I've been Tagged?

Ok, so I have been "Tagged" by my buddy over at The Womble Times.  In a way I feel like this is a huge step for a novice blogger such as myself.  I always see other people being tagged out their in the "bloggy world"  so maybe I am growing up a bit.  But on the other hand, it is a bit like the bad email forward... Which will lead me into my first Random fact:

1. I HATE the email forward,  especially the ones that make me feel doomed if I don't send them on to 15 more people in the next 15 minutes.  I like y'all too much to forward those not so funny email forwards, so if I go down blazing, it may just be partly out of my love for you. (Sorry Dennis, I know of your undying love of the email forward, I love you anyways)

2. Never stand behind me in any line!  There could be a line with only 1 person in it, the next 17 lanes could have 10 customers with buggies full of goodies.  If I am the person standing in line solo, don't get behind me, I am cursed with ALWAYS picking the wrong line.  

3. I am CHEAP, if you take a piece of merchandise that I have absolutely no interest in, and put an orange clearance sticker on it,  I feel an overwhelming need for said item.  No, it does not matter what it is, or if I truly need it.  It is my biggest problem,  I am trying to overcome it.  If you see me in Target call me out on it, I'll be the one holding up the line. 

4. I like peanut butter & syrup on my french toast.

5. I have a "vision board" of all the things I want to accomplish in my life,  I think of 100 new things I want to put on it daily.  I will need 10 lifetimes to complete it all, maybe I should spend way less time on the computer and get busy with some of it.

6. I only covet 2 things...1) I wish beyond anything that I was extremely organized, like the people who even have their junk drawers organized, I am overcome with envy when I walk into their house. 2) Everything in the store Anthropologie,  I am not big into fashion and name brands, could pretty much care less and most of my clothes are from Old Navy, Target or Marshall's,  but take me into the store, Anthropologie, and all of the sudden I DESERVE a $98 t-shirt.  

7.  I'm not saying that I am anti-social, BUT I would be completely happy if I was stranded on a desert island with my husband and children.  I feel like the luckiest girl in the world to share my life with these amazing people. 

ok, so tag to 

Elizabeth

Sarabeth

Felecia

Alisa

Mary

Andrea

I'm SOOO excited. We just received these photos last night. The Bloom Project (The non-profit that my girlfriend and I started!) bought milk and formula for these kids living in an orphanage in Haiti! Aren't they just beautiful!!! The amazing lady that started this orphanage is a nurse, she takes amazing care of these kids and is always getting new sick babies and bringing them back to health. There are about 30-40 kids living there at all times.  And I'm sure you all have heard the tragic stories about the food shortage in Haiti, and the hurricanes that have ripped through recently. Some of her before and after photos are startling at the least. She is doing some major work over there in Haiti, I hope we get the chance to help them out a lot more.  We are hoping to take a trip to visit them soon.  I don't know if I could leave without bringing a few of these kids home.  Most of the children are UP FOR ADOPTION!  We are trying to figure out a way to show photos and profiles of the kids so people could consider adopting them!  They are soo sweet. 

So I found my OLD camera in the kids toy box. Thing is archaic, and likes to turn off randomly and get stuck in weird settings, but it will work for now and the pictures aren't so bad... This is what we have been doing the last couple days...
I think this is sweet even though the photos are HORRIBLE!  All the kids LOVE "helping" in the kitchen,  we try to let Mina help too, but sometimes she gets shafted because she is too small (and quite messy) and I already have so many "helpers" a Mama can only line up so many step stools in front of the cake batter bowl.  So this Saturday morning, Mina got to help all by herself.  She was so proud, and for once the big kids had to sit out.   (Can you tell that it is still dark outside in these photos, sleeping in is a thing of the past 'round here)



I went with Jackson's class on a field trip to the Farm/ pumpkin patch. We had a great time. 







