Get Informed

I am currently reading the book Facing Your Giants by Max Lucado.  I have been blown away chapter by chapter, it is wonderfully written and leaves you thinking about your life and changes you can make.....and I am only on page 43!  However last night kind of threw me.  I am sure it is not anything close to what the author was trying to get to stand out, however, being a mom of a child with Epilepsy, it stood out to me.  He was referencing the story in the Bible about David and Saul.  And how David was running from town to town trying to escape from Saul who was trying to kill him.  He came upon the Philistines who knew who he was and they were wanting to turn him into Saul.  So, what did he do?  He acted crazy, he acted crazy so that they would think he was crazy and just make him leave the town and his life would be spared.  However, that is not how it was said in the book.  This is from the book:
"He sticks out his tongue, rolls in the dirt, grunts and grins, spits, shakes, and foams.  David feigns something like Epilepsy.  The Philistines believed "an Epileptic was possessed by Dagon's devil and that he made husbands impotent, women barren, children die, and animals vomit."  Fearing that every drop of an Epileptics blood created one more devil, the Philistines drive Epileptics out of their towns and into the desert to die."
It goes on from there obviously, that is not the end of the chapter but I could not concentrate for the life of me on what else was said.  I was fuming!!  I understand that that way of thinking is not from today, but isn't it?  I was once a mom to a perfectly healthy kid and had no clue what Epilepsy was.  There is a huge stigma out there for people living with Epilepsy.  We may not be driving Epileptic people out of our towns and into a desert for them to die, but we sure as heck can make them feel little, feel dirty, like they don't belong.  There are a lot of people who think that if you drink after someone one who has this disease that you can get it too.  Or they think that they are mentally crazy or incompetent, that they cannot do normal everyday things.  These things are so far from the truth.  Here are some facts:
You cannot ever get Epilepsy from drinking after someone. 
People with Epilepsy are not crazy or mentally unstable.
People with Epilepsy can do normal activities like a "normal" person.
I can tell you this.  My daughter cannot swim because she has Epilepsy.  We were told by her neurologist that it would be best to keep her out of the water because if she were to have a seizure in the water, she would drown (obviously).  She can go in, but it would be best to have an adult next to her at all times.  But get this, the girl has hated water since she was born.  She was never the kid who enjoyed bath time or swimming.  She hated water on her head and is terrified to go into a pool.  How awesome is that?  Ok, so it is not awesome that she is terrified or banned from water but could you imagine having a child who loves the water and then at age 7 is told they cannot go in or it would be dangerous going in?  To take away something they loved?  I totally believe that was a God thing.  He knew that at age 7 Cass would have her first seizure and get diagnosed so I believe that He gave her that insecurity with water.  She used to not be able to run because getting over heated or breathing intensely would throw her into a seizure.  But with her meds, she can now run to her hearts content.  There may be things she cannot do, but it is not obvious.  If you were to meet her, you would never know.  I feel like Epilepsy still has a big stigma that comes with it and the best thing you can do is be informed.  Not only is it good knowledge for you, but you may come across someone one day who has it and would know all the ins and outs.  There are numerous resources, we are part of the Epilepsy Alliance of Orange County and Los Angeles.  Epilepsy.com has a lot of good information as well.  So, lets all educate ourselves, it cant hurt right?

