In the blink of an eye...

I seriously can just stand at her door and watch her sleep.

She is so amazingly perfect.
Every inch of her.
Sometimes I am actually overwhelmed by how strongly I feel for this little being...

Tomorrow is Makylie's 4th birthday.
How did that happen? I feel like it was just yesterday that I found I was pregnant with her.
It is an age-old story of time...that for mom's, it will always feel, I think, like it was just yesterday.

(I was huge...this is the night my water broke...I look like I am carrying triplets. When I started pushing, the on-call Doctor called for help because, not being my actual Dr and doing all of the scans etc, she thought that the baby was going to be too big for my body...turns out it was just the way she was sitting, because she was only 7 pounds.)

4 years ago, almost to the minute, my water broke. 4 years ago, tomorrow night, I stared down at this amazingly beautiful baby, that graced us with the chance to love her. This little being that took a full day to labor, and only two pushes to get out. My mind swirled with the promise that this life held, the things she would accomplish, the opportunities she would have.


All the while, I was literally, caught up in the sheer miracle that this process is.



Being the youngest, she has remained the baby. She is smaller then most girls her age, she has not overcome her speech impetiments so she talks much like a toddler talks, she refers to herself as "the littlest one"...she is just, still our baby.

I try to wrap my mind around time. I struggle to remember every single detail, and I want to tuck it in my pocket and hold on. I adore the way she is right at EVERY single minute! Today, tomorrow, Yesterday...all of them, exactly where she was meant to be at that time. I, want it all.

I spend my days just trying to soak her in. All of her.
I still smell her all of the time, and I stare at her while she sleeps, and sometimes, for no reason, I pick her up in the middle of the night so that she will lay on my shoulder like she did not so very long ago.

She is so kind-hearted, and loving. She is quite and shy, yet as is usually the case for younger siblings, she also definately knows how to stand up for herself.

She tells Tyler all of the time that he is her best friend, and says things like..."'cause, I just love you" to him. She makes us all smile...
She makes me feel important and heroic, and I can truly say, that I am a better person as her mommy.


Happy Birthday baby girl.

Tylers Last Game

Today was Tyler's last basketball game.
It has been a great season! We just love our coach and have been with him for a few seasons of soccer and now basketball. This is Ty's first year playing basketball, and he just loved it! Once he learned the rules, and how the games was really played he just grew better and better.




Tyler really is AMAZING at sports. He is just naturally capable, and able to adapt! He has mad skills and really loves playing, and I really can't see him not.





I just adore that he adores it. The look on his face when he scores, the bounce in his step when coach says "great job, Tyler". It just warms me, and makes me so proud. I love that he has an identity that he is 100% in love with, something to focus on and get better at. I adore that he bonds with his dad that way, and learns teammanship and sportsmanship and fairness and trust.




At this age, there are no scores kept, but they are learning to have a drive, in a way of fair competition...to cheer each other on, no matter what. To congratulate each other after the game...no one wins, no one loses...they walk away happy, and fulfilled, and better because of it...that is MY favorite part!

I just love him...

We celebrated Kevins birthday tonight.
Our friends came over and we had dinner and cake.

I just wanted to let everyone see what a good man I am married to.


Here is his cake.


This is his cake, because his baby girl is having a pink ladybug birthday party in a couple of weeks and I needed to test out the recipe and how long to cook the cake in a bowl (which I had never done) and do a trial run in frosting it.

I just love that he had no problem with it.



He is such a good daddy!

Happy Birthday Dr Seuss!

Kevin shares his birthday with Dr Seuss.

Our schools do big celebrations for Dr Seuss' birthday.
In honor of the day, we started ours, with Green eggs and Ham before school...




To start with the week of his birthday is turn the TV off week, so the kids are challenged to play no video games, watch no TV or movies etc.
They read his books all week long, and have an assembly with a guest speaker talking about following your dreams. Tyler's class did crossword puzzles, and word searches, coloring pages, and made a plaque of their favorite Dr Seuss Quote.

