Weekly Blessing catch-up - Brad's Helpfulness & Girl's Nights

I missed two Sundays of weekly blessings. So today and throughout the rest of the week I'm going to try to catch-up on this and everything else that has been going on.

I'm extremely grateful that my husband is always willing to lend a hand in whatever I'm doing. On the third of this month I had a Book of Mormon party for my Valiant 11 class. It was a good-bye party for a couple of the girls in my class. One of them had moved out of the ward earlier this year and one is moving away next month. My husband helped me clean the house, prepare meals while I prepared for the party, and he watched our children, keeping them out of the way during the party. You probably get, from reading different blog entries, that my husband's a pretty awesome guy, eh?

This invitation was inspired by my friend Mary Ann. She had a Book of Mormon party when her family finished reading the Book of Mormon. It was a fun party and a wonderful family tradition that I also plan to start in my family whenever we finish the Book of Mormon.

My class had a great time playing games & eating junk. We played a combo game of LDS pictionary, charades and sculptionary, we also played 1-100 Dice, and then the kids went on a scripture treasure hunt to find their party favors.


Another thing I am grateful for is Girls Nights Out. I have enjoyed quite a few get togethers with friends lately and I sure have needed them. My children don't quite give my mind enough stimulation each day, so it's great when I have the chance to visit with women.

I went to a headband party (which will be bogged about in my SPT) on the first of May. Then on the third I went to Kerstin's shower for her baby. Kerstin is well known for making the most amazing food, so we got these cute party favours of Kerstin's favorite recipes to take home. I'm so excited to make these! Actually, I'm more excited to eat what I make, then the making it process.

The crafty clique got together again on the seventh and we made these chunky rings. I made Seija and me matching ones.

Then on the ninth and tenth Brad took the boys to the stake Father & Sons Camp-out. Since It was just Seija and I at home we decided to have a party in the evening on the ninth! It was planned very (VERY) last minute. I invited as many of the Mothers and daughters who were left behind as I could, and we had a great time visiting, eating strawberry shortcake, and letting the kids play. Thanks for coming everyone!

I have a very bad habit of forgetting to take pictures and that night was no different. I finally remembered when it was 11pm and there was only a few of us left...

Here we are still having fun. Even more surprising is that the children were still happy and playing great at 11pm.

Sunday's Weekly Blessing - Mothers

I thought it was fitting, being Mother's Day, to have this weeks blessing on my gratitude for mothers.

My Mom & Me

I am grateful to my Mom for helping me be the person I am today. The way she lived her life, her testimony of the gospel, and all that she has taught me through the years has shaped who I am. I don't recall my Mom ever yelling at or talking down to me. She is an easygoing person. Growing up she let us kids be kids. We could get dirty, we could have pet bugs in the house, we could run around our home and make noise. I loved my childhood. Thank you Mom for a wonderful childhood. Thank you for helping me see what a mother should be. Thank you for loving Dad and showing me what a marriage should be. Thank you for your continued love, support and help. I love you!!!

My beautiful mother

I am also grateful for my mother-in-law. She has raised Brad to be a kind and gentle person. She has taught him to be hardworking. She helped him gain talents, skills and knowledge. Most importantly she has taught him to love and serve the Lord. Thank you helping Brad to be the wonderful husband and father that he is. Thank you for loving me and accepting me as a daughter. Thank you for being so supportive of us and generous to us. I love you!

Brad's beautiful mother

SPT - Something Old

The spt challenge this week is: may means *wedding month* to me. and, no, this challenge is not going to be about weddings (unless you want it to be...) this month's challenge is simply:
tuesday, may 6 something old
tuesday, may 13 something new
tuesday, may 20 something borrowed
tuesday, may 27 something blue

Lets see... Do I have anything old around my house... I do! I see a few things!... Actually I see many things. If fact everything is old. Looks like next week will be a little trickier to figure out. This week my only problem will be how much to include.

The point of this picture is for you to see our very old table. Almost all the finish has been removed over time. It is such an eye sore! So I bought all the supplies I needed to refinish our table... a year ago. Last week was yet another week of being too busy to make my old table look like new, as I was trying to plan two parties (details in a future post), finish my cards for the card swap, get Mother's Day cards out, deal with three sick children, clean up the "sick" they left on my carpet, etc, etc. I happen to have the most wonderful husband in the world. Who not only helped out with my crazy week, but also found time to do this.

