Q&A Time!

I saw this on my beautiful friend Emily's blog and thought it would be fun.  What question would you like to ask me?  It can range between what is your favorite color, what products do you use to clean your home...possibilities are endless!  I will then do what Emily did and blog my answers for everyone.  It has been fun to read Emily's posts and I wan to do it, too!  What would you like to see more of?  What would you like to know about me?

I'm looking forward to it!  Thank you for stopping by!

Another hairstyle

What I love about having short hair is that every time I cut it, I can style it a different way.  I love how un-even this haircut is and how easy it is to maintain!  I don't know if I will ever go back to long hair again.  Maybe when my boys are older and I don't have to worry so much about how quickly I have to do things before the madness breaks out in the house because I'm taking a few minutes for myself.  :)

Going ons....

Hello, dear friends (if anyone actually still reads this)!  It's a beautiful day here in the great Northwest.  The weather is in the mild 40's and not many clouds in the sky.  It's a bit windy but not so much as to ruin a nice walk.

It's been a busy week so far.  School started back up and they boys couldn't be happier.  Liam loves being back into his routine, except for he's having a hard time getting up in the morning.  He keeps trying to blame me for waking him up earlier because now that the time changed, it's dark outside when we get ready for school.  I promised him that I didn't go and change the time worldwide, despite the fact that he thinks I'm cunning enough to do that.  :)  Charlie is just happy to be awake and enjoying going back to Teacher Becky at pre-school.  I enjoy it because he actually takes naps on pre-school days.  :)  I do miss them while they are at school and think about homeschooling again.   Who knows, I change my mind so much!  That's what I need prayers for:  making decisions and sticking to them! 

I met my new doctor yesterday and I love her.  She listened to me and took her time.  My appointment even started on time!  What a concept!  They are really organized at this office.  The boys have been going there to a pediatrician for a year now and we've never been tricked into going into the room and then waiting another hour for the doctor.  It's so nice to go to a place that is organized and understand that our time, too, is important.  I also like the fact that they have afterhours for adults and children and even if your doctor is busy, you can get in to see any other doctor.  The first thing she said is that she did some research on me before our first appointment!  Can you believe it??? I didn't have to sit there and re-live my entire medical history!  She actually cared enough to inform herself on me, little ol' me, before we even met!  Brian established care with her on Monday and he was impressed, also.  She told me I had a very healthy husband, which brought out an "I told you so" from Brian.  I had been nagging him about not having a check up for the last 6 years.  Oh, well.  It's good news!

I'm getting excited to start work again!  The tax office I work at opens this week!  I can't wait to get going and start another great tax season.  I love my job and wish I could fit more hours in but my parental resposibilities come first.  Of course, it's nice that both boys are going to school so I can squeeze in more hours while they are both gone without feeling too guilty.  I also thank God for the help my mom will provide and watching Charlie on days he's not in school.  If you need your taxes done, please contact me!!!

As you  know, I've been loom knitting since last summer.  I am crazy about learning to knit with needles but books are way too complicated for me.  I'm hoping to gather some knitting friends and learn the old fashioned way.  It's so relaxing.  I'm really slow and hope to get better.  :)

Well, friends, I think I have bored you enough.  Please don't forget to leave me a comment.  My blog gets so lonely lately without that many visitors.  Thank you very much and God Bless!

Carolina

Year at an End - 2009 last days

We had a fun last couple of days for 2009.  We were all healing from the flu.  Of course, the boys healed in a day or two while my double ear infection is taking forever to heal.  My doctor said that children heal quickly but adults could take up to 21 days to heal.  Yuck!  I've been so dizzy and barely able to hear anything out of my left ear.  I wish I had children's healing abilities!  It's amazing how God has created our bodies to work, isn't it?  Okay, so I digress.  Here are some pictures of these last couple of days.  Descriptions are below the pictures.  Enjoy and Happy New Year!  Please don't forget to leave a message for me so I know you stopped by!

Liam and Charlie decided to play school because they both said they missed it a lot during this Christmas break.  Liam got to be the teacher first and used the cute little chalk board I bough Charlie at the dollar store the other day.  He was trying to teach Charlie how to add.  I'll show you the video of that effort on another post.  It is quite amusing. :)

Here is Charlie being a "good student" as Liam called him.  He was using this gigantic pencil I got them as a stocking stuffer.  It's so cute to see how on left handed boy (Charlie) and one right handed boy (Liam) work together.    Liam kept running up to Charlie and whispering the answer so that Charlie could get it right.

