We Have A New Member Of The Family

His name is Jack. He really is like a part of the family now. the kids instantly fell in love with him and despite his awkwardness...He is quite cute! 

this is Jack (named after Nightmare before Christmas) and we were very luck to have found him when we did. i had been searching for a skeleton model for a month or so and couldn't find one in the condition i wanted for under $250. we paid $80 for jack and thats a great price!!! others i saw for $250 and up and most of those were a plastic that weighed maybe 14lbs and not that realistic. Jack weights about 35 to 40lbs and is about 5ft 7in tall. his "bones" have a really realistic texture to them which is great. why did i get Jack? well I've been slowly collecting items for the kids for their Homeschooling. since were doing a Montessori curriculum i wanted an actual skeleton model so they could touch and really envision what there insides look like. no poster or book will do that for them. 

We Have A Surprise To Tell Every One....Here We Go Again!!!

so a couple blogs ago i told you all how nathan wrote "Marry Me?" in the sand when we were at the beach and right when i started getting all excited he told me "just kidding" i still think its hilarious. 

well what i didnt tell you is that just a week later while in oklahoma visiting Grandma and Grandpa he proposed again. but this time he meant it! 

nathan and i have told several people that we were engaged to be engaged. after you have kids its not really a surprise when marriage gets brought up (at least for us). we had the ring picked out and ordered before he actually proposed. i knew it was going to happen but it was just a matter of when. i never really pushed the subject cause we have been together so long, have already vowed our love to each other and I'm just not the type to need a ring or paper to prove anything to me. but nevertheless it was still exciting when it happened. 

well heres the ring! its really hard to see and get a good look. its a white gold ring with  1.5 ct. true emerald cut diamond center stone with a diamond frame around it. a bagget diamond on each side and then a diamond band. its not the original one that we had purchased but the original one had a flaw that i just couldnt stop obsessing about so we returned it to find out it was no longer made. so we got this one and i love it even more. i love the true emerald cuts. they dont have very many facets (sp?) so they dont sparkle as much but they have a very vintage feel to them which suits my personality perfectly!

dont expect a wedding anytime soon. with nathan in school it makes it difficult to plan a wedding. i feel married already and i would be perfectly happy just staying engaged forever and skipping the big hoopla. we had planned to do some engagement announcements and still may but as for now this is what you get lol. with my back issues, nathans school, my work and the three kids its been too hectic to even think about doing photos for announcements. but like i said it may still happen. knowing us they will prob be sent out a year from now, and wont be a big suprise since you all know already lol, unconventional i know but what else would you expect from such and unconventional family? btw if we do have a wedding dont expect that to be traditional either..... =)

What A Week!!

this past week has been eventful for sure. my beautiful sister got married thursday and a lot of the family from chicago came out for the big event. stupid me forgot my camera every day that we were with them so i have no pictures! I'm pretty bummed. anyways, the morning of the wedding as i was literally walking out the door to go get my nails done my back went out. i mean i could not get up, i crawled to the couch and laid there in pain. this pretty much sucked, especially since i was maid of honor. i asked my dad and mom if they had any sort of muscle relaxers or pain killers and of course they didn't. i called up another friend who had both so i borrowed some and took a couple. they worked, i was pretty loopy, felt drunk most of the night and walked down the isle in flip flops and purple nails but point being, i could walk down the isle and thats all that matters. the wedding was beautiful and I'm so happy for my sister and new brother in law. that saturday we also had to put our dog down who was seizing all day and night which also made us miss the family BBQ. we were very bummed since it was our families last day there but it is what it is and poor baby needed us more. its been pretty much down hill from there. ill be out of work for a month or more and i've been going to the chiropractor 5 days a week but we have been keeping our spirits high with lots of family time. nathan and the twins have taken such good care of me! I'm nursed back to health finally but I'm still out of work for a while. on a better note we have decided to drive back over to Alabama since my NaNa was diagnosed with cancer and then go over to oklahoma and visit Grandma and Grandpa. we'll be going going in a month or so, as soon as nathan is on summer break. were really excited and cant wait to see everyone again! well thats about all for now, nothing to excited =D

Random Pictures

as everyone knows, nathan, the kids and i went on a trip to Alabama to see some of my family. it was an amazing trip and we were all sad to go. nathan at one point was looking up tuition at the local collage lol. ive already posted several pictures but thought i would post a few more random shots.

heres ridge, early in the morning throwing pop rocks on the from porch of my aunts house. he loved these things and we must have gone through a dozen boxes! (sorry for the mess Aunt DeeDee) =D

i thought its was so cute when i saw Jazlynns fairy she colored! obviously she noticed the cultural difference between Az and Bama. 

when we went down to the coast to visit the beach i just had to do the cliche names in the sand thingy

this freaked me out. i was by the water playing with the kids and didnt realize nathan was writing a message himself. its says "marry me?" lol i freaked and he said "just kidding" lol hes such a freaking turd!!! and its completely something i would do so i though it was hilarious!

jazzy looking all grown up!!

jazzy eating her new favorite snack, boiled peanuts!

this is my NaNa (Grandma) she so funny!