Just look at it shine! I love it! My old table now looks like new.
Thank-you Brad!!!

Old Hairdo. As you can see Brad is in need of a haircut. Hopefully that needed event will occur before his sister's wedding this month. We want nice pictures! Although I have to admit his hairdo isn't quite as old as this one was (below).

This photo is a favorite of mine. I know the baby is new, but look at the contrast of the hand that's holding him. Isn't that beautiful?

Brad as a baby. Old looking face - little baby arms. He hasn't changed much but fortunatly he grew into that head of his. His body is proportioned much better now.

Adoption Update

I feel like I'm always trying to catch-up my life. I never seem to be ahead of or even on schedule. Does anyone else feel that same way? Throughout March and April my time was consumed with answering the very long adoption questionnaire (a major part of the adoption application process). These were extremely hard for me to answer because 1. they were difficult personal questions and 2. I am absolutely horrible at putting thoughts and words coherently on paper. English = worst subject and Math = best subject, you see my dilemma? I congratulate myself that one of the hardest parts is now done, but there is so much more left to do.

Next, we did FBI check. That was simple and painless.

As of last night I have also been CPR certified. Although that was fairly simple it sure wasn't painless. You would think one four hour course wouldn't be so bad, eh? Not so my friends. I woke up this morning with sore muscles all over. I am also sad to report that after giving my dummy four hours of CPR I couldn't bring him back :(

I'll be updating more on our progress with the adoption application shortly.

SPT - Fuel or Shopping Spree?

Our spt challenge this week is: your challenge this week? find your last receipt from the gas station (or if you are filling up over the weekend, make note of what you spend.) how'd you do? $35.00? $70.00? $100.00+?? what if you could take THAT amount and spend it on something for you?? to make it a little more challenging, let's just say that you can only buy ONE item, and the cost of that ONE item must be within $5.00 of what you spent at the pump.

I have between $48.10 - $58.10 to go shopping with.

My first thought in this imaginary shopping spree was to buy a new outfit. I'm sure others get sick of seeing me in the same few outfits week after week. I know I do. But (although this may surprise all females out there) I don't like shopping! It's such a hassle finding something that looks good, not only on the hanger, but on myself too, and then have that item be the right price for our low budget. The sizes drive me nuts too! How can I be a size small, medium, large and X-large in the same shopping trip? It makes no sense! Maybe one day, when money is not such an issue, I'll like shopping. Maybe.

So, because I x'ed out the clothing idea right off the bat, I had to think of something else I wanted (most of which were either way below or way above my target price range). There was one item that I have been toying about getting, but have been putting off until our next long driving trip. I would buy Chronicles of Narnia boxed set on Audio CD.

It turns out that the cost of this item is $54, which is only $.90 over the amount I paid for fuel this last weekend.

How would you spend your money, if you didn't have to pay the outrageous price of fuel?

SPT - Earth Day

Lelly's SPT challenge for this week is:
this week, go out and plant a tree. carpool. invest in a good water bottle. at the very least, take a moment and figure out your ecological footprint. if you participated last year, are you doing anything *greener* this year? if this is your first earth day spt, do you consider yourself a part of "the green generation?"

Although I don't do as much as I should, I do what I can. Year by year we are getting better at being part of "the green generation". But I still have room for improvement for next years spt :)

I Reduce:

These babies were purchased last November. Oh, how I love front load (high efficiency) washers & dryers! Saves time, saves money, saves water, saves electricity.

This was installed last summer. CPS regulates a/c usage by turning it off for 10 minutes at a time. I didn't even notice it, and it supposedly saves a "ton" of electricity.

Our "bright idea" of a year ago. These light bulbs "Save Money. Save Energy. Save the Environment." - or so I've been told :)

I Reuse:

My kind of Tupperware.

I Recycle:

Today not only is earth day, it just so happens that it's recycle pick-up day too. How convenient! It makes me feel like I've helped out a little today.

Do you have any great, inexpensive ideas that you do to help save the earth?
HAPPY EARTH DAY!!!!

Sunday's Weekly Blessing - Nature Parks

I've lived in big cities all my life. With all the hustle and bustle of the city it's nice to be able to retreat into the woodlands.

We fortunately don't have to go far to get away. I love all the nature parks and trails in and around San Antonio. We try to go hiking at least once a month in different parks around town.

This last Saturday we enjoyed a picnic and hike at Friedrich Park with some friends, Bob & Becky and their children came with us.