G5 Weekend Report

It was a busy weekend, but fun. Friday was a cake night. I was up until the wee hours finishing up the cake for Cora's birthday.

Saturday, we went to her party. It was so much fun. They had carnival games, a castle jump and of course yummy food.



Sunday was kind of a lazy day. I cleaned a bit, we took the kids to lunch at Island's Hamburger and then I went veggie shopping at Henry's and I cooked up a storm. It's nice to get some of those week night meals out of the way and in the fridge or freezer.

Ethan's First Girlfriend

My little boy is growing up so fast! It appears he already has his first girlfriend! LOL, so funny! His little friend Leah and he are completely smitten with each other! Ethan told me on the way home from school that he 'no longer loved me, that he loved Leah now'. She happened to be waiting for us at out house while I went to go pick Ethan up from school. She is the daughter of our helper and friend, Jamie. I guess I knew the day would come, when my young men would hold the affections of another woman in higher regard, but I guess I wasn't quite expecting it at the ripe old age of 4!!

They were holding hands, hugging and Leah even kissed him on the cheek. Ethan was quite embarassed by all the attention, plus the fact that Jamie and I were cracking up didn't help, I'm sure!

The Ladies Man, himself!






The pair dying eggs last week.





-- Post From My iPhone

Easter 2009 & g5 Weekend Update

We had a nice Easter weekend. We did the usual. Hid Easter eggs, colored Easter eggs, had a huge caloric meal and went to church.

Friday, since our helper Jamie was here with her kiddos, we decided to dye eggs and do a preliminary egg hunt. We gave Jamie's kids some goodies. It was a fun day, but we all missed Javi. Javi was visiting with his dad who was in town from the CHP academy.

My mom came in to town on Saturday and since we were sharing Javi this holiday weekend, we decided to do our Easter on Saturday. We did the big meal, ham au gratin potatoes and stuffing! Then I made a dutch apple pie for dessert, yum! We did the egg hunt and the Easter bunny came with the baskets. Loads of sugar for my little bunnies ;0)

Sunday, we met our friends the Pomiak family at church. Kaylee didn't quite make it through the mass, but did surprisingly well considering that we were there about 30 minutes before mass started and then made it through 45 minutes of the service. T hen we came home and had leftovers and watched a movie together. I had a mountain of dishes from the day before to catch up on and I tried to clean up a bit, since I have been down for the count with pneumonia most of the week. I crashed out around 7pm. I was feeling pretty run down from the busy weekend. I don't think my body was quite ready to get back to a regular routine, because I woke up this morning feeling sick all over again.

So, back to the doc for me, I think. I am guessing that it's viral pneumonia and that's why the antibiotics didn't work too well.

Here's all the pics from the weekend....



Hope you had a fab Easter weekend!!

Gone Purple for Maddie

As you may have heard through the grapevine of the internet about a very sad story about a little girl, Madeline Alice Spohr, just 17 months old passed away on April 7th.  Maddie was born premature and had many complications with her health as many babies born premature do.  This story really hit home for me.  Also having a daughter about Maddie's age with many health complications, therapies, hospital stays.  Like me and so many of us, Maddie's mom, Heather, is an avid blogger and twitterer.  

I did not personally know Heather, but I cannot even begin to imagine the emptiness they must feel loosing their beautiful daughter.  No one should have to suffer the loss of a child.

In honor of Madeline and a fellow mom blogger/twitterer, I ask you to donate what you can to the March of Dimes.  Please use the following link.

g5 Weekend Report

Ok, I missed last weekend. I was being a lazy blogger ;) We did have fun at Natalie's 33rd Bday Clambake.

Let's see...Friday, I had coffee with the girls in the morning. It was nice to hang out and chat. We'll have to do that more often!
Friday night we took it easy. I made smoked sausage and yellow rice for dinner. Always a fav in this house. We relaxed and watched movies as usual. I read more of my book, that I finished this morning called Soul Mates. It was an interesting book. It was all about past life regression/hypnotherapy and the existence of soul mates and what the author's definition of a soul mate was. It was very enlightening. A different book from what I would normally read, but gave me some things to ponder. I love a book like that.

