Everyone needs a Sarah...

Got a chance to head out for a kids free night with my best friend! I feel so lucky to have a friend like Sarah who I can be myself with, talk to about anything and spend time doing silly things...like running around the fair and taking pictures! Thanks for putting up with me all these years girl!!

One of Sarah's pictures was on display at the Visual Arts exhibit in the OC Fair. So we decided that we needed to go and see it and check out the other photographers work (sans kiddos).

It was so nice to be able to just walk around the fair without having to buy ride tickets, take multiple trips to the bathroom or stop to buy snacks/treats! We did stop to see if there were any baby pigs in the maternity barn, but didn't have to stay and look at every single animal LOL.

We both enjoy photography, so we brought our cameras and had fun. Sarah has a GREAT eye for pics, so it was inspiring for me. I didn't get great shots but promised her that I would post them ;o) I will post them small since there are so many, but if you click on them it should bring them up bigger! Thanks for looking.

This man asked us why we didn't want to take a pic of him, so we did.

Noggin...love/hate relationship

I must say that when I need some time to get something done without being interrupted I can turn on this channel and all the kids seem to like the shows. I love the cute shows that they play and the fact that my kids will sit still and not fight for 20 minutes. I love how I can ease in to the morning because they are content to eat some pancakes and watch Dora or Blue and I can have some quiet time.

With that being said, they play kids shows 24 hours a day. When it's time to turn off the tv there never seems to be a good break in the action and my kids always fight me on it!! Luckily they are fine once it's off and they get in to something else...but some mornings I wonder if I should just leave the tv off!!

Happy Birthday Abby & Jasper

Today our kitties are one year old :o) If you would have asked us at this time last year if we wanted to have two cats we would have said NO WAY. But we ended up with these two cute kitties and we do love having them as pets...most of the time ;o) Here is a pic of Jasper snoozing under Melanie's bed.

He loves to snooze most of the day and snuggle up with a warm body at night. Then there is Abby who just wants to be where we are, but does not want to snuggle.

The cats do well considering there is always a two year old who wants to hold them on her lap *LOL*

Fun at Nona's House

We had a busy day yesterday! After spending the morning at church we headed out to Orange County to visit Grammy and Grandpa. After a quick visit with them we headed out to Nona's house for dinner. Now that gas is so expensive we really tried to cram in more than one visit while we were out there. My mom's cooking is AMAZING and we were spoiled with a GREAT meal. After dinner we headed out to the park and let the kids run around while the Dads played some HORSE.



After the park we headed back to Nona's for some ice cream, jammies and then headed home. It was great because all of my kiddos fell asleep on the way home and my husband and I could actually talk without interuptions...it felt like a date! Plus they all stayed asleep when we put them in bed...heaven!!

Thankful this morning

I was reading in Alex's blog about Christopher Laurie passing away and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it since! I'm saddened for a family who has lost a son, a husband, a daddy and I'm sure he was many more things to others. On a freeway my husband often travels, it reminded me of how quickly life can end and to look at each day for what truly matters and appreciate my family and friends!

So this morning when my cranky two year old woke up and sat their demanding her "juicy" I enjoyed some extra snuggle time. Instead of rushing off to check my email or start chores around the house. When Brandon woke up he wanted to play school and Melanie got out all her manicure and pedicure stuff. I am so thankkful for healthy kiddos and a hard working husband. I'm thankful that God has blessed us and loves us SO much. I know that whatever the future holds He will bring me through it.

Fun with Sidewalk chalk

We had such a nice afternoon playing in the backyard! The kids had a great time tracing each other's bodies and then drawing clothes on their chalk selves :o) Here is Miss Brooklyn next to hers. I'm not even going to post a pic of my chalk self...too funny looking *LOL

The laborers are few...

I just really need to share whats on my heart this morning. Not my typical post about being a mom or sharing our familes adventures. But I will make up for it and post some pictures later today :o)

Then He said to His disciples, “The harvest truly is plentiful, but the laborers are few. Therefore pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” Mathew 9:37-38

I have really been thinking about this verse lately because I'm trying to staff our Children's program at church for the next few months. Every few months I start to get stressed out that there are so many openings and so little help! I start to feel bitter and angry and overwhelmed! I complain to my poor husband and just about any friend who will listen. I start to feel like my feelings are ok and justified...but I know they aren't. Jesus said the harvest is plenty, but the laborers are few! It shouldn't surprise me that it's hard to find servants. I shouldn't be feeling the way that I do, but should be leaning on God in prayer. I want to be depending more on God to lead me in this ministry and take my eyes off of my own feelings. I want to have His heart for people and let my power come from Him. When I try to do it all on my own, I end up looking at an empty schedule and feeling frustrated and angry! But in His word He says,

" 12 Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed–not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence–continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling,for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. 14 Do everything without complaining or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure, children of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which you shine like stars in the universe. Phil, 2:12-14

I want to spend the remainder of the month really praying that God would send out the laborers for our harvest of children. After all, they are His children and He loves them SO much!! I also want my focus to be more on God and more on all of the AMAZING people who do show up each week after week to love our children! God always brings treasures to our ministry and I'm excited to see who He has waiting right now!

