Hanging in There.............

This is a quick post to say the Herdoiza's are hanging in there! I can finally see the light! It has been a rough couple of weeks since Thanksgiving. All the kids have been sick. Amanda had fluid in her lungs and Gabby had RSV and was nearly hospitalized. UGH!! It has been awful. Steve and I have had no sleep and I have never felt more cranky and negative in my whole life. This week things are looking up. Amanda is improving, Gabby is 98% better, and Nick is back to being Nick.

Besides blowing noses, giving breathing treatments, forcing medicine into mouths, driving back and forth to the Dr., going to Brownie meetings, school, and conferences, here is what we have been up to:

Making wish lists, talking about Santa, hoping and keeping our fingers crossed that an American Girl doll will be under the tree this year............

About 2 days before the germ infestation.............

The day before the germ infestation we built a gingerbread house........

Pre-made from Costco.... We ate a lot of icing and candy......

What do you think?

I was cracking up when I saw Nicholas...... and it wasn't because of that silly face........

I said, Nicholas doesn't something seem funny?????? Of course he couldn't figure it out.... I told him to lift up his shirt...... He had been wearing his pants backwards!! The only reason I noticed was because the knees were wearing out in the back of the pants and he had a zipper on his butt. HA, HA!

The winter concert at school...... It is a crazy story. Needless to say, I arrived 10 minutes late and missed the opening act. I was in the last row, by the door. I had to use my telephoto lens without a flash so the pictures didn't quite turn out. This is just when he saw me. Look at that face. He was singing...... I want a Hippopotamus for Christmas........ I tried to get it on tape but my video battery was dead.

So stinkin cute!

Well, I'm off to shower, make lunches, get the kids dressed, go to work, and deliver dinosaur cupcakes to school. Mr. Nicholas turns 5 years old today! I can't believe it!

Until later..............

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving! I am thankful for so much.... as always my family is at the top of that list. I have been blessed with great kids and a loving and understanding husband, caring and generous parents and in-laws, awesome brothers and a super sister, fantastic sister-in-laws and brother-in-laws, and an all around terrific extended family of aunts, uncles, cousins, nieces, nephews, and grand parents. I hope everyone gets to spend some, much needed, family time together making memories, relaxing, having fun, and eating too much!!

Here are a few new photos:
This is the life..... Always happy, laughing, smiling, sleeping, playing, what could be better?

Too cute for words...........

Yes.... the kids convinced us to put up the Christmas tree last weekend. Yes, it is artificial. One of these years we will go get a fresh tree, but will it last before Thanksgiving!

They were so excited to hang the lights and ornaments!

The Big TA -DA!

This was Amanda on Sunday afternoon. She looks pretty good and she had a busy weekend. She had a Brownie field trip on Friday, she made her first reconciliation at church on Sat., and played her first USTA tennis match on Sunday night. Monday morning, she didn't look quite so good. All week she has been home from school with a fever and a terrible cough. When I brought her to the Dr. on Monday, she was wheezing. They are treating her like she has asthma. She hates the inhaler and can't remember getting the breathing treatments as a baby. I remember giving her the nebulizer with steroids everyday. I thought she had out grown the asthma. After 4 years I hope this is only a single event and doesn't become a regular occurrence. As of this morning, she is fever free. She should be able to go to dinner at mom's house unless she takes a turn for the worse. It has been a hectic week of no sleep and sickness. I am thankful that no one else has caught this virus.

This is Gabby's latest accomplishment. She is great at sitting and loves these rings. I think we go to crawling and running around next. Let the fun begin!!!!!!

Finally, the kids did awesome at their first tennis matches. They had fun and that is all that matters. Poor Nick was the youngest kid by far, at 4 years old (almost 5 in 13 days!) They played a 12 and under beginner league. Amanda won and lost a match and played doubles. Nick lost 3-0 and 5-0. He came off the court disappointed telling me he was the zero points (and the poor guy didn't cry). He played doubles also and took the final game by ripping a forehand winner at the end. Then he was all smiles and received a round of high-fives from everyone. Later they told us that Nick recieved the sportsmanship award for his behavior on the court. (Now if they could only see his sportsmanship playing the Wii! UGH!)

Yesterday, I didn't feel like taking the kids to tennis. Amanda was iffy at best, and I just picked Nick up from Franklin for school. When I gave the kids the option to stay home, they both wanted to play. Nick said he wanted to learn how to play matches and beat Amanda and Mom! He went running up the stairs to change into his tennis clothes. Now that is the spirit!

Well, I'm off to finish up my pies, clean (a little), and get in an extra run. I plan to eat a LOT at dinner this afternoon so a few extra miles on the treadmill are needed. Until later.............

Why do I do this to us?

Rember to turn off the music player at the bottom.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

A Few Photos

It has been a REALLY LOOONNNNGGG time. We are all doing fine. In the last 3 weeks there has been, illness, teething (I think), playing, lots and lots of homework, tennis, trick-or-treating, counting down til Christmas (did I mention the kids made me promise we would put up the tree this weekend), scrapbooking, singing, decorating, driving, not enough sleeping etc. etc. And so life goes...

Here are some fall photos from the backyard.............