Saturday, we went to one of my BF's surprise birthday party. You would think that this party was more for kids! They had a blow up slide that they turned into a water slide courtesy of Grandma squirting everyone with the hose ;) It was 84 degrees in Temecula where they live, about 45 minutes northeast of us. They have a great house for entertaining and they always put on great parties. I got to visit with a lot of old friends, in between chasing Kaylee all over the place. We had a lot of fun. "Uncle Brian" carpooled with us and we are usually his adopted family at these functions, as he is unmarried and with out children. The only one of our friends. Mark took the day off, as usual when it comes to these functions but, he deserved a day off after three weeks straight working ;) Uncle Brian had fun with the kids. For a single guy, he is really good with them. He carted Kaylee around the yard, took Ethan swimming in the pool and even took him to go potty. Pretty impressive for a single guy! Single ladies, any takers??

Here are some of the pics from the party...

The Birthday Girl, Brook

Javi helped her with the candles.  Stand by with a fire extinguisher!!  Man, mine will have that many candles this year.  Ugh!

Hey, Can I squirt you with a water gun Uncle Brian (light blue hat)? 

Ethan frolicking around the yard.

Javi yelling at the girls to go down the slide, meanwhile not having the guts to go down himself and get sprayed by grandma with the hose.

Sunday, I ran some errands, took Ethan to Target and went to Trader Joe's solo. He needed some alone time with mama. He's been in a funk lately, wanting more alone time from the other kids. I can't say I blame him. We mostly just hung around and played with the kids. Mark colored with them. I made tacos, beans, rice and salsa. Ok, so the meat was a little over seasoned. Mark called it "meat tenderizer". I told him if he didn't watch it, he would be cooking his own meals all week!

Laying like a big girl and kicking her feet.  She looked like a teenager.  All that OT is paying off.  She holds a crayon better than most 10 year olds at 20 months.

Here daddy, let me autograph that for you.

It was a nice weekend. Relaxing. Next weekend Mark said he would let me try to hypnotize him with the script from my book. That should be interesting!! LOL  Hope you all had a great weekend too!

Blue Sky Reserve Field Trip

We had such a great time on our field trip yesterday. This was Javi's first field trip with his new class. We went on a hike at the Blue Sky Nature Preserve. I was still battling my cold, but I didn't want to miss Javi's field trip. I got to meet a lot of the parents of the kids in the class. I also got to know Javi's new classmates a little better. They are all great kids. They are all so loving and accepting. It really makes me wonder why we try to shoe horn kids with ASD to be more "typical". It seems we have a great deal to learn from these kids. I held hands with most of the kids yesterday, many of them hugged me. They are so accepting, even of us new folk. No suspicion, no malice, just wonder and kindness.

I am truly happy that we found such a great placement for Javi. He has made some great friends his first week. He told me that one of the girls in his class, Sydney, is his girlfriend. I asked if she knew that ;) They are really cute together. They shared a bag of apples. Very cute! We love the new teacher Ms. Meghan and her assistants. They are so great with the kids.

Here are the pics of the trip...

G5 Weekend Report

Hope everyone had a great weekend. We had a nice relaxing weekend.  Friday I cooked an enormous dinner, which I enjoyed making, thoroughly.  Everything from scratch, just as I like to do.  I suppose I was inspired by watching the movie Tortilla Soup on Thursday while I was folding what seemed like a mountain of laundry.  I spent most of the afternoon cooking.  I made corn tortillas, roasted salsa, tortilla soup, enchiladas beans and rice.  I was a little disappointed that the tortillas had kind of a funny aftertaste.  I am guessing because the masa may have gone stale.  It had been in the cabinet for quite a while.  I didn't know that it could, but I guess it's just as perishable as anything else.  I made a mole enchilada sauce and a Mexican beef roast as filling.  The roast practically fell apart when I was preparing the meat to go in the chili mole sauce for the enchiladas, which is just the way I like it.  Ethan liked the "chippy soup" (tortilla soup) as we called it, which was very surprising.  It's garnished with creama (kinda of sour cream) and cilantro.

Saturday we went to Kaylee's first real playdate (meaning a play date that was actually scheduled for her).  We went to a meet up with the families from my speech class.  It was the first time we had actually seen all the kids in person.  We get to watch videos of each other utilizing the techniques we learn in class.  The kids were so cute!!  Kaylee had a really good time.  So did Ethan!  He didn't want to leave.  They had other children that Ethan played with that were more his age.  Kaylee really like playing with our host's eldest daughter.  It was nice to see her get some time in with a "big sister" type.  The girl also seemed thrilled since she has all younger brothers.  She was fascinated to get to play with a little girl.  We headed out to the outlet mall after that to pick up some much needed clothes for Mark and Kay.  

