I've tried to load photos twice

and it hasn't worked so I'm going to try again

Here they all are. Miguel's pinky, hot air balloons from the fest and some artistic nature stuff I took.

Free!

Its my free day today!! Woo Hoo, Pat woke me at 6 am (though I was pretty much awake) and I had 3 bowls of Peanut Butter capt crunch, uuummm huuummm yummmy!! LOL
At 7:30 i/m taking the migueli to the hot air balloon race. He's so excited!!!

The finger

We took Miguel to the doctor yesterday and they did x-rays. His finger is not broken, Thank God!!

It still look terrible but I'm so comforted that he only has the nail and skin trauma, nothing else.

Today and/or tomorrow we are going to a Hot Air Balloon Festival in town, I'm so psyched about this. Miguel loves Hot Air Balloons and is just beside himself, last night he said "Hot Bombas?" and I said yes tomorrow and he ran and gave me this huge excited hug. Talk about melting your heart!

Nothing much else going on, Pat and i have 4 weeks left for the Body for Life Challenge. We have both lost so much size, I've lost 10 lbs which I don't think it's a huge amount but it has turned into about 3 pant sizes. Both Pat and I will need whole new wardrobes if we stay like this (which I'm planning because I like the way I look and feel!)

Allright, chores call and I'm making invites for Gabi's B-day party :)

And before I leave, Wow that little guy Madonna is adopting is a DOLL!!! He is way too cute!

OUCH!

Last night Larisa slammed the deck door to close it and in the process smashed Miguel's pinkie finger and ripped the nail clear off the bed. Oh boy it was horrible. I don't know if the nail will ever grow back as I found the entire thing under the door. He was traumatized.

Surprise, surprise...

Well I know you will be shocked but my sweet computer has crashed again. I know it's so unexpected, really I'm SHOCKED! ::sarcasm inserted:: Anyhow Toshiba is now saying they will have their "Engineers" ::wooooooo:: check it and see if it's a manufacturers problem (really???) and if it is then they will send me a new computer (how generous!) if it isn't they will just continue to repair my hard drive over and over and over so it will crash over and over and over and then they can keep sending me UPS boxes and pay shipping, and pay techinicians to "fix" my computer and in the end probably some day replace my $500 computer after they've spent $1K trying to fix it first. A corporation at it's best.... Make yourself a notation here research the posibility of additional warranty if you are purchasing a Toshiba computer because at in my NOT SO HUMBLE OPTION they are a piece of SH*T My apologies to my friends that don't appreciate cursing, I'm so sick of this I have reached the pinnacle of exasperation with these people. What a freaking crappy product they've put out.

I'll try to update while the computer still ocassionally connects until I have to send it back AGAIN then hopefully from the children's computer. At least I was able I think to back up the newest pictures and my itunes.

Ta ta!

Yaaaaaaawwwwwwwwwwnnnn

Oh i'm so tired. Last night Miguel finally crashed at around 7 pm, not without giving me a huge fight over it. I worked out and then bathed in my tub and soaked for a while. That was nice.

Until Miguel woke up at around 1 am, and then at 3:15 am and by 4 am he was still up, NOT GOOD, so I took him to my bed and laid him down, I had forgotten a tiny flash light I use for reading and yep you guessed it at 4 am in the morning he found it and turned it on, ugh!!! He did eventually fall asleep and didn't wake until almost 8 am. Of course by then my night had been thoroughly disrupted and then I found I had no milk for my coffee :P So I had to have an expresso, no milk :P again!

Gabi did end up catching up to her school work that was behind and that made me feel good, they both went to dance and I went walking at the park with Danielle, a super girl that is the mom of a friend of Gabi's. She has the most cutest kids including a 6 week old darling called Peyton ( I think I spelled it right )

Now i'm home and ready to crash and Miguel is not even asleep yet.

Anyhow I wanted to share what we are reading and listening to.

I'm reading: Sandstorm by James Rollins, almost done, really loving it.

We are listening on CD: Gregor and the curse of the Warmbloods. this is book 3 of a series that begins with Gregor the Overlander the Author is Suzanne Collins.

