Vida. Risa. Amor.

Sometimes it's the small things that can make a difference in a day. And sometimes there's a lot of rollercoaster emotions that can happen throughout the week. And sometimes you look back on the past weeks and days and notice another busy month quickly passed by. I think there's a quote somewhere about how sometimes things happen "in three's", but I've been seeing things happen in "G's" or "C's"....keep reading and you'll get what I mean...

Every so often there's an occasional free half hour or so I find time to read a book with my feet up out on my back patio and soak up the Arizona sunshine. My life's theme song was written by Sheryl Crow: "I wanna soak up some sun, wanna tell everyone to lighten up..." I like the quiet and the chance to be still and to be warm since it's been raining more than usual here this month.
I am re-energized with Sunshine, Silence, and happy-ending Stories.

Because of the busyness of life or my lack of energy or interest, I have also gone a few weeks without regular exercise and instead grab an "occasional" chocolate out of heart shaped boxes when dashing the kids out the door. The floor of my van now has a layer of grass and mud and wrappers all over it since I'm regularly taxiing the kids to and from practices and games. My van still chugs along despite the tons of miles we've put on it and I'm fine to drive it until it dies, but we must be getting close to the end of it's existence since it squeaks, shakes, clunks, and leaks gas and oil. Valentine clearance chocolates & Vaccuuming are my therapy for my my Van Issues.

February has also been the month for:
Garage sales, Girl scout cookies, and Games.
Dish-washing sink clogs, Dating discussions, and Dollar DVD's.
Cell Phone time-outs, cleaning, and coupon bargains.
Power rangers, Popcorn, and Party-planning.
Happy hour dates, home-work supervising, and hair styling products.
Milk sippy cups, Monopoly winning dreams, and mixed emotions.

It might be too hard to sum up in just 3 words what a day, or a week, or the entire month of February 2010 was like for us...

But if I did, I might just have to say it involved
Tantrums, Teenagers, and Trouble...and one extra: Tiredness!

I have never questioned myself as a parent much as I've had these past couple months. It's been interesting figuring out fair boyfriend guidelines, cell phone texting time-limits, hang-out times after homework, soccer club commitments, friend issues, appropriate face-book statements, and the importance of being honest. The biggest challenge has been figuring out what exactly are fair rules and then what works for consequences when rules aren't followed...(at least the dishes are getting done!) There are so many new gray areas we haven't even covered yet, and I worry if I don't stay two steps ahead, I might overlook something important.

I care about my kids so much and I've decided that I'm okay if it makes me less of a cool Mom that I want to know where my kids are, who they're with, and what's going on in their lives. I get that it's important for teens to prefer to be with her friends in this time of their lives, but I'm also trying to remind my daughter to figure out a way to balance that out with all her other priorities such as homework, soccer, church, and family....(and then when she figures it out, to let me know the secret because I have a lot on my plate too!!) This season is busy and there's usually no choice but to keep on going.

We've talked a lot...maybe too much....but we talk. We've talked up until midnight with both our heads leaning over the edge of my bed that our hair reached the floor. We talk to and from soccer practices, in between a few good songs on the only 2 acceptable radio stations. We talk at Chili's during her school lunch hour. We talk in my bathroom when she's looking for a better hair product. We talk at 10:30p.m., in between crunchy bites of cereal. We talk after church, (not before). We talk over mocha lattes or tropical smoothies. And when we can't leave a conversation happy, we just hug and say I love you anyway...or just take a break.

We talk, and we listen, we cry, we laugh, and we learn, and she keeps growing up...we both do actually. I've learned it's not always the most important thing to have to be right and do all the talking...and it's sometimes better to be quiet and just listen and give them the opportunity to share their heart with you. Sharing involves trust, and I hope I have the strength to always remember that. I'm the oldest in my family as she is, so I'm reminded it can be a mistake to go too hard on every issue.