We relaxed the rest of the day.  We watched AFV for the first time with Ethan.  Man, was it a crack up to see him laughing at all the video clips.  I think it was funnier to watch him react then it was to watch the videos themselves!

Sunday, we made some time to teach Ethan how to ride a bike with training wheels.  Javi never rides his bike.  He just never really took to it.  He's always been more interested in his scooter or skate boards.  Although the bike is too big for him, he did a really good job pedaling.  We decided it was time to get Ethan a bike of his own, so I think I will take a look at the second hand sports shop to get him a little 12" bike.  He won't need it for more than a year or two at best, so we thought it better not to spend too much. 

Here's a clip of him riding with Mark teaching him.

Awe...little ole us???

Our blog got some pretty special recognition from Kyle's Treehouse, an Autism Awareness site while we were away on our trip to Las Vegas, with our friend Fairfax.

We received an email from Lyndsey Silvesti of Kyle's Treehouse that our blog would be featured in an "Inspiring Sites" post on the Kyle's Treehouse Blog.  Wow, what a great honor.  We have been a fan of Kyle's Treehouse for many years.  It has some wonderful resources and helps by "empowering everyone touched by Autism to make effective choices".

It is a real vindication that we are reaching others that may benefit from reading about our life and our experiences.  There is hope, despite receiving a life altering diagnosis.  We try our hardest to instill in our children that they can do anything they set their mind to achieve and nothing, even their disabilities will stand in there way.  There is no limit on what you can achieve with hope, patience and understanding.

A Very Bunny Visit

Clearly, Fairfax, from Marissasbunny.com  (a site that promotes Infantile Spasms Awareness), was a bunny on the loose! He went from the east coast to the west coast. Now, he's on his way to middle America. Who knows where the wind will blow him next.

We were able to grab a latte with Fairfax, California style. He said he likes his coffee like he likes all the children he visits, SWEET!!



We also took Fairfax out for a Valentine dinner to Cheeburger Cheeburger where he was delighted to take a spin in a convertible.



We took him from San Diego to Los Angeles to pick up Grandma, then to the bright light city of Las Vegas, NV. Wish we could have gotten a night time shot of him on the strip, but we only went out at night once and he said he was so tired from the long drive, he wanted to rest in the stroller (we actually were so excited about the volcano, we forgot to get a shot of him).

Fairfax is enjoying the rare view of California's snow capped mountains.

Fairfax is helping to navigate.

Fairfax, in the middle of downtown Las Vegas

Fairfax had fun at Shark Reef Aquarium in Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas

We ended our visit with Fairfax with taking him to KIDS Therapy where Kaylee receives her occupational therapy and physical therapy.


We sure had a great time visiting with him!! Hope he has a safe journey!

G5 Weekend Report

Rain, rain is here again. We are pretty happy though, because we need it badly! It sure didn't slow us down from indoor activities. Friday afternoon we had a bowling birthday party we attended. It was so much fun!! Javi had only been bowling once before, but he did fantastic. Guess all that Wii bowling is paying off!!



STRIKE!! On the very first frame!!


Kay was my arm jewelry the entire party and Ethan slept in the stroller all the way until it was time to have pizza and cake. He did manage to get to bowl in the game after eating. He bowled one frame right before we left. He hit one pin and was thrilled ;) To bad I couldn't get any pics because I was helping him bowl.

Mom and Dad had a movie night after the kiddos went to bed. It was nice to relax and listen to the rain while we watched our movie.

Saturday, we had another bday party to go to. This time it was at Playtown, which is an indoor play place. We had a really good time and got to meet some new friends. Javi made friends with a boy named Ethan, who is a celeb in the Autism Community. His team won an award for money raised for the San Diego Autism Walk Now. They were like two peas in a pod. I made friends with his mom, Lisa. We plan to get them together to play again really soon.



Our Ethan had a great time too! The big boys included him in there dramatic game of Sonic the Hedgehog, where they each decided to be a different character. Ethan also had fun playing on this motorcycle. He even put some gas in at the play gas station.



