Giggles & Kisses

Happy New Year's Day 2012!

2012-01-01T13:08:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year to all of our friends and family!

We spent New Year's Eve as a family playing board games and snacking on party food, and then moved into the living room to watch the New Year arrive on the TV with a fireworks display in London.

This was taken with my mobile phone right after we cheered the new year. Robert was beside me so he didn't make it into the photo, and you can just see Kayla in the bottom left corner.

This is the tail end of our "Happy New Year's cheer:

And just after:

Some New year's wishes for you from the youngest four Fyfes.

From Cameron (age 3):

And because he wanted to be on video again:

From Connor (age 5):

From Isabella (age 6):

From Gabriella (age 9):

It's a sort of tradition in my family on New Year's Eve for everyone to say at least three things that they want to achieve in the new year.

Here's the list my children gave me, from youngest to oldest.

Cameron (age 3):
- to see fireworks (His siblings told him there would be fireworks last night, so that is what he had on his mind.)
- to get more hugs and cuddles
- to go to school

Connor (age 5):
- to see fireworks (see above explanation)
- to go shopping more often
- to see Nana and Grandad more often

Isabella (age 6):
- to learn more at school, especially in science, reading and numbers
- to see Nana and Grandad more often
- to get a new pet kitten

Gabriella (age 9):
- to learn to maintain her bike (cleaning it, oiling the gears, etc.)
- to start walking places on her own
- to go to a special art school
- to learn to shade better in her drawings

Kayla (age 17):
- to learn at least 7 different languages
- to learn Judo
- to learn ballroom and Latin-American dancing
- to get her driver's license and a car for the family
- to become a firefighter when 18

Angelica (age 18):
- to join Parkour (a kind of running and fast-movement group)
- to learn martial arts
- to increase her muscle tone and increase her flexibility through exercise
- to pass all of her University courses
- to start the cat army invasion (inside joke with her flatmates)

Victoria (age 20):
- to finish writing her novel "Bark Lord"
- to learn to play the ukelele
- to start a writing YouTube channel

Josh (my son-in-law, age 22):
- to start on a bookkeeping course
- to learn martial arts
- to start a tree climbing YouTube channel

And here's the list from Robert and me:
Robert:
- maintain job security

Becky:
- to achieve specific writing goals
- to get the ten pounds I gained in the middle of 2011 back off
- to do more crafts with my children

It's good to make goals for yourself, whether they are goals for the year or goals that you hope to achieve in a more long-term sense. And the new year is always a popular time to set those goals.

Merry Christmas (with Christmas carols)!

2011-12-25T05:05:00.000-08:00

The children all wanted to sing Chrismtas carols as their present to our family and friends this year.

Gabriella and Isabella:

Gabriella:

Isabella:

Isabella:

Connor (with a song he spontaneously made up for the occasion):

Kayla & Connor (Connor didn't think he culd remember the words without Kayla's help.):

Cameron (He insisted on joining in even though he doesn't really know any songs by heart yet.):

Cameron:

And this one is sung by Gabriella specifically for Grandma and Grandpa:

Happy Thanksgiving 2011!

2011-11-24T14:11:00.000-08:00

We went out to dinner at the Harvester, instead of cooking up a full-course Thanksgiving meal tonight. Here's a photo we had the waitress take with my phone.

While at the restaurant, we asked the children what they were thankful for right now. Here are there answers.

Kayla (age 17):

Gabriella (age 9):

Isabella (age 6):

Connor (age 5):

Cameron (age 2, but turns 3 in 4 days):

Santa's Grotto & Christmas Shopping

2010-12-21T14:29:00.000-08:00

Today we went to Santa's Grotto and the kids got to talk to Santa and tell him what they wanted for Christmas.

Connor told Santa that he wanted chocolate coins. Santa asked him what else he wanted, and he said he wanted a racing car. (Later at home, he added chocolate syrup to his list.) Gabby told Santa that she wanted books that have to do with animals or animal toys. Santa asked her if she wants to be a veterinarian when she grows up, but she told him that she wants to be an artist who draws animals when she grows up. Santa told her that he would bring her paints and paint brushes for Christmas too. Isabella told Santa she wanted a Barbie for Christmas and some chocolate.

Then we did some shopping. One of the stores we went into was the Early Learning Centre. The kids love going there and playing with the toys. Gabby and Connor had me take their picture posing as the Early Learning Center elf.

Cameron and Connor really liked the train set.

When we left to go home, we passed by a merry-go-round fair ride and the kids really wanted to ride on it, so we let them.

It was a fun day and the kids were happy with how we had spent it.

Camerons Second Birthday

2010-12-01T10:12:00.000-08:00

Happy Halloween 2010!

2010-10-31T16:55:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween!

The kids loved dressing up today. Cameron started out the day wearing a jack-o-lantern costume, and then changed into a cheeky devil costume for trick-or-treating. Gabriella wore a batgirl costume and she seemed to think that batgirl was supposed ot be evil, so she made her "evil face." Isabella dressed up as Tinkerbell, and Connor dressed up as a vampire.

Robert even wore his mask and costume tonight for answering the door.

Kayla dressed up as Wednesday from The Adams Family. Angelica, who has a bit of sewing skills, made her own fairy costume. Her friend Kerri came over and dressed up as a vampiress.

Cameron got to trick-or-treat with his brothers and sisters at five houses. then he came home and Kayla, angelica and Kerri took Gabby, Bella and Connor to some more houses.

I made some ghost meringues.

I also made a jack-o-lantern candle holder and a ghost candle holder.

Pagan followed the children around while they trick-or-treated, so I took his photo when he came home.

Angelica decided that she and Kerri wanted a photo with Pagan in it.

I did not dress up this Halloween.

Other photos from tonight:

Autumn Leaves & Other Fun

2010-10-29T11:42:00.000-07:00

Today, I decided to take Gabriella, Isabella, Connor and our dog Mercury on a long walk through the fields to go and visit the library. On the way, we passed a lot of trees, where the leaves had darkened and fallen and carpeted the ground in a blanket of yellows, oranges, reds and browns.

I decided to take some portrait photos of the children in the leaves.

Mercury decided that he loved playing leaves, especially when the children kept throwing the leaves in the air or letting him play tug of war with the leaves. (In some of the photos of him jumping, he is out of focus. I didn't have my camera set for action photos as I wasn't expecting his exuberance at finding leaves to play in.)

The benefit of all of Mercury's running around was that he did, eventually, tire enough that I was able to take a couple of good portraits of him in the Autumn leaves.

Then the kids decided to climb a nearby tree. (Bella was not quite as brave about climbing the tree as Connor and Gabby were. And please keep in mind as you view the photos that I did not choose Isabella's outfit!)

Once we got to the library, I let the three of them choose a book each and I sat on the floor beside their child-sized table and read the stories aloud to them. After we visited the library, we went into the store that was next door to it to buy the kids some drinks. They found a Dolmio display and were quick to ask me to take their photos in it.

All in all, it was a fun day. Next time, I'll bring Cameron too. (He had been napping, so we left him home with his two teenage sisters during our walk.)

Jack-o-lanterns

2010-10-28T19:23:00.000-07:00

Gabby, Bella and Connor drew the faces they wanted carved into their pumpkins. Robert carved their jack-o-lanterns tonight. Connor called his "an alien!" Here are the results (from left to right: Isabella's, Gabriella's and Connor's):

Isabella At The Park

2010-09-01T15:07:00.000-07:00

Here are just a few pictures taken of Isabella today. The sun was a bit too bright and bothered her eyes a little. Isn't she pretty?

Connor & Isabella

2010-09-01T14:49:00.000-07:00

Isabella turned 5 part-way through August and her little brother Connor turned 4 at the end of August. With just one year between them, they can sometimes be the best of friends and other times they can be each other's worst enemies. Today was one of the good days when they were happy to be brother and sister.

Connor's 4th Birthday Portraits

2010-09-01T14:32:00.000-07:00

I usually take my children to the park near our house on their birthday, as long as the sun is shining, and take some birthday portraits of them. Connor's birthday was two days ago, but I didn't take him to the park to have his photos taken on his birthday, so today I made up for that and took his birthday portraits today.

Isabella came along and she and Connor took a lot of photos together. The problem is that I have a terrible time deciding which photos to share and end up sharing too many. So I have decided to break the sharing down into three separate posts. The first one, this one, is just photos of Connor. The one after this one will be photos of both Connor and Isabella together. The third one will be photos of just Isabella.

So here are some photos taken today of my handsome four year old son Connor.

Life Is Good - Blog Award

2010-08-31T02:05:00.000-07:00

This is the first time I have done one of these!

I won my first award and I’m very thankful for it and the person who awarded it to me….Grace at Going Going Gone Green.

