HOMEMADE GIVEAWAY

So I notice this blog on one of my friends blog but I definitely wasn't one of the three to win a prize but then my friend Cheri had this blog and I'm one of the winner. YIPEE!!! I can't wait to see what she sends me. So now it's my turn and here it is girls;

1. Be one of the first THREE bloggers to leave a comment on this post, which then entitles you to a handmade item from me (yeah handmade!).

2. Winners must post this challenge on their own blog, meaning that you will pay it forward, creating a handmade gift -anything!- for the first THREE bloggers who leave a comment on YOUR post about this giveaway!

3. The gift that you send to your 3 friends can be from any price range and you have 365 days to make/ship your item. This means you should be willing to maintain your blog at least until you receive your gift and have shipped your gifts. And, remember it’s the spirit and the thought that count!

4. When you receive your gift, blog about it! If you are not one of the first three to comment on this post, you can still play along. Go ahead and start your own Pay It Forward chain, and encourage your blogging friends to do the same! It's all about paying it forward.

Is It So....

It's amazing what traits are passed from parents to their children either physical or emotional. Or the odds of us just having one child with my coloring and having two red heads is surreal or unreal.

Our third child, we been told how much Mya looks like me especially from my mom but I didn't fully understand until I saw photos of me around her age. It's truly mind-blowing to see how much she truly looks like me.
How about our second child , how people have asks me if Nathan is adopted until they see Blake. I have heard many time that Nathan take after the Beecher side of the family or look like a mini Blake. Well I found some photos of Blake around Nathan's age and I can see the resemblance.
Now for our first and oldest child. People will see Isaac and tell me that he takes after my side of the family but he is truly a mix of both of us. He definitely has my coloring and his shape of his face is like mine but his smile is all dad's. Even the teeth are the same as dad, that's eerie.
It fun to see the physical traits we have passed down to our children but that doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if we look the same or don't, what matters is the love we have for each other and for our Heavenly Father.
What matters is that we are an Eternal Family.

The Things We....

It amazing the things you do for your kids even when you don't have a clue how to do it. Yesterday was the Blue and Gold Banquet in our ward and each scout was told to bring a cake that depicted a national or historical monument. Well we thought it wasn't a requirement but we found out different on Tuesday night. Mind you I wasn't home on Tuesday night and I found a note on Wednesday's morning about the cake that needed to be made that day. Isaac told me he wanted the Washington Monument and all I could think was "HOLY COW"!!! Well this monument took me all day to make and a trip to the supermarket without a car (we only have one car and Blake had it). This is what I came up with and we were awarded "the best decorated cake".

My Blessing In Life

How do I begin to tell him how lucky I am to have him in my life?

I'll start by saying what an honor it is for me to be his wife for eternity.


He's my best friend in the good times and my rock in times of sorrow.
He's the reason for sweet yesterdays and my promise for tomorrow.


I never thought I could feel this loved until I became his wife.
Every morning I wake up and see, him lying next to me.


He's the one I cherish and love, a blessing sent from Heaven above.
I will love him as a eternal partner should, and do everything for him I could.
I would let him know everyday, that I love him more than words can say.


For the three children we have together,and the love for Heavenly Father in each other.It will keep our love for each other strong, and the Lord will guide us away from all wrong.

Fairies Dust...

For my little girl, I wanted a special room just for her. I actually let her picked out the color for her room and she wanted her favorite color which is blue. I decided to add white because we had installed dark wood flooring and I didn't want the room to be dark . I also decided that the furniture would be white too. The dresser we got from Craig's List (Love that site) which I painted. I also changed the hardware. That was the easy part! I had a hard time find what I wanted originally. I wanted molding mounted on the walls to divide the color but I couldn't find the molding I had envisioned. We went to some many places but yet no luck. I was so frustrated because I wanted to finish her room. They my husband suggested a border, at first I was against it but then I happen upon a border that I fell in love with and the best part was it was on clearance for a dollar each roll. From that border, everything fell into place. Mya has always wanted these Tinkerbell fairies stickers and I thought it will work perfect with the border and now my little girl has her Fairies' Room.

Here are some photos of the results...

Before

After
This fairies stickers are ideal and they are removable

This comforter set ties the room perfectly. These fairies was given to her by her grandma for her birthday.

I decided that the fairies should look like it belong with the border and I feel that I made it work.

So again I want to thank my hubby for suggesting the border instead of molding. The room came out better that I have image.

