Talk about it Thursday

This picture was taken at a place we call "Third Falls" It is the highest of three waterfalls by my father's cabin. The cabin is in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. My father built the cabin when I was growing up. It is a wonderful place that holds many, many wonderful childhood memories for me. I hope that my children will have the same.

This picture was on Memorial Weekend. My son was 3 and my daughter was only 7 months old. My niece was with us for the weekend. They were having a great time climbing around the rocks with my husband and daddy. My daughter of course was riding around the rocks with Daddy! We couldn't get to close to the waterfall that day because the water was coming down so hard and fast. The kids enjoyed getting sprayed by the mist of the fall. It was a beautiful day!

In the picture you can see the rocks at the very top of the falls. As children we would climb up to the very top and cross the stream that feeds this waterfall. Up on those flat rocks you can see where the Indian's had carved out holes in the rock to grind food. We also found several pieces of obsidian. This is what the Indian's would make their arrowheads out of. I never found one but several arrowheads have been discovered up there. It is a very wonderful, peaceful place. I hope by the time my children are old enough to climb up there, I am not in a walker!

What boys do with bracelets

My girlfriend and her husband came over on Saturday for dinner and some crafting fun. She is the Bracelet Queen! She loves jewelry and has been making bracelets for sometime. She showed me how to make a new type of bracelet before Christmas. When she came over Saturday we were going to craft around a little. She brought me this cool little holder that she picked up from her work. She was even kind enough to bring a bag of extra beads and let the kids create their own bracelets. My daughter and my son were having fun playing around with stringing the beads. They each strung and re-strung beads to their hearts content. We had a really good time on Saturday.

On Sunday morning I noticed that my bracelet holder was empty. I looked around and didn't see where they were. When I asked the kids, my son showed me what he had done with them. He decided to decorate the refrigerator! He realized that they had magnets on the ends for clasps so he wanted to see how good they would stick. He had them all hanging on the refrigerator as accessories! He even accessorized the trash can but I forgot to take a picture of that. I told him that he could be onto the next big craft faze!

Although these glasses might be an even bigger hit! The bracelet he created for me is the one on his right. He was having fun creating a "pattern". This is something they work on in school and he did a really good job. I will wear it with pride!

Wordless Wednesday-Rock Climbing

Rock Climbing with Daddy!

Click for more Wordless Wednesday Pictures.

Mini Me?

My children were playing around this weekend as usual. They were running around playing with each other and for the most part getting along. I have been noticing though that my daughter has begun to get very bossy. Now, remember she was the one that was born with an attitude, but lately it is starting to turn bossy. For the most part my son puts up with it, but every once in a while he can't put up with it either.

They saw me uploading or downloading pictures onto my computer. They wanted to take pictures of each and for me to take pictures of them. I obliged. When I saw this one, it made me laugh and remember. This picture depicts the true colors of these two children. My son almost always has a happy cheerful disposition. My daughter on the other hand has the attitude of "It's my way or the highway." This was not where she wanted to stand to take her picture, can you tell?



It made me laugh because I really see myself in this picture. It makes me think of an Easter picture with all my brothers and sisters. I did not want to stop riding this bike. It was borrowed from my oldest brother's girlfriend's sister and it was way cooler than any bike we had! I remember my mother saying "You are going to have to look at that snarl every time you see this picture." And she was right. I can't believe that I made such a big deal over that bike! I bet someday I will be saying the same thing to this little girl.

Cheers to Ga Ga!

Yesterday morning the kids wanted some orange juice. Since both of them have been fighting off the horrible crud that has been going around, I though that this was the perfect thing for them to have.

Luckily, I had some of the wonderful oranges that my father grows in his back yard. My sister, The Grasshopper, did a great post awhile back on them. Go check it out here!

I got in the cupboard and got down my grandmother, Ga Ga's old juice reamer. It is an old green depression glass reamer. It is one of my favorite things. I love old things, especially when they have a sentimental attachment to them. This is one of those things. Besides, its just plain pretty!

I decided to let each of the kids squeeze their own juice. They thought this was a good idea too. They went right to it, each getting their own orange. We also got down two of Ga Ga's old coffee cups. These too are some of my favorites. They have just the right feel in your hands, especially with hot coffee first thing in the morning!

