Oh bloggie bloggie.......

Man oh man where have I been? Losing 10 lbs is where... taking care of three kids, harvesting lemons and lettuce. Planning my great escape from work. Kids just had dentist apts and guess what... no cavities!!! They were supper proud of themselves and so was I. This is a big deal because they have had some issues in the past and it was nice to not have to go through that again.

Chad and I are planning a trip to the northern coast for a few days. Oh ok.. I am doing all the planning and hoping that wine tasting, spa dates, boat trips and awesome restaurants will make us both happy. I have this knack for trip planning. I tend to over plan sometimes but can be fluid if certain things don't work out. I love to find hidden gems and since this is a road trip I have been lucky enough to find a ton.

So I took all of my blog posts from last year and printed them out and put them in my 2010 photo album. It worked really well because I had about 4-5 posts for each month and it acts as my journaling. I have been using Becky Higgins products for these albums the last few years and I am really enjoying the way they work for my family.

Really nothing much else to ad to my little ole blog. Just livin the dream and trying to keep everyone healthy through Winter.


And now a little message!

The month came and went...

This month flew by. I am sort of sad to see it go. We had a great month coming off an even better holiday season. I never recapped the holidays. I have to say, this was the best Holiday season yet. We spent a ton of time relaxing, taking things slow and overall.. just not worrying about the little things as much. So we melted into January with a feeling of excitement and contentment.

I started back with the WW and of course the plan works. I am down 8 in 4 weeks. I know that if you work the program you see results. You don’t work it… well you don’t lose anything. I have 12 more to go and I am hoping to lose those last 12 and then begin a workout routine for the week. Baby steps…

So back to Jan, We spent this month making plans for the year. I spent it trying to not get fired at work. Being fearless can have its downside too. I read a book (round of applause), Radical Homemakers. It was wonderful and inspiring. I have really started to understand the concept behind sustainable living. I am also being forced to really look at how much we are consuming as far as merchandise. If I ever want to be a SAHM again I need to cut some of the shopping down. Jackson had a mini physical and we found that his weight issues may not be as dire as we initially thought. That hasn’t stopped me from trying to stuff this kid with food every chance I get. We had a great family adventure at the races this month. It was a gorgeous Saturday and we took the kids out to see the horses. James loved his pony rides and Chad loved his winning races.

Now we stumble into Feb. Baseball practice begins. Valentine’s day! 2 school holidays! I am excited and looking forward to the month of love!

2011 - Goals, resolutions and all that JAZZ!!!

I picked my word, FEARLESS. I picked my health goal, down 20. I picked my colors, plum, honeysuckle and golden rod. I picked my goals... create, organize, blah blah blah....

Then I became aware of the brand new world of Apple. (New to me)

My Ipad has ruined 2011 already. I swear this thing doesn't leave my side. I read e-mails, I play games, I chart my weight watchers points, I look up details for events coming up. I LOVE it and I want to marry it. I have thrown all my other goals out the window and now I spend my days searching for the perfect app to pick my toes with. This machine has taken over my house. Chad and I no longer talk we chat back and forth via pads. I know I have only scratched the surface of what this wonderous tool can do. I mean I do happen to have the best calculator app out there.

It's starting... can you feel it!

I don't know what it is about this year? Could it be that all three children will all be nestled in my beds this Christmas Eve? Could it be I finally found my favorite wine from Fresh and Easy in stock and bought 6 bottles. Maybe its the fact that I am so close to having everything wrapped 2 days before Christmas and it makes me want to shout "Praise the baby Jesus". This year seems to have been less stressful then years past. I hope its the fact that as I age I am also maturing and understanding the importance of this holiday season. I say the season because we all know the importance of the actual birth of Jesus. I am talking about the month of Dec and all the craziness and insanity it brings. I vowed this year to not go there, to make it easy.. peezeee...

So far some of my fav highlights have been:
Ordering online for almost all gifts!!! Thank you Amazon, Walmart ship to store, Sephora and JCPenny. You saved me hours of grief and sadness. I hate shopping with other people around me.

Family cookie making date with my BFF and her family. I enjoyed spending time with the littlest Holtzclaw who so gracefully and delicately rolled out her sugar cookies with a water bottle. We couldn't find the rolling pin. Classy!! Julia enjoyed "teaching" the art of chocolate chip drops and I loved having a house full of people. It was simple, calm and done on a weekend way before the holiday craziness. It was nice to have some undivided attention with special friends. Well if you call a house with 4 screaming kids undivided attention.

Hernia Surgery- Yes Chad's upcoming surgery has me in the holiday spirit. For once he will be home with us the week after Christmas. So it takes surgery to get this guy to stop working but I am going to take what I can get. I am getting my nurse outfit ready and will be nursing him into the New Year. Wait that doesn't sound right?