Life is good!

In order to receive this award I need to answer the following ten(10) questions and give this award to six (6) other people.

1.If you blog anonymously, are you happy doing it that way; if you are not anonymous do you wish you had started out anonymously so you could be anonymous now?
I do not blog anonymously, and I'm okay with it. I love sharing about my life. I'm just surprised anyone wants to read about it!

2. Describe one incident that shows your inner stubborn side.
I think I was at my most stubborn as a child, and that is directly related to how much confidence I had back then. I'm getting my confidence in myself back, now that I am over 30, and my "inner stubborness" is returning as a result. I'll share an incident from my childhood though.

When I was a very young girl, I was friends with a boy. His family and my family were having a picnic at the park together one day. I found a butterfly on the ground. I thought it might be injured because it wasn't flying.

The boy saw me looking at the butterfly and started throwing pebbles at it. His aim was bad and he kept missing it, but I was very upset with him. I asked him to stop. He laughed and said, "Make me!"

I told him, "Leave the butterfly alone or I will HIT you!" I had no intention of actually hitting him. I had never hit anyone.

He didn't stop. I knew I was going to have to hit him, because if I didn't, then what I had said would be a lie and lies were bad. The internal argument in my head went on. Which was worse? Lying? Or hitting? Then I thought about the poor butterfly and the fact that he would keep throwing pebbles at it and probably hit it if I didn't do something. And, even at my young age of six or seven, I realized that if I didn't stand up and follow through on what I had said, he would never again believe me.

So I hit him. It wasn't even that hard but the big baby cried as if I'd given him a broken nose or something!

I got in trouble for it, because of course, he told on me. But I didnt mind, because I knew that I had done the right thing.

3. What do you see when you really look at yourself in the mirror?
A thin person! I've lost almost 140 pounds,but it still has taken a long time to stop seeing the unhealthy, morbidly obese person that I used to be. I've finally been able to wrap my head around the idea that I am no longer that person.

4. What is your favorite summer cold drink?
I LOVE Diet Mug Root Beer, but it isn't sold in the UK, except, very expensively, from American Soda. Because of the price, it is only a rare treat for me, but it's still my favorite drink!

6. Is there something you still want to accomplish in your life? What is it?
I have a ton of things I still want to accomplish, and I am slowly but surely taking the steps I will need to achieve all of my goals. My biggest goal right now is that I want to be a published author, with both my children's stories and my novels.

7. When you attended school, were you the class clown, the class overachiever, the class shy person, or always ditching school?
To be honest, in highschool, I ditched school a lot. Most people didn't see me as shy, but I always felt very self-conscious in highschool. I don't really think I fit into any of the categories listed though. I didn't ditch all of the time. I wasn't the most shy. I definitely wasn't an overachiever or the class clown.

8. If you close your eyes and want to visualize a very poignant moment in your life, what do you see?
Giving birth to each of my seven children. The moments when they each were put into my arms were the most beautiful moments I've ever experienced. Each time, my heart would swell with love for them so much I felt it would burst.

9. Is it easy for you to share your true self in your blog or are you more comfortable writing posts about other people or events?
It's easy to type up a post filled with the real me and have my true feelings shown. Sometimes, it's not as easy to hit the "post" button and let the post I have written go out into cyberspace. Usually I have no problem with being who I am and typing up posts that are all ME.

10. If you had the choice to sit and read or talk on the phone, which would you do and why?
Most of the time, I would sit and read. It's not that I am antisocial or anything, but I just love getting lost in a good book. It's so easy to let my imagination and the story I am reading transport me to different worlds and realities. Don't get me wrong; I LOVE the life I have and all of the people in my life. I wouldn't change anything about it. But I think I also have an inner need for adventure that I fulfill vicariously through books.

Now I need to pass this award on to 6 other people:

CHRISTA

STEPHANIE

CATHERINE>

GEINA

HEATHER

ARENDA

Connor's 4th Birthday!

2010-08-30T15:12:00.000-07:00

Today is Connor's 4th birthday.

I hadn't really planned a birthday party for him this year, but after recently celebrating his sister's 5th birthday with a party, he expected a party too. Thankfully, I invited his best friend Tyler over and Tyler's brother and sisters too. Tyler has an older brother Jay who is Gabby's age, an older sister Kyra and a a younger sister Rosie.

So, as an impromptu party, I bought some party favors and some items for a couple of pass-the-parcel games and some pizza for the kids to eat. Robert had already made a terrific fire engine cake for Connor's birthday.

Connor was very excited about his birthday and started the day by opening the birthday presents from his family.

When his guests arrived, they played some pass-the parcel games.

The sun was out, so the children spent some time playing outside.

Even Connor's little brother Cameron seemed to be enjoying the fun.

Next, everyone ate some pizza.

Then we brought out the fire engine cake.

And we all sang "Happy Birthday" to Connor.

Then it was time for Connor to blow the candles out on his fire engine birthday cake.

He had a wonderful day and, when we were putting him to bed for the night, he said, "I loved my birthday party! When's my next one?"

Happy 4th Birthday, Connor! I love you!

The Dancing Boy Who Was Camera Shy

2010-08-26T12:56:00.000-07:00

This morning, Cameron grabbed a flashlight and started "singing" and dancing. He wiggled and strutted and held the flashlight up like a microphone.

His "singing" consisted of him yelling "Yah, yah, yah" at the top of his lungs, and occassionally holding the note for several seconds.

He's done this before, but this morning, I got my camcorder out to video him.

He immediately stopped singing and dancing, and then pouted at me. First, he threw the "microphone" down angrily. Then, deciding that didn't express his opinion well enough, he picked it back up and went and hid the "microphone" under the couch.

I put the camcorder away, and within minutes, he went and got the flashlight back out to use as his microphone and started singing and wiggling again.

Cameron's "Yah! Yah! Yah!" was heard throughout the house again.

My camcorder is tiny. It's just a FlipHD, so I tried to be sneaky about filming him and hoped he wouldn't see me. He did. Immediately.

He did the exact same thing as before, complete with the pout, the throwing of the "microphone" and then the hiding of the "microphone."

So I have no adorable and funny video of my little 1 1/2 year old dancing and singing to show you.

It's just too stinking cute not to have it on video to share with you (and keep as a video memory).

So I will try again next time. Eventually, I will capture his behavior on video.

By the way, I really love my totally silly and independent little boy.

Rides, Cotton Candy & Walking

2010-08-25T13:17:00.000-07:00

I promised the children I would take them for a walk today to our local store so that they could ride the mechanical merry-go-round that has been there for the past few weeks. The forecast told us it would rain this afternoon, so we headed out early in the morning.

On our walk there, we went through a long stretch of park area. There were blackberries growing up and down the entire stretch of our walk, and the kids liked to stop occasionally to pick and eat them.

Along the way, a beautful black and white cat showed up beside us. It was obvious he wanted our attention, so we all stopped to pet him. He rubbed up against all of our legs and bumped his head against my hand several times. Whenever someone started walking past us, he would dash back into the bushes and hide, only to come out again once they had passed.

We walked on, but the cat followed us. It didn't seem to matter how far we walked, he continued to follow us, and whenever we stopped to look at something or to pick blackberries, he'd saunter up to us and demand attention again.

A couple sets of other parents with kids stopped to try and coax the cat out of the bushes so that they could pet him too, but he would only poke his head out far enough to look past them at us, and then he'd wait for them to leave and start following us again.

I started to worry a little as we got closer to our destination, because not only had he followed us for more than a mile, but we were nearing a very busy road which we would cross soon.

A couple passed us going the other way and they had two dogs with them. I knew the cat would hide until they passed, so I urged the kids to speed up with me, and we got further away from the cat in order to discourage him from following us any further. I think it worked, as I didn't see him following us after that.

When we got to our destination, because we had left so early, the rides were not open and neither was the stand that sold cotton candy. Cotton candy is a very rare treat for my kids, but I was determined to make today a special and fun day for the kids, so I had planned on buying them some.

We went into the store, and I let the kids pick out some inexpensive toys. I told them I would spend £1 on each of them and no more than that. Gabriella and Isabella both picked some little Hello Kitty trinkets filled with candy. Connor, as usual, picked a toy car. And Cameron picked a toy cell phone that made noises when he hit the buttons.

When we left the store, I could see that the ride was open now, so I paid for the children all to have a ride on the automatic merry-go-round. It was Cameron's first-ever ride! Fortunately, I had brought along my camera and my video camera. Isabella chose to ride on the dalmation at first, because she loves dalmations, but before the ride started, she changed her mind and chose to ride on Bugs Bunny instead. Gabriella was sweet and chose to ride with Cameron in a tank. Connor surprised me by choosing to ride on a fish.

