Friday, July 31, 2009

Girls Rule!


In our house girls out number the boys!!!
Growing up I had 1 brother and 2 sisters...girls ruled in that house too!!!
What's your count?

Sneak Peek

We had so much fun taking family pictures last Saturday.


You'll see why if you head on over to Ro's blog . There was a lot of kissing and ewwww-ing going on HaHa!

Rochelle is a sweet friend of mine and always does a great job at capturing what I have in mind. For example she is the one that took Farrah and Finley's newborn pictures and the fun pregnant ice cream pictures of my sister and I. It's been 3 years since we have had family pictures taken. We were way over due. The poor baby girls are missing in the ones hanging in our house. She did an amazing job at capturing our family and each of our personalities.
Rochelle was nice enough to give me (us) a sneak peek over on her blog of a few of them! I can't wait to see the rest of the pictures.

**Don't forget to leave her some love and let her know what you think**

Thank you Ro! You are blessed with such an amazing talent.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Just Married......(10yrs ago-5kids later)

The birthday girl is now taking a nap. We had plans to go to Disneyland today but I thought I'd rather stay home and just have a relaxing day enjoying her. We are playing and painting nails. Finley's first time getting her tiny little piggies painted! I know I start'em young! What can I say I LOVE having girls! Tomorrow she is getting her ear's pierced. I'm so scared even though I did Faith's at 2mo and Farrah's at a year. Finley just has really small ear lopes and I hate to hurt her:(

I'm glad you all like the video because I traded it for sleep last night. Ha ha...I shut my eyes for a few minutes and the kids woke up running around singing Happy Birthday and asking for bday cake. I went straight to the coffee pot only to see I was out of coffee. So I'm getting through the day by a temporary sugar rush...(from the cake batter)
Who needs sleep though right?

The night before I didn't sleep either. We had the neighbor kids over for a sleep over. I tucked all 7 kids in and finally laid down to bed. The little girl comes down about an hour later and wants me to sing her a lullaby. So I walk her back up stairs and she asks if I can sing her Amazing Grace because that is what her mom sings to her every night. Umm..okkkk I clear my throat and start to sing..(only because I just want her to go to sleep!!!!!)

Amazzzzzing Graccccccce how swwwwwweeeeeeettttt the ...that's about as far as she let me sing..yeah I am that bad! I ruin that beautiful song!

I better rest up and try to get sooooome beauty sleep because....(giddy) my husband and I got asked to be "pretend" bride and groom this Saturday...Don't Laugh! I know we have been married almost 10yrs and 5 kids later and we have to act and look like newlyweds. HA! It should be fun anyway, I get to wear a wedding dress with a bouquet and everything! It's for the OC magazine (that's if they can edit and make us look young and kid less I guess???) My mom's babysitting the kids and were going out on a date all dressed up and everything!!! Flowers and all...... I'm so excited but hoping they can work wonders......maybe I can bribe my mom to watch the kids over night...I can dream can't I??? I'm also thinking of painting "Just Married" on the back window of the car (the car full of car seats haha)...it's fun to pretend:)
I'll post pictures asap of us "acting like newlyweds"..they should be a good laugh for ya'all!

Happy 1st Birthday Finley Hope!

Enjoy looking back at Finley's 1st year!
*pause music down below....

Monday, July 27, 2009

My....




my most honest critic
my fashion consultant
my personal shopper
my bff
my daughter

Do You Ever Feel Like This???




sad because you can't fit into your skinny jeans.....


suck it in sister...


these must of shrunk in the wash...





so you lay down and try to button them....still doesn't work!



oh no what to wear...


stretchy skirt and heels.....much better!

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Summer Fun!!!!

Thursday we held our 4th annual ice cream party! The kids look forward to it every summer. I usually buy 2 gallons of ice cream and invite a bunch of friends and tell them to bring their favorite topping. It works out great! It's cheap and the kids think I'm cool!













Don't get me wrong I love ice cream and all the junk I could pour on top of it too but I was even more excited to pick these.....

and snack on these....


Now if I could just get my kids to feed me grapes when I'm laying out by the pool I'd have it made:) I mean after all that is why I had kids right?

