Tonight I became aware of a maid-service contest at http://www.bidmycleaning.com

If I win I will get maid service for 1 year!!!  And so of course that gets me to post!!

Yeah BidMyCleaning.com Pick Me! Pick Me!

BidMyCleaning.com has a mission to be the first choice among customers seeking cleaning services.  They are doing this by:

1. Providing Value to Our Customers
   Our website will be effective, efficient and user friendly and will allow our customers to find and schedule cleaning services which meet their specific needs 24/7. We will strive to ensure that every customer is 100% satisfied at all times.
2. Providing Value to Service Providers
   We choose to work with service providers who reflect the BidMyCleaning values and standards and because we expect them to provide professional, reliable and quality service to our customers we promise to provide the same to them. We promise to provide innovative solutions to help them grow and manage their business.
3. Honoring our Commitments to each other and to our planet
   We commit to being a collaborative team that constantly seeks ways to improve our service, create innovative extensions to our website which will enrich our service and to do whatever we can to be responsible citizens of planet earth.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year filled with many blessings and worthwhile moments.

Aaron (4) Jonah (20 months)

Josh came home the day before Mother’s Day with my favorite flower, yellow roses. And Mother’s Day I got a sweet card from him and Aaron. We had a great day at church and spending time with the family. Josh and I even had a little time of being creative with lavender. And then we topped off the day with an evening at the Kruthoff’s.

Kevin and Sarah, our wonderful friends that we met at Emmaus,had their anniversary so we had a chance to hang out with Kyri by herself We decided since it was a nice day we would get outside and wash the cars and let Kyri and Aaron use the super soakers. She is so girlie it took a little convincing to get her to be part of the fun, but she eventually found her place. After dinner, we headed off to bath, boy did they think that was fun!!

April 10, 2008 was not a real exciting day for Jonah as he was struggling with sore gums, but we had a little celebration for him at Josh’s dad’s home with some cupcakes and pizza. Grandma Unfried and some friends joined us in the celebration.

When we got home from Bakersfield we celebrated with a few more friends and family…. Still no teeth but that didn’t hold back his ’sweet tooth.’He had fun eating frosting, opening presents, and playing with his friends and family.

Josh’s dad (Grandpa) offered to take us to Disneyland and we were so excited to experience it with the boys! We stayed at a hotel close to Disneyland and took two full days to do as much as we could possibly fit in. The first day we spent with Grandpa shooting bad guys, watching parades, and eating lots of sugar! The second day we spent with our cousin Jamie and her two little ones Fin and Mady, shooting bad guys, watching the Mickey Mouse Club House show as well as the Disney parade, and eating lots of sugar!! What a special time we had with Grandpa and our Cousin – Thank you Grandpa!!!!

I told Aaron that when Jonah’s birthday came – in April – my back would be better and we would be able to go to Disneyland. We had Josh’s Point Loma Alumni Meeting the first weekend in April, my neurosurgeon said that I would be able to pick up Jonah in April, and Josh’s dad had offered to take us when we could go, so we figured that would be perfect timing.

We headed off to Bakersfield Wed. night, spent two nights at his dad’s house and then Friday morning drove down to San Diego. Since I hadn’t been used to taking care of both kids by myself, I was a little concerned of how I would take care of both of them while Josh was in meetings. We decided to call Moriah, my cousin’s little girl who lives in Carlsbad, to have her come with us and help me while we stayed in San Diego.

We stayed at Humphry’s on Shelter Island Drive. It was a great room! We upgraded to a bigger room since we had Moriah with us and then the hotel upgraded us when we got there to their biggest room. The only bummer was that we were only there for 1 night We went to Miguels that night for dinner and then had a great breakfast at the Humphry’s restaurant that next morning, followed by some fun at the park… Jonah’s first time in the sand!

After playing around at the park we picked up Daddy and headed to Carlsbad to see my Grandma and take Moriah home. I has been quite a while since we had seen Grandma Dabney and she wasn’t feeling to well, so we were looking forward to the visit.

After our visit with Grandma we headed to San Clemente to visit our cousins Jamie and Ryan Moore and their two sweet kids Fin and Mady. We had fun just hanging out with them and going to the beach.

This holiday season has been a little different for us. November I pretty much became unable to care for Jonah and Aaron because of sciatic nerve pain that resulted from 2 herniated discs. I had back surgery Dec. 8th and from then on Josh became Mr. Mom and everyone else around us did what they could to help us through this season. We are so grateful for our family and our community that has helped us (and continues to help us) through this season. Meals, childcare, prayers….. We are all really looking forward to April when I should be back to normal.

Early December we started to question if Josh would be up to decorating the house this season. Amongst all the things that he was juggling between starting a new company (MomFaves.com …… Yeah!!!) and taking care of his wife and kids he let me know that maybe this year we wouldn’t have Christmas decorations or tree. Between my vicodin induced emotional state and our 3 year old son mentioning that his cousin NaNa had a Christmas tree he decided that he would take Aaron to get a Tree. Josh was so glad he made that decision what a special time they had.

We had a great Christmas at home. Grammy, who has been living with us to help during this time, was here and got the day started with our favorite pancakes (Martha Stewarts Buttermilk Pancakes). Aaron and Jonah opened their gifts from Mommy, Daddy, Santa and Grammy. It was so fun to see Aaron in the morning and the wonder in his eyes when he saw his “Christmas Table” had been assemble by Santa and the gifts that were left for him. We had a relaxing day at home and then finished with a Christmas celebration at Troy and Melissa’s with Prime Rib, Butter Rolls, and Peppermint Cake and Ice Cream.

The day after Christmas Grandpa and Great Grandma came to visit and stay for the week to help with the kids. We had a great time with them. Grandpa brought a special gift for me: the Professional HD Kitchen Aide Mixer!!! I made my first homemade Angel Food Cake that next day. This was Great Grandma’s 2nd week that she had come to stay with us since my back surgery, what a blessing it was to us all. She had some very special times connecting with both Aaron and Jonah (Jonah’s 1st Christmas).

That weekend Uncle Miah and his girlfriend Barbie came to visit. We had a good time visiting and getting to know Barbie better.

For our 9 year anniversary we took the kids to Tahoe for the weekend and had a blast!

 

 

 

Aaron’s first “real” swim…

More Lake Tahoe – Squaw Valley Pic’s

Here’s some pics from a recent trip to Discovery Kingdom (Marine World). Beautiful weather and happy 2yr old made for a great day!

A Wanted Cowboy

 

 Jonah and Mommy