What are you doing this Mother's Day??

This Mother's Day I am REALLY hoping my family will take me to see the movie "BABIES" that comes out. Have you seen the previews for this movie? I CAN'T WAIT to see it, looks AMAZING! (and makes me miss the precious moments when my kids were babies)
BEFORE YOU VIEW THIS YOU WILL WANT TO STOP THE SONG PLAYING ON MY PLAYLIST, BE SURE TO HIT THE PAUSE BUTTON ON THE MUSIC:
When you click on this it will take you to a publicity page, click on the "play trailer" :


So............ what do YOU think??

-Lesley

Holly

I have an aunt named Holly, Holly happens to have Down syndrome. Holly has always been a big part of our lives. She is my mother's younger sister and when I was little she lived with my grandmother and grandfather in Indiana and then they made the move to Florida. My grandfather was an amazing man and planned for the days when he and my grandmother wouldn't be around to take care of Holly anymore. He put a lot of money aside to make sure that Holly's every need would be taken care of. Now that my grandparents are gone my mother has to make sure that all of Holly's needs are taken care of. I don't think that people realize that when you have a child with special needs the siblings of that child will eventually need to take up the reigns and take on the role of parent in that relationship.
Of course Holly is a part of our family and we all love her very much. Holly is around for most major holidays (Thanksgiving, 4th of July, Christmas time,etc.), weekend visits, goes on family vacations with us throughout the years, and for frequent visits- typically long weekends. Holly was a bridesmaid in my wedding, it was important for me to have her be a part of it.
Holly shaped me at a young age and I believe I am in the field of special education as a result of my relationship with her.
I have enjoyed watching Luke and Lauren with her as they have grown up. It is great to see how much they enjoy being around Holly, and how Holly makes them laugh and brings out the inner child in her:

Tim has really bonded with Holly over the years as well, in fact I think he is her new favorite. She always bypasses us to get a hug from "her Tim" first, it is funny to watch them giggle together.
Holly has taught all of us patience, acceptance and unconditional love. I am happy to have Holly as an aunt and an important part of our family unit.

The blessings of Grandparents

My kids enjoyed some quality grand parent moments lately. Every time that I think of moving south towards Florida (which beileve me crosses my mind a LOT) I think of all my kids would miss out on not being surrounded by family.
We had a family getaway to Clifty Falls Indiana for my mom's birthday, it was a WONDERFUL getaway with our family, my mom and dad and my brother, his wife and their new baby.
I was happy the kids spent some quality time with their grandparents:

We took a walk in the woods and this snapshot of my dad walking with Lauren flashed me back to when I was a kid, walking hand in hand with my dad when I was her age, so glad she has these memories now too:

My mom and Luke have this incredible bond, and it is so fun to watch them goof around together:


The getaway was wonderful family bonding time at it's best!

Then this week Tim's mom came into Luke and Lauren's school and did a wonderful demonstration about their Ukranian heritage, her great grandfather's journey to America as an immigrant from the Ukraine, and all of his successes when he arrived in America. Here she was talking to the kids:

She did an amazing job teaching the Ukranian heritage to the kids and really holding their attention. Then she demonstrated how to make Ukranian Easter Eggs. The kids were happy to have their grandmother come to school and speak:





Funny that BOTH my mom AND Tim's mom are named Georgia, that is why we chose it for Lauren's middle name.
I would be remiss not to mention Tim's dad here as well. He is a wonderful grandfather to my children, comes up with fun and creative games with the kids which they BEG to play. Here is Luke playing his favorite "left right" game at our recent family night. Tom (Tim's dad) yells out "left foot, right foot, right arm" etc. and the kids have to do it quickly and when they get it wrong they are squirted with water, HUGE hit with the grandkids.

Today I am thankful for loving grand parents, my children are blessed to have two very loving sets of grandparents and for that I am TRULY thankful!

My Bologna ........

So, I am going to try and due this "inside joke" a little justice.
To understand this you must understand two things:
1). I am ALWAYS going around singing "my balogna has a first name, it's O-S-C-A-R" at the top of my lungs goofing around the house with the kids, just something I've ALWAYS done.
2). My middle name is Marie
So........ I had a stressful day at work today and Tim knew I needed a smile so he bought me some beautiful flowers and this AWESOME card:


Does it GET any better than that???
Isn't it great when someone you love does something special that puts a HUGE smile on your face and let's the worries of the day just melt away instantly.
That card will go down in emphamy, LOVE it!

