Happy Valentine's Day...

Happy Valentine's Day!
We feel the LOVE around here!

Even my sick little girl was lovin the LOVE!

Hope everyone's day was filled with hearts!

Our Debater!!!

For the first time ever, Karman's team went to Eastside Catholic.
She wasn't too excited, because it is a relatively small tournament.
I reminded her...that she has to do her time, doing the small sets too, in order to prime for the big sets.
That you can't expect to always have these amazing, enlightened experiences...sometimes...you just have to put in your time to get to the reward at the end...
{You see...you don't HAVE to go on these...it is a choice which you participate in, if any, (or all) but how many hours you put in directly relates to lettering....and obviously...winning.}

So she went. She did her time...and the work....
She had a good day...She had fun!
AND LOOK WHAT SHE GOT OUT OF IT!!!!!

Hands down, the coolest trohpies thus far in her debate career.
They are huge....and REAL metal.
She adores them!
(She is even doing a ceramics project in her class based on the larger one.)

So, she ended up with a 1st in ORATORY and a 3rd in EXPOSITORY!!!
SO COOL!
She was SO incredibly happy that she made the decision to do the work and go!
I can't believe how well she is doing in Oratory!
It is phenomenol to me. Oratory is usually her least favorite, and it shows. It is the one she doesn't want to practice...and doesn't work on.
This year has just been a complete turn around in it!

So her dresser is really full of trohpies!

She is going to BERKLEY NEXT!
Which is HUGE!
it is a huge opportunity for her...and one of the largest high school debate tournaments that exsists.

Then she still has the STATE competition...and National Qualifiers...and from there...Maybe, NATIONALS!!!!

Can't wait to see what the rest of the year brings for her.
We are really proud of you!

A letter from a boy...

Tyler just loves his cousin Tanner.
My sister and their family live in Arizona...so we only see them once a year or so.
However, Ty doesn't forget...and often...

He randomly comes out with a drawing, or a letter, or a book he has made for Tanner.
Here is his lastest one.
It is so funny and adorable.
I can't read it without breaking into tears.
(as an explanation....Tanner calls everyone Hobo. He got it from the Nickelodeon show, I-Carly. Tyler just thinks it is hillarious...and somehow over the last year, it has just stuck as Tanners name of adoration from Tyler. :))

I just love, that even though they have never lived close...and have never had major amounts of time to bond...that they just love each other.
It makes me very happy that Tyler just randomly thinks of him.
I have such a nice little boy.

He makes me so happy!
I love you!

Little Student of the Week

This week, Makylie is the student of the week in her Preschool class.
The kids get to make a poster of themselves.
(did I mention I miss my camera...this cute girl deserves to be crisp and clear... :))

She made sure to wear one of her prettiest dresses for her special day!
And look how proud she looks!!

Here is her poster.
She chose her pictures from the groups that I set out.
She helped me come up with all of the "favorite things"...which included...shoes, pink, drawing, Hello Kitty, Silly Bandz, Friends, sports, dancing and her brother... and she drew a picture of her pets, and her family...and she wrote her name and the date etc...


It was so fun to watch her look through pictures that she doesn't remember.
And then get excited about them...remembering...

I can not believe how big you are getting little lady.

The pride-filled sparkle in your eyes...

LIGHTS my world!

Awarded...

3rd place plaque, awarded to Karman Bean, on February 5th, 2011.

For her Oratory speech on Oceanic Polution!

Great job again, Karman!!!!

Saasy...

Oh....my sassy little girl.
What do I do with you?

You melt me like no other.

Look at you.

How could you not?

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You are a little fashionista...

The first thing you notice are shoes...ALWAYS

then nail polish or hair or earrings.

You are the first one to notice when something is different...when I change my nail polish...or wear high heels.

Or when I put on perfume...you say "what do you smell like?"

You are soft and angelic like that.

You are just such a girlie-girl. And yet, you kick-it in sports too!

Where did that come from???

I sit with you, and breathe you in as deep as I can....until you overwhelm my lungs with your amazingness!
You astound me.

Everyday.

And I love you!

Just because...

Is it wrong that I dream about my poor, broken, camera...???
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I miss my camera.

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Just sayin.

THIS IS A HUGE WIN!

This event was at PLU in Tacoma.
It is a GINORMOUS tournament.
Somewhere around 38 schools compete.