To everything there is a season...and in 2 weeks she'll be only 4 years away from being 18!! My baby ruckus is growing up too fast!

Well I'm officially finished. I think. The girls now have the room of my dreams for a grand total cost of only $60! Two walls were painted turquoise blue, and the others stayed a lime green. We traded the black furniture for white with the boys dressers and whatever else needed to be white I sprayed with spray paint, and the added touch of hot pink on the drawers with silver knobs adds a neat detail. I found hot pink and turquoise comforters on clearance at B.B.&B., and with coupons they came only to $24 each and included a pillow sham and even came in a cute bag made out of the same material. The girls were awesome about going through all their drawers stuffed with doodly-doos that were basically gathering dust and then donated their unused stuff to the garage sale pile. Even though they have a bigger bedroom than the boys, they use much more lotions and potions and hair straighteners, so in order to make it work, a lot of their "kid-stuff" had to go, like some stuffed animals and a "few" Jacob posters...(of course they hung up the biggest and best one on their closet door). I was so surprised when we, I mean I, was done to see how much more space they actually had compared to when they had their own rooms. My absolute favorite piece in their room is the Unicorn and Lion painting my Aunt Helen painted on my baby crib that we've saved all these years....the colors are beautiful and it just so happens my daughters love unicorns as much as I did at their age. They're always amazed and maybe shocked when they find out we have similar tastes in common.

The girls are getting along for now but I noticed Josie took the time to label her jeans since I was making the horrible mistake of mixing them up into Lanie's drawers. And though they're not drawing lines on the floor yet, there's still the occasional issues of what's "yours, mine, and ours". So that brought me to my last part of this project: the empty downstairs bedroom. I knew there would be times when they would have both of their friends over and they might want spaces separate from each other, so without waiting too long for the upstairs paint to dry I pressed on to painting the downstairs room. I'm pretty sure my kids were bored of the painting clothes I was living in for a week and concerned when they saw me chugging up and down the stairs saying, "must keep going..., must keep going..." (To best understand my mentality, watch the episode of Friends when Monica redecorates the apartment and is up until midnight making sure it gets done). The furniture in the downstairs room is still a bit of a mystery, so for now a temporary table is set up for crafts and the extra computer is tucked away in the corner. We're on a bit of a budget so until we get inspired at IKEA's clearance room or discover a fantabulous garage sale find, we'll just wait. And we all know how much I like waiting.

I whipped an orange at my husband the other day. I didn't just throw it, like, ha, ha, I'm throwing an orange at someone....there was some serious and ridiculous rage behind that throw. I envisioned that orange bursting into a thousand pieces off of the back of his head and claiming the victory of my well aimed toss, but I really hadn't had much time to brush up on my food fighting skills this month. Obviously I missed and each time I pull out of my driveway, I have a daily reminder of that failure as it's splattered in a thousand pieces of peels all over the street instead. It really didn't help that he was laughing hysterically at me as I was chasing him around his car before I took aim. My husband and I have been through a lot together and of the 17 years I've known him I can honestly say that was my first time at attempting to throw an orange at his head. Fatigue, thoughtless words, and stress were building up between us and though whipping an orange across the street probably wasn't the most attractive moment of my week, it sure felt good. Raising toddlers and teenagers is hard and adding longer work hours means it's rare for us to find time to be just the two of us. Ironically we went out on a "happy-hour" date just 10 minutes after this moment and after he knew I winded down he just kept kissing my hands and telling me how much he'll always love me no matter what I do or say. Ugh. God has interesting ways of reminding me the importance of humility and showing me what a better half he has blessed me with.

I love this man....but orange is still a good color for him....

