Here is the face that I got when I asked Lola to sing You Are My Sunshine for the camera. She was so excited to sing. We love this song. Grandma Julie especially loves this song and sings it with her all the time. So do I. Grandma, this is especially for you!
Then right before we recorded, I had her get all her sillies out!
Goofy girl!
Go time. Enjoy. I know she loved to sing it for you.
Thanks for listening! She wanted me to tell you that she would be happy to sign autographs {she can write her name you know}!
Lola is My sunshine for sure! She keeps me on my toes. She is full of spunk {and lots of sparkle, just check her fingernails and toes}. Girlfriend is only quiet when she is asleep, otherwise she talks nonstop. She knows it too, she even asks if she talks too much!? As much as I want her to be quiet sometimes, I hope she always talks to me. She is a little girl who knows exactly what she wants and just how to sweet talk her way into it - that or cry until she thinks she is going to get her way. She is full of energy and life and will capture your heart from the second that you lay eyes on her! I am so lucky that she is mine!
I had intended on writing one of those fancy posts that so many bloggers do, featuring highlights from the year, but as I sat down to read about what we did or what I created this past year, I couldn't pick favorites to feature. Each post is really special in its very own way. I had forgotten so many things that happened this year {like one year ago today our pipes were frozen when we woke up! Today it was 81 degrees...crazy huh?!} and it made me set one goal for this blog -
GET IT PRINTED!
I am going to print it off by the year so that the kids and I will be able to look through all of our memories on paper, not just the internet! That would be a total of four books I need to make this year! Any suggestions on going about this or easy programs to use, please let me know!
A few more goals that I would like to achieve this year:
~remember everyone's birthday and get a card in the mail the week prior. Ask my mother if I will be able to do this and she will tell you, "Ain't gonna happen!" and she is probably right. But I swear I have good intentions and a project that I have in mind to keep me on track. Maybe my focus should be on completing the project to remember everyone's birthdays first?!
~finish my creative space. This is the biggest work in progress ever and one I will probably always be adding to, but there are quite a few things that I would like to get finished in there to make it more organized and pretty!
~collage of frames/mirrors in Lola's room. Also, hang the yarn balls that my Aunt Heidi made for my cousin Hannah's wedding reception, along with create and hang quite a few other things I have pinned in her room.
~finish the record room for Chad. By doing this, it will return the game room to just that, the game room/playroom.
~laugh a lot more with my kids and take time to really just be with them in the moment. {This started today watching the Justin Beiber movie, then splashing around in the pool, then 4 wheeling, then lunch, then park, then more 4 wheeling, then snuggled up in bed watching Big Foot eating ice cream sundaes - it was a perfect day! No pictures {I really need a smaller camera to carry around}, though I have a million in my head. Just being there and being with each other.
~date night once a month. I am lucky enough to have wonderful babysitters that love my kids and would jump at the chance to watch them {plus, I pay really good}! Even if it is a quick bite to eat with just the hubs I am going to cherish that alone time.
~go to the dentist. It has been awhile.
~lose 20 pounds by summer. Who doesn't want to look good by then?
Whew! I am ready and hoping that because I put myself on blast with some of them, I will hold myself more accountable {I already know that the whole birthday thing is thrown out the window though, because tomorrow is Candis' birthday and no card is in the mail...ugggghhhhh}.
Just like last year, we spent the evening at the Casillas' house ringing in the new year! Good food {lots of it was from our supper club recipe files} good games and good friends, it was a wonderful way to spend the last day of 2011 {although I wish I felt better, my stomach felt the worst it has since the surgery}. We left about 20 minutes until midnight, Lola crashed almost as soon as I buckled her in her seat, but Kyan made it until 12! He was so excited and kept thanking us for letting him stay up so late! We watched the countdown at home on the couch, Lola asleep in my arms. Kissed and cheers each other to a new year when Lady Gaga dropped the ball. It was perfect.
We had a wonderful 2011 and look forward to 2012 and all that it may bring!
I checked in at 8am to get started with everything for a surgery that was scheduled at 9:30am.
Surgery began a little after 10am, they were waiting on instruments to be cleaned I think{?!}, very important to have clean tools!
The gown they gave me to wear was a warming gown that blew me up like the Michelin Man, but it kept me so, so warm! Way better than those warming blankets that they used to use.
