Lauren, the tribe, me & my crush...

Ok in my short life, alright it's been 40 years {YIKES!}, I have had about three crushes that I can really remember. I think the first one was when I was in grade school. His name was Derek & he lived down the block from me. He was TALL, had blonde hair & blue eyes, I think. =] The second one was a certain NFL coach named John Gruden. He too is a blondie with blue eyes! I know, people call him "Chucky" but for some strange reason he really did "it" for me for a LONG time. hehee! The last crush was another football guy, a Miami Dolphins Line backer named John Offerdahl. Man it must have been his strength or maybe how he looked in a uniform! Ahhh.... Funny how all 3 had blonde hair & blue eyes! Hmm... I'm noticing a trend here! =] Well, just the other day I got to meet one of my crushes up close & personal! We were at a parade of all things & there he was across the field! I was SO excited & very nervous walking up to him. There I was a 40 year old woman acting like she was 16 again! =] I introduced him to the tribe, my mom & Lauren my niece. I'm telling you he was all that & more!! He really made my day! That moment was such a blur that I'm happy that I remembered my camera! At least I have this picture to prove that it really did happen! So here you go, here is...

Lauren, the tribe, me & my crush...

burning a hole in my wallet!...

SEVERAL weeks ago, OK, almost TWO months ago, I was given a gift card to one of my favorite stores, HomeGoods in the hope I would blog about what I purchased. I have to say that I just LOVE LOVE LOVE that place! They sell pretty much anything under the sun & have one of the BEST home decor dept's around! Gotta love that right?! Now this gift card was not for much but I knew that I could put it towards something really special that I would eventually have for years to come. Since I wanted to spend wisely I "window shopped" at SEVERAL of their stores in the search for that one or maybe two items I just had to have! Trust me this was no easy feat! As we maneuvered through the store I found SO many things to buy! So instead of hastily buying something I took pictures of things that "spoke" to me as we came upon them. Take a look at some of the MANY things that struck my fancy!

Should I get a new lamp for our bedroom?

Or a COOL mirror for the hall?

Maybe a new desk for our kitchen?

Or better yet a chair for that new desk?

How about some frames for all of our pictures?

Or maybe I should just listen to Linz & buy her this GIGANTIC Panda?

The options were endless & unfortunately in the end I left empty handed! =[ I just could not find that one thing I just had to have! I'm sure there will be even more trips to many more HomeGoods before I end up with my perfect item. For now all I can say is that this gift card is really...

burning a hole in my wallet!...

REAL or artificial?...

Now that CHRISTmas is almost upon us this topic has come up more often than not, Do you buy a real tree or does yours come out of a box? I really think this all goes back to how you were raised I mean what did your parents get when you were a kid? My parents had all sorts of trees as we were growing up. Even some eclectic ones WAY before I was ever a glimmer in their eye. They have had BIG ones, Tall ones, ones with trains running around them & even a Silver one! But it was always out of a box. I wonder if they felt buying a "Real" tree each year was a waste of $ or did they feel that an artificial one looked better? I do not know because I never really asked. We just always took our tree out of a box each year. Now the timing of when the tree went up changed over the years. At first they would put their tree up AFTER my oldest brothers birthday on December 17th. Fast forward 12 years & I was born on the 21st {December is one BUSY month!} They "tried" to wait till after my birthday but that was not to be. I think there was a CHRISTmas tree in all of my birthday photos! =] When Michael & I got together we too would drag the CHRISTmas tree out of the box each year but we did this more of out necessity because he cannot handle when a tree sheds all of it's needles. I do LOVE the smell of a "real" tree but I too do not like the mess so artificial is the way we go! And even though a "real" tree is nice to look at & WAY better smelling we are going the less mess route! LOL! So I ask you is your tree...

REAL or artificial?...

B. Hellophone!...

One of our munchkins, Avery, just LOVES talking on the phone! Yes, Avery does not leave home without her purse or better yet her phone! She will bounce a baby on her hip, have a purse on her arm & a phone to her ear practically EVERY day! So when her pink Dollar Store Barbie cell phone broke I knew we would be in some trouble! That night I made Daddy take us all to Target to look for a new one!

Aave just before her $ Store phone broke!

 
It really is amazing the types of "play phones" they make for children these days. I really wanted to get her a pink one since that's her FAVORITE color but I had a feeling that was not to be! After checking each one out we she settled on the "B. Hellophone" by JustB-byou.com. I had never heard of this company before that night but after seeing what it can do I just had to tell EVERYONE about it! First off it is packaged in a box that is not only recycable but serves another purpose, gift wrap! No need to wrap it up it wraps itself! Just flip the cover around & presto you're gift is ready to give away!

Photo courtesy of Amazon

It lists that it is age appropriate for 18 months-5 years. The tribe will be four soon so it was perfect! It also advertises that it's the play cell phone that calls you back. Well I had to hear that for myself because Aave constantly tells us "Oh my phone's ringing, someone's calling me!". LOL! Well this phone does it!! It will ring two times & if they don't pick it up it will stop. So you don't have to worry about another LOUD toy! What's even cuter is that parents can record a personalized message for the child to discover, it also plays three pre-recorded messages PLUS some music! Now it does NOT come in solid pink like she wanted but the features made up for that. I took what colors they did have & let Aave choose. She ended up choosing an orange one. This phone is SO darn cute! Seriously this child has NOT put the phone down since we got it for her! She even took it to bed! So if you are looking for a cute, sturdy & functional play kid phone you really need to check out the...