World Vision

If you have not registered and are a part of House Party, I strongly recommend it.  It is a free site and basically, they send you invitations to host a party for a specific company.  You fill out an application and then if you "win" the party, you get a ton of stuff from that company sent to your door for you to hand out to guests at your awesome party.  And it is not a hoax type of thing.  A couple of months ago I won a Febreze house party which was awesome and this past week I received my goods to host my World Vision house party.  If you are not familiar with World Vision, it is a Christian based company that you can go through to sponsor children who are in need in other countries.  Did you know that 26,000 children under the age of 5 will die from hunger or another preventable disease?  When you sponsor a child, it will provide them with clean water, nutritious food, education, basic health care and spiritual encouragement.  It is also a way for us who are privileged to bestow our blessings that we receive back onto others who are not as fortunate.  Through World Vision, their sponsorship is $35 a month.  I know many of you are skeptical, as was I, that the money would basically all go back to the company and a tiny amount would get sent to the child and their family.  In fact, 86-89% of all money sent is sent directly to the child and their family.  And when sponsoring a child, you get a welcome kit with the photo and info about your sponsored child, the opportunity to write letters back and forth and even possibly e-mail them and annual progress reports on your child.  I think it is an amazing opportunity to help out.  If you would like to know more, you could always go to the World Vision website.  And if you would like to ask me, I have a ton of info, along with some cool World Vision swag.......

To pass along to others, I have shopping totes, some pictures of needy children, awesome bracelets, brochures for Women of Faith conferences (which look awesome and I am thinking of going, come with me!) and nifty World Vision spatulas.  And if you decide to sponsor a child, I have cute key chains as well.  I know that many of you cannot afford to spend any more money, we are all struggling these days, but if you can fit it into your budget, I know it would make a world of difference to a child in need, their family and hopefully the world.

Can You Feel It?

I love Fall!!!  Fall brings with it feelings of family and togetherness for me.  It is the smell of pies baking in the oven and the feeling of a warm sweater wrapped around my body on a crisp evening.  This summer was not much of a summer, we had cooler temperatures.  So, is that the reason that it is 106 at 3:30pm at the beach here in California?  Seriously?  Our house does not even have air because we were told that we were so close to the beach that we didn't need the air, a beach breeze will cool us down.  I don't think the beach breeze wanted to come out today because it too wanted to stay indoors and keep cool from this heat.  What is going on?!!!!!  Oh, and the above picture?  Totally not taken by me, I got it off of google because we don't get pretty fall weather like that in California at the beach.  I did get 2 seasons of seeing this when we lived in Illinois and I miss it!!!!  So, California.....or God, if you are listening, please turn down the heat, it is Fall!!!!

What A Weekend!

On Friday, my Girl Scout co-leader Amanda and myself took 7 fun filled girls up the mountain for some camping.  The trip started out on a crazy, not so fun note when on Thursday night Amanda was looking for rocks to take to camp (for our rock painting of course) and her ankle slipped and snapped leading her to have a cast put on it and being on crutches.  Cast and crutches just don't mix with mountains and camping.  Then of course I still had that nasty cough that just wouldn't go away.  I was not contagious, don't worry, but it was there and it was driving me crazy.  So, mix that in with dry dusty mountain air and I felt like I was breathing with a 10 pound rock on my chest.  It was good times all around.  Actually, it was a whole lotta fun.  The girls were stoked to see bunk beds in their cabins and deer hopping around the lodge.  we had a dance party, time to play princesses in our cabin, hikes, challenge courses, rock painting, shirt making, swimming and bonfires filled with s'mores.  Cass didn't do so well the night of the bonfire.  Camera flashes kept going off and that eventually put her Epilepsy in full swing and we headed back to the cabin.  Other than that small blip on the radar, a good time was had by all.  I do grumble thinking of going on trips like these, thinking of what a relaxing weekend I could have had and all the things I could have done here at home.  But, when i think of all the great memories that were made and that hopefully as the girls grow older they will remember all of the fun times we had and things we learned, that right there makes me want to take them out every single weekend.

Happy Birthday!

Four years have gone by so fast!!!  It seems like only yesterday I was carrying you in my belly and your sister was performing her greatest art works at your expense...or mine.

The day you were born was a beautiful day.  You made your sister a sister for the first time. And at that moment that we held you in our arms, you made our family complete.



I always knew that you would grow up to be a beautiful young girl.  You have amazed me with your adventurous spirit and a love of life.  You are an amazing daughter, wonderful sister and friend.  We love you so very much Kendall!!!!