Cold rainy weather- This December has brought some ugly weather but along with that came the realization that we love having the dogs in the house. I know crazy huh. They add so much warmth to the home and Baby James can't get enough of them. I think the addition of them in the house more often softens pretty much everyone.

Cuddling movie marathons- We have had a few weekends were we hae just hungout on the couch and had a cuddle movie marathon... It's been nice and relaxing and I think it needs to happen more often.

Ahhh there is a reason for the season! LOVE

Tour of the Forest Extravaganze

So I found this on my camera after Julia's party. I had totally forgotten that I filmed it. So for those who are voyeurs like me and get a kick out of looking inside peoples homes here you go! It's a little Blair Witch so beware.

Forest Party from Carina Vasquez-Krieg on Vimeo.

Student of the Month

Jackson won the Academic student of the month award at school. His teacher was so sweet and she summed him up pretty good.

I am so proud of my little guy.

Academic Award from Carina Vasquez-Krieg on Vimeo.

Renegade Fair Christmas Edition

This time I went with my mom and sister. I always fill inspired when I attend the Renegade Fair. I come home with so many ideas and projects that I want to start.

I purchased the following items:

2011 Moon Map for Jackson. $10 Kids make your own monster kit from HANDS-ON 3rd complete with everything to make 2 felt monsters including hair and embellishments. This is for Jackson and Julia from Santa. Its so cute and I can't wait for them to open it on Christmas. $20

Crocheted Hedge Hog - this was my steal of the day. Sample Image. $3
Vintage flash cards- Apple, toilet, underwear.... the first card is for Jacks teacher, the last two are going to be used to decorate the bathroom. I know, don't ask. $1 each, total steal!
So I left completely inspired and I want to create the following projects over the holiday season.

Dollie Garland and Wood Chalkboard:

Cross Stitch Home Sweet Home:

I am super excited to craft and really want to work on transforming more of our home into a reflection of our families creativity and love.

Family Picture 2010

I'm pretty darn lucky!

My first baby!

I am sort of walking around in a fog today. I already cried twice before 8:00am. Why you ask? Because my first born is turning 11. 11 years ago I became a mother. Well actually I felt like a mother the minute I found out I was pregnant with her. I sort of felt that protective feeling that my life really meant so much more now that I was this baby’s mother. She changed my life, she has been my constant. She is really her mother’s daughter. I understand her dramatics and over reactions to the tiniest things, she is my daughter. I understand her frustration with her naturally curly beautiful hair, she is my daughter. I understand her love for creatures big and small, she is my daughter. I sometimes look at her and think to myself about how truly lucky I am to have been given the opportunity to have this special person in my life. Right now her life is full of soccer friends, tv and movies, the next meal and socializing. Her life is not full of studying or a strong work ethic but we are working on that. I see the truest part of her when she is mothering her baby brother. While she argues constantly with Jackson she reserves her most loving mothering care and concern for her baby brother. She takes her time with him and cares for him. I sort of grin because I know if there is any proof that I was a good mother it will be in the way she mothers. I won’t share that with her yet, I still need her to believe that babies are poop diapers and no sleep. Thank you god for allowing me to raise your angel. I love her with all my heart.

A few homemade surprises

Making most of the decor for Julias upcoming birthday has had it's challenges. I do enjoy crafting but I don't enjoy crafting with three kids running around. My time has been limited to after 8:30pm when everyone is asleep and between 1-3pm while the little one is naping and the other two can be kept busy with a movie.

I will have more images and details on these two projects after the party is over. Making nests seemed like a easy idea, I give major props to mommie birds!! The mushrooms were time consuming because I wanted them each to have a different look to them.

4 days and counting!

Fall Love

Fall Love by cv715 featuring vintage tops

I blinked and then November was here.

So I borrowed this header from Elise Blaha, I hope she doesn't mind. It was too cute to pass up. So October is over, out of here, in the books. Now it's on to November. Ahh Nov. the month that brings 4 family birthdays, the end of soccer season, a huge Turkey, anxiety over Christmas and cooler weather. I want to squeeze in a camping trip this month but I doubt that will happen. I am excited over my lemon and tangerine bounty that is blowing up in the backyard! At least 100 lemons and close to 50 tangerines. Looking out my window over the last 3 days I could literally see the colors change on the hard round fruit. Each morning a new shade of lemon and orange and I am thrilled to bits that my trees have survived another season. The orange tree is coming in last with 2 pieces of fruit. Now wait the pomegranate tree is last, one piece of fruit this year. But for a tree that wasn't supposed to fruit at all I guess we are actually coming out on top.

Projects this week include a owl stuffie for Jackson to work on and pumpkin inspired baked goods. Plus working on Julias party goodies. 18 days away!!

Woodland/Fall Forest Friends/Chocolate Party

It's another party. This time Julia has requested a Chocolate party. Only my daughter. So I started to plan it around a woodland theme and it really does fit perfectly. Some ideas to get me inspired.

So I met this guy Edward and well.....

