Crazy Hectic Day ~ But I'll Survive

Today was havoc... there's no other words for it. You know when you have a day that EVERYTHING goes wrong? Well, that was me today. I'm sure I could have mentally turned this day around, but I didn't ~ so up until not too long ago I was going CRAZY!


My dog ran away, 3 dishes are broken {complete accidents}, my living room looks like a tornado went through it, so does my kitchen, and I'm exhausted..... been exhausted all day long.


But as I sit here looking at the mess I get to clean up, which will probably take me until close to midnight, I'm feeling grateful.  I'm feeling grateful for my life, because as hectic as days may seem, my life is really good.  Sometimes when we have days like this it's so easy to get caught up in the depressingness of it all, but if I do that... I'll just go in a downward spiral.  So ~ I'm going to clean up this mess, pray for my dog, and thank God for my children and my many blessings in my life.

Just a Motivating Monday - Growing

If you're just joining in:
-Write a blog post about ANYTHING at all that inspires you, or something you feel will inspire others. 

-Please link back to Garibay Soup 

-Please snag my Just a Motivating button on your post.

-I hope that we can all go and visit each other's blogs and read what everyone has linked up ~ I hope that this carnival can bring more traffic for you :) So, spread the comment love!

It's not only children who grow. Parents do too. As much as we watch to see what our children do with their lives, they are watching us to see what we do with ours. I can't tell my children to reach for the sun. All I can do is reach for it, myself. 

 ~Joyce Maynard

Being a mom has opened up a lot of things for me.  At the age of 16 I starting doing books for small businesses.... and I have worked ever since.  I of course got my high school diploma, took a few college classes ~ but I NEVER got my degree.

I absolutely want my children to go to college, and I absolutely expect them to never let go of their dreams.  Well, how in the world can I expect that out of them, if I don't do the same?  

I make it known to them that I am focusing on fulfilling my dreams, and they are watching me do this.... in turn, I KNOW they will do the same with their life.  But why should they go to college and get a degree if their own mom doesn't have one?  So, I'm going to college, my friends.  I'm actually starting this Spring semester and am probably NUTS since I hardly have time as it is, but it's something I have always had as a goal.  And I'm diving in.  

I'm starting with classes that are in subjects that are of interest to me ~ psychology for now.  I'll eventually go through and get everything done for my degree, but this semester is all about psychology.  I'm taking 12 credits in understanding people this semester.  

I want my children to be proud of me.  I want my children to follow in my footsteps.

What kings of things are you doing to grow with your child, to show them that we NEVER stop reaching for the stars?

IF MCKLINKY IS NOT WORKING JUST LEAVE YOUR LINK IN THE COMMENT FIELD AND I WILL UPDATE MCKLINKY WHEN IT IS WORKING AGAIN. THANK YOU.

Spring Love

I took the kids out to do their spring pictures ~ and I've completely fallen in love with this one.  It shows their love.  And their love is beautiful.  Their love is perfect.  Their love is unconditional.  

I love them.

You can see more pictures from the shoot on my {PHOTO BLOG}

There is a Friend

There is a friend!


And my heart feels THAT much better.


Not all kids at Jayden's school are devils mean.


And I wish I had a camera to see the looks on their faces today as they saw each other at Costco.

A girl.  

Jayden and this girl stood in front of each other, arms to their sides, HUGE grins on their faces...


Jayden says, "Hi, Anya, how's your day?"


She replies... "It's good Jayden how is your's?"


and more awkward, silly, cute grins.  Then she says....

"I'll see you at school, Buddy."

She called him Buddy.

Kids are SO Mean!

I'm still a bit upset about {THIS POST}, because Jayden's still upset. He's such a cute, sweet, hard to not love boy. I don't get how he doesn't have friends. I don't get how kids are so mean to him.

To be honest I would honestly like to pull him out of school and keep here where I can protect his feelings. He has such an amazing teacher though, and his school is REALLY helping him with his reading and doing things with him I probably would be no good at.

