FF (Friday Fragments)

I am amazed all the time at the beautiful relationship my oldest son has with his younger siblings!

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I could hardly believe it as I left Target...on my way to the car, a full basket and Serena walking next to me. This lady, first cuts me off to get past me, I say "excuse me" and smile and go on my way. Well, she is now in front of me, going down the same aisle we are, to the van. She goes into an empty spot next to my van and pushes her cart in front of my van, she just happens to be parked next to me. Her car is parked the opposite way of my van, so she pops open her trunk thing, not sure what she was driving, not a car, but not an SUV....and puts her stuff in the trunk and then gets into her car and leaves her cart in front of my van! The shopping cart thing is just across from my van, I always try to park near them so I don't have to leave the cart by someone elses car....oh it just pissed me right off! So, I grab her cart and return it to the thing in hopes that she saw me doing it. I don't drive a new van, it's an '05. I take care of it by vacuuming it out and having the big kids give it a bath, but it is my van and I don't need any more scratches in it because some lady is lazy and can't walk an extra 10 feet to return her cart! oh some people! When I told my hubby this story, he asked, "Did you tell her what's up? I would have! I would have said, "look lazy Bit** you can't leave that cart there, can you get it away from my van???" Jeez, wish he was with me that day...

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I am a huge 24 fan, I just love Keifer, I think he is a great Jack Bauer...My hubby and I got my parents hooked on this show last year. Now we have something to talk about every week, I love that! Although, I think my hubby is right, eventually they will get rid of Keifer and have Freddy Prinz, Jr do his job, or do the job like him, you know use him more...kinda like when they got rid of Pierce Brosnan for James Bond....

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Have I mentioned that I love to cook? Some women I know don't like to cook, but I love it! I also like to bake, so I started a new blog Easy Peasy Recipes, and if you have a recipe you would like me to post on this blog, please, by all means send it to me, and I will post it and link back to your blog. Just make sure it is a recipe you have actually made before, that way if people have questions I can direct them to you for the answer. I love to eat, too! I am a vegetarian, but I do cook meat from time to time. I have been one for oh crap, 20 years already! Hard to believe, but it's the truth. My husband has become one, too. Due to health reasons and I must say he likes my veggie food, the chicky nuggs as I call them and the ribs in that wonderful sauce, yum!

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I am still doing laundry and keeping track of how many loads I am doing, this is my Science Experiment, remember??? :)

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American Idol, lets see, I love Ellen~ she brings a lot of new comments to the show and Crystal Bowersox is my fav girl and my fav guy is Andrew Garcia. I am happy neither one went home this week!

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I had the honor of going to a baptism this week. My sister has 4 kids (5, 2.5 and 6 month twins) and she and her husband had them all baptized! Plus, her husband got baptized. It was a wonderful event and I loved seeing my nieces in their dresses and the boys in their little white suit outfits! I respect my sister, so I can't post any pics, although I would love to!

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We had rain earlier this week and then a nice sunny day! I love nice weather, where you can get out with the kids for a spell...

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have I ever mentioned ....we have a sand box and it is bittersweet for me....while the kids are having fun playing, throwing the sand, I sit and think....oh what a mess they are making and I dread getting the sand out of their hair...

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I took my 2 older kids to Sea World when they were small, well 4 and 6...we had a great time. Just reading that one of those killer whales killed a trainer and it is not the first one, it is the third one makes me NOT want to take my children....just thinking about it makes my stomach turn, they should NOT have those killer whales in tanks, they should be in the ocean where they belong. I blame the humans not the whale...

Head on over to Mrs. 4444's for more Friday Fragments and see what others are saying!

Farmers Market

I live in a town that has a wonderful Farmer's Market every Saturday, from 8-12 rain or shine.

They have the organic fruits and veggies. They have beautiful flowers and plants. They even have honey sticks that are not certified organic, that my children love...they also have hummus and the bread and chips that go along with it, yummy! They also have a mix of crafts, sometimes they have purses and sometimes they have jewelry.

They also sell tamales, super yum! and kettle corn! :)

The first pic is of a honey stick and the second one is fruit. The bananas are not from the Farmer's Market but the apple is! I wanted you to see how huge it is!

Do you have a Farmer's Market in your town? If so, what do they sell?

Sundays In My City ~ Clouds

This is the view from my front porch. These are clouds not mountains with snow on them... It is chilly in my city today, barley in the 60's right now and it is supposed to rain today and tomorrow.

Head on over to Unknown Mami for more views around the world!

