40 things

A few weeks ago, a friend gave me 12 things I had to write about me, on FB. I had this post already started. Though more than 12 things.... It should work.. Eh.....

1) Hate wooden utensils or pop cycle stick.... nails on chalk board! UGH! I eat my frozen treats until there is barely enough covering the stick, then either throw it away or give it to Nick, before my mouth touches the stick!

2) Hate paper straws, though cute... They taste like paper! ICK! and kinda like the stick thing...

3) Love stripes! Shirts blankets nails... LOVE

4) Hate 'juicy ears'. Yeah its what I call it. Sometimes when I have slept on one side of my head the ear wax or something is a little watery, I HATE it!

5) Qtips when cleaning my ears I typically lock the door, so no one will accidentally bump me. Seriously scared of an earthquake while doing so as well. AHHHH

6) Love birds of prey. The turkey vultures that fly over my home are majestic. I also think I could be a bird watcher. I think it would be cool!!!

7) My favorite animal is an octopus and a Jelly Fish. Oh their beauty! An octopus is smart, and just so cool!

8) Robots are awesome. 

9) Swallows are a favorite. They are so pretty. I love watching them fly as well. 

12) I love lotr, Star Wars, the hobbit. I've seen shooter, pirates and little mermaid a million times. 

13) I have nigh night movies, Yeaaaah When Nick is out of town, there are a few movies that calm me and I can watch over and over!Put me to sleep...

14) I've always wanted to be a runner, and still hope to be one day. Nothing stopping me, but me!

15) Snow White is my favorite princess, shes so pretty and sweet! Ariel rocks it too, her attitude to life is fun and adventurous!!! I wrote an essay on Ariel once.(now that I have kids, she is not a very good listener....)

16) I used to have a 1968 dodge dart. I LOVED that car. Someone crashed into it while I was driving to church with my siblings and a 2 year old I was babysitting, totaled. Can't wait to own a classic again one day!!!

17) In high school I was called smurfette. Blue hair...

18) Pink is my favorite color. I also love leopard and glitter. 

20) I have a fear of my hubster dying, Ive cried thinking about it.

21) Minnie Mouse is adorable. 

22) Ive always loved polka dots!!

23) I LOVE cold drink tumblers!

24) I also love plastic straws! I have a ton of reusable ones! LOVE!

25) I was born a blond.. under all this color Im a dirty blond

26) Im working on having a plant based diet.

27) I watch veggie documentaries and they talk about the abuse of animals, and how they are killed inhumanly... Which I agree is terrible.... BUT all I can think about is all the babies being murdered by abortion.....

28) Gnomes are great! I have an awesome one in my yard, I want more!!!I LOVED the show 'David the Gnome' as a kid

29) I love coloring my hair.

30) Since getting married in 2003, Nick and I have lived in 7 places! Moving 6 times together! Errr YIKES!

31) Im a licensed cosmetologist.

32) I wanna learn to swing dance! I have since Jr High... Never really learned, though Ive been on the dance floor a couple times.

33) I miscarried our first babe in September of 2005

34) Im a leap year baby. Ive only had 7 birthDAYs.

35) I celebrate Feb 28th, I was born in Feb, not March.

36) My hubby was my first kiss, on our wedding day.

37) I have dreams of moving out of state, Seattle, Portland, & Denver are at the top of that list.

38) Im pretty shy, I shut down easily..

39) BUT Once Im comfortable, Im good.

40) I LOVE and adore cardigans. Ive got a closet full...

Living and Active

Im sitting here munching on chips n salsa. Hubby laying on the floor snoozing away. All four kids sound asleep, its 12:08 am.... I. SHOULD. BE. SNOOZING!!!! but no.. Im here, blogging. scrolling though facebook earlier today I saw an update, I dont remember through who, or what. It stood out to me. It focused on 3 main things, feeding yourself spiritually, eating healthier and exercise.... Only 5 weeks.. I can do that!

Learn more by clicking here ^^

See I have a goal. I want to reach it or come close by my 30th birthday. Thats just short of 6 months away. Its achievable. I just have to stick to it. We have already changed our diets. WAY healthier eating going on here... I just slide into chips and salsa late at night... not good.

So this challenge. Im doing it.. It starts Monday, and Im kinda stoked!!

Now off to bed.

Luke

August 5th. A day that will never be forgotten by this precious family. Taking their two year old into urgent care for a fever that just wouldnt break. To then be sent to CHOC with concerns of Leukemia.

Then he was not only diagnosed with Leukemia, but diagnosed with AML, a terrible rare case.



(Follow his journey HERE)

TWO, this amazing vibrant little guy is ONLY TWO!

He can put a smile on anyones face, its seriously contagious! He is a sweet heart, with lots of love!
He has knocked over my girls with a bear hug! He has more energy and spunk than any two year old!

