Happy Saturday!

I have an infection in my left eye.

My right index finger is so swollen it looks like a sausage.

My allergies are out of control.

My 7 year old played dot to dot with her multiplication answer sheet for her end of the year assessment test and f-l-u-n-k-e-d.

 My 11 year old has been throwing up since 5pm last night.

I have been up for two nights taking care of either a sick child or a dog who just wants to chill in the backyard at 1am for no other reason than to just wake me up.

My 7 year old has a welt between her eyes because some how her sister waked her in the face with a broom......hmmmm.......

I am more certain everyday that Face Book is the mark of the beast. If one more person or company tells me I can't buy, follow them, know dance class was cancelled, someone is pregnant, divorcing, dead or moved because I won't join Face Book you might just see me on the news. Really?
I have a little tip for you if you can't communicate other than Face Book but you won't like it.
And since you aren't paying me for my advice I will keep it to myself.

Oh and p.s: Even if I did have time for 457 friends, really?

My husband just got off another 96........he's motionless on the couch.

I'm good now. Really I am. Just wanted to say HAPPY SATURDAY! :)

Over The Past Week.............

 Over the past week my sweet husband has worked a 96. If you are married to a firefighter you know exactly what that means. Let me translate if you don't know what a 96 is. It's 4 days of your kids climbing your face asking when daddy will be home. ;)

Over the past week I have asked the kids and their friends to pose for silly pictures on our back patio..........

 Ask and you shall receive..........

 Some of you better parents out there may be asking,"Why do you let them stand and play on that wall when the drop off is so steep?" My answer to that is,"We haven't lost one yet! LOL!"

 Over the past week I turned 38. Happy Birthday to me! Yay! I love birthdays although I will be doing a post soon on how different gravity is affecting my body this year as apposed to say oh 10 years ago. 

My brother suggested going down to the OC to stay with him and go Disneyland for my birthday. Against my better judgement and probably my Dr.'s if they knew; we went. I drug my mom along to keep me in line.

Over the past week I got to know my brothers girlfriend better..............nice girl.

 Over the past week I took cute pictures of my sweet Ryanne riding the carousel........

 Over the past week I tried to sneak a picture on Pirates of The Caribbean......Ya' got busted.

 Over the past week I avoided all rides that went in circles because I wanted my spleen to stay in the right location in my body and I also did not want to throw up my lunch.......

 Over the past week I went to San Diego and celebrated with my sister in law as she turned 40.......

Over the past week I stole this idea from my friend Kristi. She has a box for each of her four kids; throughout the day she tosses their stuff in the appropriate kids box as she finds it laying around the house. And then each night they take them to their rooms and put it all away. It is working great with my girls. :) 

Over the past week I decided to start slowly getting back to working out and so I took my dog for a walk. I was just about to step down when a baby rattlesnake reared it's head up and let's just say this,"I have jumping moves you have never seen." My neighbor heard me scream and came running to catch the snake. I on the other hand went home to change my underwear. Ha!

Over the past week I got to meet my newest niece......she's 11 days old.......

 I love her..........

 Over the past week I attempted to get a photo of 6 cousins all looking and smiling at me at the same time........

 Over the past week I finally gave up................

 Over the past week I got a teeny, tiny little "I want another baby daughter" pang in my heart when I saw my husband holding our niece.......

 Over the past week I laughed when my husband chased, tickled and wrestled with two of my nephews.......

 Over the past week my cup run over at all the little things.

It Is Well With My Soul......

Pastor Scott from our church does a daily devotional on our church web site that the girls and I pull up and read together before school each morning.
Today his message was entitled It Is Well With My Soul. I have always loved this song. It is so beautiful and sounds amazing when a church full of people are singing it out to our God.
The girls mentioned they had never heard the song so I pulled it up on the internet and let them take a listen.
In the process we stumbled on the history of the song and I thought you might like to know how it came about. Maybe you don't but your here now and your stuck with my history lesson. ;)

Back in the 1800's there was a man named Horactio Spafford. He was a prominent business man and he and his wife were greatly known in their Chicago community. They had 5 children. They first lost their 4 year old son to scarlet fever and then he lost his business and all his life savings in the Great Chicago Fires of 1871.
In 1873 Horactio decided to take his wife and four daughters on a cruise in Europe. He got held up with business for a couple of days so he sent them ahead with a promise to join them.
The cruise ship was hit by a tanker and sank in 12 minutes killing all four of their daughters.
A short time later Horactio was on a boat in the area that his daughters were killed and he penned the words to It Is Well With My Soul.
Later God would lead Horactio and his wife to Jerusalem to share God's word and minister to the Muslim community there.
I LOVE music and LOVE knowing how people come up with the words to songs. I'm very much a people person so I love hearing people's stories of how they got where they are and how God used them and grew them along the way. We all have a story, a song. Something God is doing or has already done.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8_EfDqF7YI
Maybe if you get a chance you can listen here to the song It Is Well With My Soul and reflect on the story behind the song. It made me reflect on where I am and how I look at things. I know for certain I will never ever be able to hear or sing this song again without thinking of what this family went through and how this husband and wife in their grief still chose to honor the Lord in their actions. I wonder how many people this song has ministered too?
Is where God has you today in this very moment well with your soul?

