eight years.

eric and i went to the cheesecake factory in brea, ca. to celebrate our 8 year anniversary. hard to believe time has flown by that quickly.
i love him more and more each day. and i learn about love more and more each day.
i am thankful God gave me him. :)

eight. 1/6/01.... year after year. forever.

1st field trip.

centennial farm. Irvine, ca.
oh boy, was caelan excited. the bus ride was the most exciting thing apparently because, "it was just so cool that no one had seat belts," she commented.
i wasn't able to go on the field trip. which was such a bummer but caelans little friend had her mom along so she took some pic. :)










here are some other pix from the same mom... from their Christmas party.

circuit city is closing!

this article was found on yahoo. also i have made the transfer of all the links to check out the other related articles, so note the links in the article to see proof of all of this...
hope you snatch up something good. i am certain we will go check it out! but of course we wont be buying any big ticket items but movies and such are a good thing.... i dream of a laptop... oh well, i'll keep dreaming! :) good luck if you go! but note the info below if purchasing. :)
-megs


"The troubled 60-year-old electronics chain tried its best to survive bankruptcy, but to no avail; now, it will liquidate its merchandise and close all 567 remaining stores.Bloomberg reports that Circuit City Stores Inc. has hired a quartet of liquidators to sell off its existing merchandise, pending a green light from the courts. If everything goes according to plan, the fire sale will start Saturday and continue through the end of March, according to CNNMoney.com.

And unfortunately for Circuit City's 30,000+ employees, unemployment awaits.

The biggest consumer tech chain in the U.S. besides Best Buy, Circuit City filed for bankruptcy protection back in November. As Bloomberg notes, the struggling company had been looking for a buyer as late as Thursday, but failed to find any takers.

Of course, news of the Circuit City liquidation sale will draw plenty of bargain hunters, but (as I've blogged before), buyer beware.

Typically, closeout sales are final: no refunds or exchanges, so think twice before snapping up a big-ticket item like an HDTV. Also, keep in mind that closeout prices often aren't as rock-bottom low as you'd think; make sure to comparison shop online, and don't be fooled by big "75% OFF!" signs on items that have been marked up.

Finally ... a deep bow to Circuit City in general, where I've spent countless hours of browsing (and drooling)—and if nothing else, when it comes to tech retailers, less competition is never a good thing."

Update: Many of you are wondering what happens to the extended warranties you bought from Circuit City. I have an e-mail in to Circuit City's public relations department and will let you know as soon as I hear back. In the meantime, here's some general info straight from the Better Business Bureau:

The validity of any outstanding warranties varies for each bankruptcy. If a retailer goes out of business, the consumer may be able to rely on the manufacturer’s warranty. If a manufacturer goes out of business, the consumer may be able to rely on any warranties provided by the retailer. Many extended warranties and service plans are provided and administered by third parties and are typically not affected by a retailer or manufacturer going bust.

So ... potentially good news. Anyone out there have their Circuit City extended warranty paperwork handy? If so, let us know the details.

comic relief

today was a rugged day. riley had a bad night last night, resulting in falling asleep at 3:30 in the morning. she just cried and carried on all night until i gave her tylenol again and she fell asleep talking to me....

anyhow, that's not what the post is about, although the reason that this comic relief moment was valued so much!

i was blow drying caelans hair tonite. after finishing, she said,

"hey mom. its martin luther kings birthday ya know... and did you know that martin luther king was a peace lovin' man ya know."

i cracked up. i so treasure moments like these. if i could only grab a computer and start typing all of the amazing things they come up with, life would be sweet and it would make for one great story book. it is my goal for 2009 to try and type more of these conversations so that one day they can look back and laugh just as we did. :)


--------------
good way to end the day since today caelan was totally totally bummed out..... but, tonite she's been in great spirits!

she was sat in 'the' time-out chair at school today. 2nd time the whole year. first time, she ran under the table when the teacher was trying to talk to her, she was embarrassed- later we cleared that up since the teacher had thought she was being defiant.... today, she was running in the classroom. goodness, now, is that so bad? :) rules are rules. guess we could have worse problems :)

riley

riley rae....