Gabi and I are both reading The Witch of Blackbird Pond. Interesting even though Gabi is not truly loving it.

Ok better put the tank to bed.

Goodnight!

The party!

 
 
 
 


Oh it was so much fun!! The kids had a blast as you can see in the pictures. I would definitely recommend that as a choice for a birthday party. They did most of everything, except that I had to help the litle ones to make choices in the budget.

Enjoy the pictures! 

Birthday party!

Today is Larisa's Birthday Party at Build a Bear Workshop. All her friends are excited and ready to go, all jumping at the chance. Afterwards we are going to On The Border to eat, yummy!!!

Wish me luck, I'll be in the car with 5 girls under the age of 9 for about 2 hours! :: shiver :: maybe I'll bring my Ipod, LOL

again

ok so I'm in blogging mode today :)

Larisa unlike Gabi is a very structured mathematical person, which in turn has challenged her in reading. Of course Gabi is a major reader, scoring as high as High School junior in her reading level.

today Larisa had her first spelling test. And we had so much fun! She did all the ones I first dictated and we went over her mistakes, she confused pretty much only the b's, d's and p's but amazingly it didn't bother her she asked me to dictate 6 more words and did another great job. My little smarty pants :D

allright, just had an argument with Gabi over school work which i hate to have and we are in a stand still :P

Larisa at 4

 

That's the oldest one I have in digital. She has changed much since then :) 

Sniff!

My little girl is 7, how in the world.... My mother in law was here last night and she said, "it's impossible that she is 7" which were my thoughts exactly. My inlaws were with us when we discovered I was pregnant. My husband so candidly walked up to them and said "I knocked up Maria" what a poet he is.... Anyhow, my mother in law had never even seen a home pregnancy kit and we showed her the 2 pink lines, LOL. What a day. And now she is 7. I didn't realize how hard this one was going to hit me. With Gabi it was when she turned 5 and was "kindergarden" age, that one was hard too for me.

I'm going to see if I can find an old picture of Larisa to post, such a cute little baby she was :)

Birthday Girl!

 
  

Happy Birthday Larisa!

7 years ago at this particular time I was laboring at a Hospital in Wellington, FL and by 2 pm I had a beautiful little baby girl in my arms. She was 8 lbs 14.5 oz and she was named Larisa Sofia. That beautiful baby girl is 7 today and is such a smart, amazing, stubborn yet delicious little girl. She is such a great kid, with so much going for her and such a disarming smile and personality. She is also shrewd and calculating, LOL.

She got her wish and got Littlest pet shop toys including a very, very wanted pair of pandas that I had to hastily order thru Ebay since they are not available in stores and thanks to the generosity of the Ebay seller they got here with plenty of time. Sometimes we just get lucky to run into someone like that, I hope someday someone does the same for her.

I will take pictures of her with her toys. Oh and I got her a kids digital camera which has her eyes twinkling with excitement since she is a picture hound like her mama.

I better go check on her, thankfully she woke up feeling tons better than she felt last night.

May the force be with you...

A miniature Darth Vader, LOL

Arg!!!

Not again!! Larisa is sick again! Darn it, what the heck is up with that? She has a fever again, and red eyes again, and she is not hungry and her ribs are showing. Last year she did this and ended up with pneumonia at the hospital.

Good morning!!

Started out the morning in a really good mood! I have a face mask on to beautify myself and I'm working on the info to turn in the pictures to the contest. I bought frames yesterday and they are all ready to go. I just have to name them. And I thought picking them out was hard...... :P

I found this blog that belongs to one of the jurors of the contest I'm entering. It's a pretty neat blog so I'm going to post it.

Kelly Shipp blog

Tomorrow is Larisa's birthday and she is already trying to milk it. Oh Miguel woke up, better go!

sick, sick, sick....

Well it appears this sick bug is here to stay. Gabi started compaining of a dry throat last night and by 2 am she had a fever and very hoarse throat. I wonder what is going around here. We need to keep at least Larisa well because her birthday party is Saturday and I don't want her to get sick and miss it!! This party has been in the works for over 6 weeks!