Once the ride was over, I bought them a bag of cotton candy to share. They did manage to get sticky and messy with it!

Once the children all had some cotton candy, we started home.

The children asked me questions about many of the different plants we saw along the way.

We saw a lot of plums, but none of us could reach the red plums as they were too high up in the trees.

The kids picked more blackberries on the way home.

At one point, we passed by an apple tree that was full of ripe apples. Unfortunately, all of the apples were at the top of the tree, making it nearly impossible to pick any of them. Only one small apple was a bit lower than the rest, so I picked Connor up and he managed to reach it and pick it. Gabby, Bella and Connor all shared it.

They loved walking onto the bridge and looking at the water a short way below it. I even let Cameron out of his stroller to walk over the bridge too, but he soon tried to make his escape. I chased him down and put him back into the stroller.

We found a lot of yellow plums along the path that were within reach and Gabriella and Isabella both tried them and liked them, so they started picking their own. (I had to explain to Bella not to pick them as low as she started out picking due to the possibility of dogs having peed on them.) Bella shared on of her plums with Cameron.

We came acorss a woman walking her friendly golden retriever. We have met this golden retriever before and the kids enjoyed petting him.

The kids climbed down the steps to the tiny bit of waterfall in the creek. By then we were getting rained on, so we didn't stay long.

When the kids climbed back up from the creek, we found out that Cameron had pulled Gabby's beret out from the basket under the stroller and decided to wear it.

Nearing the end of our walk, the kids all climbed on some large rocks that were positioned around the park.

After that, the rain started falling much faster so we had to hurry home.

I hope they enjoyed the day as much as they seemed to. I like creating memories for them with simple days like this.

Isabella's Princess Party

2010-08-14T18:47:00.000-07:00

Isabella turned five last Thursday, and she requested a princess party, which we had today.

We bought some of the usual sweets and treats for the party bags, but I wanted something especially princess-themed to give to the party-goers. I bought some wooden frames and painted some of them bright pink, some of the dark blue and some of them yellow. I also bought stencils made to fit the frames. The stencil I bought said "Princess" across the top and had stars and crowns on it.

For the yellow frames I tried a peach colored paint for the stenciling on one and a metalic blue for the stenciling on the other one. The blue looked better than the peach color, in my opinion.

For the pink frames, I chose a metallic purple for the stenciling. I liked the way they turned out.

For the blue frames, I didn't stencil the whole word, "Princess." I stopped when it only spelled "Prince," and I used a metallic aqua color for the stenciling. I really liked the way that they turned out.

We took photos of each child as they arrived at the party. (They were wearing costumes.) We then added the photos to the frames as gifts for them to take home with them. We also took some photos of our daughter with her friends as an extra photo for each of them to take home with them to remember the party.

The kids played the usual games such as Pass-the-Parcel and Musical statues.

I also wanted some princess-themed crafts for the kids to do. First, they made "royal chalices." I bought some inexpensive plastic wine glasses and a variety of stickers. Because my daughter had invited both boys and girls to her party, I bought some stickers of cars, trucks and emergency vehicles as well as stickers of flowers, butterflies, Disney princesses, hearts and stars. (I would have bought stickers of dragons and knights, but I couldn't find any.) The kids then got to decorate their "royal chalices" with the stickers.

Next, we had some crowns I had bought at the craft store for the kids to decorate with stickers too.

Even Cameron got in on the fun!

And surprise! So did Angelica! (Both Kayla and Angelica were very helpful during the party.)

Then we progressed to the food. I wanted to keep it simple, so I had some sausage rolls and pizza that I stuck in the oven and baked beforehand to serve to the kids, and they all seemed to like them.

Last, we moved on to serving the cake.

Robert made a simple two-layer round cake and frosted it. He rolled out ready-to-roll icing and wrapped it around some cake rolls which he then cut in two pieces each for the towers. One of the pieces was 2/3 of the cake rolls and the other was 1/3 of the rolls. We used more vanilla frosting to attach the larger halves of the towers to four sides of the round cake and we put three of the smaller ones on top of the cake. He frosted the tops of the towers and added mini marshmallows around the edges of them. He used food coloring to color the left-over ready-to-roll icing, and then rolled it out and cut out windows and doors, using thinly spread frosting to stick them to the "castle."

We all sang "Happy birthday so that Isabella could make a wish and blow out the candles.

The cake was a big hit!

And Bella really enjoyed her party.

Gabby's Haircut

2010-07-21T11:35:00.000-07:00

I cut Gabby's very long hair today. It is now just a tiny bit below her shoulders. We will be sending the hair to The Little Princess Trust to help create wigs for children with cancer.

For an idea of just how long her hair was before, here are some photos of her last October on her 7th birthday. Her hair has not been cut since.

Connor & The Singing Trees

2010-07-16T07:18:00.000-07:00

I had to do some grocery shopping today as we were completely out of fruit. Connor insisted on coming with me, even though his teenage sister Angelica was home so he could have stayed at home. The walk to the store was 2 1/2 miles each way.

Fortunately, the sun was out. It would have been hot, but there was a strong, cool breeze that kept the temperature from feeling too warm. It was beautiful out.

Like our last walk, there were butterflies fluttering and spiraling all around us. They kept flying really close to us, so Connor exclaimed, "Mommy! The butterflies LIKE us! They like us, Mommy!"

I was surprised that we didn't see as many dogs out as usual. It was a gorgeous day and perfect for dog-walking, yet we only saw about four dogs being walked compared to the usual twenty or so we see on most walks. Connor got to pet most of the dogs we saw. He loves to pet them, and he is really gentle with them. I've taught him never to just run up to the dogs though; he is supposed to always ask the owner before he approaches the dog.

On one of our previous walks, it had been a bit breezy and Connor had heard the leaves in the trees making noise as they blew against each other and wanted to know what the sound was. I told him then that it was the trees talking to each other. He wanted to know what they were saying, so I told them they were welcoming us to the park and saying what a beautiful day it was. Ever since then, every time the wind blows in the trees and he hears the leaves as they blow against each other, he asks me what the trees are saying.

Today, the trees were especially noisy as it was a strong wind blowing. As usual, Connor wanted to know what the trees were saying. We were the only two souls in sight, so I told him that the trees were singing today, and they were singing a song asking us to come and dance with them. Then I sang him a little song (supposedly the one that the trees were singing) that went like,

"Come dance with us;
It will be so much fun.
Come dance with us
In the bright morning sun.
Come dance with us,
Every boy and girl.
Come dance with us;
Feel the joy as you twirl."

And as I sang it, he and I held hands and danced, spinning and twisting and stepping. I could see how happy he was as we danced, and it was so completely worth feeling a little bit silly.

I'll have to come up with something new for the trees to be "saying" next time.

When we got home, he was so tired that he fell asleep on the couch within minutes of sitting down.

Happy 4th Of July 2010!!!

2010-07-04T16:54:00.000-07:00

Happy Independence Day!

Here in England, as you can imagine, there is not much celebrating going on for Independence Day. But I think it is important to keep certain traditions alive for my children, so I try and find ways to make the day special for them.

Usually, we buy fireworks at another time of year when they are available here and save them for today, but we didn't do that this year. There isn't really anywhere that sells fireworks at this time of year. Robert bought some red, white and blue streamers though, and I had to think of a way to use them.

I am not a very craft-y person, but I did my best. I used the streamers to make a ribbon that I hung on the front door. It wasn't very good, but I tried to make it look good, and the children seemed to like it.

I also tied some streamer-ribbons on our stairway.

Then I remembered that I had four bamboo sticks, so I tied (and used some tape to make sure they stayed on) streamers to the ends of the bamboo sticks. When the children came home from visiting their grandparents with their daddy, I showed them the streamer-sticks and told them that they were going to get to "decorate the dog" and have a little parade at the park. They didn't really understand the idea of a parade, but they had fun waving the streamers around and Gabby even made up a song to sing which repeated the phrase, "We're having an American Independence Day parade!"

Mercury kept trying to eat the ribbon of streamers that was tied around his collar, so it started to look scruffy very quickly.

One really cute thing was that our cat Pagan followed us to the park and tried to join in with the "parade."

When we got home, Kayla put some of the streamers on Pagan and then held him for some photos.

We also gave the children some red, white and blue glow sticks to play with when it got dark.

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July. I know my family did!

Poor Business Practice - Whatever Happened To Customer Service?

2010-06-13T09:14:00.000-07:00

I have had some very poor customer service from my local New Look store. We bought a pair of jeans for my daughter's birthday. They didn't fit her, so we brought them back to exchange them on a Monday. We arrived 10 minutes BEFORE 8:00pm (when the store was closing), and even though there was still 10 minutes left, the doors were locked and the girl at the door said it was too late. This annoyed me, but I hoped it was a one-off bad experience.