Non-Zoo Day

Since our little girls birthday is coming up and in the middle of the week, we decided that on Saturday we would take all of the kids to the zoo.  They had been so excited for the whole week.  About 5:45 in the morning, I heard the sounds of my crying baby.  Weird, she normally sleeps until at least 7 if not later, maybe she just woke up for a bit but would lay back down to sleep.  That was soon followed by sounds of puking.  Yep, time to get up.  I walked into her room and my sweet faced baby was sitting in her bed with her bottom lip stuck out and was not too happy to be getting sick.  After bed sheets and numerous blankets and snugglies were in the wash and one sweet baby was all cleaned from her bath, we sat on the couch to try to calm down.  Our thinking was that she would be better within a couple of hours.  Our middle one had the same thing happen last week and after 4 hours, she was up running around and able to hold down food just fine.  However, almost 6 hours later she was still not fine.  So, the zoo was out and our older two were not happy.  I knew I still wanted to take them somewhere so daddy volunteered to stay home with the sick baby while I got to take the other two out.  However, because I am weird and not able to stand on my own, I whined that I didn't want to go alone.  That I wanted to have some sort of company....adult company.  So, one call to my mom and within a couple of hours, we had met her at a nice little outdoor shopping center that had a Dave and Busters.  If you have never been, it is a huge gaming place with food and all kinds of things to spend money on.  So, that's exactly what we did.  We spent our money and played some games.  One walked out with a new necklace and bracelet and the other a wallet.  I know for a fact it would have been cheaper to buy those in a store versus spend a ton of money and "win" them.  We walked around for a bit looking at all of the different stores.  The girls loved spending time with Grandma!

After a while we left one shopping area to go to another one, ha.  We drove just a few miles down the road to Downtown Disney.  I really love going there.  I guess if you cant actually go to Disneyland, this is the next best place.  We met my Maemaw, Aunt, Uncle and Cousin and all had dinner at the Rainforest Cafe.  It was super yummy and great company!  Even though there wasn't a zoo involved and my poor baby didn't get to partake in any festivities, it was still a great day!

Birthday Celebration #1

Yesterday we were planning on going to the zoo to celebrate our middle ones 4th birthday (we didn't actually make it, more on that later).  My mom was planning on going with us but when I was little she had a horrible car accident, she is lucky to be alive, and ever since her knee (she has had numerous major surgeries on it) and feet bother her, especially when walking around a lot or up a lot of hills.  He feet and knee had been acting up so she wasn't going to be able to go, so we decided that on Friday night, she would come over for dinner and cupcakes to celebrate our girls special day.  I made my yummy pizza's and some regular pepperoni because that's what the birthday girl wanted (even though her birthday isn't for a couple of more days, she still gets her special meals of course).  Her royal highness also declared that she would like strawberry cupcakes with pink icing and a cherry on top.  I didn't want to do box cake for the cupcakes so I thought I would venture out and make my own from scratch.  I looked online for recipes and found the recipe for Sprinkles Strawberry Cupcakes.  I also had a lot of "help" making them....or I guess cleaning up after.

The cupcakes were pretty good.  I think I was expecting more of a strawberry flavor and was in the mood for strawberries so I was a little let down that it was only a hint.  I think though, that if you don't process the berries so much and leave them somewhat chunky as well, it might taste better.  But they turned out good non the less.

The recipe I had been using for icing recently wasn't exactly what I wanted so I thought I would try a new recipe for that as well.  So, after watching Georgetown Cupcakes on TLC, I thought I would give their icing a try.  It was good too and made my cupcakes pretty.  Of course I didn't get the perfect swirl they use in their shop but I am ok with that.  And just a caution, the icing is super super sweet.  Like whoa holy moly sweet.  But, I guess since the cake isn't so sweet, it balances it out.

