Happy Birthday Ashmatash!

Today is the birthday of someone VERY special that I know. She is my sister, the baby of the fam, now in her twenties! Personally I enjoyed my twenties and find thirties even better (forties should be rockin' then eh). Anyways, I love her more than words can say, she is a gift from God! She's incredibly smart, funny, talented.....can do anything she puts her mind to, not to mention she's absolutely beautiful! I have to say, my littlest one reminds me very much of my sister which is fun to see. She cracks me up just like Ashley would! It kinda helps the 'sting' of us being 3000 miles apart not 'sting' quite as much.
Anyways, I'm SO grateful that Ashley was made, and even more that she's part of 'our' family! I look forward over the years to hanging out with her as much as possible and getting to do fun girly things that sisters do. I am honoured to know her and even more so to have her as my sister and friend. If you're reading this my lil' Ashmatash...have the most wonderful birthday possible filled with love, joy and all the things you love most! You are a rich treasure in my life whom I love dearly!!! xoxoxo

Happy Birthday Michael Michael

Happy Birthday Myke! I sure hope it's a great one!!!
We'll work on 'NOT' eating the paper plates by the time your next birthday rolls around. Maybe we'll do 'transformer' plates for you next year......or should we save that for your 30th? I dunno. ; )

I love you more than words can say. You are not only the sweetest, kindest brother ever, but a great friend that I enjoy hanging out with (Dairy Queen) and am thankful to and for. I'd pick you as a friend even if we weren't related. You are a wonderful Uncle that the kids absolutely adore, a smart, funny, though sometimes odd (but I'm glad you're free to be you) sensitive (just a little bit eh) considerate, compassionate, did I not mention very handsome, talented brother. If it's not coming across......I really love you!
Love Cher

Yummy Weekend

This weekend was sure a fun one! It started with a bbq at Donna and Ed's house with some friends and neighbours. Good food, music and fun times were had by all! Saturday 'I' actually got to sleep in which is the first time in a few years til' 930am! Usually I can't sleep past 630am even when I try to. Saturday morning I did my sister n' laws hair for a wedding she was attending. She always looks pretty so the hairstyle couldn't have gone wrong really, it was funky......I would've wore it myself, it's just a little hard to do an updo on yourself, but I'll keep practicing.
We went to Christians last baseball game of the season. Emma decided that morning she was a model and decided to dress as so for the occasion with her pink feather boa. So cute! Then Larry took Chrish to the end of season pool party at the coach's house. Chrish was SO excited that he jumped into the pool while still wearing his t-shirt. He brought home this really cool bobble head trophy and displayed it proudly on his 'award' shelf. He's a talented, athletic kid that one!
Sunday was church as usual, lunch afterwards as usual which is always a fun treat! (anytime I don't have to cook is a treat!) Emma, Hannah and I went for a quick shopping trip and then I took Emma to a birthday party a little kid gym. It was fun watching her have such a great time. My lil' gymnist! After dropping Emma off after the party, Hannah and I got to go on our long awaited date. Nothing too fancy, but we've been talking for a couple months now about going to Ruby's (50's diner) for an 'ever so yummy brownie fudge sundae' which was incredibly delicious! After the tasty food, Hannah wanted to go to Target to buy herself a stuffed animal (surprise, surprise) which was a donkey/dragon called "Dronkey" from the new movie 'Shrek 3" she was happy with her new purchase. We went home to cuddle and paint nails to finish our special date. The cuddling while watching " A Night at the Museum" happened, the nail painting didn't happen until this morning before school. Black with pink polka-dots is what she wanted and is what she got! It really was fun spending one on one time with Hannah, she is such a special giggly girl whom I love dearly! She is heaven-sent and I am honoured to spend anytime I can with her.

So today......

So, today was a Mother's Day picnic at Emma's school. The kids sang a few cute 'mommy' songs, then we went outside for a sweet little picnic that the kids helped prepare. They made peanut butter sandwiches, had some yummy crunchy grapes and two 'famous amos' chocolate chip cookies for each of us. Then they surprised us with a fake, sparkly potted plant, and a homemade photo pin made interestingly enough out of a styrophome cup curled down into a little flower. Very sweet! My favourite part was probably watching Emma, giggle and play with her friends on the playground and 'monkeybars' that she's always telling me about.
The rest of the day consisted of laundry, dishes, cuddling and tickling Christian (but then we had to get serious and do homework.) The kids weren't home but 5 minutes and you couldn't even tell that I washed the floors this morning (I have to laugh about it though) Emma made her fort yet again today taking up the whole livingroom, then fell asleep in it. (so precious) While I was doing dishes and making dinner, I was really enjoying watching Caley just be a kid and ride her bike. Just back and forth on the sidewalk, not a care in the world. Do you remember that? Being a kid, just doing whatever YOU wanted to do, not stressing or having grown-up concerns, just thinking about what you would do next. I remember a bunch of times laying down in a field looking up at the sky and puffy clouds daydreaming, or singing, talking to God.(those were the days) Anyways, Chrish had his second to last baseball game for the season, then we ate din din and went to bible study. So, a pretty regular day. Now I'm tired and am going to go to bed at a descent time and maybe, hopefully be a bit more productive tomorrow. We'll see what memories we can make tomorrow ; )

xoxo..Happy Mother's Day!..xoxo

Happy Mothers Day! Today is a day that I am even more than ever filled with grattitude to my mom for giving me life, love and many special memories. I am now in the midst of finding out myself what it means and takes to be a mom, and because of her I am striving to be the best mom I can be. My mom did it all on her own too! Still don't know how she did that! My mom is a loving, strong, perservering, hard-working, smart, caring, affectionate godly woman whom I think God personally picked out of His treasure chest to give to our family. Life has not been easy for my mom (it would be rather boring and we'd be unappreciative if it came too easy), but she's quite a survivor and has a great heart! As long as I can remember I have always thought of my mom as a friend.....as well as a mother, believe me! To me she reallly exemplifies God's heart. She's always been so accepting, loves unconditionally, just as I am in all my faults and weaknesses, and has always been so forgiving. I will forever be grateful to her and for her. Mom, you are the best and I love you!

