Category: Gelica

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl!

My baby, my first-born is turning 12 years old today.

It’s hard to believe that the little person who made me a mom for the very first time is celebrating her 12th birthday.

WOW!

Gelica

Geli – 2006

I wish I had more pics to show you, cause she was such a cute kid, but I’m not going to go and scan a whole bunch of the pics that aren’t on the computer ’cause….well……I’m not. She did go through a bit of an awkward stage, but she’s come through it nicely. I look at her and am amazed at who and what she’s becoming.

Even 6 months ago, she was still such a little child. She was selfish and self centered and frankly, I was worried.

But, somehow all our conversation and love and time has come together and she’s changed into this beautiful young woman……inside and out. She is caring and compassionate and responsible. I never thought I’d use those words about her 6 months ago, and not that she’s perfect, but the change is amazing.

She is an excellent student and so smart and well……I could just go on and on and on…….

Geli BW 5

Geli – 2007

She is different than what I expected….in so many ways. She loves sports…LOVES SPORTS…and would rather have a baseball glove over an iPod…..weird!?! (I asked her this morning.) She loves to play hard and hates frilly stuff of any kind….to try to get her in a dress is hell, but she does like to look nice…..so trying to find “that” balance……is……is…..trying….at the best of times. She has a style “ALL HER OWN” and it’s pretty cute – if I do say so myself!

Geli

Geli – 2008

She is communicating now so much better than she ever was, and we are actually talking about “all those gross girl things”. In fact, we just sat down the other day and shaved our legs together……weird, to think that I’m shaving my legs with my daughter now. I remember the first time I shaved my legs. She’s growing up, and I’m loving it!

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Geli – 2009

I’m not saying that I want her to grow up faster than she should, but I want to encourage her to think and explore and grow and develop all within the safety of our love. I want her to learn to make “choices” and to realize that every one of those choices has a “consequence”. I want her to think though those consequences and determine if her choices are worth the consequences. I want to teach her how to make the choices that will positively effect both her and those around her.

I think that she’s starting to understand. Obviously, it’s a work in progress….aren’t we all? But I’m so proud of her and of who she’s become in these first 12 years, that I am confident she’ll do well over the next 12.

I love you, sweet girl.

I hope you have the best day at your Beauty and the Beast Musical Practise at school today. What a way to spend your birthday…..good thing that we are not all stuck on the actual day.

We celebrate for as long as it takes to get it all done…..and really, isn’t that how it should be?

Opinions Take #2

First things first…..a big thanks to Jon for posting yesterday. I have a post that I’ve started twice and I just can’t find the words to fully express what I’m tryng to say and so I’ll keep working on it until it actually makes sense. Jon bailed me out yesterday because I was stuck on that stupid post and well….thanks, babe! You’re amazing!

Secondly…….I need your help again.

I took a bunch of pictures of Siah and I’d love to hear which one(s) you all like the best. You were all such a help with the picture of Geli. When the results were compiled…..It seems like the big winner for Geli was Number 5

5

So, here are the pics of Siah. It was interesting to try and get good pictures of him as he was not quite as co-operative as the older kids are. It’s more of a “run around behind him snapping a million pictures” and hoping for at least a few that turn out. Anyway, here is the link for the pics of Siah. Just click on the picture to see the whole set.

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Lemme know which one or ones are your favorite.

Opinions……everybody’s got one!

Okay, so I’ve borrowed my father-in-law’s camera because I’ve been wanting to take some pictures of my kids and so far, I’ve been able to get some good pics of Geli.

I’m hoping to be able to plow through the other kids soon, and I’ll be asking for your input on those pics as well…..if ya don’t mind.

We are wanting to blow up a pic of each of the kids and…ya know…plaster them all over our walls…that kind of thing….

So, without further ado….

Click on the picture of Geli to see the set and can you let me know which are YOUR favorites?

Walking Together

Geli is in her first year of middle school.

Grade 6.

She seems so little to be moving up in the world.

I know that she’s 11 years old and that she’ll be 12 soon, but it still seems weird to have my baby, my firstborn moving beyond elementary school.

We’ve had tons of fights discussions about life and responsibility and trust and…well, just way too many things.

She “HATES” having to work. She “HATES” having to give into the house and family.

How do I get it through to her that this is a life long thing…..

You make one persons worth of mess and you are responsible for at least one person’s worth of upkeep.

I’ve tried really hard to not ask a ton from her. In fact, this summer when we were camping with friends of ours – I was surprised at what they expected from their kids. I was even more surprised that for the most part, the kids did what they were asked with minimal fussing. Sure, they were kids and acted like kids do, but they knew that they were responsible for certain “house jobs” and they did them.

It made me really think about what I expect from my kids and made me think about how I can motivate them to do what is required of them.

We are struggling with Geli right now. I know that some of this is just foundational growing up stuff. I know that we will get through this, but right now….it’s not fun, nor is it easy.

Have any of you walked through this whole pre-teen, growing up, responsibility stuff; and have any good pointers or tips for me?

