Merry Christmas!

Oh, how I love the holidays! It's been a busy couple of months and I have a few updates. My family and I have moved to a new home, we have become the proud owners/parents/family of a very cute puppy, Kimbo. Alicia is growing up faster than I would like her to. Aleyna is starting to focus and received an award at school, "Terrific Kid". And Abigail has reached her asking questions phase. The question of the week on little Abbie's mind was "Momma, what happened?" Don't you love it when toddlers realize they can use they mouths for something other than biting and screaming. Thankfully, Abbie never really was a biter, just a screamer. The other night we were on our way to the market and were listening to Christmas music on our local radio station. The song on the radio was Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time, or as Abbie put it "Simmy happy adadroorooroo dime!" Oh so cute!

I love the fall!

I love the fall! I love the cool breezes and golden red sunsets it brings. I love sitting outside and listening to the leaves rustle as they spread across the ground. Fall means that the holidays are just around the corner. Fall means lazy cuddle afternoons. I love the fall. Happy Fall!

Success.

How do you define or measure success? Is it in how much money you make? Is it in the amount of praise or compliments you receive from others on your hard work? Or maybe even being promoted? Do you have to see a-lot of it before you can say you are really successful? I used to feel this way, but my busy life has made me take a step back and re-evaluate what success really means to me. Today success means taking baby steps. Today success means picking up Aleyna at school and hearing that she had a great day! Today success means seeing Alicia's face light up when she talks about how well she did on her reading benchmark! Today success means watching Abigail laugh and dance while she watches her favorite television program. Today success means realizing that I have finally taken and passed my real estate exam! Success is what you make of it! If success for you means that you finally got to clean your house for the first time in two, three, or even four weeks, then good for you! You are a success! We all are when you think about it! Keep being successful! It feels great!

Love!

Andy, my husband, is the love of my life. We celebrated our 11th anniversary this past June. I always wondered if I would be able to find someone that I could love forever. And I did. He makes me laugh and smile everyday. He is my very best friend. I can't imagine how I ever got along without him. I am very grateful to have him.

Another year, another birthday.

I celebrated my 31st birthday last week. I can't say that I was particularily excited, but I guess I felt o.k. There are many things I wish I would have accomplished by now, but I still have time. I am positive that I will reach all of my goals. Things are getting better everyday! I can feel it in my bones. I get butterflies in my tummy everytime I visualize reaching my goals, getting my real estate license, publishing my books, buying or having my dream home built! I know it's all coming, because I want it to and I will work hard to reach these goals. I am happy.

My little pastry chef!

Alicia, my ten year old, has decided that she wants to persue her dream of becoming a chef and has now started her own business. She is now baking! She had her very first order this week. She, along with her sister, cousin, and bestfriend created a flower pot cupcake masterpiece! It was so pretty and they worked so hard. Alicia was so happy! She has always loved to cook and will be taking cake decorating classes beginning Monday! I hope she has fun and that all her dreams come true!

Hello out there!

Sorry I have not been able to get on for a while. I have been pretty busy at home with the girls! It's almost time for them to return to school and I know I will miss them terribly! My garden continues to grow, but it has certainly taken a beating from the summer heat! If I even forget to water for one day, I have dried out leaves the very next day! Picked my first tomatoes about a week ago and they were delicious. I also used my first jalapenos in a picadillo this week. They provided just the right amount of spice to the dish! I've got two big melons growning and they look good. My strawberries have decided not to grow. I hope I have better luck next season.

Jalapenos, Bell Peppers, and Tomatoes!

Banana plant

Beautiful Day!

Today is a beautiful day! I feel relaxed and happy. The girls and i have just about completed their rooms, just a few toys to sort through and laundry to put away! My room looks good too. Almost done, just need to sort through paperwork. My banana plant is doing well. I have four tomatoes on my tree and plenty of flowers. My melons are blooming but no sight of an actual melon formation yet. I have 3 jalapenos growing and a few bell peppers. I had about 9 strawberries, but I think I over watered them and they all stopped growing. I added some extra soil to solve the over watering problem and am hoping that they will flourish! It is cloudy outside with a chance of rain. It's calm and soothing. Yes, today is a beautiful day!

