Challenge Updates & Green Smoothies!

All I can say is WOW right now... I am just so encouraged, challenged and excited with how God is using this time of praying for Chris. When I started I basically was just getting encouraged by the fact that no matter how big or how small the loss in your relationship is or has been that when we have faith God will restore all that has been devoured or destroyed. I absolutely LOVE that picture of restoration. Also as I may have mentioned I'm taking my leading of what to pray for and how from the book "Power of a Praying Wife". I went through this book our first year of marriage (which let's face it was the honeymoon phase AND 12 years ago) so it's been a while:).... but now it is amazing to read it again and read some of my underlines or comments from back then and to see WOW life sure is...... LIFE!! for lack of a better word. Back then at the "beginning" you just don't know do you?:)! And I'm not saying now is "worse" it's just different and more intense in my opinion. It's also an amazing opportunity for closer intimacy through God. What I mean by that is that no matter how much our marriage has been pushed or pulled in the season we are in; by fervently and purposefully praying for Chris and our marriage I feel closer to him in only ways that God can bring. It's truly amazing! Also I've been chalenged by the word FAITH. We hear it alot and it is a word that gets thrown around often, so as I've been going through the first couple days of this 30 day challenge to pray faith has definitely been spoken of alot. And after looking up the definition some of the challenges and commands mean so much more; for example:

* You have to have FAITH that whatever has been eaten away in your marriage/relationship can be restored.

*We have FAITH that when we pray for restoration that God WILL answer it

* FAITH that we have authority over the enemy when we pray.

Faith defined is:

trust or confidence, belief that is not based on proof, in truth or in loyalty. So those are a few things that I've been challenged with and also excited about as I dive into this incredible 30 day challenge to pray; thanks for listening to my update:)...

Ok on to GREEN SMOOTHIES! So as mom's we are all in the same boat of wanting to provide more nutrition or whatnot for our kids well to that I say... Good Luck!!:) No I'm just kidding but you have to admit that sometimes it's just hard to feed them the "right things" when they just don't want it or as we call it in our house "a hunger strike"! That's where Emma Grace decides that she will eat pasta (or whatever she chooses for that day or week) for breakfast, lunch & dinner and she doesn't want ANYTHING else!! Yikes! So with that said I know that she enjoys smoothies. Tuesday & Wednesday mornings I drive into Boulder for MOPS & bible study and have to be there by 9am (you know what I'm talking about mom's) and getting breakfast in her is kind of a joke before we head out the door. So we have gotten into the habit on those mornings that while we are driving she is comfortably eating/drinking her smoothly as we drive. It makes for a nutritious, quick & pretty easy meal that's portable. Well a friend from MOPS who is also a nutritionist suggested a GREEN SMOOTHIE to that I said, HUH? Basically now I add spinach leaves to her drinks. I know it sounds weird/maybe you already do this but try it (especially if your babies like smoothies) here's what I put in mine.

*My measurements are approx. I eyeball it in my blender*

1 cup yogurt (I've switched to lowfat most of the time I use Vanilla)

1 cup orange juice

1 banana

1/2 cup(ish) of frozen fruit (typically whatever I have but I usually buy the humongo mixed frozen fruit of peaches, strawberries,pineapples,mangos)

1/3 cup(ish) of small spinach leaves

Honestly I'm telling you it's not half bad and you really can't taste the spinach. But I am a true believer because I just threw the spinach container away which means Emma Grace ate an entire container of spinach in a week and a half! Pretty good!

Pardon The Dust...

Our Blog is UNDER CONSTRUCTION:)...

Pardon the mess while I switch stuff around and play with the layout, there is some really fun blog stuff out there:)

I'm calling it over...

It's official; although the weather continues to stay nice, hot, beautiful. I'm still conceding that summer is over!!

The pools are officially closed, it's just starting to get dark a little earlier than normal and the mornings & nights are actually a bit crispyish!

Can't believe another season is past BUT super excited to see what God has for us this year. Emma is running around like crazy, the holidays will be SO fun because she's such a big girl this year, my Dad lives here now and will be a part of everyday holiday; Very COOL stuff this year and we're very excited to start a new season/chapter!

WELCOME FALL!!

(Ok random question????...

Are you a put out fall decorations in September? October? or November?) I'm an October 1st girl myself:), let me know... I'm randomly curious!

Since this is it... NO MORE summer I'm ending this with some LAST Summer 2010 pics!

Enjoy!!

xo

Ok Mom's...