Apparently I also worked my shoulders way good yesterday because they are killing me! oyyyy!

Quote of the day

To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe.
- Anatole France

I have chosen 2 pictures for printing for the contest, even though I might still print others to see if in printing them they hit me differently.

I chose Gabriela in the water with goggles
Miguel's 2nd black and white in the beach.

I'm thinking of the hummingbird ones too just in case.

It's free day and I started out my day with Peanut Butter Captn Crunch! LOL

 

 

 

Pictures

I want to enter a photo contest (local) and need help choosing from the photos I loaded! Please tell me the 2 most favorite ones, I'm having a terrible time choosing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Darn it!

I wanted to show you an email with pictures called "How to properly hug a baby" and this huge dog is going thru the process of laying with a baby and it's just cuter than I can say, if I can I will load it, it's too precious.

I have had a sickie week with the kids, first Miguel then Gabi and now Larisa, she has a fever and is all laid up on the sofa. Poor sickie Larisa :(

Corey Lidle

I'm so sad about the Yankees pitcher dying in that airplane crash in NY today. What a tremendous loss, it seems so unreal when a sports figure just dies in that way. And he has a 6 year old son, I have a 6 year old (soon to be 7 BTW) and I can't imagine my child not having her father in her life.

It's a sad day for sports. :(

I'm back

or should I say the computer is back!

i'm loading and downloading and reloading. Hopefully I will have everything running smoothly and can blog effectively.

It's nice to have my computer back!

No computer No blog

My computer is broken AGAIN! Ugh!!! I'm waiting for a box so I can send it back AGAIN! This time for them to see if it is declared unusable so I can get a new one. Let's hope they do because I'm really irritated with it.

I will try to blog when I can use the kids computer.

Princess

Last night we watched Princess Diaries, not the most spectacular motion picture even but it is a cute movie.

I'm always moved by the letter that her father writes to her before he dies and quotes Ambrose Redmoon:

Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgment that something is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all.

It's such a great quote, it's a great way to start the week :)

It's friday!!

Ahhh, the weekend is here! I'm taking Miguel to the doctor because I'm tired of his nightwakings, something has got to be messing with him. He woke up at least 4 times last night.

This week I read a book called

Body Double by Tess Gerritsen, I enjoyed it, pretty good suspense

Presently I'm reading Sleeping with Fear by Kay Hooper, I've read a few chapters and so far I like it too.

Next on line I got Death du Jour

Tomorrow I get my hair painted and Pat and I have our weekly date aka "Miguel torture" Last week we had to come back early because he wouldn't quit crying. I'm not sure why he has suddenly gotten so frightened of not being with me, let's hope it's a stage, and a quick one too.

Our calendar is already starting to fill up with activities girl scouts activities, dance stuff, birthdates, thanksgiving, halloween.

Quote of the day:

It has been said that adoption is more like a marriage than a birth: two (or more) individuals, each with their own unique mix of needs, patterns, and genetic history, coming together with love, hope, and commitment for a joint future. You become a family not because you share the same genes, but because you share love for each other.

Joan McNamara
Adoptive parent

I'm ready for Saturday

I've been doing well on my Body for Life but I'm really needing some junkfood. I haven't had ice cream in a couple of weeks, I also really have a real thing going for cheez-its.

I'm prety sure something is wrong with Miguel I'm just so tired of waking up several times a night. Today I call the doctor and see if I can get a quick appt. It's been at least a week so I wonder if it's safe to declare that antibiotics are in order?

I'm tired and cranky and I'd love to take a big, fat, alone nap.

Well Miguel is on his way to get yelled at because he happily declared he is going to "wake sissies" LOL They adore him but not when he wakes them up by jumping on their beds, bwaaahh!

O bed! O bed! delicious bed!
That heaven upon earth to the weary head.
~Thomas Hood, Miss Kilmansegg - Her Dream

If you had a chance where would you go to?

I want to stay in Spain, England, Australia, Italy. Other places I'd like to visit are France, China, Japan, Fiji, South America, Sweden.

