I Love my Mailman

I just love this time of year....
I Love my mailman....or mail "person" if you prefer....in fact I don't know if it's a man or a woman....whatever....I Love my Mailcarrier!

He brings me such goodies....I usually get the mail every few days so I can trash the trash and sort *sigh* the bills. But this time of year.....oh so much fun! Because tomorrow....is December 1st, and that is when all the fun usually begins, but this year, it came early!

You never know what you are going to find in you mail.....could be a holiday card....a picture card, like the one we are going to create.

ORRRRRRRRRRR

It could be something just so awesome as this...feast your eyes....

My Bloggy Friend Alicia sent me these gems because she knows me well enough to know how much I love the HK! I am so taking these pens to work to use, no one will ever steal a pen from me again! And I am going to use my little tablets for my letters to Santa for all things HK that I want for Christmas! Alicia, you're awesome, I heart you!

And I also got this.....well okay my mail carrier didn't bring this, but it came all the way from Northern California, and directly from Kleetus himself....signed even....a t-shirt.

Who is Kleetus you ask? He is none other than the right hand man of Guy Fieri. I love this guy....he cracks me up with some of the stuff he posts on his blog, and you can't beat Guy on Diner's, Drive-in's and Dives. I am telling you, some of the things Guy says just does me in, and the hubs and I look and each other and says "Did he just say .....?" And then proceed to crack up! He's awesome! If you have never seen "Triple D" you have to watch...let me know what you think!

I can't wait to see what the mailman brings me tomorrow.....anyone else get anything fun yet?

My Little Miracles

A Weekend of Turkey and Firsts

Look at this gorgeous Christmas Cactus....one of the 1st for the weekend....I have owned this forever, and this is the 1st year it has bloomed...I am so excited!!
Thomas was very excited that Grandma came to stay, so on Turkey day they enjoyed a leisurely lunch together and Thomas was so excited to sit on a stool for the 1st time and not fall off.

This is our scrumptious BBQed turkey, from raw to this in 2 hours! And it couldn't have been more tender and juicy and had the BEST flavor!

Another 1st for the weekend....Christopher is finally signing the word more! I am so excited, he wanted a cookie, popped right up next to daddy and put his two fingers together and each time he finished his piece he did this. Okay so it's not the "correct" sign for More, but we got the message!

And then on with the weekend, it was a weekend full of fun, and trying to get that perfect pic of the boys together for our holiday card.....what a challenge! But we had fun trying and a couple of them came out super cute!

Okay so Thomas smiled and Christopher looks more Elmo but it was cute in a weird sort of way

Then it was onto some single pics with some holiday props! Thomas had a lot of fun with this guy!

And once Christopher played with it a little bit he was a fan as well!

Then of course we had to get some outstanding pics of them just hilariously laughing

Now if we could just get them to do it together in the same shot, we'd be set!

Thomas riding his pony and Christopher just wanting to pet him!

We wandered outside in the sunshine, kinda get the stink blown off us, and with the wind we had it worked out perfectly! And as you can see Christopher had a great time picking on Thomas!

By the end of the weekend we still hadn't gotten that "perfect shot" but we sure did have a whole lot of fun trying!!

Now my rein of fun must come to an end, just like Cinderella at midnight, tomorrow it's back to work!

I hope everyone else had a fabuloso weekend!

My Little Miracles

ER's no more, we hope!

Oh I have one to many ER experiences since my littlest one was born. And I wrote about his first ER experience. Our most recent trip to the ER came on 4th of July! What a way to celebrate huh? Got up that morning, watching my youngest son struggle for breath, and wheeze. NOPE, not waiting to see what happens with this one. The doc said take him to Tarzana ER, which is like 30 minutes away vs the hospital right down the street which is only about 10 minutes!

I don’t care let’s just go! We drop my oldest off with Grandma, Thank God her party wasn’t until later that afternoon. We go screaming down to the Tarzana ER, checking on him the entire way, saying “Is he still breathing?” Get to the ER and it’s standard stuff….temp taking, allllllllll the questions, history, he looks miserable, he’s still having a hard time breathing, so it’s the standard stuff, prednisone, and breathing treatments, two doses of each. Then of course he is feeling better and he’s hungry and he’s ready to go, but we have to wait for another does of prednisone and then we have to wait to make sure he doesn’t have a reaction.