My husband and I walked down there (2 1/2 miles) on the following Sunday morning. We went to Asda first because the store sign on New Look said it did not open until 10:00am. When it was 10:10am, I walked out to the store only to find a group of about 5 women standing outside complaining because the doors still hadn't opened. One of the women knocked on the door and gestured to the sales girls inside.

Slowly, a sales girl walked over and opened the door. Another lady asked, "Aren't you supposed to open at 10:00?" and she gestured towards the sign on the door that stated New Look opened at 10:00am.

In a VERY snide voice, the girl said, "LEGALLY, we aren't required to open until 10:30!"

Now all of the women who had been waiting started complaining amongst themselves and commenting, reasonably, that the sign posted should state that they didn't open until 10:30am if they had no intention of opening until then!

I walked up to the counter to return or exchange the jeans and was told, "Oh, we can't do returns until 10:30!" ??? But they were already open for business!

Not wanting to wait around, I left. I shall walk back again tomorrow afternoon, get a refund and never shop there again. This store's employees act like they don't want customers! If a store acts as though my business is not needed or worse, in the case of this particular New Look, like customers are a nuisance, then they do not deserve my business and I will shop elsewhere.

Now add to this my poor experience with shopping on-line with Asda. Yesterday, Robert and I were very happy to see that a coupon for £75 off our very large order had been applied. Great! We even discussed shopping on-line more often with Asda in the hopes of future offers like this.

Fast forward to today, when, about an hour before our order was due to arrive, we got a phone call from Asda. The £75 coupon had been an error and they would not be applying it to our account afterall. Being that we had been overdue for a shopping trip and needed our groceries for our meals today, I told them to go ahead with the order, but I was seriously annoyed.

The error was on Asda's part, yet they did not offer any compensation. I understand that they did not mean to give us £75 off from our order, but what were they going to do to instill some good will on my part as the customer that their error had just greatly inconvenienced? Even a small compensation such as 10% off that order and free shipping would have gone miles to appease my annoyance. Nothing was offered. They have several competitors in the area for my custom. I am a customer with a large family and I regularly spend £200 to £300 a week at their store. This was a bad move on their part.

What ever happened to customer service? This is a bad economy, so it is reasonable to expect that companies will be going out of their way to make sure that their services are such that customers will want to return. Companies like New Look and Asda Walmart have several competitors for their business, and acts like the previously mentioned will just drive customers like me to their competitors.

UPDATE: ASDA has contacted me and offered some compensation for their error, and I am satisfied with the solution. Maybe customer service isn't dead everywhere yet.

£5 Rocks

2010-06-08T23:29:00.000-07:00

Gabby, Bella, Connor and a neighbor's kid collected together lots and lots of rocks. Then they had a "sale." They were selling the big rocks for £5. LOL!

They had one customer. The first customer got "the first rock free," so they didn't get their £5. But they were really, really excited that they had a "customer," and they told me that he said he was going to put the rock in his garden. (It was a neighbor from a couple of doors down).

I'm glad I have the kind of neighbors who are willing to humor children.

A Saturday At The Park

2010-06-05T16:11:00.000-07:00

Today we took our younger four children with us on our walk to a local park. It's a long walk, but we saw thousands of tadpoles there a couple of weeks ago, so we were hoping the kids would get to see lots of frogs today.

Some of the houses we saw on the way there had some pretty flowers in their gardens.

It was a long walk to get to the park.

We finally made it to the park. There weren't any frogs, but there was a lot of clover.

I was hoping to spot a four-leaf clover, but no such luck.

There was a tire swing and a rope swing at the park. Connor tried them both out. Gabby decided to explore the area around instead. Bella tried the swings and did some exploring too.

Cameron enjoyed himself, even though he didn't do all of the exploring and playing that the others got to do.

There was a lot of nature for the children to explore.

Today, the local farms were shearing the sheep. The children loved getting to see the sheep, and they even watched a couple of the sheep get rid of their heavy wool.

There were a few benches along the way, and the children were quick to make use of them.

When we got to the lake, we gave the children some bread to feed the ducks with. The lake's two swans swam over to us and brought along their three little signets.

The park's Magic Kingdom was open. It is full of sculptures of giant toadstools and snails as well as other fungi displays.

We hadn't realized that the BBC was holding a Breathing Places event at the park today, but since they were there, we took the kids to see some of the displays.

At the beekeeper's stand, the kids got to try and spot the queen bee.

Another stand had a live owl.

There were other stands too. One of them was a stand where the kids could get free face-painting. Gabby is the only one who decided to have her face painted.

There was an herb garden with an interesting center-piece.

The kids got to bring home keychains with hedgehog pictures on them, booklets that explained about different things in nature and a few other things. Then it was time to head home again.

Of course, the kids still found some last-minute opportunities to explore before we got home.

Though Cameron had not run around as much as his brother and sisters, it was getting close to his naptime, so he was starting to get tired.

Connor started to get tired too, but he already had the solution in mind.

I thought it would be a good idea to show that I had actually come along with the kids on this walk to the park and lake, so I stopped so that Robert could take a quick picture.

Our walk to the park and around it and home again usually takes Robert and I 2 hours, sometimes less. With the kids along, and adding in stopping at some of the stands, it took us 3 1/2 hours. It was worth it to take the children out for such a fun day, and the family got some good exercise at the same time!

The Mommy Fly

2010-06-04T11:37:00.000-07:00

With some much warmer weather arriving, we have had our windows open more often. Because of this, there have been a few flies that have been getting into the house.

Connor, my three year old, was very worried about a large fly that was buzzing loudly aorund the living room today. I explained to him that flies won't harm him, and that the fly was only looking for a way to get back outside.

That's when four year old Isabella chimed in.

"I saw a dead fly in the window! It was a little fly."

(pause)

"It was just a baby fly and this fly" (indicating the large fly buzzing around the room) "is the Mommy fly. The Mommy fly is very sad that her baby fly is dead."

I explained to Bella that flies don't have those types of relationships with their offspring. They just lay the "eggs" and leave.

"Not THIS fly," Bella insisted. "This Mommy fly LOVES her baby fly and she is very sad that it is dead. She is so sad that she is not going to leave. She's going to stay with her dead baby fly."

Nothing I said convinced her otherwise.

Angelica's 17th Birthday!

2010-05-28T23:25:00.000-07:00

Today is Angelica's 17th birthday!

When she got home from school, we went to the park near our house and took some photos of her.

Then it was time for her to open birthday presents.

And, as usual with Angelica, silliness ensued.

Then everyone got together in our living room to sing "Happy Birthday" to her and watch her blow out the candles on the birthday cake I made for her.

Shortly after that, some of her friends arrived to wish her a happy birthday.

And then the teenagers all went outside. First, I took some photos.

Then they took turns taking photos of each other while they all acted silly.

Overall, Angelica seemed to have had a wonderful time, and I'm really glad.

Happy Birthday, Angelica! I love you!

Mommy's Little Helper

2010-05-18T06:09:00.000-07:00

My three year old Connor only has preschool on Mondays and Wednesdays mornings, so he was home with his baby brother Cameron and me today.

Today, being Tuesday, is the day that the garbage truck and recycle truck come by to pick up all of our garbage and recycling. Connor, being a typical little boy, loves trucks, so he put his shoes on and went outside to watch the trucks and the men working on them.

I made sure he left the door open so I could keep an eye on him. He climbed up and sat on our stone wall, and, within minutes, I could hear him yelling over the nose of the trucks, "Hi! Hi!" and looking out the door I could see that he was waving at the garbage men.

After a few minutes, I heard him yelling, "I like your truck! I like your truck!" He kept yelling it until the nearest garbage man acknowledged hearing it and gave him a little wave.

As they were leaving, he waved again and yelled, "Bye!"

Apparently, getting to watch the trucks and talk to the garbage men put him in a good mood, because when he came back inside, he became Mommy's Little Helper.

I mentioned that I needed to put away all of the toys before Cameron woke up. (There were toy cars and blocks all over the floor.) I was more talking to myself than to Connor when I said it, but instantly, he began picking up all of the toy cars and putting them away. He is not normally so helpful, so I thought I'd test him a bit. After praising him highly for being so helpful to me, I told him that next we needed to put away all of the blocks. And Connor did that too!

He knew I wanted to vacuum the floor, so he asked if he could do it. I let him vacuum and then just redid some of it when he had moved on to other things.

I really am truly proud of my little boy for being such a good helper today!

Happy US Mother's Day 2010!

