As I promised.....

This post is dedicated to the lovely weekend we spent with our family and friends a couple of weeks back. I finally loaded my pics to my computer and sorted through them.

Since this post has tons of great pics I am going to let the pictures and the captions do the talking.

{smile}

This is a traditional Chinese cake and all my kids blow their candles out on top of one of these cakes..... my mother-in-law is kind enough to pick up one for us for each of our children's special days:)
Serena at her Gymnastic Party.
My brother and my mom...such a sweet picture.

Aunt Chrissy, Uncle Joe and baby Vincent.

Serena eating pizza with all her friends and with grandpa.

My Mother in law and sister in law

My best friend Marie, Tommy, another bestie Kim, her husband Mike(whom we have been friends with since our early teen years), my brother and sister in law.

My lovely niece..lookin so cute:)

My other neice with her cuz.

My neices, Emily, Megan and Antoinette.

Grammy with Leanna.

Ahyeah(grandpa) with Serena.

******************************************

Now for the pics from my neices very First birthday with her Forever Family..

Happy Birthday and many, many more...

My little sweetie...Serena

Tommy with Leanna trying to take a pic with Elmo...

I think LeeLee was a bit scared..

Grandma and Grandpa with some of the fam:)

Celeste being silly with the kiddies.

Grandma with Halainah and Leanna...such a precious picture:)

I love this pic...just exemplifies cousin love.

TJ is so in love...

Sweet Halainah :)

Uncle Tommy with his neice.....I love this pic too..looks like she is telling him SOME story..lol...

Me with Happy GIRL:)

Celeste with cousin Vincent.

Uncle Tommy and Halainah.....

This is just my absolute favorite pic..Celeste just exudes love and to see a 15 year old who is so family oriented and just truly enjoys being with all her sweet baby cousins truly makes a mama proud.

*****************************************************

And in case I do NOT get to blog again until after Thanksgiving....

From our family to yours.....Have a great Thanksgiving!!!!

Eat, Drink, be Merry and most importantly give THANKS...

This year I am giving thanks for all my family and friends and

for some random things...

Enjoy the ramblings:)

1.)REALIZING(again),Spitefulness is such an ugly character flaw.

2.)REALIZING(again), that I love going out with Leanna and

"meeting and greeting"...truly a fun part of some MUNDANE days.

3) Comments like did you adopt all your children truly give me a giggle...even more so when I see their face once I tell them my husband is Chinese.

4)Thankful I am finding my "self" again and LOVING every minute of it..

The self who wishes to rise up, the self whom does not wish to hurt, the self who

Loves Fervently, Prays Fervently and Preaches Fervently...

May this upcoming year be filled with more of her...

{big smile}

*************************************************************
Happy Thanksgiving:)

With Much Love,

Thankful Thursday:UPDATE

So it feels like it has been a while since I have done a thankful Thursday post due to my illness.

I have to say this infection was FAR WORSE for me than when I had the SWINE FLU..yikes..

That is pretty bad.....

Anyhow, there is something to be so thankful for...

Through my recent blog entries one could easily see that I was stressed and overwhelmed and feeling quite "yucky" in the previous weeks.

It felt quite horrible to me b/c I HAD never felt like that before.....

HOWEVER, I never had a clue what my illness was doing to me...It was making me so listless, so easily stressed...It was debilitating me from the inside out.

Thankfully, after 3+days on the steroid that they gave me to strengthen my lungs.....

My "self" is returning.

Yesterday, after almost 5 weeks of being sick and UNABLE to do much,

I was able to sit on the floor and play with sweet, sweet LeeLee.

I was able to dance and twirl around with her...

I was able smother her with kisses from head to toe.

This is something to be so thankful for...

because this illness was so weird..

It would give me brief periods of feeling "well" followed by such an overwhelming "tiredness" filled with never ending coughing. This is what troubled me b/c I felt like when I was feeling well...I was still so overwhelmed...NOT REALIZING..I was STILL SO VERY SICK...THUS UNABLE TO DO ALL THE THINGS I DESIRED TO DO.

I am so thankful on this Thursday that after feeling so sick that I am finally being restored to health so, that I can live, laugh and love to my fullest.