I just have to add how grateful I am for my family. Today was a day spent with the hubby and kiddos. Lots of home made cards and pictures, even a special necklace (yes with a heart) from the kids, and Larry spoiled me with a wonderful spa gift card. At church this morning they had flowers for all the moms which was sweet, and when we picked up the kids from their classes they had flowers for us too! Very thoughtful! I am honoured to be their mom and it is indefinable how precious they are to me! I love you sweethearts!

Laguna Beach Tide pools

On Wednesday Emma and I got to go on a pre-school field trip with her school. We took a long, bumpy busride down to the Laguna Beach tide pools. Emma was giddy she was so excited about riding on the bus with her friends. The weather was absolutely beautiful and just perfect. We took a rather long walk (for lil' ones) along the coast to get from the buses to the tidepools, broke up into groups and had our own lifeguards to show us around. I was amazed at how fast time flew and with that many young ones you have to keep a pretty tight schedule. While nervously and carefully hiking all around the tide pools (quite slippery and we didn't want to disturb the sea life) we found two (one was huge) starfish. We also saw a ton of sea anenomies I believe they are called, of course many baby crabs. Then we walked away from the rocks and over to the beach and had about 5 minutes to let the kids dip their feet in the water. We had to hike back up to the grass area and had a fun picnic lunch and after a potty break had to head back on the bus and head for home. I think we spent an equal amount of time on the bus to and from as we did at the actual beach. The kids were much quieter and more tired on the way home but everyone seemed to have a really great time! I know Emma and I sure did!

godma & godpa

Today we had a surprise visit from the kids godparents, Glenn and Donna. They have lived in Oregon for the last 11 years. The kids were very excited to see their godma and godpa. They even ended up coming to watch Christian play baseball in the scorching hot sun. He of coarse was extremely excited about that! The kids were showing them their rooms and things that are special to them. Emma showed off all her new birthday presents. Glenn and Donna couldn't get over how much the kids had grown since the last visit. It was really great to see them and hopefully we'll see them sooner than later next time round.

Before the rush of energy and appetite come barging in, I thought I'd take a few moments to reflect on this pretty busy, tiring, yet very fun weekend. It was filled with various different things that had us in a few different directions as well as gathered together with our friends and family. Let's start with.......drum roll pllleeeaaassssse!!!! "the spy's" Yes, special agents Emma and Christian thought it would be fun to put on one of dad's jackets, a tuke and spy on certain, hum-hum (family) subjects. All the while giggling making it hard not to giggle yourself. After the spying, they decided that they wanted to turn lil' man's full size mattress into a slide/trampoline while both wearing boardshorts (Emma makes a cute 'tomboy').
Saturday I took Emma to a birthday party, where she had a blast with all her pre-school friends there. Meanwhile Larry took the 3 older ones to the park where he worked 'snackshack' for 3 hours and the kids played at the park while he did that. Later that day we came home, I had a friend who was going to a party and needed her done in an updo. She graciously asked me to do it for her. She looked pretty and said she liked it. It was fun and scary at the same time. I want to go buy some big doll heads with hair now so I can practice more. Then my sister n' law Donna took me to get a much needed pedicure which was amazingly sweet of her. Pretty toes now, YAY!
Sunday, our baby girl's 5th birthday. Lar took the 3 youngest to church while Caley, Donna and I kicked butt and set up the cutest little five year old party ever! My sis n' law has great ideas which made it cute with extra touches. It was decided by the birthday girl that it would be a "Barbie Princess Party" She insisted she wanted a bounchouse, and we surprised her with a real 'live' princess coming to her party for an hour to do face painting and balloon animals which all the kids even the older ones seemed to love. There were about 17 kids that came (yes including my bunch) it was rather hot, in the high 80's if not low 90's. She was beaming all day long and kept telling us what a special party it was and how thankful she was. She also, got a special phone call from Oma which put a huge smile on her face! She couldn'g wait to get home from school today (normally she wants to go 'do' something) just to play with all her special new toys. Oh, forgot to tell you this cute thing....As I was carrying her home from the party (which was at Aunties) I was kissing on her and telling her what a special girls she was, and as I opened the door she says " there's no more 4 year olds in here!" So cute she is! So those were some of the highlights of our weekend. Take care : )

Last Day To Be Four

Today was the lil' ones very last day forevermore of being four! Quite a special day! Of course she's extremely excited about tomorrow being her 5th birthday. She's been planning it for quite some time now, like atleast a few months. Actually I think when we were talking about the oldest one's birthday back in January, the lil' one made a guest list and told me where she wanted to have her party. For this year and the next few to come. Being that it was her last day to enjoy being four.....we gave her sets of four hugs, kisses, and of course tickles too. We kissed our four year old girl goodnight and look forward to kissing and awakening our big five year old girl tomorrow : ) Sweet dreams sweet four year old, sweet dreams!