Let's Get Personal

It's 11:00 on a Saturday night. My kids and hubby are snoring away in their beds. I'm listening to some Brandi Carlile while catching up on my favorite blogs and enjoying the breeze through my window. Down time. Nice. I haven't done one of these in a while and saw it on this blog. Remember when tagging was all the rage in blogging? Anyway, I like these questions. They go beyond "Who did you talk to last on the phone?" and "Chocolate or vanilla?" So feel free to play along. Or not. We are pretty laid back around here. :)

1. When do you feel happiest? When my life is balanced. As much as it can be balanced.

2. How do you take care of yourself? As most adults know, when you have limited time, limited money, many responsibilities and precious little people depending on you, you have to pick and choose the best way to take care of yourself. I choose to buy fabric. It's that simple for me right now. Why? I love the process of finding fabric. I love the colors, the smells, the textures, the patterns. I love combining fabrics for a unique look. I love deciding what I want to create from the fabric. And when I buy fabric it's mine and only mine. No one else cares about the fabric I choose but me.

3. Are you internally (by yourself) or externally (by others) motivated? A little of both. I prefer to think that I'm inspired by others' successes and ideas. But the older I get the more I am internally motivated. I think that comes from knowing more what I want to accomplish in life and knowing what things don't fit into my ideals.

4. What do you do for fun? House cleaning. Just kidding! Have you seen my house lately?

I love fun. Isn't fun, fun? What movie is that from? Anyway, there are different kinds of fun. I'll break it down for you:
Kid fun: playing in the water, tickle time, looking through old pictures, dancing to Mamma Mia
Kevin fun: Talking. (These days we are lucky if we even get to have one conversation during the day, but I do love talking to Kevin.) Playing Super Mario Brothers on Wii together.
Girl fun: sewing nights, midnight showings, talking
Me fun: listening to music, reading, fabric shopping, sewing, vegging in front of the TV

5. What intimidates you? Supermoms. I will never be one. I'm not really going for the Supermom title, but sometimes I wonder what I'm missing. What is it about me that can't keep it all together? I'm not looking for any psychological advice. I'm not really worried about it.

6. What is something you're proud of? My family. My heritage. I'm proud of my wonderful, hardworking, talented grandparents who passed down their wisdom, their faith and their beautiful qualities. I'm proud of lovely parents. I would not be who I am without them...all of them. I'm proud of my brothers and sister and the lives they have created (with the amazing people they married) for themselves and their families. I'm so proud of my husband and the good man that he is. He is hardworking and kind and tries so hard to do the right thing. He has taught me so much. I am so proud of my beautiful children. I'd like to take credit for the amazing little people they are. But I can't. They are the way they are.

7. Finish this sentence. I never make my bed. I don't. There, my dirty little secret is out.

8. Favorite vacation spot. California. Hopefully someday we'll be able to expand our travels to experience more of the world than the southwest.

9. Today is a (rate from 1 - 10). To be honest, I'd rate it a 4. I'm glad it's over. I won't bore you with the details. :)

10. Finish this sentence. If you knew me really well you'd know that I'm a worrier. I'll probably have an ulcer in a couple of years. If Kevin is home 15 minutes late I've already got his funeral planned. If one of my kids cries for an unknown reason I'm convinced they have some crazy disease. I'll analyze a conversation I've had with a friend over and over again to make sure I didn't say anything offensive. I worry about the future. I worry about the past. I worry. It's annoying. I wish I didn't worry as much.

So there you go. This is my fun on a Saturday night. I was hoping to cuddle up with Kevin and watch Avatar. But since he hasn't slept for 28 hours I'm thinking sleep is more important that watching a bunch of blue people run around a jungle. On a side note about Avatar, have you heard that there is a hotline for people who are depressed that they can't live on Pandora? There's a hotline for everything these days. I need a hotline for people who can't figure out how to get their almost two year old to sleep through the night. And on that note, the Gavman needs his mom. Good night!

Giveaway Winner

The winner of the Simplify your Life giveaway is Aubrey! She says: Here is my favorite snack for kids: Sliced apples, a gogurt, and string cheese.

Thanks for all your ideas and suggestions for healthy snacks. It's nice to try a new thing or two. Don't forget to grab your coupon for a free box of Simply...GoGurt. (For friends who live around here, I found Simply...GoGurt at Albertsons. They may have it at other stores now, but when I checked a couple of weeks ago they didn't.)