It's FINALLY Done!!!!

We been working on the remodeling of our kitchen for the last 6 months. We had some major problems, like grout drying on the glass tiles and couldn't be remove except with ajax and having to remove all the grout we did and redoing it again. The paint was not the correct color (added dark brown paint to the color and now I love it) and barely had enough to finish the kitchen. Let's not talk about the outlets and switches we replaced either. BUT...I can finally say its done except for decorating but HOORAY! Here are some of the results...

BEFORE

AFTER

We had this empty space in the kitchen and we decided to open the walls to be able to have a open layout

This is the out come
Now I can be in the kitchen and still be able to see and talk to anyone in the dining room or living room

We also added this island

I been truly blessed with a husband who was able to make me and give me this beautiful kitchen. Next step is looking for a window treatment.

Look Who Turned 4!

I can hardly believe that my baby girl is 4! Where has the time gone? To me she's my baby but she tells me that she's a big girl now and it makes me a little sad. As I look at these photos I realize my baby is growing up!
We have a tradition in our family that the birthday person is the star of the day and whatever they want to do or eat, it's done! Mya decided the menu for the day was: breakfast-"Apple Pancakes", Lunch-"Hot Dogs with all the fixings and fried fries", and for dinner-"Turkey Tacos". As for the birthday cake she wanted "Cherry Cake", which is a favorite in Blake's family.

She opened her presents as soon as she woke up and had a blast playing with her new toys.(So did her brothers!) We had a nice and quiet day at home. We watched the movie she picked out "Over the Moon" (which is a cute kid's show). She was the star and she was loving it and the boys was so sweet and attentive. We are grateful to have her sweet and special spirit in our lives. We are grateful to Heavenly Father for blessing and choosing us to be her family.

"Change Can Happen"

And it DID! It was a truly an exciting and monumental time in our lives and those of my children, to witness history in the making. As my friend beautifully stated; "This moment is the proof that there are no barriers to achieve your dreams. Keeping in mind that the inauguration will be not about the first African-American President, but about all races, all religions, and all cultures. In essence we are ALL one!!!"
As President Obama stated:"We remain a young nation, but in the words of Scripture, the time has come to set aside childish things. The time has come to reaffirm our enduring spirit; to choose our better history; to carry forward that precious gift, that noble idea, passed on from generation to generation: the God-given promise that all are equal, all are free, and all deserve a chance to pursue their full measure of happiness."

I will always remember this day and the emotion I felt as I heard these words. I'm proud to be an American!

Also as Mya saw these photos, she said" that's Obama, Obama Mama!" I couldn't said it any better!

Defining Nathan...

He's 7 years old, a joker, a tease, a Pokemon card collector, a car lover, a Hot Wheel collector, Thomas the Train collector and engineer, video game player, a reader, a Garfield books lover, a CTR 7 member, a runner, a tree climber, an adventurist, America's Funniest Home Video watcher, 1st grader, bike rider, snow enthusiast, a good roommate, Road & Track subscriber, computer game player, snorkeler, boogie board rider, a beach kid, loves knowing the name of the fish, water enthusiast, All Shore Adventure watcher, pogs collector, May Day Samoan Warrior dancer, a fierce ninja , Star Wars lover, Star Wars: Clone Wars Watcher, a climbing wall climber, a sport enthusiast, a library card carrier, a cookie baker, a pie lover, can eat lasagna everyday, loves mac & cheese, a veggies consumer, a fruit taster, can do the stomach wave, a red head, thoughtful, a helpful helper, sweet, a good friend, a grandson, a nephew, a cousin, a good brother, a son and a Child of God.Happy Birthday Sweet Boy and we love you with all our hearts!

We have been blessed to have Nathan in our lives and grateful to Heavenly Father for picking us to be his FAMILY!

Sunbeam

Mya is officially a Sunbeam and it makes us happy and a little sad. Our baby girl is growing up and not in Nursery anymore. She was so excited to be a Sunbeam and be in sharing time with Nathan. She did great being reverent with her arms folded as she walked to her classroom. We did peeked in her classroom later and saw her dancing around showing everyone her new sweater dress and how's it flares as she twirled. Then all the girls were twirling! Poor teacher! We been so blessed to have Mya in our lives and enjoy her sweet spirit.

Yummy Yummy SNOW!