His parents are amazing loving people. His mom is my mentor in my homeschool group (couldnt ask for a better one) His dad a firefighter, both so incredibly loving and welcoming! Always smiling always happy to see you.

His big brother, oh Jer. He cracks me up. Same grade as my eldest, going through life together. A soccer player and a lover of being active! He is friends with everyone and anyone, just like his brother!

He is also expecting a brother or a sister (my guess is sister, now its in stone!) this spring.

This family loves Jesus, and are stronger than I could ever imagine. My heart breaks for them, sincerely just crushed. I can not even begin to imagine what they are going though.

October I am walking, walking to raise money. Walking to show is family that they have support and love from us! Will you join me in donating to my walk! Or join to walk yourself!!! Its gonna be loads of fun! Click the link below

CHOC Walk in the Park!

Friday Favorite

This is my Friday Favorite, well everyday. This is by far my favorite thing after I give birth, my heart just about explodes, there is something about the daddy/child moment.

Anberlyn

Emersyn

Penelope

Gunnar

Our weight loss...err lifestyle change

A year and a half ago I joined a weight-loss challenge, I lost 27 pounds and was sooooo stoked.
I was doing weightloss shakes, which were so tasty and worked.
They were also pricey and I couldnt keep it up. So the weight came back...

A few weeks ago hubby and I watched 2 documentaries, so much info, and so helpful. That paired with a friend who has a passion for GOOD, REAL food, we decided to change. To change our lifestyle, in hopes to change our lives for the better, forever!

We are 3 weeks in, Ive lost 1.1 pounds shy of 10 pounds! WHY? Cuz we are eating REAL food!!!

We gave up meat, CRAZY! We are not against eating meat, and we might eat it if we are out and about, at a friends for dinner, or something along those lines, but trying to avoid it. If you know me, you know I LOVE meat, I especially LOVE cow! haha so far I havent craved it or even really wanted it.

We eat LOTS and LOTS of organic fruits and veggies, with the money we are saving from meat! We hit up sprouts weekly, and will start hitting up mothers market, as thats all they sell, Organic or farm fresh! ( we havent been able to make it out to our local farmers market yet, we keep forgetting.) I desperately want to join a CSA type program, hopefully soon.

Packaged food is so easy and we have it, but if we cant read all the ingredients we try to avoid it.

My breakfast is Oatmeal, and soon switching over to steel cut oats. I like my oatmeal BARELY cooked, not mushy. I add a tablespoon of Chia seeds, and or a tablespoon or Qia (LOVE Qia) and I 'sweeten' it with sweetened vanilla almond milk.

Lunch has been quinoa with veggies and nuts or BIG salads, with lots and lots of veggies and sunflower seed, chia seeds. Dinner looks similar.

Dessert, yup, Chia pudding with sweetened vanilla almond milk, and berries.

Sweetened vanilla milk is one of my down falls, I use it to sweeten my coffee, oatmeal, chai tea, chia puddin... For other milk things, like cereal, we use unsweetened almond milk, from traders or sprouts.

Ive given up dairy all together, as I think Gunnar has a sensitivity towards it.

Nick and I ate at a vegetarian,  restaurant recently and it was DELICIOUS!

I will also say how much I LOVE blended coffee drinks and have been just having one no more than once a week and I get the smallest they have. Its my treat, and keeps me sane! :o) Other than that I get iced tea.

I read once, and I dont remember where, weight loss is 80% what you eat and 20% what you do.

5, 3, 2, and 2 months

In attempt to stall me, as they were taking a short while, the barista at the starbucks drive thru made small talk.

B- 'So are you on your way home from work?'
Me- 'No Im a stay at home mommy.'
B- 'Oh, how many kids do you have?'
Me- ' Just 4' (I say this for kicks and giggles.. JUST... HA... though I dont think 4 is a lot many people do)
B- eyes big, turns around and walks away to check on my drink, comes back. 'So how old are they'
Me-'5, 3, 2 and 2 months'
B- eyes almost popping out of his head, 'Wow, so this is your break, did you say 2 month old? Where are you off to, for your break?'
Me-' Yup 2 months' points to the back where little mister is stiring. ' Im on my way to a home school meeting.'
B-' oh like PTA or something, NO, you said homeschool.'
Me- 'I know you think Im a nut ball'
B-'No I think its great, your kids get to have you all the time, and your always with them, thats wonderful, they are lucky.'
Me- 'Yes I think so too!!!'
He then handed me my drink and I pulled away.

I found it so odd, that he went from baffled at the amount of kids I had to amazed, in a good way, that I home school. His whole demeanor changed.

Maybe he didnt have a mom who was around a lot. Maybe she didnt care about what he did. He may be aching. He may want and desire that love and attention from his mom. There are so many kids/ teens/ adults who desire that.