It seems I'm back in the "project-mode" of life again. Since it was literally pouring buckets of rain all last week I took the opportunity to start part one of the "Palacios-Kids-Trading-Spaces" project. Our home has 4 bedrooms and the only one by itself downstairs happens to be Josie's bedroom. We have slowly come to the realization that for a dozen different safety reasons, and the rare and probably unlikely chance she might figure out how to sneak out someday, we'd rather have our teenage-almost-high-schooler-daughter upstairs! Another reason is that teenage boys are now the new crowd of "friends" these days and a "hang-out" room wouldn't be such a bad idea in a hope to draw kids over to our part of the neighborhood once in a while. The end set up will be that the girls will share a room, the boys will share a room, and the downstairs room will become an "everybody room"...(that design plan is still a mystery at this point).

Painting is fun for me, so the best way to start was to repaint the boys bedroom. The color of Aydan's choice was an-in-your-face-red; (not a one coat kind of job red either). Paint is really not cheap these days but we lucked out in that our color of choice was free paint my sister wasn't going to be using. Once the painting was completed in every sitting / squatting / standing / reaching position known to man, about 4 big pieces of furniture had to be switched. I know I'm not strong, but I do have determination. Your back will thank you later if you take the drawers out first, THEN move the dressers. Mattresses are not light to lift out of a form fitting top bunk bed either by the way. The squeaky bed Lanie had been sleeping on was a 90's IKEA loft bed that is "shockingly" no longer sold in their stores anymore. The 4 inch hexagon screw key thing they give you for the 150 screws just doesn't quite cut it....in fact, I don't even think there's a good name for that loser, failure of a tool. It's awesome when you keep dropping the thing on the floor when you're standing on a ladder and you can't find it. Halfway through the process, I remembered about a drill bit I could have used instead. Some of the screws have had to be replaced as they have been bent quite literally in half or stripped from the drill or pounded on by a hammer in desperation from the several times we've assembled and disassembled it. This bed and I have had these frustrating issues over the years and I told it that the next time we took it apart, that it was the very last time it would be a bed in the Palacios house. It is now waiting in the garage for our next garage sale. Adios cama feya...que te via bien. The boys bunk beds are newer and are also from IKEA, but luckily my sidekick helper Lanie and I had it taken apart and put back together within an hour or so...(minus a few swear words here and there...I really took the time to let all the uncooperative screws and my failure of a drill know what I thought about them...there was even a lengthy "speech" on my opinion that all the people who design IKEA bunk beds need to be fired). My Lanie loves me anyway.

I have a strong need for all my furniture in each of the bedrooms to coordinate, so after a few cans of black spray paint I was proud to match Aydan's desk and shelves to the color scheme. Swapping the stuff in closets probably should have been saved for another rainy day but since I like to see the whole finished project I pressed on...I just had to get that vacuum out to suck up all the dust build up...the treasures you find! Vacuuming is my favorite thing next to organizing...next to suntanning...next to Diet Chery Coke...
I just love to vacuum. My family knows.

My boys are pretty easy to please and they are super excited about their "new" room. I learned that I probably should have waited for my man's help on the furniture but since he was working another 60 hour week and because of the fact that we know we don't get along when we move furniture together, I just decided to go for it. When I get it in my head I want to do something, I usually don't like to wait, and waiting for help is even harder. I also don't think I'd recommend attempting a project of this size again when all the kids are home. Living off of frozen pizza, ramen noodles, and macaroni and cheese can really only fuel you so far in life. Next week I'll work on the girls room and I already know they have a list of opinions on paint colors, bed spreads, curtains, and furniture arrangements....(wonder who they got that from!)