You have to understand, Karman's team is REALLY small. Comparatively that is.
Their school only opened their doors two years ago, it is only in it's third year mow.
So they are a VERY young and immature team.
There are only 3 REPETITIVE debaters, and then a few that come when they can.

Usually teams like that don't take home a lot of awards.
And this is a BIG tournament, with a lot of very skilled, and versed teams.

She didn't think she stood a chance...
But she took SECOND place in her Expository speech!
It is funny the way she wins...in the different tournaments. One she will take first in Oratory and none in Expos, and the next she will win in Expos and get nothing in Oratory.
It just all has to do with the competition!

Congratulations....
She is winning so much I am losing a way to say how proud of her we are.....
:)

My Helper

Makylie and I decided to make some Weight Watchers chocolate, butterscotch cookies for daddy, before he comes home tomorrow.
She pretty much made the entire recipe with very little help from me.

She absolutely LOVES to help me cook.
I think...she will probably be pretty good at it too.

She is just loaded with patience, and an enthusiasm for learning every aspect of everything that I can teach her at her age.
She wants to do everything....
Even the parts that are hard for her young dexterity.

She lost interest for most of the cookie roll out.....
Because, who really wants to put in the time if you still have to wait for them to bake. :)
She did come back at the end...and acted like she had done it all herself. :)

Notice the jammies??? We like to stay in our PJ's on Thursdays. She goes to schoool Monday through Wednesday...and then Thursday...after a long first half of the week, she still needs a nap to catch-up.
So....we have made them Pajama Day!
She loves it!

I really love to make the memories.
I hope I am passing down my love for cooking and baking.
But most of all....I just love my girly!
Anything I can do to make her smile...makes me happy.
Thank you for helping me!

This is what happens....

When the hubby goes on business trips...
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Kevin left this morning, for Florida.
I guess,

I get a little bored....
And apparently hungry to try new recipes...

He wasn't even gone two hours, when I made this lowfat granola.

Oh it was so good!

Really easy, and really natural and yummy!

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Then I decided to try my hand at granola bars.

Again VERY good...lowfat...and healthy!

I did forget to add the almonds...so they ended up being nut-free, which was a bummer...

But everyone loved them!

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Finally....I was craving a lemon muffin.

So I found a recipe for a healthy lemon muffin (made with greek yogurt),

Added some GIANT, gorgeous blueberries,

And then turned out RIDICULOUSLY yummy!

I added a little drizzle of a lemon glaze that I made...and they were perfect!

The kids just loved them, and they were actually quite healthy.

I finished off my first night, after the kids went to bed and without my husband, like this.

Homemade latte and lemon muffin.

Lonely....but not hungry! :)

YUM!

DOUBLE FIRST PLACE!

She took FIRST!!!!!!!

TWICE!!!!!!

She has never taken first in both of her events!

Karman is doing so well in debate this year.

It shows because she is a good debater at home too. :)

She has made BID in both of her events.

That means that she will be going to STATE for BOTH speeches.

Another thing she has never done.

She has gone to state once...but only for her Expository...never for both.

Funny thing, how winning changes a persons perspective.

Suddenly she is actually practicing all on her own, and is working without me nagging her about it.

That is what we have tried so hard to get her to see since the beginning.

That if she puts the time in...she wins...and

then it feels...

AWESOME!

If she wins in State....She will then go to Nationals....which are in Texas.

WHICH WOULD BE INCREDIBLE!

For her...for the obvious reasons...of the experience, the memories etc....

but also because she could potentially win a full four year scholarship!

She is really proud of herself...as she should be.

We are so proud of her accomplishments.

YAY-HOO!!!

Fundraising central

Karman is doing an AMAZING fund raiser at school.

In one of her classes first semester, they had an offer at the very beginning of the year...that they could fulfill their volunteer hours that are required Senior year, by doing some sort of fund raiser.
So...
they had a group that was willing...and they were brainstorming ideas.
After school one afternoon, I said...what about doing something close to us...
How about Camp Goodtimes...which is the camp that she has attended every single year since she was diagnosed with Osteosarcoma.
She loved the idea.

So they went to workplanning.
On December 20th, they did a Christmas Caroling event at the local Safeway.
A group of them came together to collect donations, by singing, selling candy canes, and hot chocolate.
They did great and made just over a hundred dollars.

In January, they did a contest at school...where there were 8 jars filled with candy and the kids could come and pay to guess the amount in any that they wanted to.
They ultimately, would win the jar.
This event was not very successful, and in the end, they ended up taking a loss, and spending more on the candy then they made.
Still, it was a lesson.
And it was fun...and got the word spread around the school for the final event of the fund raiser.