Both of my nurses were wonderful, even though my pre-op nurse had to stick me twice, my veins did NOT want to pop out for some reason today! Finally my left hand came through for me! Although I am pretty sure that both hands with have large bruises on them tomorrow! Oh well, small price I had to pay I guess.
My doctor {his name is Dr. Phil, crazy huh?! Feels kinda weird to say it, but when I booked my first appointment with him, that is what they called him, not by his last name, Harmon} came to talk to me before we went in and put my mind at ease. He assured me that what I was having done was a piece of cake and that I would be fine. Since having babies, I have a new OB/GYN. I loved Dr. Misty, but and while I still go to her practice, she has moved on to bigger and better things, and I am so happy for her. When I called the office to let them know I was having issues, I got Dr. Phil! He has been awesome and I am lucky to have found such a caring office to go to with such great doctors!
The anesthesiologist was awesome too. Not gonna lie, this is what I was worried about most. Well, kind of. I wasn't worried about going to sleep - that was a great feeling...I was worried about the waking up part and puking. The first time I had have anesthesia I puked my brains out {TMI, I know} and I did not want it to happen again. It hasn't happened since {I have had 3 other surgeries since then that I have had to go to sleep for, this one was my fifth} and I am happy to report that I didn't puke today or cry {'cause that happens too} when I came back to the real world!
I was able to dress myself afterwards and walk out on my own two feet! The kids and hubby have been so good to me while I have been recovering.
So what exactly did I have done? If you click on the link below it explains things way better than I could ever do! Hysteroscopy / D&C / Polypectomy
Once they got in there and saw the polyp{s}, they went ahead with the
Polypectomy. It is most likely the cause for my crazy bleeding that
will hopefully stop with it being removed. They will send it for
testing, but usually the polyps are benign.
I have been on couch rest all day today and plan to do the same for the next couple of days. I am just a little sore and crampy feeling but on the road to recovery!!!
Well, we survived the Christmas crazy {only one more small party to go}! Friday night was the worst, but after that it was smooth sailing!
Saturday we hosted the Divis' family Christmas this year, instead of at my Aunt Jan and Uncle Bill's. The boys golfed in the morning while the girls prepared the food and got everything ready!
With my Uncle down for the count and unable to golf this year, it switched up the teams just a bit. Kyan and my dad were on a team and Chad and my cousin Bob teamed up. Any guesses who the winners were? Yep! Kyan and my dad!!! Kyan was so excited to come up on top and flashed around his $5 proud as could be.
After golf, we ate a fabulous Italian meal and exchanged gifts! Kyan got a box full of magic tricks from my aunt and uncle. He was so excited for it and watch the How-To DVD it came with almost immediately!
Don't I wish this wasn't magic!
Then, we played Apples to Apples! Last year I was sure we scared off my cousin's fiance {now husband} with our game play, but he came back for more this year. My dad even joined us this year and dominated! He is NOT allowed to play next year. Just kidding. Good job dad.
After playing games, most of the family took off to go to their own homes to celebrate Christmas either with other family members or with just each other. Grandpa and Grandma Nebraska stuck around to exchange presents with us!
While the kids were already spoiled earlier in the week with a big present, their were lots of little things to open under the tree, from us and from them.
They were so excited to get started!
They were showed were so many wonderful presents and are so lucky.
One of the things the kids got from us was the Kinect for the Xbox 360. With it the Just Dance 2 game. This may or may not have been more for me than it was them, but whatever! It took us forever to get Lola on there and dancing, as the person is the controller and trying to tell a 3, almost 4year old what who has no gaming sense of anything {she does not take after her brother} was next to impossible! But this is what happened when she finally got hooked up, her and her brother cut a rug!
One tradition we started a few years ago was sprinkling reindeer food outside for Santa's reindeer. The kids want to make sure that they know exactly where they should go and we leave a treat for them...as Santa gets plenty of cookies everywhere else he goes!
Santa came through once again this year and hooked it up! He brought Lola a GoGo puppy and Kyan a new Wii and the new Zelda game!
