Learning that Good Behavior Gets Rewarded!

When the boys started preschool, kinder and 1st grade this year, their behavior was not to good. Their self-control was a bit, shall I say, non-existent? We tried different things, naps, no snacks and then came upon what worked. A reward of lunch from McDonald's with mom.
Little Man made his full week and I just picked him up at lunch and we had fun eating at Micky D's. He was very mature eating his food, and explaining to me how good he really was all week. Hilarious!

Then DaVondre had his, and it was pure fun watching him

S0, today was Whitley's day. I got there straight up 11am, and hear, MOM! MOM! I am right here!! There is my boy, with the biggest smile ever. I could have eaten him up.  I came in and smiled, and we enjoyed lunch. Bondre was waiting in line and a bit sad.  I showed him my french fries and said they were for him! A big smile, and then we gave him the soda too.

One happy boy! I love the love he showed me, and am pretty proud of how far these precious boys have come! 

Can We Still Be Friends?

Just wanted to let ya'll know, that I cut the umbilical cord to facebook last week. It was no longer fun and happy, it was dark and oppressive to me...I don't do angst very well! lol
so I deactivated my account, I didn't realize it made it look like I unfriended people, so please know, it was not ONE person, or subject, just an overall decision. I am still blogging life HERE, so please follow my blog if you want to read my ramblings. bhahahha

Can I squeal with happy!? As a guest Polly, this is my first layout in the newsletter!!!!
 aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh...okay, I'm smiling and that is what this page is about.
I turned Facebook off, completely and lived and love how happy I am about it! woo hoo
Thank you to the fantastic designers at the Lily Pad that helped me bring life to this page starting with 
Amy Martin's Spacey Mega Bundle Template
and 
Valerie Wibben's adorable Happy Thoughts
So can we still be friends, like for reals?

I Am a Polly for the Month of April

What is a Polly? It is a much coveted spot as a creative member for The Lily Pad.

This is a store of fantastic designers for digital scrapbooking. The ladies that sell at this store need pages for advertising and I was chosen from a grueling January of challenges that was 31 pages in one month! Crazy, but fun! I have already done 4 pages in 2 days for the upcoming releases.
Then today, I just played, and did a speedscrap.

Dana was so darn cute giving the instructions in the chat room.  I was having brain farts in understanding how to do it, but had a blast getting a page done in under a couple of hours.  I love my page and here it is:

A big hello to those who are visiting my blog....I will be here a bit more often!

Anne OfAlamo Scraps - LIKE me!

A few months ago, I took my Anne Ofalamo facebook page to a very small and private group.  This is to keep my private life, well, more private.  As most of you reading this know I am not a private person, I am quite extroverted, love a crowd and meeting new people is like one of my favorite past-times.  My personal page remains private for my kids. 

But.................I miss my scrappin' buddies something fierce too, even the ones that I just LIKED here and there, and I want to network for the designers that I create pages.  These are fabulous designers, and I think people will want to see their sales, their products and hopefully my pages done for them. 
If you would be so kind as to LIKE Anne OfAlamo Scraps Page , I would be so grateful.  I hope to find some time to make a template or something like that to give away, once I get say 50 people? Thank you, and again, happy scrappin on this DSD weekend!

Fellowshipping People

I grew up in a home that was filled with people other than our family.  My parents love to feed people.  This is a love they have passed down to me abundantly!  When I gave my life to Jesus Christ in 1988, I was a single lady in the US Air Force, not a whole lot of money, but to feed people was something I loved to do.  I would have a house load of people and serve popcorn and koolaide!
Fast forward to 2013, fellowship and "breaking of bread" is still a major part of our lives.  Especially in a church smack dab in the middle of revival.  Weddings, baptisms, guest evangelists, babies being born and any other excuse for eating means making a whole lotta casseroles and things for potlucks!  This week, there is one bachelor party that the married men are asked to bring a dish (lol, their wives make) and then the same man is marrying a delight of lady this Sunday and their reception will have so many people, that help was called on to feed them all!  That, and the fact I have 7 children, doing a day of preparing was in order.

 Spaghetti is one of the easiest to get done for the reception.  I do recommend cutting the noodles in 3rds or fourths for easier eating pleasure (less splatter for consumer) hahah I really try and pick up the marked down meat whenever I can at the local Walmart.  That along with Great Value generic brands helps the budget too!

 Two pans in the middle of getting it done.  I fry meat and then pour the sauce equally and then can add the noodles to get a full pan!

 Here are the ingredients for the enchiladas, but I am not doing those til after lunch!

 Next up, Creamy Basil chicken casserole.  I got these at our super duper Community Connection Thrift Store.  It has "expired" food or damaged cans/boxes for great prices.  I picked up 4 of these boxes in thoughts of upcoming potlucks!  That along with a marked down boneless chicken thigh package I was in bidness!  Make friends with the yellow sticker man at your store!  He gives me heads up for sales to come along the week, and I pop in the store at 8:30am with hopes of sales!

 I chopped the thighs into bite size chunks.

 Boil the enclosed noodles, they were different texture, but I liked them, and they were already short too. 

 Chicken all cut up.

