Punta Mita Paradise

This one is especially for Megan...one of these days y'all are gonna come with us!!

My awesome friend Ashley turned 40 this year, so we took at trip to Punta Mita, Mexico to celebrate.

It. Was. Amazing!

Punta Mita is about an hour outside of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. It's a totally exclusive, gated community. We go somewhere tropical (sans kids) every year. We love Puerto Morelos, which is just outside of Cancun, and home to a cool fishing village, and the world's best masseuse. But we shook it up a bit this year.

We had an amazing house with a gorgeous pool. There was a cook and drink server everyday from breakfast until late afternoon. He learned our likes and dislikes - it was so amazing. He figured out in 2 days I like my coffee exactly one hour after a wake up. He was never late. I could get use to that!

We didn't do much - reading, lounging and swimming. There was a golf cart to take us all over the town. We had dinner at the Four Seasons and the St. Regis - both are gorgeous hotels.

We celebrated our girl Ashley - she's an amazing person and we are blessed to have her in our lives. She's the kind of girl who would bury the body without asking any questions. I love her to pieces...and I'm not alone. She has many fans.

Here's a little Smilebox of our trip. We are already counting the days until TV Joe turns 40 so we can do it all again!

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Spring Download

I have a sweet friend named Megan who lives in the middle of the Indian Ocean on an island. She left this winter to spend one year on this tiny island, and I promised her I would keep up with my blog so she could keep up with life here.

I'm such a loser bloggy friend! I have been slacking so bad. She is a faithful blogger and has many followers - and a lot of them are strangers drawn to her because her blog is beautiful, thoughtful and honest. She is also beautiful, thoughtful and honest. So the series of posts I will do this week are dedicated to her. (notice I said series...this week - this is to keep me honest!)

Here you go sweet Megan - words can't tell you how much you are missed over here. Your girls can't wait to see you in a few weeks!

A free picture slideshow by Smilebox

Sunday's Comin'

What's in my Kindle

I've never participated in Show Us Your Life over on Kelly's Korner, but I love to read, so I thought this is a great day to jump in.

I got a Kindle for Christmas and I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! It's amazingly light and clear - it looks just like a page of a book. And it's perfect for reading in sunlight - I can't wait to take it to the beach!!

What I've recently read:The Help by Kathryn Stockett - pretty much my favorite novel of all time right now. I love this book so much and I can't wait for the movie. It's a southern novel with a lot of humor and some soul searching, change the world characters. Highly recommend!

Little Bee by Chris Cleave - I read this for my new book club. It was a tough read. It's not light and humorous (like me). It's very deep and dark and hard to read. Now that I'm through it, I'm glad I read it. But I'm not really recommending it. It's about a Nigerian refugee who has very bad things happen to her, and to the family she runs to after being released from a detention center. Nothing happy about this book.

Black Heels to Wagon Wheels by Ree Drummond - I'm a fan of the Pioneer Woman's blog and cookbook, and this is a hot love story between she and her husband. It's a sweet read and I love good memoir.


All I Can Handle - I'm No Mother Teresa by Kim Stagliano - Kim is a friend of mine. I have worked with her husband off and on for a decade. He's a mentor of mine - I adore these people. Mark and Kim have 3 girls on the autism spectrum and this is her memoir detailing their life through several job losses, moves, financial problems and learning how to care for their girls. Kim is a Warrior Mom and a powerful voice in the autism community. This is obviously a great book for families affected by autism, but also for everyone! With 1 in 50 kids being diagnosed on the spectrum, odds are we are affected or know someone affected. Highly recommend!

What I'm Reading Now:
Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman - such as sweet southern novel. I'm only 60% done, but I'm in love with this book. I'm reading it for book club, and it was a nice switch from Little Bee! I love every character.

What's Coming Next:


Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen - Got to get this read before the movie comes out!


The Sweet Gum Tree by Katherine Allred - more southern humor!

Happy Reading Y'all!

Donut Races

Preston has quite possibly the *coolest* 3rd grade teacher on the planet. I wish I could be in her class! Preston loves her so much - she really caters to kid's learning needs and she makes it super F-U-N!

All year they've been working on math skills. Preston is quite the multiplication wiz, and he's getting better on the division. They take timed tests every day. There are kids in his class that can do 100 math problems in a minute.