Lucky

Have you heard that song by LUCKY by Colbie Caillat and Jason Mraz? (I put it in my song list in case you haven't).
Well.......... I am LUCKY to be in love with my best friend.
In this world we live in, having a strong family is definitely a rariety. I see people so unhappy in their marriages just going through the motions, constantly fighting, not connecting, it's sad really. I feel that investing in my marriage and making sure it is strong is not only healthy for us, but so very important for our children, their well being and emmotional stability.
Of course, just like all strong marriages, Tim and I have had our up's and downs, but we are stronger for it and, after 11 1/2 years of marriage, we are stronger than we have ever been. I am indeed LUCKY to be married to my best friend. Tim makes me laugh daily, keeps me strong, is my motivation, is my coach, and more importantly my very best friend. I am so blessed that the Lord has given me such a wonderful partner in life.

A part of keeping our marriage strong is getting away, just the two of us sometimes. This weekend (as my Valentine's Day gift to Tim) we will escape to a VERY nice hotel in the Downtown Cincinnati area, enjoy a nice dinner together, movie night and hotel getaway, I CAN'T WAIT!

-Lesley

It continues

So.......... we went to the grocery store last night and SAVED............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................DRUMROLL PLEASE...................................................................................................................................................................
A WHOPPING $78.00 off of our grocery bill, that was 30% off of our bill. I am so excited, talk about motivation!!!!
I also scored BIG TIME on a deal on graveyardmall.com They had a deal for 10 pairs of women's sunglasses for 9.99 and I took a risk, well it paid off BIG TIME! I got 10 pairs of AWESOME "MUDD" brand sunglasses with price tags still on them for $20.00 each, UNBELIEVABLE!!! They publicised the same deal for men's glasses, so we're waiting for Tim's to arrive. I LOVE mine, every one is super fashionable and I love each and every pair!
As far as my working out, I have switched to working out before work. It isn't easy getting up a 1/2 an hour earlier but I find when I do it, it's nice because it's done for the day, it doesn't take time away from the kids when I get home from work, and it does give me more energy in the mornings. I'll keep you updated.
I'm thankful the days are getting longer, I love driving to school in the sunlight and am enjoying the extra hours of sunshine, now if it could only get warmer!
Hope you are enjoying life

-Lesley

Still Plugging Away

Since I last wrote you I am STILL doing my exercise routine and watching my calories, it definitely takes the dedication I mentioned in my previous post. Isn't it funny how the habits and lifestyles of others that you live with influence you in major ways. When Tim wasn't watching what he was eating or working out I was perfectly content just to be a couch potato but now that we are both doing it together we motivate one another. Tim is down to the lowest weight ever, he looks amazing and his dedication is inspiring to me. I've lost a total of 10 pounds since my adventure began in January, I'm still 10 pounds off of my goal weight. I reached a plateau and was getting discouraged and Tim found a workout called "INSANITY" for me to try. OMG this workout truly is INSANE. I did it for the first time yesterday and literally thought I was going to die, but at the same time so was proud of myself for doing it. I'll keep you updated on if I continue with that level of "insantiy" to achieve my results.
We continue to coupon and use couponing blogs to help save us an average of 55 dollars per trip to the grocery store. I found a blog "couponing my way to Disney" that motivated me to try a writing campaign. She emails 5 companies per week with either complaints or detailed compliments on their products and she said 9/10 they will mail you coupons. I decided to give it a try for one week and 3/5 companies that I wrote sent me REALLY good coupons for a signifigant discounts. Purina sent me 5 2.00 off coupons, Dole sent me 5 .75 off coupons, and Fruictis shampoo products sent me 2 coupons for free products. So, I think I'll continue to give that a try.
We have been diluged with snow here and enjoyed some days playing in it. We walked to our local park and enjoyed sledding time with the park to ourselves the first day of snowfall:

We ended up with about 12 inches of snow. We also enjoyed some snow days too which was a nice surprise and allowed us more snow playing time. We also enjoyed a quick weekend getaway to Gatlinburg which was fun.
Here's something a little random to leave you with. We've been enjoying the Olympics and during the shows have been laughing hysterically at our new favorite commercial, this one gets us EVERY time, sOOOOOOOOOO funny!