I Love Fridays! FF

Welcome to another addition of Friday Fragments. Head on over to Mrs. 4444 for more wonderful randomness!

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Serena and I have been praying together in the mornings. We went on a walk the other day and we were talking, our conversation went something like this:

Serena: Mom, I am sorry for what I said to you. I didn't mean it.

Me: That is ok, I forgive you.

Serena: Mom, do you think God will forgive me?

Me: Oh, Serena of course he will forgive you, but you need to ask him for forgiveness.

Serena: God, please forgive me for what I said to my mom, I didn't mean it! Amen!

I wish I could have recorded this conversation, it was precious and I will remember it always!

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Brandon has been sleeping in his bed, in the room he shares with Serena...but he has been waking up at 4:30 in the morning, for 3 nights/mornings in a row!?!?!?!? Why? Why? Why would he be doing this to me? Doesn't he know I need my beauty sleep???? I sure as hell don't disturb him when he is napping, he gets his 2 hour nap, so why does he insist on ruining my rest? Doesn't he know I am a better Mommy after a good nights sleep, vs being woken at 4:30???

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The weather for 3 days this week was in the upper 70's! Which means the girls wore summer dresses and the boys were in shorts. We walked to the park and played and played. It is still winter, right?? Living in Southern Cali we frequently get sunny days even in winter. I love it! The kids played outside for hours and actually drank lots of water. Now, it looks like rain is in our for cast, too bad the sun can't last forever, huh?

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I have to let you blogger friends know, I just love blogging! I want to give a shout out to my best friend over at My Little Miracles, who got my interest going on this blogging stuff! She started her blog after reading and checking out her cousin's blog. So, kudos to her too!

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I love having pics on my blog. You would think after a few years of posting, I would get the hang of it and where the pics go after you have written everything...but no! So, I wanted to add pics for today and I picked some pretty random stuff, as you can see.

The first pic is my babies enjoying a bubble bath, which doesn't happen often, but here I caught them!

The second pic is me and my babies, at my computer desk, yes this is where I sit and the magic happens, LOL!

The third pic is Brandon in the tub with bubbles on his hands. He doesn't like getting his hands dirty...LOL not very boyish, huh?

The last pic is Brandon with a bowl on his head, hahahah he did this all on his own and I just grabbed the camera.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

We have a Neighbor like WHAT?

This has been on my mind for sometime now. I am finally going to sit down and do a post on this, maybe you will laugh or something...I know I just need to get it out...

Quite a few years ago, before Serena was born and she is 4.5, we had a neighbor, Sandy* and her 3 sons. She was a single mom when she moved into our neighborhood, but soon after got married to her second husband. She was cute, kinda goofy and was very outgoing. I remember one year, I took my 2 kids and went with her and her 3 kids Christmas caroling down our street, she played a guitar. We had fun.

We also had a young couple move in across the street, (Carrie* and Tom*), I think the girl, yes, girl, was about 19 or maybe 20 (with a toddler and a newborn when they moved in...) and Sandy got pretty friendly with Tom, who wasn't over 23 I am sure....and Sandy was over 30 at the time, so you do the math. Anyways, Tom got into some legal trouble and went to jail...so Carrie had a boyfriend over to take Tom's place. So....Sandy would go to jail and visit Tom...her husband found out about this and they were headed for divorce. She took her 3 boys and moved across town and came by one day with a flier: she was having a house-warming type party and was inviting us and a few others in our neighborhood...I saw her one time at Target, shopping just before Valentine's Day...with her 3 boys, and she had a sexy bra and panty set in the cart, held them up and announced to me that she planned on having a "fun" Valentine's Day. Ewww, in front of her kids, did I mention that?!?

My husband told me after she moved out of our neighborhood....she used to come over dressed in scantily clad clothes, asking for me, when she knew I wasn't home! I drove the white car and my husband drove the red car...when you live in a neighborhood for a while you get used to what cars your neighbors drive or their spouses, right?!? So, it took all of me not to rip into her when I saw her that day at Target.

Now I know what kind of neighbor we had...and I must say, I am glad she is gone!

*Names have been changed to protect....ummm I was going to type the innocent, but that is just not true! I changed the names to be nice, ok?

Heart Shaped Cookies for V Day

we started out with a Betty Crocker Peanut Butter Cookie mix

my wonderful daughter and my heart pan

mixing, just keep mixing.....

she loves to help me cook/bake!

the peanut butter cookie dough, doesn't look very good here, but let me tell you, the outcome was awesome!

making the traditional fork marks on the cookie, before baking

oops! well here is the chocolate chip one we made, this is for the kids and it was awesome, and I made it from scratch, if you can believe it!

ok here is the peanut butter one, this one was for Daddy, and as you can see he sampled it before I took the picture, LOL so the bottom looks weird, oh well!