we are pursing allergy testing. she has so many symptoms of allergies and she has been really sick for the past 3 months. wheezing, congestion, etc. and we have tried 3 different antibiotics and over the counter meds like no tomorrow. it is so sad watching her struggle with this. steam baths three times a day most days and lots of tears and frustration on her part and for us too.

other than that, her thumb nail is pretty much all grown back! :) this is exciting because it has been so sore while there was not one and it seems like it has taken forever to grow back.

therapy begins again this morning. she has been off break since dec 19th... long time to be off. i am anxious to get her going again on her exercises because she has had so much more trouble with her speech since being out of school. hopefully she'll 'get it' again quick.

anyhow, off to take her to school.
have a good Monday.
windy here. very windy. guess the yard work will have to wait till tomorrow.

by the way we are still producing strawberries in our yard. California is all screwed up. things grow when they shouldn't. :) well, we enjoy them, so that's the good part! but funny when tulips are coming up around the strawberries and we all know tulips bloom in the spring and last time i checked we were in winter! :)

~ the story about the 'thumb'.....
caelan and riley were getting out of my car and riley was holding the sides of the van to step out and caelan had closed the drivers side door and rileys thumb was caught in the door. saddest part was i ad taken things in the house and the car doors were already locked... so caelan had to run in and ask me to unlock the door to get rileys finger out :( so sad. it was an accident of course... but man, horrible. it was purple in a matter of minutes... odd thing was she didn't cry too bad until the thumb was out of the door... maybe the shock of it all....~

caelan

so tell me how i became a mother of a 5 and a half year old and a 3 and a half year old, so fast. things have moved so fast the past 5 years. life really speeds up when you have kids!

well, caelan has two loose teeth. the bottom middle two. this is blowing my mind. i cant believe she is loosing teeth. i remember what a horrible time she had getting all of her teeth as a baby and now she is loosing them. crazy that we've hit that point in her life.

we'll keep ya posted. maybe this week we will have a big girl with two less teeth.~

monday morning thought.

i was sent this through an email from lonna... it really touched me. made me think a little and put things into perspective.
***this has been cut-copied and pasted from my email :) ***

Breakfast at McDonald's

This is a good story and is true, please read it all the way through until the end!

I am a mother of three (ages 14, 12, 3) and have recently completed my college degree.

The last class I had to take was Sociology.

The teacher was absolutely inspiring with the qualities that I wish every human being had been graced with.

Her last project of the term was called, 'Smile.'

The class was asked to go out and smile at three people and document their reactions.

I am a very friendly person and always smile at everyone and say hello anyway. So, I thought this would be a piece of cake,
literally.
Soon after we were assigned the project, my husband, youngest son, and I went out to McDonald's one crisp March morning.
It was just our way of sharing special playtime with our son.

We were standing in line, waiting to be served, when all of a sudden everyone around us began to back away, and then

even my husband did.

I did not move an inch... an overwhelming feeling of panic welled up inside of me as I turned to see why they had moved.
As I turned around I smelled a horrible 'dirty body' smell, and there standing behind me were two poor homeless men.

As I looked down at the short gentleman, close to me, he was 'smiling'
His beautiful sky blue eyes were full of God's Light as he searched for acceptance
He said, 'Good day' as he counted the few coins he had been clutching.
The second man fumbled with his hands as he stood behind his friend. I realized the second man was mentally challenged and the blue-eyed gentleman was his salvation.
I held my tears as I stood there with them.
The young lady at the counter asked him what they wanted.

He said, 'Coffee is all Miss' because that was all they could afford. (If they wanted to sit in the restaurant and warm up, they had to buy something. He just wanted to be warm).
Then I really felt it - the compulsion was so great I almost reached out and embraced the little man with the blue eyes.
That is when I noticed all eyes in the
restaurant were set on me, judging
my every action.
I smiled and asked the young lady behind the counter to give me two more breakfast meals on a separate tray.
I then walked around the corner to the table that the men had chosen as a resting spot. I put the tray on the table and laid my hand on the blue-eyed gentleman's cold hand.