So many people see school as almost a day care, a break away from the kids. Trust me when I say, I see the appeal in having a few hours to myself. I just dont see the appeal in giving my children over to strangers, and a few hundred students to raise them for me. I understand that people feel that homeschooling isnt for everyone, and that very well may be true.

For my family, and our right now.. It is...

I may not have degrees in teaching, but I have a love for my children more than you can imagine. Homeschooling isnt what so many people think it is. There are SOOOO many resources, so many things to do to get your kids the proper education. Im excited to be in this journey with my family. Im excited to have an AMAZING support group. The next few (20+) years are not going to be easy, but Im willing to walk that road and learn.

**If you have chosen to send your little to public school, no judgement from me, its a choice you made with your spouse and heavenly father..

I hope to blog weekly about our activities and fun we are having!

Friday Favorites

Ive been wanting to blog again. More constantly... I have a few half written blogs.. Stuff Im afraid to post, or my thoughts are just to mumble jumbled to post...

So lets start simple. I have a lot of favorite things, and new favorite things all the time. I always wanna share.

My favorite thing this week is the 'Wubbanub'. My first 3 kids didn't care for the pacifier. My eldest found her fingers and the other 2 didn't suck on anything. This little man of mine, LOVES to suck. He is most definitely a comfort sucker to the T. The thing wouldnt stay in his mouth... I searched for a solution, and found this cute lil guy. It rests on Gunnars tummy and it helps support the pacifier in his mouth, so far the thing is GREAT! Its come out a couple time, nothings perfect, but with this the paci has stayed in 85% longer..Its great!!!

hugs

Dino power

Have you used one on your little?

We bought ours on Amazon.com

Until Next weeks Friday Favorite.

A mumble, a cheesy, 10 and counting

10 years 6 months 3 days ago, I made the BIGGEST decision of my life. I told Mister Nicolas I would be his girlfriend. I knew that day, Christmas day 2002, that by saying I would be his girlfriend that I was saying I would be his wife. He didnt know that... yet!

3 months later I said, YES I will marry you,
3 months after that, exactly 10 years ago today, I said I DO!

I was head over heels in love with this guy, the guy who can get his own cherries, within days of becoming his girlfriend. I was scared.

My first kiss. My best friend. My love.

Six moves, four kids later!

I still love him, more than I did on day one!

He puts up with my craziness! Im a nut! Im strange! He loves me, for me!

I dont get it, I dont get why! He does!

God chose him for me, and boy oh boy HE couldnt have done a better job!
We youngins getting married, at only barely 19, there were soooo many doubts, here we are! 10 years later, and not a regret in sight!

Thank you Mister Man for standing beside me, for loving me, for supporting me. Thank you for loving the four children we have made together. Thank you for working so hard for us. Thank you for loving Jesus. Thank you for being my best friend. Thank you for everything you do. You the hardest working man I know.Lets travel in time a bit, so not in order of anything...:

Then

 

Now

Our Song, walked back up the isle to it:

Thor

I woke up on Friday morning at 3:30am with a strong contraction, then nothing... Nothing at all.. I finally fell back to sleep at about 6:30am.. Then at about 9am I woke up for the day. Nick was an hour away on a job site. I was SORE. My back was killing me, my lower abdomen was killing me, felt like I was on my girly time of the month. It hurt.. I texted Nick and told him to be ready that I might be asking him to come home.

About an hour an a half ish later contractions started. They were coming every 3-5 minutes and lasting 30-60 seconds long. I was consulting with a few friends, I was freaking out.... I called Nick bawling. I told him he needed to come home. He jumped in his car and came. I didnt want to be alone. It took him 45 minutes. He sat with me, we finished packing our overnight bags. Nick went and picked up my wonderful friend and two of her kids to watch my kids. We then left for the hospital. Contractions still consistent, I was 36 weeks 1 day along in my pregnancy. I wasnt ready for this, I knew it was a possibility, but so not ready. I cried, I cried a lot. I wasnt ready....

The night before I was at another friends house, as I left I had told her, this might be my last night out without a kid in my arms, we laughed.... HA

Upon arriving at the hospital, I changed into a gown, I got hooked up and they checked me. I wasnt dilated AT ALL, but the contractions were consistent, and strong. They had me walk the halls to see if anything would change... Nothing did... The nurse gave me a sandwich, you see through this pregnancy I had gestational diabetes, and I hadnt eaten since I woke up, it was now 2-2:30 at this point, and you need to eat every 3 hours.. I ate the sammie, got back into the hospital bed, and she checked me again, still NOTHING. They had me pee in a cup to see if I had a bladder infection, if that may be causing the contractions.

Back into the bed I went as we waited for the results..

