My Birthday...Kinda

All I can say is that I got a spiffy NEW RED camera for my birthday. Unfortunately, my birthday falls right before National Unplugged Week...or TV Free Week. My family and I are participating in this, so I shouldn't even be blogging this! I just wanted to let you all know that I'll be back next Monday morning with all new great pictures and blogs. Other than that, my birthday was great! Got some great things, and gift cards, and stuff that's going to "wash that gray right out of my hair." :) Take care!

Happy Birthday Maria!!!!!

In keeping with the new tradition, here is a birthday wish to my sister, Maria. Her birthday is today, April 12th. We were born 3 years and 4 days apart. We celebrated our birthdays together for many, many years growing up. Here are my wishes for her.

I wish Maria gratitude for all she does for the boys and 1 girl in her life. Her thankless hours upon hours of taking care of everyone. I want her to know that I think she does an awesome job!

I wish her peace like my other sister. Peace in her life to rest and slow down and enjoy when needed.

I wish her confidence. She double and triple thinks things (we have that in common). I wish she knew that she is a wonderful mother.

I wish her trust in herself. Same as the confidence one.

I wish her happiness. Everyone deserves this, but I have a special wish for my sisters and this. It comes from knowing them so well.

I wish her a geographical move. :) This one is a bit selfish because I always thought we would buy homes next door to one another and raise our kids together. If she could move at least to the same country or vice versa, that would be nice.

I wish her faith. I think my sister hears the call to her faith, but just can't get there in this phase in her life. I hope it happens soon and believe with all my heart that it will. Until then and even after, she's always in my prayers.

Happy Birthday, Maria. Those things that you hear about younger siblings looking up to older ones and wanting nothing more than to be like them...well, that's always been how I felt. I love you!

Kaelyn

Here are some happenings in Kaelyn's life this past week.

On Friday she finally got her learner's permit. This was the third time we tried to get it. First, I forgot me and Kevin's marriage certificate, so they told her to come back with Kevin because there's proof he's her dad and not that I'm her mom. Weird. Second time her name on her social still had my maiden name, so Kevin took her to the SS office to get it changed. This third time everything was fine. Besides the fact that she almost didn't pass the vision test (she had put new contacts in and "her eyes weren't adjusted to them yet"), she passed the computer test.

On Saturday she went to Jared's house. She's been looking for a prom dress and I joked that there was no invite yet. Jared took her out on his front porch in the pitch black on Saturday night. He covered her eyes, flicked a switch, and there on his front lawn was PROM written in red Christmas lights. Say it with me, "AAAwwwwwww!" She said yes and Kaelyn tried to get pictures of it.

On Sunday we had a bit of a problem with the van, so we missed Church. We came home and tried to fix the van and watched "Tangled." It was pretty good for what I saw of it. I only missed a couple of parts. I hadn't gotten much sleep last night, so at nap time, I put Logan on the Wii and Kevin took Kaelyn and Rory out driving. Yes, you read that right, driving. Kaelyn is learning on the stick shift first at my insistence. I think everyone should start on manuals but that's just me. I tried to nap a little while they were gone, but that didn't happen. I was changing Marley when I looked out front and pulling up was Kaelyn in the Mazda....driving. I can't describe to you what I felt. It was fear, awe, pride, fear, love, fear...you get the point.

Kevin says she's doing pretty well for just learning. He let her drive home from Safeway. I let her take me over to Walmart tonight because I needed a nightlight bulb. It was an experience, but she's getting there. She says she likes driving with Kevin more. That's fine with me! I think I like it better too. :) I can't believe it. Tomorrow we get to add her to the car insurance. That should be fun. (sarcasm) I just can't believe it's been sixteen years already.

Two In A Row!

Well, this is truly hard to believe...two blogs in a row. Shocking!

So the latest thing that I'm in to is couponing. Thanks to Crazy Cousin Cartwheel Karla! I'm learning slowly, but it's a little addicting seeing what deals I can get. It's work too, but there's a great website called Southern Savers that pretty much spells everything out for you. Some great deals I got today were...