2nd week of summer break!

This is week two of summer break for the girls! It has been nice. I've had the girls doing some clean up in their room, it was pretty messy! But they are doing a great job and the help is much appreciated! Next week we'll start on Abby's room and my room! I will post pics when we get done! Also my garden is doing really well. I have flowers blooming on my tomatoes, jalapenos, red and green bell peppers, and melons. By the end of summer we should have lots of each!

Happy!

This is me and my Abigail! I am truly blessed to be able to stay at home with her! She makes me laugh and smile every single day.

Back to life, AGAIN!

Well, I've been gone for quite some time. For this I am sorry. I feel more lost than ever. I don't want you to join my pity party but I have some things to say. When I started this blog I hoped that it would help me grow and be better to myself and my family. My husband will tell you that I am a great mom and wife, but I feel like I could use some improvement. Since my last post, I have done absolutely nothing. I have been swallowed by a giant fish called "contempt", in my privately owned sea of misery. I had hoped that I would not get swept away in it's waves of laziness and fear and that I would not even attempt to test its waters, but I did. And now it is time for me to throw myself a life preserver and get moving!

It will work this time! The beauty about changing is that you can continue to change over and over again without failure. Each time you learn something new about yourself and your family. Each time you decide that you will do something differently. This is my time!

I have decided to start my "change" with doing something good for my family's health and finances. I have started a vegetable garden. I planted the following fruits, vegetables, and herbs: jalapenos, red and green bell peppers, tomatoes, sugar snap peas, butter nut squash, cucumber, lettuce, sweet and lettuce leaf basil, Italian parsley, rosemary, cilantro, and tarragon. I have also planted some flower seeds for my girls.

I will continue on my quest to conquer the mess in my home. I have even joined a website called flylady.net. This website is amazing. It helped me to understand that I can't do it all in one day. It takes time and effort and it starts with me. I have scheduled my real estate exam for June 4th and will study for it! My girls are also about to get out on summer vacation so I have some fun activities and play days for them to take part it! This will be the best summer yet! I truly believe that it is not to late to make this a good year!

So little time and so much to do!

WOW!!! What a month! Everything I had planned on doing, I didn't do! I need help and STAT! I have got to get organized or else I'll never get anywhere. I had lost 5 pounds early in the month and I am pretty sure that they're back. I have not taken my Real Estate exam yet but plan to in the next 2 weeks. Meanwhile, I've got serious work to catch up on here at home!

Still cleaning!

I've continued to work on my messy rooms! I'm also training for to be a real estate agent. I plan on taking my test by the end of the month, so I'm studying hard and cleaning less (sad). But I will keep working towards my goal. Now I need to develop a good schedule to make sure I get everything done on a daily basis. Any suggestions? Thanks everyone!

Cleaning going well!

So far my cleaning project is going well. I was able to get rid of two large boxes in my bedroom. I hope to finish my room and the girls' room by this weekend! I have a lot of work to do but when it's all done, I know it'll look great and I'll feel much better! Wish me luck!

Sweetheart!

This is Alicia. She is the sweetest little girl and is a great big sister! Alicia is a very loyal friend and has a huge loving heart! We are really proud of her!

Rockin' Lani

Lani (Aleyna) danced her heart out at her 1st grade showcase this February! She looks so cute! You can't help but smile when you watch her!

Chocolate Monster

This is my Abigail, AKA "The Chocolate Monster!!!". The girls left Valentine's Day candy out and Abbie got a hold of it. She ate right through the wrapper!

Long weekend!