Sunday was a lazy day for the kids, but mommy spent a good portion of it cleaning after we made breakfast. The kids played and watched Boomerang Network. Kay helped mommy dust the living room. It was too cute!





We had a pillow fight, which Ethan enjoyed immensely!


Then mommy got a much needed break to go see a movie with a friend. We got to see "He's just not that in to you". OMG, what a cute movie, but definitely a chick flick!! Good thing it was just us girls ;) Can't wait to see it again.

Hope you all had a great weekend too.

G5 Weekend Report

Better late than never! I actually had this post ready last night, but had one video that had to be uploaded. I got a migraine and never finished it ;) Hope everyone had a wonderful Superbowl weekend.  Friday and Saturday were pretty uneventful since two out of three kiddos were sick.

Friday, I made some Greek chicken avgolemono soup for Mark and I for lunch.  I had prepared chicken souvlaki (Greek marinated chicken breast) for dinner for ladies' dinner and a movie night on Thursday, so we had a lot of leftovers.  It was d'lish soup!  We also had some leftover pita and tzatki that we munched on with the soup.  

That afternoon, we had a "Superhero Afternoon" boys played a little live action Super Smash Bros with their plushy Sonic and Mario dolls.  We also watched Fantastic Four, Silver Surfer.  I also worked on the football cake a little.  I baked the cake part.  I rested most of the evening and went to bed early, since I too was feeling a little under the weather.

Saturday morning, Ethan and I made the chocolate buttercream for the cake.  Yum!  It smelled heavenly.  Ethan was the official taste tester.  It is so cute to see how interested he is in cooking and baking.  He would rather cook with me in the kitchen than play video games.  He actually shut off Wii when I asked if he wanted to cook with me!!  

Javi went to Bates' Nut Farm with his cousin, Nana and Aitona for the day.  Javi's dad left for the CHP academy in Sacramento on Saturday and will be there for the next six months.  He will be coming home every other weekend, so Javi will still get to see him, but it's definitely going to be a big change for him.  It was a nice distraction for Javi to do something fun with his grandparents for the day.

Daddy brought home some McD's for lunch and a much needed ice coffee for Mama.  It totally hit the spot and I felt recharged to finish off decorating the cake.

I stayed up pretty late on Saturday night preparing food for our party on Superbowl Sunday.  I made all the dips, veg tray, etc.

Sunday the kids woke up early and we played for most of the early morning.  Then it was go time for mama.  I started cleaning, more food prep, and setting up for the party.  I made a much needed coffee run to Starbucks for daddy and I.  Since the kids had gotten up early, I was sooo ready for a cuppa.

Our party kicked off around 2:30.  We served food from just about every ethnic group.  I had made some lumpia, pizza, wings, hot artichoke dip, garlic fries, my famous roasted salsa, asian pineapple teriyaki meatballs, hummus & pita, and of course, cake for dessert.  

We had a really good time.  There was about 15 of us, including the little people.  Even did a little karaoke during half time.  Here are the pics and vid.  Mark & the boys were very elusive and managed to skip out on the pics and the vids.

G5 Weekend Report

It was such a nice weekend, celebrating Ethan's birthday!  We certainly have been enjoying the cake all weekend.  It's officially gone!  I think it's the first time we have ever finished a birthday cake.  Ethan had about six slices through out the weekend.  I figured, why not?  It's his birthday cake and he doesn't get it often.  Enjoy it while you can!  My mom took the last few slices home for my grandparents to enjoy.

Let's see...since you already know what we did on Friday.  Let's go straight to Saturday.  We pretty much lounged around for most of the day.  We played wii with the kids and had left overs from the "breakfast for dinner" from Ethan's bday party.  In the evening, my mom and I went to pick up chinese food, our usual Saturday dinner, from the little place a few blocks away from our house.  The people know us and they are really nice.  They make all of Javi's stuff special order because of his diet, which is really cool!  We dropped by Home Depot while we were up there to purchase some duct tape to fix our dryer.  The vent hose just keeps falling off.  There is nothing wrong with the cuff that attaches it, but it just keeps falling off.  I suspect it's because I dry large loads and it shakes the darn thing loose.  Anyway, we ate chinese and watched movies, just relaxed.  It was nice.

