When daddy comes home from work its a big event at my house. The kids scream daddy and daddy makes funny noises and gestures to greet his children. I’m blessed to have a husband who is so committed to me and the kids and who is a great father!
Here is daddy playing ring around the rosie with his girls:)
Family Fun Day is something we do almost every Saturday, rain or shine. This is the time that my husband and I devote to spending QUALITY time with our kids since the weekdays are usually filled with obligations such as school, church, work, up keep of the home. Family Fun Day could be anything from going to the park, getting ice cream, playing in the kid’s play area at Burger King, going to the library, etc. Family Fun Day does not have to be an expensive activity because its all about spending time and showing love.
My husband makes alot of sacrifices to make sure we have our Family Fun Day. For example, my husband has to work every other Saturday to do payroll. Today, since he knew that he wanted to help some of the men at the church paint and wanted to spend time with us he went to work at 4am. He worked 4-9am, painted the church (9:30-12:00), and then came home to spend time with his family.
Today our Family Fun Day activity was to rake leaves. I know it might sound lame, but our children enjoy the outdoors and they were able to help their dad and I while also playing in the yard. We worked together as a family taking the occasional time out to play soccer:) Here are some pictures I took of our Family Fun Day.
My “Tunky” (my son) and ‘Lil Momma” ( my daughter) working hard trying to beat the other to the
leaves (as if there wasn’t enough) 
Daddy made a big pile of leaves for the kids to jump in. Then he tried to covered their legs in it.
Daddy was think “FUN”, Mommy on the other hand was thinking “GERMS”. They took a good bath
after all this fun. Even “Munchie” (my baby) joined the fun!
“Tunky” took the broom from mommy so that the men could do the hard work! What a gentlemen:)
“Munchie” being “Munchie”. She took our little solar lamps out of the ground. BTW she broke all of them.
What can I say…That’s my baby.
Labor of love…Fun…Family…And a Clean Yard!
I know that I haven’t post a message in a few days but I have a good reason. My son pulled the cord from the keyboard and broke it. I went to Walmart to purchase another one and when I connected it to the computer it didn’t work. Thankfully they allowed me to exchange it and now I’m back in blogland;) A few things to report:
1. I lost 4.2 lbs this week (Thanks to Weight Watchers and alot of will power)
2. My husband gave the message on Sunday morning (Youth and Young Adult service) and I will be lying if I didn’t tell you that I was utterly amazed and shocked. Now, I’ve seen my husband give speeches and I even heard him on radio stations but I was in absolute awe in how God used him. He didn’t want me to hear his message but I seen with my own eyes how he sought God for a word to preach day in and day out so I guess I shouldn’t be all that surprised. All I can say is glory to God. His sermon was about having a relationship with God. He challenged the congregation to look at their motives for doing things. Are we saved because we are afraid of going to hell or are we saved because we love God? I can’t do it any justice right now because I’ve been processing it since I heard it. To sum it up God used him to deliever a message that will pull on the heart strings of the listeners and challenge us to have a SINCERE relationship with God. Praise God
3. Update on the crockpot….IT WORKS:) I wanted to throw it out the first day when I took it out of the dishwasher but decided to wait just to see what would happen if I allowed the inside to dry. I plugged it in this morning and it works….heehee…I’m so happy…happy enough to change my menu for today so that my crockpot can do its thing:)
4. Have you ever had a moment of thankfulness. I mean deep down appreciation for what you have and what the Lord has blessed you with. Well I get these moments often. The other day I was cooking and my husband and kids were sitting at the table waiting for the food to be done so we started having a small Bible study with our kids( something we started doing a few weeks ago and will continue to do). Below is a picture of my family after they just finished our family Bible Study.
I just watched as my husband and children played and sung songs. I am so thankful to God for the opportunity to have a family and not just any kind of family but a loving family.
I’m a blessed girl!
Tree
Look at this picture carefully. Do you see anything wrong with it?
Well let me tell you how my brand new crock pot base ended up in the dishwasher…Cord and all!
My dear husband came home from work with the sickies but decided to help me by cleaning the kitchen since I cooked and took care of sick kids all day. His efforts were definitely appreciated because being a stay at home mom, washing dishes and doing laundry can become very tedious. So I took advantage of the opportunity to do some blogging stuff (BTW I plan to unveil my new masterpiece in a few weeks. Still alot of tweaking to be done).