I had a really good race day today. There is nothing like the feeling of the satisfaction you get from meeting a goal you set for yourself. I knew after Halloween trying to pull off another 26.2 miles and trying to find time to train was going to be close to impossible during the holidays, so I set out for doing 13.1 instead. I'll admit I had a few dull training days here and there, and many of my runs longer than 6 miles a little boredom started to set in, but in the end it was all worth the effort. "The pain is temporary, the pride is forever"...in other words, I basically kept telling myself to suck it up, my acheing toes could rest tommorrow! It would have been great to have had a buddy to run with as I did in the Chicago Marathon in 08 with my good friend Nicole, (who has known me since age 10)....but the farther along I got into the training I knew I had to see if I could do this for myself. Thirteen is a special number for me this year as it's the same amount of years I've been a mother and have been married. If someone would have asked me 13 years ago how I would imagine myself to be like today, I don't think I would have guessed I'd be attempting half or even full marathons! I saved a few thoughts to think of each mile...mile 1: my first year of everything, becoming a Mom, getting married, starting a home. Mile 3: I thought of when Lanie was born and the fun it was to dress up my two girls. Mile 7: Aydan and the new joy of having a baby boy. Mile 9 during the race was very difficult! It was mostly up a huge hill and I thought of when we welcomed Rylan to the family....(wonder if the hill was significant there). I didn't forget the requested boxing moves and booty shakes for miles 9 through 13, although my booty can basically shake all on it's own these days. I was too chicken to bust out a kung-fu panda move, but I did consider it after a marine man was shouting "COME ON!" at everyone or himself...still not sure...but it worked since I pushed myself to finish strong. My 2 hour 17 minute finish time was a better time than the goal I set for myself...in fact it was exactly 13 minutes less! It was such a relief to find my family at the finish line among the thousands of people and to have them all support me in that moment. I haven't thought about what the next goal or challenge for running will be for me, but I'm thinking to keep it under 13 miles for a while. I still have all my toenails this time, and they sure need a break from kicking assphault!

I have four kids and it's funny how I tend to get more overwhelmed with issues with my 1st and 4th....my oldest and youngest. But I have 2 middle kids, Aydan age 7 and Lanie at age 10, that are just as amazing. Lanie makes me laugh every single day. I'm not very good at describing her humor, but she is absolutely hilarious. She could literally win an award for it I think. I had her washing the dinner dishes last night and she seemed to want to drain the whole salt river, so I took over while she dried. When she get's in her "coconine voice"....(it's a mix of what Mrs. Kowalski from Monster's Inc. sounds like....and for a lack of better description...a special needs kid). She likes to repeat things over and over and anything I tell her to do, she's like, "nope, sorry, Mom....uh-uh....no way...can't do it..."...it can just go on and on. She ended it last night by making herself laugh super hard by shouting...."I'm goin to a western town....hoooo-eeey!!" And it's not just her voice that's hilarious, it's her face. I need to get it on video soon. She's my best companion for a romantic comedy movie and loves to keep me thinking hard about how to answer questions like, "How do we know that God is really real?" She's so beautiful and I love how she can joke about her eye-brows....her doctor even told her they're "fancy"...I miss the days of braiding her hair in matching barrettes and bows, but I know she'll be giving me tips on how to style my own hair soon.

My second middle man, is my first-born boy Aydan who just turned 7 this week. He just started learning football with his buddies and since his team was "the Cardinal's", and because we've recently become a fan of the AZ Cardinal's out here, that was the theme of his party. (I love easy themes!) We rented a jumpy thing for his party, bought hot-dogs and 30 Cardinal's cupcakes from Sams, had a football pinata, blasted up the music, and that was enough to make a super fun party for 1st graders. I "forgot" to plan games and that was Aydan's only complaint, so I'll have to do better next time I guess...(hello! they wouldn't even listen to me to keep on the grass during the pinata smacking!!) They were also easily entertained by pounding on the teenagers hanging around too. He has some super sweet moments too: like the other night he wanted to watch The Biggest Loser with me and he got really upset for the Mom who fell on her nose during the challenge. He has such a sweet heart and I love when he hugs my legs when I'm doing the dishes, and looks up and says, "I just love you Mom." He would play Indiana Jones Legos Wii all day if I let him, but 1st grade demands a lot of reading practicing so we've gotten to spend a lot of one on one time doing that. He loves to joke, poke, and laugh and he loves to draw it out from me too. I'm challenged each day to try and be the best kind of Mommy I can be for each of them....and laughter is my favorite kind of reminder.