Wordless Wednesdays

AAP at her Birthday Party!

Recommitted

I am recommitting myself to getting my house in order. Since Christmas I have been slacking on my housework. I feel like it is so much work with cleaning up the mess from opening the presents, getting the new presents put away, keeping up with the kids' mess from being home over the Christmas break, packing for a ski trip, unpacking from a ski trip, and throwing in our oldest daughter's birthday, and birthday party mess. Excuses, excuses, excuses...I know. That is exactly what they are, excuses! I have not felt like getting the house in order because it has felt like such a big mess! Well, I am finally fed up with the clutter and mess and I am ready to tackle it. Now, this is such a project that I am not sure it will get done by the end of Tuesday. So, this may be more of a tackle that lasts all week. Especially since I have come down with the stomach "yuck" that is going around. This has put a damper on my motivation to tackle the list. But, I will do what I can. Here is the list:
1. Pick up kitchen
2. Do the kids' laundry
3. Put the kids' laundry away
4. Finish our laundry
5. Pick up my bedroom
6. Take pile down to the basement
7. Unpack the snowboarding bag and put it away
8. Put the pile on the stairs away upstairs
9. Declutter the girls' dressers so they can be dusted
10. Do returns from Christmas
11. Help the kids tackle the toyroom
12. Put away stuff I have gathered to donate or sell in garage sale
13. Put away the baby clothes that don't fit our son anymore
14. Minimize piles

I am sure I will add more to the list. I am trying to tackle an item between laying down when I don't feel good. Fun times! :)

Fun web sites

I occasionally watch the Rachael Ray show while I am eating lunch and today was one of those days. Every once in a while she has a segment on her show about new and fun websites. I thought the websites she talked about today were so funny.
You can learn new "hot" buzz words that are trendy now, find an excuse to get off of the phone with a friend, and even do a search on a guy you are interested in to see if he is on a "do not date this guy list". I found it pretty funny! Check it out for yourself!
Click Here!

Is the Dentist ever a fun experience?

I have been putting off taking AAP to the dentist for the first time for a long time now. I keep saying, "When we get dental insurance I will take her." Well, now that she is 6 I figured it is time; even without dental insurance. I was in no way prepared for what would happen. AAP is very apprehensive when it comes to going to the doctor, so I had no idea how the dentist would go. She was nervous and cried at first, but the dental assistant, Karla, did a great job! I took her to a pediatric dentist and boy am I glad I did. Everything in the office was made to help the kids feel comfortable. Karla introduced AAP to her spaceship chair and then introduced all of her helpers. There was Mr. Chipmunk who would polish her teeth, the monkey mirror, Mr. Slurpy who she "kisses" and sucks up her spit, squirty who sprays her teeth with water and air, and the hollywood sunglasses. With all of this we made it through the cleaning and AAP did great! She was brave and even ended up having a good time. But, the hard part was on me. After they took the xrays and some digital photos of her teeth the Dr. and I spoke while the kids went with Karla to play. He had the digital photos of her teeth up on his computer and I could see the cavity before he even showed it to me. "Is that what I think it is," I asked right away. Yep! Not only was there that one, but get this...six more. Yes, you read right...7 total cavities. So, this made me feel like a bad mom. He said she had so many from a variety of things. Lack of brushing well, waiting a while to come in, and genetics. He said he saw a child who drank six sodas a day and ate candy all the time and had zero cavities. Knowing that she eats way better than that and hardly ever has soda makes me feel better. The treatment options is where I got a little overwhelmed and had to sit down. Whew!
Option 1:
Sedate her in the office with a drinkable medicine that makes her fall asleep so they can work on her. However, she has to be left in the room without me in there...which if you know her could be very tricky. She is a mama's girl! The catch to this option is he can only do half of the work at a time. So, she would have to go in twice. His fear is that she won't want to come back after the first time...even though she shouldn't remember much.
Option 2:
Have the procedure done at the hospital. This is where I take a big gulp, start to sweat, and take a seat. I was thinking...You have to take my baby to the hospital, give her an IV, put her to sleep with anesthesia, and fix her teeth?! Ok, that might just bring back the anxiety attacks! However, he felt this was the best option. You get all of the work done at once, she won't remember a thing, and hopefully she won't fear going to the dentist. Right...we will see if that happens.
As of now, we aren't sure which option we are going to go with because like I said earlier we don't have dental insurance. This is going to be a pretty pricey procedure. There goes my kitchen renovation. :) The thought of sending her into surgery makes my stomach churn! Who would have thought all of this could come out of a dental visit. AKP has her first visit in two weeks; what kind of news could that bring?