We went to a fall festival at Kobi's school on Saturday.  We spent half the day there and the kids had a great time.  There was a booth where the kids could throw a pie in the teachers face, but Kobi wouldn't do it.  She LOVES her teacher, and couldn't be convinced to play along. I don't really blame her though.  I don't know if I would do it either.  Jack on the other hand, he had no problem with it.  She did get a big kick out of watching though... Look at that smile. Oh I just love it

Special Prayer Requests

Please pray for this little girl, Sydney. Her family brought her home from China in Dec. 2006, she was a special needs baby with a diagnosis of cavernous hemangioma and concave chest. The hemangioma was bad but treatable. Shortly after coming home we found out her true diagnosis - NF1 (neurofibromatosis) It's a genetic disorder, actually the most common type occurring in 1 out of every 3000. Symptoms can vary from nearly none to multiple. Sydney unfortunately has a very large tumor, it is wrapped around her left lung, her aorta, trachea, and her spinal cord. It also protrudes from her back. You would NEVER know she has anything wrong with her. There is no cure and the only treatment option is surgery. Sydney is NOT a candidate for surgery- there is just TOO much involvement. The ortho Dr. was hoping to have her chest repaired to help alleviate pressure on her spine as she has developed scoliosis (although I can't tell) but this too is out of the question, it would just be too risky. There are a few clinical trials coming up that may offer a glimmer of hope. I would so appreciate a prayer request on your blog - we need all the prayers we can get! Please pray for Syndey and pray BIG! God knows what she needs.

ALSO
Brent's Birthday Celebration Giveaway!!!

click here to find out more about this very special Birthday Giveaway

 Brent was diagnosed at the age of 9 with Neuroblastoma, a cancer of the nervous system. He touched so many lives with his kindness, with his spirit and with his unwaviering faith. Brent received his "Heavenly Healing" on January 2, 2007, at the young age of 11.

His family kept a website to keep family and friends abreast of his progress and to their prayer requests. In reading it, you can see a boy who found so much joy in the littlest things. A boy who loved his Mom and Dad and brothers with all of his heart. A boy who found happiness in making others happy. A boy who put others before himself. A boy who knew what it meant to LOVE Jesus with everything he Had. A boy who was wise beyond his years. A boy who can teach us all something about how to LOVE.

UPDATE::: We got the MRI results back, and everything, like I suspected is perfectly normal!!!  (I wonder if all those Dr's will let her be now? )Ok so I am buying time until I get a new camera and putting up some old photos.  So I guess it wasn't very nice to post about Mina going in for a MRI and then not posting again. Sorry for those sweet people who were worried about our precious little girl. It was a little rough for her coming out of the anesthesia, lots of thrashing and screaming. I guess anesthesia has this effect on at least 50% of kids. But within 30 minutes she was just fine. I just worry about her sometimes, knowing that she has been through a lot.  But she is doing great now, thanks for your prayers and concern. We have not received the results from the MRI, but again we are not worried about it at all. I am basically going through the motions the doctors want me to so they can give us an "all clear".

Mina has to go in for an MRI in the morning, please keep her in your prayers. I am not worried about the test results, but I do worry about her going through the test. She has to be sedated and she doesn't like the doctors at all. She has already been through a CAT scan and had to be sedated for that as well. We will be at the hospital all morning. When she wakes up from the anesthesia it is very difficult. It breaks my heart. The doctors are trying to rule out any cause that her head measurements are small. The biggest concern that you have with a small head measurement is usually developmental delay, of which Mina has NONE! So the doctors are trying to rule out everything else. We have seen several doctors and no one can find any reason at all why her measurements are small (which is good) it can also be just a genetic thing but since we don't have that info. we are having to rule out any other cause. Poor thing has been through so many doctors since she has been home. I am just worried about her tonight, Please keep her sweet little spirit in your prayers tonight. Thanks.

My new buddy!!