This is the NON-BARFING edition

So, yesterday was a pretty good day. I guzzled water until my eyeballs were floating, and I felt pretty good aaaaaalllll the way up until I crawled into bed last night.

I even managed to make it into bed before 10:30pm. I could tell that my musles were a little bit sore, and so I did some stretching to try and work them out a little, but then my head hit the pillow and I was GONE.

I woke up at……are you ready for this…..4am – yup, Siah slept from 7:15pm until 4am, and at that point if he didn’t nurse, then there was no hope that he’d sleep for Jon after I left. So, I went and got him and brought him back to bed with me.

I just kinda dozed between 4 and 4:45am, and then I popped outta bed before my alarm clock went off and got ready to go.

I drank two HUGE glasses of water, and ate a banana to try and ward off the whole barfing thing…and ya know what….IT WORKED!

I made it through my second session – all the way through – and although I was tired and my body is not used to being asked to work a little bit harder – it went well.

I can feel that my muscles are feeling sore right now. I’m a little nervous about how I’ll feel tonight, and especially about how I’ll feel tomorrow.

I’m still planning on going tomorrow, even if I can’t do as well as I did today. I’m pretty excited about just getting some exercise, let alone 90 minutes two days in a row….

As I was driving home today musing about just jumping in feet first, I started thinking about exercise and what it was that I liked about the Bikram’s Yoga compared to other forms of exercise. I think that the dry breathing, panting so you can’t catch your breath, and feeling like your heart is going to explode out of your chest…..yah, that’s the feeling I dislike…and seeing as I’m terribly outta shape, if I try to do other forms or exercise that’s what I end up feeling like.

I like the idea that this class is for beginners and for those with experience and that you are always only competing with yourself.

Right now, I’m in the learning stages, and am flailing around trying to find position, and am not so fluid, and well….I’m definately just learning, but I talked with the instructor today after class, and she said that about 5-6 classes into it, I should have more of an idea as to what’s going on, and of the poses, and that about 10 classes into it, that I should start to find my rhythm and a nice sense of flow. I’m looking forward to that ’cause right now I’m feeling a little bit stiff and sore – but in a good kind of way.

In other news, We have been eating some unbelievably amazing food for the last little bit. I recently bought a couple of new books and from them, have made a Thick Potato, Cauliflower, and Dulse Soup….sorry no pictures, but it was AMAZING, and even Geli, my MOST picky eater, LOVED it and has asked for it every day since I made it.

Dulse is a dark red sea veggie that is full of highly absorbably iron, and in the soup it justs adds the right amount of flavor.

Last night we had Nori-Wrapped Wasabi Salmon which is salmon wrapped in a sheet of seaweed, and again. So, SO good! I didn’t make that for the kids, they just got plain marinated salmon, but Jon and I LOVED the seaweed wrapped salmon and will definately be making it again..

And – I have pictures for you –

Nut Burgers

on Tuesday night we had Nut Burgers, and again with the deliciousness. They would have been DIVINE on a bun, but we just ate them plain. The recipe I used calls for sunflower seeds and walnuts. I had walnuts, but I had no sunflower seeds, so I made two batches – one with pine nuts – in place of the sunflower seeds, and the other with pumpkin seeds. You grind up the nuts in a food precessor and then mix in a bunch of spices, add a finely ground carrot and them some brown rice with a tiny bit of tomatoe sauce to hold it all together. Make your patties, and then let them sit for an hour or so in the fridge. Heat up your skillet and use either butter or oil and brown the tops and bottoms, and serve.

Burger Close Up

These are seriously yummy, and with the edges all crunchy….mmmm…we saved a few overnight that we didn’t cook, and had them for lunch the next day, and they were just as good even after sitting in the fridge for a while.

Between the nuts and the brown rice, you end up with a complete protein, and so all you need to round out the meal is a salad or some veggies.

I’m still going through my books, and am sure to come up with more yummy food for us to try.

well, that about does it for today….Geli and I are going to make some chocolate coconut macaroons.

Snap Happy!

It was the perfect picture taking day on Saturday morning. The sky was grey and bright with high cloud cover and it was perfect.

We tried to get ready in a hurry, but for whatever reason….all 8 thousand of them…we didn’t leave the house until after 1pm.

And by that time it was sunny. Was I ever upset to see the sun. Can you believe that I even typed that down let alone thought it? I know, it’s horrifying after all the bad weather that we’ve had, and we are exactly 5 days away from summer…not cool…not cool at all.

So, we made it to City Hall and everyone piled out of the van and as I scouted out the best location and flicked my camera on…..I realized that I had left the battery…………in the charger…………at home!

So, we had to pile everyoneback into the van and drive back home, but fortunately, City Hall is only about 5 minutes or less away from our house – so not the end of the world….just slighty frustrating.

We made it back to City Hall and once again everyone piled out of the van and took off across the grass.

We got the kids and Daddy “Happy Father’s Day” special shot as evidenced below….

