My Lil' Man

Whenever it's one of my kids birthdays or even close to, I tend to get all sentimental and mixed feelings of both incredible happiness and a tinge of sadness at just how fast my precious babe has grown. This week will be my lil' mans 9th birthday. How can that be? It seems like only yesterday I was pregnant with him and was pretty sure he was a boy before the ultrasound confirmed it from his powerful kicks that truly scared me. I thought he might deliver himself he was so incredibly strong!

As a baby, Christian was colicky for the first few months but then seemed to settle in good. Before he was one he climbed out of his crib.... then over his gate..... and then I found him on the counter in the kitchen reaching for the above cupboards. I knew then that I would have to keep my eyes on this lil' guy big time! Since before he could walk which was at 8 months Chrish would bang on the screen door wanting to play outside. He insisted on riding a scooter and rode one very impressively I might add by 1 1/2. He's always been such a remarkable, fearless and gifted kid. Everything sports related and physical he is truly amazing at! His love is for soccer and baseball. He'll blow you away shooting one basket after the next in basketball. He also has a passion to build things. You name it, he can build it! Some of the many projects he has built for us have been a deck. It was sturdy enough to withstand a rather big earthquake too with bbq on it and all. He has also built a scooter, some shelves, forts, a table, chair, desks......

Besides his many abilities, Chrish has an incredible compassionate heart. He can make friends with any and everyone of all ages. He loves giving things or helping people out. What he'll end up doing in life I'm not sure but I do know that he can do whatever he sets his mind to. I am already so incredibly (obviously) proud of him and to be his mom and sometimes try to take a lesson from him and to live my life passionately like he does. Happy birthday Chrish I love you!

A Blast on A Dime

After much planning and re-arranging my girlfriends and I went on an overnight together. There are 6 of us and we were all cutting way back on the finances but still wanted to do something together. How often can you get 6 moms with 26 kids between us to coordinate our calendars and spend a weekend together.

It was going to be either camping on the beach in a trailer which would have been fine except the temps here lately have been on the chilly side. Our friend offered us her moms house in the desert which is what we ended up doing. Since her mom was going to be babysitting for her anyways the place was already going to be vacant and you can't beat the price of 'free'.

After dropping the kids off to school Friday morning we all met up, stopped off at Starbucks and were on our way to the desert. Once we got settled at the house we loaded in the car and headed up to the mountains for the afternoon. Once there we found a great spot to eat called 'The Red Kettle'. We walked around the little shops and found ourselves a quaint little candy shop. Of coarse we had to treat ourselves and then headed back down the mountain. One of the girls is pregnant and wanted to share the experience of a 4D ultra sound with us, so our tech savvy friend found the where and when and we all got to watch on a huge screen our dear friends precious baby boy.

The rest of the weekend consisted of delicious food, talking, watching a movie, more talking and definitely laughing...... a truly great time. Some of the girls had to take off so the rest of us headed back towards home unsure of our plans. We ended up going to one of our friends homes where we ate more yummy food, drank some wine and relaxed in the jacuzzi. It was a great way to end our weekend.

I Heart You

Those who know me pretty well know that I am a HUGE fan of hearts. I've always liked them and still do. Whenever I see one, especially in things of nature I become child-like and my heart fills up with excitement. I don't go looking for them, but when I do see them it's like God saying "I love you Cherie". It is also something I can say happens at just the right moment and quite frequently. But every time it does, it surprises me as much as it did the very first time. Even my kids know how much hearts mean to me and sometimes come running up to me excitedly saying "here you go mommy!" God shows me His love in many different ways but this is just one of the ways He does.

Like most people these days, things have been tight but Valentines Day is a special day I so look forward to. Yesterday was pretty mellow and relaxing for the most part which is always such a treat because it's not the norm. Christian picked us some flowers (thanks neighbours) and put a beautiful bouquet together for us. How sweet he is! Emma made Larry and I an adorable Valentines card. She really enjoys making things for people and has a generous heart. The girls and I made a delicious Valentines dinner (steak, mashed potatoes and veggies) and a festive Valentines cake with cinnamon candy on it. We enjoyed our delicious meal, and then the older girls and I went out to the movies which was a nice treat. All in all a wonderful extra cuddly, lovey day.

The kids have the day off from school tomorrow which I'm thankful for. I'm hoping to spend the first part of the day hanging out, playing games and then definitely getting some organizing done, and then finishing the day off with the same way we start it.

Knock, knock... Lemonade?

I got home from running yesterday and pulled up to a sign Christian had made for a lemonade stand. They've done this many times before. They have even gone around to neighbours gathering lemons and have tried to make 'fresh' squeezed lemonade. Running in the house all excited to show us their profit and begging me to buy a cup from them. As I hesitatingly sipped and even more hesitatingly swallowed down the most sour water I've ever had..... I insisted they NOT sell fresh squeezed lemonade again.

So as soon as I realized what they were up to, I insisted on going to the store to get some descent lemonade. By the time I got back they were all set up. They had chairs, a table, the pitcher and cups all ready. Even their container to collect the money in. At first Christian was thinking of selling at $2 a cup (if any kid could he could) but being as it's hard times for everyone right now he thought maybe $1.

The kids weren't outside more than 15 maybe 20 minutes and ran inside showing the $9 they had made. After that I didn't see them for a bit. I figured that they got bored or were satisfied and over it already. The kids ran in asking for more lemonade. When I asked who for they said they were going around the neighbourhood selling lemonade door to door. By the time they were done they collected $20. I was quite shocked but that only lasted a moment til' I realized 'this is Christian we're talking about'. That kid can sell anything to anyone and make money.