Day Seven & Eight

Miracle of Monday:

I am combining yesterday and today because our Sunday was actually pretty busy in the morning, and then we had church, and then David and I just played with the kids until they went to bed. Once the kids were in bed, David and I stayed up late and hung up our pictures in the office and went through all the stacks of stuff on our desk. It is a great feeling to sit here, not feeling surrounded by clutter.

My miracle today is that Victoria's fall on the concrete wasn't any worse. Saturday night when David's brother and his family were here, we were eating dinner outside. The kids were done early and playing. Victoria was laying on the top of Tyler's little red Coupe Car (the car with the dome roof and the yellow top). She slipped and landed face first on the concrete. Her body then did a full flip over herself. I was so worried she did something to her neck. When I looked at her, her face really looked scary, because it got so swollen so fast. We iced it for quite a while. By yesterday it looked so much better and today it looks great.

Victoria was so worried about going to church yesterday because she didn't want anyone to say anything. She was really brave and handled it really well. Have a wonderful Monday!

Day Six

Super Saturday

Today was crazy and fun at the same time! I didn't have to play my harp today, so I cleaned, exercised, ran errands and then we went to the beach. David's brother is here from Utah. We don't see their family very often. It was great to see them. We hung out at the beach and then they came back to our house for dinner.

It was exciting because Kevin got to help David mount our new T.V. It was kind of a ceremonious event. They both put on matching jump suits (really funny) and worked together to mount our T.V. from the ceiling. The people that lived in the house before us, marbled the entire wall and fireplace. We were concerned about how to mount a T.V. through marble, so David decided to buy a ceiling mount. He had to make his own metal adapter to connect it to. I was so impressed. He and his brother put up our T.V. I feel like our family room is almost complete. Although I wish I was looking outside my kitchen window and seeing a huge play set for the kids, I know we will all enjoy this new addition to our family. David made this metal adapter all by himself! I am so impressed!

David really was excited to has bis brother here to help him, since we don't see him very much. The matching jump suits were hillarious!

Daivd, Kevin, and his nephew Trevor hanging the T.V. It was a scary, breath-stopping moment for the guys. :)

Our living room...and yes that is clean laundry piled high on the table....I guess no one else is going to fold it for me.

Day Five

Favorite Friday Find:

I have really been trying to save money when I grocery shop. I thought I did a pretty good job until I started reading about moms feeding their family of five for 40$ a week. I am still learning, but have some great websites I'd like to share with you about how to do so. Every week there are posts to Target, Walgreen,and CVS and what's the best deal. A lot of the stuff ends up being free. I have learned that Target takes Target and Manufactures coupons. You can print a lot of coupons online and this website tells you where to find them. Another website, this lady also includes deals at Rite Aid! Super Cool. If anyone else has any great money saving resources, please let me know!
Have a great Friday
www.moneysavingmom.com
www.stretchingabuck.com (she has a lot of stores on her blog I don't use, but I just scroll through her info to see what I want)
also, everyday I check www.slickdeals.net to see what are some of the best deals all over the web.
Lastly, my sister-in-law sent me this website with all the birthday freebies in one place:
www.freebirthdaytreats.com. It is so cool! David and I ate for free our whole birthday weekend!

Day Four

Thoughts on Thursday:

Moving in to this house has been so challenging, but wonderful at the same time. We are finally starting to feel that everything inside is almost done, hung up, put away, and organized. The OUTSIDE is a very different story. We bought this house with almost completely dead landscape. For over .5 acre, that's a lot of DEAD! It overwhelms me to go outside, just because I know that we can't afford to fix that yet. I wish I had grass, I wish I had plants, and I wish that the sprinklers worked...but they don't! Today I learned a great lesson from my beautiful four-year-old daughter, Jocelyn. At the bottom of our property, we have a few trees that started blooming, despite the lack of water they receive. Almost overnight, one of the trees, much to our surprise has started growing these beautiful red apples. It is amazing to watch how fast the tree has filled up with them. We have several fruit trees, but all the fruit is not great. However, this tree has wonderful apples and I actually stopped and took a few minutes today to pick them with Jocelyn. Her excitement made me excited. She couldn't help but feel over joyed, even when her bucket only had ten, very small, yet very delicious apples in them. Today I realize how negative I am some times....and how positive my children are. Children see the good and we need to praise them for that. So, although most of the vegetation around me is dead (or severely struggling), I need to enjoy the APPLES. When LIFE hands you apples amongst the weeds, be thankful for them and realize what a blessing they are.

Day 3

What's Wonderful About Wednesday:

Today was a great day. Thanks to my wonderful mother, she again watched two of my children for the entire day so that I could accompany Victoria to Lego Land with her kindergarten class. I haven't been able to help much this year or go on any field trips, because of Tyler, so I knew I didn't want to miss this exciting day. We used to go a lot when the girls were little and we occasionally show up for the last hour (because it's free), but just to spend a whole day there with my six-year-old (and no stroller or diapers to change), was awesome! We went on several rides and really had a blast. I learned today, that I need to spend more time with each of my children separately. They each deserve my undivided attention once in a while. I am going to do better about having mommy-and-me time. Victoria just loved having me to herself and really enjoyed her day! Yeah for memories made today at Lego Land!

Victoria and I

This ride just goes up and down and makes your stomach drop. All the poor kids from her class (and my friend Melissa, the mom in the middle) were screaming.

Day Two

Taste of Tuesday:

On Sunday night, we celebrated mine and Tyler's birthdays with my family. My sister-in-law, Lauren made this awesome cake. It really does taste like a honey bun. Your family will love it and chances are you have most of the ingredients in your pantry! I said I would post David's favorite cake....will probably do that next week.

Honey Bun Cake

INGREDIENTS

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 1 (8 ounce) container sour cream
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 
  
• 2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 4 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine cake mix, oil, eggs and sour cream. Stir by hand approximately 50 strokes, or until most large lumps are gone. Pour half of the batter into an ungreased 9x13 inch glass baking dish. Combine the brown sugar and cinnamon, and sprinkle over the batter in the cake pan. Spoon the other half of the batter into the cake pan, covering the brown sugar and cinnamon. Twirl the cake with a butter knife or icing knife until it looks like a honey bun (or whatever design you want to make).
3. Bake in preheated oven for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Frost cake while it is still fairly hot. Serve warm.
4. To Make the frosting: In a small bowl, whisk together the confectioner's sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth.

I love this baby...I love sharing my birthday with him (Much better this year, than last year in the hospital)

Day 1

Monday's Miracle:

My Mother, Joy
Made my birthday weekend by watching all my kids for two nights!
Means the world to me.

What a great way to start the week...having had a wonderful weekend to relax and enjoy my husband and celebrate my 30th birthday...which was on the 30th. After our two peaceful nights alone, we surprised the kids and took them to the Grand Pacific Palisades in Carlsbad so they could celebrate with us....since it is Tyler's birthday to.

Here We Are!

My boys couldn't be without their phone or computer

We walked across the street from the hotel and went to Legoland for the last hour of the day...why not it's free.

The kids were so excited to stay in a hotel. We don't do this very much...hardly ever, so it was a big deal for them

Breakfast at my favorite place in the whole world...The Beach Break in Oceanside. I had crunch french toast with fresh whipped cream and blackberries.....and the tangerine juice is awesome!

Hope your Monday is wonderful....What's your Monday's Miracle?