This weekend was a long one. Andy and I started cleaning out the garage. We got through 2 large boxes of kitchen cleaning products and paperwork. The garage still looks messy but we are well on our way. Alicia became ill during Sunday school and I had to take her to the doctor today. Turns out she had a sinus infection coupled with a cold. She's doing better now. I plan on starting my cleaning up adventure tomorrow. I'll be taking before and after pictures and posting them for everyone to see, EEEK! Oprah.com has many tips on how to get rid of clutter and creating a cleaner home. I also plan on taking the Oprah's Clean Up Your House Tour Pledge. If you are tired of staring at clutter and piles of laundry, books, magazines, and toys in your home, I suggest you decide to make a change. Don't wait until a Monday or the beginning of next month, you'll never start if you do that. Do it now! I'm starting tomorrow, when will you start?

LITTLE MOM big world Introduction

I've been a mom for ten years. I was only twenty when Alicia was born. I was scared. Of course, I was happy. But I was really scared. I knew that everything was going to be different. My husband and I were engaged and crazy about each other after 5 months of dating. Two months after that we found out we were pregnant. We had hoped for a long engagement, but things change and that's O.K. I was attending college and was only working part-time. My husband was also attending college and working full-time. School became a second priority for us when Alicia came. We had bills to pay and in all of the excitement of being an independent and young married couple, we created more bills for us to pay, if you know what I mean. I tried to continue my education whenever I could and managed to complete an Associate of Arts degree. It wasn't what I had always wanted for myself but, HEY it's something, right?!

Well, I have three girls now (Alicia 10, Aleyna 6, and Abigail 1) and sometimes I wonder if I'm doing a good job as a parent. I'm at home now, but have worked full-time in the past and felt incredibly guilty for not being with my children. What I have come to realize is that as a parent you sometimes feel as though your part is little in their great BIG WORLDS. But to be honest, I have learned that we play the biggest role in their lives. It doesn't matter if you are a stay-at-home parent or if you work full time. It's what you do with the time that you have with your children that counts. Do you come home and become completely overwhelmed with the gigantic amount of laundry you have to do? Do you come home and realize that you didn't defrost any chicken and therefore have to eat out once again for dinner? Do you bring home your frustrations from work? Are you so disgusted with yourself and your inability to succeed that even though you are at home you can't get anything done? I've been there. I don't want to be there ever again. I want to spend my life making it count for something. Not only do I want to be a great mom and wife. But I want to be a great somebody to me! I want to do this now!

I had a list of goals that I wanted to reach by the time I was thirty. Well that time has come and gone and I obviously have not reached all of those goals, so I have given myself an extension. I have decided that now is the time for me to get moving on my goals. This is not going to be easy for me. And to be honest, some of it may not be very fun either. But I will reach my goals and surpass them. My list may change from time to time, as everyone's does. And that's O.K. I hope that you all will join me in finding who you really want to be and what life you really want to have for yourself and your family.

Below is my "to do" list, feel free to read. I plan on giving myself deadlines and strict rules. I will lead a no excuse kind of life. If I don’t' know how to do something, I'll learn or ask someone to teach me. I will post my exciting mom adventures and any advice I can offer daily, I hope. I can't become somebody I want to be, by sitting on my butt all day, now can I?! And I certainly can't expect to help my children grow up to be strong and confident people if I struggle with this myself. So I need to change me and my way of living. The rest should fall in to place and if it doesn't, I'll give it a little push!

To Do List (goals)

Lose weight (I'm about 30 lbs. over the weight I want to be at)
Get my home organized (I'm somewhat of a pack rat, especially when it comes to paperwork) Teach Abbie to read by the time she is two (She's pretty bright, just like mommy)
1 hour playtime everyday with kids after school (No Matter What)
Include husband and kids in cooking meals daily (This is good family time)
Limit my TV watching to 1 hour daily. (This is hard, I love TV)
Plant a garden ( I would love to grow my own veggies)
Learn to tile (I have a fireplace that has never been completed and needs tiling)
Write and publish my children's books (I've already started writing)
Start my own business (I would love to be my own boss)
Buy a home with in 1 year (Cash, preferably)
Take my kids to Disneyland/Disneyworld (I have never been there and neither have they)
Take my kids to visit all of the National Monuments (They should know where we have been and where we are going!)

So these are some of the many goals and activities that I have set for myself. I sincerely hope that you will join me in my quest towards personal freedom and offer any advice you may have as well.