A cup of coffee...

Don't get me wrong I love my life. Being a mom is not only rewarding its lots and lots of fun! But there are moments like this morning that the only thing that gets me through is taking long, deep, breaths.
Warning: Don't read on unless you care a whole lot about my day to day life because its sort of laborious. (I warned you)
After a long night of kids crying and a tooth ache keeping me awake my husband got up with the kids and let me sleep in until 9am. Which I was delighted about. He and Peyton came into my room to wake me up so Brandon could leave for work. Peyton leaped up onto the bed and gave me a huge hug and said "Mommy wake up...I missed you." Needless to say she melted my heart and I got up with a smile on my face. Staggered into the kitchen looking for the coffee pot and started a pot of boiling water for my oatmeal. I noticed that the baby and Aunt Laurie were still asleep and Peyton was happily watching a tv show so I was looking forward to enjoying a quiet moment with my cup of coffee. Just as the coffee started perking Brandon came in to kiss me and peyton good bye and left for work. (I am always a little jealous at this time of day but alas...)
I hear the baby starting to cry so I look at the coffee pot and see it needs a few more min to finish so I go in to get the baby up. I soon realize she is NOT a happy girl. She had her 6 months round of shots the day before and I could feel she was warm with a low grade fever and probably a bit sore. Poor baby I pick her up and try to comfort her but she is not having it. Screaming I noticed that she was also cutting her first tooth. Delighted at the sight of her first tooth I smiled at her and she stopped and smiled back before she continued on with her crying. I took her out to the kitchen and sat her in her highchair and handed her a cold teething ring to munch on. That seemed to calm her so I looked back at the coffee pot. Its finished and ready...hurray! My water for the oatmeal is boiling too so I pour in the oatmeal flakes and some apples and start to stir. Just then Peyton comes skipping into the kitchen exclaiming that she would like to get dressed. BY HERSELF! "Were is my coat?", Were is my pants", "I get dressed by myself!" I tell her "Peyton, mommy is busy right now. she is trying to eat breakfast." "NO...I get dressed" (throwing herself onto the ground) I normally don't give into this behavior but at that moment all I wanted to do was eat and have a cup of coffee. So I go into her room pull out a coat, some pants, sunglasses and shoes and tell her to get dressed. I figured that would keep her busy for awhile. As I walked out of her room and decided to stop into Laurie's room to see if she was ready to get up and have some oatmeal with me. The moment I walked into her room I smelled it. The unmistakable smell of urine. Sure enough she had wet her bed. (A rare occurrence but it does happen) Deep Breaths...I quickly get her out of bed and into the bathroom for a shower. I pull off her sheets put them in the wash and hear the baby starting to cry again. So I pull her out of her high chair make her a bottle and lay her on her boppy. (luckily she can now hold her own bottle now) I pass by the coffee pot and see that the red light is still on, happy at the sight that at least it is not getting cold. I go back into the bathroom and get laurie into the shower. Peyton comes walking into the bathroom with one arm of her jacket on, her shorts around her neck and pair of sunglasses upside down on her head. "What are you doing mommy?" "I am giving Laurie a shower" I smell she is poopie but that will have to wait. I finish laurie's shower and begin to get her dressed all the while hearing the baby crying...again. I leave Laurie for a moment to check on the baby and see that she had finished her bottle and was not happy about it. So I put her in her walker with some toys to play with and run back into the bathroom...still not happy. I finished with Laurie and get her into the kitchen for some oatmeal, that is now cold. Baby still crying. So I pick her up and take her into her crib to see if she will fall asleep to take her out of her misery. I go back into the kitchen and see Peyton again. She was walking around the living room so proud that she had dressed herself I had to stop and find my camera to snap a picture. Baby still crying. I go back into the room to give baby back her pacifier and grab some clothes and a diaper for peyton. I change Peyton's diaper and get her properly dressed for the day and turn back into the kitchen and realize that Laurie had spilled her drink all over the table and kitchen floor. Deep breaths...I clean up the mess and sit laurie in the living room chair where she seems happy watching peyton dance around the room to "Yo Gabba Gabba". I stop myself for a moment take a deep breath and realize that the baby must have fallen asleep at some point, peyton was happy watching her show and laurie was happy watching her so maybe now was the time I could finally get my cup of coffee I walk into the kitchen coffee light still on. I pour my cup just the way I like it with cream and sugar and take a drink. It is Delicious! Hot, creamy and sweet. I sit down close my eyes and enjoy this moment. With every sip I feel more and more alive like it was assuring me that I was going to make it through the day. With two sips left of my cup I felt like I could muster up the energy to begin to think about cleaning up the kitchen when I hear the baby start to cry... again... Deep Breaths...Is it wrong that at that moment I was actually looking forward to the babysitter coming so that I could go my dentist apointment?

The girl's first boat ride!

During our trip to San Diego to visit Brandon's family we took a ferry ride to Cornado Island. It was the first time both girls had been on a moving boat. So it was really exciting for them (and for mom) Amber loved it. She laughed and giggled the whole way because of the wind. She kept lifting her arms up to feel the wind blowing. It was pretty cute. Peyton liked it too but was a little scared at first. She held on to Auntie B's arm very tightly but had a smile on her face the whole ride.