One fun tool she uses is the donut race. 4 contestants go up to the chalkboard and race at multiplication facts.
There is a donut shape with the numbers 1-12 randomly placed in the donut. The teacher calls out the middle number (in green), and contestants race to get the product of the middle number by the numbers in the donut (in black) and write them on the outside of the donut (shown in red). When you finish the race, you knell down. Whoever finishes first and correctly wins. Then...and this is critical or you don't get the winning point...you tell your competitors "good game". Winners get a donut, losers get a donut hole.

These kids are super fast and decided to challenge the parents. So TV Joe decided to participate, and I went to take pictures...since my mad math skillz are nillz. Naturally I got suckered into racing and made a F-O-O-L of myself since they wouldn't let me use my calculator. The 12's get me every time!!

Here are a few pics from the fun. The kids had eye black on and were singing "We're Gonna Protect this House" when we walked in. Little gangstas. It was a tight race, but the parents won in the end. But, since we live in the land of skinny people, none of the parents would eat their donuts (um, except TV Joe who NEVAH passes on a donut) - the kids all got donuts. It was so fun, and the kids learned if you don't know your mad math skillz, well, you can always go into sales...

Coolest teacher ever!

Little Gangsta

Preston racing his dad and our neighbor racing his daughter

Parents Rule!

Where my posts at?

Oh man, I'm one lazy blogger. I'm so sorry to the 2 people who read this. What a slacker baby I've become. I've got to get with it so you won't miss a minute of my all-so-interesting life. haha

So the decision has to be made - do I try to catch up? Or do I just start from here. I mean, we've had:

Basketball

Bergen Craziness

Open House and Living Wax Museum featuring Preston as Thomas Edison
dig that grey hair!!

and more Bergen craziness

Start of Baseball


kid pitch ain't for sissys

Busy 1st quarter. Lots going on. I'll try to not be a stranger. I have to remember, this is my scrapbook (since I'm not a crafty gal). Gotta get these memories down!

Life's Handbook for 2011

I swiped this from a friend of Facebook. On this first week of the year, I'm going to let this be my guide. I was going to make a list of resolutions, but I haven't gotten a chance to. And oddly enough, "quit procrastinating" was going to be on the list. Yeah......

Here's my guide for 2011 - swiped from Mark, and tweaked a little bit. I promise to show up more often around here. It's been a wicked, wicked few months, but we've been all Gloria Gaynor and survived. Time to look forward. Get back to it. 2011 is gonna be great.

Health:

1. Drink plenty of water.

2. Eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince and dinner like a beggar.

3. Eat more foods that grow on trees and plants and eat less food that is manufactured in plants..

4. Live with the 3 E's -- Energy, Enthusiasm and Empathy

5. Make time to pray and read the Bible.

6. Play more games.

7. Read more books than you did in 2010 .

8. Sit in silence for at least 10 minutes each day.

9. Sleep for 7 hours.

10. Take a 10-30 minutes’ walk daily. And while you walk, smile.

Personality:

11. Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what their journey is all about.

12. Don't have negative thoughts or things you cannot control. Instead invest your energy in the positive present moment.

13. Don't overdo. Keep your limits.

14. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.

15. Don't waste your precious energy on gossip.

16. Dream more while you are awake.

17. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need..

18. Forget issues of the past. Don't remind your partner with His/her mistakes of the past. That will ruin your present happiness.

19. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone. Don't hate others.

20. Make peace with your past so it won't spoil the present.

21. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.

22. Realize that life is a school and you are here to learn. Problems are simply part of the curriculum that appear and fade away like algebra class but the lessons you learn will last a lifetime.

23. Smile and laugh more.

24. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree...

Society:

25. Call your family often.

26. Each day give something good to others.

27. Forgive everyone for everything..

28. Spend time w/ people over the age of 70 & under the age of 6.

29. Try to make at least three people smile each day.

30. What other people think of you is none of your business.

31. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends will. Stay in touch.

Life:

32. Do the right thing!

33. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.

34. GOD heals everything.

35. However good or bad a situation is, it will change..

36. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.

37. The best is yet to come..

38. When you awake alive in the morning, thank GOD for it.

39. Your Inner most is always happy. So, be happy.

Last but not the least:

40. Show up to my blog more often.

Happy New Year folks - God bless you and your families this year.