Sunday morning, we did much of the same, except for I went for a morning jog!  My first in quite a while.  It's time to burn off some of those Xmas lbs!!  Woo, I have gained a few too ;)  I am really motivated, so I am confident I will stick with it.  I have also been trying to eat healthier...again!  I got kinda "lax" during the holidays, so it's time to get psycho again.  

My Normal Diet...

Breakfast is a small bowl of oatmeal with raisins and a coffee.  Then for lunch, a fruit smoothie and a small snack (half sandwich, or soup, luna bar, etc.).  I usually have an afternoon snack like half a banana or hummus and pita, then a normal size dinner (no larger than a salad plate full), which typically includes at least one veg.  I try very hard not to eat sweets, but on occasion I like to have a piece of chocolate or a cookies.  I love love love fancy coffee, so I can usually just reward my self with a coffee and I'm good.  Of course, try to drink as much water as possible too.

This is my NORMAL diet.  You don't want to know what I have been eating for the last six weeks!!  But I'm sure it's not much different what everyone has been eating ;)  I'd like to try to work out, strength training at least 3x's a week and cardio 3x's on the off days.  I'd also like to incorporate yoga at least 2x's a week.  

Sunday afternoon, I took the kids to my friend's Natalie and Steve's house to watch the Charger game.  Mark stayed home to catch up on some rest.  The ladies and I played Texas Hold'em during half time and in to the second half, since at this point the Chargers were a little behind.  It was quite the roll reversal.  Steve had done all the cooking for the game, then he played with the kids a little while the ladies played poker!  It was most entertaining for me to witness this.  Steve did a wonderful job hosting the football party.  I know all the ladies are a tough crowd.  Besides Ethan, he was the only guy ;)  

Ethan discovered he is quite good at Golden Tee.  They have a stand up arcade game in their living room, so Ethan had a good time.  Sure he was amazed by an arcade game being in their living room.  Kaylee discovered that she really likes dogs.  She loved petting Apollo, Natalie's golden retriever.  I could tell Mark saw my wheels spinning when I told him that Kaylee liked their dogs.  He just said "NO PUPPIES".  I whole heartedly agree, since I've been there may times already.  Maybe sometime in the future, we can look in to rescuing an adult dog that is already house trained.  I do really miss having the companionship of a dog.  We always had a dog when I was growing up.  It would be really nice for the kids to also have that kinship.

Natalie's dog, Apollo

Countdown to the New Year!

Been a busy week so far with the countdown to the new year. We have been preparing and getting the house all spiffed up and ready to receive guests for new years eve, plus, I just like to start the year off clean. I just usually wait until after all the holidays are over, but with the party I was a little premature ;) We have been purging cabinets, refrigerators, closets, garage, toy boxes. Pretty much, most of the house (except my master closet, which I did last month). Even did a little furniture rearranging! Yep, you know me!!

Jamie our helper has been a GODSEND!! She is truly a gem. She is both my hands (not just my right hand woman). She helps me with my OCD too ;) Although, don't know if it's helpful to be my accomplice *wink*. We have done so much over the last few days. The house looks truly amazing!! She actually helped me do yard work today! Way above and beyond the call of duty! I did manage to even steal away, sans children, this morning to go to drop off donations at Goodwill and go to Costco with my friend and neighbor. That was nice! Thank goodness she comes tomorrow too, I will be like a chicken with my head cut off, I'm sure. I am always a psycho the day of a party. I have most of my prep work completed. Just saving those last minute things, vacuuming, wiping down the bathroom, etc. Oh, how I love to entertain guests! I don't know why, because it is so labor intensive, but I love to have people over and cook, talk over a cocktail, have everything look pretty. Silly, I know!

Ok, I am going nuts with the smell of that cake baking. Yep, decided to make a simple cake, nothing fancy because of time constraints. Also can't wait to test out my new bread maker tonight after I frost the cake! Thanks mom!

Hope you all have a fantastic NEW YEAR!!! See you in blogland next year!!!

G5 Weekend Report

Hope everyone had a great weekend!  We are winding down on days left until Christmas.  Hope everyone has their shopping finished!  I got the last of our "wrapped presents" on Friday.  I headed up to Toys R' Us and got Ethan and Kaylee's last presents.  I have some gift cards to pick up, but that I will do tomorrow.  Nothing like waiting until the last minute, eh?

My mom came up Friday night and we headed out to Costco to do some shopping for our tamale making party on Saturday.  I did all the meat prep and cooked the meat for the next day. I also made the chili sauce and salsa.