I got the idea for heart cookies from this blog. I was looking for something else one day and came across this blog and then saw the post for huge cookies and then remembered I had a heart pan that I bought a long time ago and decided to make these special treats for Valentine's Day!

Sorry I didn't post this sooner to maybe give you all some sort of an idea...but there is always next year right!?!

Hope you all had a nice Valentine's Day! I sure did. We went out to eat lunch and then went to the mall for a bit, it was wonderful and I enjoyed spending time with my honey.

FF (Friday Fragments) Interesting Stuff

First I have to tell you I love FF's! Just random thoughts to write about is an awesome idea!

Shout out to Mrs. 4444!


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Brandon has been sick with a cold/stomach thing/coughing/diarrhea/snotty nose....so he coughed so hard and puked all over the hall way, nice. Just what I want to do, clean up puke. But hey, I am a Mom I can handle this!


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Serena wanted a bowl of the shebert ice-cream we had, well the last of it anyways. So, her wonderful mother put it in a glass Pyrex cup, like for jell-o pudding or something....why glass, I dunno, her mother wasn't thinking straight....so Serena is done and goes to bring the glass cup to the sink (with one arm inside her shirt, no less, she said later because she was cold) and proceeded to drop it on our kitchen tile and it broke into a jillion pieces....that was a fun one to clean up! (not really...)


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I have been talking to Serena about saying prayers in the morning. A wonderful way to start her day, right? Right!


So, we pray...

"Dear God, Please let Serena be a good sister, daughter and friend today.

Please help her to be nice to her baby brother and the Ginger girl.

Please help her to not hit, yell or scream today.

In God's name, Amen!"

We have done this 3 times this week, hopefully it will begin to work for her. I was touched the other night at bedtime when she asked if we could pray in the morning together....what an awesome thing to ask!


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I recently have decided that my laundry soap, ALL, doesn't do the amount of loads it claims on the bottle, like 64 loads, yeah right! So, I am keeping track with a pen and marking on the bottle each time I do a load....so this will take some time but I will keep you all posted on what the results are.....is that weird? No don't tell me if it is, just think of it as a Science Experiment I am doing, there that sounds more normal!


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Started reading the Twilight books....I love vampires and all the stories that go along with them...I am still with in the first 100 pages and so far it has my attention. Not sure how long it will take to read, since I hardly get a chance to actually sit and read stuff, even the blogs I follow. So, if you post something it might take me a few days to read and comment...I get behind, but what else is new???? It is completely amazing that I can participate in things like this Friday Fragments and Sundays In My City, since those require you to post on a certain day....one day I will have nothing but time on my hands, then I can post all the time and read all day long, right?


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Here is Serena and Ginger Girl, notice the flower Serena is posing with? It is from a tree in our yard, it had fallen on the ground and well, Serena loves flowers!

She wanted me to take a picture of her flower. It turned out nice if I do say so myself!

Now, head on over to Half-Past Kissin' Time to read more Friday Fragments!

Arch Books ~ Bible Stories for Children

These are the wonderful Arch Books!

My mother's Pastor introduced her to them and she got the kids 8 of them for Christmas. There are about 118 books in the complete set. These are bible stories taken from the Bible and made so children can understand them and enjoy the stories.

They are $2.49 each at Concordia Publishing House, http://www.cph.org/. You can order them from here, just go to the website then Children's Books and then Arch Books.

My daughter loves her bible books! She sleeps with them in her bed and takes them when we go to the store. They are all soft-bound books and about 12 pages long. They are written in poem form so it is fun for the kids, not boring.

I just wanted to share them with you, in case you're interested in reading some bible stories to your children and not sure where to start.

I am not receiving any books for this post or money. This is my opinion on these books, nothing more!

Proud Mom!

I think these pics say it all.


Hayden received a Certificate of Academic Excellence for APEX, Science and English. He also received a Certificate of Special Recognition for Outstanding Citizenship both last Friday, February 10th! He also received 2 coupons for McDonalds, cheese burgers, which I promptly took him to get when I picked him from school.


Serena colored this wonderful masterpiece of Sleeping Beauty all by herself. I must say, she did an awesome job for a 4 year old. She loves her mom, she told me to type that! LOL


So...in a nutshell, I am a proud Mom of all my children and just wanted to share this with you!