The student waiting for the next problem to be written on the board.

Another day, I pulled out old Halloween costumes and the boys went to town dressing up.  I regret not taking any pictures of them when they wore the cow outfit and cowboy outfit.  Most of these costumes we got from my sister-in-law when they moved to Missouri.  They sure love to play dress up.  Charlie said he was a nice pirate, of course.

Of course, they got mom into the game, too.  Here is my fiersest Captain Jack Sparrow face.  It's even scarier because I'm not wearing any make up. 

Liam's turn at being Captain Jack Sparrow.

This was Charlie's favorite costume to wear, despite the fact that they have no idea who Spiderman is.  :)  My friend game me this when her son outgrew it and  I had no idea they would love it so much.  He wore it until he fell asleep.  At least he took the mask off for bed.

The next day, Charlie decided he wanted to go to the grocery store wearing his costume and his camo rain boots.  I have learned that I can't get embarrassed by anything after raising these two boys.  Unfortunately for Charlie, he fell asleep before we got to the store and so I laid him on his coat in the grocery cart.  My sister came with us to Fred Meyer and of course, instigated the whole taking pictures part.  I was all for it.

Here he is when we first got into Fred Meyer.

After some shopping, he started to run out of room so things got piled on top of him.  It didn't even phase him.  Most people didn't even realize he was in there because he had so much stuff on him.

After we paid, the cashier (who has 2 boys of her own) helped us to gently place the bags around and on the little superhero.  Still, he did not wake up.  He woke up when we stared for the car due to the cold weather outside compared to the warm inside of Fred Meyer.

This was taken New Year's Eve at Boulevard Park here in Bellingham.  My uncle Javier (mom's little brother) came up for a surprise visit.  I haven't seen him in over 10 years so it was great to see him and have him meet the boys.  I love my uncle.  He's so funny and very kind.  of course, I didn't aim very good but you don't need to see me, do you?

Puget Sound is beautiful.  Here, you can see one of the many Alaskan cruise ships that leave the Bellingham port getting repaired.

My handsome boys, climbing on walls as usual.  Sigh... they are always makingmy heart skip a beat with their feats of bravery.

Thank you for taking a journey with me during these last few days of the year.  I will be posting more pictures in the coming days along with some pretty funny videos I have taken of my two little monkeys.  Have an amazing 2010 full of God's grace and blessings!

Christmas Fun

A few years ago, we went with Brian's family to Warm Beach Camp in Stanwood, WA.  They host the most amazing light display every December called The Lights of Christmas.  Over 1 million lights are up for 21 days of the night.  Once there, you can have fresh made donut holes, hot apple cider, coffee, espresso, hot chocolate, tea and all kinds of dinner goodies!  This year, we got to go along with our good friends Lenny and Beth Sansone, along with their two adorable daughters, Rachel and Alexandrea.  It was about 19 F but we were blessed with no wind so it wasn't too bad.  Beth brough along plenty of "Hotties" to stick in our gloves.  If you don't know what "Hotties" are, they are little packets kind of like ice packs but with the opposite chemical reaction.  They get nice and toasty and keep your fingers from freezing.  As always, descriptions are below the pictures.  You must forgive the quality of pictures but I'm not too good at using the different ligth settings yet.  :)  Next year I'll be better!

We were bundled up and ready for the cold.  Earlier that day, I had bought the boys some winter coats at Osh Kosh.  They were 70% off and let me tell you, they need coats bad.  I was glad to get them at such a discount because I know they are a much better brand than just buying cheap coats somewhere.  In these two pictures, you can see Liam and Charlie as we head down to Stanwood.

Charlie got woken up from his car nap with the sight of thousands of Christmas lights.  He kept saying, "How beautiful!" over and over again.

Charlie had a love-hate relationship with Frosty.  He kept wanting to be next to him, but kept running away whenever Frosty would bend over to pose with him for my picture.  It was actually very funny.

