Friday, September 3rd, 2010
Wow! A year ago today, we welcomed our youngest little munchkin into the world! I really think this has been the fastest year of my life yet, and I’m afraid it’s just going to get faster from now on~!
Even though he decided to make life difficult early on in his life (by remaining breach through 39 1/2 weeks–forcing me to have a c-section), he has since become a true blessing and joy to have around! He is very sweet and loving and now WALKS everywhere (no more crawling for him) saying “mamama” and “dadada.” His other favorite word is “dis”. We are assuming he means “this”. No one really knows though! Ha. He loves eating “big boy” food and his favorite sign is “all done” which he demonstrates by waving his arms frantically in the air. His favorite past times are watching Veggie Tales (like his big brother), unrolling toilet paper, eating the mouse and keyboard for the Mac mini, pulling all the books off the bookshelf and throwing the folded laundry on the floor. He has a huge infectious smile and the most sparkly brown eyes — clearly he melts his momma’s heart.
Happy Birthday Bode man! We love you!
Wednesday, September 1st, 2010
We had another great homeschool day today! The girls are doing really well and we all enjoy it. Our curriculum started with learning the vowels first and so far we have learned I, U, and have just started E. So for craft time today we made little “igloos” made out of mini marshmallows “glued” to an upside-down paper bowl — using frosting as the glue. They loved it, of course, and as an added bonus got to eat some of their “creation” after naptime.
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Tuesday, August 31st, 2010
Repost from billyalmaguer.com
Kelli and I came up to Calvary Chapel Port St. Lucie in August of 2005 after several months of prayer. During our time here we have seen the church grow from 50 people in a cramped little room to over 1,100 weekly attenders at two locations. I have served as a member of the worship team, audio/video team. clean up team, setup team, donut eating team (I believe every Calvary Chapel has one), Student Pastor and more recently as a Creative Pastor. Kelli served as the Worship leader for over three years.
Earlier this summer Kelli and I started to sense that God was moving us on from Calvary Chapel Port St. Lucie. It didn’t seem to make sense but none-the-less it became quite evident that it was God and He was leading us to do something different. We have often dreamed about moving to California, Colorado, and various other places (with good Mexican food) but this sense did not answer that ‘what we were to do’, it simply was a call to move on. After much prayer it was decided that we should heed the call of God on our lives and obey Him and begin moving on.
Now to the casual observer leaving a healthy church with a family of 6 and stepping out in faith with no job lined up seems very crazy. Let me confirm that suspicion IT IS 
..but to be honest we have always known that our lives would not be easy or text book when we decided to commit our lives to the ministry. So what’s going on you say….nothing…well something…it’s a move of God in our lives and on our hearts. I can’t explain it any other way.
On October 7th, I will no longer be on staff at Calvary Chapel Port St. Lucie. Not knowing what God has for us we are excited and scared at the same time. Our community isn’t exactly a hotbed for real estate so putting our home on the market might not make sense. God could open up something locally for me to do…perhaps engineering. He could also be calling us to move away…we simply do not know. As strange as it all seems we are at peace with what God has called us to do. Now for my pragmatic friends out there who might actually read this post, do know that I am not sitting at home eating cheetos waiting for the phone to ring. We are taking active steps of faith and praying for clear direction. I do know God has not called us to plant our family under a bridge (for shelter).
Over the next few weeks I am going to utilize this blog to talk about what God is doing in our lives…and ultimately where we end up. I pray that you will follow us, encourage us, and see how God works this all out. We are simply following God’s call on our lives…this is real test for us and for me personally as I am the provider for my family of six. We will always cherish our memories at Calvary Chapel Port St. Lucie and are thankful for the work that God is doing through His church in Port St. Lucie. We anxiously await to find the open door God has for us…I pray that our adventure in faith encourages you.
We have been reading through Philippians…and I am fascinated at the joy that Paul exhibits…even from the other side of a prison cell. This time of uncertainty is a true test for our family and my personal prayer is that we exhibit that same joy that Paul did as we begin to open up this new chapter in our lives.
Monday, August 23rd, 2010
Well, we did it. We kicked off our newest adventure — homeschooling. I say adventure, not *only* because this is something completely new for us, but because we will be homeschooling our two oldest (at two different ages/levels) while still keeping track of their two baby brothers! I know there are homeschool pro’s doing it every day, but for now we’re anticipating an adventure. 