Can you recommend any good "parenting" books. I feel that with Emma Grace's new turn into pre toddlerhood/walking/tantrums/starting to discipline; I don't know I would love to just read a few books on the subject, ya know?

Anyway if you have any good recommendations that you have read or know of someone else reading let me know:)

Thanks!!

Ok this is so ridiculous....

Ok so I know this is totally ridiculous BUT just humor me and tell me that I'm not being dumb:).... So one of our neighbors; not really friends but sort of friends, see them at neighborhood parties and such, facebook friends, etc... but otherwise aren't really friends. More like friends of friends.... anyway they just had a little baby boy on Saturday (they already have a little girl 2 1/2 named Shaye) and named him Noah!

Now for those of you that know Chris & I we chose the name Noah for a boy while we were dating. It's just one of those things. I always knew I loved the name Emma Grace BUT we did have to think about it before deciding. On the other hand if Emma would have been a boy there was never a question; Noah was/is our name... so now you see where I'm going with this.

I know we're not super close friends, BUT we do live right next to each other. Everyone in the neighborhood (and we are one tight neighborhood for those paying attention:) will obviously meet and get to know their Noah! I'm just bummed!! Is that stupid? I wouldn't even be AS bummed if we were able to use it first but since we have to look like the copycats (maybe if we ever have a boy) I don't know.... I know ridiculous. I mean my gosh they could move next month, never see them again and no biggie but right now ( I just found out 2 seconds ago through email) so it's a little raw ya know???

Ok here is where you tell me... You're not crazy, Sabrina?:):):) You're not being ridiculous??:):):) I don't know LOVE the name, so excited for them BUT seriously Noah; really?? I rarely hear it and now.... ah geez; oh well:):)

Oh Yeah PS.... Reason for slow blogging lately is that it has been a busy summer for me:) I have repainted the ENTIRE house (xcept for bedrooms & bathrooms), I am in the process of finishing up refinishing a large piece of furniture, we're working on a lighting project for the kitchen and family room, getting carpets cleaned... I think now that I'm home w/ Emma 24/7 and I literally LIVE in this house (you stay at homes know what I mean:) I just wanted/needed a change so hopefully I can get some good pics up of all the crazy work around here. It is far from done and far from over since I am basically doing an entire overhaul of my whole life/house:) but I'll try to get pics up soon. Ok I smell like polyuerethine and paint so the shower beckons!.... thanks for listening to my whining about baby names:)

xo

Procrastination & PMS... anyone? anyone?

So we got up, had breakfast, I had a good workout and even played at the park because of some nice cloud cover! Thought I was doing pretty darn good:) THEN the "lazy", "procrastinating", "I have 1000 things to do and I'm overwhelmed so therefore I don't want to do any of it" set in!! And let's be honest I'm totally pre menstral so that is not helping at all:):)... Do you ever feel that way?? Emma's bathroom needs to be cleaned and just tidied & organized, I'm in the middle of reorganizing my pantry, I HAVE to do laundry; you would be embarrassed to see the socks I wore on my run this morning:)lol!, I'm cleaning out my organizer, trying to get a start on all the baby gifts/bday gifts that I've got to get out, not to mention just the daily chores of taking care of this house! Ok I'm done:):) I don't know I think between the PMS, the cranky mood and just feeling lazy I rather just sit back, under the covers and read my book! Please say I'm not the only one that gets in these moods... and if I am just lie and say you get it:)lol!
So with all that said; pictures ALWAYS put me in a better mood so here are some fun pictures from the last few weeks...

Enjoy!

Hanging out in our friends/neighbors backyard (It's great because she's got 3 older girls that Emma LOVES and one of them dabbles in photography so I always get pictures sent to me after we visit:)

This next one is one of Madison's favorite pictures she took because she says her & her friend Kara taught Emma Grace how to text!!! LOL, too funny:)

We were meeting Chris at the pool after work so I didn't want to go twice in one day... SO I thought I would create a little "water park" for us in the backyard (it was like 100 degrees that day so I had to include some sort of water in our play:) It turned out to be super fun... even Daisy loved it:)!

I have never seen anyone ENJOY mealtime SO much!! LOL:) Oh my gosh she was having way to much fun with her pasta!

Oh the birthday parties!! No one tells you about those when you're having a baby and all of your friends are having babies:) It's funny because that keeps us busy on the weekends, let me tell you:)... She got this dress for her birthday so I told Chris let's take a picture of it before it gets crazy ruined at the party:) So here we are off to Blythe's 2nd birthday party!