The kids were pretty good, well except Jeremy decided that today wasnot a day for just normal smiling, and so that made things a bit difficult as evidenced below…..

Apparently, I’m liking the phrase “as evidenced below” today…it’s a good one. Try it out, let the words rooooollllllll off your tongue. I’ll try to see if I can fit it in a few more times in this post…..special like, just for you.

If you click on the first picture, it’ll take you to the pics that I didn’t delete because I considered them okay….I could probably mess with them in photoshop for some of them, but you’ll get the general idea. I was LOVE the pictures of Geli. She’s been known to take some REALLY bad photos in her day, but on Saturday – that prize went to Jeremy.

If you click on the picture of him, it’ll take to you the other pics that I didn’t delete, but only because they were so funny. There were almost no good pictures of him, but oh so many really good, bad pictures.

Which ones are your favorite?

Oneupmanship

Exhibit A

He is just so cute…and trying so hard….see the arms, as if he could somehow hold up the hula hoop by sheer will power alone….and the arch in the back…’cause you know…that the problem…it has ABSOLUTELY nothing to do with the dollar store hula hoop. Nope! Nothing at all.

And now, because the older sister can ALWAYS do something better than anyone else in the world….

Exhibt B

She is SOOOOO tall and skinny….it’s hard to believe that’s the same person who as a baby had a SERIOUSLY HUGE bum…like GINORMOUS…..enough so that many, MANY people commented on it….and now…..SO THIN! Do you see the short hair too….she got a haircut for her Birthday with her Nana! How fun is that. Only problem is now she looks sooooooo much older.

11 years ALREADY????

It’s hard for me to believe that my baby…my first born….my little tiny…..okay, who am I kidding?  She was a GINORMOUS FAT BABY, but still, she was my first…..and now she’s ELEVEN!

Where did the time go? 

Angelica is growing up so fast, and every day she’s getting more and more beautiful.  Every day she’s getting older and more mature and responsible.  Every day I’m a little bit prouder to be her mom……except for those days that the pre-PMS hormones are taking over and I just want to ship her to Antarctica because those days….those days are BRUTAL.

The eye rolling and the sneering and the look that says “Whatever!!!” as loudly as if she were screaming it to our faces, the sobbing and running down to hide in her room because we DARED to question her on one of her choices…..all of these, BOY ARE THESE FUN!

But, the realization, when she “gets” that what we are trying to do is to “help” her to learn “How to make wise choices.”  When that realization hits and she understands that we are on her side, cheering her on and wanting her to suceed…..that makes up for all the other stuff that I mentioned that’s not so much fun.

But it’s all fun.  We’re learning together, and growing together and it’s fun and we’re making memories that will last a life time…..and some of those memories are soooooo funny, maybe Geli can’t laugh about them right now, but one day….one day this will all be funny!

Until then, we will hug lots, love hard and laugh often.

Wacky Hair Day

The kids are having wacky hair day at school and we did their hair kinda wacky….sort of.

Jeremy just looks normal, but really what can you do with a kid who has a mohawk.  I supposed I could have slicked it down and made him all “normal” looking, but that’s not very exciting and while the kids really wanted colored hair – Yah, it ain’t happening right now……so a mohawk for Jeremy it is.

No picture as I forgot, and really just go to my photos and he looks pretty much the same as any other day- just imagine him!

Xandra has short hair ad I really wasn’t sure what to do with her hair either, but she threw out the idea of a lot of little pony tails and so that is what we did.  It kinda looks like her hair is fountain-ing out of her head, but she was happy and so that’s all that matters…..right?

 Then there is Gelica.  She had no clue what she wanted, but was totally talking about Kool-aid colors and that was a mess that I just wasnt ready to handle right now.  She has long hair and so I threw out the idea of back combing it.  Obviously the kid has no clue what back combing is – she’s only 10 (almost 11) years old, but I sold her on it and so back comb it, we did.

Here we are in process………

We had talked about either making a bird’s nest or a butterfly nest because I have aton of those little butterfly clips, but as we got going, she kept saying that she looked like one of those troll dolls with the big hair….and it was actually true.  I had back combed it so big and used so much hairspray and she totally looked like one of those little troll dolls.  My only concern was that her hair would fall into her face and drive her nuts during the school day if we just left it, so once it was huge and puffy, I did end up using the little clips to kinda hold it up a it…..Here she is from the side/back-ish view…..

 And here was the final finished product from the front…..

Seriously, her hair is about a foot off her head and she looks so cute – wacky, but cute….now I only wish I had done something similar for Xani but then again she has such a sensitive scalp that she could have never taken the abuse back combing as well as Geli did.

Gelica’s Christmas List

baceball bat\ball

vollyballnet\ball

books

tamagotchi

bean bag chair

all horse stuff

CDs(anything likeby christine evens, barlo girl, point of grace zoegirl)

gift certificate for cool clothes

battleship

my own computer

art supplies

little CD player for my bed room

size 8\8.5\9 ladies runners or gum boots or hypno skates

 snakes & ladders

20Q

lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of stuffies

family board games

socks