Got alittle Tanner time!

Well, for a couple of weeks we got to see a whole lot more of my oldest, Tanner.  He wasn't too thrilled, but I just loved feeding him!  His car broke down and while it was getting fixed, guess who hauled him around??  On top of that, he decided to move from his apartment to a friends' house and so that will save him some $$.  He's closer to us now and that's great, because that kid can eat!  Striking out on your own is scary sometimes and lonely too.  Tanner was looking forward to the alone time after having 4 other siblings pecking on him all the time, but I think it's alittle strange for him and we might even go as far to say, "I think he misses it!"  Now, since he doesn't read my blog, we can go there!  Gabi is probably the happiest when Tanner pulls up in the drive.. she and Tanner have a weird bond together...They like each other!  She loves to snuggle with him and hang on him.  The fact that he puts up with it is amazing! lol

Doing his laundry is amazing as well!   Oh my gosh!  He waits till it's ALL dirty, then brings it, looking like santa with bag after bag! 

Gotta love that boy!  :)

It's SPRING BREAK!

Ok, so I'm not exactly the mom that looks forward to spring breaks...but I am tryingggg! lol  First day was good.. Second day-ok, third day..GRRRR!  I thought I'd take the kids to the Ymca but only one wanted to go and the whole troop was not too excited.  So, I sat there and watched them run around saying how bored they were and we finally left.  The only thing they did get excited over was the SNACK on the way home!  Thinking I'm just going to set up a scavenger hunt for snacks every day and that way I kill 2 birds with one stone- I get em outside and moving, and they get a snack! 

We wish we could have taken them to Snow Creek again for tubing this year but it just didn't happen and they ended up closing the Lodge early anyway-so, next year maybe!

The twins are decked out in blue eyeshadow and glitter faces looking like punk fairies and the older 2 are stuck on the TV!  GRRRR!  That babysitter HAS TO GO!  I did it myself-using the tv as a sitter so many times and now I'm paying for it.  Summertime at the Villegas house is going to find a permanent lemonade stand in the front yard just to keep em outside!  Maybe they'll sell rocks too! lol

:)  Happy Spring Break!

Making Snow from Scratch!

Ok, well obviously I'm behind AGAIN!  Grrrr!  Well, we have missed some days of school lately because it was too cold  at 25 degrees but were allowed to go to school at 16 below!.. hmmmm.  So, on the 16 below day, we decided we would make snow from scratch!  It was so much fun!  I boiled water in a cup and each kiddo got to throw it in the air outside and watch snow come down!  Even Superman got in on it and I have to say I think I caught him giggle...Ahhhh Love it when my crew giggles!  So I have some pics of the process and although I'm far behind on the other pics I'm posting these now!

Last night, VALENTINE'S DAY- we all went to the Justin Beiber movie!  Ok, Mateo thought it was gonna be soooo stupid and Isa was being cool about it, but the twins were SO excited!  You know, their birthday is the same day as Justin's so they're buds!  Ok, I'm getting better at this cause I brought my camera to the movie so I could take pics of the kids hopefully standing next to a Justin Beiber cutout stand-up thingy...but, there wasn't one....ugh...so, they all had to stand there in front of everyone and pose for me anyway! The movie was great and of course the girl cried!...ME, being THAT girl! lol, the kids kept looking at me during the movie.  Just waiting for me to break down I guess...they know me sooo well.

After the movie we went to Orange leaf for some ice cream and I stepped in two blobs of stuff in front of the counter..when I told the girl at the counter that there was stuff on the floor and we stepped in it, she looked out at it and said "ohhh, yaaa".  Then just stood there and watched us..  I wanted to reach across the counter and pull her thru the sprinkles so that she would wake up, but...there WERE little kids watching! For V-Day,
Superman got me a whole bag of 3 musketeers and a wonderful card so I was alittle sugared up already!...

Gabi is stuffy in the nose today with a little cough so she's home and BORED!  She's already made a craft, tuned her 3 string guitar, done exercises on a ball, played with the barbie house and written a song on the piano!  Now, after her medicine is kicking in....I think I can say she might be ready to chill...ahhhh.

Isabella printed out a nice flyer that we have hanging on our cabinet in the kitchen.  I don't know where she got it but i love it.  "God Speaks In The Silence Of The Heart..Listening Is The Beginning Of Prayer."

God blesses me everyday by being ignorant enuff to let His words of wisdom come from my Smart Children.
U gotta love how He works!

