Tuesday's Treasure

The quickest way to my heart is through my kids!!

When you make my kids feel loved, accepted, special and happy I unconsciously develop a soft spot for you. A special place in my heart that no one else can enter...

Uncle Tim - you are there! The kids adore you. They look forward to seeing you and playing with you and if a picture speaks a thousand words then I can stop talking....and show you this:



Thank for you all you do for our Growing Garcia's, the laughs, the fun, the memories and even for helping the girls win this race :-)

You are a "treasure" to us!!

A Boy And His Toy

After a hard day's work the boys went for some R & R....











As soon -literally as soon - as Ethan walked through the back door grinning from ear to ear he told Sadie that "if she was really really good and asked Daddy he would buy her a *pink* one!"

Sadie ran to Daddy to confirm the rumor and guess what??? IT'S TRUE! She is SOOOOO excited.

What exactly is going on here and when exactly did I loose control??? :-)

Good Bye Christmas

It is DONE! FINISHED! OVER!

I don't know why but once the final dished is washed, guest has left and child has fallen asleep on Christmas night I become a Bah humbug and begin removing all evidence of Christmas.

As of 2pm today every tree trimming, yard ornament, stocking, and Christmas decor was packed up and stored up in the attic.

All gone till next year...

Whew! I'm EXHAUSTED!!

Family

Pictured above are the Garcia Grandchildren. Eugene, Angel, Crissy, Cara, Patrick, Matthew, Ashley,Timothy, Josh, Elizabeth, Michael, Jackson, Sadie, Ethan, Madison, Elena and Christian.

Not pictured and terribly missed Aubrey.

There are 18 grand kids in all and it was treasure to have (almost) everyone here at Christmas!!

We missed you Greg, Marisa and Aubrey. Pray you are all feeling better soon!!

Christmas Day

I don't believe it but it's true. I have only a VERY FEW pics of Christmas...My camera is on the fritz :-(

We spent Christmas Eve with my folks. We had a beautiful feast - turkey, ham, home made mashed potatoes, corn, stuffing, green bean casserole and so much more. Oh, it was all SO yummy!!

In past (before grand kids) we waited until midnight to open presents. In recent years we opened presents after dinner - when it got dark. This year my parents bumped dinner to 1pm and were begging (my parents NOT the kids) to open presents by 3pm ON CHRISTMAS EVE. It gets earlier and earlier every year. I'm certain we'll be opening presents on Thanksgiving in no time. Gotta love grandparents :-)

I have to say, I not much better.

On Christmas morning I woke up at 5:30am. Had some coffee, paced a bit and woke Brian at 6am. I couldn't stand it. He blew me off for a bit and the agreed to wake the children.

They stumbled into the living room where their tired eyes discovered 3 hermit crabs. Well that sure woke them up quick!! Those crabs were a hit. A true hit!!

We then proceeded to open presents one at a time. And I kid you not after each present was opened the "receiver" gave the "giver" a running hug - tackling to the floor every time! :-) The sheer excitement was a gift in and of itself!

Sadie is the proud owner of her very own MP3 player - which she has successfully deleted all of the music off of 3 times!!

Madison finally has her very own DS - and feels so grown up.

Ethan was given (BY HIS FATHER!!) a riffle. The kid in The Christmas Story would be so jealous.

Later in the day we served Prime Rib Roast to 35 Garcia's!

It was a wonderful Christmas filled with lots of laughter, food and family.

Photos From Christmas Eve

Thanks to my awesome Dad I now have a few more photos of Christmas Eve:

Nana helping Sadie with the doll house :-)

Ethan checking out his REAL tool box. He LOVES having his own tools.

Sadie helping Madison open her new bike. Check out Madison's outfit....Yep, it's a bathing suit!!

Here's Ethan putting his tool bench together

Ginger Bread House Redemption

Brian has been redeemed!

This Christmas (Eve) my parents blessed Sadie with a doll house and Madison with a new bike while cursing Brian with the challenge of putting both together.

After the Ginger Bread House Disaster we were all a little unsure of just how well this would go over...

But I am please to announce that Brian successfully put both together.

My parents gave Ethan his very own work bench - which Ethan proudly put together with his very real tool box. Sadly I have no pics :-(

Cookies and Cocoa

Thanks to Ms. Debra I was able to create this slide show and capture the memories that were made by all!!!

