No TV Days...

Our new family adventure...no TV days. Yes, I call it an adventure and the kids would call it pure torture, cruel and unusual punishment, my mom/sister is being mean. You know the drill when you impose rules on the babies that they are not in favor of.

The babies want to know how we could be so mean as to take away the TV. We did this because the kids were not playing games, reading books, playing outside or using their imagination as much as we wanted them to so we took away the one thing that occupied a major part of their day the TV.

It has been nice to see them dust off the big dust bunnies and knock down cobwebs to find the games, toys, books etc. that in some cases have never even opened up and finding new adventures that they didn't even know existed. Now they haven't been thrilled about it just yet... No jumping for joy or cheers for no TV day, they are still too upset about losing a day of TV which they do get back at 7pm. Right now they spend the day counting down the hours until seven. Yes, with each hour that passes I hear 6, 5, 4, 3 etc. hours left until I can watch TV...silly babies have not given any thought that I could and will add another day or two to the no TV days...nice to know I have the ability to enrich and disrupt their little lives with just two little words...4 letters and a space....No TV....the power of mom...oops! Sorry about the power trip I'm going on...

I'm now creating little musicians, whiz kids, writers, readers, make-up artists....Oh the possibilities with having them have no TV time is working out great. They are learning to do things outside their normal routine. The one little tiny itty-bitty problem is that they FIGHT more or should I say they bug each other more.

For a final note.... I have not saved any money on my electric bill which I thought was going to be a bonus...joke was on me.

Time...

Wow! Hard to believe it is 2010 already...where has time gone is always the question?????

Time waits for no one...time does not wait for you to reach your goals and then proceed.

Though it would be so nice if we could say, "Time stand still a minute or two while I to get this done." I would be saying that all day long. Time stop! Time go! Time stop! Time go!
Yep, I could become addicted to those words so would everyone else. The utter chaos it would cause..

I have had a couple of people tell me this year 'What have you lost but time..not a big thing.' I'm looking at them thinking 'amazing, time is not a big thing.' Time is a major component of your day, success, life and it's not important? What planet are you from?? A second lost is a second you will not get back. We definitely had different view points on time. Not to say I haven't wasted time, but time has become a "precious commodity" that I'm becoming more respectful of and enjoying more of.

Time is always in perpetual movement. Make this the year that you organize your schedule/time so you get the most out of your day to accomplish your work and personal goals.


Lost, yesterday, somewhere between Sunrise and Sunset, two golden hours, each set with sixty diamond minutes. No reward is offered, for they are gone forever. ~Horace Mann

One step closer to creating a life of being deliriously happy...

My Christmas Eve Tradition That Is A Must Every Year....

First off I would like you to leave a comment about your Christmas tradition or favorite memory of the Holiday Season.....

A family tradition that was started in my family long before I was on this Earth was going to Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve....

I remember Christmas Eve.....I use to spend most of the day listening to Christmas music and keeping an eye on the gifts being put under the tree..... spying for the packages with my name on them...waiting for a time when no one was in room with me....when the opportunity arose I would shake the gifts to see if I could figure out what was in them....and of course looking at the size of the gift...typical kid.....

I was put to bed early evening and was awaken around 11 pm or so....I got ready along with the rest of the family and we would walk to our church which was up the block from us....It usually was a beautiful night.....with a blanket of snow on the ground and new snow falling....the air would be cold and crisp...nothing said Christmas more then that...

The first thing we would see when we arrived at church was the beautiful life size (or so it seemed) Manger scene...We would enter church, the choir would be singing songs and church would be packed....after Mass we would start our journey back to the house...singing Christmas carols at times...

When we got home my dad, mom and who ever else would make a big breakfast with eggs, bratwurst, cinnamon rolls, bacon, toast and sweets...after our bellies were full it would be off to bed so Santa could come...I would still got up at the crack of dawn to open gifts...

To me Christmas is not Christmas without going to Midnight Mass....my kids go with me at times...but we never have breakfast like I did...but maybe someday...between the Mass, the Carols, and the generosity of the season that is what Christmas is all about...

One step closer to being deliriously happy....

Snowball Fights...

Nothing more invigorating then the thrill of a snowball fight. As we all know to have one we need some good packing snow and peeps or kids that have a good sense of humor.

Snowball fights are one of my favorite all time memories of the snow or I should say memories with the kids in the snow. My kids are usually my best and only targets for my snowballs...they are not safe in the car, house, or a parking lot of a business. I never miss an opportunity to touch them with some cold snow nor do they miss an opportunity to get me back....

The minute I walk outside and see the fresh falling packing snow the fight is on...the opportunity to conquer the quest of getting them with the cold snow is underway...we give chase around the car and yard...nothing or no one is safe from snowballs flying in the air....Yes, I have been known to toss a snowball in the car and on occasion in the house when they are running for cover...