B. Hellophone!...

Look at our tree!...

Oh MANY MANY moons ago my hubby planted this Mahogany tree in front of our house. It was suppose to be a sturdy tree that would stand up to the Hurricane's Florida gets from time to time. PLUS it is a native tree. Hubby is all about planting things that are native{Saves on water!}.Well I don't remember how long that tree lasted but along came Hurricane Jeanne I think & down it came. Well not entirely all of the tree but most of it did. That darn tree was rooted SO down deep that it was TOO hard to remove so we left it there. It looked terrible but the AMAZING part is that over time it survived! Before we knew it something was growing off the side of this "stump" and then it just grew & grew.

The other day I noticed something pretty special about that darn Mahogany Tree, it now has FIVE strong branches growing from that deep rooted stump. That tree was meant to be here! Now I am ALL about signs & if there was ever a sign this was it. You see the number FIVE is somewhat special to me. First off it is my most FAVORITE # & I always wanted to have FIVE children, which amazingly I now have! That's when I noticed that three of the branches were on one side and two branches on the other, almost representing the children we have! Pretty cool huh?! This was another one of those "Look at that pole" moments. LOL! When I noticed those FIVE branches I just wanted to tell my hubby...

Look at our tree!...

Google yourself...

I am amazed at how often I will Google something. If I need to find an address I Google it, if I need more info on a product I Google it. Google, Google, Google... However I never thought to Google myself & one day I did just that. It was interesting the various places my name came up in. There is actually another Cathy Fulton out there, she is a Doctor, definitely NOT me! LOL! When I did come across things pertaining to me there was the blogging community & of course Face Book but then it was also attached to some online newspaper articles from when the tribe was born. There I was starting to read the articles about our little miracles, reminiscing about our journey when smack the ugliness of people came out! Some of the comments people made about our little miracles was just SO ugly! Just because we could NOT get pregnant the "normal" way & had to resort to IVF to make our dream of having a family come true does not make it right for people to bash us. People need to do their research before saying such mean things! One thing that I was recently told was that there is a 5% chance for an embryo to split & we were that 5%. Yes what are the odds our "trips" would turn into quads? I now know, 5%! See that, we did not intentionally set out to have 4 babies. I really do believe that was totally a God thing. I had never been pregnant before & never had an embryo implant & WHAM all three took & then one split! WOW! You can not tell me that is not a miracle! And for people to then tell us that we should "selectively reduce" the pregnancy like they know what they are talking about is ludicrous! Any time you enter a woman's uterus to "reduce" a pregnancy you are creating a toxic environment for those other babies. That is asinine & we would have NO part of that. In the end our babies were born healthy all thanks to some AWESOME doctors & the fact that we have insurance! We are not or ever have been on welfare. We have insurance, albeit crappy insurance, but at least we have health care! YAY! One of the BIGGEST myth's I need to rebuke is that we do NOT get anything FREE. Yes some companies have programs for families with multiples & will give us coupons for FREE formula & diapers but it does not last forever. They do not just send us FREE DIAPERS FOREVER because we had multiples, it does not work that way. We were VERY lucky to have had our family & friends throw us baby showers & we received a TON of stuff most importantly diapers. We had SO many diapers that we did not have to buy any for almost 6 months! Yes SIX Whole months! AMAZING but true! We also had some of the BEST volunteers come assist us those first few months from our church. This was prayed upon & God again provided. Thank the Lord for that! So please when you see a mom or dad like us out & about trust that they are hard working people just wanting the best for their children. Don't go assuming that just because they had a "litter", their words not mine, they are abusing the system & do not deserve to be a parent. Be nice & acknowledge the good things they are doing. Remember we all deserve to hear something positive. It's amazing what happens when you...

Google yourself...

should I go?...

I have told MANY people how much I LOVE my iPhone, I better clarify that, I LOVE my iPhone app's. I just LOVE being able to check my email, Facebook & then play some games. Even our church has an iPhone app! Yes, Christ Fellowship has an iPhone app! I can watch services, check out classes & even send prayer requests. LOVE that! As far as the games go I used to play Words with Friends but then I was turned on to Bejeweled 2. Man is that game addictive! Ahh... So that is why I sadly say it's the app's that I LOVE & do NOT love the phone service. We switched to AT&T because of the "bundling" factor. When you have satellite TV, computer it is suppose to pay to then have your cell phone put in with it too. Well that was the plan! Since switching I get SO many dropped calls, my phone will shut off on it's own in the middle of me doing something or better yet it locks up. What gives? Do I even need a phone? I hear from other people about how much they pay monthly for their cell phones & know that we are paying SO much more.  I know if I were to call & ask to renegociate our bill they would probably just say "See ya!". There seems to be NO deals for being a loyal customer anymore! When I think of cell phone bills in general ours are astronomical! CRAZY CRAZY EXPENSIVE so I begin to think should I stay or...

should I go?...