Fun Family Quiz

I was invited by http://candidchatter.wordpress.com/ to take this fun (and quick) family quiz. Below are my results:

You Feel Humbled By Your Family

You get along with everyone in your family, and you tend to play the peacemaker. You can see issues from all sides.

You have confidence in your family to take care of itself and make good decisions. You especially have this confidence in the younger generation.

You've improved your family relationships through introspection. You always look at your own behavior first, and you've made changes to how you act.

You have trouble keeping up with your family member's birthdays and anniversaries. You are often late with your gifts.


**As strange as the questions are the results were pretty accurate and so now I encourage to take this short quiz too.

Visit http://blogthings.com/howdoyoureallyfeelaboutyourfamilyquiz and see how you REALLY feel about your family :-).

Thank you http://candidchatter.wordpress.com/ for inviting me to play.



PS - Don't forget to leave a comment if you take the quiz so I can see your results :-)

The Mom You're Meant To Be

I'm reading: The Mom You're Meant To Be, by Cheri Fuller.

I read this book back in 2004 when Ethan and Sadie first came home from Russia and now I'm reading it again.

It's a good book with daily "Questions for Reflection".

Today's chapter was titled "Listen with your heart" and a poem written by an unknown author was included.

I appreciated it enough to share:

Take a moment to listen today

To what your children are trying to say

Listen to their problems

Listen for their needs....

Tolerate their chatter

Amplify their laughter

Find out what's the matter

Find out what they're after

Tell them that you love them

Every single night...

Listen today, whatever you do And they WILL come back to listen to you.

This book has challenged me on new levels to be "The Mom I'm meant to Be". I am thoroughly enjoying it and highly recommend this book if you are looking for hope, encouragement and restoration as well as simply strengthening your relationship with your children...While leaning on God.

Happy New Year

From our family to yours.

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.