Mateo Slides...and slides...and slides.

We got a new outdoor playset for the kids this weekend off of craigslist. LOVE craigslist!!

Since Tatum got in trouble, BIG trouble today from a note that got sent home with her from school, she wasn't able to come outside in play. BUT, I did catch some great videos of Mateo sliding down the slide.

This last video has to be my favorite! I can't believe Mateo is so big and growing up so fast!

29 and feeling FINE!!

Yesterday was my 29th birthday. yes, another year gone by.

I usually tend to try to reflect over the last year as every birthday comes along(does everyone do this?). The past year has brought some ups and some downs, but I am still here and feel very blessed to be living life to the fullest.

It was one year ago, yesterday, that the 1st challenge started. I knew it would be great, but never anticipated how great it would be for my life. I have grown spiritually and shrunk physically over the past year and I am proud of both!

Anyway, this past Saturday Jessica and I did our first 5k together and we had an amazing time together! We wore our Challenge shirts and got many questions about what group we were with. Here are some pictures from the race...

We only planned to walk the race, but did end up running some. I would LOVE to become a runner, but it is much harder than I thought it would be and I am just glad we did the race.

Jessica is training for a very important event that will take place in September. She is training to do the Susan G. Koman Seattle 3-Day for the Cure. This means that Jessica will be walking 60 (YES 6-0) miles in 3 days to raise money to help find a cure for breast cancer. Jessica lost her mom to breast cancer when she was only 19. Her mom was diagnosed when she was 30 and Jessica just turned 30 last week. Anyway, if you would like to read Jessica's story and more importantly donate to a great cause, you can go to her website HERE .

Antonio brought the kids out to see me do my first 5k race. They had many things for the kids to do. Tatum got to check out the firetruck and she loved it.

Finishing the race felt great, but realizing I was able to burn 914 calories in under an hour mainly walking was very nice to see!

Anyway, I am also thankful every year for my wonderful kids and husband. Things may not always be pefect in the world, but I will always feel blessed with these 3 around me.

You saw a pic of Tatum above and here are some of Mateo from this morning.

I think he looks so grown up these days(maybe it's the walking?).

I must admit that I think Mateo has more shoes these days than I do. I love little shoes, but these are my FAVORITE!!!!

Tiny red Pumas....the best part about these shoes is that I got them at a consignment sale for only $4!!!

So my goal for this year that I am 29 is simple.

"To be the best ME I can be."

That's it....that's my plan.

Walkin' In Memphis...

I have had a HORRIBLE time trying to upload pictures, so I gave up and these pics will have to do....

CUE THE MUSIC.....

Can you hear it?

"Walkin' in Memphis......." Mateo is finally beginning to walk as of 4/15/10. He has been taking a couple of steps here and there, but not walking across the room or anything. While I was making dinner last week, Mateo was wanting 'his mommy' and Antonio was trying to keep him entertained until dinner was ready. Well, Antonio finally gave up on the fussing and put Mateo down and said "Go walk in there to Mommy." and he did....all the way from the living room to the kitchen without skipping a beat! So, although he still gets around faster when he crawls, he CAN walk...it's just a matter of if he WANTS to.

Here are some pictures from last week. Tatum was helping me practice walking with Mateo.

I wanted to write down something funny that Mateo is doing these days....fake sneezing! I can remember Tatum doing this too and I think it is hilarious!

Walking? CHECK

Fake Sneezing? CHECK

Now on to more crawling....

Get Real Monday - Attitudes and Perceptions

Do you ever see something and it just jumps out at you? Better yet, do you feel like the things you are seeing, hearing from other people, reading, etc. is something God knows you need to see, hear, etc. and you see it so often that you want to yell, "I GET IT GOD!"

Well, I would never yell at God, no not me, but it is very clear to me that my attitudes and perceptions towards things and people are something that I work on daily because I NEED to work on it daily. It is a conscience decision on my part of how I view things in life. I have good days where no one will rain on my parade and there are other days that I really have to check myself and my attitude. Well today, it was a little 'rainy' in my world and my attitude this morning was a little like Eeyore's (ahem, ya know the 'poor me' part). And around 11:27a.m. I felt God slap me, then shake me. (I knew it was 11:27 because I looked at my watch to see what time it happened.) So now that you think am crazy, let me explain...I saw this today, thought it was perfectly stated, and thought it was too good not to share....

"Attitude" by Charles Swindoll

The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life.

Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company...a church...a home.

The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change our past...we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude...I am convinced life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.

And so it is with you...we are in charge of our attitudes.

AMEN Mr. Charles Swindoll, AMEN!!! I couldn't have said it better myself!

Speaking of attitudes, the picture below reminds me that no matter the storm, I should ALWAYS feel BLESSED!