So here is a kid who is hungry, we finally asked for some crackers or something. Jeeze for the amount they charge us you would think they would bring something other than saltines, like maybe some graham crackers or yogurt or something? I mean food was not on the top of my mind when flying out the door with wheezing child in route to the ER. I know I’m up for Mother of the Year award on that one!

Anyway, all's well that ends well. He got his treatments, we went back to his regular doc and got a nebulizer for any “next times” and some melt on the tongue prednisone! So no more ER visits for us! At least not for his breathing issues.
Let’s hope they don’t break anything until they are at least out of my house!

BEFORE TREATMENT

AFTER TREATMENT

I am thankful for so many things in my life, my children, the hubs, my family, good friends, good times and a loved ones touch, and I would love to share all of them with you, but since my boys were born I have not a poetic bone in my body! So you'll just have to take my word for it!

This has been another exciting and informative episode of Mama Kat’s weekly writing!
Hope everyone has a safe, happy and healthy Thanksgiving!!

My Little Miracles

Sexy?

What's sexy to you? To me Sexy is about who you are, you could be wearing a moo moo and feel sexy and if you feel sexy you are sexy, in my opinion.

So I am flipping through my People magazine, and I see this ad.....it immediately screams SEXY at you, and then of course you see a bra, so I think hmm must be an add for like Victoria's Secret?
NOPE, but it tells you it's Sexy essentials, so you must need ALL of these things to be sexy right? Now let's examine each of these coupons closely....

Caress body wash....okay I see it, it smells good, it is supposed to make your skin feel really smooth....I would buy that for "sexy" ....moving on....

A bra....got it, definitely, like I said my 1st thought was Victoria's Secret, and they are seen as sexy right? Okay once again I'll buy that for sexy.....next....

Fragrance by Tim McGraw.....okay Tim McGraw is sexy, so maybe if you wear his cologne you might feel sexy? I don't know, I'm not a man, does cologne make you feel sexy? But ok I get it, again I'll buy this as being Sexy.....And lastly....

BUTTER????? Wait, let me look at the ad again,....Yes that is butter! On an ad for Sexy??? Seriously???

Looking for feel Sexy? Go buy some butter, it's bound to make you feel at your best!!

I couldn't resist!! Think I could send this to like Jay Leno or maybe David Letterman and they would do a spoof on it? Give me the credit and I could make millions? Maybe a top 10 list? Top Ten reasons why Butter makes you feel sexy?

Ahh well, I tried! Hope you found it as laughable as I did!

My Little Miracles

It's for the dogs.....

Okay I was sitting here thinking last night as I had to run down the store that is all of a block away and normally during the summer I just load the boys up in the wagon or take one and take a stroller, unless I take Thomas and then he says “I walk Mommy” okay so anyway, my thoughts went to the fact that despite the fact that we live in a nice safe neighborhood and the store is a block away that I can’t take my babies for a walk after dark. Nothing would probably happen, but dang you hear on the news about people stealing for elderly people as they shop. When you walk into the local grocery store you see a pic and a sign that says “HAVE YOU SEEN THIS MAN?” And it’s so dark on the way home, without a large dog to protect us, I wouldn’t go for a walk after dark.

So with all that said, we pay a homeowners association. We pay them for such things as a “greenbelt” and on said greenbelt they have random trash receptacles, as well as baggies to pick up after your dog, you know being the responsible pet owner that you are, you forget your baggies to pick up your dogs turds, and I don’t care if you have a designer dog, you should still pick up their tootsie rolls.

Now I don’t mind having a homeowners associate fee, I pay it gladly, but when I get the “proposed budget for 2010” and they tell me my fees are going UP, and going through the budget they have proposed $240 a month for Dog cleanup……yes that is right almost 3k a year for dog clean up! How is that possible when they are charging me to have those bright and shiny trash receptacles as well as the poop bags, but yet they need to pay in addition to that for someone to come and clean up dog turds! That’s just great! Why not pay for more lighting on the street so that I can walk to the store with my babies after dark! At least that way we could get outside and get the stink blown off us!

Jeeze, I only have a cat, can’t I be excluded from paying the dog turd pick up fee??? I mean fair is fair right?

And p.s. is it scary that my middle school made the news last night and they showed a pic of the lunch area and it looks THE SAME as when I went there? I mean down to the tables….same color and arranged the same way. It’s like the completely redid the whole school except that lunch area!!! SCARY!