Here is Tylers favorite quote...
Today You are You,
That is truer then True,
There is no one alive
That is Youer then You

It really is a fun way for them to learn about this man, who is a legend in the childrens book world! Dr Seuss would have been 106 this year, and at the time of his death in 1991, Dr Seuss had written and illustrated 44 children's books which had been translated into more than 15 languages. (these are some of the facts that Tyler learned during the week.)
Most of us have amazing memories of Dr Seuess stories from our childhood, and I for one, am so glad that my kids will have that in common with me!

To another year...

Seriously...I often wonder how I got so lucky.
Kevin is an amazing man. I couldn't ask for a better father and husband.

He provides for our family without even a second thought...and thrives on doing so.

He is our happy place at the end of a chaos filled day. The "Hi Daddy's" that I hear every single evening when Kevin walks through the door and then the resounding footsteps that come pounding down the hall to jump into his arms...nothing makes me happier.

Then when the day is over, and we sit alone...talking, watching TV, discussing whatever may be on our minds...that is my calm...my peace. It makes me happy.

He makes me happy.
He makes us all happy.

Happy birthday Honey.
We love you!

Alright...for crying out loud...

So....Busy I was.
I actually got to the point where I was overwhelmed by the thought of starting the blog/s. I don't know why...it was just too much...

I have SOOOOOOOO many crafty thoughts in my head, things I want to do, to accomplish! I mean so many I am bursting...and I thought this would make me want to complete them...a goal and reason to do and complete them. I was excited, as I read, EVERYDAY, my favorite inspiring blogs...and I have SOOOOO many! I mean, I have a whole list that is not on my blogroll, just because I haven't taken the time to put them on.

Anyway, I am so inspired! Every single day by these many ladies, and I just wanted to be one of them....maybe be able to inspire someone else in the process.

With that...I cook 99.9 percent of days. Many, and I do mean, many of my meals are created in my head...and those that aren't are often FABULOUS recipes that I would love to share with the world. I have a couple of recipe blogs that I follow, and I am inspired by them as well.

That said...it was my goal to join the ranks.
Coupled with that was the inpiration of printing a blog book, brought on first by my friend Lisa, and second by my bloggy friend Sarie. I would love to print out all of my crafts and recipes at the end of the year! How satisfying that would be. Of course, with my family blog as well!

I got to the point of coming up with a creative name for my "baby"...and I just blocked. Everytime, and I mean EVERY SINGLE time I put one it it was already taken by someone who opened their blog in 2004, wrote on it once, and then never did again.
I got so frustrated.

Then...the kids got sick, ...I had a couple of projects to do for Ty's teacher...and, as usual...time got away from me. I cook daily (as usual)...but between this, that, and the other, I haven't had any time to do any projects.

What I did decide...is that I am going to start ONE blog. On it, I will put up good recipes and my projects or inspiration. The plan was to do two...but I will end up not being able to keep at this point in my life.

Right now...I am planning a birthday party for a certain little girl who is going to be 4! Can't wait!

SOOOOO sorry for the LOOOOOONG post that was very "rambly" as I look back....but I just needed to rant a little, in order to organize my own thoughts....

The name has been decided...now I just need to design the blog. :)
Thanks for listening...

So Busy....

I have been busy....

Busy setting up a couple of new blogs...
I am planning and changing, tweaking and renaming...
Designing, and well....ummmm....redesigning.

I have also been soooooo busy reading all of my favorite blogs (and adding to my ever-growing list of "to-do projects"), and creating my new blogs that I have been ignoring this blog...

I will get my groove...Maybe.

To come...soon...
A craft blog AND a recipe blog!

Yay!

Today...

I am Thankful....
*****
*****
For THIS...

For HER...

And HER...

and HIM...

For US

For Togetherness...

For MY DAD...

For OUR FRIENDS...

***

***

***

For laughter...

For patience...

For honor and character...

