Promises.

Today was my first day working full time (I was working half-days for several weeks) and it wasn't the best start... We let the kids stay up to watch The Biggest Loser and thus this morning they (WE) were quite grumpy and difficult to extract from their warm, snuggly covers. We were finally able to rub the sleep from our eyes and converse without snarling or whining but it took a bit. Don't you just LOVE those kind of mornings?? (eye roll)

BUT. We sang worship songs on the way to school and I think it shifted our outlook on the day..all of us. Because we were suddenly in good moods and parted ways with sincere wishes for each other to have a good day and hugs & kisses. I pulled away from the school seeing two smiling kids waving goodbye & my own huge grin in the rear view mirror.  

My day at work went well. Learning lots of new things (which I always enjoy). On my way home, I stopped at McD's to get an icey cold Diet Dr.Pepper because I knew I'd need it.  I pulled into the driveway and was trying to brace myself for the barrage I would be facing...barking dogs needing to be fed and taken out. Kids needing help with homework. Dishes & laundry and all those other things that take up hour after hour. 

I walked in..and granted, the dogs WERE barking & going bonkers with glee that I was home, but the next thing I noticed was that the house smelled delicious...dinner was simmering on the stove thanks to the hubster. The kids then greeted me and informed me they had NO HOMEWORK today (this just does NOT happen as of late). Wahhooooo!

I took a relaxing shower, ate a delicious dinner, and get to lay in bed and watch Survivor in a bit. All in all, a good day. Much different than anticipated. And that will teach me to worry or be stressed about something that hasn't even transpired. Who needs it?!

Life is crazy and full of "those days".. why create them unnecessarily? 

rainbow, a photo by metroman8 on Flickr.

That's what I was thinking a few minutes ago, while admiring yet another rainbow. 

Have you been seeing all these tremendous rainbows in the sky lately? Vibrant and sometimes doubles! I've never seen so many in such a short time span. And they make me feel.. good. Plain and simple. Here's why..

It's like God is giving reassuring squeezes with each one. Like He's saying "See? I told you I would never leave you. That I would not forsake you. Despite all the ugliness you see on this crumbling Earth, there is still beauty. Though there may be pain, it is not without purpose. This rain signifies the inconveniences, the battles that seem like they'll never end, the pain...and then you'll notice I let it subside and I bring promises of hope. Take heart and press on, little one" 

Yep.

XOXO

~S

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior" (v.2-3a, NIV).

Today was my first day working full time (I was working half-days for several weeks) and it wasn't the best start... We let the kids stay up to watch The Biggest Loser and thus this morning they (WE) were quite grumpy and difficult to extract from their warm, snuggly covers. We were finally able to rub the sleep from our eyes and converse without snarling or whining but it took a bit. Don't you just LOVE those kind of mornings?? (eye roll)

BUT. We sang worship songs on the way to school and I think it shifted our outlook on the day..all of us. Because we were suddenly in good moods and parted ways with sincere wishes for each other to have a good day and hugs & kisses. I pulled away from the school seeing two smiling kids waving goodbye & my own huge grin in the rear view mirror.  

My day at work went well. Learning lots of new things (which I always enjoy). On my way home, I stopped at McD's to get an icey cold Diet Dr.Pepper because I knew I'd need it.  I pulled into the driveway and was trying to brace myself for the barrage I would be facing...barking dogs needing to be fed and taken out. Kids needing help with homework. Dishes & laundry and all those other things that take up hour after hour. 

I walked in..and granted, the dogs WERE barking & going bonkers with glee that I was home, but the next thing I noticed was that the house smelled delicious...dinner was simmering on the stove thanks to the hubster. The kids then greeted me and informed me they had NO HOMEWORK today (this just does NOT happen as of late). Wahhooooo!

I took a relaxing shower, ate a delicious dinner, and get to lay in bed and watch Survivor in a bit. All in all, a good day. Much different than anticipated. And that will teach me to worry or be stressed about something that hasn't even transpired. Who needs it?!

Life is crazy and full of "those days".. why create them unnecessarily? 