High School Blast!

For AAP's birthday we bought her tickets to the High School Musical Concert. We attended and it was incredible. She had so much fun, it was her first concert, but I must admit I think I had even more fun than she did. :) They sang every song from the movie and I was dancing to the beat on every one of the songs! I experienced something new as a parent...something that I did not enjoy but something that was bound to happen. As I was dancing and singing AAP looked at me and hit my arm as if to say "Mom, stop it! You look so dumb." Now she didn't say anything, but her looks said it all. For the first time I was that uncool mom that was embarrasing her kid. It never crossed my mind that this would happen to me. I felt my heart drop. I am a young mom, I know the trends, I know the cool music, I am fun, etc. and suddenly I was no longer cool. What a feeling! My hubby and I looked at each other in astonishment. I told him I wasn't going to be able to accept that very well. I think my exact words to him were (while we were laughing) "Uh, lets get one thing straight...I am cool!" So, for a while I became a little more subdued. I sat in my chair holding back the dance moves. At the end of the show I let it all out though. They sang "Together" and everyone was standing up. I danced my little booty off and enjoyed it. :)

Check out my Slide Show!

Dinner Anyone?

About six months ago a group of us started a Dinner Club. My neighbors, who I dearly miss, were a part of a dinner club and it sounded like a lot of fun. So, I brought up the idea to some friends and we rolled from there. We have six couples in our group. We get together once a month to enjoy each other's company and eat some good food! We thought this would be a good way to stay connected and provide a change up of the going out scene. We take turns hosting the party at our homes. The hosts are in charge of coming up with the theme, providing the main entree, and beverages. The hosts then assigns each of the other couples a part of the meal to provide like salad, side dish, bread, dessert, etc. We have had Western night, Mexican, Halloween party, and our latest was an Italian theme. This past Friday the hosts had an Italian Bistro set up in their basement. It was decked out in white table cloths and candles. Very nice! Some of us get more into it than others as far as decor. and such, but the priority is camaraderie. We enjoy being together and the change of pace the club provides. Look into starting your own Dinner Club...it is great fun!

Tips for a successful experience:

• Keep the size of the group between 6 to 8 couples.
• The night of the party set the date for your next get together to be sure you have the hightest attendance as possible.
• Set the expectations at the beginning: will beverages be provided by host, is there a budget, will kids attend, etc.
• Decide if the group will be exclusive or if people are allowed to bring guests.
• Relax and have fun!

Vacation...What Vacation?!

We were blessed to have traveled to Breckendridge, CO this past weekend with family and friends. We spent five days in the Winter Wonderland. It was so pretty...I love the mountains...and very cold! Wind chills in the -20's. This was our winter vacation, but at times it felt like a lot of work! I must say that traveling isn't as easy as it used to be. Lugging three kids and all of the bags that go along with them isn't the easiest thing in the world. We brought along my cousin to help us with the kiddos. We couldn't have done it without her. Getting through the airport is no small task. Instead, by the time we got to the gate I felt like I had just finished a marathon. However, the kids did great on the airplane and were great the whole trip! Some memories from this trip that won't be forgotten:

1. Taking my sister to ER because she was throwing up...she was okay after some oxygen and IV fluids. They think it was the flu on top of altitude sickness.

2. AKP's first ski school experience. She attended two days. The first day she loved it and was asleep when I picked her up...she was exhausted from all of her hard work. The second day she wasn't so sure about it.

3. JD had a temperature and got sick with a cold the same day I took my sis to ER. He was very fussy and didn't sleep a whole lot the rest of the trip. One night I think we got two or three hours of sleep.

4. AAP attended ski school and did awesome. She got to go up the mountain this year on the lift. She had a lot of one on one attention once she was able to get to the level where they go up the mountain. Most days it was just her and the instructor! She skiied with us on the last day. That was fun.

