Tackle it Tuesday

Ruth has contests going and the blog topics do challenge me to be more organized. I have wanted to try Tackle it Tuesday for a while but I have not for one reason or another.

My task today is to sort through those magazines that pile up before you know it! I have a pile I keep stacking up and it is time to purge!! Sounds simple enough but I am a shredder of mail. Maybe I do not have to shred the labels displaying our name and address, but I do! Call me paranoid!?! My husband does! haha

I also want to get the drawers in our bedside tables cleaned out. They tend to catch the 'I don't know what to do with this now" stuff. So, it is due a purging as well.

Thanks Ruth for having a contest so that I will actually do the Tackle it Tuesday challenge. To my friends, I promise I will not make my blog a meme filled, contest announcement page now. This was just for today! Have a blessed day!!

For those who do not know: Meme is pronounced meem and is a repeated idea or information pattern.

Menu Plan Monday

Ok, I need this! This will keep me from the inevitable 'I don't know what I want to eat tonight' exhaustion. We have two toddlers and we are trying to get them interested in what Mommy and Daddy are eating. Yesterday I told my daughter that Mommy chooses our meals not her. We had Spaghetti and she wanted a sandwich. I have let this slide but now that she is 3.5 I feel like she should eat what we eat. My son will follow suit. She used to eat whatever we did and then I don't know how we lost control. Anyway, I digress. Here is my Menu Plan for the week! I am participating in a contest by Ruth. I just ran across her site via another site, etc. This seemed to be a good fit to help me in this new endeavor! Focus!! You also must visit Laura. She has a very welcoming blog as well - she is the creator of Menu Plan Monday. So here is our menu:

1. Spaghetti

2. Jambalaya

3. Meatloaf

4. Smothered Chicken

5. Pizza

6. Chili

7. Our Sunday meal out!

Now that wasn't so hard! Please join in if you are interested! By the way, I realize today is Tuesday - I just found this today! :o)

Mason & Matisse Giveaway

Another contest!! Stephanie over at Adventures in Babywearing is having another fun contest! It seems she keeps finding these great gifts and likes to share the love!! Gotta love that! Anyway, visit Steph at her blog by clicking the link above if you would like to join in and compete for the great prizes. Please feel free to visit Mason and Matisse for yourself after visiting Steph. She has a code for 20% off if you would like to make a purchase from them!
The list below includes the items up for grabs in the contest!!
-Skip Hop Pronto in Black or Red
- Skip Hop Toolbox Diaper Caddy in White with Mint Accents
- Skip Hop Splash in White
- Skip Hop Chow in White

Good luck and have fun!!

What color blue are you?

You are Ocean Blue

You're both warm and practical. You're very driven, but you're also very well rounded.You tend to see both sides to every issue, and people consider you a natural diplomat.

What Color Blue Are You?

Ok Melissa, since I flopped on the last quiz I took, how does this sound? Did I do better this time? :o) Please let me know if I am off the cough syrup or not! haha

Try this quiz and let me know what you find!

Monkey See, Monkey Do

Normally 'Monkey See' is my daughter. Not this time!
JB said, "Hey Mom, Wook a' Me" and HC had to find her glasses so she could do the same!

Monkey Do! "CHEEEEESE" It is hard to tell but her glasses are upside down too!

I see a Monkey just like YOU!

Mother's Day

I know I am a little late! I just wanted to say I had a great Mother's Day this year. My kids are not old enough to express their appreciation yet but I hope they will appreciate me when the time comes. We spent Mother's Day in Houston visiting my Grandmother. It was neat to have my Grandparents interacting with my kids. To see them cause each other to smile or laugh. To know there is so much history between the generation gap. To see my Grandmother needing help from me in ways she used to care for us and yet she is still able to care for my kids. It is a unique dynamic. There is an innocence in my Grandparents and my kids. So much difference and so much similarity.

To hear my Grandmother giggle like a little girl when my daughter said, 'WOW Mother, you look so cute.' Mother was dressed in her Astros gear and ready for a baseball game - still enjoying every moment of life. To see Grandmother cover her mouth trying not to laugh after JB tiptoed into the hall one more time. He was supposed to be in bed sleeping. To see Godfather take the kids fishing and hear the silly stories he likes to tell. He tries to be ornery but he is a big teddy bear! To know Godfather was able to see JB and play with him, the last time we were down for a visit Godfather was in the hospital and JB was a year younger.

I want to drink in all the lessons from my Grandparents but there are so many questions to ask. I pray I will continue the heritage they are leaving me. I pray my children will one day look back and feel I left them the family jewels - our faith. My childhood was full of seeing my Grandparents praying for us and others. Watching them lend a helping hand to a person or family in need. Knowing they were there for us when we needed them. I am so thankful for the few days we had with them. Knowing my kids shared memories with them, like I did! What a blessing!! I pray we will have more time with them and my kids will grow to know and love them as much as I do.

Until our next visit, I want to say 'Grandfather and Grandmother, I love you both dearly and I pray, God willing, we will see you again soon!'.

(I was playing around with some of my Grandparents old pics while we visited and took a picture of a few pictures. This picture is of them when my mom was a child! It may just be the 'good ole' days to them!)