 Ridge, Jazzy, Cj and Jayvin

Jazzy got so attached to cousin Savanah! im sure Jazzy drove her nuts but she was actually really good with her.

Savanah and Ridge rocking out!!

while we were there we drove an hour to Mississippi to the casinos. we actually went there for one of the MASSIVE buffets. between the 5 kids they went through no joke, 20 cups of jello. hey its sugar free!

bottoms up!

they are Jelloed out!!! the trip back to Bama

we also visited a kids science center. the kids has alot of fun running around and trying out all the attractions.

this attraction was the biggest hit. it was a shadow wall. you stand in front of the wall and a bright light flashes and then went you step away your shadow is left behind. i believe this one is CJ's shadow

and this one is mine and nathans

that would be me! the fun didnt just stop with the kids, us adults had a blast!!!

My New Tattoo In Progress!!!

I have been wanting a half sleeve since I was 18 years old (7years) but I’m not the type to do something so permanent like a tattoo without having it meaningful and perfect so I've held off. After I had the twins I knew I wanted the tattoo to revolve around them, but was still indecisive.

Two years ago I finally figured out what I wanted but then came the challenge of finding someone to do it. I wanted someone good, a perfectionist like me and someone who excelled in realistic type tattoos. Last month I found Chris. He use to own his own tattoo shop and has recently ventured out on his own to spend more time with his twin boys so he opened a private shop in Tempe. As soon as I saw his port I knew I wanted to use him so I made an appt right away. He stays booked for months in advanced but I got lucky with a cancelation. it took us 4 hours to do online research about everything I wanted to incorporate into my tat and then 8 hours to do all the outline and a lot of the color. My tattoo will need one more session, since I decided to go for something more realistic with lots of detail its been pretty time consuming. I love how patient and detail oriented he is.

The back ground of my tattoo is a cherry blossom tree. In japan the cherry blossom trees, called "sakura," and cherry blossom flowers themselves are held in the highest esteem. For thousands of years, the Japanese people have celebrated hanami annually. Hanami is basically parties organized to view blossoming cherry trees.

Originally, the purpose of hanami excursions was to ponder the transient nature of life, as the cherry blossom blooming season is so short. This concept ties in with Buddhist thinking about the nature of cherishing life because it’s so short lived. To me this also takes on an even deeper meaning. Since the tattoo is all about my kids, to me it means to cherish every moment you have with you children, love them, hug them, play with them because they grow up so quickly. 

I knew I wanted butterflies to represent the kids. I LOVE butterflies. they are all so unique in their own way.the butterflies life cycle is the most intence and time cosuming of any other creature, much like having a baby. Most/all  animals/insects either birth or lay eggs. A butterfly lays its eggs that then turn into caterpillars. The caterpillar then nestles itself into a cocoon till its ready to show the world its new found beauty, as a butterfly. This represents how my beautiful children came about. Its hard to imagine they started off as something so small, even before they were a fetus. It took me nine months to nourish and cuddle them before they were ready. When it came to that day I was blessed with something so incredibly beautiful, its really surreal.

 I decided to show the whole lifecycle within my tattoo. I have butterfly eggs which lye on a petal of the cherry tree, a caterpillar and a cocoon that also represents my my journey as a surrogate to Olivia. She did not get a butterfly since she ended up being another families little butterfly. =) and then 3 butterflies, one for each of the kids

the type of butterfly I chose is by far my favorite. It is so unique, beautiful and fun, it represents my babies perfectly. Its called an 88 butterfly or Diaethria clymena. they are the most exotic and mysterious butterflies that are considered natural treasures of the sub-tropical Amazon rainforest. The number 88 are seen in their wings and this comes naturally. Instead of the original 88 that is seen in its wings I put the birth years of my kiddoes, so 06, 06 and 08.

heres the outline of it all before we started coloring it.

it is still a work in progress. we have to finish the rest of the color and then im doing some background shading with greens, purples and blues(you can get an idea of it if you look at the big flower). thats Ridges 08 (88) butterfly on the very top

you can also see the 88 butterflies cocoon close to my arm pit

 lots more work to do

heres the 88 butterfly caterpillar. i love his pose

i have one more session to do. it will prob take another 8 hours and then i should be done. ill be sure to post pics with the finished product.