They carefully poured their work into their mugs. I added a little ice to make sure that it was nice and cold. Both of them were anxious to drink up. Since I had been talking to them about their great Grandma while we were doing this, I told them that we should say Cheers to Gaga!

They always enjoy doing Cheers! It makes me sad that they were never able to meet their Great Grandma, or their Grandma from my side. I know that they both would have enjoyed their antics so much. With stories and pictures hopefully I am able to keep their memories alive not only for myself, but for my children.

The Calm before the Storm

Yesterday we were waiting for the storm that was heading our way. I went outside to look at the storm clouds that were brewing. It was starting to get very cloudy and we could tell that the storm was approaching. I looked up into one of the trees in our front yard and saw these little blossoms. They were hanging there enjoying the last little bit of sunlight. They have no clue as to what is coming!

This is the sky to the North of us. It is a swirl with clouds.

This is to the East of us. You can see a branch from the tree that has the blossoms on it.

This is the view to the West. The storm is coming from all directions. Living and growing up in a farming community, this is a beautiful sight. We pray the Lord will bless us with an abundance of rain so that the crops will grow and the farmers will sleep easier.

Sweet Nothings!

My son walks in the dining room and says, "Mommy what is that good smell? It smells really good in here."

"Oh I don't know, it is probably just your Mom. " I said.

"No, it smells way better then you, it smells like cookies!"

I guess I need to find baking cookies body lotion.

Four Generations

My son was blessed to be able to take a picture with his father, grandfather and great-grandfather. This was the last in our series of four generation pictures. They are a treasure that we are lucky to have.

In the very first four generation picture, I was so amazed at how much they all looked alike. My son was the spitting image of his father when he was born. But as he grew he began to look a lot like my father. He had the blue eyes and blonde hair just like my Dutch father. When we compared pictures of my son and father at the same age they looked alike. This of course made me happy because I didn't think any of my genes were going to be evident when my son was first born.

We were blessed to have my husband's grandparents with us for several years. They have since both passed and we miss them very much. We think about them everytime that we go to Morro Bay and remember all the good times that we shared with them there.

This is who I am?

Take the Quiz here!

I saw this fun little quiz on The Grasshoppers blog. She found it on Kelli Crowe's blog. You answer a few questions to determine which Jane Austen heroine you are most like. They said I was Elizabeth Bennet of Pride & Prejudice! I will have to make sure I see the movie now. As for the comparison I am not quite sure.

It says that I am intelligent, witty, and tremendously attractive. I have a good head on my shoulders, and oftentimes find myself the lone beacon of reason in a sea of ridiculousness. I take great pleasure in many things. I am proficient in nearly all of them, though I will never own it. Lest I seem too perfect, I have a tendency toward prejudgement that serves me very ill indeed.

I am not quite sure what to think of that. I know I am not "tremendously attractive" and I hope I don't have a tendency for prejudgement. I will say that I am somewhat intelligent and I do try to be witty. I try to have a good head on my shoulders but rarely am I the lone beacon of reason. I love doing many things but I am master of none. I will leave being "perfect" to someone else because it is a hard title to live up to.

This was a fun little quiz. Click on over to the Grasshopper and view her identity.

No Tea Parties Lately!

I made the mistake of thinking that we had escaped all the creepy crud that was going around. I think I even made the cardinal mistake of telling the DH how lucky we were to have kids that were so healthy. Our daughter started on Saturday as I previously posted. Then our son woke up sick to his stomach Sunday morning; by Monday he was running a 102.2 fever on Tylenol and Advil. They are both on antibiotics and have not been having any fun lately. They both took 5 hour naps! My son's fever has finally broke and I think we are turning the corner. Yeah!!
I just hope that the adults aren't next.

Wordless Wednesday-Yosemite Edition

Check out the other great pictures at 5minutesformom.

President's Day

Let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle. George Washington

The assertion that "all men are created equal" was of no practical use in effecting our separation from Great Britain and it was placed in the Declaration not for that, but for future use. Abraham Lincoln

Today we celebrate two great Presidents of the United States. Both of whom were men of great character. Both of them credited their mothers for the success that they achieved and for the men that they were.