2010-05-09T06:29:00.000-07:00

In the United Kingdom, Mother's Day is celebrated in March, so I had my Mother's Day celebration already. But I am from California, and my mom still lives in the USA, so I am aware that, in the USA, today is Mother's Day.

So I would like to wish my mom, my sisters and all of my friends in the US who are mommies a very wonderful Mother's Day!

Happy 46th Birthday, Robert!

2010-05-04T14:15:00.000-07:00

Today is Robert's 46th birthday!

The children all made him presents. I bought a binder and Gabby, Bella & Connor drew pictures for him and of him. Cameron, using acrylic paints and a bit of help from Mommy made handprints for Daddy. Connor, Bella, Gabby, Kayla and Angelica all made lists of ten reasons they love Daddy. Kayla, Angelica and Gabby wrote poems for him, and all of this was put into the binder.

Gabriella, Isabella, Connor and Cameron all made bookmarks for him and painted them pretty colors and patterns. I added the tassles to the bookmarks today. Gabby also painted a canvas picture for him. Her painting was full of flowers with bees and a butterfly. One of the flowers was shaped like a heart.

They all also had some small store-bought gifts for him, but I'm pretty sure it's the homemade ones that will stick in his memory and his heart.

Gabby, Bella and Connor all wanted to perform some songs they made up for his birthday in front of the camcorder as an extra gift for him, so I recorded their songs.

I made him a cake and decorated it for him using my limited artistic skills, and we all sang "Happy Birthday" to him. (I only put 4 candles on his cake because I didn't have 46!)

Flowers From Connor

2010-04-30T15:54:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Robert left to go to the shop up the road from us to buy a few ingredients for dinner. Connor went with him. When they got home, Connor knocked on the door. I opened the door and found Connor on the other side, holding up a bouquet of red carnations towards me and saying loudly, "I LIKE you, Mommy!" His daddy whispered to him "Love, Connor; you were supposed to say 'I love you!'"

Connor gave me a big hug and told me he loved me. He said he chose the flowers because they were red and red is his favorite color. When I asked him why red is his favorite color, he reminded me that fire engines are red. (He is crazy about fire engines.)

I put the bouquet in a vase and set the vase on my living room window sill. Throughout the rest of the day, he kept pointing out the flowers to me and kept saying, "I bought those flowers for you, Mommy" with absolute pride in his voice. I took a picture of him today with the flowers, and he couldn't have been more pleased.

Happily, I get to sit here and see those flowers sitting in a vase in my window and be reminded how much I am loved by my little boy and how very lucky I am.

Picnic

2010-04-24T20:26:00.000-07:00

We took Cameron, Connor, Isabella, Gabriella and Kayla for a picnic at the park today. Angelica was doing work experience at the vet's, so she couldn't come. Our friend Helen joined us with three of her four children, Rosie, Tyler and Jay. Tyler and Connor are best friends. Gabby and Jay are in the same class at school and are good friends too.

We started with a picnic on a grassy field when we first arrived at the park. The kids thoroughly enjoyed their lunch and the treats afterward (which is obvious by the chocolate smudges on their mouths in most of the photos).

Next, the children wanted to go to the park's lake and feed the ducks. The sun was bright up in the sky at the time.

Then it was time for some running across the field and rolling down the sloping areas of it.

But, for one of the children, there was a preferred way to travel than to walk or run.

There were a lot of people there who had brought along their dogs.

Next, we all moved to the playground area so the children could play on the equipment.

After all of the fun on the play equipment was over, we took the kids into the little cafe at the park and bought them all ice creams. They played in a little soft-play area inside there and then we all went home. It was a lovely and fun day in the sunshine. There's nothing better than spending a good day out in the bright sunshine surrounded by family and friends.

Cameron's 1st Haircut

2010-04-22T19:35:00.000-07:00

Despite the fact that I knew it would remove his beautiful baby curls, it was finally time to give in and let Cameron get his first haircut. We have our own trimming set, so it was up to Robert to cut Cameron's hair.

We both worried a little bit because our son Connor is terrified of getting his hair cut with the trimmer and usually fights us while we do his hair. We hoped that Cameron would do better, and he did! He smiled throughout most of the haircut. Towards the end, he started getting a bit bored, but that was a pretty natural response.

And, as I always notice when Connor gets his hair cut too, Cameron's eyes looked so much bigger with his hair really short. He's a gorgeous baby boy.

And the good news is that, because Cameron had been so calm during his hair cut, when we cut Connor's hair afterwards, Connor was not as fearful or bothered by the process and did not fight us!

Before:

During:

After:

Fun With The Kids

2010-04-11T15:07:00.000-07:00

While I was exercising on the elliptical crosstrainer today, Robert took the kids outside to play. We have a compost bin that has yet to be used. Connor, Isabella and Gabby decided to play in it, and Robert took some really cute photos of them. Then he took some photos of Cameron and the three of them sitting together in our back garden. For some of the photos, they tried making silly faces.

They all look like they were having fun; don't they?

More Photos Of Our Border Collie (Plus Some Of His Friends)

2010-04-11T14:48:00.000-07:00

Today was not as sunny as yesterday, but we still took our dog Mercury out for some fun in the sun. He loves playing fetch, and really enjoyed getting to meet lots of other dogs who were out with their own owners.

Here are some of the friends Mercury met along the way.

This little sheltie was a real sweety! He was more interested in making sure that he got plenty of attention and petting from Robert and me than he was in playing with Mercury.

Enjoying the Sunshine

2010-04-10T12:41:00.000-07:00

Robert and I went for a lovely walk in the sunshine today. Mercury, our dog, loves it when we take him to the park with the lake; it's only about two miles to walk to it from our house. We usually walk all the way around it and around the lake before cming home, and today was no exception.

Because it was so bright and sunny outside we decided to bring the camera. We took some photos of Mercury and, when we passed by some sheep, I couldn't resist taking some photos of the little black lambs.

Thankfulness

2010-04-08T15:26:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine asked me to say three things that I am thankful for.

Just as I was deciding which three things to post that I am thankful for (there are so many things to choose from), Cameron toddled up to me making kissing noises and leaning forward in the hopes of a kiss. Of course, I gave him his kiss, and it is so very obvious to me that I am most thankful for:

- my wonderful kids and their health. They bring joy and magic into my life on a daily basis and they help me to see the world through better eyes.

- my husband who saw beauty in me when I couldn't see it in myself and helped me come to see it too.

- my family and friends, both offline and online, who listen, understand and give me reasons to smile daily.

Yah, for me, it's all about the relationships and the love in my life.

Happy Easter 2010!

2010-04-04T15:09:00.000-07:00

Today, the children all enjoyed their Easter chocolates. We all had a relaxing day together. Robert and I went on a really long walk with the dog, because the sun was out today, and it was really beautiful outside.

The girls all wore pretty dresses today, so I took the children to the park near our house for some Easter photos after church. It was very bright out, so most of them were squinting, but the pictures were pretty anyway.

Connor was determined not to let go of the little car he got for Easter, so he is still holding it in the photos.

I didn't take any individual photos of Cameron, so I have cropped his face out of a couple of the group shots, just so you can get a closer look at how adorable he is. The pictures may be small, but they still show him well.

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter and that you got to spend it with the people you love like I did.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day 2010

2010-03-17T16:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

And before you ask, yes, we all wore green today.

(Please forgive the state we were in for the photos. Connor and Cameron had messy faces from having just eaten dinner, one of Isabella's pigtails was falling out, and I was having a bad hair day.)

Happy Mother's Day 2010

2010-03-14T07:25:00.000-07:00

Today is Mother's Day in the UK. Happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers out there!

My 16 year old daughter decided she wanted me to get dressed up today and go to the park so she could take photos of me. I think it was just payback for all of the times I have made her and the other kids do the same!

I actually wore a red dress too. I rarely wear red because, in general, I don't think it is a good color with my red hair and freckles. But I think it looked okay this time. The wind was blowing my hair all over the place making it look really messy, and it was really, really cold. Not to mention I did not have a red bra to wear underneath, so my black bra showed up a bit. And yes, I am very, very pale.

Before all of that though, my younger kids woke me up in bed to bring me their gifts and cards and to bring me breakfast in bed (cereal). Gabby bought me a notebook with a matching pen. Isabella bought me a little figurine of a blonde girl which had a cute saying about mothers on it, and Connor bought me the same but the figurine was of a little boy. Victoria showed up with a tiny stuffed beanie Eeyore that was wearing a dinosaur costume. I got cards from everyone.

Not one person bought me chocolates. I wonder why that is. ;)

Actually, Connor made me a little paper purse at school that had two Thornton's chocolates in it. The problem with it was that he brought it home last Wednesday and, between Wednesday and today, he ate the chocolates.

Fairy Magic Photos Opportunity! (possible freebie!)