The next morning, it was on! We went to McD's to pick up some breakfast and coffee and we got started. We wrapped and cooked for most of the day.  We enjoyed our Mexican feast of chips and salsa, taquitos, beans and rice while we wrapped.  Boy, it is a huge undertaking to make tamales.  We made a lot.  We also made several different kinds.  We have spicy beef, mild beef, spicy beef and cheese, mild beef and cheese, and all the same varieties of pork.  I also have another 5lbs of masa left to make sweet ones (cinnamon raisin).  I was going to finish it up tomorrow.  It takes so long to make everything that you have to make a lot or it's just not worth it.  It's the same prep no matter what.  We were so stuffed from the other food, we didn't even try the tamales until the next day.

Saturday night, I ended up going to my first live stand up comedy show.  Mark and I were supposed to go together, which was mostly the reason my mom came up, but he was still not feeling well enough by Saturday night.  We were going out to celebrate the birthday of a good friend of mine, so I didn't want to ditch out.  Also, when you have a two week stretch of the kids without a break, it's good to get out and have a laugh ;)  Had a good time, but don't know if I would do the whole comedy show thing again.  It was pretty pricey, considering they weren't big names or anything.  They were pretty funny and I did have a good laugh.  I got to visit with some old friends and even managed to learn a few words in Japanese!  All and all, good fun.  Wished Mark could have come :(

Sunday, I took the kids to a puppet show in Balboa Park.  We did get to see some really cute dogs dressed up in Christmas outfits.  I don't know if they had some event going on, but everywhere we turned there was a dog all dressed up.  They were really cute.  The kids had a really good time at the puppet show too.  We sang and clapped (clapping is Javi's fav thing to do *stimming*).  It was a Christmas program, so it definitely got us in to the spirit.

Sunday night, I took the kids to have dinner at my friend Carrie's.  We made some carne asada from my fav Mexican market, where I purchase most of my supplies from.  Most people in there don't speak english, so I get to bust out some of my espanol whenever I go there.  Mostly, I just say "Necesito arrachera preparada, cuatro libras, por favor" (I need marinated flank steak, 4 lbs please.) or "cuanto cuesta?" (how much does it cost?).  My Spanish is pretty rusty these days because I don't need to use it that often.  I can still understand it pretty well, but my conversational Spanish is pretty awful now.   

Had a fun, but very busy weekend.  Looking forward to relaxing a little now that Christmas is winding down.

...and then there were EIGHT!

Today was not the most exciting 12 days activity.  We wrote out Christmas cards to our teachers and wrapped their presents.  It had to be done, so I thought why not try to spice it up and make it an activity!  I actually wanted Ethan to stamp some of the cards, but as it turns out, no stamp pad!  So, he helped a little with the presents for all the teachers and therapists while Javi wrote his cards out.  Ethan got tired and bored with this activity very quickly, so we never got to his cards.

We have 15 presents for teachers, aides, and therapists.  We actually don't even give them to every one either.  I only give them to people we know well and the kids see regularly.  I would be giving out 25-30 presents if we did one for everyone they work with.  Not that we don't appreciate what they do, it just would get really pricey to do one for everyone.  They are little Christmas boxes filled with assorted yummy chocolates.  They look pretty cute.

We presented Jamie, our friend and helper, with her present today.  I gave her a "bonus", a gift for her, and one small gift for each of her two kids.  She cried and said it was "too much".   I only wish I could have done more.  She actually told me it was the first present she has received in years.  I couldn't believe my ears!!  She has been going through kind of a rough time lately, so I wanted to do something special for her, since she is always so good to us.  She has offered on more than one occasion to just watch our kids with out payment.  She even came when I was sick and tried to leave with out me signing her time card.  She is such an awesome person.  I wanted her to know how loved and appreciated she is.  We really are fortunate to have found someone that is so great with me and great with our kids.  It felt good to do something nice for her.  She really is more than a "nanny" to us.  She is a good friend.  That is what the spirit of Christmas is all about.  It wasn't about the gifts, or bonus, it was about sharing that bond of friendship and appreciation for each other.  The exchange of thoughtfulness.  It didn't matter who gave what.  That is what gift giving is all about.  We can sometimes get wrapped up in the reciprocating monetary values.  "So and so bought me a $10 item, so I have to buy him a $10 item.".  It really takes the fun out of giving a gift.  A gift as defined by the dictionary:

A gift or present is the transfer of something, without the need for compensation that is involved in trade. A gift is a voluntary act which does not require anything in return. Even though it involves possibly a social expectation of reciprocity, or a return in the form of prestige or power, a gift is meant to be free. 