The color ended up getting even more pink, almost like a deep hot pink when it sat in the fridge for a bit.  And my girl was super excited to blow out her candles (days before her birthday) and have a cherry on top, just like she asked  demanded.  And she was even more excited when grandma gave her this.....

It has been in the house ever since.  Which of course means that Hayley needed her car inside too, which meant Cass needed hers inside too.  I think the day could also be called, give mom a heart attack and freak out clean mode day :)  Stay tuned for our lovely adventures on our non-zoo Saturday.....

Parmesan-Crusted Pork Chops

We normally do not eat pork in our house.   I think occasionally we have bacon, maybe once a month if that.  However, pork chops are cheap and I thought it would give us a little more variety from our typical meals.  I think the crust on this would work well with chicken and even veggies, kind of like a tempura of sorts.

What you will need:

4-5 slices of white bread, pulsed in a food processor until small crumbs

1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup flour

2 eggs, beaten

8 boneless thin cut pork chops

4 tablespoons olive oil

lemon wedges (optional)

What to do:

In a medium sized bowl, combine the bread crumbs, cheese, oregano, salt and pepper.  Place the flour in a small bowl and the beaten eggs in a small bowl as well (two separate bowls, not the same one).  Dip each pork chop in the flour, making sure it is coated.  Dip in the eggs next and immediately into the bread crumb mixture.  Make sure you coat the pork chop really well.  Press the bread mixture onto the chop really well and transfer to a wire rack (place the wire rack on a baking sheet so your drippings don't make a mess).  Make sure you do this process for all of your pork chops.  Then place the whole baking sheet into your fridge for about 30-45 minutes.  When ready, place oil into a skillet and let it heat up.  Cook your chops for about 3-4 minutes until they are fully cooked and the outside is golden brown on both sides.  After plating your pork chops, place lemon wedges on the side.  Squeeze just a bit on top of each of you like that kind of thing......enjoy!!!



Free Coffee Day

I love coffee.  I have normal coffee days with my friends and you can find me inside a Starbucks or Coffee Bean at least a couple of times a month.  Coffee Bean is more my fave and today is no different.  Every so often they have free coffee days, mostly when they have a new flavor come out.  Today between 4-7, they are having a free coffee day for either their Pumpkin Spice Latte/ice blended or Cinnamon French Toast latte/ice blended.  I went with the french toast latte and it is super yummy!!!  It tastes just like french toast and now I want to be 8 again on Christmas morning opening presents and spending time with my family.  It is so warm and cozy!!!!  I heard a lot of people say how yummy their ice blended ones were too.  So, check you local Coffee Bean and go get yourself some free coffee!!!  Oh, and I see a lot of blogs who plug businesses and have this little snippet at the end, not sure if it is a legal thing or not but I feel like I must.  I am not getting paid in any way to endorse this company, I just freakin love their coffee!!!  Alright, now put your laptop down and go get some coffee!!!

Chocolate Fall Cake

Starbucks has their Pumpkin Spice Latte out and I have my wreath up, the only thing left to do until October is start making yummy fall themed foods!  This week?  Yummy chocolate cake with pumpkin cream filling and drizzled with chocolate on top..........yummo!!!!

I was really wanting a piece as soon as the last drop of chocolate hit the cake so these were taken before refrigerating to let the chocolate set, I cant help myself around warm dripping chocolate!!

This was the chocolate about an hour later int he fridge. I am sure you can spread the chocolate around the whole outside of the cake but it is so rich that I just let it drip down the sides.