2010-03-13T07:10:00.000-08:00

Fairy Magic Photos is giving a few people an opportunity that can't be beat! If you'd like a Fairy Magic Photo of your own, now is your chance as they are looking for 10 models for advertising. Please go to the discussion board at Fairy Magic Photos' Facebook page and let them know if you would like to be considered. Remember moms these pictures could be of your children. Or you could have a fairy photo created of you!

My husband is the artist that creates these photos, and when he decided to offer this chance, I had to share it with my readers, because these pictures are a $75 to $150 value! There are some conditions, but it's still a really great chance for a Fairy Magic photo of your own!

This is perfect for the little princess in your life!

The Sky Has Chicken Pox

2010-02-11T12:21:00.000-08:00

Most of our winter has been very overcast. It’s only rarely that we are able to see the stars at night through all of the clouds which have covered the sky.

This evening, while out with her Daddy, Gabby made it clear how long it has been since she has seen the stars. The sky was clear tonight, and Gabby, Bella and Connor could see many stars in the sky. Gabby looked up at the night sky and exclaimed, “Look, Daddy! The sky has chicken pox!”

Toddling

2010-01-27T12:52:00.001-08:00

Cameron is toddling all over the place now, but usually not more than 5 steps at a time. He still prefers the speed and stability of his crawling. It isn't going to be much longer though before he'll be running around with his brothers and sisters on his little chubby legs.

Happy Once-In-A-Blue-Moon New Year!

2010-01-01T16:01:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!

This New Year's Eve had a blue moon. A blue moon only happens once every 2.75 years, but a blue moon falling on a New Year's Eve only happens once every 19 years. Even more unique, a blue moon only falls on a New Year's Eve at the turn of a decade once ever 410 years or so! So last night's blue moon was a once in a lifetime event!

I'd like to think that it means we are all going to have a wonderful year in 2010!

I asked all of my children what wild and wonderful thing they would resolve to do this year if nothing was out of their reach. Here is what they came up with:

Victoria (18 years old): I want to defy physics by growing wings and flying.

Angelica (16 years old): I want to learn how to effectively predict the future and read people's minds. I want to develop superpowers like being able to fly. I want to find a talking mouse.

Kayla (15 years old): I want o be allowed to join the police force while I'm still a teenager.

Gabriella (7 years old): I want to fight evil knights (and win).

Isabella (4 years old): I want to become a mermaid.

Connor (3 years old): I want to drive a fire engine and get a real dinosaur.

Cameron (1 years old): He's too young to choose something on his own, so I figured he'd probably like to take his first steps.

Robert: Write a blockbuster novel and make lots of money from it.

Me: Write a blockbuster novel and make lots of money from it.

We actually have more practical New Year's resolutions which are these:

Victoria:
1 - Write my book.
2 - Get fit.
3 - Join a club like archery or judo.
4 - Take dancing lessons.

Angelica:
1 - Get work experience at a veterinary hospital, farm, clinic or animal rescue shelter.
2 - Finish making my dresses.
3 - Get a part-time job.
4 - Take archery lessons.
5 - Get As in all of my classes.
6 - Find time to write stories.
7 - Find time to paint.
8 - Learn to drive.
9 - Get a microscope.
10 - "I also have 'save the world' as one of my goals, but I have mini-goals for that."

(I will stop there. Angelica actually had a list of about 50 things.)

Kayla:
1 - Visit America again.
2 - Take dance lessons.
3 - Learn to play the piano.
4 - Get horseriding lessons.
5 - Write a book.
6 - Join some sort of karate classes or self-defence classes.
7 - Find work experience ata police station.
8 - Get As in all of my exams.
9 - Get my hair restyled.
10 - Get my book published.

Gabby:
1 – Get my New Year’s pictures taken.
2 - Taste new foods.
3 - Watch new shows.
4 - Use my imagination as much as I can.

Isabella:
1 - Have my own tabby kitten.
2 - Spend more time at school, because I love my school.
3 - Get a new Christmas stocking.
4 - Get a mermaid puzzle.

Connor:
1 - Get more fire engines to play with.
2 - Get more dinosaur toys to play with.

Cameron:
Again, Cameron is too young to choose something for himself, so I'll suggest that he would like to learn how to communicate better with the rest of his family.

Robert:
1 - Spend more time writing.
2 - Save up to buy a decent graphics tablet (because mine broke).

Me:
1 - Lose the last 10 lbs to get to my goal weight.
2 - Finish my NaNoWriMo novel and edit it to get it ready to send out.
3 - Continue adding designs to my Zazzle shops and Moonduster's.
4 - De-clutter my house (one corner of a room at a time).
5 - Learn to knit. (Tried this one three years running now. Hopefully, the 3rd time is the charm!)
6 - Learn some rudimentary illustration skills to help me with my three children's stories.
7 - Finish putting together Gabby's books (from the last two years) and Bella's book.
8 - Learn some simple html skills to help make my shops more pleasing to the eye.
9 - Increase the amount of blog posts I make on my main three blogs.
10 - Get my new business Your Kids' Creations up and running.

2009 had a couple of good things going for it, one being all of the weight Robert and I lost over the year. But there were also some not so good things that ocurred during 2009, so I am looking forward to a much better 2010 to come.

You can see pictures of us on New Year's Eve, the last evening of 2009, here.

Seeing Out 2009

2009-12-31T23:39:00.000-08:00

With the family together on New Year's Eve, it was a nice way to say goodbye to the year. The younger children had all woken up at 3:00am this morning, so they had to go to bed at their normal time rather than staying up late for the New Year, but I snuck some photos of them asleep in their beds anyway.

So here are some of the last photos taken in our family in 2009.

(Incidentally, the shirt I am wearing in this photo is one designed by Angelica and can be bought here in a variety of colors.)

Merry Christmas (tomorrow)!

2009-12-24T22:22:00.000-08:00

Here's hoping everyone has a magical Christmas tomorrow! I know I will, because children always make Christmas magical!

Stories About The Old Days

2009-12-24T22:18:00.000-08:00

Today, we all had our first visit with our dentist. We recently bought dental insurance, and we had to get registered with our new dentist by having the first visit.

On the walk over there, the children were slipping and sliding all over the place because the path was covered in ice. Kayla and I held onto Isabella’s hand to keep her from falling, and Robert held onto Gabby’s hand to keep her from slipping.

As they walked, Robert talked to Gabby about friends he had when he was a kid and things that he liked to do when he was young. She listened and asked questions and was really interested in what he had to say.

Suddenly, she said, “I can’t wait until I have children of my own! Because then I can tell them about the olden days when I was a kid too!”

Sometimes I really adore the things that my children say.

Walking With Gabby

2009-12-24T01:13:00.000-08:00

Today, while Robert and I were walking with the girls, the ground was covered in ice and very slippery. Because of this, Gabby held her daddy's hand to keep from slipping and Isabella held mine.

While we walked, Robert chatted with Gabby, telling her about his childhood and some of the adventures he had with his brother.

After a while, I heard Gabby say, "I can't wait to have children of my own! Then I can tell them all about the old days too. You know, like when I was seven!" (She is seven now.)

These kids never stop being wonderful and making me laugh!

I Almost Passed Out!

2009-12-10T01:37:00.000-08:00

My doctor thinks I might be anemic.

Yesterday, still not feeling well, I walked the 3/4-mile to go pick Connor up from school while pushing Cameron in the stoller. We were out of diapers and formula, so, on the way home, I had to stop at the shops. My stomach kept cramping up badly, but I was doing okay, if moving a bit slowly. I got to the shops and went to the ATM to draw some money out. That's where everything went screwy on me.

Everything started to spin and go dark on me. I felt my legs giving way under me, but I fought it. (I had both small boys with me, so I COULD NOT pass out!) I grabbed onto the ledge at the bottom of the ATM machine to hold myself up thinking I just have to get home, then I can collapse. I turned around, leaning my back on the machine and gripping onto the stroller to hold myself up, but it was a losing battle. I couldn't see anything as everything was swirling around in front of me.

Some ladies walking towards me noticed something was wrong, asked if I was okay, and I answered "no." They helped me inside (one of the shop employees came out to help too, because I could barely stand up). One of them pushed the stroller inside and made sure Connor came in with us too. The must have gotten me a chair because, just as they let go of me and I thought I was falling, I felt a chair underneath me. I could feel sweat on my face and I was breathing hard, but I didn't feel like I was having any trouble breathing.

After about ten minutes or so of sitting, everything started to clear up. By then, the paramedics had arrived. They were going to call an ambulance, but I became steady enough to get up and walk again. Robert, because he's been home sick, came to the shops and brought our teenager who was also at home sick. She took the little ones and went to pick up my other two girls from their school. Robert stayed with me.