So while we are out shopping and wrapping and getting caught up in the Christmas hoopla, remember the true meaning of a gift this Christmas.  

To me the greatest gift one can have are friends and family like you...Thanks for following the G5 family blog.  We love you!!! 

G5 Weekend Report

Happy December everyone.  The countdown is ON!!  This year I wasn't as prepared for Christmas as past years.  For the first time in like five years, I didn't decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving and I also did not go out on black Friday.  

This year, I decided to stick to a very specific list of items for Christmas, which usually does not coincide with Black Friday deals.  I did do a little Christmas shopping this morning and I have been doing some internet shopping also.  We are taking it easy this year on spending, just like the rest of America.

Let's see...Friday we obviously did not go shopping early, but we did go to the arts and crafts store to get gifts to make for the teachers and therapists.  Later, we went to my friend Carrie's house to do yoga and we took the kiddos to lunch.  Ethan's new favorite thing to eat is hummus and pita.  I am so proud of him for trying new things.  I am also happy to report that he took a bite of everything on Thanksgiving, which was a first.  He usually just has plain mashed potatoes and a roll.  Friday night we got a call from Carrie that she needed help with her flat tire, so I took Kaylee with me.  I thought she might fall asleep in the car, but no such luck.  I ended up taking her tire home with me to take to Costco to get it patched on Saturday.  We came home and watched a movie.

Saturday I made Biscuits and Gravy for the fam.  Then we helped Carrie get her tire patched and back on her car, then she took her daughter, Lucy, Ethan and I to get some Mex food to say thank you.  Saturday night, Ethan and I went to our friends Brook and Matt's for Matt's 34th bday party.  It was a poker party, but I wasn't really up for playing, so I helped Brook play hostess, since she was playing cards.  Had fun playing with the kids at the party too.  I hadn't seen a lot of them since they were babies.  Brook ended up winning the first big pot.  Woohoo, you go girl!

Sunday I cleaned house, while daddy got a much needed sleep in.  We took the kids to the mall to go see Santa.  We decided to go to lunch first, then by the time we made our way over to Santa, he was going on his lunch break.  We tried walking around and wasting time window shopping, but by the time Santa came back, the line was so long and the kids (and Mark) were getting grumpy, so we decided to try another time.  Not a total wash though, because the kids did have fun at the Apple Store, the Pet Shop where we got to hold a puppy and pet a bunny, and we also explored the Build a Bear Workshop.

All and all, a fun, but busy weekend.  I am looking forward to taking it easy this week.  I will be enjoying the holiday season, decorating and cooking as usual.  

Hope everyone had a nice holiday!

Girls' Night In

Last night, my friend Natalie came over for a girls' night in. I made some grilled chicken alfredo pasta, caesar salad, and garlic bread. For dessert, pumpkin spice cake with cinnamon cream cheese frosting. We had a nice bottle of wine from the Wilson Creek winery that I had been saving (Mark is not a white wine drinker, so I knew it would be consumed on an occasion such as this).

We grubbed and chatted. We had intended on watching a movie, the girly kind, but ended up talking through half of the movie. It was so much fun to just have a girls' night and gab. We definitely plan on doing it again sometime in the near future.

Here are those old pics I was talking about that she posted to Facebook:

Love those shades!

Holy moly, was I really that thin once?  I was 19 in this pic.

A Night Out with Old Friends

Ok, not that they are old, I've just known them for a long time.  I can't believe I can say I have known them for nearly 20 years!  Wow, that time went by fast.  It's actually only 16, but who's counting :)  Yep, met most of them when I was 15 years old.

We had a good time.  We went down to a nice place at the beach called Firehouse (it's next door to the Pacific Beach Fire Station).  We decided it was just getting too cramped and uncomfortable for $5 beers, so we went to the dive bar a few bars down that my buddy Brian (the one in the collared blue shirt) used to frequent regularly when he lived down in that area.  Brian was my male wing man when we would head out in my single years ;)

The guys shot some pool at Open Bar and Natalie and I played MegaXL, one of those touch screen bar video games.  I hadn't played in years!  I think the last time I played was when I was a bartender.