What you will need:

For the cake:

1 cup buttermilk

1 cup water

2/3 cup vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour

3/4 cup unsweetened coca powder

For the filling:

1 package cream cheese (8 ounces), softened

1/3 cup canned pumpkin

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

For the glaze:

1/2 cup whipping cream

4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

What to do:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour 2 9-inch round cake pans, set aside.  In a large bowl combine the buttermilk, water, oil, sugar, eggs, baking soda and salt.  Whisk until well combined.  Add the flour and the cocoa powder and whisk until the batter is smooth.  Divide the batter between the 2 cake pans you prepared.  Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Cool on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then remove the cake from the pans and continue cooling on the rack until it is completely cooled.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the cream cheese, pumpkin, sugar and cinnamon until thickened.  Place one cake on a plate and spread the filling on top.  Place the second cake right on top of the filling.  In a saucepan, bring the whipping cream to a boil over medium-high heat.  Remove from heat and add the chopped chocolate.  Do not stir it in yet, let it sit for 5 minutes before stirring.  After the 5 minutes are up, stir until smooth.  Let it sit for 15 minutes to get thick.  Pour over the entire cake and let it drip down the sides.  If you want, you can spread it around the outside but it is not necessary.  Put it in the refrigerator for at least 3 minutes top let the chocolate set.

Enjoy :)

Aquarium

A couple of weekends ago we drove up to my moms and decided to take the girls to the aquarium.  My mom doesn't live too far from there and the day was nice so we thought, "why not walk?".  So, Hayley in the stroller and the other two tagging along, we all headed to the aquarium.  About 10 minutes later we were there.....or so we thought.  We cut across the parking lot to get to the entrance and the parking lot was filled.  Filled with not only cars but tons of people dressed like they were going to a wedding.  Do you think that was my first clue that maybe we weren't actually at the aquarium?  That maybe we should ask where we were and how to actually get to our destination?  Nope, my poor family was hot and sweaty and my mom has a bum leg from an accident years ago but I made us go all the way to the building and half way around before I turned to say "I don't think this is the aquarium".  They all love me so they didn't say it but I knew they were thinking just how amazingly bright I am.  But to my defense, the darn building is huge and round and is painted like the freakin ocean.  Whales and dolphins adorn the outside, it screams aquarium!!!  We soon found out for sure we were in the wrong place and were directed to our destination, a good few miles away.  It was too far to turn back to get the car so we decided to hoof it.  We did have a nice view on our way there.  There is a sweet little park with a lake and paddle boats!

We eventually made it and the girls were stoked, especially this one.

This one was pretty much over it and wanted to sleep.

But we all had a great time.  I must admit, I have been to better aquariums.  There wasn't too much to see, it was mostly educational.  I don't think that is bad but the girls wanted to see animals so they didn't care about educational.  The one cool exhibit we came across was the giant sting rays that were being fed by scuba divers.

Kendall is the little one on the far right, she was waving like mad and would squeal every time they waved back.  She is such an animal lover, I can see her working for Sea World or a zoo one day. 

At the end of the day we were smart enough to catch the bus back to my moms house.  There was no way we were walking all the way back!  We ended with a bbq and some wine and Cass even got to stay the night!  Next weekend, we are tackling the zoo......and we are definitely driving to that one :)

Cancer Sucks

What does cancer look like?

Cancer looks like tears streaming down the cheeks of those left behind.  Cancer is that empty spot at the table, the phone call that never gets answered, the little girl missing out on the most amazing daddy.  In about 2 weeks, it will be 2 years since my brother has been gone.  When I see the picture above, I see my beautiful sister-in-law, my beautiful niece and the empty spot in between where my brother should be.  He was only 33!!!!  Cancer doesn't care!  He wanted to be an amazing dad, he wanted to know why he was being taken.  Our father left us when I was only 2, he didn't care about us and didn't care to wonder about us.  My brother wanted to be there for his little girl, he didn't want to leave her, but cancer didn't care.  Cancer didn't want to give him the chance.  Cancer is a horrible disease!  I am watching stand up 2 cancer tonight, I think I have been working on this post for 30 minutes now but it is hard to type when the tears are blurring my vision and my mind is fuzzy so it is hard to get out a complete thought.  I know times are tough, but if you can ever give, please, I am begging from the bottom of my heart, take the time and give.  There should be no reason why I should have to live without my brother, my SIL without her husband and my niece without her daddy.  It is so unfair and my heart aches each and every day!!!!!!!!!!