As my condition was improving, the paramedics agreed to let me go home. They drove me home, and did some more tests while I was there. Both at the shops and at home, my blood pressure was really, really low. Other than that, everything was fine. No fever. Blood sugars were normal and so on. They called and spoke to one of the doctors at my practice, and got me an appointment to be seen at 5:00pm (an hour later). I took a taxi there and back. My blood pressure had returned to a normal range, if still a tad on the low side. The doctor thinks I'm anemic, so I have to go in for more blood tests later this month.

Because my 1 year old and 3 year old were with me, that was one of the scariest moments I've been through. And it was so sudden!

I pretty much slept from getting home from the doctor appointment until about 6:30am this morning. Other than a splitting headache and the same tummy troubles, I feel okay today.

Captain Mac A. Roni "The Greatest Treasure" Review by Bella & Gabby

2009-11-29T15:22:00.000-08:00

I was sent a free copy of the DVD "Captain Mac A. Roni - The Greatest Treasure" to review.

First off, I have to say that it is not like a Disney or Pixar movie in that it does not pull an adult's interest in, but it was created with kids in mind and attempts to teach kids about the value of love and sharing. It's a cute and simple cartoon video, and as it is aimed at children, I decided that it would only be appropriate to let my kids review it themselves.

With that in mind, I have this video to share with you. My 7 year old daughter Gabby and 4 year old daughter Bella watched the video this morning. They both enjoyed the video, but Bella had a case of shyness when I videoed her to ask what she thought of it.

Take a look at the video and listen to what they thought of it and decide for yourself whether or not it would be a good Christmas gift for your own kids. You can buy the Captain Mac.A.Roni Children's DVD here.

*I received a product for this review on behalf of the company. All opinions are solely my own. Others who may use this product or service may have different opinions.*

Standing

2009-11-09T11:29:00.000-08:00

Cameron has been letting go and standing on his own today. Gabby mentioned yesterday that she saw him do it too.

It happens too sporadically for me to get a photo of it yet, but as soon as I'm able to, I'll share a picture of him standing on his own.

Being my youngest, I am in no rush for him to reach all these new stages of development. I am perfectly happy for him to take his time, but he seems to have other ideas.

Superboy

2009-11-08T10:43:00.000-08:00

Why yes, it is the dog's costume. Why do you ask?

Connor Shares His Jack-O-Lantern With Us

2009-11-05T15:12:00.000-08:00

Connor wanted to show everyone his "pinkin" and why he thinks it's so great.

Connor & His Pumpkin

2009-11-03T23:45:00.000-08:00

Connor has become attached to a plastic jack-o-lantern that we had amongst our Halloween decorations. From the moment we got the decorations out (the day before Halloween), he has carried that jack-o-lantern around with him everywhere. He calls it, "my punkin."

Today, Robert caught Connor chatting with his jack-o-lantern. Then Connor put a blanket over the jack-o-lantern and pulled it off again saying, "Peek-a-boo!"

He adores it, and I have no idea how he's going to take it when we pack it away with the other Halloween decorations.

Happy Halloween 2009

2009-10-31T23:15:00.000-07:00

The kids had a great Halloween, but we didn't have very many children come trick-or-treating. We all dressed up for Halloween, even the dog and cat. My camera battery went dead before I got a photo of the cat though, so I'll have to try taking a photo of him in his costume at a later time.

The Reason For My Typos

2009-10-30T08:33:00.001-07:00

This is what happens when I try to type on my laptop.

Patty Cake

2009-10-30T07:19:00.000-07:00

Gabriella, Isabella and Connor all sang "Patty Cake" to Cameron because he loves it when people sing the "Patty Cake" song. (He looks a bit serious at the end, but you can hear him laughing during the singing.)

Our Clever Dog

2009-10-30T07:05:00.000-07:00

For about a week, I've been trying to teach our dog Mercury to "shake." I try about once a day, but he's very quick to pick up on things, and a couple of days ago, he started to do it every time he was given the command. So today, I videoed him doing his new trick. (Angelica is the one telling him to "shake" and giving him his treat.)

Jack-o-lanterns

2009-10-27T13:11:00.000-07:00

Gabriella and Isabella wanted to carve pumpkins for Halloween today. Their daddy let them draw pictures of the jack-o-lantern faces they wanted, and then he carved their drawings into the pumpkins.

Some of the pumpkin got onto their drawings making them a little messy, but I took pictures of them anyway.

Candy Corn Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-10-27T07:29:00.000-07:00

I had some chocolate chip cookie dough for Gabby and Bella to make cookies. Robert surprised me yesterday by buying a bag of candy corn, because until recently, there was nowhere you could buy candy corn here in our area of England. Gabby told me she wanted to make "candy corn cookies," so they each put a piece of candy corn on each of the balls of chocolate chip cookie dough today and came up with candy corn chocolate chip cookies. They cooked well, looked good and the kids loved them! It turned out to be a terrific idea for Halloween baking!

Bra

2009-10-26T07:21:00.000-07:00

I was in the shower today, and my clothes were hanging on the inside of the bathroom door. Well, as anyone who is a mom knows, we moms rarely get to take a shower without interruptions and today was no exception.

Isabella, my four year old daughter, came into the bathroom. From the other side of the shower curtain, I could hear her talking.

"Oh! I see your underwear! And your booby-thing! But it's not a booby thing, it's a bra! I know it's a bra and not a booby-thing. Do you know how I know it's called a bra? I had a dream about seeing one, and in my dream I called it a bra. That's how I learned not to call it a booby-thing and to call it a bra." (Emphasis on the word bra is hers.)

When she left the bathroom, I allowed myself a giggle over the conversation and decided to share the new term she learned with you.

Harvest Day!

2009-10-21T13:12:00.000-07:00

Today is Harvest Day and Gabby's school put on a production for the parents. Apparently, some fo the kids wrote poems about Harvest Day and out of all of the children, two had their poems chosen to be read during the production. Gabriella had her poem chosen, as did her friend Adam (who's been her friend since preschool). They got to read their poems out loud during the Harvest Day production.

You can read Gabby's poem on the Imaginative Minds: Writing By Children blog.

And, as a special treat, you can even see her reading it to the audience in this video clip.

No Training Wheels!

2009-10-08T15:30:00.000-07:00

Gabby has not had a bike that fit her for a couple of years now and because of this, she never learned to ride a bike without training wheels. For her recent birthday, her daddy and I bought her a bicycle.

Today, her daddy took her to the park to learn to ride her bike without training wheels. He noticed that she was overly nervous about falling while trying to ride on the pavement, so he told her to ride on the grass. Once on the grass, she took off with no problem at all (except for figuring out how to stop).

As well as learning how to ride her bike without training wheels for the first time, she achieved her 5 meter badge in swimming at school! She is learning new things in leaps and bounds this year!

Being Silly

2009-10-07T23:24:00.000-07:00

Cameron was being a little silly today.

"Daaahh-deeee!"

2009-10-06T19:15:00.000-07:00

Cameron said his first really clear word today: "Daaahh-deeee!"

Happy 7th Birthday, Gabriella!

2009-10-03T12:07:00.000-07:00

Today was Gabby 7th Birthday!

She had a wonderful day that began with opening presents from family, moved on to going to the movies with Daddy and two friends and then coming home to having her pictures taken at the park and ended with birthday cake and a visit from her godfather Pete.

Giving The Moon

2009-09-10T05:24:00.000-07:00

Today, the sun is shining and the sky is blue. On the walk to school, Gabby and Bella both noticed that the moon was still showing. My kids have always been fascinated with the moon, especially when they can see it during the day.

On the way back after dropping them off, Connor pointed out the moon to me, as if it was a new discovery. Then he reached over to his baby brother Cameron who was sitting in the storller, andhe rested his hand on Cameron's shoulder. With his other han, he reached into the air, pointing to the moon. "Look, Cameron!" he exclaimed, "See the moon!"

Of course, Cameron just smiled at his big brother for paying attention to him and never looked in the direction of the moon.

although at 9 months old, Cameron is too small to ask for the moon, at 3 years old, Connor is already trying to give his little brother the moon.

And it made me smile.

Family Theme

2009-09-06T05:17:00.000-07:00

I was reading some mommy blogs and came across Andi's blog over at Poot & Cubby which had a recent post about her daughter's first day of school. In it, she mentioned that her daughter's school chose a theme for the school year. The theme is "Courage To Dream."

I absolutely love that theme, so I've randomly decided to make it my family's theme for the year. I'm going to have each of the children (and Robert and I) write down the things we really hope for this year, and we are going to have the courage to go for all of our hopes and dreams this year, even if it means givng each other the necessary push to do so.