That's what I was thinking a few minutes ago, while admiring yet another rainbow. 

Have you been seeing all these tremendous rainbows in the sky lately? Vibrant and sometimes doubles! I've never seen so many in such a short time span. And they make me feel.. good. Plain and simple. Here's why..

It's like God is giving reassuring squeezes with each one. Like He's saying "See? I told you I would never leave you. That I would not forsake you. Despite all the ugliness you see on this crumbling Earth, there is still beauty. Though there may be pain, it is not without purpose. This rain signifies the inconveniences, the battles that seem like they'll never end, the pain...and then you'll notice I let it subside and I bring promises of hope. Take heart and press on, little one" 

Yep.

XOXO

~S

"When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior" (v.2-3a, NIV).

'Til the Last Minute..or so we thought.

Our weekend was pretty laid back. Just how we like it!
On Sunday, we went to church (always a refreshing kick start to the week)and I felt happy despite the gloomy, gray weather. The Spring blossoms in the trees certainly looked pretty against that backdrop.  




After church we went to lunch with the hubster's Dad at a local Mexican restaraunt. Came home and got started on a project that Josie was supposed to complete over Spring Break. Please DO take note it's SUNDAY, the day before the return to school. We thrive working under the pressure of a ticking clock! She had a plan all sketched out on paper and I was quickly rebuffed when I gave input on most anything. Kind of sad since I *love* the more hands-on, artsy stuff from school and miss that the most from our homeschooling days. She let me cut her grass for her. At her specifications. I gave my opinion on the shaping of the clouds and she contemplated and decided she'd just keep on doing it the way she had been. I got to staple the tree to the side!!!! AND I stumbled on the lion head with googly eyes in the most recent issue of Family Fun- so that's ALL me! 

Really, I'm proud of her for being an independent, creative thinker and wanting to do this on her own. I'm certain she'll get a top score!













The interesting twist to this is that late Sunday evening, she cleaned out her bookbag and gave me a crumpled up slip of paper which notified us that the project due date was postponed until two weeks from now.

So this will be sitting on our counter- being admired (and occasionally dusted) until it's time to take it into school. Nothing like being ahead of the game, eh?

And after a day of being cooped up indoors, looking out at gray skies and rain storms... it's nice to end it with a sky like this.

No complaints.




XOXO
~S

Spring has Sprung?

Well, it's SORT of Spring around here. Lots of rain..sometimes a downpour, sometimes a heavy mist..but the trees are blooming and fields are almost NEON they're such a lush bright green!













I took the photos above on the First Day of Spring. It was rather gloomy, you could see snow in the foothills but the fields...well, they speak for themselves!

Random tidbits as of late:

* Work is going well. It's nice to have a paycheck again!
* We got a "new" car.. a Nissan Murano. She's a beaut! Black, fully loaded w/leather interior and my sunroof/moonroof (really- WHAT is the difference?! Can anyone truly tell me?).
* The kids are enjoying their Spring Break- they've spent several days with Nanny & Papa and a day with their cousins as well. Spending the rest of it lounging around home and working on projects due upon their return to school. Fun stuff though, like diorama's.
* Made some DELISH oatmeal cookies that I dumped some yellow raisins & walnuts into..yum.
* Itching to take pics. Haven't been able to do much lately.
* Figuring out ways to get the kids to help out around the house and make them WANT to..it's tricky business but necessary.
* Ollie endured his "fixing" like a champ. Yay!
* I think I FINALLY broke the 35 year bad habit of biting my nails! They're lookin' pretty if I do say so myself. Well..prettiER. I don't have very cute hands/fingers.
* I've got 2 more weeks before I'm supposed to be "ok" to do cardio. I don't think I'm going to be obedient any longer. I feel ok and am raring to go. Plus, Mr. Doctor sir...my pants are SNUG. THAT is the official indicator of whether I should do cardio, not anything silly like wheezing lungs. Duh.
* I am officially addicted to PINTEREST ..Daily eye candy. LOVE it! Here's a link to my boards.....
* I realized I have TONS of open-toed shoes and hardly ANY closed-toe ones. Weird..and needs remedied ASAP, don't you think??
* my hair appt. had to get rescheduled to mid-April and I now have roots SO long that I have that popular two-tone hair..dark on top and light on the bottom. Only I don't feel very trendy. 
* We've watched some good movies as of late: 

Official Review: thought it was goofy & pretty cute. Love Reese Witherspoon.