And this cute mama is due with her 3rd baby in less than 5wks...

Not only did she come for ice cream fun but she also came to float in the pool in her built in floatie:)

and I had fun snapping pictures of her lil belly...isn't she so cute!

Hangin With Mom At Midnight....

It's family pictures today and I'm sure I will look pretty tore up with bags and blood shot eyes...but my girls have some cute new bright summer bows:)

I couldn't sleep last night. I'm not sure why but instead of catching up on laundry and cleaning I dug out the glue gun and whipped up a few clips and bows for the girls. Landen woke up and wanted to hang out with me so I made him be my model and try on the bows.



He wasn't too happy at first but I told him if he wanted to stay up I needed him for my model haha...




And no, I'm not worried about him cross dressing when he's older he is ALL boy and he was just having fun hanging out with mom at midnight!

Friday, July 24, 2009

Flashback Friday

It's hard to believe a year has gone by sooooo fast! Finley will turn one this Thursday. Soon she will be walking and it will be hard to keep her in my arms.
Let me hold you longer....
I always tell my kids this! (A favorite book I read to them by Karen Kingsbury) ...I cry every time I read it(and they just look at me like oh, no here she goes again)

The other day I was playing around with Austin and said this is how I use to rock you. I sat him on my lap and his feet almost the same size as mine hung off the rocker and his lanky body lay across me. I can't remember the last time I rocked him. When did he get so big that I made that day the last? This morning he came in my room and said, "I love you Mommy." He still calls me mommy:) but when will he stop? When will the last time that he says mommy? Soon it will be just the plain ol' Mom in a deep cool voice...



That's when it hit me...we spend our children's days celebrating their firsts. First steps, first tooth, first word etc...But somehow, along the way we miss their lasts. I am experiencing firsts and lasts with having one of my babies turning 10 and one turning 1. I don't want to miss either of them....


Our first family picture in the hospital after Finley was born!


Dear God,
Let me hold on longer to every precious last.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

URGENT!

Hello fellow bloggers...take a minute and contact your senators and memebers of the House of Representatives....
Being involved with the pro-life movement I am begging you to take a minute. Our president along with some not so nice other people named Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi are trying to ram a national healthcare program down our throats that will mandate abortion. Which means if they get their way abortion-on-demand will be a routine part of heathcare.
If you were to ever contact your elected officials in Washington, DC, now is the time!!!!


The number of unborn babies dying from abortion will absolutely skyrocket, and you’ll be paying for it with your tax dollars.
I’m not exaggerating! It will be the greatest expansion of abortion since Roe v. Wade.
To contact your senate
and the house go to those sites.
Demand that they oppose any government healthcare plan that doesn't specifically exclude abortion.

Like I said,bloggy friends, this is really urgent, so I hope you can make those contacts soon (like now) Help for the babies is only a click away.
Please pass this along or post it on your own blog.

Not All Homeschool Moms Wear Praire Skirts!

I made that line up and put it on my blog after meeting some really cool homeschool moms a couple years ago...I like to refer to them as my homeschool hotties haha. I remember wanting to homeschool and thinking I would be hanging out with all these moms that baked their own bread and wore buns with skirts down to their ankles. I was wrong!


Before homeschooling I always thought of homeschoolers as wierd nerdy people. You could always pick the homeschooler out of the bunch and that is why I never wanted to homeschool. I didn't want my kids to be weird or unsocialized. Well homeschooling has come a lonnnnnnng way. It's actually "cool" now!. Don't get me wrong there are a few weird ones but for the most part they are normal families. We have met some really neat families!

In fact one of the first homeschool mom's I met when I first started homeschooling was Leah. She doesn't wear a prairie skirt either but she does wear a medal...an Olympic gold medal...actually she wears 3!


Since making the decision to homeschool I have met so many moms who are like minded. We don't all have an extra dose of patience either! We just want to have a little longer with our children's hearts. If you are thinking about homeschooling, don't let the prairie skirts change your mind. I know with school starting just around the corner many of you are thinking about homeschooling. Feel free to email me any questions you may have.

Check out Leah's family blog.
Play with passion, live with Purpose!!! Leah Amico

Monday, July 20, 2009

Weekend Recap...what were we thinking????

