Reduced Sugar Cereal

MyBlogSpark and General Mills are working together to bring all of us a $1 off Kellogg's cereal good on certain Kellogg's cereals.

General Mills is further reducing the amount of sugar in popular kids cereals. This is great news for our home that already attempts to limit K's sugar intake as much as possible. He does not react well to high sugar products so we either go for the low sugar products or keep the sugary items out of the house all together!



**General Mills through MyBlogSpark provided the above information regarding reduced sugar cereals and also is sending me free cereal coupons!**

Getting ready

I've been busy checking things off my to-do list! The presents are all bought, presents made for grandparents, the mail is on hold, Mocha has a home for two weeks and the laundry is being washed. Soon we'll be on our way up north! I can hardly believe it's finally time to go. I haven't seen my parents since May so I'm especially looking forward to hugging them!!! :)

This past weekend I hosted a cookie exchange at my house. It was so much fun! I had seven ladies attend and share lots of yummy cookies and bars. We all got to know each other a little better and enjoyed lots of laughs. I'm hoping to make this an annual event!

I recently found out that a good friend from college will be moving to Tucson this summer! She and her family will be joining our church and living nearby. I am so thankful the Lord is providing for me as I have been feeling lonely lately. It will be a huge blessing to have a dear friend who has known me for so long living in the same town.

I'm able to take my boss's laptop on vacation so I can continue to work while I'm gone. It has broadband internet so I'm hoping I will internet access on the train. If I do, I'll try to update as we go along on our adventure! :)

Here are a few pictures from the past month or so...

K and Kasha shortly before we had to say goodbye to her

At the zoo to see the lights

K's very own Christmas tree

How hard is it?

Why is it so hard for me to keep up with my blog?? I have friends that blog faithfully each day and share tidbits, big news, advice, etc... without fail. I guess I can never remember to take vitamins every day either. :) I'll just keep trying to do better with blogging.

Anyway, it's almost Christmas and that means lots of fun around here. Busy, yes, but fun too! In fact, we are celebrating Christmas in our home tonight!! We want to do our usual family traditions, but won't be home on Christmas this year, so tonight is the only free night we have. That means eating some Papa Murphy's pizza and watching Elf. We will also exchange gifts. I enjoy celebrating Christmas with my guys and am happy we are able to do it before heading out on vacation!

Speaking of vacation...we are officially taking the Amtrak up to the midwest for Christmas break! We'll head out of Albuquerque and spend 25 hours on board until we get to Chicago. We are all very excited to ride the train! I have slowly been gathering new books, activity books, games, and movies to keep K occupied on our long journey. We each have a new fleece blanket that will keep us warm as we sleep in our train seats. I plan to take a cooler with snacks and water so we don't have to buy food on the train. We'll probably have breakfast in the food car to experience that part of train travel as well. Once we get to Chicago our whirlwind vacation begins...visit my parents (one brother and family will be there too), head up to my best friend's house, then a few days in Neenah, over to Mike's parents/grandparents (both siblings will be there as well), over to visit my sis and other brother, and then back down to my parents. Somehow we want to see my cousins and grandparents too. It's going to be crazy, but so good to see so many loved ones!

Things haven't been great around here...financial troubles at school/church, we had to say goodbye to our mini schnauzer, Mike and K were sick, I had some type of stomach bug and Mike's dad continues to battle brain cancer. I've been down and really questioning why we have to live so far from all our family and friends. But the last few days I've been doing better and focusing on putting all my worries and troubles on God. I have never stopped praying or believing that God is in control and has a plan for everything, but I'm still a sinner and I've had doubts and worries I shouldn't have had. I'm so thankful for faithful family and friends who have reminded me of God's promises and told me they are praying for me and my family. I'm also trying to keep my eyes on the good and fun in my life right now...Christmas parties, traveling "home" for Christmas, Christmas music and decorations...all those things remind me of how good God has been to me and how he is always with me. Plus, K never fails to put a smile on my face! He says the wackiest things and is not stingy with his "I love you, Mom" many times each day!