For loyalty...

For love...

*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
*****
For ALL THAT WE HAVE...

TODAY......I am just thankful....

What a voice...

As colds and flus are running rampant right now...we have managed to stay healthy for quite a stretch....

However, they have finally come our way...

Little baby lost her voice last night, and when she woke up this morning, she had NO voice.

The video below is from about an hour after waking up, so her voice is a LITTLE better. She just sounds so pathetic, it is adorable!

She is singing her preschool welcome song.

This is the first video I have ever uploaded...so I hope it works....

To a Decade...

So, after reading a friends blog...I got to thinking about the past decade.

It is funny isn't it? In the day-to-day...things just happen. They happen and we move on, probably better and stronger people because of them...but still, we move on. We say 10 years like it is nothing, because I suppose in the grand scheme of things, it's not. However, as I looked back over my last ten years, my family's last 10 years....My list just kept getting longer.

Oh how 10 years changed me...
I look back at certain things, and think, "really, that was only 7 years ago", because it feels like forever. Life is completely different now than it was then...and I have grown so much that it seems like much longer.

When the year 2000 came...
*I had JUST turned 23 years old.
*So was Kevin.
*Karman was 7 and she slept through the new millenium appearing.
*We were living in low-income apartments in Belligham.
*We weren't even married yet (married June, 2000) but had been dating 6 years.
*Karman had only been living with us for 3 years.

During the decade...
*We got married
*Kevin was hired on with Holland America
*Karman was diagnosed with and treated for cancer.
*She also, in that 10 years, was declared CURED!
*Karman went from 7-17, from 2nd grade to high school, in what seems like NO TIME!
*We moved 3 times
*We had our first baby...who went from baby to 6, from infant to 1st grade...
*And our second....who went form baby to 3, from infant to preschool...
*We bought a house
*We bought our first minivan...and sold it...bought another....and sold it....and bought one more.
*We remodeled A LOT!
*We lost family members, and gained family members.
*We reunited with old friends, and made many new.

This however, is why time feels so fast to me now. I get it, as a mom, when people say time goes by so fast, that if you blink you will miss it. See, Karman, in 2000, was one year older than Tyler is now. Now, she is 17...just like that. I swear, the fact that she is a Junior still takes my breath away. So many hard things that we went through, but still it feels now, like it went so fast! This decade will go just as fast, and before we know it Tyler will be 16, and Maky 13.

I am trying, with everything in me, to be present in, and enjoy the NOW!

I leave the decade behind me, a MUCH stronger person...a MUCH better person.
I, personally, have changed and grown so much.

My hope for this next decade is to savor every minute!

A New Year...

2009 came and went.
2010 is here.

A few resolutions over here, in my little world.

FIRST--my health
*I will be finishing what I started last year....I have 40 more pounds to lose.
I would be happy...thrilled, in fact, with 25...but my ultimate goal is to be down another 40, I did it last year, I should be able to repeat it this year.

*I also want to get more fit...to the point where I crave exercise rather then try to avoid it.
*With that I would like to sign-up for and complete at least one charity walk.

SECOND--(MY goals for our home)
*I want to organize and put into action my decorating ideas.
I have so many things that I "see" our house looking like inside. Projects that are simply figments of my imagination at this point...however, in turn, I have so many ideas, that I don't DO any of them...so I need to organize those thoughts....so that I can begin to implement them.

*To organize my photos on my computer.
I want to get them ALL in their designated folders, organized by year and child etc...then put them all on an external hard drive, and also back them up on CD.
This is SO going to be a P-R-O-J-E-C-T...and it actually DAUNTING just to think about it. I used to be SUPER good about organizing my pictures, but then I started taking so many that I would just upload them and not take the time to put them where they belong. Now, I have to fix that because I am sick of not being able to find the pictures that I am looking for.