Kyan was the first to wake up and ask to go downstairs. He wanted Santa to bring and Ipod touch, but he got that from us {we wrapped up Chad's old one that he never used, Kyan can't tell the difference?!} so he wasn't sure what there was left for Santa to bring. Out of no where he has started talking about a hamster {ok, not out of no where, that would be thanks to Auntie Kiki, who he stayed with one day last week while he was sick}, but it was the first he mentioned to us the night before...so maybe for his birthday?! He was very surprised to see a new Wii under the tree. The old one just bit the dust a week before Christmas {or so we thought, more on that in another post} so it was perfect timing! He loves playing Zelda now on his own, because he can finally read what you are supposed to do! The new game came with a gold controller that he has told everyone he is the only person allowed to touch!
We had to wake Lola up from her slumber Christmas morning and I am sure that it was only because Santa left her something downstairs that she got up, otherwise she would have slept for another hour! When she saw her puppy she the first thing she said was , "I was good to my brother!!!" It was the cutest thing ever. That is what Santa asked her to do on the video and she thought that is why she got the present! She was so, so happy!
After only about 30 minutes of play time with their Santa gifts, we headed out to Rae and Lonnie's house for breakfast and to exchange gifts with Chad's side of the family! It was a bit different this year without Donna there, as she just got her hip replace a week and a half ago and is still recovering. But the food was delicious and we were still able to have some fun!
A picture of all the grandkids, just for Grandma Donna, on Christmas morning.
We love and missed you.
Enjoy your message:
We hung at home the remainder of the afternoon while the kids played with new toys. Ate leftovers with my parents in the early evening and then headed to a movie, We Bought a Zoo, where I bawled my eyes out through most of it. Perfect way to end the day, full of lots of love!
From our family to yours, we hope you had a wonderful weekend!
Ok, so to say that times are crazy is an UNDERSTATEMENT!
Let me just sum it up really quick, as I don't have that much time. I taught up until 3:30 this afternoon. That is right, my district didn't let out until December 23rd. While I am excited to not go back to school until January 9th, I feel like a chicken with my head cut off preparing for Christmas! Lets just say that I didn't wrap any presents until last night and I still have a few handmade items to finish making tonight, on top of preparing a huge Italian meal for Christmas lunch tomorrow afternoon and clean the house. Whew!
In all of the craziness this week, we have been {mostly the kids} having fun times!
Grandpa and Grandma took Kyan and Lola to Glendale Glitters on Wednesday night and to the zoo today {I let them skip school, spending time with family seemed more important}.
I was able to sneak away on Thursday to see Lola's preschool class perform a few songs! She was so stinking cute and didn't get stage fright at all {not gonna lie, I was worried}!
Grandpa and Grandma joined us and stayed the entire time, making arts and crafts after they sang! She was so excited to have us there!
Last night, after football practice, the kids received their own special emails from Santa. They had personalized messages {Santa knew their names, where they lived, how old they were, what grade they were in, and what special gift they wanted him to bring them} to each kid and told them if they were on the naughty or nice list! Their reactions were priceless and it was adorable to watch! You still have time to do this with your kids! Click here to make your own video!
Hoping to survive the Christmas craziness these next few days!
Wishing you and your families the merriest of Christmas'!
Not sure if you remember me saying it or not...but I have been a busy little bee in my craft room, finishing up the last of my gifts to give. I can finally show these off a few of them, as they were for my coworkers and the kids' teachers, and they were delivered either yesterday or today!
Let me just start by saying that I have a lot of coworkers that I give gifts to. What can I say? I work with amazing people and while I thank them over and over for making those last minute copies, collecting money/pictures for yearbook, or helping me with whatever really, Christmas is the one time of year that I try to spoil them {just a little}! I also try to give something to each of the kids' teachers, aides, and extended day workers. My children spend the majority of their awake time with them and each and every one is special in their very own way and plays a big part in molding my child into who he or she is becoming. Their positive impact means a lot.
Wheat Therapy Sack
So, for the extended day crew at the kids' school and for the front office peeps at my school {secretaries, advisers, coaches, principal and assistant principal} I made wheat therapy sacks. While searching pinterest for an idea that was relatively inexpensive, I found the Brassy Apple's tutorial for these bad boys {click hereto learn how to make your own}! I had all of the fabric already, just needed to get wheat, like 4 lbs of it! That is where my sister-in-law comes in. Just so happens that she had some in her food storage and she let me have it, all 4 lbs! So, that means that I was able to make all 21 of them for FREE! My kind of craft!