Have you ever seen 1 and 2 year olds bobbing for apples???? It is a sight to see:)LOL!!! Oh gosh it was hysterical it basically was 8 toddlers playing in a bucket of water, too funny!

A girls gotta get her face painted:)...It is a party after all:)

Well Emma got her first face paint! She did great!

(it was a watermelon incase you were wondering:)

Ok see now I feel better. I've wasted time uploading pictures BUT they put a smile on my face and hopefully yours so my procrastination & pms is sort of paying off:) now I'm going to shower and nap.... cleaning can wait, right??

If you are in the mood to laugh so hard you'll cry.....

Ok here's the deal, I'm not one for email forwards. I actually detest them and have never really "enjoyed" them..... until:):):)! My friend emailed me this the other day and I actually took a few minutes to read it and let me tell you it was worth every moment! Enjoy!!

For those of you who have "waxed", you can RELATE!..
NEVER WAX YOUR HOO HA......

All hair removal methods have tricked women with their promises of easy, painless removal - The Epilady, scissors, razors, Nair and now...the wax. Read on......

My night began as any other normal weeknight. Come home, fix dinner, play with the kids. I then had the thought that would ring painfully in my mind for the next few hours: Maybe I should pull the waxing kit out of the medicine cabinet. So I headed to the site of my demise: the bathroom.

It was one of those 'cold wax' kits. No melting a clump of hot wax, you just rub the strips together in your hand, they get warm and you peel them apart and press them to your leg (or wherever else) and you pull the hair right off. No muss, no fuss. How hard can it be?

I mean, I'm not a genius, but I am mechanically inclined enough to figure this out. (YA THINK!?!)

So I pull one of the thin strips out. It's two strips facing each other stuck together. Instead of rubbing them together, my genius kicks in so I get out the hair dryer and heat it to 1000 degrees. ('Cold wax', yeah...right!) I lay the strip across my thigh. Hold the skin around it tight and pull. It works!
OK, so it wasn't the best feeling, but it wasn't too bad. I can do this! Hair removal no longer eludes me!

I am She-rah, fighter of all wayward body hair and maker of smooth skin extraordinaire.

With my next wax strip I move north. After checking on the kids, I sneak back into the bathroom, for the ultimate hair fighting championship. I drop my panties and place one foot on the toilet. Using the same procedure, I apply the wax strip across the right side of my bikini line, covering the right half of my hoo-ha and stretching down to the inside of my butt cheek (it was a long strip).
I inhale deeply and brace myself....RRRRIIIPPP!!!!

I'm blind!!! Blinded from pain!!!!....OH MY GAWD!!!!!!!!! Vision returning, I notice that I've only managed to pull off half the strip. CRAP! Another deep breath and RIPP!

Everything is spinning and spotted. I think I may pass out.....must stay conscious...must stay conscious. Do I hear crashing drums??? Breathe, breathe...OK, back to normal.


I want to see my trophy - a wax covered strip, the one that has caused me so much pain, with my hairy pelt sticking to it. I want to revel in the glory that is my triumph over body hair.

I hold up the strip! There's no hair on it. Where is the hair??? WHERE IS THE WAX???

Slowly I ease my head down, foot still perched on the toilet. I see the hair. The ha ir that should be on the strip...it's not! I touch. I am touching wax.


I run my fingers over the most sensitive part of my body, which is now covered in cold wax and matted hair. Then I make the next BIG mistake... remember my foot is still propped upon the toilet? I know I need to do something. So I put my foot down. Sealed shut! My butt is sealed shut. Sealed shut!

I penguin walk around the bathroom trying to figure out what to do and think to myself 'Please don't let me get the urge to poop. My head may pop off!' What can I do to melt the wax?

Hot water!! Hot water melts wax!! I'll run the hottest water I can stand, into the bathtub, get in, immerse the wax-covered bits and the wax should melt and I can gently wipe it off, right??? *WRONG!!!!!!!*

I get in the tub - the water is slightly hotter than that used to torture prisoners of war or sterilize surgical equipment - I sit.

Now, the only thing worse than having your nether regions glued together, is having them glued together and then glued to the bottom of the tub....in scalding hot water. Which, by the way, doesn't melt cold wax.

So, now I'm stuck to the bottom of the tub as though I had cemented myself to the porcelain!! God bless the man who had convinced me a few months ago to have a phone put in the bathroom!