Nothing's worse than going out to the playground and not having friends to play with, or to go through elementary school not having a friend. And what's even worse is when you are the parent that knows your son has no friends. They throw his shoes in puddles, call him a loser, when he's so much more than they are. Both Gino and I have told him... Stand up for yourself, Jayden. You have OUR permission to do whatever you need to do to protect yourself from little asshole children {okay, we didn't say asshole children to him.... but that's what they are!} And you know what he says.... It's not right. It's not right to be mean to other children.

Jayden, I'm going to tell you right now that I know you were put on this earth for things that are so wonderful, because you are so wonderful. 

Pour Your Heart Out - #1

Tonight I was over at my Bloggity friend {Chelle's blog} and she was writing a blog for Shell's awesome {and you can click on the picture to head to Shell's blog}..........

probably not the best thing for me to join, because I love to hold things in... and then they need to come out ~ so here I go......

I try to keep the tone upbeat here at Garibay Soup... I really, really try. I think mainly because even when I'm not feeling upbeat I know my blog is upbeat. It's sortof MY LITTLE HAPPY PLACE.

But I'm not upbeat right now. I have so much family drama that I feel absolutely sickened by it. I have a LOT of family alive and I talk to 4 people out of my family. My mom, her dad (My Grandpa), my aunt who I love to death, and 1 of my sisters from my father... and that's just because I told her I'd buy her a car if she'd help me out. Had I not bribed her to be my on call babysitter, she'd be in her teen world and I wouldn't be hearing from her.

This is sad. My entire family is so EFFED up that I feel a little gloomy over it.

 I have a sister {from my mom} that I have ALWAYS been VERY close to... and where is she? Oh, she is immature, jealous of me and thrives on drama ~ she can argue otherwise, and frankly I don't give a crap, but when it comes down to it... she lives a MISERABLE, NEGATIVE life and finds any reason to push people away... well, sweetheart you pushed away the 1 person in this world that loves you to death, and I don't think I can ever let you close to my heart again.  Hopefully she grows up and realizes who and what is important in life.

My Grandma is the most dysfunctional, controlling, manipulative creature on this planet.  I just want to say that I am EXTREMELY thankful to not have her playing puppet master in my life anymore - lady... if you read this blog I'm just gonna come out and say LEARN HOW TO BE A MOTHER TO YOUR CHILDREN AND STOP JUDGING THEM SO HARSHLY... IT'S QUITE SICKENING.  I have learned a great deal on how not to be with my children from you.  


The funny thing is she wonders why her children have no respect for her {except for the one leaching off of her} but it's because she sent them all away {me included} as children.  My own mother got sent away at the age of 14 because she wasn't the "ideal" child... well, my mom ended up 14 and pregnant... thank God cuz now I'm here LOL.  But then when her children were facing hard times in life and needed a mother the most... she vanished, putting her nose up in the air acting like she was too good for them, when in my opinion she was worse than them.

My dad's entire family... please don't even get me started on that joke of a circus, because that's exactly what it is.

The rest... they just have major issues and it's extremely sad that they turned into what they turned into, but in the end it's good they are not in my life, because I am doing positive, exciting things with my life.

Okay... now to turn this around a bit.

I have learned from what my family has become to what my family is going to be like.  It's not going to be perfect, because what family is?  But there is going to be a heck of a lot of values taught, unconditional love given, and definitely a family feel to it.  And for this reason alone I want a large family.  I want to have family holidays together, family reunions, and get togethers throughout the year......  I want my family to be close.

So, if that isn't pouring your heart out, I don't know what is.  And I feel a lot better writing this... even if I lose a few blog followers.  This is me people... I'm not perfect, and neither is my life.

  

You are so beautiful, Sweet Girl

Oh sweet girl you have no clue how much this little face right here kills me.  This little face makes me smile when I am mad, and probably gets you out of a lot of trouble that you should be in. But how could anyone not smile and kiss the heck out of this cute little face?

