top ten of '10

10. eclipse... the proposal, the meadow, the proposal, sigh




9. the deluxe keurig



8. my little princess continuing to prefer me over all else. she's still my baby sidekick, at least for one more year!



7. a much anticipated, long awaited vacation!



6. a year of being debt free~

5. sweet baby pearl's birth!



4. career stability in unstable times

3. a year of (mostly) health

2. not getting pregnant!!!



1. happiness, joy, peace and blessing in our family!




happy 2011 to you and yours!

merry christmas from theMrs!

merry christmas from our family to yours! spend it seeing what you have instead of what you don't... focusing on what you can give and not what you receive... loving those who are here and not dwelling on those who are not... and thankful for a tiny baby who came to save us all!

happy holidays?

two days? TWO DAYS?? it all started last thursday.... just your typical thursday. take care of kids, take care of husband, go to bed, wake to kid throwing up.... yep. it's here. christmas? no, the stomach flu. each day a new member gets it. dragging it out as long as humanly possible. nearly every bed has now been vomited in. carpets, sheets, tile, pj's, it's all soiled. i have a pile of laundry you wouldn't believe... the house is trashed... there's cooking and wrapping to do... and still more puking. i want to have a pity party... when will it end? why us? but i have to remember, we are all here this christmas. alive, breathing, together, loving. we have friends and family and each other and are blessed. sickness is a bump in the road. a small one at that. we'll just keep pouring the cups of 7up and it will be over before i know it. merry christmas to you :)

ode to sick kids...

i know it's not flashback friday anymore, but this old post from 2008 (unfortunately) is totally appropriate again this year :( have a laugh... it's better than cleaning up puke~

twas the week before Christmas,
when all through the house
children were vomiting out of their mouths.
Papaw was at his job,
while i hold the fort
these are the days it'd be easier to work.
fevers keep climbing
children are whining
haven't eaten all day there's no time for dining.
sheets in the washer,
cartoons all day,
who'd have thought i could miss all that rambunctious play.
one silver lining
there has to be one
with seven days until Christmas we soon shall be done.

flashback friday...

it seems appropriate to revisit the top ten of 2009 as 2010 nears an end.... happy flashback friday...8 days till christmas!!

the best and the worst... here we go!

top 10 worst things of 09

10. gaining 50 lbs... again. why can't i be one of those cute little preggo women who complain about the additional 25 lbs they are carrying?

9. the cars broken into... again. we should be used to it by now i suppose. but we did get a AAA membership for christmas! so at least next time we won't have to pay for the window!

8. illness, illness and more illness. if it's contagious, we've had it. but praise the Lord we escaped the swine flu!

7. the loss of childhood icons. my kids growing up in a world without micheal jackson? crazy..

6. another year spent with a family of seven in a two bedroom house. but in this economy, i am thankful for a roof over our heads.

5. a cancelled vacation... again. although if i'm gonna miss vacation, i'm glad it's for a baby!

4. i'm not gonna comment on our political situation. let's just say it's not on my best list.

3. seeing some of my family members struggle with things so much bigger than they are. my prayer is that 2010's list will have a praise of seeing victory and breakthrough in those areas.

2. losing hannah in the spring. her life touched ours in so many ways. she will never be forgotten.

1. losing both of my grandmothers this summer. going through those losses, three months apart, while pregnant was tough. in some way's i'm glad this long year is over!

Top 10 ten BEST things of 09!

10. another year of God providing the resources for our children to attend a wonderful christian school. that school continues to bless our family in many, many ways!

9. 2009 will forever go down in the books as the year we discovered twilight. ahhh... where was my life before edward cullen? thank you stephenie meyer!

8. another year of theMr having this wonderful career. in an economy that is shaky, at best, we are blessed that he has the job he has and he loves it.

7. a year of overall health. we may have shared every little virus to run through the school but in a world of cancers, surgeries and worse... we are thankful for health.

6. the wonderful christmas news that we will have a new niece or nephew this coming year!! i love new babies! especially when i'm not the one who has to be pregnant :)

5. another year of the basics, that we often take for granted... food, clothing, housing, utilities, cars that run, insurance and health.

4. celebrating our ninth year of marriage, our twelfth year together. as many around us divorce, i am so thankful that our marriage is strong. i couldn't make it through this life alone.

3. five kids who are healthy, strong, smart, funny and wonderful! i didn't know one family could hold so much blessing~

2.the addition of our favorite little person, miss esme! she's the best surprise i've had in a long time :) who knew our family was not yet complete?

1. last, but certainly not least, if i've learned one thing this year it is how short life can be. in the blink of an eye everything can change. i am thankful to end 2009 with each member of my family healthy and happy. without them none of the rest would matter.

Happy New Year from our family to yours!!

why i blog...

