Ak-Chin Casino

Omi and Opa had a couple free rooms at the Ak-Chin Casino in Maricopa, AZ so we headed there for a night last week. It was a great getaway for the kids and we didn't have to go far from home.

Ready to go swimming.

Lunch outside by the pool.

The kids loved the room's beds, lights, closets and shower. It was all so new and exciting. Pete loved the television.
Swimming with dad.

Some More Favorites

A few more of my favs from Halloween.

Lately when Jamie kisses you or talks to you she holds your face in her perfect little hands. Lot's of heart melting going on around here lately.

My little pirate reaching up to a high doorbell while trick or treating.

Mama and Jamie girl.

Handsome, sweet Pete.

All our neighbors ooh'd and ahh'd over Jamie. I heard one neighbor say as we were walking away, "She is the cutest thing I have seen all night." :)

The kids loved this lit up pumpkin and asked to take it home for our house.

What a perfect, first Halloween in AZ.

Family, new neighbors, a very happy Princess Dorothy and pirate, and of course lot's of candy!

Happy Halloween

It doesn't get any better than this.

Fear

My life is beautiful. My life is so blessed. And when you look at this blog it seems as though everything is perfect. And everything is. And that is what is so scary. These last 10 months have been so good and so wonderful that the devil has put a fear into my heart that consumes me. What am I afraid of? Everything. I am afraid of losing everything.

My children are my world. I used to say that it wasn't going to be that way but now I see that it is impossible to not love and cherish your children as deeply and completely as I do. My greatest fear is that something will happen to my children. What would I do? How would I live? How would I carry on without them? Each day that I have them, each day that I love them more, each day that I see them grow into the person God made them to be the more afraid I become of losing them. They are my joy, my best friends, my greatest accomplishment, my whole life. How do you live with a constant fear of losing what is most dear to you? That is no life.

I have a husband that any woman would die for. My friends are jealous. My neighbors are impressed. My kids adore him. I love my husband so much that it hurts sometimes. It brings tears to my eyes as I write this. He is literally the best husband and father I could have asked for and lately I have had a fear of losing him. I don't mean him dying in a car crash tomorrow but more personally lately we have watched our Aunt Edna succumb to Alzheimer's and how it affects everyone who loves her. Our Uncle Bob has lost his wife of 55 years and his best friend. It is heartbreaking and something that is on my mind when P. is gone at work, when he is home and when we spend time with our aunt and uncle. Will I lose P. to Alzheimer's, will I lose him to some other terrible disease, will I lose him to a car accident? Will I want to live after I lose him?

I was going to write a blog about living in AZ after being here for 6 months. I was going to see how I liked it, what the good things were about AZ and what I thought were bad things. I was going to analyze my new life in AZ compared to the other places I have lived and tell you about it. Well, I didn't do it. I was too busy loving my new life. I love our life here in AZ so much that I am so afraid it is going to come to a screeching halt and destroy me. I know that sounds silly and for someone who believes in God that is a sin. I kick myself that I am not more strong in my faith and can push all these worries out of my mind and heart. Every day I worry P. is going to come home and tell me he lost his job. That we are going to lose our house. That we have to move because we didn't make it here. I will leave my friends, my home, my church once again to start over somewhere else. I can't do that again.

I have so many fears living in my heart. I have fears about almost every aspect of raising my children. I have fears regarding my marriage. I have fears regarding my health, my household, my friends and family. My fear is separating me from God and that makes me sad.

I create my own fears. My mind does it and unfortunately I have been doing this all my life. I am a glass half empty person. I am a worrier and an anxious person. I have migraines and I don't sleep well. I have made mistakes and bad decisions more than I would like to admit. Now the question is, how do I overcome this overwhelming fear? How do I change my mind to think differently? How do I settle my heart? How do I not let this anxiety ruin my "perfect" life?

Prayer. I already know the answer. Prayer and looking to the bible for comfort and answers. I can start imagining success instead of failure. I can change my attitude, my outlook and my doubt. My prayer today is that God will help me with my fears. Take them away. Teach me how to handle them. Remind me that he is in charge and that every good and perfect gift is from above. These are things I already know but I am human and the devil is everywhere. And I am a wimp.

My baby girl is sleeping, my amazing son is watching a Barney video and my sweet dog is laying by her bag of treats waiting for me to give her one. She will lay there until I do. My husband is at work providing for us and will be home soon to be with us. And our God is good.

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Matthew 6:25

The kids swam in the afternoon and hot tubbed it at night. How much more blessed can it get? I hope they always know how beautiful they have it and how good God is. Not that pools and hot tubs are made by God but that God gave us this life we have and all the things in it. Especially that amazing dad in the picture with them.....