My Little Miracles

I remember....

There are so many things in my life that I could say have made my life dramatically different, from divorces to marriages to the birth of my sons they said I would never have!

But the very 1st thing that comes to mind is a day waaaaayyyyy back when. I was ten. I woke up in the middle of the night....voices, strange voices and noises I couldn't describe. I walked into the living room and saw them, in my house. Paramedics, and a gurney....taking my dad.

I remember it like it was yesterday. (When in fact it's been close to 27 years ago.) I walked up to my dad....I remember the paramedics saying to him, "Sir? You are going to have to put your leg flat" and my dad saying Okay. And a moment later he would bend his legs again and they told him again to put his legs flat.

My Mom, telling me they were going to take him to the hospital and I heard her tell them, "He fell out of bed, and his disoriented" I remember him telling me "Be a good girl Missy" Which is my nickname, my mom still calls me that today. And that was the last thing my dad ever said to me! The neighbors came to stay with my brother and I while my mom went to the hospital.

Next I heard, "He had emergency brain surgery and is in a coma". I went to see him, I was 10, and they made special permissions for my brother and I to go into the CCU to see him. The nurse, telling me "This isn't really how your dad is, I want you to remember your dad the way he was". I walked in, I remember seeing a patch over the side of his head that said "Open do not push". I remember the tubes, the sound of the ventilator. I remember the heat of his skin, burning up, he had nothing on but a small towel and he was roasting! And I remember my mom, crying and telling me to talk to him, that he can hear me. I told him that I was there and I missed him and loved him and hoped he came home soon! I remember hugging him, and then it was time to go! That would be the last time I saw my dad!

I remember trying to carry on in like normal, my mom crying, but trying to be normal. And I remember coming home from school, watching the end of General Hospital (my mom always watched that and it was on when I got home from school) I remember eating a piece of cheese, and I remember hearing my mom on the phone....a one sided conversation....

"Oh, I see. Was it his heart? (My dad had an artificial steal heart valve, and had been through 2 open heart surgeries) Okay, I understand, Thank You."

I remember my mom coming up to me on the couch, and hugging me and telling me that my dad had just died. I remember not knowing what to do, I was hurt, and I was angry and I wanted to see him again, and I wanted so much for it to all be a lie! And I remember dropping my cheese and the dog stealing it out of my lap.

From that moment my life would never be the same.

I remember everyone talking about how it was gone, he was gone, he was gone. HE WASN'T!!! I remember yelling that....."HE'S NOT GONE! He's here.....as I grabbed for my heart, he will ALWAYS be here, and I hate everyone saying he's gone" and I remember running to my room and crying and crying and crying....until I didn't think there were any more tears to cry.

I remember my dad's voice, the quietness of him, I remember running to the front door every day saying DADDY and he would pick me up and hug me. And I will always remember just how very special he was, and how his death changed me for a lifetime, and life as I knew it, was never the same! His death made me who I am today, and I often wonder....what if! But that's a post for another day and another time.

I would like to thank Mama Kat, for without her prompts this post might never have been published. Head on over to her place and see what else she's digging up. (Oh and I didn't count to see if I met the 1000 word mark, anyone willing to do that?)

My Little Miracles

Postcard Perfect

We visited Mickey Mouse in his kingdom this past weekend and got some really great postcard perfect pics....
THE Castle in the background with Minnie in the foreground....
Matterhorn Mountain in the background with Finding Nemo in the foreground....

A perfect underwater shot from inside the submarine of Finding Nemo....

And the wonderment of 2 1/2 year olds face when he saw it all was worth every penny!!

My Little Miracles

Question of the Day....

So this is the question of the day, and I would LOVE to hear your response.

So if you eat a cherry you can say it's sweet, or tart. If you eat a strawberry you say it's sweet. How about if you eat popcorn? It's crunchy, it's salty and depending on how much butter you put on it, it may take on a different flavor.

But how about when you eat one of these....
Yes that's right an avocado. The hubs doesn't care of them and he asked me to explain to him the taste of an avocado. Say your friend has never had them, they ask you what it taste like, and without saying it tastes like an avocado, what would you, what could you relate it's flavor to? We are not talking Guacamole, that takes on a flavor all it's own. Just a plain avocado, what's your take?

My Little Miracles

The Happiest Place on Earth

That's right the happiest place on Earth is Disneyland at Christmas time.
Wish we could have a tree that big, could you imagine the awesome pine smell in your house???