He looked up at me, with tears in his eyes, and said, 'Thank you.'

I leaned over, began to pat his hand and said, 'I did not do this for you. God is here working through me to give you hope.'

I started to cry as I walked away to join my husband and son. When I sat down my husband smiled at me and said, 'That is why God gave you to me, Honey, to give me hope..'

We held hands for a moment and at that time, we knew that only because of the Grace that we had been given were we able to give.

We are not church goers, but we are believers.

That day showed me the pure Light of God's sweet love.

I returned to college, on the last evening of class, with this story in hand.

I turned in 'my project' and the instructor read it.

Then she looked up at me and said, 'Can I share this?'

I slowly nodded as she got the attention of the class.
She began to read and that is when I knew that we as human beings and being part of God share this need to heal people and to be healed.

In my own way I had touched the people at McDonald's, my son,the instructor, and every soul that shared the classroom on the last night I spent as a college student.

I graduated with one of the biggest lessons I would ever learn:

UNCONDITIONAL ACCEPTANCE.

Much love and compassion is sent to each and every person who may read this and learn how to

LOVE PEOPLE AND USE THINGS -

NOT LOVE THINGS AND USE PEOPLE.

Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart
To handle yourself, use your head..

To handle others, use your heart.

God Gives every bird it's food, but He does not throw it into its nest.

january 6th 2009.

january 1 we went to jason and kellis house.
january 2nd we took a little trip to big bear.
i will post all of this a bit later today, hopefully.

i just wanted to say,
i am grateful. grateful for 8 years of marriage.

hard to believe we were married January 6th 2001.... 8 years ago.... so excited to see how life has transformed. the roads we have taken to get to where we are. amazing. God is so good. amen.



(bummer i couldn't find the scanned in pix of the groomsmen. gosh i need a scanner for all these photos since digital wasn't the rage then. 35mm pix were! )

2008.

looking back at 2008.

there were good time and hard times, that comes with most years.
there were lessons we learned along the way, some good lessons and some hard lessons.
there was a lot of laughter and some tears.
there were many blessings. many.

as i sit and think about it, i don't dwell too much on the year when it comes to new years eve, i look ahead to the coming. it helps put things into perspective for me. looking back at the year for me can get overwhelming. i think about the things i could do better, the ways i can improve as a person. i look at new goals and ones i need to try and accomplish again.

looking ahead, trying to do things right. trying to make good decisions. doing what is best for my kids, Eric and myself.




some things i look upon:

• growing. letting God do crazy things and not asking Him to do things in our lives that we know are within our abilities or situations already, but looking outside of the little ideas and allowing Him to make us think BIGGER.

• i want to read the bible. this is something i haven't always done well. i have since learned about 'the message' it helps turn the bible into a devotional time and puts the words into simpler terms, which is something i have always needed. reading for me has always translated into looking at a bunch of words on a page.

• taking time to slow down and play with the kids. i get caught up in cleaning, organizing and my to do lists that i often allow the days to slip away.

• date nights! Eric and i need to plan date nights. we have been lousy at this. and we have committed to doing this each month. hey, ya gotta start small! then maybe we can do it twice a month.

• figuring out the whole India thing. as mentioned in a previous post in the past, i have a deep love for the people of India. god has placed this passion in my heart and this devotion to prayer for what God wants to do in my life through India. i will be going on a trip to India in the future, it was going to be in august but i talked to our pastor and i don't feel like it is just time yet. i need to be equipped, my heart and soul ready, and i need to spend time listening to God and following what ever it is about the whole India thing so that He can direct me. i have to dissect why i feel so passionate. i have to have a peace about when, and the timing has to be right, so i will probably go to India in 2010, but this year i will be getting ready for what ever it is i need to get ready for.... i hope that makes sense. it is hard to explain....

• MOPS. (mothers of pre-schoolers). through our church (yorba linda friends) i have been asked to help lead a group of women. I'm super excited but most of all honored to be asked to do this. i felt a deep calling in my life to do this last year but i just let it slide, so i am so thrilled to do it.
  