Here are just some of the beautiful milestones I have seen Leanna accomplish since my "fog of a sickness" is being lifted:

1. She will pick up garbage(any piece of lint etc- known as ga-ga) and give it to me.

As soon as I respond "What a good girl!" She immediately starts to clap her hands so proud of herself

2. She will take my hand and grab it to place her ba-ba in it so that she does not throw it.

(Now she does not do this all the time...but, it shows me that with persistence that skill will be fully accomplished)

3. I am in awe of the deep love that Leanna has for us. She puckers up and kisses us endlessly all day long along with any baby doll or stuffed animal that she can get her hands on. It is so beautiful and touching. Such and innocent unconditional love:)

4. I have also discovered this about myself:

that my children do NOT always need to be so very perfectly behaved every second of every day...and that includes letting Leanna be a baby and not expecting anything more than that.

I am just so use to them being so good...it is something I hear so often...that when I feel like they are acting differently than that...it kinda upsets me...but, I am going to try to let my "hang-up" go and just live in the moment

CHERISH....all the times...

Amen...

I am so thankful...and if you would like to say what you are thankful for...

Visit here.

With Much Love,

PS..I am currently hacking up a lung over here..please pray for me that I am restored to my fullest health.

Battling....

this never ending sickness..

I have been caring for a sick husband, sick kids(my big 2) and having to handle all the aspects of caring for the younger three on my own.......My husband and the big two help out with everything involved in daily life....so, not having their help....

I sure am missing it!

:(

That coupled with having to work might have led to my SERIOUS RELAPSE.

I worked Friday until 12:00 am and returned back to work at 7:30am on Saturday and worked Sunday...only to have a coughing attack that frightened me and made me aware that I was getting sicker...1 month with this sickness...with not much relief even though I took a Z-pack.

I was getting so bad that felt like I could not breath and felt such a tightening in my chest.

I called the Doctor 9am on Monday morning and she fit me in...Thank God!

I was informed that I am experiencing decreased respirations...I had a breathing test done and a chest X-ray(did not get results yet)...I was prescribed a new antibiotic and a steroid because this sickness is eliciting an asthmatic reaction...My heart goes out to all of you asthma suffers...It is awful to feel like you can NOT breath.

I have started the new meds and am hoping to get better soon...

I have so much to post...and have not been able to upload all my pics or get all my thoughts on to paper.....caring for "the loves of my life" and feeling so completely sick all the while has left me with no free time...I am hoping to resume soon...

I have so much to post..we had such a lovely weekend 2 weeks ago...filled with

family, friends and celebrations....

More on that when I am feeling better...

While I am physically unwell right now..I must tell you, my friends, that much has changed since my last post....

I am feeling less overwhelmed...

perhaps I am just getting use to the phase LeeLee is in...

(plus talking to others who have a child this age or can remember what their sweety was like at this age...Has helped me immensely..Thanks)

You think with having 4 others that I raised through this age..

I would have remembered!

Either way...I am treasuring every moment of her baby time with her...

Even when she knocks over the cup of tea on the table....to only five minutes later throwing her bottle on the floor for it to explode leaving milk all over the place...

to later knocking over the glass bottle that had water in it b/c Tommy was trying to root our Chinese plant.

Oh my!!!!

And I will leave you with one quick story:

While I attended Mass on Sunday(yay..for me) with 2 of my coworkers..

Tommy ventured to Mass with all five on his own...

I could not believe my ears when Celeste told me that Leanna(who else?) threw her full sippy cup(known to her as ba-ba) on the floor and it opened(same sippy cup mentioned above...Do you think it is time to get rid of that sippy cup???cuz I DO!)

What a mess it made (obviously)...

I would have been MORTIFIED...

I think I would have died of embarrassment..

NOT Tommy...

He just cleaned it up with paper towels..and when I asked him if he was embarrassed..he emphatically told me NO..

See why I love him??

So wish I could be more like that.

Needless to say...

I have declared that even in the hard moments like that...

I am GOING TO FIND JOY....

and I have declared that I will accept that I will need to tell my sweet China doll..

TAUT-DITE

(sit down in Chinese..she only understands in Chinese)

numerous times a day..and I will find JOY in saying it...literally!

lol..

{smile}

Stay well my friends and Stay tuned for pics from our wonderful weekend!

With Much Love,

Unwilling or Unable??****updated****

I updated this post to include my Wordless Wednesday....which happens to be very WORDY!

Notice anything new about Leanna???

