Logan and Jude will be singing some christmas carols for you, that I hope to be able to post for you (if they're feeling cooperative). Here's the first two, Joy to the world, and Silent night. There's a bit of background noise and confusion, but I still thought it was cute and didn't want to make them do it again. Hope you're having a great Christmas season!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUEYGeH24tw
http://www.youtube.com/user/abigailepstein84#p/a/u/1/9aAJY3mzwhA
Sunday, December 20, 2009
Friday, December 18, 2009
Calendar pics 3
And there's more, but it's late, I'm tired, and you're probably tired of too many pics by now. Luv yas!
Calendar pics
We did a couple photo shoots to put together a calendar for mom's birthday, and now that she's got it, we can share the pics with you.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Logan's school winter concert
The school had a winter "concert" for the Kindergarten classes, where they recited poems and sang songs. It was nice to see how he does with his classmates, he seemed to have a lot of friends and get along very well with others, especially the girls. :p If you notice the gap in his teeth, he just lost his first tooth a few days before as well.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnXGK_mGNc8
I think that link should bring you to the video, if I did this right.
Handsome boy
His class and teacher, Mrs. Lisa Sproul
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KnXGK_mGNc8
I think that link should bring you to the video, if I did this right.
Handsome boy
His class and teacher, Mrs. Lisa Sproul
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Christmas Parade
The lovely Christmas wish and the kids were performing at the Markham Santa Clause parade, so we took the kids to watch and cheer. They had a great time and the performers...gosh...they were just so darn cute. I didn't get many pictures cuz I'm sure Marianne got lots more on her bigger better camera. so there's just a few here, I'm sure there'll be more pics up on her blog in a day or two.
Robin and Jude playing ZAP
La Bella
La Bella e Il HandsomeO
Robin and Jude playing ZAP
La Bella
La Bella e Il HandsomeO
I'm so happy!
I got my Christmas present early, and it's very exciting for me! Lately when I've been looking for recipes, all these slow cooker recipes have been staring me in the face, so when Steve brought this home last night, I was just about the happiest little oyster in the world. Used it for the first time today, made some pulled pork (pork slow cooked in barbecue sauce, till it's super soft and pulls apart and you eat it on toast, more or less) and it was pretty darn tasty, even Steve thought so. I'm greatly looking forward to many happy times together (the crock pot and I that is...well, actually...Steve and I as well).
Monday, November 16, 2009
Logan's Writings
Logan's latest craze is writing random things on a paper...he brought this one to me yesterday...hmmmmm...questionable is what I say.
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Some Halloween Pics
"I'm NOT the only one. RRRRRawwww.
In case you couldn't figure, I was supposed to be Audrey Hepburn from Breakfast at Tiffany's, kinda not so much working out to do that fancy updo with no hair...that was a bit of a problem...but some people guessed it anyway. Steve was Zorro, he was not so much into the whole dress-up thing, but Joe had an extra costume so...
Friday, October 23, 2009
Short thought
Here's a little something I found interesting, from a book I'm reading, The Success Principles, by Jack Canfield.
"Guilt happens when you think words such as should, must, ought to, or have to. Here are some examples: I ought to spend more time studying for my bar exam...I should spend more time at home with my kids...I have to exercise more. As soon as we feel like we should do something, we create an internal resistance to doing it.
You will be more effective if you replace guilt-tripping with phrases such as I want to...It supports my goals to...It would be smart to...It's in my best interest to... Guilt is never productive. It will stand in the way of acheiving your foals. So get rid of this emotional barrier to success."
"Guilt happens when you think words such as should, must, ought to, or have to. Here are some examples: I ought to spend more time studying for my bar exam...I should spend more time at home with my kids...I have to exercise more. As soon as we feel like we should do something, we create an internal resistance to doing it.
You will be more effective if you replace guilt-tripping with phrases such as I want to...It supports my goals to...It would be smart to...It's in my best interest to... Guilt is never productive. It will stand in the way of acheiving your foals. So get rid of this emotional barrier to success."