5. Lots of good food and fun restaurants!

6. Bonding time with my cousins who were on the trip. We took one of my cousins to help with the kids and then two other cousins went with my parents as well. We had fun hanging out with one another!

7. Experiencing -22 wind chill temperatures.

8. Fun times with friends.

9. A coffee date with my hubby.

10. Our baby boy got his first two teeth!

Travel Tip: We flew on Frontier Airlines. I love this airline. The planes are always clean and the staff is friendly. A major bonus for those traveling with children: each seat has its own TV screen in the seat back of the seat in front of you. It has over 20 DirecTV channels including three cartoon channels, sports, news, HGTV, Food Network, and pay per view movies!

Thirteen Things about Mindi A while back my friend did this Thursday Thirteen theme, the 13 places my van went today, and I thought it was interesting to see how much running we really do as moms! So, here is my 13 places my Denali went on Wednesday. 1. To AAP's school to drop her off. 2. To the bank. 3. To AKP's school, even though she didn't go to school today I still had to go and pay the tuition. 4. To my hairdresser's to get my hair done! 5. Back to AAP's school to drop off a warmer coat for her because I felt like the one she had wasn't warm enough for her to have at recess. 6. To the mall. 7. Back home to unload the car. 8. To AAP's school to pick her up. 9. Back home. 10. To Walgreens 11. And, back home. 12. and 13. I was supposed to take my daughter for a costume fitting for dance but opted out, so I only had 11 stops today! Where have you been today? Links to other Thursday Thirteens!1. (leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)

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Wordless Wednesdays

Enjoying a nap with my bubby over Christmas break! There is nothing like cuddling with a baby! One of my favorite things in the whole world!

Thanks Be To Him!

Our church is celebrating their 20th anniversary this year. This morning the pastor spoke about the fact that we are going to focus on celebrating the things that God has blessed us with as a church throughout this next year. He went on to say how important celebrating and praise is to God and how we often overlook this act of worship. How true this is! I often come to God when I am in need of something...
"God protect me."
"God bless this activity."
"God help me through this."
"God give me patience."
"God help me."
And so on and so on and so on! I don't spend enough time to stop and celebrate what God does in my daily life. So, I figured I would come up with an ongoing list of the many blessings I have in my life...
My husband.
My children.
My parents.
My best friend and sister, Abby.
My comfortable home.
My health.
Quiet time after everyone goes to bed.
A great teacher for my Kindergartner.
My best gals Brandy and Kim.
My life long friend, Liz.
Wonderful in-laws.
The awesome friends from Take TWO and AFA. Some of the greatest women I have met!
XM Radio
My house cleaner. She rocks!
My girls from college!
A comfortable bed.
Extended family.
All of the traveling I have been able to do.
A college education.
Music.
My husband's guy friends who I consider my best guy friends!
Iced Tea.
A wonderful community.
My hairdresser...every girl needs someone she can trust with her hair!
Summers at the lake.
Massages.
Help through a hard season in my life!
Take TWO (the Bible study I attend)
Our pediatrician.
International friends.
Recovery.
Self Awareness.
Naps.
Soft blankets.
Rainy days.
Babysitters.
A beautiful sky.
Snow.
A baby that sleeps through the night.


Take time to celebrate the many blessings in your life!

Forming New Habits!

Motivational speaker Jim Rohn once said, "I find it fascinating that most people plan their vacations with better care than they plan their lives. Perhaps it's because escape is easier than change."

As the new year is upon us many people have set resolutions, many of which will fade by February 1st (I saw this statistic on TV). This has always been the case for me in the past. I pick something for my resolution just to say I have one and then within a few weeks I have forgotten about it. I don't want that to be the case this year. On Christmas my Daddy, yes I am 27 and I still call him Daddy, had all of us write down our goals for the year. Goal setting is something my Daddy and my hubby believe in A LOT! The power of a written goal is amazing. It is one thing to have a goal, but by writing it down you increase your chances of obtaining that goal by 300 % and if you put a date of when you will obtain your goal it increases your chances by 500%. While these are all things I know because I grew up hearing this info. (I could probably do a seminar on goal setting), I never really thought goals applied to me as a Household Executive. I was surprised at how easily I came up with goals for the new year. I have them posted on my refrigerator so I see them daily! My Daddy recently sent me an email on goal setting so I thought I would paraphrase it for you. I hope it helps you obtain your New Years Goals!