Anyone else want to join us? I'll share the lists we come up with later this week.

Isabella's First Day Of School

2009-09-04T10:36:00.000-07:00

Isabella had her first day of school today! She looked adorable in her school uniform. She was very excited about her first day at "big girl school," and her teacher told me she really enjoyed being read to more than anything else. (We read to her at home too, and she does really like hearing stories.)

Gabby was really excited to have Bella at her school too!

Connor's 3rd Birthday!

2009-08-30T23:11:00.000-07:00

Today is Connor's 3rd birthday. The only things he asked for were a "firetruck and a bus." Robert and I got him a fireman's costume. His Nana and Grandad got him a Fireman Sam firetruck. Cameron gave hima tiny (Hot Wheels-sized) red firetruck. Gabby gave him a Hot Wheels pack that had five emergency vehicles in it (including a firetruck). Isabella gave him a set that included a fire chief's vehicle with an attached trailer. Angelica gave him a Toy Story flashlight, and Kayla gave him a little bus. He even had some gifts to open from his Grandma and Grandpa (having picked them out at the Disney Store yesterday using the money they sent him).

He adored all of his presents, and he smiled all day long. When I took him to the park for photos, he was easy to photograph, because he was in such a happy mood.

We made him a Funfetti birthday cake from Pillsbury that my mom had sent to us (along with Funfetti frosting). I even managed to get his Aunt Leaetta and Uncle Robert to sing "Happy Birthday" with us through the webcam with Skype. He kept trying to blow out the candles ahead of time.

Connor & Sportacus

2009-08-29T08:02:00.000-07:00

Connor is a huge fan of the character Sportacus from the Lazytown tv show. He tries to do handstands (with the result of him actually just putting his hands on the floor and only lifting one leg up). He even mimics the arm movements that Sportacus does before running to someones rescue.

Today in town, a Sportacus impersonator came to entertain the children, so we went to town. Isabella hid her face in my side, too scared because of the small crowd around Sportacus. Gabriella, being six years old, could tell that he wasn't the real Sportacus. Connor wanted to see him but was feeling shy, so Robert had to hold him by Sportacus for the photo.

Connor is really pleased about having his photo taken with Sportacus. The three of them also rode on one of those kid-rides (a horse), and enjoyed that too.

Remembering Fire Safety

2009-08-25T02:03:00.000-07:00

My 16 year old told me this morning why she was so tired:

She woke up in the middle of the night because she could smell smoke. She looked around and saw nothing and was so tired that she fell back asleep! A little bit later, her 14 yr old sister woke her up because she too had been awakened by the smell of smoke. They got up and searched their room. 14 yr old's hair striaghterner had been left on and had fallen. Carpet was melting and causing the smell.

I'm freaked because this could have been the cause of a fire in my house that would have started in my teenagers room which is also in the way of the stairs. I'm glad they found it before things started really catching fire, but I am freaked nonetheless.

Park Festival

2009-08-16T09:18:00.000-07:00

We went to a festival at a park near our house. At first, Isabella let the crowds and noise frighten her and wouldn't go anywhere near the center of it all. We had brought a picnic lunch, so we sat just outside the festival area and had lunch. The kids got to try some cotton candy too (called candy floss over here).

After a while, she felt braver, so we entered the festival area. The kids played on a bouncy castle. Connor picked out a car poster for putting on the wall by his bed.

Both Gabriella and Isabella got to have their faces painted while Connor went to play on a nearby playground. They got to choose which designs they wanted painted and even got to choose which colors got used for the designs.

Connor got to pretend to drive a real police car.

Overall, they had a lot of fun so it was a day well spent.

Isabella's 4th Birthday!

2009-08-12T01:33:00.000-07:00

Isabella turned 4 today. Robert made her birthday cake. She opened presents from Connor, Cameron, Gabby and her daddy and me in the morning. Victoria gave her a birthday rpesent too. In the evening, after her daddy came home from work, we all sang happy birthday to her and she blew out the candles on her birthday cake. She loved the cake and enjoyed the day. She missed having her big sisters Angelica and Kayla around, but they are both still in the USA.

I took her to the park and took a lot of photos of her, and Robert took some close-up pictures of her when we came back home.

After she'd gone to bed, her godfather Leon arrived with a present for her. She had been waiting for him and made me promise to wake her up when he came, but she wouldn't wake up. I took pictures of her still asleep on the couch where I carried her with Leon sitting beside her because I knew if I told her I had tried to get her up when he arrived, she wouldn't believe me.

I love my little princess Isabella.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star

2009-08-08T11:59:00.000-07:00

"Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" - sung by Isabella, performed by Gabriella
a spontaneous performance

Cameron's Crawling Improves

2009-08-06T11:04:00.000-07:00

Cameron's crawling has improved a lot in just two days' time!

Baby Giggles

2009-08-06T10:55:00.000-07:00

Cameron is a very happy baby and he smiles and laughs easily. His brother and sisters love making him giggle.

Cameron is crawling!

2009-08-02T10:54:00.000-07:00

Cameron started crawling, so, of course, I had to capture it on video!

Animating Gabby's Art

2009-07-31T00:05:00.000-07:00

Gabby drew a really cute bee when she was 4 years old, and she just drew a pretty flower, so her daddy thought it would be fun to create a little animation using them both.

Learning from His Big Sister

2009-07-29T06:22:00.000-07:00

Gabby (6 years old) decided to teach Connor (2 years old) how to draw some simple drawings.

First, she showed him how to draw a flower.

Here's Gabby's flower:

Here's Connor's attempt to draw a flower:

Then, she showed him how to draw a dinosaur.

Here's Gabby's dinosaur:

Here's Connor's attempt to draw the same dinosaur:

The really cute thing about this "lesson" is that, when Gabby was showing it all to me, she was pointing out which parts of Connor's flower picture were the leaves, stem and petals and which parts of his dinosaur picture were the teeth, spikes and tail. Can you see those things in his drawings?

Border Collies Are Smart!

2009-07-29T04:52:00.000-07:00

Our dog Mercury is so clever! Angelica got him for her fifteenth birthday and is supposed to do his training, but she never taught him more than the sit command. Later, I taught him to lie down when I said, "Down," and it only took him a few minutes to learn and remember it. (Border collies are smart!) Well, she still hasn't taught him anything else, so I decided to work with him again. I taught him "Stay!" and "Come!" And again, it only took a few minutes to teach him. (Of course, there were no distractions around such as other dogs to play with.) He is so EASY to train.

Now I just have to teach him to run with me without grabbing his leash and pulling while jumping around in front of me growling playfully. Right now, whenever I try to run, he thinks it's a game.

Notes From Gabby

2009-07-12T04:18:00.000-07:00

Robert has a little sticky note feature on the desktop of his computer where he can quickly type in a note to himself to remind himself of things. Gabby was playing games on his computer, and the browser stopped working, so she decided to let him know.

Typed onto this little note feature was written, "Daddy your conpyooter browk."

I thought it was a really cute message, especially with her phonetic spelling.

A Mommy & Her Boys

2009-06-14T04:42:00.000-07:00

Connor, Cameron and I had our photos taken by Robert while we were at the park. Usually, Cameron is quick to smile, but today we were all squinting in the sunlight, and Cameron was overly interested in the grass.

Gabby the Rock Star

2009-06-11T16:00:00.000-07:00

Gabby has informed me that she is going to be a rock star. And her friends Hannah and Morgan are in her band.

Summer by Gabriella

2009-06-09T23:58:00.000-07:00

Gabby wrote a poem/song this morning.

Summer
by Gabriella (6 years old)

I see sun
in the sky.
It sings
Summer's here.
It's coming
Back for you.

Summer, Summer,
Summer, s-Summer.

You might have a holiday,
Out in the sun,
But you know you know
That it's Summer.

Summer, Summer,
Summer, s-Summer.

Where I Found Our Kitten Today

2009-05-19T11:57:00.001-07:00

I heard meowing, so I follow the sound to find out where our kitten Pagan was.

Neither Isabella nor Connor will 'fess up to who put him in the dollhouse.

Our New Kitten

2009-04-30T04:37:00.000-07:00

We have finally found a kitten to bring into our family. He is part Russian Blue. When we saw the litter, the owner kept showing us the female tortoise shell kitten and the black male kitten. The others were either already spoken for or not weaned yet. (There were two litters of kittens.) I noticed a bit of grey fur underneath where the tortoise shell kitten was laying. I said, "Aw, that one's kind of fluffy." The owner said, "Oh, that one's a boy too and he's available!" as if he had just remembered. One look at him and Robert and I both knew he was the one. The owner told us he was the one that he would have kept if he was planning on keeping one.

His name is Pagan.

Even Cameron took an instant liking to him: