Lessons from the Kardashians

So I am going to start this blog by sayin... "DONT JUDGE!!!""" HAHAHAHA!!!

My cousin Jaime and I go back and forth on our reality junkie status.. we really are JUNKIES..... And although I hate to say it.. I even lower myself to watching the Keeping up with the Kardashians... I know that I may have just lost some readers...... but what can you do... once a junkie always a junkie!!! :0)

Tonight I was watching the Kardashian special..."Kendall's Sweet 16th" and although it had all the makings of a "low key" party... they had a slide show of her growing up through the years and Kris said... "where did the 16years go.... they flew by" and watching Bruce waiting for Kendall to come back from her driving test talking about how at this point... you kinda lose daily car pools parenting stuff which makes him sad.. seriously made me TEARY!!! ALOT TEARY..

Today I took some pics of the kids by the tree.. as I do every year... and how Abbie seemed so "GROWN UP" how did this happen??? and it's going to get worse???!!!!! EEEEKKK!!! Made me even more teary. All of the craziness with little ones will soon become craziness with BIG ONES.. little hugs and kisses and hearing "youb the best mom eber"

Anyways... all this to say.. I got a little sentimental for these Christmas pics..
Thankful for my babies!!!

Well..... as shocking as it is... I went to Jon's work Christmas party and IT WAS FUN!!!! I was actually very surprised...I wasn't really looking forward to it.. But as the week went on I was getting more excited to just get out with my hubby with Prime Rib, Drinks and Dessert.. AS MANY and AS MUCH as we wanted FOR FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was great!!!!! We ate dinner at 8:30pm!!! Which hasn't happened since like 1999!!!!! It was fun to be out as a GROWN UP!!! We got home at 2am this morning.. It was F-U-N.. It has been way to long since we got dressed up and just had a great night.. BUT IT WAS FREE TOO... So those are even BETTER!!!!! Anyways. Here's a little pic of us getting ready to go out on the town!!

It's December!!!!

After YEARS of SILENCE.. I’M BACK!!! Man.. it has been sooo busy around here.. I think the combination of everyone being sick and just daily life things are BUSY!!!

Well, LOTS of stuff has been going on.

Today Jon, Abbie, Caid and Zeke are riding on the Belfor Float in the Springfield Christmas Parade. Jon and his friend built a HUGE transformer. I think it is about 7ft high. So the kids are very excited.. Lolie is still sick so I am staying home with her.

Abbie, is doing great. She loves her school and is having a great time. She is looking forward to joining the community theatre here in town after the new year. I think she has found her niche. DRAMA!!!

Caid, is doing like 150% better in school FINALLY but it did take a good solid 2 months to get him settled. I started working in his classroom twice a week which I think was the key in fixing it. I think he had a really hard time going to school full time. He would say stuff like he was sad that he could hang out with me in the afternoon. It got worse before it got better. BUT it is finally better.

Zeke. turned 4!! In November and he was VERY excited about this. Sadly, his birthday hit when we were at the peak of sickness. SO we had a mini party but we are celebrating on Monday at Chuck E Cheeses.

Lolie, is ALMOST 3!!! Can you believe it!!! I am hoping 3’s make the 2’s go away!!! But she is a cute little pill for sure!!! She is turns 3 on Monday. So we are going to Chuck E Cheeses to PARTY IT UP!!!

I am doing pretty good. It got a little rough there for a while with everyone sick. Being in the house stuck with sick kid after sick kid. On the UP side.. IT’S CHRISTMAS TIME!!!! YAY!!!!! My favorite time of the year.

My mom and I did Black Friday this year and I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE IT!!! I enjoy the shopping but also I love that it is a time for my mom and I to hang out and just shop and plan our adventure!!!

I’ve met some great people since we have moved to Eugene. We had a girls night out last night. IT was super fun!!! And nice to hang out with a group of cool chicks!!!

So here are some pics of random stuff that’s been happening!!!!

soooooooooooooo

Been like FOREVER... since i've been here.. sorry for all the disappointments!!! :0)
Anyways... so what has been going on.. SICKNESS!!! STILL!!! Nothing has changed since my last blog.. and I am SOOOO OVER IT!! You have no idea.. and if you think I do.. YOU DON'T!!! IT HAS BEEN SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO discouraging and lonely at this place I am in right now.. SICK KID.. after SICK KID... AFTER SICK KID.... after SICK KID.. As soon as one kid get over it.. ON TO THE NEXT.. I have cleaned cleaned cleaned.. but I think it has no effect!!! BUT... whatever... IT just basicly SUCKS!!!!

When my Heart is Overwhelmed lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Psalms 61.

My heart has def..been overwhelmed, bummed out and just plain ol' discouraged!

But.. I am thankful that I HAVE A ROCK THAT IS HIGHER THAN I!

Here are some pics of what we have been doing with our time.. while being coped up!!!