And what is Disneyland without Walt, The Mouse and The Castle?

Thomas' first visit, and we thought for sure we would be going home at 3:30 with our tail between out legs saying "That was the BIGGEST Mistake of our lives and a total waste of money" And it wasn't! Thomas did awesome, he absolutely LOVED it!

We went on Finding Nemo first, he did great, he was so excited to look out the little port hole at all the stuff and try to find Nemo. He did have a little bit of a problem with how LOUD it gets in there during the dark and scary parts, he wasn't too keen on that!

He was in total awe of It's a Small World, and it was all decked out in the holidays, singing Christmas carols and to see his eyes just wide open trying to drink it all in made it all worth while! He went on several rides and wasn't scared of a one. Just some of them had really loud speakers and he didn't care for that!

Then we headed over to toon town where the kids could just run wild. Thomas was interested in driving all the cars, and he even convinced Nalani to jump on with him! Looks like they are on a first date, all shy and all!

Then by mid day they were at the hugging stage, Thomas gave her a couple of hugs and I think he even snuck in a kiss on the cheek, he was very gentlemanly!

Nalani and I were fast friends, we share an absolute love of all things Hello Kitty! HK ROCKS! So we were chatting about our new HK finds!

Thomas meets Mickey for the first time! He wasn't too keen on the characters at first until he was finally brave enough to high 5 Pluto and then he was great!! He was even sporting his 1st time visit button!

After a short nap in his stroller he was ready to go....we were watching the toy parade and he thought that was pretty cool!

And by nights end watching the Christmas Parade he was spent! He had a great time and I can't wait to go back!

Thomas wanted me to Thank "Lani" as he calls her and her mommy and daddy for showing us all around Disneyland as she is a pro having been her 2nd time going!! And we can't wait to go with them again....next time we're getting a room!!

My Little Miracles

Spider Boy

My youngest would NOT wear his spider costume to save his life, but he sure does look happy in his Spiderman jammies...go figure!

My Little Miracles

Keep Running

You know, as my boys are getting older, and of course getting into more trouble and since we are right smack in the middle of the terrible twos with the oldest and just pulling into the "MINE" phase with the youngest, life and punishments becomes a challenge.

A lot of people have all kinds of advice from time outs to reasoning to eating candy....don't ask!

Now having a psychology degree, they say that reasoning with a child is what you should do....your child runs into the street and nearly give you a heart attack, don't beat sense into him....reason with them....yeah right! I don't think the thinkers of that thought tried it with a stubborn 2 1/2 year old.

We don't have any clever punishments.....yet! We resort to the classic time out. And I am sure as both boys get older that will change. But I can remember a couple of times when I was a child when our punishment consisted of running around the house. Yep that is right, my mom would get tired of my brother and I fighting or whatever and she figured if we had that much energy to do whatever it was we were doing we should work some of that off.

Hey we thought that was pretty cool....we'd take out for the door....and then of course it became a race....a competition. Until about 8 laps around the house and we were like.... DONE! WRONG....keep running. Well then we would get ticked that we were out there running to begin with, so then we'd start fighting about who's fault it was that we out there in the first place....well needless to say we would indeed get all out energy out fighting without killing each other while running around the house! And my mom would have peace in the house!

Now, for the moment, I can't see my 2 1/2 year old running around the house, he'd fall on the floor kicking and screaming and that would end that! But in time this one might come in handy!

And I'll save you all the post again, but if you are interested You can go HERE and see what I did all by myself!

This has been another edition of Writers Workshop over at Mama Kat's head on over there to see all the others.

My Little Miracles

Because Freedom is NOT Free

In September, the traveling Vietnam Memorial Wall came to a town near me, and it was just as impressive as the real thing.

So I thought I would combine my Wordful Wednesday as well as my Veterans Day Post.

I'm amazed at the gifts, letters, flowers, cards and flags that people leave at the wall....and they keep each and every one of them, they do not get thrown out!

Tissues left for those that get overwhelmed by it's power!

So Happy Veterans Day, to all those past and present serving in our Armed Forces, you are apreciated, you are supported and you are thought of, not just on Veteran's Day, but every day!

And let us all remember that Freedom is not Free!
Now head on over to Angie's and see what other gems you can find in her Wordful Wednesday Post!

My Little Miracles