO WEIRD??' Oh how special!!! The honesty of those little critters amaze me!!!

If this is the worst that happens to me this week, I am good to go but man..........

Cando

Okay so P just got a fish and was telling Popsie all about it....true to 'Popsie' nature he said, ' now that you mention fish, I think I am going to go upstairs and eat some!!!'


-- Post From My iPhone

Gift card...

We decided a new fish would be a good thing to purchase with the generous gift from Curly's mom. P and A decided that P would take the Petsmart gift card and A would take the Toys R Us card.

I explained to P that if he got a fish, he had to be extra nice to his sisters because everyone knows fish can't be in a house where there are mean kids.

He decided to name the fish Cando because as he said (referring to being nice to sissy #1 and sissy #2) 'I CANDO it!!!'

.......Stay tuned for what A gets from Toys R Us....rest assured they don't sell live things there!!!

NOW please pray for Curly's safe return!!




-- Post From My iPhone

A thank you from Curly

I got the best package in the mail today!!!! Curly's mom and the children in her classroom sent me thank you letters for hanging up flyers for Curly. While the thank you letters were completely undeserved, they were very much welcomed!!! The cards were adorable. I wanted to share some with you.

I told Curly's mom that I didn't want anything for helping to find the little guy. She didn't send me anything.....she sent the kids and dogs gift cards! Very creative and sneaky but WOW were the kids excited!!!

Here are my reminders to always help others......

































-- Post From My iPhone

P and his mouth...

P says the funniest things in class - making me sound like the worst mom on the planet!! We always get such a kick out of the things he says so I thought I would share some of them with the blogging world.

* I have heard these while in class or the teacher tells us.

From the mouth of P the pre-schooler....

Addie was bleeding all over the place last night and my mom said 'you're fine'
------truth - she picked a scab

I scared my mom so badly that she peed in her pants and had to take a shower
------truth - I did

My mom told me someone was going to come in our house and take us
------truth - I said someone COULD walk into our house and we would never hear them because our house is so loud!!

We saw a HUGE spider in my mom's room and she vacuumed it up.
-----truth - I was folding laundry and I didn't want the kids ruining my piles so I said there was a spider.....it worked!!!

The teacher was talking about bears and the kids started saying bears bite and P told the class that he understands because he has a dog that bites ALL the time.

I am sure I will think of more throughout the day....

-- Post From My iPhone

Thursday 13

Thirteen Reasons I haven't done TT...
1. I have 3 kids
2. I have 3 dogs
3. My creativity is struggling
4. I have been too busy with my resolutions
5. My computer and laptop are so slow
6. I have been hanging flyers for Curly
7.I am reading a really good book
8. I actually started writing my novel
9. I got a new camera
10. I don't like to commit to things
11. A hurricane blows through my house daily and I am forced to clean, clean,clean
12. Baby Beau is a busy baby these days - keeping me on my toes
13. I find myself keeping a grocery list - not a list of TT

I will be back strong next week!!!!


-- Post From My iPhone

Adios Tara

Today my niece leaves for Spain!! I am so proud of her and the woman she is becoming!! I can only hope my children are as responsible, smart, sweet and funny as her when they grow up. She's so smart for going now while she is young, single and carefree!! She's embarking on a journey of a lifetime.











I am also VERY proud of my sister Sue!! While it takes a carefree spirit of a young adult to follow through with studying abroad, it takes the power of an ox for a mom to let her go!!! Instead of being selfish and trying to make her stay in the states, she's encouraged her from day one to pack her bags and go have fun!!! I can only hope I have the same unselfish strength when my children want to spread their wings and soar above new heights!!!









Let the journey begin! It's all about holding on, letting go and never letting go, right?









You go Ta!!!! We will miss you but we are so proud of you!!!

Bye, love you, see you when you get home.....or should I say.......Adiós, te amo, te veré cuando llegue a casa!!!!

Not so far on the Little Einstein globe....

Forever planning and controlling ..

P has been saying the sweetest things out of the blue. For instance, today in the car he said, 'Mommy what's you phone number? I want to make sure I know it so when I get older, I can call you all the time!!!' I will remind him of that when he's in college and doesn't want to call.

A few days ago, we were eating dinner with Nonie and he said, 'Mommy, make sure you get lots of pictures of me because when I get married, I want to show my wife what I looked like at this age!!'







-- Post From My iPhone

A's 3rd B-Day...posted almost one month late!

Our little A turned 3 on 12/29! She was very sad about turning 3 and really wanted to stay 2! She would cry when someone said she was going to be 3!! I tried to get it on video but it never worked...it was very sweet!!

A is our little 'diva-princess' that can hold her own!! She makes me smile, laugh and feel so proud every single day!! She is our beautiful little sugar muffin!! We are so blessed to have her in our lives!!!

R's b-day is a few days after Christmas and he always LOVED having a holiday birthday!! We want to make sure A loves her holiday birthday too! So far - so good! We had her birthday party in the beginning of December and it was so fun!!! We did Lunch with Santa at our house! Everyone had a blast and most importantly, A felt so special!!