Friday, October 16, 2009
I think this is totally handy
http://foodblogsearch.com/
A lot of times I find I prefer recipes from food blogs as opposed to recipe sites. I don't know, they just seem more interesting that way, but it's hard to go to each food blog and check out if they have something like what you're looking for, so I think this is just about one of the handiest tools ever.
A lot of times I find I prefer recipes from food blogs as opposed to recipe sites. I don't know, they just seem more interesting that way, but it's hard to go to each food blog and check out if they have something like what you're looking for, so I think this is just about one of the handiest tools ever.
Thursday, October 8, 2009
#4 (Slightly shortened)
Mental Toughness Secret #4
Champions are driven by emotional motivators.
The masses are primarily motivated by extrinsic motivators such as material possessions and money.
The world class is motivated intrinsically, by their dreams, desires, and passions.
External motivation is short lived, while internal motivation is nearly impossible to exhaust until the goal is achieved.
World class leaders know the secret to motivating themselves and others is discovering what they will fight for when the going gets tough.
The great ones move from logic based motivators to emotion based motivators. They know the key to finding the true power of the individual lies in the deep recesses of the psyche.
When a performer begins to experience physical or emotional pain in the heat of battle, the brain, whose primary role is self preservation, asks the question: Why must I suffer? The champion while answer the question with a vision they have carefully constructed, and they will continue to fight. Since the masses lack this mental clarity and have no reason to suffer, they quit as soon as the pain kicks in.
Developing a world class vision is the secret to world class motivation.
Action:
Ask yourself these 5 critical thinking questions:
1. What am I willing to fight for?
2. What values do I hold dearest to my heart?
3. What values would I be willing to die for?
4. If I could achieve a single thing, what would my all my hard work worth the struggle?
5. If I had 30 seconds left to live, what would I tell my children are the 3 most important things about how to live a happy life.
Your answers to these questions will tell you a lot about what drives you emotionally.
Champions are driven by emotional motivators.
The masses are primarily motivated by extrinsic motivators such as material possessions and money.
The world class is motivated intrinsically, by their dreams, desires, and passions.
External motivation is short lived, while internal motivation is nearly impossible to exhaust until the goal is achieved.
World class leaders know the secret to motivating themselves and others is discovering what they will fight for when the going gets tough.
The great ones move from logic based motivators to emotion based motivators. They know the key to finding the true power of the individual lies in the deep recesses of the psyche.
When a performer begins to experience physical or emotional pain in the heat of battle, the brain, whose primary role is self preservation, asks the question: Why must I suffer? The champion while answer the question with a vision they have carefully constructed, and they will continue to fight. Since the masses lack this mental clarity and have no reason to suffer, they quit as soon as the pain kicks in.
Developing a world class vision is the secret to world class motivation.
Action:
Ask yourself these 5 critical thinking questions:
1. What am I willing to fight for?
2. What values do I hold dearest to my heart?
3. What values would I be willing to die for?
4. If I could achieve a single thing, what would my all my hard work worth the struggle?
5. If I had 30 seconds left to live, what would I tell my children are the 3 most important things about how to live a happy life.
Your answers to these questions will tell you a lot about what drives you emotionally.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Happy Birthday to my dear brother
Isn't this just absolutely gorgeous? I love this pic, and I love you Joe!
More Mental Toughness
I decided not to type out the whole thing, and just put the one-liner and the action step. And yes, #2 would seem to come after 1 and before 3, but it didn't seem so relevant so I skipped it.
Mental Toughness Secret #3
Champions have an immense capacity for sustained concentration.
Action:
Write down the single most important goal you want to achieve in the next 12 months and make a commitment to concentrate on achieving it no matter what it takes.
Mental Toughness Secret #3
Champions have an immense capacity for sustained concentration.
Action:
Write down the single most important goal you want to achieve in the next 12 months and make a commitment to concentrate on achieving it no matter what it takes.
Monday, September 28, 2009
Intense cuteness
I just have to put some of these pics up of Jude, he's so dramatic and full of expression, just completely gorgeous and beautiful and hilarious, I love him to pieces!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Logan's first day of school
Logan had his first day at kindergarten last Thursday. He'll be going two days a week, Tuesdays and Thursdays and once or twice a month on Fridays. It's the same school where Mikey goes, so they get to take the bus together.