I was reading MckMama's blog ( don't know why I left a link, like you don't know who MckMama is) and if you don't ummm hello welcome to the internet haha!
Anyway, what she said on Friday was exactly what I was thinking (in just more of a creative way of course!)
So, I'll just post what she said and there that is how I feel ha. :)....
--------------------------
Our family is just like yours. We come in and out of seasons of challenges, changes and opportunities. And things are changing quickly for us right now. In making every attempt to maximize and make the most out of what hand we are dealt in life, our family finds some interesting things on the horizon for us.

As we look toward that horizon, I'm excited to share with you what is in store with our family. It's an honor and a blessing to be able to share parts of our life with you! As things become more concrete, and as I am comfortable, know that I definitely plan on sharing details with you!
---------------------------
She couldn't of said it better...When things are more concrete I will share but for now just keep us in prayer ....*nothing bad is happening just some changes:)
There that's it for that..on to our weekend:

OH WAIT... I finished Raising Godly Children in an Ungodly World by Ken and Steve Ham
WOW!!!!!
It describes how “the principles and truth of Genesis are vital to the strong and lasting foundation of a family.” Topics explored include the disintegration of the family, why a godly legacy is necessary and important to our families, God’s purpose and meaning for the family, godly discipline, and how we interpret and apply the Bible to our parenting with integrity.
AWESOME BOOK...Did I mention I love Ken Ham????

Ken and Steve Ham have written a valuable guide to child-raising, based on Biblical principles and steeped in prayer and truth. They give examples from their growing up years as children in Australia under the guidance of godly parents.

This book is now at the TOP of my list of “Recommended Parenting Books.” I’ve read almost every parenting book out there, yet my list of recommendations remains very,very short. Raising Godly Children in an Ungodly World is that good!!!

If you have children or grandchildren, or ever hope to have children or grandchildren, please pick up a copy of this book. You won’t regret it. The godly counsel and great examples offered are well worth the time and effort it will take to buy and read Raising Godly Children in an Ungodly World.

ok, back to our weekend...
What were we thinking??
(Especially after reading that book? ha)
Taking 5 wholesome kids to Sin City??? I guess I didn't realize it was that bad until we pulled up on the strip and flashing large tv's were flashing things my kids aren't allowed to see....and buses with half naked women painted on them etc...my husband and I made everyone close their eyes and just looked at eachother like why are we here?
We started feeling very guilty for taking the kids. The kids have been wanting to go to The Tank Pool in Las Vegas after watching the travel channel's top 10 pools in the world. A pool where you can get up close with some of the oceans, sleekest and deadliest beings. Or climb 30 feet in the air, lean back and let gravity show you an exciting ride through The Tank in a waterslide.

So this was our main reason for going. We thought it would be a nice get away and we would just hang out by the pool. It's not like we were going to gamble away their college funds or anything we were just looking to spend some fun family time...
After walking Fremont Street and The Strip on a Saturday night, again what were we thinking???
All I can say is that place must break the Lord's heart really. In a way it was good for my kids to see (a VERY little) of the craziness and to see how the world really needs Jesus!

It was HOT..and thank God that's as hot as it will get for us if you know what I mean!




This is how little miss drama queen walked through the casino's acting like she was dying from cigarette smoke. I was pretty much doing the same thing but worse...


I'm sure you can imagine the looks and comments we got...


The girls



On our way to dinner (we removed the blind folds for the photo)
If you click to enlarge this photo you can get an idea of the "looks" we got. (the worker behind us) haha


snuggle time...


We woke up and swam with this...(kind of)


If you look close you can see Austin in the tube:)


Again what were we thinking??? A bit crazy by the pool... lets just say there was no relaxing or laying out going on. I was lucky I could snap some pictures in between counting heads...
You can see Justin counting heads in this picture haha..oh, wait that's not ours:)


Austin was a lot of help...showing Farrah all the sharks:)

>

It really was cool to be that close and to swim next to them...

I put Finley down and climbed the 3 stories to go down the slide the kids thought it was cool seeing mommy slide down waving to them:)



The kids LOVED it!


Landen pretending he's a shark

No more life jacket!






All in all we had a great day at the pool!