Exactly how he posed for his school photo.... So natural.....



I cooked dinner for Justin so he would help scrape out the pumpkin goop..........

Some of the finished products....

Whatever happened to carving one pumpkin and setting it out on the porch? This one pumpkin for everyone in the family is crazy and time consuming.

Halloween cousins........

I uploaded pictures of Amanda having her make-up done by Aunt Laura, but they have ended up in cyberspace.......................

More cute cousins...........

A ladybug, Spiderman, and a pink, sparkly cheerleader
The kids couldn't wait to take off...... It wasn't even dark yet.




Give us something good to eat..............

Just some of the loot................

I have just realized that a few more photos must be floating in cyberspace. Maybe next time..... I don't have the energy to re-upload.

Just a quick thought from Nicholas on the way home from school last week......... "Mom do you think the police would put us in jail if we were speeding because we were trying to get away from the dinosaurs?"

Something to ponder........... Until later..........

I'm annoyed................

Remember how I'm trying to live in the moment..... Well, right now in the moment, I'm in a bad mood. I'm exhausted and tired and cranky. It is 12:15 a.m. and after attempting to put Gabby to bed for an hour and a half........ I give up!! Steve and I have been busy today and as a reward we were able to go to our friends for dinner and poker. I lost all my money, which really made me cranky. (Steve won a lot!) We got home at 10:30 and noticed Steve had another flat tire. He had one on Thursday, and has a spare tire on the front passenger side. When we pulled in the garage tonight, the back passenger side was flat. Now we have to go to the tire store first thing in the morning, which will be here in less than 6 hours. As Steve and I tried to pacify Gabby, Amanda continued to cough. She might not go to school tomorrow and then I will have to take her to the Dr. Did I mention that Gabby is in the bouncy chair beside me, happy as can be, talking, and sucking her thumb! I'm so annoyed. I guess she is not crying anymore. I'm so happy I'm living in the moment. I don't want to miss one minute of this wonderful craziness. Am I really going to miss this one day????? Honestly, I doubt it. Well, I'm off to work on what else, nightmare Brownie stuff at 12:30 a.m.

Until later............. My precious insomniac........

Sounds like LIFE to me...........

Soooo... It's hard to keep up with life. I've come to realize that this crazy, chaotic, hectic, everyday running around is our LIFE. Instead of waiting for things to settle down, I've decided to live in the moment. Everyone says you will miss this craziness one day. I'm trying to take each day and live it and not become overwhelmed. I realize that some weeks I spend more time having one-on-one conversations with my clients than my own family. For instance, I get up at 6 a.m. to run on the treadmill, shower, pack lunches, get the kids moving, Steve makes breakfast for Tug, the kids, and feeds Gabby. Everyone runs out the door by 8:30 and leaves for school and work. At 3:15 I get Nick and Amanda and start homework, make dinner, referee, give baths, showers, read. Steve comes home, we have dessert, he gets the kids ready for bed. The kids go to sleep, I finish cleaning, check my e-mail, do whatever I need to do, and fall into bed at 11:00. In that time I've spent 30 minutes talking to Steve. That stinks! I'm trying to make an effort to do better. This is going to be our life for at least the next 10 years. I need to do less, and spend more time with the ones I love, doing the things I love!

So that is why I'm blogging today, putting off the chores, and spending time with my sick Gabby. Here has been our life in pictures........

Gabby's Baptism, what a special day.

She was happy and talkative through the entire service.

She liked the water, no crying at all.

A final blessing........

What a gift from God..... Now I just hope she gets over this cold quickly. Amanda and Nick were both sick last week. They are on the mend and hopefully Gabby will be too.

Just had to include this picture.... Isn't this what you think of when you think Baptism? a fireman and a cowboy

We finally had a weekend to go to the pumpkin patch (and so did everyone else in this city). It was crazy-busy, but we had a good time. At least there was no rain or wind like Sat. for Amanda's last soccer game of the season.

Pumpkin, pumpkin on the vine, you are plump and oh so fine........... Nicholas has been learning lots of Halloween songs that he sings to me on the car ride home from school. Gabby is a very attentive audience. She loves his singing.

Strike a pose in the patch...... She is adorable.

Nicholas couldn't wait to tell his teacher he was going to carve a Jack-o-lantern.

We picked a lot of pumpkins....... I can hardly wait to scoop out the insides. Everyone always seems to disappear for this process......

Poor Steve.... he had to lug all the pumpkins back to the tractor.......

Everyone is happy after cider and donuts....

A few more random things........

Aunt Jean come to visit 2 weeks ago. It was a great surprise and a nice visit! Unfortunately, I didn't take any pictures for the blog.

On that same Sat. Amanda scored 2 goals during her soccer game. She had been trying all season and finally the moment came. She was so happy and when she came to the sidelines she told me that scoring goals was fun!

With the help of some great parents I taught 17 Brownies how to sew. I think the girls did an AWESOME job, and I was so happy they accomplished another badge. Now I need to start thinking about the next meeting already. What did I get myself into?

I'm trying to read my book club book, The Help. It is great so far. I would recommend it.

Well, I'm off to start chores and go to Target. I have some spider cupcakes to bake too.

I hope to be back soon.