Going Nutty

We are not in school these days so we are all going a little stir crazy :)

3 is enough!

A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of watching my friends adorable little 4 month old girl.  I got to bottle feed her, ugh, that made my heart ache.  I loved holding a small baby again, feeding her and having her look at me the whole time.  I loved having her lay on the blanket on the floor and squeal and baby talk.  I loved having her here, and then I realized just how much I don't want any more kids, haha.  I have always questioned if we were truly done having kids.  My heart aches as Hayley grows up and I know I wont have a little one in onsies who needs me to bottle feed her or carry her everywhere.  There is no way we can be done having babies!!  And then I added a fourth for the day and I know that I am indeed done!!!  She was blissful while we were home....and then we had to leave the house.  Cass had stuff at the school we needed to do so my first obstacle was getting 2 babies in the car.  Who do I take first?  Who gets to sit alone in the car while I go round up the others?  How am I going to drive?  I already had Hayley's seat in the middle part of our car so I had to put our little friend next to her.  Well, her seat sits backward and ti is a huge seat, so I had to slide my seat up.  I felt like a moron sitting so close to the steering wheel!!!  Then we actually got to the school and I strapped the smallest one to me in a snugli, followed by one in the stroller, followed by 2 kids holding the stroller while we walked up a steep hill.  I was sweaty and out of breath once we got to the top.  Yes, it may be because I am horridly out of shape but I also had a ton of kids!!!!  One of which was strapped to my chest and I forgot just how heavy a baby gets when strapped that way.  It was horrid people!!!!!  But, it made me put the nail in the baby makin' coffin for sure.  My uterus is ok with it now, it does ache when I see a small baby and get to snuggle them, but then it remembers the craziness of going anywhere and realize, I like some sort of freedom.  Now, let me leave you with this sweet face I got to snuggle for a day!!

Yes, that is my chunky monkey on the left.  She was so excited to be around a baby!!!  She also seemed incredibly large to me when I sat them next to one another.  She is growing up!!!  Ugh, maybe I want another baby.....no, no uterus, calm down!!!

Parenting Right.....or Wrong?

Months ago we enrolled our second little one in preschool.  We were told that we would not be able to go to the school of our choice but that they had another school they would send her too.  A little apprehensive I agreed, our little one was so excited to go to school.  So, for the entire summer we giggled and squealed every time school was brought up.  We counted down the days until we could go meet her teacher and see what friends were going to be in her class.  That day came yesterday.  As soon as we got there, things seemed off.  People seemed very rude and not happy to be there.  Her teacher seemed cold and not very loving.  And I know that laws are in place these days to keep teachers from being too touchy feely but would it kill you to show some compassion or love to my 3 year old who has never been to school a day in her life.  When she came to hug you because she was so excited and had waited all summer to meet you, did you really need to put your hand in her face and shove her back a bit?  And  I in no way feel like I am a racist person, I am happy for my girls to learn other languages or be around others who don't speak English very well.  But my child needs to go to school to learn things she will need to know for next year and the years to come and I don't think Spanish is one of those.  Maybe as she gets older she will need it, but to teach a preschool class in Spanish when my daughter knows not a lick just doesn't seem right.  And I know some people will call me out and place the racist label on me but let me assure you, it has nothing to do with race.  If the teacher spoke nothing but German and the teacher demanded she speak half German to the class the entire day, I would not want her in there.  The whole experience just left us with a bad taste.  I kept reflecting back to Cassidy's preschool in Virginia.  It was a small school through a Baptist church and it was awesome!!!!  The teachers were so welcoming and caring and I really felt that they loved having my child there, not like she was a nuisance.  We finally decided to disenroll her from the school.  We have found an amazing private school, then again it is super expensive and out of our league.  Supposedly NAACRA will pay for or help subsidize payments for military families but I also need to have a full time job, which is not happening so we cannot use that.  Any suggestions for that would be greatly appreciated!  Needless to say, I have felt guilty for the past 24 hours.  Am I being too picky?  Should I just send her and hope she is ok?  I keep second guessing my decision.  I called friends and family asking for their opinions and I got a lot of "go with you gut feelings" and my gut was wrenching and didn't feel comfortable dropping my daughter off in that environment.  So, I slept on it, thinking I would wake up knowing if it was the right decision and I still want to second guess myself.  Can I just say how parenting is so freakin hard some times?