Good Day!

Home-made Snow!

Isabella

Gabi

Mateo

Grace

SuperMan...Giggling!

Snow Day!

Snow Days are going to cause our kids to be in school thru the summer if they keep going like this!  My kids were bored by 10:00am yesterday so we had to drag out the Spin-Art machine...THAT was fun...lasted about 10 minutes and I vowed to seriously think about throwing it out!  Now, today, I'm thinking the kids should take it outside in the snow and let it rip with the paint flying into the snow!  Later in the day, after searching ALOT of recipes to find the same exact one I had made the week before, I came across my Duncan Hines crinkle cookie recipe!  I was in Heaven!  Probly the only thing I have baked that my kids loved!  So, I whipped a batch up for small group and had it done in 15 min!  Such a fast recipe:  1 duncan hines fudgy chewy brownie mix and 2 eggs, 1/3 cup oil, and 1 cup semi sweet choc chips!  That's it!  Bake at 350 for 11 min. and woo-hoo! cookies!  plop em in a plate of powdered sugar and yum yum yum!

The kids went out side this morning to play and dig igloos!  But first-they had to work together and scrape off the sidewalk..the expressions on their faces were not very exciting but they worked together and got it done in no time! lol

Tanner came over to say HI and I just LOVE his visits!  He didn't stay long but enough time for me to smother him!

Superman played raquetball for the first time in ..like 15 years a couple of days ago and was out scooping snow yesterday!  He's not too sore ...yet! lol  So glad that he has a sport that he can go let off some steam with now!  Yay!

Ok, we have been fortunate enough to continue the Karate with Grace and Mateo right now and just take it month to month.  I know that Karate is so important to them and we will continue as long as we can. 
Our family life has sure hit some bumps in the last couple of years and we try to deal with them as they come.
Some days you feel like your life is crumbling and others can make you feel like you've just started a great new chapter.  I never looked back much to see the plan that God was laying out for my life but now I can see that everything that I faced, whether crazy, good, bad, sad or even evil - was another door that led me to a closer walk with God.  Every door made me want more, search harder and love deeper.  What God has put in my heart...that DESIRE to keep searching for more...is my so called skeleton key.  The key that will open every door that he puts me in front of and I am starting to look forward to the doors now, with a little less fear and alittle more hope and excitement.

Hmmm.  I don't have any new exciting news today...Grace and Gabi are learning a song in sign language in school for a program coming up so they spend alot of time running around signing at me lol.. But that doesn't stop them from talking while they do it...I thought it was supposed to be a quiet song?..Mateo has decided to grow his hair out.   He hasn't decided to comb it yet though...Grrr.  Tanner has informed us that he has a plan for school and he's moving to Johnson County in a year and a half...:)  With girlfriend...it's all planned out...:)  He's taking more pictures with me lately and he said "better get em while you can-cause I'm moving soon!" lol.  (he'll be back...)

One big win for the family dinner was Taco night!  Yay!  I have always put it off because everyone would scream "NO!" when I would mention it but last night I just decided to go for it and whew!  Almost everyone was happy!  Grace wasn't sure about the whole thing but my other picky eaters were thrilled.  They kept trying to figure out how to eat without making a mess..when I told them to just dig in and make their own it took awhile before they got the hang of it..  They kept eyeing me to see if I was gonna get all OCD about all the food on the table.  We really need more messy dinners...after all, the cure for OCD is to confront! lol

Well, today is getting cold and stormy looking so I think we are in for a good one soon.  Hopefully it will produce "play snow" if it comes!    Hard to believe it was 70 the other day!  Well, what a boring blog today but I have promised myself to really try and sit for 15 minutes a day and write something that went on in our lives the day before...The more I blog about my family, the more I love them.  So many times we fly thru the day and all the great stuff that happens is just left in the mist.  We don't think it's that big of a deal that gabi fell off her chair while eating or that there was that "brief" moment between Mateo and Grace where they really connected, or the time when Superman kissed mama and static shocked them to the point they screamed... just another day.  But looking back and reading those times makes me sure of my purpose at this moment. 

Smack-Down!