I would love to adopt an African child, so Africa should really be on my list but it would be a lie if I didn't say the idea of going to Africa frightens me because of the political instability issues over there.

My research into living in Spain for 3 months has given me insteresting info, like if we stay for 90 days or less a visa will probably not be needed (cool!) Lodging is expensive (not a surprise) and in Seville they do a lot of Bull Fighting (ugh, definitely not my cup of tea) OTOH Seville is supposed to be gorgeous, great eating, weather and great atmosphere.

Here's the pictures

my sweet girls



little man



all of them together

So what's up?

Been working hard on homeschooling and it's going well. We are getting done much quicker and with lots less pain, tears, tantrums, destruction and threats. Wow that was a long list!

We are in the planning stages of 2 birthday parties, Larisa's is at Build a bear on the week of her birthday and Gabi's will likely be at her dance school sometime near her birthday. Gabi's tends to be complicated because her birthday falls often on the week of Thanksgiving.

Last night I had the pleasure of holding a 10 day old sweet, gorgeous and amazing little baby girl called Peyton Brooke. I almost cried, it's so sweet to have them at that age.

I'm working on research because I would like to go and live in Spain for a few months next year. Working on cost, internet issues for Patrick, how to do it, what is involved. I think it would be a fantastic and amazing adventure. Being that Miguel will be 3 I think it would be a reasonable age to travel. If you know anhything feel free to let me know.

ok, quote of the day and then i'm off to pick up before the next kid is due for schoolwork.

Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.

~Mark Twain

Now that is an awesome quote!!

I'm going to load pictures too and then I swear I'm outta here!

On her way...

Right now my dearest friend Amy and her husband Todd are on their way to Guatemala to bring their daughter Mya home. They are on the plane and will be back on Friday. I'm so thrilled for them!! I can't wait to see pictures of her home with them.

Today I'm getting a mirror for my fireplace, something I have been waiting to do for a long time. I'm so picky and cheap I want something that looks nice but doesn't cost much money. Yesterday we saw one at Sams that fits the bill and I convinced my dh to give me the money.

This week ended in a positive note as we figured out how to work the Miguel issue during homeschooling. I'm so happy because I have so much more time to get things done and don't feel like a shrew!

Oh and I need to get Miguel, to the doctor for a flu shot since they now recommend 2 year olds to get them also.

Let's find a quote:

The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes.

~Marcel Proust

So to all of you Survivor fans what do think of the new twist?

segregated survivor?

NEW YORK (AP) -- If viewers had been taking "Survivor" for granted, here was an idea guaranteed to catch their eye: organize the players by race.

aaaahhhh... it's Friday

Tomorrow is my free day of food restrictions. Pat and I have a date and we'll we gorge ourselves accordingly :D

I walked out of my bedroom today and found Miguel standing on the countertops, naked, eating potato chips. That boy.... I'm calling the hospital for a standing reservation for when he falls and cracks his head, breaks arms or legs... he is a major daredevil!

The kids have coop today and I have to return a coffee grinder to Linen's and Things, yep back to the place where Miguel is way too cute for me, bwaaa! The girls have a friend coming for a sleep over and I just literally remembered that!

quote of the day for Miguel:

"Believe me! The secret of reaping the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment from life is to live dangerously!”
- Friedrich Nietzsche

Question of the day

I'm at Linens and Things and one of the cashiers was just going ga-ga over Miguel and then she asks:

Is he yours?
(I was tempted to say no I stole him)
Yes he is. I told her
Then she says "oh it's just he is so cute"

LOL, I guess today I wasn't cute enough to be his mom, bwah..

So to her I quote:

"When they put him in our arms, it was
like he looked up at me, and it was like
"You're mine" and "I'm yours" and from that
moment on it was love at first sight and I just,
I just adore him"

- Carole Simpson

I'm so happy!

Yesterday I got the best news ever, my friend Cindi, who has endured a nightmare wait to bring a daughter home is finally going to get to do it.

Here's to you Cindi:

The race is not always to the swift, but to those who keep on running.

~Author Unknown, in reference to Ecclesiastes 9:11, "I returned, and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all."