My Little Angels

Had to take a picture of them reading together one morning. They were so sweet, talking about Pooh and the colors of the honey pots. Oh if they could only stay like this forever......

Halloween Party

Kids at the party.

Princess Dorothy

I had to tell Jamie that Dorothy was a princess for her to wear this costume I bought her. Let me just say she was the cutest Princess Dorothy I had ever seen.

Popcorn anyone? Last years popcorn tin from Nana and Grandpa has now become a favorite toy.

Friends

Saw a lot of friends this week. I think we saw some every day this week. Oh how fun it is to have friends....

Sunday I went to the movies, lunch and shopping with a friend in Scottsdale.

MOPS Halloween playdate at our house.

Out to dinner for a friend's birthday.

MOPS Mom's Night Out at Dream Dinners making a free meal to take home.

Oh and we went to a local pizza place afterwards but I forgot to take pictures at that. And we saw Uncle Bob and Aunt Edna & Dan and Joyce Wed night for dinner and some golf cart riding. And we saw our friends from swimming lessons on Thursday. And this morning we went to a new mom's group at a nearby church and had a great time and made some more new friends.

Tomorrow we are having a garage sale and a Halloween party. Are we staying busy? Yes, and we love it.

Pirates

The kids are going to be pirates for Halloween. Here they are testing out their eye patches. :)

Dinner at Furr's with the old folks.
Morning at the park with friends.

Cousins

Dinner with cousins.

Hi Again

Making apple pies with Grandpa.

Feeding Toby the turtle.

Hello Again

Best day ever!

Hello from CA

Sunday

Last Sunday afternoon we met some friends in their neighborhood. We had a blast swimming, having a picnic dinner and playing on the playground and huge grassy area. It was such a perfect night. Such a good time.

Pete made some older friends and spent some time with them. He's the little one on the left. :)

The three families walking from the pool to the park.
Jamie and her girlfriends racing.

Dad and Bubba eating dinner.

Me and my friends Christi and Natalie.
PJ made some friends too!

God has really provided for us. We are thankful for our new friends and the fun times we have with them.

2nd MOPS Meeting

Me and some friends from MOPS.

Savers

For those of you who do not thrift store shop you should start. Especially if you have kids. And especially if you don't work and only have one income. And especially if you like to get a lot of stuff for not a lot of money. And if you like to make your kids really really happy but don't want to spend much.

This is what I got today for $20. Yes, all of this for $20.

And I didn't even try to look for bargains like I usually do. I usually only buy the stuff that is 50% off for that day. Today I had both kids with me, I had pants on that were too tight, I was hungry and I had to spend $20 because I had a credit I had to use up by this weekend. I wasn't going to let that go to waste.

This is what I got.

A Dora bike helmet $4. Brand new with the tags from the store still on. The tag didn't say the original price. Jamie loves it but will she wear it when she rides her bike? We will see.

Match-it ABC's Puzzle Pairs to teach Pete his letters $2. Like new, maybe never even used, with all the pieces.

Rain boots for both kids $3 each. New with tags. They wore them all over the mall after we bought them at Savers.

Box of 4 Elmo flip books $2. Jamie loves tab flip books and she loves Elmo. Win-win. Brand new, never read because all the tabs crisped open the first time we read them. No marks, tears, scratches, nothing.

Jumbo Noahs' Ark puzzle for Pete $2. He picked it out and is dying that I didn't let him do it before his nap today. Again, I can't tell if anyone ever even did this puzzle it is in perfect shape. I checked it while he napped. :)

Umbrella $2. We don't need umbrellas, or rain boots for that matter, here in AZ but the kids love them so who cares. This is a cute pink umbrella that the kids can push up and down themselves and is safe. They used it all over the store and we used it for the sun as we walked down to get the mail today.

Halloween witch plate $1. Pete wanted it because he said it is a cool pirate Halloween plate. He thinks it is a pirate. :) Had to get it.

And last but not least, a bag of greeting cards. I had seen these before and never got them because they weren't on sale. Today they were $2 and I love all the cards that are in it. I send lots of cards so I am always looking for cute ones!

Savers also has a rewards card. Yes, rewards for saving money. If you have a rewards card they send you coupons and you get an extra 50% off certain items for that day. And something for your birthday, can't wait to see what that is! Like I said, normally I wouldn't even buy these items for these prices but today I had to spend $20. Usually I get things cheaper if I really spend the time. We get "new" things, we don't spend a lot of money and with kids you know how quickly they go through things. We didn't really "need" any of it but we are sure glad to have it. Good job me.

Lowe's

Lowe's rocks. Totally rocks. The kids built firetrucks that had real sirens and then got to sit in and explore a real firetruck. What a great, free experience.