So I asked my son, who is only five, what he knew about President's Day:

Why didn't you have to go to school today? Because it's President's Day. It's a holiday and you don't go to school on a holiday. (Good Answer!)

What is a President? Um, I'm not sure. (Not so good)

Who was President George Washington? He was the 1st President of the United States. Is he still alive? No, he has passed away. That is who I would vote for for President.

Who was President Abraham Lincoln? He was the 16th President of the United States. (Impressive Answer. I didn't remember that!)

What are you thankful for on this President's Day? My Family and all my Power Rangers. (at least we were first.)

I didn't even try these on the three year old. I was pretty impressed by my son. He is pretty smart but even so I was impressed by what he knew!

One thing I remember from my childhood was Lincoln's Birthday. We used to celebrate it every February 12th. This happened to be my Grandmother's Birthday, Gaga. She would say, "My birthday is so special that they close the bank!"

Photo Credit

The Daytona 500

Today is the first race of the season. Well actually not the first race, since the Daytona coverage actually started last weekend with the Bud Shootout, but today is the big race that starts the Nascar season. We are all big fans and we each have our favorite drivers. Three of our drivers have all ready one the Daytona 500 in the past. We each cheer for our own drivers but also for each others. It should be a fun race and hopefully the start of a great season.

The number 24 Dupont Chevy driven by Jeff Gordon. This is the DH's favorite. He has the most experience, the most championships and the most wins at the 500 among our favorites. He is one of the favorites to win again today.

The number 48 Lowes Chevy driven by Jimmy Johnson. This is my son's favorite driver. Jimmy is fast approaching Jeff for wins at the 500 and all ready has two championships. He is always a threat to win the race.

The number 55 Napa Toyota driven by Michael Waltrip. This is my favorite driver. I think he only has like five wins total in his career, but two of them are the Daytona 500. Last year was really tough on Michael and he started the Daytona 100 points in the hole. He will start number two in the race and he also has all three of his cars in the race. I will be cheering for Michael today and for the rest of the season. Go Napa!

And last but not least, the number 99 Ford Office Depot driven by Carl Edwards. He is our daughter's driver. He is the newest driver of our group and has not won a Daytona 500. He is a great driver and will be in the mix for a win.

We wish all of our drivers good luck and pray that God will keep them and all the other drivers safe. We are so happy that racing is finally starting!! GO 24, 48, 55 and 99!

Success!

She did it! She is officially wearing Panties!! Even though it took a little longer than I thought from the last post, she is finally wearing panties! She told me Friday morning that she wanted to go on the potty chair and has gone ever since! She did good all day and we went and bought her Little Mermaid, My Little Pony and Tinkerbell panties. We couldn't find Barney but she was happy with these. I did put her in a pull up over night. It was just slightly wet. She got up and went and has been wearing panties with no accidents for two days!

The only problem is she woke us up this morning with "Mommy my head hurts and my tummy too. I think I am going to frow up!" She never threw up, but we did take her to the doctor this morning. She has another sinus infection and is on antibiotics. She looks and feels terrible. Running a low grade fever and talking like a frog. I pray that it isn't the flu and only a bad cold. Time will tell. Even though she feels so bad, she is still going on the potty!

Now I am really sad. My baby is no longer a baby, She's a big girl now!

Happy Birthday to Three Special Uncles

Happy Birthday to Three very specail Uncles. They all have a very special place in our hearts. They are three great guys that we are blessed to have in our family!

The first one is a belated birthday! It is Silly Uncle Billy. We celebrated his birthday on February 3 in San Francisco. Here he is showing us that he can really get into party mode. Luckily he stopped short of dancing on the table and settled for dancing with the center piece on his head! My children started calling him Silly Uncle Billy after they stayed with him for a few hours. There is no telling what he did but whatever it was, they loved it. He is also my daughters Godfather. When I asked her what her favorite thing about him was she said, "Um, he plays with me and plays tricks on me. He's silly!" We hope he had a birthday as special as he is!