I have to say I think our first day was a success. With Baby B tooling around and playing on the floor quietly and little C having an early nap, I was able to spend over a solid hour with the girls doing their “core” work of phonics and numbers. They are excited to learn and I love to teach (although, I haven’t done it in this kind of setting since tutoring in high school [English], and college [Calculus, Computer Science])! It looks like our science lesson will have to be later in the day after rest time (for them, not me)…but that’s the beauty of homeschooling of course We’ll all get better and better at the method and process as we continue on this journey together and I’m excited to see first-hand what my kids are learning. I love new challenges!
Monday, July 19th, 2010
I have to be honest, this is not a completely original idea, but it’s a great one, so I’m passing it along. A couple of weeks ago while we were at the zoo, I overheard a mom next to me telling her friend about this little snack she gave her baby. I thought, what a good idea… I’ll have to try that
She mentioned how hard it is for babies to grab banana pieces because of how slippery they are…. so voila, this was her solution!
Cheerio Bananas
Dice up bananas (to age appropriate size)
Crush enough cheerios to coat
Toss bananas in cheerios until completely coated
Easy as that – you have sweet banana chunks that your little ones can easily grasp. My baby man LOVES them. I recently made it with bigger chunks and Honey Nut Cheerios to coat and my bigger kids loved it too! Next I might try freezing them to have a cold sweet treat. If you wanted an even healthier choice, you could use flaxmeal (or wheatgerm) …and if you wanted to get really *decadent* you could coat them in Fruity Cheerios or Cocoa Puffs… hehe–of course, you start losing nutritional value that way…! Any way you make them, enjoy!
Monday, July 5th, 2010
Both my girls are pretty good helpers, but it’s those times when they *voluntarily* step up and do something for you that memories are made~! The other day Kinley asked repeatedly if she could do dishes to help me. So, I moved all the knives out of the way, pulled up a stool and let her do her work! I videotaped part of it as well… hopefully I can get it posted one of these days. The conversation went something like this:
Mom: “What are you doing, Kinley?”
Kinley: “Trying to help you clean in here.”
Mom: “Are you doing dishes for mom?”
Kinley: “Yes, I want to help you do it.”
Mom: “You are the best helper, do you like to do dishes?”
Kinley: “Yes I do.”
Mom: “Are you always going to help me with dishes?”
Kinley: “Yes I will.”
Mom: “Are you going to always love it?”
Kinley: “Yeah.”
Mom: “Even when you are bigger?”
Kinley: “Yes, even when I’m bigger.”
Well, there we have it, folks! Evidence that she will ALWAYS do the dishes and will do it with a cheerful spirit. ha! We will definitely be using that as a reminder in the future! For now, I love that she loves to help. She did a great job!
Friday, June 25th, 2010
I know I’m a just a *little* behind on a Father’s Day post, but such is the life of 4 little ones and the crazy chaotic world we live in here! It’s definitely worth a post though, no matter how tardy it happens to be.. ha
——————————————
Any of you who know Billy know what an amazing man he is. And if you’ve seen him with his kids, you know what a super-amazing dad he is! I’m so blessed to have him and I love to see the way he cares for, plays with and sets an example for all of our kids. So, to honor him, we (me and the kids) made him a special present. It turned out to be something the kids could really participate in and they were so excited to give it to him! After turning some photos into coloring pages (in Photoshop) and then printing them out, the kids made the ultimate Father’s Day card! Of course, I helped glue and assemble the pages into it’s final format, but the kids colored the pages with no assistance! Check out our finished product — which he did get on Father’s Day, by the way!
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And here are the original “coloring book pages” that I created for the kids in Photoshop I think I might create another family coloring book for them in the future! They loved coloring familiar faces!