Sundays In My City

My dog and cat...need I say more? Sunday brought wonderful weather, sun and the dog and cat playing outside....sort of...

Brought by

Super Bowl Sunday

I wanted to do a post earlier this week and it just didn't happen, what else is new? So, I was on the phone with my Mom last night and she told me there was a real good article in the Acorn, (our little paper that is free and comes every Friday) about Scott Fujita and if I have time I should read it.

For those of you who don't know who Scott Fujita is let me tell you: He was our neighbor when I was a kid, my sister used to babysit him and his brother from time to time. He is now a linebacker for the New Orleans Saints! How exciting is that???!?! I know/knew someone famous! LOL

This article is good and I wanted to share some of it with you:

"Fujita has become a key player in the Saint's defense, as well as being named Man of the Year 2009 in recognition of his charitable work."

"The Saints named Fujita the team's Man of the Year in 2009 for his ongoing work with a number of charitable organizations, including his involvement with the Adoption Services of Catholic Charities of New Orleans, Crimestoppers of New Orleans and the Susan G Komen Foundation, a charity established to research breast cancer."

"He began his NFL career with the Kansas City Chiefs in 2002 and spent three years there, with a year in Dallas in 2005, before coming to New Orleans in 2006"

Now you can see why I wanted to share this with you! I am proud to have known this man and I hope he does well today in his game!

I took parts of the article from The Acorn, article by Jeffrey Dransfeldt

FF (Friday Fragments)

I really hate it when the kids are sick, not to mention the ones I babysit. I just hate to see children feel poor...my Ginger Boy had some ear wax earlier this week, so I told Ginger Mom and he went to the Doc and was told it was residual from the last DOUBLE EAR INFECTION....not to worry but since then has been diagnosed yet again with a DOUBLE EAR INFECTION....Poor little dude, I pray he gets better and soon.

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I only go to the dentist 2 times a year, I floss and call it good. So, this week (I have been having pain in one tooth when I eat, floss and bite down) I go to the dentist to find out I have a cracked tooth! How on earth did this happen??? I was floored. I thought it was just the older-then-dirt filling in there that was coming out....Nope a cracked tooth and I need a crown! Aren't I too young for a crown? Although Serena would think it's cool, Mommy needs a crown!

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I love it that Brandon is saying more and more sentences. Since he is already 2.5, today I might add, I keep thinking he should be saying more then..."No I do not" or "No I am not" or "No I didn't poop"....I get it kid what you are clearly not wanting to do or not going to do....but can you tell me what you want to do???

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My husband has become a vegetarian due to some major health issues....good for him, be healthy don't eat any more animals, I totally support that, since I am a veg head, too! But, man now I have to share all my Chicky Nuggs and Ribs (that are so yummy and just the right amount of spice) and I hate to share! It is bad enough I have to share the Chicky Nuggs with Serena and Brandon....so now I just have to buy MORE when I go to the store!

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Love it when my daughter says, "I have to tell you something." I say, "What?" She says, "I love you!" Complete Bliss!


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I had to add this: I really am having a hard time with some 2.5 yr old getting into things he shouldn't....like the vinegar stuff I use to clean, he shot it all over Ginger Boy's hair and the kitchen floor one day....I slipped and fell on my butt trying to get him. He also got into the flea and tick spray and sprayed it all over the inside of the cabinet and my kitchen floor. I didn't fall this time. He also got the antibacterial soap and tried cleaning the toilet, ummm and the bathroom floor! I need some locks for my stuff and quick!

Now head on over to Half-Past Kissin' Time for more Friday Fragments!

My Friends's Blog Give Away

I recently won a Star Bucks Gift, click here to read that story. I also entered to win a Target Gift Card of 500 bucks, did not win that, so...

I am doing this post so I can get more entries on a give away on my friends blog. If you click here you can see her blog and enter it too!

The gift she is giving away is this cute White Daisy Dip and Chip Dish....way cute and would look great in my house! So, please be a supporter, go and check it out!

I hope I win!

Attention: All Disney Princesses!

Learning the "Princess Wave"

Lorelei, Faith and Serena

Serena doing her "wave"

The Princesses after the "Princess Party" at the Disney Store in the outlet mall.

The girls got dressed up in their favorite dresses and joined about a dozen other girls around the same age to learn how to wave, drink tea and walk like a real Princess! It was so much fun for the girls and us mom's, well we shopped a bit! If you want to see more pics of these girls go here.

I think I will do this again with Serena, it was fun for her to play dress up and have an afternoon to pretend. Wish I were a kid again...