apple & onion moments...

At my most recent MOPS meeting they had an AWESOME speaker talk about forms of parenting. Trust me I am NOT doing her talk justice but one part really struck a chord with me, well actually two parts. She mentioned how in her house they teach forgiveness. I thought we did too but something she has her kids do made me rethink what I should teach our tribe. When someone does something "bad" I have them sit in the time out chair to think about their actions & then I have them apologize to the party that was wronged but what I have not done was to have the wronged party say "I forgive you". I never realized how important that was until she spoke about it yesterday. WOW was that an "AHA moment" for me! The 2nd part of her talk was connection we need to have with our children. Having that 15 minutes together as a family whether it be at breakfast or dinner. How we need to communicate with each other about the good & bad moments from each day also known as the "Apple & Onion Moments". This was not the first t ime I had heard about this but today it really hit home with me. Now we almost always eat together so that was not new to me but asking about their good & bad moments was. I would always ask about their good moments & never thought to ask about what they did NOT like. How that played an important role in their day. I was not quite sure the tribe would understand what that meant but boy did they surprise me! I asked each of them what they enjoyed about their day & what they did not like at all. It was amazing to see what things they came up with. Cam told me that her "Apple" moment was going to speech & "Onion" moment was not being able to go to the park with her siblings. {We go to the park when she attends speech}. Bren said he liked the ducks at the park & did not like being up in the TALL tree. {He actually let me put him up on one of the branches!}. Aave liked going to the park but did NOT like the brown duck. {It was this weird duck that bounced his neck up & down as he/she walked}. Linz loved going by Daddy's work for a visit & did NOT like that TALL tree.{After looking at the tree she did not even attempt to climb it!}. This is something I am going to do every evening at dinner time. To make things more interesting I  am going to go out & get some props to use for these...

Picture taken from http://www.giftsforeducators.com

picture taken from http://www.gourmac.com

apple & onion moments...

I am why we can't have nice things...

I have always saved my $ for the GOOD stuff. I just would much rather have something nice than something "not so nice" so I would shop around & save my $! Just after I started my current job I wanted to splurge on a new TV so I saved & saved for a 27 inch TV to keep in my room. At the time a 27 inch TV was a BIG deal. {Boy am I aging myself! LOL!} When buying an entertainment armoire for my first place I searched & searched till I found just the right one that fortunately was marked down a bunch which saved me a TON! =] When it comes to CHRISTmas I actually start buying gifts now! hahah! Anyhow, saving is how I & pretty much everyone is able to afford ANYTHING! Fast forward to today, to our family of seven. Money is EXTREMELY tight & trust me we are NOT getting anything new anytime soon. I would never change our life however boy do I get a tear in my eye for when I had less obligations! Oh to reminisce about the past! Ah... So you can imagine how much I appreciated opening up the tribes 4th birthday present from their Uncle Rick. He found these really cool T-Shirts for each of them that fittingly say...

I am why we can't have nice things...

belly shot...

It was recently brought to my attention that I do not have a shot of my belly while I was pregnant with the tribe. Now first of all you need to know that I started this blog months after they were born so apparently I never posted one! OOPS! I am including two shots. The first shot is one of my cousin Kristee & I. She was pregnant with ONE baby & of course I was pregnant with FOUR. Freaky how our bellies looked VERY similar isn't it? I tell everyone I must have had a cavern in there because they seemed to have a TON of room! LOL!



The second photo was taken the day after the first one just BEFORE Dr V told me I was being admitted {I was TOTALLY unprepared!} The third photo was taken the next day in the hospital which was the night before I delivered. Yes I was in the hospital a whopping 3 days!





What's even crazier is that these four miracles were inside there! WOW!



When I showed the tribe the picture of my belly they just LOVED looking at it. They kept pointing to my belly & told me where they were in there! Like they can even remember that! TOO cute! So here it is, the infamous...


belly shot...

ROAD TRIP 2010, NC edition...

Oh was this part of our mini "vacay" FUN! We headed over by car AGAIN this time to North Carolina to visit with my cousin Lori & her family at their house on Lake Toxaway. They have the MOST beautiful house on quite the lake! Not only is the view BEAUTIFUL, of the lake & mountains, it is also VERY peaceful there too!



This is the view from the back porch! Oh do your stresses just melt away when you look out on that!



Our road trip to NC was SO much better than the first leg of this journey. They actually cooperated & snoozed a little. YAY! The first morning in NC we took the tribe Gem Mining! It is a MUST if you visit the area! You buy a bucket of whichever type of rocks you want to mine & let them go to town! We decided on polished stones this trip. They each have their own "rock bag" to hold their "gems"! I think we had just about as much fun as they did!





After Gem Mining we headed over to my cousins house. She has this BIG porch that looks out onto the lake that we all eventually hung out on. It was SO relaxing to just rock on those rocking chairs! Ahh... I almost forgot that I had four munchkins there with us! hahah! You know Uncle Rick even put one of them to sleep! LOVE that! We drank wine & ate VERY well!













We started off the 4th of July weekend by heading back to Lori & Andy's house. It has everything a family needs to keep themselves occupied. I took a LONG strenuous walk up some steep hills with Lori before lunch. That mountain altitude does your lungs some good! Boy was I winded! Ahh... We then hung around the house & let the tribe just play. They rode their scooters, a bike & even did drew with some sidewalk chalk. They had a blast! We later lounged on the porch, went boating and just hung our with our "clan". Heck for those who saw us coming this is just a small sliver of those who claim to be related to us! If you think our family is big you should see the rest of the tribe! We are VERY outnumbered!