I call my friend, thinking surely she has waxed before and has some secret of how to get me undone. It's a very good conversation starter.. 'So, my butt and hoo-ha are glued together to the bottom of the tub!' There is a slight pause. She doesn't know any secret tricks for removal but she does try to hide her laughter from me.

She wants to know exactly where the wax is located, 'Are we talking cheeks or hoo-ha?' She's laughing out loud by now ... I can hear her.

I give her the rundown and she suggests I call the number on the side of the box. YEAH!!!!! Right!! I should be the joke of someone else's night..

While we go through various solutions. I resort to trying to scrape the wax off with a razor.

Nothing feels better than to have your girlie goodies covered in hot wax, glued shut, stuck to the tub in super hot water and then dry-shaving the sticky wax off!!

By now the brain is not working, dignity has taken a major hike and I'm pretty sure I'm going to need Post-Traumatic Stress counseling for this event.

My friend is still talking with me when I finally see my saving grace....the lotion they give you to remove the excess wax. What do I really have to lose at this point?

I rub some on and OH MY GOD!!!!!!! The scream probably woke the kids and scared the dickens out of my friend.. It's sooo painful, but I really don't care. IT WORKS!! It works!!

I get a hearty congratulation from my friend and she hangs up. I successfully remove the remainder of the wax and then notice to my grief and despair...
THE HAIR IS STILL THERE.......ALL OF IT!

So I recklessly shave it off. Heck, I'm numb by now. Nothing hurts. I could have amputated my own leg at this point.


Next week I'm going to try hair color.....

diaper rash, tantrums & spring fever!

So the title of this entry says it all:)lol... in the Garcia house it's been all about Chris and I becoming doctors and trying to figure out how to get rid of the "worst case of diaper rash ever!!":)lol. Although we logically know it's probably not the worst reported case you would have thought that our daughter had the plague:)... we were so sad, concerned, literally in tears because we hated seeing her uncomfortable; brought me back to the ever so lovely suppository days! Anyway she is doing MUCH better and now Chris and I feel like healers, miracle workers if you will:)! In all seriousness it was just awful seeing her little bum so uncomfortable and so red but we made it and she's almost back to 100%. So that is the diaper rash story (ps for those wondering it was because she has started eating what we eat and she ate & loved spaghetti but sitting in the "tomato sauce poop" all night not good on the bum! )

Ok so now the tantrums, oh the tantrums. It is so difficult not to laugh how do you other moms do it!??? Oh gosh, anyway so were playing, rolling around, making each other laugh and then all of a sudden, "Oh sweetheart let mommy have that, let's not play with that (remote, cell phone, etc...)" WHAT I CAN'T PLAY WITH THAT????????!!!! WHY NOT!!!!!!! DROP FACE FIRST ON FLOOR AND CRY INTO CARPET AND LOOK UP PERIODICALLY TO MAKE SURE MOMMY IS WATCHING!!... Wow is all I could think of and of course not to laugh!! Oh boy here we are:) She is so stinking cute when she does it it's overwhelming. Now she does it when she's tired, cranky, wants something, really anything. Chris hadn't seen it so this past weekend he was like what the heck was that??:) Anyway our little sassy girl definitely has a personality!!:)

Spring fever speaks for itself; we are just OVER IT! It's funny because it's not as if we've had this horrific winter or anything it's just been very overcast and gloomy this year and we are not used to that at all. Also having a baby is definitely different as well. I want to be at the park, go outside, go to the pool... Aaah I'm so ready for Spring/Summer!!

So that's our house in a nutshell. Emma will be 10 months in a few days (unbelievable:), she is happy and doing great. Still rolling, scooting and reversing EVERYWHERE but not quite crawling. She is doing great standing (at coffee table, ottoman, etc...) but not pulling herself up quite yet and she has 6 almost 7 teeth!! Chris & I are doing well. I have succombed (sp?) to the "baby weight" until after I'm done breastfeeding because honestly my body is still not my own. I can feel my body holding onto weight; it's crazy. Staying home is great but definitely an adjustment and I guess big news in our family is that my Dad is officially moving to Colorado. He will be driving out of Irvine (with the help of my Mom & Sadie) next Friday the 19th!!! Crazy, I can't believe it we are so excited. Ok enough talking here are some recent pics of miss emma grace!:) Enjoy!

What's been going on!...