Wow!  Thursday was not only beautiful outside- 72degrees! in January! But I ended up getting some really good time spent with a fabulous friend!  Who knew when I was dreading taking some clothes back to exchange for something (LARGER!), that I would get to have some "smack the attitude around, hose it down and hang it on a fence" time!  I love my Misti and there's no one else who can smack me back into shape like her!  THANK GOD!  Everyone should have ONE!  There's always something great that happens in your life when you get to be REAL & DIRTY about your life with someone who will just tell you what you need to hear.  And not too often is it what you want to hear...lol.  God sure knows how to give it to me and it's never with a drink in my hand.

As I'm complaining about why these clothes don't make me look skinny (which is such a joke -why would I think anything would make me look skinny if I'm NOT! lol)  she finally looks at me and says "oh crap! because your old!  and it's not getting any better!  And shut up and enjoy it now!  And, ...don't they make a damn girdle for that???...LOVE HER!  laughed until I bout pee'd my pants..which is going to be another problem soon..  It is what it is!  LOL!  Now, if superman had told me that...not sure how good that would have gone over!  But with my Misti- It was just what I needed!  She has a way with me where she can be 10 feet away and tell me I'm being stupid and get over it and I feel her arms around me holding me as she says it.
The same way God does it...He's always holding us when he scolds us or shows us something we don't want to see.  You just have to stop for a minute and FEEL Him holding you.  Then you see what's being shown to you in a softer way.  Not so harsh as to run you off, but solid enough to make you look straight at it. 

Friends are really the IT factor.. They're your mirror so you can see the lovely AND the ugly.  Maybe it's just for a season.  Maybe a lifetime.  Either way...Yum...  :)

Well, not much so far, woke up and dragged my behind to the kitchen to make the coffee (that I forgot to make the night before-when will I learn?) and Isa is standing there all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed chatting away...I still have one eye closed feeling for the coffee pot and working my way along the counter till I hit the refrigerator...filling up the pot with water and head pressed against the freezer-both eyes shut now..."bye mom!"..."love you-have a good day" I manage to get out-and off she goes!  I get my first cup of coffee in my system and then out comes the second crew - all ready for breakfast!  :)  Ok, boring stuff so far..as the kids are packing up to get on the bus Superman witnessed Gabi stuffing play-handcuffs in her school bag this morning..."Gabi, you can't take that to school", said Superman, so she started pulling out all these toys one by one and said "I guess I'll go take these back to my room."  This girl needs something to do at ALL times.  She never stops moving.  She rocks her self to sleep in bed at night and her hair looks like medusa in the mornings. I recently asked her why she rocks, thinking it soothes her, but she said "because it makes me tired with all that rocking!  Then I can go to sleep!"  hmmm.  Maybe if we all just rocked alittle more-none of us would have insomnia..  And then need 3 cups of coffee before opening our eyes...Check!

Baker, Baker, u can't Fake Her! (but I try!)

Ok, the other day I decided to make Home-made Bagels...Good thought..but I can't bake!  But, for some reason, I really thought I could pull it off so in I went-elbow deep in dough!  I couldn't believe how easy it was and how stupid I was for buying the store bagels for sooo long!  I was so excited when they came out decent looking and Superman actually liked 'em!  AND HE'S FROM NEW YORK! lol

Pictures to come because I have to document the day momma faked a baker!

Well, the next day I decided that I was going to make pretzel sticks as good as Auntie Anne's at the mall!...So the work began again...Well, the kids raved over em and said they were as good as the mall but I'm think'n that pretzels might have to be a holiday thing because it sure seemed to take alot more work!  Think it's because I had to have them "perfectly" sugared with cinnamon/sugar and it took a few times.  BUT-the fact that my kids ATE ANYTHING that I made is a HUGE SUCCESS!  Mark that off my bucket list. *

Wayyy Behind!

Well, I'm way behind on my blogging and although it's nothing new, I am frustrated that I can't just zone in on one thing to post.  I have so many things that I want to do and making time to focus on one just about kills me.  Last night, laying in bed, I realize I couldn't remember why my son got to go to the WWW wrestling with his dad this year...was it his birthday?  No, it was after that..did I take a picture?..no..dad suprised him on the way..misd that picture...crud!  No, it was just a day in September I think...hmmm.  Mateo was so excited when he found out that dad and he were on their way-right then!- to the BIG wrestling show at the downtown arena!  I wish I could've seen his face!  That's one day I just have to give to Dad.  After all, I think I got to witness him taking his first step so dad should get one thing huh?...  Anyway, I am in bed thinking of how much I have missed writing on paper.  How many pictures I have still stuck in my camera that I won't even remember what they are!...I always want the perfect memories, perfect pictures, ...yada yada yada...(that darn Martha Stewart and her words "it's just perfect", stick with me from 20 years ago).  hmmm..Gotta let that go someday...

