Looks strange huh?

I'm cleaning this blog up and actually getting ready to close it.
I have another blog that I would like you all to follow, if you are even following me on this one.

The new blog is more than time

http://morethantime.blogspot.com/

Hope you can join us.

Happy Birthday to my 5 year old!!!

I can't believe she is 5! That means I'm getting old! I would have thought that I would be settled by now with life and relationships and at least working on having a family unit, but it's just not happening. I would so wish for Laila to have a little brother or little sister, but I need to start dating someone and essentially get married, so that I will not have to do it all alone. I love being a MOM, but I would love even more to be someone's partner and we work together to raise OUR kids! Ok, I will stop now. I can't believe my daughter is 5 years old. Love you!!!

Vacation PICS!!!!!!!!

Yeah, like we have been on vacation for this whole month, don't I wish.

But first I would like to apologize for not posting anything for this whole month. I only have like 1 or 2 readers, but it's all good. I probably should have re-thought the timing of our vacation. As soon as I returned I had to work an extended weekend for the CMA Fest. It's a festival just for country music and it last for 4 days. They have a kick- off concert the day before, and the 3 days following there are free daytime concerts and ticketed night time concerts. This year my company decided to try something new and needed volunteers, so I pitched in. The following weekend my brother had a BBQ in honor of Father's Day so me and kiddo went over and hung out. There was lots and lots of meat, and lots of cake too!!! The weekend after Father's Day I planned Laila's b-day whose actual birthday isn't until July, but it's too close to Independence Day. So I have seriously been running around like a chicken with it's head cut off.
Oh and to add to all of this we have started to look for a new church, and so far no luck. There is no perfect church, but I would like a place that has a good youth ministry and good service and speaker. So I will keep praying and keep visiting until I find something.

Princess is Famous

I work in the tourism industry for my city, so we always get inside info from different attractions. One of our local attractions mentioned sending in photos of our trip, and if they liked them they would use them on their website or in the ads for whatever reason.
This picture made the cut! It's also in one of our local owned magazines for Parents! Even though you can't see her face, anyone who knows her can clearly tell who she is. I was so excited!

Happy Belated Mother's Day

This is to all the mother's who stay up late with their little ones when they are sick, or who have to stay by their baby's side in the hospital, or who plan for birthday parties three months in advance, or who make sure that just recognizing their birthday with a cake is on their to do list.
Or for the Mom's who have to do it alone with no Dad to help, even if he is away on business or wasn't there to begin with. For the Mom's who are sick, but have no choice but to feel better so they can take care of their kids.
For the Mom's who give their kids so much when they only have a little.
Being a Mother is about sacrificing.
Happy Mother's Day to all the Mom's who sacrifice a little to give their kids so much more.

Princess goes to the Ballet

I pride myself in exposing my child in cultural activites, not just events that help us understand different backgrounds and ethnicities, but CULTURE! You know arts, opera, ballet's, theatrical productions, symphony etc. I ended up getting us tickets to see Carmina Burana, and it was great. Just when we were both getting fidgety it was close to the end. I was so proud of her. She interacted with the music and movements, and really paid close attention to the dancers.

Easter came Early

Laila's godmother travels with her job. It seems like every other cities she is in she picks something up for her. On Monday we had a package with an Easter Card and a t-shirt. Laila loved the shirt so much she changed out of her pjs and put the shirt on with a skirt and her shoes. She looks really cute in it. See for yourself. The card was blank and came with stickers to decorate, and I used this as a time to have her talk more. I asked her which one? And she would tell me flower, or bug or hat. Again I am so proud of her.

Therapy Tuesday

I haven't had a therapy Tuesday post in a while. Maybe because we have therapy every other Tuesday now. I plan to now set aside the Tuesday's that we don't go to work with her at home for at least an hour. This past session, she did really well. She used expressive language appropriately, and requested items that she actually wanted. Normally if you ask her something she will just repeat you, and not tell you what she wants. This time they made a flower and she ate a couple of peeps, yuck! I hate peeps, but kids like them.
I am so proud of her!