She NOW has BANGS!!!!........and her shirt says it all:)

I LOVE BANGS:)
on my little girls...

(all my sweet China dolls always had bangs as wee'ones)
I finally cut them when Tommy was running Serena to Chinese School...
we had talked about it...and he was in agreement..it was time our LeeLeeBee saw with out looking thru a forest of hair!!!

On to my original post:

Unwilling or Unable?
That is the question that burns in my brain...

I have not blogged in a bit or at least I have not blogged about what truly lies on my heart.

Is it because I am unwilling or unable????

I am still not aware of what the answer clearly is..

What I can tell you is that I felt a prompting to pull up my blog today and do some reading.

I examined the updated blogs on the right side of my screen and I felt a gentle prodding to read two very important updates.

In the end I know that this came from above!

HE is always calling..me...

HE is ever so gently trying to recapture "me", which honestly is my pray..EVERYDAY....

Return me to that person that I once was...

The persons that fervently prayed,

that fervently preached,

that fervently loved....

The person that ALWAYS put the LORD first BEFORE all things..

Now, it is my husband whom reminds me we MUST go to MASS on Sunday.

I give the excuse to myself(which is only partly true) how hard it is to go to mass with Leanna..

because I end up chasing her around the entire time...but it is MUCH more than that.

IF it was not for my husband and my kids(especially my big 2) and the support of some very dear people....

I think that...

oh...

lets be honest...

I do not know what I think...and that is the problem...

but, I do KNOW I would be worse off...
Most days I feel like I am drowning....
Some days I rely solely on Tommy to carry me...and the kids...

Caring for this household is overwhelming me in a way I just can NOT put into words.

I feel guilty for being overwhelmed and immensely sad that I am overwhelmed....

It is just that I am so tired of:

-that darn important piece of paper ALWAYS disappearing..

-so tired of always playing CATCH-UP

-so tired seems to be how I want to begin every sentence...

and perhaps it is just b/c I know the demolition of my home(the inside) and the rebuilding it(if we go thru with it) will wreak havoc on our very tight schedule and perhaps I just have a bad taste in my mouth from all the projects we previously embarked on...

IT IS SO MUCH WORK TO WORK on your home, care for your family and GO TO WORK...

I just pray that the LORD leads my family to him,

HE finds a way to touch my heart and make "me" his again...

I thank him for giving me a man(Tommy)whom I thought would never love God in the way

I wanted him to.....

than the good LORD transformed him

and is allowing Tommy

to be the one

who helps to lead me back

to OUR LORDS loving heart...

It is not as if I stopped loving the LORD...

it is....I am not sure...
perhaps just tiredness.

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween...

I know we sure did....
Filled with a baseball game, soccer game, trick or treating, Celeste and I making 10 pizza pies and 2lbs of pasta for "our" company.

Celeste will always be the best in the west...and I do solemnly swear if having a teenager is like this..THEN BRING ON THE TEEN YEARS...
I LOVE'em.

Enjoy the pics...
and until next time...prays, prays, prays and more prays..

TJ(skull man) and Serena(little Mermaid) MY little mermaid
My very own giraffe (aka LeeLee Bee)

TJ with his mask on in the March of Dimes Parade @ his school.Hippie girl(aka Antoinette) Yes..my 15 year old girl STILL trick or treats!! Celeste and girlfriends....

My crew.... My crew with my lovely neices... Cousins Emily and Megan....
Cousin Monkey(aka Vincent)
Monkey boy and Giraffe girl trick or treating... That would be Fred Flinstone(aka uncle Danny), Popey(aka Tio) and Captain America(aka daddy and the love of my life:)) Aunt Kristine with a very serious and TIRED Leanna:)

NOTICE HER BANGS:)))))))

With Much Love,

MIA....missing in Action!

I have been unable to blog for a bit.....I am STILL under-the-weather.....and I am STILL caring for SERENA whom has the same horrible cough as me....and LeeLee and her CONSTANT runny nose is not helping either..(although I think that is due to teething.. she is cutting 2 more bottom teeth)

I honestly have not had much energy to do anything....I try to blog at work or when LeeLee is napping in the morning and since I have been napping as well....no such luck to put up a post...

This post is actually cutting into my nap time....lol....

Hoping to feel better soon....Enjoy the pics in the mean time....

and for your legging delight....I posted many more pics of her cute baby legs...