To my surprise I opened up my dishwasher this morning to unload it and right there before my eyes was my brand new, wonderful, handy-dandy crock pot that I bought at Target (love that Target). I looked at it for a few seconds thinking there is no way he put this in the dishwasher with its cord. IMPOSSIBLE…
Okay the shock subsided and I decided to see if my sweet husband just put it in the dishwasher to store it somewhere. NOPE. I took it out of the dishwasher and water dripped from it…MY HEART SUNK. I plugged it up and all the cute little light were blinking at the same time and none of the buttons worked.
Now I’m not going to lie, I was fuming. It was a new crock pot and it cooked great and it also switch to the warm setting after it was finished cooking. Plus I only used it 2-3 times.
Finale
I called my hubby at work and wanted to really understand his reasoning behind putting an electronic appliance in the dishwasher. Guess what…He had none. I felt bad (a little) because he was sick and probably incoherent so I just left the conversation alone. I think I wanted him to understand how much I liked my crock pot and how upset I was to find it broke moreso than an explaination of his thought process at that moment.
Perhaps I can see if his new Blackberry Curve Phone is waterproof. No, I wouldn’t do that but a smile came across my face at the thought.
Bad Tree, Bad Tree 
Anyway, Hubby’s so cute that I have to forgive him:) What can I say…He was just trying to help me 
Needless to say its done and over with and as I’m typing this blog I find it quite hilarious. Only my family can bring this much humor on a daily basis. You never know what’s gonna happen in my house:)
Monday- Arroz Con Pollo (Rice with Chicken)
Tuesday- Homemade Light Cheeseburgers (Made with 97% fat free ground beef & 2% american cheese, and light hamburger roll) Baked French Fries, Salad
Wednesday-Crockpot Turkey w/Cream of Chicken sauce, rice, green beans
Thursday-Steak, baked potato, Corn
Friday-Homemade Pizza (Light Pita bread, pizza sauce, mozarella cheese and toppings) Salad
Saturday- Eat out
Sunday-Chicken sauce, rice, bean gravy
To see more dinner plans click here.
That’s right. You read correctly. I’ve been on this organic kick for a few months now, purchasing my produce from Whole Foods, Trader Joes, and Shop Rite. Come to find out there was an organic farm literally 10 minutes from my house. How did I find out? My son’s speech therapist told me about it during his IEP meeting. I was informing the CST (Child Study Team) that I have put him on a GFCF diet (translated gluten free casein free) and I also told them that we are trying to eat mostly organic food in our home.
Casually the speech therapist asked me if I go to the organic farm the next town over. Let me tell you my eyes were about to pop out of my head. I said, “Excuse me did I hear correctly, there is a farm close to my house.” She proceeded to give me the location and information. As soon as I got in the house I called them and to my surprise they have a pretty large farm that sells a nice variety of produce. I was pleasantly surprised UNTIL the kind lady told me that the harvest season is almost finished and that they only have a few items left.
Bright and early the next day I took my girls to the farm with me to pick some produce. What a job! Not the picking but the GIRLS:) The baby wanted to be carried and the 2yo was scared of everything. They had some horses gated in down the road. I took out my handy dandy double stroller placed both girls in there and proceeded to pick up some eggplant, and some of the prettiest firmest green and red peppers you would ever see, some cucumbers, and finally some apples from the orchard.
I must say that I had fun walking through the garden picking my own food. It felt good:) Oh wait, the best part is that I bought 11lbs of organic apples, 11 green and red pepper (mixed) two large eggplants, 2 really long cucumbers, tomatoes, all organic for $19. When I go to the grocery store to buy organic apples I get approx. 8-9 for $12. My organic apples were $1/lb vs $1.49/lb for pesticide apples.
I told the lady I will be back next year (Lord’s will) in June to start picking and freezing so that I can have enough to store for the winter. What a blessing! Now I really don’t have to give up my quest to go 100% organic (one day).