The teacher assessed his reading and said he's reading at a mid to late 1st grade level. I'm very excited about this, I think he's gonna do great!
Ready to leave the house
Waiting for the bus
Off he goes
When he got off the bus at the end of the school day, he came and gave me this huge hug for like 2 whole minutes, it was so precious. He loves it though, always saying things like "I can't wait till Tuesday", or "Can I go to school every day?".
Jude by the lake, we got to take a walk to the park and lake together. It'll be nice to have a little more time to spend with the babies, poor middle child Jude has been slightly attention deficient.
The teacher assessed his reading and said he's reading at a mid to late 1st grade level. I'm very excited about this, I think he's gonna do great!
Ready to leave the house
Waiting for the bus
Off he goes
When he got off the bus at the end of the school day, he came and gave me this huge hug for like 2 whole minutes, it was so precious. He loves it though, always saying things like "I can't wait till Tuesday", or "Can I go to school every day?".
Jude by the lake, we got to take a walk to the park and lake together. It'll be nice to have a little more time to spend with the babies, poor middle child Jude has been slightly attention deficient.
177 Mental Toughness Secrets of the World Class
by Steve Siebold
--The thought processes, habits, and philosophies of the great ones.
My hopeful plan is to be able to post one of these every day or so. Obviously I haven't mastered these yet, but I plan to, and for anyone else who finds it helpful or interesting...hope you enjoy. From what I've heard of this book so far, it's pretty tough stuff.
World Class Secret #1
The World Class operates from objective reality.
In 20 years of competing, coaching, and working with performers from various fields, I've discovered most amateurs suffer from mild to severe delusion in relation to their efforts and competencies. In other words, most people delude themselves into thinking they are working harder than they are, and that they're more competent than they actually are.
Of the five major levels of conscious awareness, which are poverty, working, middle, upper, and world class, my experience has been that performers of the middle class levels of consciousness suffer the grandest delusions. The poverty level is barely surviving and living in a very harsh set of circumstances. The working class is punching a mental time clock and counting the days until retirement. They're usually not expecting much, and no one around them expects much either. They're typically not concerned about climbing any higher. It's the middle class that is most incongruent with reality. They're operating at a high enough level of awareness to understand that higher levels exist. Although they don't expect to get there, the thought crosses their minds from time to time. Because of their low expectations, their actions are incongruent with their desires. In other words, they want to live the life of the world class, but are unwilling to pay the price. Since this reality is too harsh to bear, they delude themselves into thinking they're doing everything in their power to get ahead. Of course, they're not. They'll tell you they're putting in far more time than they are. They'll swear they're thinking about their vision all the time...but they're not.
The World Class is brutally honest with themselves. And they tend to look reality in the face. They err on the side of over practicing and over preparing.
Champions know that to ascend to the top you must first be operating from the mindset of objective reality. Self deception and delusion have no place in the professional performer's consciousness.
Action Step:
Make a commitment to check delusion at the door. Be honest and ask this critical thinking question: Are my habits, actions, and behaviors congruent with the vision I have for my life?
Thanks it for today. BTW...I have this on audio book, not paper book, so I hope it's of some benefit after all my transcribing work. In any case, it'll be good typing practice I guess, and maybe it'll help me get it more ingrained.
--The thought processes, habits, and philosophies of the great ones.
My hopeful plan is to be able to post one of these every day or so. Obviously I haven't mastered these yet, but I plan to, and for anyone else who finds it helpful or interesting...hope you enjoy. From what I've heard of this book so far, it's pretty tough stuff.
World Class Secret #1
The World Class operates from objective reality.
In 20 years of competing, coaching, and working with performers from various fields, I've discovered most amateurs suffer from mild to severe delusion in relation to their efforts and competencies. In other words, most people delude themselves into thinking they are working harder than they are, and that they're more competent than they actually are.