As my one daughter says it is a weird freezing cold experience with unending amount of laughing and people are looking at us strangely...thinking we have lost your mind....wondering what we think is so fun...throwing cold snow at each other...

I cannot wait to have a snowball fight this year since we live in NC now the fights are not as frequent but the memories are just as great!!!

One step to being deliriously happy...

Memories of Snow...Brrrrrrrr

I was thinking of how happy I was not to deal with snow anymore now that we live in a warmer climate. My thoughts soon went back to when I was a kid and how I loved to play in the snow all day long. I remember putting layer upon layers on to keep me warm. When I came in from playing in the snow my hands, legs and feet would be red and cold and my clothes would be hard and stiff from the snow. Funny how as kids the cold never seems to bother you or I guess I should say some kids.

After a snowfall the plow trucks would push the snow into huge piles on the corners of the block were I lived. We seen this as great opportunities to build forts, caves and have some fun. We were pretty good little engineers and we didn't have many cave ins. Lucky for us no one was ever hurt. Course we never gave thought that someone could get hurt. We were just kids having some fun.

The relentless task of using our feet and hands to build our caves and forts gave way to the hours of fun, laughs and excitement for the day. We enjoyed climbing in and out the caves and on top of the caves. Building caves with partners to have snowball fights with the other group and take ownership over their caves was so much fun and still brings a smile to my face. Great memories that have lasted my life time.

Great snow memories that have help create..... one more step to being deliriously happy..

Thanksgiving Memories....The Smell of the Holiday...

As a child I had two found memories of Thanksgiving, the first was the fact I had a couple of days off of school which was always a plus and the best thing about the Thanksgiving Holiday in my book. The second was being woken up by the aroma of my fathers cooking.

I can remember laying in my bed smelling the wonderful aroma of good food cooking. My father must have gotten up at the crack of dawn to start cooking. I would drag my lazy butt out of the bed and out to the living room where my parents would have the TV so we would not miss the parade. Our big dinner would be early afternoon. After dinner the football game would be watched. Football was a staple at my house and one that I have not ever gotten into. Our Thanksgivings always consisted of my siblings and their families. We never had any other family members over.

My family stopped celebrating Thanksgiving as a family when my farther passed away. Now its time for our own traditions to start. Hmmm what can we do.....

I haven't thought of any real cool ideas as of yet, but I'm sure I can and it will be better then the hotdogs we had for the big day one year. I have never been a big fan of the parades, football or turkey. Yes, I'm American just not much into the day. I like to focus on the day as the day of giving thanks for everyone and all the great blessing that have been bestowed upon me.

Now Anessa does the cooking and we help her. Hopefully someday it will become a great fun family tradition of having huge gathering of families and friends. The day will be filled with love, laughter, smiles, hugs and being thankful for the great life we all have. My thought to being one step closer to being deliriously happy.

Our Disney Journey....

Traveling with the babies to Disney. The dreaded car ride.

Hands down driving at night with the babies sleeping was heaven. The kids slept off and on. They were tired and quiet. No fussing was heard except from the middle child. Props to the babies but not to the middle child. I could listen to some good music and enjoy the drive. Not to mention the traffic was great. Wide open roadway, who could ask for anything more.

The the middle child who is home from Korea drove me insane on the trip down. She complained about everything. First she was to hot then she was to cold. She complained about the music. She did not like it or it was to low, to high. It was constant non stop. Next time I am taking Benadryl with me. Yes, she will get a dose or two plus some duct tape to boot. (Not really but the thought will be there LOL)

We all enjoyed playing I am going on a trip game. To my surprise the kids did an awesome job with this game. We had some great belly laughs with licking lollipop lion, wait I am wrong again. Darn it!! It is a lion licking a lollipop. For the life of me I could never get that one right, but hey in my defense I was driving in all that night traffic. Good excuse to me. This was a good way to kill some time and keep us all awake.

The ride on the way home. Never again will I travel during the day with the babies. All I heard was...you guessed it...How much longer before we are home? Yep, the first time I heard this I knew we were in for a long trip. This question replaced the middle child issues on the way down. The DVD system did not help. Of course the rain all the way home did not help either because traffic was jammed from accidents.

I wish hotels would do half rates for people who travel at night. I would definitely sign up for that.

We stopped once on the way down and a zillion times on the way home. Another reason traveling at night is better in my world anyway.

Lets not forget we not only had the luggage to contend with on the way home. We now had added suvioners and a stroller to the mix. Thought we were squished on the way down, on the way home we were beyond squished and no one except me had foot room. I think I could use a smaller vehicle. LOL

We finally played the I am going on a trip game five minutes before we were home. Oops, next time that will be the first thing we will do half way into the trip.