You are so beautiful, Sweet Girl.  

There are more pictures to be seen over on my {photo blog}

Just a Motivating Monday - Facing Fear

If you're just joining in:
-Write a blog post about ANYTHING at all that inspires you, or something you feel will inspire others. 

-Please link back to Garibay Soup 

-Please snag my Just a Motivating button on your post.

-I hope that we can all go and visit each other's blogs and read what everyone has linked up ~ I hope that this carnival can bring more traffic for you :) So, spread the comment love!

I could elaborate on the quote below, but I think that it really says it all.  I personally know that I've had to step outside of my comfort zone these past few months and I'm growing and gaining in ways I never knew were possible.  I hope this quote will inspire you in a way that has for me.

You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do.

-- Eleanor Roosevelt

Crazy Goodness

This week has been ONE CRAZY WHIRLWIND of a week. But all in a good way. The first thing is my business just took a MAJOR jump this week, and I have just gotta give it to my very, very, very good friends Jen & David for all of their hard work and sticking with something that they saw the value in. *I love you guys!*  I can't even begin to describe how truly happy I am for you and your future.

Things are really hopping and starting to get busy with me and I just feel so overwhelmingly blessed to be a part of something so wonderful that is really changing our lives. I look at my kids and smile knowing that everything we're doing right now is going to impact their lives in such a good way ~ and not only their life, but for generations to come. I love that.

Life with 2 toddlers is actually been getting easier and easier. When Alana came with us she had little issues, like not wanting to take a bath, constipation, among other things. Today for the first time ever I was walking up the stairs to give Ella a bath and Alana got all excited saying she wanted to take a bath too. HUGE IMPROVEMENT!

I know that her staying here with us is the best thing ever for her. She has stability, she has structure, she has a family that is a family. She's been tossed around A LOT in her 2 short years of life, and that breaks my heart. I can't fathom how my kids would feel being tossed here, tossed there. They NEED stability. They NEED constant love and attention.

The good thing is both of her parents are secure with her staying with us. My brother and Alana's mom both know that when she's here she's being very well taken care of. And she's happy. Throughout the day she'll just come up and hug me and have this huge smile on her face, and it warms my heart.

I'm just so happy with the decision that my brother and Alana's mother made in securing their daughter with me ~ the best place she could be right now.  

Mr. Jayden Garibay

I absolutely enjoy this little man of mine :) Conversations with him always make me giggle and smile. So I want to start video recording him talking more. So I introduce to you ~ my little Jayden Garibay.

3/17/10 Jayden from Amanda Garibay on Vimeo.

Dear Jayden

Dear Jayden,

I just want you to know how special you are to me. Your little personality really shines through, and your soul is perfect. So perfect that sometimes I wonder why God put you on this earth. What exactly is your purpose? I think it's to do great things.

People who have had the absolute pleasure of knowing you know exactly what I'm talking about. Your scouts leader always tells me how special you are, how sweet you are ~ and it just warms my heart, because I know. I don't know what it is about you that is different from all the other kids, from all the other boys, but it's definitely special.

We had our parent teacher conference and your teacher absolutely loves you as well, but she is a bit concerned. It's something I know, and for some reason it's something I'm scared to get diagnosed, but we are going to start the process of finding out if you are indeed Autistic. I don't care, because at the end of the day you're just my Jayden. You are my beautiful little soul that was put on this earth to do great things.

I absolutely know without a doubt that you have Sensory Processing Disorder, and the reasons why your teacher wants to get you tested for Autism is because sometimes you go somewhere ~ nowhere far, but it's almost like a little imaginary world that you can easily be snapped out of when talked to. So, you may just have a great imagination ~ but I just want you to know that NO MATTER WHAT you are perfect. I couldn't have had a more perfect little soul bless my life than you. I have never in my entire life met a boy that is as sweet, caring, honest, faithful, and has integrity like you. Never... and I'm not just saying that because you are my son, because I'm not the only one that sees this.

