My oldest has bronchitis…AGAIN. Can I tell you, I am sick of bronchitis. I know it is not his fault, but it is just so tiring for HIM and ME! Breathing treatments in the night. Soup. Gatorade. More Soup. Special treatment. Lots of coughing. Fevers. Tired. Did I mention that we are tired. We are. Really tired. I know I am feeling sorry for myself. I am just tired today!

Today we did not go to church. I know, I know….we made it a family day. We went to breakfast at Panera Bread. Then we went to go spend Ben’s money at Target. We got home and decided to go for a walk. We recently learned that there are tons of trails behind our home. So we jumped on one and walked 8 miles. To say our kids were PLUM exhausted, would be a BIG understatement. On the way back, I heard: Are we almost there yet, I am SOOO hungry, I am going to die, MY feet hurt, my back hurts, my head hurts, I am sunburned. You know the usual complaints. But I can’t really blame them, we did walk 8 miles. We did have the stroller with us, and the girls rode it a lot. Now Kaitlyn though, she walked probably 2/3 of the way. She had so much energy. She kept saying to me, “Come on mommy run faster” Mommy was pretty tired too! Tonight we made pancakes for dinner. And the kids were in bed by 7. Oh what a wonderful evening. Did I just write that…yep…it was wonderfully peace and quiet! I think we might have to take some more long walks like that again! I got lots of great shots, but we will have to wait till later to post them.

My oldest has croup. That is why it is 1 am and I am posting this. He is sitting next to me doing his breathing treatment. So I thought I would catch up. I have more deeper things to write about, but my brain just cant go there at 1 am. So it will just have to wait!

The wedding was Beautiful. The bride was stunning, and our good friend David looked great. I was so happy for them. I thought David would never get married. But he did and proved us all wrong and is in LOVE!!!

From walk on 3-24-09

Here is my and my honey…going on 8 years! WOW!

From walk on 3-24-09

Tony, Me, and his parents at the reception…this was right before we danced to the YMCA, the polka, The Electric Slide, and many more. So much fun.

From walk on 3-24-09

We went on a walk today. Here is my Kaitlyn…

From walk on 3-24-09

My Krystina…

From walk on 3-24-09

Look at those eyes!

From walk on 3-24-09

The boys…

From walk on 3-24-09

From walk on 3-24-09

My oldest…he has the sweetest heart of all times. The lady at target today made his day. She said, If I could give out an award, it would be to him for his great attitude and helping. And I felt pretty good too…YES, we are doing something right!

From walk on 3-24-09

My Ben is SOOO full of life. He has the most contagious laughter and smile. NOT good when I am trying to punish him and he is making me smile!

From walk on 3-24-09

Sweet like Sugar!

From walk on 3-24-09

Here are the boys, trying to give me a serious LOOK, and Ben kept laughing he could not do it!

From walk on 3-24-09

Girls…

From walk on 3-24-09

Well here is a nice look up my nose!

From walk on 3-24-09

They kept saying “sisters”….it was very cute!

From walk on 3-24-09

We leave in the AM for a wedding in San Antonio Austin. Tony’s best friend from High School, David Bennett, is getting married. We are bringing our oldest with us. And my mom is here with the rest of the kids for the weekend. She helped me get totally organized today. And um, I was needing some help in that area! So it was so awesome to spend the day with my mama! So If you dont hear from me in a few days, well you know why now. Have an awesome weekend and rest with your families!

Well we hit our first pin level with AdvoCare. Silver. We have been working hard. It is paying off. We will continue to work hard. Tony’s goal is still to retire from his computer programming job in one year. We are right on target to do so. Someone said, so you just wont work anymore. AdvoCare is a different type of work. I can not even tell you how rewarding it is to watch peoples lives change, whether they had weight to loose, or they just wanted more energy. And our friends who are getting out of debt now because of AdvoCare. That is the true freedom right there. To live life on your own terms. To be stay at home parents. Not just a stay at home mom, but both parents. I love working with Tony. We earned dinner at Three Forks this last pay period, so we will be having a nice date (all paid for) in about 3 weeks. We have paid for our adoption almost completely (we had some more unexpected charges come up). We are paying off some debt.

And living life. With the freedom that we are gaining, we can minister better. Where there are needs, we can give more freely. We know it is not all about the money, but money does allow you to be a bigger giver and it does take money to do anything in this society for the most part.

Our next goal is to earn the next trip incentive. But we dont want to go alone. Anyone want to work with us? We want to help 3 other couples earn the trip as well.

Email me: heidi@simplyheidi.com

Freedom

“In the truest sense, freedom cannot be bestowed; it must be achieved.”

Benjamin Franklin

This video snippet is awesome. It shows the possibility with AdvoCare. They live 2 minutes from us, and they are our right hand people with questions and meetings, and life. They have prayed with us. Helped us. Check it out!

Will power comes from your flesh and yields no real power. Self control, on the other hand, is a fruit of the Spirit– against such there is no law.

You know, when I was a kid, TIME took forever to go by. Now that I am a parent, my weeks all run together. Does anyone else feel this way or is it just me?

Today I am on my way to a product training with AdvoCare. We have to switch some rooms around here at home this afternoon. My sister comes tomorrow for 2 days. Spring break is next week. My mom flies in Friday, then me,tony, and my oldest go to Austin on Saturday, for a wedding. And we will be gone till Monday. Then Tony’s family is coming in that same day and will just be with us one night. Oh, my mom flies out that night. That is so crazy reading back over that schedule.

Funny things my kids have said lately:

Kaitlyn: Every time she sees the color brown, she says “look chocolate milk”. I have since started asking her Kaitlyn what color is this (pointing at brown) and she always says…chocolate milk.

Krystina: We rented Monster Inc.—–she cried when the baby had to take a nap. She was so heart broken over that. So funny that even at 2 she said that the baby did want to take a nap and she felt bad.

I leave you today with one of my favorite quotes. I have lots actually. But this one is just pretty good!

‘a gold medal is a wonderful thing, but if you aren’t enough without it, you’ll never be enough with it.’
-Cool Runnings

From Ben Birthday

Well my “little” boy is 5. I just can not believe it. It just seems like I gave birth to him. He was a preemie, but you would not know that by looking at him today. He is strong, fast, smart, quick, athletic, funny. He is such a snuggler. He loves to come to my room in the mornings and climb into bed and just snuggle.

From Ben Birthday

He has the sweetest heart ever. He is always concerned for others. He really loves Jesus. I love to listen to him sing worship songs. He knows them all. His prayers are so sincere, and deep. He thinks of things to pray for and thank God for, that most 5 year olds would not.

From Ben Birthday

His smile can always make my day. His “i love you mom” melts my heart to pieces. He loves to tell me that I am pretty. That is nice when I am not feeling so pretty. He is very detailed about everything. He likes to do it right. He loves to learn. He likes to wash dishes. Yah, seriously he does. We just have to keep that up and his wife one day is going to LOVE him!

From Ben Birthday

Ben,

I hope you know how much we love you. You bring so much joy to our lives. I think you are one awesome dude. I know that as you grow the Lord is going to use you in ways that we can not dream. We pray everyday that God would surround you with his peace, and that your eyes would always be fixed on HIM. He has a great plan for you. And I am so honored that the Lord choose for me to be your mom. I know that you love the Lord even at this tender age. I know ever single year I write this and tell you this daily, but truly the greatest thing in life is to know Jesus. Not just know about him, but KNOW him intimately. He desires that. He created you to worship Him and bring glory to His name.

I love you with ALL of my heart, my little prince Charming!

mom