By the morning of the 4th it was time to get ready for the boat parade! You see the Lake Toxaway community holds their annual 4th of July boat parade & my cousins family participates EVERY year! They have judges & even give out prizes for the winners! So we strategized on what we should do & decided on the BP oil spill theme. Actually Missy, Mason's girlfriend, came up with it. It was done in good taste & the tribe took center stage. They each held up signs saying "Save our wildlife" and then Brendan was at the end holding up a rubber chicken with a black plastic bag wrapped around it's neck to look like it was oil drenched. Creative huh?! The big boys got the boat all decked out looking like it was in the middle of the oil spill ie: black garbage bags all along the sides & then we rubbed Sarah's black mascara ALL over us! Who would have thought one tube of mascara would go do far! LOL! Thank you Sarah for your contribution! Just as we were to approach the judges stand Camryn dropped her sign in the lake. Uh Oh! Just as soon as she dropped it Dylan dove in after it! He really saved the day! He got back in with the salvaged sign just in time for us to be judged! Quick thinking Dylan! Best part is that we took 2nd place! WOO HOO! They won a $400 tube to use on the lake! We know that tube will be used MANY times over!











Our 4th of July was not over yet because we still had the big BBQ at the club to attend. They had bounce houses, games & face painting. It truly was a kids paradise! Luckily for us we had a TON of family there to keep an eye on the tribe! Each child got some one on one time with someone. Cam of course had her Sarah. Bren had his fill of the boys! Devin, Mason & Dylan took good care of him. Aave & Linz bounced till they could bounce no more & later when the music got going they danced & danced! We had the best time! It was going to be yet again a LONG night! I know we are on vacation but they did not go to bed anywhere near their bed time! LOL!









Before leaving this mountain top paradise we just had to take the tribe tubing! This is a favorite pastime for all of the kids, adults too! In fact Dustyn is usually out there tubing when he is up here. However he could not make the trip this year. He had better things to do like going to the Daytona!! I think I might pass on a road trip with four three year olds too if I was invited there! LOL!





We were even able to sneak in a family photo again missing our "D". Too bad the lighting on either of them were not good or these photos would have been winners! [=





And that folks was our...


ROAD TRIP 2010, NC edition...

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ROAD TRIP 2010, GA edition part 1...

I wanted to leave REALLY early so we could arrive in Atlanta BEFORE dinner but Daddy & the tribe had other plans. Heck I guess I had other plans too because after staying up late to pack the final stuff I too slept in! So instead of leaving at 5am we left around 730am. I really thought I planned this trip well. I packed the few days before & made sure we had plenty to eat & drink. I even made sure there were toys inside the 'burb to keep them entertained. Well I am here to tell you that even the best laid plans have flaws!

We slipped away from S Florida for this MUCH NEEDED mini vacation/road trip to see some family in GA. We would be gone for a total of 5 days! Our first stop was just outside of Atlanta to visit my two brothers. All I can say is that the road trip there just plain awful! The tribe did NOT want to sleep & felt it was their mission to scream at the top of their lungs pretty much the entire time. I finally broke down & cried halfway there. My hubby looked at me & said "Why are you crying?" to which I replied "This is not the trip that I had planned!". Needless to say I needed to remind myself SEVERAL times that when you travel with toddlers you need to expect them to act this way! It was BAD! This was NOT what I had envisioned when I planned this trip! We arrived just in time to meet up for dinner. My nephew works at this Italian place called "Luciano's". All 14 of us sat at one LONG table. We spread the tribe out & for the most part things were good. Each one of my relatives took a kid & that was that. I needed a STIFF drink actually I think I had two after that car ride. LOL! Here's a few pic's from that dinner! Thank you Michael for making us some YUMMY food! [=









Our plan was to stay in GA for 2 nights with our family & then head over to NC to visit my cousin who has a house on a lake. Since we were FINALLY in GA I arranged a play date with a friend of mine that I've known practically FOREVER! My friend Des has a 6 year old daughter & a son a few months younger than the tribe so having a play date with our munchkins was perfect! She happens to live near Atlanta so we decided to meet up for a play date at Monkey Joe's. If you've never heard of Monkey Joe's you really should check them out if you have kids. It is this BIG inflatable playground place. Needless to say the tribe LOVED it! The girls loved it from the minute they arrived but Bren needed some coaxing! Remember he is "Safety Patrol"! LOL! By the end of the day they were having a blast in fact I think we may have a future couple in the works! Camryn & Christoffer looked SO cute together! heehee! Getting back to my oldest & dearest friend, it is really hard for me to believe that I have known her for practically all my life. We lived on the same street until she moved away at about 5 years old. Best thing is that we kept in contact over the past 35 years! LOVE that! {Note to all young girls out there: Keep in contact with your far away friends. You will thank yourself years down the road that you did!}











Here's our couple in the making! We are just going to have more play dates so they do not forget one another! LOL!



Here is Sarah & her "twin" showing off their MEAN face! Cannot get over how much they look alike! Way too FREAKY!



We went swimming at my brothers pool. They LOVED it along with their new "swimmies" which are called PUDDLE JUMPERS. We purchased them a few weeks ago at BJ's our local wholesale club. They are WONDERFUL! I have to say that I felt so at ease having them swim with those things on!









After swimming we took to my brother Jim's back yard. It really is an adventure back there! They have a nice patio, a nature trail, a tree swing & even a trampoline which the tribe LOVED! I even took a turn at it! Oh to be young again! Ahh...











And that was...

ROAD TRIP 2010, GA edition part 1...