K is loving school and doing so well! He is growing up to be a very happy, thoughtful and helpful boy. He is rarely without a smile and never stops asking questions. He loves to spell things and tries to read too. He loves to build things, crash things and knock things over. :) Oh, there are those days when I cannot wait until his bedtime and he is sassy and pushes all my buttons at once, but thankfully those days are rare and just remind me to appreciate the days when he is his sweet, lovable self. I am very proud of my Guatetot! :)

Another Saturday

It's Saturday and Mike has a meeting. I've got to be honest, I'm not a fan of meetings on Saturdays. It's the one day of the week that should be free for us to be together as a family, but that's not the case every week. So, K and I will spend the morning at home and hopefully we'll do something fun as a family in the afternoon. K has the start of a yucky, nasty cold so he should probably lay low this AM anyway. K is looking forward to the juice, soup and honey that Mike will bring home later. :)

We've been researching ways to get up to IL/WI/MN this Christmas. We had not been planning to spend Xmas break up that way, but we would like to see Mike's parents again and that' s the next available time for Mike to be gone from work without having to pay a substitute teacher. So, we absolutely cannot afford the cost of the trip, but we're going anyway! You only live once, right? :) It will be wonderful to spend time with both our families and, God-willing, get up to our old "stomping grounds" and see friends that we haven't seen for over a year. We are currently leaning towards taking the Amtrak! It's cheaper, we can take tons of luggage for free, it'd be fun, we can move around and we have the time to "waste" a day on travel. We'd most likely drive to Albuquerque and leave from there. It's less time and money than going from Tucson. It's a 25 hour trip to Chicago. The sleeper car is OUTRAGEOUSLY expensive so we'll just do coach seats and sleep in the seats. We can even bring a cooler of food to save money on the trip. K is beyond excited to ride the train and, I've got to admit it, I am too! :)

If K is feeling better we are heading over the YMCA for trunk-or-treating this evening. It's FREE and there will be tons of kids' activities as well. K is going to be a pirate this year. I've yet to put the whole costume together so we'll see how it turns out! He'll be adorable, I'm sure. :)

Well, it's been awhile...

I know! I just haven't felt like blogging. So many things have been happening and I just wasn't ready to put it all into words, I guess.

We were able to get up to MN for my father-in-law's surgery in September. It was so wonderful to be together with all of Mike's family. My sister and brother-in-law housed us and borrowed a car for us to use. They also helped with K a great deal. We were so blessed by all their help! The surgery was successful and the tumor was removed. It was very hard to leave and head back to AZ, but we knew we had to. A few days after the surgery the pathology report came back and we found out that the tumor was cancerous. We experienced more tears and more fears, but turned to God again for comfort and guidance. Mike's dad was told he'd be treated with radiation and chemotherapy, but when a blood clot was found in his brain the chemo was put on hold. He started radiation and it really wipes him out. He's also been moved to the rehab part of the hospital and is working very, very hard each day. Tomorrow they will start chemo. It has been difficult to be so far away during all of this, but we are comforted knowing God is with Mike's parents and he has everything under control. We continue to pray for healing and strength. We are also praying that we are able to get up there during Christmas break and spend more time with Mike's family. (Can't wait to see my family too!!!!)

Here in Tucson we've been keeping really busy. K absolutely LOVES preschool. He missed a few days while we were in MN and then one day when we thought he might have chicken pox (Turned out to be bug bites...grrr...wasted dr visit!) and he was so upset to miss any time at school. :) He is doing very well and is learning so much! He does a great job of telling us all about the books they read, or naming the parts of the eye (or whatever Science lesson they had that day), or what Bible story he heard that morning. He loves playing with all his new friends and is already talking about how excited he is for Kindergarten next year. :) (It's mostly because he really wants to eat lunch at school.)