I love you, Jayden ~ I love you forever and always

Love, Mom

WFMW ~ Double Toddler Trouble

If you don't know about Kandi @ Twin-spirations you need to! She is my mentor in life, not only in my business, but literally in my life. I have received by far the BEST parenting advice EVER from her. Luckily she's not an online friend for me.... she's a smack dab in real life sister to me. Not biologically, but she might as well be my big sister. Because I've never had one {big sister that is}, and she's been in my life since I was weeeeee little.

SOOOO I wanted to share a bit of advice she gave me with having 2 toddlers {I currently have my niece who is the exact age of my daughter 2.5!}

TIMEOUTS are a very negative thing. However, if your toddler is doing something that needs to be addressed you simply grab their hand and let them know that they need to take a break. Mommy's can even take a break when they get out of control.... that way they know that sometimes, we all just need to take a break.

So ~ for the break they get 1 minute/their age and they can bring a book, or a stuffed animal and they can take that time to reflect on what they did. It's been working GREAT for me!

Now here's the kicker.... if you have twins that are toddlers, or deal with 2 children, and one does something to the other you can put them both on a break. When the break is over having each come to you and tell you why they had to go on a break and the one who you "thought" didn't do anything and was just the victim tells on themselves! It's genius!  

So, this is what's working for me right now... being a "mom" of two toddlers is quite new for me since I'm used to only 1. ~ 


So please if you have any other tips for me... feel free to leave them in the comments ;)

If you want to learn about other things that work for other's head over to {Kristen's Blog} ~ lots of good stuff!!

BLAH!

When you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all. So for the first time, brace yourself.... I'm going to just shut my mouth. The end.

Finding Patience as a Mom

I struggle with patience. It's a fault of mine, and it's something I wish wasn't. Patience is the single most important thing for a parent to have, most importantly, a mom to have. Whenever I say my prayers I always ask for more patience, and I've really been trying to reflect and pinpoint how I can change myself in order to have more of this virtuous thing.

Being a part of this blog community can really just put things in perspective. When I'm lacking patience I think of mother's whose babies are no longer with them. When I'm lacking patience I think about the moms who seem to have it all figured out and are Martha Stewart of parenting. But you know what? It's okay. We're not perfect, and if we were perfect we wouldn't be here.

I think my patience has really been tried these past couple of weeks as I've had a new little girl in my life. Having 2 toddlers definitely has its challenges. Having 2 toddlers REALLY tests your patience. And sometimes I wonder if God does certain things, to answer your prayers. Recently I heard somewhere to be careful of what you wish for, or pray for. You might be asking God for more strength, so he gives you more trials to strengthen you. I was asking for more patience, so God gave me another toddler to really try my nerves LOL. But I'm thankful for it, because I'm learning and I'm growing.

Lately one thing that REALLY, and I mean REEEEEAAAALLLLY tests this mama's patience is when Miss Ella Bella locks herself in rooms.... it's an every day thing and something that SCARES THE CRAP out of me.  What if she's locked in a room and there's a fire?  Or what if she shoves something in her mouth and chokes?  When she locks herself in the bathroom she's getting into my Bare Minerals makeup, which kills me and then finally will come out once her makeup is done.  I have video of this and I have a video of the girls at the park ~ they're so dang cute when they get along haha.

Untitled from Amanda Garibay on Vimeo.


Untitled from Amanda Garibay on Vimeo.
.

Thought I'd add before the mom blog police attack me ~ yes I do know there is cleaner on the toilet and that my daughter was locked in the bathroom with access to it.... I was cleaning my bathroom and literally walked out for a couple of seconds to throw something over by my washing machine when Miss Thang swooped in, slammed the door and locked me out.  I did however know she wasn't messing with the cleaner as her obsession is with makeup.

AND! Wanted to add that the videos were totally taken from my DROID phone... the video camera is THAT good!

Just a Motivating Monday - Action

If you're just joining in:
-Write a blog post about ANYTHING at all that inspires you, or something you feel will inspire others. 