 While I am doing the Basil Chicken, I have the other package of chicken par boiling for the enchiladas. 

 Here is the chicken with the seasoning, the cream and roasted tomatoes (all included too)

 Two pans! One for tonight, and one for the wedding reception Sunday!

 Another good buy from the thrift store.  I tried these last week with company on Friday! Big hit.  So the bachelors on Friday night will have some homestyle mac and cheese to devour!

 Remember the chicken boiling?  Pulled out before lunch and now is cool to shred for enchiladas.

 Save that stock!!

 The construction of the enchiladas, hey I am getting ahead of myself.  As some of you know I am into a bit more healthy now, and frying things is a big NO-NO!  I use the chicken stock to soak my corn tortillas in for flavor!

 See the tortilla under the water??? It is so yummy!

 Shredded chicken, onion and green chile' all ready for the enchiladas

 There we have it, two speghettis (one for the wedding on Sunday, one for tonight), Chicken Basil (one for tonight and one for the wedding) Both enchiladas to the wedding and the mac and cheese for Friday's boys bachelor party!

Dishes are done, dinner is done, and I am satisfied! All but tonights are in the freezer and will be heated up for their expected munching!

BUSY busy BUSY

Whew! Last night's sermon was one I had received personally from my Pastor a few months back.  You see, I have lived a very rigid and scheduled life for a very long time.  I set times and lengths of scheduled activities and never left room for just enjoying life and imagination.
On a white board by the computer was a time schedule for chores, school, meals and "free" time.  I was making my kids neurotic and I was already there! Now I didn't just do this for me, but oh the anger I would have when someone didn't do what was on the board in the right order.  I blame the book Cheaper by the Dozen.  Here is a small synopsis of the book:
No growing pains have ever been more hilarious than those suffered loudly by the riotous Gilbreth clan. First, there are a dozen redhaired, freckle-faced kids to contend with. Then there's Dad, a famous efficiency expert, who believes a family can be run just like a factory. And there's Mother, his partner in everything except discipline. You can be sure that they're not only cheaper, they're funnier by the dozen.

The bold is me, I was running my family like a factory.  That is not a good thing. I talked with my Pastor about my freaky nature.  He laughed and said, you have a big family, I understand the need to be organized,
BUT...........................................
you have to relax a bit more, and enjoy the time you have with them.

This was like a weight lifted from my  shoulders, heart and mind!  I went home and erased the white board, and told the kids sorry I was a spaz.  They laughed.  We had field trips just because, stayed at the park for longer and laughed more. 
Now I am still very organized, for crying out loud, I have 7 children!  We have set days for laundry, chores are assigned, and I do a menu for the week (to save my sanity, and help in grocery shopping).  Home-school is pretty organized and we figure out daily the car situation.  Eric works, Tony bikes usually to work and I am chauffeur to many kids (to school, preschool and activities).  But I don't regulate life anymore.  I don't freak on my floors being sticky, dust build up(heck I live in the desert, I won't ever win).
I listened to the sermon last night, as one who has been set free from being busy for the sake of being busy, and Pastor said, find that one thing God wants you to do, and do it with all your heart. I am a wife and a mom to many.
I love God so much, Jesus touched my life 20 some years ago, and I have not lost the wonder and gratefulness to my Savior.  The time I spend in reading my bible and prayer has become sweeter and stronger as I have unregulated my life.  I am amazed at the closeness in relationships with my family and even friends.  I think I can be a bit "overwhelming and daunting" to others with my organization.  I want to relax, and be like that happy little goldfish in the bowl sometimes, and now I can!

A day of RESPITE

res·pite/ˈrespət/

Noun:

A short period of rest or relief from something difficult or unpleasant. Good Golly that sounds horrible but this is what we had Saturday.  As many of you know we are in the midst of fostering to adopt three remarkable boys.  D7, W5 and J4.  They are a handful and we also have 4 previously adopted children Mr. E16, Gman14 and the twinklies who are 13. A few weeks ago, exhaustion and just plain worn out mom and the Bigs(my name for the teens) were ready to quit, cry and raise the flag of surrender.  Thankfully, my awesome hubby reacts with less emotions than me.  Yeah, it was a bit rough, yeah the situation gets a bit intense more times than we would like and the memories of before the Littles was dancing like sugar plums in our heads. Quitting is NOT an option, but a day of rest or relief was and through organization and planning (getting people off from work), and a family that are foster licensed and would have the means to take in 3 boys for the day happened! Saturday, we brought the Littles to a meeting place where the fabulous foster family took them off for a day of football, snacks, outdoor running around, horseback rides and pure joyful time.  None of the Littles even napped! That was huge!  They went all day, I mean all day. We drove to pick them up at 8pm, and I told them they needed a bath, and D7 says, "oh can I please go first Mom, I am so tired, I just want to go to bed!"  We did speed baths and they were asleep before their little heads hit the pillow. The Bigs, along with Mom and Dad spent the day together, we went out for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and shopped in Cruces, and just spent money and time together.  It was so refreshing not to have to watch over little brothers or herd them here and there.  But they were missed. The drive home down the mountain was beyond good.  I got glow sticks for everyone, and it was good.