WELL... WE ARE ALL SICK!!! AND HAVE BEEN SICK FOR TOO LONG!!! IT IS SOOOOO ANNOYING.... We has such a fun weekend planned this weekend. We had Zeke's Bday party TODAY... which we had to "cancel" and just have a family party... and then tomorrow we had about 35+ people coming over for dinner.. and had to cancel that too... BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.. anyways. I'm over it... So we had our little party for our NEW 4 YEAR OLD!!!! It was nice to just hang out and chill with him.
So here are some pics of our little party we had for Zeker's!

Pumpkins and FAMILY BINGO NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!

Today we had a lazy fun day at home! I think it may have been what the doctor had ordered!! It was a fun day! We decorated our pumpkins.. and I totally suck at carving pumpkins and Jon normally ends up carving all of them! We tell him what we want and then he takes like 5 hours to do them all!!! So this year I thought I would try something new! SPRAYPAINT!!!! So here are some pic of our FABU PUMPKINS!

Here are the kids all in their outfits...
Abbie is going to be the Mad Hatter, Caiden is the RED Power Ranger, Zeke is G.I. Joe the American Hero, and Lola is Barbie Bride.

This is MY PUMPKIN




These are what the Kids came up with.

We ended the night..with Jon and I throwing a "FAMILY BINGO NIGHT" HOW FUN DOES THAT SOUND!!! WELL IT WAS!!!! And here are some pics to PROVE IT!!!! YAY FOR BINGO NIGHT!!!!

HOPE

Well... HOPE has been going around my head for the past couple of months. I have had some big conversations with people about HOPE. And It's great how God puts things in your head and swirls it around and then in a couple of months.. when LIFE hits... HE gentling reminds you about what HE has been teaching me for the past two or so months!!

!!CHOOSE HOPE!!

The past couple of weeks I have really been struggling with life, then some more stuff came up the other day and just pushed me over the edge into an emotional wreck! In the middle of my Lonely Emotional self, Jesus nudged me with His soft reminder... CHOOSE HOPE!!!!

I am a firm believer in knowing that you have BAD days.. ROUGH DAYS... HARD HARD DAYS... and I also think that you have to express that... there is nothing wrong with it.. Cry for days!!!!! Just do it!!! BUT.... among that crying, anger,hurt or loneliness CHOOSE HOPE!!!! It might not be okay today or even tomorrow or even in 365 days later. I think in choosing hope you make the decision DAILY that it is HOPE I CHOOSE.. because it is sooooooooo easy to just LOSE IT!!! and LOSE IT BAD!!!

CHOOSE HOPE!

Pumpkin Patch

This week has been filled with PUMPKIN PATCH TRIPS!!!! and I HEART THEM!!!! They are fun!!! I must say.. Pumpkin Patch and Christmas Tree time is my FAVORITE time of year!!!

I was loading the new pics and I found some of the old pics from last year!!! Take a look!!!! They look so little!!!!

Here are the NEW ONES!!!

Alzheimer's Walk for my Grandma

Today my Family walked 4.1 Miles in Memory and in Honor of my Grandma Howery. My grandma lived with us most of my whole childhood. My dad always built her a little apartment onto whatever house we were living in at the time. So she always had her own space. It was great. I spent many of my nights and days at her "house" She was my best friend growing up. We moved so much but my Grandma was always there with us! It was one of the BEST lifelong lessons and memories having her with me. When I was in 8th Grade my Grandma got to a point with her Alzheimer's that she could no longer live with us. She was wondering out of the house and becoming really hard for my parents to safely care for her. So we had to put her into a Memory Care place. AND THAT WAS SOOOOOOOOOO HARD for our Family!!!! But I visited her 3-4 times a week and all of her little gal pals and I brought donuts every sunday. Although she never remembered me. She did know that I was the nice little lady who came and visited with her. She did remember me that way. One of the cool things was when I was visiting her she would always tell great stories about her family!!! She was a great lady and one of my BEST FRIENDS OF ALL TIME!! She taught me some of the greatest lessons of my life and molded me into alot of who I am today. I miss her very much!

So today, having my kids with me here, I will say had me a little teary. It was bitter sweet! My grandma lived a great life! and it was long. She was an older grandma and she died at 91! But nontheless it was a rough last 10 years living with Alzheimers. It was a great day to be with Jon and the Kids. I am very Thankful!

Peace out Peeps!

1O YEARS!!!

Yesterday was our 10 year anniversary!!!! I was so looking forward to it!!! I had a great day!!!! As I was telling my friend yesterday.. I only remember the first 5 cause the last 5 were kinda a fog!!!! AHHAAHAHAHAHA!!!!! have all these babies.... puts a blur in the mix!!! Anyways. We had a great time hanging out and I really feel like the most blessed girl in the world!!! I have a great man with me on my journey!!!