• on a lighter note, i look forward to working in the garden and our house. we are hopefully going to be doing our porch and/or picket fence this year, which has been a dream since who knows when, i know i was little. i love that traditional, warm and cozy feeling of a house with pretty flowers and a picket fence, a porch with a swing too! ;0) ..... we re-situated some things in the garden too. planning out the garden based on color. the whole front of the house will be red roses on one side, a garden of all white roses leading to the front door, and an orange-yellow rose garden going along the driveway. it should look neat when it is all blooming! I'm super excited.
  

• a trip to look forward to: hawaii!!! can't wait till kauaii. we leave august 10th and come home august 20th. we will be celebrating rileys birthday in hawaii and we will be meeting my uncle jan, aunt mayumi, and cousins kai and koe there as well which will be a-mazing.

• i look forward to expanding my business. i have a wedding booked for may 2nd and a few others that i have been addressed about, so we will see!

in a nut shell, it has resonated in me, that i need to focus on my abilities to grow more in my walk with God, read more, learn more... focus on taking care of my family. my friends. dedicating myself to my MOPS group. our small group (through RCC). learning more about India and what it means to me. my business.

i want to grow more. learn more. pray more. read more. love more. listen more. expand my life more.

who knows what will happen. sorry for the rambling. just though i would share some things in my life and in my head... we'll see what this year will bring. I'm excited to start a new year. fresh start. new beginning.

new years eve... at the lamberts!

we brought our 'gooey butter cookies' brownies and cupcakes!


it was a fondue party! it was so very cool. eric and i hadn't ever had fondue before, yeah i know we're living a little behind the times! :)
anyhow, everything was fondue, all the way down the menu to the dessert. it was yummy. i especially liked the chocolate fondue sauce with the fruit, dee-lish! :)

the night included some game time. we played two new games we hadn't played before, and we left the party wanting to go buy both they were such fun.

was one of the games, and the other was.
so cool. we had a blast and we laughed so much. when we got in the car, i said to Eric my face hurt from laughing so much and smiling. we had such a good time.

the girls had a blast. Kendra's dad, don, was there too and he played with the girls and watched movies with them. they all seemed to have had a good time! don even brought their dog, Wrigley and the kids were being chased up and down the stairs by him. even the dog was sleepy after all that!

the girls were up all night. we all found it hard to believe. they both rang in the new year with us! and the next morning they slept in till 8:30am, we would have loved later :) but as most of you know around here, we don't have kids that sleep in, or sleep well for that fact. they take after their mom. ;)

what a night. so much fun. thanks Matt and Kendra, we had a blast.

december 29. 2008 snow time - with friend time

eric took some friends up with him to mountain high to have some snow time before the new year. there was fresh snow so it was time to take advantage of that! erik, kyle kalma, and matt lambert all went (all the guys are in our small group). my eric said they had a blast, guess i will have to have him type up an entry for this blog! :)

christmas with the brewers

1st photo: kellen (julie and seans son) riley rae, caelan, elena and joshua (aunt vicky's kids)
2nd photo: christian (julie and seans kid) zachary and alexis (kristens kids) and madison (julie and seans kid)


every year, after Christmas, and before new years, we get together with eric's dads family. it was at Uncle Kip and the Sutton's house again this year.
well, like every year, we had a blast. we always have such a blast with this family. there are a lot of hilarious family members and the laughter is always continuous. it is one of the few times we ALL get together. there are so many of us to get together.
we also have dinner potluck style and end the night with a gift exchange, that, well, ya just don't know whatcha'll end up with, a white elephant gift or a "real" gift.
this year we made out like bandits! i got a 'coach' umbrella, which was snazzy and eric got a pier one candle set and a Starbucks card, so no white elephant gift in this house! :)
thanks to Uncle Kip and Julie for opening the house to all of us. :)







claire- our niece












tricia and her new fiance ryan! congratulations to them on getting engaged this holiday season!

yes this would be our daughter, walking along the outside of the trampoline! shes quite our stunt girl!