I've slowly been getting our new place to feel like home. It's taken me longer than I expected it to, but I'm starting to get things arranged the way I like it and slowly getting things organized. Now that we are officially in a house and have unpacked things that were stored for a year, it's kind of hit me that we live in Tucson. I know, delayed reaction since we've been here just over a year, but last year was like a "honeymoon" period and the last few months have been a little bit of a struggle for me. I guess it all seems real now and I've been homesick and lonely for friends and family I haven't seen for a long time. It's getting better though and getting my house "just right" has helped too. Now if we could just get some more visitors from up "north"...

Now that the weather has been cooling down we are excited to get back outside and get hiking again. We love visiting Sombrero Peak and Saguaro National Park. Today we went to the Desert Museum and had a really nice time! Tucson really is beautiful and there is so much to do...when it's cool outside! :)

Hopefully I can get out of my "funk" and start blogging again. I still would love to do another blog with recipes, deals, coupons, etc... It's funny how little time I have left each day, though, after running Mike and K all over, cleaning, making meals and then doing my transcribing. And, I just discovered a scrapbook store not too far from my house...

Trusting in God

Life can change in a moment! It has been a whirlwind few days as things drastically changed on Friday evening. We received a phone call from Mike's mom that his dad had been diagnosed with a brain tumor. Dan (Mike's dad) woke up dizzy on Friday morning and it was bad enough to go to the ER. Apparently they did not like what they found there and sent him to Minneapolis for more tests. That afternoon they discovered the brain tumor. Soon after Mike and his siblings were notified and the praying began! Surgery is schedule for Thursday morning to remove the tumor and to do a biopsy on it. Soon after we heard the news and sat on the couch crying, K asked us what was wrong. We explained that Grandpa P is very sick. K's reaction..."We need to pray to Jesus." What beautiful words from a 4 yr old. And we did indeed pray!

Mike's sister from WI drove over on Saturday. His sister from TX flew up with her family yesterday. We are flying up to MN tomorrow. It feels like weeks have gone by since we found out, but it's only been days as we make travel arrangements, cover all our "duties" here in Tucson and Mike gets things ready for a sub to cover his classroom. There has been an immense outpouring of love, prayers and encouragement from friends, family and church members. It brings tears to my eyes as I write this just thinking of how people have been so quick to show their Christian love in what is a scary time for our family.

We are going to stay with my sister while in MN and she has been so wonderful. She is borrowing a car seat and toys from a friend so we don't need to bring ours along. Her husband is borrowing a car from his parents for us to use while in town. They are housing us and feeding us as well. And, watching K on Thursday while we are at the hospital for the surgery. They are blessings!

We were unsure of how we could possibly afford for all three us to fly up to MN, but we all wanted to be together. I said we just couldn't worry about it and that God would provide because he ALWAYS does and this was something important for us to do. Well, later that afternoon we found out that one of the school parents had been calling people about Dan and our traveling to be with him and people started to donate money to cover our expenses!! More tears here as I think about our awesome, awesome God and wonderful Christian brothers and sisters. Our friend who is subbing in Mike's classroom is doing so with a request for us to not pay her. And yet another blessing!

Mike and I are exhausted and easily brought to tears, but we are so confident in our Lord as we head to be with family in MN and Mike's dad goes into surgery. We are confident that the Lord will be guiding the surgeon's hands, providing comfort to us all, watching over Dan in surgery and ultimately doing what is best for Dan. As Romans 8:28 tell us, "We know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him." There is nothing to fear! God is in control, he is on our side and he will make all of this work for our good. I have already seen so many good things come from this sad and difficult situation and I am sure we will see many more things. God is good! Of that there is NO doubt!

Party!

I'm so excited because I've been chosen to host another party from houseparty.com This time I'll be asking my friends to bring over any gently worn kids' clothes and we'll have a clothing swap! Clorox, Brita and Burts' Bees will send free products for everyone who attends the party! It sounds like so much fun and I LOVE free stuff!!! :) Check out the website b/c there might be a party you'd like to host...just apply and wait! Super easy and fun!!

Just waiting for Mike to call and then we're heading out for his birthday dinner a few days late. :)