This Santa was a really nice man.  Liam refused to see him because, in his own words "Mom, the real Santa is dead and he couldn't really fly anyway.  I don't want to see someone just pretending."  Charlie was a little hesitant but warmed up pretty quickly once he saw the candy cane. 

Charlie was most excited about riding the Polar Express.  He watched that movie year round, at least once a week.  He absolutely loves it.  When he saw that they had a small train called Polar Express, he started pulling our hands trying to get us to walk faster so we could get on board.  It was very difficult for him to wait since the cars filled up fast and we had to take the next one.

He had this smile on his face the whole time we rode the train.

Yes, no matter how much foundation and cover up I wear, I always look like Rudolf when I'm out in the cold.  If you ever want to know the temperature, just look at my nose.

Beth and I on the train.

I know it's hard to capture just right but they did some amazing art with the Christmas lights.

One fo the many buildings at the camp.  During camp season, this is the administration office and camp store.  Liam said he wants to go to camp.

If I ever get a big house, I mean bigger than the 900 sq ft we have now (which I love by the way), this is the way my tree will look.  HUGE!

I loved how they did the Cascade mountains with lights.  They even added a small moon to it.  It was beautiful!

I loved this tree.  The picture didn't capture it as well but it looked like a firework display.

Again, sorry it's so blurry but this was really neat.  The lights were turning on and off just so it looked like it was waves in the sea.  It was really cool!

Beth and Liam warm up by one of the many bonfires around the camp site.  It was really neat and made the experience even better.

These live performances were great.  Their voices were balanced just right. 

I loved this waterfall display.  It really did look like the water was rolling off.

I have no idea what they were looking at but it must have been interesting.

Free pony rides for 4 feet and under! LOL!  Charlie had ridden a horse a lot while doing his physical therapy years ago and he took to it like he never got off!

Thank you for looking at my blurry pictures!  LOL!  Please don't forget to leave a comment.  My blog gets lonely when no one comments! 

Wonderful Giveaway site

I stumbled upon this on  one of my friend's blog.  The things are absolutely beautiful!  A must see!
Just click on the link and enjoy!

Having some fun and things to come

I've been keeping pretty busy at home, but my heart is at peace.  It's all good things. 

I have taken a dive into my bible and been embraced by His Word.  I crave it and yearn for it.  Have you ever had days like that?  I stay up later than I should just soaking it in, letting Him guide me where I need to be.  I'm devouring every book I can find on faith and the goodness of our wonderful God.  I can't get enough and the more I read, the more I want to read.  It's amazing!  As I write this, I feel that I should be reading instead.  It's such an undescribable feeling. 

We spent our Saturday decorating our home with all kids of Christmas goodies.  We came to realize we have 6 nativity sets ranging in sizes and 6 advent calendars.  You can never have enough of those, specially since we stick little treats in every day for the boys.  Liam is counting down the days until December starts.   I have two memorable moments this past week:

#1:  I was looking through various ads getting ready to do my Black Friday shopping and I must have been commenting outload about some of the prices of things.  Charlie loves to grab the newspaper and sit next to me, pretending he's reading, too.  I went to kitchen to get a drink and I suddenly hear Charlie exclaim for the living room "Three thousand dollars!  I want one!".  Mind you he's 3 and has no concept of money yet.  He doesn't even know what $3,000 is but he said it.  It was so funny because when I looked over at him, he was holding the newspaper up as if he was reading and I couldn't see his little head.  It was quite a moment.

#2:  After listening to a plethora of Christmas music last night, I decided to pull out the Wiggles' Christmas DVD.  They boys love the Wiggles and even Liam still dances along to them.  After the first DVD was done and the second began, Liam looks over at me and says "Mom, I'm so glad the Wiggles believe in God."
Well, at least we all know what kind of music we can listen to in heaven!  Kids crack me up.

I'm anxiously awaiting my neurologist appointment on the 2nd of December.  Hopefully I will then know if I need to start the medication or not.  I just want some answers, that's all.

Then, on the 3rd, I'll be celebrating 10 years since I was diagnosed with cancer!  Whooohooo!  It's a big landmark for survivors!  I thank God everyday for allowing me to have these past 10 years!

Well, my friends, please don't forget to leave me a comment.  I love to know when someone drops by.  My blog has been a little lonely lately.

Love,
Carolina