When we decided to have Santa at her party a few months prior, I called around and R thought the price to rent Santa was a little steep. We were driving down the road and he asked me to just look around and get some more rates. I said FINE and punched 'Santa rental, Lake county' into the search of my iphone...yes I was driving and the road was just about to merge. Anyway, before I could look up R said, 'there you go - you just found your Santa!' G-d as my witness, a red Escalade merged in front of at the same instant I hit search and on the back of the SUV, it said, www.clausibelive.com. I sped up to get next to him at the light and to my surprise...SANTA WAS DRIVING THE SUV!! I rolled down the window and screamed, 'OH MY G-D, YOU ARE SANTA - THE REAL SANTA - LOOK R - LOOK KIDS!!' My enthusiasm was mostly felt by me...R thought I was crazy, heck Santa did too and the kids thought it was cool but I was beside myself with excitment!

Anyway, completely fate - the universe bringing us together! I sound crazy but it was one of the most random things that have happened to me....EVER!! We hired Santa and true to my nature, we 'friended' him too!! I gave him cash up front and the joke with R and our good friends and family was that Santa wasn't going to show up at the party! After much stress for 3 months, Santa showed up right on time!!! He made me a believer and everyone else at the party for that matter too!!!

Anyway, the party was a success and will be an annual birthday party for A for the next few years!!









The 'after party' happy dance

Church...alone with the kids

Ahhhhh - I finally get it! I now know why they have wine with communion at church!!! Forget the blood of Christ, it signifies that church is almost over and it is safe to say I survived with the kids at mass. However, I don't drink the wine at church in fear that I will snatch the cup and chug....and the germ factor of course!

If we don't make it to church on Saturday nights as a family, (I know it's wrong) but on Sunday mornings, I like to sneak out of the house with the baby and go to mass....just the two of us!!! Well, the gremlins multiplied this morning. Now I know why daddy opted to go running!!

All would have gone great today at mass BUT Mini Me decided to not share her book with the baby so the baby screamed 'no no no Addie' and Addie yelled 'bad baby' and Pierson sat there like a perfect angel....until communion when the lady did the sign of the cross on his head and he flipped because he's not a fan of physical contact by strangers. Some man said to me, 'kind of makes you want another little lamb of G-d, doesn't it?'

......Funny sir, but why yes....kind of makes me want a couple more!!!

-- Post From My iPhone

The baby talk soooo much!!

Baby Beau is talking a lot, just like her siblings....must have something to do with how talkative I am!! Anyway, a couple weeks ago BB started saying her big sister's name, 'Addie!!' I was so excited and said, 'wow Addie - did you here that?' A, with her quick wit, said, 'she's not saying Addie - she's saying Aldi (the grocery store)!' Haaaaaa!!

A few days later, my momma and I were at Target and I told BB to say 'Addie' for nonie. She said it so cute and immediately big sis said, 'My name's not Addie - it's Wendi!!!' So funny - what a little pistol!!!


-- Post From My iPhone

P's Thankful Book from school...

Awwwww......


-- Post From My iPhone

Save the dogs...

We got an automated call last week alerting us that someone in our area lost their dog. True to my dog loving/saving nature, I called and told the lady the kids and I would help hang flyers. I figured it was a much safer route then running into traffic to save dogs like I have done in the past.

The kids have loved helping to try and get Curly back home and have learned a valuable lesson about helping others and commpassion for animals too!!

The other morning P woke up and said, 'we are going to team up (clap), split up (clap) and find Curly!!!'. So sweet!!!

Oh AND I scored a potential boyfriend for my niece while printing flyers at Office Max!! They have been chatting it up on the phone and text!! Maybe I should get a part-time job as Cupid!!! We promised Curly's mom that their first born would be named Curly!!!

Sadly, Curly is still missing!! Keep your fingers crossed for a safe return!!

The flyers...



Thanks Megan and Caitlin for helping...








P taking this very seriously...








Scooby on the case...








Hanging a flyer...








Mattie comes along for the 'flyer hanging' drives...

Pic time

We took pics with all 15 grandkids and Nonie and Popsie last weekend. Great fun! We are so lucky to have such a close family!!

We also took pics of individual families. One of my sisters has one boy and four girls. While the photographer was busy with them, I asked P if he wanted two more sisters.....he SCREAMED, 'no I want a BROTHER!'

Wow, no pressure there with the forth. I am confident he'll be happy with whatever gender we are blessed with the next time...and no people, not trying yet!!

Nonie and Popsie's crew....


My nephew with ALL his sisters......

Happy New Year

Last night P said he was going to pray to G-d...he put his little hands together, closed his sleepy eyes and said 'thank you G-d for my wonderful sisters and mommy and daddy' I can think of no better reminder to start off 2010...it's all about family and of course thanking G-d!!!


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