-Please link back to Garibay Soup 

-Please snag my Just a Motivating button on your post.

-I hope that we can all go and visit each other's blogs and read what everyone has linked up ~ I hope that this carnival can bring more traffic for you :) So, spread the comment love!


Today I was listening to a wonderful audio CD from Jim Rohn called The Art of Exceptional Living. Oh man, I HIGHLY suggest listening to this. These are the things that I'm trying to feed my mind. Things that will help me to improve me.

Not only am I trying to improve my life in the terms of success, but I'm trying to improve my life as a mother and a wife. I'm trying to be the best that I can be for my family. There's something I've realized that is different about me. The old me would read up on and try to learn through reading so much that I forgot to put it all into action. Heck, I had the best books and systems on keeping your home clean, yet I never really put that into action.

When I started my company I spent a lot of time online watching videos that would help me succeed, but I never saw results until I put what I was learning into action.

ACTION is the key to seeing results! You can read and study up on methods all you want, but until you put your ideas into action you haven't really begun.

Short and sweet this week.

Rambling Mess of Sense

I truly believe that you make your life what it is. I realized this concept back in 2006 when I picked up the book The Secret. I might drive people in my life crazy with my positivity and always looking at the bright side of things....even in the darkest moments, but I believe that this attitude is what makes my life so wonderful.

Don't get me wrong, life is far from perfect for me.  But thankfully I have learned through reading amazing books from people like Jim Rohn that we set our sail.  The same winds blow on us all.... honestly, the rich experience the same things as the poor.  The happy experience the same things as the unhappy.  The thing is, when that wind hits you, YOU have to choose how you react to it and how you embrace it into your life.  

I know people that are from my past read my blog {hello blog tracker - kinda creepy that I have stalkers from the past}, and I'm sure they're going to read this and frankly I don't care.  I have experienced extreme disappointment from MANY people in my life.  And due to that I hold a nice wall perfectly around my heart.  I don't let many people close to me, because amazingly when I do they can't appreciate my honesty, and I'm only honest because I love them.  I can't stand their negativity and I have had to learn how to close my ear to it, because I love my life and I know if I focus on the bad things in life... more bad will come.  I can't stand their excuses.... every excuse you give to prevent you from growing as a person and stepping outside of your comfortable little world is only hurting you.  

Some of the closest people in my life are no longer in my life, and guess what.... it's the negative people, the miserable people, the people who can't stand the positive outlook I see on things.  People, come on!  Complain about being broke over and over and over again without doing a damn thing to do something about it gets really old.  These past few days I've actually reflected on some of my relationships with people who are SUPPOSED to be unconditionally there.  I've thought hard about what good things they've brought to my life and you know what, I can't think of 1 thing.  I think about my phone conversations with these people and holy negative!  

So, yes, this was one rambling mess, but I'm actually extremely happy with the people that are in my life, the people who are not in my life and what I am doing with my life.  

And for you amazing special people that are so close to me and have an amazing, positive imprint on my life I love you, and YOU KNOW WHO ARE!  Yes, Celeste, you're included!  You have become one of my very best friends and I couldn't imagine my life without you ~ we HAVE to always be next door neighbors.... ALWAYS

The 3 Princesses

When you add 1 more toddler to the mix things get a bit busy. So busy that I can't believe that it's not only been 1 week since I've come on my sanctuary, but I also completely forgot about this week's Just a Motivating Monday.

My sweet little Alana is really fitting in here. A year ago we had her for a while under the same circumstances that we have her now. My heart completely breaks for her, but all we can do is surround her with love and provide her with stability, a schedule and lots of laughter and fun.

With Alana living with us once again I have been keeping the girls extremely busy, which is important for them. We've been spending a lot of time with our BFF's that live next door ~ Miss Celeste & Ruthie. Watching the three girls play together is probably the cutest thing in the entire world.

So, we're all doing well, just SO BUSY!