Cute video of Amber and Mimi blowing in the wind! :)

A Tribute to My Mom

Today is my mom's birthday. I won't post her age on here but it is a good one and it ends in a 0 :). I stayed up all night making this video for her. The goal was to make her cry but while putting it together it made me cry! Whenever I see pictures of my childhood or think about the memories I always get choked up because I realize how very blessed I was to be born into this family. When I think of me as a little girl I get warm fuzzies. :) My childhood was just that good! Don't get me wrong we had our fair share of trials, for example I lost all four of my grandparents in the span of two years. But even during that time I have good memories because everything we did my mom was sure to make it fun! She went out of her way to make us feel safe, secure and loved! My only wish is that I will be half the mom my Mom was. I also hope that I look as good as she does when I get to her age. My mom is beautiful and anyone will say so! (Even my guy friends in highschool thought so! :) ) So this is a tribute to my mom! She deserves it for all the warm fuzzy memories our family has. I hope this video captures a glimpse of my mom's heart, because it is big! :) I love you mom!

"The Girls"

Anybody who knows me at all knows that I have a group of friends in my life whom call themselves "The Girls". We have been "The Girls" for over a decade now starting when we all met freshman year of college. (Lindsay and I have been friends since high school) I feel so lucky to have these girls in my life. Not everyone has friendships like this and I don't take for granted that these friends have been there to see me grow up. They knew me before marriage and kids and I love that they never let me forget who I am. Through the years life has taken us all in different directions but we have still kept our friendship alive. Last year ALOT of big changes happened to all of us. I had a 2nd baby and moved to santa cruz and Jes moved to Nashville. I am not going to lie there were days that I was sad because I doubted that our friendship would last through the changes but last week we got the oportunity to meet up again in good old LA and had a few days to spend together. All my fears where gone the moment we all group hugged and started off again like we had never left eachother. I could cry just thinking about how special these girls are to me. I picture the four of us as old ladies and still meeting up somewhere in this world to group hug and continue on like we had never left. I love you girls more than you will ever know! Can't wait until 5th annual GGW 2009!

The 1st Annual Strawberry Day!

Gizdich ranch is a farm here in Santa Cruz that you can go and pick your own seasonal fruit. The Marchassault's had gone and told us how much fun it was so they were kind enough to go again with us. It was a delicious day all around. here are some fun pics of our strawberry adventure.

The Dad's took it upon themselves to carry the babies they did not apreciate us wives calling them "cute" but we could not help ourselves, don't you agree?
Caleb and Peyton LOVED running through the fields and picking strwaberries they even ate a few right off the bush...shhhhh don't tell :)
My pretty strawberry girl. Yes I put this dress on her because I knew how cute the pictures would be in it. hey atleast I admit it! :)


this pretty much sums up their relationship....awwww black mail for the jr high years!
this is a picture that peyton drew of the strawberry fields. When I asked her about it she told me they were sad strawberries. I asked her why they where sad she said because they lost their mommy and daddy. I was confused by this until I told my friend sarah about what she said. She thinks in Peyton's head we ate the mommy and daddy strawberry's and left the babies still in the field. Makes sense? what do you think?
that night we decided to have a strawberry feast back at our house so the kids played while we made dinner.

Strawbwrry margaritas, strawberry salsa over grilled chicken and strawberry salad. Yum! And of course we did not forget dessert!
Such a wonderful day with good friends and strawberrys nothing could be sweeter. We had such a good day we decided to make it a tradition. hopefully there will be several more strawberry days in the years to come with us and the Marchassaults!

Father's Day and Dedication

On Father's Day we had are two girls dedicated before the church. We never had Peyton dedicated so it was special to do both girls together. Even though Brandon and I dedicated our girls to the lord the moment they were born it is always special to do it publicly and in front of a body of Christ knowing that we have accountability and support from others. During the dedication our pastor presented us with a red rose bush. the bush represents new life because it was full of new little rose buds and the red of the rose represents the blood of Christ over this new life. I am trying really hard not to kill the bush! So far I am doing good with it :) Praise God for my family and all the blessings he has given me. I dedicate these little ones to you Lord and promise to raise them to the best of my ability to grow into Women of God that will change this world! Amen

Stranger Danger or Not?

This last weekend Our life group decided to go to a local park near downtown and have a Bar BQ and pass out food to the homeless people living at the park. It was a great day! A feel like several people were blessed. I was able to pray with a lady in particular that had recently had a heart attack and was discharged from the hospital to live on the streets. She had to take her heart medication with food but had none. She said she was about to take her medication when I came walking over with a hamburger. She had tears in her eyes when she told me she felt like God was hearing her prays and providing for her needs.
I have done alot of outreaches such as this in my day but this was the first one I did with kids of my own. Its funny because when brandon and I lead King's Kids groups to feed homeless people the parents of the kids would often be very afraid and not allow their kids to go on our outreach or insist they go and stay with their child at all times. Brandon and I used to comment on how over protective that seemed and how sad it was that those parents didn't understand the value of exposing their kids to different types of people and teaching them to love ALL just as Jesus does. Well if any of you parents are reading this I want you to know I GET IT! I have to admit I was in overprotective parent mode with my two year old. I was sizing up each and every person that got near her and never took my eyes off her. But even in my mama bear mode their was one moment when I saw her run over to one of the homeless guys sitting on the grass and sat on his lap! Not even joking you! she sat in this scruffy, dirty, homeless mans lap! I love this quality in her that she is not afraid of people and jumps into every situation with both feet in but that was a little to much for me to handle. I pray that she never looses that quailty in her but I think we are going to have to have a talk about stranger danger very soon!