Most Improved Pics

Most Improved

Laila has a purple ribbon for most improved from her school.
This is great especially with all the mess that she went through in the Fall. I really think she is going to start blossoming into a little intelligent, thoughtful, independent, Chatter box!
I took pictures, but I will just make a separate post for those.

Trip to Atlanta

The Carter Center

The Aquarium

The King Center

I have put off going to Atlanta for quite some time. I'm not sure why, but I just have. Finally we went. WE LOVED IT! WE will go back again soon. We ate at this place called the Real Chow Baby where you build your own Stir Fry. It was yummy! Forgot to take pictures of Laila trying to eat with chopsticks. She had the hang of it. We loved the aquarium, it was so nice.

Been on Vacation

Sorry guys, I have been on Spring Break!!!!!! I took lots and lots of pics, so I will upload them soon.

Whole Foods

I have to admit I have been wanting to join the organic bandwagon for some time, but it's too expensive. This weekend I bit the bullet and went to Whole Foods to ( gasp) actually buy stuff!! The last two times I went I ordered a smoothie and walked around. This time I went and I had already shopped for food at Wal- Mart so I decided I would get snack items. I bought cereal bars, boxed juice, bunny grahams(like teddy grahams), fruit leather, pop tarts, 2 boxes of tea, organic waffles, and something else and I think I spent 20 bucks. Not bad, I thought. But you guys the feeling I had when Laila wanted to eat and I gave her the organic cereal bar it was like whoa! I'm giving my kid the healthy alternative. But I really want to get away from relying on the market to have pre-packaged healthy stuff for my kid. I want to start making my own pop tarts and cereal bars and fruit leather. I guess it's a journey. It's so much information and recipes and tips now, that the time is right!

Here's to homemade snacks!!!!!

Update on Laila

I really wanted to take my time with this email, but I will make it short and sweet(in my usual manner). I realized that I have not talked about my child much. She is doing great! She started school in August of last year and everything was fine, at first. A month and a half into the school year she started getting bad reports home. We met and re worked her IEP. I walked away that day thinking everything would be fine. At first it was just problems in class, then it trickled over to After Care. It got to the point where I had to pick her up early because they couldn't handle her. My baby was upset, and was letting everyone know. What she was upset about I didn't know. I was on the verge of tears many days wondering why my child is having such a hard time in school. I was so close to quitting my job and homeschooling her.

The teacher(without my permission) had the autism specialist come to observe Laila. Good news: She is not on the spectrum. Bad news(or so I thought): She is going to be placed at a different school. This all happened before the New Year. I was nervous and scared all over again. I kept telling myself if she can make it for 2 weeks without bad reports it would be great. Her new school is the perfect fit!!!! No bad reports, she loves the teachers, even the principal. At her old school she was just drawing scribbles. Now she draws BIG HAPPY Faces with big eyes and a big smile and lots of long hair!!!!! I am so proud of her. Her expressive language is still not all the way caught up, but it's better.
I am really happy with the progress that she is making and I hope that they will actually let her stay at the same school until 4th grade.

I am not a Yes Man

It's sounds better than saying Yes woman.
As women we are always putting others before us. We get sick there is no one there to doctor us because we have to be strong for the family. We also think that we need to agree with everyone and everything all the time to keep the peace.
I am here to tell you I am not that kind of woman. I am not a Yes Man. If someone asks me to do something and I don't want to do it "No" is my response. I seem to learn from other people's mistakes. Since my Mother has communicated with me more I started finding out that she would agree to do things that she didn't want to do. My response- "Just Say No." I have reminded her that it's not mean, if you can't do it, oh well. The person or people that call on us for help can always find someone other than you that has the time, energy and even better resources to help and more.
Don't get me wrong I don't always say no. If I have the time, energy, and resources then I will do it.

Simplifying my life

As a single parent I need to keep things as simple as possible.
So every once in a while I will de clutter my surroundings.