Haven't blogged in awhile so thought I would post what's been going on in our house the last few weeks! Everything is going well. 2010 so far is going great:). Emma Grace is 8 1/2 months old and doing great. We hope you're having a wonderful start to the new year as well.

Miss Emma is on the move; well at least rolling all around on the move! No signs of crawling yet. Her favorite spot is underneath her swing?! Who knew:)

In a very intense conversation with a stuffed animal:)

SERIOUSLY... what a ham!!
I told Chris this is like 1990's senior picture material; she's got her knee up and her elbow resting on it; seriously!lol:)

This one's for my daddy!...

been waiting a long time for this tax deduction:)

Literally playing "IN" her dollhouse:).. she's a hoot and a half!lol

So what's on the menu?

prune juice, peach juice, prunes, yams, zucchini squash,

carrots, peaches and blueberries!
Try like once a month just to take a couple of hours and

make a WHOLE BUNCH to freeze;

so far so good. I enjoy it:)

Her new favorite toy!:)

Finally sittin' in a big girl highchair at CPK!!... my baby:(lol

Holy cow sitting for the 1st time in the cart! Of course mommy loaded me up w/ 1000 blankets bcuz the highchair/cart cover that she ordered is not here yet:).

THE $10 SQUASH!!

Ok so as you know I am making my own baby food. Well next on the list is butternut squash. Before our morning playgroup I had a quick second to run into Safeway and buy butternut squash; it's my second time looking for it and I was hoping they had it. Because I was in a hurry I didn't even look at the price, what I did notice is that it was in the "organic" section which is usually a bit higher but whatever. With it I purchased two sweet potatoes because I might as well make that at the same time. I go through the checkout and I think I see "$14.97" on the little credit card thingy but that can't be... Running in a hurry, get to the car, put Emma in and then look at the receipt low and behold the $14.97... the squash was $9.98!!!!!! What the heck; it was $1.99 a pound. WOW! 10 bucks, huh?! NO way I can't justify that so that brings me to my question of the day: Where can a girl get a decent butternut squash?, preferrably not $10:)? So I obviously didn't have time before or actually after so tomorrow my big errand is going to have to be returning a squash and finding a cheaper one! Oy Vey; why do these random things happen to me:)!
So regardless of all that Emma Grace is doing fantastic with her veggies. So far she is really liking carrots; although it took her a few days to warm up to the idea. Right now we are just doing nursing & carrots for lunch, no cereal. She just loves the cereal so much that if I try to feed her both she chows the cereal and won't eat the carrots OR won't eat the carrots because she knows cereal is coming! Smart little cookie:).... Anyway thanks for all the input, so far so good!... Now if I could just figure out where to find a butternut squash that won't cost me $10:)LOL!!

Happy Veterans Day!

I'm always so proud to say that Chris is a veteran.

His heart for this country is amazing and I wanted to thank him

and all who have served or are serving in our armed forces!

God Bless America!

Happy Veterans Day!

Work in Progress!

Ok seriously how do we make the picture of Chris & I SMALLER!?:) I'm not joking. I've been working on this a little today so that I can send it out to you guys but oh my gosh! Could the picture be any bigger? Bear with me, work in progress.

I have no idea what I'm doing!

I'm not sure who will find this interested. I'm not sure if anyone will read this but I have to jump into this century and try it out. Well let's cut to the chase; I'm sitting in my robe drinking tea on a Thursday morning in March and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed by the unknowns of life. Now I know what you're thinking, "Oh this is going to be one of THOSE blogs" the kind that consistently turns on the philisophical side of things when there is nothing to say. Well I assure you that that is not the case.
When I decided to blog about our life and our journey it actually stemmed from something much more simple. I was reading a blog about a couple that decided to move to a different state and their new home. She had pictures of new projects that we're getting done around the new place. Asking people what they thought about the paint that she had chosen and I thought; Brilliant! Moving to Colorado almost 3 years ago seems like such a drastic and crazy move sometimes but I would have loved having input not only on big things in life but on cheezy things like, do you like this couch we just bought? Here is a picture. For those of you that know me you know that I am all about keeping in touch with pictures. I love to know what you look like? Have you dyed and cut your hair and I won't find out until we meet again or your latest Christmas card comes out. Are you pregnant but because we are so far away that the only evidence will be the next time we talk I will hear crying int he background! I want to continue the journey that so many of us have started so long ago and I want to be a part of the journey even though it is a little trickier these days with everyone so spread out. . . SO with that said; Welcome To Our Blog!