Merry Christmas!

Cookies and Cocoa

My friends http://thegrandstaffs.blogspot.com/ have an annual Cookies and Cocoa party. All their friends come and share good times over good coffee, cookies and cocoa. Its truly a grand time.

Well this year as Brian and I were preparing to go to Christmas Party after Christmas Party the kids asked if they could please have a Christmas party for all of their friends.

So of course I said "of course!" And I borrowed my friends idea - no point really to reinvent the wheel, right?!

So the Growing Garcia's hosted their very own Christmas Party yesterday. They cleaned before hand, planned the menu and helped prepare the food.

There were roughly 50 people here.

The kids had SO much fun!! They played indoors, outdoors, on the vacant land and on the park. Some hung by the cookies and cocoa. And others wanted to brave the pool. It was spectacular.

It was scheduled to be "mid afternoon" party. However, the festivities began when the first guest arrived at 10am and it ended when the last guest left at 11pm! Yep a 2 hour party actually went for 13 hours!!!

And guess what? I have NO - I repeat NO pictures!!! I'm shocked. Me - NO PICTURES!!

So those of you reading - that came - and TOOK pictures - would you please forward them to me?

The Joys of Parenting....

This past week was not the "best" week characterally speaking for our family.

I almost didn't share it but because of the growth our family experienced as a result I couldn't help but share.

On Tuesday (keep in mind Brian was out of town) I picked my kids up from school early because it was a speech day for Sadie and Ethan.

Well to my surprise Sadie's teacher walked her out and asked me "did the Principal call you"? To which my response was "no, why". She then asked if we could "talk". She even suggested Sadie wait in the car while we spoke...

If I'm being honest here I have to admit I was really SHOCKED! Sadie by nature is a pretty complaint, well mannered, people pleasing kid. I was really thinking "what could she have possibly done".

Well folks - no matter how long I pondered that question I NEVER would have come up with the offense. EVER!

Here's what happened.

Last Monday, my sweet baby girl was doing her seat work and was stumped for an answer - so she....(gasp) cheated. When confronted she (gasp again) lied...Then confessed.

She was - rightfully so - given a demerit.

She failed to mention anything to me about the demerit. In fact she snuck the demerit and her writing assignment into her room. She completed the assignment (I will keep my eyes on my own paper 15x) and then she SIGNED MY NAME ON THE DEMERIT! Yep - she sure did!

When her teacher told me that I think I turned every shade of red. I was mortified!! Shocked!! Blown away! Speechless!

She is ONLY in the 1st grade...

This was serious and since it happened years before we anticipated I was extremely unsure as to how to proceed and because Brian was away it made it all the more difficult.

I made an executive decision to restrict her from attending an ice cream party that evening with her friends at McDonald's. In addition, I decided she would have to go to bed 1 hour early and loose all TV privileges for 1 week.

Well when her daddy got home on Thursday - while he agreed with my consequences -he insisted on one more...He owned Sadie for the weekend! She had to be his shadow, she had to work in the yard, pull weeds, clip tree branches, carry debris from the back yard to the street, clean the pool. Everything that Brian did Sadie did. She worked her tail off.

About 1/2 way through the day as she was pushing the wheel barrel full of tree clippings she let out a genuine, but loud sigh.

So I said to her "you're working pretty hard, huh sweetie" She put the wheel barrel down, snuggled up on my lap and said "I sure wish I never signed your name mommy and I'm never going to cheat again!" "I'm really sorry".

At that moment, I was SO proud of Sadie.

She is a perfectionist to a flaw. If she can't win, be the best, or get an A+ she gives up completely. In her weakness of wanting that A she cheated. She had come to the place where she just wanted to be the best without regard of how she got there.

Our goal in our discipline strategy was to get her to a place of NOT wanting the consequences MORE than she wanted the A or to be the best.

We showed her how one sin (cheating) turned into another (lying) and then another (deceit).

Then Brian shared his favorite quote with her...Sin will take where never wanted to go, keep longer than you ever wanted to stay and cost you more than you ever wanted to pay.

In that moment on my lap - she got it. All of it!