Tip #1: Repetition is an effective way to get your goal stuck into your non-conscience mind!
Setting a goal is a conscience activity and so is writing it down. But, most of our activities that are automatic come from the non conscience mind. Long term behavior changes don't take place when you set goals one time like many New Year's resolutions. The brain is our most powerful tool! Earl Nightingale wrote "The Strangest Secret is that we become what we think about most of the time." It is the goals you focus on daily that become automatic.

Tip #2: Emotion is a goal turbo charger! A New Years resolution that is made casually on a whim, like most of them are, are less likely to be obtained than the goals that are set with passion and emotion. Zig Ziglar once said that, "A goal casually set and lightly taken will be freely abandoned at the first obstacle." If there is no passion behind your goals then when you have that craving for a soda, don't feel like working out, want to buy that awesome pair of jeans, or feel like having just one chocolate chip cookie you will give in without giving your goal any thought.

One of my goals for the year is to workout (cardio) three times a week. This morning I did NOT feel like going to the gym! However, I knew that repetition of my goal is the only way to get it to become a habit...so I drug myself there. The only way I made myself go is because my friend was going also. Accountability is key! Working out is one of my goals because I want to lead a healthy life. I am now passionate about this after seeing those close to me suffering from sickness. Therefore, I also have the passion behind this goal. Although I didn't want to go, I now feel good that for this week I have made it to the gym three days.

So, may you turn your resolutions into goals that will last the whole year! Good luck and persevere!

Information from this entry was from an article by Tom Venuto, NSCA-CPT, CSCSAuthor, Burn The Fat, Feed The Musclehttp://www.burnthefat.comhttp://www.burnthefatinnercircle.com

Happy Birthday Addisyn!

Enjoy some pictures of our baby girl over the past couple of years!

Notice Choose Act

"Imagine...a world where every child feels safe, loved, and celebrated" www.challengeday.org
"Realize...you can be the change you wish to see in the world" www.challengeday.org
"We must be the change we wish to see in the world." Mohandas (Mahatma) K. Gandhi


So...I was watching Oprah this afternoon and she had Lisa Ling on her show talking about Challenge Day. This is a program done at high schools to help the students learn more about each other and themselves. This program tackles the tough issues that teenagers face such as peer pressure, racism, sexism, bullying, addiction, depression, etc. The students gathered in small groups and participated in an activity called "If you really knew me you would know...
(then they fill in whatever they are dealing with). It was amazing to see how much the students opened up to one another and really connected. I saw high school boys cry because they were so moved by the self awareness and the awareness of their actions towards others. Some of the girls cried too, but seeing a teenage boy cry had a bigger impact on me. I was totally amazed at this program! What a great gift this event is to the students. The amount of knowledge they have gained through awareness is priceless! Like Oprah said...This really could change the world! The kids were more connected and accepting of others after the event. I have spent well over an hour reading the website. Be sure to check it out! www.challengeday.org
I have contacted them on bringing this amazing event to Columbia and surrounding areas! Let me know if you are interested in helping out by posting a comment!

I will leave you with two things:

1. If you really knew me you would know that...
* I am truly blessed to have an amazing husband who supports me 110% and is always challenging me to grow as a person! I know God made him just for me!
* I am a huge family person. I love my family with all of my heart and I am committed to them totally!
* I struggle often with disciplining my children.
* I suffer almost daily from anxiety.
* I am trying to figure out who I am in this big world.
* I have a strong faith and growing relationship with God.

2. After studying the Challenge Day website I have decided to take their challenge of doing one Act of Change per day. These acts help keep me aware of those around me and the surroundings I am in. By completing my act of change I am doing my part to change the world. There suggestions are: picking up a piece of litter, giving someone a smile, paying someone a compliment, writing a thank you note to someone in your life, apologizing to someone you may have hurt, etc. So, take the Challenge! Do your one Act of Change everyday!

Achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGS) - English

A 7-minute video outlining the United Nations' Millennium Development Goal(MDG)Campaign and steps that anyone can use to help achieve these important goals. Keywords: United Nations, MDGs, Millennium Development Goals, Development, Africa, AIDS, Poverty, Hunger, Education, Lesser Developed Countries, Malnourishment, Health, Millennium Campaign