The next one is my youngest, older brother. He is only a year older than me so we were always pretty close growing up. We had lots of fun times and fights when we were younger, the usual older brother, younger sister stuff. He was always a great protector of me and my younger sister. I wish that I could say the same thing for myself. I just want to publicly apologize again to him, in front of the whole internet world, that I am sorry for "helping" him with Eric Alberty!

This picture really bothers me because he is wearing glasses! Is that my fate in just one year?

The next birthday is of our "Dingo". He is married to my older sister and is the Godfather of my son. He is a wonderful person, godfather, father and husband. We were blessed to have him come into our family. His faith and dedication to his family has been a blessing to watch. It was also because of him that I met my wonderful husband. My husband is his 2nd cousin. He was the one that first suggested him to my sister as potential suitor for his poor single sister-in-law!

We love all three of our Uncles and pray that God grants them all a very happy day and a year full of health, happiness and prosperity!

A Valentines Day to Remember

Since 1992, Valentine’s Day has held a different meaning to me. It was the day that we laid our mother to rest; the day that we celebrated her life and returned her body to the earth. It was a day that I will never forget.

While it was very difficult to think about burying your mother on Valentine’s Day, it ended up being the perfect day to honor her. She was killed on Monday February 10, 1992 in an automobile accident. That Friday was Valentine’s Day and it was chosen for the day of the funeral. It was also the 40th anniversary of the day that my father had proposed to her.

The first thing that comes to mind about this day was the roses. My mother had a deep devotion to St. Therese of Lisieux. St. Therese was known for sending a rose or the scent of a rose after the completion of a novena. My mother had several amazing "rose" stories after her novenas. Therefore it was only appropriate that she would have a "shower of roses" for her last Valentine’s Day. The only problem was that it was just days before Valentine’s Day and we were asking the florist for roses. Mary Fasso of Gonsalves-Fasso Florist had known my mom and promised that she would do what she could to make sure my mom got roses.

I was at the funeral home with my brothers and sisters when they brought the spray of roses for the casket. We were all amazed. It was the most beautiful arrangement that I had ever seen! There were so many red roses that it almost covered the whole casket. It was her shower of roses from heaven! It was such a beautiful tribute, one of the last gifts my father could give her, and it was fit for a queen. It was exactly what she deserved.

Another memory that stands out is the large Valentine card that her grandchildren made for her. On an easel amongst all the flowers was this very large homemade valentine that said "Happy Valentine’s Day Nanny" It was designed and signed by all her grandchildren. At that time there were only four now she has twelve.

When we went to enter the church and the doors in the back were swung open, there at the altar were six priests. All there to participate in the celebration of mass. My father's knees buckled. To have that many priests come to celebrate the funeral mass of a lay woman was another tribute to my mother and her faith. Each of these priests came for reasons of their own. It was mainly because they had known my mother and wanted to be there to celebrate her life.

I also remember that I had never in my life seen the church as full as it was. There were people in church that had probably never set foot in a Catholic church before. There were people from every aspect of my mother's life. Her family, friends, co-workers, students and others that wanted to be there to celebrate who she was. Afterwards it was nice talking to so many people who had loved and respected her, just as we had.

When the services were over at the cemetery, my father had told the priest to tell everyone that they could take one of the roses off the casket as a Valentine gift. There were enough for everyone that went to get one. It reminded me of the parable of the fish and loaves of bread, those roses just kept multiplying. It was a beautiful thing to see all the roses that had been laid at the grave sites of their loved ones.

This experience has shaped how I feel about Valentine’s Day. It is in a way a bittersweet day. It was one of the best and worst days of my life. It is a day that will never be forgotten. My nephew Zach, who at the time was only about four years old, summed it up. We were in the limousine on our way to the hall and he said, "I miss Nanny. I sure wish she could have been with us." I know that she was with us and was smiling down at us from heaven.

World Ag Expo aka Tractor Heaven

Today was one of the days that my son looks forward to every year. The day that he gets to hang out with Daddy at the International Farm Show. They have gone together for the last three years and he loves it more and more each year. This is heaven for any little (or big) boy that loves tractors. They have every type you can imagine. This is the largest farm show in the world and people come from all over the world to see the lastest in farming technology.

From large John Deere tractors ...