Do You Ever Ask Yourself......

Do you ever ask yourself,"Self, why oh why do we have pets?"
I asked myself that the other day when I came home to find this; Macy's memory foam bed shred into wait for it.....A TRA-BA-ZILLION pieces! I mean do you think the subtle hint here was she didn't want to be locked up while I ran to the store? Hmmmm.....

"Self, is it wrong that we buy our girls toys to punch each other out with?"

"Or wait, self is it more wrong that we steal the toys and get involved in the boxing game?"
(Note: Dog gets in between Dan and the girls. Ha! Crazy, protective, memory foam eating dog!)

"Self, how is it that my sweet little girls are not little anymore? I mean did it happen last week, last night, when? Tell me self, I can take it." *sniff*

"Self, how is it that my most favorite holiday has come and gone already?"

"Self, don't get me wrong, I LOVE all holidays. But there is just something about Easter that revives my soul. It gives me hope knowing that nails didn't keep you on the cross but rather compassion. Oh and the cousins dressed in their Easter best running around looking for eggs makes my heart smile as well."

And lastly,"Self, why did I put my camera down on Easter and forget to take pictures of the Grandmas and Grandpas, and Uncles and Aunts with all the kids? Sigh........darn self!"

If I Tweeted......

I will often post on the topic of "If I tweeted" because things happen to me during the day that I believe are truly Tweet worthy. I mean that is if I tweeted.

If I tweeted I would tell you how the other day Ryanne and I were driving in the car and she said;
"Mom, when I grow up I don't want to go to college."
Me: Really? OK well college isn't for everyone. But you might change your mind. What do you want to do then?
Ryanne: "Oh nothing. I was thinking I would just sit home and do nothing all day like you."

If I tweeted I would tell you how Ryanne and I were in a public restroom and she was already out washing her hands while I was still in a stall. I then heard her say,"Excuse me, is that your real hair color?" to some lady. I did what any good mother would do and hid in the stall till' the lady left. ;)

If I tweeted I would tell you how someone got into my computer and stole all my information. They then sent everyone in my in box spam mail. I proceeded to send an email to EVERYONE in my contacts; Pastor, pastor's wife, co-workers of Dan etc. an email apologizing for the bum email. Then the following day someone brings it to my attention that at the end of that contact list whoever messed with my computer had put x-rated email address' in there. Yup' it's good to be me this week!

If I tweeted I would tell you how someone stole my gas card and charged almost $2,000 to my account..........good news is SHELL is awesome and agreed it was obviously stolen and isn't making us pay.

If I tweeted I would tell you how I have a really painful ingrown finger nail. Yes finger nail. Did you even know that was possible. Who does that?

If I tweeted I would tell you how today I discovered something quarky about myself. I make words up. Like I was telling Dan that at Target today there was a quabazillion people there. Or when I see Macy I will say,"Hey mooshy-moo!" Dan says I speak in riddle and am very random. I say I speak truth and am endearing. LOL!

If I tweeted I would tell you how I am busting at the seams that my hubby is home this Easter! Being alone all the time is one thing; being alone on the holidays is so blah!
What would you tell me if you tweeted?

We spent this past weekend in Oceanside so that Dan and his friend Frank could do a Half Iron Man.

Wait, let me rephrase that; we spent this past weekend in Oceanside so Dan and Frank could pay money to be tortured for 6-7 hours in the cold ocean and rainy slippery bike ride where people were wiping out left and right. Ya' that sounds more accurate. ha!

All the way to the left is my Iron Man..........sane? I think not but I didn't marry for sanity's sake.

Well, he was still smiling after the race so I guess the 3am wake up call was worth it for him. LOL! I on the other hand decided due to my health issues the last couple of months to sleep in and catch the race around oh say 9am. I just couldn't imagine standing for 10 hours in the cold.

Sweet girls....

I heart the beach!

This guy hearts CA beaches too! In April mind you.....life is good.

I heart my husband!

I heart the view......does it get any better?

I love when I get caught taking pictures of Morgan.....so 11 years old!

The girls love bringing me treasures they find on the beach.....

Sometimes they are somebody else treasures. Think this was from the Tsunami in Japan? Wonder what it's story is?

After the race we got Bj's to go back to the hotel and eat and sit in the jacuzzi........
I think being a kid is the best! You don't care that you have a monkey hat on and are laying on the floor of the restaurant coloring waiting for your to go order. ;)

Lastly, my friend dropped these off last week along with a card to brighten my day and brighten it did indeed. Thanks Jess for blessing me. It's the little things that remind me how important it is to act out our faith by loving others. Really it's useless otherwise. What good is faith without action?
I was told by the Dr. on Monday that if my spleen continues to go down over the next 7-10 days without steroids I can slowly return to my normal activity's. Slowly being the operative word.
Getting the steroids out of my system has been a bear. I'm a bit moody, a little down and just off enough that everything seems like a chore. *sigh* Working on getting better though.
I developed a stomach ulcer from all the steroids so that's tons of fun NOT! Taking something to balance my stomach out...........hopefully that kicks this in the pants and we can move on from all this sickness.