The Final Countdown

Do you have the Europe song in your head now? I do...in all it's '80's glory. :)

Like the cap and diploma made out of Lego? It just screams Kevin. Once he sees this he'll probably put it on his list of things he wants to build with Lego. That list is getting pretty long. :)

The day is coming. The light at the end of the tunnel is getting brighter. Kevin is almost breathing a final sigh of relief. He has three weeks until he graduates! He has taken his finals and finished lecture. Now he just needs to complete three weeks of a preceptorship at Mayo clinic and then he graduates. After than he'll still have to take the NCLEX to get his RN license, but the majority of the work is done. He's done a fantastic job and I'm so proud of him.


MySpace-Countdowns

Simplify Your Life giveaway

GoGurt....one of the best creations invented for the modern mom. I love that I can throw a few frozen GoGurts in my diaper bag and pass them out to the kids on the run. Yoplait, through MyBlogSpark, sent a free coupon to try out their latest product, Simply...GoGurt. Simply...GoGurt is made from simple ingredients and doesn't have all the added stuff we don't like, like high fructose corn syrup or artificial flavors or colors. We tried it out this morning and I got the official thumbs up from Cade and Myla. They are all about yogurt. We go through it pretty quickly around here.

The great thing is that Yoplait has provided a link for 30 readers to get a coupon to try Simply...GoGurt for free. So if you are one of the first 30 people to click on the Free Yogurt tab below you'll get a coupon for a free package. After the 3o coupons are shared there will be a new link for $1.10 off coupon.

Yoplait, through MyBlogSpark, sent this great "Simplify Your Life" prize pack that includes a pocket Etch-a-Sketch, backseat organizer and and pretty little weekly organizer. They have also provided one to give away to you!

To enter the giveaway, leave a comment sharing some wholesome snacking tips for the kids. Giveaway closes Thursday, April 22nd at 11:59pm.

To the ballgame

There's just something adorable about watching 5 year olds trying to play t-ball. Some of them kinda get it. Most of them don't. But they have fun. (Although the enthusiasm over the treats at the end of the game makes me think that's what they really look forward to.) Cade got to play first base last night and really had no idea what to do with all these balls that were coming his way or the kids running their little hearts at towards him. Most of the time he just moved out of the way. When he hit the ball he kindly took the bat back to the dugout and then trotted leisurely to first base. Like I said, pretty adorable!

School Pictures I'm Happy About!

At the beginning of the school year Cade came home with an order form for school pictures. I was floored at the prices for one pose of not-so-great pictures. I was so excited when I learned that Jenna Jameson was offering Better School Pictures for a fantastic price. She was scheduled to take pictures of Myla's preschool class, so I arranged for her to take Cade and Gavin's pictures too. I'm so glad it worked out! Check some of them out:

Myla's preschool class



And I just had to include a picture of the cute way she packaged the CD. Such a sweet personal touch!

E-day

Here are a few pics from the day. I only got a few of Myla, and she was scowling in every one of them, so they didn't make the cut. :)

Waiting for the eggs to be hid.

Easter Basket Hat

Gavin thought this was the best part. He didn't really care about the eggs.

At one point he was running toward Grandma Cat and giggling with the bucket over his eyes.

Gavin with my Grandma.

They kids got these cute gummy bunny teeth. They loved them.

Sister Shoutouts

Check out the new Royalty Bowtique created by Nicki and her friend, Erin. There are tons of cute accessories for your little boy or girl. Capes, tutus, bracelets, hair bows...so much fun! Great prices and quality product. They are having a giveaway to kick off their grand opening! You can also catch Nicki on Etsy!

My sis-in-law, Jamie, is now registering for preschool for the 2010-2011 school year. She will be offering two different preschool classes this year. Go here to get all the lovely details. Myla has LOVED preschool with Miss Jamie and Miss Lisa this year. They make learning so fun. She always comes home with art projects and learning sheets and stories to tell about outside time or what her friend said. I love it! It has been so wonderful for Myla. I love that there are two teachers. Double the fun!

The winner of the Spring Treats prize pack is Jill!

She said:

My favorite spring/summer time treat is fresh watermelon. Oh my gosh, I could eat a whole melon all by myself. Yummers!

Mmmm, watermelon is my favorite too. I could live off of watermelon during the summer. I can't wait until they are in season. Congrats Jill!

Thanks for all of your great spring baking recipe ideas! It was so fun reading them. Have a wonderful Easter weekend.