To little John Deere Tractors...

To large Ford tractors that are perfect for eating lunch in ...

To little quad like multi purpose John Deeres...

He loves how big the wheels are. This wasn't even the biggest one that they saw.

He got to drive one of these with Daddy in the past. This year only Daddy could drive and he couldn't have any passengers under the age of 18. This was the only disappointment of the day.

This one was one of his favorites!

This is the Montana that he thinks Daddy needs. I wonder how much Daddy paid him to say that!

This is a great adventure for the two of them. This is the first year that we had to take him out of school. I'm sure that this will be a big positive too as he gets older!

Works for me Wednesday

Its's Valentines Day! Time for some love from the kitchen and the craft table. First let me tell you that I am not the crafty mom. I am usually doing things at the last minute. But this year with reading all these great blogs, I found some fun ideas for Valentines Day. It also helps that my oldest has started school and I new I was going to have to do something. Here are two quick and easy ideas.

I got this idea from the Pioneer Woman Cooks. She made these at Christmas time. They are quick and easy because you use premade cookie dough and candy. You can use any flavor of dough and whatever type of candy that you like. The only thing different that I did was to use a heart shape mini muffin pan instead of a round one. I put them in the mini muffin paper cups and you have a nice cookie/candy treat!

This is an idea from Martha Stewart. I got the idea from Hello my name is Heather. It is felt fortune cookies. We made our out of the foam sheets with 20 gauge florist wire. They fit about five hershey kisses and homemade fortunes. I made these with my kids on Saturday. We had a lot of fun. We also decorated the mini take out boxes with foam stick on hearts and glitter paint. I filled them with the kisses and the kids helped me stuff the boxes with a fortune cookie and a few more kisses!

For more great ideas head on over to Don't try this at Home.

Dieting Updates

Well it has been a little more than a week since I officially started taking Alli. I started a week ago last Friday. I was a bit aprehensive about taking it because of what I have heard about it. Luckily I can say that I have not had any adverse treatment effects. I have been very cautious about how much fat I have been eating and I believe that this has helped. I think I am starting to get into a rhthym of things but I can see that I need to start branching out so that I do not get bored.

I have lost a total of 9 pounds. This is since January 28th, so that works out to about 4.5 pounds per week! I think this is pretty good. I will only have to keep going for 2 years to get to where I want to be. Well not quite two years, but close. I will have to keep praying and taking it one day at a time.

I think one of the best things that I have done is taking lunch and snacks to work. This has kept me from getting so hungry that I eat everything in sight. I have been doing the Healthy Choice lunches or something similiar. Apples, carrots, yogurt and pretzels have replaced Geta, McDonalds and the like. I feel better and would probably have more energy if I wasn't burning the candle at both ends because of work. At least I have not let the stress get to me like I used to.

I think that the Alli has helped me because I don't dare eat something that I shouldn't. I would be mortified if I had to rush to the bathroom while interviewing a client! I will keep taking it just for that reason if it continues to work for me. I just need to branch out and look for lowfat reciepes so that the whole family is eating the same thing.

Saturday Fun

After a very long week of work, I was ready to have some fun. I had read on one of my newly discovered blogs, Hello My Name is Heather about a fun thing to do with kids. She is very talented and had some great photos about making foam crowns. I believe it was a birthday party activity that she did with her child. It looked like lots of fun and was inexpensive too! Since we needed to go to Michaels to pick up supplies for making our valentines I let the kids pick out what they wanted to make. Originally they wanted to make visors, but when they found the crowns, they both wanted them. They picked out the foam stickers to put on them and when we got home, they went to work. It was very simple and they had them created in a very short time. They were so proud of their handy work.

I told my daughter that she could be the queen. She said "No Mommy, I want to be the King! I want to be the King of the Castle" I told her she could be whatever she wanted, but of course her brother told her she couldn't be the King because he was and besides "your not a boy."