Stay blessed,
Tree
Today’s post is to keep all my readers updated with the happenings in my life. So here it is:
-Started the Core Plan on Weight Watchers and I love it. I love the freedom of eating healthy foods without having to write EVERYTHING down. Just love it. I actually lost 1.8 lbs this week.
-Planning my girls birthday party. Its going to be a blast. Some of the items for their items came in the mail and my older daughter was soooo excited that she literally talks about her birthday daily.
-Hubby just bought me a new cell phone. Hands down the best cell phone I EVER had. It has GPS, Internet, and a whole bunch of gadgets that I’m just not going to attempt to understand, RIGHT NOW. Perhaps in a few days.
-Hubby is trying to start up a voter registration for our community. Real proud of him.
-Hubby started school again. I’m trying to find a good school for Natural Health so that I can start school up again.
-Hubby and I attended the PTA meeting at my son’s school so that we could be a voice for the autistic population that is at his school. We are very pleased with the PTA leadership and have signed up for many upcoming projects.
-Went to Back to School Night yesterday. My son’s teacher said that he is doing well. He is actually going to a regular preschool class a few hours out of the day so that he can better adapt to a normal classroom. He is doing well with his reading. His teacher (who is also a reading specialist) says that he is reading very well, “Well above his age.”
-My older daughter loves her dance class so much that I decided to put her in the church’s praise dance ministry. She will be dancing in front of the congregation this Sunday with all the other little girls.
-My son’s swimming instructor is absolutely wonderful and my son loves his swimming class. He is on his to becoming a great swimmer.
-Hubby and I are planning a Valentine’s day getaway.
-I almost forgot…Baby girl is walking just in time to perfect it by her birthday:)
-Busy lives but fun and rewarding:)
I really don’t know what to say to all of this…at least she appears patriotic:/
Yeah she’s REAL conservative…
And no time to do it!
I’m currently nursing my poor girls to health. Baby girl and my 2year old both have this horrible dry cough and runny noses. Although they have a cold they are being so strong. My 2 year still wants to help mommy around the house and baby girl is still getting into things. They both slept in the bed with me last night and were so cute holding each other and cuddling. I love the way they get along with each other. My two year took it upon herself to take care of her sister by getting some tissue to wipe her nose and after she took the snot off her nose she gently wiped her sister’s nose (Exactly why they both are sick…They share everything:)
Since the girls are sick I’m kind of confined to the house and I have so much to do:(
My son is going back to school this week and they are allowing him to go to the autistic kindergarten classroom instead of another year in preschool since he won’t be 5 until December. So I need to buy some school shoes for him and I need to go food shopping for his lunch since he’s now on that special diet. Along with a laundry list of things I need to do for my home I really need to get started. My husband starts his classes tonight after work so he won’t be available to watch the kids. With that said I’m signing off too much to do to keep blogging:)
This weekend I had a wonderful time with my husband’s side of the family. Although we don’t see them as often as we would like the time that we spend with them is always fun and lively. This weekend we traveled to Montreal for his cousin’s wedding. The bride and groom were so beautiful and really just an attractive couple:) The only downside I would have to say was not having my son with us. We thought it would be best for him to spend the weekend with my parents: 1) So that he can get that individualized attention he normally can’t get at home with two other siblings 2) He doesn’t do to well in crowds and loudness which is a typical combination when you go to a wedding. I missed him dearly and was happy to be back home to kiss and hug him.
We are actually going back on the road in a few days for our “Family Vacation.” We want to take the kids somewhere were they can have a bunch of fun. I am especially excited because my husband will be home this week and I am looking forward to spending some quality time with my hubby and my kids.
Family…What a WONDERFUL blessing!!!
My nickname is Tree. Its a weird name but it really does grow on you (no pun intended).
I am a mother, wife, daughter, friend, but I am nothing without Christ. I don't claim to be perfect but I do serve a perfect God.
This blog is about my life (all aspects of it). My life consists of being a mom to a special needs child and two toddler girls, a homemaker, and a loving and supportive wife to my husband.
Some of my goals are to eat healthier, exercise more, go to school for natural health, and most of all develop a stronger relationship with God through reading His Word (Bible) and praying sincerely. I hope you enjoy my musings and hopefully it will be a blessing to you:)
Grace and Peace