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Tuesday, June 15th, 2010
…or cable for that matter!…
A few months ago we made a decision that we were going to ditch our satellite TV (drop the associated monthly bill) and do something completely different. So….. we bought a Mac mini (it’s only about 5″ square), hooked it up to our TV and sent our satellite equipment packing – literally. Since we didn’t watch much TV anyway, this was clearly the better way to go. Fears that we might have absolutely *nothing* to watch (besides all our movies that are ripped over in iTunes) dissipated quickly. There is a PLETHORA of shows you can watch online – for FREE. Sites like Hulu.com and Tv.com (not to mention the major networks like cbs.com, nbc.com and fox.com) will keep you hooked up. Granted, it’s not the watch-it-while-it’s-happening experience you are used to, but watching most shows the day (or few days) after they originally air is not a big deal to either of us. Most importantly, you have to make a conscious choice to seek something out and never find yourself mindlessly flipping through channels with no goal or purpose We watch even less than we did before. As an added bonus, there are only a couple of 15-30 second commercials, versus the 15 min’s of commercials you get on regular TV!
As far as the kids…. there is actually MORE variety for the kids this way. The girls are now professionals at operating the wireless mouse and keyboard as it relates to finding the sites where they can watch videos or play games (thanks to the bookmarks we set up for them ) These are some of the sites where you can find great full-length kids videos (and/or learning games) in case you are interested…even if you DON’T have a Mac hooked up to your TV, you can make good use of these!…
- http://www.nickjr.com/kids-videos/
- http://disney.go.com/preschool/videos/nc/?int_cmp=phd_GrpsPg_phd_feature_widget#/preschool/videos/nc/ (Playhouse Disney episodes)
- http://www.barbie.com
- http://www.sesamestreet.org
- http://kids.aol.com/KOL/1/KOLJr (lots of great games and some shorter cartoons)
and don’t forget
- http://www.youtube.com — the kids love to watch Charlie and Lola episodes here, since you can’t watch them on Disney’s site
Saturday, June 12th, 2010
Don’t let the title of this post fool you… I do NOT consider myself a domestic goddess. In fact, in many respects, I’m pretty far from it! Most of my ‘domesticity’ has been born out of necessity – not the love, desire, or giftedness in all areas of the super crafty stay-at-home-mom. Recently, though I’ve found myself wanting to delve into something different. I’m not sure if it’s my age, or what, but I find myself really wanting a sewing machine these days! I sewed a little in high school, but that was obviously a LONG time ago. I find ideas running through my head and I really want to see what I can create. I think my cloth diaper search a few months ago, and finding myself time and time again on sites like etsy.com started the wheels turning in my brain. Sewing would be a new, fun, creative challenge, and there is just something about making something useful and tangible with your hands, ya know? Maybe it’s appealing because it’s essentially the opposite kind of hobby that I normally find myself delving into – digital design, photography, Photoshop, etc. So, I think I’ll be adding a sewing machine to my wish list for the future. I wish my mom lived closer (MN is a tad too far) so I could get some free lessons! She IS, in fact, a domestic goddess!
Wednesday, June 9th, 2010
Well, we’re about to finish up the first 30 days of P90X. I’ll admit, that I wasn’t ALL for it at the beginning. Heck, the truth is I RESISTED doing it and it was only through the *loving* coercion of my husband that I decided to give it a go. It’s easier to stay on track when you have someone to do it with and keep you accountable! It’s certainly not for anyone who wants a casual workout though. The exercises are based on muscle confusion and are h.a.r.d.c.o.r.e., but that’s the point. You can’t get a hardcore fit body without any work! We’ll be getting back into the swing of things tonight after taking our “rest” week, so I expect pain to abound once again. It’s good pain though (I guess!). I do wish the workouts weren’t quite so long so I could actually have *some* relaxing time in the day, but alas, fitness means sacrifice! We have to do them at night after the kids go to bed, so of course we’re drained by then! We’re already up at 5:oo-5:30 a.m. with the kids (serious early risers).. so no time in the a.m. either!
So far, I’ve had decent results. I have lost a couple of pounds, but have noticed my arms, abs and legs firming up. I am within about 3-4 lbs of my target weight, but I can’t focus on that too much since we all know that muscle weighs more than fat No doubt my level of STRENGTH is up, especially in the arms (triceps) department. I can do 3x the number of push-ups I could do when I started, so that’s a big “something” that has come out of this. Soon I will be moving to “real” push-ups instead of girl ones.. lol! My core is getting a lot stronger too. I don’t know if I’m brave enough to post before and after pics.. we’ll see… hehe.