Goodbye to our Minnie

A little over 2 years ago, while we were still living outside of Chicago, in the middle of a freezing cold blizzard like winter, a friend of ours had a sweet little puppy dropped on their doorstep.  The weather was ridiculously freezing and she heard the doorbell ring around 9 at night on a weekday.  Her husband went to go see who it was and only found a small dirty box with dirty towels and a tiny puppy inside.  They thought it was a joke, who does that?  But they brought her in and fed her and gave her a nice place to sleep for the night.  The next day she let us know and we decided she was going to be our dog.  The girls lovingly named her Minnie and she instantly became a part of our family.  She quickly grew from a small 10 pound puppy to a 68 pound super puppy.  She came along with us on our trip from Illinois to California and loved every stop when she would be able to get out, run and eat yummy food.  In-n-out fries were a favorite of hers.  However, after moving in to our new place, we had our third little girl, Cassidy had the roughest year of her life after being diagnosed with Epilepsy, which meant many appointments away from home and currently we will be adding Kendall's school into the mix.  All the while, our sweet Minnie stays home.....alone.  We have been feeling so guilty.  She is such an amazing dog and deserves a lot more attention than what she has been given lately.  So, we sought out a new home and last night we found the perfect match.  The couple doesn't have any kids and the husband is going to be heading out on deployment soon.  They loved her the minute they walked in the door.  She quickly turned over for a belly rub and was in love.  She is even going to have her own room I guess.  I was just thrilled to know she will be in a loving home with plenty of attention!!!  But, I cried as if I lost  one of my own babies!!!  I think she knew she was leaving us.  She normally loves to go outside and run so when she sees her leash, she gets all excited and will sit for you to be able to put it on.  Last night, as soon as she saw it, she started running from us and barking.  We eventually got it on her, and her new parents took her and out her in their car.  As soon as it pulled away, I cried.  I cried like someone took my child from me.  I knew I loved my little Minnie but I didn't know how bad it would be to have her leave.  The girls are devastated but I know they will eventually be ok with it.  We have great memories of our sweet girl and those can never be taken away!!!

Too Cool For School

As this week begins, I will be sending Cass back to school and Kendall will be going to school as well.  So, that means I will be having some alone time with my little rebel baby.  Don't even ask what kind of wreck I will be when she goes to school too and I am all alone!

Lake Trip

A couple of weekends ago I was a very lucky girl!!!  My Aunt whisked me away for a girls weekend!!

We left on a Friday and came back on Sunday.  We stayed at the Riverside Hotel in Laughlin.

The first night we were there, we met up with some of her friends and ate at a yummy restaurant.  Actually, an expensive restaurant we got to eat at for free because the casino host compt it for us, woo hoo!!  Needless to say, I didn't have any pictures from that night, I had a couple of drinks in me and wasn't feeling in the picture taking mood.  Oh, and this was the view from our hotel room.  Luckily we had a room on the river side of the hotel so we had a nice little view.

The next morning we got up early and headed out to Lake Mojave with her friends, a boat and 2 jet skis.  I had never been on a boat so I was super excited.  It took us a while but we finally found a cute little cove, we anchored in and set up camp for the day.  We spent the whole day on the jet skis, floating in the lake and just having a great time!!!  I had an amazing weekend and got to spend time with my amazing Aunt.  What more could a girl ask for?