Leanna looking all sweet....better get a good look b/c she does NOT stand still for more than a SEC.
Happy Leanna:)

Serious Leanna:)

Serena lying down in LeeLee Bee's stroller b/c she is not feeling well..
I told her not to come to TJ's ballgame..but she just wanted to come so bad...

Leanna at TJ's ball game...

My terror trying to climb onto the ballfield...

Her mischeivous smile....

Again...trying climb onto the field...

Stay Still...PLEASE....

****Update**** TJ will play in the winter league and we will send him for private lessons as well...

*******Plus...picture this****

Last inning, last out...pop up to outfield.......my son runs as hard as he can...catches it with his hand twisted backwards....and HELD ON TO IT...for the third out....

It brought the crowd to their feet in a loud APPLAUSE....

OH MY....my lil'boy...

<3 I HEART Friday<3

Friday Fragments and Favorite Friday Fotos are here again..

Yippee....

Friday has become one of my very favorite days of the week to blog...

It allows me to briefly describe the week we had....which, I so love doing because it allows you to review and either savor the great moments or make a plan to improve on the not so great ones..lol..

and BELIEVE me I had a not so great moment on Wednesday....

Monday..

of course was work for me...until midnight....

It was the end of a very LONG work week.....that began on Friday and continued until that Monday..

The biggest problem with it was that I was sick...(I am still sick...one week later..boohoo)..

If you heard my voice you might just die from laughter....it sounds as if I swallowed a frog!

Tuesday...

is my running around day....

it toots to the tune of....pick TJ up from school...FORGET his CCD books...head back HOME to pick them up..bring him to religion RATHER LATE....pick up Antoinette from guitar lessons....

Make some type of plans for her to get to soccer practice because I HAVE NOT mastered the art of being in two places at once....yet....

but, OH HOW I TRY...

Sealed the deal on those plans...arranged for her to be dropped off and picked up from soccer practice by one of the other moms from our circle of parents whom are SO KIND TO ME AND MY CREW..

Pick TJ up from religion...pick Celeste up from the transit center so, she could avoid her bus transfer...

Finished up dinner and HW..to which my hubs did the religion run with Antoinette...

PHEW..are your eyes bleeding from that read...I know my head is just hurting thinking about it..

Wednesday....

Ran errands....with Tommy....(more like shopped a bit for Serena and myself..(yay))

Rested a wee bit....

made dinner...

did HW with TJ

and I am sad to say I was bit less than patient......

discovered Serena's Chinese book was missing..

and I kind of totally had a melt down....

Sorry to report for a brief moment I did NOT use my indoor voice...

Rushed and got TJ ready for baseball game.....

Ahh..baseball...sweet relief...

Thursday......

Cleaned, cleaned and cleaned some more..

Tried to rest, but of course my sweet, sweet terror, ahem sweetie decided to get into EVERYTHING today....

Nap? anyone hear that??...the sandman beckoning Leanna to take 2 naps today before her momma CRIES.....

While on the phone with Tommy a beep comes in...

A:Tom hold on..

Tom: OK..sure

A:Hello...

The caller was TJ's baseball coach informing me of a few things...

A:(Click back over to Tom)

Tom guess what?

Tom:What?

A: OUR SON has been drafted...

to which we both giggled...

See there is a winter league...and his coach called me to tell me he WANTS TJ to play with him on his winter team...he then insructed me to keep it on the QT because he is not taking the whole team....

I guess that is how you feel when your kid gets drafted....lol..

purely happy....

Not sure if we will accept...because we sit somewhere between letting him play on the winter league and getting him instructional help so he can further grow as a ballplayer..

DECISIONS...DECISIONS....

Friday....

I will make it simple....HI-HO, HI-HO..it is off to WORK..I GO....

Enjoy some of my FAVORITE FOTOS;)

Leanna exhibiting all her sweetness..

LeeLee showing a bit of her naughtiness...
What the hay is that she is biting on?

Serena....

With Much Love,

Thankful on this Thursday...

simply.......

for my husband....

My heart and thoughts are with you today Tommy....as always:)

My love for you is deep and true

No matter what you do I'll always be there for you

No matter where you go I'll always be there beside you

Till the day I die

My love will always stay true to you

“This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for each other.” (1 John 3:16)

Visit here and here to list what you are thankful for on this Thursday..

With Much Love,