As I mentioned above, Megan of Brassy Apple gives a great tutorial on how to make these bad boys and you should go to check it out if you want to make your own! She even had a little poem to attach to with the gift. I loved it and decided to use it to, only I doctored it up just a little on picnic.com and printed it off at my local Walgreens! If you are wanting to use them too, you could! Just drag the image onto your desktop, upload to the your favorite place to print and attach it to your gift!
Good Luck Penny Key Chain
For my 8A team, I experimented a little bit this year! Again, while pinning my little heart out, I came across the coolest key chain I have ever seen, found here, you know, in case you are curious, didn't want to make your own and just wanted to buy it, or wanted to see how I was trying to make mine look!
This project was relatively simple to make on my own, although there is one more step that I probably should have done to make the letters stand out more. First I found the pennies with specific years: birthdays, heart surgeries, anniversaries. Then I had my husband drill holes in them after I duck taped and vasolined them to a scrap piece of wood. I stamped a copper piece with special words for each girl: lucky or blessed. Then I put them {okay, okay...it was Celeste, I didn't want to ruin my nails} on a key ring!
I knew I was going to make one for me too while I was at it, the only difference mine has is the picture charm! I saved the little picture that came on my tinyprints Christmas card order, cut it up and slapped a little mod podge dimensional magic {first time ever working on this project} on top! I let it dry overnight and woke up to my most favorite key chain ever! My pennies are of the year I got married, and the year each of my kids was born!
Emergency Clutch & Starbucks Gift Card Holder
These were each for my kids' teachers at school! Kyan has just one, but Lola is lucky enough to have 3 of them!
I have made these clutches before and to see how to make your own or what it is exactly, click here! All I know is that every girl should have one! It has been a life saver on more than one occasion!
And while I might be the only person on the planet who doesn't love Starbucks {I know, I know...horrible huh?}, I happen to know that their teachers do! But I didn't just give them a plain old card, even though I know it spends the same, so I asked Starbucks if I could have empty cups/lids to put them in! I threw in some tissue paper and a straw and placed them in the drink carrier {that I ask for with each McDonald's ice tea order in the mornings}!
That was the bulk of my handmade gift making for this holiday, but I am still NOT finished yet! I have a few more projects up my sleeve, can't show them off just yet though!
I love handmade anything. Hoping that each and every person that was given a gift knows just how special they are and how much love was poured into each gift that I made myself!
Tonight was family fun night at the kids' school. Kyan stayed home from school today {more on that to come...}, so Lola and I attended together. From the very second I picked her up from extended day, Santa was all she could talk about. She had to see him and sit on his lap and tell him what she wanted for Christmas. This was so out of character for her, usually she is running into my arms at the sight of anyone new! So, of course I jumped at the chance to take her to see him!
We were second in line and here was their reactions to each other!
She proudly told Santa that she wanted a puppy that barks and could walk with a leash {remote control, not a real one}. She grinned from ear to ear the entire time and Santa was just as smitten with her as she seemed to be with him!
After we visited with Santa for a few minutes, we were off to decorate a cookie for Kyan, who was at home sick. Lola knew that it would make him so happy, so she did one for him extra special. She even added her candy cane that Santa gave her to the plate for Kyan as well! And we couldn't leave without getting her face painted. She was so excited and stood in the long line, very patiently I might add, to get Rudolf, the Red Nosed Reindeer, on her cheek!
She had so much fun tonight, seeing Santa, her friends and her teachers!
When we got home, I immediately went to check on the sick one. He was burning up and had not gotten any better, despite staying home and resting the entire day with his Auntie Kiki, who was kind enough to let him crash with her so that we could go to work! I dashed him over to Urgent Care, where we were in and out in under 10 minutes {I love the one by our house, they are so speedy}. One look in his throat and the doctor said he had strep. He started rattling off about 5 different symptoms that he could be seen just in the throat and Kyan had all of them. He prescribed medicine and hopefully Kyan will be on the mend soon.
She was so excited to sing. We love this song. Grandma Julie especially loves this song and sings it with her all the time. So do I. Grandma, this is especially for you!
She was so excited to sing. We love this song. Grandma Julie especially loves this song and sings it with her all the time. So do I. Grandma, this is especially for you!