Proud Moment

So after a CRAP day yesterday we headed to the mission and it was awesome!!! We have actually picked up working at the mission another week during the month. We are getting to know the people there and having a really good time.

Last night we did the Wordless book... So Abbie presented the gospel explaining the Wordless Book.. And the cool thing is she was soooooooooo excited.. She had been practicing...and it was cool!!! So we went and she had a blast!! And I must say it was very cool to be a part of being there for her time sharing about Jesus and the importance of know Him! It was one of the top 5!!!!

VERY COOL!! AN

I AM A PROUD MAMA!!!



PEACE OUT PEEPS!!!

Rough Day

Man, I had a rough day yesterday... I have for almost as long as I remember have an issue with CHURCH... all the politics and crap like that.. it is hard for me and I struggle with it. I attended a Bible Study when I lived in A-Town. that I loved and sometimes I think it was one of those ONCE IN A LIFETIME kinda things. It was truly come as you are.. say what you are... and just say it how you do... (I think I have mentioned this study before) And as I attend others I realize more and more how it was one of those seasons of blessings. I don't talk a whole lot to those girls often anymore.. but I still get a facebook message, text or a little card in the mail just dropping by a thought. So as I have started to get more involved with our new church in Eugene.. you realize there is not a church that is perfect... cause it is full of sinners.. and I AM INCLUDED IN THAT!!! But it is hard!!! Just when you talk about in my opinion what is 'normal" things.. BASIC things... it gets TAKEN WAYYYYYYYYYYYY the wrong way and once again I feel totally discouraged like I have to walk on egg shells cause you don't want to offend anyone... or as I am helping out the line at Kid Life at church the mom says.. "I NEED TO GO TO MY BIBLE STUDY... WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE IS A WAIT LIST!" and you think.. MAN.. seriously.. I am praying for you trying to encourage you..... or I am hear serving and watching your kid so you can go to your stupid bible study! Maybe a little grace???

So I actually have struggled with this is a BIG way in the last 24 HOURS.... and I called my Dad this morning to kinda talk it out. And it once set me back on track... although I am still teary...
One of my dad's LIFE LONG "DADISIMS.. "IT'S ALL ABOUT HIM...NOTHING ABOUT YOU...AND EVERYTHING IS FOR KINGDOM WORK"

So if I have this guy doing all my paperwork for my kids program at church and he is way SLOW..... should it matter... in the perspective of it.. NO... it's ALL about HIM.. and NOT about me.. it's dumb paperwork... If I have ladies screaming at me cause THEY NEED TO GO TO WORSHIP AND THERE IS NO ROOM FOR THERE KID" is it about me.. NOPE...It was just a good word.. on man... it's just life...and it was just refreshing to hear that.. even though that I knew that.. sometimes some stories and encouragement from good ol' dad is just what the therapist ordered!!!

It's a struggle though for sure... I just felt totally defeated!!! But thankful that JESUS has OVERCOME... thus SO WILL I!

SILENCE!!!

MAN.. it's been a while since I blogged.. and I know you guys are just dying with suspense at the edge of your seats!!!!

So let's see what has been going on... EVERYTHING and EVERYTHING!!!!

We were invited to a go hang out with some friends at the coast this past weekend. And we had a blast!!! we went to the Aquarium and of course hit the OUTLETS... HEY!!!!! and then just pretty much hung out!!! It was nice to just hang out with the fam! And a nice little get away.

Here are some pics of our little trip!

Caiden is still doing about the same in his class.. BUT the great news is that we they are hiring a new Teacher for the kindergarten classes so each class will now be down to 13-15 kids per class instead of 32-34 kids!!! Which I am pretty thankful!!!!

Jon got a promotion at work. So he is doing the Marketing for his work now. Which has been AWESOME!!!! In short that means.. NO 24-7 phone calls!!!!! It is awesome!!! It has been like 10 years of 24-7 phone calls. So we are now moving to 'community events" which I LOVE LOVE!!!! This weekend we are headed to Albany for a Breast Cancer walk. And Next weekend we have a Alzheimer's Walk. Which is VERY near and dear to my heart, I lost my Grandma to Alzheimer's. So we will be walking in her honor.
So as a family we are looking forward to doing these things together.

Do you know that song... Make New Friends.... Make New Friends. Keep some old ones make some new.... Well that song has been going through my head lately.. with some friends of mine.. but also with Abbie. As we are settling down and she is getting older.. It has become apparent that making friends for her needs to become more of a priority for me. So this Friday we have a DOUBLE sleep over. To get the party started!!! I am looking forward to it. And I am extra excited because the mom's are giving me a "home visit" which actually makes me feel ALOT better about the kids coming over. It always AMAZES me that parents just let their kids go over to someones house that they have never met!!! Anyways... we shall see.. But I am LOVING the community here in EUGENE... and I know that we are gypsy and move all over creation.. BUT.. I will say.. EUGENE is growing on me... pretty thick!!!

Peace out Peeps!!!