Pumpkin Picking

This weekend we took the littlest bird James to the pumpkin patch to ....pick pumpkins. Since the other two were with their dad we had to make this trip solo. I missed those two. Like a lot, like so much that I took more pictures then I ever take so they can see them and feel like they were there too. We bought 5 pumpkins representing each person in our family. Even when Julia and Jack are gone they are still right there. I had someone tell me awhile ago how lucky I was to get that break every other weekend, to not have a house full of kids. To get that alone time. I am not lucky. In fact it is the hardest thing to deal with. It like a mini roller coaster of emotions for me. Its like someone cuts off my right arm for 48 hrs and then sews it back on when they return. However I am grateful for the Monday evening matchup when they have come back home and I pour over them like syrup. I smell them, hug and kiss them and swear that they have grown inches. It like a homecoming. I cuddle them extra long and extra hard and even James gets in on the action. He misses those guys too. Our family is again complete and everything is right with the world.

Fall

October 2007. I remember thinking, darn it I am going to be pregnant during the summer and its so freakin hot!! (I had two older children so I knew what to expect). Now when fall rolls around, the warm weather and breezy days, the seasonal things I do remind me of that time. I still get sad. I still wonder too. I would melt through a hundred summers to have that baby back. I am sure time will help ease the memory. I actually pray it does. Dr's told me to wait. I didn't listen, was back in the hospital on Christmas morning getting blood drawn to check HCG levels. Spent all night New Years Eve calling to get the test results, positive.. negative..Celebrated Jan 2008 with the news we were expecting again. September 2008, James was born. His birth while completely amazing and fullfilling did nothing to diminish the sad feelings I have for my lost autumn baby. So many people had said it would. Why did I think his birth would fill the hole left in my heart? I reserve some time and space in October to remember the little one who it seems has been forgotten by everyone else. But not by me, not by your momma. I have 4 little birds but only 3 chirp at my feet, one chirps at the feet of the Lord.

Social skills - who needs them?

World of Jenks is a new series on MTV. I stumbled across it while channel suffering for some music to clean by. At first I blew it off as another MTV waste of time but I was drawn in by the subject matter. Andrew Jenks spends a week with a 20yr old autistic adult. I knew immediately that this was something I had to watch. I was hooked. I cried, I reflected, I felt waves of emotion similar to when we had Jackson diagnosed with ADHD. It was a struggle to watch but I really felt like I got some insight to how Jack feels on occasion. High sensitivity to stimulation, his inability to get over something that just isn't that important (ie: forgetting a book at home). Quick changing emotions and wide ranges of thoughts with focus just as wide.

Jackson and ADHD has sort of rested on my mind recently due to the weekly social skills therapy group we as a family have been attending. 8 weeks of therapy that will hopefully teach Jackson and us the skills needed to adapt better in social environments. Really this therapy is something that every child should go through and a few adults too. The classes begin with adults split from the kids and we go over our individual struggles with the skills being taught. Then we are brought together with our children to discuss what was learned. It is comforting to hear other parents who are experiencing the exact same things you are and disturbing to hear stories that you can't relate too. I wonder if there are some symptoms that haven't manifested yet. It does feel like we ride these waves of change with him so often. First it was the OCD, then the ticks and now the verbal skills diminishing. Waves of change.

So we work on skills and we work on encouraging the good behavior and re-directing the bad. We work on cool down techniques and boundaries. Ways to speak to get our thoughts across in a proper manor. See what I mean. I am sure you know a few adults who could be helped with some social skills therapy. Every week we work, whose kidding every hour we work. I am thankful that Jackson is healthy and that his ADHD hasn't kept him from having a basically "normal" life. But I do think about how it would be if he didn't have to take meds and didn't have the 6:00pm crash ever night. How his body would be if it had the ability to just rest. His little muscles know nothing but movement. His brain knows nothing but rapid fire messages. How tired he must be. I just wish he could rest.

text + best friend = smile

Me: This is very important, can I borrow your Prices Right Wii video game
Em: LOL. sure its the older version though. but then so am i and you still like me.
Me: I don't just like you i love you more than my luggage.
Em: Aww thanks

Fake Doc Martens and sarcastic humor brought us together. Very few things keep us apart.... for too long.

Soccer Boy and Girl

A new season of soccer. Julia scored the "Dallas Cowboy" team, so far they look good (hair bows, soccer bag with names stitched on, t-shirts, custom waterbottles, matching head bands) but they haven't been much to chat about on the field. I think there is way to much forced positioning going on.

Jackson on the other hand is the opposite. His team has no banner, no shirts... nothing extra. They are 1-1 and Jack scored 2 goals last weekend. Enough for the coach to pull him and allow the other kids some elbow room. I called him ball hog super stud, Chad called him "good boy".

BTW I love both kids, no favorites here, Julias pictures did not go to my e-mail address so I doubt I will ever see them. Booooo hooooo

Nuff said!!