As disappointed and let down as I was - this is one of my favorite parenting moments. Our family grew closer and deeper as a result and our 6 year old matured to a new level spiritually.

Parenting is not always easy or fun and sometimes its downright HARD! But boy oh boy are the rewards grand!!

Christmas with Friends

After the Christmas Party at school we headed to Oxbow Nature Center where we met our friends http://nicksnest98.blogspot.com/.

Our families hiked Oxbow and celebrated our "Christmas" on top of highest observation Tower.

Ethan was of course in all his glory, leading the pack with his backpack and map - missing only his binoculars. The Ancewicz boys along with Sadie and Kelli followed suit and lead us down trail after trail.

Madison earned her name 'Hollywood' by reminding us the whole time that she was not so into this hiking thing. She was rather...itchy, tired, hot, thirsty etc. But then in traditional Madison fashion her mood changed on a dime. The instant she saw a turtle she became giddy and happy and we even got a little laugh and a pep in her step. :-)




It was truly a great time with great friends and I'm looking forward to our next adventure :-)

Christmas Party @ School

Today I had the great pleasure of attending a Christmas Party at the kids school.

It was fun meeting the kids BFF's and their parents.

Ethan actually has a (I can't believe I'm even gonna admit this!) A GIRLFRIEND!! She has stolen his heart and makes him all goofy and silly. I'm not sure if I'm jealous or if I think its cute...and I'm hopeful that by the time I figure it out it'll be over :-)

Happy Birthday Brian

Today is my Man's birthday - he's 36 - shhhh DON'T tell. Isn't he cute :-)

Unfortunately he's in CT (brrrr) for business and won't be able to celebrate until Thursday. But you know us - the festivities have already began.

He conned me into giving him one present last month - a new watch and then another on Saturday night - Batman.

Such the kid... :_)

Miss ya babe! Hurry home.

Candid

The assignment: Take a picture of yourself right NOW!

DON’T change your clothes,

DON’T fix your hair…

Just take a picture.Post that picture with NO editing.

**Post these instructions with your picture.





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Should you choose to continue viewing the contents of this message you will be obligated to participate.


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Last Chance...


Ok, here it is....


My morning look for all to enjoy-- a perfectly good morning gone bad thanks to a "friend"....




Courtney (http://storinguptreasuresinheaven.blogspot.com/) as much as I adore you - I don't really like you right now.... :-)

This me after a LATE night with friends, interrupted sleep (thanks to ALL 3 kids in my bed) oh and before my shower and morning coffee.

Nice.

And now, like you I expect ALL those reading (and laughing) to step up and do the same in an effort to spare ME from embarrassing myself alone.

C'mon how bad can it be??

Tuesday's Treasure

This week's installment of Tuesday's Treasure is dedicated to the cute things kids say.

Yesterday I was driving the kids home from school and Ethan begin asking me all of these questions about heaven. Will we eat there? Will we know each other there? Will he see his big dog there (Taz - died 3 years ago). Lots of questions and I was so excited about this very special conversation I was having with my son. When all of a sudden he says "I don't want to go mommy". "I don't ever want to go to heaven".

So naturally I asked why? And this is what my 6 year old said....

"What if I'm walking and there is a hole in a cloud and I don't see it - I will fall all the back to earth and that's a long way mommy". "I don't want to fall".

Oh my word....any spiritual "wisdom" I had intended to share with my maturing son went right out the window.

It took everything out of me to keep my composure and just say "honey, I think you'll be able to fly in heaven".

Thankfully, that worked.

Here's hoping I do much better at the next go around when my children come to me with deep spiritual topics of discussion.

Ginger Bread House Disaster

Ok, so we were given one of those cute little ginger bread houses (oh, by the way, the one I said I would NEVER make)...

Words will hardly due. So the play by play will be done in a picture presentation.

Here goes:

It starts off well...

Working together as a team...

Daddy was careful to frame and seal it just perfectly...

even closing up all the gaps...

The girls took a break for a photo opp

Then quickly regrouped - for the most important part

Decorating the house with candy of course

Everybody took this part VERY seriously...

And now my friends...one final picture.

The Masterpiece

Oh and for those of you who don't know...My husband BUILDS for a living!!! Big things, like schools, hospitals, airports, jails.

Ahh, but Gingerbread houses...not really his speciality.