Yummy Snow! For some odd reason, my kids love eating snow, especially Mya. She's always trying to sneak some in her mouth. I promise you, I feed my kids! I'm always warning them about where they can and can't pick snow to eat. Who would have thought I would be giving warning tips to my kids on what snow they can eat! But hey, you're just a kid once, and they should be able to discover for themselves the wonder that snow has to offer them.

Christmas BLAST!

We had a great and fun Christmas here in our snowed in city. We made a agreement with the kids that they could get up at 7:30 am the earliest to open their presents. (Oh, the joy of being parents. No sleeping in!)Mom made them wait a bit longer because she was getting the camcorder and camera ready. When she gave the okay they came running out of their rooms.

Here are some of the pictures of Christmas morning at our house.
They were so happy with the gifts they received from Santa and family. Mom took more photos of the morning but there are too many to post( in total for the whole day 104 photos, CRAZY!)

It has snowed here everyday since Wednesday the 17th and we have at least 2 1/2 feet of snow. The kids had to go outside and try out the sled they got from Santa and we had a BLAST!

We went sledding on the mound of snow that the plows had provided for us in front of our house. We had snowballs fights. More like, Blake throwing snowballs and people in the snow. Everyone else was ducking for cover! We had a great long day playing.
Christmas is always a special day but it's truly amazing when you see it through the eyes of your children!

Snowed In!

The snow started to fall on Wednesday at 7am and didn't stop until 4pm on Thursday. We got about 20 inches of snow which resulted of the whole city basically closing down. Only emergency roads were being plowed and not the residential. Which also resulted of school closure not just for Thursday but also Friday. The boys were bummed. They were suppose to have their class Christmas Parties on Thursday and "Horton's Hears a Who"was to be shown to the whole school on Friday. But they weren't sad for long because they had a blast playing in the snow. So we got a early start to our Christmas Vacation. HOORAY!
A Winter Wonderland in our backyard
The mailboxes look like they're wearing hats
I was in awe when I spotted these berries on the tree
We don't have a snow blower, so we shovel our driveway the old fashion way.Poor Blake he had a ton to shovel.
I also had to shovel our deck but it was fine cause I was listening to my mp3Isaac helping Mya get through the snow.Mya trying to crawl through the snowBlake decided to try to make a snow angel but the snow was too deepBlake and the kids Poor Nathan, lost his boot.
A happy little girl playing in the snow
A happy boy who loves attaching his brother and father with the snow
A happy boy having a the time of his life. HOORAY for SNOW!

Snow, Snow and Snow!

Let it SNOW, Let's SNOW.....
The kids haven't seen snow in person in two years and their excitement to finally play in it was a MUST. As soon as the boys returned from school today, they heading to the backyard to have a blast playing in the white powder. It was very endearing to see their wonder and excitement as they made snow angels. It has been snowing here since 7 in the morning and it hasn't stop. Roads has been closed all over our area and tires are require to have chains! So, I strongly believe if the snow continue to fall through the rest of the night, there will be no school tomorrow and I know my kids wouldn't mind because they would rather be playing in the SNOW ANYWAY.

Nativities From Around The World

We attended this exhibit Nativities From Around The World, sponsored by our stake for Family Home Evening yesterday and it was truly amazing! It had over 600 nativities and 30 countries represented. The nativities was loaned to the Stake by members and the community. I had a opportunity to be a Hostess and show the people the special nativities. It was also a great missionary opportunity to invite neighbors and friends to this event that they can feel the spirit. I felt truly lucky and in awe as I walked through the exhibits. I was amazed in how different artistes depicted the birth of Christ especially from different countries. I also thought of my friend Karma who collects nativities and realize now why she does. It's truly very special to have a collection of the birth of Christ. It also made me realized that I needed to get a nativity from Puerto Rico to have for my family and maybe share with this exhibit in the future. This exhibit truly showed a celebration of Christ's Birth. It surely to become a tradition for my family to attend it every year.

Oh Christmas Tree

How we love putting up the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgivings. The excitement of rediscovering our Christmas decoration and ornaments. It always been a tradition when I was growing up to put the Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving that I decide to keep it and share it with my own family. I also took my mother-in-law tradition of giving her children a new Christmas ornament each year and when they got married the ornaments would be given to that child for their Christmas tree. I especially enjoy the happiness of my children to be able to participate in the decoration of the tree while Christmas music is played in the background. Those precious memories are the ones I would always cherish.