After that we decided to start making our way back home.  We wanted to go to a place that was close to the house, so we went to our usual place, The Irish Pub.  It's about a 10 minute walk(...or should I say stumble) from my house.  

I was the DD, so just had a beer early on in the evening.  After my last little jaunt, I wasn't going to take any chances, I volunteered to drive!  But wouldn't you know it, I still had a headache in the morning.  Guess I just don't process alcohol well.  Good thing I only drink about once every two to four months.

We had a great time.  It had been years since we had all hung out together at the same time, so it was nice to catch up.  

Natalie, Matt, Brian & Steve

Natalie and Shanna at Open Bar

Prayers Welcome

Please read the prayer below for our friend Sharon Skates, a.k.a. Mama Skates. Sharon is our very dear friend and needs all of our prayers, as she is going through the diagnosis process for possible lymphoma.

I know you may not know Sharon, but she is a wonderful wife, mother to three and friend to many. I have not had the pleasure of meeting her in person, but I don't need to know her in person, to know what a beautiful person she is. I know that she's always there it lend support and a helping hand to anyone she calls a friend, be it in real life or across the wires. By reading the prayer below, you will be praying for our dear friend. Please feel free to pass this link on or post to your own blog and keep the prayers coming.

Lord Jesus Christ, You chose to share our human nature, to redeem all people, and to heal the sick. With this in mind I beg You to look with compassion on Your humble servant Sharon, support her with Your power, comfort her with Your protection, and give her the strength needed to fight against evil. Since You have given Sharon, a share in Your own passion, help her to find hope in suffering for You, Jesus.

New IS Friend

I found a new IS friend that is local to our area.  Crazy enough, I found her through one of Ethan's friends at school.  Finnley has just begun her ACTH treatment and we are ever hopeful that it will stop her seizures.

As I read the following post for the first time, I cried knowing that yet another family was affected by IS.  But to see the message of hope in her mother's post lets me know that a mother's hope has no bounds.

I look forward to following their blog and Finne's progress and I hope you will too!  

They say behind every cloud is a silver lining. I like to imagine that lining is not only silver but full of chunky glitter and sparkle. Something that catches all the light and makes you look forward to whatever is behind that cloud. There is always something good on the other side of life's challenges. It may take awhile for us to discover it sometimes - but it is always there. What we learn from it will help us to grow and become stronger. If we don't learn from it - my experience has been that it will be taught to us over and over until we that lesson in.

A bit of a cloud presented itself this month to our family. I say a 'bit of a cloud' because nothing compares to the cloud(or trial) of almost losing a child. Paul was given a lay off notice at his job and has until the end of the month. One blessing is that his boss is going to carry our insurance until the first of the year. A wonderful blessing because Finn's next treatment will be around $100,000.00 and without insurance or a dead rich relative - treatment just wouldn't happen.

Job prospects are grim right now as we all know but we are hopeful for the change. If there is one thing we have learned this year - God knows us. He knows our family and hears our prayers. I always knew that - but know I KNOW that. I hope all of you know that. We are His children and are individually known to Him. He listens and answers in the way it will serve us the best. We may have a job tomorrow or it may be six months from now. Heck - we may be living with you! But we know that we will be where the Lord wants us and needs us. Not moving is of course our first choice but that glittery lining may be in Texas, Ohio or Bora Bora! I am personally hoping it's in Hawaii but only time will tell. (Can't you just picture that glittery rainbow over Kauai??)

Prayer strengthens us when we are scared and gives us hope when we are feeling alone. We are at peace with the job situation, calm even. So maybe that proves that we have learned a lot these past two years. It usually gets really dark and scary right before everything falls into place and we know where we are headed. It's not dark at all - maybe that means we have a long time yet... Or, that our perspective has changed and our faith has increased in His plan for us. How do people get a long in this world without the gospel of Jesus Christ?

Finnie's seizures have not gone away so we are on to the next phase of treatment. It should start within the next few weeks. I will have to inject her with the medication and that makes me a little nervous to be the one hurting her everyday but it's a necessary evil. She is doing well otherwise and smiling more and more. She LOVES Angie and they are so cute together. Finn just lights up when Angie comes into the room - it's so sweet.

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