Another fun thing I found on Heather's site was for felt Fortune Cookie Valentines. These looked like they would be fun and easy. We picked up the supplies at Michaels and worked on them this afternoon. I used foam sheets instead of felt and 20 gauge florist wire. They were easy to make and they can hold about three or four Hershey Kisses. I still need to make the fortune to insert into the cookies. I also picked up little chinese take out boxes. We wrote the names of all the children in my son's class in red glitter paint. The kids then stuck foam hearts on them. We are going to put one cookie and a few extra kisses in each box. Here is a photo of the large box that we will give to the Babysitter.

We had a lot of fun making these crafts today. It was so nice to be able to enjoy my children and easy my mind from all the stress of this last week. The children enjoyed having my full attention and loved making things for their friends! I am also proud of myself that this is completed and we won't be rushing to get them done the night before Valentines Day!

Lenten Promises

The season of Lent has begun. A time for prayer and fasting as we prepare for Easter. While we have talked about lent in our home in the past, it has been different this year with our son being in school. He is attending a catholic school and he is always coming home with little tidbits of religious information; for example God doesn't have favorites. This is big for a little kid because everything is about what is your favorite. It has been interesting to see his development in this area and makes me glad that we decided to send him to this school.

On Monday morning he did not want to go to school. This was extremely unusual for him. He has never wanted to stay home before. After quite a bit of discussion and persuasion, he was finally dressed and off to school. That night while giving him a bath, we talked about it. Come to find out, he didn't want to go to school because he thought it was Ash Wednesday and he did not want ashes put on his forehead! I told him that he had had them before, why would he not want them this time. Since he is only five and I don't think I took him last year, he could not remember having them before. (I know, shame on me, I went on the way home from work and did not take him.) It was useless talking to him because he had made up his mind, there would be no ashes on this boys forehead.

On Wednesday morning, I told him I would see him at church. He again said he was not going to walk up to get them. He was going to stay in the pew. I told him he had to obey his teacher. When I got to church, the children were spread out in the church. The children were sitting with their school families. (This is a group of students, one from each grade, that does different activities together through out the school year.) My son's cousin is the oldest in his school family. I was hoping that there was not going to be a problem. Luckily there wasn't. He went up and got the ashes with no problem! When I asked him about it that night he said it was okay, but he was disappointed because his were "too light and didn't last very long."

Also Wednesday morning he informed me that he was going to have home lunch for forty days in a row! This was definitely going to be a problem, since I did not have much to send him to eat that day. When I told him I didn't have much for his lunch he said he meant he was going to take a snack everyday for 40 days. Boy, was I relieved! Instead he told me that he was going to not eat PopTarts for breakfast for 40 days. This morning when Daddy made him one without thinking, he said that he could not eat it! I was proud of him.

It was really sweet this morning when I overheard him talking to his little sister. He asked her "What is your lenten promise?" I didn't hear what she said but it made me think. I have always thought about it as what am I going to give up or do without. What am I going to deprive myself of this year. It is so much more beautiful and more like a personal gift to God, if you think of it as a promise. A lenten promise! My son has taught me a beautiful lenten lesson.

Ash Wednesday

"Remember, man, you are dust, and to dust you will return."

The season of lent begins tomorrow, on Ash Wednesday. The time of the year when we should reflect on our lives and make sacrifices so that we can experience the grandeur of God at Easter. I pray that God works with me during this lent to prepare for the glorious Easter that is to come!

Our Civic Duty

Tomorrow is Super Tuesday in California. It is finally our turn to vote in the primary for our picks for the upcoming Presidential election. Tomorrow we get to choose who the top two will be. This is our chance to help get the best candidate from each party. If you don't take the time to vote, then don't complain later about who we have to choose from.

My mother was a big influence on me in the area of voting. She would always take us when we were kids with her when she voted. She even worked in the precincts several times. This helped shape my beliefs in voting. I think that I have only missed voting one time since I have been able to vote. That's how strongly I feel about doing my civic duty and honoring those people who fought so hard to give us the right to vote!

My DH and I have voted absentee, but we are going to walk our ballots into the precinct with our children in tow. I want them to see that we believe that it is important to vote. We also vote at a retirement center and the people there always love to see the kids. It is important to teach children from an early age! We are making sure that they realize that the respect of life is the number one issue to vote to protect.


"Let our actions make us worthy of the blessings we have received and pray that God will continue to bless us!" Diane Albers

May God Bless the United States!