Of the five major levels of conscious awareness, which are poverty, working, middle, upper, and world class, my experience has been that performers of the middle class levels of consciousness suffer the grandest delusions. The poverty level is barely surviving and living in a very harsh set of circumstances. The working class is punching a mental time clock and counting the days until retirement. They're usually not expecting much, and no one around them expects much either. They're typically not concerned about climbing any higher. It's the middle class that is most incongruent with reality. They're operating at a high enough level of awareness to understand that higher levels exist. Although they don't expect to get there, the thought crosses their minds from time to time. Because of their low expectations, their actions are incongruent with their desires. In other words, they want to live the life of the world class, but are unwilling to pay the price. Since this reality is too harsh to bear, they delude themselves into thinking they're doing everything in their power to get ahead. Of course, they're not. They'll tell you they're putting in far more time than they are. They'll swear they're thinking about their vision all the time...but they're not.
The World Class is brutally honest with themselves. And they tend to look reality in the face. They err on the side of over practicing and over preparing.
Champions know that to ascend to the top you must first be operating from the mindset of objective reality. Self deception and delusion have no place in the professional performer's consciousness.
Action Step:
Make a commitment to check delusion at the door. Be honest and ask this critical thinking question: Are my habits, actions, and behaviors congruent with the vision I have for my life?
Thanks it for today. BTW...I have this on audio book, not paper book, so I hope it's of some benefit after all my transcribing work. In any case, it'll be good typing practice I guess, and maybe it'll help me get it more ingrained.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Happy 1st Birthday Joella Bella
My computer is still messing up, but here's a few pics of baby's 1st birthday party I managed to snag from someone else's facebook album.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Love is the sweetest thing
Walking outside with Jude, he picks two flowers:
"Mom, I love you, and I love me, but I love you more. Here mom, this flower is for you."
Ahhh...If you could just hear his little voice, it's the cutest thing ever.
"Mom, I love you, and I love me, but I love you more. Here mom, this flower is for you."
Ahhh...If you could just hear his little voice, it's the cutest thing ever.
Our computer is sick!
Somehow there's some sort of virus I think that makes Windows Explorer or whatever program I try to use shut down any time I try to access my photo folder, amongst other things, so I haven't been able to upload any of the recent pictures or video clips of the beautiful one taking first steps, Sniff. Hopefully we can fix it soon.
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Another recipe
I came across this one the other day, it's not amazingly outstanding, but it did have just about everything I could want in a recipe.
-Simple and easy to make, not too much time involved
-Relatively healthful and not too much fat
-Easy inexpensive ingredients
-And as a bonus, pretty tasty too
http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2008/06/crash-hot-potatoes/
Found it on this blog, which apparently was awarded the best food blog of 2008 title, from some blog awards somewhere....yada yada...mostly irrelevant. I'd love to know where the author finds the time to homeschool, cook for the hungry cowboys on the ranch, whilst taking amazing photos of the food at each step of the process, and keep up with the writing and running her blog.
Maybe someday...when I get my own cowboy ranch. Until then...XXX
Monday, August 31, 2009
Miss these cuties!
It was great having Joe and Angie here for a week of splashing in the pool with the kids and great nights of poker. Just wish they could have been here longer. Love and miss you guys!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Discovery
Make your own microwave popcorn:
1/4 popping corn in a paper sandwich bag, fold over the edges of the bag to keep the steam in, microwave on high for 2 - 2 1/2 minutes, salt and butter, or not if you're trying to be very fat free, and there you have your own burnt-pot-free, slightly healthy popcorn. I was pretty excited about this, tho I don't necessarily expect you to share my joy...well, maybe just my mom. :D
1/4 popping corn in a paper sandwich bag, fold over the edges of the bag to keep the steam in, microwave on high for 2 - 2 1/2 minutes, salt and butter, or not if you're trying to be very fat free, and there you have your own burnt-pot-free, slightly healthy popcorn. I was pretty excited about this, tho I don't necessarily expect you to share my joy...well, maybe just my mom. :D
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Pics of the new place
The nicely fenced front yard...perfect for a soccer field
Our lake and dock view out back
The pool that we've been enjoying immensely
Our lake and dock view out back
The pool that we've been enjoying immensely
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