Road Trips

We've been away, for 4 or 5 days , visiting my Grandparents. We had a blast. It was exactly what we needed! My husband's work load finally lightened up and we had time to get away. Now he starts traveling for work trips. We had to squeeze in a little family fun before that begins. We are home now!

Many people say you can tell the health of your family relationships by taking road trips. We recently met some friends with 5 older kids and they were telling us about their 16 hour road trips. They told us how they use a movie as the last resort. They talk, read, enjoy one another and then during the last few hours they all watch a video together. Wow! I want my kids to love each other like that. I want a road trip to be an adventure.

So how is our family's relationship? My husband and I came home feeling we were super healthy. I must admit, in the past, we have had a few yucky trips. This one was different. Maybe we both needed the break and the 'Grands' were just that - a refreshing break! Or, maybe we both hit the road with a bigger goal in mind and we did what we teach our kids to do, WE used self-control when we were frustrated. We really didn't feel frustrated at all on this trip!

So videos in the van. Ok, on our trip to Houston I tried to delay video time but that didn't work at all. We had a 10 hour drive and a 3.5 year old and a 2 year old. They are used to videos straight away when we pack up the van. Long trips = videos! So, 30 minutes later we had a video on and they watched videos most of the trip. I failed! On the ride home, they went 1.5 hours with talking and playing together (in their carseats) and they didn't ask for a video. Unfortunately, my son began to whine and aggravate his sister and so I buckled trying to keep the peace. Pretty good huh? They went an hour longer than the first time. Still not what I wanted but I didn't have many distracting toys or ideas to keep them from fighting. In fact, the distracting toys I brought caused whining. What is up with that? I brought a small Aqua Doodle for my son to use and dry erase markers for my daughter to practice her ABC's. Two activities that involve writing but my son immediately began crying for the markers and my daughter wanted the Aqua Doodle. My son doesn't fully understand the markers must remain on the book. I felt overwhelmed. They were completely uninterested in the other toys I brought.

What toys or activities do you plan for road trips? My kids are too young for finding ABC's on the road. We keep books in the van and so a book isn't a treat. They always have books. We have a basket of toys for each of them. Are they too young to do anything other than watch videos? We have another road trip coming soon. We are going with my husband on a work trip and I could use a few ideas! I want to use videos as a last resort but I don't have any other ideas. Help a Mommy out! Do you have any ideas or tricks?

We only do DVD's via a portable player on trips over 3 hours away. This is a special treat.

Last Adventure in Houston

San Jacinto Museum.

A nice man took our family picture for us!

We also saw the Battleship, did I mention it was a ZILLION degrees at 10am? Texas is hot!

The reports are accurate, it is raining in Texas. LOUD thunder!

Our last night in Texas. Ready to go home!

Love you Mother and Godfather! Thanks for such a fun visit! We love you and miss you tons already!! Much love! HC, JB, Mommy and Daddy.

Wednesday Hero

This Weeks Soldier Was Suggested By Cindy

Lance Cpl. Steven Chavez
20 years old from Hondo, New Mexico
2nd Battalion, 4th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force
March 14, 2007


Tears ran down cheeks and strong men choked back emotion as the city of Hondo, NM payed tribute to fallen Marine, Steven Chavez. LCpl. Chavez lost his life on March 14, 2007 in a non-combat incident in which he was accidentally shot.Chavez enlisted in the Marine Cops. right after he graduated in 2005. "You pray and you pray that the day never comes, and then it does," said Novelda Chavez, Chavez's mother. "Your emotions are mixed — it’s not true, it’s a bad dream, a bad dream you never wake up from."In a letter Chavez wrote before he was sent to Iraq, he wrote:"First of all I would like to thank everyone for your support. When I'm home on leave and when I'm away. That is so important to me. Thank you for your kind, supporting words in your letters and for the packages I've received. Those are awesome.I've been through some pretty hard times, in the short time I've been in the Marine Corp. None harder then what I'm about to face. Yes I'm scared; nothing is scarier than the uncertainty of what your future holds for you. I'm prepared to face whatever lies ahead.I put my life in the hands of the Lord. And pray that He guides my fellow soldiers and I down a safe path, that He will calm our fears, and give us the strength to do the job we have been trained to do, and to do that job well.There are many lonely nights, when you're lying in your bunk thinking of family and friends, wondering what they are doing at that very moment. Wondering what mom is cooking for supper. I can almost taste the tortillas on the griddle.I want to say to all of you tonight, I wouldn't change one thing about my life.I've never been more proud of the choices I made in my life than the day I graduated from basic drill instructor placed that Anchor, Globe and Eagle Pin in my hand I knew then I was a UNITED STATES MARINE!I'm Proud to protect and serve My CountryI'm Proud to protect and serve My CommunityI'm Proud to protect and serve youThank you so much for your Support. Keep those letters coming. Mail is a precious commodity when you're so far from Home.

YOUR U.S. MARINE

LANCE CORPORAL STEVE CHAVEZ"

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. To find out more about Wednesay Hero, you can go here.