So what's up?

I'm doing stuff around the house and have to go to Sam's for some stuff. Tomorrow is school, dance and girl scouts.

Miguel played and played and played outside until he literally sat in my arms and collapsed and went to sleep. He is filthy, wet, bone tired and very asleep. His cousins and here and they are all playing outside.

I found this quote and I thought it was so good 'cause this is so me.. LOL

I believe humans get a lot done, not because we're smart, but because we have thumbs so we can make coffee.

~Flash Rosenberg

oh my head...

I woke up with a nasty headache, ugh! Had weird dreams about superheros and good and evil and superpowers and stuff, WEIRD!

Today DirectTV is coming in to install a dish because poor Pat cannot get the NFL games on Dish so he just had to have them so in addition to Dish now we have DirectTV also, men....

Is anyone interested in Acquatic Frogs? I'm ready to give up the ones we have and have no ideas what to do with it. And no releasing them in a pond is not an option they are predators from Africa and would disrupt the ecosystem here.

Today is my free day, although I have to run because I didn't get to it yesterday. I have lost like 6 oz, LOL so I have 9 lbs to go, I do feel better and I can see the shape of my body is changing, my middle is not as thick.

The weather has been good and the kids have been playing outside a lot which is great as they are also sleeping like logs at night.

I've been making a list of things I want:

Dishwasher with child lock
new bathroom
new countertops
breakfast table for 8
new phone (this one is the only one happenig any time soon)
a refrigerator that filters water


Quote of the day:

"Just living is not enough," said the butterfly, "one must have sunshine, freedom and a little flower."

~Hans Christian Anderson

So what do you think?

How do you like the new look?

up way too late

Been cleaning. Tomorrow i'm taking a friends niece in for 5 days. Today I had a rough day with Miguel and I'm wondering if he is feeling ok because his eyes seem bloodshot or pink. He also was dripping from his nose. hmmmm....

I read this today and this is the kind of thing that makes you believe in goodness.



quote of the day:

Promise only what you can deliver. Then deliver more than you promise.

~Author Unknown

Steve Irwin has died

This guy made us laugh and really learn a lot about animals and I was crushed when i woke up this morning and read the news. I cried with sadness. But when it happened he was doing what he does best talking and being with animals. "He went out with his boots on." a phrase from Secondhand lions.

Godspeed Steve Irwin.

From Cnn.com

http://www.cnn.com/2006/SHOWBIZ/TV/09/04/australia.irwin/index.html

A quote I found that I think describes him:

The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.

~Mark Twain

Too cute for words

I was water blasting the swingset and he was laying under it getting wet (and loving it!) and I was swinging him at the same time and then I turned and found him like this, lol


 
  

Pain

is good? Heck no!!! Oh i'm not loving pain. I've done this before and I know it goes away but oh it hurts so much right now, wahhhhhh...

I do have a picture to share today. Miguel fell asleep on the swing outside yesterday, LOL, the poor kid was running on empty batteries and was getting wet and swinging and still fell asleep it was so funny! He also was not wearing pants so I have to find one with no ity bity parts showing, LOL

I wouldn't recommend..

that you pull a stunt like i did last night. Try to imagine you are laying on your stomach on the exercise bench to do this hamstring exercise where you pullyour legs up to your bottom. Our machine is a combo machine you can use the same area to do 2 types of leg exercises and arm exercises. WEll you are supposed to use the top cushions vs the bottom ones but i was distracted and threaded my feet on the bottom and then pulled up really hard and tagged myself on my tailbone with th3e metal stuff. Oh man, it just freaking hurt, and this morning I have a suitably nasty bruise to show for it.

I'm supposed to do school with the kids but all i want is to use our new water pressure machine :D The thing is just freaking awesome!!! i'm going to get the playground equipment all cleaned and shiny!!!

ok, off to nurse my very sore, bruised and embarassed rear and ego....

And the last few

The last one of the kids is blurry but they looked so cute I had to add it.


 
 
 
  

more girl scouts and butterflies

The lady in black and white is the First Lady of Arkansas.