I went to pick Jackson up from preschool last week, and his teacher told me that he had said to his class " My baby sister is an Octopus" when his teacher asked him why, he said" Because my Mommy says she has too many arms and legs and she is always getting into things" ... So I guess he does listen to me when I am talking, even when I am not expecting him to.


Our sweet Mina,has an extra dose of Spicy, she is the first of our 4 children that requires us to child proof and use baby gates, she is into everything. She really likes to be busy, Play-dough is my new best friend, she sat in her high chair and played this morning for close to an hour...Mina sitting for a full hour,,, amazing!

Can you tell I haven't replaced my camera yet?

Confessions of a "Blonde" woman.

I was so excited this weekend as we headed off to the Corn Maze / Pumpkin patch, the weather was perfect and it is one of my favorite fall activities. My girlfriend and I spent the first hour of our fun family outing, spouting orders and making fools of ourselves trying to get the perfect fall photos of our kids. This was Mina's first fall pumpkin photo opportunity so of course my inner paparrazi came out. So our husband's rolled their eyes and tried to help us pose our children in natural, "I'm hanging out in the pumpkin patch covered with pumpkin's" type poses. Where?, are those photo's, well they are on my camera which is somewhere in the middle of the boonies, hidden within 6 acres of corn fields... Why?, I gave it to my husband-- I just didn't tell him that I was giving it to him & I didn't zip up the camera case that he had on his person, I just kinda dropped it in. And Marc, who is not one for just walking through a corn maze, decides to (about every 20 feet) hide "in" the corn and jump out trying to scare our the kid's... So by the time we figure out that we are missing the camera, we realize that it is not just lost it is LOST in the thick of the corn part of the corn maze! So, my girl Heather tried to take some last minute photos of us, because if we don't have it in a photo, it didn't happen, Right? So this is the best of the fall photos for now, isn't her baby just the cutest! Now I get to research what my next camera will be.... I didn't like my old one anyway... Maybe, I can win one here and help bring this adorable little guy home!

Sibling Rivalry

Oh my poor Jack, what it must be like to have a baby sister that copies your every move and screams "MINE" every time you touch any object. Mina is such a pest to our (usually) sweet Jack. When he is at school, and it is just Mina and Mommy at home or running around, Mina is so chill. Like one of those kids everyone wished they could just take home with them. BUT,,, when she gets around Jack, all bets are off. It is like a switch gets flipped and she has to terrorize him, copying his every move and trying to snatch whatever he is holding. She has become a mean skateboard chick in her attempts to emulate her big bro. Friday is my only morning with both the little ones so I went to the gym, and took a new class (complete and utter humiliation, have you ever heard of Zumba. Nothing like a Zumba class to make you feel, old, and uncoordinated. After all of my triathlon workouts I was hoping to hit a nice mellow pilates class or something, just to shake things up a bit. Well Zumba was what was going down, at 10:30 so I tried it out and felt like a fool. Not sure if I will try it again?) then the little ones and I stopped at Dunkin Donuts to get a treat for after our lunch at the park.. We had quite the nice little mellow afternoon picnic at the park. I love hangin' with my kids! My favorite thing to do. They are so fun!

Girls Rock!

All of our hard work paid off! Our little group did our first Triathlon yesterday!!! What a great feeling. Thanks Mollie for recruiting us, I know we all have another triathlon in our future. It was actually fun, although there was about an hour there yesterday that I don't think I would have used the word "fun". Jane & Chris you best be in for next year! We even celebrated last night with an after party at Mollie's house. Your awesome! We had a great time.

Us looking all chipper before the race! I had major butterflies.



All "numbered" up and waiting for my turn to swim. I had to wait a while, I posted the wrong swim time when I signed up so I started almost an hour after the rest of my crew.



My little cheering section, Thanks guys for hanging out all morning!


We did it! Thanks for making these awesome shirts!


My little transition area, after the swim you have to run out to your bike, throw your clothes & helmet on and start out on the bike course. I stressed over this little spot!