This usually includes going through Laila’s toys, my beauty products, and all of our clothing. For Laila’s toys I find all the missing piece items, and mini toys from happy meals, or just random little items that she is in love with for a few months. Once I gather all of those up I look through them and throw most of them away. If she has larger toys that she hasn’t played with they start our bag to go to Goodwill. Next I go through all my beauty products which would include: shampoos, conditioners, lotions, lipsticks, eye shadows, and even some hair accessories. If its stuff that I know I have not used in forever I find a friend to give it away to. For my makeup I eventually force myself to wear it so it doesn’t waste. It’s a different story if it’s very old. I have sensitive/oily skin and any little thing can mess it up. For clothing it’s simple if I can’t fit anymore it goes in the bag, same for Laila.

After I am all done it feels like a huge weight has been lifted, and the air is less stuffy. Maybe it’s a mind thing, but I love the feeling of getting rid of stuff.

Rainforest Cafe

This place is so cool. They have them all over the U.S. It was on my list of things to visit with Laila and on President's Day we finally went. A friend of ours met us over there and he knew someone that worked there. We ended up having lunch and doing a behind the scenes tour. We saw were the fish sit until they are ready to be brought into the cafe aquarium. We also had a look at the control panel for the sounds. It seemed to make Laila less afraid. When we frist got there is was dark, and she was half way ready to get up and run out, but still a little bit interested.
Every thirty minutes a thunderstorm comes through with lightning and thunder. I actually liked this part because it got brighter.
The food was good, the price was a bit too much, and they have a gift shop with lots of stuffed animals.

For a family, I'd say if you order the sampler appetizer that's enough for 2 maybe 2 and one kid.

Weekend full of fun

This past Saturday I planned for the kid and I to go see a free movie at the library and go to a craft hour at one of the bookstores. Well, I was trying to multitask a little too much, got behingd schedule and ended up doing neither. We did go to a Bookstore and met a friend there. Afterwards we went over to a bread shop and had cookies and lemonade. All of a sudden we decided hey let's go to Whole Foods! We really needed to go to whole body, so we went in to find shampoo and some stuff for my face. No luck in the face department, Laila found a toy. It's a pig with detachable parts, it's really cute. I purchased some oils and natural deodorant.
I am so happy with it. I have just been finding lots of things that are working for me right now. The deodorant being one of them. I had recently started using the clinical strength secret, and it was just not working. So YEAH for natural deodorant.

Muffin Tin Monday: Sweetheart Tin

It's back!!!! Muffin TINS!!!!!!!! Woo hoo! I called this one the sweetheart tin. I included sweet stuff and it's in a heart shaped tin.
The contents are mini chocolate chips, grapes, teddy grahams, applesauce, and bananas.

Hungry?

Let's get this show on the road. It's cold in my neck of the woods. A good day for soup. The following recipe is from a online/blogger mama. It's Tortilla Soup. I made it a while ago and it was yummy. I think I may try it with ground beef next.

Ingredients
2 chicken breasts cubed
· 4 cans of low-sodium chicken broth
· 8 tortillas
· 2tbsp vegetable oil
· 1 can salsa casera
· 4 limes (more to taste)
· 1 chopped bunch of cilantro
· garlic salt
· *optional: shredded cheese
· *optional: avocado
· *optional: sour cream
Directions--Basically you throw everything in a pot--chicken breast, broth, salsa casera, cilantro, garlic salt, juice of the limes and cook until chicken is cooked thoroughly. While that's cooking, cut your tortillas in half and then in strips. Add some oil to a frying pan (or you can coat with cooking spray and pop in the oven for a healthier version) and fry up your tortilla strips.
Serve in a bowl--first soup, then add tortilla strips--on top put whatever you want of your optional toppings--we always put cheese and avocado. You can cook the sour cream right into the soup or put a dallop on top.

And here is one of my favorite recipes.

QUICK POTATO SOUP

3-5 c. potatoes, diced
1 sm. onion, minced
2 bouillon cubes
Salt & pepper
1 can of cream of mushroom soup
1 cup of milk
2 cups of chicken broth
Cook potatoes mid way, drain some of the water, add liquids and seasoning and leave it for 35- 40 minutes. You can add cheese, bacon or sausage or all three. Serve with french bread.