HappyGoMommy!

Bye!

This is the last few days to find me here! Please join me on my new blog here:

HappyGoMommy!

I've Moved!!

I've moved to a new site for my blog and it has an all-new look! Please update your bookmarks to this site: www.happygomommy.blogspot.com! Also, if you have my blog linked to yours, please be sure to change your link to the new site as well. This page will remain up through early June, but then you can only find me at my new site!

Let me know what you think of my new blog--thanks! :)

Protect Our Kids!

Pardon the interruption while I delve into a not-so-happy topic! I was headed to Target this week (a frequent occurrence!) when I nearly burst into tears in my minivan. I was listening to the radio when a commercial came on that I will likely not forget. It was from an organization called "American Humane Association" and was a very realistic and emotional commercial about child abuse. The basic premise (complete with hearing a parent yell and hit, and then hearing a child cry) was "What would you do if you saw or heard a child being abused?"

This is unfortunately the reality that many kids face. I love kids so, so much and cannot imagine abusing a child or even seeing a child endure this! It breaks my heart to even know it occurs in some families. I hope that I would immediately step in and say something, and yet, what do you say? How do you handle this situation? I have never been in this situation--and hope never to be--but the website from American Humane Association addresses this very thing. They have tips on what to say and how to handle this very situation. My hope and prayer is that we never encounter this--but if we do, here are some ideas on how to intervene.

Step in and be an advocate for kids! Love 'em and protect them!

Moving Up . . .

This has been a big week of change for Little O! Or should I say "Not-So-Little-O?" He has moved from a sippy cup to a cup with no lid (yay!), has moved to a twin-sized bed and out of his crib (yay!), and we are working--just a little--on potty training! Before long I will be able to take all three of my kids out and about without having to worry about all of the 'baby' things we have been toting around for the past (almost!) nine years!

(And isn't he just the cutest thing??)

We ordered bunk beds for the boys recently and they will be here next week; both boys are very excited for their new bed and so am I! Lots of fun change and around here, we like some change every once in awhile!

Also wanted to let you know that I will have a completely new blog design soon! It is in process and nearly finished . . . can't wait to unveil it! :)

Told Ya...

Told ya she was beautiful! I'm completely biased, I know. :) My computer is *still* not fixed (my laptop screen is broken and it was too expensive to fix it, so I am once again hooked up to an external monitor --ugh!), but since I have it back, here are some photos of our pretty girl! Love ya, sweetie!!

Getting her face painted at EPCOT, and helping make homemade strawberry jam last summer. She's sweeter than the strawberries were. :)

Testing Time!

Riley has achievement testing for three days this week, so our schedule has been completely different! We are fortunate that our local homeschooling offers achievement testing (Stanford Achievement Tests) for kids from second grade through high school. Riley knows quite a few of the kids there, as well as some of the teachers, so she feels comfortable with it and I think she enjoys the break from our regular schoolwork. :)

Brad and I now strongly believe in having our kids take achievement tests every year or every other year for many reasons. Some of these include having a good benchmark of yearly progress (for our kids AND to see how the parent is doing) and to prepare our children for standardized tests in the future. Not all homeschool parents are fans of testing, and we certainly don't feel it should be mandated, but it works for our family!

I'm getting a lot accomplished each morning since we aren't doing normal schoolwork, as well. :) I've cleaned a lot, caught up on my laundry, and made lots of yummy recipes. :) Plus, I've spent lots of good quality time with my boys! Always important!!

Mother's Day

I love Mother's Day.  :) Not because I get great gifts from my kids and husband, or because I get breakfast in bed, or because I don't have to change dirty diapers . . . but because it's a day to remember that I am so blessed to have a great mom and to be a mommy. Growing up, I always knew I wanted kids. I just never knew how much I would enjoy them!

Riley is almost 9 and the time has flown by. Owen is likely our last child, and as he gets older, that is harder for me to swallow. I'd love to have lots and lots more babies. :) My kids are a lot of fun and after having worked full-time during some of their younger years, I am very blessed to be able to stay home with them full-time now. They make me laugh daily and give me more love than I ever could have imagined. Even on a 'bad' day, they still give my hugs at night and say "You're a great mom!" Melts my heart! They forgive easily and are still so innocent. I know it likely won't always be this way, so I'm soaking up as much as I can of them now!

I've been scrapbooking a lot more lately and reflecting on lots of family and childrens' photos. I have a horrible memory, so I am thankful for lots of photos and scrapbooks to remember all the details of our family and their childhoods!

I am also very thankful for my own mom, who taught me how to love well and how to be a great mom to my own kids! I love you, mom. You taught me the importance of spending time with your kids and I have fabulous memories of my childhood. I hope to be able to give my own kids the same thing!

Beautiful Riley

She really is beautiful, our daughter. It's just that for some reason I don't have many photos of her on my blog; I'm not sure why.

I realized this recently when looking through my blog for some photos of our kids (since my computer is *still* being repaired). So, cute girl of mine, you will see lots of photos of yourself here shortly! I just need to get my computer back and then I will put up some recent pictures of our growing, beautiful daughter!

Menu Plan Monday

It's time for Menu Plan Monday hosted my OrgJunkie! Check out her site if you haven't already--lots of great ideas!

We have gotten away (again) from planning our meals which leaves us eating out more--ugh! Yummy, but too costly and not as nutritious. So on Sunday, with the help of my great assistant, Riley (again, insert beautiful photo of Riley here since my computer is still in the shop!), we made meal plans for two weeks! She looked through all of my cookbooks and recipe magazines and suggested lots of good meals. I made the grocery listed and then we shopped together--she is a FANTASTIC assistant! Her mom must have raised her well. :)

Here is one week's worth of dinner meals (though the order may change):

Day 1: Hamburgers on the grill, corn on the cob, strawberries, ice cream sandwiches
Day 2: Sweet & Sour Crockpot Chicken (w/veggies), Rice, Watermelon, Rolls
Day 3: Taco Ring, Chips & Queso, Corn, Peaches
Day 4: Caesar Steak, Crash Potatoes, Green Beans, Applesauce
Day 5: Lemon Herb Chicken, Salad, Jello, Peas
Day 6: Blueberry Pancakes, Bacon, Applesauce
Day 7: Off - leftovers or out

Hope you have a YUMMY week! :)

Funny Little Owen . . .

{insert cute photo of Owen here - my computer is in the shop along with all of my photos!}

He totally cracks me up. His speech has improved greatly with the help of a speech therapist this past year (yay!), but his grammar is still lacking. He doesn't quite get all of the words in a sentence, he uses a wrong word, or he mixes up the order. Any which way, it is still funny! He makes us laugh constantly and always has a ready audience with the other four of us!

Today I was keeping him company while he sat on the potty before his bath. He stood there for a few minutes (he goes back & forth between sitting or standing), then turned to me and said "Can I touch you eyeballs?" I laughed out loud (a lot!) which made him only continue to repeat it . . . so there I was, with a naked two-year-old who just kept asking me if he could touch my eyeballs! I *think* he meant my eyelids, but who knows with a two-year-old??

(And for the record, NO, he wasn't allowed to touch "me eyeballs!")