Then it happened, the coolest, weirdest, strangest, really awesome, thing happened. I heard and felt a pop. then GUSH, my water broke. I was freaking out. It was the first time it happened on its own. I looked at Nick and said, "I think my water just broke!" I pressed the call button, the nurse came in and I told her. She looked, and boy oh boy, it was happening. She said she was about to come in and send me home. She checked me... Still NOTHING! haha... When your water breaks, everytime the baby moves, or you have a contraction... water gushes out. Its warm, its kinda gross. All the water was about out of me, I wasnt progressing and little misters heart rate was dropping with every contraction, so they inserted a tube to pump water into me, to keep him comfortable... Which ended up making more of a mess... ha

We let me just progress on my own for a few hours, and by progress I mean, nothing really happened. The dr gave me a low dosage of pitocin. I finally got to 5 centimeters, and the contractions, MAN THEY WERE KILLING ME! Ive had pitocin before with no epidural, it didnt bother me so much, but those times my water wasnt broken. Im thinking my water being broken, and the pit, I couldnt handle it. I was in so much pain, flopping around like a fish out of water pain. I finally gave in after I wasnt progressing, I got the epidural, and about 45 minutes later I felt the urge to push, the nurse checked me, I was at an 8.... I texted my friend who was gonna take photos of the birth, she lives about 10 minutes from the hospital, I told the nurse again, no really I wanna push, she checked me again, it was about 1 minute after checking, and I was at a 10. I texted my friend again saying I was at a 10.... HA.... The nurses and drs were running around getting things ready... I had told the nurse that with my last I barely pushed and she was out. So they werent gonna do a test push this time.

They were set up, the Dr was ready, they couldnt see my contractions on the monitor... so they were trying to hook it up and look for them, I said, well I feel like I should push... they said go ahead and try. I took a breath and I pushed, I pushed hard, I leaned into that one push and he was out... Alaina, my friend taking pictures, wasnt there, she stepped into the room about 3 minutes later. I got to hold my little man, then they swept him away. They weighed him, measured him and checked his blood sugar level, remember when I said that I had gestational diabetes, well, my body was regulated his blood, and now that he was out, his levels could drop low... They did.. so I had to feed him, and check him every few hours to see how they were doing. My gestational diabetes, as far as we can tell by my levels is gone. I will be tested again in September.
My heart hurts and misses him in my tummy, he came to soon, this was most likely my last pregnancy.... :o(

Hospital Stay.... To be continued, until then,

Gunnar Thornton
Born 6-7-2013
5lbs 2oz
18.25 inches long

Photos taken by my sweet friend Alaina, she got some amazing first moments of Gunnars life:

Simply Sweet Moments

ALSO, come to find out, Gunnars name, is a family name! My great uncles name is Guntar, a form of Gunnar! WOOT, it made me so happy!!!!

ALSO, ALSO... Who wants to buy me THIS or THIS with THIS ???

Song I sang to little mister throughout the pregnancy:

Baby Shower- THOR

 Ive heard the term baby boom a few times this year, and I agree 110% Just about EVERYONE I know is expecting, or knows 12 people expecting. A few of us are due within a few days to a few weeks of one another.
So when I found out I was having a little MISTER, I was stoked, but then thought, oh, that means with so many preggo friends, that I would most likely not get a shower. SO I went into party planning mode. I was gonna do it. I wanted to celebrate my boy! I have nothing in that department, girl clothing GALORE, boy... yeah not so much!!!
The morning of the shower I was calm as a clam. Just set everything up. I took my time eating breakfast, then I realized, Ive made none of the food, CRAP the cup cakes arent made, tables not set up, NICK, GO. TO. COSTCO!!! A friend came early to help set up, oh go hang the pin wheels in the tree.... WAIT, I NEVER FINISHED THEM! CRUD MUFFINS!  Here's some scissors and paper, oh and the string... Its like 95 degrees outside....Its an outdoor shower.....AHHHHHHHHHHH its 10:40 guests arrive at 11.... Im not showered, I smell like booty..... I was panicked.. My mom showed up at about 10. She is a go go go go go type person. I jumped in the shower, I got ready. I came out, guests were there, shower was set up!
With the rush of things, photos didnt REALLY get taken... Here is what I have:

BLESSED beyond words!

Little converse! Silly faces!

Coconut cupcakes, we also had lemon bars and brownies!

Party favors

Drink table.. should moved the box..

What was left of lunch. Sammies, pasta salad, cranberry salad

My mom and sis in law

BIG, preggo lady in front of two TINY ladies... not a good idea!

One of 7 fun pin wheels

ERRRP

Still so excited....

BIG Petunia Bag

My MAN and I, bunting says Gunnar

32 weeks

Game, figure out little misters name

Thank you friends who helped, who gifted, and just loved on me and my family! I greatly appreciate it! And all the family and friends who sent gifts even though they couldnt make the shower, THANK YOU!