It's now January 2011 and I'm going to be backtracking from Halloween I think, but o'well.  Kids, someday when you read this you'll just be glad you were in the book!

CHRISTMAS DAY:

Santa Pox arrived for Grace!  She really started with some red bumps on Christmas Eve, but we weren't sure...Christmas Day..We WERE SURE!  and so the process began...

We really were glad that this meant that all the kids would finally get the pox and we could just get it over with but we had no idea how tough it was going to be.  Ok, it wasn't as bad as twins up all night every night from birth to 2 years and 4 months...and 6 hrs-give or take, but it was trying to say the least.

Grace did pretty good.  Not much itching and slept pretty good with alittle help from Benedryl.
Gabi got 'em about a week later...Alittle tougher.  Alot more pox and alot more itching.. Benedryl, Ice, Calamine...grrrr!  Less Sleep..
Mateo came in 3rd about 2 days later with ALOT of pox!  Mainly on his lower trunk and NOT FUN!  No sleep, major itching and screaming pain at times...Benedryl, Ice, Tylenol, Prayers...LESS SLEEP!
Then, Isa got 'em...All over!  12 years old and face was covered...not a good thing.  She would recite the same thing to me every minute-"I look like a freak!- I'm ugly"!....You will note that I didn't get a picture of HER chicken pox...  She was itchy and in pain but after I had a breakdown on the 3rd week, I think she just kept it to herself bless her heart.  But, Isa had them in her MOUTH as well, so we got a perscription for lidocaine that she could swish around.  She never did..  We did, however, find another use!  dabbing on ALL of their pox when they drove 'em crazy!  It would take the pain away for alittle while and sometimes enough to get them to sleep.  zzzzzzzz......Then, Tanner walks in the door and announces that he had the flu the night before!..."Are you alright?"..'Yeah'..."You have to go!...I don't want the kids to get the flu on top of the chicken pox!"...nice, huh?  Well, he was ok, just hungry!  And I was kindof mad at him for not calling me to tell me he was sick anyway!  I mean, how am I supposed to hold the washcloth over his forhead when he's throwing up if I don't know he's sick -for pete's sake!..ok, he IS 19...

Finally!  School starts again!  Woo-Hoo....well, at least Grace got to go back!  She just looked back and laughed.  I think she enjoyed the days by herself wayyy too much!  I wanted to go with her!  Slowly, everyone recovered and one by one they went back to school.  The day the school nurse called and treated me like we were lepers was a BAD day...she wanted to inform me that she was going to have to contact ALL the parents of the kids that aren't vaccinated to let them know.. because, of course, our children weren't vaccinated.... hmmmm.....how come I NEVER got called when anything was going around at school????  I guess those rules weren't in place...A WEEK BEFORE!   grrr! The Nurse just wanted to make sure we were diagnosing it right...She asked me if I had the kids checked out by the Dr. and if I had BLOOD TESTS DONE!   what in the world was this nurse on???  What Dr. wants you to bring in your kids to the office and expose everyone???  I was at the point that I thought, "you know what?  Maybe I should pack my kids up and bring them to the school!  So NURSE could diagnose herself!" ...Then, THE HEALTH DEPARTMENT calls me...ok, I am ready to rip some stuff so I call superman and he talks to them so I don't say something that makes them end up on my doorstep with guns drawn!...ok, Superman handled it and everything is ok...except in my mind!  I am left with the 20 questions from the Nurse and Health dept. stinging in my ear.  As a parent, you try and do what is the absolute best for your kids with the information that you have.  19 years of due diligence and in 5 minutes, someone can shake you to the core.  Of course you question yourself.  You question yourself everyday on whether you are doing what's right for your kids.  Especially when the world doesn't bow to your plan for them.  All I know is that even with all the questioning, I know, WITHOUT A DOUBT, that I try and do what I believe is the best for them and  I will not stop looking for the right information to base my decisions on.  Ever.

So, what a crazy 5 weeks it was...Christmas vacation turned into a Dr. Suess book... The Pox got in our sox, sly as a fox, and as the clock tox, we were sealed up in a box like Fort Knox!  Say that 5 times fast!

Happy New Year!