Sassy Seniorita

This girl had to get her own seperate blurb today! I never knew that so much sassiness could be encompassed in one little body. This little Watson tells me no on a regular basis and can often be seen shaking her pointer finger at me or giving me nasty looks with both hands perched on her hips. God must have known that she was going to drive me nuts and I'm sure that's why He made her so darn cute! I know some of you other mommas have sassy senioritas or seniors at your house too...which makes me feel better ;o)

The Poop Show

Oh yes, you read that title right! Yesterday we decided to head to the Wild Animal Park when Brian got off of work. Over the summer they have the "Park at Dark" which basically means that they stay open later. The main reason I wanted to go was to catch "The Poop Show." Could there be a more perfect show for a 2, 4 and 6 year old...plus I must admit that I think poop is pretty funny discussion material as well! So we walked around and saw a few animals...and then it was off to the show. "Mother Nature" told us all about the animals at the park and even showed us some of their poop. She talked about how all of the animals poop and how they take care of the 3 tons of poop that the animals at the park produce each day! I won't go in to more details as I've probably scared some of you off already. But it was very funny, entertaining and educational. I will also tell you that they do recycle some poo to make paper...that's right, "poo paper!" We also got to take the train ride at sunset which was just AWESOME and learned a TON about giraffes!

And who knew...SpongeBob is at the Wild Animal Park! Sadly to say, my 2 year old does love this yellow sponge. I didn't need to ask her to pose adoringly by him, she just did it!

Hiking

Brooklyn fell asleep early last night...although she woke up at 8pm thinking she was awake for the night! So I took Melanie and Brandon out in to the wilderness area behind our house to practice with my camera! Sun was setting fast and I only got "snapshot" pics, but we had fun!

Our littlest singer

I am embarassed to say that our family got a little too in to High School Musical...well not Daddy! But the rest of us have enjoyed watching the movies and listening to the music. Brooklyn loves this one song and sings it in the car, at home, while out shopping, etc. For Melanie's birthday I used some of our Disney rewards and bought the HSM sing-along. Here is Brooklyn's first debut singing the remix of, "You are the Music in Me." Don't mind our messy bedroom in the background or Brooklyn's messy hair...wouldn't be Brooklyn without the messy hair in the back!

And here is a link to a video clip from the movie...in case you haven't seen it ;o)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1YMms0fORs

Worried...

Started getting worried this week as my husband is coming to the end of his job that he's on now and there isn't another one on the horizon. Construction is so slow right now! Talk about me going back to work has been more common and more real in the last week. I feel like I've been really starting to worry about it, worrying about what kind of job I can get, how will I handle being away from the kids all day, will I even be able to make enough to contribute to our family's income like my husband does, etc. On a positive note, I would probably have less laundry to do because Brian would have to take over house stuff and kid duty *LOL*

I went to college because I felt like it was the direction that God wanted me to go. Maybe this is why I got my bachelor's degree. My question now is what the heck I do with it. I had Melanie a few weeks after graduating and don't have a ton of experience in anything but kids! So here I sit, an educated momma wondering what I am going to do if I have to go back to the 40 hour work week!

But this week I have totally felt God reminding me that He is in control! He has plans to prosper our family and not harm (Jeremiah 29)! He doesn't want me to be anxious because He has me just where He wants me! If the plan is for me to go to work while Brian is out of work then I truly believe that God will bring the right job around. I just need to stop worrying and PRAY MORE!!

Mondays...

I don't know what it is about Mondays, but it's so hard to start the day!! I have a mountain of laundry that needs to be folded and so many little things that need to get done today. So here I sit blogging about it instead of getting out of this chair and doing it!! I really need to have my 2nd cup of coffee and get going...but until then, here are some pics of our weekend.

We spent the 4th of July celebrating with family in Orange County. My inlaws have an awesome garden and the kids had so much fun picking carrots and corn. We came home just in time to catch some fireworks in Temecula (we've really got to find a place around our house that has a good show).

Sunday we had fun playing in the water after church (more pics from SoakZone at www.getlife.tv) and then came home and went in the pool. Never thought we would own an inflatable pool, but with this heat we got one last summer! I would not advise jumping in to an inflatable pool, but Daddy had to try it out *LOL* It was a nice day with our family and I'm sure one of the reasons that it's hard to get going with the work week!

Finally got me some TOMS

Well, they aren't for me...but I did just order some for Miss Brooklyn! I think this is such a great cause and wanted to support it in some way. Heard about it from a friend at church (thanks Alex) and wanted to share with my bloggin friends :o) For every pair of shoes purchased, TOMS donates a pair to a child in need! Here is their website if you want to see more:

http://www.tomsshoes.com/