*To organize all of my favorite recipes and make a family recipe book.
I love, LOVE to cook, and LOVE to make up my own recipes. However, I make them and scribble them on paper and can never seem to find them again. I have a collection of jotted down recipes that are on post-it notes, or on ripped computer paper, or one the back of receipts and I dream of putting them all in a book to pass down one day. That...I will start this year.

*To make a photo wall that I have wanted to do for the last year.
I need to fill the rest of my frames with new pictures. Then I want to create a collage wall.

*To make our yard, beautiful...now that it has all been ripped out and seeded.

THIRD--(to finish or learn)
*To get my kids "professional picture" albums up-to-date.
Long ago I started albums for all of my kids that have ONLY their professional pictures in them. I got them all put together and completed (to that point) but then I slacked off. Need to get those going again.
I would also like to make Makylie's school album like I did for the other kids.

*Finish organizing my scrapbooking supplies and my desk
*Re-paint and finish decorating the play-room
*Re-decorate Tyler's room in the theme he chooses
---------
*Master Photoshop...Switch over to digital scrapbooking.
I have figured out how to SLOWLY crawl my way through photo manipulation...but I don't know how to get started on scrapbooking. I also want to download and learn how to use photoshop actions to further my editing abilities.

*Learn to use more MANUAL on my camera.
I know some...but when it comes to really setting the levels...I just switch to auto. I would really like to take a couple classes, but I don't think that is going to happen this year.

It was a hard year.
Many struggled, and had to redevelop their reality.
Now though, the economy is looking up, the job market is looking up...
2010...is looking up!
Here's to an amazing year...the start of a new decade!
Happy New Year to all!

Christmas 2009

What a beautiful day.
I adore the feeling of Christmas, the happiness, the warmth...the tradition.

This is our traditional Christmas Eve Picture.
The kids were all dressed up for dinner at Grandma's. We got home just in time to open one present, get some cookies ready for the big guy, and read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas.

(This is our gingerbread house that the kids made...(just thought I would throw it in here))

So, on Christmas Eve night, the kids always get to open one present...the present is always pajamas and the kids know it, and love it! It has been a tradition since Karman was little. Then they go put on their jammies, and wear them to bed, and then ALL DAY on Christmas!

Then we got some cookies ready for Santa because we knew that he would be hungry by the time he got to our house. We left him some milk too, even though he told us in his letter that he has a hot cocoa machine on his sled now...Tyler thought he might be thirsty for some actual milk by the time he got to our house, and of course carrots for the reindeer.

We read 'Twas the Night Before Christmas and got ready for the big night!

Then mommy and daddy wrapped what was left to be wrapped, and got a few other things done....and we headed to bed too.

The next morning...Santa had come!

The kids were so so excited!

They get to come out and open their stocking while we make our traditional breakfast.

Every single year we make breakfast rolls from scratch, and an egg casserole. It is so good, and the kids absolutely love it!

Izzy opened her stocking which was pretty good entertainment.

She's so cute!

She took to opening as if she does it every day.

And she was a happy girl.

She got it open, and this where she laid for the rest of Christmas morning...chewing away!

The kids had a great Christmas. Santa brought them each just what they wanted!

Among them, Karman got her high school gear, and a new MP3 player...

Makylie got her talking doll house, and Littlest Pet Shop toys...

And Tyler got his Imaginext Batman cave, LEGOS!

This was, for Tyler, the year of the Lego. He has discovered that he LOVES Legos! He got some from almost everyone, and he has been working non stop on them ever since...he even got a Lego Batman Wii game from Santa...

Daddy loves them about as much as Tyler.

It was a great year. I am so Thankful.

Kevin and I are trying to pass down tradition, so that some day, when the kids are all grown, they say..."I remember every year we"...or "I remember when"...and then hopefully hear that they were so important to them that they continue the traditions with their own families.

To me, this is a season all about tradition...and the richness that those traditions add to our family story. It is so important to me.

We have so much to be thankful for, and we are.

We hope everyone also had a wonderful Christmas,

and we wish everyone an amazing New Year!