i had someone ask me recently what made me decide to start a blog. there are multiple reasons, many of which i've told you before. however, i realized that the core reason i've never really shared. let me take you back to 2000. i'm a new mom and a new wife and a college student and trying to keep all the balls in the air. i started attending a women's ministry thing at my church. i thought it would be great to make some friends who also had children since none of my current friends were anywhere near that stage. so i attend this event. i'm looking around at all this well dressed, fabulous, thin women. they have houses full of children and they make their bread from scratch and their children never get snotty noses and they meet their husband at the door in an apron and heels... ok that's probably not true but that's how i perceived it. they were perfect. i, on the other hand, had no idea what i was doing. now had i taken a few minutes to actually talk to these women i would have quickly discovered these notions were not true. but i could only see them through the haze of my own insecurities. so i felt inadequate and as if i didn't belong there and i shut down, because that's what i used to do. i spent those first few years of motherhood with very few friends and even fewer people that i really let in. for fear that if people saw who i really was, they'd be appalled. they'd think i was a bad mother or a terrible wife or an incompetent social worker or whatever. as i progressed to my mid-20's and started to grow up more and learn more about myself i discovered something: we're all in the same boat. our boat may be bigger or smaller, red as opposed to blue or have less children in it... but underneath it all we're moms. we want the absolute best for our children. we cry when they hurt. we think they are the funniest and the smartest and the cutest and we're just sure everyone else is wrong in thinking that about their kids :) if there has been one underlying desire in my life in the last eight years it has been to help women feel good about who they are. not just ok but good. to love their own skin. to feel strong about the kind of woman they are, no matter how different or the same. to support each other in our differences. to be able to look one another in the eye and say "that's not how i do things but i like you anyway!" to walk into a room full of women and not feel fat or uneducated or weird or less than. to know that what i have to offer is me. and that's alot to offer. so that's why i blog. not that you asked :)

things Zaza is thankful for...

i've been meaning to share this for a few weeks but just haven't gotten around to it. i literally laughed so hard tears ran down my face when i saw it! my precocious second grade son was assigned in lass to write down things he's thankful for. obviously the teacher didn't specify how many he should come up with... or they had alot of time to finish the assignment! either way, he had quite a few! here they are... typed exactly as he wrote them :)

fammly
friends
free conchrey (country:)
food
erth
stuf
selebrasins (celebrations)
trees
anmils
sea
land
people
arr (air)
sun
granmother
granfother
me
toys
holadays
Jesus
God
contnets (continents)
watter
liquid
stars
school
Bible
teachers
paper
cristens
love
ten condments (commandments!)
mishenaries
games
moon
plastic
hair
clothing
books
coats
brets(barrettes, when i asked him why he said "mom, lots of girls really need them!")
shoos
underpants (i asked about this one too. he replied that if your pants fall down you still have underpants on. well, duh!)
ECA (his school:)
eyes
ears
planets
viecles (vehicles)
lights
seasons
evrything
library
places
bilders
robots
boxes
desks
chairs
david
john
me (again:)
munts (months)
names
mosis
words
stickers
paper
trees
oil
bildings
Christ
towns
frute of the spriet (fruit of the spirit)
chaple
video
winter
mars
pluto
sticky tack
nails
underware
shows
lunch
faces
jello
buttons
hot wheels
coocoos (coo coo clocks)
coocees (cookies)
milk
cherros (cheerios)
choclet milk
pinet butter
corn
chex
cows
punkins
hats
jelly
colors

the post where i talk about how tired i am and how great my husband is...

i think i've mentioned before that i'm constantly tired... right? have i? well if not, i am. if i hadn't had mono before and been told you can only have it once i'd think i had it again. if i didn't know that i am for sure not pregnant i may even be afraid of that. i'm that tired. it may have something to do with my sweet baby who's teething and crying all night. it may be the fact that these people i live with run through this house every day like tiny tornadoes and i am constantly cleaning up after them. maybe i'm just old. eh...

anyway, that's enough of that! as you can imagine, this time of year can be a bit stressful for those of who are, how do i say it... financially challenged! finding ways to pay the bills is hard enough throughout the year but add christmas and it becomes downright crazy. so for the last several weeks, my dear husband has been working in the mornings, before his regular job, with his uncle to earn extra cash for the holidays. that's 16 hour days, if you were wondering. this is nothing uncommon in our household. he's just a hard worker. he's always been a hard worker. but i just need to state how thankful for him i am! of course the money is nice, but more than that is the fact that he does so much for our family. like doing laundry when i'm too tired. or fixing the plumbing this past sunday when i'm sure he would have much rather been relaxing. or rubbing my back at night even though his must hurt more. he's a keeper. that's for sure. if i wasn't so tired i'd tell him more often :)

christmas top ten

ugh... i'm a total blogging slacker lately... so many things to do.. so little time. i come up with these great ideas, then i can't bring myself to get off the couch and write it! just another reason why i need a mini notebook :) (hint*hint) anywho, it's been awhile since we've had a top ten. what to write... what to write... top ten reasons i never change out of sweatpants? top ten reasons one of these kids will not live to see their father come home from work? top ten ways to know you should stop blogging because people will begin to think you really do beat your children? nah... how about this;

top ten things i could really use for christmas!

10. a consistent eight hours of sleep. every night. not just occasionally.

9. free therapy

8. for my children to spend more than four minutes together without arguing.

7. a house that does not constantly have leaks, drywall falling down, etc

6. a vacation

5. a first shift job for my husband

4. a bullhorn for the top of my car so i can tell these other drivers what they are doing wrong.

3. a large inheritance that does not require the death of someone dear to me.

2. plastic surgery

1. to be reminded daily that my home is warm and safe, my children are healthy and perfect, my husband is hardworking and loving and i really do have it all.

what do you want?

ff

no flashback friday this week... have a raging migraine and four kids under four.... till next week :(

winter has arrived...

eventually i'll put up the many, many pictures from the last few weeks! the little guy's birthday...thanksgiving... holiday in the city... etc! the computer is running super slow so i haven't edited anything :( it's snowing here today! would be really sweet if not for the fact that i have to be out all evening with the kids. during naptime today i had tons to do... laundry, cleaning, my homework for Bible study on friday.. instead i slept for two hours! so the kids are home and the house is still a mess and i don't care. i feel so much better! the mess will still be here tomorrow, right?