Pampers pack of 27 priced at $9.99 after coupons $4.99
Best Life Butter on sale for $1.00 with a .50 coupon so .50 butter
A four pack of bic razors on sale for $3.99 with a $2.00 coupon for total $1.99 razors

The deals could have been better but I wasn't on the ball. When Southern Savers tells you to go get this stuff, you go get it because the prices apparently change daily. Looking forward to see what I can get next.

By the way...if you're missing pictures on this blog, my birthday is soon. Hopefully I'll be posting some after that. :)

Surprise!

I know. It's hard to believe. I'm blogging. Sorry I've been absent, but it's been a busy time. Here are some happenings.

Kaelyn is in full swing of prom dress shopping. We've started the process, since the one she wants has to be ordered and shipped. The prom is in May, but if the dress doesn't fit, it'll be shipping back and forth and exchanging and so on and so forth. She's going with green, since her eyes pop whenever she wears that color.

Rory is preparing for her First Communion also in May. We found her dress and need the shoes and veil...and it looks like panty hose since hers ripped at Church this morning. We're planning her Communion and birthday on the same day, so everyone just has one trip here. I don't know if that will work though, since another girl has her birthday that same week, and I haven't asked if they want they weekend yet. It's the polite thing to do.

Logan is not sick anymore, so that's a good report. It was pretty bad there for a while, and I'm just glad we're done with it. He's really learning his letters and numbers and seems to be practicing them a lot without being lead there...if you know what I mean. He read the word "cat" the other day all on his own, and while that might not mean anything to some of you, he's four and Rory is just now getting the swing of reading. I fully believe older siblings teach you a lot more than you learn on your own. I think Kaelyn was maybe a bit too old for Rory to learn from at that point, but then we have Marley.

Marley counted from 1-13 yesterday all on her own. When she got to 13, she kept saying it over and over again until she got to twenty and then she said, "twenty." It's crazy what they pick up. She doesn't have Spanish numbers down yet, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time.

Kevin's getting over his sinus infection with meds. That's good. I've decided to get the surgery you should all know about. I'm going to call and schedule it tomorrow. I'm hoping to hit a lull between parties. I should've done it last week when I was wrapping up all the other parties, but I didn't think about it.

That's it. All updated. As you can see, I don't have a camera yet, but I hear Kevin got some good video today. I'll see if he can send it to me. Take care!

Oops!

Have you ever had a day when you thought it was the next day? All day today I thought it was Friday, and I was really upset when I would remember it was only Thursday. This happened again this evening. As you all know, I don't blog on Fridays. I'm sorry! But hey, at least I'm getting better!

Good night!

A Birthday Wish

Happy Birthday to my big sister, Dita. It is her birthday today, and she is on a business trip. She has two children that she has to spend this birthday away from. That stinks. Instead of telling you some things you may not know about her, I'm going to write my birthday wishes for her.

I wish for peace for my sister, peace in her life. She has so many things being thrown at her that she can't even come up for air most times.

I wish her patience. Patience that good things come. Who was it? Oprah? That said something to the effect of not giving up because you might be five minutes away from a miracle.

I wish her friendship. She has good friends, but I'm talking more about relationships that have been damaged to heal again and blossom into a loving friendship.

I wish for forgiveness for her. Mainly that she forgives herself because she's really hard on herself sometimes. She needs to forgive herself and know that there's no way to live up to our own standards sometimes. This is especially hard for us mothers.

I wish for her healing. Healing from all things that effect her trust in mankind. Sometimes when we're running from here to there, we don't have time to sit and deal with things that have hurt us, so we can move past them.

I wish for joy for her. Joy that she is getting stuff done. She is still climbing that mountain. She is persevering. She has a family that loves her. Happiness is a given in this one too.

Most of all I wish her love. Love from the only people that really matter...God and herself. I'm not sure of her view on faith, but I pray every night that God open her heart to let her feel and experience my wishes for her. I truly believe that it is Him that has given her this much strength thus far. I don't need to wish my sister strength. She has enough for all of us...and then some.

Happy Birthday, Dita. I love you.