Official Review: Wow. What an amazing true story. Lots of language in this one (not a surprise)

Official Review: kind of a snooze fest. Great scenery & soundtrack though.

Official Review: Don't ask me why. I like The Rock. I just do. So sue me. This one was crazy..and kinda graphic in terms of violence.

Official Review: Kinda crude. Kinda funny. Kinda "eh".

Official Review: Really liked it. Love Rachel McAdams..she's adorable & a great actress.

Official Review: wacky, funny, great cast. We really enjoyed it!

Official Review: Another AMAZING true story. SO well done. Such an inspring story of love & dedication. Hillary Swank and Sam Rockwell were SO good. And Minnie Driver. And Juliette Lewis..she's a nut but oh-so-good at those "off" characters.

Official Review: whoa. pretty good movie..a nice surprise when you don't know what to expect.

And yes...we really, really like movies. Especially on cold, dark, dreary nights and weekends.

I'm thankful for so many things right now... life has it's ups and downs and we're steadily climbing an "up" mountain. God is good. Plain and simple. I could go on and on but really, those three words have been swirling around in my brain, in my heart and out my mouth a lot the last few weeks- so I'll just leave it at that for now. 

XOXO
~S

Germ Warfare

Though I've been doing well, the rest of my brood has succombed to a nasty bug for over a week. Josie is the carrier monkey..last Friday she came home complaining of having had a headache all day. She fell asleep (this does NOT happen with this girl) and awoke with a fever AND the headache. We had family visiting from out-of-town and they ended up getting sick, the hubster and I felt a little under the weather the next day but I snapped out of it. Bob just kept getting worse. Then Matthew got sick that night. Only he had the added bonus of vomitting. LOVELY. Meanwhile- Josie was peachy keen Saturday despite cold symptoms.

Here it is the following Saturday evening and we're STILL battling germs & illness! I'll be SO thankful to be rid of it. Today I did my best to at least improve the overall feeling of infestation... I opened some windows for a little bit to air it out, got dishes & laundry caught up (the laundry was a major FEAT), wiped down EVERYTHING with cleanser, tackled the bills & mail from the last few weeks, went through a huge stack of kids school papers, took pics of stuff to sell on Ebay and some various other tasks to tidy up. It's MUCH better around here than it has been in WEEKS.

Another task successfully accomplished this week = I found a job (finally!) so our daily schedule will change a bit. I think it's going to work out well and feel blessed to have it after searching for so long.

Other reasons to be happy:

• I get my hair cut/colored this week. After so many months. I'm embarassed to say how long it's truly been. Let's just say I am WELL past ghetto roots!
• Our Ollie pop pup is getting fixed this week. I think we're all happy about this- especially our other pug, Pepper. We've realized Pepper has the patience of a saint..and Ollie is an Energizer puggy. (eye roll)
• The kids will be back to school after a full week out! (the not-so-fun part=all that make up homework)
• Bob will be back to work after a full week out!

Reasons I'm not too happy:

• my doctor says I still can't do any cardio. 
• I haven't taken much in the way of pictures lately
• puppy with a bladder the size of a pea

But I don't like dwelling on the negative. Let's get back to happy things....

Like, even though that certain puppy has a teensy bladder and must be taken out a bazillion times a day- he's still pretty cute and cuddly. If you stand still for even a moment and he's around- he'll plop on your feet. If you're laying on the ground watching tv or reading..fuggedaboudit....

A new lunchbox that's SO stinkin' cute..it makes me wish I were back in elementary so I could have one too.

But I *CAN* have these.

Is there NOTHING a cup of ice cold milk and stack of Oreos can't cure?!

I think not.

Hope you had a blissful weekend!

Blessings,

Sarah