Putting it in Perspective

So, this whole week me and all three of my girls have been sick.  It started with the baby which then got passed to my oldest, then my middle, then me.  Me?!!  I never get sick!!  But I did this time, and it hit with a vengeance.  Picture me with crazy hair that hadn't been brushed in almost a whole 24 hours crawling in sweats to get bowls of cereal for my girls so they wouldn't starve until daddy got home.  Yes, a good time was had by all.  We started to all feel a little better, or at least be functional by yesterday and good thing because we had to drive almost an hour to Long Beach for our oldests neurology appointment.  That was when I has my moment.  You know, the kind where you tell yourself how bad your life is right now and wishes it could be some other way so maybe for a little bit you feel better by sulking?  (please agree and say you do that too time and again, please don't let me put something like that out there and feel alone, please don't make me sulk again).  I just kept thinking how life would be a little easier had we all not been sick, that life would be easier on my daughter if she didn't have this obstacle called Epilepsy and it would be better on me if our insurance offered to pay a good neurologist who works only 20 minutes from the house as opposed to over an hour, plus throw in traffic, ugh.  Yes, I was having a great moment.  So, as my kiddos slept I went online to read some blogs.  I started with my normal and fave blogs and that's when I read about this woman.  Her name is Katie and boy did her story make me feel like a moron for wanting to sulk in my minor problems.  Not to say Epilepsy is minor in any way, but we have it under control for now and have been living in that groove for a while so I feel like it is just a daily thing right now.  The first blog post on her page was about text messages between her and her son Henry and how she had been looking back on them recently.  Ok, hmmm, didn't think too much into it but she writes so beautifully that I was pulled in.  Hours later I would find myself on the couch reading and crying and praying for this woman and her family.  The text messages she was re-reading?  They were from her son who would end up in the hospital and later dying.....at age 18!  Granted, her son had some major drug addictions, but the beauty is that she doesn't sugar coat that.  She knows he had an issue and take full responsibility for his actions.  But  because of this addiction, he would would end up in the hospital, beaten by some maniacs who took advantage of a sick young boy.  It is devastating.  She at one point wrote that at times when she was home alone with her newborn baby, that she would drop to the floor and wail for the loss of her son.  Ugh, that feeling.  I remember coming back to California and finally having it hit me that my brother was actually gone, that I would never see him or speak to him ever again and I had one of those moments.  The kind where I physically had to grab onto something because I felt like I was hit in the gut and the only thing you can do is scream.  The pain I felt losing my brother was and continues to be tremendous, I cannot imagine my own child!  The child I carried in my body for 9 months, the child who I delivered into this world, the child who depended on me from day 1 to nurture and keep them safe from harm.  I can go on and on about her and her story, but to get the full affect, I recommend reading her story.  Go to  her blog when you have some time and bring some tissue.  And if you are the praying kind, lift some prayers up.  This family is hurting, they are broken and they need prayers!! I couldn't stop thinking of her son the whole day.  I went to bed with his image in my head.  Her son will continue to live on I believe, within his brothers and sisters and hopefully within others who are going through something, and upon hearing his story will change they way they are living.  I really don't know the perfect way or respectful way to end this.  I have never met this family but I feel like I know them quite well after reading their story, so I guess I will end with love.  God Bless the Granju family and rest in peace Henry!!!

The Shack

I recently finished reading The Shack by William Paul Young.  It is an amazing book!  All of my fellow Christians will really appreciate it, however it is also written so that those who are non-Christian may enjoy it as well.  The story follows a man named Mackenzie who has suffered through what he calls the "The Great Sadness".  It takes him on a journey to the shack where he discovers a lot about himself, his faith and life in general.  The story hopefully will strengthen your faith or maybe even bring you to a relationship with God you haven't had before.  And if none of that happens, it is still a wonderful read!!!!!