Which was...
An item drive.
The camp has items that they are always in need of.
So they had a class competition to drive up the desire to "play" along.
Kids and teachers could bring in items...OR MONEY...
And everything had a point value.
In the end, whichever classroom had accumulated the most points won an ice cream party.
This went on for a week.


It was very successful.
They did great!!!
I mean...really great!

Much better then I ever expected.
Every single day Karman came home with more bags of items.
Right now....
My living room, LOOKS LIKE THIS as a matter of fact....

Seriously...
Overwhelming...
I am trying to organize it so that we can go deliver it all.


There ended up being somewhere around 200 tooth brushes, 100 toothpastes, 100 bottles of hand sanitizer, tons of soap, boxes of arts and crafts, and at least 60 boxes of tissue.
And in the end they also collected around $900 dollars (I never got a final tally after everyone was reimbursed for their items that they purchased...and the ice cream was bought etc)

They did a really good job.
I think that Karman learned through the whole thing, not only the importance of giving back....but as a life-lesson...the importance of working as a team, and that you can't do it all yourself.

These days, at her age...those kinds of lessons are just as important as any other.


I sure am proud and impressed with the work that Karman and all of the kids put into this fund raiser.
I know it will be very appreciated by the camp too!
GOOD JOB!

Hamburger Soup

YUMMMM--Y!

This soup is like childhood memories ladled into a bowl, for me.

So good, so simple. Just all around YUM! Really healthy too. Look at the ingredients...Nothing bad at all. I use either 94/6, hamburger or ground turkey in the soup...because it is marinating in the liquid, it doesn't dry out at all. It is wonderful!

Also, I use the Healthy Request soup from Campbell's. Lower sodium, fat, and NO MSG!

The recipe was passed on to my mom back in 1963. YUP...1963

Hamburger Soup
1 pound of lean ground beef
3 cups tomato juice (100% tomato juice from the juice aisle)
1 cup water
2 cans cream of celery soup
1/8 tsp marjoram
1 bay leaf
1/4 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups shredded carrots

Brown the hamburger in a large pot big enough for soup.
In a separate bowl, mix the celery soup with water.
Add the tomato juice to the hamburger.
Add the combined soup and water mixture.
Stir well until combined.
Add spices.
Let simmer 20 minutes.
Add the shredded carrots and let simmer another 10 minutes.

There are other add-ins that I have toyed with. Onions, and mushrooms. Also adding cheese and/or sour cream on top is quite tastey.

Eat it with a nice crusty piece of bread and you will be even happier.
It is like having a hamburger in a bowl!

This time...I made this flatbread. It from a Weight Watchers cookbook...and it was really good.

BUT

Nothing beats the torn off pieces of french bread!

3rd Place Win!!!

This win is a BIG win!

This was a Southend Tournament at Federal Way High.
Southend events are always popular, which makes it so that the kids are up against seasoned, good teams.
They are competitive and difficult to win!

Karman took THIRD!!!
It is a beautiful trophy, and she was SO happy!

She is doing so well this year in debate!
It is awesome that she will have these memories!

We are so proud that she has taken debate seriously this year!

It is so fun to see all of her trophies, and how happy she is about all of them!

Just makes me smile inside. :)

And outside.

Basil

Today was one of those days...

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We lost our kitty today.

Out of no where.

We don't know what happened to him.

If he was sick, or something was wrong, we didn't know it.

He was one of 3 family cats.

For whatever reason though, he has always been a VERY skiddish cat.

He spent more time under beds then anywhere else.

He VERY much preferred Karman and her downstairs room.

So we didn't see him nearly as often as the other cats.

I don't want to dwell on what happened, or how we found him etc....

I just wanted to document the day.

And his little kitty life.

It was hard to tell the little kids...who had never had anything like this happen before.

There was A LOT of thought as to how to tell them...and what to let them be a part of.

We decided to tell and them..and let them lead the conversation.

As adults, we sometimes over think things...that kids don't.

We told them, they understood, and were a little sad.

We went out and put a cross where we buried him, and they felt a bit better.

It was harder to tell Karman, because I know she felt like he was her cat.

They were bonded!

She had just told me about her debate win...

And I had to tell her on the way home...

That wasn't easy.

His sister misses him most!

So it was a hard day...

With a few life lessons thrown in.

Rest In Peace Basil...

We love you.